Shake up Your Weekend ~ Orange Dreamsicle Smoothie

A healthy dose of vitamin C to boost your immune system and promote healthy skin and hair.  It's the perfect breakfast if you find yourself coming down with a cold too.  Just replace the Liftoff® tablet with a Best Defense Orange Boost tablet before blending.
 
Orange Dreamsicle Smoothie
 
Ingredients:
2 scoops French Vanilla Formula 1 Nutritional Shake Mix
2 tablespoons Personalized Protein Powder
1 cup plain soy milk or nonfat milk
1 Liftoff® Ignite Me Orange tablet
3 Tablespoons frozen orange juice concentrate
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ice cubes (or frozen yogurt cubes)
 
Directions:
Place all ingredients in the blender and mix thoroughly until the ice cubes are completely crushed.

Nutritional Analysis (with nonfat milk):
Calories: 305
Protein: 30 grams
Fat: 1 gram
Carbohydrates: 45 grams

Food Prices are Up, Package Sizes are Down

 If you grocery shop the way most people do, you probably plan a few meals in advance, make a list, and then buy – more or less – the same items week after week.  You know about what your weekly food bill should be, and so you’d likely notice any price upticks of the items you regularly buy.  But what you might not notice is that while prices might be holding steady – package sizes are shrinking.  So while you might think you’re not paying any more, you are – simply because you’re getting less.

A recent article in The New York Times noted that food companies will do this from time to time when unemployment rates are up, or when food costs are rising – they’ll downsize package contents a bit so they can avoid raising prices. It’s done in an attempt to keep peace with consumers who would certainly notice when their grocery costs start climbing – but who may not pick up on the fact that their packages are shriveling in size.

A few less chips or cookies in a bag probably wouldn’t be obvious to most people.  And you might not have noticed the big the “dimple” in the bottom of a peanut butter jar because – other than the dimple – the other dimensions of the jar have stayed the same, so it looks normal on the shelf.  Tuna cans have stayed the same size, but they hold a lot less tuna than they used to.

This downsizing is usually done pretty quietly, but some of the recent changes have been so dramatic, that they just can’t go unnoticed.  So some food companies are trying a different spin.  They’re telling us we should feel good about small packages because they contain fewer calories, and that less packaging material makes products more  environmentally friendly.  Smaller packages, they say, are more portable, and foods tend to stay fresher.

True as those statements may be, it’s also true that we’re getting hit where it hurts. Any way you look at it, we’re paying more for food.  We need to start looking at food prices like we do the price of gasoline – we might gripe about it, but at least we know how much we’re paying per gallon.  So pay more attention to those little “unit price” stickers on grocery shelves.  Because if you’re not comparing the cost per ounce of everything you buy, you’re just comparing – as they say – apples to oranges.


Excerpts reprinted with permission from:
Food Prices are Up, Package Sizes are Down 
Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD 

Healthy Recipe of the Week ~ Mini Turtle Cheesecakes

All of the decadence of cheesecake with none of the guilt!  Because these yummy cheesecakes have extra protein and low sugar content, they can easily be added to many high protein weight loss programs and diabetic meal plans. 

Mini Turtle Cheesecakes

Ingredients 
Makes 12 Mini Cheesecakes

2 pkgs Fat Free Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Splenda No Calorie Sweetener - Granulated for Cooking & Baking
1/4 cup Herbalife Personalized Protein Powder
2 Eggs
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
12 Reduced Fat Vanilla Wafers
1/4 cup Nuts - Pecans, chopped
4 tbsp Hershey's Sugar Free Chocolate Chips
4 tbsp Smucker's Sugar Free Caramel (Made With Splenda)

Directions

1.  Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2.  Beat cream cheese, Splenda, and Personalized Protein Powder in large bowl with mixer until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low speed after each just until blended.
3.  Place 1 cookie in bottom of each of 12 paper-lined muffin cups. Fill with batter.
4.  Bake 20 minutes or until centres are almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours.
5.  Top with pecans and chocolate chips then drizzle caramel topping over the cheesecakes.

Nutritional Information (per serving)
Calories: 115 | Total Carbs: 11g | Fat: 4g | Protein: 8g
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Avoiding the Snack Attack

One of the topics covered in this week's lesson is how to snack healthy. Very often, we can have great exercise and meal plans all set up, only to have them be sabatoged by snacking. Here are some additional resources to help fight back against the snack attack.

Video ~ Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth

Here they Come: Healthy or Not?	Eating Right at Night
Does TV Make You Fat?	Can You Eat Too Much Healthy Food?

Week 2 of the Live Healthy, Live Happy Weight Loss Challenge is underway. It's not too late to sign up!  Contact me to find out how.  :)

Live Healthy.  Live Happy.

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Monday Meditation ~ Self Talk

"My inner critic has become a lot quieter since I began to be the witness to my thoughts."

I would like to say I have gotten rid of my inner critic completely, but she's still there, heckling away like the two old men on The Muppet Show. I am my own worse critic, always have been.  Unrealistic expectations, perfectionism, self doubt.  I can be pretty brutal to myself.

But as I grow in awareness and learn to have patience and compassion for myself (and others), I am also learning that I can listen to that inner critic with an open heart without letting it break my heart... or my spirit.  Instead of letting it erode my sense of self, I can observe the criticism, learn from it, and grow as a result of it.  The trick is staying mindful.

Live Healthy.  Live Happy.

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The 7 Biggest Dieting Mistakes

• Skipping meals. Lots of people think that skipping meals is a quick and easy way to cut calories, but it’s rarely a good tactic.  It’s almost a given that if you skip a meal, you’ll get overly hungry at the next one – or tell yourself that you’ve “hardly eaten all day” – and then overeat.  The most successful dieters eat regular meals, and snack in between if the meal interval is longer than 4 hours or so.

• Not eating enough protein. Most dieters know that veggies are the lowest calorie foods out there, so they try to power through the day on little else.  But without enough protein, you’ll be hungry in no time – protein satisfies hunger more than carbohydrates or fat. Make sure you have protein at each meal and snack.

• Not eating enough carbohydrates.  I know there are still some low-carb dieters out there, but cutting back too far on carbs means you’re avoiding the ‘healthy’ carbs, too  – namely antioxidant-rich fruits and veggies.  You need the carbohydrates in fruits and vegetables to help fuel your activity, and their fiber helps to fill you up.

• Not keeping track of what you’re eating.  You may have a general eating plan and you may feel that you know pretty well how much you’re eating – so you don’t bother to write it down.  But you’re more likely to forget all the little extras – the little nibbles throughout the day, the slightly larger portions, the condiments and dressings you didn’t account for.  Write down everything you eat, every time you eat, for better accuracy.

• Thinking that  all ‘healthy-sounding’ foods are low calorie.   Don’t assume that just  because a food is labeled “low fat” or “sugar-free”, for example, that you can eat it with abandon.  Calories still count, and you need to look at your nutrition facts labels to make sure you know how many you’re taking in.

•  Tackling too much at once. If most of your foods come from the drive-through and you get winded walking up a flight of stairs, you’ve got some work to do.  Some people do successfully tackle a lot of diet and lifestyle changes at once, but the majority of people need to take things a step at a time.  If you’re planning a complete lifestyle overhaul, you may be setting yourself up to fail.  Make small changes you know you can stick with – like adding extra steps on your pedometer every day.

• Overestimating how many calories you’re burning through exercise.  Studies have shown that people overestimate the number of calories they burn by as much as 25%.  Despite what some people may think, a jog around the block won’t burn off the calories in a hot fudge sundae.  It’ll take more like two hours of singles tennis to do that.

Reprinted with permission from:
7 of the Biggest Dieting Mistakes 
Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD 

Healthy Recipe of the Week ~ Zucchini Ricotta Calzone

Zucchini Ricotta Calzone

This is a healthy alternative to an Italian classic.  Packed with protein and healthy veggies, this dish will fill you up without fattening you up.  Serve with a fresh salad or homemade Gazpacho for a wonderful and easy meal.    

Ingredients:

2 cups Zucchini, cubed
2 Garlic cloves, minced
1/2 Red Onion, sliced
2 Chicken Sausage ~ Spinach & Feta, cooked and sliced
1/2 cup part-skim Ricotta cheese
1/2 cup part-skim Mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Italian style stewed tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup fresh Italian herbs (parsley, basil, oregano), chopped
1/2 ts Salt
1/4 ts Pepper
1/4 ts Nutmeg
8 ounces of prepared pizza dough

Directions

Filling:
   1. Saute' zucchini, garlic and onion in a skillet until slightly softened. Remove from heat and add the drained stewed tomatoes and chicken sausage.
   2. In a bowl, blend together ricotta, mozzarella, Italian herbs, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

To make the calzones:
   1. Divide the dough into 4 portions and shape into balls. On lightly floured surface, roll or stretch each ball into an 8-inch circle.
   2. Divide filling among dough rounds, leaving enough dough on the bottom edge to fold over top edge.
   3. Fold dough over to make half-circles. Crimp edges to seal (it may be easier to fill and form soft calzone right on the baking sheet).

Bake on baking sheet lined with parchment paper in 425F oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Nutritional Information (per serving)
Calories: 316 | Total Carbs: 28g | Fat: 10g | Protein: 16g