Monday, April 18, 2011 at 07:21 AM
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Stephan Savoia
Today marks the 115th running of the Boston Marathon. Amazing! Marathon Monday is part of our culture here in Massachusetts. Even growing up in Rhode Island, I remember my second grade teacher running the marathon. I remember watching it on television, trying to see if I would catch her on the telecast (uh, no).
I went to graduate school at Boston University – and lived right on Commonwealth Avenue. When the marathon went by, just steps from my apartment at Chestnut Hill Ave, before Cleveland Circle, I was up to my eyeballs in papers. I took a few moments to run down and watch the first woman run by, but then it was back up to my computer and my books and my papers. I remember having my windows open and listening to the cheering crowds all afternoon.
When we were engaged and newly married, my husband and I lived in Newton Highlands, right near Heartbreak Hill. Every year, we would walk over and cheer the runners on as they slogged up those tough hills. I always got tears in my eyes watching the wheelchair participants. I was always amazed to see the athleticism of the elite runners. We always knew people who were running. I worked for a big consulting firm with many Type A personalities. Several of my colleagues had qualified for Boston and we watched for them, an activity that always gives me motion sickness. All those bobbing heads.
Once we moved to the suburbs and we were new homeowners, we found that we couldn’t spare that Marathon Monday. We used that day to do Spring chores around the yard. I remember scraping paint off of shutters and listening to the marathon on the radio.
After having kids and really settling into suburban life, we saw more and more of our friends run the marathon. Our friend Pete, a Fit Friend at Forty, runs the marathon in 3 hours. Amazing! And many of our friends run for causes. Now I get teary when I see our friends Bridgett and Meghan run for their son Liam and the Mass General Hospital Team “Fighting Kids Cancer, One Step At a Time.” Now instead of watching bobbing heads on Heartbreak Hill, we follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Running a marathon is not on my own personal bucket list. I’m a five-mile-and-no-more kind of girl. I was born with very flat feet and post-forty, my knees are starting to sound like Rice Krispies. I’m not going to push it. But I love that for one day in Boston, we cheer on these amazing athletes who run for so many reasons. While I’ve never been in the Marathon, it has been part of the fabric of my life and so many others here in the Boston area. Good luck to everyone today!
By the way – while driving into work, I heard a radio personality comment that the oldest runner in this year’s marathon is 81 years old. She also mentioned that he did not start running competitively until he was 68 years old. So, if running Boston is on your Bucket List, have no fear. You are never too old.
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Boston Marathon, running
Friday, April 15, 2011 at 07:06 AM
A news story on boston.com caught my eye this week. The headline read, “Parents of tots often less fit, study says.” Tots. Hmmmmm. I thought. That means really little kids. Tots are toddlers, right. Or as my daughter used to say, “Togglers.” Like under the age of 3. Wrong. The study was looking at parents of children aged 5 and under. Oh. I have a 5-year-old. Maybe I am a parent that this study was targeting. Gulp.
Now, I had to read this study closely.
It said, “A study found that mothers of young children were heavier and ate more calories, sugary drinks, and fatty foods than childless women. Parents in the study were less active than their peers without children.”
Oh boy. I am a mom of one child who is age 5 (and another child who is 7). Am I less fit than my peers without children?
Well, let’s break this down. There are two parts to this, right?
- Deciding what I am going to eat
- Determining how active I am able to be given the demands of parenthood
I will tell you that since having children, I have actually improved on Number 1, but decreased the time I can spend on the second.
In my opinion, as parents, we have more control over the first part of this equation. We can choose to eat more calories, splurge on sugary drinks and fatty foods and find ourselves fatter than our peers without children. Or, we can watch portion sizes, eat nutritiously, choose high NuVal scores. For me, it’s critical. It’s something that I can control in a life where frankly I often have so little control.
The second part of this equation is so, so much harder. Let’s face it. B.C. (Before Children), you could meet your spouse after work at the gym and indulge in a 90-minute workout. You could go running together on the weekends. Now that is so not happening. Try as you might, you cannot make more hours in the day. Any parent I know who keeps up an exercise routine has to squeeze it in early (for me the wake up call comes at 4:30 am) and it is brutal. And waking up that early means you have to be in bed, well, early. But parenthood means that you are up late doing laundry, dishes, making lunches, paying bills, and doing the work you couldn’t finish at work, etc. Throw in one family illness, a child’s bad dream in the middle of the night, or just pure exhaustion, and guess what, you miss your workout. It’s tough.
But, it can be done.
My advice? Find what works for you at your particular stage of parenthood and be realistic. For example, when my kids were in their first year of life, I didn’t do the early morning gym routine. I needed sleep! Instead, my husband and I took long walks with our baby in the stroller. And when our second child came along, we got a double stroller, and took longer walks. We got baby seats for our bikes and pedaled on the bike path. It wasn’t a 60-minute killer cardio kick-boxing class, but it was exercise.
Once you’re ready to start a gym routine, find a workout buddy. It’s hard to turn over and go back to sleep if you know someone is going to be waiting for you in your driveway. Or a group of workout buddies. My early-morning gym group gets me out of bed. They rock. If you have the flexibilty to work out later in the morning, find a gym or Y with a good babysitting program. Or if lack of time is your issue, maybe it’s time to find a running buddy in your neighborhood. Why spend time driving back and forth to the gym (at least in the good weather months) when you can run right out your front door?
You know, last year, I sat down to watch the series premiere of Parenthood. I was pretty excited about it because I am a huge Peter Krause fan. Six Feet Under is one of my top five all time favorite television series. So, as I say, I sat down to watch this brand new series and Peter’s character (Adam Braverman) opens up his front door to go out for a run. I was so excited when I saw this because in Six Feet Under, Peter’s character (Nate) ran all the time. But now, Peter’s character is Adam Braverman, father of two children, and he can barely make it down the street because he is in such bad shape. And before he knows it, everyone in his family is calling him on his cell phone. He just can’t get out for a run. Parenthood, indeed!
Am I less fit than my peers who do not have kids? I don’t actually have too many peers that don’t have kids, so I don’t know the answer to that question. Am I less fit than I was before I had kids? Well, I can tell you this. I am at a size, weight, and fitness level that I did not think was attainable as a working mom of two kids. So, I’m pretty happy about that!
Question of the Day?
If you are a parent – how has parenthood affected your nutrition and fitness?
If you are not a parent – do you fear that becoming a parent will have a negative effect on your fitness level?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: boston.com, Breaking News, Fitness, Parenthood
Tuesday, April 12, 2011 at 07:07 AM
Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday, everyone’s favorite day here at A Better Bag of Groceries. Every Tuesday, I blog about a trade up I’ve made since learning about NuVal scores and I give away something for free.
Here in New England (where Spring comes just about last – boo!), the forsythia is finally popping and there are small red buds on the trees and some daffodils popping up. Woo hoo! It’s time to put away the hot cereal for good and bring out the cold cereal for breakfast. How do I know this for sure? My weather man keeps taking his clothes off!
You see, my Godmother – my Great Aunt Ruth – who Rocks, by the way, gave me the best Christmas gift this year. She gave me this Weather Channel Weather Station. Our whole family loves it!
It tells us the indoor temperature, indoor humidity, whether it might rain or snow, whether the barometric pressure is headed up or down, the outdoor temperature and outdoor humidity and some other things that I don’t even understand. But the best feature is that it tells you how to dress for the weather. It has come in very handy on cold days when my kids try to sneak out the door without a hat and mittens. “Look at the Weather Man!” I tell them. “Now go put on your hat and mittens.”
So as the temperature rises, the Weather Man takes his clothes off.
See! He went from long sleeves to short sleeves in a few hours. I wonder what happens when we get to 100 degrees?
In any event, my clothes-shedding Weather Man and the emerging flora and fauna around here tell me that indeed Spring has arrived and so has Cold Cereal Season.
We at NuVal spend a lot of time talking about cold cereal. We have actually scored over 1700 different cold cereals. When we go out to stores to talk to customers about NuVal in our retailers’ stores, cereal is probably the aisle you’ll most likely find us in. And the cereal you usually find us talking about is Post Shredded Wheat. It scores a 91 and it’s easy for everyone to remember, so it just rolls off the tongue. But this week, I thought I would giveaway some other cereals that also score a 91 (or close to a 91). So here they are:
- Kashi 7 Whole Grain Puffs: NuVal score of 91
- Bear Naked Fit Granola: NuVal score of 91
- Alpen No Sugar Added Muesli: NuVal score of 81
Not only will the Weather Man be taking his clothes off, but we will be taking our clothes off. Did you know:
- Only 48 days until Memorial Day
- Only 70 days until the first day of Summer
- Only 83 days until the 4th of July
So, make your cereal a good, nutritious filling choice.
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky ABBG reader will win all three of these high-scoring cereals. Just tell me which of these 3 cereals would be your first choice. For example, I would choose the Alpen muesli with sliced nectarine and skim milk. My husband would go for the Bear Naked Fit Granola stirred into his plain non-fat Greek yogurt. You can enter twice if you know the NuVal scores for those items. For example, nectarine scores a 93 and skim milk scores a 91. I’ll choose one winner at random on Wednesday at 8 am Eastern time. Good luck!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Cold Cereal, Trade-Up Tuesday, Uncategorized
Monday, April 11, 2011 at 07:24 AM
Welcome to Cooking With Catherine Katz, a frequent feature here at A Better Bag of Groceries. Catherine is wife of NuVal visionary Dr. David Katz.
May I just subtly hint that I hope to someday go to a party at the Katz home because it looks like this family has a ball!
Their kids are very funny!
Here at NuVal, we always say that the whole family could go into modeling!
And they’re talented too.
Daughters Natalia and Valerie recently starred in Pippin.
Natalia (Center) and Valerie (to her Left) in Pippin
And son Gabe played Mowgli in The Jungle Book.
Gabe as Mowgli in Jungle Book
In between theater rehearsals, the hungry Katz Kids like to munch on Catherine’s famous turkey burgers. Catherine has a secret ingredient which fills her kids up, giving them the energy they need to make it through a long performance. I know a lot of Moms are running around right now with hectic Spring sports and recital schedules, so this recipe is the perfect food for endurance – for everyone. Catherine says, “These burgers are so delicious, you’ll want three, but so completely satisfying and filling, that you may not be able to eat more than one.”
Turkey Burgers
Ingredients
1 lb raw extra-lean ground turkey (we used 1 package, which is a little over a pound) NuVal score of 33
1 egg with Omega 3 (NuVal score of 44)
1 Tbsp Flax meal (Oops – I have Flax seed in this photo, not Flax meal. Remember, flax needs to be ground in order to get the benefits. Read my post The Thing About Flax to see what I mean.
2 tsp Dijon mustard (NuVal score of 6)
2 tsp tomato paste (In the picture you see a Stop & Shop brand that we have not scored. Goya Tomato Paste scores an 88!)
3/4 tsp salt
ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp olive oil (NuVal score of 11)
2 Tbsp chopped onions (NuVal score of 93)
2 cloves chopped garlic (NuVal score of 91)
2 cups sliced raw mushrooms (NuVal score of 96)
1 cup cooked lentils, drained* (NuVal score of 53 for Goya lentils)
1/3 cup water
canola oil cooking spray
*a little less than 1/2 cup dry lentils cooked in 3 cups boiling water for 15 minutes, or until tender.
Directions
In a large bowl mix together first 7 ingredients (all the way through ground black pepper). Set aside.
Heat the olive oil in a small non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add the chopped garlic and onions and saute for a couple of minutes. Then add the sliced mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes until soft.
Place the cooked mushrooms, cooked drained lentils and water in the bowl of a food processor and grind until “creamy”.
Add the ground turkey mixture the the lentil/mushroom mixture in the bowl of the food processor and grind for a couple of minutes until thoroughly mixed and smooth. It will be “sticky” and that’s just right. You can refrigerate (it also freezes well) at this point until ready to grill. (Do not form patties at this point!)
Spray canola oil cooking spray in a large cast iron grill pan (you can also grill on the BBQ, which is what we did) and heat over high heat. When the pan is very hot, spoon out the ground turkey (about a heaping 1/3 cup per patty) onto the grill pan. Do NOT attempt to shape the patty at this point! Let it sizzle on that side for a couple minutes.
Then, flip the burgers over and flatten with a large spatula. Each burger will become a nice circular patty with the center grilled and the outer part still raw for now. Grill for a couple more minutes on that side.
Flip the patties over once again until cooked through. Serve on whole wheat buns with garnishings and enjoy!
We enjoyed our burgers with Cascadian Farms Shoe String Fries which get a NuVal score of 81. Yum!
While this recipe is a bit unusual (my husband, the Grillmaster in our house, said it was like putting 8 blobs on the grill), the result was delicious! Like Catherine said, these little burgers are very filling. And tasty too. Our 5-year-old daughter even chose to bring one to school the next day for a “heat up” for her kindergarten lunch. Because there is some labor involved, I love the idea of making some patties (or blobs!) and freezing them ahead. Do it now before the good weather really kicks in!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Cooking With Catherine, grill, lentils, Turkey Burgers, Uncategorized
Wednesday, February 2, 2011 at 08:17 AM
Hooray for Awards Season! There’s nothing like a little red carpet action to help chase away the winter doldrums. Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and of course, the Oscars, will get my attention every time. I was so happy to see my favorite, Modern Family, win the Best Ensemble at the SAG Awards the other night. Could there be a funnier show?
All this talk about the “Best of” in each category got me thinking about NuVal (I know, I’m such a grocery geek). We should have an Awards Night for groceries: Best Cereal, Best Salty Snack, Best Cracker, Best Juice (Shelf Stable), Best Juice (Refrigerated)… But seriously, people ask me all the time, “What is the best cereal?” And I am always quick to offer up the example that rolls off my tongue so quickly, “Post Shredded Wheat.” True, this cereal scores a 91 on the NuVal scale, but there are others that also score that high and they deserve their time on the red carpet too!
The nominees for Best Cereal in the Cold Cereal Category are:
- Bear Naked Vanilla Almond Crunch
- Bear Naked Triple Berry Crunch
- Nature’s Path Organic Rice Cereal 100%
- Kashi 7 Whole Grain Puffs
- Arrowhead Mills All Natureal Puffed Wheat
- Arrowhead Mills Organic Amaranth Flakes
- Barbara’s Bakery Shredded Wheat Cereal
- Post Shredded Wheat Cereal
Yes – all these cereals score a 91 on the NuVal scale. And you know what? There are also many store-brand cereals that score a 91 also, including:
- Kroger 100% Shredded Wheat
- Price Chopper Puffed Wheat
- Meijer Bite-Sized Shredded Wheat
- Big Y Bite-Sized Shredded Wheat
You get the same nutrition at a cheaper price. Good deal!
So, who does the award go to? Good question. Are you a puff person or more of a shredded wheat person? Or perhaps amaranth flakes are more your thing? Empirically speaking, all these cereals get the same great NuVal score. So, you decide who wins. I guess this is the People’s Choice Awards show now!
Question of the Day
Which of these cereals would you give the Best of Cold Cereal Award to?
Yesterday’s Winner
Congratulations to Commenter #35 JW! You’ve won a copy of Dr. Katz’s cookbook, The Flavor Full Diet! Please send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com so that I can mail it out to you. Thank you to everyone who entered.
A Winning Month
Also a thank you to all of you loyal A Better Bag of Groceries readers. I set a personal goal to beat 10,000 visitors to the blog in the month of January. Guess What? The goal was met! By more than I expected! 12,317 visitors in the month of January! Thanks for reading and for passing ABBG on to your friends!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Uncategorized
Tags: Cereal for Grown-Ups, Cold Cereal, Uncategorized
