Greek Yogurt Love

I back! I started this blog with all these big plans of posting often, and getting on a regular schedule.... then summer happened. Yikes! I have been inundated with summer stuff with kids, part time nanny job, and wedding plans with my friends upcoming wedding.

Now that things have started to slow down, I think I can start this again.

I wanted to share my new favorite product. Chobani Yogurt! Seriously fabulously delicious and healthy.

The yogurt taste a little more rich than your traditional low fat and high sugar yogurts, but if you look at the nutritional information on it I am sure you will find a place in your fridge for this stuff.

There is 0 fat, 18 grams or protein, and only 7 grams of sugar in the regular flavor.

I made some the other day and I added a scoop of rolled oats oatmeal, and some fresh fruit. It was a very filling meal.

I love the strawberry and blueberry flavored yogurts as well. So far, both my kids are enjoying them also which has been a nice treat to see them choose a healthier yogurt.

Have you tried it yet? What do you think?

Maintaining Healthy Eating Habits

I recently read a question somebody had posted on a forum about maintaining a healthy eating habit. She had made some changes to her diet, and exercise and had the exercise part down, but was struggling with the eating part.

We all have those moments, where we are 'good' for a week, then splurge. I find this even more true on fad diets. Any diet that requires you do eliminate a food, or drastically alter your eating like the no carb fads, as well as the low carb diets result in a binge eating of just those foods your not suppose to eat.

The trick to maintaining a healthy eating habit is to maintain a diet that you can stick with for life.

Practical tips to maintain healthy eating:

• Clean out the pantry! Get rid of the chips, cookies, and high fat unhealthy snack foods. If you allow them in your house it will be too tempting to avoid them completely, especially if other household members are eating them. We never keep chips in the house for that reason, I have no power against them. Same with ice cream. We get it as a treat from time to time but I have no power against it, and if its there I eat it!
• Add variety to your diet. The more healthy food choices you have the better. By adding more choices you will help to prevent the boredom in your diet. There are so many healthy choices out there, expand your liking of them. :-)
• Eat your breakfast! Studies show that eating breakfast will reduce the amount of food you eat the rest of the day. Load up on a high fiber diet to keep you full throughout the morning.
• Avoid the restrictive eating diet. Just like I said before, if you restrict food from your diet completely you will likely fail and end up overeating because of that feeling of lacking all those foods you craved, like carbs!
• Stay away from salt. Most high sodium foods are unhealthy in many other ways as well. Just by avoiding high sodium foods, you will be eating better.
• Plan ahead! Pack a lunch, keep snacks in the car, plan your meals, etc. The more prepared you are the better you will be at avoiding the drive-through.
• Stick with it. One of the most important things to eating healthy is just sticking with it. Sometimes it is hard in the beginning but the longer you stick with it the easier it becomes, and eventually it becomes a way of life.

I hope these are some tips you will find useful.

Do you have any to add? Lets keep the list going.

Fiberlicous Tips

What is the big deal about fiber anyway? Did you know that fiber will keep you feeling full longer which can prevent you from over eating throughout the day? Fiber also plays a huge role in reducing cholesterol levels as well as reducing the risk of many diseases. They have linked fiber intake to lower levels of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and more. Pretty crazy right? So how do you add fiber to your diet without feeling like all your eating is squirrel food?

Easy tips to add fiber to your diet

• Add oatmeal. If your not eating raw oatmeal for breakfast already, you can start by adding it to your yogurt for some added fiber as well as texture. It may sound funny, but it actually taste a lot like granola without the crunch.
• Skip the chips and eat popcorn instead. Popcorn has 1.5 grams of fiber per cup popped. Dont go crazy on the butter and salt and you will have a healthy snack alternative to chips and crackers.
• Flax. Flax is virtually tasteless so its an easy one to add to almost anything you eat. Mix it in your cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, toast and any baked item. This is an easy one to sneak in with your kids too. Mix it with brown sugar and put it on their oatmeal, they will never know.
• Yams are a favorite here at our house. They make an excellent side item with dinner. One medium yam has 6.8 grams of fiber! Try having one for lunch just like you would a regular potato, minus the sour cream and cheese.
• An apple a day! 1 medium apple has about 3-4 grams of fiber.
• Dried figs are another excellent source of fiber. They make for a great snack on the go with kids too, because they are sweet and delicious. They add 10 grams of fiber per serving!

There are so many other ways to add fiber, like substituting all your pasta for whole wheat pasta, as well as your white bread for whole wheat. I hope this helps you find new ways to include fiber in your diet.

Staying Motivated To Exercise

Welcome!

This is my first post here, and I am eager to get this blog started. First let me introduce myself. My name is Shannon, I am an active mom of two, wife as well as many other things. I am starting this blog to hopefully inspire and motivate other moms like myself to live a healthy life. I want this site to serve as a place for you to get tips to live a healthy life.

I thought I wound start with exercise.

Do you? How much? Did you know that the CDC recommends that we engage in 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week? That breaks down to about 22 ish minutes a day of brisk walking. They also recommend two or more days a week of strength training.

Hmm.. So, who does that? Do you exercise over 20 minutes a day? Or a few days of intense exercise? I find it so hard to stay motivated to exercise sometimes. There are days where I literally drag my butt out the door to get exercise in. I always feel better after, but the initial step out the door is the challenge.

Tips to stay motivated:

-Think of it as your time. This can be a great time to get time away from the house, kids, work, etc so make it about you, and learn to enjoy that.

-Get a goal-This doesn't have to be about weight. I have goals each day that I run, as well as weekly goals, and even long term goals like competing in an upcoming race. Focus on the goal and achieving your goal not on the exercise. Some of my goals are running so many miles per day/week/month.

-Remember how you feel after you have exercised. As much as I hate going for that run sometimes, I always feel better after. I might be tired, and have sore feet but I feel more healthy as well as having a sense of accomplishment.

-Remember why you are doing this. Health, weight, fitness goal, lower blood pressure, reduced risk of disease, etc. etc. right?

-Be positive! Don't put too much pressure on yourself. If you are having a rough day, do what you can and make up for it on the next day. There is no reason to hold yourself to a strict unrealistic expectation. The trick is being consistent.

How about you? What gets you motivated to exercise? How to you stay motivated?