healthy things

Here's a fun fact about me. I hate exercising. Loathe it. Not because it's hard, because I get incredibly bored! Like I mentioned in a previous post, I danced from age 3 to age 18. Tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, step dancing, you name it. I also played softball and tennis for school. Basically, I never had to worry about exercising on my own because I was getting a workout multiple days a week anyway.

But we all know how this story goes. The 20-somethings roll around, as does college life and freedom, and what once came naturally now takes a little bit of effort to maintain. It took until around senior year of college (last year) when I suddenly noticed some of my clothes were getting a little tight. I refused to surrender and up my pants size so I decided I was going to do it the right way and start eating better and getting some form of exercise in my life.

I love good food and I was getting really tired of "convenient" food like Kraft mac n cheese and chicken nuggets. That's when I decided that I wanted to become a foodie. I had been reading food blogs for a while and thought, might as well learn now. So even though I currently live back home since my grad school is seriously 5 minutes away from my house, I try to cook at least two dinners a week which gives my mom a break and helps me figure out this cooking thing.

Homemade salad dressing and pasta salad

I've been trying to use better raw, fresh ingredients and make things I'd normally buy so that I know what's going into it. I've also tried to start liking things that a lot of people seem to love but I've always had an aversion to. I recently tried cottage cheese and I have to say, it was better than I ever expected. The texture is a little unnerving at first but someone compared it to ricotta, which I love, so I gave it a try. I'm dying to try the little breakfast mix below that I saw on Foodgawker.

Recipe and photo from Simple Bites

I'm also trying to like yogurt. I'm ridiculous with yogurt. I think I try it at least once a year, hoping that I'll magically love it one day. I don't hate it, it's just.. meh. I'm still working on it though. I had it at Starbucks the other day with the granola it comes with and it was actually pretty good.

Light and fresh meal for warm weather time

I'd love to find another dance class to take one day but for now I've been doing yoga whenever I can fit it in. I try to do it when no one's around so I usually do it early in the morning or before bed, since I'm the last one up. Because of my random timing, instead of finding a class to go to I found a bunch of sessions On Demand that are free (yay!) and I can play them whenever I want.

{source}

The improved eating and the increased moving have helped me get back to my pre-college weight and I feel much better now. Not just because my clothes fit better, but because I'm more aware of what I'm putting into my body. I hope to carry this even further when I move out by joining a CSA (there are a bunch of farms in the nearby suburbs) and baking my own bread products and such. It's ambitious to want to make so many things instead of buy them but I think the time sacrifice will be worth it.

Homemade cinnamon raisin bread

So ladies, do you do anything "fun" for exercise? And as for healthy eats, do you have any go to snacks that are both healthy and good? Sweet and savory both apply here, as I would rather have a salty snack than a sweet one, despite what my recent recipe posting would say.

I'm just always curious about other people's healthy habits. I love most fruits/veggies/good for you things, I just don't always think about combining them for a snack.

In other news, my next post will be number 100! I'm pretty excited. This little blog has come quite a long way and has already changed a lot just over this half a year that it's existed. I'm not sure if that post will be tomorrow or Thursday because I'm planning some fun stuff for it so stick around if you like giveaways and celebrations. ;)