My Thoughts on Vitamins

Mr. Chesser just asked me why I take vitamins so I thought I'd do a post about how important I think vitamins are. <3

First of all, I don't eat enough to get all of the nutrients I need in a day. And if I did, it would probably not be the right foods. Don't get me wrong, I like vegetables and fruits and whole grains and lean meats... But it's not always convenient to make healthy meals like that and I don't always have the ingredients to make them. This is why I take vitamins!

I noticed too, that if you study what each vitamin does for your body, you can improve specific areas of your health by taking certain vitamins. For example, if you feel like you have a slow metabolism... take B vitamins. B vitamins help metabolize carbs and fats and can help you lose weight.

In the morning I take 5 different vitamins - a multi vitamin, b vitamin, calcium, vitamin d, and now I have started taking a magnesium supplement too.

I find that I feel better, have more energy and don't crave unhealthy foods as often when I am on a long streak of taking my vitamins daily. I love them. Some people may argue that vitamins are a waste of money, and that most of the vitamin isn't absorbed by the body anyways, but I have a solution to this problem. I take half of each vitamin twice a day, with a meal. Taking vitamins with a meal helps you absorb them and taking half the dose twice a day increases the amount of the vitamin that will be absorbed by your body.

Magnesium Supplements

My mom bought a magnesium supplement yesterday, and told me that it would solve all of my health problems. (I didn't know I had health problems) But I tried it this morning, so I'll let you know how it goes.

Here is a link to the supplement she got and what it supposedly does for the body.

What I found interesting was that apparently a deficiency in magnesium can lead to a whole lot of problems including a craving for high carbohydrate, high calcium diets. The two foods I crave the most are dairy products and carbs. Coincidence? I think not...

Day Nineteen: Thursday, May 10, 2012

Today hasn't been a very good day already... Yesterday my mom pretty much forced me to eat at a restaurant with her when I wasn't even hungry, so I over ate and felt pretty crappy all night. I did however order a healthy meal; grilled chicke, rice and steamed broccoli.

I didn't sleep very well either, probably because I was so full it was uncomfortable. I didn't go for a run this morning because I was so tired and felt so crappy. I think overeating is one of my biggest issues. When I overeat, I feel like complete crap and I get in a bad mood and get tired and it's just awful. On the bright side, this is the one day this week that I don't have much to do, so I can spend it relaxing and sleeping.

For breakfast today I had my usual; yogurt and green tea.

How Diets Work

Green Tea

I've become obsessed with green tea. It has so many health benefits and I have found that I can work it into so many recipes-especially once I discovered matcha powder.

Here is a link that I found really interesting about the benefits of green tea & matcha powder.

My Breakfast

Usually in the mornings I eat yogurt for breakfast. I'm not much a breakfast person to be honest, but I know that it is an important meal so I try and eat at least something small every morning. But if I'm feeling particularly sore in the morning, or if I'm feeling really healthy, I will make myself my favourite breakfast: a matcha banana protein shake. Here's how I make it...

Ice
1 banana
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/2 cup water
1 tsp matcha (Matcha is just green tea powder, but it is the healthiest form of green tea because it's formation allows it to maintain all of the nutrients and antioxidants)

I put all of this in a blender and mix it up. :) It is amazing and really filling.

Day Eighteen: Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Yesterday was my best friends birthday and I was way too busy to work out, but I was out and about all day which counts for something, right? We went to Milestone's for dinner and I ordered a really healthy meal-brown rice pasta with roasted vegetables and feta cheese. But because the world hates me, the waiter gave me the wrong meal... pretty much the complete opposite of what I ordered. I have a huge problem with wasting food plus I work in the restaurant industry so I ate it anyways and there went my health streak.

This morning I went for a run though! Not too long, I didn't have much time but it felt good after a huge meal and drinks last night. It was beautiful outside.

Fitness & Nutrition on Twitter

Follow Fitness & Nutrition on twitter. They give really good tips on how to stay healthy and encourage you to keep going. I like it because their tweets are frequent-not just once or twice a day like a few other health blogs I follow. Good luck!

Behold: The Turkey Bacon Club

This is my favourite meal; the turkey bacon club from Tim Horton's. I eat it whenever I need a quick fix meal because it is healthy, cheap and tasty. It has only 400 calories, 8 grams of fat and since I always chose whole wheat bread, it has fibre. That being said, it has an unhealthy amount of sodium-almost 2000 mg! I try and balance this out by drinking only water when I eat one. Seriously. This sandwich is so good. I eat one almost every day.

Day Six, Seven & Eight: Friday - Sunday, April 29, 2012

This weekend was lovely, I went for a few runs, did a few workouts and I slept really well.

On Friday I did a total body sculpting class which is becoming my favourite class because it really burns. It puts me out for a few days but my body is starting to get used to it. Saturday and Sunday I went for a run in the forest. I had pizza for dinner on Sunday but I made it healthy with extra toppings like green peppers and mushrooms. :)

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Today I tried to eat a lot less sugar and it didn't really work... By the end of the day I felt so deprived that I bought a bunch of candy at the convenience store and that was my dinner. My boyfriend has a huge influence on what I eat and I'm starting to realize that it's not a positive one. I never drank pop before we started dating and now I'm having at least a can of coke a day, I never used to buy candy or chocolate and now I do it all the time. I guess unhealthy habits sort of sneak up on you because I never even noticed that I had changed my diet so much.

Not much activity today, and I'll probably be drinking like a fish tonight. This is definitely not my healthiest week.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Today was a good day, I had a really healthy breakfast and I went for a run after school. In general I haven't been feeling all that great lately because I have been too busy to work out or do anything active at all lately.

Breakfast: 3 egg whites with toast & grapefruit
Snack: Apple & nutrigrain bar

I'm starting to realize that I eat a lot of sugar... Which probably isn't very healthy but for some reason I crave sugar a lot more than I crave salt and almost everything I eat has a high sugar content.

Day Two: Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Breakfast: Yogurt & apple

Snack: Nutrigrain bar

Today I was supposed to wake up at 5:30 for a run, but I felt the need to let myself sleep in instead, considering how tired I was last night. I feel really good today! Well rested.

Day One: Monday, April 23, 2012

Yesterday's meals:

Breakfast: Yogurt & grapefruit
Lunch: Kraft Dinner
Dinner: Cheerios with milk & banana
And a glass of wine before bed. :)

Yesterday was my day to relax... I haven't been getting much sleep lately so I went to bed at 8 to catch up. I had a cigarette yesterday even though I supposedly "quit" which means I am starting all over again, again. I didn't really do any sort of physical activity yesterday, I was way too exhausted.

My First Post

Chesser told me to write this. :)