I vow to help you love life, to always hold you with tenderness and to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed and to share the silence when they are not and to live within the warmth of your heart and always call it home.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Simple Swaps


We have been really focused lately on getting ourselves healthy. I have pictured some yummy foods that we've chosen over others to add more to our diets.

#1. I drink coffee in the mornings and usual sweeten it with Equal (blue package). I have been reading a lot on artificial sweeteners and made a decision to cut it from my diet. Instead, I'm putting only one package of SUGAR IN THE RAW (20 calories) and still getting the satisfactory sweet taste. Easy swap.

#2. Switching from diet soda to tea. I need caffeine for afternoons when I'm running on 5 hours of sleep but hate the idea of drinking a can of diet coke everyday. So I fill up a glass of iced tea then add some crystal light lemonade powder and whala! Yummy caffeinated beverage with only 5 calories and not soda.

#3. My husband's side of the family has a history of high cholesterol and my husband loves protein in the mornings after his cross-fit workouts. We made the switch from eggs to Egg Beaters. Egg Beaters for 3 tbsp only has 25 calories, 5g protein, 0g of cholesterol and 0g of fat. When you add a little pepper or salsa, you can't taste the difference.

#4. Yogurt switch! From Yoplait light to Yoplait Greek. Still about 100 calories, 9g sugar, 10g protein but the down side is only 10% of your daily calcium needs instead of of 20% with Yoplait light. To remedy this, make sure you're taking a vitamin supplement!

#5. Last but def not least...pasta. I love pasta. We switched from regular spaghetti to whole grain pasta like Ronzoni's Healthy Harvest pasta. It's always good to add whole grains to the diet, but make sure you cook it an extra 2-3 mins then what it says on the box.

Hope this gives you some ideas on how to make some simple swaps!

Saturday, September 15, 2012

8 Weeks To Go

Ah this month is going by SO quick! I feel as if I welcomed September, glanced down for only a second and  then suddenly sneak a peak at my watch to find it's already half way over! We are busy as ever. Kit is on and off at home with Army training keeping him frequently in Oklahoma.

I am, as usual, keeping very busy at my first home (work)! Honestly, I put in a lot of time...but I really enjoy the people I work with. We just finished our first exercise block, block 15! Only 6 more to go...and 8 weeks left until graduation. It's so close!

Mostly these last couple of weeks it's beginning to set in that our time here is coming to an end. In one hand, we're SO ecstatic to get to our real first base after almost 20 months of waiting. In the other, I'm really sad to leave a couple people that I've met here. I find it amazing to meet people from all over the U.S. and in just 6 months form such strong bonds with certain people. I know that we'll all go our separate ways, but it's so nice to know that not only will I walk away from here with my job badge, but also with 2 best friends that I'll never forget. That is priceless and goes way beyond anything I expected to gain here.