photo above courtesy of bing 

PUT SOME HEALTH IN IT!!!

So, you may be wondering what in the world is she talking about now. Well, I thought about the H during the first week of January when we were all settled in (or maybe we just were here on this side of the world) waiting on the snow to go away. Due to the snow coming in out of nowhere seems like, I was stuck in the house for a couple of days….4 to be exact. My neighborhood was so slick and covered with snow, we couldn’t even get out to go to the store – Thank God I went the night before.

While all snuggled in the house, it threw me off of my regular “work” routine – where I would’ve been in an environment that kept me on my feet all day long and on the right schedule as far as eating right is concerned, now here I was stuck in the house with food, allllllll…..dayyyyyyy……longgggggg. I wanted everything “bad” from pancakes, to cookies to fatty foods like a good ole’ cheeseburger and pasta. Now, I know you’re wondering – what are you doing with that stuff in the house, well I have a teenager and a pre-teen – soooooo….okay. Now, I do watch what they eat and I bake all my meats and cook at least one veggie and starch with every meal, they eat healthy fruits and so forth; but I do buy them some sweets as well, I mean I don’t want to totally push it out of their sight and/or  punish them just because I’m trying to get on the good foot.

But this particular day of being stuck in the house all day, made those tempting things I bought for them extra hard to resist. Those cupcakes began to look really good, every time I opened the fridge; I felt the urge to want to eat it….

but what I had to realize was that just because it’s in front of you, tempting as it may be; wanting you to devour it’s goodness, doesn’t mean you necessarily have too – there’s one thing you can do to turn that unhealthy option into a good one and that’s to put the “H” in it. Puzzled? Let me explain further…

On that snowy day over a week ago, I had a craving for some pancakes – I’m not much of a pancake eater but for some reason that day – I couldn’t get them off my mind. I had some pancake mix in the cabinet but it wasn’t made out of coconut flour, if you get my drift. It was the regular flour mix – while I wanted the pancakes, the first thing I thought about was “How can I make these a little healthier.” So that way, I’m not just eating plain pancakes, but pancakes that have been healthfully boosted to be actually good for me. I mean, just because I was in the house didn’t mean I needed to go “rogue” with my eating habits. Once I gave my counter a look over, those plain pancakes became a much more healthier alternative than what they would have been had I had just fixed them up.

I measured out a good enough amount of mix that would make two pancakes and added a little coconut sugar, almond milk, chia seeds, unsweetened applesauce, ground flax seeds and a dab of hemp hearts. After stirring it all up, I put them in a skillet with a little coconut oil; once done, I added two tablespoons of SF Syrup and viola, I had healthy pancakes and I must say – they turned out better than I had expected! (see below).

Honestly, if you think about it and if your goal is to really make healthy choices this year; this could be a good start to those early resolutions. You can start small and work your way up. Listed below are some of the things I do to add a little health to my foods.

Other Simple beneficial suggestions you can use to add a little bit of “Health” to your food:

• Adding cinnamon to cheerios
  Adding chia seeds or flax seeds to salads
  Adding slices of avocado to a sandwich
  Adding hemp hearts to a Peanut butter sandwich

The list above is just a small number of healthy choices you can use to add to some of your favorite meals. The deal is coming up with healthy ways to spruce up your everyday meals, especially if your budget is tight and you can’t afford to buy into those expensive weight-loss food delivery programs such as Jenny Craig, Blue Apron or Weight Watchers, it’s all about taking out time to read the labels and choosing a healthy option over a non healthy one or adding a healthy one to an unhealthy one.

So, the next time you eat something that doesn’t seem to have an H in it, begin to think of ways you can jazz it up to take it from Fatty to Healthy.

What are some ways you add the “H” (health) to some of your favorite foods, I would love to hear about them!

Roshonda N. Blackmon – Creator of A Blog, A Magazine. It’s JustsumInspiration, Author, Speaker & Encourager

 

On next Tuesday 01/23: I’ll have a pop-up blog post entitled “A Gallon A Day?, No Way! – How do you drink your gallon of water a day, in that post I’ll share and give tips on how I drink mine, so if you’re wondering how to get down a gallon of water….stay tuned, help is on the way.

You know they say networking is a great thing and I love it because you never know whom you’re going to meet, well next Thursday 01/25: I’m going to be sharing the story of my new friend Kristi Data whom I instantly connected with via Instagram, her empowering persona and paying it forward attitude had me at “Hello.” Kristi will be sharing her ups of being active in organized sports to her downfall of having an eating disorder in college, so how did she bounce back? You’ll have to tune in next week – you don’t want to miss her inspirational story.