Tag Archives: healthy eating

Jun 17 2012
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Food

Healthy Summer Chicken Salad

It might seem like I’m going on a bit of a salad kick lately…and that’s because I am! Not only are salads great for whipping yourself into swimsuit shape, but they are efficient for packing a tonne of healthy nutrients into one meal, and they are nice and light for the summertime. With that in mind, I present to you my Warm Summer Chicken Salad – perfect for a summer lunch or dinner, or for hosting some health conscious guests in the backyard! Enjoy. :)

 Ingredients (serves three):

- 1/6 cup pine nuts (nuts are super healthy but also high in calories, don’t go overboard!)

- roasted red peppers (these are healthy, use as many as you’d like!)

- about 2 square inches of feta cheese (if you’re really trying to behave you can skip this altogether)

- lots and lots of greens (I used a mix of field greens and baby spinach)

oh…and chicken breast!

For this recipe I used three chicken breasts (one per person). I like to bake them and cover them with foil so that they are super moist. I also used a lemon and herb seasoning on these to make them a little more zesty!

Here they are! Now of course you also need to make some dressing. This one isn’t super low-calorie, but it doesn’t matter because it IS super healthy. Here’s what you need to make a jazzed up vinaigrette:

(Serves three)

- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

- 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

- a big squirt of pure lemon juice

- about 1 tbsp dijon mustard

- just a hint of honey

Mix all of the ingredients (except for the chicken) in a big bowl with the dressing.

Distribute everything evenly onto three plates and add the chicken breasts on the sides.

Yup, that’s it! The only thing that’s going to take you a bit of extra time here is waiting for the chicken breast to bake, so make sure you plan ahead for that. You could also make them the night before, however fresher is always better isn’t it? For those of you who are interested, this salad will ring you in at about 390 calories, minus the cheese it’ll cost you about 340 – the perfect portion size to allow for some fresh fruit for dessert!

On another note: Happy Father’s Day!

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Jun 13 2012
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Food

How to Craft the Perfect Omelette

Make fun if you will, but it took me a while to master the art of omelette making (and I have a feeling I’m not alone). Omelettes are a great choice for any meal: they are high in wonderful eggy protein, and you can also stuff them with much needed vegetables. Not only that, but they are naturally low carb, thus perfect for all of you who are trying to get into swimsuit shape right now! Here’s how you do it:

Ingredients:

eggs (I used two)

about 1 tbsp butter

salt and pepper to taste

filler items – I basically just use whatever is in my fridge, usually some random veggies – however I encourage you to experiment! One of my favourite omelettes is leftover salmon and asparagus…mm…Anyway, the key is dicing them up into really small pieces so that your omelette doesn’t break apart later on!

Now, let’s make an omelette!

Step one is to add 2tbsp of water to the eggs and beat them really quickly with a fork until you see bubbles on the surface.

Next it’s time to pan fry your veggies. Use butter to cook them at a low heat. If you are using greens like spinach and want to add them at this phase you can, however because it cooks so quickly I usually leave it until the very end.

Pour your bubbly eggs into the pan (ensuring that they are spread evenly) and let them sit at a low heat setting for a few minutes (you will notice that the edges will begin to solidify and change colour).

Almost ready! Now is a good time to add your spinach…

…and some cheese if you’re feeling daring!

Now it’s time to fold in half. If you have cooked it well this shouldn’t be too problematic, however even seasoned experts have their bad days…

…that’s better! It’s all in the wrist. Don’t worry, even if things don’t look too pretty it’ll still taste just as good. There you go! Now you can call yourself an omelette master as well (though maybe not in public…) ;)

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Apr 28 2012
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Food

Sugar-Free Strawberry Jam

Like most people I appreciate a good ol’ fashioned PB&J from time to time, however recently I was shocked to see that grocery store jams are LOADED with sugar! Here’s a bit of perspective: the cereal that I eat has 4g of sugar per cup…the generic jam that I’ve been eating has 11g of sugar per tablespoon! Fortunately I had this healthy jam recipe saved from one of my mom’s old Oxygen magazines and decided to give it a try. This jam uses strawberries (great for quick workout energy and repairing antioxidants) and chia seeds (a gluten-free complete protein). It doesn’t taste exactly the same as your ordinary grocery store jam, but it is quite refreshing and makes a great healthy substitute! Here’s how you make it:

Ingredients:

1/2 tbsp chia seeds

2 oz water

8 frozen strawberries, thawed

2 slices healthy bread (like ezekiel or whole-grain!)

1tbsp raw natural nut butter

Mix the chia seeds and water in a bowl, whisking vigorously for 30 seconds. Set aside for 20 minutes until a gel is formed.

In the meantime, mash the strawberries with a fork.

Combine the chia seed gel with the strawberries, stirring until you’ve achieved an even consistency.

That’s it! Just spread 1tbsp peanut butter and 1-2 tbsp jam on toast and you’ve created a meal with enough fuel to sustain you for a nice long cardio session. Enjoy!

A note about chia seeds: I have been hearing about this high protein wonder for a while and never knew where to purchase it, however I was surprised to find them at the Bulk Barn (Canada) in the gluten-free section! Also, chia seeds are flavourless, so they won’t affect the taste of your meals.

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Apr 27 2012
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Food

Protein-Packed Peanut Stew

Readers, brace yourselves, I’m about to share with you my favourite meal: yup, that’s it, peanut stew. We’ve been making this on a weekly basis for quite some time now, and it only occurred to me to write about it when I realized 1) Just how economical it is, 2) That it’s loaded with protein! (Oh, and it tastes really really good). I initially found this recipe on the vegan stoner but modified it to include meat and make it lower carb as well. So here’s how you do it:

Ingredients:

1 can of crushed tomatoes

roughly about the same amount of crunchy peanut butter

1/2 a large onion

3 large carrots

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Chop up the onion and carrot (I used rainbow carrots so some of them are yellow!), and saute on a lightly greased pan (I used extra virgin olive oil).

While the carrot and onion are cooking mix the crushed tomatoes and peanut butter in a separate pot and bring to a boil.

Chop the chicken into chunks and mix in with the carrot and onion, stirring until fully cooked.

Add the chicken, onion, and carrots into the stew, reduce the heat, and let the flavours mix for a few minutes. That’s it, you’re done!

A couple notes: 1) This recipe makes a LOT of stew (I just love it so much that I always end up freezing it and having it later in the week)! 2) This meal is very dense and filling so you don’t need very much to feel satisfied (remember, nut butters are quite high in calories – but they’re also awesome for you)!

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Mar 25 2012
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Food

Skinny Italian Turkey Meatballs

What do you do when you have a free Sunday afternoon and two health-minded people? Well for us the only logical thing to do was to make an enormous batch of Italian turkey meatballs! These ones are super duper healthy, and while they take a little bit of time and effort to make, they are definitely worth it. You can find the recipe here. Also, I find that I sometimes struggle with maintaining my healthy lifestyle while cooking things that are “guy friendly”…this one clearly gets the male stamp of approval:

Enjoy! :)

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Jan 10 2012
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Food

Egg Stuffed Avocado

This morning I got a little crafty in the kitchen, and decided to try something new by baking an egg inside of an avocado half. Not only are these both super foods (avocados are full of healthy energizing fats – yes, I said healthy fats, and eggs are loaded with protein), but also it tasted absolutely delicious! I know I say that about a lot of things that I cook, but I seriously think I may have started singing after I took my first bite of this. This breakfast is super easy to make: just cut an avocado in half, take out the pit (you might need to scoop out a bit more depending on the size of your egg), pour a raw egg in, and add some seasoning if you’d like (I used a cajun spice). Then just throw it in the oven until the egg is cooked through and enjoy!

Also, a petite fitness update: For those of you that are interested, I am still pushing through on my half marathon training (although admittedly it is getting tougher with this cold weather!), and I started doing some work outs from p90x for strength training last week which are incredible. I’m really using January as a month to be hard core about my fitness and nutrition. I hope this inspires some of you to do the same! I’ll post more details including a calendar so you can work out along with me if you’d like soon. (:

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Dec 14 2011
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Food

Chicken Tikka with Homemade Potato Chips

I got the recipe for the Chicken Tikka (above) from a Women’s Health article on protein packed meals. Though it looks a little bland in colouring, this meal is full of delicious flavour thanks to a yogurt-cashew coating that is packed with healthy spices. Making homemade potato chips is also a super easy, fun way to spice up an old staple. All you have to do is slice up a potato or yam into thin circles (I just used a knife since I don’t have any fancy tools), then coat the slices in vegetable oil, salt, and pepper, and bake in the oven until they look nice and crisp! We ate this chicken with an easy-to-make yogurt dip which also works really well with the chips. Enjoy!

Chicken Tikka with Yogurt Dip

Dip (serves 3-4): Mix 1 cup yogurt (I used plain organic 2% yogurt), with 1tsp minced garlic and some lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

Chicken Tikka (Serves 4): Cut 4 boneless chicken breasts into 1″ chunks and marinate in the following for 30 minutes:

- 1/2 cup plain organic yogurt (I used 2%)

- 1/2 cup ground cashews (you can be a dweeb like me and grind these with a knife, or you can avoid sore arms and simply use a food processor)

- 2 tsp ground cardamom

- 2 tsp ground coriander

- 2 tsp minced ginger

- 2 tsp minced garlic

After marinating cook through until chicken is browned (the original recipe suggests grilling the chicken, but I pan-fried mine in canola oil). Serve with the yogurt dip.

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Nov 15 2011
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Tips from a Friend

One of the great things about starting this blog is I’ve been getting lots of feedback from you readers. Recently I was delighted to hear that my friend Beverly (who I always looked up to in high school), had recently started her own fitness journey and had some wisdom to pass on. Some of it counters what I’m doing, but that’s the point: I really don’t know everything, I’m just trying to figure it all out as I go, much like you guys! Ultimately I think it comes down to finding what works for you. Here’s what she had to say:

- when doing cardio as opposed to strength training, you need to include pre & post workout meals. This means slow digesting carbs (i.e. whole grains) with a bit of protein, which will sustain you through your workout.

- it’s okay to eat something right before bed. The only rule to that though is it should be a snack high in protein. Your body is deprived of food through the 7-8 hours you are sleeping, so in order to keep it from going into starvation mode and storing fat, have a snack such as a cup of cottage cheese with a handful of walnuts, a cup of greek yogurt with a little bit of fruit, etc.

- fruits and veggies are good sources of carbs but don’t overdo it because fruits are still considered carbs and they are high in sugar. It’s all about portion control!

She also provided me with this guide to nutrition (below – you might have to click on the black bar to see it). Again, it’s all about figuring out what works best for you, but I found it to be pretty useful! Thanks Bev!

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Nov 04 2011
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Food

Superfood: Greek Yogurt

I’m sure that if you are even mildly health-conscious, you have heard about the wide-ranging benefits of Greek yogurt. However I have personally never been able to enjoy it (unless cleverly disguised in a smoothie) because it is just so darn sour! Enter my new favourite product: President’s Choice Greek Yogurt with Honey. Here are some of the benefits:

- only 160 calories per 3/4 cup – Often for breakfast I’ll have this serving size with some cinnamon, walnuts, and a handful of berries. Bam! Done!

- contains 18g of protein per serving (making it an amazing choice for a pre or post workout snack)

- has 0g of fat, and only has three ingredients: skim milk, honey, and bacterial culture

Also…it actually tastes really good! So good in fact, that I sometimes have it for dessert. I’m not kidding. Now call it serendipity, but a friend of mine recently recommended that I start watching Amanda Russell’s fitness channel on youtube (which is pretty useful!) Here is a post that she did on Greek Yogurt:

Have any superfood suggestions? Let me know!

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Oct 23 2011
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Food

Keeping a Food Journal

Readers, as part of my goal-setting process I have decided to start a proper food journal. Essentially what this is, is an area where you document everything that you consume each day, so that you can reflect back in the future and look at where you need to make adjustments to your diet. It is also good because being honest with yourself helps you to avoid dietary pitfalls (do you really want to have to write down that you ate half a jar of Nutella)? I find these to be really helpful, and I would recommend them for most anyone. A few suggestions if I may:

1) Dedicate a separate notebook specifically to this purpose. I blew eight dollars on a fancy organic one from Chapters (the surrounding stores were closed!), so hopefully that alone will be enough motivation to keep it up. One from the dollar store really is fine though.

2) Be honest! If you did happen to eat the Nutella…write it down! There’s nothing worse than not seeing results and then looking back and seeing nothing but a perfect track record. Remember, this is something for you, not against you.

3) Write down EVERYTHING. I demonstrated this here by writing down the seven raisins I grabbed when I got back from the gym. This may seem inconsequential, but if you have a tendency to snack these things can really add up, sometimes to a full meal’s worth of food!

Also, I don’t tend to set weight loss goals (as lean muscle weighs more than fat), however it might be helpful to keep track of your weight by recording it at the beginning of each week. This way you can see if what you are doing is effective or not. That’s all for now. Let me know if you have anything to add, I’d love to hear your feedback!

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