The Desire To Work Out In The Morning Is Like Drinking Red Wine

To me waking up early to go work out first thing in the morning is as mature as drinking a glass of red wine. Coming from a young college student who is just about to turn 22 this weekend, I’m ashamed to admit that I still can’t handle a glass of red wine. The combination of an empty wallet and the pallet of a 6-year old leads me to drift towards the sweet white wines such as pinot grigio and moscato, the 2 Buck Chuck, or if I don’t have a car, the $5 bottle at the local corner store.  Then throw in the personality trait of the worst morning person ever (especially after enjoying that glass or two) and there you have it: ME!

I have heard countless times that working out in the morning boosts your metabolism and leaves you feeling more energetic and positive.  Creating that rhythm of waking up at the same time every morning and letting that fresh morning air greet you does something to the mind and body that is supposed to be better than a double shot of espresso.

An article posted by the New York Times discusses the downfalls of holiday weight gain and a study done in Australia in order to prove that weight gain can be preventable if people commit to setting that alarm and doing a fasted work out (exercising before breakfast).

I have decided to commit myself to waking up early and working out in the morning at least twice a week but will be trying for three times a week. The rest of my workouts I will continue to do during the day wherever my class schedule permits. I hope that these steps will be the building blocks to developing healthy habits and soon I will be able to do more than three.

From my minimal web surfing this is how I have been inspired to plan to follow through and you are more than welcome to join along wih me:

Never Hit the Snooze:  Studies show that it is not beneficial to hit the snooze and sleep for a little longer since your  body will not be able to fall back into the REM sleep. By hitting snooze, you are just delaying the day and the sleep that follows will actually not make it any easier to wake up later.

Get Going Quickly and Don’t Make Your Routine Too Comfortable: Many people enjoy the fantasy of casually sipping a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper as part of their morning ritual. Although that may work for many, for others it will just leave them in a sense of limbo from the world of being awake and the world of sleeping. In order to kick my day I plan to move through my process as quickly as possible and get out the door.

Alternate Your Workouts: By switching up what you do every morning you will be less encouraged to convince yourself you did it the day and can afford to skip a day. If some mornings you go for a walk, others a run, or sometimes a nice yoga session, you will be able to convince yourself that since last time you only walked, today you really need to run!

Plan a Filling and Nutritious Breakfast to Look Forward to: If you start your day off with eating healthy, it is proven that you are less likely to cheat and eat something unhealthy later. I like to make overnight oats which are super simple, healthy, and delicious.

Photo taken from Fit Foodie Finds and although it looks very similar to the one I eat, it is not the same recipe or my photo! Check her blog out though it is amazing!

My Recipe Is:

1/4 cup Trader Joes Gluten Free Rolled Oats

1/4 Cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk

1 tbls Chia Seeds

1 tbls Bob’s Red Mill Unsweetened Flaked Coconut

Touch of Cinnamon (can vary to taste)

1/2 Sliced Banana

1/2 Cup Boiling Water.

Place all the ingredients into a mason jar, adding the boiling water last and then shake it all around. Place jar into the fridge overnight and then there you have it! A tasty and wholesome breakfast to help kick-start you’re already turbo kick-started day!

NOW LET’S ALL GET TO WORK! READY…SET…GO!!! 

Food For Thought

When I was growing up I went to a small private arts school that believed that having your children watch TV would ruin their creative mind.  Thus, I was forced to go through one of the saddest transitions of my life between preschool and kindergarten and throw away all of my movies.  You can imagine the tantrum my mother had to deal with as she ripped Pocahontas and Bambi from a sobbing three year old’s hands. As I grew older I would always try to pretend I was sick so I could stay home from school and watch the forbidden television.  My heart would flutter with excitement as I would veg out to reruns of Full House, the Golden Girls and Boy Meets World.  Eventually my mother caught on and decided that in order to prevent me from faking that I was sick she had to take action.  She allowed me a few hours a week to watch the only channel she could think would not “ruin my creative mind” : The Food Network. You cannot believe the joy and satisfaction I experienced as I drooled over Emeril’s lasagna and Rachael Ray’s  30 min. meals.

Photo cred goes to: http://www.runningoffthereeses.com/2011/10/04/spinach-chicken-lasagna-with-alfredo-and-mushrooms/

Now I sit here before you today with the fun “homework task” of writing a blog post based off of one of the ‘kernels’ my teacher, Kathryn Kuttis, has given us. It was hard to choose from all the awesome topics she presented us with, but in the end I naturally had to go with  ‘From Scratch’ Goes Behind the Scenes at the Food Network.  In the article, Carey Polis, discusses the decline in ratings for the Food Network and their evolution over the years.  What caught my attention the most was the idea that the Food Network had created these “celebrity chefs” and made it more about entertainment than food. My first reaction was “Yeah duh! They need high ratings in order to stay afloat, so obviously they are going to lean more towards the entertainment side of things.” But then when I thought about it more I was perplexed with if they really needed to have a “celebrity” on the show in order for it to be entertaining.

I believe that the answer is yes, you do need to have some sort of celebrity on a cooking show in order to get people to watch. Viewers latch onto the familiar face of a celebrity or someone they have seen for countless years, and invite them into their living rooms as if they are family. These chefs become iconic, and regardless of its viewer decline, I can promise that www.foodnetwork.com is many people’s first stop when looking for a recipe idea.

I then thought about what the Food Network could do to improve ratings.  The answer I came up with is to latch on to this health and fitness craze, and to create more shows that help people prep healthy meals that will help them lose weight or stay in shape.  I am aware that they do have shows that are geared towards healthy meals, but if they emphasized weight loss or fitness I believe they could tap into a much larger audience of overweight Americans who are searching for every possibly trick in the book. How they would do this I am not entirely sure, but hey it’s a seed to plant in the back of your mind and I will claim full bragging rights if someday a show like this does appear!