"Diet" Update

I've been eating healthy for about a month now, and I thought I'd give you guys a little update in case you are curious!


Since January, I have been very very busy with new clients and was often driving around all day long.. I had gotten in the habit of eating fast food 3x a week (!!!!!). Then one day I woke up and decided that it's time to change what I put into my body. My friend Erin really pushed me to do it.. she had started eating "whole" back in February and it had been such a positive change in her life. Well here I am a month later, and I have to say it has been a very positive change in my life as well! I do NOT consider myself on a diet, I just make better choices now.

Here are some of my favorite meals and recipes from the past month:

Turkey Meatballs with Whole Wheat Pasta

For this Tostada, Matt grilled a corn tortilla to get it nice and crispy... no frying involved. I also made "refried" black beans by simply heating up black beans in a saucepan with about half a cup of salsa. So easy and good!

Healthy Egg Salad: NO Mayo involved... and I actually preferred it without the mayo. For the whole batch I used 3 Egg Whites, 2 Whole Hard Boiled Eggs (with yoke), and about two tablespoons of 2% Cottage Cheese and some Sriracha (I love spicy). It lasted me three days and it was amazing!

Salmon with Avocado Salsa

Whenever I was craving dessert, I chopped up a banana, sprinkled cinnamon on it, and drizzled it with honey. This is so, so good and really tastes like dessert.

Here are some products that I have become staples in my pantry:

My Favorite Granola brand.. I think it's the toasted coconut that does it for me.

I tried three kinds of fruit strips, this is my favorite.

Harris Teeter (here in Charlotte) has these hummus and pretzel chips packs and they are SOOO good for when I am on the go! Same goes for the KIND bars. I just throw them in my purse when I am headed out for the day.

My Splurges:

Diet Soda: I'm still working on cutting out soda completely. On a normal day, I used to drink 2 cups of coffee in the morning and a Pepsi Max every afternoon. On a bad day, I would drink 2 cups of coffee in the morning and a LARGE Diet Coke from McDonalds in the afternoon. Yikes! I still drink 1-2 cups of coffee in the morning, but I have cut my soda intake to about 2-3 regular cans of diet soda a week. I don't beat myself up about still drinking the soda.. at least I have cut down my intake by at least 50-75%. And surprisingly, the taste isn't as appealing to me anymore.. so I have wanted it less and less.

Frozen Yogurt: Since my MIL has been here we have been getting TCBY frozen yogurt quite frequently. BUT I really don't feel too guilty about it.. it's somewhat healthy (for sweets) and I only have toasted coconut and a little bit of crushed graham crackers on the top. No chocolate and candy bar chunks like I used to do ;)

Eating Out: I still go out to eat and enjoy it. I just eat less and don't leave the restaurant with that stuffed feeling.

Life Changes: 

When I started this, I didn't do it to lose weight, I just wanted to be healthier. But I knew that being healthier and cutting out fast food and cookies and candy would give me positive results. In the past month I have lost around 5 lbs!

I really feel GREAT. I have more energy (which is surprising since I don't drink as much caffeine) and I feel so satisfied when I eat. I get excited about figuring out what to eat. I even like going to the grocery store now and my husband and I have gotten in the habit of going together. I used to HATE IT!

For the past two weeks I've also started a running routine.. so that has been great too. I have been enjoying running in the fresh air 3x a week.

I'm sorry this turned out to be a novel!! I hope you find it helpful and I really encourage you to try this healthy thing out :) You can continue to follow my journey on my food blog here.