Aspire, Perspire, Nourish Yourself

The Summer Party

Outdoor BBQ season is coming. The first of the long weekends is here and those of us who enjoy entertaining can’t wait to host the first event of the season. Good food, good wine, and good company are a great combination!

Growing up, there was always a good reason for a gathering with family and friends. The summer months were filled with Sunday picnics at Ontario’s provincial parks or a relative’s backyard. Like in all Italian gatherings, the food was hearty and plenty with lasagna, breaded BBQ’d steaks, Sicilian sausages, Calabrese bread, desserts, chips, peanuts, dry roasted almonds, and maybe a few veggies. In contrast to the food, physical activities were kept to a minimum and interspersed between food breaks. Soccer and bocci ball were among the favorite games at these gatherings. For the most part, though, the event was centered on the food. At the end of the day, everyone went home feeling absolutely stuffed!

Fast forward to today. Fancy evites are used rather than phoning to extend invitations. We head off to Costco for our favorite appetizers and packaged meals, salads, and desserts and voila! A party is born! Buying prepared foods for a party is great if we make the right choices. However, how many of us are guilty of buying the high fat dips, high sodium precooked ribs, potato salads laden with mayonnaise and other tasty sugary treats thinking that it’s only one night of indulgence. One item on one night is indulging. Seven indulgent dishes in one night can be your worst nightmare! When you are used to eating healthfully, one night of overindulging can be painful for your tummy.

If you want to eat nutritiously and drink sensibly while enjoying the company of friends and family, then it’s time to re-think the P-A-R-T-Y.

Turn Your Party Upside Down: Think Activity First

Rather than inviting friends and family to a party, invite them to play. Arrange a volleyball or baseball game; go for a hike; play horseshoes or laser tag and then invite people back to your place for a few after-game snacks or BBQ. You could also reserve a spot at a local park and pack a healthy picnic. Plan the picnic with friends by putting together a list of healthy foods to bring along. Everyone can contribute to more healthier eating. Veggies and dip, cut up fruit, boiled eggs, salads with roasted chicken, goat cheese, roasted almonds are some options. For smaller gatherings, you could also create bento boxes with individually portioned meals. Everyone in your family could have their favorites!

If your backyard is large enough, then you can set up a series of activity areas, some for the kids and others for the adults. We invested in an inflatable soccer field when the kids were younger and they still love to use it at our outdoor parties. When you make the event an activity, there is less emphasis on food and drink and more chance to burn off what we consume.

Lighten up Food and Drinks

Yes, convenience is important so buying foods to help in your preparation is okay! When buying foods, think pre-cut veggies, raw unsalted nuts, lettuce-based salads rather than the high fat packaged foods. With a little planning, you can make many of the appetizers, main dishes and sides from scratch with fresh ingredients and more nutrition. Here are some ideas for making your next get together a leaner and healthier fare:

For Appetizers:

Make your own dips – see our Lemony Hummus and our feature recipe of the week, Black Bean Dip.
You can also dilute store bought veggie dips with plain yogurts.
Roast a whole chicken ahead of time and then cut into pieces and skewer with cherry tomatoes or other veggies.
Serve veggies with dips or Mary’s Gone Crackers brand healthy crackers.
Make your own tortilla chips using Sprouted Grain Tortillas and baking them in the oven. (Find these in most large grocery stores in the freezer section)
Season cooked garbanzo beans with chili powder, a little sea salt, and other spices and then roast in the oven until crunchy.
Dry roast unsalted almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, and pumpkin seeds and serve. You can also make your own nut and fruit mix by adding dried fruit like unsweetened cranberries, apricots or figs.
Limit the amount of junk food munchies.
Pop your own kernel popcorn in a heavy sauce pan.

For Main Dishes:

Cut up chicken breasts into bite size pieces and marinade with almond butter, Bragg Liquid Amino All Purpose Seasoning (or sodium reduced soy sauce), honey, lemon juice, ginger, and garlic. Skewer or serve as bite-sized pieces after grilling or baking.
Make your own burgers with a mixture of extra lean beef and ground turkey or black beans, oatmeal, oat bran, eggs, grated zucchini or mushrooms, salt and pepper.
Make salmon burgers using the Salmon Cakes recipe we provided two weeks ago.

For Side Dishes:

Serve salads with vinaigrette dressings rather than mayo based ones. Make lettuce-based salads, veggie quinoa salads, green beans, roasted/boiled potatoes salad.
Roast vegetables or potatoes on the BBQ or broil in the oven.
Make your own salad dressings using olive oil, dry mustard, cider vinegar, spices, and honey. Several sites provide healthier versions of salad dressings. Search for these on www.wholefoods.com, www.deliciousliving.com.

For Desserts:

Serve fruit with dark chocolate dipping sauce.
Try the Date Nut Balls recipe we shared with you in our first post.
Make your own strawberry-pineapple popsicles using real fruit and freeze (see www.deliciousliving.com for recipes.
Cut bananas into 2 or 3 pieces, place short skewers in center; freeze banana pieces; dip frozen pieces into melted dark chocolate and roll in chopped roasted almonds; place in freezer again until ready to serve; let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

For Drinks:

Make homemade drinks with 100% cranberry juice, ice tea from herbal fruity teas, lemonade all sweetened with stevia.
Limit alcohol drinks.

Ask for Healthier Contributions

Friends and family like to contribute when invited to gatherings. Don’t be shy about asking for healthy versions of foods. Consider asking for cut up veggies, fresh fruit, lettuce-based salads (tell them you have dressings), or raw almonds and cashews. Alternatively, you can ask them to bring one beverage item that goes into a drink mix; for example, carbonated spring water, lemons, 100% cranberry juice, fresh brewed fruit teas, and so on.

If Aunt Sally insists on bringing her famous potato salad laden with mayonnaise then say thank you and be sure to taste it. A little indulgence with an otherwise healthy menu will be fine!

Recipe of the Week: Black Bean Dip

Countdown to Summer: Six Week Challenge

We are about six weeks from summer now and we’re starting to hear rumblings about shedding winter clothing: “I need some color in my legs,” “I wish my legs were firmer,” “Look at the giggle in my arms.” We can be very hard on ourselves! This last weekend, the first of the sunny, hot weather in our normally frozen tundra, had most of us rummaging through our shorts and T-shirts drawer looking for something to wear. Feeling awkward and uncomfortable baring our normally hidden limbs, we look reluctantly in the mirror and vow to get fit by swimsuit season.

In six weeks, you can trim down, get firmer, and feel better about showing off what you’ve got! Use the next six weeks to establish a foundation for wellness or to ramp it up to a new level through both your nutrition and fitness.

Where Do You Start?

We don’t believe in crash diets, magic pills, or excessive exercise to get to lasting results. So, if you are looking for a magic genie, then stop reading now. If you are prepared to work for it, then read on.

Define Your Goal – We’ve talked about this before. If you don’t know your destination then you don’t know if you ever get there! For example, are you hoping to lose a few pounds? Do you want to trim inches off your waist or thighs? Want to look buff or simply feel good about the way you look? Define what you are hoping to achieve in the next six weeks and be specific.

Understand Your Starting Point – Know your starting point as well. Weigh yourself, take measurements or pictures of the specific body parts you want to improve. Keep a diary of your eating habits for a period of time (1 week is reasonable) to understand what you are consuming and what changes you can make to improve it. It will be inspirational to see how far you come!

Take Stock Along the Way – Stay on track by weighing in and taking measurements throughout the six weeks. We’d recommend weekly although be prepared for gradual changes rather than dramatic ones. This process is an ongoing effort that will get you there safely with proper time and discipline, although perhaps with some ups and downs along the way. Ask yourself, “How has my nutrition improved?” “How well am I sticking to my fitness regime?”

What Should You Do?

Remember that you need to focus on both nutrition and fitness. Figure out what specific things you will do in both these areas. Here are some tips to get you started:

Tips for Nutrition:

Add these simple things to your everyday eating to help increase metabolism and burn fat.

1. Switch to water as your beverage of choice.

Water may suppress appetite. Signals for hunger and thirst are controlled in the same part of the brain; therefore, your body may mistake thirst for hunger. This mistaken identity may cause you to eat more. Bottom line, drink more water!
Water may increase your metabolism by 30% according to a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. http://jcem.endojournals.org/content/88/12/6015.full.
It’s best to drink between meals and only to drink a small amount with your meal. Drinking too much with your meal may cause problems with digestion.
Other beverage choices that may have the same effect as water include red raspberry leaf tea, yerba mate and green tea.

2. Get more sleep.

According to studies, it is ideal to sleep 7 to 8 hours per night. People who slept for shorter periods produced more ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates appetite contributing to weight gain. For a summary of the study, see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21654631.

3. Eat more fiber.

Fiber makes you feel fuller and more satisfied.
Be sure to get your fill of fruits and vegetables like apples, pears, and spinach to curb your appetite. Beans, nuts and seeds are also high in fiber. Try garbanzo beans, flax seeds, and chia seeds.

Tips for Fitness:

With a short period available for achieving results, the objective is to increase the number of calorie burned through exercise; find ways to supercharge your metabolism; and burn more fat than carbs if you are hoping to look leaner.

1. Increase TIME or INTENSITY of your cardio activity.

Increasing TIME – For example, if you run or use the elliptical trainer for 30 minutes three times per week, then increase that to 35-40 minutes per session or 35-40-35 minutes for the three weekly session. You could also add one more day of cardio for 30 minutes. In subsequent weeks, increase the time by about another 5 or 10 minutes if you feel okay. By the end of the six weeks you will be capable of longer cardio workouts and burning more calories.
Increasing INTENSITY – There are several ways to increase intensity in some and not necessarily all of your workouts. For one, increase the level at which you are exercising on the treadmill or on the elliptical.
You can also try INTERVALS that require you to go at a much higher intensity for a short time and then back to your regular level for an equal or slightly less time or more time. For example, if you are walking on a treadmill at 3.0 miles per hour (mph), then increase it to 5.0 mph and run or walk briskly for 2 minutes and then go back down to 3.0 mph for 2 minutes. You can keep increasing the levels and/or the time at which you run or walk at the higher level. On most cardio machines you can also change the incline which can also increase the intensity of your workout.

2. Incorporate strength/weight training into your fitness activities.

Find time to incorporate a weight routine 2 to 3 times per week as it will help define and firm your muscles. Performing cardio activities is not enough to making you look strong and buff.
If you want to work on your cardio and strength at the same time then you could try CIRCUITS in which you perform a cardio activity for let’s say 10-15 minutes, then move to a set of your weights, then back to your cardio activity for another 10-15 minutes. This circuit is repeated for 3 to 4 times or more if you wish. There are a number of variations to circuits. Check out the links below for ideas.

3. Eat to enhance the power of your workout.

According to Cory Fagan, an exercise physiologist, “If you have less than 60 minutes to work out and you want to lose fat effectively, you need to minimize or eliminate the amount of moderate to high glycemic index foods prior to exercise.” See his full article at http://www.tcrsportlab.blogspot.ca/2011/07/burning-fat.html.

Link to list of the glycemic index of foods: http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_100_foods.htm

4. Move more and sit less.

Keep track of the time you spend seated or inactive and find ways to move more. By the end of the six week, make it your goal to have more ‘move’ time than ‘seated’ time during your typical day.

Check out these links for ideas on increasing intensity of workouts, for circuits or good base workouts:
http://triathlon.competitor.com/2013/03/training/20-minute-workouts_24024
http://m.oxygenmag.com/Training/Articles/Your-HIIT-Workouts.aspx#.UZGIneDtTvx
http://www.oxygenmag.com/Training/Slideshows/Lighten-Up-to-Tighten-Up-Circuit.aspx#slide-1
http://agilityfiles.oxygenmag.com/Images/Articles/PDF/TightDefined.pdf
http://www.military.com/military-fitness/workouts/circuit-training

By the end of the six weeks, we’re hoping you get addicted to this intensely satisfying and nourishing routine, which you just can’t live without any more. Find what works for you and the next thing you know, you’ll be basking in the sun, feeling great in your new swimsuit – maybe even a bikini!