Quick Luncher

Lunch sometimes feels like an inconvenience to me. Right smack in the middle of all your daily business you have to stop and waste time. I couldn't even count the number of times my stomach started growling and I thought "Why am I so hungry?" and I realized I forgot to eat lunch.

I have been doing much better at taking a little time to eat.. Closer to lunch time. Some simple and nutritious lunches that I have been eating are:
-serving of low fat lunch meat and a little shredded cheese on a whole wheat tortilla then rolled up and microwaved til cheese is melted
-gourmet tuna (like jalapeño, lemon-pepper, etc) on a whole wheat tortilla folded like a taco and either heated or eaten room temp
-soup
-lean frozen dinners (I eat rarely)

There are lots more but I'm using Jacob's iPhone to type this and it's taking forever, lol.

So far I have remained motivated and feel accomplished when I make good food and drink choices. For lunch we had McDs. I had a snack size spicy mcbites and a small pineapple mango smoothie of which together are around 500 cals. Not too bad for something that taste good and fits into my food style (I hate the word diet). Guesss that's it for now. This phone typing is to the point of intolerable. TTYL. Happy fooding!

Quick Breakfast OR Quick! Break Fast! ?

I'm sure you can relate..... you get up and there is a ton of stuff to be done. Kids to be fed and gotten dressed, you have to get ready for the day, laundry ALWAYS needs to be done and all the pets are nagging you for food and water. I have made the mistake more often than I should've to skip breakfast because I didn't have time.. or I didn't want to take time for it.

So, first I'd like to share some of the benefits of eating breakfast. Now, keep in mind that I am not at all claiming to be a nutrition expert or anywhere near perfect at all this, I am simply sharing information as I learn it in hopes that I can live a healthier life and maybe encourage others to do the same.

Healthy Breakfast Facts:

• Improves your concentration
• Improves performance
• Aids in lower levels of cholesterol
• Provides more vitamins and nutrients towards daily needs
• Healthier weight
• Eating breakfast starts your metabolism for the day
• Less hungry throughout the day
• A good breakfast choice is likely to lead to better food choices the rest of the day

As you can see, there are numerous benefits. Now, some things to think about....  Protein and fiber will help tide you over til lunch. Don't eat a bowl of Cap 'n Crunch and expect that to provide you with much nutrition nor keep you full for long. Also, eating something like a donut or Pop-Tart, although they are super duper fast and taste wonderful...
Dunkin Donuts Glazed Donut   250 cals, 14 g fat, 3 g protein
Strawberry Pop-Tart 200 cals, 5 g fat, 2 g protein

Better choices that are also quick are:
Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal 160 cals, 3 g fat, 7 g protein
Whole Wheat Toast w T of PB 160 cals, 8 g fat (all but 1 g are unsaturated, the good fat), 6.5 g prot
Kashi Honey Sunshine Ceareal w/ 1/2 c Skin Milk 140 cals, 1 g fat, 6 g protein


The above mentioned are super fast and high in nutrition. If you have a tid bit more time, you can make something like scrambled egg whites with some veggies like onions, tomatoes, etc.

1 egg white has ONLY 16 calories, NO fat and 4 grams of protein! I'm actually really excited about this because I just found out yesterday about how low in calories they are and just now about the fat (or lack thereof) and the amount of protein. That means that my breakfast yesterday was 48 calories, no fat and 12 grams of protein. That is just amazing to me. Lol.

This morning, I'm having a smoothie. I used half a cup of Braum's Sugar Free Vanilla Frozen Yogurt some berry Crystal Lite and about a cup of frozen strawberries. The totals are 140 cals, 2 g of fat (1.5 are unsaturated), and 4 g of protein.


Well, I guess that's it for now, if you have good breakfast ideas... please comment with them. I would greatly appreciate the suggestions!

I have wondered how I ended up 3.5 heavier than I am now. I had convinced myself that as long as I didn't get to my "max weight" of 155 that I was fine. I slowly go to that point and then.... our scale broke. Out the window went weighing myself every day to make sure I didn't go over. I thought "My just are just tight from the dryer" and "Clothes shrink after hanging up for a long time." Boy was I wrong, complete denial.

About a week ago I bought a scale. At 5' and 166.8 pounds, there are no more excuses, no "I'm fine", just the obvious need for change. 



Besides the numbers, I was also experiencing things like horrible indigestion of which required me to literally sleep sitting up in order to get any sleep whatsoever. I also have varicose veins... you know those, big, ugly, bumpy veins old ladies have... yeah.... I'm 25.

 So, where do I go from here? Toward the direction of health. Since starting really healthy a little over a week ago, I have not any trouble with my varicose veins hurting. That is typically an ongoing pain that in itself discourages me from being active due to the continual pain.  I also haven't had any indigestion at all!

However, since I have realized the difference even just in something I can feel because of dietary changes, I can only imagine the overall health benefits of continuing down a path of nutrition and activity.I am figuring out more and more the importance of paying attention to what we eat really affects us. I mean of course it makes sense, since what we eat essentially fuels our body.


I used to always worry about people looking at me and thinking "Wow, she's gained weight." As we all know, when someone hasn't seen someone in a while and they have.... there's always that one person that has to say it. I want people to look at me and it be obvious that I take care of myself. It's time we start paying attention to what eat not just because of a number (weight) but also because of the positive and negative affects food and drinks have on us. On this blog, I will be posting recipes, tips and other ideas as I learn to achieve a healthier lifestyle.


Feel free to comment with any thoughts, tips or successes.