Case in point: I paid $6.44 for 40 ounces of peanut butter last weekend. Yes, it was brand name peanut butter – it’s the same brand I’ve always purchased and I remember it being in the $4 range not too long ago. The peanut butter I buy is not the healthiest out there but it does contain lower amounts of sodium than most. (I’m improving!)

Now, let’s look at another food item – something that is a bit cleaner/healthier.

Navel oranges.

At my most recent trip to the grocery store, we purchased a bag of 8 for $4.00. This breaks down to $0.50 per orange. Now let’s compare that to fruit snacks. At my local Walmart Supercenter (where we do the bulk of our shopping), you can expect to pay $2.00 for a box of 10 brand name fruit snacks pouches. That breaks down to $0.20 per pouch.

From this example we can definitely see that one serving of fruit snacks is quite a bit cheaper than a single orange. We can also conclude that the orange would be the healthier option.

So is it actually more expensive to eat healthy?

I think this question is very relative and the answer can vary greatly depending on who you ask.

One big factor? Household income.

If you have two full-time incomes in the home and you’re feeding just two adults, you may not think that eating healthy is all that expensive because you can easily afford it. If you were to ask a single father of two children if eating healthy was expensive he may definitely think so.

After all, it is cheaper to feed your child a pouch of fruit snacks than it is to feed them an orange.

Do you live to eat or eat to live?

The way that you view the cost of food can also determine whether you feel that healthy food is too expensive or not. If you consume food and think of it as fuel for your body, then you’re probably okay with paying a little more for your food. Again, income plays a role here as well.

If you live to eat chances are that you aren’t eating healthy. You may be overeating, eating when you aren’t hungry or simply eating food that doesn’t nourish your body properly. Quite possibly all of the above. The way you view food pays a ginormous role in the way you consume it, how you consume it and what you actually consume and therefore how much you spend.

My thoughts on the pricing of healthy foods

Just to be clear, I will disclose right now that my household income consists of my husband’s full-time income and my own part-time income. We feed a family of six every other week. On opposite weeks, we feed four. We also have animals: 2 dogs, 2 guinea pigs, a cat and a few fish.

Our last two trips to grocery stores looked like this:

• $227.13 (1/29/12)
• $216.28 (2/3/12)

If we feed all six members of our family with fast food, it’s easily over $30. YIKES! This is just one reason we don’t eat away from home very often at all. If we were to eat at home instead, simply take $1.11 x 6 people = $6.66 for dinner. That’s a savings of over $23. And it’s healthier too.

The true cost of unhealthy foods

The true cost of unhealthy foods doesn’t lie in the actual food prices, but the aftermath of eating them. Consuming a diet high in fat, sugar and calories on a regular basis can result in a bucket of health problems. Some worth mentioning include diabetes, heart disease and stroke. The more health problems you have, the more doctor visits you have. Those doctor visits will likely result in co-pays and medication used to control or help lower things like cholesterol, blood pressure and/or diabetes. And those don’t generally come cheap – particularly if you don’t have health insurance. So you could easily end up spending $100+ per month just on medication. See how quickly it adds up?

==> I’m not saying you have to eat clean 100% of the time. I don’t. But I do try my best to eat pretty healthy MOST of the time. I don’t buy snack cakes, chips, pop (I’m from Minnesota!), juice boxes or candy on a regular basis and I’ll usually save those things for special occasions. I’ll be honest and say that if I do buy these things, I’ll eat them. The best way to NOT eat them is to simply not buy them at all. It works!

My husband and I like to look at nutritious food as an investment for our family. We are okay with cutting back on other things in order to make sure we can provide great food for ourselves and our kids.

Tips to Make Eating Healthy More Doable for You

• Transition into healthier eating. You don’t have to go all out right away. Since healthy foods typically cost more, start by switching out a couple of items at a time. Buy oranges (or grapes!) instead of fruit snacks.
• Use coupons on non-food items. It’s pretty difficult to find coupons for healthy foods though not entirely impossible. To increase your food budget, try to find coupons (or use cash back sites when shopping online) for the other things you buy such as household cleaners, clothing and electronics.
• Buy meat in bulk if you can. 
• Buying in bulk isn’t always better. To see if you’re getting a great deal, always compare price per serving or price per ounce when deciding whether to go with the bigger package or not.
• Don’t be afraid to use coupons on the smaller, less expensive size. Let’s say you have a coupon for $1.00 off Tide. Your first thought might be to buy the larger bottle or box since you’re saving a dollar anyway. BUT, you actually might find that you’ll save more per ounce if you go with a smaller size using the coupon.
• Spend $$ on veggies. A great tip is to spend as much as you can on vegetables. Whether you buy frozen, canned or fresh – spend as much as your budget will allow, on vegetables.
• To be healthy, you don’t have to buy organic. 
• Cut out one fast food meal per month. This can save you $20-30 that you could use on your next trip to the grocery store.
• Keep on eye on store specials. Some stores periodically mark things like meat down at incredible prices for a limited time. You can scoop up plenty of meat staples during sales like these and still stay within your budget.
• Buy what’s in season. Fruits and vegetables that are currently in season will be more affordable than items that are not.
• Visit farmer’s markets if you can. Localharvest.org is a great resource.
• Grow your own food! Things like fruits, vegetables and herbs are fairly easy to grow just about anywhere and you don’t need a lot of space.

Here’s a quick list of cheap foods that are great!

• tuna
• eggs
• oats
• brown rice
• beans
• canned or frozen veggies
• light string cheese
• bananas
• grapes
• celery
• oranges
• carrots
• tortillas (can use for wraps, homemade nachos, etc.)

Even though “almost 15% of households in America say they don’t have enough money to eat the way they want to eat” (WJLA), there are definitely some things we can all do as consumers to cut back on somethingin order to be able to spend a little more on the food that nourishes our bodies.

*** Check this out: Challenge: Buy Groceries at Whole Foods on a Poverty-Level Budget ***

Is it really a good idea to sacrifice your health by consuming certain foods just because they’re cheap and filled with sugar and chemicals? Do you feel that healthy food is expensive?

Do you have any tips to share that you use to save money on groceries? I’d love to hear ‘em!

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To help viewers have a happy (and healthier) Super Bowl Sunday, TODAY.com  has teamed up with Eat This Not That’s Dave Zinczenko for his collection of tips, including:

• Fresh over Fattening: To help keep your diet in line when the party kicks off, Dave recommends benching fattening favorites like onion dip in favor of metabolism-boosting salsa with baked tortilla chips

• Tomato Not Cream: Ditch calorie-heavy New England style clam chowder in favor of tomato-based Manhattan clam chowder to save as many calories as two cups of Cool Whip

• Cut Calories Without Sacrificing Taste: For those people who plan on ordering in, they no longer need to worry about hidden calories. For example, going with Applebee’s Classic BBQ Wings instead of their Honey BBQ version, you can save more than 500 calories without sacrificing flavor

You can find more of Dave’s other ideas at the TODAY Health page. 

Below, Charles Platkin, PhD, MPH, assistant professor at the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College in New York City and founder of DietDetective.com demonstrates how much you would need to do to burn off after eating typical “Big Game” snacks.

For instance, you would have to run 49 football fields to burn off just two handfuls of potato chips or do “the wave” 6389 times to burn off 6 loaded potato skins.

 

“Big Game” Calorie Costs ­ in Exercise

Big Game Activities to Burn off Foods You Just Ate
The Annual 2012 DietDetective.com “Big Game” Eating Extravaganza with Exercise Equivalents 

(Charles Platkin, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor at CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College)

New York, NY (February 5, 2012) The “Big Game” has become much more than a football game: It’s the second biggest day for food consumption in the United States after Thanksgiving. So, to choose the most splurgeworthy foods, here are the exercise equivalents* for some of your favorite football snacks from Charles Platkin, PhD, MPH, assistant professor at CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College and editor of DietDetective.com.

THREE FRIED MAC AND CHEESE BALLS = RUNNING 249 FOOTBALL FIELDS

At more than 500 calories per ball, made with peanut oil, egg, cheese, butter, flour, macaroni, milk and more, what do you expect?

Fit Tip: Try baking, adding veggies and using whole-wheat pasta and low-fat cheese.

THREE PIGS IN BLANKETS = PLAYING CATCH WITH A FOOTBALL FOR 68 MINUTES (NONSTOP)

Hot dogs wrapped in a crescent or biscuit dough adds up: Each one you pop in your mouth is 66 calories.

Fit Tip: Low calorie franks (fat free), with low-fat crescent dough.

THREE SLICES OF PIZZA HUT MEAT LOVER’S PIZZA = 1,229 MINUTES OF TEBOWING

That’s more than 20 hours of continuous praying to burn off those calories. Each slice is loaded with high-calorie meats, including pepperoni, ham, beef, bacon and sausage.

Fit Tip: Try cheeseless pizza with plenty of veggies — broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms or even artichoke hearts — on top. Also, avoid personal pan and stuffed-crust pizzas: The thick, oily crust equals added fat and calories.

SIX BOTTLES OF BUDWEISER BEER = DOING “THE WAVE” 4,280 TIMES

Beer and football just go together, but keep in mind, each beer is 145 calories.

Fit Tip: Planning on having a few bottles? Try Beck’s Premier Light at only 64 calories per 12-ounce bottle, or MGD Light, 64 calories, Michelob Ultra or Natural Light at 95, or you can go very low with Budweiser Select for 55. Best bet is to sample a few light beers before the game to see which ones you prefer.

BLIMPE’S SUPER STACKED BLIMPIE BEST = 313 MINUTES OF CHANTING, POINTING AND WAVING A FOAM-HAND NUMBER ONE

This calorically laden sub includes slow-cured ham, salami, cappacola, prosciuttini and provolone.

Fit Tip: Go for low-fat cheese and skip the mayo. If you’re buying at Blimpe try the Deli Trio Sub, a low-cal combination of ham, oven-roasted turkey and roast beef at 330 calories for a 6-inch sub.

ONE DEVILED EGG = 12 MINUTES OF CHEERLEADING

Ever try doing one of those cheerleading routines? I didn’t think so. Deviled eggs are made with mayo, and in case you weren’t sure, mayo is very high in calories.

Fit Tip: Use low-fat mayo, or how about just hard-boiled eggs with hot sauce?

ONE SLICE OF HOOSIER SUGAR CREAM PIE = 58 MINUTES OF CLIMBING THE STADIUM STAIRS

It’s been said that this is the unofficial state pie of Indianapolis (where the Super Bowl is being held this year). The name says it all. “Sugar cream pie” is made with sugar, flour, whipping cream, milk and butter in a pie shell.

Fit Tip: Go to eatingwell.com or cookinglight.com and put healthy cream pie in the search box.

ONE KFC EXTRA CRISPY CHICKEN BREAST AND ONE EXTRA CRISPY DRUMSTICK = 203 TOUCHDOWN DANCES IN THE END ZONE

That’s a lot of dancing!! Deep-fried chicken is very high in calories, especially the extra crispy kind.

Fit Tip: Bake skinless chicken and use whole-grain bread crumbs.

APPLEBEE’S CHILI CHEESE NACHOS = 159 MINUTES OF PLAYING PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL

That’s nonstop time. Just like beer, nachos and the Big Game go hand-in-hand.

Fit Tip: Make your own nachos with low-fat cheese and black beans. Use salsa and make your own whole-wheat pita chips and you’ll be even better off.

TEN LAY’S CLASSIC POTATO CHIPS WITH KRAFT FRENCH ONION DIP = 134 MINUTES DANCING TO MADONNA DURING THE HALFTIME SHOW

Dancing is actually great exercise (if you don’t get nauseous from all the food you’ve eaten already). Each chip is 10.5 calories, and every dip of dip is 60 calories.

Fit Tip: Try Popchips, and make your dip with low-fat mayo or non-fat yogurt.

FIVE TOSTITOS RESTAURANT-STYLE TORTILLA CHIPS WITH 7-LAYER DIP = 110 MINUTES CLEANING THE STADIUM AFTER THE GAME

Each chip has 20 calories (yes 20!!) and 1 tablespoon of the seven-layer dip is approximately 70 calories.

Fit Tip: The answer is salsa — it’s very low in calories. And pick baked, low-calorie chips at about 120 calories per ounce. If you’re eating the chips, have one at a time, and don’t put out huge bowls of them. Make sure you have to get up each time you want more than six chips.

ONE PIZZA HUT CRISPY BONE-IN WING BUFFALO BURNIN HOT WITH BLUE CHEESE DRESSING = FACE PAINTING 8 WILD FANS

You ever see some of the fans who get their faces painted? Traditional wings are deep fried, not to mention the super high-calorie ranch or blue cheese dressing.

Fit Tip: You can easily make the wings yourself. Remove the skin (it saves lots of calories), soak them in hot sauce or roll them in egg whites, dip them in bread crumbs and bake them in the oven. Skip the blue cheese dressing, which has about 305 calories for 4 tablespoons. Dip them in hot sauce instead.

ONE BACON CHEDDAR JALAPENO POPPER = 60 MINUTES PERFORMING IN A MARCHING BAND

Those poppers are made with cream cheese, bacon and Cheddar cheese — each one will cost you a bit of marching.

Fit Tip: Use turkey bacon, low-fat cream cheese and Cheddar cheese. Bake don’t fry.

JUST ONE PEANUT = COACHING FOOTBALL FOR A LITTLE OVER A MINUTE

One peanut has about 5.5 calories. A handful, or about one ounce (30 peanuts), is 166 calories.

Fit Tip: Nuts are healthy, but they’re very high in calories. Don’t keep a huge bowl in front of you. And try to eat one at a time; don’t shove a handful in your mouth all at once.

‘Say Cheers to Slimmed Down Cocktails’

Along with food…comes beverages. Right? Any a good portion of them are high-calorie drinks containing alcohol. While you don’t have to avoid them all together, Stepfanie Romine has put together a really great article over at Sparkpeople.

Here are just a few of her tips:

Dilute your wine with soda water to make a wine spritzer. You’ll stay hydrated, and a spritzer made with three ounces of wine only has 60 calories.

Choose a lower proof liquor. All liquors with the same “proof” (percentage of alcohol by volume) have roughly the same calories. The lower the proof, the fewer calories a liquor has (and the less potent it will be). For example, 80 proof vodka (and other 80-proof liquors) has 65 calories an ounce; 100 proof liquor has about 80 calories an ounce.

Alternate between alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages (like water or juice) to keep yourself hydrated. You’ll drink fewer calories with this technique and allow your body more time to metabolize the alcohol.

Click here to read ‘Say Cheers to Slimmed Down Cocktails’ in it’s entirety.

Looking for more Super Bowl-related articles? Check out my Super Bowl Edition of Fit Links!

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Here’s what we bought during our weekly trip to the grocery store last weekend:

This is easily our “cleanest” grocery store purchase yet.

The one thing I’ve noticed about eating healthier is the fact that I’m hungry ALL. the. time. This is where eating every 2 to 3 hours comes in handy! To help tie myself over from meal to meal, I try to ensure that each meal contains a combo of protein, carbs and healthy fats. Adding that protein in there really helps.

Now that we have all this clean food, I need something to make.

Before going to the grocery store I looked up a few recipes for lunches because that’s where I struggle with eating well. A typical lunch for me used to consist of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on whole wheat bread, some raw carrots and some almonds. I can do better than that! (No, I will not give up pb&j entirely.)

So what I did decide on was….

Jamie Eason’s Turkey Meatloaf Muffins!

Her recipe (and video!) can be found here and it makes a total of 12 muffins (or 6 servings). This means I have lunch for six days out of the week. (If my husband doesn’t steal any.) Perfect!

I even got Rog to chop the onions for me. (he cried)

Here are the ingredients I used:

• 2 lbs. ground chicken (wanted to try these with chicken first)
• A smidge less than a half cup of Tofu (this replaced the egg whites which I am allergic to and it kept them moist and yummy without changing the taste)
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 2 tsp. dry yellow mustard
• 2 tsp. black pepper
• a lot of pepper flakes (this replaced the chipotle pepper spice and we use them in everything)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 T. garlic powder
• 2 celery stalks
• too much onion! (entirely my fault. Jamie’s recipe calls for one small onion and I’m pretty sure mine was LARGE. Whoops!)

40 minutes later…

I know. I could work on my food presentation. No judging!

The top left muffin looks the way it does because I had to do a taste test immediately. Could’ve snapped the photo first I suppose, but couldn’t wait!

Even after using mucho onion, they really taste incredible. The spices came out just write. However, since I used tofu, which takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with, I think that helped add to the onion flavor.

I’ll be making these again next weekend and trying turkey instead to see how I like ‘em.

I’ll be using less onion.

*****

Have you made Jamie Eason’s Turkey Meatloaf Muffins? Or any other tasty recipes lately?

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So for the sake of “fun-ness”, this post is all about peanut butter. You never know, you might learn somethin’.

Peanut Butter Fun Facts

• “Arachibutyrophobia” (pronounced I-RA-KID-BU-TI-RO-PHO-BI-A) is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.
• The world’s largest peanut butter factory churns out 250,000 jars of the tasty treat every day.
• The average American consumes more than six pounds of peanuts and peanut butter products each year. <—I think I have this beat, but I will NOT be measuring for fear of being disgusted.
• Women and children prefer creamy, while most men opt for chunky. Ever tried chunky? It feels like you’re eating rocks. Who loves feeling like something was just jabbed into their gums? 40% of people who like peanut butter, that’s who.
• The amount of peanut butter eaten in a year could wrap the earth in a ribbon of 18-ounce peanut butter jars one and one-third times.
• The peanut growth cycle from planting to harvest is 120 to 160 days or about five months.
• The world’s largest peanut butter and jelly sandwich measured 40 feet long.  It contained 150 pounds of peanut butter and 50 pounds of jelly. It was created November 6, 1993 in Peanut, Pennsylvania.
• It takes almost 850 peanuts to make an 18 oz jar of peanut butter!
• Georgia is the #1 peanut producing state, but did you know that Texas is #2.

Peanut Butter Recipes

Peanut Butter Apple Rings (Jif.com)

These actually look pretty good and I imagine that it tastes good too. If you don’t like raisins, leave ‘em out. If you don’t like granola cereal either, just eat the apple with peanut butter.

Source: Jif.com

Lower Carb Peanut Butter Dessert (Sparkpeople.com)

Reviews of this dish are excellent! 5/5 stars. Some say it’s pretty rich in taste so I’m not sure I’d be able to eat much of it since I don’t really have a big sweet tooth, but it does look tasty. It’s made with cream cheese – which I love. Also, Cool Whip, sugar-free chocolate pudding and a few other things. This Sparkpeople user adjusted the recipe a bit to make it a lower carb version than the original.

Source: "Scolly" at Sparkpeople.com

My personal favorite? Peanut Butter Pancakes!!

Can you sense my excitement? I’ll take peanut butter waffles too. You can make them pretty healthy by adding fruit and using 1/4 cup sugar-free syrup and a glob (or 4) of natural peanut butter. The closest I’ve gotten to using natural peanut butter so far is Natural Jif Creamy (lower in sodium than the original) and I’m okay with that!

Source: Jif.com

Peanut Butter Protein Bars

Do you like peanut butter protein bars?

I put together a comparison chart to make it easy to compare nutritional information. You can enlarge it by clicking on it, I know it’s kinda hard to see.

===> P.S. Have you ever heard of a fluffernutter sandwich before? I hadn’t but it’s marshmallow fluff and peanut butter on bread. Can you even open your mouth or chew with all that sticky goo inside? I’m getting a pretty funny visual trying to imagine it.

Also, what’s your favorite way to eat peanut butter?

Sources:

NationalPeanutBoard.org

Pacific.edu

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(Source: Girl Scouts of Colorado)

I know, I know. People don’t think about nutrition facts when it comes to ordering Girl Scout cookies, but hear me out. (I’ll have you know that frozen Thin Mints and frozen Shortbreads are THE best and I’ll never stray.)

I was never a Girl Scout but both of my sisters were when they were younger. I always had these little tasty treats readily available growing up but sadly, that is not the case today. I remember my mom bringing home a trunk-full of big cardboard boxes filled with Thin Mints, Caramel de Lites and Shortbreads that my sisters had sold – ahhhh, memories. Now I must go in search of them myself or just hang around at home and wait for the doorbell to ring. I don’t answer the door for anybody BUT I’ll make an exception for Girl Scouts selling cookies!

I’m not even a big fan of cookies but there’s just something about these. When you think of healthy snacks Girl Scout cookies shouldn’t come to mind, but I’ll bet they’ll be on your mind soon if they aren’t already. Why? Because the Girl Scout cookie-selling season is now underway. Translation: get your cupboards and wallet ready! Another alternative? Hide. And pretend they don’t exist. (good luck with that)

Did you know that when Girl Scouts first started, mothers baked cookies at home with their daughters to raise money for their troop? You can even find one of the Early Girl Scout Cookie recipes here.

The money from Girl Scout cookies goes to a great cause and it breaks down like this:

• Approximately 70% of proceeds stay in the Girl Scout council to help provide some of the resources for supporting the girls.
• A portion of that ~70% does go directly to the group selling the cookies.
• The balance goes to the cookie baker – can’t forget about them and the little miracles they create!

So, as you can see most of the proceeds do help to fund different things in the Girl Scout organization – which I think is great. This is why I will continue to buy them.  I do have a few tips to help you eat fewer of them so they don’t destroy your fitness goals and dreams. That sounds a bit dramatic doesn’t it?

Girl Scout Cookies: Calorie, Sugar & Fat Content

I created the chart below showing the basic nutrition facts for each cookie (as of today, January 21, 2012) including serving size, calorie count and sugar and fat content. You can view the complete nutrition facts labels at GirlScoutCookies.org.

*Pay attention to the serving size because they differ for each cookie.

Source: www.girlscoutcookies.org

So now I gotta ask…will you be buying any Girl Scout cookies? If so, which one is your favorite?

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Even though many fad diets claim that you won’t have to count calories, calorie counting is actually a fundamental and unavoidable part of any sustainable weight loss program. It’s the single best thing you can do to really get to know your food and establish healthy eating habits to replace the bad habits you might have.

However, there are some mistakes people commonly make in counting calories:

1. Estimating restaurant food incorrectly

Even nutritional experts had great difficulty accurately estimating the calorie values of five different restaurant meals in one study. If they had trouble, you can imagine how inaccurate the average person would be in trying to guess the calorie count of their food. Also, studies have shown that it’s harder to estimate the calorie value in large meals than in small ones. Since restaurants tend to serve large portions, your “guesstimate” is likely to be a pitfall in your daily calorie count.

There are two solutions. One is to eat out much less. The other is to ask your waiter for the nutritional information and ingredient list. Restaurants are required to have all the ingredients and nutritional information on hand for people with food allergies. Take advantage of this and get an inside look at the food you’re ordering!

2. Acting like all calories are equal

Equality is a characteristic of all humans, but definitely NOT a characteristic of all calories. Calories can come from healthy nutrient-rich sources or from refined sugar and unhealthy fats. Remember that you have to meet all your nutritional requirements each day even if you’re eating fewer calories than usual. This means it’s important to make every calorie count, and leave out the “empty calories” that come from soda, candy, or junk food. If you thought you could get away with having a banana split for lunch and just not eating any dinner, think again!

3. Depending on your memory

The little voice of laziness in your head will try to convince you that you’ll remember everything you ate all day when you do your adding up at night, but this is a surefire way to underestimate your calorie count for the day. Keep a detailed food diary that you jot notes in all day long. Keep a running count of the calories in the margin so you can stay within your limits, and don’t forget to take notes on your activity level or exercise, and any digestive trouble. This will help you understand your body better in the long run.

4. Reading the Nutrition Facts label incorrectly

A candy bar with only 30 calories? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is! Manufacturers often use sneaky tricks like calculating everything based on a tiny portion size of 20 grams. Multiply to find the real calorie count. If you hate doing the math, you should go for an online calorie counter like the one at CaloriesAndMore.com. This way, all you have to note down is the brand name of the food and how much you ate.

5. Leaving out liquids

Liquid calories are the sneakiest of all the calories you consume during the day because it’s so easy to forget that drinks have calories, too! Sodas, milk, juice, flavored water, alcoholic beverages, salad dressings, creamer and condiments all have calories that you need to count. Otherwise, you’ll be in for an unpleasant surprise when you step on the scale and you might not even realize where you went wrong. To see results with calorie counting, be meticulous in writing down all liquids you consume during the day.

Avoid these common pitfalls and you’ll soon see results in your weight loss program. Don’t forget that positive thinking and consistency are key to achieving your goals!

About the author: Varsha Aditya is a writer for the popular calorie counter website CaloriesAndMore.com which promotes healthy and sustainable weight loss without all the impossible rules of fad diets. Find more articles like this one here, and see how CaloriesAndMore.com’s huge database of foods and activities can make calorie counting a breeze.

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Ingredients:

Blend all ingredients together and garnish with a few extra blueberries on top!

*Make one serving

Nutrition Information

This particular recipe would even make a great pre-workout snack – especially for late afternoon sessions.

If you have any healthy cheesecake recipes to share, feel free to comment below. I’d LOVE to hear from you! Seriously.

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Beginning with week 7 in Jamie Eason’s LiveFit Trainer, she instructs you to start counting/tracking calories. Counting calories isn’t the funnest activity in the world but MyFitnessPal makes it REALLY easy + it’s FREE. If you have a smartphone, there’s even an app for it. (I really gotta get me one of those phones. My current one is not smart at all.)

Setting Up MyFitnessPal

Disclaimer: You do NOT have to be doing LiveFit for this to benefit you. Also, these are the settings I used to get to my goal weight and the results were amazing. You can certainly adjust the macros if you wish. If you haven’t already, use Jamie Eason’s calorie calculator (link will open in new window) to determine how many calories you should be eating to meet your goal weight – I did that as well. Once you’ve done that, come back to this post to configure MyFitnessPal.

Log-in or Create your MyFitnessPal account and then:

• Click –> Goals (up at the top)
• Click –> Change Goals
• Mark –> Custom
• Click –> Continue
• Enter your calorie number that you obtained from the calorie calculator above.
• Adjust your macros (you can see the ones I used in the pic below)
• Be sure to save your changes!

I play around with macros but I usually use the formula in the picture or sometimes I’ll do 30% carbs, 40% protein and 30% fat.

Many people don’t realize that you can completely customize your goals on MyFitnessPal so I wanted to bring awareness to that fact. Also, it’s completely hard for me to consume 184 grams of protein, but I just try to include some at each meal. At a bare minimum I try to eat 1 gram per pound of body weight (even that’s hard for me!). The easiest thing for me to go over on? Carbs!

MyFitnessPal + working out regularly helped me lose 15 pounds. These are the precise macros I used to drop the last 10 pounds. BUT, don’t forget about exercise! If you wanna connect over at MFP, my user ID is “missmelinda”. I look forward to meeting you!

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We’ve got a couple holidays under our belt so far but we’re not in the clear yet! Christmas is less than 2 weeks away now and it’s time to start thinking about more holiday parties and get-togethers. Because of our mega-blended family (our little family, my family and my husband’s! – all blended) we tend to have a lot of Christmases and here’s how I get through it without sabotaging everything I’ve worked hard for up to this point.

I Make Room for My Favorites

For me, the holidays are a special time filled with yummy food that isn’t around at other times during the year. For this reason, I do tend to splurge, but I don’t go overboard. I won’t avoid a specific food just because I know it’s not “healthy”. If it’s something I really enjoy, I’ll just have a little bit. If I do consume a few too many calories during a holiday dinner it’s not the end of the world. (see solution below)

I Keep Snacking in Check

Ever notice how there always seem to be little plates of things set up around the entire house? Whether it be nuts, m&ms or Christmas cookies? It can be hard to avoid nibbling on them! So what I usually do is just take a little sampling of each. I’ll take a few cashews, a couple of m&ms and a cookie. I don’t have a big sweet tooth anyway (which I’m super thankful for!) but I do still like to enjoy treats sometimes. Who doesn’t?

I Opt for Ice Water

I love to drink water at holiday meals because it helps me feel full. I don’t eat as much and I don’t feel thirsty either. Consuming sugary beverages will quench your thirst for a few minutes and then you’ll end up being even more thirsty because many beverages dehydrate you. (sodas, juices, etc.) I won’t shy away from alcohol but I’ll usually stick to 1-2 servings and I don’t drink at every get-together. When you consume alcohol your body goes to work immediately to get rid of it. Your body will want to burn off the alcohol and will put fat-burning on the back burner. No bueno.

Work Extra Hard

Sometimes I end up overdoing it. Hey, it happens! If you do end up overdoing it – whether on purpose or not – don’t be too hard on yourself. When you wake up the next morning, shake it off and start fresh. Put in some extra effort during your next few workouts or do an extra cardio session. I promise you’ll feel better afterwards.

One of the biggest reasons I am usually pretty good at holiday dinners? I don’t wanna do extra cardio!

When People Make Stupid Comments I…

Stick to my guns. What other people say can be annoying and doesn’t always sound real supportive. I’m sure they’re not trying to be UNsupportive, it just comes across that way. Either way, I just tell them straight up that I’ll eat what I wanna eat. They can choose to eat what they wanna eat. And I’m not one to comment on what or how much people are eating – I think it’s kinda rude.

I have to include this portion from fellow Fitness Blog Community member, Sophie:

I’ve heard some really interesting responses to my choices, even from people who are otherwise supportive. Let me give you some reminders just in case you don’t hear any positive messages about your food choices this holiday season:

You are NOT selfish for not eating Grandma’s famous pie. EVEN if she made it knowing it was your favourite.

No one’s happiness should be connected to the volume of food you eat, no matter who made it and for what reason.

If someone is “worried about you” because you’re “so skinny”, you won’t be able to fix that with a lumberjack’s portion of stuffing and gravy – so if you don’t want to eat it, don’t.

Click here to read Sophie’s post in entirety!

And remember:

You don’t have to be perfect to be healthy! It’s definitely okay to splurge every now and then, just don’t make it a habit.

Merry Christmas!

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While many believe that people gain an average of 7 pounds from Thanksgiving to New Years, one study showed that people actually gain an average of just one pound during the holidays. The problem? This extra pound gained was not lost during the following year and so weight gain would accumulate year after year. Not good.

“Although an average holiday weight gain of less than a pound may seem unimportant, that weight was not lost over the remainder of the year,” Dr. Yanovski said. When 165 of the study volunteers were weighed a year after the study began, they had not lost the extra weight gained during the holidays, and ended the year a pound and a half heavier (1.4 lb) than they were the year before. – NIH

Our family handprint turkey - 2011

While it’s not necessary to feel like you have to skip holiday feasts, you should use some caution if you’re trying to lose weight or maintain your current weight. If you need some advice, I’ve got some helpful eating tips.

• Monitor liquid calorie intake. Obviously water doesn’t count – you can drink as much of it as you want. What you really should be mindful of are things like soda and alcoholic beverages including beer, wine and champagne. Limit yourself to just one or two during holiday dinner activities. Sip water in between your drinks to space them out a bit.
• Snack before dinner. If you eat an apple or drink a full glass of water about 20 to 30 minutes before you eat, you’ll eat less because your appetite won’t be horrendous. You won’t feel like you have to inhale all of the deliciousness that’s on the buffet table. With that said, never go to dinner starving or you’ll end up with a food hangover for sure. Those tend to be filled with feelings of regret and major bloating.
• It’s perfectly okay to indulge – a little. You can still have a taste of everything you enjoy, just watch your portions. Split your huge slice of pie with a family member and take small samples of everything else you want to try. (Contrary to popular belief your plate does not need to be overflowing for dinner to be successful!)
• Move after eating. Football games make this challenging but try to walk around a bit after you eat instead of plopping your stuffed butt on the nearest couch or recliner. It’ll help you burn a few extra calories.
• Workout extra hard. On weeks you know you’ll be having holiday get-togethers, put some extra effort (and minutes) into your workouts. If you eat more than you planned, work it off in the gym by putting in the extra time to burn the extra calories you ate.
• It’s okay to say “No.” Have you ever been bugged about how much you’re eating or that you’re not eating enough? I hate when people comment on what I’m eating and in particular, how much. Don’t be afraid to tell people “no, thank you.”

The “better” you eat, the less work you’ll have to do when the holidays are over!

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