healthy living

How I Grocery Shop as a University Student

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Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Hey guys, welcome back to the blog! Today, we’re talking about my favourite activity ever, grocery shopping. There’s just something about walking into a grocery store, pulling our a cart and picking out produce that de-stresses me. But, I realise that this isn’t the case for everyone. Often times, grocery shopping can be stressful especially if you’re a university students or you are on a budget and pressed on time. I”l admit that moving out and having to grocery shop for myself for the first time was a bit daunting, but I’ve slowly found the ideal method for my grocery shopping. However, I also realise that not everyone’s requirements are the same and that we all have different needs and spending budgets. This blogpost isn’t to sway or pressure you into any sort of habits, it’s simply to share a few tips that have helped me grocery shop in a healthy and sustainable way. So let’s get into it!

Tip 1: Set your monthly/weekly food budget

So, before you actually get into it, it’s good to set a realistic food budget for each month. This will vary for each person but it’s important to keep some room for flexibility since some months you might fluctuate around your budget. Food budget is probably the most important part of your financial planning after accounting for accommodation/bills, so remember to set a clear goal.

Tip 2: Decide how often you need to go grocery shopping

Some students prefer to go grocery shopping weekly while others prefer to go every two weeks or even once a month. I always separate my grocery shopping, with one trip a month focused on long term supplies and weekly trips for fresh produce. To help you decide how often you need to go grocery shopping, determine how much of what you need to buy can be stored for longer. If you buy a lot of fresh produce, it’s best to go weekly to avoid overbuying and your produce going bad.

Then you can schedule the days that you go shopping. As a university student, finding time to go grocery shopping can sometimes be challenging, but you never want to walk up to an empty fridge. I coordinate my grocery shopping according to my class schedule, but I try to avoid shopping on Fridays as most of the items are often out of stock by the end of the week.

Tip 3: Make a list!

I always keep a digital list on my notes app as well as a physical notepad in my kitchen. This helps me note down anything I might need throughout the week. Lists are great to ensure that you stick to buying what you need. It’s easy to get distracted when grocery shopping; you go for one thing and come back with ten. Make a list to buy the items you find necessary.

Tip 4: Don’t go Hungry

One of the best tips I learnt when trying to grocery shop is never to go hungry because you’ll end up buying random foods and snacks that you never planned on and may not be the healthiest options. So never go grocery shopping on an empty stomach.

Tip 5: Stick to frozen & prepped veggies

I like to stock up on prepped veggies to make cooking easier and faster as well as frozen veggies and fruits which are more affordable and last longer. I am selective when choosing which veggies and fruits to buy frozen, for example, broccoli, green beans, and carrots are some of the veggies I like to buy prepped. While I often get frozen berries for smoothies and baking.

Tip 6: Prep yourself

My last tip is to try and be as sustainable as you can when it comes to packaging, while you can’t completely avoid plastic at times at the supermarket, you can implement a few habits. For example, I always keep a few reusable shopping bags on hand for when I want to shop as well as smaller bags for produce. It’s also helpful to use a shopping basket than cart, I found that the more space I have, the easier it is to go overboard on the grocery shopping.

A note from the author

Thank you for reading and reaching this far, please like if you found something useful here today. I hope you follow for more lifestyle tips like these ones and join the healthboss community, xoxo.

Check out more posts like this one

Grocery Haul List – https://healthboss.blog/2020/03/25/healthy-grocery-haul-list-quarantine-101/

Healthy Food Staples – https://healthboss.blog/2020/07/05/healthy-food-staples/

How to Eat Healthy on a Budget – https://healthboss.blog/2020/09/20/how-to-eat-healthy-on-a-budget/

Why Healthy Eating Isn’t Realistic

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Photo by ROMAN ODINTSOV on Pexels.com

Hey guys, welcome back to the blog. In today’s post, I want to talk about something that isn’t usually addressed in the “healthy eating” world on social media. If you’ve been on social media at all in the recent years, you’d have seen how healthy eating trends have taken over millions of people, having them smash avocados on toast and bake their oats. While there’s nothing wrong with the trends promoted by fitness and health influencers, I can’t help but point out how their food content is often catered to the few. Which is to be expected as influencers can only show us their way of life.

However, this has created a discourse around what healthy eating is that doesn’t cater to everyone. It gives the impression that there is only way of eating well, a rather Western way. The healthy eating world on social media does not address how different cuisines come into play. For example, the foods in my culture never fit into the category of “healthy eating” because they are mostly carb-heavy and do not look like the foods posted by health influencers. So, where does someone who eats African, Indian or Chinese cuisine fit into the niche of healthy eating. Often times, when I’m at family gatherings, not one thing on the table fits what social media deems healthy. I realised that exposure to “what I eat in a day” content has somewhat influenced my perception on what is healthy food in a way that excludes all of our local dishes.

But, that isn’t how healthy eating is supposed to be. Healthy eating does not mean a Western way of eating with; a yoghurt bowl for breakfast, a kale salad for lunch, and salmon and asparagus for dinner. It can mean rice porridge for breakfast with, veggie noodle soup for lunch, and the same thing for dinner. One thing I found odd is that social media promotes cooking one thing for lunch and cooking another meal for dinner when I grew up eating the same meal for lunch and dinner. Similarly, the “healthy eating” category promoted on social media doesn’t allow for the different ingredients available in different areas of the world. Where I’m from, spicy pickled fruits are often added to our meals, and people use different ingredients such as cassava, breadfruit, a variety of grains, and a ton of chilli.

To put it in a nutshell, don’t let the portrayal of “healthy eating” online restrict your way of eating or your local cuisine. Instead, you can find ways to make your local dishes balanced with whole foods and substitutions. For example, by substituting regular sunflower oil in any local recipes with olive or avocado oil. The point is that there isn’t only one way of eating healthy and you shouldn’t have to abandon foods from your culture to be healthy. So next time you think about eating healthy, step away from the exhausted dishes online and make it your own.

A note from the author

I hope you enjoyed today’s quick post and found something useful from it. If you’d like to support my blog please like and follow for more and feel free to share your opinion on it. Thank you for reading, I appreciate each an every one of you, see you next time, xoxo.

Food Guilt: 5 Ways to Cope with feeling guilty after “Overeating”

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Hey guys, welcome back to the blog, today we’re talking about food guilt. You’re probably familiar with the term and with the experience of the feeling as well. I would define it as feelings of shame and regret after consuming foods we deem unhealthy or after eating what we think is too much. This is something I’ve experienced far more times than I can count and it has to be one of the worst feelings I’ve experienced. The thing is, the food doesn’t even have to be unhealthy to trigger the guilt, sometimes you can be eating healthy and nutritious meals and still feel guilty if you feel like you overate. However, food guilt is something created by our own minds, it is as real as we make it. Often times I’ve found myself struggling with regret after a full day of eating simply because I thought I had too many calories or wasn’t healthy enough. It takes a while to snap myself out of that dark hole of shame and criticism sometimes, which is why I wanted to share some tips that may help you deal with food guilt. Before we get into it, this is a disclaimer that all of these tips are based off of personal experience and are not a replacement for professional medical advice. If you are struggling with mental health or what you think may be an eating disorder, please seek help or further advice, thank you.

#1. Know Your Triggers

If you feel guilty after eating, it may be helpful to know what foods or eating habits trigger that guilt. For some people it may be eating junk food, processed foods filled with sugar, or foods they just think is unhealthy. It might be binge eating, or eating late at night for you. No matter what it is, it’s important to know what does it for you so you can analyse why you feel guilty.

My food guilt is triggered when I eat foods I do not eat on a normal basis, especially if I’ve done so over the course of a few days. This comes from a fear of overeating, which comes from a fear of weight gain. Even though there is absolutely nothing wrong with gaining weight, we’ve grown up with the idea that weight gain is something negative. It’s only now that this mindset is starting to shift but it is still easier said than done. So triggers are often foods or habits that society has perceived as negative and any guilt resulting from that is also naturalised. But guilt after eating isn’t something that is supposed to be natural. Identifying what triggers your food guilt is the first step to deconstructing the reasoning behind the guilt.

#2. Write & Reflect

One method that always helps is to journal your food guilt, writing down what you did that day and your emotions throughout. Often times you’ll find that writing it down helps you feel more accountable of what or how much you ate, helping you realise it isn’t as bad as your mind is saying it is. However, this isn’t the same as calorie or macro tracking, you would only write down the emotions in that moment, not track every day. Writing down what you regret and then throwing that paper away can help you acknowledge the food guilt and be more mindful so that you can put it past you.

#3. Validate Hunger Cues & Cravings

One of the biggest struggles when it comes to food guilt is knowing when you are hungry. Often times we reprimand ourselves for hunger, but hunger does not always mean boredom, stress, or needing water. A lot of the times you’re hungry because your body needs nourishment and it’s important to acknowledge these cues as well.

We’ve cultivated this idea that cravings are wrong, but rather than suppressing your cravings every time, it might help to give your body what it wants. This doesn’t mean mindlessly eating foods which may not be the most nutritive. Instead, it means having the occasional bowl of ice cream or pizza. If you incorporate balance into your life and listen to your cravings every once in a while, you’ll find it much easier to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

#4. Move Your Body

Moving your body after overeating or when you’re feeling guilty doesn’t mean running on the treadmill for 3 hours as punishment. Often times we feel down or lethargic because we haven’t moved our body that day and that can lead to feelings of guilt. Moving your body can mean anything from 5 minutes of stretching or dancing to a daily walk. If you suffer from food guilt, move your body not to burn calories but to feel in control of your body in that moment.

#5. Do not Punish Yourself

My last and final tip is to never punish yourself for bingeing or overeating. If you feel like you overate, then you can feel content that you enjoyed your food or simply move on from it. If you overate at a family dinner, realize that a big part of these experiences with family are tied to the food you had. If you binge ate everything and everything at 2 am and you don’t even remember what or why, then realize that your body needs fuel and you can always put that to good use layer on.

I hope you found something useful here today. Although I’m not an expert, I’ve had my fair share of food guilt and know that it shouldn’t be naturalized even though it is. Food guilt can be a habit passed down from one person to the other, but it should never limit how you live your life. At the end of the day, when you look back on your life, you won’t even remember the guilt. So ‘if it won’t matter in 5 years, don’t stress about it for more than 5 minutes’ – Dekker. Thank you for reading, xoxo.

Healthy Chocolate Cake Recipe

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You need to make this recipe!

I’ve always been a fan of chocolate cake, I mean who isn’t? But, as much as I love it, I don’t always feel that great after eating it. While there’s nothing wrong with indulging in a traditional chocolate cake without any guilt, I still wanted to enjoy a version that didn’t throw me into a food coma. That’s why I wanted to create a chocolate cake recipe that was rich and decadent yet light and simple. I made this chocolate cake a while back for Christmas and it’s become a personal favourite since then. It is gluten and dairy free, as well as sugar free if you use a sugar substitute like I did. Most importantly it is super quick and easy to make. So here’s what you’ll need…

Ingredients

  • 1 cup oat flour (simply blend some oats in a blender or food processor)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup chocolate chips (I used pure chocolate pellets without dairy or sugar). You can also use roughly chopped dairy free chocolate (I like the one from sweet switch)
  • 2 tbsp raw cacao powder
  • 1/3 cup xylitol (or any sugar substitute)
  • 1/3 cup almond milk
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 pinch of salt

Steps

  1. Preheat your oven to 170ºC
  2. Over a double boiler, melt the chocolate with the almond milk, stirring gently.
  3. While the mixture is melting, separate your egg yolks from the whites.
  4. Whisk the egg whites until they become fluffy and soft peaks form.
  5. Once the chocolate has melted remove from the double boiler, allow to cool slightly and stir in the xylitol.
  6. Now take your yolks and temper them by adding a spoonful of the chocolate mixture and combining.
  7. Add the tempered yolks to the rest of the chocolate.
  8. Sift in 1/3 of the oat flour, the baking powder, salt, and cacao powder into the chocolate. Fold gently until well combined.
  9. Now add a third of the egg whites into the batter and fold gently. Repeat these steps until you’ve added in all your flour and egg whites. It’s important not to over mix, fold in the ingredients with a spatula to achieve the best results.
  10. Once fully incorporated, transfer the batter into a lined cake tin and place in the oven.
  11. Bake for about 30-45 minutes, once the cake is cooked in will be firm all the way through.
  12. Allow it to cool before removing from the tin and slicing.

Tips

  • Double boiler: to use a double boiler simply boil water in a saucepan and place a heatproof bowl over it to melt the chocolate in.
  • Oat flour: when making oat flour it’s useful to make sure your blender is completely dry and pulse the oats. I love using oats for this recipe because it’s light but keeps the cake moist. I wouldn’t suggest changing out the flour.
  • Tempering your yolks is necessary to prevent them from cooking in the hot chocolate.
  • With this type of cake, folding your flours in is better than whisking because you don’t want to over-mix. You want the batter to be airy and not dense.

I hope you try out this recipe and let me know how you find it. I know how ‘guilt-free’ treats are hard to come by which is why I try to find the best alternatives to make my own. If you’d like to see more of these recipes and other tips on healthy baking, please like and follow for more, xoxo.

Getting Fit: Expectations vs Reality

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Getting Fit

Getting fit isn’t as easy as it seems and a lot of us have gone through that phase where we just can’t seem to get it right. I know in the last 5 years, I’ve made a ton of mistakes and it led to plateaus in my fitness journey. Keep reading if you want to find out whether or not you are falling trap to one of these common fitness misconceptions.

#1. The Fast Fitness Journey

The first fitness expectation I want to clear up is the idea of becoming ‘fit’ fast; most searches nowadays look for ‘ways to lose weight fast’ or ‘ways to lose 10kg in a month’. However, you should know that shortcuts don’t last very long and they will most likely drain you out. While that 2-week diet may work in the short term, you’ll find that it isn’t sustainable and you’ll lose all of that “progress” you made in the first place.

Your fitness journey is more effective when it turns into a sustainable lifestyle and we should avoid promoting ideas of a quick journey. Most people are discouraged when they don’t see results quickly because they don’t realise how much time it actually takes. It’s been 5yrs since I started my fitness journey and I know it will never end because it has become a lifestyle. So the first step to your fitness journey doesn’t start in setting a number on a scale or pinning a ‘goal’ outfit on your wall. The first step is a shift in mindset. Realise that you want to achieve a sustainable, healthy lifestyle.

#2. Weight Loss vs Fat Loss

The second misconception is that weight loss and fat loss are the same thing. Let’s clear this up; fat loss has less to do with the number on the scale and more to do with changing your body composition. Weight loss can also mean muscle loss as people don’t focus as much muscle retention when trying to lose weight. While weight loss may be a better if you are at a certain point in your fitness journey, fat loss means you want to retain and build muscle and more muscle means a faster metabolism.

#3. The Ideal Body Image

There isn’t one. There is no secret to being fit because not everything works for everyone and because your definition of fit for your body, doesn’t necessarily match someone else’s. If you’re looking at someone and saying ‘I want to be fit exactly like him or her’ then get ready to change your whole lifestyle to match theirs (which is impossible) and even then you won’t be exactly the same because bodies are different. They’re supposed to be. Instead, find out what fit means to you, rather than picking someone else’s body, imagine your desired body and lifestyle onto your future self because that is the only person you should want to be.

#4. Everyone else Has Got it Handled

This is one is a personal favourite. I always thought fitness influencers and celebrities had it all handled. They were happy with their physique and had perfect healthy lifestyles. But we only thing that because that is what the media and social media shove down our throats. They show us the perfect selfies and bikini pics with perfect lighting and not one fault. So we automatically think that is achievable and then we wonder why haven’t we achieved it yet. But it’s not like that at all and I realised that after changing my exposure to media content. I followed people who I felt were truer to themselves and although yes they still posted perfect pics, they also acknowledged that they still struggled with their body image and criticism. So this is to tell you, even if you reach that goal weight or slim down to the ‘perfect size’ or build the perfect butt… you’re still going to struggle with your healthy lifestyle and body image from time to time. That’s simply because no one is as critical of ourselves as much as we are and because once you reach a goal it just isn’t enough. So my advice is to slow down, take a look at where you are and enjoy how far you’ve come for a moment without any judgement.

#5. Getting Motivated

My last fitness myth is a powerful one and it’s – relying on motivation to get things done. Let me tell you that motivation is a fickle thing and she will disappear on you on most days. Relying on motivation to get that workout in or make a healthy lunch will get you nowhere. Most of the time I don’t rely on motivation, I rely on a routine and habits. When your lifestyle is embedded with healthy habits you don’t question them, you just do it. Your morning workout shouldn’t be a question, it should just be a thing you do as part of your daily life. Of course you should plan around it and be flexible, but what I’m saying is that you shouldn’t expect to feel motivated to do it. In fact, you may be motivated once you start, so remember to just get started.

I hope you enjoyed today’s blogpost even though it was a quick one. Let me know what you think about it and if you have your own fitness misconceptions you’d like to share. Please follow and like for more posts and share with anyone you think needs to hear it, xoxo.

Check out this blogpost on 3 More Fitness Myths you need to know!

5 Tips on Eating Healthy

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Healthy Habits

Hey guys, welcome back to the blog! Today’s post focuses more on how to eat healthy and keep yourself accountable. It’s unrealistic to think that establishing a healthy lifestyle is without its ups and downs. Even though it seems like most of us have it handled, it’s easy to lose track of life and our eating habits, especially in lockdown. Although I stuck to eating dairy and gluten free foods, I didn’t feel as good about my nutrition a few weeks ago. I didn’t feel like I was having balanced meals and I found myself binge eating almost every night. I wasn’t eating for fuel or because I was hungry, I was eating out of habit.

A month ago, I gradually started to get back onto my previous eating habits and slowly started seeing changes in my mood and energy levels. Since my goals are different to everyone else’s, these tips aren’t based on any particular goals such as weight loss or fat loss, although they are beneficial for them as well. Rather than that, these tips are useful to implement if you want to start or get back to eating healthy. My advice is to implement the ones you see fit to your lifestyle, so here they are…

#1. Food Substitutes

You don’t have to deprive yourself to eat healthy, you can simply substitute or adapt your favourite foods for healthier options. Substituting doesn’t necessarily mean less calories it means choosing foods you know will fuel you and that are wholesome with less processed ingredients and more nutrients. For example, substituting regular pasta with chickpea or lentil pasta, regular chocolate with a vegan/sugar-free alternative or choosing popcorn or pop chips over regular potato chips. Eating healthy doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy food, in fact after cleaning up my nutrition again, I found that I’ve enjoyed my meals more because they are more mindful. If you want more substitute ideas, check out my post on a sample grocery list.

Food Substitutes

#2. Intermittent Fasting

One habit I’ve gotten back into is intermittent fasting and it’s helped me a lot with binge eating. I opted for 16/8hr fast and it’s been useful for stabilising my nutrition, because between 7pm till 11 am the next day I don’t focus on food and it’s sort of liberating. Of course, if you suffer from critical binge eating then this method may not suit you, however if you need a technique to keep you accountable then this one might be worth giving a try.

There are many videos explaining the different methods of intermittent fasting; 2/5 day method, 14/12 hr method etc. You can find one which suits your lifestyle better and remember to start slow. It’s counterproductive to try out too many habits at once and if you take it to the extreme you might find yourself burning out. Remember to go at your own pace.

Intermittent Fasting

#3. Intuitive Eating

Even in a calorie deficit, I like to eat intuitively and choose the meals I feel like my body needs. Some days I feel like I need more food than other while some days are more carb focused and that’s ok. Eating healthy does not mean forcing yourself to eat broccoli and steamed chicken everyday, instead choose things that will fuel your body and make you feel good. Most of the time I enjoy carbs in every meal and sometimes I have breakfast for dinner, it’s all about listening to your needs. Now if you feel like your body is craving fries, try making them in the oven or air fryer instead of buying regular ones.

The whole point of intuitive eating is also eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full. Don’t feel like you have to eat because it’s a certain time only because you’re hungry. If you feel like your hunger cues are messed up, try drinking water before and asking yourself if you’re actually hungry or if you’re bored or stressing. However, listen to your body and never deprive yourself if you’re hungry.

Intuitive eating

#4. Accountability Partner

I found that finding someone to accompany you in your journey to healthy eating is very beneficial. Not only can you keep each other accountable but you have moral support. When I started intermittent fasting, having someone join in made it much easier, we both would break and start our fast together. Your partner doesn’t even have to be living with you, it can be a friend over the phone or it can be your digital community.

Accountability

#5. A Healthy Eating Mindset

If there’s one thing I want you to take from this, it’s that the key to eating healthy is achieving a healthy eating mindset. This isn’t a 2 week diet or 1 month plan, these are small steps you can take towards a healthier lifestyle. So if the words in your head are ‘restriction, no carbs, and no fat’ then you’ll be doing more harm than good. The last thing you want is to start labelling foods as bad or good because you can have the foods you enjoy, banning them is not necessary.

Also, don’t assume that once a person assumes a healthy lifestyle that they’ll have the perfect diet all the time. It’s normal to lose track every once in a while, don’t be too hard on yourself you’re only human. I want you to have fun with it, this shouldn’t be a punishment, learn to create your own healthy lifestyle.

I hope you enjoyed today’s post and let me know your healthy eating advice/habit down in the comments. Please like and follow for more posts like this one and follow to join the journey to living a healthy lifestyle that’s realistic. Thank you for reading, xoxo!

5 Tips to Stay Healthy During Lockdown

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Lockdown has been tough on all of us and just when we thought it was over, it came back to slap us in the face again. This is the second lockdown we’ve gone into and I have to admit that it’s harder than the first one. We find ourselves stuck in the house, unable to go to the gym or get our steps in (unless you luckily have an at-home gym) and thus we’re mostly inactive throughout the day. This means that our energy expenditure lowers significantly and you may be worrying about putting on weight or losing your gains, but I want to share a few ways that you can stay healthy during lockdown. However, I’d like to preface that these tips can be helpful even out of lockdown, for example if you don’t have access to a gym. These tips are from personal experience only, so adapt them to your body and your needs.

Let’s get started…

#1. Don’t Stress About the Little Things

We’re already dealing with enough stress during lockdown and we don’t need to add any unnecessary stress onto that. So worrying about losing muscle or putting on weight is not going to help, because there is nothing wrong with either of those things. Most of us, including me, stress too much about things that won’t even alter our lives, however I don’t want to belittle these emotions because they are very real and hard to control. I still want to reassure you that those things don’t matter in the long run.

#2. Do What You Can

It can be hard to stay active during lockdown, but you can find ways to use up your energy through home workouts, yoga, dancing, skipping rope or any way you’d like. Simply find a way to keep your body moving, it will help you feel much better both physically and mentally.

#3. Trust Your Body

Sometimes you need to trust your body to regulate itself, for example when I got into lockdown, my appetite decreased along with my energy expenditure. So if your body is asking for food don’t deny it, restricting yourself will not help, but if you feel like you’re constantly binge eating and things are going out of hand then you might want to try implementing some structure into your day like intermittent fasting.

#4. Mental Health Matters

Do not neglect this aspect of your life in such critical moments, your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Take time to unwind because if you’re working or studying during lockdown, the boundaries between productivity and relaxation are blurred. Do not punish yourself for overeating or not exercising either, the best thing to do is to start back up the next day as you usually would. Punishing yourself only puts unnecessary stress on your mind and body.

#5.Be Mindful of Your Nutrition

Lastly, being more mindful of the things you consume will help you stay healthy during lockdown, while eating something that doesn’t form part of your usual diet isn’t going to harm you, try to have wholesome meals as much as possible, ensuring you’re having carbs, protein, healthy fats and veggies. If you want to binge eat a pack of chips, make sure you’re doing it intentionally as in actively deciding that that’s what you want to do instead of mindlessly eating, but also make sure you have healthier meals throughout the day.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post, please like and follow for more and follow my Instagram @healthboss_blog for more food pics and recipes.

Check out How to eat Healthy on a Budget!

3 Fitness Myths

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Hey guys, I thought I would address one of the major problems in our society today regarding women and young girls. I’m sure that, just like me, you grew up with the idea, that losing weight was the best possible thing to happen to a girl. Being told that we lost weight was a compliment and it made us feel better about ourselves. We were fed the ‘diet mindset’ by society and the media, throughout our lives and we ended up fearing our weight and food. That mindset is still very present and it is still destroying the mental and physical health of so many girls. DISCLAIMER: I know that simply saying these things won’t solve our problems, it will take a lot more to do that, however I do hope to increase its awareness.

1.DIETS ARE THE HOLY GRAIL

I want you to think about how many times you’ve said ‘I am going on a diet’ in the past. Just saying those words gave you a feeling of relief, but why is that? Growing up as young girls we are led to believe that the slimmer or the skinnier you are, the better. Moreover, we are duped into believing that skinny equals healthy. I remember when I was overweight and would go for a checkup, doctors would always tell me to lose weight. However, no showed told me the right way to do so and I delved into the world of endless diets. Long story short, none of them lasted long or had lasting effect.

One thing we need to establish and preach is that food is not the enemy. Instead of banning foods and being afraid we need to have a healthy relationship with them which takes time. That means making the healthy choices most of the time and indulging occasionally, but most of all knowing that ‘healthy’ doesn’t mean punishment or steamed broccoli everyday. You don’t need a cheat day once a week or the guilt of enjoying food you love. Our main goal should be a sustainable healthy lifestyle. I want you to view the food you eat as energy for your workouts, because at the end of the day, that is how your body processes it. You need energy to lose weight and thus food.

2. CARBS MAKE YOU FAT

Now it is true that some bodies react better to carb intake than others and low-carb diet can make you lose weight however carbs do not make you fat. Let’s break down why you may think carbs make you fat. When we eat carbs, our body breaks it down as glucose, thus rising our blood sugar and our pancreas in return produces insulin which signals our cells to use up the glucose. 50% is used by our brain and our muscles and liver store the glucose as glycogen, so as you can see, extreme low carb diets can have a debilitating effect on your health and muscle growth. Finally, the rest of the glucose is stored as fat, which is why people are afraid of carbs.

However, know which types of carbs are best for your body. Stick to complex carbs such as oats and quinoa and avoid simple carbohydrates that spike your blood sugar and provide little to no nutrients. You do not have to eliminate carbs completely from your nutrition, it isn’t sustainable and besides carbs release serotonin (your happy hormone) so don’t deprive yourself. There is only one way you can put on weight or fat and I clear that up down below.

Now, let’s get the gist of all of this. The only way you can lose weight is through a caloric deficit through nutrition or increased physical activity, similarly you will only put on weight/fat if you are in a caloric surplus. If you are working out; combining resistance training with some form of cardio, your body needs the carbs and the calories. Someone who is not active at all would require the same caloric needs. The key thing to understand is that no one’s nutrition can be exactly the same and you will have to change your nutrition throughout your fitness journey.

For example; right now I am trying to build muscle in my end goal to have a lean physique. Which is why I am in a slight caloric surplus and it’s a carb fest for me (I am literally having a bowl of overnight oats while writing this). In a few months, I will slightly decrease my carb intake simply to help my body burn fat faster (your body will still burn fat if you are working out, regardless of your carb intake). I am definitely going all out on my workouts but I am enjoying the process. I like to call this lean bulking.

3. WEIGHTS MAKE YOU BULKY

This is one I hear pretty often and I have to confess that I used to believe that as well when I was younger. Many women believe that if they pick up a dumbbell that’s heavier than 2kg, their muscles are going to puff up in 2 seconds, but that is not the case. For a woman to be able to bulk up like a man, she would need a ton of supplements/drugs. We don’t have the levels of testosterone that men have, therefore lifting weights will not give you a manly physique, instead it’ll help you lose fat and achieve a lean build much faster.

Lifting weights has done a lot for my physical and mental health. We’re led to believe that we need to override on cardio to achieve our ideal body, but I call that torture. I do incorporate cardio into my workouts in the form of HIIT training but I mostly focus on resistance training. One thing to takeaway from this is to try out different types of workouts and choose the one you enjoy doing, not the ones you dread.

Let me know your views or other myths down in the comments. The main objective is to create a healthy community and encourage this mindset. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this post. Please like and follow for more, xoxo.

Should I Track My Calories?

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We all know that a calorie deficit is needed to lose weight, but is it a good idea to track your calories? I am currently not tracking my calories, but I did track vigorously for more than 6 months in the past, and in my case, it wasn’t the healthiest experience. I became obsessed, foods became numbers, and I tracked every morsel of food that went into my mouth. Before tracking, I would suggest ensuring that you have built a wholesome relationship with food. The best advice I was given is that ‘food is a fuel’, it isn’t the enemy so stop being afraid of it, instead use it to achieve your goal.

Do NOT track calories if you have/had an eating disorder or if you have an inclination towards it.

KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER

  • It’s often hard to discern your exact caloric needs, which can affect tracking and your goals.
  • Lower calories does not always mean weight/fat loss, undereating inhibits your goals.
  • Studies show that it isn’t beneficial for women to decrease their calories below 1400.
  • Calorie Trackers are often inaccurate.
  • Even ‘healthy’ calories can lead to weight gain, if in a surplus.
  • Everyone’s caloric needs are different!!
  • Your body needs energy to burn energy.
  • Instead of focusing on how many calories you burn in a workout, focus on how it makes you feel or you will never enjoy it.
  • When tracking it’s easy to fool yourself into thinking you’re eating less, which will also dampen your goal.

When Should I Track?

I believe that you can meet your goals without tracking, I started making progress and building muscle when I stopped worrying about the calories. However, it does matter where the calories are coming from. If you are just starting on your weight loss journey, I wouldn’t advise you to track but to replace processed, unhealthy foods with whole foods. If you are well advanced in your progress and you’ve hit a plateau then it might be beneficial to see where you are in your caloric intake.

If you must track, I’d suggest:

  • Tracking simply once a week to see if you are still on course with your caloric needs.
  • Avoid tracking throughout the day, instead do it at the end of the day.
  • Don’t have cheat days, instead eat in moderation or follow the 80/20 rule, whereby 80% of your nutrition consists of healthy whole foods and 20% consists foods you love.

My perspective on losing weight or fat has shifted throughout the years. I’ve definitely made mistakes but they have led me to where I am right now. The biggest shift has been my mental health and overall happiness. I used to view my workouts with the idea of how many calories I would burn, but now I do it to gain strength. I no longer fear or ban foods, but sometimes we need help to view things that way. I had someone that triggered that shift for me and I hope I can help you in the same way. Thank you for reading, please like and leave a comment, xoxo.

Healthy Food Staples

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Healthy Grocery Staples

When trying to eat healthily, it’s easy to get confused by the variety of products on the market. Many foods are marketed as being ‘healthy’ but are often not; brands use words such as ‘low fat’, ‘low carb’, ‘high in protein’ and ‘low calorie’ to entice us into buying their products. However, these foods are often filled with several unhealthy ingredients. For example; protein bars are marketed as a healthy, ‘high protein’ snack, but are filled with sugar. This is why it’s important to always read the ingredients.

It will get easier to choose which foods are best for you with time, but to make it simpler, here are some whole-food staples that are widely available and versatile. These are gluten and dairy-free but I’ve also listed foods (italicized) which I don’t include in my nutrition due to allergies.

CARBS

  • Oats
  • Quinoa
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • GF bread
  • Potato Gnocchi
  • Veggie Pasta

PROTEIN

  • Chicken Breast
  • Lean Beef
  • Eggs
  • Fish
  • Chickpeas

FRUITS & VEGGIES

  • Bananas
  • Berries
  • Spinach/Kale
  • Broccoli
  • Lettuce
  • Bell peppers

OTHER

  • Olive oil
  • Coconut oil
  • Cinnamon powder
  • Organic Honey
  • Unsweetened plant-based milk

I hope this post is useful in helping you tackle the basics of eating balanced, please follow and let me know what you think. Thank you for reading, xoxo.