I love interaction. I love asking questions. I love thinking (that’s not a surprise:)). I try to ask a daily question to my Twitter followers. And I love sweets. Duh, don’t we all?!

It may come as a surprise to you, but I struggle with food. Mainly sweets. I like chocolate brownies, cake, chocolate chip cookies. See the theme? Yeah, it’s bad. We ALL know that I have the determination to do pretty much anything. But why are sweets so damn hard to “say no to”?! So with that I asked my question “what is your biggest challenge when it come eating the right food?”. Here are some of the responses I received.

Ali: “My Effin sweet tooth”

Rachel: “The bad food you could be eating instead!”

Brian: “The bad foods are so good and way too easy to get!”

Ryan: “Having the time to cook vs the cost of having fresh all the time”

Liz: “Portion control. Oh and chocolate. I swear my body begs for it daily!”

Ashley: “Portion size!”

Kate: “Peanut Butter!”

Tyler: “Fresh food spoils too quickly and leftovers get old after a day or two”

Roxy: “Peppermint Latte from Starbucks”

Jason: “Other people. For some reason people like to try & get me to eat badly”

Oliva: ” Ditto! Portion control is my downfall! I will eat the healthiest foods, just too much because I love it all!”

Nathaniel: “The time it takes to prepare fresh and healthy meals every day. It’s hard to take time for yourself!”

Luau: “Getting my family to eat the same way I do”

Julie: “Portion size!”

Zoe: “The fact I love to bake cakes!”

Any: “Time. Or lack of it.”

Jen: “Boredom, Mexican food and office snacks are my downfall. Not necessarily in that order.”

Nahlan: “All the saboteurs in my family.”

I love the responses. Some of them are SO true. How often does someone give you an “excuse” to eat something that you know you shouldn’t? They convince you that you earned it (”you just ran 200 miles in an hour” or “you went to the gym, you deserve a treat” or “you only live once”). These are awesome reasons to eat whatever what is on your spoon. Or fork.

But here is the fact of the matter. In 9 years, did you know that the number one cause of death in the USA will be obesity? Yes, you only live once, but let’s live our life healthy. And with purpose. So here is what I am going to do. I invite you to join me:)

#1) Every time I am tempted to have something “bad” I will ask myself, will this make me faster on race day?

#2) If I had a Bikini shoot tomorrow, would I be ready?

#3) If a Navy SEAL were next to me, would I eat this?

#4) I am setting an example to all around me. Will this be positive?

#5) Knowing the feeling of the satisfaction, pride & determination that I said no.

Quick note. I am NOT saying to NEVER have chocolate. I am not saying to be a size zero. It’s all about balance. It’s a lifestyle. Makes yours healthy.

Sweetie, I love you, but only on birthday’s. Or Christmas.

Photo by Chotda

Did you know that tart cherries are really, really good for you? They are a power house food! Woohoo! Enjoy!

Cherry Vanilla Smoothie

Ingredients:
2 cups pitted, tart cherries (unsweeted) frozen
1 cup non-fat or low-fat vanilla yogurt
1 cup non-fat milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup ice

Directions
Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend on high until smooth.

Makes 2 (yummy) servings! Enjoy

Photo by lepiaf.geo

Do you go out for food? Do you drive there? Ok, stop! If you MUST get food to go or eat out, try to walk or bike to the place. You’ll burn some calories before AND after. And if you have kids, YES! They can walk & bike to! And besides, you’ll just feel a lot better. You **may** even sleep better at night:)

Photo by Moriza

As we move onto the weekend, it is easy to fall away from our goals of eating healthy or exercising. Don’t let this happen to you! TIP: plan your meals in advance! If you know you are going to friends eat something before hand.

And a double REAL tip ’cause its the weekend:) plan your events around your workouts! This will make sure you don’t forget to make them happen!

Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography

Today’s tip is brought to you from my own experience:)

Is food winning over you?

Try this: get a small notebook or use your computer to track down EVERYTHING you eat. It may take some time to get used to doing this. BUT, when you think about having that double scoop of ice cream or hot dog or whatever your favorite unhealthy food is, you will think twice about eating it.

AND this method is also a great way to see what vitamins or minerals you might be lacking. Go try it!!!

Photo by Abulic Monkey

Q: Do you start the week off by thinking that “this is the week I am going to not eat junk food, cut out sugar, drink more water, say no to coffee, and workout 5 days a week”?

A: Raise hands

Ok, so, why do “we” fail with our GREAT intentions? Below are some reasons WHY (weren’t you just dying to know this info? )

#1) Too many goals at one time!

#2) Start SLOW!

#3) Go SLOWLY

#4) T0 succeed you must PLAN to succeed

#5) Make excuses (hard week, stressed, I “deserve” this ________ (fill in the blank)

#6) No support

Those are just a few of the reasons why our best intentions fail. Do you want to be successful? Go ahead, raise BOTH arms!!! YES!!!!! YOU CAN!!:)

THIS WEEK DO ONE of the following things:

#1) Define YOUR weekly goal (drink more water, less soda) really think about. What do you want? Will you be able to do it?

#2) Get sweaty for 30 minutes a day! Brisk walk, stair climber, jog, just MOVE!

#3) Set your clock 15 minutes before you usually wake up (yes, that is right). You will be surprised what those 15 minutes can do for your day ahead!

#4) Make a daily choice to make healthy choices (do I really need this 5th cup of coffee? Do I really need this cookie? Do I really need to stress about “this”?).

I hope these ideas sparked your interest & you are able to use them! Please let me know! Watch this week for more ways to make YOUR life HAPPY, HEALTHY and FIT!!

Photo by lepiaf.geo

We are all familiar with the WORD diet. It is probably the first word we learned about but never spoke. We watched our families, friends and others talk about how they needed to eat healthier or eat a pint of ice cream, then regret it later. Or making sure they got in their favorite foods during the month of December so on January 1, they could start the “diet” only to fall off the commitment weeks later.

Whatever the story, we know that our diet affects us & will make us gain or lose weight.

My approach to the diet is to take the word out of our minds, habits and any feelings we have about it and replace it with the words: healthy food. It may seem basic. But if we chose “healthy food” over “diet food” we will be more successful in maintaining a healthy life style FOR LIFE.

Over the next few weeks I am going to be writing about healthy food, what changes you can make to you daily eating habits, foods, ingredants to avoid, and ways to make healthy meals, snacks. If you have a specfic question, please let me know and I will answer it for you!

To YOUR healthy, fit AND happy life!:)

Photo by Pink Sherbet

Wonder what & how I train? Read below & you will find out:)

Friday, April 3, 2009

5:00am

This morning I woke to POURING rain! I had a quick protein bar, then I met with my trainer friend & I did a tricep, back & core weight workout for an hour. Then I hit the Stairmaster for 30min (slow, 3:56 miles, 164 flights). Then I proceeded to get SOAKED walking to my truck (wish I had some shower gel with me, lol) and quickly raced home….yes, I tend to race EVERYWHERE:) lol.

9:00am

Had a bowl of Kashi with milk when I got home….hmmm good!

At 10:30am I took a 75min power yoga class…..where once again I got soaked going to class:) It felt great to do “downward dog”, “upward facing dog” “warrior 1, 2, 3″. Yoga is a perfect way to tone your body and also get some wonderful stretches in:) After class I had a Pure Pro Protein Shake.

1:30pm

For lunch I had multi grain Sushi, Triple Squash Soup & fruit from Whole Foods. Was quite yummy:)

Then at 5:15pm, I went for a 6.5 mile run. I did a warm up mile, then did 6 1/2 mile repeats at 3:30 average. The start of my run started off raining, but after 10min, the clouds gave way to WONDERFUL sunshine! I could smell & see the beautiful cherry trees and hear the birds sing. That was my music:) YES, you can workout with an Ipod:)

For dinner I was pretty hungry, so I had: pancakes, Stuffed Cabbage, Black Beans with cheese and Raspberry & Vanilla Frozen Yogurt.

AND of COURSE, water ALL DAY long:)

That was my training for today! Feeling great….tomorrow is TWO weeks till my 50 miler!! WOOHOO!!

As always, smiles & Sarahshine to YOU:)

Photo by Mike Baird