FitStella: A Healthy Snack That Kids Can Make

It is summer and it is hot and as everyone knows FitStella is all about eating healthy food to grow big muscles (just ask her)!  So here is a recipe for kids to make that is a healthy and fun summertime snack that is FitStella Approved!

FROZEN GRAPES

Step 1

Ask a grown-up to buy green, red, or concord grapes at the farmers' market or grocery store.



Step 2

Wash your own hands and then wash the grapes under cool water.

Step 3

Put the grapes in a plastic zip bag and place them in the freezer until they are frozen.

 

 

Step 4

Take them out of the freezer,

pop them in your mouth

and ENJOY!

Easy Summer Dinner: Panko Crusted Chicken & Garden Salad

Every once in awhile I want to change up an old recipe and try out a healthier version.  Sometimes it takes a few attempts to perfect the recipe and sometimes - you nail it on the first try!  The latter was tonight! : )

I cut a skinless 7 oz chicken breast into strips, shaking them in a plastic bag to coat them lightly with whole wheat flour (about 1/2 cup).  Taking them out of the bag, I brushed them sparingly with one egg white and 2 Tbsp of water whisked together, removing them to a mixing bowl holding 3/4 cup of seasoned panko crumbs, coating the chicken pieces thoroughly. 

In a medium cast iron skillet, I'd heated 4 Tbsp of rosemary EVOO (which, I'm proud to say, I made myself from my own little herb garden) and placed the chicken pieces together in the skillet for about 3 minutes on the 1st side, 2 minutes on the second, creating a nice brown, crunchy coating on the chicken.

Removing the chicken pieces with tongs, I placed them on a paper towel to remove any excess EVOO (there wasn't much) and cool a bit while I whipped up 1/4 cup each of Dijon mustard and fresh honey, squeezed a lemon over the chicken and about a tsp into the dressing, adding 1 Tbsp of light Hellman's mayo and whisking all together. Perfect honey mustard for dipping the chicken into!

My Lexington Farmers' Market trip had provided me with fresh baby greens and tomatoes and fresh mushrooms so I quickly rinsed all and arranged them in a bowl with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. 

Dinner in about 15 minutes total from start to finish and enough left-over chicken to have as part of lunch today! All good and all healthy! : )

Bon appetit!

Dream. Believe. Achieve!
Jan / HealthyLoserGal

The Natural Vegan Kitchen Cookbook! Anniversary Giveaway #2

When Rick Diamond of Book Publishing Company approached me on Twitter about reviewing vegan books on the blog I thought he may have the wrong gal!  "I'm not vegan," I thought to myself, "heck, I'm not even vegetarian!".  And then I went to his site... and looked at the amazing books he's offering ... and I realized I'm a LOT more into veggies and healthy eating/cooking than I give myself credit for! :)  These simple to follow, fully explained (to the point of a glossary in the back of the book for newbies like me who don't know all the terminology yet!) recipes are all nutritionally broken down and look AMAZING!

I've had over a month to delight in the two vegan cookbooks I'll be offering during the HLG anniversary.  

The first, The Natural Vegan Kitchen, "weaves wholesome, unprocessed foods into dishes so delectable you won’t believe they’re good for you. From nourishing comfort food to elegant celebration fare, these recipes are easy-to-understand and duplicate."  So true!



Click on the pic to enlarge

The Natural Vegan Kitchen author is Christine Waltermyer who runs an East coast Natural Kitchen Cooking School.  Her talents are sung in the Foreward by Rory Freedman, author the The Skinny Bitch who freely admits eating at Burger King used to be her style of life.  No more with Christine's inspiration! : )

Click on the pic to enlarge

In the past year, especially, I have found myself turning more and more to whole foods, natural foods without preservatives or additives.  (Plus, I am a firm believer in the Farm Fresh and Buying Local movements having grown up in rural New York state and knowing small farmers' struggles to stay in business!) I know that this little change in fresh and raw foods has helped my health and vitality.  This cookbook will continue me on the journey with inspiring new ways to 'put things together' that I had never thought about and enjoy the delicious, healthy outcomes! I hope it will give you the same inspiration! : )  I'll share the photos here and let you know what recipes I make from the vegan cookbooks, especially on "Meatless Mondays".



Thanks very much to BookPubCo for offering the cookbooks to HealthyLoserGal blog readers during the Anniversary celebration!

Rules for all the giveaways this week:



1) Follow HealthyLoserGal blog (and if you're entering the giveaway for The Natural Vegan Kitchen, please follow BookPubCo on Facebook or @Rick_Diamond on Twitter)

2) If you're on Twitter or Facebook, follow me in one or both places (I'm @HealthyLoserGal on Twitter and "HealthyLoser Gal" on Facebook, plus have the "Healthy Loser Gal" page there, too!)

3) For every giveaway you are entering, tweet about the #hlg2year giveaways with a link back to healthylosergal.blogspot.com

4) Tell me in the comments why you'd enjoy this cookbook and Voila! You're entered! :)



Click the pic to enlarge

You can enter in all the giveaways this month, but you can only be awarded one. All the separate giveaway winners will be announced on March 31st in a separate post here and it is up to you to get back to me at healthylosergal@yahoo.com by April 6th with your mailing address, etc. : )

Here's to our health & fitness, friends!

Dream. Believe. Achieve!

Jan / HealthyLoserGal

Delicious Low Fat, Low Cal Pumpkin Spice Muffins

It is autumn and I love pumpkin recipes... especially when they're full of spice and taste great and - here's the added advantage - are low calorie and low fat.  Oh yeah - bring on the treats!  Thanks to two Twitter friends ~ FitMamaTraining and Spring4Fal ~ who told me of this simple, delicious recipe!

I whipped these up tonight in about 40 minutes total... I've estimated they are 185 calories each and have 1.5 grams of fat each. 

Couldn't be easier than these steps:

One box of Spice Cake Mix (I couldn't find the low sugar variety or the cals would be even lower!)

One 15 oz can of 100% Pumpkin








Mix 'em together

Fill 12 muffin molds (I used cupcake liners)

Add walnuts if you want (the walnuts are NOT counted in the calorie or fat totals here...)


Bake at 375 for 35 minutes or 'til top bounces back on light touch

Remove muffins from tin to rack to cool & then ENJOY! :)

Thanks AquaHydrate, POM, & Olivia's Organics... Mm Mm Mmm!

Right up front I must say (reminiscent of Martin Short on SNL) that I have been gifted with so many generous products over the summer and have not reviewed or mentioned many of them on the blog.  So here we go...  The Healthy Loser Gal Gratitude post! : )

Back in the spring Stefan Pinto (that gorgeous smiling guy on Twitter who is a weightloss success story!) messaged me and asked if I would like to try out AquaHydrate since he sees me tweeting about drinking water and reminding friends to drink up the H2o!  I said, sure & thank you, and within a week there was a case of AquaHydrate on my front porch waiting for me! :)  Now, I usually think that water is just water... it replenishes you after working out, keeps your skin clear, your body functioning well... but AquaHydrate is one of the 'enhanced' waters:

AquaHydrate, the first high-performance sports water, is specially engineered to support optimal hydration, performance, and recovery. AquaHydrate is made through a proprietary, multi-step process in which water is purified to some of the most rigorous standards in the industry, raised to an alkaline pH of 9+, and then supplemented with electrolytes and natural trace minerals.

Having used SmartWater over the years and liking it, believing it had a bit of an edge, I was not the skeptical user some may be.  So I began to use AquaHydrate on Saturday mornings after working out and - maybe it was because I knew Mark Walberg was a part owner and wanted to be cool like him - or maybe it was because it truly works, but I did seem to recover after my Saturday morning workouts with Parker at the YMCA in Waltham faster than just drinking my Brita cleansed H2o!*  And Parker, whom I consider my source for what is real and what isn't in working out, endorsed it, too! : )  AquaHydrate is on Twitter @AquaHydrate, too, if you want to follow them.  Thank you for the freebie, Stefan, and AquaHydrate!

Next I received a box of POM after having been contacted by Ryan from PomWonderful after he read the blog.  POM is 100% pomegranates juice and, to my first taste, kind of bitter and strong.  But - I soon learned - it is an aquired taste and pomegranates are very good for your health!  So, with my little POM bottles in hand I set out to find some way to use the freebies I'd happily received.  My son was home this summer and was suddenly filling his water bottle with half pom and half water for drinking while playing basketball.  I shared a few bottles with my trainer, Parker, and he said he LOVED them and was sharing them with his family, too.  : ) 

My favorite use, to be honest, was in Pom Smoothies which, after measuring and calculating, comes out to be approx. 180-200 cals per 12 oz.  The recipe (from their site) is below and this is delicious and cooling:

2 oz. freshly squeezed pomegranate juice* or POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice

6 oz. fat-free blueberry yogurt, frozen
1 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup non-fat milk

Handful of crushed ice

Blend them all together 'til smooth and enjoy (measures out to approx. 8-12 oz.)

OH! And "Pomtinis" are delicious, too! :)  You can follow them on Twitter @POMonline.  Thank you, Pom Wonderful and Ryan, for thinking of me and the Healthy Loser Gal blog!

In August I received a really generous offer to sample Olivia's Organics salads.  I'll be honest and admit I'd walked past the square plastic containers of Olivia's Organics at local markets and grocery stores in the past, but no more and let me tell you why! 

Olivia's Organics is a family operation and local to Massachusetts (although they now sell in stores up and down the East Coast).  They are organic farmers. Each box is hand picked and hand washed which means that you can go into the store, add other ingredients to your salad and you're good to go.  :)  That is VERY cool for a busy gal like me! (Not to mention that the company products are now packaged in earth-friendly containers.) Additionally, the mix of salad ingredients in the mixed selections are delicious! One of the three salads I received was the Asian Mix salad and my son & I enjoyed this with fresh tomatoes, oil and vinegar and fresh corn one summer evening... heaven!  

The Olivia's Organic slogan is "Eat Healthy. Have Fun. Give Back."  The 'eat healthy' is pretty easy to understand, but when I looked into the "Have Fun" I was directed to the section of their website which is aimed toward kids eating healthy and having fun!  LOVE THAT!!

And the 'give back'?  A percentage of all the sales goes to charities and the community... such as Make A Wish Foundation and the Joselin Diabetes Center.

I have probably purchased a dozen of the Olivia Organics salads over the past few months and every one of them has been fresh & delicious.  While they may cost a little more than the store brand packaged salads around them, to my mind - they're worth the extra change.  This is a family operation that I can happily endorse and purchase and do! :)   Thanks to Rachel, the PR gal for Olivia's Organics, for sending me the product... you can send them to me any ole time you want!! Oh, Olivia's is on Facebook and Twitter as @OliviasOrganics, too. ; )

Here's to our health & fitness, friends!

Jan / Healthy Loser Gal

                     *I feel abit like Biggest Loser with all the product mentions today! lol

Guest Blog: Vtrim answers re: Maintenance Mode & Getting into the Health Biz

Many thanks to Beth & Heather from Vtrim Online for having guest blogged these past three times on the Healthy Loser Gal blog!!  They've provided us with some great information on losing weight the right way & keeping it off... curing the cravings, moving onto maintenance and so much more!  I am FOREVER indebted to Vtrim and will be a Vtrimmer for life now that I have found a sensible, healthy & proven way to lose the weight I've needed to lose - and more so - to keep it off.  Vtrim Online classes have proven a life saver, literally, for me.  I'm exercising and loving it - I'm eating right and proud of myself.  I think many people look at the up front cost of Vtrim Online and think it is prohibitive, but let me give you my take on that.  I was on Weight Watchers for FOUR YEARS and paid a monthly membership fee of $50+.  I also was constantly encouraged to buy their products, their magazines, their upgrades...  Just for the membership fee alone I was paying $600+ yearly and I wasn't losing the weight I needed to nor was I keeping it off.   In five months on Vtrim Online I have lost nearly 40 lbs. and have had the camaraderie of the other ladies and men in my weekly online classes.   So... the money is a BARGAIN when you look at it realistically.  Plus, and this is a big one to me, Vtrim Online is run by the University of Vermont.  The Vtrim program is backed by 20 years of proven research.  AND THEY'RE NON-PROFIT!! :)  With all this said, a big thank you to the dietitians for their final Guest Blog and answering all our questions! : )

Hi HLG Blog Readers!


It’s Beth and Heather, Registered Dietitians from Vtrim Online, and we’re here with answers to your insightful questions from HLG’s birthday blog post.

We were excited to see so many great questions that indicated you do not take your health for granted. At Vtrim, we also value credible, scientific information – no gimmicks!

Carrie asked the important question about maintenance: “I've met my weight-loss goal, and now want to focus on maintenance. I know I need to up my daily calorie intake, but I'm so afraid of putting back on the pounds that I'm still sticking with my old calorie goal. Any suggestions???”

Carrie, great question about maintenance. Losing weight is the beginning of the journey of keeping it off for life. At Vtrim we teach participants that maintaining a weight loss is all about mindset—what you do to lose weight is what you do to keep it off. This is about a healthier lifestyle, not a quick diet fix. You WILL have to exercise and you WILL have to think about your food choices and limit portion sizes. You WILL have to pay attention to the scale in order to keep your weight in a healthy range. And you WILL have to do this for the rest of your life.

In fact, research shows that two of the biggest predictors of long-term weight maintenance are 1) maintaining a regular exercise program, and 2) weighing yourself regularly—at least once a week. The National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) is a great resource of information about successful weight “losers.” And the data from the NWCR show that people who maintain their weight losses typically weigh themselves at least once a week but often once per day. They also exercise about an hour per day or about the equivalent of walking 28 miles per week (2800 calories burned through exercise).

As for calorie intake, for some people the difference between weight loss and weight maintenance is only a few hundred calories per day. But nevertheless, you can likely increase your calorie intake and maintain your weight loss. The best way to avoid overshooting your calorie needs is to continue to journal your calorie intake and gradually adjust your daily goal upwards.

Start by increasing your by 150-200 calories per day. Try that new goal for two weeks (ex. 1400 to 1550 calories) and see whether your weight remains the same. Then try moving your goal up again another 150-200 calories (ex. 1550-1700 calories). There is no perfect way to find your personal energy balance; it takes careful trial and error. Depending on age, size, and activity level, most women tend to maintain their weight between 1500-2000 calories per day. If you want more tips on what is working for successful maintainers, we recommend the NWCR’s website at www.nwcr.ws/.

Becdanto asked “I have lost 113 lbs and kept it off for three years... I have fallen in love with fitness and nutrition. What would I need to study or major in to pursue a job in this field and to teach others...”Becdanto, it’s great to hear that your personal health journey has sparked your interest in helping others achieve the same benefits you have realized with a healthier lifestyle. There are several options to becoming educated and trained in the field of weight management. Most of our facilitators at Vtrim are registered dietitians, clinical psychologists, exercise physiologists/personal trainers, or licensed counselors. A bachelor’s degree in nutrition, exercise physiology, or counseling is a great foundation for this field of work. Best of luck to you!

~*~*~*~

Thanks to my two friends on Twitter @CaSuPe15 and @BeautifulBecky for the great questions for the Vtrim Online dietitians! You two both inspire me to get to my healthy weight and then step into maintenance forever mode! :)

And now for the winner of the book giveaway: The EatingWell Diet: Introducing the VTrim Weight-Loss Program: by Dr. Jean Harvey-Berino is...

DEBRA

 (Anonymous)

who wrote me an email to say she left the comment and was having difficulties registering on Yahoo/Blogspot!!

Congrats, Debra! The great folks at Vtrim Online will be sending you off the book in the next week or so!!

Let's hear those questions... plus GIVEAWAY!

So you've seen the results I've had with Vtrim Online weightloss program these past 10 weeks and I know you must have some questions about what the program is that would be best answered by the Vtrim folks themselves!  Please leave any questions you have about the Vtrim program in the Comments to this post.  Out of the questions in Comments, one person's name will be randomly chosen to receive the book: The EatingWell Diet: The University-Tested VTrim Weight-Loss Program.  And the first week of June, all of the questions will be answered in a guest blog by VTrim staffers! : ) Sooo cool!

One of the girls in my 12-week online class lost 20 lbs. in 10 weeks BEFORE joining the class by following this book alone!  That tells you how great a book it is and how incredible the Vtrim plan is!  So ask those questions friends - they don't have to be questions just about Vtrim and can be general questions about weight loss, exercise, and following "diets" in general.  (My question my 1st week was "carbs vs fats"... which is better to reduce?)

And don't forget this piece of information - Vtrim is a non-profit organization thru the University of Vermont.  They're not trying to make money off of their participants... they've worked for 20 years doing research on what works to lose weight and stay healthy and they want to help us get fit and healthy for LIFE!! Woohooo! : )

Can't wait to see your questions! You're going to LOVE the book! : )

What's for lunch?

I'm starting to experiment with new foods since really learning about what is nutritious and right for my body while on the online Vtrim program.  And I'm having a ball concocting new recipes! I'd forgotten how much I really enjoy cooking and preparing my own food - even when I'm the only one home eating it!  But - hey! I'm worth the effort and the food is delicious (if I do say so myself!)... and - a bonus - I can bring it with me to the office!

The black bean salad (or salsa) above is incredibly simple and really healthy! The recipe makes about four cups (4 servings) and lasts for two or three days in the frig before the avocado gets a little gooey! I'm not into gooey avocado so tend to make it and eat it in a couple of days! It is great as a salad with chicken or fish. My son put it on his hamburger!  For lunch at the office I put 1/2 cup (1/2 serving) on top of a baked potato with 2 tablespoons of fat free sour cream and ohhhhhhh man is that good! :) 

Recipe:

1 can of black beans - rinsed and drained

1 small can of corn - drained

1 tomato diced

1/2 medium red onion diced

1 Tbsp of cilantro powder or 1/8 cup of fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 ripe Avocado - cubed

4 Tbsp Newman's Own Lighten Up Italian dressing (this isn't really needed but I like the taste... if you don't include it, you can cut out 60 calories and 6 grams of fat PER serving!!)

Nutrition:  193.25 calories & 10.2 grams of fat per cup/serving

I would love to know your lunch time favorites, too!  Remember, we're all in this together and DAMN we're feeling great and looking fine!  : )

What's for breakfast?

I have drastically changed my eating habits in the last couple of months and it has proven a wise decision! I've now lost 11+ pounds in 8 weeks since following the online Vtrim plan & exercising.  I'm conscious that this will be a lifelong change for me and am really experimenting with foods that I like and also find easy to make for mornings when I'm running out the door to work or evenings when I'm running in from (can't believe I'm going to say this and it will be true) working out at the gym!  I never really thought about fat grams before, either, and now try to keep my daily fat gram total at or below 25% of my usual calorie intake which is right about 1250-1400 daily. 

So this morning's breakfast is pictured above!  One cup of Dannon Yogurt, Light & Fit Nonfat Vanilla (110 calories and 0 grams of fat); raspberries (10 calories & .10 grams of fat); 3/4 cup of Kashi GoLean: Crunch (145 calories and 2.25 grams of fat).  DELICIOUS!  Oh, and - of course - my ever-present water bottle is in the photo!

Do you guys have favorite meals that are easy and delicious and healthy that you could share?  Feel free to post in Comments! Thanks! : )

Have a great day!

HLG / Jan

Happy Easter! Spring Strawberry Salad Recipe

I first had this salad in Nashville, Tennessee when I lived there in the early 1980s (I know, some of you weren't born then!! lol) and worked with the Grand Ole Opry.  This is a recipe that was made with all sugar and lots of fat but - over the years - I've pared it down to make it very healthy and low calories with hardly a trace of fat.  The wonderful thing is, it is just as delicious!  This congealed salad goes great with the traditional Easter ham, too! :)

Strawberry Spring Salad

 Ingredients:

•  2 large packages of sugar free mixed berry Jell-o  
• 1 quart of hulled fresh strawberries or one large package of frozen strawberries (set aside four or five great looking strawberries for decoration)
• 3 firm (not green) bananas, peeled
• 1 small can/tin of water packed crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 large container of fat free sour cream

Directions:

• Prepare Jell-o per directions and set aside on counter.
• Wash and chop strawberries and bananas together into small pieces and mix with pineapple into gelatin.
• Pour ½ of the mixture into glass oblong dish and refrigerate until firm, leaving other ½ on counter covered.
• Once firm, remove from refrigerator and carefully spread the sour cream over top of the mixture making certain to evenly spread along corners and side.
• Gently pour the remaining mixture of Jell-o and fruit atop the sour cream layer and refrigerate 3-4 hours. When firm, decorate with fresh strawberries in center.
• Cut into squares to serve, using spatula to remove from dish.
• Can be made a day ahead and covered with cling wrap to seal.

Low cal, low fat & delicious spring festive dish!

Happy Easter, friends!

Doing the happy dance!

Don't these pasta sauces, bruschetta and salad dressings look good?!  And they ARE good! Made with all natural locally-grown Ohio ingredients and a touch of wine... Vino de Milo products are oh-so-delicious!

I was the lucky second place winner of their recent recipe contest and received the products pictured here from them as my prize!  I was doing a little happy dance unpacking them on Tuesday night! I can tell you that I have plans on Saturday night for the Artichoke Garlic bruschetta! : )

Big thanks to Kim at Vino de Milo's for being an encouragement to me on my HealthyLoserGal journey... these delicious, low cal, and nutritious gifts from the Vino de Milo kitchen will be soooo savoured! ; )

Follow these guys on Twitter @VinoDeMilo or on Facebook, too, as they will often post really great recipes!

Now... who is gonna tell me that the Law Of Attraction doesn't work, hmmm?  *grin*

Mm-Mm-Good! ZERO Points Soup!

Remember the old Campbell Soup commercial jingle? Mm mm good... mm mm good... that's what Campbell Soups are... Mm Mm Good!  Well, I was singing that on Sunday in my own kitchen when I tasted the delicious Weight Watchers O points soup I made.  The recipe is from this past week's flyer (reminds me of Weekly Readers in grade school) which is a new benefit that 2010 brings to WW meetings.  We used to occasionally get recipes, but now can look forward to them every week whether or not we're subscribed to the online WW program.  I happen to be a e-tools subscriber so am fortunate to have all the WW recipes literally at my fingertips. :)

January in New England is historically our coldest month of the year so SOUP seems like the perfect anecdote to the temps outside when you rush in the door after work.  And a ZERO POINTS soup is right up my alley 'cause I can bring it to work in a glass jar and heat it up in the microwave for an afternoon snack! Plus it adds in four servings of daily vegetables if you have two cups of the soup.  All good! : )

I changed up the recipe a little bit.  I didn't add spinach... I used crushed tomatoes... I omitted the oregano and added a little bit of chipotle... instead of two stalks of celery and two carrots, I used three of each.  And - it was really really good! My son loved it, too, and he's a hard sell sometimes! : )

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did!

Bon appétit! ; )