Dairy Free Diets

Diary free is the latest diet craze. Here's why it ISN'T good for you!

The new year means people are talking about diets to get themselves back on track from the gluttonous holiday season. Everyone wants to know what everyone is doing to get results. I hear it all the time in the banter and chatter at my gym: "What diet are you following?" friends will ask one another. I get asked all the time what I've done to "lose all my baby weight so fast." And then one of my fellow fitness buddies Andrea Reynolds posted this video to her Facebook page and asked what people thought. If you didn't click to the vid, it's a man we're told is a "doctor" (although MD, PhD, MS or just a dude who's "studied" the subject isn't made clear) who goes on and on about how humans shouldn't drink cow milk or consume any dairy product. I replied to her pose with some choice emojis. Because dairy free diets are the latest bogus diet craze.

That's right. A dairy free diet is a load of crap. It won't help you lose weight, it won't balance your hormones and it won't reduce excess mucus. 

I know some of the dairy free folks are losing their minds right now. But let's look back at history to help me prove my point. In the late 1980s and 1990s, it was widely accepted that a low-fat diet is best. Fat has the most calories per gram, after all, so it made sense that reducing fat intake also would reduce overall calorie intake and therefore keep people in better shape and healthier. The FDA approved of this diet and taught it in the schools with the food pyramid. Major food companies marketed all their products as being low fat, reduced fat or even fat free. There was fat free mayo and fat free cream cheese and you better only eat those egg whites because the yolk is full of fat! And fat is bad, the 1990s told us. 

What happened? People got fatter than ever! The 1990s saw one of the biggest rises in obesity to date. Food companies realized that taking all the fat out of things made it taste bad. So they replaced the fat with sugar. As it would turn out, SUGAR is what causes the creation of fat cells in the body, not fat. Sugar consumption soared in the 90's right along with people's waistlines. And heart attacks? Well those also increased. 

Sometime in the early 2000s scientists and cardiologists realized that all fat isn't bad for the heart. In fact, some of it is really good for you! Plant-based fats like avocados and Omega-3's found in fatty fish like wild salmon are great for healthy hearts AND healthy waistlines. The FDA changed the food pyramid. Several times, actually. Low fat became a thing of the past, and the pendulum swung hard the other way: Now it was low-carb diets that would keep us all slim!

With fats back in favor, the new food demon was bread, rice, potatoes and anything with sugar. Dr. Atkins became a household name. Bread baskets at restaurants faded away. Mass chain restaurants signaled which of their items were low-carb. The Chipolte burrito bol launched so people wouldn't have to eat the flour-filled tortilla. I was in college for this stupid craze and so many of my sorority sisters talked excessively about carbs, and how many they did or didn't have that day. It was in the late 2000s that I saw a tank top that said, "I EAT CARBS" and I laughed so hard I bought it!

Around 2010, after people had suffered one too many meat sweats, it came to light that carbohydrates are, in fact, not the devil. Complex carbohydrates like brown rice, sweet potatoes and whole wheat bread came back into favor. Refined carbs still should be eaten rarely, but the low carb craze slipped off it's buttery, greasy cliff.

After carbs were cool again, the gluten free tribe emerged. Everyone blamed EVERYTHING on gluten! It was making them fat, it was throwing their hormones out of whack, it was giving them the runs. Gluten took the food demon baton! And while I still have many friends who *try* to eat gluten free, they don't do it 100%. Truly gluten free food is about three times as expensive as normal food. And if you think that sushi you had was GF, the sushi rice is loaded with it (due to the vinegar in it) and so was the soy sauce you dipped it in. 

GF is still pretty big, but I think people have gotten sick of asking what's GF on menus. Because honestly, you get about two choices (at best) of truly GF food that isn't a salad. They're sick of paying $15 for a slice of GF pizza. Hell, maybe they just miss a good sandwich. I know I would! So here we are at the newest food demon: Dairy. 

Dairy is giving people headaches, it's making them bloated and gassy, it's turning their children into monsters. It's the cause of their self-diagnosed hormone imbalance. They blame their stuffy noses on dairy because they think it contributes to mucus production (that "causation" has been scientifically proven to be untrue.) Ahhh dairy. You're the new "low fat" and "low carb" food craze, and I cannot wait for people to return to sanity again about you.

I don't understand why history can't seem to teach us a lesson. It's pretty clear to me. Food crazes that tell you NOT to eat something DON'T WORK. They don't work because it's not sustainable. Sure, maybe you lost a few pounds following one of these dumb diet fads. Have you stuck with it for years and years and have you kept the weight off? My guess is no. Because when you deprive yourself of something, especially of an entire food group like this stupid dairy free craze, your body starts to lack nutrients. Your mind starts to crave that one specific thing you're telling it it can't have. So you eat more of other food items to compensate for the deprivation.

Want to get healthy in 2017? Ditch the food demons! Don't make anything off limits. Incorporate everything into your diet. Eat responsibly. Let yourself have treats, but make sure you have more good days than bad. Fill your plate with as many veggies as you can. THAT is how you have a healthy lifestyle! Can we all get over the dairy free diet already?

Beating The January Gym Rush

Health and fitness New Year Resolutionists abound when it's January at the gym but if you set the right goals, you can beat the rush

Today’s post is sponsored by Smoothie King, but my content and love for their Meal Replacement Smoothies is all my own. Take the challenge as part of a low-calorie diet and daily exercise program.  Weight loss depends on individual needs. 

Ahhhhh, January. One of my least favorite months. It's cold, it's dark and the glow of the holidays has faded as the Christmas tree comes down. There's pudge from holiday libations and pale, dry winter skin. Have I sufficiently depressed you? Cool, it gets worse. I bundle up the kids for preschool drop off, haul my butt to my yoga studio to juuuuuuust make a class, and it's PACKED. With newbies. Who aren't familiar with yoga studio etiquette or how to properly prepare for a barre class. Because it's January at the gym.

Now let me be clear: If you're going to come to the gym in the new year and stick with it, I welcome you! New members mean new friends for me, and who doesn't want new friends? But I find that the people who come in January aren't those people.

Typically (you know, because generalizations are fun) the January gymmers signed up because there was a special on either monthly dues or the registration fee. They've told themselves that "this is their year!" to get back into shape. They made a new year's resolution to lose the holiday weight they packed on and then some. They don't have the "fit lifestyle" in mind, they only focus on the scale and their body image.

And because of that lack of proper focus, they fail. They hit the gym hard for 3-6 weeks then die out. Perhaps there wasn't instant gratification with the number on the scale or the muscle tone didn't happen the way they wanted after 4 yoga classes. For the few weeks they do show up, they cause complete chaos! The lockers baffle them, they don't get the towel return service, they don't understand that they need to hang their yoga mats up to dry instead of rolling them up wet. They over-crowd classes. I happen to like crowded classes because there's more energy to them, but the January gymmers crowd it with a nervous, unknowing energy that's outright obnoxious.

This barre class was so popular, it was spilling into the lobby! Ahhh, January at the barre studio.

I'm not here to discourage people from signing up for a gym or yoga studio membership! Quite the opposite in fact. What I'm saying is if you're going to do it, do it like you mean it. Don't focus on losing XX pounds or getting into a pair of old jeans again. Don't go to one yoga class, watch the woman who has clearly been practicing for years and compare yourself to her and never show up again because you weren't as "good" as her.

Instead, set realistic goals. What do those look like? This:

- "I'm going to the gym for 3-4 hours of 'me time' a week"
- "I'm going to get stronger so that I have the stamina to play/keep up with my kid(s)"
- "I'm going to start a yoga practice to reduce the stress in my life"
- "I want to eat healthier to FEEL better"

That's right - if you want gym success, you need nutrition success too! Going to the gym for a class and following it with a cheeseburger and fries or perhaps you order a salad but then splurge on dessert because "you earned it" is counterproductive. If you're going to beat the January gym rush and set great, achievable goals for the new year, you gotta back it up with a healthy (or even just a healthier) diet.

Post gym smoothie selfie! No makeup. Standard.

I totally get that eating on the go is hard. I'm usually always on the go and there is always a taco stand calling my name somewhere! But Smoothie King just launched their meal replacement smoothies and I kid you not, there's one across the street from my gym! As I wrangle my own taco consumption under control, I've vowed to hit up Smoothie King post workout for a protein packed shake that come in SO many flavors and have less than 400 calories each. Perfect for getting a post-gym nutritional punch that supports an overall healthy lifestyle.

Those are the kinds of goals that set you up for long-term gym goer status. Get to thinking that way, and you'll outlive the January gymmers. Adopt one of those as your motto, and you'll fit right in with everyone else and feel more at ease in your first weeks there. Beat that January gym rush!

Reflections on 2016 and My 2017 Theme Word

Looking back on the major events of 2016 and looking forward to a new year and a new theme word

Hey 2017, I've been waiting for you. A lot of people have complained about the challenges that 2016 brought, how it was a crummy year and they're excited about a fresh start, and I'm no different. Outside of the bizarre political landscape that 2016 saw (and will continue to see for four years), the horrific world events that took place, the tense race relations that escalated in the United States, and on and on and on, 2016 was a challenging year for me personally. I did a 2016 blog review here, but these are my personal reflections on 2016.

January came and I had a brand new baby. Learning to be a mom of two children under two was hard. Before Otto was born, I just had to meet the needs of one child before I could focus on my own. With two, it was like all I did was volley between the two kids and never had time to get to my needs. I lasted until February, when we hired a night nurse twice a week to get up with Otto and a part time nanny during the day so that I could actually get stuff done (including expanding this blog).

The moment we got home from the hospital after having Otto. My mom had decorated the house with welcome signs

I don't think I really got the hang of being a mom of two young children until the late spring. Then I found my rhythm of getting two kids in and out of car seats without my toddler running across the parking lot. I got preschool drop offs and pickups under control as I managed a baby, backpacks, nap mats, sippy cups and parking chaos. I learned how to grocery shop with two in my cart, and how to get kids and hundreds of dollars of food into a car when it's 115 degrees out. (Turning the car on to blast the air, getting the kids in, and finally the groceries was the successful order of operations there!)

2016 tested my marriage. It turns out, when you have two young, young kids, there's very little time to not only focus on yourself but even less to focus on your marriage. After a long day of bouncing between the needs of two babies, I had so little left in me I didn't want to put it into strengthening a marriage. Fortunately, we realized what was happening to us and took the steps to correct it. But if you think a baby will fix a relationship, you've got that entirely backwards, because holy stress.

Adding a second baby was TOUGH, but it did get better!

The end of 2016 really tested my passion for blogging. I saw so many bloggers fall into the nonstop sponsored post trend that I actually stopped working with brands for weeks. I struggled with making money versus having an authentic voice. And for the record, no. I don't think you can take nonstop paid work and still be authentic. Paid work doesn't work that way.

I expanded my Instagram but then got stressed out about how it was just a game of numbers. First the focus was on getting your follower account above a certain threshold to be considered a "success" and the year ended with nonstop chatter about engagement. Engage engage engage! Reply to every comment! Comment on others! Like photos in your niche! *insert eye roll and toy gun emoji here*

I got so sick of it, I contemplated shutting down my account. I compared myself to other bloggers and just felt depleted. I thought, "Yeah, if I had the money to hire a photographer, I'd be making the same money as ________ too! So and so doesn't have any kids, must be nice to have time to put on makeup and get designer clothes sent to you..." That's just a dark place to be. But I was trudging though some PPD, and spent a lot of 2016 in a grumpy, if not outright dark, place. 

As we transition into 2017, I'm filled with hope. My kids are another year older and are becoming more independent by the day. Everyone asks if I miss the baby phase, and I say no. I don't miss constantly being needed. I know some women thrive on that, but not me. I look at my kids getting older and gaining more skills, and am glad of it every day. They both get more personality by the minute and that is an absolute JOY. As they become more independent, there are more opportunities for my husband and me to focus on us again. That is also a JOY.

Finally figured out this mom of two thing

I have a mini-plan for this blog, and I'm excited to see what happens with it. 2016 got so competitive and weird that I saw a few of my long time blog friends up and quit shop. I'm forging on, but am done with the nonstop number crunching. If a photo only gets 50 likes, so be it. If I only make a few hundred bucks one month, oh well. I'm looking forward to blogging about things that bring me JOY again.

Every year I see memes saying that XXXX year was so rough and they're excited to see it go. I've never agreed with that until 2016. Reflecting back, it was a rough year for the world, it was a rough year for U.S politics and it was a rough year for me personally. But challenges bring opportunities for growth, and I'm so excited to concentrate on my word for 2017: JOY. You know what else is an absolute JOY? Figuring out the image sizing issue on this blog! Notice those big photos? Awwwwww yeeeeeeah *insert hands up emoji here* Happy 2017 y'all!