August 19, 2010

This time of year is really hectic for most of us moms; on top of normal chores, we’re clearing our kids’ closets and drawers of clothes that no longer fit, shopping for new clothes, school supplies, backpacks, and trying to stock the pantry with all the goodies needed for breakfasts, school lunches and/or after school snacks.

I do LOVE shopping for school supplies; the whole excitement of it brings back fond memories for me and I sometimes wish that I was still buying pencil boxes and crayons, but I won’t delve into my obsession with school supplies today. Instead, let’s talk about making sure we have what to need to assure that our kids start out each morning with a healthy breakfast.

I don’t have little ones in elementary school or middle school any more and I really miss those mornings when I used to pack the kids’ lunches and put little surprises or notes in their lunch sacks. Since those days are long gone for me and my high-schooler won’t take a sack lunch anymore, it’s more important than ever for me to make sure he has a good breakfast before he leaves every morning.

I’ve always tried to make sure that my kids don’t start the day on an empty stomach or with something sugary. Both can lead to problems with blood sugar levels and make it hard for the child to concentrate during school.

For adults, eating a healthy breakfast also has tremendous health benefits, but specifically here’s what Mayo Clinic says about the benefits for children.

Benefits for children

Breakfast is especially important for children and adolescents. According to the American Dietetic Association, children who eat a healthy breakfast are more likely to:

• Concentrate better
• Have better problem-solving skills
• Have better hand-eye coordination
• Be more alert
• Be more creative
• Miss fewer days of school
• Be more physically active

My family would probably tell you that I sound like a broken record when I say “You know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”  I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve said that.

Obviously on those early morning school days, breakfast needs to be quick, and most importantly, a healthy combination of whole grains, low fat protein, low fat dairy, and fruits and/or veggies.

Here are a few of my favorites.

• Oatmeal with fruit and almonds. (To me, this is a perfect breakfast.) I like the McCann’s Quick Cooking Irish Oatmeal but Quaker Oats Quick One Minute Oats is also a great choice. The Quaker brand actually has one more gram of fiber and protein than McCann’s. After cooking the oatmeal, I add some cinnamon and top with blueberries or sliced banana and sliced almonds.

• Scrambled eggs or egg beaters with 2% cheese in a whole wheat tortilla. It’s so quick and easy to make a great breakfast burrito. If your child is open to it, add just a little fresh chopped spinach when you scramble the eggs. (This can even be done in the microwave.)  Then put a little grated cheese on top, scoop into a tortilla and roll it up. I buy a low sodium ham from Trader Joe’s that I sometimes add to this.

• Fresh fruit salad. I make fruit salads all the time and both my guys love it for breakfast. Have your berries and grapes washed ahead and if adding pineapple, it’s quicker if that’s cut up the night before. We like blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, bananas, grapes, mandarin oranges, and pears, but you could use any of your child’s favorite fruits.

• Whole wheat or multi-grain bagel. We are really liking the new Thomas’ Bagel Thins. The Whole Wheat ones are great but the Everything Bagel Thins are our favorite. These toast great and aren’t as heavy as a regular bagel. They’re perfect with just cream cheese or even better as a breakfast sandwich with an egg and a piece of healthy ham and low fat cheese.
  

• Yogurt with berries and granola. We also love yogurt at my house for breakfast. I mostly buy the Trader Joe’s brand and instead of granola, I sometimes toss in some Kashi Heart to Heart cereal.

• Eggo Nutri-Grain low fat waffles. It doesn’t get much easier than this.  These frozen waffles are quite good; I have one most mornings after my yogurt and fruit.  I try to find something other than syrup to offer with a waffle and I’ve found that these are great with a little almond butter spread on top.

• Banana and granola bar. If your child is running late and insists that he/she doesn’t have time to sit down for breakfast, then stick a banana and a granola bar in their hand on the way out the door. It’s definitely better than a Pop Tart. There are many nutritious choices for granola bars these days. My favorites are the Peanut Butter Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars.
  

All of these choices take five minutes or less to prepare and when served with a small glass of low fat milk and/or orange juice, it’ll jump start your child’s day and allow them to get through the morning with enough energy to last them until lunchtime.

~LilSis

February 6, 2010

This week’s update is going to be short and sweet because I’m in Texas visiting my family and I’m trying to make the most of my time with them.  Just a quick update:

I wasn’t able to weigh in yesterday but I feel like I’ve maintained my weight or maybe lost a little this week. We have already had Mexican Food twice and are meeting up with friends today for lunch at another favorite Mexican restaurant but I’m trying to make better choices for my entree and just cut back on the chip eating. I had already decided that I was going to allow myself a treat, or two, while here as long as I could keep up the daily workouts.

I’ve had a great time exercising this week. First, I visited the Y with BigT and convinced him to ride an Espresso bike next to me so we could chat. Then one day BigSis took me to her health club as a guest and we got in a great cardio workout on several new machines.

I’d have to say, though, that the most fun I had working out this week was yesterday when we all took turns doing different exercises on BigSis’ WiiFit Plus.

I’ve never been crazy about video games because I don’t like sitting still for very long, but the WiiFit really does make exercising a lot of fun! I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.

We already have the WiiFit at my house but I’m going to order the WiiFit Plus as soon as I can! These new exercises will make you laugh and get your heart pumping!

I hope everyone had a great week and have a fun-filled Super Bowl Weekend!

~LilSis

January 23, 2010

Week three in the Ten in 10 Challenge was a good week for me. I feel good; and basically that’s what this challenge is all about; making 2010 a healthy and happy year. Here are a few things I learned this past week.

• Before this challenge started, I had a pretty good workout routine, but never had it in writing. Some days I would walk and some days I would go to the gym, but always at different times of the day; whenever I could squeeze it in. Now, I’ve discovered that I really like having my weekly exercise plan written down. I know what I’m doing that morning and I know what time I’m doing it. And, it was pretty easy to stick to it. I just had to organize my work schedule around my exercise schedule. (Luckily, I’m able to do that right now.)

• It’s really interesting to try different yoga classes and experience different instructors’ styles. In my class at the Y on Monday, the instructor taught us how to incorporate the use of a tall rattan pole into our practice. Last week, he used straps. Not knowing what to expect in his class makes it more fun! Then on Friday, I was a little disappointed when I saw a sub come into the classroom. I was thinking to myself, is she going to be any good? (Be careful what you think to yourself.) I could barely keep up! She was harder and faster than our normal instructor. I thoroughly got my fanny kicked that day!

• I’m really happy about getting back into the routine of making my meal plan for the week, writing it down and doing all the shopping on Sunday. It’s made life a little less hectic when it comes time for dinner. And, I really like keeping my food log. I wasn’t sure if I could stick to it, but this little fitbook is really making it fun and easy to do. I love being able to give myself a happy face when I’ve had a healthy meal.

• My family really loves brussel sprouts! I’ve tried a different recipe each week and they love them! Yay! Another green veggie to add to our weekly menu. I had a little obsession about having to eat something green with every meal.

• I finally found a White Turkey Chili Recipe that my guys love. I’ll share the recipe with you later this week.

• I actually can survive on the “no beer during the week” rule.

I feel like I lost at least a pound this week, but chose not to get on the scale yesterday. I know myself well enough to know that during this time of the month, the scale is usually up three pounds. (Sorry if that’s too much info.) I didn’t want to get discouraged, so I’ll get back on the silly scale next Friday.

I’ve tried really hard to keep negativity away from me this week. I had a little unwanted drama try to creep in this week, but I finally had to set a boundary and tell that person that I can’t talk to them right now. I have to surround myself with positive people and positive energy this year. We’ve got a lot of changes going on with our business and I’m  trying to launch something new which is requiring a lot of time learning some things outside of my comfort zone. In order to be as productive as possible, I’ve decided that I just don’t have time for negative people in my life.

I hope everyone had a happy, successful week! I’m looking forward to week four and to reading all the updates from other participants. Even if you aren’t doing a weekly update on your blog, I’d love to hear from you. So, leave me a comment and let me know about your week!

~LilSis

January 16, 2010

I hope everyone had a great week! It just flew by for me.  I feel like I had a healthy, productive week even if I did slip up a couple of times. We went out on Tuesday for a friend’s birthday and enjoyed a few cocktails, then on Wednesday we had friends pop over to say a belated Happy Birthday to SirHoney which led to me staying up way too late that night.

On a positive note, I was able to accomplish almost everything that I had on my list.

• I had great cardio workouts for all but one day. (Which was the morning after I stayed up too late.)

• I started off the week with a great Yoga class at the Y that focuses more on stretching and I finished off the week with a really hard Power Yoga class at 24 Hr Fitness.

• I managed to stick to our weekly menu plan and even made a healthy choice the one time I went out to lunch during the week. (Even though I was craving Mexican food.)

• I was finally able to get HayHay to show me how to operate the new TV and Wii so I took a new Fit Test and set my weight loss goal on the WiiFit to help me monitor my progress. (One nice surprise, the Wii shows my weight 3 pounds lighter than my digital scale.)

• I haven’t had one. single. beer. all. week! (Did I ever mention how much I love beer? This is a tough one for me, but I’m sticking to the “no beer during the week” rule.)

• I lost two pounds this week. Seven more to go.

I received my fitbook in the mail this week so I was able to start recording all my goals, workouts, and food all in one place. I have never had any desire to follow any kind of diet program where I had to count calories or points. I just know myself well enough to know that I won’t stick to it.

But, after these past two weeks of recording what I ate, I’ve discovered that it has helped me be more accountable to myself and my commitment to cut down on my snacking and mindless eating. Here’s my food log from yesterday. I love how you can rate each meal with the happy face or sad face.

I only did crunches once last week and was sore for DAYS, but this week, they’re on the calendar for three days. Here’s my workout plan for next week.

My goals for next week are:

• Go to bed early EVERY night. It’s amazing how much better I feel in the morning when I actually get 7 or 8 hours of sleep.

• Plan meals for the week, do the shopping on Sunday and stick to the plan.

• Start every morning with a positive attitude and stay away from any negative influences.

This Challenge isn’t just about losing weight; it’s about feeling healthier and happier with myself, making better choices in all aspects of my life and keeping a positive attitude about 2010 being a great year! Have you ever heard that a home is said to be lucky and will have a prosperous year if a plant blooms on New Years Day? Look what I found on my Jade plant on New Years Day.

When we first moved to our home almost eight years ago, I moved this sad little Jade plant to my front courtyard because I heard that a Jade plant symbolizes prosperity and good luck. I’ve nursed this Jade ever since and it’s grown to be quite large but has never bloomed until now.

If the Chinese superstition proves to be true then we should be looking forward to a prosperous year! (Believe me when I say that we need for that to happen.)

Have a great week everyone!

~LilSis

January 9, 2010

As I mentioned before, I’m going to do a weekly post on my Ten in 10 Challenge progress. Our team leader and creator of the Ten in 10 challenge, Lori of The Recipe Girl is posting her progress on Saturdays so I thought it made sense for me to do the same. I know some of the other participants are posting on Saturdays as well. At last count, there are 317 people participating in this challenge.

I feel good about this first week. In looking back at my specific goals, I was able to achieve most of them. Since I want to keep on a positive note, I’ll start off with what I was able to accomplish.

• I forced myself to go to bed earlier! (This one is REALLY hard for me.)

• I got up earlier and got my workout done early except for Wednesday when I took the long walk at lunchtime.

• I wrote everything down; food, workout, and weight.

• I planned our meals for the week, did the shopping on Sunday and stuck to the menu.

• I restricted my cocktails and my happy hour snacking. (Had green apple slices instead of cheese and crackers.)

• I was able to lose my one pound for the week.

I also joined the ten-in-ten-challenge team on Spark People and am excited about making more time to get that all set up. There are some amazing features on this site, including tracking the nutritional information of everything you eat each day. This is a good article that I just received from them yesterday called; “The Four-Letter word that can end mindless eating forever.”

Just a couple of things that I couldn’t squeeze in this week were the ‘after dinner’ walks, The 30 Day Shred, and the hula hoop on the Wii. We got a new t.v. recently and HayHay has been too busy to teach me how to set up the WiiFit and turn everything on by myself. I’m hoping to have time to do that this weekend. Just 15 minutes of that Hula Hoop is a real workout!

Here’s something that I stumbled upon that I thought I’d pass on to anyone that might be interested. Have you heard about or seen the fitbook from fitlosophy?

What I really love about this little book is that there is a place to record your workouts, log your daily food intake, and list your stats and your goals each week. I think having just one place to log everything for each day is going to be really helpful for me. You can take a virtual peek at the Fitbook to get an idea of how the planning pages are designed. You can order the book directly from fitlosophy, but I found fitbook on Amazon, so it’s sitting in my shopping cart now just waiting for me to finish my order. Thanks for the Amazon gift certificate, SisMama!

Have a great weekend everyone! I ran across this quote recently and I think I’m going to post it in my bathroom so I can read it every morning.

“If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”

- Thomas Edison

~LilSis

January 7, 2010

Seven days into the new year and all is good! I’ve been able to stay focused this week, have been getting almost 7 hours sleep each night, and have been writing down all my workouts and everything that goes into my mouth. I’m pretty happy because I’ve already obtained my weight loss goal for the week.

Am I still talking about the Ten in 10 Challenge? Yes.  Am I going to talk about it every day? Probably.

Just kidding. Once I get through this initial week of organizing my schedule and getting myself on track in all aspects of this challenge, I’ll get back to talking about other jibber jabber. I’ll try to post at least one healthy recipe a week and I’ll also post about my progress once a week. I’ll probably do that on Saturdays since my official weigh in day is going to be on Fridays and a lot of the other participants have mentioned posting their progress on Saturdays.

I think that to get past a plateau, which is what I’m trying to do, you’ve got to change things up a bit. I’ve found a great new bike at the Y that really kicks my fanny, but I don’t want to be in the gym every day. I want to be outside on cardio days when I don’t also have weight training scheduled.

Since I was in the gym Monday and Tuesday mornings and since yesterday was so gorgeous, I decided to do my walk from the Harbor down to the beach to walk the pier and do some stair climbing. This is one of my favorite routes.  I do this particular walk when I can manage to squeeze in an extra half hour that day.

I don’t normally take my camera with me, but I thought it might be fun to snap some shots along the way. Let’s go for a walk.

This is where I start. This is also where we spend most of our spare time when not working or doing chores at home.

When the water is not quite so cold, this is where I like to kayak.

I know it’s hard to make out what this is in the water, but they’re seals sun bathing. These are just their fins sticking up out of the water while they’re floating on their backs.

This is HayHay’s favorite spot to surf. On any given day at 6:30 in the morning, this spot is full of local surfers.

When we first moved here, this is where I always dropped the kids off with their boogie boards. I still love the view from this spot.

Now, on my way to the Historic Oceanside Pier.

Next, I do a couple of jaunts up and down the ramp to the Pier. A lot of local firemen are normally here doing their workouts. Bummer, no eye candy today!

This big guy is rumored to be the infamous “Charlie the Pelican”. Charlie just made our local news a few days ago because he apparently just returned to Oceanside Pier after being missing since February.

It doesn’t look like Charlie is real crazy about having his picture taken. The bait shop owner on the Pier put up the old sign next to Charlie that says “We bite stupid people”! I’ll think I’ll take a step back now!

A view of the shore from the end of the Pier. Oceanside Pier is one of the longest wooden piers on the entire West Coast. It’s over 1950 feet long.

After coming down the ramp from the Pier, this is the first set of stairs that I attack.

And then, I go up and down these a few times.

But, these wooden stairs are my favorite. Once at the top of these, I’m done with stairs for the day.

Now that I’m over 3 miles away from where I started, I normally turn around here and head back towards the Harbor. This is the “Top Gun” house. Don’t you just love the old VW Van on the side of the road? Classic!

Last year there was talk that Tom Cruise was buying this house and moving it somewhere else. I don’t know what ever happened to that or what’s planned for the house but they’ve cleared this entire lot and left the house standing.

Almost back to the Harbor, this Pink Hibiscus caught my eye as I walked past it so I turned back around to snap a quick shot of it.

After over seven miles round trip, I’m back to the Harbor. I always feel so good when I finish this walk. I don’t have the opportunity to do this that often, but when I need to clear my head, this is where I go.  I hope your 2010 is off to a great start!

~LilSis

January 6, 2010

Are you watching Dr. Oz’s TV show?  If not, you’re missing out on some great health tidbits 5 times a week, but you’re also cheating yourself out of excellent motivational diet and exercise info right now.  Like lots of shows this week, the Dr. Oz show is focusing on helping viewers with their weight loss and fitness goals.

I accidentally caught one of Dr. Oz’s shows in an evening re-run, and now I try to have it on when I’m home even if I can’t sit in front of the TV.  You might think that an entire show devoted to health every day would be a bore and a drag, but it’s not.  It’s interesting and usually important, and sometimes a tad embarrassing or even gross!  But I’ve already learned some things I never heard before.

I loved the show this week that gave us a 14-Day Plan to reboot our body.  It’s from the book “You On a Diet” that Dr. Oz co-authored with Dr. Michael Roizen.  To make it super easy for us, they’ve given us this PDF file that you can print out and refer to.

To get you started, Day 1 of the plan includes a 30-minute walk, 3 to 5 minutes of stretching, and a kitchen purge that eliminates all traces of simple sugars and syrups, trans fats, saturated fats, and all flours except for whole grain or whole wheat.  After that, we’re to restock our kitchen with the healthy staples we’ll need going forward.  I’d call that a pretty full and productive Day 1!

I’m also fascinated with Dr Oz’s 28-Day Raw Food Challenge, since I just committed to a vegan diet for 2010.  According to the web site, the health benefits of this challenge are:

• Increased energy
• Improved skin appearance
• Better digestion
• Weight loss
• Reduced risk of heart disease

I’m absolutely going to include some raw meals in my vegan diet, but don’t think I’m quite up for this challenge just yet.  Maybe soon though!  Who knows what would happen to my poor ol’ bod if I went from vegetarian straight to 100% raw vegan.  I’m guessing I’d have a few adjustment issues, but would ultimately feel awesome.    There could be a few tough days in there though!

If you check out Dr. Oz, let me know if you pick up any great tips.  I’m a fan and think you might be too!

~BigSis

November 9, 2009

I saw this report on Lifehacker and thought it was pretty interesting. Some of these results are actually a bit surprising.

The majority of people polled for the past two years claim that music is their number one stress reliever. I fall into that same group but I actually combine the top two! When I need a stress buster, I put on my iPod and head out the door for a walk or a bike ride.  I always feel better when I return home after a good five mile walk and some great music! I’m surprised that meditation and yoga fall so low in the survey. Yoga is another great stress buster for me.

Where do you fall on the stress scale? What do you do to relieve stress?

~LilSis

October 27, 2009

In case you missed our post at the beginning of this month, we went Pink for October to show our support for breast cancer awareness during the entire month of October.

Throughout the month of October, companies around the country step up with pink limited edition products benefiting breast cancer awareness. From laptop cases to beauty products and even applesauce, here are a few of my favorites who donate a percentage of their profits to Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

I LOVE this Komen Milano Pink Ribbon Laptop Case sold on SkyMall. Mobile Edge will donate 10% of the retail sales of each case to Susan G. Komen For the Cure.

The OPI Pink of Hearts 2009 edition nail polish will be sold at specialty retail locations throughout the month of October. If you can’t find it in the stores, it is still available on Amazon. Komen for the Cure will receive a guaranteed $25,000 donation.

Smashbox Photo Finish Lipstick in Babydoll Pink

Smashbox is offering this limited-edition Photo Finish lipstick in their best-selling babydoll pink shade to benefit Susan G. Komen. 40% of the proceeds will go to the Los Angeles County Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Motts Healthy Harvest Appleasauce

Mott’s Applesauce is the newest national sponsor of the 2009 Komen Race for the Cure series. They created several special limited edition applesauces to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. I’ve had the Granny Smith and it’s awesome! In 2009, Mott’s will donate $800,000 in connection with their Race for the Cure ® sponsorship, as well as $300,000 for their cause marketing program.  Their total donation for the year is $1.1 million.

Those are just a few of my favorites. Check out Target online to see their huge selection of pink kitchen and housewares products available through October 31st. If BigSis didn’t already have every single kitchen appliance in pink, I might buy her one of these.

Kitchen Aid Toaster

~LilSis

October 13, 2009

Just in case you missed the news at the beginning of the month and are wondering about the pink text, we are going Pink for October to show our support for breast cancer awareness.

While out shopping, you will have noticed by now the abundance of pink products being sold at most retail stores. Since the Susan G. Komen for the Cure is an important cause to me, I buy pink products from the companies that are giving their profits to that charity. Not that the other charities aren’t completely legitimate, it’s just a personal choice. I found this post on the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Message Board and felt it was important enough to pass along to our readers.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure suggests consumers use care and consideration before buying pink products.

October 6, 2009

DALLAS–(Business Wire)–From grocery stores to home improvement centers, pink ribbons and labels adorn everything from candy to vacuum cleaners to raise awareness and money during the 25th annual National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But with so many “pink” marketing programs out there, how can you be sure your money (or how much of it) is going where it should?

Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world`s leader in the fight against breast cancer, suggests people ask a few questions before picking one product over another.

“Selecting the right program is a personal choice based on your interests, your passions and a cause that is important to you,” said Katrina McGhee, vice president of global partnerships for Susan G. Komen for the Cure. “You work hard for your money, make sure your purchases have the impact you want.”

Whether a program offers to donate a portion of product sales or requires consumer participation in exchange for a donation, Komen’s objective is that all programs that benefit Komen are meaningful, educate women and men about breast cancer and generate funds which Komen devotes to research and community outreach.

In order to determine if a cause-related program, promotion or project is one that you would like to support (or is worthy of your support), Komen suggests consumers ask five key questions.

1. Is this company committed?

Read the product packaging and promotional materials or display and visit the company Web site to make sure the company is credible and committed to the
cause.

2. How is the program structured?

Transparency is key. Is the company clearly stating how the money is raised and how much will be going to charity? For example, if it’s a donation per purchase, ask how much of purchase price goes to charity-is it two percent or 10
percent-or some other amount? If there is a minimum contribution guaranteed by the company, what is the amount? Is there a maximum donation that will be made by the company?

3. Who does the program benefit?

Does it support a well-managed, reputable non-profit or fund? Again, we recommend that consumers read Web sites. Komen makes it very clear on our site who we are, how we structure programs and how the monies are used. The Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance is one resource for information on non-profit organizations if you are unsure (visit www.give.org.

4. How will the organization that benefits use my money?

It should be abundantly clear where the monies go. What organization will they support? Will the dollars generated go to research, education, community programs or all of the above? Komen is very specific about our programs, activities and grants awarded to support our mission to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease. View Komen’s most recent Annual Report.

5. Is the program meaningful to me?

Is the program supporting a cause you believe in or have been touched by? Based on the details of the program and the potential for dollars to be raised does the program make sense to you? Selecting the right program is a personal choice based on your interests, your passions and a cause that is important to you.

~LilSis