Protein Demystified...

Proteins are macromolecules made up of 20 different amino acids, compounds that help control hunger and build muscle, skin and more. Eleven of the acids are nonessential, meaning our body produces them, so we don't need to get them from food. The other nine are essential—we can't make them and must replenish our supply from one of two camps:

Complete proteins contain all nine of the essential amino acids and include animal products (meat, fish, dairy, eggs) as well as soybeans and quinoa.

Incomplete proteins, as the name suggests, fall short. Nuts, seeds and grains are all missing or low in the same essential amino acids. Legumes, fruit and veggies all lack other essential amino acids.  Combine one food from each incomplete group and, voilà, full package. In an ideal world, you'd have complete protein at every meal to ensure all nine essential amino acids are there when you need them. But that's not always possible or even necessary. A quick rule of thumb: If you have only incomplete proteins at one meal, have complete ones the next time you eat.

Until Monday - Keep thinking veggies and protein!

Mayonnaise…

OK – I know all of you who read my blog know that mayo is out!  It no longer exists in my food vocabulary!  The fat free Greek yogurt has taken its place.  So here are a few things you can do with that bottle of mayo to get it out of your existence.

Condition your hair by massaging it into your hair and scalp.  Cover your head with a shower cap, wait a few minutes, and shampoo.

Relieve sunburn pain by slathering mayo over the affected areas.

Clean piano keys with a little mayo applied with a soft cloth.  Wait a few minutes, wipe with a damp cloth and buff.

Remove bumper stickers by rubbing some mayo over them.  Let it sit for a while and wipe it off.  It will also remove tar and pine sap.

SHORT AND HEAVY...

Think lifting a weight just means moving it up and down? Okay, technically it does. But there are a lot of different ways to approach that moving! Confusing your muscles by trying something different forces them to work harder to adapt.

Try doing short and heavy sets in which your load is heavy enough that you can do no more than five reps. Other options include  super slow sets (count to five as you extend and then again as you contract), isometric holds (holding the weight in a contracted position without moving it), and drop sets (starting heavy and moving to lighter weights until you are fatigued).

Grilling…

Grilling and summer go hand in hand! I just love it, especially now that we are remodeling and our kitchen is filled with lamps and furniture! I am also grateful or the weather that is cooperating so we can eat on our patio.  

Anyway - grilling is so tasty and healthy!!!  OK, so I don’t have as many pots and pans to clean!  Best if all it keeps the oven off in the house and allows for a cooler environment!  Oh I forgot to mention, Bob is the Grill Master!  I have come a long way with my cooking, but grilling, I will leave to Bob!  It must be a mental block for me, like driving a stick shift!  I will leave it to the men in my life!!!

Is there anything you can’t grill?  I can’t think of a thing!  We have had an entire salad done on the grill!  A trip to the local farmers market with grilling on the mind!  A bounty of fresh romaine and radicchio lettuces, carrots, asparagus, zucchini, eggplant, squash, bell peppers, spring onions, mushrooms, garlic and tomatoes.  Oh my! What protein do we add to this, a lean steak, pork tenderloin, chicken breast, shrimp, scallops or tuna? Don’t forget tying out some fruits on the grill! It is just endless!

I will even use some of the vegetables for the vinaigrette that will accompany this fresh, flavorful, healthy delight!  Grab those zero calorie vinegars, some fresh herbs, spices and maybe a slice of grilled pepper, onion and garlic and blend away!

My mouth is watering!

A little hint…

Focus on what you can eat, not on what you shouldn’t!  Any weight-loss plan that leaves you with hunger pangs or fixated on the foods you shouldn’t have will leave you more apt to binge or lose steam.  So skip the woe-is-me attitude; by concentrating on the positive!  You are becoming so much healthier and looking and feeling better then ever! The healthy choices you are making are so habit forming and such a second nature that you really don’t have to think too much about them!  We all have our “moments”, but by planning ahead for the occasional treat, you will have a better shot at achieving your goal!  As I have said many times, keep focused on your next meal, and make sure it is a healthy choice and do an extra 15 minutes on the treadmill!  Stay FOCUSED!!!

Fizzies...

Club soda and seltzer are practically the same thing -carbonated water - although club soda sometimes has added minerals. They don't have much flavor; they're just bubbly. Both club soda and seltzer are calorie-free. They're great in mixed drinks and even baked goods.

Tonic water, however, is a completely different story. It has slightly more flavor because... it's sweetened with sugar! Each cup has about 80 calories. That's pretty much like drinking regular soda. So if you're at a bar and looking for a calorie-free mixer, tonic is NOT the way to go. You can find diet tonic on store shelves, but when you're out and about, you're better off ordering club soda or seltzer. 

Until Monday - Keep thinking veggies and protein!

“Good”  foods that are bad for you...

Microwave Popcorn - Not a big fan of popcorn, but thought this was interesting!  With so many light varieties of microwave popcorn on the market, it's easy to think that this snack is healthy, but with high levels of sodium and the chemical diacetyl, some health professionals caution about making this a regular snack. A better choice? Putting a few plain kernels in a brown paper bag and popping your own. You control the flavoring!

Mountain Climber with Hands on Stability Ball...

The benefit: It's one of the simplest yet most effective ways to tighten your tummy. In fact, you'll barely have to move a muscle. BUT, It isn’t as easy it looks or sounds!

How to do it: Assume a pushup position with your arms completely straight, but place your hands on a stability ball instead of the floor.  Make sure the ball is up against a wall!  Your body should form a straight line from your head to your ankles. Tighten your core and hold it that way for the duration of the exercise [A]. Lift one foot off the floor and slowly raise your knee as close to your chest as you can without changing your lower-back posture. Then repeat with your other leg. Alternate back and forth for 30 seconds. If that's too hard, place your hands on the floor or a bench, instead of a stability ball. 

More on Those Sugary Drinks...

Calories from sugary drinks may be particularly harmful to your health. New York City Mayor Bloomberg's proposed ban on large sweet drinks is hardly without controversy. But there's no debating some beverages have way, way, way more calories, sugar, and sometimes fat than we need. Women who drink two or more of them a day were more likely to develop abnormal levels of fasting glucose-a sign of diabetes, according to research presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions last year. Bloomberg's ban would apply to sweetened drinks larger than 16 ounces, but we found many popular chains selling shockingly bigger options.

For instance...

Taco Bell's 40-Ounce Dr. Pepper

The damage: 500 calories, 135 grams of sugar, 0 grams fat. 

Instead, you could eat: At Taco Bell, it's the calorie equivalent of a chicken soft taco and order of cheesy nachos!

Sneaky Source of Body Odor...

Another great reason to stay away from those fried foods!  Anyone who's done a long treadmill run after a night of Indian takeout knows that foods like onions, garlic, curry, and other strong spices can make your sweat pretty fragrant, but your French fry cravings may be equally to blame.  The oils in fried and baked goods can quickly become rancid, causing poor digestion and consequently body odor!

Remodeling...

OK - Monday we start remodeling our condo.  Not exactly the timing we had in mind, but because of a flood in our condo we are left with no choice but to pull up our wood flooring!  Of course one project leads into another and so for the next two weeks (hopefully only) we will be discombobulated!

This means getting pulled out of my daily routine and having to eat out a lot!  

I am a bit stressed about not being able to exercise and eat properly!  This weekend will be about cooking and building up our protein supply in the freezer!  I can always go to the market for my produce!  I will at least be able to ride my bike everyday to work!  I just have to stay away from anything tempting - the idea of comfort food sounds mighty appealing right now!  Willpower will be my mantra! Wish me luck - I will need it!

Until Monday - Keep thinking veggies and protein!

Chips...

Once you pop open a stack of potato chips, it can sometimes be hard to stop until you suddenly realize you are scraping the bottom of the can. People tend to eat what you put in front of them. If you put less in front of them and give them a signal, they will take it. Here's another creative tactic for helping people eat smart: Study leaders gave participants stackable potato chips, some stacks containing the occasional red chip (designating the cut-off point of a serving size). Even though the meaning of the red chips was not explained, the subjects with the red chips ate 50 percent fewer chips than the control group AND were better able to guess how many chips they'd eaten. AMAZING! Keep the good ideas coming, food peeps!

Bug Off... 

You taste sweeter during exercise!  When active, you breathe in and out more heavily and frequently, which means you are releasing carbon dioxide.  Also, perspiration contains lactic acid and octenol, chemicals that entice mosquitoes.  Motion gets their attention as well - ha ha - if you’re moving quickly, the bugs will have trouble keeping up and landing on you!

Creative Ways to Improve Eating Habits... 

Making positive changes to your diet isn't always easy. Luckily, some food-industry folks are getting crafty to help put you on the right path! Unilever Food Solutions has put together a report for restaurant owners outlining a concept they call "seductive nutrition." (Oh my...) The report proposes healthy menu improvements (more veggies, smaller portion sizes, and lower calorie, fat, and sodium levels, to name a few) and recommends appealing ways to market the dishes, with terms like garden fresh, crisp, and big flavor. Smart thinking! And we all know drinking water is good for us, but did you know that it could actually help you eat more veggies? A recent study looked at the connection between sweetened drinks and vegetable intake. Researchers found that people were likely to pair soft drinks with high-calorie foods rather than vegetables and that children actually ate more veggies while drinking water as opposed to soda. So make water your beverage of choice with all of your meals; you just might trick yourself into making better food choices! 

Thank you Hungry Girl for this great information!

Are You Eating Foods That Feed Cancer...

Sixty percent of calories in the current modern diet come from refined omega-6 oils, sugar, and flour, all of which feed the cancerous process. This means that the average American is pursuing cancer as a dietary goal. We need to stop feeding cancer and other chronic diseases with the food you might love.

This type of information is no longer relegated to conspiracy theorists in health food stores; research is proving it to be correct. Additionally, and surprisingly, even the mainstream media is reporting that sugar is a driver of cancer and stimulates the same "addiction pathways" in the brain as cocaine.

Junk Foods Can Make You Miserable...

That Not-So-Regular Feeling!  White bread, white rice, and other “white” (read: processed) products can cause constipation  because they contain little to no fiber, and fiber moves everything through the body. Dehydration can make constipation worse as well, and if you’re coupling your white bread with booze—knocking back some beers and hot dogs at a Sunday afternoon ball game—you’re not looking at a regular Monday morning.  I know those are the Mondays I won't be able to wear my more "flattering" jeans!

Until Monday - Keep thinking veggies and protein!

Make the Cut...  

Here’s another reason to put down that bagel!  If you eat few carbohydrates, you will torch more fat when you exercise!  In a study recently published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, women who followed a low-carb diet (about 20% of their daily calories) for 48 hours burned significantly more fat during a treadmill session- and for 2 hours afterward- than those who ate a more moderate amount of grains, fruit and starches.  When your body’s resources are limited, it saves carbohydrates for vital functions and uses fat as fuel.

Kayaking vs Surfing...

Both kayaking and surfing are great for your core and your arms, but kayaking actually burns more than 100 more calories per hour, 346 compared to surfing's 208, so pick up that paddle!

  

I am glad it is kayaking - I have never surfed!  Bob and I had a date night and went for a 2 hour sunset paddle on the Chicago River yesterday evening.  It was a great new way to see the city and something we love to do together!

Sorry!  not a great photo, we were in a tandem and It was hard for me to turn around!

"Starving Off" your Sugar Binge...

OK so we did have those evil donuts - here is a great recovery plan!
Don’t starve yourself the day after a sugar binge. Instead, wait until your body feels hungry again and eat a small protein- and fiber-rich meal like broiled salmon and roasted broccoli. A meal like this will keep your blood sugar in control and stimulate hormones that encourage your body to burn sugar that it has stored for energy (which you’ll have a lot of because a big sugar binge can super-saturate your body’s sugar stores). Drink a lot of water and continue to eat a higher-protein, lower-carbohydrates diet for the entire post-binge day. This will help you burn off that extra sugar, as well as the water weight that goes along with it.

National Donut Day...

Sorry I didn’t have this info on Friday when it was officially national donut day.  No matter how you spell it -donuts or doughnuts - these treats can be super hard to resist. 

So here is the donut rundown for next year or anytime you have the urge -  so you can make the smartest splurge possible!

This is from an average common donut variety from coffee shops, supermarkets, convenience stores and more.
Donut hole: 60 calories, 3g fat 

Glazed: 240 calories, 12g fat
Frosted: 260 calories, 15g fat
Cream-filled: 300 calories, 14g fat
Jelly-filled: 300 calories, 14g fat
Cruller: 300 calories, 17g fat
Fritter: 380 calories, 17g fat 

I will admit that I did not splurge on the donuts I plunged!  It was hard to resist the specialty donuts from one of my companies newest ventures - Do-Rite Donuts!  And they are done RITE!

Dining Out...

You've been waiting all week for this opportunity to really indulge—after all, it's date night (yes, my husband and I still go out on dates) not diet night!

Your Slim-Down Solution
Choose dishes with names that denote a healthy cooking method. Au jus (cooked in broth), braised, broiled, baked, and grilled all get the green light. Skip anything described as creamy, crunchy, crispy, batter-dipped, or sautéed—words that suggest it's loaded with calorie and fat-laden cream or oil. Want to try everything? It's the perfect time to share. According to a recent study, the average restaurant serves an 8-ounce steak—more than twice the USDA-recommended serving size. Unfortunately, most people eat the majority of what they're served. If your date doesn't want to split an entre, ask your server to bring only half to the table—and pack the rest in a to-go box.

Until Monday - Keep thinking veggies and protein!