Truth Tuesday: January 12, 2010

Salt binges can lead you to retain more water than the Hoover Dam. This one should be obvious. With parmesan cheese, fried croutons, salty dressing and anchovies, chicken Caesar salad is one of the most sodium-packed foods out there. (Versions at certain sit-down chains can contain more than 1,900 mg of sodium!) But it's not just the salt; Caesar ranks right up there with taco salads as one of the most misbegotten "health" foods out there. Some versions at sit-down chain restaurants have more than 1,000 calories, 75 grams of fat and nearly 2,000 milligrams of sodium. Chicken can be a great option, though, because it's a lean meat with protein that fills you up and helps you fight belly fat. Grilled chicken sandwiches can give you the same full feeling as the Caesar salad, without the huge caloric load and bulging belly. Add a side salad with vinaigrette dressing, and you've got a more complete meal with only about 200 extra milligrams of sodium.

Eat This!

Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Side Salad and Vinaigrette

390 calories

10 g fat

950 mg sodium

Not That!

Chicken Caesar Salad

800 calories

45 g fat

1,700 mg sodium

Momentary Monday: January 11, 2009

This is Stephanie.

She's a bad-ass because I say she is, and a lady because she deserves that title.

Stephanie is sixteen. And related to me. I admire her, and today she's going to draw our attention to sit-ups and crunches.

I went home for the winter holidays, and began to think, "When was the last time I did a crunch? I know my abs are strong, but can they be stronger?" Yes, they can. They always can.

This year is about doing the things I already know I should be doing. Following my own advice. Following my "motherly" advice. Ya know--the "be safe and make good choices" advice.

If I hear it enough times, I'll do it. That's what this blog is about, blogoworld!

So, today, re-teach yourself how to do a crunch, a sit-up. See this kick-ass sixteen-year-old doing it, and do it for yourself. Do twenty of them. It's good for you. :)

Support your neck, do not strain it. Place your fingertips along your hairline. Use your abdomen to pull your body up, not your neck muscles. That's just painful.



Pull your stomach down to the floor, begin to pull yourself up.

Whoa! Way to go! You pulled yourself all the way up! You're such a big girl now!

Don't forget to make this face. It says, "Ugggghhhh."

P.S. Want to make your sissy girl crunches harder? On the Up, twist your body to the right. Return to the ground, pull yourself up, and twist yourself to the left. Your working the various muscle groups in your abdomens. It hurts, but it's good for you.

This Monday, do twenty crunches!
A small beginning is still a beginning!

Soapbox Sunday: January 10, 2010

Diets, from their intrinsic nature are restrictive. Duh. And frankly, restrictions suck.

So get rid of them.

Figure out what you can do with your body when you give it free reign. Figure out what your body does when you give yourself permission to make good decisions. Figure out what potentional your body has to be as kick ass as you know it is.

If you're out grocery shopping--go ahead and stock up your fridge. Stuff it full with food! Since you're so interested in health, it's probably going to be all good food, right? YES. Make the choice to fill it to the brim with fruits, veggies, healthy carbs, a box of mac n cheese (if you so desire)--eerything that you would LIKE to be able to eat. And eat it. Discover how easy it is to make good decisions when you give yourself the opportunity. You'll find that you're full faster. You'll find that you have the means to prepare yourself the healthy meal you've been craving.

You'll find that you DO have control, once you GIVE yourself control.

Saturday Success Story: January 9, 2010

Sweta Srivastava

Before: 230 lbs

After: 135 lbs

Growing up, Sweta Srivastava always wanted to participate in team sports, but her weight kept her stuck on the sidelines. Thanks to a friend's support and a newfound passion for martial arts, the 23-year-old benefits administrator from Toronto took 95 pounds off her 5'5 1/2" frame.

As a teen, Sweta regularly indulged in late-night "snacks" of Chinese takeout. By high school, she was 200 pounds; in college, 24-hour buffet-style dining halls tacked on 30 more.

After she graduated in May 2007, a pre-med pal warned Sweta that her weight put her at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and possibly an early death. It shocked her into action. Eating small, healthy meals throughout the day curbed Sweta's urge to snack at night. Suddenly, she had more energy. "Big meals made me feel lethargic," she says. Spinning and kickboxing classes helped her shed 50 pounds. Then she took up Muay Thai, a form of martial arts, and dropped 20 more. In January 2009, she began working with a personal trainer, and she reached her goal weight of 135 pounds seven months later. Sweta scored her first pair of jeans—she'd always been too heavy for them—and tons of confidence. "Now I'm looking forward to the next challenge," she says.

Sweta's Tips
Read labels. "I don't buy any food that has 15 grams of fat or more.

"Keep gym clothes in your car. "I never have an excuse not to exercise."

Try a class. "Instructors will push you harder than you might push yourself."

The Friday Find: January 8, 2010

Hey Guys! Look at this website I found!

Capessa

Real Women, Real Advice

It's not amazing, or the most adorable thing since sliced bread, but it's simple. Simple is easy, and I'm all about making my life as easy as possible. Efficient layout, efficient sorting of subjects, and maybe something will just reach out and smack you right in the balls.

I've found a few inspirational stories on here for the blog, and I think it may be able to help some of you. As usual, email me your questions or comments, and I'd be happy to talk to you about anything. :) west.allyson@gmail.com

Thursday Things Thin Girls Know: Alison Vodnoy, January 7, 2010

Today's Thin Girl is the brilliantly superb Alison Vodnoy, an actor from Cincinnati, Ohio. Alison is the best way to start off the new year here at SmellyGirl. Listen to her words of love, common sense, wisdom, and start redefining your sense of body and health. Happy New Year Week!

As a thin girl, what advice would you give to anyone losing weight?

I don't know that I would call myself a thin girl. I'm just a girl, living in this gorgeous world, surrounded by gorgeous people. And that's the advice I would give. Let go of your perceptions of yourself, let go of the labels you've heard or created or internalized as the definition of You. Release the ideas of "skinny" or "fat," "good" and "bad," "attractive" or "unattractive"; someone else made them up, so they have nothing to do with the truth of your body.

Letting go of what people told you to do with your body, and moving past what they defined it as, will help you find the purest form of what you are. Then you can lose the weight of the heavy definitions and expectations that are placed upon women from external, inauthentic sources.

How do you feel about your body?

When I listen to my body, and respect its needs, I love my body. During the times when I allow my self-perception to be altered by external notions of what my body "should" be, or what it "should" do, I am at odds with it. Frankly, that doesn't make either one of us happy. Women are so inundated with expectations for their bodies - what to wear, what not to wear in order to avoid the dreaded skankiness, how many people to sleep with, how much to eat, how much to exercise, what is being a "good" or "bad" girl. We're caught between chastisements for going too far or not far enough in every single one of those aspects, and if you ask me, it's all bunk. When I stop asking other people those questions and I ask myself, I find the answer that vibrates the truest in my body, and my cells. That's when I'm happy, that's when I'm full, that's when I can shed the pounds of guilt, that's when I can love my body.

What is the one habit you swear by?

Yoga and Veganism. That's two habits, but for me, they're connected. In both ways I feel that I'm honoring my body, and creating a better awareness of it. Why? First of all, both make me feel f-ing spectacular! Second, both promote peace and openness in the world, and putting that energy out, I also feel it within. Everyone has a different path to feeling that same thing, but for me, in becoming vegan I felt more free because I was no longer putting things into my body that had suffered. When I stopped consuming pain and violence, it was no longer in my body.

What inspires you?

The strength of the human heart. We experience so many things, and we go on. And we try again with the potential that anything could happen. The human heart has the potential to be a bottomless source of trust and love. When it breaks, it grows back stronger. When it's burned, it comes back cleaner with things we didn't need to begin with burned away. The strength of the human heart, and the power it has both alone and united with others, inspires me.

I recently got sick and was faced with a lot of challenges in continuing to rehearse and perform a very physical play, and teach yoga during the days. I found myself constantly frustrated and disappointed with my body. In my mind, my body was failing me and keeping me from being able to do everything I wanted to do. What I realized was that, my body, and all of the things it went through during that time, was a miracle. It didn't let me down - rather it tried to tell me what it needed, and I let it down by not listening. A body is like a lover - if you ignore it, or deny it when it speaks, eventually it will fight back. Or even worse - it will stop speaking all together. But if you are dedicated to an open communication with your body, and to giving it what it asks for - whether it's food, rest, activity, sex, or stillness - you can find that elusive and complete union where you're both happy. When I practice that, I find the purest form of me. And that form is not my body - it is my heart. It is my ability to love.

Watson Wednesday: January 6, 2010

A dear friend of mine and equal ass-kicker is the ever lovely Leah Watson. She's my newest feature writer! I give you WATSON WEDNESDAYS!

5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, 7.0, 7.5. The numbers are going up and up and up. My little feet are pounding the rotating tread on the treadmill and I know I'm going to die. I don't think I'm going to die, I know. My heart is pounding out of my chest, I'm sucking air like my life depends on it, and Renee the personal trainer is smiling at me from the next treadmill. My eyes are narrowing, my brain function is slowing, and my life is flashing before my eyes. How much more of this can I take!?

This is exactly the question that I am setting out to answer.

If you have kept up with "Sugar (Cookie), Don't Waste My Time" my name and persona may sound a bit familiar. My dear friend and inspiration, Ms. Allyson West, once featured me on Thursdays Things Thin Girls Know and I was lucky enough to be invited back to the blog as a writer. My topic? How you kick your own butt. Welcome to Watson Wednesdays a mid-week check in for ladies who want to push the envelope and become their own source of inspiration. Each week I will share my experiences in pushing the envelope and changing my own life. Exercise is my most personal journey and I want to share it with you.

So, how do you kick your own butt? Let's find out.

Your Wicked Work Out Partner,
L. Watson

I have included my own personal fitness goals and a starting picture of myself to map my own goals.

Fitness Goals

1. Fit comfortably into Gap Jeans (size 2). This means no flabby stomach or love handles hanging over top.

2. Take classes in something I have never tried before.

3. Lose 6 pounds by April 12th.

4. Snowboard 6 times this season.

5. Build upper body strength. Do 40 consecutive pushups (man style).

Truth Tuesday: January 5, 2010

Buttered Popcorn

(medium: 10-12 cups)

600 calories


39 g fat (12 g saturated)

1,120 mg sodium

Popcorn can be a great, fiber-rich snack, as long as you stay away from the dreaded butter pump. Besides tripling the calories of a page of popcorn, many movie theater “butters” are teeming with trans fat. Instead, seek flavor from the spice mixes many theaters carry now. Or grab a pretzel: As long as you’re not dipping it into molten cheese, a large soft pretzel makes a reasonable movie theater snack. Be really good and ask them to skip the salt—mustard packs plenty of sodium as it is.

Try eating this instead!

Soft pretzel with mustard
290 calories

0 g fat


850 mg sodium

Monday Moments: January 4, 2010

To do Today:

Learn to freaking read a nutritional label

Yes, I do this, and yes, it took me two years of getting through it to figure it out. But did I have a handy resource to direct me on how to understand that I can actually know exactly what is going into my body every time I put something into it? I did not. But you, dear Blogoworld, you certainly sure do.

Real-life story: Upon grocery shopping with the ever brilliant Mikayla Stanley, she was given the timely opportunity to educate a third party friend of ours on the benefits of reading labels. This lovely third party friend of ours is 21 years old, and very very fit and beautiful. Did she understand that the unpronounceable words on the back of her candy yogurt were going to wreak havoc on her body in ways she did not even understand? She did not. But now she does. Way to be, Mikayla. Way to be. And third-party friend? Way to learn!

So use me. Follow these links, wake up or catch up to Health 2010, and decide that today is THE day to educate yourself. GO.

The FDA want to teach you!

Your FamilyDoctor wants to gently take your hand and lead you into a knowledgeable world of wonders.

Even WikiHow has it's steps for achieving nutritional know-how. Ooh, alliteration.

WebMD has a mouthful of details and delights for those of you already all-knowing.

Soapbox Sunday

I go home about three times a year.

And by "home," I mean a sort of mental institution filled with nine other human beings (and four dogs of various owners) that almost look exactly like me in different ways. These humans often jump on me. They often feed me. They often hug me and kiss me and we all play around with each other. They sit at the kitchen table and watch me act out whatever song is playing on the radio. They ask if they can help me make cookies and then make a point of getting flour all over my clothes. They pin me down and tickle my feet, before pulling off my neon sock and shoe and throwing them away.

They remind me what it feels like when I am loved. I realize, once again, what it feels like to be me. I once again find what I like about myself, what my dreams are, what goals I set up for myself, and what path of life I am marching down at the moment.

So YAY for being given the time to find yourself again. YAY for the fact that, for me, it happens to be around family. YAY for the next time I get to come back.

I can't wait to see who I've become, again.

Saturday Success Story: January 2, 2010

Today is a running story. I love these running stories. Know why? Because I absolutely do not consider myself a runner. But everyone does it differently, and the differences can be enjoyable. So learn about Amy. Maybe you'll learn something about yourself.

Amy's Story

My dad has been a runner his whole life. He has run about ten marathons, and he was the one who taught me about running. Not everyone is born a natural runner, and a lot of people don't like running. They only know running as, "Try to run as fast as you can for as long as you can." Well, that is miserable. The one thing that I learned from my dad is to take it slow. You have to start slow and build up. Run at a pace that you feel you can hang on to, and take walk breaks. Run at a pace that is comfortable, and move forward from there.

I started running my sophomore year in college, and I wasn't a good runner at all. I would basically walk one block and then run one block. Then the next day I would run two blocks and walk two blocks, then three blocks, then a year later I was running six miles.

I definitely don't think that I am an amazing natural runner. I don't have the body type for it, and I am not very fast. For me it is less about the speed and more about the distance, the discipline and the goal. I work hard at it, and I do the best I can, and I feel good that I can go long distances and run marathons.

I chose the Long Beach Marathon for my first marathon because it was a nice, flat path down by the beach. I didn't care at all about my time. I didn't care if I walked the whole thing. I just wanted to get it done and cross the finish line - that was my main goal.

Training for marathons is a grueling and tedious task, but I am such a goal-oriented person that knowing that two, three, or four months down the road I have got a race to do really keeps me going. It is important to give yourself time to train for a marathon; you can't rush it. Every week on Saturdays I do a long run, and it gets longer and longer each week as I get closer to the marathon. I know for six months I am not going to have any plans on Friday nights except to run.

For the first hour after an 18-mile run, I feel like death and need a shower and eat everything I can find. But two hours afterwards, I feel like a model and I feel like the coolest, most amazing person alive because I just did an 18-mile run. I think it has to do with the sense of accomplishment, but also physically your body feels good. It's all worth it.

The health benefits of running have been amazing. When I first started I probably lost 20 pounds. I haven't had a cold or gotten sick in what feels like years. Running is one way you can take care of your body. Physically it has kept me strong and my cardiovascular system is strong, but emotionally it also has all kinds of benefits.

Running is an incredible emotional release. A few minutes into a run, my mind just starts wandering and I forget that I am running. I start sorting through issues I have had at work or stuff going on in my personal life. It is such a great way for me to work through things. It is like a therapy session, something I really look forward to.

The Friday Find: January 1, 2010

Hey, it's a new year. And oh my god, Look at these photos I found from two point five years ago.

I dated a boy once who told me that the new year was not that big of a deal, that it was just another day and if he wanted to make any changes, any resolutions, that he could just do it any other day of the year.

Yes, this is true.

BUT.

But why not seize the moment that today has offered you? Today feels good, today is a new start. Yes, you can make that day any other day of the year AS WELL, but TODAY has a DESIGNATED time for renewal.

Don't waste what is given to you.

Take it. Take the time and make it yours. Spend it with people who make you the best YOU you could possibly be. :)

Even if and especially if it happens to be your little brother that two point five years ago on Valentines' Day jumped right on your face in the middle of a lovey picture. :)

Surround yourself by those people who will not leave you alone.

They are the ones that are going to bring out the true you.

The True You is the only you YOU should be dealing with.

Here's to a New Year!