Weekly Challenge: Be Un-American

What!? You want me to be unpatriotic? Absolutely not! This challenge is all about not being the average American when it comes to having heathy habits.  Americans are infamous for our indulgences.  We want everything bigger, badder, and better than everyone else.    Everything from the size of our houses to the size of our food portions are bigger! We want everything cheaper, so we allow food companies to put harmful chemicals, additives and preservatives in our food.  It's no wonder we have such a huge problem with obesity in the US! We also have such a low work ethic compared to yester-year that we couldn't possibly get close to burning off all the junk we consume.  There are many different ways you can form healthier habits, but I'm just going to touch on a few.

First, control your portion sizes.  You'd be amazed at how much bigger our portions are than what they ought to be.  There are several different guidelines to help you judge how big a portion is.  The best tool, though is just to look at your hand.  Below is a chart from this site that will help you see what a portion is like compared to your hand!  This other site is also great for foods that aren't on the chart below, or don't relate to your hand.  Look them both over and learn them well!  Even if you've selected healthier options, overeating is not going to get you anywhere on your weight loss.

Second, make better choices.  Dong the Grocery Overhaul challenge will help you a lot with this. Choose baked chips over regular, whole grains over white grains, and add in LOTS of fruits and veggies.  Also read the labels on the things you purchase and try to avoid foods with names you can't pronounce as much as possible.  Especially avoid things like MSG, red food dyes, high fructose corn syrup, and partially hydrogenated oils.  Most of those things are found in highly processed foods.  You might be surprised to find that a lot of DIET foods contain those ingredients.  Try as much as possible to stick with the things God gave us and not the things man decided to add in to raise their business profits. (I recommend watching the documentaries Food Matters, and Food, Inc.)

Thirdly, get off your butt.  A recent study suggests sitting more than six hours a day can increase your chances of heart disease and therefore death.  One news report I heard said this may be because of the type of fat in your body.  Athletes have fat thats similar in consistency to olive oil, whereas a couch potato's fat is more like butter.  It sticks to your insides, even your organs such as your liver, and is harder to get rid of.  Getting in a good workout everyday is important, but If you're sedentary the rest of the day it may not be enough.  Try getting up and walking around, or doing squats, or any other type of exercise every so often while you're at work.  Maybe you can arrange your desk in a way that your computer is at standing level, so you can use it with out sitting all day.  Even little things like parking further away from the door or taking the stairs instead of an elevator, or walking to a person instead of using the intercom will make a big impact.  One of the things I try to do is pay careful attention to how I'm moving my body.  I'm pretty bad about just flopping down into a chair or couch when I'm sitting, but if I pay attention and sit by squatting then I'll be getting in a squat each time I sit.

I hope these simple tips can help you get in better shape.  Losing weight is a marathon not a sprint and every little bit you do can have a large impact on your quality of life!

Weekly Menu

I thought this week I'd show you my weekly menu. I've been having a hard time sticking to the plan, just cause no matter what it is I have a hard time sticking to it and keeping motivated. So this is what I came up with for this week. I've also changed the plan a little bit to have 3 meals and 3 snacks all spread to be within 2-3 hours of each other.  Be sure to drink a full glass or bottle of water with each meal and one 30 minutes before and one after your workout.  That will help get the 8 glasses of water in.

I hope you can get a few meal ideas from this! And Please, PLEASE share yours! I love cooking new things!

*the number of exchanges for each meal are listed beside each one*

Breakfast: 1 carb, 1 protein, 1 fruit, 1 fat, 1 milk

• Vanilla Protein Shake made with Milk, blended with banana. A slice of toast with Peanut Butter
• English muffin with butter, 1 egg, cheese, 1 apple
• Smoothie made with milk, vanilla protein powder, banana, peanut butter, and 1 tsp honey
• Egg sandwich on English muffin with 1 T mayo, and yogurt mixed with strawberries
• Yogurt with a peach and granola, handful of almonds
• Yogurt with pumpkin, walnuts and granola

Snack 1: 1 carb, 1 vegetable

• Baked tortilla chips, salsa
• Rice and broccoli
• bell pepper and corn
• mix of corn and Tomatoes
• Mix of black beans and bell peppers.

Lunch: 2 carbs, 2 meats, 1 veg, 1 fruit, 1 fat, 1 milk

• Salad with croutons, chicken, ranch, tomatoes and cheese
• salad with tuna, ranch, tomatoes, cheese, croutons
• tuna salad sandwich (1 can tuna with 1 T mayo) Lettuce, celery; banana smoothie (1 c milk with 1 banana--or 1 serving of any other fruit)
• French Onion Soup topped with a Toasted, cheesy English muffin. (spread english muffin with 1tsp butter and cheese place under broiler until cheese is slightly browned and bubbly, sprinkle with a little garlic salt); Banana
• Turkey Sandwich with Mayo, mustard, lettuce; yogurt with peach
• 2 tacos (with leftover fajita meat) with tomato, cheese, meat, lettuce and sour cream

Snack 2 (this is a hard one lol): 1 meat, 1 veg

• Almonds and Broccoli Flourettes
• Ham (lunch meat) and Cauliflower
• peanut butter and celery
• hummus and carrots (hummus also counts as a carb you'll have to pull from somewhere else--most likely dinner)
• Slice of Turkey Sandwich meat, tomato

Dinner: 3 carbs, 2 meats, 2 veg, 1 fruit, 2 fats

• White Chicken Chili (made from McCormick Seasoning mix, just follow recipe on package) with crackers (6), cheese, bell pepper and tomato
• Hamburger helper with green beans, carrots and watermelon
• Whole Wheat Spaghetti with ground turkey, sauce, mushrooms, onions (cook the mushrooms and onions with the meat as you're browning it, add the sauce while the noodles are boiling). Strawberry shortcake.
• Turkey Meatloaf with mac and cheese, green beans (I'll get the recipe posted soon. Veggies are cooked into it so I only added one). strawberry shortcake for dessert (slice of angel food cake, sugar free cool whip, strawberries)
• Baked Fish, Mac and Cheese, sweet potato fries, cauliflower. Cantaloupe
• Chicken Fajitas with onion, bell pepper, sour cream, beans and strawberries
• Hibachi chicken, fried rice, watermelon

Snack 3: 1 milk, 1 fruit, 1 carb

• Yogurt with granola and strawberries
• Smoothie: 1 cup milk, 1 tsp honey, 1 fruit of any kind (Ice can be added if your blender can handle it)
• Strawberries with slice of angel food cake and yogurt
• Whole grain cereal (look for one not loaded with sugar or high fructose corn syrup and with no partially hydrogenated oils!), with milk, add fruit of your choice
• Strawberry shortcake with REAL whipped cream, just measure carefully, go sugar free or sweeten with stevia. You'll have to take a fat from somewhere else that day

Alright, so that's it for the week! Who said you have to starve to eat healthy? Like I said before, please let me know what your meal ideas are! I'm so unoriginal when it comes to ideas lol. I'll get more recipes added to the recipes page for the ones not linked on here.

You can email me at lilly.bunns.boutique@gmail.com if you'd like a copy of my grocery list.

Weekly Challenge: Grocery Overhaul!

Alright, here's the very first challenge! Each week I'll post new challenges to keep us all on the right track! I'll be posting these on Friday because of the grocery challenges.  I know most people do Grocery shopping on the weekend, so it just made sense :)

Challenge 1: Clear out the Crap

This one is perhaps the most important, and possibly hardest, part of any weight loss journey.  Get rid of everything in your pantry that is unhealthy.  No candy, ice cream, snack cakes, chips, fatty dips.  Nothing that will cause you to stumble!  Instead fill your pantry with fruits and Vegetables, low fat dips (I like to dip my veggies in low fat Ranch dressing), plain yogurt (to go on the fruit, nuts, etc.  There are healthier versions of nearly everything out on the market.  Instead of full fat chips, get baked chips, or better yet, organic, whole wheat pretzels! Switch out the fattening pre-made bean dip, for delicious hummus! 

Challenge 2: Make a Menu

This one is as important as clearing out the crap.  It will help your budget too!  Choosing a meal plan that works for you may seem like a daunting task, but it's key to loosing weight.  No matter if you choose low carb, low fat, counting your bites, or standing on your head for 3 hours a day to lose weight, not planning properly will sabotage your diet.  It doesn't have to be too in depth, either.  My menu plan looks like this (click to enlarge):

Challenge 3: Don't Buy White

Make all of your grains whole grains.  Exchange white rice for brown.  Get whole wheat bread and buy whole wheat pasta.  You'd be amazed at how much they have switched now days! At first, I was scared things would taste HORRIBLE if they were whole grain.  I was amazed that the whole wheat pastas didn't taste very differently, at all. I even think they are better! I absolutely LOVE brown rice, but hate white.  Some flavors and textures do take a little getting used to, but it's well worth the effort!

Challenge 4: Read the label

Read the labels on just about anything you buy.  Educate yourself about healthy amounts of things to consume.  (you can start here).  There are several things you need to try to avoid altogether.  Trans Fats, I'm not an expert so can't tell you why, but stay away! (I'm sure a simple google search will get you the answer ;)) High fructose corn syrup, this stuff is in everything you wouldn't think it would be in! It's just added, often completely unnecessary sugar.  It's processed and tends to indicate a lower quality product. Partially-hydrogenated oils, your recommended daily intake of these is 0.  So just stay away, far, far away.  

Challenge 5: Lean Protein

Choosing lean proteins will help you tremendously.  Consider replacing ground beef for ground venison, turkey or buffalo (yes, you can still buy buffalo).  Eat lots of fish.  Take the skin off of your chicken breast.  Go out on a limb and try some tofu.  Heck, eat beans and rice one day for dinner or for lunch.  Swap Greek yogurt for regular, it has 16g of protein! Nuts are also a great source of protein and they have heart-healthy fat!  I'm quite in love with blue diamond sea salt almonds :)

I know this is a lot for one week.  You can break it down into smaller tasks, but it really is best if you just do it all at once.  NOW is the time to get healthy.  Breaking it down will just prolong it, and in my experience, will make it harder for you to stay on the right track.  It will be harder if you have others in the house. They won't like the change, but it's great for EVERYONE.  We are going for a lifestyle change, not a diet.  Nothing makes me feel prouder than when L asks for a plate of veggies for lunch, or fruit salad for a snack.