The 120 day plan

Recently I have started the 120 day plan.  A plan for myself in which in those 120 days I would eat no junk food only healthy eating, and an hour of dedicated work out.  A changing lifestyle for me, it’s going to be different and a lot of effort and dedication. 

                I started this plan to see what the results are for healthy eating and exercising, whether or not it will affect my mood, lifestyle, appetite, or stamina.  Before I started this plan, my lifestyle did not consist of healthy eating or daily exercise.  I was laggard and tired all the time, and had a big appetite also and just kept on eating and eating.  Although I have a high metabolism, I didn’t have to worry about gaining weight or losing weight.  I know eventually my metabolism will slow down and my fat cells with increase in size when I get older.  I develop this plan to maintain my healthy body weight and grow strength and endurance. 

                Since I started this plan, about a week ago, there were some challenges that I faced in following the plan.  The first challenge was craving for greasy fattening foods like fries, brownies, and pizzas.  They were so tempting and they looked so good.  There was one time when I gave into the temptation and ate two slices of pizza.  I broke the rule of healthy eating.  But later on I resisted the temptation, every time I was craving for junk food I would just eat an apple and chew a piece of gum and the temptation would just disappear.  It really helped me overcome the temptation.  The second challenge I faced was trying to fit in an hour of workout each day, so far I’ve been successful and had dedicated an hour of my time for each day.  But I know that’s going to be a challenge for me later on because sometimes I am just too busy to fit in an hour of work out into my schedule.  I was considering on bending a bit of the rules on the plan.  I’ll try to fit in an hour a day into my schedule and if I am just too busy and I can’t the workout will be shorten to a minimum of half an hour.  I think that fitting in half an hour of dedication would work out for those busy days. 

                So far I am on day 10 of the plan, and I can feel myself feeling healthier inside and out and I have gotten used to the plan now.  Hopefully by day 120 I would see more changes and results in how I feel and see the changes.  I will blog more about my plan at the end of the 4 months.

Health

     Most of us probably have tried to have a healthier diet but usually that does not last long, sometimes it lasts for a few day or a few weeks, but afterwards we get tired of eating healthy.  Why?  The problem is we don't like the taste of healthy food.  I mean come on, how many of you would rather choose a veggie smoothie over a plate of wings from Buffalo Wild Wings?  Some but not many right?  The thing is, eating healthier means not eating as much of the food we love, choosing lighter foods which often lacks flavor, eating a smaller portion, and usually you don't like the taste of healthy food.  However that doesn't mean that healthy food is bad or unappetizing.  Their are several ways that make healthy eating fun and more enjoyable.  Eating healthy doesn't mean that you have to avoid certain foods, or be guilty about it eating it.  Just remember to limit your portion and not eat it as often, remember to keep it in moderation.  For those of you who like to eat every couple of hours, well i have good news for you.  Studies shows that if you eat smaller portions of food every two to four hours, chances are your metabolism burns more calories and you are less likely to gain weight.  Why? Well let's put this way, your daily meal routine is eating twice a day, lunch and dinner.  You wake up and don't eat breakfast because your in a rush to get to school or work.  Your first meal of the day is at noon, then you don't eat for another 6 hours until it's dinner time.  Your body is living without food for hours, this is the time when your stomach is in starvation mode, because your not satisfying your stomach with food.  As a result, you begin to eat more, and your body begins to store those food that you ate as fat.  Your body doesn't know when the next time you will eat so it begins to hoard the food and store it as fat and use it when it needs too. By eat something every few hours, your metabolism is at work continuously breaking down the food, which builds a higher metabolism.
     Overeating is a big factor in obesity, stop eating before your full or you will begin to feel sick!   Your stomach is only the size of your fist, don't over stuff yourself.  I know sometimes it's hard especially when it comes to your favorite restaurant, but remember the restaurant is serving you more than your stomach can handle because your paying for your meal.  Here are some tips on not overeating as much.  Take smaller bites.  When you take smaller bites, your stomach can focus on digesting the small amount of food instead a mouthful of food, and you begin to feel full earlier.  Eat with your friends, that way your brain won't deceive you of eating the whole bowl of food.  Your friends will keep you distracted by talking and you will begin to eat slower.  Eat a variety of different kinds of food in your meals.  At a restaurant eat a salad or soup or an a appetizer before you begin eating your actual meal. When your at home make some broccoli, mashed potatoes, some type of grain and some protein.  That way you have  a balanced diet, and your body will be happy with you.
  

Summer time foods

      We are approaching summer soon and that means the food we eat is going to be different from the foods we are eating in the winter.  The summer heat can be exhausting and dry for our bodies and we got to make sure we are replenishing our bodies with liquids and refreshing foods.  Making sure that our body is refreshed and has enough water.           

            One of my favorite diets in the summer is eating cool salads or chilled homemade fruit popsicles (not the ones you buy at the store but the natural ones you make at home).  Fruits are one of my favorite treats in the summer because that’s when fruits are the freshest.  They taste so much different from the winter fruits you buy at the grocery stores.  Fruit salads are also good in the summer, they are refreshing, healthy and delicious. 

            Many times people don’t realize the fresh food that comes in to grocery stores from the farms.  They continue to eat all the junky foods, starchy foods, high fat foods.  I think they need to try some summer foods if really makes you feel better and less thirsty since often times you get more dehydrated in the summer.  Summer is the best time to dig in a big, beautiful green salad. All the ingredients will be fresh, and most of them will probably be available locally. This season, add more variety to your basic dinner salad recipe by using spinach, bitter greens and a variety of colored peppers. The more colors and textures you add, the more interesting and flavorful your simple salad will be.  Salads are one my favorite foods, high in vitamins and super low in fat.  Toss different types of veggies together and see what you like.  Be careful with the dressings that you buy in stores, they are often time high in fat so it’s best to make your own dressing if you can. 

            We all know that summer is great for the cold sweet ice creams and snow cones but watch out for the sugar because the popular summer cool treats are very high in sugar.  If it was me I would rather choose the chilled toss salad over the ice cream any time.  But it’s okay if you have it once in a while, just remember everything in moderation is key.  This summer have fun with your summer foods and get creative.

       

resources

  
It seems like in an age with technology and access to information, people are becoming more and more aware of how to cook.  There are so many recipes out there on the web or books that teach you how to cook and make food.  With so much access many people are able to make the same homemade food instead of going to a restaurant.

            You can buy books that has your favorite recipes from restaurants.  For example I love the Red Lobster’s biscuits that they serve and now you can make your own.  They are selling the dough and flour in stores now so I can make them at home.  With so many recipes possibilities it really makes a lot of people want to cook at home.  So if you ever don’t feel like dining out you can always cook at home.

            That’s good news for those people who like to cook, you can become a chef in your house.  Recipes are easy to follow and you can go at your own pace.  So there are endless benefits of all the resources available.  Although there are benefits for us as consumers or customers in making our own food, businesses will lose business.

            Just think about it, if all of us know how to make Olive Garden’s famous salad dressing I don’t think many of us would go to the restaurant and dine in.  As a result they will lose business.  See how it’s bad for their business?  Some business what they offer now is selling their dressing in stores so they can make some money.  What a good idea, a win win situation for the business and consumers.

            With so much resources we have access to we can seek endless possibilities of recipes and reviews on whether or not it’s appetizing.  It is really a good way for us to learn how to cook and make our own foods.  Because I personally like homemade, homemade is always better in my opinion.  You can make it how you like it.  In the age of technology and access to so many resources we can learn how to make foods and learn new things.  Of course there are difficulties in cooking at home.  But there are always pros and cons to everything.  It makes us our own chefs in our own ways in our own kitchen which is really exciting.   

Why is sushi so popular?

Sushi has become so popular throughout the ages in America.  Everyone seems to know what sushi is and people are daring enough to try it.  And surprisingly those first timers fall in love with sushi.  That comes to the question why?  Sushi is just seaweed and rice wrapped with other ingredients.  Although it sounds simple and is easy to make there are more reasons to why it’s so popular.

            Sushi is not heavy like your regular foods.  Sushi rolls are light and they are easy to eat.  Only consisting of a few ingredients they taste good when they are all combine together into one. 

          Sushi is filling.  Don’t get fooled by only 6 rolls because trust me they are filling.  Mainly because of the rice, rice is known for filling up your stomach.  They could act like a light snack or a full meal. 

            The way sushi rolls are presented.  Presentation is key when it comes to deciding whether or not it’s good.  I know some sushi chefs that don’t make good sushi but the presentation is just amazing which fools the customers into liking it.  Sushi rolls are placed in a certain way on the plates and with some decorative pieces you have a 5 star style sushi.  It's all about the presentation, if it looks good chances are you will probably enjoy it. 

            Some sushi rolls are Americanized.  Many of the rolls here in the U.S are Americanized just like Chinese food.  California rolls and other rolls are made so they do not look to extreme, if you go to Japan chances are you won't see much of the Americanized rolls.  The Americanized rolls are not too exotic for some people so it appeals to everyone.

            There are so many other reasons why people like sushi I personally like the taste of sushi because it’s just delicious.  I know that there are certain sushi rolls that I don’t like.  Sashimi in general and raw sushi just isn’t my thing.  I just can’t imagine the fact that I am eating something raw or putting something raw in my mouth.  I just like the Americanized sushi rolls.  Another reason is that from one bite of sushi you can taste so many different flavors and foods so it’s a bit unique.  I just can’t imagine people who dislike sushi, I mean sushi is pure deliciousness that no one can resist. 

 

Too much

  How much is too much when it comes to eating, buying groceries or eating healthy?  I see many readings and food shows that stress so much on eating healthy buying healthy and eating less.  Although all those will help you change your lifestyle and lead you living a healthier lifestyle I feel like they are over exaggerating a bit. 

          You see many advertisements trying to promote all these healthy products, healthy this and healthy that for the consumers, and sometimes the consumers fall for it.  You see diet programs (like tons of programs) that supposedly would help you lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle.  It almost seems like being healthy is becoming a marketing tool.  This is what capitalism America will do to you. 

         Too much is just too much, the term eating healthy has become a phrase that has been way over used.  I think we all know to eat healthy, buy healthy and stay healthy to the point it has become over exaggerated.  I see people who stress way too much on being healthy that they can’t even have some big juicy burgers with cheese and fries.  But with the regular meal of veggies and salads.  If people in America are so health conscious how come 60% of Americans are still overweight?  It really doesn’t make any sense at all.  I think that most Americans just want to eat whatever they want as long as it tastes goods.  Thanks to all the advertisements of the bad calories Americans have also fallen into the trap of buying bad foods.  See what the media could do to us?  Since us as citizens are stressing so much about being healthy, more than half of the population isn’t very health conscious.  Maybe we should just not over exaggerate the perks of being healthy but rather have the 60% of Americans experience how difficult it is to be obese. 

          It’s embarrassing enough to have Michelle Obama regulate healthy foods for school.  Can you believe that we have the government involve in trying to lower the obesity level in America?  I think they have other important issues to be stressing over but obesity has become a national epidemic. 

          I feel that the media should stop over exaggerating the health benefits of changing their sedentary lifestyle.  We all know how it’s bad for us cause we all have heard it before, but it’s up to the citizens whether or not they want to follow through it.  

Artificial sugar

           It’s already bad enough that more than half of the population on America are obese.  But what’s even worst is that almost more than half of the foods we buy in supermarkets have artificial sugar as one of the ingredients.  The most famous artificial sugar is high fructose corn syrup.  You probably seen on almost every single item in the grocery store that has fructose corn syrup as the leading ingredient.  The reason why we use so much high fructose corn syrup is because we have an abundance of corn here in the U.S.  We use corn for just about everything we could imagine.  No wonder why more than half of the population is obese!

            High fructose corn syrup is not healthy or good for you, it’s like sugar not like the natural sugars you get from fruits but artificial sugar.  High fructose corn syrup is chemically engineered to taste sweet and act as table sugar.  Too much can cause obesity and diabetes.  It adds to unwanted calories and your body will store the unwanted calories as fat, there’s no nutritional benefit from high fructose corn syrup.  Your body is not going to treat it any different than putting a tablespoon of pure sugar in your mouth. 

            What is really scary is that there’s an abundance of it, and we are ingested so much.  It’s crazy to not think of high fructose corn syrup as not one of the ingredients on foods that we eat every day.  Because high fructose corn syrup is cheap and corn is abundant, they are in everything we eat.  We just can’t miss it, it’s everywhere.  You can read online on how they are a major health concern and what it does to your body.  Studies have shown at Princeton, rats that are significant amounts of high fructose corn syrup are more obese than the ones fed with regular table sugar.  It makes since doesn’t it? Don’t get me wrong, sugar is bad but compared to high fructose corn syrup it’s not so bad.  If they cause problems for the lab rats that are tested, just imagine we are consuming more each day and how that impacts us.  I always read the back of labels and if high fructose corn syrup is listed as the first and top ingredients I simply just don’t buy it.  I don’t want to buy something if the damages outweigh the benefits.