The Power of Food

It’s amazing. If I look at myself this time last year, I was doing classes at the gym probably 5-6 times per week plus eating pretty healthy...and I say ‘pretty healthy’ because cheat days are allowed plus it was summer and who doesn’t enjoy a Dairy Queen hot fudge sundae now and then! I would say I was in good shape, had muscle definition throughout my upper body (typical female here who carries her junk in the trunk), cardiovascular fitness was top notch and I could throw out some toe push-ups and walking planks like nobody’s business (thanks Body Attack). But it never led me to the body I long sought after...wanting to have one of the the fit bods in Oxygen and Shape.

Cue huge life disruption of moving halfway around the world. I taught my last Les Mills class in mid-June before departing Canada, ran a half-marathon at the Gold Coast on July 1st and had a few sporadic runs tossed in the middle somewhere between real estate appointments and test driving cars. Yet somehow, I was seeing changes in my body.

The power of food.

I took a picture last week and you can easily see a 6 pack coming through. It’s been about, ohhhh, 2 months since I’ve done any weight training...and this is what I start to see. I can’t help but get excited when I think about what will happen when I add weight training back into the equation.

I guess this post wouldn’t be complete without explaining what my meals consist of. It’s actually pretty simple and one huge bonus is less time grocery shopping! There are a few guidelines I stick to. I keep them in my food journal (which goes everywhere with me). My staples:

Lean protein – chicken breast, fish, eggs and egg whites, turkey breast
Veggies – asparagus, zucchini, cucumber
Complex Carbs – veggies count as complex carbs, sweet potato, whole grain oats
Fruit – berries, apples, bananas
- no dairy except for a little skim milk in my tea
- small amount of olive oil for cooking, almonds for healthy fats
- 3-4L of water per day

Pretty boring huh? I use a little Herbamare or a small amount of organic salsa or tomato pasta sauce to spruce things up a little.