Week 3, Sugar Free. Challenge Complete

Well, ending the sugar free challenge on Halloween was definitely not one of my smartest ideas. This post should actually be called ‘The Sugar High’ or ‘The Sugar Crash’ rather.

Let’s not dwell on the sugar binge that occurred last night (candies, pizza and beer) and again this morning (pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast)… Here is a glimpse on my final week of The Sugar Free Challenge and my general conclusions from the whole experience.

Week 3, sugar free

This week went much smoother than Week 2 but still not quiet as smooth in comparison to how well Week 1 went.

Aside from Tuesday when Dan marinated Salmon with a winning, sugar-filled combination of brown sugar and soy sauce (eye roll!!), I stuck to the sugar free diet for the final week of the challenge.

I stuck with easy snacks that required little preparation – nuts, almond butter on rice cakes and fruit. Lunches involved homemade soup, salad or leftovers from dinner.

My favourite meal of the day is breakfast though and this Portobello mushroom and egg combo was by far the winning meal of the week. It’s one of those meals that seem like a treat even though it is full of healthy ingredients. And when you’re cutting back on treats… a meal like this definitely helps.

I was able to resist the bake sale at work and just barely made it through the week. Knowing the end of the challenge was near and also having slipped up pretty majorly on Tuesday, my motivation to finish the sugar free week was dragging.

It’s not that I was craving sugar so badly that I couldn’t wait to eat it again… I just found that restricting my diet for so long was really starting to wear down my drive. It wasn’t enjoyable anymore.

This brings me into my conclusions of the sugar free lifestyle…

Posted by allisonloosley

Portobello Mushroom and Egg

Prep: 5 minutes
Bake: 20 minutes

Posted by allisonloosley

Week 2, Sugar Free

During Week 1, I put effort into preparing healthy sugar free snacks, lunches and dinners. Our whole household went sugar free so we worked together to set ourselves up for a successful week.

This week we were much less prepared… lunches were mapped out for the first half of the week but because of some conflicting evening plans we did dinners separately. My snacks in Week 2 were limited to fruit and assorted nuts. My dinners were sporadic as I was often out in the evenings, so I ate very random bits and bobs by the time I got home… like goat cheese or almond butter on rice crackers.

By Thursday/ Friday my diet was limited to lattes, oranges and chips (fries). NOT HEALTHY… but sugar free…

I’ve gone into the grocery store and opted out of buying a pre-made salad or soup for lunch because I saw sugar was on the ingredients list. So being this strict for the purpose of being sugar free, might not be the healthiest option for me.

Posted by allisonloosley

The Sugar Free Challenge

Firstly, Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Everyone!! Thanksgiving is about celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the past year with family and friends. I have so much to be thankful for and am excited to share this year’s Thanksgiving feast with an old friend of mine who lives up north near the Lake District here in England. Kelly is preparing a feast today and I cannot wait to indulge!

Starting tomorrow however, I will be attempting a sugar free diet for the rest of the month. And I challenge you to be conscious of your sugar intake as well.

Until doing some research, I would have said I have a very low sugar diet. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and I make most of my meals and snacks with no added sugar. It turns out however, that though my sugar intake may be lower than average, it is much higher than the recommended daily sugar intake, which is 6-9 teaspoons.

Going sugar free was my roommate Kailee’s idea after a recent chocolate binge in Switzerland (can’t blame her!). We have been reading up on it and plan to use many of the recipes and advice provided from Deliciously Ella.

At a high-level, here are a few high-sugar items which you should consider cutting out of your diet completely…

minimize your sugar intake by CUTTING OUT THE FOLLOWING:

Soft drinks, energy drinks and fruit juices
Low-Fat ‘diet foods’ often have fat removed from them which get replaced with sugar
Canned fruits preserved in sugary syrups
Dried fruits
Candies and sweets
Processed/ pre-packaged food (Heinz ketchup is 24% sugar!)

Getting more meticulous, keep an eye on your intake of the following very nutritious but high in sugar foods…

Posted by allisonloosley

What to expect when you’re new to running

This post is dedicated to everyone starting to run or even just considering it, but especially dedicated to my Mom who I am so proud of! Mom started running in June this year and has worked her running time up, step-by-step at her own pace.

Here are my tips to beginner runners… what to expect and why you should give it a go!

Posted by allisonloosley

Crunchy Roast Chickpea Snack

I have a constant craving for crunchy and savoury snacks. I love everything about them. So when it comes to lunch at the office, I often prepare for this weakness. I know that no matter what I eat at lunch, I’ll still want a small bag of chips after.

Rather than exploiting my will power and feeling deprived of what I want… I take a different approach. The ’80/20′ rule. Be good 80% of the time and enjoy your cravings 20% of the time… eat 80% veg and 20% carbs… Make sure 80% of your day or your meal is healthy and well balanced.

Never deprive yourself of what you want, but make up for it in other areas. Being healthy doesn’t mean you live off of green smoothies and lettuce. It’s controlling your intake so you have a well balanced diet and ENJOY it.

I pack a light salad for lunches at the office. I do this so I can balance out my craving for a savoury snack… more often than not, chips.

Now that I’m not training as much as I was this Summer, I may need to get a bit more cleaver with fooling my cravings… So here is a HEALTHY crunchy and savoury snack that has helped me move away from my chip dependency.

This roast chickpea recipe is easy to prepare and is packed with nutrients like protein, fibre, calcium, iron and magnesium.

Prep: 5 minutes
Roast: 40 minutes

Posted by allisonloosley

Aquabase HIIT Class #Floatfit

Since Ironman 70.3 Zell am See, I’ve felt a little lost. This was my last race for the year and my main focus for months…. so now what?

It’s such an anticlimax when your ‘big race’ is all of the sudden over. You cross the finish line feeling motivated and excited for the next race, but then there isn’t one… I’ve experienced the same thing with rowing; all of the sudden the season is over and you have time and energy again. If only I knew what to do with it!

Before I jump back into goal setting and training towards something, I think I’ll learn to enjoy this thing called ‘time’ first. My true challenge will be finding a healthy balance without a race to work towards. This Aquaphysical class was the perfect kick start for me.

IT WAS HILARIOUS – a 30 minute HIIT class on water.

We were either laughing, smiling or sticking out our tongue trying to balance for the entire class.

Posted by allisonloosley

Ironman 70.3 Zell am See, Austria

25 weeks ago, I wasn’t feeling very well and decided that it’d be a good idea to scare myself back to good health. I sat down and signed up for Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun with the logic that ‘I’d be there anyway [cheering on Dan at World Champs]…. so I might as well race it!’ (this moment was captured on Instagram here).

And the rest is history — after all that training and nervous energy, the race is over and I am officially a finisher of Ironman 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun!

RACE summary

Total time: 5:50:27
Age group rank: 17/55
Gender rank: 78/500

Posted by allisonloosley

Respect to the Spectator – Watching an Ironman event

Dan and I are off to Austria this Wednesday to race in the beautiful city of Zell am See-Kaprun.

I race the regular 70.3 on Saturday whilst Dan competes in World Champs on Sunday.

Since Dan qualified for Ironman 70.3 World Championships we have: celebrated, he has undergone surgery for shin pain, recovered from surgery, and trained trained trained. Now, the event has finally come around and one week from today he’ll be racing it!

Here is a picture of Dan coming into the finish line last year at his qualifier race (Ironman 70.3 Muskoka).

So for the past four years of Dan’s triathlon career – I’ve been the cheerleader, the carrier of bags, the taker of action photos and everything in between. Spectating any race that lasts greater than a 3/4 hours is a feat in it’s own!

This year I go from spectating to racing and I’m freaking out. I’m good at spectating. In fact, I would say that I’ve mastered it. Racing a 70.3 Ironman race… this is something I’ve never done before. I’m extremely excited but equally nervous.

So let me share something I know I know… Top tips for spectating an Ironman event (Dan – take notes… you’re not the only one racing this time!)

Posted by allisonloosley

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