Rest In Peace, Heath Ledger

Sad :(

L 1/22/08

Here's my lunch for today:

1 spinach and mushroom crepe (didn't eat the sauce)

1 homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cook and 1 homemade scone

(Darn you, Mom!)

& I thought this was interesting. My mom keeps these in the office for a light snack. You'd think: 100 calorie bag of popcorn- maybe, kind of healthy?

The answer is no! Not healthy! Stupid trans fat ruins everything! I did want to point out the nice note they added after the heart-clogging Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil:

Trans fat is never dietarily insignificant!

(:

Hurry up, Spring!

These are the wonderful vegetables that are in season during Spring:

* apricots
* artichokes
* ASPARAGUS (yum!)
* avocados
* carrots
* chives
* new potatoes
* pineapple
* spinach
* strawberries

I'm excited! :)

B 1/22/08

Here is my breakfast for today: a grande Awake tea from Starbucks w/ a little milk and sugar, a small apple and a bowl of Quaker Oatmeal Squares.

Ok, based on calorieking.com's estimates, the 3T of milk in the tea is about 27 calories, 2 teas. of sugar in the tea is about 32 calories, a smallish apple is about 60 calories, the cereal is about 250 calories, and the milk in my cereal is about 92 calories. The grand total is 461 calories for my breakfast today. I'm trying for the 1500-1600 daily calorie range.

Mary and I are going for a 2 mile run tonight! Here's to a healthy week! :)

B & L 1/18/08

Here was my breakfast for today: 1 slice whole wheat toast with about a teaspoon of SmartBalance margarine and a peach Swiss yogurt w/almonds and flax seed on top. I was going to eat the pear, but I was full after that and didn't have a chance to snack on it. This was my first try of flax seed, and it really wasn't that bad. I actually didn't think it tasted like much. It had kind of a weird texture, but I can handle it. :)

For lunch, I ate a teriyaki bowl with veggies, chicken, and rice with the other kindergarten teachers. Not the healthiest, but it could have been worse! :)

Superfoods

I have been reading the blog Kath Eats and she talks a lot about eating SuperFoods. She reccomends the book SuperFoods HealthStyle by Steven G. Pratt, M.D. and Kathy Matthews. I found an excerpt online that gives a basic list of the SuperFoods:

SUPERFOODS
apples
avocado
beans
blueberries
broccoli
cinnamon
dark chocolate
dried superfruits
extra virgin olive oil
garlic
honey
kiwi
low-fat or nonfat yogurt
oats
onions
oranges
pomegranates
pumpkin
soy
spinach
tea
tomatoes
turkey (skinless turkey breast)
wild salmon
walnuts

Good thing I like most (tomatoes, blech!) of those foods! :)

The author also offers his version of the food pyramid. Nothing too new or exciting, but I like to see different options. It's totally not readable, but maybe you can click on this to make it bigger?? :)

Something to think about! :)

My first official picture post!

Here it is, Lunch 01/17/2008:

I went to my favorite sandwich place Jan's Health Food and got a tuna avocado with sprouts, lettuce and seasoning w/a side of fruit. I don't know what they do to it, but they have the best tasting tuna in the world. Also, I'm trying to up my intake of Omega-3 fatty acids and get 2 servings of fish a week, so tuna is a good choice for that (as well as the walnuts and flax seed I'm going to buy at the store soon!).

Mmmm, this sounds good...

Mushroom and Spinach Frittata With Smoked Gouda

Prep: 5 minutes; Cook: 37 minutes.

INGREDIENTS
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/3 cup chopped Vidalia onion
2 cups sliced mushrooms
4 cups packed baby spinach leaves or torn Swiss chard
2 large eggs
4 large egg whites
1/2 cup shredded smoked Gouda cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Cooking spray

PREPARATION
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook 2 minutes. Add mushrooms; cook, stirring frequently, 4 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender. Add spinach; cover and cook 1 minute or just until spinach is wilted.
3. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, egg whites, 1/4 cup cheese, salt, and pepper; mix well. Add spinach mixture; mix well. Pour mixture into an 8-inch round cake pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 cup cheese over frittata. Bake 30 minutes or until eggs are set in center and cheese has melted. Cut into 4 wedges.

Wine note: A velvety, berry-rich California red from the Petite Sirah grape will match the earthiness of the frittata's mushrooms and cut through the rich Gouda flavor. Look for Bogle, a big wine at a relatively small price, about $10.

Yield:
Makes 4 servings (serving size: 1 wedge)

Nutritional Information:
CALORIES 158; FAT 10g (sat 4g,mono 4g,poly 1g); PROTEIN 13g; CHOLESTEROL 125mg; CALCIUM 155mg; SODIUM 339mg; FIBER 2g; IRON 2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 6g

Karen Levin , Health, MARCH 2007

Another good site: http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=3046153
(Alton Brown love!)

Yesterday + the Day Before

I forgot to blog the last couple of days, but whatever. :) I'll just catch you up now.

After my HUGE, delicious dinner at The Melting Pot, I got back on track (kind of).

For breakfast on Tuesday, I ate a bowl of oatmeal with bananas and cinnamon. It was pretty good. :) For lunch, I ate a reduced-sodium Progresso vegetable soup, some grapes, some veggie chips and some baby carrots. I wanted to eat dinner with Mikey, so I met him at Taco Surf (when I wasn't even hungry yet) and ate 2 carne asada tacos (with cilantro, onion, Tapatio and lime - spicy!) and too many chips and salsa. I also had a snack of a half PB&J when I got home from babysitting that night. Could have been a better dinner, but oh well.

Yesterday I was feeling kind of stuffy and sick, but I ate OK. :/ For breakfast, I ate a bagel with light cream cheese (ok, not the best). For lunch, I ate a PB&J on whole wheat bread, some grapes, a few veggie chips, and a few carrots. For a snack that led into dinner, I ate a few veggies chips, about a half cup of mushroom risotto from Fresh & Easy (yummy!), a very small slice of lasagna, some veggies and a few baked fries (sweet and white potatoes). For desert, I had about a 1/2 cup of slow-churned vanilla ice cream w/chocolate syrup on top. :) Kind of a random end to the day, but it was good.

When I weighed myself this morning, it said I was about a 1.5 lbs. lighter than when I got home from Washington. I don't know how accurate that is, but I won't argue! :) I'm at least about the same as when I left, so that is OK by me. After this illness is over with, I'm going to make the gym a priority and hopefully start actually losing weight.

Oh yeah, for breakfast this morning I ate a bowl of oatmeal (made with 1/2 milk, 1/2 water) and lots of cinnamon. I would have put a banana in, but we were all out. Instead I ate an apple. I also brought a mini nectarine for a snack. :) Hmmm, time to start thinking about lunch....

Lunch 01/14/08

Today for lunch, I ate a turkey sandwich on honey wheatberry bread (yum), with dijionnaise, lettuce and reduced-fat swiss. I also ate 3 baby dill pickles and a handful of carrots.

I was really good all day and I can't wait for fondue! :)

P.S. I think I may start photographing my food adventures in the near future. It sounds like fun.

OK, I lied

So tonight we made reservations at The Melting Pot - a fondue restaurant. Cheese and chocolate fondue don't exactly scream health, so I'll try to be good up until then and my healthy life will start tomorrow. :)

For breakfast I had a bowl of GrapeNuts and a grande Awake tea from Starbucks.

Give Yourself a Diet Mentality Makeover

By Janis Jibrin, R.D., Best Life lead nutritionist

"I just blew my diet, so I might as well splurge."

"This is my last week to really enjoy eating. I'm going to start dieting next week."

"I've been so bad, I just can't get back on track."

Do any of these sound familiar? You're either on or off a diet; you're being bad or good. This black-and-white thinking can derail your weight-loss efforts and turn a little slip into a major free fall of eating. But it doesn't have to be this way! If you learn to slightly adjust your diet mentality, you can survive the occasional setback. The next time you get a little off track, remember that:

• Slip-ups are inevitable. Weight loss is a process, just like raising kids or advancing in your career. Some days you're good at these things, other days you're not. But one bad encounter with your child or with your boss doesn't mean you throw up your hands and quit. It's the same with losing weight. Eating healthfully and getting enough exercise is a life-long pursuit, so cut yourself some slack for those less-than-perfect moments.

• Eating healthfully is your choice. Remind yourself that you are exercising your free will when you choose broccoli sauteed in garlic over French fries or raspberries topped with dollop of vanilla yogurt instead of raspberry chocolate cake. (Notice, the healthy choices are anything but boring and tasteless!)

• Small weight gains are easier to reverse than large ones. If you overdo it for a day or two and put on a pound, you'll be able to lose that weight pretty easily. But, if you give up and eat your way back to your old weight, you'll have a heck of a time losing it all again.

• You're responsible for your health. The decisions you make should be your own, and you should accept ownership for them. For example, saying "My kids drive me to binge" or "Bob Greene says I should exercise three times a week" won't work. Instead, put the power in your own hands. You take charge and you make the decisions.

I know I'm a horrible person...

but I'm lazy (or busy, whatever) and can't start this whole diet/exercise thing until after I get back from Washington. Mike's mom feeds us like crazy anyway, so all my hard work would go down the drain over the next 5 days anyway.

My official healthy start date: January 14, 2008.

When I get home Sunday evening, Mary and I are going to go shopping at our new favorite grocery store (haha, I've never even been there, but whatevs) Fresh & Easy. AND I'm going to try to start going to the gym before work. I think it will work out better because I always have an excuse not to go afterwards. So that should start the week/year off right. :)

I'll be back soon! :)

Disneyland 1/2 Marathon

I am officially registered for the Disneyland Half-Marathon on August 31, 2008. 13.1 miles! I am crazy! :)

I have 8 months to train and I'm planning on taking a preparation class starting in May to get ready. :) I'm excited!

Wish me luck! Anyone want to join me??? :D

D 1/3/08 and B & L 1/4/08

Dinner yesterday consisted of a piece of lemon chicken (new recipe - not bad!), oven roasted sweet potatoes, and a veggie mix (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot). I also had a slice of cinnamon-sugar toast for desert. :)

Today's breakfast was another cinnamon-sugar toast (it was for Gavin, but he didn't want it, and I couldn't justify throwing it out) and some coffee (I did add 2 small vanilla creamers and 1/2 a packet of Splenda).

Lunch was some homemade steak stew from my mom! :) Yum! I'll have a banana for a snack in a few hours.

Besides the cinnamon-sugar toast, I think I'm doing alright. I do need to get to the gym soon. :/ Maybe tonight.... :) :) :)

What's in season?

I am always wondering what kind of produce is going to be the best and freshest when I go to the store. Food Network offers a nice chart here that answers all of my questions. :)

You may find this interesting...

Here is a website that will calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Your BMR is the number of calories your body would burn on its own if you just laid in bed all day.

My BMR is 1,461.75.

The next "calculator" this site offers is for your Daily Calorie Needs. You multiply your BMR by a number that is chosen depending on how active you are (more active = bigger number). The number you get is how many calories you need on a daily basis to maintain your weight.

If I am lightly active (exercise/sports 1-3 days per week), I need 2,010 calories a day to maintain my weight. If I am moderately active (exercise/sports 3-5 days per week), I need 2266 calories a day to maintain my weight.

In order to lose weight, I need to create a defecit of calories - 500 calories/day to lose 1 lb./week and 1000 calories/day to lose 2 lbs./week. Haha, I'm all about speed, so I'm going for the 1000 calorie/day defecit. The easiest and healthiest way for me to do this is through both diet and exercise. This means burning 500 calories through exercise and eating 500 calories less than my daily calorie need (or 1500-1800 calories/day).

Good to know! :)

B & L 1/3/08

For breakfast, I had a small bowl of GrapeNuts with 1% milk.

I haven't eaten it yet, but my plans for lunch are a turkey sandwich made with a whole wheat sandwich roll, reduced-fat swiss cheese, and Dijonnaise. I will also eat an apple and some berries. Yum! :)

I'm still thinking about dinner, but no ideas yet.... :)

New Year's Resolutions

I think the new year is a great time to make changes for a better self. Here are my resolutions for 2008:

1. BE HEALTHIER. Eat better. Exercise more. Lose weight.
2. Maintain a tidier house. For me, this means doing dishes and putting laundry away more often.
3. Save some money every month. Even just a little bit.
4. Be on time! This will be a struggle, but it's very important.
5. Floss and wash face nightly. I've got the teeth brushing down, but these two need a little work.
6. Read more (i.e., watch TV less).
7. Stay more updated on worldly event and politics. I think msnbc.com will help me out with this one.
   

I know the list is long, but I don't think anything is too difficult. It's just about being more responsible and using my time more efficiently.

Wish me luck! :)

Here we go again...

So I tried this bloggie thing last year when Mary and I were running, but I stopped running and so did the blog. :) So here we go - new year, new blog! This one is going to be a little different though. It will be more about food, exercise and health overall. Also, if I keep it up for a long time, it will inevitably end up being more personal than the last because I can't help but talk about myself. :) I'm thinking about posting my daily food intake (maybe with pictures?), but I have no definite plans. We will see where it takes me.

To all who read, happy New Year! Health, FTW!! :)