Revolutionizing Fitness for Busy People

During the summer, I like to eat light — especially when it’s hot outside. This is a summer salad that my mom usually makes, but I tried my hand at it this time! The secret is no dressing!

Your list of ingredients:
spinach – 4 cups, 40 calories
almonds – 1/4 cup, 170 calories
craisins – 1/3 cup, 130 calories
tomato – 1, 70 calories
onion – 1/8 cup, 9 calories
bell pepper – 1, 40 calories
avocado – 1, 240 calories
feta – 1/4 cup, 70 calories

Just cut up all the veggies, make sure you have measuring cups — and voila! You have a salad. The whole salad is 769 calories and has 4 servings; one serving is 193 calories. And my secret to no dressing: wet the ends of your salad tongs before you toss your salad. The water gives the avocado and feta a bit of moisture so that the entire salad mixes well.

Source - O2MAXFitness.com

Here’s a healthy recipe so you can eat well today while enjoying the fireworks.

 Sweet-&-Sour Chicken Drumsticks

Chicken drumsticks stay deliciously moist when grilled – even with the skin removed. Minty sweet-and-sour dipping sauce adds a refreshing twist to “ordinary” grilled chicken. Serve with brown rice and slices of fresh pineapple.

Serves: 4 
Preparation time: 40 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon cider vinegar, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
8 chicken drumsticks (about 2 pounds), skin removed, trimmed
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Preparation
1. Preheat grill to medium. (No grill? See Broiler Variation, below.)

2. To prepare dipping sauce, combine orange zest, orange juice, water, honey, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon salt and coriander in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Whisk cornstarch and the remaining 1 teaspoon vinegar in a small bowl until smooth. Add to the saucepan and return to a boil, whisking until thickened, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Stir in mint.

3. Sprinkle drumsticks with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Oil the grill rack. Grill the drumsticks until crispy on all sides and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 165°F, about 15 minutes total. Serve the drumsticks with the dipping sauce on the side.

Broiler variation: Position oven rack in the upper third of the oven; preheat broiler to high. Prepare sauce (Step 2). Coat a broiler pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle drumsticks with salt and pepper (Step 3), then broil, turning once, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 165°F, about 15 minutes total.

Nutrition Facts
Per serving: 
255 calories
8 g fat (2 g sat, 3 g mono)
93 mg cholesterol
16 g carbohydrate
29 g protein
1 g fiber
389 mg sodium
315 mg potassium

http://www.lifescript.com/food/articles/0/7_healthy_4th_of_july_recipes.aspx

Jamie Oliver might be best known as the guy from the UK that hosts the food show called the Food Revolution. Within minutes of meeting Jamie you can tell he is so passionate and sincere about what he is doing. I got to meet Jamie Oliver last Saturday as they kicked off the Food Revolution tour, in an effort to empower and raise awareness all over for people to create similar type events. In just a short time he got McDonald’s to stop using “pink slime” as one of my friends called it and has become a household name.

I chatted with him for a bit afterwards. As we began talking he pointed out that people will spend the most amount of money on food after their mortgage. With so much money being spent on food it is no wonder why nutrition education is so important.

Jamie’s passion is to educate people on food and to start as young as possible-this is why he has targeted children in elementary schools.

Like Jamie, I grew up in the restaurant business. Friends would always comment on how my family was so “tiny,” especially given the fact that my parents had a restaurant. I told Jamie that my parents were big advocates of vegetables-even when we had pizza for dinner, there was always a veggie side dish or salad.

I’m thankful that my parents instilled a love for vegetables at a young age. It is so important that parents enforce healthy eating habits. Statistics from the national center for chronic disease prevention found that nearly half of all obese children become obese adults. Obesity has been linked to several illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. Yet, obesity can be drastically curbed if children are taught proper nutrition and get regular exercise. It is sickening to think that some schools serve rice krispy treats for breakfast, as my friend Tracy pointed out, a former teacher at a Los Angeles school. The masterchef points out that natural whole foods should be the focus of cafeterias, not processed french fries.

Besides going in and trying to educate kids in schools and even the school systems, how are you and even the rest of us able to get the message out about eating natural foods especially to the parents who are the role models. Large food companies like Kraft and Nestle continually label unhealthy food…healthy. For example, when it says fat free it is a tag line for added sugar, or more fiber means more chemicals. When I asked Jamie about this and the giant food companies that supply this food, I was shocked by his answer. He said, “As long as people still buy their food, these companies will continue to sell it.” Jamie’s advice, “It is about going to the grassroots level and educating the people on nutrition.  With more education comes healthy results, because people will know what to eat.”

So what I learned from Jamie Oliver is that we as a community, parent, friend, and family member must be educated about nutrition. Thus, we can educate the youth on what is important, and as a community, we can push for healthy lunches. As a community we can ensure a healthier future for our youth.