Healthy Eating Challenge:Recipes for week 1

Here are the recipes for those who want to get started.  Stay tuned for details on meal prep.

 

 

 

 

 

Pork Loin in the slow cooker

Ingredients

·         2 to 3 pounds pork loin

·         1 cup water

·         ¼ cup soy sauce

·         2 Tablespoons onion flakes

·         3 gloves garlic

·         ½ cup red wine

·         ¼ teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

Place pork loin into slow cooking.  Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl and cook on low to 4-6 hours.

Servings: 6

Total calories: 180

Carbohydrate: 6 grams

Protein: 25 grams

Fat: 4 grams

Serve with 1/2 cup brown rice and 1-2 cups vegetables.

Egg and Veggie Casserole with Chicken Sausage

Ingredients

·         10 eggs

·         ½ cup unsweetened almond milk

·         ¾ pound chicken sausage

·         3 cups spinach

·         1 onion

·         1 cup mushrooms

·         1 cup chopped broccoli

·         1 clove garlic

·         Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Saute chicken sausage until cooked.  Pour into casserole dish; saute vegetables until slightly tender.  Add to casserole.  Mix up ingredients.  In separate bowl, whisk eggs, almond milk and salt and pepper.  Pour over sausage mix.  Bake for 30 minutes or until set.

Serves: 8

Total calories: 269

Carbohydrate: 5 grams

Protein: 18 grams

Fat: 9 grams

Serve with 1 orange

Protein Bar- Basic Recipe for meal replacement

Ingredients:

·         2 scoops protein powder

·         1 ½ cups dried oats

·         1 cup nut butter (should be all natural)

·         ½ cup dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, blueberries, dates, etc)

·         1 cup nuts

·         ½ cup seeds

·         1/3 cup ground flax seed

·         1/3 cup maple syrup or honey

·         ½ cup apple sauce

Directions: Mix all ingredients together.  Press into a baking dish (8x11).  Freeze for 1 hour.  Cut into 12 squares and store in refrigerator or freezer.

 

Serves 12

Exact nutritional values will vary slightly based on ingredients used.

Total Calories: 325

Carbohydrate: 20 grams

Protein: 15 grams

Fat: 20 grams

 

Store in the freezer.  If using for a snack, cut into 24 pieces.

Chicken and veggie stirfry

Ingredients

·         1 pound chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces

·         1 onion, diced

·         1 bell pepper, diced

·         3 cups green beans

·         1 cup mushrooms

·         2 cloves garlic

·         3 Tablespoons soy sauce

·         1 Tablespoon sesame oil

·         1 Tablespoon ginger

·         1 Tablespoon Worchester sauce

Directions:

Heat oil in a large skillet and cook chicken.  When almost cooked, add remaining ingredients.  Continue cooking until veggies are tender.  You may need to add ½ cup water.

Serves: 4

Total Calories: 195

Carbohydrate: 10 grams

Protein: 26 grams

Fat: 7 grams

Serve with 1/2 cup brown rice.

 

 

 

Meatloaf with a twist

Ingredients

·         1.25 pounds ground beef (should be no more than 20% fat)

·         8 ounces mushrooms

·         1 zucchini

·         ¼ onion

·         1/2 cup tomato sauce

·         1 Tablespoon garlic powder

·         1 teaspoon oregano

·         1 teaspoon basil

·         ½ teaspoon black pepper

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Chop the mushrooms and zucchini in a food processor.  Dice the onion.  Then add all ingredients (except ¼ cup sauce) to a bowl and mix well.  Place in a loaf pan; pour ¼ cup tomato sauce on top and bake for 45 to 60 minutes.

Serves 6

Total Calories: 224

Carbohydrate: 4 grams

Protein: 19 grams

Fat: 15 grams
 

 

Serve with 1/2 sweet potato and 1-2 cups vegetables

 

 

Turkey and Barley Soup

Ingredients

·         ½ pound ground turkey

·         1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

·         1 Onion

·         1 carrot

·         1 Stalk Celery

·         6 Cups Chicken Broth

·         ½ Cup Barley

·         3 Cups Spinach

Directions

Use a large saucepan and cook the turkey in the olive oil.  When almost cooked, drain any excess oil or fat and add the onion, carrot and celery, all chopped.  After 5 minutes add the Broth and Barley.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.  Add spinach at the end and serve.

 

Serves: 4

Total Calories: 210

Carbohydrate: 23 grams

Protein: 16 grams

Fat: 8 grams

Serve with 3-5 whole grain crackers.

 

 

 

Kale Salad with Turkey

Ingredients:

·         3 cups Kale

·         2 Tablespoons Almonds, chopped

·         1 granny smith apple, chopped

·         1 Tablespoon dried cranberries

·         4 ounces cooked turkey breast

Directions: 

Combine all ingredients and add 2 Tablespoons Cashew Mayonnaise (see recipe).

 

Serves: 2

Total Calories: 320 (with 1 tablespoon "mayo")

Carbohydrate: 27.5 grams

Protein: 23 grams

Fat: 12.5 grams

 

 

Cashew Mayonnaise

Ingredients:

·         ¼ cup water

·         ¼ cup olive oil

·         1 cup raw cashews (soak in water overnight)

·         ¼ cup cauliflower

·         1 ¼ teaspoon mustard

·         1 teaspoon honey

·         Juice of 1 lemon

·         1 teaspoon apple cider

·         ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Put all ingredients into food processor or high speed blender.  Blend until creamy.

Servings: 16 (1 Tablespoon servings)

Total Calories: 74

Carbohydrates: 2.5 grams

Protein: 1 gram

Fat: 7 grams

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Amy's 21 Day Healthy Eating Challenge

Welcome to the 21 day Healthy Eating challenge!  Here's how it works:

You will eat 3 meals per day with 2 snacks.

Use the attached meal plan with recipes as a guide. 

Each meal should have: 30 grams carbohydrate; 20 grams protein and 10 grams fat.

Each snack should have: 9 grams carbohydrate; 6 grams protein and 3 grams fat.

When in doubt:

Meals: 3-4 ounces of lean meat OR 1 eggs plus 2 egg whites + ½ cup starch + 2 cups veggies + ½ T olive oil

Snacks: 1 serving of vegetable or ½ serving of fruit + 1 ounce of cheese OR 2 Tablespoons of nuts 

Drink at least 64 ounces of water every day.  Other allowed drinks: black coffee, black tea, herbal or green teas.  Soda water with lime or lemon.

There is no alcohol during the weight loss plan.  Remember this is just for 21 days. 

 

 

This week, the menu is:

 

Menu: February 15^th

Breakfast:

1)      Egg Casserole  + 1 orange OR

2)      1 egg plus 2 egg whites + 1 cup spinach + 1 orange

Snacks:

1) Veggies and Hummus 

2) Snack-sized bars

Lunch:

1) Turkey and Barley Soup with 3 crackers  OR

2) Kale Salad

Dinners:

1)Meatloaf with a twist; ½ sweet potato; 1-2 cups veggies  OR

2) Chicken and veggie stir-fry; ½ cup brown rice  OR

3) Pork loin with ½ cup brown rice; 1-2 cups veggies

 

 

Here's the grocery list:

Produce	Meat	Dairy
Oranges	chicken sausage	eggs
Baby carrots	2 pounds ground turkey
celery	pork loin	parmesan cheese
16 ounces mushroom	chicken breast
4 cups spinach	1/2 pound turkey breast
broccoli
zucchini
4 sweet potato
2 onion
bell pepper
kale
apple
garlic
lemon
Grocery	Frozen	Misc
Hummus
almond butter	snow peas
almonds Mixed nuts: pistachios, cashews
dried blueberries
dried cranberries
sunflower seeds
tomato sauce
brown rice
barley
6 cups chicken broth

Check out your fridge and cupboards before you shop.  Cross off items you already have.  Also, look at any items that need to be used up.  We can use many different vegetables in the egg casserole or the soup.  Tomorrow, we'll post the meal prep procedure along with some recipes.  Also, check out our facebook page for helpful hints and recipes. 

Good luck.  Follow this plan for 21 days and you will not be sorry.

 

Here's to your health

 

 

 

Portion Control

I recently had the privilege of participating in the Brownfields Grant Health Education Series at the Flagler County Free Clinic.  I was tasked to talk about the importance of portion control.  The issue of portion control has been widely addressed in the media.  

So why is portion control important? 

Why is there so much talk about obesity?

There continues to be an epidemic of obesity in the United States.  Currently 34.9% or 78.6 million of U.S. adults are obese. Obesity is a problem because it increases risk of chronic disease to include heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer.  Obesity also increases the risk of sudden cardiac death.

Obesity affects our economy.  The annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008.  The medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those at a healthy weight. 

Obesity affects our children.  Seventeen percent of children in the United States are obese. During my years as the Primary Care Nurse Practitioner at the Department of Health, Flagler,
I personally observed the effects of obesity in children.  Obese youth are more likely to have high cholesterol, high blood pressure and pre-diabetes.  Obese children are at greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems.    

How does portion size affect the incidence of obesity?

Large portion sizes contribute to obesity because they have more calories.  Having a large portion in front of you encourages overeating and many people actually underestimate the amounts they consume.

What is a portion? 

A Portion is the amount of food you actually eat.  This is different from a serving size which is the recommended amount of a food to eat according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

Portion sizes have grown drastically over the past 30 to 50 years in what is referred to as “portion distortion”.  Many portions of common foods have doubled even tripled in size.  In fact some restaurants serve up to 8 times the recommended serving size from the USDA. 

How are we able to eat so much? 

The average person has a stomach that is the size of his/her fist.  It can expand up to 10 times its original size to accommodate food.  The stomach expands to allow more calories than necessary.  Extra calories are stored as fat.  This is a survival mechanism to endure times of famine. 

Fortunately most of us will never experience famine.  In fact we live in a society that offers an overabundance of food.  Yet, we have the ability to store excess energy.  Over time, this has contributed to the obesity epidemic.

How can we control portion size? 

Here are Top 10 Tips for portion control:

1.       Use smaller plates

• Studies have shown that people served food on a larger plate will consume up to 10% more food than those with a smaller plate.
• People who eat from a larger plate also underestimate the amount of food eaten

 

 

2.       Minimize second or third helpings

·         I usually challenge my weight control clients to eat at least 1 cup of vegetables prior to returning for a second portion.

3.      Eat slowly

• It takes the brain a certain amount of time of perceive fullness.  Eating slowly allows the brain to properly sense the amount of food needed. 

     4.  Do not eat in front of the tv

• Statistically those who eat in front of the tv consume more calories than those who do not.
• If you must eat while watching television, put the amount of food you want to eat in a separate bowl or container rather than eat straight from the bag.

     5.  Eat Healthy Snacks

• By eating healthy snacks, you can control your hunger. 
• When a person becomes ravenous, they often overindulge on an unhealthy item.

      6.  Check the label

• Many prepackaged foods contain more than 1 serving.

      7.  Eat lots of high fiber low calorie foods

• Vegetables!
• Fiber helps control your appetite and regulate blood sugar.

      8.  Drink Water

• Drinking water before a meal helps fill you up so you eat less food (but still feel satisfied)
• Water consumption aids in the digestive process and contributes to a healthy metabolism.

     9.  Eat a broth-based soup before the meal

• Research has shown that having a cup of low calorie broth-based soup before the meal decreases overall calorie consumption by as much as 20%.
• Many soups are low calorie and filled with vegetables.

     10.  Be mindful

• The first step toward healthy eating is awareness.
• Here’s a great article: http://amihungry.com/what-is-mindful-eating/

 

 

So go out there and eat the right amounts of the right things.

Here's to you health!

Life Lessons Learned from Star Wars: Anger and Your Health

A few weeks ago, we talked about the health implications of fear.  This week we’ll continue our series on Life Lessons Learned from Star Wars and discuss anger.

“I can feel your anger. It give you focus... makes you stronger.”—Senator Palpatine

Have you ever noticed how strong you feel when you’re angry?  Ever write that scathing E-mail or call to complain about something when you’re mad?  How do you feel?  Perhaps your heart is racing; you may need to stand up and pace.  You’ve got so much pent up energy that needs to be released.  Then what happens?  The energy may be released in the form of verbal or physical aggression.

“Is the dark side stronger?”—Luke

"No, no, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.”--Yoda

Do we always make sense when we’re angry?  Ever had a rant or tantrum… in public?  How do you feel then?  It’s embarrassing right?  Anger can temporarily make us stronger but we ultimately lose control.  Maybe we cause pain to someone who doesn’t deserve it. 

“The hate is swelling in you now… Give in to your anger. With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant.”—The Emperor (Senator Palpatine)

People who are prone to angry outbursts are more likely to suffer from heart disease, stroke and premature death.  Anger really can kill you.  Anger also increases the likelihood of anxiety and depression and decreases your immune system.  Uncontrolled anger can also can physical complaints such as headache, stomach ache, skin rash and more.

 

Anger is a human emotion.  It’s very normal to become angry from time to time.  So how do we get rid of anger without hurting ourselves or others? 

“You will know (the good from the bad) when you are calm, at peace.”--Yoda

Try to take a moment before giving in to an angry impulse.  Count to 10.  Take a walk.  Think about your response to the situation.  By responding in a calm manner, you remain in control and will ultimately be more effective.

 

 

 

 

“Control.  You must learn control.”--Yoda 

It takes a lot of self-control to not give in to anger.  You increase your ability to maintain control with healthy lifestyle.  The anger must be funneled out.  This can be done with exercise, yoga or meditation.  Some people journal about their feelings.  Anger must be released in a healthy way or it will make you sick. 

I wish you peace and tranquility in the new year.  Stay calm and May the Force be with You.