Share a little about your background and your involvement with food and fitness.
Hi! My name is Katie Farrell, and I am the author of Dashing Dish. I started Dashing Dish as a side hobby while working full time as a nurse about 2 years ago. It all began because I wanted to encourage and inspire people to live a healthy lifestyle outside of my nursing job. At one time in my life, it was difficult to give up ‘junk’ food. This inspired me to get in the kitchen and learn to create healthy alternatives to the food I craved. I enjoyed my new lifestyle so much that I wanted to share my recipes with the world and teach people that you can eat what you love and live a healthy lifestyle at the same time!
What are a couple of your favorite high-protein recipes and why?
My favorite protein packed recipes are my protein shakes and protein muffins/bars/breads. I love to bake and make recipes with protein because it keeps me full longer, and helps build lean muscle!
If I’m looking for a truly quick meal or snack, I have a Dashing Dish protein shake or a salad or wrap sandwich! They are healthy and delicious and ready in 5-10 minutes!
What does being “healthy” mean to you?
To me, healthy means finding a balance. I believe everything in moderation is key, so if you want to split a dessert that isn’t necessarily ‘healthy’ that is OK, if you balance it out with healthy choices throughout the day rest of your day!
What advice do you have for someone who wants to start strength training?
It seems like a lot of people start out their weight loss journey doing strictly cardio exercises, which is a great place to start, and certainly better than no start at all! I think one of the biggest ‘misunderstandings’ when it comes to exercising for weight loss is that you must do ENDLESS amounts of cardio to burn off as many calories as possible! I know this to be true, because I too once thought cardio (for at least an hour a day) was the only way to trim down and stay slim!
Now, don’t get me wrong, doing cardio is an important element of weight loss, and it does have its benefits! However, it’s strength training that will help you not only lose weight, but will help you get the results that really LAST! I think the benefits of weight training (especially in women) are poorly understood, and are therefore greatly neglected.
Now let’s discuss the benefits of strength training! First and foremost, strength training will build your muscles mass, which will in turn build your strength, which is important if you would like to keep you body strong and prevent injuries down the road! Weight training also prevents osteoporosis, (which is a common problem for many women as they age), by building your bone density!
Muscle mass is also a ‘metabolically active tissue’ which means it uses energy to ‘survive’ in a sense, (which means it needs calories to be maintained). This means with every pound of muscle you build, you are burning more calories when you are just sitting around! With cardio, you do burn calories while exercising and you have a slightly higher ‘caloric burn’ a few hours after you are done. However, with lifting weights, you will burn calories during your workout, and will continue to do so after you have stopped exercising for the day... Sounds like a win-win situation to me!
For more from Katie, visit her blog, http://dashingdish.com/, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter @dashingdish
