Donkeys Behaving Badly – The Man Lunch
So far, the Donkeys have all been doing really well with our new lifestyle changes. We’ve been eating cleaner, working out, and just making better decisions about our health in general. But sometimes, you just need a little filth in your diet. You know what I mean. You’ve been really dialing in your food intake, but you just want a big piece of pizza or a nice juicy burger. So, do it! Yep, go get your hands on that filthy grease bomb and NOM NOM NOM NOM until you’re barely able to move. One meal isn’t going to ruin your weight loss efforts. It will barely even put a dent in your progress. What it will do though, is save your sanity.
The guys and I have started calling this meal “The Man Lunch.” Its crazy hard to eat perfectly all the time, and trying to be 100% with your diet can even start leading to guilt if you do decide to indulge. Like I said, don’t worry about it. Just know that you no longer eat food like that on a regular basis, and feel good about that fact. Enjoy your treat, and then get back in the game. If you can eat healthy 90% of the time…you’ll be golden. Oh yeah…if you were wondering, the burger to the left was AMAZING!
NOTICE: When I talk about “diet” in the above post, I’m referring to your food intake in its entirety. I’m NOT referring to some crappy scam thing you once tried where you ate cabbage and dry toast every meal of the day for 6 weeks. Those “diets” are BS and will do absolutely nothing for you…..unless you’re looking to become malnourished.
I can’t believe it’s almond butter
Unleash the power of almonds
After wanting to try this for awhile, I finally picked up a jar of almond butter. Ingredients? Almonds. No sugar, no salt, just almonds. I made a sandwich on some whole wheat bread and was shocked how fantastic it was. If you have not tried this yet, I highly recommend it. It was a little pricey, about 6 bucks for the jar, but it will really made a decent healthy snack or quick lunch. I’m anxious to try slapping some bananas on the sandwich next time.
Cow vs Turkey
No, I am not talking about a boxing match, though that would definitely be interesting.
Tonight I made the same burger recipe from this post, only this time I used ground turkey instead of ground beef. They came out pretty darn good. Turkey burgers do have a different flavor to them, but I really like it. After doing this, I realized I really didn’t know the facts behind doing this over using ground beef. I have always been told that turkey burgers are healthier than burgers made of beef.
I did some research and found out that this is a very popular misconception. Lean ground beef is indeed very healthy. In fact, lean beef has a lot less sodium and a little less fat than turkey. It is also important to remember that ground turkey that is not primarily white meat is going to have a lot more fat.
But I don’t want to sound like I’m turkey bashing too much, ground turkey made of white meat is very healthy, but so is lean ground beef. In the end, they both win!
Anti-inflammatory Foods = Feelin’ Good!!!
Do your joints ever feel stiff and tight? How about just feeling like crap in general? Your body is probably inflamed. To find out a little more about inflammation, and to find foods that help combat it, check out this article over at www.metabolismadvice.com.
I challenge you to start incorporating a handful of these foods into your diet and see how much better you feel. If you already eat some of these foods…eat more of them. The more the better! Also, start cutting out simple carbs (white bread, white rice, sugary foods), foods containing HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and anything with hydrogenated oils (trans fat). Along with just making you feel better overall, eating a diet loaded with anti-inflammatory foods can cut your risk of heart disease. It doesn’t take a genius to see that this is something we should all be doing…especially if your family has a history of heart disease. Now, go find and apple and an iced green tea and start feelin’ good!
Tasty Chips the Healthy Way
I absolutely love salsa as a healthy snack. It’s great with chicken on a bed of lettuce and with eggs in the morning. There are times however when I just want to eat it with some chips. Come on, who doesn’t love the classic combo. 
I found a way that allows me to enjoy chips without all of the fat from frying or the staleness of an open bag. Just grab some tortillas and portion them out for the correct calorie count. Slice them into chip shaped wedges and bake them at 450 degrees until crisp. Make sure you flip them once. You can do this with corn, flour or whole wheat tortillas. The taste is amazing and you don’t have to worry about the temptation from that well designed chip packaging. That along with the reduction in salt makes me give this option two thumbs up.
HIIT and Cucumber Water
HIIT and cucumber water. What do they have in common? Actually…nothing. But this post contains both of those things.
Today Ryan and I got to the gym, and realized that they had closed early. EFFING FIDDLE STICKS!!! We could have just went home and took the evening off, but we decided to hit the park for some HIIT. (Do you see what I did there?) If you’ve never heard of it, its High Intensity Interval Training. We parked, found a nice hill, and went to work. We picked two trees about 200 feet apart. One at the bottom of the hill, and one at the top. One of us would run balls out to the top, and then walk back down. As soon as the runner got to the starting point, the other guy would take off up the hill. We only did this 5 times. Yeah…5 times. That may seem like weak sauce, but I assure you it wasn’t. We didn’t meander up this hill…remember I said BALLS OUT!!! Now, its been a while since I’ve done HIIT, but it didn’t take me long to remember how HORRIBLE these things are. By horrible, I mean crazy awesome…there will be no mistake you got a workout.The entire workout took about 20 minutes. That includes a little warm-up and a cool-down. The beauty of HIIT is that you can do it with any activity. You can swim intervals, work the heavy bag, ride a bike…anything you want. The key is, on the active part of the intervals, you need to go all out.
Now, about the cucumber water…ever had it? If you’re serious about losing fat, you NEED to have lots of water. Notice I said losing fat…not losing weight. The REAL goal when trying to get fit is to lose fat, but keep any and all muscle or lean body mass that you have. But back to the water…you should be sipping it all day long. Keep a cup on your desk, or a water bottle handy at all times. Now, I’m aware that some people just really don’t like the taste of water. Maybe its the fact that it actually has very little taste. That’s where the cucumber comes in. Pour yourself a nice big glass of water, then toss in a slice of cucumber. Its a very clean, refreshing flavor. Not so strong that its overwhelming, just enough to make it easier to chug down. I also enjoy some lemon…but thats nothing new. Most everyone has had a slice of lemon in their water. So, give it a shot. I think you’ll like it!
The confessions of a pop-a-holic
Coke Zero, Diet Pepsi, Diet Pepsi Max, Diet Coke, you name a diet soda, I was hooked on it. There are many arguments against, and for, artificial sweeteners. However, this article on nerdfitness.com in particular finally swayed me to get off of the sauce.
In particular, this line from the article is my favorite:
My big problem with Diet Coke is that I don’t know what the hell is in it. I mean, if it tastes like soda, but doesn’t have any calories at all…what the eff are they putting in there?
Who knows how bad it actually is for you, but i was sucking down 4-6 cans a day. That’s probably not good. Now, I mainly drink coffee, iced tea, and lots of water. I will make a jug of sun tea on the weekend and it will last me about a week. Overall, I feel a lot better, largely due to the fact that I’m drinking a lot more water. I will still have a diet soda once in awhile, but usually just as a treat.
Snap Peas – A very tasty snack
Tasty, tasty snap peas!
Back in June when I began my health(ier) eating kick, a friend of mine turned me onto to Snap Peas as a tasty but low calorie snack – I suppose the proof is in the pudding. The 8 oz bag pictured is about 100 calories (2.5 servings at 40 calories a serving)! A serving has 25% of your daily vitamin C (so no scurvy worries for you), 15% vitamin A and 8% of your fiber. So they really do end up being a very healthy snack for you!
So healthy, but tasty? Yes – these little guys are just plain delicious. If you are expecting Skittles sweet, you will be disappointed – however it is a very nice, subtle and natural sweetness that I am sure you appreciate. We like to dip them in salsa – it ends up being a decent chip substitute as the snap peas are nice and crunchy, and the sweetness of the veggie is a good contrast to the salsa’s spice. They are great on their own though, no accessories are required!
Nutritional Information. For your health!
The bag pictured is an 8 oz version I got at my local Bakers – they cost $2.99 a bag there. You can find them in your stores fruits / vegetables section near where they keep the bagged salad mixes. Some stores do carry 16 oz (1 lb) bags of snap peas, and this size is usually more economical than buying two 8 ounce-rs. The price for the picture 8 oz bag may vary too (a decent bit actually) – I’ve seen Walmart carry them for ~$2.50 and Hyvee selling them at 3 dollars and change. So it might be worth checking around to see where you can get the best price.
Quick chicken
Last night I realized I had nothing to take with me for lunch the next day. The real problem was that it was 11 o’clock at night. In about 20 minutes I whipped up fairly decent healthy meal. Nothing too special, but here it is.
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 bag frozen vegetables (literally, any kind)
Mrs. Dash (just a few shakes)
A few pinches of fresh parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil
Cut up the chicken into strips, cubes or blobs, it really doesn’t matter.
Throw it all into a pan on medium high heat and cook for about 15-20 minutes.
You could also just use a little salt and pepper in lieu of the lady Dash.
That’s it! Good Stuff!
Got a hankering for a good burger?
If you’re looking for an amazing burger recipe…shoot over to Nate Green’s blog and try his burger recipe. VERY tasty the way it is, or put your own spin on it. I like it so much, I’ve had it the last two nights in a row. Looking like a strong possibility I’ll have leftovers for lunch tomorrow and maybe even again tomorrow night. DO LIKE!!!
http://thenategreenexperience.com/blog/4+Things+Currently+Rocking+My+World/
