Nancy Carlson
Nancy Carlson
We’ve always heard that “Fresh is Best”, and this is so true in purchasing vegetables. When you have the option, purchase (and eat) your vegetables in this order:
First Fresh
Always try to buy vegetables that are in season. Don’t be afraid to try some vegetables you’ve never heard of. Most people stick to their favorites and venturing out of the regular few scares them. There are over 150 different vegetables. Chose fresh from local farmer markets, farm stands, and co-ops whenever possible. Better yet grow your own.
Second Frozen
Vitamins in frozen vegetables can be slightly diminished but mineral are still packed into them. When vegetables are out of season resort to home grown frozen and then store bought packages. Remember to buy brands that do not add salt or sugar.
Third Canned
Canned vegetables are good in a pinch or an emergency. Try to use these as a last resort. Most canned vegetables have way too much salt and sugar added. Look for low sodium varieties, and don’t avoid your vegetables just because fresh isn’t currently available.
Summer is prime time to take advantage of many different veggies. Enjoy. Share your favorite veggies recipe below.
Coach Nancy
The perfect night’s sleep is everyone’s dream, but few actually achieve it on a regular basis. These simple steps could be the key to your perfect night’s sleep.
1. A bedtime ritual is key to winding down. Get in the habit of doing the same activities 30 minutes before you climb into bed. A warm bath touched with a few drops of lavender oil in the water will enhance your relaxation. Also try to avoid stressful stimulation from the evening news or violent movies, instead listen to soothing music.
2. Avoid stimulants, stay away from tobacco, caffeine, alcohol, and sugar, particularly in the afternoon and evening. Don’t eat anything two hours before bedtime unless you need a protein snack to deal with a low blood–sugar problem.
3. Sleepy time snacks. There’s a reason everyone wants to take a nap after that big Thanksgiving meal. Turkey is loaded with the amino acid tryptophan that manufactures serotonin, which is crucial for sleep. Tryptophan is also abundant in fish, dairy, eggs, bananas, figs, pineapples, nut butter, and tuna—all good foods to eat.
4. Vitamins B complex helps in the conversion of tryptophan to serotonin, so a good vitamin B supplement along with at least 200 mg of vitamin C is sleep insurance. A calcium/magnesium supplement can also be effective for relaxing tense muscles.
5. A dose of helpful herbs can be found in a cup of chamomile tea. This hot tea is a soothing way to end the day. It has a tranquilizing effect, induces sleep, and improves sleep quality.
6. Expend energy through a long walk, a bike ride, working out at Get Fit NH Bootcamp with all the great 6 PMers— all produce endorphins. (The exercise does that not the 6 PMers LOL) The endorphins help ease depression and improve sleep. But observe the two-hour rule by stopping physical activity at least two hours before bedtime.
7. Make your bedroom a quiet place. Keep the room dark and cool. Remove the TV, computer, and even the clock if these items make you restless. A comfortable bed and pillow are going to be key items if you want to sleep well.
Relax—you’ve earned it. You’ll be just a nod away from sweet dreams.
Coach Nancy
New Thinking About What We’re Eating
With such a great response to our showing of the movie “Food Inc”, we’ve purchased a license to show “Fresh”.
“Fresh” is a movie by Ana Sofia Joanes. During the movie she addresses the issues around the sustainable food movement. With important topics like community, economics, environment, factory farming, eating and buying local, organic, pasture-raised, pesticides, waste, health, biodiversity, and animal welfare it will speak to everyone.
We’ll be showing Fresh at our Epsom location on August 21st at 5:30pm. We always have a great time when we get all our classes together (lots of trash talk :). We will have refreshments, post-movie discussion and a ton of fun. Please RSVP.
1. Plant your own backyard garden or patio garden. Do you have a green thumb? Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, herbs, lettuces, and many more veggies and fruits can be as easy to pick as going to your own backyard. Not much of a green thumb? Small patio containers will supplement your family’s dinner nicely.
2. Free Food is always wonderful. Raspberries and blueberries can be found many times while walking along your favorite trail or next to the road. Please be sure to ask the landowner first. There are many logging areas near us and before the trees take over often wild berries thrive. Along a stream we’ve often found grapes in September.
3. Visit a Farmer’s Market or Farm Stand. These farmers grow and raise everything. So if your garden didn’t do too well or if you would like a vegetable that you didn’t plant, visit a farm near you. The Farmer’s Market in Concord which operates each Saturday morning sells veggies, fruit, free range meats, eggs, honey, jams, and many other items you remember from your grandmother’s kitchen.
4. Welcome Localvores! Nothing is more local than buying New Hampshire raised meats. Miles Smith Farm in Loudon raise Scottish Highlander and Angus beef . You can visit their store to select beef that is naturally raised without hormones or antibiotics.
Please call 603 783- 5159 or visit http://www.milessmithfarm.net for more information.
5. PYO- Pick Your Own Farms are plentiful in New England. Whether it is blueberries from Lyon Berry Farm 986 Route 129, 435-7640 or apples from Appleview Orchard. You can find many other fruits, veggies, maple syrup, and even Christmas tress at local farms. Check out this site for more information. http://www.pickyourown.org/NH.htm
6. Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)- Milk and Honey Farm from Canterbury have summer and winter shares of crops. They grow them and you pick them up. You can have fresh all year round and not have to get your fingers dirty. They also sell seedlings in the Spring for your garden.
7. The Seacoast is close enough we can almost smell the salt air. Our favorite market is Durham Market Place. The drive is worth the time. They have so many varieties of seafood fresh from our shores. It’s the only place I go for fresh tuna steaks. Every Monday they host a Farmer’s Market so you can take advantage of fresh produce as well.
8. Support restaurants and food vendors that buy locally produced food. The Celery Stick Café found in The Concord Food Coop prepares foods from seasonal local produce.
9. Buy from a local specialty store or food coop. The Concord Food Coop has a full-service natural foods grocery store with an extensive organic and local produce department along with a variety of natural food, health, body, and household products. Celery Stick Café prepared foods and seasonal local produce are available at both stores.
10. COOK! Our culture has forgotten the joys of cooking. Cooking your own food is better for you, saves money and passes a skill to your children. With a little planning cooking doesn’t have to be a chore.
Gluten is a combination of proteins found in wheat, rye, and barley. For some Americans gluten is a problem.
One reason is an autoimmune condition called celiac disease. In this condition, the body reacts to proteins in gluten as though they were harmful. The immune responds by producing inflammation within the small intestine.
Inflammation is normally a healthful mechanism for fighting off harmful invaders. With celiac disease, the response is misdirected. Celiac disease can lead to diarrhea, gas, bloating, constipation, or any of more than 300 other symptoms—and possibly to more serious problems such as anemia, infertility, or cancer.
Getting Diagnosed:
If your physician suspects you might have celiac disease, diagnosis typically takes place in three steps. The first is usually a blood analysis that tests for high levels of certain antibodies typical of celiac. If the blood test results warrant further examination, your doctor may recommend an intestinal biopsy, an outpatient procedure that removes a small amount of intestinal tissue for evaluation. Should the biopsy reveal damaged villi in your small intestine, then the last and conclusive test is undertaken: the gluten-free diet.
A celiac patient who follows a gluten-free diet—and stays away from wheat, rye, and barley in all their forms—stands an excellent chance of preventing further damage to the intestine wall. The villi will heal or grow back and nutritional deficiencies can be corrected.
Gluten Sensitivity:
What if the diagnosis is negative, yet you still feel uncomfortable after eating bread, cereals, or pasta? As many as one person in seven experiences what’s called a wheat intolerance. Unlike celiac disease, the symptoms of wheat intolerance may not appear for two or three days after ingestion, and that makes the condition hard to diagnose.
Symptoms may include bloating, cramping, diarrhea, flatulence, or constipation. Skin rashes are a possibility, as well as food cravings, tiredness, chronic fatigue, or just feeling generally unwell. Even depression can stem from wheat intolerance. But remember: Other food allergies can also produce uncomfortable symptoms. Its not hard to see how difficult it can be to detect. Often your doctor will recommend an elimination diet.
Where to Start:
If you decide to go gluten free, the best way to begin is to remove from your diet all protein deriving in any way from wheat, barley, rye, or the hybrids of those grains. All other foods are safe, with the possible exception of oats, about which there is some difference of opinion among researchers. Some believe that moderate consumption of oats is allowable on a gluten-free diet, although there does remain the issue of cross-contamination—that is, gluten finding its way into oats during harvesting, shipment, or processing. (For that reason, several producers of oats certify their products to be ìgluten free.î)
But giving up wheat leaves does not mean the end of wonderful eating. There are a lot of tasty alternatives. Consider, for example, millet, rice, sorghum, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, and wild rice.
Food labels are your friends. If a food product contains wheat or wheat protein, the word ìwheatî must be on its label. You will also want to look out for the following ingredients, which may contain traces of wheat: modified food starch, dextrin, maltodextrin, caramel, and glucose syrup. Wheat can pop up in such products as beer, bouillon cubes, candy, sauces, seasoned tofu, and soy products.
For myself, I am allergic to wheat, yeast, and gluten, but I am not a celiac patient. The inflammation I experience occurs in my lungs and esophagus. Think breathing and you’ll understand why I eat very little wheat. My blood test came back positive for allergies to those three items. Why do I share that with you? Being proactive with your health is giving yourself a fighting chance. Until I pushed hard enough to get a blood test done to test for allergies, I was put on steroids and an inhaler to control the inflammation so I could breath properly. If you are experiencing any of the issues mentioned please seek your doctor’s help but you don’t have to wait for a prescription to try a wheat (gluten free diet). Go without for 30 days if you notice a difference, then viola you’ve got some relief and a few answers.
It’s not what you know…
…it’s what you do.
Knowledge is *not* power.
Applied knowledge is.
There are plenty of people that buy every diet book going, read every blog and grab the latest copies of fitness mags the minute they hit the shelves…
…and never lose a pound.
Plenty of people buying every new internet marketing product as soon as they’re launched…
…and have yet to put up a site of their own.
The truth is this: it’s rarely a lack of ideas, opportunity or knowledge that prevent people from accomplishing big things.
It’s a lack of action.
It doesn’t take a world class plan to be successful.
It doesn’t take an MBA to run a business.
It takes getting up and doing something – every day.
Figuring out what you need to improve upon along the way.
Then doing even more.
It’s not rocket science, but it will set you apart from the crowd
because when it’s all said and done – more is said than done 😉
To your success,
Coach Nancy
I am a big proponent of saving time when cooking. I’m just too busy to waste much of it, aren’t you?
To help with my meal preparation I often make many meals in one day and use them throughout the week or freeze them for another time. Here are five recipes I make using 5 pounds of ground beef/buffalo.
An added bonus – I only have to clean up one mess!
Meal one- Hamburgers
Meal two- Taco Salad
Meal three- Thai Ground Beef
Meal four- Spaghetti Sauce
Meal five- Meatballs on the Fly
Hamburgers
I’m not sure I need to explain how to do this….. but for those who might need to know. Divide the pound of ground beef into four rounds and shape them into patties. From there grill over medium heat until no longer pink in center. Serve each on a bed of lettuce with a slice of tomato and onion.
Tacos
Again sounds simple but here you go.
1 pound ground beef
½ cup of water
1 medium onion
2 Tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspo0n cumin
1 clove garlic, minced
Brown the beef along with the onion and the garlic. Drain off the fat and add the water and spices. Continue to cook until liquid is evaporated, about 20 minutes.
Serve with:
lettuce
tomato
chopped onion
olive slices
cheddar cheese
salsa
hot sauce
black beans
refried beans
Thai Ground Beef
1 pound ground beef, browned and drained
1/3 head of cabbage, shredded fine
1 small onion cut into ½ inch cubes
1 green pepper, cut into ½ inch cubes
2 Tablespoons of natural peanut butter
2 Tablespoons of chili powder
salt and pepper to taste
Place ground beef that has been browned into a pan with the cabbage, onion, and green pepper. Cook over medium heat until veggies are soft. Add the peanut butter, salt, pepper, and chili powder. Enjoy.
Spaghetti Sauce
1 pound ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1-2 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teasponn basil
½ teaspoon marjoram
¼ rosemary leaves
1 bay leaf
16-24 ounces tomato sauce
Brown ground beef, onion, and garlic. When the beef is no longer pink, drain excess fat. Stir in remaining ingredients. Simmer, stirring occasionally for 1 hour.
We serve this spaghetti sauce over Vegetable Fettucini or cooked spaghetti sauce.
Meatballs on the fly
1 pound meatballs
2 8oz can diced tomatoes
1 red pepper diced or sliced (how ever you prefer)
1 leek thinly chopped
1 bag of spinach
1 1/2 tsp basil
1 1/2 tsp oregano
4 minced garlic cloves or 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
Simmer for 20 min in a large sauce pan and serve!
To make the meatballs-combine ground beef, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, ½ teaspoon sage, ½ teaspoon basil. Roll into balls and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.
A few tips I’ve found help save even more time:
I brown all three pounds of meat together and then separate them. While they are browning I get the hamburgers and meatballs ready.
While things are cooking I get the veggies all ready. I start with the meal I am going to be eating right away and then work down the list. If I don’t get all the meals done when the hamburgers are ready I can pack all the veggies together to cook later or I finish preparing the meals after we eat.
Since hamburgers are best right away, I eat this meal first while the others can be reheated.
Get in the kitchen, get it done, get out of the kitchen – love it!
Make It Happen,
Nancy
Happy Birthday to Bootcamp! Happy Birthday to Bootcamp! Happy Birthday to Get Fit NH Bootcamp. Happy Birthday to you.
Yes, Get Fit NH Bootcamp turned two in May. We’ve grown and expanded. We opened with one class at 5 AM in the great outdoors, rain or shine. And because of wonderful clients and great results we now have 8 classes, built one location, and hold classes in another facility with over 130 terrific bootcampers.
We Owe You A Big Thank-You!
You’ve Made It Happen.
This year Get Fit NH Bootcamp was voted best fitness facility in Concord by the Hippo. Dean had great honors by being voted the best trainer in Concord by both the Hippo and the Cappies.
We’ve started our Hall of Fame. Those bootcampers walking around proudly wearing a red shirt have earned their way onto the Hall of Fame. They’ve been Making it Happen for over a year. Congratulate them. Ask them where they were when they started.
So Happy Birthday Get Fit NH Bootcamp and many happy returns.
Make It Happen – Every Day!
Nancy
I love cooking with fresh ginger. It’s quick, easy, and very flavorful. The picture on the right might not look like a gingerbread house, or a ginger cookie, or a ginger drop, so I put it there so you can see what the ginger root looks like in its “natural” state.
The flavor of ginger is peppery and slightly sweet. It makes a killer marinate for chicken, pork, and beef, but my favorite is on Salmon.
This recipe is super-easy and fast to make, and it tastes fantastic!
Grilled Salmon
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 c onion, chopped
1 tsp ginger, grated
1 tsp garlic, minced
2 Tbsp Soy sauce or Tamari
1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1 lb salmon fillets
Combine marinade ingredients. Add salmon and marinade at room temperature for 15 minutes. Drain marinade. Cook on uncovered grill for 7 minutes. Turn with spatula and brush with marinade and cook for an additional 6-8 minutes until the fish flakes easily. (the fish can be broiled in an oven as well) Serves 2
At the grocery store you can find ginger in the produce section. It is a root and looks like a gnarly branch or somewhat like a deer antler.
Now if you don’t use ginger all the time here is a great tip for keeping it on hand and not letting it go to waste.
Store ginger root in the freezer (I use a zip-type bag).
Try this and you will be a convert, I guarantee. It takes all of the hassle out of working with fresh ginger.
Coach Nancy
In my school days I was pretty much on cruise control.
I didn’t study. I was proficient at cramming. Nose in the book 15 minutes before test time and wow, a fairly good grade was the outcome.
My motto in school was to enjoy life. I had more important things to do than be stuck in a library studying.
Even with that laid back attitude I still kept my 3.5 through high school and in college a 3.65 (just shy of what Dean achieved). (Actually we had exactly the same GPA, you must be getting old – Love Dean)
Schools don’t really require you to learn to be disciplined.
You can get by and do just fine.
However – personal health and fitness are another story.
You don’t get an award for perfect attendance in life. It’s pretty much expected.
Try going through the motions in a sport practice and you’ll never see the field in a game.
Fail to perform for a couple of weeks and someone else gets your position.
Sports/Fitness training require the same type of discipline that a long healthy life requires.
You can’t just squeak by. You have to push and push hard. You have to be spot on with your skills and dedication. You have to eat to ensure the best performance in practice so your coach notices and puts you in the line up for the big game. ‘Slacking off’ is not in an athlete’s vocabulary.
So what does that mean for you and me?
Lets apply that to our overall health and well being. How do you want your life to be? Would you like to sit on the sidelines and watch things happen or do you want to make it happen? Each training day should be like challenge. Challenge yourself to push harder, lift more, be faster. What about our eating and nutrition? Sure you can go for a while eating sugar and fast food. But it will catch up with you. That is the danger. Our bodies are so good at handling toxic substance that the wear and tear and mushroom top doesn’t show up right away. We’ve formed bad habits and we don’t see the pain immediately.
Here is where you need to realize food is fuel. Give your body everything it needs to perform at peak performance and you’ll be rewarded. But the old saying applies, “garbage in, garbage out”.
What are you training for? What are you eating for? For me I am training to live and live well.
No guarantees, but I am doing my best to stack the odds in my favor.
You coming with me?
Make it Happen today,
Coach Nancy
You must be logged in to post a comment.