Seventeen Magazine Mexico Editorial

I am so grateful for the opportunity to share the message of Healthy is the new skinny with the girls and women of Mexico in this feature with Seventeen Magazine Mexico.  xoxo - Katie

Normal Girl in a Fitspo World: Episode 4 "Let's Talk About Progress Photos"

In Episode 4 of Normal Girl in a Fitspo World, Bradford and I sit down to talk about why I decided to ditch the scale and try progress photos instead. We answer a few questions and comments from women on my previous post about progress photos and I give you an a quick note from my book to help you identify some negative programming you may not be aware you are holding on to. I hope you try it out because it can play a huge role in your healing progress and in achieving your healthy and wellness goals. 

xoxo

Katie

Tofu with Peanut Sauce Recipe

When it comes to tofu I am a beginner.  In Mexico, finding tofu isn't always the easiest task but we were able to find one pack of soft tofu on our last trip to the store. I wasn't sure if we would like the texture but we gave it a shot and to be honest the soft tofu was better than the firm tofu for this recipe. It melts in your mouth like butta! 

Bradford loves asian food but when we order it at a restaurant it always seems to hurt his stomach. So happy to say this recipe is vegan, healthy, delicious, and didn't cause any problem for Bradford who has a lot of food allergies. So it is a win!

Ingredients

• Tofu Bowl
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 2 cups cauliflower florets
• 2 teaspoons olive oil or additional sesame oil, divided
• salt/pepper
• 16 oz  tofu, pressed and drained

• Peanut sauce
• 1-2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/4 cup 100% pure maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce
• 1/4 cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cube tofu and place in a single layer on a non-stick baking sheet and cook for 25 minutes. If you aren't using a non-stick baking sheet, lightly spray with cooking spray. Remove from oven and place in a shallow bowl.
2. Whisk together the ingredients for the sauce (sesame oil, soy sauce, maple syrup, chili garlic sauce, peanut butter) until creamy and smooth. Add 1/2 of the sauce to the tofu bowl and let marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
3. Toss the broccoli and cauliflower with 2 teaspoon sesame or olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Place in the oven and roast for 20 minutes until just tender.
4. Heat remaining olive or sesame oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add tofu, in batches, along with the marinating sauce until crispy and golden browned, about 3-4 minutes.
5. Arrange rice and veggies on a plate or in a bowl. Top with tofu pieces and drizzle with peanut sauce and peanuts. (Note, we also love adding a little sweet Thai chili sauce to the cauliflower.) Enjoy!

True Calling Episode 2: Climbing COBA

In True Calling Episode 2: Climbing Coba, we take you with us as we climb Coba! Coba is one of the most beautiful Mayan Ruins in the Yucatan. But that isn't all that happened this week, True learned to walk! I can't believe how quickly she is growing. Enjoy.

Girl Boss Feature with Miss Bish

Miss Bish came to Palm Springs to spend the day with me and my family to see what it is like running a business and being a new mom! Well it is crazy. Hope you enjoy this video and feature you can check out below. 

In a society where authenticity is seemingly becoming a lost art, Katie Willcox is bringing it back and redefining what it means to be healthy and successful. Author, wife, mom, public speaker–Katie wears many hats and leads a busy life, but physical and mental health are always at the top of her agenda. Continue reading the full article HERE!

Let's Talk About Progress Photos

When it comes to progress photos, everyone seems to have an opinion. Some people love them and think it is a great way to monitor their progress while others feel they are triggering and can promote an unhealthy mentality about weight loss, thus promoting diet culture.  For me, I am impartial to them because I feel that when it comes to these topics, so much of our opinions depend upon our personal experiences with body image.  

Progress or before and after photos are a great example. Because our following on the Healthy is the New Skinny's IG page is made up of 94% women, we get a lot insight and comments when we post certain types of content. One post stuck with me because a woman sent me her before and after photo wearing our HNS tank. She had lost over 80 pounds and she shared her incredible story of being in the military and having to overcome PTSD and depression. She was able to reach a stable place mentally and had committed to improving her health and wellbeing. She shared how she did't care about what size she was, she only cared about how amazing she was feeling inside and out. I loved it so much and was happy to share it on our page because it was the full embodiment of our message! 

It was only a few minutes before I started to read comments that were very accusatory and presumptuous.  There were comments like, "This is triggering and you should never post before and after photos." "You are promoting diet culture." "You clearing don't care about girls with eating disorders and I am unfollowing you." My mouth was wide open as I read these comments and my frustration turned to sadness as I then read a comment from the woman in the photo. She said, "The point of this is that I have worked so hard to be healthy! Several of the comments are so discouraging💔" 

Needless to say I jumped to her defense because she deserved to be proud of the amazing progress she has made regardless of the feelings other people are struggling with within themselves. I responded nicely to the few girls who were upset and kindly suggested they unfollow our page because we celebrate all kinds of women with various struggles and victories. 

My point is, we tend to base our view on things like progress photos based upon how we feel when we see them. I think there were times when I was in an unhealthy place mentally and would see those photos and think, "I wish I could do that." And I would feel bad about myself. I recently did an interview with Shape.com about how you are are more than what you see in the mirror. In that article I talk about how I am not body positive, but instead I am body neutral. I am focused on caring for my mind, body, and spirit as a whole vs. only identifying as a physical body. I mention progress photos in this article and say exactly how I feel currently which is they are neither good or bad. Photos are just photos, we are the ones that bring positive or negative emotions to them. 

I think being self aware is really important and part of that is realizing that how you feel belongs to you. No one else is making you feel a certain way, it is you that is responding to something. Being accountable for how we feel and owning our own feelings without labeling things as good or bad is important to do. Before and after photos aren't bad, but if you are not in a healthy place with your self esteem and they cause you to feel worse, then they are absolutely not healthy for you. But just like the mention the IG post above, progress photos for the woman in the military was healthy and empowering for her. Each one of us can find what works for us and in doing so we need to give that freedom to others without labeling them as "wrong" or "bad" just because what works for them doesn't work for you. 

Photo on the left Aug 1st, 2017 Photo on the right Aug 23, 2017 (Week 3)

I have never done progress photos before and since starting my postpartum fitness journey, Normal Girl in a Fitspo World, I found some unhealthy thought processes popping up.  My husband Bradford loves to weigh himself. He is able to just monitor his weight from a nonemotional place. His view is that you can use weight as a gage to see where you are at. I understand that, and I do believe there are many people like him who can totally do that in a healthy way. I am not one of those people. After week one, I stepped on the scale excited to see if I had lost any weight and I hadn't lost a pound. I instantly felt those awful feelings bubbling up. Discouragement, failure, annoyance, and frustration were all starting to ruin my day and so I had to check myself! 

I had to call my own bullshit and analyze my feelings. Why was I feeling that way? It had been one week for God's sake. What I realized is that I've had a tumultuous relationship with the scale for my whole life. I took a moment to review my current health and fitness goals which are:

• I want to get in shape by being more physically fit.
• I want to build muscle.
• I want to have more energy.
• I want to eat natural healthy foods that nourish my body.
• I want to be able to fit into my clothes after having my baby.
• I want to feel strong and powerful.
• I want to help my body operate optimally to increase my quality of life long term.

As I was going over some of these goals I realized that my weight doesn't really need to be a focus. By weighing myself, I realized that I wouldn't be able to separate my healthy goals from the unhealthy relationship I had developed with the scale. 

Photo on the left Aug 1st, 2017 Photo on the right Aug 23, 2017 (Week 3)

I decided that it would be best for me and my health to not step on the scale.  I will continue to do my workouts, eat well, and instead of focusing on the scale and what I am losing, I will focus on all that I am gaining from this experience. I decided that instead of stepping on the scale I will monitor my progress in a much healthier way, by doing progress photos, being aware of how my clothing fits, and monitoring my strength gains in the gym.  I can't even begin to tell you how amazing I feel about that decision. I have no idea if I have lost weight and to be honest it doesn't really matter. I can already see a difference in my photos, I put on a pair of pre pregnancy pants today that actually fit, and I went up in weights in the gym. Clearly I am doing something right and that is all that matters! I will let my body decided what it wants to weigh from this point on.

Photo on the left Aug 1st, 2017 Photo on the right Aug 23, 2017 (Week 3)

The photos on the left are day one of my fitness journey and the photos on the right are day 23, so I am three weeks in and feel really healthy and happy. I don't look at my starting photo and think "I am fat or ugly," it is just where I started. I don't look at myself in the second photo and think I am worth more, I am just seeing a tiny bit of muscle definition and that is great. 

So remember that we all have triggers and things that can lead us down an unhealthy path mentally, emotionally, or physically, but those are issues we must work through.  When we can recognize them and make adjustments that is when we are making the most progress in life.

I would love to know your take on progress photos? Have you done them? How do they make you feel? Bradford and I will be discussing this on our next episode of our Vlog. 

xoxo

Katie

Normal Girl in a Fitspo World: Episode 3 "Our Food Philosophy"

The number one question Bradford and I get asked is "Are you Vegan?" In this episode we answer that question and talk about our family food philosophy.  We take you with us to the grocery store, and I show you how to make black bean burgers that will change your world. 

Below, here are some amazing documentaries that have helped us question and evaluate what changes we wanted to make in terms of our eating habits. I hope you open yourself up to these same questions and remember that this isn't about just losing weight it, is about overall health inside and out, for the long term.  What we eat and why, plays and important role in our experience here on earth and for me it has been a natural progression of consciousness to want to eat natural foods and do as little harm to other living things as possible.

Your health journey can be an evolution of consciousness, and through this experience you can learn more about the real you, why you are here, what you want to contribute to the world, how you want to do that, and why. But first, coffee. Just kidding ... But first, you must reach a place of self acceptance as you are now so you can let go of the self hatred, self loathing, and negativity that has served as your comfort blanket. Personal freedom isn't looking perfect or reaching a goal weight it is letting go of the proverbial weight holding you down and stopping you from rising up. So if you are tired of hating your body, and you are tired of thinking negatively about yourself, and you are tired of feeling unlovable, then let those things go and free yourself. 

Self love is magic and can heal the soul. Health is the medicine our bodies need to thrive and you are a special soul that is here for a reason. 

Bomb Black Bean Burger Recipe

I have to say that I am really proud of myself for this one. Since we stopped eating meat I have been wanting to learn how to make a really good black bean burger but I had this idea in my mind that it must be really difficult to do.  I was wrong! This recipe is a game changer for families wanting to cut out the meat but still partake in the family BBQ's and burger night! The best part is that I have several patties left sitting pretty in the freezer. That makes my life so much easier knowing I can just cook one up in 5 minutes and have a satisfying meal that is effortless. 

I originally got this recipe from Buzzfeed on Pinterest. Here is what you will need!

Ingredients:

• 2 cans Black beans

• 2 Carrots

• 1/2 tsp Coriander

• 3 Garlic cloves

• 1 Onion

Condiments:

• 1 tbsp Soy sauce

Pasta & Grains:

• 1/2 cup Quick oats

Baking & Spices:

• 1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper

• 1/2 tsp Chili powder

• 1 Salt and pepper

Oils & Vinegars:

• 1 tbsp Olive oil

Nuts & Seeds:

• 1 tsp Cumin

Bread & Baked Goods

• 1 Burger buns or bread of your preference. I used one piece of toasted Indian bread.

PREPARATION

Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Combine onions, garlic, salt, and pepper and cook until onions are translucent. Add carrots, cumin, coriander, chili powder, and cayenne pepper until carrots are tender. Remove pan from heat. 

In a bowl, mash the beans and then add the contents of the pan along with the soy sauce and quick oats. Mix and form four patties. Place in freezer for 30 minutes to set. Cook patties on a pan coated in cooking spray over medium heat, flipping halfway. 

Use patties to create your dream veggie burger.