Let's talk turkey bacon

Try it. You'll like it.

Considering the things my Dad ate, it's a wonder he lived to 89. 

When I was growing up, bacon was not exactly a mainstay but we did have it once a week. Dad got the most number of strips and Mom would make 'dips' for him - bread fried in the bacon fat left in the pan. Imagine.

I've successfully ignored bacon for a number of years until last summer at the cottage when I was cruising the meat section at the grocery store and noticed a product I had not seen before. I thought I'd give it a try and I've been buying it ever since.

Before you turn your nose up at turkey bacon, let me tell you that it has a ton of flavour, it's already cooked so it can be eaten right from the package, and it's incredibly lean - not even a teaspoon of fat will remain if you try frying it. Warm it up in the microwave between 2 sheets of paper towel and it's ready to be added to your sandwiches. Cut strips right from the package to add to your scrambled eggs. Or what I use it for mainly is an added topping on our weekly pizza. 

So if you've been clever and cut pork bacon from your menu a long time ago (as well you should!) but you're still missing it terribly, cruise through the meat section again at your local grocery store and have a look for turkey bacon. Times have changed, better options are available and bacon doesn't have to be the walking heart attack it used to be.

Sleeping and eating, eating and sleeping

In keeping with our non-technical theme here, let's talk about when to eat and when to wait.

I'm a firm believer in eating when one is hungry. The habit of having a little something frequently during the day keeps your body and your mind going. Fasting is the worst thing you can do. Your body goes into panic mode because it is expecting food, wants food, isn't getting food, so figures it better switch over to shut-down mode because it doesn't know when food is coming. This is counter productive. We want to keep all pistons firing during the day and park for sleeping at night.

That said, you can apply some smarts and some self-restraint when deciding what you eat at what time. A large meal right before bed is going to inhibit digestion, make you feel lousy and disrupt your sleep. Your body wants you to move around after eating, keep that blood flow up, help dissipate those nutrients from your stomach to those outer reaches. Going to bed a number of hours after eating will let your body concentrate on the task at hand (sleeping) and not digestion.

Another trick I have learned over the years is to have my high-calorie treats earlier in the day rather than last thing at night. I, personally, have very little self discipline so denying myself foods I want just makes me grouchy. I remember seeing an interview with Victoria Beckham and she was asked how she maintains her beautiful figure. I'm sure she said other things but what I remember her saying is that she never ate cookies. Two things came to mind when I heard that; she's either very self-disciplined or she does not have a sweet tooth. Hats off to her regardless.

I have a sweet tooth. I grew up in a household where there had to be dessert every night because Dad had a few sweet tooth's and a meal without dessert was a disaster. In my own household, the thought of not having sweets or desserts around is, well, unthinkable. Through trial and error, I have learned that eating 1/4 of a chocolate cake at 9pm will guarantee I'll still be awake at 2 in the morning but having cake with my coffee in the afternoon and I'll sleep like a baby.

So practice some smarts if you can. Don't eat a lot just before going to bed and move your high-calorie treats to earlier in the day. You really can have your cake and eat it too.

Granola. Let's talk breakfast, Part 1

I'm big on breakfast and if you learn anything from me, you will be too. There are many MANY reasons for eating healthy and doing your body proud and having breakfast tops that list. Eating in the morning after a night of 'fasting' sets your body straight for the day. Think of breakfast as your daily foundation and like any good foundation it will keep you upright, strong, stable and yes, even friendly as you set out to face the world. Put it this way; if you don't have a proper breakfast, you'll likely be snacking all day on foods that are less than ideal because you're trying to make up for that missing foundation.

I'll do a number of posts on breakfast but today since we're out of granola and we'll be making it later, I'll be sharing that recipe and some reasons why you too should take 5 minutes to make your own granola.

Preparing from scratch some of the foods you eat makes sense on a number of levels (saving money comes to mind), but when you make your own food, you control what goes into it. You know the ingredients, you mix them, you're in control of the amounts. Granola from the store can be high-end and very expensive or it can be fairly cheap, tempting you to grab a bag or 2 every time you're shopping. But there are cons to that. Check the list of ingredients on the packaging to see what I mean. The oils they use, the amount of sugar...consume this stuff over time and the harm can really add up. And some granolas contain almonds or other ingredients that you or the kids are picking out but you're paying for them because it's part of their product.

I started making granola a long time ago because I didn't want the kids having the saturated oils and all that sugar in the store-bought products. I'd found a good recipe that was simple to make each week when we were doing the pizza. Cost was a factor too; I could double the recipe and make enough granola to get us through 2 weeks for a fraction of the price of the store-bought stuff. So give this recipe a whirl, it's easy to make and you can adjust it any way you like. I'll give you the original though, so get creative and make it your own.

And when you sit down for breakfast tomorrow morning, put some of your new granola in the bottom of your bowl (then put some back - see my other post!), top it up with your regular cereal and feel good about the foundation you've laid to face your day.

Great Granola             (Jane Brody's Good Food Cookbook, New York 1985, p.508)
Melt together
1/4 c marg 
1/4 c honey
Stir in
3 c rolled oats
1 c shredded unsweetened coconut
1 c raw sunflower seeds
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Spread in a 9 x 13 pan, bake at 350 F for approx 15 mins, stirring several times. 
Add
1/2 c wheat germ
and bake 10 mins longer or until the granola is lightly browned. 
Remove from oven, and stir in
2/3 c raisins
Let the granola cool completely before storing.

Put some on, put some back

This is another expression to help keep you on track.

Years ago when the boys were sitting down to breakfast, I let them take as much sugar as their spoons would hold and told them to "put some on then put some back". They were happy because they were in control; they were the ones in charge of scooping and sprinkling it over their cereal, and I was happy because 99% of it was going back into the canister. (It's all optics when it comes to children.)

But this expression has served me well over the years and it can apply to a lot more than the sugar you use. When I'm putting jam on my toast, I'll put some on then scrape some of it off and put it back in the jar. The days of lathering it 1/4 inch thick edge to edge are over for me. And I do this with just about everything I eat. I'm not denying myself anything but I'm not over doing it either.

So whether you're having ice cream, a wedge of cake or a bowl of beef stew, try serving yourself what you would normally eat then put some of it back. It won't kill you and you won't starve. But over time, your new habit of 'put some on, put some back' should have a big impact on your waist line and your grocery bill.

Addicted to the Biggest Loser

At the risk of losing all credibility, I'll admit I love watching the Biggest Loser. Every week I cry at least once during the show. I can relate to the amount of effort needed to complete those killer workouts and even some of the emotional trauma the contestants share resonates with me. 

But one thing about Biggest Loser that I find particularly interesting is the anxiety at the weigh-in. It reminds me of a course I took in university about Indonesian cultures, and one particular culture had a number of rituals it would perform AFTER the harvest in the belief that the corn would multiply while in storage.

Sure, for some people a free ride through life seems to be their burden but for the rest of us, the majority of us, we get out of life what we put into it. Working hard toward a particular goal usually brings you closer to that goal. And if losing weight or getting in shape or turning toward healthy living is your goal, you have to put some work into it to get there. It takes effort. It takes changing some of your habits. It takes adding some things (exercise) and removing others (3 hrs of tv a week). 

If you do the work, have faith that the results will follow. Those contestants are anxious at the weigh-in because they haven't done the work. They are trying to increase their harvest without working the field. 

Stop favouring Left

If you are right-handed, do you favour your left side? Do you always start climbing the stairs with your right foot, carry the grocery bag in your right hand, open the door with your right arm, reach your right hand ACROSS your body to pick something up so left doesn't have to?

This type of favourtism makes the right side of your body much stronger than your left and all sorts of muscle imbalances ensue, from the tilt of your shoulders to the way you walk. And swimming straight in the pool is impossible; the pull from that skinny left arm just can't keep up with the right. Muscle imbalances are not a good thing and your body sends you all sorts of aches and pains to let you know it's unhappy.

A big part of maintaining a healthy body is to have a good look at your eating pattern to see if you're favouring one type of food over another. Is your Right always reaching for processed foods, packaged meals, desserts, or snack foods? What have you relegated Left and decided to pass over? Do you never/seldom reach for grains, vegetables, milk?

If you have an eating 'imbalance', I'd hazard a guess that your body is letting you know. Maybe you feel exhausted most of the time, not refreshed after sleeping, short-tempered with the kids or have trouble concentrating. 

We are effected mentally and physically by what we eat because everything in our bodies is integrated. Favouring your left side over your right has consequences for your whole body. And favouring unhealthy foods over healthy foods also has consequences for your whole body. So today, try to balance things out if you can. Your body will thank you.

Let's hear it for snacking

I'm big on snacking and I believe it's important to eat when you're hungry. Maybe another way of saying this is I don't believe in denying myself when I want to eat. 

But what I eat, when and how much is important. If it's 10:30 at night and you're in the kitchen plowing through a bag of chips, it better be because you just finished a 7 hour bike ride and you're waiting for your dinner to cook.

Though I'm not big on rules, I do try to keep tabs on a few of my habits when it comes to snacking. First, I don't let the snack turn into a meal. I used to, but my metabolism at this age is a lot slower than it was when I was in my 20s and I would definitely notice the effect of eating that whole bag of chips, even if I had just finished a long ride.

I also keep tabs on snacking at night. This can be a toughie but one thing that works well for our family is having a later dinner. When we're having dinner around 7:30pm and heading to bed a few hours after that, I'm not getting hungry again and wanting to eat. But eating at 6pm would always have me starving by 9 and grabbing the bag of cookies to eat in front of the tv. 

Which brings me to what I snack on. An apple or an orange just doesn't cut it for me and it never has. I need a snack with guts and right now my favourite snack is yogurt with cereal, which is what I lived on when I was training for ironman. I buy the large containers of Astro Smooth & Fruity yogurt and pour the cereal right in, eat through that then pour in more cereal. A few pieces of toast with honey is another fave.

So when you're snacking, try to keep a few things in mind; 1. Quantity. If you find yourself eating a huge snack, stop and have a proper meal instead, then have a few of those cookies for dessert. 2. Timing. Try not to eat late at night and don't have dinner while you're making dinner. 3. What you choose. If you need something light to tide you over, then grab something light - not a piece of cake because it's there. You're smarter than that and nothing speaks Smart like smart snacking.

Pizza dough recipe for your Bread Machine

Place ingredients into the canister in the order recommended by the manufacturer.

Pizza Dough
1 tsp dry yeast
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 cup water

Select the 'dough' cycle and press Start.

Variations: replace 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 cup whole wheat flour.
Add 1 tbsp dried oregano flakes, or your other favourite dried flakes.
Use olive oil instead of cooking oil.

For my bread machine, the dough is ready in 50 minutes so I usually chop the toppings and grate the cheeses so everything is ready to assemble the pizza when the timer goes.

When you discover how simple this is, you'll be having pizza more than once a week. And that's not considered criminal activity in my books.

Naan recipe for your Bread Machine

Naan is a delicious Eastern flatbread that is served with a meal. I absolutely love it but I've been dismayed by it's price. 2 pieces in the Frozen Foods section are $1.99 and believe me, 2 pieces are not enough for everyone at dinner.

A simple alternative that works well for me is to make my own dough, then roll small pieces and fry them in Celeb margarine in the frying pan. I never seem to manage to keep more than a few on the serving plate because thieves come into the kitchen and steal them as soon as they're done. They are so delicious that you likely won't have any better luck.

Naan 

Place ingredients into your bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer.

1 tsp dry yeast
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 c water

Select the 'dough' cycle and press Start. 

When the dough is ready, remove it from the canister onto a floured surface and cover with a tea towel.

Using a sharp knife, cut off sections of dough approximately 2 to 3 inches in diameter. Once you make a few, you'll know the size you like. Keep the unused dough under the towel. Roll the small section into a circle, fairly thin. It's called 'flatbread' for a reason...

Heat a frying pan over medium heat and melt a small amount of margarine. Turn the frying pan to spread the marg then toss in the section of dough you've rolled. It will brown fairly quickly. Turn it to brown on the other side, then remove to your serving plate. 

Put more marg in the frying pan, reduce the heat if needed, and repeat the process. Make the naan larger or smaller, thicker or thinner, depending on who you're serving and what else you're serving for the meal. It's not a beauty contest, you don't get points for perfectly round naan, so don't bother trimming edges and making them all look the same. The goal is to finish quickly so the naan is still warm when it hits the table. 

Don't stress, even if you burn a few. The results will be so delicious, no one will notice anyway.

Bread machine. You've got one, right?

We love pizza and we eat a lot of it but before talking about the pizza we make, I'd be remiss not to mention our bread machine.

Bread machines were all the rage a number of years ago and if you got one at the time, smart move. If you didn't, chances are good you can find a cheap one at a 2nd hand store or a garage sale. I bought ours for $5 from the lady around the corner at the cottage. Cookbook included. And she could verify it worked.

Some bread machines have a lengthy delay to allow the ingredients in the canister to warm to room temperature before starting. This can be annoying when all you want to make is pizza dough. Thankfully the machine we have doesn't do this and the dough cycle is only 50 minutes. In contrast, my friend's machine takes 2 hours to make the same thing. Not the end of the world but it definitely takes more planning on her part.

I use our bread machine at least once a week. I have a book of recipes and some of the breads are especially good and different enough from the varieties I can get at the local store that they're worth making. It's a nice treat to have a loaf of cornmeal bread at dinner when we're having a heavy soup that night.

Making bread is not about saving money. The local bakery and the whole wheat breads available around here are not expensive. Making bread is all about variety and nothing beats a fresh, warm loaf of sweet bread, not to mention the aroma in the house.

But making pizza dough is about saving money. It's fast, simple, cheap, and it beats paying $2 for a bag of dough at the store that you have to use shortly after buying. And if you make the dough yourself, you can add oregano to the ingredients, or make it with whole wheat flour added. I've never seen whole wheat pizza dough for sale and I'm sure I never will.

So if you don't have a bread machine, I'd highly recommend getting one. Losing weight the simple way and keeping your household healthy has a lot to do with taking control over what you feed yourself and your family. And a bread machine is a good weapon to have in your arsenal.

Bread is in the House

A few years ago when that high protein, low carb diet came out I was devastated. How could anyone be silly enough to cut wonderful foods like bread and potatoes from their daily eating? Madness I tell you, madness!

When I was growing up and bread hit the price of 25 cents a loaf, Mom put her foot down and said that was it, she was going to make bread herself from now on. Our family of 6 kids endured the next year of 'lead bread' before her technique was perfected and each week, huge loaves of fluffy bread would emerge from the oven to see us through another 7 days. Before long it became my responsibility to make the bread and I remember one Saturday when I was in grade 9, being in the bank with my friend and freaking out because I had forgotten the bread I had left in the oven for the second rise.

Despite the lovely taste of soft white bread with no nutritional value, do yourself a favour and switch over to whole wheat or grain breads and let the loaves take over your kitchen counter. If it's the only bread in the house, you and the kids will eat it and get used to it really quickly. I'll admit that my husband will buy white bread on occasion but when the kids want a sandwich or toast they always ask for 'the good bread Mommy, not the white one'.

I eat a lot of bread. And you already know I don't put marg on it... Bread is filling, it's nutritous and toast with honey makes a fantastic snack when you're hungry and want something right away. Whole wheat rolls on the dinner table are easier on the waistline than a second serving of meat. 

Carbs are your friends, and like true friends, they're nice to have around!

Margarine in moderation

First, our daily mantra: It didn't go on overnight, it's not coming off overnight.

I don't put marg on my bread or my toast.

I used to, until many, many years ago I made a sandwich without it and couldn't tell the difference. Give it a try and see what I mean.

I don't put it on my pancakes or waffles either, just syrup.

Yes I have marg in the house. I buy President's Choice Celeb that is similar to Becel but cheaper. It's a source of polyunsaturates and omega 3 fats, the ones that are easier on your arteries than saturated and Trans fats. I use the Celeb in baking. I could buy the cheap stuff and save money but I don't want the kids (or me and my husband for that matter) having saturated fats unnecessarily.

Habits are contagious. Since I've never put marg on my sandwiches or toast, the kids don't either. They've never seen me do it, they don't know even know it's an option.

So let's recap. You've cut the sugar from your coffee, replaced the cream with 2% milk and cut the marg from your sandwiches. Isn't this simple?

Lose weight today

Repeat after me:

"It didn't go on overnight, it's not coming off overnight."

I love this expression. Use it to keep perspective. Say it to yourself a number of times today. Don't get overwhelmed about the magnitude of your journey and how far away your goal weight may be, we are going to focus on the little things. The every day things. The small things that add up to make a big difference - 'big' in a good way, as in big amount of weight loss if that's what you want to do. 

Whatever your intentions, to lose a little weight or lose a lot, I'd like to be part of your journey. I'm average weight. I always have been. I'm not interested in technical talk about weight loss. I've always found it hard to translate something with X number of calories into physical activity for X amount of time to burn it off. It's never made sense to me, even though in previous years I did intensive training for running races and triathalons. Technical talk as it relates to nutrition has never interested me and if you're the same way, then great. You're speakin' my speak!

Here's my goal for this blog. I'm going to share with you the things I do to give you insight into how I eat and (sometimes) exercise. I'm a healthy weight and I've got muscle mass - 'thin' is not a compliment, by the way. In my books, 'thin' means a person with a frame, some skin and no muscle. Not exactly a goal to aim for, people!!

Let's look at today. Right now it's 10am and I've had one cup of coffee that was half coffee and half 2% milk. I used to buy homo milk (3.25% fat) but it was expensive and I was still making my coffee the same way; 1/2 coffee and 1/2 milk. I switched to using 2% milk in my coffee to save money. It didn't take me long to get used to the small difference it made to the taste of my morning brew.

Oh, did I mention that losing weight and health eating also means you'll save money? Holy crap, the benefits just keep on coming.

So. What did you put in your coffee this morning? 10% cream? Some sugar? Try this; for the rest of the day and from now on, have your coffee with smaller amounts of sugar (until you can have it with no sugar) and switch to using 2% milk. 

How many calories will that save you? I have no idea!!!!