We celebrated my daughter’s birthday with family by spending a day at the beach. I’m glad it was my responsibility to buy food for this celebration because I could make sure we had lots of snacks and choices that were NOT on the “Do Not Eat” list.

Yes, I did have a cupcake, but other than that, I was pretty good about staying off the “Do Not Eat” list. I bought whole grain bread to make sandwiches and had turkey breast as well as chicken breast and peanut butter and jam for those who wanted. I also bought uncrustables for the kids so they could just grab something on the go because a lot of times, they don’t want to sit and eat. They want to play. With the uncrustables, they didn’t need to grab a plate, fork, and napkins to have a bite to eat. They could just grab an uncrustable open it up and eat – great “finger food.”

We also had chips and salsa, crackers, and fruits!

Like I said, lots of great snacks to munch on while spending the day at the beach.

So…how is your 21-Day Challenge going? Now that you have just a week left and have worked hard to “clean up” what you put into your body, do you think you’ll continue with your new nutrition habits?

Okay, so over the weekend, I did cheat (as I told you was fine for this weekend so long as you were good the rest of the time).

You see it was my daughter’s 10th birthday and she wanted to go to a buffet for lunch.  No biggie.  It’s not that I overate.  It’s just that I enjoyed a nice, FAT, crepe…filled with bananas, whipped cream, ice cream, chocolate syrup, and powdered sugar.  I know, I know.  That should count as a quadruple cheat!  It was loaded with “Do Not Eat” stuff.

You know what?  It tasted great at the time, but boy did I PAY for it later that evening.  My stomach was sooooo upset that it woke me up in the middle of the night.  It’s bad enough to have a stomach that annoyed with you, but it’s even worse to have it interrupt a perfectly good night of sleep! Ouch, ouch, ouch!

*sigh* that’ll sure have me thinking twice next time I consider a cheat. Right now I don’t even what to *think* about junk food.  I can feel my stomach churning already.

So what about you?  Were you good this holiday weekend?  Or did you “enjoy” a cheat?  If so, what was it and how did it go?

Have a good one!

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwny/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

I had one person write to me saying,

I started it today and boy is it hard. Everything on the do not eat list is what I normally eat. Just 20 more days to go. Thanks for doing this…let’s see if make it.

Believe me a lot of that stuff was part of my DAILY diet too!

Other people wrote in and asked why we’re trying to cut out so much at one time instead of doing a few things at a time.  Well, that’s a good question.  However, I find that if you just cut out say ice cream and cake, then you’d probably end up “compensating” for that by eating more candy or cookies.  So while you may be eating less cake and ice cream, it really won’t make much of a difference if you start eating more candy and cookies.  That’s why we’re going for cutting out as much junk food as we can all at once.

Here are a few more questions/inquiries that came in yesterday:

• I didn’t notice beer or wine on either of your lists
• My only concern is whether or not protein bars are acceptable (they are chocolate-flavored and I believe have some form of chocolate in them).
• I’m worried about my cereals and pop. I know it doesn’t say cereal but my cereals are the sugary ones.

Beer and wine: these are definitely on the do NOT eat/drink list.  If you’re one of those people who drink one glass of wine a day for health reassons though, you may use your own discrecion on whether or not you’d like to continue during this challenge.

Protein bars: for the sake of this challenge, protein bars are acceptable.  Just check the fat content and try to choose ones that have a lower trans fat, saturated fat and total fat content.

Sugary cereals & pop: yes, pop is definitely OUT and so are sugary cereals.  Try looking for whole grain cereals instead of sugary cereals.

Then there was the question of COFFEE.

I realize that some people need their coffee to properly function at work.  Others actually get headaches if they don’t have their cup of coffee in the morning.  We certainly don’t want to adversely affect your work performance nor give you headaches every day.  Therefore, if you must continue with your coffee, you’re welcome to odify this challenge to fit your needs.  After all, gratefully reducing many of the other junk foods is still going to help.

However, if coffee is not really something you can’t give up and is just something that you don’t WANT to give up, then challenge yourself to at least reduce your intake.  Also, try to make “better” coffee choices.  For example, a cappuccino with whole milk is actually higher up (on the “better” food list) than an iced mocha latte with non-fat milk. On the “low” more “off limits” end, you have mocha, macchiato, ice blended, frappé, triple caramel vanilla buzz bomb, etc. so stay away from those as much as possible.

Well, that’s about it for now.  Let us know how this challenge is going for you.  Have you been good?  What’s been tough to give up so far?  Did you have to “cheat” yet?  Leave a comment here and let us know!

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/avi4now/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
fruit photo source: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/graphics/photos/oct00/k9093-1.htm
wine photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/emurray/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

For this challenge – we’re aiming for ZERO cheats.

You want to set your goal high so that even if you don’t reach it, you’re still doing pretty well. Obviously there will be times when you’ll be tempted or when you’ll need to give in to what you want so that you don’t give up altogether and go binging. So, there are two things to keep in mind when you’re going to allow a “cheat”:

Follow the 90/10 rule – Try to “be good” 90% of the time and only allow yourself to “cheat” 10% of the time.

Dish out a consequence – If you are going to eat something that’s on the Do Not Eat list, make yourself go for an extra walk or jog or jump rope for 10-minutes later that day or the following day…something to help “undo” the cheat and hold yourself accountable for eating off the Do Not Eat List.  This doesn’t mean that if you already workout for an hour a day you can do an hour’s worth of cheats each day.  No, no, no!  Any consequence for a cheat must be done in addition to your normal routine.

Okay, now for the details of your 21-Day Food Challenge. Here’s what’s off limits as well as some acceptable alternatives. For 21-Days you are to AVOID the items on the Do Not Eat List…

Do Not Eat List
Candy
Ice Cream
Chips
Cake
Cookies
Chocolate
Other “junk” food (brownies, Twinkies, other sweets, etc)
Soda/Pop
Juice
Ice Cream Shakes/Malts
Energy Drinks
Frappucinos
Coffee

Okay to Drink List
Water
Fruit Smoothies (with plain nonfat yogurt instead of ice cream)
Milk (preferable not “whole”)
100% Orange Juice
Green Tea
Sports Drinks if you’re working out/training/playing

Snack Alternatives you Can Eat
Fruits
Graham crackers (not smores!)
Wheat Thins
Cheerios (or other whole grain cereal)
Granola Bars
Baby Carrots or other veggies

If you’re like me, you’re looking at the Do Not Eat List going, “But some of those things are part of my DAILY diet! I need that.”

No you don’t! If you’ve been working out and aren’t seeing the results you want (or maybe not working out – just not happy with your current physical condition and not doing anything about it), then maybe what you need is a change the way you fuel your body. This, especially if you combine it together with Marc Dagenais’ tip of consuming something within 30 minutes of your workout, will make a difference!

***HOWEVER, if you have special health needs, then it’s definitely important to talk to your dr before changing your diet.***

That’s about it.  Let’s get started! If you’re up for this challenge, leave a comment below and let us know you’re in.  If you like, you can also share what you think will be the toughest part of the challenge.  What’s your junk food/drink weakness?

candy photo credit:http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeholmes/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

fruit dish photo:http://www.flickr.com/photos/alasam/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0