Love my cozy bed..

Sometimes when you're talking about general health and well-being we forget one of the most important tools our bodies have for self-healing. Sleep!

Life is hectic and crazy and often we deal with that by skimping on the sleep. Did you know though, that skimping on the sleep is one of the easiest ways to block your weight loss efforts?

I could get all scientific and talk about the studies done that show how people who got fewer than 7 hours of sleep a night ate an average of 500 extra calories during the day after (7 days of that equals 1 pound gained)... or throw around words like leptin (hormone that signals satiety) and ghrelin (hormone that stimulates the appetite) but I won't. Anymore.

The truth is that in my own experiences over the last 5 months, I've made sleep a priority. I can tell you that when I get less than 7-8 hours a night, I have a much harder time curbing my mindless eating. You know that the kind I'm talking about. Grabbing a handful of chocolate chips here, and a scoop of peanut butter there, when you're not even really hungry. The truth is, no matter how healthy and clean you're eating, when your goal is weight loss. calories in should always be less than calories out. So extra snacks, especially when you're not hungry can really derail your efforts.

So look, I know. Grey's Anatomy is on. You're out of milk and you need to run to the store. Your 10 year old has a project due tomorrow and she didn't tell you until today. Yeah, those days happen. I get it.

In general though, trying to make sure you get at least 8 hours a night is really going to pay off in the end.

Here are some things I do to make sure that I maximize the sleep I do get, especially if I know I'm not getting to bed as early as I'd like;

- Cover or remove all unnecessary lights in your room. I even tape a tiny piece of paper over my fire alarm (yes, we test and check it often to make sure it's not a safety hazard). I lay my cell phone face down so those random push notifications don't disturb me in the middle of the night. I close my curtains tight so the annoying street light doesn't makes it's way in. If you can't do that, and can stand to have it, try getting one of those little masks. I'd rather have the room as dark as possible than wear one of those, but to each his own.

-Exercise!! It sure does sound counter-productive but I get my best sleep on days when I make sure I get lots of movement in! By the way, if you exercise a lot then sleep is that much more important for you. It's when your muscle fibers do the most of their repair work.

-No clocks! No checking your cell when you get up to go to the bathroom. Looking at the clock will just trigger all sorts of "to do" lists in your mind. Starting with whatever you have to do first thing in the morning. It all starts with "oh no, only 4 hours left until I have to get up". Before you know it, it's an hour later and you're still laying there staring at the clock.

-When trying to fall asleep, relax your jaw and make sure your tongue is laying at the bottom of your mouth and not clenched at the roof of your mouth. Try it tonight, you'll see what I'm talking about. Make sure your breathing is slow and even, and try making sure your arms are relaxed. I know it sounds crazy, but try it. You'd be surprised how often you lay there with a clenched jaw and tensed arms. Like the stress of the day is trying to keep you awake.

-Try not to watch tv right before bed. It's tempting I know. I have a tv in my bedroom and I really wish I didn't. I'm not guilty of that so much as my hubby is. I like to have some quiet while I stretch out my bedtime routine. I find it helps to shut my mind down and prepare for sleep.

- Which brings me to routine. Brush teeth, wash face, moisturize, stretch, yoga, bath, tea, etc. Whatever you do at night before bed, trying making it a routine. We are not that different from babies. Remember when your little one was learning to sleep at night? Routine is huge! Our bodies will learn from these motions that bedtime is near! I'm not nearly as good at this as I should be. It's definitely something I need to get better about. Often though, I find myself going to bed a few minutes later than I should and so I rush through flossing and brushing and then I am still too awake when I finally lay down.

-Strive for consistency. Going to bed at the same time every night will sort of set your body clock. I know this isn't always possible though with shift work and parents who have lots going on and whatnot. I think in this case you can still be consistent, just do the best you can.

-I guzzle water. All day long. I swear I drink about 100 oz a day. I wouldn't have it any different. That all shuts off when I put the girls to bed though. I take the last of my supplements and medications around 8pm and that's it. That helps cut down on the times I need to get up to use the bathroom.

-White noise. Definitely makes those random noises less obvious. Especially the spouse snoring next to you.

- Take medications at the same time every day. I made the mistake of accidentally skipping a med last night. :(  I spent the night having super vivid crazy dreams and this morning I felt like I hadn't slept at all (hence this post).

I think that about covers it. I'm sure I missed some great tips though. What do you do to make the best of the sleep you get?

Car-bo-hy-drate

I ate two pieces of homemade bread this morning. I was just too excited about each of the two loaves that I made yesterday and I couldn't decide. To round it out, I had some egg whites with veggies, and some fresh fruit. The star of the show was the bread though.

That got me thinking about the last 5 months and how I've approached 'weight loss' in the past. I've always tried to keep my intake of grains very low. Sometimes it's hard to get past things you hear over and over and over again. Carbs = bad.

The truth is that carbs aren't good or bad. It's not that cut and dried. First we have to talk about the different types of carbohydrates and what carbohydrates really are and how to separate the good from the bad.

So think of carbohydrates in terms of fuel. It acts as a source of energy for the body. Like in the fuels we use in the world, there are slow-burning fuels and fast-burning fuels. Otherwise known as simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates.

Simple carbohydrates are absorbed, broken down and burned off in our bodies faster. The reason this is  'bad' is that you're not getting the most energy possible from it. Sort of like burning a piece of paper. It burns up super quickly and then you're left with smoldering ashes. Then poof! It's out and you're suffering from a post-lunch energy slump.

Pasta, bread, cereals, and baked goods made with white flour, sugar, candy, process foods (just about everything from fast food restaurants and the cookie/cracker aisle at the grocery store), soda, fruit juice and most syrups, milk products, white rice and others are examples of simple carbohydrates and should be eaten in small amounts or not at all, especially if the goal is weight loss.

Complex carbohydrates are closer to the idea of burning a log or a candle (when comparing it to that burning piece of paper). Most complex carbohydrates have more fiber and the reason this is important is that it slows down the absorption of these carbohydrates in your body. This helps in two ways: you will stay full longer, and you will have more energy to 'burn' from that food. This can help keep you satisfied and less likely to snack throughout the day. When you're talking about weight loss, that is a big deal.

Vegetables, whole grains, fruits, legumes (chickpeas, lentils, soybeans, etc), and pastas/breads/cereals made with whole grains (look for the stamp below when looking for whole grains because the wording can get confusing on the ingredients list) are examples of complex carbohydrates.

Now, I'm not an expert. This is just basic information and I'm sharing it because I'm still surprised at how little we seem to pay attention to what goes into our bodies. Maybe you already know all this and if so, great!

Here is some more information on the subject. 

Anyway, back to me. ;)

When I set about trying to become healthier the one thing I really wanted to do was not have to deprive myself of something that I loved. I was determined to be successful and depriving myself was not going to aid me in that. So I kept breads and grains in my diet. I made sure that they were made from whole grains and I tried to make sure I kept them at a reasonable percentage in my daily intake (with the majority of my complex carbs coming from fruits and veggies). I tend to stick with grains that are WHOLE when I buy them (brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa, etc) and to that I also enjoy whole grain and whole wheat bread. Pasta isn't as much of a favorite as oatmeal and bread so I don't eat it. In other words, I'd rather have bread. I pick my battles. We also don't limit ourselves to whole wheat flour when I bake. I use quinoa, oat flour, etc. They all work well in many recipes and give us a lot of variety.

And yes, I know that low-carb is all the rage but this works for me. I honestly don't believe I would have been as successful as I would have if I had said "okay, low carb it is".

Do you limit your carb intake? How do you limit it and what carbs do you tend to favor?

Picky Kid- homemade crackers, part two

I was so excited by my successful batch of crackers earlier, and all the new things I learned that I decided to also try the graham crackers again. So good!

So I shared in my earlier post that I loved this recipe for graham crackers. I have actually had some poor results with one or two other recipes, but that is probably more because I messed them up trying to make them low sugar and lower in fat. Each of those attempts failed horribly. I really think trying to get them so low in sugar was the problem.

With this attempt I didn't lower them much at all. Why? I've been making so much from scratch that we've pretty much eliminated all home-based refined sugars and excess fat. Not that my girls never eat a cookie at school (I swear, it's like they have birthdays every week with cupcakes and things), but on a day to day basis there is very little added sugar at all. What we do use is much less refined than standard white sugar. On a daily basis we tend to use honey (now local honey, www.madebybees.com, and another brand available at Power Road Farmers Market), coconut palm sugar, agave nectar, and turbinado sugar. We don't use all of them everyday though, they all work well in different things. I like coconut palm sugar especially in place of brown sugar. I do still have brown sugar and cane sugar too, but I use them very little.



Anyhow, back to the crackers. I'm going to share her ingredients list, just to comment on my measurements. Follow the link above for her method and additional information.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 & 1/3 cups graham flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons honey

Okay, so I used 1/2 cup of butter (one stick), 1/4 cup of coconut oil and 1/4 cup of applesauce. This was as much as I was willing to 'sub' out for fat because other attempts to go lower did not work. I replaced all the dark brown sugar with coconut palm sugar and used local orange blossom honey. I rolled them out directly on my counter top. 

I also cut them more like individual squares you might see in a sheet of graham crackers bought at the store. I wanted them to sort of look like them (so they'd appeal a little more to little A), but obviously these have none of the extra preservatives and whatnot. 

In my oven, I used the convection setting. I highly recommend using it if your oven has one. 

(are you wowed by my photography skills?)

This recipe made 75 of these rectangles. Two rectangles have roughly 67 calories, 3 grams of fat, and 5 grams of sugar. Now if you compare it to a popular brand of graham crackers, two of their boring rectangles contain 33 calories and 1 gram of fat and 2 grams of sugar. However, when you add in that these homemade versions don't have the added ingredients of the storebought brand 

Ingredients: UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE {VITAMIN B1}, RIBOFLAVIN {VITAMIN B2}, FOLIC ACID), GRAHAM FLOUR (WHOLE GRAIN WHEAT FLOUR), SUGAR, SOYBEAN OIL AND/OR PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COTTONSEED OIL, HONEY, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA AND/OR CALCIUM PHOSPHATE), SALT, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, SOY LECITHIN, CORNSTARCH. CONTAINS: WHEAT, SOY.

I definitely chose the homemade ones. 

Hey, just sayin...

(I linked back to Nabisco, which is where I found the list for their graham cracker brand).

Picky Kid Seal of Approval- homemade crackers

I've learned a lot about making crackers of the past couple months. I've learned that different flour combinations can really change the flavors. I've learned that in order to make them thin enough to get crispy (and not just hard) I need to roll them directly out on my counters with lots of flour.

Crackers also tend to go from "done" to "whoops, but these still taste good" to "uh oh, toss 'em" pretty quickly, so you have to watch them.

The biggest thing I've learned though, is that there are a million recipes out there on the web that promise to be like Cheez-its or Wheat Thins but that doesn't mean your kids will actually eat them.

I gave up for a few weeks because we got busy, and actually we've gotten sort of used to just not having crackers and pretzels around. I have been meaning to get back to it, because while I have no issues with sending the girls to school without that stuff, it sure makes packing snacks easier since they can't have nuts for snack time. While I have been trying to keep it all as lightly processed as possible, I will admit that I have super picky eaters. So I'm guilty of wanting to take the easy way out sometimes to get a little variety for them. For me, in this case, these crackers are the easy way out.

Anyway, on Saturday I mixed up some dough and stuck it in the fridge to wait until I had some time to rolle them out. It took just a few minutes in my food processor (that includes grating the cheese from the large block of cheese I had). In the future, btw, I think I'd use a sharper cheddar as opposed to the colby-jack mix I used. The colby-jack gave it a very cheesy flavor but I think the sharper tang of a sharp cheddar would make them even more like their processed counterparts. Otherwise this dough came together super easy and before I knew it, I had a flat disc of dough wrapped in the fridge and was washing the few dishes I used for it.

(please excuse my poor photography skills)

The best thing about these is that my two older daughters loved them (those of you who know us personally know that this is a Big Deal. The next best thing is that even though these are slightly higher in fat than the boxed ones, it's from REAL cheese and REAL butter. Obviously, you should still be observing proper portioning because even homemade snacks are still just that, snacks). Finally, the recipe makes just about the same amount as what comes in the box. 

If you attempt these at home, here are some tips:

Don't try to make them perfectly, it won't happen. Poke holes in them, I forgot on one batch and while they still tasted great, they were a little puffier. I used all whole wheat flour, but I'm sure you could play with that some if trying your own versions at home and if you try a gluten free version, I'd love to hear about it!****

Try to rotate out several cookie sheets because you will want to use cooled cookie sheets for each batch since they are so thin. I feel this is a great excuse for me to be able to buy some new ones, plus a few more silicone mats, right?

The biggest thing is to make sure you get them thin thin thin. I rolled them so thin I could see the dark of my countertops underneath (yes, I did it right on a clean countertop). This was the biggest change between this recipe and the past tests. I did NOT get those other ones thin enough. In the future I'll revisit a Wheat Thin copycat recipe and see if I can get it thinner. I'm also working on graham crackers (right now, my favorite is this one)


*** If you are interested,  here are some links to a gluten free recipe I Googled.
My field of Green - Gluten Free "Cheez-Its" - and FYI- that blog is adorable! She uses a rice flour and adds some xanthan gum and corn starch.

What I had for lunch

You know you're curious. How does she really eat?

This is sort of a typical lunch for me these days. I will eat little bites of lots of things based on what I'm feeling like and if I feel like having small bites of many things I do just that. I tend to do it 'salad style' on a bed of greens, depending on what sort of greens we have. My favorite are baby greens with kale and spinach. Baby greens just have such a mild flavor, and can easily be swapped for regular boring iceberg and romaine lettuce. Plus you've just upped your nutritional intake by quite a bit. Note: I typically tend to add the more mature greens like regular kale and spinach to cooked recipes, since their flavor seems to bit a bit stronger to me.

So, in the bowl above this is what I have for today:

- Mixed greens with spinach

- avocado mixed with Fage 0% plain yogurt, red onion, cilantro and lemon juice (avocados are so yummy and pretty cheap right now so this is something we've been doing a lot lately!)

-homemade roasted red pepper hummus

-leftover quinoa, cooked with vegetable broth

-raw zucchini, tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, and sugar snap peas (cut extras of these to have on hand, as I talked about here)

-on the side, in the pink bag I have half a red grapefruit and I am also having a tiny serving of reduced salt potato chips (not a normal purchase for us, but an occasional 'ok' type of thing, as long as the ingredient list is reduced to something like 'potatoes, safflower oil and salt')

- to drink I have water

What are you having for lunch today?

Tip of the Day: Dealing with Cravings

Cravings are something we pretty much all deal with. Men and women. Don't pretend you're immune to the pull of that bacon cheeseburger you've been thinking about. Or that piece of cheesecake that's been calling your name. Just admit it, everyone has them.

The question is always pretty simple: give in or not to give in? I don't know about you, but I give in. In fact, it's been a pretty key tool in my succeeding this time around with my healthier goals. I've never been very good at restricting my eating. Low carb? Forget that. No sugar? No thanks. I just can't tell myself there is any food that is OFF LIMITS. The minute I do, there is a big red OPEN sign over anything I've tried to restrict.

I tried to go gluten free a few summers ago, something my doctor suggested to aid in weight loss when dealing with a bum thyroid. I think I lasted 3 weeks, got past the detox and was feeling pretty good but I just couldn't deal with all the 'no-no' foods.  I realize there are many reasons people just have to do dietary restrictions. It can be required for all sorts of health issues. I think for some of us though, it can spell disaster when trying to over-restrict.

The lucky thing today is that there are so many ways around a lot of those restrictions, if you're willing to put in the work at home. If you can't find some finger-lickin' chicken strips that cater to the celiac crowd, you can make them at home, probably tastier than at your favorite restaurant. By the way, I've done this with Bob's Gluten Free All Purpose Flour and they were fantastic.

The point is, you can have your cake and eat it too. And you should eat it, if it's something you've been thinking about. Better to eat a reasonable piece now, than the whole cake later.

I think that for me, the trick is to make sure I'm not setting myself up for failure. I buy just one peanut butter cup (or a twin pack to share) as opposed to a bag of miniature ones. Heck, that would set my whole family up. Also, many of the foods we tend to crave, I make at home instead of eating out, using healthy ingredients. Pizza is no longer a bad word in this house. It's a great way for me to deliver a healthy dose of veggies to my kids. We eat it several times a week, actually.

What was your last craving and how did you handle it? Me? I wanted a chocolate croissant. My compromise? I stuffed some whole grain french toast with low-fat cream cheese and Justin's Hazelnut chocolate butter. So good and it was exactly the melty chocolate-y filling that I wanted. Dusted with a little 'powdered sugar' (raw cane sugar ground up in my coffee grinder) and a little melted butter and it really hit the spot.

The Clumsy Housewife Tip of the Day

Here is a great tip to keep snacks and makings for healthy meals on hand all the time. When you are already preparing vegetables for meals, cut up extra to have on hand for snacking. 

I know that we are much more likely to reach for carrots if they are already peeled and cut up. My kids and I don't care for the baby carrots. Something about the flavor and texture of them. The whole carrots just seem sweeter to us, but they are more work to prepare. 

This works for whatever veggies you prepare, whether it's zucchini or yellow squash (pretty yummy when eaten raw and dipped in ranch or hummus), cucumber, carrots and peppers.. all kinds of things. Plus, if I have to cut onion tonight I'd rather cut the entire onion (or two) up and have them ready to go if I know I need them again tomorrow. Actually, we're enjoying the avocados available right now, so having pre-cut onions for a quick guacamole is super convenient and easy. 

That also puts them within reach to make quick salads and lunches to go. 

This might seem like a really no-brainer. However, sometimes I go for weeks without doing it at home and I always notice I snack on vegetables less during that time. 

Is there something you do to simplify your routine for making meals and snacks?