Finding What Fits YOU

Look, starting something like a new healthy lifestyle is...scary. It's completely changing your focus and perception on how you live. What foods should you be eating? How long should I exercise? How many times a week should I exercise? Does it matter what time of day I eat? What is better? Low carbs, low sugar, or low fat? How do I know what is healthy and what isn't? Is "diet food" always tasteless and bland? Should I lift weights or focus on cardio????? WHOA! Slow down and just take a deep breath for me. This is a process, a new one at that. You aren't suppose to be 100% spot on when you are just starting out. Take baby steps. Like I said before, when I was in jr. high I didn't even aknowledge being healthy. I ate junk all the time and was hardly active. But when my health declined to a point where I needed to change, I started rethinking my decisions throughout the day. I first started focusing on my nutrition. That was it! I looked at what I was eating and asked myself, "What is a better alternative?" It was the smallest step but it wasn't so much as eat less of everything. I focused on what I needed MORE of. I never really ate vegetables. Never found them important or delectable. But I focused on eating MORE nutritious options rather than reaching for a bag of chips or pulling out the ice cream. I know I'm not fooling anyone, I think we can all agree a hot fudge sunday is much more desirable than a bag of carrots or broccoli. But you CAN make it more delicious by adapting it into YOUR lifestyle.

I was a HUGE (ha literally) chip eater. I loved to come home and polish off a bag of corn chips smothered in salsa or melt cheese and make nachos. I always was a snacker. I constantly was reaching in the fridge or pantry for a handful of sweets or crunchy salty snacks. When I realized my decisions were taking a toll on my health, I decided instead of whining and crying about not eating my favorite treats, I had to make the most out of what I needed more of. It may sound silly, but now I get a bag of the vegetables that I really do like and dip them into salsa or a light vinegrette. I also think that cooking with with herbs gives them a tasteful punch without smothering butter and salt to give it some flavoring. I replaced my chips with something more nutritious and something I needed MORE of.