Portion Control

Take a look at the picture to the left. Would you recognize the hamburger club sandwich with a large side of fries looks as multiple servings? "But it looks like an average meal!" Although it looks like only one meal there is enough ground beef to qualify as at least two servings, plus one serving of bacon. The lettuce and tomatoes are great, but the bread counts as three servings. One serving of potatoes should equal about one half a cup, so there are about four servings of a starchy vegetable there.

Most people don't realize the ever increasing size of their meal portions when they go out to eat. Over the last few years, Super, Mega, Biggie, and XL have shown up on products at your fast food restaurants as well as in your frozen food sections too. Even your microwave lunch or dinner is larger today than in previous years. We're slowly conditioning ourselves to get the most food for the lowest price, even when that food is not good for us. Here's a test: You're at an amusement park with $10 to eat between you and your friend. You're both getting hungrier as you walk around. What do you find yourself doing? Be honest.

• Stopping at the first restaurant/booth and buying the first thing you see on the menu
  
• Looking at a few booths to see what you can get for your money.
• Figuring out whether or not you'll get more food for your money by eating two hot dogs at the All American stand versus a burrito at the Mexican one.
• Forgoing a drink in lieu of the drinking fountain so that you can get chicken nuggets as a side.
  

If you are like most people, your answers lean more towards #3 and #4. It's not uncommon to do this in an environment like Disney or at a sporting event. But what about when you're driving to a destination and you get hungry? Then what? How do you keep portions under control when you go out to eat? A simple practice that I often try to use is to box half of my food before I take a bite. It's not as easy as it sounds and takes some getting used to. Literally, draw a line through your food with a knife. Cut your chicken in half, cheeseburger, whatever. The real trick is when there are appetizers like nachos that can often be replaced endlessly. Just being more cognizant of the amount of food you have eaten will often help curb your eating habits. Here's another tip: The next time you run through the drive-thru at McDonald's, grab a Happy Meal. You'll be surprisingly full after about a half hour. Sp what do you do when preparing your own food at home? Here's a few tips to keep your meal sizes down.

• Make foods that keep you'll be able to keep in your freezer like casseroles, soups, and pasta sauces. Freezing them ahead of time and freeze in individual servings makes for easy preparation later and less chance of extra food sitting out on the stove begging to be eaten. Most foods like this will keep for several months.
• Buy your fresh produce and fruit individually instead of by the bag. Cut what you want to eat ahead of time and put the rest back in the fridge.
  
• When buying meat, ask your deli guy/butcher to cut it into meal size portions for you.
  
• Use recipes that can easily be reduced by halves or quarters.
• Look closer at the back of the box. A majority of your pastas and rices have instructions on making individuals servings.
• Snoop around the deli area of your grocery store or supermarket. Lots of times, you'll come across small servings of veggies and fruit in pre-cut form. Add these as a side dish to your next meal. You'll probably find something new to try while there too.
• Use a smaller plate. Mentally, you'll do a lot for yourself if you eat the whole plateful of food.
  

Until next time, eat slower and drink more water.

Let's Get Busy!

I was back on the treadmill today after a pretty decent time away. In fact, last Thursday was the last time I ran. I took Saturday and Sunday off to go to a wedding out of state. Sunday was actually a pretty busy day for me. My wife and I cleaned our garage out and rearranged our basement. We put things aside for a yard sale that we'd like to have in the next few weeks. We ended up throwing a bunch of stuff away and boxing things up too. It was one of the busier days I've spent outside of the gym. Yesterday was a half hour on the bike and then on the chest, arms, and ab exercises. It felt great to get back in there and get active.

Tonight on the way to the gym I was deciding whether or not I wanted to run for an hour or do more exercises. I figured I needed to run but didn't know if I had a full sixty minutes in me. I think mentally I didn't feel like I was up to the challenge of beating the 958 calories or the 5.71 miles I have as highs. Once I got started at 5.8mph and knocked out ten minutes I felt better about my decision to run. About twenty minutes in though I had second thoughts. It seemed like the hour was going to go on for way to long. I told myself to keep doing it since I had already started it. I also noticed that about halfway in I was on pace for beating the previous calorie high. At this point I just had to find out where I'd end up. I'm happy to say that after sixty minutes of running this evening, I burned 1,004 calories! Incredible! I also hit a new high of 5.83 miles. I kept my speeds at 5.7 or higher for probably 40 minutes and even peaked at 6.2 for a few and then ran at 7.5 at the end too. My knees felt pretty good when I was done. I was really really thirsty. I had something like 48 ounces from the time I got to the gym to the time I got in my car. When I got home, I was already somewhat full from all of the water, but I had a fantastic dinner waiting on me. Steak, baked beans, pirogies, and a small baked potato. How can you not eat that? My wife gave me the smaller portions I have been trying to eat especially the baked potato. I love her so much. She's been a lot of support for me lately in this fitness thing. She's very encouraging.

Aside from tonight's dinner I have eaten decent these last two days. Very minimal calories for breakfast and lunches. Saturday and Sunday were completely different stories. I ate like an idiot Friday night. After a burger from Red Robin, we stopped at the Krispy Kreme store next to our hotel and grabbed some doughnuts. I had three for dessert that night in the hotel! I felt like I had stolen the Cup of Christ. Each time I ate one, I felt more and more guilty. Oh well, it's not everyday that one of my junior high and high school buddies gets married, right? I was out of state and felt like I had been doing very well lately. I decided it was okay to give myself a little treat. I had plenty of little cheese and vegetable hors d'oeuvre snacks at the reception. They also brought around some Swedish meatballs, quiche, shrimp cocktails, and chicken tenders. Then the main course came. I only had room for the stuffed chicken. I had two bites of roasted red potatoes and that was it. Too full to eat any more. It'll be a long time before I eat like I did over the weekend.

No Fat Refried Beans

by Jamie Hunter

I don't know about you, but I could eat refried beans for breakfast, lunch and dinner! But I couldn't be that cruel to my family and co-workers, so I keep my consumption to an occasional treat. When I was a vegetarian a friend of mine introduced me to this delicious fat free recipe for refried beans. I love it with rice or nachos.

2 cups of dried pinto beans
4 whole bay leaves
1 16 oz. jar of salsa
1 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper (optional)
Salt to taste

Cook your beans thoroughly. This takes about 3 hours so get this step done early. Drain the water, then mash the beans with a potato masher. When you are finished the beans should be smooth in texture without any lumps! Now mix in your bay leaves and let the mixture sit for 3 to 4 hours. If you can let the mixture sit over night the bay leaves will have an even greater affect on the taste. Finally remove the bay leaves, mix in the salsa, red pepper and salt. This can be eaten hot or cold. In fact it tastes great on a taco salad, or in a burrito. For an even better treat sprinkle some fat free cheddar cheese on top, and place in the microwave until melted! Try this one out. It's inexpensive to make and very good for you. Hmmm.... I think I will make some this week!

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.