Veggies gone wild!

The challenge for April was about upping the veggie intake, but now the challenge got bigger. I've signed up for a program at the gym. It was supposed to be just a workout program, or so I thought.

But it's everything. And I'm now eating the Canadian Food Guide. For me that means:

• Vegetables & Fruit - 7 to 8 servings
  
• Grain Products - 6 to 7 servings
  
• Milk & Alternatives - 2 servings
  
• Meat & Alternatives - 2 servings
  

7 to 8 servings seems crazy. But I've mostly gotten it in since Saturday. Pretty proud of that. A little heavy on the fruit, but still, much better then my usual day. I'm ready for something to work for me. The trainer I'm working with lost 100lbs using the Canada Food Guide and exercise. This is the something to help me smash though the 220lb range down to below 210lbs. Think how much easier running will be when there's 10lbs gone!

Next I need to fill you in on how much water he has me drinking.

OK2010A! Challenge #4 - Increasing veggies

Operation Kick 2010's Ass is commencing part IV.
Another month, another challenge. Are you ready?

This time we're back to a nutritional challenge. For the month of April your task is to eat two full servings of vegetables.

This is less than half of the recommended servings of vegetables each day. Two is better than none Two is nearly halfway to where you need to be.

Examples of one serving of vegetables:
five broccoli florets
ten baby carrots
one roma tomato
3/4 cup tomato juice
half of a baked sweet potato
one ear of corn
four slices of an onion
1 cup leafy greens

Potato does not count!

Here's a list of some interesting veggies. They can be canned, fresh or frozen.
http://cookery.newarchaeology.com/vegetables.php

Some suggestions for working your veggies in:
1. Soup with cabbage, spinach, carrots & celery something like the one I made but didn't eat
2. Spinach salad topped with strawberries, oranges & nuts
3. Roast cauliflower mashed half & half with boiled potato
4. Baked sweet potato done french fry style
5. Bake salmon with fennel and tomato.
6. Frozen stir fry veg with some soya sauce, oil, garlic, brown sugar or honey
7. Veggie fajitas
8. Roast root veggies and use on salad, quesadilla with feta, or on pasta with cream sauce
9. Caesar salad
10. Ants on a log

Hope you're in! Don't forget you're still working on
1. 30 min of activity a day
2. tracking food
3. squats challenge

Running - Slow, Fat and (sometimes) in Pain

As promised in the bio this is a blog about a return to running. This month I made good on an early part of my plan. If I can't do it on my own, I need to get help.

So I've returned to the Running Room's Learn to Run program. It's what got me running outside last time. It's also where I met my running partner. My first night back I called speed dating. Only if there was someone as slow as me was I going to stick around. It was successful. And I was relatively fast!

We're three weeks in now and I'm not fast. At all. Not sure why I did so well the first night. Waiting for the magic to happen again.
The program to date is:

March 27th - Run 1 minute, Walk 2 minutes
April 3rd - Run 1 minute, Walk 1 minute x 10
April 10th - Run 2 minutes, Walk 1 minute x 7

You do your first at the time with the group on Saturday. Two more runs during the week on your own or with the Running Club at the Running Room. I've made it out to most Wednesday night runs at 6pm. Even made a Sunday morning.

This morning we tackle 3 min runs and 1 min walks. Wish me luck! I follow that up with a weigh and measure appointment for the Biggest Loser contest I've entered. It's going to be a big day.

OK2010A! Challenge #3 - Squat Challenge

Let's skip to #4. Since March is now over, it's official, the squat challenge was a failure. But here's the blog post I SHOULD have put up.


Operation Kick 2010's Ass is commencing part III. Every month gives you another chance to start fresh.

For the third challenge I want you to sit your way to success. We'll be taking on the 200 Squat Challenge. It's well documented at http://www.twohundredsquats.com. There's even an iPhone & iPod Touch app.

Your commitment to the Squat challenge will count toward the 30 minutes of activity a day you're doing for the January challenge. The recommend time for you to a lot to the program is 30 min week over 3 days/week.

Why squats?

1. They're a functional exercise. They develop muscles and motions that we use ever day.
   
2. You can attempt the challenge to suit yourself. If 200 is too easy you can ramp it up with bicep curls. Too hard and you can repeat a week.
   
3. Squats don't require a special place. You can do them anywhere. No need to find a piece of floor to lay on. If need be you can lock yourself in a bathroom to get your squats done!
   
4. Low cost. The only costs for the squat challenge is your time. No need to buy equipment or join a gym.
   
5. Long-term commitment to health and fitness. The challenge will take as long as 6 weeks, taking us into the middle or April.
   
6. Long-term success. Next time you take a core class, stability ball class or other fitness class you'll be laughing at the request for two sets of 12 squats. That's just over 10% of what you can do!
   

To recap:
January was about doing 30 minutes of activity everyday. You're still committed to getting'er done.
February created the habit of writing down your food each day. Keep it up!
March is about adding a functional exercise to make us all stronger at everyday tasks.

On your mark, get set, SQUAT!

Singapore Noodles Recipe

A go-to meal for me and the husband. Add in wonton soup and dumplings and sauce for the kids and it's a take-out cooked at home.

Singapore Noodles
Ingredients

• 1 T sesame oil
  
• 1 T peanut or canola or vegetable oil
  
• 4-6 tsp minced garlic
  
• 2 T slivered fresh ginger
  
  
• 1 cup cooked match stick sliced protein of choice (chicken, pork, egg white)
  
• 1 slivered onion
  
• 1 slivered green pepper
  
• 1 slivered red pepper
  
• 2-3 carrots turned into strips with peeler
  
• 1 sm zucchini turned into strips with peeler
  
• add other veggies as desired peas, beans, green onions, etc
  
  
• 1/4 cup oyster sauce
  
• 3 T curry powder
  
• 2 tsp soy sauce
  
  
• package of rice vermicelli
  
• boiling water
  

Instructions

1. Heat cooking oil in wok. Cook garlic, ginger and onion until tender.
   
2. Start water boiling.
   
3. Stir fry protein until hot. Add veggies as desired and cooked to desired tenderness.
   
4. Make sauce with oyster sauce, curry powder, soy sauce. Add to veggies and protein.
   
5. Follow directions for rice vermicelli. Add cooked vermicelli to wok with sauce and protein. Stir.
   
6. Sit back and enjoy!
   

Would spaghetti squash noodles work instead of rice noodles? Let me know if you try it.

Slow Cooker Challenge

Taking on more than reasonable seems to be my regular plan. School, sick kids, running and the gym keep me pretty busy. But a desire to be a real 'blogger' had me jumping up yelling, "Pick me! Pick me!" when Ali of Fat to Fit was looking for volunteers for the Health Slow Cooker Challenge. (She even has a pretty image that I don't know how to include.)

I did it! I did! My day was Sunday and I cranked up the crockpot just after midnight with my oatmeal for breakfast. But my excuses are almost as good for exercise as they are for blogging. It's almost the end of Wednesday and I'm just writing it up now.

So breakfast was a grand success. Inspired by Steve Dinn's success at losing 101 lbs in less than a year I have followed his breakfast habit of steel cut oats.




Guess what? Steel cut oats are even better in the crockpot. I threw in a cup of PC steel cut oats and 3 1/2 cups of water and let it go all night. In the morning I dressed it up with a bit of sweetened cocoa and milk. Delicious!

Following that success I tackled an evening meal. I made my famous refrigerator soup. The recipe has many steps. Enough to write them in a loop.

if fridge is not empty:
---remove item from fridge
---if item is a soup ingredient
------put item in pot
---else place item on counter


Sundays soup was the result of a full fridge. It was full of wonderful health goodness. The ingredients included:
8 cup turkey stock
1 cup diced turkey
1/2 bag of frozen thai veggies
thinly cut spinach
onion
celery
salt
pepper
roasted herbs
OXO beef package
prosciutto
left over roast veggies (onion, carrots, celery potato & sweet potato)
summer savory
bay leaves

It was delicious. From the one spoonful I ate I can tell you that.

But I'm tired. And stupid. And I make mistakes. So I tasted it. We went out for supper. I came back and FORGOT TO PUT IT IN THE FRIDGE. Found it the next morning. So it's deliciousness is now hanging out in my compost. So sad.


Thank you to Ali for letting me take part in the Slow Cooker Challenge. You can find more great Slow Cooker Challenge recipes at:
One Day at a Time
Fat to Fit
La Fuji Mama
Happiness is a Journey for Janna
Shari Rocks a Lot
Embracing Balance

OK2010A! Challenge #2 - Bite it and write it!

Operation Kick 2010's Ass is commencing part II. It's time for you to jump onboard.

If you BITE IT, WRITE IT. For the month of February you are challenged to WRITE IT DOWN. You'll be recording your food everyday. Good days and bad days don't have anything to do with your calories, fat or choices. The only choice that is a bad choice is not writing it down (or lying to yourself about writing it all down).

It's pretty easy to do. You can make your own log book. Use a notebook. Log on to a site like SparkPeople. I'm planning to use an iPod Touch app called "Lose it!". Weight Watchers online or in person requires that you write it down (for some plans). As someone who has done this task before, here are my tips.

1. Have a back up plan. If you forget your iPod, you're not on your computer, or your notebook was left behind find someplace to write it down. It's easy to forget what you've eaten. I used to keep notepads in my bag, my diaper bag, and on the counter. At the end of the day I'd enter them all on the computer.
   
2. Be conscience of serving sizes and note that you had 3 servings of X or 1/2 a serving of Y.
   
3. Looking ahead to future challenges it's worth noting your water intake, fibre and a count of fruits & veggie servings.
   

Don't forget your 30 minutes a day of exercise is still expected. That was the new habit for January. This is the new habit for February.