Recipes - The Costco Connection

Costco is a warehouse-retailer that sells high-quality bulk items and speciality items. They have an excellent produce section (with organic too).

What is really great is their online magazine, The Costco Connection are all the recipes and the recipe booklets!

One booklet, Simply Delicious, contains recipes such as Baked Orange French Toast, Breakfast Yogurt Bowls, Chicken Salad with Fruit and Nuts, Island Kabobs with Tropical Fruit Salsa, and a bunch more

Another booklet, Smart Cooking contains recipes such as Good Morning Apple Cake, Apple Crab Salad, Grilled Chicken Breasts under Bricks, Crab Hushpuppies, and more. Also includes tips on Storing Your Produce

Recipes - Whole Foods Market - Budget Friendly Recipes

Whole Foods Market is a health-oriented grocery store that has a lot of organic and locally grown foods and even some interesting imported foods from a variety of ethnic groups. I love the variety this store offers and they often have sales and coupons (see the website) so you're not overwhelmed by the higher prices. And you can't beat the hot food and salad buffets they offer at lunchtime.

But, the one area on the website I really enjoy are the Budget-Friendly Recipes so you can get ideas on what to cook in a healthy way with organic products (from any store, really).

A Sample of their recipes includes:
• Double-Stuffed Deviled Eggs with Ham
• Irish Cheddar Potato Soup with Asparagus
• Honey Mustard Mucho Mango Dip
• Health Starts Here® Raspberry Nice Cream
• Carrot and Horseradish Roasted Cod with Red Potatoes and Lemons

Healthy Living - FREE - Aim for a Healthy Weight

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute has a free booklet, Aim for a Healthy Weight that you can download. It starts with the definitions of overweight (with a body mass index chart) and the risks of being overweight.

There's a section for daily food amounts (similar to the food pyramid but in chart format).

The food replacement section is really helpful. You can see how to swap your usual (more fattening) foods for healthier options. For example, whole eggs can be swapped for egg whites or egg substitute. Another example is to swap ice cream for frozen yogurt.

The next section deals with portion control - which is really important. They even show pictures of what a portion for a particular food group should look like. For example, one medium fruit is about the size of a baseball. One cup of cereal flakes is the size of your fist. Then you can visualize if your portions are too big.

There's a section on eating healthy while dining out and one for eating healthier ethnic foods.

Toward the end is a discussion on physical activity and suggestions on sneaking in some activities. I like the sample walking plan - something that requires no equipment and only a minimal amount of time.

Food - FREE 21 Day Vegan Kickstart Program

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has a 21 day Vegan kickstart program that you can register for which will email you tips and recipes and the benefits of a vegan diet. Vegan diets differ from vegetarian diets in that vegans eliminate animal-based foods such as eggs snd milk. (A nice comparison can be found at this site: Vegan vs Vegetarian.

Join the kickstart program here: 21 Day Vegan Kickstart

Food - 20 High Fiber Foods by Huffington Post

Fiber has many health and diet benefits - it keeps you feeling full, it can lower cholesterol and blood sugar, it can keep your colon clear and avoid hemorrhoids. Huffington Post has a nice slide show of 20 high fiber foods. CLICK HERE to view it.

Some high fiber foods you need:
• Corn
• Beans (White, black, garbanzo, kidney, etc)
• Avocado
• Whole Wheat Pasta and Bread
• Brown Rice
• Edamame
• Lentils
• Pear
• Artichoke
• Oats and Oatmeal
• Raspberries
• Peas
• Broccoli
• Apples
• Almonds
• Barley

Food - Feel Full Quick Tips from Health Magazine

One of the biggest setbacks on dieting is the lack of satiety (feeling full). After you eat your super-healthy rice cake, your stomach is craving more food which often prompts people to eat junk food.
Health Magazine has a nice slideshow of tips to feel full not just by what you eat but also how you eat. CLICK HERE to read the article.

Tips Include:
• Drink more water before you eat
• Use vinegar and/or cinnamon as flavoring
• Eat more green or orange vegetables
• Try belly-filling potatoes
• Learn to love fish
• Pop some nuts
• Add in more oats
• Try a new bean today
• Eggs are good hunger busters
• Fill up on fiber

Recipes - Healthy Recipes from Baylor Health Care Systems

Baylor Health Care System has some healthier recipes posted on their website, HERE.

Some recipes include:
• Roasted Winter Squash Soup
• Garlic Whipped Potatoes
• Lighter Green Bean Casserole
• Pumpkin Almond Cheesecake
• Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Fudge

Food - Ending Your Sugar Cravings

One of my biggest weaknesses - and most people's - is sugar. It's an endless craving that happens all the time and any time - in coffee, for breakfast, for snack, for dessert, for afternoon snack, before dinner, for dinner dessert, etc. In time, it becomes habit, an addiction, and it's difficult to stop. I've read articles that compare soda with cocaine addictions. Sugar definitely affects the brain. So now what?

Once sugar or caffeine becomes an addiction, there could be withdrawl symptoms when trying to quit cold turkey. Your body has become used to these flavors/chemicals. When you take them away, your body freaks out. But, never fear, they eventually go away!

First, in order to break the sugar addiction, one must stop the every day habit completely and you must want to stop.

Second, be cautious of substitutes. Aspartame (Equal, Nutrasweet, etc) can have undesirable side-effects and will not teach you to avoid sugar. Sometimes we use more sugar substitute than we should because we can't reach the level of sweetness we crave. So instead of one packet in our coffee, we use two or three.

Third, improve your diet. If you feel satisfied (and full), you are less likely to turn to sweets.

Fourth, stop buying sweets/sodas. If you don't have access to them, you won't eat/drink them. It will take time to get over the cravings, but it will be worth it to your health and your body.

Have a craving attack in the middle of the day? Try going for a short walk. Get your mind off the craving.

Maybe you simply have an urge to chew - try some sugar-free gum.

References: Sugar Addiction by L. Wilson, MD. WebMd - 13 Ways to Fight Sugar Cravings Nourished Health - End the 3pm Slump Cravings Dr. Mark Hyman - How to Rewire Your Brain to End Food Cravings

Food - 5 Vending Machine Snacks to Avoid

Yahoo Health does a great job posting relevant food articles with nice slideshows. This article, 5 Vending Machine Snacks to Avoid (and 5 Healthier Options) comes at a great time for us - deciding what to buy to quelch those afternoon munchies! Snacks to avoid run around 280 calories (also check the number of servings on your favorite snack)

Snacks to Avoid:
• Lays Classic
• Famous Amos Cookies (which are my favorite!)
• Snickers (breaking into a Snickers Bar will cost you 280 calories)
• Skittles
• Entenmann's Jumbo Iced Honey Bun (I don't know about you but the ones in our work vending machine look like they've been rotting the past year!)

Healthier Choices:
• Triscuit Original
• Chex Mix Traditional
• Planters Peanuts
• Planters Trailmix (just keep an eye on the number of servings!)

Food - The Most Shocking Diet Myths

I stumbled on this article at Yahoo's Healthy Living section. What I like about it is that it shakes up our normal beliefs on dieting and makes us question if we are getting the most out of beliefs or not. The very first question it poses - Does eating many small meals help you lose faster than eat three big meals? According to the article, it doesn't. What matters is how many total calories and the energy required to break that down. When you eat more than your body can break down in a single day, then you are setting yourself up for gaining weight. This is also true whether you eat unprocessed or processed food and when you eat (morning or night). Myth: Diet sodas make you fat by tricking you into craving sweets. They don't. See the article: The Most Shocking Diet Myths

Food - Surprising Snacks that aren't Healthy

Nothing is more defeating to your diet than hidden calories and snacks almost always help in that department. That healthy-looking granola you munch on at three o'clock every afternoon might actually be adding 300 calories to your daily calorie intake. That's the same as two cans of soda or two chocolate candy bars and not nearly as satisying! Take a look at this slide show from Bon Appetit which shows snacks like granola, rice cakes, and pretzels: Unhealthy Snacks