Goal Setting 101

Every now and then I'll ask my Kas Fitness fans to share their goals. 

This is met with a variety of results. Some people aim high, some aim lower, some ignore me all together (Ha!), and some seem to get a bit down about goals.

What is it about goal setting that makes people feel prickly? Is it stepping out of their comfort zone? Is it realizing that they don't HAVE goals? Or is it deeper than that?

Sometimes I get upset with goals because it reminds me of all the past goals I missed. I suddenly remember that time I set a goal to lose 5lbs and gained 10. Or the time I decided to increase my fitness level and didn't actually work for it. That's when I waffle on current goals...when my brain starts to say to me

What if you fail?

You know what? Your brain (and mine) needs to shut up. 

Set a goal that is reasonable. If you KNOW that you can only lose 2lbs this month THEN SET THAT GOAL. Don't say to yourself, "Well, I don't have much to lose and 2lbs would be a good goal...but I'm going to push for 10 instead." At the end of the month when you've lost 3lbs you won't be happy that you surpassed that original 2; you'll be depressed that it wasn't the 10.

Don't worry about other people's goals. Always remember this: Your "before" is someone's "after" and your "after" is someone's "before." If you're carrying around an extra 20lbs don't get discouraged by the person only carrying around an extra 10lbs...because somewhere out there someone carrying around an extra 50lbs is seeing your "before" and WANTING TO LOOK LIKE YOU.

Set short term goals. It's fine to say "I want to lose 50lbs this year" but don't leave it at that. Break it down. How many pounds is that a week? There are 52 weeks in a year so to lose 50lbs in a year you need to lose about 1lb a week...or 4lbs a month. 4lbs is a lot easier to see in the future than 50lbs.

Be mindful of phrasing. Someone once set a "goal" on KF to "not get any fatter." That's a fine goal IF you phrase it in a positive way. A better way to phrase that goal would be to "maintain current weight."

So I want you to head over to Kas Fitness and share your goals with us. We'll be checking back at the end of the month to see what you accomplished! Go get it!





Linking up

Hungry But Not Starving

I'm hungry...all the time.

I'm also eating...all the time.

I'll be honest and tell you that this is sort of weird for me.

The last time I was hungry all the time I was eating 500-800 calories a day. Now I eat a minimum of 1700.

I have a metabolism. I'm not sure I've had a functioning metabolism for the last 10+ years. No, I'm totally serious here.

How did I do it? How can you replicate it?

1) Eat a filling, protein rich breakfast.
You should aim for 400 calories. A wrap with egg whites, avocado, potato, and veggies is perfect (just measure things out so you're in your calorie range) The first WEEK I did this I couldn't finish it. I'd eat half, wait an hour or so, and then eat the other half. Now I easily inhale my breakfast and wake up HUNGRY!

2) Eat every 2-4 hours.
Yep, even if you're not hungry. Eat SOMETHING. Even if you just eat an apple or have a small glass of milk. Think of hunger like a scale of 1-10. 1 is so starving you think you're dying and 10 is so full you could puke. You want to stay in the 4-6 range as much as possible. If you get to 2-3 you're more likely to overeat and end up in 8-9. (okay, enough numbers!) Eat frequently.

3) Stay hydrated.
Seriously. Drinking 8 glasses of water a day isn't enough for everyone. Aim for 1oz per pound of body weight. More if it's hot or if you're working out or if you just feel thirsty!

4) Exercise regularly.
Once you fuel the fire you need to keep it running....by running (or weight lifting or dancing or or or...just MOVE)

5) Give it time.
If you eat tomorrow and wake up the next day and don't feel hungry don't think you've failed. It takes time. Just keep at it!

No More Sugary Soda?

I recently began reading "Reshaping It All" by Candace Cameron Bure (you remember DJ from Full House?)

It's amazing. I knew it would be. I can relate to parts of her story, especially when she gets into her eating disorder.

One thing that stood out to me recently was this:

"One problem with our overweight society is that we've been trained to look at food as the problem rather than our approach to appetite. Food as become the focus of our culture with fast-food signs adorning every street corner. In hopes of fixing this obsession with food, we find diet plans that offer twice the binge at half the calories or we reach for pills that will quickly shed the pounds."

She put into words what I've been thinking for sometime now. After New York's Mayor decided to ban sugary drinks 16oz and larger I had mixed feelings.

Health is important to me. I want people to make healthy choice. Notice that sentence: I want people to make healthy choices. I did not say I want the government to make healthy choices for people.

BUT, some of you are yelling, what about people that just don't know any better?

Educate them.

It's kind of like school and children. If SchoolChild doesn't know how to do a skill and you do it for them without teaching them THEY WILL NEVER LEARN.

We should be teaching people how to make healthy choices, teaching them how to SHOP on a budget (I hear "healthy eating is too expensive" too much), teaching them how to prepare healthy meals with limited funds/resources, showing them how to get a good workout without a gym and trainer, etc... We should NOT be making choices FOR people.

We, as a society, need to learn moderation and self-control...not government babysitting.

Quick Fix and Fad Diets!

Working Out While Sick?

I've been asked (and wondered myself) if working out while you're sick is a good idea.

I wish I looked this cute when I'm sick!

Different people say different things. Mostly, it comes down to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY (doesn't everything?)

When I get sick I don't workout. Why? I have asthma and most colds settle in my chest and seriously cut off my oxygen. When I get winded climbing the stairs I know it's time to dial back the exercise!

Sometimes I WILL do yoga. I've had success using yoga for congestion, headaches, cramps, etc...

Do you workout when you're sick?

Dear Americans, WAKE UP!!!

This article on toxins in our food made its way onto my Facebook newsfeed today. My favorite part has to be the leading paragraph:

Yesterday, in the face of a just-released report by the National Cancer Institute that showed a 9.4% increase in childhood cancer between 1992 and 2007, the FDA let moms and dads all across America down. Instead of making the long overdue move to do something serious about getting rid of toxic food dyes so ubiquitous in our food supply, they instead fell back on those two simple words so often used to stall, delay and deny: "more research."

There once was a time I thought my son had Sensory Processing Disorder. He fit the bill. We even had him in regular therapy to help all of us deal with his "sensory issues."

I don't remember exactly what happened, but he was improving and I decided to leave therapy. Having people over to my house frequently was more stressful than dealing with his possible SPD. And he was doing SO WELL and seemed to be getting better. However, there was one weekend I realized his behavior was going downhill and he was sensory seeking (touching everything, throwing himself around, etc) like CRAZY. As I sat and sobbed to my husband about how overwhelmed and helpless I felt we tried to figure out what had changed in the last week or so. We figured it out...

We'd introduced gummy fruit snacks into his diet.

I'd read the articles about high fructose corn syrup and artificial dyes. I didn't go out of my way to avoid them but we did when we could find an alternative. I never questioned feeding my son bag after bag of these snacks.

We did a full purge and removed all HFCS and artificial dyes from the house. We read labels on our next shopping trip (it's shocking what has this CRAP in it! Food dye in jelly and jam. HFCS in CRACKERS)

A few weeks later a change happened. I realized I was cleaning his hands more frequently than ever. He seemed to be seeking out mess. This is the child that ate his 1st birthday cake with poise like the Queen of England. Now he was seeking out things to squish and get messy.

Right after cutting out HFCS and Dyes...

The sensory stuff was almost GONE. He wasn't spinning, he wasn't throwing himself on the floor (he still jumps but not like he was), he wasn't running his hands over every surface as he walked...and he was pleasant to be around.

When he had a single popsicle on vacation it all went back to how it had been before....the explosive anger, the sensory seeking...all because of ONE dose of that junk.


Have you cut anything from your diet or your family's diet? What changes did you notice?

In Shape to Workout?

I was always one of those people that felt like you had to be in shape to go to the gym. There was a day in college, after not working out AT ALL, I jumped on the treadmill and attempted to run. You can imagine how well that went...I was going to stick with it until one of the dance girls jumped on the one next to me and took off running with ease. I quit and walked off.

But it's a common thought...

When I share about Beachbody with people I occasionally get a despondent, "Oh no, I'm not in shape. I can't [insert exercise here]."

Do you know where *I* started? 10-15mins of cardio videos online. A walk around the hills in my neighborhood.

I did NOT start with P90X or RUNNING in my neighborhood.

I remember the first time I finished one of the videos online. It's my favorite cardio video. It's 30mins long and pretty high energy. The first time I FINISHED it (that's with breaks during) I was ecstatic. When I cut back on how many breaks I took it was awesome. The first time I did it with NO breaks? It was magical.

What CAN you do? 10 mins of that exercise video? A quick walk around the block? 10 situps?

Do THAT. Tomorrow, do it again. The day after, push a bit harder. Before you know it you'll be up to 15mins of that video or 2 laps around the block.

P90X and Weight Gain

I was alerted (By Google) to an article that mentioned P90X recently. As I read more I came across the actual context for the comment...and it wasn't positive.

From the article:

2) If you're serious about seeing big changes you need to lift weights. 
-Correct your workout so you're working out specifically for weight loss and drastic change. 
-This doesn't mean you have to kill yourself or spend excessive amounts of time in the gym, but you do need to work out right. Programs like Zumba, Pilates and even intense systems like P90X can stop results dead in their tracks because they are so intense that you're ravenous after causing you to binge and that's always counterproductive. 
-You want a system with real results that's made for real people. You want the fastest results that you can actually maintain. 

I was with them until they mentioned P90X and LACK of results. I'm still scratching my head.

You know I've done the program. You also know that I didn't become an X Grad.

I couldn't help but comment on the article.

If you buy P90X from a LEGIT source (Team Beachbody Coach) you will get a meal plan. If you FOLLOW the meal plan you won't "get ravenous" and binge. The plan has you eating the proper amounts of carb/protein/fat at regular times to keep your metabolism fueled without starving yourself. Team Beachbody also offers a recovery drink designed specifically to go with the P90X program. Drinking it afterwards helps you refuel without over-doing it.
I had great results with P90X. Yes, my metabolism increased but I wasn't starving and binging.

The article does have *some* truth to it. If you buy/borrow P90X and don't follow the meal plan you won't get the same results. Diet is most of the battle.

This is just an example of why you should RESEARCH your decisions. I really hope no one reading their article is turned off of P90X because they think they can't handle it...

Have you ever not purchased something because of a negative comment about it? Tell me in the comments!

Pro-Ana (part one: Websites)

*Trigger Warning* I don't usually have to put one of these up BUT I know some of my readers are recovering from eating disorders and I don't want to trigger you. If that's you please LEAVE NOW!

This is hitting the news again (it cycles) so I feel the need to touch on the subject. If you are a parent please stick around for this series. It's quite serious.

For those that haven't heard the terms "Pro-Ana" or "Pro-Mia" or "Pro-ED" let me enlighten you...it's PRO eating disorder (anorexia, bulimia, eating disorder...respectively).

Yes, I'm serious. These websites have been around for a LONG time. I've been using the internet for almost 15 years and it's been around for the entire time.

For me it started with AOL chat rooms. Then, when the internet became much much more than AOL, I discovered the pro-ana websites.

I truly don't remember what I searched in Yahoo! to bring up these pages. I just know that I searched *something* related to eating disorders and it brought up a pro-ana site. I felt like Alice falling down the rabbit hole into an entirely new world. (Like that cliche isn't over-used right? lol)

These sites, in my opinion, are more damaging to your household than pornography. They're also harder to block! Is your child on Facebook, Tumblr, Xanga, Pinterest, etc? It's there. And it's not blocked as often as scantily clad women.

What's found on these sites?

Prepare to be disturbed...

There are tips for things like staying full, losing weight, and HIDING your eating disorder.

There are photos (many photoshopped) of varying sizes. The incredibly skinny are "thinsperation" and the obese are "reverse thinspo."

Most have a Letter From Ana. (I put it in a Google Doc so I wouldn't risk linking directly to a site)

There are "Thin Commandments" that include things like "If you aren't thin, you aren't attractive" and "Being thin and not eating are signs of true will power and success."

There are diets, exercises, and links to other blogs.

All that nourishes me, destroys me.

Are you scared? You should be. These sites tend to fall under "free speech." It doesn't matter if they get removed. It's like cockroaches...as soon as one is gone a dozen come in to replace it.

What do you do?

Be aware. As a parent you may browse these sites to know the signs. Know your enemy. With the rise of teaching children that fat is bad and telling them they're obese we may be feeding this problem.


Please share your thoughts below! And please please share this post!!

Why Is This Important To Me?

Seriously though. Why did I create a whole different blog from my homemaking blog? Why is exercise SO important to me? Why would I choose such a job? I was a theater major! We're not known for our exercise habits (unless running across campus to rehearsal counts...) I rarely had TIME to go to the gym. I ate fast food at 11pm (because rehearsal went until 10pm and I was HUNGRY)

So why exercise? I have a variety of reasons actually...

As a Christian I believe my body is a temple (1Corinthians 6:19-20). I don't take it to, what I consider, extremes and avoid all "bad" things. I have to have caffeine each morning (I think I have trouble seeing color until then! lol), I enjoy the occasional alcoholic drink, and I love chips a little too much.

I have an eating disorder in my past. 5 years of off and on bulimia. I developed a distorted view of beauty, health, and food. Foods were "good" or "bad" and I based my self worth on which food I ate. Even at my thinnest I was terribly unhappy with how I looked and tried to become even thinner. At that point it wasn't about health. My brain would distort what I saw in the mirror. Eating disorder awareness and education is VERY near and dear to my heart. There are so many misconceptions about it. So many people view it as "stupid" and whatnot. I want to teach people (especially teens) that you can be healthy and happy and enjoy the occasional cheat meal! You can exercise without killing yourself.

I'm going to step on toes with this one...

I hate seeing overweight and obese CHILDREN. That bothers me to no end. A little baby chub is fine and healthy (my exclusively breastfed boys were pretty chunky). If your child eats healthy foods and is a bit bigger than his peers that's fine. It's the toddlers that weigh as much as a 10yo that eat soda and candy all day that bother me. Usually these heavy kids are accompanied by heavy parents. You can stop the cycle! You can start healthier habits and teach your kids.
When my husband and I first got married we would sit up until 11pm, watching TV shows, and eat chips and dip. We could easily finish a full sized bag of chips each. We didn't have a lot of money so we ate a lot of boxed crap. Hamburger Helper, Blue box Mac-n-Cheese, SPAM, etc... We drank water only because we couldn't afford anything else (not out of health concerns obviously).
When we had our first baby we decided things needed to change. (And it turned out he was dairy intolerant so I, due to breastfeeding, had to cut out dairy. Are you aware that just about every boxed meal has dairy in it?) We wanted our kids to have better palates than we did.

And...I just wanted to be healthier. I want to be thin without being SKINNY. I want to have energy to take care of my kids. To echo my above point: I was at the park with Franklin the other week and saw an overweight mom with her toddler. The toddler was running (as toddlers do) and she was struggling to keep up. I felt so bad for her and wanted to go over and encourage her...but I know a lot of people don't appreciate that so I didn't.

What do you think? Comment below (even if  you disagree)

How Do I Lose Weight FAST?

I see this question far too often. It's always different numbers with different (unrealistic) amounts of time.

"How do I lose 10lbs this week?"

"How do I lose 50lbs this month?"

Well, I'm here with the answer!

Ready?

Photo Credit

YOU CAN'T! Well, not and be healthy or keep it off.

I know, I know..."But on The Biggest Loser..." I'm going to ruin reality TV for you now.

It's not real. Yes, they're losing the weight, but it's not REAL LIFE. Their kitchen is stocked with specific foods (specific to the show because you know advertising is part of how they make a profit), their diets are crafted exactly to them, they have the "luxury" of being able to exercise 5+ hours a day with personal trainers, and right before a weigh-in they stop drinking water to shed those last few pounds (or so I've heard).

I take issue with exercising until you pass out or vomit. Yes, sometimes you should push that extra mile...but dizziness, nausea, and PAIN are your body's way of telling to STOP.

If you pay attention to the show you'll see that after a couple of weeks half of the players are injured. Some will be unable to exercise and the rest will have an Ace Bandage wrapped on some part of their body. Uh, not healthy people! If you are consistently getting injured you should take it as a sign that you're doing something wrong! 

 

You *can* work out while injured provided you do it safely...but that's another post!


What is the average weight loss standard? 1-2lbs a week. Yep. If you have a bit more to lose then you can probably get away with losing a bit more at first. (I'm talking 5-7lbs...not 25)

Remember this: A loss is a loss. Every OUNCE of fat you lose gets you closer to a healthier person. (But I don't believe in relying on the scale either)

Obesity...Should We Be Talking About It?

I recently posed a question on my Facebook page that I'll share here...

Someone said that this War On Obesity might actually be doing more harm than good because we're STILL focusing on APPEARANCE instead of BEHAVIOR. We should embrace good behaviors instead.
Sometimes I wonder if in 20 years we're going to have the opposite problem because so many kids (especially girls) were told "fat is bad!!!" their whole life.

As someone that suffered from an eating disorder for roughly 5 years I get a bit uncomfortable when weight is being discussed...especially regarding children. I especially hate that some schools are taking BMI and sending notes home to the parents that basically say "Your kid is fat."

Weight is not the problem. Lifestyle is the problem. Being skinny doesn't automatically mean healthy. At my lowest weight (115lbs...that's teeny for a 5'6" woman with a larger frame) I was malnourished and unhealthy. However, before I hit that low weight, when I was in the 120's, people told me how GOOD I looked and how they wanted to "lose weight and get healthy" like I had.
My mother isn't a fat person but her cholesterol doesn't reflect that. I've known overweight people with perfect cholesterol numbers.

Even the idea that "we focus on skinny models as perfection and that's unhealthy" is bad too. Some people are naturally stick-thin. It doesn't happen often, but I've known several people that eat like horses but remain super thin (my brother is one...).

We should focus on behavior. Are you exercising 3-5 times a week? 10-30 minutes a day? Are you drinking water instead of soda or juice? Do you limit processed foods?

Your body will reflect these choices in a good way. You may never be model-thin...you may even always be on the larger end of healthy. But that's okay! Your body has a set weight at which it functions best. That may change as you age (hormones do that)

I'm just afraid that in 20 years we're going have won the "war on obesity" and be fighting a "war on eating disorders" instead...

What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

Will Your Resolutions Fail?

Recently there was an article at Cracked.com (For Mature Audiences. The language and topics tend to be racy) that discussed the common reasons for failure in New Year's Resolutions. Did yours fail last year? See how many of these resemble you...

Mistake: Setting Vague Goals
I think everyone I've seen on Facebook has done this one year or another. Things like "eat healthier" or "lose weight" or "start exercising more" are in this list. I'm going to look at "start exercising more." What is "more" to you? Are you not exercising at all right now? Do you count taking the stairs instead of the elevator at work exercise? Are you going to exercise 10mins once a month? (That's "more" if you're not doing anything at all right now) 20mins a week? 30mins a day?

Remedy: Set a Concrete Goal
Using the above "goal" as a reference, a better goal would be "I resolve to exercise 10mins a day, 3 days a week." Now you have a time goal and a day goal.


Mistake: Trapping Others in Your Resolution
I'm guilty of this one. The goal of "eat healthier" carries into this one if you have a family because you know you're going to purge the house of all the JUNK. If you vow to never drink soda again (a great goal by the way) your family should be in on the decision so they don't come home with a 6-pack of Coke and torture you by drinking it in front of you.

Remedy: Make the Decision Together.
You're more likely to keep one of these resolutions if you make the decision as a family. Does everyone want to travel? Great! Make a list and choose a few places. Does everyone need to get healthy? It's time to get honest about the pitfalls in your diet and exercise and change TOGETHER.


Mistake: Not Doing Homework First
How much weight is healthy to lose in a week? Answer: 1-2lbs. Seriously. If you're obese you will probably lose more initially but it will taper off. You can't expect to pull "Biggest Loser" numbers here in the real world. And you shouldn't get discouraged when you don't!

Remedy: Do Your Research
Set a goal like "Lose 4lbs each month" and you're set. That's a healthy loss (1lb a week) and you'll still have lost over 50lbs by the end of the year. If you have more weight to lose you can double it and lose 100 POUNDS by Dec 31, 2012. Yep, I'm totally serious.


Mistake: Going All Out
I'm all for being gung-ho and excited. But if you start a marathon running at top speed you won't make it very far. If you jump up on January 1st and decide you're going to start running that's fine...but if you're not in peak physical condition you may need to start with intervals. You've heard me talk about P90X on this blog before. I love the program. But I'll be the first one to tell you that it is NOT a beginner program. Yes, you can modify, but it's not the best program for someone just starting to exercise. What happens to a lot of people is they start a new INTENSE exercise program and find that they can't keep up. Maybe they don't have time to workout an hour each day, maybe they wake up sore too often and give up, or maybe they just don't like whatever workout they think they're "supposed" to do. (I hear this about running...)

Remedy: Baby Steps!
Is your goal to exercise? Start with 10mins a day a few days a week. When that gets easy you can up it to more days or more time. Want to eat healthy? Try a new recipe with a new veggie. If you make small changes you can be a new person by the end of the year!


Mistake: Failing to Know Yourself
One of the mistakes that *I* made with P90X is under this heading. I thought "I'll do it at night after the kids go to bed." Yeah, that lasted 3 weeks. Several nights I didn't get into bed until 11pm (Hey, that's late for me) because the baby wouldn't sleep and I still had an hour long workout to do. When I tried to do it during the day I had kids running off with my weights. (Or, in one case, dropping them on me...) It just wasn't for me.

Remedy: Plan Better
This year I'm beginning the year with Slim in 6. It's a 6 week program with intense 30min workouts. THAT I can do!


So what are your resolutions? Remember: "He who fails to plan is planning to fail" ~ Winston Churchill

Ban The Cell Phones?

The NYT (That's The New York Times...I'm trying to be cool and abbreviate things...is it working?) put out an article recently on gyms struggling to ban cellphone usage.

LIKE movie theaters and libraries, many fitness clubs have insisted for years that their workout areas should be cellphone-free. Their logic is as simple and straightforward as a push-up: they want to prevent people from yakking on their phones and annoying the fitness buffs who want to crank out reps and mileage in relative peace. Safety is another reason, because texting while running on a treadmill can be hazardous to your health.

It's not just annoying and unsafe...privacy is coming into the discussion. I know that I am NOT sexy when I work out. I'm also really self conscious about going to the gym. A lot of people struggle with the "I need to be in shape to go to the gym" mentality. If I thought that someone could be videotaping or photographing me I'd be even MORE nervous.

But should phones be banned?

My thought? Yes.

Hear me out...barring an emergency situation you should be focused on working out when you're at the gym.  For me, gym time is ME time. I want to be inside my own head and that's it. I use my phone as an mp3 player but I do not chat. I'll call my husband (because he's usually my ride) when I'm done and that's it. You'll survive 30mins without checking Facebook. If you want to walk and chat with your BFF go outside and walk on the track. Really, you should be focusing on YOU.

What about people chatting it up in person? They should stop too. I don't go to the gym to socialize. I know, I'm a loser like that. Again, it's ME time. Working out is when I, well, work things out mentally. I don't need to hear about your date from last night while I'm thinking about my business or focusing on my breathing during a sprint.


What do you think? Is it okay to socialize at the gym?

New Restaurant Trends 2012...Excited?

I read an article recently called Top 10 Restaurant Trends for 2012

In it the author states

... the predictions are from Baum+Whiteman, international food and restaurant consultants in New York. They say the coming year will be all about “into the wild” as chefs go foraging for new ingredients and customers abandon comfort food for intense mix-and-match global flavors.

It's interesting to say the least. There are a few things I'm going to hit on in this blog...

1. Whole world on a plate. Look for a multi-ethnic, multi-sensory dining experience where flavors clash on purpose. Now it’s all about multi culti. A zucchini pizza dabbed with hummus and topped with crunchy wasabi peas is from nowhere geographically because it’s from everywhere. Cooking is at a crossroads where everything collides.

This could be really neat. I've seen it done on a lot of cooking shows. It's called Fusion Cuisine. I've been known to do it in my kitchen; occasionally on purpose! You might take Mexican flavors and serve them with an Italian flair (Stuffed shells but with jack cheese and ground beef instead of ricotta). It's a great way to change up your menu!! Instead of having the same dish you can deconstruct it and present it a different way without sacrificing your favorite flavors.

4. Innards and odd parts. Tongue, gizzards and pigs ears are moving up from ethnic neighborhoods and onto menus of upscale restaurants.  In the year ahead, look for more “wobbly cuts,” such as tripe, chicken livers that are crunch-fried and beef heart (but not brains, yet), because customers are increasingly adventurous.

My husband will be more excited about that than I am...he goes for the "offal" parts. I've tried to eat them (my style of eating says they're good for you) but I just can't do it! I even tried doing half kidney and half ground beef in a spaghetti sauce. I tasted every single bite of kidney in the dish! It will be interested to see fancy places serving what was once lower class cuts!

6. Instead of bread. Look for sandwiches piled on things other than bread:  arepas, flattened tostones, bao, waffles, rice cakes.

I'm glad to see that the new "low carb" option is going to be something other than lettuce!! Sometimes I want a bit of the bread without a whole slice.

Buzzwords for 2012

Fresh sardines. Uni. Yuzu. Tamarind. Kalbi. Bao. Bibambap. Bulgogi. Huacatay. Bone Marrow. Ox tail. Duck. Flowers. Hibiscus. Arepas. Coconut oil. Goat meat. Shiso. Green papaya. Seaweed.  Ultra-long dry aging of meat.  Lamb ribs and belly. Hand-made ricotta and burrata. Micro-distilleries. Exotic bitters on the bar.

Coconut oil!! Yay! I hope that the bad rap it's been given starts to go away. I've seen nothing but good things from coconut oil. Seriously! It's good for you inside and out.

There are plenty more to read about in the actual article: Here


Which trend are you most excited about in the coming year? Is there one you're dreading? Tell us about it in the comments!!

The Scale (insert foreboading music)

It's actually a bit of a controversial topic...How often should you weigh yourself?

I'm going to give you MY opinion.

I'll be honest, I chucked the scale years ago. I weigh myself if I'm somewhere with a scale (family, gym, etc...) but I don't own one and I don't plan to buy one.

I, like most people, get obsessed with the number. That number can dictate my entire day. Up a pound? Horrible day. Down a pound? Fantastic day. No change? Probably a horrible day.

It's sad, but very true and very common.

Some people will tell you to weigh yourself weekly. I still think this is a bad idea...especially for women. Our weight is affected my hormones! PMS can cause weight gain. Yes, there are things you can do to help prevent this (diet, exercise, extra water) but you can't prevent it totally. Weight training can also mess with the numbers.

A pound of muscle is not as big as a pound of fat. So you might not look different when you start weight training, but the numbers may go up. You may go down 2 pants sizes but be HEAVIER than when you started.

I recommend having a goal SIZE or an EXERCISE goal. Are you a size 12? Buy a size 10 pair of pants and try them on once a month. Or, take pictures at the first of each month and compare your progress. Or make it a goal to increase your endurance (Do you take fewer rest breaks during that intense video? That's progress!!)

If you want to weigh yourself I would say do it once a month. I know that's radical! I know that's difficult! I also know that it can be done!

*Disclaimer: If you have a medical condition that requires weight monitoring then listen to your DOCTOR instead of me! I know a woman who had her thyroid removed and now has to weigh herself each morning because a large fluctuation can indicate a serious problem. Always always know your limits.

What do you think? Do you own a scale? How often do you weigh in? Do you let numbers dictate your day?