Code Word "Cake"

No matter which way you look at it, supermoms, we have a trickster in our midst.  May I expose it?  Muffins are nothing more than CAKE in disguise!  They've quietly infiltrated coffee houses and pastry baskets, hiding as a non-dessert option, tempting us with their hallmark trait of being a cherished breakfast food.  It's easy to see them for something other than what they are, which is simply a slice of cake.  There are few redeeming qualities to these imposters and lots more to consider before indulging here:  sugar, empty calories, processed ingredients.  No, not even the blueberries count in making this a healthy choice.  For those of you living in denial-land, sorry to burst your bubble!  Stick to fruits, whole wheat toast, eggs, or just your non-fat, sugar-free latte.  Keep dessert where it belongs...an occasional treat to enjoy not part of your meal plan!

Mmmmm, Baby Got It Goin' On!

If there's one thing I've learned about maintaining a healthy weight, supermoms, is that a life full of distractions can be a very good thing!  No, I don't mean the kind of distractions that have you eating most meals in the front seat of your car, because you "don't have time".  I'm talking about the kinds of pursuits that fill your heart and soul to the brim:  family, friends, work, exercise, hobbies, volunteering, etc.  I'll bet, if you took a hard look, you'd find plenty of things that you could drop from your schedule...wandering around the mall, running extra errands from poor planning, staying up late and not being able to make a morning workout...that'd leave you more time to pursue activities that'll put a little bounce in your step.  Now, most of my days move along at warp speed, too.  No matter what, though, it always feels better to  have spent some time on me versus grazing my afternoon away in front of the TV. 

So, supermoms, find ways to have more going on in your life than food!

Addicted To...

As of late, it's been cake for me! Amazing...I spend Monday-Friday eating like the poster child for Michelle Obama's My Plate campaign, and then the weekend comes.

Between births, birthdays, and Broncos football, there has been an almost steady stream of cake showing up in my house. Out of site, out of mind, but like any other addict, I find myself nearly powerless to resist it, when it's readily available. Recognizing this and being quite aware that eating lots of it flies directly in the face of the goals I'm trying to achieve, I still have to dig in, even when I tell myself I'm not going to. So, shovel it in I do, not leaving a drop of the slice or cupcake on my plate...even if it doesn't taste as good as I thought or isn't as much to my liking, I polish it off anyway. I am briefly satisfied at "indulging" in a forbidden treat, until it hits my stomach, then the aching and churning starts, followed quickly by the first few pangs of regret...all will haunt me for the next several hours. I mean, my chocolate soy milk never makes me feel so bad. I don't feel guilty, when I go to bed sans dessert. And, I wonder, why? How can something that I know is bad for me and that makes me feel bad make me so mindless?

I think this is the addictive part of food that experts have been warning about, specifically the addictive quality in sugar. Every now and then, I get in a rut with some form of sweet...it starts off as recreational use like a reward for a hard workout week or a hitting a weightloss goal or even just to satisfy a random craving, then I start to stock it at the house "just in case", and then I turn around to discover that I am noshing daily on said treat. How quickly the occassional use can become a full blown habit! It's like once you get sugar in your system, it just takes ahold and leaves you just wanting more and more like some illegal drugs. I will blame myself for my choices and for keeping sugary sweets handy, but I think there is a lot to the argument that some companies in this country have created foods loaded with chemicals that do create cravings and addictions, creating a viscious cycle of overeating and overindulging that is not helping our obesity epidemic. I need to remember that there may be more of a correlation between sugar and illegal drugs than we would every care to think about.

So, now begins the withdrawal phase...recovery, addicts call it. With a schedule free of birthdays and celebrations and holidays, for awhile anyway, I hope to work this junk outta my system and get back on track!

It's Greek to Me

Finally, I have finished my myriad of experiments with Greek yogurt and can't wait to share my findings! As you have probably heard, read, or seen, Greek yogurt is popping up all over the health food scene. Ever hesitant to get behind fads, until I've had plenty of time to tinker with it to see if it's a viable swap that I could actually succesfully make in our house: cheap enough, easy enough to find without adding another grocery store stop to my routine, close enough to the original version, and, most importantly, tasty enough to get past the Hubby and my kid. Things like soy cheese, for instance, and tofu-anything have been epic failures that have actually made my Hubby squeamish to try any new swaps for months at a time!

So, as a family of yogurt eaters, I excitedly came home with a stock of fruit and honey Greek yogurt snack cups. Several bites into my first container and face puckered from the bitterness, I tossed it and swore it off as being way too sour. What I had noticed, however, was that it was also quite thick. So, instead of eating it straight-up, I considered it as a swap for sour cream, since we haven't been able to make plain regular yogurt work, because it's so runny. Thus far, I have used plain, nonfat Greek yogurt as a substitute for cakes, hot dips, cold dips like French Onion or Ranch, and we have used it as a pure replacement for sour cream on tacos, soups, and potato skins. It totally works! I have snuck it past my Hubby, parents, family, friends, and even the house full of toddlers we had over for my son's birthday party!

Reasons to consider going Greek yourself to support your healthy lifestyle and/or weightloss efforts is the very obvious savings of calories between it and lite sour cream...we're talking a HUGE difference like being able to eat a cup of lowfat Greek yogurt for the same calories as a few tablespoons of lowfat sour cream! Even better, studies have found that Greek yogurt is a health food powerhouse offering more probiotics (those good bacterias that aid in digestion and boost immunity) than regular yogurt, while having less sugar and 50%, at least, more protein. It has more calcium than an equal-sized serving of milk. It is strained, which makes it less watery than regular yogurt. All of this adds up to a dense product loaded with protein that will also help to keep you feeling fuller. Not a bad way to change-up a homemade artichoke dip or bowl of tortilla soup!

Bulking Up

So, you've made your resolutions and promised yourself that this year, unlike all the previous ones, is YOUR year! You've joined a gym or invested in several exercise DVDs and have actually started implementing your workout plan...at least I hope so! You also cleaned out the junk food from your fridge, freezer, and pantry and have swapped out some items with their lower calorie, lower fat counterparts. Like many of us, you probably included swaps for those pre-packaged 100-calorie snack packs to compliment your lunch salad or grilled chicken dinners. It's been a little over a week, since New Year's, and you may be noticing that you're constantly hungry between those meals. A snack pack or handful of diet crackers isn't cutting it. You're starving. You're low on energy, high on irritability. You've arrived...at that dangerous precipice of continuing on with new eating habits or running right back to your old ways, where you at least felt fulfilled and happy!

Don't jump quite yet, my friend! A slight tweak is all you need. It's called relying on the right fuel, not some prefab mix of worthless crap that mother nature did NOT intend for you! Try swapping out those carby snacks for fruits and veggies paired with a small side of protein. For probably the same or less calories, consider baby carrots with hummus, fresh pineapple or grapes with lite cottage cheese, apple slices or mixed berries with a small yogurt, sliced pepper with string cheese, or a banana with a small handful of almonds or walnuts. Each pairing is not only good for you and gets you a step closer to hitting that 5-a-day-in-as-many-colors rule, but each also takes longer to eat than just wolfing down a bag of chocolate covered pretzels, helping your body read that it's satisfied and signaling you to stop eating before you rip open bag number three of some processed, trans-fat laden junk.

Yes, but grab-and-go is just so much easier, right? Right! So, MAKE YOUR OWN!! Make a snack plan, over the weekend, and bulk up on the necessary parts at your next grocery store visit. Upon getting them home, wash and rinse, slice, cut, seed, measure, and bag your fruits and veggies in assembly-line fashion. Spoon, slice, measure, and bag or bowl their protein partners, and viola, you're done! You will get so good at this that you'll be able to manage your supply to avoid waste and to keep your options constantly rotating and endlessly fun and interesting. Better still, you can share your stash with your kids and hubby. The best yet, you are one step closer to maintaining the lifestyle necessary for your continued health and happiness. Happy shopping!

Keeping the Tradition Alive

I know, I know...what would Christmas be without dozens and dozens of homemade cookies? Or batch after batch of Chex mix? And, what about that beef stick in BBQ sauce or your special chocolate cake? It's just too much to ask to pass on all these goodies, just in the name of staving off a few pounds...pounds that you plan to lose, starting in January, when you plan to get to the gym again for your New Year's resolution, right?

If that plan worked as well as we intended, I don't think we'd be the nation of expanding waistlines that we have become. But, here is where we can implement our new LIFESTYLE changes to make a compromise, rather than our choices being the extreme of enjoying holiday goodies to our heart's desire or not having any...at all...ever...forever. There can be a happy medium here. You could sort your cookies into serving size baggies and allow yourself to have one a day, instead of standing beside the platter and mindlessly eating your way through a couple of tiers of them. The same strategy would apply to the other snacks, too. There is also the option of swapping out ingredient to shave excess fat and calories. You would be surprised, if you've never done it, what a little tinkering can do for your health without counting against taste:

--use sugar substitutes like Splenda
--swap butter for lite butter spreads that don't contain trans fat
--look for low-fat and/or low-sodium crackers and pretzels
--try non-fat plain or Greek yogurt, in place of sour cream
--look for sugar-free versions of bake mixes
--turkey is a passable substitute for many beef items

Do you have some good swaps to share? Please do! Trying a new twist on the old...what a fun way to tweak your traditions!

Sample Sizes

Ah, 'tis the season! Treats abound everywhere. Food is the hallmark of celebrating the holidays, and it seems to be everywhere! Even this supermom has to stop and admire fancy Christmas cookies, ponder a cup of peppermint hot chocolate, and seriously consider my own Cinnabon cinnamon roll with an extra side of dipping sauce! What makes these treats even more irrestistable is that so many are offered out as free samples to lure you in for more. Alas, my dear, even these small bites come with their fair share of calories, sugar, and fat...sorry! Best to stay away, lest those free munchies at the head of every aisle at Costco come back to bite you later. Bah, humbug, you say? What's the fun in not splurging...it's the holidays after all, right?

If you're like me, I've worked too hard all year to throw it all away, by throwing the floodgates wide open. So, I pick and choose my battles, and it's an easy choice...eat my weight in holiday food samples or save myself for the good stuff. I give myself permission to enjoy a meal of whatever I want on Thanksgiving and Christmas, including the day or so of leftovers that follow, and give my calorie counting a rest. Weightloss experts, tips, and shows be damned, I will not forgo a second of enjoying these meals. So, knowing I will happily soak my turkey, potatoes, and stuffing in a puddle of gravy, I have made the trade-off with indulging in the endless parade of nibbles lurking around every storefront or aisle I pass.

So, for the sake of your dress size, consider an eating strategy that will allow you to get in the spirit of the holidays, while guaranteeing you'll still fit into your fave pair of jeans come January!

And the List Goes On

From what I hear from friends and readers, it's not so much that you don't want to make healthier decisions it's that you don't necessarily know how to. This fact becomes even clearer, when I listen to you order a veggie omelette that comes with extra cheese, a glass of whole milk, and whole-wheat pancakes with maple syrup, as you simultaneously complain about how you can't figure out how those couple of extra pounds keep sneaking up on you. While you scarf down your seemingly "healthy" breakfast, I sit in astounded wonder about how you missed the tell-tale signs of hidden fat and calories in the meal you ordered. Then, I realize that while what you ordered has a lot of the right buzz words...veggie, whole-grain, milk...you've failed to also acknowledge the dead give-aways that the meal isn't as innocent as it sounds. So, let's make a list of words that describe menu items that are best steered clear of. I'll start:

extra cheese or cheesy...go with lite, half, or, hey, skip it all together
whole milk...go with skim...if you can't drink the stuff straight up look for 2%
omelette...ask for egg-whites...ask for it to be prepared without added batter...yes, it's pancake
batter that makes those restaurant omelettes so much fluffier than the ones you
attempt at hom
breakfast syrup...ask for a sugar-free version and use either sparingly...consider passing on the
pancakes alltogether...do you really need to eat all that in one sitting?
battered
fried
sauteed...aka, soaking in butter and oil
breaded...if it's a meat like chicken, ask for it plain
creamy...keep this in mind for soups and go for broth-based options...also to be avoided in salad
dressings
candied
buttery
the aisse's...think mayonaisse, bournaisse, hollandaise, etc...look for it on sandwiches and in
sauces or dips...opt for avocado or mustard or nothing at all
crispy
crusted

Okay, now it's your turn...

The Mac 'n Cheese Dilemma

Tis the season...the season for heavier and carbier foods. As soon as the weather gets cooler and I add my extra blanket to the bed and dig out my favorite fuzzy pink slippers, my body starts to signal that winter is near by berating with cravings for all things carbs! Seriously, like bears, I swear it's some biological need to bulk up the pounds and fat for winter. You know, in case I fall in a snowdrift while shoveling out my driveway, my body has extra energy reserves or something, right?? Anyway, generally ignored all summer, I have a nice collection of yummy but healthy pasta recipes that I keep on hand for just such an occassion. We whipped up the creme de la creme one yesterday...homemade Mac 'N Cheese...yes, the good stuff that is drowning in a made-from-scratch cheese sauce with a crumbly, buttery topping that takes up our big-dog 9x13 baking dish.

I would feel more guilty about the bowlful that I'm going to dominate for lunch today, except that it is homemade...I handpicked its contents, being sure that the pasta is made from clean ingredients and whole grains, all the cheese is low-fat, the butter is a lite spread sans transfats, and the entire pan came out of the oven and was immediately broken down into serving-sized portions that can be taken in "brown bag" lunches. While the 655 calories takes a chunk out of my daily allotment, it is a far cry from the 1200+ I would blow on a splurge for the same meal at most local restaurants. Lots of good reasons why it's SO much better to make your own foods! Yes, it may be challenging at first, but the benefits far outweigh the calories and junk you and your family will avoid by just cooking at home and brown-bagging your lunches!

Draw for Your Dinner

If you're like I was, when we first started trying to eat healthy meals at home, our menu of items didn't extend much past grilled chicken, baked fish, and salads...a LOT of salads! I had a collection of cookbooks, but either some of the recipes no longer fit into our new way of eating or we could never agree on what to make or, since we hadn't planned in advance, I didn't have all the ingredients to make an entree anyway. Of course, it didn't help that neither my Hubby nor I have much of an affinity for whipping up our own creations like the master chefs on TV. We were growing bored with the endless parade of grilled meats and salads, so I had to come up with something to avoid going back to eating out or letting old, bad eating habits sneak back in.

Then, it came to me...a recipe lottery! We had plenty of healthy selections that we liked, but we just couldn't agree, so by drawing for a recipe to use the decision is made for us...no battles to decide...no one not getting their way. I went back through my recipe books and wrote down the names of interesting-looking meal ideas on small slips of paper. All the slips are kept in a glass jar, folded in half. Each Saturday morning, before we do our weekly grocery store run, my Hubby and I rotate between who gets to draw out a recipe. Two or three recipes are drawn, depending on what they are: meals, desserts, snacks, and will there be leftovers for lunch. I can easily add ingredient items to the grocery list, so that we have what we need, and this helps us plan out dinners and brown-bag lunches for the week.

We have had to throw out the contents of entire crockpots and woks and saucepans, but more often than not, we have stumbled upon some really tasty, healthy creations! For the good ones, I type the recipe out and add it to our Pugh Family Cookbook, and we now mix in some of the oldies with the lottery selections, during meal planning. We have made everything from chocolate bundt cakes to curried shrimp to hearty pasta dishes to homemade dips and soups, a HUGE change from fresh-grilled-only fare. I don't have to wander the grocery store multiple times a week, trying to find something to eat, while also trying to avoid tempting treats. Even better, to keep the pool going, I no longer buy cookbooks...there are plenty of places to get great recipes without having to shell out money for a whole book. I get free e-newsletters with daily recipes, keep an eye out for recipes featured in magazines, and I regularly checkout cookbooks of all sorts from my library and copy recipes that we want to try. It has been a really fun way for two non-chefs, who love good food but are trying to make healthier eating decisions, to explore and create new foods together! Give it a try!

Fool Me Once

A very important conversation has begun, between our nation's corn refiners and the government, to call High Fructose Corn Syrup just corn sugar. In my opinion, it is a bait-and-switch attempt to revamp the public opinion of a nasty, cheap, and poisonous little food additive.

This ingredient is incredibly prevalent in processed foods of almost any sort, eventhough research has shown that it does more harm to us than good, because it's a cheap way to ramp up food flavors vs. using real sugar. Try to visualize, back to when you were a kid and had a sore throat. Your mom, at least mine did anyway, whipped up a concoction, mainly of Karo syrup to ease the aching. Remember that thick stuff that so closely resembled what mechanics dumped in the engine of your car, during a maintenance check? THAT is what HFCS is! Now, imagine sprinkling a little of that goop all over almost everything you eat...EWWWWW!

Well, us consumers, for once, have started to get the message that lubing up our insides with this garbage probably isn't the best idea, and our efforts to avoid this ingredient have forced companies to use other options to get back in our good graces, resulting in a decline in sales for HFCS. Yay, us! Of course, it is no surprise that HFCS manufacturers have gone back to the drawing board to figure out how to get back into our pocketbooks, and what they have come up with is renaming their product to the more innocent-sounding corn sugar, so that maybe they can slip it past us and get back to being profitable, at the expense of our health.

Keep your fingers crossed that our government will not allow this ridiculous ploy to go through. But, just in case they don't come through for us, keep reading those labels closely for the change and don't be fooled!

Your Own...Personal...Java

Ah, it's that time of year again...my favorite time, I think...when summer looses it's hold and fall starts to slowly take over. Halloween stuff is already for sale in the stores, the evenings are finally dark enough to fire up candles, my bathroom mirrors and windows are coated in a layer of steam, after I shower, and my nose is either running like a faucet or is so dry that it cracks. Yes, all of this confirms that fall is well on its way!

I brewed a pot of coffee, the other morning, and it turned out to be a hazelnut brew...just delicious and tasted like the season! It reminded me that it's also the time of year that so many of us tote a steaming cup of java around like a security blanket. Sorry, to my Starbucks aficionados, in advance, for what I'm going to say! Considering the addition of lots of extra calories to your diet...calories that don't do a lot for you, including keeping you full and away from their pastry case...and the wads of pocket change it costs for these drinks, can you find another way to satisfy your Starbucks habit?

If you're a daily user, please tell me you at least go for skim milk, rather than whole? As a fan of the Pumpkin Spice latte, it's hard to avoid the syrupy treats, but do look at swapping out for sugar-free syrups. I drink only soy milk, but it is generally the full-fat and sweetened kind that is used, and it costs more to substitute it for the regular milk options...stupid, for those of us lactose-intolerant peeps, but true...so go back to the skim milk option, if you can. Better yet, suck it up, and drop the whole $40 (less than the cost of 10 Venti Caramel Machiatos) to make your OWN pot of fresh brew each morning to enjoy at your leisure! You don't need a fancy one or even one that's any more complicated than: lift the lid, pour in 8 cups of water, using the measuring guide etched onto the coffee pot, put a filter in the basket, add 3 scoops of whatever grounds you want (Dunkin' Donuts is good, and we order Kona coffee from Hawaii, which can be surprisingly economical and comes in fabulous flavors like vanilla and chocolate...you can even blend decaf with regular to lighten your buzz), push the start button, and within moments you have 2-3 cups of piping hot coffee! Prep all of this the night before, and it's even less work for you in the morning. Splash with natural sweeteners, low-fat or soy creamers, or non-fat or soy milk, and you have a very good stand-in for the sugary, fattening, and pricey versions found at your local coffee joint.

Hand It to Your Hubby

When a plate of food is sitting in front of you, do you know how much of it counts toward the one serving of food you should have and how much of it is excess food that counts toward your bootie expanding another inch or two? And, no, the answer, especially if you eat out alot, is not just the one plate minus the second helping of mashed potatoes and the extra piece of bread you like to nibble on, before the main entree shows up. How do we know what is just enough and what is too much?

Well, if you read nutrition labels, you can measure out a serving size consistent with what's noted on the box. If you're going out to eat, you can peak at the restaurant's nutrition guide (if they provide one) on-line to see serving sizes and calories for the dish you're planning to order. If all this studying up isn't for you, you can also estimate a serving size by comparing foods to your hand...palm, thumb, cupped hand...which isn't hard to learn and can be applied anywhere at anytime without much advanced planning and researching. Go to http://www.stronghealth.com/services/primarycare/pdf/Diabetesdiet.pdf for illustrated examples on how to use this option. Yes, once employed, you may be wishing for larger hands and longer fingers, but this method will also let you know just how plus-sized our meals are getting...a reflection of why our pant-sizes may also becoming plus-sized!

Easier still, to my ladies who just don't want to think about or bother with it (tsk, tsk, tsk) but would prefer minimal efforts for maximum results, take a look at the man sitting across the table from you. Do you find yourself in a constant marathon to keep up with his noshing, at the table? Do you match him bite-for-bite, scoop-for-scoop, plate-for-plate? Consider that his body requires at least 300-500 calories more to run than yours does...equivalent to almost an entire extra meal a day, if you eat the proper portions. You should not be eating the same amount as he does. As you're eating your meal, eat more slowly (gives your body time to register that you're full), drink lots of water (helps to fill you up), and watch what he's doing. If he's pushed back from the table, you should consider doing the same, when you've had about 3/4s the amount to eat.

Crack is Whack...and So Is Coke!

I had lunch with a good friend, the other day. After confiding that she knows she needs to lose about 100 pounds (more like 40-50, my dear!), glass of soda in hand, she talked to me about how all-consuming her work is and how Project Supermom's ideas don't work for her and her situation (ahem, hello?!! Review more closely the posts in Sustaining a Supermom, Supermom and the Scale, and Supermom Gets Moving to find plenty of options that could easily work), she is slurp, slurp, slurping away on her Coke. I'm seeing that it's not a lack of ways to get herself better but rather not having seen an idea come across that hit home for her and her life. Not so subtly, I interrupt her with a tap, tap, tap on her soda glass and say, "a good place to start is by giving this stuff up, you know".

As a reformed soda addict, my poison being Diet Pepsi, I immediately sensed her hesitancy. Then came the finger-pointing, "but you drink it all the time, don't you?" No, I gave the stuff up, before getting pregnant, since they discourage you drinking it then...you know, the first clue that the stuff can't possibly be good for you. But to drink the regular stuff and just suck down all that extra sugar makes no sense, which was my next point. This was met with the justification I expected, "well, my doctor said you're supposed to stay away from all that fake sugar stuff". Hmmm, yes, because your body can work with sugar versus its manufactured counterparts...but, it's not as if sugar does anything for you...certainly not, after it's mixed into a chemical concoction like soda. Oh, the ways we cipher out only the information we want to hear, so that we can keep on with our ways!

She is experiencing height shrinkage, which I think she's too young to start seeing...the chemicals in soda work at stripping calcium away from your bones. She needs to lose weight...sugar adds empty calories to a diet, meaning it can also lead to weight gain. She goes through several a day...sugar causes a quick energy boost that burns off quick, encouraging more ingesting to maintain a higher energy level. The acidity in soda can be damaging to tooth enamel. Soda has been linked to creating cravings for salty, snacky foods. Soda is a culprit in belly fat, the most dangerous place to carry body fat. Being overweight and regularly eating foods high in sugar and salt has been linked to, among other things, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which leaves you more vulnerable for a heart attack, diabetes, or cancer.

So, my friend, here is an idea just for you...a great first step towards improving your health...something that you can do now that requires no extra time or thought, on your part...skip the soda! Get your energy from healthy foods and snacks like fruits, veggies, and yogurt. Hydrate with water, even G2 or Vitamin Water or sugar-free lemonades or iced tea. But, please, please, pass on the soda!

This One's On Me

TGIF...and I like to shake off the work week with a cocktail, over dinner with the hubby. My beverage of choice is a nice glass or two of red wine from our House Selections wine collection...don't get too excited...this was just a fancy way of saying we keep spare bottles of some of our fave vintages in boxes in the basement!

If you like to kick-off the weekend with a celebratory beverage, and if that beverage generally comes in the form of a frozen margarita, you've found yourself at another quick-swap juncture...lucky you! Frozen margaritas will run ya 350-500 calories A PIECE...yes, if you are doing a quick calculation in your head, you are correct in figuring two of those bad boys basically cover over half your daily caloric needs, which fall anywhere from 1200-1800 per day, including breakfast (which I hope you ate?!!) and lunch. Given frozen margs often arrive with a side of chips and salsa or a basket of some other naughty happy hour nibbles, you are looking down the barrel of very quickly blowing up not only your day's caloric budget but probably nearly the whole week's worth of good efforts.

Okay, everyone splurges every now and then, but this country isn't growing in size, because we do this every so often. If this is your Friday night routine, might I suggest giving the on-the-rocks version a try? I know it's not a sweet and desserty, but that's kinda the point, because it will also save you at least half or more of the calories, coming in around 170 per drink! Now, you've got some wiggle room to work with on your night's out...cheers!

All Purpose Bleach

I know you're supposed to steer clear of foods containing enriched flours, opting for their whole-grain counterparts instead, since their nutrients haven't been stripped away in the process of becoming a packaged product. As I've read nutrition labels, I've seen the terms bleached or unbleached also appearing in the ingredients, while I'm scrolling through the list to decipher what it is I'm considering eating. For some silly reason, I thought it meant bleached white by the sun...I know, seriously, right?!! It wasn't until I watched last weeks' Losing It With Jillian that I finally had my awakening. As she went through ingredients listed in a bag of flour, she mentioned that it was bleached and said something to the effect of, "wanna go to the laundry room and have a cup of bleach with your meal"! I swear, it was like a lightbulb exploded in my headed, as I grasped that it is actual BLEACH that is used, not some natural process, followed by shock that this would be allowed. But, bleach and a lot of other chemicals that I can't begin to pronounce or find on the Periodic Table can be found sprinkled throughout processed, packaged foods. And, we are eating it...regularly, blindly, foraciously...to the very detriment of our health.

Our bodies weren't built to efficiently process chemicals and dyes...we aren't washing machines. As you're wandering through aisles of bread, crackers, cookies, snack cakes, bake mixes, and frozen foods, pick up a package and flip to the ingredients list and take a look...then, let the image of sipping on some liquid bleach guide you to a better option.

So Cheesy!

Ah, cheese...that delightful little morsel that has become almost a staple, in so many things that we eat. It is ooey-gooey deliciousness, I know, but it is also a source of lots of fat and calories. As I crunch numbers in my calorie counter, I can never get over how the calories in a recipe, even one that is otherwise healthy, just jump, after I add in the cheese component...sliced, shredded, 2%, natural, creamed, lite, cubed, fat-free, soured. Am I going to tell you to quit eating it? No. But, the next time you're eating something that includes cheese, pay attention to whether or not you can actually TASTE it. Cheese is so the norm that I think we eat it, sometimes just because it's there, not so much because of how it really enhances a meal...thus adding lots and lots of extra calories to our lives for no other reason than habit. A great example of this is cheese slices on Subway sandwiches . I always ate my 6-inch turkey with cheese...the American way, right?!!...until I realized that the cheese added an easy 100-calories to the meal but really didn't add much flavor. So, I started to pass on the cheese...weird at first, because I love it...and noticed that I didn't even notice it was gone. I survived a meal without cheese!

I continued to "test" the need for cheese in other meals, including burrito bowls from Chipotle, Mexican gumbos from Qdoba, chicken wraps from Red Robin, and entree salads from various sit-down places. Nope, nope, not having cheese didn't detract from the meal at all, but I walked away with a couple hundred extra calories to spend on something more worthwhile...or to save and put towards losing that extra pound that week. So, think about what it's doing for you and your meal, then start to pick your battles with it!

First Base

Well, here we are...all done shooting down some of the excuses ("I can't blah-blah-blah") running through your head, at the mere thought of starting down the road of being healthier...of being happier. Still hearing that negative chatter? Flip back through some old posts for a refresher on overcoming those hesitations, and let's do this!

Getting to first base is as simple as getting familiar with your caloric intake versus. output. Yes, I know that all these diets and pills and magic formulas want to make it SOOOO much more complicated than that, but it really is as simple as being aware of how much you're shoving in your face and how much of that you are burning off. You can probably guess that eating better costs less than eating garbage, while exercising gives you more wiggle room to work with...a natural progression towards a healthier lifestyle.

So, how do we know our calorie alotment? There are numerous free calorie counters on-line that will figure out your intake needs, based on height, weight, age, gender, and activity level. Here's a link to one of the calculators that I've used (thank you, Trisha!): http://teambeachbody.com/eat-smart/nutrition-tools/caloric-needs. Once you get your number, start to pay attention to the calories in the foods you're eating and compare to your actual intake needs. You may be surprised at the very vast difference between what your body actually needs and what you're giving it...surprised at the high caloric cost of foods that don't even fill you up or make you feel good...maybe not so surprised at how those "little" splurges really add up. Get on base, so that you can start closing that gap!

On a "Lite" Note...

If you don't already, find ways to swap out for lite or low-fat options on some of your foods. Especially with food that is mixed with other foods, seasoned, dipped, or whatever, you may not even be able to really tell a difference in the lower-calorie, lower-fat option, but your waistline will! Notice, I did NOT say go fat-free!! You actually need a little fat in your food to fill you up, and I've found that lite versions mostly pass for the real thing...fat-free stuff?...not so much!

Experiment with foods and brands to make the swap and still feel content with the flavor. Here are some great places to start: mayo, milk, cheese (shredded, string, block, sliced), cream cheese, butter, bread, waffles, syrup, crackers, chips (lite meaning baked here), salad dressing, sour cream, cottage cheese, peanut butter, and yogurt!