SUGAR problems!

So last week I got back from a trip to California; I wouldn't call it a vacation but my exercising and good food habits did take a vacation. I am not good at eating well and exercising at anyone else's house. Now that I am back I am slowly getting back to normal. I downloaded an app that tracks your calories to help me get back on track. This program tells you how many calories, sugars, fat, etc. you should eat.

This program tells me that I should eat no more than 31 grams of sugar each day. That seemed like a lot of sugar to me until I tracked my breakfast I ate this morning. As you know Dave and I bought a Blend tec and we enjoy green smoothies every morning. Well, I entered in the foods I put into my smoothie and the program said the smoothie has 18.6 grams of sugar per serving. I thought I was being a good girl by eating greens and fruit, but all that fruit is taking up over half of my sugar consumption for the day! 

So here is my question, should I stop drinking green smoothies or eating fruit? According to this program I will eat too much sugar everyday even without eating Halloween candy! This discovery dampened my spirits a little bit. Please tell me it is fine to eat fruit and that the program is wrong! I don't always understand nutrition. 

I hope everyone is doing well and that everyone is happy and healthy! Oh, and congratulations to Jerica on getting engaged! 

October Halloween Challenge

I challenge you to not buy any candy until the day you need it.  Too late?

Okay, if you've already bought your candy, don't open it until the moment you need to hand it out.  Too late again?

All right, all right - here's the REAL challenge:

By the way, good job to any of you who have accomplished either/both of the above challenges but assuming that most of us haven't been that disciplined, I'm focusing on improving the aftermath of the nutritional debacle known as Halloween:


Aww, makes me wonder
what little Madison will be
for Halloween!

Challenge:  Get rid of any Halloween candy you have left by the end of election day, November 6.  Give yourself/your kids a week to enjoy the spoils of All Hallows' Eve.... maybe even celebrate the outcome of the election (because Obama WILL be out... we hope, we hope, we hope) but come daybreak on November 7, the leftovers go promptly in the trash. 

So make sure you've eaten any of the good stuff you want, then throw it out and clean up your eating for a few weeks before the next round of holiday goodies!  I think we should enjoy our holidays, but we don't need to prolong the debauchery so that it becomes a two-and-a-half-month-long "chew-chew" ride on the (literal) gravy train.  (Can you believe I just made that up... I know - waaaaay clever).


So.... you get 1 point if you wave bye-bye to your left-over candy by November 7.

And don't forget to vote!

The First Great Commandment (of Unlaziness)

Of all the fantastic messages I managed to hear during this General Conference, Elder Holland's words really struck a chord within me.  I take this excerpt from his talk:

Elder
Jeffrey R. Holland

“’Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind.’  Jesus said. So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back.

“To all within the sound of my voice, the voice of Christ comes ringing down through the halls of time, asking each one of us while there is time, ’Do you love me?’ And for every one of us, I answer with my honor and my soul, ‘Yea, Lord, we do love thee.’  And having set our ‘hand to the plough,’ we will never look back until this work is finished and love of God and neighbor rules the world.”

This resonated with me because to show God we love Him requires conscious effort from us in both our thoughts and actions.  It requires from us a lifetime of service to our fellow man.  It requires the discipline to overcome negative and complacent attitudes.  It requires us to overcome Lazy in spirituality, attitude and action!

Let's show God how much we love Him!

Did anyone else listen to conference?  You get a point if you did!!!

Overcome Spiritual Lazy(ness)

This man has probably never been lazy
a day in his life.

This is the first challenge in October; there will be another one coming.  This one is for this weekend and involves General Conference so I wanted to get it out there, pronto!

CHALLENGE:  Pay attention and select a principle/thought/teaching, etc. from any talks from this General Conference that you will incorporate more fully into your life to help you overcome spiritual laziness.

This challenge was inspired by a portion of Sister Carole M. Stephens' talk during the General Relief Society Broadcast where she talks about becoming more "spiritually awake" in order to fulfill our duties.  This concept really hit home with me as I realized how easily I can become lazy in my spiritual attitude and actions.  I really needed to hear her words:  "It isn’t enough to just be on the journey (of life); we must be awake to our duty and continue with faith as we draw upon the comforting, strengthening, enabling and healing power of the Atonement.”

Since this challenge will be hard to quantify and thereby reward points.... how 'bout this:  If you watch any part of General Conference, you get 1 point!!!  This should be a gimmee for everyone, right???

So, pay attention to the talks and I would love, love, love it if any of you emailed or posted about the principles that stood out to you this session.

Overcome... snoozing during conference!  (You thought I was gonna say Lazy, as usual, huh?)

Going for the Gold(en Sneaker)!

Well, our family didn't exactly go for the Gold.  But we did get a couple of medalists!  I am finally reporting in on the Olympic Challenge.  Congratulations to Erin for winning Silver medal status and Jenny for the Bronze!  I managed to also get a Bronze medal as well. 

But, don't forget:  the challenges always continue!  Just because I put a time limit on them for point-earning purpose doesn't mean you can't keep doing them!!!

I did find out from the survey that "Brilliant," was the favorite British phrase most of us picked up during the Olympics.  I just don't see "Bob's your uncle" ever catching on here in the States.

So... here's September's challenge:

Do something active 6 days a week so that Sunday is truly a day of rest.  Make yourself earn that day of rest!  "Something active" can mean several things:  a formal workout, an evening stroll, some yoga/stretching... even a quick set of 10 body squats and 10 kitchen counter push-ups. 

JUST DO SOMETHING ACTIVE EVERY SINGLE DAY, except Sunday.

Point Value:  4 points if you do the 2 weeks left in September; 2 points if you do this for 1 week.

This is an easy one even if you haven't been very active up to this point.

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO START MAKING YOURSELF HEALTHIER AND HAPPIER... or earn "Not-So-Dumbbell Award" points!

Brilliant!!!

BlendTec!!

Dave and I bought a BlendTec last week and I am in love!!  It is a high power blender that can blend things to perfection!  We have green smoothies everyday.  It is a great way for me to feed Madison and Dave fruits and veggies.  I don't use a specific recipe but I love using spinach, strawberries, banana, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, milk, and vanilla yogurt.  I have never eaten so many fruits in one day.  I feel fantastic!

I can't wait to try new recipes.  You can make whole wheat waffles, soups, banana bread, etc.  Not only are  these recipes healthy, but they are super easy and fast.  I love my new blender!

Recipes!

I have made a lot of new recipes in the past two months, but I haven't been able to post them because Dave and I don't currently have the internet.  I always have to go to my mom's house to use their internet.  Well, I am just going to write one blog post dedicated to all these recipes I have tried.

First, I tried a new way of using zucchini.  My mom always has so many zucchini's that I get to reap some benefits.  I found this recipe on pinterest (of course) and it was a big hit!  It includes potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, yellow squash, and zucchini.  It was the perfect summer side dish!  Here is the recipe:

Summer Vegetables

1 Tbspolive oil

1 medium yellow onion

1 tsp minced garlic

1 medium zucchini

1 mediumyellow squash

1 mediumpotato

1 mediumtomato

1 tspdried thyme

to taste salt & pepper

1 cup shredded Italian cheese

STEP 1: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Saute both in a skillet with olive oil until softened (about five minutes).

STEP 2: While the onion and garlic are sauteing, thinly slice the rest of the vegetables.

STEP 3: Spray the inside of an 8x8 square or round baking dish with non-stick spray. Spread the softened onion and garlic in the bottom of the dish. Place the thinly sliced vegetables in the baking dish vertically, in an alternating pattern. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, and thyme.

STEP 4: Cover the dish with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, top with cheese and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is golden brown.

The second recipe I made was a cajun chicken pasta.  It was a great healthy pasta dish.  I learned from this recipe that the best way to lighten up your pasta dishes is to add lots of veggies to it. If you like pasta and you like veggies, this recipe is for you!  Below is the list of ingredients, but if you would like step-by-step directions go to this link:

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces uncooked linguine (I used whole wheat penne)
• 1 pound chicken breast strips
• 1-2 tsp Cajun seasoning (or to taste)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup fat free low sodium chicken broth
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp light cream cheese
• fresh cracked pepper
• 2 scallions, chopped
• salt to taste
• Olive Oil cooking spray

The the third recipe I made was these amazingly moist and delicious healthy pumpkin muffins. Dave and Madison eat these for a snack everyday.  These are perfect for a snack on the go or just at home. We LOVE these muffins I found on family.com.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin-pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a muffin tin, or line with paper.

In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, oil , eggs and sugar until well blended.

In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt. Add to the pumpkin mixture and whisk until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each about 2/3 full. Sprinkle a few more chips on top of the muffins.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick, inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a rack.

The last recipe I made recently was these baked oatmeal bars.  I thought they were great, but Dave didn't love them.  I plan to try and tweak these so they become a family favorite.  I love the idea of baked oatmeal so I plan to find a recipe that we all love.  Here is the recipe:

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Squares

Ingredients (9 squares)

• 1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 large mashed banana
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Instructions

• Mix together the quick cooking oats, light brown sugar, baking powder, kosher salt and ground cinnamon.
• Add in the vanilla extract, milk and egg. Mix the ingredients together.
• Then add in the mashed banana and peanut butter. Combine all of the ingredients.
• Pour the mixture into a lightly greased 8 by 8 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
• Cut into squares and enjoy!

I found all these recipes on pinterest.  If you don't have a pinterest account, it is a great way to find healthy recipes.  I hope everyone is doing great; I have felt very motivated by this competition.  The more healthy things I am doing the more I have the desire to be even more healthy. Thanks Aunt Sharon for keeping me accountable!  Go Taylor's!