How are the Holidays Going?

Wellll... To be honest, I haven't been perfect. Holidays and food seem to go hand in hand and my holidays definitely reflect this. Fortunately, the major feasting is now over and I can get back to my normal, healthy choices. I definitely have to be grateful that even when things are busy over the holidays, I can still keep a consistent workout regimen. Without my workouts, I would surely fall victim to the holiday pounds.

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays as much as I am. Remember, don't fret if you haven't been as healthy as you like... just get movin'!

What's for Lunch?

Throughout my journey of being healthy and maintaining my weight there has definitely been one significant change. I make most of my meals. I love cooking and have gotten better at it throughout the years. The truth is simple. When you make your own food, you can control what you eat; you choose exactly what goes into your mouth.

The easiest meal to eat at home is breakfast, of course. Cereal, oatmeal, or toast and yogurt are easily prepared and eaten. The next easiest meal to prepare yourself is lunch. Now think about something for a minute. If you choose to always prepare/make your lunch, you already have 2 meals a day that you are in complete control of.. and 2 outta 3 ain't bad. When I started making my lunch everyday was when I really started having a consistent, healthy diet.

For this post I thought I'd share a very frequent lunch of mine. Take a look at the salad I just had for lunch:
Ingredients are romaine lettuce, chicken, apple, avo, almonds, celery, little bit of feta, and a fat-free (low sugar!) balsamic vinaigrette. I like to think of my salads as somewhat hearty because they actually make me full. I find that if you have too much lettuce and not enough protein, you can get hungry shortly after. Also, I like to put apples in my salad because its delicious and helps kick hunger. This salad I had for lunch happened to have chicken breast in it, but normally it's just good ol' deli turkey breast slices. Recently, I've cut out most of my cheese-eating, but I feel like a little bit in your salad won't hurt. If you can omit cheese altogether, great.

You may have noticed my little "low sugar!" note above. When/if you choose fat free dressings (or other fat free products for that matter) make sure to check sugar. Often fat free = tons of sugar, which is no better for you.

So, that's it. That's what's for lunch. If it's not salads, it's sandwiches, but the idea is always the same. Make your lunch yourself and pack it with all the healthy "goods" you can.