"Where's the beef?"

In the U.S. we are a carnivorous people. Is there anything wrong with that? Not really, as long as we don’t overindulge. I personally am a meat lover, however, I have discovered the benefits of cutting down on my meat intake. Not only do I cut down on my meat intake, but I choose different types of meat to put into my body. Meat can be very healthy, but the type and the amount of meat you consume may be harmful to you. Now I like the taste of red meat just like everyone else, but recently I have cut down and replaced my red meat with white meat, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. My husband and I no longer buy ground beef instead we buy ground turkey or chicken. Ground turkey comes in many different varieties that have been so great to introduce into our diet. Jennie-O brand has Italian seasoned ground turkey that you can pick up at Wal-mart that tastes fantastic (I actually prefer it over regular sausage) and goes great with some whole wheat pasta and all natural pasta sauce. We’ve also switched to turkey/chicken breakfast sausage and even turkey bacon. To be completely honest with you, I actually prefer the turkey to pork and beef.

Some of you have probably noted that pork is not a red meat, but it is not as lean as poultry, so I usually prefer to go with the turkey or chicken instead. Almost anything that you can get in beef or pork you can get in chicken or turkey. Breakfast sausage, sausage links, bratwurst, Italian sausage (spicy or sweet), hot dogs, etc. are all included. They taste great and provide a great lean protein to your diet. Now, I am not saying cut red meat out altogether, because red meat does have its good qualities. It has many vitamins and minerals, but in large quantities, it has some serious health risks. Red meat has been linked to cardiovascular disease and obesity. There is also speculation that it increases your risk for cancer, but everything now adays is linked to cancer, so I do not know how efficacious those studies are.

So what about the Atkins diet? Will you lose weight? Most likely. Will it be healthier for you? Well that’s debatable. If you lose weight you are becoming healthier, however with long-term results, you may not be doing yourself any favors, especially if you are eating mostly red meats. If you do choose to go the Atkins diet route, consider cutting down your red meat intake and stick to white meats, particularly poultry and white fish. Fish has many health properties like Omega-3s that are very good for your heart.

Ok, so want to try an experiment? Go buy the leanest ground beef you can find, or even some pork breakfast sausage. Then buy the equivalent turkey product. One night prepare a dish using the beef or pork product and take a picture of the grease left over after you have cooked the meat. The next night make a dish but instead use the turkey product. Take a picture of the grease left over and compare. You might be surprised to see that even when they are the same leanness, e.g. 97/3 (97% fat free), there will be less grease involved with the turkey. I discovered this myself when I was cooking my turkey burgers on my George Foreman grill. I forgot to put the grease-collecting dish underneath of it, and to my surprise, I didn’t even need it! No grease was coming off my burgers. It was great!

 In regards to cutting down on your meat intake, try finding other sources of protein to replace meat in one or more of your meals. Beans and rice are a delicious and good sources of protein. I try to keep my meat intake to a small serving once a day (usually for dinner). If I had meat for lunch, then I try not have meat for dinner. When I go out to eat, I typically try to get a dish without meat, since the entrees typically have many calories in the first place. One type of food that I always try to do without meat in is Mexican food. I LOVE Mexican food. It is probably my favorite type of food. Two of my favorite places to eat are Café Rio and Costa Vita. When I get the salads at these two locations, I choose to get the vegetarian salad (whereas I used to get the roast beef). I actually don’t miss the meat at all! I thought I would, but I don’t. My biggest doubt was that I was going to be hungry afterward because the salad wouldn’t fill me up. Man was I wrong! I get so full off of the rice and beans, I never needed the meat in the first place. The other great thing about trying to lessen your meat intake is that it really saves you money. Going in the vegetarian direction while eating out cuts the price of your meal down by a dollar or more. That is perfectly fine with me!

Here’s one more plug for poultry and fish. A few weeks ago, I was diagnosed with interstitial cystitis. This is a bladder problem in which certain foods can irritate your bladder. When my doctor gave me a list of foods I should eat sparingly or cut out completely, guess what some of the items were? All other meats besides poultry and fish. By this time, I had already cut down to poultry options and boy was I glad that I made the switch willingly. Being told you can’t eat something is not a way to make healthy options. In fact, we as humans typically do the opposite thing we are supposed to do if we are told to do it.

So here you go. Go ahead and try it. I’ve seen great results in myself and I would venture to guess that many people would too. Like I always say, what would it hurt? If you don’t believe me, ask a nutritionist or your doctor and see if it would hurt your health. I’m guessing they would say that it was a good idea to cut back on your red meat or the amount of meat you eat. Again, I am not suggesting to eliminate red meat or meat in general out of your diet altogether. Instead, just consider how much meat you are having in one serving and what type of meat you are putting into your body.

If you want to know some great places to get different meat options, just leave me a comment and I’ll help you find a place. Hope this helps!

Megan

Grocery Shopping

I know I may be the only one out there, but I actually love grocery shopping. My love for food probably perpetuates this, and now that I live away from home and control the food in my house, I love grocery shopping even more. I have shopped at a few different places, and even have gotten advice from some close friends, so I thought I’d give a little spiel on some great places to get some organic and all natural food products.

Let us start with the two places I shop. I always shop at two locations: Sprouts and Wal-Mart. I am in LOVE with Sprouts. It is relatively cheap and the produce there is phenomenal. The Sprouts brand is not organic but is all-natural and is a brand you can trust to be all-natural. When I find that I cannot afford the organic brand, I try to get the Sprouts brand instead. The great things about Sprouts products are that not only do they have organic/all natural grocery and produce sections, but they have supplements and beauty products as well! You can get organic and all natural shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, sunscreen, toothpaste, lotions, and so much more! They also have fabulous non-toxic cleaning supplies that are safe for children (and yourself) and also safe on your wallet. The cleaning supplies at Sprouts are actually cheaper than at Wal-Mart (for the natural cleaning products)! That being said, Sprouts does tend to be more expensive than Wal-Mart, so I still get some things at Wal-Mart just to save some money. Sprouts also has an organic meat selection, which I can’t afford, so I get the Sprouts brand meat which has no preservatives or growth hormones and are only minimally processed. Also, do not think you have to go to Wal-Mart to get some old fashioned normal groceries such as our favorite cereals, because they also house some of the regular groceries as well.  

Wal-Mart does have a small organic selection. There are also some all-natural brands out there, but again you are going to have to check labels to make sure that the brand is TRULY all-natural.

A place I shopped when I was single and living away from home was Fresh and Easy. I honestly was never really impressed with the produce there, but I have friends who live by it. It is a great place to go if you are only buying groceries for yourself, but I did notice that once I threw my husband into the picture, it got a little expensive for our budget. So needless to say, I only shopped there once since my husband and I have been married. They do have a large organic and all-natural selection, so if you are living on your own, I would definitely suggest checking it out. They also have a great ready to eat meal section that has a great selection of already made homemade meals (if you are feeling lazy). I used to buy these all the time. They are especially great if you are a bachelor. I lived with two college age males when I first moved out and Fresh and Easy was the place to be for them.

I have heard that Fry’s Food and Drug has a selection of organic and all-natural grocery, but I tend to not shop there, just because when I have, I always end of spending a TON of money, and it has turned me off of shopping there. If you are an avid couponer, then Fry’s might be the best bet, because a close friend of mine uses coupons and hunts for deals and she has had a lot of success at Fry’s. I, on the other hand, just don’t have time to do that and don’t have time to go to more than two stores just for groceries, so I stick to the two that have given me the best results most of the time.

Whole Foods Market advertises that they are an all-natural and organic grocery chain. This is probably true, but the prices are outrageous, so I tend to stick to Sprouts.

-Megan

Step One

Changing your habits is hard! We have all learned this the hard way. Think back in your life and try to recall how many different weight loss diets you have placed on yourself. So how many was it? I will give you a list of the famous ones I have been on, and the ones I made up myself. I tried HCG, weight watchers, low carb diets, reduced calorie diets, and so many others. Did they work? Yes, they did. Weight Watchers was actually my most successful. I loved it while I was on it, but the big question when I was done was this: was I really healthier because of it? The answer: no, I was not. On that diet I ate so many different TV dinners trying to keep my points in order that I am sure, I ate so many preservatives that are still occupying my body. In addition, not one of those diets taught me anything about how to eat healthy and keep the weight off. Now I have never been a large girl, but I have struggled with keeping my weight where I want it to be. Even when I thought I was eating healthy, I came to find that I really was not. Let me explain how I found out I was doing everything backward.

This past summer I spent 4 weeks in Germany, 1 weekend in Austria, and one week in Switzerland. While I was in Germany and Austria, I did not have access to a refrigerator or any cooling system other than an open window. Needless to say, I ate out A LOT. I was so worried that by the end of my trip I was going to have gained all the weight I had paid my personal trainer to help me lose to get me ready for my wedding. To my surprise, when I got back home to the states and weighed myself, I actually LOST weight; almost 7 pounds. Now to be fair, I did do a ton of walking, because I traveled through cities by foot or by bus and traveled across the few countries by train. That being said, I still ate what I thought to be terribly, but when I pondered and remembered what I had learned about German culture, it all seemed to make sense. Germans are very environmentally conscious and health conscious. Their farming is usually all organic, and they are not particular fans of tons of preservatives. They go grocery shopping 2-3 times a week, because their food is so fresh it actually goes bad! Now look in your cupboard and count how many things that have been in there for over a month. What keeps that food "good" are chemicals and synthetic foods that were not meant for our body in the first place. By simply eating actual food, I lost weight. It was that easy.

I know some of you may be saying, "Well you didn't control for the exercise, so you cannot be sure that the extra walking wasn't what did it." To you all I reply with this. When I recently decided to go an all-natural and all organic route, I have not had time to go to the gym (ok that is somewhat a lie because I work at a gym, but I do not do any physical activity while I am in there). There was no sort of physical activity to interact with my current outcome. Now, when I started this, I did not anticipate doing it to lose weight. I just wanted to have a healthier lifestyle. Well, surely enough, a week and a half later of no exercise and the new healthy organic/all natural eating habit, I lost seven pounds! That's right, seven pounds with no exercise and without even putting in effort. I did not starve myself, in fact, I ate homemade cookies that my husband made, and I ate every couple of hours. I ate like a normal person and still lost weight! It was incredible!

I know that organic foods can sometimes be a bit pricey, but what I discovered from actually shopping for organic food, it is not as expensive as I thought it would be. In fact, many of the organic fruits are comparable to the non –organic fruit. For example, my very first attempt to buy organic produce, I compared the price of my favorite apple: The Pink Lady. The price for inorganic Pink Ladies was 1.29/lbs., the organic price….drum roll please….1.29/lbs.! I was shocked! Eating healthy could actually not be too much of a burden on my wallet! So here is how I got started to eating organically/naturally.

I started with the items I eat most: produce and yogurt. These I always get organic and it does not add any undue burden on my finances. Many items I continue even to this day as non-organic items, simply because I cannot afford to eat 100% organic at this point in my life. So things like milk, eggs, lunchmeats, and cheeses I get non-organic, but all natural. When shopping the all-natural route, it is important to rely not completely on the label. Just because an item advertises as all natural, does not necessarily mean that it is true. Want to know an easy way to find out whether the item is really all natural or not? Check the label! Look at the ingredients and if you cannot make the item yourself in your own kitchen with known ingredients, then do not put it in your basket. Sometimes I find that I do not know what a certain ingredient is, so I err on the side of caution and do not get it. It is true that sometimes all natural items have a more complex name that I am not familiar with, so if you want to know exactly what the label is telling you, do some research.

I hope this was helpful and can ease you into a healthier lifestyle! In future (and much shorter) posts I’ll tell more about my journey and tell you some great places that you can go shop for all natural/organic food items. Happy shopping!

Delicious Turkey Burger Recipe

While working with my special needs children, I often get to be around their house when dinner is being made. One of the moms kept making these delectable smelling /looking turkey burgers and I just HAD to have the recipe to try them out at home. Well I went home and tried it and now I eat them once or twice a week. They are super healthy and are definitely nice on your tastebuds.

Here's what you need:

• 1-1.25 lbs. of ground turkey (preferably as lean as you can get)
• Organic garlic salt (or regular salt if you don't have any organic on hand, and goodness don't go out and buy any if you already have some non-organic at hand. That would not be economical.)
• Basil
• Parsley
• White Onion (organic if you can)
• One egg (optional)
• George Foreman grill (if available)

I don't have exact measurements on these, because it is season to taste so just get enough ingredients and follow the directions below.

Take the turkey and place it in a large bowl. Dice up a few slices of onion and mix in the turkey (with your hand). Add parsley, basil, and garlic salt and mix the ingredients in (with your hand). If it appears that there is not enough seasoning, repeat adding in the seasonings until it looks and smells amazing. If you want you can add an egg to paste all the turkey together. However, I never find this necessary so I typically don't add the egg.  Pull a part a section of the mixture, roll it into a ball, and flatten the ball out to create a hamburger patty. Repeat this until all of the ground turkey is in the form of a patty. Put the patties on the grill and cook until no longer pink all the way through. Note: this is poultry so you do not want pink in the middle like you would beef. Now, ENJOY!

This turkey burger is great without any additional seasonings or even a bun! I eat it plain just the way it comes off the grill. My husband does tend to enjoy eating his turkey burger with ketchup, but we tend to not eat them with buns simply because they are self-sustaining.

To make this a complete healthy meal, cook up some brown rice or a red baked potato, and also include some raw vegetables. Vegetables are better raw, because even when lightly steamed, half of the nutrients are cooked out of them.

Hope you love this as much as I do!
-Megan

How I Changed My Life

Ok, so you know how there are those annoying people who tell you how you need to change everything about your life and you are a horrible person if you don't. Especially crazy environmentalists who will get in your face if you forget to recycle. Well those people used to irritate me, until I actually decided to try some of the things that were suggested in a documentary I watched called Foodmatters. Although I still don't like how obnoxious some fanatics can be and I don't think it is the end of the world if you eat a couple of inorganic items now and then, I have made some permanent life changes that I have really started to enjoy. So I decided to start this blog to share my experiences with you all in the hopes that some of you might find some of these changes a good idea and make a few changes yourselves.

So let me make a disclaimer. I am not a scientist. I do not have randomized clinical trials and I cannot report any P values or Cohen's d effect sizes, but what I do have is a case study of myself. Admittingly, I am not an expert in this field; I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. The things I will post here are based on books I have read and some small research I've done. I cannot say that everything I share here will give you the results I have seen, but here's the take home message: what will it hurt? I have never once heard a doctor tell someone they were eating TOO healthy or that clearing your houses of harmful toxins was a bad idea. So let me stress that I do not advocate completely changing every aspect of your life, but there are little things that we can all do every day to improve our health.

Why did I make these changes? My husband, that's right ladies you heard me correctly, my HUSBAND approached me one day and said that we needed to change our eating habits. He was right. When we first got married (only eight months ago) we decided to buy the cheapest food we could find. What we soon came to find, was that although it was good on our wallets, it wasn't particularly good on our health. After Scott (my husband) sparked my interest, I began doing some research and started making small changes into making us a healthier family before we have children.

Before we begin this journey, let me make this clear: after I did my research, I did not go throw out all of my cleaning supplies with harmful chemicals in them, and I didn't throw out all the food we had with processed  and synthetic foods in them. In these economic times that would just be ridiculous. However, once these items needed replaced, if we can afford it, I opted for the healthier, all natural option. Do you think this would be hard for you to do? So did I! But it's not! The great thing about being healthy is that it actually makes your life simpler. Isn't that exciting?! Therefore, every day (or every time I get a change) I will post a meal option or tell you about an easy change I made to make for a healthier life for my family and the environment. So, let's get started shall we?

To get started, I recommend watching the documentary Foodmatters. If you have Netflix, you can watch it online. A book I am currently finding quite interesting is The Healthy Home  by Dr. Myron Wentz and Dave Wentz. I have not read it all the way through yet, but so far it is very educational.

Until next time,
Megan