Trying to Avoid "The Nonsense"...

So absolutely nothing I ate kept me full yesterday.  NOTHING!  And there was:

• A Peppermint Vitatop
• 2 Clementines  (I always forget how much I love clementines!)
• Yogurt with 1/4 cup almonds
• 2 Multi-grain Wasa Crackers with a Laughing Cow Wedge & a slice of TJ's Rosemary Ham
• Apple

....and I was still hungry after every. single. thing:)  It was like it all just *burned up* as soon as it hit my stomach (if only THAT were true:)  So needless to say I was EXCESSIVELY ready for salads last night:)

In the *starving* mix:

• Lettuce
• 1/2 can of tuna
• 1/2 can of chickpeas
• Sprinkle of craisins
• Carrots
• Diced Onions
• Sprinkle of Blue Cheese

This tasted like a million bucks last night...no joke:) 

A starving day PLUS I had to PUSH myself to exercise yesterday.  I was just NOT feelin either of these, but still got in:



Monday Morning:  3 mile "Walk away the Pounds" with 8 pound weights

Monday Night:  1 hour pilates class

Thankfully, I woke up SUPER ready for my workout this morning....more on that tomorrow (but I'll give you one guess what it was;)

Sooo since we're in a new month, I thought I'd catch you up to date on my "No Nonsense" New Years resolution:)  So far I've been one month clean of all artificial sweeteners:  No Splenda/Sweet & Low/diet soda, etc.  I'm really interested in the link between artificial sweeteners and cravings, since I struggled with that A LOT last year.  I HAVE noticed a difference, but it's still a little too early for me to give you a concrete answer on that one yet!  But I'm determined to keep trying and see how it pans out over a long period of time.  And with a little boost from Jillian's book, I've also been paying more attention to food labels and have been trying to avoid all:

• overly processed foods (as few ingredients or unrecognizable words as possible)
• hydrogenated fats
• high-fructose corn syrup
• artificial colors & preservatives

Some of the biggest "surprise" offenders (not that i would claim they were health food ANYWAYS) were:

• Hot Chocolate Packets (ingredient #1-Sugar, #2- Corn Syrup, #3- Hydro. Oils = Gross)
• Jiffy Packaged Corn Muffin Mix (Hydrogenated oils)
• Coffee Creamer (not shocking with the corn syrup, but shocking with the Hydro. Oils)
• Cool Whip (Hydro. Oils)
• Ice Cream Cones (Hydro. Oils-check your labels)
• A lot of light yogurts (stick to Greek or naturally flavored...the 40 extra calories are worth it)
• Most commercial brand peanut butters  (Peanut butter ingredients should only be Peanuts & Salt...Trader Joe's makes the best!)

See...they get a little tricky in labeling products "Trans Fat Free."  As long as they come in under 0.5 grams PER SERVING, a product can be labeled Trans Fat Free; HOWEVER, if hydrogenated oils (or 'shortening, partially hydrogenated oil of any kind-palm, corn, soybean') are listed as the ingredients, it DOES contain trans fats.  So if you eat any more than that TWO TABLESPOONS serving of Cool Whip (which, let's be real, you do...I know I do!), you're certainly getting a significant level of trans fats.  And what do those lovely trans fats do?  They raise your bad cholesterol & lower the good.  Very bad news.  They should be avoided at all costs.  And in case your curious, anything listed as UNsaturated fats (a.k.a. Poly or Mono Unsaturated fats) ARE good news.  Both of those lower your bad cholesterol & raise the good!  (found in items like canola or olive oil, avocados, etc.)

So in the 'everything in moderation' world I try to spin in, I've been trying to avoid all of those bad things as best I can.  If I feel like having a diet soda once in a great while when we're out, I'm not gonna be too hard on myself.  But I'd rather make a cup of hot cocoa from scratch then open a packet of chemicals & trans fats.  I'd rather have organic, naturally flavored yogurt over the artificially flavored AND colored deals.  But NOT gonna lie...I do heart me some coffee creamer.  I just try to have only a little bit of it and ONLY occasionally now (usually on Sunday mornings).  For the rest of the week, I try to only have coffee if I feel I really need that BOOST (or feel a headache coming on), and if I do have it, I use 2 teaspoons of agave nectar (trying to get my super sweet taste buds down to a teaspoon of honey:) , a little 1% milk and a splash of REAL cream, if I'm feeling saucy:)  I was SHOCKED at how easy it was to give up my daily cup of creamer & splenda coffee.  So if you're looking to get away from 'the nonsense' too, try it out for a few days and see how you feel!  It's also a reason I've been shopping at Trader Joe's now more than ever.  Almost all of their items (double check your labels just to be sure) are preservatives & artificial flavor free with ingredient labels you can ACTUALLY UNDERSTAND!  Even more of an excuse to go there...a lot:)

But that was my little blurb.  I figured I'd rather eat a donut or a slice of red velvet cake while I'm out and about and totally enjoy it and not worry about the stats too much than have a house full of 'chemical foods' at my easy disposal...ya know what I mean?  It's all about making those little changes you can stick to.  (Plus, Jillian's description of "a cup of poison" made it easier to drill that one home;) hahahahahahhaa....But don't let it overwhelm you and just do what you can!  (just like everything else-cooking, exercising, etc...)  Any day you don't have the bad stuff when you normally would is a victory.  And any day you do is not a disaster.  It's just another chance to try harder the next day.

So that's my spiel:)  Any thoughts?

Hope you have a good Tuesday...and if your in NJ:  Strap on your ice skates!  It's gonna be...interesting;)