New Years Good Luck

In the south it is a tradition to eat black eyed peas on New Years Day.  This is believed to come from the days of the Civil War when food was scarce.  Legumes at the time were considered food for livestock, but with little food to choose from the mighty black eyed pea saved many from going hungry.  Today eating black eyed peas with stewed tomatoes is considered to bring health and wealth.  Here is a recipe that my step mom, from Vicksburg, MS shared with us about 10 years ago and I have been making it on New Years Day ever since.  Enjoy!

Chicken and Black Eyed Pea Stew

2 tsp olive oil
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, diced
1/2 c. onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3/4 lb tomatillos, chopped
(1) 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
(1) 10 oz can low sodium chicken broth
(1) 7 oz can diced green chiles
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
(2) 15 oz cans black-eyed peas
Juice of one lime
1/3 c. chopped cilantro
Optional: top with grated Monterey Jack cheese, chopped avocado and chopped cilantrol.

In a large saucepan, heat olive oil and lightly brown chicken.  Remove from pan.
Add onion and garlic to pan, saute until softened.
Stir in tomatillos, tomatoes with liquid, chicken broth, green chilies, oregano, coriander and cumin.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer about 5 minutes. 
Return chicken to pan with drained black-eyed peas; simmer about 5 minutes. 
Add lime juice and cilantro.

Serve in bowl with optional toppings of your choices.  Flavors really come out if cooked in advance and reheated. 

7 Cardinal Rules in Life

13 Shortcuts to Meet Your 5-a-Day Quota

Easy Ways to Eat More Fruits and Veggies

We all know we should be eating our fruits and vegetables. You’ve probably heard the recommendations for meeting a 5-a-day quota, or seen the USDA’s recommendation to fill half of your plate with fruit and veggies during each meal. And you probably already know that eating fruits and vegetables provides a number of important health benefits, like reducing the risk of chronic diseases and heart disease and helping you manage your weight. Eating a diet filled with veggies and fruits might also protect against certain cancers and reduce the risk of Type2 diabetes.  With all of those benefits, you’d think the entire human population would be chowing down on bok choy and snacking on spinach. But not everyone has a built-in love for the produce department. If you struggle to fit in your fruits and vegetables, read on for some tips and tricks to make eating a healthier diet easier than ever! Tips for Increasing Your Fruit and vegetable intake. 1. Eat a fruit or vegetable with every meal. If half a plate of fruits and vegetables seems like an overwhelming goal for you right now, start by simply adding one fruit or veggie to each meal. You can eat them as a side—think a cup of green beans with dinner or a banana with breakfast—or simply start adding them to foods you already eat. Fruit is a cinch to add to oatmeal, yogurt and cereal in the morning. Add onions and peppers to meat dishes, or pile a few of your favorite vegetables onto your sandwich. Once you start working them in, you’ll welcome the new additions! 2. Snack smart. Instead of hitting the vending machine for an afternoon pick-me-up, start snacking on fruits and vegetables. Cut veggies and hummus or sliced fruit with yogurt dip will satisfy you more than a candy bar will. 3. Drink up. While you should limit the number of calories you get from beverages, if you have trouble fitting fruits and vegetables into your busy life, work them into a drink that you can take on the go. Try out smoothie recipes until you find a few you love and work them into your rotation as a breakfast or afternoon snack option.  You can easily get several fruit and vegetable servings in a yummy beverage. If you simply want juice, look for 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice for it to count as a serving, but limit yourself to no more than one serving of fruit or vegetable juice per day, as the calories are concentrated and juice removes some of the other benefits of produce (such as fiber). 4. Slurp some soup! Soups and stews can be a nutritious, filling way to get lots of vegetables into a meal. Soup is an easy way to increase the variety of veggies you eat, too, as it can make some of your least favorite options more palatable. If you don’t make your own, make sure you know the healthy soup options at your grocery store. 5. Be ready at all times. Have cut fruits and vegetables in the fridge ready for munching at all times. Whether you buy the pre-cut options in the produce department or take the time to cut and bag it yourself, you’re more likely to eat it if it’s readily and easily available. Have hummus, low-fat ranch or fruit dip on hand, too, if it’ll encourage you to eat up. 6. Keep them in sight, in mind. Just like you keep sweets out of sight to discourage incessant snacking, keeping fruits and veggies in sight will help you think of them as an option for eating. Stock a fruit bowl at work each week and keep a bowl on the kitchen counter at home so you’ll be more likely to eat it when you’re hungry. 7. Bar hop. Next time you’re blanking on a quick, easy place to grab lunch, head to the salad bar at a local grocery store. With an endless variety of vegetables, cut fruit and soups, it’s an easy way to make sure you get a meal rich in nutrients and fiber. 8. Start smart. Make it a habit to order a salad or vegetable-based soup when you’re out at restaurants. These fiber-rich starters may keep you from overeating when your meal comes, in addition to helping you add more vegetables into your day. 9. Bag it up. It may be more expensive to buy pre-chopped lettuce mixes, but they make whipping up a salads a breeze. Throw a few into your shopping cart so you can take salads to work for lunch or have dinner salads ready throughout the week. Just make sure your salad toppings are healthy ones.  10. Use the freezer. If you buy produce in bulk only to have it rot in your refrigerator before you get to it, start using your freezer more frequently. Have a stock of frozen fruits and veggies on hand at all times so you’ll always have them ready for smoothies and easy dinner sides. 11. Chop them up. If you have a hard time crunching into big vegetables, try slicing and dicing them into a more manageable size. Shred carrots and zucchini or finely dice onions, pepper and spinach to hide in pasta sauces, hamburger patties, omelets and casseroles. 12. Pack portable produce. If you’re a snacker who gets hungry when you’re out running errands or on the way home from work in the early evening, carry easy-to-eat fruit and vegetable items for snacking. Spinach and kiwi may not be convenient on the go, but baby carrots, chopped broccoli and celery sticks are great for munching anywhere, as are no-muss, no-fuss bananas, apples and grapes. Dried fruits like raisins and prunes are easy to have on hand for a quick snack, too. 13. Find the ones you love. While you should aim for a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet, don’t hesitate to stick to the handful you love if you can only stomach a few. It won’t do you any good to buy the spinach you know you hate if it’s just going to sit in your crisper until it turns into goo. Buy your favorite fruits and vegetables and eat up, while allowing yourself to experiment with new options every now and then. You never know--you might find a new favorite!

The 5-4-3-2-1 Workout

The Food-Mood Connection

You don’t need a study to tell you the obvious: There are a lot of people out there who just aren’t feelin’ the love. We see it all around us: The coworker who’s always in a snit. Impatient people in the supermarket line. Aggressive and downright vindictive drivers. Somehow, we’ve turned ourselves into Bad Mood Nation.
It’s estimated that 9.5 percent of American adults, or nearly 21 million, have mood disorders, and 18.1 percent, about 40 million, have anxiety disorders. Psychologists blame everything from our self-centered habits to the breakdown of traditional family structures. But could food also have something to do with our moods?
Stop for a moment and think about how food affects your mood. If you’re like many people, you feel fuzzyheaded and sleepy after lunch. That’s because your blood-sugar levels, which rise after you eat, suppress orexin, a brain chemical responsible for feeling alert. On the other hand, when you’re really hungry and your blood sugar is low, more-primitive regions of the brain start taking charge, and you’re more likely to become impatient, irritable and angry. After all, your distant ancestors had to be aggressive hunters if they wanted to survive.
When it comes to the food-mood connection, blood-sugar fluctuations are only the beginning. The quality and quantity of the nutrients available in our food also go a long way toward determining our emotional resiliency and stability.
The past 30 years have seen a steady nutritional erosion of the standard American diet. As we’ve become more dependent on convenience and fast foods, which are loaded with sugars, refined carbs and empty calories, we’ve neglected the well-being of not just our bodies, but also of some very complex mood machinery that resides within it.
It turns out that our moods, like our bodies, simply do much better with fresh, whole foods that provide a wealth of protein, vitamins, minerals and healthy omega-3 fats. Why? Because, at root, what we eat affects everything from our production of neurotransmitters and hormones to our energy levels and the quality of our synaptic connections – all of which can determine how well we respond to the stresses and demands of daily living.

Neurotransmitters On Tap
Brain chemicals, called neurotransmitters, are the frontline regulators of our moods. Some neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), help calm us. Others, such as dopamine, stimulate us. Having the right balance of various neurotransmitters available helps ensure that our responses and moods are appropriate to the given situation. And there’s an important connection between the food you eat and the neurotransmitters your brain produces.
Protein (think fish, chicken and other kinds of meat, as well as eggs, nuts and legumes), for example, provides chemical units known as amino acids, which form the foundation of our neurotransmitters. From there, via a series of enzymatic reactions, vitamins and minerals help convert amino acids to the full-fledged neurotransmitters our brains use to regulate mood.

Happy Fats
Although the healthy omega-3 fatty acids found in cold-water fish are not technically neurotransmitters, they, too, are essential for normal brain function and mood regulation. Recent research on omega-3 fats reflects growing interest in their mood-enhancing benefits.
The brain, about 70 percent of which is composed of fat, needs omega-3s for normal brain development in infants, for maintaining balanced moods throughout life and, especially, for moderating aggressive behavior.
Researchers believe that omega-3s and other healthy fatty acids help improve neurotransmitter activity by assisting brain cells in communicating with each other, enhancing brain-cell plasticity (adaptability) and reducing inflammation that can damage brain cells. Specifically, three studies published in the June 2006 issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry found that omega-3 fish oils can ease depression and mood disorders and lower suicide risk.

How Stress Starves Us
Many of our modern-day mood issues result from a collision between stress and poor eating habits. Stress, whether we’re talking about being stuck in traffic or having a bad day at the office, actually boosts levels of epinephrine (adrenaline) and other stimulating neurotransmitters, while suppressing calming ones.
This shift in our neurotransmitter balance is made worse because our eating habits tend to slide when we’re stressed. We skip meals, consume more caffeine and sugar for energy, and succumb to fast-food meals rich in sugars (soft drinks and shakes) and sugar-like carbs (buns and fries).
In addition to messing with our blood-sugar and hormone levels, these foods provide little in the way of high-quality protein, vitamins and minerals. As a result, they put stress on our bodies and demand metabolic resources without offering us any benefit in return.

Brain Food
Wondering about the proper care and feeding of your emotions? Not surprisingly, the same general dietary habits recommended for good general health, and heart health in particular, also lay the biochemical foundation for better mood management and emotional resilience.

First, as a general rule, opt for whole foods that are rich in protein, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, vitamins and minerals – all the ingredients you need for making neurotransmitters. Focusing on such foods will help limit your intake of calorie-dense sugary and starchy processed foods that offer little or no nutritional value. If you exercise and need extra carbs for energy, eat more fruit and carb-dense vegetables.
Second, eat a protein-rich breakfast, such as eggs with whole-grain toast or fresh fruit. Skipping breakfast or eating a bagel on the run wreaks havoc on your blood sugar and leaves you more sensitive to stress. The protein in eggs quickly stabilizes your blood sugar and provides amino acids for your neurotransmitters.
Third, eat regular meals and make sure each includes some high-quality protein. Doing so keeps your blood sugar stable and also gives you the building blocks you need for making neurotransmitters.
Fourth, when you cook foods, cook them lightly, either by sautéing or stir-frying. Overcooking alters the protein structure, leaving it resistant to normal digestion and assimilation for neurotransmitter production.
Fifth, do your best to avoid fast foods, such as burgers, fries and fried chicken, as well as packaged microwave meals. All of these foods tend to be high in sugars, sugar-like refined carbs and unhealthy trans fats. (Trans fats interfere with how your body uses omega-3s.) Avoid soft drinks: The sugary ones can affect your blood sugar, and there’s some evidence (albeit controversial) that those sweetened with aspartame can negatively affect neurotransmitters. Similarly, go easy on coffee and, especially, sweetened coffee drinks (some contain a whopping 730 calories – almost half of a woman’s daily needs). Taking in excess calories in liquid form tends to discourage people from eating regular, nutritious meals

By Jack Challem, Lifetime Fitness

The Power of Positivity

“Not only does the future look bright when the attitude it right, but the present is much more enjoyable too.”~John C. Maxwell

The human body is simply an amazing thing, allowing us to run marathons, lift weights, and compete in events people are still dreaming up each year, but without the right frame of mind, the power of the body is all for naught. Our mind is responsible for our attitude, and our attitude often determines how our days will progress. Attitude is often defined as “an expression of favor or disfavor toward a person, place, thing, or event.” This week I would challenge you to put a high priority on your attitude and spend time learning just how impactful it can be!

We’ve all heard the old saying, “he must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed,” but how many of us have really given any thought to what that means? Obviously the bed rarely has anything to do with our attitude in the morning. How we approach our day is about so much more…

Recently one of my colleagues shared a video with me that changed the way I approach my attitude. Shawn Achor, a leading expert on the connection between happiness and success, speaks about how positivity and happiness can drive our ability to be successful. While the video speaks about happiness in the workplace, it can easily be applied to your desire to live a Healthy Way of Life!

Spending time reflecting on what makes you happy may be just what you need to regain your positivity. We live in world full of pessimism, violence, and drama, which we hear about and experience each and every day. Taking time to remind yourself about the bright spots in your life can help set your steps back on the path to success. There is positivity all around you, especially within yourself. Have you taken time lately to determine where you’d like to go, where your Healthy Way of Life journey is taking you? Can you see yourself achieving your goals and dreams? If not, YOU might be creating the wall that is blocking your path to success.

Visualizing one’s best positive self and exploring gratitude may be the keys to helping break down that wall. Researchers have shown that visualizing yourself as you’d like to be is highly beneficial in improving your overall outlook and sustaining your positivity². In addition to this, taking time to express gratitude for things in your life can be a very powerful exercise in improving positivity and attitude². People who spend time on these activities will continue to see an increase in their positivity and self-confidence over time.

It’s time to see yourself succeeding. If your goal is to run a 5K, have you visualized yourself crossing the finish line and thought about how you will feel when you are done? Have you run the race in your mind? If you are trying to lose weight and fit into your old “skinny jeans,” have you pulled them out and thought about how you will feel when you button them again? Have you pictured where you will go when you get them on again for the first time? These are the types of thoughts you should have to break down the barriers that are keeping you from your successes. Create your goal, see yourself accomplishing it, and accept nothing less than a positive experience in the process!

In the video, Shawn Achor provides a challenge to all of the audience members to “train their brains to become more positive by completing the following tasks for 21 days in a row:”

• List three gratitudes for the day (3 new things each day)
• Journal one positive thing from your day
• Exercise (reflect on how you moved your body)
• Meditation (spend at least 5 minutes of quiet time alone)
• Perform at least 1 random act of kindness each day

These activities have been shown to reinforce a positive attitude, so grab a notebook and get started! Today is the day that you seize your attitude and change how you see the world. After 21 days of this activity you can begin to “re-wire your brain” to begin to see the world as a more positive place. Find greater happiness in your work, your relationships, and your health!

Life is filled with choices, and one of the most important is your attitude. Your attitude is a choice. Never forget that. Join me on the 21-day positivity challenge and reap the benefits of a life filled with the power of positivity.

 

By Julie Brown - Life Time Nutrition and Weight Loss Coach

Get Unstuck - What it takes

TED Talks are one of my favorite things to watch on a Sunday morning.  The topics covered are wide ranging, but all encompass growth in some way - personally, environmentally, culturally or spiritually.  I watched this one recently and found myself agreeing so much with what she says - especially about the 5 seconds we have when we are making a choice.  She is very straightforward and honest, maybe a little blunt, but I appreciate this about her.  I hope you enjoy as much as I did.  The name of her presentation at first appears to be offensive, however it's not what you think.