Don't knock it till you try it.

Loosing weight can often times be hard, but the good thing is that the food market provides a lot of healthy options to make this goal easier to attain. I know that when I first switched to fat free milk and whole wheat bread 3 ears ago, I never thought I'd like it. Foods like turkey burgers and whole wheat pasta were such crazy ideas to me at the time. Good thing I tried it all out, because I realized that I really do enjoy some of the healthier options out there.

While I have some time now, I wanted to write about a meal I made for my family recently. Healthy Spaghetti! I can't tell you if my family enjoyed it because I can't speak for them haha. I think it was definitely different from the spaghetti we're used to. My mom makes the best spaghetti and she usually adds to huge spoonfuls of sour cream and then two more spoonfuls of butter. Eeeek! I can see the calories adding up in my head. I'm not going to lie, it's absolutely delicious, but since we were on my turf, it was going to be healthy spaghetti!

Now, I got the recipe from my Biggest Loser Cookbook and I'll share it here.

The Pasta Part:

Use whole wheat pasta and boil it like you would for spaghetti.

Sauce:

1/3 cup finely chopped yellow or white person

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 1/3 cups canned crushed tomatoes

1 tablespoon no-salt-added tomato paste

1 tablespoon water

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves

Lightly mist a medium nonstick saucepan with olive oil spray. Set over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 5 minutes, or until almost tender (do not brown). Reduce the heat to low. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, water, honey, oregano, Italian seasoning, olive oil, and basil. Stir with a wooden spoon to mix. Simmer for 5 minutes for the flavors to blend.

76 calories. How can you beat that?!

Now when I made it, I added ground turkey and I didn't like how that turned out. I'd stick to the recipe. I love it. I can't wait to make it again!

Next ...

This is my new favorite drink. You couldn't pay me to drink that Tomato V8 juice that they sell. BUT .. the clever people of V8 have been mixing their fruits and veggies and now there is V8 Fruit Fusion! Amazing! I absolutely love it. Sometimes, I do think I can taste the veggies, but if I put some ice in my glass it goes down smooth. I have 3 different flavors in fridge now. My favorite is the Pomegranate Blueberry blend. It has anti-oxidants which I love and anything blueberry is supposed to make you happy. If you experience depression, eat some blue berries! V8 does have other blends available but the V-Fusions are my favorite.

And....

So .. I'm always confused after those Julia Louis Dreyfus commercials that Healthy Choice has ever since they re-vamped their TV dinners. You know, the funny one from Seinfeld. I can never tell if the commercial is supposed to make me like the new product or not. Either way, it confused me and the last time I walked into the store I bought some out of curiosity. Their marketing strategy worked.

So I had the Turkey Medallion Healthy Choice this week and I have to say .. it was phenomenal!! I never like TV dinners at all. The turkey pieces were substantial.. the mashed potato had consistency and don't get me started on the warm cranberries, apples, and butternut squash. It was really good!!!

Now, I also have to add that our microwave stopped working a couple weeks ago and we've been cooking all our TV dinners in the oven. What a world of difference! I recommend everyone put them in the oven rather than microwave plus it makes you wait 30 minutes which allows you to not eat as fast and to take your time when you finally have your meal. I'm including a picture of the actual meal when it's done. I think it was scrumptious and it was 220 calories.

The rumor is that these new meals are high in sodium. This one was 500 mg of sodium. The recommended salt intake is between the range of 1,500 and 2,400 milligrams (mg) a day for healthy adults. So, I'm thinking that as long as you keep track of your sodium intake throughout the day, you should be ok. All in all it's a good meal and very low in calories. I had the Sweet & Sour chicken for lunch today and it was good too!

Gotta give these foods a chance .. there's a world of healthy out there!

For the record

Breakfast
Banana Nut Cheerios 100
Low Fat Milk 90

Total: 190

Lunch
Healthy Choice Sweet & Sour Chicken 430
Strawberry Banana V8 Fusion 120

Total: 550

Snacks
3 Reeses Pieces 270
3 Kit Kats 200

Total: 480

Total so far ... 1220

I have 280 calories left for the day. I'll be back later to let you know how it goes.

A for Effort!

Breakfast

Fat Free Milk 90

Banana Nut Cheerios 100

I banana 72

Total: 262

Snack

8 Club Crackers 70

Guava Spread 100

Fat Free Cream Cheese 30

Total: 200

Lunch

Healthy Choice Turket Medallion Meal 220
(with red skinned potatos and gravy & butternut squash, apples, and cranberries)

Total: 220

So far ... 682

Yay .. that leaves me 818 calories for dinner. The best part is that I've had dairy, whole wheat, fruits, veggies, protein, and have only drank water. Not bad. I'll be honest, I'm in the mood for KFC for dinner but I'm going to look up the best option if I do make my way over there to celebrate after my Tort Law final. Wish me Luck!

I wanted to come back and finish my post for the day. I can't say I made the healthiest options but this is what the blog is for to be honest .. so this was dinner. Luckily I did choose smarter than I usually would have at KFC but I did have some snacks I should have stayed away from.

Dinner

KFC Popcorn Chicken 550

Small Coleslaw 180

BBQ Sauce 40

Honey Mustard 120

Total: 890

Snacks

Bite Size Chocolates

2 Kit Kats 140

1 Reeses 90

1 Almond Joy 80

16 BBQ Pringles 150

French Onion Dip 60

Total: 520

Daily Total: 2,092

Not good. I walked for 30 minutes and I'm going to do some excercise tonight do at least burn off 500 calories.

Holy Calorie! Oy vey ...

So, I decided to type up everything I ate today so far ... I had a feeling I had gone over in calories but I wasn't sure where. It is so easy to think you're eating healthy or to think something wont add up too much when in fact it does. I am shocked to see that by meal one I had already eaten more than half of my daily calorie intake. I should eat 1,500 calories as a minimum but should definetely not exceed that amount. I thought that by eating some protein with some veggies in my egg this morning, it would have been healthier but I have come to find out that some of my choices were not so smart. Now, I haven't gone over my calorie count but we're at a total of 1286 and that only leaves 214 available .. and it's 7 p.m. The last time I ate was at 4:00 p.m. so I'm going to have think smart for dinner tonight. So lets go over this ...

Breakfast
2 Scrambled Eggs 140
(I should have just had one egg)
Ketchup 30
Chopped Tomatos 20
Chopped Peppers 20
Milk Non fat 1 cup 86
2 slices of Whole Wheat Toast 140
(One slice of bread or no bread would have been a better option)
Strawberry Jelly 56
Pancake Syrup 59
Honey Baked Ham (3 slices) 111
(I'll be honest, I probably couldn't live without ham in my eggs, but I slice would have been sufficient)
Chopped Onion 30
(This meal contained a lot of veggies and protein which is good. However, there were some options I could have made better decisions on.)
Total: 692


Lunch
1 Cup of Spinach 7
Chopped Tomatos 19
Box of Raisings 42
Onions 30
Cucumber 17
French Salad Dressing 134
(This meal was actually really good on the nutritious factor, the fact that it was low in calorie helped me not go over my calorie max.)
Total: 249

Snack
2 Weight Watchers Toffee Bards 220
Half an M&M Peanut pack 125
Total: 345
(Snacks were really bad. Maybe one toffee bar would have been enough but having two really added up and I should not have eaten M&M's.)


Daily Total: 1286

214 more calories to go ... Oy vey.

I'll do better tomorrow. :)

Vita Sana & Laid Off

So, I got laid off this Thursday. It was rough, I'm not going to lie. At first I was really positive about it but that only lasted for so long and yesterday the stress of job searches settled in. In a time of stress it is extremely easy to fall back into the crazy eating habits a person might have. I know that I have a little signal that goes off in my mind that says .. "You're going through a hard time, you deserved a meal, whatever you want." However, I am determined to make this time around be the LAST TIME AROUND. I'm not going to baby my inner insecure and doubtful self by taking care of myself in a way that really wont be healthy at all. Yes, eating whatever I want will make me really happy .. in the moment .. but when that moment fades what will I have? I'll be left with guilt, pitty, more pounds, more distance from the things that I want, poor self image. The negatives outweigh the positive.

A good thing that has come out of being laid off is that I have more time to work out. What a better time to focus on excercise!! What excuse could I possible give?? I'm excited .. I think this is finally my chance to make this a priority. Yes, things are stressful, things are tough, but my being laid off is a blessing in disguise and I am positive of that. Something better will come my way and now I can focus on school and my health.

Wish me luck.

Vacay

Happy Vita Sana!

I've been on vacation with my family this week so I haven't had much time to update on my experiences. I will tell you that the desires to eat unhealthy intensify while being on vacation. Luckily, we are all on diets right now in my family.My sister is currently on nutrisystem and my dad is usually trying to eat heathy. I think for the most part, we have all helped each other reminding the other when to eat healthy. I don't have much time right now but when I get back I'll post some pics and write more!

Hugs!

Jenny

Hey Sub! Say cheese! I'm mean .. low fat cheeeese!

Mmm food .. I love it! Even though I love it, I can't really say I'm a food expert. I hate seafood and I really don't eat extravagent meals and if you took sauces away from me, I'd find 99.9% of the food I eat, disgusting or bland. The truth is I eat a lot of the same foods over and over again. I'm sure there is a common denominator in all of them that leads me to these culprits and maybe I'll dicover that later when I finally go see a nutritionist. I must be addicted to carbohydrates and sodium because a lot of foods I crave contain those things. In the meantime, while I figure this all out, I am photo blogging my experience with food so I'm starting with today. I'd love to to do this everyday but I might start looking like a psycho if my co-workers & friends see me snapping pictures .. "That's right sandwhich .. wink at the camera!" .. lol. Plus, it's really not safe to drive and take a picture of your smoothie. Nonetheless, let the changes begin. I've gotta trust the process. So lets begin with the first meal of the day as the sun was rising on this lovely day.

This morning I had a breakfast sub from Subway. Yes, they serve breakfast. I am fortunate enough to have a Subway that serves breakfast. Now, I'll be honest I was very focused on having to have breakfast this morning as this is one of my goals so I wasn't thinking healthy but I didn't think it could be so bad. I personally do not think that there is anything wrong with egg and sausage because in this wrap it is in moderation. Where I do have to critique the meal however, is that it is wrapped in a white tortilla when I should have ordered a whole wheat tortilla. There is also cheese which isn't all that healthy either. The next time I go, I am going to see if the lady who works there, who knows me by name can switch it up for me.

Ah lunch .. well today I had every intention of going home and having a turkey sandwhich. I had to make a quick run to bank during lunch and so I panicked because I was like o-m-g .. what am I going to do? I wont have time to prepare a meal and I'm going to end up eating fast food or something .. no!!! Luckily .. I took a moment to think and reminded myself that there are other options. So I remembered that there is a Smoothie King right by UCF .. all the skinny girls go there lol. So I thought .. let me go among them. Anyways, I got a Pineapple Surf. A Pineapple Surf has the following ingredients: Pineapple, Strawberries, Kiwi, Vanilla, Protein Blend, Vanilla, Turbinado, and Honey. It was as delicious as it sounds. Now, this smoothie is 461 calories which isn't bad at all. It was filling, pretty healthy, and low in calories. Could a girl ask for more?! Well, the only thing I thought was wierd was that it contained protein blend. I'm not exactly sure I need to be drinking that but I suppose they include it so that you feel energized, especially if you're relying on a smoothie for a meal. They get 4 out of 5 stars from me because I'm eh about the protein and who are we kidding,turbinado is just another form of sugar. Don't lie to me Smoothie King .. not so early in our relationship. I love how the cup says Chewing is over-rated. LOL. On to the next meal!

Ah dinner, the moment of the day when I want to devour every morsel in front of me. After a long busy and often stressful day I usually just want to eat. Today I opted for a sub from Quiznos. Let me start of by saying, I don't believe this is a healthy place at all and I'd like to blame my steering wheel for leading me to this place. Ironically enough ... I ordered a Honey Bacon Club .. judge me later .. and when I opened it, it was a Honey Burbon Chicken. I was like WHAT?! However, the Honey Bacon Club at Quiznos is 520 calories and the Honey Burbon Chicken is 320 calories. The healthy Gods were watching over me a pulled a switch-a-roo. I'm glad they did. I tend to want to eat the same foods over and over again. I always get a Honey Bacon Club when I go to Quiznos. This sandwhich, the Honey Burbon Chicken had grilled chicken which I am not a fan of but am determined to get along. I will have to say, it was good. I enjoyed it and best of all, now I know that I have a healthy option at Quiznos. Just the same though, I need to stay away from these places. The best thing is for me to make my meals at home because I know what I put in them. It's nice to know I have healthy options though. Oh and I did get this sub on whole wheat bread.

That's all for today.

Balancing 1... 2... 3 ...

1. Drink 8-10 glasses of water

Step 1. Grab Cup

Step 2. Fill with water ;)

2. Exercise 30 minutes/3 times a week - Must do this .. one night of Zumba is not enough

3. Eat Breakfast - I want to do this everyday!!

Above is a list of the things I intend to put into practice ASAP. They seem simple enough but with my hectic days it's easy for me to let any of these fall through the cracks. As for exercise, I constantly tell everyone that there isn't any extra time for me to work out. The truth is that if my health was a priority like school or work was, I'd be giving it my all. So, I'm done with the excuses, I will be working out 30 minutes/3 times a day. It might not always be at the gym. I might take a walk, do a work out DVD, or take another class at the gym but the point is I'm going to start moving this body. As for breakfast, I'm going to start having some every morning. I'll be honest, my moods are crazy. Some mornings I am starving and on other mornings I wont be hungry till 9:00 a.m. and add to that that I am an emotional person. If I'm happy I want to eat certain foods and if I'm sad, others. So this will be a task to be prepared for whatever "Jenny mood" I wake up to. As for drinking more water, I thank God that I like water the way I do. This shouldn't be hard for me but it is a habit I tend to forget when I loose focus so I will stay on top of it.

So, for right now these 3 will do. Gotta live la vita sana!

I can't be proud of this.

I read an article today in an Oprah magazine that talked about the effectiveness of taking pictures of the unhealthy foods you eat. Apparently, the act made the participants much more aware of what they were eating and they didn't really want to take a picture of it, much less see if afterwards. Keeping a journal is proven to work too. So I'm going to combine these concepts and as I start to blog about my experiences, I'm going to also photograph the culprits. Those foods that look oh so delicious but are oh so bad. The first and the worst has to be Arby's beef and cheddar sandwhich and their delicious mozzarella sticks. Totalling at a whopping 1000 calories all together,

they are my biggest addiction and yet, my biggest comfort. I am almost emberassed to include a photo in this blog

but, it must be done.

100 % Gross

Mafia King Cheddar & his associate Mozz.

.Living la Vita Sana.

Vita Sana is Italian for "Living Healthy". This blog is going to serve as a place for me to share my experiences with living healthy. As of right now I don't lead a healthy lifestyle. I have adopted a few healthy habits along my journey like switching to low fat milk and switching to whole wheat bread but that doesn't hide the fact that I eat well over 2,000 calories a day. I have an array of bad habits and a distaste for vegetables. I also use food as a coping mechanism. Happy or sad, food is my comfort. I had hoped that my thyroid was to blame but blood work ruled that out and I have now concluded that this is ultimately in my hands. I am the sum of all my steps and this is going to take a huge effort. I admit here and now that I have no one else but to blame for my weight gain but myself. Everything that happened in the past to catapult me to my 180 pounds is irrelevant to where I stand today. Sure, it played a factor but ultimately it is my everyday decisions that will lead me to where I want to go. My weight loss is going to be founded on the countless "healthy" decisions I make as well as the very unhealthy decisions. Right now, the scale is tipped to a very unhealthy lifestyle. The mission now is to balance it out and eventually tip it to healthy where it belongs.

Now I will say that my weight is my body guard. It is my shield. I don't have to deal with men and their advances. I don't have to worry about standing out. I use my weight to hide. Despite my weight, I have stood out and have even received the unwanted attention I was hiding from. In other words, while I use the excuse of hiding behind my weight I shine right through it and it's time I act like a big girl, rather, an adult and face this world living a healthy life style and if I stand out, so what? It's time to stop being so afraid. Fear is going to get me no where.

Most importantly, my health needs and will become a priority in my life. I'm not looking to be a stick thin girl. Not at all. God gave me curves and I love them all. I want to rush out of obesity, run through overweight, and slide right into healthy. I'm tired of being told I'd be prettier if I would just loose weight. I am sick of wanting to wear really cute clothes and having to worry that my pants look funny or that my shirt has to cover my belly. I want to wake up in the morning and not have to worry about coordinating my outfits according to my weight. I want to wear a hot bikini one day and shorts and tucked in shirts.

There is no doubt that I love me. My family can attest that I love myself. No one else I know .. buys themselves flowers, tells herself she rocks or writes herself I love you all over her mirror. I am such a positive person. I love my life and take pride in everything that I do. However, I need to do better. It isn't enough to do these acts when I'm not doing what is really important.

So I'm ready to do this .. ready to live la Vita Sana.