JK Challenge Countdown!

The JK Challenge starts on MONDAY! Join in on the fun. I will spend the last 3 weeks leading up to the first day of spring March 20th talking about healthy steps you can take to feel good. Want to lose a couple pounds? Want to increase your water intake? Want to lift your mood? Want to learn how to eat healthy on the go? You set your own goal and I will help you by talking about many different steps you can take to improve your mental and physical well being and therefore achieve your goal.

This will be your own goal- but I will be here to support you!

Are you up for the challenge? I'm so excited many of you have reached out and said YES already! I feel so blessed to have such amazing friends in my life- you mean the world to me! Let's do this together!

What 200 Calories Looks Like

A friend of mine posted this on her Facebook page and you know I had to click on over because I'm all about finding interesting ways to talk about food! All 200 calories are not alike! Bathing suit season isn't too far away and don't you want to look your best?

I know I do! In fact- I challenged myself for the next 6 weeks to eat a strict healthy diet. I had been "cheating".... a lot. That's about when Girl Scout Cookies come in right? LOL- no, that's not why- but pretty funny that I thought of that. Sigh.

Anyways- focusing on really healthy eating for a period of time is another reason why I found this article so interesting.

Here are a couple examples that really stood out to me! Click the above link to see more. Fascinating. Choose wisely.

Snack Time

I went to the grocery store hungry yesterday. Never a good idea. I bought Lunchables for the kids for a snack, sushi for the kids AND myself... for a snack and all of this for the kids and myself... FOR A SNACK! Apparently my snack attack meant munching my way through all the departments in the store for goodness sake!

Perhaps it was because I was dreaming of my Twilight party this weekend that I just HAD to have a pretty little platter with fruit, cheese, olives and meats... and a separate bowl full with little baguettes- but who's counting calories here!

I ate a couple pieces of sushi and saved the rest for the kiddos and then made this wonderful platter. My kids felt so special when I took the cover off of it and told them to enjoy. There's something really satisfying seeing my children enjoy a variety of foods that some kids may find yucky. Not too many kids enjoy spreadable sharp cheddar cheese or hard salami or a variety of olives.

What's your favorite snack? I have to admit- lately mine are olives, hard salami, cheese and crackers. It means a couple extra squat sets in the gym but it's worth it to me,

Classroom Snacks To Ban

Take these off your Saturday shopping list or at least combine them with some fruits and veggies! Eat This Not that Author David Zinzanko is out with a new hit list of foods we should avoid- this time in the classroom.

Zinzanko says: "The behavioral effects of poor nutritional choices include sugar crashes, foggy cognition, and hyperactivity. Not to mention the fact that plenty of kid-targeting foods are fundamentally messy, sticky, and disruptive."

The Author of the all-new Eat This, Not That! 2013 guide goes on to say A recent study published in Childhood Obesity found that snacks brought from home are more likely to be high in fat and sugar, and that sack lunches often lack fruit, vegetables, and dairy products compared with school lunches.

1. Cheetos (1 oz)

150 calories10 g fat (1.5 g saturated)
250 mg sodium

This makes me kinda sad- because who doesn't love a bag of Cheetos! But he says they’re "high in sodium, low in fiber, and are made with neurotoxic monosodium glutamate (HUH??). Plus, when the iconic orange coating fuses with fingertip oil, it forms a putty-like crud that affixes to seemingly any surface." 

2. Hostess Powdered Sugar Donettes (4 donettes)

240 calories12 g fat (6 g saturated, 0.5 g trans)
16 g sugars

We all know donettes really aren't that healthy- but Zinzanko has a special way to make them hit home. "Each serving packs four teaspoons, enough to prime your child for a mid-morning energy crash. A bowl of Lucky Charms with milk would supply less!"

3. Kellogg’s Pop-tarts, Frosted Cherry (1 package, 2 pastries)

400 calories10 g fat (3 g saturated)
32 g sugars

 Pop-tarts are great for on the go treats- but when you look at it through the eyes of a man who knows his nutrition- you may take a double take. The primary ingredients here are refined flour, various sweeteners, and oil—fruit makes up less than 2 percent of each pastry! Plus, Kellogg’s skews the serving size. If it really intends one pastry to be a serving (like it lists on the nutrition label), then why did it package two per packet?

Worst Foods

 Mens Health Magazine is out with a Worst Foods List. Author David Zinczenko just has a special way to make us all feel real, real guilty for enjoying what we already know are guilty pleasures.
 Number 15 on the top 20 list was:

Photo: Mens Health

California Pizza Kitchen Waldorf Chicken Salad with Blue Cheese Dressing

1,561 calories
N/A g fat (31 g saturated)
1,821 mg sodium

Zinczenko says:

After we castigated its Santa Fe Chopped Salad for years, TGI Friday's finally removed them from its menu. Unfortunately, there are plenty of unsettling salads to take its place. None are worse than this tangled heap of trouble from CPK. And the potential it had! The first half of this menu description reads like nutritional poetry—field greens, fresh grapes, sliced apples—but it stops there. Sugar-coated walnuts, Gorgonzola, and a flood of blue cheese dressing all conspire to saddle this salad with more calories than any of CPK's whole pizzas.

 

Burger King, Quiznos and PF Chang are all on the list. I don't think any of the selections are very much of a surprise- but it is interesting to see the calorie breakdown and understand what it means. So you wonder.... what was #1 on his list? 

 

#1 was reserved for:

Photo: Mens Health

 

Cheesecake Factory Bistro Shrimp Pasta

 

2,730 calories
N/A g fat (78 g saturated fat)
919 mg sodium

 

Zinczenko says of this meal:

Fattest Foods In America

This is just sad. Not because it looks sooooo fattening- but because it is, and I will never have any of these dishes and that's sad... because frankly... I love food. LOL All kidding aside- these are some serious artery clogging, gut busting meals none of us should really eat.


Okay, everything in moderation- I've heard that some where.

Did you know you can actually take a tour of the country via the fattest foods in America? Some are pretty tame- like a 2 foot hot dog from Connecticut. Come on, does anyone really need a 2 foot hot dog? No wonder that one makes the list. Others are a little surprising like a Crab Louis Salad from Washington. We always think of salads being so healthy- but the salad and seafood can't make up for the mayo based salad dressing.  Here are some of the other highlights:

Photo: Kevin Dugan

Colorado: Jack-n-Grill's 7-pound breakfast burrito! Apparently it's so hard to finish one of these bad babies that it was featured on an episode of "Man VS Food". Why? 7 potatoes, 12 eggs, 1lb of ham, a whole onion, cheese and chili!

Photo: Marshall Astor

Georgia: Luther Burger. Apparently a bar in Decatur, Ga. named it after R&B Star Luther Vandross. Cook Paula Deen took it up a notch and added a fried egg on top!

Photo: mmm-yoso/flickr

Hawaii: Loco Moco. The legend is this comfort food dates back to 1949. That's when a group of hungry teenagers as the owner of the Lincoln Grill in Hilo to whip them up something cheap to eat! And this is what you get when you throw together some white rice, a beef patty and gravy. It's continually evolving and now can be seen with onions, fish and gravy added to it!

Photo: Johnathan Edwards

Maine: Lobster roll. A little ol' lobster roll never hurt anyone! Apparently it can- and it's all because of the little white stuff. Yep mayo- makes this relatively healthy portion sized meal grow your waist line!

Photo: Health.com

New York: Garbage plate. Saving the best for last. New York knows how to go big or go home! The garbage plat is described as a mess of potatoes, beans, meat, onions, mustard and sauce! We can than Nick Tahou Hots in Rochester NY for creating this meal in 1918. It now can contain- fries, macaroni salad, baked beans, your choice of meat (hamburger, cheeseburger, hot dog, sausage, chicken tender, fish or fried ham), mustard, onions and hot sauce!

Phew~ I feel like I need to go get a run in- after just looking at these pictures!