Two secrets
Hey everyone! Happy (?) Monday 😀 Hope you had a lovely weekend!
Yesterday morning (afternoon, rather since we were bums) I made the pilot another Tucson-style meal:
Chorizo, eggs and handmade tortillas. I didn’t make the tortillas- they’re from Anita St. Bakery in Tucson (I have WHEAT for me!!!) and they’re made fresh every day…… sooooo good. They taste like my childhood 😀
After playing with my new crackberry I was feeling brave, so I ventured to Sam’s Club, Wizzle and Publizzle all on a Sunday. Baaddddd idea. All 3 places were crowded with people who walk as slowly as possible and randomly stop whilst shopping- making sure there’s no way for you to get around them!
I ate this for sanity purposes:
And came home to the pilot to make a nice Sunday meal with him.
Instead of doing veggie packs in foil as I usually do, I used these cool kabob rack things we’ve had for quite some time and haven’t broken out yet.
Zucchini, squash. campari tomatoes, vidalia onions and garlic, seasoned with evoo, sea salt and pepper.
I had some of this while while I was prepping the food:
And started on a raw Caesar salad:
Secret #1: Here’s the recipe 😀
Raw Caesar Salad (serves two)
-2 stalks of romaine, washed and chopped
-1/4 cup raw cashews, soaked for 4-6 hours
-1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
-2 cloves fresh garlic
-juice of two lemons
-1/8 cup raw apple cider vinegar
-2 tbs dulse
-sprinkle of cayenne pepper
-dash of curry powder
-1 tbs miso (I used chickpea miso)
-Add cashews and remaining ingredients into the Vita-mix and blend until smooth
-Toss with the romaine leaves and serve
Super easy and wayyyyy delicious!
For our meal, we had shrimp (with lemon juice, evoo, garlic, lemon zest, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, sea salt and pepper), portobello mushrooms (with balsamic vinegar and fresh rosemary) and the pilot had chicken (marinated in Italian dressing).
Here’s my plate with the veggies:
And the pilot’s plate:
And the glorious raw Caesar salad for each of us: (the pilot loved it!)
It was a perfect meal. Shrimp, veggies, raw delights, I’m sold 😀
Are ya ready for Secret #2???
I’m going to go ahead and debunk one of the biggest fitness/weight loss myths ever…..
I got the following comment on the bloggy yesterday:
Gina, could you do a post sometime (or have you, and I just can’t find it????!) on how you lost your weight, and how you eat so much and still stay so rocking? Is it all the exercise??? I’m supremely curious and totally inspired by you.
Thanks!
Ok, here’s the secret…
Come a little closer….
Closer…..
Ok.
You need to eat in order to lose weight. If you don’t need to lose weight, you need to eat to be healthy. EAT! Just don’t eat garbage.
This is something that took me a long time to learn. Magazines, media, and other girls tricked me into thinking that in order to for one to lose weight or look their best, one would need to always be on a “diet”, deprive themselves and exist in a constant state of hunger.
That, my friends, is the biggest LIE ever. Right now, I eat more than I used to (a few years ago), even though my activity level (pretty darn high) has remained the same for most of my life. Significantly more. And I’m also the same size/weight/jeans size as I was when I wasn’t eating enough to sustain my activity levels.
When you don’t eat enough food to support your activity levels, your body goes into starvation mode and holds onto all of the fat it can. This is why people can work out like maniacs, not eat enough food, remain the exact same weight and scratch their heads about why this is happening. By eating, you keep your metabolism revving at full force and actually burn more calories. The thing is, you have to eat whole and healthy foods.
I’ve said it a million times but I’m going to say it again- the calorie count of a food doesn’t say much about how that particular food will be used by the body. The calories in a large salad chock full of veggies are going to affect your body much differently than a Krispy Kreme with the same caloric count as the salad. Our body knows how to process the salad and can efficiently break it down, whereas the donut, nutritionally-devoid and laden with trans fat, white flour and refined sugar, will spike our blood sugar and sit in our body for much longer, causing us to gain weight. This is the number one reason why I can stuff my face with salads, veggies, whole grains, fruit, (moderate) nuts and seeds and not gain an ounce… but filling myself on junk food with the same calorie count would cause me to become smushy and render my favorite pair of Sevens too tight.
I eat a lot because I eat well. I’m also highly active, as I teach aerobics every day and train clients, which makes me hungrier. This will make it easy to maintain my weight when I don’t teach aerobics, as I don’t plan on doing it forever. When that happens, I’ll eat less, because I won’t be as hungry.
The reason why I was overweight to begin with (you can read about my weight loss story here) was because I overate and ate a lot of junk. As soon as I changed my eating habits to the healthy stuff, the weight started to fall off and I was pleasantly surprised with my increase in energy. The best thing about my new eating plan was that I didn’t need to count calories—I could eat to my heart’s delight (I needed sufficient fuel to dance as I danced an average of 5 hours each day) and just had to ensure that it was all healthy food.
I still treat myself to junk every blue moon, but in all 100% honesty, I’m not a huge fan of it. White flour isn’t appealing to me (100% whole grain products are much heartier and delicious in my opinion) and I don’t crave sugary sweets and chips the way I used to. When I do have a craving for something delicious that isn’t necessarily the healthiest choice, I eat it, and move on. No big deal.
This turned into a much longer spiel than I anticipated but the main point of what I’m trying to say is EAT. Eat often. Eat until you’re perfectly content and eat well. Your energy levels, tummy and jeans size will thank you.
Have a wonderful Monday!
xoxo,
G
51 Comments
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Great post, Gina. And thank you so much for posting the casesar recipe! I can't wait to try it.
hahahah I love secret number 2- thats awesome. Ughhh I hate going to those stores on Sundays! Slow/oblivious walkers drive me nutso! Glad you made it out safe. What an awesome looking dinner
I LOVE this post. The Caesar Salad sounds amazing…that was my very favorite food before going vegan. I'll be trying this out for sure!
Love your tips for weight loss and I think thats what people need to hear! Eat Healthy!
Love that Caesar Salad recipe and will be trying that soon, thanks!
Thanks for the recipe!! 😀
The raw caesar looks great! I am def going to try that!
Thank you for another awesome and TRUE post! Not eating+ over- exercising= unhealthy self. I actually became VERY anemic from this combination. It is great to see you sharing the bad logic of this mentality with everyone!
great post girl! JUST last night I made this enormous salad and my friends were eating pizza and they were like uh your salad is HUGE. In my head I'm like that slice of pizza is huge. I had a broccoli belly and they had pepperoni bellies. friend fail.
awesome sun night meal 🙂
Great post! Love the info about EATING!!! 🙂 One of my favorite things to do… seriously. My husband has lots stories – LOL.
And, love the raw salad and dressing. Cool!
Cheers,
Kristen
THANK YOU for this post, Gina! I always find what you write so helpful and even … inspiring! 🙂 And thanks for the recipe!
word up.
A healthy caesar salad… love it!
I love secret #2– it's an important reminder that not all food is bad food… thanks!
great post Gina!!
I can relate- I ate less when I was 25 lbs heavier than I do now… not only in volume but I think in calories as well. It definitely is related to the quality of the food! Also, I have way more energy after a pile of veggies/fruits/good proteins than I do even after a little bit of junk. Amazing how the body really knows and appreciated good, healthy food.
Okay I just got the news that you're on the crackberry train! Prepare for a full on addiction 😀
"people who walk as slowly as possible and randomly stop whilst shopping- making sure there’s no way for you to get around them!" One of my biggest pet peeves!!
Isn't it crazy how once you 'clean up' your diet you stop craving all of the junk? When I became vegetarian and started eating whole grains my sweet tooth went out the window.
Eating well is definitely the way to go! Great post full of amazing info 🙂 The word "diet" needs to be banned from every girls dictionary!
Those shrimp and veggie kabobs look so tasty 🙂
beautifully put Gina!!! 🙂
Ur salad looks great!!!
Fabulous post… just reconfirming why I am a daily reader of your blog for info and inspiration. Thanks you for your sensible, straightforward thoughts! 🙂
Wonderful post! Yay eating! haha
That raw caesar looks FABULOUS! Thanks for posting the recipe… can't wait to try it.
Awesome post! I really love your blog!
my boyfriend's cousin made a Caesar salad similar, but used less ingredients and added an egg.
I had a curve before but mine wasn't that nice i dont think … i had an 8330 though so maybe that is diff. it was pink too lol. now i have a storm. love blackberries 😀
-muffy
Goooood secrets!! thanks for sharing 😀 Slow grosh shoppers or mall walkers are so frustrating!!
Your dinner looks so delish! Plus this was a GREAT post! It is so true what you said…so true!
Great post! I love the secret!
And that little kabob maker looks so fun.
I love secret #2! I hate the whole "just eat less" concept… its more "just eat differently"!
It's so true that it's hard for many people to accept that we can enjoy good, whole foods in generous quantities and not gain weight. This whole mentality of "weight loss = calories in < calories out" really needs to be qualified for people who might not have the wealth of nutritional knowledge available to those of us lucky ducks in the blogosphere!
Thanks for the raw caesar recipe – that might just have to happen soon. 🙂
THANK YOU for this! Even though I work a desk job, I try to get out for a walk over lunch and I work out about 5 days a week (either weights, running, or yoga). My boyfriend lives with his friend and his friend's gf … this girl will tell me that she only had yogurt for lunch, buuut she never works out and is a little bit overweight. When it comes time to sit down for dinner, I always eat more than her. What used to make me a little self-conscious now just makes sense! I need to EAT to fuel my active body!!
yesyes YES!!
You got a big ole AMEN up in herre for the admonishment to eat.
have a great monday.
Aww man, I wish I had an outdoor grill sooo badly! Your shrimp and veggies look like the perfect summer meal. That Caesar salad also looks pretty bangin! I'm glad you enjoyed a nice Sunday night with the Pilot:)
awesome post! everyone needs a little reminder once in a while!
Ahh! I just did some may-juh Fitnessista catching up! First off, the hot shirtless run date? I sooo need to find me a man who will fill that role for me. Damn. Secondly, I am so glad you bought Time Traveler's Wife! I've temporarily put reading on pause while MamaJ is here, but I know I'll finish it this week. Isn't it incredible? Cannot wait till I'm finished so I can see the movie!
I love this tip you shared today. I'm always baffled when people don't eat b-fast or other meals in efforts to cut calories. It's like, this doesn't work, friends! Hello!
Anyway, have a lovely start to the week!
Terrific post and question! I loved the way you answered it!
Love the advice, great post.
haha, coconut creme Laras are essential to my sanity too;)
This is a great post! Thanks for the tips. Dinner looks great!
Nicely expressed Gina! I am so happy that you posted on it (did you also see HEAB's post?). I lost all my weight by being totally content on eating plant based foods. But you already know by now how much I agree with you on this 🙂
AMEN AMEN AMEN!!!
About this post and the dry brush…Truly do you have any cellulite to get rid of? You're so in shape!
My sister and I always wonder if it's true you CAN get rid of cellulite and why smaller people get it?
I think Im off to google!
Love this post Gina- you are truly an inspiration!
anon- i used to have cellulite, but through losing weight (slowly!) and toning up, it's gone. it is very possible to reduce the size of fat cells and tone up the underlying muscle so that cellulite disappears- i'm proof 😀 you just have to be patient. the reason why thin people can have cellulite is because genetics play a part in how your fat cells are shaped.
I LOVE Lara bars….I had no idea there was a coconut cream pie flavor! Thanks for sharing!
I love your advice on weight loss AND your Pad Thai! and when you figure out that raw enchilada recipe….. better share!
really though! I just slipped back into some old bad habits!
great kick in the butt!
best advice ever. thank you.
Well said.
gina!! i've been reading your blog for a few months [i've wanted to comment sooner but i've been too shy :P] and honestly, you make the best looking food ever. i'm totally into your breakfasts and i've been addicted to your nanner+AB sandwiches for months. thanks and keep up the creativity! xo
ashley- i'm so glad you said hi, and thank you so much for the compliment 😀 hope to see you around more often!
You are a posting machine, BTW….I love it, you must spend alot of time at the ole 'puter screen. Or you have some shortcut that I clearly don't 🙂
Anyway, dulse flakes. Do they make you incredibly thirsty? They do for me. I am really salt sensitive though and notice any amount of sodium and then guzzle h2o like it's goin outta style.
This post was so inspirational! Thanks so much for typing all that out for us! 🙂 Thanks again
This looks amazing! I have to try that Raw Caesar dressing on my boyfriend 😉 Well not ON my boyfriend…but I am sure he’d love a good vegetarian Caesar salad!