Fitness – Fervent Foodie

30 Day Fitness Challenge

December 27, 2017 4 Comments

Every January, I challenge myself with some sort of healthy living goal. I know, I know. I am SUCH a cliche. But you know what? I’m really ok with that. I honestly enjoy starting my year on a high, healthy note, and setting challenging, OBTAINABLE healthy living goals not only makes me feel better physically, but also does wonders for my mental health. From the deepest part of my heart, I believe that exercise is nature’s best anti-depressant. And in January, when we’re surrounded by coldness and darkness, I think each of us could use a little assistance in the positive mental attitude department.

Last January, in addition to Vegetarian Whole30, I did a 30-days-of-exercise challenge. And I felt AWESOME. So this year, I’m sharing my super sophisticated exercise tracker in hopes of inspiring more people to get off their keesters this January. There are no rules on what constitutes exercise here–you pick the exercise. Whether it’s a long walk, yoga in your living room, or a class at the gym — as long as it gets your heart rate up and your body moving, it counts.

Fitness

I did a 3-day cleanse and lived.

July 25, 2017 4 Comments

I’m one hour into my 3-day cleanse. I say to myself, “I think it’s working?” I do that little dance where you turn to the side and see if your belly has magically inverted. “I mean my jeans are definitely not cutting off my circulation today.”

Fast forward a couple of hours to my first FIBER SWEEP drink. It’s somehow slimy and gritty all at once. I make the mistake of drinking this concoction slowly, which allows time for the fiber to coagulate right there at my desk. The last quarter literally requires chewing.

Later, I drink my first vanilla fresh shake, a beverage that I am required to drink with both lunch and dinner. Despite the “DELICIOUS” claims printed on the flyer, this shake is barely swallowable. I quickly learn that chugging is the only option. Fortunately, a sprinkle of cinnamon helps ease my gag reflex. Unfortunately, the cinnamon does not alleviate the gas. Vanilla “fresh” … the irony.

Before I fall asleep that first night, I declare to the world (via a solitary text to my boyfriend) that I am quitting the cleanse. Though quitting is not in my nature, I am certain this cleanse is worthy of a quit. I am done.

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Seven hours later, I awake with renewed gumption. I tell myself I’ll do it for science. FOR SCIENCE, I say.

Going into this cleanse, I was mostly worried about going hungry for three solid days. Interestingly, this was not the case. Though I ate about 1,200 calories per day each of the three days (the bulk of which came from shakes), my stomach felt unnaturally full. I did not feel COMPLETELY REFRESHED as the box implied I would. Honestly, I felt angry (or was it just hangry?). As sad as this is to mention out loud, I felt like my days had lost their color. In my world, an injection of interesting food is akin to bumping up the contrast on a picture being edited for Instagram. Everything looks so much brighter, so much fuller that way.

Fitness, Food Talk, Product Review

Gluten-free-for-all

October 25, 2016 No Comments

Thanks to goodnessknows for sponsoring this post and encouraging me to refocus on healthy living goals!

I remember once proclaiming that I’d rather date a vegetarian than someone who was gluten-free. I said “vegetarian” like it was something utterly disdainful, the penultimate compatibility failure. Fast forward a few years, and I’m the (most-of-the-time) vegetarian touting a gluten-free fellow. Oh, how the tables turn! Starting this blog 6.5 years ago was sort of like my healthy living “puberty” — back then, I was dipping my toe in the internet’s complex, often conflicting, never-ending pool of health-focused information. I was intrigued, excited, and totally misguided. But, just as our bodies physically mature over our lifetimes, our tastes, preferences, and views shift and expand, strengthen and sag too. And thank god for that. Otherwise I’d still be eating fat-free dairy for snacks and microwaved broccoli for breakfast every day. goodnessknows

Near the time I started blogging, I learned about the gluten-free diet from my friend Tracy, who, after an onslaught of tummy troubles, found that dairy-free, gluten-free foods made her feel “normal” again. At the time, “gluten” was a word few people knew or cared much about, and this whole gluten-free diet thing sounded MISERABLE to me. So, I made it my mission to find Tracy a decent gluten-free, dairy-free pizza so that her new GF life wouldn’t be completely devoid of joy.

Fitness, Ramblings

Good to Freaking Great {some thoughts on healthy living}

August 18, 2016 No Comments

A big thanks to goodnessknows for sponsoring this post (and contributing to this grad student’s emergency vacation fund!).

The well-documented link between mental stability and physical activity is one I won’t drudge on about here. In short, mental health and physical health are intertwined just like the pastel colors in those rainbow bagels I see all over the internet these days. Basically, bagels are my therapy. I MEAN EXERCISE. Yes, exercise. And by therapy, I simply mean that I am happiest and most emotionally stable when I get some form of exercise each day. I joke that like a dog, I need walked twice a day. Even small amounts of exercise (like walking) boost my energy and mood.

Goodness Knows #tryalittlegoodness

Of course this all sounds wonderful, but the truth is that when life gets crazy, exercise is the first thing to disappear from my routine (followed closely behind by healthy eating), and in those high-stress chunks of days, I feel my happiness dissipate — not to depression, but to numbness. I become numb to the world as I focus with champion-like intention on the task at hand. You see, I’m what my dad calls a “go-getter” always seeking out some thing, some goal, and hunkering down till I obtain it. A goal-getter, really. I know this about myself, and actually, I like this quality. But, each time, after the smokey stress cloud clears, I look back on the weeks or months that have lapsed and am often disappointed that I let so much life pass me by; that my mission for mindfulness was yet again neglected; that I sacrificed those things that help me be my best me.

Goodness Knows #tryalittlegoodness

I’ve got my sights set on this balanced rainbow bagel of life as I head into what will surely be the most stressful couple of months this gal has tackled yet. As the great Mr. Tolle, my 10th grade biology teacher, proclaimed: “organization is key.” And thus, I’ve organized some thoughts on my health goals for the fall.

Fitness

Bike to work: challenge accepted. {fitness}

May 24, 2016 No Comments

When my friends from goodnessknows asked me to team up with them on a bike-to-work post, I didn’t hesitate to say yes. I mean, bike rides + delicious snacks? How could I decline? Truth be told, I had an ulterior motive — I recently moved to Columbus, Ohio to pursue my PhD in Accounting, and one of the biggest perks of the city is the awesome trail system. Though, I have several years of walking to work under my belt (max distance of 1.6 sweaty miles each way), biking to work is a new challenge. Currently, I live about 6 miles from work, and my daily commute takes an average of 20 minutes (including the walk from the parking lot to the building)–a distance that seemed a little TOO FAR to bike.

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But, how could I type up a bunch of words on why biking to work is a great idea (healthy for you, healthy for the environment, etc.), if I didn’t actually give it a shot? Exactly. I needed some street cred. I had to actually give this bike to work idea a go to see how a bike commute stacks up against my normal car commute. Since I don’t have a means to gauge the environmental impact, I focused on calories burned (the primary health factor) and total time (my most valuable resource) spent. For this not-so-scientific study, I tracked calories burned using a heart rate monitor and commute duration (time and mileage) using MapMyRide.

bike commute vs car commute

The results: the bike commute took about 13 minutes longer, but resulted in an additional 200 calories burned.

Honestly, these results are pretty surprising. I expected the bike commute to take closer to 45 minutes! 13 additional minutes of my time to burn 200 extra calories, seems like a wise spend. Factor in the return trip home, and that’s 400 calories for 26 incremental minutes of personal time. Seeing the stats stacked up, it’s hard to find a reason NOT to bike to work . . . except maybe the sweat factor. Perhaps this could be remedied with a quick bathroom baby wipe wipe-down.

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