Farewell

Well, it has been a pleasure this semester writing for all of you. I've learned a lot, and I hope you have too. As it is the end of the semester, I will no longer be posting, but that doesn't mean I won't continue to eat healthfully and keep up with my workouts. I encourage all of you to do the same. I wish you the best of luck and a Merry Christmas! God Bless

In Christ,

Amelia

GMOs continued

Although there a lot of benefits to changing the genes of an organism, there are a lot of concerns that keep people from accepting this idea.

-Safety
Safety is a huge issue. Do we really know if there could be long term affects to our bodies, the plants or animals, and the world….no. We can assume that there aren’t any, but we don’t know for sure. Using plants that contain vaccines could affect our allergies or the way that antibiotics react in our bodies. Cross pollination of plants could cause a lot of damage if those plants meant for non-vaccinated production contained the vaccination.

-Economy
How can we stop a few companies from dominating sales and becoming a oligopoly in this industry? That would be very difficult since only a few companies deal with this type of technology and science. Would third world countries become mostly dependent on the larger countries that are willing to help feed them and take care of them? Possibly, so that’s not helping these other countries develop at all.

-Ethics
Many people think that it’s wrong to change the genetic make-up of plants and animals. They say that genetics have been set in place for a reason and that is something put shouldn’t be messed with. Seriously though, if we have the ability to help people and benefit the world without doing anything morally wrong, why not do it. It’s one way to help save the world.

-Reasoning
Many people are also afraid that the technologies will become prejudice. Only countries with the right resources can make GMOs and some people are afraid that their motives will be to gain wealth. The technologies may only be used by certain countries and new technologies would only be developed in the interest of those countries needs or wants.
After looking at all of these major negative points, I would actually say that the good outways the bad in this case. So many benefits can come out of changing the genes. I guess I’m a little biased though because my major is plant genetics and breeding. Oh well, you all now know where I stand.

Low-fat Holidays

The holidays are a struggling dieter’s nightmare. With carry-ins, gift exchanges, and family gatherings, it seems as if everywhere you go, you’re surrounded by delicious holiday treats (baked with love and lots and lots of calories.) My holiday weakness: cheesecake. I just can’t resist. So I found a reduced fat cheesecake recipe that I’ll be bringing to all my holiday gatherings.

Reduced Fat Peppermint Cheesecake
This light cheesecake is subtly flavored with peppermint, which makes it an ideal holiday dessert. Sprinkle some crushed candy canes on top for an extra minty flavor and crunch.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup low fat Honey Graham Cracker crumbs (4 sheets)
1 8-ounce package reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1 8-ounce package fat-free cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 egg whites
1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
2-3 drops red food coloring (optional)
Mini candy canes to garnish

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a sealed plastic bag, crush cracker sheets with a rolling pin to make crumbs. Spray an 8-inch springform or loose-bottomed baking pan with nonstick spray. Cover pan base and side with foil wrap.

Press cracker crumbs on to base of pan. Bake for 8 minutes.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar together, mixing until smooth. Add egg and mix well. Beat in egg whites one at a time. Add peppermint extract and, if desired, food coloring to make a light pink color.

Pour cream cheese mixture into pan. Place cheesecake in a shallow roasting pan. Add enough hot water to cover the base of the roasting pan. The steam will help stop the cheesecake from cracking. Bake for 30-35 minutes until center is almost set. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, then remove from pan (leaving it on the base). Cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Serve chilled.

Makes 8 servings.

Per Serving: Calories 195, Calories from Fat 73, Total Fat 8g (sat 4.4g), Cholesterol 49mg, Sodium 227mg, Carbohydrate 25g, Fiber 0.5g, Protein 5.5g

Genetically Modified Organisms

Genetically Modified Organisms or GMOs are introduced into our world more and more very day. They are plants that have genetic traits breed into them by injection or selective breeding. There are many benefits to these plants, but there are also some concerns with these plants.
For farmers, GMOs are very important. With weed resistant, drought resistant, and disease resistant plants, less herbicides and pesticides are sprayed on the crops. This saves the farmer money while increasing crop production and yield per acre.

For the buyer, food products can be processed faster since more materials are on hand and new products can be developed with a plethora of crops. The new products are the foods we eat, especially health foods, with natural additives of soy or wheat products. Many of the health foods we eat that are influenced by these crops are soy protein bars, all natural wheat breads and other bread products such as crackers. Some other genetically modified foods are some types of apples such as Red Delicious, and types of tomatoes to keep them redder longer.

There are also other benefits of GMOs for people suffering from starvation, nutrient deficiencies, and disease. For example, in Africa, young children are suffering from a Vitamin A deficiency. Plant geneticists from Purdue University developed a type of rice called Golden Rice. They increased the amount of Vitamin A by adding a gene to produce more carotenoids. The rice was shipped over and easily farmed in the difficult agriculture conditions. The problem isn’t completely solved for all of Africa, but this modified food did make a drastic difference.

With the many opportunities we have in the US, what a great way to use our resources to benefit the rest of the world!

Define "Diet"

My friend’s sister is studying to be some sort of nutritionist. For one of her projects, she got a group together to interview us and sort of have a group discussion about nutrition and dieting and what we think about it. I came to some realizations about the modern concept of dieting.

When the concept of dieting comes to mind, the logical assumption “eating less” immediately follows. When did “eating healthy” become a less important aspect of dieting? When you go on a diet, instead of cutting out the snacks, shouldn’t it be more important to make sure everything you eat is healthy? Reducing your intake of food to a bare minimum might make you lose a few pounds, but it also increases the chance of vitamin deficiency and, past a certain point, malnutrition. Dieting shouldn’t mean starving yourself, but that’s the twisted view today’s society has warped it into.

There are a lot of “fad” diets out there. Atkins, all-carb, all-protein, no-carb, dairy diet…there’s so many advertised diets out on the market today. These diets make you change your eating habits, which is good. That’s what a diet should do. But its not good to completely cut out one area of nutrition or to substantially increase another area. Atkins discourages eating fruit because of the sugar in fruit, but isn’t fruit part of a healthy diet? A no-carb diet may sound good, but doesn’t the traditionally-accepted food pyramid put wheats and grains (aka, big source of carbs) as the base of good nutrition? If a person is willing to alter their eating habits to suit one of these particular “diets,” why not set up a balanced meal routine instead?

Dieting isn’t coupled with exercise enough. If you care enough to diet, you should care enough about your overall health. Exercising would help. Lose a couple pounds, reduce stress, build muscle…while most people are concerning themselves with their starvation-diets, very few individuals realize that exercising increases health while also accomplishing that goal of losing a few pounds.

When did the core concept of dieting become so vague in today’s world? Is dieting eating less, eating healthier, eating certain food? Is it about the weight you lose or the habits you change? Is it skipping the morning snack, or is it replacing the muffin with carrot sticks? At the end of the day, I guess “diet” is defined by the individual as what makes you feel good about yourself.

Cancer

This week has been such a tough week for me. My cousin Nathan, who is only 24, has been battling cancer for about a year, and this week he is in the hospital battling for his life. He began on Monday with a long surgery where the doctors removed two tumors from his thigh/pelvic area. The doctors successfully removed those tumors, but as they explored upwards, they found tumors throughout his abdomen.

Nathan has a rare type of cancer called clear-cell sarcoma. It is very aggressive and has begun spreading through his lymphatic system. The doctors are stunned by its aggressiveness and its lack of response to chemotherapy. Treatments options seem to vary from doctor to doctor which is really frustrating to my family and me. Why is it that doctors always have differing opinions? Oh well. All I can do is pray that something works.

I went and saw Nathan today in the hospital in Indianapolis. He looks so thin and pale, almost like a skeleton, but he’s hanging in there. His story is very tragic because he was in the Navy and was training to be a Navy Seal. He had been at the top of his game, taking out submarines, and being as physically and mentally fit as ever before. Then this happens and the only question to ask is why. The answer, I will never know. All I want is for him to get better and be healed.

Everyone knows how bad cancer is, but it never really hits you until you are directly affected by it in some way. In this case, I see its destructive power and how it literally sucks the life out of its victims. The scary thing today is that you never know who it will hit. All ages are susceptible and, as in this case, it doesn’t seem to matter what type of diet a person has, healthful or not.

Cancer is a group of cells that are grow and divide without respect to normal growth limits, invade and destroy nearby tissues, and spread to other locations in the body. Almost all cancers are cause by mutations of genetic material in the body and in the US cancer is responsible for 25% of all deaths. Scary huh?

Pilates for Pink

I just read about one of the coolest new charities, Pilates for Pink. SHAPE magazine and The Breast Cancer Research Foundation have joined forces to raise money and awareness for breast cancer. The initiative includes custom-created Pilates for Pink products, an online charity auction, and Pilates for Pink classes at participating Pilates studios across the country. The project was kicked off by SHAPE’s Pilates for Pink Festival in Union Square, New York. 100% of proceeds from this event went to benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Pilates is more than just the latest fitness fad. To me, it represents strength and empowerment for women. Women who respect and care for their bodies should realize the importance of breast cancer awareness.

According to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, there are three steps every woman should take improve your health and prevent breast cancer.

1. Participate in an hour of aerobic exercise three to four times a week. Research shows that incorporating exercise into your daily life can reduce your risk of breast cancer by as much as 40 percent. “Regular exercise reduces the amount of estrogen and progesterone you produce, and those hormones may fuel breast cancer,” says Anne McTiernan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Prevention Center at the Fred Hutchison Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Follow the link to find the Pilates center near you participating in the Pilates for Pink initiative.

2. Start maintaining a healthy weight now. Studies show the extra pounds, especially around the midsection can increase your risk for breast cancer.

3. Don’t smoke. It’s not just for your lungs anymore. The carcinogens found in cigarette smoke are bad for your breast as well. Respect your body and ask those around you to snuff their butts too. Research shows that regular exposure to secondhand smoke may increase your risk for breast cancer by as much as 27 percent.

Respect yourself and the ones you love. Take steps to prevent breast cancer and help educate the women in your life that you love. Pink is powerful.

Holiday Health

I’m so ready for it.

It’s coming.

Holidays. I love ‘em.

As someone genuinely interested in staying healthy, I should probably fear and despise the holidays. The time of year when people eat too much of the wrong stuff, eat too little of the healthy stuff, get lazy about working out, relax their health habits…you know how it goes. Holidays are like a gateway drug into laziness and being unhealthy…once you start, you keep going. They can make all the New Year’s resolutions they want, but its hard to get back from the holiday mode, and very rarely happens. Despite all this, I will openly admit to loving Turkey Day and Christmas and New Year’s. I could encourage you to make conscious healthy choices about what you eat, because I will wholeheartedly admit that I won’t even attempt such a feat myself. And I can’t encourage early morning runs or workouts, because there’s no way I would leave my warm bed to get all sweaty and stuff either. So, how do I attempt healthy holidays?

While I will not discourage accepting the second helping of mashed potatoes or buttering that biscuit, I will encourage eating those peas and carrots. Everyone puts corn or green beans or some sort of vegetable on their holiday table every year, and every year, its virtually untouched at the end of the meal. Rather than joining in on the aunties’ card game after the meal, I recommend playing with the kid cousins or taking a walk. Keep candy out of the open. If there’s candy available, it will get eaten; if there’s candy available but only after exerting a little effort, it’s much less likely to get consumed as quickly.

Also, the best part of this time of year is that there’s plenty of stuff to do outside. Ice skating totally qualifies as a workout, and its tons of fun. If there’s snow, sledding is good too. If you live in a big city, walk around downtown one night. Exercise, and cities are always pretty during Christmas. Christmas caroling is fun with friends and family, even if they make you stand in the back because you can’t sing.

Most important is when you come back from the holidays. People naturally slip into lazy habits, and its hard to come back from there. My easiest way of dealing with it is to have a workout buddy before I go home for the holidays. If you’re only held accountable to yourself after the holidays, chances are that little voice in your head will let you off the hook if you don’t feel like working out. If there’s actually another physical being nagging you to get up and workout, you’re a thousand times more likely to listen to it. I know people who also put up a picture of their spring break dream-swimsuit in January to encourage working out.

So, I’m excited for Christmas with a clear conscience. I know that my health regime is going to suffer a little (and by “a little,” I really mean “a lot.”) But hey, it’s the holidays and I have some of these plans in mind to keep me somewhat on track for when I return to the real world in January, after the holidays.

Skinny Crazy

I read today about Brittney Spears’s latest addiction: LipoDissolve. It’s a process in which doctors inject soybean derivatives into the body’s fatty areas. The procedure is said dissolve fat cells in a matter of weeks. Spears’s sources have even been quoted as saying “It’s like a tummy tuck without surgery.” We all know about Brittney Spears’s laundry list of bizarre endeavors, and this is certainly not the weirdest of her weird. The scary part, however, is it’s not just Brittney Spears participating in Hollywood’s latest weight loss trend. The trendy Las Vegas spa Spears was caught entering is catering to the rich and famous daily. Walking in fat and flabby and walking out fit and fabulous without a bit of the work, sounds like a dream come true. But shooting needles full of unknown substances into my body sounds just a little scary to me. Reading about the disturbing lengths Hollywood’s hottest are willing to go to leaves me with little hope for the young girls who look up to the ever shrinking starlets.

I don’t necessarily blame them. It’s hard not to get sucked into thinking thin is in. I fight daily with the desire to be skinny and fast. Healthy is hard work. And just when I was feeling like there was no hope, I opened up the latest issue of Fitness magazine to hear Kelly Ripa, Hollywood’s sweetheart and mommy-next-door, talking candidly about her healthy slim down. Starting out slow, and working her way up to ass-kicking sculpting classes, Ripa can relate to every woman out there. She gave up smoking, lowered her cholesterol intake, and started working out at least four times a week. Even though she appears to be superwoman, Ripa is subjected to the same self conscious kryptonite all women are. She admits to wearing her “good butt jeans” on a bad day and needing the boost of a good compliment every once in a while. Kelly Ripa made having the Hollywood body human and most importantly attainable. But what impressed me most was her awareness that skinny isn’t everything. She said, “I like to think my daughter will never hear me say the words ‘Do I look fat in this?’” Maybe we should all take a lesson from Kelly, take a long run and throw on those perfect jeans to show off all our hard work to the world.

I'm Learning

Looking back at the last 10 weeks of my life and my search for the true meaning of health, I’ve realized that success is relative and progress is everything. I’ve only lost 4 pounds so far. However, the knowledge and the sense of self-worth I’ve gained in the process is irreplaceable. I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. I’ve always felt, to be successful in anything, the first step is to become as educated as possible. Since I started this self challenge, I’ve learned so much about health and fitness, the way we view the world, and most of all myself.

My first piece of advice is read anything and be objective about everything. The world is full of doctors speculating about the true secret to weight loss. One thing everyone can agree on, however, is that every person is different. What works for me may not work for you. So, experiment until you find the diet and exercise routine that is right for you. But whatever you do, they must come hand in hand.

Here, lies my second piece of advice maintain a healthy diet while also exercising. If you only diet, or only exercise, the progress is slow and can easily become frustrating. Maintaining healthy eating habits provides you with more energy to exercise and better fuels your body for the rest of the day. Conversely, exercising gives you motivation to maintain those healthy eating habits. Who wants to eat a greasy cheeseburger after sweating it out in the gym? That’s a big waste of a lot of time and energy.

My most important piece of advice, however, is to love yourself enough never to give up. I had to learn to accept the body I had, before I could work to change it. I realized that, a change fueled by self-hatred will never be successful. 4 pounds in 10 weeks may not sound like a lot to you, but it’s a step in the right direction and a start that I’m very proud of.

Holiday Over-Eating

Thanksgiving = eating. Yeah, I already knew that, but this year, I’m pretty sure I out-did myself. For the first time in the history of my family, we had Thanksgiving at my house with just my immediate family and my grandma instead of my whole family at my grandparents house. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve had that much good food in one place EVER! It was amazing, and I definitely had my fill of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, corn, and rolls. Oh and the most important part, the pecan pie.

My mom is an amazing cook, and although I’m not far behind her, she still smokes me! There are those that can cook out of cook books and those that can cook by family recipes with some talent, and then there are those who I like to qualify as “dump cooks.” These are the cooks that have a general idea of what they desire to create and the head knowledge to make it fabulous by simply dumping in the ingredients. Unbelievable I know, but that’s what my mom is, and she is fantastic at it.

So now you understand my dilemma. When I come home, I don’t just sit down to Thanksgiving dinner. I sit down to a Thanksgiving feast. This makes it extremely difficult to keep the pounds off. I know that some of you can relate. There’s nothing’ like what momma makes, right?
I’ll admit, I didn’t hold back either. I kept telling myself I was going to finish the last tiny sliver of apple pie, mind you, I was taste testing pecan, pumpkin, and apple pie. I literally had to sleep off my meal because I was stuffed to the brim. Bad idea I know, but it was definitely worth it.

Unfortunately, the eating doesn’t stop there. Tomorrow is my cousin’s fiancé’s bridal shower….more cookies, cake, and the good stuff, white chocolate covered pretzels. So how do I plan on keeping my weight down? That’s the tough question, but I think I have the solution and some helpful tips.

-Next week, I will continue to run with my friend Mandi. We are up to three miles, by the way, and it gets easier every week! (It might be a little tougher this week with those extra pounds on though.)

-I will also eat more fruits and vegetables and less carbs such as bread, pasta, and potatoes.

-I will drink water or a fruit drink in place of my usual afternoon snack.

With these three tips, I’ll be on my way to the road to recovery. Just in time for Christmas, but we’ll see how that goes. Yay for self-control! Good luck to you this Christmas season, and if you have any tips on how to keep the pounds off, please share and let’s help each other and spread some Christmas cheer!

Random Facts

So, being home for Thanksgiving, I'm of course grateful to see my best friend at home again.  I'm also grateful for her wide range of random and almost completely useless, little-known facts about nutrition.  I don't know how she picks up on these things, but over the past few days, she's shared quite a few of these random facts.  Some gems of her wisdom:

- Canned vegetables, such as corn and peas, have more vitamins and are healthier for you than frozen vegetables.

-Dented cans rust; nondented cans don't.

-Most people who died on Arctic expeditions (north or south pole) died from lead poisoning in their canned rations, not because of any occurrence on their journey.

- The best snack is a rice krispie.  The sugar in the snack gives you energy quickly, but the rice cereal breaks down more slowly and gives you energy later on also.

-Onions only smell if they're going bad or rotting.  Good onions hardly smell at all.

-Iceberg lettuce has a lot less iron and other vitamins than any other sort of greener lettuce.  In general, the darker green the lettuce, the healthier.

Okuma's Chinese Wu-Long Tea

We always heard about green tea and its natural benefits by helping with cancer prevention, diabetes, liver disease, halitosis, and weight loss. It is also believed by some Chinese people to be the key to a longer life.

Recently, a new form of green tea has been introduced to the health world. It’s called Okuma’s Chinese Wu-Long Tea. The benefits? It evidently melts away pounds fast. A CNN news report, Rachael Ray, and other Hollywood celebrities are convinced of and are promoting this new tea. Not only are there personal testimonies about the effects of this tea, there are also 37 scientific studies that provide tangible evidence supporting the claims about it.

Personally, I don’t promote weight loss like this. I think that there are better ways to have a leaner figure; however, I do have a friend who really struggles with her weight and she works out everyday and eats lots of fruits and vegetables. Normally, I would also tell you not to take a supplement or drink that will help you lose weight. Surprisingly, in this case I have not seen a lot of negatives of Wu-Long Tea and since it is all natural and scientifically supported, I say go for it. If you are really struggling with your weight and you need a boost of energy, give this tea a try.

Not only does this tea burn calories for you, it also reduces the fattening effects of carbs, clears your face of acne and clarifies the skin, helps fight signs of aging, enhances teeth strength, boosts your immune system, and promotes brain activity.

If I weren’t a poor college student, I would give this tea a try and let you know what I thought. However, the price of the tea is not bad at all. This really good tea with amazing benefits is sold for only 37 dollars which provides a two month supply. That is fairly reasonable, and I don’t know about you guys, but I believe everything that Rachael Ray says. Ok, maybe not but there are a lot of good testimonies. Click here for more details.

At this site, you can also order the tea from China and explore some more information about it as well its scientific side.

Cranberry Craze

So last night, the dorms had our annual Thanksgiving dinner. This is something that I always look forward too! There’s such a variety of Thanksgiving goodies, of course the usual turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, pumpkin, pecan, and apple pie, sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce.

I was looking at my plate of food with eyes bulging and my stomach told me to dig in. All of the wonderful holiday flavors delighted my taste buds and hit the spot. However, as I looked at my plate, I realized that there wasn’t a lot of healthful food. Vegetables yes, but not enough to balance out the buttery mashed potatoes. The pecan pie was wonderful but are there no sweets that even hint to a healthy diet.

But wait, there I saw it. Ah yes, that famed sauce that is now a tradition, cranberry sauce. Of course the dining court didn’t serve anything that tasted like grandma’s but it was good none-the-less, and I felt satisfaction in knowing that I was eating something that would benefit me.
In my willingness to justify all the high carb foods I had eaten that night, I looked to the benefits of cranberries. Luckily, I can now eat more cranberry sauce with my pecan pie and know that my body will thank me someday.

Cardio:Preliminary research shows that cranberries have the ability to decrease total cholesterol and LDL, or bad cholesterol, and increase blood flow.

Cancer:Cranberries are rich in flavonoids. These phytonutrients have been shown to inhibit certain types of cancer.

Ulcers:
New research suggests compounds found in Cranberries may inhibit ulcer-causing bacteria from sticking to the stomach wall.

Anti-Aging:Polyphenolic compounds found in Cranberry may help to protect against neurodegenerative diseases, and the memory and coordination losses often associated with aging.

Infection:The Proanothcyanidins found in Cranberries can prevent urinary tract infections by inhibiting E. coli bacteria from attaching to the urinary tract wall. The National Kidney Foundation recommends drinking at least one large glass of cranberry juice a day to help maintain urinary tract health.

Thanksgiving isn’t the only time that you should eat cranberries or drink cranberry juice and reap its benefits. There are many different flavors of juice and other cranberry products, such as craisins, that make eating cranberries enjoyable all year round. So take advantage of those opportunities and help your body reach a healthier level!

Why You Should Eat Bananas

Dreaming of something to eat; that is low in calories and fat, that is high in water content, which is full of nutrients to increase energy? Then you got to eat Bananas.

Bananas are one of the best fruits to eat when attempting to lose weight. They are full of nutrients for increased energy and vitality. Because Bananas have high content of potassium they are able to reduces the weight of water in a body. A banana contains three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose. These natural sugars combined with fiber in a banana give an instant, continuous and large boost of energy. According to research two bananas provide enough energy for an exhausting 90-minute workout.

But energy isn't the only thing we get out of eating a banana. It can also help prevent a number of illnesses and conditions.

Tired of being depressed, then you got to eat bananas. According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. The reason to that is because bananas contain a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

This got to make you want to eat Bananas; it has been proven that banana is a source of Brain Power. This research has shown that because banana is potassium-packed fruit it can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

I am sure no one likes mosquito bites. If you are the type of person who don’t appreciate rubbing a chemically formulated cream on you skin. Then you got to appreciate bananas; rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin can reduce swelling and irritation of mosquito bites.

Stress can cause our metabolic rate to rises by reducing our potassium levels. And as I said previously Bananas have high content of potassium; Potassium is a vital mineral, it helps normalize the heartbeat by sending oxygen to the brain. So to reduce stress it is advised to eat bananas.

I avoid candy and eat fruits and vegetables. I drink eight glasses of water a day and take a multivitamin. I live for hundred calorie snack packs and guzzle V8, but I’m not on a diet. You know why? Because diets don’t work. Sure you may have lost 10 pounds on the Zone. But as soon as your old eating habits return, so will your fat jeans. When it comes to weight loss, there is no easy button. You have to commit 100% to changing your lifestyle. Diets imply short terms of starvation and deprivation in search of the perfect waist line. Unless you make healthy eating a permanent part of your life, however, you’ll remain a prisoner to a lifetime of yo-yo dieting. It’s easy to look at celebrities and other women and think that it comes so easy for them. The truth is, however, most of these women work really hard to maintain the bodies you covet. I’m not going to lie to you and say that trading in my Reese’s for broccoli was easy, mainly because most of you would recognize my bull shit and stop reading this. Changing the way you eat, the choices you make, and your portion sizes is difficult. But trust me, its well worth it. Since changing I eat, I have more energy and feel better about myself. So here’s a few of my “healthy eating habits” tips.
Keep a few mini 3 musketeers bars on hand. With only 60 calories a piece, they’re just enough chocolate to satisfy any craving.
Redefine your definition of dessert. A slice of angel food cake topped with fresh strawberries and low fat whipped cream can be a sweet ending to a healthy meal.
Remember, no one is perfect. Everyone has days where eating healthy is just not an option. Move on and keep working hard. It will pay off; I promise.

Thanksgiving

Oh man! Thanksgiving is coming up. I know, it's not until next week, but that doesn't mean I can't think about it......dream about it........ahh.

There are so many great things about Thanksgiving. Family, friends, memories. And what better way to enjoy these things than bringing them together around a feast of fabulous food.

The feast at my house begins with my entire family sitting down around the table (big table), and everyone says what they are thankful for. This is a great time of reflection on the past year and the great things that people have done for us. Then my grandpa says a prayer, and the kids race to the kitchen and dig in.

There we all are stuffing our faces with the traditional foods like turkey, mashed potates, homemade crescent rolls, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, corn casserole, a veggie tray, and of course pumpkin pie with whippped cream and pecan pie. With all that food, how can I say no. Seriously, I could eat an entire pecan pie plus at least 5 crescent roles on top of everything else. It's times like these that I wish my stomach was a crater.

I could advise you to try eating lowfat pumpkin pie or go without the whipped cream. You could try using less butter in the mashed potatoes. Just skip over the crescent rolls or eat them without all that butter. However, I am a person that tries to not be hypocritical so I won't advise you because there is no way I'm sacrificing the smooth creamy taste of my mashed potatoes. But I can tell you to keep up your workout. Now that doesn't mean you can completely stuff yourself because you know you're going to workout later. Just remember, it's all about staying active whether it's playing with the cousins or power walking with your brother or sister.

Eating wonderful food that you wait for all year shouldn't make you feel guilty or sad after you eat it. Enjoy these times and use your head. Before the big meal, eat light, lots of fruits and vegetables. Don't stop working out hard and try doing a few more reps than normal. When you are eating Thanksgiving dinner, eat in moderation and eat slow so your stomach fills up faster and the food settles. That way, you will eat less. And most importantly, enjoy your food savoring each bite as a special burst of flavor. I know it sounds corny, but you'll get a lot more out of eating and a lot less extra weight afterwards.

Dieting vs. Healthy Eating: There is a Difference!

Dieting is a restrictive and selective form of choosing the foods one consumes…and it’s enough to drive a person mad!

The major problem with diets is that they are only temporary. Most people find that the weight shed from dieting is too easily gained back after their diet has been ended. As stated in a Honoluluadvertiser.com article, “Diets can be boring and there's always a temptation to return to old habits. People who lose too much too soon don't learn to make the overall lifestyle changes — eating healthier foods and exercising regularly — that are necessary to keep their weight stable.”

Sure, there are so many successful diets out there, but what’s the point of dieting if all that hard work doesn’t pay off in the end?

Since a diet can’t last for the rest of your life, the only solution to losing weight, and keeping it off, is to change eating patterns by making healthy eating a lifestyle—not a phase. This sort of eating shouldn’t involve obsessive calorie counting or too restrictive a food selection. It should, however, involve good judgment. Judge when you are hungry or full, and judge how often you feel you should be eating junk. Ask yourself, should I really be eating this cookie even though I went out to ice cream with my friends last night?

Here are some tips for incorporating healthy eating for everyday from the IFIC website:

1) Begin each day with a nutritious breakfast: This will provide you with energy from the very start of your day.

2) Choose smart snacks: look for pretzels, fruit, and celery with peanut butter for a quick fixer-upper. On occasion it’s OK to grab a cookie or chips if other meals have been smart.

3) Balance your selection of food: You don’t have to completely give up junk food, just be smart about the quantity of intake. Make sure you are getting all the sources of vitamins and minerals you need, then look for enjoyment in deserts once in a while.

4) Eat nutritiously with friends and family: It’s much easier to make eating a healthy habit if people around you are doing it, especially people close to you.

5) Eat more grains, fruits, and vegetables: These foods are loaded with energy from carbs, vitamins, minerals, and fiber to help with promoting an active lifestyle.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

All this pineapple talk is making me hungry. Honestly, I’m not a huge pineapple fan. It’s too sweet for me which is strange because I love all the other sweets like chocolate and jolly ranchers.

I know I should eat more pineapple though since it’s really good for me. So I tried a few recipes. I tried a pineapple pie and a pineapple upside-down cake. The pie was good, but it was really sweet. I recommend the upside-down cake. It tastes great, is fun to make and it’s pretty healthy. I actually made it for one of my classes when I gave a presentation on pineapple. It was a hit with everybody!

Click here for the recipe.

You can use the cake recipe they give you but I just used a yellow cake mix and poured it over the pineapple-brown sugar icing.