GO GREEN

I must admit I don't always do my part of "going green" for the environment but I like to read about tips and things I hadn't thought of that would help. I ran across this article on Oprah's website and thought it was a good reminder of how to eat better and pay attention more to where our food comes from.

If you ask someone where his food comes from, most would probably say, "From the grocery store" or "From a restaurant." In an attempt to discover where our food really comes from, author Michael Pollan researched the origins of four different meals and published his results in the book The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Michael talks with Dr. Oz about his book and offers some tips to help you eat better.

From discovering that a meal from McDonald's consists mostly of corn grown in the Midwest—corn-fed beef and chicken, soda made with high-fructose corn syrup and french fries fried in corn oil—to uncovering that grocer Whole Foods's suppliers are mostly large-scale organic farms, not small producers, Michael says he's now better informed when it comes to choosing healthy, environmentally friendly foods.

If you want to eat the freshest, most nutritious food possible, Michael offers this advice:

Steer clear of fast food. "We can't get all of the nutrients we need from processed corn," Michael says. "Even though there is no corn on the menu at McDonald's … all of the carbon in that meal was created by corn plants."

Don't buy foods found in the middle aisles of a supermarket. Michael says most processed foods are found in the middle aisles, and those foods almost always contain fewer nutrients than fresh, perishable foods found on the outer perimeters of the store.

Get out of the supermarket. Try buying foods at farmers' markets or through community-supported agriculture programs. "You are participating in a local, short food chain with usually sustainable farmers," he says. "[They are] picking food when it is fresh, which is when it is at the peak of not only its taste value, but its nutritional value."

Pay attention to what your food eats. Buying meat from grass-fed cows or wild-caught fish is more nutritious than their corn-fed counterparts, Michael says.

Learn how to cook. "We really need to take back control of our food, and that is going to mean cooking more, but I'm also going to argue that cooking is not as hard as many of us make it out to be," he says.

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." This is one of Michael's mottos. "If you do that, you are going to be all right," Michael says.

Healthy Salsa

I love salsa but better yet homemade salsa. When you buy the salsa in the store it is loaded with sodium. I love chunky salsa, fruit salsa, any kind pretty much but this recipe is a semi chunky consistency when finished. I usually make it every two weeks and then use it in my various meals. It goes great with eggs for breakfast, veggie fajita for lunch, and fresh fish for dinner. I think it even tastes great with a spoon!
1 lime (cut in half and squeezed for the juice)
1/2 yellow onion (cut into pieces)
2 tomatillos (peel paper off and slice for baking)
4-5 medium tomatoes
1 jalepeno pepper cut and seeded
1 heaping TBSP minced garlic or fresh if you can stand to peel the paper off
1 tsp cumin
1 cup cilantro (this can vary according to how much you like cilantro)
Salt and pepper to taste ( I use about a tsp of each)

Cut the tomatoes, tomatillos and jalepeno into slices to lay on a tin foil cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes then switch to Broil HI for 5-8 mintues or until tops are black. Meanwhile mix the rest of ingredients in a blender or mini chopper. Add the tomatoes, tomtillos and jalepeno, blend well. Salsa will be warm so chill in a tight container overnight.

ALL or NOTHING

I am admitting more and more as I get older that my personality is such...ALL or NOTHING with everything that I do. When it comes to cleaning the house I get overwelmed with getting every corner/crumb/speck cleaned to the point that I realize that it will never be cleaned. I find myself wanting my projects done "right now" instead of slowly working on them. I like to go all out on parties/holidays/decorating and many othe aspects in my life. One thing that has always been my struggle with his trait is exercising and dieting. I have the mentality of ALL or NOTHING. This whole journey of losing weight, exercising and trying to change and maintain my healthy lifestyle is going to be affected by my mentality to do all or nothing. The trick for me is changing that to find a balance. A balance between realizing that everyday can not be all or nothing, and realizing that the real success is maintaining a balance that can be done for a life time. No more yo-yo diets, no more exercising for long periods and then none at all, no more excuses, but simply finding balance. I was reading this today and thought it was great to hear from some actual trainers:

QUESTION: If you are all or nothing person, what do you do to change your thinking?

Jillian Michaels: You have to get real with yourself and acknowledge that life is not black or white, but shades of gray. As far as the pendulum swings in one direction, it swings equally as far in the other. The key to success in life and health is balance. A healthy lifestyle that is built to last sits firmly on the middle ground.

Bob Harper: You have to remember that life has its ebbs and flows, and you must learn to roll with the punches sometimes. I find that the best way to live a well-rounded life is to learn to relinquish control because you can find true clarity in the free fall of life.

So here is to all of us that struggle with ALL or NOTHING. Finding balance in life is hard but when we do it seems to go much smoother.

Easter Hangover

I am feeling a major sugar hangover from Easter. I realize that this post is mostly just for me but lately it seems my "health" is going rapidly down the tubes. It started with Easter and all the candy that I ate. I absolutely love these Fernwood Almondette eggs. I also love Reese's eggs that they put out for Easter because they contain MORE, yes MORE peanut butter and less chocolate than the original. I also enjoy the different cheesecakes (my favorite) that were made for Easter. So, needless to say I have fallen off the bandwagon of health for a few days. To top it all off my little one has kept me up all night because he's sick. This morning I am feeling his sickness now so wow, down the tubes in a matter of a few days.
The key is to not give up! Refocus yourself and revisit why it is important to exercise and eat healthy. I find that making a list and reading it for a few days helps to remind me because those first few days of getting the sugar out of your system and exercising again after a few days missed, seems to be hard. I have said it before but "consistency leads to more consistency." Don't give up. Each day is a new start and a day to do better. Life is full of unconsistency and we have to learn to adjust to our mistakes and life's obstacles even health obstacles. So here is to all of us recovering from sugar hangovers:)

Carrot,Apple,Coconut Muffins

When I woke up this morning there was more snow on the ground....ugh! I decided it was a cooking day with Paisley. We started off with these muffins. This is a fantastic recipe. I personally would add more stuff such as raisins and nuts but Paisley decided today to ommit them but you could add whatever you want. If you love carrot cake you will love these muffins. If you are looking for healthier muffins you can always cut the sugar down, use egg whites, and applesauce but today we followed this recipe:

2 cups grated raw carrot (about 2-3 peeled carrots)
1 large apple, peeled and grated
2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1 cup coconut ( add half of the coconut to the muffin mix and save rest for topping)
3 large eggs
3/4 cup canola oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine the wet ingredients, stir in the dry ingredients. Drop muffin mix in pans and top with remaining coconut. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. The coconut will be slightly toasted. Yum, they were perfect with our hearty Garlic vegetable squash soup.

Exercise myth......WHAT?

I was reading about exercise myths online and came across this one.....WHAT!!!
It was kind of discouraging at first, basically saying that you can sit on your bottom and almost burn the same amount of calories but......the last sentence says it all. I reminded myself of all the reasons why I exercise and health benefits are not the only reason so I will continue to keep pluggin.

Myth #4: Exercise burns lots of calories.

"People have the mistaken idea that exercise is a fabulous way to lose weight," says William Evans of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. "But exercising doesn't burn a lot of calories."

Walking or running a mile burns about 100 calories. But sitting still for the same time burns about 50 or 60 calories. "So the extra you expend isn't huge and people get discouraged at their slow rate of weight loss."

Another misconception: You keep burning considerably more calories for a long time after you stop exercising. "Calorie expenditure is elevated for the first minute or two, but by five or six minutes the extra expenditure is pretty small, and by 40 minutes post-exercise, it's back to where you started," says Evans.

That doesn't mean dieters should give up on exercise. The more you exercise, the more fit you'll get. That means you'll burn more calories because you can walk briskly or run for five miles instead of one. So instead of burning 100 calories, you burn 500 (that's 250 more than if you had stayed on the couch).

What's more, says Evans, "the better-conditioned you are, the more fat you burn for energy, because your muscles adapt to using an enzyme that oxidizes fat. People who are less-trained burn more carbohydrate instead."

Dieters who exercise also lose less lean body mass--that is, less muscle--than dieters who just cut calories. And physical activity can help with the toughest problem: keeping weight off.

Says Evans: "Studies show that after people lose weight, the best predictor of maintaining the weight loss is whether they exercise regularly."