Journey to a Healthier Me

Do you think eating healthy is expensive? Expensive is a relative term of sorts, but is it more expensive than say buying solely on price? From my experience I would tend to say yes, but that’s only looking at the short term and really overlooking the long term benefits of eating healthy. We could go into the many benefits of eating organic and or local, but for now I just want to focus on cost. This past month we decided to journal all our eating expenses. If it went into our mouths, then we counted it.  If we stopped at Starbucks after school then we counted it. As a family we eat in quite a lot. Making most, if not all, our meals from scratch.  Sure we buy our pasta, but we make our marinara, or use fresh veggies. We make most of our own bread and can’t wait until we can make our own ice cream. We love us some ice cream in our household. Mmmmm mint chip….okay sorry back to my thoughts.

So how did we do? All in all I think we did awesome for buying 95% organic and some of that local as well. All in all we spent $781.97 for the entire month of May. Sweet! When we started the month we thought that number would be closer to $1000 and as we counted it up last night we thought it would be over $1000.  Funny how we thought buying organic, fresh, and local would somehow be excessive.  I asked last night on twitter and facebook how much do you spend in a month and received answers ranging from $250 for 1 person all the way in excess of $1000 for larger families. We are a family of 4 and our per person average is just under $200 or $6.50 per day…all day to eat. Now I know price is relative, but I’m really happy with those numbers. Heck we just went to Starbucks grabbed two drinks and spend almost $7.

All in all we made a total of 20 trips to the grocery store…slightly more than I would like.  Some lumped together in one trip.  One thing I have noticed is that I shop more often and at several different places.  We used to be a one Costco trip a week family.  Unfortunately Costco carries very few organic items and even fewer local items, so our Costco trips are far fewer and trips to Sprouts or Henry’s are the norm.  Temecula has a pretty nice farmer’s market, but we find ourselves missing it most weeks.  That’s one thing I would like to change in our future.  Hold me to it!

So let’s journal for the month of June and see how we do. Grab an envelope and put it on your fridge and fill it with every single receipt. Like I said earlier if it goes in your mouth in gets journaled. Let’s see where our food dollar goes, and see how we can eat healthier and responsibly without breaking the bank. As always you can catch me on twitter or feel free to email me at zakschwank [at] gmail [dot] com.

Just a quick glance at some of the labeling issues facing us today. At first glance this can of soup is a no brainer. It’s organic, and made with free range chickens, both are great for you and the environment. You toss it in your cart, and head for home to enjoy a nice warm cup of soup on a cool day.

So you’re home now…soup’s heating up, and just as you go to toss the can in the trash you glance at the label…what, what, what? 28% of the daily recommended allowance of sodium?  Holy salty dog Batman!  That’s a lot of salt!  Okay not the end of the world I still have 72% left…phew!  But wait! There are about 2 servings in that little can! Ahhhhhh! Over 50% of the daily recommended allowance of salt in one can of organic Health Valley soup!

We get salt from a lot of different places in our diet.  Some of it in the oddest places. Go scour your fridge and pantry and tell me the oddest place you found salt in your home. P.S. It has to be in food…telling me you found salt in the bathroom doesn’t count.  As always, to get a closer look at the photos you can click on them.  Also feel free to email me or comment with any questions or thoughts you may have. I’m always available on twitter or you can email me at zakschwank [at] gmail dot com.

Have a great day!

Zak

I’ll let this video speak for itself. If you have 20 minutes I highly recommend watching it. Jamie Oliver also has a new show coming to ABC that I think will change the way we look at food, or at least I hope it does.

As always I would love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to leave a comment, or you can always reach me at zakschwank [at] gmail dot com

Zak

The best guacamole recipe ever! End of story! Enjoy!

Slice the avocado lengthwise around the pit.

An easy way to get the pit out is to tap the knife into it and twist.

Then scoop it out,

into your uber stylish bowl,

and mash away with a fork.

Dice a quarter of a yellow onion.

I never measure my cilantro, but for you guys I measured this, and it was 2 tablespoons.

Gorgeous roma tomatoes…yum!

Some people say you should remove the center of the tomato, but I like the added moisture it gives my guacamole.

Add two cloves to the coolest garlic press ever!

A couple twists and you’re done!

Add everything to your mashed up avocado including the juice from two wedges of lime, and crack some fresh pepper on it. Get your mix on…

and enjoy!

There you go! The best guacamole ever! All natural ingredients, no added salt, and no reason to buy guacamole ever again.

Now there are some out there that seem to think their guacamole is better…my response to them is, bring it on! Post your recipe in the comments or a link to a recipe and we all shall decide.

For more information on all the health benefits of avocados click here and a printable version of the recipe is here.

You can also click on any of the photos to bring up a larger version.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Zak

Last week I talked a little bit about portion control, and in order to understand portions we need to dig deeper than the label.  Enter my favorite snack…potato chips!! As I glance to the back of the bag to read the label, I see serving size: 1 ounce, 32 servings per container.  Great, I either need to dump out the bag or get a scale.  A brief trip to the neighbors house to get a scale and I’m back in business.  So as I’m filling up the scale I quickly notice that my normal, eat the chips from the bag, routine will need to stop.  Now that the scale is overflowing with a 1 ounce portion of chips, I can take some photos…okay it’s not really overflowing, and there is a scared look on my face when I see how few chips the label thinks is a serving.  This is a 1 ounce portion of chips, and is approximately 150 calories with 80 of those calories coming from fat.  Not horrible, but considering I would eat at least 3 of these so called servings things need to change!

So there you go! Grab a snack, and arm yourself with the knowledge to make better choices.

As always feel free to leave a comment or emil me at zakschwank [at] gmail dot com if you have any questions or want me to hear your thoughts. I am also actively looking for guest bloggers to tell your story. If you or anyone you know is interested please send them my way. I would really like to make this a place where we can all share and learn.

Thanks Zak!

I often tell people that health and fitness is similar to a marathon, and not a sprint.  In other words it’s a change in lifestyle, and not just a quick fix.  There will be setbacks and obstacles.  There will be rough days, maybe even weeks.  Focus on the big picture.  Focus on your lifestyle!  These past few weeks my family has been sick.  First the kids got it, then I got it.  I haven’t worked out in over a week and I can feel it.  I’m off to workout now, and get back on track.  So next time you’re just not feeling it, you miss a workout, or don’t eat the best meal ever, it’s okay just think about the big picture.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Zak

I often get asked “How did you do it?” And while there are many different reasons, one no more important than the another, I think one of the biggest things I did was to really limit the amount of food I ate. Have you seen the portions that are considered normal these days? It is excessive! And when you consider that if you eat slightly less than 700 more calories a week than you burn, you will gain 10 pounds in one year and 50 in 5 years. That’s exactly what happened to me. I didn’t gain 50 pounds overnight and I didn’t lose it overnight either.  For reference 3,500 calories equals about one pound.  Now that you know this, grab your favorite snack and check the label.  That’s what I did!  When I first started this journey I didn’t know anything about anything, but with the help of friends, the internet, and health related classes I feel I have gained a greater understanding of what is going on in my body.  Granted everyone is different, and like Julie pointed out in the comments section of my last post, genetics must play a key role in all of this.  I know for myself that my genetic makeup is set and no amount of exercise will ever change that, but I do know that I can control what and how much I eat.  So for this 3 day weekend I want to challenge you to really dig into the label on the packages in your pantry and refrigerator.  How many calories are in a serving and how much makes up a serving? Get out measuring cups figure it out! Let me know in the comments how your favorite snack stack up. Would love to hear it.  Also feel free to email me at zakschwank [at] gmail dot com.  I also found this article from the New York Times that I thought was worth the attention.  Enjoy and have a safe and healthy weekend.

Zak

I think in order for me to really get into the swing of things with this blog I need to start from the beginning.  Let’s go back 10 or so years. I was 27, engaged and working full time. I was also way overweight. I can’t tell you exactly how much I weighed…mainly because I though I was as fit as can be. Must have been those rose colored glasses.  Anyways I would guess that I was 225 or so.  Not insanely overweight, but I certainly could stand to lose a few pounds. For reference I am 6′ almost 6′1″. My daily routine would include some sort of enormous muffin for breakfast on my way to work. Lunch would either be leftovers, or sandwich and chips, or fastfood depending on where I was working. I was an electrician working in and around San Diego County. Okay back to lunch…there were even times that I would eat my lunch I brought, but some fastfood scent would waft it’s way to the job site, and I couldn’t help myself. I would trudge up to the shopping center and grab a #2 with extra large fries. So good, but so bad for my health. After work I would head home and we would eat some random pre-made food from the grocery store or go out to eat. Both of us were exhausted from driving/working all day to cook. Sound familiar? Add to my stellar diet absolutely no physical activity…zilch! Sad because growing up I was involved in pretty much every sport (on some level) you could think of.  This was a dead end road I didn’t want to go down, but had no idea how to stop.  This wasn’t where I started to get healthier.  Unfortunately that won’t happen for a few more years.  So that’s pretty much how I got to be just your average, unhealthy mid-twenties guy.  Now here comes the hardest part…I will post a photo…gulp!This was really early in the morning before we boarded a flight to New Orleans for our wedding, so please pardon the red eyes. Crazy how when I was that guy I didn’t think I was unhealthy or overweight, but now I’m staring at the screen doubting that was me.  So there ya go! A quick story about me.  Do you have a story? I would love to hear! Leave me a comment or you can always email me @ zakschwank [@] gmail dot com.

Hey everybody! Wow…the first post is always the hardest. Let me give you a little back story. This site will be dedicated to being healthy. I will provide recipes, workout routines, and basic health related information. In no way should this site replace your doctor, nutritionist, or fitness trainer. That being said I am very excited to give my insight and experience. So get out there and get healthy!