Vitamix 5200

Finally, I found the correct video I was looking for (but not in msnbc.com) about this amazing machine called Vitamix 5200.

This machine is awesome! I know I haven't tried it yet but been reading a lot on it and watching videos about it and what it can do. And I'm totally impressed!!! This "blender" (which isn't only a blender) can make ice cream, sauces and soups (steaming hot), smoothies, make your own peanut spread, and... what blew me away was it can grind grains into super fine flour, mix and knead the dough in the same container (separate blade for grains [dry blade]). I especially like the idea that I can keep the core, seeds and stems of the fruits because that's where a lot of the nutrients are! Ok, I know, I'm just raving about this. But seriously, you can make your own stuff (flour, peanut spread, fruit sauces, dips, etc.) that means you can control what goes into your food... no chemicals, preservatives or things that you can't even pronounce. =) If you or your kids want ice cream, just make it yourself and make it so much healthier for you and them!!! Since my hubby and I are now changing our lifestyle (more veggies and fruits), I'm just so thrilled about what this machine can do!

But never take my word for it, check it out yourself and let me know what you think or found out or, better yet, what you experienced with this machine! I'm posting two videos. Also, visit Vitamix official website its www.vitamix.com







More demo presentations can be found on Vitamix website. You can find the grains, sauces and soups demo there too.

Frittata

Ok... so I was surfing the net about Vitamix... amazing machine!!! It will take me a few years to save up for one though. lol. But that's not what wanted to post about but if you got time... check out Vitamix! Anyway, so as I was doing research on Vitamix... I got linked to this video. It wasn't the correct video I was look for but that's ok coz I found this recipe from msnbc.com. It's the first recipe... the Frittata. It sounds interesting and yummy! Ok, so it's not exactly healthy but definitley can revise the ingredients to make it healthy! Will have to try this at the next family gathering! (Warning: do not watch if you cannot handle temptation! lol)

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Gotta Move it ... Move it!!!

This week's workouts have been very challenging. I've been going to the gym every morning. After everyone's dropped off for the day, I hit the gym. I find that if I go right away, I don't give myself a chance to talk myself out of going to the gym. So I park my car outside the gym and have my fruit breakfast and read my Bible in the car! This way... when I'm done, it's right there and I can't make excuses. Is it just me who goes through this mental debate/struggle to convince myself to go to the gym and work my butt off? I mean even if I know that it will be good for me and I'll feel so much better after, it still doesn't make me want to go! So I drag my behind to the gym and get on a machine feeling like I want to be somewhere else but here. But within a few minutes, I start to feel better. It's like coming alive. lol.

Now that eating healthy seems like a normal routine, I have to remind myself that being active is a daily thing. Exercise or getting active is a must every day. I get so overwhelmed sometimes thinking that tomorrow I'm back at it... not just the gym but trying to be constantly moving and not sitting for long periods of time. I'm just not used to that and so it just seem so foreign to me. So when I'm walking/running (so far 3-5 min.! Yay!) on the treadmill or on the elliptical and I get overwhelmed coz I've got to do this again tomorrow... I block it out right away. I would then try to just focus on today. It doesn't seem so overwhelming that way.

So enough blogging and sitting... gotta get my butt moving! I CAN do this!

My cousin sent this link to me entitled "Fitness Isn't an Overnight Sensation". How true that is! For so long I was always calculating which diet/workout program will get me thin the fastest. It wasn't really about health. It was about the shortest amount of time. Yeah, I went through that phase where what's the easiest way and the least-amount-of-work program to get thin. I was tempted to say "healthy" instead of thin there but who was I kidding... I wasn't really trying to get healthy. Thin doesn't equivalent healthy. I soon realized how crucial it really is to exercise and kick some butt in the gym. lol.

So no quick fixes and easy workouts here! That's a thing of the past now!!! BUT... it's easier said than done. I still find myself calculating ... "if I lose a pound or two a week ... when will I be this weight?" Arrrggghhh! Old habits die hard. I get so frustrated with myself because I have been trying to change my way of thinking about all this. I got to change my lifestyle. Not just for this week or next week or the next 6 months to attain the preferred weight but this is permanent. Heck yeah, I struggle with the fact that it will most likely take me over a year or two to lose 56 lbs.! I struggle with that EVERY DAY! But I need to remember that my health is more important that my weight. It is what's going on inside that worries me. I have to drill it to my head often that when I get healthy... the weight will follow. I've been overweight for 4 years and considered "obese" for over a year or so ... another 8 or 14 months more of looking fat won't make that much of a difference. Seriously, I'm so tired of "pretending" that I'm not fat! It isn't like people don't see me. I'm tired of not liking what I look like... or rather I'm tired of what it makes me feel and what I do to myself. This me... for now... not permanently but it is me right now and I need to be ok with the reality that this is what I look like until I get healthier.

You know for years of doing this cover up thing... compensating for my weight, hasn't been very healthy for me. I realize that I need to be good to this body because it's the only one I've got. God's not gonna give me a replacement. So I've been trying to undo what I've been doing to it for years... giving my body time to heal as I get healthier and not rush it. I have to undo the emotional scars of how I've put myself down and judged myself. I have to change... revamp how I think about food, about my body, about health, about setbacks and frustrations. I want my body to reflect the health inside of me. It's like a purging... I'm cleaning house... inside out. Not only health wise but the whole package... physically, mentally, emotionally, and most of all spiritually. And I BELIEVE it is possible. My strength doesn't come from me but my Father above and so my victory is imminent!!!

Ok so anyway... this article that my cousin sent me just reminded me what reality is for me and these quick fixes out there will not work for me anymore. Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/22/health/nutrition/22best.html

I'll be making a link to it on the side bars too under fitness.

Hard Truths II - Determinedly Stubborn

Facing the truth that I was overweight was tough but even harder was accepting that changes needed to be made and THAT was scary. But I made up my mind that there was no other way and that I need to do this for me. And so I joined the gym at the basement of the building where I worked. I did lose weight but I still had may be 20 to 30 lbs. more to lose. Although I was working out and incorporated vegetables and fruits into my diet, binging and eating for comfort was still a huge issue. At the back of my head, I knew that it wasn’t healthy... the binging and then feeling so guilty that I would binge again.... it was a vicious cycle! But I didn’t really want to deal with it... I wasn’t prepared to face it. So I ignored it.

I knew that all this time, God was the one leading me to be healthier. He did it gradually by bring people into my life that spoke of working out, seeing what they ate and hearing them talk about healthier choices. At first, I just listened but not long after that, I started asking questions, reading up on the books they spoke about or just going online and following up on what I heard that day or what we discussed. As my knowledge grew about fitness, so did my knowledge about nutrition and eating habits. I learned about portion control and moderation but what hit me the most was when I read about emotional eating. It struck me hard because it all sounded so familiar. It was exactly what I was doing! But even reading that 1st article about emotional eating and the many articles that followed after, I still wasn’t prepared to get down and dirty with the issue.

As I kept ignoring the subject, God seemed to be consistently pursuing it. It would come up every so often whether in the news, in a magazine I was reading, or hearing people talk about it. It just seemed to be everywhere. But you see... I’m a very stubborn person. So this stubborn person decided to ignore Him. I made excuses like “I’m working out anyway” or “I’m just being vain and it’s just superficial because I just want to look thin”. I mean, why would God want me to deal with my eating? It isn’t like lying or gossiping or drinking alcoholic beverages! Surely, He’s got other issues that He would want me to deal with instead, right?! Well, to answer that question, God decided to take matters into His ever loving but firm hands. I just knew He was saying, “Okay, we’ve tried it your way and in your time but you keep stalling and evading so we will do it My way.” Well, I learned 2 things about myself and God. One, that I’m not very smart. How could I possibly think I can just ignore God and it will just go away?! Foolish girl! And two, that God is truly wiser and His wisdom is far far more superior to us mere humans. Thank you, God, for knowing what is best for me!!!


Allen and I at a wedding in 2006

The Circle of Life

I was re-reading parts of Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover and the section on emotional eating caught my attention specifically the section called The Circle of Life. This is what he wrote.

The Circle of Life

Typically, when I work with a new client who's struggling with emotional eating, I sit down with him or her and ask him or her to take part in an exercise I call the "Circle of Life." The purpose of the exercise is to learn what areas of your life are most important to you -- something a lot of people have never asked themselves -- then to investigate how things are going in those areas and, if need be, figure out ways to make a change for the better. It's really a process of taking inventory of your life.

It's a very simple exercise: Take a piece of paper and draw a large circle. Next, divide the circle into eight sections, just as you would a pie, one section for each area of your life that is important to you. These categories should be very general, such as career, health, finances, romance, and spirituality. If you can't come up with eight, try to have at least six. Inside each pie piece, write the name of the important aspect of your life. Now look at each section and ask yourself how things are going in that area. If things are going well, write a plus sign in the section; if things aren't going well, write a minus sign.

The minus areas are the ones you want to concentrate on, but don't discount the idea of making the "plus" areas better either. Write one small thing in each section that you can do today to improve that area in your life, and use that as a road map for the next year. I think you'll be surprised where the map will lead. if you can successfully accomplish one of the small improvements you wrote down each day for a year, your life will be significantly different at the end of that year. If you can do three things a day, you won't even recognize your life at the end of the year. It can really be that dramatic -- and I've never seen an exception.

----Excerpt from Bob Greene's Total Body Makeover, pages 155 to 156

Isn't that interesting?! Will try to do this.

Total Body Circuit

I'm always on the lookout for fitness and health tips. I found this video on YouTube.com and I've tried it at home. It was definitely challenging for me but then again I'm pretty out of shape. I was sweating by the end of the 1st set... but I did make it to 3 sets with breaks in between. My goal is to do 4 sets without breaks or modifications. Yikes!

Hard Truths I - the beginnings

This has been a long journey for me. As a kid/teenager, I was actually pretty skinny and hardly gained weight. I realize now that I didn't have good eating habits back then and didn’t eat the right foods... like fruits and vegetables. When I was pregnant with my son, I gained a lot of weight but lost all and more after he was born. The weight loss wasn’t because I ate well. Actually, I often missed meals between juggling college, my son and keeping the house intact. However, I was very active and probably for the 1st time in my life. I climbed the stairs at my college (not by choice) a million times a day (exaggeration but you get the picture!) because my classes where spread out on all 5 floors. I also had a very active toddler to keep up with at home. However, all that weight loss was history when I graduated and started my career as a Legal Assistant.

I was at my heaviest (at that time) in 2001 only 7 or 8 months after starting my job as a Junior Legal Assistant at a boutique law firm in downtown Toronto. I not only continued to eat badly and have bad eating habits like not eating breakfast and not having vegetables and fruits in my diet, but also I started drinking over 5 cups of coffee a day with lots and lots of sugar! I literally had coffee with my sugar instead of sugar with my coffee!!! I also started binging on food as a method of stress relief and comfort! Combine all that with no physical activity to speak of and sitting for most of the day... well what you get is a very unhealthy young lady!!!!

I obviously noticed the weight gain but I was in denial that I cared or that it mattered. May be I was thinking that if I ignored it ... others won't see it either. But slowly, I withdrew from social events and wore black baggy clothes and wore mostly long sleeves everywhere even during the summer! I was trying to hide myself and what I was doing to my body. Going to church on Sabbath was the hardest day of my week because I couldn't wear anything that I felt looked good... and I often cried every time I had to dress. I was so self-conscious. I got pretty depressed because I put so much importance on how I looked. I didn’t want to go out unless I had absolutely no choice. I would often comfort myself with food. I would think, “Its ok... I’ll just have ice cream and I’ll feel better” or I’d invite a friend to go eat at a buffet. Food became my confidant and my source of comfort and protection from reality.

The turning point was 4 years later... in 2004. I moved to a less stressful law firm. I felt that it was a new beginning and with the new job, I would also have a new look. So this is where my journey began. I was sick of how I look, how I felt and of wearing ugly baggy clothes. I was determined to lose the weight!

Me in 2003