I love sleeping in on weekends, but I hate feeling like half the day is wasted. It was a beautiful day in Las Vegas! Colby and I took advantage of the nice weather at the last minute by going out for a sunset hike on the East Anthem Trail. It’s an easy walk uphill with a beautiful view of the strip from the top. I think the trail goes on for at least 10 miles, but I’ve never gone more than a couple miles in. Nice desert landscape, right?
The temp dropped about 10 degrees when the sun went down, so we headed to Starbucks to warm up. I usually get a skinny caramel macchiato at SB, but I decided to try the skinny mocha this time to satisfy my chocolate craving. Colby loves Arnold Palmers (iced tea + lemonade), so he enjoyed the passion iced tea lemonade I suggested. We headed over to Barnes and Noble to enjoy the rest of our date night reading books. Isn’t the SB Valentine’s day cup adorable?
I got cozy with a stack of diet and nutrition books.
Meanwhile, Colby sat down to learn some history. We’re so different!
I really enjoyed Jillian Michael’s’ Master your Metabolism. It features a great overview of various hormones involved in metabolism, including insulin, thyroid hormones, leptin, ghrelin, cortisol, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and others. The book focuses on ridding your diet of processed foods and replacing them with foods from 10 “power nutrient” groups. They include:
- Legumes (peas and beans)
- Alliums (onions, leeks, shallots)
- Berries
- Meat and eggs (this group also includes fatty fish like salmon)
- Colorful fruits and vegetables
- Cruciferous vegetables (such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower)
- Dark green, leafy veggies
- Nuts and seeds
- Organic, low-fat dairy
- Whole grains
I’m glad I already like all these foods! Micheals offers the following tips to get your metabolism right:
- Eat every four hours. Eat three meals and a snack daily, nothing after 9 p.m., and no carbs before bed.
- Eat until you are full, not stuffed.
- Include protein, carbs, and fat with every meal and snack. (30%, 30%, 40% ideally)
She also emphasized the importance of getting enough sleep and exercising HARD for only 4-5 hours a week. Jillian Michaels is a beast! It would be awesome to be in as great of shape as she is. Hopefully pushing myself in my morning workouts will finally earn me six-pack abs this year!
I’m usually not a big fan of following diet book meal plans, so I skipped past the recipe section and moved onto the next book, The New Sonoma Diet. I love that the premise of this diet book is learning to truly enjoy your food. I agree that mindful eating is key to maintaining a healthy weight. Some of the “power foods” emphasized in the Sonoma Diet plan overlapped with the 10 Jillian suggested.
The Sonoma Diet sounds awesome! It even advocates drinking a glass of wine with dinner to truly enjoy the meal! Score! I’m all for picking a diet/meal plan you can live with. Deprivation will only lead to overeating forbidden foods in the end.
I actually bought The New Sonoma Diet book after seeing some of the delicious recipes listed in the book. I can’t wait to make some of them!
What are some foods you like to include in your meals frequently? What genre of books do you prefer reading?
Karolina's Kitchen 