Rest Stop - Healthy Banana Cookies

I made these cookies yesterday.  And actually, they tasted pretty good.  I will be taking them and sharing them with the staff at Dr. Scott's office tomorrow and then I will see if they pass the test of a keeper.  So far his staff has been very happy with the treats I take them, but there is always a first time.

Healthy Banana Cookies

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup dates or raisins
2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup oil (i used coconut oil)
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together and let sit for 15 min.  Drop by spoonfull on greased cookie sheets.  Bale at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

As you can see it is a very easy recipe.  With the cookie scoop I used I got about 3 dozen cookies and each one is about 65 calories.

Rest Stop - Sugar..Soda.................

As you can see by my last couple of posts, I am on an anti sugar and soda kick.  This is mostly due to my own experiences and the amount of sugar and soda I used to consume.  I have been known to keep a bowl of candy next to my computer.  I still have a bowl of Dum Dum suckers there but they are for my grand kids. I also have a gumball machine by my computer.  It was made by the husband of a good friend of mine and my grandson loves getting gum from it and I know in the near future as my granddaughters get a little older they will think it a neat thing also.  So those things will not be going away any time soon.  One of things I have learned through this journey is just how addictive sugar is and how much I was consuming on a daily basis.  For some reason, I think Sunday was my worst day.  I keep candy in the pockets of suit coats for the kids at church and I usually helped myself to more than my share of it.  In the last five months I have had less than 44 ounces of soda and my candy consumption is down by probably 90%.  Not bad for a sugar addict.

Now for a couple of infographics:

He is a link to a good story on "What Happens When You Drink Soda": http://www.ksl.com/?nid=1010&sid=24552939

Rest Stop - LOL

  Answer to the trivia question:  Oreo's, what else would it be?

Rest Stop - Cathi, This One Is For You..........

It is also for the girls at Dr. Scott's office. We have been having an on going discussion about caffeine and its effects.

Here is a link to an article in Web MD dealing with the facts and myths of caffeine:  http://www.webmd.com/balance/caffeine-myths-and-facts  My concern for you guys comes from experience.  When I was in high school I was addicted to caffeine.  My daily consupmtion added up to usually a pot of coffee in the morning while I was doing floors at a local grocery store, up to a half a box of no-doz through out he day and up to a gallon of Coca-Cola everyday.  When I finally crashed it was not a pretty thing.  I did not start out taking in that much caffeine daily, it grew to that because I needed more to stay awake.  One more article about caffeine addiction:  http://www.caffeineawareness.org/caffeineawarness4page.pdf

One last infograph for you Soda addicts and you know who your are.

Rest Stop - Visit with Dr. Hardman

Yesterday was my three month check up with Dr. Hardman.  When she came in to talk to me I got a big hug from her, I usually don't get a hug until I leave.  According to her records I have been losing about 10 lbs a month for the last six months.  That made me feel good and she is extremely happy with my progress.  She said to keep doing whatever I am doing because it is working.

As we talked she asked if Dr. Scott had added exercise to my journey and when I said yes she asked for my exercise plan.  She is keeping close tabs on what I am doing and how I feel.  I told her I feel great.  I then asked with my breathing up and weight going down if I had done these things earlier, if I could have kept my job with the city and she said "NO!"  She said, yes the weight loss is helping my breathing but probably the biggest factor to my dong better is the fact that I am inside all the time and not out in the pollen and bad air all day, every day.  I still have to check the air quality and pollen count on a daily basis and with all the fires burning around the West I am pretty limited to the time I can spend outside, especially with ash lightly falling from the sky.

As Dr. Hardman and I talked about the exercise program I am following, I happened to mention I was going to do the thirty day plank challenge.  She wants to see which one of us can hold a plank for five minutes, which is the end result of the thirty day challenge. This is what the challenge looks like:

 But after doing my first one today and making a whole 12 seconds, 5 minutes at the end of thirty days isn't going to happen for Santa Clause.  My challenge will probably be something more like this:

That's seconds not minutes.  I did find a sheet with some hints on doing planks:

Then when I was really down, I came across an article that added insult to injury.  I was reading an article from Men's Health and it said the scorecard:

Below Average: You can't hold a basic plank for 60 seconds

Below Average: Fewer than 15 push ups

Below Average: Fewer than 3 chin ups

I already knew I was way out of shape. But then:

On the positive side I came across a YouTube video on doing planks that gave me hope.

I will start will the easy level and work up to the advanced level as I start getting in shape.  I will be trying hard to make five minutes by the time I see Dr. Hardman in three months.

If I get up that mountain, then I may take on this challenge:

LET THE PLANKS BEGIN

Rest Stop - Crazy Week Last Week - This Week is Not Much Better

I have not posted for a couple of weeks, for no other reason than I have not wanted to take the time.  I know that is no excuse because I do better with my journey when I am posting because then I become accountable.

As you can see from my Weight Tracker, last week was not a good one.  Vick's birthday was on the 9th and I just didn't watch it as close as I should have.  Dinner out on Thursday, pizza, cake and ice cream Friday, dinner at Texas Roadhouse Sat, and dinner with friends Sunday kinda(really) wiped out the good I had been doing.  Monday is my birthday and my grandson says it is not a birthday without cake and ice cream.  HELP, I am in trouble.  Also we are supposed be going to dinner with the kids tonight and I let my grandson chose were we are going and he told me it will be surprise because I am not supposed to know where we are going.  He did say something about the Pizzeria.  I better get back on my game.

Vick is worried about how I am doing and I told her there are going to be times like this and I just need to be on my game.  I feel good about how things are going and I know there are going to be bad times but as long as I do not let the bad times become the norm I will be okay.

Rest Stop - Pizza Pie Cafe

Time for a confession.  This journey started in April because Vick and I were concerned about my life and were it was going.  I call this a journey because as I said in an earlier post my Dr. had given my 6 to 8 years to live and the first three letters of Diet are "DIE" and I am not to fond of that prospect right now.  So hence the use of the therm "Journey".  I have gone off the grid a few times and that includes going to out to dinner three times.  The last time was last night.  And now for the confession.

My son-in-laws sister won dinner for ten adults at the Pizza Pie Cafe. She decided to redeem the dinner last night.  Vick and I got invited to go along and we went.  We should have had a game plan before going.  Vick is trying to lose a little weight although I don't think she needs to.

What is funny about this whole thing, is one the radio the night before last they were talking about the pizza buffet at the Pizza Pie Cafe and she asked how quick we could get to SLC and go to the buffet.  We decided that we would wait for awhile before we went but as it turned out we waited less than 24 hours.

I did have a large veggie salad before I had any pizza and I did not indulge in pasta, maybe I should have and left the pizza alone.  There were at least a dozen pizzas to chose from along with six dessert pizzas.  The pasta choices number about eight with several different sauces.  Hard to choose and be on this journey.

I don't think I did to bad but I know I could have done better.  Like I said before, I started with a large salad, which normally I probably wouldn't have in the past, but I did have Ranch Dressing instead of a vinaigrette.  Bad choice on my part.  I did limit myself to 4 slices of pizza, which was good for mew beacuse I can usually eat a whole pie without skipping a beat.  It appears they cut there pies into 16 slices which actually makes for a small slice.  I think three of them would not be to much large than one slice from Costco.  I know trying to justify what I ate.  Is it working?  I did have two slices of their dessert pizzas and after I did I wished I would have had a couple of more slices of the regular pies or maybe some pasta instead.  They were good but since I have not had much sugar on this journey, they seemed overly sweet.

I figure the pizza was in the neighborhood of about 170 calories per slice, which would be around 700 calories in pizza and with the dessert pizza weighing in at about 225 calories per slice for a total of 450 or so, bringing my pizza total to around 1200 calories ,plus salad and soda.  I forgot to mention the dinner include soda, but again I filled my 32 oz cup less than full and that was mostly ice.  But it still contained around 300 calories.  This made for a dinner of over two thousand calories.  Not good.

Vick and I have decided we will have a plan in place before we go out again.  It is hard to believe that this is only the third time we have been out to dinner when we used to go out two or three times a week.  I had to keep telling Vick we only screwed up one meal not the whole deal and we would start over being good this morning.  I told her that would be the pattern I will be following for the rest of my life.  I will occasionally go off eating clean but will always come back to it the next meal  because I have worked to hard to lose this 65 pounds and I want to lose about 100 more. Besides we have to much money invested in this journey.

Rest Stop - Carbs

I wanted to post an article I came across about carbs.  I usually think of bread, buns, donuts, cake, pies etc. I know that carbs also come from fruits, veggies and meat, and they are a better chooice.  To say I will give up bread and those type of treats for life is a stretch and isn't going to happen.  As I have said before I will make different and better choices.  I will pick my battles and choose my fights.  Anyway, back to the link for the article titled: All Carbohydrates Are Not Created Equal, Using the Glycemic Index  http://bbcom.me/pes3fq

Rest Stop - Glycemic Index

This will be a short post.  I want to include a couple of links to articles about the Glycemic Index.  On the journey I am taking Dr. Scott has wanted me to eat foods on the low side of the glycemic index, below 50.  As this journey has progressed I have been allowed to add an occasional banana and even rice cakes.  As I stated in the last post rice cakes are high on the index.  I have been reading about the index and actually have looked a few items and then not eaten them because they were over 50.  I know I wont totally stay away from things that are high on the index as time goes on I will just be careful.

The first article is titled simply Glycemic Index.....The Glycemic Index is a numerical index that ranks carbohydrates based on their rate of glycemic response....read more  http://bit.ly/9oNOSf

The second article is more information about the Glycemic Index  http://bit.ly/K4PmN

The third article is from the Mayo Clinic ablut the Glycemic Index Diet  http://mayocl.in/8Lc99N

Here is a link to search the Glycemic Index for any foods you may have questions about their ranking http://www.glycemicindex.com/

Here is a list of 100+ common foods http://hvrd.me/atmEW0

Rest Stop - Rice Cakes

Rice Cakes.  A rice cake may be any kind of food item made from rice that has been shaped, condensed, or otherwise combined into a single object.  And, yes I know everybody says they taste like Styrofoam but they are not bad. I know this might be a crazy thing to write a blog post about but they have become a part of my eating lately.  I checked with Dr. Scott and he didn't see a problem with them but while reading one of the health blogs I follow I found out that rice cakes are high on the glycemic index and thus not very healthy. http://yhoo.it/X51Psb   They always make the list of foods that are making you fat http://bit.ly/iD4rxh  and   http://bit.ly/Lo692B    And yet I am also reading that even though they are high on the index they are good to eat before a work out and maybe a perfect snack  http://bit.ly/OJw31h   I haven't quite decided which story is the truth and even though they are high on the glycemic index I will continue to eat them for now.  I usually add a little almond butter to mine.  Vick can't believe I eat them and enjoy them.  I haven't been able to get her to try them yet.  I will let you decide for yourself.

Rest Stop - Good Eats

When I had My appointment with Dr. Scott earlier this week I took the girls in the office a treat and one of them wanted the recipe and I promised her it would be posted to this blog within a couple of days, so Leslie, this post is for you.

The first recipe comes from Nutritionist in the Kitch.  http://www.nutritionistinthekitch.com/  Great web site, with lots of recipes and info.

Soft & Chewy Banana Nut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

6 Tbsp all natural peanut butter  
2 Tbsp all natural almond butter
1 small banana, mashed well in a bowl
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
dash salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mash banana in a bowl until nice and smooth.  Add nut butters, spices, and salt, and mix until very well combined.  The dough should stick together into one big ball by the time it is all mixed together.  Nothing should stick to the side of the bowl.  Grease a cookie sheet with healthy oil.  Plop into little balls on the cookie sheet and press down with a fork.  Bake 12-14 minutes or until firm...but watch that the bottoms don't burn.  Let cool and enjoy.

You can add chocolate chips, raisins, coconut, cooked quinoa, flax seed or chia seeds if you chose.

The second recipe is very simple.  I made these and took them to a friends dinner we have every month with 3 or 4 other couples.  It comes from the Dietitian Drive Web site. http://dietitiandrive.com/  Another great web site for healthy  recipes and ideas.

Chocolate Cherry Bites

Ingredients

2 Qts Raspberries

12 oz bag Dark Chocolate Chips

Directions

Rinse the Raspberries.  Let Dry.  Insert 1 dark chocolate chip in the raspberry opening.  Enjoy a sweet treat.

The third recipe for this post is something I made a couple of weeks ago when we had dinner with our friends.  I took the left overs to my daughter's house and shared them with her family.  I wasn't sure she would like them but she loved them. I guess I will be making these again.  The source of this recipe is HeatOvento350.  http://www.heatovento350.com/

Mini Pepper Chicken Nachos

Ingredients:

1 tsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 green onions, sliced. white parts and green parts seperated
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 tsp chili powder
1 cup salsa
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound mini bell peppers
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar/jack cheese blend
1/4 cup sliced black olives
1/2 large tomato, diced
1/4 cup cilantro

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat the oil in a 12 inch non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and the white parts of the green onions and cook and stir for 1 minute.  Mix in shredded chicken and chili powder.  Toss until all ingredients are well coated with chili powder and chicken is warm, about 1-2 minutes.  remove from heat and stir in salsa.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Slice the ends off the mini bell peppers and slice in half length wise.  Remove seeds and ribs and press each half open so the peppers are as flat as possible.  Arrange close together in a single layer on a large baking sheet.  Spoon chicken mixture evenly over pepper halves.  Top with black olives and cheese.  bake nachos for 10 minutes, or until cheese has melted.  Remove from oven top with tomatoes, cilantro and remaining green onions.  Serve.


The last recipe comes from the Modern Parents Messy Kids web site.  http://www.modernparentsmessykids.com/  Again, I shared these with the staff and ChroniCare of Utah, located in Layton.  The thing that was great is they thought I had used nuts and couldn't believe they we chick peas or garbanzo beans.  I made the Honey Cinnamon recipe.



Roasted Honey Cinnamon Chickpeas

Ingredients:

1- 15 oz can organic garbonzo beans
1/2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a  Silpat silicone mat.  Drain and rinse the chickpeas in a colander.  Place them on a towel to dry off.  Spread chickpeas on a baking sheet in a single layer.  Bake approx. 45 minutes or until crispy.  While chickpeas are hot, toss them in a bowl with oil, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  Enjoy as is or for a caramelized effect, place them back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so.  Store leftover chickpeas in an air tight container.