MONIKAPL’s BodyBlog

Check out my bio, pictures, and few articles on JIM MACHAK’s website.  He’s got some great stuff on there, so check it out!

http://www.jimmachak.com/monikabanach.html 

Many of us have a guilt relationship with food cravings.  Sometimes they can become so strong that they completely take over our senses.  Food cravings can be responsible for certain nutrient deficiencies in our body, but not always.

So what can we do to try to prevent these insane cravings?  Well, as Julie Lohre once told me “your body will do what your mind tells it to”.  Yes, you can control your cravings, because they are mostly in your head.  You have to become stronger than that inner voice that is telling you to have a piece of cheesecake.  

Here are some helpful tips:

Separate yourself from the food/mood connection, change your routine.  If you are used to drinking wine while watching your favorite TV show, stop and substitute it with a cup of your favorite herbal tea, flavored water, or whatever else you like.  I had to actually do that; it took me about a month to break my wine-late night TV show habit.  Now, I don’t crave it anymore.  Same goes for stress, when we are stressed out, we tend to reach for those comfort foods.  Find something that you can substitute for when you are stressed out.  Keep yourself occupied, wait it out, go to the gym, distract your mind.

Figure out what triggers your emotional cravings and make a list of activates to divert your mind off of those cravings.  If you always crave sweets at night before you go to bed, read a book instead to take your mind off of food.  Sometimes just hitting the gym can get rid off cravings.  Exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, feel good chemicals in your brain, so after your workout, you are less likely to reach for junk.

Do not skip your meals even if you overeat during one of your daily meals.  Skipping meals will only put you in an emotional low, drop your blood sugar and make you crave bad foods ever more.  Also, drink lots of water during the day to keep your mouth occupied with something.

Keep your house clear from temptation foods.  I know this can be hard to do when you have kids, but eliminating unnecessary fat foods/temptation foods from your house will save you many midnight snack crazies.  If you don’t have cookies at home, you are probably not going to go to the store in the middle of the night just to buy cookies.

Have a support system like a friend or a family member that you can call when you are feeling down, or when you get your cravings.  I have a good friend of mine that is a personal trainer, and when I get my insane cravings, or feel lazy about going to the gym, I call him and tell him about it.  His positive energy and excitement about working out always persuades me to go to the gym.  I never regretted going to the gym even after a 12 hr day at work.  . 

Supplements play an important role in preventing cravings.  Give your body enough essential nutrients, take multivitamins everyday.  I take multivitamins everyday in the morning and B vitamin complex before bed to give me energy for the next day. Here are few functions of B vitamins:  “Support and increase the rate of metabolism, maintain healthy skin and muscle tone, enhance immune and nervous system function, promote cell growth and division — including that of the red blood cells that help prevent anemia, reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer, one of the most lethal forms of cancer” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B_vitamins).

Omega 3 and Omega 6 essential fatty acids (EFA) that can be found in flaxseed, fish oil, nuts, fish also play several important functions in our bodies, including immune system support, joint lubrication, energy production in our cells, and many other. 

When you continue to crave something so badly and none of the above distractions help, go ahead and have a small portion of it.  Treat it as your cheat meal.  Sometimes, this can be the only thing that will get rid of your cravings.  Don’t go crazy with it and instead of having few chips you end up eating the whole big bag.  You will probably regret it the next day because you will feel like sh**t.  Trust me, I have done it all!

Hope this helps

I believe that your diet is one of the most important factors of getting in shape. Often you will hear that nutrition is about 75-80% of what you look like, working out 10-15%, and genetics about 10%. This is so absolutely true. Diet is the KEY! There are people out there that eat junk all the time and look like they are in a great shape, but do not let them fool you. It will catch up with them sooner or later. Rather it will be gaining weight later in life or getting heart diseases, diabetes, high cholesterol, etc. it will catch up! You can do all the cardio you want or lift weights all day long but if you do not supply your body with the proper nutrition/clean diet, you are simply wasting your time.

Eating clean can seem very difficult for a lot of people; many do not understand what it takes to eat clean. They think it is some kind of mystery and it is too difficult to understand, so they just give up before they even start. Well, good news: eating clean is very simple. If you want to lose weight, get in shape, put on muscle, you have to eat at least 5-6 meals per day, and you should not go longer than 3 hrs without eating. If you only have 3 large meals per day, your metabolism slows down significantly, and you tend you eat more because you are so hungry by the time your next meal comes. Each meal should include source of lean protein (chicken, fish, tofu, steak, whey protein, etc.), veggies (broccoli, asparagus, spinach, green leafy lettuce, cauliflower, etc.) and complex carbohydrates (brown rice, sweet potatoes, oat meal, whole grain bread, etc). Good fats such as nuts, flaxseed, fish oil, olive oil should also be part of your daily intake. Good fats are vital for your cellular functions and development, such as preventing inflammation, lubricating your joints, proper insulin functioning in your body, and several other important roles. And last but not least, do not forget to drink lots of water. I drink about a gallon of water a day.

Eating clean is simple. Start today, read about it, educate yourself about things that you do not understand, do not just give up and say “it is too hard”. It will be hard at the beginning to get used to eating clean, but when you start seeing the changes in your body, you will not want to go back to eating junk and feeling like a pile of junk.

Preparation is the key when it comes to eating clean. I always prepare my foods for the week on Sunday. I usually cook few chicken breasts, fresh veggies, rice or sweet potatoes and if I know it will be a very busy week for me, I even arrange individual meals in plastic containers so I can just grab them and throw them in my lunch box in the morning. I always have my lunch box somewhere with me, in my car or at work. We are inseparable. This way, I never have to worry about what I am going to eat or if I will have enough time to run home and eat. If you have it right there, you are less likely to grab junk when you are hungry.

Give up junk! You will not miss it after you see how your body feels when you feed it quality foods. When you get in a habit of eating clean and seeing the difference it does to your body, you will not want to cheat or eat junk. Stay away from people that push junk food on you. I know people that will offer me crap to eat, and when I politely refuse, they keep pushing it at me: “Come one, one little piece of chocolate won’t kill you”. Why do people do that? They feel guilty about eating crappy & they want you to eat crappy too, so they do not feel as bad about it. Misery loves company. Do not let them make you feel guilty, be strong and say NO. When you are eating clean, explain to your family and friends how important this is to you and how much you would appreciate if they respected that and helped you out during your progress. You never know, you might inspire them too. Remember, you only have one body, take good care of it. Do this for YOU and not for others.

Patience is another important part when it comes to losing weight or getting in shape. Everyone’s body reacts differently to changes; for some, it will take longer to see the results, and for others not as long. Do not get discouraged when you do not see changes right away. Stick with it and the changes will come.

When rough times come and I get discouraged, I remember one of my favorite quotes by Lance Armstrong and I remind myself that nothing worthwhile comes easily. It takes hard work and dedication to get somewhere that is worth going:

"This is MY body. And I can do whatever I want to it. I can push it. Study it. Tweak it. Listen to it. Everybody wants to know what I’m on.
What am I on?
I’m on my bike busting my ass 3 hrs a day.
What are YOU on?" – by Lance Armstrong.

So, I finally decided to train for my first figure show:  the Northern Kentucky Bodybuilding & Figure Championship on March 14, 2009.  It is 17 weeks out! That should be enough time to start dropping some body fat %  I am very excited about my first show.  I have tried to train for one this year, but my crazy school and work schedule has been a huge obstacle.  It sure keeps me super busy but I will not let it stand between my dream of competing.  I have made a promise to myself to do a show before I turn 30!!!  I turn 30 next year in April, and I want to greet the BIG 30 with the best body, mind, and spirit!

I am currently working with a nutritionist/trainer, Julie Lohre, she is a IFBB Fitness Pro.  I have met her in person last month during our photo shoot.  She is amazing.  I know that having an experienced fitness/figure pro trainer will ease some of my worries, esp with nutrition/diet.
Thank you for all of your support and motivation.  I will keep you all posted on my diet and progress.