It's a lovely day!

The weather in Vancouver is finally gorgeous! Nice and warm and all blue sky! Yesterday I tried a new workout dvd, Jillian Michael's: Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism. It's 55 minutes and OMG is it hard! I was covered in sweat when I was done, and I felt so good. It's a lot tougher than the 30 day Shred for sure. I might do this dvd 2 times a week because it is tough. I went for a 2 mile walk this afternoon along the Stanley park seawall, went to Whole Foods after, was out of spinach and bananas. I am so addicted to the green smoothies :) Tomorrow is a stat holiday, Canada Day! So yay, no work! I may take the day off of working out tomorrow. I'm just gonna spend the day on the beach with some friends. I finally get my Camera tomorrow too! I'm making dinner right now, a nice salmon fillet and tons of veggies. I'm soo hungry!

I also got a new brand of veggie burgers at Whole Foods today..Sol spicy bean burgers.



I'm going to try them tomorrow, so I'll let you know what I think :) I was wondering what you all put for toppings on your veggie burgers? I usually just use mustard, tomato, and lettuce. I was wondering if any of you use hummus? Is it any good? Maybe I should try avocado? I'm off to finish cookin my dinner..then maybe this evening another walk, I love walking on summer evenings :) Hope you are all doing well!!! xoxo

Happy Sunny Sunday!!

So many people ask me how I stay on track and not go back to my anorexic ways. Well, it's hard, very hard. It's an everyday struggle. I admit, sometimes I still count calories, look at how much fat is in something, even if it's healthy, I get really obsessive. I hate counting calories, back in the day when I was sick, I spent 75% of my day counting calories. I even had a notepad where I wrote them all down. It really scares me now when I notice myself starting to count calories. I have to stop myself very quickly.

I sometimes will eat a meal. a healthy but filling meal, and think afterwards, "that must have been a lot of fat and calories because I'm so full, I'm not going to eat much tomorrow, maybe just 300 calories". When I start thinking like that I really freak out. I learned so much in treatment though. How to control those thoughts. It seems to work for the most part. I still have counselling, twice a week. I also have a great support system with my family and friends. My parents learned so much about anorexia through counselling of their own, and they are always there when I need them. So yes, every day is a struggle, I'm determined to keep eating healthy and to not relapse. Reading all your wonderful, inspirational blogs also helps me. I've gotten great advice, many wonderful recipes :)



So this morning i was up bright and early at 7am! I went to bed super early. I wanted to get up early so I could get an earlier workout in. I went to the gym and did 45 mins on the elliptical and only 20 mins on the treadmill. I find when I use the elliptical and treadmill, it doesn't bother my shin splints at all. I guess because the surface is softer? I then came home and attempted level 2 of the Shred. My leg sill wont allow the cardio part so I just did the abs and the strength for now :) I may start swimming at the pool 3 days a week. It's so close to where I live, and swimming is awesome exercise! For Breakfast I had cereal..I have been on a cereal kick.natures path cereals. I swear I buy a new one every week. I tried the Ezekial cereal yesterday and it was just alright. So today I opened a box of Natures path Mesa Sunrise. It was really, really good. I also love Spelt Flakes. Can anyone recommend another good cereal? Preferably not a granola cereal. Thanks! I have tried looking everywhere for Kashi's heart to Heart cereal and cannot seem to find it!

After my workout, i had a green smoothie. these are so delicious. I swear, you cannot even remotely taste the spinach! I will be getting my camera back very shortly and then I will take lotsa pics! All I have now is my camera phone, which usually doesn't take the best pic. I'm off now to the mall to do a little shopping with a few friends..here's a pic of me from like 20 mins ago with my camera phone..ha ha. When I feel good about myself and I'm happy, I like to snap happy shots of myself.Prior to this year I don't have many of them. Have a great day!! xoxoxoxoox

Good Morning

I just got home from the gym..what an amazing workout, I was really tired but the workout totally revived me! this is me in the car this morning..so tired :)

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been working overtime lately and have been so tired. I'm happy to say that my shinsplints are finally feeling a lot better :) I did 45 minutes on the treadmill this morning and only felt very minimal pain :) I was going to attempt to do level 2 of the shred this afternoon but I don't know yet, I'm still a little scared to hurt my leg again.


Yesterday after work I bought a new cereal to try out....

It wasn't too bad, takes a little getting used to. It's quite pricey, I paid $7.50 for a small box! I just wanted to try something new :)

I just finished an awesome green smoothie..it was so good. I used 1/2 frozen banana, 3 cups spinach, 2 HUGE kale leaves, 1 teaspoon raw almond
butter, and 1 cup almond breeze. Lunch is already planned.a nice, big salad with some grilled chicken breast that I had leftover :)

I have 3 glorious days off. Although it's not hot here, very cool and breezy, it is still nice and sunny and I may attempt a jog tomorrow on a track rather than concrete.

I'm off to do laundry (exciting huh?). I will update later!! Hope you are all having a great day!

Shin Splints

The past few days I've been doing the shred I have been having his annoying pain in the inside of my shin, just above my anklebone, so painful that I had to omit the cardio part of the workout. Then last night I went for a jog and the pain started about 5 mins into the jog..it was quite bad :( I'm thinking they are shin splints. It's in my left leg only though. It sucks, because now I can't do any cardio :( and I love cardio. I guess I should let it heal though. I ordered a new pair of runners yesterday, Adidas Boost. I'm hoping they might be better for my feet. Does anyone know how I can get a little cardio without actually having to land hard on my feet?

I went to Costco with my sister yesterday and got 2 cases of Lara Bars for only $12.99 a case! There are 12 in the case. I also got a HUGE bag of spinach, I am just now getting into making the green smoothies! they are so good :) I got a huge tub of Organic Raspberries, Organic Blueberries and Some Organic Strawberries. I went out for awhile last night with some friends, my leg was killing me, but I had a great time! I'll be posting pics later. I really have to eat dinner now..I literally just got back from work and haven't eaten that much today..talk later xo

Trip Planning!

So the past few weeks me and my friend have been planning a trip somewhere. Anyone that knows me, knows that I am OBSESSED with Europe. I actually became a travel agent that just specializes in European travels. I even took a 1 year course on Medieval English History. I lived in Leeds, England a year and a half ago for 5 months. I loved it. So this time I plan on going to Ireland! so excited. I have never been. I was reading Strawberry/Maasikas blog, and saw that she was in England/Ireland and it made me want to go even more. So we plan on leaving in August sometime. Bonus is, being a travel agent I get a certain percentage off of my flight, which helps a lot :) We plan on visiting Dublin, Cork, Galway..if anyone else can suggest any cities/owns in Ireland that we should visit, please do share! And of course we will be making a stop off in England :)


In other news, I was reading up on coffee, I do drink 1 cup a day, I can't seem to function at work without it. I drink it black..this is the brand I drink


Ethical Bean organic, Fair trade. It's a locally based Vancouver company, and the coffee is awesome! It comes in whole bean form and I just grind it and brew away. I read so many conflicting stories about coffee, some say it's good for you, some say it's bad. I, personally have never had any problems with caffeine, but maybe it's because I don't consume too much? I have also never had any stomach problems from drinking coffee. So I really don't know what to believe.


I bought a new brand of hot chocolate a few weeks back


this stuff is sooo good. I love hot chocolate. I even drink it in the hot summer months!


I have seen this yogurt on so many blogs, the Chobani greek Yogurt



I want to try it sooo bad! I can't seem to find it anywhere in Vancouver! Does anyone know if you can even get it here in Canada? I would absolutely love to try this.

And last, I ordered this dress online today..I really want to take it on my trip to Ireland. Let me know you thoughts on it, you can be honest :)




Off for a jog, my first workout of the day! It honestly was a lazy day for me :) Happy fathers day dad!!!! I love You!!!!

xoxo

Some of my favorite things

So I have this new found obsession with certain foods, healthy foods. I will be naming some of the foods that I really, really enjoy :)




Lara bars.. I absolutely love these for a little pick me up in the afternoon, or after a workout. I haven't tried all the flavors, but the ones I have tried are amazing. My current favorite is Coconut Cream Pie. These are also full of protein and they almost always give me a great boost of energy!

Mary's Organic Crackers..these are one of my favorite snacks..I love the Onion and the Caraway flavours. so good. Only 5 grams of fat for 13 crackers. I usually eat them with hummus, but they are awesome just on their own !

Almond breeze.. This is now my milk of choice. It is really delicious and healthy. I always use this in my cereal and in m smoothies. It comes in Original, Light, chocolate and vanilla. It has a slightly nutty taste, it's gluten, cholesterol and lactose free.


Amy's Veggie Burgers..I especially love the California Burger. These veggie burgers taste amazing and are full of protein and fibre, I just love them. The quarter pound veggie burger has 21 grams of protein per patty!

I also love Amy's Organic soups, and definitely the mac and cheese :) Thee are just a few staples that i absolutely always have in my apartment. Along with tons of organic veggies like Spinach, kale, Broccoli, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. I always have tons of fresh, organic fruit. My faves are bananas, papaya, kiwi, strawberries and blueberries. I have recently just discovered Peanut Butter & Co. Wow, this stuff is so delicious. I tried it for the first time at a friends a few weeks ago, she had the Cinnamon Raisin swirl. After one taste, I was in love. I finally found a store here in Vancouver that carries the whole line and bought dark Chocolate dreams, and White Chocolate Wonderful. Gosh they are good. I remember back when I had anorexia, I was absolutely terrified of peanut butter! I never really knew how good it is for you (in moderation of course)!

Tomorrow I will be filling you in on what kind of workouts I do, how often I work out and so on. I'll also be getting a new camera in the next day or so, so I will be adding some pics of my meals, and well, me! thanks for reading :)

First post and some history

Hello! My name is Christina, I started this blog with the intention of sharing my healthy, new lifestyle with you! I was not heavy before, or even a little chubby, no, I was anorexic, very badly anorexic. This started when I was 12. One little "you're fat" comment changed my life.


I basically started my starvation diet, as I liked to call it, shortly after this comment. Needless to say, after 5 days of fasting on nothing but water and half an apple a day, I passed out in the hall of my school. The school nurse called my parents and let them know what I was doing to myself. Now, I love my parents with all my heart, but at that time they just didn't get it. They thought it was a phase that I would get through, my dad said "all young girls go through this".

I realized at that point that they were not going to keep their eye on me, because they thought it was a phase. Fast forward to age 16..5 foot 5, 91 pounds. A lot of bones protruding, bags under my eyes, patches of hair falling out, cold in the middle of summer, severe stomach problems, and yet still, no one seemed to know that I had an eating disorder.

Age 17, 86 pounds, severe heart palpitations, surviving (barely) on 275 calories day, could barely drag myself out of bed, yet still, no one said anything.

Age 21, my worst year, I had actually managed to gain 14 pounds between age 17 and 21 due to medication I was on. My best friend Kelsey said to me, "do you have anorexia?". At that point I broke down into her arms and realized something..I was actually glad that someone acknowledged it! It actually felt like for once someone cared.I was 5 foot 5 , 78 pounds (my lowest weight.)

I went into treatment shortly after that, did a lot of counselling with my parents to help them understand what I was going though. I was at an incredible hospital for 7 months, I got out and 2 months later relapsed, went back for another 5 months, and well, here I am today, better than ever!

I have totally changed the way I feel about food, eating habits and my weight. I realized that food didn't have to be scary, I didn't have to fear eating a meal, gaining a few pounds. Though for me it wasn't only about gaining some much needed weight, but also eating very healthy.
No more junk going into my body. I read some great blogs tht have inspired me in the past year even more so...Ohsheglows.com, eatliverun.com, www.fitnessista.com are for sure my top 3 faves! You should definately give them a read! I kno this was a long post, but I really wanted to kind of introduce myself :) My next post will talk about my fave healthy foods, what I now, generally eat during a typical day and what kind of exercises I do :) Thanks for reading