A Practical Guide To Healthy Living

I’m back on the healthy – finally got rid of the myriad viruses I was fighting, finally rid the house of buttery, sugary treats and now I’m back to clean, sensible eating. And you know what? Despite the pang of longing I still get for my old friend, Sugary Dessert, after dinner, I feel so much better.  I always tell people, and I’ll say it to you here – if you can get yourself off the hooch for a week or two, you’ll stop craving the hooch, and the uptick in energy and sheer pleasure of feeling your body run more smoothly will start to reinforce your healthy eating habits.  Really.  Trust me.  Don’t even get me started on how you can be addicted (in a healthy way) to exercise as well. I was smiling as I ran on the Arc trainer the other day at the gym. It’s great to be back.

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Did you hear?  A recent study found a 30% increase in heart attack risk for older people taking calcium supplements of 500 mg. or more a day.  That means that at that amount, the supplements are likely to cause more heart-related problems than the number of bone fractures they prevent.  Yikes!

What to do?  Talk to your doctor, but it might be prudent to limit your high-dose supplementation for now – try getting your 1,000 mg./day from dietary sources, and if you need to make up a bit, ask your doc about taking a low dose in supplement form (300 to 500 mg.).  That’s my plan.  We’ll watch this one!

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There’s lots of citrus in the market now – why not use some of those tasty navel oranges you see in a new way?  This super-fast and creative take on the usually ho-hum boneless, skinless chicken breast takes it from drab to fab in 30 minutes!

Chicken With Oranges & Feta (adapted from the America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook)

4 scallions, green parts only, sliced thin

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat (don’t use your cast-iron for this one, ’cause you’re going to do the oranges in here too and the acid will react with the iron).  Salt and pepper both sides of the chicken breasts.  When the oil is just smoking, add the chicken and cook until it’s well browned on the first side, approximately 6-8 minutes.  Turn the chicken and continue to cook until it’s no longer pink in the middle, approximately 6-8 more minutes.  Transfer the chicken to a serving platter and tent loosely with aluminum foil.

Return the skillet to medium heat and add the garlic and fennel seed. Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.  Add the oranges and the water and cook, stirring up any browned bits, until the oranges are just softened, 1-2 minutes.  Stir in any accumulated chicken juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the relish over the chicken breasts, sprinkle with the feta and scallions, and serve.

Serves 4.

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It’s the dead of winter here in the Northeast, and maybe, just maybe you’re tiring of root vegetables?  Eating locally is one thing, constant deprivation is another.  Pooped out on parsnips? Need some green leafies?  Fresh fruits?  What to do?

I will admit to spending a fortune on organic blueberries and raspberries in the last few weeks (see yesterday’s “What I Ate” post) . . . they’re super-delicious and refreshing on salads and cereal, or just swimming in non-fat kefir “soup” with cinnamon.  And I do buy organic salad greens and baby spinach all year ’round.  A Semi-Sweet reader recently asked me: “What about buying produce from other (read: warm!) countries? Is that safe?”  Well Sweeties, you ask, I answer!

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Don’t you just want to put your face in it?  THIS is what healthy food looks like, and it’s EZ.  Baby spinach + blueberries + raspberries + this DELICIOUS and relatively LOW-CAL creamy balsamic dressing.  Get crazy and scatter a few sliced almonds on top.  Pair it up with a couple of Wasa crackers slathered with Laughing Cow Lite/goat cheese/little nut butter and you have a lunch (or dinner) you can be proud of.  Eat up!

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Did you eat Spaghetti-O’s as a kid? I did, once in a while. My parents weren’t keen on “junk food” like that, but every now and then my mother would indulge my needling and get a can or two. And I particularly liked the one with “meatballs.” Now I look at them and think they’re kinda gross – I mean, just look at the ingredients list for regular Spaghetti Os:

Water, Tomato purée (Water, Tomato Paste), Enriched Macaroni Product (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), High Fructose Corn Syrup, Contains Less than 2 % of: Salt, Enzyme Modified Cheddar Cheese (Cheddar Cheese [Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Enzymes], Water, Disodium phosphate), Vegetable Oil (Corn, Cottonseed, Canola and/or Soybean), Enzyme Modified Butter, Oleoresin Paprika, Spice Extract, Citric Acid and Nonfat Dry Milk.

Not to mention that the cans are lined w/BPA.  Wouldn’t it be nice to recreate the fun of the Spaghetti-O sans BPA, “enzyme Modified Cheddar Cheese” “Oleoresin paprika” and high-fructose corn syrup?

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So it’s the third week of the new year . . . how’re you doing on those resolutions?

One of my professional biggies for ’11 is to network more.  Since launching Semi-Sweet in August of ’09, I’ve read and admired so many fellow bloggers, many of them in Boston . . . but have I met any? Like, “in real life” (as L. would say)? Not until last night. [Read more →]

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Want more reasons to exercise?  Studies have shown that exercise can:

1. Give you better craving control: New research shoes that the brain chemicals that signal the body to stop eating rise after exercise, so you eat less.
2. Raise your IQ: All exercise helps your brain’s ability to absorb new info. more quickly.  One study showed that people who memorized vocabulary while riding a stationary bike had greater retention.
3. Better organizational skills:  Inactive adults who walked for 2 hours/week improved the connections in their brains that help with strategizing.

Stronger . . . faster . . . smarter?  Could be you!  Find something active you like to do (Wii Just Dance, anyone?) and get your body moving today.

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