Grocery Shrink

First–explore where you live on foot!  We live on a small hobby farm in the middle of nowhere, but I realize that some of you may live in the middle of a city.  Regardless, explore your surroundings.  Take a walk in the woods on your property, walk around your apartment building, or walk to the corner market next time you need a loaf of bread.  Instead of getting the mail when you pull in the driveway, park your car in the normal spot and then walk to the end of your driveway to get the mail.  Walking is free and you will see so much more than you realize when your kids are pointing things out from their vantage point.  Not only are you getting exercise, but you are spending quality time together.

Second–explore your extended area on bike!  Put helmets on the kids, throw the baby in the bike stroller and go for a bike ride to the park or lake or neighbor’s house to deliver a get-well card.  It doesn’t matter where you go, it matters that you are being active, getting fresh air and spending time with your family.

Four–if the weather isn’t allowing you to be outside, turn on some music and dance!  You can create your own choreographed moves, play freeze dance (turn down/pause music and then everyone freezes until music starts again) or simply dance like crazy.  You will all be laughing like crazy in no time and no one will even realize they are exercising in all the fun!

We love peanut butter around here.  But when I’m losing weight, grabbing a thick gooey peanut butter sandwich just isn’t an option.  One 2 T serving of peanut butter has 190 calories; 17 grams of fat, and 8 grams of protein and that doesn’ t count the bread or the jelly.  With these peanut butter spread recipes, I can still get a hint of peanut butter but with nearly half the calories and fat.   There are lots of options for blending peanut butter.  Choose the one that most appeals to your tastes.

Peanut Butter/Cream cheese Spread

1/4 cup Fat free cream cheese

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (all natural is fine)

1 packet stevia sweetener like Purevia® or Truvia®.

Blend all in a food processor or electric mixer with a whip.  Chill. 

2 Tablespoons has 111 calories; 8 grams of fat; 4 grams of carbs; and 6 grams of protein

Peanut Butter/Tofu Spread

Use the recipe above except substitute 1/4 cup or 2 oz of soft silken tofu for the cream cheese. 

2 Tablespoons has 105 calories, 8.8 grams of fat; 3 grams of carbohydate, and 5 grams of protein

Peanut Butter Cottage Cheese Spread

Use the recipe above, but replace the cream cheese with 1/4 cup skim milk cottage cheese, pureed smooth.  This one really needs a food processor.

2 Tablespoons equals 106 calories; 8.3 grams of fat; 4 grams of carbohydrate; and 6 grams of protein.

Omelets are a wonderful breakfast, because they are full of protein.  If we exercise before we eat breakfast, our bodies are forced to use body fat for energy.  But sometimes it’s not physically possible to exercise first.  Then, a protein rich breakfast gives similar results.  With few or no carbohydrates to draw energy from, the body will burn it’s own fat.

Whole eggs are the best choice because the yolks are full of vitamins!  But if you feel the need to go yokeless, 1/4 cup of egg substitute or 4 egg whites works too.  I don’t worry about cholesterol in the yolks because the egg whites are full of lecithin which naturally combats an overload of cholesterol.  It makes me smile how God created everything so balanced!  I know some of you are on a special yokeless diet from your doctor, and you can follow that and still make a yummy omelet. 

When you use 2 large eggs with vegetables (no cheese or meat) like I’ll show you below, this breakfast has only 200 calories! 

1.  Start your omelet by beating 2 eggs (or 1/4 cup egg substitute) in a custard cup (or small bowl) until they are uniform in color and frothy. Set them aside.

2.  Prepare 1/2 cup chopped vegetables from any of the following:  onion, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini, broccoli, spinach, lamb’s quarter or kale.  Place it in a small non-stick skillet (I use cast-iron) sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and saute until crisp-tender.  For a fancy omelet you can move the cooked veggies to another dish during the next step.  Otherwise just pour your eggs right on top of them.

3.  Pour your beaten eggs into a warm skillet and let cook on one side until a  skin has cooked on the bottom.  Gently lift up the cooked egg and tilt the pan so the liquid eggs can run underneath and cook.  Keep lifting and tilting until the surface is fairly solid.  Then sprinkle your vegetables right on top.   

4.  At this point you can flip the whole circle (my favorite way) and let the top side cook for a minute or so until firm, or you can just leave it on the one side and fold in half, so the inside is still soft.  Flip the omelet to a serving dish, enjoy!

Tip:  I use a pan that is the size I want my omelet to be when I’m done.  My omelet pan has an 8 inch diameter.

Adapt it!

Try adding special herb blends to your eggs to change the flavor.  For example, mushrooms and broccoli with lemon pepper is great

Or tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, and peppers with basil and garlic–is a pizza omelet

Or peppers and onions, with chili powder and cumin is a fajita omelet.

The combinations are limitless.  I hope you’ll leave a comment with your favorite combo or one you’d like to try.

Cheese?

I love lots of gooey melty cheese.  But adding it to my omelet uses up calories I’d rather save for later in the day. I’ve been making mine without and it helps me spread my calories out through the day if I skip it in my omelet.  If you are really missing cheese, try 1 teaspoon of grated parmesean with your veggies.  It only adds 5 calories, but tons of flavor.

I’m not a naturally thin person, but I’ve lived with several.  I noticed there is a big difference between the way we think.

A thin person thinks:

1.  I am a small person, and I need very little food to keep me going. (Or I have a small stomach)  I’ve been told these things when I comment that someone didn’t eat much for dinner.  I know, none of my business.

2.  I’m not really hungry right now, I’ll eat later

3.  This is really good, but I’m full now, so I think I’ll stop. (They can even leave half their dessert behind if they’re not hungry!)

4.  I’m too busy to eat right now.

5.  I don’t need food to have a good time.

6.  I ate a lot yesterday and I’m just not as hungry today.

7. I can eat a small portion because I can always have more later.

If you ask a naturally thin person what they think about food, they probably can’t tell you.  The main differnce is a naturally thin person doesn’t think about food a whole lot, while I can’t stop thinking about food. 

A thin person might tell you they eat a lot.  And sometimes they do.  When a thin person eats a lot, it will almost always be in public.  But when a heavy person eats a lot, it will almost always be in private.  After a day of heavy eating a thin person will take the next few days and eat very little–less than they normally do.  It’s natural and they don’t have to think about it.  It’s like the variable calorie consumption I told you about yesterday.  Varying how much we eat day by day keeps the metabolism pumping. 

A naturally thin person may genetically have a faster metabolism than the rest of us, but usually that only allows them an extra 200 calories a day,  about as much as a cup of milk and 2 graham crackers.  I think that the bigger key to their metabolism is the choices they make without thinking about it, make their metabolism run faster.  They fidget; they eat a variable rate of calories; they know their hunger signals and stop eating before they are stuffed.

The great news is anyone can learn to think like a thin person.  Watch one nonchalantly for awhile and see what you can learn.

The older we get, the slower our metabolism tends to get.  But it doesn’t have to be that way!  Our metabolism naturally slows as we age and stop running around like a crazy animal!  You should see how my five children get going in the evenings, chasing each other around the circle in our home and screaming like hyenas.  For some reason when I reached adulthood, I quit acting like that, and I started to gain a little around my middle!

Some signs of a slow metabolism are feeling constantly cold when others are fine and having low energy or fatigue.

There are things we can do at any age to boost our metabolism and keep our dignity at the same time.  Here’s 7.

1.  Build muscle.  Weight lifting is great for you! It takes more calories to maintain muscle than fat and those with more muscle naturally use more calories each day just being.  On top of that weight training also increases your bone density which can ward off osteoperosis.

2.  Drink green tea, eat spicy (hot) foods, and drink ice water.  Consuming these types of things will give your calorie burning a boost.  It’s interesting to note that Green Tea’s metabolism effects don’t rely much on caffeine.  Though there is a small amount of caffeine present in green tea the other plant components have an even stronger affect on metabolism.

3.  Add fiber to your diet.  Fiber takes 10 extra calories per gram just to move through your digestive system. Aim for 28 grams of fiber each day.  Some foods, like celery, are so slow in calories and so high in fiber that it takes more calories to digest it than it has.

4.  Look for ways to add motion to your day.  You don’t have to chase around the circle in your house–but it wouldn’t hurt if you did.  Dance with your kids; park farther away; take the stairs.  If you have a spare 5 minutes, run up and down a staircase as many times as you can.  If you are on the phone, do squats. Standing side leg lifts are great if you are washing dishes.  And you can squeeze your stomach muscles tight while waiting in line.  (A good 10 second squeeze gives you the same benefit as a full sit up!)

5.  Plan your exercise for early in the day.  Your metabolism will stay elevated for several hours after you exercise, but if you do it right before sleep, this long term effect is lost.  Any exercise is better than none, but if you can do it early on you’ll get even more from it.

6.  Do interval exercises.  This can be as simple as sprinting for 1 minute and walking for 1 minute back and forth for your exercise duration.  Or you can do jumping jacks for 1 minute and lift weights for 1 minute.  With interval training you trade off high intensity exercise with low intensity exercise.  This technique allows you to burn more calories in a shorter amount of time and gives your after burn metabolism an even bigger boost.

7.  Check your vitamin levels.  Deficiencies in Vitamin D, Chromium, Iron, and the family of B vitamins will reduce your metabolism.  These types of deficiencies are fairly common.  Most multi-vitmains contain these ingredietns, but if you are concerned about your levels your doctor can order a simple blood test.

Hi friends! I hope you aren’t getting bored with our discussion about types of foods and nutrients. It’s so important to have this foundation of knowledge so you can make the right nutritional decisions for you and your family. By giving you this information for free, I hope to save you from spending money on weight loss pills, programs and gimmicks. This is the last article on nutrition and tomorrow we will talk about ways to boost your metabolism so you will naturally burn more calories. And lots of yummy recipes are on the way too that will fit in perfectly with your fitness plan.

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Fat is essential for life but alcohol shouldn’t enter the body. I lump them together because they are both full of calories. Fat has 9 calories per gram and alcohol has 7 while proteins and carbs each have 4 calories per gram.

Drinking alcohol doesn’t make someone a bad person, but it’s not wise physically or financially. I do buy rum and vodka and keep them on hand for making vanilla extract, cleaning supplies, and for wound cleaning. Wood alcohol (which is sold at the drugstore as isopropyl alcohol) isn’t good for your skin. It is very drying and can kill skin cells. Grain alcohol has the same germ killing properties but is gentler on the skin.

When alcohol enters the body through the digestive system, bad things start to happen. For now, I want to focus on the effects of alcohol on weight loss. When alcohol is consumed the body immediately converts some of it to fat. The rest is converted by the liver into acetate which is sent to the blood stream to be used for fuel ahead of carbohydrates and fat. This process stresses the liver and compromises it’s ability to metabolize fat. Eventually it can cause liver disease or failure. It’s best to leave alcohol for washing wounds and in recipes where it will be evaporated away in the cooking process.

Fat on the other hand, while high in calories, contains essential fat soluble vitamins that can’t be absorbed any other way. It’s important to choose the right kinds of fat for optimal health and vitamin content. Fish oil, hemp oil, flax oil, and evening primrose oil are all good sources of Omega Fatty Acids. Olive oil, Almond oil, natural nut butters, and coconut oil are also healthy fats. I personally also use real butter even though it is more expensive that margarine. I believe the health benefits are worth the additional cost. It takes a relatively small amount of fat to meet your daily needs. 

During weight loss 30 grams of fat or about 2 T of healthy oil is plenty each day.  There are lots of fun ways to reduce fat in baking, salad dressings, and other traditional recipes.  When done correctly, you won’t even be able to tell.  More on that a little later in the month.  Tomorrow we will talk about ways to boost your metabolism!  Fun stuff there.

Mrsnroth asked me after Saturday’s post to write about a typical day for me.  Well, a typical day is definitely not perfect.  I have hypoglycemia and crave sugar constantly.  One taste just makes me want more and it’s better if I stay away all together.  Sometimes I win over the craving and sometimes not.  If I give in to the craving, I feel terrible physically and lose energy within a few minutes, but strangely enough, I still fight the same craving the next time.

Also typically it’s very hard for me to get up and do my exercises.  If I skip them first thing in the morning, it’s not likely I will come back to them during the day.  I’m telling you these things because I’m going to write about a good day.  A day I make the choices I want to make and don’t let my physical and emotional weaknesses sabotage my goals.  But I’m just like you and probably not as good, so don’t feel bad or wish you could do things like I do.  Try to be better :).

6:15 wake up–say prayers/read devotions, weigh, shower–put on exercise clothes. (I know this sounds backwards, but with my hypoglycemia I have to eat before I exercise and I want to weigh before I eat and it’s easier to weigh before I shower.  Plus the shower wakes me up so I can fucntion.)

Breakfast:  I usually eat one of 3 things:  1 cup of bran flakes with 1 cup of skim milk;

or A Veggie Omelet:  1/4 onion sauteed with 4 fresh mushrooms sliced and 1/4 cup frozen or fresh spinach with 2 eggs scrambled in

or A Strawberry smoothie:  1 scoop of vanilla whey protein powder with 1 cup water and 6 frozen strawberries (pureed in the blender.)

6:45–exercise with a 20 minute video using the interval method of exercise.  I have several but like the Mama wants her Body Back series and for pregnancy:  Summer Sander’s Prenatal Video or Tracey Mallet:  Fit For Pregnancy.  I don’t have any fancy equipment, but I do use a yoga mat for floor exercises, a pair of 5lb dumbells, a resistance band, and a stability ball.  I like to mix aerobics with weight training and combine movements within exercises so in the same amount of time I get twice as much done.

7:30 Dressed and wake up kiddoes–Cook their breakfast, then supervise chores and music practice.  I am with the children for breakfast and this is when I clean up the kitchen, but I do not eat with them–since they need more carbs and calories than I do.

9:30-10:00  Snack:  I’ll choose a second breakfast from my typical 3 that I listed above.  I also drink a cup of green tea or Holy thistle tea.  This helps me keep my colon regular and not retain too much water and the Holy Tea is also a liver tonic which helps regulate metabolism.  Green tea is full of antioxidants and a mild stimulant–which helps to keep my blood pressure at normal levels and boost metabolism.  The warm liquid also helps me feel less hungry.  I’ll have a cup or more of each before the day is through.  (I use the same tea bag all day.)

11:30-noon lunch:  I fix the kid’s lunch first–grilled cheese and soup or whole wheat pizzas or quesadillas–something like that.  Then I fix mine after they begin eating which is usually a stir fry of some sort:  1 cup of fresh or frozen veggies and 3 oz of chicken breast, shrimp, salmon, or turkey. I season my stir-fry with various seasoning blends.  Changing the seasoning helps me not get bored:  either southwest–taco type seasonings, Cajun, hickory smoke  blend, lemon peper, or seasoning salt.  I also eat a huge tossed salad with low fat dressing.   My meals are gorgeous!  But the kids aren’t jealous at all.  In fact, they turn their noses up at all my veggies.  I wish they loved vegetables more, but it is easier on the budget not to share my fancy food.  I sneak in their vegetables where I can.  I put spinach in their meatballs and puree lots of vegetables into their spaghetti sauce that I also use on pizza, lasagna, and manicotti.

2:30:  Afternoon snack:  3/4 of a Pure Protein brand bar (I cut the bar’s in fourths and put 3 chunks in a little baggie) and a piece of fruit.  Or a cheesestick and fruit; hummus and raw veggies; apple and peanut butter; 2 graham crackers and skim milk; or 7 almonds with a cut up cheesestick, fresh pea pods, and 1 T craisins–Yum!  Often this snack has to be portable and go in my purse with me for our afternoon music lessons or ballet classes.

5:00 dinner:  I fix a typical dinner for my family and modify it for me.  If theirs is way too heavy on grains, I’ll make myself another stir fry and sit at the table with them.  Or if they are having hamburgers, I’ll have a turkey burger (saves 100 calories.)  I use sandwich thins or pitas instead of traditional buns, which saves another 100 calories–and the whole family prefers them.  If they eat tacos, I have a taco salad without the shell.  I eat pizza with them, but use ground turkeyhome seasoned as Italian sausage, and turkey pepperoni, part skim mozzarella cheese, 100% whole wheat crust, and lots of veggies.  I try to hold myself to one piece, but I always eat 2 :).  On pizza night I skip my evening snack.

I usually have a huge salad available and fresh fruit at this meal too.

7:30 snack:  Usually a dessert snack for the family and a sugar free version for me or light popcorn.  I often have gotten all my protein in for the day by now and it’s just something small to tide me over for the night.  I’ve been known to eat a healthy amount of raw celery and other raw veggies before bed.  The high fiber content boosts my metabolism and flushes water over the night since even though my digestion slows while I’m sleeping; it has to work harder than usual to deal with all that fiber.  

I try hard not to eat after 7:30 since my activity really slows down after this and food eaten now is likely to be converted to fat.

In the evening, I usually stay up wayyy too late talking to DH after the house is quiet.  And we enjoy watching mystery or spy shows on the internet together too.  I’ve been trying to go to sleep by 10:00, but often Darren’s company is too hard to resist.  Staying up late sometimes messes up my early morning activities, so we are trying to be better about that.

For many years I ignored the importance of protein in my diet.  I naturally prefer to eat grains and plant based foods and can happily walk away from the high proteins at a meal.  After years of constant pregnancy and nursing my body hit the wall.   I was surviving at minimal health until a car accident sent my body into trauma.  There just wasn’t enough protein available to heal and I spiraled into a critical health dive.  As my body harvested my own muscle to repair the damage to my body, I lost muscle mass.  I gained over a pound of fat a week as my brain sent the starvation signal to my metabolism which held onto every calorie I consumed as fat. 

My response to the weight gain was to eliminate meat, eggs, and cheese and to favor raw veggies.  My health took a second dive.  I was at the point where I couldn’t stand for more than a few minutes without fainting.  I spent much of my time flat on the couch trying to manage my household from a sick bed.  Finally my doctor recommended a full blood panel which showed I was severely deficient in protein, fat, cholesterol, sodium, iron, b vitamins….and more!  I was constantly choosing healthy whole grains and veggies, so I was flabbergasted for malnutrition to be the root of my health problems.

The doctor put me on a weekly visit program where they provided my food each day in dry prepackaged form that I reconstituted at home.  It was formulated to have the appropriate amount of proteins and nutrients to put me back on the road to health.  I turned up my nose at his fake food but decided to give it a try since my way wasn’t working.  After a few days, I stopped fainting.  Then my energy came back and I started to lose fat and gain muscle.  I was convinced.  After I completed my program with the Doctor, I took the nutrient profile from his powdered food and applied it to healthy real foods. 

Shrimp Spinach Stir-Fry: High Protein, High Nutrition, Low Calorie

My new eating cycle included 6 small meals a day with 15 grams of protein at each meal, a very small amount of fat, a small amount of whole grain, and ample veggies.  I also ate 2 whole pieces of fruit a day and salted everything to taste.  (More on salt another day.) 

So why was ample protein the key?  Our bodies cannot create protein.  It must come from the food we eat or be harvested from our own bodies.  Protein is essential for muscle repair and formation; it also makes up many enzymes, hormones, and immune system components.   Our bodies are 45% protein and it is required for proper blood and heart function!  If we take in too little protein, our body won’t function properly.  If we take in too much, we can use it for an energy source (or store it as fat.) 

Can I Eat Too Much Protein?

There are some studies that show that taking in too much protein can contribute to cancer or osteoporosis.  Both of these conditions are linked to the fact that the digestion of protein creates an acidic environment in the body.  Too much acidity can create a favorable environment for the development of cancer, but the body will naturally correct this imbalance by using calcium to neutralize the acid.  If there isn’t enough calcium in the diet for this, then the body will take it from the bones.  Over time this may lead to osteoporsis.  The levels of protein that create this environment in the body are disputed among researchers.  Having an ample supply of calcium in the diet is a great idea, and calcium abounds in green leafy vegetables such as broccoli and kale in addition to the better known dairy products.

It is interesting to note that the protein/cancer link research is documented in The China Study.  In this study the protein studied was milk casein which was shown to cause cancer in rats when eaten in large quantities in  isolated form.  Later studies showed that milk whey protein can protect from cancer.  I thought this was interesting because God created the proteins to be eaten together in balanced form where the whey will balance the casein and protect the body from cancer.  The China Study takes the casein study to imply that all animal protein causes cancer, when other research shows this is not the case. For more information read here and here.

I believe that eating 5-6 meals of 15 grams of protein each or (75-90 grams of protein) a day to be a safe amount.

(Disclaimer: I am writing this off the top of my head based on books and articles I have read previously, and have no sources to offer you. It’s a great idea to do your own reserach on these matters.)

P.S.  After getting on an adequate protein and hydration level, I didn’t need my glasses anymore!  We had previously thought that my decline in vision was age related, but now know it was caused nutritionally.

Measuring my food has been the change in my fitness routine that has made the biggest difference.  Before measuring I was completely off on my portion sizes and when I stopped measuring for awhile, my portions slowly got larger and larger.  Without measuring, my food journal is a guess at best and can’t accurately show my nutrition or calorie intake.

Simple kitchen measuring cups and spoons will work, but if you are really serious about weight loss, you need a digital scale.  You can get one from ebay for only $7-$10 shipped.  I use mine for postage also, so I purchased a scale that would go up to 5 lbs.  For food alone, a 2 lb scale is fine.  Make sure your scale measures in both ounces and grams, is accurate to .1 and has a tare button.  It can be really small, I’ll show you why in a bit.

When using measuring cups and spoons, make sure they are leveled off and the food is not packed down.  It’s easy to hide extra calories in a measuring cup by smooshing or piling the food on.  I’ve done it lots of times, but when my weight plateaus there’s nothing to blame but myself.  Measuring cups are better than not measuring at all, and I still use them from time to time.  If you don’t have a digital scale yet, use them until you can get one. 

A small scale is not a problem.  You can make the platform bigger if you put your empty plate, bowl, or skillet on the scale and hit the “tare” button.  The scale should read “0” again.  Then slowly add one ingredient at a time, checking weight with each addition.  Hit tare after each ingredient addition and the scale will go back to zero allowing you to measure each ingredient separately.

What About PrePackaged Foods?

Convenient and easy to figure nutrition facts, prepackaged foods can seem a dieter’s friend.  But I recently learned from reading CalorieKing that the weight on the package is a minimum only.  Often the packages hold more food than they say they do which means they have more calories too.  It’s a good idea to meausure your snacks without the wrapper on your digital scale and adjust the serving size if necessary.

It’s even better to prepare your own food at home and package it up for convenience.  You get better ingredients, nutrition, and complete control over the serving size.