How To Make Your Own Snacks

August 27, 2014 / ktbuchs87

Snacks can be a very important part of a lot of people’s daily diets. They tide you over to the next meal, fuel you for your workout, or give you extra energy when you hit that late afternoon slump. While I don’t snack much myself, I am a big supporter of snacks as part of a healthy lifestyle. I’m not a supporter though of most of the snacks that we normally reach for. I’m talking about the ones you find in a vending machine or on store shelves. The pre-packaged, processed snacks that we often eat are not doing your health any good. Believe me, I get the appeal of these snacks. They’re easy, most of the time portable, and they taste good. They are just so convenient, but they are also taking a toll on our health. The good news is that it is really easy to make your own versions of most of the snacks out there, except these will be good for you, provide nutrition, cost less, and taste just as good if not better!

DIY Snacks

Trail Mix- This is a tricky snack item in stores. They seem like they are good for you with all their claims of organic and natural, but most of the time they are filled with sugar and other not so healthy ingredients. It is much better to make your own, plus the DIY version will cost you a lot less. Buy things like nuts (peanuts, almonds, pistachios, walnuts), seeds (sunflower or pumpkin), dried fruits with no extra sugar (cranberries, raisins, cherries), and dark chocolate chips. Then just dup everything into a big bowl, mix it together, and portion it out into snack sizes. Now you have a quick and healthy snack that you can grab and go! If you can, buy all your components in bulk and that help keep the cost down.

Granola Bars- These are another one of those sneaky snacks that can seem healthy but in the end are not much better than candy bars. Luckily, it is really easy to make your own and there are a ton of recipes out there on the internet. You can make your own Nutragrain bars, Larabars, or chewy granola bars. Make them in big batches and freeze them so that you have a bunch ready to go
Chips & Dip- Chips are a popular snack because no one can resist the crunchy and salty taste! But those chips can quickly add up and soon you’re downing a whole bag along with dip. You can make your own simple potato chips using my recipe here. You can also make your own tortilla chips. Just buy some corn tortillas (I like the El Milagro brand because of the price and short ingredient list), cut them into triangles, lay them in a single layer on a baking sheet, spray with a little olive oil and salt, then bake at 375 for 12 to 15 minutes. Dips are also really easy and much healthier to make on your own. Try my avocado cream, some salsa, or another one of my favorites, hummus!
Roasted Chickpeas- I have seen a few versions of these in stores, and while some of them aren’t too bad, I’ve always found it easier to just make my own. It is a lot cheaper and you can choose whatever flavors you want! You can find my recipe here.

Don’t forget about things like fruit or vegetables as a snack too! It is really easy to buy things like celery, carrots, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes, then cut them up and portion them out at home for a quick snack. Fruits like bananas, oranges, or clementines are really easy to transport because of their skins. And who can resist one of my favorite snacks, sliced apples and peanut or almond butter. Hard boiled eggs are also a great snack that travels well.

There are a ton of simple and healthy snack ideas that you can make yourself. You don’t have to rely on store bought snacks to get you through the day. Take a little bit of time to plan and make your snacks for the week and when it come time to rush out the door in the morning, you can feel good that your snack will help you stick to your healthy eating plan!

Unhealthy Is Hard

August 25, 2014 / ktbuchs87

About a month ago, I wrote about how it was hard to be healthy. It takes a lot of willpower, motivation, and just plain old work sometimes to be healthier. This post is about the being unhealthy and how it can be just as hard to be unhealthy as it is to be healthy. Stick with me on this one, I promise it will be alright in the end!

The first thought that might cross your mind when you read that unhealthy is hard is, “Yeah, right”. When you glance at the surface of being unhealthy, it looks pretty easy. You eat whatever you want without caring about the effect it will have on your body. You don’t exercise and spend your free time sitting on the couch or computer. You don’t have to sit there and plan our meals and do prep work so you can eat well the whole week. In fact, it seems really nice and carefree to be unhealthy. But like I said, that is just the surface. When you really look at an unhealthy life, you see the challenges and the struggles.

For me, one of the hardest things about being unhealthy was my confidence and self image. I had zero confidence and my self image was fairly low. My goal in life was to blend in and in a large crowd, I was good at that. Sure, with my friends and family I was outgoing and personable, but put me in a room with a bunch of people I don’t know and I tend to blend right into the woodwork. I knew that I was overweight and didn’t look good and wasn’t eating healthy. Because of that, I also thought that everyone else thought the exact same thing about me. I figured that they took one look at me and knew how unhealthy I was and judged me as a lazy person. I realize now that probably wasn’t true, but at the time that is how I felt. Due to my natural inclination to fade into the background of most situations, it was really hard for me to finally break out of my shell and take steps to be healthier. Working out in front of other people terrified me because of course they were all watching me sweat and struggle. Making healthier food choices was worrisome because they might take notice that I was eating better and then start talking to me about it and I would have no idea what to say. These may sound like silly struggles to you, but for some of us this is really difficult. It seems easier to just stay in our shell and live with being unhealthy than try to take on the monumental task of taking steps to be healthier.

Which leads to another challenge of being unhealthy, the whole aspect of, well, being unhealthy. It is hard to deal with all the consequences of unhealthy choices. There are the medical consequences, things like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and a myriad of other ailments. There are the physical consequences, such as not fitting into clothes, aching joints, and weak muscles. There are the mental consequences, being made fun of or put down because of your weight, not feeling or looking like you want to, and being judged by others around you. Those are a lot of struggles for one person to take on and some people have been doing it for years. That is a lot of stress.

Why don’t they just change? If you’re unhealthy, just do something about it. Sure, it might be hard to live with all of those challenges, but it’s within their power to turn their lives around. To a degree, yes. Many of us do have the capacity to “fix” all these problems ourselves and start being healthier. But it takes a lot to get to that point. No amount of other people telling you to get healthy can actually make you get healthy until you reach the point where YOU yourself want to get healthy. The other side is that sometimes when you’re on the outside looking in, you can be made to feel like you don’t belong. How many times have you seen someone who is clearly struggling at the gym? You’re running along at your solid pace and the person next to you is sweating to maintain a brisk walk. You’re flying through your reps while the guy on the next machine can barely do one. I’m not saying that healthy people shouldn’t work out in public, but they need to remember that they started at the bottom too. Don’t forget what it was like your first time working out and show a little compassion to others who are just starting.

The same goes for eating. You didn’t just instantly start eating kale salads with homemade dressing one day, you built yourself up to that point. Slowly making changes and evolving the way you eat. Don’t judge the person eating a huge cheeseburger with the tiny side salad. That might be the first time they decided to get a salad instead of fries and that is a big deal to them.

Life is hard, whether you live it in a healthy or unhealthy way. There are challenges that each lifestyle has to face and neither one should feel diminished because of those challenges. It takes courage to stand up and decide to change your habits and start being healthier. It takes strength and motivation to keep going on a better path when there are temptations all along the way. I want you to realize that each choice you make, good or bad, is unique in it’s own way. It will present it’s own set of struggles, but you can meet those struggles head on. If you are still on the unhealthy side of the tracks, believe in your potential and don’t be afraid to take that first step. For those of you on the other side of the tracks, you’ve come so far and you can keep going. It may be tough, but you are tougher.

How To Repurpose Leftovers

August 20, 2014 / ktbuchs87

I am a big believer in leftovers. I think that they play a big role in eating good, healthy meals all week long, as well as helping keep food costs down. I only cook for two people, but I tend to cook like there are four of us and make extras to have for lunches throughout the week. One thing that I have noticed though is that people tend to get bored of eating the same thing over and over again. If you get bored with having the same food, you might be more likely to switch back to your unhealthy eating habits. Because we don’t want that, I wanted to share just a few ways that you can repurpose your leftovers and make a whole different meal with just a few minor adjustments.

Meats

This might be one of the easiest things to turn into a different meal. Summer time is the perfect time to pull out the grill and BBQ some meat. When you do this, make sure to throw a few extra pieces of whatever you’re making onto the grill. Now you have some extra meat to turn into lunches or dinners for the week.

Shred chicken or pork and make a stir fry by adding it to some vegetables, brown rice, and soy sauce.
Slice up steak or chicken and add to a salad
Use fish to make some simple fish tacos. Just add some salsa or corn, cilantro, and squeeze a little lime juice over everything
Make a chicken salad with shredded chicken, celery, avocado and mustard
Add any kind of meat to a frittata

Vegetables

If you do your meal prep over the weekend, make sure that you cook up some extra vegetables however you like. Grill, roast, or saute them and you can use them for meals throughout the week. Summer time also means the garden is full and your farmers market is in full swing, so you might be loaded up with extra vegetables. Here are some ways you can repurpose your vegetables for leftovers.

Roasted root vegetables, like sweet potatoes or parsnips, can be added to salads or cooked grains for a simple lunch
Root vegetables are also really good pureed into soup or a sauce for pasta. Add almond milk (or whatever milk you like) for an extra creamy texture
Grilled eggplant can be made into a simple baba ganush
Grilled zucchini or summer squash can be added to tomato sauce for extra texture and flavor
Cooked vegetables can be added to stir frys, soups, frittatas, or sandwiches
If you have an overabundance of cooked vegetables, you can also freeze them to be used later

Grains

Grains are a great thing to cook in big batches and then just add to meals throughout the week.

Grains make a really good bed for stir fry, vegetables with sauce, or cooked meat
Add your favorite grain to a leafy salad for a new variation
Leftover pasta? Use it up by making cold pasta salad. Toss your favorite pasta with some olive oil, seasonings, and vegetables like cherry tomatoes or avocados for a delicious summer meal
Try adding cooked grains to your lettuce wrap for extra texture and oomph

Fruit

Fruit is also pretty abundant this time of year and you can make it into a few different meals throughout the week.

Use leftover fruit salad as a cereal, granola, or yogurt topper for breakfast
Freeze leftover fruit and use in smoothies or added to water for extra flavor
Make a quick toast topping by mashing up leftover berries and adding a little honey/cinnamon
Turn frozen leftover fruit into sorbets by blending them in a high powered blender or food processor

There are a ton of ways that you can vary your leftovers so that you don’t eat the exact same meal every single day of the week. With just a little bit of prep work, you can have the makings of a healthy and new meal each day. Get creative and see what you can make out of the meals in your fridge!

Staying Power

August 18, 2014 / ktbuchs87

There are many steps when it comes to leading a healthier lifestyle. First, you have to actually want to make that choice. No matter how many people tell you that you need to change, if you are not willing to change then nothing will happen. Then you have to figure out how you want to change, what you are going to do, and then actually put it into practice. Along the way there will be a million other little steps and choices that will make up your healthy journey. At many points during this process, it is very likely that you will be met with challenges and possibly even failure. I’ve talked about failure before and it doesn’t have to be your undoing. I’ve also talked about the desire as well as the motivation to change. Today, I want to talk about maintaining your choices for the long haul. What happens once you have done everything else and want to keep living healthy for the long haul?

It’s very common, and helpful, to have goals when you decide to start being healthy. Whether that is to exercise more, eat better, lose weight, or even just relax more, it is good to have something to work towards. Not many people plan for what they’re going to do once they reach that goal. For the longest time, I just wanted to lose weight. That was my ultimate goal. Some days I had a set amount that I wanted to lose, other times I just wanted to lose something. I never really thought about what would happen once I reached that goal, in part because I never seemed to reach that goal. I would lose a little, then gain it back. Start eating better, then quickly fall off the wagon. Get on an exercise schedule for a few weeks, then start making excuses to skip. The whole see saw of good and bad that a lot of people go through when they decide to be healthier. After years of the teeter-tottering back and forth, I finally got my act together and made the commitment, not to just lose weight, but to be healthier and feel good. After a good amount of dedication (and my fair share of sweat and tears), I reached that goal. I felt awesome and proud and… what do I do now?

I had focused for so long on the end prize that I never really thought about what to do after that. I knew that I couldn’t just go back to what I did before, a mistake that many people make. They think that once they get what they want they can just go back to living their “regular” lives. The problem with that logic is that often, their “regular” lives are what got them to unhealthy place that they were. Knowing that I couldn’t go back, I slowly began to realize that my lifestyle was forever, and that scared me. I began to panic and worry that I couldn’t keep this up for the rest of my life. Could I really keep myself healthy for the next month let alone the next 50 years? When you are working towards small goals, it doesn’t seem as daunting. That’s why it’s good to make small and manageable goals. You won’t feel overwhelmed by having to completely overhaul the way you eat if you just work to change a few meals a day. It doesn’t seem as scary to just lose 5 pounds in two weeks compared to losing 100 pounds total. But now that I had reached my goal, I had the seemingly big and scary goal of maintaining this for the rest of my life.

Maybe you have reached that point in your journey. You have managed all the little goals that have added up to your ultimate goal and you’re now faced with the unknown. What do you do now? Take a deep breath and don’t worry. Once I got over my initial panic, I started to think of how I could handle this new challenge. I thought of all that I had accomplished, and realized it was a lot. I could handle a lot of things, challenging things, and come out on top. I had just proven that to myself. I didn’t get healthier overnight, in fact it took a few years to get to a good place. If I could do that, surely I could handle the rest of my life. Building on that confidence, I also realized that I could still set small goals to work towards and not look at this new part of my journey as a huge chunk aka the rest of my life. I could still break it down into small and manageable pieces. My new goals would just look different than my other goals. Try new healthy meals, train for a longer race, buy one new workout DVD a month, there were still plenty of things to work for.

The truth is, if you want to be healthier and feel good, you’re going to have to be in it for the long haul. You can’t just decide to be healthy for a month and then expect to reap the benefits forever, that’s ridiculous. But you don’t have to be intimidated by forever. Continue to set goals for yourself. While the goal might not be to lose weight or start making healthier choices, there are still things for you to accomplish. Be empowered by the fact that you have reached a major goal and use that feeling to keep going. Journeys aren’t short things. They’re long and they’re lasting. Your health is a journey, one that I know you can excel and thrive at. Meet your challenges head on like you have from the beginning and you will do just fine.

How To Cook With Eggs

August 13, 2014 / ktbuchs87

Ah, the humble egg. At first glance it doesn’t really seem all that spectacular. Most of the time we just relegate it to breakfast foods or as an ingredient for delicious baked goods. Sure, it has gotten some press over the years. Yolks, good or bad? How many should you eat a day? Are egg whites really a health food? What came first, the chicken or the egg? I’m not here to debate any of those things with you, as intriguing as they may be. What I do want to talk about is how versatile and awesome the egg can be. I love eggs. I love all the things that you can do with them. I make them every day and sometimes for multiple meals. They are relatively inexpensive, and they can do so many delicious things. Eggs are a huge part of my healthy diet and I wanted to share some of the ways I use them. I know some of you don’t consume eggs for various reasons, and that is totally fine. I have never had a problem with eggs and if you are looking for some quick and tasty meals to eat during the week then keep reading.

I’ll start with the very obvious choice for egg based meals, breakfast. I have one every morning and it’s one of my favorite breakfast foods, after waffles/pancakes of course! If you want something super simple, try a poached or fried egg. I know that you might think poaching an egg is difficult and for awhile I was intimidated too. But it is actually quite easy. In a small saucepan, bring about an inch or two of water to a simmer (NOT boiling). Add a tsp or two of apple cider vinegar or just plain vinegar (this adds a little flavor and helps keep the whites together). Crack open your egg and drop it into a small bowl or ramekin, not directly into the water. Slowly pour your egg into the simmering water and cover with a lid. Cook for 3-5 minutes depending on how runny you want your yolk. Uncover and using a slotted spoon lift the egg out of the water and onto your plate. It might take you a few tries to get it just right, but once you do it’s really easy. Poached eggs are delicious on their own, but they can add so much more to other meals. Try them on top of hashed browns, cooked greens (like kale or collard), over pasta, or even on top of tortilla shells. One of Adam and I’s favorite meals is shakshuka, which is basically eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce.

Eggs are also good scrambled or in an omelette and these meals allow you to be really creative. Add in vegetables like green peppers or mushrooms, leftover meat like shredded pork or rotisserie chicken, beans or other grains like millet. Experiment with different seasonings too like fresh basil or cilantro. Smoked paprika adds a nice meaty touch to eggs and italian herbs go well too. Don’t worry if you aren’t a pro at making omelettes, if you mess up they just turn into scrambled eggs!

Another meal that I like to make, and Adam loves to eat, is a frittata. This is like an egg pie and you can add whatever you would like to it. I’ve posted a recipe for a potato frittata before. One of my new favorite ways to make this meal is to take a few potatoes, peel them and cut the into bite sized chunks. Place them in a pot and cover with water, bring them to a boil and then cover with a lid and let them simmer for about 30 minutes. Once you can easily pierce them with a fork, drain the water move them to a bowl and lightly mash them. You don’t want mashed potatoes, but you want them to be broken up. Place that aside to cool and crack 5 to 6 eggs into a separate bowl. Add a splash of unsweetened almond milk (or whatever milk you drink) and whatever herbs or spices you like (I usually do salt and pepper and then basil and oregano). I sometimes also add in pumpkin puree or tomatoes. Whisk the eggs until they are light and fluffy. Heat the oven to 400 and then heat an oven safe skillet, like cast iron, over medium heat, pour the egg mixture over the potatoes and then pour into the heated pan. Cook on the stovetop for a few minutes and then transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes and then slice it up like pie. You can eat it plain or serve it with salsa or guacamole or hummus or whatever other toppings you would like. It’s an easy peasy meal that fills you up and keeps you going!

You can also hard boil eggs and make a few other meals with them. I like plain hard boiled eggs as a quick snack and Adam likes to mash them up with dill and mustard for a little egg salad. I’ve made healthy deviled eggs in the past by hard boiling eggs, cutting them in half and mashing the yolks up with avocado and paprika before spooning back into the egg halves. That is a quick and easy appetizer that will keep people happy! You can also put hard boiled eggs in your salad or over pasta for a little something extra.

Eggs can even be used to make condiments! One of the easiest is to make your own mayonnaise. Now I am not a mayo fan, never have been, but Juli over at PaleOMG has a really easy 30 second mayo that looks pretty tasty.

As you can see, eggs are a SUPER versatile food that can be used for so many different things. Next time you are scrambling (ha, see what I did there?) for a quick and healthy meal that will satisfy your hunger, try eggs. Get creative and see what delicious things you can come up with!