Category Archives: Healthy Ideas

To say that I have had to adjust to having food allergies is an understatement.  My first feelings were of total panic and being upset about what I couldn’t eat.  “No more pizza?  What about pasta?  Ice cream is a no-no?”  And then I became obsessed with specific foods that I could eat, buying every item in the store that said “gluten free.”  Now I am finding a happy medium between what my body needs and what I can eat.  It has definitely been a journey, and after 9 months down the road, I finally feel comfortable.  Actually, the first day I found out about my allergies, my father said to me “Lauren, this is going to take time.  It will probably take you 9-12 months to figure it out.  But you will.”

In the past few months when I have really figured out what to eat to feed my body what it needs, my body has responded.  I have energy, I enjoy working out, I feel great… really great.  And I have lost weight!  Instead of dieting, I have changed my lifestyle to feed my body what it needs.  And it has apparently said “thank you.”  Even my doctor told me that I look different than I did 6 months ago.

I have come to truly understand that eating should be about feeding your body what it needs and not what it wants (that is your mind talking and not your body).  So here are my top healthy living tips: 

• Veggies fill you up and can be delicious.  I never used to believe this until I discovered the power of the spice drawer.  My spice drawer is like my third arm in the kitchen.  Spice up those veggies with flavor!
• Go for full/low fat and real sugar instead of artificial counterparts.  My body doesn’t need toxins, so why would I eat fat free cheese that is obviously made out of chemicals?  Go for the real stuff!  You will feel more satisfied and will eat less.
• Focus on adding good fats to your diet (avocados, nuts) in moderation.  If you don’t feed your body the fat that it needs, it will hold onto its current storage because it thinks you are starving.
• Eat breakfast.  There have been so many studies that show that people who eat breakfast have more energy and lose weight quicker.  Your body needs fuel to get going for the day!
• Eat treats when you really want them.  It’s ok to indulge sometimes; it will put your stomach and your mind at rest instead of thinking for days about that cookie you really want.
• Get on the exercise train.  Once you find something you love, stick with it and you will get into a routine of actually wanting to exercise.  I actually get angry now when I can’t get to Zumba each week!
• Watch how many processed carbs you eat.  I never realized how many carbs I ate, and thus craved, until I cut most of them out.  I believe that wheat is over-processed in our society and is the culprit of so many health issues.  My body basically yelled at me for eating so many processed carbs by developing allergies.  Instead, opt for fruit, veggies, quinoa, edamame, rice as carb fillers.
• Believe you can do it.  It really is mind over matter.  I have simply told myself that I CANNOT eat wheat and dairy, so I don’t… and haven’t looked back.

I, like most other people, really depend on my cell phone.  Not only is it an obvious form of communication, but it can help with healthy eating and weight loss, too!  I wanted to share my favorite healthy living apps…

1.  Whole Foods.  This app is great for any foodie, with or without allergies.  It has an enormous collection of recipes… just type in a food course, category, or special diet item, and it comes up with several recipes matching your search.  Or type in what you already have in the pantry, and it will list possible recipes.  When looking at a recipe, you can add the ingredients to a shopping list and take it with you to the grocery store!  I especially appreciate the special diet section, where it tells me if the recipe has wheat or dairy in it.  Genius!

2.  Calorie Counter.  Does what it says it does… counts your calories…as well as your protein, carbs, and fat for the day and by meal.  Enter in what you have eaten that day and it gives you all the statistics.  It even has a large database for popular brands, restaurants, and supermarket brands.  Journaling your meals is a great weight loss tip… once you actually see what you are eating and how it adds up, it is much easier to adapt your diet.

3.  C25K.  Couch to 5K.  This app is great for exercise motivation.  It starts out slow… running and walking for specifically timed intervals for a period of about 35 minutes total.  It increases the amount you run every few sessions, until you are running as far as a 5K!  I actually followed the whole program through and found it very easy to get to a 5K, a far reaching goal in my mind.  You can also play music from your phone in a playlist while you are exercising.

Hope these apps help you with healthy living goals, they have certainly helped me.  🙂

Jillian Michaels is everywhere.  On TV, in magazines, on the bookshelf.  And with good reason.  She is a healthy body bad ass, and she gets results.  We see them every week on The Biggest Loser, but we can also see results every week with ourselves.

I recently flipped through Jillian’s “Mastering Your Metabolism” and found many of her healthy ideas smart as well as relatable to someone with food allergies.  She speaks about how what we put into our bodies direct effects what our bodies do for us.  I completely believe this.  We really are what we eat and this affects how we feel.

The main thread throughout the book is that we pack on the weight when our hormones are out of whack.  And guess what puts our hormones out of whack… food.  So, she says we can lose weight and feel better by doing three things:

1.  Remove toxins in our life.  This includes foods that are bad for us (which she calls anti-nutrients), stress, and clutter.

2.  Restore the good stuff in life.  This includes feeding our bodies more natural foods, and appreciating our efforts.

3.  Rebalance our lives.  This includes finding a middle ground in life as well as eating a balanced diet.

I really enjoyed her spin on remove, restore, and rebalance and how it relates to food as well as life.  It is so easy to get caught up in life and not take time to feed our body as well as our soul.

On a food level, I related to her ideas because she really promotes the idea of ridding our bodies of toxins that come from processed food.  Having a wheat and dairy allergy, I have rid my diet of most processed food and feel great about what I put into my mouth.  Her anti-nutrients include hydrogenated fats (think butter), refined grains (white bread), corn syrup (like soda), artificial colors, pesticides.  We need to rid our bodies of processed foods because our bodies don’t see them as food and thus doesn’t know what to do with them… hence weight gain.

If we can all tweak our diets just a little and cut out processed foods, we will have less cases of hormone imbalances that lead to diabetes, thyroid issues, heart disease, infertility, and mood swings/depression.  I know that I feel better about what I eat now because I eat mostly fruits, vegetables and meats… I rarely even go down the aisles in the supermarket because I only buy what is located in the perimeter.  Her book just further motivated me to realize that my food allergies are my body’s way of telling me to feed it what it needs to stay healthy!  I guess Jillian’s kick butt attitude is for a good reason… here’s to all of us balancing our forks a little better.

Yesterday, I ate completely vegan meals all day.  And not on purpose!  I had an avocado and tofu for breakfast, a salad, coconut milk yogurt and a banana for lunch, and some pasta with peanut sauce for dinner.  I didn’t even realize I was a one- day- vegan until this morning when I read this article in Self magazine.

The article talks about the benefits of being vegetarian, but also about how being a part-time vegetarian can deliver similar benefits.  I really related to the writer.  She promoted both vegetarian and meat-eating lifestyles, but in balance with each other.  I could never give up meat completely, and often think that my diet is vegan-ish.  But if I could cut out meat for even a couple days a week, I could also reap the benefits of a vegan lifestyle.

The article stated the top 5 reasons to be a part-time vegetarian (or for me, vegan-ish).

1.  To stay slim.  Animal fats are full of saturated fat, which we all know is the “bad” kind of fat.  Lean vegetable proteins have the same protein power without the saturated fat.  Plus, they have fiber to keep us fuller longer.

2.  To help the planet.  Processing meat products increases our carbon footprint and reduces the health of our earth.  If we could eat more foods that are locally grown and less processed, we are helping the planet.

3.  To fend off cancer.  Studies show that eating red meat and high fat dairy increases risk for cancer.  Why not reduce our risk?

4.  To protect our heart.  Animal fats high in saturated fat get stuck in our arteries and increase our risk for heart problems.  Clean out those arteries!  Choose alternative proteins such as soy, beans, quinoa.

5.  To save cash.  Meat costs more than vegetables and vegetable protein sources.  Especially if you are buying organic products.  Check out farmer’s markets for even better cost efficient vegetables.

The words of my doctor still resonate in my head; “I am glad you have these food allergies because you are going to really be able to focus on eating a less processed diet.”  Although my allergies were startling and life-changing at first, I am really beginning to see how they can fit into my lifestyle.  Every week, my fridge is full and my cupboards are empty because I eat fresh and non- processed food.  I feel great, I want to exercise, I am full of energy, and I feel good about what I am putting into my body.  Now, I am going to think about eating less meat for those 5 great reasons above.  I am going to officially challenge myself to eat meat free one day a week.  Hope you consider it, too!

Yep, exercise.  You knew that there couldn’t be a healthy food blog without some mention of exercise, right?  Well, exercising is part of being healthy, we all know that.  And when you feel good about the food that you are putting into your body, you also feel good about your energy level and exercising.  

I am not someone who loses weight easily.  I definitely need to work at it.  And, with all of my food allergies, I have felt like my body has been out of whack.  My energy level and weight have both fluctuated.  But once I started to feel better because I was feeding myself food that my body could handle, I wanted to exercise more. I can’t believe I just put that in writing, but the endorphins were making me feel better.  So, I found exercise that I could do and wanted to do.  It is a cycle: the more I exercised, the better I felt and the more I wanted to keep doing it. Really.

My favorite exercise forms:

Zumba! Zumba is a craze sweeping the nation, and with great reason.  It is 60 minutes of intense dancing that engages core muscles, while still keeping your arms and legs moving.  Its the wow-I-am-sore-but-feel-so-great kind of exercise.  They use current music and doable moves… even if you can’t get every move down, you know that you are working your hardest.  And it’s fun!

* Tip:   Ask your local gym if they have Zumba classes and who the instructor is.  The instructor might teach classes in other locations that you could go to for a small fee.  This works for me because I don’t belong to a gym, I just follow the Zumba teacher around and pay for each individual class!

Wii Fit! For those cold and dark winter afternoons when I don’t feel like going to a gym or a class, I use my Wii.  The exercise programs are customizable and can tell you how many calories you are burning.  Plus, one of the backround images is a beach!  I usually do a combination of aerobic exercises as well as weight bearing ones for cardio and lifting together.  My favorite Wii exercise programs are EA Active Personal Trainer and EA Active Resort.  I also like Wii Just Dance for those days that I need to let loose and get some calories in..or out!

*Tip: Wii also has a Zumba program!  It isn’t exactly the same as going to a class, but every calorie counts! Also, add real hand weights to the exercises that let you use the exercise band.  It makes a big difference!

Pure Barre! Pure Barre is a somewhat recent form of exercise that focuses on small movements of all muscles.  It works on your core, seat, thigh, and arm muscles.  Muscles you didn’t know you had!  It is a 60 minute class where you follow the instructor who models small movements followed by stretching so the muscles are worked and then lengthened.  It requires serious focus and every class is a challenge.

*Tip:  Try to find a class in your area.  They are expensive, but once you understand the routine, you can get the DVDs or podcasts.  The podcasts are only $5!  Then you don’t have to pay for a class every time, but can go to a class when you need a refresher.

What are your favorite exercise routines?