Wednesday Edition: What's for Dinner?

Sorry to give you a kink in your neck trying to view this dinner pyramid, but I gave up on trying to rotate the darn thing. A medley of fresh summer veggies (lovin the raw crudite and hummus versus cooked veggies during these warm days) with hummus, sauteed chicken with my own herbacious medley (rosemary, basil, oregano, and garlic powder), and sweet potato chips made in the microwave with cinnamon and nutmeg. Pretty tasty and colorful dinner, if I do say so myself.

A Week in the Life of Training . . . (per request)

Sunday: 9 miler run outside!!!

Monday: Spin and Stair Mill (AM) and strength circuit a la moi (noon)

Tuesday: Outside Boot Camp Class (thanks Kelly!) and 1-hr walk with Director Doc

Wednesday: Spin and Stair Mill (AM) and strength train on my own (noon)

Thursday: Cardio Circuit Class (my favorite!) and mow lawn :)

Friday: Spin (AM) and swim (afternoon by the pool!)

Saturday: Active Recovery Day ;)

Diet Review

Fad diets claim to help you drop pounds, but do trendy eating plans really work? We took a look at some of the crazy ways people are cutting calories. There's the cabbage soup diet, the baby food diet, there's 'Master Cleanse,' a lot of cleanse and detoxes that you hear about all the time on the radio and television. For a nation that loves to eat, we seem to put some strange effort into eating less and not necessarily eating well. Even a university professor in Kansas lost more than 27 pounds eating Hostess snack cakes. The baby food diet, for example, is 1,000 calories a day and it's developed for babies, not adults. It doesn't have enough calcium, vitamin D, fiber. It doesn't have taste, it doesn't have texture, and it's not something you are going to be able to stick with. You are going to get bored really fast. We are meant to have texture, we are meant to have taste, we are meant to enjoy our food and enjoy the spices and flavors that enhance that experience.

The Twinkie diet is a great example of limiting your calories and portion sizes. No matter what you eat, you will lose weight. But it's a horrible diet in terms of your health, and it's not something you want to stick with. And you're not going to be a very nice person to be around. There was one guy who lost over 60 pounds tweeting what he was eating,. I know that some people have actually gone on to use a scale, where they weigh themselves and their weight goes straight to Twitter like a modern-day food journal. It makes you accountable for what you are eating.

But there is no structure or guidelines for a Facebook diet or the Twitter diet. So really you are going to need some sort of a guideline to follow or a meal plan to follow. Otherwise, I think some people who don't know how to eat right and want to lose weight could still be kind of in the dark. There's no surprise that what does work isn't exactly sexy. Your best bet is to keep calories to no less than 1200 a day eating three meals plus two snacks that contain lean protein, whole grains, and of course lots of colorful produce.

Inspiration

“So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health.”

Love this quote!

3-2-2 and Taste the Rainbow

3-2-2 entrees a week

As part of the "new" My Plate recommendations for daily intake, an emerging theme has developed to address the issue of meal make-up. It is called the 3-2-2 concept: The idea is to serve a lean meat or poultry entrée three days a week, fish entrees on two nights a week, and two nights a week of vegetarian main dishes that include beans, soy or whole grains. Eating dinners along the lines of 3-2-2 emphasizes more plant-based foods. Research concurs that a diet high in plant foods is highly nutritious and can help in weight management while decreasing the risk for many chronic diseases.

The My Plate tool can also help in determining adequate portion sizes without the need for weighing and tediously measuring every meal component. You don't need a measuring cup to determine what a half-cup is if you look at the plate and aim to fill 1/4 of of it with a whole grain or other complex carbohydrate.

If you know that half of your plate should include fruits and veggies, and you look at your plate and don't see any vegetables, then you know something is wrong!

I was feeling a simple stir fry for dinner. I had some leeks from my recent trip to Whole Paycheck and decided to use them instead of my usual onions (leeks are also in the allium family and have similar antimicorbial properties and health benefits as onions). A trick to ensuring that they are dirt-free is to slice them and place them in a bowl of water. The cleaned leeks rise to the top while the dirt settles on the bottom of the bowl. Strain and toss into a sautee pan with my "taste the rainbow" medley: zucchini, yellow pepper, and red cabbage. Spray with olive oil and lightly sautee (I don't care for wilted veggies-- they need some crunch!). Add some garlic powder at the end.

I cooked the cubed chicken breast separately with low sodium soy sauce, ground ginger, garlic powder, and fresh ground pepper. So delicious and colorful-- you know this is good for you :) I also had some leftover brown rice that went unpictured and polished off 3/4 of a mango for dessert . . .I'll just tell Director Doc that there was a moldy piece and that is why I only left him a small sliver.

Friends and Family Friday

Today was a better day [thank goodness!]. I had a productive lunch meeting, shopped at my favorite health food store (I found the Veganaise at Whole Paycheck!!), and had a lovely dinner with my parents.

On the grill, courtesy of The Healthy Dad, turkey hot dog (Applegate Farms), saurkraut and onions (try them grilled--amazing!), slice of grilled mango, and fresh sweet corn on the cob. A delicious dinner and fun family Friday (I like my alliteration). The Healthy Sis is coming home from NYC to celebrate Father's Day, and we are planning some quality pool time this weekend :)

Venting (you were warned)

One of the reasons I created this blog, was to develop an outlet that would allow me to [healthfully] get some frustrations aired and hopefully resolved [or at least not pent up and allowed to fester]. I really love what I do for a living. I realized that I tend to expect the worst while I was on my way to meet a patient this morning. I missed the last BodyPump class at the gym [which is closing next week, don';t get me started on that drama]. I realized 20 minutes into my drive that I forgot to bring my sneakers to do my own weight training session after the consult. [You better believe I made an illegal U-turn and high-tailed it home for the treads.] I was almost the victim of 2 automobile accidents, both of the drivers were texting while driving, coincidentally. I forgot my ipod (maybe I need to invest in some gingko). It rained for the 10 minutes I decided to mow the lawn. I contracted a rash all over my legs from said lawn-mowing. I am convinced my neighbors are growing illegal substances which are germinating our backyard [more like rear Kilaminjaro, if you ever need a calf workout just climb our backyard a few times]. I went to Harris Teeter (mistake #1) for 2 items: veganaise and jicama. I left with $40 of who the hell knows what (mistake #2) and decided to put the bags in the front seat (mistake #3). New car= not so new smell anymore. Anyone want a pickle? I had a craving . . . Ok, I think I am done. I will leave you with a positive thought, and thank you for bearing with me on that crazy journey:

"Hope is important
because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear.
If we believe that tomorrow will be better,
we can bear a hardship today."
Thich Nhat Hanh

Thursday Tip

Healthy Lifestyle Tip: Exercise May Be the Best Appetizer
In a study at the University of Campinas, heart-pumping activity was actually found to decrease appetite by upping protein levels in the hypothalamus; tricking your brain into thinking you're full. It appeared to make brains more sensitive to key chemicals that play a role in appetite communication.

Researchers witnessed some key chemical changes in the brains of overweight animals that began getting regular exercise. The levels of two types of proteins, interleukin-6 and interleukin-10, increased in the hypothalamus. These proteins served as a type of appetite control within the part of the brain that receives signals from important hunger hormones like leptin and insulin. As a consequence of these protein increases, researchers found that the animals' brain cells became more sensitive and receptive to hunger signals. End result? The animals started to eat less.

It's not the first study to support the theory that turning up your physical activity level can dial down your appetite. This is one of the first studies to highlight a possible underlying mechanism for the effect. More research will need to be done to determine whether exercise has exactly the same effect on humans. But for now, we already know lots of other great health reasons to crank up our physical activity levels.

Source: realage.com