Thursday, May 5, 2011

Being Healthy

I feel compelled to write this blog.  I don't know why.  Maybe it's from many friends asking me for healthy tips in their lives, how to eat good, how to cook healthy, for workout advice, to work out with them, or from my own personal experience with this lifestyle and just how life changing it really is.  I am in no way claiming to know it all, but I do know what has worked for me and maybe it can work for you too!

If you've read my blog before, you know that I love to bake (and unfortunately eat what I bake), so eating good all the time is necessary for someone like me who occasionally likes to cheat and eat Paula Deen inspired food!


Being healthy is not about the latest fad dieting/crash dieting/detoxing/etc or just temporarily working out - it's a lifestyle.  When I use the term "diet" in this post, I am referring to my everyday eating habits.  I don't diet like Atkins taught.  My diet consists of food to be used as energy.  The best thing I ever did was buy Tosca Reno's book about Eating Clean and then purchase her cookbook.  My best friend, Lindsey, recommended it to me because it changed her life.  I promise if you read this, you will change your eating habits.  I've been eating clean for 2 years now and I stay much more lean than ever before, have way more energy than I ever did and my skin has cleared up so much.  Amazing what food can do for us.  They say you're 80% what you eat and 20% what you do for physical activity.

I am no Tony Horton or Tosca Reno by any means and will not pretend to be.  And I definitely "cheat".  I had ice cream for dessert last night.  But I eat well enough all day long to be able to enjoy some deliciousness before bedtime every now and then. :)

Once you understand how to prepare and cook healthy foods, you'd be amazed at how good they are.  I can pretty much manipulate anything that's unhealthy to make it be "clean".  AND it doesn't take long.  My meals generally take 30 minutes or less.  On occasion, you will have something that takes a bit more time, but that's where time management comes in.  On weeknights, I never spend more than 30 minutes in the kitchen.  Everything we eat is always full of flavor and better than the bad stuff - taste and health wise, except maybe fried okra, lol.  Here are a few "healthy" tips that have always worked for me:

- try to avoid processed foods altogether
- bake, steam or grill your food
- use sea salt instead of regular table salt
- use honey, agave nectar or some other naturally occurring sweetener instead of sugar
- every time you eat, pair a protein with a complex carbohydrate
- eat often, 5 to 6 times a day, but make your portions smaller
- get your daily intake of fruits and vegetables
- if you eat meat, try and eat lean meats such as chicken, turkey, pork, and fish.  If you want red meat, pay the extra price and get the filet mignon and top grade ground meat.
- exercise at least 30 minutes daily
- change up your workout routine.  Consistency gets old and you see great results with muscle confusion.
- drink water...lots of water.  At least 64 oz daily.

Hope these tips help.  I'll start sharing more of my everyday meals and recipes with you!

1 comment:

Beth @beth-adam.blogspot.com said...

Thanks for sharing Carrie! :) We always seem to be able to make breakfast and dinner healthy, it's lunch that we struggle with during the week!!! Do you take your lunch everyday? Or try to eat healthy at restaurants?