DAY EIGHTY NINE- Healthy Daily Menu Choices

Self discipline comes from yourself. That's why it's called self discipline. That thought came into my head about 2:00 a.m. this morning. Why? Because I've said it to my players so many times I can't even count it. Yes, we need coached, we need pushed, we need praised, and sometimes we need our butt chewed, but above all we have to want it enough to have self discipline. So, I'm back on the horse again.... Cowgirl up!

Not only have I become very aware of the calories in certain foods that I frequent and learned better food choices, I have also started paying attention to saturated fat in foods (that's the bad fat) and to sodium. I remember as a child on a farm licking the blocks of salt we set out in the pasture for the cows. I loved salt. New medical research says that reducing your daily salt intake by 3 grams could "reduce the annual number of new cases of coronary heart disease by 60,000 to 120,000, stroke by 32,000 to 66,000 and the annual number of deaths from any cause by 44,000 to 92,000" (New England Journal of Medicine). Healthy adults can have 2000-2300mg of sodium a day (about 1 tsp of table salt), and people w/high blood pressure shouldn't go over 1500mg per day. Children should get even less--1200mg per day. Remember that the next time you pick up the salt shaker. Use pepper, herbs, spices, and lemon juices instead. When dining out ask them to hold the salt. AND start checking your sodium content. I did just that today.

Here is what I ate today:

BREAKFAST: Upstate Farms Yogurt (1/2 cup)- 90 calories (0 sat. fat, Sodium 75mg)
Green apple- 60 (.1 sat. fat, 1 mg sodium)
MORNING SNACK: Wheatables (16) 140 (1 gram sat fat, 230 mg sodium)
LUNCH: Lean Cuisine- Chicken spinach mushroom Panini – 320 (2.5 grams sat fat, 660 mg sodium)

AFTER SCHOOL SNACK: Bowl of Cereal -Honey Bunches of Oats- 160 calories w/ skim milk, .2grams sat. fat, 150 mg. sodium)

DINNER: Wendy's chili w/saltines (8oz). 187 calories 2.3 g sat. fat, 828mg sodium)
Yoplait Lite fat-free Yogurt (50 calories, 0 sat. fat., 42mg sodium)
1/2 banana (50 cal. 0 sat. fat, .1/2 mg of sodium)

Total Calories 1057
Total Sat. Fat. 6.1 grams
Total Sodium 1982 mg sodium

I had planned on trying Jackie's great new recipe for yellow rice, but couldn't find the yellow rice in our small town store and my daughter started having false labor pains again (which we didn't know they were false until we got her in there), thus the stop at Wendy's instead. Is the term "false labor pains" an oxymoron? I vote yes. They measured between 4 and 7 on the baby Richter scale they use these days, but she's not due till May so we have to keep her legs crossed and feet up for at least two more weeks. We stopped at the eldest son's house on the way home because he t-bowed (sp) American Idol and little (I use the term lightly) Relly got to play with the cousins again. He discovered Buz Lightyear and I feared a meltdown upon departure, but he actually did pretty well. The other son and his wife were there to watch the show too. I like Krystal. Didn't like the fake outfit. But, I like her voice. 99% Of the time, I agree w/Simon.

Long day, but on the bright side... no baby coming today and... I sucked it up and did a better job of watching my food choices today. And honestly, I ate stuff I liked and ate it pretty much all day. If we are educated on the calories AND the health part (like sat. fat and sodium) we really can/do make better choices. Now I need to go do my squats and bed crunches and my day will be complete.