Jazz Up Your Salad

In the past, when I heard the word salad I thought dull, boring, iceberg lettuce DROWNED in dressing maybe with a few slivers of carrot and radish. Toss on some Bacos Bacon Bits if I was really fantasizing. 

So it is easy to understand why salads were...unappealing to me. UNTIL I began to jazz them up! 

Now my regular salad ingredients include the usual suspects (mixed greens, carrots, tomato, bell pepper, etc.) along with:

Blueberries

Sliced strawberries

Apple pieces

Smoked salmon (OMG y'all, forreal!)

Smoked gouda cheese (see a theme?)

All kinds of nuts and seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, almond, walnut)

Cranberries (fresh or dried)

even certain flower petals (pansies, nasturtium, squash/zucchini) can be added! 

Since redefining what a salad can include, I really CRAVE them sometimes. I try to have at least 3-4 "colors" and 5 different ingredients in each of my salads. This ensure I have a variety of vitamins and nutritional intake as well as increasing my fiber intake. As I am approaching 40, I have been doing some research on the health benefits of proper fiber levels and they seem to be plentiful including lowered risk of heart disease, diabetes, and possibly some cancers, too!  An added bonus, because of all the delicious flavors, I usually only add less than 1 Tablespoon of salad dressing, reducing calories, fat, sugar and most importantly to me salt content! 

So what are your favorite salad additives? I am ready to jazz it up even more! 

Revisiting New Year's Visions, Goals and Resolutions

We are in the third month of 2018. Years ago when I was training for my first marathon (which started off as a goal to just lost 15 lbs before I went to Thailand. Then turned into a walking/running goal, then a 5K goal, then half marathon, then marathon) my dear friend Trino, a co-runner, source of inspiration and later a personal trainer turned NYC actor told me that you hit critical drop out periods at 30 and 90 days in your physical fitness goals. I have no clue if there is any science behind that (mental note research pubmed and google scholar ...)but it has stuck with me.

And so here we are, in our 90 day critical drop out period. Some of us (myself included) have kinda achieved some goals and resolutions we made but maybe we've gone soft on working towards them. For me, I have allowed soda back into my life on a weekly basis and also drastically reduced my running. I am still meal-planning, watching my coffee shop stops and hiking. So I am closer to my goals than I was January 1, but not as close as I would like to be this coming December 31.

What a great time to revisit, replan and recommit! I am reminded of the SMART technique of goal setting and will sit down to do this before the day is over and begin my week anew; recommitted to my goals for 2018!

S--Specific. This is tricky for me...I want to be specific to my goal, but also I want to avoid being TOO specific. For instance, I'd love to lose 20 pounds by December 31st so that is specific. But I am not sure if "maintaining a 2,000 daily caloric intake diet" would be too specific. So, find the level of specific that works for you. I will caution "lose weight" may be too general. :)

M--Measurable. The goal has to be able to be measured. Do you want to "save money" but no clue how much? Can you look on your progress intermittently and say, "YES! I am 50% towards my goal!"? So instead of "save money" maybe, "save $100" and then you can begin to measure your success!

A--Actionable. How and what are you going to do in order to achieve your goal? If you want to "stop smoking by December 31" do you have a goal to reduce it? "Stop Smoking by December 31st by reducing my cigarettes from 2 packs a day to 1.5 packs by June 1st, then to 1 pack a day by September 1st, then zero packs by December 31. I will achieve this by taking a walking break instead of a smoke break; meditating in the evening before my "goodnight smoke" " etc. You get the picture.

R--Realistic.   Your goals can be in the "stretch" zone, and still need to be realistic. If I say "I want to save $10,000 by March 28" and it's already March 11...that's not a very realistic goal. While I believe in setting goals that scare me, I also believe in setting goals that are at least somewhat realistic.

T--Timetable. Put a timetable to your goals and your action steps to achieve them! In my monthly savings envelope (Weekly Savings Envelope Blog), for instance: I want to save $1,000 for Christmas spending by Thanksgiving. I will do this by keeping a weekly savings envelope and putting an amount each week, coloring in a square of the week.

I could add more to this acronym to be the following:
A--Accountability. Find a group of people, or at least another person, to whom you can be accountable. This person will likely need to be someone whom you truly trust and can confide in because it's possible you'll fall off your goals and will need to be honest about that. In this honesty and accountability you can determine what is, and isn't, working for you so that you can adjust.

S--Survey. Stop every now and then to survey where you are, where you were, and where you're on the path to go. Adjust as necessary.

S--Say it. No, seriously, say what your goals are out loud. To yourself and your accountability people. The people in your home. The people in your family. For instance we are saving for a new truck, to help with that expense I have cut out my coffee shop stops. And I share with people why so they know why I am no longer joining them for weekly coffee. It's true.

So there you have it. Check in on those resolutions, goals and visions you set for yourself (whenever you did them) and see how you're doing. Do you need to get back on track? Do you need to set more ambitious goals? How are those around you doing?

Keep up the work, it can be hard and rewarding work if you stick with it!

At least that's my 26.2 cents worth. ;)
Donald

Chocolate Avocado Mousse

As many of my regular readers know, I battle high blood pressure. So far I've been able to maintain a high end of "acceptable" BP thru diet and exercise. As some of my closer friends also know, this year has been beyond stressful and I've slacked off both my diet and activity levels. So I am attempting to slowly but surely get back on track with one change every week. This weeks was attempting to reduce processed sugars while increasing potassium and fiber. Years ago, I came across a vegan chocolate avocado mousse and it was...ok. I have since altered the recipe significantly and I LOVE it! Today, I'll share with you my recipe which may be higher in calories (due to the avocado) and sugars (thanks to the strawberries and banana) but again, my goal is to reduce refined sugars so this recipe fits my goals (as developed in collaboration with my medical doctor) just fine. Please consult your doctor and healthcare provider, as I am NEITHER of those and am making absolutely no recommendations, merely sharing a snack that is healthier for me.

1 Avocado
1 Banana
1/3 C fresh strawberries (can sub any berry)
1/2 C skim milk (can sub whatever milk)
1 T white sugar (can sub honey)
1 t vanilla
1/3 C cocoa powder

Here's the real tricky recipe part: Put it all in a ninja blender and blend til a smooth, creamy, mousse texture. It does gel up a smidge when fully chilled in the fridge. Due to the fresh nature of this recipe, I try to eat it within a few days.

If you REALLY need a sweet-fix, you could mix in: one crumbled up cookie, mini chocolate chips, whipped cream on top, etc. You could also probably reduce the calories and carbs by swapping almond milk in place of skim milk, eliminating the white sugar (that's my goal eventually) or subbing honey or stevia (yuck) in its place. This is also SUPER d'lish with raspberries, I just didn't have any. Blueberries were only ok, their flavor is not strong enough to compete with the avocado and cocoa in my opinion. I've also left out the berries and added mint or orange extract for flavoring. I tried instant coffee once, but the flavors were just too strong and competing.

Here is a link to the nutritional information of the recipe, as given: Chocolate Avocado Mousse Nutrition.

What healthier dessert options have you found?

P.S. (shhh): I also do not feel guilty about eating this in the morning, midday or even night time !

Make Life Easier

I posted this on my Facebook the other day, and now I've found a beautiful article to go with it.

In general, I believe that we each have an obligation--a social contract--to make one another's lives just a little bit easier. It doesn't take much and can be as simple as: learning about someone's likes/dislikes, learning about and diagnosis they may have (Biased opinion there on my part), smiling at them and wishing them a good day as you hold the door in the morning, bringing them a coffee for no reason, calling to share the name of a book or show they may LOVE...the list can be quite varied and inexpensive. But it is our social obligation to ease the burden of life for someone else. Whatever way(s) we have the means to accomplish that is our call and responsibility. These are NOT mere random acts of kindness, these are INTENTIONAL acts...the intent being to make your life easier and more pleasant. It's as simple as that. So here is the article I stumbled upon...

Teachers Create Comfort Closet

And this is my FAVORITE NPR Story Corps (which is my favorite podcast)

A Victim Treats His Mugger Right
(we listen to this story in one of my ethics classes)