New Year Resolutions

How many of you make New Year Resolutions? In the past I was notorious for making them, however, like almost everyone else they only lasted a couple of weeks before they very quickly fizzled out. I think there are two big mistakes that we make with resolutions. One, we are too generic and say things like “I will work out more” or we set goals that are too high like “I will work out 6 times a week” (when you don’t work out at all now). Two, we think of resolutions as something temporary and not a lifestyle change. Whether we realize it or not New Year resolutions are really goals we set for ourselves. With this being the case, here are some suggestions on how to make better New Year’s Resolutions.

1.       Make resolutions that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time sensitive). Then come up with specific ways/strategies you can use to achieve these resolutions.

2.       Don’t make more than 3 resolutions. If you try to do too many things you end up doing nothing.

3.       Get someone’s input. Ask them if this goal seems too easy or too hard. Also, by talking to someone else about it you are more likely to keep it up.

4.       Remember this is a marathon not a sprint, you are trying to make a healthy change to your life not a temporary change.

5.       Write down your resolution, if you write something down you are more likely to keep to it.

Despite all the previous failures with achieving my New Year’s Resolutions, I continue to make them.
Why? Not sure really, but it most likely because I am always striving to live healthier. So, this year my resolutions are:  go to the gym 4 times a week by March with at least one time involving strength training, and get 7-8 hours of sleep every night by March.

What are your resolutions?

Success at the Bar

I don’t know about all of you, but I enjoy the occasional happy hour. It’s a nice way to hang out and see friends, but still get home with enough time to relax before I have to go to bed. I also like it because I get the same socializing I would if we went out to dinner without actually having to eat out.  This is a good thing in my book because: one, a drink or two is MUCH cheaper than a meal, and two, I can still eat a healthy dinner at home (or at least in theory). The problem with this last ‘perk’ is that along with great drink deals these bars always have food deals. At first it’s easy to say, “naw I’ll just eat when I get home”. But, as the night goes on and I get hungry it becomes harder and harder to wait. Especially as I see plate after plate of really unhealthy but so tempting bar food go by me and it only costs a couple of dollar. Sometimes temptation gets the best of me and I order something (I try and order what I think will be a bit healthier, but let’s be honest nothing that is served at a bar is really healthy), but then there are times like last night when I don’t give in.

What made last night different than other nights (the nights where I gave in)? Here are some of my thoughts on that… First, I think it helped that I ate some trail mix right before going out. The protein from the nuts helped fill me up for the next couple of hours, but still left me wanting a real dinner later.  Secondly, I brought a certain amount of cash with me to bar. So, even though food would have only been an extra couple of dollars if I didn’t have it in cash I wasn’t going to get it. And Third, and perhaps the most effective for me last night, is that the friend I was meeting up with is also a healthy conscious person and her being ‘good’ encouraged me to be ‘good’ as well. It’s easy to cheat when everyone around you is doing it, but if there is just one other person who is sticking to their guns then it’s much easier to stick to yours. This is the biggest suggestion I have for everyone; it’s like the gym buddy system but for food. Find your other healthy friend and both decide to not eat anything at the bar. And when you start to get hungry and want dinner, go home and eat dinner.

Cereal Lovers

Raise your hand if you like cereal? Yes, my hand is raised too. I love cereal, the problem is cereal does not always love me. After eating it 9 times out of 10 I get a headache or feel dehydrated. Now, there could be many reasons for this but the most likely culprit is that on the rare occasion I eat cereal I know I am not making a good choice.  Most often I’m going to reach for the one that is more of a dessert then a breakfast. This probably goes back to when I was a kid and was not allowed to have those types of cereals unless it was actually my dessert. My solution is to just give up cereal (there are many more breakfast foods I like a lot more that don’t make me fell crummy), but for those who love cereal and have kids here are some suggestions on how to pick a healthy cereal:

Here is a link to an article that talks about the different types of sugary cereals and why they are so bad. It also has a video at the bottom of the page with suggestion on how to pick a healthy cereal, but I would make a couple of additions/alteration.

1.       10 grams of sugar for breakfast is too much for kids, especially since we typically have two servings when we eat cereal.  Aim for cereal that is a little lower around 5 – 8 grams. Or you can always mix two types of cereals (like corn flakes and special k) which will help even out the overall sugar level. If you eat too much sugar in the morning then you’ll find that your energy will crash a couple of hours later.

2.       Add fruit to cereal. With all these cereals adding dried blueberries and strawberries, why not add your own fresh ones! It will add a lot of flavor and nutrition.

3.       Don’t worry too much about calories (unless you are on a calorie restricted diet) because a lot of the healthy cereals that are high in fiber and nutrients will have a slightly high calorie level.

Over Indulging

I was a bad girl last night. I was having one of those nights were I was just a little upset and in a sad mood and instead of making a salad or having soup for dinner I succumbed to my taste buds. After going back and forth between the refrigerator and the pantry several times, thinking each time that something might catch my eye and sound like a yummy dinner, I decided to ‘just make something’. What did I make? Macaroni and cheese. Now, this by its self can be ok, I mean we all indulge every so often right? Except I didn’t eat a small portion with a side salad or veggie like I should have. Nope my whole meal with delicious baked macaroni and cheese (and I went back for seconds, I mean it wasn’t really enough to save anyways… what a lame excuse). Did it end there? I WISH!!! Nope a little later I decided that I wanted a little something for dessert (mistake!! Mistake!!) and had ice cream. Again all of this tasted so good, but never fail about an hour later I felt horrible. 1. My head hurt, 2. I was so thirsty I couldn’t get enough water, 3. My stomach was just not feeling right. 4. It did not help my mood, in fact it made it a little worse!  So, what did I learn from this (or I guess have to re-learn)? Comfort food comforts you in the moment but then makes you feel worse (both physically and emotionally) later.

What I plan to try next time (and what you can try to start with)…

1.       When I get in this mood, leave the kitchen. Maybe if I decide what I’m eating while not looking at those things then I will be in less of a mood to do so.

2.       Keep something at least somewhat healthy in the freezer to give me something quick to eat when I get in these moods

3.       If I want to indulge a little, make sure it’s just a little. Add a veggie with my mac and cheese and before I eat put what I plan to keep as leftovers in the refrigerator (or just be better about cooking less to start with).

4.       Drink more water while I’m cooking. Hopefully this will prevent the dehydration and help keep me a little fuller.

5.       If I indulge for dinner, I do not get to keep indulging and making bad decision. Next time, no dessert.

What other things have you found to help you??

Lack of workout motivation

I’m having one of those day where I seem to continue to come up with any excuse under the sun for why I can’t work out today.

Excuse one: I haven’t eaten enough yet today. My thought process/justification is if I haven’t eaten lunch that I probably shouldn’t work out. The fact is I should just grab a granola bar, eat it in the car, and just lift weights.

Excuse two: I could get other earns done instead during this time. However, isn’t that what I said the other day and ended up doing something on the computer or watching tv? The fact is I need to stop procrastinating on both, my earns and going to the gym.

Excuse three: I didn’t sleep well so I’m tried. The fact is that working out will actually help to wake me up, the truth with this one is that I am just lazy.

Let’s be honest we’ve all used these excuses and even though I know better sometimes they work and like yesterday I found myself succumbing to the escape goats and not working out.  I hope you had better luck then me so far this week. How do you motivate yourself? I think I need better tricks… I’ll look into some and will share my findings later.

My Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving.  A day for family, friends, lots of great food, and football for those who enjoy the game.  A day where even the healthiest of people throw a side there common sense and eat twice their weight in food. This is the only day were eating just one meal is considered acceptable. It may seem like I’m bashing Thanksgiving, but it’s quite the opposite… I LOVE Thanksgiving! I have been cooking the meal for 10 of the last 12 years for a group ranging from 18 people to 6 and I have loved every minute of it. Even when I have spent the entire day before hand staying up until 1am prepping and them getting up at 6am to put the bird in the oven I have enjoyed it. Not to say that I don’t get stressed towards the end as I hope and pray that everything will be ready around the same time and that all my hard work will taste amazing, but still one of my favorite holidays.

I have always done my best to try and create a ‘healthy’ feast, so that we can all enjoy food that tastes good and is good for us. This year I had a thought though… What about all of those people who even my healthy version of Thanksgiving might cause problems. People who have to watch what they eat even more because of dietary concerns like those with Celica’s disease, diabetes, or pregnant women. With this thought in mind I decided that this year I would attempt to do a gluten free thanksgiving.  

My challenge: make a great gluten free Thanksgiving (with no one at the table realizing the food was gluten free and healthy).

My menu:

Turkey

This year, I bought a beautiful range-free, hormone and antibiotic free, grass fed turkey.  I know it costs more, but is definitely worth it! Not just because of all the toxins and crap in the other turkeys, but because these turkey’s taste so much better!! They are much more juicy and packed with flavor.  While it still put me in a turkey food coma afterwards, it did not leave me feeling sick like the others can. For the turkey I never really use a recipe but go by these basicdirections.

Cornbread and Bacon Stuffing

I got this recipe from RecipeGril.com, and did a couple of modifications based on my persona taste. It turned out amazing!!! By far the best stuffing I have ever made (and every year I try a new recipe).  Even my mom who typically does not like stuff went back for seconds.  For the recipe click here.

Note: if you don’t like bacon, try pancetta. It’s similar to bacon but has a very different taste.

Cranberry Sauce

I have used the same cranberry sauce recipe for years now with slight modifications every year. This year I have to admit that it was a little lacking in flavor (when compared to other sauces). Cranberry sauce is one of favorite things on the table, but I typically find it to be a tad too tart. So, this year I attempted to cut out a lot of its typically tartness but was too successful leaving it with less flavor. Next year I will again modify this recipe to add back in some of the orange juice I eliminated. Here is the recipe I used this year (replace some of the water with orange juice, not sure how much yet though).

Rosemary and Garlic Mash Potatoes

This is another recipe I have “tinkered” with over the years, but a couple of years ago I found the secret to making this dish exactly how I wanted it, and have continued to have success since then. My recipe: begin with a standard mash potato recipe (with the skins left on and boiled). Then the trick I found was to heat up the milk before adding it to the potatoes (to prevent the dish from getting cold immediately) and during that time to infuse the milk with a stick of fresh rosemary (remove before adding mild to potatoes).  Also, I found that if I roast the garlic by itself (the whole clove wrap in foil with some olive oil and roast at 350°F for about 30 minutes) and then add as much as I wanted, it adds a much better flavor that melds well with the other flavors.  Also, don’t forget to salt and pepper to taste.

Asparagus with Parmesan Cheese

This was a very simple dish and required almost no time at all. Again I didn’t use a recipe; I saw a picture in an ad and thought it looked yummy.  To make this dish, clean the asparagus and cut the bottoms off. Then place them on a piece of foil, drizzle with a little olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Next fold the foil around the asparagus making sure the seams are tight. Place in an oven at 375°F for around 15 to 20 minutes (until they are tender).  Place on a service plate and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. This dish was also a big hit, which I love since it required almost no effort!

Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Crust

This year I got a crazy idea and decided that instead of buying a premade crust which I normally do that I should make my own. This proved much harder and took much longer than expected. In the end the crust turned out ok, but definitely lacked some flavor. Next time I might throw some cinnamon or something into the curst to add a little something. (Sorry no pictures of this, people were so excited they dug in before I could grab my camera). For the recipe click here.

While I tried my best to make of these recipes gluten free, please remember that if you have a condition that require you to be gluten free please make sure all of the ingredients used are certified gluten free. If you try these recipes, please let me know what you think and any alterations you made. I always love getting new ideas on how to improve a recipe.

All in all, I would have to say this was the best Thanksgiving meal I have made yet, and it was gluten free to boot! At the end of the meal when everyone was happily stuffed and complimenting me on what many of them also thought was my best thanksgiving, I revealed my secret. Everyone was shocked because they all assumed gluten free would mean less flavor when this meal was backed full of it! Just goes to show that just because food is healthy or has a special dietary modification doesn’t mean it has to taste bad.

McRib vs NickRib

As promised in my last post, I tried the NickRib recipe and I’m here to report back. To start with I decided that in order to truly compare the NickRib to the McRib I would need taste test them side by side. So, I went to McDonalds and paid the $3 for a McRib (all in the name of science of course).

First Impressions: While driving home from McDonalds I couldn’t help but notice that the McRib was making my car smell a little weird. I admit that I’ve had McDonalds off and on, typically on road trips because I’m hungry and they have a clean bathroom, but this was the first time that I noticed a sort of strange chemically smell. Definitely not the smell a BBQ sandwich should make.  Point 1 NickRib.

Presentation: I have to give it to McDonalds their presentation looked a bit better than mine, mostly because their patty was flat and mine was sort of hamburger looking. However, theirs definitely needed more sauce and I agree with Nick I need more than 2 pickets for the whole sandwich (although I took the onions off because I don’t like raw onions).  I think I’ll have to give this point to the McRib (although those who actually have some presentation skills will probably have no problem with this part).

Taste: Hands down the NickRib wins here! I now definitely get Nick’s reference to the McRib having a chemical taste. There really is no other way to describe it then it tasted like a science experiment. I didn’t taste pork or really BBQ, it just had that signature ‘McDonalds’ taste that somehow most of their food ends up tasting like. I’m so glad that I compared the two side by side, because this definitely helped me realize how bad their food actually tasted. With that being said I would still make some changes to the recipe (no offence Nick, I just have problems following any recipe and always tweak things to my taste).  Personally, I would add a bit more seasoning to the meat so that it jumps out more against the BBQ sauce.

All in all this was a fun experiment, and one I would definitely suggest doing yourself. It was fun to get other people’s opinion and feel like we were food critics, and I still have two patties that I put in the freeze for a quick lunch/dinner some other day. Also, it was a great reminder of why I don’t like fast food, because when you compare it ‘the real thing’ it just doesn’t come close to tasting as good.