[Fitness, Health and Happiness]

Commitment to Health and Fitness [Clean Eating and Consumer Supported Agriculture]

Today is Blog Action Day 2011!

Since 2007, Blog Action Day has focused bloggers around the world to blog about one important global topic on the same day. Past topics have included water, climate change and poverty.

This year, Blog Action Day will be held on October 16, which coincides with World Food Day, so naturally our 2011 theme is FOOD.

In July I signed up for Consumer Supported Agriculture. Since I wasn't sure what I was investing in I split a half season share with a friend. My menu planning tip for this week is consider signing up for CSA because:

• eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits
• in all the years I've planned weekly menus I now start with the vegetables as the main entree
• eating seasonally adds variety to your weekly menus 
• get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking 
• the flavor of fresh can't be beat
• supporting a local farmer
• organic fruit and vegetables (make sure to ask because not all CSAs are organic)

Thinking about trying a CSA? Visit Local Harvest and search a database of more than 3,000 CSAs.

On the menu for this week:

Sunday

Breakfast: egg white scramble with flax, 1 slice Ezekiel
Snack: protein bar
Lunch: Ultimate Turkey Sandwich
Snack: Pumpkin Spice Protein Shake
Dinner:  Chicken Pot Pie with Whole Wheat Phyllo (recipe coming soon and you're going to love it)

Monday 
Breakfast: Protein Berry Smoothie
Snack: 1 oz soy nuts, 1/2 oz cranberries
Lunch: Chicken Pot Pie (leftovers)
Snack: Protein Bar
Dinner: Chicken and Eggplant Lasagna (trying this recipe with a different variety of squash)

Tuesday
Breakfast: Protein Berry Smoothie 
Snack: Honeycrisp Apple, 1 tbs almond butter, cinnamon
Lunch: Chicken and Eggplant Lasagna (leftovers)
Snack: Protein Bar
Dinner: White Chicken Chili (trying a new recipe)

Wednesday
Breakfast: Protein Berry Smoothie
Snack: 1 oz soy nuts, 1/2 oz cranberries
Lunch: White Chicken Chili (leftovers)
Snack: Protein Bar
Dinner: On-Your-Own Night

Thursday
Breakfast: Protein Berry Smoothie 
Snack: Honeycrisp Apple, 1 tbs almond butter, cinnamon
Lunch: Chicken and Eggplant Lasagna (leftovers)
Snack: Protein Bar
Dinner: Wild Rice and Chicken Stuffed Peppers (another new recipe)

Friday 
Breakfast: Protein Berry Smoothie
Snack: 1 oz soy nuts, 1/2 oz cranberries
Lunch: White Chicken Chili (leftovers)
Snack: Protein Bar
Dinner: Chicken and Pepita Salad

Saturday 
Breakfast: egg white scramble with flax, 1 slice Ezekiel
Snack: Honeycrisp Apple, 1 tbs almond butter, cinnamon
Lunch: The Best Ever Tuna Salad
Snack: Protein Bar
Dinner: OUT

Recipe and menu planning template downloads found here Recipes and Menu Planning Templates.

 

 

Team-Up Thursday: The Day-to-Day

Tina and I are both documenting a Week In the Life this week so we agreed the day-to-day so was the perfect theme. Ironically, we didn't decide on anything beyond the basic theme and ended up with the same idea. We share a love (and the routine) of coffee. It looks like Tina has a fondness for Half and Half. Me? I prefer black, half caffeine and the stronger the better.

 

 

  Thursday 13: In Honor Of Earth Day, 13 Ways to Encourage Kids to Go Green

1. Reduce electricity. If it's not being used turn it off.
2. Turn off the water when they brush their teeth.
3. Encourage recycling of metals, plastic and paper.
4. A donation tour to "reuse" and "recycle". Donate toys, clothes, books, etc. to a thrift store, church or recycling center.
5. Write letters. Encourage kids to write letters to the government about environmental issues.
6. Shop with reusable bags.
7. Talk about it. Focus on awareness.
8. Start a garden. 
9. Don't litter. Properly dispose of trash.
10. Don't use disposable utensils, cups and plates.
11. Use rechargeable batteries.
12. Carpool with friends to activities.
13. Participate in a clean up day at a park.

 

A 9/11 Tribute

via www.youtube.com

"People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote - a very different thing." ~Walter H. Judd

Carpool Lane

I've hesitated but just can't resist giving my .02 here. I've been hearing all week if not longer on national news about carpool lanes and pregnant women. First let me say I'm a huge carpool lane user. If it's available I'm on it! NO being pregnant does not give you carpool lane access. I didn't use it when I was pregnant and man would I have loved to! With my first pregnancy I was commuting from Irvine (Orange County) to Long Beach/L.A. area. If you look at the main purpose for the carpool lane, which btw is to encourage people to carpool which means fewer cars on the freeway and mostly conserve resources b/c fewer cars are being driven. Now...how is this purpose being served with being pregnant. One could argue that access to the carpool lane when you have children in the car and only one adult is the same thing and yes I would totally agree. How does driving my 9 or 7 year old around conserve resources...it doesn't. If the rules changed to exclude access unless more than one adult is in the vehicle then so be it. Granted I wouldn't like it but it would make sense. Not sure why this is bugging me so!

Interesting yet useless bit of info...

I read in USA Today this week that trained wasps could someday replace dogs for sniffing out drugs, bombs and bodies. No kidding. It's called the Wasp Hound Research...I kid you not. They use a Pavlovian type method to train the wasps in as little as 5 minutes compared to 6 months to train man's best friend. The Wasp Hound could be available for sale in three to five years. This just fascinated me and they reportedly don't sting humans which is one thing that came to mind while reading the article. Actually the first thing that came to mind was "No way!"