One Step at a Time

There's a poster my parents have always had up in their basement (both at Old Home and in their current place) which says, "The way to get anywhere is to start from where you are." (Or, words to that effect.) It might sound trite, but I believe those are truly words to live by, especially when it comes to tackling a daunting task like overhauling one's eating habits and improving one's fitness level.

I've been thinking that much like our new eating plan, which I suspect has been effective largely because it is a structured program that gives clear guidelines on how to achieve a specific goal (losing weight), my workout plan could use a bit of a shake-up. I have been lax in my gym time over the past few weeks, and while I'm trying (and succeeding, for the most part) to be more active overall by walking more and sitting less (etc.), lack of cardio does not a more fit person make. Plus, the lovely Lindsay has been totally inspiring me with a ton of great exercise resources, goal-setting tools, and encouraging updates about her own progress getting in shape. All that inspiration has to result in something, right?

So today, when my workout buddy came over for our usual Monday afternoon gym session, I brought my tablet down and we let Jillian Michaels kick our butts with her "30 Day Shred" workout. 20 minutes and one "level one" workout later I couldn't walk properly on my jello-legs, but I comfort myself with the knowledge that my friend was also exhausted afterwards, and she is much fitter than I am! (I hope I can remember that when I'm unable to roll out of bed tomorrow and have to limp along to work on my trembly legs and burning thighs. It WILL be worth it!!!)

Things I Learned from Today's Workout:
1. I need to wear tighter clothes for this particular program, as my pants kept falling down. (Way to make me feel even MORE self-conscious while doing jumping jacks!)
2. You can call it "jumping jacks," "jump rope," "butt kicks" or whatever else you want - it is ALL THE SAME and pretty much made me want to die by the end of the workout. I'm on to you, Ms. Michaels...
3. Any form of jumping is SERIOUS BUSINESS, people. Serious cardio business - no messing around, here!
4. Arm weights that seemed dinky at the beginning of the workout can suddenly become much heavier by the end. (Actually, I already knew this. It's just that now I know it, know it, if you know what I mean.)
5. I need at least two sets of arm weights to get a really good arm workout in, because for some of the exercises I couldn't even handle my measly 2.5 pounders by the final few reps, but for others (I'm looking at you, butterfly press) I could have at least doubled what I was lifting.
6. Dynamic stretching (ie. stretching through movement) is the best way to warm up your muscles, while static stretching (ie. the typical "holding a position" stretches most of us are familiar with) should be left for the cool-down period.
7. The correct way to perform a quad stretch is with the opposite hand grasping the foot. (I've been doing this wrong for so long, no wonder I used to find this stretch kind of painful!!)
8. 20 minutes is shorter than you think - I wanted to quit around what I thought was the halfway mark, but it turned out that we were less than 5 minutes away from being completely finished! Mind you, that was quite possibly the longest 5 minutes of my life... o.O
9. This workout will not, in fact, kill me. No one is more shocked than I am! ;)

My plan is to do this 20 minute workout at least 5 times a week for the next two weeks (ie. until my trip to Florida!)* and then see where things stand when I get back from the conference I'm attending. Tomorrow I would love to keep up my momentum, but I'm working an 8 hour shift (on my feet the whole time, I might add) and then have to scoot off to a guitar lesson uptown, so there's no way I will have the energy for a workout. But Wednesday, it will happen!!


*I have an exciting announcement about this later! But that's all for now... I know, I'm such a tease! ;)

Happy Things + Thankfulness Project 2.0

Last week was a doozie - just a lousy, lousy week that I would like to forget for so many reasons. However, in the spirit of being thankful for the many undeserved blessings God has given me, this week I will be posting about things that make me happy. (Sort of along the same lines as the Thankfulness Project posts I wrote a while back, which you long-time readers might remember.)

Tuesday's Happy Things:
1. Winning another free coffee from Tim Horton's. (So far I'm up to three free coffees and a donut!)
2. The stupendous lentil stew we made for dinner tonight! (It deserves its own post, which will be coming later this week.)
3. The high I get from a successful day's tutoring session. (It never gets old.)

Actually, speaking of the Thankfulness Project, I think it would be good to get back into the habit of publicly giving thanks for what I have been given. (I totally did not expect this post to take that direction when I started writing. But hey, why not?!) Let's do it!

As a reminder, here's my "mission statement" from a few years ago when I first set out to document on a regular basis the things for which I was thankful.

The Thankfulness Project

Normally, I am really big on the psychological boost of “fresh starts,” like the beginning of a week, month, year, new school term, etc. These dates somehow hold special promise for me, and can motivate me to success in all kinds of ways. On a “fresh start” day I have the confidence and the drive to develop better habits, work toward a specific goal, or just generally get it together. There’s just something inspirational about “the first day of” that brings balance to my life and speaks to my soul. Or something less cheesy and pop-psychological-sounding.

All that to say that when I was originally planning to start The Thankfulness Project on my blog, I fully intended to begin on July 4^th (my first official day of vacation) and continue from there. But I didn’t, and tonight I decided to throw up my hands and forget about being tied down to a “fresh start day.” It is Wednesday night, and I am bringing you The Thankfulness Project. So there, psyche.

What it is
The Thankfulness Project is one way I’m trying to develop an attitude of gratitude. It’s my way of dwelling on the blessings in my life and giving thanks for all the good things, both small and ginormous, that God has given me.

What it is not
The Thankfulness Project is in no way grandiose or pretentious. I have always admired the ability of children to delight in the smallest things (an old cardboard box, a sticker that isn’t sticky anymore, a jangly set of keys) and I certainly hope that is a skill I have held on to. While the Thankfulness Project is certainly meant seriously on my part, that is not to say that every post is going to be deeply moving and profound. Some might be. I will certainly be giving thanks for some really major blessings. But I’ll also be thanking God for the little things that bring joy into my life.

When it will happen
Since I can only go against my personality so much, and we’re already starting in the middle of the week, toward the end of my vacation, and on a pretty random day in July, I must at least maintain some semblance of balance and symmetry by turning this into a weekly series. So you can expect a Thankfulness Project post on the blog every Wednesday.

The back-story
Many of the personal blogs I frequent are great proponents of the “Life List” or “30 Before I’m 30” or “Top 63 Things I Want to Do Before I Die.” Basically these are lists of a person’s personal goals and desires, ranging from small & relatively insignificant items (ex. learn how to make chocolate cherry ice cream) to larger goals (ex. complete the Boston Marathon). Many of the lists I’ve read include practical entries, like “learn how to change a car tire” or “start buying only local produce,” and lots of people have very laudable and self-giving goals, too, such as “write a thank-you letter to my most influential teacher.”

The thing about these lists is that whatever lovely and noble goals the writer may have, everything invariably centres around me. What do I want to do/learn/create/experience/give? Don’t get me wrong, I have such a list as well. I want to learn CPR and basic first aid and rudimentary sewing and ancient Greek; I want to make weekly trips to the farmers’ market and bake my own bread and walk everyday and read a book-a-week next year; I want to make dinner for friends and make all my Christmas gifts from scratch and learn to live on less and tame my temper. But for all of those great desires, there’s still a lot of me me me floating around in those goals.

Thus, my answer to the “life list” was born. I don’t want to make a list of things to do before I die. Not that there’s anything inherently problematic with such a list. But to me, it puts the focus in the wrong place. Sure, it would be great to travel to Paris while I can still remember some French, and it would be lovely to have a house with a garden where I could grow my own veggies, but those things don’t really matter.

And so I’ll dream a little dream, and try to use my time and resources as best I can, and meanwhile, I will choose to give thanks for everything I have already been blessed with, so far above what I deserve. I hope my list of thanksgiving will uplift and encourage you.

Food Blog Update

Just a quick note to update the url for my visual food log. You can still follow my progress here, on my spiffy new blog (I actually just gave the old one a facelift and new name). And to all of you who have written or made comments in person, thanks for all the love! xx

Mon passeport

I am SO impressed with Passport Canada! Not only did it take a mere 30 minutes (on a Friday afternoon, no less!) to submit my passport renewal application, but less than a week later what should I find waiting for me when I got home from work but my spiffy new passport, unsigned, sealed, and delivered? Talk about great service!

And to top it all off, I also received a lovely note from Erin in the post* this afternoon. Pretty much a fantastic afternoon all-around. Hope your day finished well! xx


*I felt so in touch with my British roots just typing that!

Progress makes Perfect?

Sometimes when I reflect on some of my main goals (like eating well), I can't help but feel overwhelmed by how far I still want to go. Healthy eating in particular seems a daunting task in today's frenzied fast-food culture, with sugar lurking behind practically every label (bread! yogurt! pasta sauce!), different opinions on what constitutes a healthy fat (to wit, the butter vs. margarine debate), and the cold hard reality that buying local and/or organic produce costs at least double the price of your average grocery store option. (I'm sorry, but I get really fed up with all the people who say that eating healthier foods does not cost more. It does! Do the math, people!!)

While I'm doing my best to navigate the sheer bombardment of food choices we are faced with on a daily basis (a blessing or a curse - you decide), there are inevitably days where I get to the dinner-making hour and just run out of steam. And in those moments, I would dearly love to drop a packet of ramen noodle into some boiling water, toss in a handful of veggies, and call it dinner. (Or better yet, just order a pizza.) Fatigue just makes everything seem bleak, I find. Making a dinner that at 2:30 pm seemed like a wonderfully balanced and not too time consuming option suddenly becomes The Impossible Dream right around five o'clock.

It doesn't help that I seem to be prone to severe bouts of sleepiness anytime between 4:30 pm to about 7 pm or so, and have been every since I was a child. (My mother used to have to force me to keep moving/do something active in the late afternoon/early evening when I was little, because otherwise I would fall asleep and then end up awake for the entire night.) This natural (genetic?) state of fatigue does NOT help matters when one is trying to pump out healthy dinners night after night (all those veggies won't chop themselves, you know!) and resist the urge to be lazy and just eat something convenient (read: unhealthy).

Last night, as I attempted to ward off sleep by plugging away in the kitchen (and calling my parents for a pep talk ♥), I was feeling kind of discouraged. (Along the lines of, why does something so basic (ie. feeding oneself) have to be so ridiculously complicated? What if after all this work I'm still not able to make any progress? etc.) And then it hit me, that just because my eating may not be perfect*, just because every goal I've made has not yet been reached, does not mean there has been no progress!

Thus, I decided it would be a good self-encouragement tool to document some of the lasting changes I have already made that are fine evidence of how I am working towards my goal of improving my diet and health.

In no particular order:
-Cutting out all soft drinks (Not that I used to drink a lot of soda, but I would often order a diet coke when we went out for lunch or dinner. No more!)
-Increasing vegetable intake (There used to be days where I wouldn't eat anything green. No more!)
-Eating more kale (Or other dark leafy greens. I read or heard somewhere that you should have at least one serving of dark leafies (as I like to call them) and one serving of bright orange veggies per day, and I try to hit this as many times a week as I can.)
-Replacing simple ("white") carbs with complex (whole grain) carbs (Except on Sundays, we get all our carbs from whole grains, fruits, and veggies. This is a HUGE change from my old white flour, white rice-eating ways!)
-Vastly reducing our sugar consumption (Not only have I greatly reduced how much refined sugar I'm eating straight up (to almost none), I'm also much more aware of sugar in foods like bread and yogurt, and have changed what I buy accordingly.)
-Replacing vanilla yogurt in my smoothies with plain (unsweetened) yogurt (Just one concrete example of how I'm eating less sugar.)
-Eating less meat (I used to scoff at the palm-sized portion idea, but now I try to follow that pretty carefully.)
-Eating more fish (Aside from the last couple weeks, where fish has not made an appearance on our plates, we usually eat salmon or some type of white fish about 1-2 times per week.)
-Reading package labels (I was REALLY good at this for a few years, and then I just became lazy or stopped caring. No more! I am now super scrupulous about reading every food label on the products I buy. Of course, it's best if most of what you buy doesn't come with a label, but some healthy stuff like oatmeal is still packaged, and I want to make sure I'm getting what I think I'm getting, with no added sugar or ingredients that can't be pronounced by normal human beings.)
-Cutting out juice (I used to only drink 100% fruit juices (none of that sugary "cocktail" stuff, please!) but now, except for the rare occasion we have orange juice, it's pretty much just milk, soy milk every so often, and lots of water.)
-Not letting sickness be an excuse (So, confession time: I used to be awful at eating well when I was under the weather. I figured that I was feeling lousy anyways, so I might as well eat whatever the heck I wanted (both to feel better and I guess because I thought it didn't matter since I was already sick?). Well, no more! I now have a mental list of Sore Throat Foods, for example, and am overall SO MUCH BETTER at sticking with healthy options even when I'm not feeling well. Of course, there are exceptions to this, but not nearly as many exceptions as there used to be. I call that a win!)
-Controlling portion sizes (I'm not sure I'm entirely hitting the mark on this one, but short of measuring everything (which I have done before, what a pain!!) I'm doing my best to eyeball using the hand-sizing method. At any rate, I'm doing better than I was before, although I'm sure there's still room for improvement...)
-Keeping track of what I eat (Another thing I used to sort of brush aside, but now I'm a believer! I think this is such a helpful tool in sticking with any kind of eating goal that goes against the mainstream.)


*And by the way, who defines what a perfect diet looks like? Scientists, doctors, dieticians, governments, and everyone else do not seem to be able to come to a consensus, though for the record, I think Michael Pollen's take is pretty spot-on.

P.S. A longer article about why butter IS better! ;)
P.P.S. In case you're wondering, Sore Throat Foods are foods that are cool, soothing, and not in the least bit acidic (ouch!). They should also not be deep fried (or too fatty), sugary, or contain much dairy, as these can also irritate the throat when it's at its most tender. Examples of my favourite Sore Throat Foods include watermelon, cucumbers, bananas, frozen blueberries, and steamed green leafies. Watermelon is one of the best because it is also super hydrating, which helps the body flush out toxins and recover faster. Plus, who doesn't love watermelon? :)