How we live our life, burgers and exercise....

Friday October 6, 2011

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Steve Job

1955-2011

Steve,  Rest In Peace  

Those of you who follow my blog know that I am passionate about encouraging people to learn how to cook healthy meals at home and embrace a healthy lifestyle. As I follow my “heart and intuition” I tend to be drawn to articles regarding food, health and exercise. 

Today there was an article in USA TODAY which caught my attention titled “80% of teens underestimate calories in their fast food”. What I found really disturbing is the following:

Burn off that burger:

To burn off a 1,000-calorie meal with exercise, a 150 pound person would have to:

Activity	Hours to work off the calories
Run at 6 mph	1.5
Play basketball	2.0
Dance	3.5
Walk at 3.5 mph	4.0

Source: USA TODAY research

According to U.S. Obesity Trends,

National Obesity Trends:

About one-third of U.S. adults (33.8%) are obese.
Approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2—19 years are obese.
[Data from the National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES)]

It is imperative that we pay attention to what we eat and the quantity of food we consume.

Just like many of you on occasion I crave a good burger and fries. I am a firm believer that we should not deprive ourselves of foods that we really enjoy, but we can make smart decisions.
 

When the craving for beef hits and I am dining out I will order a hamburger without a bun or split my meal with a friend. If grilling at home I purchase local organic hamburger and serve the hamburger “steaks” with grilled onions and sautéed mushrooms, a green salad, green beans or broccoli. 
 

Sometimes I will prepare baked potatoes, slice in half, top with a small amount of Parmesan or feta cheese and place under the broiler for 4 or 5 minutes. I remove the potatoes when the cheese is light brown and a little crispy. Or slice up a sweet potato spread out in a baking dish, lightly coat with non stick cooking spray and bake until fork tender.  
 

So next time you crave a burger or find yourself at the drive thru think about what you are about to eat and how it will effect your body.

Something to think about…… Now I think I will head out for a walk!