Salad Mania

Hello Peaches!

As I mentioned before, I lost about 25 pounds over the past year. Yep, this July makes a year since I started my Healthy Living Transformation. :)
I've done pretty good keeping the weight off so far, but it's time for me to seriously get back on track.
You see, I kinda been eating out a little too much lately. Plus I've been eating all of the bad things that I know don't agree with my body...like cheese. Now, I love me some cheese and it's one of the hardest things for me to put down, but I have to if I don't want to be walking around with a bloated tummy...So Not Cute! According to my scale, I've gained about 5lbs over the past 2 months. No big deal, but it is just so easy to slack off and the next thing you know, those 5lbs can turn into 10 and so on & so forth.
 

So this week, I'm challenging myself to eat "mostly" at home and to get back to the foods that helped me in the beginning like salads and green smoothies.

Freshly Prepared Salad

My body felt so good when I was eating mostly Raw Foods. I added salmon and eggs to my menu options and every now and then I would sprinkle a little cheese. I'm a work in progress, ya know?
I'll share some of the other foods I prepared during my journey in future post, but for now back to the salads...

Salads do not have to be boring at all. You can add all sorts of deliciousness to a bed of lettuce and create an awesome meal. I like to use a Spring Mix Salad that I purchase from Sam's Club. To the Spring Mix I usually add fruit (strawberries, apples, peaches or whatever I have on hand), tomatoes, cucumbers, nuts & seeds (walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds), dried fruit (cranberries, raisins) and as you can see from the above picture, I like to sprinkle a little pepper on mine...that's just me.  If I really need a change or I'm craving for something a little bit meatier, I'll add salmon to my salad as well. Not a fan of salmon? You can add tuna or chicken to yours. For even more variety you can add hard boiled eggs and peppers & onions to your salad if you like eating those foods.

So you see... you can mix & match and switch up your salad toppings every day and get a different meal just by changing up your toppings. You can also give yourself some variety by switching up the salad dressing. I like to make my own salad dressings at home. When I do, I use olive oil and apple cider vinegar as a base. I recently started using balsamic vinegar on my salads, too. However, don't let the dressing stop you. You can always pick up a bottle of salad dressing at the grocery store. There are healthier versions of dressings available, but if your favorite dressing is ranch or blue cheese, then by all means have at it. The most important thing is that you are eating a healthy serving of greens, nuts & seeds, fruits and veggies. Right?

Oh and if you are out and about and need to pick up some fast food quickly, I suggest going to Zaxby's. I have found that they have a better quality salad than most fast food places. They have a mixed green salad and it is always fresh. You can get it with grilled or fried chicken pieces or you can just order a side salad. Now, I haven't tried the salads at Wendy's, but I heard they have come out with some pretty good salads as of late. Can we say, ComPeTition? It's a good thing.

If you are interested in living a Healthy Lifestyle, it can be done. Start with small changes and add on as you begin to make progress. I started out by eating salads and drinking smoothies. Once I got that down, I began to exercise. I chose walking as my exercise choice because of its simplicity and it worked. The more comfortable I got, I began to add more foods to my diet. I found that the best way to take control of your health is by preparing your own foods so I started cooking/preparing more. It's not hard to do, it just takes a little planning and a little bit more of your time.
If you are interested in making a Healthy Change and you need someone to coach you through, please feel free to contact me. I would love to share the knowledge I've gained over the past year. It would be my pleasure. As long as you have breath in your body, it's never too late to start.

See my post on the Green Smoothie here.