Thursday, June 9, 2011

One Change

Let's keep it simple. Let's stop the drastic changes, crash diets, etc. that last for about a minute. How about one change this week? One change that you can adopt as a lifestyle to improve your health.

Here are a few ideas:
*Add a serving of vegetables to your lunch.
*Use the stairs - always!
*Skip the donut, scone, muffin - whatever - and eat a healthy breakfast. (Oatmeal, fruit and yogurt, etc.)
*Drink water instead of soda this afternoon.
*Add just 10 minutes of exercise to your day.
*Go to bed earlier tonight.


Pick one thing that's do-able and do it - every day! Keep reminding yourself to do this one thing until it's a regular part of your daily life. Then continue with your new healthy habit for life!
It's easy to change one thing. Keep it simple!

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Fast Food Meal - Under 500 Calories

While fast food is not ideal, with our busy, fast-paced lives it periodically becomes the only option for getting in a meal.  Instead of eating that greasy burger and fries and regretting it afterward, how about this?  A fast food meal that includes vegetables (not french fries!)

KFC has my go-to fast food solution:  the Grilled Chicken Breast Meal.  Take that skin off of your chicken breast, order a side of mashed potatoes and gravy and a side of green beans and you've got a meal that's under 500 calories!  (And that includes the warm, flaky biscuit that's hard to resist.)   (Approx. 490 calories and 15.5 grams of fat.)  Want to subtract 100 calories and about 4 grams of fat?  Skip the mashed potatoes and go with 2 sides of green beans.   And while you're skipping things - let's skip the soda and drink water!

Here's the details of each item listed above so you can adjust it to your preference . . . . .

Grilled Chicken Breast = 210 calories, 8 grams of fat
Chicken Breast - no skin = approx. 160 cal., 3.5 g of fat

Mashed potatoes and gravy = 120 cal., 4 g of fat
Mashed potatoes - no gravy = 90 cal., 3 g of fat

Green beans = 20 cal, 0 fat

Guilty Pleasure
Biscuit = 190 cal, 8 g of fat

Prefer different sides?  See KFC's nutrition guide to create your own meal.  But, be careful -   those little sides may not seem like much, but they add up in a hurry!  Try to keep it balanced and don't skip out on the veggies!   Remember, this is not a recommended regular meal.  Just a better option when you have to hit the drive-thru.