This morning, my husband and I got up and walked the neighborhood. It funny but have you noticed that those Sunday recovery days have slowly transitioned to yet another day to get up and exercise? I guess our paradigms have shifted a bit since I began this journey. While we walked, my husband was discussing how he looked forward to his next work trip as he would have the opportunity to work out every day. Its not about finding time to be healthy anymore. Healthy thinking is now our baseline rather than some extracurricular activity we do our best to fit in to our otherwise busy schedule. Like an athlete, its priority one. It guides us in our everyday thinking, how we eat, how we plan our days, how we live our lives.
Last night, my husband celebrated his birthday. Our closest friends (family, really) made dinner at their house. It was wonderful. All sorts of yummy and healthy foods. They have also made that paradigm shift, and when they shop now, they think outside the box. Our conversations now lean towards "what is low sodium?" and "Where can I get the natural, healthier foods?" I absolutely love this change in all of us. I can still remember when we lived without thinking about what we put in our bodies, when carbs and fat and sodium were no big deal. Did we think we would live forever? Did we think we were impervious to damage? Or did we just live life to the fullest not considering what we were doing to our bodies?
Heck, I'm not without sin. I made a pineapple upside down cake for my husband's birthday (at his request) complete with butter and brown sugar. One of our friends said, "Did you know they now make a brown sugar Splenda?" My first reaction was, "Now that, I have to have." In sharing, we become less ignorant.
Well, tonight is football night. Instead of eating heavy tonight as many do on football night, we decided to just snack.
After we got back from our walk, I decided I was going to have to head back to the grocery store. Not only was I going to have to try the brown sugar Splenda but, I had to have some of those green bean chips our friends had last night from Creative Snacks (a company in Greensboro, North Carolina http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-creative-snacks-green-bean-chips-i261692 I looked but I can't seem to locate a website for them).
But then, I realized we weren't going to get far on game night with only that and what I had in the fridge. All I saw was grapes, celery, string cheese, and yogurt in there. I figured I needed to pick up a few items. I asked the family to make a list, then I added a bit more. On Football night in America, we won't be tempted to do something naughty like order Pizza delivery or Chinese take out. When we sit down to watch the big game, we'll have lots of handy healthier snacks to choose from. Believe it not, I got all this stuff and still forgot the Brown Sugar Splenda.
What I did get was this...
Shrimp with lemon and cocktail sauce, a Vegetable Tray (carrots, broccoli, tomato, and cauliflower), Fresh Fruit (strawberries, grapes, pineapple, honeydew, and mango), Roasted Red Pepper Hummus, Jalapeno Hummus (new), Garlic Hummus (everyone likes something different), Baby Bell Light Cheeses, Philadelphia cream cheese with Salsa, Creative Snacks Green Beans, Vegetable Chips, and Onion Chips, Roasted Garlic and Black Bean Chips (90mg sodium), Sea Salt Sweet Potato Chips (4 gm iron, 90mg sodium), Rice Cakes (140cal per 18 mini cake serving size), BBQ Pop chips (120cal per 20 chip serving size), and Sea Salt Pita Chips (3gm protein, 4 gm iron, 270mg sodium). Between all that and what we had already, I doubt if anyone will go hungry. But, if they do want more, there's always the super thin crust veggie pizza in the freezer (260cal per serving - 1/3 pizza). By the way, if you haven't tried them yet, try the new "chili pepper" Triscuit Thin Crisp baked whole wheat crackers (3gm protein, 170mg sodium). The only thing you might regret is the fact that they disappear so quickly.
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