This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Crystal Light Pure Fitness.
A few months ago, I read Michael Pollan's book, In Defense of Food. One of his points is that we need to stop eating foods our great-great-grandmothers wouldn't recognize in an ingredients list. And while some of our great-great-grandmothers back in Hungary wouldn't recognize, let's say, an avocado, what he means is that our food should be food--not man-made chemicals.
Our rule is that we don't eat anything we can't easily pronounce and it has served us fairly well so far. It meant I had to give up Equal because even though the brand name is easy to say, I once mispronounced the actual name as "ass-part-of-me" instead of "as-per-tame." We've been using honey and sugar and I've been playing around with creating simple syrups.
I've been making our bread and bagels rather than depending on store-bought which usually has additives to extend the shelf life. I started making our ice cream too when I got freaked out by the long list of ingredients on the brand we were purchasing. While there are a few convenience foods I buy, I try to cook from scratch as much as possible.
I try to drink pure water as much as possible. If I need a bit of flavour, I add a slice of lemon. Okay, I actually almost always need that base slice of lemon. If even the lemon isn't cutting it, I can get myself to drink a few extra glasses of iced tea daily. Since the good people at Crystal Light Pure Fitness sent me samples, I'm also drinking their natural lemon-lime drink.
How about you? How do you incorporate natural ingredients into your life? Tell me by leaving a comment below. Each comment is an entry in the sweepstakes I'm holding at the end of this four-part series for a $100 gift card. And I'm not the only one running this contest: by clicking here, you also have 4 other chances to win $100 as well as a $1,000 sweepstakes on the round-up page. You can also read more on the official rules page.
This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Crystal Light Pure Fitness.
This question gave me pause. Why do I stay fit? It's obviously partially vanity--I'm trying to remain active in order to fight the weight that seems to creep on year after year. I try to remain healthy for Josh and the kids--I owe it to them. I'm conscious of how many health problems are rooted in a lack of exercise, so I run in order to keep healthy, as well as eat right and drink a lot of water.
But a lot of it is that without running, I don't sleep. It's something I discovered the first time I had to stop running during fertility treatments. I could technically get more sleep since I didn't need to wake up an hour and a half before I needed to leave for work. Except I was getting less and less sleep because I'd lay awake in bed while Josh slept, the nervous energy from my day still inside my body, making my thoughts race.
When I returned to running this past winter, I could finally fall asleep again at night. And I find that on the days when I don't run, I stay up well past my bedtime, often with the lights out but sleep still far away. I need to stay fit in order to not drive myself crazy and it turn, drive everyone else crazy from my sleepless grumpiness.
It all fits together--eating right (and for me, a big thing hasn't been the right foods, but instead, the right amount), and drinking a lot of water and iced tea and Crystal Light Pure Fitness, and exercising daily. And the reward is a release of tension, setting aside all of my worries, and drifting into sleep at the end of the day.
How about you? Why do you stay fit? Tell me by leaving a comment below. Each comment is an entry in the sweepstakes I'm holding at the end of this four-part series for a $100 gift card. And I'm not the only one running this contest: by clicking here, you also have 4 other chances to win $100 as well as a $1,000 sweepstakes on the round-up page. You can also read more on the official rules page.
This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Crystal Light Pure Fitness.
Um...I'm currently writing this rather than following my normal exercise routine, so it's sort of an ironic topic. How to stay motivated with a fitness routine, not only when it's hard to push yourself to run when you're already exhausted, but carving out the time when too many other things get in the way.
But stay with me on this one.
For the most part, I'm fairly strict with keeping on my fitness routine because I schedule it into my day in the same way I schedule doctor's appointments, phone calls, and work meetings. None of those items are life-and-death in the same way meals and sleep get automatically worked into the day, but all are tasks I'm trying to accomplish and as long as they go into my daily planner, they tend to get done unless other items throw them off course.
Er...such as a blog post.
Which is to say that there has to be a healthy flexibility in a schedule lest you become resentful of fitness. I never want it to be a chore; something that takes me away from other things I love. Instead, I try to make it my "me" time and then it looks a lot more enticing. I use it to think, work out blog posts in my head, unplug for an hour. Sometimes I lose my "me" time in order to take care of more pressing tasks, but I always try to get back to my "me" time.
I also remain motivated by keeping a notebook where I record what I did, how long I worked out, and--because the Wii gives me the information--how many calories I burned. Seeing what I have accomplished often gives me the energy to keep going. There are times when I'm on the fence about heading downstairs to run, and then I start fanning back through the pages that stretch to last winter and I'm so proud of myself for all of the miles I've logged that it gets me off the sofa and back into my sneakers.
Eating well and drinking water follow the same ideology. I give myself flexibility to eat junk from time to time, knowing full well that you need to look at the big picture and not beat yourself up over the individual choices. If I'm at an amusement park, I know that I'm going to end up with the ice cream bar rather than the cut fruit, and I take that in stride. It means that I double my efforts while at home, where it's easier to eat well and drink a lot.
And while I don't record what I eat or how much I drink, I still use visual cues to stay on task. I stock the refrigerator with fruits and vegetables--taking the time to sometimes cut them up beforehand so I have no excuse for not tossing together a salad instead of reaching for yet another bowl of cereal (my go-to meal when I don't feel like cooking). Currently in my refrigerator, in addition to the twins' milk containers, there are pitchers of iced tea, Crystal Light Pure Fitness, and a full Brita. Having those options on hand and ready to go make it more likely that I'll drink it.
How about you? How do you stay motivated? Tell me by leaving a comment below. Each comment is an entry in the sweepstakes I'm holding at the end of this four-part series for a $100 gift card. And I'm not the only one running this contest: by clicking here, you also have 4 other chances to win $100 as well as a $1,000 sweepstakes on the round-up page. You can also read more on the official rules page.
This is sponsored content from BlogHer and Crystal Light Pure Fitness.
Before having the twins, I was a runner. I'd wake myself up every morning before school and run three miles. If it was nice outside, I'd run on the Crescent Trail. Most of the winter, I ran indoors on a treadmill.
Running was how I maintained my weight. It was my stress relief, my alone time, my thinking space. I can't say that I always loved dragging myself down to the gym, but I always loved the afterglow of exercise. I spent a lot of time feeling proud of myself for sucking it up and putting on my sneakers even when I'd rather stay in bed.
My doctor told me to stop running during fertility treatments and I truly didn't know what to do with myself at first. I stopped sleeping at night because I wasn't working out my nervous energy. The weight started creeping up and I felt sluggish. But soon I grew accustomed to having that time back, and once the twins arrived, I couldn't imagine giving up sleep for exercise. Even long after they were sleeping through the night, I could still find a better way to spend my time rather than running in place.
In the six years since I gave up running, my body has changed drastically and unhappiness with how I look and feel coupled with the fact that I can't afford a new wardrobe drove me to get back into shape starting last winter. I began with getting a Wii and committing myself to running every day, recording my progress in a small notebook that resides on my desk, reminding me of my commitment to schlep down to the basement and trot around WuHu Island.
So far, it's working. I've been able to stick to a five-day-a-week plan. Part of it is that it's easy--I don't have to leave the house to exercise so I can do it at any time. I even exercised straight through Washington, D.C.'s Snowmageddon since I didn't need to leave my house and get to a gym.
The increase in exercise has increased my water consumption. I've been mixing it up by drinking plain water, water with lemon, unsweetened iced tea, and some samples of Crystal Light Pure Fitness the kind people of Crystal Light sent me for this program.
Some of the weight has come off too. It's slow-going, but I'd rather have it sustainable and have the weight stay off. Beyond that, I'm feeling better and I'm sleeping better and both of those things are just as important as fitting back into my jeans.
So now I'm asking you--how do you stay in shape? Tell me by leaving a comment below. Each comment is an entry in the sweepstakes I'm holding at the end of this four-part series for a $100 gift card. And I'm not the only one running this contest: by clicking here, you also have 4 other chances to win $100 as well as a $1,000 sweepstakes on the round-up page. You can also read more on the official rules page.
