Fall is in the Air

The temperature is dropping. With that comes a change in the recipe roundup. It seems like we turn more to our warm comfort foods to heat us up from the inside out. Chili is a definite fall food and this vegetarian chili recipe is one you'll want to try. This recipe is low-calorie, low-fat, and packed with protein. It is a great meal for leftovers as well, and something that would be perfect to take to work and reheat if you needed a meal on the go!

Delicious Vegetarian Chili
recipe from cookinglight.com

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 cups chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 (16-ounce) cans stewed tomatoes, undrained
• 2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained

Preparation: Heat the oil in a pot over medium-high heat. Add onion, bell peppers, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add sugar and remaining ingredients, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes. Makes 8, 1 cup servings.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 257 (9% from fat)

Fat: 2.7g (sat 0.3g,mono 0.5g,poly 1.2g)

Protein: 12.8g

Carbohydrate: 48.8g

Fiber: 14.2g

Cholesterol: 0.0mg

Iron: 4.5mg

Sodium: 876mg

Calcium: 150mg

Mythbusters: Keep crunching to lose that spare tire

Crunches are great.
They are. They are great in the right doses, that is. I laugh a little bit inside/(feel bad and want to shake some sense in to people) when I see them doing countless reps of crunches, believing that is going to get ride of that plush midsection they've acquired. If only it were that easy.
The TRUTH of the matter?
Doing crunches all day is NOT going to get ride of your belly fat. Doing crunches alone won't burn enough calories to get rid of the fat you're storing.

What will get rid of that excess fat around your waistline that we all hate?
A combination of a few things...

1. Increase your cardio. You have to burn off the fat that is being stored on your body. When you lose weight you lose it all over. Because you can't specifically target one area for fat loss, you need to do enough cardio to lose the excess weight from allover, and in doing so losing it from your trouble areas as well. Cardiovascular exercise is the best way to do that. If you want to lose weight you have to create a caloric deficit, meaning you're burning more calories throughout the day than you are eating. Burning off excess calories is a great way to do that. If you are serious about dropping the LB's I'd recommend 60 mins of cardiovascular exercise 4-5 times a week.

2. Watch your diet. Here is another place where you can create that caloric deficit. If you aren't a calorie counter, cut out the junk foods. Cut out the snacks, and the extras. Try writing down your food to see if you're overdoing it. Make quality food choices. Eat foods closest to their natural form. Pack your meals with whole grains, fresh fruits and veggies, and lean protein. Cut down on the carbohydrates, limiting it to about 4-5 servings of carbohydrates per day. Try to cut out the fats and sugars from your food choices. All of these little decisions can make a big impact.

3. Include strength training in your regimen. Building muscle on your body increases the amount of calories your body is burning all the time. The more muscle you have the more calories you burn. It's a math thing. You won't become bulky. That is the number one concern I hear, and I can promise you. Weightlifting will actually make you drop inches, and become more condensed. Compact, in a sense. Women don't have the same genetic makeup as men, and because we lack the hormone Testosterone, we don't physically have the ability to become large and muscular like men.

4. Make all your training core training. You can strengthen your core and abs in everything you do. Balance on one foot while doing bicep curls. Do a plank in between every exercise you do. Incorporate core specific exercises into your daily workout routines. Include some abs and crunches in as well, but if you're working your core all the time you won't need to be doing a million sets of crunches.

Free Snack? Yes, please.

I love my Kashi.
They have a lot of great, tasty, healthy products.

They are offering a free snack of your choice if you go on their website.
Worth it.
Click HERE for your free sample.

Worth the Replacement

Zucchini Season. It's here in full force.
If you're looking for something to do with your surplus zucchini go HERE.
I decided to make some zucchini bread.

While making it I made some of the usual substitutions in the recipe that I always make, one being trading out the oil for applesauce.
The particular recipe that I was using called for 1 cup of vegetable oil...I was kind of appalled, so I decided to do some math.

1 cup of vegetable oil = 1879 calories and 218 grams of fat. In case you were confused, that is just plain disgusting.

This recipe makes two loaves of bread with about 940 calories per loaf just from the vegetable oil. Let's say each loaf puts out about 8 slices of bread, we're looking at 118 calories per slice JUST from the oil. This would break down to about 13.6 grams of fat per slice just from the oil.

NOW...I substituted applesauce for oil.
1 cup of applesauce = 102 calories and 0 grams of fat.

If we divide out the applesauce for the two loaves of zucchini bread we're looking at about 7 calories per slice from the applesauce and 0 grams of fat.

As far as the taste goes, I think the applesauce makes it more cake-like and moist. Tell me that caloric trade out isn't worth it!

What if?

Our expectations for ourselves are usually high. I want to workout every single day, eat perfectly, lose 15 pounds, and never eat sugar again. The problem? Life happens. We tend to be human. Crazy isn't it? We go on vacation, have family parties, celebrate holidays, get sick, cram our schedules with business, and sometimes we just don't have perfection in us. Usually our lack of perfection is followed by feelings of guilt, remorse, anger, and a general unpleasant disposition. These feelings can also come at you when you feel like you're doing your absolute best, and you aren't seeing any results, which can be very frustrating. This negativity can be the start of a slippery downward spiral if you don't do something to combat it. Whenever these negative thoughts and emotions come creeping in I want you to think of this...

What if I did nothing?
Where would I be then?

I can promise it would be worse off than if you hadn't done something.

Next, I want you to evaluate the positive things that you've done to improve yourself in the past week. I got two days of jogging in. I drank water instead of soda. I substituted applesauce for butter in my cookie recipe. I fed the kids a vegetable at every meal. Etc. etc. etc.
From there, set some new goals from a positive place. Build upon the things that you are already doing well, instead of beating yourself up over the things that you haven't been so great at. Chances are you're making some positive steps forward, and you're better off than if you weren't making any effort at all.

Exercise of the Week: Pushup Intervals

Mix it up.
I've said it before.
I'll say it again.
The best thing you can do for your body is to keep it guessing. Try not to get stuck in the habit of doing the same thing over and over. Your body gets used to routine and will adapt less. The more you keep it guessing the more you force it to adapt. It's good for you. I promise.

If you're lifting routine is getting mundane try doing 10 push ups in between every set of exercises.
For example...let's say your rotating between 3 sets of squats with a shoulder press and walking lunges. With the added push ups your routine would look something like this:

Set #1
15 squats with a shoulder press
10 push ups
10 walking lunges
10 push ups

Set #2
15 squats with a shoulder press
10 push ups
10 walking lunges
10 push ups

Set #3
15 squats with a shoulder press
10 push ups
10 walking lunges
10 push ups

Push ups are a great exercise that works all of the muscles of your upper body and your core at the same time. They are AWESOME. Do a lot of them.

Breakfast of Champions

I love my cereal. You know that. I also love my oatmeal.
In my pre-no artificial sweetener days I was pretty easy to please with some slow cooked oats, skim milk, and splenda. Simple.

Now that the splenda is off the table, figuratively & literally, I knew I needed to dress up my oats a little and some plain skim milk just wasn't going to cut it. After a little playing around I feel really good about my current breakfast situation. I in fact, crave it.

Banana Bread Oatmeal
- 1/2 cup slow cooked oats
- 1 cup water
cook this in the microwave for 3-4 minutes, or until fluffy and almost overflowing in the bowl.

add to the oats:
- 1/2 mashed up banana
- 1 TBS honey
- 1 TBS peanut butter
- 2 to 3 tsp cinnamon

Stir until combined. It is SO so tasty. It might actually make you like oatmeal.