Welcome to my blog!

This is my very first blog post (I'm really trying to embrace this crazy computer as a means of communicating!) I’m writing it less as a Pilates professional and more as a working, middle-aged mom who’s trying to keep all things in balance - work, motherhood, marriage and ME. I am determined to allow myself to age gracefully and feel good about myself at the same time. This is no easy feat in Beverly Hills.

My first topic….those extra pounds.

Somehow after turning 40 I slowly gained an extra 6 pounds. Maybe not a lot of weight on some bodies, but on a 5 foot tall Pilates instructor it was significant enough to alter what jeans I could wear. And professionally - not a great career move. I even had a client say to me, “you’re in shape but even you have a little pouch.” I began trying to get back to my former self but just didn’t have the discipline to eat responsibly. What I really needed was to totally reboot my system. In June I was invited to teach at the Golden Door Spa in Escondido, CA. (And yes, it is that fabulous. I highly recommend it for relaxation and time to focus on nothing other than your true self.) While I was there I got to practice healthy eating and met a woman named Wendy Bazilian. Wendy has written a book called “The Superfoods Rx Diet”. Although I won’t ever follow a true D-I-E-T, (after all it is just one letter off from the word DIE) reading the book has shifted my awareness about food.

When I was teaching my kids to sleep through the night I purchased a book about it. There were no directions to follow per se, other than letting the child cry, but the book mentally prepared you for it and focused on the benefits of good sleeping habits for kids. It also gave you the strength to allow them to cry, even though it is incredibly painful to hear it. I find this book to be similar in that way. It makes you mentally stronger. When you view food as fuel for your body and realize its direct affect on your health, you eat differently.

Here are some changes I made:
I drink half the amount of caffeinated coffee that I used to and now use organic agave syrup to sweeten it, instead of white sugar. I have at least one cup of green tea per day, sometimes hot, sometimes cold with a splash of pomegranate juice. No more Diet Cokes. Instead, I drink La Croix sparkling water with natural lime. It comes in a can…and trust me; it’s all about the container! I try to have three small meals and two snacks most days. I eat as many “super foods” as possible and look for ways to add them to my favorite meals. I don’t eat later than 7pm and try as much as possible to take at least a stroll, if not an extended walk after eating. This is in addition to my exercise for the week which I try to keep at 3-7 hours per week. If a birthday should happen, I eat cake, and if I’m out with friends I’ll have a glass of wine or two, but I resume my routine the following day. I’ve managed to get those extra pounds off and I do not feel as if I have dieted.

As I am writing this I must confess - I am munching away on brownies -byes, that’s plural, brown-IES. My son has a friend sleeping over, my husband is away, and I just ate pizza for my dinner too. So tomorrow - oatmeal with pumpkin for breakfast or maybe some yogurt with blueberries…check in with me and make sure I’m back on the program, ok?

Here are some must have for your kitchen all available at Trader Joe’s, mostly their brand: steamed lentils, steamed and peeled baby beets, orange and bergamot unsweetened green tea, pomegranate juice, McCann’s steel cut oatmeal, roasted unsalted almonds, organic blue agave syrup, Fage Greek strained yogurt 2%, and multigrain spaghetti with flax.

For more info on this great book and/or to purchase it for yourself, go to http://www.amazon.com/Superfoods-Rx-Diet-Weight-SuperNutrients/dp/1594867402