by kelsey | Nov 17, 2016 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Holidays, Weight Management
As Thanksgiving approaches, you may be thinking about your grocery list and all the goodies you will be making. County Fair Foods has a great recipe that is healthy and tasty! The recipe has some great substitutions for lightening the sugar, fat, and calories. Give it a try and enjoy!
Healthy Pumpkin Pie 15 oz can pumpkin
8 oz skim or low fat soy milk
3 egg whites
2/3 reduced fat graham cracker crust (take off the sides of the crust and discard)
¾ c Splenda
Pumpkin pie spice
2 egg whites for the crust
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix pumpkin, milk, and egg whites until smooth. Gradually stir in Splenda ¼ c at a time. Add the pumpkin pie spice, taste and add more if needed. Pour into crust and spread evenly. Bake for 15 min then reduce the temp to 350 degrees and bake for another 45 min. Let cool and serve your favorite way. To make the crust less soggy beat the egg whites and brush over the crust and bake for about 5 min. at 350 degrees.
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Nov 16, 2016 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Eating Out, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
The American Dietetic Association has a great public feature to their site that offers great nutrition tips. I thought I’d share these with you as you work to trim your waistline. These tips don’t require huge changes, however will give you great results!
- Downsize Your Dishes. Use smaller plates and bowls to help you eat less. We tend to fill up the dish we’re using and then eat it all. Our brains also think we are getting more when the same amount of food is placed in a smaller dish.
- Savor Your Meals. Eating slowly helps you consume only what your body needs to feel satisfied. Eating too quickly, in less than 20 to 30 minutes, leads to overeating and feeling uncomfortably full afterwards.
- Leave Some Food on Your Plate. This is especially important if you grew up in the “clean plate club.” By leaving even a few bites, you can focus more on your internal signals of satisfaction and less on eating food just because it is there.
- Don’t Eat Out of a Bag or Box. When you eat out of a package, you are likely to keep eating until it’s all gone – no matter how many servings the package actually contains. Pour one serving into a small bowl.
- Choose Your Glass Wisely. Here’s another place where our eyes play tricks on us. When glasses are short and wide, we tend to fill them with more fluid and to drink more. Use a slender glass for any beverage except water.
- Rethink Your Drinks. High-calorie beverages like soft drinks, juice drinks, energy drinks, specialty coffees and alcohol add calories just like solid foods. Whenever possible, replace these drinks with plenty of water.
http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6849
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Nov 15, 2016 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Weight Management
The Holidays are almost here! Many of you are working very hard to get ready for your family and friend holiday functions….which usually involves alot of baking and cooking! The following are a few ways to lighten your recipes so you can still enjoy…just without all of the extra calories, fat, and sugar.
Butter, shortening, margarine, or solid fat: Use 1/4 less liquid oil or solid fat called for in the recipe–so if the recipe calls for 1 cup, you could use 3/4 c. If the recipe uses shortening, use 3 Tbsp oil. Use equal amounts of oil for melted shortening, margarine, or butter. You can also replace 1 c of fat with 1/2 c. prune puree or 1 c of fat with 1 c unsweetened applesauce. Oil in place of a solid fat is also a healthier substitution. If you use any of these, you will want to monitor your baking time as it may need to be reduced by 25%.
Whole milk, half and half, or evaporated milk: Use skim milk, 1% milk, evaporated skim milk, fat free half and half, or plain soy milk with calcium
Cream Cheese: use nonfat or reduced fat.
Sour cream or mayo: use nonfat or reduced fat…or use nonfat Greek yogurt and get a little extra protein and calcium.
Cream or whipping cream: use evaporated skim milk or non fat whipped topping or cream.
Eggs: use 2 whites in place of 1 egg or 1/4 egg substitute.
Sugar: Reduce sugar by 1/4 to 1/3- if recipe calls for 1 c, use 2/3 c. You can also use sugar substitutes such as Splenda and use the equivalent chart on the back of the bag. Baking time may be shorter, so be sure to watch it closely!
If you choose not to lighten your recipes, practicing portion control is another great tool to use. Allow yourself to enjoy your favorite holiday treats, but in moderation and be sure to get your exercise in!
-Kelsey
by Dan | Nov 13, 2016 | Exercise, Goals, Motivation, Wellness/Health
The ancient greeks defined happiness as: “Happiness is the joy that you feel when we’re striving after our potential”. In regards to happiness, Eleanor Roosevelt stated: “Someone once asked me what I regarded as the three most important requirements for happiness. My answer was: A feeling that you have been honest with yourself and those around you; a feeling that you have done the best you could do both in your personal life and in your work; and the ability to love others.” Good words to go by! Being active is crucial in staying happy. If you are happy you don’t sit at home and do nothing. Happy people are out doing things they are passionate about, and doing things that are meaningful to them. Their activity is empowered by purpose. Success is happiness, and as I stated on the previous post, the message on the back on my shirt I wear in the marathons states: Success: A journey, not a destination. The journey is life…life with all it ups and downs, good times and bad times…but it is your journey. Your journey to make without having to have someone else’s approval.
Success is happiness!
Happy people also have their times when they feel sad, or upset, or their dreams don’t always comes true. It is what they do under those circumstances that define who they are, and what they are made of. They are working continuously on how to become better…not better than somebody else, but better than they were previously. Happiness also means having fun. We need to do things that make us happy. This could be something different for all of you. When we exercise, and watch what we eat, we overall physically feel better, and everything that comes each day, both good and bad, we are able to handle better. Don’t be afraid to express your happiness. If might just rub off on somebody else, and actually make them smile, or even perhaps…make their day! Our run group is a great example of showing happiness. We all love to run. When we can’t run, things in life do go as smooth. We are crabby, more easily frustrated, quicker to anger…we are not happy! So when we can run, we are eager to show this off as well.
Some day we may physically not be able to run…today is not that day. We will come up with something else, I am sure, to replace this. Some other type of activity/exercise. Sitting around is not all it is cracked up to be. Life is much more fun and adventurous when you are on the move! The times we spend after a run are also very good. There are a time to relax, and enjoy life…enjoy and celebrate our ability to run!
Life is about choices…having choices, and making choices. You can choose happiness, or not. The decision is up to you. But, choosing happiness will definitely make you better. It will make you a better you!
For me, staying active, and especially running, is my passion. I feel better! I function better! I do better! It is helping me to become a better version of me! It is a runderful life!
Choose wisely! Keep moving everybody!
Dr. Dan
Consecutive Exercise Day #: 3334
by kelsey | Nov 10, 2016 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
As the weather starts changing and it gets colder out, we tend to change our pattern of eating to more soups, stews, and casseroles. These selections are a great way to pack a variety of nutrients into one dish. In addition, they can be very cost effective due to the excess garden produce present in our grocery stores and farmer’s market lately. Here are a few nutrition tips to consider when you’re prepping your favorite meal:
- When using store bought broths or soup mixes such as cream of chicken, choose the low-sodium or reduced fat varieties.
- Use herbs and spices to season rather than salt.
- Add more vegetables and lean meat to the recipe to give you more nutrition.
- Thicken with pureed beans, potatoes, or vegetables.
- Sprinkle your soups or stews with low fat cheese for added flavor and nutrients, without too many calories.
- Think about balance: incorporate something from each food group into your meal to provide your body with a top notch quality and nutritious meal.
- Practice portion control: it’s easy to dish up your plate with casserole or fill up a big bowl of stew and not realize how much you’re eating, so measure out your foods and eat mindfully to ensure appropriate portion control.
-Kelsey
