Tag Archives: healthy

The Best Way to Never Worry About Calories Again

08/03/2014 R.C. Liley 5 Comments

Basically, eat whole foods and don’t eat packaged food. Cutting out packaged food and making your own snacks and meals from fresh, wholesome ingredients is the key to better health. Convenient foods sealed in a pretty package or perfectly shaped box present a problem for many people; they’re convenient!

What happens when you pour a bowl of cereal, finish the puffs/flakes/crisps (I’ll save these processed things for a later post) and still have milk leftover? Instead of simply just drinking it or finding use for it in a recipe, many people will just pour more cereal in the bowl.

I’m guilty of doing this in the past, and sometimes still do, but I rarely buy boxed cereal for this reason. I make my own “cereal” with plain rolled oats and add various ingredients like pureed pumpkin, carrots, eggplant, yogurt, protein powder, peanut flour, chia seeds, mashed banana, nut butter, and more.

I’ll add stevia to make it sweeter if necessary, and always avoid adding non-nutritive sugar. Using a banana has the benefit of providing natural sweetness and comfort.

When you choose to eat whole foods that aren’t sitting on a shelf in a package, you naturally feel full and know when to stop most of the time. With plenty of fiber, water, and essential nutrients in whole veggies, you can eat plenty and still have a low calorie meal.

I want so bad to explain this to the uninformed, but so many think of this as “too hard” or “there’s just not enough time.” Nonsense! I say. If you say you really want to be healthier and change your lifestyle, then it CAN be done!

Give it a chance; if you’re going to buy something packaged, make it baby carrots or a veggie mix that’s pre-cut. These are great for snacking alone or dipping in no or low calorie dips like mustard or plain non-fat yogurt mixed with herbs and spices.

It’s funny how you could give an unhealthy person a few simple ways to be healthier, but they will quickly ignore the suggestions while buying into the advertising on a box of “all natural” or “high fiber” snacks.

It should be a red flag when you see a product trying to pass itself off as being healthy by just saying it is low cal or making some other claim on the front of the box. Then you read the ingredients and see 50+ items you can’t pronounce. Really? Is that healthy? NO!

Sorry for all of the jumping around, my head spins when I get caught up thinking of the vast information out there and how people listen to the wrong things. Usually it ties into what’s easier.

As a parent, I’m even more uptight about food and where it comes from. Avery is only eating solids at night with the rest of her calories still coming from breast milk, but she’s enjoying her fresh veggies. Why would I want to feed a cutie like this something manufactured in a plant and rolled off an assembly line?

When she’s older, I hope to have her in the kitchen helping me prepare the food that we eat and learning along the way. Nothing but the best for our growing girl, and I know she’ll be healthier as a result!

The takeaway?

Don’t follow some diet, especially ones that will benefit financially from you.

Don’t listen to claims on labels or even purchase packaged food.

Do choose whole food like fresh produce, lean cuts of meat (if applicable), and plain legumes.

Here are a few posts from my old food blog, Just Add Cayenne, for some great ideas to get started:

Healthy Food Swaps

15 Healthy Cooking and Eating Tips

Diet Fads and How to Avoid Them

Why Diets Don’t Work

Simple and Healthy Snack Ideas

Hope these help!

Are you stuck in a convenient food rut? Were you in the past? If so, how have you prevailed to overcome the “easy route” and choose fresh food instead?

Do you agree with my assessment? Whole foods = natural calorie regulation, no counting needed! The stripped down boxed stuff will leave you constantly craving more and more and may not ever keep you satisfied.

Food, Friday Food Facts, Parenting

Mixing Your Pet’s Name with Baby’s and Friday Foodie Fun Facts #4

08/01/2014 R.C. Liley 1 Comment

Happy Friday! Or at least I hope it is! As long as we’re optimistic, right? Kinda like this plop of poop…..or maybe it’s ice cream…

Sorry, this just makes me laugh; hope you laughed too!

I’m sure most of us parents have at least one pet in the house; usually a cat or dog. If not, I’m slightly envious since I am OCD about hair, and now that Avery’s crawling, I’m vacuuming several times a day. #stayathomeparentproblems

We have one each of a cat, Lou, and a dog, Abby, and they both shed a lot. Of course, Avery doesn’t help the situation as she tend to grab at anything and everything.

Our little angel has mastered the art of ninja crawling where she’ll make her way to the other side of the room immediately after we set her down. No clue how she gets there so fast, but it results in Going Mom and I having to tell her not to get into one thing or another.

We’ll attempt to yell out her name, but instead of “Avery”, it’s a combination of one of our pet’s names and “Avery”. Some of the common ones are “Ay-very” or “Abv-ery”. Or we’ll just flat out call our daughter Abby or our dog Avery. It’s typically a mix of Avery and Abby, but Lou sometimes finds his name in there too.

We’ve been doing this a lot, and something tells me it won’t end soon. How many other parents do this? It’s a common thing, right?

Just for fun, I found an online word mixer that will generate a unique name from up to 5 different words. If we’re going to mess up yelling our daughter’s name, might as well have fun with it!

Here’s what I got after entering Avery, Abby, and Lou:

That’s enough to have a new name for our pets each day of the month! Call me crazy, but I…..okay, I’m crazy.

Now for the foodie fun facts. I don’t enjoy most packaged desserts as they’re heavy on fat, sugar, and chemicals I wouldn’t consider food. Yeah, yeah, I know these things taste good, but when you know what’s in it and how it affects your body, I lose all desire to have it.

But, thanks to Nature, we have a plethora of naturally sweet options to choose from. One of those things being bananas! I love them with brown spots all over when their sugar content is highest, but have been trying to consume them more often when they are green.

However you enjoy them, bananas are a great option to satisfy your family’s sweet tooth while providing many key nutrients you won’t find in ice cream and cookies. I have a lot of facts to share on bananas, so I’m going to give more than 5 today, and there will be more next week too. Make them fun to eat and your kids will happily gobble them up!

You can use the inside of a banana peel to clean and polish leather shoes and silver —just rub with the inside of a peel and then buff with a cloth.
Thanks to its oil, rubbing the inside of a banana peel on a mosquito bite (or other bug bite) or on poison ivy will help keep it from itching and getting inflamed.
The highest average per capita consumption of bananas in the world is in Uganda, where residents eat an average of 500 pounds of bananas per person every year. In fact, the Ugandan word matooke means both “food” and “banana.”
India produces more bananas than any other country on the planet, accounting for about 28 percent of the worldwide crop. (China is number two, with ten percent.)
A man in India once ate 81 bananas in a half hour.
More songs have been written about bananas than about any other fruit.
Bananas are the only fruit that contains the amino acid tryptophan plus vitamin B6. They help your body produce serotonin—a natural substance that alleviates depression.
About half of all people who are allergic to latex are often also allergic to bananas.

If you have pets and mix their names with your baby’s, please let me know some of the funny ones in the comments below.

Do you like bananas? Any creative ways you enjoy them if so? You can never go wrong with nut butter and bananas, but I also enjoy mixing mashed banana with eggs and a little stevia and scrambling them for a sweet, protein-packed treat. Great for breakfast or desert!

Going Strong

Going Strong: A Babywearing, Reel Mowing Workout during Naptime

07/28/2014 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

One of the best things a parent can do with their baby is wear them as soon as possible after they are born. Dads especially need this to help make up for our non-childbearing bodies. Don’t get me wrong, though, I’m not complaining!!

I can finally wear her on my back in the Onya!! Time to mow!!

Besides the numerous benefits babywearing touts when it comes to bonding, it’s also a great way to engage in weight bearing exercise. Once your baby is old enough and has good neck control, you can take your babywearing experience up a notch. Like, for instance, using a reel mower to mow the lawn and wear your baby.

I’ve posted about using the Fiskars reel mower while babywearing in the past, and wanted to give an update now that I can wear Avery on my back. This is way more comfortable than wearing her in the front, and enables me to move a little faster than before.

I recorded this about a month ago, but forgot to post until now. Since we’re getting over a long weekend with a very cranky, teething baby, I lack the ability to write a lot for Monday. So, in place of a wordy post, I give you a video of how to make the most of your time and get a good workout while mowing the lawn and have your baby napping.

By the way, I have no clue how she actually sleeps as I run back and forth across the lawn, but then sit and scream in a peaceful, dark room with a comfy crib. #BabiesAreThe8thWorldWonder

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP5Wmum0O7c&w=560&h=315]

If you are lucky enough to have your baby actually napping in their nursery, then you can enjoy mowing the lawn HIIT style!

Being active with kids of all ages is extremely important to their overall health and wellness. When we lead by example, our children want to do as we do (usually), and even when they’re only months old, they are absorbing everything. The same applies to making healthy food choices and avoiding fast food that contributes nothing nutritious.

I know I’ve said it all before and will continue saying it often because the health of our families should always be top priority. Every trip I make to the grocery store, I see so many parents filling their carts with packaged junk that either their kids begged for or that is just a convenient option.

Sorry for the rant, I need to dedicate a full post to my thoughts on this, but it would be long! Maybe a series?

Do you have any creative ways to exercise while accomplishing other tasks?

What are your thoughts on maintaining a healthy lifestyle and leading by example?