FAT

I was recently apart of a dinner conversation where we discussed eating and eliminating fats. People sometimes avoid fats because they’re afraid of the greater calorie content. What they don’t realize is that eating a small amount goes a long way, and it’s imperative to incorporate healthy fats for the sake of your health. Why you ask? Fats keep your skin and hair glowing-- who doesn't want better skin and hair??; helps with tissue growth and repair; lowers bad cholesterol; potentially keeps diseases at bay; keeps your brain functioning properly;regulates mood; and keeps your heart healthy. Holy crap! After knowing all that, who wouldn't want to start eating healthier fats?

I’m not going to lie-I was definitely one of those people who avoid all "fats" such as nuts like the plague. It was low fat or no fat this day and night. Back in the day, I probably would have chosen a Snack well’s fat free cookie over a small handful of nuts because I was afraid of going over my caloric limit. Let’s be frank, no one’s going to go over their daily caloric needs if they’re carefully monitoring what they put in their body. You just have to make better conscious decisions like choosing to eat solely nuts as a snack prior to dinner instead of nuts, then a cookie, and then maybe some chips. That will DEFINITELY lead to weight gain, and please don’t blame it on the nuts!! Also, eating full fat things can keep you fuller for longer and provide you with that I'm satisfied feeling over eating something less dense and lower calorie.

Moral of this story:

Eat more monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, and Omega 3’s!

Try and avoid trans fats and saturated fats whenever possible

All fats should only be 20-30% of your daily calories

Chomp on more:

Fish (at least 2 servings per week)

Olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, sunflower oil, and sesame oil

Nuts and seeds

Avocados

Dark chocolate

Peanut butter

Take a fish oil tablet everyday and a multivitamin while you're at it ;)

Eat less:

Butter

Cream

Meat

Margarine

Fast food

Prepackaged cakes, cookies

Lifestyle eating suggestions:

1/3 of an avocado on salad, sandwich, eggs, dips

Handful of nuts – try eating them roasted and unsalted but if it’s not enjoyable, eat a small portion of lightly salted nuts

½ a whole wheat bagel w. cream cheese and smoked salmon

Almond butter on whole-wheat toast

Sprinkle flaxseeds on top of cereal or salad

Drizzle olive oil and balsamic over salad

1 cup of edamame

sprinkle seeds on top of smoothie, yogurt, or cereal

Back to lunch yesterday:

I decided to make lemon and rosemary crusted seabass from Ocado, and a side of bok choy with brown rice.

mmmm.. wish you could have heard that sizzle when I flipped these bad boys over. The textural crunch on them was pretty amazing!

bok choy action on the wok: oil, minced garlic, dash of soy sauce, and a generous squeeze of siracha.

Okay, the fish looks delicious but it didn't taste all that great. I don't think I like the flavor combination of lemon and rosemary together.

The afternoon was spent taking a glorious 2 hour nap, walking the pups, and reading for a bit.

Breakfast: slow and steady scrambled eggs

me gusta fluffy eggs

I'm bringing ketchup back..

Agenda: I already got my morning workout in so I'm hopping in the shower and going to try and not nap the afternoon away again!!

Zumba warm up song of the day: Mr. Saxobeat -- just did this warm up last Tuesday and I loved it!! (hopefully my class did too!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMukoRDNOUQ

I'm going back to school ma!

Lunch yesterday was seabass filets seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, olive oil, and siracha

sauteed mushrooms and courgettes

the garlic powder gave the seabass a nice crust- yum!!

In the gym: I focused on bi's, tri's and abs since that was the only part of my body that wasn't sore from Wednesdays workout.. Ouch.. I did 3 sets of 8-10 reps

• close grip bench press (T)
• barbell curl (B)
• lying barbell tricep extensions (T)
• hammer curl (B)
• tricep pressdowns (T)
• Incline dumbbell curl (B)

Gym gripe: As most lifters are familiar with, the bench is extremely useful for a variety of exercises. It definitely helps to have the right set of dumbbells within arms reach when doing supersets. A recent gripe of mine is that my gym removed the lighter dumbbells from the main guys weights room and into the gymfloor. I understand this was probably due to not many people using the lighter weights (yes macho men, I know you don’t use 3kg weights for your dumbbell flys like me!!) but it honestly puts people like me (mostly women that don’t lift very heavy) at a disadvantage. I have to take extra time to plan my exercises and make sure I have the right set of dumbbells prior to starting my workout. This wouldn’t be a problem if my supersets didn’t call for multiple weights! I.e.: I like to use 3kg for my flyes, 4-5kg for my bicep curls, 6kg for my close grip tricep presses, etc!! I may sound lazy but who honestly wants to disrupt their workout by lugging weights around the gym after every exercise!? and why return the weights you ask? Do you really think I want to be that crazy person that hogs all the light dumbbells at her bench station?

My night was spent eating and sitting in front of the telly because the hubs is busy at work this week.

I had another buffalo burger for dinner with some roasted broccoli and kalamata olives (random!!) on the side.

I kept the burger open faced and doused it with ketchup, dijon mustard, and siracha

It was a satisfying dinner :)

Breakfast then it's off to the gym -- I have a sexy date with the treadmill, ow ow!

Holy cannoli I'm going back to school!!! Starting in October, I'll be doing a Sciences Extended degree in Biology/Chemistry at London Metropolitan University. If all goes well and I pass all my courses, I'll apply for the Human Nutrition and Dietetics program next year. I'm a ball of emotions from excited, happy, and extremely nervous!!

Gluten=Brain fog?

I made T & I a quick and easy dinner last night. We had oven roasted seabass- 2 seabass filets seasoned with

• fresh minced garlic
• salt
• pepper 
• soy sauce

Fish literally cooks for 10 minutes in the oven and it is so healthy and delicious!

Yummy.. I love the flavor cooked garlic imparts on fish.

some brown rice and sauteed mushrooms and asparagus as sides

A little True Blood and Sonoma cuddles action

I was NOT feeling the most recent TB episode this past Sunday. I'm getting a little sick of the Sookie/Eric storyline!!

Feelings mutual..

I woke up this morning and tackled some Zumba routines. Lunch was a bit more of the same as yesterday but with some minor adjustments.

whole wheat tortilla filled with

• spicy refried beans
• 1/2 an avocado (spread on two tortillas)
• light sprinkle of mature cheddar cheese
• siracha sauce

with some sauteed mushrooms and red onions, roasted Mediterranean Waitrose pasta.

So, I had a crazy thought this afternoon about maybe going gluten free for a while. After eating lunch, I felt as if I had this cloud in my head and I couldn't think straight. I then simply had this idea that maybe it was due to what I had eaten just hours before. I had pasta AND whole wheat tortillas. Don't ask me why I thought immediately- too much gluten! So, with this thought, I googled and I found numerous articles on the impact gluten has on the brain. I might be on to something here: I'm going to research further before I decide to make any huge dietary leaps..
http://www.drlwilson.com/articles/brain_fog.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-david-perlmutter-md/gluten-impacts-the-brain_b_785901.html
http://www.drkaslow.com/html/gluten-brain_connection_.html