I'm a personal trainer, certified by the American College of Sports Medicine. I absolutely love my life, love what I do, love my job, and love everyone who I'm blessed to have in my life. I'm tackling this project, in order to share some important ideas with the rest of the world, as well as force myself to actually write down my recipes so that I can make them again. I am an avid exerciser who absolutely loves food. Do I love to cook? If I had millions of dollars, I would maybe hire a personal chef so I could spend that extra time doing other things important in my life. Until then, however, I will continue to cook my own food, enjoying the fact that I actually have the ability, and have the power to decide exactly what nutrients will go into my body. God blessed me with a mother who is the most wonderful person and can cook anything up and is guaranteed to be out-of-this world delicious, like nothing you've ever tasted. I'm so thankful for her great influence in my life, as she has taught me basically everything I know. Recently, I've changed it up. I have Celiac Disease which keeps me from eating foods that contain gluten. So, all of my recipes will reflect the lack thereof, and that doesn't mean a lack of taste because no one I cook for can even tell the difference. The recipes will be the types of food I believe to be healthy and enjoyable, which is all natural and totally mouth-watering.
As a workout fiend in the fitness industry, I get plenty of questions such as: What do you do for 4 hours in the gym? How do you "steam shovel food", as my best friend calls it, and still stay so fit? Which diet out there is the best one to follow? Can you eat ice cream and chocolate and still be skinny? Which supplements do you recommend? Have you always been skinny? Do you know you're going to have knee replacement surgery by the time your 40 due to all of your running? Do you count calories? Throughout my posts regarding mainly recipes, some workouts and fitness tips, you will see that when it comes to nutrition, I believe that eating natural foods which people would have had access to hundreds of years ago is the best way to eat. I love spices, and I definitely don't count calories. That being said, I strongly believe that counting calories is a very effective component to losing weight, be that your goal.
My personal goal is to grow old, maybe to my 120s with my husband at my side, running/swimming/biking endurance events the whole way. I want to enjoy my whole life in its entirety. As Chris Crowley and Henry Lodge put it in their book, "Younger Next Year," getting wrinkly is involuntary, but the rate at which you allow your body to deteriorate is completely voluntary. They state wonderfully, that many of us will likely grow until we're in our 80s or 90s, but whether you choose to have the physical ability to enjoy those years or hate those years due to being in a wheelchair or dependent upon your children to take complete care of you is up to each and every one of us, for the most part. And while I'm at it, running does not cause injury! Overtraining and running incorrectly, on the other hand, will certainly cause much bodily damage. If you don't know what you're doing, talk to a fitness expert such as a personal trainer, one who actually knows what they're doing and what you personally should do. I have not always been fit. I have dropped 40 lbs and 17% bodyfat since college. I love endurance events and want to do several every year, such as half ironmans, half or full marathons (I haven't done a full yet), as well as century or longer bike rides. I was very much inspired by my talented, marathon-running, half-marathon winning boyfriend at the time (who is now my lovely husband/coach/best friend/most amazing person I have ever met) and decided I needed to up the ante. Oh yeah, and I can barely go a day without ice cream or chocolate, that's a fact. You'll probably be surprised by a lot of the foods I make... I can assure you, you won't find rabbit food here!
Now with the addition of two little boys, I make sure that everything in my house is healthy, since my oldest is always taking food from my plate and my youngest is nursing. I'm proud to say that my toddler eats whatever I give him, and eats fruit like it's going out of style. He's basically the paleo kid. It's tough to cook every night with two kids on me all day, literally, but it's much more rewarding to eat healthy and satisfying meals at the dinner table when I know they are healthy. I'm also working on my M.S. in Holistic Nutrition, so I more than double-think every food item I bring home and prepare. Food can either be your medicine or your poison- the choice is yours.
