Don't fall into the Resolution trap.

It's a New Year and you are feeling like crap right?  Why? 
Well, because you went to a whole bunch of Holiday Parties or had big Family dinners that you likely don't have the rest of the time of year.

Then January comes and your clothes don't fit well and you are tired and feeling bad about yourself because you now have to think about going on a diet or something.

People join gyms first thing in January and then they start falling off a couple of weeks later when their regular life sets back in.

Why again?  Well because you are really getting sucked into Social pressures and the messages you get from the media.

I admit that I am not happy with my weight but it's because I don't have the energy to do all the things I would like to do and maybe because I can't buy the clothes I want to buy that will make me look good and professional but mostly because I think of my health and what it will be like in the future.

But I am not going to make a Resolution to go on a DIET.  Why? Because they only work for short term and they make you feel miserable and then you give up and gain more weight after you stop.  Don't believe me check the statistics.  It's a FACT.

How can you not feel bad about yourself when starting January 1st every TV show tells you how to lose weight.  New Year, New You.   Like you aren't good enough the way you are.   Every commercial is for a gym or some sort of weight loss centre or pill you should take.

January is also the start of Awards season in Hollywood where all you see is slim Celebrities in fabulous outfits with perfect hair, skin and bodies and if they don't have all of these things together they are judged on all kinds of TV shows including fashion shows, daytime talk shows and night time entertainment shows.   You feel like if these celebrities who all have style teams get judged and they have all the help in the world then what about you because you can't possibly look like that so you feel bad about yourself.  At this time I am watching a commercial about how people have an "I hate my body moment".  Yes we do.  But you don't have to buy into it.

Here's what I have learned over the year's doing makeup, being in a media related industry, working in the healthcare system and having my own weight issues.

NOBODY is PERFECT.... NOBODY!!....

Every single person that I have done makeup on has had some issues with the way they look.  Even those that most people would say are gorgeous.

If OPRAH who has all the money in the world to have personal trainers, personal chefs and whatever else it takes to lose weight still struggles and has teamed up with Weight Watchers because it's the 1 thing in her life that she hasn't been able to tackle.

If it was about money don't you think Oprah would have been able to fix it?

Here's the RUB...   Weight isn't just about weight.  It's about stress,  it's about self esteem,  it's about environmental issues, it's about general health, it's about the world we live in now.

If it was easy for everyone to lose weight there wouldn't be a billion dollar weight loss industry.

Here's the thing about the Weight Loss industry.  They succeed if you fail because they can blame you for not following or sticking to their program.  So you lose weight at the beginning and then it stops and you give up and then you gain it back and more and then you find some other diet to start when at the beginning of the year you feel the pressure from the media to be a better YOU and from friends and family to lose weight.

Yes, I am one of those people unhappy with my weight but I am not going to make a RESOLUTION about it.  Instead I will make a GOAL.

Here are my GOALS:

1.  Try and stay ahead of the game in my life so that I don't have the stress of rushing things.
2.  Keep life in balance as much as possible with eating, sleeping and living life.
3.  Eat well 80% of the time and eat whatever I like the rest of the time.
4.  Waste less food.  I am going to try and buy the best quality food and try to not waste any of it.
5.  DON"T BELIEVE THE HYPE.  Magazines are all Airbrushed, celebrities all have doctors, and a special team devoted to making them look the way they do.  They don't wake up looking like that.
Don't fall into the pressure that you have to join a gym or join Weight Watchers because Oprah says so.

I like what author Michael Pollan says about health ""Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."
This makes a whole lot of sense to me.

It also seems to me that the way back to health is to go back to eating the way people did before we got sucked into buying a whole bunch of commercial convenience products.  While not ALL are horrible and there are a lot of foods that are more convenient now.  Things like Passata tomatoes which are just strained tomatoes.  The old way was using a food mill.   We buy bread but we could make bread if we had the time.

But if you are busy it's easy to just grab something from the freezer and heat it up.   I just tried a new boil in bag frozen meal.  It doesn't have any junk in it and I can say that it's a good alternative to the common frozen meals full of sodium and other preservative.  I will review it as soon as I try all the samples and write a post on it.

Yes I will struggle because I know that people judge me because of how I look and I learned that watching the way models I had done makeup for were treated.  Guys you should have seen what they looked like when they walked in before the makeup and hair were done.

I am also not going to join a gym,  the last one I went to just stressed me out.  I found myself getting annoyed by rude inconsiderate people and it didn't help me lose weight.
I have also joined Weight Watchers in the past and faithfully spent my money going for a year and when I stopped the weight came back and then some.

I am going to try and remember that all the media stuff is designed to shame you into buying into all this stuff.
My mom lived to the age of 88 and she never joined a gym and she never went to weight watchers and she was active until the last year of her life.  Why?  Probably because she ate real food and didn't go to fast food restaurants.  She cooked probably about 70% of her food from scratch and she was constantly moving, working into her late 60's and cooking, and doing other household chores for herself until she couldn't anymore.

My mom had more energy than I do and that's what I base my health on.

Life is all about Energy.  Do you have enough energy to live your life?  Well that's something I want to work on as my Resolution or GOAL.  To have as much energy as my mom did well into my old age.

My goal is to live better in 2016 than I did in 2015 and keep doing that.

The GOAL is to DETOX the things the things in my life that aren't good for me.

Healthy Food Resolutions for 2013

How many times have you heard this saying at the beginning of a New Year?

New Year, New You!  and how many TV shows do you flip through that talk about New Year's Resolutions and pretty much the overwhelming thing they talk about is people making Resolutions to LOSE WEIGHT and get HEALTHY.  I have been working away on a bunch of little things at home today and have the TV on and every show that was on TV talked about Diet and Exercise and why you should do all the things they say to GET FIT in the New Year.   So even if you didn't plan to lose weight you get brainwashed to think that you aren't good enough the way you are.   The pressure to conform to a certain way of looking is really high at this time of year.   What if you are already fit?  Do you still feel like you aren't doing enough after the bombardment of all the media stories and commercials?  If you are Obese does it make you feel like there is too much pressure to do all the things they say?

Well I guess I am one of those people that feel like it's a good time to start to work on a Healthier Living Plan.  The New Year's Resolutions aside it's just a reminder and also because there are so many experts on tv telling you how you can look like a supermodel by following their tips.   I am trying to take in some of those tips and modify them to my needs.  

My resolution for this year is to try and modify what I eat to eat better quality food that my body can process properly so that I can increase my energy throughout the day so that I feel better.   I am not committing to a NUMBER but choosing to just modify what I normally do.

Today I was trying to think about what to make for dinner with the ingredients I had in the fridge.  I had some chicken breast defrosting and I had some leftover vegetables from a party that I had last week that I wanted to use up.  While watching TV and getting things done around the house I saw one EXPERT make a Stir Fry with Tofu.  Bingo!   Stir fry with Chicken Breast.   Inspiration.   I was already half way there with some of the vegetables I already had semi prepped.  They used Brown Rice... hey I have some I never think to use... so less than an hour later and Viola!  

Chicken Stir Fry

Directions:

2 pieces of Chicken Breast cut into chunks

1 tbsp cooking oil

Marinade:

1 tbsp honey

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp siracha sauce

1 tsp soya sauce

2 garlic cloves finely chopped/grated

1 tbsp Fresh Ginger grated

Vegetables:

Green, Red, Yellow Peppers cut into chunks or strips

1 Onion cut into chunks

1 large carrot cut into 1/4 pieces or baby carrots

1 cup of broccoli florets

1 celery stick cut into chunks

Marinate the Chicken in the Marinade for at least a half an hour to develop the flavour.

In a Hot Frying Pan or Wok add Oil and heat until the pan is hot.   Add the chicken Breast and cook until almost cooked.   Take the chicken out of the pan and reserve on the side.

Add the vegetables into the pan and add water if there isn't any liquid left in the pan.   Stir Fry the vegetables until they are tender.   Add the chicken back into the pan and toss the whole thing together and cook until everything is fully cooked.  

Serve on a Bed of Brown Rice.

AS FOR MY NEW YEARS RESOLUTIONS... this is what I am going to attempt to do:

1. Use Brown Rice instead of White Rice
2. Cook with healthy proteins like Turkey, chicken and Salmon
3. Cook with Spices and Garlic and Ginger to boost flavours - I already do this but will bump it up more.
4. Increase the amount of Vegetables I consume during the day.
5. Try and decrease the amount of sugar in food.
6. Cut out fancy coffees
7. Switch to healthier whole grain breads or make my own bread.
8. Eat and cook with less processed foods.
9. Try and plan what i will eat so that I don't break down and get junk food.
10. Try and find new recipes that increase nutrition while keeping flavour and calories down.

I am not going to obsess about it and I won't be hopping on the scale every 5 minutes with the pressure of obtaining a certain number.   The goal is to feel better and have more stamina so I will be able to measure that by how much more I can accomplish during the day.

Diets don't work because as soon as you say you can't have certain foods and restrict certain things you end up wanting them even more.  I am going to try and eat better more than I eat badly.   More of an 80/20 rule..  Eat well 80 percent of the time and leave room for favourite things 20 percent of the time.

I watch all the Shows and Know all the right things to eat and do but it's the willpower to keep going that is the tough part.   

Most people feel compelled to start a diet because they can't fit into their skinny jeans anymore after binging on Holiday Party foods throughout the holidays.   I didn't go to a bunch of Holiday Parties but I finally have the time to focus on taking better care of myself.

It does take a bit more time to go to the store and buy fresh groceries that need to be prepped and cooked, instead of just picking up some fast food.   It does take a bit more planning to try and make a variety of things that hold your interest in keeping it up.   I am going to try and take all of my Food knowledge and whatever culinary skills I have to try and eat better while still enjoying what I eat.

As I experiment with different recipes I will post any great results here.    And if it works and I lose weight I will post the results as well.    I am at a point in my life where the weight is really stubborn so I am not going to beat myself up if I don't lose numbers on the scale.   Just feeling better and doing what I need to do to prevent any future illnesses is what I need to focus on.

Wish me luck!