Coffee Chat #3: What I Eat + Instagram

44892275 – two cups of fresh hot cocoa or hot chocolate on wooden christmas background, top view

Hey, everyone! I am so happy you could join for this morning’s coffee chat, where I share my day’s thoughts, mostly related to health and fitness of course. Huge apologies for the delay in this morning’s post: unfortunately I left sending photos to my laptop until this morning and then ran into some trouble.

In today’s post I wanted to share a little about what I eat, or rather what I ate yesterday. I have started an Instagram account with one of its main purposes being healthy meal inspiration.

I think when we are in the midst of bad habits, whether unhealthful eating or otherwise, we can forget what better choices look like! That’s why I started my account and why today I wanted to share some photos of exactly what I personally consumed yesterday.

I know that what I am exposed to really influences the choices that I make. So even if you are not personally surrounded by healthy eaters, it may benefit you to inform yourself through other means what healthy food and eating looks like.

I do not follow any diet whatsoever, and I don’t believe in diets. I am not here to sensationalize eating or my food or exercise routine, either. I eat simply, when I am hungry. I don’t subscribe to any philosophy, rather I trust that my brain and digestive system that have developed over millennia, eons, can take care of me well enough if I just trust. I do try to be mindful of the quality of food I consume.

I try to fill my diet with lots of plant foods, especially fresh. This is because I feel best eating this way, but science supports eating lots of fruits and vegetables for health, as well. One reason I love plants is that in addition to nourishing me, they contain polyphenols, which have “antioxidant and free radical scavenging abilities.” According to the same paper, food phenolics may also have an effect as “antimutagens,” preventing the mutation of DNA.

Meal one: Tim Horton’s oatmeal with a soy latte (they make good ones). Unfortunately, in their business, the Tim’s people served up oats that were too watery and not as fully cooked as they usually are. They weren’t good and I didn’t finish them.

Meal two: A smoothie. I mixed one full scoop of Vega One with a tablespoon of peanut butter and a large banana. I blended with ice and water.

Meal three: This salad was filling and tasty. I put all of my favourite veggies on a bed of spinach and arugula. There are red onions, red bell pepper, radishes, shredded carrot, avocado, and grape tomatoes. In the centre is a veggie burger with 9 grams of protein and I also added 3/4 cup of chickpeas. I used a balsamic vinaigrette for dressing. Read my recent post about one of  salad’s beauty benefits here.

Meal four: I had a late lunch so it was evening by the time I grabbed a handful of walnuts and two medjool dates.

How do you like to include plants in your diet? I’d love to know! And would you like more posts like these? Let me know! And don’t forget, my site’s page on Instagram is at Instagram.com/anastasiakaur 

About the author: thank you for reading my post. I am a lifestyle blogger, writer, and editor passionate about wellness and nutrition, and most recently a student at the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition, where I am learning more about holistic nutrition.

Coffee Chat #2: Cellulite Busting Diet

Two cups of fresh hot cocoa or hot chocolate on wooden christmas background, top view.

I’m so happy you’ve joined for today’s coffee chat. After some thought, I’ve decided to post these in the mornings, so you can read them while drinking coffee. Today’s post is about the best cellulite busting technique I have ever tried that worked wonders. According to the Mayo Clinic website, little is known about the cause of cellulite. It occurs when the fibrous connective cords of the skin can’t hold in fat, which results in a dimpled appearance. While higher weight is a risk factor, it can happen in plenty of lean people, and I have seen this.

The amazing solution I stumbled upon is not a cream, massage, procedure, or workout. I didn’t know about it until I had been “doing” it for 3–4 months. I had been eating salad for nearly every meal (except breakfast) for that long in a bid for health and better digestion. It had worked wonders for all that, but then one day I noticed that I had no cellulite left. I’d had a tiny bit at the back of my legs and a little on my buttocks, but my skin looked amazingly smooth after following a few months of my salad regimen.

I hadn’t lost weight, but both my skin tone and texture had improved immensely. This might be a result of better nutrition, hydration, or circulation, or a combination of all three. I wanted to share this because sometimes we can get lost in the opportunity-making activities of other people (cream companies, for example) to think that we actually need those things.

Healthy lunch bowl with avocado hummus and fresh vegetables overhead scene on wooden table. This is typical of the meal I would eat.

Sure, body lotions and creams and potions are great. I love them. But they are certainly not a requirement for healthy-looking skin. I really hope this inspires you to fill up a bowl with your favourite greens, vegetables, and pulses or beans. Drizzle with some dressing and there you have it: the magic cellulite solution! Take care of your body from the inside out.

You may be reading this and thinking you already have clear, smooth skin, but you really cannot go wrong with salad as a meal, and you can add quinoa or brown rice if you need the carbs to hold you over.

Photo Credits:

Copyright: jenifoto / 123RF Stock Photo

Coffee Chat #1: Working Out or Having Fun?

Thank you for joining the first coffee chat on Anastasia Kaur Lifestyle. Today’s post is about fun workouts (or should I refer to it as just…fun movement?)! I am going to, hopefully, convince you to take “working out” off your resolutions’ list for good.

I think it is the secret wish of every gym resolutioner—and every person who’s begrudgingly turned on their TV to one more day of Jillian Michaels—that working out were actually fun. Of course, it can be, and I have proof to show you that it should be. Apparently, when physical activity is perceived as fun, people subsequently eat less than when it is framed as a workout. According to this study in Marketing Papers, “Engaging in a physical activity seems to trigger the search for reward when individuals perceive it as exercise but not when they perceive it as fun.” 

So, forget about how fun it would be to do something fun instead of begrudgingly logging another day at the gym: Letting go of a strict, almost institutionalized, idea of exercise has side benefits, too.

This can have huge implications on our personal and public health. In 2014, Stats Canada determined from a self-reporting survey that 46.2% of Canadian women and 61.8% of Canadian men were either overweight or obese. And overweight and obesity are associated with many health complications (though I do personally believe in the validity of health at any size).

What reading the study taught me is that there is a difference between actual effort and perceived effort in physical activity, and our perception of the effort can be altered a few different ways. One is to accompany the effort with pleasant distractions. This could be music, talking to a friend, a tv show. But another way is simply based on how we label the activity. When we frame exercise as “fun” instead of a “workout,” our drive to then compensate for all of the work by seeking good-feeling stimuli (such as food) is diminished.

One study reviewed in the paper found that even being exposed to messaging encouraging exercise increases intake of calories. The authors believe this is because it creates a licensing effect where people feel they’ve done more than they have, giving themselves a “license” to overindulge in food.

This paper was eye-opening for me. I am fit, but I moved away from a strict idea of exercise sometime ago. Now, it’s much more about creating a mood and atmosphere for me or incorporating the movement with something else I do. I will sometimes turn on candles to follow a relaxing yoga video, or do a more vigorous workout while imagining that I’m leading a workout class. These are just two examples: the commonality between what is now my exercise regimen is that there is always something intrinsically rewarding about what I do when I am exercising. I actually have fun! It’s interesting to know this also contributes to healthier food choices than I might otherwise make.

Would you be willing to try a fun workout? Here is a list of three ideas of fun workouts that you could do indoors and at home. Do any of these sound like any fun to you? Would you be interested in a Facebook group challenge for “fun workouts” come January 1st? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

• Hula hooping in front of the TV/laptop while watching The Crown—I have been loving this new tv show, and 10 minutes of hooping with a light hoop burns about 60 calories for 10 minutes. Half an episode will burn you 180 calories. A full one, 360. You can buy hoops at most children’s toy stores and the lighter ones burn more calories. Check out Deanne Love’s other videos on Youtube, too (that link will lead you to one where she tests different hoops).
• Doing a series of exercises, such as the one’s shared by Zuzka Light’s videos, here, while watching a tv show. Okay, I seem like a TV junkie now—I really am not.
• Similar to above, doing the five daily moves from Tone it Up in loops while watching something or listening to a podcast.