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Stop the Habit of Mindless Munching

Nov 26th, 2006 home title

By Creating a Single-Serving Snack Environment

If you’re like me, it’s dangerous to open a bag of chips or cookies and sit down to watch TV. Unconscious snacking can destroy your efforts to cut back on calories and foods low in nutrition. It also reduces your enjoyment of eating because you hardly taste the food you’re mindlessly munching. So you keep eating in order to get the pleasure you were seeking when you started snacking.

That’s why I take a few minutes each weekend (and sometimes mid week) to create my own single serving snack packs.

Let me explain. As soon as I get home from the grocery store, I make a variety of healthy snack packs to bring to the office. It takes just minutes.

Here are several snacks I packed for the week:

baggies of cut up veggies – to have with a ranch dip or humus spread
baggies of hard pretzels – single serving sizes so I don’t overdo the carbs
containers of whole grain dry cereal with nuts, seeds, and dried cranberries
containers of skim milk mixed 50/50 with Rice Dream rice milk to put on the cereal
whole grain crackers to have with the humus spread
a piece of fruit is usually a single serving

I made all of these snack packs lickity split while listening to National Public Radio (NPR) Celtic and blue grass music – a total good time, not like working hard in the kitchen.

My Assembly Line Production of Snack Packs

These single servings can be packaged really quickly if you set up an assembly-line style of packaging them. Here’s how I do it:

I line up the plastic baggies and put a few of the veggies in each bag and seal.
I pour a little dressing in a small container, seal it, and use it all week (if you want to take it to work).
I decide how many containers of dry cereal I want for the week, set them out on the counter, and put a little of each kind of cereal (I mix them) in each container and top them with nuts, seeds, and dried fruit.

When packaging processed snack foods like pretzels and crackers, I read the label to see what the serving size is, and I pack that much in each baggie. And I’m in the process of reducing and hopefully eliminating processed foods of all kinds.

I fill reusable containers with any liquids I want to bring to the office for the week – milk, juice, soup.

Simple dimple! Try it, you’ll like it.

Want to Use this Article for Your Web Page?

You may publish this article free of charge in your ezine, web site, ebook or print publication so long as the copyright notice and the author information below are included without change:

Cheryl Miller is a wellness expert and life coach. She specializes in helping people take action to live a healthy, happy life . . . in this lifetime.

Visit www.cherylmillerville.com for practical advice, inspiration and action steps for making healthy changes you desire. Be sure to get the FREE Wellness Pack: http://cherylmillerville.com/wellness-pack

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What's for Lunch?

Nov 26th, 2006 home title

We all get tired of cooking. If you’re like me, you run a streak of eating out. The good news is that even if you eat out frequently, you can limit the negative side effects and make the next day’s lunch even more pleasurable.

Would you agree that foods prepared in restaurants are usually higher in fat, salt, sweeteners, and additives – to make them taste better? If we eat less restaurant food, we’re better off physically. Emotionally, though, these kinds of foods have a big-bang payoff, and we want to get our money’s worth.

But once the emotional need is met and we’ve overeaten, restaurant foods can leave us dragging and searching for a caffeinated beverage or some other personal favorite. Mine is high fat ice cream. Conditioning is king. That’s why we need good conditioning, but I’ll leave that for another article.

Do you feel that you eat out too much sometimes?

Yah, me too. So how do we make the most of a streak of eating out too much? I’ve got an idea. You ask for a to-go box before you start eating. This sounds like something you’ve heard before. But read on. Don’t wait until you’ve started. Don’t take one bite before the box comes. You may have to train the wait person and ask them more than once saying “I’m not going to eat one bite until I get my box!” Of course I’m exaggerating. But because they’re trained (conditioned) to bring the box at the end of the meal, they might not think you really mean “Bring it Now!!”

Sometimes you have to really ask for what you want.

It’s not a negative thing. It’s worth it. If we all start doing it, bringing the box at the start of a meal will be a conditioned response for the wait person. You might tease them saying you promised your kid you’d bring half back and you can’t be trusted unless you get a box up front. Make it fun and light. Or tell them it’s a weight loss strategy. Maybe they’ll adopt it too.

On to the Particulars

You cut the serving in half or whatever proportion seems right, and put that amount in the box immediately. If you’re like me, you can’t stand to give away the last bite of a tasty meal or to leave something on your plate. Call it programming or a survival urge, it’s pretty common to protect and defend the last bite.

How many times have you polished off a meal even though you got full at the ¾ mark? You thought, gosh, that’s not enough to box up. I’ll just eat it. Been there, done that. And then you kick yourself when you need to take an antacid swearing you’ll never do that again, until the next time.

So try cutting off a nice amount that you can eat the next day for lunch or for a snack. A side of pasta with a small side salad or cut up veggies is a real treat. I love it when I’m wise enough to box up the excess for another meal. And there IS a lot of excess in portion sizes at most restaurants. No wonder our bodies have been supersized. We love to get our money’s worth, so large portions are appealing to us. Capitalize on the large portion and box up the excess for the next day. You can split it with another person….but then you won’t have the other half for a lunch or snack See how I am?

Here’s another secret.

When I visit a restaurant that has an “endless” salad, breadsticks and an entre, for example at an Italian restaurant, I fill up on salad and eat a small amount of the entre – less than half. Then I have almost a full meal the next day. It also feels kinda naughty to cheat the system and get two meals for the price of one. Try it if you’re as naughty as I am. It will help your waistline too.

A small side salad sounds a lot more appealing if I know there’s a portion of yummy pasta to go with it. Leftovers can fit really nicely into a healthy meal plan. In fact, they’re a healthy pleasure. And if there’s no pleasure in it, it’s not food. So there.

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Cheryl Miller is a wellness expert and life coach. She specializes in helping people take action to live a healthy, happy life . . . in this lifetime.

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How to Create Single-Serving Breakfast Meal Kits

Nov 25th, 2006 home title

How to Create Single-Serving Breakfast Meal Kits . . . for on-the-go Good Nutrition We’ve all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Yet we get busy, rushed, and head out the door thinking we can catch something on the way to work. And that usually means fast food or junk food snacks.

Are you somebody who thinks you should eat breakfast but have a hard time sticking with a regular breakfast routine because you’re short of time or uninspired? If you like cereal, you’ll like this breakfast meal kit idea. Making meal kits ahead of time takes away the biggest obstacles to eating breakfast. If you have kids or a spouse, they’ll love them too. Kids will be more inclined to eat their cereal breakfast kits if they can make them themselves with the cereals and toppers they like. Teach them about the single serving concept and provide healthy options for the contents.

Packaging the Cereal

As soon as you get home from the grocery store, open your cereal boxes or bags and measure single servings into light weight to-go containers. Look on the box for the serving size. It’s usually ¾ cup.
If you like to mix your cereals, pour the different kinds into a large container to blend.
Place as many plastic containers on the counter as you need in order to package up all of the opened cereal.
After you add any optional toppers from the next step, put the lids on and stack them in your pantry for home use or take them to work for your “food drawer.” Note: I like to mix a couple of cereals for variety. This week I mixed these two: Go Lean (small amount for crunch and sweetness) Organic Flax Plus from Nature’s Path – This cereal has no chemicals, no synthetic additives or preservatives. Serving size ¾ cup 100 calories 140 calories with fortified skim milk

Adding Optional Toppers

Rough chop walnuts, pecans, or almonds and place a small handful in each container.
Chop dried fruit (papaya, banana, etc) and put a small amount in each container.
Add dried cranberries, raisins or any other dried fruit.
You can top with a small amount of higher calorie cereals like granola just to add a little sweetness and crunch. Sprinkling a little of this on top is better than mixing the two in bulk so that you can have better control over the amount you use. Note: I sometimes include a fat date or fig to eat on the side or for a later break that day. Sticking one in the kit makes it more likely that I’ll eat it at some point during the day.

Packaging Milk Options

Fill your single-serving containers with milk using recycled glass bottles, plastic juice containers, or small canning jars with screw tight lids. You can skip this step if you plan to eat your meal kits at home rather than transport them to work.
If you’re lactose intolerant or want to try something different, stock your pantry with quart-size boxes of rice or soy milk to keep in the refrigerator at home or work. The quart-size box doesn’t take up much room in the fridge and chances are nobody at work will “steal” it. You can find these boxed drinks at your whole foods or conventional grocery stores. Another brand that is growing in popularity is Silk Soymilk in a half-gallon size.

Note: I like Rice Dream and was surprised that I also liked WestSoy Lite Vanilla. I tried it at a taste test at our local whole foods store and was surprised I liked it because I don’t usually like soy milk. WestSoy Lite Vanilla Soymilk at 110 calories per cup – 15 calories from fat supplies Because it’s fortified a cup supplies 30% of the daily calcium needs based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Where can you go wrong with meal kits?

including things that you don’t like and probably won’t eat.
using low quality ingredients – low on fiber and nutrition and high on preservatives and additives
putting the groceries away thinking you’ll make them up later and later doesn’t come.
not measuring a single serving size – it’s easy to overeat prepackaged foods, so be sure to package yours according to typical serving sizes

Ready, Set, Go Now it’s your turn to make some meal kits. If you feel that stopping long enough to open a box of cereal, get a bowl out of the cabinet, get the nuts out of the fridge, and open a box of raisins is sometimes four steps more than you think you have time to take, just reach for a breakfast meal kit and pour on the milk.

Try this Breakfast Experiment Are you eating the kind of breakfast that works best for you? My colleague Christi Lehner has a breakfast experiment for you to try to determine your best breakfast choices.

Want to Use this Article for Your Web Page?

You may publish this article free of charge in your ezine, web site, ebook or print publication so long as the copyright notice and the author information below are included without change:

Cheryl Miller is a wellness expert and life coach. She specializes in helping people take action to live a healthy, happy life . . . in this lifetime.

Let us know where any of these articles have been published by sending an email to us with a link to your publication.

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Messy Counter Tops are a Big Barrier to Cooking & Eating at Home

Nov 25th, 2006 home title

Here’s Help!

Almost everyone has messy counter tops sometimes, if not all the time. When our counter tops are full, we can’t easily prepare foods and clean up. I think full counter tops is the #1 barrier to cooking and eating at home. Well, maybe it’s tied with having a clean, well-organized refrigerator.

How Do Counter Tops Get Filled Up?

This will be a long list. Have you ever noticed that horizontal surfaces are really inviting? They say, “hey, set that thing down here, it’s easy, there’s room.” Here are some of the things we “set down” on kitchen countertops and islands:

backpacks
homework
bills
groceries
purses
junk from your pockets
loot from shopping
recycling
dirty dishes, pots, and pans
books you want to read
tools
things you don’t know what they are or what they go to
things that might be useful if you had a minute
projects you want to do
pet supplies
mending
appliances and gadgets
decorative platters, vases, and mug wracks
broiler ovens, microwaves, and juicers
leftovers
baskets of produce (yes, make room for these)
fresh flowers (and these)
vitamins and other supplements
magnifying glass

I think you’re getting the picture that I could go on, and on. Open spaces invite you to set things down….for now. But “for now” can turn into weeks and months.

What Do We Need Counter Space For?

Counter space is prime real estate. If you don’t have open space for a few really important items, your kitchen won’t be able to do the great work it’s designed to do. Here are some things we need to make space for:

showcasing baskets of produce (to encourage munching and cooking)
inviting nature into your kitchen through bouquets of fresh flowers and plants (to encourage enjoyment)
setting down bags of gorgeous groceries you just brought home from the farmers’ market or grocery store
providing a landing space for things you’re taking out of the refrigerator or pantry so you can prepare a healthy, fast, delicious meal
washing, cutting and chopping produce
filling and emptying the dishwasher – this is really important because most people don’t like to empty the dishwasher (kids especially hate this job for some reason). A crowded counter top make this task really repulsive. If you don’t empty it, you can’t fill it. And if you can’t fill it, the counter tops get full. It’s an endless closed loop unless you always empty the dish washer… and keep your counter tops clear and clean.

If you have an inefficient kitchen, you’ll be much much much more likely to go out for fast food. Trust me, I’ve been there, done that. Consider clean counter tops a top priority and you’ll be almost home free!

How Can You Succeed at Keeping Your Counter Tops Clean?

Evaluate all of your counter-top appliances. If you don’t use them often, they aren’t earning their keep. Consider storing them someplace else, selling them, using them, or freecycling them.
Make a house rule, that most nights, (perfection will age you prematurely) the dishes get washed and put away, the dishwasher gets emptied, and anything else on the counter top that shouldn’t be there gets put away. If you keep this system up, these tasks will be easy to do.
If there are other family members in the household, give them these tasks and pair them with a nod of appreciation, allowance, and reciprocal thoughtfulness.

Want to Use this Article for Your Web Page?

You may publish this article free of charge in your ezine, web site, ebook or print publication so long as the copyright notice and the author information below are included without change:

Cheryl Miller is a wellness expert and life coach. She specializes in helping people take action to live a healthy, happy life . . . in this lifetime.

Let us know where any of these articles have been published by sending an email to us with a link to your publication.

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Celebrate St. Patrick's Day by Eating Greens

Nov 25th, 2006 home title

Did you know that leafy greens are packed with nutrition and taste? Examples include kale, dandelion, turnip, collard, mustard, beet, and chard. These are often called “cooking greens.” Many greens can be eaten raw when they’re in their tender young stage. As they mature they grow tougher and have a stronger taste that cooking tames. What Nutrients are in Greens? The list is long. Here are the main ones:

Beta carotene (the dark outer leaves contain the most beta carotene)
Vitamin C, A, B6, and E
Fiber
Various minerals – especially iron and calcium

Interesting Tid Bits about Greens

Countries whose populations eat primarily vegetarian diets (including China) can get their total calcium needs met from eating greens.
Of the greens, dandelion and turnip greens contain the most calcium.
A pound of raw greens cooks down to about 1/2 cup.

Preparing Greens

Greens are great spring cleansers. So it’s the perfect time to buy and eat them! When grocery shopping this week, I saw a beautiful bunch of dandelion greens and bought them as an experiment. I had never cooked this kind of greens but assumed it would be similar to cooking other greens. I sauteed them with onions and portabella mushrooms and added a little salt. Very tasty. Here are a few additional preparation tips for greens:

Clean them thoroughly. Trim off any roots and swish them in a large bowl of water. Do not soak them. You may notice sand and other debris in the bottom of the bowl after rinsing them. Not to worry! They do come from the earth so a little grit is normal.
Cut off particularly tough or inedible stems.
Saute in a small amount of oil with fresh chopped garlic, onions or leeks. You may also enjoy adding stock. Greens are also great additions to soups.
When serving, you may want to top the cooked greens with slivered almonds, pine nuts, sesame seeds or other nuts/seeds of your choice.

Why not give greens a try? They pack a huge nutritional punch and are becoming more widely available. Ask the produce manager if they have greens from local farmers.

Want to Use this Article for Your Web Page?

You may publish this article free of charge in your ezine, web site, ebook or print publication so long as the copyright notice and the author information below are included without change:

Cheryl Miller is a wellness expert and life coach. She specializes in helping people take action to live a healthy, happy life . . . in this lifetime.

Let us know where any of these articles have been published by sending an email to us with a link to your publication.

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What Do You Eat When There's Nothing in the House?

Nov 25th, 2006 home title

It’s late, you’re tired, and you have nothing planned for dinner. What solution pops into your mind? If you’re used to eating out, your mind may say, “There’s nothing here to eat, let’s go out.” You can become “trained” or conditioned to have this response. I know because this used to be be my first reaction too.

Tonight I was working hard to write three newsletters for this month’s cherylmillerville clubs. I knew I wouldn’t have time to make a big meal. I admit, my first thought was to slip out for a quick bite. But then I remembered that I have a great pantry and several back up meal plans.

What are Back Up Meal Plans?

Back up meals are things that you usually have on hand that can be quickly pulled out of the refrigerator, freezer, or pantry and put on the table in 15 minutes or less. They may not always be the highest quality nutrition, but they’re not bad and they’re certainly better than going out for a Big Mac, French fries, and a chocolate shake. And they can be upgraded by buying higher quality components.

One of my back up meals is a can of tomato soup and a sandwich – either grilled cheese or tuna salad. Tonight I had soup and a tuna sandwich on high-quality whole grain bread. In cold weather, this combo sounds appealing and I have it 3 or 4 times a year. You can upgrade the sandwich with a slice of tomato, avocado or lettuce. The soup can be upgraded from Campbell’s to the boxed organic variety.

More Back Up Meals

whole grain cereal and milk (organic soy, rice, or dairy)
a veggie burger like Boca burgers (they keep well in the freezer)
your own preformed frozen hamburgers
eggs and toast
frozen pizza (get a high-quality brand and freeze it in individual slices. Or make and freeze your own. A single slice or two cooks quickly in a small toaster oven.)
Spaghetti or other pasta dish – jar of pasta and 10 minutes to cook pasta (sauce and shells can be organic)
prepared soup – Progresso or the organic boxed varieties are nutritious choices and readily available
mac and cheese (believe it or not, also available in organic formats)
frozen burritos – I make my own – they freeze well
frozen casseroles
frozen leftovers – keep a running list on the freezer as a reminder – use this handy freezer inventory sheet.

Start stocking your kitchen with items from this list, so you’ll be ready for those nights when you just don’t feel like cooking and there doesn’t seem to be anything in the house to eat. You can pull out your slice of veggie pizza and spare yourself a night of eating out. Having back up meals on hand is more convenient, less expensive, and more nutritious than eating out, especially if you’re a fan of fast food.

Freezing tip: freeze your left overs in single servings so they’re ready to go – to work or school. Most break rooms and cafeterias have a way to heat them up.

Member Comments

This newsletter issue was inspired by a question I received from a subscriber:

My biggest challenge is getting dinner together on the days that I work. I only work part-time now, but I have a son who is almost 2. By the time I pick him up from daycare and get home, there’s no down time to think about dinner. The bigger problem that goes along with that is that my son is ready for some “mommy time” by the time we get home, so I find myself struggling to figure out something quick, tasty, and balanced to make for dinner that will be easy enough for me to either involve him, or get started and let it cook while we play. I have a natural aversion to crock pots, although I think I’d use it more if I had some decent recipes. We can only have scrambled eggs and toast for dinner so many times!

Any ideas on this one would be most helpful!
Mary Baldwin Veerkamp
Kansas City, KS

In addition to planning a whole bunch of back up meals, Mary, I’d suggest that you create a simple meal plan for the week so you don’t have to think of what to cook when you’re tired. You can use this handy meal planning form.

Here’s a subscribers response to Mary’s comments:

An aversion to crockpots? Yikes! I love crockpots…I used to put dinner on before I went to work..now I use it on the weekends, so my time is free to be with the kids during the day, and dinner isn’t thrown together. She needs to rethink her aversion! The Internet abounds with wonderful crock pot recipes…as does the library.
Other than that, on really busy nights, we often will have steamed rice (brown), steamed veggies, and I’ll throw together homemade biscuits. Maybe a mixed fruit for desert. It takes only a few minutes of preparation and ALL of my kids (which include 1 very picky eater) love this. Another choice is pasta with veggies and fettucini sauce. Quick and easy and again, all the kids love it. Hope this helps…
Brooke, Osage City, KS

Here’s another response:

I am not sure what the solution is, and it is a struggle over here too. I am a stay-at-home mom during the day with my 3 year old daughter and with my 2 year old niece that spends the day here from 6:15 am to 4:45 pm. Getting meals ready and on the table and me fed before 5 has been a challenge.

I have tried a few things….. this is what works well during the winter season. I buy pre-marinated chicken or salmon, or just plain fish fillets. Throw it in the oven for 30 minutes (350-400F), on the stove at the same time I have 1 wok pan with frozen mixed veggies (several varieties out there now), add some Soya sauce or other veggie spices or marinade. I do not always have a rice or potato option, but rice in the rice maker goes quick, or microwave rice.

This meal basically cooks by itself so I take 1 on 1 time with my daughter for a few minutes before I run out to start teaching my evening fitness classes. Start to finish time for cooking is 30 minutes. Prep time to put frozen veggies in the pan and frozen meat in the oven is less than 2 minutes. Just thought I would offer my circus act of an operation in the kitchen, most disliked room in the house! And, my crock-pot recipes have been disasters….so more work at the end of the day.
Susanna de Beer, Ottawa, Canada

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You may publish this article free of charge in your ezine, web site, ebook or print publication so long as the copyright notice and the author information below are included without change:

Cheryl Miller is a wellness expert and life coach. She specializes in helping people take action to live a healthy, happy life . . . in this lifetime.

Let us know where any of these articles have been published by sending an email to us with a link to your publication.

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Keeping the Varmints Out of Your Kitchen

Nov 25th, 2006 home title

No, I’m not talking about your spouse and kids. I’m talking about mice. Eeeek! One ran under my feet the other day and I felt like I was in a cartoon. I didn’t jump on a chair, but I did have to catch my breath and put on my battle gear.

Because I live in an old house, I’ve been plagued by mice for many years. Each fall when I see the signs, I think ugh, here we go again. This newsletter is going to make it sound like I’m really interested in mice. I’m not. I’m just interested in living without mice. Working in the kitchen is a drag when there are signs of mice everywhere.

I’ve decided to get smarter this year about how I deal with mice. And because mice are a universal problem and can cause potential health risks, I thought you might be interested too.

How to Tell if You have Mice

Your cat stares into the corner for hours.
You see black “rice” on the counter tops, in cabinets, and just about everywhere.
There is one pinto bean on the floor which apparently fell from heaven.
You find a hole chewed in your Cheerios cereal box.
You think you see something running behind the stove out of the corner of your eye, but you dismiss it as just “seeing things”
You pick up your bag of rice to make dinner, and the contents pour onto the floor through the little mouse holes
You hear a high pitched squeak but dismiss it as just “hearing things.”
You see little piles of grains on your counters and shelves and more black “rice” everywhere you look.

We like to look the other way when we see these signs. At least I do because acknowledging them means baiting and setting messy, fussy, yucky traps. And then if I’m lucky, after a moment of silence it means putting the dead mouse in a little baggie and walking it straight out to the trash so it doesn’t stink up the indoor trash. Sometimes it means throwing the whole mousetrap away because it’s just too gross to handle or the mouse won’t “let go.” Is anybody else out there cringing and making a face besides me?

Why Wage War on Mice?

Besides the fact that mice are pests, there are other more serious reasons why we want to keep them outside:

They can carry disease and parasites.
They can damage your home and property.
They contaminate food.
They’re dirty. In a year, one mouse produces up to 18,000 droppings. And it will deposit hundreds of micro-droplets of urine every day as it marks its trails. For me that’s reason enough to make war on the cute little varmints.

Out of Denial and into Action

To help us get out of denial and act quickly, it’s helpful to read about the habits of mice and how fast they can get out of hand. For example, by the time you see signs of them, they’ve already gotten married, set up housekeeping and have found all of the sources of food they need.

Did you know that mice can breed 35 days after they’re born? No wonder they take over so fast. Although they usually live only about a year, if all their offspring lived and reproduced at a similar rate, one pair of house mice could produce a population of more than 500 mice in one year. This is a good reason to act quickly at the first signs of them.

More Mouse Facts I Found Interesting – skip down past the stuff about rats….to read about mice

http://www.rodentcontrol-supplies.com/rat_facts.htm#mousefacts

Job #1 – Prevent Mice from Entering Your House

The best way to control mice is to prevent their entry. They can enter through very small openings (1/4 inch in diameter or larger). Popular entry points include foundations, around garage doors, utility pipes and wires passing into the house, and basement windows that do not seal correctly.

I’ve heard that they won’t chew through steel wool, so I’m going to stock up on that and caulk this weekend. Any other tips for plugging mouse holes in and around the house?

More Prevention Tips

http://www.victorpest.com/mouseratclean.htm

Tips on Successfully Eliminating Mice

Because mice have poor eye site, they run along walls. So put your traps perpendicular to the wall for better action.
Mice are curious and will notice when new things enter their environment. They will also ignore things that have been there a long time. So if you aren’t catching mice, move the traps around.
Use more than one method – e.g., prevention, traps, sound devices.
Start early before they’ve had a chance to multiply.
Plug the mouse holes in and around your house.
Don’t overbate the traps. The less bait you use, the harder the mouse has to work, and the more likely they are to trip the trigger. Suggested bait: cheese, bread and butter, small nuts, cherry pits, oatmeal, sunflower or similar seeds. Mixed peanut butter and oatmeal, gumdrops.

A Better Mouse Trap

I did a Google search on this term “building a better mouse trap” and 168,000 results came up. Popular subject. Yes?

In my local discount store I talked with a couple of other customers and the sales person about which products work best. I don’t use poison because the mouse can die between the walls and stink everything up and because one of my cats was poisoned by a neighbor’s poison stored in his garage. So I am interested in other products that work well.

I found a cool new trap by Victor that is much easier to set and bait than the old types I used to use. Here’s a picture of it:

You just squeeze one end to set or release it without having to handle the messy parts or snap your fingers off. I love that. I got a better deal at the discount store than the price listed here.

Here are various kinds of traps and how to bait them:

http://www.victorpest.com/mouse_instructions.htm

FAQs About Mice and Mousetraps >> here

If you’re plagued by mice, I hope that you’ve gotten some ideas from this article.

Want to Use this Article for Your Web Page?

You may publish this article free of charge in your ezine, web site, ebook or print publication so long as the copyright notice and the author information below are included without change:

Cheryl Miller is a wellness expert and life coach. She specializes in helping people take action to live a healthy, happy life . . . in this lifetime.

Let us know where any of these articles have been published by sending an email to us with a link to your publication.

Leave a comment

If Your Refrigerator is a Wreck, Your Diet Probably Is Too

Nov 25th, 2006 home title

When we’re hungry we eat whatever is in our cabinets and refrigerator. If there’s nothing there to eat, we go out. Even if there IS great food to eat in our refrigerators, but it appears hard to cook, hard to get to, or unappealing in any other way, that’s a barrier to eating at home.

We can eliminate some very big barriers to cooking and eating at home by better managing our refrigerators and freezers – our main healthy eating environments.

10 Common Refrigerator Problems and What to Do about Them

Do you have any of these refrigerator/freezer problems?

You don’t know what’s beyond the first layer in your refrigerator. The first layer is a united front, and you’re not going past it.

Solution: Nobody likes to look into a refrigerator crammed with stuff. It’s awkward to dig around to see what’s in the back. You forget what’s back there, and it frequently gets spoiled. So don’t buy so much stuff in the first place. Buy only what you can use for 1 or 2 weeks. And check your refrigerator contents frequently moving stuff from the back up to the front. In the grocery store business they call this “facing” the product – moving inventory from the back of the shelves to the front. It’s a great practice for your refrigerator too.

Also, when you get home from buying groceries, make a list of what you bought and post it on the refrigerator so you’ll remember what you have. Or do what I do (because it’s fun), and make a mind map of your groceries. I also put a quick reference meal planning box on my mind map. See a sample mind map of groceries and meal ideas here.
Your refrigerator is in bad shape (drippy, chippie, moldy, warpey, tiny) and you don’t even like to open the door.
Solution: Not everybody can afford to buy a new refrigerator. But did you know that old yucky refrigerators aren’t nearly as energy efficient as new ones? And if having a yucky refrigerator keeps you from eating at home, you’re spending a lot of money eating out – money that could be saved to buy a new refrigerator.

When you do have the cash or your old one finally gasps its last breath, consider making the investment in a new fridge rather than a used one. Because of the energy efficiency issue, this is the one appliance that you should consider buying new. Of course if your budget is tiny and somebody has a nice upgraded refrigerator for $50, take it with a smile.
Your refrigerator is a very expensive composting bin.
Solution: We all have composted plenty of food, even I have. And it bugs me when I do it. What a waste of food. But life happens, we get busy or disorganized, and food management fails.

If you need a little motivation to stay on top of your produce, remember that you paid $3.50 for that broccoli, $6.50 for those cherries, and $5.00 for those avacados And make a plan to use them. Do you make a weekly meal plan? If you’d like to give it a try, download this weekly meal planning sheet.
Your refrigerator is stocked with odds and ends, none of which looks like a meal.
Solution: Again, the solution is to plan meals. Even if you don’t know what you will be eating for every meal, you can do general planning to know that you’ll eat salad most days, you’ll have tacos one day, and a casserole another day. That’s a good start for ad-lib planning if you’re not a big meal planner.
The only things in your refrigerator are condiments, ice cream, and beer.
Solution: This is a sign that you either live alone, don’t like to cook, don’t know how to cook, you travel and are always on the road, or you are extremely busy and eat all of your meals out.

How about starting with a small change? Even if you don’t eat all of your meals at home, you can dramatically improve your nutrition, save money, and reduce calories by cooking and eating at home. See if any of the following tips sound good to you. Get a good, simple cookbook, take a cooking class, buy frozen meals that are rated high in nutrition, or decide to get skilled at one kind of meal like breakfast.

Stock your fridge with things you’ll need for breakfast. When you get comfortable with that, branch out to making healthy sandwiches. Once you’ve mastered that, start making healthy snacks or dinner. Add to your skills gradually.
Your freezer is so full, you can’t possibly squeeze one more thing in there. You don’t have a clue what’s in there.
Solution: Sounds like you just put things in there and rarely take them out to eat them. This is a common problem. If you freeze only things that you loved the first time (leftovers), you’ll be more likely to eat them. If they were just so-so the first time, give them to the dog rather than freeze them because they’ll taste even less yummy after freezing. Use this handy “freezer content” sheet to keep track of what you put in your freezer (and how long it’s been there).

Freeze things that are appealing to you that you know you’ll eat. Your list might look something like this: rice and bean burritos, lasagna, soups, fruits, your favorite frozen veggies, etc. That’s what my list looks like.
Your freezer hasn’t been opened in so long, you didn’t notice that your ice cubes have been “defrosted” in the trays (meaning they’re empty).
Solution: Hey who needs ice cubes anyway? I never use them. But it IS a sign that you’ve neglected your freezer. Start by taking everything out and putting it on the counter. If you haven’t written dates on anything and you can’t remember when you put the food in there, toss them in the trash can. If it’s fruits or vegetables you can safely put them in your compost pile. Never put animal products (meats, yogurt, cheese) in compost piles because they attract critters.

You’ll be more likely to use things from your freezer if you plant to use them when you do your weekly meal planning. Use the weekly meal planning sheets described earlier. Foods will taste better and be safer to eat if you mark the date on the package and eat them in a reasonable amount of time. I keep a sharpie in the drawer next to the freezer for easy access. Be sure to fill out the freezer contents sheet when you put something in or take something out of the freezer.
Your refrigerator is full of beautiful fruits and vegetables. They looked so great at the store, you decided to buy all of them.
Solution: Actually, you might wonder why this is a problem. If you buy too much produce, you can’t possibly eat all of it before it goes bad – unless you’re a rabbit or have a family. I know about this one because I’ve succumbed to the beauty of the colorful pyramids of produce many times. It’s hard to resist a deal on a case of mangos. But how many mango smoothies can one person eat in a week?

If you overbuy produce frequently, you might like to try planning your meals for a week and see if that helps. Use the weekly meal planning sheet.
Sandwiches are a favorite at your house, but it takes forever to drag out all the stuff you need to make one. It feels easier to go for fast food instead.
Solution: If you have favorite meals or snacks that require taking tons of things out of the refrigerator, consider grouping them in a narrow plastic tub. You can take the whole tub of sandwich fixings and dressings out, set it on the counter, whip up your sandwich, and easily put it all back in one motion. Simple dimple.
You have everything you need to make great salads, but you just don’t have the time to make
them. Next week, you’ll be hauling the slimy green dripping contents out to the compost pile (hopefully you have a compost pile).

Solution: As soon as you get home from the grocery store, wash and prepare your veggies for easy access when you’re ready to make a meal. If you make lots of salads, , wash and spin the lettuce (using a salad spinner) and bag it or divide it into several large salad plastic bowls – ready for you when you get home or ready to take to work for lunch.

Wash and cut up the major salad ingredients and spin the moisture off so they last longer. Make up a week’s worth of veggies bagged to go. You can put dressing in a small plastic tub with a tight fitting lid for dipping – if you can afford the calories or if dressing will encourage you to eat raw veggies. It works for me.

Having a tidy, organized refrigerator and freezer will make meal planning and preparation much simpler and more pleasing. And having an idea of what you will be cooking and eating for the week can help save you time and money. Don’t forget to use these handy worksheets.

Worksheets

Mind Map of Groceries/Meal Ideas [PDF]
Freezer Contents Sheet [PDF]
Weekly Meal Planner [PDF]

These forms are PDFs so you’ll need the free Adobe Reader. If you have problems downloading, go here.

Take Action – Nothing Changes Without Action

Use the worksheets provided to get on top of food management and meal planning.
Find ways to add more whole foods to your diet: fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes, and whole grains.

Want to Use this Article for Your Web Page?

You may publish this article free of charge in your ezine, web site, ebook or print publication so long as the copyright notice and the author information below are included without change:

Cheryl Miller is a wellness expert and life coach. She specializes in helping people take action to live a healthy, happy life . . . in this lifetime.

Let us know where any of these articles have been published by sending an email to us with a link to your publication.

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Match Your Meals with the Time You Have Available

Nov 25th, 2006 home title

One of the reasons we groan and say “Let’s go out to eat” is that we think cooking takes a lot of time. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t. So let’s take a look at how long it really takes.

Basic Truths – Not all cooking is slow, and not all preparation is fast.

In the Healthy Fast Food Kitchen our focus will be on meals that require very little hands-on time and usually don’t follow a recipe per se. The foods may be hot or cold, take a long or a short time to cook, but they will require less of your devoted, focused, one-on-one time.

Many of recipes you will get here will be good candidates for preparing large batches and freezing. The more complicated menus will be recommended for once-a-month cooking or big batches. Sound good?

Make a Master List of Your Favorite Meals

If you can get really clear on several basic menus and make a master list of them to refer to frequently, your time spent in the kitchen will be dramatically reduced. You can learn to choose your menus based on a few simple, obvious truths.

To create this master plan, choose meals that are quick prep, quick cook or quick prep and EAT. Take a minute to think of favorite meals that fit this description, and jot them down on the Match Your Meals with Time worksheet. The payoff for taking this time now is that when you’re in a hurry and your mind goes blank, you can look at your worksheet for quick meal ideas. Here are a few distinctions that may or may not be obvious to you.

Cooking is something we do more of in the winter when we want hot food. We cook things like soup, roasts, casseroles, pasta dishes, hot breakfast cereals, quiche, crock pot meals, etc. (Some of these foods favor using recipes, longer cooking times and some of them can be adlibbed and cooked very quickly).

Preparing is something we do more of in the summer when we want lighter, cooler foods. We prepare things like sandwiches, raw veggie trays and side dishes, summer soups like gazpacho, salads (fruit, pasta, vegetable), appetizers, fruit desserts. These dishes favor more raw, quick prep styles and are usually served cold. They may or may not require recipes, depending on how experiential you are. I rarely use recipes.

Do Meals that Are Cooked or Prepared Take Longer? Neither. Some meals can be cooked very easily and quickly. And some prepared foods can be made quickly and easily. Concentrate on building a repertoire of these kinds of simple meals if you’re a cook on the run. I’ll give you many ideas throughout the year.

If you see a long, recipe, that’s a clue that it will be time intensive to make. You’ll probably need to buy special ingredients which will require special shopping trips; you’ll need to study the recipe, make it, test it, and tweak it. Save recipes like that for weekend or special occasion cooking. Or avoid them all together.

Good food (even great food) doesn’t have to take very much of your time to cook or prepare. Spend most of your time savoring and chewing it. You’ll be well ahead with this strategy.

When determining your Master Meal Plan Repertoire, think of the total time invested in the meal but then break that down into how much time you spend directly interacting with the food (preping and assembling) vs. time spent waiting for it to cook. Remember you can do other things, including putting your feet up, while you’re waiting for it to cook.

Here’s a simple sandwich that just takes minutes
to prepare and it is superb.

Awesome Summer Sandwich

(avocado, sliced veggies, and great bread)

To me, this sandwich is amazingly good. Oh, I wish I had one now. And it’s good for you too.

Bread

Start with whole grain bread, bun, or tortilla – and I don’t mean caramel colored white bread. Read the label to see if the first ingredient says whole wheat, whole oats, or whole rye, corn meal, etc.

Sandwich Spread

I use a thin smear of Light Mayo or Nayonnaise (soy mayonnaise) on one slice of bread (omit this step if you are trying to lose weight, don’t like it, or just don’t need it to enjoy it).

What’s Inside

Thin sliced cucumber
Thin sliced tomatoes (in Kansas they’re in season now. Marvelous.)
½ sliced ripe avocado (put it in paper bag to ripen if it is still hard)
Thin slices of sweet onion (e.g., purple, Vidalia)

Note: For my tastes these four ingredients are awesome, so I wouldn’t want to mess up the perfect blend by adding anything else. But I know your tastes are probably different. You might want to try additional or different ingredients. Here are some suggestions.

Optional or Additional Toppers

Add or substitute any other combination of sliced veggies you like:

Radishes
Green, yellow, or red bell peppers
Zucchini or summer squash
Mushrooms

Packing it for Lunch

If you want to take this sandwich to work for lunch or pack it for your kids, wrap the bread separately in a plastic zip lock baggie*, a plastic container, or in wax paper (environmentally correct).

In a separate container, stack up the sliced veggies. Assemble at lunch time. It just takes a minute and the bread doesn’t get soggy that way.

Environmental Tip*
For sandwiches, I like to use plastic zip-lock baggies, but I wash and reuse them many times. I wouldn’t mind getting encouragement to use waxed paper if you’re up to encouraging me. (Later note: Actually, just saying that encouraged me. I used waxed paper last night to wrap rice and bean burritos I’m freezing, and it worked great. I’ll give you that burrito recipe next month.

The Sound of One Hand Clapping
I love this sandwich, but did you? Did your children like it? Write to me and tell me what you thought. Inquiring minds want to know. Am I all wet, or do you agree that this is an awesome summer sandwich?

Best Healthy Frozen Meals
When you’re in a big hurry, you may want to have a small supply of healthy entrees in the freezer. See how several of the top ones have been rated by Prevention.com

Want to Use this Article for Your Web Page?

You may publish this article free of charge in your ezine, web site, ebook or print publication so long as the copyright notice and the author information below are included without change:

Cheryl Miller is a wellness expert and life coach. She specializes in helping people take action to live a healthy, happy life . . . in this lifetime.

Let us know where any of these articles have been published by sending an email to us with a link to your publication.

Leave a comment

Google as a Health Resource

Nov 22nd, 2006 home title

This morning I received an interesting question:

I just read an article about cooking with applesauce instead of oil, but it did not give any details, it just stated that it was healthier. Can you really cook stuff with applesauce as a subitute for veggie oil?

The answer is yes, definitely. To provide this person with a fast, full answer, I did a Google.com search for “applesauce instead of oil” and got a long list of results.

Any time you have a health question or any question for that matter, try doing a Google search for the answer. You’ll be amazed at the results. Of course, you need to use your judgment and common sense when reading through the responses. There are kookie ideas out there as well as awesome resources.

So here’s the results of the search I did for applesauce vs. cooking oil:

http://tinyurl.com/y6yknl

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« Previous Entries |

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Do you have any of these refrigerator/freezer problems?

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Take Action – Nothing Changes Without Action

Want to Use this Article for Your Web Page?

Basic Truths – Not all cooking is slow, and not all preparation is fast.

Make a Master List of Your Favorite Meals

Here’s a simple sandwich that just takes minutes to prepare and it is superb.

Awesome Summer Sandwich

Packing it for Lunch

Want to Use this Article for Your Web Page?

Here’s a simple sandwich that just takes minutes
to prepare and it is superb.