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.

Healthy Summer Fruit Salad

You know what is good in the hot heat? Fresh fruit.
If you're looking for a sweet treat that won't make you feel guilty try this delicious recipe out.

Yogurt Glazed Fruit Salad

Cut up the desired amount of the following:
Watermelon
Cantaloupe
Grapes
Bananas
Kiwi
Strawberries
(etc. etc. etc. obviously there is a lot of room for creativity here.)

Place in a small bowl and cover with one 8 oz container of Yoplait Light Raspberry or Strawberry yogurt.
Stir until fully coated.
Cover and chill until serving.

Yes. Easiest thing ever, and OH so delish!

Costly Costco, and the like.

Costco. Who doesn't love it?
Plentiful bulk foods down every isle, beckoning your attention. I love it. I really do.
You know what I don't love? The sample folk. They are good at what they do...pushing their samples on you.
One time I remember stopping to get a sample of some sort of chicken pasta and the sample girl in her most monotone trained voice said something like, "You really should buy this pasta. It's my favorite. I know I'm going to buy a bag after I get off work." Really? That is the best you've got?

In my curiosity as to what exactly all your "little" Costco samples are adding up to, I searched around to find others experiences with the same topic. I found THIS blog post from a gentleman who seemed to have the same curiosities that I did. Here was his findings from his one trip through the sample soiree.

(food, estimated calorie count)
Multigrain tortilla 20
Mild Italian Sausage 35
Provolone Cheese 20
Italian Mortadella 20
Beef Brisket with potato salad 82
Veggie patties 43
Seafood salad on rice cracker 32
Smoked salmon with cream cheese on a cracker 50
Honey smoked salmon on a Ritz 30
Tri Tip 20
Hot & spicy wings 63
Chicken Florentine 30
Hansen’s soda with ice cream 50
Kirkland sports Drink 40
Sun dried tomato & pasta 40
Baked beans 20
Bratwurst 43
Four bean salad 30
Rice crackers with nuts 150
Fruit chips 10
Sour patch kids 10
Body choice high fiber drink 45
Body choice weight loss drink 10
Pita 15
Fried Pita Chip 17
Humus 6
Tabouli 6
Tzatziki 6

Grand Total?? 943 calories. YIKES. This of course is if you took one sample from each booth, and that probably doesn't happen. However, the chances that you are taking a few are still pretty high, and those calories can still add up.

Now I realize I'm picking on Costco, and that is just plain mean, BUT I'm only using them as my example because we all know their samples so well. (I am a huge Costco fan. Their produce is phenomenal.) This could be any grocery store, any mega mart, or bulk warehouse. It happens everywhere.