Healthy Changes, Healthy Life

Since returning from BMT, I've been on a quest to transform my lifestyle and eating habits. A rather healthy person all-around, I was already working out 7-days a week and eating—for the most part—pretty well. But after returning from BMT, I was hitting up ice cream shops, pizza joints and fast food far more often than I would have liked. And my body paid for it. I gained back roughly 10 pounds very quickly and while I still maintained my level of fitness, I could see and feel the difference my food choices were making.

In addition, after returning home I began breaking out all over my chest, neck and face. I couldn't figure it out—I've never had any type of acne and never had any unusual skin problems... but this was bad. I had big, painful blemishes all over my chest and neck and small red pimples all over my face. I didn't know what was wrong! I started thinking about why it would have started after BMT. My stress was gone (for the most part) and I was back into the swing of my normal routine. And then it hit me—the ice cream, cereal, yogurt, etc. DAIRY! I ate dairy maybe 2-3 times over the 8-weeks I was down at BMT and my skin didn't seem to have any problems. When I came home and began indulging in daily ice cream trips, yogurts at snack times, cereal for breakfast, and pizza for dinner—that's what did it. I experimented with several different things (laying off perfume, changing my body wash/detergent/shampoo) and while none of it worked, after giving up dairy—just to see if it was the culprit—after one week my skin was clear. ONE WEEK! I couldn't believe that it had been dairy the whole time.

I've been dairy-free now since the middle of August. It's not quite as hard as I thought it would be, though I do miss a good Blizzard every now and then. But with dairy—since my only aversions to it seem to be acne and upset stomach aches, if I truly want it—I'm going to have it (like a slice of pizza every now and then!). Although, I'm becoming a big fan of other healthy-minded desserts like chia seed pudding, banana "ice cream," and small servings of sorbet. And cereal is still on my menu—I just enjoy it with unsweetened almond milk instead—and let me tell you... it's really good!

I've also started making other small changes in my diet. I no longer eat with the intention to fill my stomach to the brim (which was my mea culpa before). I now eat sensible portions and try to cook and prepare my weekly workday meals ahead of time. I've been living out of tupperware lately, selecting the day's lunch (like this) from the assortment that is piled high in the fridge. I can cook an entire week's worth of meals in the slow cooker, divide it up into lunches for Daniel and myself and then customize each one from there—like adding a tortilla, sour cream and cheese to his and some fresh veggies to mine.

Of all the changes I've made lately—my favorite is the new outlook I have on food. I'm seeing it as fuel, not a fill-me-up. I'm enjoying it. I'm creating new recipes with it that not only will nourish my body, but ones that taste good, too. Living a healthy lifestyle doesn't have to be hard. It is all about how you look at it. I don't have to live a healthy lifestyle... I get to—and have fun with it!

While I'm trying to incorporate more "healthy living" style posts into this blog, you can always click-over and find all of my day-to-day recipes, healthy dessert ideas, and fitness routines on my Instagram. I post as I go there and find that it's a really great resource for sharing my simple-to-prepare, healthy meals & treats. Here's to being healthy & happy!