Breakfast of Champions! or Just Desserts?

A little while ago, one of my class goers, Cathy posted an article on my wall about breakfast in America being more like dessert. Click on the "article link above. A shocking read for sure! Boy did this resonate with me big time!!! Breakfast was always my favorite meal!!! So much so in fact, I could (and some times did) eat it for lunch and dinner too! **In my best Oprah voice** "I LOVE Cereal! I LOVE Cereal!"  
(SHUT UP!!!! THEY HAVE MARSHMALLOWS IN FROOT LOOPS NOW?!?! ) 

Seriously!! I LOVE CEREAL!! Capt'n Crunch Berries, Honey bunches of Oats, and Cinnamon Life were on my top favorite list! I also love pancakes! And waffles! And Cheese Dreams!! What are cheese dreams?!!? Cream cheese stuffed french toast, smothered in butter and syrup! Some of my other breakfast go-to's were cream of wheat or oatmeal with white and brown sugar.... Oh, and then they came out with flavored instant.... Be still my heart.

Breakfast was my golden ticket to eat all the sugar I wanted from a kid, well into my thirties and not feel even a little naughty about it. Remember in the 90's when Kellogg's  had the cereal diet (a bowl for breakfast, a bowl for lunch, and a sensible dinner?) Oh, I was on ship fast than you could say Ahoy! I have had a love for sugar since the first time it touched my lips. I think this picture says it all! I look drunk and in love! And I totally was!

Just this year, Kellogg's was in a lawsuit because of false claims in their advertisement. sited from cereal settlement dot com, "A settlement has been reached in a lawsuit involving Kellogg, the company that makes Frosted Mini-Wheats. The Lawsuit claimed that Kellogg falsely advertised that its Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal improved kids’ attentiveness, memory and other cognitive functions to a degree not supported by competent clinical evidence. Kellogg stands by its advertising and denies it did anything wrong." 

Advertisement on any breakfast add (cereal, waffle, or breakfast restaurant) try to make us believe that what they are selling is a "healthy part of a nutritious breakfast". 

Um, looks like dessert to me. How about you?  

What about the cereal you feed your kids ? Nutritious start to the day, or dessert?

Okay, so maybe these look obvious. But really, the less obvious are just as bad. flaky cereals that don't have the kid cereal look are just as offensive as the ones that do. What about the more adult "healthy " breakfasts? Let's say, a bagel with cream cheese, and a yogurt with granola.  
Thomas plain bagel = 6g
Cream cheese = 3g
Yo plait Original Strawberry = 26
Quaker Granola = 12 (but you probably won't sprinkle an entire serving in your yogurt, so lets say 6g at half a serving. 
That gives you a grand total of 41 grams of sugar (not including your coffee or juice). Send little Johnny to school with this amount of sugar in his blood stream and it's no wonder your teacher wants to get him checked for ADHD. 

Breakfast has historically (at least from the seventies and up)  been derived from mass amounts of sugar. I'll take a bear claw please! So to answer Cathy's post asking me what I think, yes, Yes, YES, breakfast should change or at least be called dessert. 

On a personal note, I have long since changed my relationship with breakfast. I rarely touch any of the above, and can't remember the last time a box of cereal has graced my cupboards. I stick to eggs, salads, avocado, and occasionally a whole foods smoothie or steel cut oats. That said, one of these days, I am going to try the Capt'n Crunch french toast at our local DOA on 6th AV. I've been saying this for 2-3 years now, but it is going to happen.....someday..... As a dessert, of course! 

Apparently I have some shit on my mind....

Monday sucked!!! That's all. It just sucked! (Tuesday was great, but Monday can bite it!)

 It also reminded me why I am doing this. I have been fighting my thyroid, estrogen, and a host of other hormones this year that has made it difficult to keep with my goals and healthy life style. Let me rephrase that... and keep it real. I HAVE MADE IT DIFFICULT on my hormones to provide me with what I need to support my healthy life style. I know better. A year of lacksey-daisy fitness habits mixed with regular drinking and crap food have been my own doing. Any imbalances I had prior may have made things more difficult, but certainly not impossible and I caved way to easy. 

Chronic fatigue, chronic disease, chronic depression, cancer, alcoholism, liver disease, sugar addiction, and hormonal imbalances  all run rampid on both sides of my blood line.  The things I have watched my family go through have not only been astronomically devastating, but have been the fuel that feeds my fire to stop the insanity! This is also the reason for my insatiable hunger for learning, researching, blogging, and learning more. So much of what I have seen has been a result of lifestyle and not genetics. It feels like genetics when so many close family members on both sides have suffered so much through many of the same things. The first thing we want to do is blame our genetics and render ourselves doomed. Truth is, culturally,  generations before me were taught that fortified, processed foods were part of a healthy diet. Smoking was a healthy form of relaxation. Drinking was also a way to unwind and let go. Exercise was only something you did to look good in a bikini. And then began the diet and weight-loss industry (a whole other blog.. and it wouldn't take you long to find several of them in my blog site).  



I grew up like most. My diet was full of Top Romain, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Hamburger Helper, fast food, Chicken pot pies, cheesy lasagna (my fave!) and large meat and potato dinners. Ice cream was a staple in the freezer, and lunch boxes were always stocked with wonder bread sandwiches, Doritos,  Twinkies and Oreos. Both of my parents heavily smoked and both drank. If I'm being completely real with you, my son grew up in that same environment until his late teens when I began to change as a result of watching my family in thier later years. He also began to come into his own beliefs about food and nutrition as a teen and is now a vegetarian.  

So why am I sharing this? It all seems so personal, but really this is a national crisis. I'm not special. I'm not alone in the way I grew up. This was life for most, and in many ways still is today.  We may not glorify smoking, but Vaping has become the "healthier" version that I have literately watched parents influence thier adult kids to try. You can find a vape shop in almost every shopping center selling more flavors than Baskin Robins. Pot shops are now on almost every corner and considered a healthy way to unwind and socialize (and  I'm not speaking of medical marijuana),  liquor is now sold in Walmart and every grocery store in my state.  The (processed) food industry  in hugely booming. (Be prepared for the longest ranting, run-on sentence ever.....) And the weight loss industry is quite possibly the most lucrative in our nation, with pyramid multi-level marketing

sales using social media and in-home parties to fuel our nations toxic relationship with food and further destroy our children's'  self worth and body images with the constant pressures of having to look like an "after" picture they see on a meal replacement post claiming to be healthier than real, whole foods.... ( Yes! My blood boils when I think about the weight loss industry).

Back to me personally. I said in a resent blog that I wasn't going to beat myself up for this past year, yet I find myself increasing frustrated  for knowing better and letting myself go down the rabbit hole anyway. But, yes. I am human and know better or not, I did. It's all part of my journey and it's these times when I'm knocked off my high-horse and humbled, that I remember what I felt like before I ever began this journey of a healthier lifestyle. 

Sometimes it can be overwhelming with information overload and the wide spectrum of "diets" that claim to be the real "paleolithic" way to eat, or the ones that remove entire food groups for everyone (allergies or not). With so much misinformation, and a completely dysfunctional relationship with food in our  nation, my personal challenge has been to resist the hang-ups with body image and looking a certain way, and instead concentrate on what will make me healthy vibrant, strong and give me the best quality of life, well into my senior years. My one word mantra is sustainable. If it's not sustainable for a life time, I don't do it. 

Anyway, let's chat. What motivates you? What are your hurtles? Do you struggle with body image vs. good health? Are they separate? What does sustainable health mean to you ? What changes would you like to see for the next generation? .... Your kids? 

 The advantage we have today is we are trying to get back on the right track.We have mass amounts of information available at our finger tips to research and decide what is right for us.  Slowly our government's food pyramid and food labeling  laws are changing. We see more demand for organic and non-GMO. Local produce, farmer's markets, and urban farming are on the rise. These are all positives and gives hope to our future generations to take it and run!

A Fitness Instructor's rant - Is group fitness getting lost in weight loss greed?

Why am I blogging tonight?

Recently 4 weight loss companies (Sensa Products, L’Occitane, HCG Diet Direct and LeanSpa) were charged with fraud by the Federal Trade Commission.The New York Times reported, "On Tuesday, the commission charged four companies with deceptively marketing weight-loss products, asserting they made “unfounded promises” that consumers could shed pounds simply by using their food additives, skin creams and other dietary supplements." ( Read full article here!! ) 

If you have followed my blogs or me  on facebook , you know I am a passionate advocate for learning about "real" foods and living a healthy life style. I am also relentlessly fed up with the weight loss industry and all the lies they feed us to profit off of our emotions. We are so emotional about how we look, we will buy into anything that will promise us success! And they all promise success, Right?

As a fitness instructor, it is my job to keep up with my credits for my re-certification each year.  Being just a few credits shy of applying for my re-cert, I decided to take an on-line course to finish up. In reading my material on nutrition and supplements, I learned that weight loss products, supplements, and shakes sold as supplements and often used as meal replacements are NOT regulated by the FDA. According to the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America (AFAA) , "Shockingly, dietary supplement safety is the sole responsibility of the manufacturer, not the FDA or any other government agency."  Although some companies can claim to adhere to regulations and guidelines for the manufacturing of supplements, that simply means they are following the guide lines for production, and has little to no affect to the content of the product.  

In another online credit course through AFAA, I am reminded that it is advised I refrain from selling or advocating the use of weight loss products, meal replacements, and/or supplements..... Which brings me to one of many reasons I am writing this blog.

WHY ARE WEIGHT LOSS SUPPLEMENTS BEING SOLD IN GROUP FITNESS??!  

When I developed my passion for group fitness, instructors were  my gateway to fitness and the inspiration for learning. Most classes were created from the passion and creativity of the instructor who brought the fun and excitement into movement. In addition, they fostered a family of fitness fanatics and gave the example of a fit lifestyle. I WAS HOOKED!! Step, kickbox, heavy bag boxing, weight lifting, yoga..... I loved it all! And, I loved that the only motive for teaching was passion and fun!  No sales!  No pressure! No fees! (unlike the trainers) Just passion and fun! 

Now a days (am I that old?) most classes are purchased through a company, learned by the instructor, and taught in the gyms. It has proven to be quite successful and I'm not knocking that (I have a blast in many of those classes). But what gets my panties in a bunch is when I see weight loss products being sold on the aerobic floor (or through instructors).

              "The Healthiest meal of the Day"

         ?!?!Really?!?!  

Just what are we teaching our class goers?! You have to work hard in the gym, but not the kitchen?? Just come take our classes and then fill up on pills and shakes to get healthy?? NO!! 

 Let me be clear when I tell you (present company included) most instructors ARE NOT QUALIFIED to  sell you supplements. All we know about the product is what you know through the company's website (remember, it is the sole responsibility of the manufacturer, not the FDA to ensure safety and effectiveness of product). If we are selling this to you, it is not because we are educated to do so or because we know it works any better than real food - we're not and we don't. It is because the company we bought our choreography from sold us this to sell to you for the sole purpose of bringing in more revenue to their company. ($$$$$). PERIOD. 

Why does this get my panties in a bunch? Because, like many of you, I looked to my fitness instructors as a role model of, "healthy". Back in the day when I was overweight and looking to get healthy, if approached by my instructor, I may have purchased their product as my solution. Why? Because I didn't know what 'healthy' was. All I knew was they looked healthy and I wanted that for myself. 

I hate seeing my stomping ground being turned into another venue for weight loss supplement profit (10 more burpees then..... buy my shake to lose weight and feel great)

Stay true. Never stop learning. And remember, good health and a healthy weight come from healthy living and real, whole, foods. 

It may be a new year, but if you truly want a new you that will last well into, and beyond 2015, it will take what all of those magic promises don't want you to know (and it's not money). It will take  time, effort, and a great deal of learning. 
Always True,
~Kelly

Real Talk.

The worst conversation you could possible loop me into, is the one where you tell me why you can't be healthy. 

"I can't afford a gym"
"I have no time to exercise"
"It costs too much to eat healthy"
"I don't like drinking  water"
"I have too much to do to get good sleep"
"My joints ache"
"I have ________, so I can't exercise."
"I don't like the taste of healthy food" 
"My family won't eat that." ..........

You can feed me, or yourself any line you want, but the truth is, You Choose. You Choose. You choose. Every day, you choose. 

Age will wear down your joints and body over time, but how you treat your body over all, through out your life, will greatly determine your later years. 

We all have challenges. We all have things in our lives that make it hard, really hard, to exercise, eat well, get plenty of sleep, and all the other things that contribute to good health. We choose everyday, how healthy we want to be. Even amongst the aliments, illnesses, disease, aches and pains, hectic schedules, lack of money, and everything else that can possible get in our way,  we choose to work around it, triumph over it , or become victim of it. WE CHOOSE.

And if we understood that how we choose to live our lives will greatly affect how many  chronic illnesses we acquire, maybe then, we would choose differently, instead of believing that those are things we just randomly fall victim to. 

We choose. 

ShredFit Fitness Vlog: PMS - Do you ever just not give a shit??

Getting real! Most of the time I love being/getting/staying healthy!! But sometimes PMS makes me just not give a shit.... You?

Shit just got real.... Can we do away with perfect bodies please?! They ...

I'm really proud of this vlog. Here is why. I am 43 years old, in great shape, lift weights, size 6, muscular, and lean enough to show my hard work. People assume that my 6 pack looks the same.... Nope! It could. But at 43 getting that lean with my build is not my top priority. 

News flash people: 
Even your trainers, coaches, and fitness instructors have imperfect bodies, with stretch marks, fat percentage, and wrinkles.... Who knew!?
ALWAYS KEEPIN' IT REAL!

A Fitness Professional and a Sales Person Walk into a Health Club...

The other day,  as I walked out of my health club I saw an "It Works" wraps and supplements table stationed inside the front door....

Why do I get a surge of emotion and anger every time I see the diet industry superimpose themselves on the health industry?

Because they have some how been sold as one in the same!

But here is the difference...

The (true) health industry sells:
education
whole, fresh foods
local farmers
active life styles
clean eating
exercise
balance
yoga
organic
GMO awarness
farmers markets
food co-ops


The diet industry sells:
low fat
low calorie
low carb
light
fat free
zero calorie
fat burners
carb blockers
appetite suppressant
supplements (ofcourse to suppliment what we should be eating, but are not because after all, we're trying to lose weight!! Hello??)
cellulite creams
magic potions
wonder drugs
miracle  cures
shapers
slimmers
toners
calorie burners
detoxers
shakes
sprinkles
powders
patches
wraps................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................
the list is endless!

Nature has provided us with all we need. We create more out of greed!

Greed.

That's what it is. We have given our personal greed power over helping people to be healthy. :(

We see it all the time, right? Celebrities and celeb  trainers putting their name on a diet pill box...Lest not forget Dr. Phil with his "apple shape" or  "pear shape" diet pills.... Can we just take a moment to step away from those trying to make/take money, and reach for some common sense?? .....

Move
Eat whole, good,  REAL foods
Sleep
Relax
Breath
Drink water






 

 

BUT ‘THEY’ TOLD ME FAT WAS BAD!!

Each decade has its own diet fad that leaves it’s footprint on our beliefs and relationships with food.  Low fat, low carbs, low calories, all fruit, no fruit, no sugar, Atkins, South Beach, and now the sacred Paleo.....

I remember back in the mid 90’s watching Oprah and being introduced to Bob Green! Watching Oprah’s transformation was inspiring and I was ready to jump on board!! She had a Spring Challenge show that inspired me to begin my journey. I knew very little about weight loss. I knew I needed to exercise, and watch my calories, but what were the rules to being successful? I was on board and ready to be educated…..or so I though.

As with any eager dieter, I was ready to hear, what I was ready to hear! Hard facts…. The formula…. Give me the cheat sheet please! And they did…at least that’s what I heard .

The magic formula was in the numbers! 1200 calories and 20 grams of fat! WaLa!! There it was! I could do this. Just count!

Fat!!

Fat was the dirty little secret that kept us all fat in the 90’s!

Eat fat = Get fat!

Eat non-fat or fat free = get skinny

Cool! Simple, concise rules to follow!

 Even though the 90’s have long passed, “Fat is bad!” still echoes in our rule books. Even in the 90’s I questioned this authoritative rule (even though I followed it religiously).  Really? Fat is bad? I can see the fat in ice cream, cookies, or mac-n-cheese, but even nuts, avocado, salmon, and healthy oils?? Yup!! Eat very sparingly, they told me….. Logic told me that was quacky advice since these foods were put here by nature to sustain us. But, what did I know? They  were the experts! 

Oh the trust we put in others while ignoring our own common sense and wisdom!..... 

It Works!! No really! This one is different, I promise!...

Back in my day it was Slim Fast and Metabolife. These things are still out there out on the shelves. I live just down the street from a Metabolife distributor. Along with many "diets", these were the two weight loss products I clung to.  

Slim Fast offered a shake for breakfast, a shake for lunch, and a sensible dinner. I was starving my body, and when I could take it no more, I'd binge, gaining any loss back, plus more!

Metabolife was my next desperate attempt to lose weight. With the promise of "all natural vitamins and herbs" to raise my metabolism and help me lose weight. I didn't lose anything but my self respect, money, and my belief that I would ever be able to  be healthy or "normal". On top of that, they made me moody, jittery, and at times confused and turned around. They completely wigged me out!

What was my turning point? I'd have to say a big one was when Dr. Phil began selling diet pills. He had  a pill for "pear shaped" ladies, and a pill for "apple shapes". Wait!!! What???! Those 2 boxes with Dr. Phil's name on it jumped off the shelf and hit me over the head with an IDIOT stick!! Were we really that stupid!??  Um, Yes!! Talk about an epiphany!! That was the day I stopped watching Dr. Phil and stopped giving my money to the diet industry.

I changed my focus from weight loss to getting healthy . No products! No pills! No shakes! No meal replacement bars! No diet foods! No short cuts! No decisions made out of desperation! Instead, it had to be conducive to good health. Real nutrition, from real foods. Water. Adequate sleep. Activity. Exercise, Flexibility. Strength. Yoga. Taking care of myself for the first time ever. And, are you ready for this??....It's a new, unheard of concept that the diet industry doesn't make you commit to.....TIME! Yes! You read that right. Time. Time to change habits and behaviors. Time to learn what healthy really is. Time to incorporate these new healthy concepts into sustainable, everyday life. Time to fail and learn so you can succeed. Time to see real results, from real efforts. Time.

But, now we have our beloved and trusted, 'tell it like it is', Jillian Michaels (today's Dr. Phil of weight loss) out there selling a whole line of pills, cleansers, and diet products. We buy them, because we love and trust Jillian! And why not? She came into our homes every week for years, inspiring and showing us that we too can lose hundreds of pounds in just a matter of months.

We also have the brilliant money making scam of , 'It Works' diet pills, All natural shakes, and magic wraps, you can use and sell at parties like Tupperware in your own home. LOSE INCHES FAST! And, I hear it works.....while you are using it. But who can afford to give away their money and health for a life time? I mean, really, when you stop using them, the inches come back. Some would (and do) argue that 'this' product is different. This one feeds you healthy shakes and preaches healthy living. Well, of course it does! Any good distributor is going to create a strong belief system for their product. It's called great marketing!! After all, what weight loss product is going to tell you they just want your money.

 It's no secret I have a BIG beef with the diet and weight loss industry. They prey on the desperation and emotions of over weight and unhealthy consumers. The biggest goal here is to keep us sick, over weight, unhealthy, and unhappy with ourselves so they can continue to rape our pocket books with the next, bright promise of tomorrow. And there will be a "next" to fall back on when the one you are currently using fails you. And it will have even bigger promises of health and weight loss. 

At some point, we have to ask ourselves, who is driving this bus? Am I in control of my health, or am I leaving that job to the experts scam artists? 

Food for thought......

Giving the over zealous Trainer Sales Guy the ol' 1-2!!

I get tired of hyper, over zealous, trainers and health club sales associates, that think that they have the single most important job. Mind you, all are not this way. I know some really awesome trainers that are really focused on helping others. I'm talking about the ones that focus on looking like they are helping others to help themselves.

Tonight I literally 1-2'ed ( jab cross) a young sales guy out of my class. He came up to my front row gal in the middle of a choreographed Kickbox Cardio class, papers in hand trying to solidify a deal and exchange contact info. As I'm cuing my class, I am telling this kid that that this is so uncool and he needs to go. He ignores me and continues writing down info. I put my class into a bob weave and bob weaved myself right up to his left shoulder....Then I said, "You got to go Dude" He kept writing....So I cued my class "right lead....Jab Cross bob weave!" At first I didn't make contact....He just looked at me and kept talking. I began tapping him with my 1-2's until I inched him out of the room.

To the guy I 1-2ed out of my class....I have two words for you...."Car Sales!"