Rangers @ Athletics

So now that I'm swearing off of fast food and soda for at least thirty days, I'll be cooking for myself more often. I'm not going to type everything that I make, but here and there I'll throw something out that I think others will enjoy.

The first is a burger that is a mix of some things I've found on my own, and the Pickapeppa sauce that Sasha introduced to me.

Schlep Burgers (lol)

• 1 lb ground beef or ground sirloin
• 1/4 tsp onion salt
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp Pickapeppa sauce
• 1/2" red onion slice for each burger (opt.)
  
• Slice of cheese for each burger (opt.)

Combine beef, onion salt, sea salt, black pepper, and Pickapeppa in mixing bowl. Divide into three patties with thinner centers than edges (thanks Bobby Flay, lol).

Grill burgers for approximately 15 minutes, depending on the heat of your grill. Flip 2-3 times, keeping the lid closed at all other times. Do not mash burgers down while grilling! Doing that pushes the juice out, resulting in dry burgers. Gross. Grill onion slices for approximately 10 minutes, flipping once.

Melt cheese over burgers and remove from grill. Serve with tomatoes, pickles, lettuce, or whatever else on buns (toasting optional).

Labels: food, nutrition

Happy Gilmore

In keeping with my New Year's Resolution, for the next several weeks I'll be making at least one post a week that details changes in my life and their effects. Leave some of your own ideas for topics or some comments. I'm going to kick this off with an important topic to me, and that's healthy eating and nutrition.

I've covered this topic a couple times now. Nutrition is an important topic to me, because unlike a lot of my friends, I never had amazing metabolism growing up. I had to work my ass off in soccer, football, and baseball just to stay slim. As soon as I got out of school and into the working world, things went south pretty fast. Like I mentioned in the other posts, 2001-2004 or so I ate pretty well, and continued to maintain my weight. My friends at UNT were great, but they definitely passed some bad eating habits to me in 2005 and 2006, causing my diet to consist mostly of Whataburger, Krystal, Taco Bueno, and Chipotle. Not a good diet if you feel like staying on the better side of 200 pounds.

Fortunately for me, I already know how to eat healthily. I'm surprised when I talk with people how they don't know the basic rules of healthy eating. I'm going to detail some more pointers that weren't in the previous two posts and hope that it helps a few people out. I am currently doing everything that I am about to write. If you want to feel like you have more energy, lose some weight, clear up your skin, fix digestive issues, or a myriad of other benefits, look at this and the below pointers.

• Eat six meals (or more) per day. Growing up in the United States, I was taught to eat breakfast, lunch, and a big dinner. The more meals a person eats during a day, the faster their metabolism. When the body knows that it can expect more food, it's not as likely to store all those extra calories in big meals as fat. There is a limit. Eating 23 meals per day isn't going to give you lightning metabolism, but generally the more meals you eat in a day, the higher your metabolism.
  
• Smaller portions. This point was always hard for me to wrap my head around. Even back when I was eating the right foods, I was still only eating breakfast, lunch, an afternoon snack, and dinner. Fewer meals meant that I was packing my plate full of food, with my dinner usually peaking at 900-1200 calories. By eating six small meals a day, this is no longer an option. If you're wondering what kind of small meals I'm eating, here are some examples: soup & a salad, turkey sandwich, oatmeal with fruit, beef nachos, spaghetti with side salad, BBQ chicken (Stubb's) with green beans and mac & cheese, 2-egg omellete with turkey bacon and 2 waffles, etc. These are all normal meals, just using ingredients and portions that limit each to 450 or fewer calories.
  
• The right ingredients. This is possibly the hardest concept for people to grasp. The foods that you should be eating consist of: whole grains (whole wheat, oats, brown rice, etc), fruits, vegetables, healthy cuts of meat (white meat on poultry, and lean cuts of pork and beef), with sparing use of healthy oils such as olive oil. With meat you have to realize that the USDA recommends eating between 5 and 9 ounces a day. If you are serious about being healthy, the internet is a wealth of knowledge on the subject. Personally I read a lot of information on WebMD.
  
• This is for life. When you make a decision to eat right, it isn't going on a diet. 'Dieting' is something from the 90's, and doesn't ever work. Even if someone manages to take a few pounds off, they'll be right back where they started once they resume their 'normal' eating style. There are healthy ways to make practically any dish you currently enjoy, so don't think of this as saying farewell to favorites like Tex-Mex and pizza.

For more information, look back at the posts I made previously or hit up our good friend Google.

Unfortunately beyond telling you that I feel amazing and wide awake during the day now, there isn't much that I can do to show the effect this is having on my life. In a few months the results may be a bit more obvious.

Labels: nutrition

The Offspring - Gone Away

Now after I posted everything that I ate yesterday, I got to thinking that while it might be useful, it's not good for anything but examples. So now I'm going to look a little bit deeper into what rules I use for eating.

Like most people, I have my favorite foods that I don't want to give up. What you saw yesterday was my need for mexican food. Now here's the thing. Most foods that you like and eat right now, can be made healthier. Don't get me wrong, a lot of the times it will be slightly different from what you eat at your typical restaurant. Can I make a damn good pizza? Yes I can. Can I make a pizza that's dripping with grease like something from Pizza Hut? Nope.

That's the bad news. The good news is that once you start cutting out a lot of the saturated fat from your diet, you don't even miss it. To be perfectly honest, whenever I'm eating the way I should, anything with a ton of saturated fat makes me nauseous. One of my favorite things when I'm in my college fast food mode is Mucho Nachos from Taco Bueno. When I'm in 2000-2004, July-present mode, they feel like a brick in my stomach and don't taste all that good either. So take comfort in the fact that you won't miss the high fat versions of these foods.

That brings me to the myth that eating right means eating salad all the time. Bull...shit. I like salad. I eat it occasionally with a good organic asian sesame dressing that I like. When I do happen to eat it, though, it's often as a side or before the meal. Relax...eating right doesn't mean giving up what you love.

Some examples of what I eat on a regular basis are: chicken/steak fajitas, turkey burgers (or ground sirloin), shish kebabs, french toast & eggs, 3 egg omelets, orange beef stir-fry, pizza, etc. Now maybe you have much different taste in food than I do, but there are some general rules I follow that will help you out.

• Cut out full calorie sodas. This is the very first rule I put into place back in February 2000 when I started eating better. Now I haven't succeeded in completely cutting them out period, because of their convenience, especially at school. I do try to avoid a few things, though: aspartame, caffeine, high sodium. I've found a root beer I like that only has a couple problems.
  
• Unless you're baking, use light/low-fat versions of everything. Often times the taste isn't all that different, if at all, and you usually save in both calories and saturated fat. If you're cooking, you need to experiment with what works and what doesn't. Fat-free cheese, for example, has less moisture (due to less fat) than regular cheese, so you need to up the moisture to compensate.
  
• Realize you eat more meat than you should. The average person should eat 4-5 oz of meat at dinner. That's about the size of a deck of cards or the palm of your hand. Meat is good, I love it. I'm from the midwest, and everything is about meat and potatoes. Too much of a good thing, though...well you know the rest.
  
• Fruits and vegetables are good. I know not everyone is as into them as I am. I can eat practically any of them raw and love it. You can, however, combine them with meals you eat on a daily basis to enhance those meals. They give you so many vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that it's a bad choice to overlook them.
  
• Use only oils high in unsaturated fats. This means sticking with oils like olive, safflower, and sunflower. Avoid ones like palm, coconut, and butter where possible.
  
• Drink a lot of water. Water is necessary for helping you digest food and good for replacing the water you lose every day. Not only that, but often times people confuse the signal from their body that it's dehydrated with being hungry. Drink up.

Now I could type out a lot more about all of this, and maybe I will in the future. You have to take this stuff into your own hands, because no one else is going to do it for you. We live in a country where the media tells us we need to look a certain way (small and toned for girls, large and ripped for guys), yet bombards us from every direction with crap we shouldn't be eating. How many times have you seen a Nike ad with a bunch of super fit people taking themselves to the limit, just to be followed up by an ad from Sonic or McDonald's and then Nestle cookies just for good measure?

You don't have to go organic like I do, or even eat as healthily as I do. Just start to notice the little things that contribute to your weight gain. If you switch from one Coke a day all year long to Diet Coke or water, you won't have 15 pounds to work off. If you use mustard instead of mayo on your daily sandwich, you'll drop 5 pounds.

I'll answer any questions posted in the comments section. If you're really serious about getting in shape, I'd suggest talking with a nutritionist.

Labels: nutrition

The Used - Under Pressure

Snack: PB&J

• Nature's Own Double Fiber Wheat
  
• 2 tbsp Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter w/ Honey
  
• 1 tbsp Smucker's Strawberry Preserves with Splenda

Two things. First is that I can't seem to find a natural peanut butter with honey that's also organic. Second thing is that I plan to switch to just plain strawberry preserves once I'm done cutting, but that 35-40 cals right now is just too important. Oh, and I also avoid drinking anything sugary at night, otherwise I would've had my normal Horizon Organic lowfat chocolate milk with it.

Nutrition Facts
Calories: 290
  From Fat: 162
Total Fat: 18g
  Saturated Fat: 3g
Carbs: 32g
  Dietary Fiber: 12g
Protein: 15g

Labels: nutrition

Family Guy

Dinner: Chicken fajitas and roasted chili-lime corn

• Chicken Fajitas
  (Extra virgin olive oil instead of vegetable oil, and omit salsa)
  
• Roasted corn with chili-lime butter
  (4 ears instead of 6, half the butter and chili powder; lightly salt)
  
• Kroger's black bean pico de gallo and Guaca Salsa used on the fajitas
  
• 16 oz Kroger Light Fruit Punch

Nutrition Facts
Calories: 643
  From Fat: 204
Total Fat: 24g
  Saturated Fat: 4g
Carbs: 69g
  Dietary Fiber: 12g
Protein: 45g

Labels: nutrition

Bob Schneider - Boombox (Live from The Aardvark)

Lunch: Turkey Sandwich

• Nature's Own Double Fiber Wheat
  
• Oven roasted honey turkey
  
• 1/4 cup organic broccoli sprouts
  
• 1 thick slice, organic tomato
  
• .8 oz slice swiss cheese
  
• 2 tbsp Nayonaise
  
• 16 oz Crystal Light Lemonade

Nutrition Facts
Calories: 305
  From Fat: 152
Total Fat: 16g
  Saturated Fat: 5g
Carbs: 25g
Dietary Fiber: 10g
Protein: 25g

Labels: nutrition

Beck - Loser

Snack: Schlep's Protein Shake

• 1 cup Horizon Organic Fat Free Milk
  
• GNC 100% Whey Protein - Vanilla
  
• 1 tsp Splenda
  
• 5-6 medium organic strawberries
  
• 1 small organic banana
  
• 14-15 ice cubes

Using a blender, combine all above ingredients. Start on lowest setting and finish on highest setting, until no ice chunks remain. I also take my multivitamin and green tea extract with this snack.

Nutrition Facts
Calories: 315
  From Fat: 20
Total Fat: 2g
  Saturated Fat: 1g
Carbs: 44g
Dietary Fiber: 4g
Protein: 30g

Labels: nutrition

The Offspring - Amazed

So about a month ago I made this post about going back to healthy eating, and exactly how far I'd go with my desire to eat organic foods instead of genetically modified and chemical laden foods. I ended up deciding on a halfway point. To be honest, I don't like the local natural foods store at all. The people who work there are kind of creepy, and the whole store could be mistaken for an oversized 7-11.

What I decided to do was buy as much organic as I could from Kroger, and make a monthly or so trip down to Sprouts to buy bulk items like oats, crackers, etc. I'm not sure where organic fits into it, but I feel ten times better than I did when I was on my fast food diet. It's hard to explain the benefits, because until you see what it does for you personally, they'll never sound as good as they actually are.

I've had a few people ask me what I eat in a normal day, and so today I'm going to actually update several times during the day and give you a glimpse. I'm going to preface this with two thoughts that may not click with some people. First, I don't care about carbs. There are certain carbs that you should never eat (white bread, white rice, classic table sugar, enriched flour cereals, etc), but I don't eat that shit except for in orange juice. Oats, 100% whole wheat bread, wheat flour, brown rice, fruits, and vegetables are things I eat with every meal. I don't see this changing.

The second thought is that I'm a firm believer in dividing meals up into 5 or 6 a day, and usually eat something an hour or two before bed. I have a hard time falling asleep if my stomach is busy saying "screw you" to my brain every waking second.

Now that that's out of the way, I'll give a short description of what I'm doing. I'm on a 1900-2100 calorie a day 'diet'. While hitting the exact calorie amount is nearly essential when you're cutting, it's something that I don't stress out over. If I go a little bit over or under, I figure it'll all balance out in the end so long as I'm aiming for that range. Plus, this isn't a diet for me, it's a way of life and was for quite a while. I fell off of it earlier this year when I got Link, because of the convenience of bad food. Now that Link is almost all growed up, I have the time to eat right again. No wonder people with kids gain so much weight...

Breakfast: Oatmeal

• 3/4 cup oats
  
• 1/2 tsp Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
  
• 2 tsp Splenda
  
• 1/4 cup Horizon Organic Fat Free Milk
  
• Organic raspberries
  
• Organic blueberries
  
• Tropicana Light N' Healthy OJ w/Pulp

Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add a pinch of salt, oats, and reduce heat to medium (or slightly lower with stainless steel). Let cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Turn off the stove, but leave the pot on the heat. Allow the oats to soak up the rest of the water. Stir in Splenda and Splenda Brown Sugar Blend. Move to bowl, add milk and fruit, and enjoy.

If you would rather use apples, simply peel and dice them. When you add the oats to the boiling water, add the apple as well. I use cinnamon instead of brown sugar with apples.

Nutrition Facts
Calories: 324
  From Fat: 35
Total Fat: 4g
  Saturated Fat: 1g
Carbs: 61g
Dietary Fiber: 7g
Protein: 12g

Labels: nutrition

The Rangers Losing

I was, in fact, hit by a bus. Of course, this wasn't your average yellow bus filled with screaming kids, but more of a metaphorical one. Some things went down recently that I don't even feel comfortable retelling on here that caused me to take that yearly state of Schlep report. It's not a horrible report, but it's not good either. Quite a few things that I had planned to do at one point fell by the wayside for one reason or the other. I wanted to get back into shape, get some good clothes to drive that home, become more positive, and completely sever any ties I have with people or things that aren't good for where I want to be in life.

Phew.

Ok, now the interesting stuff. Something that I noticed on my road to greek god is how much of a role food plays in our lives. Since I got Link, I had been regularly partaking in such healthy meals as combination burritos from Taco Bueno and the #1 w/ cheese from Krystal. It was a lot easier to bring him with to a drive through than it was to leave him at home for an hour or more while I picked up groceries.

Detoxing is a bitch. After eating all that stuff for six months, the sudden change to chicken, turkey, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains is playing havoc with the temple. The crap that was stewing in my system is now seeping out of my pores in the form of vegetable oil smelling rancidity. Replacing the junk is good for you foodness that I haven't eaten regularly since 2001. Five or six 'meals' a day, a regular sleep schedule, and exercise...sounds like an ad on Lifetime.

Just because I have to always go one step further, I'm thinking of switching over to organic foods. I'm not really the type that cares all that much about small farmers, chocolate-related slavery, and sticking it to the major food corps. Don't get me wrong, I hope that small farmers can make it, being a slave so some fat guy in Alabama can eat a Snickers, and eating 'food' that's processed to hell to meet the bottom line all suck. None of those are really a part of my thought process, though. I like the idea of eating organic fruits and vegetables, and actually have for a while, because of the pesticides and even less desirable things that go on with them. Where I start to get lost is with things that aren't ordinarily organic in your local Kroger.

Bread, crackers, spaghetti sauce, noodles, cookies, etc. These are just some of the things that I've never even tried the organic versions of. I think the problem is two-fold. First is that while a lot of supermarkets are now starting to carry more organic products, they're still a very limited portion of the store and are really marketed as an afterthought, which they are. The second problem is the absence of a normal organic market around here. I threw in the qualifier 'normal', because the one store here that does carry this stuff plays way too hard at the whole vegetarian/vegan market. Just by stepping foot in the store, I feel like I've joined some crazy Green Party affair. The one plus is they have about the best sandwiches available within 10 miles in their cafe.

So now I'm kind of on the fence about what to do. Option #1 is to continue what I'm doing. Option #2 is to buy as much organic as I can at Kroger while still buying the more questionable foods. Option #3 is to go all out granola and start shopping at the local Vegans R Us (they do have meat, but you'd never know it).

That's all for now...more stuff to talk about, but this thing is long enough as it is.

Labels: nutrition