I went to bed thinking about what to have for breakfast… seriously. Everything just seems repetitive and boring. I need something fresh and new!

I was glad to have a break day today because I even feel a little  “blah” and worn out on my workouts. Good thing this is a breather day! Back at it tomorrow, I hope with some renewed vigor!

Part of it is the weather. It gets so repetitive and I want to be outside but it is just too darn cold and yucky. We also did not get any snow this year so all my grandiose winter plans of skiing and sledding went right out the window.

I am training for the National Duathlon Championships in AZ in April and after that I have another duathlon and a marathon and all that before the first week in June. That is exciting but it is drawing a whole lot of juice!

So I am taking today with my little guy and doing running some errands and catching lunch with the hubs and then I hope to be picking up my TT/TRI bike! (I will post pictures). I hope to come back refreshed.

So tell me, do you have cabin fever? What are you doing to beat it? Any great food ideas floating around out there? What would YOU like to hear about? What would keep you motivated?
Jasmine

I bet you are now wondering what the answer to the question is… NEVER. That is the answer. Never. You will never be able to go back to the way things were because if you do you will go back to the person that you were. I have a cute picture to illustrate courtesy of Pinterest:

Ciao,

Jasmine

Today was a link of sausage, eggs made with cottage cheese and a waffle topped with some plain yogurt, berries and a drizzle of maple syrup.

Sausage has some good fat going on and has a boost of protein, some staying power for when my mini man is running around later. Eggs are GREAT with cottage cheese. Seriously. What a great experiment. I found the idea on pinterest and it is really yummy. Replace both the milk and cheese with some cottage cheese and then cook as usual. Very yummy. This is the recipe that I used for the waffles. SO fast. SO easy. Whole wheat flour. Super flavorful. I add a couple of my own tweaks to make them perfect which include 2 tsp of vanilla and a dash of nutmeg, trust me the vanilla and nutmeg make the waffle!

I have found that topping my waffles and french toast with yogurt and then berries is by far my favorite way to eat them. Extra protein and it is almost like loading it up with whipped cream without the sickeninly sweet part. You can use vanilla yogurt as well and either regular or greek yogurt. Amazing.

It is important for me to be fit and eat well so that my child can see and (hopefully) imitate that throughout his life but it is also important for him to not just see what I am doing but for me to make sure that I am feeding him well on a daily basis.

How do you start your child’s day? Are you not just showing your child but also bringing them in to your healthy eating and exercise lifestyle?

Jasmine

Now I don’t watch women’s soccer but I have an extreme appreciation for the female athletes out there. In some ways they feel like they are on my “team” even though we don’t play the same sport. We are all working together to further women’s sports. We are trying to give girls role models and to encourage fitness in women of all ages.

It wasn’t just the women’s soccer season being cancelled that got me thinking. The super bowl is this weekend. Big deal. I know. Even I watch it and I never watch football. We are Amercian, don’t we all? But it made me think… I had a discussion the other day with a couple of men in the house expressing my frustration about women’s sports. There are no women’s sports that people wait with bated breath to see. We don’t all plan for weeks in advance the parties that we will have to watch these super-women play. Most people can’t even name the name of a female soccer player but everyone knows David Beckham. OK. So maybe soccer isn’t the best sport to pick for American sports but you know what I am talking about! Everyone knows Michael Phelps. And the list of names as far as football and basketball and hockey etc. go on and on and on. In every sports bar there are men playing sports. When was the last time you walked in to a Buffalo Wild Wings and instead of them showing men’s MMA they have women on screen? Do you think people would even stand for it? I don’t think so.

And that begs the question, why? Why not? Why is it that these are the role models that girls get: (And no offense to the women in these pictures, I know people have to make a living but I am making a point here.)

Are these the type of photos we want young girls to see and emulate? Is this a strong looking passionate woman? How about this?

Since when is bondage and male domination sexy? Why?

How many calories a day do you want your daughter, niece, sister… to eat? Is this what you want the neighbor girl to aim for? Why is this what she sees in magazines and on TV? Where are here sports? They are out there! Look at these women:

How about some contact sports?

How about some power!? And some aggression? *gasp*

Where is the female Tour De France?! Why don’t you know this woman’s name?

Women toughing it out, getting rough, having fun!

We have some of the best teams. Some of the best female athletes. We have resources. We have gyms and gosh darn it I hear of a lot of women wanting to get fit and be athletic and every time I turn around there is some other male sport on television with commercials for makeup for women or you intermission with cheerleaders.

It is time to say something. To step out. I want to be a role model who shows girls that they can be beautiful AND powerful that those things are not exclusive. You can be aggressive and sexy.

I am a woman and an athlete. I am strong. I am powerful. I am beautiful. I am sexy. And I will play hard and work my tail off so that I have the strength to get up and do it again tomorrow!

Jasmine

The other day I was at the health food store and decided that I would pick something up for lunch there instead of at the coffee shop I was about to head over to. Make a “healthy choice” right? I was feeling the need for some yogurt and wanted some extra protein as well so I headed over to grab some greek yogurt. Chobani was on sale and they had a new flavor! Apple cinnamon. Pretty yummy. I felt all healthy eating my yogurt. Passing up the cookies at the coffee shop.

A couple of days later I made some chocolate chip cookies. Seriously, I have tried a TON of recipes but nothing beats the traditional Nestle Toll House cookie recipe with some sea salt sprinkled on top. Nothing. Though I do have to say that I always use white whole wheat flour even while baking sweets. Anyway… of course I just had to eat one! OK. So I ate two. So good. As I slunk back to my house that night with the warm baked good half guilty satisfaction feelings oozing out of me I suddenly had a thought… “I wonder how much sugar is in those containers of yogurt?” I don’t really know where the thought came from but I decided to hit up the web and take a look… and what I found was pretty dang crazy! Take a look for yourself…

20 grams of carbs which OK, whatever, and 19 grams of sugar! OUCH! Wait… I didn’t know I was eating dessert! Now I was really starting to wonder so I kept on with my investigation, I needed to compare my “healthy” lunch choice with the cookies I had just consumed.

OH MY GOSH! I had eaten TWO cookies for only two grams more of carb and 5 grams LESS of sugar! Holy crud! Granted, I didn’t get the protein but at this point I am to flabbergasted to even care one lick.

Usually I use plain yogurt and add my own junk to it… fruit, some real maple etc. and good thing too! I might as well just eat dessert! Seriously. Next time I’ll just get the chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk at the coffee shop.

Jasmine

Sugar, no sugar? “Yea right, no way no how” Is how I felt about Jasmine telling me I needed to cut sugar out of my diet. I’ve always been thin, I’ve never had to monitor one bite of food for any reason that was not of my choosing. I’ve never eaten a lot of junk and generally make pretty healthy choices with my diet.

BUT when I have sugar…

I want to eat half the batch of cookies. When I have coffee, I want the kind with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.

Then we discovered that my long standing battle with eczema and other painful skin conditions were likely due to an overload of yeast in my body. Fed by the sugar. To get rid of the yeast, you have to stop feeling it. No more sugar.

I resisted and thoroughly enjoyed amazing home baked goods over the holidays.

And the price I paid? I also could hardly use my hands for 2 weeks after Christmas. My husband couldn’t hold my hand when we got to go on a rare child free date.

Not cool. I knew it was time for a change.

So after Christmas I buckled down.

It was hard at first, I’m not going to lie. It was so totally lame.

I’d spent the last 2 weeks eating way more sugar then normal and my body was craving sugar at every turn.

The kids still had Christmas candy laying around by the bucket full’s. Sorry kids, its getting put away.

My husband was very supportive and ate through most of the that candy in two days “so I wouldn’t have it around to tempt me” What a dear.

I stocked up on salty snacks. Went to the store and bought chips and had lots of popcorn on hand to make and crackers and cheese. not the healthiest choice But I figure if I was going to break the sugar habit I needed some other snacks I enjoyed or I’d be reaching for sugar again.

Part of eating sugar was easy, if I was hungry, grabbing a cookie (or 12) or some candy was quick and easy, not to mentioned delicious.

And seriously, who can drink coffee without sugar in it? Gross.

I think they first week or so I went through 2-3 bags of tortilla chips and about a dozen avocados, snacking away and trying to avoid the sugar.

My hands would start clearing up and then I’d have just one cookie, or one piece of candy and they’d freak out again.

Now, 3 weeks later, I’m sitting here, drinking my coffee, it is loaded with cream, but no sugar, and I’m enjoying it.

My hands have almost totally cleared up.

My life is a lot healthier just from the one act of cutting out processed sugars.

I’ve turned to buying things more organic and making my own yogurt and pizzas (very easy) as a step to weed out all the sugar hidden in our everyday “not sugary foods”

My brain is so much clearer.

I wake up feeling better

my workouts are easier.

I don’t wait up in the middle of the night because my hands hurt so badly.

And best of all, when my husband reaches for my hand, I don’t pull away.

Totally worth it.

Tips for cutting out sugar:

1. Find your breaking point. It isn’t going to work if you are not serious about a change. I resisted for months before I broke. You have to want it. If you don’t want it, don’t bother.

2. Get rid of the temptation. While I wouldn’t advise having your spouse eat insane amounts of candy to do this. Throw it away, give it away. Lock it in a box. Your favorite sugar will taunt you and wreck even the strongest of will power.

3. If gas stations and drive through are your downfall. Make sure you have enough gas and don’t take any money with you when you commute. Remove your options for junk and sugar

4. Look for sugar to cut out in non sweet things and “healthy” things ketchup has a ton of sugar, my yogurt had an INSANE amount of sugar.

5. I’m not sure how our fitness guru feels about this, but find an alternative to snack on, salty did it for me. Once your body isn’t addicted to sugar anymore you can cut back. I’m down to about half a bag of chips a week [:-p]

Remember, this isn’t going to be easy and you will not feel your best while your body is “detoxing” but you will feel a milion times better once your body isn’t being run by sugar anymore.

I love planks. Really. I do. There are so many exercises you can do in this positing. You work your core, your arms, your back, your shoulders I could go on and on. There are so many possibilities. With good form.

So. Just in case you are ignorant of good plank form I am posting a few photos. Get a mirror to check your form or have another person take a good and objective look at you while you perform your plank moves.

This is a low plank.This is a high plank

If your planks do not look like this you are not doing them correctly!

Check your form peeps or I’ll come check it for ya!

Jasmine

There are so many ways that this fits in to a lifestyle of healthy eating and exercise. So many times we look at both of those things as a “have to” and a “chore”. We look at our overweight bodies and feel that we have been dealt a bad hand, we’re just not one of the “lucky” ones with a “good” metabolism. We don’t understand that we are living with a limitation. The limitation is found somewhere in what we are eating. Now you could spend the better part of your life complaining about what you “can’t” have or refraining from eating certain things until all the sudden you binge because that is all you are thinking about or you could discover ways to live beyond that limitation so you don’t even have to think about it anymore.

It is the same with fitness. How do I know this? Right before I got pregnant with my son I developed exercise induced asthma. I have no idea why. Every time I would ride a bike for a quarter of a while or go for a little jog I started wheezing. I could have decided that this kind of thing just wasn’t for me. I wasn’t built for it. My body couldn’t handle it etc. The asthma combined with a previous ankle injury that has left me with some arthritis and a “weak” ankle should have been enough to put a stop to my quest for athleticism. But it didn’t. Every time I went out for a ride or jog and was stopped short because I couldn’t breathe I felt a surge of defiance. I was not going to let this stop me! I was a young mom who wanted to be active all throughout her child’s life. I am a lover of outdoors. I have cycled most of my life. I wasn’t going to give up. Three years later I sit here not having had a breathing episode for over a year, I have felt my chest tightening once or twice but I have learned to breathe through things. I have brought up my cardio fitness to a level where it doesn’t stress my body to the point of gasping. I am a runner and a cyclist, I actually race! I can and will do everything and anything with my son. I can even wrestle my husband.

I could have made excuses. I had every right and every excuse. Don’t we all?

I have limitations. I live beyond them. You have limitations. What do you do with yours?

Aren’t you tired of excuses?

Jasmine

Seriously. I understand. But listen that does not just happen!

Lifting heavier weights has a ton of benefits and you do not have enough testosterone to build muscle like that.

Read this. And this.

Trust me. You will see faster results. Those abs just might pop! Choose a weight that you have difficulty completing the 3rd set of 8 – 10 reps with. When you get comfortable with that weight move up with confidence!

Jasmine