Not planning to diet, but I am trying to be better about sugar consumption. It's horrible for my skin and immune system. I am trying to get back to cooking healthy meals from scratch for myself now that I'm not living out of a suitcase anymore. Also, I go out to eat a lot and that isn't very good for my finances. I would also like to start lifting weights again... I feel like a big lump of Jello lately.
My favorite healthy things to do for winter:
Bake a squash and freeze individual portions of it. It can be blended into mashed potatoes to increase the antioxidant capacity and give them a more interesting flavor.
Homemade Chex mix instead of chips or whatever. The store-bought chex mix is not made with fortified cereal and is higher in salt and fat, and is just not as healthy.
Caramel apples!
Cranberry muffins! I just made a batch with loose-leaf chai tea and that was ridiculously good. Cranberry-Chai muffins. Yum.
Cider and tea instead of coffee and hot chocolate.
Soup. Soup is so healthy and comforting and you can make it low-calorie if you like.
I am thinking about buying a juicer and getting lots of frozen fruits and veggies to juice with. Fresh isn't such a good option for winter because all the produce is trucked in from other places, but frozen is great for winter and just as nutritious.
The Diet/Self-Improvement Thread
Re: The Diet/Self-Improvement Thread
Dang-it, Zeebs, pass the cranberry-chai muffins,LOL! Sounds wonderful!
It's been awhile since I weighed myself. I have a calibrated scale in our packaging area & that rascal NEVER fibs, so that's what I rely on. Will weigh myself tomorrow to set my benchmark, but my goal will be to be *healthier* in total as well as more comfortable.
The biggie, in my case, is to reach for the water more often. I rarely drink sodas & much prefer red tea..it's naturally decaf & naturally has a touch of sweetness so perfect on its own. I keep a jug of water right next to my keyboard at work. My problem is that I get so engrossed in what I'm doing (working! LOL!) that I don't take the *time* to drink as much of it as I should. I will try to pay attention to that!
APPLES are *key* for me. Excellent snack.
We have squash or sweet potatoes a few times a week, white potatoes once a wk at most. Worst, absolute worst no-no, & one that I'm continually guilty of, is skipping meals. BAD! Both breakfast & lunch, sigh. By the time I get home around 4PM, I'm ravenous.......& since I go to BED at night at 6PM, it's pretty darned easy to see exactly HOW/WHY the pounds pile on!!!
mikie
It's been awhile since I weighed myself. I have a calibrated scale in our packaging area & that rascal NEVER fibs, so that's what I rely on. Will weigh myself tomorrow to set my benchmark, but my goal will be to be *healthier* in total as well as more comfortable.
The biggie, in my case, is to reach for the water more often. I rarely drink sodas & much prefer red tea..it's naturally decaf & naturally has a touch of sweetness so perfect on its own. I keep a jug of water right next to my keyboard at work. My problem is that I get so engrossed in what I'm doing (working! LOL!) that I don't take the *time* to drink as much of it as I should. I will try to pay attention to that!
APPLES are *key* for me. Excellent snack.
We have squash or sweet potatoes a few times a week, white potatoes once a wk at most. Worst, absolute worst no-no, & one that I'm continually guilty of, is skipping meals. BAD! Both breakfast & lunch, sigh. By the time I get home around 4PM, I'm ravenous.......& since I go to BED at night at 6PM, it's pretty darned easy to see exactly HOW/WHY the pounds pile on!!!
mikie
Live! Love! Laugh! They'll wonder what we're up to!
~*mikie*~
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com
(click daily ~ it's free! Click animal rescue there,too!)
we can make THE difference!
~*mikie*~
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com
(click daily ~ it's free! Click animal rescue there,too!)
we can make THE difference!
Re: The Diet/Self-Improvement Thread
Hey Zeebs I want to try those Cranberry Chai muffins also, they sound yummy!!!.
Karen, I love my Wii fit, but unless tou want to develope some type of healthy competition with your husband it might be hard to do together. However , since you unlock actvities in all of the fitness areas, but how much time you use it, you could each see how many different skills or activities you can unlock with in a week, One ofd my favorite things to do on mine is the ski jumping and the tilt table, In the ski jump you do exactly what it says you are doing, you ski down the mountain and jump at specified intervals, ( great for the quads) and the tilt table has you whittling at your waist muscles while you are trying to put balls through the holes on the table , takes practice and is a lot of fun.
While I'm not good at using mine on a regular basis, and usually end up with real sore thigh muscles from the ski jumping when I do, it has made exercise fun ,since i get immediate feed back with any activity because I am able to see what score i earned so that I can work on improving it the next time. If you but or have a Wii, the sport package that came with it, that has the bowling, boxing, golf, tennis and baseball are also a lot of fun, We have 2 controllers and often play against each other, boxing is a good workout on it's own, just be careful, since I almost got my glasses broken when DH and i were boxing one night.
Mikie, while I am trying to lose weight, healthier if my main goal, simply because i imagine that healthier will eventually led to lifestyle changes that will help with the other.
'
Hollis
Karen, I love my Wii fit, but unless tou want to develope some type of healthy competition with your husband it might be hard to do together. However , since you unlock actvities in all of the fitness areas, but how much time you use it, you could each see how many different skills or activities you can unlock with in a week, One ofd my favorite things to do on mine is the ski jumping and the tilt table, In the ski jump you do exactly what it says you are doing, you ski down the mountain and jump at specified intervals, ( great for the quads) and the tilt table has you whittling at your waist muscles while you are trying to put balls through the holes on the table , takes practice and is a lot of fun.
While I'm not good at using mine on a regular basis, and usually end up with real sore thigh muscles from the ski jumping when I do, it has made exercise fun ,since i get immediate feed back with any activity because I am able to see what score i earned so that I can work on improving it the next time. If you but or have a Wii, the sport package that came with it, that has the bowling, boxing, golf, tennis and baseball are also a lot of fun, We have 2 controllers and often play against each other, boxing is a good workout on it's own, just be careful, since I almost got my glasses broken when DH and i were boxing one night.
Mikie, while I am trying to lose weight, healthier if my main goal, simply because i imagine that healthier will eventually led to lifestyle changes that will help with the other.
'
Hollis
Re: The Diet/Self-Improvement Thread
For the Cranberry-Chai muffins you can adapt any basic muffin recipe. I don't know amounts for this, but I used like the basic muffin ratio that you can find in any comprehensive cookbook:
canned pears (to substitute for half of the butter in the recipe)
butter
sugar (but you can use a substitute if you like - sucanat has a lower glycemic index but is natural and would work)
eggs (can just use whites if you like or another egg substitute)
baking soda
baking powder
salt
loose leaf chai tea (about a tablespoon or two for a 12-muffin recipe)
cranberries (FRESH turn out the best but you can use frozen whole cranberries if you prefer)
optional: zest of 1 orange
*** EDIT: if you don't have loose leaf chai tea, you can either break open tea bags of chai, or you can use black tea and add spices like: cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper, etc
canned pears (to substitute for half of the butter in the recipe)
butter
sugar (but you can use a substitute if you like - sucanat has a lower glycemic index but is natural and would work)
eggs (can just use whites if you like or another egg substitute)
baking soda
baking powder
salt
loose leaf chai tea (about a tablespoon or two for a 12-muffin recipe)
cranberries (FRESH turn out the best but you can use frozen whole cranberries if you prefer)
optional: zest of 1 orange
*** EDIT: if you don't have loose leaf chai tea, you can either break open tea bags of chai, or you can use black tea and add spices like: cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, black pepper, etc
Last edited by zeebs on Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: The Diet/Self-Improvement Thread
Thanks, I'm going to have to find a basic muffin recipe and try these, as they sound absolutely yummy.
Hollis
Hollis
Re: The Diet/Self-Improvement Thread
Those do sound very very yummy! We weighed-in this morning- DH is down 9 pounds, and I'm down 5. I'm pretty sure it's the beginners luck and detoxing- the water and apples are working! I kind of surprised DH with the diet- but I kept it pretty easy for him- he has to drink 3 bottles of water, and eat what I cook. It's actually been pretty fun! We're going ice skating today!
"If it doesn't keep me up at night- it's not worth doing"- Ina Garten
Re: The Diet/Self-Improvement Thread
How fun! DO NOT BREAK ANYTHING! Have steam-mopped the kitchen floor & have done a bunch of scrubbing (well, with microcloths,lol) on hands & knees & sittin' on my butt! All of that *counts* as exercise!
mikie
mikie
Live! Love! Laugh! They'll wonder what we're up to!
~*mikie*~
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com
(click daily ~ it's free! Click animal rescue there,too!)
we can make THE difference!
~*mikie*~
http://www.thebreastcancersite.com
(click daily ~ it's free! Click animal rescue there,too!)
we can make THE difference!
Re: The Diet/Self-Improvement Thread
Way to go Karen and Kris!!!!! Keep it up!
Now it is time for me to get off my duff..............
Now it is time for me to get off my duff..............
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1Olive:14 Ivory
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Eyes: Phantom, Linen, & Fusion + Tarnish
Skincare: BHA & Awesome Sauce
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Re: The Diet/Self-Improvement Thread
I think scrubbing should count double! It's hard work.
Ice skating was a ton of fun! We haven't been since we were dating, but we both managed to remain upright. Graceful- no, but we're both in one piece. I think we may attempt sledding tomorrow.
Ice skating was a ton of fun! We haven't been since we were dating, but we both managed to remain upright. Graceful- no, but we're both in one piece. I think we may attempt sledding tomorrow.
"If it doesn't keep me up at night- it's not worth doing"- Ina Garten
Re: The Diet/Self-Improvement Thread
Congrats on the weight loss . Sledding sounds like more fun than skating to me, but then again I don't like to rollar skate either. Weigh -in is on Monday, so will know then whether or not I have dropped any more. Hubby eats all the time, so it is hard not to snack with him around, but I really have been trying to be good or to make healthy choices when I give in.