IALAC

IALAC -a message from a grade 3 teacher .. I Am Loveable and Capable. Stolen from my favourite blog written by Carrie who runs a boot camp in North Halton. She learned this from a former grade 3 teacher and it was an inspiring acronym that covered the walls of her classroom.

I think for me I realized that I deserve a healthy life .. I'm worthy of a healthy life and I'm CAPABLE of a healthy life.

We chose to live the life we do ... we chose to eat that McDonalds burger .. or chose to skip daily exercise. It's in all of our powers to chose to think about ourselves first and put a healthy life as a priority. A parent commented on how I looked great and had clearly lost weight and I said the gym has been great for me. She made a comment about how all that goes "down the toilet when you have kids". I want to make this pledge now that I will be an involved and loving parent but in order to be provide for my future children I have to look after myself (specifically my health) first  or else I'll be no good to my future children.

I have noticed this already in teaching with my students. The days I go to the gym I feel so much more energized, confident and positive about myself and my job. I feel like I have more patience and I'm more focused for my students. The same results happen when I am eating "clean". I notice a major decrease in my energy level as a teacher when I don't take care of myself and eat healthy.

 Everybody deserves a healthy life and a healthy body .. our bodies are loveable and capable of that. So join me .. IALAC .. I AM LOVEABLE AND CAPABLE! Say it to yourself when you consider going through the McDonalds drive through.

Crunchy Kale chips ... yum, yum good!

I have found my new addiction ... at least it’s a healthy one .. KALE CHIPS!

Now if you had asked me 2 weeks ago what Kale was, I’d have no idea. However the Longos 5 dollar cooking classes showed me the amazement of Kale. I went to a salt and seasonings class where part of the class included making kale chips (using cyprus flake salt, but regular sea salt is fine ... I try not to put too much extra salt when I make my kale chips anyways).

I had not yet found a healthy alternative to the crispy, crunchy, salty goodness of potato chips (my weakness) ... until I met Kale. In fact I can confidently say I found kale chips to be even better than Lays because 1) they are a helluva lot more satisfying and filling than potato chips and 2) it’s an incredible way to get in the dark, green, leafy vegetables.

Enough of me raving about Kale ... want the recipe?!  

How to make them:

Tear the leaves from a bunch of washed and dried kale into bite-size pieces (don’t use the stems).

Toss with a thin drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil (about 1.5 tablespoons) and massage lightly into the leaves.

Arrange leaves in a single layer on two large baking sheets.

Bake at 350°F (180°C) until crispy and dark green (not brown), 8 to 12 minutes.

As soon as it comes out of the oven Sprinkle with a pinch of sea salt (or crushed up cyprus salt flakes), tossing to distribute. Or leave out the salt and add the seasoning of your choice, such as curry powder, smoked paprika, or whatever you have on hand.

I learned at the Longo class to tip to add the salt AFTER the kale is cooked. She told us that you don’t need NEARLY as much salt to get the salty flavour we all desire.

At Food Basics I spent 1.50 on Kale. You can’t even buy a bag of Lays chips for that. In the end I was able to make the equivalent amount if not more chips than you’d get in a bag of Lays. Furthermore it was a much more satisfying and healthy snack and I knew every ingredient that went into them. Can you tell that I’m sold?

Last thing .. why Kale? it is packed with vitamins A, C and K, as well as a host of other nutrients. This and other dark, leafy vegetables have been linked with a lower risk of cancer, heart disease and osteoporosis.  Other studies have shown that eating just one daily serving of green leafy vegetables can reduce the risk of heart disease by up to 23 percent. 

I was amazed when I read this registered dietian's take on Kale.

Check it out  http://www.lesliebeck.com/ingredient_index.php?featured_food=130

Moral of the story .. try these Kale chips. Tell me what you think!

personal training madness

Okay so I never thought I could work so hard I'd feel like puking after exercise ... well Tuesday's personal training session did jsut that. Not necessarily a good thing and my trainer suggested I maybe should have had a lighter meal .. alas I didn't actually puke but towards the end I definitely felt like it .

That being said I loved every minute of my training session..my trainer is fantastic!!  The KILLER part .. was running intervals up the hill behind the gym and back. My trainer made me do the hill 4 times ... each time I was given 1 minute for recovery...
The goal was to beat my time each time I ran. I looked at her first and laughed.

However first time I did it 22.34 seconds, 2nd time I did it in 17 seconds, the 3rd time I did it in 14.57 seconds. The final 4th run I was dead and did not think I had anything left in me ... however I beat it!!! Did it in 14.23 seconds ... wooo hooo SUCCESS IN HILL FORM! Great day!

Second point of the day .... have you even eaten something so bad, disgusting and unclean for you that your stomach is paying for it for the rest of the night?
Nick and I ended up at a pulled pork type fast food place ... definitely not ideal for clean eating and there wasn't a salad on the menu! UGH bad choice with pulled chicken sandwich, beans and coseslaw (tasted delicious at the time though) ... but it was done and my stomach paid for it afterwards. It reminded me how much better clean eating feels on my body and how this oily, fatty, fake crap really isn't meant for our bodies!!!!!

Alas .. gotta remember Tosca's suggestion to be more cautious of carrying a cooler because weekends are rough.

Weighing in again tomorrow and hoping that I've lost 2 pounds to make the 20 pounds .. felt like until tonight I had a very good week .. but we'll see .. tomorrow will tell.

Night world, 9am step class in the am. Need sleep!

not moving ..

Got my butt out of bed for a 9am class this morning and wow was it a killer. Our typical instructor (Vivenne for those that know premier) was away and somebody named Jackie was in. I had never had her before but holy cow I was dying at the end of it. I had 4 days off the gym due to a crazy schedule ... and man could I tell. It was a lot harder to keep up and yep .. I hurt! Still felt great afterwards .. and still ended up having my typical afternoon nap due to the early wake up . I'm wondering if this nap factor defeats the purpose of the early morning work out .. thoughts ??
So I'm at 18 pounds lost and not moving ... I've been the same weight for almost 3 weeks ... just not budging. I have a personal training session on Tuesday that I hope will help me tackle this.

I know it's primiarly the food and special occassions based where I overindulge because I definitely have the exercise going well. The additional 20 pounds (or 36 total)  by the end of June may not be so realistic .. we shall see what happens.

I highly recommend The Skinny Bitch book I'm reading (Thanks Katie). They discuss soda .. aka pop ... they describe it as liquid satan. "there is nothing in soda that should be put in your body." It describes their sugar levels, and the fact that there is high levels of phosphorous which can increase calcium loss from the body.

There is also a whole chapter on aspartane which has completely changed the way I look at diet coke. I have had diet coke since reading the chatper, but boy have I cut back.

I highly recommend this book .. it was a good one!

I'm so close to the 20 pound loss mark (yay!) ... I must admint the other day I pust two 5 pound weights kinda in my pocket/pants .. exactly where I probably carried this extra weight and I walked around with the weight. Holy shit (excuse the language), but I can't believe I once knowingly carried that extra weight (and we're only talking 10 pounds!). .. I never want to carry that extra 10 (or more specifically 18) pounds ever again.

May and June are going to be crazy ... just looked at my calendar .. but gotta stay focused, plan, exercise and make a healthy lifestyle a priority!

Thanks for the continued support.

celebrations and temptations all around ..

Been a bit since I posted ..

wanted to celebrate a few things .. but also be flat out honest about today which was a terrible, horrible, no good very bad eating day (can you tell I'm a teacher?)

Had my first week without a weight loss which fell of course on Easter weekend ..I stayed the same though so that's exciting..  I'm feeling good anyways phyically and know the lifestyle changes are good ones.

Celebrations :
Celebration section #1 ... don't even need milk or sugar in my tea anymore, just been going for black.
decreased my 1/2 hot chocolate, 1/2 coffee to 1/3 hot chocolate .. however apparently the Timmies people looked at my EA who ordered it for me funny...they don't have a 1/3 button so hopefully soon I can go for black. I know coffee isn't even all that good for you anyways but I feel in my job (just to keep me awake) it's not easy to cut out (I do about 4-5 cups a week). Thoughts and comments on coffee would be appreciated ...

Celebration #2 ....people are noticing my weight loss. For some reason the outfit I wore the other day people just began commenting which was really flattering to hear. I need to remember how great that feels next time I'm tempted by unhealthy food. I can also fit into an old pair of my favourite jeans! Hurray!

Celebration #3 .... Nick had the boys over for hockey .. and they ordered a party size pizza .. pizza is my UNBELIEVABLE weakness. What made it worse was that I hadn't eaten in awhile. I chose to make myself a spinach salad instead of the pizza. I felt so good about my decision afterwards even though the smell of the pizza was killing me! What was even better was Michele was over too and she was trying to resist and we both made a healthier choice so I"m proud of both of us! I didn't feel deprived, in fact I felt quite satisfied.

Now for the truth. I messed up today.... eat clean went out the window ... I'm at a hotel for a conference tomorrow in Kitchener. My friend and co worker Jane and  went to Montanas and shared sweet potato fries, and I had a whole wheat quesidalla .... and I had about 4 cookies after school that the after school program offered me. Not great choices ... and I actually felt kinda gross after my after school "snack" and dinner out.
Tosca says if you mess up not to let it ruin the rest of your day .. today I think I let the cookies after school give me permission to jump off the healthy eating band wagon. Tomorrow is another day and although breakfast and lunch is provided I'm going to try and focus on clean eating as much as possible. I'll let you know how it goes.

This post is to offically declare my celebrations but also declare that yes I made some mistakes today but I felt the effects (stomach didn't think it was a good idea).
Moral of the story .. I will probably still do it again (not going to lie to myself) .. but at least I have some motivation and evidence that my body felt gross afterwards and it's not something I ever want to resort back to on a daily basis!!