Diets Aren’t For Me But Healthy Eating Is!

Diets Aren’t For Me But Healthy Eating Is!

I have been writing about being healthy, eating right, and staying fit. Let me be clear, I don’t do nor do I believe in “diets” but that is just me. While I do believe in having a well-balanced diet I don’t believe in restricting anything from your diet. If I want cookies, cake, ice cream, chips or anything else deemed unhealthy I eat them. The trick is I do not eat them every day. I can go an entire week without eating any sweets, fried, or processed foods.
Too much of anything can kill you, if you consume too much water in a short period of time you can die from water suffocation. So even things that are good for you shouldn’t necessarily be over indulged in again balance. My healthy dietary habits work for you, you have to find what works best for you and be sure to incorporate a cheat day.

I realize I usually only give bits and pieces so this blog is going to go slightly more in depth.
Daily, we should all consume water, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, milk (I’m weaning myself off outside of ice cream), and meats (don’t have to be consumed daily or at all). See the new food pyramid below. Considering that they have changed the pyramid again do what is best for you just make sure your diet is balanced and you are getting the vitamins and nutrients you need.

Vitamins - I do believe people should take vitamins however I believe that your vitamins should not supplement the nutrients you are missing but be an extra. By all means if eating fruits and veggies daily is not yet in your plans, by all means load up on vitamins as your body needs them.

Weight Loss/Weight Gain – Ironically this is the time many people are trying to lose weight, my sister is trying to gain 25 pounds and I would personally like to gain 5 pounds. A lot of people look at me cross eyed when I mention losing weight or gaining weight. Many people larger than myself tell me, I am fine and they wish they were my size. Funny thing is there is someone out there wishing they were the size of the person that is giving me the side eye. My personal goal is a smaller waist line, I don’t want to be a size 2 at all, and if I am a size 12 with a flat stomach I would probably be ok with that as long as I was healthy. One thing that I do know about weight loss is if you are overweight the less you eat, the less your chance of losing weight. Every woman I encountered that is trying to lose weight I ask what do they eat. Usually my reply to them is they don’t eat enough!!! Again I get the side eye. My thing is this if I have maintained the same weight for the last 10 years why not take my word for it? Weight is 80% what you eat and 20% what you do. Working out and eating donuts and other fattening foods regularly will not garner the desired effect you desire. Again it’s all about balance.

Exercise – My personal favorites right now are Gaiam Pilates for Abs, Gaiam Yoga with Rodney Ye (AM, Daily, and Abs workout), as well as Ballet Stretch. I use free weights and resistance bands for my arms. To get some cardio in I have Yoga Booty Ballet and Kim Kardashians Fit in your jeans by Friday. Again from my blog I personally like to work out at home. If you are gym person knock yourself out. Running on the treadmill or hitting the elliptical for 20 to 30 minutes a few times a day will do your body good. Ladies, do not shy away from weights. Weight lifting can help your bones and you will love that in your old age. Most importantly in any exercise regime is stretching. Keep your muscles long and lean and increase your flexibility, again your older self will love you for it. Of course, when exercising find a regime that works for you, that you enjoy, and that keeps you motivated. Whatever you do, do something, even if you just start walking. Every little bit helps and makes a difference.

Drowning – I am guilty of this, I drown my food. I have to taste salad dressing on every piece of my salad. My mother says that I have syrup with pancakes instead of pancakes with syrup. When we drown our salads, if you do like I do, it’s not a good thing as there are a lot of ingredients in the salad dressing depending on which you eat that aren’t necessarily good for us. It’s like the dressing cancels out the salad. There is a fast food chain that will remain nameless but eating their salad with dressing has the same amount of calories as eating one of their burgers. Drinks, drinking certain things with your meal while still eating may change the digestion process of your food. So if at all possible, eat your food and then drink your beverage after you are done, that includes water. Let your food go down naturally and allow your stomach acids to break the food down and distribute it.

Sample meal plan, I can only remember what I ate yesterday and today so

Wednesday:
Breakfast – Blueberry muffin and Green Tea w/ Pomegranate
1stSnack – Mandarin orange, a few black, blue and strawberries sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with honey
3rdSnack – handful of trail mix (cranberries, walnuts, pecans, dark chocolate, raisins)
Drank 32 oz. of water by noon
Lunch – ½ Chicken Breast piece (Chicken Parmagiana) w/ steamed carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower
3rd snack – ¼ of a Grapefruit
4thsnack – pack of chocolate donuts
Drank 32 more oz. of water by 3:30P
Arrived home and complete Daily Yoga by Gaiam with Rodney Ye
Dinner – 6 spicy wingdings from KFC with BBQ sauce
Took a B12 vitamin with 4 oz. of water

Thursday:
Workout – Pilates for Abs
Breakfast – 2 Boiled Eggs and 2 oz. of OJ
1stSnack – Pack of chocolate donuts (don’t judge me I am trying to gain a little weight) and Green tea with pomegranate with ½ of freshly squeezed lemons juice
2ndSnack – ¼ of a Grapefruit
16 oz. of water before noon
Lunch – Chicken Parmagiana w/ Fettuccini &Spinach in a tomato basil sauce
16 oz. of water
3rdSnack – Black, Blue and Strawberries with a Banana sprinkled with cinnamon and drizzled with honey
Dinner – Mexican Style Tacos, Guacamole & Chips, and Margaritas :-)

As you notice there are more healthy things on my daily meal plans that unhealthy. Truthfully I don’t know why I wanted chocolate donuts this week 2 days in a row but I am not going to beat myself up over it.

Diets aren’t for me, If you do choose to diet that is great but if you’ve tried diet after diet and you haven’t been able to take weight off and keep it off, it may be time to re-evaluate your overall eating habits and exercise regime. Like the post from Friday, you must start inside out!

Be a blessing and be blessed,
Epiphany Essentials