Category Archives: Health

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 4

Good evening!

Welcome to week 4, of the Chunky Dunker’s Club!!! Can you believe it has been FOUR weeks already??

Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

Tonight’s topic: Keizen or Constant and Never Ending Improvement!!

At work today, I had an 8 hour class on the Japanese concept of Kaizen (pronouned Ky-zen), which literally means “Good Change”. The basic concept of Kaizen is the idea of making minute changes to your processes to create a different outcome than where you may already be heading. Otherwise, constant and never ending improvement through baby steps!! I LOVE THAT!! I thought that this would be PERFECT to apply to our goal of getting fit and healthy.

I had studied Kaizen as it relates to fitness in the past, and one of the things I had read was, if you are having troubles exercising, do one thing – one small thing, just to get the ball of momentum rolling. This doesn’t have to be a big action, I would actually encourage you to do one VERY TINY action. For me, it is simply the act of putting my tennis shoes on, as if I am going to go for a walk. That’s it! Not the walk, just putting on the shoes for the walk. If today was successful, for tomorrow, I might make it my Kaizen goal to put on my tennis shoes, and then add a 5 minute walk. Nothing too big, or scary!!! I can commit to TINY ACTION!! If today doesn’t work, try something else, but just keep trying ANYTHING!

For some of you I know that you might be thinking that exercise is not an option, so maybe your TINY ACTION might be to raise your arms above your head 1 time! Can you do it twice tomorrow? How about 3 times? If you find that it 3 times is too much, then go back to 1 time, until eventually you ARE able to do it 3 times, 5 times, 10 times, etc!!

You can apply Kaizen to your eating habits too! Maybe today you decide you will have diet soda instead of regular, or maybe you will get really brave and have none! Maybe you can eat one more serving of vegetables than you did yesterday, or maybe substitute one unhealthy ingredient out for one healthy one instead. Do you see what I mean!?!?! We can all DO THAT!! 😉

The idea behind this is that if you do enough TINY HEALTHY ACTIONS every day/week/month you will EASILY be on your way to your most AUTHENTICALLY healthy and fit self!! I fully believe that! I don’t always act on it, but that is what we are all here for – to SUPPORT ONE ANOTHER!!!

This week, my commitment to you, is that I am going to carry a small notebook with me every where I go, and ANY TIME I DO ANYTHING that is good for me, or promotes a healthy and fit lifestyle, I will write it down and share it with you every evening! How does that sound?? I would encourage you all to share any TINY ACTIONS or KAIZEN TASKS that you may be taking any and every day! They will quickly add up, and you will have LOADS of proof that YOU CAN GET FIT AND HEALTHY!!!

I dare you to literally take that FIRST TINY STEP! I would love to hear in the comment section what that TINY step might be!! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!!

Before I go, I was hoping to share a health-ified recipe with you this evening. I “borrowed” this off of one of my FAVORITE sites, Eating Well. They have all sorts of GREAT recipe ideas, and I would HIGHLY recommend going out there and checking out their site!!

This recipe is from their article, 10 Spring Diners in 30 Minutes or Less – you know how much Mamma likes getting in and out of the kitchen as quickly as possible!!! 😉

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Aquavit Seasonings

The seasonings traditionally used to make aquavit—a Northern European distilled spirit—vary with every recipe, but they usually include pork-friendly seasonings like caraway, cumin and fennel-so why not combine the two? This easy, pretty dish is great hot off the grill or made ahead and chilled.

8 servings

Active Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes (including 30 minutes marinating time)

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
  • 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
  • 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1/2 bay leaf
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
  • 2 1-pound pork tenderloins, trimmed

Preparation

  1. Combine caraway, coriander, fennel, cumin and bay leaf in a spice grinder or clean coffee grinder; process to a fine powder. Add salt and pepper.
  2. Place 2 tablespoons of the spice rub in a small bowl. Combine the remaining rub with dill in another small bowl.
  3. Place 1 tenderloin on a piece of plastic wrap. To butterfly it, hold your knife parallel to the cutting board and slice through the meat to within a half inch of the opposite side. Open like a book. Cover with more plastic wrap and gently pound with a mallet or heavy skillet to 1/2-inch thickness. Repeat with the second tenderloin.
  4. Spread half of the dill-spice mixture down the center of each flattened tenderloin. Roll the pork, jelly-roll style, to create 2 long cylinders; tie kitchen string around each in several spots to keep them rolled. Rub all over with the reserved (no-dill) spice rub. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 6 hours.
  5. Preheat grill to medium-high or preheat the broiler.
  6. Oil the grill rack (see Tip) (if broiling, line a broiler pan with foil and oil the foil). Grill or broil the tenderloins, turning several times, until just cooked through and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers 145°F, 14 to 18 minutes.
  7. Transfer the tenderloins to a clean cutting board, tent with foil and let rest for 5 minutes before carving into 1/2-inch slices.

Tips & Notes

  • Make Ahead Tip: Prepare the spice rub (Step 1) up to 5 days ahead; store in an airtight container. Cover and refrigerate rolled tender loins for up to 6 hours. If serving cold, grill or broil the pork, cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. | Equipment: Kitchen string
  • Tip: To oil the grill rack, oil a folded paper towel, hold it with tongs and rub it over the rack. (Do not use cooking spray on a hot grill.) When grilling delicate foods like tofu and fish, it is helpful to spray the food with cooking spray.

Nutrition

Per serving: 130 calories; 3 g fat ( 1 g sat , 1 g mono ); 74 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 24 g protein; 1 g fiber; 207 mg sodium; 475 mg potassium.

Exchanges: 3 1/2 lean meat

WOW! I am sorry for the SUPER long posting tonight! YOU KNOW ME!!! Anyway, I look forward to hearing how all of you are doing this week with your health and fitness goals, your thoughts on Kaizen, and if you might try any TINY action tomorrow! and if anyone has just stumbled onto this blog, please feel to join in on the commenting, this is not a closed group!! – THE MORE THE MERRIER!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!! 😉

Recipe Pic, Week 4

Happy Tuesday!

Good evening!

I am at home, by myself for the second night in a row, and it looks like it will be that way all week! My sweetie is helping our sis, Nette, build on an addition on to their house. They are hoping to have it done by the end of the week. I am not sure if it will be, but they are making some serious headway. My niece, Megan, keeps saying, “we are all squished – I can’t wait to get a living room.” I understand completely, my living room is probably my FAVORITE room in the house. It is where most of my fiction books are stored!! 😉

Anyway, work was pretty good today, we are doing a lot of interviewing for a few positions open in my group, so that can be a little draining. I find that it is difficult to find someone for our type of positions, since we are so specialized, and the job description really sounds scary – even to us who are actually doing the job!  I am hoping we have found a good candidate today, and that everything works out. They will need a lot of training, but then again, ANYONE we hire would!! I DID!!!

Anyway, that is enough about that!! As for my house on a diet? So far, so good!! When I got home today, I realized I was able to make quite a big dent in the cleaning yesterday, and tonight I am happy to say that the house is pretty clean!!! Jason even helped me change the bedding last night, which was WONDERFUL!! I just love slipping in between freshly cleaned, crisp, cool sheets!!! AAAAAAH!! That is the LIFE!! 😉

Tonight I am going to write a letter to our sponsor child in Mozambique! I had set out a goal for myself to write her at least one letter every month, and I HONESTLY forgot all about sending her one in February!! SAD, I KNOW!!! But I am determined to have a letter sent out tomorrow!! I will have to find something from the goody basket that I can slip into her package. We are able to mail small things that she might enjoy, like stickers, and what not, so I try to keep a basket full of all kinds of goodies that are ready to be sent at a moments’ notice!! I am sure whatever I choose she will love it!!! 😉

I have started a cross-stitch project last evening! I am wanting to have a homemade Christmas this year. I am not sure how that will go over with everyone, but I want to see if I can get more creative in my gift giving. I can’t really tell you too much about it because I know that the future recipient of this gift reads my blog, and I want it to be a surprise!!

But, talking about crafting, I am really wanting to learn how to quilt! I would LOVE to have a homemade quilt for our bed, and maybe even make future quilts for others! Wouldn’t that be lovely??? I think there is something very special and intriguing about sleeping underneath a handmade quilt. Especially if it was made by someone who knows and loves you! I am not sure there is anything more precious than that! I will have to do some research!

In the meantime, I am going to be looking up some how-to’s on how to press flowers. I would like to go on a nature walk this week and press a bunch of beautiful flowers, and leaves that I might find! I think that framed, they would make such a fun and personal way to remember  special location, like Silver Creek Falls, or the Oregon coast!! The only problem I will end up having is trying to find wall space to display those treasures! Oh well, I am sure I can find someone’s walls to use for hanging them on!!

I apologize if my post seems to be rambling on a little bit tonight! It is kind of the state of my mind at the moment, I am tired and revved at the same time! I didn’t sleep well last night, but it feels much too early to go to bed yet. Well, if that is the biggest problem I am facing right now, then life is pretty sweet isn’t it???

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

Note to Chunky Dunkers: Don’t forget that tomorrow night is the Chunky Dunker’s Club. I can’t wait to hear how everyone is doing!! I am going to see if I can find a yummy recipe to share! Please feel free to do the same!!! See you tomorrow night!!! GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!! 😉

Another Lazy Sunday!

Good morning!

It looks like it is going to be another lazy Sunday around my house today! My hubby is still sick, but apparently going to fight it, until I can finally convince him to get back into bed!! The dogs are happy, fed, and snuggled up against my side while I blog this morning – I really love that.

It is rather quite this morning at my place. The only sound going right now, is the sound of the heater blowing, which is kind of nice when your week is full of crazy hububb-iness!! The sky is the limit for what I can do today, but I think I am leaning towards going swimming, to give my body a good stretch and workout!

Talking about taking care of my body, well – I have been tracking my food with a daily calorie goal in mind, and for me, that is going to be my bread and butter for getting fit and healthy. It seems to be the only thing that makes the scale tip in my favor – which really makes this girl HAPPY!!! 😉 Water has always been something I like to drink, but I find that when I drink AT LEAST 2 liters a day – OR MORE, that is when my scale likes to cooperate with me too!!! So I am trying REALLY HARD to stay on top of that!! As for exercise, right now SWIMMING is my saving grace. It is the only place in this world where I feel not only weightless, but graceful!! I can do things in the water that I could NEVER do out in the real world – not at the weight and size that I am. With the addition of my friends and family for support, I know that fitness is something that I can and will achieve!!!

OK, I am not sure where that tangent came from, but let’s talk about books for a moment! I would love nothing more than to spend a few hours reading today, but I am having trouble finding a good book worth diving head-first into, to be enveloped inside of it’s delicious story!! This is soooo ironic because my library consists of over 1000 books from which to choose from, and most of which I have never even have read yet. Part of my problem is my self-appointed guilt that I feel whenever I start to read a book and don’t like it – for some reason I feel like I have to read the entire book, no matter how much I feel like I am just trudging on! In some kooky way I feel like I am somehow being disrespectful to the book! OK, TOTALLY CRAZY, I KNOW!!! LOL!! 😉 I will have to just suck it up today, and start reading. I just know I have quite a few gems in this collection that, once I find, I will be kicking myself for not having found them sooner!!!

Another thing I was just thinking of, was my sis, Nette, is remodeling her house. Most of the family is helping her, except me. You see, everyone knows that if you want design ideas, decorating tips & hints, a shopping buddy, I am your girl, BUT if you need some manual labor of any kind, you might as well call someone else (sorry, sis!!!). 😉 This may stem from the fact that I NEVER like to get my hands dirty! This has been a long standing joke in my family! Ever since I can remember I have HATED to get my hands dirty!!! My dad says, that I could have been covered from head to toe in all sort of mud, dirt and grime, but if my hands got dirty, I would come running over, crying, until someone wiped them off and then I would run off to play some more with the rest of my filthy self! All of the witnessing adults would look at each other as if they had just come into contact with an alien species, and laugh their heads off!!! Well, as much as I hate to admit it, I STILL HATE to get my hands dirty – TO THIS DAY!!! I am not sure what that is all about, but I have a nephew who is EXACTLY THE SAME WAY!! So, I am TOTALLY SURE that it must be something genetic!! Well, at least that is my story, and I AM STICKING TO IT, well, as long as my hands don’t get dirty in the process!! LOL! 🙂

Thanks for sticking with me this morning, as I see my post today is pretty random!! Now you have a sampling of what it is like to be inside of my head – scary right??? LOL! 😉

Have a FABULOUS day!!! 😉

A Saturday Evening Update!

Good evening!

Well, sort of!

I really have had a GREAT day, but the same can not be said for my sweetie – he is sick with, what I think could be the flu!! I never do very well when he is sick. You see, he is the person who makes this house fun! He sees humor in almost everything and his joy is contagious!! When he is sick, I almost don’t know what to do with myself. There is this sense, that I put upon myself, to walk around on egg shells and be extremely quiet, and try to make him as comfortable as possible!!! Just so he can get better and bring the joy back into our home!!! LOL!! NO PRESSURE, HONEY!!! LOL!! 😉

So, he is sick! I have picked up some medication, and root beer popsicles for him; his only two requests, and he quickly drifted back off to sleep! I have been quietly sitting next to him, watching a movie on my mini laptop, with headphones on – The Stone of Destiny. VERY GREAT movie by the way!!!  and now that the movie is over, I am at a loss as to what to do next. How sad is that? I have a few magazines I can read, ok, really a lot more than a few, but it is just too quiet in the house for 8 o’clock on a Saturday night!!! Even the dogs know that “daddy” is sick, so they won’t leave his side for anything – not even when I went downstairs to EAT MY DINNER!!! I know, hard to believe, isn’t it??? 😉

Anyway, as sad and pathetic I sound, even to myself, I realize I am just going to have to hunker down and keep myself busy. He can only get better so quickly you know? But REALLY, if he COULD JUST HURRY!?!?!?! I would really appreciate that!! 😉

Maybe he is right, I may have no patience…but that will have to wait for another blog posting!!! LOL!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!!

The Chunky Dunker’s Club, Week 3

Good evening!

Welcome to our 3rd weekly meeting of the The Chunky Dunker’s Club!

Every week I post a new Chunky Dunker’s article ever Wednesday evening, and you have the opportunity to comment, and cheer each other as you each go through your journey to get fit and healthy!!! We will discuss hints, tips, and ideas on losing weight, staying motivated, and achieving your fitness goals, whether that is to lose 5 pounds, to do 10 sit-ups, or just incorporate some healthy habits into your daily life!!

Tonight’s topic is Finding your own personal motivation:

I have to confess! I had every intention of doing all the right things this week; eat right, exercise, drink water, meditate, take time for myself, etc. etc. etc. I found that what actually happened is that I just kinda dabbled at everything. Not too bad, but not to good either!! You know what I mean? I walked once or twice, or I drank water on this day, but not so much on that day – I think I realized that I haven’t yet come up with a compelling reason to get into shape. I know I want to, but why do I want to??? I want a reason that when I think of IT JAZZES ME and gets me excited about doing all of these healthy actions that I may not necessarily want to do. You know, something that makes me WANT to GET UP AND DO SOMETHING!!!

So, I thought a little bit about it, and I decided to write one paragraph that describes what I want to do/be/have now that I am fit (dreaming in the present tense). Here is my paragraph:

I have had such an AMAZING time on this health and fitness journey that I have been on for the past year. I can’t imagine EVER going back to my old life!!! I have been able to do and accomplish more than I ever dreamed possible! If you would have asked me a year ago if I thought I would ever be able to run a mile again, I probably would have laughed out loud. Now, not only can I run a mile, I can actually run 2 in one go. ISN’T THAT AMAZING??? The new me can now keep up with all of our nieces and nephews, which has made getting together with them so much more fun! I feel better now then I did as a teenager!! I am stronger, more flexible, and have WAAAAAY more energy than I thought I would EVER have. My sweetie and I are like young lovers again and we are preparing for our trip to Paris. HONEY, we are going to be WALKING FOOLS when we get there! There is going to be NO STOPPING US!!! We seem to be able to walk for HOURS without puttering out, just ask the old us if that were even possible, UHM….NO!!!! You could have NEVER said that about the old us!!! I am really proud of all of our accomplishments! I can’t WAIT to see WHAT IS NEXT IN STORE FOR US!!!

When I read this paragraph, it TOTALLY motivates me to get up, to make the hard choices, and to not procrastinate!!!! I know that I am worth this, and so are all of my friends and family. Those with us now, and those to come.

Your assignment this week is to write your own paragraph. Write your paragraph as if you have already achieved your goals, it should motivate, inspire you, and cause you to WANT to take ACTION!! I can’t wait to read them all!!! I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!!!

GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!!
😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!! 😉

The Perfect Sunday!

Good evening!

I have quite a lovely Sunday, matter-of-fact it has been a dang-near-perfect Sunday!

I got to sleep in, then immediately continued reading this REALLY good book, “The Discovery of Witches”, until I finished it. WHOO! HOO!!

“The Discovery of Witches” is about a well known historian, Diane Bishop, who because of the murder of her parents when she was young has turned her back on her heritage and doesn’t want to have anything to do with the fact that she comes from a long line of powerful witches. Not to mention the fact that she could have the potential to be a very powerful witch herself. Things change when she discovers a very old, magically bound book in Oxford University’s library, and unknowingly uses magic to open it. In opening this mysterious book, which has been missing for over the last century, she has inadvertently drawn attention to herself from every whitch, vampire, and daemon who will stop at nothing to figure out what powers she posses to be able to open this sacred text, only she doesn’t know how she did it herself. There is only one who can help her discover who she truly is, and that is a dark, brooding, 1500 year old vampire named, Matthew, but how can a witch and vampire coexist? Only determination of our hero and heroine, the help of some unlikely sources, and time will tell.

This book had the passion of the Twilight series, the mystery of the Harry Potter series, and even though this book did have a couple of slow spots, for the most part I remained on the edge of my seat wanting to see what happens next. There were a lot of ironic twists, and every time you were sure that all of the book’s secrets have been divulged, it would throw something new at you to absorb! FANTASTIC!!! I can not wait for the next book to come out.

After my morning of reading, I decided it was time to do something productive and I don’t get the opportunity to cook a lot, it is my husband’s kitchen after all, but today I just felt like I needed to get the desire to create something yummy out of my system! So, I put together, in our crock pot, a homemade chili recipe that I invented, which I was able to use some leftover grilled steak we had on hand. The chili has been cooking for a couple of hours and the house smells of grilled onions, chili, and honey cornbread now. Everything should be ready to eat in about a half an hour. Thank you, Baby for letting me dirty up your kitchen. I know that he is happy to have the night off!! 😉

Anyway, this evening I am going to get all of my laundry put away and see what I can do about clearing out some of my closet. After my shopping trip to Torrid yesterday, it just feels like the natural thing to do next!! One thing in, one thing out!

After that, if there is still some time left in our day, I am going to pull out my crochet and see if I can get back into working on some squares that I had been learning how to make and I am sure that my sweetie and I will watch the next episode of Bones.

I wish all weekends could be this productive and still this peaceful!! BLISS!!! 😉

Have a FABULOUS evening!!!

Note to Chunky Dunkers: Look for ways to slim down some of your favorite recipes. Swap full fat ingredients for lower fat substitutes, decrease the amount of salt you add to your food, try switching apple sauce for oils when baking, exchange white flour products for wheat, add pureed veggies into your soups. All of these little tricks will getting you eating healthier without you having to sacrifice any of your favorites. GO CHUNKY DUNKERS!!! 😉

Getting Back to the Basics!

Good evening!!

This seems like it has been a really crazy busy day!!! I have just gotten home from a REALLY REALLY LOOOONG day of work, a quick run to pick up a couple of my FAVORITE BOOKS OF ALL TIME, Pride and Prejudice, and The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (both in hardback, for my collection), and then dashed off to the grocery store to pick up dinner!!! WHEW!!!

Now I am going to confide something to you that maybe not a lot of people know about me, and for some of you this may be TMI, BUT, I LOVE when I get to come home, slip my shoes off at the door, get something cold to drink, tonight it is sugar free Orange Creme sparkling water, hang up the work blazer, and slip OUT OF MY UNDERWIRE BRA!!!! WHOOOO-BABY!!!! Now, I realize I might have just lost some of you there, but HONEY!! I am TELLING YOU!!! Talk about that feeling of, “LOOK, HONEY, I’M HOME!!” SAH-WHEET BLISS!! 😉

Thank you for letting me share that with you!! LOL! My sweetie and I are getting ready to sit down to a really late, light dinner, and then, of course, we are going to watch another episodes of Bones tonight. We are still playing catchup on NetFlix, and watch on average one episode per day, which is pretty good seeing they are about 45 minutes a piece!!

Hey, I just realized that if I wanted to, I could do exercises for 45 minutes while watching Bones every day, just to make sure that I get my time in. If I have time enough for Bones, I surely have time for EXERCISE!! What do you think???

I also picked up a copy of Martha Stewart Living this evening, I haven’t read through one of those in over 10 years – WOW! Has it really been that long!?? I remember when Jason and I were first married we didn’t have a lot of money for any kind of material things are for doing much more than finding free stuff to do, but if I was ever having a particularly rough week, my sweetie would manage to rustle up the funds to go pick up a copy of this magazine for me. I would just spend a whole lazy afternoon skimming through pictures, reading the articles, getting inspired, and dreaming about my future life that I just knew I was going to have – I may have to spend some time doing that this weekend!!! Simply DIVINE!!!

Have a FABULOUS evening!!

Note to Chunk Dunker’s: Take some time to reward yourself for a job well done today! Look for something that you did well, it could be large or small, and treat yourself to some pampering, time with a friend, maybe some flowers?? You will not only feel great about doing something good for yourself, but you will reinforce your positive behavior and it may subconsciously help you want to do that good action again!! GO CHUNKY DUNKER’S!!!

Quote of the Day!

The best six doctors anywhere
And no one can deny it
Are sunshine, water, rest, and air
Exercise and diet.
These six will gladly you attend
If only you are willing
Your mind they’ll ease
Your will they’ll mend
And charge you not a shilling.
~Nursery rhyme quoted by Wayne Fields, What the River Knows, 1990

I hope you are having a FABULOUS day!! ;-)