It Sure Is Hard to Be Healthy.

Boy, it sure is hard to be healthy this day and age.

Think about it. You walk into a get-together at a friend’s house carrying a paper Burger King sack. You sit down, pull out a double Whopper, squeeze about 9 packets of Heinz ketchup onto the folded wrapper, and you eat dinner. Does anyone say anything to you? Does anyone ask why you chose Burger King, or give you looks like you’re some freak that likes fast food?

Or what about when you go to a Major League Baseball game with your buddies, and you hop from snack to snack… You start with popcorn, move to a pretzel with cheese, eventually get a Ball Park hot dog with all the fixin’s (I mean, you can’t NOT go to a baseball game and get a hot dog, right?), and then end with a Haagen-Dazs sweet ice cream treat. No biggie, right? Most likely, you’ll even go somewhere for a beer after the game.

But what about when you’re the one who has a protein-rich vitamin shake before your friend’s party (to avoid unhealthy cravings), and the one who fills your plate with raw veggies from the veggie tray while everyone else loads up on BBQ? Does anyone say anything to you? Absolutely. If not with their words, with their eyes.

“What’s the matter? You don’t like anything here?”
“I don’t understand what’s so wrong with dairy? Are you saying babies aren’t supposed to drink milk?”

Or what about when you go to that MLB game with your buddies, and you sit down during the 7th inning stretch with a cup of veggies and hummus dip? Do your buddies say, “Aw man, that smells so good. I’ve gotta go get one of those. Where did you find it?”

Hellllll no.

Instead, you hear, “What the hell, man? You on a diet?”

Or merely laughter between your friends.

Boy, it sure is hard to be healthy this day and age.

Over the course of the past 3 years, I have Coached over 400 people with a holistic approach: fitness, nutrition, and support = a rewarding lifestyle of good health. The #1 question I receive from these individuals is, “What do YOU eat? What’s on YOUR dinner plate?”

Recently, I made a post about grilled chicken, and an outraged couple of Facebook followers messaged me and said, “WHAT?! You eat chicken? I thought you were mostly vegan?!”

So, I’m here to set the record straight. You want to know what we eat and why we eat it? I’ll tell you. But first, I’ll tell you this:

What works for me will most likely not work for you.

Huh? Yep, that’s what I said. What works for me will most likely not work for you. Why? Because we’re different. Because we have different metabolisms, different day jobs, different physical abilities, and different nutritional deficiencies. What I encourage you to do is to find what DOES work for you. It’s taken me years to find what works for me, and yet, the ride has been so worth it.

So what do we eat? It’s simple:

We eat a whole foods, plant-based diet.
What does that mean? It means we eat foods that are REAL (example: watermelon = real; watermelon-flavored = NOT real).

After doing the 21-Day Ultimate Reset last fall, both Chris and I found that we function better without dairy in our diet. Interesting, because when I mentioned this to my mother, she told me that as a baby, I dealt with dairy issues. It was a struggle to get me to drink milk. It also explains why my doctors diagnosed me with IBS in college, and yet now, I have no pain, no cramping, and absolutely zero symptoms without dairy in my diet. Don’t think you could give up cheese? I bet you could, if you knew how amazing it feels to not have it in your body.

We also decided last fall that red meat is something that was most likely contributing to our high cholesterol and sluggishness. (Sidenote: Red meat is typically made up of 80%+ fat). As someone who grew up on a cattle farm, this was a tough decision but one that has made a true difference. We do eat organic, free-range chicken (about 6-9 oz. each per week), and various types of seafood, as well as brown, cage-free eggs. Aside from those items, we have just a small handful of items we eat that contain animal product:

* basil pesto — It is nearly impossible to find basil pesto without a touch of parmesan. We use it lightly in some pasta dishes on occasion.

* Vanilla Shakeology — We alternate between our staple Chocolate Vegan shake and the new Vanilla (only offered for now in the whey protein formula). Beachbody selects only the highest quality whey protein, so this, we feel, is offering us crazy nutritional value regardless of whether it is vegan or whey based.

* Greek yoghurt — Chris eats about 1 cup of Greek yoghurt per week in his boxed lunches. I have always hated yoghurt, and predict I will hate it for all of eternity.

* P90X/Quest protein bars — Again, whey protein. We have about 2-3 bars each per week, on tough workout days.

So what does a typical day look like for the Swishers?

Breakfast: fortified, whole grain cereal with almond milk or oatmeal, always served with fresh fruit

Mid-Morning: Apple and a small handful of almonds

Lunch: large green salad topped with seeds, nuts, raw veggies, and homemade vinaigrette

Mid-Afternoon: protein bar or P90X Recovery Drink (post-workout)

Dinner: Lean fish (salmon, tilapia, ahi tuna, etc.) with two servings of greens and sweet potato (or whole grain, like quinoa)

Every Night at 9p.m.: SHAKEOLOGY, blended with ice, almond milk, and frozen fruit

So yeah. We’re the couple who travels with a mini-blender and a sack full of groceries. We’re the 2 token people at the MLB baseball game who opt for the veggies and hummus. And the pizza we order on occasion? It doesn’t have any cheese on it, and most likely has extra kale.

But you wanna know what I think? I think we’re on the cutting edge of a wellness revolution. While some get deterred from such healthy ways by bullying, hot dog-loving friends, others stand their ground. And you know what happens when you stand your ground? People start to pay attention. The questions and the looks you get… they go away. People start to know you as the healthy couple, or the healthy friend, and they leave you alone. And eventually, after you get in the best shape of your life and go off of all of your medications, the questions shift from, “Really?!” to “Can you help me?” And THAT is where the wellness revolution peaks its lovely little head.

You see, we all have insecurity. Insecurity in how we feel, what we look like, who we befriend, what we eat… And you know how insecurity reveals itself? In the form of verbal diarrhea and sideways glances.

My hope, in writing this blog post, is for you to see that eventually, probably by the time our children have children, veggies and hummus will be THE item to try at the ball park. Being the lone healthy friend will be a way of the past, and instead, being the lone unhealthy friend will stand out. My hope for you is to stop ridiculing the way others eat and choose to live and reflect on your own choices. What small step can you take today to simply feel better? To live longer? To enjoy life?

Boy, it sure is hard to be healthy. But it’s also so damn worth it.

For more information on Shakeology, check out this video: Click Here.