Day 3

Today starts day 3. Despite the bread and cheese cravings I had last night, I managed to sleep really well. This morning I woke up at 6:38am with tummy bloat. At 6:40am, this was taken care of :-p

As hungry as I was feeling last night, I did not wake up very hungry this morning. This is good. So, what do I plan on doing differently today? I want to get some exercise in and try to snack less. Yesterday I only snacked twice (bowl of chopped apple and almonds, guacamole and air baked crackers). The snacks were healthy but I have to remember, just because I am eating healthy doesn't mean I can over eat...ahem... I'm thinking about you guacamole :-p

Alright... Off to conquer another day! More updates later...

Brief Overview of Day 2

Today I felt hungrier and thought about cheese... A LOT! I also feel pretty bloated from all the extra fiber I'm taking in.

Dinner today was at 7:45pm, followed by dessert which was a bowl of fresh fruit topped with shredded mint.

Right now it's almost 11pm and I feel bloated and hungry. I'm also intensely craving a loaf of French bread with cheese... Any cheese... I just want cheese :-p

Well, it's time for bed... If I can't have cheese maybe I'll dream about it :-p

Good night and sweet dreams!

And It's Monday Again....

Good Morning All, How was your weekend? My weekend was pretty good. I was able to eat healthy with the exception of Friday night, but that's OK. I've learned to limit my bad eating days to one day of the week, for a meal. Friday it was Indian food night! Sure, there are healthy Indian foods to choose from, but I chose to indulge since it was just one night out of the whole week. This also did not put a dent in my weight loss efforts. Saturday I got right back on track and kept it lean, light and low cal since I was feeling a bit under the weather. Sunday I ate healthy all day. Had plenty of fruit! I've been eating a lot more fruit since Weight Watchers now has all fruits as 0 points. Sometimes I wonder if this is good. Fruits do contain lots of sugars! I think I should also increase my veggie consumption as well. I did get to the grocery store and bought lots of fruits and veggies. My top fruits for this week are golden delicious apples, anjou pears and kiwi. My veggies for the week are arugula, asparagus, broccoli, cucumbers and cauliflower. I also managed to make a couple of healthy dishes as my lunches and dinners for the week. I made a Tex-Mex Mac N Cheese dish. This was a recipe that I tweaked from Weight Watchers. I'll post this up later on. I also made a Cantonese Chicken dish, which turned out excellent! This morning I weighed myself and lost .2 pounds from last week. Not too much weight loss, but not weight gain either :-) One thing I did not do was get a work out in. I'll have to make sure I work out a little harder this week to make up. How was your weekend? I hope you ate healthy for the most part!

It's a Subway dinner....

Armed with only 4 points left in the day, I needed to think quick for dinner. I decided to get a 6 inch veggie sub a Subway for 4 points. This managed to keep me full! As I always say, when in doubt....go for Subway!

Chop't Mexican Steak Salad

Yesterday after my so not worth it 7 point yogurt breakfast I waited until 1pm to finally have my lunch! I decided to get a salad from Chop't, a highly addictive salad joint in the city. Now, just because it's a salad don't be fooled that it's low in points. In fact it's quite the opposite! I ordered the Mexican steak salad with the spa ranch. This baby was 9points!! However, unlike my morning yogurt which only kept me full a couple of hours, my Chop't salad kept me full straight until dinnertime. So, the Chop't Mexican steak salad was totally worth the points and all 425 calories!

Fourth of July Weekend...

Hello Everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July weekend!!! My weekend was very nice and I was able to get tons of activity in with row boating, paddling and volleyball. Definitely a fun calorie burned weekend! This was also a weekend of calorie consuming...oh yes there was definitely a lot of food around. Here's the real deal readers....I did not count calories or points, but I know I sure did eat A LOT in three days!! I'm not going to lie, there were waffles, pancakes, burgers, crab cakes, pizza etc. Lot's and lot's of food, all of which were no good. Now that the weekend is over, the only thing left to do is get back to the grind and start eating my normal regular foods! How was your weekend?

Day 1: Raw fooding it...

So last month I went on a raw food diet for a week, this time I am attempting to go on a raw food diet for a month. Well, I'll be honest, a slightly raw food diet. Yes, I will eliminate coffee, but I am still staying with my green tea. Now, why am I doing this for a month? Well, this is sort of my way of detoxing my body. Trying to eliminate all the processed food and toxins from my body. Now, I am not abandoning WW by an means. In fact, I am incorporating my raw food diet within my points system. Just because you are eating healthy, raw food, too much of this can cause weight gain as most raw foods have a lot of nuts incorporated into them. Lots of nuts = lots of fat and calories! So, I thought I would document my raw food experience with you all. Some of the recipes I have are from raw food books, others are from myself. They are all tasty and I will share as much as I can with you, so lets begin! Breakfast -My Muesli 1/4c groats, soaked over night and drained the next day 1TB of raisins 1TB of chopped almonds 1TB of cinnamon 1TB of flax seed 1/4c. of almond mylk (recipe from Ani Phyo's raw food book) Mix all of this in a bowl and enjoy! Total points: 5.5 Now, I know this is more points than usual for my breakfast, but lets see if I will need a snack later on! PS: Ill post a pic tonight!

Hello there...

Hello Everyone, We have officially completed one whole month of the new year! How have you guys been doing so far? I hope you are all planning your meals well and trying to get some sort of physical activity in your day. January was alright for me. I only had a total weight loss of 3lbs. (I did gain a pound, so I went from 4 to 3). One thing that has helped me out a lot is making sure I have my breakfast ready in a fast way (thank goodness for instant oatmeal), and planning out my lunches during the week. I have some great recipes which I will share with you in a later post :-) How have you guys been doing? What do you find to be your biggest challenge?

And the results are in....

Good morning! This week has certainly been interesting. I managed to eat mostly raw foods atleast 85% of the week. It was so interesting to see how easy and flavorful raw meals can be. I definitely felt 'cleaner' and lighter througout this week. I also noticed I was eating as we should all be eating, in the sense, do not stuff yourself silly. Instead, take your time and enjoy your food and take pleasure on how such simple flavors can be put together to make such a fresh delicious meal. It is not my goal what so ever to do completely raw. I still love my meat, and the great flavors you get out of veggies when you roast them, but I have to say, I will make more of an effort to eat more raw foods. Maybe it was the raw foods, or the fact that I've been keeping up with my running but I am down another two pounds this week!!!!! I am happy and of course excited. I'm also a bit worried though, will going back to my regular eating habits result in weight gain? I guess we will find out next week. Right now, yes, I am really happy about the 2 pound weight loss! How are you guys doing?

Week Two...Tryin Somethin New...

Good Morning Everyone, We are now into week 2 of the New Year. This week I've decided to try something different, something that I've been wanting to do for a while, and that is a raw foods diet. At work, I found Ani Phyo's book: Ani's Raw Food Kitchen. I LOVE this book because number one, most of the recipes are very simple, number two the fancy schmancy equipment that other raw foods recipes ask for, are optional in this book! Surprisingly, being on the raw foods diet has worked out well in conjuntion to weight watchers. Although there are a lot of nuts and EVOO used in recipes, with proper portion control I stay within my points. So, what have I noticed thus far being on a raw foods diet? Well, I do have more energy. I've also realized that a raw food diet does not mean eating bland fruits and veggies. When the right foods are combined, this is really delicious! You can make everything from burgers to wraps, to decadent desserts!! Ani is amazing when it comes to this!! Last night I made a whole 3 course raw food meal which consisted of: Lemon Fennel EVOO soup Cabbage slaw with thyme and apple cider vinegar Delicious Dolmas stuffed with dill, raisins, pine nuts and sun dried tomatos!!! Yum..all this was around 9 points!!! So good and delicious!!! Go ahead and try something new and healthy this week!!! How have you guys been doing this week?

Healthy Ways to Bulk Up Your Food...

Sometimes when you are trying to watch out for portion distortion, you'll realize that actual portion sizes are pretty small! We do eat with our eyes as well, and if we see such a small amount of food, we think..how will this ever fill me up?!? Have no fear because there are healthy ways to bulk up your portion sizes without adding many points..and I mean hardly any! Next time you're cooking, try these suggestions out:

• Anytime you have a meat dish using ground beef, chicken, turkey, or even chunks of meat such as chicken salad or even tuna salad, you can increase the bulk of your meals by adding finely diced mushrooms! When diced, mushrooms can be very meaty and you’ll hardly know they are mushrooms because they will absorb the flavor of whatever youre cooking.
• Making a creamy dip? Substitute half of the 'creamy' part with non fat Greek Yogurt. This is awesome because Greek Yogurt is not tart, and is thick and rich. Best of all, it's fat free!
• When baking, you can save a ton of fat and calories by substituting 3/4 of the oil for apple sauce!
• Love mashed potatos but cannot take all the carbs....no problem, boil up a head of cauliflower and mash this into the potatos! You'll get twice as many 'mashed potatos'!
• Double up your guacamole by adding mashed peas...seriously, people will not even know the difference!

These are just a few tips and tricks I have. As I find more out, Ill post them. Do you guys have tips?

Some Helpful Links...

Good Morning Everyone!! How is everyone doing with their diet and excersise goals? Lately for breakfast I've been having a tablespoon of almond butter with a teaspoon of agave nectar on an Arnold's Whole Wheat Thins. What have you guys been having for breakfast? To keep you all on track I've decided to post up a few healthy links that will help you keep track of your weight loss:

• www.weightwatchers.com - TONS of info here, along with a points tracker and points calculator.
• www.Loseit.com
• www.Livestrong.com - a great site with tools and calculators to help you lose weight
• www.Calorieking.com - this site will give you the nutritional on stats on anything you can eat, even restaurant food (type in the name of the restaurant.
• www.fitday.com - this is a great free tool to help you keep track of your food, workouts, and weight.
• http://www.indiacurry.com/nutrition/rotidosaidli.htm - Calorie count on some indian foods
• http://www.healthydiningfinder.com/ - this is an awesome site for finding nutrition stats when eating out!

Are you guys keeping on track with the new year?

New Year, new day, new you....

Good Morning Everyone, Today is the first Monday of the new year! Usually I am against setting a specific date to start a healthy lifestyle, but since this is a new year to start off fresh and coincedentally also a Monday (the day most people decide to start their healthy lifestyle), why not take advantage of this if it works for people? Yes peoples, this is a new year to start off fresh! Forget about the past and work on the present so you can have a future! You are well equipped to take control of your life now. You have the knowledge to make healthy decisions, and if not, I will always be here to help out and give advice!! Here are a few steps to help you get started: 1. Restock your pantry with fruits, veggies, heart healthy nuts, lean protein. 2. Look through the ingredients of all your breads, pastas and rice. If this starts with enriched flour, switch over to 100% Whole Wheat or Whole grains! 3. Buy healthy on the go snacks such as part skim string cheese, apples, low fat yogurt and granola bars. 4. Invest in a 32oz. stainless steel water bottle. You can bring this anywhere and remember to keep yourself hydrated! 5. Plan out atleast 30 minutes a day of physical activity! This seems to be the hardest for people, but serious, even if its a walk during your lunch, every bit helps! 6. On a weekend day, plan your meals out for the week. Your breakfast, your lunches and dinners. This will make your trip to the grocery store easier and quicker. You will also be in control of what you feed your body! 7. Out of sight, out of mind. Throw away any trigger foods. Cakes, cookies, chips. If these are not with in reach, you cannot have them! I hope you all take these tips and work on bettering your eating habits! Feel free to share any tips you may have!! We are in this together!

***Recipe Alert: Smoky Bean Stew***

The original recipe for this stew is on my weekly column for The Ajnabee, www.theajnabee.com. This recipe is awesome and I decided to try it out by using pinto beans and adding spinach! Ah, so delicious and hearty, I really suggest you try this out! Here are the deets:

INGREDIENTS:

· 2 15.5oz. can of pinto beans, partially drained

· 1TB. of EVOO

· 1/2 onion, diced

· 2TB. of cumin seeds

· 2 cloves of garlic, sliced

· 1TB. of freshly grated ginger

· 1 tomato, diced

· 2tsp. of chopped chipotle peppers

One bag of baby spinach

· 1/4c. freshly chopped cilantro

· Juice of half a lemon

· Salt/pepper to taste

PREPARATION:

In a saucepan, add the oil and place the pan on medium heat. Once hot, add the onions, cumin and salt. Saute until onions are translucent. Add the garlic and ginger, saute for another minute.

Add the tomato and stir for a couple of minutes. Add the chipotle peppers and stir. Add the spinach, beans and lemon juice

Add the cilantro and season with salt/pepper to taste. Allow this to simmer on low heat for 20 minutes.

***Recipe Alert: Green Bean Tofu Stir Fry***

Hello Everyone!! My latest column on the The Ajnabee has been updated with a great recipe for a light and healthy Green Bean Tofu Stir fry!! You can check it out at: TheAjnabee.com!!

***Recipe Alert: Chaat Chicken***

Hello Everyone,

I've created a great recipe for a tangy chicken, juicy chicken full of flavor. A wonderful dish low in calories, but high in flavor!! This recipe is also featured on my weekly column for The Ajnabee...enjoy!

Ingredients: 1lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast, each piece cut in half 2TB. of freshly grated garlic 1/2c. of white vinegar 3TB. of chaat masala 1TB. of cumin powder 2tsp. of chili powder 1tsp. of turmeric 1tsp. of smoked paprika

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients together and make sure chicken is evenly coated. Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes. Turn your oven on to 400 degrees. Place chicken in a baking dish and cook uncovered for 20 minutes. Then cover chicken with foil and cook for another 10 minutes. Allow to cool. Enjoy with a side of roasted vegetables. This wonderful dish serves four people.

Don't wait till next year...

In my journey to leading a healthy lifestyle and losing weight, I realized there is no better time than the present to start making positive nutrition changes in your life. Don't wait til January 1st to make your resolution to eat right and excersise. Start right now so you can be on your way to looking fabulous for 2010! Think about this, you will ring in the new year in 3 1/2 weeks, in 3 1/2 weeks, by eating right you can easily lose 5 pounds! This is a great way to continue your healthy lifestyle for the new year. Think about how great and confident you will look and feel when ringing in the new year! With that said, don't wait another 3 1/2 weeks to eat healthy and excersise. Start today!

***Snack Attack -and new find***

Another great find for yogurt lovers...YoPlait YoPlus+ Digestive. So far I've only found this flavor in strawberry, but it is extremely creamy and delicious!

Here are the deets:

Cal: 110

Fat: 1.5g

Fiber: 3g

Points: 2

I was able to make the best snack out of this. I chopped up the half of banana that I had left over from my PB&B sandwhich this morning, and I added that to my YoPlus yogurt...delish and only 2.5pts!!!

Not bad for a snack!

What challenges do you face?

Hello Everyone, So, I want to know what challenges you guys face when trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Is it eating out? Working out? Watching out for portion sizes? I think everyone has atleast one thing which can be a challenge to them. By sharing your challenges, you can take advice from others and how they conquer what could be a challenge to you. So tell me, what are you biggest challenges when maintaining a healthy lifestyle?

What weight loss challenges do you face?

Hello Everyone, As we wind down our weekend and get ready to start a fresh new week, I'd like to help you try your best in eating right for your health this week. I know my biggest challenges during the week are making sure I get my workouts in and making healthy choices when eating out. I try to conquer these dilemma's by setting times to meet friends at the gym to workout (you are less likely to bail out when you have promised a friend you would workout with them), and by planning out my meals and looking on restaurant websites for nutritional stats. What are your biggest challenges during the week? Is it eating out, cooking food for the week, hanging out with friends...etc.