What nobody tells you about losing 100 lbs.

One of my favorite reads is Refinery29. Your typical fashion/lifestyle/entertainment/beauty website that I'm sure everyone and their momma is familiar with.  Admittedly when I think of Refinery29 altruism doesn't come to mind.

But on this particular day I fell upon this amazing article.

"A casual stroll through Twitter (or the comments sections of most websites) will show you that the internet can be a profoundly depressing place, full of soul-crushing negativity and even full-blown hate. Of course, there are pockets of light in the darkness — pinpricks of inspiration that remind us the world is not all cynical and sad." (Go here to keep reading the rest of the article)

Now what's interesting about this photo is that the Left side is the "BEFORE" and the right side is the "AFTER".  Society obviously views the "BEFORE" as the body we should aspire to and yet what stunned me wasn't how it looked like a mixed up "BEFORE & "AFTER" picture but how at peace, how content and how comfortable she looked in her own skin in the "AFTER" picture.

And I wondered... when will I feel that way?

CHILLS.  

Literal chills after I watched that video.

People are like "ommmmgosh you lost so much weight life must be SOO great now!"

What they don't tell you or talk about is how your body doesn't actually "go back" the way it's "suppose" to. Or that it doesn't really look like someone that has been fairly consistent with their weight their entire life.

Stretch Marks 

I have A LOT of stretch marks more than some of my girlfriends that have 2 or 3 kids.  In fact when people don't believe that I've lost 100 pounds I pull up my shirt and show them my stretch marks and watch there mouths slowly fall wide open into a "O" shape.  I've never worn a bikini before and I'll probably never wear one in my lifetime.  I was 180lbs. by the time I was a junior in high school and now that I'm what people consider a "normal" weight  I would love to be confident enough to put a bikini on but I don't think I'll ever get there. There's just sooo so many stretch marks all over the front of my stomach, the sides of my stomach, and my back.  I have visible stretch marks on the inside of my arms, inner thighs, going down the back of my legs and behind me knees.

Saggy Skin 

That crop top trend all the fashion bloggers are doing these days.  Yeah that's not going to happen.  No matter how much weight I lose my stomach will always sag and hang over whatever I wear. I think that's why even though I'm significant thinner now I still live in leggings because honestly having to button/zip up pants over sagging skin is REALLY uncomfortable. Think muffin top x 10000.  And unlike people that have just gained a couple of pounds and that's why they have muffin top I can't just WEAR larger pants because my waist is now much smaller then all the saggy skin around my lower abdomen. On days when I decide to wear a dress (because admittedly it's easier ie. less constricting around my mid section) my stomach will ALWAYS look bloated and it's not because I'm retaining water it's because I have so much excess "hanging" skin there now.

Cellulite

There's a lot of it specifically the back of my upper thighs.  When I was 200 pounds I would wear head to toe black long sleeves and pants because I was so ashamed of how I looked in Hawaii (btw NOBODY dresses like that in Hawaii.)   And I would actually FANTASIZE about the day where I could put on a pair of cute short shorts or a mini skirt and feel confident and comfortable with myself. I'm embarrassed to admit this but I've actually tried on shorts/skirts and had the Hubs take pictures of me from behind just so I could see how much Cellulite is there.  It's demoralizing.. and truthfully it's not that pretty but I worked damn hard to get here so I'm going to wear those shorts/mini (ok maybe not so mini probably more like mid thigh haha) skirts this summer that I dreamed about when I was 100 pounds heavier.  

Perfectionism 

Truthfully I kept waiting for a day that I would be "perfect" I kept thinking well if I just lost another 50 pounds I'd be perfect.  Well 50 pounds turned into another 20 pounds.. then another 10 pounds.. then 5.. even 2.  I became obsessed with the numbers on my scale (to the point that The Hubs actually started to HIDE the scale in our apartment).  I finally realized that no I'll never be a size 0 or even a 2.. I mean I'm barely scratching a 4 as is lol.  And that's ok.  I'm curvy and I (sort of) accept that now. Growing up I hated the word "curvy" because "curvy" for a Taiwanese girl with Taiwanese parents/relatives/extended relatives who you only saw once every 2 years (yet still had no problems sharing with you exactly what they thought about how you looked) meant that you were "fat".  But I'm a little older now and well my husband loves my curves and because of that I'm slowly learning to love them as well.

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM!

How I lost 100 lbs. Part 3

Eat Protein at every meal

Calorie for calorie Protein keeps you feeling fuller longer then anything else we can put into our bodies.  If you don't eat meat it's ok cheese, yogurt, beans, tofu are all great substitutes.  When I started dieting I ate oatmeal for breakfast and I found that by simply adding one boiled/fried/scrambled egg I was significantly fuller for a longer period of time then when I just had oatmeal. 

When you're losing weight ideally we all want to imagine it's just pure fat however the truth is you're losing water, fat and muscle.  Even at rest your body is constantly breakdown and building up muscle.  So would you rather be building muscle or building fat?  Every time you eat between 10 to 15 grams of protein your body gets a trigger for protein synthesis which allows it to build muscle. When you're building muscle it's taking place of your fat and in fact it actually takes your body more calories to maintain the muscle as opposed to the fat!

Say for instance you eat 250 calories worth of protein it will take your body 75 calories to burn that 250 calories of protein.  However you eat the SAME exact 250 calories in carbohydrates it only takes your body 15 calories to burn!!  While I adamantly believe at the end of the day to lose weight all it really boils down to is less calories in and more calories out but eating more protein DOES in fact make you burn quicker vs. ingesting the same amount of calories in carbohydrates.

Now I try to substitute the afternoon chips/cookies/crackers that are 100 cals for something like string cheese/yogurt/nuts same calories but I'm fueling my body better.  Helping me to stay satiated longer but also promoting more calories burned. 

Drinking (Empty) Calories

Seems like a no brainer but it's really amazing how many completely empty calories we "consume" by drinking them.  Soda, Juice, Alcohol, Coffee Beverages.  One can of Soda has 150 cals.  doesn't seem all that bad right?

Well if you drink 1 can a day for an entire year that's 54,750 calories = 15.6lbs a year!  

We absolutely cannot talk beverages without discussing my absolute favorite seasonal Starbucks item the Pumpkin Spice Latte which comes at nearly 500 calories equivalent to a McDonald's Big Mac! Yes I do occasionally indulge when fall rolls around but I try and limit my PSL's to once a week! This article details some of Starbucks seasonal drinks and makes the correlation on how one of their drinks is essentially the same as consuming 5 Twinkies in one sitting!!  Crazy! 

There's so much misconception about juice.  People think it's ok, GOOD for you even.  I mean you drink it at breakfast right?  How bad could it be.  Well I'm sorry to break it to you but it's just as bad as soda.  Juice has roughly the same calorie and sugar content as soda.  Ok but you get Vitamin C & D from it so it has that right?

                                                 OR you could also just as easily EAT fruit.

The purpose of the juice IN fruit is to aid in consuming the FIBER that goes along with eating fruit. When you drink juice you're really taking out the most nutritious part of eating fruit the Fiber.

And I admit it I totally love juice so if you insist on drinking it do what I do when I drink it (once or twice a month) add equal parts water to it. Once you start watering it down you'll find that you'll find juice entirely too sweet for you.   

I drink about 8 cups of water a day sometimes even more.  And it's really not that hard once you get into the habit of it.  Go out and buy the largest water jug/cup/container/whatever you can find and fill that baby up. And start bringing it with you everywhere.  I promise if you have it near you you'll find yourself mindlessly reaching for it and before you know it you're re-filling it up again.  Your body often times cannot differentiate between thirst and hunger.  And our minds often mistakenly tell us we're hungry when we're really thirsty.

Before I sit down to eat ANYTHING I start off by drinking one large glass of water and then I eat.  I find often times I'm not even hungry or if I am that I'll end up eating significantly less.  If I'm still hungry I'll proceed to eat my meal/snack/fruit/whatever but it doesn't matter what I'm eating I'll drink a SECOND glass of water while I'm eating.  So if you're keeping score that's one glass before I eat anything and a 2nd glass while I'm eating. 3 meals + 1 snack x 2 cups per meal/snack = 8 glasses!

When I'm looking to switch things up a bit I drink unsweetened green tea.  Green tea has been shown to improve skin quality, help promote weight loss, reduce bloating, fight cancer the list goes on.  One thing is for sure since I've switched over to drinking predominately water and tea it's made my skin AMAZING!!!  I use to break out so much more (never EVER left the house without foundation) but since switching to water my skin has never been clearer.  

Some of my weakness are a good fruity frozen slushy drink especially in the hot summer months.  I indulge once in awhile but I always ask for a glass of water and water it down.  If I'm home I'll make it with crystal light & ice!

I also loveeeeeee Boba!

But now I actually opt out on the Boba part of it.  I know seems like it defeats the purpose but I promise you a milk tea is just as delicious without the Boba and you'll be saving yourself between 200 to 500 calories just from omitting the Boba balls alone :)!

                                                                       Write It Down

I logged everything I ate (and still do!).  I kept a notepad on the kitchen counter. There are calorie logs online like Calorie King is really popular and I know they have a smartphone app too!  However I found for myself personally that I really needed to write it down with pen and paper.  It just seemed so much more permanent.   

When I first made the commitment to lose weight I started by eating everything pre-packaged.  My own version of Weight Watchers or Nutri-System because I needed to learn portion sizes.  Because of that I would prepare the Hubs dinner separately and then heat up my own food in the microwave.  If I even TASTED The Hubs food while cooking it I would add that to my daily log.  Sure sounds crazy/neurotic ect. but "tasting" food still turns into calories in your body.  A lot of people taste test/nosh/have a glass of wine while they're cooking and they don't even realize but they've consumed a TON of calories even before they've sat down for their meal. 

Don't mindlessly eat or graze.  If you want that cookie eat it but log it down.  If I did have a brownie as a mid afternoon snack SEEING it written down on my daily log would help me make a more mindful lighter calorie choice for dinner that evening because I knew I was "running" out of calories for that day. 

                                                            Don't Deprive Yourself

   If you want that cupcake eat it.  

But just be mindful about the rest of your day.  Don't eat that cupcake and then follow it up with another one. It's a spiral effect that just leads to bad food choices for the rest of that day and sometimes that week and even month! So yes indulge every once an awhile because you deserve it just be mindful! 

It's what really allowed me to watch my calories and lose weight over time.  I think if I didn't allow myself a "treat" every now and again I wouldn't have been able to stick with it for so long.

                                                               I love food and I love to eat.

                                                                 This will never change.  

                                               The key is how to make it work with your life.  

If you have the opportunity there's a documentary series that HBO put out a few years ago called "The Weight Of The Nation" it's AMAZING.  You can find it on I-tunes for free and I promise you it was life changing for me. #MINDBLOWN after I watched it.  I highly recommend it it will change how you look at food and people too! 

For me my struggle with food is a life long battle.  I was overweight as early as high school (180lbs.) And I gain weight EXTREMELY easily I can literally go on a weekend trip and come back 5-8lbs. heavier. And whenever I'm stressed my eating just gets completely out of control. Anybody that's ever been overweight knows that food can be an addiction  For me it definitely is.  In my lifetime I've probably lost upwards of some 300+ pounds.  I'll lose 10lb.... gain 20lb... then I'll lose 20lbs. and then gain 50lbs.  It's a vicious cycle. So I know that for me this is something I'll have to constantly work on.  

                                     On that note I'm wrapping up my mini weight loss series!! 

I really really hope this was helpful.  For the last 6 months or so I've received tons of comments and e-mail after e-mail asking me how I lost weight so I wanted to really lay it out for you dolls :)  Please let me know if you have any comments/questions ect!! 

Btw's I've seriously been loving all the comments/e-mails/tweets about you guys stockpiling broccoli LOL!! #soawesome #broccolishortage2014

                                                  If you missed it visit Part 1 & Part 2!

                                   And finally if you didn't see my BEFORE pictures go HERE!

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM!

How I lost 100 lbs. Part 2

80% diet 20% exercise

Ok I'm not telling you to throw away your tennis shoes by any means.  Exercise is very important, it's important for heart health and has been proven to release endorphins that make people happy. However if you REALLY want to lose weight you are ABSOLUTELY going to have to change your eating habits.  The reality is you don't have enough time in the day to exercise enough to seriously burn calories. 

Running for 30 min burns about 200 cal.  Ok so you ran today and then decided you deserve an afternoon pick me up at Starbucks well a Latte (200 cal - btws I've just negated my 30 min run completely) oh and that Maple Pecan Scone looks delicious (440 cal) = Hello 660 (empty!) calories of the day.  And I haven't gotten to breakfast, lunch or dinner yet.

I didn't do anything truly crazy with exercise.  I brisk walk a minimum of 3x a week for about 30 min. sometimes an hour or longer.  Turn on Doctors, Dr. Oz and all you hear is that the best medicine you could have now is walking. Current guidelines actually suggest you should walk 10,000 steps a day (approx 5 miles). That's A LOT! Admittedly I'm still far from it but I'm trying to increase it on the daily. And that's the point! 

Now my secret quickie exercise??

JUMPING ROPE!

Yes I jumped rope!!  

I'm the queen of excuses.  I hate exercising with a passion.  And I can come up with any type of excuse under the sun.  Don't feel like running/jogging/walking, the weathers bad, there's rain/snow/sleet/hail whatever!  

Well you can literally jump rope ANYWHERE.  All you need is a $10 dollar jump rope.  I can do it in my apartment,  I can do it traveling/vacation (I pack it in my luggage and do it in my hotel room!).

You can actually burn off more calories jumping rope in the same amount of time it would take you to run a 8 min mile! 

You can burn 135 cals in just a 10 min session!  So there's literally no excuse.  135 cals a day x 7 days a week is nearly 1000 calories!  Which translates to 4,200 calories a month and almost 50,000 calories a year! That's almost 15 pounds a year by JUST jumping rope for 10 min a day!

Jumping rope is one of the few exercises that you can do that literally works almost every single muscle in your body.  And it's obscenely heart healthy.  I know we all secretly think that if you're "thin" that automatically means you're healthy.  But that's not really the truth.. you still need to get your heart pumping a couple of times a week.  And jump rope gets your heart pumping FAST.  

I just about passed out when I first started doing it.  I said "ok I'm going to do this 30 min a day 2 to 3x a week" ... Well the first time I tried it I barely made it to 5 min lol.  It's really exhausting!  But I will say this that very first day that I did 5 min my entire body felt incredibly freakishly toned even The Hubs commented my body looked toned (without prompting on my part either LOL!)  It was amazing.  And it encouraged me to do it again the next day.. and then I basically just added an extra minute every week or so.. and after about a month worked my way up to 10 min a day!

Portion Sizes 

I never learned proper portion sizing growing up.  My parents are highly intelligent, extremely educated individuals.  They taught me how to be a decent human however they both have very busy and amazing careers.  Now before you jump down my throat and and say I'm whining "Woo is me I was a latch key kid yada yada" I'm by no means saying that.  They were immigrants from Taiwan who came to the US to pursue their post graduate degrees.  They were taught to chase the "American Dream".  You can have it all as long as you are educated, willing to sacrifice and work super hard.  I often came home to an empty house and lots of microwaveable pre-packaged food or whatever fast food I could procure on my own.  

This is what my plate usually looked like 

This is how your plate is suppose to look like

I realized my portion sizes were totally out of whack.  And that's how I started my "lifestyle change" (BTW's I don't do the word Diet because if I had 5 pounds to lose that's a diet.  If you want to lose a significant amount of weight it's not going to happen over night/next month and in my case even within a year.)

I started with what I was use to.  I mean I had spent nearly 30 years of my life shoving pre-packaged microwaveable and fast food meals down my pie hole and I didn't really know any other way.  If you've ever joined Weight Watchers, Nutrisystem ect you'll know that everything is essentially a pre-packaged program.

Instead of doing that I just created my own pre-packaged program.  Based on all of the literature I found online I knew that I set a goal to stay between 1200 to 1300 cals per day.

I started with all the pre-packaged foods.

Breakfast: Pre-packaged Oatmeal + 1 Piece of Fruit (300 cals)
Lunch:  One frozen meal (300 cals.) and for filler I added in 2 cups of broccoli (50 cals)
Snack: A pre-packaged 100 calorie pack/Pringles small chip pack (100 cals)
Dinner: Same as lunch one frozen meal (300 cal) + broccoli (50 cal)
Dessert: A Skinny Cow Ice Cream bar (150 cals)

Total: 1250 cals

I also purchased child sized plates and utensils to eat my food on.  It LITERALLY forced me to eat less and eat slower.  I never realized it before but the plates we're all using are actually much bigger then you're suppose to.  And eating with child utensils I was forced to take smaller bites of everything I ate.

After about 6 months or so my stomach started to "shrink" I would become full much quicker.  As time went on when portion size became more intuitive for me I started weening myself off of the pre-packaged foods.  I would make dinner for the Hubs and I would eat it to but just in smaller portions.  And as time went on I found that I actually WANTED to eat junk food less and started replacing the pre-packaged snacks with fresh baby carrots/celery/cucumber slices w/ yogurt based spinach dip/hummus/peanut butter ect. And now after dinner I would say 5x out of the week I'll opt for a piece of fruit vs. ice cream!  I also try to limit myself to two pieces of fruit a day because fruit itself can be quite high in sugar. However on that note an extra piece of fruit is always better then reaching for a cupcake or candy lol.

This is what a normal meal looks like now.

I made a big pot of chili for the Hubs.. and I got to eat it to.  But instead of putting my chili in a big bowl like the Hubs I used a small mug.  Low fat cheese & low fat sour cream!  But look at how much veggies & fruit! I'm filling up on lots of healthy low calorie fiber but I also get to indulge in chili, cheese and sour cream. This is extremely important because it prevents me from binge eating later on because I feel so "deprived".

Hey you want to get healthy but let's be realistic here are you REALLY going to eat boiled chicken breast w/ a side of quinoa night after night?  And can you REALLY eat salad day after day after day? If you can then you should stop reading this post immediately, contact me and PLEASE let me know how you do it! LOL!

But when I eat out I'll indulge - within reason. And what I mean by that is I'll order that that giant plate of cream pasta (2000 cals) but I'll also order a side of steamed broccoli.  And when my food comes I'll immediately ask for a box. Before I've even started eating I'll divide my plate in half (sometimes even thirds) and put the remaining portion into the take away box immediately. When I'm at home I'll eat my leftovers with yes more broccoli!!  The leftovers will stretch into a 2nd and even a 3rd meal! 2000 calories divided by 3 meals isn't so bad after all.  

Below is chart of what portion sizes for certain items should actually looks like

                                                                      Part 3 Coming soon! :)

                                                          And if you missed it visit Part 1 HERE! 

                                          And if you want to see my BEFORE pictures go HERE!

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM!

How I Lost 100 lbs. Part 1

This is a follow up to my last post detailing my life transition you can read about it here.

I've received countless comments and e-mails almost on a daily basis the last 6 months asking me how I lost the weight so I thought doing a mini blog series detailing exactly how I lost all the weight will (hopefully) be beneficial to you if you want to lose 5 vanity pounds or 100 pounds (like I did :)!

Before I go into the practical application steps that I took to lose weight I wanted to do a little background information.  I'm by no means a health care professional (so you should DEFINITELY consult your practitioner about starting a weight loss program!) but once I decided to make a change I realized I needed to do research how food effected my body.  

I am however married to a health care professional who also happens to be certified in Geriatric diseases (with a focus on diabetes & cholesterol) and now with him doing his MPH program.  We often discuss how Obesity is a is an epidemic that seems to be spiraling out of control in the US and is now officially the leading cause of preventable disease in America that has actually overtaken smoking.  Heart Disease has become the #1 Killer in the US now.

One thirds of the US is characterized as being Overweight and another one third is characterized as being Obese.

To put it into perspective I am 5 foot 5. 

According to the BMI calulator

At 150lbs. I am considered Overweight

At 180lbs. I am considered Obese

At 230lbs. I am considered Morbidly Obese

I was Morbidly Obese.

We really have NO idea how many calories we are SUPPOSE to be eating.  I mean I had NO idea.  I use the Mayo Clinic calorie maintenance calculator.  Essentially you plug in your age, weight and tell it how "active" you are.  I'll use myself as an example I'm currently 130lbs. 30 years of age and "Somewhat Active" It tells me that my "daily intake" = 1800 cal.  However if I was completely "Inactive" it's as low as 1650 cal! 

Seriously when I first put in my figures I was stunned and here I was sitting at California Pizza Kitchen (I'll be using a lot of chain restaurants because the nutritional info is easy to find online) and a normal meal for me would be:

Lemonade - 200 cals
Bread & Butter -100 cals
Spinach Artichoke Dip -1000 cal
Garlic Cream Fettuccine -1300 cals
Butter Cake ala mode -1400 cals

A whooping 4000 cals. for just one meal and I haven't even gotten to the rest of the day yet.  Now granted I wouldn't eat ALL of it by myself (although for the sake of total disclosure I actually HAVE) usually I shared everything but divide everything by 2 people and you're still at 2000 cals. and that's STILL over my daily maintenance guidelines by 200 to 400 cals!

Ok so you say 200 extra calories a day doesn't seem like a big deal right?  I mean that's like one serving of Chips (ok everyone be honest who actually stops at 1 serving??)

200 cals. x 365 days = 73,000 cals

73,000 cals divided by 3,500 cals (1 pound) = 20.85lbs a year!!!!

And as I stated above I was consuming just 2000+ cals in ONE meal.. this doesn't even include the calories from the rest of the day.

Broccoli

I wholeheartedly attribute the bulk of my weight loss to Broccoli.

It's packed with so much fiber I promise you will feel SO stuffed when you eat it and at 30 calories a cup you can eat as much as you want!

I know Kale is the ever so popular super food right now but I just can't seem to get full off of it like I do with Broccoli. You can read about the benefits of both of these cruciferous veggies here.

I add it to everything I eat

I'm not a health blog I don't toot myself as being "healthy".  I'm not going to live my life eating boiled chicken breasts w/ a side of Quinoa every single meal for the rest of my life. (Believe me I tried it and after 3 days I wanted to kill myself.)  The reality is I just love (comfort) food too much so I just trying to make slight changes when I can to things that I love to eat.

I love Mac & Cheese and before I would eat an ENTIRE plate of Mac & Cheese but now I'll eat a cup of it paired w/ 2 cups of Broccoli and maybe add in a little lean protein like chicken to bulk up the meal. That way I get to enjoy ooey gooey melty cheese over carby goodness and not feel deprived or feel like I'm "always on a diet".  The bulk of my meal is veggies & lean protein as opposed to a giant plate of refined carbs & processed cheese.  The problem with eating noodles, pasta, rice, potatoes especially big portions of it is that you're going to feel very hungry about an hour or two after consuming it.  And it actually causes you to crave more refined white carby/sugary things. AND white refined carbs has been known to the the culprit behind stomach bloat!!!  So with swimsuit season coming up if your stomach is feeling a little less than steller cut out the white carbs for a week and your stomach is going to be majorly flat within a week.. but I promise you'll feel it after just 3 days!

Most meals that you eat have 3 components - your protein, your veggies and your carbs. Now I think as a culture we've gotten a bit away from that and somehow along the way it morphed into predominately protein + carbs and no veggies.

Now think about it this way traditionally in history protein and produce were expensive so carbs were used as a filler to stretch out a meal.  Rice, Pasta, Potatoes what have you were used to make the little bit of meat a family could procure last for the entire family.

Well based on obesity statistics I would say as a culture we PROBABLY don't need anything to stretch out meals anymore.

So now it doesn't matter what I eat at home I subtract the "traditional" filler ie. Rice/Pasta/Potatoes/Bread and substitute broccoli.  If it's a steak and potato night for the Hubs I'll substitute Broccoli for Potato.  If I make Asian foods instead of rice I'll eat it with broccoli as my "starch".

I LOVEEE RAMEN.. and I eat it from time to time at home especially in the cold weather.  Well ramen is bad for you we all know and it's very high in calories.. one brick of ramen can have anywhere between 300 to 700 calories.  That's A LOT!  So to get around my ramen cravings I'll only use HALF of a brick of ramen, throw in 2 shrimps (extremely low calories!), 2 cups of broccoli and a poached egg.  I promise you you won't even miss the other half of the ramen and the broccoli will make you SO STUFFED!

When I first started using broccoli as a filler I bought and used fresh broccoli but I realized I was going through too much so I switched to frozen.  It's just as nutritious, stays fresh longer but it's a lot more affordable.  But the MAIN point is that it's ALREADY washed & pre-cut for you so there's NO excuses. You can just grab a bag from the freezer and pop the entire thing into the microwave to let it steam and in under 5 mins you have a healthy side. I go through roughly 8 bags of broccoli a week!  So you can see how much broccoli I eat. lol.

And finally broccoli is CRAZY GOOD FOR YOU.

It's been shown to prevent cancer, lower blood pressure, be heart healthy, boosts your immune system, improve eyesight, and improves bone strength.  

And if the inward health benefits aren't enough.

Then let me appeal to the vanity in all of us. 

 Broccoli aids in collagen reproduction essentially that youthful & supple skin we're all chasing after.... well when you hit 30 like me lol! It also promotes skin regeneration and repair which help give your complexion that beautiful "lit from within" glow.  And beyond that has anti-aging benefits to literally try and stop the hands of time!  

I get to be thin & have nice skin = win win in my book lol! 

Fruit

I never really ate fruit growing up.  I thought it was weird when people chose to eat fruit.  REALLY I DID. If I wanted something sweet I would reach for cake, cookies, a brownie ect. When I first started eating it it was actually a chore.  I had to TELL myself to eat it.  I MADE myself eat a piece of fruit everyday.  And then something amazing happened along the way I actually found that I now CRAVED IT.  I never noticed it until I went on a trip and fruit wasn't readily accessible and I found myself looking for a grocery store to BUY FRUIT. WTF.  

But the best part was that whenever I was done eating dinner I'd always reach for something sweet and now 9 times out of 10 I can satisfy that sweet tooth with a piece of fruit.  Bonus is that fruit has a lot of fiber and water. And a lot of times our body is actually thirsty however our mind misreads it as hunger.  So if I'm hungry in the middle of the day I'll reach for a piece of fruit and find that I'm both quenched and full afterwards.  

And something really awesome happened once I started eating fruit regularly because I was already washing, cleaning, peeling, coring, pitting fruit for myself I also simultaneously did it for my husband.  Every night while he studied he would mindlessly reach for chips, cookies, candy ect.  I'd would put a plate of cut fruit on the table and I found that he would mindlessly eat it.  Someone who's never been into fruits & veggies either ALSO started craving it.  And I realized when I was making the weekly grocery shopping list I was going down the snack food aisles a heck of a lot less.  I realized at that moment I wasn't just impacting MY health but I was impacting his as well.

Part 2 Coming soon! :)

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM!