a BIG bump in the road

You know that old cliche "if you fall off the horse get back on".. we'll I've FALLEN AND I CAN'T GET UP! Live has tossed me a few dozen curve balls, I've hit all the bumps, bit into the pits, found all the pot holes .. you pick the cliche.. I'VE GOT IT COVERED! I allowed myself to veer off my road to fitness but I'm back up on that pony again and watch out Sea Biscuit HERE I COME.. and I'm not waiting until January 1st either.. SO PUT THAT in your pipe and smoke it, unless you're trying to kick that habit too, in that case chomp on THAT nicotine gum buddy!

I've also been true to my word and donated to our local women and children shelter for the days I didn't exercise. Somehow though that didn't feel like the "punishment" I'd intended it to be. A YOUNG woman, who couldn't be any older than 19, told the lady in front of me that she and her 9 month old had been sleeping in a public restroom at the same park my kids play baseball at. Sometimes it's not about what we can do for us it's about what we can do for each other.

I hope you all (all 4 of you that read this blog) have a wonderful, blessed, stress free and happy holiday season. I'll be back with you soon, yapping about how to keep on keeping on that road to health and fitness.

Dieting? Quit BSing Yourself....

One of my best friends is a personal trainer named Rachel. She is a wonderful gal but extremely honest about diet and fitness. She will tell you how it is! Rachel does a weekly feature on my blog (Hip As I Wanna Be) called "Fitness Friday."

I thought you guys might be interested in this week's feature on clean eating. Very compelling! (It is a two part post so be sure to check out both of them.)

Enjoy:

Stop BS’ing Yourself!

I’ll start off by admitting that I have extremely high standards when it comes to what I consider “eating well.” To me, eating well means eating very few, if any, pre-packaged processed or refined foods. It means eating a diet consisting of nutritious whole foods—plenty of fruits and vegetables, complex carbohydrates, lean protein, healthy fats, and of course, plenty of water. It means eating at regular intervals, not skipping meals, and not overindulging. In the fitness world, this is known as “clean eating”.

As a personal trainer and weight management intern at a hospital-based weight loss program, I talk to people all day about their diet and exercise choices. Most often I hear people say, “I don’t exercise at all but I eat really well” or “I exercise regularly and I eat well but I just can’t get this weight off.” How come then, if all these people are eating well, they are still so overweight?

I’m not trying to be crass, but I’ve got to call the BS flag.

CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE BLOG...

A Couple Of Thoughts On Getting Enough H2O & It's Benefits

I am THE WORST when it comes to drinking water. I just HATE it with a fiery passion. (The one thing I have in common with Oprah, besides reading.)

And now, one of the number one things my new diet has me doing is GUZZLIN’ H2O.

I spend all of my time in the bathroom these days. Productivity? Out the window.

Bodily functions aside, you can’t deny that getting your recommended water intake IS beneficial.

Not convinced about its importance? A little cynical? Fine then. Let me share with you some of the things I have learned about good ‘ole H2O...

Click here for the rest of the article.

Super and SLIM Suppers in a Slow Cooker!

I don't know about the weather over there, where you are, but here in Maryland we are fast approaching fall.. MY FAVORITE! I love to break out the crock pot and let the house slowly fill the with wonderful scent of a home cooked meal. I think it just feels more like home when you come in from a nippy day to the smell of lovin' from the oven!

But I don't want to let my affinity for a nice pot roast ruin the now TWENTY THREE pounds I've lost with a BIG hand from Smart For Life ! So I've scoured the web to find us some great and HEALTHY slow cooker suppers. I'm going to try and get a weekly one up but my other blog, Chicken Nuggets of Wisdom, is a demanding mistress! On a side note I HAVE been running daily or attending Yoga at the gym. I'll get those stats up soon. I hope you are all doing something FOR YOU every day. Even if it's just a nice cup of tea in a quite spot you are SO worth it! Lost some weight or found a bit of your mojo? Email me and you could write your own story here at Smart Girl (with linky love at my other blog as well). Now on to the nosh!

Chicken and Corn Chili

Ingredients

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 jalapeno chile, seeded and chopped
• 1-3/4 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes with jalapenos, drained
• 1-1/2 cups frozen corn, thawed
• 2 cans (15 ounces each) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons stone-ground cornmeal
• Shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions

1. In a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine onion, chicken, low-sodium broth, green pepper, jalapeno, 1-1/2 teaspoons of the cumin, 1/4 teaspoon of the cayenne and 1/4 teaspoon of the salt. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 6 hours.

2. Remove the chicken to a cutting board and allow to cool slightly. Shred the chicken and return it to the slow cooker with remaining 1/4 teaspoon each of the cumin and cayenne, and the tomatoes, corn and beans. Gently mash some of the beans against the side of the bowl to thicken the chili. Stir in the cornmeal and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let sit a few minutes to soften the cornmeal. Serve sprinkled with a little of the Monterey Jack cheese.

Nutrition Facts

Servings Per Recipe 6 servings

---

• Amount Per Serving
• Calories 287
• Total Fat (g) 3
• Saturated Fat (g) 1
• Cholesterol (mg) 45
• Sodium (mg) 736
• Carbohydrate (g) 38
• Fiber (g) 9
• Protein (g) 27

(thanks to Parents on line for this lovely meal)

Talkin' Turkey

With the fall sneaking in now and then, as summer hangs on here and there.. I start thinking about FOOD! Yep I have a thing for it. That's kind of why I'm here no? I love to cook, eat and all that stuff in the fall. There is just something about the smell of a turkey cooking, or bread, cookies and the like that just makes home feel more like home.

But that doesn't mean I have to eat 2 dozen snickerdooles or a deep fried Turkey. I found this FUN new way to do Turkey over at Food TV by the Food Network. Give it a go, it's lower in calories and fat than almost anything I can think of for a quick dinner.

Turkey Souvlaki with Garlic-Yogurt Sauce


* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 4 reserved turkey burgers
* 1 teaspoon allspice
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 cup lowfat plain yogurt
* 1/4 cup grated cucumber
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder
* 8 pieces lettuce
* 8 pita pockets (preferably the "pillowy" pockets that are slightly thicker than traditional pita pockets)

Directions

Heat large skillet over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of oil. Break turkey burgers up into small pieces and add pieces to skillet. Add allspice, cumin, and oregano and mix well. Cook 5 minutes to heat through, stirring frequently.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine yogurt, cucumber and garlic powder. Mix well.

Place a piece of lettuce in the bottom of the pita pocket. Spoon turkey mixture onto lettuce in pita pockets and top with yogurt mixture.

ooooh, she's a little run away...(sing it Jon!)

I don't know about you but I have GOT to have me work out tunes. I just can't run, walk, jog, flop around on the floor in some crazy quasi-yoga pose with out music. In fact it's become a motivational thing for me. "I can make it though this song!" even when I'm wheezing like Comic Book Guy of Simpson's fame walking across a room I push myself.. JUST MAKE IT THOUGH THIS SONG and you can pass out dead on the floor. Yesterday I employed this method and thanks to Fall Out Boy I had my fastest mile to day. Mind you my fast is more in line with the tortoise than the hare, so at a whopping 10.2 minute mile I made it into my own personal record book. So when I finally take on this 5K with Jennifer I might just make it in under the 3 hours I'd set for myself.. MIGHT.

So here is the deal...

Like I said I'm GONNA RUN (yes run, eeek) a 5k with Jennifer our resident fitness and motivational expert (did you know she is the Style Editor for a Maryland news paper? WOW huh!). SO to keep me and my big old butt on track I'm gonna make a few PUBLIC statements here.

First, I got some emails telling me that running wasn't possible for a few of you. I believe ANYTHING is possible. Like having a fourth child when you KNEW there was just no way.

SO POSSIBLE!! -->

The thing is you don't have to run a 5k if that isn't your thing. Frankly it's not my THING either. But here is my reasoning... I want to be healthy, I want to challenge myself, I want to eat a Twinkie (oops got side tracked there), I want to do something for those in need.

I'll go even further here and tell you that as of this Saturday morning at 8:12 a.m. I was the 38 year old, exhausted, 202 pound, mom of four kids. To see all that written out for the world (or at least the 12 of YOU) to read is a hard thing. MUCH harder that running a 5k!

I've been doing good with Smart For Life, they have a great support system. I have also fallen off the waggon a few times. For me that means a big fat bacon cheeseburger with fries and a glass or 3 of wine. Stress does that to me and well I do that to me too. But, I'm back at it again and after just two days of being "good" I feel good and that is so where I want to be.

Anywho here is my new plot to take over the world, um I mean to keep me on track for my 5k with Jennifer.

I'm adding a progress window to this blog. It will track my daily efforts to run/walk/jog so that when I get out there with Jennifer she can't run a 10k in the time it takes me to do 3k! But that is just words and figures right? I need MORE than that to motivate me and that's where YOU come in.

Daily I'll post my numbers: time, distance, calories. Every day that I get on that road or treadmill I'll put a dollar in my charity jar. Every day I miss I won't put the money in and that will be like taking something away from someone in need, I'll feel guilty, get depressed, beat myself up and then GET OFF MY BUTT and get back at it.

So how do YOU fit in there? I'd like each of you to pick a charitable cause. It can be anything. I'm big on Breast Cancer issues, well cuz I dig "the girls" and because I lost my Aunt Paula to it. Kids in need or ill, cats, dogs, horses, education, food pantries, military families, wounded soldiers are all charities I give to as well. I know some of us help out bloggy families in need like McMamma (Stellan's Mom) and Phoenix's Fight. Here is what you do, email me the charity you'd like the money in my jar to go to. Make the subject "Smart Girl for Life 5k Charity Challenge".

December 1st I'll get my resident randomizers (aka the offspring) to pick one of them and send a check in YOUR name for the full amount in the jar. It's a win/win thing right. I get my butt moving, get healthier, maybe loose a pound or 50 AND we all get to help out someone in need.

Do a mitzvah here, pass this post on, tweet it, FB it, hire a sky writer... just help get the word out. The more people who participate the more pressure I feel to keep my butt in gear, the more money for charity!

That's the deal... you in?