Goodbye Soda, Hello Tea

I grew up on Dr. Pepper, I think it may have seeped from my pores during any and all physical activity. It was in every sack lunch and post game thermos, it was (and still kind of is) liquid crack. But that was the 1980's, everything was sugar-based and exciting and colorful! It took a lot of energy to be the 80's. These days, there are absolutely no excuses for the daily consumption of junk when we have access to so much health information (thanks internet). Case in point, giving a three year old a coke 30 years ago was normal, now it's straight up Toddlers and Tiaras parenting.

The irony of the Miss Piggy swimsuit

I still love the magical taste of a Mexican Coca Cola (they use real sugar!) but it's an indulgence....like maybe 3 times a year indulgence. I have known countless friends and family members who live off of soda or diet drinks and it's just unacceptable! There have been plenty of studies done regarding diet soda and it's link to obesity, diabetes, and sometimes cancer. You could technically take these studies either way. Even if the chemicals in diet drinks are NOT to blame there's clearly and scientifically a link between fake sugar and obesity.

It's so important to change up the liquids that are going into your body. We all know that 8 cups of water are essential, so finding ways to get good fluids in your body is a great first step to being healthy.

I have recently been testing out various teas to make my own iced tea at home. For some reason boxed iced teas seem so over the top fruity and I'm really not into that.

Beware of bottled teas (even organic) as they are usually sweetened and full of calories. I am really loving the following hot teas made over ice:

Yogi Blueberry Slim Life Green Tea
Yogi Green Tea Goji Berry
Good Earth Jasmine Green Tea
Traditional Medicinals Cranberry Tea

Take 3-4 tea bags in a pitcher half full of boiling water. Let seep for 5-10 minutes and fill with cold water.

Tea can be an acquired taste for some (especially if you are weening yourself off of sugar) so take your time and test out different flavors. Adding citrus helps too.

Counting Calories.....Do I Have To???

Counting calories seems like such a pain, but it plays a vital role in reaching your weight loss goal. It is really important to get a general idea of what you are consuming and making small tweaks when needed. Truthfully you may be quite shocked at how many calories you are eating, even when you are making healthy choices. Just because you are subbing an apple with peanut butter for a bag of chips, doesn't mean that you are staying below the limit. Plus, studies have shown that people who self monitor their food intake are a lot more prone to eat smaller proportion sizes and make healthier food choices.

There are tons of super simple logs online to help you easily track your progress and give you a big picture of what you are taking in. It only takes a few minutes too. I highly recommend doing this for 4-6 weeks (not the rest of your life!) or until you have a good grasp of what you can and can not have in a day.

You need to first find out what your calorie limit is in order to reach your goal. Again there are plenty of sites for finding out this information quickly, but this one was quite simple. All you need to do is enter your age, weight, height, activity level, goal weight and time limit.

Health Weight Forum

From there you can get your recommended intake and use this information for your calorie tracking.

Recommended site for calorie tracking:

EveryDayHealth.Com

Using The Internet For Good Not Gossip

We are all guilty of wasting time on the internet. Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Perez Hilton...pick your poison. Personally I have a tiny addiction to Pinterest, and formally Facebook.

When I started getting healthy, I knew that I needed to slightly change a lot of my habits including what I was surfing for online. So everyday I would Google diets and exercise. It's amazing how much health information is out there, not to mention really great ways to work out smarter. So in essence I turned an unhealthy internet addiction into an informative one. Here are my two recommendations for the week:

LiveStrong

Livestrong has countless information on great work outs, quitting smoking, healthy eating and more.

Everyday Health

Everyday Health has an option to make an account and start tracking your progress by logging your exercise and counting calories. It also has tons of information on health related news articles and real success stories.