Monday's Motivation and Challenge of the Week -- I'm Back!!!

Happy Monday!!!

I hope that just because I wasn't posting last week, that you didn't stop exercising and watching what you were eating.  That's not what the word vacation means!

Although, I'll be the first to admit that I didn't work out the same amount of time I would have had I been working...after-all, my job is working out, but I did get a few great workouts in, and I move quite a bit while I'm writing my choreography....

Since I gave up the whole "being on a diet" mentality and decided to just eat real food, it's been much easier for me to make healthy substitutions and not feel deprived at all.  My birthday was during this "break." It didn't stop me from going out eat for a great meal, or having the most delicious grain-free chocolate cake (recipe will be in a future post).

So, following the motivational poster below, here's your Challenge of the Week:

Too much sugar is really bad!!!  And, it's found in so many things!

Start with the obvious--the pre-sweetened, processed stuff like soda, cookies, cakes, and cereal, especially anything that has high fructose corn syrup on the label, along the white stuff itself--throw it out if you're afraid it will be a problem.  Eliminate these things first, use raw honey or pure maple syrup instead--and use less of these than you would sugar.  Make your own cookies and other snacks--try making some of the trail mix bars that I shared the recipe for.  DO NOT use artificial sweeteners!!!

If calories are your concern, use stevia (powder or liquid) or monk fruit sweetener.  I still think honey or maple sugar are better though--in moderation.  Lastly, change out one of your sweet snacks for a piece of fruit with some nut butter or a small handful of nuts like almonds or even a small piece of dark chocolate*--it will keep you fuller much longer than a cookie will.  Just don't overdo it on the fruit--there's a lot of sugar there as well.

*The one exception to the sugar rule is dark chocolate--the darker it is, the less sugar it has.  So go ahead and eat an ounce or two of that if you like it.