Archive for Healthy Eating
Menu Plan Monday, January 25th
Welcome, new visitor! Come on in. The Classic Housewife is currently undergoing some back end changes. In the meantime I'm re-posting some oldies and goodies. You may also want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Sunday:
B- Donuts & Sausage Rolls from the donut shop. (Just being honest!)
Sn- Lemon-Lime Berry Crush Smoothie (subbed w/real lemon and lime juice)
Su- 5 Minute Southwest Layered Salad
Monday:
B- Cereal & Grapefruit
L- Tuna Salad, Wheat Crackers, Veggies
Sn- Fruit Kabobs & Yogurt Dip
Su- Beefy Lentil Vegetable Soup (Modified) & Cornbread
Tuesday:
Sn- Fruit Smoothies
Su- Smoked Sausage, Ranch Beans, Veggies
Wednesday:
B- Scrambled Eggs, Toast, Turkey Bacon & Fruit
L- Tuna & Wheat Crackers, Baby Carrots
Sn- Graham Crackers w/Cream Cheese & Strawberries
Su- Chicken Breasts A l’Orange & Brown Rice
Thursday:
B- Berry Banana Splits (With graham crackers instead of Teddy Grahams)
L- Turkey & Spinach Sandwiches on 7 Grain Bread, String Cheese, Apples
Sn- Celery Sticks & Peanut Butter
Su- Creamy Chicken, Bacon & Tomato Pasta; Salad
Friday:
B- Oatmeal & Fruit
L- Bean & Cheese Nachos, Fresh Salsa
Sn- Fruit & Yogurt
Su- Pork Lo Mein
Saturday:
B- Biscuits, turkey bacon, gravy, fruit (for Hubs. I’ll have yogurt & fruit)
L- Grilled BLT Sandwiches with Cheese, Carrot & Celery sticks
Sn- Yogurt & Fruit
Su- Porcupine Meatballs, Crockpot Potatoes & Cabbage
So I was DEFINITELY right about over-planning my menu last week. There was one day that we didn’t eat supper at home and a couple of times that we had and ate leftovers (which rarely ever happens!) I have plenty of food and recipes left over for this week!
Last week’s favorite new recipe was hands down the Zesty Chicken & Pasta. I tweaked it a bit for our needs though. Basically I cooked the noodles and cooked the cubed chicken in a little bit of Italian dressing. I tossed them together with a bit more Italian dressing, chopped raw broccoli, shredded raw carrots & diced raw green and red bellpeppers. We topped it with shredded parmesan and everyone ATE. IT. UP.
The kids also enjoyed the variety of last week’s breakfasts–from the bagels with cream cheese and fruit to the ham and egg and cheese wrap to the banana “split” with yogurt and graham crackers. They also devoured their sandwich wraps much better than I expected - which were stuffed with fresh vegetables: spinach, shredded carrots, chopped broccoli. That’s always a plus!
This week I found several new recipes that we are going to try, not super unhealthy but not super healthy either, but they’ll help us use some of the vegetables we got from the co-op–vegetables that we wouldn’t normally purchase and eat otherwise (sweet potatoes, cabbage.) I’m really looking forward to the chicken a l’orange - it sounds really good! Don’t you think?
Menu Plan Monday is hosted by the Organizing Junkie!
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WFMW: A Food Diary
So I’ve been doing this little exercise thing. You may have heard me mention it once or twice. You may have also heard me mention using an online food journal to track my food intake (and also an activity journal but the point here is really the food diary.)
See, I do WELL with a food diary. By that I don’t mean I do a good job at writing it all down. No, I usually do good for a bit, then get out of the habit for a bit and then back I go.
What I mean is, that when I WRITE IT DOWN.. I do better at eating right. A food journal is good for me. I know that others have said it doesn’t work for them and that’s fine. But for me.. if I know that I’m going to have to write that cookie down if I eat that cookie, it’s usually enough to deter me. Or at least enough to limit me to only one cookie. I don’t want to have to write it down and see the calorie numbers going shooting up. So I don’t overeat.
It’s like I’m so competetive that I’m even competetive against myself.
I’m sure there’s therapy for that.
But still the fact remains that keeping a food journal (esp an online one that tracks and charts all the dietary info for me) really works to keeping me accountable for eating healthy foods, not indulging too often and not indulging too much when I treat myself.
A food diary. It works for me. What works for you?
WFMW is hosted by Kristen @ We Are That Family!
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Menu Plan Monday, January 18th
Sunday:
Sn- Veggie Tray & Lite Ranch
Su- Breakfast for Dinner: Eggs, Bacon, Toast & Fruit
Monday:
B- Ham & Egg Wraps, Orange Wedges
L- “Chef” Salads (spinach, green lettuce, mushroom, turkey, boiled egg, cheese, lite ranch.)
Sn- Fruit Kaboba & Yogurt Dip
Su- Beefy Lentil Vegetable Soup (Modified) & Cornbread
Tuesday:
L- 5 Minute Southwest Layered Salad
Sn- Fruit Smoothies
Su- Smoked Sausage, Ranch Beans, Veggies
Wednesday:
B- Scrambled Eggs, Toast, Turkey Bacon & Fruit
L- Tuna & Wheat Crackers, Baby Carrots
Sn- Lemon-Lime Berry Crush Smoothie (subbed w/real lemon and lime juice)
Su- Crockpot Turkey & White Bean Chili
Thursday:
B- Berry Banana Splits (With graham crackers instead of Teddy Grahams)
L- Bean & Cheese Quesadillas, Salsa & Sour Cream
Sn- Homemade “Lunchables”
Su- Creamy Chicken, Bacon & Tomato Pasta; Salad
Friday:
B- Oatmeal & Fruit
L- Turkey Sandwiches with spinach and tomato
Sn- Fresh Veggies & Lite Ranch Dressing
Su- Pork Lo Mein
Saturday:
B- Biscuits, turkey bacon, gravy, fruit (for Hubs. I’ll have yogurt & fruit)
L- Tacos & Fresh Pico de Gallo
Sn- Yogurt & Fruit
Note: After having bought all the groceries for this menu — this is a lot of food! I bet I end up moving a bunch of this stuff to next week - we’ll see!
Menu Plan Monday is hosted by the Organizing Junkie!
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WFMW: Yoplait Fat Free Plain Yogurt
You think I’m kidding, I’m not! A couple of years ago I weaned my family off the sugar and food coloring abundant dessertified forms of yogurt available on the store shelves. I say “weaned”.. truth is I just stopped buying it. Since then (except on rare occasions) we’ve only bought the large tubs of plain yogurt. We’ve even made our own!
It wasn’t hard, the kids made the switch easily. We still add a little bit of sugar and flavor, but the difference is that we are in control of the amounts, and there’s nothing else in there besides what we put in it. And you’d be amazed at how little sugar, or honey, or jam, or whatever, it takes to sweeten up the yogurt enough to get the kids to love it! We’ve mixed it with maple flavor and brown sugar, we’ve done vanilla and pumpkin pie spice. Get creative!
But I have a new reason to love plain yogurt because it’s FAT FREE and LADEN with protein. Practically dripping. We buy the Yoplait Fat Free Plain Yogurt in a 2lb container and with my ongoing exercise challenge, I’ve been paying more attention to the nutritional label to make sure I get enough protein, carbs, fat, etc, in my diet. I learned that I haven’t been getting quite enough protein in my diet. The challenge to add more protein without adding too much fat (short of supplements) can be a bit tricky because a lot of protein rich foods also have fat - milk, cheese, meat, eggs, etc. But not plain yogurt.
Check out these nutritional facts:
Yoplait Fat Free Plain Yogurt:
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Plain yogurt is my new “Go to” snack, especially when mixed with a tablespoon of Mackays Lemon Curd and a serving of thawed frozen raspberries. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! Oh, Yoplait Fat Free Plain Yogurt, I *heart* you!
Plain yogurt is helping me get enough protein while I’m working out, and it’s also allowing me to have tasty and healthy snacks that satisfy because I’m horrible about sticking to healthy diets if I don’t enjoy them. I firmly believe that’s an important key to develop a healthy eating habit that will stick. I keep harping on the Yoplait Fat Free Plain Yogurt, because these are the nutritional facts for that brand. Other brands may not have the same numbers. I also specifically mentioned Mackays Lemon Curd for the same reason, it had the lowest calories and fat per serving. The important thing is to always check the label and choose the best option to meet your needs. In this case it was low fat and high protein. Yay protein!
Do you have any high protein foods that work for you?
This post has been submitted to Works for me Wednesday. Thanks, Kristen!
Nutritional information and images from the Yoplait website.
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Because Winning A VitaMix Blender Would Be Really Cool
I shouldn’t be telling you about this… but I will, because winning a VitaMix Blender would be REALLY cool! The more people I tell, the more people who will enter and spoil my chances. 
But I’ll not be that greedy and I’ll give you a chance to win, too, because as I said - winning a VitaMix Blender would be REALLY cool. Right?!
So here’s the scoop:
Jessie Hawkins, founder of Vintage Remedies, is giving away a free Vitamix 5200 on her blog. Entry is simple and the drawing is random so you’ve got just as much chance to win as all the rest of us. Hop on over, check it out and see for yourself. =)
If you’ve never heard of the VitaMix (seriously?) you can learn more about it at their website to see why it is that you really want to enter to win one!
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Healthy Snacking
I’m a snacker. We have a snack every afternoon at three, but it’s late at night after the kids go to bed that I get really snacky. Since I’m up late cleaning, I want to go ahead and have a snack but I want to make it smart.
Here’s a list of some of my favorite smarter snack choices:
- Yogurt - I buy plain yogurt and then flavor it myself with vanilla and a minimum amount of sugar substitute.
- 100 Calorie Snack-Packs - There are a lot of brands offering these now, I like Quaker Cinnamon Streusel Mini Delights and Chex Mix Chocolate Caramel. Feeds the sweet tooth with a limited amount of damage.
- Rice cakes - Yes, I eat those. Cinnamon Apple is good.
- Nuts, in the shell - I eat peanuts or pistachios. Buying them in the shell means you have to spend time de-shelling them in between each one, which means it isn’t as easy to eat as many. (Whereas you can grab a whole handful of peanuts out of a can and pop them in your mouth at once.) Nuts do contain fat, but it’s a healthy fat and they’re also a good source of protein and other vitamins.
As you can tell, I’m a carb snacker. I don’t mind fruits and veggies during the day but when I feel “snacky,” I prefer carbs all the way.
What do you snack on?
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Calories & Weight Watcher Points for Fruits
Fruits are packed with vitamins, generally contain fiber which is necessary for proper digestion, usually contain a lot of water (also necessary for proper digestion among other things,) are usually low in calories and fat and contain natural sugars for energy.
If you’re “Battling the Bulge” with me this October, here’s a little list of calories and weight watcher points for a variety of fruits. Keep this handy for easy tracking!
Fruit Calories & Points
Bing cherries - 1 cup = 88 calories w/ 2.7 grams of fiber = 1 point
peach - 1 medium = 42 calories w/ 2 grams of fiber = 1 point
grapes - 1 cup = 114 calories w/ 1 gram of fiber = 2 points
kiwi - 1 medium = 46 calories w/ 2 grams of fiber = 1 point
apples - 1 medium = 88 calories w/ 3 grams of fiber = 1 point
pears - 1 medium = 98 calories w/ 4 grams of fiber = 1 point
cantaloupe - 1 cup diced = 56 calories w/ 1 gram of fiber = 1 point
bananas - 1 lrg. = 125 calories w/ 3 grams of fiber = 2 points
blackberries - 1 cup = 75 calories w/ 7 grams of fiber = 1 point
grapefruit - 1 lrg. = 53 calories w/1 gram of fiber = 1 point
strawberries - 1 cup halved = 45 calories w/ 3.5 grams of fiber = 1 point
watermelon - 1 cup diced = 48 calories w/0 grams of fiber = 1 point
I found this list online and I’m pretty sure it’s correct, please let me know if you find discrepancies.
Also, check out this list from The Fruit Pages which has the nutritional info for even more fruits.
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Menu Plan Monday - No MSG
Hola from my corner of the internet! I haven’t been very enthusiastic about menu planning for a few weeks but I’m back on the bandwagon now!
Last week after chatting online with a bloggy friend, I was encouraged to try a little experiment of sorts and cut MSG from my diet (as much as possible, that is.)
MSG (extracted from naturally occurring sources, processed, and added to other foods as a flavor enhancer) doesn’t bother everybody, but for those it bothers it can cause (among other things) headaches, fatigue and weight gain.
It’s amazing how many foods contain MSG! It would be nearly impossible to cut it out completely. Much like (several years ago) when I cut back on trans fats - back before things were being labeled for it. It’s nearly impossible to cut either of those out completely, but you can cut it out mostly.
You will find MSG in almost any kind of powdered seasoning packet (bouillons, soup mixes, and things that come with seasoning packets like ramen noodles and hamburger helper), other sauces like ranch dressing and powdered gravy mix, and anything seasoned with powdered cheese like cheetos and cheezits. Not to mention, my favorite chip of all time, *sniff*, the ranch dorito. *sniff.* Also, a big offender: taco seasoning. MSG was the second ingredient listed - ouch!
MSG also occurs naturally in a lot of foods such as soy, parmesan, beets, yeast, and overripe tomatoes. Personally, I’m not so concerned about limiting the healthy sources which naturally contain MSG. My main focus is cutting out the processed, packaged and prepared forms. Which honestly, isn’t it usually better to cut out processed, packaged and prepared foods anyway?
Reading the label can be a bit tricky. Of course you may find monosodium glutamate or MSG, but there are other things to look for as well: check out this list:
| Glutamate | Glutamic acid | Gelatin |
| Monosodium glutamate | Calcium caseinate | Textured protein |
| Monopotassium glutamate | Sodium caseinate | Yeast nutrient |
| Yeast extract | Yeast food | Autolyzed yeast |
| Hydrolyzed protein (any protein that is hydrolyzed) |
Hydrolyzed corn gluten | Natrium glutamate (natrium is Latin/German for sodium) |
| Carrageenan | Maltodextrin | Malt extract |
| Natural pork flavoring | Citric acid | Malt flavoring |
| Bouillon and Broth | Natural chicken flavoring | Soy protein isolate |
| Natural beef flavoring | Ultra-pasteurized | Soy sauce |
The funny thing about MSG, unlike other foods or items you may research where there are two sides to the story - the few arguments I found for MSG were limited to an occasional comment on a discussion board and a couple of articles written by MSG manufacturers themselves. Other than being a flavor enhancer (and like I need more encouragement to eat more food - ha!) I haven’t found any health benefit to adding it to food, and no inhibition for cutting it out of my diet. (I’ll link to a good list of articles at the end of the post.) So here’s my menu for the upcoming week, tweaked as much as I could for this week to avoid MSG. I’m still learning about what’s what and deciding what I want to cut and what I want to keep. Note: I’ve being buying bottled water lately, so my family has switched to drinking water throughout the day almost exclusively! Who knew all it would take was having bottles of water in the fridge!! (Now I REALLY need to find out about taking recyclables to our local dump for recycling!!)
Monday:
- Breakfast - Frosted Mini Wheats, 2% milk, green grapes, coffee
- Lunch - Quesadillas: Taco meat (self seasoned), shredded cheese, refried beans, sour cream, salsa,
- Snack - Homemade Raisin Granola Bars
- Supper - Supper at BK for a bday party - fast food is a HUGE source of MSG. I’m going to have to research the menu before I go..
Tuesday:
- Breakfast - French Toast, 2% milk, green grapes, coffee
- Lunch - Turkey Sandwiches (with msg-free lunchmeat), regular potato chips, carrot sticks
- Snack - Homemade banana nut bread
- Supper - Meatloaf, corn on the cob, Pork N Beans (haven’t checked the label yet but it’s in the pantry already), bread
Wednesday:
- Breakfast - Oatmeal with raisins, 2% milk, coffee
- Lunch - Fried Egg Sandwiches, regular potato chips (are MSG free!), orange wedges
- Snack - peanut butter, msg-free crackers (a store brand version of Ritz)
- Supper - Pork Chops, Steamed Squash & Broccoli, Ranch Beans, Bread
Thursday:
- Breakfast - Cereal, 2% milk, pears, coffee
- Lunch - Turkey sandwiches, regular potato chips,
- Snack - Fruit cocktail and jello
- Supper - Homemade pizza (I haven’t checked the pepperoni for MSG yet, I already threw away the outer packaging. But we’ll check next time. I don’t eat the pepperoni anyway!
)
(Sometime before this point I’ll have to go grocery shopping. Everything up til now is already in my pantry…)
Friday:
- Breakfast - Eggs, Turkey Bacon, Biscuits, Gravy (for hubby), Orange Juice, Coffee
- Lunch -
- Snack - fruit cocktail and jello leftovers
- Supper - Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo, Salad, Bread
Saturday: (we’ll be at rehearsals all day)
- Breakfast - cereal, fruit, milk, coffee
- Lunch - sandwich stuff, potato chips, string cheese, grapes
- Snack - various snackages will be available for throughout the day, as well as a ton of water and gatorade. I’ll just have to check the labels while I’m shopping.
- Supper - probably more of the same, I don’t want to go eat out.
Sunday:
- Breakfast - cereal, fruit, milk coffee
- Lunch - Beef enchiladas (with self-seasoned meat), salad
- Snack - We’ll probably have leftover snackage from the day before so we’ll eat that.
- Supper - Breakfast for Dinner: pancakes, turkey bacon, fruit, etc
Okay, so that’s the plan. Here’s some informative articles about MSG:
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosodium_glutamate
- http://www.foodsafety.gov/~lrd/msg.html
- http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/monosodium-glutamate/AN01251
- http://www.squidoo.com/msg
- http://www.msgtruth.org/avoid.htm
- http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html
Menu Plan Monday is hosted by Laura at I’m An Organizing Junkie!
P.S. I am done messing with the formatting. I do not know why today it won’t work right. GRRR.
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The Easiest Homemade Granola Bar Recipe - WFMW
I really didn’t intend to write a diet-related Works for Me Wednesday post. Honest. My life does not revolve around my new healthy diet. Really!
But when we made these granola bars Sunday afternoon and they were sooo easy and sooo yummy (so yummy that I since cut the recipe in half so that I couldn’t eat the whole pan in one sitting!) and they were ready to eat in about 15 minutes start-to-finish…
And when we made them again last night and I actually calculated the calorie count verses that of a snickers bar (because these granola bars are just as satisfying as a candy bar, I think) and the numbers totally blew me away…
Well.. you do the math.
So here it is. These granola bars are what is working to help satisfy my sweet tooth while I’m changing my diet and exercise for a healthier lifestyle. I adapted this recipe from THIS recipe on allrecipes.com.
Low-Cal Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
- 1 1/4 cups crispy rice cereal
- 1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
- 1 serving chocolate chips (look on the back of the bag, mine read 30 pieces for 70 calories)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 crunchy peanut butter
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- greased 8X8 or 9X9 glass dish.
- In a mixing bowl, mix the oats, rice cereal, and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
- In a microwaveable dish, heat the corn syrup and brown sugar (about a minute or two) until melted and mix together well. Stir in the vanilla and peanut butter. This will also serve to cool the mixture enough before you add it to the cereal.
- With a spatula or spoon, scoop the mixture into the cereal and fold in until everything is coated evenly.
- With the spatula or the back of the spoon, press the granola mixture into the greased pan until packed firmly. How well you pack it in determines how well the granola bar holds together later.
- Let the pan sit about ten minutes until cooled and then cut into 8 pieces.
When cut into 8 pieces, your granola bar will be a reasonable and satisfying size - larger than most granola bars on the market. With the crunch and the chocolate it will also be as satisfying as most candy bars. However, this granola bar only packs a punch of 164 calories.
Oh, and those candy bars?
Regular Snickers = 273 calories
King Size Snickers = 541 calories
Milky Way = 260 calories
Nestle Crunch Bar = 230 calories
Again, do the math, right? So if you’ve got a chocolate craving skip the Snickers (though I do love me some Snickers!) and whip up a pan of these instead. Just, uh… don’t eat the whole pan in one sitting. It kinda defeats the purpose. Oh, and don’t make a pan everyday, either, cuz, well, that kinda defeats the purpose, too, right? 
Works For Me Wednesday is brought to us by Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer. Stop on by!
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Milk: Milk it for all it’s worth
Milk. “It does a body good.”
But the real topic lately has been “how much damage is it doing?” I’m sure by now you’ve heard the reports claiming that rBGH, a growth hormone given to cows that ends up in their milk, can cause early puberty as well as other health issues for those who drink it. These issues are still being studied but in the meantime, many parents are choosing to provide their families with organic milk as an alternative - simply to avoid putting their families at risk. However, the cost of switching to organic milk can be, well… costly. The good news is that you don’t have to spend an arm and a leg to bring your family a healthier alternative. Which is great news for those who’d like to try it but can’t afford the extra expense.
Believe it or not, Braums’ milk is rBGH-FREE. I’ve always thought their milk tasted better, it ALWAYS lasts longer in the fridge, and it costs the same (if not less) than what you’d normally buy from your local grocer. Here, Braums’ milk is usually less than three dollars, compared to $3.20 (regular store brand milk) and up at other grocery stores. While it isn’t actually organic (which I believe means simply that their cows aren’t fed organic feed) it is a healthier option at an affordable price. You can read more info on Braums’ milk on their website, but we gleaned info on their rBGH-FREE status through an email inquiry to customer service. This was their email response:
“Thank you for your recent inquiry about Braum’s dairy herd. Braum’s milk comes exclusively from our own private dairy herd. Braum’s does not clone. Offering the highest quality dairy products to our customers has always been our number one priority at Braum’s. That’s why we raise and own our private dairy herd. It gives us the ability to consistently control the quality of the products we provide. We know what goes into the milk …and what doesn’t. Braum’s milk is fresh, wholesome, rBGH-FREE, and comes from real cows. Again, thank you for your inquiry. Sincerely, S.Davidson Customer Service”
There’s another source for affordable milk that is rBGH-FREE and organic–one that many may not know about. I didn’t know about it until I found this article online. Apparently Wal-Mart is beginning to integrate into their stores a Good Value brand of organic milk which averages 8-35% cheaper than other organic brands. The same dairy that supplies Wal-Mart with their store brand organic milk also supplies Target, Costco, Safeway and Wild Oats with their store brand organic milks. There does seem to be some controversy on whether or not their cows are fed enough grass vs. grains, but if your main issue is rBGH this is certainly a viable and affordable option. If your issue is whether or not it is organic, Aurora (the dairy that processes this milk) currently claims to meet all the requirements and guidelines for organic milk. And if nothing else, it would still be a higher quality than inorganic options.
Doing this research and looking for rBGH-FREE milks prompted me to check the milk in my fridge. I just bought a new gallon a few hours ago. The empty store brand gallon that we purchased from one of the grocery stores in town does not claim to be rBGH-FREE. However, the Oak Farms brand that I just purchased from the Dollar General for $3.50 does. It isn’t organic, but at least it’s hormone free. My preference would be to purchase organic milk (which I’d have to travel forty-five minutes for to get at a decent price or buy at the higher price here in town.) But at least I know I have this affordable option here at the local Dollar General for when I can’t. RBGH is becoming a big enough issue to prompt many inorganic brands to remove this added hormone on their own. With a little research you may discover that there is something readily available in your usual store that will meet these requirements.
The “cousin” to this issue concerns meat products containing this same growth hormone. The same rule applies: look for meat and dairy products that are marked “organic” or “rBGH-FREE” and if it doesn’t say, ask your butcher or send an email, you might find there are more hormone free products out there.
Bottom line: A little research can go a long way towards a healthier family.
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