Summer Survival

My biggest struggle right now with the changing weather is staying away from all the delicious cold treats! I love ice cream of all sorts. I also love frozen cookies, popsicles, and much more. Temptation City! I have found a few ways to curb my frozen treat appetite without giving into all the calories and fat. Also knowing what exactly you are eating definitely helps me stay away from it. For example-Coldstone has ridiculous amounts of fat and calories even in the smallest portion available. A Like It serving of Sweet Cream Ice Cream has 320 calories and 20 grams of fat. It's just not worth it. Hagaan Dazs & Dairy Queen are the same way! A medium Butterfinger Blizzard alone is over 700 calories! Yikes!!! Be aware of what you are eating!

Instead of going out, try Edy's Fat Free Yogurt Blend. I will admit that on its own, it does not taste like ice cream, but I've started using it to make smoothies and milkshakes and it's awesome. I take a few scoops of this and add some skim milk with whatever you want to make a yummy frozen dessert. I even put oreos in one and it's still WAY better for you than going to DQ. And much cheaper. The first time I put in 4 oreos but it was way too much. I tried one cookie the next time and it was perfect! You don't need much to make it good-and fewer calories! PERFECT!

I also freeze grapes in the summer time. Quick, cool treat that I can just grab a bag of and go! 

 I also get Weight Watcher Latte Bars which are only 90 calories and absolutely delicious! Rocket popsicles are another good choice coming in at only 35 calories.

So try some of these cool treats this summer to help you reach those goals and resist temptation. 

Today is Jon's last day at his current job! Celebrating by going to De Novo with some friends! Lobster Mac & Cheese will be my temptation to resist. I'll opt for a salad instead. Always make your decision before arriving! I've already checked out their menu online to ensure this happens :) Happy Friday Ya'll!!!

P.S. Running starts Monday!!! Ahh I am so excited.

Back to the Daily Grind

Hey everyone! I'm finally back! My trip was absolutely AWESOME, and it would take me forever to tell you all about it, so I'll try to keep it as short as possible! :)

Well, as Britt alluded to in her post yesterday, I did encounter a tarantula...and on my first night there too! I was terrified! But luckily, we didn't encounter any more of those throughout the week. We DID however, encounter about 5 cockroaches during our stay...one of which was in our room! AH! But, I got pretty used to creepy crawlers, and by the end of the week, they barely phased me! ha.

Kinda like this little guy..baby lizard :)

We worked on some pretty AWESOME projects while we were there. We had some engineering students put up solar panels on one of the schools that we worked with, along with installing the lights and light switches and such.  We had a group of education majors who worked with 8 different schools throughout the week, and gave them books in the Haitian Creole language. They first taught the teachers some strategies on how to use them to help the kids learn how to read, and then they traveled to different schools to demonstrate it with the kids. We also had a project that dealt with the "One Laptop Per Child Foundation". We interviewed teachers to find out what kind of computer programs would be helpful in their classrooms.  Based on their feedback, we're going to be programming some lessons and such on the small laptops.

The guys installing the solar panels

Showing the teachers some strategies for using the KEEP books

Students working with the "XO" Laptops

So, it was a very productive AND super fun trip! I learned so much about all of the projects and also about the Haitian culture, made a lot of new friends (with both the people in the group that I went with, and also some of the Haitian people that I met!), and definitely had a life experience that I will never forget! (Oh yea, and I got a pretty bad sunburn too...)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Some of the kids at one of the schools-
enthralled with my Blackberry Playbook :)

On the last day that we were there, we had a reflection time as a group.  One of the questions that we all answered was, "What now?" After such a huge and amazing experience, what happens now when you go back home to your normal lives? One of the guys said something like, "Well, back to the daily grind, I guess."  I couldn't have said it better.  It seemed like I had been in Haiti for months, and it felt so weird to be going back to the United States! But, just like he said, back to reality- back to the daily grind.

While I was on my trip, I definitely wasn't thinking about dieting or exercise.  For one, I didn't have a choice in what I ate! Whatever they sat in front of me, I ate or stayed hungry! Also, we were so busy with our projects most of the day that I didn't really even have time to think about myself.  With that being said, my diet still wasn't horrible while I was gone.  Since we had controlled amounts of food, and we couldn't just snack whenever we wanted to, I was on a good eating schedule.  The food that the guest house provided wasn't always the healthiest, but even the most unhealthy meal that they served was definitely healthier than eating American fast food! And for the dinners, we only actually got a "sweet" dessert a couple of times, and the rest or majority of the time, we were served fresh fruit as a dessert. (Which was absolutely delicious!) Being on a bed at 11 PM and rise at 6 AM schedule helped my metabolism also. (Much better than the bed at 2 AM and rise at 10 AM schedule I was on before I left!) We were also pretty active while we were there, as we did a lot of walking!

So, even though I didn't eat horribly and I was active for the most part, I still have the mindset of "back to the daily grind" in every area of my life now that I'm back! And one of those areas is my healthy lifestyle. Back to the daily grind with my diet and exercising. I'm actually pretty excited and motivated to get back at it right now! After the trip, I just feel a new sense of renewal! It just made me want to do better at everything that I do. So, here's to going back to the daily grind, and making a difference- not just in the lives of other people, but in my OWN life by living healthy. :)


The whole Haiti Empowerment Project 2012 Crew!

CHIPOTLE

So the first day of spring was when? Last week? Something like that. Any way-spring time means SPRING FOOD! I love when spring and summer come and bring the farmers market lifestyle with them. Carrying cash becomes a necessity to pick up some fresh fruit and vegetables on the way. So delicious. So here are some foods to make sure you add into your diet this spring :)

1. Asparagus-Try it steamed with a little lemon juice and a pinch of garlic salt. So good!

2. Radishes- I recently discovered my love for radishes. So crunchy and great in some homemade dill dip.

3. Avocados- They are going on sale everywhere and finally in season! You know about my love for avocados so need I say more?

Okay those are my top picks.

I had Chipotle for lunch. This was my healthy option for Chipotle.

1/3 of Rice Cilantro-Lime Brown Rice-There are no different nutritional facts for Brown rice, but I did get Brown. I also got 1/3 of the rice.

1/2 Black Beans

1/2 Pinto Beans

Fajita Veggies

Tomato Salsa

Corn Salsa

1/3 Cheese

1 Tbs Sour Cream

1 Tbs Guacamole

Romaine Lettuce

Make sure to order a salad so the base of your meal is lettuce opposed to rice. 

Totals were the following:

Calories: 420 Calories

Fat Grams: 16 grams

Carbs: 55 Carbs

Most of the carbs came from the corn. I had no idea that corn had that many calories or carbs. I will probably go for a tsp of the corn salsa next time to lower my totals. Very good and filling lunch though! I didn't quite finish it all.

Any good meals lately?

I'd Like Another

O man. Today was another one of those days. I ruined one of my tires and ah, I just suck at life lately. 

I did have another successful 24 hours of meeting my goals. Last night, I went on an hour and a half walk with the pup and my friend Meg and her pup. It was a great little workout. Today, I opted for some fresh fruit and green tea for breakfast. When lunchtime came, my friend/office mate brought up Bob Evans. Ah! Tempting. I did make a good choice though! GO ME! I ordered from the Fresh n Fit menu. I got the Pick Two Combo and chose the cup of Bean Soup and a baked potato. It was so filling! Great choice. I would definitely get it again.

Farm Festival Bean   

127cal / 2g fat / 1g sat fat  / 716mg sodium

 Baked Russet Potato

 (with a serving of margarine)

    231cal / 4g / 1g / 32m

Not bad for lunch.

I ended my meals with a dinner that I will probably have again for the next 10 days. I made an avocado grilled cheese. SO DELICIOUS. I used 35 calorie bread, spray butter, a fat free cheddar cheese slice, and a few avocado slices. I used the leftover avocado to whip up some guacamole and finished that off with some pretzel thins. 

I'm waiting for Meg to get home now so we can have another long walk. We both agreed that we could pick up the pace a bit so that is the game plan for tonight. Next week, I start running! Ah. So excited. I want to give my foot one more week and also give my organs aka kidneys a chance to get 100% before doing anything too strenuous. 

Cross your fingers, cause I believe Lindsay may post tonight about her trip! Yay! Can't wait to hear more about the tarantulas.... :)