About

This is the cooking and fitness journal of a 36yr old girl who seems to have lost her way in this vast American sea of Mcdonalds and Wendys and is looking to undo the effects of such. I will embark on a healthy cooking and fitness voyage and along the way entertain you with my ridiculous mishaps, but mostly try to help or inspire any new ideas for you to try yourself.  

My name is Yani.  You should know I haven't always liked to cook (or exercise for that matter).  I am a wife of one and mother of three and for years my family was basically living off of fast food.  A few years back I embarked on a cooking journey to get my family to the dinner table (and eating healthier).  I have had so much fun and learned many o' things along the way I would love to share with you!

Slowly over the years I have managed to lose about 90 lbs.  However about 60 of those lbs came of immediately after I started cooking at home more!  Although I will credit some of that to the Weight Watchers program (they are awesome), they don't provide the food for you, rather you must cook your own meals and teach you how to choose wisely if you eat out.  I learned that even after I stopped using the program NOT eating out as much and cooking my own fresh, healthy meals I was still losing.

My healthy journey has evolved by accident I must note to what is typically considered as "Clean Eating".  The more I began to break ingredients down to it's basic most healthiest state I realized that this was the best and healthiest way for us to eat.  It's not a diet per say it's simply eating whole foods (food that has not been processed by humans to an unrecognizable state), namely, fruits, veggies, lean meats, beans, nuts, whole grains and so on, trying to stay away from refined sugars and trying to stick to as much organic products as possible.  Basically if the earth produced it then it's what I will try my best to use for cooking and consuming.  There isn't any one particular food class I avoid, I am not vegetarian (although I will go days without meat) but 90% clean eater with everything else in moderation.

 

You will find that my family isn't always on board with me in my healthy eating habits but they do try real hard.  I go through constant struggles trying to get them to eat the best kinds of foods but kids can be a real challenge. Although I will say that after starting my cooking journey my children have learned to love things that were untouchable to them.  For example: Broccoli, Asparagus, Strawberries, Pineapples, Cauliflower, ect. the list goes on.  This is something I thought IMPOSSIBLE due to the fact that they were not trained early on to eat these things and I basically had them hooked on Mcdonalds.  Have hope parents, it is very much possible!  And although my 16 year old son was the inspiration for the title of this page cause he used to suffer everytime I made him excercise or NOT eat chicken nuggets, I am proud to say he has now joined me in my health kick!  He has lost over 25 lbs right along with me and he asked me to help him be healthier all by himself! That makes it all worth it ... now if only I could get him to help me out in the kitchen.

So join me, in this at times comical adventure.  Let's learn some great new recipes, eating tips, workout tips, keeping a food journal together and more as we take on a health challenge!

  

DISCLAIMER: ---> By the way, this page is not affiliated with any website or company or anything at all actually, this is a personal, simply for fun page with no commercial interest whatsoever.  Most recipes are mine but any recipes/tips will be credited to wherever they came from.

TO CHECK OUT MY WEIGHT LOSS JOURNEY STORY CLICK HERE.