More Websites

CONTRIBUTED BY CHRISTINE SHELLER

http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/ - The recipes link to SparkPeople, so you can add them to your meal planner

http://www.livestrong.com - They often have calories + nutrition info for recipes you’d find elsewhere on the interwebs

http://fatsecret.com - Same thing as Livestrong

Paleo Approach

GUEST POST BY JULIE TRIPSON

I just wanted to share what I have just recently started, and have heard some of my friends talk about for a while. It’s called Paleo and it is based on the way humans ate in the Paleolithic period. A lot of people might find it similar to a fad no-carb diet, but it is quite different. The basics are lean protein, tons of vegetables, healthy fats and some fruit. For some it is dairy free and for all gluten free and they say that sugar is the enemy and not fat. The science behind it makes sense to me. Currently I haven’t lost that much weight, but I feel significantly different – I’m more alert, less tired, have a better sense of taste and smell, and more energy to workout! I’ll admit it was hard for me to give up bread because I LOVE BREAD, but it is do-able for me most of the time (and some Paleo-ists recommend a cheat day!). 

I know tons of people who say that you shouldn’t cut things out of your diet, but when things like gluten and dairy are hard for humans to digest (I can attest to that) anyway, it is good in my book. Also, it seems to me that it is a long term solution rather than just a diet…so hopefully I can keep it up.

Here are some websites that I find helpful in understanding what Paleo is and why it is good, as well as paleo recipes:

http://robbwolf.com/faq/#overview
http://everydaypaleo.com/

Helpful Websites

I hope everyone is having a great first week! I had a wedding and three days at the beach this past weekend so it wasn't easy, but I am getting in a groove now. I thought I would start to share some websites that I use or that have been recommended by others.

www.sparkpeople.com - This site is fabulous and free! Christine swears by it and she has gotten me hooked. I have been tracking everything I eat within daily nutrition goals I set for myself. It is very intuitive and I think you will love it if you want to track your progress.

www.myfitnesspal.com - Bridget told me about this site. It is very similar to Spark People, and also free and fabulous from what I hear.

www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ - I used this today to calculate my BMI. It can be a little frightening but also is a pretty helpful gauge for setting your goal weight.

Please send me any great sites you go to so I can post them for all!

Work Lunch

I snapped this picture from Monday's pretty lunch. I love all the beautiful salad bar options that have become available every day here (thanks Monica). I think it has become easier to make good choices because we have tastier options.

WORK DAY SNACK TIP:
I drink a V8 low sodium around 10:30 or 11:00 a.m. almost every day here. If you like the taste of a bloody mary, you can make the non-alcoholic version by adding a packet or two of hot sauce, a packet of lemon juice (from the tea area) and a packet of pepper. It has 30 calories, 0g fat, 2g protein, and 10g carbs.

Week One

I thought maybe 10 or 15 girls would be interested in competing when I first sent out the contest email last week, but 25 of us have taken the challenge! I am so excited to have an extra push and to have so many women to share the fun with this summer.

I figured I would start this blog to give us a place to go to share any ideas throughout the competition. If you have food & exercise tips, tricks, treats, success stories, great websites you use, anything you think would be helpful to the group, please email me a post and I can add it to the blog for us.

Good luck this week!