Green Lemonade

Desiring juice today, so I thought I'd try the Green Lemonade.  I was a bit skeptical about it, as the ingredients were similar to the Mean Green juice, which I did not like (I will be making it again soon to confirm.  It's Joe's favorite so I'm sure I just need to give it another shot).  A friend of mine made lemonade this morning and that sounded good, so I was hoping the lemon part would save the day.

It did!  It's not sweet but I like it :o).  It has a nice clear consistency and the greens are prevalent but not overpowering; just enough to still taste the lemon.  I looked back at the Mean Green juice.  This recipe only adds spinach and subtracts ginger, half a cucumber, and an apple, so not quite sure how I'm enjoying it more.  I'll admit my apple was ginormous so maybe that's the difference.  Anyway this was "good."  Nice and clean.  Will have this one again.

Spiced Peach Pear Juice

I saw this recipe on facebook the other day and just thought it looked heavenly!  I picked up the ingredients on my grocery run yesterday.  Unfortunately I couldn't find peaches so I substituted nectarines.  And I opted to skip the clove powder as it was almost $5 a jar!  Good thing because as I started typing this I realized I forgot to add all the spices lol.  Anyway this one is pretty good.  It tastes a lot like my favorite carrot juice recipe, but sweeter.  I'm sure the spices add a nice touch so I'll have to remember to throw those in next time.

You are what you eat. I eat what I love. Thus I am what I love :o)

My friend and I successfully completed a full week of clean eating (the week ends at 2:00 pm Friday).  The most significant difference I noticed was my energy level.  Even with daylight savings time, I found myself waking up alert and ready to start the day.  This energy seemed to last the entire day.  Normally I'm beat by the end of the day and barely have the motivation to eat dinner.  I was still tired in the evenings, but not so tired that I couldn't talk myself into doing my night time tasks.  I could definitely feel a positive change.  I think it's important to note the positive changes you feel by healthy diet and exercise habits, not just what you see.  It's easy to focus on pounds lost and waist sizes, but if you focus on healthy choices and the instant benefits that come along, it's easier to stick to it while maintaining your sanity.  I think it creates a healthier outlook too.  Remember it's a journey, not a destination.  Thinking about it this way helps us create healthy, lasting lifestyle changes.

One way to make health changes permanent is to make sure the changes are sustainable.  Before starting a new routine we should ask ourselves, is this something I can do long term?  If the answer is no, we should probably think about finding another way to accomplish our goals.  It's great to have the motivation to work out twice a day, and of course we'll get the results we want more quickly.  But if we can't sustain that level of activity and revert back to old habits, we'll soon find ourselves back at our beginning body fat percentage, if not higher.  A better plan is to do things in moderation.  Aim to work out twice a day twice a week, or everyday for a week every two months.  This is much easier (mentally) to maintain :o).  This is the reason my clean eating goals do not include weekends lol. (In addition there is lots of research about spiking your metabolism with so-called "cheat meals."  Again the important thing is moderation.  We want to spike it, not send it off the page lol).

So several times last week my friend and I pondered over (fantasized about) what we would eat at the end of the week.  I love cheese so I knew my meal would be something cheesy lol.  The other weekend another friend of mine invited me to go to Mondola's.  It was my first time there, but I settled on ordering margherita pizza and IT. WAS. DE. LICIOUS!!  I decided that in breaking my "fast", I would have it again.  But then I had a better idea.  I decided to make it.  I once heard someone say that a good rule of thumb is to only eat junk food as often as your willing to make it :o).  Most of us would be fitness models if we stuck to that.

A perfectly peeled tomato.  Trickier than it looks!

I was a little nervous about trying to reproduce something so divine, but my recipe was simple enough (read: < $$$).  It called for crust, crushed tomatoes, olive oil, basil, and cheese.  I did not have the ambition to make the crust (as I child I baked a lot so I have enough experience to know that it can be difficult and that I'm out of practice lol), but I did want to "make" my own crushed tomatoes rather than buying canned.  This is more complicated than you might think.  You can't just mash up tomatoes, but instead you have to first peel them and then cook them til they are soft enough to be mashed.  I also seasoned them with garlic and herbs since this would essentially be the pizza sauce.

Fresh pizza sauce (Check out my running band on the counter! You might be a runner if... lol)

The most expensive part of the recipe was the cheese.  In addition to Mozzarella, it called for Parmigiano-Reggiano, and the cheapest wedge I could find was still over $6!  Total ingredients came to about $13.  This is about what I would have paid if I had just gone to Mondola's, but of course I have ingredients left over and things are always healthier when you (well, when I) make them at home.

Anyway the pizza turned out great!  I was completely satisfied, though I will get the mozzarella sliced a little thinner next time since it didn't spread as much as I thought it would.  It's been seven days since I ate in a restaurant.  Can I go seven more??

Two stomachs are better than one

What's harder than maintaining a workout routine?  Regularly eating healthy!  My eating has slowly fallen off (as is typical with marathon training), and I've recently found myself craving sweet treats, potato chips, and a gazillion other things that do not keep my body healthy.

You are what you eat and eating good makes me feel great.  Eating junk makes me feel terrible (physically).  This is usually enough to keep me eating a mostly balanced diet.  However, every now and then I eat junk, and then eat more, and then more, until I become so used to feeling crappy that I forget what "great" feels like.  I start craving the junk.  When this happens I make an effort to hit the restart button.  Eat clean until eating bad feels bad again.

I possess the self discipline to make a choice to eat well (though sometimes encouraged by upcoming beach vacations lol), but those first few days are always tough.  When I start craving my junk on day 1, it's easy to give into temptation with the decision to "start tomorrow."  And its easy to put "tomorrow" off for weeks.  But this week I've found a secret weapon: an eating buddy!

I decided I would start my clean eating this Monday (did you know you are more likely to stick to a routine if you start on a Monday?) after a very long week and a weekend that was too short.  I picked up some groceries on Sunday and set myself up for a good day.  Then I realized how beneficial it would be to have a friend eat clean with me.  I suggested this to one of my buddies, who surprisingly was enthusiastic and agreed to do it with me.  Three days in, and we have both been successful in sticking to it.  Significant, because the first three days are always hardest for me.  The reset button has been pushed.

Most people understand the benefits of a work out buddy, but I'm discovering the benefits of an eating buddy:

1. you have someone to hold you accountable; you have to start today because you and your buddy said you'd start today
2. you automatically have someone to exchange recipes with
3. you have a friend to keep you motivated; each partner can use the other's momentum
4. you can do it without being in the same place; with technology it's easy to share what you're trying and what's working for you
5. you have someone to share your successes (and temptations) with

Never say diet diet alone. :o)