Blogging Hiatus

Good Morning Everyone,

I am going to take a slight blogging hiatus for the next couple days and unfortunately the reason why is very sad. Yesterday morning my grandmother passed away after a long battle with diabetes and Alzheimers. I am going home tomorrow to be with my family and spending time with them is the most important thing.

Her name was Donna..

... and she will forever be remembered as the woman who taught me how to knit and fed me full of french toast and skim milk through my entire childhood.

I hope that everyone will take a second today to send a nice thought out into the world on behalf of my grandmother. She was a kind and wonderful lady and I couldnt have asked for better grandparents.

Rant About Fitness Blog Critics

Good Morning My Amazingly Wonderful Blog Readers! I appreciate you wondering on over to Fitness N' At this cold monday morning because today I am probably going to write one of the most important blogs I have ever written. No it will not be some picture of pumpkin muffins I tried to make (PS I actually did try to make them yesterday substituting ripe bananas for sugar.. It didnt work.. they tasted like cardboard) and it will not be talking about the next exercise I want to try (rock climbing!). Instead this mornings writing is going to be about the attacks recently on health and fitness bloggers. As an aspiring health and fitness blogger myself, whats going on right now scares me.\

Read this article from this months Marie Clair.. attacking 6 of the bloggers I follow.

http://strawberrysweat.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/marie-claire-article-the-hunger-diaries.pdf

Unless you were in the blog world you probably wouldnt know that Marie Clair just wrote a scathing article naming the top 6 foodie bloggers in the blogosphere. These women were accused of having eating disorders and exercise obessions that were harming their readers.. claiming that people were hurting themselves trying to keep up with their favorite bloggers exercise schedules.. or not eating enough calories because these bloggers only eat flax seed and bagel thins.

When I first started blogging I discovered these women right away and got hooked on their blogs.. reading about their marathon training, recipes and lives in general. You almost feel like you get to know these people as if they were acquaintences. ( I hope some of you feel that way!) I did use some of their tips and recipes for inspiration to spice up my healthy eating and find links to interesting pages but I never tried to keep up with their marathon training schedules. I have never found it necessary to attempt to run 26 miles...ever.

Now, I hate that I have to defend my writing or the writing of other fitness bloggers.. but I guess its either strike first or have your name publically smeared in a widely circulated magazine.. (I actually wish my blog was so big that I could even be mentioned in a widely circulated magazine..haha) SOOO, here we go..

A healthy lifestyle means completely different things for different people.. everyone likes to do different kinds of exercise and likes to eat different kinds of food. Some people could never touch chocolate cake again and wouldnt think twice.. others have to find substitutions for indulging their sweet tooth. Some people have bad knees or joints and so could never do a running regimine.. while others may only run 5 miles a day with no lifting or other forms of cardio. My point is that you HAVE to figure out what works for you.. what makes you the healthiest person you can be without feeling deprived or exhausted.. and any person that looks at these womens blogs and tries to live their healthy lifestyles exactly.. needs to have their heads examined. Why are we blaming the bloggers for sharing what works for them? Why arent we blaming the nut cases that read those blogs and decided that with out any previous experience or medical advice other than reading someones online journal.. would go out and try to run 10 miles and start a lifting routine without knowledge or assistance? Any person that reads these blogs and starts eating 1000 calories a day.. obviously doesnt have much common sense to begin with.

Now I am not saying that some that blog out there.. dont have issues.. I do believe that going out and running 13 miles a day while surviving on 1200 calories is not healthy..but saying that someone is anorexic because they tweeted "Im so hungry" before bed.. is ludacris. Maybe she just didnt want to eat a sandwhich right before going to bed.. thats actually good for your digestion. That doesnt mean she starves herself the entire day..

I try my best to eat healthy and exercise regularly... a person may read my blog and think that I am a nut for not indulging more than I do.. Ive heard "Why would you deprive yourself? Life is too short" ..the truth of the matter is that I dont deprive myself.. If I want a piece of cake.. then I am going to have one.. but most of the time I feel healthier, happier and more awake when I fill my day with whole grains, lean meats and fruits/ veggies...I eat until I am satisfied.. and I try not to eat unless I am hungry and that is what these bloggers do yet they are contributing to eating disorders?

I exercise 4-5 days out of my week.. I do a combination of lifting, boxing, running and other various exercises..but if I want to take the weekend off to just get errands done or catch up on sleep.. I am going to do that (I usually do) but in the same token.. If I have the energy and the want to exercise 7 days this week.. does that mean that I have an obsession with exercise? No.. it just means I have the time and I want to.. I am not exercising to lose weight or to fit into size 0 pants.. I am exercising because it makes me feel healthy, productive and happy that I took an hour and did something good for myself.

So, listen.. anyone that reads these blogs and thinks.. oh these girls are unrealistic and no normal person that wasnt obsessed could do what they do. They are teaching young girls how to start eating disorders and be obsessed with how their body looks..

I am proud of how I have changed my life for the better.. I am proud of myself every time I choose to buy an apple instead of a cookie, I am proud that I find time in my super busy week to cook good food and exercise, I am proud that I have taken over a year to educate myself on what is truly healthy and what works for me and I am damn proud of every curve that I have because I have worked harder than I ever have in my life to get to this point.. I feel great about myself so I dont care if you dont approve of my writing, lifestyle or the writing of the people I pull inspiration from.. then you dont have to read what we write.

Rant Over..

Lets Play a Game, Its called.. Whats In My Shopping Cart : )

Happy Steelers Sunday Everyone!
Unfortunately I am spending today doing homework and working on group projects in case I have to miss my classes this week for my grandmother. I appreciate all the kind words and prayers.. we are still playing the waiting game and its awful but luckily I have a lot of support from wonderful people.

Yesterday was a wonderful day because I got to spend some times with family which made the day better. My mom and I spent a good portion of the day together and there was so much room for activities!! ( Big Brothers reference.. yay!)

We went to the grocery store and I stocked up for the next week or so. My cupboards had been bare for quite some time now. I had been living off of brown rice and vegetables..you know its bad when you dont even have cheerios to eat. So I was so happy to get healthy food back into my kitchen!!

I know some people that have been reading have been curious too as to what I buy when I go to the grocery store and so I figured I would tell everyone what I buy when I got to Giant Eagle. The one thing I love about grocery stores is that usually when you walk in, the first section you run into is the fruits and vegetables section. This is where I spend most of my time.. I stock up on apples, carrots, strawberries, sweet potatoes, and salad fixins. I even introduced my mom to Kale! I dont think she will try it from the look on her face haha

Yay my fridge is actually full!

As we moved on through out the store, we picked up a new brand of Greek Yogurt..

Yoplait Plain Greek Yogurt

I love the protein in greek yogurt.. but the problem is that you have to buy the plain because anything with flavoring will most likely be filled with sugar..and if you've never tried greek yogurt.. its very bitter tasting. I usually eat it with strawberries or blueberries..mmmMMM.

I was also very excited because the grocery store finally had pumpkin pie filling!! I am so excited to make pumpkin pie pancakes and muffins or even put some in my oatmeal : )

So many recipes to try!

 
 I also knew that I wouldnt have much time in the next few weeks and I may have to go home for a few days so I wanted to stock up on canned vegetables and fruits. I bought pineapple chunks, vegetable soups and canned green beans, carrots and potatos.

This is about a quarter of the canned food I bought

I also needed some cereal because it is my favorite meal replacement. Sometimes when I get home I just dont want to cook food and so I reach for a good bowl of cereal. Normally, I get cheerios because they are the cheapest healthy cereal.. this time I let myself splurge a little and I bought cinnamon life! Its so good..Ive already had 2 bowls since yesterday! : )

I also made sure to buy the essentials to pack my lunch for work. I always pack because it saves money and ensures that you have a healthy lunch waiting for you. I got whole grain bread, turkey, string cheese and almonds. All in all the trip was a success and I am fully stocked for the upcoming weeks.

When we got back to my apartment we worked on figuring out my student loan consolidation..disgusting**, ate some flatbread pizza for lunch and also did each others nails. Can you believe my mom is a fully grown woman and shes never had a french tip done before? Well I had to change that.


So what are your staples at the grocery store? Which section do you spend all your time in?