Minestrone Soup

You know, when I started this new blog, I wasn't really sure the direction it would go. I know I'm posting a lot of recipes, but after reading a bunch of books, I realized I didn't know what "real" food was. A lot of them tell you what to eat and NOT to eat, but I think we've gotten so far away from what is "real", we really don't know what to eat or how to eat it! We now need books and nutritionist to tell us what we should and shouldn't eat. That's crazy to me! What scares me more was how little I knew about what I was actually eating.

Eating well is hard, it's an adjustment, it taste different (and better), you have to spend more time preparing your food (in theory) and it's a bit more expensive. In my opinion, all worth it! Plus, what we buy is what we are voting for. Check out this trailer and/or watch the movie.
If you are anything like me, after throwing out all the "garbage" food and reading the labels, you wonder... what CAN I eat!
That's why I've been posting recipes. I'm trying to find options for me, my husband & kids and even you!
I know that eating better seems like a challenge, but with little steps, it's do-able! Your body and health will thank you.

Knowledge is power!

So here was last night's dinner.
Minestrone Soup!

Onion, Celery, Carrot, Garlic & Spinach

After all ingredients have been added, simmering!

Yum!!

I have made this soup several times. My family and I have LOVED it every time. I did make some slight modifications, but here is the original recipe (and I have made the original recipe many times).

My modifications last night:
I add 2 cloves of garlic, minced
I used a cup of spinach, finely chopped (I added the carrots, celery, garlic & onion, cooked those for about 5 minutes. Then I added the spinach. cooked another 2 minutes and then added the broth).
I did not use Mushroom, Zucchini or Squash (this time!) I was in a hurry, but they are delicious in the soup.

Follow the directions on her site and you will love this soup too.

Enjoy!

Need a snack?? Try some Grape-Nuts & Almond Milk!

If you are looking for a quick and easy snack, try some Grape Nuts and Almond Milk!
You can put the Grape-Nuts in a bag, or tupperware container (same with the almond milk), and mix on the go. Or you can have it at home or work. If you don't want to mix it with milk, you can use yogurt instead. You can eat it warm or cold.
You can eat this for breakfast, lunch or a snack.
Really, the possibilities are endless.
The greatest part, not only do you feel full, but it keeps you full for hours. Perfect!

Grape-Nuts have 7g of fiber, 6g protein, 1g fat, 5g sugar, 48g total carbohydrates and 230mg potassium.
Talk about some good stuff!

Enjoy!

What's for dinner??? Garlic & Onion Chicken!

Last time I stepped into Harmon's I bought myself some organic, free range, no-antibiotic's or hormone chicken. I was so excited to eat it, but I wasn't sure what to make.
I saw this seasoning in my cupboard, and decided it would be yum!

This is what you will need:
1 lb Organic Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breast
2 cups Organic Chicken Broth
Onion and Garlic Seasoning (My Mother-in-Law got this from TJ Max)
Salt/Pepper to taste
2 tbsp. Olive Oil

This is how I made it:
I got my crock pot out. Turned it to high, poured in 2 cups of chicken broth. (let it warm up while you are getting the chicken ready)
In a zip-lock bag, I threw the chicken, 1 tbsp. of olive oil, salt/pepper, onion & Garlic seasoning.
I coated the chicken. (Adding some fresh lemon and thyme would be yum! I Just didn't have any)
Warm the skillet with 1 tbsp. olive oil. Once warm, add chicken. Let brown, turn over, let the other side brown.
Then place the chicken in the crock pot. Let cook for 1 hr on high. Turn down to low or warm for another 1/2 hr to 1hr.

I steamed some broccoli to go with this meal, but I had a whole breast left over. So, the next day I had that and a spinach salad for lunch!

Enjoy!

ATTENTION: Diet Soda Drinkers

Drinking diet soda could increase the risk of stroke and heart attacks, according to the American Stroke Association. They followed 2,500 people over 9 years. They found that 61 percent of diet soda drinkers were at higher risk for stroke and heart attack, compared with non diet soda drinkers.
The more diet soda intake the higher the risk becomes, due to high sodium intake. We should be consuming only 1,500 milligrams a day, however, the average is about 3,400 milligrams daily.
The moral of the story: If you are drinking more then 1 diet soda a day, your risk of heart attack and stroke goes up significantly. My opinion (I'm going to tell you) cut back your soda intake or stop drinking it all together! While you're at it, consume more water!

Personally, I stopped drinking soda when I started running. I don't like the way it makes me feel, especially when I'm running! I go in and out of stages, but I really do try to avoid it at all costs. If I do have a soda, it's maybe one time a month (and that is still a lot more then I would like). In this study, they only looked at one factor. Sodium. There is more to soda then sodium and we really don't know all the effects they have on us. Be cautious and be aware. Know what you are putting in your body!


Click here to read the full article. Image taken from here.

Blueberry, Spinach & Protein Shake Smoothie (Don't knock it, until you try it!)

My friend came up with this recipe. I'm not sure what possessed her to do this, but it's pretty dang good! Don't knock it until you try it!
This is a great recovery run protein shake, quick breakfast or lunch... or even a snack!

What you will need:
8 oz of Milk and/or Water (I use half of each)
1/2-3/4 Cup of fresh or frozen Blueberries
1/2 Cup of fresh or frozen spinach (You can buy a bag and throw it in the freezer)
1/4- 1/2 Cup of Ice
1 Scoop of Vanilla Protein Powder

How to make it:
I add the Milk and/or Water, Spinach, Blueberries, Ice and Protein Powder. Today, I added 1/2 a banana (Nanette, just ignore this part) . If you wanted, you could add any other fruit you would like.
Blend (for a good min or two) and serve.

Enjoy!

Finding Your Motivation

(Disclaimer: I am not a Doctor, Nurse, Trainer, Medical Professional of any kind. This is my exercise program, under the direction of a Physician. You should check with your physician before starting any exercise program.)

What is my motivation??? Running!
How I found my motivation...
I know a lot of you are saying, I don't run! I did!
Just so you know, I have really long legs. I could have been a fantastic runner, but I was the "long jump, high jump, hurdle type". I DID NOT run! In fact, people would often ask me if I ran for exercise.. I would tell them "no, no, no... I don't run!"
I always admired people that did run, but it was always really hard for me and I always told myself I couldn't and/or wouldn't do it.
About 2 years ago my sister asked me if I wanted to run a marathon . I thought about it, and decided that would be a great goal to accomplish. Yes, I would really like to do that. So I started training. I had just had my last baby and needed something to get me moving. So, I started running. I ran most of the year, until I had to have an emergency surgery. It took me 3 months to get back on track (missing the marathon), but once January 2010 came, I hit the gym hard. My girlfriend and I made goals and got our "butts" to the gym.
We had signed up for a relay race. Red Rock Relay. We had 8 months to train for a 12 person team, running 180 miles in 2 days. We found some training schedules on-line and were following them.
The problem was, I really didn't like running too much. I felt like my heart was going to explode and it was REALLY tough! I was running any where from 3- 7 miles with my heart rate between 176 to 190.
I ended up having knee pain in mid-May and went on vacation early June. So, I took a (much needed) couple weeks off. Before I left, I met with a personal trainer. See, I was running and doing "The Body For Life" program. I had results, but I seemed to be "stuck". I needed some help!
When I got back, I started working with a trainer, who told me I was strong, but my cardio was lacking (which I could feel). So I met with a Metabolic specialist. He did a MAP test. I'm not exactly sure what MAP stands for, but they put a mask on your face, you run on the treadmill or bike and they monitor your breathing and heart rate. One of the BEST things I've EVER done.
It completely changed how I was working out. See, I thought you had to work out really, really hard to lose weight and burn fat. Boy, was I wrong. My problem was, I was pushing myself too hard. My heart rate was too high and I was burning nothing but sugar. No fat! and my heart rate was WAY too high... No wonder I felt like my heart was going to explode, because it probably was about to.
I found my target heart rate zone, worked out and trained in those zones and ended up losing 10lbs and 8% body fat. My oxygen levels went from 42% to 90%, in 3 months. Pretty amazing!
While I was working out, I was eating right, but not like I am today. I can't pinpoint just one thing, but it really was a combination of all the things put together.
Last year I did my first 5K, 10K, 15K, 5K-Midnight Run and Relay Race (and a few in between). My goal this year is to run Red Rock Relay-Moab, my first 1/2 Marathon and my first Marathon!
You can run outside, you can run inside, with a friend, alone or with a group... However you would like to do it! You have so many options.

If you want to get started, here's an easy way... This seems slow, but it really goes quick if you just jump into it:
Begin with a walking program... Fast, but comfortable pace for 20 minutes, every other day. (I would do this until you feel comfortable)

Progress to running intervals... 4:1 minutes (walk:run) for 20 minutes, every other day.
(So you walk for 4 minutes, run for 1 minutes. Repeat 3 more times for a total of 20 minutes)

If you are doing okay, increase intervals by 30 seconds (or 1 min.), every other day, until you are running for 20 min. straight.

Continue to increase running time by 30 seconds (or 1 min.) every other day until you are able to run a desired distance/time comfortably. **

This is a great way to start slow and get comfortable with running. You don't have to go really fast, but it's a great way to get going.

Register for a race. There is no motivation like a deadline. Then, keep signing up for races (I'm already registered for one). Here are 2 websites that I check frequently for up-coming events! I also subscribe to Runner's World Magazine.

http://www.utahrunning.com/
http://www.active.com/

find a friend to go with you. Some people like to run with music, some with-out. My girlfriend and I put one ear phone in a ear and chat while we run, listen to music, chat or sometime not talk at all!

Start little, start slow and remember, you don't have to go fast to loose weight. In fact, generally when you are going slower you are in a better fat burning heart rate zone!
If you have questions on the MAP test or any questions for me... email me, I can give you some more information.

Dig deep and good luck!








References:
**TOSH PT Return to Running Sheet
picture: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://whatwouldsummerwear.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/running.jpg&imgrefurl=http://whatwouldsummerwear.wordpress.com/2010/01/02/2010-the-best-year-yet/&usg=__hyxQUxjUo4U_VHsSDPvL--8h5Vc=&h=566&w=849&sz=147&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=bKjskoupbtJkQM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=191&ei=yJtRTZ6BKIK2sAPKyK3YBg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Drunning%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1904%26bih%3D832%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=355&oei=yJtRTZ6BKIK2sAPKyK3YBg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=39&ved=1t:429,r:5,s:0&tx=35&ty=85

I have a confession!

Yesterday was my husbands day off. Generally on his day off it's our "free" day. Our meals consist of: nachos, pizza, fried chicken, etc. etc... My husband is not quite on board with all the changes I've made (ie. the tuna fish lettuce wraps, he says "it's bird food, and he is going to waste away"). But for me, it's getting harder to eat nachos, pizza and fried chicken.
But last night he said he wanted fried chicken from KFC.
So, we went and got our fried chicken, mashed potato's/gravy and coleslaw. Oh, and let's not forget the biscuits!
We got home, ate our dinner, cleaned up and sat on the couch to watch a show.
I kid you not, with-in 30 minutes, I was lethargic, irritable, sick to my stomach and I had a MASSIVE headache.
I had been just fine all day, UNTIL I ate that meal. It was like it "sucked" the life out of me and then hit me on the head!

If you have been eating bad your entire life and you are now switching the kinds of foods you are eating, have you noticed a difference? Do you notice what happens to your body when you eat foods like; Pizza, Fried Chicken, Nachos, Etc. Etc?

I know I am still going to crave sweets, salts and fatty junk food, but my hope is that those cravings get less and less (and they have). I also know, it takes some will power on my part.
Plus, eating these kinds of foods, it doesn't make me feel good. We go to the movies maybe once a month. My favorite (or I should say, our favorite) is popcorn, cherry coke and raisinettes. Every time I leave, I am SICK to my stomach. Every time, without fail! I'm not listening to my body... my body is physically ill after I eat that stuff, but I still do. Maybe I shouldn't eat it, right?!

Today has been a much better day, I had:
Baked Oatmeal for Breakfast
Protein Smoothie for lunch
Apple, almonds and walnuts for my snack
And I will have leftover Meat Loaf for Dinner.

I just want all my fellow readers (eaters) to know, that it's okay to mess up and get back on track! If you are changing your diet, it's not going to happen overnight.
Eating clean tastes different and is different. I just hope you recognize, as I have recognized how it makes me feel when I eat that "kind" of stuff!

Need a snack?? Try some nuts!

Did you know, that those who eat the most nuts tend to have some of the lowest body mass indexes (a measure of overweight). Do you know the "coolest" part about Almonds... They did a study that compared two groups of dieters eating the same number of calories; one group ate 520 of their calories from almonds and lost more weight. The research is indicating that almond cell walls may partially limit the amount of dietary fat available for digestion or absorption, so it's possible the a small portion of the calories from almonds are not fully absorbed.** (Awesome, huh?!)
Almonds are a "Super-Food", what's not to love about them.

They lower cholesterol, they are rich in mono saturated fat (that's the good stuff), reduces heart disease, they contain 6g protein in one (yes, that's 1!) ounce, 3g of dietary fiber, calcium, phosphorus, vitamin E and magnesium.

Almonds are not the only fantastic "nut" out there. You have Brazil Nuts, Walnuts, Cashews, Hazelnuts, Macadamia Nuts, Peanuts, Pecans and Pistachio's.

Here is a guide for how many to eat. Pair any of these AWESOME NUTS with some fruit. Because nuts have hardly ANY carbohydrates in them, it's perfect with fruit (a wonderful carbohydrate)!

Type of Nut & Serving Size: **
Almonds 20-24
Brazil Nuts 6-8
Cashews 16-18
Flaxseeds 2TLB
Hazelnuts 18-20
Macadamias 10-12
Peanuts 28
Pecans 18-20
Pine Nuts 150-157
Pistachios 45-47
Pumpkin Seeds 85 seeds, or 1/2 Cup
Sesame Seeds 1/4 Cup
Walnuts 8-11 halves
Source: www.nuthealth.org and www.calorieking.com

So, have a handful of NUTS! and Enjoy!






References:
The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth- By Jonny Bowden
Master Your Metabolism-By Jillian Michaels
**Taken directly from "The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth", by Jonny Bowden
**Nut information taken directly from Jillian Michaels, Master Your Metabolism

Picture taken from:http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3DPictures%2Bof%2Balmonds%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dmoz35%26fr2%3Dtab-web&w=465&h=401&imgurl=www.superfoodinfo.net%2Fimages%2Ffoods%2FAlmond.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.superfoodinfo.net%2FInfo.aspx%3FSuperFood%3DAlmond&size=48KB&name=Almond+Super+Foo...&p=Pictures+of+almonds&oid=1a0ef2073067e8f4b40b1ee7676f824e&fr2=tab-web&no=8&tt=36500&sigr=11ngj7fn4&sigi=11d03m8qm&sigb=1300bqc10&.crumb=EbNyXb93Uza

South Carolina scientist works to grow meat in lab (WHAT???)

Yesterday, I had a girlfriend send this article to me. Pretty CRAZY stuff we have going on here..
My favorite part was at the end, when he compared his GE Meat to the iPhone! Not sure how the two are related, at all! But I thought it was interesting, creepy, and actually disgusting!


South Carolina scientist works to grow meat in lab

By Harriet McLeod – Sun Jan 30, 10:00 am ET
CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) – In a small laboratory on an upper floor of the basic science building at the Medical University of South Carolina, Vladimir Mironov, M.D., Ph.D., has been working for a decade to grow meat.
A developmental biologist and tissue engineer, Dr. Mironov, 56, is one of only a few scientists worldwide involved in bioengineering "cultured" meat.
It's a product he believes could help solve future global food crises resulting from shrinking amounts of land available for growing meat the old-fashioned way ... on the hoof.
Growth of "in-vitro" or cultured meat is also under way in the Netherlands, Mironov told Reuters in an interview, but in the United States, it is science in search of funding and demand.
The new National Institute of Food and Agriculture, part of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, won't fund it, the National Institutes of Health won't fund it, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration funded it only briefly, Mironov said.
"It's classic disruptive technology," Mironov said. "Bringing any new technology on the market, average, costs $1 billion. We don't even have $1 million."
Director of the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Center in the Department of Regenerative Medicine and Cell Biology at the medical university, Mironov now primarily conducts research on tissue engineering, or growing, of human organs.
"There's a yuck factor when people find out meat is grown in a lab. They don't like to associate technology with food," said Nicholas Genovese, 32, a visiting scholar in cancer cell biology working under a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals three-year grant to run Dr. Mironov's meat-growing lab.
"But there are a lot of products that we eat today that are considered natural that are produced in a similar manner," Genovese said.
"There's yogurt, which is cultured yeast. You have wine production and beer production. These were not produced in laboratories. Society has accepted these products."
If wine is produced in winery, beer in a brewery and bread in a bakery, where are you going to grow cultured meat?
In a "carnery," if Mironov has his way. That is the name he has given future production facilities.
He envisions football field-sized buildings filled with large bioreactors, or bioreactors the size of a coffee machine in grocery stores, to manufacture what he calls "charlem" -- "Charleston engineered meat."
"It will be functional, natural, designed food," Mironov said. "How do you want it to taste? You want a little bit of fat, you want pork, you want lamb? We design exactly what you want. We can design texture.
"I believe we can do it without genes. But there is no evidence that if you add genes the quality of food will somehow suffer. Genetically modified food is already normal practice and nobody dies."
Dr. Mironov has taken myoblasts -- embryonic cells that develop into muscle tissue -- from turkey and bathed them in a nutrient bath of bovine serum on a scaffold made of chitosan (a common polymer found in nature) to grow animal skeletal muscle tissue. But how do you get that juicy, meaty quality?
Genovese said scientists want to add fat. And adding a vascular system so that interior cells can receive oxygen will enable the growth of steak, say, instead of just thin strips of muscle tissue.
Cultured meat could eventually become cheaper than what Genovese called the heavily subsidized production of farm meat, he said, and if the public accepts cultured meat, the future holds benefits.
"Thirty percent of the earth's land surface area is associated with producing animal protein on farms," Genovese said.
"Animals require between 3 and 8 pounds of nutrient to make 1 pound of meat. It's fairly inefficient. Animals consume food and produce waste. Cultured meat doesn't have a digestive system.
"Further out, if we have interplanetary exploration, people will need to produce food in space and you can't take a cow with you.
"We have to look to these ideas in order to progress. Otherwise, we stay static. I mean, 15 years ago who could have imagined the iPhone?"
(Editing by Jerry Norton)

Reference: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110130/sc_nm/us_food_meat_laboratory_feature