All you need is love :)

Date: 2/14/2012

Workout: 5:30am Class at Fitness One, 6pm Spinning Class (I’m teaching) at Rush

Food:

Breakfast: Protein Shake (1c. Frozen Strawberries, 1c. Low Fat Soy Milk, and 1 scoop Protein): 285 Calories, 22g Carbs (18 net), 40g Protein, 4g Fiber, 5g Fat, 185mg Sodium, 13g Sugar

Morning Snack: Special K Bar and Apple: 162 Calories, 37g Carbs (31 net), 1g Protein, 6g Fiber, 2g Fat, 101mg Sodium, 22g Sugar

Lunch: Pizza on Flat Out Bread with 1/2c. Organic Tomato Basil Sauce, 1/4c. Low Fat Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, chopped green peppers, spinach, and 3 slices turkey: 287 Calories, 31g Carbs (26 net), 21g Protein, 5g Fiber, 12g Fat, 1,039mg Sodium, 7g Sugar

Afternoon Snack: Veggies (carrots and celery and sliced peppers) and 2 Tbsp. Greek Yogurt Dill and Feta Dip: 120 Calories, 12g Carbs (9 net), 4g Protein, 3g Fiber, 5g Fat, 220mg Sodium, 4g Sugar

Dinner: Grilled Chicken with 1/2c. Organic Tomato Basil Sauce, 1/4c. Low Fat Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, 1/2c. whole wheat rotini pasta, and 1c. Spinach: 372 Calories, 32g Carbs (26 net), 33g Protein, 6g Fiber, 13g Fat, 934mg Sodium, 7g Sugar

Total Nutrition Intake:

1,226 Calories
134g Carbs (110g Net Carbs)
99g Protein
24g Fiber
37g Fat
2,479mg Sodium àyikes! I feel really happy with everything else in terms of my nutrition today except this!
53g Sugar

I hate sodium! And it’s such an important thing to watch because it does lead to weight gain and can make you feel sluggish. Plus it holds on to your water which doesn’t help with trying to get slimmer. At least I’m aware of it and I’m going to try and counter it by drinking more water than usual to try and flush it out.

All you need is love

Happy Valentine’s Day! I decided to post two different things in relation to Valentine’s Day. The first is about chocolate and the second is quotes on love. Obviously the latter doesn’t have a lot to do with health or fitness but I thought it would be fun to post J

Chocolate

I was going to post an article about this but I decided to just break this subject down plain and simple. Can chocolate be good for you? Yes. Can chocolate be bad for you? Yes.

Chocolate contain flavonoids which have been found to help prevent heart disease and cancer. Chocolate also helps the antioxidant level in your body to rise which helps protect us from damage to the heart and blood vessels and helps to control against inflammation. These antioxidants have been shown to be very strong. One study that compared the total antioxidant activity in single servings of cocoa, green tea, black tea and red wine scored cocoa markedly higher than the rest. Yet the flavonoid content of cocoa and chocolate is highly variable. The more cocoa in a chocolate product, the higher the antioxidant flavonoid content is. Because dark chocolate is more concentrated in cocoa content, it is higher in flavonoids than milk chocolate.

You need to look out for the high calories, sugar, and fat in chocolate. These are all negative things that come with chocolate. Therefore, it’s ok (and even in some ways good) to eat some chocolate if it’s Valentine’s Day or you are craving it. But beware to be careful of your serving size and try to stick to dark chocolate.

Loving Quotes

“There is no remedy for love but to love more.” -Henry David Thoreau

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”- Robert A. Heinlein

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” -Mother Teresa

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8