What do YOU think

...of the new MyPlate replacing our good 'ol Food Pyramid? Truth is, I'm not sure how I feel about it! I'm being totally honest. I like the visual MyPlate gives children and adults. However when I taught health, I believe the children did respond to the food pyramid when it was taught correctly. I have a few concerns such as, What size plate is this? There are no specific measurements and if I'm looking at this, I'm thinking WOW that's A LOT of food, right? You might laugh but we're in Texas where the famous saying originated, EVERY THING'S BIGGER IN TEXAS...so our plates are outta control! Seriously. When I show people a portion or the plate that we use at home, they flip out saying, "that's too small" or "I'll never get full off of that little bit"! But that might be a Texas thing?! Not sure. And another concern, people-especially children enjoy sweets/fats on occasion, right? Where are sweets/fats listed? So, because it's not on THIS MyPlate, does that mean there's no specific portions for those? I liked showing children, "Look here's the fats, oils, sweets and they are in a very small triangle toward the top. This means in moderation and in small amounts, we can add these to our diet at certain times!" Am I wrong??! I might be too critical because I am a health educator and from a teaching stand point, I'm not sure the entire message is being sent with our new symbol. BUT, I was not 100% happy with the pyramid...so, WHAT DO YOU THINK?Here's a little info that I found on their website. I'd love to know your comments, questions and concerns about our new symbol of healthy eating as well??

Balancing Calories

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Enjoy your food, but eat less.

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Avoid oversized portions.


Foods to Increase

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Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.

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Make at least half your grains whole grains.

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Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.


Foods to Reduce

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Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals ― and choose the foods with lower numbers.

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Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

**Today's Workout: Includes laying out by the pool, playing with my boys and hanging out with family over at my in-law's. Hey, at least I'm being honest right??!

Berry Mango Smoothie, compliments of Trainer Momma

Trainer Momma is one of my favorite sites and right now she's posted a Berry Mango Smoothie and it looks so yummy...I'm headed to my kitchen, grabbing my Magic Bullet and going to make one right NOW! I'm always looking for variations on a good smoothie, so I figure I'll give this one a try!

Today's Workout: 4 mile run at 5:45am (42 minutes), before sunrise and it was perfect weather for about 20 minutes. But as time went on, the sun started peaking through and that darn humidity started to set in...suppose to be heat index of 107 today :(. The sweat started pouring and I looked like I had just jumped out of a swimming pool...sooo gross!

Healthy Tip: I'm hosting my friends wedding shower today and one thing that I'm a sucker for is shower food...all those munchies that you can pop in your mouth and totally forget about calories and everything else...SO, to prepare in advance and practice moderation, I will eat a nice and healthy lunch before heading out and choose a few items to try at the shower, this way I am not STARVING and I won't allow those shower food munchies to control my day!!!
How are you beating the heat when it comes to exercise?
Am I the only one who LOVES shower appetizers?

cucuzza sticks...are you confused?!

As most of you know, I am Sicilian and I grew up knowing Cucuzza and watching my grandmother prepare Cucuzza stew!(pronounced Ko-KOOTZA or "googootz") but for most of you, you are probably TOTALLY confused...here's a little about them: Cucuzza looks like a smooth, pale zucchini with an elegant curvature and can be up to three feet in length. Its pale green skin needs to be peeled, and the white flesh is generally cooked rather than eaten raw. The flesh has an extremely mild taste and, even when peeled, holds its shape well when cooked. If the seeds are tender, you can eat them, but they start to get harder as the squash matures. If the seeds are hard, discard them. Cucuzza can be steamed, grilled, fried, baked, sauteed, stuffed, or used almost any other way you would use summer squash, as long but make sure you peel it first. My boys wanted to hold the baseball bat squash(that's what we used to call it!) cucuzza! And now that we're growing these in our backyard garden, we are trying to come up with fun and healthy ways to prepare! So, my first Cucuzza recipe...Cucuzza Sticks! YUM!

Move It Mommas Cucuzza Sticks

You'll Need:

1 lb cucuzza-peeled and sliced into strips, removing seeds

1/2 c Italian breadcrumbs

1/4 c panko breadcrumbs for some added crunch!

1/4 c parmesan cheese-grated

2 tbs flaxseed meal

2 beaten egg whites

Dip sticks in egg white, then breadcrumb mixture, lay on foil covered pan and bake at 425 for 8 minutes on each side or until golden brown! These are sooo yummy! We served with my Greek yogurt Ranch Dip(plain greek yogurt, 1/2 ranch dry packet and mix!!) SO good! I'll be making these more often!

Get Healthy-Week 2

I'll start off with a pic of my boys and I! Oh how I love them!

MYSELF and my FAMILY are reason enough for me to be healthy! What about you? What pushes you each day to make good choices for you and your family? That's how our meeting started off tonight...

• We talked about Balance and focused on how each of us can find it through diet and exercise. My aunt has lost THREE POUNDS in our first week! I am SO proud of my group, showing up and admitting that you want/need help is THE hardest part!


• We discussed fiber. Soluble, insoluble and why fiber is SO important in our diet.


• We will fill in the blank this week and post it throughout our home, This week I will ____. How will you answer that?


• I introduced them to Exercise TV through ONDemand and how they can find workouts for FREE, 24hours a day, at ALL fitness levels.


• Most importantly, we discussed how to overcome our greatest challenges!

I want to make sure they are all aware that I KNOW what they are feeling, going through, what they are doubting. I felt all of those emotions too. Sometimes we doubt ourselves because we have failed in the past. THIS time is different. No more excuses, they will change their lives. Some participants printed their food journal from myfitnesspal, so I was able to see their weekly meals...very cool, right? SO PROUD.

Today's Workout: I changed it up and decided on Jillian's 6 week 6 pack 2! It was awesome and sadly, I think I'm already sore. I was SO focused on stepping up my running game, that I totally forgot about my other favorite workouts...but they're back and I feel 'it!

Healthy Tip: Get your kiddos in the kitchen! I prepare meals with my children, when possible. I have my boys grab the veggies, help me wash and once they are chopped, they will add them to the dish. They love to stir, sprinkle and TASTE the healthy foods I prepare. If a made from scratch meal is not possible with the family's busy schedule, no worries...try a family walk around the neighborhood-talk about the day, relax and enjoy that time. * When I taught P.E., children used to run into the gym and tell me all about their family walk, bike ride, or other activity they did together! They were SO proud. I think of those children as I make healthy memories with my own family :)

As for my morning run, I am totally ready to break that 5 mile barrier...I think my longest run to date is 5.37 miles, so I will PRAY and FIGHT for 6 miles, however...5.38 will make me smile too!!! Ha ha!

Another sponsor and Wednesday Workout Hop!

Ready to learn about Inperspire? Another sponsor for our virtual Independence 5K race, so if you sign up for the race, you are eligible to win...it's THAT simple!

Do you use a fitness towel? I must admit, even after working in a gym, I did not. That was until I found Inperspire! A fitness towel with motivation...how cool is that? For review, I chose the towel that says, "Pain is just weakness leaving the body"! So perfect!

The towel is super thick and not trying to gross ya out, but it totally absorbs my sweat after a nice, long morning run! At $10.95/towel, they are totally affordable and well worth it!

Since I recently signed up for my first half marathon, the next towel that I have my eyes on is, 13.1. Why not use a sweat towel that shows off my accomplishments, right?! Would make a great gift for a friend that completed their first race as well! And I LOVE "I am worth it"...couldn't think of better words to read while you're working hard to be healthy! The owners are very friendly, easy to work with and strive to satisfy every customer! Their website is easy to navigate and I think we will all be seeing a lot more from Inperspire in the future!

Tell me which Inperspire towel you would choose if you win?

...and how do you win? It's sooo simple! Send me an email at rissarose80@yahoo.com, saying you are signing up for the virtual 5K that takes place any day between July 3rd-9th and when you complete the race, send me an email with your finish time(honor system, because it's not about speed, it's about FINISHING!) and you are entered to win all of our fabulous prizes listed HERE and Inperspire is one of them! And don't forget about the extra entries for attaching a picture in your best 4th of July attire, or by spreading the word about the race through blog post, facebook or twitter! (One entry for each)!!

And now onto the Hop!!! Hurry and link up!

<a href="http://aprilsfitnessworld.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://"border="0"alt="My Fitness World"></a>

Hosted by My Fitness World, Lets Move It Mommas and Living Smart Girl!

This is our weekly hop, where we share healthy tips with all of you and it's also a great place to meet fellow bloggers, so LINK UP AND HAVE FUN!!!

*Follow all of the hostesses and spread the word...let's get some traffic to our HOP this week!

How about YOU?

I am often asked, do I enjoy exercise and why do I do it? Ha, seriously...I'm asked that A LOT.

My answer is simple..I exercise to stay healthy. To relieve stress. To feel better. Look better. Be stronger. Are there days when I do NOT feel like doing it? OF COURSE. But I push through, thinking about how far I've come and how I want to reach and crush the goals that I set for myself.

Is exercise fun? Well of course, if you find what YOU enjoy doing. If it's not enjoyable, you have not found the right one for you! It's true. Now, I would be lying if I said I skipped around the house waiting to exercise and sang with joy when it was time to hit the track...but I enjoy that after exercise feeling that I get. There's something about being totally out of breath and sweaty that makes me feel like I've accomplished something for the day! Ha, am I crazy?!

How about YOU?? How would you answer that question?!
*I seriously do NOT have a lot of entries into the Independence 5K virtual race and if you do not remember, I have TONS of great giveaways headed your way just for entering! All you have to do is try...complete the race at YOUR location and YOUR pace! Who could ask for more? Pretty easy, right? SO,
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??!

Today's Workout: Had a great run at 5:15am...it's a great time to run, especially before the sun comes up and it's not too hot! We did 4 miles and I think we made good time but sadly, I forgot my watch!
Tomorrow night is session 2 of my Get Healthy class at my house...it's going great and so far I've heard great things from my participants! I know one has lost over 2 lbs! WOOHOO!
Healthy Tip: My goals for the week will be ____. How will you answer that question?

Run By The Bay 2011

To read about our race day(to see how awesome my son and hubby did) and see how far we've come...click HERE!