Shake it up!

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Here is the meeting summary from March 1, 2011.

Do you ever feel like you are eating the same foods all the time, maybe a little like a weight watchers robot? Well the best thing you can do to conquer that boredom and to have success at the scale is to change up the food that you are eating regularly.

The great thing about the weight watchers plan is that you do not have to eat the same things all the time. We have the freedom to eat whatever we want. But yet still we fall back on our old and steadies because we know the pointsplus values, we know we like the foods, and they are easy.

My challenge to you is to try to back away from eating the same things all the time. Just like with activity, the body gets tired of processing the same foods all the time. So eventually it stops burning those same steady calories. In order to trick our bodies, the best thing we can do is shake up our meal plans.

Here are a few suggestions:
1. Try a new recipe- Choose a recipe with few ingredients, that are common ingredients, easy to prepare, and that just sounds good. You never know what you will discover! Maybe give this one a try…

Savory Crescent Chicken Squares

Ingredients
12 servings PointsPlus® Value: 8
6 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
6 T. light stick butter, melted and divided
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts ( about 4 c. cooked), cooked and chopped
salt and pepper
4 T. skim milk
3 T. chopped onion
3 ( 8 oz) packages reduced fat crescent roll dough
½ c. seasoned croutons , crushed

Instructions
Heat oven to 350.
In a mixing bowl, blend cream cheese until smooth. Add 4 T. melted butter, salt, pepper, milk and chicken. Mix until combined.
Unroll each package of crescent roll dough into 4 rectangles. Press seams together. Spoon equal amounts of chicken mixture into the center of each rectangle. Fold up the four corners and twist to seal. Brush with remaining 2 T. melted butter and sprinkle with crushed croutons. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.

Or this...

Frozen Strawberry Layer Cake

Ingredients
1 1/2 pound(s) strawberries, hulled and sliced (about 6 cups)
1/2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp table salt
12 oz store bought angel food cake, cut into 1/4-inch slices
4 cup(s) fat-free vanilla frozen yogurt
1/4 cup(s) strawberries, thinly sliced (for garnish)

Instructions
* To make strawberry sauce, combine 1 1/2 pounds of strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt in a saucepan, stirring over medium heat until the sugar melts and the liquid comes to a simmer. Simmer 15 minutes. Use the back of a wooden spoon to mash about half the berries against the side of the pan. Cool to room temperature and use immediately or refrigerate, covered, up to 2 days.

* Spoon the frozen yogurt into a large bowl and mash it with the back of a wooden spoon until soft and spreadable.

* Line the bottom of a 9-inch round springform pan with one third of the cake slices, cutting any slices to fit the shape of the pan. Top with half the frozen yogurt, spreading it to the sides. Spread 2/3 cup strawberry sauce over the frozen yogurt, then top with half the remaining cake slices, again cutting any to fit. Spread the remainder of the frozen yogurt over the cake, top with 2/3 cup strawberry sauce, and finally seal the top with the remaining cake slices. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze at least 6 hours or up to 3 days. Let the cake stand at room temperature 10 minutes before unmolding; garnish with remaining sliced strawberries. Slice into 12 pieces and serve.

2. Try a new fruit or vegetable- with the change in seasons comes a change in produce. Pick up something you haven’t had before, or try something familiar in a new way.

3. When you find a new recipe, don’t be stingy ha share it with the group. Bring it to the meeting room, or email it to me and I will forward it along to others.

4. Shake up your old standbys- eat your oatmeal with a different add in every day. Or change up the ingredients in your salad. If you are a chicken fan there are tons of ways to change up chicken. Don’t stick to the same boring food every day.
Shake it up with your activity too. Challenge your body and help build that lean muscle!

Here are 5 Ways to Beat Exercise Boredom:
You know it like you know many of life's truths: the sun will rise tomorrow, one item always remains on a to-do list, you cannot hide things from your scale or your mother, and, most important, exercise is a must.

But knowing and doing are two separate concepts. The beginning of a new routine is usually not a problem, it's farther down the road, when the new lifestyle still isn't integrated and the old one is tugging on you to return.

To help you make exercise a regular reality, consider these suggestions. Remember there are millions of ways to exercise, so until you have tried every single one you cannot say that you hate exercise!

1. Develop a plan of accountability, for some people it's simply writing information in an exercise journal, and for others it's reporting to a coach or another person. Commitment plus accountability equals success.

2. Rely on the pleasure principle. Ask yourself what motivates you, what you enjoy. We suggest listening to an MP3 player or watching television while on an exercise machine. If you hate to exercise but you like to walk, take a break and walk around the office a bit. Stretch those legs- maybe actually get up and going to a coworkers desk instead of calling or emailing.

3. Seek variety. If you walk outdoors on the same path every day, attempt to find one thing that's different about your walk—an emerging flower, the number of dogs in the neighborhood—or take a different route each time.

4. Find a workout partner. Exercising with a friend allows you to monitor your intensity while you get caught up on one another's news. If you think your exercise will be boring, meeting and walking with someone is a guaranteed cure for relieving that boredom.

5. Keep your eye on the prize. Just do it! Sometimes you don't like going to work but you have to do it to enjoy the rewards of my life. You can feel the same way about working out.