Category Archives: Nutrition tips
Health/Fitness Updates
Happy Halloween!
Here are updates on some of my favorite fitness and health websites. Check them out!
1)Candy Coded: What You Need to Know About Your Favorite Sweets
This article goes through 13 different popular candies. It tells all – serving size, and how to stick to mini-size candy bars.
http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/healthy-eating/nutrition/candy-facts/
2)14 Tips for Getting (and Staying) Motivated to Eat Healthy
Great write up on how to stay motivated and jumping on the healthy eating bandwagon. The tips are very realistic as well!
3)Happy Halloween: Your Thriller and Spooky Workouts
Fun workouts to go along with the Halloween Spirit. Karena and Katrina always have something fun on their page. Tone It Up is one of my favorite blogs!
http://toneitup.com/blog.php?Happy-Halloween-You-re-THRILLER-and-Spooky-Workouts-5236
Cinco de Mayo – The Healthy Way
Cinco de Mayo (Spanish for “fifth of May”) is a Mexican civic holiday that commemorates the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.
Despite much confusion by Americans who celebrate the holiday by eating Mexican food and drinking margaritas, Cinco de Mayo is NOT Mexico’s Independence Day. While Cinco de Mayo sees limited significance in Mexico itself, the date is observed nationwide mostly in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride. Mexicans and Latinos living in California during the American Civil War are credited with being the first to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the United States.
Now that you know the history behind Cinco de Mayo, time to discuss the FOOD and eating healthy on Cinco de Mayo.
Instead of going out to eat for Cinco de Mayo, save some money, (and calories 😉 ) by having a Cinco de Mayo party at home! Here is a recipe for margaritas at home –
Make margaritas healthy
Love tequila, but hate the calorie count in margaritas? Lighten up your favorite tangy drinks with this margarita recipe, under 300 calories!
Frosty Blended Margaritas
DID YOU KNOW – Most frozen margaritas at restaurants can weigh in at 500 calories or more! But this one packs all the cool refreshment in 179 calories.
Ingredients: Limes, salt, Mexican limóns, tequila, Cointreau, superfine sugar, ice
Calories: 179
http://recipes.health.com/recipes/10000001168093-frosty-blended-margaritas
More Healthy Margarita Recipes – http://www.health.com/health/gallery/0,,20365030_1,00.html
Now for the FOOD
Many Mexican restaurants will happily make diet-friendly subs and alterations to traditional menu items if you just ask
If you do go out to eat at a Mexican restaurant here are some “do’s and don’t dishes” by weightloss.about.com
“Do” and “Don’t” Dishes
- Some popular dishes to avoid include: Nachos, chimichangas, chalupas, taquitos, chile relleno, (all of which are deep-fried) and “double decker” burritos.Some better choices are: Chicken fajitas, bean burritos, a grilled chicken dish with peppers and onions (hold the cheese!), or a soft taco.You may also be able to order low-fat cheese, brown rice, whole-wheat tortillas or a side of marinated vegetables.Some Mexican restaurants will replace the sides that come with meals with a salad if you ask them to. Top your salad with salsa and you’ll have a yummy, low-fat side. If you really missing dressing creaminess, ask for some reduced-fat ranch dressing and blend it in with your salsa until it’s got a more dressing-like texture.If you order a taco salad, be sure to request it be served on a plate rather than the deep-fried, bowl-shaped tortilla … who wouldn’t be tempted to munch on that?
- Here is a map of some favorite Mexican restaurants in the Memphis, TN area. Scroll through the map, my favorite restaurants have a blue marker, and the markers in red are just ALL mexican restaurants in the area.
ENJOY YOUR CINCO DE MAYO! 🙂
Kelly Rash
“Cutting out soft drinks and other refined sugars is an easy step to health.”
Kelly Rash is a member of the University of Memphis pom squad, and one of my best friends. She is always conscious about “eating right and getting fit“. Kelly is one of the main inspirations in my life to eat healthy and live an active lifestyle. She has helped me with tips in the past and has helped me become interested in nutrition!
Through the course of my blog, I will continue to ask Kelly what she thinks about certain foods or workouts.
1. How do you use Twitter for fitness and health tips?
“The use of fitness and health tips on Twitter is a great thing that is coming into social media and it is getting easier and easier to obtain information about it. It is great to follow people like Women’s Health Mag, and Tone It Up. Those are my two favorite Tweeters, for sure.
2. What is your number 1 tip to give anyone who wants to get in shape?
“One of my top tips would be to keep a food diary. Write down everything you’re eating, so you can see where you need to make changes. Cut out soft drink and other refined sugars is an easy step to health.
3. How do you think social media can benefit keeping up with calories and staying healthy?
“I actually have an application called – My Fitness Pal. With technology these days, a food journal is easy to keep up with without the use of an actual diary. That app will actually take into account your activity, and you can enter in exact food you may eat from a restaurant. The best thing about it is that it will tell you how many calories you have left in the day!”
Below are screenshots from the iPhone app – My Fitness Pal. It is free and easy to use!
Kelly is majoring in exercise and sports science with a minor in business. She wants to be a health fitness professional. Kelly will definitely be featured on the blog again soon!
Whole Wheat? Or White bread?
What do you think of when you see whole wheat & white bread? Do you automatically assume white bread is less healthy?
The little buzz word- “enriched” flour. Have you ever taken the time to look at Wheat Thins ingredients, for example?
Can you believe that of all snack foods deemed healthy – Wheat Thins are actually made with ENRICHED flour?
What is enriched flour? For it to be truly healthy whole grain needs to be listed on your bread, cereal or other food in the number 1 or number 2 position on the ingredients list. Whole wheat flour which is followed by (enriched white flour, niacin, and iron) is NOT healthy; it is a way of making people believe that they are getting a whole grain bread. It can be confusing because it is whole wheat flour, but not whole grain. It did come from the wheat plant and it is all wheat, but not all grain.
So, before you buy bread, or anything with whole grain on the front, flip to the nutrition facts and see if the little word enriched follows behind it.
eat right, get fit 