Cara's Cooking Challenge Week #1

Recently I was posed with a challenge – learn how to cook and make healthy foods. Don’t get me wrong, I cook… so long as it involves a microwave J Three months ago I signed up for the Lifestyle Change Class at the YMCA and began working with one of the personal trainers – Jodi Parnell. I have been an active exerciser for years but more recently have struggled achieving desired results even with my effort to workout 6 times per week.

After meeting with Jodi and completing my first nutrition journal I realized my downfall did not lie in exercise but in food. I exercise daily but forgot (aka ignored J) what was just as important – my nutrition.

Three Food Downfalls-

1. Choices– I was overwhelmed by the number of ways to make healthy choices so I would give up and fall into “I deserve this piece of cake” mode

2. Fear –I  am afraid of where to start. I don’t know how long to cook meat or what spices to use. Raw chicken screams salmonella

3. Planning–Eating healthy is not quick without proper planning causing me to settle for the “easy” opinion aka frozen meals

In my pursuit of achieving and maintaining overall lifelong wellness Jodi issued me with a Healthy Cooking Challenge.

Healthy Cooking Challenge = 4 weeks + 8 meals + quick & easy

Over the next 4 weeks I will be blogging about how “easy”and“quick” Jodi claims healthy eating will be. All recipes will be given along the way so you can try them out. My personal perspective on how healthy is going will be also be described so sit back and enjoy what is sure to be an entertaining experience J

Happy Cooking!

Cara

Jodi Parnell - Certified Personal Trainer & Lifestyel Weight Management Coach

Cara Greulich - Director of Member Engagement & Wellness, Whitley County Family YMCA