The other day they didn’t have so I decided to try Greek yougurt. Here is the breakdown:
Brand                   Calories            Protein              Fat            Sugar
Dannon w/fruit       150                     6                    1.5              27
Chobani                    140                   14                     0                19

It may seem like I am only savings 10 calories but that is the net saving.

Cut the sugar 32(4×8) and added 32 in protein. The 10 calories saved is all fat. Over all I would say this is a great upgrade.

Now I only have to find a way to cut 490 more calories a day to reach my goal.

I’m still getting the hang of having success on multiple levels and not ignoring my health. In the last week, great things have been happening with both my businesses. I had my 4 grandchildren over to spend the night and go to the movies. I had my 38th Wedding Anniversary. And I had a really nice Easter with my parents and daughters. So that takes care of business and family.

What about health?

You could say that my mental health was energized by seeing my family, but my eating was a low priority. Well that‘s not completely true. I made a conscious effort to buy lots of healthy food to have in the house. I bought lots of salad, fruit, nuts, yogurt and lean meat. Probably the best thing that happened was I couldn’t get the big bag of M & M’s that I bought to share with my mother open. I decided it was a sign to give her the whole thing!

By planning good choices, my eating was better. What healthy choice will you make today? Let me know.

As we design our healthier lifestyles, we sometimes get stuck on the minutia like counting, weighting and measuring.  When this happens, it is a good idea to take a step back and look at the big picture. Let’s start with the ingredients we use.

Start with the ingredients

You can count and measure each meal all you want. It will be a lot easier if the individual ingredients you use meet your criteria for healthy. For example, how much fat, protein, carbohydrate, fiber, and etc do you want in your diet?  If your goal is to have less than 30% fat, using products that have close to 30% makes good sense.  Reading the labels can help you make healthier choices. If you want to increase your fiber, make your next selection have a higher fiber content that the last.

This will not work on all ingredients or some of our must-have favorites. But this can be fixed when you put the meal together. You can balance the fat by using low fat carbs like vegetables or lower salt intake by increasing spices. So use ingredients that meet your larger criteria, then balance each meal. Take one more step back and balance your day.

What healthy choice will you make today? Let me know.

Here are 2 methods to redesign and plan your meals. You don’t have to change everything at once. The first is to do it 1 meal at a time. The second is to pick a food category. Either way, you want to design your meal so they are easy for you.

Which method is for you?

If you pick the meal method, make a list of all of your favorites or most common ones. Then evaluate each meal. You will probably only have 4-7 combinations for each meal . You might use cards for each one like the old deal-a-meal. Does each meal meet the standards you have set for a healthy meal? What do you have to change so it does meet your goals? The next time you have the meal, weigh and measure. This is so you can be accountable for the serving size. Eat it from the dish you would normally use, so you don’t have to do it every time. Now repeat this until you have done it for snacks, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

If you pick the food category method, first decide your goals. They may be low-fat proteins, increase the fiber in your carbohydrates or cut trans fats. Make a list of your favorite proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Again, evaluate each item in that category.  Repeat this until you have done it for all proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in your kitchen.

Pick the method that works for you. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about food prep. What healthy choice will you make today? Let me know.

Meal planning

First what do you consider a healthy meal? For me it would be a balance of proteins, high water carbohydrates and good fats. Then a meal would have 500 or fewer calories and a snack 200 or fewer calories. In addition, I want to feel good after I eat – not tired or hungry right away.

Next you have to decide if you want to plan by the meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks) or if you want to design by categories of food (carbohydrates, fats and proteins.) Or you could do both at the same time.  You may be surprised that you eat the same types of foods in a meal. As you redesign and plan a meal, some of the ingredients will be used in other meals.

Here is an example of this.  I want my breakfast to include toast. I  select a high fiber multigrain bread. If this is the only type of bread,  I buy, my lunch sandwiches just got healthier. If I pick a healthier alternative to butter, my dinner vegetables just got healthier. What about some healthy turkey breast slices. I can have a sandwich or a salad. You get the idea.

What healthy choice will you make today? Let me know.