Tag Archives: Healthy eating

Body Dysmorphia

Posted on by
Reply

I found this picture a few years ago and was shocked at how tiny I looked! My arms were so scrawny! I remember thinking back then I was “fat” and had weight to lose. I would spend almost two hours in the gym some days. I wish I could go back and slap my former self! 😳

When I was a teacher, I always started our mental health chapter by showing this picture and beginning the discussion of body dysmorphia. I would explain that sometimes you can’t see what others see, especially when it comes to your body.

Body dismorphia by definition is the obsessive idea that some aspect of one’s own body part or appearance is severely flawed and warrants exceptional measures to hide or fix their dysmorphic part.

This was a topic I actually spent two days on in both my health and leadership classes. Body dismorphia has become so prevalent, especially with the amount of social media channels now available.

Two days may seem like a long time to discuss a topic like body dismorphia but you’d be amazed at how into the topic they got! Kids will tell you the struggles of social media and how it affects their view of themselves. It’s brutal for kids now days. Its just my opinion, but I’m thankful I grew up in a time with no social media and cellphones that didn’t take pictures!

One of my favorite discussion questions to ask was “if we did away with social media (yes I know we never will but let’s just say hypothetically) would body dismorphia be less prevalent?”

We then followed up with a question like….. “do you think social media makes kids/teens now days tougher or weaker?” This question led to a full day of back and forth discussion (most of the time). In my leadership class we actually used it as a debate question when we did our debate section.

I was so incredibly impressed by the raw honesty of some of the kids in my classes. I was pretty quiet in HS and was always afraid to share my opinion for fear of ridicule. Obviously that’s changed now! 😂

I have my moments where I’m critical of myself, but I think I’m more logical now. Maybe that’s something that comes with age. But I look back at old pictures vs current and I feel like I know what “healthy” looks like now on my body. I also use social media as a tool! I love to read what new recipes people are trying or how other moms are getting through similar struggles. Yes social media has negative aspects and some people use it to vent and complain. But if you ignore all of that there are some really fantastic people out there in the world talking about so many great things. Find those people who encourage you and follow them! Remember, positivity breeds positivity! 💙

Gluten Free Chicken Marsala

Posted on by
Reply

Last night for dinner I made a Gluten Free Chicken Marsala. I’m not a huge fan of pasta but it turned out pretty good! Each serving was under 400 calories and it took just 25 minutes to prep and cook.

Ingredients:

•2 boneless chicken breast

•6 oz broccoli

•1 cup pasta noodles (I use gf)

•2 tsp chicken semi glace

•6 oz mushrooms

•4 oz cream

•3 oz Marsala wine

•2 oz peas

•1 shallot

Recipe:

Cut mushrooms into 1/4 slices. Dice shallot. Cut broccoli into bite size pieces. Pat chicken dry and cut into small pieces. Season chicken with salt and pepper.

Heat a pot of water for noodles. Once boiling add in noodles. Cook until soft. If GF 7-8 minutes

Place medium non stick pan over high heat. Add 1 tbsp olive oil and cook chicken for 3-4 minutes. Chicken will finish cooking in a later step. Set chicken aside.

Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to used chicken pan. Toss in shallot and mushrooms. Stir occasionally. 2-4 minutes. Add Marsala and stir occasionally until reduced. 2-3 minutes. Stir and in cream, broccoli, 2 tbsp water, demi glace, 1/4 tbsp salt and a pinch of pepper.

Return chicken to veggie pan to continue cooking. Bring to simmer. Simmer until sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. Add in pasta and peas. Reduce heat and mix. Let sit for 1 minute to warm peas. Plate and serve!

This will serve about 3 people (can stretch for 4) Happy eating! 🍴

355 Cal

24g Carb

31g Protein

1052g Sodium

Teriyaki Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Posted on by
2

Last nights dinner was one of the easiest meals I’ve made and SO good. Teriyaki chicken lettuce wraps. Just 7 ingredients and it takes less than 20 minutes to prep and cook!

Ingredients:

2 boneless skinless chicken breast

1 head of butte lettuce

1/2 oz honey

3 oz shredded carrots

1/2 oz almonds

2 tsp of sriracha (add more if you like spicy)

3 oz teriyaki glaze

Recipe:

Separate lettuce for cups and rinse. Pat dry with paper towel. Dice up chicken and season with salt and pepper

Place a non stick pan over medium high heat and add 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add chicken and cook until browned (or no longer pink in middle) 3-5 minutes

Add in carrots and stir until carrot is tender (about 3 minutes)

Remove from burner and stir in teriyaki, honey and sriracha. Put chicken mixture into lettuce cups and top with almonds.

Enjoy!! 🍴😍

554 Cals

31g Carbs

28g Fat

47g Protein

Sometimes a salad isn’t what it seems…..

Posted on by
Reply

Food can be VERY deceiving. People see certain meals and because there are healthy items in them, they automatically think it’s a healthy meal. What we often forget is the added sauces and things that completely kill the meal. For example, my dinner last night was an ahi tuna salad. It has seared tuna, arugula, mango, tomato, noodles, avocado, almonds and a ginger dressing. Doesn’t sound too bad right? Take a look at the nutrition breakdown:

920 cals

64g fat

60g carbs

33g sugar

36g protein

Notice how high the calories and sugars are! 920 calories in ONE serving. Just because it’s a salad does not mean it’s going to be healthy. The little items like dressing, noodles, and the avocado jack up the sugar, fat and calories drastically! Yes things like avocado are great for you. But in the proper amounts. If you removed the dressing, noodles and cut the avocado amount in half, you would see a drastic drop in these numbers

By no means am I telling you to not eat certain things. Im just encouraging you to be cautious. Enjoy a salad like this every so often. But I wouldn’t recommend it daily. As I said before, just because something has healthy items in it, that doesn’t make it healthy for you. Know what you’re eating! Don’t be afraid to be high maintenance at a restaurant and ask to remove things or put dressing on the side. Especially if you’re trying for a healthier option. You can make restaurant meals work for you and your diet!

Happy eating! 🍴😉💙

Jerk chicken & veggies

Posted on by
1

Ingredients:

•2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

•2oz jerk sauce

•2tsp chipotle seasoning

•1 lime

•1 red bell pepper

•2 zucchini

Recipe:

Chop veggies and toss in 1tbsp olive oil, lime juice and chipotle seasoning.

Chop chicken into pieces. Cook chicken on medium high heat in a nonstick pan until no longer pink. Turn heat down to low and pour in jerk sauce. Coat all of chicken and let sit, mixing occasionally while veggies cook.

Cook veggies on medium high heat on a grill pan. Cook each side 2-3 minutes.

Plate chicken and veggies and enjoy!

427 cal

19g fat

18g carbs

42g protein

A twist on cheat meals

Posted on by
Reply

I went out to dinner on a cheat meal night and was craving a burger. The restaurant burger and fries totaled to 1273 calories. Mind you, it would have been a little less without the bacon and fried egg but some cheat meals are worth the extra calories!

During the week one day I was craving a burger but it wasn’t a cheat meal day. So I decided to make a healthier version of the cheat meal I love. The burger is topped with a little cheese, cilantro, tomato, onion and a tsp of chipotle catchup. The fries are lightly tossed in olive oil, pink salt, and pepper, then baked. The homemade burger and fries totaled to 599 calories. That’s less than half the calories of the restaurant version! This is a great trade for the restaurant version if wanting a healthier twist on a cheat meal!

When you’re doing a healthy diet, you don’t have to eat boring meals. Granted I wouldn’t recommend eating a homemade burger and fries every day. That’s a little more red meat than you need and there are better options than white potatoes. But this is definitely a great option on occasion. I love to take my favorite restaurant foods and mimic them at home in healthier ways. It beats eating baked chicken, rice and broccoli every day like I used to do! Healthy eating doesn’t have to be boring. You just have to be cautious of what you are putting into the meal or on the meal.

Happy eating!

The secret to losing weight

Posted on by
Reply

I want to lose weight, how did you do it?” This is a common question I get from my friends and former athletes (I’m a cheer coach). There isn’t this huge secret of how to do it. I’m not wasting money on products that claim to make you lose weight. I just watch what I eat and I make sure to workout. That’s literally it!

If you aren’t losing weight and you have been trying, these are some reasons that may be affecting you!…..

1. You aren’t being patient. Losing weight won’t happen over night. It would be awesome if it did, but that’s unfortunately not how the body works. For some it takes weeks, others months. Everyone’s body is different.

2. You are comparing yourself to others rather than comparing yourself to where YOU started.

3. Too many cheat meals. Are you eating good during the week then eating everything in sight on the weekend? Or are you adding in too many cheat meals during the week? Cheat meals are great! They’re a good shock for your body. They’re also a great reward for yourself. However doing too many that are too high in fat and calorie will set you back.

4. Water retention. I’ve explained it before in a past post. When you lose weight your body depletes itself of fat cells. However the fat pockets that held the fat cells take a while to diminish so your body fills them with water till it can get rid of them.

5. Eating the wrong things. Some foods are deceiving. We claim them as healthy but in too big of amounts they can actually have reverse effects

6. You’re only doing cardio and not building muscle to burn fat. Cardio burns both fat and muscle. Cardio is fantastic for building endurance but it’s not the only thing you should be doing in your workout routine. Weight training builds lean muscle mass, which elevates your metabolism and burns more fat, even when you’re not exercising!

7. Calorie Deficit. By definition this is reducing the amount of calories consumed relative to the amount of calories required for maintenance of body weight. Multiple your body weight by 10-12 (depending on your activity level. I do 12 since I lift and do cardio weekly) Recalculate every 2-4 weeks as you lose weight.

If you’re struggling to lose weight, don’t give in and go buy diet pills or the teas that claim you’ll lose a ton of weight fast. Work with your body. You’ll be amazed what it can do on its own when you fuel it properly and workout!

Smoothie Truth

Posted on by
Reply

It kills me when one of my friends says they drink a smoothie on a regular basis instead of eating meals. I will admit I grab a smoothie sometimes when I’m out and about because it’s convenient. My husband does it too. We love them! Smoothie king is our guilty pleasure! BUT we try to eat regular meals as often as possible and not supplement a smoothie in place of a meal.

Smoothies tend to have way too much fruit in them. They also have syrup which the fruit was sitting in, that’s incredibly high in sugar. I don’t know many people who get veggies in their smoothies so you’re basically getting an overload of sugar. The average fruit smoothie is 500-600 calories with around 49-60g of sugar. That’s twice the amount of sugar you should have in a day!

If you are making smoothies at home, this can be a different story. I will still argue that they shouldn’t be replacing meals. However, you can work them into your diet to your benefit! I make a “smoothie” protein shake. In my protein shake I mix protein powder, fruit, spinach, milk and sometimes an avocado. This is my post workout drink. The difference is that there is WAY less sugar than the smoothie places! I measure out the amount of fruit I need for one serving. I also add in spinach for extra magnesium and iron which is great for you post workout!

Remember, just because it has healthy items in it, doesn’t mean it’s the best option. Read your nutrition labels. Check the sugar and fats! And for goodness sake, don’t replace meals with smoothies on a regular basis. Occasionally is ok. Eat your fruits and veggies in the proper portions!

Mustard vinaigrette chicken

Posted on by
Reply

Ingredients:

•1/2 oz apple cider vinegar

•8 oz asparagus

•2 boneless, skinless chicken breast

•1/2 oz feta cheese

•1 tbsp grainy mustard

•1/2 oz light brown sugar

•2 zucchini

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 400. Trim ends off asparagus and dice zucchini. Pat chicken dry and season with salt and pepper.

Combine vinegar, mustard, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper and 2 tbsp olive oil in a bowl.

Grill chicken on grill (I used stovetop cast iron) for 3 minutes on each side. Transfer to baking sheet and baste with 1/2 vinegar mixture. Place in oven for 15 minutes.

While chicken cooks, place asparagus on baking sheet. Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Cook asparagus for 10 minutes.

Toss chopped zucchini in a bowl with 2 tbsp of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place zucchini pieces on stove top grill. Cook on each side for 3-4 minutes.

Once food is cooked, plate food and top chicken with remaining vinaigrette and top asparagus with feta. Enjoy!

The grocery store diet

Posted on by
Reply

I love telling people I’m on a diet. They always ask “which one?” I respond with “the grocery store diet.”😂 I typically get a confused or blank stare. Then I explain it’s where I go to the grocery store, buy food and that’s what I eat.

People often confuse the meaning of the word diet. A diet is what you eat! If you eat only fast food you have an “unhealthy diet!” If you follow something like Atkins, it’s called a “fad diet.” If you eat a balance of fruit, veggies, etc you have a “healthy diet.”

When I go to the grocery store I get 90% of my food from the walls of the grocery store. Next time you go to the grocery store, look at how it’s laid out. If you follow along the wall you’ll see veggies, fruit, meat, dairy, etc. In the middle of the store, where the aisles are, is all your processed foods. I try to avoid those aisles unless I’m getting something like crackers or tuna. Plus, if I roam the aisles I’m sure to get something not on my list that I really don’t need!

Next time you go to the grocery store try the “grocery store diet” and stay along the walls when getting food. Happy shopping!!

Note: Some produce departments are spread out in one area and they have just the veggies along the wall. The fruit will be on islands. I still consider this “the wall” because it’s not in an isle. 😉