Good morning foodie fans! Lots of work has been going on behind the scenes while I upgrade and redesign the site. Will hopefully launch the new version next week! In the mean time, though, I have had an extremely stressful week! And while the exercise is consistent (yay me!), the eating…not so much.

I really thought I was doing nothing different this week. Until I took a look at my recycling bin! Where did that box of Bagel Bites come from? I didn’t have those! Oh, wait, yes I did. That was Tuesday night when I didn’t stop working until after 8 p.m. and I was too exhausted to cook. Instead of going out for fast food, I went out and bought a box of those. And where did that box of Texas Toast come from? Right, that was another late night dinner. I had not even realized that these items even made it into my house until I took a good, long look at the recycling. Amazing!

So, with my eyes opened, I will try harder this week. And I’ll pay closer attention to the recycle bin out back. Until next week, stay healthy!

I’ve lost track of the weeks! I think we just finished Week 7 according to my calculations. Yes, I’m still going strong on the 10in10 Challenge.

I have to admit that I guess I didn’t eat many processed foods to begin with, because I’m not really having to go out of my way to avoid them. The biggest difference in my life is the regular exercise. I feel great! So great, in fact, that I have decided to take on a third form of exercise. So not only will I be running and playing tennis – I’m going to start yoga as well. I have started building a ton of muscle lately and I’m feeling the need to stretch! I’m already looking forward to May when my exercise schedule will officially spin out of control. Tennis three days a week, running three days a week and yoga somewhere in between. I had better be a lean, mean muscle machine before my big trip in September or I’m going to be disappointed!!

Until next week, stay healthy!

Well, an added benefit from reaching my goals has arrived this week. I just realized that I have lost some weight along the way in this challenge and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Of course, the ultimate goal of my exercising and eating better is to lose weight, but I resisted the urge to put that pressure on myself.

As I get older, I just refuse to diet. A lot of people around me right now are losing weight by either doing pre-bought meals, diet shakes or master cleanses. And while it is tempting to jump on the bandwagon, I know that is something I can’t stick with for the long term and I will not set myself up to fail. Imagine the joy of quickly losing weight only to have the disappointment of gaining it back again when I go back to “normal” eating. I will not do that to myself. So while others are dieting, I am relishing in my non-diet and enjoying the foods I like to enjoy – just in smaller portions. And it’s working out for me.

Until next week, stay healthy!

It’s Saturday morning again and here is another update! The challenge has gone well this week and as always, I’ve learned something new!

I was asked by a friend to define exactly what I consider to be processed foods. Basically anything canned, frozen or boxed! Anything with loads of chemicals and preservatives. Are there exceptions? Of course, there are always exceptions! I still eat canned tuna (in water, not oil). I still eat ketchup (my favorite!) but I have switched to the organic kind with no high fructose corn syrup and I limit my proportions. And I use frozen vegetables – but not the kind drenched in sauces and such. Pure vegetables, individually quick frozen. It’s a huge time saver for a busy woman like myself.

I’m sure as the challenge continues, I may redefine my idea of processed, but that was the whole point of my goal. The exercise is going great, my sister and I completed our first two mile run on Friday morning! Until next week, keep healthy!

Learned some new things this week!

For one, you just have to know when it’s too cold to exercise outdoors. Monday morning, it was too cold to run. And Wednesday morning it was still too cold to run. But regular exercise means being flexible with your schedule, so we ran on Wednesday night. And Friday morning’s run was glorious, as the weather had warmed up dramatically (well, for a New England winter). Sticking with regular exercise also means having a plan B for when you can’t get outside to exercise. This is something I’ll have to work on this week.

Also, as far as the processed foods go, I haven’t missed them a bit. I even got some others around me to jump on the bandwagon, which makes my life easier! The biggest difference is that I feel like I am eating better. Not just eating foods that are better for me, but that the quality of food I am eating is on a much higher scale. Which is perfect for a foodie like me! One great tip that came into play this week is the motto “be prepared”. A couple of weeks ago, I had made homemade chicken soup from scratch. I froze half of the batch into individual portions. It came in handy earlier in the week when I was feeling under the weather. Not only did I have delicious hot soup without going through the trouble to make it, I didn’t have to eat soup from the can! Yuck.

Good luck to everyone doing the challenge this week! I hope you are successful!

It’s Saturday and here is my 10 in 10 update. Those of us participating in the challenge have definitely kicked the New Year off right! I worked hard this week to maintain a healthy streak even though this was a particularly stressful and challenging week. And I feel that much better for it!

One of my goals for this challenge to was to cut out processed foods. So I did my grocery shopping only on the outside aisles of the grocery store. Strangely enough, for the first time in my life, I found myself relying on frozen veggies this week instead of fresh veggies. But I am ok with that! I discovered that I love frozen corn. Go figure!

The second goal was to exercise regularly. My sister and I are still on the Couch-to-5k program and we are doing great! I am also in a very intense tennis class that meets every Saturday from now to April. Although it’s the best workout I’ve ever had, I don’t ever think of tennis as exercise because it’s so fun!

Though the recipe I’ll post on Tuesday is not exactly “diet” worthy, I am a firm believer that everything is permissible in moderation. And appetizers are the perfect portions already! Have a great week!