Tag Archives: breakfast

Week of Wellness

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Technically, Wellness Week is in March, but I, ahem, march to my own drummer. It’s not that I missed it or anything, sheesh. But here are 7 days worth of activities to keep you well.

Monday — Eat breakfast. If you already do this, then you get an extra Lazy pat on the back! Think outside the cereal box, though. While cereal is certainly quick and easy, it’s not always the best choice. It doesn’t have protein, for one thing. Try poaching an egg and eating it on whole grain toast with a drizzle of olive oil. For about the same calories (maybe even fewer!) you get protein, whole grains AND some healthy fat to keep you happy longer.

Tuesday — Drink a big glass of water when you first get up. Think of yourself as a sponge that has dried up during the night. Rehydrate yourself for a little extra oomph this morning.

Wednesday — Make a healthy menu and shopping list for next week. Include lots of fresh fruits and veggies AND something indulgent. Life’s much too short for constant deprivation. What’ll it be? Fresh mussels? Fancy cheese? Doesn’t need to be food; it could be one of those cool ceramic pans they have now. Or a new book. Or a spice you’ve never used. Have fun!

Thursday — Phone a friend. Meet for coffee. Vintage Barbra Streisand said it best. Be a person who needs people. It’ll do wonders for your spirit.

Friday — Get some sleep tonight. Hang the Do Not Disturb sign and sleep until you wake. Then maybe even sleep some more. Enlist the aid of a spouse or friend to herd children as necessary and reciprocate next week. Forget the health benefits of a good night’s sleep, you’re simply not your best when you’re sleep-deprived. And let’s face it, you look better too. So go for it for your sake and theirs.

Saturday — Get outside today. Take a walk. Sit on a bench. Anticipate all those flowers soon to bloom. Watch the birds/dogs/squirrels/kids at play. And if it’s not creepy, go join them!

Sunday — Enjoy some silence. Reflect on your past week and how well you took care of yourself. Congratulate yourself or vow to do better next week. Be specific. What did you do right? What can you fix?

Have a delightful week!

How many of these do you already do? What will you try to add into your life? What’s your biggest Wellness challenge?

Cravings Gone Wild — I Gotta Have It! NOW!

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Giving in to cravings has got to be the easiest way to sabotage a diet or a healthy lifestyle.

There are a boatload of reasons why cravings render us helpless — marketing; restaurant foods high in sugar, fat and salt; loneliness; anger; boredom; habit; stress; restricting certain foods; lack of sleep; PMS; skipping meals; blah, blah, blah.

Craving something once in awhile isn’t a problem, but craving something (and giving into it) every day is a red flag that something in your life needs to change. Be mindful. When does the craving pop up? Same time every day? Then you’ve created a habit that your body expects. Break that habit and you’ll find the craving will disappear too. Are you letting yourself get too hungry? Then your blood sugar plummets and you’ll give in to whatever fatty/sugary/salty food that pops into your head or that’s seducing you from the vending machine.

If you’re not sure how often you’re actually having cravings or giving into them, keep a log or save up the wrappers. At the end of the week, if you have a jar stuffed with candy wrappers, you can’t fool yourself any longer. That’s tangible evidence your cravings are out of control.

But cravings are easy to tame, once you realize what’s happening.

Use these strategies whenever you feel a craving rearing its ugly head.

• Substitute — Humans crave sugar, salt and fat over healthier fare. If you’re craving sweets, eating a stalk of celery probably won’t do anything except exercise your jaw, but eating a piece of quality dark chocolate will do the trick. If you’re craving unhealthy potato chips, substitute some airpopped corn or whole grain crackers.

• Holler Uncle — Give in to your once-in-awhile craving. If you want ice cream, then have some. But don’t grab your spoon and dig into a half gallon. Instead, go buy yourself an individual size of the best ice cream you can find. Or go to the ice cream parlor and buy a single scoop of your favorite flavor. Really savor it. Enjoy the bejeebers out of it. But don’t make it a habit. Save it for the treat it really is.

• Change Your Mindset — If you’re craving something that has absolutely no redeeming qualities (doughnuts, fast food, soda) then drink a big glass of water and look at yourself in the mirror. Will you look better or feel healthier with a bigger butt or belly? Will you be proud of yourself for eating that doughnut? If the answer is “no, that junk food isn’t actually in my plan for good health,” then smile and get on with your day. Of course, this is always easier if you don’t keep your trigger foods handy!

• Get Active — When a craving hits, indulge in activity instead. Sit in the sun for a few minutes. Take a walk. Stretch. Keep a stash of greeting cards and write a note to someone. Do some deep breathing. Indulge in some funny YouTube clips — it’s the laughing that’s active; not the watching! Clean out your wallet, purse and/or desk drawer. Fold some laundry.

• Eat Better Meals — Eat protein instead of carbs for breakfast. In fact, eat lean protein with every meal. Say “no thank you” to rice in your burrito or chips with your sandwich. Wrap your sandwich in lettuce leaves instead of bread. Eat olive oil, avocado, nuts or seeds with every meal. Eat better quality food and you may find you don’t have any cravings at all.

• Take A Whiff — Peppermint has magical properties that perk you up and help you consume fewer calories. Find some peppermint oil or brew some peppermint tea. The smell of coffee slows down your urge to snack too. Keep a handful of coffee beans handy.

• Eat Something Mindfully — Slowly peel and eat an orange or a hardboiled egg. Actively preparing and thinking about the food you are about to eat gives you a time-out from your craving. (But if you’re craving an orange or a hardboiled egg, go ahead and indulge — in fact, have two if you want!)

• Drink A Cup Of Green Tea — Again, it’s healthy, the prep and sipping redirect your brain, and it gives you a breather to step away from the craving.

• Adjust Your Recipe — If you’re craving fried chicken, faux-fry it. Coat it in whole wheat flour, Panko crumbs, or finely crushed nuts then bake it on a sheet sprayed with 0-calorie cooking spray at 450° for 15 minutes or so. It still gives you the crispy chicken you crave but it’s healthier.

• Go For Quality — If you’re craving a chocolate chip cookie, don’t buy the low-sugar, low-fat icky diet cookies at the grocery store. You won’t be satisfied and you’ll eat the entire package. Instead, go to a bakery and buy one gorgeously decadent full-flavored cookie. If it’s huge, share it, or put the other half in the freezer for another day.

• Make A Fist — The next time you pass the doughnut box on the break room table, squeeze your fist and keep a-walkin’. Clenching a muscle — any muscle — increases willpower but it only seems to work when you are thinking about a healthier treat while face-to-face with your unhealthy nemesis. Weird, but it costs nothing and it just might work. Plus, every time you have a “willpower success” like that, it reinforces the healthy behavior in your brain. Try it!

What is your krytonite? What food brings you to your knees and renders you helpless? How do you handle your cravings?

Low Cal, High Protein, Low Carb, High Fiber, Low Sugar Breakfasts

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Everyone seems to have their own idea of what constitutes “low” and “high” values within their diet. All the dietary guidelines vary based on a person’s weight, gender, health, and activity level. I’m about 140 pounds, in excellent health and I exercise at least thirty minutes almost every day.

I eat about 1800 calories per day divided between six small meals so I eat about 300 calories per meal. I’ve been told to shoot for about 90 grams of protein per day. Here’s a calculator you can play with to figure out your protein needs, if you want to do some math.

The U.S. Institute of Medicine recommends a minimum intake of 130 grams of carbohydrate per day, so if you divide that by my six meals, you get an average of 21 grams of carb per meal.

Fiber is a specific type of carbohydrate that comes only from fruits, vegetables and grains. Soluble fiber controls blood sugar and may also lower cholesterol. Non-soluble fiber doesn’t appear to lower blood sugar or cholesterol but helps your bowels function, ahem, smoothly. According to the American Dietetic Association, adults need between 20 and 35 grams of fiber every day. Again, dividing by my six small meals, I should average about 6 grams/meal.

There is no daily requirement for sugar, but I read one of Jorge Cruse’s books where he says to try to stick to less than 15 grams of sugar per day. I don’t eat any refined sugar and most of my sugar comes from fruits and veggies, but I am consistently well over 15 grams every day. I don’t worry too much about it since it occurs naturally in my healthy food, but it is interesting to see which vegetables have sugar (onions and bell peppers, for instance). If you are concerned about sugar, watch out for yogurt. It has a ton. I’ve switched to Greek yogurt which has much less sugar.

Based on the above guidelines, the following breakfasts all fall into the low cal, high protein, low carb, high fiber, and low sugar parameters. Plus, they’re quick and easy. Enjoy!

• Spinach and Veggie Omelette

Sauté fresh spinach, onions, bell peppers, and/or celery in a teaspoon of olive oil. After the spinach is wilted, pour 1 whole egg + 2 egg whites, beaten, over it. Cover until it’s set then turn it when it’s cooked to your liking. Spread with 1T Wholly Guacamole and/or salsa. Also have 4-oz V8 juice

• BLT Wrap

Wash 2 or 3 large Romaine lettuce leaves. Spread with 1 wedge Laughing Cow cheese and 2T Wholly Guacamole. Roll up with 2 slices crispy microwave bacon and sliced tomato. You can also add sliced olives, onions, and/or bell peppers. Have 4-oz V8 juice, too.

• Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie

In blender, combine 8 oz unsweetened chocolate almond milk, 1T cocoa powder, 1t vanilla, and 2T natural peanut butter (the kind with only peanuts and salt as ingredients). Also have 1 whole grain Wasa cracker spread with 1T peanut butter.

• Greek Yogurt Parfait

Top 4oz non-fat plain Greek yogurt with 1C sliced strawberries. (You can mix in 1 packet of stevia to the yogurt, if you like it a bit sweeter.) Sprinkle with 2T sunflower seeds, and 2T dark chocolate chips (at least 60% cacao), too.

• Ham and Egg Scramble

Chop 4 thin slices of deli ham and add it to 1 whole egg + 2 egg whites. Add some chopped onions and bell peppers and season as you like. Scramble it all together and cook until done in nonstick skillet sprayed with 0-calorie nonstick spray. Also have 4-oz V8 juice.

Click for more low calorie menus and be sure to check out the Lazy Low Cal Lifestyle Cookbook for more recipes!

Eat Fat Instead Of Carbs For Breakfast

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First off, I hope you make it a point to eat breakfast every day. I’ve always heard you should eat like a king at breakfast, a princess at lunch, and a pauper at dinner.

Now, there might be research to back it up.

The study was done by Departments of Epidemiology and Cardiovascular Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham and the USDA/ARS Children’s Nutrition Research Center at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and published in the International Journal of Obesity. (I know! It’s exhausting reporting the news — such long sentences with so many facts!) They were interested in the correlation between what you eat and when you eat it. Their results seem to show that eating fat for your first meal of the day might prevent metabolic syndrome which is the culprit in all kinds of problems like belly fat, insulin resistance, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and high triglycerides.

The study involved mice fed high fat or high carb meals at different times of day.  Scientists have known for a long time that the first meal of the day sets your metabolism for the rest of the day. The mice who ate the high fat breakfast, with a smaller lunch and even smaller dinner, lost more weight and had lower blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. The fatty breakfasts seemed to kickstart the mice’s metabolism letting them metabolize fats AND carbs throughout the day. When they ate fat later in the day or when they ate cereal for breakfast, they were more likely to see the effects of metabolic syndrome.

An easy way to put this way of eating into practice without changing what you eat is to have your big breakfast of bacon and eggs in the morning instead of cereal, then switch to smaller meals with your good, whole grain carbs and veggies at lunch and dinner. Same number of calories, just swapped around. Check with your doctor and see if s/he agrees.

I eat bacon and/or eggs and/or avocado and/or cheese almost every morning. What about you? What is your typical breakfast? Do you think the standard American breakfast of cereal and toast is contributing to our obesity crisis? Is that the standard American breakfast? Do you eat breakfast every day?

Painless Changes You Can Make This Very Minute Or At Least Real Soon, Part Ten

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The Annals of Behavioral Medicine found that people who made small, potentially permanent changes in their lives every week lost twice as much belly fat, more inches, and four times more weight over a 4-month study than those who went the traditional diet/exercise route. The theory is that the incremental changes tend to be easier to adapt to your life over the long-haul, rather than an all-or-nothing diet that you see as having a beginning and an end.

I had a DUH! moment not too long ago. It was so ridiculously obvious it was ashamed to be in the same vicinity of an AHA! moment.

It occurred to me I could eat half an English muffin. I didn’t have to eat the whole thing. Duh. And it would save me money at the grocery store. Double Duh!

Maybe some of these ideas you already know, but maybe some will be Aha! or even Duh! moments for you. In no particular order …

• Wear clothes that are a little too tight, especially when you go out. Not so much that you look gross — think 400-pound butts in spandex — but enough to remind you of those last five pounds and that you probably don’t need a second glass of wine or another trip to the buffet.

• If it’s hard to get up and exercise first thing, sleep in your work out clothes to make it more automatic.

• Don’t fear fat, but choose the right ones — avocado, olive oil, canola oil, sunflower seeds, nuts. Watch amounts, though, because they’re high in calories.

• Eat breakfast. Clear enough? Breakfast is the only meal that actually speeds up calorie burning. And if you eat protein, you’ll stabilize your blood glucose. If you don’t like ‘traditional’ breakfast foods, eat whatever you like … leftovers, sandwiches, salads. In fact, cold cereal — even high-fiber/high protein ones — is one of the worst things you can have for breakfast. They’re highly processed and full of sugar. (Go ahead. Read the label. I’ll wait.) If you’re, ahem, lazy, hardboil a bunch of eggs and/or make a big pot of steel-cut oats so something healthy is always ready. Do whatever … just don’t skip breakfast. And don’t tell me you’re “just not hungry” in the morning. If you don’t feel hungry, then your Starvation Switch has been tripped which also releases endorphins that act as a painkiller to mask your hunger pangs. Don’t let them fool you — your body is struggling to function AND storing fat.

• Eat protein at every meal. It keeps you feeling full longer and uses more calories to digest than either carbs or fats.

• Skinny up the wine by turning it into a spritzer — half a glass of wine plus half a glass of club soda.

• Half of what you eat should look mostly like it does in nature. Try not to eat anything that comes in a box today. Then try not to for a week. (Keep a food journal and send it to me — I’d love to see it!)

• Make a big pot of vegetable soup and eat it for lunch every day.

There are lots more  … Parts One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine

Which will you try first? Which will you never try? Which do you already do?