Tips to help you Stay Sane When Cutting Carbs from your Diet

The holidays are long gone and chances are you, like many of us, are a few weeks into cleaning up your diet in an effort to shed all those holiday cookies and tamales that are clinging for dear life to various parts of your body.  When it comes to weight loss, many choose to lower their carbohydrate intake to help reach their weight loss goal quickly and efficiently.  So if you’ve taken the low carb plunge, welcome to the club! I won’t sugar coat it, the first weeks of cutting the carbs out of your diet seriously suck.  You will likely experience withdrawal symptoms similar to an addict and you will begin to wonder if all this suffering is worth it.  Hang in there, it does get better and believe it or not there will be a day when you won’t even miss bread or pasta!  So if you are on the low carb band wagon here are some tips to help you stay sane those first weeks.

1. Clear out the junk- Seriously anything you can’t eat needs to go! Why torture yourself every time you reach in cupboard to get something by having to have enough willpower to resist that package of your favorite cookies you can’t eat? If you feel guilty about throwing perfectly good food away donate the food to the needy or give it to a skinny friend.
2. Stock your kitchen for success- Do a major shopping trip and stock up on plenty of lean proteins, eggs, low carb dairy, healthy fats, and non-starchy vegetables.  Take a look here for ideas of clean foods to have on hand and also here for essential ingredients to have on hand for healthy cooking.
3.  Make your carbs count- When you are limiting carbs you will want to select the ones you do eat wisely. Choose carbs that have more fiber content in them to keep you full longer.  Include plenty of high fiber vegetables such as spinach and broccoli and also some nuts and seeds such as chia and flax seed which have high fiber contents.  
4. Drink lots of water- There are many benefits to drinking a lot of water when trying to become healthier.  However it’s even more crucial to do so when you cut carbs because your body releases water quickly due to glycogen stores being depleted.  A good goal to aim for is to drink half of your body weight in ounces of water daily.
5. Think outside of the box- Do a quick Google or Pinterest search and you will find a bunch of crazy low carb friends who have come up with creative alternatives for all of your favorite high carb recipes.  Here are a few of my favorite substitutes that make eating less carbs more manageable:

• Almond Flour- I use this in place of breadcrumbs for breading meat and as a baking substitute to make everything from low carb pancakes to low carb pizza crust.
• Cauliflower- This vegetable reigns king as the most versatile vegetable, you may seem skeptical at first, but cauliflower can be used in place of rice, potatoes, and as a flour replacement in pizza crust and breadsticks.
• Zucchini- I’ve mentioned this in previous posts, zucchini can be spiralized into a low carb pasta alternative and it will bring you joy when you're cutting carbs and dreaming of pasta.
• Lettuce leaves- Use in place of buns on your favorite burger, as bread for a sandwich, or in place of a taco shells.

Stay the course my friend, the temporary suffering that comes from lowering your carbohydrate intake will be worth it in the long haul! Sooner than you know it, you will be looking and feeling great!

Cultivating a Grateful Heart to Reach Your Weight Loss Goals

After some recent reflection on my weight loss journey I came to the realization that I was carrying around some extra baggage that needed to be dealt with.  While this “baggage” may not have measured on my scale, it was really weighing me down.  At this point, I have maintained my weight loss for several years but I realized I still wasn’t satisfied with my body.  I would look in a mirror and be disgusted with myself- I would see my arm fat waving back at me, I’d get disappointed that I had a 2 pack instead of a 6 pack, and even though I could lift heavy weights with my legs I’d zone in on the small indentation on my leg and consider my hard work useless.  When people would compliment me about the visible changes I had made to my body, instead of being grateful for their encouraging words, I would respond to them by pointing out one of my flaws. I am so embarrassed by this behavior now but I did this for years my friends!  I just couldn’t accept a compliment from anyone about my weight loss or body because I was weighed down with a flawed perspective, the lens from which I viewed myself and measured my success was blurred.  I was never satisfied! I would reach a goal and not be happy because I had already found 20 new things wrong with myself that needed to be fixed, it was an endless cycle and completely exhausting! I was like a hamster on a wheel, going round and round. In hindsight, it’s so easy now for me to identify that I was an incredibly ungrateful person! The things I didn’t have were blinding me to all the things that I did have! I couldn’t see or celebrate them because I was only fixated on what I didn’t have.  Sometimes in life, we tend to focus on what we want so much, that we fail to recognize and appreciate how far we’ve come. We’re always looking for what’s next, we always want more and we never stop to be thankful for the now.  This flawed mindset is evident throughout our society- we want the newest cars, the trendiest clothes, and people line up for days to buy the newest iPhone even though they have a perfectly good phone already in their pocket!  We focus on better, more, faster… and as a result we’re left feeling empty, never being completely satisfied with what we have.   To be a grateful person is a choice one must consciously make, it’s against most people’s character to be naturally thankful due to our cultural upbringing of being focused on more.

So you may be thinking, yeah all this sounds real nice and all but how the heck does being a thankful person help with weight loss? Our minds are incredibly powerful.  Our thoughts- what we chose to think about and focus on in our minds, often expand and overflow into our lives.   If you are constantly dwelling on what you don’t have, you’ll never be happy with what you do have.  If your mind is flooded with negative thoughts, you’ll constantly be left feeling bad and honestly, it’s hard to make good choices when you feel bad.  If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably experienced some form of emotional eating at some point on your weight loss journey.  Let’s be honest, there are times when life sucks so bad that eating a big bowl of ice cream or maybe straight from the carton (whatever, don’t judge me) is just what you need to feel better.  Chances are if you feel like crap, you’re more likely to eat like crap!  A sound mind is essential for making the necessary good choices each day that help you eventually reach your weight loss goals.  The choice of which mindset you will choose to embrace is yours.  By choosing to maintain an mindset of thanksgiving- being grateful for what you have and how much you have already accomplished, will result in a much more positive outlook in life, making it more possible to make better decisions and reach your goals.  Your grateful heart will become the fertile ground, ready for seeds (goals and accomplishments) to be planted and harvested. A thankful heart is ideal potting soil.  It’s really difficult to grow a dream or goal in bad soil.  Perhaps you’re frustrated that you haven’t made much progress towards your weight loss goal, could it be that you have overlooked the soil you’re planting that goal in?

No matter your circumstance in life, there is always something to be thankful for. You may have to do some serious digging at times but you can always find something to be grateful for.  You may not be where you want to be in life but you can be thankful that you aren’t where you used to be! Each step you take in the right direction, no matter how small it may be, is one to be proud of and thankful for! When I look in the mirror now- yup, still no 6 pack, but I’m thankful I don’t have the baker’s dozen of rolls that I once had! And yes, that arm fat still waves at me sometimes but I’m thankful that I’m able to do all the crazy arm exercises that I once would have never imagined myself being able to do!  Today I’m incredible grateful that I’m no longer a slave to running on that ridiculous hamster wheel of never being satisfied and I encourage you, my friend, to jump off that sucker too!  The quickest exit off is to cultivate a thankful heart and you’ll be amazed at the harvest you’ll begin to reap when you finally have the necessary good soil to grow your goals and dreams in. 

7 Simple Things to Help you Lose Weight Faster

When it comes to losing weight, we want results as quickly as possible. Making healthy changes is never initially fun- giving up all your favorite foods and waking up early to shove your “fluff” into embarrassing spandex pants to hit the gym for a grueling workout session doesn’t exactly seem like much “fun” to most of us.  But if we’re going to make these changes, we better see some results to know our efforts are not in vain, right?  We all know that there is no “quick fix” for weight loss, if there was we would all be skinny!  However, there are some small changes that if implemented into your lifestyle, will help you lose weight faster.  You don’t have to make all of these changes all at once, perhaps try to add one each week.

1. Don’t drink your calories- When you’re cutting calories from your diet, you want to get the most from each calorie you consume.  Most people don’t think much about calories they drink but they can be a huge sabotage to their weight loss efforts. You’d be surprised how many calories are hiding in your favorite Starbucks beverage! It is also best to eliminate alcohol when trying to lose weight.  Besides being empty calories and providing no nutritional benefit to your body, alcoholic beverages completely wreak havoc on your body’s ability to burn fat. Read more about the negative effects of alcohol on weight loss here
2. Eat Breakfast- Mornings can be a hectic time and breakfast seems like an easy thing to eliminate while in a rush to get out the door.  Nutritionists across the board deem breakfast the most important meal of the day and advise never to skip it.  There are numerous studies that show eating breakfast aids in weight loss and also provides many other great health benefits.
3. Get enough sleep- Sleep is an easily overlooked component of weight loss but not getting enough zzz’s will hinder your body’s ability to function properly, including its ability to burn fat. Inadequate amounts of sleep will slow or stall weight loss, even if your eating and workouts are on point!  Aim at getting 7-8 hours of sleep each day so your body can function at optimal levels.
4. Stop eating out- It’s no secret fast food is unhealthy and high in calories and fat and should be avoided.  But your favorite sit down restaurant meals can also impede your weight loss efforts.  Restaurants are notorious for huge portion sizes and even when ordering a healthier option you may be consuming way more calories than you should be.  Also when eating out you don’t always know exactly how your food is being prepared, that grilled chicken you think is healthy may be grilled in heavy amounts of butter or oil and your veggies on the side may be slathered in butter and salt making them not as figure friendly as you thought.  When it comes to weight loss, you’re much better off preparing your own food.
5. Cut out high calorie condiments- Condiments like mayonnaise on your sandwich or dressing on your salad can pack large amounts of calories that can easily be overlooked.  A tablespoon of mayonnaise has around 100 calories and some dressings have over 200 calories per 2 tablespoon serving! If you can’t completely eliminate certain condiments, look for lower calorie substitutes.  There are a lot of great low calorie salad dressings sold in stores or you can make your own substitutes using Greek yogurt or low fat sour cream as substitutes for mayonnaise based dressings.
6. Eat real food- When it comes to weight loss and general health, it’s best to eat whole, unprocessed, God made foods.  The benefits of eliminating processed foods from your diet include weight loss, increased energy, better sleep, less illnesses, better hair and skin, and better moods (eat this). If you think of food like fuel, choosing real food is the optimal grade fuel that you can provide your body with and it will function at it's optimal level when fueled by unprocessed foods. 
7. Move more- Exercise is an obvious component to weight loss, but working out for an hour and then sitting the rest of the day isn’t the mentality we should have.  Every little bit of movement counts, look for ways throughout your day to get extra movement.  Park further away in parking lots, take the stairs instead of the elevator, do some squats while your brushing your teeth or cooking… you get the idea. The more you move, the more you burn!

2017 is Your Year to Rise!

Perhaps 2016 wasn’t all that you hoped it would be and the trials and heartaches that you faced have left you feeling paralyzed, not knowing exactly how to move forward.  I know for me personally, 2016 was one of the most trying and difficult years I’ve ever had to face.  Trial after trial left me feeling like I was walking around with a “kick me” sign on my back and it was hard to take a step forward when I was surrounded by such turmoil!  I wanted to get up and run my race but I was deeply wounded, life’s trials had hit me so hard that I was left feeling like I couldn't move on. Has life ever hit you so hard, you felt like you can’t move?

Success in life has a high price tag and each obstacle and trial that you will face in life has the potential to either make or break you.  If you press on and endure through life’s trials you will eventually reach your finish line and you’ll be thankful for each scar you received on your way there.  Those scars will serve as reminders of how you overcame that which you thought you couldn’t. On the other hand, if you allow a trial to consume you and you stop running your race, that trial just robbed you of ever accomplishing your goal or reaching your finish line.  Trust me, I know all too well just how heartbreaking and painful trials in life can be, but in midst of every trial you will face there comes that pivotal moment- that Rocky Balboa second- when your down on the ground losing the fight and the decision is in your hands to either stay down and give up or to get up again and keep fighting.  Are you going to let the trials, setbacks, disappointments and heartaches in life hold you down?  Or are you going to rise up from the ashes of yesterday’s disappointments and fight for everything you believe in? 

There is always a sense of excitement that comes with the beginning of each new year.  A turning of the page in the book of life; a time to start fresh in pursuing our goals.  Many people make resolutions at the beginning of a new year, which are the personal goals they hope to accomplish in the year ahead.  While they are quick to write these resolutions, they often overlook the idea that in order to be successful in establishing a new mindset or goal, their old destructive mindsets must first be shed. Maybe this is why statistically of all the New Year’s resolutions that are made each year only 8% are actually achieved (Forbes Magazine Online).  We really need to practice what Disney’s character Elsa proclaims so famously in the movie Frozen, we must learn to “Let it go”.  Let go of those hurts that are holding us back, because, really we’re only setting ourselves up for failure when we’re still holding on to disappointments and failures of yesterday.   In order to successfully pursue the new, we must first let go of the old. 

When it comes to weight loss, many have tried before and failed.  They start out each time with a new diet or exercise routine but they fail to fully shed their old destructive mindsets from the past. They have the best intentions to succeed but more times often than not, that negative mindset creeps back in and take over, which results in you guessed it, another failed attempt.  This concept can be seen across the board in people’s lives- it’s why we continue to fail at losing weight, it’s why we have failed relationships, it’s why we return to addictions, and it’s why we get “stuck” in life and are unable to move forward.   If you want the new, you must take the time to address the old and let go of it in order to successfully attain your goal. For me personally, I failed at least 30 times (probably more) at losing my excess weight and keeping it off before I actually succeeded.  My desire for losing weight was the same in each attempt, so what happened that made me successful in my final attempt? Among many other things, it was the shedding of the destructive mindset that I was following a “diet” and having an “all or nothing” approach and now embracing the new mindset that it was a lifelong health journey. It seems so simple now looking back, but it honestly took me over 10 years, a lot of horrible "diets", and a lot of failed attempts to finally make the realization that being on a “diet” would never work and that if I wanted to be healthy I would have to embrace a new mindset.  What destructive mindsets are holding you back from your goals?  I can’t stress the importance for you to take some time to reflect on your past failures and identify the destructive mindsets that you need to let go!

Let 2017 be your year to rise up and achieve your goals.  Shake off those old destructive mindsets and lay to rest the disappointments from your past and step out into the new!  Speak new life into those old dreams and goals that you gave up on because you failed so many times! Let go of how many times you failed- it’s never too late my friend, you’re never too far gone or too old to accomplish your goals or to make new ones! Get a new mind and you will get new results! May 2017 be your year to rise up and boldly fight for the victory in your life!