A Few of My Favorite Things

I wanted to share a few of my favorite things.  I have a chip craving...more of a problem I guess.  Tortillas, corn chips, chips, Cheetos, etc...you name it I love it.  In my quest for improving my choices, I've found a fair replacement for those chips...and it's much more healthy!  Yes, that's right, I'm saying these chips are healthy.  (Ok, healthier anyway).

Trader Joe's Soy & Flaxseed Tortilla Chips!  Here's how they're healthier - each serving (7 large chips) has 6 grams of protein, 500 mg of Omega 3's, and 4 grams of fiber.  Also, they have only 50 mg of sodium per serving. 

I'll admit, it took just a bit to adjust to not having the high salt, high fat, greasy taste of those other chips.  But now that I've had them, I'm in love with them. (ok, maybe that's a bit much).  But they are really great!

I love pairing these chips with Trader Joe's Organic Tomatillo and Roasted Yellow Chili Salsa.  This salsa has such great flavor - it's not spicy at all.  The consistency is a bit thin compared to the chunky salsa's I usually like but the flavor more than makes up for it.

It's become quite fun for me to try to find healthier alternatives to my favorite foods.  I still get the overall effect of the normal food, but I pay less of a price later.  Now, I just need to find a good substitute for pizza.  I have made pizza's before on pita bread, and used ricotta cheese, some low fat mozarella, and some turkey pepperoni - oh and some chunks of canned diced tomatoes!  Yummy!  But, I don't always have those items around, and it would be much easier to have one pre-made and frozen for me already.  Hmm....  maybe that's a project my dad and I can do next time I'm home!

A Monday Mile...

What a nice and relaxing weekend.  Lots of food, family, sleep, some exercise too.  Unfortunately it seemed every bit of food I love was available (except for pizza, tacos, lasagna, and... LOL, so maybe not everything).  I ate and ate and ate.  I even picked out all of the mini Twix candy bars from the bag of candy!


All in all though, I think I still did pretty good.  I got some walging (walking/jogging) in with Amber on Saturday and we both did our ab workout.  Then we walked the dogs for a short time that night through the park.  Heidi and I then took a few of the other dogs out on Sunday for about 45 minutes.  Those both qualified for enough exercise for my workout plan.


I did eat a lot of sodium this weekend, so I felt really bloated.  I was determined to change that.  I drank a ton of water at work today.  So much that I was running to the bathroom quite a bit.  One time... my zipper even broke!  Thankfully that was at the end of the day!


I didn't deviate from my eating plan today, I had no chocolate, no chips, no snacks other than my apple and orange that I had planned.  Woo hoo, it's been a while since I've done that!


At the gym, I was determined to make the most of my cardio today.  The plan was for 15 minutes cardio...I wanted to push myself.  I warmed up for 5 minutes and then jogged what I thought would be a 5 minute interval.  Then I thought heck, let's try for 6.  6 turned to 7 minutes, and soon I was at 10.  I figured I would just go for it and finish off 1 mile in 12 minutes.  I know, for those of you that run a lot 12 minutes may seem lazy but for me being just short of 250 pounds (down from a high of 312 in October 2005) and not used to running at all, I was proud of my accomplishment today... my first non-stop mile of this short spring season.  Time to build on that and work my way up to 2 miles then 3.


Every success starts with a small gain... What were you successful at today?