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Author: Meredith Mitchell

Travel and Eat Healthy on a Budget

Travel and Eat Healthy on a Budget

Hey McKinley!

I know many of you travel for McKinley so I wanted to provide some healthy food options for you that are quick, convenient and inexpensive.  If you have a fridge in your hotel, find the time to stop buy the grocery store and pick up some fruit, veggies and hummus or any other healthy snacks that you can travel with.

For convenience I chose 3 chain restaurant’s that are in most cities.  If there are other restaurant’s you would like me to give some healthy recommendation’s for please feel free to email them to me.  Thanks!

Wendy’s: Lunch for $3-$9

Here are the menu items I would recommend:

~ Smoky Honey Mustard Flatbread
~ Homestyle Chicken Fillet
~ Grilled Chicken Go Wrap
~ Small Chili
~ Garden Side Salad
~ Sour Cream and Chive Potato  – sour cream on the side
~ Chicken BLT Cobb Salad
~ Apple Pecan Chicken Salad

http://www.wendys.com/food/Nutrition.jsp

Subway: Breakfast or Lunch for $3-$5!!

Click the link below to design your breakfast or lunch sandwich.  You can also turn your favorite sandwich into a salad!  The sandwich and salad nutrition info does not include cheese or dressings so make sure you also click on the “condiments” page to see the nutrition info for any dressing or extras you may add.

http://www.subway.com/Menu/MenuCategoryItems.aspx?CC=USA&LC=ENG&MenuTypeId=1&MenuId=54

Panera Bread: A bit more expensive than Wendy’s or Subway however you can still get breakfast or lunch for $5-$10

Here are the menu items I would recommend:

~ Breakfast Power with Ham on Whole Grain – no cheese
~ Roasted Turkey & Sun-dried Tomato Pesto on Soft Roll – no cheese, with whole grain bread
~ Mediterranean Egg White on Ciabatta – no cheese, with whole grain bread
~ Low-Fat Vegetarian Black Bean
~ Low Fat Garden Vegetable with Pesto
~ All Natural Low Fat Chicken Noodle
~ Power Chicken Hummus Bowl
~ Power Steak Lettuce Wraps
~ Greek Salad
~ Thai Chopped Chicken
~ Classic Salad
~ Fuji Apple Chicken Salad
~ Chopped Chicken Cobb with Avocado Salad
~ Asian Sesame Chicken – no crispy wonton strips
~ Spinach Power Salad – no crispy onion chips
~ Power Mediterranean Chicken Salad
~ Power Mediterranean Roasted Turkey

Click the link below to view the nutrition facts for each of the above menu items.

http://www.paneranutrition.com/NutritionCalculator.aspx

Tips:
~ Trying to save money?  Don’t make it a combo.
~ Refill your water bottle for you lunch beverage
~ Choose whole grain bread
~ Skip the cheese
~ Choose a vinaigrette for your dressing
~ Ask for dressing on the side


Cholesterol

Cholesterol

Here is a quiz on cholesterol.  Take 5 min to test your knowledge and possibly learn something new.  Write your answers down on a piece of paper and then compare them to the answers given at the end of the quiz.

Click the link below to start the “Cholesterol” quiz
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MPGXSLS

For more info about cholesterol, check out the below articles:

The below article is from Dr. Oz’ blog.  The article is written by Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS and Stephen Sinatra, MD, FACN, authors of “The Great Cholesterol Myth”.  It’s a short article and very interesting because it suggests sugar puts you more at risk for heart disease than high cholesterol levels.
http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/cholesterol-facts-vs-myths

The article below is from Harvard Health Publications.  This article goes into depth about what cholesterol is, how your body naturally produces it and and how food becomes cholesterol. This is a very informative article and I agree with everything except for the way they categorize fats.  Most saturated fats are bad BUT not all.  One example that I’ve discussed before is coconut oil.  It contains 12g of saturated fat/serving but NO cholesterol.  Coconut oil is a good fat even though it’s a saturated fat.  Saturated fats you want to avoid are butter and fried fast food.
http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Understanding_Cholesterol.htm

Fat Blasting Recipes

Fat Blasting Recipes

Recipes from Dr. Oz blog posted by Kate Geagan MS, RD

Orange and Avocado Salad

Ingredients
1 navel orange
1 avocado
1 fennel bulb (stalks cut off and discarded)
Handful of hazelnuts
Mixed dark baby greens
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil

Directions
Cut peel from orange. Halve orange lengthwise, then cut crosswise into thin slices. Halve fennel bulb lengthwise, then cut crosswise into very thin slices. Halve, pit, and peel avocado, then cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Toss orange, fennel, and avocado with red onion and hazelnuts into mixed dark baby greens salad. Add balsamic vinegar and olive oil for dressing as desired.

Orange and Avocado Chicken Wrap

Ingredients
Makes 4 servings

4 (6-inch) whole grain tortilla
12 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts, grilled and sliced
1 medium avocado, peeled and sliced
2 navel oranges, segmented
1/4 cup sliced red onion
2 cups mixed salad greens
Balsamic vinegar as dressing, to taste

Directions
Arrange all ingredients on the whole grain tortilla; first lay down the salad greens, and build. You may want to combine all the ingredients first (with the exception of the salad greens) and toss with the balsamic vinegar first to fully integrate the flavors. Wrap and enjoy!

 

Ginger Matcha Iced Tea  

  

Ingredients
1 tsp matcha powder
2 tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
1/2 cup ice
Juice of 1/2 lime
Honey

Directions
Blend ice, matcha powder and ginger together until ice is crushed. Pour into glass. Add lime juice and honey to taste.

Are you able to interpret food labels?

Are you able to interpret food labels?

I’m sure most of you have read a food label or two before.  The first thing I look for on the food label is the carbohydrate grams and then the protein grams.  From there I am able to assess whether or not it’s an item I would like to eat.  Some of you may only pay attention to the number of calories but it’s important to pay attention to the whole label, especially the serving size :).  Click the link below to find out how much you know about reading a nutrition label.

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/quizzes_questions.asp?quizid=64

What does 1 serving of Carbs look like?

What does 1 serving of Carbs look like?

Whether you’re counting calories or are just being calorie conscience, your focus will tend to be on the number of calories consumed.  While this is important, so are the types of calories being consumed.  Carbbohydrates are our main source of energy but our diet should only consist of 25-30% carbs.  The average American consumes at least 300g of carbs which in most cases makes up 50-60% of the diet.  In my opinion this is WAY TOO MUCH!  Granted, in some cases 300g of carbs is needed.  For example, a triathlete or marathon runner would need those carbs because of their intense training regimen.  However, for someone who sits at a desk for most of the day…not so much 🙂

Of that 25-30% you should focus on consuming whole grains and vegetables.  Click the link below to view a list with several examples of what a serving size of 15g of carbs looks like.  Have a great afternoon!!

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/articles_print.asp?id=882