Tame Your Sweet tooth!

8 Simple Changes to a healthy lifestyle and being Diet Free. This week we look at the final letter in the word DIET.

The 'T' in DIET is all about taming the sweet tooth. There is sugar in almost everything processed. Or worse yet, High Fructose Corn syrup! If you're over-indulging in products that contain either of these, you might as well start ordering the diabetic test strips now. Personally, I'd prefer to spend my money on other things - like rubber stamps and scrapbook paper. :-D So instead, let's look at how to eliminate these items from our food intake. (Notice I didn't say DIET)

First and foremost, if you're eating fresh fruits, you're getting all the sugar you need. And if you're eating it for snacks, chances are you are curbing your craving for 'sweet treats'. Now this doesn't mean you can NEVER EVER have something sugar sweetened... just make it COUNT. Keep the portion in mind. Example... 5 pices of Dove Caramel choclates are 200 Calories - 100 of which are FAT. If you keep your sweet treat on a 100 calorie level, only have 2. Just enough to know it's a TREAT... not a meal.

I also know firsthand it's almost impossible to go cold turkey. I have really strong willpower (low pain threshold but I can back off if I really put my mind to something). What you want to do is wean yourself back a little at a time. If you drink 4 (20 oz) sodas a day, promise yourself for one week you'll only have 3 (2 would be better but I'm a realist). The next week promise yourself only 2. By the third week you'll be down to 1 soda per day. I'm down to 1 (12 oz) soda over the course of 3 days. My GOAL is to get it down to 1 treat soda over a weekend or only on mowing day (one or the other)

I live in Sweet Tea country. I've always had sugar in my tea (okay... almost syrup). I had quit drinking tea for a long time but I really enjoy it in the summer. I'm gradually working my sugar content back. I'm down to 1/2 of what I would normally put in it. Every week I get a little skimpier with the sugar until eventually I'll have just enough to take the bitter edge off and be happy. I also only drink one glass of tea a day and not until I've had at least half of my water for the day.

The other REALLY BAD thing is High Fructose Corn syrup. This is a killer when it comes to developing Type2 Diabetes. The easiest way to avoid it is to READ LABELS. If a label says it contains High Fructose Corn syrup, PUT IT BACK. And the worst thing you can do for your child's diet is to give it to them.

It's all about the choices we make. Personally, I've made the choice to be healthy and hopefully be around to enjoy my granddaughter long after she's moved out. :-)

Enjoy the Journey!

Eat Often! Part 2

Although Eating Often is important to a balanced metabolism, it's just as important to eat the RIGHT FOODS.

One of the things pointed out on the 8 Simple Changes program was that the old food pyramid recommendation of 4-5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day is outdated. With all the new research of the positive affects these items have against various forms of cancers, Alzheimer’s and similar diseases, it is now suggested we should be enjoying more like 8-10 servings a day! Who can do that much?

Anyone!

Add a fruit or vegetable (or both) to every time you eat and you're waging war against all those nasty diseases threatening to take your life.

Try some of the following:
# Pureed fruit on your pancake instead of syrup or jelly
# Veggies in your omelet or just some sliced tomato with your scrambled eggs
# Fruit in your cereal - real fruit
# Fruit for mid-morning snack or a fruit smoothie
# Salad at lunch with some protein. Add craisins or raisins as an ingredient
# Fresh, crunchy veggies as an afternoon snack
# Steamed veggies with dinner and a fruit compote for dessert
# Fruit as a movie snack such as frozen grapes or strawberries and Greek Yogurt

Let’s look at what could be a typical 3-meal/2-snack day.

Breakfast:
2 fluffy scrambled eggs, 2 strips center-cut lean bacon,
1 piece whole grain toast, 1 small tomato sliced, 4 oz. glass of Orange juice (2 serv. Fruit)

Mid-morning Snack:
An apple (1 serv. Fruit)

Lunch:
Medium salad with 1 C. lettuce, ½ tomato diced, ½ c. spinach leaves, 1 oz. grilled chicken breast, 2 T. Fat Free ranch dressing ¼ C. raisins (1.5 serv Veg. 1.5 serv Fruit)

Mid–afternoon Snack:
1 C. Baby Carrots & 1 C. Broccoli (1 ser. Veg.)

Dinner:
4 oz. Lean grilled steak (remember the center palm of your hand)
½ baked potato with fat free sour cream
2 C. steamed vegetables of choice (1 ser. Veg.)
Made fresh Fruit cup consisting 2 C. cubed Peaches, Pineapple
(1 ser. Fruit)

Movie snack:
1 C. green grapes (1 ser. Fruit)

Total for the Day: 10 Servings!

The key to all of this? Meal Planning. This is a subject all it’s own, so for now let me just say, “it’s easier than you think.”

Enjoy the Journey
Kelly

Eat Often! Part 1

My previous post leads into this one regarding the acronym for 8 Simple Changes. Today we are talking about the E in DIET. As you can tell by my husband’s schedule, eating often – as in 3 meals and 2 snacks spaced evenly throughout the day – isn’t possible for him. However, the eating at regular intervals is important to forcing the metabolism to work the way it should.

Any ‘popular’ diet program out there – the TV infomercial types – are all based around 2 things: Eating 3 meals/ 2 snacks AND Portion control. The overall concept WORKS. However, the reason most people can’t stay at their achieved healthy weight after getting off the program is because it’s all done for them. The food (with the exception of WW) comes to them prepackaged. They don’t have to think about the amount. Just open the box, pop it in the microwave and eat. Doesn’t that sound YUMMY? WW teaches you about ‘points’. And while you’re dedicated to the program when you’re paying for it every week, some of that dedication goes by the wayside when it’s no longer costing anything. It’s just easier to eat what you want.

What if you could eat almost all the foods you enjoy and still be healthy? Doesn’t that sound like a plan you could LIVE with? It is as easy as eating EVERY THREE HOURS and in CORRECT PORTIONS.

I’ll give you Part 2 tomorrow. In the mean time, I want you to focus on eating every three hours. Note what time you wake up on a regular basis. If you tend to wake up whenever, rethink the whole alarm thing. Getting up at 6 or 7 is a good place to start your day. Then plan to eat within a HALF AN HOUR of getting up. Get that metabolism going! Then map out your day to eat every three hours. Breakfast, mid morning snack, Lunch, mid afternoon snack, Dinner. If you’ve been really good, treat yourself to a 50-cal. snack at the end of the day. Set a timer if you have to. But remember to eat SOMETHING HEALTHY throughout the day.

And the Journey continues…

Breakfast...

really is the most important meal of the day.

In the Diet Free phrasing, 'I' stands for INCLUDE BREAKFAST.
By eating something first thing in the morning, preferrably within an hour of getting out of bed, you jump start your metabolism. In essence, you're starting your internal engine and warming it up so your body can function properly throughout the rest of the day.

One of the points brought up in the presentation I watched was what if you aren't hungry in the morning. Well... how much did you eat the night before? The primary reason people arent' hungry in the morning is because they over ate before going to bed.

The other problem many people have is they are so busy in the morning they rush out the door without eating. By 10 a.m. their body is screaming for food and they grab whatever is handy... usually not healthy. Or they get something at a drive-through on the way. Also not healthy.

She discussed donuts.. everyone's favorite quick breakfast, right? (well, not mine)
She had a gal come up on stage and read the ingredients on the back of the box. The first 2 ingredients in a box of donuts were Shortening and Sugar (in that order). 2 donuts amounted to almost a cup of shortening and 1/2 a cup of sugar. Now doesn't that sound appetizing?

The key is to plan ahead. If you have to go out the door, have nutritional items on hand. Just read the labels carefully for Sodium. Just because it says it's healthy, doesn't mean it is. Look to a couple pieces of Whole Grain toast and a tsp. of peanut butter and a banana. If you can eat at home, think portions. 2 scrambled eggs topped with diced tomato or a 2 egg omelet loaded with vegies, a slice of whole grain toast with olive oil and fruit. I've been eating lots of strawberries, my husband prefers blueberries. We've also discovered the new aerosol Organic pancake batter. Very nutritious, and just a hint of sweetness. You don't need syrup, just some crushed fresh fruit or sprinkle fruit in the batter while it's on the griddle. Yum!

So Include Breakfast... your body will thank you!

Enjoy the Journey
Kelly

8 Simple Changes

8 Simple Changes to a healthier lifestyle sounds easy. I mean, who can’t do 8 things? One of the things Zonya Foco recommends is only trying them ONE AT A TIME. Try changing one habit this week. Next week, add a second. By the end of 2 months, you will have made 8 Simple Changes to a Healthier, Happier YOU. Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll take one at a time and give you some tips to making the changes a part of your daily life.

So here are the 8 SIMPLE CHANGES

D – Drink Water.
Make sure you are drinking at least 8 8-oz. glasses a day.

I – Include Breakfast.

E – Eat Often!
Eat approximately every 3 hours (sound familiar?) and include a fruit or vegetable EVERY TIME.

T – Tame Your Sweet Tooth!
There are healthier ways to satisfy your sugar craving… or eliminate the CRAVING (not the sugar) all together.


F – Find the Fat.
Read labels. Know where the hidden fats are.

R – Replace Processed Foods
Quick rule of thumb… If you can’t pronounce it Don’t Eat It!

E – Eat Only When Hungry
Ever watch a baby eat?

E – Exercise
Not necessarily a routine… but incorporate it into your daily living in small ways.

You’ll see just how SIMPLE these 8 CHANGES really are when we get into breaking them down.

For now…

Enjoy the Journey!
Kelly