And 3 makes a habit....

By: Hannah Gill

Did you know that it takes 3 weeks of doing a new behavior before it becomes a habit? How many times have we all decided ‘this week is the week I’m going to start making healthy changes’ and before the week is out given up? It’s not easy setting new healthy habits and breaking old habits but if you can keep up your great work for 3 weeks it becomes a whole lot easier!

Think about your SMART goals that we spoke during camp at Sunday celebration:
Specific – Think about what you want to achieve and be specific e.g. ‘work out more’ is very general but  ‘start running twice a week for 30 minutes’ clarifies what you want to achieve.
Measurable-  How will you know if you’ve accomplished your goal, think about how much or how many of something you want to aim for.
Attainable – Most goals are attainable, try to think about ways you can adapt your current ability to achieve the goal, think about your barriers and ways to overcome these.
Realistic – Ensure your goal is both something you are both willing and able to achieve to help make sure its realistic.
Time framed – Set a time frame on your goal, set a date you want to monitor your progress towards your goal.

 

Speak out about your goals, encouragement is a great way to help you achieve your goals and others support may be just what you need to keep you on track if you’re struggling. Goals shouldn't just be during your time at summer camp. Get the family involve; set some goals and start achieving them.

Pizza and Vegetables? Awesome recipe as part of the “National Nutrition Month®”

By: Hannah Gill and Andrea Figueroa

Every summer during camp we always encourage you to try new vegetables as part of your meals. In the spirit of “National Nutrition Month®”today we are sharing a delicious Tortilla Pizza Recipe that’s quick and delicious. It’s a perfect recipe to share with family and friends and it gives us the opportunity to experience with vegetables as toppings for our pizzas.

Here is a reminder of the Health Benefits of Vegetables:

• Eating a diet rich in vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet may reduce risk for heart disease, including heart attack and stroke.
• Eating a diet rich in some vegetables and fruits as part of an overall healthy diet may protect against certain types of cancers.
• Diets rich in foods containing fiber, such as some vegetables and fruits, may reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
• Eating vegetables and fruits rich in potassium as part of an overall healthy diet may lower blood pressure, and may also reduce the risk of developing kidney stones and help to decrease bone loss.
• Eating foods such as vegetables that are lower in calories per cup instead of some other higher-calorie food may be useful in helping to lower calorie intake

For more information on visit “National Nutrition Month®” http://www.eatright.org/nnm/#.UxjfSMzTmM8

Tortilla pizza

Ingredients:
Whole-wheat tortilla wraps
2 tablespoons spaghetti sauce
¼ cup reduced fat shredded mozzarella

Makes one serving

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F, place whole-wheat tortilla wrap on a baking tray and spread the sauce over the surface.
2. Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella over the whole pizza
3. Place in the oven at 350F for 8-12 minutes until the cheese is melted.

Try adding toppings to your pizza such as left over roasted vegetables to add a portion of veggies to your evening meal or serve with a side salad.

March is “National Nutrition Month®”

By : Andrea Figueroa

March marks the kick off o the National Nutrition Month ®. This year the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics chose “Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right” as their theme.

According to research it shows that consumers will purchase one food over the other depending on their taste. As we all know sometimes the tastiest and quickest meals may not necessarily be the best for us. When making quick decisions we tend to not focus on nutritional value.

This year’s message is hoping to raise awareness that you can in fact combine taste and nutrition in order to create healthy and tasteful meals.

Your journey towards losing weight can be a healthy and tasteful one when you try new recipes. It’s important to always focus on the nutrition content of our meals.

Every summer at Camp Pennbrook we teach you how to make your favorite recipes the right way. This month we will be bringing you new recipes and ideas in order for you to “Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right”.

For more information on visit “National Nutrition Month®” http://www.eatright.org/nnm/#.UxjfSMzTmM8

At Camp Pennbrook Fiber is important! Whats all the fuss about?

By: Hannah Gill

At camp we believe fiber is an essential part of our diet in order to help you with your weight loss during the summer.Most children and adults in America  ARE NOT getting enough fiber in their diet, did you know fiber was highlighted as a ‘nutrient of concern’ in a recent survey of the American populations diet due to poor intakes? But what is all the fuss about? What is fiber and why do we need it in our diet?

Fiber is an essential nutrient in the diet, it helps our digestive system to work correctly, it helps to fill us up (helping us not to overeat) and it is thought to help with prevention of chronic diseases.

Foods which contain fibre include:
- Whole-grains: wholegrain bread and cereals, oats, brown rice, brown pasta etc
- Fruits
-Vegetables
-Beans and pulses

Generally the more refined or processed a food is the lower the fiber content.  A food that is less processed is generally called a wholegrain, whole grains don’t just provide fiber they also help to provide other vitamins, minerals and antioxidants for our bodies. Check food labels to ensure they state 100% whole grain in the ingredients list. Don’t forget we are aiming for ½ our grains each day to be whole grains, for some great tips on ways to increase our wholegrain intake check out the following link:

http://www.choosemyplate.gov/food-groups/downloads/TenTips/DGTipsheet4MakeHalfYourGrainsWhole.pdf

Aiming to have our recommended fruit and vegetable intake each day again is not just important to increase our fiber intake but also the vitamins they provide for our bodies. Try keeping the skin on fruits such as apples to increase the fiber content and opt for whole fruit over canned or fruit juices which have less fiber in them.

Beans and pulses are great ways to increase the fiber of our meals, and also are low calorie and low fat ways to bulk our meals up, try adding them to rice dishes with vegetables for a twist on a family favorite.

Camp Pennbrook encourages you to try Quinoa with this recipe!

Looking to increase your fiber intake? Why not experiment with different whole grains? Give this quinoa recipe a try.

 

Quinoa salad with black beans and corn (From KidsEatRight.org):

Ingredients:
I cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup fresh corn kernels
3 cups green onions chopped
3 medium tomatoes chopped
1 small red pepper seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
Juice from 1 lime
2 teaspoons cumin
1 glove garlic, minced
black pepper to taste

Directions:

1.        Cook quinoa in boiling water for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed and the little "tails" appear.

2.       Place the warm quinoa in a large bowl. Add the beans, corn, onion, red pepper, and tomato. Mix olive oil, lime juice, garlic, black pepper and cumin and stir into quinoa mixture.

3.        Salad can be served warm or at room temperature

Camp Pennbrook on the importance of water all year round

By: Hannah Gill

Have you ever realized how much water we drink when we are at camp? Drinking  water is very important while you are at  weight loss camp during the summer. As the weather gets cooler we may find ourselves not drinking as much fluids as we do during the summer time at camp.  But did you know it’s just as important to ensure we are staying fully hydrated during the winter months? We need fluids to maintain our bodies’ temperature during not just extreme heat (in the summer) but also when it’s very cold.

Water is one of the body’s most essential nutrients; it has many important jobs to ensure our bodies function correctly. Our body weight is made up of approximately 75% water and without water we wouldn’t be able to live longer than about 7 days!

Fluid intake can be of any source of liquid including caffeinated beverages, although opting for non-sugar sweetened options is best when helping to maintain a healthy weight.  It is recommended females aim for 6-9 cups of fluid per day, although this varies individually depending on your age and weight. Also your fluid intake will need to be increased if you are participating in physical activity or if the weather is very hot or very cold.

Some top tips to increasing your fluid intake include:
1. Carry a water bottle around with you, this can help to remind you to take a drink during the day.
2. We can mistake hunger for thirst, have a drink when you feel hungry to ensure it is true hunger.
3. Start the day with a glass of fat free milk, water or a small glass of fruit juice- all a great way to kick off the day.
4.  Not a fan of regular water? Try adding your favourite fruit to flavour the water, my favourite is fresh strawberries sliced in the bottom of my water bottle.
5.  Opt for water over caffeinated drinks; try to limit your intake of drinks containing caffeine (including soft drinks) to 3 cups per day

Camp Pennbrook on smart shopping at the supermarket

       By: Hannah Gill

      Thinking about a healthy lifestyle I was walking around the grocery store earlier today trying to find some  new snacks to have, being the new year I thought I’d try out some of the new products and I was overwhelmed by all the ‘health claims’ on the packaging! It made me realize how hard it can be to pick a new product and how companies may make us think a product is much healthier than it really is!

        I picked out a few terms that I saw today and looked into them to see how much truth there was behind what the packaging was telling me.

• ·         Foods labelled with ‘multi-grain’, ‘’stone-ground’, ‘wheat’, ‘bran’ or ‘seven grain’ may not be wholegrain products- check the ingredients list for ‘100% whole grain’ to be sure you are choosing a wholegrain product.
• ·         A ‘calorie-free’ item has less than 5kcal per serving but be aware of what the serving size is as if you are having multiple servings of that food the calories can start to add up.
• ·         ‘Fat Free’ this means a product has less than 0.5g fat per serving, these are good choices to opt for but again check the serving size as if the statistics are based on a small portion size it can add up quickly.
• ·         ‘Light’ in salt terms means the product has 50% less salt that the original ‘regular’ version, this may not mean the product is now ‘low sodium’ so read the packaging carefully.
• ·         Watch out when you’re buying an item described as ‘natural’, no formal definition of ‘natural’ has been issued by the government. ‘Natural’ on a food label may indicate no added colors, artificial flavors or synthetic substances have been added. Although a set definition is present for ‘natural’ on meat or poultry products which tells us the product has been minimally process and no artificial ingredients have been added. 
• ·         ‘Organic’ has very specific definition, a product with ‘organic’ on the label means 95% of the products ingredients qualify as being certified organic, ‘100% organic’ indicates all the products ingredients qualify as organic, and ‘Made with organic ingredients’ indicates 70% of the ingredients are certified organic.

Check out the food packaging the next time you’re at the grocery store, try looking past the claims on the packaging and make a decision yourself if you think that food is suitable for your healthy lifestyle, ask questions and look a little deeper you may find some items you’ve been picking are in fact food fakers!

For more information on food labels remember to check the ‘Shop Smart’ handout in your going home pack that was given to you at the end of your summer session at camp.