I was reminded this week of a conversation I had with one of my clients a while back. It was actually a very one sided conversation as many of them are during hard hitting workout sessions. As I recall I was the one doing all the talking as she was busy doing “stairs” – which consisted of her doing various leg lifts, knee ups, side steps and squats on several trips up a flight of steps. It is very possible that my timing was not pristine or even nice, but I have found that people respond better to nutrition talks when they are in the middle of working hard to just burn off a few of those calories that was so easy to take in. Now here she was in front of me, dripping with sweat and giving me 110% of everything she had in this workout. She had been dieting and working out with me for several weeks. She had lost some weight but it seemed to be going just a little slower than what she had wanted. She had given me access to her food journal and out of the blue I decided that now was just as good of time as any. So I looked at her and simply said, “Let’s talk turkey bacon…”
So we did. We discussed how turkey bacon and turkey sausage is packaged to sound healthy because it is being compared to its pork fat relative but if we compare it to lean healthy protein options such as lean pork loin or chicken, it doesn’t measure up and is not really a healthy everyday choice. It is very high in fat (50%-75%) as well as sodium. So many packaged foods are the same way. They claim “healthy” or at the very least elude to “healthy” but in fact they are really impostors that can sabotage our fitness and health efforts. Be careful not to be pulled in by the snack-pack-low-fat-sugar-free varieties of junk food. Junk is still junk and offers little to no nutrition to the body even if it is low fat and comes in a pretty, small package. 🙂
So this was an ahh-hahh moment of re-thinking healthy – a turning point in cleaner nutrition and on the scales. Just a small tweak that lead to other small tweaks that lead to some great results. Results are good. Isn’t that what we all want? We should all be constantly examining our food journal and looking for “healthy” impostors and make sure we are comparing what we eat to the right standard and not just settling for a healthier version of junk. And while we are at it… let’s take a step back and make sure we do the same thing in our spiritual lives. Let’s remember not to fool ourselves by comparing ourselves to others and settling for better junk than their junk. God created us for so much more than that. His standards, goals and gifts that He has for us are so much higher than for what we so often settle. Reach high and strive for holiness, not just being better-than-most.
“and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” –Ephesians 4:24
While we are on the subject of turkey. Here is one of my favorite recipes..
Turkey Sausage Crumbles
1-lb lean ground turkey breast
1/2 TBS sage
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper (I use cayenne pepper to make it spicy)
1 tsp crushed red pepper
Combine all ingredients (to taste) in a large bowl squeezing and kneading to work the spices into the meat. Brown in a skillet until done. I don’t recommend trying to make sausage patties as the lean meat is very dry which makes the patties tough.
I cook up a pound of these crumbles and stick them in the fridge to measure out as needed to make a quick egg and sausage omelet or scramble. It also makes a great egg and sausage burrito with a whole wheat tortilla and picante sauce (La Tortilla Factory Low Carb Whole Wheat Tortilla is my favorite whole wheat tortilla). I even stick it in my family’s regular burritos made with flour tortillas and cheese and they don’t even know or care that it is turkey. ENJOY!
Challenge Update
No Turkeys here … as of Thursday, April 19th, we have knocked out 323.08 miles or classes out of the 1134.9 that we have pledged!!! Aren’t we awesome?!!! Here are the individual reports… Be inspired!
40canbefit – goal 13 classes – 5 complete – 8 to go
40canbefit – goal 40 miles – 12 complete – 28 to go
bnwhite – goal 13 classes – 3 complete – 10 to go
EllieElliptic – goal 75 miles elliltical – 9.5 complete – 65.5 to go
F3 – FabulouslyFitFifty – goal 80 miles – 32 complete – 48 to go
F3 – FabulouslyFitFifty – goal 100 miles bike – 6.4 complete – 93.6 to go
Fit@50 – goal 20 classes – 8 complete – 12 to go
Fit@50 – goal 26.2 miles – 6 complete 12 to go
FollowMeFit – goal 13 classes – 3 complete – 10 to go
FollowMefit – goal 60 miles – 18 complete – 42 to go
GetFitZumbaChick – goal 22.5 classes – 6 complete – 16.5 to go
GettinFit – goal 22.5 classes – 6 complete – 16.5 to go
GettinFit – goal 26.2 miles – 2 complete – 24.2 to go
GrannywithSole – goal 26.2 miles – 5.5 complete – 20.7 to go
HealthyMommy – goal 26.2 miles – 2.5 complete – 23.7 to go
IgotThis – goal 26.2 miles – 1 complete – 25.2 to go
JaneFunda – goal 40 miles – 7 complete – 33 to go
KellyKick’nBelly – goal 80 miles – 57.57 complete – 22.43 to go
Kellykick’nBelly – goal 110 elliptical miles – 20 complete – 90 to go
Mcorcione – goal 50 elliptical miles – 1 complete – 49 to go
MilestoSmiles – goal 26.2 miles – 5 complete – 21.2 to go
MommyOnMission – goal 30 miles – 10 complete – 20 to go
OnMyWay – goal 26.2 miles – 9 complete – 17.2 to go
Rochedavis – goal 80 miles – 48.36 complete – 31.64 to go
RunStrong – goal 80 miles – 33.25 complete – 46.75 to go
ThatGirl – goal 22.5 classes – 6 complete – 16.5 to go
Be strong. Be fit and don’t be fooled by turkeys.
