Panera Salad and Baseball

Good evening!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday, and more importantly, looking past my terrible and oh-so-creative title up above!

I'm still here at my parent's house... and still taking advantage of that free HBO, those unlimited popsicles and my mom's undivided attention... although, now that I've been here more than a few days, I'm pretty sure that those popsicles aren't quite so unlimited, and... ya know, I haven't really seen my mom in the past couple hours...... hmmm, I think my days of being completely helpless are on their way out....

At any rate, I'll take what I can get.. which means spending my night on the couch with a gimp's best friend

 and watching my Reds hopefully take home a win tonight...

Earlier, I enjoyed my absolute favorite salad from Panera: 

The Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad. 

I realize this photo doesn't do the salad I'm praising about any justice, but if you've been to Panera before during the summer, I can almost guarantee you know what I'm talking about! 

You can see from the nutrition facts below, that this is a great choice from Panera's menu. It provides lots of fiber from the lettuce and fruit, protein from the chicken and healthy fats from the pecans. 

There may seem like a lot of sugar in this menu item, but if you look close enough - a lot of the sugar comes from the fruit in the actual salad and not a lod from the salad dressing, or any other c$#p that shouldn't be hiding in your food. 

On that note, I'm gonna go give my full attention, well, at least half of my attention, to my boys in red on the TV and secretly plan my comeback to the world of long distance running. 

Stay Healthy,

Apple Cinnamon Oats

My ideal start to the day is a bowl of oatmeal... er, and coffee, but that should be assumed by now, yes? When it comes to my oats, I typically go down the banana-peanut butter route, but every now and then, I like to throw caution to the wind and really spice things up by going for an apple-peanut butter combination... what can I say... I like to live life on the edge.

So this morning that is exactly what I did... 

Full-Proof Directions:

• Pour 1/3 cup milk of your choice (I'm on a big almond kick) and 1/3 cup water into your pot
• Chop up small apple into pieces and gently toss into pot of liquid
• Oh yeah, turn your stove on...
• Toss in 1/3 cup of oatmeal and let it all boil until your desired consistency 
• Add cinnamon and a small pinch of brown sugar - being mindful of course that we consume, on average 170 pounds of the sweet granules per year .... (for those of you who are bad with averages and numbers: that's a lot)
• Scoop in a scant tablespoon of peanut butter and enjoy!

• Nutritional Breakdown for 1/3 Cup Measurements:
• Small Apple - 80 calories
• 1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk - 14 calories
• 1/3 cup water - 0 calories
• 1/3 cup Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal - 100 calories 
• Cinnamon - 0 calories
• Pinch Brown Sugar - 5-15 calories
• Tablespoon of Peanut Butter - 100 calories
• Total = 310 calories 

So not only is this an excellent breakfast on the nutritional side of things... it is mighty tasty as well. Yep, I said mighty, so go try it!

Stay Healthy,

Aw, Sugar, Sugar.

It's no shocker that sugar is  e v e r y w h e r e  ....

 I was in Target the other week, I mean, I was in Target yesterday (who am I trying to fool... I'm probably there 5 times a week) and walked down an aisle and found discounted Valentine's Day candy.... I turned down another aisle only to find just the beginning of at least 5 aisles stacked with Easter candy....

Like I said... its everywhere, and while it may seem easy to avoid, you know... like dodging all aisles filled with brightly colored bags of chocolate.... it's the other aisles that you need to be worried about... the aisles that may seem healthy, but in all reality have just as much, if not more sugar than the chocolate covered marshmallow Easter Bunnies that you strategically looked away from moments earlier...

Hidden Sugar.
It's dangerous.
It's why America is so fat.
and worst of all...

it's hidden.

Take for example this cereal breakfast bar below:

 

The box highlights the nutrition facts that you want to see:

• low sodium
• low fat
• high fiber
• high in vitamins

Flip the box over and discover the sugar content: 16 grams.

You could eat this delicious processed cookie:

Oreo Cookie:
14 grams












and consume 2 grams LESS sugar than the granola bar.


Or this flavored yogurt for 3 additional grams of sugar:

flavored yogurt: 19 grams

Don't let the terms organic, natural or low fat fool you. Just because it may seem healthy at first glance... doesn't mean it is healthy.... read the nutrition facts - all of them. 

A recent study revealed that most people only read the first 5 lines on the Nutrition Facts. 

Sugar content is typically line 9.

Do me and your body a favor and take the extra time at the grocery store to find the hidden sugar in products before you buy them. 

On that note, I'm off to make some oatmeal....

plain oatmeal:
1 gram

Stay Healthy,