Power to Break the Cycle!

I have been struggling lately with my sugar intake. Especially with the Holidays and pluthera of sweets available around every corner. Over the weekend I was fed up and really building my resolve to break the cycle, and got this Motivation and Challenge email from Coach Keena, through the Tri Timp Club emailing group. Perfect timing! I hope that she doesn't mind that I share as I'm so inspired and motivated by her words. It's long, but soooooo worth the read!

_____________________
Your MOTIVATION and CHALLENGE.
AND...oh...how well this is timed!
You know that white stuff that is so addictive?  Messed up millions of
people's health, addicted them to it like nothing else?
Money being spent like crazy to keep people happy and get their next fix?
Yep.  You know it.  Just can't give the stuff up!
It causes more illness and degeneration on the planet than all other
illicit recreational drugs...combined!
And...it's not even a drug!  You can buy it in 100 lb. bags if you want.
And...it's pretty cheap!  So...we don't even have to sell our children and
take to the streets to keep us in the good stuff.
SUGAR.

Today I am going to remind you of why you WANT to avoid sugar and get you
motivated to make a few small changes to improve your health...and maybe
even NOT gain weight during the holidays!
Don't stop reading!  I promise I'm not going to tell you to never eat sugar
again!

I am just going to go over a few FACTS about sugar and then make a little,
itsy, bitsy challenge in regards to your consumption of the stuff.
 
Here's how the SUGAR ADDICTION cycle works in SEVEN basic steps:
1. You eat refined sugar (and processed foods containing refined sugar)
2. The isolated sugar rapidly enters your bloodstream
3. Your blood sugar rises quickly
4. This sudden rise signals the pancreas to release insulin
5. Your blood sugar drops below its original level
6.  The low blood sugar causes tiredness, a loss of energy, and hunger!
7.  You crave more sugar!
 
If you keep eating refined sugar, this cycle keeps getting repeated over
and over again!  Your body starts gaining FAT(cause that's how sugar is stored
in your body), you struggle with neurological abnormalities like
depression,mood swings, ADHD, and a LACK OF MOTIVATION and then you eat more sugar to
try and get yourself feeling better...which begins the cycle all over
again!  YUCK!
Did you know that the estimated national average of sugar consumption *per
person* is 150 POUNDS?  That's a heck of a lot of sugar!
That's a heck of a lot of weight gain, diabetes, heart disease, cancer,
obesity, depression, immune system weakness, arthritis and general
suckiness of quality of life!  (How's that for straight up bad?)

But...we LOVE sugar!  We LOVE the way it tastes!  We LOVE eating the
treats,sweets and other good tasting stuff that it goes into!

So...what do we do??

HOW can we overcome our addiction and dependance on the stuff?
 
*COMMIT TO DOING THE FOLLOWING:*
 
*#1:*      *REALIZE *just how harmful sugar is to our bodies and how addicted we really are!
*#2:*      *ACKNOWLEDGE* just HOW MUCH we really are eating refined sugars.
Most people don't even realize just how much refined sugar they take in
every day!
*#3:*      *CLEAN OUT *our pantries, kitchens, desk drawers, cars, and
other locations in our life that might surround us with refined sugar!  If
we are surrounded by sugar every day all day....it's gonna wear us down and
we will eat it!
*#4:*      *REPLACE* your sugary staples with healthy staples that will
help keep your blood sugars level and your body healthy and happy!  Fruits,
veggies, protein, nuts, whole foods!  That's what our bodies want!
#5:      *MANAGE* your cravings by eating 5-6 small meals, consisting of
PROTEIN and complex carbs, every day!  Protein is the enemy of sugar
cravings!  Be persistent and patient and you can do it!
*#5*:      *MOTIVATE* yourself to keep working on eating healthier foods by
setting GOALS that will keep you focused on what you really want to
accomplish such as:
*Lose weight...especially FAT! 
*Have more energy...long term and consistently!
*Look and FEEL better!
 *Be more competitive as an athlete!
 *Boost your immune system so you don't get as many colds, flues,
etc.!
 *Overcome issues such as depression, mood swings and Lack of
motivation!
  *Pick an event or race that you want to succeed in and every time
you crave sugar...focus on how well you want to do at that event.  Sugar
will NOT help you reach that goal!

Is getting rid of or minimizing your intake of refined sugar going to be
EASY?
NO WAY!
Is it going to be a challenge EVERY DAY and sometimes EVERY HOUR?
TOTALLY!
Will it get easier?
Eventually!
Can you DO IT?
ABSOLUTELY!
 
WHY AM I BOTHERING TO GIVE YOU THIS INFORMATION AND CHALLENGE RIGHT NOW AT
THE MOST SUGARED UP TIME OF THE YEAR?
Because:
I want you to be AWARE of how much sugar you are taking in at this time of
year....and just make the effort to MINIMIZE the amount you are eating
right now.
Replace a cookie with an apple.  When going to a party, eat something
healthy before you go...then decide in advance that you will have just ONE
of the awesome desserts...and enjoy it and be done.
When at home and you are feeling tempted by the plate of goodies on your
counter, first eat your favorite fruit or veggie or have a small protein
smoothie...then if you MUST...have just ONE treat...then walk away and be
proud of yourself!
I PROMISE you will NOT look back on the Holiday Season come January and
regret NOT eating all those treats!  I PROMISE!
But, I can pretty much guarantee that come January you WILL look back on
the season with regret if you DO eat everything and anything that looks good
right at that moment and don't control your sugar intake!
If you can begin to manage it now...come the New Year...when you are really
ready to commit to making better choices...you will have already been
trying to do better and you will reap the benefits!
 
You can do this!  It is worth it!  You will feel so great in so many ways
by committing to MINIMIZE and CONTROL your sugar intake during this Holiday
Season!
I know you can do it!
Happy Healthy Holidays!!
_________________________

This is so true!!  I've experienced the highs and lows of sugar intake way more than I'd like to admit and am so sick of feeling that way.  Doesn't that feeling give you the resolve to be a little better this holiday season with making some healthy substitutions and being very selective about the sweets that you eat?  It sure does for me!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas Season!

P.S.
You can subscribe to the Tri Timp Club by going here and following the instructions sign up for the mailing list.  There are a lot of emails that circulate about various workout opportunities, events, and other misc. emails but I really enjoy getting that in my inbox for extra motivation to get out there myself.  Plus you get the motivation and challenges from Coach Keena, which I love!

Healthy Substitution:

How are you doing? What was your healthy substitution of the day? And if you had more than one Good for You!! Keep it up. Thanksgiving is almost here and we need to save all the calories we can so we don't have to feel guilty about eating a little bit of everything, right?

For a great list of healthy substitutions go here.

New Challenge: Healthy Substitutions

To build on Chelsi's last challenge, and with the Holidays quickly approaching, I decided to focus on Healthy Substitutions these next two weeks. I've been eating terribly lately. I'm talking homemade gooey caramel corn, peach crisp, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, and that was just on Saturday! Kidding....well, partly. I have, however, been thinking more about healthy substitutions. Instead of oil for the pumpkin cookies, I substituted applesauce. Instead of candy as a treat at the play tonight I popped in a 5 calorie piece of gum.

I'd love to hear your favorite healthy substitutions. How you lighten a rich recipe, or the snacks that you crave but are able to curb by picking something healthier.

But first, I'll start by sharing a few of my favorites:

*Instead of butter and syrup on pancakes I put applesauce with a little powdered sugar sprinkled on top. Yum! And I get full faster and only eat one or two pancakes.

*Instead of ritz crackers with cream cheese (my Dad ruined me on this yummy snack) I eat tortilla chips with hummus.

*Instead of ground beef we use turkey for a leaner meal.

*Snacks that take a little more time to eat seem to make me feel more satisfied when done. Like eating a whole apple, instead of slices. Or eating edamame with a little sea salt. It must be all mental but the extra effort it takes to eat these kind of snacks seem to help.

So there you have it. Make good food choices this week, and please share what has worked for you. We'd love to hear it!

Tip for the Day: Full Factor

Now that keeping the food diary is becoming more of a habit, I've been looking for ways to better what and when I'm eating. One thing that I'm going to be focusing on is my full factor. Before eating I mentally ask myself, "How hungry do I feel right now?" Then as I'm eating, about half way through the meal I'll put my utensils down, take a breath and ask myself, "How full do I fell right now?" Now remember it take around 20 minutes for your stomach to register what you've eaten so when for me, if I feel semi full I try to say enough is enough and be done with it. If I'm still feeling somewhat hungry then I'll eat more.

The goal here, my friends, is not to finish still feeling hungry or feeling stuffed to the gills. The goal is to feel satisfied. Part of that also comes from what you're eating, but we'll talk about that on another day, ok? Then throughout the day I keep asking myself how hungry I am. Can you tell I think about food a lot? If I'm feeling hungry I reach for a few mini rice cakes n cottage cheese or something equally delicious. (I know, I know. I just heard a few of you gag, but I like rice cakes!)

As you're going through your day and while you're eating think about your Full Factor and try to respond accordingly. Are there any other little tips that help you think about your full factor?

~Chellor

What's that bug?

Remember how I told you all that if you fall off the wagon to jump right back on immediately? Don't wait for next week or even for tomorrow. Guess who got the "I'll do better tomorrow" bug this past weekend?! Yours truly! Bleh. I hate when I don't practice what I preach.

But I have had a great long weekend and have been able to do a lot of thinking and planning. The first thing I thought about is,
"Holy Crap! I only have a 6 1/2 months until the big guy n I get married!" The second thought I had was,
"Holy Crapoly! I only have 5 months until I have to be engagement picture ready!"
See where I'm going with this? I need to be on major food slash workout lock down to get back into hot mama shape. Today is the day I'm going to map out the next 6 1/2 months. I'm always better with time lines and goals so I'm going to think of something that will help me. The whole reward system never seems to really motivate me. Ya know, loose 10 LB's then I can buy myself a new pair of shoes. I just feel like I'm wasting money and what do shoes have to do with losing weight. (I can't believe I just said I don't want another reason to buy new shoes!)

Anyway, I don't have a solid plan yet, but that is what I'll be doing today. If anyone sees me in church today writing furiously in my notebook just pretend it's those spiritual thoughts comin' through and not my new weight loss plan/goals!

~Chellor

One more week

The sis n I thought it would be a good idea to carry on our challenges for more than just one week. We though two weeks would be good, but what do you all think? Also we would like to provide little tips of encouragement or status updates where you all can update on how you are doing! I can't promise I will change and magically be that amazing once a day blog poster, but I sure will try. We started this little blog to motivate and encourage each other and are thrilled that other people are joining in.

So here we go. One more week with Dear Diary and your chance keep up your amazing work of faithfully logging or to redeem yourself. And check back here for more tips, advice, or just me ranting about how I'm doing. Then post how you are doing too! We want to hear it. I for one need your help and encouragement too.

Tip for the day:
Don't give up. If you forgot to write down yesterday's food and can't remember if you had one truffle or seven, don't give up. Just pick up the pen and do better today. If you're inclined to run an extra 30 mins because of your absentmindedness, fine. If it was one meal or one week that you forgot to log you haven't gotten too far to keep on going. And don't think that because you forgot to write down yesterdays you should just start again tomorrow. Start again now. You'll feel better and more motivated to keep going!

Don't give up.

Ok Fitsters. How have you been doing this past week? Be honest. :)

~Chellor

Dear Diary: You Bite It You Write It

Challenge for the week:

Food Diary, Food Log, Food Journal, call it what you will, but I've noticed that throughout my *almost* 27 years of life I'm the most healthy and lose the most weight or maintain the best when I'm keeping a food diary! Like with the water challenge, I often think I'm doing great with what I'm consuming until I really pay attention and write it down. What better way to see that you've actually consumed 2,000 calories rather than 1,200 calories than to have a sheet of paper with all the grub 'o the day staring right back at cha babe? Now I will be the first to admit there are time that I have actually chosen not to write down that mini (or king sized) candy bar because I really thought that would make me feel better not having to see those extra cals listed. WHO ARE WE KIDDING? No one ever has to know but the person consuming the item and will it really do anything to help that sagging butt to "pretend" we didn't eat it? No Way! I've heard people say, "Well I just chewed the chocolate to curb the craving then spit it out." Nope, that doesn't count on the no calorie food items list. Did you know you still consume calories that way? Yep, it's true! Google it.

*SHEESH*

Where was I? Ah, yes. You Bite It, You Write It sistah! If it so much as enters your mouth you write it down. And please don't wait until the end of the day to do so. By then you've chanced either forgetting what you've eaten or already going over you calories and feeling like you have to starve yourself for the rest of the night even though you haven't had dinner yet! Not good.

Here's the skinny on the Diary:

Find the tool that works best for you

Paper and pen, posting on your blog, or the latest app on your iPhone, there is just no wrong way to go about this! There are so many great ways you can log information now-a-days that there's almost no excuse NOT to do it! Here are a couple tools I've found:

http://befitandstrong.com/free-printable-food-diary/
This little website is a pretty good one for your basic info and they have a free printable food diary. Also note the section at the bottom of each page to check off how many glasses of water you drank each day. Saweet!
*Notice this is the website I borrowed the pic from* :)

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/
There are so many website you can go to log your food intake that help you find the calories, but I choose this one because I really like their app for the iPhone. I never actually log onto the website because the app is so easy. After a simple *free* sign up process and entering in my info I can search food quickly, track my progress, and see how many calories, fat grams, protein and fiber I have left for the day!

Log what works for you

Some people work best just focusing on calories. Others like to know Calories, Fat, Protien, Fiber, Sugar, the works, and some of you may be counting weight watchers points. The fact is this: you won't do what doesn't work for you. Maybe this is your first time starting a Food Diary so you just want to keep it simple and write down the calories. GREAT! The point is that you're writing it down and holding yourself accountable.


Size Matters
One word here: PORTIONS
Have you ever eaten something and thought, "Sweet! Only 50 calories!" Then you look a little closer and find that there are 4 servings in that cute little pack that you just snarfed? (Yes, I said snarfed.) Please be cautious here. Label makers know this is a common mistake and are more and more clever with the packaging. Also if you're cooking, it's pretty easy to over eat if you're not careful. I tend to cook enough food so I have some to take with me for lunch the next day and I may or may not have eaten the entirety of what I made when I sat down for dinner! We can talk more about portion control at a later date, but please pay attention.

Make measurable changes each day

I get that this part seems like more challenges, but what's the good of a food diary if we aren't learning and changing from it? Also you can take the first week to simply commit to log everything down just to get in the habit. Then the next week look at what you ate from that week and commit you are going to do better or continue to eat healthy the next day/week. Maybe it's as simple as increase your water intake by one glass or extreme as no candy the next day. *GASP!* Remember, this is your Diary so you need to do what will work for you.


Celebrate your Success
Give yourself the pat on the back you deserve for your success that day. Again you determine what that success is. For me, if I can go all day without a diet coke I'm pretty freakin' stoked! Maybe you're hard core like my sis and your good day is no candy, 8 glasses of water, and all your fruits and veggies. YOU GO GIRL! (Love you sis!) :) You must reward yourself. Even if it's just acknowledging the fact that you did good or telling someone else that you did good, it's going to boost your confidence and determination to do good again the next day. If you're constantly hard on yourself you'll find success is harder to come by. Let's face it, being happy makes you feel better!

Well all you Fitsters out there: GOOD LUCK! I bid you all good luck and I know that if you commit to YOURSELF to do this, you can!


Now, let's see if I can practice what I preach! :)

~Chellor

This Weeks Challenge: Drink 96 oz. of Water each Day

When thinking about this challenge I really thought it would be easy. Water is readily available, almost where ever you go, and you just need a water bottle handy. But it's tough. You get busy, as most of us do, and hours can pass without taking a sip. So here is a little tip that I read from Coach Keena:

Fill up 3 32 oz. gatorade bottles with water. Then throughout the day drink all 3 and you've gotten 96 oz. of water! This is also great because you see the progress you're making instead of just having the same waterbottle and trying to remember how many times you've refilled.

I love this tip and will be following it soon. Happy drinking! :)