Meal Prep Tips

You have gone grocery shopping now it is time to prepare your meals for the week. It is easier to make healthier food choices if your meals are ready to go. It will save time and take the guesswork out of determining what you should cook for dinner or take for lunch the next day.

It might seem tedious at first coming up with your menu for the week. You may find it easier to plan for a couple days or the entire month in advance. It is completly up to you how far ahead you prep your meals. The more you prepare meals in advance the easier it becomes.

 

Here are a few tips with preparing meals:

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1.     Start the water boiling – as soon as you place the bags on the kitchen counter, break out the stock pot for boiling potatoes, rice, pasta, or eggs. Then, while waiting for the water to boil, you can start prepping or putting items away.

2.     Turn the Oven on – plan ahead of time what meat, veggies, or potatoes you will be roasting or broiling for the week or the evening’s dinner.

3.     Plan the Proteins - Decide what meat you need to have cooked ahead of time or what can be portioned off in placed in the refrigerator, and what can be frozen. Break out the George Foreman Grill and grill up some chicken to be used for grilled chicken salads, wraps, quesadillas or sandwiches.

4.     Prep the Veggies - while the water is boiling away and the meat is grilling, it is now time to slaughter those veggies! You will be so much more likely to eat them up in salads or steamed or grilled if the prep work is done ahead of time. Wash, peel, and slice everything that will not go bad or get mushy or discolored if you do. Having the right storage container is a must. Choose stackable and see through.

5.     Take Care of Snacks - keep a bowl on your table or counter top where the non-perishable snacks can be easily reached. This is the time to portion the pretzels, dried fruit, and nuts into zip lock baggies. Keep granola and protein bars, fuit buddys and your pre-portioned snacks within eyesight.

6.     Cook for the Evening  - if you are making something special for that night. Think Chili, a crock pot dish, soup, or stew that can be used again for leftovers or frozen for later use midweek.

Google, Pinterest, Facebook and blogs are your friend. You can find ideal storage containers, freezer friendly recipes, and other meal ideas.

Go forth and PREPARE! 

Halloween Candy Survival

It's one of the candy companies favorite holidays while it's our stomach and hips least favorite day. You guessed it....HALLOWEEN is quickly approaching. Costumes have been purchased, cute decor is all around, and candy dishes are filled. You look at the candy and the candy looks back at you, you want a piece and the candy taunts you. Well before you give into the temptation. Here are a few ideas to prevent overdoing it.

1) Buy candy that you don’t like. Then you won’t be tempted to eat it. Also,
buy it a day or two before Halloween so it is not sitting around waiting to
be eaten.
2) If you are giving out candy, try to give it all out by the end of the night.
3) The day after Halloween, get rid of all that candy! Take it to work, give it
away or just throw it away. Remember don’t keep it around the house.
4) If your children come home from trick-or-treating with a stash, have them
go through and pick out their favorites. Throw the rest away.
5) Don’t buy a “jumbo” bag of candy if your neighborhood only gets a few
trick-or-treaters.
6) Consider non-candy goodies like mini-containers of play-doh, stickers,
temporary tattoos or $1 gift certificates instead of candy.
7) Consider healthier treats like 100-calorie packs instead of candy.

***The key is to have the least amount of extra calories sitting around the house for you to eat.***

Here are just some of the more popular Halloween Candies:

* Twizzlers 1 treat size pkg.= 45 calories

* Almond Joy 1 snack size bar = 90 calories

* Milk Duds 1 treat size box = 40 calories

* Junior Mints mini box= 50 cal

* Milky Way = 75 calories

* 1 Tootsie Pop/Blow pop 1 pop = 60 calories

* 1 Tootsie Roll 1 small roll = 13 calories

* Twix (fun size) bar = 80 calories

*Reese’s cup (regular) = 80 cals

*Reese’s cup mini = 40 calories

* Butterfinger 1 snack size bar = 100 cals

* Snickers fun size = 80 calories


Note: Calorie content is based on 1 serving of Halloween ‘snack’ or ‘fun’ size
packages, not full size servings found in the candy aisle. Having only a few
pieces of Halloween candy won’t crash your healthy eating routine, it’s the
temptation to keep having ‘just one more’ that will pack on the pounds. It only
takes nine small fun-size candy bars to put on a quarter-pound of fat.

Health Educator Susan Simko Welcomes Third Child

Total Nutrition Technology’s own Susan Simko, a health educator who leads our TNT Mom program, recently gave birth to her third son, Teagen Michael, on April 24th. Her twin sons, Caden and Rylen, are two years old and guess what ... they all share the same birthday! How amazing is that! We all knew Susan was a perfectionist, but wow!



For many reasons, Susan is extraordinary. While pregnant with her twin boys, she maintained an impressive health and fitness routine. Post-delivery, Susan found ways to incorporate her boys into her fitness routine, which enabled her to lose the weight more quickly. Her boys were big fans of their morning and afternoon walks and I’m sure Teagen will enjoy them as well!

Susan clearly understands how pregnancy can affect your diet and fitness regimen and the importance of eating well for you and your baby. She also understands firsthand the struggles of fitting in exercise while managing family and work. For this reason, we asked Susan to lead our TNT Mom program.

Many moms struggle with finding time to eat healthy and exercise when taking care of one or several children. Whether working full-time, part-time or staying home with your children, Susan inspires others to improve their health, lose weight or just find more energy for the day. Susan certainly realizes that not everyone will be interested in replicating the intensity of her own workouts, but instead she works with each woman on developing their own health plan.

She’s the perfect person to help guide other mom’s to their optimal health. While she leads a very active life, she also knows what its like to want to do nothing else buy lay on the couch. Susan’s boys help keep her motivated and she feels like a better mom because she feels good about herself. What better person to help inspire other mom’s than someone who has gone or is going though the same stage in life.

Congratulations to the Simko family on the birth of Teagen!

For more information on our TNT Mom program or to schedule a time with Susan, call (704) 549-9550 or visit our Web site. Susan is currently working with clients via the phone and online. Another added benefit for parents!