Snack Smart: Dried Fruit

Need a yummy low cal snack on the go?
Try dried fruit. Its portable and much easier to stuff in a purse or backpack than squishing and bruising that real banana or apple.

A word to the wise though, watch the label.  A lot of dehydrated fruits are candied. All that sugar adds up to big calories that you don't need. The fruit is sweet enough on its own. Bananas and apricots are notorious for this.  Look at the ingredient list, if they add sugar, pass it by.

My favorite is the Kirkland brand freeze dried fruit. Just apples in a bag. 35 calories. The perfect snack in between class.  Great for lunchboxes for the kiddos too.

Snack Smart: Chips and salsa alternative

Ok, hear me out. I was skeptical too. But it's actually good.

Salsa is pretty good for you. It's the tortilla chips that'll get ya every time. So try enjoying your snacky salsa with a different kind of crunch. Try celery or my personal favorite, baby carrots. Yummy and low calorie. Satisfy your craving without blowing your budget. Plus the 'caliente' in the salsa can help heat up your metabolism.

Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Snack Smart: Foods that keep you slim - from Melanie Douglass

Today I am up to my ears in homework. So I am going to let someone else do the heavy lifting. This is a great article/video from Studio 5's Fitness Correspondent, Melanie Douglass.

http://studio5.ksl.com/?nid=56&sid=21275419

Check it out!

The Incredible Shrinking Catwoman

I warn you ahead of time. This is a rant.

I read an ABC News story yesterday about radical star diets for the roles they play. The one featured was about Anne Hathaway, the new Catwoman.  I have always loved Anne Hathaway in the past because she looked more like a real girl as opposed to a stick puppet. However, to prepare for her roles as Catwoman and an ill girl in Les Miserables, she has at one point dropped her caloric intake to 500 calories per day, and puts 5 hours a day in at the gym.
"The Catwoman suit. It was a psychological terrorist," she said. "... the suit, thoughts of my suit, changing my life so I would fit into that suit ... it dominated my year. I went into the gym for 10 months and didn't come out." -Anne Hathaway Allure magazine


Why?!! Why are we doing this to ourselves as a society? Think of some of the past greats. Liz Taylor... Marilyn Monroe. They were women, not barbies.  Let's look at Julie Newmar who played Catwoman in the 1966 movie.



Girl had some curves.

Next up we have Eartha Kitt.

A little slighter than the last

Onto Michelle Pfiffer

No real curves to speak of. Very slender waist.

Lets go to Anne Hathaway in a recent photo shoot to promote the movie, Dark Knight Rises

She's got some cleavage, I'll give her that. You can't have a heroine these days without a nice rack. But where did the rest of her go?

Here's one of her the year before

Gorgeous. Normal. 

The promo picture of her is beautiful. Don't get me wrong.  But the effort to maintain that body is completely insane and unsustainable. Yet she will be frozen in place forever as that size in that movie. The public will not think about the long days of starving with radishes and hummus and working in the gym. We will just say, "That is beauty."  

It's not, it's a costume. 

And who wants to put on a costume everyday for the rest of their life?

Not me. I would much rather have a little extra fluff around the edges and eat healthy, than live in the gym obssessively- ignoring every other aspect of life.

I for one wish there were a few less "costumes" in Hollywood, and a few more real people.

Snack Smart: Fattening vegetables

I have a friend, who will remain nameless, that loves to snack on baby carrots. I swear, her skin could turn orange. And not just from fake bake tanning. Anyway, she is not losing any weight and couldn't figure out why. After spending one weekend over at her place, I knew why.

She's attempting to have about 50% of her daily food as vegetables. A great goal. One problem, she soaks them in butter, cheese, and ranch dressing. Sadly, you do have to keep track of the crap you put on veggies to make them taste good. You think Oh, it's just a little bit of dipping sauce, it can't be too bad. I measured out her ranch dressing she used on those baby carrots. She added 250 calories to her low cal snack. No wonder she wasn't losing.

If you gotta have that dipping sauce, make sure you go low fat and use sparingly.

And for the record, apples are a great healthy snack. Apples with a tub of caramel dip... not so much.

Snack Smart: Kale Chips

Ok, so I am attempting to live a greener life. Aside from a salad, I had no clue how to do this.

My friend, Tres Hatch helped me discover Kale chips.  Hers were much better than mine, but I'm working on it.

First, buy a bunch of kale at the grocery store. They are the leafy things hotels stick on everything to make it look pretty. And yes it's edible. Tip* shake out the water before you buy it. Weighs less, costs less.

Next go home and preheat the over to 350.

Now wash, and strip all the leaves off the stem. The stem is bitter and nasty.

Throw in a bowl with EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and kosher salt. I way over salted mine. More than a pinch,. less than a handful.

Toss and then lay out on a cookie sheet.


Throw them in the the preheated oven for around 30 minutes.



Voila. Tasty Potato chip substitute.

Snack Smart: Arctic Zero Ice Cream

Sometimes life demands ice cream. There is just no way around it. If you're anything like me, sometimes life demands the entire pint. Ben and Jerrys used to be my choice for death by calories. Now, I find it difficult to justify at least 1000 calories, no matter how great pumpkin cheesecake tastes.

This is a solution that works for me when my day has sucked bad enough that they only remedy is a spoon and a pint. It's called Arctic Zone ice cream. I had the Mint Chocolate Chip. I warn you, it's spendy around 4 bucks a pint. And it's no Ben and Jerrys. But it is 150 calories. For the whole pint.

It's gluten free, lactose free, organic and natural, and low sugar. So it probably tastes like crap right? It's actually not bad. Don't expect it to be creamy fattening ice cream, because you will be disappointed. But if you need the cold, frozen, dig your spoon into something, fix- then give it a try. Think of it more like a minty chocalatey slushy.

Snack Smart: My calorie budget

Several people have emailed me about my calorie budget, so here you go. Keep in mind, I am in a maintenance phase. I am not trying to lose any more weight, just stay balanced.

On a rest day where I have no exercise, I aim for 1750 calories. This is what I have found works the best for my body. You might need more, or less. Once you get to a healthy weight, you can tweak it and see. Here's my usual breakdown.

Breakfast- 250 calories
Morning Snack- 200 calories
Lunch - 550 calories
Afternoon Snack- 100 calories
Dinner - 650 calories

If you guys are interested, I can post a few sample meals and snacks.  On days where I run high miles I obviously need to eat a an extra 500 -700 calories depending on the exercise.  But this is my typical day if I am just doing light cleaning at home and do nothing else physically.

Snack Smart: Swap out the sour cream

 Above is the Nutritional data for a cup of sour cream 

Now for the data on a cup of greek no fat yogurt

Way better for you. A great sour of protein, and without all the horrible fat. Next time you have a baked potato, try swapping your dollop of sour cream for a greek yogurt instead. I really like it and swear by it now.