Saturday Fitness Tip: Excuses #2

And here we are again. Making excuses and I argument them and I give you a "solution".  :)) Let's just start.

Make sure you read first part of excuses HERE.



Once again - everything starts and ends with you. It's time to shut your Ego up ;)

Source: Pinterest.

 
4. The saddest thing to me is that people are selfish. For example, they get sick eventually (from bad food) and family has to take care for him/her. I've watched a show (I don't remember how it was called) where extremely obese people were losing weight and one contestant said: "I don't want to die from food. I don't want to be remembered as the one who has died from food." People live to eat and don't see any other (much more) meaningful purpose in life. Which leads me to excuse ... If I live healthy, I have no reason to live. All I have to say is, that how ungrateful that person is. Do you have family, friends, supportive followers (if you're a blogger/youtuber etc.), people who love you? Do you have bed to sleep in? Do you have home? Do you have a phone, computer, TV ...? Are you loved? I see soooo many things to be grateful for, many things you have to live for. People forget to enjoy in little things and are searching for body pleasures (food is one of them, because it's tasty). Maybe it's nice to eat chocolate cake, but to me going out in to the nature is much more enjoyable and relaxing. To me living just for food is an empty life. Yes, food is tasty and I love eating, but I feel so much better if I nourish my body just when I am hungry. I know I don't need any more than that. I am more productive, because I don't feel full and tired after a meal, I am more happy and my life is more fulfilled, because I know how to make every moment precious.

Source: Pinterest.

5. Eating healthy tastes bad.
If we would be taught from an early age to eat healthy, simple, one-ingredient foods, we wouldn't crave junk food at all, because we wouldn't know the taste of it. We are just spoiling our taste buds (and raising our blood sugar few times a day). I think that the best way to fix that problem is to clear out your taste buds. I already covered that in Saturday Fitness Tip post few weeks ago: Beginner? No problem! Check it out HERE. And this also goes for previous excuse as well.
Also, try to find fun and tasty recipes, try to experiment in the kitchen, make cooking and preparing your food fun ... Most people who say that healthy food tastes bad are the ones who haven't even tried to live healthy. Try it out, it won't kill you! You can always ask a friend who eats healthy (hint: me ;)) to give you some recipes or recommendations and to motivate you ...

Source: Pinterest.

6. I'll start tomorrow.
Ah, that never coming "tomorrow". You don't need tomorrow, Monday, new year, three months before summer ... to start changing things, you can start right away, because all you need is you and you only. The sooner you start the closer to your goal. Every day counts and you can choose to give yourself a "gift" today and decide to be healthy. Today. I said TODAY! :)
You start with the next meal and get a workout done ;), I am off to prepare myself an afternoon snack and go out ;).


I think that next time I'll cover last post of excuses, unless I get many more of them or I get über inspired to do more of them :D. So, if you have any, please share them in your comment, also, if you have solutions for all three excuses I covered today, please share your brains with us :).

Happy healthy Saturday!

What I ate

Haven't done "What I ate" post in a while, would be great if I remember to do one every two weeks or so, because I know many of you are curious what do I eat. Are you? I know you are ;).
Anyways, let's just get into the meals.




 Meal 1:

 

I had fruit smoothie for perfect start of the day. I blended half of banana, little bit of pine apple, mixed berries and soy milk. For some extra protein I added 1 tsp of hemp protein, I'm not a big fan of it taste-wise, but you can't really feel the taste in a smoothie and I have to use it anyways. Of course, I had cup of green tea too.

Meal 2:

This was my post workout meal, I just ate green salad with chickpeas, I just added about a spoon of olive oil, same amount of apple cider vinegar and little bit of salt. So simple and delicious.

Meal 3:

For third meal I just cut half of a medium sized sweet potato and some brocoli (my fave veg) and put it in the oven with some olive oil for half an hour (200˙C). I just sprinkled some salt and it was delicious! My month is watering just thinking of it.

Meal 4:

 

This meal was totally random, I just wanted to taste something sweet, not necessarily craved it, so I used the other half of banana from morning, about 8 almonds and tsp of honey. Random, but good!

Meal 5: 

Another salad. This time I had cabbage, green salad, chickpeas and tofu with sesame seeds. I put some olive oil in a pan, put tofu and about 2 spoons of sesame seeds and fry it on medium heat. Put it in a bowl with your salad, I just added little but of olive oil, apple cider vinegar and salt.


I hope you're having a wonderful Monday!

Saturday Fitness Tip: What can I do when I crave sugar?

As you may know, I've started with "no sugar challenge" 2 weeks ago. Those 2 weeks were great, no major cravings, been eating clean and I added detoxifying foods to my diet every day.
You can read last Saturday Fitness Tip post here.

But what can you do when you crave something sweet sooooo badly?? I have some tips what to do when you crave sugar:

1. Drink loads of water, you can add lemon juice to it and water will fill you up. If I would eat something on stomach full of water I would probably feel sick and I don't want that.

2. If I eat something with artificial sweeteners in it, highly processed foods, I will feel sick and my stomach will hurt the next day or even the same day. My body is so used to healthy eating that it "pays me back" with sickness and I feel gross! I try to remember that feeling of sickness and eat something nutritional instead.

 

Source: Pinterest

3. Whenever I crave sweets, I know that I'm stressed or my mind is not calm. So I suggest you try to calm your mind with meditation. With that I don't mean 15, 20 or 30 minutes meditation, sometimes even 5 minutes can do magic. Stop whatever your doing, close your eyes and try not to think about anything or visualise yourself in a place where you feel the happiest - for me that is nature, especially forest, beach or looking at waterfall.
You can google to educate yourself more about meditation or how to release stress.

4. Eat fruit instead! Fruit contain natural fructose and give our body nutrients, energy and they are overall really good tasting. Artificial sweeteners don't give our body anything - just empty calories and are main cause of many diseases (cancer, diabetes etc.). Also, try to incorporate some protein with your fruit intake. I eat 8 almonds with my apple, one tsp of peanut butter (natural, without sugar and salt) with my banana ... Fruit is still sugar, protein source help you to stabilise your blood sugar whenever you eat piece of fruit. But if you don't have any protein source on the reach of your hand, eat just piece of fruit, never skip meals. Ever!

5. Eat dry fruits instead of candy. I always make sure I buy the ones without any added sugar, no preservatives or other nasty ingredients. Pure dried fruit. If you can't get it pure, than don't even buy it in the first place. I love dates, they are super sweet and I usually take 3-5 and I'm full, and they satisfy my craving.

6. This may sound silly but it helps - educate yourself about sugar and other foods. What is sugar causing to our bodies, how to stop craving it etc. I recommend book 'Suicide by sugar' written by Nancy Appleton. And I also randomly search through google to find some useful information. Yes, Google is my best amigo! ;)

 

Source: Pinterest

7. Make your own healthy recipes and substitute artificial sweeteners with natural sweeteners, such as coconut sugar (low glycemic index, I've read that is the best substitute for regular sugar, little bit more expensive, but food should be an investment anyways; I haven't tried it though), stevia or truvia, or you can also soak dates or raisins in water and use that sweet water to sweeten your desert.

8. Last but not least tip is ... eat before bed time. Yes, you've read that right. If you feel tired, grupy and without energy in the morning, main reason is probably that your blood sugar level is low and eating before bed can stabilise that and help you with your sugar cravings. Don't just indulge on anything, grab some sort of a vegetable and handful of nuts or a table spoon of natural nut butter. But keep in mind that everyone is different, to some this tip may works, to some it may not.


Another point is that, the longer you eat clean without any sugar involved, the less you'll crave it. First week might be the hardest, but then you'll feel like a whole new person. The best feeling ever is when you wake up energized! Yes, that is possible!!
If you are having problem with bloating, can't lose last 5 kgs, have skin break outs, allergies, you're ill all the time ... cutting down sugar can do magic.

I hope this post was helpful to some and please share your tips how do you "kill" your sugar cravings. :)

Have a healthy Saturday and be happy ;)

Saturday Fitness Tip: 3 detoxifying foods and a challenge!

I originally wanted to post this post previous Saturday, but I wasn't feeling like writing anything, snowy weather does its magic (as well as first day of that time of the month, you know which), but watching The Avengers and Iron man 2 wasn't the worst scenario either :).

I will talk about 3 anti-oxidant foods probably everyone has at home (if you don't, get them right now!!) and at the end I'll share and explain a diet challenge I'm doing this month and I would be happy if you join me! :)

Our body has a natural ability to clean itself, you don't need to starve to detoxify! We just have to provide the right foods to help it flush out any toxins. Let's start with 3 anti-oxidant foods you should eat/drink every day.

Source: Pinterest

First food I want to talk about are lemons. Lemons are really cleansing and detoxifying, and they also help you balancing out your acid and alkaline levels: meat, eggs, coffee etc. are acid, lemons are alkaline foods.
How to include them in your diet: I squeeze one lemon and pour it into 1l bottle with water and drink it throughout the day. Sometimes I drink even more, I noticed that in colder weather is really hard for me to drink enough water, that's why I prefer water with lemon juice, it just tastes like I'm drinking something fancier than water:).

Source: Pinterest

Another beverage is green tea. It's a mild source of caffeine. Coffee can be really toxic to our body, especially if you drink high doses of it. If you drink green tea instead of coffee, your skin will look better, you'll feel better and it's good to drink green tea before you workout, you'll sweat all the nasty stuff out of your body!
How to include it in your diet: I cannot start a day without a green tea, it's my coffee in the morning, I'm not even kidding. You can drink it whenever you want to, I suggest you don't drink it too much though, it can cause insomnia (if you drink it late in the day).

Source: Pinterest

Next one probably sounds kinda silly, but I don't think everyone is eating enough of ... Vegetables! Preferably raw veggies. It's recommended to eat vegetables in every meal, the more colours (of veggies) on your plate the better. Vegetables are good carbs, they provide vitamins, minerals, enzymes, they provide anything that keeps your body going.
How to include them in your diet: I try to plan my meals, this way I have a complete control what I put in my body. If you don't find veggies that exciting, try to add them in smoothies, I put spinach in my green smoothie (I'll post a recipe soon!), make yourself a vegetable soup, make a gluten-free vegetable pizza ... There are so many exciting ways to make your veggies more appealing, google is your best friend, mmm-kay? :)

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I also wanted to write 3 foods you should avoid eating but I feel this post would be too long. So, I'll do that some other time and I'll talk about a challenge I'm doing whole month of March. It's no sugar challenge. And you are more than welcomed to join me :).

No sugar means no chocolate, ice cream, cakes, any other desserts, no candy ... nothing sugary is allowed. Make sure you read labels, most cereal, corn flakes, ketchup have sugar in them - sugar has many names. You can read '50 other names for sugar' article here: click.

If you want something sweet eat fruit instead. Natural sweeteners (stevia, truvia) are allowed. Raw honey is ok, but in moderation, honey has high glicemic index. Stay away from agave nectar and maple syrup for this month. And don't drink any alcohol as well. Most alcoholic beverages are just plain sugar or are absorbed in our body as sugar.

Another food you won't see on my plate this month is wheat. Wheat is absorbed the same as sugar, it doesn't provide any nutrients to our body. 

Trust me, it's not that hard. Our body doesn't need sugar ... at all! We crave it because we know the taste of the sugary stuff. Our taste buds were not made to taste this "flavour full" foods, we are totally over-loading our taste buds. Make yourself a favour and cancel out sugar! :) Your body and mind will thank you.


Thank you for reading and joining me with this challenge! Because I know many of you are thrilled to do it ;). Or at least support me :)

Have a happy healthy Saturday!