#it was like $6 for a package of three servings frozen which like :/ too expensive to become a staple food but yeah

[dancedance-resolution]

ate fish sticks for the first time in my life and i really enjoyed them! 👍

[hecallsmehischild]

On Losing Weight

Recently I was asked a question that prompted me to pull together all the information I could remember about how my husband, Sergey, and I have been eating over the last few years. We both struggle very much with food and have been trying to do better by our bodies for a long time, but are wary of all the diets and fads. This post has details about what we’ve tried to date and what has worked for us. Most of it is written by me. At the end, Sergey wrote a few paragraphs also. Very long post under the cut.

Disclaimers and a few generalities

One thing about eating and weight loss is that accountability really helps. However, I’ve found personally that even if everyone in your family means well, accountability partners should not be within the family. The main reason I've found is that there's too much baggage with any family member (with the potential exception of your marriage partner) for accountability to ever go well and function as it should. Resentment, triggers, irritation, even accidental shaming crops up because of old baggage and derails everything. You need accountability with someone who you don’t carry a lot of baggage with, because there’s often a huge emotional component to eating.

It takes a LONG time to lose large amounts of weight. You can lose five to ten pounds relatively quickly, but often your body will stabilize on the new number and then you may find it very hard to get lower for months, so continuing to try new things is helpful.

You will yo-yo between 3 and 5 pounds all the time. That is standard. So think in five pound increments in any direction, because your bodyweight is constantly in flux over a few pounds. For this reason, weighing once a week is a lot more accurate than weighing every day and will cause a lot less despair and frustration.

We are not vegetarians at all. We cannot offer any thoughts on a vegetarian diet.

Whatever you do, food-wise, has to be part of your ordinary life. Short term diets set you up to fail. Changing your lifestyle is what will produce long-lasting changes.

Also, some of the things my husband and I try, in some ways, appears to walk the line of eating disorder. I’m watching it very closely with that in mind, and I still don’t think it falls into the trap. Sergey and I do not have enough activity to burn off all the food with take in, so we’re trying things to decrease our food intake AND increase our activity, so that we reach a reasonable balance. But people who have (or are tempted by) eating disorders need to take care, and I would recommend not reading this post or else proceeding with utmost caution.

Obviously not all of the things we do are feasible for everyone, but maybe even hearing some of our ideas might spark a different way of thinking about food and being active for you.

One Meal a Day

Three meals a day makes a lot of sense if you’re doing hard labor all the time. It doesn’t make as much sense if you have a desk job or take care of a house as your main occupation. So the first thing we did a few years back is cut down to one meal a day. It could be anything at all, but it had to be just one meal. That alone dropped us both about 10 pounds down. We’d have one meal around lunch, and later in the evening we would share a large bowl of some sort of fruit (like tangerines or cherries). The aim was to eat things that were both good and filling. Variation keeps you from getting bored and abandoning the lifestyle.

Meals were often grilled salmon or home-warmed burgers (lean, when we could) or a soup from Trader Joe’s. Some of our meals now:

Two burgers with lean beef patties, pickles, and some mayo on bakery fresh onion rolls

Lox (with is VERY low cal, if expensive) on onion rolls with tomato and onion, a little oil and pepper and salt

Sharing a whole roast chicken from the store, plus a roll each

Large can of tuna mixed with a little mayo on two onion rolls

Shredded chicken and mashed potatoes from the store’s fresh packaged food section

Pot roast and mashed potatoes from the store’s fresh packaged food section

Meatballs. Just meatballs.

A spicy beans/rice/sausage/mushroom dish we brainstormed that we make in a pressure cooker

Home-made chicken mushroom fettuccine alfredo. Not super healthy, but hot and homemade. (this is a “maintenance” meal, see what I mean by that later)

A bag of chicken fried rice from Trader Joe’s

Soup from the grocery store (not the canned kind, but the fresher ones sold by the store)

Two larger sized tamales

One frozen pizza (inspect the full calorie count, you’re shooting for something between 600 and 1000 calories total, which does exist but it takes some looking and experimenting with types) whose flavor can always be spiced up with extra mushrooms or garlic powder. Not the Tostino’s or Party pizzas. I promise there are healthier, tastier, and more varied pizzas to be had in this calorie range.

Chicken breast or chicken thigh meat is sold frozen. Cook that and make that into sandwiches for very lean, filling meals. Use of various spices encouraged.

A tray of baked “catfish nuggets” which are chunks of catfish cooked in the oven

A tray of baked white meat chicken nuggets

Cocktail shrimp (thawed from frozen) with cocktail sauce

I have just broken into the frontier of omelettes, also low-cal and filling in conjunction with onion rolls.

Sergey would often go to a salad bar and load up on the salad, then also load up on the chicken noodle soup which is very filling and very low cal.

Sergey eats his meal closer to noon or one. I try to eat my meal around 3 or 4 if I can hold out, because then I’m not groaning about how hungry I am in the evening or being kept up by hunger pangs. For me, that’s the mid-point of the day and the one that helps me deal with hunger best.

Snacks and Sweets

Snacks are always tricky, and large bags of anything salty are automatic failures in this house; we are incapable of portioning them. So we stopped getting them unless we acknowledged the truth to ourselves, which is that one bag is one serving size no matter what the back says (i.e. we embraced that we’re being bad and got it anyway).

For a while Sergey and I had an occasional bowl of non-buttered popcorn with powdered salt. This worked for a bit because it was pretty filling, but Sergey found himself making multiple bowls so we had to stop because that defeated the purpose.

Some stores sell very small snacks individually portioned, like a tiny foil pack of variously flavored olives, or banana bites coated in cacao, etc. Those are great. Rice cakes can be good, though I get tired of them after a while. I like the cinnamon apple and chocolate ones best. Speaking of cinnamon apple, individual oatmeal cups are good too. I aim for around 140 cal for a snack.

Sometimes I will snack on a lean burger patty or chicken thigh-meat piece, each of which is about 70 cal.

By himself, Sergey often would (and still does) fill a large bowl full of small quartered tomatoes mixed with pepper, oil, and onion. He can put away two of these tomato salads a day as “snacks.” He says they’re very filling, good for you, and low-cal. He’s leaning more on bowls of baby carrots and sugar snap peas these days. Sometimes he will make a large bowl of Golden Apple slices to chow down on.

I keep NO ice cream in the house. I may get a larger quantity for a birthday celebratory binge, or use individual containers as a reward system, but I never “stock up” on ice cream. Birthday? Maybe 4 of the personal containers of various flavors, and that’s it for my birthday treat. Reward system? Once I get to a certain weight, I allow myself to have one small personal container of ice cream (or my other favorite, a jar of honey pecans) a week. The incentive to get to a certain weight balances out the slow-down on the weight loss the treat causes, because this can’t be all about deprivation or I couldn’t sustain it. Being able to sustain a way of eating into a lifestyle is a huge deal.

I keep dried cranberries in the cabinet. Sometimes if I’m hungry and need to hold out, I’ll grab one handful of those to eat. I keep larger quantities of oatmeal too, but I’m not sure if that’s working against me or not, because I dump high quantities of honey in to bring it up to my sweet tooth standards so it might end up being a bad thing for me. I haven’t sat down to figure that out yet.

I make a mean chunky cinnamon applesauce that is a delicious and pretty healthy snack, too, when I have the energy to make it.

I would like to make sweets all the ding dong day, but it works against us, so I have to reserve my sweets making for when there’s a large group to share them with. Otherwise we would eat all of that ourselves.

Tools that help

Making your own food at home becomes a lot more enjoyable and feasible for low-energy people like us when there are tools that cut back on the effort it takes. To that end

A good 6 qt pressure cooker does everything a crockpot does, but it has more options and is faster.

A good food processor can do almost anything, from applesauce to milling oats to slicing veggies to finely dicing the onions you don’t want to deal with, to making ice cream out of frozen bananas and cocoa powder. We have an older one and it still does wonders, even though some of the latches don’t work right.

A good indoor grill machine.

Electric mixer/beater. The effort of making cookies goes down by a third to a half the personal energy cost when you use this, plus the process goes faster and the texture is so much better.

A dishwasher. A good dishwasher means you aren’t spending a ton of energy cleaning up all the dishes you soiled just making food. Did you know there are portable dishwashers that hook up to your sink if you don’t have one in the home? I just learned this...

This one heavily depends on how much you’d use it, but it can be very inexpensive to get an electric citrus juicer. I can go through about 40 lemons for a party-sized quantity of lemonade and it wracks out my wrist to do that manually, so I got a good one for about $20.

This website is one Sergey uses to see what products are legitimately good, because Amazon is starting to have major issues with fake reviews PLUS Chinese knock-offs getting passed off as the good product. This site user-tests a ton of different brands of the same product and tells you which one they found to be best and why, then gives a few runners up in other categories like price or different type. I used this to find a good set of salt/pepper grinders, a good knife sharpener, and an individual serving coffee maker. I also found my electric mixer and citrus juicer on here.

Also, pickling things is fun and very cheap and easy.

A few radical things

This is our lifestyle, not a diet. We go crazy with our eating when we’re on a trip, but normal, everyday eating is the one-meal-a-day plan for us. Going to a friend’s place for a meal is a balancing act that we often fail (because it’s often all-you-can-eat), but we’re already brainstorming ways to compensate.

Here’s for something radical sounding, to be handled with care. While Sergey aims for around 1300 calories a day, approximately, I aim for under or close to 800. I’ve found that if I eat the same things as him, I maintain my current weight but do not lose any. It’s when I, the smaller and less active person, undershoot him, that I start gaining ground. When I reach the weight I’m aiming for, I will allow myself more leeway to get to his calorie intake level, because that’s “maintenance” level for me.

Here’s the current thing we are testing, so the results are not in yet. We’re doing this because neither of us has been able to budge our weight for a while. It’s a combination of factors so track with me. We like a place called Star Cinema Grill which is a movie theater that serves you a meal and/or drinks while you watch the movie. But even for one meal this is a very high calorie day if we go there. We swore off going for a long time, until their marketing department sent out a wave of “Two free tickets!” in the mail. Sergey figured that he would go, and then he would not eat for 48 hours to make up for it. I was a little concerned by the idea, but after thinking it over for a while (with the concern about eating disorders in mind) it didn’t actually seem that unreasonable. So I joined him in this. So now we’ve worked out that we can go to Star Cinema Grill on occasion as long as it’s followed by a 48 hour fast.

We had previously tried 48 hour fasts (which consist of, for example, eating lunch around noon on Sunday and stopping food until lunch on Tuesday, so that you sleep through much of the 48 hour period) but we first did the fast on ONLY water. By the second day we were both so lethargic and unfocused that we could hardly function. This time we allowed ourselves to have several rounds of tea or mocha throughout the day. That time, we experienced very negligible energy drops and made it through the period of no-eating with a lot less suffering.

NOW. I was reading Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, the expanded and revised edition, and at the end they included several articles they had written as bonus material. Please read this article to understand where I’m going next.

Excited, I rushed over to Sergey to make him read this bit. This is already sort of what we had been doing. Though this guy had distilled it down to sugar water, tea with a cube of sugar isn’t much different. My mocha had about three times the sugar, but was still on the very low end of calories for a day. So this idea (that sugar-water helps trick your body past hunger) was being confirmed for us by someone else. So we’ve decided to test out doing this 48-hour fast once a week, which may also allow for re-inclusion of things we tend to forgo more often (like weekly ice cream? Or a fresh batch of cookies?). Stay tuned...

Going out

We built a list of places and categories of how good or bad they are for us to go to. We divided them into Healthy and Healthy Cheat. Bad ones don’t make it on the list so we’re not tempted when we’re thinking of where to go out.

Healthy Restaurants are places where, if you’re reasonable with your choices, you can eat pretty much any one meal on their menu. (Lemon Shark is our Poke place in the area. Poke is unreasonably good and healthy and filling for you, and most will have vegetarian or cooked options on the menu if you don’t like raw fish. Jinya is a ramen place, though you have to be a little more selective about because some dishes are two meals’ worth, and Sweet Tomatoes is a salad bar also known as Souplantation in some regions)

Healthy Cheat Restaurants are places where we know we’ll probably eat more than we should, but the food is still relatively healthy. Tokyo Grill and Dimassi’s are both buffet places with relatively healthy options near us. Fukuda Sushi is our sushi go-to for now (though we’re looking to replace it as the fish quality went down).

Avoid most all-you-can-eat places like the plague, unless it’s a salad bar. Even then, if you gravitate toward the breads and creamy soups like I do, just say no.

Places we love that are also pretty bad for us on any kind of regular basis: Rudy’s BBQ, Star Cinema Grill, Wine Tasting Room (large meat and cheese platters), anywhere Italian.

Being Active

We took up Krav Maga, which had us doing off and on rigorous exercise for an hour twice a week. That went on for about a year. After I broke my toe, we switched to a home exercise regimen.

Instead of home exercise equipment, we opted for DDR pads, and have been doing hour-long DDR sessions most mornings. After an hour long workout (25 songs on easy-to-medium levels) we each do 20 crunches and then Sergey does extra burpees or push-ups. As the crunches get easier for me, I will be adding five at a time. I’m up to 30 now. Crunches were initially added to help me maintain the muscles that hold up a weak place in my spine, however now it’s also a good end-workout routine. I cannot get through all this without frequent water breaks because I drip sweat, and Sergey turns into a waterfall.

Sergey has added about 3-5 extra mini-workouts (a set of pushups or burpees) sprinkled throughout the day.

Some days we go to a park in the morning and walk for 30-50 minutes instead of DDR. It’s less strenuous, but a nice change of pace and scenery.

Some days we go kayaking in a nearby waterway, which REALLY works the arm muscles that day, but it’s a fantastic workout. We keep saying we need to go more often, but often forget.

Failing

It’s going to happen. It’s going to feel miserable. Sometimes I have found myself up at three AM, unable to sleep, making myself another whole frozen pizza or eating all the spaghetti leftovers. Sometimes I can talk myself into something slightly better, like a bowl of oatmeal, but not often. Sometimes I’ll just mix white and brown sugar, butter, and raw oatmeal and eat this lump-of-barely-cookie-dough as is. Sometimes I come home from the grocery store with an entire round loaf of bakery bread and eat it, much to Sergey’s fascination and surprise. One time I scooped one out and filled it with clam chowder and ate my own homemade bread bowl. It was great. It was also way over my limit.

Sometimes “failing” is known and expected, like around the holidays or birthdays. It’s okay to celebrate. Food is a very social and emotional experience as well as a sustenance deal. Keep picking yourself back up and trying again.

Sergey, who is SUPER good at distilling core concepts, adds his own TLDR:

On Losing Weight

Dusty and I have both struggled with overeating. For me, there have been sad times when plowing through a huge meal may have been the happiest 20 minutes of my day, and it’s no surprise that I would resist any attempts to eliminate that. However, I’ve found that losing weight and getting healthier leads to better moods and reduces the frequency and severity of impulses to binge.

Whatever you do must be incorporated into your lifestyle—if you are “going on a diet,” then you are setting yourself up to fail. If certain behaviors become part of your ordinary day, and you maintain that for months at a time, it’s much more likely that you’ll be able to keep going.

The most important change I’ve made is limiting myself to 1 meal a day. After a short adjustment period, I feel only a little bit hungrier than I did with 2 meals a day while consuming half the calories. That meal should be a reasonably-sized meal (typically 800-1200 calories for men, 600-900 for women), not an extra-large one. If I get hungry again, I only allow myself some very low-calorie snacks like carrots, sugar snap peas, or tomatoes.

The second thing I did was institute a daily exercise program. Dusty and I start each morning with an hour of DDR when we can, and I stop what I’m doing every 3-5 hours to do a set of 20 burpees. As I gain strength, I plan to increase this number. We also go for walks or go kayaking when the weather and our moods allow. What’s most important is that you do something to get your heart racing and get sweaty, and that you do it every day.

The last thing I did was institute occasional 48-hour fasts. For example, I would have lunch on Monday and not eat again until lunch on Wednesday. If I have tea with light sugar during a fast, I only feel moderately hungrier than I would otherwise. It’s much more tolerable than I thought it would be. There is considerable research suggesting that intermittent fasting is good for you, and it can be a reasonable way to offset the binge you couldn’t resist having. It’s definitely a healthier approach than purging, which hurts both your body and your soul.

[unqualified-advice-blog]

Cooking Tips (Especially on a time & money budget)

These are things I wish I had known when I started having to cook for myself.

1. Read the recipe completely before beginning to buy ingredients/plan to make it. Often recipes will require strange gadgets that you might not have in your kitchen that won’t be apparent in the ingredients list.

2. Don’t plan on making something unless you know you can find all the ingredients at your local store or can make reasonable substitutions. (I know this sounds like a no-brainer but I have made this mistake multiple times and it has sucked every one of them.)

3. Freeze meals and leftovers. I cannot stress enough how much food I have saved from going bad & saved myself having to order out at the last minute by doing this. Freeze any leftovers you think you might not be able to eat before they go bad. The best way to do this is to buy single serving plastic tupperware so you only need re-heat the amount you need for a meal.

4. Find recipes for one-pot meals that have a) plenty of spices, b) protein, veggies, and grains, and c) can easily be frozen. Soups, chilis, pasta sauces, curries, and casseroles all come to mind here. Having lots of spices helps the recipe be filling and just makes it better in general. Also, feel free to add more spices than the recipe calls for if it doesn’t seem like enough.

5. Find recipes that have cheap, shelf-stable ingredients. Again, soups, chilis, pasta sauces, curries, and casseroles are great for this because their ingredients heavily feature canned goods (tomatoes, beans), frozen vegetables, or dried pasta/rice etc.

6. Beware recipes that aren’t a full meal. A lot of traditionally American cooking relies on multiple dishes: eg, a protein, a grain, and a veggie that are all cooked separately. As such, many recipes are only protein, only grain, or only veggie.

7. If you are just starting out, estimate the amount of time it will take to make the recipe and then multiply it by three. Have a friend on hand or on the phone to be able to answer questions you might have during the cooking process. Try to be patient with yourself - everyone goes through a learning curve with cooking.

8. Get out all ingredients at the beginning so they are ready to hand. Chop any vegetables you need and keep them off to the side for when you need them.

9. Clean as you go - if you are done with an ingredient, put it away. If you are done with a dish, wash it. If this is too much for you, designate a “this is where the stuff I’m done with goes” area where you unceremoniously pile all used ingredients and dishes. This should never be the sink - you should always keep the sink clear when cooking.

10. Don’t force yourself to finish cleaning right after you’ve eaten if you can at all help it. Give yourself about a half an hour to digest and enjoy having finished cooking & eating.

VEGETARIAN COOKING

11. If you have any anxiety about bacteria or find it difficult to maintain a clean kitchen, COOK VEGETARIAN. It is an additional learning curve, but there are plenty of reasonably priced meat substitutes available on the market that are pretty good. As with everything, there are pluses and minuses to vegetarian vs meat cooking, but the big plus here is that you don’t have to manage what has come in contact with raw meat when cooking vegetarian. That being said...

12. When cooking vegetarian, double or triple the amount of fat the recipe calls for. Most vegetarian recipes (in the US) are written by meat eaters who classify this as a “diet” recipe and therefore don’t list enough fat and salt to make the recipe actually taste good. Vegetarian proteins don’t have the natural fat that animal proteins do, so especially if you are cooking with a ground beef substitute, you will need to add more oil as the ground beef substitute will absorb a large amount of it.

13. When searching for vegetarian recipes, it’s good to start out with recipes in Asian cuisine. These often will be one-pot recipes over rice and might not be as easy to freeze, but they often have the benefit of originating as vegetarian recipes instead of being adapted from a meat-based recipe. However, many ingredients and tools in these recipes might not be easily available to Americans, so be extra careful here.

14. Vegetarian cooking has the downside that it might not give you the same long-lasting energy that a meat-based diet does. You can address this by a) swapping vegetarian meals with meat-based ones depending on when during the day you might need the energy or b) keeping protein-rich snacks to hand like nuts or protein bars.

15. However, vegetarian proteins often have the upside of being extremely shelf-stable. They are either vacuum sealed in packages that will last months, dried, or frozen. This makes them much easier to keep stocked than animal proteins, which often expire within a week.

ADVANCED TECHNIQUE

16. Once you have explored cooking for a while, try to find/choose three recipes that you can memorize and keep a majority of the ingredients for stocked in your pantry or freezer for when you haven’t been able to plan ahead.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Financially disadvantaged millennials and gen zs often don’t have the luxury of enjoying the process of cooking and eating food. Many of our parents did not teach us how to cook, and there is a paucity of resources geared toward helping beginner adults understand how to cook. I was lucky that my mom did teach me how to chop vegetables, what things go together, etc., and it was genuinely surprising to me to watch one of my friends who did not have this advantage greatly struggle with cooking. He has been cooking actively for almost three years now and still becomes extremely anxious whenever he has to do so.

The cooking culture that has developed over the past 70(?) years is almost universally useless to us. Food has been marketed to within an inch of our lives as diet products, expensive indulgences, or status symbols. Most mainstream food culture is aggressively white and upperclass - see the cottagecore aesthetic. On the other hand, areas with majority minority population are way more likely to be food deserts (not have easily accessible grocery stores) and have attempts at community gardens bleached and destroyed by “law” enforcement. I fall sort of in the middle of these extremes: I am lucky enough to live in a nice area with an many easily accessible high quality and bargain grocery stores. Even with these advantages (and being trained from an early age), I find cooking extremely annoying, time consuming, and anxiety inducing.

I would be remiss if I didn’t address the fatphobia in many cooking spaces as well. Food is marketed as a diet product, which is ridiculous. See this post for a better take down of this than I could come up with. Food is something your body needs to survive, and it is ALWAYS BETTER TO EAT SOMETHING THAN TO EAT NOTHING, NO MATTER WHAT THAT SOMETHING IS. If your breakfast is a donut, that’s better than not eating breakfast. Try to eat a balanced diet with veggies, protein, and carbs (the one-pot meals help with this), but if you ever encounter ANYTHING in the world that is shaming you for what you put in your body, walk the other way, they are lying and trying to sell you something.

In general, the theory I agree with the most is the set point theory of weight: your body has a natural “resting weight” that fluctuates as you age and your body changes. Deviating significantly from this “resting weight” is extremely difficult and oven very very unhealthy. Your “resting weight” is largely determined by genetic factors and has nothing to do with your behavior. The “obesity epidemic” is a myth that has been perpetuated by drug companies and diet companies for profit and has done an extreme amount of harm to the livelihoods of fat people who often do not see their medical needs met properly because the doctor simply diagnoses them as “fat” and investigates no further.

All of this is a bit more big-picture and outside of the scope of your control, but I bring it up to contextualize that your struggles with cooking are in many ways not a personal failing but caused by broader social failings. Also, a lot of people are literally trained by our culture to be anxious around food, so if this is how you feel, again, it is not your fault and while it is common, it is not “normal” or “good” to feel this way. Anxiety around food is something you should work to overcome, not encourage in yourself. That said, the mental and physical practices you must undertake to get as good at cooking as you need to will take a lot of time to develop. Try to be patient with yourself and hang on to the moments of progress: you’ll get there eventually <3.

[frozenmangosppuh387-blog]

All About Frozen Mangos

Fascination About Fresh FruitsThe Best Strategy To Use For Frozen Strawberries Smoothie

Icy fruits are perfect for primarily any type of event: morning meal, a treat, in a shake, a healthy and balanced treat ... the opportunities are really unlimited. While the majority of nutritional experts state that nutrient damage from cold is very marginal, it is necessary to keep in mind that (depending on the water content of the fruit) the loss of specific anti-oxidants like beta-carotene is possible during the cold procedure.

Freezing fruits on your own at the optimal of ripeness may actually slow down the ripening or decay procedure, preserving the degrees of specific healthy and balanced nutrients, like vitamins, minerals as well as phytochemicals. Actually, the pre-packaged frozen version might be no even worse than the fresh, which will certainly commonly experience some nutrition loss during its journey from farm to grocery shop.

Throughout the freezing process, the water inside the fruit's cells expands as it ices up, which sometimes causes cell membranes to swell or rupture, causing a softer structure when the fruit is thawed. The remedy? Eat the icy fruit when it's still frozen (so refreshing), coat it in delicious chocolate or pop it in a mixer, in which situation the structure will not make a difference.

Frozen Strawberries Smoothie Can Be Fun For Everyone

How Frozen Fruits Healthy can Save You Time, Stress, and Money.

The 9-Minute Rule for Frozen Passion Fruit

Experiment with these 6, and also you'll be well on your method to icy fruit happiness. Katherine Carroll Water web content: 74% Icy bananas are not only delicious, yet are likewise a great way to maintain and obtain added use out of overly ripe bananas. If you're trying to find a healthy treat choice, try banana "great" cream, a basic version of "ice lotion" that has just one active ingredient: icy bananas.

Get rid of the peels prior to freezing to make them a lot simpler to eat as soon as iced up. Anika Mian Water web content: 81% Admittedly, I'm not https://primix.co.il בלנדר ninja a massive follower of normal grapes, yet when iced up, they change, coming to be much sweeter as well as handling a virtually ice cream-like structure. Grapes are notorious for being a high-sugar fruit, but at only 62 calories per mug, they pale in comparison to a "little" late-night snack, like a single mug of Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough Gelato (540 calories).

Anika Mian Water web content: 85% I didn't believe anything can be much more refreshing than blueberries till I discovered the Holy Grail: frozen blueberries. Adhere to the icy range, and also never once again will you have to suffer via the pain of out-of-season berries (read: mushy or tasteless). You can buy them in gallon bags, yet I directly recommend cold them right in the container.

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The 30-Second Trick For Frozen Fruit Salad

Table of ContentsThe smart Trick of Frozen Berries That Nobody is Talking AboutNot known Facts About Frozen Strawberries SmoothieFrozen Berries Fundamentals ExplainedHow Frozen Fruits Healthy can Save You Time, Stress, and Money.

Frozen Fruits Fundamentals Explained

When frozen, every bite preferences like a less-artificial Dreamsicle. Similar to bananas, get rid of the peel prior to cold to ensure that you have easy accessibility to the newly frozen items. Water content: 87% Icy raspberries thaw in your mouth like a Hershey's kiss. Pop them in a blender or food processor with a little sugar and a sprinkle of almond milk and you've obtained an insanely simple raspberry sorbet.

Truthfully, there are couple of things much better than coming home to the view of a fruit-filled freezer. Icy fruit is pass on the easiest, healthiest as well as most scrumptious way to #treatyoself. Remember, however, to stay with low-water-content fruits for far better flavor, structure as well as overall nutrient web content.

Not known Details About Best Frozen Fruits For Smoothies

The smart Trick of Frozen Fruits That Nobody is Talking About

Whether your food store runs out your favored fruit and vegetables or you're trying to restrict your journeys to the grocery store, icy fruits and also veggies are a fantastic option. They can be extra nutritious than their fresh counterparts, as they're flash-frozen and also will keep nutrients without spoiling. And also they're wonderful to carry hand when you wish to integrate some healthy and balanced components right into your meals.

They're nutrient-rich as well as will work in many different recipeswe have actually also consisted of some recipe ideas to obtain you began. Polina Prokofieva/ShutterstockStrawberries are a breakfast (as well as dessert) timeless for a reason. They're high in vitamin C and are scrumptious in baked goods, mixed right into shakes, or offered atop yogurt or oatmeal for a hearty morning meal.

The smart Trick of Fruits That Nobody is Talking About

Ekaterina Kondratova/ShutterstockIf you can find icy butternut squash at your regional grocery store, it deserves a buy! You can add the dices to baked mac as well as cheese for a nutritional boost, or roast the dices as well as serve them atop a salad. The most effective component? You do not need to do the work of cutting the squash yourself.

Below are 20 Hard-to-Find GroceriesAnd Where to Locate Them. ShutterstockFrozen peas benefit more than calming your aches and discomforts! Including peas to your meals will offer you an extra healthy protein boost and offer you with greater than three grams of fiber, too. Appreciate them in stir-fries or added to soups.

Excitement About Frozen Fruit Recipes

ShutterstockYou don't need to damage out the spiralizer each time you want a pasta substitute. Brand Names like Investor Joe's and Environment-friendly Titan market spiralized zucchini, carrots, and also much more. Toss them with pasta sauce or stir-fry them for a low-carb supper. Experiment with your spiralized veggies in this dish for Zucchini Pasta with Turkey Meatballs.

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Frozen Fruit Bars Can Be Fun For Anyone

Table of ContentsNot known Factual Statements About Buy Frozen Fruit The Best Strategy To Use For Buy Frozen Fruit OnlineSee This Report about Frozen Fruit Bars

Diana Taliun/ShutterstockWhatever method you purchase itcanned, frozen, or freshcorn is a delicious way to add more taste and also nutrients to your meal. Usage icy corn in homemade salsas or white chili dishes. We enjoy these 20 Corn Recipes That Crush It. ShutterstockBroccoli is a great resource of vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin K.

Attempt toasting it with garlic or sauting it stovetop for a very easy side recipe. For a super-easy recipe, attempt these Broccoli-Cheese Eggs in a Mug. ShutterstockFresh cherries can be expensive, so keeping the icy range on your buying listing is a should if you're attempting to save money. Put the fruit to great usage in this Sweet and Luscious Chocolate-Covered Cherry Healthy Smoothie Dish Recipe.

The 10-Minute Rule for Frozen Fruit Bars

Utilize it in any kind of recipes where you would certainly use routine rice! These 20 Cauliflower Rice Recipes are a fantastic location to begin. ShutterstockNo, you can not most likely to your preferred sushi location during quarantine, yet you can still make a tasty dish of edamame in the house. Simply microwave some icy edamame, add a little salt, and also you're good to go.

A Biased View of Frozen Berries

George Dolgikh/ShutterstockYou do not need to wait until Thanksgiving rolls around to take pleasure in a delicious side recipe of Brussels sprouts. If you purchase them iced up, they're terrific whenever of year! Attempt cooking them with bacon for a delicious addition to any dish. Try the veggie in this Brussels Sprouts Garnished With Bacon and also Almonds Dish.

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They don't have to be baked into a casseroleyou can prepare frozen eco-friendly beans for a simple side meal to any type of poultry dinner. Try these 17 Good-for-You Green Bean Recipes. ShutterstockAs with bananas, you might not discover icy grapes in your supermarket. But you can freeze fresh grapes for a quick and easy treat! You can also utilize them to cool down your wine without watering it downall of these usages are why grapes are just one of the 50 Foods You have actually Been Consuming Incorrect Your Whole Life.

The Single Strategy To Use For Fruit Freeze

Registered Dietitian and also Nutritional expert Ilana Muhlstein shed her weight and also maintained it offand in You Can Drop It!, she'll reveal you exactly how to shed it, as well. Greater than 240,000 customers have chosen her programand currently it's yours to keep.

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Table of Contents10 Easy Facts About Frozen Greens ShownThe 6-Second Trick For Frozen Fruit Salad

The potassium in cherries likewise makes them a fantastic workout recovery snack (since potassium https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?search=frozen fruits is an electrolyte), so Cascio claims including them in a post-run or post-virtual exercise shake can help nurture muscles. One research released in the European Journal of Sports Science discovered that cherry concentrate cause less muscular tissue discomfort post-workout. "Another enjoyable reality about cherries is that they have melatonin, which is linked to better sleep," Cascio states.

Related Stories Okay, so you most likely aren't going on any kind of tropical trips anytime quickly, but a minimum of you can get a taste of somewhere beachy with this frozen fruit. "Even when fresh papaya is tough to obtain, nearly every food store has frozen papaya," Cascio claims. She's a fan of this fruit as a result of its fiber, vitamin C, as well as beta-carotene (a forerunner to vitamin A) content.

" It has over 200 percent of the quantity of vitamin C you need for the day." Take that, oranges. Cascio says that papaya can likewise aid with bowel irregularity and bloating because of the enzyme papin, which assists digest proteins. This makes it a terrific after-dinner snack. Try it by making vegan nice-cream; just utilize your blender or food processor to blend your frozen papaya with the plant-based milk of your choice.

Best Frozen Fruits For Smoothies Can Be Fun For Everyone

About Fruit Freeze

( Or, follow this dish. It utilizes fresh papaya, however frozen papaya functions just as well.) Mango is an additional tropical fruit that isn't always simple to find fresh, however is readily available iced up at virtually every grocery shop. Comparable to papaya, Cascio claims it also aids with digestion since it's complete of probiotics and also fiber, both of which are vital forever intestine health.

3 Simple Techniques For Frozen Fruit Smoothie Mix

" Some healthy eaters are delayed my mango due to the fact that it's a high-sugar fruit, however due to the fact that the fruit is naturally-occurring, it really isn't anything to stress way too much concerning," she

[foodreceipe]

The Truth About Fat In Your Diet

Here’s what’s healthy and what’s not. By Anna Almendrala

Eating fat makes you fat, right? If this is what you think, you’re wrong. But it’s not your fault — it’s probably what you were led to believe.

Actually, unsaturated fats, like those found in plant-based oils, nuts and fatty fish, are good for you because they help protect you from heart disease, help you maintain a healthy weight and even have some superficial benefits for your skin and hair.

But there’s a lot of confusion out there about the role dietary fat plays in our lives, and it’s no wonder we’re mixed up about it.

The History

Starting around 1980, top nutrition experts and the federal government advised all Americans to dramatically cut back on dietary fat to avoid heart disease and weight gain.

Back in the day, notes NPR, these experts wanted us to replace dietary fats — from olive oil to butter to nuts — with healthy carbohydrates, like whole grains, vegetables and fruits. This was based on well-meaning but misleading research that showed a correlation between diets high in fat and people with high cholesterol levels in their blood.

But of course, people didn’t really replace big, juicy steaks with more vegetables. Instead, food companies co-opted this “low fat” message, creating high-sugar, low-nutrient snacks and foods that technically fit the low-fat bill but were anything but healthy. Anyone who recalls chowing down on Snackwell’s fat-free Devil’s Food Cookie Cakes will remember this era.

The Message Today

Now, more than three decades later, Americans are heavier and have more heart disease than ever before, and researchers suspect that when we replaced that fat in our diets with sugar and refined starch, it led to increased obesity and metabolic diseases like Type 2 diabetes. Both of these conditions can increase the risk for cardiovascular disease.

“Actually, farmers have known for thousands of years that you can make animals fat by feeding them grains, as long as you don’t let them run around too much, and it turns out that applies to humans,” said Harvard University food researcher Walter Willett in a past interview with PBS. “We can very easily get fat from eating too many carbohydrates, and the public was really directed to only focus on fat calories, when we really have to keep an eye on calories no matter where they’re coming from.”

Today, health experts and the federal government are trying to recalibrate the needle on dietary fat. With more complete, rigorously-conducted research about how unsaturated fats (like mono- and polyunsaturated fats) can actually protect people from heart disease, the nation’s top nutritionists want to make sure that blanket, low-fat diet advice for the general audience is a thing of the past.

How Fats Work

One thing we do know now: Dietary fat isn’t evil, it’s simply a highly-concentrated source of calories that helps your body absorb essential vitamins like A, D, E and K. Fat helps keep your hair strong and glossy and your skin clear and youthful-looking. And contrary to what we’ve thought in the past, moderate amounts of healthy dietary fat can actually improve cardiovascular health, not harm it. Finally, for people who are trying to lose weight, foods with these fats can also help keep them satisfied for longer, which means they can eat less food to feel full.

Polyunsaturated fats, which are found in fatty fish like salmon and trout, as well as sunflower oil, walnuts and sunflower seeds, help reduce levels of LDL cholesterol in the body, which can help lower the risk of heart disease and stroke. Nutritionists refer to polyunsaturated fats (omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids) as essential fatty acids, because your body needs them to function and can’t produce them on its own. Monounsaturated fat, which is found in olive oil, avocados, peanut butter, nuts and seeds, can also have a similar effect on your body.

In light of all this new research about the role healthy fats play in our bodies, the 2015 Dietary Guidelines, which are the U.S. government’s food and nutrition recommendations through 2020, actually dispensed with a traditional upper limit on the amount of fat a person should eat every day. Instead of eating a low-fat diet, Americans should eat a low saturated fat diet, explained Harvard’s Frank Hu, who helped create the guidelines.

A good serving size of healthy oils is around five teaspoons or 27 grams per day for someone eating a 2,000 calorie diet, according to the dietary guidelines.

However, there are two kinds of fat that Americans should keep at bay. Saturated fat, which is mostly found in meat and dairy products, should make up no more than 10 percent of a person’s diet because of its “strong relationship” with cardiovascular disease risk, notes the guidelines. Replacing one percent of calories from saturated fat with polyunsaturated fat reduces the risk of coronary heart disease by two to three percent, said the researchers who helped create the guidelines.

And there is no generally safe level of trans fat, which found mostly in pre-packaged, frozen and canned baked goods, because of its association with cardiovascular disease risk. That’s why the Food and Drug Administration is phasing out the ingredient in the U.S. food supply.

Whether you’re trying to lose weight or help maintain a healthy weight, don’t fear the fat. Use plant-based oils to make your foods more delicious, toss back a handful of nuts if you need a snack, and load up on rich, fatty foods like avocado and fish to give your body the nutrition it needs. To get some ideas about some healthy sources of dietary fat, check out the list below. Are you missing out on healthy fats in your diet?

Avocado

Half of an avocado

contains nearly 15 grams of fat total, and almost 10 of those are monounsaturated (2 grams are polyunsaturated). Try it in place of mayo on your next sandwich.

Almonds (And Other Nuts)

Just about any nut can make for a healthy fat-filled snack, but almonds happen to be the lowest in calories . One ounce — about 23 whole almonds — contains just over 14 grams of fat, including nearly 9 grams monounsaturated and about 3.5 polyunsaturated.

Salmon (And Other Fatty Fish)

Salmon may be one of the most well-known fatty fish, but tuna, mackerel and sardines also offer a heart-healthy dose of fats. If you’re going to stick with the familiar, look for wild-caught salmon . A three-ounce serving of chinook ( often the most expensive option , according to Eating Well), contains nearly 9 grams of fat, including nearly 4 grams monounsaturated and about 2.5  polyunsaturated. The milder coho salmon and the oilier sockeye both contain less, at around 5 total grams of fat, with nearly 2 grams each of mono- and polyunsaturated fat.

Olives (And Olive Oil)

Mixing 10 large olives into your next salad will add about 5 grams of fat, 3.5 of which are monounsaturated and .4 of which are polyunsaturated. Not an olive fan? The oil is an even more concentrated source of healthy fats — just don’t be too heavy-handed on your pour: A single tablespoon contains over 13 grams of fat, nearly 10 of which are monounsaturated and about 1.5 are polyunsaturated.

Flax (And Other Seeds)

One tablespoon of whole flaxseed — which you can toss into salads, soups, smoothies, yogurt and more — contains just over 4 grams of fat, including nearly 1 gram monounsaturated and almost 3 grams polyunsaturated.

Flax seeds also contain anywhere from 75 to 800 times more lignans, a component of plants that act as antioxidants, than other plant foods,

WebMD reported

A tablespoon of sesame seeds contains about 1.5 grams of monounsaturated fat and 2 grams of polyunsaturated fat. And an ounce of pumpkin seeds pack about 2 grams of monounsaturated fat and 2.5 grams of polyunsaturated fat.

Eggs One large, whole egg has almost 5 grams of fat , including roughly 2 grams monounsaturated and about 1 polyunsaturated.

Do you want to be more mindful about eating healthy foods that’ll keep your mind and body at their best?

Sign up for our newsletter and join our Eat Well, Feel Great challenge to learn how to fuel your body in the healthiest way possible. We’ll deliver tips, challenges and advice to your inbox every day.

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[drtanstravels]

2020 is the year that a lot of my friends will turn 40 and the first on the list was Shane Worthington, the one I’ve known the longest. We’ve been close friends since we were five years old, were in pretty much every class through primary and high school together, and were best man at each other’s weddings. We spent all of our childhood and teen years hanging out together and, although we hardly get to see each other for years at a time due to me now living in Singapore and him in Canberra, ACT, when we do it’s like we only spoke yesterday. That’s why when he told me at the beginning of 2019 that he was planning a cruise to New Caledonia for his 40th birthday, I knew we had to go. Anna instantly loved the idea, but not everyone else invited was able to make it so in the end it was ultimately going to be an eight-day cruise aboard a ship carrying almost 2,000 passengers, 800 crew and staff, and Shane’s group that would consist of himself, his wife, Danii, their 18-month-old daughter, Evie, an older couple that he used to work with, Sam and Kerri, and Anna and myself. We were scheduled to board the cruise ship at 1:00pm in Sydney, Australia on January 8 and depart for New Caledonia, spending almost three days at sea, before reaching the islands of Noumé, Maré, and Lifou, spending a day on each before making the trek back to Sydney and arriving on January 16, Shane’s birthday. Let’s see how this worked out.

Monday, January 6, 2020 Anna had booked our flights months prior and the holiday period is the worst time of year to travel to Australia, because it’s so expensive! To put the prices in perspective, we’ve booked return flights to Los Angeles next month and Cape Town, South Africa in June and neither of those flights were as much as return 7.5-hour flight from Singapore to Sydney in the summer. Our tickets were over S$2,000 (US$1,486) each and depart after midnight so Anna later decided that, because we had paid so much for the seats, we may as well pay extra and upgrade to Business Class so we could at least sleep easier on the flight and feel remotely fresh when we arrived.

I woke up on Monday morning to a message from Shane, asking what our plans were:

That’s right, we had messed up the flight details. Anna was meticulous when first booking the flights, but she thinks she may have rushed it a little when she upgraded our seats, resulting in us being scheduled to arrive a day early. There was no way Anna could get the day off work, I could’ve gone that night, but she also gets nervous when I fly alone due to my track record for having seizures on overnight flights so she rescheduled the tickets for the same time the following night… for the small fee of S$3,600 (US$2,675). So, now we were over eight grand down and hadn’t even set foot on the ship.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020 We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, but we were a little nervous for obvious reasons, the main one being that if there were delays of any kind we would more than likely miss the cruise. There was also the possibility that getting into Sydney could be difficult due to the bushfires ravaging nearby areas, but fortunately everything went smoothly and we touched down in Sydney at about 11:30am local time, actually a little ahead of schedule. Once through immigration we collected our luggage, took a shuttle to the port in Balmain, went through the entire immigration and customs process again like you would at an airport, and soon we were aboard the Pacific Explorer, later departing Sydney at 4:00pm. Once inside there were a few things that immediately struck us:

You don’t realise how big these ships are until you are onboard. It was so easy to get lost on this one.

Anything that wasn’t in the cruise package you had initially purchased was extremely expensive — AU$25.00 (US$17.20) to wear what in a hotel would be a complimentary robe and AU$15.00 (US$10.30) to use an umbrella is just unreasonable.

Contrary to popular belief, it’s not so much retirees that make up the majority of passengers on cruise ships. Maybe it was because it was school holidays, but there were a lot of families on this one. There were also a ton of people who must’ve just heard the words “complimentary buffet” as well, because some of the passengers were enormous!

We took our luggage to our rooms, had a look around the ship, and then went to the already crowded buffet for our first meal of the day. What I expected from the buffet was the crappy quality bain-marie stuff you get in public school canteens, but that wasn’t the case on this ship. There were separate stalls serving different dishes from around the globe, as well as salad bars, dessert cabinets, everything. We just went to the first stall we saw, which was the Mexican one, and the food was really good, but it wasn’t the most popular option there, that’s for sure. We would only eat at the buffet a few times on this trip, but what was truly mind-boggling was the sheer amount of french fries people would eat over the course of the cruise. The fish ‘n’ chips stall perpetually had a queue of at least 10 people, closely followed by the one selling hamburgers and chips, some people just getting basket after basket of fries from both stalls. It would be safe to say that the fish ‘n’chip stall fed around 10% of the passengers at any given meal, leading me to wonder how many tons of frozen chips must be stored in the galley of the Pacific Explorer to last an eight-day cruise with 2,000 passengers who have access to unlimited fries? I will get to the bottom of this matter one day, mark my words.

The rest of the day was spent quietly trying out the different bars and catching up with Shane and Danii for the first time in five years, as well as meeting Sam, Kerri, and baby Evie for the first time, with dinner at an Asian restaurant called Dragon Lady thrown into the mix and finishing up at The Blue Room. The good thing with the bulk of the onboard restaurants is that they are also complimentary unless you order one of the specials. This is what Wednesday looked like:

A little smokey approaching Sydney

Anna at the port

This cabin would be our home for the next eight days

Looking out towards our balcony

A portrait of Rear Admiral Bill Murray near the elevators

Looking down from our floor to other areas of the ship

And we’re off

Under the bridge

Passing the city

Goodbye Sydney

A small portion of the deck

Anna in front of the outdoor cinema screen

Me hanging out with a coffee

Panoramic view of a different area of the deck

The view over the stern

A portion of the deck at night

Inside The Blue Room

Thursday, January 9, 2020 The next couple of days aboard the ship en route to New Caledonia were just spent relaxing, it was really only the nights where anything truly happened. Shane was up early every morning to change nappies and hit the gym, Anna and I would go down to the cafe a few floors down for coffee and then come back up to the cabin and read while relaxing to the sound of the ocean. On Thursday we had a couple of drinks after that, Anna had an afternoon massage, and soon it was time for dinner, because due to there being six of us and a baby, we had to either book a table at 5:15pm or 7:30pm. The latter was too late for an 18-month-old so we would have had to go with the former, a time when very few people under the age of 85 eat. Instead, we had burgers and wings at an outdoor bar. Shane and Danii were rather tired, Sam and Kerri decided to go see Normie Rowe play so Anna and I went to a standup comedy show, on this occasion being Hung Le. In Australia Hung Le is probably most famous for playing the Vietnamese boss in the local film Fat Pizza. I have never seen the movie, but I remembered him from watching comedy festivals on TV as a teenager and had always found him funny back then, but I figured he must be a bit washed up now if he’s doing the cruise ship circuit, just like once legendary entertainers that now play nightly in Las Vegas. I couldn’t have been more wrong, he was absolutely hilarious. The show started at 10:30 and went for 45 minutes, but Anna was fading towards the end so we went back to the cabin afterward and had what we consider an early night.

The burgers there were great!

Friday, January 10, 2020 Friday followed a similar pattern to Thursday, but the problem was that Anna had a lot of work to complete before the cruise, preparing presentations for upcoming conferences, completing and submitting journal articles in time for publication, that type of thing, but I don’t think even she realised how exhausted she was. She woke up at 10:00am for a 45-minute acupuncture session and I was still asleep when she returned so Anna got back into bed. Now, we realised when we were in the Galapagos Islands a few years back that the gentle rocking of a boat makes it a lot easier to sleep, but I’m still not sure that the motion of the ocean is solely responsible for Anna sleeping again until almost 3:00pm. Once she was awake we went to get coffee and then meet the rest of our crew in one of the bars, on most occasions it was the Explorer Hotel, for a couple of beers before an early dinner. There were quite a few bar options on the ship, but some only opened at night or were hosting events. It was always really hot and sunny on the deck with kids running around and screaming so we cancelled those options out. The foyer in the middle had a bar, but there was almost constantly a guy by the name of Kingsley playing there, whom we went on to dub “Elton Joel.” Kingsley wore a gold, glittery, plastic hat and despite being a decent piano player, couldn’t sing if his life depended on it, yet he would spend hours at the piano playing covers, roughly a quarter of each were either by Elton John or Billy Joel, hence the nickname. Upstairs was the Ocean Bar, but it was kind of small for the seven of us and you could still hear Elton Joel in there so we went to the adjacent, but separate Explorer Hotel on most occasions. After a few drinks and a chat there was a dinner reservation waiting for us at an Italian restaurant onboard called Angelo’s and once again the food was great and their pepper grinder was hilariously large, but there was a bit of a problem with the way we were spending time on the boat; most days we would meet up before dinner and have a drink or two, then have dinner at 5:15pm due to how the reservations worked. Even if we sat at the table and had more drinks before ordering, by the time it was eight or nine o’clock in the evening it felt a lot later than what it actually was and, despite still being light at times, Anna would sometimes start to get tired again. This was one of those occasions so even though she had only been awake for six or seven hours, she went back to the cabin and checked in early, only about half an hour after the sun had set.

Most nights on this ship, besides the regular shows and entertainment, there were themed parties and the theme that night was Back to School. Everyone who attended was trying to look sexy or classy in their school uniforms, but Shane and I figured we could just go in what we were wearing because our school didn’t really have a uniform. The idea of a school party had us reminiscing about stupid things that had happened when we were in high school, such as setting a bucket of glue on fire, resulting in a student getting suspended for eating a cookie from our overweight principal’s desk. Or the time a football was kicked over the chainlink fence into the junior campus of the neighbouring Catholic school, but instead of climbing the fence or asking a student to kick it back, someone just got some bolt-cutters from the shed where automotive repair classes were taught and just cut a giant hole out of the fence to retrieve the ball. Then there was the time that there was a stabbing at our school in retaliation to something that happened to my friend, Owen. It sounds worse than it was, sure, a kid did get stabbed, but it was only in the side of the leg, painful, but not fatal. There was a banner at the Back to School party along the wall that could be signed so we added our little tidbit that you will see in the next bunch of photos.

The school party wasn’t really our thing and we had other plans anyway, namely to keep drinking until karaoke started and then take over. We were the fourth people to sing and we had a decent amount of liquid courage inside of us, plus we decided to play the sympathy card with a crowd that was more than likely assuming we were homosexual due to a combination of Shane’s shirt and the fact that we had chosen the song Maneater by Hall and Oates. “I’m Tim, this is Shane,” I said as I was handed the microphone. “Shane’s wife is stuck upstairs with the baby, mine’s passed out in bed so tonight we’re going to party,” and then we tore it up. Our rendition of Maneater was a crowd favourite that night, even when we got bored during a one-minute guitar solo and decided to give a botany lesson on the many plants surrounding the stage. We kept drinking and then later Shane wanted to do another song, Rapper’s Delight by The Sugarhill Gang. The initial idea was that my role would be the hype guy, kind of like what Flavor Flav is to Chuck D in Public Enemy, however, Shane knows this song like the back of his hand, not even needing to look up at the lyrics. Besides being able to get the occasional “Yeah Boy!” in when he was out of breath later in the song and at one point calling up a bunch of eight-year-old children onto the dance-floor, my role eventually left me relegated to sitting on the on-stage ledge with my beer, surrounded by ficus plants while Shane blew away everyone in the bar with his rendition of the old school hip hop classic. I’m just glad they only had the “short” six-and-a-half-minute version, not the 15-minute take, but regardless, he blew Maneater out of the water to the point where people would come up to us for the remainder of the cruise, some referring to me as “Goose,” an incorrect reference to the sidekick of the main pilot in Top Gun (I think they meant Jester). Once karaoke was done we went back to the Blue Room to see the end of a really good band’s set before the place filled up with attendees of the Back to School party. Danii and Anna still say that because there is no video evidence, they are skeptical about our karaoke dominance, but Anna’s also seen what happens when I get a microphone after a few drinks, be it karaoke or even if a band is playing. Just because I can’t sing, it doesn’t mean I wont. Still there are these pictures and a couple of other videos of Shane in the general vicinity of the dance floor:

Kerri getting some pepper in Angelo’s

Anna’s turn

Having a beer with Shane. I hope it’s just the perspective that’s making my legs look that long!

The banner at the beginning of the Back to School Party

Our contribution

School’s out

Saturday, January 11, 2020 One thing about spending two-and-a-half days on a cruise ship is it’s not long enough to get your sea-legs so any time you’re walking around it feels like you’re drunk but without the pleasure of the booze. Saturday was going to be an interesting day, because when we woke we were docked a short way off Nouméa:

Nouméa is the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia. It is situated on a peninsula in the south of New Caledonia’s main island, Grande Terre, and is home to the majority of the island’s European, Polynesian (Wallisians, Futunians, Tahitians), Indonesian, and Vietnamese populations, as well as many Melanesians, Ni-Vanuatu and Kanaks who work in one of the South Pacific’s most industrialised cities. The city lies on a protected deepwater harbour that serves as the chief port for New Caledonia.

At the September 2019 census, there were 182,341 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Greater Nouméa, 94,285 of whom lived in the city (commune) of Nouméa proper. 67.2% of the population of New Caledonia live in Greater Nouméa, which covers the communes of Nouméa, Le Mont-Dore, Dumbéa and Païta.

We were off the ship just before 8:00am, took a small boat to the island, and immediately went across the road to a nearby supermarket to get something to drink. We then walk around some of the main areas of the town, just exploring different parts like Coconut Palm Square and walking through Chinatown and the Latin Quarter while we waited for the crowd to subside so we could take the island tour in comfort. After an hour or so we took a tourist trolley around the city, taking in sites such as some canons installed by Australians at a fort at Ouen Toro, an old prison, the craft market, and a library with a dinosaur statue out the front. The trolley tour was a round trip so once we were done we decided to walk along the coast and find somewhere for lunch. We had our minds set on a restaurant out on the water called Le Roof, but when we arrived and saw the prices, also remembering how we had paid 2,700 F (US$25.00) on a latte each earlier, we figured this island is either obscenely expensive or they must just bump the prices up substantially when the tourists arrive, because we were looking at paying at least around S$45.00 (US$30.00) each for lunch. Instead we walked back down the road along the beach, passing one of the most rancid-smelling portable toilets along the way, and we found a reasonably priced restaurant that sold a bit of everything, but was predominantly Italian food. We ordered and were then brought a basket of bread to eat with a mixture of olive oil and an unmarked bottle of brown liquid that one would assume was balsamic vinegar, but it only took Danii one bite to realise that it was a little saltier than normal and not particularly tangy. That’s because it wasn’t balsamic vinegar, but soy sauce. Still, it wasn’t that bad. After lunch we started to make our way back to the boat and arrived at around 3:00pm. Shane and Danii decided to board then so Evie could have a nap, but we still had an hour before we were departing so Anna and I decided to pick up some supplies, including seeing sanitary pads for men which I should’ve bought for future trips to Myanmar, and have a look at some nearby shops that we hadn’t had a chance to earlier. This included visiting an awesome pinball store called Flipper Addict that was clearly set up by a guy who had come into some cash and started his dream parlour as a hobby, as well as servicing and supplying other machines, not that we saw a lot around. We had also been told on our tour that Coca Cola tastes better in New Caledonia because of the quality of the water used. We were both skeptical that Coke was even bottled there and neither of us has drunk any soft drink in years, but Anna wanted to try it and find out anyway. It just tasted the same as I remembered. It definitely was nice to spend a day back on solid ground again:

It was actually kind of difficult to stand properly when we first got back on the ground

Not sure what’s happening on that island

Looking up the coast

One of many rock formations jutting out of the water

Anna just standing around

Me doing the same

It honestly looks like Shane just found a baby

What we’d spend a bit of time being driven around on

The old prison

Where we had initially planned to eat

The local racetrack

Getting a bit stormy over the islands

Approaching the fort

One of the canons

Some background information

Looking back over the beach

Anna with her “special” coke

At the craft market

Should’ve bought this hat

A dinosaur guarding the library

It’s easy to relax here

‘Men Pads’ are a real thing her

The sign for the pinball parlour

When we were back aboard, Danii and Shane had decided to spend the rest of the night quietly, just a few drinks before dinner, which they had at the bogan-buffet. Sam and Kerri weren’t feeling so, resulting in us having dinner to ourselves so we went back to Dragon Lady for what turned into a kind of amusing evening. The two of us were led by the waitress to our table, one situated next to another table with two rather large women, one about twice as old as the other, from a small town located about 600km (372 miles) inland from Brisbane. They had ordered the same set menu as we were going to and had several nights prior, but when we sat down the younger of the women was dry-retching at the thought of eating even the tiniest bit of the squid skewer in front of her, even offering it to us. The older woman spent the entire time encouraging her to eat a piece and wasn’t taking “No” for an answer so after about 15 minutes the younger woman managed to summon up the courage to close her eyes and take a bite, tears welling up as she did. Once they saw how much we loved our skewers, the two women got talking to us, the younger one explaining that eating the squid would’ve been easier if it didn’t look so much like a squid. In fact, it turned out she had never even eaten pretty much anything that she was served and was apprehensive at all of them:

Squid skewers — “I was able to eat half an octopus ball once, couldn’t do the whole thing though.”

Marinated pork ribs — “I’ve never eaten ribs, I just feed them to my dog.”

Sautéed eggplant — “I don’t even know what it is.”

Curried beef — “That was probably my favourite out of everything.”

When the older woman heard that the younger one liked the curry, she tried to “educate” her on how curry is made, incorrectly telling her that it traditionally takes about five weeks just to make the paste, however, she could just by Ayam brand curry powder and do it in a slow-cooker. Apparently her niece had tried to make it herself, but it still took about five days to make the paste because she needed to blend spices from scratch. They later told us about their small town that consisted of a pub and one small store, the two of them both working in the store. They even needed to hire and train new staff so they could both come on this cruise. My guess is the younger one will be sticking to the fish ‘n’ chips at the buffet from now on.

Our entertainment for the evening was to be sitting in a live incantation of the Australian TV dating show, Perfect Match. There was no Greg Evans or Dexter, but what unfolded that night was trashy comedic gold. For the uninitiated, Perfect Match consisted of a male or female contestant listening to the answers of questions asked to three suitor’s of the opposite sex that he/she was unable to see and then choosing the one with which they would like to go on a date. On the first round of the ship’s version the questions were asked of four young women and as soon as the blindfolded male admitted that he recognised the name of one of the suitors because they had hooked up the previous night, followed by another female suitor yelling to someone down the back of the room to get her another drink and a bag of salt and vinegar chips, I knew I just had to get filming. Also, we were seated behind someone with a cornrow combover (below), but I can’t help but think that they missed the opportunity to braid the combover section across their head. It was even more shocking when said individual stood up and turned out to be a woman:

Anyway, it was a hilarious night, some of the female suitors were pretty trashy and the bulk of the male ones were as thick as pig shit so witness some of the Perfect Match train-wreck for yourself:

Sunday, January 12, 2020 We would be making landfall again, this time on the island of Maré for some sand, sea, and sunburn. We got up reasonably early, put on some sunscreen, grabbed our swimming gear, and jumped on a boat to ferry us over to Maré Island:

Maré Island or Nengone is the second-largest of the Loyalty Islands, in the archipelago of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. The island is part of the commune (municipality) of Maré, in the Loyalty Islands Province of New Caledonia.

The island is 42 km (26 mi) long and 16 to 33 km (10 to 20 miles) wide. It lies northeast of Grande Terre, New Caledonia’s mainland. Like its neighbor to the north Lifou, Maré is a raised coral atoll, a former atoll that has been lifted about 120 meters. The interior of the island is the former lagoon, surrounded by a rim of higher land that was the ring of reef islets. Its fossil coral rock is honeycombed with caves, pools, and pits of all sizes, whose sharp edges make for difficult walking. Because of the lifting, the current shoreline is relatively recent and supports only short sections of nearshore fringing reef, unlike the extensive barrier reef found on the main island of New Caledonia, Grande Terre. The narrow beaches of Maré are often backed by cliffs.

Shane, Danii, Evie, Anna, and myself all boarded our boat just after 10:00am for the short ride over some choppy water and we were soon back on the land. The first thing that struck me when we got off the boat was how clear the water was and how fearless the children living there were. A few of them were just blindly running up and jumping off cliffs into the lagoon below them, not a care in the world. We walked along the beach, passing some stray dogs that were sleeping on the sand, until we got to an area that wasn’t too crowded with our fellow tourists, planted our towels, and then Anna rented some old, mouldy snorkelling gear for the two of us. The others played with Evie in a shallow part while Anna and I slowly made our way out to a coral area to snorkel. I say slowly, because the water was a lot colder than over here in the tropics and, although it doesn’t bother Anna in the slightest, it takes me a long time to fully immerse myself in rather cold water, because I need to work up the courage to submerge the three areas that the temperature shocks the most; the back of the knees, followed by the testicles, and finally the nipples. Once in we snorkelled for a while and saw some colourful fish and areas of coral, but it wasn’t really anything special.

After swimming we just spent time walking along the beach, drinking cheap beers, and laughing at the Instagram influencers getting more and more annoyed while taking and retaking at least 10 photos to try and perfectly capture one sole representation of just how relaxed and hassle-free their island-hopping life is. There were several stalls selling coconuts and braiding hair so another activity that brought us all immense pleasure was listening to bogans outside of their natural environment. “Mum, can I get my mullet braided?” was one pearl of wisdom we heard out of a child, while an extremely overweight woman replied to a man offering her a coconut that, “Coconut is f__king gross!”, leading us to believe she had only ever had the desiccated type that comes on a lamington, but never the fresh variety. Shane at one stage tried to order a coconut from one of the stalls, but the two guys working there were so baked it took them a few seconds to realise he was even standing in front of them.

Soon we were back on the boat and we returned to the Explorer Hotel for a few drinks, followed by dinner, and back to the Explorer again to watch an Asian woman and an African-American guy do some fantastic covers, the dude able to make all the high notes when they did Prince tracks, particularly Kiss. When we first entered they were playing Wishing Well by Terence Trent D’Arby so I mentioned to Shane that he was in the bathroom while I was taking a leak. He thought it was cool that I got to meet D’Arby while having a piss and went on to tell me about the time he met one of the Australian cricket team in a public toilet, however, I was only referring to the guy out of the cover band we were watching at the time. There was the White Party that night where everyone wore white, however, Shane suggested that we all should’ve gone as Walter White from Breaking Bad, but we didn’t attend for the same reason as any of the other parties, it was just too crowded in a really small space. Instead, we watched a talent competition that was just glorified karaoke, everyone trying to get me to enter, but me declining on the grounds that I wasn’t drunk enough, before calling it a night. Looking back on Sunday:

Looking back at our ship

Approaching the island

I wasn’t kidding about the water

I was too scared to go off the 3-metre (10′) diving board at my local swimming pool at that age!

Dogs just laying around

Looking up the beach

And the other way

Towards some of the huts

Token panoramic shot

These guys were fried!

Our beer choices

Coconuts and braids

Another small hut

Walking around a cove

The five of us hanging out

Still walking around

Time to head back now

Especially when it’s coming over like this

The view on the way back

A similar view from our balcony that night

Monday, January 13, 2020 Monday would be our last trek onto land, albeit a shortened one, this time on Lifou Island:

Lifou Island or Drehu in the local language is the largest, most populous and most important island of the Loyalty Islands (Loyalty Islands Province), in the archipelago of New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. With a total area of 1,207 square kilometers Lifou is located east of Australia

Irregular in shape, Lifou Island is 81 km (50 mi) long and 16 to 24 km (10 to 15 miles) wide. The island is flat with no hills or rivers, but has abundant vegetation, dense interior jungles, fertile soils, terraced cliffs and breath taking reefs and corals.

Lifou Island is a former coral atoll that was part of a submerged volcano. Nearly 2 million years ago, the island was uplifted to its present shape and elevation, today it sits at a mere 60m above sea level at its highest point. Since there are no rivers on Lifou, the water comes from rain that seeps through the calcareous soil and forms freshwater ponds.

The term Kanak is used for natives of the islands and their native language of the island is Drehu, with people descending from Melanesians and Polynesians. With a total of 19 different tribes inhabiting the three Loyalty Islands, six of which are on Lifou.

Anna was keen to swim again, but I had no intentions of taking my shirt off, because I didn’t want to add to the searing pain I was in from how sunburnt I had got the previous day while swimming. I had put sunscreen on my torso, legs, and lower arms and Anna had covered my back, but I missed my upper arms and shoulders which were now bright red. In fact, it was so bad you could map the way I had applied the sunscreen by simply examining the finger lines in the burnt areas! Seriously:

I obviously used my right hand to wipe down from my left shoulder

Anna’s tiny finger-lines on my shoulder

If not applying sunscreen correctly was my main regret from Sunday, wearing sneakers that I hadn’t worn since going to the gym back when we lived in New York years ago would be my regret for Monday as you will soon find out.

We boarded another small boat to take to Lifou and it was extremely windy while we were on our way to the island, but it wasn’t just at sea, the wind was strong on the land, too. We had a heavy bag with us so we planted that under a tree at the exact same time an elderly woman tripped over a tree root and slid down a small embankment, cutting her arm in the process, but she was okay so we went to explore our last stop in New Caledonia. We found ourselves walking past traditional grass huts beside the crystal clear ocean and we were only about 15 minutes into our trek when part of the sole of my shoe came off. I figured it was no big deal and kept walking when almost all of the entire sole of the same shoe immediately came unstuck. On the ship we had to use a swipe card to pay for things, as well as enter our rooms, and I had mine on an elastic band around my wrist so I took the band and wrapped it around my shoe in a futile attempt to keep the sole from coming more and more detached. The scenery was stunning and soon we were near an old cathedral on the island when the sole of the other shoe came right off. These things were just disintegrating and it was now time for me to make use of the band of Anna’s tag to keep that sole on so after a quick pitstop at the cathedral we were off again. The sole that had come fully detached shifted as I walked, something that wasn’t an immediate issue, but it could have disastrous consequences soon; our plan was to walk through some thick jungle and descend down a considerably steep path consisting solely of some extremely slippery rocks to reach an underground cave system so I would need all of the grip I could get, not soles attached to my shoes by elastic. Besides the constant need to shift and adjust the soles we made it down to the caves just fine. It was a bit of a squeeze getting there and I had to duck through some low hanging areas, resulting in some local kids coming to the conclusion that I must be a professional basketball player, one even asking if he could have my cap. Once inside the caves there were freshwater pools that were about four metres ( 13′) deep where you could swim, but they were also freezing cold. It may have been able to relieve my sunburn somewhat, but I’m not a fan of the cold, let alone swimming in it, so we just had a look around and then made our way back up the path to the surface. Once at the top I tore the remaining portions of the soles off both sneakers, the end result resembling a pair of cycling cleats. We continued walking around the island, me in my disfigured shoes, before heading back to the boat. Shane and Danii checked out a vanilla farm and saw some wild pigs while they were in Lifou, but this is what Anna and I saw:

Looking one way…

…and the other

A little gusty out here

A local family going about their day

One of the traditional huts

Looking through a hole to the ocean beneath

Hanging out on a pier

It’s ridiculously clear

A wooden carving

Inside one of the huts

I’d probably struggle to get in

The local cathedral

Imagine both shoes being held together with elastic like this

Just need to go down this path in my not-so-stable sneakers

Looking into the jungle

Anna and a tree

About halfway down

A portion of one of the pools inside the cave

Another area

This guy served as a lifeguard of sorts

Goodbye, sneakers. Oh well, they were ugly anyway

A group about to do a traditional ceremony (we never actually got to see it)

Heading back to the ship

A little rough

It was still extremely rough when we were back on the ship. In fact at one point when we were having a bit to eat in the buffet it felt like the ship dipped down and hit something, but it was nothing to really worry about, it was just a bit difficult walking around.

The rest of Monday and Tuesday were quite similar on the ship. We spent most of our time relaxing in the cabin, eating, drinking, and trying to avoid hearing Elton Joel. We saw more talent contests and karaoke that featured a young guy doing an over the top cover of Greased Lightnin’, hamming it up even more the following night in the final. We watched a band do a decent Amy Winehouse tribute show, Anna and Danii went to a stage show the next night while Shane and I just hung out, and we also went in a contest where the funniest answers to questions were read out, except when it came to ours, because we wrote down some messed up stuff that they refused to read. An ongoing theme on the ship was photographers asking to do glamour photos for you and then charge you extortionate prices for a printout, but Shane and Danii had paid for a photo package so they got some glamour shots done, dragging me into a couple with Shane. Also on the Tuesday night there was a 1920s themed ‘Gatsby’ party and Anna and I met an elderly couple from Liverpool, England (below) who had attended and got chatting to them afterward. He was telling me about how he grew up during the depression and had to steal pigs to feed his family, including his 11 siblings. He even taught me how to steal them. While we were having this conversation his wife was telling Anna that he also used to string guitars for the Beatles when they first came out and that he even played guitar for Cilla Black! He never even mentioned this until Anna told me and I asked him about it!

One of our horrendous glamour shots

With our slightly older drinking companions from Liverpool

Wednesday, January 15, 2020 It was the eve of Shane’s 40th birthday and our last day on the ship. Anna and myself went down to get coffee, passing Danii on the way who told us that there was a ton of fresh seafood available at the buffet today so once coffee was done we feasted on fresh prawns, mussels, and crabs. After lunch we went to the Explorer Hotel early to try to secure a seat for that afternoon’s trivia competition. It’s difficult to get a table for trivia, because the place fills up with people playing cards, mainly Uno, and they won’t move until the trivia competition has finished. We managed to get a seat, but many others missed out due to the card players, and we ended up absolutely blitzing most of the competition. As soon as trivia was over, the table of Uno players next to us packed up their stuff, smirked like the asshats they are, and left the bar, but we weren’t going anywhere for a while, instead sitting around listening to one of the great cover bands we had seen on a previous night. Once we did leave, it was up to 400 Gradi for Shane’s pizza birthday dinner which concluded with us filling out a feedback form with the request that they never let Kingsley, AKA Elton Joel back on the ship again, or at the very least to not allow him to have a microphone. Once done we dropped into the The Bonded Store so Sam could buy Shane a top-shelf whiskey and then it was back to the Explorer for more drinks, but Shane was getting a tad sleepy. We sat through more karaoke, the winner of the talent contest finally choosing a new tune! We were all relieved, I even turned to a complete stranger and said, “At least it’s not f__cking Greased Lightnin’!”, to which she laughed and agreed. I guess I spoke too soon, because only a few songs later he was back with an even more amped up version of Greased Lightnin’, acting out the entire dance from the movie as he went. Seriously, I think this guy must’ve had to play the role of Grease‘s Danny for his recent high school end-of-year concert, it was still fresh in his head, and he figured if he pulled it out enough times he might be able to score his very own Sandy. As it approached midnight I let the guy taking karaoke requests know that it was Shane’s birthday, grabbed a round of drinks for us, and welcomed in his fifth decade, Shane initially irritated at the thought that he was going to have to get up and sing, but I only got the karaoke guy to get the room to sing Happy Birthday. It all didn’t last much longer than that.

Thursday, January 16, 2020 It was time for us to all say our goodbyes when we got off the ship that morning; Sam and Kerri had to catch an early flight back to Brisbane, Shane, Danii, and Evie were soon going to be on the bus home to Canberra, and we would be flying back to Singapore later that night. However, we had the entire afternoon to wander around Sydney so we got the nearby train station to store our luggage and we took a train into town to have a look around. I’ve never really been a big fan of Sydney, but I did manage to buy something I’ve always wanted while we were there, a Manute Bol jersey from his rookie season with the then Washington Bullets:

All in all our first ever cruise was an absolute blast, far more fun than we had anticipated and we were expecting to be awesome anyway. I hope you had a great time for your 40th, Shane, it was cool to finally meet Evie and see Danii again, as well as hang out with Sam and Kerri, now you all need to come and visit us in Singapore!

A week on a cruise ship and hanging out on islands in the South Pacific for my friend's 40th birthday 2020 is the year that a lot of my friends will turn 40 and the first on the list was Shane Worthington, the one I've known the longest.

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Low-Carb Greek Chicken, Green Beans, and Tomatoes Sheet Pan Meal

posted by Kalyn Denny on December 18, 2018

If you need an easy dinner that’s also festive and delicious, this Low-Carb Greek Chicken, Green Beans, and Tomatoes Sheet Pan Meal will be a hit with almost everyone. Check out Sheet Pan Meals for more easy dinners!

Click here to PIN Low-Carb Greek Chicken, Green Beans, and Tomatoes Sheet Pan Meal!

You might have noticed how I love low-carb red and green foods during the holidays for dinners that are healthy and still festive! And I want to share this new Low-Carb Greek Chicken, Green Beans, and Tomatoes Sheet Pan Meal that’s red and green before the season gets any busier and people aren’t even looking at the internet! I hope you’re not too overwhelmed with holiday prep to try this tasty sheet pan meal with Greek flavors, or at least pin or bookmark it to try later!

When I worked on this recipe with Jake and Kara, we loved the idea of a sheet pan meal with chicken, green beans, and tomatoes that got topped with melty Feta cheese, since all three of us love those flavors! But our first attempts to make this with marinated pieces of chicken breast weren’t winners when the chicken released too much water as it baked. That’s when we switched to bone-in chicken thighs, and we loved the result! (If you’d like to use the air-fryer for the chicken part of this meal, you could also make chicken thighs in the air fryer and roasted the veggies separately. This would give crisper chicken if you have an air fryer.) This will be a super-easy and tasty dinner no matter which way you cook it!

Mix olive oil, lemon juice, Greek Seasoning, Spike Seasoning, and dried thyme for the marinade. Set aside 1/4 cup of marinade. Trim chicken thighs (I use kitchen shears to trim) and cut small slits through the skin. Put chicken thighs and marinade into a Ziploc bag and let it marinate 4-8 hours, or all day while you’re at work.

When you’re ready to cook, drain chicken into a colander and let it come to room temperature. (This is important or the chicken will take too long to cook.) Preheat the oven to 425F/220C while the chicken comes to room temperature. When you’re ready, put chicken thighs on a large sheet pan and roast 8 minutes. While chicken cooks, trim the ends of the green beans and cut in half. Cut cherry tomatoes in half.

After 8 minutes remove sheet pan from the oven and use paper towels to blot any water that’s released from the chicken. (This will depend on the chicken you use, less expensive chicken will be more watery.) Add green beans to the sheet pan and brush chicken and beans with reserved marinade. Season with fresh-ground black pepper and a little salt. Roast 14 minutes more.

After 14 minutes (or when the chicken is starting to brown a bit and seems nearly done) tuck cherry tomatoes halves around the chicken and green beans (try to keep ingredients in a single layer as much as you can.) Cook about 6 minutes more, or until chicken and green beans are done.

Sprinkle with Feta cheese and serve. Wait for compliments. More Feta is allowed, after all it’s Christmas!

More Red and Green Dinners for Christmas:

One Pan Low-Carb Greek Skillet Chicken Low-Carb Chicken Stir-Fry Sheet Pan Meal Low-Carb Stuffed Peppers with Italian Sausage, Ground Beef, and Mozzarella Roasted Asian Salmon and Green Beans Sheet Pan Meal Low-Carb Rotisserie Chicken Christmas Salad with avocado, Pepper, Feta, and Lime

Low-Carb Greek Chicken, Green Beans, and Tomatoes Sheet Pan Meal

Yield: 4 servings

Total Time: 43 minutes, plus marinating time

Prep Time: 15 minutes, plus marinating time

Cook Time: 28 minutes

When you want to keep it healthy during the holidays, this Low-Carb Greek Chicken, Green Beans, and Tomatoes Sheet Pan Meal is still a festive dish!

Ingredients:

Marinade Ingredients:

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup lemon juice (see notes)

1 T Greek Seasoning

1 tsp. Spike Seasoning (or use another all-purpose seasoning of your choice)

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

Sheet Pan Meal Ingredients:

8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (If your package of thighs has more than 8, trim and marinate them all and cook the extras on a separate sheet pan.)

1 lb. thin green beans, ends trimmed and cut in half

1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half

fresh-ground black pepper and salt to taste (remember the Feta cheese is salty)

1 cup crumbled Feta cheese (more or less to taste)

Directions:

Mix olive oil, lemon juice, Greek Seasoning, Spike Seasoning, and dried thyme to make the marinade. Set aside 1/4 cup of marinade to brush on the dish later when you’ve added the beans.

Trim chicken thighs, cutting away extra skin and fat as much as you prefer. (I use kitchen shears to trim) Cut small slits through the skin on the top of each thigh.

Put chicken thighs into a Ziploc bag with the rest of the marinade and let it marinate 4-8 hours, or all day while you’re at work is even better.

When it’s time to cook, drain the chicken into a colander placed in the sink and let it come to room temperature. (This is important or the chicken will take too long to cook for the timing of this recipe.)

Preheat the oven to 425F/220C while the chicken comes to room temperature.

When you’re ready, put chicken thighs on a large sheet pan and roast for 8 minutes.

While chicken cooks, trim the ends of the green beans and cut them in half. (I do this by grabbing a handful and standing them up against the cutting board. Trim that end of the beans, then turn beans over and stand up the other side and trim.) Cut cherry tomatoes in half.

After 8 minutes remove sheet pan from the oven and use paper towels to blot any water that’s released from the chicken. (This will depend on the chicken you use, less expensive chicken will be more watery.)

Add the green beans to the sheet pan and brush chicken and beans with the reserved marinade. Season with with fresh-ground black pepper and a little salt (remember the Feta Cheese is salty.) Roast 14 minutes more.

After 14 minutes (or when the chicken is starting to brown a bit and seems nearly done) tuck the cherry tomatoes halves around the chicken and green beans (try to keep ingredients in a single layer as much as you can.) Cook about 6 minutes more, or until chicken and green beans are done.

Sprinkle with Feta cheese and serve hot.

Notes:

I use my fresh-frozen lemon juice for this recipe.

This recipe created by Kalyn, Jake, and Kara, after a few experiments that weren’t quite right! We loved the chicken, green beans, and tomatoes with the melty Feta on top.

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions: This Low-Carb Greek Chicken, Green Beans, and Tomatoes Sheet Pan Meal is a good dinner option for any low-glycemic or low-carb diet, including any phase of the South Beach Diet. For Keto you might want to use less tomatoes, or omit them completely if you prefer.

Find More Recipes Like This One: Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You can also Follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Nutritional Information? If you want nutritional information for a recipe, you can sign up for a free membership with Yummly and use the Yum button on my site to save the recipe and see the nutritional information. Another option is entering the recipe into this Recipe Nutrition Analyzer, which will calculate it for you.

posted by Kalyn Denny on December 18, 2018

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Source: https://kalynskitchen.com/low-carb-greek-chicken-green-beans-and-tomatoes-sheet-pan-meal/

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10 Genuinely Surprising Ways to Save Money on Your Weight-Loss Journey

Mere seconds after searching the internet for any kind of clean-eating info or weight-loss plans, ads for meal delivery kits start following me. “Right,” I think to myself. “That’s how all the actors and models get into their (unrealistically) ideal shape — they pay for it.” But how am I supposed to eat healthy on my tiny budget?

“I do believe that people use the cost of healthy eating as an excuse to not do it,” registered dietitian Molly Devine, founder of Eat Your Keto, tells Greatist.

Sure, if you hired a private chef or shopped exclusively at Whole Foods and farmers markets for fresh foods every day, you’d wind up spending a lot more than the cost of fast food and cheap takeout. But with some careful planning and research, you can actually spend a lot less as you make your way on the path to weight loss and fitness. Here’s how.

1. Eat in, and cook enough for leftovers

Registered dietitian Rachel Fine acknowledges that when it comes to restaurants, highly nutritious foods can come at a premium. “Healthy salads at Chop’d or Just Salad are $13, whereas a McDonald’s hamburger could be as low as $1,” she says.

At the same time, Fine knows it’s impractical to expect everyone to become Chrissy Teigen, especially given our busy schedules. Instead, she recommends meal prepping, particularly the sort where you can cook one element and incorporate it into a number of different meals throughout the week.

2. Buy grains, nuts, and legumes in bulk

You don’t have to load up the station wagon and fill your underground bunker like a Cold War housewife to save money. But you will save some cash if you stock your kitchen with some foods that don’t go bad quickly.

“A lot of the foods I buy in bulk are my pantry items like whole grains: quinoa, farro, barley, oats,” Fine says.

Uncooked beans can also stretch your dollar and take the place of more expensive animal proteins. (Plus, if you eat legumes and whole grains, you can get all your essential amino acids.)

“We tend to put protein on a pedestal in our mind,” Fine says. “If you really wanted to save money, you don’t need to pack on the protein with meat and fish.”

Nuts can also be a healthy eater’s best friend, but not in excess. Rather than buy expensive portion-controlled packages, Devine says you can buy these in bulk and then pack a single serving in a reusable container to take with you.

3. Buy fattier meats

Your grocery store’s meat department might be stuck in the “low fat is better” mentality of the ’90s, which works in your favor when you’re on a low-carb diet.

“Fattier cuts of meat that actually are tastier when you cook them are typically priced cheaper,” Devine says. Skin-on chicken thighs are less than breasts, for instance, and fattier ground meat is cheaper than its low-fat counterpart. For even more savings per pound, buy the whole darn chicken and roast it.

4. Don’t buy fresh, organic everything

Produce from fancy grocery stores and farmers markets often does taste fresher and better, but it also goes bad in the blink of an eye. Buy those gorgeous local tomatoes and organic kale when you have a plan to eat them soon, and for everything else, buy frozen.

Not only will they be there (already washed and chopped!) when you need them, you don't necessarily need to choose organic versions when they’re not one of the Dirty Dozen pesticide-prone fruits and vegetables.

“When things are frozen, they’re flash frozen at the time they’re picked, so they don’t need the same pesticides added to them as fresh fruits and veggies do when they're shipped,” Fine says.

5. Avoid wasting food

When you do spend your precious bucks on fresh produce, it’s painful to relegate half of it to the compost bin. Devine says this is an ideal time to learn a new skill: Make your own vegetable stock from broccoli stems, carrot peels, and wilted veggies.

That’s intimidating for a lot of us, so at least we can take her advice on the stuff that's just a day or two past ripe. “Chop it all up, sauté it, and make a veggie omelet, or roast everything and have it to eat throughout the rest of the week,” she says.

6. Don’t fall for buzzword ingredients

Whatever the trendy diet or food of the moment is, you can bet there’s a bunch of new prepackaged snacks and foods advertising them, and that hype comes at a cost.

“Whole, minimally processed foods don’t have to boast about their nutrients,” Fine reminds us. “You don’t see a bag of apples saying ‘high fiber.’ You see the bars in the supermarket yelling ‘high fiber!’ They have to prove to you that all of their ingredients are really worth it.”

7. Consider keto

While hiring a dietitian or buying into a meal plan is pricey, doing your homework by visiting professional sites such as Today’s Dietitian can be almost as good if you’re deciding on a strict regimen like the ketogenic diet. Devine says going keto can be a pretty cost-effective way of life.

“You’re eating these very satiating high-fat foods which keep you fuller longer, so most people that I work with that do keto are only eating two to three times a day,” she says. “You’re not snacking in between meals, and you’re cutting out all that processed stuff, which we pay a premium for.”

8. Join the YMCA

Unlike most other gyms, the Y is a nonprofit meant to better the community (beyond just making everyone look more chiseled). Some of its funds go toward subsidizing memberships for people with lower incomes, so you can check with your local branch to see if you qualify. If not, you may still get a discount for belonging to certain organizations.

9. Move around more

Though some of us think that paying for a gym membership will force us to exercise more, Fine says that doesn’t always work.

“Sometimes I tell clients to invest in a Fitbit and have their steps be their goals,” she says. “It’s much cheaper than the cost of a gym membership, and it does

hold them accountable."

10. Look forward to lower medical (and spa) costs

Public health experts have estimated that health-care spending as a whole goes up when a population has an obesity problem. On an individual level, even if don’t have diabetes or heart disease, excess weight can cause less serious problems that mean trips to the doctor, physical therapists, chiropractors, massage therapists, and more.

“When we carry around too much weight, we tend to have joint issues, more inflammation in our body, and systemic pain,” Devine says. “We’re just uncomfortable a lot and tend to kind of seek out relief from that.”

Eating right, by contrast, can help you cut down on all those medical expenses. And how much more pleasant is a trip to the grocery store than a trip to the doctor

from Greatist RSS http://bit.ly/2WmciUr 10 Genuinely Surprising Ways to Save Money on Your Weight-Loss Journey Greatist RSS from HEALTH BUZZ http://bit.ly/2K2TDLS

[stone-man-warrior]

December 9, 2018: 3:58 pm:

December 9, 2018: 4:00 pm:<br><br>I saw a video today being "Re-Tweeted&... StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-12-09 16:58:48-0800 - Updated: 2018-12-09 16:58:48-0800

December 9, 2018: 4:00 pm: I saw a video today being "Re-Tweeted" from Laura Ingraham of The Ingraham Angle on Fox News. The video shows a humorous scene of eight guys in Santa Claus suits fighting on a street brawl. I don't like Santa Claus. The whole idea is based on pedophilia associated with members of British Parliament. There are Parliamentary members who's regular official, or perhaps ceremonious, attire is quite similar to that of Santa Claus. The entire world has been brainwashed into the idea that it is OK to have someone dressed in the ridiculous costume inside of your house. Families with children have been victimized with this terror custom for centuries. They came up with the excuse that he comes down the chimney with toys for the children, so the children go right there to where the bearded asshole is at to see what goodies he brought, and bring him a snack of Milk and Cookies for after he rapes the children. The fat bastards were on the way from the pub after hours and snuck into the houses of where there are easy victims. Then they Brought the nonsense to the USA and it's all considered good and reasonable to have a fat terrorist bastard wearing a red and white Parliamentary outfit inside of the house in the wee small hours of the nighttime. Since they are all drunk when they show up to rape the children, or put them into that big bag and kidnap them, they came up with the reindeer story because of all of the racket they make on the roof while climbing through the windows. And the bag filled with toys is really a bag filled with your child and mine. Toys... Bullshit. Anyways, about the video that Laura Ingraham is promoting... The "Twelve Days of Christmas" is upon us. In Dystopian, Socaio-terrific Oregon, that means that the Twelve Days of Christmas'' song will be used as a means of providing a theme to the upcoming terror events in the area, and in the world. The Media terrorists of SAG role out the Twelve Days theme every year, twice per year. "Christmas in July" includes the "Twelve Days of Christmas" theme, and last summer included that there were "Eight Fires Burning". "Stinky Ryan Zinke", "Liesure Suit Larry Kudlow", and "Down Town Jerry Brown" are working the profits from those fires now through "land Grab" of fire survivors who are exterminated later, and the ones who were killed as the fires were happening. Also, "Salvage Timber Sales" were referred to on Twitter terror news media as "Timberwolf" in association with George H.W. Bush and the number 41. It;s all about killing, raping, pillaging, taking and profiting now. There is no US Government, there are only terrorists disguised as such. So, " 'Tis the Season" to role out another year of terror with a theme, Hollywood style, and with the Blessing of the Vatican. Laura Ingraham is a blatant commander of terror operations and so is Sean Hannity along with Dan Bongino, who is Mr. Hannity's "Tank Commander". "Tank Commanders" in terror talk, refer to media personalities and others who engage in providing marching orders for other terrorist cells in the field. Tank Commanders are recognizable by their outward display of the use of old school headphones and a goofy hat. The headphones are the kind that were popular in the 1970's, big, clunky hemisphere's worn over a goofy hat, which is just a hat, but is not the kind of hat one might expect to be worn by the individual terrorist wearing it. It's a simple idea and can be as simple as someone who is known to be a "Falcons" fan, but wears a "Marlin" hat... the circumstances about the hat won't fit, and the headphones further explain the notion of "Tank Commander" to the terror cells that need to get their orders fro someplace. The terror cells are small groups of about ten members, maybe more, maybe less, but always three or more. The cells commanded by a "tank Commander" are cells that use Nitrous Oxide/Versed airborne poison gas to subdue victims for capture, torture, and killing. They are riving bands and are geographically specified from the command chain as their services are called for in special operations usually. April LaJune and Dan Bongino are two examples of tank Commanders. Sean Hannity commands Dan Bonginoi, who commands the individual cells for specified killings. Fox News Media terrorists have pretty much conquered the entire US Government, and are very dangerous people who engage in a Coup of the USA daily with ongoing impunity. Watch for signs of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" terror events and the orders for them to be carried out by the media terrorists at Fox News. It's my opinion that all of the other news agencies work in concert with Fox, and much of what the other agencies do is simply to provide that there will be rivalry presented between the agencies such that they all appear to be opponents when they actually are all on the same team. If Fox were to be apprehended as a terrorist organization, then the illusion of rivalry between Fox and others such as CNN ensures that the terrorist SAG/SDA Coup will continue advancing the goals of SAG and the Vatican without interruption or intermission. The USA is being consumed in a relentless slaughter by those who entertain us. Don't get on the bus, never get on the bus. Fight terrorism with a Bic Lighter. Burn Candles, the gas is flammable, the small flame clears the air so you can breathe and think clearly.

Shared with: Public

StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-12-09 18:38:43-0800

December 9, 2018: 6:08 pm: Messages of terrorism come in all forms from everywhere. There are no limits to the source of terrorists information. Terrorism knows no boundaries, it has no age nor gender. Terrorism knows no boundaries. At Wal-Mart, the messages are everywhere also. The messages are inside of the sealed merchandise and put there during manufacturing. Since there are no anti-terrorist agents who look for clues, the messages go unnoticed. Often, the messages about terrorism is presented by victims of the terrorism who are vigilant to find help... to be rescued and freed of slavery. Terror slavery happens at the manufacturing end of the products consumed world-wide. Slaves are Citizens who were captured and forced to serve the needs of their captors. Strawberries. At the Wal-Mart they sell frozen strawberries. This entry is about a message in the form of what looks like a cry for help to me, and is contained within the strawberry packaging and has been there for as long as I have purchased frozen strawberries at Wal_mart. Frozen, whole strawberries in the largest size they have available, the 4 LB. size (four pound). The message is in the package by the way the package is made. The package should open up with a zip sort of easy-open way, and then have a freshness zip-lock built in so the you can store the frozen strawberries for use later. The zip-lock does not work. It cannot work. The package is made such that the zip-lock stays on one side of the package and is not functional, cannot be functional and will never function the way the package is made. The package is made absent of teh easy zip removable opening method that should be there... it;s not there. I have been buying the same strawberries, whole, frozen , Great Value Strawberries, 4 pound size, for about a year or more and the zip-lock has always been the same... the special plastic strip is stuck to one side, and cannot function. This could be a simple malfunction in the equipment that makes the package. I don't think so. If there was no terrorism where I live, I would never have noticed or cared about the dysfunctional zip-lock. But there is terrorism and people are killed daily at the Wal-Mart, so I notice things like this. Could it be another indicator besides slaves crying out fir help hoping some one will notice the dysfunctional bag? Yes, it could be an indicator of a wide variety of things. I choose to view the dysfunctional zip-lock on the frozen whole Strawberries as slave children who are forced to package strawberries by day, and be sex slaves by night because I know that there is no help for people who are not slaves, such as me. I cannot get help against terrorists who use poison gas to kill Americans, and I have access to internet and a phone. Slaves only have access to the machines they are forced to operate. They have to try harder to get help. They have to be more creative to get help. They cannot limit teh ways that they will attempt to get help. They seek help with a broken zip-lock on the frozen whole strawberries, 4 pound size. No one will help because the National Security agencies are too busy chasing dark skinned people with black beards when it;s the white skinned people from Hollywood and the people who go to Church on Saturday that are the terrorists. The terrorists are in the backyard kidnapping the American children at home and at School, and the anti=terrorist agents and the military are on a different continent. If the US Military and the National Security Agents were on Mars looking for Martians, they would be just as close to the real terrorists as they are now. The terrorists are at the White House. The address there is 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC... I don't know the zip code.

StoneMan .Warrior - 2018-12-09 19:01:22-0800

December 9, 2018: 6:46 pm: Besides the Strawberries, there is tuna. I like tuna. I don't buy it veru often for myself, but when I do, I buy the Albacore or the Solid White tuna. It costs about four dollars for a can of Albacore, so I don't buy it often. I do buy goodies for my cats. The cats goodies in the cat food isle are expensive too. It's a scam. I found out that if I buy the cheapest tuna at the Wal-Mart, it is better that the most expensive cat food goodies in the cat food isle. I also found that the cheapest tuna, small can, very bottom right of the tuna department at the Wal-Mart, is $0.87 per can. The eighty-seven cent tuna is almost as good as the Solid White Albacore that costs four dollars (a bigger can though). The eighty-seven cent tuna is famous at the Wal-Mart. Why? If you buy the cheap tuna, someone will comment about it if they recognize that that you bought the eighty-seven cent kind. Why? I don't have the answer on this one. I think the indication is from the slaves that package the tuna. I think that are trying to get some attention to get rescued. The cheap tuna is good, comes in a small can. It's almost as good as the expensive tuna... the kind that comes in a bigger can. The terrorists carry the Nitrous Oxide/Versed airborne gas rectally holstered in pressurized tanks. I think that is what teh tuna slaves are trying to say. Wal-mart is capturing people and forcing them to do work, so the slaves find ways to get noticed, such as drawing attention to the size of CAN it takes to hold a tank of Nitrous gas. Don't forget that the terror soldiers who kill to serve the needs of the Screen Actor Guild are Canadians from Quebec. CAN-ada.

[thesixteendegree-blog]

Feeding Two for $27 a Week

Frugality. 

The Millennial generation is one that is monetarily struggling. We are the most educated generation yet here we are, poor as dirt. Why then, for such an academically educated group of people, can we not cook? We all had that home economics class in seventh grade where we baked a pizza, but that was the extent of it. Our education system does not teach practical skills. I wonder if it is seen as a blue-collar trade by our academic high-horse seated overseers? Is learning cos and sin more important than knowing how to feed ourselves? Should navigating a TI-83 be more important than being fluid with a chef’s knife? Practical skills such as cooking then must come from home. From parents. Or in this case, much later in life from a food blog authored by an unknown know-it-all.

Living in near poverty and supporting ourselves, I’ve learned more about cooking cheaply in the past four years than ever before, Living pay-check to pay-check is a good enough slap in the face to get out there and learn how to cook. I will show you how to do it cheaply that produces quality results. 

My menu for last week was:

Honey-Sriracha Glazed Chicken Legs

Mapo Tofu

Chickpea, Tomato, and Spinach Stew

Moroccan Lentil Stew with Spiced Yogurt

Potato-Broccoli Stew

Cantonese Garlicky Eggplant and Tofu

I was able to cook all of this for $27. Let me show you how.

Let me explain a couple things first. This week’s menu will not cost you exactly $27. I now a lot of people who have empty pantries, cupboards, and refrigerators because they do not cook. They sit in a dark room wearing dirty underwear, binging Rick and Morty and feast on Bagel Bites, plummeting their orange claw into a Costco size bucket of cheese-balls. As you begin cooking and cooking a lot, you will build up your stocks. You will have a drawer full of beans and lentils, leftover frozen chicken breasts portioned out, spices, and sauces. For instance, that package with a sliced and smoked pork jowl will last me many meals.

Each baggie was equivalent to 3-5 slices of bacon. I froze them and will pull them out whenever I need a little protein to add depth and flavor to soups/stews. This is what I’m talking about when I say building your stocks. As you cook more, your pantry will begin to fill with essentials and staples. I have a theory this is why people who are starting out to cook are turned away from the act altogether. I’ve had friends complain to me about how expensive dishes are to cook. “I have to buy like five different spices for one dish!” Spices last a long time especially when you buy them whole. Ground spices expire much faster and you have to use more of them to produce the same flavorful results compared with whole spices. And never go buy spices at name-brand grocery stores. They rip you off. Find an international store and source them from there. As for staples like oil and salt, these are used in small amounts and will spread out--last a while. Think of these first time purchases as an investment (another thing we were not taught in school). The bag of potatoes will last me weeks. Hell, even the chicken was able to feed my girlfriend and myself and I had to freeze the leftovers. I also only used one bag of the frozen mustard greens and 1/3 of that bag of green lentils. I overcompensated but was still able to build up my stock. All of these can be used later and you can even plan cheap meals around the left over stocks for next week since you have most of the ingredients. It all compounds eventually. You just have to give it time and keep cooking.

Honey-Sriracha Glazed Chicken Legs

Ingredients

Marinade/Sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

3  tablespoons hoisin sauce

2  tablespoons sombal oelek

6 tablespoons Sriracha

3  tablespoons honey

3  tablespoons gochugaru (Korean chili powder)

1 head garlic minced

1″ ginger minced

Chicken

10 pounds chicken legs

Directions

Combine everything from the marinade into a big bowl.

Reserve half of the marinade in a small bowl and set aside.

Here is the gochugaru. This is a pretty big bad in itself, but man, are there some killer recipes you can use this with, my mapo tofu being one of them. It isn’t spicy, rather I use it for color and to add the purest flavor of Korean chilies into the food minus the capsicum (the chemical of spicy) of the actual chili. 

Mix half of the marinade with the chicken and let sit for at least 30 minutes, preferably over night, though make sure to seal it in an airtight bag or a bowl or else your fridge will become a garlic chamber. Lay foil on a baking sheet and grease. There is sugar in this recipe from the honey so it could bake onto the pan which is a pain in the ass to scrub off. With the foil, that won’t be an issue. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and bake for an hour or until the largest leg registers 165 degrees. 

Add the rest of the marinade to a small sauce pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Let chicken cool and peel off all the meat and set in a bowl. Pour now sauce over the meat and serve over rice. Maybe with a vegetable on the side (which I didn’t include in the recipe). 

Before we move on, let’s talk chicken legs. I can find 10 pound bags of them for no more than $5 near me. Wal-Mart usually has this deal. This is America. You have a damn Wal-Mart near you, I know it. They are such a cheap source of protein, not to mention the bones can be saved for chicken stock, though keep in mind they will be stained with the marinade so a spicy Asian soup would be great with those. You can fry legs, bake them, braise them, make soup, roast them, do so many different things they should be your best friend. I’ve seen them go as cheap as $.49 a pound. The cheapest you usually see chicken breasts are about $1.49 with some exceptions for example. Dark meat is better anyways...

Cantonese Garlicky Eggplant and Tofu

Sauce

3 tablespoons hoisin sauce

3 tablespoons light soy sauce (great for stir-fries. Doesn’t muddy sauces down)

1 tablespoon sesame seed oil

2 tablespoons fish sauce

Mushrooms

1 cup water

1 big handful of dried shiitake mushrooms

Stir-Fry

1 block firm tofu, 1″ cubes

5 Japanese eggplants or 2 medium globe eggplants sliced into 1/2″ cubes

5 cloves minced garlic

2 tablespoons red chili flakes

Vegetable oil

Directions 

Cube eggplant in 1/2″ squares. Place in microwavable bowl, cover, and microwave for six minutes. Cube tofu and separate. Mince garlic and separate with red chili flakes. Combine everything for the sauce. Once eggplant is done microwaving, add mushrooms and 1 cup of water to a microwavable bowl and microwave it for 3 minutes. Squeeze water out of logged mushrooms and separate in a bowl. Slice mushrooms into 1/4″ slivers.

Add 1 tablespoon of oil to a ripping hot pan or wok. Add half the eggplant and fry until golden brown, about 5-7 minutes. Empty into a bowl and repeat with the other half of eggplant, salting each batch with a pinch. 

I have a local Indian store right near my apartment where I source most of my vegetables. They usually have about 2-3 pound bags of eggplant on sale (close to expiration so I gotta cook it fast) for about $1.19 a bag. Eggplant is a wonder vegetable. It is soft and meaty and deeply satisfying to eat. There are so many ways to cook it as well. Its versatility is endless as so many countries use it for cooking around the world. I love it for stir-fries because it holds sauce so nicely. 

Add the garlic, chilies, and mushrooms with another tablespoon of oil and saute for 45 seconds.

Add the sauce and the mushroom water to pan. Reduce over high heat stirring for a couple of minutes until it thickens. 

Combine the eggplant and tofu and cook for five minutes on medium until pretty much all the liquid is absorbed. Serve over rice. 

Broccoli and Potato Soup

Soups. If you want to eat cheaply learn how to make good soups. They are simple, can be made healthy, and for the cold nights we have ahead of us, satisfying. They are also nearly idiot proof. They can be made in slow cookers as well, which is the most idiot proof kitchen device ever invented. Hey idiots, learn to make soup! Need to clean out your freezer/pantry/fridge? Make a soup.

Ingredients 

6 medium russet potatoes peeled and chunked into 1″ squares (super cheap sustenance if you don’t go buy organic potatoes at Whole Foods)

6 cups of chicken stock (see my homemade chicken stock recipe)

1 crown of broccoli, florets and stalks separated 

4 slices of bacon

2-3 cloves garlic

2 onions

2 scallions

salt/pepper

2 bay leaves

1 cup cream of half-and-half (not pictured)

2 tablespoons butter (not pictured)

Directions

Cook the bacon until the fat is rendered and the pig is crisp. Add the onions, salt them lightly, and cook for 4 minutes. The size of the onions don’t matter much since all of this will be pureed. You can also pull out the bacon and put it to the side to add in once the soup is prepared for more variation in texture. But we are keeping this simple and fast. 

Add the stock, bay leaves, and potatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. 

Add the stems and simmer for 10 minutes. Once the 10 minutes is done fish out the bay leaves.

Turn off the heat and add half the florets. Let sit for two minutes.

Use an immersion blender and puree until smooth. 

If you don’t have one of these, strain the solids from the liquid (saving the liquid) and add to a blender or food processor. Add a cup of cooking liquid and blend until perfectly smooth then return to the pot.

Add the milk and butter and stir until combined. Add the rest of the broccoli and let it sit for three minutes off heat.

Season with salt, pepper, and the scallions and you’re on your way to being full on mere dollars. 

The rest of this food were not my recipes or I forgot to take pictures of the procedure, but I will show you what it all looked liked cooked. 

Mapo Tofu

I have mastered this dish. I forgot to take pictures of the process because I’m an idiot and was seriously hungry. I will make a post about this one soon. But you have to learn how to make this dish. It’s easy. The pantry ingredients last forever, tofu is cheap (if you don’t buy the organic, pressed by nonreactive gold ingot shit they have at most American grocery stores) and it lasts like 6 meals if you spread it over rice. Stay tuned for this one. My last recipe on this was far too complicated for such a simple, humble dish.

Spinach, Garbanzo Bean, and Fresh Tomato Stew

This one came from  Ferran Adrià’s cookbook The Family Meal. Not sure of copyright laws on the internet, so I won’t post the recipe, but it was great. Super simply. Truly idiot proof. I’m sure some Googling will produce copies of this recipe. I want to take this one and put my own twist on it eventually. If you want cheap food that fills you up, go buy a honking bag of dried garbanzo beans. They are so much meatier and far tastier than the canned variety, just require a little more patience and preparation. Not to mention they have an almost eternal shelf-life and a cup of dried beans once re-hydrated doubles in size. I need to do a post just about garbanzo beans...

Moroccan Lentil Stew with a Parsley Yogurt Sauce

This is a recipe from an America’s Test Kitchen slow-cooker cookbook. Absolutely fantastic. Some Googling should produce replicas of this one.

Let’s recap. Soups. Vegetarian based recipes. Low meat or the use of cheap meat. Flavorful bases spread over inexpensive carbs. With a well equipped pantry, you too can make all of this food for about $30. This fed my girlfriend and I for over a week. I think it was 8 days we managed to stretch this. Doing the math, rounded up that is $1.69 a day for food for one person. For those of you in my personal life who have argued with me on this subject, here is irrefutable proof cooking is cheaper than the alternative of eating out. It doesn’t take a lot of skill. It doesn’t take a lot of time. You just have to start cooking more often. Practice makes perfect and cooking is one of those skills that needs constant honing. There is a science behind it all, but what I like the most about is the intuition. The sound onions make in a pan that’s heated just perfectly. Water that goes quiet right before it begins to boil in your pasta pot. The shimmer of oil in a hot pan ready to sear meat. The smell of garlic in oil that is cooked not too long. You can get to that point by smelling burnt garlic. By panicking when your pasta water clumsily clambers over the side of a pan and burns onto your stove in a starchy caked film. Setting a cut of meat in a cold pan and you hear no sizzle. That hot, dry crackle of onions carbonizing in an overheated pan. Mistakes. That’s how you learn. When you nail it the results are satisfying. It is like producing art--creating something with your senses and human instinct. You can be proud of making that soup or cutting that onion with a perfect dice. You can serve that mapo tofu you nailed to friends and family and significant others with pride. You made it. You put your heart and soul and intelligence and intuition into that dish. That is a beautiful and intimate craft worth practicing. 

Get cooking. 

[wallythayer]

How to Choose Seafood That’s Nutritious, Sustainable — and Safe

The world’s oceans, lakes, and rivers offer a cornucopia of fish, mollusks, and crustaceans. Yet concerns about industrial pollution, as well as ethical questions surrounding farming and fishing practices, abound for many seafood lovers. Faced with confusing options, you might wonder whether it’s even possible to make a good seafood choice — one that is nutritious and safe as well as environmentally responsible.

It is possible. In fact, many experts say the health benefits of seafood can outweigh the risks. It’s a matter of learning which fish to catch and which to release.

A Delicate Balance

The American Heart Association recommends that adults eat at least two 3.5-ounce servings of seafood a week, while the FDA recommends even more for women of childbearing age. (See “Fish Smarts for Pregnant Women”.) For most of us, redoubling our efforts would offer plenty of benefits, say health experts.

Seafood is an excellent source of protein (which helps build lean body mass), selenium (an antioxidant that fends off cell-damaging free radicals), phosphorus (to maintain strong bones), and iodine (a key ingredient in thyroid hormones involved in a healthy metabolism).

Seafood also provides fatty acids known as omega-3s. Increased consumption of EPA and DHA — marine-derived omega-3s that are more potent than plant-derived alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) — is associated with improved heart health and brain functioning, reduced risk of hearing loss, and optimal infant development.

“Omega-3s work their way into cell membranes in all our bodily tissues,” says Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD, RD, a professor of nutrition at Penn State. “This makes cell membranes more fluid, which allows chemical reactions like those involved in regulating heart rate and reducing inflammation to happen more freely and quickly.”

But troubling reports about seafood safety lead many people to limit their intake. Mercury and dioxins from industrial sources that make their way into lakes and oceans are absorbed by sea creatures and stored in their muscles. Some fish contain levels high enough to pose serious risks to brain and nervous-system development in unborn babies and young children. High exposure to mercury is also associated with neurological problems in adults and an increased risk of diabetes.

Sustainability issues further damage seafood’s reputation. Some species are dwindling under harvesting pressures and techniques like bottom trawling — think clear-cutting the sea floor. Meanwhile, fish farms have earned notoriety (sometimes unjustly) as polluting, disease-spreading ocean feedlots.

To make the best choice, it’s important to strike the right balance. Our guide offers useful information about first-rate sources for your seafood favorites and explores some lesser-known options that hit the trifecta of nutrition, safety, and sustainability.

Seafood Favorites, Revisited

These seafood choices are some of the most popular in the United States, but they have their downsides. Learn how to be an informed consumer.

Shrimp

Americans eat about 4 pounds of this shellfish per person annually. By finding a good source, you can net plenty of health benefits, including omega-3s, selenium, and 30 percent of your daily requirement of vitamin D.

Buyer Beware: Most shrimp in the United States comes from Asian farms that may overuse antibiotics and employ forced labor, warns Ryan Bigelow, program engagement manager for Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. International wild-shrimp fisheries typically have high by-catch levels, nabbing bystander species like endangered sea turtles.

From a nutrition standpoint, know that shrimp is often bathed in a sodium solution to make its meat juicer, while sulfites (which may trigger migraines and other symptoms in people with sensitivities) are often used to prevent discoloration.

Smart Choice: Opt for domestic shrimp when possible. “There are generally much stricter regulations in America with respect to shrimp fishing and farming practices,” says Bigelow. North American wild-caught varieties include northern shrimp, pink shrimp, and spot prawns from the Pacific Northwest or British Columbia. White shrimp farmed in the United States, Canada, and Central America — especially from closed tanks that create less pollution — is another good option.

Fresh Salmon

All varieties of fresh salmon, including farmed Atlantic and wild sockeye, provide more than the recommended 250- to 500-milligram daily dose of omega-3s. According to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, salmon has among the best ratios of omega-3s to mercury of any seafood you can buy.

Buyer Beware: Salmon-farming practices have improved, but antibiotic use is still a concern, says Roxanne Nanninga, a sustainable-seafood specialist with the Environmental Defense Fund. Salmon raised on fishmeal come with higher economic and environmental costs: A single pound of farmed salmon requires multiple pounds of wild feed. Meanwhile, less-expensive -vegetarian-based feed increases salmon’s ratio of inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids to anti-inflammatory omega-3s. Additionally, offshore open-net pens can pollute surrounding waters.

Smart Choice: Choose a wild Alaskan salmon species like Chinook (also known as king) or sockeye. Salmon populations in Alaskan waters are healthy with no overfishing or notable contaminant risk. Feasting on krill and tiny crustaceans, wild salmon typically have a great omega-fat ratio. Consider vacuum-sealed packages of frozen fillets: “Flash-freezing shortly after catching results in little loss of nutrient quality,” says Nanninga.

Canned Tuna

While fresh tuna can be pricey, canned tuna delivers an affordable, nonperishable complete protein — offering enough essential amino acids to ensure healthy tissue growth. Other nutritional highlights include omega-3 fats (particularly in albacore), bone-friendly phosphorus, selenium, and niacin — a B vitamin that plays a key role in -energy production.

Buyer Beware: “Most canned white meat is from larger albacore tuna, which ingest more mercury in their diet than the smaller skipjack tuna primarily used as light tuna,” explains Nanninga. The Environmental Defense Fund recommends that adults limit their intake of canned albacore to three servings a month.

Tuna from foreign waters are often caught using methods that have high levels of by-catch, and “dolphin safe” does not mean other marine animals aren’t harmed. In addition, cans are typically lined with bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone-mimicking compound; high exposure to BPAs has been linked to a variety of health issues.

Smart Choice: Worldwide populations of skipjack tuna are in good shape, so swap some of the canned white tuna in your diet for lower-mercury light tuna. Seek out tuna in BPA-free pouches. Also, look for brands packed in water or extra-virgin olive oil instead of highly processed vegetable oil.

Tilapia

Widely available and affordable, tilapia provides a hearty dose of selenium. This antioxidant protects against cell damage and may counter some of the negative effects of mercury, says Kris-Etherton.

Buyer Beware: As a low-fat protein, tilapia is no omega-3 heavyweight. In fact, the grain-based diet of farmed tilapia tends to make its fat profile overly heavy on omega-6s, which most Americans consume too much of already. Looser tilapia-farming laws in Asia can mean unsavory practices like the use of banned chemicals and allowing untreated fish waste to enter the environment.

Smart Choice: Look for tilapia farmed in the United States, Canada, Ecuador, or Peru. “The closed-tank systems in North America have fewer environmental concerns, including fewer impacts on habitats than other types of aquaculture,” says Bigelow. Closed-tank systems also reduce the need for antibiotics and other chemical treatments often used to raise fish.

Pollock

This member of the cod family supplies 20 grams of high-quality protein per 3-ounce serving, as well as B12, selenium, phosphorus, magnesium, and a decent quantity of omega-3s. The mercury risk in wild Alaska pollock is low, and the fish consistently earns high certification scores by the Marine Stewardship Council. “Populations of the fast-reproducing fish are healthy and are caught using midwater trawls, resulting in less by-catch risk,” explains Nanninga.

Buyer Beware: Representing the largest wild fishery in the country, Alaska pollock is the most popular fish people don’t know they’re eating. It’s often consumed breaded and battered (think fish sticks and fish-and-chips) or found in imitation crab meat. Such ultra-processing techniques can negate the fish’s health benefits. Note that Atlantic pollock is not as abundant as Alaska pollock, and it may be caught using techniques like bottom trawling or gillnets — a wall of netting that can entangle turtles and other aquatic species.

Smart Choice: To keep pollock’s nutritional benefits front and center, look for plain fresh or frozen fillets of Alaska pollock (also called walleye pollock or whitefish) instead of the breaded and fried versions.

Uncommon Treasures

Often overlooked, these five seafood choices are worthy of your consideration for their nutrition, safety, and sustainability.

Mussels

These briny gems are a low-cost source of satiating protein, the antioxidant selenium, metabolism-supporting manganese, and must-have omega-3s. They also provide a good dose of vitamin B12, which supports a healthy nervous system.

Safety and Sustainability: Most mussels you can buy are farmed, which is a good thing in this case. “When suspended in waterways, the shellfish feed by filtering plankton, so they require no supplemental food and may actually improve surrounding water quality,” says Bigelow. In addition, mussels respond well to high-density farming and typically don’t require antibiotics.

Shopping and Prep: Buy about a pound of mussels per serving. Store in the refrigerator for up to two days in a bowl covered with a damp paper towel; mussels are sold alive, so never keep them in plastic bags. If necessary, debeard (remove seaweed and debris) just before cooking. To cook, simply place in a pot of steamy liquid — try broth, white wine, or coconut milk — and simmer until they pop open, about five to seven minutes. Discard any that don’t open.

Farmed Barramundi

Also known as giant perch or yellow perch, this meaty, butter-flavored, white-fleshed fish supplies solid amounts of omega-3s — up to 800 milligrams in a 5-ounce serving.

Safety and Sustainability: Two forward-thinking aquaculture ventures — one in Massachusetts, the other in Vietnam — have earned farmed barramundi a “best choice” rating from Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. The U.S. operation uses nonpolluting land-based tanks, while the Vietnamese operation practices low-density farming, reducing the need for antibiotics. Both operations test for mercury, PCBs, and other contaminants. Avoid wild-caught barramundi from Southeast Asia, as its fishery is poorly managed.

Shopping and Prep: The best place to find barramundi is in your grocery’s freezer section: Look for the brand name Australis on the package. Try it steamed, broiled, grilled, or pan-seared.

Canned Salmon

Canned salmon is usually a richer source of omega-3 fats and vitamin D than canned tuna, especially if you compare sockeye with light tuna. And though the pin bones in fresh salmon can be a choking hazard, they soften during the canning process and add bone-strengthening calcium.

Safety and Sustainability: Most canned salmon on the U.S. market hails from sustainable wild Alaskan fisheries; look for brands labeled “wild.” Like fresh wild salmon, canned salmon has a low mercury risk.

Shopping and Prep: Pink and sockeye are the species most commonly  used for canned salmon. Both are nutritious, but sockeye delivers more omega-3s and vitamin D. Flavors and textures vary, so shop around to find a brand you like. Some provide no-salt options and BPA-free tins. Use the meat in salads, make fish cakes and chowders, or fork onto crackers for a high-protein snack.

Atlantic Mackerel

This rich-tasting fish is a nutritional superstar, with 1 gram of omega-3s per 3-ounce serving and high levels of protein, B vitamins, and vitamin D — an elusive nutrient associated with lower cancer risk.

Safety and Sustainability: Atlantic mackerel is a smaller species than king and Spanish, and therefore has a lower mercury risk. Nanninga says adults and children can safely eat several servings of Atlantic mackerel a month. She adds that the wild Atlantic fishery in North America is well managed; the industry practices sustainable-fishing methods and cautious harvest limits, enabling schools to remain abundant.

Shopping and Prep: Work more mackerel into your diet by looking for ready-to-go packages of smoked fillets. The highly flavorful fish can be incorporated into salads, side dishes, and dips.

Rainbow Trout

Long prized by recreational anglers, rainbow trout is one of the more affordable sources of good-for-you fats. A 3-ounce serving of trout also gives you about a quarter of your daily requirements for phosphorus, an important mineral for cell membranes and healthy bones.

Safety and Sustainability: Rainbow trout’s nutritional payoff comes with little contaminant risk, despite the likelihood that it was farmed. Bigelow points to land-based tanks and “raceways” employed by most North American trout farmers that, when used appropriately, cause fewer of the environmental woes that can plague open-water net pens in salmon farms.

Shopping and Prep: Rainbow-trout fillets are convenient (cook them like you would salmon), but consider purchasing whole trout if it’s available. Not only is it more affordable, but cooking the skeleton infuses the flesh with more flavor. (No need to be squeamish — whole trout is often sold already gutted.)

This appeared as “Great Catch” in the June 2017 print issue of Experience Life.

Get the full story at https://experiencelife.com/article/how-to-choose-seafood-thats-nutritious-sustainable-and-safe/

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51 Ways to Fight HighCholesterol

New Post has been published on http://www.greggsdiabetes.com/51-ways-to-fight-highcholesterol/

51 Ways to Fight HighCholesterol

Everyone needs some cholesterol. Too much is bad for your health and can put you at risk for heart disease. Approximately 1 in 3 Americans (over 100 million) have high cholesterol. These tips will help give you some ideas on how to get your cholesterol where it needs to be.

You should check with Your Doctor before embarking on any Diet or exercise program and DO NOT SMOKE!!!

GENERAL INFO

In order for you to start lowering your cholesterol, you first need to understand it. Let’s start with some simple definitions:

1. HDL

HDL’s, or High Density Lipoproteins, are what is known as “good cholesterol.” A HDL attaches itself to cholesterol and escorts it through your liver and out your body.

2. LDL

LDL’s, or Low Density Lipoproteins, are the “bad cholesterol” that we don’t want in our bodies. It’s the LDL’s that clog our arteries and can cause heart disease.

3. RATIOS

Finding a good balance between HDL’s and LDL’s is very important. Here’s a table that shows what they should be:

Desirable Borderline Undesirable

HDL Above 45 35-45 Below 35

LDL Below 130 130-160 Above 160

FOOD

Eating the right foods can greatly reduce your cholesterol. This next section will list all sorts of foods that have been proven to greatly reduce cholesterol.

4. Know Your Oils

There are so many cooking oils out there. Knowing the healthy ones vs the non-healthy ones can make a big difference in your cholesterol levels.

Here are some good oils:

• Canola oil

• Olive oil

• Grapeseed oil

• Flax seed oil

5. Dark Chocolate

Surprised? Oh yes, chocolate can actually help reduce your cholesterol. People who eat lots of cocoa powder and dark chocolate have lower levels of bad LDL cholesterol and 4% higher levels of good HDL cholesterol!

6. Go Nuts

Love nuts? No worries! Nuts (especially almonds and walnuts) are finally off the no-no list. A study found that eating 25 almonds a day for 1 month cut bad LDL cholesterol by 4 percent and raised good HDL cholesterol by 5%.

7. The Lowdown On Eggs

Through the history of health awareness, a lot of people have had much to say about eggs. Are they good? Are they bad? While eggs are good for you, they do have a lot of cholesterol. Holly McCord, RD

(www.prevention.com) says, “Since one large egg has about 210 mg of cholesterol–almost three-quarters of the 300-mg daily limit set by the American Heart Association (AHA)–you need to pair eggs with low cholesterol foods the rest of the day.”

8. Poultry

In general, chicken and turkey are low in saturated fat, especially when the skin is removed. This can really reduce your cholesterol, specifically when you’re substituting poultry for red meat.

9. Menu Smart

These days most restaurants have low cholesterol sections on their menus. If you don’t see one, ask your waitress; it may be on a separate menu. You can also ask for smaller, or appetizer-sizes portions of your order.

10. Smart Snacking

Don’t be afraid to snack. There are lots of cholesterol friendly snacks out there. Among these are:

• Graham crackers

• Rye crisps

• Soda crackers

• Melba toast

• Bagels

• Fruit

• English Muffins

• Cereals

• Popcorn

• Pretzels

11. Smart Desserts

Believe it or not, there are a lot of cholesterol friendly desserts out there. So before you say no to temptation, consider these:

• Fruit ices

• Sherbet

• Angel food cake

• Gelatin

• Frozen yogurt

12. Fiber

Adding fiber to your diet can help get you cholesterol down. The soluble kind of fiber, like that found in oat bran, is the type of fiber that actually washes away the bad cholesterol that clings to the inner walls of the arteries. Consuming an adequate amount of water-soluble fiber each day may reduce cholesterol levels by up to 20%.

13. Bean Smart

Beans can help lower your cholesterol. The reason these high-fiber legumes are so effective is because they contain pectin. The more of these beans you can eat, the greater the benefits. Some of these include:

• Lima beans

• Kidney beans

• Navy beans

• Soybeans

14. Fish

Eating fish two or three times per week instead of red meat can help lower your cholesterol. Fish has Omega-3 fatty-acids, which WebMD (www.webmd.com) says have been shown to lower triglycerides, a type of fat in the bloodstream. Omega-3 fatty acids may also slow down the growth of plaques in the arteries and reduce inflammation throughout the body.

15. Breads and Cereals

Homemade baked goods are great at getting your cholesterol numbers where they need to be. Here are some ideas:

• Whole grain breads

• Pastas

• Hominy Grits

• Rice

16. Juices

Up your juice intake to lower your cholesterol. Here are some of the best juices to drink:

• Cranberry

• Orange

• Tomato

17. Milk and Cheese

Eating and drinking the right cheeses and milks can help. Here’s a partial list of some favorites:

• Skim or 1% milk

• Non-fat or low-fat yogurt

• Low-fat cottage cheese

• Low-fat cheese

18. Oatmeal

According to Jennifer Moll of about.com, oatmeal lowers cholesterol. The oat fibers mix with cholesterol in the small intestine and carry the cholesterol out of the body instead of it being absorbed into the blood. The Food and Drug Administration is also convinced of this, as oatmeal was the first food to carry the distinction on its label to lower cholesterol levels.

19. Switch to Tea

According to an article on www.prevention.com, USDA scientists reported that 15 people cut their cholesterol by 7% and their bad LDL cholesterol by 11% after just three weeks of drinking five daily cups of black tea. “A cup or two a day for a longer period should also work,” says Joseph Judd, PhD.

20. Honey

Get out that sticky stuff! Studies have shown that honey can lower your cholesterol. It slows the oxidation (dangerous plaque deposits in blood vessel walls that can lead to heart attack and stroke) of bad LDL cholesterol in human blood.

21. Fruits and Vegetables

Make sure and get in five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. It’s easier than you think, and it’s probably the simplest way to lower your cholesterol.

22. Beware of Trans-Fat Foods

Trans-fat foods are foods with the wrong types of fat in them – the fats that can send your cholesterol levels soaring. Here’s a list of ten bad ones:

• Cake mixes

• Cereal bars and energy bars

• Chips and crackers

• Dried soups

• Fast food

• Frozen entrées

• Margarine

• Nondairy creamers and whipped topping

• Packaged cookies and candy

• Packaged doughnuts, pies, and cakes

GET MOVING

Eating the right foods goes hand in hand with exercise. Getting your heart pumping is a great way to get healthy. Here are some good things to do to get that cholesterol where it needs to be.

23. Golf

Now you have a great reason to hit that golf course. According to Michele Stanten, Prevention.com’s Fitness Director, when 55 sedentary, middle age men started playing golf two or three times a week, over a five month period they Increased “good” HDL cholesterol by 5%, and lowered “bad” LDL cholesterol and triglycerides by 4%.

24. Walking

Walking is a very effective exercise for getting healthy. In fact, taking a 15-20 minute walk every day can reduce your bad cholesterol by up to 8%.

25. Yoga

According to www.yoga.com, yoga can be very beneficial at getting cholesterol levels where they need to be. Practicing yoga on a regular basis improves the blood and oxygen flow in the body, which aids in the removal of toxins and waste.

GO NATURAL

There are lots of vitamins, minerals and herbs that can help get those cholesterol levels where they need to be. Below are some ideas to help you.

26. Pantethine

Pantethine can significantly reduce LDL-cholesterol (the bad) while increasing HDL (the good) levels in several clinical trials. While you can get pantethine in supplement form (you can read more and order some here:http://www.loweringcholesterol.net/supplement-category/Pantethine), Pantethine also occurs naturally in these foods:

• Vegetables

• Dairy

• Eggs

• Grains

• Meat

• Liver

• Salmon

• Yeast

27. Artichoke Extract

This heart healthy extract can help lower your cholesterol levels. In studies, it’s been proven to lower cholesterol up to 18%. You can find out more and get some here: www.HerbsPro.com.

28. Vitamin C

Vitamin C is great at reducing bad cholesterol. Says Sudhir Kurl, MD, “Vitamin C minimizes artery damage from free radicals, reduces blood pressure, and helps control cholesterol.”

29. Vitamin E

Taking Vitamin E each day may help keep the bad cholesterol out of your diet, which in turn helps your heart to be healthy. Vitamin E also raises the level of good cholesterol.

30. Calcium

Research shows that calcium can help reduce cholesterol. It attaches to cholesterol-carrying bile acids and expels them from the body as waste, thus lowering the total cholesterol and the LDL cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol).

31. Policosanol

Policosanol is a mixture of alcohols isolated and refined from sugar cane and has been associated with lower levels of LDL. You can read more and order some here:http://www.loweringcholesterol.net/supplement-category/Policosanol.

32. Chromium

A study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition concluded that chromium significantly lowers cholesterol levels. Among 300 patients, those receiving chromium had cholesterol reductions of 20 points, on average. But don’t overdo it. You only need about 200 mcg a day.

33. Beta Glucan

Glucan is found in oats, barley, yeast and mushrooms. Recent studies have shown it to be beneficial in lowering cholesterol. It’s not very expensive and you can buy it in 100 and 200 mg capsules.

34. Soy Isoflavones

The American Heart Nutrition Committee advised in 2000 that Americans with high cholesterol should add soy protein to their diets. In that report it was said that soy isoflavones lower LDL and raise HDL.

35. Red Yeast Rice Extract

Red yeast rice is an all-natural powder made from dried, fermented rice. Red rice yeast lowers cholesterol because it contains, among many other chemicals, one of the statin drugs you’ll read about them later

36. B Vitamins

B vitamins can help reduce your cholesterol. The family of B vitamins includes Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12 and Folate (Folic Acid). A good B-complex vitamin will have all of these in it.

37. Beta Sitosterol

Beta Sitosterol is a plant product that has structural similarity to the cholesterol made in our bodies. Because of this, it isn’t absorbed into the body very well. This poor absorption “fools” your body into getting rid of the real cholesterol, lowering it as a result..

38. Guggulipids

Guggul is an Indian herb that has been used for centuries. When studied, it was discovered that guggul reduced cholesterol in some people 14-27%. Guggul also reduces platelet stickiness so over clotting does not occur in the blood, reducing the risk of heart attack and stroke.

39. Jiaogulan

This Asian herb targets heart disease. It sweeps up unstable molecules that damage or destroy healthy cells, reduces pressure within the blood vessels, and lowers the production of bad LDL cholesterol.

Other Herbal Products

There are tons of other herbal products out there that claim to reduce cholesterol. Among them are:

• Fenugreek seeds and leaves

• Yarrow

• Holy basil

• Ginger

• Turmeric

• Rosemary

• Green Tea

• Licorice Extract

MEDICATION

When diet and exercise aren’t getting your cholesterol down, it may be time to consult your doctor about medication. There are lots of choices out there. This section will give you the four main types of cholesterol medications.

41. Statins

According to WebMD, statins block the production of cholesterol in the liver itself. Examples include:

• Crestor

• Lipitor

• Lescol

• Mevacor

• Pravachol

• Zocor

42. Nicotinic Acid

Nicotinic acid is basically a high-dose B-complex vitamin that can be prescribed to you by your doctor. Examples of nicotinic acid are:

• Nicolar

• Niaspan

43. Bile Acid Resins

Bile acid resins attach themselves to the bile from your liver. Since cholesterol makes up much of bile, this drug is able to get rid of much of this cholesterol. Examples of bile acid resins include:

• Questran

• Colestid

• WelChol

44. Fibrates

Also according to WebMD, fibrates reduce the production of triglycerides and can increase HDL cholesterol. Here are some examples of fibrates:

• Atromid

• Tricor

• Lopid

45. Ezetimibe (Zetia)

Zetia is a newer cholesterol medication. It works by reducing the amount of cholesterol that your body absorbs. It can lower bad cholesterol by up to 25%. Ezetimibe can also be taken with a statin. One that already combines Zetia with a statin is Vytorin.

46. Lose Weight

If your weight is higher than it should be, slimming down may significantly lower your cholesterol level. Even shedding just five to ten pounds may be enough to improve your cholesterol level. Be careful not to crash diet though. A mere half pound per week is steady and healthy.

47. Learn All You Can

There’s a plethora of information out there on cholesterol. Make sure you learn all that you can. You can find information in these sources:

• Your doctor

• The Internet

• The Library

• Newsletters

48. Cut Stress

Stress can have a powerful, indirect effect on your cholesterol levels. If you have too much extra anxiety, your body gets out of whack, and your LDL’s can sky-rocket. Here are some good ways to cut that stress:

• Take ten minute breaks during the day to relax and/or meditate

• Laugh often

• Pamper yourself

• Socialize

49. Check Your Thyroid

If nothing seems to help get your cholesterol down, you may want to have your thyroid checked. A low thyroid level can not only make your cholesterol high, but it can make you very tired. It’s a good idea to get your thyroid checked regularly.

50. Quit Smoking

There are thousands of reasons to stop smoking. One of these reasons is to lower your cholesterol. Smoking is a cause of high cholesterol levels and heart disease. It also raises the amount of LDL cholesterol (“bad” cholesterol), and lowers the amount of HDL cholesterol (“good”cholesterol). The good news is, if you stop smoking now, you can reverse this damage.

51. Make a Commitment

Lowering your cholesterol can be a tricky thing for some people. But don’t give up!

All lifestyle changes take commitment. If your goal is to lower your cholesterol, make it a real commitment. Make menus. Find an exercise buddy. Schedule your days. As you work at it, those numbers will come down and you’ll feel great!

As Always, check with Your Doctor before embarking on any Diet or exercise program and DO NOT SMOKE!!!