Putting Bad Eating Habits on Ice
Olympic Skater Patrick Chan gives Vervegirl the lowdown on healthy eating habits.How do you stay healthy? Do you make informed food choices and exercise regularly? Navigating the do’s and don’ts of a healthy lifestyle is tricky for most of us. Often life becomes so busy that it seems easier to grab fast food and abandon exercise all together. Unfortunately, there’s no juicy secret, or quick fix for staying in tip top shape.
Recently T-Fal held a breakfast honouring Canadian men’s figure skating champion and World silver medalist, Patrick Chan, and Canadian ice dancers, Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirier.
Vervegirl was one of the lucky invitees and spoke to our Canadian skating heroes about living a healthy lifestyle, and how you can too by following these simple tips:
1. Get Involved
“I love food,” Paul Poirier exclaims and frankly, he’s not alone!We adore food in all its tasty glory! But with so many choices, how do we eat well and make it interesting? “I go grocery shopping,” says Paul. “I like to look at everything and read the labels.” Paul’s definitely onto something. When we take an active role into what we’re buying and consuming, we tend to make smarter food choices. Craving a product with a label that declares that it’s chock full of fat and salt? Suddenly, it’s no longer appetizing.
2. Begin Slowly and Notice Results
“Starting to eat healthy, you just feel so much better,” explains Paul. “If I wasn’t an athlete, I’d still eat healthy. You feel better. You feel more energetic and notice it right away.” Beginning a new eating regime is never easy but take baby steps to ease into it. Select your favourite fruit for breakfast, or a whole wheat pita filled with grilled chicken and veggies for lunch. “After awhile, it becomes a habit instead of consciously choosing to eat healthy,” says Paul.
3. Avoid Extremes
It’s great to maintain a healthy diet, but becoming too strict with watching what you eat can backfire too. “It’s good to eat healthy, but once a week, eat whatever you want,” opines Patrick Chan, “You should at least have one day where you can relax (about food choices), otherwise you’ll drive yourself crazy.” Adds Paul’s ice dancing partner, Vanessa Crone, “I don’t have a special diet but I definitely try. For snacks, I’d have an apple but I’m not going to lie – some days I have a bag of chips but as long as you eat healthy all the other times, it’s fine.” Starting to eat healthy is only part of the lifestyle puzzle.
Check out the conclusion to our chat with Vanessa Crone, Paul Poirier, and Patrick Chan when our favourite skaters talk about exercise and sleep and how they can make you feel the best you can be!
Check out the selection of T-fal appliances that will help you build healthy eating habits.
Note from the Online Editor, Kim Cooper:
Jackie Middleton is a freelance writer for Vervegirl.com. Jackie’s unhealthy addiction to pop culture only rivals her love of chocolate. Check out her blog at www.losethatgirl.com.
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