Butter vs Margarine

I read something interesting today. About the difference between a food which has been around for centuries and a copy of it which has only been around for hundreds of years and how much worse it is for you. I am talking about Butter v.s. margarine.

When Margaine was first manufactured it was used as a means of fattening turkeys but in the end it killed the turkeys. So in a way to make some money off it they added some yellow colouring and sold it as a butter substitute.

In todays culture butter seems to get a bad wrap and its is thought that it is the more unhealthy of the two options, but this is far from true. You are much better off having butter on your toast than margarine (and to put stop to another myth, it doesn't have more calories).

Butter

• Eating butter (in moderation) increased the obsorbtion of nutrients in other foods
• Butter can increase the flavor of other foods

Margarine

• Very high in trans fatty acids
• Apparently it can increase your risk of cancer by up to 5 times
• Lowers the quality of breast milk
• Decreases your immune response
• Decreases your insuline response
• It has 27 ingredients in common with paint

Need proof of how bad it is? Take the lid of a tub of margarine and leave it in a shaded area for a week. It will still be good as new. No flies lingering (not even the annoying little ones), there is no change in smell, and it doesn't rot due to the lack of nutritional value, nothing will grow on it, not even microorganisms

WHY? ITS ONE MOLECULE AWAY FROM PLASTIC

Next time you go to eat butter grab a plastic container from the cupboard and think really hard for a moment "would I melt this container and spread it on my toast?" I can only imagine your answer would be "hell no"

Whats my point here? We need to think about what we are eating and putting into our bodies. As the years go by our foods are becoming more and more processed and more and more chemicals are being added. Before you buy something try and see if there is a less processed version around, chances are the price isn't that much different either. 

I would be interested to hear from you what food swaps you can think of, keeping with the example of butter for margarine, try to think of two very similar foods. Another example: white bread = bad, bleached white flour for wholegrain bread = good, full of healthy grains and fibre.

GOALS GOALS GOALS!!!

Well you may have noticed I didn't do an update last week, that is because I was sick all week. My diet and exercise all went out the window and I spent most of my time curled up on the couch with some ginger ale. I'm surprised that with all my not so healthy eating this week I only put on a few hundred grams, but I did notice that I am a bit more squishy from not working out.

So I should probably update on the week before last.

First of all, I now have a facebook page so if you haven't already liked it please head over and check it out 

Goal One - Go for two runs. I did manage to do this, although my second one was on Sunday night after my sisters birthday and a very heavy few bites of chocolate cake. This run was about twice as long as I would normally do which meant it was a different route than I would normally go. Silly me I forgot about the bloody hill at the end!!!!       Oh and I rescued a little hedgehog who was wandering around on the side of the road, good deed done.

Goals Two and Three- Go to the gym 4 times. EASY!! Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday. So on Saturday afternoon I got my new protein powder from Mass Nutrition NZ in Kapiti Lights (if you haven't been and checked it out yet, I would recommend it!!)
I got the Syntax Nectar. Its lactose free which I LOVE and the flavor is awesome. I got Strawberry kiwi and it taste like Strawberry Juice. While I was at Mass Nutrition NZ I also picked up the protein shaker that I said I would get if I did 45 mins of Yoga (which I did). Somehow I managed to break it after a week though and ended up with a puddle on my table :(

New Goals:

One - 4 workouts in total, this could be running, yoga, gym, zumba etc. The reward for this is a new pair of headphones. Mine have broken and I have been using really big chunky ones.

Two- Read a chapter of my Jillian Michaels book. It hasn't been given much attention since January so now seems like a good time to pick it back up. The reward is $10 in my PJ fund.

New Week, New Goals

WHAT HAPPENED?? blinked and its Wednesday already and i haven't even set my goals... OH NO NAUGHTY NAUGHTY!!!!

My Lucky Week:

I have had a very lucky week. It started on Saturday, there is a new supplement shop in Kapiti (Mass Nutrition  New Zealand in the ally between Coastlands and Kapiti Lights - go check it out, the guy who owns it is lovely and will make sure you get the right products) They had their grand opening on Saturday so I popped in to see how it was going and Justin gave me a free copy of his book. YAY
Then my free membership at City Fitness is about to expire in the next day or two, on Monday the manager gave me an extension on it so I can keep going for a little while longer. DOUBLE YAY!!!!

Calf day at the gym. 70 reps total at 80kg

Recap of the week:

I started the week with my no meat day, piece of cake, it was easy but it is my way of trying to reduce the amount of meat that I eat slowly rather than just going cold turkey (haha or cold carrot i guess??). I don't eat a lot of it but I always find that even a small amount leaves me feeling sick and like someone is stabbing me in the stomach.
I did manage to hit the gym 3 times during the week. On Wednesday I even went on my own with just instructions on what exercises to do. I thought I would probably go easy on myself given my trainer wasn't there but I don't think I have ever hurt so much the day after a workout as I did with that one. My whole body hurt pretty much the whole week from my workouts which I guess is a good thing. After doing my leg work out on Friday I was still recovering on Monday night.

I completely forgot about my third goal and didn't go for any runs last week. I will have to make up for it this week.

New Goals:

1. Go for two runs - since I didn't do this one last week I am renewing the goal for this week. As for the reward I got myself mixed up and got the lunch box as a reward for going to the gym 3 times instead of the drink bottle - so the reward for this will be a drink bottle
2. Go to the gym 4 times - i will get myself some protein powder - i have seen a really nice looking one at Mass Nutrition New Zealand that I want to get
3. 1 x 45 minute session of yoga - I will get a new protein to have my new shake in.

February

A month down already which means its time to review and reset my monthly goals

January Goals:

Goal one was to lose 3kg. When I started in January I weighed 62.6kg, at the end of January I weighed 60.8kg. So i didn't quite lose 3kg but I still feel it was a pretty good effort.
Goal two was to have a regular skin care regime and have clear skin by the end of the month. I wouldn't say that I have been great with  my skin care this month, well no better than normal but I think due to cleaning up my eating my skin has cleared up my skin a lot anyway so I am still considering this a win - YAY FACIAL!!!

February Goals:

Goal one - Lose 2kg by the end of the month. If I achieve this I will get a new pair of sports pants.
Goal two - Go for 10 runs. If I achieve this then I will treat myself to a new running top.

Week Four Review:

Since it is also the beginning of a new week it means I need some more goals
Last week my goals were to:
Be under 61kg, and if I accomplished this then I got to indulge on Saturday when we went to the fair. I did achieve this, on Saturday morning I was 60.8kg.  However when we were just about over the hill to Martinborough we were attacked by the little vomit monster in the back seat of the car which promptly put me off eating anything for the next few hours. Instead I opted for a nice tea from the Thai take away place up Pram beach and it was really good.
The second goal was to do yoga 3 times that week. I achieved this on Thursday night so I get to put another $20 in the tin for my new jammies.
Goal three was to do 200 burpees.  This was a big fat fail. I completely forgot about this for a couple of days so was off to a very bad start. I then decided to break it up into 10 burpee chunks so it didn't seem so hard. I only had to do 20 lots. I got through about 80 of them on Friday and Saturday then took a nap on the couch and when I woke up my wrist was killing me so I couldn't do any more :(  booooo no reward for me

New Goals For The  Week:

1. Have 1 day of not eating meat - the reward for this is that I will buy the new Cosmopolitan magazine
2. Go to the gym 3 times - buy a new drink bottle for when I workout
3. Go for 2 runs - buy a new lunch box so that I have something nice to take my lunch to work in.

What ever your health or fitness goals are for the week and for February, Good luck!!