I'm back!

Hey y'all! :) I am a terrible blogger! I have not posted anything in months. Nursing school is taking over my life! I am enjoying it though. 

Since it has been a while since I have posted, I am going to share what I have learned and discovered over the last few months. 

     The first one is TOFURKY. Tofurky products are vegetarian, kosher, organic, made with organic soybeans and/or organic tofu. Not only are they so healthy, but SOO yummy. Tofurky comes as sausages, cold cuts, pizza, ground tofurky, and pies. I buy Tofurky at Trader Joes, but I bet any whole foods store will have it. 

     

     I have also discovered Trader Joe's Roasted Vegetable Multigrain Lasagna. Fooducate grades it a B. It has 4 servings = lunch tomorrow, the next day, & the next day. :D

     Freshii in Castleton & Keystone malls. FINALLY a healthy option. :)) I am actually eating Freshii as I type this. A burrito that I turned into a salad. Kale, avocado, corn, tomatoes, red onion, sriracha, and quinoa. Quinoa also happens to be one of my new discoveries! It is so yummy!!! Quinoa is a chenopod, which is similar to species such as beetroots and spinach. The nutrient composition is great compared with common cereals. Quinoa seeds contain essential amino acids like lysine and high quantities of calcium, phosphorus, and iron. They are cooked the same way as rice and used in a wide range of dishes. 

 I have also discovered the new line made by Lean Cuisine-  "Honestly Good Lean Cuisine." I don't eat frozen meals anymore, not even the Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, etc. Although the calorie number is low, other numbers are high. They aren't good for you. I was at the grocery the other day when I saw the Honestly Good meals. I decided to whip out my Fooducate scanner, even though I already knew what it was going to tell me. Or I thought I knew. It got an A-!! NOTHING ever gets an A-. Check em out. They're yummy and they cater to our on-the-go fast pace lives. :D 

     

     That's all for now. I will try to post more often, especially with the holidays just around the corner. How can you enjoy the holidays and continue to eat healthy? Stay tuned :-)

Nothing Changes if Nothing Changes

Change begins with DETERMINATION. You have to WANT to change for change to happen. Change also does not happen over night. Baby steps is key. Don't bite off more than you can chew. You will not succeed. Make a change, let yourself adapt, and then make more changes. I have made many small changes over time. 

Here is a list of some of the changes I have made in order to be a healthier me. 

• Switch to 100% whole grains! Be sure that you look for the 100% whole grains stamp. Many food labels say "whole grain" or "whole wheat", but only contain small amounts of whole grains. You may notice that the nutrition facts on white bread and wheat bread is almost identical. So why are whole grains better for you, you ask? Whole grains are loaded with nutrients that your body loves, to keep it simple. Because they are loaded with nutrients, you feel full    quicker, so you eat less.

• Avocado is my new best friend! Literally. I eat it almost every day. Avocado is the best replacement for mayonnaise! I will never put mayo on a sandwich or burger again, because avocados satisfy that texture and moistness of mayo. I also love avocado on pizza, salads, tacos, you name it! Not only is it so delicious, it is SOOOO good for you. Avocado is classified as a super food and is known by some nutrition experts as "the perfect food". Avocado lowers bad cholesterol, controls blood pressure, regulates blood sugar, promotes eye care, is so good for your skin, has anti-aging properties, protects against caner, and aids in digestion/absorption to name a few. So go avocrazy!!

• One of my favorite snacks to satisfy my salt tooth is Whole Grain Goldfish. While it's not the best thing for you, it is much better than munching on a bag of Doritos. I love the fishes 'cause they're soooo deliciousss! 
• To satisfy my sweet tooth, I love belVita cookies. This is another GREAT brand. All natural, healthy brand. Other favorites are Kashi's brownies and cookies. Frozen yogurt with some blueberries and dark chocolate chips is another favorite as well. Just remember,   everything in moderation!

• Eating sandwiches without a bun. You will discover how good the inside of it REALLY is. I have noticed that the bun takes away from all of the flavors of the meat, vegetables, or whatever it is you put in between your bread. Not only that, but you are saving LOTS of calories. 

• Dip your salad bites into the dressing, instead of drenching your salad with it. You are much more likely to use less dressing. 
• Give up fried foods. Allow yourself to indulge from time to time though. I do! :)
• Water water water. Drink water and nothing else! I used to drink at least 3-4 diet cokes/ day. I have now given up soda completely (except for an occasional whiskey-diet). I started by drinking a water with every diet coke, so that I was at least drinking MORE water. Then, I started only having a diet coke when I went out to eat. Eventually I just stopped drinking them.
• Avoid fast food, unless it's an emergency! No, seriously.
• TO. GO. BOXES. Portions in restaurants are WAY too big! We are not supposed to eat that much!! Control yourself. It will also save you $. Two meals in one.
• Force yourself to eat breakfast. I never used to eat breakfast and now I make myself eat SOMETHING. Even if it's just a granola bar. My breakfast usually consists of a fruit and a grain. 
• Eat lean meats like turkey and chicken and lots of fish! 
• Don't go to the grocery hungry. 
• Talk to yourself as you reach for the snickers bar at the gas station or the Flamin Hot Cheetos at the grocery. That might sound kind of weird, but I really do have conversations with myself in my head abut food. "No Leigha, you REALLY don't want those Sriracha Lay's!"
• Eat what you want sometimes. Completely depriving yourself of the foods you love will prevent you from succeeding long term. Reward yourself. It's ok!

Is Special K good for you?

 SPECIAL K :

     I see and hear about people eating Special K products in an effort to lose weight. Why wouldn't they? 90 calories in one serving. That's it? Special K even has it's own diet plan. It is one of many brands that sucks us in with their brilliant advertising. Special K grasps our attention with words like PROTEIN, MEAL bar, FIBER, and FAT Free. 

     What most people don't realize is that Special K's entire "weight loss" line is terrible for you! To begin, they all contain trans fats even though the nutrition label says 0g. This is legal because the FDA states that if a product contains <1g of a substance, the industries can list it as 0g. Lets say that you have 2 Special K granola bars containing .5g of trans fats. You just consumed 1g of trans fat unknowingly. The problem is, ALL trans fats are bad for you. In short/simple terms, they raise bad cholesterol and lower good cholesterol. You can avoid consuming trans fats by checking the ingredients. Partially hydrogenated oils or hydrogenated oils is what you should look for. Aside from trans fats, Special K is highly processed, loaded with sugar and tons of other chemicals to give it the color and taste (none of which are good for your waistline).

     I know that today's society is extremely fast paced and on-the-go. That is why products like Special K appeal to us. But do not be discouraged! There are other brands out there that are actually healthy for you and taste just as good, if not better.  My favorite is KASHI!!! This brand blows Special K out of the water. Actually, it blows most (if not all) brands out of the water. There are Kashi breakfast bars, cereal, oatmeal, snack bars, cookies, pizzas, waffles, crisps, pilaf, and even entrees. Most Kashi products receive a B or B+ on fooducate. 

     I don't touch Special K products anymore and I suggest you don't either. You're better off eating a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (no, I'm not kidding).  

Fooducate

One of my most favorite aids in living a healthy lifestyle is an app on my phone called Fooducate. Fooducate allows you to scan any food or drink item that has a barcode. After scanning, the app immediately provides you with information about that item including calories per serving, points value (for people on weight watchers or any other diet on a points system), and a letter grade. It also gives you a brief overview of what is good and bad for you about this product. 

You can also click on the list of information to view a more detailed description as to why, for example,  a product that is not 100% whole grain is a bad thing (as shown in picture). If the letter grade is not high enough for you, you can also view alternatives. It will show you a list of healthier items similar to the product that you scanned. I, personally, try to stay within an A-B range.

I absolutely love this app. I am the weirdo in grocery stores, gas stations, at school scanning EVERYTHING. I'm sure people look at me like what the heck is she doing, but I just don't care! In my eyes, our future restaurant menus will have barcodes next to each item on the menu.

This app has really opened my eyes to what is healthy and what is not. Forget all of the food labels (light, 100 calories, natural). I ignore those because most of the time they are worse for you than the real stuff or just simply not healthy like they advertise it to be (but that is a whole separate blog). So scan EVERYTHING. You will be shocked at what you find and I hope that it will open your eyes to how bad/good for you some products are.

Healthy eating requires reading food labels and ingredients and assessing all of this information to determine whether or not it is healthy for you. This app has done all of the work for us! No more excuses, you have all of the information in the click of a button! Download the app today and start Fooducating! 

Enjoy :) 

My Journey

     Hey y'all! I am going to start my first blog ever with a little bit about myself and why I have decided to start a blog. My name is Leigha and I am a full time nursing student at Marian University. I am sandwiched in the middle of two brothers. I have 3 bunnies, Vin the Chin, Dot, and her daughter Polka Dot. I wish I had a house/yard full of animals, but my busy school and work schedule puts that dream on hold for now. I am a country girl at heart- I love country music, line dancing, and just being in the country (fishing, camping, hiking).

     One thing I also love is NUTRITION! Nutrition changed my life! About three or four years ago, I weighed 35 pounds more than I do today. Let me tell you, 35 pounds on someone that is 5'1, is a lot of lbs! I ate fast food and frozen meals regularly, drank Diet soda like it was water, ate until I felt full, and rarely did I eat any fruits or vegetables. I cannot say for sure, but I think most of the blame is to be put on my lack of education in nutrition. Nutrition is briefly touched on in high school health, but does not exceed the basics (and I truly believe that if we were better educated, we would not be one of the fattest nations in the world). I knew what I was eating was bad, but I did not realize how bad. Thanks to my strong desire and dedication to better myself combined with the knowledge I have gained thus far in nursing school, I have learned about nutrition and how it can immensely improve your life. Nutrition is so much fun because I am constantly learning new things! I want to use this blog to share what I learn as well as ways to live a healthy lifestyle in this fast pace, advertisement obsessed, on-the-go society. I will share tips, recipes, facts, news articles, studies, etc. I want to inspire people to take care of their bodies without having to go above and beyond (strict work out regimes, ridiculous diets that only provide short term weight loss).

     "If you don't take care of your body, then who is going to live in it?"