Smarter, Better, More

Cleaning up around the house I found an article from Family Circle Magazine that talked about how to Eat Smarter, Sleep Better, and Move More. Perfect!

Eat Smarter
Leave two bites at every meal. (they say you'll cut out about 100 cal a day. But I'm not into the whole wasting food thing, so may I suggest dishing up and putting 2 spoonfuls back?)
Swap out a red meat dinner and swap in a vegetarian one, once a week.
Cook at Home one more night eat week. (New research shows that the average American now eats four restaurant meals each week!)
Turn off the Kitchen lights at 8:00pm (a great idea! I'm totally going to try it!)

Sleep Better
Gain time with sleep. (A sleep expert, Jodi Mindell, Ph.D: "A lot of women think that if they go to bed early they're mission out on getting stuff done- they won't get those emails sent, bills paid or laundry done. But you'll get everything done twice as fast the next day if you get enough rest.")
Hotel-ify your bedroom: (Soft sheets and pillows, room-darkening shades, no laptop in bed, move out exercise equipment.)
Keep it cool: 60-68 degrees at night.
Get the right light. (Mindell: "exposure to AM light affects how sleepy you feel come nighttime. Morning light triggers your body to stop producing the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin and to make more of the stimulating hormone cortisol. About 12 hours later your body will automatically start producing melatonin to get you ready for sleep." Interesting!)
Log off your computer and allow your brain 20 minutes to wind down before you hit the lights.

Move More
Walk 15 extra minutes a day.
Take advantage of weird time. Find the random time in your day. Bored? don't text, WALK! :)
Don't blow off your plans. ("Your day has been one big downhill of cake, candy and chips- so why bother with that 4pm power walk you'd planned? Because it makes a big difference. Physically, exercise can reduce your appetite, and mentally it will put you back on track to eat a smarter dinner.)
Be a role model. to everyone and make it fun!

Okra

This is Okra:

This is Fried Okra:

After a garage sale, we went to celebrate our good sales by going to a local restaurant called Golden Chick. It's fried everything. It's a dangerous place. I didn't realize how much our attitude had changed until I sat down with the food. Everything was the same color. Golden. :)

My method? Peel off the fried skin on the chicken and enjoy. There was no way I was going to risk having a gallbladder attack or having a clogged artery, or anything else by eating a TON of fried everthing. I peeled the skin of my daugher's chicken as well. (We actually just got one entree for the three of us- the portions are big enough!) She wouldn't eat the fried okra. My husband would show her how fun they are, and she just wouldn't eat it.
So...
I peeled off the 'fried' part while she wasn't looking and put it on her plate. A minute later when she saw the green- she popped it in her mouth, loved it, and gave us a good laugh!

My thoughts:
1- don't visit restaurants too often- I want to know what I'm eating. (a past post on the subject)
2- COLOR, color, CoLoR!
3- Watch out for the portion size (this is how you can actually save money by eating healthy!)
4- eat closer to the 'natural' state. Okra vs. Fried Okra.

Buen Provecho!

My Confession

I love bread.

I eat bread.

I now make bread.

When my husband and I were first married we gained. We gained a new apartment, new jobs, new life, and new weight. I weighed more 4 months after we got married than I did full-term with my daughter.

What did it?

I blame Me. My weakness. My bread.

Hot Ham and Cheese Bagel for Breakfast,

Bagel with jelly for a Morning Snack,

Sandwich for Lunch,

Banana Bread for afternoon Pick-me Up,

And Chicken breasts with Bread Crumbs for Dinner.

Don't even ask about dessert....it wasn't pretty.....

Along my quest to be aware of what goes in my body, I found that buying bread was one of the hardest things to do. There was the healthy bread, but even that had HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) in it, and a whole bunch of other things that I don't recognize. I did find some natural stuff, but really.... $4 for a loaf of bread?

Yes, my bread addiction has been under control for 3 years now, but really, $4? It just wasn't in our budget. So...I began my search for a breadmaker! And FOUND ONE! (Brand-new Betty Crocker at Goodwill for $15)

I was hesitant that my addiction would come back. Reading in SuperSized Kids today, I found this quite fitting to my situation:

"Another patient...carefully preserved a picture of his grandma, a woman the size of the Titanic who had a great fondness for baking bread. He loved his grandma and he cherished that picture. Yet... [he said] time and again, "I just don't want to be like her." He love her, admired her, respected her- but he absolutely did not want to wind up morbidly obese, like her."

Meet more families studied by clicking here.

"Parents, the time to prevent or reverse SuperSizing in our kids is always now. Don't wait until the problem gets worse. Don't wait until serious physical problems appear. If your child has an apparent obesity problem, start today to deal with it. Why? An average-sized adult may have 20billion to 30billion fat cells; a moderately obese adult, however, can have 60billion to 100billion fat cells; and a morbidly obese person in excess of 300billion fat cells. Obese children can have five times more fat cells than children of normal weight!"

"Once formed, these fat cells can decrease in size, but they do not decrease in number....

"Today is the best day to start!"

Feel the Earth Move

I was online this morning, and ran across THIS page about Exercise Needs by Age.

They said that it's never too late to start a regular fitness program. Even though it is April, almost May, the New Year's resolution can start with TODAY. A New Earth Day's Resolution!

Up to 35 years old

Two fitness components are often neglected during these years are form and flexibility. Practicing good form in any sport will help you stay injury-free later in life. Devoting time to stretching, yoga or Pilates will also help. Avoid overtraining by always building rest into your exercise program.

35-50 years old

Strength training should be a part of your fitness goals. Perform 30 minutes of resistance training at least three times per week. This is vital for women in order to help prevent osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.

50 and up

Even if you haven't exercised in a long time, you have every reason to start now. The real key is slow and gradual progress. Begin any new actrivity with its lowest run. For example, instead of running, start walking first. Instead of lap swimming, take a water aerobics class first. If you're unsure about how to start an exercise program, consult with a qualified personal trainer.

And if you need extra motivation, click here to link to Parent's magazine reader's responses to the question, "How to busy moms fit in time for exercising." My favorite one, probably because I do it, is using your kids as a workout. Hmm...so if I keep it up, when she's 10 will I still be able to bench press her weight? :)

DON'T just READ! GO and DO SOMETHING!

Hop to the bathroom...or maybe from the bathroom is a better idea.

Calf raises while doing the dishes, making a sandwich or talking on the phone!

Do chair lifts before getting up from the dinner table or computer desk.

Commercial Crunch!

Oops, I mean, Commerical Crunches!

Hey, the earth is moving, why can't WE!?

Combo #4

As the title of this blog suggests, I am promoting self-education in regards to eating and living a healthy lifestyle. It just seems that it's too easy to NOT eat healthy, that doing the alternative actually takes time and study. My goal is to put all of my observations, opinions, and random tools into one place to make it easier on me and anyone else who enjoys participating in this journey with me.

Right now, I'm busy doing a lot of things.....aren't we all right? But one of the things I AM working on is creating a budget-friendly, healthy menu for a month. When I googled "how much should a family of 3 spend on food for one month" and similar search phrases I got everything from "I don't have to worry about that 'cause I'm on welfare" to "My husband and I cut back to $400 a month for the two of us". Soooooo obviously, it's just a lot of opinion.

MSNBC reports that you should spend 15-20% of your overall monthly spending on Food- groceries and restaurant. Just food for thought. (don't worry, I won't charge ya for that one)

Speaking of Grocery-store spending, my friend let me borrow her New2010 edition of Eat This, Not That. I'll have to say, that I've plowed through this book faster than I used to a bowl of ice cream with sprinkles! Chapter 4: entitled Eat This, Not That! At The Supermarket, gives some helpful advise.

#1. Stay away from the soft, creamy center....of the supermarket that is- "the healthy stuff like dairy, produce, meat, and seafood is usually located around the edges, the interior of the supermarket is almost always packed with highly processed foods made with corn and soy and the 3,000 or more additives manufacturers use to make things that are edible but aren't actually food."

#2. Avert your eyes!... eye level (well, for the average person) around 5 feet is where the store packs it's high processed, high caloric, high priced foods.

#3. Get back to the Earth...You choose: apple, chicken and a potato VS a jar of applesauce, a bag of chicken nuggets, and some chips. :)

#4. Eat more food, eat fewer ingredients...The fewer ingredients on the label, the better something typically is for you. They give the example of applesauce. Yes, apples turn into applesauce, but "they can often double their caloric load because of hte addition of high-fructose corn syrup."

#5. Watch Who's on First...Nutrition labels you're looking for 2 things. "The first is the order of ingredients- labels by law must list them in order of volume. So if the number one ingredient is, say, "spinach," that's good. If it's "sugar" or "high-fructose corn syrup" or "canary droppings," that's probably bad. The second thing to look at is the servings per container." If it's 2 per box, but you know you'll eat the whole thing, then 200 calories becomes 400 pretty quick.

#6. Eliminate the Drive-by...Quick trip to the store = 54% more purchased than planned. Bring a list, and a pen (and might I add, a calculator.)

NOW, LET'S GO SHOPPING!!