Accountability Made Easier

The first thing about bettering one's lifestyle is to realize that as long as you are an adult, you are in charge of your life, especially when it comes to eating.  You control what you eat.  I know it's hard to keep track of what and how much you are actually eating calorie/nutrient wise, but there are tools to help you. I use myfitnesspal.com.  It has pretty much became my fitness bible.  In fact, today is the 514th consecutive day I have logged my meals and exercise. My user name is LeacyPeacy if any of you would like to be My Fitness Pal friend.  You can opt to keep your food diary private if you choose.  I keep mine public, it helps keep me accountable, knowing that others can see what and how much I eat. It is free, however, there is an option to purchase a version.  I use the free version, it's all I need.  Honestly, I'm not really sure what all the paid version entails.  The free one keeps track of calories, carbs, fat, protein, sodium and sugars for each entry.  You can also keep a record of your water intake, that is so important.  Myself, I aim for 90 ounces per day, sometimes I get it in, sometimes I don't.  My doctor (who is as ecstatic about my weight loss as I) told me to look in the toilet after I pee, if the water is very yellow, I need water, if it's perfectly clear, I have drank too much.  He said it should look like lemonade, not really yellow, but not perfectly clear.  I'm digressing, need to get back to accountability.  My Fitness Pal also has a section to log your exercises, both cardio and strength.  I think the challenges just may be my favorite part of My Fitness Pal.  I have successfully completed 5 of them.  Different companies sponsor them, complete them and you are eligible to win prizes.  I haven't won anything concrete, but to me, completing them is a reward within itself.  Presently, I'm working on two separate challenges, one is sponsored by Aquafina®, all you have to do is log 15 workouts during the month of June.  Being that I'm doing the Streaking with the COOL KIDS challenge on Facebook, logging workouts is easy this month.  Anyway, everyone who completes the Aquafina® will be entered into a drawing for a $1000 Under Armour gift card.  The newest challenge that started today is sponsored by Kohl's®, called the Kohl's Kickstarter Challenge.  To complete the challenge, you need to log 10 workouts in 15 days from June 5-June 19.  Four people will each win a $1000 Kohl's gift card.  I'd love to win that, hello, I have 2 grandchildren, Christmas shopping would be completed early!

There is my home page from today.  See how it tracks my calories and exercise?  I have exercised enough to burn more calories than I've eaten today, therefore, I can eat 441 calories more than I could have if I wouldn't have exercised.  When you first sign up, you type in your weight, activity level and your goal weight, My Fitness Pal does the calorie and nutrient calculations for you.  I just can't say enough about it, it truly is on my list of the top innovations ever.  The articles on the home page are so helpful, there are tips, recipes and different stories to teach and inform you.  I seriously spend a lot of time there. Do yourself a favor and start an account, add me, again, my user name is LeacyPeacy.

I also use Pinterest as a tool, there are literally thousands of low calorie recipes there.  I doubt there are any recipes period that aren't on Pinterest. I keep my recipes there divided by categories. For example: all my low calorie chicken recipes are on a board titled Get Skinny Chicken! My user name there is Thymetolose, go follow me, especially follow all my Get Skinny boards. When you search for me, you'll see the pic at the top of this blog.  My user name was Lisa Caldwell, but there are several of us with that name, so I changed it to correlate with this blog.  With that, I'll give you a recipe that I found at Pinterest, it is a very healthy, very low calorie soup that I found.  I keep it in the freezer along with the Cabbage Soup recipe that I shared with you last week.  One cup is only 79 calories! On the days after I'm with friends and eat pizza, fried chicken or whatever it is that puts me over my daily calorie limit, I will eat eat a serving of either soup for a meal to help keep my weight under control. As much as I can, I try to keep it even.  If I go over my calorie limit today by 300 calories, I'll try to finish tomorrow 300 calories under my limit.  This soup is easy and delicious, especially if you like greens.  I LOVE greens! 

Basic Green Soup

2 T olive oil

2 large yellow onions

1 t salt, divided

2 T plus 3 cups water, divided

1/4 c arborio rice (I have used basmati, or even quinoa, but adjust calories for quinoa)

1 bunch green chard (I usually use collard greens because that's what's available in my area)

14 cups gently packed spinach (about 12 ounces, remove any tough stems, I don't measure, usually use a bag)

4 cups vegetable broth

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 T lemon juice, or more to taste

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Add onions and 1 teaspoon salt: cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to brown, about 5 minutes.  Reduce the heat to low, add 2 tablespoons water and cover.  Cook, stirring frequently until the pan cools down, and then occasionally, always covering the pan again, until the onions are greatly reduced and have a deep caramel color, 25 to 30 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, combine the remaining 3 cups water and 3/4 teaspoon salt in a soup pot or Dutch oven; add rice.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to maintain a simmer, cover and cook for 15 minutes.  Trim the white ribs out of the chard (or collards). Coarsest chop the chard or collards and spinach, but keep them separate.

3.  When the rice has cooked for 15 minutes, stir in the chard (or collard greens).  Return to a simmer; cover and cook for 10 minutes.  When the onions are caramelized, stir a little of the simmering liquid into them; add them tot the rice along with the spinach, broth and cayenne pepper.  Return to a simmer, cover and cook, stirring once, until the spinach is tender but still  bright green, about  minutes more.

4.  Purée the soup in the pot with an immersion blender, or by batches in a regular blender until smooth.  Return it to the pot if done in regular blender and add lemon juice, it desired.  You can substitute vinegar for the lemon juice if desired.  

Make ahead tip: Prepare through step 4 (omitting the lemon or vinegar), cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.  Season with lemon juice of vinegar just before serving. 

Nothing tastes as good as healthy feels!