Healthier Eating Choices

It's very common for people to try to lose weight and dedicate themselves to going to the local gym or recreation center. Exercise is definitely a strong step in leading a healthier life style but a huge part of living a healthier lifestyle is eating cleaner. By eating cleaner I mean eating food that still has nutrients and minerals that help your body function properly. Before I started on a healthier lifestyle, I made pretty bad decisions in terms of my diet. I thought if I just worked out at least that would be better but I still felt unhealthy. For me, I was addicted to drinking my calories. I used to drink pop and juices every chance I got and I hated water because it tasted like nothing. When I decided I wanted to change my diet for good, I had to slowly pry myself from those bad habits. Unlike when I was younger I had to eat what my family purchased I realize that I am in complete control of my diet. Therefore, If I don't purchase it, I will not consume it. I trained myself to eliminate juices and pop from my diet as well as many other things that weren't good for me. I also saved money not buying junk food because they were always the first to go when I bought groceries and had to be replaced more often. Below are some the things I eliminated and the healthier alternatives I used to combat those voids.

Juices/Pop - smoothies
If I wanted something sweeter to drink I bought a blender to make smoothies of all combinations. I used frozen strawberries as a base and I would freeze blueberries, blackberries and other fruit and use either almond milk or freshly squeezed oranges to add to the blend to make the blend easier. (blenders can cost as low as $17 at target and other super stores) You can also try fruit water. It may sound a little strange but simply adding fruits to water will give it a pretty nice taste. Lemon water specifically helps to detoxify your body.

Chips - Almonds
I know that snacking is one of the biggest weaknesses of most people but chips are just empty calories. Eating almonds, peanuts and any other variation provides good fat for the body. Good fats gives your body energy while bad fats turn into sugar.

White products -whole grains
White products are bad if they are all you eat because they turn into the body quicker in the body and makes your body release insulin making you hungry again soon after. If you want to slow this down try whole grain products like wheat or whole grain bread and pasta. You can also get brown rice. Grains are low in fat and aren't stripped of nutrients like fiber, potassium and magnesium.

Desserts - Fruit
I know from experience that most people I know don't eat enough fruits and vegetables. Well instead of eating candy, cookies and other desserts try grabbing a bag of grapes or my favorite blackberries. They will definitely satisfy your sweet tooth.

3 Tips to Help Build Self Esteem.

Tip1:
I remember when I first got on Tumblr, I would scroll through pages of gorgeous women and think "I wish my nose looked liked that or I love her hair texture, why can't mine look like that?" I was comparing myself to people I would never look like on a constant basis. After a while of doing this, my negative thoughts started to consume me and I was tired. Recognizing that these women were not the problem nor was tumblr, I knew the cause stemmed from me. I started working on pushing excessive negative thoughts about myself from my mind by making my self conscious of the negative thoughts that would creep into my mind so that I can stop them. Slowly but surely, I was able to gain better control of my thought process. Helping me to become more positive or at least stay neutral.

Tip 2:
Another importans step was to stop comparing myself to other people. The only person anyone should compare themselves to is themselves . There is nothing wrong with being inspired by others but admiring someone does not involve envy, self doubt, or comparison. Admiration is just appreciation of another. You should not see all the good in others and put yourself down. Not to mention with all the people you see that you think are beautiful, I'm sure not all of them look the same and if you can admire the differences in them, you should be able to do the same for yourself. The more positively one views diversity in others, the more positively they see themselves.

Tip 3:
 One thing that also plagued myself and others is the constant need of approval or compliments from other people. One of my favorites quotes is " If you live off a man's compliments, then you will die from his criticism." With the invention of the like button or the reblog, and the retweet buttons, people are living their lives to gain approval from others. If you don't take a pic of how nice you look one day, you still looked nice that day. Ask yourself why do you need to have everyone's approval. Then try to fulfill that through your self. We all use social networking and it's nice that people agree but think more so in terms of just sharing and you'll stop waiting by your phone for those Instagram notifications.

Losing Weight On A Budget

I stated in my last post that I've lost

a lot of weight well somewhere between 35-40 lbs and I stand at 5'10. A lot of people have asked me how did I lose weight? and I'll tell them just constantly working out and changing my diet. To be quite honest eating healthy isn't the most cost efficient way of life when you're on a tight budget and when you're a college student like myself. Your life can become hectic from dealing with classes, midterms and finals, extracurricular activities and not to mention those weekends of having fun. I did all of these things and was still somewhat able to keep eating pretty healthy. These are a few things that started me on a healthier path.

Cook:
My first step to eating healthy on a budget is to always always always opt for cooking when you can. I honestly didn't even know how to cook when I moved into my first apartment. I called family members asking how to do stuff but most of my learning was trial and error. Cooking may can save you time in the long run if you invest in some glad ware or the knock off version at the local dollar store. 

Find alternatives: 

Find a healthier alternative to things you usually eat. Exchanging olive oil for vegetable oil and butter is a much better option. You can find a store brand as a cheaper alternative to the name brands. You can swap out corn tortillas and white bread for wheat and whole grain. (There are so many alternatives I can list but that's a different post.)

Exercise:
In this age of technology there is little to nothing that we can't access through the internet. I have listed links to my favorite workouts that will help the gym shy person and those that can't afford to access the gym get started. Here are a few of my favorite and most efficient workouts. 

Zumba

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNTQyMzIzNjA0.html

Jillian Michaels 30 day shred

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Pc-NizMgg8

Turbo Fire

http://www.4shared.com/video/KbBku__E/Fire_60_Class.html

My Journey through Happiness

Like many other people, I have struggled with my weight. Struggling with my weight led to many other insecurities in my life such as with my height, looks and etc... I have gone through trials and tribulations with juggling diets and challenges and gaining weight back. I've lost tons of weight before but it hasn't been until recently that I have realized that my mental state truly effects how I feel about myself and others which tied in to my continuous weight issues. My negative attitude toward myself transcended into every aspect of my life, from school to relationships I had with every person in my life. Last summer, I dated someone that did not treat me well and after that was done, It dawned on me that I needed to reevaluate myself and find out why I would accept such horrible treatment when I very well would tell my friends and others you can do better, you deserve better and anything positive and uplifting. Truth was, I did not like myself. I thought I was not pretty and I was undeserving of being treated well so I accepted the bare minimum from someone. I began to look at myself objectively and ask what would make me feel better about myself? Like would I feel better if I lost weight? or changed my hair? I started to focus my energy on positive things as well as develop my will power. I needed will power to stay on my fitness path and also to remember to never go back to this loser. I told myself I'm going to make him beg me to come back and when he does I'll be strong enough to say no.

Before I knew it, my summer was over and I was back in school. I could no longer fit my clothing, everything was too big. I went shopping and discovered that I dropped 4 pant sizes. I also resurfaced on the social networking scene and sure enough that person I wanted to make regret losing me, did. But even after that I realized that was not truly fulfilling because self satisfaction can not come from anyone other than yourself. I still was not happy so I begin to strip myself of all the things I think I needed to help me feel beautiful. One of my biggest weaknesses was hair. Yes, I was a slave to my weave, don't get me wrong weave isn't bad but it was my attitude about myself that made it a crutch. So I took it out. I had been wearing my hair in a sew in for at least 4 years. I had no clue what to do with my real hair and more importantly I didn't want people to think I was less beautiful without it but I challenged myself.

I had unknowingly developed this weird little habit of daring myself to do things so that I can push myself beyond my comfort zone. The extensions were out and I thought it was only temporary but I began to slowly like the freedom of not worrying if I would be exposed by the wind or frying the health out of my hair. So I began to take care of my mane. I cut about 4 inches off in heat damage last December. I started to feel happier and more comfortable with myself.

All the while I was doing these things, I had also began to make an effort to delve deeper in my spirituality. Soon enough I was building a wiser and stronger connection with God. These elements in my life has lead me to a journey of being a stronger person with a better outlook on myself and other people. I know that these changes have helped me to be more positive and attract more positive things in to my life and be able to know that I am worthy and deserving of good things. Although, I have realized that there is no certain end date to my journey, I am truly enjoying the ride. I hope to inspire and help others who wish to do the same.