Determination

Hey everyone!

So I'm in the middle of studying for my third midterm, and decided to take a break to finally post again on this blog!

I have some BIG NEWS today! I've been a bit lazy with running lately, given that I've been crazy busy with school and work and teaching, and currently undergoing yet another 30 Day Challenge at my yoga studio. So, I decided that I need a kick in the butt to get my running back in gear.

Soooooo...

I registered for my first half marathon today!!!!!!! :D SO EXCITED! I'm officially in for the Toronto Women's Half Marathon in May 2011! I'll also be signing up for the Sporting Life 10K again (registration isn't open yet). I figure that knowing that I have an upcoming half marathon will be just the push that I need to keep training, and give me determination to keep going when I get sore and tired and whiny. Stay tuned to see how it goes! I have about 6.5 months to get ready, which I think will be more than enough time for me :)!

Also, I know it's kind of ironic that I'm a nutrition student and haven't posted much of anything to do with food since I started school. I promise that more food stuff will come: recipes, neat food info, etc! Just for fun, here's a random fact to tide you over:

Did you know...
We've all heard the commercials from All Bran saying that psyllium fibre can help lower your blood cholesterol, but why??? Psyllium is a type of soluble fibre. When mixed with water (e.g. the fluids of your stomach and GI tract), soluble fibre forms a kind of gel substance that moves through the intestines with the rest of your food. This gel binds with bile, a fat emulsifier (breaks down dietary fat) released by the gall bladder. Normally, bile breaks down the fat in your food and is reabsorbed in the large intestine. When bound to the gelly soluble fibre though, this can't happen! In order to create more bile and emulsify fats properly, the body must use cholesterol (i.e. that which is found in the blood), thus, your blood cholesterol lowers!

Now you know!!!

Dusting off the blog - Thanksgiving!

Hello world!
I know, it's been a while! I owe you an apology. I've been so busy with school and work and general life that I've neglected to post anything! Here's the gist of what's been going on lately:

School is going awesome. I love it :)! So far, my classes have been super interesting (even chemistry :P). The downside - a LOT of homework!!!! There's a lot of reading involved in university O_o!!! I'm so happy that there's a long weekend coming up!

I work two jobs and volunteer once a week as well, oh, and I teach yoga sometimes too. This leaves me very little time for a social life in between, so I squeeze it in whenever I can...

I've also started teaching yoga more regularly (yay!)

In other words, I've been doing well, but just been ridiculous busy!!!

So, let's talk about Thanksgiving. This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving, meaning a) long weekend!!!!, and b) TURKEY DAY!!! This time of year can be very difficult for people who are trying to watch their weight and/or make healthy choices in their diet, as a Thanksgiving meal can often pack on HUGE amounts of fat! Most of this fat comes from things like butter and cream/milk in mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie/other pies, dark meat turkey, and my favourite thing - stuffing (mmmmmmmmmm...). So, how can we deal with this awesome holiday, which is essentially centred entirely around food???

Ideas to survive Turkey Day:

• Plan ahead. Eat smaller meals/lower cal meals during the day so that you will be able to indulge a little bit for dinner with less guilt. Try not to sit down for dinner feeling starved - eat a small salad or veggie soup beforehand so that you won't feel the need to dive in and binge.
• Exercise. During the day, go for a workout! If you've got the time for it, give your workout some extra push today to burn more calories to store up for later.
• Take control. If you're the one cooking, take control of what you'll be feeding people. So what if buttery fluffy mashed potatoes are the norm in your family? Try lowering the fat by substituting out some of the butter. Or, mix in some steamed and mashed cauliflower!
• Stock up on produce. Fill half your plate with veggies. Go for steamed veggies, roasted squash/root vegetables, salad, green beans, etc. They'll fill you up with their stellar fibre and low calorie content!

Most of all, enjoy your time with family. Make this holiday less about the meal, and more about the people you are spending the day with instead.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving!