Welcome! I am a mom of a busy 8 year old and an adventurous 6 year old. I also happen to work for a great company called NuVal. NuVal is a nutritional scoring system that rates foods on a scale of 1-100, based on how nutritious they are. We are implementing NuVal in grocery stores around the country.
NuVal may not be in your area yet. But I see the scores while they are "hot off the press" and because of that I am able to make better decisions about what to feed my family.
I am not a registered dietitian. I am just a mom who happens to work for NuVal. I am also an AFAA-certified Group Exercise Instructor. NuVal is a system designed to lead customers to the most nutritious food choices. It is not a diet or weight-loss plan. Before starting a diet, you should always consult your personal physician. The opinions expressed in this blog are the opinions of the writer and not the opinions of NuVal LLC.
If there is one thing that we eat a whole lot of at this time of year – it’s clementines. Oh, how I love them!
My clementine obsession begins sometime in December and it stretches through the long cold New England Winter. They bring a little bit of sunshine to my day. And I always eat two at a time. It goes back to my Weight Watchers days. I remember that you could have two clementines for one Weight Watchers Point. So, I still have that habit of eating two.
We go through a box of these a week at our house. And I feel good about that because they score a 94 on the NuVal scale.
They are definitely on our shopping list this weekend.
I have been scoring a few bargains at some post-holiday sales. I snagged these candle holders at Target last week for $8 each. They are glass and painted silver. Perfect in my dining room with white pillar candles.
With mixed emotions, I replaced our 15-year-old every day dishes (our wedding pattern) with new, cool modern dishes from Crate and Barrel. After our fantastic experience with C&B’s appetizer plates, I knew I could trust these square dishes that got rave customer reviews. The pattern is called Court – and we love them! Our old dishes were chipped and cracked (and bacteria can get in there – yuck), so it was time. Court was on sale – so I didn’t want to miss that great price!
And my latest find is a new consignment shop that has just opened close by. It’s located just downstairs from my daughter’s ballet studio, so I can shop guilt-free while she is in class. That’s where I found this new (used) mirror for my front hall.
I’m already gathering what I want to bring to consignment! Recycling is the best!
As my husband would say, “we did our part for the economy.” Time to hunker down and work on a good painting project.
Question of the Day
What’s on your shopping list this weekend (grocery, or otherwise)?
In my humble opinion, one of the big reasons that New Years’ Resolutions fall by the wayside in about three weeks time is football. Yup. Blame it on football. Americans are obsessed and we are in playoff season. And playoff season (especially when you live about 10 minutes from the New England Patriots home stadium) is all about football parties.
Even when I got together with my gym girlfriends this past Saturday night (all women – no husbands), we watched the game. My friend Hazel, who was born and raised in Ireland, and is now busy working Mom to two athletic boys, offered to host a little get together, since her lucky husband was headed to the big game. While many of us had more than one football party (seriously, it’s like the holidays all over again), we all made some time to get over to Hazel’s that night. I think we were dying to see what we all looked like with real clothes and make-up on! After all, we typically only see each other after rolling out of bed at 5:00 am. Hazel pronounced her house a “ponytail-free zone.”
Hazel’s spread included both indulgent and “healthy” foods.
But her double tomato bruschetta was the big winner that night.
In a large bowl, combine the roma tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt, and pepper. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes.
Cut the baguette into 3/4-inch slices. On a baking sheet, arrange the baguette slices in a single layer. Broil for 1 to 2 minutes, until slightly brown.
Divide the tomato mixture evenly over the baguette slices. Top the slices with mozzarella cheese.
Broil for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted.
Hazel’s Tip: I always ask the ladies at the bakery to slice the baguette for me that way you get nice uniform pieces.
I loved these little appetizers! Much smaller than a piece of pizza. One or two was enough – and then I tried to stick mostly with veggies and hummus. And I had brought my famous Avocado Salsa – so of course, a few scoops of that. All with a nice glass of red wine and some great conversation with the girls. One of my favorite parts of the night was when we all shared stories of our sightings of the New England Patriots players. Living so close to where they practice and play games, we do bump into them from time to time. My big story was that I sat behind Tedy Bruschi on a train at Thomas the Tank Engine.
And now, we have another football weekend!
Question of the Day
Do you make food for the big football games? What’s on the menu this weekend?
And Another Question of the Day
Do you ever bump into any sports celebrities? What’s your story?
Welcome to Wordless Wednesday! Every Wednesday, I take the day “off” from blogging. Instead I simply post a photo – and I ask all of you to comment on it. Today, I posted 4 photos. It’s sort of a little story. Maybe you can guess what happened when my boss, Leslie (in photo #1) visited a Price Chopper store and started talking NuVal with a customer. I can’t wait to hear your interpretation!
Yesterday’s Winner
Congratulations to Commenter #46 Yvette! You’ve won the Salad Dressing Giveaway. Please send me an email at abetterbagofgroceries@gmail.com with your mailing address so that I can ship your prize out to you. Thanks to everyone who entered!
Welcome to Trade Up Tuesday! On the second day of the week, I blog about a trade up I’ve made since I learned about NuVal scores and I give away something for free. It’s a great day! Today, I’m talking about salad.
I’ve been eating a lot of salad these past few weeks. As I get back on track after the holidays, it just seems fitting to try and get as many high-scoring fruits and veggies into my day as I can. We always – always – have a big bowl of salad in our fridge. What don’t we have? Store-bought salad dressing.
Salad dressings that you buy (in a bottle or jar) range in NuVal score from 1 to 24. The average score is a 5. Basically, there is a lot of sodium and stuff in many of them. There are some standouts in the crowd. For example, Marie’s Blue Cheese Yogurt Dressing with No Preservatives scores a 24.
Instead of buying bottled dressing, I buy bottled oil and bottle vinegar and mix my own. I just make a basic balsamic vinaigrette. A little olive oil (NuVal score of 11), a little balsamic vinegar, a little Kosher salt and a twist or two of ground black pepper. And then, shake shake shake. Voila, dressing. I could become even more adventurous and add fresh herbs – and I’m sure I will get there – someday. In the meantime, it’s one, two, three, four. Shake, shake, shake.
I make my dressing quickly and easily – and instead focus my attention on the salad.
Yum!
Today’s Giveaway
One lucky reader will win this great little salad giveaway. Included is this fantastic airtight glass bottle that I found at Crate and Barrel. Perfect for shaking your vinaigrette. There is also Carapelli Olive Oil (NuVal score of 11) and Bertolli Balsamic Vinegar (not scored). Also included is a Salad recipe book. Sorry, the tomatoes are not included. I can’t guarantee that those would arrive on the winner’s doorstep without a big, squishy mess! All you need to do is leave a comment below telling me what you love to put in your salad. Bonus: you can enter a second time by leaving a second comment with the NuVal scores of any of those ingredients. If you don’t have NuVal scores in a grocery store near you, try searching the NuVal website or this blog or the Trading Up Downtown blog. I’ll select one winner at random at 8am Eastern time on Wednesday January 18th. Good Luck!
I work out early in the morning with an incredible group of women. The enthusiasm, camaraderie and spirit that these fitness friends bring to my life make it possible for me to get out of bed at an hour that just should not be. We all play different roles in this group. In fact, I taught one of the early-morning classes until my job at NuVal went into high-gear. These days, Hazel and Lesley keep things fresh for us so that on days when our gym does not have classes, we still work out together in some sort of structured way. Hazel brings in P90X on her laptop and sets us up in the studio. Lesley scours the Internet and the Blogs for the best workouts. And that is how we came to be doing the 480 Workout on a whole bunch of consecutive Friday mornings at 5:30 am.
The 480 Workout comes from the blog One Fit Foodie. If you haven’t checked out her blog, you really should. Naomi has great recipes, workouts and product reviews. And she is in amazing shape!
The 480 Workout is called just that because you begin with 2 repetitions of each exercise and you work your way up to 10 (by increasing in increments of 2). And then you come back down again.
By the time you finish, you will have done 480 repetitions. Naomi stresses the importance of two things with this workout: 1) warm up before you begin and 2) try to do each exercise with perfect form.
What’s great about this workout is that the only piece of equipment you need is a mat
(in case you want to put your knees down during the push ups). We work out at our gym – and we use the studio with the mirror to check our form – but you can just as easily do this at home. Oh – and we love to use music. In my opinion, working out with music is always better!
So, do you get what I’m mean about how the repetitions work?
First you do 2 of each exercise.
2 Push-Ups
2 Squats
2 Squat Jumps
2 Burpees
2 Floor Jacks
2 High Plank Shoulder Taps
2 Jump Lunges
2 Shoulder Push Ups
Then, you do the series again. But this time you do 4 of everything:
4 Push-Ups
4 Squats
4 Squat Jumps
4 Burpees
4 Floor Jacks
4 High Plank Shoulder Taps
4 Jump Lunges
4 Shoulder Push Ups
And then you begin again. But now you do 6 of each exercise.
6 Push-Ups
6 Squats
6 Squat Jumps
6 Burpees
6 Floor Jacks
6 High Plank Shoulder Taps
6 Jump Lunges
6 Shoulder Push Ups
And then you do 8 of each exercise. And then you do 10 of each exercise. Now, once you’ve done that, you’re ready to come down the ladder.
You have to do 10 again. Then 8. Then 6. Then 4. Then 2. And then you are done. And you are sweaty and tired!
What’s great about this workout is that your heart rate is up the entire time. Time yourself (remember – perfect form!) and see if you can beat your time as you practice this again and again. We’ve shaved some time off since beginning this workout back in November.
Perfect form is really important when you workout. So, if you do work out at home, get yourself a full length mirror and put it in your work out space. Here is what each exercise should look like:
Push Up
Squat
Squat Jump
Burpee
Floor Jack
High Plank Shoulder Tap
Jump Lunges
Shoulder Push Up
For more on the benefits of the 480 workout, check out One Fit Foodie.
The NuVal Nutritional Scoring System gives nutritional guidance to consumers frustrated with complicated nutrition labels and misleading packaging promises. Under NuVal, all foods and beverages are rated on a scale between 1 to 100. The higher the score, the higher the overall nutrition.
Awards
A Better Bag of Groceries was recently named by Medical Assistant Colleges as a Top 50 Blog for Understanding and Preventing Childhood Obesity. Hooray!
