In my day I have tried many different diets: everything from Somersizing to Body for Life to a period where I was a raw foodist. These days I have really simplified things. Before I eat anything I simply ask myself "Will it nourish me?" Occasionally the answer is no, and occasionally I will eat it anyways, but the majority of the time I try to eat foods that will add to my health and not subtract from it - a simple but effective equation (and a great way to shed those baby pounds I have found).
Food should nourish us and make our bodies feel good. I can instantly feel the effects of eating a bad meal (by bad meal I mean something with zero nutritional value like a sausage mcmuffin). I focus on this feeling when I am tempted by an unhealthy food. I find that I always feel better and have more energy when I eat healthy and as a Mom this is extremely important.
However having worked in the restaurant industry for many years, my hubby and I are definetely foodies. Enjoying a delicous meal with my husband is one of my favourite parts of the day, and my second favourite is creating it. When I am cooking I don't want to feel limited; I want to have the freedom of ingredients to fuel my creativity in the kitchen and create an enjoyable meal that will please all parties...without compromising my health, or my waistline.
Basically, balance has to be struck to satisfy healthy me and my meat and potatoes hubby(who can't go without meat but also loves vegetables). I want to mutually satisfy my desire for health and my desire for taste. So I cut out the carbs at dinner (the rest of the day I eat them in moderation, and only the relatively good ones: including oatmeal, brown bread, fruit). Why do we need to have a side of white rice, mashed potatoes or a sidekick at dinner? Because the outdated food pyramid says so? This type of food is not adding to our health.
Instead, we usually eat some kind of meat accompanied by a massive salad. Vegetables will always give you the best bang for your buck nutrition-wise. Cutting the carbohydrate side out gives me the freedom each night without the guilt to really go to town on the meal without feeling prohibition. I look around on the internet and find a recipe for chicken, turkey, shrimp or pork or beef (and I don't analyze the calories, or fat etc. within reason). Sometimes I will make something like turkey burgers without the bun from scratch, other times it will be as simple as a piece of grilled salmon. Then I create a masterpiece of a salad. I throw all kinds of toppings on there: mango, sunflower seeds, sundried tomatos, feta, artichokes, raisins, honey roasted almonds, blue cheese or bacon. The delicious combinations are limitless. We never ever buy bottled dressing, and instead always make our own with cold-pressed olive oil as the base. These dressings are delicious and we can tweak each one to really complement the salad that we have created for that evening, throwing in fresh lemon or lime, red wine, sushi or balsamic vinegar, a blended avocado or a little honey.
Because the toppings I incorporate are a conduit for the vegetables in the salad, I never feel guilty or overanalyze them for they are enhancing my experience eating vegetables. I also never skimp on the dressing. My theory is that because the vegetables always taste delicious I will never grow tired of them and always look forward to eating them which is giving me great long-term health benefits. After all the habits you can sustain over the long-term - not just the next two weeks - are the ones that count when it comes to reaping the benefits from good diet and health.
Lets face it, I won't be gracing the cover of Muscle and Fitness anytime soon so I can afford to relax a little, but I want to be a fit Momma and have a happy healthy family. And I will admit....please forgive my vanity but I still want to wear cute clothes, even if its only out to the grocery store....
With a two month old baby and an almost two year old in tow, spontanaiety can go out the window. My husband and I always insisted that babies would never cramp our style. However the reality is - that it does. So rather than delight at the prospect of an unplanned getaway when my husband suggested it, I became bogged down with trying to manage what were in my mind - the overwhelming details: trying to imagine how I would ever get everything packed while the baby fussed and my two-year old destroyed my house, traveling without the baby crying, running around town after my toddler (nicknamed "the maniac") were the thoughts that occupied my mind.
Eventually I insisted that we simply call it off; my husband disagreed reminding me that we hadn't done anything or gone anywhere since the baby was born. Feeling slightly resentful at the insinuation I had been such boring company, but reluctantly acknowledging its truth, I agreed to the trip with reservations, secretly thinking that at the very least I would get the satisfaction of an "I told you so," when the babie's cries prevented us from travelling one km. further on the trans-Canada, leaving us stranded on the side of the road.
While we did not have our former freedom to browse stores or spend the afternoon on the patio of Earl's, what an incredible weekend we enjoying toodling around town with our new family in tow. Yes there were the moments I grew frustrated: feeding my daughter, getting her strapped into her carrier and my son into his stroller, making it only two blocks before having to return to the car to feed her again because she was fussing, trying to change her in the front seat of our Ford Focus (purchased for its great gas mileage, we didn't have the foresight to imagine how it would accomodate our future family). But these moments were momentary, and definetely worth the small frustrations.
The trip made me realize how I had made a prisoner of myself in my home, with my own fears and doubts about the potential behavoir of my family. Rather than taking us out to experience the world, I had been keeping us hostage inside the house where I could experience an element of control over my new-found chaotic existence, with my vibrating chairs, cribs and changing table readily available.
At the hot springs (a logistics nightmare for my former fearful self), me and my two-month old daughter took a dip together as I noticed another new Mom quarelling with her husband. He wanted her to take her daughter in for a dip, but she refused probably fearing the consequences of deviating from the sidelines. Her husband gestured over to where I relaxed with Juno. While my heart went out to the Mom, I marvelled that in simply a weekend I had transformed myself from a captive in my own home, into Auralea the poster-child for adventurous Moms everywhere....
When we returned home after an amazing trip, my husband lamented the fact we had paid so much for what was truly mediocre accomodation....
I smiled to myself as I called to him in the other room: "Really? I thought it was worth every penny."
My son "the maniac" destroying himself with a slush.
