The Basics of Food Labels

One of the most daunting things about being health conscious with your food choices is reading all of those nutrition labels. What does it all mean anyway? What should you be looking at most carefully? Everyone has a different opinion on what nutrient to be concerned with and it can really be hard to figure out which product is the best.

My philosophy goes a little like this (I've bolded ingredients of particular concern):
If it's in a box and/or bag, read the ingredients carefully! Processed and packaged foods can contain so much extra sodium, fat, and preservatives, but not every brand is the same. Take your time reading these labels most carefully and put down anything that reads partially hydrogenated oil or has trans fats listed on the label.

Bread products can be very deceptive so make sure your wheat bread is actually 100% whole wheat by looking for whole wheat flour as the first ingredient. If you see enriched wheat flour anywhere on the label, it's not whole wheat!

If it's a dairy product, choose low-fat and always check your yogurt ingredients for artificial sweeteners such as aspartame. Greek yogurt is a great low sugar/non-fat option if you can handle the tart flavor but remember that it is lower in calcium than regular yogurt. Compare your milk alternatives too. Almond milk and flavored soymilk can have a lot of added sugar that you don't really need.

If it's meat or a meat stock, check for extra sodium content. Sometimes they add salt water to meat products like chicken breast to help plump up the product and add flavor. Always opt for the reduced sodium or no salt added stocks! Bottom line: you can add your own salt when you're cooking, but you need to be in control.

If it's produce then grab one of everything. No labeling is required for produce because what you see is what you get! If you choose whole foods in their natural form, you have to worry so much less about what else is in your food.

Here is an article on food label reading that I'm sure you will find helpful http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/Personalities/Article/An-Easy-Approach-to-Food-Labels.aspx

Once you learn your way around that nutrition facts label, you will be able to navigate the grocery store like a pro! 

Apple Pie Smoothie

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since I last posted, but life has been busy! We were very fortunate to have been invited to a huge 200+ acre property in Georgia with some great friends for Valentine's weekend so we were enjoying our time unplugged and away from work, school, stress in general!

Now it's back to the same old grind and today I needed a sweet afternoon treat that wouldn't break my calorie bank. I'm on a smoothie kick these days since the weather has been getting a little warmer and I made up a delightful sweet smoothie concoction that I'm sure you will love!

Add one frozen banana (in pieces) to your blender or a fresh banana with a couple ice cubes
Add 1/2 cup of vanilla yogurt, Greek or regular is fine
Add 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
Optional: Add 2 Tablespoons of ground flax seed, this really makes it taste like it has the crust!
Add 3/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon or to taste

Blend away until its smooth and creamy then sit down and enjoy your healthy, sweet treat. I'm telling you, it's apple pie in a glass! 

Overcoming Setbacks

While I was on my walk today I started to come to terms with a few health-related issues I've been struggling with lately and I thought about all the other people who may be in the same boat, or at least paddling along next to me. As I have already mentioned, I lost a significant amount of weight a few years ago and have made health an important part of my life. I was in a tough spot about a year ago when I was diagnosed with a hip labrum tear which is a tear in the cartilage of the hip joint. It was really painful and after trying to get through it and failing, I went through with the surgery. Afterwords, not being able to be active at all was really hard on me. I had spent so much time working on my health and pushing my fitness limits that to now have to sit on the couch all day watching daytime TV during my summer break...well that was about as close to cruel and unusual as I can imagine. I went through the physical therapy and started to get back to normal day-to-day activities but here we are, 9 months post repair and I'm still not where I thought I would be.

My new years resolution was to start running again and compete in some small races, 5Ks and such. I started slow by jogging a mile a couple times a week and walking the other days just to get myself ready to work on distance. After a couple days of running, I was really hurting and not just take-some-advil-and-rest pain, but couldn't-walk-right pain. It devastated me that I could go from running 3-4 miles every day and running bridges to being 10lbs heavier and not even able to run 1 mile comfortably. I took a few days off and tried to jog again but the pain came back even worse. Could it be that I'm just not meant to run? The last thing I want to do is push myself into another injury that would set me back another year.

This brings me to my realization today: I need to find what really works for my body. It's not ok to just work out to burn calories or improve endurance if it's causing pain. I love to walk and I always have, it's what helped me lose all that weight to begin with and scientifically speaking, it actually burns more fat due to its moderate intensity. Why can't I just be happy walking a few miles everyday? I should be and I have re-resolved to do just that. We shouldn't be exercising the way someone tells us to, but instead we should be making a lifelong hobby out of a healthy activity that we enjoy. With my joint injuries, walking and biking work better for me than running does. I really enjoy lifting weights too which is a great complement to my more moderate activities. I know plenty of people who prefer to run and do yoga or even people who push their human limits with crossfit. They found what works for them and we all need to find what works for us. I would like to lose the extra weight I've gained and I do want to feel like I'm in great shape again, but instead of focusing on the weight I really just want to enjoy my activities again.

Meet my inspiration: my youngest dog Portia

Portia loves going on long walks with me and she benefits from it just as much as I do. At just under a year old, she has more energy than any of us know what to do with so the walks are a great outlet for her.

There's my girl right by my side. She makes me remember how good for you going for a walk really is. She doesn't try to run and drag me along because she's content just going for a good brisk walk, which is something I need to be content with too...at least for now. And if I really want to get my heart rate up, I'll just take her 85lb squirrel-chasing big brother for a walk!

If you are struggling with a health setback, don't let it get to you and don't think that there isn't a solution. Try new things and find what works best for you and makes you feel good. Good health is a life-long thing so it's important to find activities you can enjoy throughout your life.

Leftover round up!

Tonight is the dreaded night before the grocery store trip. You all know the night I'm talking about. The one where you look in the fridge aimlessly and yell across the house "Should we just order a pizza?" because you can't fathom making any sort of meal from what's left in the fridge. Somehow you pull it together and make a decent meal all while doing a happy dance inside your head knowing that tomorrow you get to be a pretend gourmet chef once again!

If you're like me, this night is also the night you look through your fridge and see if anything needs to be taken out to make room for all the delicious, mostly healthy food you plan on stocking up on tomorrow. Well, tonight I found myself staring at the last 4 carrots sitting in my crisper wondering what the heck I was going to do with them other than chop them up for snacks. I had already gotten creative and started experimenting with beans in desserts...yes, you read that right (stay tuned for that new original recipe once I perfect it) so my culinary wheels were turning. I decided to grab the mandolin and make some veggie chips!

We buy dehydrated vegetable chips from Publix frequently and I love the variety of veggies in their blend so I don't often find myself wanting to buy 6 types of vegetables, slice them up, and bake them for 4 hours. Who has the time for that?! But tonight, with only one veggie in the mix, it was a breeze. It seems like a no brainer to bake your veggies if you aren't going to use them in time, but even the smartest of us can find ourselves with a sub-prime vegetable wishing we had done something before it was too late. Well, go ahead. Take a look in your fridge and save that vegetable tonight. You can use carrots, sweet potatoes, zucchini, parsnips, any variety of squash really. And if you don't have a mandolin, just slice very thinly so they don't take too long to bake.

Here are my carrots:

Wash and peel the carrots

Cut the ends off

Use your mandolin on the thin setting or thinly slice. Note: If using another vegetable or even thicker carrots than the ones I used, I would recommend cutting the veggies diagonally. It makes larger chips and looks pretty. My carrots were just too thin for that :(

Here is my pile of soon to be chips...minus one or two that I ate

Behold the misto! I love that I can use whatever oil I like and I don't have to worry about any propellants in my spray because it's pump action! This one has olive oil in it.

Spray the pan and then lay your veggies in a single layer on a baking sheet. Spray again with your oil or drizzle and toss to evenly coat. It should be a very light coating of oil!

Sprinkle with whatever seasonings you like. I went with a simple salt and pepper and baked them at 375 for about 20 minutes. Give them a shake about halfway through just to prevent any burning.

The finished product! The carrots are quite small but they would be great as a salad topping to add some veggie crunch. I ate them like chips regardless and they were great!

These store really well in a bag or a container in the pantry and I'd be willing to bet you are more likely to eat these colorful and flavorful veggie chips than you are if they are sitting at the bottom of your crisper!

Happy eating! 

Super Bowl Weekend!

Hey everyone, I hope your football weekend was a blast! We had a great weekend getting ready for the big game and now that the festivites are over, I thought I would share a little bit about our healthy football food.

Super Bowl parties mean delicious game day treats, right? I will admit that salty snack foods are a favorite of mine and I'm the first one to dive into some chips and dip, but this year I wanted to health up our spread. I didn't break the calorie bank but I didn't sacrifice taste either!

Chili is a traditional game day food in my family and this year we decided to make our own version sans meat. Don't get me wrong, meat chili is delish but we just weren't feeling it. We made a 3 bean chili from scratch with some amazing dehydrated and ground up chili peppers. The peppers were grown lovingly by a friend of ours in his garden. Hooray for backyard gardens! It turned out great and I credit most of its success to the haphazard way I tend to cook (what are measuring cups again?) and letting it sit overnight then simmer low and slow for several hours.

On the snack side, we had pita chips and hummus, sweet potato chips, and steamed edamame in the pods. All of these things are super healthy, easy to make on your own if you so choose, and are able to be shoved into your mouth between drives. That's what football food is all about right?

One of our other friends brought us some fried chicken from her family's fried chicken restaurant and it was sooo good. Come on, you didn't think we would leave out the chicken did you? Moderation is key so having a mostly healthy spread of food allows you to splurge on the greasy stuff!

So that was our spread for the big game and I have to say, the chili was the real winner! Now begins the countdown until next season!

Note: If you live in or near Jacksonville and haven't been to Beach Road Chicken Dinner, make sure you try it! And because I am looking out for everyone's health as well as their taste buds, they have grilled chicken too!