Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Sweet Treat

We all have a sweet tooth....so have your sweet and eat it too!  But you don't have to cheat to give in to that sweet craving.  Here are 3 great sweet treats that I like to make that won't cut into your daily caloric intake and have some great benefits like protein and fiber to boot!



Peanut Butter/Banana Cakes
Ingredients:
2 Lundberg Brown Rice Cakes, Unsalted (find @ whole foods, king soopers)
1 TBS peanut butter (spread between both cakes)
1/2 banana sliced (Put slices distributed evenly on both cakes)

Nutrition Information for 2 cakes:
Calories299
Fat8.3g
Protein6.6g
Carbohydrates48g
Fiber7g
Sodium1mg


  • This is a great post workout snack with good complex carbohydrates, a little protein and good fats

Greek Yogurt Parfait
1 Cup Plain Greek Yogurt (Fage brand and Oikos brand both make individual 1 cup sizes)
1 packet Stevia
1/4 cup blueberries
1 crushed Lundberg brown rice cake, unsalted
* Scoop contents of yogurt into bowl and add stevia, mix well.  Top with crushed rice cake and blueberries!
Calories180
Fat0.1g
Protein16.2g
Carbohydrates28.1g
Fiber3g
Sodium67mg
  • Great low calorie/low fat snack that packs a lot of protein in a small serving!

Berries n' Cream
1 cup mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, black berries, strawberries - any combo)
1 cup Silk Plain Almond Milk
1 packet Stevia
*  Serve berries in a bowl and top with almond milk.  Sprinkle Stevia on top
Calories122
Fat3.2g
Protein1.9g
Carbohydrates23.3g
Fiber5g
Sodium5mg
  • Almond milk is so thick and creamy it feels like a big cheat but at only 60 calories per cup and a serving of good fats, it's definitely not! 

Friday, February 18, 2011

Post Surgery Nutrition

Sorry about my recent hiatus!  I had a little surgery (which is why I am blogging about this very subject) and have been working on my recovery :-)

Many of my friends and colleagues have had to go in at some point for major and minor surgeries that prohibit them from taking part in normal activity for a while.  One concern they always have is weight gain post surgery due to lack of activity.  But this was not a concern for me and I will tell you why.

Workouts are not the only calorie burner - your food intake is of utmost importance (I always say it's 80% of the battle.)  As I have discussed before, weight loss or gain is simply calories in vs. calories out.  To lose, you must burn more than you take in.  Knowing I was going into surgery and would have decreased activity for a few days, I simply adjusted my diet.  I burn, on average, between 2800-3000 calories daily with my workouts and eat around 1600-1700 calories.  My resting metabolic rate is much lower - near 1900 (without workouts) so knowing this, I simply cut my calories back to make up for this.  I knew I would spend most of my days doing just that - resting- so I cut my calories back to 1200 daily for the first week after surgery.  If I am resting at 1900 calories a day being burned and intaking only 1200, then I will still be in a 700 calorie deficit each day.  Keep in mind you never want to drop below 1,000 calories (I tell my clients 1100) in order to keep your metabolism functioning at it's max capacity.  Below 1,000 will put your body in starvation mode thus causing it to hold on to fat stores.

With only 1200 calories, I still made sure to eat every 3 hours and consume 5 meals a day to keep my metabolism burning at it's highest speed.  It is also of utmost importance post-surgery (and all the time) to consume clean, wholesome foods such as whole grains, fruits, vegetables and lean proteins to help your body heal faster.  Pain medications and IV fluids can cause intestinal problems and constipation post-surgery and high fiber foods such as whole grains, fruits and veggies, will help to combat this.  Consuming processed, sodium laden and sugary foods will only make this worse and lengthen your recovery time.

It's a good idea to prep and pack all of your post-surgery meals ahead of time to ensure you have the proper nutrition and to make it easy on you and your care taker.  I made sure to pack and load up my fridge with all of my pre-portioned meals to make it easier for everyone.  Most of the time when we are not feeling well, we reach for comfort foods - but try to stick with wholesome comfort foods (oatmeal, chicken and brown rice meals, etc) that will fuel your body with good nutrients.

If you want to know a guestimation of your resting metabolic rate (the calories your body burns on a typical day excluding exercise) check out http://my.apexfitness.com/vip/content/fitness_calculators.php and click on 'resting metabolic rate'

Here's to a healthy recovery! :-)