Tag: sugar

Holidays…family, friends, and FOOD!

Holidays…family, friends, and FOOD!

This is the weight-gaining, cookie-eating, mouth-stuffing time of the year!  It’s the time of the year when people eat cookies, cupcakes, chips, dips, and other sugary and salty foods.  It’s the time of the year when diets seem to be filled with more junk food than fruits and veggies.  It’s the time of the year when there are parties, potlucks, and events.   And, it’s the time of the year when health educators and counselors know what to expect come January when New Year’s resolutions come around!

I am getting ready to cook my “gluten free” Thanksgiving this weekend so that I can actually enjoy it!  Otherwise the day of Thanksgiving I get stuck with meat and potatoes without all the other lovely sides that fill the Thanksgiving table (but are often filled with gluten)!

As a way to cut back on fat and to reduce the calories in my gluten free dishes I will be making roasted brussels sprouts and corn with a couple of slices of bacon rather than a corn casserole or corn pudding which are filled with heavy cream, cream soups, and other fattening additives.  This is a great way to reduce fat and calories while still having great flavor.  The bacon will provide flavor along with chili powder, but since the two bacon slices will be divided among 6 people the amount consumed is very little.

My homemade mashed potatoes will feature part cauliflower.  That may sound awful to some, but I promise you won’t taste the cauliflower and it will save a ton of calories!  I will also use potatoes, but I will combine them with cauliflower to reduce the calories and add some veggies.  I will use reduced sodium, reduced fat cream cheese or greek yogurt to add creaminess to the potatoes.

I will not have bread since I will be making cornbread stuffing.  I made cornbread with reduced fat milk and will make the stuffing using reduced sodium chicken broth.   To save calories, it is great to consider how many “bready” sides or carbohydrate sides you will serve with your Thanksgiving dinner.  Consider having stuffing or bread, pie or cake, with more sides filled with veggies or fruits (i.e. brussel sprouts, corn, green beans, cranberries, mixed fruit, sweet potatoes – healthier than regular potatoes).

If your family does a green bean casserole each year consider roasted green beans, grilled green beans (these are delicious!), or pan seared green beans to cut back on the creamy soups, butter, and fried onions that are all high in calories.

Remember to fill your plates with more veggies than “bready” items and when you go back for seconds fill up on the veggie sides rather than more stuffing, bread, pie, and other high calorie dishes.  Oh, and take a quick walk before or after dinner so your food doesn’t sit in your stomach all day or all night.  You will thank yourself later when your food has a chance to digest rather than sit and make you feel miserable all night! 🙂

Happy eating, enjoy spending time with your friends and family, and have fun making new memories that you will remember forever!

~jj

#ProjectKindnessBook

#AlwaysChooseKindness

Bacon?! Yes, please!

Bacon?! Yes, please!

Who doesn’t love a great sweet or maybe bacon?  Who was completely bummed by the new research that the World Health Organization aka WHO released this week about bacon, sausage, and hot dogs?  I have to admit that this was information I already knew, but information I never really want to hear (or at least not see plastered across every media outlet known to planet Earth).  I think everywhere I looked I saw articles, broadcasts, and posts reminding me of the harm of these foods.  Depressing, right?!  Or maybe not, maybe just news we needed to hear, be reminded of, and information to make us more well informed people about what we are shoving into our mouths each day (sometimes even me, on occasion)! 😉

On my list of nutrition improvements I continually have 1) Reduce sodium intake 2) Decrease sugary foods and 3) Increase naturally flavorful, non-processed foods (i.e. fruits and veggies, proteins in their most raw form).  Salts and sugars are an ongoing health concern that can always be improved no matter where you are at on your fitness and health journey.  Since the holidays are coming and Halloween is just around the corner it makes following these nutrition goals a bit difficult (even for me), but I have some tips that may just be the key to your nutrition success!

Remember that salts and sugars are often heavy additives in processed foods and of course in candy.  It is important to think about how much salt and sugar is in your diet (cereal, candy bars, sandwiches, pizza, salads, etc) – most people eat three times or more servings of the recommended amount of daily sodium.  That’s scary, especially considering heart disease and cardiovascular concerns are the number one killer.

To cut down on salt and sugars, consider eating more naturally sweet or salty foods that don’t have as much added to them for flavor.  Fruits like watermelon, strawberries, apples, oranges, and pineapple which are naturally sweet are great choices.  Decrease processed meats, chips, cheese, and other salty foods and consider eating foods that are in their more natural form such as chicken, fish, and other meats that you can control how much salt is added.  For desserts, consider a dessert that has fruit in it or a dessert that has a fruit topping such as pudding or mousse with fruit. Further, when it comes to cakes, cookies, pies, tarts, and other sweets make them from scratch so you can control the additives, preservatives, and other ingredients such as sugar and sodium that are placed in the dessert.  Sometimes you can make a less sweet cake, cheesecake, or tart and add fresh fruit that makes it less sugary, but still tastes delicious.

It may seem like a heartbreaker that bacon isn’t good for you and may cause cancer or that cookies like snickerdoodles are high in sugar, but it isn’t something we didn’t already know.  After all, we don’t think fried cheese, pickles, and chicken are good for us, do we?! 😉  Like I say, everything in moderation.  Life is too short not to enjoy the things we love (on occasion)! 😉

~jj

#ProjectKindnessBook

#AlwaysChooseKindness

Health notes to myself!

Health notes to myself!

Today’s inspiration is something that I love to do so I do it often on post-it notes, calendars, and “to-do” lists.  It seems kind of simple and probably somewhat silly to some, but it works for me and maybe it will work for you, too!  I often write myself small health notes, reminders, and encouraging words to increase my motivation level, remind myself why it is important to exercise and eat healthy, and small things I can do to further improve my health.

Many of us have calendars at home and work, cellphones, notebooks for work and school, or other planners and organizers that we frequently use.  I often have “to-do” lists (which the blog always seems to be on 😉 ) as well as grocery lists, calendars, etc where I write down health notes to myself.  For example, I might write “Decrease sodium intake by eating less salty foods such as chips and cheese” or “Reduce eating sugary cereals in the morning and eat a brown grain cereal with fruits and raisins” to remind me of better and healthier choices I can make to improve my overall health.  Further, I might write “Exercising and eating right help reduce heart disease” so that I recall why it is I exercise and strive to eat healthy each day.  Lastly, on days when I feel tired, overwhelmed, or lack motivation to exercise, I might write myself a note that says “Keep going and relieve your stress with a great workout” so I know what I can do to rejuvenate and refresh myself at the end of the day.

These simple reminders can be posted at your desk, on your calendar, or like me on my “to-do” lists or grocery lists so that they are a reminder to make healthy choices.  My suggestion (because it works well for me) is to place notes on things or in areas that you frequently look at, open, or see throughout the day so that it is a constant reminder to you.  You can get creative and have fun with it by writing exercises to do such as “Run up and down the office stairs 3 times” or any other exercise that might help you achieve your health and fitness goals.  The point of this is to have fun with your health, make your choices stick with you by recalling what you write down, and using notes to reiterate the importance of making healthy choices.  After all, constant reiteration, reminders, and continual practice help ensure that you maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle over time.

Happy writing (health notes) to yourself!  It may seem silly or too easy, but give it a shot because it might just help!

~jj

Yummy, yummy to my dessert tummy!

Yummy, yummy to my dessert tummy!

We all have a sweet tooth of some kind for some type of dessert.  You may not be a cake eater, but you might like pies, cookies, cupcakes, ice cream, brownies, candy, or some other type of sweet indulgence.  I often hear people say they have cut sugar from their diet and my first question is why?!  The most common response is to lose weight for a specific event or occasion (i.e. wedding, swimsuit season, class reunion, etc).  It really doesn’t make much sense to me because you lose the weight for the event or occasion and then gain it right back so it isn’t done to maintain a healthy weight and sustain it over time.  Removing sugar from your diet as a “cleanse” or way to lose weight is almost like a punishment to yourself (and possibly others) because your mood changes, you crave sugar, and once the period of time, event, or occasion ends you tend to overindulge yourself with sugar until you feel sick and sometimes even guilty.

What’s my point or better yet what’s my solution?  Build dessert into your meal and calorie count for the day.  For example, if you know you will be eating dessert after dinner, base your total calories and portions for that meal prior to dessert.  If you usually eat 650 calories at dinner, but know that you will be eating dessert cut your calories at dinner to 400 and then allow yourself a 250 calorie dessert.  This helps reduce your portions prior to dessert so that you don’t over consume by adding an additional 250 calories to your typical 650 calorie dinner.  If you don’t cut calories and portion out your meal to consider dessert, think about how many calories you would eat if you have your usual 650 calorie dinner and decide to add on a 250 calorie dessert.  You would have a total of 900 calories for one meal, which is almost half of what a woman’s total daily caloric intake should be!

My final point?  Be cognizant of how many calories you are putting in your mouth, be well informed about how many calories you SHOULD be eating based on your gender and age, and lastly remember that portion control is just as important as what you choose to put in your mouth!  So eat nutritious and eat within boundaries!  Below is a general calorie count for men and women based on age and activity level.  Please realize it is a little bit different for every person based on their fitness level, health and medical history, etc.  Also, remember that as we age our metabolism tends to slow down decreasing the amount of success we see in burning calories when we workout.  In other words, as you age it may take more effort and a longer workout to burn the number of calories you once burned at a younger age.  Don’t feel discouraged though, no matter what, if you are working out you are definitely doing your mind and body a favor and making me proud (because you are helping me change the dynamics and statistics in America which will take time to do)!  Oh, and just so you got the moral out of the story:  Don’t cut out sugar, enjoy a dessert on occasion, key words being on occasion!  You will feel better, do much better, and see more success if you maintain your diet by eating in moderation rather than cutting food groups.  That saying “everything in moderation” that you are always told and hear is actually true! 😉

GENDER CALORIES (Moderately Active) CALORIES (Active)
FEMALES 

19-30 years old

31-50 years old

51+ years old

 

2,000 -2,200

1,800-2,000

1,600-1,800

 

2,400

2,200

2,000-2,200

MALES 

19-30 years old

31-50 years old

51+ years old

 

2,400-2,600

2,200-2,400

2,000-2,200

 

2,800

2,600-2,800

2,400-2,600

(Courtesy of http://www.choosemyplate.gov)

~jj

Small progress should make you happy!

Small progress should make you happy!

Small progress may be frustrating, but small progress is better than no progress, moving backwards, or having setbacks.  While you may wish to see more progress in terms of weight loss, muscle tone and definition, or in your energy level, remember that progress takes time, especially when it comes to changing your habits and body.  It is safest to see slow, steady results that are consistent and maintained over time.

Changing your habits and making changes to your body through exercise and nutrition can take time (and should take time).  Quick weight loss and sudden food changes such as eliminating caffeine, sugar, or carbohydrates may not only be dangerous, but also may present side effects including mood changes, increased anxiety and stress levels, or even could be harmful if you have rapid weight loss in a short period of time.

It is important to be happy with small milestones as those add up and help you achieve your overarching fitness and nutrition goals.  So as you workout and make fitness and nutrition goals (see Fitness and nutrition goals to the rescue!) remember that your small progress should be motivation to keep you going and further your desire to see your end result.  My boyfriend likes to sign up for 5ks as a goal to work toward for himself and is now signed up for a half marathon in October.  It is a great goal and is something that he can slowly train for.  He signed up for the half marathon in April to give himself plenty of time to train and work up to the 13.1 miles he will be running.  Setting large goals for yourself that are 3-6 months or more out is great because it allows you to slowly make progress over time.  For example, my boyfriend can set a goal of running 3.5 miles for 3-4 weeks (he can already do that because that’s about the distance of 5ks) followed by increasing his distance to half of the marathon of about 6.5 miles and do that for about 2-3 weeks and then do three fourths of the race by increasing to about 9.75 miles for 2-3 weeks and then do the full 13.1 miles for at least one week.  This is just an example, so do what you feel the most comfortable with and works best for you based on your fitness level and experience.

Just remember that building yourself up by slowly making progress over time is much healthier than pushing yourself too hard in a short period, losing weight rapidly, or cutting out food or food groups too quickly.  Small progress is not only great progress, but will make life less stressful over time and is proven to make it easier to maintain and sustain.

~jj

A {healthy} routine…what foods do YOU feed your family?

A {healthy} routine…what foods do YOU feed your family?

Whether your family consists of kids, you’re a newly married couple, or you are a baby boomer near or in retirement, a great way to keep up with your health is by using those around you to keep you in check.  It doesn’t mean that they hold you accountable for what you put in your mouth, but it might mean that the reason you serve healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables with meals is to be a mentor to inspire and provide an example to the people in your life (kids, sisters/brothers, cousins, spouse, etc).  It means YOU care enough to help show those around you that through healthy eating and regular exercise you decrease your chances for diabetes, heart disease, and obesity.

Consider making health a daily family event or routine.  For example, make dinner an occasion where you make a protein, carb, and vegetable side.  You can help your kids learn about their food choices by placing foods in categories that are easy to understand such as “Go”, “Slow”, and “Whoa” which is used in school heath curriculum.  For example, fruits and vegetables in their raw form are usually “Go” foods (eat most often, almost always) while canned fruits in light syrup or frozen vegetables would fall under “Slow” foods (eat less often, sometimes) because a lot of the nutritional value in these foods lessens once they are altered.  Examples of “Whoa” foods (eat least often, once in awhile) might include donuts, cake, cookies, chips, and other foods that are high in sugar and sodium.  Help teach those around you how to categorize their foods.  Make this a fun activity for kids (or adults) by cutting out foods they love and asking them to place each picture under the correct category.  This helps them learn while providing a great chart to hang on the refrigerator as a reminder.  We all need a reminder every now and then and what better place than on the front of the refrigerator so you are constantly reminded every time you open it?! 😉 Once you understand the idea of categorizing individual foods such as breads, cheese, meats, pasta, etc. into “Go”, “Slow”, and “Whoa” you can take it a step further by combining food groups (as we often see when we make meals).  For example, a bagel pizza or English muffin pizza made with low fat cheese or vegetable lasagna/pasta made with a red sauce would be considered “Go” meals while macaroni and cheese or pizza would fall into the “Slow” meals group and deep dish sausage pizza or fried chicken with gravy would fall into the “Slow” meals group.

Remember that your attitude toward food, nutrition, exercise, and fitness impacts your children, your spouse, and those around you so make sure you are the positive influence that helps them stay healthy!  For example, take a 30 minute walk in the evenings with your spouse or take a family bike ride.  Think of fun activities that allow you to make memories and are fun so that your children, spouse, and family have a positive experience as it relates to exercise.  Making a positive association with exercise and healthy foods is very important, if not vital.  This helps you, your children, your spouse, and family recognize the benefits of healthy eating and regular exercise while also making them feel like it is easy, fun, and stress-free.  After all, remember that health starts with family and friends because children, friends, and family often echo the behavior of people they are surrounded by.  Be the difference in your family and group of friends to show those around you how to make health a priority through regular exercise and healthy eating.

~jj

BBQs, Restaurants, and Parties, Oh My!

BBQs, Restaurants, and Parties, Oh My!

The weather is starting to change for many of us and as we transition into warmer days and higher temperatures, it often means getting together with friends and family for BBQs, potlucks, picnics, graduation parties, and outings/events that have finger foods and appetizers.  While all this is great and provides lasting memories, remember that potlucks and parties also mean added calories.  Spring and summer are often the time for family get togethers and reunions, graduation parties, and BBQs, but it also means buffet style eating which equates to lots of food.  Frequently, these types of gatherings mean grazing on appetizers and snacks followed by a large buffet style meal and ice cream, popsicles, trifle and punch bowl cakes, cookies, cheesecakes, and lots of delightful summer favorites for dessert.

Some great ways to cut back and lighten BBQs, potlucks, picnics, and graduation parties is to have fruits and veggies only as your appetizers to reduce the extra calories that chips, cheese dips, pretzels, etc have.  If you want dips, consider veggie dip, hummus, and fruit dip.  These can be enjoyed with fruits and veggies and prevents unnecessary salty foods for dippers.  If you are having a potluck style get together, plan out the meal so that you have a balance of sides that are healthy.  You might consider limiting the number of sides to 3 and ask guests to refrain from bringing chips, pretzels, etc and help with drinks, paper plates, napkins, etc to fulfill the list of what is needed.  Another great way to help with portion control is to not leave the actual meal and sides out all day.  While grazing makes it feel like a fun party atmosphere, consider leaving food out for a specific amount of time.  For example, 11:30-1 for a midday gathering and 6-7:30 for an evening get together.  It is nice to allow guests to graze, but leaving food out all day can be unnecessary.   I realize you want to make parties enjoyable for your guests, but I PROMISE that guests will thank you later for not ruining their diet, making them feel miserable from overeating, and preventing a high calorie meal that they feel guilty about the next day!  Consider keeping your more healthy options out all day, like fruits and veggies, if you feel the need to have something for your guests at all times.  Go ahead and put away the main meal such as brats, hot dogs, burgers, pasta salad, potato salad, corn on the cob, french fries, tator tots, etc to prevent grazing all afternoon and evening.

The next obstacle to tackle during spring is how often you eat out!  You may want to put a limit on the number of times you eat out each day and each week.  During the winter, we often tend to curl up at home and make comfort meals to enjoy, but once the weather changes, there is often a spike in how frequently people eat out.  The weather is nicer so you enjoy being out more.  A great way to combat eating out too much is to set goals for yourself.  For example, don’t allow yourself to eat out more than once per day and more than X times per week.  Personally, I typically try to allow myself to eat out one lunch and one dinner during the week (Monday – Friday).  During the weekend, I try to eat no more than two complete meals out.  Try to look up calories and nutrition on restaurant websites when possible and consider hidden calories such as salad dressings.  Remember that foods in restaurants often have extra additives, may be overly processed foods, and typically have higher caloric counts than home cooked meals.

Don’t forget about the alcohol at parties.  Often outdoor BBQs and parties have alcoholic drinks or even virgin drinks that are high in sugar and calories.  These calories count, too!  You don’t want to have 3 sugary, high caloric drinks, appetizers, a large buffet meal, and dessert at a party and end up eating two meals at one time!  That can destroy your progress!  I understand the hard choices that summer BBQs, parties, potlucks, and picnics present, but remember you can enjoy it all in MODERATION (and by using some or all of these tips!) 😉

~jj

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