Tag Archives: healthy living blog

Fail Forward – No Sugar No Grains

Posted on January 22 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

Have you heard of the No Sugar, No Grains lifestyle? How about Vinnie Tortorich? Maybe Fitness Confidential?

If you haven’t heard of any of those three things, that’s okay – you don’t need to. I’m almost hopeful that you don’t know any of the three. That means I get to introduce you to a whole new way of living healthfully! And that’s awesome! I’m going to share a lot of information about them. And, I’m really excited to do so, let’s get started!

My Struggle is Real

For at least 19 years, I’ve knowingly struggled with my eating. I have no idea why, or where it started, I just remember struggling to keep my eating under control. I was a serial dieter. One fad diet after another, I even found success with many of them, losing up to 75 lbs at one point – but, I never managed to keep it off. I always looked at my diet as “only temporary,” and “only until I lose the weight.” Those two statements right there are part of the MUCH bigger reason I never stuck to a diet. However, I want you to know, that despite struggling with my weight, in the past and currently, you CAN find your happy place when it comes to your food.

Don’t Let Those Resolutions Waiver

We’re nearing the end of January, this is about when people’s resolutions begin to waiver. People start to give up on their goals, or stop believing in themselves. If you listed one of your goals as losing weight or getting healthy, I want to help you get past this hump and keep moving. Trust me, it IS possible!!

For the last 20 days, I’ve been following the No Sugar No Grains (NSNG) diet, created by Vinnie Tortorich. I’m not an expert yet, but I am seeing great results, and Seamus actually started following this means of eating about 3 months ago and has had amazing success. He’s lost 68 lbs, by simply giving up ALL sugar and ALL grains. He does workout, but because of a bad back, he’s currently only walking 4 to 5 days a week. Nothing overly intense, and yet he’s still losing weight!

With most diets, they encourage you to eat low-fat / low calorie. To eat small portions and stay below a certain (small) number of calories. People succeed, but they often feel restricted, which can in turn lead to the binge / guilt cycle. That doesn’t need to happen, you can have yummy, delicious cream in your coffee, or eat real bacon, and not turkey bacon (unless you prefer turkey bacon).

Here’s why I am loving NSNG, I am NEVER starving. In fact, I rarely think about food, unless I’ve gone too long without eating. Because I’m giving myself the fat it needs to work properly, and getting my carbs through healthy veg, I don’t obsess over when my next meal is. It’s an amazing feeling, freeing a part of your brain that has always stressed/obsessed/worried about food. NSNG is a true lifestyle change, it’s not a temporary fix, it’s something that you stick with and (honestly) will want to stick with.

There are some added benefits, beyond just losing weight, and I am losing weight (6.7 lbs in 20 days). Giving up gluten can have a HUGE impact on your mental clarity. I often stuttered and struggled to find the right words when I spoke, now I feel clear and like I’m not stumbling over my words. Removing sugar (and sugar substitutes) has also helped, by keeping my blood sugar stable, so I don’t have the peeks and valleys (rushes and crashes), that I once did. I feel a sustained amount of energy all day long, and it feels great. And, the best part? My body is having an easier time fighting the depression I suffer from.

There’s no greater reason than that to follow NSNG. Losing weight is wonderful, but if I still hate life, then it’s pointless.

Maybe you’re thinking, I can’t do this – I just can’t give up pasta/bread/soda/cookies, etc – that’s okay! Maybe try giving up just one of those things, and doing that for awhile, until you feel strong and confident in your ability to say no, then maybe remove something else, so on and so forth.

And, if you just aren’t interested in following an NSNG lifestyle, that’s okay. Please know, you can still be successful, you just need to put your mind to it!

In Conclusion

In future posts, I’m going to talk to you about how we got started with NSNG and provide you with some tips on how to prepare for NSNG if you’ve been eating whatever you want for awhile.

If you’re interested in learning more about NSNG, or maybe you want to start following this lifestyle – Vinnie Tortorich has an amazing book Fitness Confidential and a self-titled podcast, that I would recommend checking out.

Additional reading

Snack Ideas: 10 No Sugar, No Grain Snacks – From Family Sport Life
Recipes: Gluten Free Anna (Anna is Vinnie’s co-host on his podcast, and her recipes are out of this world!)
Article: No Sugar, No Grains: Is This the Key to Long-Term Health?

Posts About My Frequent Failing Forward

I have Binge Eating Disorder
What it’s like on a daily basis, struggling with Binge Eating Disorder
What Someone with Binge Eating Disorder Really Looks Like
Coping with Binge Eating Disorder & the Loneliness of Having the Disorder
Why I Decided to Be Bold and Come Clean About my Binge Eating Struggles
Enough with the Lies Regarding Food Consumption
How I’m Working to Say NO to the Binge

Your Turn!

What are you failing forward with, this year?

Have you ever followed the NSNG lifestyle? Did you have success? Share your secrets in the comments below!

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Filed Under: All About Me, Family, Food & Fitness

My Finds Friday

Posted on August 30 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

What. A. Week.

It flew by, but at the same time it seemed to last forever. Either way, I’m glad it’s the weekend and that we get an extra day. More time for family!

Today was Emmett’s last day of day care at his current location. I went in thinking it wouldn’t be sad at all, and when I dropped him off this morning it wasn’t. Everybody was being super sweet to him, but no tears were shed. However, when I was picking him up, that’s a whole other story. I went in and right away people were saying how much they were going to miss him and giving him hugs and how important he had been to them, it made me feel good to know that these people cared so much for my sweet boy. They also wrote some very sweet messages in his log book that they keep, which made me cry even harder.

It’s hard as a mom to feel completely comfortable with where you are leaving your child for 8 or 9 hours a day, but I never questioned his day care. I knew he was safe and very well cared for. I’ll miss his teachers and his director, they were just so wonderful to him. If anyone of them should read this, please know you were loved and appreciated by the Baby Doodah! family.

Now on with the show…

My Finds Friday!

Ice cream and summer – one of the best pairs ever dreamed up! However, sometimes you don’t want to use all your calories and fat on a big bowl of mint chocolate chip, here’s a yummy alternative from The Fitnessista, Avocado Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.
If you’re a blogger or an aspiring blogger you need to check out Daniel’s entire site, Reviewz ‘n’ Tips. I was going to pick a single article but after I paged through a few of them, it’s impossible to pick one, they are all chock full of fantastic tips for bloggers. Trust me, check it out!
As a parent, I’m continually learning. There is no way that I can know everything, I’ve only been doing this for 13 months. This article has some amazing information for new parents, and maybe even for some veteran parents. Read the article, here.
We’re not traveling with Emmett yet, but we will eventually and this article provides some really practical tips for traveling with kids.
Do you pee during workouts? It’s a real thing and apparently common enough to create a viral video. Check out the article here and the video here.

And just for the fun of it, an adorable picture of my little Color Runner. Also, for anyone who is a fan of the Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks (like I am), they’re back early!

Your turn!

Do you have any great My Finds Friday, this week?

Filed Under: My Finds Friday

What I Ate Wednesday – #6

Posted on August 21 by Jillian416 • 0 Comments

I think I say this every Wednesday, but what a busy day it was! It seemed like I was moving non-stop from the moment I awoke and I have the headache and tense neck/shoulders to prove it.

I actually don’t have a lot of pictures, because I didn’t eat a whole lot. I never thought I’d say this but I was literally too busy to eat at times. Crazy, right!?

Breakfast was the same as last week’s:

2 slices of toast
eggs
avocado
tomatoes (fresh from the farmer’s market, still)
2 plums
a banana

I absolutely love this breakfast, hence why I had it again. It is very filling and just hits all the taste buds!

I skipped a snack today, I honestly just didn’t feel hungry and since my mind was busy, I didn’t really think about food.

Huge win!

Lunch was just kind of thrown together at the last minute because I didn’t want to spend a lot of time cooking or making anything. I just had some Keebler Townhouse Flatbread Sea Salt and Olive Oil crackers and a couple hard boiled eggs.

Dinner was out, at Salsaritas. We had an appointment to view a new day care for Emmett and stopped on the way home. It was absolutely delicious, but it always is when we go there.

All in all it was a really good day, busy, but good! I am amazed at how much less food I eat when I keep myself busy. I’m not just allowing myself to sit around thinking about what I can binge on in the kitchen. It feels good to being working on gaining control of my eating.

Your turn!

What foods did you eat this Wednesday?

Thank you to Peas and Crayons for hosting!

Filed Under: What I Ate Wednesday

Munchkin Meals #1

Posted on July 25 by Jillian416 • 2 Comments

Since I’m not the only one who eats in my house, I thought I’d start a new series, titled Munchkin Meals. I got this idea from another of my favorite blogs, A Health Slice of Life, she blogs about all the different Munchkin Meals she serves her daughter, check it out.

Emmett loves eating and on most days will eat anything we give him, it might take him awhile to get to everything, but he’ll try it at least once. I truly believe that we did so much good by having him follow the Baby Led Weaning approach.

For breakfast, Emmett had some toast with sunflower, blueberries and half of a banana.

He has had a banana for almost every breakfast since he’s started eating solid food and he just doesn’t get sick of it. He takes after me, I love, bananas and eat one almost every morning too.

Lunch consisted of, a sunflower butter and jelly sandwich, plums, blueberries and yogurt. I kind of overdid it with this Munchkin Meal, I made way too much. Sometimes I get carried away, trying to be creative and including every possible healthy food item, that I make too much. The beauty is that Emmett just stops eating when he’s full, so even if I make too much he never stuffs himself. I love this since it’s something I struggle with often.

And I have to rave about the jelly on the sandwich, my mother-in-law makes it by hand and it is just so so delicious! This particular one is Strawberry, but we’ve had mixed berry and apricot too and all were equally yummy, plus Emmett loves it.

It looks like someone really enjoyed his lunch, huh?!