Holiday Baking Survival Tips

If you don’t want to walk around this holiday season like Santa, wearing stretch pants and supporting a large belly you need to be mindful of your holiday baking. Here are a few tips to enjoy the season of cookies, pies and more without going overboard.

Keep it Simple
Decide on one thing that you want to bake so you don’t have a lot of choices to tempt you. You can also choose to order out and have someone else do the baking so you are not tempted with taste testing beyond what you should.

Find healthy substitutes
There are so many yummy recipes out there to help lower fat or sugar in recipes. Focus on baked goods that offer healthy ingredients like nuts or coconut vs butter and flour. Try using key words like Paleo or Whole30 for new recipes.

Bake only what you need
If you are baking cookies, only bake what you need from the batch and freeze leftover dough in round balls. That way you can always make more later for just the amount you need.

Get Rid of It
If you have baked goods sitting around longer than 2 days share it with others or just throw it away. Save your splurges for things you really enjoy, not the 3 day old cookie that you just want to get rid of.

Overall it is important to find a balance of enjoying holiday traditions yet honoring your fitness goals. Enjoy what you want most, forget about the rest and focus on other activities of the season not related to food.

The True Villains of Halloween - Sugar Filled Sweets!

People tend to worry about a lot about the Thanksgiving pounds or the stress of the winter holidays but it often starts with the most evil holidays of all, Halloween. Each year the Halloween seems to get longer and longer and the shelves fill up with bags of sugar filled treats even before the day is near. Here are some tips to help you bet the sugar crush and stay on track for your health goals.

Buy Late

It may be tempting to buy bags of candy or treats ahead of time to save money or to save time later but chances are if you bring it into your house before Halloween you will be more tempted to eat it and then have to go back out anyways. This year commit to not buying your trick or treat candy until the day before or on Halloween.

Go Candy-Free

Be that house and commit your family to be candy free this year. There are a lot of options out there for giveaways that are not candy related that kids still love. Try glow sticks, erasers, pencils, stickers, pretzels or gum this year.

Enjoy your Favorites

Don’t deprive yourself! Pick out one or 2 pieces you do want to eat this year on Halloween, eat and savor them and enjoy the moment with your family. Pass up other treats that may be passed around at work or earlier in the month.

Give Away the Bounty

After Halloween don’t think you have to keep all the candy. Look for opportunities at local hospitals, dentist offices, schools or military mailing services to donate your candy to good causes.

The key to avoiding the evil snacks of Halloween is to plan early and stay committed. Challenge yourself to see how far you can go to avoid the things you don’t need in your daily nutrition plan.

Training for Runs without Carbs - My Story

A lot of people in my running group would consider me crazy but I started doing my Whole30ish/Food Trigger Detox program right at the beginning of my half marathon and marathon walk training. Last year I gained 7 pounds when I did my training because I let myself eat granola bars filled with sugar on my runs and then would eat to my heart content when I got back. This year I want to focus on doing this to make me feel good while I was training and the reason why I am focusing so much on how I fuel myself.

Because I am doing so much running/walking I am really careful about making sure I do get enough fuel and especially those carb filled vegetables that have so much of the good stuff in it. So far into week 3 of my plan I have had summer squash. Spaghetti squash, beets, sweet and white potatoes to support me.

You do have to think outside the box sometimes to make sure you are getting in the right food. This morning before my early run I had a hard boiled egg and sweet potato soup with coconut milk in it. During runs I drink HYDRATE and carry a dried fruit bar for additional fuel as needed (only on runs 6 miles or longer). After my run I had a RECOVER Protein Shake, omelet with summer squash topped with salsa and avocado and watermelon.

Week 2 I felt the effects of low energy as my body adjusted to this new way of eating but overall it hasn't effected my run times. Week 3 I feel much better. Although I haven't weighed myself since I started and I am not plannign to until after my half marathon I am feeling lighter which makes running even easier.

Interested in learning how to fuel yourself right, how to do a Food Trigger Detox program or to learn about the products I use email me at sarah@lifestyleforward.com.

Ride along on the Food Trigger Detox Train

Hi, my name is Sarah and I am addicted to food. Yes, sadly it has come to that. As in any journey you will have bumps, detours and wrong turns along the way and I am fighting hard againt all that right now. Over 2 years ago I was focused and learned a lot of new things that helped to improve my overall health and fitness level. I was excited to share what I had learned with others.

Then somewhere over the past 8 months I stopped applying what I had learned and got caught up in a lot of bad habits. I quickly learned it is one thing to KNOW something and a whole different ballgame to APPLY it. I was doing challenge groups and trying hard to get back into it but the struggle has been real. It has come to the point whre I need to have a serious intervention and deal one on one with my food issues. Hence I am starting my 30 days of removing food triggers from my diet and I am inviting you along for the ride!

Based on the Whole 30 concept (Highly suggest you read that or "It all Starts with Food"), I am removing the foods that are connected to bad habits for me including grains, sugar in all forms, alcohol and dairy. I am also not going to be making any treat items like paleo pancakes or donuts even if they are technically ok. I am still on the fence about making smoothies and will be using some supplement drinks I use for running. My biggest bad habits right now include craving sweets after meals, stress eating, late might eating and not being able to stop eating once I start on certain foods like sweets.

I started last Monday with a 3 Day Refresh program which always gets me back on track but by Wednesday I as ready for more food options. I have been focusing on lean protein sources, LOTS of vegetables and few fruits and healthy fats. Foods are very similar to the 21 Day Fix plan (although a little more strict) but I am interested to find out if not keeping track of portion size makes a difference for me. This past weekend I faced a lot of temptations but held strong. I am starting week 2 and the only side effect that has been rough is my lack of energy but that was to be expected until my body adjusts. Looking forward to seeing where the next weeks will take me.

If you are interested in what I am eating follow me on Facebook or Instagram @lifestyleforward.