Ready to RELAX!

5:10 PM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 1 Comments

Truth is I don't slow down all that often. It isn't very easy for me. I'm often possessed by the urge to do, move, do, more. Sunny Summer Sundays are the worse. I 'know' it's a day to read outside, relax around the house, chill! But, I often felt like there 'must be something I'm supposed to be doing!' I decided over a Summer of this feeling that I didn't like it. I wanted to be able to put my feet up, like my husband, watch some t.v. and feel good about it. I'll admit that it takes practice. Like most things we aren't accustomed to doing. I often advice clients trying to eat better or get to the gym more that it take practice, repeated practice to make any new habit stick. So, I'm trying too. Practicing taking a rest when I need it, when I want it, and letting that be o.k.

Tonight, I planned on racing my bike at Alpenrose in the last 'date night at the dairy' cyclocross competition. I've been to all Wednesday races but one. It's loads of fun! I usually come home form work on Wed. afternoon and have lunch and a nap before gearing up to go race at 6pm. This has been my first season racing and I am hooked! I've competed in 12 races since September! This weekend was the sloppy-est, mucky-est, muddy-est things I've ever done! I have never had so much fun on a bike. This weekend we are heading out of town to stay overnight in Astoria and race both Saturday and Sunday(in costume).

When my husband came home form work tonight and said he was 'pooped', I felt the same way. We talked over whether we wanted to race or not and if that meant we were lazy, or if we'd be missing out on something. I found myself telling him it didn't really matter. We needed to ask ourselves what we really wanted to do? What decision feels best? When I thought about it, and my busy week and weekend ahead and realized this would be my only evening of 'rest' - I decided that was what I really wanted. Whether it meant I was lazy or not. Whether the race turned out to be the best of the series. Honestly, even as I'm sitting here a little voice puts doubts in my mind. I'm used to that. I'm not used to making a decision like this and whole-heartedly support myself in making it. So, I'm practicing. I'm sharing my feeling here. I'm not being lazy. I'm taking time to do what I really want. I'm going to get some work done. I'm going to shop for costume supplies. I'm going to make homemade pizza and watch a movie. I'm going to enjoy the slow pace of the evening. This means tomorrow before the busyness begins again I can go for a bike ride. And I can go fast if I want to.

More Squash!

12:52 PM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

Try this! Makes an excellent, low-calorie side dish for the Holidays or any yummy dinner at home. I'm making it tonight and serving with an Italian style chicken breast.

Ingredients

* 1 spaghetti squash, halved and seeded
* 8 ounces cherry tomatoes, halved
* 6 ounces pitted kalamata olives, halved
* 2 English cucumbers - peeled, seeded, and sliced
* 1 small red onion, sliced thin
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1/4 cup lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon lemon zest
* 1/4 cup olive oil, or more if needed
* 1 tablespoon garlic salt
* ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place the squash halves into a large baking dish with the cut-sides facing down.
2. Bake in the preheated oven until you can easily cut into the skin side with a knife, about 30 minutes; remove from oven and set aside to cool.
3. Toss the cooled spaghetti squash, the tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, red onion, and garlic together in a large bowl until evenly mixed.
4. Stir the lemon juice and lemon zest together in a small bowl; slowly pour the olive oil into the lemon juice mixture while whisking vigorously. Season with garlic salt and pepper; drizzle over the spaghetti squash mixture and toss to coat. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 162 | Total Fat: 12.7g | Cholesterol: 0mg

Getting Ready for a Rainy Day

5:03 PM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

I expected to see pitch black skies this morning and hear pounding rain drops on the roof. The weather folks predicted monster storms from last night until Tuesday. So, what's with this blue sky?! I'm not complaining, of course, just wondering with the deluge will arrive. I can only assume it'll be while I ride my bike to the starting line of this afternoons race!

The pre-race routine is an interesting one. It starts the day after the race and is fairly well outlined until the next race is over. I've got a training program that includes hard training day, easy training day and no training days. This regimine keeps my muscles from forgetting how to pedal and my mind from forgetting how to compete. Yesterday, the day before a race, I spent an hour on the indoor bike focused on getting the 'lead out' of my legs. After a lazy Saturday relaxing around the house it felt like a workout just walking up the steps to the gym. This 'leg openning' ride gets the body ready to ride -- it's like a warm-up for a warm-up.

The other piece is nutrition...

So, I've got this Squash....

11:51 AM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

Mediterranean Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
3 tablespoons sliced black olives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
Place spaghetti squash cut sides down on the prepared baking sheet, and bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a sharp knife can be inserted with only a little resistance. Remove squash from oven, and set aside to cool enough to be easily handled.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic, and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, and cook only until tomatoes are warm.
Use a large spoon to scoop the stringy pulp from the squash, and place in a medium bowl. Toss with the sauteed vegetables, feta cheese, olives, and basil. Serve warm.
Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 147 | Total Fat: 9.8g | Cholesterol: 17mg


Turkey Lasagna with Butternut Squash

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (20 ounce) package ground turkey
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
3 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
3 1/2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
1 (10 ounce) package fresh spinach
1 (15 ounce) container fat-free ricotta cheese
1 egg
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 (6 ounce) package shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
9 no-boil lasagna noodles
2 zucchini, sliced lengthwise
Directions

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium heat; cook the onion and garlic in the hot oil until fragrant, 5 to 7 minutes. Break the turkey into small pieces into the skillet; cook and stir until completely browned, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, water, basil, fennel seeds, Italian seasoning, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and 1/4 cup parsley into the turkey mixture. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce reaches a desired consistency, 60 to 90 minutes.
While the sauce simmers, place the butternut squash in a large, microwave-safe bowl; cover with plastic wrap and cook in microwave on High until tender, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
Cook and stir the spinach in a large skillet over medium heat until wilted, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
Stir the ricotta cheese, egg, 2 tablespoons parsley, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and about 2/3 of the mozzarella cheese together in a bowl. Set aside.
Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
Pour 1 1/2 cups of the sauce into the bottom of a 9x13-inch baking dish. Arrange 3 of the lasagna noodles in a layer over the sauce. Spread 1 cup of the ricotta cheese mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle about half of the butternut squash over the ricotta cheese mixture. Layer about half the wilted spinach over the butternut squash. Lay about half the zucchini slices over the spinach in a layer. Repeat the layering. Top with the 3 remaining lasagna noodles. Spread any remaining ricotta cheese mixture over the top of the lasagna. Finish by topping with any remaining sauce mixture. Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and sprinkle the remaining mozzarella over the top of the lasagna. Return to oven and bake uncovered until the top is golden brown, about 30 minutes more. Remove and allow the lasagna to rest 15 minutes before cutting to serve.
Nutritional Information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 493 | Total Fat: 15.7g | Cholesterol: 101mg

I posted this recipe in October last year -- I'm excited to make it again!!

Delicious Beef and Squash Stew

2 tsp Olive Oil
1 lb stew beef, chopped into cubes
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 lb butternut squash peeled and cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes
1 can (14.5oz) no-salt added diced tomatoes
1 can (8oz) no-salt added tomatoe sauce
1 1/2 cups low-sodium beef broth
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
3 cups cooked whole-wheat couscous
1/4 cup sliced almonds (try them toasted in a dry skillet until brown ~2minutes)
4 tsp minced fresh parsley

Heat Olive Oil in a 4-quart saucepan over med-high heat. Add beef and cook until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer meat to a plate, leaving juices in saucepan. Add onion; cook, stirring until translucent, about 6 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; cook, stirring about 1 minute longer. Return beef to pot, stir in squash, tomatoes, sauce, broth, cumin, cinnamon and pepper flakes. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low. Cover; simmer until beef is tender, 30-35 minutes.

Serves 4. Dish up a serving of quick cooking couscous (your favorite recipe or box) and top with stew. Top with slivered almonds and parsley if desired.

480 Calories per bowl, 13g Fat, 56g Carbs, 8g Fiber, 34g Protein

Here's a link to more Fall recipes -- ENJOY!


http://remywright.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html

Smoothies! Quick, Easy, and kinda like a Milkshake!

11:37 AM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

Chocolate Love

1 c low-fat milk, or hemp or almond etc
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1/2 medium frozen banana
1 tsp grd flaxseed
1 tsp cocoa powder or syrup

Bluets and Naners

1/2 medium frozen banana
1/2 blueberries, fresh or frozen
1/4 yogurt (vanilla or plain)
1 cup milk (your choice)
pinch of cinnamon

Beach Berries

1/2 c low sugar oj
1/2 sparkling water
1/4 c mixed berries
1/4 c frozen mango
1 kiwi
1 tsp flax
1 scoop protein powder

Morning Mocha

1/2 cold coffee or 1 tsp instant coffee
1 scoop chocolate protein powder
1 c milk or yogurt
1 tsp flax
1/2 yogurt
Ice cubes

Vanilla Cupcake

1 cup vanilla almond milk
1 tsp flaxseed
1/2 frozen banana
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
cinnamon, nutmeg

Crunch Berries

1/2 plain yogurt
1/2 fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 sliced banana
1/2 all-bran or grape nuts or whole-grain Cheerios

Make-Ahead Meals,

2:12 PM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

Eating well can take preparation. But it doesn't have to take a lot of time.
Here are some easy, healthy make-ahead meals! Make these meals for dinner on Monday and keep the leftovers for lunch or dinner later in the week.

Freeze-it Chicken Casserole

Ingredients:
1 can cream of chicken soup (low-sodium)
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup cooked carrots
1/2 cup cooked string beans
1 1/2 cups cooked whole wheat noodles
8 oz cooked diced chicken breast
1 Tbsp diced onion
1/4 tsp pepper or to taste
1/2 cup bread crumbs (optional)
Directions:
Blend soup and milk in a casserole dish. Mix remaining ingredients, except crumbs, together with blended soup mixture. Top with crumbs.
Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Makes 4 servings.


Super Easy Spinach Lasagna

Ingredients

10 whole wheat lasagna noodles
6 oz. lean ground beef, browned
1 bottle of spaghetti sauce
1 16 oz. container cottage cheese
2 cups grated mozzarella -part skim
2 cups fresh spinach
1 1/2 cups water


Homemade Turkey Meatloaf

Directions

Layering goes 5 noodles (uncooked), half a bottle of spaghetti sauce, half of browned ground beef, half of your spinach leaves, 3/4 cup water, 1 cup cottage cheese, 1 cup mozzarella,
Then repeat.
Note on the spinach, you can chop it in the blender or food processor and add it to the spaghetti sauce.
Bake on 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes, until desired browning.
You can make and bake that day or...
Great for freezing ahead of time. Get it out the morning you want it for dinner and then it will be ready to cook when you get home!

Number of Servings: 12

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
4 egg whites
1 cup salsa
3/4 cup Old fashioned oats, uncooked
1 pkg. onion soup mix
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 ketchup


Directions

1-Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2-In a large mixing bowl, comine ground turkey, onion, egg whites, salsa, oats, soup mix, and black pepper.

3-press mixture into a 9X5 loaf pan and spread ketchup over the top.

4-Bake until meatloaf is no longer pink in the middle, about 60 minutes.

Number of Servings: 6

Banish a Bad Mood

8:37 PM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

Here's a fabulous article published by the IDEA Fitness Journal. If you happen to wake up on the wrong side of the bed these ideas can help make it right!


You wake up to the sound of an annoying alarm, you’re dead tired, and you just plain feel out of sorts. Ugh! How do you go out into the world—or even get out of bed!—when you are feeling so blah? April Durrett, IDEA contributing editor, and health, fitness and lifestyle writer shares mindful strategies that can help you shake off the blues.

Use Mind-Body Methods
What can you do if you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? Try these strategies.

Use Body Scanning. “When you wake up, get in the habit of scanning your body,” advocates Linda Moseley of the Coaching Gym in Hurley, England, and Torino, Italy. “See if there is tension in your body. [Feeling out of sorts is] negative energy held in the body. Recognize tension as negative energy, and start to know exactly the intensity of this by scoring it on a scale of 1–10 (with 1 being very low negative energy and 10 being major reactive negative energy). Then, do the following: remember a time when you were at your best (on a positive energy scale of 1–10, choose a time when you would give a high score of at least an 8), and visualize it, [making] the pictures intense in color and the feeling warm and peaceful. Notice your breathing, and start to inhale on six counts and exhale on six. Do this for the time that it takes you to get out of the bathroom and dressed. Smile and look up with your eyes to the ceiling, and keep them there with the smile for at least 30 seconds.”

Meditate. Mary E. Miriani, an ACSM health/fitness instructor at Reality Fitness Inc. in Naperville, Illinois, utilizes meditation to shift her mood. “I draw my attention to my breath, taking in positive energy with each inhalation and releasing negative energy with each exhalation,” she says. “Sometimes, doing this for 5 minutes is all it takes. If not, I picture a drawer, a closet and a window in my mind. I imagine putting small issues in the drawer, larger issues in the closet and things that are out of my control out the window, closing each in turn as I leave my problems to be dealt with either at a more appropriate time or by my higher power (those things I have no control over). I envision light pouring into the top of my head and down through my body, filling me with light that I will radiate out to the people I meet that day.”

Pay Attention To Nutrition
If you ignore your daily nutrition needs, you may find yourself in a bad mood more often than you want. “On my wrong-side-of-the-bed days, I am particularly careful about my food selection,” says Pat Massey Welter, a personal trainer who owns Suncoast Pilates & Personal Training Center in Palm Harbor, Florida. “I need the time every morning to sit down in the café near my studio, have a cup of tea or coffee, eat a balanced breakfast of carbohydrate, protein and some fat, read the newspaper and reflect on the upcoming day. If I miss this routine, I have a hard time getting into the proper mood.”

SIDEBAR: For A Consistent Positive Mood
You can proactively work to shift things in your life so that your bad moods occur less often. “The only way you can change your mood is to make active attempts to do so,” says Mary Bratcher, MA, DipLC, of The BioMechanics in San Diego. “Instead of dwelling on dark or angry feelings, decide to focus your thoughts on coming up with solutions. For example, if the sound of your alarm clock makes you feel like smashing it to bits, don’t continuously think about how much you hate your alarm clock. Instead, shift your thinking to what type of sound you would like to hear or the manner in which you would like to be awakened in the mornings. Then make a plan to get a new alarm clock or wake-up device.”

courtesy of

This handout is a service of IDEA, the leading international membership association in the health and fitness industry, www.ideafit.com.

IDEA Fitness Journal, Volume 7, Number 2
February 2010

Carrot Pumpkin Bars

8:10 PM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

I love this time of year almost as much as I love pumpkin! Here's a recipe for an easy, healthy and tasty snack.

Carrot Pumpkin Bars

Great for the fall holidays! Or just for a healthy snack!

INGREDIENTS
Filling:
2 cups flour (Try whole wheat)
1 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar (Or substitute)
1/3 cup light butter/margerine, softened (Also good with 1/2 this amount plus applesauce)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs (Or egg substitute)
2 large egg whites
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin pie filling
1 cup carrot, finely shredded

Cream cheese topping:
4 oz light cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar (I use honey)
1 tablespoon skim milk

DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat oven to 350. Grease 15 x 10 jellyroll pan.

Prepare Filling:
In small bowl: combine flour, pumpkin spice, baking powder & baking soda.

In larger bowl: Beat sugar, butter and brown sugar until crumbly. Add eggs, egg whites, pumpkin pie mix and carrots. Beat until well blended. Add flour mixture and mix until well blended. Spread onto greased pan.

Prepare Cream Cheese topping:
Mix together cream cheese, sugar and milk until thoroughly blended.

Drop teaspoon-fulls of topping over pumpkin batter and swirl mixture with a butter knife.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cake tester (inserted in center) comes out clean. Cool in pan completely on wire rack before cutting into squares.

Makes 48 squares.



Number of Servings: 48

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user ANDREWMOM.

Nutritional Info

Amount Per Serving:
Calories: 67.2

Get Rid of Toxic Guilt!

9:11 PM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

A great article.

Stop Feeling Guilty about Every Mistake
Don't Let Toxic Guilt Wipe Out Your Willpower
-- By Dean Anderson, Behavioral Psychology Expert



Does this story sound familiar to you? You’re doing pretty well sticking within your calorie range until that box of candy shows up in the office, or all heck breaks loose and the only way to squeeze in lunch is at the local fast food joint. You give in to the candy or the double cheeseburger with fries and after that, things really go downhill. You start off feeling a little guilty, and the next thing you know, you’re eating everything in sight and telling yourself you’ll start over tomorrow, or next week, or…

So, what’s really going on here? Were you just standing in the wrong line when they were handing out will power? Not too likely. Do you have some deep, subconscious desire to not lose weight that compels you to sabotage yourself? Possibly, but probably not. Most likely, the problem is that you went on a toxic guilt trip.

The Difference Between Healthy Guilt & Toxic Guilt
Don't get me wrong here. I'm all for an appropriate level of guilt. It lets you know when you're letting yourself (or someone else) down, and reminds you that your impulses are not the most important things in the universe. But there’s guilt, and then there’s GUILT.

The main difference between healthy guilt and its toxic cousin is a matter of when you feel it. Appropriate guilt is the kind you feel before you do something you don't want to do, while things are still in the thinking-about-it stage and there is still a chance you can choose not to do the thing that makes you feel guilty.

We psychologists refer to this as having a conscience, and it is a very helpful thing. It’s so helpful that it always amazes me that you hear so little about it in discussions about weight loss.

Most of us have a good conscience when it comes to treating other people decently—we routinely expect it of ourselves and others. But when it comes to treating ourselves decently by eating well and exercising and refusing to verbally abuse ourselves when we aren’t perfect…POOF! The most powerful weapon you have in your arsenal for getting yourself to act the way you want to suddenly becomes off-limits.

This might not be such a bad thing, if it meant you could get rid of the disabling, toxic guilt that comes with having an overactive, perfectionistic conscience. But that’s not what happens. In fact, just the opposite happens.

When you routinely push aside the little voice in your head that tells you, for your own sake, that you may want to think twice about eating that candy or double cheeseburger, it doesn’t go away. It just moves a couple of steps further down the chain of events and gets even louder. Now, instead of hearing that voice before you act, you don’t hear it until after you've already done the thing you might not really have wanted to do. Instead of a gentle voice reminding you to think before you act, it’s screaming at you about what you already did wrong and what a jerk you are. This compels you to spend way too much time worrying about why you keep doing this sort of thing, and getting down on yourself to the point that you become your own worst enemy. This is toxic guilt, and it is not your friend.

End the Toxic Guilt Trip: Exercise Your Healthy Lifestyle Conscience

Fortunately, the solution to the problem of toxic guilt is really quite simple, at least in theory. All you have to do are three simple things:
When that quiet, nagging voice in your head starts saying that you are about to do something it doesn't approve of, listen to it. Stop what you're doing for a few moments to ask yourself, "Is this what I really want to do?"

If you agree with the voice, decide not do the thing in question. If you disagree, decide to do it. And if you're not sure (or if you halfway want to and halfway don't), try to postpone your decision (and action) until you've had a chance to sort things out a little more.

After you've made your decision, act! Then take a few more seconds to notice how you feel about what you just did. Nothing fancy here, no psychoanalyzing yourself, no reading yourself the riot act if you didn't do what you wanted. Just note what you decided, what you actually did, and how you felt afterwards. File this in the memory banks for future reference.
Now, you could be sitting there right now saying to yourself, "What the heck is this guy talking about? The whole problem is that I never hear that little voice until after the fact. The minute I see those candies, or smell that cheeseburger cooking, I go on autopilot and stuff it in my mouth."

This is NOT true. The little voice is there, you just aren't hearing it because you're more accustomed to your louder toxic guilt.

To train yourself to hear the little voice before it's too late, just keep practicing the three steps above until it becomes second nature to STOP and ASK yourself what you really want to do before you act. Once your conscience knows you are making the effort to listen again, it will move back up to its proper place in the chain of events.

If you find this very hard to do, you may also need to work on staying grounded in the moment and managing the particular situations that trigger mindless eating for you.

Delicious Dinner

9:08 PM Remy Maguire - Manifest the Best 0 Comments

This was so GOOD! And quick, and easy, and light!

Slice 1 Delicata squash in half and bake until fork tender. About 30 minutes. Meanwhile, saute onion slices and garlic in a little olive oil, pepper and cayenne. Stir in 4-6oz very lean ground turkey or chicken. Cook together until meat is done. I lightly drizzled the squash with honey and a bit more cayenne and topped it with the meat and veggie mixture. Served with a side on steamed broccoli (or whatever you love) this made a super delicious weekday meal with enough leftover for lunch the next day!