Healthy Eats-Along 2012

[MareMare]

Hey peeps! Anybody interested in posting healthy recipes/tips/ideas with me? Lots of little steps can help achieve big goals! I would love if anyone who joins finds one new recipe to cook and share each week and one tip that they are going to work into their lives!

To start with, this week I have been keeping a container of chopped veggies to top my salad in the fridge, and a container of cut up carrots. It makes grabbing a quick snack of carrots and dip or an yummy salad easy when you're hungry or just munchy



If you're just jumping in with us, please feel free to share a little intro and answer any/all of the health prompts from previous weeks, found below. Or just answer the most current one, found on top!

Health Prompt for February 26 - March 3

This week let's review the goals we've made in past weeks and evaluate how we're doing. Need to change them up? Did you forget about some of them and need to start over? If you're rocking them, maybe it's time to add some new ones.

Health Prompt for Week of Feb 19-25:
Track what you eat for at least one day and evaluate if you want/need to change anything to meet your healthy eating goals. Not enough fruits and veggies? More fat than you want? Not enough protein? We all have different goals to make ourselves healthier, so please share your findings if you like! (Whether that's sharing your food journal for the day + your evaluations or just your evaluations)

Health Prompt for week of Feb 12-18
Challenge: Try one new-to-you fruit or veggie this week OR, a new fruit or veggie recipe. And, ya know, share with the group

Healthy Prompt for Week of January 29-February 4:

Please share one healthy treat recipe you found and want to try, or one you already like. It could be a snack or a dessert, but something treat-ish. We deserve treats, just need to appreciate healthy ones!

Health prompt for Week of January 22-28:

What is one small habit you are going to work on changing for a healthier one this week? Maybe you drink a lot of soda and are going to replace one soda a day with a glass of water. Maybe instead of a bag of chips at lunch you will have an apple on the side.

Health prompt for Week of January 15-21 :

Please share one healthy recipe you either already love or are going to try soon.

Review last week:

How did your goal from last week go? What are you going to do to keep working on it this week?

Health Prompt for Week of January 8-14
For this week, let's all share one small, measurable goal we are working on. Next week we can check back in to see if we accomplished that goal.

For me, I'm working on getting 5 fruits and veggie servings a day. I'm going to be logging my food at www.myfitnesspal.co m, so that will be my way of looking back and counting my servings at the end of the week.

[bananaleg]

This is a great idea, Mare!

I keep cut-up veggies in the fridge, too! I've found that I am much more likely to eat them if they're ready to go.

[Jinjeet Phoenix]

Sounds like a great idea. I am always looking for more healthy recipes. I don't use much processed food so at least that's a start.

[hgddm]

This is a wonderful idea! I think it will help a lot of us with our New Year's Resolutions

It's funny, but whenever I happen to have a fresh salad in the fridge, or some cut up veggies, fruit, and cheese, it's always a much more delicious snack/meal than the unhealthy stuff I normally eat because it's quick and easy!

[HolaKitty]

Yay! Some good crafster inspiration!

My favourite thing to snack on when I'm bored are clementines - they barely have any calories in them and they're fiddly to get into (like oranges) so if you eat when you're bored (like me!) then it wastes time yet won't leave you staring at the bottom of an empty Pringles tin

[World.Of.Hoard-Craft]

I used to be 220 pounds (I'm 5 foot 1). I lost about 70 pounds, with no exercise, over the last 2 years or so, and its staying off.
Here's my secret... I basically cut out the sugar in my drinks. I drink black unsweetened coffee, home brew unsweetened iced tea, water, or the very occasional juice. I realized I was drinking almost a days worth of calories by cutting those out I still always eat whatever I want, but lost weight. Now, soda is just grossly sweet to me.
 Oh, yeah, and I had a soup a day for lunch, just whatever Progresso in a can, nuked up in my schools cafeteria. I then snacked less on fries and junk food, plus I love soup anyway.

[MareMare]

Those are great tips!

I read a blog the other day where they were adding some cooked chicken to whatever canned soup they were eating for more protein and to help them stay full longer.

[elliot_anne]

I'm in! Sorry in advance for the rant...

For the past 6 years, I haven't eaten chicken or fish, and only very limited amounts of pork and turkey. However, I just couldn't bear giving up beef. It's just too delicious! However, the past year or so, I've been having some internal digestion problems related to eating red meat (it's genetic - my mom had the same problems at my age, and eventually had to have her gall bladder removed after her diet was literally reduced to eating baby food). So, in an effort to prolong, and hopefully prevent needing the same surgery, I'm going to go vegetarian.

I realized a while back that I don't actually consume that much meat per week, but when I do eat it, I tend to eat a lot more than is necessary (people are supposed to have a palm-sized piece of meat every day for protein. No bigger.). However, it is a huge MENTAL thing for me. Growing up, steak was (and still is) my favorite food. And my fiance is definitely a man's man when it comes to meat! However, I've slowly been showing him that vegetarian food doesn't have to be 'rabbit food' anymore. He goes through phases of wanting to diet and lose weight, and then getting grumpy because his body isn't used to real food. I know he wants to lose weight, and I feel like if I do this, maybe he'll be able to go on a journey with me. So I think I'm ready to tell him - and to commit: I'm going vegetarian.

So yea, that's my backstory.

My tips aren't just about healthy eating, but also eating more frugally...

1. Acquaint yourself with your fridge, freezer, and pantry.

Before you go to the store, clean them out. Anything past it's date? Throw it out! Anything on it's last day? Can you make that for dinner tonight? If not, throw it out.

Living in a house with 6 college-age people means there are always 4 half-gallons of milk, 4 loaves of bread, 3 cartons of eggs, and god knows how much leftover takeout. And that's just the first two shelves of the fridge.

If you clean the areas out before you go to the store, you see what foods your family ISN'T eating. You'll know what not to buy - or what to buy in smaller portions. Yes, sometimes buying the smaller block of cheese is more expensive per slice, but if you're throwing half the block away at the end of the week anyway, you're losing money.

Also, by cleaning out the fridge, you get a good look at what you have. If you check the dates of everything in the fridge, maybe you notice there's a jar of spaghetti sauce you'd forgotten about in the back that's about to expire in a week. Dinner some time this week? Sounds good! Then you can check the cupboard for noodles and spices in case you need some.

2. Make meals in advance.

One of the things my fiance and I have tried in the past (and it was working well for a while) was to make all of our lunches on Sundays. We bought enough Tupperware (super cheap at Target) for all of it in advance. Sundays we would cook a batch of chicken breasts for him, make salads for the both of us, and had little Tupperwares for the dressing on the side. Then in the mornings, we would put the lunch in a bag along with an apple and a pre-made baggie of baby carrots. Sometimes he would want a sandwich too, but just making a sandwich in the morning is a lot less intimidating than trying to put together a whole lunch, and still have time for breakfast before work.

3. Apple slicer.

Growing up, I never had an apple slicer. As stupid as it sounds, I don't like eating apples right off the core. I'm much more likely to eat (and finish) an apple if it's in slices. However, I never wanted to go to the trouble of slicing the stupid thing, so I just didn't eat them. Once I moved in with my fiance, he showed me this nifty little thing called an apple slicer. Shaped like a spoked wheel with handles, you shove the thing down, and voila! 8 perfect slices, with the core separated. Now I eat apples all the time, because it takes me 2 seconds to slice it!

So yea... That's my rant. Sorry.

[MareMare]

ha! I love my apple slicer too!

[howtocooklamb]

more importantly aside from healthy recipes do not forget to Chew your food slowly, savoring every bite. We tend to rush though our meals, forgetting to actually taste the flavors and feel the textures of our food. Reconnect with the joy of eating.