Here are some ideas:

• Roasting. This is one of my favorites! Simply place pieces of chopped sweet potatoes, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, beets, carrots, Brussels sprouts or other sturdy veggies in a single layer on a cooking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and/or herbs and roast in a 400° oven for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until browned. Roasting veggies creates a slightly sweet, caramelized flavor.
• Cheese Sauce. A homemade, low-fat cheese sauce can make even the most challenging veggies more palatable, particularly to children. Plus you get the added benefit of adding calcium and protein. Here’s a recipe for a simple and healthy cheese sauce: http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/light_cheese_sauce.html
• Salad Toppers. Spice up your salads by adding things like dried cranberries or cherries, sliced almonds, sections of orange, tangerine or grapefruit, thinly sliced apples or pears. Try adding in fresh herbs, such as basil leaves, cilantro or parsley. Go easy on things like croutons and shredded cheese which can add lots of calories and fat.
• Soup. Making a big pot of soup is a fantastic way to use up odds and ends. You can use fresh and frozen veggies, some canned tomatoes and low-sodium chicken broth as a base. Season with your favorite herbs and spices, add in some whole grain pasta, barley or rice. You can even make it in a slow-cooker. Here are some recipes to get you started: http://allrecipes.com/Search/Recipes.aspx?WithTerm=vegetable%20soup

Cooking things in advance is one of the best ways to ensure that you have ready supply of healthy food available.

• Make double recipes and put half in the freezer for use later.
• Cook things like rice and potatoes ahead and refrigerate for up to 4 days so you can get dinner on the table more quickly during the week.
• Chop veggies so they are ready when you need them.
• Stock your freezer with plenty of frozen veggies so you will always have some veggies to go with your meal.

Here is a delicious recipe for Apricot Chicken that freezes well and the whole family will love!

Apricot Chicken

Adapted from a recipe from Cooks Country

6-8 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (small ones, 4-6 ounces each)
2/3 cups apricot preserves
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup honey
1 TBSP cider vinegar
1 TBSP soy sauce
2 tsp curry powder
A few drops (or more, depending upon how hot you like your chicken) Sriracha or other hot sauce
1 tsp cornstarch
1 TBSP water
1/3 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 425. Place chicken breasts in shallow baking pan. In small saucepan over medium-high heat, whisk together ingredients from preserves and hot sauce. Cook for about five minutes. Whisk together the cornstarch and water and add to the preserves mixture. Cook for another minute or two. Pour sauce over chicken. Bake for about 8 minutes then sprinkle almonds on top and bake for another five or so minutes until chicken is done (inside is 160 on meat thermometer).

1. Planning. Having a plan for eating healthfully is vital. When you don’t have your meals and snacks planned out, you will fall into the trap of eating what is convenient, not what is best for your body. Planning meals and snacks, making sure you have the food you need and bringing it with you to work or wherever you are prevents you from relying on high calorie convenience foods. Also, scheduling your exercise as though it is an appointment makes it more likely that you will stick with your plan
2. Support. No one can do anything alone. Whether you have support from family members, friends, your place of worship, nutritionists, trainers, etc., make sure that you have people you can rely on to give you the support and encouragement you need to make it to your goal.
3. Don’t let setbacks become permanent. So many of us have this “all or nothing” mentality. If we have a bad day or a bad week, we feel that our efforts are ruined. People who are successful and making permanent changes recognize that this is not the case. Sometimes life happens and despite our best intentions, we let ourselves get away from healthy habits. What is important is that you pick right back up and continue with your previous healthy changes. A day or week or month or year of bad eating is no reason not to pick up where you left off.
4. Reaching Out. Knowing when you need more help to reach your goals is more difficult than it sounds. We may know, or think we know, what we have to eat or how we have to exercise but just never seem to make it work. Reaching out to a professional, such as a dietitian/nutritionist or a trainer can help to jump start motivation and give you a clear path to follow. If you have already been working with someone, it can be intimidating to go back after you have had a setback. Remember, no one is going to judge you, on the contrary, the ability to reach out for extra support shows strength.
5. Try New Things. We all get stuck in a rut with the foods we eat or the types of exercise we do. I have found that people who successfully maintain a healthy lifestyle enjoy trying new foods, new recipes, new forms of exercise. This keeps things from becoming stagnant, so you are much more likely to keep doing healthy things. I love the site epicurious.com for trying new recipes. The next time you are at the store pick up a veggie that you have never tried before and give it a shot. Take a new exercise class at the gym.

Lebherz Oil & Vinegar Emporium is a beautiful store that has over 40 varieties of oils and vinegars. While they have many different types of plain olive oil from different areas of the world, each with their own distinctive flavors, much like wines, what I really enjoyed were the flavored oils. The Wild Mushroom & Sage infused oil tastes just like stuffing when bread is dipped into it. It also makes a fantastic vinaigrette when mixed with some balsamic vinegar. I also enjoyed the Herbes de Provence infused oil. The Eureka Lemon oil would be fantastic drizzled on fish or shellfish.

My favorite oil, both for taste and versatility is the Butter oil. While this olive oil tastes just like melted butter, it is made from crushed black olives, has no added flavors and is 100% natural. This oil is so versatile and can be used in place of butter for dipping bread, on top of popcorn, in mashed potatoes or on rice – anywhere you can use butter. We even used it on waffles this morning and the whole family agreed that it was delicious and buttery. But so much more healthy!

L.O.V.E. also offers a wide assortment of balsamic vinegars. I purchased a Fig Balsamic Vinegar and I am excited to try this in vinaigrette and over vanilla Greek Yogurt. Flavored vinegars are a great way to add lots of flavor with minimal effort and zero fat.

Flavored oil can be used on steamed or roasted veggies for a different flavor. It is healthier than using butter or margarine and makes it so much easier to cook and season foods, since you simply add just a splash of the oil to the food – no extra sauces or seasoning blends to fix.

If you can’t get out to Frederick, they do sell their products online. I absolutely love these oils and vinegars to add healthy flavor to all sorts of foods!

In order to lose weight you must burn more calories than you take in. Losing weight can only happen when you either cut down on how much food you eat, increase exercise, or ideally, a combination of these 2 things. So how do you cut calories without “being on a diet”?

One key difference between dieting and deciding to lose weight and keep it off for good is the type of mindset you have. Often, we are motivated to lose weight to reach a number on the scale or a certain clothing size. But what happens when you reach that number? Almost always we come off of our diet, revert back to old habits and gradually gain the weight back plus some extra. Making changes that will last for good, instead of just for temporary weight loss, are what is going to get you off the cycle of weight loss followed by weight gain.

Making the decision to overhaul your lifestyle is different than just dieting. Making gradual changes that become new habits and practicing these habits every day is what will lead to long-term success. Drastic changes rarely stick. Before you embark upon a diet that excludes entire groups of foods or doesn’t allow you to ever eat favorite foods, ask yourself “Am I prepared to do this for the rest of my life?. If the answer is no, you may be setting yourself up for failure.

Here are some healthy habits that are relatively simple to incorporate that can lead to lasting success:

• Eat breakfast
• Eat frequently. It is easy to over-eat when you skip meals.
• Make sure you eat enough protein
• Exercise regularly. Every little bit helps!
• Watch your portion sizes

• Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight cannot be achieved by dieting. I know, this sounds impossible, right? But whenever you follow a diet plan to lose weight, one day you will be off of that plan. No matter which way you choose to lose weight, if you go back to your usual eating habits you will regain the weight, often more than you started with. Losing weight for good means developing new, healthy habits. It is the choices we make every day that lead to success, rather than any drastic diet plan.

• Have a good support system. No one can do anything alone. Support can come from many different places – family, friends, support groups, trainers, nutritionists, wherever you find people who have your best interests at heart.  If you know other people who are also trying to get healthy, form an exercise or healthy cooking group. Go online to find like-minded people – Meetup.com can be a great place to find exercise or weight loss groups in your area.

• Get enough sleep. While this may not seem as though it has anything to do with nutrition, not getting enough sleep can make it difficult or impossible to lose weight. When we are tired, our bodies still need energy and we crave foods high in fat, sugar and starch. This leads to overeating of unhealthy food. Try going to bed just an hour earlier, it may help get cravings under control.

• Watch your portions! Even if you don’t make any other changes in your diet, simply reducing the size of your portions can make a big difference in cutting calories, fat, etc. When you go to a restaurant, divide your meal in half and box it up before you start eating. This way, you are not tempted to overeat. When you are at home, use a smaller plate or bowl to help control portion sizes. Also, when you have a full plate, even if it is a small plate, you are more likely to feel full after eating. If you are not sure how big your portions should be, this WebMD guide is a good place to start.

Starting with small changes, finding a support system, getting some rest and starting to pay more attention to portion sizes is a great place to start to make healthy changes in the New Year. Look for more tips from this blog in the coming weeks!

Spinach Artichoke Roll Ups

• 8-9 Lasagna Noodles, the curly kind you have to cook first
• 1 small-medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 10 oz. frozen spinach
• 12 oz. frozen artichoke hearts, thawed and chopped
• 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach
• 12 oz. frozen artichoke hearts, chopped
• 1 tsp McCormick Italian spice
• 1 tsp salt
• Few dashes of pepper
• ½ cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 16 oz. part-skim Ricotta cheese
• 1 ¼ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 jar pasta sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions, drain. Meanwhile, in a large skillet sprayed with cooking spray, sauté onion until it begins to turn golden. Add garlic, cook for 30 seconds. Add spinach, artichoke hearts, salt, Italian seasoning, pepper. Cover and cook about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat under the skillet and stir in the Parmesan. Assemble the rolls by  laying a noodle flat, then spreading 2 TBSP ricotta cheese the length of  the noodle, about 2 TBSP spinach artichoke mixture on top of that, then sprinkle with some mozzarella. Roll up and place seam side down in a baking dish. Repeat with each of the lasagna noodles and place rolls side by side in dish. Top with the sauce and sprinkle with a little more mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.

1. Make sure you drink plenty of water throughout the day. When out bodies are even a little dehydrated, our metabolism does not work as efficiently as it should to burn calories. Aim for 8-8oz. glasses of water per day.

2. Take a look at your portion sizes. Try measuring out all your food and see if the portions you are serving yourself match up with what a healthy portion is. Here is a great site that will show you portion sizes.

3. Watch the condiments. Sometimes many extra calories can sneak into out diets in the form of high calorie condiments. Mayonnaise, sauces, butter, extra sugar added to meals can all contribute significant calories.

4. Are you drinking  your calories? Not only soda with sugar added, but also drinks like sugar-sweetened iced tea and fruit juice contain significant calories. Switch to water or diet drinks.

5. Watch those “bites” of food in between meals. Do you grab a bite here and there, maybe when you are cooking? Or maybe you finish off what’s left of your child’s snack or meal. All those extra bites can really add up even if you are eating well the rest of the day.

6. Eat frequently. Don’t skip meals and include regular, healthy snacks to prevent yourself from getting too hungry, which can frequently lead to overeating at the next meal. This also help to keep you metabolism running strong!

A great way to really take stock of what you are eating so you can make some changes is to keep a food journal for a few days. You can use the food log right on this site. This will help you to really see all the areas where you might be going over.

I recently received this letter from a remarkable young man who has seen first hand the pain caused by eating disorders. He is currently biking across America to raise money for Eating Disorder research at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Please take the time to read the letter, donate to the case and visit the blog  at http://johnwindsor3.webs.com/apps/blog/ to read about the trip. Best of luck to John on his journey!

Letter from John Windsor:

My name is John Windsor, and I recently graduated from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Like most new grads, I thought about my next step in life. Then a friend proposed the unorthodox idea of bicycling across the country, and from there, a bike trip was born.  The 4,200 mile journey begins July 29^th in Astoria, Oregon and ends in Virginia Beach, and should take three months to complete.  In addition to the adventure aspect, I wanted to raise money and awareness for a cause that has great personal meaning.  The cause is Eating Disorders, which is a growing issue that affects millions of Americans, especially one close to my heart.

Eating Disorders have only recently impacted my life, but the past year has been eye-opening to the problems individuals face when dealing with their own body image.  The  negative effects Eating Disorders have on an entire family is painful to live through, and watching a loved one push herself to such extreme measures as anorexia or bulimia has been excruciating.  For many, the disorders may take several years to recover from, and some live with the health effects forever.  The repercussions of anorexia and bulimia can cost the sufferer their ability to bare children, bring about depressive moods, create irregular heartbeats, lead to osteoporosis, and even cause death in long-term cases.

My mission is to help those struggling with these diseases. I teamed up with Johns Hopkins Eating Disorders Program, an extension of the Johns Hopkins Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and I am requesting a charitable contribution on their behalf. By donating to Hopkins you will be supporting their research, which includes their educational and clinical initiatives. The knowledge and treatment advances they acquire from the research will aid those living with Eating Disorders.   Since I am personally funding the bike trip, one-hundred percent of the donations will go directly to Johns Hopkins.

Your gift would mean a great deal to me, my family, and the Eating Disorder community.  I hope you will consider giving. Donations may be made out to Johns Hopkins with “Eating Disorders” on the memo line, and addressed to Johns Hopkins Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, 100 North Charles Street, Suite 444, Baltimore, MD 21201 or you may donate online at www.johnwindsor3.webs.com, which contains the link to the Hopkins website for donations.

Finally, you can follow our journey through my blog found on the webpage. If you have any further questions, please contact me at cyclingfored@aol.com .  Thank you in advance for your help.