A Pursuit of Healthy: August 2015

Chicken with Jalapeno Cilantro Cream Sauce

Thursday, August 27, 2015

My mission in life is to be my healthiest and happiest self. So you might think that this means that I am crazy about counting my calories and buy low-cal, low-fat everything....not even close. I am a firm believer in the benefit of whole foods. All of the processing that a food has to go through in order to become low-fat or low-calorie, really takes away the things that make it a good nutritious option in the first place.

For instance, milk. You will definitely not find skim or low-fat milk in our house. Instead you'll find two different options: organic almond milk and whole, vitamin D enriched milk. Yep you read that right... whole milk. I've done a lot of reading on the different types of milk and have found a lot of research that states skim or low-fat milk is not beneficial to us. What do we get from milk? Why do we drink it and insist that especially our children drink it daily? That's right, calcium and vitamins. The interesting thing is that the vitamins that milk provides, mainly vitamin A, are fat-soluble. That means that an adequate level of fat has to be present in order for our bodies to absorb those vitamins. Therefore, no fat = no vitamin absorption. So what's the point of drinking the milk in the first place? Sure you might see a skim milk label that says "fortified with vitamin D" but think about what that means. In order to become skim milk, that milk has to first have all of the fat taken out (along with all the naturally occurring vitamins) and then that vitamin D has to artificially be added back in. What's wrong with that, you might be asking yourself. Our bodies don't readily absorb those artificial vitamins as well as the naturally occurring ones. And I personally would rather take in the naturally occurring vitamins over those that are made artificially, wouldn't you?

You might be wondering about the calorie content. Yes, whole milk does have more calories than skim milk because fats account for more calories. But what do we know good fats give us? Increased satiety. They make us feel full quicker and longer, therefore we eat less. And I don't know about you, but I am about the last person to grab a glass of milk to drink. It's not my thing. I'm not lactose intolerant but milk just does not make me feel well. I will only have it in cereal, in coffee, on oatmeal, or with the occasional cookie, so it does not account for much of my daily calorie intake.

Don't just take my word for it, do some research of your own. And the next time you are at the grocery store, think about your milk. Compare labels, do some checking, and decide for yourself what's important. For me, vitamins trump calories every time.

Meal Planning

Meal Plan: Week of August 9

Sunday, August 16, 2015

Hello everyone! Sorry this post is so late, I meant to post it sooner. Since I have had a lot of interest in my weekly planning and prep routine, I thought I'd go ahead and keep posting my weekly plan. So here is the plan I used for this past week.

While in Colorado, I heard about an amazing cookbook (which I now have to buy and read daily! It's amazing!) by Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything. I am a cookbook addict so after we got back from vacation I headed to the library to check it out. Thankfully they had it and another of his cookbooks, and then also a DASH diet cookbook. Don't know much about the DASH diet? I'll get to that later. Bottom line: it's a very good eating plan that emphasizes whole healthy foods. Calling it a "diet" really gives it such a negative connotation, but it has been proven as one of the healthiest and most effective weight loss/health plans out there. The cookbook was full of great healthy recipes that are simple and chocked full of good nutritious foods. I spent the good majority of my Saturday lounging with these cookbooks on my lap planning out our week's meals. So you'll see probably 90% of the recipes this week come from one of these books. Check them out yourself, you won't regret it!

Our 8 year old nephew spent the weekend with us, so we had a special pizza night. He thought making pizza crust from scratch and getting to pat his out and then top it with whatever he wanted was awesome!

Okay, the DASH diet. It was originally implemented as a means of lowering high blood pressure (hypertension) without the intervention of medication. Initial research showed that implementing the principals of the DASH diet alone reduced high blood pressure in individuals just as well as first line medications. Additional research has shown that the DASH diet also helps to reduce the risk of many diseases including some kinds of cancer, stroke, heart disease, kidney failure, kidney stone and diabetes. All with a change of diet! Just think about that for a minute. Imagine how much money in healthcare and drug expenses we Americans could save in a year by simply changing the way we eat...billions! There is nothing odd or crazy about the DASH diet. There is no cabbage soup. There are no supplements or shakes. There are no specific food schedules. It is based on simply eating right. No preservatives. No fast food. No added sugar or salt. Real fruits and vegetables. Healthy whole grains (Yes, eat grains!! Carbs are not the enemy! Just know which ones are best.). Lean meats. And low-fat dairy. If you want to know more, start here. Go check out a DASH cookbook though, you might be surprised at just how "normal" it is.

I hope you all had a good week. I have exciting news! I have been accepted to the Master of Nutrition program at the University of Kansas Medical Center! So I am one step closer to having a career in nutrition in wellness! I get started in about a week and I couldn't be happier.

On another note, my husband starts his own 12 Week Transformation with the same trainer I used. He officially starts his eating plan tomorrow so we're going back to a very strict, very simple clean eating way of life. I'm so glad because after having 2 vacations in a row right after finishing my 12 weeks, I could really use a clean sweep to my diet!