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I Swore I’d Never Do This!

Check out these statistics: 69 percent of children aged 2-5 can use a computer mouse, but only 11 percent  can tie their own shoelaces. More young children know how to play computer games (58 percent) than swim (20 percent) or ride a bike (52 percent).  There is no gender divide either. Boys and girls under the age of 5 are equally capable  of using technology.

So, I’m about to do something I said I’d never do.  I’m going to say something that used to make my skin crawl when my parents would say it to me.  At the risk of sounding like an old lady, I’m just going to say it:  When I was a kid….

When I was a kid, I played from morning til night, outside usually.  I’d ride my bike, play kickball or kick the can (my personal favorite).  I’d climb trees, play football with the boys in the neighborhood and jump rope with the girls.  I was a bit of a tom-boy, the son my dad never had. 😉 It wasn’t just me either, it was all of us.  We played…a lot! I was thinking recently about the trend of childhood obesity and wondering how much the changing times plays a role.

Technology has taken the place of Nerf balls, jump ropes and bicycles.  I’m not saying that kids NEVER do these things anymore, but you have to admit it’s probably far less than when we were kids (look, I said it again…pretty sure another gray hair just sprouted out of my head). My kids go in streaks where they’ll play outside for a good chunk of the day, and then suddenly a video game, or an app, or a tv show takes precedence. My personal favorite is when the neighbor kids come over and ‘virtually’ play with each other; everyone on their own personal device. It’s bizarre. But, I’m an old lady, what do I know?

I’m not going to make the argument that all of this technology is a bad thing. I think it’s awesome that the kids have all of this information at their fingertips. The things that they can do on the computer never cease to amaze me! I think the Wii is a pretty cool thing, too.  At least they’re moving right? And I’m just as guilty of enjoying my own technology. You will rarely find me without my smart phone in hand, or laptop on my…lap. (duh :P) But I’m a grown up, on the way to being an old lady, and I played my heart out as a kid!

I don’t actually have a real solution to this conundrum.  I’m not really an advocate of forcing my kids to play. That seems silly right? “Go outside and play, and have fun, or you’re grounded!” ??? I do want them to WANT to play outside and be active, however. For now, I think we have a pretty good balance. I don’t worry too much about my own kids. I’m just concerned with the trend, and how it started, and how we’re going to end it.

We are a fast-moving, information-seeking, technology-loving society. We eat more and more fast, convenient and processed food as a result. And that is a topic for another day…don’t get me started!!!

And that brings me to my 30 Day Clean Eating challenge, Days 12 and 13.

Day 12 was fairly unremarkable. I’m falling into a groove now! I made a 1 egg plus 2 egg white omelette with peppers, mushrooms and reduced fat feta for breakfast. I had another quinoa salad for lunch. Shakeology, almonds, and an apple for various snacks during the day. For dinner we went out for Mexican food with friends to celebrate a birthday. I did well with grilled lime swordfish tacos (white tortillas weren’t the greatest, but what can you do?) with a cabbage and carrot slaw and avocado. They were really tasty!

Day 13 was a long day. I was up a 5:00, so spacing my meals out was a bit of a challenge. Coffee and a 1 egg/2 white mushroom, spinach, reduced fat feta scramble for breakfast. Tropical Strawberry Vegan Shakeology is my new favorite!  It’s so yummy! It was leftover turkey chili for lunch. I enjoyed a beautiful, red honey crisp apple and almonds for a snack.  We had a chicken fajita dinner at my parents’ house. They really hit the spot! I put mine in a wheat tortilla with chopped tomato, avocado and onion.  They were so colorful and delicious. Finally, I chilled on the couch with my husband and a bowl of popcorn.  It was a really good day. 🙂

Now I’m going to put this laptop down, and go play. I’m doing TurboFire for my workout today and I’m pretty sure that counts! It’s too fun not to be considered playtime!

Now go play!

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Challenge Update & Yummy Recipes

Day 10 was a hurry hurry day. I was running around from the second I woke up in the morning.  That’s the one tricky thing about clean eating, your ‘grab-and-go’ food items are limited to fruits, some veggies and food that is leftover from a previous meal. Even cereal is off my list because it’s processed. So for breakfast I microwaved an egg, threw it on some Ezekiel toast and sliced up some avocado on top.  It was fast, and surprisingly tasty. I like the egg and avocado together.  For lunch I made my favorite Greek salad…again.  For a snack I had a bowl of plain Greek yogurt (I have a thing for Greeks) sweetened with a Stevia packet, and cut up strawberries and almonds on top.  Very satisfying!  Even though I was short on time, I made Tilapia, quinoa and lemon roasted broccoli.  It came together quickly and everything was delicious.  Here are the recipes.  *You could probably use any fish with this recipe.

  and 

Eleven is my favorite number and it was a good day, too.  I woke up and made breakfast for 5, I packed up lunches for 5 (we were going to be out all day again…surprise!) and put dinner for 6 in my crock pot!  All before 9:00! I had oatmeal with strawberries and almond milk for breakfast and Shakeology on the road. For lunch I used my leftover quinoa to make a tasty salad to go.  For dinner we ate the delicious turkey chili that my crock pot made for us  while we were gone.  It was super tasty!  There were a few healthy snacks tossed in throughout the day as well…but let’s get on with the recipes, shall we?

Quinoa Avocado Salad

(for 1, modify for additional servings)

1 C. quinoa

1 tomato (I used a roma)

1/4 fresh, chopped cilantro

1/2 avocado (cut into chunks)

 1  T. chopped onion OR 1/2 t. onion powder

1 garlic clove, minced OR 1/2 t. garlic powder

1/2 fresh lime, juiced

salt and pepper to taste

* Toss everything together in a bowl and serve!

Turkey Crockpot Chili

 1 1/4 pound lean ground turkey, I use the EXTRA lean ground turkey breast:

3/4 C. yellow cornmeal

1 C. chicken or vegetable broth

1 – 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes

small can of green chilis

1/2 C. or your favorite salsa

1 small onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 cup frozen (or canned) corn

1 can kidney beans, rinsed & drained

2-3 T. chili powder

1t. cumin

Directions:  Spray a large skillet with cooking spray and cook turkey until it’s browned and cooked through. Meanwhile, soak cornmeal in broth, whisk and let sit for about 5 minutes. Add cooked turkey and cornmeal mixture to the crock pot along with all of the other ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 7-8 hours.

Optional toppings:  reduced fat shredded cheese, low-fat sour cream, black olives, avocado, whatever you like 🙂

Nice for a chili weekend, get it?! 😉

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Fall Off Horse, Get Back Up, Repeat?

If you’ve never ridden a horse before, it’ll take some time to learn how, right?  If it’s been awhile, you’re going to need some practice.  If it’s something you want to do…you’ll keep trying until you are securely in the saddle and riding into the sunset, or wherever you want to ride…it’s just that the sunset seems like a place that people on horses want to go.  Just saying.

You’ve heard all of the sayings…”Fall down 7 times, get up 8″, “If you fell down yesterday, stand up today”, “I get knocked down but I get up again…” (ok, maybe not a saying, but a catchy tune).  I guess you can hear these words and say these things until you’re blue in the face, but until you’ve lived it and embraced it might not seem real.  I can say these words to someone everyday, loudly even, and that person may hear what I’m saying, but not believe me.  What advice would you give to someone who thinks they’ve failed, and finds it easier to stay down rather than get up and try again?

We’re all going to fall down sometimes right?  But if you’ve clearly defined goals in your mind that you really want to achieve…you MUST get back up.  Don’t forget what’s important to you, and don’t let a misstep or a step backwards distract you from what you want.  Keep it in sight, remind yourself of it everyday.  Let every choice you make start with a question: “Is this going to help me reach my goals?”  I want to shout from the mountain top, or at least a really high hill, that YOU CAN DO IT!!!  Of course you can! It’ll take time, committment and a whole lot of hard work, but if it’s your goal, than do it.  Take the time, make the commitments and do the work. We may or may not be discussing horses at this point, but you get where I’m going here. I can believe in you, your friends can believe in you, but you’re the one who needs to get in the saddle and ride.  So…do you believe in you?  If so, than grab my hand, get up and try again.

Challenge Days 8 & 9

Nothing fancy going on here.  I did find some tasty organic pomegranate oatmeal at Costco that I like…so that’s good.  I had my leftover frittata for lunch. That tasty looking snack is some plain Greek yogurt, sweetened with a little Stevia and blueberries and crunched up almonds on top.  A big salad, some Shakeology and a ChaLEAN Extreme workout rounded out the day.  I was pretty low on calories, but I ran out of time in the day, and wasn’t particularly hungry…so what are you gonna do?

Man, I need to do some more cooking.  Yesterday I was a little desperate at dinner time and seriously just grabbed stuff out of the frig and threw it together and called it dinner.  I had a leftover chicken breast that I chopped up and put on 2 whole wheat tortillas that I spread with avocado.  I put a little reduced fat cheese and homemade salsa on top and that was that.  Not pretty, but filling and fast.  I made another bowl of yummy oatmeal for breakfast.  We went hiking so I grabbed a bag of almonds for the trail.  I enjoyed another big salad for lunch and worked out like a ninja in my black clothes. No mask though…too sweaty.

If you fell down while reading this blog…GET UP!

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Cleaner Eating Challenge, Day 4

Yesterday was Day 4. Does this look like sacrifice people?  I keep waiting for it to get harder, but I think it’s actually getting easier.  I know my ‘weak’ times, and I avoid missteps by planning ahead and having healthier, cleaner alternatives to the quick, easy, mindless snacks I would have typically been grabbing for during those times of day.

So everyday, all year round, starts with a Christmas mug-o-coffee.  That’s a given.  After my workout, which was TurboFire 45 (the most funnest workout ever!) I had my Shakeology (yawn…haven’t we done this before?).  Hey, I’m a creature of habit, what can I say?  I think we all stick with what works.  This is one of the fast, convenient foods that takes the place of junk alternatives or food that requires a little more prep time.

I love a good salad!  This one was delicious!  It was romaine, tomatoes, reduced fat feta cheese, sweet peppers, onion, avocado, craisins, almonds plus homemade dressing (1 T. olive oil & 1 T. balsamic).  I threw this in a “to go” container and ate it while I was waiting for the kids to finish a class.

I was a little hungry when I came home, so Ezekiel toast, almond butter and 1/2 banana to the rescue!  I made a tasty chicken, pea pod, pepper, pineapple (lot of p’s!) for dinner and had mine with a side of quinoa instead of rice.  It was so filling!  I love warm pineapple!  Something about it just makes me happy.  🙂

I was way low on calories so I had a bowl of popcorn for a snack after dinner.  I even popped it in a little oil and put a little real butter on top.  Everything in moderation, right?  My calories still came in slightly on the low side for the day, but I didn’t feel hungry at all.  Eating 5-6 smaller meals during the day is really key to keeping your metabolism going as well as staying on top of your appetite.  You know how they say that if you ‘feel’ thirsty, you’re already getting somewhat dehydrated.  Well, if you ‘feel’ hungry, that’s when you grab for food that’s not always your best choice.  Keep yourself hydrated and fed throughout the day to avoid disaster!  And download a slick app like My Fitness Pal to help you track your calories throughout the day.  If you don’t know how many calories you should be shooting for each day, go to www.freedieting.com and use the handy calorie calculator to figure out your daily calorie goal.  Once you get the hang of it, it’s a piece of cake…well maybe that’s a bad comparison!  It’s a piece of fruit! 😉

Stir fry recipe here:

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Clean Eating Challenge, Day 3

Yesterday morning I awoke to such a glorious smell…I lept out of my bed with delight and anticipation of the coming glories of the day. Well…not exactly, but you get the idea. Anyone who knows me also knows that there sure isn’t any ‘leaping out of  bed’ in the morning. Mornings and I have never really gotten along. But, yesterday was a little better. The night before I had plopped all the fixin’s for apple cinnamon steel-cut oatmeal into my crock pot, and that wondrous little machine cooked my breakfast for me while I slept! The kids really enjoyed the oatmeal, too.  As a matter of fact, 5 out of 6 Hunts agree: this recipe is a winner! You can make Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, too!  Click here if you’d like the recipes.

For lunch I had some Un-refried bean burritos (I told you that recipe makes a ton!) with avocado slices, reduced fat cheese and homemade salsa. I had Shake0logy for an afternoon snack and some fuel before my workout.  I lifted pretty heavy, and today I’m walking a little funny, I’m not gonna lie to you.  That just means I did it right.  🙂

For dinner I grilled up some Costco Extra Lean Turkey Burgers (only 200 calories) and made baked sweet potato french fries.  I used sweet potatoes from the farm. They were SO delicious!  I could have eaten a lot more just because they tasted so darn good, but I didn’t need to.  This was a very satisfying meal!  Sometimes, if I just take my time and enjoy every little bite, I find that I’m content with just 1 serving.  I once heard that it takes your brain about 15 minutes to register that your stomach is full.  Do me a favor and DON’T shove the food in quickly in an attempt to fool your brain.  It’s not a smart strategy.

Later on, I needed a little snack so I toasted up some Ezekiel bread, spread it with natural almond butter and had an organic dark chocolate square on the side.  I really was totally satisfied all day.  It’s amazing what mindful eating does for your daily diet.  It’s funny, because I now know what my ‘weak times’ are.  When the kids start reaching for snacks in the afternoon, that’s when I would typically grab a handful of whatever it is they took out of the pantry:  a few chips, crackers or pretzels.  Not that any of those things would put me over the edge, but it’s processed food that my body doesn’t need, especially if I had planned ahead and ate accordingly.  🙂  Day 3 is done…only 27 more to go.  I’ve got this!

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Clean Eating Challenge, Day 2

    So Here is what yesterday looked like.  I did a jumping, kicking, sweating, calorie-torching workout in the morning which I believe made me feel a little hungrier throughout the day.  So in short, Day 2 was a little more challenging than Day 1.

I started the day with Santa Claus and coffee; I seriously need some giant coffee mugs that aren’t so seasonally inappropriate. So, I was getting ready for my workout when I realized that there is no way I would make it through the entire thing without food.  So I quick grabbed a half of a banana that one of the kids left on the counter and sloppily spattered it with some natural almond butter.  I also had a glass of water, but by the end of the workout, I was grossing myself out with my growling and sloshy stomach noises.  I came up and made myself a quick Shakeology to take the edge off.

For lunch I made one of my favorite salads:  Greek salad complete with chick peas, pickled beets, farm tomatoes and onions and a little leftover grilled chicken breast. I make my own dressing with 1 T. of olive oil, 1 T. of red wine vinegar and a few shakes of oregano. I don’t miss store-bought dressing.  Seriously!

For a snack I cut up a honey crisp apple and mixed up some chocolate PB2 for dipping.  That one always hits the spot.

So on to dinner.  I had some Un-refried beans that I had done up in my crock pot.  I love this recipe.  It makes a ton and it’s so easy to slap some beans in a tortilla for quick tacos/bean burritos.  They freeze well, too! The kids like to put them on tortilla chips with some cheese and make nachos.  I made mine with whole wheat tortillas, some slivers of avocado, a little reduced fat cheese and homemade salsa. They were super deelish!

Click here for the UN-refried beans recipe.

For a snack later on, I had some green tomatoes on the counter that I dipped in egg whites, then in a cornmeal/seasoned breadcrumb/garlic powder mixture and cooked them up in a tsp. of olive oil until they were tender on the inside and crispy/golden on the outside.  I set them on some Ezekiel toast triangles, and they were quite tasty! My darling husband begged to differ.  His palate is not as refined as mine, I guess. 😉

Before I went to bed last night I put steel-cut oats into my crock pot with some cut up apples and cinnamon.  Oh boy…I can’t wait to tell you about that!

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Keeping it Clean!

So, I decided to participate in a 30 Day “Cleaner Eating” Challenge group and see how I do.  This picture represents all of my meals, snacks and caloric beverages for the day.  It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be, but then again, it was only day one after all.  I won’t have a problem with breakfast or lunch.  I almost always grab a smoothie or Shakeology in the morning, and have a salad for lunch, plus a healthy snack or 2 in between.  It’s dinner that will be a little more challenging.  I have 4 kids with varying tastes to cook for and I’m not sure they’re entirely on board with this whole clean-eating concept.  I think there will be times that I’ll be making myself something different for dinner, but I’m going to try hard to find some kid friendly recipes, too.

So “What is clean eating?” you ask.  Maybe you didn’t ask, but I’ll answer anyway.  Clean eating is based on removing all processed foods from your diet and focusing more on veggies, fruits, whole grains and lean proteins. So for me that means: no white flour, rice or sugar, no processed/refined foods, no fast food, no preservatives, limited alcohol, limited dairy. Make sense? I’d say I was about 80% of the way there before the challenge. Now I’m all in. 🙂

Yesterday I had to go go go…so I needed quick and easy meals and snacks.  I had my Shakeology for breakfast.  Then I made a quick microwave egg, slapped it on some Ezekiel bread (look it up…it’s good stuff) with spinach and tomato.  I grabbed a small apple and a string cheese for  the road.  For dinner I grilled up some chicken breasts and had quinoa and steamed broccoli and cauliflower for sides. Surprise surprise…even the kids loved it!  My problem was that after dinner I was still about 350 calories away from what I should be getting for the day.  So I toasted up another slice of Ezekiel bread, spread it with some natural almond butter and threw in a square of organic dark chocolate (REALLY dark).  I was pretty close to may calorie goal, and full.  I called it a day.

And there you have it.  Day 1 is in the books, and it was a snap.  Check with me in 30 days and see if I’m still ‘snapping’.

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Road Trip!

Road Trip!!  1 laptop, 1 tablet, 1 mp3 player, and 2 smart phones (plus 4 sets of headphones) to keep the kids occupied for 5 hours.  What ever happened to “Slug bug, no slug-backs”?  That was so much cheaper!

Going to do my best to stay on track with diet and workouts.  I even brought my Shakeology along just in case.  I also packed my running shoes and workout clothes. Wish me luck!

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Real Fast Food!

I have always been a smoothie person.  Until recently, in order to make sure that I was getting ALL of the nutrients I could possible pack into my smoothie I would get out ALL of the following:  kale, spinach, almond milk, strawberries, banana, blueberries, pineapple, chia seeds, protein powder and ice!  Now I get out a bag of shakeology, ice, almond milk (or regular milk) and maybe a little PB2 (or just regular peanut butter).  The best part is I’m getting more nutrients than I was before, and it actually sustains me for 3 or more hours!  I can blend it up, pour it up and drink it up in less time than it used to take me to locate all of the ingredients I needed for my previous smoothies.  WINNING!