Slow Cooking

Crock-Pot^® Countdown Touchscreen Slow Cooker

High five if you own a crockpot!!

You  have the ability to make SO MANY good meals in this baby.  If yours has a timer setting consider me envious, mine was purchased before technology caught on so it just has 3 basic settings but it works perfectly so I can't justify getting a new one.

On to food.... traditionally, I think of a long slow cooked meal as hearty.  The problem is it is usually a  startchy, carb loaded meal with a supremely fatty meat.  One of the easiest meats to put in a crock pot is chicken breasts.  Want to make it one step easier?! They can be frozen chicken breasts!  There aren't many better feelings than walking in the door after a long day to a dinner that is waiting on you! 

Here are some ideas:  

Chicken Taco Soup 1.5 c serving= 165 calories
4-6 frozen chicken breasts

2 15oz cans of Mexican diced or stewed tomatoes

     or my favorite option 2 cans of the tomatoes with a can of Rotel

2 15 oz cans of black beans- don't drain these, pour it all in!
1 c salsa =1/2 a jar of salsa
15 oz can of tomato sauce

If I could find any crockpot liners I'd use those- I haven't found any since we lived in Iowa 3 years ago!
Put the chicken on the bottom, pour in the rest of the ingredients and let cook on low for 8 hours.  If you have the luxury of going home at lunch you can cook it on high for 4 or 5 hours.

You can also add in some frozen "Mexican blend" veggies or some corn for a tasty twist.  This would alter the calorie count listed above.   And for an extra 5 minutes in the morning isn't it worth it to have dinner waiting on you when you get home?!

Italian Chicken: 156 calories
4-6 frozen chicken breasts
1 c. chicken broth
1 can of Cream of Chicken soup 98% fat free
1 packet of italian salad dressing mix

Put the chicken in first, then broth then soup then sprinkle dry dressing mix and let cook 8 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high.

Serve with broccoli, green beans or salad.  You can serve it over a 1/4c of brown rice or whole wheat egg noodles.


When you're looking for recipes, steer clear of recipes containing the word "creamy".  It will most likely add on 100 additional calories per serving when you can easily make something delicious without being creamy.

All time favorite sandwich topper

It took a decade or two for me to even try avocado.  Probably because it is green, a little slimy and looks intimidating to prepare.   After about 600 cooking shows and a how to video on youtube I finally gave this green guy a shot.

The most common kind of avocado is a Hass avocado but there are almost 100 varieties.  Sometimes they're called the Alligator Pear because of the textured shell and shape... I've even heard some people call them guacamole.  (To be clear, you make guacamole with avocado).   

A whole avocado is about 300 calories, so I usually have half one day and save the other half for the next day after sprizting with some liemon juice to avoid browning.  If it browns it won't hurt you, it just doesn't look as pretty.  Avocados are nutrient rich of vitamins C & K, B6 and serves as a good source of the healthy monounsaturated fats.  

As for eating it, my husband & I have grown to love them straight from their shell.  But when it comes to accessorizing our sandwiches, I use this in place of mayo.  It's a little "slimy" as I mentioned earlier which helps keep a turkey, spinach & tomato sandwich from getting dry.  Sometimes I even skip the mustard when I have avocado!

Here is a video on how to cut & peel and avocado:

For a healthy snack you can mash up some avocado with some salsa, salt & optional lime juice for a delish quick guacamole!

The secret to losing weight is...

Sweat and persistence.

There isn't a magic pill, shake or mix that will help you reach your goal weight and maintain it.

Certainly there are products that will assist you in your weight loss goals. Often times it is because you are replacing your typical meal with something with far less calories. These products are wonderful to start off with and watching the pounds melt off is great motivation to keep pushing.

But don't be fooled; nothing takes the place of hard work, dedication and eating the right fuel. Today juicers are becoming more affordable so the nutrition packed mixes are becoming a thing of the past.

In the health club industry we see things come and go but our advice is don't buy in to the gimmicks, which are seldom long term solutions. Long term solutions are healthy heating and a sweaty shirt. Make the days count an feel proud of the progress you make.

100 calories of...

Often we hear about "100 calorie packs" or "under 100 calories" which can be very deceptive.  After I put my kiddo to bed tonight I started thinking about what to pack for his lunch tomorrow; making sure he has protein, dairy, veggies and sometimes a fruit. He is probably the only kid who takes sweet potatoes to school... and he loves them!  I try to pack enough for him to eat without all the fillers and garbage while still giving him fuel to play at recess at 2pm. Smaller portions are something we need to think about more often. Especially smaller quality portions. I went through my cabinets and fridge to find food most people may have in their home to demonstrate 100 calories.

There is an overflowing bowl of baby carrots, 1 neopolitan Oreo, canned chicken (minus a teaspoon) , jello pudding (minus a teaspoon) , my favorite apple cinnamon Greek yogurt (minus a tablespoon) , 9 Cocoa coated almonds and 7 mini Oreos.
(A Nabisco man is a gym member and brings us lots of goodies!)

All of these items with the exception of the spoonful less that is noted are 100 calories worth of snack. Though the mini Oreos and cocoa almonds are pretty close in taste & count, 5g of protein in the almonds is better than >1g in the mini Oreos.

Make smarter protions to aid in your weight loss. Though I could never eat 100 calories worth of carrots, I like the thought that I would be able to eat them until I am undoubtedly full and be under 100 calories while my body uses all the nutrients they provide!

You know that feeling....

...when you switch shampoo or conditioner and your hair has never felt and looked better?

I asked Brandy at Shades 'N Waves her technique to get my hair so soft, yet full of volume.  She took her time and talked me through the routine she was doing, I went home to practice and was seriously disappointed.  If you know me, you know my version of styled hair is a little bit of back combing and, if I'm really feeling fancy, a bobby pin or a BRAID!

The next time Brandy put color in my hair I told her about my failure and then she asked me about my shampoo & conditioner.  Oh.

Apparently she has this theory that what you put on your hair has something to do with how it looks and feels.  Hmm.  Yeah... that makes absolute perfect sense.

Fueling your body is the same.  When you put crap in your body you don't feel (or look) your best.  Yes, it is cheaper.  Yes, this bottle is twice as big as the other and the same price.  Yes, yes and yes.  I'm sure your momma told you quality, not quantity.  That is the exact determination you need to make when grocery shopping.

Quality food.  Quality calories. Quality fuel. 

I'm sure you know to shop around the outer ring of the grocery store.  The high carbs & calories are located inside and on the ends of the aisles.  Take an extra 10 minutes and plan your meals for the week, walk in prepared.  In some of the upcoming posts I'll have a weekly shopping list with meals so you can plan ahead.

Look good, but most importantly feel good with the food you put into your body.  Also think about how much it's worth saving in the long run by making smarter decisions, boosting your immune system and teaching your children to make healthier decisions.

Fuel your body to do more than just stay alive.  Fuel your body to FEEL alive.

Italian cheese & herb veggie skillet

Easy.  Low-calorie.  Quick.  Healthy.  Filling.  Delicious.  Cost efficient.

All of us can appreciate the above adjectives... especially when it comes to making a great dinner!
In late spring I bought a little tub of the Philadelphia Cooking Crème . It sat in the back of my fridge in the land of pickle & jalapeno jars waiting for me to use it.  I don't know why it took me so long to try this ingredient.  Since I made this, I have purchased 3 more flavors to try!


Notice there are FOUR servings in this. Here is where you can alter both flavor & calorie count.  I took a butter knife and scored the crème inside in half to help ensure I only used half the tub to make 5 servings. 

Math: 1 tub= 110 Calories  / 2 = 55 calories per half.  55 calories/5 servings = 11 calories a serving.

Now that I have fully covered this delicious, flavorful addition to the recipe I will talk about the recipe…
I boiled 2.5 cups (measured dry) of whole wheat wide egg noodles.


*Optionally, and for about 100 more calories a serving you can brown some chicken in the skillet...or use some you prepared on Sunday like I told you about in this post.  After it’s browned, I used my phenomenal specialty bamboo cookware tools from Pampered Chef {thank you Momma!} to haphazardly cube and shred the chicken. The flat edge helps you do so much more than stir.  I toss in most, if not all, a bag of vegetable mix that has broccoli in it.

I always have several bags of this “California Style Veggies” frozen mix on hand because it can literally go in ANY dish.

Calorie count here: 30 calories a serving. 

Remember when I talked about how there are good calories and bad calories?  Well, these are good calories so if you have more than a serving it is absolutely ok.  It is the proper fuel for your body!

          

My delicious version seen above has chicken in it which adds an additional 80 calories ( I used 4 4 oz breasts and split the servings up so I have 5 servings.)  Additional calories in chicken also add about 17g of essential protein!

This cooking creme has made a quick weeknight meal into a healthy, delicious dinner like you won't believe!

Shamrock Salad

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to post on a dessert!!! It takes me 30 minutes to think of a dinner recipe but ask me what dessert to take to a cook out and I'll tell you 6 and have the recipe memorized.

This is a lighter dessert and is already on the "thumbs up" end of the dessert scale.  The way my family & in-laws have made it aren't bad but we can improve things slightly and it work out better! (Bigger serving anyone?!)

Some people call this pistachio salad, some shamrock salad and I'm sure your family has a name for it but it looks like this:

Shamrock Salad

It involves several of my favorites: marshmallows, chopped almonds, pineapple, cool whip and pistachio pudding. 

The kind my Grandma used to make has approximately 425-450 calories, 10g fat, 50g carbs, 5g fiber, 20g of sugar and 5g protein for 3/4 of a cup serving. That is with the full fat everything option & walnuts which have a high fat content (granted it is a good source of essential omega fatty acids).

This lower calorie version tastes the same but will save you 200-250 calories per 1 cup serving.

• 1 8oz tub of sugar free cool whip
• 3/4 c crushed pineapples (preferably from the produce section but if you get it in the can make sure it isn't in syrup!)
• 1/2 a packet of sugar-free fat-free pistachio pudding mix
• 2c mini marshmallows
• 1/4c chopped almonds

My calorie count is a range because I love pineapple so I added about a cup of pineapple.  I didn't have any prechopped almonds so I chopped my very first almond and it wasn't hard and it made use of the big bags I buy.  (The options are endless after I discovered how to make almond butter!).  

Have you ever had fresh pineapple? O.M.G.  it is so much better than the canned stuff.  I still eat the canned stuff but when budget allows I get some from the produce.  This is seriously one of the easiest desserts to make that you can eat a big bowl of without feeling that regret.  And kids love it, too! The spoonful above is how I got my 6 year old out of bed this morning since he didn't get to try any last night =)

Now for the nutritional breakdown: 150-175 calories, 5g fat, 33g carbs, 3g fiber, 15g sugar and 2g protein.
Most of the protein in the fattier version came from the almonds- which is also where all those fat & calories came from!

Natural Peanut Butter

They say smell is one of the greatest ties to a memory.  The smell of peppermint makes me think of my mom, everytime I smell a Werther's Original I think of a family friend of my parent's, and peanut butter makes me think of my husband.  His favorite food is peanut butter. Steak and chicken are a close second...

He goes through a jar of Skippy Natural every 10-14 days.  At about $7/jar that gets to be a pretty expensive food.

Did you know peanut butter has no butter in it at all?  The butter-like texture comes from the oils within the peanut being broken down.  With that in mind, I pulled out my tiny food chopper, a canister of unsalted peanuts and conducted an experiement. 

My little chopper takes a while.  And I have to hold down the button the whole time.  Some people with their fancy food processors can be done a lot faster than 8-10 minutes.  (Do you sense my food processor envy?)  My first batch needed some salt.  I determined with my second batch I salted it too much.  Then I just started buying the salted, dry roasted peanuts to make the peanut butter with and found this to be so much easier!
                                                

Keep crushing!

We're getting there!!

Ta-Da!!!!!   And you've only used about 75 cents worth of peanuts and made 8oz of natural peanut butter.  A 2 tablespoon serving is the same as 1 oz of peanuts so check the back of your canister for nutritional info. This is such a fun thing to do with kids.  =)

(Or maybe it's just fun to make them try this "experiment" while you rest for a few minutes!!  I won't tell!)

You can also add some cinnamon & sugar.  I like making the No-Bake Naturals with this kind of peanut butter for a little extra flavor!

Turkey Sausage

About 3 o'clock in the afternoon I begin to hit my wall.  I get so hungry! I blame it on my afterschool tendancies when I would eat a snack before volleyball or softball practice.  I mean, 3 hours after breakfast I'm not starving like I am at 3pm.

It is also back to school time!! Until Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution petition (read about it here) has had an effect, I will be packing my 1st grader's lunch.  I like to get things that we can both snack on and turkey sausage is something we fight over!  It is a good source of protien and paired with a small chunk of cheese puts it about 100 calories.  The sodium is a little high, yes, but have you tried the school's pizza?  Or spaghetti?  If we ate out more often I would worry, but because we don't use much salt at home so I am not concerned with that number. 

Kroger has a great price on these- you can find them in the little specialty cheese island they have usually near the bakery.

"I would do anything for love but I won't eat that..."

Why does meatloaf get such a bad rap?  Despite the title of this post I'm not talking about the singer... I mean the food.

Meatloaf is one of my favorite easy meals.  It may be weird that I sometimes crave meatloaf... afterall it is basically a hamburger, right?

Back when my little man was trying table foods, I decided to try making the meatloaf in a cupcake tin.  In the sweet words of my then 3 year old who was still working on his vocabulary, he named them "Meatloaf Pupcakes". 

They're super easy and the kiddos can help customize them.

Preheat oven to 350*
Spray your muffin tin

Mix together:
1 lb ground chicken
1/2 c onion chopped
1/2 c bell pepper chopped (I like the green ones)
1/2 c chopped celery
1/2 c Old Fashioned Oats
2 egg whites
1t pepper
1t red cayanne/chili powder OR Mrs. Dash Southwest
1 glove minced garlic or 2 tsp of the pre minced stuff you can get in the produce section!

Add to muffin tins & bake for 35-45 minutes.

If you want to get the kiddos involved, leave the veggies out of the initial mix. 
Put the meat/spices/oats/egg white mixture in the cupcake tin.
Kids like ketchup so it can be the "frosting" on top and have them add the veggie "sprinkles" before baking. 

Ketchup has a lot of carbs but Heinz offers a low-card Ketchup advertised as Reduced Sugar.  I eat my Meatloaf Pupcakes with Frank's Thick hot sauce because it only has 10 calories and a ton of flavor =)  I also add a little mustard to it since it is a free food and y'all know my love for mustard!

These have 75 calories, 2g fat, 2g carbs and 9g protein per pupcake.  Pair these with some green beans and mashed cauliflower and you have a wonderful comfort meal with a fraction of the calories!

Negative & Free Foods FYI

You've heard me mention a "free food" in a few posts but without much explanation.

A free food means the food has no nutritional value like water or mustard.  These are a great addition to your shopping list. 

How about one better?  A food that has low nutritional value that causes your body to burn more calories to digest it than the calories within the food.  These are supermarket must haves!

Fruits are so easy but it usually takes a little more prep-work (or convincing) to eat the veggies.  Asparagus and zucchini are great to toss on the grill with some Mrs. Dash.   Spinach seems easier to eat in a salad or in an omelet or mini-quiche.  Carrots, broccoli, cucumbers, lettuce and tomatoes are often seen Broccoli and cauliflower taste great steamed!

Since fresh vegetables can be expensive and sometimes go to waste, we buy frozen vegetables and steam them at least 5 nights a week.  I just use my Tupperware Microsteamer, fill the bottom with a little water, put some frozen veggies in the other chamber, put a lid on it and pop it in the microwave for 5 or 6 minutes.  I've had this my black & red steamer since 2005, it is dishwasher safe and hasn't shown a lick of use =)  The newest one is red & white and can be found at Tupperware.com for $29.99.

Sometimes I even do a cauliflower mash...similar to mashed potatoes.  I started slow with half potatoes and half cauliflower to ease my taste buds into it. 

I highly suggest investing in some Parkay spray butter to try your veggies.  After all, we still live in the South where butter makes everything better! 

Lean Mexican

We have a Mexican inspired dish weekly in our home and one of my favorites is so deliciously lean and easy we have it quite often.

• 1 lb of ground chicken (the leanest of the ground meats. You can use turkey or lean beef)
• 1 packet of low sodium taco flavoring
• 1 can of black beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 c of frozen corn

Calories: 260 Carbs: 30 Fat: 7 Protein: 24

This is the base of the dish. I recommend to make it once this way, then figure out what else to add to it!

1. Brown the meat and drain any grease. (I like to put the heel of my bread loaf down in the grease to soak it up, then toss the bread.)
2. Add corn, drained & rinsed black beans and taco packet and stir.
3. Sometimes I add some water, depending on what kind of texture I want.

We often add onions, peppers of all colors, diced tomatoes, jalepenos, etc. I recommend to steer clear of sour cream, substitute plain greek yogurt if you're like me and just need that creamier flavor. I also like to scoop out half an avacado and mash it to add a creamy taste. I omit the taco sauce and use Frank's Hot Sauce instead since the calorie count is lower.

This takes about 15 minutes to make and has about 5-6 1 cup servings depending on how many veggies you toss in there.

Ole!

Grab & Go's

Every now and then I look at the ingredient list of a recipe and think Psht.  That cannot taste good.  No way.  It's too easy and there's only 5 ingredients.  And then this happens....

On the left you have what I call "Whey Too Goods" and on the right are my "No-Bake Naturals".

These are easy to whip up.  They're a healthy little snack.  It's hard to have only 2 but you will have to have some self discipline.  Here are the magical recipes:

As if this wasn't enough to share with you, below you'll find all the nutritional breakdown!!

Now- go make these and enjoy, I can't wait to try some of the "Whey Too Goods" with mocha protein! Or the graham cracker we have!  Oh wait- that cake batter would be good too! It's fun being the official recipe tester of Club Fit =)

 Moderation, not deprivation!! 

Prepare to be healthy

After a long day at work, going home to make a healthy dinner can honestly be the last thing on your mind.  Especially when you hear the $5 hot & ready pizza commercial about 5pm. 
I work in 2 chiropractic offices everyday and on my “lunch break” I run over to Club Fit to do some work there.  Time is one of the most valuable things we have and I make sure to use mine wisely.
Sundays are my meal prep days.  Sometimes I’ll also use Wednesdays as sort of a mid-week break to add something different.  The first thing I do is grab my cupcake pan, place an egg in each of the 12 slots and bake them at 350* for 25/30 minutes.  Yes- this absolutely takes longer than boiling them but  I don’t have a pot to watch boil and I can get more things done this way. 
Then I begin my meat preparation….

I have my steaks and chicken ready for trimming, tenderizing and seasoning.   After I trim the thawed chicken breasts, I cut them in half, trying to get 2 equal pieces about the size of deck of cards.  You can see my “aluminum bowls” I make to put the two 4(ish) ounces of chicken in to flavor it. 
Speaking of flavor, I always keep my spices lined up with their lids off so I can flavor away without having to go through drawers and cabinets. 

After I spice it up with some Mrs. Dash and other spices, I leave 2 servings out so I can bread them.  There are many different “crusty" mediums” you can use to bread your chicken but I opt for plain bread crumbs.  I add my salt & pepper myself, sometimes I’ll add a cajun spice, sometimes a chili pepper, it just varies but I like having that option. 
A serving of these bread crumbs is 1/4 cup.  I scoop that out add some ground flaxseed for fiber and put it in a dish/bowl/ziploc bag to coat one piece of chicken in it.  I remove it, add the coated piece to my aluminum bowl and then proceed to the next. 
I coated two pieces and still had 75% of my 1/4c serving left.  I coated a few more for my 6 year old then tossed the leftover crumbs.  I throw this bowl of chicken in the oven and send my husband out to the grill with the steaks and the 10 other pieces of chicken.
Now its time for sides…
My husband is awesome.  While I was taking care of the chicken he was peeling sweet potatoes and cutting them so we could have these:
These sweet potato fries are lightly drizzled in olive oil, have a few crumbles of brown sugar and are sprinkled in kosher salt to bring out that sweetness.  These cook for about 30-45 minutes at 400*.  I put my breaded chicken in with these for 30 minutes.  When the oven clicked off when the fries were done I just let the chicken stay in there for another 10 minutes to ensure it was done- plus I was busy with the other veggies.
Here is a yellow squash cut in half, then in quarters drizzled with olive oil, salt & pepper. 
Behind it you can see some ears of corn that have been salt & peppered and wrapped.  We put all this on the grill to cook; the corn cooks longer so it goes on when the chicken goes on.
You can also put some whole wheat rice on the stove… we have two kinds.  The 45 minute rice I can put on if I remember in time OR the 10 minute Uncle Ben’s rice.  Beware of flavored rice, it tends to pack the sodium.
I also rinsed & drained a can of black beans and put those on the stove on low and began steaming my vegetables.  I like broccoli,  cauliflower and mixes that include those. 

My breakfast is in the small bowls at the top, a peeled hard boiled egg wrapped in a cheap sandwich bag so it doesn’t make my No-Bake Naturals taste like egg.  I have 2 lunches and 4 dinners prepared (you can see 3 dinners, we ate the 4th!).  We go to Subway once a week and get a $5 footlong each and eat a 6” over the course of 2 days.  Its loaded with veggies, has some protein and mustard… obviously! That averages to be $2.50/lunch and gives us a little change up.  In the lunches I also added some fresh carrots and cucumbers so I can use my greek yogurt ranch dressing with it.  Some nights I’ll cook the 10 minute rice I mentioned for some slow digesting carbs.  I just love coming home to dinner that I only need to reheat.  If you’re one of those who doesn’t like “left overs” and reaheating you will have a very hard time preparing so you will have to dedicate more time each day to meals. 
I’ll have a two three great recipes for you coming up in the next few posts. These are tested and have passed my chocolate test, my husband’s protein test and my 6 year old’s complete taste “bugs” test.  Stay tuned and stay prepared!

Mustard is in my food bff clique

Mustard is one of the staple foods seen in a fit fridge.  Notice it doesn't say honey mustard.  That is not the same thing!

If you don't like mustard, fear not, I grew to love it.  Especially after realizing it has zero calories.  It is in the "free food" category and can help flavor anything.

Not to mention it has been linked to helping replenish acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that helps your muscles work.  Runners tend to carry packets of mustard on long runs....

I've been seen eating tuna right out of the can or pouch with mustard.  What about that skinny baked chicken breast that seems a little dry? Mustard!! (skinny= prepared without marinade or many seasonings)   Our ClubFit 24hr of Somerset Manager Alex confessed to me he eats it by the spoonful.  Gag.

I've been in a situation where I didn't have a low cal salad dressing but I did have mustard.  I'm not going to lie- that was not the best use of mustard.  But I know that sometimes I binge and one serving of fatty ranch dressing might lead me to eat some chips and salsa and then a bigger helping at dinner.  I know my habits so I chose to eat the veggies one by one out of the salad.

Mustard is good.  Knowing your habits & tendencies is also good.

The feeling of saying "no" to unhealthy foods soon transfers to a feeling of pride.  However saying "yes" equates to guilt and guilt doesn't motivate you.

Breakfast Breads

A lot of people are mislead about what breads are the best to purchase to support your fit lifestyle.

Look for 100% whole wheat.  If it says "wheat" it can be enriched.

Multigrain isn't always the best choice.  You want to get something high in fiber.

English muffins (again 100% w.w.) not bagels.  Bagels are so dense you can get them and eat half of one.  Kroger English muffins are usually priced $1 for 6.

You're looking at 90 calories difference and half the carbs.  

This is a good lesson; the bagels have more protein and fiber however those do not outweigh the calorie and carbohydrate difference.

There are these new bagels I just picked up at Kroger yesterday.  They were buy one get one free for $3.00.  They are half bagels, basically the texture of a bagel but the size of an English muffin.  I had one for breakfast with my Greek yogurt and they were really good for only 110 calories.

Donuts are a no, glazed, filled and creme are usually words to steer clear of.  Eat healthy, my friends, and set the pace for a day with healthy fuel for your body!

Dude...Ranch!!

I love 75% of my food with ranch dressing.  At some restaurants I've been tempted to spoon ranch like soup.  That buttermilk base, those calories are soooo high with each tablespoon but oh mah' word does it taste good.  If you fall in the same boat as I do please have a seat.  If you don't what I'm going to tell you will knock you down.

I just made ranch with 30 calories for a normal 2 tablespoon serving.
Wait- it gets better...
It also has 1.25 carbs and 3g of protein.
Hear those fit angels singing?

All you need is 1 packet of ranch dressing mix (I used Hidden Valley Buttermilk for $1.42) and two Oikos PLAIN Greek Yogurt cups ($1/each).  Kroger has the same yogurt for $.80 but I just happened to be in Wal Mart.

Add the yogurt to a mason jar or another container.  I bought a 2c. Ziploc Twist'n'Seal while I was at Walmart.  Then pour your ranch dust in the container and mix together.

I was a skeptic.  I thought meh- if its even edible I can make the change since its saving all these calories.  I was so surprised that it was not only edible but it was SO GOOD!  Mine was a little thicker which tells me I can use it for a veggie dip.  And if you eat your salads like I do by dipping the fork in the dressing then stabbing your salad you will be good to go! Clings to the fork and what great flavor.

You're welcome.

Water

• Zero calories
• Good for your skin
• Flushes toxins
• Cleanses organs & systems
• Cold water boosts metabolism
• Decreases water retention
• Minimizes cravings
• Decreases appetite

So why are you wasting calories on crap?
Or if you’re drinking something calorie free that isn’t water you do realize diet cola is still in the fats/oils part of the food pyramid, right?
Nothing beats water.  I drink at least 8 oz before each meal to help decrease my appetite.
Sometimes I get tired of the lack of flavor to water so I have about 4 different flavors of liquid drink enhancer in my purse. 
                      
I usually get the store brands, both our local WalMart & Kroger have a good selection of flavors for about $1-1.50 cheaper than Mio.  I like the Black Cherry from Walmart with the extra energy and the Strawberry Watermelon from Kroger for a summery taste.
This also helps entice the kiddos to drink more water because they get to pick their flavor (NOT the energy one!). 
Make it your goal this holiday weekend to drink more water to help your brain, skin and thighs because honestly, that mayonnaise based salad isn’t so good in 100* temperatures and goodness knows what exactly is in those hot dogs.

Diabetes, Calories & Carbs

There are two different types of diabetes but it is very important for BOTH types to watch what they eat. The following suggestions are for adults who are diabetic.  Children follow different guidelines.

Type 1:
You should eat around 16 calories/pound a day.  For simplicity's sake if you weight 100 lbs, you should eat around 1600 calories a day.  If you are bigger or have more muscle you would need more calories to keep your body functioning.  The bigger the person, the more calories it takes to operate that body.  It is important to eat the right calories.
With gas prices, many are trading their gas guzzlers for smaller, more efficient cars.  Counting calories and eating right will help you trade in your calorie guzzler for a more efficient self! =)

Type 2 (Most common) :
Your diet is similar but sets mostly within a 1,500-2,00 calorie intake per day.

The science:
Carbohydrates, protein and fats are the 3 basic nutritional food groups.  If you are given any of one these nutritional group's numbers you can figure out how many calories.

For every 1g of carbs or protein there are 4 calories; 10g carbsx4= 40 calories.  

For evey 1 g of fat, however, there are 9 calories; 10g of fat= 90 calories.
(For your reference, there are 3,500 calories in one pound.) 

• Carbohydrates
• Food that can be broken down into sugar
• Cause your blood glucose level to rise
• Milk, starches (like pasta, bread, rice, white potatoes, cookies) and fruit are the top 3 carb rich foods.
• For every 1g of carbs there are 4 calories. 
• Half your calories should be carbohydrate calories.
• If you are on a 2000 calorie diet, 1000 calories should come from things like yogurt, 100% whole wheat bread, apples, or milk.
• 1 slice of sheet cake with icing gives you 300 calories! That is 1/3 of your daily allowance!
• Ask yourself: are these useful calories? Definitely not.
• 1 slice of angel food cake only has 30 carbs = 120 calories.  
• Always pair your carbs with other healthy foods.  
• One 12oz can of (most) regular soda uses 45 carbs you have used 180 calories for no nutritional value.  Most people switch to a sugar free/diet soda but I'll cover the dangers of artificial sweeteners in another post.

It is recommended to start with non-starchy fruits and veggies when sitting down for a meal. I found a list of them from Diabetes.org that can be found here. A quarter of your plate should be dedicated to a meat (or substitute if you are vegetarian) and the last quarter can be used for starchy carbs.

Whatever you do, do not skip meals.  I remember my grandfather always having a Werther's Original with him and some peanuts in case he went too long without eating.


Some superfoods for diabetics: 

• Beans (navy, black, pinto, white...) though they are a starchy vegetable they also serve as a great source for protein! 

• Sweet potatoes are one of my favorites even though I am not a diabetic.  This is one of the starchy vegetables that come loaded with vitamin A and fiber. 

• Dark leafy greens

• Tomatoes

• Berries (covered in sugar is counterproductive!)

• Citrusy fruit like lemons, grapefruits, and oranges.  I've never met anyone in my life that eats lemons.

• Nuts 

• Whole grain.  Read the label on that one.  It may be advertised as whole grain but check the ingredients list!

Here is a general food list wherein each item contains 15 grams of carbohydrates.Please don't eat the items I put a line through.  Diabetes.org shouldn't have included those on there!

• 1 small piece of fresh fruit (4 oz)
• 1/2 cup of canned or frozen fruit
• 1 slice of white bread (1 oz) or 1 (6 inch) tortilla
• 1/2 cup of oatmeal
• 1/3 cup of pasta or rice
• 4-6 crackers
• 1/2 English muffin or hamburger bun
• 1/2 cup of black beans or starchy vegetable
• 1/4 of a large baked potato (3 oz)
• 2/3 cup of plain fat-free yogurt or sweetened with sugar substitutes
• 2 small cookies
• 2 inch square brownie or cake without frosting
• 1/2 cup ice cream or sherbet
• 1 Tbsp syrup, jam, jelly, sugar or honey
• 2 Tbsp light syrup
• 1 cup of soup
• 6 chicken nuggets
• 1/4 serving of a medium french fry

Preparing for success

The #1 excuse I hear from people who veer off their initial nutritious path is I don't have time to eat healthy.

I agree with you that it takes about 3 minutes from the time you place your order, pay and pick up your food from you local burger hut and you have a meal ready to devour and you put forth little effort.

So very tempting!  I won't get in to all the disgusting ingredients found in most of those places but I will tell you how to save money and time.

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, it is the day most of us enjoy a big meal and relax.  I view Sunday just like it is on the calendar- the beginning of the week.  I thaw my bag of frozen chicken breasts ($6.99 on average).  Mid afternoon I begin to grab my aluminum foil sheets from SAM'S (often seen at the salon... they're the perfect size!).  I trim my chicken breasts of fat, and cut them a little bigger than the size of a cassette tape- or a deck of cards for you young ones!

I grab a sandwich size tupperware, flip it over and fold my aluminum foil sheet over it to mold your "baking basket".  You can drizzle the aluminum foil with some Extra Virgin Olive Oil for some added omegas or you can bake it dry.

As far as flavor- I have a whole drawer of Mrs. Dash spices.  They're salt-free and there is a wide selection. I grab my 13x9 baking dish, I place two 4oz servings of chicken into the aluminum foil basket and sprinkle both sides of the chicken with 1 flavor seasoning.  I do this and usually end up with about 6-8 baskets, which is sometimes a tight squeeze in my dish.  I love the fiesta lime seasoning so sometimes I do 2 baskets in that.  Bake at 350* for 40 minutes.

Each 4 oz serving costs you about 58 cents, packs approx 130 usable calories and 22g of protein. For this meal, I would add 1/3c of drained black beans for 100 calories, 6g protein and 5g of fiber and a small green salad with a vinaigrette dressing like Newman's Own light balsamic (45 calories/2 tablespoons) and you have a healthy light lunch your body will convert to fuel instead of fat and you prepared it all in one day!

I have 8  sandwich size toss 'n go containers that I just store my meal in but if you're like my sister who is in her 40's and still gets refuses to eat food if it touches other food, there are also some with compartments.  You can also get some cheap storage solutions like this at the dollar store, just be aware of any BPA coating.  (Both Johnson & Johnson and Glad are PVC/BPA free products.)

Your mom was right….

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. 
It is a common misconception that in order to lose weight skipping meals will help speed the process.  Absolutely FALSE!
You know when you’re running low on something like toilet paper you start to conserve and use less at a time?  Your body does the same thing.  It realizes that it is getting little to no food so it begins to go into starvation mode.  Your body wants to hang on to as much food as possible because it doesn’t know when it will be supplied nourishment again.  In turn it burns less calories.   
Do you realize that when you eat, all these internal systems gear up to chew, swallow, digest, absorb and distribute your food.  The trick is to eat small meals multiple times a day.  By small I am not talking a $1 sausage biscuit which has about 300 calories.  Yes, that is small  in size but its like fixing your Ferrari with duct tape. Most of the ingredients aren’t usable fuel so your body will store most of it as fat, send the rest to waste and then be hungry again.   
Best breakfast foods:

• Eggs
  Whole eggs, egg whites or a mixture of both. By only using the whites you’re not eating as much cholesterol (both good 7 bad) but you miss out on some extra B12 vitamins. I can’t handle plain egg whites.  I do 1 whole egg and 1 egg white, if I decide to do 2 egg whites I place a 1/4 of a slice of cheese which equates to about 20 calories. 
• Old fashioned oats
  Fix 1/4 cup with milk or sweetened almond milk just like you would the packaged stuff.  This container lasts a lot longer and you can (sparingly) throw in some extras like nuts, brown sugar, honey, almond butter, natural peanut butter.
• 100% Whole Wheat English Muffin
  I usually toast 1/2 of one and spray some 0 calorie Parkay butter on it.  Other times I’ll use that half, put my 2 egg whites and cheese on it.
• Yogurt
  Greek yogurt has a weird texture but it also packs more protein than regular yogurt.  Look for something with minimal calories with low sugar.  A lot of times I will get the original greek yogurt (that also doubles as a sour cream substitute) but I add a tablespoon of chocolate protein powder and mix it around.
• Cereal
  Cheerios: not the honey nut, just the plain cheerios in the yellow box.
  Shredded Wheat: not the frosted kind.  I'm no fun.  But your thighs will thank me!
• Coffee!!!
  One of my necessities that is also a great metabolism jumpstarter.  Coffee in itself is low in calories but adding creamer and granulated sugar is where it is dangerous.  I’ve been adding 1 or 2 artificial or natural sweetener packets to my coffee.  Skim milk just doesn’t do it for me.  My weakness is Coffeemate Coconut Crème creamer but it is hard to find. 
• Fruit
  If you’re going to eat fruit eat it in the first half of your day.  The natural sugar it has often stores if you don’t eat it early so your body has time to burn it but it is also high in fiber, loaded with nutrients and makes it an easy go to for a post workout snack. I’ll post a list of low calorie fruits on another post- some actually negative calories =)

Before you walk out the door make sure you feed your body.  Sometimes I am just not hungry so a scoop of Syntha-6 protein in 8-10 oz of milk will work.  Feed your body to lose weight.  Awesome, right?

Starting Today…

I encourage you to become aware of what you put in your body- what you use as fuel.  I know some people who prefer to write a log.  Putting pen to paper and documenting your intake makes it seem more real.  Maybe like the people who pay for things with cash so they can monitor their spending……
However for most people, including myself, I prefer an app on my phone.  There are many out there but my favorite is “My Fitness Pal”. 

It’s library of foods is great, it is easy to use, it tracks water consumption AND there is a handy barcode scanner so you can scan a product real quick and enter your serving size.  It remembers your frequent meal foods which is great because I often have the same things for dinner, just prepared differently.  Last thing: it’s free.  I like functional and I really like free. 
Download it, try it.  Give it 2 weeks and decide if you like it or not.  If you aren’t as big as a fan as I am of Fitness Pal email me and I will highlight something else.  I want you to succeed.  I want you to enjoy food and feed your body with nutritious fuel to help your transformation to fit and healthy.  It doesn’t matter if its 7 am or 10 pm, start now.