National Women's Health & Fitness Day + New Recipe!

Happy National Women’s Health & Fitness Day!

I love all of the National Days. I subscribe to the emails from National Day Calendar, and post them in my classroom for my kids. Sometimes I pull them in to my lesson plans, but mostly I just think they are fun and interesting. I was super excited to find out today is National WOmen’s Health and Fitness Day! Coincidentally, it is also one of my best friends' birthdays! Toady is her Golden Birthday - meaning she's 27 on the 27th! I didn't even know about Golden Birthdays were a thing until a couple of years ago. My Golden Birthday was 14 years ago - oh, well! :)

Additionally, I'm amping up my healthy eating (in preps for my wedding + it is just a necessity). With this, tonight's dinner was Chicken and Rice Soup.  It makes a huge batch! I'm pretty sure you could feed an army with it!

Chicken & Rice Soup

Ingredients

2/3 Rotisserie Chicken (diced)
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
2-3 stalks celery, diced
2-3 carrots, diced
2 cups brown rice, cooked
32 oz low sodium chicken broth
2-3 cups water
Sprig of fresh rosemary (optional)
Salt/Pepper to taste

Directions

Cook rice according to package instructions. Dice chicken and all veggies. Place in a 2+ quart pot with broth, water, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low medium, add rice, and cook until veggies are tender (usually 1-1.5 hours). Or throw all ingredients in your crockpot on low all day. Make sure to precook the rice, so it doesn't absorb all of the liquid. 

3-Day Shakeology Cleanse

The countdown for the end of the school year, to summer, and to me heading back home to Arkansas is in the works. We are in the sub 30 days, now and I am really amped-up to head home in amazing shape. I haven't seen my boyfriend since January AND it's the summer. I have been working really hard on my fitness and nutrition, and I'm down 16 lb since the holidays. Of course, I have a bit to go to be in bikini shape. I plan to give myself a bit of a boost with the 3-Day Shakeology Cleanse and then begin the 21-Day Fix Extreme meal plan along with the 21-day Fix workouts. If you aren't familiar with Shakeology, check out my previous post on hands down the absolute healthiest meal of my day.

Here's the low down on how it goes:

This cleanse is WAY different than others I've done or read about. With Shakeology, you are seriously getting the most amount of nutrients in to a powerful lower calorie shake. With just ONE glass of Shakeology, you get the nutrients equal to eating all of the following:

• 1 bowl of exotic fruit (like goji berries and acai)
• 4 cups raw broccoli
• 7 whole carrots
• 10 cups raw cauliflower
• 3 cups romaine lettuce
• 4 cups uncooked mushrooms
• 3 raw onions
• 4 red radishes
• 1 cup of peas
• 4 cups nonfat yogurt
• 1 shot wheat grass

With the cleanse, you'll drink 3 (that's right THREE) glasses of shakeology a day. That is one nutritional powerhouse if you ask me!

As for tonight, I've weighed and taken my measurements. I will weigh daily on the cleanse, but I won't measure again until Wednesday morning. The cleanse will be over on Tuesday. I can't wait to share my final results and feedback on the cleanse.

Eating then and now

Eating Clean

It pains me to see malnourished people (adults and kids alike). "Malnourished" doesn't mean starving - it means you'r body is robbed of the nutrients it needs. Many of our country's overweight and obese population are malnourished. How is this? So much of the "food" available to us is merely a composite of chemicals, flavorings, loads of calories, and trans fats. We are overweight, yet we are sadly malnourished. After discovering this, I began my own journey into clean eating. If you are interested in to learning about clean eating, then I encourage you to pick up a copy of The Eat Clean Diet by Tosca Reno. These are a few of my favorites. I started with The Eat Clean Diet: Just the Rules!, then I moved on to The Eat Clean Diet Recharged!, and The Eat Clean Diet for Family and Kids

   

"Eat your protein first"

I was raised eating healthier foods than most. My mom was an amazing cook and held high value for foods that packed nutrition for our family. I clearly remember her refusing to buy us "puff ball bread" (cheap white bread) and any sugary cereals. I was raised on Grape Nuts, Cream of Wheat, and Shredded Wheat (plain, not the frosted kind!). She always said, "eat your protein first!" We had a major breakthrough when I was about 10-years-old when she started allowing us to get sodas, albeit it was Caffeine Free Coca Cola 6-pack (3 for me, 3 for my sister). Now, I find myself mimicking this behavior in my own home. Though, I think my son wants to revolt whenever he sees Grape Nuts at the grocery store and knows we can't get it, since we are both gluten intolerant.

Slow Cooker Taco Soup

I made this the other night and it just might feed an army! If you're not one that can eat leftovers for days, then you can freeze this for a quick meal later. I used what I had on hand, but you can improvise with fresh/cleaner ingredients by nixing the canned stuff.


Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cups, dry black beans
• 1 can (14.5 oz) whole tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can (14.5 oz) corn, undrained
• 1 can (14.5 oz) tomatoes with peppers (Rotel or something similar)
• 1 package taco seasoning mix (I used McCormick's)
• 1 1/2 cups water
• Suggested toppings: avocado, cheese, plain Greek yogurt, corn tortillas, hot sauce

Directions

1. Brown meat in a large sauce pan; rinse and drain.
2. Add meat and the remaining ingredients (except toppings) to a large slow cooker.
3. Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours, or on high heat for 3-4 hours.
4. Serve warm with any of the suggested toppings.

Nutrition (per serving)
Makes 12 servings.
Calories: 168
Fat: 3
Carbs: 24
Protein: 14
Sugars: 6
Fiber: 5

The nutrition info doesn't include any toppings. I added sliced avocado and hot sauce to mine, but the kiddo isn't a soup fan; so he enjoyed having cheese and tortilla slices in his. Greek yogurt is also a great, high protein and low fat alternative to sour cream.

the big FAT lie

It's that 3-letter word that might as well be a 4-letter word. It's fat. 

For the past 15-20 years, we have been taught to reach for the fat free, reduced fat, and low fat items to keep from getting fat. But did you know that eating fat won't necessarily make you fat??  It all depends on the types of fats. There are some that you need in your daily diet, and others you should completely avoid. To understand which fats we want and which we don't, then we need to understand the different types of fats. Fats can be placed to 2 categories, Saturated and Unsaturated. In these categories, there are further classifications of fats. 

Saturated Fat

Saturated fats (aka "solid fats") are solid at room temperature. These are commonly found in animal products like milk, meat, butter, margarine, shortening, and cheese. You can also find it in coconut oil, palm oil, and cocoa butter - but these don't contain cholesterol.

How does it affect my health?

Saturated fats can raise your cholesterol, risk of heart disease, and stroke.

How much should I have?

The American Heart Association recommends limiting the amount of saturated fats you eat to less than 7% of your total daily calories.  

Trans Fat

Trans fat is a type of saturated fat. These are fats that have been changed through the hydrogenation process. Hydrogenation is used to increase the shelf life of fat and to make it harder at room temperature. Trans fats can be found in foods like french fries, pastries, cookies, chips, crackers, pie crusts, biscuits, donuts, pizza dough, margarine, shortening, and other baked goods. 

How does it affect my health?

Trans fats can lower your LDL (good) cholesterol and raised your HDL (bad) cholesterol, increased your risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

How much should I have?

Avoid trans fats as much as possible, if nothing else then limit it to no more than 1% of your daily caloric intake.

Unsaturated Fat

Unsaturated fats are in liquid form at room temperature. These are found mostly in plant oils. Monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat are types of unsaturated fat.

Monounsaturated fat

Monounsaturated fat is a type of unsaturated fat. You can find it in vegetable oil, canola oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil, peanut oil. You can also find this in avocados, peanut butter, and other nuts/seeds.

How does it affect my health?

This type of fat helps reduce bad cholesterol levels in the blood, and lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. They also provide the nutrition your body needs to develop and maintain its cells.

How much should I have?

Monounsaturated fats should not total more than 25-35% of your daily caloric intake.

Polyunsaturated fat

You can find this type of fat in seafood, and safflower, sunflower, sesame, soybean, and corn oils. There are two types of polyunsaturated fats, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. 

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in foods from plants like soybean and canola oil, nuts, flaxseed, and fatty fish like salmon, herring, trout, and anchovies. You should eat 8 oz (or more) of these types of fish weekly (about 250 mg a day of omega-3 fatty acids).

Omega-6 fatty acids are found mostly in liquid vegetable oils like soybean oil, corn oil, and safflower oil.

 

How does it affect my health?

This type of fat includes essential fats like omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids, which your body can't produce on its own. These play a critical role in brain function and body growth/development. 

How much should I have?

Polyunsaturated fats should not total more than 25-35% of your daily caloric intake.

Here is a handy list I made to help figure out what to get next time you are at the store!