Congratulations Mary Ann!!!

My Dear Mary Ann:
I am so happy and so proud of you!!!   I can't think of anyone who deserves the award more than you.  You have such a great team spirit.  You've really became the glue that has held this group together.
It has been a great experience knowing you and sharing recipes and health information.  You are fun and sweet.  You are a lovely lady!
Best Regards and congratulations again.
Gabriela

Go Red Luncheon

I'd like to extend my gratitude to all the people involved in the great activity and wonderful lunch yesterday at the Hyatt.  As always, the workshops and presentations were full of useful information. I thank all the professionals who so generously have shared their time and knowledge with us.
The entire BetterU Program has been such an education for me and, I feel that  yesterday  was a celebration of that and the accomplishments that we've all achieved.
It was so inspiring to see every all those beautiful ladies dressed in red; it showed all the genuine care and concern for the cause of living a long healthy life.
Thanks again for the great time we had yesterday!!!!

Looking forward

 As we look forward to our future we all will be taking with us different parts of this journey. Some will have learned they love to excerise, others may have found the joy of cooking. But no matter what big or small we all will walk away with some kind of positive experience. I know for myself that I learned to love myself just the way I am and to give myself credit for all the littlest things I do for myself and my health. Little things turn into big things. I always believe in paying it forward. I just graduated from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in NYC and with what I learned there and here my future is to pay it forward and educate women on how to live healthy and lovethemselves. See you all tomorrow  

Big Week in Better U Land

Sorry I missed the cardio talk tonight but I had theater tickets I couldn't change.  Weds. at 5:30 we have the Shop Rite tour, which should be interesting and informative and Fri. starting at 9:30am we have the Go Red Luncheon.  Really looking forward to those events and seeing as much of the team as possible.  I love this program.

Wear Red Proudly

Hey ladies I hope all are as excited as I am for us to be attending the Go Red For Women Luncheon. That day we all wear our red outfits proudly knowing we learn a lot of great information to live our life forward and pass on to others.  Thank you to everyone that has helped us on this journey. 

Feeling GOOD

Hi Everyone!
      I am so glad to be feeling better.I actually attened my regular class today,plus two more!It was my first time in the pool!It was such fun and very therapeutic.I feel much stronger and happier since joining this program.Everyone involved has been so  friendly and helpful. 
      Melanie and I would like to especially thank Lisa our fabulous trainer and Gavin our wonderful nutritionist/chef For all their encouragement and guidance.
      Keep up the good work!We are all here to support each other.
                                           OXOXOX

Summertime Snacks

Thanks to Gavin Pritchard, RD, Dietician-Chef with Stamford Hospital's Population Health and Prevention program for providing a cooking demo for the BetterU participants. 

Gavin focused on healthy summertime snacks including a strawberry salsa, white bean and roasted garlic dip, and fresh vegetable spring rolls. 

Summer is a great time to enjoy nature's bounty and get to the 5-8 servings of fruits & veggies daily. Eating more fruits & vegetables provides more nutrients and they are lower in calories than snacks including refined sugar & carbs--great if you're trying to get into your healthy weight range.

More healthy eating tips:

·         Eat the rainbow! Go green and red, orange, yellow, purple and more.  Serve green leafy salads or fruit salads (or a combination of both, like baby spinach with strawberries or mixed greens with orange slices) instead of mayonnaise-based salads.

·         Add avocado or leftover chicken as an accessory – not the star – of your healthy salad.

·         Dress salads lightly with low-fat dressing or just a drizzle of balsamic, fresh lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil

·         Add some crunch – and healthier fats – with some toasted walnuts or almonds.

Keep snacks, drinks and desserts healthy:

·         Need crunchy foods? Instead of potato chips, which can be high in saturated and trans fats, serve vitamin-rich raw veggies like cucumber, carrot, pepper and celery sticks; broccoli and cauliflower florets and cherry tomatoes with a low-fat dip.

·         Drink more water. Soda, energy drinks and flavored-teas are loaded with sugars and calories.

·         When drinking juice, have a small (6-ounce) glass of 100% unsweetened fruit or vegetable juice (low sodium) – not “fruit drink” or “punch."

Find more tips at www.heart.org/nutrition .

Spanish-style potato tortilla (The Go Red Women Cookbook, page 233). Total Success!!!!

Dear Friends,
I invite you to try this incredibly easy to make and delicious dish! It is so tasty. I made yesterday for the first time and I served it with chicken tenders (marinated from the night before in a mix of  a tablespoon of canola oil, cilantro, garlic, cumin, oregano and dill) and Greek salad with reduced fat Feta cheese.
It was a total success and the biggest bonus was that it was so easy to make. The next time I do this tortilla I'll add the roasted garlic with rosemary that Gavin showed us last night at the cooking demonstration and asparagus.
Enjoy!!!

Gabriela

Steak Tampiquena and Fiesta Veggies

2 more fun recipes from the American Heart Association Cookbook (pp. 134 and 221).  The steak has a very nice flavor without a ton of work.  The veggies require a bit more prep but are tasty and a combo I wouldn't have thought of myself - onions, green beans, yellow squash, corn, cilantro and serrano chili pepper.  The whole meal was filling and less than 300 calories total.  Good deal.

Down 10 pounds in 8 weeks!

Very happy about this, especially since there was a week of vacation in there, which included some rum drinks and other indulgences.  Many thanks to my trainer Lisa, our beloved Gavin, the American Heart Association and all my Better U teammates for so much great advice and encouragement.  I am not really exercising more but Lisa has shown me how to be more efficient with my time and Gavin has taught me how to eat better without feeling hungry.  I love, love, love this program and feel that it's becoming a real life changer for me.  Hugs to you all, Mary Ann

"You Go Ladies" pics

You Go Ladies!! Good job, so much fun!!!

This activity was another great opportunity to learn how this seemingly effortless walk in the park can be so beneficial for our health. Not only we burned some calories, but we also enjoyed a little of sun and breathed some much needed fresh air after this long winter. And we laughed, as we challenged and cheered each other. It was truly a lovely evening. I hope we can do it again J

Asparagus

Ever have the bloated feeling, of course you have, I think every women has.  Well I have found that eating asparagus is a very good natural diaretic.  Alot of people use supplements to get vitamins and use suplements as well for other reasons.  I feel that the best way to get our nutrition is to eat it. Eating fruits, vegetables and dairy give us the purest of nutrition.  Ive been reading about "cleaning eating" it is very interesting and seems like a way to eat that isn't a diet but a way of life.  If interested google and read about this, I found it very interesting.  It is the most perfect way of eating.

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mother's Day to all. I hope you enjoy your day. 

I Missed a Lot

being gone just over a week - Dr. D'onfrio's talk, one of Gavin's wonderful classes and the Mill River walk.  Really nice to come back and hear about all the good things that happened and feel that our team is bonding more and more each week.  I wasn't an angel on vacation but the thought of the challenge kept me from going too crazy.  The good news is I really enjoyed myself and feel like I can knock off much of the couple pounds I gained by the time I weigh in next week.  As Michele and others have said, this is a journey so I'm going to enjoy the ride and get back in the saddle in terms of exercise and eating now that I'm home (after I finish my share of the pizza we got on the way home from the airport last night).  Look forward to seeing my teammates at Dr. Green's talk next Mon. at 5:30.

In the end

Where will we all be. What will we have learned. Do we just drift apart after our journey. I hope not. I thought that who ever was interested we could keep either a blog or get our own FB page, something to keeps us all connected. I don't want this to end and I'm sure don either. Let's get some ideas together to keep is together for a foreverU. 

Home Stretch

 I hope everyone is doing well. Well ladies we are coming into the home stretch. This wonderful journey has given us tools to incorporate into our lives that will help us for years to come. We all I am sure have had our hurdles to conquer but as we all no it's a journey not a sprint. We all develop our habits differently, some is from our up bringing, some from society and even some that we don't realize we were just born with. But as mature adults we can choose what works best for us. As I said in a previous post about my meeting with Gavin we control the ship we steer our ship to what, where and how we want to live our lives. So as our journey will be coming to an end soon, don't be scared you will continue to succeed you have the tools to steer your ship. 

Asparagus Fries

Well if your a french fry lover, but you also love your heart and arties, then try this receipe
Asparagus Fries:

Fresh Asparagus
egg whites
parm cheese
panko bread crumbs (whole wheat one's if you can find them)



drench asparagus in egg whites
roll them in a mixture of parm cheese and bread crumbs
lay on a Pam sprayed cookie sheet and bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes

Dipping Sauce:

Lite mayo
Roasted garlic

Mix together with alittle salt & pepper and you have a dippin sauce.

Enjoy!!!

Thank you Gavin

For always making me see the sunshine in this journey I am taking.  It never fails, I enter his office feeling sometimes defeated, sometimes confused, sometimes just looking for answers. And while we sit and discuss my journey he teachers me that I do have the answers, I just dont realize it. What lies inside each of us is the answer.  I have been forcing myself to like going to the gym and working with a trainor, but that's not me, I am more of a grab my sneakers and walk outside, or take a group excerise class.  I'm also not a count my calories, write down everything I eat type of person.  But what I am is a person that enjoys outside excerise and eating fresh fruits and vegetables.  Someone that really does love who she is even if the number on the scale isn't what it said 10 years ago. I am happy that all my blood work is normal and healthy, even though my BMI is "overweight".  I realized so much in a 30 minute meeting with this man I call a friend.  He told me, be you, do what you enjoy and live a happy and above all healthy life.  Don't do things that make you feel defeated or a failure, do things you like to do that make you feel you succeeded.  I have a totally whole new outlook on this journey.