Eating right!?!?

I am sure that many of you out there are just like me and have tried just about every fad diet there is - Atkins, NutraSystem, even the Cabbage Soup diet?!?  The thing is.. sure they may work for the short term but what is most important is the LONG term.  We all LOVE to eat, there is no denying that.  It is a good thing for me that I at least feel guilty when I splurge on the "GOOD" stuff for too long.  As I mentioned in a previous post - MyFitnessPal  (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/) is my favorite way to track my food and daily calorie consumption.

My brother n law is a professional hockey player and has been training and maintaining a healthy lifestyle his ENTIRE life.  He also has a blog and I need to give him a shout out because I want to share some of this quotes from a recent post because I truly believe in his words.

From Mark's Blog (http://markpopovic.blogspot.com/):

There is a reason main stream diets make their plans so complicated and detailed: They want to sell books, advice, so-called shortcuts, and a dependency on their products. The way of eating I am suggesting is simple, straightforward, and is the only way to have long-term success.

Here are some tips to help you transition to this way of eating:

* When planning a meal, make your vegetable or salad your main dish. Meat and grains are your side.
* Snacks should be whole fruits, vegetables, and/or nuts
* Don't drink your calories. Water is what your body needs. Your body has a good way of telling you if you need more water: your pee should be clear!
* Treat bread, sweets, and processed foods like you would alcohol...it's okay once in a while, but you wouldn't drink all day, everyday so don't make these foods a staple in your diet.

Now as for me and how I maintain my eating with continuing exercise - it is NOT a simple task with my busy life.  For me I have to set what I consider my "Motivation Points."  I need something to motivate myself to be more mindful on what I eat (using MyFitPal as my tracking guide).  Here are some examples of my Motivation Points that I try to find for myself at least ONCE month:

1. An upcomming run or exercise event that I PAID for
2. Being measured by my personal trainer.  This is the best one for me because nothing makes me feel worse than going up a few inches after all my hard work!
3. A vacation or hot date with my husband
4. Anything else that I want to look my best and focus hard on feeling my best too!

Try to find your own Motivation Points in your life!  Trust me, when the time comes and you feel great about the way you look.. nothing feels better or more rewarding!! : )

Motivation for the Family

It really makes me so happy to motivate my children to be active and healthy. Now just by their very nature two toddler boys are extremely active. But what I've noticed with my boys is they really take notice when they see me run, exercise with weights, and always stay active as much as possible. While we are at the park I try to do exercises with them and teach them how to keep your body strong. The really embrace it and love doing exercises with me.

Growing up in my family we always went camping, to the beach, water skiing, boating, etc. The point is that we were always outside and running around.  My sister and I were really involved in competitive dance team.  And my brother was in football. My parents always encouraged us to be strong and healthy in everything we did and I really thank them for that! ♥

In this day in age with a happy meal being so convenient and childhood obesity on the rise I just wanted to stress how important it is to teach our little ones good habits very early in life.  Trust me, I am totally guilty of feeding my kids crap, but at the same time I also try to push and encourage the healthy stuff too.  I just wish they would eat it!! 

SO, be a good role model for your children and show them how to stay healthy and away from things that can hurt them.. such as smoking (Heads up.. I may get on my soapbox in a future blog about this as I am currently watching someone I love dying from this awful addiction)  :-(

Anyways..I wanted to share this cute little video of my boys mimicking one of my regular workout routines. It really warms my heart to see them do these types of things and I hope you enjoy it.