Get Pumped to Run 2013 - 60 Minute Workout Playlist

With all of this talk of running, events, and training...I decided it was time for a new playlist.  This is a totally personal opinion...but when it comes to running I love a heavy alternative/rock beat.  This playlist starts calm for you to ease into your run and then by about song 3 the beat is hard and will get you to the end of your workout.  This playlist is about 60 minutes long.  Enjoy - Jess The RD

Jess The RD's 2013 RUN Schedule

Happy New Year TENF Followers!

To ring in the new year right I felt it was time to look at my running calendar for 2013.  My husband and I happened to book a trip to Disney World on the same weekend as the 2013 Disney Marathon...needless to say...it was hard to be in the crowd vs. the active runners! NOW my long term goal for 2013 is to prepare for the January 2014 Disney Marathon!!!  If you are looking for some motivation this summer and/or year I certainly encourage you to look into these races and sign up for yourself.  I have signed up for short, long, fun, intense - you name it!  Overall these will help me stay active throughout the year and begin my training.  I will certainly continue posting in regards to training information, health, etc. Happy 2013!

#1 - The ShamRockNRoll Run - Plymouth MI - Sunday March 17th 2013 - 10K, 5K, RockNMile http://www.shamrocknrollrun.com/registration.htm
If you are interested in this run it is also a part of the "Kona Triple Crown Series." To complete the Triple Crown Series you must sign up for three specific events throughout the year - ShamRockNRoll, Kona Run, and the Wicked Halloween run. This is a great way to make a plan for the whole year to stay fit, healthy, and active.  The Kona Running Co. and Running Fit have joined up for this fun event.

 
#2 - Trail Half Marathon/Trail Weekend - Pinkney MI - April 27th 2013 - This race is supported by Running Fit and a very fun and well organized trail race through the woods. This race is also a part of the "Serious Series." Another 3 set of races that can be completed together for an award and motivation to run throughout the year. The races include: Trail Weekend, Flirt with Dirt, and The Legend http://trailmarathon.com/



#3 - The Color Run - Ypsilanti MI - Saturday May 11th 2013 - The Happiest 5K on the Planet - Start the race wearing ALL white and by the end you are covered in different colors of paint. :)
The Color Run Registration

#4 - The Vasa Trail Run 25K - Traverse City MI - September 29th 2013 - A beautiful trail through northern michigan, traverse bay, and the lelanau peninsula. I have heard this is very hilly...bring it on! I am using this as my longer run to make sure I am on pace in regards to training for the Disney Marathon January 2014. www.runvasa.com

#5 - Disney World Marathon Weekend - Orlando FL - January 9-12 2014. Registration OPENS on April 9th, 2013. THIS RACE WEEKEND FILLS UP FAST and includes 5K, 1/2 Marathon, Full Marathon and the GOOFY (Half+Full Marathon - O M G). Check out www.RunDisney.com to check out the many events throughout the year...lets just say the Disney Wine and Dine Half Marathon in fall also looks enticing...maybe another year :).  Let me just say from my recent experience as a bystander to this event...the plane ride to disney and the race excitement in the parks...A totally awesome and positive environment, lots of people being supportive of one another and looking forward to a great race through ALL the disney parks. 

So far my team name is the  The Michi Mouse Club.  The team consists of three people, we are pumped to train and accomplish our dream.  As disney says "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes." 

                                                 

FREE Music Playlist - November 2012 Dance Workout Mix

I am still playing a bit with TUMBLR music playlists. I used this playlist for running training and as pump up music for my kickboxing class. Lately I have been in more of a dance mood and turning my fitness classes into high energy atmospheres.  I tend to ebb and flow between dance, alternative, and 80's/90's. Enjoy!!! Happy November :)

1. Let It Roll - Flo Rida
2. This Kiss - Carly Rae Jepson
3. Sweet Nothing - Calvin Harris
4. Let Me Love You - Neyo
5. Dont Stop The Party -
6. Anything Could Happen - Ellie Goulding
7. Feel So Close - Calvin Harris
8. Rest of My Life - Ludacris, David Guetta, Usher
9. Cry Just A Little - Flo Rida
10. Like Money - Wondergirls
11. Who Dat Girl - Flo Rida and Akon
12. Work It Out - Lil Jon and Pitbull
13. I Will Wait - Mumford and Sons
14. Elements - Lindsey Stirling

Plan Ahead...it's that simlple!!!...or is it?

www.hoosierhomemade.com

As a Dietitian and fitness enthusiast I am ALWAYS reading the latest nutrition trends and find a lot of diets to be a bit extreme and ridiculous.  However, there are a couple philosophies that really stand out and are pretty legitimate.  One philosophy that I am truly an advocate for is eating clean.  Although I think this is an excellent idea, I also think it can be VERY challenging in our mass food producing society.

A nutritional practice that I strongly support, that can also help with successful clean eating, natural eating, is planning meals ahead. The rest of this write up will be about how to prepare food ahead of time to take some of the "thought" out of meal planning and your busy week to intuitively react to your nutrition needs.  I realize this sounds silly...plan and prepare to avoid planning and preparing...nice :).

 Eating is about fueling our bodies.  Metabolic optimization and timing is about nutritionally training our bodies to maintain an active metabolism.  My goal with planning ahead, and why it is an attractive option, is this is also a helpful method to support a more intuitive eating approach.  With planning ahead you can have plenty of clean and healthy foods available to choose from as needed and conveniently on the spot.  You eat it, when you need it. The idea is to  have one big day of work for a week of easy yum :) (or as my nephew says...easy peezy lemon squeezy). The image below is a great pictorial example of the intuitive eating approach created by Evelyn Tribole R.D. from http://carlenesfigments.wordpress.com.  This nutrition perspective is not about dieting but understanding how to respect your body and its needs.

http://carlenesfigments.wordpress.com

Overall...This write up is in response to my own personal challenge with clean eating, and that is preparing food ahead of time.  I do not really want to be thinking about food all the time or always planning what I am going to eat next.  This article will tell you how to EFFECTIVELY make meals ahead of time while reducing food waste and taking a bit of the non-stop food thoughts away from eating every 2-3hr for optimal metabolic response.

The Benefits of Planning Meals Ahead
-Saves you time
-Potentially saves energy (gas/electric)
-Provides you with readily available healthy food options
-Can save you money (with the right budgeting and prep...look at my article meal planning and budgeting)
-Takes the daily thought and nag out of cooking. Make it easy.

Make A-head Meal Summary:

• Cook When You Can - 2-3Hr
• Make the Basics
• Make in Bulk
• Label It
• Buy Prepared/Pre-Packaged (5 ingredients or less) Foods to Save Time (EX: diced onions, small pre-packaged yogurts, granola bars, etc.)
• Freeze It
• DON'T GO CRAZY

Cook when you can
Plan for 1 day of the week when you can set aside 2-3 hours to cook your main "basic" foods.  This 2-3 hour time span will cover most of your cooking needs and some food portioning for the week.

What are the Basics?: 
I personally think this is the MOST important step.  Ask yourself, what do most of your clean recipes stem from?  Analyze what the main emphasis of your meal is. a grain? a protein? vegetables? Some good examples include chopped, sliced, diced, browned beef/chicken/pork/turkey, or soup stocks, or diced and sauted vegetables, or pre-portioned cooked grains.  Remember the goal is cooking now to make the future easier.

Cook in Bulk
Prepare two or  more of an item. One to cook and serve now and more for another day.  I often do this with chicken for myself and my husband. This way we have a good protein source to take to work for lunch the next couple days and an easy way to whip up dinner on a busy evening. In fact, now I even like cooking 6-10 at a time.  I will keep 2-4 in the fridge for ready to use purposes and the rest tightly packed and dated in the freezer.

Label It:
Be sure to label your items and try to organize your refrigerator, pantry, and freezer.  Check out this chart to see how long certain items can safely stay in the freezer USDA Food Freezing Information and Storage Chart.

Buy Prepared Food That Will Help You Save Time
If you do not want to chop, dice, cube etc. your meats/vegetables it may be to your benefit to buy them already prepared.  Keep in mind this can cost more money...but it is your own personal preference.  ALSO along this same idea is pre-portioned and pre-packaged food items.  Try to utilize items with 5 ingredients or less.  Examples: small greek yogurt containers (I like stoneyfield - Oikos with honey), granola bars, apples and peanut butter, tuna fish and crackers, mini salami sticks.  These are snacky foods that you can grab and keep with you on the go. **Look in your local grocers frozen food aisle for fruits and vegetables. Frozen produce is a great way to have delicious produce that was packaged in its prime and held with adequately maintained nutritional value**

Freeze your Pre-Prep:  
Once you have some of your basic needs made you can create quite a bit.  Your freezer can REALLY be your friend. Once you cook your pre-prep foods of choice, place them in an air tight container or bag and freeze them.  Try  freezing your soup stocks in ice cube trays.   The FASTER your foods freeze the better they hold their original quality.  Less air in the container also prevents oxidation and maintains food quality longer.  Remember to pull out the food a little ahead of time to thaw or you do need to defrost it BUT it is already cooked :).
How to Freeze Your Food - T.E.N.F
Quick Start Guide to Freezer Cooking - Life as a Mom Blog

           Decent Quality Bags/Containers

• Ziploc Vacuum Bags Buy It - I just bought this and it is surprisingly awesome!!! and $4.00
• Glass dish w/ a lid Buy It - These hold quality very well and are nice to go straight from your freezer and into your oven...but they can be expensive to have a lot of them for food holding in your freezer.
• Ziploc double zipper heavy duty freezer bags Buy It (these can be found at your local grocer too)
• Green n pack eco friendly freezer bag Buy It
• Tupperware freezer containers Buy It (Look for twist n'lock containers too)

Dont go crazy!:

This whole article has been about making foods in bulk and how helpful it is BUT you can go a little over board.  For example try to shoot for...

•  1-2 main protein sources (Ex: container of baked chickens and a container of ground turkey)
•  1 container of sauce 
• 1-2 grains (rice/pasta)
• 1-2 snacks (Ex: turkey muffin or protein bar recipe)

Organization is key!  Label your foods, keep a first in first out approach (put the newest items in the back and oldest at the front for easiest access), stack foods with common groups so you know where to find things.  Once things start getting lost in the abyss of your freezer/refrigerator...good luck :)

Additional Make Ahead Information and Recipes

• Turkey Meatloaf Muffins - Jamie Eason
• Italian Turkey Burgers - Jamie Eason
• Eat Clean Get Lean Recipe Page - Protein Bars
• http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/category/basics/ This is a cool link on how to make some easy clean eating basics.  When you have some of the basics in your house you can utilize these to build different meals and dishes. 
• http://makeaheadmeals.blogspot.com/ I found this to be a nice blog all about foods that freeze well which make them excellent for making ahead.  These are not necessarily "eating clean" recipes but still appear delicious and are a great start to planning ahead.

If you would like more information on clean eating check out my article the 28 Day Eat Clean Challenge or additional helpful resources such as...

Blogs

• http://www.heandsheeatclean.com/p/launch-clean.html  **I am very impressed by this blog!!!** A fun and motivating read with lots of recipes and ideas and for couples...interesting twist.
• www.thegraciouspantry.com
• http://experiencelife.com/article/eat-clean/ 
• www.eatingcleangettinglean.com
• www.cleaneatingclub.com

Books/Magazines

• www.cleaneatingmag.com
• www.eatcleandiet.com 

Buy It











Buy It

Buy It

Become a Savvy Grocery Shopper

Become a Savvy Grocery Shopper!

Plan- Plan a menu for the week with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack foods. At this point it is good to hunt for coupons and check the food you already have on hand.

• Know your budget and how much you have to spend.
•  Know your needs.

   Create- Create a grocery list based on your menu plan and your grocery store aisle layout.

• Consider aisle layout to make it easier to follow your list. Organization is helpful.
• Write down the prices of your “usual” items to compare for the future.

    Shop- Shop based on your grocery list. You made it for a reason.  Stick to the plan.  You are prepared!  

•  Don’t forget to compare prices and read labels. Pay attention. Remember the prices you “usually” pay for items and refer to past grocery lists with price comparisons.
• Check higher and lower shelves for product comparison and price. The higher priced items tend to be at eye level.

Randomly

Helpful Grocery Shopping Tips

This is not your typical 10 step tip list, just some fun random shopping info.         

• Plan your meals to use seasonal foods. Check out http://www.pickyourown.org/MIharvestcalendar.htm for a calendar of Seasonal Michigan Items. Local farmers markets tend for be more fresh and cheap. 

• FINISH your grocery list BEFORE going shopping, don’t shop when you have 0 time, and don’t go hungry! Don’t become careless because options look much better when you are starving and when you can quickly grab the most expensive item at eye level.

•    Shop only once per week. The more trips to the store. The more money you spend. I personally am TERRIBLE at this one...its almost as if I like hanging out at the grocery store...looking at new things...picking up "one" thing. :)

•    Pick the Grocery Store with the best prices for the foods that you buy. Try putting the common prices of items on your grocery list to help you remember and compare for the future.  It sometimes can benefit you to buy certain items at different locations.  A specialty store versus a supermarket versus a dollar store.

•   Know when not to use your list. Take the “farmers market” approach – Buy what is fresh, cheap, and in season.  This past summer many farmers at the farmers market would let residents in the community join a "fresh" list where they would bring you a basket of all their fresh foods for the week that they grew specific to the people on their list.  My mother in law did this and received multiple WONDERFUL and sometimes surprising foods. 

• Coupons- Use them when they will help you save. REALLY save. Beware of becoming a coupon junkie. Ask yourself if it is really a good deal and if you really need it.  This is VERY easy to get caught up in.  Do not buy more to save more...are you really saving when it is something you do not need.

• Buy day old bread from the quick sale table, bakery outlet, bakery - Jimmy Johns and Panera bread are great yummy corporate examples. Freeze day old bread or try toasting it to maintain quality. Also, check the local bakery's and farmers markets Co. to see what “day old” and fresh products are for the day.

Helpful Grocery Planning Sites

•        http://www.meijermealbox.com/ Use the helpful Meijer tool to create meal plans, grocery lists, find coupons, and recipes!
•        www.valpak.com Search for local coupons
•        www.grocerylistmaker.com – Create your digital grocery list by aisle.
•        http://www.fieldtoplate.com/guide.php - Seasonal Foods throughout the United States
• http://www.pickyourown.org/MIharvestcalendar.htm - Seasonal food calendar for the state of Michigan