There have been too many days this past month that I didn't get a chance to get to the gym. Here is my solution for this problem. I can usually find about 10 minutes to myself in the mornings or after the kids go to bed at night. Until now, I have used this time to relax (do nothing). Where has that gotten me? Same place I was a month ago, still not in the shape I want to be in, lacking in energy, and still not in the size I want to be wearing. The challenge for February is to use that time more wisely. I've found a lot of quick at home workouts that don't require weights or a gym. I plan on doing one of these workouts everyday. I really think it will make a big difference in my energy, weight and muscle tone. I also think it will help me with my half-marathon training. Here are the workouts:
Morning Workout
80 jumping jacks
20 push-ups
40 sit ups
50 squats
20 lunges (per leg)
60 second wall squats
Bob Harpers Workout
20 jumping jacks
20 lunges
20 push-ups
Repeat 3-5 times
4 Minute Workout
0:00- squat thrust
0:20- rest
0:30- mountain climbers
0:50- rest
1:00- high knees
1:20- rest
1:30- jumping jacks
1:50- rest
2:00- squat thrust
2:20- rest
2:30- mountain climbers
2:50- rest
3:00- high knees
3:20- rest
3:30- jumping jacks
3:50- rest
4:00- DONE!
Flat Belly Workout
50 jumping jacks
40 crunches
40 squats
40 leg lifts
30 jumping jacks
20 bicycle crunches
20 squats
30 leg lifts
Quads and Core
25 squats
3 minute plank
25 lunges
1 minute elbow side plank
25 star jumps
1 minute elbow side plank
25 split squats (each leg)
1 minute elbow plank
25 wide leg squats
plank with 50 knee to elbow
1 minute wall sit
I challenge you to just take 10-20 minutes everyday and do a workout. Just try it for one month and see if it makes a difference for you. I am also making it a goal to get up to 5 miles on my runs this month. Good luck!!
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Brussels Sprout Salad
One of my challenges for the year is to try new foods every month. Today I was at the grocery store and saw a bag of brussels sprouts. Before, I never would have even considered them. But, I challenged myself to try new foods, so I picked them up, along with a bag of kale, spinach and swiss chard, and went home. I looked up some recipes and found one that sounded good. And it was really good, so here it is for you to try. I found it on www.justataste.com
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
For the dressing:
1 Tablespoon minced shallots or green onions
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1 Tablespoon minced shallots or green onions
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 cup olive oil
For the salad:
4 cups finely shredded kale, spinach and swiss chard (or just kale)
4 cups finely shredded Brussels sprouts (loosely packed)
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
4 cups finely shredded kale, spinach and swiss chard (or just kale)
4 cups finely shredded Brussels sprouts (loosely packed)
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
Cut the veggies into narrow strips and put in a large bowl along with sliced almonds. Mix the ingredients for the dressing
January Challenge
Okay, I know January is over, but here is what we have been doing this month. I decided we were going to do another month of no eating out and we did. We did this a little over a year ago and it was a lot less challenging this time. If you have never tried this before, you should definitely try it. You won't believe how much less bloated you will feel while saving money at the same time. What did we eat, you ask. Well, let me tell you. At the beginning of each week, I would boil about 4-5 lbs of chicken. I used that in the majority of our meals for the week. Here are some examples of our meals.
Chicken and shrimp stir-fry
Beef stuffed bell peppers
Barbeque chicken and potatoes
Grilled chicken salad
Chicken sausage and grains
Sloppy Joe's, rice and slaw
Chicken fajita bowl
Chicken nuggets and sweet potato fries
Chicken salad sandwiches
http://happyhealthyhouse.blogspot.com/2012/10/southwest-chicken-salad.html
http://happyhealthyhouse.blogspot.com/2012/04/tortilla-soup.html
All very simple meals that can be fixed in one pan for the most part. I'll put some more of the recipes on soon.
The other challenge this month was my personal goal to reach 3 miles in my running. Done. Step one of training for my half-marathon is accomplished. Now on to February challenges.
Chicken and shrimp stir-fry
Beef stuffed bell peppers
Barbeque chicken and potatoes
Grilled chicken salad
Chicken sausage and grains
Sloppy Joe's, rice and slaw
Chicken fajita bowl
Chicken nuggets and sweet potato fries
Chicken salad sandwiches
http://happyhealthyhouse.blogspot.com/2012/10/southwest-chicken-salad.html
http://happyhealthyhouse.blogspot.com/2012/04/tortilla-soup.html
All very simple meals that can be fixed in one pan for the most part. I'll put some more of the recipes on soon.
The other challenge this month was my personal goal to reach 3 miles in my running. Done. Step one of training for my half-marathon is accomplished. Now on to February challenges.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
I've Got Some Work to Do
So, I'm trying really hard to eat better. I was eating so well for a while and then last year, between being pregnant, renovating our house, having a baby, moving into a new city and house, my husband going through chemo and so on, I got in some bad habits. And needless to say, I gained some weight. Now, with my whole "get back on track in 2014" thing that I'm doing, I'm trying to come up with ways to easily change my bad habits. My husband is different. He is disciplined. I am not. When he says "I'm only going to only eat chicken and vegetables and drink only water", he actually does it. When I say that, we both laugh. So, now I have to be creative. I need to come up with ways to tame my sweet tooth, stop grabbing food as I walk through the kitchen, basically, be more disciplined. Here are my solutions so far.
Substitute food cravings. Like tonight, I was really craving a burrito. My solution was to put some Trader Joe's frozen brown (organic) rice, some T.J.'s refried black beans, some T.J's enchilada sauce and a touch of cheese in a bowl and heat it up. I could also add some corn, tomatoes, avocados, peppers, etc. I probably will next time, but it was good and satisfied my craving at the time. Basically, if I'm wanting something bad for me, just substitute something similar and healthier and less of it. No problem. The other option is to ignore the craving until it goes away, but we've already established that I don't have much self-control, so that could be a problem.
Detox myself. I've decided that sugar and cola's should be treated like any other addiction. Because they are addicting!! I know from past experiences that the more sugar you eat, the more you crave it and vice versa. When I was doing really well about not eating sweets, I didn't crave them. I still enjoyed them when I ate them, but I wasn't craving them after every meal. So, my plan is to cut sweets down to one a week. When I lived with my Aunt and Uncle back in college they had Friday night dessert nights. They took turns getting to pick the dessert for that week. Sounds like a good plan to me. I may even go a week or two without any sweets at first, to get it out of my system, detox. Wish me luck.
Plan meals and try new foods. As a mom of three, I know it's impossible to plan every meal and snack and stay on track 100% of the time. It's just not realistic. But, if I can try to plan most of our meals and stick to the plan as closely as possible, it will help to avoid the junk. I also need to keep trying new foods. It's easier to eat healthy when you have a wide variety of foods that you like. If you will only eat certain fruits and vegetables, they are going to get old after a while. Another problem I have is that I do not like fish, but it is so good for you. So, this year, I will learn to like some seafood. I just need to find some really good recipes. This is going to be tough, but I'm going to do it.
What are your tricks?
Substitute food cravings. Like tonight, I was really craving a burrito. My solution was to put some Trader Joe's frozen brown (organic) rice, some T.J.'s refried black beans, some T.J's enchilada sauce and a touch of cheese in a bowl and heat it up. I could also add some corn, tomatoes, avocados, peppers, etc. I probably will next time, but it was good and satisfied my craving at the time. Basically, if I'm wanting something bad for me, just substitute something similar and healthier and less of it. No problem. The other option is to ignore the craving until it goes away, but we've already established that I don't have much self-control, so that could be a problem.
Detox myself. I've decided that sugar and cola's should be treated like any other addiction. Because they are addicting!! I know from past experiences that the more sugar you eat, the more you crave it and vice versa. When I was doing really well about not eating sweets, I didn't crave them. I still enjoyed them when I ate them, but I wasn't craving them after every meal. So, my plan is to cut sweets down to one a week. When I lived with my Aunt and Uncle back in college they had Friday night dessert nights. They took turns getting to pick the dessert for that week. Sounds like a good plan to me. I may even go a week or two without any sweets at first, to get it out of my system, detox. Wish me luck.
Plan meals and try new foods. As a mom of three, I know it's impossible to plan every meal and snack and stay on track 100% of the time. It's just not realistic. But, if I can try to plan most of our meals and stick to the plan as closely as possible, it will help to avoid the junk. I also need to keep trying new foods. It's easier to eat healthy when you have a wide variety of foods that you like. If you will only eat certain fruits and vegetables, they are going to get old after a while. Another problem I have is that I do not like fish, but it is so good for you. So, this year, I will learn to like some seafood. I just need to find some really good recipes. This is going to be tough, but I'm going to do it.
What are your tricks?
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Counting our Blessings in 2013
Let me start this post by telling you about the past 12 months. My husband took a job a couple of hours away in March, when I was 6 months pregnant with child number 3. He was working out of town 3-4 days a week until June, when the kids and I could move up with him. On June 12th we had baby #3, Beckett, the happiest baby you will ever meet. We were so excited to have another healthy, beautiful child. Three weeks later my husband found out that he had cancer. To say it was a shock to us would be an understatement. My husband is a very strong, healthy man, something I had taken for granted until then. I was scared. I tried so hard not to show it, but I was scared.
One week later, we closed on our house on Wednesday, Thursday he went in to surgery to have the tumor removed. Friday, with him still in the hospital, my mom and I closed on our new house and moved our stuff in. Saturday afternoon he joined us in the new house. A couple of weeks later, we found out that the surgery did not get all of the cancer. He was now going to have to go through three rounds of chemotherapy. In August, my daughter started kindergarten, my son started preschool and my husband started chemo within a week of each other. My days were filled with dropping off and picking up children, checking on my husband, grocery shopping, unpacking our house, and everything else a typical house wife does on a daily basis. The hardest part was watching my husband, who just the summer before was stronger than he has ever been (thanks to our addiction to the gym), now coming home worn out and in pain. I wished that I could trade places with him, but he says if I was the one going through chemo, then we would all be in trouble. In October, he finished his nine weeks of chemo and his blood work came back clear. We were thrilled!! The first of December he went in for a cat scan. His lymph nodes appeared swollen, which is a sign of cancer. We were once again scared. What if it had come back? After weeks of waiting, he was finally able to go in for a full-body pet scan. The Friday before Christmas we got the call that he is 100% cancer-free! It was the only Christmas present that I needed. I am so excited to have my healthy, on-the-go husband back. Meanwhile we have also begun the remodel process on our new house. I guess our life wasn't busy enough.
I titled this post "counting our blessings" because so many good things have come out of this year. My husband's attitude through this process has been absolutely amazing to me. He has chosen to look at his cancer as a blessing. It has changed so many parts of our lives for the better. We still have a long way to go to become the people we want to be, but feel like this year has been a nice wake-up call to get us going. Which brings me to 2014. I'm in the process of setting goals, coming up with challenges for our family, working on budgets and designing meal plans for us in 2014. I had a lot that I wanted to do this year, but there is no way I could have known what my year would be like. I wanted to run a half-marathon this year, so guess what one of my big goals for next year is. Sometimes we are lucky just to make it through the year and don't meet all of our goals, but we end up accomplishing things that we didn't plan on. New challenges will present themselves along the way. You can't get discouraged or disappointed, you just have to take it one challenge at a time.
I don't know what 2014 will be like, but I learned this year that we have some amazing family and friends to help us get through whatever comes along. I want to say thanks to everyone in our lives who sent up prayers for us, sent us cards and gifts, called us to see how we were doing, brought us meals, watched the kids for me, helped us move, and so much more. I especially want to say thanks to our parents, we could not have made it through the year without you. It all meant so much to us and we feel so blessed!
I plan on keeping up with the blog this year. So get ready for lots of posts on healthy eating, running, challenges and more!
Monday, February 4, 2013
My Grocery Shopping Rules
For anyone who might be wondering, I thought I would put in writing my rules for the grocery store. I hope they can help someone else when they are making that oh so very frustrating trip to the grocery store.
1. Stay on the outside walls of the store. Your freshest, healthiest foods are mostly going to be along the edges of the store. When you walk in, start in the produce section, then work you way around the store...dairy, meat, freezer, bread. Rarely should you have to go into the aisles.
2. Buy as much organic as you can afford. If you need some help on this, refer to the dirty dozen (the list of the most contaminated foods that you need to buy organic)
3. NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!! That's all there is to it, don't buy it!
4. Check the ingredients. Don't buy anything without reading the ingredient list first, you may be very surprised at what you see! You should know what the majority of the ingredients are. And what you don't know, look it up. These are things you are feeding your body. Would you take a pill if you didn't know what it was or what it did? That is basically what you are doing when you put a bunch of chemical and artificial ingredient filled foods into your body.
5. Make a menu for the week and a list. And stick to it! If you have a game plan before you step into the store, you are less likely to walk around aimlessly picking up whatever sounds good. It can be very dangerous, expensive and wasteful buying a bunch of food that you don't know exactly what you are going to do with. And you are more likely to buy junk. Have a list and a plan!
6. No cokes. If you are going to drink some coke every once in a while, then get a single coke while you are out to dinner, or buy a single coke for a special occasion. If you have it in the house, you will drink it.
7. Stay as whole and natural as you can. Keep your food real. Would you rather eat food, or chemicals? I prefer food.
8. Buy yourself one treat. It's unrealistic to think you are going to eat healthy all week long without any type of treat. Just make that a natural one. Like all natural ice cream, or a small dark chocolate bar. Reward yourself for sticking to your plan at the end of the week.
9. Balance your carbs, protein and fat. Your body needs all three to process all of your food correctly and get the most out of each food. The new plan we are going with right now is about 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight per day, 1.5 g of carbs per pound of body weight per day, and 1 g of healthy fats per 4 lbs of body weight per day. We'll see how that works, it may change soon. But the point is to keep your meals balanced.
Good luck!
1. Stay on the outside walls of the store. Your freshest, healthiest foods are mostly going to be along the edges of the store. When you walk in, start in the produce section, then work you way around the store...dairy, meat, freezer, bread. Rarely should you have to go into the aisles.
2. Buy as much organic as you can afford. If you need some help on this, refer to the dirty dozen (the list of the most contaminated foods that you need to buy organic)
3. NO HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP!! That's all there is to it, don't buy it!
4. Check the ingredients. Don't buy anything without reading the ingredient list first, you may be very surprised at what you see! You should know what the majority of the ingredients are. And what you don't know, look it up. These are things you are feeding your body. Would you take a pill if you didn't know what it was or what it did? That is basically what you are doing when you put a bunch of chemical and artificial ingredient filled foods into your body.
5. Make a menu for the week and a list. And stick to it! If you have a game plan before you step into the store, you are less likely to walk around aimlessly picking up whatever sounds good. It can be very dangerous, expensive and wasteful buying a bunch of food that you don't know exactly what you are going to do with. And you are more likely to buy junk. Have a list and a plan!
6. No cokes. If you are going to drink some coke every once in a while, then get a single coke while you are out to dinner, or buy a single coke for a special occasion. If you have it in the house, you will drink it.
7. Stay as whole and natural as you can. Keep your food real. Would you rather eat food, or chemicals? I prefer food.
8. Buy yourself one treat. It's unrealistic to think you are going to eat healthy all week long without any type of treat. Just make that a natural one. Like all natural ice cream, or a small dark chocolate bar. Reward yourself for sticking to your plan at the end of the week.
9. Balance your carbs, protein and fat. Your body needs all three to process all of your food correctly and get the most out of each food. The new plan we are going with right now is about 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight per day, 1.5 g of carbs per pound of body weight per day, and 1 g of healthy fats per 4 lbs of body weight per day. We'll see how that works, it may change soon. But the point is to keep your meals balanced.
Good luck!
February Challenge- Less TV, More Reading and Music
This is a tough one for us. Neither my husband nor I are big readers. Both of us are trying to do better and I'm currently working on teaching Ella how to read. Her goal is to be able to read some books before the baby gets here so she can read to the baby. So cute! I'm also trying to cut back on the kids TV time. So far, they are handling it better than I am. :) I was using their TV time as my time to get things done, and sometimes it takes a long time for me to get everything done. This month, I'm cutting it down, keeping a record of how many hours are spent watching tv in this house and how many hours are spent reading or listening to music. This may be embarrassing , but i think it's what I need to do to get back on track. And no it's not a coincidence that I'm doing this challenge on the shortest month of the year. I do plan on making permanent changes from this month though.
February
5. 1 hour 45 min.
6. 3 hr.
7. 3 hr. 15 min.
8. 3 hr. 30 min.
9. 2 hr.
10. Not sure (some one else was watching them)
11. 4 hr.
12. 2 hr.
13. 2.5 hr.
14. 2 hr.
15. at their grandparents house
16. " "
17. " "
18. 2 hr.
19. 2 hr.
20. 2.5 hr.
21. 3 hr.
22. 2 hr.
23. 3.5 hr.
24. 2 hr.
25. 2 hr.
26. 3 hr.
27. 3 hr.
28. 3 hr. (It has been a little more the past few days because I have been so sick)
We also have been reading to them more and listening to a lot more music. We averaged about 3 hours of music everyday. The kids are loving music more and more everyday. I love seeing that!!
I am so glad that we did this challenge. It has made a world of difference in our lives and it really hasn't been that hard. We have tried to keep the tv time under 3 hours everyday. The first week was a little tough, mostly for me. I wanted to just turn the tv on a few times to get them to sit still so I could get some things done. By the end of the week they weren't even asking to watch anything. We got down to a routine. Watch about 45 minutes to an hour in the morning while everyone is getting up. About an hour for lunch in the playroom (while I either relax or get some things done) and sometimes some tv at night after dinner, before bed. The changes in the kids have been wonderful!
* They have been playing together better, less fighting.
* Their imaginations have gone crazy! It is so funny to listen to the things that they come up with now.
* Their behavior at church has improved a lot. It is easier for them to sit still for longer periods of time.
* Bedtime has been easier. They are so worn out by the end of the day, it doesn't take long for them to fall asleep.
* I feel like we have spent more quality time together as a family and it has been great for all of us.
* They don't ask to watch tv, except in the morning when they first wake up.
This is definitely going to be a permanent change in our house. My husband has commented many times how much nicer it has been this month. This last week I have been sick and the kids were AMAZING! They hardly fought all week and have come up with so many new "games" to play together. I have loved laying on the couch watching and listening to them. Two to three hours may still seem like a lot to some of you, but they aren't just sitting and watching tv the entire time. It just means that the TV is on during that time. They are usually playing or talking during this time too. Every family is different. For our family this has been a wonderful month and I highly encourage everyone to start paying attention to how much time they spend in front of a television. Keep track of it for a whole month and it may surprise you how quickly two or three hours can sneak up on you.
February
5. 1 hour 45 min.
6. 3 hr.
7. 3 hr. 15 min.
8. 3 hr. 30 min.
9. 2 hr.
10. Not sure (some one else was watching them)
11. 4 hr.
12. 2 hr.
13. 2.5 hr.
14. 2 hr.
15. at their grandparents house
16. " "
17. " "
18. 2 hr.
19. 2 hr.
20. 2.5 hr.
21. 3 hr.
22. 2 hr.
23. 3.5 hr.
24. 2 hr.
25. 2 hr.
26. 3 hr.
27. 3 hr.
28. 3 hr. (It has been a little more the past few days because I have been so sick)
We also have been reading to them more and listening to a lot more music. We averaged about 3 hours of music everyday. The kids are loving music more and more everyday. I love seeing that!!
I am so glad that we did this challenge. It has made a world of difference in our lives and it really hasn't been that hard. We have tried to keep the tv time under 3 hours everyday. The first week was a little tough, mostly for me. I wanted to just turn the tv on a few times to get them to sit still so I could get some things done. By the end of the week they weren't even asking to watch anything. We got down to a routine. Watch about 45 minutes to an hour in the morning while everyone is getting up. About an hour for lunch in the playroom (while I either relax or get some things done) and sometimes some tv at night after dinner, before bed. The changes in the kids have been wonderful!
* They have been playing together better, less fighting.
* Their imaginations have gone crazy! It is so funny to listen to the things that they come up with now.
* Their behavior at church has improved a lot. It is easier for them to sit still for longer periods of time.
* Bedtime has been easier. They are so worn out by the end of the day, it doesn't take long for them to fall asleep.
* I feel like we have spent more quality time together as a family and it has been great for all of us.
* They don't ask to watch tv, except in the morning when they first wake up.
This is definitely going to be a permanent change in our house. My husband has commented many times how much nicer it has been this month. This last week I have been sick and the kids were AMAZING! They hardly fought all week and have come up with so many new "games" to play together. I have loved laying on the couch watching and listening to them. Two to three hours may still seem like a lot to some of you, but they aren't just sitting and watching tv the entire time. It just means that the TV is on during that time. They are usually playing or talking during this time too. Every family is different. For our family this has been a wonderful month and I highly encourage everyone to start paying attention to how much time they spend in front of a television. Keep track of it for a whole month and it may surprise you how quickly two or three hours can sneak up on you.
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