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5 Tricks to Prevent Late Night Snacking

admin — Thu, 03 May 2012 06:15:27 +0000

We know that eating close to bedtime is not good for our bodies or the waistline. The closer we eat to bedtime, the more likely we are to store those calories or eat in excess. It can be a tough challenge to overcome, but follow these doable steps to a new you. 5 Steps to Eat Less at Night Eat enough earlier in the day . Don’t let your body clock get confused and shift to eating too much later in the evening. Focus on eating more at lunch and breakfast. Making lunch your “biggest” meal can help some. This helps to make sure that in the evening you are not feeling excess hunger, and can prevent overeating. Eat a balanced dinner . Follow the rule of half a plate of vegetables , one quarter a protein source, and the other quarter a healthy carbohydrate source. By doing this, you will feel more satisfied. Allow yourself one post-dinner snack . The trick is to eat this snack or dessert right at the end of dinner. This acts as a signal to the brain that you are finished with your food intake. Move on with the night, and focus on other tasks or relaxation that does not involve food. Choose a new nighttime routine . If you would normally grab a snack at a certain hour, replace it with a new habit or behavior that does not involve food. Start a new hobby, craft, or relaxation technique. Try doing things with your hands like knitting, journaling, or a puzzle. Anything goes! Brush your teeth . As simple as it sounds, this can be one of the best techniques. When you are finished with dinner, brush your teeth about an hour after to prevent you from snacking on more food. Who wants to brush their teeth again ? Do you have any tricks you use to stop excess snacking?

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5 Tricks to Prevent Late Night Snacking

Midday Snack

admin — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 06:53:03 +0000

Whole wheat crackers, babybel cheese, berries, grapes and peanut butter. yum! Exercise was a 40 minute fast-paced walk/wog. I’m short on words this evening, but wanted to share my pretty snack/meal. Hope you had a lovely day!

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Midday Snack

PlanetBox Lovin’

admin — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 17:04:42 +0000

Small blog hiatus is over! Sometimes I just need a break from talking about what I’m eating and doing and just do. Fellow bloggers, am I alone here? I’ve been making a real effort to spend more time outside. It’s crazy, but I can go days and days and never step outside. It just makes me feel unbalanced, so I bought this little bistro table for $20 at one of those discount/family dollar stores because I was desperate and live 35 minutes from anywhere else. And I love it! It’s real glass and metal and a perfect table for two. We’ve started walking/wogging in the neighborhood in the evenings again. My loop is a quarter mile and I find that I can do about seven or eight loops in an hour by wallking/jogging. It feels good to be outside again, and humbling to feel like I’m starting over again with physical activity. I’ve been eating things like homemade hummus in cucumber cups and topped with paprika. So refreshing and surprisingly filling. Rediscovering my love for egg and cheese sandwiches. One of these keeps me full for hours and they also prevent me from splurging on my fast food biscuit cravings. My new favorite chicken recipe is so easy! Roll chicken breasts or thighs in jerk seasoning, sprinkle with sea salt and drizzle with honey and olive oil. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes (or until done). I finally broke down and purchased a PlanetBox and it’s a-mazing! I love that everything is portioned out and it feels kind of creative putting these meals together. I also like that I can snack out of it throughout the day to stay full. I calculated the calories in the box and it came to about 400. This box includes a strawberries, homemade granola cookie, spinach salad with peppers and almonds, a small bunch of homemade dark chocolate biscotti, whole wheat pasta salad with feta and tomatoes, and a chicken sausage. Chicken and spinach pizza – yum! I took this little turtle out on the deck. Yes, this happened. Yes, he has a pink leash. I can’t make this stuff up. And working on keeping this birthday orchid alive! Which is very little work at all (three ice cubes a week!). I’ve always wanted an orchid, they are such pretty, intricate little flowers. And… I’m down 15 pounds! Not gonna lie, my weight spiked up during birthday week (and seemingly march in general) or I’d be down more, but I’m down again and heading straight toward the -20 pound point! My paints are loose!

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PlanetBox Lovin’

Gorilla Munchies

admin — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:34:31 +0000

I woke up this morning starving! Do you have mornings like that? Where you wake up like a crazed person and want to yell, GIVE ME FOOD! Knowing that I’m having lunch at noon with my girlfriend, I went for a bowl of Josh’s Gorilla Munch and a handful of blueberries on top. I may never eat cereal without blueberries again. Gorilla Munch has only three ingredients and tastes a lot like Captain Crunch. Blueberries are so photogenic! Okay, let me tell you something random about me. I am not a good housekeeper. I never have been and lord help me if I ever will be. Don’t get me wrong, when I clean, I clean . It takes me hours and I start scrubbing corners with a toothbrush and get really anal retentive and scary about it, but as far as day-to-day put things back where they belong- that is totally lost on me. But yesterday, with a pending task list and emails to return and work to do that pays the bills, I could think of nothing else to do, but clean out this room. This is a form of productive procrastination. Am I alone here? Anyway, the rabbit room as we call it because it’s home to our little bunny Oliver (who will now be living outside! in a bigger rabbit house!) has been filled top to bottom with stuff for two years. Stuff that we (I!) wasn’t using and just sitting there. And now we have bags and bags of stuff waiting to head off to goodwill today. I can’t tell you how good it feels in there. I find myself just going in and having a sit next to the open windows, for no reason at all. We have a whole new room that could be anything! First line of business will be to pick out some paint, get curtains, a side table and a new lamp for the room. Maybe the official reading room? Here is another sneak peek from my Wear it Well Spring 2012 e-course . I love this denim pencil skirt, I got it at Coldwater Creek about three weeks ago and doesn’t appear to be on their website anymore, but I’ll post if it comes for sale again. The first and third blouses are from Target (they should still be there) the belt is from Old Navy, and the middle blouse is from Avenue. And the bag is from Eitienne Aigner.

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Gorilla Munchies

Carry On

admin — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 13:46:10 +0000

Yesterday’s breakfast was a peanut butter and jelly panini with a serving of Noosa raspberry yogurt, almond slivers and strawberries. I’m loving this yogurt, but I think I’ve mentioned that. Only one serving left! noooooo. The panini was really good, though messy. I found these panini flat breads over the weekend and just cut it in fourths, spread peanut butter and jam on the middle and toasted in the skillet for a few minutes. I made another batch of soup from yesterday and had a large bowl of it for lunch. This one was just as good and now I have leftovers for today. I’m looking for a tomato soup now, preferably without a lot of cream, does anyone have a recipe? For early dinner I had two pancakes made with Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Mix. I added a handful of frozen blueberries and topped with butter and agave maple syrup. Blueberries make the best pancake mixers! For late dinner I had peanut butter and chocolate banana soft serve. Just two frozen bananas, 1 T peanut butter, 1 T cocoa pureed in the food processor. Just like soft serve! Best invention ever, thank you internet. No exercise yesterday. I have no real excuse. Felt under the weather, down, wonky knee…the usual. Will exercise today, no excuses. I’ve been losing weight and it feels really good. I’m doing my best to just put my head down and keep going. So often, in the beginning stages of losing weight, I start getting excited. I start thinking, I’ve got this . And then I get confident and I stop doing what I’m doing to reach my goals, and I quickly go from I got this to what the heck just happened? I get in my head. So I’m just trusting my process, in that trust comes record keeping. Along with this blog, I keep a detailed journal by my side. I write down everything. And I’m doing this so I can go back and see what worked and what didn’t. I’m using it for those weeks when I don’t lose weight, or when I lose a lot of weight. So I can see exactly what’s going on. Sometimes weight gain is just a salty meal or not keeping an accurate record. And so many times I’ve let those little things upset me when the scale shows a bump and think, why try? And that’s crap. Forest for the trees! I don’t want to use this expression, but it’s fitting for how I feel: Keep Calm and Carry On. Just trusting that I’m doing the right thing and that yes I’m losing weight and that yes I have to do this everyday and no it’s not killing me, and yes I can have what I want, and no I can’t have everything I want and yes I can make switches and I’m okay. I know that if I want a blueberry pancake for dinner, I’m going to eat vegetable soup for lunch. And I can do that and still lose weight. I’m losing weight. Whew!

Breakfast Salad

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:39:14 +0000

Breakfast this morning was a big pile of dark leafy greens with a couple slices of bacon and a fried egg on top. Heaven! I love eating regular meals for breakfast and find that they keep me full and satisfied much longer than traditional breakfast food. I’m also trying to eat light because I’m traveling today (travel swelling!) and tomorrow will be a cake day for my great aunts 90th birthday, followed with traveling back home and then an 80′s dance party. I have a busy and fun weekend ahead of me. Time to bake a cake and start packing!

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Breakfast Salad

Working Lunch and Late Dinner

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:23:14 +0000

Lunch was late and eaten right in front of my computer. Josh graciously (and unexpectantly) brought home burgers and bowls of chili from the local drive-in sort of place. Their chili is homemade and really good and spicy. Dinner was late too. We weren’t hungry until 9:30 and I was in the mood from something light because lunch was so heavy. I put this together under 10 minutes. Wild caught salmon cooked with organic butter, salt and garlic. I love salmon and rarely think it needs more than a little butter or olive oil and salt. The sweet potato was heated in the microwave and topped with butter, garlic, cayenne and salt. Mixed greens salad with my creamy dressing. I’m getting the hang of these healthier meals. I think there’s a myth that I probably bought into at some point in my life that healthful meals were expensive and needed to be planned out. I thought they would take longer? Who knows. Anyway, this meal was about $4.50 each and the bulk of that expense was from the salmon. What are your favorite, cheap and quick dinners?

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Working Lunch and Late Dinner

Whole Wheat French Toast With Agave Maple Syrup

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 18:49:29 +0000

Remember all that snow we got the other day? It’s all melted and sunny today. I’m so ready for spring! This morning we had whole wheat french toast with organic blue agave maple flavored syrup. I picked up a bottle at the Fresh Market last week with this breakfast in mind (and maybe some almond flour pancakes too!). The bread was dipped in an egg/milk/cinnamon mixture and fried in the skillet like grilled cheese. I don’t have any thoughts about using agave versus anything else, but I like that a little goes a long way and I never feel groggy after eating like I do regular syrups. Served with half a banana and cherries. I have a new DVD coming in the mail and I’m so excited to get started. It’s called Strong Knees and I’m hoping it will strengthen my knees to prevent future injury and to help heal my knee from where I fell two weeks ago. From the reviews, it sounds like these exercises are exactly like the ones in physical therapy, or very similar. I like the idea of building up the muscles around my knees to give them more support with exercise and daily movement. This could be very good for runners too. It was hard giving up TV yesterday. I may have whined about it to Josh for 10 minutes and then I got over it. Not watching TV or a movie last night made the day seem much longer and more full. It felt like I was spending quality time with Josh rather than zoning out like I normally want to do. We ended up meditating (I always fall asleep) and listening to music and eating popcorn. It was nice. I also start reading Deepak Chopra’s book, Reinventing the Body, Resurrecting the Soul: How to Create a New You with highlighter in hand. I have a lot to share with this one! And listening to a lot of Miike Snow these past couple of days. In fact, I’m listening as I write this. Someone recently asked me what kind of music I listen to, and my answer made me pause. I seem to gravitate towards more upbeat/poppy/electronicy music. ****************** Random Question: If you could hang out with a blogger for a day, who would it be? I would hang out with Olivia from Every Day Musings . Her life, photos and enthusiasm are incredible and inspiring. She is living a big life. She also makes Charleston, SC seem like the best place on earth to live.

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Whole Wheat French Toast With Agave Maple Syrup

Weekend Menu Planning

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:06:30 +0000

I need more of these meals in my life! Here’s a strange fact: We went to Fresh Market on Tuesday ,spent a good chunk of money, and I’m still finding it hard to figure out what to make. I swear we bought nothing but, juice (Josh bought five containers of fresh pressed pomegranate juice), fruit, lettuce, cereal and two pounds of bacon. I should never go to the store without a plan. I will end up buying elements of a meal that just don’t go together. So now I need a plan, because I ate out Wednesday night with my girlfriends, which is fine. I out breakfast out yesterday morning, which is not fine. And I made egg noodles with butter and parmesan last night for dinner. Also, not good. And I need to learn how to soak beans. I know, put them in water and let them soak. But, mine took so long to get soft, they got moldy. How does one not know how to properly soak beans? I want to go to the store today and not go again (except for fresh produce) for about two weeks. The next two weeks are going to be busy and I want to be ready with fresh, prepared food and a plan. Here’s what I want to make more of: Roasted chickens (I have two in the freezer) Tortilla Pie I already have the polenta for this. Scrambled Chickpeas and vegetables. Roasted sweet potato meals . The occasional breakfast plate with egg, bacon, toast and fruit. Chinese inspired dishes like kung pao . Chicken Fajitas. More raw dishes and desserts. Lots of chopped salads with my favorite dressing. Recipes I Want to Try: Dal Curry Stuffed Pepper Soup Homemade Flour Tortillas Rosemary Ribbye Coconut Lime Chicken Raw Brownies Quiche Detox Salad Warm Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad Banana Soft Serve Coconut Curry Spaghetti and Meatless Meatballs Blueberry Oatmeal Breakfast Shake Dairy-free Cheese and Spinach Lasagna Nona’s Chocolate Easter Eggs More Bento Lunches Black Bean Burgers Enchiladas Blueberry Nobakes Creamy Tomatillo Salad Dressing Time to make my list and go shopping!

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Weekend Menu Planning

Raw Fudgey Brownies

admin — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:27:27 +0000

Today’s lunch was a chopped salad using up all of the vegetables I prepared a week ago. I have to say (again!) that prepping vegetables for the week increased my vegetable consumption by so much. I was able to put this salad together in less two minutes. And best of all, it was delicious That dressing. Sigh. For dessert I enjoyed a raw (my cocoa wasn’t raw) brownie made using this recipe from Jenny Cornbleet. I substituted Majool dates for regular pitted dates and raisins for the cherries. I also added a little too much water to mine, but they were still really good. If you like fudge brownies, you’ll like these. Bonus: they take just a couple of minutes to make and they keep you full for hours and hours. Dinner was a meat sauce that I made a big batch of for the week served on oatmeal bread. It tasted a lot like a better manwich (manwich? is that it?). A side of carrots with the last of my dressing. And now I watch the Grammys to see this pretty lady perform:

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Raw Fudgey Brownies