Wellness Wednesday, 08.2018: Goals Update and Healthy Cooking Tips

Sweet friends,

Actually writing today’s Wellness Wednesday post on Wednesday, can you believe it? My WW posts the last couple of months have gone live a few days late.  So this is nothing short of a little miracle.

Before we get to my goals update and healthy cooking tips, let me share the links to past posts.  You can read my first Wellness Wednesday post, here. Cardio tips and goals update in February, fav exercise gadgets for March. In April, we wrote about our favorite natural wellness tips and May was another goals update accompanied by skin and beauty tips, June’s post was about mental health care. Then came July where I  shared a few emotional health care tips.  Whew.  That’s a lot of posts!!

Here we are today for Wellness Wednesday, 08.2018.  We’ll start with a quick goals review and then talk about healthy cooking.

Wellness Goals Update

Here are the goals…just to refresh your memory and MINE!

Going to rate my progress using a scale of 1-5, 5 meaning I’ve nailed it, baby!

• Exercise – 5!  Ding, ding, ding, ding!!! Going to go ahead and give myself a big ole five, cinco, fünf, cinq.  We are getting our collective booties to the gym at least 4 times a week, doing weights every single solitary time we go, and I am averaging close to 7K steps/3 stories a day.
• Diet – 4.5  The Weight Watchers fell off early in the year.  I should get back to it but I don’t feel like it.  Ha!  How’s that for an excuse.  We are eating better, eating at home more often.  Drinking more water and limiting alcohol to once or twice a week.  We rarely have desserts but enjoy ice cream on Saturdays.
• Staying well – 4.5  Flossing and wearing sunscreen daily.  Had a mammogram this month and bone density test, passed both tests…no sign of osteopenia or osteoporosis.   I have Stage II chronic kidney disease but my chronically high calcium level was within normal limits this month!  Masses on my thyroid are holding their own and not getting larger. Still need the skin check for all of these ‘freckles’ cause I’m not even a gingy!
• Mental Wellness – 4.5 Writing and reading more.  Have forgotten to play my brain games which goes to show that I need thebut will get back to those.  Hosting a virtual book club and we are starting our 4th book any minute.  Come read with us!!
• Spiritual Wellness – 5.0!  Ding, ding, ding, dong!  Oh, yeah, baby, another perfect score.  Back on track with my morning quiet time.  Reading several fabulous books, one of which I reviewed earlier this week, here.  Doing lots of good writing and thinking (that could be dangerous!).  If you are looking for a new devotion, I highly recommend Everyday Holy:  Finding a Big God in Little Moments by Melanie Shankle.  Bite-sized nuggets of wisdom, just right for the busy woman.
• Relationship Wellness – 4.0  Our relationship is strong (I think!) but PC says I’ve been grumpy a lot over the past few months.  I am working on trying to feel better/be better.  Some crazy things happen to me, like almost everyday, and I get so exhausted with crazy…but that’s another post.  We have had several great dates and have a first-time-ever kind of date planned for this Friday.  Need to get back to unplugging by 9:00 pm.  In order to do that, I have to get better organized on my blog writing.  So that I am not waiting until the 11th hour on Wednesdays to write my WW posts!!

Look at me gettin’ all healthy!  Feeling very proud of myself.  Thank you, Natalie, for suggesting these Wellness Wednesday posts!  Hold on just a sec while I pat myself on the back…okay, let’s move on to part 2 of this post.

Healthy Eating Tips

I have tried all of these tips at times but need to get back to using all of them consistently.  And to dust off my online Weight Watchers account.  You know what?  Think I’ll do that tomorrow.  No really, tomorrow.

Here are a few easy healthy eating trips we will be using at our house starting tomorrow…in just 4 short hours from now.

• Cooking with an iron skillet:  allows you to use less oil, is a natural alternative to nonstick sprays, can add iron to your food.  Did you know 10% of American women are iron-deficient?  And according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, an estimated 20 percent of women of childbearing age have iron deficiency anemia.  [source] My 2 year-old granddaughter is anemic!
• Limit gluten/breads by using lettuce instead of buns and low carb and gluten-free tortillas.  I make my PB (hold the J) sammies on these sandwich thins, too.

• Make your own seasoning mixes.  Like this one for taco seasoning.  Put the mix in a shaker and keep on hand.

Ingredients

2 Tbsp. chili powder
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 ½ tsp. garlic powder
½ tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. dried oregano
¼ tsp. paprika
1 tsp. sea salt
¼-½ tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

• Make your own cream of chicken soup mix for those recipes that called for canned cream of chicken soup.

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. parsley

• Try  Nu-salt as an option to using table salt and check out Stevia in the place of sugar.
• Try using unsweetened cashew milk with your cereal and as a low-cal alternative to cow moo.  I really like it in my coffee (and have always been a black coffee drinker ’til lately).  And best of all, it keeps for weeks in the frig!
• Instead of eating on a dinner plate, switch to a salad plate or saucer.  Your eyes will still see a full plate set before them but your tummy won’t be as full when you’re finished.

Your Turn

Hope you can find something useful in my tips to help you move toward healthier eating along with me.  If you have some tips of your own, please help a sista out and share them in a comment below.  Then be sure to check out the Wellness Wednesday, 08.2018 posts of my blogging buddies by clicking the InLinkZ frog below.  And if you’re a blogger, join us by adding your wellness-related post to our link-up.

Earlier this week, I wrote a post about finding happiness as part of the Glossies Made Me Do It series.  Had thought I would write more about that for today’s Wellness Wednesday, 08.2018.  But have decided to devote an entire post to that part 2 post.

Thank you for stopping by.  And thank you for encouraging me on this journey!  Hope you will join us next month when our wellness theme will be talking about our favorite strength training exercises.

Hugs and kisses,