Mary Teunis

Nutrition + Fitness

Nutrition

TOP 8 Nutrition Holiday Tips

By

TOP Nutrition Holiday Tips

Create balance with food during the most wonderful time of the year!

1.      Don’t skip meals! Saving your calories for a big holiday meal may result in overeating.

2.      After finishing your first helping at a holiday meal take a 10-minute break. Make conversation, have some water, and then recheck your appetite.

3.      When baking your favorite holiday treats try using healthy alternatives. Replace butter with applesauce, mashed banana, or pumpkin puree. Instead of sugar, use a lower-calorie substitute such as stevia and add dried fruit instead of chocolate chips or candies.

4.      Savor seasonal treats. Having treats once a year will not make or break your weight. Make sure you take time to really taste and enjoy that special treat when you have it.

5.      Avoid alcohol on an empty stomach. Alcohol may increase appetite and diminish your ability to control what you eat.

6.      Don’t go out on an empty tank. Before heading to the party, eat a small snack with carbs, pro, and healthy fats. A good snack would be apples and peanut butter or pita chips and hummus, or even a protein bar.

7.      Don’t forget those veggies! start by filling your plate with vegetables and salad before going to the entrees and desserts.

8.      Eat until you are satisfied, not stuffed. No one likes that icky, stuffed feeling after a meal. Eat slowly and check your fullness levels while you’re eating. Remember — there are always leftovers!

This holiday season try not to beat yourself up if you go off your usual meal plan during the holidays. Yes, food is an integral part of the holidays but focus your attention on friends, family, and those you love.

Need extra accountability this holiday season? Email Mary, at MaryTeunisnutrition@gmail.com and set up a consultation today!

Enjoying the Holidays

By

Enjoying the Holidays

It’s November and the holidays are approaching. Calendars will soon be filled with social events celebrated with friends and family. This year, go into the holidays with a new mindset! Rather than skipping over the holiday joy, with fear and stress about delicious foods, focus on the fellowship between friends and family. Follow the guide below and enjoy the holiday festivities!

1.       Define what holiday success will look like for you. Where are you in your nutrition and fitness journey? If healthy living is new to you, consider giving yourself grace and allow yourself to have a treat or two. Do not expect yourself to stray away from the holiday food but rather set boundaries. If you are training for a competition, or need to make weight for a certain event, switch your focus from holiday food, to making memories with loved ones.

2.       Prioritize this holiday season. Pull up your calendar and schedule in all social engagements. Pick the ones where you will attend, and then plan nutrition accordingly. Prioritize choosing foods to indulge in you typically do not eat and are special to the holidays. For example, did Grandma make her famous pumpkin pie? Well, enjoy that slice of pie! You get to enjoy it one time a year. But if Cousin Sally brought store-bought chocolate chip cookies, skip them. You can always pick them up at the store, in the later winter months.

3.       Optimize and take advantage of the days that you do not have holiday festivities and plan your meals and snacks, following the balanced plate method. Eat three meals a day that include ½ the plate veggies and fruit, ¼ the plate lean protein, ¼ the plate complex carbs, and add a small number of healthy fats. Add 1-2 healthy snacks that are high in protein and sneak in a workout!

4.       Find accountability! Ask a friend, mentor, partner, or coach about your goals this holiday season. Not only will this help you stick to your goal, talking about goals makes it even more real and you could be more willing to following through.

5.       BELIEVE IN YOU and BE KIND to YOURSELF! We are human and are not perfect. Balance and flexibility are necessary when living a happy, healthy, and balanced lifestyle. When overindulging happens, notice it and get back on track for the next meal with a balanced meal that includes protein, complex carbs, healthy fats, and a lot of veggies.

Need extra accountability this holiday season? Email Mary, at MaryTeunisnutrition@gmail.com and set up a consultation today!

Stress and Obsession with Food and Exercise

By

Stress and Obsession with Food and Exercise

Constant stress and obsession over food and exercise can absolutely prevent you from ever getting to where you want to be.

When humans want something, they are going to do whatever it takes to achieve what they are looking for. Take health and fitness, for example, if you set your mind on a goal, say lose 10 lbs. or develop the strength for your first pull up, do you neglect other areas in your life including your mental and physical wellbeing? Do you become stressed and obsessed with this one area of your life?  If so, what do these achievements mean if the quality of your life is poor? Will the amount of weight you lose and will your strength matter if you are consumed by the thoughts of food and exercise and are stressed to the point that you cannot even enjoy life?

One initial thought may have been “If I lose 10 lbs., then I will be happy” “Once I get that first pull up, then I will consider myself strong” Yes, determination and dedication to reaching a goal, is a wonderful thing. When we carve out a goal and get after it, it is rewarding, and we receive praise. The problem happens, when we focus on too much in one area of our life and neglect other important areas, including mental health, spiritual health, relationships, work, play, sleep, and recovery. When we do this, we don’t really achieve what we were originally looking for, happiness, and fulfillment.

Preventing the all-or-nothing mindset is challenging, for us humans. We let doubt, fear, and insecurity get in our way. Unfortunately, we just do not trust ourselves and, often that is because time and time again, we have failed, so we may think the only way to reach a goal is to go all in. But ultimately, we get to make that choice!

We can fall for the doubt and believe that to reach our goals, we must go all in, count every calorie, weigh, and measure all meals, eat on a perfect schedule, plan out everything we put in our body, never eat a meal out, exercise 7 days a week and “burn off” all calories consumed or we can choose not to obsesses and overconsume life with food and exercise. Instead of obsession, we can focus on small manageable, and consistent changes including committing to exercise 3-4 days a week, taking 30 minutes out of your week to plan meals in advance, eating mostly whole, nutrient-dense foods, planning dinners out, and swapping processed snacks, with fruit, veggies, or another healthy alternative.

Simply, be mindful of how you treat both your body and mind. Make healthy changes when necessary and you will get where you want to be. 

Identity and the Female athlete

By

Identity and the Female athlete

Growing up as an athlete my hobbies were…. gymnastics. Seriously, I woke up, went to school, and then my mom drove me 30 minutes to my 4 ½ hour gymnastics practice. I did this 4 – 5 days a week so there was not much time for any other hobbies. That was fine with me. I was a dedicated athlete.

Then I was not the “gymnast” anymore. I had all this free time that I did not know what to do with. I thought I would be happy with living the “free” life, not being a competitive gymnast anymore. I was eager that I could try out for the cheerleading team, hang out with school friends, and experience all the “normal” people things. But after developing an eating disorder and getting in a severe car accident, I was no longer the “gymnast” I lost my identity completely. I had no idea who I was without the world telling me who to be.

After gymnastics, I tried cheerleading. I was on my high school cheerleading team and then on the college cheer team at FSU. My new identity was the “flyer”. Yep, you guessed it I was the girl who they threw up in the air. Just like gymnastics, cheerleading gave me a sense of identity that I was longing for.

I also tried pole vaulting and sprinting. Track was different than gymnastics, I liked it and enjoyed the challenge, but it did not light my soul on fire like gymnastics and cheerleading.

When I left FSU, I found CrossFit. CrossFit helped me out of a deadly relapse in 2017. I fell in love with the competitive environment the CrossFit community brought. Thanks to gymnastics, I was naturally good at the sport and qualified for the 2018 CrossFit games regionals and 2019 Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge representing Team Revamped. I had the CrossFit games insight. I was ready to commit my entire life to train. I was willing to put everything on hold to train like a game’s athlete. I wanted to redeem myself. I was finally focused on what my body could do. I was the strongest I have ever been, even at my fittest in gymnastics…and I was working on getting stronger.

Then, COVID hit, and I fell deep. I was at an all-time low. My mental health was suffering, and my physical body was melting away. I just graduated with my Bachelor of Science in Nutrition, I could not compete in CrossFit, I could not work with clients, I was in quarantine for three months (just like the rest of the world). I felt like I had no identity. If I could not do any of these things, then who was I?

I relapsed again…and I did not even realize it until we were finally out of quarantine. I did not realize how I was feeling was not normal.

Coming out on the other side it’s been rough. I know I often portray to the public that my life is put together but let me tell you the hard truth IT IS NOT. I try my best to put the real Mary on Social, but still, the highlights are only shared.

Today for the first time I do not identify as an athlete, personal trainer, or nutrition scientist. I am the simple Mary who ENJOYS fitness, competing in CrossFit and nutrition. Once I learned to stop identifying myself as my hobbies and career, I became free.

Why? Because these things can be taken away from us in a heartbeat. Look back at my story, every hobby was taken away from me. Every time I lost a hobby I relapsed. Why? Because I lost control of who I was, and I turned back to what I knew how to do best…destroy my body and mind.

Why did I share this with you? Because it’s a real problem in today’s culture that led me and many other athletes to poor mental health

I want to remind us that we are so much more than what the world defines us as.

Female athletes, I ask you to reflect on this question- If you could not train or compete would you be okay just, being YOU?

The truth is, at the end of the day we will be done competing, so what will you lean on for happiness and identity?

I would love to hear your response! Please email Maryteunisnutrition@gmail.com to Share!

Swap This For That! Healthy Alternatives To Your Favorite Snacks!

By

Swap This For That! Healthy Alternatives To Your Favorite Snacks!

Snacking on food has developed a bad image today but healthy snacking can give you a boost in energy mid-day, help with muscle recovery post-workout, stabilize blood sugar, and keep you from overeating at mealtime. Healthy snacks don’t have to be boring! Below are 4 delicious and healthy food swaps that you will love.

1. Hooked on soda? The 20 oz bottle of Coca-Cola contains 240 calories and 65 grams of sugar. That is almost double the amount of sugar a person should consume in one day. Swap the bottle of soda for Zevia! This natural product is tasty, zero calories, and contains no sugar! You can find this product in the organic section at the local grocery store.  

2. Love salty and crunchy snacks!? Did you know one small bag of lays original potato chips contains 150 calories, 9.5 grams of fat, and 15 grams of carbs? My favorite healthy alternative that will satisfy the salty craving is Quest chips! These baked chips contain 140 calories 5 grams of fat, 5 carbohydrates, and 19 grams of protein! These chips can be found at your local vitamin store or on Amazon Prime!

3. Your favorite gummy candy may say fat-free on the bag, but did you know that one snack-size serving of Swedish fish contains 100 calories, 27 grams of carbohydrates, and 23 grams of sugar. Smart sweets developed a plant-based, healthy alternative to candy. These products are free from sugar alcohols, artificial sweeteners, and added sugars. One bag of Smart sweets contains 90 calories, 3 grams of sugar, and 22 grams of fiber! These sweet treats can be found at your local vitamin store, grocery store and Amazon prime! 

4. Have you fallen for the marketing trap of consuming “Healthy drink alternatives”? Vitamin water and Gatorade are high in sugar, artificial flavors, and contains added cane sugar. One bottle of vitamin water contains 120 calories, 33 grams of carbohydrates, and 32 grams of sugar. Next time you are craving flavored water try creating your own fruit infused water by adding fruit to a glass of water.

My goal is not for you to swap all your favorite snacks for healthy alternatives. Food is for both nourishment and pleasure! Enjoy your favorite snacks in moderation, but keep in mind healthy eating does not have to be boring!