Some Things I've Learned about Nutrition....

So, I've dedicated a lot of my time in the past few years to educating myself as much as I can about nutrition. Here are some little nutritional tidbits/rules to shop by that I have learned and would like to share. Maybe these are things you already know, but maybe I can help some people make some smarter choices:

1. Circle the Store First: Oldie, but a goody. Stores keep the most healthy of the healthy on outskirts of the store. Think about it. The dairy, produce, meat, seafood, whole grains....all of these things are NOT in the aisles. Do a once-around first and usually your cart will be almost full by the time you get to the 'bad' aisles. Aisles 3-11 are usually FULL of the junk. Check it out. True Story.

2. Do Lunges and Reach High: The most caloric, most highly processed foods sit in the aisles at EYE LEVEL. Supermarkets charge manufacturers for the placement of their food and food marketers use this as a way to pass the cost to you. Reach up or kneel down in the aisles and you'll find the better choices.

3. Fewer Ingredients: The fewer ingredients, the better something is for you. Usually. Have you ever looked at the label of some over processed food? There are usually about 20 things listed. #1 almost always being sugars. Yuck. That brings me to my next rule...

4. Read Labels: I taught a nutrition class at a local community center for free this last fall. What did I learn? People do not read labels. It astonished me. Not only do people not read them, they don't know how to read them. Labels list foods in order of weight. For example, if the first ingredient is sugar (aka dextrin, dehydrated cane juice, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrate, lactose, maltose, maltodextrin, saccharose, sorghum, sucrose, xylose...there are even more hidden names for sugar) then what you are holding in your hand is mostly sugar. So watch "whose on first" when it comes to the list of ingredients.

5. Sugar is the White Poison: I just went over some of the names for sugar, now here is the clencher. Sugar is bad. No bueno. I'm talkin white simple sugars. This sucks, I know. This has been the HARDEST thing for me. Sugar sends your metabolism into a slow tailspin that puts fat in all the wrong places. There are, however, excellent sugar and sweetening substitutes like Stevia. Yum!

6. Stay Away from the Soda: Soda contains approximately 7 to 9 teaspoons of refined sugar. Even the diet sodas can be detrimental to your health because they are full of aspartame or splenda.

7. The Truth about Deli Meat: Another 'look at the label'. Most processed meats contain a chemical soup of nitrates, nitrites, sugar, sodium and preservatives. Many of these have been found to lead to cancer. Yucky.

8. The Truth about Carbs: Ok, we all know someone who has lost weight on the Atkins diet. Why? Eating too few carbs puts the body in starvation mode and muscles begin to burn their own protein for energy. Sound like a good idea still? Here is another carb-fun-fact. Sticking with a consistent diet of high protein, low carbs over an extended period of time causes calcium loss and kidney damage. Stick with yummy complex carbs like whole grains, potatoes, broccoli (my favorite), oatmeal, apples....the list goes on. These are GOOD FOR YOU!

9. Lots of Color in your Diet = Fatloss: I'm talkin greens and reds and yellows and oranges. Your meals should look like a rainbow and I'm not talking about the package on the food. Eat clean and you'll never have to count another calorie again.

9. USE YOUR NOGIN! There are a billion books out there about losing weight and nutrition. We see tons of commercials each day and advertisements in magazines about what we should and should not eat. There are countless numbers of documentaries on foods. The bottom line is, use your head. You KNOW what is healthy. I am all about research, but frankly, I don't agree with everything I read and hear.

That's all for today! I hope this sheds some light or at least reinforces what some of you already know. I'm off to the gym. Again! XoXo

Monotony...monotony....monotony

I spent the last week in Marysville, Washington assisting my little brother following an ACL and double meniscus surgery on his right knee. He is 19 and helpless. I was able to get all of my workouts in. Apparently having a VIP Golds Gym membership only works in Utah and does NOT transfer to other states. The super-ghetto Golds in Marysville, however, was gracious enough to give me a one week free membership while I was up there. I learned a few things. Staying across the street from a Starbucks. Bad. Golds Gyms in Utah. Good. If I hadn't known better, I would've guessed that the Golds Gym I was working out in was the original and it had never been remodeled. There was an average of about 10 cars in the gym parking lot at any given time, sometimes less. This explained to me the amount of morbidly obese people I saw bumming around Northern Washington. Thanks to stress, I was able to get 100% of my workouts in and then some. Unfortunately, the monotony of the diet is seriously getting to me. That and PMS. I ate healthy, but what I was eating was certainly a far cry from the broccoli and protein shake diet I have been so loyal to. It was nice to get a break, but now that I am back I am meeting with my trainer this Saturday in a bikini to discuss if I am ready. I am thinking, probably not. I am continuing to slim down, but I don't think I am close to what I need to be. My trainer continues to text me positive vibes and has been fantastic the entire time. We will see. Stay posted to see if I actually get to compete on September 10th! Dun dun dun!

Why Not a Marathon Too?

So, I have been working out like crazy. It is starting to get to me. I am tired most of the day. I am doing 2 a days of 1 hour of cardio 6 days a week. So, I started thinking......

Why not train for a marathon too?

I am hoping, that with all of the weight lifting I have been participating in, that my IT band will resolve. My ass was virtually muscle-less, resulting in severe IT in October of 2009 following the Other Half in Moab. The furthest I have been able to run since has been 6 miles. Maybe, with all this lunging and squating and pressing, I will have the muscle to "back it up". I have wanted to run another full marathon since I graduated nursing school, but my IT has gotten in the way. 26.2 is calling again.

If this all works out, I will be ready to run the Tuscon Marathon on December 11th.

With all of that being said, I will attempt for the first time in almost 2 years a 7 mile run tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!

Keep strong and carry on....

Last few days have been more difficult than ever. I am currently continuing to lift 6 days a week, which equates to about 30-45 minutes each day. My trainer has increased my cardio to 2 hours a day, 6 days a week. I am tired 100% of the time. I am attempting to wake up at 4 am each morning to get 1 of my 2 hours of cardio in, but sometimes my body rejects the early morning rise. I am beginning to crave carbs like crazy! First competition is 31 days from today. I received my heels in the mail and I have picked out my suit, just waiting to meet with one of my trainers on the 26th to approve the suit so I can order it. Taking it one day at a time!