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6 Easy Meatless Meals Under 400 Calories

Heather Morneau
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6 Easy Meatless Meals Under 400 Calories

I have talked a lot lately about trying something new.  I am a firm believer in trying new things.  When we stay too long in one place, we become like moss on a rock, hard to move.  So, start small.  Try one new thing at a time. Don’t expect to turn your life around overnight, one small step at a time.

I have had a  my fitness pal account for years.  It has been how I track my calories in and out when I am focusing on that.  

So, for me, they are a great resource that I can trust.

Their blog is one I look at regularly.  This post came up this week and its timing is perfect for me.  We are trying to shake up our eating again.  Meatless meals are a good thing.  It is no longer such a weird thing to do and it isn’t just a plate of vegetables.  Boring, dull veggies.  These dishes just go to show that with a little thought and creativity, new can be delicious and fun.

So step out with me and try something new.  

 

http://blog.myfitnesspal.com/6-easy-meatless-meals-400-calories/

Spice Up Your Life, Make Salsa

Heather Morneau
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Spice Up Your Life, Make Salsa

Table of Contents

One of the most common complaints to changing your dietary habits is that food that is “good for you” taste boring.  Part of that is that our bad food habits tend to revolve around three things that our bodies get addicted to.  They are sugar, fat, and salt.  Plain and simple, foods that taste good, generally have an abundance one or more of these three things.  BUT, and there is always a but, we now know that these things aren’t bad for us.  We just need to make sure that they are the ‘right’ kind of sugar, fat, and salt and in the right amounts.  Or, we simply teach our taste buds, that we don’t need those things as much as we need flavor.  That’s right, flavor.  If our bodies are satisfied with other flavors, then it won’t crave the things we need to be mindful of.

So don’t let your food be boring.  Add spice.  Spices are generally calorie-free and can make any food great.

In our house, we make a really simple salsa and add it to all sorts of things.

We use a really simple recipe, but it can be changed in so many ways.  It can be hotter, milder, sweeter, thicker, chunkier, runny, and any number of alternatives.

Be bold and try to spice up your food, without adding the dreaded salt, sugar, and fats.

This is our salsa.

  • Three diced tomatoes
  • Splash of lime juice
  • Chopped cilantro
  • Half a chopped onion
  • Fresh garlic clove

We also add a great Pico seasoning from a great local company, Epicure.

But you can get salsa spices most anywhere.

Let it sit for a few minutes before you serve just to let the flavors blend.

 

But the best part of this recipe is that we can make it larger, although never want a smaller portion, and spicier, depending on what we are adding it to.

It is really hard to wreck it.  And it is cheap.  It makes eggs great, tastes good as a side dish.  And obviously with chips.

The point here is just adding flavor.  Spice things up a little or a lot and your taste buds will respond by enjoying it without realizing that it is both good for you and tastes yummy.

 

Variety is what I would recommend: As variety is the spice of life in food, so it is in exercise. Change it up. But most of all, don't overdo it. – Martina Navratilova

 

Are You Overwhelmed?

Heather Morneau
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Are You Overwhelmed?

There are times when it is tough to come up with a new idea to write about.  It’s not because I have covered everything that I want to talk about.  Sometimes it is the opposite, there are so many things to talk about I have trouble just focusing on one thing.  Other times, I just need to settle my mind and try to think about why I am having trouble focusing.  After some time, I think I know why I am unsettled today.  

On this past weekend, we had the honor and privilege to run in a fundraising event.  It was Run For Refugees.  It was a 5 or 10km run and we went to support the efforts to help acclimate refugees to our area.  When we were all done, and we were starting to “refuel” we were told about some of the areas that these families were coming from and some of their hardships.  Funny how the press doesn’t cover how truly awful their situations really are.

Something as basic as the fact that pictures of some people cannot be shared on the internet because there are actually certain groups of people scouring the internet for pictures of people who are trying to help.  When they get pictures, these people are then threatened, beaten, tortured, killed, or even the people that were being helped are killed.

It’s a pretty awful world out there sometimes.  

Then, I am quite sure that the natural disasters are not going unnoticed.  Hurricanes, and earthquakes, fires, and floods.  Sometimes whining about my world is just so petty.  But, it’s the world we live in.  How do we just continue on without being totally overwhelmed by it all?

I truly think that we are not supposed to just carry on.  We are supposed to be moved by the burdens of other people. It’s called empathy.  Without it, nobody would get help when they need it.  The key is to find the balance and go from there.  We can choose to be overwhelmed by the awful things in this world.  Or, we can choose to make helping others part of ‘our’ world.  

You don’t have to look far to find someone in need.  There are some really great organizations out there and there are some truly great small groups and some fantastic large groups.  I have touched on this topic before, Workout for a Cause and the list of places in need grows daily.

So when you get overwhelmed with hearing about yet another cancer diagnosis, another natural disaster, another business collapsing, it is then, that you start thinking about how you can make helping others part of your world.

  • When money is not available to give away, donate time.
  • When you don’t have time to donate, give away a service.
  • If you don’t have a service to offer, ask how you can help, and be prepared to listen with your heart.

People in need, need all kinds of things that may not occur to you, but that is because you are not in their shoes.  Sometimes it is the little things that we can do to help that makes all the difference.

If you are truly wanting to make our world just a little bit better, you will need to give a little piece of yourself in some way.  Be prepared to actually listen to what is needed but also make sure that you have found a group that really speaks to you.  There is a group needing help in nearly every aspect of the world.

So, do what you can to make yourself healthy enough to be a help.  

Keep your mind, body, and soul strong so that you are able to be the help to those who need you.

 

When you're in a position to have gotten so much, the gift at this point is giving back. – Paul Stanley

 

The Secret to Living a Fulfilled Life

Heather Morneau
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The Secret to Living a Fulfilled Life

Crazy thoughts running through my head lately.  I went to our annual Terry Fox Run this past week.  I love this event.  But as I run I tend to allow my mind time to wander anywhere that takes me away from the fact that I am starting to have trouble breathing, my hips are beginning to ache, and I still have how much farther to go????  It’s all for a good cause, so go on brain wander away.

One thought that has stayed with me this week is;

why are we so obsessed with destinations and not thinking about the journey???

I am not referring to vacation, unless the journey is actually part of the trip.  I am thinking about life in general.  Since when is it all about the destination?  Last time I checked, none of us are getting out of life alive.  Now, I am certainly not saying that you shouldn't have goals, I am a firm believer in goals.  They keep us on track, keeps us driven, give us something to work toward, even reasons to celebrate.  What I am talking about is like most of us out there, I struggle with my weight.  I always seem to be working toward that elusive “goal weight”.  I am tweaking my diet, changing up my workout routine, looking into new and different studies, always looking for that one thing that will get me back on track.  And, that is when I thought, but, what about the journey toward that goal weight?  At what point do I concede defeat and just give up?

NEVER!

With a goal in mind, if you don’t enjoy the journey to get to where you want to be, you will just be torturing yourself.  We learned years ago, that when we go away to our favorite little cabin in the woods, we don’t drive the freeway out of town.  Instead, we take a slower, windier route.  It takes a little longer, but it is a much prettier drive, less traffic, and we start to unwind into our vacay sooner because we are already relaxing instead of panicking to get to our little getaway.

Our journey’s in other things, like weight loss, or just a healthier life in general absolutely needs to begin as soon as we start on our path in one direction.  We need to remember that the journey is part of the destination.  If we don’t get that part, we may never actually arrive.  We may be at what we thought was the end of the trip, but to realize that we are not satisfied and we need to keep going.

We also need to remember that just as in a road trip, there may be flat tires or detours and they are still part of our journey.  When we get home, don’t we tell people about when our tire went flat? What we did when we sat waiting for our turn during construction, what happened when we pulled over for a bathroom break without a bathroom.  It is all part of the process.

We tend to let our own little diversions take over from our destination and then just give up.  “Oh well, I ate cookies today at lunch,  so I might as well just have that ice cream, and chips too, I’ve messed it all up now”.  That would be the same as stopping on the side of the road to fix a tire and then turning around and going home because you won’t arrive on the same timetable as you planned.

It’s time to see those little step backs for what they are, just little diversions.  Just get right back at it and continue on your trip.  But this time, enjoy the journey.  

  • Find food that you like.  
  • Do exercises that you enjoy.
  • Find a partner to go through it with.  
  • Try new and different things.  
  • Plan for a little diversion, and then get right back at it.  
  • The journey is all part of the process.  

To be brutally honest, most of us will never reach our ideal goal.  There are just so many things that take our focus away from that the goal-oriented things just become too hard.  So, if that is really the case, why not plan to enjoy the journey.  It may end up that your goal is not where you thought it would be but maybe it will end up being better.  And even if it’s not, you have enjoyed the process.  Why not enjoy it, what is your alternative, grumpy? Sad? Angry? Perpetually disappointed? Always sulking?  We all know people that have chosen that route and it is awful to be around them.  

So choose the adventure.

Choose to enjoy the ride.  

Choose to do a little side trip here and there.  

Choose Life and enjoy it.

 

You can always find a distraction if you're looking for one. – Tom Kite

 

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