Judy's Hearty Healthy Breakfast Muffins

I'm horrible at eating breakfast. I think part of it is because I am not a morning person, and I want the absolute minimum amount of time between getting out of bed and being where I need to be (because that means I get to sleep longer!). I usually get out of bed about 30 minutes before I need to leave the house, which leaves me just enough time to dress, brush my teeth and grab something for lunch before I rush out the door. The other part is I feel awful if I eat right after waking up. I know that breakfast has been coined the "most important meal of the day", but I also think that listening to one's body is important too. 

I think I might be better at eating breakfast if there was something delicious to spark my appetite. As I was pondering this point I began craving a muffin I used to have from a local coffee shop in my hometown of Canmore. These muffins were huge, healthy and packed full of flavour. It would usually take me at least two days to finish one, and I always felt full afterwards. And thus, my latest idea of inventing a muffin based on a 10-year-old memory was formed. I've spent a lot of time modifying recipes to make them healthier, but I've never come up with my own recipe from scratch before, but I figure there is always a new opportunity waiting. 

This recipe also gave me a great opportunity to use up some bananas I had frozen, some blackberries that were nearly at the end of their useful life, cranberries I have frozen which were leftover from thanksgiving and an apple that fell out of the fruit basket one too many times. I think plenty of other fruits would go wonderfully in this recipe, and baking is a great way to use up fruit that doesn't really seem to appealing to eat on its own. This recipe is also devoid of any refined sugar as well as oils or butters! Since its full of fruit (and a veggie too!) that helps to keep it moist without the added fats!

2 mashed bananas (from frozen works best, they squish better)

1/2 an avocado, peeled and mashed

2 eggs

1/2 cup apple sauce (sugar free)

2 tsp vanilla

4 tbsp honey or agave nectar

4 tbsp apple juice (or other fruit juice)

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 cup multigrain flour

1 cup rolled oats

1/2 c wheat bran

1/4 cup almonds, diced

2 tbsp flax seeds

1 cup cranberries (frozen or fresh)

1 apple, cored and diced fine (or grated)

1 cup blackberries (or raspberries) cut in half

1. Mash bananas and avocado together in a large bowl. Mix in eggs, beating thoroughly. Add in apple sauce, vanilla, honey and apple juice. Mix well. 

2. To wet ingredients, add baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well to make sure everything is well incorporated. 

3. Add flour, oats and bran, almonds, flax seeds, cranberries and apple to wet mixture, stirring well until all ingredients are well mixed.

4. Add blackberries and gently stir once or twice. They are very soft berries and will get squished if you mix too much. 

5. Bake at 350 for 21-25 minutes or until tops start to brown. 

Eating for Weight Loss

There is a bit of a misnomer out there about eating and losing weight. I come across so many people who are constantly cut calories, trying to exercise more, and yet are struggling to shed pounds. The truth is, your body needs a certain number of calories (discussed below) to function, and eating anything less than that will slow your metabolism and make weight loss a huge struggle in the long term. Sure you may very quickly shed a few pounds while your body adjusts, but once it hits "starvation mode" the pounds will come off less quickly and you will struggle to build muscle and maintain energy to focus on fitness and workouts.

Think of your body like a car. If you refuse to put oil, windshield washer fluid and gas in it, it certainly won't go very far. Now thing of oil, windshield washer fluid and gas as the nutrients, gas and minerals that your body needs. Sure you can survive a bit without vitamins, it will take your body a little while to notice that you are leeching calcium out of your bones to make sure your heart keeps beating (and this might take months, but its true), and as for the gas, your body will start to use up fat reserves, but the truth is, after about 3 days of extreme calorie deprivation your body will turn to your muscle tissue as an energy source. The reason being that per kilogram of muscle there is a lot more energy and nutrients than a kilogram of fat. Lastly we come to the windshield washer fluid, or that extra our bodies don't need every single day, but are certainly nice to have when there is a storm, or something abnormal. These are the extras we get from foods, like minerals, omega-3's and so on. These are not quite as critical as essential vitamins, but are substantial contributors to muscle and cartilage building, brain development, and maintenance of systems like our eye sight and hearing. Now imagine for a minute that you never put oil, gas or windshield washer fluid in your beloved car. How would it look? Dirty? Stalled on the side of a road? Engine seized up? Now our bodies are a heck of a lot better at adapting to adverse situations than a car, but that doesn't mean that they don't suffer.

When trying to lose weight you need to fuel your body so that your metabolism can be working at 100%, and also so that your energy level is high enough to make a difference when you are being active. No matter your size the body needs nutrients on a continual basis in order to provide enough energy to survive. In terms of what to eat and how to eat, here are a few guidelines:

• You need to eat 1200 calories a day PLUS exercise. 1200 calories is already a diminished amount, and for the majority of people, 1200 calories a day as a bare minimum. If you are exercising you need to make up those calories as well to ensure you have enough energy to function. Operating on less than 1200 calories a day will result in a slowed metabolism and slower overall weight loss.
• Eat foods low in sodium: the majority of people have diets high in salt. Anything processed already has salt in it, and since salt is a staple table condiment in North America incredibly high levels make it into our systems. Limit your salt intake (unless you eat only organic, you get more than enough salt from normal foods, even when exercising)
• Limit foods that come in a package. Even if you know little about nutrition, or food value, this is a simple rule to follow: The Less Packaging The Better. Think about processed cookies, they come in a bag in a package in a box, compare that with a head of lettuce, it comes inside of nothing. Think of each layer of packaging as a step away from healthy foods. The less packaging the better. 
• Add more variety to your life. Try to mix up the foods that you eat. Incorporate fruits and vegetables of many colours into your diet, and make sure they encompass at least half your plate at every meal. 
• Don't obsess. This doesn't mean eat a bag of chips a day, it just means don't restrict yourself so much that when you cheat you eat a whole cake (and a pie, and 17 donuts). It means eat healthy, eat clean, but don't kill yourself. We're only human, and even the very best of us can only have SO MUCH will power. Treat yourself every now and then, and let yourself enjoy your food. There are tons of recipes for foods that have full flavour and are still healthy.
• Train your taste buds. You might be surprised to find that if you stop eating chips for a while, you no longer crave them; the same is true with many so called "bad" foods. If you eat healthy for long enough, you will stop craving the bad things. For me at this point bad food includes cinnamon-raisin bagels, flavoured rice cakes and a small slice of homemade cake. I don't crave store-bought cookies or treats; I crave homemade banana bread and a medium-rare steak. The cleaner you eat, the less your body wants the bad foods, since it is no longer used to them. 

In terms of eating for weight loss, I don't recommend completely cutting out any single legitimate food group (fats and sugars don't make my list of "food groups"). Eat 1200 calories a day PLUS exercise,and make those calories good foods. Add multicoloured vegetables to your diet (the simple explanation is that different coloured vegetables contain different and essential nutrients). Make sure you are getting enough protein in your diet every day (about 1g for ever 1kg of body weight - this means for a 150lb person you should be eating about 65g of protein per day), especially if you are trying to build muscle. Try to think of your diet as what you eat, not what you restrict. Your diet should be everything that you consume (including water, which should be at a bare minimum 8 cups a day - more is better), and what you consume is important. I can easily stay on a 1200 calorie a day diet by eat only 6 Oreo cookies and drinking two glasses of wine, but I doubt that anyone would be able to maintain that diet because of the severe lack of nutrients, so eat real food, your body needs (and deserves) that to keep yourself in shape. Remember that losing weight should be about health and not pounds, the healthier you are, the easier it will be to both shed pounds and keep it off. 

What a Difference a Year Makes! 

Pictures of myself at the start of my new healthy lifestyle, and today! No fads or gimmicks here, just clean eating and good old exercise! 

New Years Resolutions & S.M.A.R.T Goals

Its a brand new year, and the gym this past week has been quite a bit fuller (as it always is for the first few weeks in January), as so many people have a New Years resolution along the lines of shedding a few pounds or getting in shape. The further it gets from Jan 1, the empty the gym gets until February rolls around and its just the normal gym crowd, with maybe one or two new additions. While I prefer the gym emptier (its much easier for me to get MY workout in) I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from setting goals and achieving them; simply put, I think New Years resolutions are a bit of a farce. If you really really wanted to set a goal and achieve it, why wait for a new year? Why not start today? Why not make it realistic, and worthy of your time, rather than a generic, "I want to not be fat this year". What does "fat" mean? What do want to do about it? What are YOU going to DO about it?

The solution to to set S.M.A.R.T Goals, which makes goals achievable. No one woke up and was magically smarter, or thinner or completely successful, but by making a plan, all of those things can happen! S.M.A.R.T Goals are behind so many successful motivational speakers and books, as well as many weight loss programs, they are just marketed differently. So, now that the secret is out, what is a  S.M.A.R.T Goal you ask?

S - Specific
Make your goal something specific that you want to achieve. They best way to create a specific goals is to use the 5 Ws

• What I want to accomplish
• Why I want to accomplish this
• Who is involved
• Where I will accomplish this
• Which things do I need to achieve this

The 5 Ws help, because they bring the goal down to something that is tangible. Rather than saying simply "I want to lose weight", think about how much specifically, why is it that you are wanting to lose weight, is it simply shedding pounds, or is it more about a healthier lifestyle? Can you do this on your own, or do you need some help (trainer, nutritionist, spouse eating healthy too), the possibilities are endless. 

M - Measurable 
This is a very important part of any goal. Saying "I want to lose weight" doesn't let us know when we will be satisfied, or help us to see when we have made progress and when we have completed our goal. Break the goal down into several smaller and measurable segments. Say "I want to lose 20 lbs, and to do this I want to lose 1 lb per week". This is something you can see and track, which helps to make the goal more realistic (which we come to shortly).

A - Attainable/Achievable
Not that all goals are not achievable, but sometimes we get a bit ahead of ourselves. If you struggle to walk to the mailbox, maybe your immediate goal shouldn't be to run a marathon (not that that goal cannot ever be a reality, just that today's goal should be an intermediary step). Make a goal that will be a challenge to yourself, but not one that will constantly seem unattainable. The idea of goal setting is to help us, not discourage us so far that we give up. This is a common mistake of people making goals about lifestyle and fitness. The goal is so unrealistic and unattainable that people give up long before they reach that goal. By setting a goal that is achievable, you are more likely to keep it, because you can see the success of accomplishing your goal. And the good part is, when you reach one achievable milestone, whats to stop your from making another one? (Please don't wait until NEXT New Years to make another resolution).

R - Relevant & Realistic
Make the goal relevant and meaningful to YOU. Although the goal "I want stack 500 red cups into a pyramid before lunch today" is a very specific, measurable, achievable and time bound, what is the point? Set a goal for yourself that has meaning behind it for you. Ask yourself, is this worthwhile, and why? If you cannot answer those questions, then maybe your goal needs a bit of revamping.

T - Timely
Set a time limit on your goals. Having no set time limit is another reason why people often do not follow their goals through. If you say I want to lose weight, you've left your goal unbounded, and then there is no reason to see progress, because there is no end in sight. By setting limits it is easier to achieve smaller goals, and then have them add up to a bigger goal. A goal such a losing 30 lbs might seem completely unattainable, whereas losing 3 lbs, is something that can be seen. Set your goal to lose 3 lbs in 2 weeks, and then, do that 10 times and you've achieved your true goal. It a lot easier to run a marathon when you start out walking around the block first. Set limits, and hold yourself accountable.


Setting goals is incredibly important to achieving them. So many people say "I want to be thin", when really they should be setting goals to live a healthier lifestyle. I like goals that involve all of self, not just the pounds we don't like. Just over a year ago I set a goal for myself to "Be healthier". I broke this down into several smaller steps in order to make it feasible.

Here are some of the steps involved in my goals from Nov 2011

- I want to be healthier because living healthy is important to me. I want to treat my body properly, and by putting garbage in, I will get garbage out.
- I will walk to and from school every single day, rain or shine.
- I will exercise for at least 30 minutes at least 3 times a week.
- I will be able to run 10 km by April 2012.
- I will drink at least 2 litres of water every single day.
- I will pack a healthy lunch so I am not tempted to buy unhealthy things to fill me up.
- I will put vegetables on my plate first, and they will fill half my plate.

I had a lot more mini steps, and sometimes added things as I saw fit. I wrote down my goals somewhere that I would see them every single day. This allowed me to make them more tangible. When I got to a point where my goal became habit, I cross it off the list, since it was something I didn't need to work towards anymore (a good example was upping my water intake, as now I can't not drink more than 2L a day, so its no longer a goal, just something I do). When I accomplish my smaller goals, I can set bigger ones, and add to the list.

Another important part of goal setting is reevaluating. If something isn't working, or isn't realistic, change it. That doesn't mean give up after 3 days because its a little bit hard, it means alter things, make them more realistic and keep going. Your goals should be challenging, but not so hard that you give up exasperated. Remember the steps, keep them SMART and enjoy!