Holiday indulgences and whatnot
Posted by Amy on December 7, 2008
With the holiday season fast approaching, it never fails, the moment you walk into the grocery store, you are faced with special deals on sweets and items for holiday baking. I don’t know about you but it’s temptation central for me. Even if I had no intention of baking those six different Christmas cookies, I’m always suckered in once I see those bags of red and green wrapped Hershey kisses, Reese cups and bags of brown sugar.
I’ve never been one to follow a weight-loss program. I suppose that could be why I have the weight concerns that I do today. Although, I have become increasingly more interested in the Weight Watchers program. I recently discovered that they have some pretty neat online tools to make balancing your eating habits a pretty simple task. I’m all about the simple.
Weight Watchers now has this “Snack Widget” that you can get for your desktop or embed into your website, which allows you to simply type in a snack food that you want and the widget will produce a variety of Weight Watchers snacks to choose from instead.
Check it out for yourself here:
You can get this widget HERE.
You can find Weight Watchers on Facebook (I just became a fan) where they offer free recipes and great weight watching tips. You can also find a lot of great healthy eating information on their website HERE.
Like I said, the closer we get to celebrating the holidays, the harder it is to eat sensibly when you’re faced with all of those fabulous goodies. Keep Weight Watchers in mind when you head out to that next holiday party. Know that they have a great online resource that you can turn to when you need a boost in confidence and some healthy eating tips.
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Tags: feeding and hydration, health and wellness, nutrition
Category: Health and Fitness
Brined & Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe
Posted by Eric on November 16, 2008
With Thanksgiving less than two weeks away it is about time to determine just how you are gonna cook that tasty bird. I’ve had deep-fried turkey (good), smoked turkey (even better), but my favorite way to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving (or even Christmas) is brined and roasted. Yes, I’ll admit that I borrowed the original recipe from the amazing Alton Brown a few years ago, but I’ve made some minor (and delicious) changes, oh yes.
Start with a 14 to 16 pound turkey. You can use a smaller bird or a turkey breast, but be sure to reduce the other ingredients proportionally. You’ll also need a 5 gallon bucket.
Brine stuff:
1 cup of salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
1/2 tbsp allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1/2 cup cognac
1 gallon iced H20
Aromatics:
1 red apple, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup water
4 sprigs rosemary
6 sage leaves
canola oil
So what you want to do is combine all the brine stuff (except the iced water) in a pot and bring it to a boil. Stir until the solids are dissolved, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until chilled. It is generally best to do this the night before. Save a little bit of the cognac for yourself and have a drink while you’re at it.
Early on the day of cooking, combine the brine (what you made above) and ice water in the clean 5 gallon bucket. Mix it up and place the thawed turkey breast side down in the bucket, cover, and refrigerate or set it in a cool place for 6 hours. It is generally pretty chilly here around Thanksgiving so on the back porch works for me.
Just before you are ready to roast, heat your oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water and microwave on high for about 5 minutes. Once you get the aromatics in the microwave, remove the bird from the brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.
Place your turkey on a roasting rack inside a wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add the aromatics you just microwaved to the cavity of the bird along with the rosemary and sage. Tuck back the wings and coat the bird liberally with canola oil.
Roast your bird on the lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove the turkey from the oven and cover breast with a double layer of aluminum foil and return it to the oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound turkey should require 2 to 2-1/2 hours of roasting. Use a probe thermometer if you’ve got one and set it for 161 degrees. Let your bird rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.
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Tags: nutrition, recipes
Category: Food and Drink
How I lost 40 pounds in 6 months
Posted by Eric on June 2, 2008
I’m not sure what the weather is like where you live, but here in Chicago, it seems that things are finally looking up (at least in a meteorological sense) and I love it.
Back in mid-January (that’s less than 6 months ago), I made a decision that I was going to lose a significant amount of weight and get myself feeling like myself again; like the guy who ran the 2003 Chicago Marathon. So I made a plan and a plan to stick with that plan and as of today I’ve dropped 41 pounds and I’m hoping for at least 10 more by the 4th of July.
The funny thing about losing 40+ pounds is that it was actually pretty easy. Sure, there are sacrifices and staying motivated (especially at first) can be difficult, but it isn’t really that hard. Think about it; losing 40 pounds in about 20 weeks works out to 2 pounds a week. That’s a healthy and well-paced weight loss.
My formula for success is also pretty simple and there are 5 things you need to do:
* 1. Eat less, but don’t starve yourself. There are a million different places on the Interweb to find out what your BMR (basal metabolic rate) is and how much you should be eating so there isn’t any excuse. Some experts say keep a food log, but you know how much is too much. Yes you do.
* 2. Cut out refined sugars and processed carbohydrates. You don’t need to go low carb crazy, but stay away from breads, pasta, etc… Do eat as many fruits and vegetables as you care to. I know I could binge eat an entire bag of Doritos, but try eating an entire bag of apples or baby carrots. I’ll bet you can’t do it.
* 3. Exercise. Don’t be afraid to start slowly and stick with it. Back in January the first time I was on the treadmill I managed to go a little over a mile while alternating between walking and slow jogging. Yesterday I ran a little over 6 miles at about 9:00 pace.
* 4. Take a day off once in awhile. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was the body of a fitness pro. Also don’t be afraid to have a cheat meal once in awhile. Have a slice of pizza and a beer on Friday night, but follow that up with a spinach omelet and 3 miles on the treadmill Saturday morning.
* 5. Have fun. If you hate running, you’ll never do it. Find something that you enjoy (swimming, biking, tennis, etc…) and stick with it.
That’s about it. Just eat less bad stuff, eat more good stuff, exercise, and don’t go overboard and set unrealistic goals you can’t meet. The only supplements I’ve taken during this time have been a daily multivitamin, fish oil capsules, and about 2 cups of green tea a day. If I can do it, so can you.