Cottage Cheese!!!

Cottage cheese is an easy, high protein option that can be worked into any meal of the day!! 4oz of 1% cottage cheese has about 80 calories and 14g protein!! Wow!!

So, how can you work it into your day?

Breakfast:
Add cottage cheese into scrambled eggs - it just takes a little bit to get a big protein boost!

Lunch:

Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients
8 Bib lettuce leaves
1/2 c low-fat sour cream3T. hoisin sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp chili paste
2 c cooked chicken, diced (or canned)
1/2 c celery, diced
1/4 c red onion, diced
3/4 c cottage cheese
4 tsp peanuts, chopped
Directions
Combine sour cream, hoisin sauce, salt, chili paste, chicken, celery and onion; mix well. Lay the washed and dried lettuce leaves on a platter. Top each with 1/4 c chicken salad. Top with a heating T of cottage cheese. Sprinkle with peanuts!
daisybrand.com/recipes

Snack:
Top apple slices with cottage cheese and a sprinkle of cinnamon

Dinner:
Black Bean Nachos
Ingredients

1/2 c low-fat cottage cheese
2 T low-fat sour cream
hot sauce to taste
1/4 tsp cumin
2 c pita chips
1/2 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 c 2% Mexican cheese blend, shredded
1/4 c green onions, chopped
1/2 tomato, chopped
Directions
Mix the cottage cheese, sour cream, hot sauce and cumin in small bowl; set aside. Layer the pita chips on a large microwaveable plate. Top with 1/2 of the beans and shredded cheese. Microwave on high for 1 min. or until cheese is melted. Drop the cottage cheese mixture by spoonfuls over the melted cheese on the nachos. Top with green onions and tomato.
daisybrand.com/recipes

Late night:
Spread cottage cheese on crackers and top with your favorite jam or jelly

Boost your protein intake with cottage cheese today!!

Counting Calories is Old News

Harvard has done it again, folks. Upon first glance, you might shake your head and say...duh. But, really, this is a big deal!

A study from the New England Journal of Medicine linked specific foods to the likelihood of weight loss or weight gain over a four year period. It actually even states the specific poundage likely gained or lost from consuming 1 additional daily serving of each food over a four year period.

Basically, this suggests that counting calories is old news...and really it's about counting specific foods.

So, what did they find? Per every 4 year period, 1 additional daily serving of the following foods were associated with the correlating amount of weight gain.

Butter                                           0.30 pounds
Sweets and Desserts                     0.41 pounds
Boiled, baked or mashed potatoes 0.57 pounds
Processed meat                             0.93 pounds
Unprocessed read meat                 0.95 pounds
Sugar-Sweetened drinks               1.00 pounds
Potato Chips                                 1.69 pounds
French fries                                   3.35 pounds

Wow!!! Who would have thought that potato chips and fries would be so much higher than sugar-sweetened drinks?!!!

Here's the good news. The study also found a way for you to be proactive!! 1 additional daily serving of the following foods were associated with the correlating weight loss over a four year period.

Yogurt                                          -0.82 pounds
Nuts                                             -0.57 pounds
Fruits                                            -0.49 pounds
Whole grains                                 -0.37 pounds
Vegetables                                    -0.22 pounds

Glad I don't own a potato farm!! Here is what Tim O’Connor, the president and CEO of the U.S. Potato Board, stated about the study’s methodology. “Details of the study would indicate that they didn’t control all the variables,” he said. “In particular, they didn’t control for calorie intake. They blamed weight gain on potatoes but didn’t control total calories consumed by individuals.”

Regardless, it's hard to argue the point that fries = fat ass. Sorry, Tim. Count your losses on this one - I'm sure you won't be hurting for money...how many McDonald's regulars are grabbing the Wall Street Journal these days?

(Thanks for the article, Dad!!!!)

Dear Beer Enthusiasts,

If you haven't visited Beer Advocate's website, then you are missing out. This all inclusive site is great for anyone needing information about beer - from the history, to how to make it, to how to pair it, to which one has the most alcohol!

Learn about breweries, up-coming events, or just some basic terminology so you don't look dumb on a date!!

Here is the home page.

Here is Beer 101, where you can find all sorts of awesome information.

And, here is the their top rated list.

Also, follow them on twitter at @BeerAdvocate

So, don't just pretend to be an enthusiast...become one!!! Happy Monday...hang in there...here comes a holiday weekend!!!!

- Thanks, Lesley, for the great site!!!

How dumb do they think we are?

I would have loved to have been at this marketing strategy meeting. Check out these 2 images found on McDonald's packaging. (Yes, we had some McDonald's while traveling this weekend, but we were under no impression that it was in any way healthy.)

Check our these "healthy images?"

Oh, here at McDonald's, we really value fruit and eggs in their natural form.

We definitely recommend you weigh all your food and eat whole vegetables. Hit the backyard this summer and grill your own healthy, delicious meal!!

What the? Do they really think these images improve the "health" appeal of their food?!!!! Hilarious. 

Diet Personality Quiz

I love SparkPeople.com. It is an online diet and fitness tracker that has tons of great information! I created my own profile a few months ago - I thought the best part of it was the meal plans and recipes, until I found the Diet Personality Quiz.


Take 5 minutes to fill out this quiz and get some great tips for healthy eating that are based on your personality!

I took the quiz and was considered a "fast fueler." I got great tips to help me keep my meals healthy.


Click here to see what diet personality you have!

I have an Eating Disorder PART IV

It is not new information that Americans live in extremes. We don't only have hamburgers, we have quarter-pounders. We can't just have a roller-coaster, we have to have the tallest, fasted roller coaster. We can't just have flat screens, we have to have 52" 3D flat screens. We can't just give out one loan, we have to give a loan out to EVERYONE regardless of income, assets, or any reimbursement potential of any kind....oh, no...getting off topic.

We live in a place where, "work hard, play hard" was invented!! The busy nature of our lives had no choice but to roll over into our eating habits. The American Dream is not attained by napping in hammocks, long strolls on the beach, and daily gourmet cooked meals from mom. (Well, maybe the old American Dream was). Now, we have replaced aprons with business suits, family dinner with DS Nintendos and competitive soccer, a hard day of labor with emails, and a walk to a friends house with 30 minutes at 6.2 on a treadmill.

I can g-chat, email, skype and text my friend who lives in Nigeria literally instantly! That's the way life is now. Instant. I can't shower without taking my phone in the bathroom with me because it is now expected for me to be available 24 hours a day...because I can be!! I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off all day because of the increased amount of productivity that is now available to my generation. I don't have to wait 3-4 business days for this or that to arrive in the mail. I print it off my email, and it needs to be filled out and faxed back within the hour. IT'S TOO MUCH!!!!

I liked Willy Loman's (Death of a Salesman) look at the American Dream. He didn't think it took hard work, but just being well liked. There was one scene where his son gets in trouble at school (can't remember what he did) but Willy's response was "Did the kids laugh?!" He was more interested in BIFF's (that's his name!!) popularity than anything. If only it was that easy. Now you have to have a doctorate in social media to get anything done.

My point is, we are seen as having to be ON all of the time. We can't miss a beat. We have to be in a meeting, on a conference call, and texting our BFF simultaneously, or we're seen as a poor co-working, a lazy volunteer, or a bad friend. In this life of extremes, no wonder our eating takes on the same pattern.

When I am done with my work-week, I have to shut down. Sometimes, the only way to get the ringing of the cellphone or the "beep, bu, bleep" of an incoming e-mail out of my head is to party...hard. So, how can we get some balance back in our lives, back in our eating habits?

Here are my thoughts...

• Have an hour a day be designated no phone, no computer hour
• Eat while sitting at a table...not in the car, not in front of the TV, not at your desk!!!
• Learn to say NO when something isn't a priority. When you are young and just getting started, you feel like you have to be the designated Nascar racer at your work. You're on every committee, you run the softball league, you take on outside projects...you have your limits too...find them.
• Leave your office for lunch. (I need to take my own advice on this.)
• Meet a friend during the week to do something fun!
• Play on a sports league (I've been playing on a kickball team (Go Donks!) for a few years now, and it really breaks up the week. It gets me outside, and it makes me socialize.
• Take a nap on Friday when you get home from work. Sometimes I'll come home on Fridays from work so over life that I immediately go to the fridge for a beer to start the evening. You need to relax. I have ruined many of Friday nights because I was tired and irritable - you don't want to ruin half of your weekend.
• Plan something fun on the weekends that doesn't involve drinking. Go to a movie, go hiking, plan a picnic, go to your little cousin's ballgame! Anything!!

There are many other things that you can do!! Just try to keep the word "balance" in your head. Make a note and put it somewhere were you look every day!!

Happy balancing, America!!

I have an Eating Disorder PART III

So, as we've seen, this weekly binge and purge cycle is not going to cut it. Now that we all know we're suffering from weekemia, what can we do about it? My first thought was - let's just binge all week! But, I guess that wouldn't do anybody any favors:)

Here are some tips for overcoming your eating disorder and adding some balance back to your life:

• Add in a weekend workout. It doesn't have to be anything crazy - just try going on a walk before your evening out.
• End your weekend with an activity like an evening trip to the park instead of a meal out.
• Track your intake. There is nothing that will make you more self-aware than actually seeing the numbers right there in black and white!
• Speaking of black, don't black out. Think about the amount you are drinking. If you have trouble remembering, track it as you go. It used to be a thing in college for people to draw dashes on their arm for how many drinks they'd had. I'm pretty sure this was to impress idiots like me into thinking they were cool...damn it - it worked. Drawing on your arm might be a little trashy, but you get the idea. Just think as you drink.
• Start off with a good breakfast! Try to make it a point to have a healthier breakfast on the weekends. This is going to be more difficult when you are hungover, sitting there craving the greasiest sausage biscuit you can find. But, that is 1. not going to help your hangover and 2. make you super fat. A lose lose if you ask me.
• Remember my post on must-haves vs. unnecessaries? Only eat things that are on your necessary list. This way, you're never wasting calories.

If you apply a little less binge to your weekend, then you won't have to be so restrictive on the weekdays. You might find that you have a little more energy and your workouts are more successful!

• Increase the size of your breakfast. This is one of the hardest things for people to do, but it is the best place to increase your intake. (Now, don't go adding donuts to your diet, increase those healthy calories from whole grains, whole fruits, lean proteins, low-fat dairy, and unsaturated fats!)
• Make sure you are having snacks. My post on the importance of eating pattern explains the importance of snacking between meals.
• Have a drink! Having 1-2 drinks after a long day is good for your sanity!! (Now don't take this as - Well, Erin said for me to drink every night of the week for a more balanced diet!!) I'm just saying that decreasing your restrictiveness during the week will hopefully decrease your binging on the weekends. You will be keeping yourself away from feeling deprived.

Tomorrow we are going to talk about how an unbalanced lifestyle not only affects your eating and exercising habits, but infiltrates your whole life. There are more tips to come on how to balance out your weekly routine and hopefully start to feel like a more in control, relaxed you!!