Making Time for Food Prep!

A few things I do to have healthy food ready in the fridge for meals...

I love the ground turkey meat from Costco.  (I'm starting to sound like a Costco employee.)  I cook up a bunch of it, sometimes with a can of crushed tomatoes in there, season with a little Italian Seasoning or Mexican.  My kids pull it out and roll it up in a tortilla or on chips with cheese.  They do not like ground turkey from any other store.  It's fattier and just tastes gristle-y.

This is one of my favorite things to do with the cooked ground turkey....

Slice a zucchini the long way,  hollow it out with a spoon or melon baller.  Chop up the zucchini meat and mix it with some of the turkey.  Add whatever other vegis you've got, salt and pepper the mixture and put it back in the zucchini rinds.  Top with a little Parmesan and bake until the boats are cooked to your taste.

A couple other things I like having on hand in the fridge are butternut squash and beets.  I'm really putting myself out there by admitting that!

I will use this throughout the week in different recipes.

These are yellow beets.  I've never tried them before.  My favorite part of the beets is the greens though.  I saute them with a little coconut oil and salt and pepper, then put a little balsamic vinegar on them.  So SO good.  If you've never cooked beets... this is how I do it.  Boil for about 40 minutes depending on how big they are, pour cool water over them to allow them to cool for a bit.  Then, when you pick them up the outside just peels off in your hands.  These are going in the fridge as well to be chopped up on a salad later this week.

Supplements, Anyone?

I have never been a fan of fake food.  I went to school to become a dietitian and am fascinated by what different foods can do for us or TO us.  I'm a believer that if we just learn right proportions of the right foods, we will be our healthiest.  Having said that, I realize that there are times when we need a little help getting back on a good plan if we fall into some bad habits, like I did the last couple years.  There are times when some supplements or shakes or bars with strange ingredients have their place.

While I have been struggling with having enough energy to exercise like I want to, I've been trying some other things that people have suggested to get more energy or help with my craving unhealthy foods.  Here's my experience with a few and I'd LOVE for you guys that use others to tell us about them!

Garcinia Cambogia is an appetite suppressant.  It actually worked well for me to do that.  But after a couple of weeks I started to have some water retention.  My hands and legs were kind of puffy.  I think this may be more about my vein issues than any dangerous thing about the Garcinia.  I had to stop taking it because of that.  What I do like about this one is that since it isn't a stimulant, like so many other diet supplements are, I could take it before dinner too, which is when I would normally eat too much.  I bought mine at Costco for something like $15.00

This one I'm using right now.  I like it.  It is a stimulant, and yes - is green tea, which is questionable for me within the way I personally view the Word of Wisdom.  (I have friends that drink green tea and they feel like it's an herbal tea.  Totally a personal decision and I don't think there is really a blanket right or wrong as far as I'm concerned.  I don't drink green tea - but here I am with these for a while, at least.)  What is interesting about the stimulant factor of these is that I notice that it doesn't effect me as much as a diet soda would.  For instance, if I drink a diet coke at lunch, I'm a little jittery for the next couple hours.  I'm pretty sensitive to caffeine.  These don't have that effect on me for some reason.  I still only take them with breakfast and lunch and don't take them at dinner just to avoid any chance of it keeping me awake.  The label says this has more caffeine than a diet coke has, so I have no idea why it would feel different.  I do think this is helping with my energy and calorie burn throughout the day.  I'll probably take the rest of the bottle and then hopefully have my exercise habits back on track and won't buy more.  I just got it at Costco for about the same as the Garcinia, I think.

I ordered doTerra from Miss Katie (Hi Katie!) and have been using it for a couple of weeks.  I have a few friends that use all their diet shakes too and love them.  It is an oil that you put in your bottle of water that you drink throughout the day.  It is supposed to suppress your appetite or help you feel full faster.  I 'm not sure for me it really does that.  BUT what it does do for me is force me to drink that water throughout the day, like I should be doing.  It has a really strong taste that is a reminder every time I take a sip that I am on a diet.  So for the most part it is serving a purpose.

Another friend of mine started selling Zen Bodi, which is made by a company called Jeunesse.  She gave me some samples of appetite suppressants, amino acid drinks and a protein powder.  I REALLY liked them so I ordered some more of the amino drink and the protein powder.  I really liked that I could drink something that was just amino acids between meals when I would normally snack.  And the protein is super light.  It doesn't feel like a heavy meal like the other ones I normally use.  I can mix it in water and it doesn't feel sticky and milky.  Maybe I'll post more on them later when I get my order.

I have been tempted to try the Beach Body Shakeology.  I know a few of you use that and I'd love to hear your review.  The only reason I haven't yet is the cost, and it also seems like I have to sign up for a program to try it.  I could be wrong.

Then there's Herbalife.  If anyone knows about that please share.  They seems very similar to Shakeology.

40-something

Hey.  I'm starting today to put some time into something I miss in an attempt to feel better.  My life happened over the past couple of years and I got off track.  I guess that's not true.  What really happened is that I had to focus on other things for a while, and that is really ok.  No mistakes I guess.  Also, I'm 40 freakin 2.  That's got to be a pretty good excuse.

I used to blog about running, which sounds weird, but it did help me stay motivated.  I liked sharing the beautiful views that I saw while I was out, my new favorite trails I discovered and things that helped me when I was injured.  I really don't care if I have readers so much.  It's the process of putting it out there that's helpful for me.  I promise I won't care if you don't follow or have anything to say or if you remove yourself from the group.  But if you want to be a part of the same goal, I would LOVE for you to blog and share the links in the Facebook group for everyone.  That way we can support each other.  Some of you already do this.  I'd just invite you to share the links in the group if you want.

SO...  TODAY, I made it to the gym.  Late, but made it.  I had eaten already because it was already 10:something and when I try to run or do anything up and down, like the elliptical with food in my stomach I get a stomach ache.  I did a little treadmill, a little elliptical and some bike plus some triceps machine  About and hour and a half all together of not a whole lot of effort.  Right now I'm just trying to get there and do something.  I'm still having energy issues that I'm working on.  Ideally I could run at a good pace for a whole hour.  That's where the endorphin rush is for me and what I crave.  I've been trying to go after the kids go to school, which these days I don't have time for.  So starting tomorrow I'm getting up at 5:00 AM before the rush.  I hate getting up in the dark.  It's depressing.  But it's more depressing to not be in shape, so 5:00 AM it is.  Also, Ron's a night owl and doesn't get up early.  He has to try and be quiet while I go to sleep and I have to try and be quiet while he's still asleep in the morning.  We don't like each other very much during those times of day.

I am aware that 75% of weight is dependent on FOOD and about 25% exercise.  Unless I'm going to be running 4 hours a day like I used to, I need to focus a lot more on what I'm eating.  My goal is to have vegis cut up and ready in the fridge to cook and have lean meats ready to eat so I don't reach for something on the pantry shelf when I'm hungry.  I know I crave healthy foods when I exercise and I also have more energy to exercise if I'm eating right.  They depend on each other.  I would LOVE for you guys to share recipes and healthy stuff you eat!

 This is going to be cauliflower mash.  (Not that I have a problem with mashed potatoes with no butter.  I don't do low carb really.  I eat starchy stuff and have never felt like it has effected me negatively.  I have no energy when I don't eat carbs.  What DOES effect me though is fats.  I've gotten in some bad habits with fat.  I know that is what has helped drain my energy and made me gain.)  Using cauliflower is just a way to get more high fiber vegis in your diet.  It is always good to add low calorie bulk.  You steam them till soft, drain the water, add salt and then mash them.  You can add a little Parmesan cheese for flavor but today I left that out.  (See above re: fat.)

My favorite lean protein these days is egg whites.  I buy the big box of these little containers at Costco.  It's cheap, easy to cook fast, you can flavor eggs any way you want, especially egg whites, no fat in them and they go well with anything else on your plate.  I decided not to show a pic of the finished plate before I ate it because the eggs and the cauliflower are the same color and although I put tomatoes and avocados on top, it was not a pretty picture - But believe me that was yummy.

Third thing I'm changing: I'm done with anti anxiety and antidepressant meds.  I know they were something else that made me slip into the bad habits.  I know they don't do that for everyone, so please don't think I'm saying I think they are a bad idea for everyone.  Their effect on me was that I just didn't care about my health anymore.  I was unhappy with the way I looked and felt, but I also was numbed just enough to say to myself, "Meh, whatever." I don't want to be numb anymore.  I'm going to feel it and deal with it, whatever that is.  Marriage stress, money stress, kid stress, school stress, neighborhood stress....  For a while I told myself I couldn't handle it and took some meds to help me not feel it.  I think for me that was a bad idea.  So I'm going to be working on learning how to deal with hard stuff.

So guys.  Join me if you'd like.  I'd love to hear what you are doing, what's working and not working for you!  Love you. (Serious)