Green is a lovely color

Our challenge for the week is to eat at least one serving of green leafy vegetables every day. You can eat them raw in salads or green smoothies, or cooked. One cup of raw greens is one vegetable serving. My favorite way to eat greens is in my daily green smoothie (yes hubby and I drink this for lunch EVERY day) I have modified this recipe recently after doing the Whole 30 (30 day challenge to eat only whole foods- nothing processed) so where I used to use Stevia sweetener and protein powder I now sweeten with whole dates and use real whole seeds for protein. Anyway here’s my recipe: Serves 2

Blender stuffed full of fresh greens (I actually buy them fresh but usually store them in the freezer)

1 whole frozen banana

2 T. Organic Cocoa powder (yes it’s a chocolate smoothie)

2 T. Chia Seeds

2 T. Hemp hearts

2 T. Flax seeds (I grind them right before throwing them in)

5 dates

1 cup coconut milk (I sometimes use flax milk/I'm allergic to almonds)

1 cup water

1 cup crushed ice

Put on gun range head phones (yes a Vitamix can damage your hearing. I have pink gun range ear protection) 

Blend and enjoy! Looks weird but tastes like a glass of fresh!

Eat Your Greens!

A nutrition professor once said that it was common for our ancient ancestors to eat up to six pounds of leaves per day. He imagined them walking along from one place to another, just picking and eating leaves as they went. Can you imagine eating a grocery bag full of greens each and every day? Few of us even eat the minimum USDA recommendations of 3 cups of dark green vegetables per week. And yet, these veggies deliver a bonanza of vitamins, minerals, and health benefits.

Dark green leafy vegetables are, calorie for calorie, perhaps the most concentrated source of nutrition of any food. They are a rich source of minerals (including iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium) and vitamins, including vitamins K, C, E, and many of the B vitamins. They also provide a variety of phytonutrients including beta-carotene, lutein and zeaxanthin, which protect our cells from damage and our eyes from age-related problems, among many other effects. Dark green leaves even contain small amount of Omega 3 fats.

Perhaps the star of these nutrients is Vitamin K. A cup of most cooked greens provides at least nine times the minimum recommended intake of Vitamin K, and even a couple of cups of dark salad greens usually provide the minimum all on their own. Recent research has provided evidence that this vitamin may be even more important than we once thought (the current minimum may not be optimal), and many people do not get enough of it.

Vitamin K:

Regulates blood clotting

Helps protect bones from osteoporosis

May help prevent and possibly even reduce atherosclerosis by reducing calcium in arterial plaques

May be a key regulator of inflammation, and may help protect us from inflammatory diseases including arthitis

May help prevent diabetes

Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin, so make sure to put a dressing containing some oil on your salad, or cook your greens with a bit of oil.

Almost Carb-Free

Greens have very little carbohydrate in them, and the carbs that are there are packed in layers of fiber, which make them very slow to digest. That is why, in general, greens have very little impact on blood glucose. In some systems greens are even treated as a "freebie" carb-wise (meaning the carbohydrate doesn't have to be counted at all).

So that is your challenge. Eat at least one serving (a cup) of greens every day! I hope this is a habit that you will continue for your whole life!

Note: I am a huge Costco fan. I love their bags of Power greens. They contain Kale, (a cruciferous vegetable) Chard and Spinach in the mix. That’s what I always use for my smoothies. And you can’t beat their price on chia seed or hemp hearts.

Every bite, sip and nibble

I am sure you have noticed that it can be really hard to keep track of what you eat. You are at a friend’s house visiting and she sets out a bowl of chips or pretzel thins. And you think, “Eating just one won’t hurt anything… Oh they are salty I think I’m craving salt... It’s ok to eat a second, a third…” and soon you have lost track- So you go to enter how much you have eaten on myfitnesspal.com and have to take an educated guess. Or you are cooking and taste the sauce to see if it needs salt. And some time later you check again and before you know you have “tasted” ¼ cup of sauce. Or you are clearing the table and your child has left a perfectly good bite or two on their plate and you finish it off as you are cleaning up. But these bites and tastes can add up!  You might honestly think you are staying within your calorie allowance and you can’t figure out why you aren’t losing weight.

Attention to portion size is key when it comes to weight loss or maintenance. 

The blogger Snack Girl shares, “Weight is the most accurate form of measurement for food portions. Why? The amount of food you can fit in a measuring cup or spoon can vary greatly. Think about it: A quarter cup of peanuts may have about 200 calories, but what if some of those peanuts are halved or crushed? Then you could fit a lot more into that quarter cup! A cup of chopped skinless chicken breast might have a supposed 250 calories, but is it finely chopped or closer to cubed? Big difference!"

That being said I’m not going to require you to weigh every single thing you eat. But it's a good idea to weigh most calorie-dense foods: nuts, avocado, protein (like fish and chicken), pasta, potatoes, etc. 

Snack girl goes on to share, “Some foods -- like oil and sugar -- are very consistent. A tablespoon of oil will always be a tablespoon of oil -- it's not really going to vary in weight. When in doubt, check a food's nutrition label. If the serving size is given in weight, your best bet is to throw it on a food scale. 

I would add that weighing also works well with items like chips or crackers that don’t fit well into measuring cups and are not easy to count due to breakage.

Also it's important to weigh and measure ingredients when you're following recipes -- otherwise, the cook times and recipe results can be altered.

Snack girl goes on to share, “Of course, there will definitely be times when you don't have access to any form of measurement... at restaurants, lunch meetings, etc. The way to handle those situations is to prepare yourself ahead of time. Pay close attention to portion sizes when you're weighing and measuring them at home, so you'll be better at eyeballing those serving sizes when you're out and about.”

I would also recommend with restaurants that you go on line before you get there to check if they have specific nutrition information available. Their individual websites often have info that is not included in the scroll down on myfitnesspal.com 

So your kitchen needs to have a set of measuring cups and spoons, plus a food scale. They don't need to be fancy, just functional. 

I recommend this food scale pictured above from amazon- EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale, White

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001N0D7GA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So your challenge for this week (starting Wednesday May 22) is whenever possible to weigh and measure your food and drink before eating. And for every day you accomplish this you earn the 5 bonus points. 

Welcome to a Healthy Spring

A sweet welcome back to those of you that are returning, as well as a warm hello to those joining us for the first time. 

Spring is sweetly upon us and there are beautiful evidences everywhere we look. Doesn't it make you think of new beginnings? Yes we have another opportunity to finely tune our self care and better honor these wonderful bodies we have been blessed with.

As we start will you make sure you complete this Housekeeping List?

1. Join myfitnesspal.com and if you are new friend at least 2 people from our group (find their contact info in the e-mail header). On Wednesday morning you will begin using this tool to track your food, water and exercise.

2. Make sure I have contact info from you and your partner (cell phone #, e-mail address)

3. Wednesday morning weigh yourself and measure your waist and hips (these are the only required measurements we track on this competition but you may want to take others so you can better track your own progress). Tuck these secrets in a safe place 

4. Read or re-read the Rules and FAQS tab on this blog site (I always have questions arise when folks forget to do this) 

5 VENMO or PayPal me your $40 entry fee (or mail it to Sandee Spencer 11172 South Surrey Drive Spanish Fork UT 84660)

6. Share with your partner 3 reasons you want to spend the next 8 weeks living healthier

Each week you will take a new bonus challenge for the week. I hope you love these challenges and you are welcome to make them a part of your daily life. You will find the challenge here on the blog. I try to post them by Sunday.

THIS WEEK'S CHALLENGE IS TO COMPLETE THE ABOVE HOUSEKEEPING LIST DURING WEEK #1