Grilled Bananas

Sounds gross, doesn't it? Yeah it did to me too at first. Check out this ridiculously simple recipe for a healthy summer dessert. If you're cooking out on the grill this weekend, put this one together!

Slice bananas length-wise and place on a sheet of aluminum foil.

Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and brown sugar.

Fold over the top so it is secure and place on the grill until the banana is soft and warm and brown sugar is carmelized.

For the best timing, throw the aluminum bananas on the grill right about the time you start serving dinner. Not using a grill? Gong camping instead? Place the packets on the warm embers of the bonfire and retrieve safely with tongs.

Oooooh It Burns!

Yesterday was an incredible day for me on the treadmill. I took two days off from running because my knees were bothering me the other night. On Tuesday, instead of running, I biked for 30 minutes straight and then did some workouts on the machines at the gym. I focused on the abs and chest. My legs are plenty big enough as it is. I really don't like having such big calves. It's definitely genetic though because my dad has big ape calves as well as my uncle. My running 5 miles a day, three times a week has only "enhanced" mine. Oh well. Incidentally, I learned last night that my wife "loves" my "killer calves". At least someone does.

Back to the reason for the post. I took Wednesday off as per usual. As it got closer to time to go run, I was nervous that I was not going to come close to the 845 calories I burned on Monday. WRONG! I hit a new high of 958 calories. I had a 13% gain over the previous high. Here's the secret. Instead of running half the time at 4 or 4.2 mph and the other at 7 mph or so, I got on and set the speed at 5.5 and didn't look back (until the last 12 minutes). I still took my sixty second pauses every mile or so, but I didn't walk at all last night. I wanted to see if I had the endurance to go for more than ten or fifteen minutes like that. The time I tried this before, I only lasted like eight minutes. Well, I definitely think I will be trying this method again. Friday is day off from the gym. Saturday will be another day off this weekend as I am going out of town to a wedding. Rest assured, Sunday I will be back at it. I think mixing running, biking, and resistance will be good for me. It gives my body time to heal where it needs to.

Spicy Cocoa Sloppy Joes

I know this might not be the healthiest thing we've posted on here, but it might be one of the best tasting ones. In all actuality, it's probably not that bad for you if you have it in a moderate portion. Once you look over the ingredients you'll probably agree. The great thing about this is that it is an official recipe from Hershey. Those guys can rarely do anything wrong in my opinion.

In the end, I would probably substitute the bun with a tortilla or pita. Both come in a variety of flavors that may only enhance the taste. I want to try this one out as soon as possible. Let us know how yours turns out if you make it.

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 to 1-1/4 cups chopped onion
• 1 cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1-1/2 tablespoons yellow mustard
• 2-1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
• 1-1/4 teaspoons salt

Directions:
1. Cook ground beef and onion in large skillet on medium heat until beef is browned and onion is tender. Drain excess fat.

2. Stir in ketchup, cocoa, mustard, chili powder, pepper and salt. Heat 10 to 15 minutes on low heat or until hot. Serve in buns. Cover; refrigerate leftovers. About 4-1/2 cups sandwich filling.

Another Helpful Link

This is a site I've visited in the past, but totally forgot to bookmark or add to this blog. In fact, the only reason I even recalled it is because it was featured in the LIVING WELL section of my newspaper today. The site is called Nutrition Data. It has a lot of cool stuff including a very detailed breakdown of foods and their respective nutritional makeup. It shows you where it falls in terms of what vitamins and nutrients you're getting in the food(s). They also have some very helpful topics. I'll list a few of them here...

• Learn what your body needs to be healthy
• Estimate your daily needs of vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and more...
• Analyze any food
• Secrets to weight loss
• Sensible diet advice
• Recipe help: Create recipes and let ND help you make them healthier
• Find foods that are highest in any vitamin or mineral or lowest in saturated fats or sugars
• Nutrition glossary: your reference guide to diet and nutrition
• Calculate glycemic load, inflammation factor, and omega-3:omega-6 ratio for any food or recipe
• Calculate your Body Mass Index (BMI) and what it means for your health

Check the site out. I am positive there is something there for you to look at!

Time to Make A Change

Ok, I decided tonight right after I got in my car that I will not be running five times a week any longer. Instead I will be riding a bike on two or three days and running the other two. I made this decision for a few reasons. Let's examine the big three.

A) My knees are killing me. There are nights when I get off the treadmill and feel like someone has taken a baseball bat to them. It's about one out of every three times. Maybe four. I think it's because I feel like I have to constantly push myself to hit the goals I set for myself.

B) My focus is on calories, not distance. I came to this conclusion about a week ago. If I burn 800 calories in 5.5 miles, it's just as good for me as if I did it in 5.70 miles. Right? I did the same thing to my body in both scenarios.

C) I'd like to work on different muscle groups. It's as simple as that. I want to start to mix it up a little bit more.

I wonder how many calories I would be burn on the bicycle? It'll be fun to find out!

So how did I do today? Well, I set out to hit 840 calories and ended up with 845. Sweet! I also ended up at 5.71 miles. Both are new highs. For dinner, my wife prepared some steamed vegetables, baked beans, and some small chicken tenders. She baked them as opposed to frying them. She marinated the tenders in soy sauce for a while prior to baking them. It's amazing how much flavor is added with just a little bit of sauce. It's been around an hour since dinner and I feel pretty good aside from the knees feeling a little tight. Dinner seems to be sitting very well. I have to applaud my wife for helping me along. She's trying to make some changes inher lifestyle right now and it is comforting to know that she's got my back and ecourages me. She makes smarter decisions for dinner each week. Whether it's portion size or the actual items, I think she's done a lot for both of us lately to make sure we are going to meet our long term goals. It's kind of like having a partner that works out with you at the gym. Things are much easier when you have someone watching your back and pushing you.

I think I had somewhere around 56 ounces of water in the time since I started running tonight. That's a pretty fair amount in 3 hours. I also had around 48 before I left work. Not to shabby. Water always helps curb little appetites. I can't say enough about the benefits of it.

So tomorrow I will be biking. I have ZERO idea as to how well I will be doing. I hope to burn an equal amount of calories if not more. We'll see!

The Beast Will Not Be Tamed!

About three hours after the previous post I hit the gym. I used yesterday's numbers as a gauge for my progress. Short and sweet, I set two new highs. I'm happy to say I hit 5.66 miles and 833 calories! Again, I did not expect to hit it, but I hoped to at least do as well. I think if I keep trying to add a few more calories each day I'll be good. My 30th birthday is coming up in just over a month. I'd really love to be running 6 miles an hour by then. By then, I ought to be able to burn 1,000 calories an hour. I spoke to my mom tonight and she said I can borrow the Gazelle, so I should be able to rip off another 100 calories or so at night when catching up on TV shows. If I can get myself motivated enough, I'll start doing it in the morning. Gotta do everything I can when I can if I want to see results. I do see results now, but I'd like to kick it up a step or two.

As far as eating hard boiled eggs as a snack, I will be cutting out the yolks wherever possible. I read tonight that roughly 55 or 75 calories come from the yolk. I might eat a few egg whites and one or two yolks here and there for the taste. Just another place to cut out unnecessary calories. Now I gotta start cutting out drinking calories. I crushed a 32 oz. Gatorade after my run today. Well, back goes 200 calories right there! Wow, is that aggravating.

Another Victory

Yesterday saw me reach two new highs. In terms of miles, I ran 5.57 this time around. I think that the reason behind that was because I set out to break the calorie barrier of 800. Rather than focus on how far I ran, I wanted to see how much I could burn in the hour. As it turns out, I ended up going from previous high of 798 to new high of 828 calories. That's insane for me to think about. That is almost 500 more calories burned in an hour than when I started running about 7 1/2 weeks ago.

I knew I was in good shape around 15 minutes into the run. Typically, I feel a little heavier on my feet at the beginning. I felt like I was running 10 pounds lighter than normal. For some reason I felt like I was gliding a little more in my run. I set out with a goal of around 67 calories every five minutes. I noticed at around that fifteen minute mark that I was hitting around 70 per five minute increment. Overall I was around 12-20 calories ahead of my goal(s). I think I will use that as my gauge for today's run. I will know exactly where I stand versus my best run. With about two minutes left into yesterday's run, I had already exceeded the 800 calorie goal. That' when I pushed hard to beat the 5.55 miles. I barely beat it.

I had no idea that I would have done that well. For dinner the night before I ate a huge salad at one of my favorite restaurants. I also had a bowl of chili and some bread. Not the best thing to do, I know. For lunch yesterday I had two sandwiches made on Asiago cheese bagels. They were capacole and hot pepper cheese. Delicious! I looked at my Angel (my wife) and said, "I am definitely gonna have to run hard today." For dinner last night, we shared a General Tso's combo and some dumplings. I'm anxious to get back on the treadmill today. My legs feel way better than I expected them to. I'll be back again soon with the update.