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8 Fake Healthy Foods

June 17, 2013 in breakfast, Calories, fiber, Food, Weight with 0 Comments

veggie chips

How often do we see foods and think, “Oh this must be healthy! Look how natural and green the packaging is.” I’ll be honest, I’m guilty of being fooled by food before.

Today’s post is to help you understand that some foods we think are healthy, well… aren’t healthy. Parts of this article were taken from this article on iVillage. You can sign up to get a daily email from them with health information included.

Here is a list of several foods we often mistake as healthy, when really they’re nothing special. And even worse, they may be widening your waist line.

1. Frozen Yogurt
Just because the word “yogurt” is in the title does not mean this is healthy. Frozen yogurt still contains sugar, and sugar turns into fat. You also won’t get your probiotic fix from frozen yogurt. Nice try.

2. Nutrient Waters
We have probably all thought to ourselves “Oh Vitamin Water, so healthy!” Honestly friends, it’s more calories. Why don’t you just drink actual water to hydrate yourselves?

3. Vegetable Chips
Unless you’re drying and making your own vegetable chips, you may be wasting your money, folks. Vegetable chips are still processed, packaged, and contain high amounts of sodium. Stick to fresh veggies!

4. Pre-made Smoothies
Guys, smoothies CAN be healthy. Key word being CAN. Pre-made smoothies can contain ridiculous amounts of sugar and potentially ingredients you can’t even pronounce. Make your own smoothies at home using protein powder, actual fruit, and unsweetened almond milk.

5. Muffins
I could preach a sermon on how bad muffins are. Being topped with oats, labeled as “whole grain” or “bran” does not mean healthy. Muffins are truly just dense sugary bread. (No wonder they’re delicious). But just say no.

6. Breakfast Bars
Your Nutrigrain or granola bar does nothing for you in the morning. It contains sugar, carbs, no protein, and little to no fiber. You will be hungry in about an hour because your body has nothing to sustain itself.

7. Microwave Meals
While it may be easy for you to count calories and eat small portions, microwave meals are so full of sodium and preservatives. I suggest taking home-cooked meals for lunches so you can control the amount of salt and preservatives in your body.

8. Reduced Fat Anything
Ever wonder why “reduced fat” food still taste good? It’s because they replace the fat with sugar, and sugar still turns to fat. Do yourself a favor and never buy reduced fat foods.

While there are many more foods that disguise themselves as healthy, this list gives you a good start when considering what not to eat.

A COUPLE OF TIPS IN CLOSING:

1. When grocery shopping stick to the outside perimeter of the grocery store, as that is where the freshest food sits.

2. Don’t be fooled by a store’s “healthy facade”.
Stores like Central Market, Whole Foods, and Kroger still sell food that’s awful for you.
Don’t trust the store to keep you healthy.

Quick and Easy Kale Chips

June 13, 2013 in Calories, fiber, Food, Recipes with Comments Off

 

 

kale chips

This is a new favorite in our house. Quick and easy kale chips!
As you may know by know, kale is a super green food that you can find at most supermarkets. You can buy a full head of green kale for $1.50 inorganic or $2.00 for organic. I recommend organic for only 50 more cents!

BAKED KALE CHIPS

Ingredients

1 head of kale

Olive oil, to drizzle

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cut kale into medium sized pieces. Be sure to get rid of the stems the kale grows on. Place kale on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil (it makes cleanup easier).

3. Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil over the kale. Toss kale to coat. Sprinkle kale with salt and pepper.

4. Place kale in the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Take kale out and stir kale to turn. Bake for 8-10 more minutes until crispy but not blackened.

 

Enjoy!

Kale is an amazing superfood, and it only contains 35 calories per cup!

Eat up this week and next week and the week after that!

6 Tips to Stay Healthy Every Day

May 20, 2013 in Calories, Food, Info, Intervals and Circuit Training, Organic, Recipes, Running, vegetarian burger, Weight, workouts with 0 Comments

healthy living

This week I was asked to guest post on a friends website. These ladies created Coast to Coast Challenge, an organization that focuses on helping women feel beautiful and feel confident. The ladies at Coast to Coast Central have recently initiated fitness challenges through their organization, and I feel honored that they asked me to write about how being healthy can go from temporary to permanent.
Today I want to share the blog I wrote for these ladies. I hope you enjoy.

6 TIPS TO STAY HEALTHY EVERY DAY

My name is Nicole Covarelli. I am a wife, elementary school teacher, and self-taught health enthusiast. Let me give you a little background on how I got started down the healthy lifestyle road because I have not always been fit and healthy.

From spring of 2010 to fall of 2011, I went from close to 200 pounds down to 150 pounds (yes, it took 18 months to lose all the weight I wanted), and at 5’ 9”, I am proud to still weigh 150 pounds.

How did I do it? I became an avid exerciser and began counting calories, which turned into a passion for reading about health and consuming foods that my body needs and loves. I have fallen in love with being healthy every day and hope you will too.

 

Today I want to share 6 tips that I live by every single day. These tips will help you live a healthy lifestyle and stay fit while still allowing you to eat foods you love and enjoy your life.

 

How do you make healthy living permanent?

  1. Think forever- the word “diet” is not in your vocabulary.
    The moment you tell yourself that you are on a “diet,” you have just told yourself this is not permanent. Thinking short term leads to more extreme eating habits that are not sustainable. Don’t eat healthy foods that make you gag. Who wants to gag when they eat? Find healthy foods you love and eat those often.
  1. Find your “niche” in healthy living.
    While some people only eat organic, others are vegetarian or vegan. We all have our “thing” when it comes to staying healthy. My thing is being an avid calorie counter because it helps me keep my food intake in perspective.
    Find what works for you and stick to it. It’s okay if your “niche” is different than your friend’s.
  1. Make time to exercise- it won’t just happen.
    If you don’t make time in your day to exercise, it won’t happen. It just won’t. Pick the days each week you will exercise and stick to it! People often ask when the best time of day is to exercise. Guess what… it’s the time YOU DO IT. And you should do it 4-5 times a week.
    Exercise hard. I mean really hard. Your body will reflect the amount of effort you invest in it.
  1. Find a few healthy recipes you love and cook them often.
    When you become confident cooking healthy recipes, you will cook them again and again. Don’t stress about a huge variety of healthy meals. Find a few you love and cook them. In my house, my husband and I regularly eat homemade pizza, black bean burgers, pan seared fish, and sweet potato chips. (All of these recipes are on my blog). Find recipes you love and cook them!
  1. Measure the crap out of your food.
    If you have never used measuring cups when serving yourself food, you are doing your body a major disservice. You have to learn to recognize portions, and the easiest way to do this is to actually measure. When the serving size is ½ cup, get out your ½ cup measurement.
    You will find a serving size of ice cream or cereal is much smaller than you were pretending it was. Measure and measure and measure some more!
  1. Splurge at one meal each week.
    When I say splurge, I mean it. ONCE a week at ONE meal, eat the food you want. Make the food worth it so that you feel satisfied after your splurge meal. If you love pizza, eat pizza. If you love ice cream, eat that too. When you only blow it one meal during the entire week, your body gets rid of what it doesn’t need rather than storing it.
    Pick the meal you will splurge on during the week, and it gives you something to look forward to all week, a glorious prize for all of your hard work!

 

In closing, a few tips and encouragement:

Health should be in moderation but consistent.
Don’t be too extreme. It’s not sustainable.
Don’t look to other individuals to tell you how you should look. We are all different.
Don’t let fear of failure keep you from trying. Not trying is failure.
You are beautiful. Start with believing that and the rest will fall into place.

Sweet and Spicy Sweet Potatoes

May 9, 2013 in Calories, fiber, Food, Recipes with 0 Comments

sweet-potato-cubed

Sweet potatoes and more sweet potatoes!

This delicious orange food contains fiber and so many wonderful nutrients. I recommend eating them as often as you can, as many ways as you can think to cook them. One sweet potato has around 120 calories and 4 grams of fiber.

This recipe is from All Recipes. The ingredients, directions, and picture below are all courtesy of All Recipes. You can find the original recipe HERE!

 

sweet potatoe spicy

SWEET AND SPICY SWEET POTATOES

Ingredients

2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 TBLSP olive oil
2 tsp packed brown sugar
1 1/2 TBSLP paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 pinch cayenne pepper

 

Directions

  1. Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F.
  2. Place the sweet potato chunks into a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil, then sprinkle the brown sugar, paprika, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, poultry seasoning, chili powder, and cayenne pepper overtop. Toss until the potatoes are evenly coated with the seasoning. Spread onto a baking sheet.
  3. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, then turn the potatoes over with a spatula, and continue baking until the sweet potatoes are golden and tender, 10 to 15 minutes more.

 

Honestly, savory sweet potatoes my be my favorite way to eat sweet potatoes.
This recipe is sweet, savory, and oh so good.

 

7 Reasons to Exercise Outside Rather than Inside

May 6, 2013 in Calories, Intervals and Circuit Training, Running, Weight, workout in heat, workouts with 0 Comments

forest trail

 

As spring is filling the air and the weather is absolutely fantastic, I am exercising outside as much as possible. Exercising outside not only feels wonderful this time of year, but it has some wonderful health benefits that exercising indoors cannot always fulfill.

Women’s Health Magazine can take credit for these great tips. You can find the link to the article HERE and a link to their full website in my recommend websites on my blog.

 

outside exercise

7 REASONS TO EXERCISE OUTSIDE

1. You’ll go for longer.

When you change up the scenery, you usually spend more time exercising. Run a new route, find a great hiking park that requires you to hike a few miles in and then a few miles back out. Try something new so you end up exercising longer.

2. You blast more calories.

Changing up your routine outdoors helps you blast calories because you surprises your muscles by doing new exercises. Plus exercising outside usually means a varied terrain, so you’re climbing hills rather than running flat on a treadmill.

3. You’ll save money.

Gyms are expensive. I do not own a gym membership and still find plenty of ways to get in the exercise I need through outdoor running and circuit training. Exercising outside is free! Who doesn’t love free?

4. You will feel happier.

Studies show that people who spend time outside more often tend to have a happier demeanor. The fresh air coupled with doing something good for your body can’t help but make you feel great! Exercising gives you energy and helps clear your head, which causes a more positive outlook.

5. You will fight germs.

Know why people get sick more in the winter? It’s because the germs get cooped up in the locked buildings with the windows shut. Being outside gives you fresh air! Gyms also contain germs, bacteria, and according to Women’s Health, MRSA (a strand of staph). If exercising at the gym, always use gym manners and disinfect your machines.

6. You will think clearly.

Pick your favorite playlist, audio book, or sermon. (I love to catch up sermons on my runs because it’s easy to pay attention.) Exercising outside in any capacity can help you clear your head and lessen stress.

7. You will workout whenever you want.

I love this reason because as Women’s Health puts it, “The outdoors is always ready to go. No class schedules, no waiting in line for machines. You can fit fitness in whenever you have a chance.”
Exercising outdoors leaves little room for excuses- it’s always right there!

I encourage you- get outside and exercise!

Activities:
Ride bikes
Job a new route
Walk a new neighborhood
Play sports with your kids or a group of friends
Hike a nature park near your home
Do yoga on the porch

What are your favorite outdoor activities?
How will you get active this spring and summer?

2 Reasons to Pack Your Meals

April 22, 2013 in breakfast, Calories, Food, Protein, Tools, vegetarian burger with 5 Comments

healthy lunch

Here’s yet another simple trick to stay healthy and save money: pack your lunch!

Pack a lunchbox (stylish or not) and prepare your meals at home for the next day and coming work week. By packing your own meals, you get to regulate what enters your mouth and how healthy it is.

WHY SHOULD I PACK A LUNCH?

1. You will save money.
Eating out at $10, 5 days a week, adds up to $200 a month, just on LUNCH. Packing your lunch will never hit that astronomical number unless you start packing rare exotic animals to eat.

2. You will save calories.
Eating out uneducated will cost you about 1000 calories per meal, while packing a lunch should cost you only 500 each day. Do the math here, and in one month’s time, you’ve eaten an extra 10,000 calories.
That’s 3 pounds my friends!

3. You will never regret saying no to unhealthy foods.
Too many of us watch coworkers and friends eat out for lunch almost every day and make terrible choices. It can be tempting to go out and enjoy what seems to be “better” food, but  feeling disgusting is never better.

EXCUSES

1. I don’t have enough time in the morning.
PACK IT THE NIGHT BEFORE. Packing my food the night before, helps me make good food choices and causes me to carefully measure out my food portions. Packing last minute in the morning would either cause me to be late or throw pre-packaged unhealthy food in my lunchbox.

You can ask my husband- come 9 o clock I make sure my lunch is packed in the right containers, fruit is washed, portions are measured, and it is stored in the fridge. I even go as far as getting my coffee in the filter so I only hit “Brew” when I get to the kitchen on my way out to work.

2. I don’t know what to pack.
LET ME TELL YOU WHAT I PACK:

Breakfast-a banana and instant flax oatmeal
Midmorning snack- 2 oz chicken and string cheese (both for the straight protein), usually accompanied by a piece of fruit
Lunch- 200 calories of either soup, chili, or a veggie burger, and a container of Greek yogurt with Chia seeds
Mid afternoon snack- CLIF Builder’s bar

This all puts me at only 1200 calories going into dinner.

 

In addition, if I know there’s an event later with unhealthy food I don’t enjoy spending my calories on, I will pre-pack a dinner. Packing my dinner ensures that I enjoy what I eat and intake foods my body loves, all while saving money and calories.

 

Quinoa Chickpea Sweet Potato Burgers

April 18, 2013 in Calories, fiber, Food, Protein, Recipes, vegetarian burger with 1 Comment

chickpea burger cooked

This weekend was a new recipe experiment. I thought to myself “what is in my pantry that I can make into dinner?” And when I found chickpeas and quinoa I quickly searched for a yummy vegetarian burger recipe. Much to my delight, I found this one, tried it, and it is delicious!

I found this recipe on the Ambitious Kitchen’s blog. A big thanks to this writer for sharing her adventures so I can now share them with you. You can find a link to the Ambitious Kitchen’s blog, the complete recipe, and step by step photos HERE. I did not list it here, but this blogger also has a spicy yogurt sauce for her burgers.

QUINOA CHICKPEA SWEET POTATO BURGERS

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 small onion, diced small
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 medium to large sweet potato
  • 1 -15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
  • 1/4 cup fresh parsley
  • 2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
  • 1 egg
  • Buns and veggies to garnish

Directions

1. Cook quinoa by following directions. 2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa is 1 1/4 cups dry. While cooking quinoa, microwave the sweet potato 3-4 minutes until soft and easily mashed.

2. Dice the onion into small pieces and saute with minced garlic in light olive oil until onions are soft and translucent.

3. Combine chickpeas, onion saute, sweet potato, salt, pepper, garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, cilantro and parsley in the food processor. Pulse until chunky and taste. Add seasonings as desire. Then add 1 egg to soften the mixture. Pulse ingredients until slightly chunky but smooth overall.

4. Combine above mixture with quinoa in a large bowl. Stir together to make one homeogenous mixture. Divide mixture into patties, about 8 or 9 total.

5. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium high heat. Cook burgers 4-5 minutes per side, keeping the heat at medium so they cook through without over cooking on the outside.

Nutrition

If you make 9 burgers, 1 patty only has 165 calories and is loaded with protein and fiber.

 

Enjoy!

When Can I Splurge?

April 15, 2013 in Calories, Food, Weight with 0 Comments

pizza

As much as I love eating healthy, I truly love to splurge.

Not that I need to define it, but splurging is when you have a meal and you eat whatever you want, not taking into account how healthy it is.

How Should I Splurge?

1. Splurge ONCE in the entire week.
Do NOT, I repeat, Do NOT, splurge for an entire day and especially not an entire weekend. Pick one day of the week and one meal during that day that you will splurge. It makes it easier to eat healthy all week when you have something really awesome to eat as your reward.
My splurge night is Friday night. Jordan and I go out to dinner and usually out for ice cream after that. It’s always worth the wait.

2. Splurge by eating food you love.
Pick foods that you absolutely love but almost always so no to. If you love pizza, eat pizza. If you love a greasy hamburger, eat a greasy hamburger. Be sure your splurge is worth it. If you eat something unhealthy that you don’t really love, it’s likely you will splurge again to make yourself satisfied.

3. Splurge knowing the next day is back to normal.
Too many people think that blowing it for one meal gives them the right to blow it for an entire weekend. One splurge day will not be likely to make you gain weight, but two or three days will easily pack on 5 pounds. Get back to your healthy eating the next meal after your splurge!

4. Splurge and then compensate with a workout.
I either work out hard the same day as an unhealthy meal or I get right back to it the next day with an intense workout.

However you splurge, make it 100% worth it. Eat the foods you love and really enjoy the meal while you eat it. It’s okay to eat unhealthy once a week. I actually recommend it. It makes self-control so much easier when there’s a reward at the end of the week.

A New Recipe: Quinoa Black Bean Burgers

April 4, 2013 in Calories, fiber, Food, Protein, Recipes, vegetarian burger with 2 Comments

quinoa beanburger

I’ve posted before about black bean burgers and how much I LOVE them. I found a new recipe for a quinoa and black bean burger that may be my new favorite vegetarian burger. The flavor, texture, and everything about this burger is delicious!

This recipe is courtesy of All Recipes, who always has wonderful food ideas. Their iPad app is a great tool when deciding what to cook for dinner. You can find the original burger recipe HERE.

I always double this recipe to make 10 burgers, each containing only 160 calories! Eat one on a sandwich thin bun and your burger is maxing out at 260 calories. You can’t lose!

QUINOA BLACK BEAN BURGERS

Makes 5 burgers-

Ingredients

1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1/2 cup water, to cook quinoa
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I use Italian breadcrumbs)
1/4 cup yellow bell pepper (about 1/2 of a pepper)
2 TBLSP chopped onion
1 large garlic clove, about 1 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 TBSLP fresh chopped cilantro*
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp hot sauce, your choice
1 egg
Olive oil, to cook burgers

*The All Recipes version does not call for it, but I recommend adding a Tablespoon of fresh cilantro.

Directions

  1. Bring the quinoa and water to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the quinoa is tender and the water has been absorbed, about 15 to 20 minutes.
  2. Roughly mash the black beans with a fork or potato masher, leaving some whole black beans in a paste-like mixture.
  3. Mix the quinoa, bread crumbs, bell pepper, onion, garlic, cumin, salt, hot pepper sauce, and egg into the black beans using your hands.
  4. Form the black bean mixture into 5 patties.
  5. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.
  6. Reduce heat to medium- low. Cook the patties in the hot oil until heated through, 4 to 5 minutes per side.

Recipe: Quinoa Chicken Soup

March 21, 2013 in Calories, Food, Info, Recipes, Tools, Uncategorized with 0 Comments

You may be thinking “quin-what!?” That word is quinoa (keen-wah), and is a grain high in protein and fiber! In fact, quinoa is a perfect protein because it contains all of the essential amino acids! It is perfect by itself or is great added to soups, chilis, salads, and more.

This recipe is one we tried not too long ago and really loved. It has a basic chicken soup flavor, with the quinoa adding a nice nuttiness to it as well. Once again, I recommend doubling it and freezing some so you have a quick go to meal in a couple weeks!

QUINOA CHICKEN SOUP

Ingredients

2 TBLSP olive oil
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
1/2 cup scallions or onions, chopped
2 cups water
3 cups chicken broth or stock
1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed and uncooked
2 cups chicken, diced and chopped (I recommend buying rotisserie chicken & shredding it)
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
1/2 TSP garlic powder
1/2 TSP black pepper
1/2 TSP salt

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, heat 2 TBLSP olive oil over medium high heat. Add in celery, carrots, and onions and saute until browned (about 5 minutes).

2. Stir in 2 cups of water and 3 cups of chicken broth and bring to a boil.

3. Add in the rest of the ingredients (through the salt), and reduce heat to low, and cook 20 minutes. You can adjust seasonings as needed at this point.

Serves: 8 one cup servings

 

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