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7 Healthy Heart Tips for 2.5 Billion Beats

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:00:13 +0000

Since February is known as Heart Awareness Month, I thought we could review the key lifestyle habits for a healthy heart. After all, most experts say that the heart can beat between 1 and 2.5 billion beats per lifetime. So, we might as well try to help the heart with its job! Continue reading…

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7 Healthy Heart Tips for 2.5 Billion Beats

Healthy Choice Top Chef: Really Top Quality?

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:00:54 +0000

Healthy Choice brand recently launched their new variety of frozen meals inspired by the TV show Top Chef . I saw a coworker bring one for lunch, and was pleasantly surprised by the ingredient list. I just had to investigate. Continue reading…

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Healthy Choice Top Chef: Really Top Quality?

Almond Butter: The New Peanut Butter?

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:00:38 +0000

If you haven’t tried almond butter, it will grow on you. It not only is nutritionally better for you than peanut butter, but it also has a different taste and texture. Give it a chance and you will come to love almond butter that has a wide variety of health benefits. Continue reading…

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Almond Butter: The New Peanut Butter?

Brain Over Binge: Part 2: What I’m Learning

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:08:39 +0000

Tomorrow makes one week since I started reading and implementing the tools of Brain Over Binge . In that week I’ve come to realize a few things that are helping this process: 1) Not every urge or feeling means something. I used to believe that all of my urges and feelings were me, that by not acting on them I was somehow denying myself and being unauthentic to who I am. And on some small level, I already got this. Denying every feeling is uncomfortable and often the only thing I’m fighting is the feeling or urge in and of itself, not the actual thought or feeling. Here’s an example: Sometimes I over think situations and my relationships with people. Often I find myself truly not understanding the motives of a person and examining them. I mull over every detail in frustration until I feel nauseous and agitated. This is especially true when I believe their actions are wrong, hurting me or themselves. These thoughts take over my mind and I gave them freedom to take over. I do this so often that is became comfortable and familiar, like a bad habit. Like eating 10 cookies. But now, I’m acknowledging that sometimes I just default and it doesn’t mean anything about me or the other person. Not every thing needs attention, examining, or confronting. Sometimes I just need to achnowledge the feeling and move on. This is the same with the urge to eat more. Those urges are not me, but sometimes it’s confusing to know the difference because I’ve learned to give weight to them in my own, evolved voice that reasons and sides with the urges. This is what they sound like: You already ate that cookie, you might as well eat all of them and start over tomorrow. Your breakfast wasn’t perfect you might as well eat everything you want for the rest of the day. You’ve been so good these past few days, you can slack off today. You didn’t lose any weight today, might as well throw in the towel and get serious tomorrow. 2) I do not need the scale right now. It’s true, eating less usually results in weight loss, but not always and not every single day. Logically I understand this. I know that a few days before my period I hold on to water. I know that exercise makes me hold on to water as well. I know that salty foods make me hold on to water. I don’t want to use the scale as an excuse or motivator right now. So today, I’m taking it out of the bathroom. 3) Finding my voice. One of the biggest challenges right now is finding my higher voice and listening to it. My higher voice is logical and doesn’t want to binge. It doesn’t want to keep eating or make myself sick. It wants me to succeed and move forward and grow. But sometimes it tries to justify and encourage my urges and feelings that aren’t me, my animal voice. It’s helpful for me to have a clear idea of what I do want on a very basic level so that I can easily access this information. It’s also helpful to have it written down and handy. Sometimes I can honestly convince myself that I want to binge, that it’s who I am, but I know better. 4) Knowing the difference between overeating (or eating too much) and binge eating. This one is very personal and looks different for everyone. This topic is covered a lot in Brain Over Binge . People who do not have any sort of binge eating disorder, eat too much on occasion. Having a second cookie, another slice of pizza, or seconds is not binge eating. Sometimes I simply eat more than what I need and that’s all it is. To me, at it’s heart, binge eating is eating that is in excess. If it interrupts my life or causes me to be unhealthy, it is binge eating. I have never eaten as much in one sitting as the author of Brain Over Binge, but that doesn’t mean that my excess or binge eating hasn’t caused health issues like obesity or disrupted my life by over taking my thoughts and actions. 4) Practice makes semi-perfect. Changing my mindset is taking work. It’s taking practice and meditation. It’s not always a huge struggle because I’m not fighting my urges, I’m just sitting with them, but it’s still new to me. I still fear that I can’t do this or that I’m fooling myself. I still hear the words of therapy and self-help books ringing in my ears that I need to fix my life or find fulfillment or get over depression or find self-esteem. Everday isn’t perfect, and I’m becoming okay with that. I’m just riding it out. It’s been helpful to create mantras of self-talk written down and handy. It’s also helpful knowing that my urges cannot access my movement and that I always have the choice to binge or not. It’s totally up to me. I know that it isn’t going to be easy at first, and I’m prepared for ups and downs, but I know it doesn’t have the be the biggest struggle in my life.

Lose 7 Pounds by Ditching Mayonnaise

admin — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:00:52 +0000

When working on weight loss we are often told to avoid all creamy sauces and condiments. But, you ask, “Mayonnaise is just eggs and oil, right?” We know eggs and some oils are considered healthy foods in moderation, so why then is mayo on the do not eat list for weight loss? Continue reading…

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Lose 7 Pounds by Ditching Mayonnaise

Brain Over Binge: Part 1

admin — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:23:33 +0000

I never thought, in a million years, that words from any book would ever help me to stop overeating or binge eating for good. I wanted to believe they would and it never stopped me from buying them. I read many thousands of words telling me that I was an emotional eater, a stress eater, an addict, disordered and diseased. I read many more thousands of words telling me that I had deep seated issues and until I resolved them I would never stop eating too much. And I read even more thousands of words telling me to cut out flour, sugar, salt, potatoes, honey, red meat, beans, to count calories, to cut carbs, to calculate points, or to cut the fat. I was told moderation and lifestyle change more times than I care to say. Two words that I never truly got . And then Beth came along and left this comment: Hello! First time commenter! I’m not sure if anyone has suggested this book, or if you have read it. Brain over Binge by Kathryn Hansen. I’ve been a binge eater most of my adult life, and after reading this book, I stopped. I’m not sure how or why, but I did. Dieting and restricting causes bingeing, that I know. Take care & good luck to you in the new year! I was intrigued and went over to Amazon to read the reviews. Within five minutes I was already into the first chapter on my Kindle. I couldn’t wait to buy the book, the reviews peeked my interest and I was ready to dive in. The words used to describe the book mention bulimia, which I do not relate to in any sort of way. So I want to say first, that if you have struggled with any form of eating to the excess, please consider reading this book. Whatever you call it, overeating, binge eating, bulimia, etc., if you suffer for the urge to eat beyond being full, if you’ve had moments of autopilot eating, if yeou’ve eaten on numerous occasions to the point of being uncomfortably or painfully full, if you have moments of being able to consume large amounts of food- this book is for you. Every journey is personal and individual, binge eating is not black and white. As I read Kathryn’s words, a women who has never been obese or even overweight I can honestly say I’ve never eaten to the excess that she describes in Brain Over Binge . I’ve also never exercised for hours on end to burn the calories I’ve consumed. This is her form of purging and why she calls herself bulimic. But I am obese, and it’s not because of moderate or “normal” eating. It never has been. I’ve been thinking about my weight since I was eight years old and dieting for so long that I’ve never really known what normal eating looks or feels like. I’ve never known what it wa I’ve had glimmers of hope, mainly with intuitive eating, but my urges to eat more always took over. I’ve been saying tomorrow I’ll be better for so long, it’s become my default response when things became too much. Since reading Brain Over Binge , I’ve debated how I’d approach presenting this information on my blog. And after much debate I decided that I could only best explain how I’ve changed as a result. The book is too in depth and I fear I would do Kathryn and her research much disservice to explain it in any other way. You can read more about her and purchase the book on her website here: Brain Over Binge . I would love to discuss this book more in depth with those that have read the book or plan to read the book and would like to open my comments up for that. I was in no way compensated for my opinion. I’ve linked directly to Kathryn’s site, not Amazon, for those interested in purchasing it. Thursday morning after reading the first few pages of Brain Over Binge I decided that I wanted to eat a biscuit while reading the book. I rarely eat fast food biscuits, but this morning all I wanted to do was eat while reading a book about eating. I can’t make this stuff up. Normally, a day that starts with a 900 calories biscuit meal doesn’t end well. Because I wasn’t “perfect” at breakfast I would normally use that as an excuse to eat what I wanted for the rest of the day and start over tomorrow. But something changed in those next three hours. I learned that I am not all of the horrible things I always believed I was because of my binge eating. I learned that I am not an emotional eater or addicted to sugar like I always thought. I learned that when I changed my career, hair, or bought something new, I was trying to change my life. I was trying to fulfill and fill ever corner of my life with events and stuff in a desperate attempt to recover. I believed that somehow, changing any part of my life would make me complete so that I could stop overeating once and for all. I’ve searched in vain for over ten years for ways to make me whole. To fix me. To dull the desire to keep eating. I believed that I just hadn’t found the right program to tell me how to be better. The right experience, job, relationship, or outfit. I believed that I had to turn my life upside down to make real changes. That I’d have to give up ever food that I ever binged to be better, to stop slowly killing myself and to gain control once and for all. On some level, I already knew all of this, I just couldn’t believe it was that easy. After those three hours of reading I said to Josh “I finally get it”. And then I started to sob, mostly because I felt like three thousand pounds had been lifted from my shoulders. All I could say was “There’s nothing wrong with me! Why didn’t anyone ever tell me?! I’m not crazy, lazy, stupid, diseased or suffering.”. And Thursday, for the first time in my life I learned how to almost effortlessly calm myself and take control. In just a few hours my day had turned around. It wasn’t perfect, I hadn’t solved my life’s problems- I just ate and moved on and I felt normal. Instead of stuffing or fighting my urges to eat, I just sat with them and reminded myself that those thoughts are not me. I am not every thought or urge that I have. Friday I played with fire. I made cookies. I ate two and put the rest away. And these weren’t just any cookie, I declared them my favorite cookie. They were amazing. I made a lovely dinner or salad and lentil soup. Nourishing and healthful food that I truly craved and then had two cookies and moved on. Even as I type this, there are a bowl of cookies on the counter and that all too familiar voice to eat all of them and start over tomorrow, is dull. It’s almost nonexistent. And for that, I am grateful. I realize that this post is full of hyperbole, as is my fashion when I get excited about something, but I can honestly say to you that I will never binge again. I will never hide or sneak food. Eat in the car or give myself the promises of tomorrow. And as they say, the proof is in the pudding, I so look forward to sharing this journey with you.

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Brain Over Binge: Part 1

In The Kitchen Challenge

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:33:26 +0000

I’ve been making my way through FloCoIMo with my 31 recipes challenge. So far, I’ve made 12 recipes. Here are my not so good phone photos of what I’ve made so far. Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos Krissie’s Mom’s Potato Ravioli P ork Potstickers Lemon Pancakes w/ Strawberry Jam Pastor Ryan’s Chili w/ Guacamole and Chips Blueberry muffins w/ Streusel Topping Krissie’s Pork and Apple Meatballs w/ Sour Cream and Garlic Noodles Ginger Baked Salmon w/ Smashed Potatoes and Caramelized Onions and Mushrooms Recipe Recap With Links: Tandoori Chicken Burgers Sweet potato and black bean enchilada casserole (I used kidney beans) 5 ingredient granola bars Pastor Ryan’s Chili (I used this as a base recipe. Added mushrooms and carrots to mine, didn’t add crackers) Lemon Pancakes (I added lemon to the batter and used whipping cream+ water instead of milk) Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos (made recipe, placed in flour tortillas with napa cabbage) Baked Pasta (no photo, recipe coming!) Krissie’s Mom’s Potato Ravioli (didn’t use the peppers or onions, added more potatoes) Blueberry muffins (I used frozen blueberries and didn’t cook them down, next time I would use more.) Pork potstickers Krissie’s Pork and apple meatballs (I served with egg noodles with sour cream, butter, salt, garlic and parsley) Ginger baked salmon and smashed potato (my recipes, coming soon!) I really don’t like posting recipes without saying a little bit about how they turned out. I can honestly say I’ve loved every single thing I’ve made so far and would make everything again. I like having new staples to turn to and also love that this challenge has prevented the usual food rut of “what should I make for dinner?”. This has also cut back on eating out dramatically, which is healthier and saves money. Josh’s favorite recipe is the Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos which I’ve made twice, once with and without the breading. They are pretty amazing. The cabbage is so necessary. The potstickers were very good and slightly disappointing. I’ve been buying the frozen kind off and on for awhile now and always love them. Part of me hoped that making them from scratch would make them even more glorious. While mine tasted fresher and didn’t have any additives, they only tasted slightly better than frozen and they took three hours to make. If I made them again it would be with other people. You get 100 pot stickers at a time which makes it worth it. I loved Krissie’s recipes as they were both cozy and perfect for winter evenings. I love chili and could eat it more frequently than I do, I always pull up Ryan’s recipe as a guideline. The lemon pancakes were sweet and tart. My perfect pancake is a little crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, these were just like that. The blueberry muffins were amazing and by far the best muffin recipe I’ve made. 12 down, 19 to go!

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In The Kitchen Challenge

Healthy Dark Chocolate Brands Revealed

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:06:30 +0000

One ounce of dark chocolate can boast plenty of health benefits and antioxidants. However, you have to be careful about which brand of chocolate you buy. All dark chocolate is not created equal. Continue reading…

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Healthy Dark Chocolate Brands Revealed

The Do’s and Don’ts for Healthier Coffee

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:00:35 +0000

Now in the age of Starbuck’s at every corner, or at least some kind of coffee within walking distance, we have to be conscious about our coffee consumption. Pour in a little non-dairy creamer every day, multiple sugar packs here and there, and you may be picking up an unhealthy habit. Just two sugar packets a day adds up to 10,950 extra Calories a Year! Continue reading…

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The Do’s and Don’ts for Healthier Coffee

7 Trans Fat Containing Food Groups Exposed

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:00:05 +0000

Now that we know that trans fat is unhealthy since it can contribute to heart disease, it is important to scope out the food isles for 100% trans fat free foods. And remember, even if a food is labeled as 0 grams trans fat, it may still contain .5 grams trans fat per serving. So, as the consumer, you must read the ingredient list to look for partially hydrogenated oil. Even the most skilled label readers can be misled by advertising. Continue reading…