FITNESS FRIDAY – CONTINUED
Stop BS’ing Yourself – Part 2

As I stated yesterday, eating clean is about improved quality of life and there are a ton of benefits to be gained from this lifestyle!

Here are a few tips to get you started on your clean-eating journey:

Clean out your kitchen—get rid of all the obvious junk foods as well as the “fake healthy” foods;
Re-stock it with fresh and frozen veggies and fruits, lean proteins such as chicken breast, fish, lean red meat, low-fat cottage cheese, nonfat plain yogurt or Greek-style yogurt, healthy fats such as nuts, seeds, and avocado, whole grains like brown rice and quinoa, and herbs and spices for bold flavor;
Plan ahead—make a dinner menu for the following week, this way you will be less tempted to indulge in something less than good for your body;
Pack healthy meals—another way you’ll be less tempted to eat a nutrient-void meal on the run;
Eat breakfast—every day! As cliché as it sounds, breakfast really is the most important meal of the day;
Eat every 2.5-3 hours—this helps keep your blood sugar stable as well as your metabolism up;
Drink water—all day! Experts recommend a minimum of 64 ounces each day. Drink a glass upon waking, before and after each meal, and even more when you exercise. If you don’t like plain water, add some freshly squeezed lemon or lime or a sprig of fresh mint.
Make healthy choices when eating out—order your food baked, broiled, or steamed, prepared with little or no added fat, and ask for a fresh salad or steamed veggies on the side.

Clean eating is a lifestyle that requires time, planning, and commitment. Take a few minutes to assess how “well” you are eating and see how it measures up to what you could be doing. You don’t have to make all these changes at once, nor should anyone be expected to.

Set small achievable goals and evaluate your progress regularly. If you are headed in the right direction, great! Increase your goals slowly to ensure continued progress. If you are not making progress, you may need to change your goals. Don’t give up either way—even if you don’t meet your goal you are still learning what works for you and what doesn’t.

ABOUT RACHEL: Rachel Swartz-Hartje is an NASM certified personal trainer and is currently completing her degree in community health promotion.  She enjoys running, bodybuilding and torturing her clients (and friends) into submission.  She is definitely a bad-ass.  Don’t let her nice profile picture fool you. Her mantra? “Discipline is the Bridge Between Goals and Accomplishments.” Oh yeah, she also used to be in the Navy.  Don’t. Mess. With. Her.

POST #5 IN THE FITNESS FRIDAYS SERIES
Part one of a two part article – check back tomorrow.

Okay, it is time for Fitness Friday again with my Personal Trainer friend Rachel.  So, I am, ugh, not sure exactly about this but I think I might have inspired this rather brutally honest post by my pal.  Primarily because I am always deluding myself into thinking that I eat healthy and that my extra couple of pounds are a cruel trick of nature rather than my own fault. So… sorry if she is kinda forceful about it.  Entirely my bad.

Stop BS’ing Yourself!

I’ll start off by admitting that I have extremely high standards when it comes to what I consider “eating well.” To me, eating well means eating very few, if any, pre-packaged processed or refined foods. It means eating a diet consisting of nutritious whole foods—plenty of fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, lean protein, healthy fats, and of course, plenty of water. It means eating at regular intervals, not skipping meals, and not overindulging. In the fitness world, this is known as “clean eating”.

As a personal trainer and weight management intern at a hospital-based weight loss program, I talk to people all day about their diet and exercise choices. Most often I hear people say, “I don’t exercise at all but I eat really well” or “I exercise regularly and I eat well but I just can’t get this weight off.” How come then, if all these people are eating well, they are still so overweight?

I’m not trying to be crass, but I’ve got to call the BS flag.

Take a good look at the foods you consume on a daily basis—How many ingredients does it contain? Can you pronounce all of them? What is the origin of the food/ingredients? If a food has more than a few ingredients, you can’t pronounce most of them, or you don’t know where something in the food came from, you should probably think twice before putting it in your mouth. And just because a food item has a good quality about it doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

Take, for example, a Healthy Choice turkey breast and cranberries meal.

Sounds healthy, right?

One serving size is one 10.8 oz box and contains 320 calories, 3.5g fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 35mg cholesterol, 53g total carbohydrates, 7 grams fiber, 32g sugar, 16g protein, 530mg sodium. Most of these numbers aren’t so bad, however, 32 grams of sugar is considered the maximum amount of sugar an individual on a 2,000 calorie/day diet should consume. That’s equivalent to 8 teaspoons! And that’s just from one meal! There is also nearly one-quarter of your recommended daily value of sodium. Food manufacturers spend tons of money each year on marketing, while Mother Nature spends zero. Who do you trust more?

Eating clean doesn’t always have to be about weight loss—it’s also about improved quality of life: looking better, feeling better, and having more energy. These are just a few of the benefits.

Tomorrow I’ll give you a few tips to get your started on your clean-eating journey!

ABOUT RACHEL: Rachel Swartz-Hartje is an NASM certified personal trainer and is currently completing her degree in community health promotion.  She enjoys running, bodybuilding and torturing her clients (and friends) into submission.  She is definitely a bad-ass.  Don’t let her nice profile picture fool you. Her mantra? “Discipline is the Bridge Between Goals and Accomplishments.” Oh yeah, she also used to be in the Navy.  Don’t. Mess. With. Her.