Guest Post: 3 Habits Of Healthy Eaters

Welcome to a guest post from my numero dos partner-in-crime, Amanda, about her favorite things in live: veggies and fiber. Without further ado...

Poor Without Pizza Rolls 

Going through college I've witnessed a lot of my friends and classmates fully immerse themselves into the college culture. 24-hour dining halls, multiple parties every weekend, all nighters resulting in that fourth meal, and now really grocery shopping for themselves for the first time. All of these combined made us all realize that the freshman fifteen is a real thing, and that groceries are way more expensive than you ever thought possible. 

Although we're still young, we are getting old enough to where our metabolisms aren't quite the same as they were when we were 16, and mom's not making sure we eat our veggies every day. Diets of pizza rolls and zebra cakes will keep us in shape, but it will be a round shape. 

Now, I'm not one who sticks to a diet or lifestyle easily. No matter how appealing a diet or workout plan is on the internet, it almost never is as fun in real life. That, or I've found that being "healthy" can be really expensive! Thankfully, I had really cheap, healthy habits instilled in me growing up. I have strayed away from time to time, but they have generally kept my health in check while in school and my shape not-so-round. 

1.) Eat Fiber

If you don't take anything from this blog post, the few of you who will read it, remember to eat your fiber. Fiber is something my mom harped on, and still does non-stop when it comes to food, though I never truly understood what difference it made. 

It turns out, besides making you "regular," fiber is beneficial in heart health and can even aid in weight loss. Dr. Oz explains all about it here if you want to know more. 

But you may be saying to yourself, "yeah, but it's so much more expensive than the processed stuff." And you're partially correct. Many high-fiber marketed foods are often a little more pricey than the sugary processed stuff. But there's one big thing that you need to remember- it makes you eat less. High-fiber foods fill you up and prevent you from consuming as many calories. Eat your fiber and you can say goodbye to making that mid-morning stop to the vending machine or that midnight look in the refrigerator, and say hello to more savings in your pocket. 

Additionally, many high fiber items such as pasta and beans are non perishable, so it's easy to stock up when they're on sale. 

Here are a few easy ways to incorporate higher fiber into your lifestyle:

• Breakfast- This is really important for me because my stomach is very vocal when I don't get enough- or anything- to eat in the mornings. I've sat in meetings and classes too many times where I swear my stomach is trying to be louder than the person speaking. 
• Look at the nutrition labels: I like to get at least 15-20% of my fiber out of my breads, oatmeal, cereals, and granola bars. 
• Caution: Ease into it. If you don't eat a lot of fiber now, your body might not react so well at first. 
• Use whole wheat flour- or at least half whole wheat and half white- in your waffle and pancake recipes. 
• This goes for anything for that matter, pizza crusts, chicken pot pies- you name it. 

• Lunches and Suppers
• Whole wheat pasta is often the same price as normal and goes on sale quite a bit. If you don't care for the taste and texture of it, there are other options such as Smart Taste pasta from Ronzoni that seem like ordinary pasta. 
• Beans are a great option to add to nearly any meal. They're cheap in a can and even cheaper if you want to take the extra time to soak them. 

2.) Don't Drink Your Calories 
It sounds like an inspirational quote from Pinterest, doesn't it? But it's so true. It is so easy for us to get into the habit of drinking things high in calories when we have dining halls and fast food restaurants with unlimited fountain drink machines. This is adding empty calories to our diets and the sugar is rotting our teeth. 

Your body only needs a certain number of calories a day, don't waste any of them. Cherry Coke is my kryptonite, but the longer I stay away from it, the better I feel. Besides, staying away from all of those sugary drinks can save a ton of money in the long run. Things like coffee and tea are easy ways to get that flavor fix without pouring your money down the drain. 

3.) Buy Non Perishables 
I can't count the number of times I've tried to get on a "healthy kick" and let half of what I buy go to waste. Let's face it, things come up and you can't always follow your weekly meal plan. Some recipes will have you eating leftovers for the next three nights, sometimes there's free pizza in the student center, so don't pass up those opportunities when they're there. 

I'm not saying it's not good to buy fresh produce, but I'm cautioning that it may not be a great idea to plan a bunch of meals with fresh produce or meat for a short amount of time. Instead, you might want to try stocking up on canned and frozen foods that won't go bad in a week. I'm talking beans, pasta, veggies, and meat you can freeze. I wouldn't recommend the super processed stuff like dollar frozen pizzas and fish sticks. 

Let's face it, we're young and tight on cash, so we will eat Ramen and Pizza Rolls. However, making healthy habits now will carry us into making healthy choices in the long run and possibly help us a little in the short run as well. 

By Amanda Foster 

About Me

A big thanks to Katie for allowing me be a guest blogger on here. I'm an Industrial Design Student at Georgia Tech. If you haven't heard of Industrial Design before, look it up, you'll wish you had chosen it for your career! I have one child, Zelda (pictured with me on left). If you want to read more from me, you can follow my new design blog at amandaleedesign.wordpress.com. 

The Messy Cook: Low Calorie Roasted Tomato Dill Bisque

Sophomore year of college, I started working at a bar that specialized in making the servers fat. The healthiest thing on the menu was a salad that consisted of iceberg lettuce, bacon, and cheese. 

Night after night, all I ate was fried cheese sticks, tater tots with cheese, and baked strizzata (umm, heaven on a plate). That, and my new acquired taste for alcohol, led to a just as newly acquired 30lbs. 

Over the past year, I've dieted off and on, and worked out regularly. I dropped 10lbs and then gained it all back once things got stressful and busy.

I can work out all I want, but sadly I've learned that all of the inspirational posts on Pinterest are right: weight loss is mainly done in the kitchen. 

And that is why I joined Weight Watchers. 

I've tried counting macros in the past, but I just don't have the discipline to do it myself right now. And IIFYM has too many variables for me right now and it becomes a pain to track. 

Long story slightly less long, I'm trying out new Weight Watchers friendly recipes. First one on the list? Tomato Dill Bisque!

If there is anything that feels like comfort food to me, it's tomato soup and grilled cheese. This soup felt like home to me.

Being the terrible blogger that I am, I got caught up in cooking (and cleaning my kitchen and watching Psych and messaging people) to take pictures of the process. I even had my camera sitting in front of me the whole time. 

This soup is yummy, and it wasn't that hard to make. It took about an hour for me to cook (including prep time), and it makes about 6 (1 1/2 cup) servings. Each serving is worth 4 WW points.

You'll need a baking sheet, aluminum foil, soup pot, and a blender.

Ingredients

• 4 sprays cooking spray (I used olive oil)
• 56 oz canned diced tomatoes, drained
• 4 medium uncooked carrots, thinly sliced (I sliced up a handful of baby carrots.)
• 1 large uncooked onion, diced
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper (I didn't have any, so I just put a dash of cayenne.)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp fino sherry (I didn't have, so I skipped this.)
• 28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
• 2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 cup plain low far Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup dill, fresh (I used Dill paste as a substitute because the WallMart didn't have fresh dill.)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degree F, Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, toss together diced tomatoes, carrots, onion, salt, pepper, and sugar; spread on prepared baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes.
3. In a large nonstick soup pot, heat butter over medium heat.
4. Add garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir.
5. Add cooking sherry. (Or add a little water like I did.) Cook and stir.
6. Add roasted vegetables, crushed tomatoes, and broth. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and let simmer (uncovered) for 10 minutes, so that the flavors can blend.
7. Stir in the yogurt.
8. Remove from heat and puree soup in a blender. Stir in dill, and served garnished with chives.

I suggest halfing it if you are solo like I am. Six servings is a LOT of soup. But it's the perfect size for a family. The whole time I ate this soup, I was wanting a grilled cheese.

Today, I was in a very rare mood. Yes, I was in a cleaning mood. While the soup was simmering, I did a couple loads of dishes, so I don't have the full mess. But I do have a picture of the last load. This was for sure a messy one.

Because I forgot the mess pictures, here's a picture of my Baby Boy. Also, I got a new purple knife from WalMart. Oooh, fancy!

Enjoy!