Organize your cans

The cans in my pantry were driving me nuts.

My solution.  These magazine-holder-thingies from Ikea.  You get 5 for $1.  Can problem solved.

White Bean Chicken (or Turkey) chili

I never thought I'd be one to have a blog where I post recipes.  But since fixing food for my humans consumes a huge portion of my life, I think good, healthy recipes deserve a space on my blog.  Every once in a while at least.

If you haven't checked out Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog, you probably should.  Awesome, almost always easy, and usually not time consuming recipes.  It's my "go to" recipe site.

And with that, I give you this little gem that has become a part of our winter meal rotation.

White Bean Chicken (or Turkey) Chili

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans Great Northern Beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups cooked, diced chicken (or turkey)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 3/4 cup salsa (I use Pace Chunky Medium)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the remainder of the ingredients, except the mozzarella cheese. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the soup comes to a simmer. Add the mozzarella cheese one handful at a time, stirring to let each addition melt before adding the next. Stir to combine and make sure all the cheese has melted and serve.

Click here for a link with a picture.

It's good.  Trust me.  And healthy.  Bonus.  I've made it with turkey and chicken.  Tastes great either way.  And once I mistakenly thought I had mozzarella cheese but didn't, so I ripped up a bunch of string cheese and put that in there.  Took a little longer to melt, but still worked.  I'm brave in the kitchen like that.

Best spinach protein shake!!

I am not a "juicer".  And I have never been able to jump on the "green smoothie" bandwagon.  Every one of those I have tried have NOT tasted good to me.

But this one.  This one is good.  And I don't own a Vitamix or a Blendtec (is that what it's called).  I just use a regular old blender and it works fine.

This is what I drink after a good workout.
It's an adapted recipe from the book "Fit2Fat2Fit" (which is a really interesting book by the way).

Spinach Protein Shake

2-3 cups of spinach (I just grab a few handfuls and shove them on the bottom of the blender)
3/4 C almond milk (or you could use regular milk)
1 scoop vanilla whey protein (I get a big bag of this at Costco)
1/2 banana
1 Tbsp peanut butter (I use Skippy natural)
1-2 cups of ice (this makes it cold, obviously, and thicker)

Mix it all up!

Looks nasty.  Tastes gooooood!!!  (Like, good good, not "healthy" good.  Trust me)

Getting Healthy. Part 3

To read Part 2 of "Getting Healthy" click here.

The next key for me to getting healthy was exercise.

I've been athletic my whole life.  I grew up playing sports with all the neighborhood boys.  Started playing competitive soccer when I was 12.  And played soccer in highschool.  I didn't start running just for the sake of running until I was 22.  I had never consistently run for exercise until I decided I was going to run a marathon.  Go big or go home.

And then I had four babies.  And only exercised intermittently during and between each pregnancy.

After my fourth baby, I finally felt motivated to lose all the baby weight and get in good shape.  

A few factors played into my decision on what type of exercise to do.  The only time I have to exercise right now is when my kids are awake.  A few of my kids don't sleep well, so getting up early is out of the question.

Running outside with kids in a stroller seems like a sin to me.  Running is my sacred time.  My alone time.  My "I can do this really hard thing called being a mother" pump up time.  Pushing kids in a stroller fetching thrown sippy cups and passing out goldfish just seems wrong.

Running on the treadmill wasn't an option either for fear something would get thrown at me by a child while running resulting in treadmill burn on my face.

I also wanted something that required no equipment.  Cause if momm'a lifting weights, the kids want to lift weights too.

So I decided to do Insanity.  If you haven't heard of Insanity, it's basically interval training.  But it's 3 minutes of high, intense exercise, and then a 30 second "rest" (you never really get to rest), then another 3 minutes of high, intense exercise.  When they say it's insanity, they aren't kiddin'.  It's hard.  Harder than any form of exercise I've ever done in my life.  More painful than even the last mile of the marathon I ran.

It hurts.  It's hard.  It's intense.  It's insane.

But.

It got me in the BEST shape of my entire life.  It literally changed the shape of my body.  Gave me muscle in places I've never had muscle before.  Toned.  Burned fat.  

The pain was worth it.  Because I have truly never felt better.  Ever.  I'm in better shape and stronger than ever.

That's how I got healthy and lost weight.  Not running.  The comment I usually get is "you've been running a lot haven't you."  Nope.  Just did insanity.

It doesn't have to be insanity.  But I think interval training is amazing for the body. 

Smart exercise.  Not hours and hours of exercise.

Even after I got to the size I felt healthy at, I continued to do insanity.  I did it for about a year.

I now do Focus T-25 5 days a week for exercise.  Because it's only 25 minutes.  And I'm just trying to maintain.  Not lose weight. 

I run on Saturdays when my husband can watch kids.  Because running is good for my soul.  And I like to listen to music while I run.  (Check out my running playlist here)

Sometimes I just run 4 to 7 miles (depending on how much energy/time I have).  Other times, I do an interval treadmill workout.  You can check that out here.

I never thought I was an exercise to a DVD kind of person.  But I love these.  And the kids have learned mom can't talk while doing these.  I literally can't talk.  I've nearly puked on several occasions. 

I'm particular about the DVD I do, however.  I tried Jillian Michaels 30 day shred as well as P-90X but didn't care for either of them.  Shaun T's my guy.  Motivating but not annoying.

At some point I'd like to do more weight training, it's just not in the cards right now.

To read Part 4 of "Getting Healthy" click here.

Getting healthy. Part 1

To read my history with weight and feeling healthy, click here.

I'm being completely honest when I say I don't care how much I weigh.  I really don't.  I just want to FEEL good.  And to look good.  Weight is irrelevant in that equation for me.  It's an easy gauge to see if we're on track to our goals, but it is not the end goal for me.

So.  Post baby number 4.  50 pounds to lose.  Where to begin.

I should add that I did not exercise the entire time I was pregnant with baby number four.  Partially due to 9 months of pregnancy sickness.  Partially due to laziness and lack of motivation.

There were two huge keys for me while losing weight getting healthy.  The first was WHAT I ate, WHEN I ate it, and HOW much I ate.  The food we put in our mouths will have THE biggest impact on the health of our body.  I don't care how much you exercise, if you eat like crap, or don't eat the right things in the right amounts at the right time, you'll never be as healthy as you could/should be.

And not all calories are equal.  Eating a 250 calorie donut is NOT the same as eating a 250 calorie chicken breast.  For a better explanation of the non-equality of calories, click here.

So let's cut to the chase.  Here's what I did.

5 "meals" throughout the day.  Roughly 300 calories at each meal.  I was strict and religious about that.

Something to ALWAYS keep in mind.  Losing weight is WAY harder than maintaining a healthy weight.  So while I was losing fat and gaining muscle, I was very strict to the 5 meals throughout the day.  Now that I'm pretty close to where I want to be, I don't always spread it out into 5 meals.

So.  5 "meals" with the calories spread out.  To calculate how many calories you should be eating,  here is the formula I used:

Step 1: Calculating The Calories

In step 1 we’ll use the Harris Benedict Equation to figure out your caloric needs. This equation will determine your basal (resting) metabolic rate, which is the energy required to maintain your current weight without exercise or physical activity. We’ll add in for your exercise in another step.

• For Women: 655 + (4.35 x weight in pounds) + (4.7 x height in inches) – (4.7 x age in years)

• For Men: 66 + (6.23 x weight in pounds) + (12.7 x height in inches) – (6.8 x age in years)

Step 2: Determine Your Activity Level

Now take the number you got from the formula above and multiply it by the level of exercise listed below.  [I used the "moderately active" number]

Step 3: Total Calorie Count

With the number that you’ve calculated from steps 1 & 2 you’ve determined how many daily calories you need for weight maintenance. In the final step you’ll make one last tweak to your number, either up or down depending on your weight loss or gain goals. See below to determine your adjustment if you need one:

• For weight loss, subtract 500 calories per day from your number in Step 2.

• For weight maintenance, do nothing. Just use the number you got from Step 2.

• For weight gain, add 250 to 300 calories per day to your number from Step 2.

Once I figured out how many calories I should be eating a day, I spread those calories out throughout my meals.

Then with each meal, I had some source of protein and a carbohydrate of some sort.  I also tried to throw fruit and vegetables in there as much as I could, but I wasn't as consistent about this.  The biggest key for me was eating AS MUCH protein as I could handle.  

Click here for Part 2 of Getting Healthy

how much do you weigh

While growing up, I paid no attention to how much I weighed.  We had a scale in the house and I'm sure I got on it, but probably only to weigh myself after Thanksgiving dinner to see if I packed in enough food to gain weight.

I paid no attention to what I ate either.  I could eat an entire Little Caesar's pizza by myself (no, I'm not exaggerating).  I remember drinking a soda at school one day and my health teacher walked by.  "You're just drinking empty calories.  Why aren't you drinking water?"  I thought to myself "What the heck is an empty calorie?"  I had no idea what he was talking about.

I didn't count calories.  I didn't eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day.  I didn't eat much protein.  I just ate.  Whatever.

But I've always been active.  Always been athletic.  I have four brothers and I'm pretty sure I was half boy growing up.  I lived to play steal-the-flag and tackle football.  We even formed our own NFL with coaches, a draft, practices, pamphlets full of plays, and scheduled games.  I'm pretty impressed with our creativity and organization with that.

When I was 11, I begged and begged my parents to let me play tackle football.  I may have even written an essay explaining why this was a good idea.  Mom didn't agree.  It was one of the few times in my life she gave me an emphatic "no".  Instead, I decided to play soccer.  Little did my mom know there was almost as much contact in soccer, only no pads.

Through middle school and high school, I gave no thought to what went in my mouth.  And I played soccer.   But I did not enjoy running just for the sake of running.  Who runs just to run?  And why?

And then I went to college and things changed.  I don't remember how, or why.  But I suddenly became very aware of went in my mouth.  And by aware I mean, not very much went in my mouth.  I lost a lot of weight.  I was never over weight necessarily.  Average I guess.  But when I decided to stop eating most food, the weight peeled off.  And I became a shell of the person I once was.  

I used to measure my cheerios in the morning so I only had exactly one cup.  I ate 3 jelly beans for lunch that I would space out over a half of an hour.  Every day at work, I'd have those 3 jelly beans in my pocket and that's what I would eat.  I don't think anyone even knows this.  Well, now they do.

People started noticing.  And it's nice when people notice.  When they say "wow, you look great".  So it continues.  

I wouldn't call myself anorexic.  Not because that would embarrass me or because I'd be ashamed, but I don't think it's accurate.  I did eat.  And when I looked in the mirror, I didn't think I was fat.  I knew I was thin.  But I really liked being thin.  Too thin.

But the problem was, I was just thin.  And I was barely eating anything.  And I wasn't healthy.  I wasn't nourished.  I wasn't strong.  I was just thin.  And for what?

In the middle of my college career, I decided to do a semester abroad in Israel.  And that's where things started to swing the other way.  And the weight started creeping back on.   Turns out chocolate is really good in Israel and so is the bread.  And the pastries.  And the crepes.  And the homemade donuts.  Yum.

The weight continued to climb after I got home.  But somehow I ignored it.  Because I don't weigh myself after all.  

Then one day, my friends Grandpa saw me and asked "Did you quit playing soccer?"  I tried to act like I didn't know why he was asking.  But I knew.  Because old men don't lie.  He let me know in the most delicate way an old man knows how that I was "gettin' up there".  

So for the first time in my life, when I was 22 years old I started to pay attention to what I ate.  Only I didn't really know what to eat.  Or when to eat.  Sounds silly since we've all grown up with the food pyramid chart our entire lives.  But that still didn't mean much to me in terms of controlling my weight.  But more specifically about living a healthy, maintainable lifestyle.  

It didn't really help.  I didn't know what I was doing.  And I get easily discouraged if things don't immediately work.  I want to see results, like, yesterday.  This whole "enjoy the journey" stuff--yea, not me.  I just want to be there.  

So my weight and body size throughout my life has certainly fluctuated.  My eating habits have gone from eating anything and everything, to eating almost nothing, back to eating anything and everything.  

Having 4 babies didn't help either.  When I'm pregnant, anything goes.  Pizza for breakfast, why not?

And with each baby, I gained more weight each time.  So by the time I was pregnant with my fourth baby, I gained almost 60 pounds.  Six, Zero.  Sixty Pounds.  Why my doctor didn't say "Slow down on the eating" I'll never know.  

But there I was.  With 50ish pounds to lose (I had only lost 10 pounds after he was born).  And I was sure I was done having babies (Oh please, God, agree with me on this one).  So it was time.  Time to do this the right way.  The healthy way.

And so, I did.

To read Step 1 of getting healthy, click here.