Healthy snacks for watching TV

I don't know what it is about watching sports on TV that makes us want to snack? You would think it would it would do the opposite and make us want to get moving, uh, no.  So how do you take what seems to be a centuries old tradition and  make it healthier? Read the article below:

10 Healthy Snacks for Couch Time


By Joe Wilkes

Fall is upon us, which means that the new TV season has begun, baseball is heading into the postseason, and football is starting up. The weather's getting cooler, and the couch will soon call for you to lie down on it with a warm blanket. Now, keep in mind we're not encouraging any couch potato behavior. We'd prefer you pop in a P90X video and use the couch as a towel rack. But we're all human, and it's almost impossible to resist the siren song of a playoff game or the return of Glee or Dancing with the Stars. Just because you're taking a couple of hours off to flatten both your gluteal muscles and your sofa cushions doesn't mean you have to stuff yourself with chips, cookies, or other bagged diet-killers. Here are 10 tasty and healthy snacks that are great for TV downtime.

1.Popcorn. It's not just for the movie theater anymore. In fact, you're better off skipping it at the movie theater, because a bucket of oil-popped movie theater popcorn can contain as much fat as three to five double cheeseburgers. But air-popped popcorn is a pretty benign treat. Three cups of popcorn have just 93 calories and 1.5 grams of fat. Air-popped popcorn doesn't have much nutritive value outside of the energy you may get from the calories and some dietary fiber, but it can satisfy your munchies without getting you too far off the diet path. The best popcorn comes from your own hot-air popper—and with no additional fat or salt, unless you add it later. If you're going for microwave convenience, make sure you read the label carefully. Even some of the "healthy" brands contain a fair amount of fat and salt. And many microwave brands contain perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which has been linked to cancer. You might be better off making your own microwave popcorn. Just put 1/4 cup of popcorn into a brown lunch bag, fold the top over tightly, and microwave at your usual popcorn setting. Try to avoid salt and butter. Instead, enjoy your favorite herbs or a squeeze of lemon juice with some garlic powder or cayenne pepper.

2.Bean dip. Beans are a great source of protein and fiber, and they don't have tons of calories. One cup of canned pintos only has 206 calories; it also has 12 grams of protein and 11 grams of fiber—almost half of your recommended daily allowance. And beans are incredibly filling. Even prepackaged bean dips are pretty decent (of course, always check the label for the fat and sodium contents). You can make your own dips, hot or cold, by food-processing canned black or pinto beans (my favorites are the ones canned with jalapeños) and adding water to create your desired consistency. You can also use fat-free refried beans. You could add some chopped bell or jalapeño peppers, green onions, or canned corn to add a crunchy texture, or some chopped tomatoes for a little extra flavor and vitamins. Instead of fatty fried tortilla chips, use baked chips or, better yet some crunchy raw veggies like carrots, celery, sliced bell peppers, broccoli, or cauliflower.

3.Salsa. This is the perfect mix of tomatoes, onions, and peppers—all members of the top tier of Michi's Ladder. And the great thing is that salsa is so low in calories and so high in fiber, you can basically eat it by the cupful and not gain weight. If you buy it at the store though, watch out for the salt content—that's the secret ingredient in most canned and jarred salsas. You're much better off making your own pico de gallo: Just dice tomatoes and onions and mix with as much minced jalapeño and/or garlic as you can stand. Add fresh cilantro, and salt and pepper to taste and toss the veggies in the juice of two limes. Let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving. You can eat it with baked chips or the crunchy veggies that also go great with the bean dip. The salsa and the bean dip also complement each other well, for the double dippers among us.

4.Crispbread crackers. These crunchy treats (including Wasa® and Rykrisp® brands) have around 30 calories a cracker (depending on the brand, flavor, and style) and a couple of grams of fiber in each one. For the Top Chef in you, they make great bases for some healthy ingredients from your refrigerator. Try a dollop of fat-free cottage cheese with a dash of hot sauce; a slice of turkey breast and roasted red pepper; a "schmear" of hummus and a couple of pitted olives; or a slice of tomato and a fresh basil leaf with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Even the pico de gallo recipe above with some shredded nonfat cheddar will make a tasty cracker-topping treat. By being creative with some wholesome ingredients, you'll forget all about the halcyon days of eating Ritz® crackers washed down with aerosol cheese right from the can (sigh).

5.Pistachios. Pistachios are a great heart-healthy snack full of antioxidants, fiber, and unsaturated fats (the good kind). A 1/2-cup serving (with the shells, assuming you don't eat them) only has 170 calories, with 6 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber; however, that serving also has 14 grams of fat, so don't go nuts chowing down on a whole bag. Walnuts, peanuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, and other nuts all have their nutritional upsides, too, but the reason I think pistachios make great snacks is the shells. The shells are difficult to open, so rather than shoveling handfuls of pre-shelled nuts down your throat, eat in-the-shell pistachios so you're forced to slow down. Keep an eye on the sodium content when you buy the nuts. Either buy unsalted or low-salt versions. And forget those disgusting pink ones that taste like lipstick. Who needs to leave hot-pink fingerprints all over the couch? A lot of stores also sell flavored versions that aren't too salty—chili-lime is one of my favorites.

6.Edamame. The Japanese have one of the healthiest diets in the world, and soybeans are a great staple of that diet. Edamame—steamed or boiled soybean pods—contain all the essential amino acids, many essential fatty acids, and soy isoflavones. And a half-cup of beans only has 100 calories, 3 grams of fat, and 9 grams of carbs, with 8 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber. Truly one of nature's perfect foods. And like pistachios, you can serve them in their shells, which slows down your face-stuffing process, giving you time to feel full before you've overeaten.

7.Mini-pizzas. Forget the frozen food section. Anyone with a toaster oven or a broiler pan can be his or her own Mama Celeste or Chef Boyardee®. Just take half of a whole wheat English muffin (67 calories; 2 grams of fiber), add a little low-sodium tomato-based spaghetti or pizza sauce and a sprinkle of shredded low-fat or nonfat mozzarella cheese, and voilà—tasty and healthy pizza! As with the crispbread crackers, your imagination's the only limit for toppings. Fresh herbs like basil and oregano are delicious. Peppers, mushrooms, and low-sodium anchovies are popular and fairly healthy. Just stay away from processed meats like pepperoni, which are often loaded with saturated fat, carcinogenic nitrates, and sodium.

8.Pita chips and hummus. Now you can open a Greek taverna in your living room. While some stores sell premade pita chips, you can easily make your own with very little fuss and muss (and usually with much less fat and salt). A large whole wheat pita has 170 calories, 5 grams of fiber, and less than 2 grams of fat. To make chips, cut around the edge of the pita with a small paring knife, so you have two discs. Then with a knife or pizza cutter, cut the discs into eighths or smaller chip-size pieces. Arrange the pieces on an aluminum-foil-covered cookie sheet, lightly spray with some olive oil cooking spray, and sprinkle with a little salt, low-fat Parmesan cheese, or your favorite dried herbs. Cook in oven or toaster oven until lightly browned and crispy, then serve with your favorite hummus or dip recipe.

9.Relish tray. Some of my favorite snacks are pickled or brined anything—cucumbers, cauliflower, peppers, artichoke hearts, carrots, okra, baby corn, cornichons, cocktail onions, olives, sauerkraut, kimchi . . . even herring and hard-boiled eggs! Extremely low in calories, a plate full of pickled veggies on the coffee table is great for snacking. But watch out for the sodium! Certain store brands have more than others. The more ambitious might try marinating their fresh veggies in vinegar and a little heart-healthy olive oil to control the amount of salt involved. If you use salty brands, you might consider rinsing them to get rid of some of the salt, or mixing them on a plate with some fresh, unpickled vegetables to mitigate your salt intake.

10.Deviled eggs. Eggs, once considered a scourge of the heart-healthy diet, are now getting a better rap. What's indisputable is the health value of the whites. If you take the yolks out of the equation, the egg whites prove to be small, healthy, high-protein delivery systems suitable for all kinds of nutritious creamy fillings. Cut a bunch of hard-boiled eggs in half, lengthwise, and scoop out and discard the yolks. (See the Yolkless Deviled Eggs recipe elsewhere in this newsletter!) Try mixing some nonfat cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, or nonfat cream cheese with your favorite flavorings and spices, then blending or food-processing until creamy. Spoon or pipe the mixture into the egg whites where the yolks used to be, and you'll have a high-protein snack without all the fat and cholesterol. You can also use the empty egg whites as scoops for your favorite healthy dip or salsa.

Of course, you can enjoy even more snack food if you can work some exercise into your TV watching. During playoff season, don't just save the stretching for the seventh inning. Try some exercises like P90X X Stretch throughout the game. Or if you're settling in for a night in front of the tube, make a deal with yourself—you can veg out and watch The Office and 30 Rock if you turn off Jay Leno. If you watch a show like Hawaii Five-O that motivates you to kick some butt, schedule some INSANITY time immediately after the show while your adrenaline's still pumping. Or if, like me, you've become enslaved to your DVR or TiVo®, use it to your advantage and do a cooldown stretch to your favorite show as a reward for a well-done workout.

The snacks at my kids' pool party (no not a recipe post)

So as I am getting ready for my older two sons birthday pool party, I started thinking about the snack items I was serving.  The boys decided on soft pretzels and cookie cake, with Capri Sun juice and water for beverages.

Its funny because before I had kids, I envisioned myself as the mom who would serve wholesome, nutritious healthy snacks to my kids and their friends.  And life for my older two did start out that way.  Neither of them had chocolate until after they turned one year.  I also kept them away from juice, candy, potato chips and other fried snacks.  They would only eat apple slices, banana, peaches, grapes and the occasional animal cracker.

But as they started going to grandma's house for babysitting, I did suspect she'd sneak a chocolate chip cookie or two to my protected sons.  I must have seemed like a "kill-joy" to my mother-in-law who loved to bake sweets and share them with everyone.

As the boys got older, I lightened up on my "no junk food rule" and would give in and bake them cookies, or treat them now and then to the pleasure of Cheetos.  Its extremely hard to keep your kids from all sorts of "goodies" when they're bombarded with images on TV or when they go to a friend's home.

Later when I had my other two children, I really lightened up on my no candy rules.  Someones throwing a tantrum in the store? Why a strawberry lolly-pop will cure that and back to shopping we go.  I even faltered on my no chocolate before the age of one rule.  Sometimes 4 or 5 chocolate baking chips can help you get dinner ready on time.

While I'm not a fan of keeping lots of candy and fruit snacks in the house, we do keep ice cream, cookies, pretzels and chips in the house.  And I do have a small stash of emergency lolly-pops on hand.  What I think is more important instead of keeping "junk" foods totally away from your kids, you should teach them to eat those in moderation, only in small amounts and only on certain occasions.

They get their healthy snacks in like sliced fruit and carrot sticks, or peanut butter on a graham cracker, but they also get to enjoy small amounts of potato chips or on an even rarer event Cheetos.

While I would love to say that at my kids' party I'm serving nothing but organic fruits and veggies with whole grain crackers, reality is that they are just kids and need to have some fun.  And I don't think their friends would be too impressed with fruit kabobs as much as an adult would be.

So today while my boys and their friends are munching away on cookie cakes and downing Capri Sun, I'm certain that my boys (and girl) will have a healthy respect for food.  Not a lot of hang-ups or eating disorders, or even worse a certain snobbish attitude about food.  There is nothing more annoying that a kid or an adult who is a food snob, and makes you feel bad for having a little fun.

5 Ways to Beat the Worktime Snack Attack

By Omar Shamout


I recall an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm a few years back where Larry David was arguing with someone (as he's wont to do) over the proper time to eat dinner. He was adamant that dinner is traditionally eaten between the hours of 5 PM and 8 PM. Not before. Not after. Since the majority of Americans don't have the luxury of living off Seinfeld residuals, we have to go to work, and sometimes that means we can't eat at normal hours, or in any sort of regular intervals. A constantly rotating work schedule or very long shifts present a challenge to eating right, but can certainly be overcome with proper planning and a positive outlook.

Your body is a creature of habit. It gets used to routines, and the chemical processes that go on inside of it are on a set schedule. Consequently, if you do something to throw those off, like drastically altering your eating habits, it tends to react poorly. The best way to fix this is to outsmart your body, and get it on a schedule that works for the both of you.

Here are some tips on how to do that:

1. If you don't get enough sleep, you're busted no matter what. Therefore, the first order of business is to adjust your sleep schedule. Cutting out crucial hours of sleep will affect the results you see from not only your diet, but your workout as well. Not getting enough sleep is detrimental to your health and metabolism, even if you eat during "optimal" periods. Want more proof? Check out this recent newsletter article that offers a rather stark warning. (See "The Sleep Solution: 4 Ways to Get the Rest You Need to Boost Results!" in the Related Articles section below.) The point here is that if working late causes you to lose sleep, you will be doing damage to your body no matter how well you eat, and all the subsequent tips mentioned below will be for naught.


2. Late-night eating. We've always heard that eating right before bed is bad because the body doesn't get a chance to burn those calories off, and instead converts the food into fat. At the same time, depriving your body of nutrients isn't healthy either, so what's the answer?

In a recent study at Northwestern University, scientists discovered that a group of mice who were only allowed to eat a high-fat diet during an non-optimal eating period (nighttime) gained over twice as much weight as mice only allowed to eat during an optimal eating period (daytime). In other words, mice that ate before bed got fat. While researchers are as yet unable to pinpoint a single reason for this discrepancy, "the interplay between body temperature, metabolic hormones such as leptin, and the sleep-wake cycle" were determined to be the biggest contributing factors.

So if you can avoid eating before bed, do. But if you're hard pressed, keep it small and try to space it as far away from sleep as possible.

3. Eat moderately throughout the day. This is the best solution to avoid getting those deep hunger pangs at night when you get home, and to set your body's metabolism on an effective rhythm. This is especially true for people whose jobs force them to be immobile, and prevent them from getting enough natural exercise throughout the day to allow them to burn off a few of the calories from a heavy lunch. If you're working a double shift and find yourself awake for 20 plus hours, try taking a portion block from one of your meals and using it as a snack later on instead. If you're on your feet most of the time and have an active job, adding an extra 200 to 300 balanced calories to your diet shouldn't be a problem. Either way, try to eat every 3 hours, and avoid eating 2 to 3 hours before bed.

4. Skipping meals is not the answer. You may be tempted to fast and skip meals altogether, reducing your daily caloric intake in the hopes that consuming fewer calories will lead to weight loss. The problem with this logic is that drastically reducing your caloric intake can also cause your body's metabolism to slow down and stop converting food into energy. In order to lose weight, your body needs fuel. Weight loss occurs when you burn more calories than you consume, not simply by eating less. It may be counterintuitive, but eating less without exercising is very unhealthy, and will leave you feeling tired and listless, due to a dip in blood sugar. If you want to be super-fit and lean, you have to eat and exercise to turn your body into a fat-burning machine rather than a fat-storing machine.

"Cyprindon" from the Beachbody® Message Boards elaborates on the potentially harmful side effects of allowing your body to become acclimated to fewer daily calories over the long term and enter what is referred to as starvation mode:

"You are putting less calories toward body heat production and toward activity than you would at a higher calorie level. You may or may not notice that you feel colder than you did at a higher calorie intake. You may or may not notice that you simply move slower and you move less all day long through your activities. You may even be sleeping more than before. You may also be putting less calories toward egg production, immune system function, tissue repair, and other things."

5. Plan ahead. Don't let your work schedule be an excuse for living an unhealthy lifestyle. If you know you'll be working at dinnertime, find a time to eat healthy snacks and small meals while on the job. It may be difficult at first, and you might need to try out a few schedules, but being smart and proactive will usually supply an answer. Still don't think it's possible? Take it from Beachbody Message Boards contributor "PrimaBallerina." She writes:

"I don't get home from work until 10 or 10:30 at night. I didn't think I had the option of eating at work. I teach dance, and I have classes back to back to back. I don't even have time to go to the bathroom. I had to make time to eat. I teach ballet 95% of the time, and I teach a certain method where they do the same thing to the same music, so I take the opportunity to eat a dinner that I pack while they're doing the stuff they know well. I'm still watching and working, but I'm taking care of myself too! I agree with everybody else, pack a dinner!"

Shakeology® is an excellent way to give your body the nutrition it needs in a quick and easy way, and is very conducive to an on-the-go lifestyle. Other quick, portable, and healthy snacks include fresh fruit, chopped-up veggies, or raw nuts.

The bottom line is that you are the only person who can take control of your health. If you're not really committed to taking the necessary steps to losing weight and getting fit, then there are any number of excuses you could make to explain why it's just not possible for you. Don't be lured by the temptation of the drive-thru, and avoid putting yourself in situations where the temptation to eat poorly is the easiest option. As soon as you start making excuses for yourself, you've lost. In truth, successful people are always the ones who persisted despite any obstacles or challenges that stood before them. Life will always get in the way, so make being healthy a necessity, not a choice. If you can schedule a time to work out every day, then you can certainly coordinate an appropriate eating schedule as well.