Conscious Eating

Many blogs, and websites, like She’s Evolving, that are committed to adopting a healthier lifestyle address conscious eating through portion control, balanced and nutritious meals, meal planning and the list goes on.  Although all of these things are important when considering your health and eating rituals, it is not often when we explore deeper matters that affect us all, but stem from a bigger picture.

Although it is vital to me that She’s Evolving shares all of its information from a positive prospective; I am just as committed to sharing knowledge that will help bring awareness.  She’s Evolving is not a platform of trying to conform everyone to a single opinion; however, it is a platform to expand upon information that will encourage people to consider, to share and discuss, to learn from and continuously grow.

I have never pretended to be perfect in my own evolution process to lead a healthier lifestyle.  I am human, and like everyone, I have my periods where I want something greasy and cheesy.  Honesty is relatable.  With that being said, although I am very conscious about what I eat, (and feel guilty whenever I’m on the junk food train), by reading labels, cut out carbonated and sugary beverages, and try to make healthier choices; I can openly admit that outside of sodium, sugar, carbohydrate and fat information stored on the label, I am ignorant to the process beforehand.  Like most people, I am very limited in knowing where my food came from and as much as I thought I knew about reading the labels, this video let me know that I have so much more to learn and think about.

Talk to any health coach or nutritionist, and they will confirm the importance of having a well-balanced meal, and carbohydrates should not be eliminated from your diet, but instead, they should be monitored.  Fitness enthusiasts will share the importance of having protein in your diet to repair cells and create new ones, to build and repair tissues and they are aware that it is an essential building block, and key in creating and maintaining lean muscle.  So we learn these things and immediately commit to boneless, skinless chicken, and seafood high in protein and packed with Omega 3’s.  But yet again, we don’t think beyond that and consider the what story behind our protein sources.

Here are a couple very interesting articles to consider.  They left me wondering about what I am putting into my body and how it could or will affect me.

http://themindunleashed.org/2014/06/mass-fish-deaths-millions-found-dead-world-past-month.html

http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/08/16/fda-finally-admits-chicken-meat-contains-cancer-causing-arsenic/

*Disclaimer, the videos and links provided in this post were not written by She’s Evolving and are solely shared with the intended purposes of bringing awareness only. 

 

-She’s Evolving

You’re already home…

You’re “Waisting” Your Time

I read this article posted by BODYBYZEUS and I thought I would share it with you, and share my own thoughts as well. Although I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion, and should always do what works best for them, I have to say that BodybyZeus is spot on in his post. As you are well aware, I am one who likes to try different products and report my experience with them, and some how I had forgotten to discuss the “waist snatching” excitement flooding Instagram. The pictures generally show a “before” picture with someone having their belly hanging out, followed by an “after” photo that shows what they look like with the waist snatcher on.
I bought one. Although I have a small waist, I wanted to see what the hype was about, and I thought it would support my back during weight training-(but I was in for a rude awakening). I would first like to add that when I was a little girl, my mother taught me to hold my stomach in. It took me a while to grasp the concept, but I got it down without wanting to pass out from holding my breath (ha!). Now as a grown woman, I realize that what she taught me was how to strengthen my core and I do it to this very day. Now back to waist snatching…
When I put on the waist snatcher, the first thing I realized was how challenging it was for me to breathe. I was laboring short, shallow breaths because of how tightly I was being squeezed; I figured it was an adjustment period. The second thing that I noticed was that it prevented me from relying on my core strength to hold in my tummy and that the corset was doing all of the work. Great right? Absolutely not. My muscles weren’t holding my tummy in place, it was simply being squeezed in place and when I took it off, I didn’t feel the tightness that I do when I use my own core strength.
I was most excited to try the corset at the gym but quickly learned that was not going to work. I could only run a fraction of the time because I was running on what felt like half of my air capacity-almost like trying to run while breathing through a straw. Not willing or ready to give up, I decided to only use it during weight training as a method of supporting my back. That did not work because my movements were so constricted and the constriction was negatively influencing my posture. Posture is very important during weight training because it prevents injury. Because of my limited movements, I was over compensating with other body parts and basically setting myself up for serious injury, so I let the corset go.
I considered wearing it to work, or when I’m up and running errands and I can tell you it’s very uncomfortable to do much of anything in it. Again, the limitations it put on my movements made it difficult to drive in. Walking around in it was not so bad, with the exception of how the top of the corset pushes up right up under my breasts and it greatly conflicted with my bra. I was always adjusting myself, or finding myself tucking my t-shirt inside of it just to add some padding.
In a nutshell, I will say that if you are looking for something to offer you a smooth looking silhouette under your clothes and have no intentions of moving-Go For It! However living in the real world has made this highly impractical for me to use. I say, save your money and invest in spending time on your body through a healthy well-balanced meal, plenty of exercise. Remember you must work your entire body and not isolate target “trouble” areas only.
In my experience, the fastest way to lose a tummy is changing your diet, and running. ABS ARE MADE IN THE KITCHEN! Your body is built to be challenged and be active. It’s hard work that will pay off, and at the very least, you will adopt a healthier lifestyle that will continuously reward you. Avoid the gimmicks, put in the work and keep it simple!
Thanks for the great post BodybyZeus!
-Charisse

Quantum Leap Fitness

* puts on bullet proof vest, jumps into armored vehicle, uses the megaphone to tell you all…

WAIST TRAINING DOESN’T WORK !

* speeds off at 100 mph as a hostile group of women chase my motorcade on foot *  

finds irony in this fact because they don’t like to workout and that waist training has them breathing high and shallow anyway 

 As the number of people giving into the waist training craze rapidly increases and everyone’s favorite Instagram model promotes it wildly, you’d would think #WaistTrainingSuccess would be a trending topic. Except, after you invest $49.99  and 3 months, most folks realize that  they are exactly who they were before they started…minus $49.99, of course. So they go ahead and add that torture devise to  their collection of home workout DVDs .  Because while it appears to be a brilliant idea that has a great marketing scheme…

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