Chia Muesli Parfait

Do you often wake up in the morning a miss breakfast because you have to get to school on time? Well fear to more because you can make a healthy,tasty, and quick breakfast ahead of time. Chia Muesli Parfaits are very easy to make and are dairy,wheat, and gluten free.

To make this recipe you will need Chia seeds, orange juice, almonds, almond milk ,cinnamon,and a fruit of you choice.
I choose pineapple. Very first thing i learned was READ THE DIRECTIONS  COMPLETELY!! I mixed some of the ingredients before i was supposed to. OOOPS. I had to put the chia seeds in the fridge over night but it was so worth it.

The next day I put the chia seed into cups and put pineapple in between the layers.

Over all this was a tasty, super simple and super healthy. I had enough breakfast for the rest of the week. I would have other pictures but my laptop is having issues with putting the rest of them. What fruit would you add to this delectable treat?

Sear!!

Eggs - The Perfect Protein

Protein is the key to building muscle, and everybody knows that eggs are protein-packed. "Calorie for calorie, you need less protein from eggs than you do from other sources to achieve the same muscle building benefits" (Zinczenko 69). Basically, the author of Men's Health, Get Back in Shape is saying that you can eat less eggs, but still have enough protein needed to build bigger muscles. Eggs are also packed with vitamins and minerals, such as B6, B12, iron, and zinc, that are necessary for a healthy body (Zinczenko 69).

In knowing this, I have put eggs in my daily diet. I usually try to eat them for breakfast, but if I don't have enough time to make them in the morning, I make sure that they are my first option for an after school snack.

One of  my favorite things to make are a quick scramble, with eggs, either ham or sausage, and a little bit of cheese. It takes less than ten minutes to cook, prepare, and clean up, and tastes good too! All you have to do is warm the meat, toss in the eggs, then sprinkle in some cheese and seasoning, and now you're set with a good, hearty meal.

After eating a meal with eggs, I always feel energized and ready to get up and do something. They are able to keep me alert at school, or even more pumped to go to the gym.

What other foods do you eat for a protein packed meal?

Zinczenko, David. Men's Health, Get Back in Shape. Rodale Inc, Emmaus Pennsylvania, 2009.

Almond & Peach Parfait

Breakfast Parfait

In this blog, I will be proving a super easy recipe to make on the go before school. I made this breakfast parfait in less than 5 minutes, so this recipe is perfect for anybody who wakes up at 6:30 am like me and still wants to eat a healthy breakfast. In my previous blog posts, I mentioned facts about healthy eating so I wont ramble on for too long, but I just wanted to remind you readers that "Research reveals how unwise it is to go without breakfast. People who skip it will crave carbohydrates and will consume more sugary foods and beverages and less vegetables and fruit. The effect on your health will soon add up" (Turner 9). So don't even think about not eating breakfast, just make this quick and easy parfait instead!

Turner says that the almond peach parfait recipe is perfect for desert lovers because it's a creamy layered desert packed with super foods (Turner 56).

Ingredients

Serves 1

Layer ingredients

2/3 cup Greek yogurt

1/2 cup blueberries

2 tbsp. silvered almonds

1 peach, diced

Topping

a few raspberries

1 tbsp. hemp seeds

raw honey to taste

Modified recipe

2 tbsp. of greek yogurt (Tip: mix honey into yogurt)

a few blueberries

a few peaches (canned peaches as peaches are not in season right now)

Questions: Have you ever had McDonalds parfaits? Are they or are they not the best parfaits ever!??

When do you wake up?

Avocado, Nori, & Nut Cream Toast

A superfood breakfast

A superfood breakfast can include a lot of different ingredients and have many different meanings. To me, a superfood breakfast means not only to eat healthy a breakfast but to try new recipes that I'll enjoy and benefit from. So, in this blog post I'll be providing a quick and easy recipe that has energy boosting ingredients such as quinoa and avocado. In Kate Turner's book, Superfood Breakfasts, quinoa's essentials are described "Manganese, magnesium, and phosphorus, plus all the essential amino acids our bodies need. Heart- friendly quinoa is gluten free, helps alleviate migraines, relieves constipation and lowers cholesterol" (Turner 34). Before getting this book, I didn't know the importance of quinoa in my diet and how it could benefit me and from making these healthy recipes from Kate Turner's novel Superfood Breakfasts, I've really noticed an overall boost in energy and concentration in school.

The ingredients in the avocado, nori & brazil nut toast recipe  all play starring roles: avocados contain healthy fats, nori is rich in minerals, while Brazil nuts have high levels of selenium to support your immune system (Turner 44).

Ingredients

Serves 3

6 slices quinoa supersede bread

1 1/2 avocados, sliced

9 cherry tomatoes, sliced

3 tbsp. nori seaweed, shredded

1 tbsp. sesame seeds

A few sprigs basil

Nut Cream

3/4 cup Brazil nuts

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. olive oil

Directions to make nut cream

1. To make nut cream, put the ingredients into a blender or processor, and process until combined. You may need to stop the machine occasionally to push the mixture down with a spatula. Gradually add 2 tablespoons of hot water to achieve a thick, creamy consistency. Season with salt and black pepper

Note: Toast the bread and spread with nut cream. Top with the avocado, tomatoes, nori, seeds and basil.

Modified recipe

Ingredients

Slices of whole wheat bread

1/2 of avocado

2 or 3 pieces of organic seaweed (Can add more or else depending on whether you like seaweed)

Note: All other ingredients were used

Tip: Instead of adding sliced avocado pieces on top of the toast, blend the avocado, brazil nuts, olive oil, lemon juice and water together to achieve a creamy paste.

Questions: Do you like seaweed? What's your favorite kind of toast? Do you eat quinoa often?

Meal Planning 101

Something I have done recently is planning my meals. This means writing everything you’re going to eat down on paper, typed or other ways you could write this down so you have a physical form of what you’re going to eat. This has really helped me get healthier because it’s something I can look at for my meals like dinner to know and not end up eating a frozen pizza or frozen dinner, which seems to happen too often.

In The teen eating manifesto, Stollman includes a section about meal planning and provides templates for the reader to see. The section also includes around how many calories should be eaten for genders which showed for females about 1500 calories and for men about 1800 calories (Stollman 178). For the meal plans, it even planned snacks along with the 3 major meals.

Not only does it show examples of “menus” but it also said how often you should be eating, “Try to eat every three to five hours. If you don’t eat regularly, you may find that you get excessively hungry and then eat too much at the next meal” (Stollman 177). I hope some of you consider meal planning and try out being a healthier you! Thanks for checking out my blog posts.

Do you believe in calorie counting when trying to eat healthier/ lose weight?

MLA: Stollman, Lisa, MA, RD, CDE, CDN. The Teen Eating Manifesto: The Ten Essential Steps to Losing Weight, Looking Great and Getting Healthy. Northport, NY: Nirvana, 2012. Print.

Healthy Recipe: Roasted Tofu

Healthy Recipe: Roasted Tofu

Recently I had decided to go pescatarian which basically means your vegetarian except you eat fish and seafood. I’ve been needing to find new recipes to try while I’m not eating other meats that I used to eat often for dinner and other meals. Here’s the recipe which was under Entrees.

“Yield: 4 Servings

Ingredients:

1 package extra firm tofu

2 tablespoons canola oil

2 teaspoons canola oil

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

2 teaspoons honey

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon chili sauce (such as Siracha)” (Stollman 237).

While making the recipe and gathering the ingredients, I realized I had bought the wrong kind of tofu. There are 3 different kinds of tofu including soft, firm and extra firm. I accidently bought firm tofu but it still worked but it sort of got misshaped. I also didn’t have chili sauce in my house but it still turned out fine.

Here’s the Directions:

  1. Cut up the Tofu

  2. Line a bowl with paper towels, put the tofu inside and refrigerate for 15-20 minutes.

  3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees

  4. In a large bowl whisk together all ingredients besides tofu

  5. Add tofu to bowl of sauce and gently toss to coat.                             

  6. Transfer to sheet pan and bake for 20-25 minutes and turn once until golden brown

  7. Enjoy (Stollman 237).

In the end I tried the tofu and honestly thought it didn’t taste like much. I was slightly disappointed when trying it along with getting the wrong kind of tofu so while preparing it, the tofu was breaking into small pieces. I feel like next time I should let it marinate in the sauce for about an hour so that maybe the tofu will absorb the sauce and become more flavorful. I would recommend it though because it’s not that bad and if you doctor it up a little it can be really tasty!

What’s your favorite dinner? Do you like or ever eat Tofu?

MLA: Stollman, Lisa, MA, RD, CDE, CDN. The Teen Eating Manifesto: The Ten Essential Steps to Losing Weight, Looking Great and Getting Healthy. Northport, NY: Nirvana, 2012. Print.

Nutrition is the Key to a Healthy Lifestyle

Everybody knows that they are supposed to eat healthy food. However, most people don't know exactly why. I asked my sister why she should eat in a healthy manner, and she responded with "because it's good for you". I followed this by questioning why "it's good for you", and she didn't know.

I feel like most people are this way. Obviously they don't care enough to do their research. I've began to look into a healthy lifestyle, and Men's Health, Get Back in Shape by David Zinczenko covers everything, from nutrition to weightlifting. Recently, I have been focusing more on the nutrition portion rather than the body sculpting segment, because nobody will see your muscle when it is covered in a layer of body fat.

A way to kill body fat is to eat amphetamines. They act speed up the motor of the metabolism, and ingesting foods that are considered edible amphetamines guarantee to burn calories no matter what. Having snacks charged with them is scientifically proven to help you loose body fat. (96). There are plenty of these foods, which you should always try to fit into your diet. Included are whole grains for their fiber and complex proteins that keep your insulin levels low after a meal, spicy peppers for their capsaicin which boosts metabolism, and lean proteins that require more energy to digest than fatty ones, meaning you burn calories during the process of digestion. Other foods include coffee, for the caffeine speeds up your heartrate, burning more calories than normal, and seafood such as salmon that contains Omega-3 fatty acids, that lower the hormone leptin. "Researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that mice with low leptin levels have faster metabolisms and are able to burn fat more quickly than animals with higher leptin levels. The best way to lower your leptin? Eat fish" (99).

In reading this, for the past three weeks, I have made a point include one source of edible amphetamines in every meal. I always start the day with oatmeal and a cup of coffee, and finish it with some sort of lean protein. As you can see here, today (November 30, 2006) I prepared grilled rosemary salmon, with grilled onions and potatoes, and a whole wheat couscous.



It was a fairly simple dish, which only required some seasoning before throwing it on the grill. For taking less than 25 minutes, it tasted great, and after ward I didn't get that overstuffed and tired feeling that you can occasionally get after a substantial meal.

Eating right doesn't have to come at the cost, as made evident in the meal I mentioned earlier. It's pretty easy to enjoy meals that work well for your body, and your taste buds. Now that I have the nutrition aspects down of a healthy lifestyle, I can begin on physical aspects.

What other healthy meals do you recommend? What specific foods should I add to my diet that would be beneficial?

Zinczenko, David. Men's Health, Get Back in Shape. Rodale Inc, Emmaus Pennsylvania, 2009.

Healthy Drinking

I’ve wanted to start eating healthy for a while now. A lot of people want to eat healthy but what we drink isn’t thought about a whole lot because we focus on food and what we’re chewing; but maybe we should start thinking more about what we’re eating and if it’s good for us. “Many people make the mistake of getting the fluids we need during the day from sodas, flavored milk, fancy coffee beverages, and juices. These drinks are high in calories from sugar,” (Stollman 43). This seems so bizarre that most of us are worried about what we’re eating and calories but aren’t really considering that what we’re drinking could not help with trying to eat healthy and possibly lose weight.

Now that we’ve talked about why you should avoid most drinks, let’s talk about what we should be drinking. Water, W-A-T-E-R. It’s one drink we should be drinking lots of throughout the day let some of us including me don’t seem to drink enough. The book mentioned about not thinking water is the only thing you can drink, there are other beverages out there for you if you don’t like water or want to shake things up like Seltzer water, tea and low calorie, low sugar drinks (Stollman 44).

Why do we need fluids? Ever been hungry and then not felt satisfied after eating? That’s probably because you weren’t hungry, you were thirsty. Yup, thirst disguises as hunger causing us to eat more when we aren’t actually hungry. Now what happens if you don’t drink enough? “Here’s what can happen if you don’t drink enough water every day: -You can get problems such as palpitations (irregular heart beat) or feel very tired. –You may notice that you often get a headache later in the day” (Stollman 45). Water is vital for all of us so we need to get more H₂O in our diet. The amount we should actually be needing is approximately 8-9 glasses of water every day. I’ll definitely be taking this information to mind next time I go to grab a can of soda. Let’s all work to drink more water and stay hydrated!

How much water do you drink a day? Are you going to try to cut out soda and other sugary beverages from your diet? 


MLA Citation:

Stollman, Lisa, MA, RD, CDE, CDN. The Teen Eating Manifesto: The Ten Essential Steps to Losing Weight, Looking Great and Getting Healthy. Northport, NY: Nirvana, 2012. Print.