Anything Healthy???

[reinhard1]

thanks for the tip on this seed that looks like a winner in the health department. i'm going to check today to see if cubs has it. also this week cub has asperagus for 1.48 per pound in their add. got some yesterday and will get more today. if i can find the Quinoa i will make a side dish with it and if it turns out good i will post the recipe. they say Quinoa has a "nutty" flavor similiar to brown rice but doesn't take as long to cook. good luck.

[nofishfisherman]

I've had quinoa a few times and it is supposed to be super healthy for you. Personally I'm not a big fan of it but it could also be how I've had it prepared.

If anyone finds a good way to make it palatible please let me know as we have a box of it in the pantry.

Also, I'm pretty sure its available at Cub or any of the large grocery stores.

[BLACKJACK]

and couple of beers instead of four at the cookout. : )

You guys want to take all the fun out of life!!! Better be something fast cooking like chicken breasts or pork steaks to limit me to two after a long day!!

Seriously, healthier foods, exercise, and portion control are all biggies. My wife and I have started leaving the main dish at the stove, it keeps you from having that big second helping or nibbling away at it.

[lovebigbluegills]

One thing I started doing to cut back on the amount I eat, is to have 2-3 cups of water first. That way I feel a little full before I even start eating.

I agree olive oil is the healthiest oil to cook with. I always pan-fry my fish with olive oil, and believe it tastes better than with any other type of oil.

Lots of great tips!!! Something to keep checking back on.

[nofishfisherman]

Seriously, healthier foods, exercise, and portion control are all biggies. My wife and I have started leaving the main dish at the stove, it keeps you from having that big second helping or nibbling away at it.

Thats a good tip. My wife and I do the same thing. We serve up a healthy portion in the kitchen and then we pack up leftovers right away so that we're not tempted to go back for more. We also then have the leftovers already packed up and ready to go for the next day so it prevents us from going out for lunch while we're at work.

[deerminator]

Indeed. That's a great tip. We like to try and have something of whatever healthy we ate leftover for the next day. Also, We buy a lot of those frozen bags of chicken tenderloins. I'll grill up a whole bag, we'll have what we need for supper and then I'll cut up the rest with a kitchen shears for use in salads for the next couple of days for lunch. Put that chicken over the lettuce with some cut up peppers, onions, mushrooms and cherry tomoates - along with some feta cheese and balsimic vinegrette dressing and that's good eats.

Also, I'm laughing right now envisioning bluegills chugging water before dinner. "Excuse me everyone, I have to go to the bathroom now and I'll be right back. Don't start without me!"

[reinhard1]

found it at cubs so i will try it tonight with a recipe i found for this stuff. $5.99 for 14 ounces of organic Quinoa. i dont know if they have regular Quinoa but at this price if it turns out good it will have to be limited to maby once a week. good luck.

[OnAFly]

Marinate cubed chicken in Fat Free Italian dressing for 24hours. Marinate red, green bell peppers, red onion, button mushrooms, artichoke hearts, and broccoli in FF Italian dressing for 48 hours. Skewer the chicken and grill. Drain the veggies and use a grill-wok (basically just a pan with holes in it, cheap at menards) to grill the veggies.

My wife and I love this recipe.

Also, Jenny-O makes marinated turkey breasts that are very good too. Those and some grilled veggies and baked bean makes a great dinner with almost no fat at all.

[reinhard1]

well Quinoa was ok but not something to rave about. it had the texture of a firmer cream of wheat. i messed up the recipe i used a bit by adding too much salt. but i can see where this could be used in soups, stews, hot dishes and salads. the nutritional value is amazing if anyone wants to check it out.

lately i've been having sweet potatoes with chicken and beef. i checked into them and found out that they rank number one in nutrition as far as vegetables. they are hard not to like in the taste dept also. i dont even add butter or anything extra to them and also eat the skin after baking. here is how the vegetables ranked by points:

sweet potato baked 184

potato baked 83

spinach 76

kale 55

mixed vegetables 52

broccoli 52

winter squash, baked 44

brussels sprouts 37

cabbage, raw 34

green peas 33

carrot 30

okra 30

corn on the cob 27

tomato 27

green pepper 26

cauliflower 25

artichoke 24

romaine lettuce 24

according to nutritionists at the center for science in the public interest [CSPI], the single most important dietary change for most people, including children, would be to replace fatty foods with foods rich in complex carbohydrates, such as sweet potatoes.

CSPI ranked the sweet potato number one in nutrition of all vegetables. witha score of 184, the sweet potato outscored the next highest vegetable by more than 100 points. points were given for content of dietary fiber, naturally occurring sugars and complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron and calcium. good luck.

[Getanet]

Another thing I've read repeatedly is that eating a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your diet. Apparently it's nearly the perfect breakfast food and gets your blood sugar levels and everything else straightened out for the day. And with the flavored instant oatmeal packets it's pretty cheap and convenient. Of course, I skip breakfast most days and if I do, it's usually some breakfast cereal bar on the way to work that doesn't have half the nutrition of a bowl of oatmeal.

[nofishfisherman]

well Quinoa was ok but not something to rave about. it had the texture of a firmer cream of wheat. i messed up the recipe i used a bit by adding too much salt. but i can see where this could be used in soups, stews, hot dishes and salads. the nutritional value is amazing if anyone wants to check it out.

Thats basically how I remember quinoa being. The taste is alright, kind of bland but could be ok if you put something flavorful with it. But the texture just didn't do it for me.

[ThunderLund78]

I'm currently doing the oatmeal every day thing and it's no where near as hard as I thought it would be. I also use the packets, the only time I cheat might be a weekend but usually I eat it then too. My cholesterol is high so I'm gonna keep this up for 6 months, along with more exercise and other healthier choices and see what it can do.

[chaffmj]

Lots of good ideas. My tip is to eat a great breakfast, a good lunch and a very small dinner as early in the evening as possible. Skipping breakfast is one of the worst things you can do.

As far as the beer do what you have to but I won't drink the lite stuff. I would rather spend extra time working out then drinking lite beer.

[reinhard1]

learning something from everyone here. ya, and Chaff, i do get back to the great dark stuff during deer hunting and some on the hollidays. the lite stuff i have gotten use to for the most part but it does help on the weight loss part.

i'm probably going to grill every day from this point. hate walking by that grill/smoker. good luck.

[reinhard1]

here is what i'm making today;

Jamaican Chicken Breast With Mashed Sweet Potatoes

this is for one serving so i jack it up a bit of course.

1 small sweet potato

1 half boneless chicken breast [i'm usins boneless pork chops thick cut today]

1/4 tsp olive oil

1 tsp caribbean jerk seasoning [using Emerils original essence today]

1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup chopped tomato

1/4 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 tbls sliced green onions

1/2 tsp butter or margarine

scrub potato. trim ends. poke some holes in the skin with a fork. place in shallow microwave-safe dish. micro-cook, loosely covered, for 4 to 5 min or until very tender, turning dish every 2 min. let potato stand until cool enough to handle. [i baked it the last time. if you do bake it make sure you put some foil under the potato so the goodness that drips out sometimes dont land on the bottom of the stove and burn]. i'm planning to do the potato on the grill along with the chops [indirect heat].

meanwhile, brush chicken on both sides with oil. rub jerk seasoning on both sides of chicken.

in small nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray cook chicken over medium-low heat about 6 min or until lightly browned, turning once. add beans, tomato and broth to skillet. bring to boiling. reduce heat. simmer, covered, about 5 min or until chicken is no longer pink. stir onions into bean mixture.

meanwhile, use spoon to scoop pulp from potato. slightly mash potato. stir in butter [i like it the way it is]. return to microwave-safe dish. micro cook, loosely covered about 1 min or until heated through. spoon onto serving plate. top with chicken and vegetables. serve immediately. total calories 228

good luck.

[Chef]

I used to feel exactly the same way about my Beer too. It takes some getting used to. Here's a good motivator and information:

http://www.wastedcalories.com/beercalories.html

[reinhard1]

that chart is interesting. i always thought all dark beers were around 300 cal. thanks for the information. good luck.

[ThunderLund78]

I used to feel exactly the same way about my Beer too. It takes some getting used to. Here's a good motivator and information:

http://www.wastedcalories.com/beercalories.html

Colt 45 is 172 Calories? No wonder I'm so fat! ... Just kidding, I wouldn't drink that swill if you paid me.

Very interesting list, though. It's true what they say - pork chop in a can.

[SkitterPopper]

Mabr,

I hear you! I went from a field job to a desk job about 5 years ago. I gained a lot of weight and was feeling very sluggish. Last spring I decided to turn it around.

I never ate a lot of fast food but I cut it totally out of my diet. I eat 3 healthy meals a day. A lot of people skip breakfast and I was told this is a big mistake. If you eat a good breakfast you are less likely to snack after dinner. I cut out alcohol expect for the weekends and then it is usually 1 or 2.

The big thing is exercise. It takes 3500 calories over and above what you consume to shed 1 pound. So if you burnt 500 calories a day it would take a week to drop 1 pound. You can now see why exercise it a important part. I walked 4 miles a day and lost a good portion of the weight. You will have to change up your exercise routine every once in awhile as your body is smart and adjusts to the calories burnt and how. I hit a spot where I stopped losing weight so I switched routines to a cardio workout instead of walking and I started to lose weight again.

I am very happy that I am 180 pounds one year later. Last year at this time I was 245 pounds. Good luck to you and it's not easy. Just stick to a plan and it will come off.

[mabr]

Skitter, Yup we sound very similar. 170-180 sense 8th grade. Desk added 30 lbs. I'm looking into one of the p80 work out programs or something close to help me get back in shape. Wish I would have started a month ago. Im leaving for Texas for a week of fishing and Ive been afraid to start before i left because of being to sore to fish lol.

Keep the recipes or ideas coming. Ill be a-wall for a week but Ill catch up when I get back.

[nofishfisherman]

Skitter, Yup we sound very similar. 170-180 sense 8th grade. Desk added 30 lbs. I'm looking into one of the p80 work out programs or something close to help me get back in shape.

Are you talking about the P90X that they advertise on tv?

If so I'd urge some caution with that. From my experience the workout is a good one but its probably not a great idea to jump right into it if you don't have a decent base of conditioning.

The workout is really intense and if you aren't in at least decent shape to start with you're likely to get burned out really quick and you're going to have to work through some pretty bad soreness. You're also going to be very prone to injury if you start that sort of high intensity workout right off the bat. A pulled or strained muscle, or sprain/strained ligament or tendon is actually fairly likely since you're body may not yet be capable of holding up to the intensity.

Right now is not the time to sustain an injury. You'll set yourself back potentially up to a couple months. I strained a liagament in my knee around christmas while working out and its now march and I'm just now getting back to where I left off.

I would start off with a weight training and cardio program to start with and slowly build up to a P90x type workout if thats what you'd like to do. Just make sure you give your body a chance to get stronger before you opt to put it through he77.

[SkitterPopper]

Quote:

If so I'd urge some caution with that. From my experience the workout is a good one but its probably not a great idea to jump right into it if you don't have a decent base of conditioning.

I have to agree with nofish. You might be better off starting with walking and some cardio a few days a week. After you start to lose some weight and are in better shape you can certainly go to the P90X. I just don't recommend starting with that routine. I have a couple friends that are in good shape and they said it was very tough.

I know you were asking for recipes so sorry about getting off base in the above post but I thought I would throw it out there since it worked for me.

The one thing about food I took from this is that it's way more important to count calories than anything else. You want to stay under 2000 calories per day. There are a lot of websites that have calorie counters and it's a good thing to check out what you are consuming. When I started last spring I was amazed at some of the calorie counts in the foods that I ate. The best HSOforum I have found for keeping track of calories is Live Strong. They also have calorie counters for exercise so you know how much you are burning with each exercise routine.

[nofishfisherman]

I have a couple friends that are in good shape and they said it was very tough.

I have a good friend who runs his own personal training business, he's very experienced and really in touch with all these fad workouts. He's in superb shape but he won't even do P90X. He's done some of it just to get a sense of what the hype was about. He said it gives you a good workout but its so intense most people won't be able to do it with any success. He said there are safer ways to get the same results.

[chaffmj]

I used to feel exactly the same way about my Beer too. It takes some getting used to.

If you start compromising on your beer the next thing you know you will start compromising on women and I don't think you want to go there!

Ok back to being serious. Good Luck with the weight loss work, hard and you shall be rewarded.

[reinhard1]

Slimmed-Down Reuben Sandwich

2 slices whole grain pumpernickel rye bread

2 tbls of light thousand island dressing

4 slices or shredded corned beef

1/4 cup well drained sauerkraut

2 slices 2 percent swiss cheese

cooking spray [olive oil]

heat a griddle to 350 deg. spread 1 tablespoon of dressing on 1 slice of bread, the sauerkraut, corned beef, and swiss cheese. spread the remaining dressing on the other slice of bread and put the slice on top of the other slice of bread with the mix inside. spray the griddle lightly with the cooking spray and cook the sandwich for 2 to 4 minutes until the cheese is melted and the bread is browned and crisped. Yield: 1 sandwich approx 415 calories, 12.3 grams fat, 39 grams sodium, 4.1 grams fiber. good luck.