Lower Calories with Meatless Monday

image source: www.meatlessmonday.com

Meatless Mondays is an International Campaign to promote going meatless once per week to reduce your risk of preventable conditions like obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer.  We like the idea of going meatless once per week because meat can often be a source of intake that contains the most calories.  Calories consumed must be lowered for weight loss & this is a great way to still maintain nutritional status while lowering calories & enjoying a delicious meal or snack!

Watch this quick video from MeatlessMonday.com to learn more information.  Their website provides all types of tools to help you in being successful in your mission to go meatless. 

It's easy to go meatless! Swap out your chicken, pork, beef, etc for nuts, seeds, eggs, legumes or beans.  Click here for nutritional guidelines and ideas to swap meat and be meatless. Going meatless will help to increase your fiber intake-especially if you swap your meat with legumes or beans. 

For meatless recipes, go HERE.  Make this one of your New Years Resolutions!

 

A Step in the Right Direction

The First Lady Michelle Obama spoke publicly about combating childhood obesity in November 2011.  We applaud her efforts in reducing the number of children who are overweight, obese, or at risk for being overweight.  She has encouraged companies and organizations to get on board in solving this epidemic.  Her main focus of the talk was physical activity, which we know is the number on indicator for weight management, not weight loss.  Sure, that's a huge issue right there, but let's focus on what good actually came out of the press conference.  The YMCA committed to advancing the First Lady's initiative by doing the following (to read the entire press release click HERE):

-swapping juice for water
-including vegetables & fruits as snack options
-limiting the amount of time spent on "screen time" (TV, computer, etc)
-establishing physical activity minimums that are expected for children enrolled in their programs
-committing to conducting parent education sessions so parents can include healthy alternatives at home

A tough battle Mrs. Obama faces, but at least she is providing publicly a step in the right direction!

Eating Healthy on a Budget

We've all heard it before "eating healthy cost more", etc.  We are not hear to debate whether eating healthy costs more or not, certainly it takes planning, preparation and proper budgeting to make it happen.  Read this article for 10 tips for Nutritious Shopping.  You'd be surprised how easy it is to eat healthy and watch your bottom line.