New Store, New Puppy = Eek!

Hey team!  I just wanted to update as to my whereabouts these days!  (I hate posts that explain the lack of posts, but I do understand the concept.) 

The new store opened to great success and crowds.. Yowzers!  It was awesome to see the line of people around the block to get in at the Grand Opening at 7 am.  We answered tons of "health food" questions and hopefully we'll start to establish our store as the place to go for healthy eats in the neighborhood.  Needless to say, I be workin my butt off, nailing some extra hours helping out as much as I can. 

On top of that..we got a puppy!!!!!!  He is adorable and quite the happy little lab-pit bull mix.  And wouldn't you know.. I investigated dog food nutrition and we are feeding him organic kibble.  :)  So between the store's grand opening and the grand puppy arrival, leisure time at the computer is scarce. 

However, I have been nibbling on some new healthy eats, just to test more and more of the awesome items in our section.  (Though many of these trials are processed and probably won't stick around in my daily intakes, I like to have tasted them so I can deliver knowledge-based service when customers ask opinions of me.)  A very quick review of 4 items:

Look Mom, Straight A's!

Healthy nutrition in action!  Yesterday there was a free health screening at work, where a bunch of nurses came in and set up a little circuit to measure height, weight, waist:hip ratio, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol.  I am stoked to report that my results were great, no doubt due to clean nutrition and regular exercise. 

I was especially excited about a cholesterol total level of 154; my brother has high cholesterol and had me convinced that it was a hereditary thing.  (Total cholesterol level should be under 200.)  It may or may not be, but I seem to be kicking its butt regardless.  The waist:hip ratio was also an interesting health measurement.  I ranked a 71, which means I'm in a group of decreased risk for diabetes, heart disease, and certain cancers.  Hooray!

The only two blips I encountered, one of which I was already aware, is that I tend to have lower blood sugar and I have low blood pressure.  The nurse verified that these were likely due to a healthy cardiovascular system and a sodium-controlled diet.  I do get a little dizzy occasionally upon standing, but I've had low blood pressure ever since I lost the first 30 pounds and I'm careful about it.  I wish I had my exact results from a physical from when I was 40 pounds heaveier for comparison.  I think I intentionally blacked out the specifics, but I remember it wasn't pretty.  The nurses were definitely singing a different tune this round!

Weekend Sugar Buzz

Happy 5th of July to all my fellow USA'ers.  What a busy weekend of celebrating!  Hope you all enjoyed some sunshine and were successful in monitoring holiday food indulgences.  I admit that I wasn't as neat and tidy in my intake as I would have liked, and that is why I'm currently sitting here typing away, sweaty as a pig from my ouchie badass combo lift-and-sprint workout this morning.  I'm quite proud of Ed and I for getting our butts out of bed so early to get good workouts in before the 'dangerous heat wave' arrives.  Feels like it's already here to me!  I will confine myself to the air conditioning as much as possible for the rest of the day, water bottle in hand. 

I was surprised this weekend by how many sweet foods I was surrounded with at each party.  Each barbecue/meal/ whatever had a display of muffins or cupcakes or pie or brownies or cookies etc. etc. etcetera.  Attack of the SUGARS!  Added sugar is probably my biggest dietary no-no, considering I am an apple-shape type of girl, and excess sugar always finds its way right to my belly.  So what's a girl with a sweet tooth to do?

Good Eats at the Relay for Life

Hello friends.. just finished up my bee pollen-laced oatmeal breakfast and am ready to get my busy day going.  This weekend should be fun and very active - I'm a Team Captain (should I capitalize that?  ... I'm going to.. it makes me feel special.) in the Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society.  I'll be coordinating my small but mighty team in this 24-hour walk to raise some money (and have some fun while we're at it.)  My team includes myself, my brother, my Mom (who's flying in from Ohio to offer up some laps and help us out), and my friend Nancy from an ex-jobsite of mine from days gone by.  At this point, with the Relay starting tomorrow, I have an afternoon crammed with last-minute preparations and organization.

Apart from the fact that the weather report for the entirety of the 24 hours is 90 degrees F and 40% chance thunderstorms (eek.) my first priority was... FOOD!  Of course.  Though we'll be walking our butts off (at least one representative from the team needs to be walking the track at all times) and burning some extra calories, I didn't want us to use that as an excuse to go overboard and be cramming a bunch of junk into our systems all weekend.  So here's the general food list we have going..

Buzz Off!

BUZZ Buzzzz Buzzz buzzz... anyone else notice how it sounds like giant bees are in attendance at every World Cup game??  My house has recently been inundated in the bee-buzz-like bullhorns of international soccer as Ed has suddenly become obsessed with seeing every game in the series.  I like them too so I have no complaints - and I swear this wasn't meant to be a lame segue into today's post, merely a vignette into my nice day at home with Ed, but it inevitably is a nice introduction to my nutrition topic du jour, so I'm just gonna roll with it. 

Bee pollen!  ..What the hell?..  That's what I said anyway, when the fourth customer in two days had bee pollen questions for me in my store.  By Shopper #4 I knew where our bee pollen supplement selection was located, but not a whole hell of a lot about it and why Shoppers #1-4 were willing to spend $8 on it.  Then I kept coming across it as a supplement listed in many a meal plan on TheKitchenTable.  Interest officially piqued, I needed to see what was up.  So the other night, blissfully free of chemistry homework and gymtime over with, I attacked the internet for info on this hippie-hype-sounding "nutrient." 

As it turns out, I spent eight of my very own dollars on a jar of pollen granules one week ago, and have officially begun my 'Pollen Potential Testing Period'..

Eureka! Clean Eaters Community Discovered

Hello friends!  Wowzers Magee I have been a busy woman these past few weeks.  Sincere apologies for a boring blog!  But I've wrapped up my first leg of training for the new job in BumFrickNowheresville and now I'll be training at a store much much closer to home until my store opens in July.. hooray for the end of 1-hour-and-30-minute commutes at 5 am!  Along the way, I've been learning tons of new tidbits every day about organic and natural foods and about different lifestyles people live when it comes to food.

For example, we just had a big ol' seminar about the Raw revolution.. hmm.  I don't know about that one folks.  Though it is interesting that a fairly wide-known raw cafe is literally down the street from my apartment.  Ed and I scoped it out today on our way back from our daily pilgrimage to Starbucks - unfortunately, and cliche-ily, it was a small, smelly fragrant, pricy smoothie bar.. in kind of a rundown-type area.  Bummer!  I was willing to give it a whirl, just for the randomness of it, but I can make a $12 smoothie of carrot juice and dates at home for a bout 35 cents.  Sorry, pal.

Like this raw business, I keep coming across new topics that I'd love to have a write-up about.  For some reason I keep procrastinating my post on the weirdly interesting topic of chia seeds.. I will get to it!  But for now, it's time to move on because clearly, I'm not ch-ch-ch chia'ing it just yet.  Now, I am still a busy bee this evening, taking a break from studying up for a chemistry final.. (My life is that glamorous. Be jealous.) But I found another great motivational and info-packed website to keep the fire of my clean eating burning and I want to share..

Training and Tea Trials

Training for my new job + grad classes starting up again for the summer session has resulted in my neglectfulness of my virtual soapbox here. Apox upon me! Even now I only have a few minutes in my University library before class to log a quickie post about my new foodie-type fascination - bulk loose tea.

Working in the natural foods section of my awesome grocer/employer, I am responsible for the maintenance of the impressive section of bulk tea bins. Recently, I had to weigh each tin's contents for inventory purposes, and then re-order each, if necessary.  This required me to open each tin for the first time.  I did so, and with each bin of tea there came a wave of unique and delicious aromas, over and over.. Chocolate chai (with big hunks of real chocolate!), Blueberry Rooibos (chock full o' dried blueberries), Peach White tea (with dried peach slices), Mandarin Sencha, etc etc.. Wow.  I made a mission to try a new loose tea each day to educate my tastebuds and my brain so I can provide "knowledge-base service" to my customers.  Not only did I get out of bed a little quicker this week (especially on "chocolate chai day" - wow, by the way..) but I found a whole new world of low-cal treats!

Caution: "Miracle Foods" Ahead

It's my first opportunity to bring some good nuggets o' knowledge from my new natural foods workplace to the pages of my blog.. hooray!  Working with the public is very educational.  Topic of the day?  So-called miracle fruits and/or foods.  Yesterday, on a few separate occasions, customers came by asking for items that they couldn't even pronounce.. magazine article in hand - literally pointing to the name of an item and wanting it.. not knowing if it was a juice, or a snackfood, or a supplement.. they just want it!  Now!

I'm always wary of food fads.  On behalf of your dignity, emotions, and your wallet, I beg you to also be wary.  These are some cautionary signs that signal to me to get out my skepticism boots and ask: 'is this food sounding more like a "miracle fruit/food" whose healthful qualities may in fact be all, or at least over-dramatized, hype?'  Here are my red flags:

Have Job, Need Food

Woooooooo doggie.  Today was my very first day at the new job - I am BEAT!  But relieved/excited/proud.  Wow.. I was in training for my department, the natural foods section, all day today and I literally only sat down once for ten minutes in 8 hours.. not used to that, Muscle & Fitness training and all!  New-job-training is always tiring - learning new methods and terminology and inevitably having "I'm new and therefore I am stupid" moments.  But, happily, everyone - even higher-up-type dudes - were very very friendly and the day went quickly. 

The highlights of my day?  Explaining organic foods to customers!  I got asked 4 separate times about quinoa - where is it, and more importantly, what the hell is it and why is every fitness magazine telling me to buy it?  (Shall I write a post about quinoa?  Surely there must be a detailed account of the fab grain on the internets of knowledge somewhere.. ahh yes... here's one.)  These types of questions are, as you know by now, right up my alley, and I was happy as a pig in you-know-what to be able to help and share my obsession passion.

Least favorite part of my day?  Being hungry!  Oof.. One 30-minute lunch break (20 minutes of which was taken up standing in line for a salad) and one ten-minute break that I didn't know I would get and thus was caught unawares and foodless.  My attention span waxed and waned throughout the day due to hunger pangs - and that's not good!  If I'm waking up at 5 am and don't have a break until 10, I need to figure something out pronto.

First thing I did when I got home? (after I banged out my Muscle & Fitness Transformation Challenge workout of course - goals, people!)  Meal prep.  Here's my plan..

Pesto-Turkey Meatballs

Hooray for balls!  Hehe.. Couldn't help myself.  My friend Colleen and her hubby hosted an awesome BBQ party recently, and I brought my favorite homemade turkey meatballs with basil for an hors d'oeurve.  I was very complimented by her rave reviews (and she makes an amazing healthed-up buffalo chicken salad! I think I will snag her recipe and post it here soon if she'll let me.) and she just asked for my recipe.  I was happy to oblige and emailed my recipe right over, and thought I'd post it here for you fine people as well!  These yummy meatballs are low in calories and high in protein and flavor, and very versatile.  You could serve them alone with toothpicks and a dipping sauce, mix them in with marinara sauce, in a mushroom sauce atop some high-fiber noodles, in hoagies, or tossed into an escarole soup.  I'm literally getting hungry as I'm typing this.. I better get on with it so I can get dinner cooking!

Grocery Trip Tips

Ahhh vacation.. well, stay-cation.  I tweaked my schedule so that I can enjoy a few mellow days at home between quitting work for my brother and starting training for my new job.  I'm eating like a champ, exercising my way through M&F Hers workouts, and finally getting around to procrastinated laundry and assorted to-do's.  But first things first, and with me, that means food!

I just got home from a nice little grocery outing at Trader Joe's.  Last week I spent only $40 on my clean eats and today I was right around the $45 mark.  Not too shabby!  Especially considering the nutrient quality of the foods I chose, and the price comparison with my 'regular' grocery shopping, which usually totals about $70 per week for me (Perhaps I should make a permanent change).  Though I'm only shopping for myself, I uncovered 2 blog-worthy tips for healthy grocery shopping that I think are pretty universal.

The Physical Challenge, just like Double Dare

One year ago at this very moment, my sister-in-law and I were running at the beach in New Jersy for our first half-marathon together.  Racing crowds are so energetic and positive.  As I finished the race, I damn near burst into tears.  Definitely a triumphant day!  Reminiscing got me thinking about what I'm working toward now when it comes to healthy eating and exercise.  I currently work with educating people about natural foods, and I'm working toward my Registered Dietician's exam, ultimately landing me in a position to help a lot of people modify their eating habits.  Awesome. 

But how about exercise-and training-wise?  Yes, I'm always striving for more comfort in that adorable bikini in my drawer - and that is getting to be a stronger motivation every day we inch closer to summer weather.  But wow did that half-marathon feel good.  Crossing that finish line let me leave a lot of crappy self-esteem issues in my dust.  My sister-in-law has since finished a full marathon and another half.  Ed and Dr. Ben are in training for the Half-Ironman in August.  (I'm surrounded by impressive people!)  If you haven't tried a race yet, sign up for one.  You won't regret it.  I considered another race myself, and I'm pondering running the Philly Half in September.  While I consider running-based training again, I've found a challenge that really excites me.  The Transformation Challenge, endorsed by my favorite IFBB competitor Nicole Wilkins Lee.

Notes on my Clean Menu du jour

I hope everyone's finishing up a good weekend!  A reader asked me about the kinds of meals I'm eating through this clean adventure o' mine - good question!  Your wish is my command.  But firstly, this whole plan wouldn't work as well if I didn't have such a clear, simple food log.  There's a super easy way to track your macros - I champion (yet again) using Livestrong's My Plate. It doesn't get easier than that, and it's how I custom-tailor and track my daily intake.  OK, off my soapbox and onto my meals.

Ideally, I would sit down and plan entire days so each meal/snack worked with each other meal/snack to comprise my 'perfect' macronutrient day.  When I say perfect, I mean around 45% protein, 35% carbs, and about 20% fat, roughly.  This is different for everyone. You have to see what works for you and what doesn't.  Over the past 3 years I've gained a lot of knowledge and been through the gamut of combinations.  I know from experience that these percentages will get me what I want in terms of energy and fat loss.  Maybe they would work for you as well, and I'm happy to share my insights on the matter.

Day 4 of the Quest for Clean

I'm approximately 30ish% of the way through my ten-day clean eating plan, (today is morning of Day 4) and I thought a subjective and objective update on how it's going would be appropriate, from my kitchen to your computer screen.  Some ups, some sorta-but-not-really downs.. it's all part of the learning process.  Arguably more important, firstly, I bring you my subjective evaluation:  Days 1 through 3 of my Clean Eating Adventure felt good.

Ten Days as a Lean Mean Clean Queen

Ed left this early morning for a business trip to San Francisco for ten days.  (Sad.)  He's actually going to be about 30 minutes away from most of my Mom's side of the family - wish I could have tagged along!  With finishing up this semester of school and starting training for my new job, the timing was just not gonna cut it.  Bummer!  However, I've decided to make good use of this mandatory Me-time: Strict clean eating for ten days.  (If you don't know clean eating and Tosca Reno yet, you should.)  We had a pretty indulgent weekend with friends and I am feeling sluggier than usual this Monday morning, so I've decided to scour all of my past issues of Oxygen magazine and whip up a week of planned-in-advance healthy meals, tailored to my ideal calorie level and macro breakdown.

This means I got to indulge myself in some healthy grocery shopping!  Does anyone else look forward to shopping for food?  (I have grocery issues - eh, just lump that together with my scone and coffee issues.)  We've been on a tight-ish budget recently, which meant we've whittled down our pantry, fridge, and freezer foods to a respectable emptiness, so I didn't feel too bad for stocking up.  It was refreshing to replenish my clean eating staple foods.  Today's grocer choice was Trader Joe's - and I got some great deals!  Impressive.  Seeing my fridge fully stocked, I already feel more motivated to work toward my goals.

Friday Night "Cheat": Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

Yum.  Ed and I have been eating superbly healthy as of late, and as the weekend approaches, so do our cravings for some "treat" food.  We really didn't want to order out last night, essentially spending extra money by phoning in an order for salty, greasy dishes and subsequent bloaty tummies.  No, thanks.  So, I got my butt in the kitchen and test-ran a new recipe! 

Not in the mood for pizza, we navigated to the second-most-ordered junkie-type food: burgers.  I wanted to keep it interesting, because it's fairly easy to health up a burger (lean meat, pack the patties with chopped veggies, light cheese, etc)  So.. how about we remove the bun, and replace it with a different grain.. like.. whole grain pasta?  Something along the lines of Hambuger Helper, but very much not.  And man, that Bacon & Blue burger from Wendy's sounds good, but the nutrition label stops me in my tracks.  Hmm.. bacon.. Bacon!  Normally, this nitrate-ridden, salt-packed meat is a no-no, but in measured tablespoon portions, bits of real bacon pack enough flavor to really make a nice difference in a dish.  And in a cheat meal, cheese is a must for us.  Looking to combine these ideas, I found a bunch of recipes for healthed-up hamburger helper-type foods.  So, I melded a tidbit from each recipe and created tonight's dish:  Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta. 

Popovers - Who Knew?

I certainly didn't!  Last night in my Food Lab (yes, I have 'food lab' as part of my graduate education.. life is good.) after a informational lecture, we broke up into groups to cook, as usual.  But, not like usual, we were baking instead of cooking.  In cooking, you can get away with a dash of this or that, but with baking, it comes down to a chemical science of acids and bases, gluten formation and gelatinization, etc.  We were practicing recipe standardization, which is basically what chefs/cooks/other various people who cook do to get the best version of the recipe they can.  They might write one up, try it, and decide to make a change in the ingredient list or in a step in the preparation.  Then they make that recipe, and tweak that.  Then they try that one, and so on and so forth until they have, according to them, the best version possible. 

So, each group in my class had a different quick bread to design and bake, and then we had to analyze nutrition data for our product.  (Quick breads are just that - baked goods that are prepared and ready in a short amount of time, and aren't leavened with yeast.)  My group made Mocha scones with espresso and dark chocolate. ... hmm.  Wow. I only just realized, as I'm typing this, what a loser I am for choosing scones for my project.. unintentionally mentioned here!  I swear I didn't choose to make scones just so I could 'blog' about it!  Lame.

My point is, another group made rosemary-scented popovers.  Have you had popovers?  WOW!  They are delightful.  And potentially a new healthy treat.

What's cookin' with Vegan Kids?

Recently, a vegan friend of mine and I were chatting about how she wanted to have kids soon, and plans to raise them in her own vegan lifestyle.  She knows I'm a nutrition junkie and was asking me all kinds of questions about what would be different for vegan kids versus vegan adults.  I happily delved into this topic as my newest project, and I even ended up writing a term paper on the subject.  I'll do my best to contain my rambling self, but some tidbits are definitely interesting enough to report!

Veganism, which is completely plant-based diet, can be an awesome nutritional plan that helps lower the risk of chronic diseases that have origins in childhood, like obesity and high cholesterol.  Establishing healthy eating habits from the get-go is a great idea for your kids.  Vegan kids tend to eat above and beyond the dietary recommendations for fruits and veggies, and due to this awesomeness, they usually get plenty of vitamins and minerals, are within healthy weight ranges, and have strong immune systems.  However, they might be at risk for some necessary nutrients that must be addressed to ensure normal growth and development.  What I like is that some of the technigues and tidbits I gleaned from my research can be totally applicable to myself as an omnivores.  I just looove finding ways I can continually improve how I get nutrients outta my food and into my body.

Me + New Food-Related Job = Good

Just a quickie post to announce that I officially got a new job!  A job all about organic food!  My current job is decent, but not in the food field and thus not a longterm gig.  This is exciting stuff.. it will be (hopefully) the last job I have before I begin my career as a registered dietician.  As I finish up school and my mandatory internship, I'll be working in the Natural Foods section of the an awesome grocery store in my area.  There's a blurb in my New Employee manual that disencourages posting the name of the store all over here (even though I would rave with joy each time!) I'll be in the organic and natural foods section inside the store, so I'll be spending some -hopefully most- of my time educating customers about my favorite healthy food finds.. which is what I love to do!  And I will happily receive a paycheck for this.. which is also something I love to do!  As I uncover even more behind-the-scenes info on current and upcoming healthy foods, I will of course share my finds with you lovely people.  I'll keep you posted.

Isn't that Sweet?

Dessert.. hmm.. what to do, what to do when it's time for dessert?  Sometimes you just have a sweet tooth, simple as that.  But how can we endulge and not flood our systems with sugar at the end of a perfecty decent, balanced day?  Yes yes, fruit is lovely.  But it's also a little a moderate sugar source, and sometimes you just don't. want. fruit.  You wanna be bad.  Not bad-bad, but.. just.. not good.  I believe in a controlled splurge to maintain sanity.  I do not, however, believe in a daily splurge and we therefore need some sane dessert options beyond 'fresh fruit.'  Typically, if it's not a special occasion, and I need a treat at home post-dinner, I more or less choose from 5 different options, and they keep me pretty happy.

Eat Your Kale! Part Two

Ta da!  I bring you the follow-up to my Ode to Veggie Buying post, Veggie recipes! Coming atcha.  These are some of my favorite ways to sneak veggies into my days, so I'm not just using steamfresh bags over and over and over, boring myself (and my tastebuds) to tears.  Some of them are pretty darn simple, but worth mentioning.  So, without further adieu, here be my top 8 Veggie-getter-inners.  Enjoy!

Eat Your Kale! Part One

Ok, it is officially time for us all to be getting in the 2-and-a-half cups of vegetables each day recommended by the Dietary Guidlelines.  C'mon people!  These many-hued, many-textured gems are what should make up a sizeable bulk of your nutritional intake for each day, and they will maximize your weight loss potential. 

I don't really want to go on and on about how awesome vegetables are, but they are!  And we Americans aren't eating enough of them, particularly leafy green and orange varieties.  (We are eating pleeenty of starchy veggies like white potatoes and corn - the latter of which is actually a grain.  Sad.)  So, in this post, though I am tempted to go on a tangent about anthocyanins and plant hemicellulose, I will instead divert my energies first toward providing handy veggie-purchasing tips that will save you money and super-fuel your body right.

What I often hear as a big no-veggies excuse is the taste.  I'll take care of that in veggie post number two, with some awesome recipes from my repetoire that I use often.  Another excuse I hear is regarding the price of fresh veggies.  I understand that one, but there are some rules of thumb to aide you, and you're in the right place to learn about that.

Cinnamon to the Sorta-Rescue

Happy Day-After-the-Day-After-Easter!  Today I bring you a sweet treat to consider instead of the traditional belly-busting leftover giant chocolate bunnies that adorn so many tables across the country this week.  Instead of milk chocolate - or, even worse - PEEPS (yikes) - try and spice it up.  Cinnamon is where it's at!

As an apple-shaped type of person, meaning I carry some tummy chub instead of thigh & butt-based chub (though there is a bit there as well), I am constantly on the hunt for legitimate 'belly-fat' fighting foods and exercise tactics.  Subsequently, I've tried many a variety of twisty-turny kickbox pilate'd tae bo crunch and burn.  While I tackle those moves, I search for food-based strategies to help me out.  Recently, cinnamon has piqued my interest.

Opa! It's Time for Greek Yogurt

Branching off of my earlier post on the Great Protein Debate (which is what I will now call it), I wanted to make sure all my readers are crystal clear on what Greek yogurt is.  Greece may not be doing so great these days, but Greek-style yogurt is flourishing just fine.  It comes up in just about any clean eating or weightlifting website or magazine you'll pick up, and for good reason.

Taming (& Still Loving) the Anti-Diet Beast

Just a quickie post from work today for you fine people! 

As an ex-weight loss counselor, and someone who's working on maintaining the healthy lifestyle I love, I am well-acquainted with one of the biggest challenges you might face in your weight loss regime: the significant other.  He/she might say they support you, and they probably really do!  They want you to be happy (well, they better at least!) and healthy, and fit, but when it comes down to dinnertime on a Friday night or brunch on Sunday, they are tempting you with fancy rich dinners laden with fat, sugar, refined carbs, and alcohol.  We want to be with them and still have weekend fun, and not feel too restricted.  What to do??

Flatouts Aregood

Lately I have been very into Flatout wraps.. these things are amazing.  They're slam-packed full of fiber (which I just love in my carb choices as you well know), for under 100 calories (or darn close to it), they are BIG so you can jam them full of fillings, and they taste good.  Great option for lunchtime on the run or at home.  All week I've been packing them full of leftover cooked chicken, or taco meat, or salmon to get a filling lean protein source in midday.  One day, I even cooked an egg sunnyside up and snuck that into a wrap with some spinach, hummus, and sliced kalamta olives.  These wraps are a great way to work on that goal of eating healthier lunches at the office.  ..You are working on that, like we discussed, right?

Your Vitamin Army

When I was a kid and I was sick, my mom would tell me to 'take my soldiers.'  She had this whole elaborate tale of how the medicine the doctor gave me was actually an army of soldiers who went in and fought with the bad guys in my sore throat, and when I got better that meant that they won the battle.  MAN did that work!  I was like, 'Gimme those soldiers!  Get the bad guys out of me!'  Panic-stricken, and not wanting to be any part of why the poor battling soldiers may not win, I always took my medicine.  So, this morning, when Ed said his throat wasn't feeling too great before work, I told him to take his soldiers.  Except I meant more along the lines of fruits and veggies, and their particular branch of the Good-Health Military - antioxidants.

Antioxidants are fab.  They are literally like kamikaze soldiers against whatever 'bad guy' is in your system, attacking it.  In this case, the bad guys are free radicals.  (Of course the body has other bad-guy beater-uppers, like your white blood cells; I'm just talking a-ox's here.) We all know that antioxidants are good and free radicals are bad, but why? 

Beta-Glucan Do It!

The Quaker Oats company teeters on the edge of a monopoly on a certain, greatly prized, long-digesting polysaccharide, Beta Glucan.  And I want you to know about it!  Beta-Glucan often pops up in research on the immune system, as it may be used as a 'biological response modifier' (BRM) - aka, it can be switched on to activate the immune system via various chemical signals and things that immunology scientists explain in their own esoteric dialogue.  For our - well, my purposes, we're not talking about Beta-Glucan as strictly a 'BRM.'  This is for the following reasons:  One, because I don't fully understand it on the chemically-immunology-type-way and thus why should I be so bold as to attempt to explain it; and Two, I want to talk about its use in weight loss and smart nutrition.  Yes, I am blissfully narrow of purpose, on occasion.

Pizza! Ninja Turtles Style.

Ed and I love pizza on Friday nights.  I eat carefully all week, and it's nice to come home to a nice cheesy slice of yumminess on Fridays.  Both Ed and I work on Saturdays, and that has (for better or for worse, but we're trying to be positive here, so I'll say for the better) helped us to not drink too many beers or stay up until all hours eating junk on Fridays. (aka continuing the college lifestyle)  We're only 26, so I guess that's a little weird, but we like to crash on the couch and watch Netflix on Fridays.  We each work long hours and I also have class during the week, so it's our first chance all week to just chill.

Ed's pizza-on-Friday-nights schtick was a thing he and his brother Ray always did on Fridays when they lived together.  When Ed and I moved in together, he wanted to continue the tradition, but I used to sort of dread it - I mean, take-out pizza?  Grease and sodium city!  I have goals, people!  ..but I do just looOOve pizza.  Mmm.  I thought there must be a way to enjoy it without derailing too bad.

After the holidays we went balls to the walls healthy eating.  I'm proud to say that we've stuck with it past the New Year's Resolution phase, and this meant revamping Fridays.. and pizza-fests.  We decided to keep it in the kitchen and adventured into the world of homemade pizza and frozen pizzas.

My Peek into The Great Protein Debate

I'm sitting here delving into my high protein post-workout breakfast, and thought I'd share my latest muse.. Muscle & Fitness Hers Magazine.  I am an Oxygen Magazine fan at the core but I was procrastinating getting to campus last night and I grabbed a copy of M&FHers and a green tea at CVS to kill some time, and now I'm positively stuck on the idea of weightlifting and protein and shakes and when to drink the shakes and, and, Eek!.. It's no wonder people get all fired up over their protein - there are a lot of opinons out there.

If you haven't yet been seduced by my propaganda and free advertising and hopped on over to Livestrong to start tracking your food, or you just aren't feeling that site, M&F Hers has a sort-of similar food tracking system (under the 'Trainer' tab), and theirs comes with a "personalized" training program.  Most of the program components are free, but you of course have the option to fork over some monies to upgrade.  The freebie version is definitely worth giving a shot if you need to focus, organize, or get re-motivated, or if you just honestly don't know what the hell you would do with a dumbbell if you had one.

Triple Dog Dare: Healthier Workday Lunches

Today is my birthday!.. Hooray!  :)  I have some nice little plans laid out for the rest of the day, including a long swim at the gym, some fun shopping, and dinner out with some friends, but I thought I'd kick the day off with a post in here about a topic near and dear to me, and one that seems to foul a lot of people up in their weight loss and clean eating goals: eating healthy on the run.

I am mostly talking about lunchtime at work, under the umbrella of wanting to save money, eat healthy, and not having a whole lot of time to prepare food and eat it during your break.  I totally understand that it would be easier if we could just eat a frozen meal every day for lunch, or grab a Special K bar or the like, but the reality is that there are better choices with less sodium, less refined carbohydrates, more biologically-available protein, more fiber - basically better choices for lunchtime that will keep you full and coherent for the rest of your work day.

I Love Me Some Coconut Extract

MMmm.. coffee.  I've said it before - I've got a problem.  I popped out of bed at 6 am (on my day off) and had to have it!  I'm always experimenting with low-calorie ways to mix it up, so I feel like I'm having one of the fancy drinks I mentioned a few posts back.  Sadly, many of the extras and whips and pumps and whatnots add boatloads of 'empty cals' - messing up what could be a guilt-free and yummy start to my day.  There are so many tempting Coffee Mate and International Delight flavors calling to me from the Dairy section.. are they really worth it?  Can't I find a better (and leaner) option?

What I have been playing around with lately and has served me well:  Extracts!  Hello!  Did I miss someone telling me to just use extracts in my coffee?  Because it seems very obvious that I should have just done that a long time ago.  I especially love coconut coffee - it reminds me of early-morning coffee on the porch at what was our family's cabin at Lake Tahoe.  *sigh*  Even in Philadelphia with crows squaking outside and a mile-long to-do list for today I can find a moment of solace somewhere near the bottom of my coffee mug.

Freebie Download: Wallpaper #1

As we're all winding down from the weekend, (and maybe trying to re-focus after some weekend treats) I thought it might be pertinent to share a wallpaper I made and I use to re-fuel my motivation to kick some booty.  This is actually from my personal desktop, so it's personalized for me with some of my favorite weight loss monsters like BNPB, Bravo TV 'Workout' trainer Jackie Warner (wow her new workout DVD kicks my ass), livestrong, and the ultimate goal - cute 2 piece bathing suits.  Seeing this background from time to time as I'm working on my computer can be enough to inspire me, so maybe it would help you as well, despite my personal touches.

I love messing around with graphics; I used to have a graphics website but it got kind of lame as I went to college and didn't update as much.  But maybe I can refresh my skills and make some desktop backgrounds for you fine people from time to time.  For now, if you'd like to borrow my inspiration, have at it!  It's a brand new week and month - let's eat some healthy stuff in balanced days, track our food, and do this thang. 

Clickie to download.

Step away from the salt shaker

...and snip up some herbs.

70% of Americans salt their food without tasting it first.  In France, (and I'd imagine most upscale restaurants and maybe in some homes for that matter), this is considered a major foodie faux pas - have you ever seen that episode of I Love Lucy where she orders ketchup (which is highly salty) with her escargot and the chef comes storming out, cursing at her in French?  It suggests that the chef did not properly season the food, and you are being so bold as to correct the error or mask the flavor.  Most of us don't mean it as an insult - we are just addicted to the stuff.  It's just a staple of our day-to-day dietary intake, usually without us consciously thinking about it.

Salt is mixed into processed food for many reasons and is the biggest source of sodium in the American diet (around 77% overall).  But we also add it during cooking, baking, and at the table, and salt occurs naturally in a lot of foods.  We are salt-a-holics, and we need to re-think what we're doing to our food, because there are tastier alternatives out there - herbs and spices, and different ways of preparing food - that won't negatively affect our bodies.  In fact, adding herbs and spices instead of salt can mean you're sprinkling in antioxidants and minerals, instead of a substance that raises your blood pressure and cause bloat.  Let's examine, you and I, some sneaky sodium sources, and how to branch out into the herby & spicy world - for the betterment of both your body systems and your taste buds.

My Beloved Better N' Peanut Butter

It's a snow day here in Philadelphia.. again!  I don't work on Thursdays, my classes were canceled, and I can't seem to sleep, so I figured it's a lovely time for my official post on my peanut-butter-y addiction, all-natural Better n' Peanut Butter. 

Such is my love of nut butters that I am sitting here, sipping my Starbucks (of course I had to stop for a Grande - even in a blizzard), having just returned from my 6:45 am trip to the grocery store, through the swirling sky of snowy white, in an attempt to find a nice almond butter to try the Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe from the March issue of Clean Eating magazine.  I'm going to be stuck in my apartment all day, and Ed had to unfortunately trudge his way to the office despite the snow, so I thought I'd try some new baking.  I didn't find the Almond butter I was looking for (the only brand they had was $8.99 - I ain't cheap but I ain't exactly dying for these cookies today), but I did grab another jar of my daily staple - Low-Sodium BNPB, as I (and fellow enthusiasts) call it for the sake of brevity. 

I'd love to get some peanut butter-loving people on the BNPB bandwagon with me, so here's the low-down on this crazy spread.

Do you know Gnu?

I cannot believe I forgot to mention my favorite fiber-filled goodie, and so I must quickly update this blog o' mine so that I can spread the good word on:  Gnu Foods Flavor & Fiber Bars.  This awesome all-natural bar has 12 monster grams of fiber - that is nearly 50% of a woman's daily fiber count.  Their high fiber blend is a blend of their own, packed with: whole rolled oats, whole wheat flour, wheat bran, organic kamut (an ancient grain), psyllium, flax, and millet.  Then on top of that they pack in chicory root inulin, which is what most manufacturers use to add fiber to their granola bars or cereals.  Get in the habit of peeking at ingredient lists, not just nutrition labels.

Gnu bars are super fresh-tasting, with 6 whole grains, sweetened entirely with fruit juice.  My favorite flavor, hands-down, is Orange Cranberry - the aroma of the citrus volatiles (the delightfully-fragrant gases that enter the air when you open the package, or cut an orange peel, for that matter) hit your nose immediately and then the sweet, chewy, crunchy bar is lovely and quite decently-sized for a mere 130 calories.  There are 6 other tasty flavors available.  To my preference, my favorites from best to very good, after Orange Cranberry, are: Banana Walnut, Cinnamon Raisin, Chocolate Brownie, Peanut Butter, Espresso Chip, and Lemon Ginger.  I get my supply at Whole Foods, but on their website you can sign up for a monthly shipment of bars, by enrolling in the Joy of Fiber Club.  (cute.)  Enjoy this new find!  Which I just now see - as I am typing this - is mentioned in this month's issue of Oxygen magazine!  I am psychic.

My Discovery of Wegmans Mini Scones

My boyfriend Ed and I have a great Sunday routine.  Though it's not likely perceived as particularly special to anyone outside of our coupledom, we're happy with it and it serves as a re-charge for the rest of the week.  I wouldn't make public note of it except today it happened to include the makings of the very first Scone Update!  (insert dramatic music here)

Extra-Hot Double Half-Calf Soy Latte No Whip

Couldn't you just smack the customer in front of you when they order their coffee?  Plus, you probably haven't had your coffee yet if you are behind this person in the coffee line, so you're kind of set up for extra aggravation at this kind of multi-syllabic order.  Or maybe you are this person with the complicated drink, and you are just picky.  And that is ok, as long as you would definitely notice the difference between your complex multi-layered beverage and if someone accidentally gave you a regular cup of house blend with no frills.  If you wouldn't notice, what the hell are you doing ordering that contraption?  For shame.

I say this because when in college I was a barista for a semester.  I worked with one of my best friends, Amanda, and this combo did not always end up as the best possible situation for the consumers (Skim milk for the annoying girl I hated from my stat class?  I think not.  Whole milk it is!  ..I cringe as I type and admit this indiscretion.  For the record, I would never do that now.  Nutritional profiles are too important and that is unethical and disrespectful.  What if they had diabetes? I hang my head in shame.  But she was obnoxious.) My point here is that I have the perspective not only as a nutrition geek, but as as both a consumer and a barista, seeing the coffee world from both sides of the counter.  Plus I just gave a presentation on coffee in a nutrition course so I'm all pumped up on the topic right now.

My Adventure with Sardines

Settle in and let me regale you with the story of my first experience (to my recollection) with sardines.  I consider myself a pretty open-minded person when it comes to trying odd foods, particularly when said food is allegedly nutrient dense.  Sometimes, this brings me to some interesting meal options.

Consistently, in my thirst for nutritional knowledge, I kept coming across the topic of sardines.  Sardines this, sardines that, sardines and Omega 3's (the importance and name-origins of which I will likely tackle in an upcoming post), sardines and calcium.. yadda yadda yadda. So, hoping as ever to find the next esoteric 'staple' of my healthy daily plate, I decided to emrace my open-mindedness and give them a whirl.

Finding Fiber 101

I have become quite the fiber-sneaker-inner.  It makes you feel full and helps fight heart disease.  Enough fiber in your system (25g for women daily & 40g for men daily), helps your body to create larger bulks of food, because the fiber we're talking about is indigestible.  These bulks trigger greater peristalsis - movement of the muscles of your digestive tract - to keep it moving through your system and shorten the transit time.  Aka, healthy GI tract and no lingering particles to collect and hang out in there.  Dr. Oz likes to say, "Admire your work" when he talks on the benefits of fiber. I won't get into too much detail on that one, but he certainly does - feel free to Google. Suffice to say, he explains the end result pretty well. Just remember: Add fiber gradually to your daily intake, lest ye get a bloaty, gassy belly, as well as frequent, potentially-uncomfortable trips to the restroom. 

I thought I'd share some ways to squeeze some fiber into your days so you can begin or enhance your quest to have a nice healthy system going.  Many fiber options await you..

Become a Food-Log-a-holic

As I'm melding together ideas for future informative and comprehensive posts for you fine people, I realized that I can't continue without mentioning livestrong.com. If you are serious about getting healthy/losing weight/training for an event/taking responsibility for your health or nutrition-related illness, this site is your first step. As you read health magazines or books, or listen to your buddies, or talk to trainers at the gym, this is what you can tangibly go home and use. Now. We like instant gratification. You can track everything you eat, in the portions that you eat it, and get an unbiased, detailed report of many important factors. I've been tracking my food on livestrong's TheDailyPlate for a good 2 years now, and while I'm kind of a nut about it, it has been immensely helpful. As a matter of fact, I don't know how I would have done with weight loss without this crazy tool.

Man, she really likes scones.

Like it says up yonder, this is the personal blog of a hopefully-soon-to-be-Registered-Dietician. Meaning: I am a Master's student in nutrition education and will be sitting the exam for becoming a registered dietician as soon as possible. I have my Bachelor's degree in Family Psychos.. oops.. I mean Family Psych, but 2 years ago my life took a direction that lead me to.. well, the kitchen. And the grocery store, and the gym, and the internet, and the library.

I have a sick obsession with foods - both healthy and non-healthy. I lost 40 pounds a year and a half ago by simple dietary changes, exercising a lot more, educating myself on dietetics (not diets - those are, in a word, dumb!) I ran my first half-marathon last May in 2:11. Now, people - all of my previous 24 years on the earth until that point I was always the chubby kid clutching a bag of doritos. I still love doritos - damn their triangular neon orange loveliness (and scones too - but I'll get to that) But for the most part I try to practice what I preach and truly do enjoy my day-to-day healthy dietary intake. Preventative medicine people! You are what you eat - hate to break it to you. I used to be a neon triangle, except it wasn't so lovely.