Good nutrition starts early

Noah ABSOLUTELY LOVES Jamba Juice acai shake! Good nutrition habits start early. 

As Paul said, "I like this shake better than McDonalds. Yummy in my tummy!"

Meal Time: Salmon barbecue

I'm trying to eat more fish, and that translates into a nice chunk of salmon once per week. I get  this fresh caught fish at a locally-owned store, and I always ask the nice lady to give me 1.3 pounds in two slices, with one just a bit bigger than that other. Tonight, I got a REALLY big piece, probably in the .80 pound category!

Here's the breakdown on this meal. It's a real treat as it's expensive, but it TASTES GREAT and FILLS YOU UP and it's AWESOMELY HEALTHY.

.80 pound salmon = 500 calories (640 per pound) and $8.00. Spices on it have no calories. 

one glass of wine (Bogle Petite Syrah) = 300 calories and about $2.00 ($8.00/bottle)

One cup wild rice = 170 calories (rounded up) and about $0.50.

Half of an Asian Ceasar Kit Salad = 400 calories @ $1.25 ($2.49/bag).

No dessert.

Total of 1,370 calories and $10.75.

Here are the highlights that I love about this meal:

1. Fish is GREAT healthy food.

2. Antioxidants in some great tasting wine. 

3. Wild rice has wheat berries in it. Comes from bulk section, so no crazy packaging.

4. Except for the packaged salad, this meal is quite natural with limited processing (if any). 

5. Easy to clean up. I barbecue the fish in tinfoil, so very easy to clean. Two plates, two glasses, silverware, and glasses all go directly in the dishwasher.

6. Fish bought at local market, supporting local small biz owner.

Meal Time: Chicken spaghetti

This is one of my favorite mid-week at-home meals. Easy, fast, healthy, easy to cleanup, inexpensive.

Consider the choices:

Our chicken salad - with a dessert! -  made at home in about 20 minutes for $4.25/meal and about 1,300 good calories, notably salad and good clean organic chicken.

Subway footlong Chicken Bacon Ranch for about $9.00 with 1,080 mostly good calories (and I love bacon!) and 20 minutes to go and get. This is just the sandwich. no drink. no dessert. I can RARELY say no to the cookies at Subway, so you might as well add $1.29 and 300 calories for three chocolate chip cookies

Arby's #14 Fresh Market Sandwich combo with large curly fries and a green iced tea for about $10 and 1,330 calories and 20 minutes to go get. This doesn't have a dessert, although the curly fries are close to be a dessert(!).

Our chicken salad absolutely wins when I'm at home. When travelling, I try to stick with the Subway. If I'm driving, I generally go for the Arby's (and get a turnover, too, with the large order!).  Even considering the calories and type of food, our chicken salad wins because it is SIGNIFICANTLY CHEAPER, and we get to eat as a family at the dinner table.  And it's very easy to clean...very few dishes because the chicken is BBQ; most of the dishes go straight into the dishwasher...clean and simple!

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My wife and call it chicken salad (so creative!). Let's do some basic math to compare to fast food. I only eat at Arby's and Subway for fast food, and the cheapest I can get there is about $8 and walk out mostly satisfied ($7 footlong plus tax).

This meal has 1/2 pound chicken (1.89/pound off the chicken truck), so let's round up to $1 even.

Half a bag salad bought for $2.49, so call that 1.25.

Two rolls from a box of six for 2.49. Let's round up to a dollar (those are 50 cents each?!?!?!.....might pass next time at the store). But Grandma's homemade strawberry jam (free!) is awesome and needs a method to get in my mouth!

1/3 of a bag of mixed veggie steamers. Bag is maybe 1.39 so round up to 50 cents.

Add $1 for the fundraiser chocolate bar (very small) I had for dessert.

Drank water only. I prefer water but sometimes have iced tea in the summer or Lipton drink mix in the winter.

$4.25 total, and COMPLETELY satisfied and full, including chocolate bar to hit my sweettooth!

'Versus $8 minimum for fast food and no dessert. Calories? 

Chicken about 500. 

A small squirt of ranch dressing has maybe 50 calories; just spice on the chicken. 

Salad probably 250. Rolls: 2 x 80 = 160. Chocolate = 180

Total Calories = 1,300 calories, almost all good pure food.

Sub (Subway Footlong Chicken Bacon Ranch Melt)

Serving Size: 1 footlong, Calories: 1080, Fat: 53.1g, Carbs: 87g, Protein: 67g

Arby's Meal of a large #14 combo = 1,330 and about $10

 Fresh Market Sandwich = 670 calories

Turkey Ranch & Bacon (Honey wheat bread, roast turkey, natural cheddar cheese, leat lettuce, tomatoes, red onion, creamy ranch spread, pepper bacon)

371 g

42

73

23

15

670

MORE

Plus large Curly Fries

Curly Fries (Potatoes, partially hydrogenated canola or soybean oil, bleached enriched, wheat flour, modified food starch, cornmeal, corn starch)

large

7

66

30

13

560

MORE

plus sweet green tea isn't listed, but let's call it 100 calories.

Meal Time: Chicken Spaghetti and Acorn Squash

Tera is such an awesome girl! Two healthy dinners in a row. Here's the breakdown on this meal.

Easy to prepare. Tastes great. Incredibly inexpensive. Easy to clean. Home-grown food!

So last night was the chicken salad with barbecued chicken. With some proper planning, we managed to make some extra chicken. Tera cut that up into some small pieces while making the spaghetti. In the refrigerator was acorn squash that we got out of the garden in November and has kept quite well. Whole wheat spaghetti is bought in the bulk foods section at WinCo.  Twenty minutes later, we have our chicken sphaghetti.

Chicken = free, put into last night's meal cost.

Spaghetti = not sure. Probably $1.00/meal at the most. Can't think that it's much higher. Calories unknown, but lets call it 500.

Sauce = $2.39 for a jar (guessing). I used 1/10 of a jar probably, so 25 cents for that. Maybe 100 calories.

Water is free.

Dessert is not shown. Three pieces of halloween candy (chocolate coin, twix, 3 musketeer) for 240 calories? 10 cents each?

Total cost = $1.85 or so. I ate an extra serving equivalent to the spaghetti shown, so let's say it was $3.05 total.

Calories = about 1200 - 1400 calories.

Tera cooked it in about twenty minutes. I cleaned it in five minutes.

I'm quite full and my sweet tooth is satisfied about thirty minutes later as I write this.

I would like to keep my dinner calories at about 800, but that is clearly quite difficult.

I think this meal is clearly a good way to go.

I have a couple of favorite healthy meals that can get expensive, but this is clearly a healthy meal that is easy and inexpensive.

What are some of the ways you eat healthy yet inexpensive?

Good Food!

Triathletes can be overwhelmed about nutrition and all the different ideas out there about what constitutes good, nutritious food. But, you never see any real examples, so I thought I'd share two specific examples of what I think good food is.

1. Eat your vegetables. These "Steamables" mixed veggies taste great and couldn't be easier to prepare. Put the bag in the microwave for five minutes, and they're ready to go. If I remember right, they are $1.29, so you pay for that convenience versus probably $0.69 - $0.89 for basic frozen veggies. As you can see on the label (actually not quite clear but you can trust me on this!), they are pure veggies with no chemicals or preservatives or anything. You no longer have an excuse for not each your veggies!

#2. A great, relatively healthy and low calorie Christmas Eve dinner. I figure this comes in at about 1,600 calories. There is no butter or sauces; all extra flavor is done with spices. Here we have grass fed rib-eye and wild-caught salmon from the Fish Off The Old Block shop in Pocatello with the Steamables mentioned above and some rehydrated potatoes seasoned with Italian seasoning and NO BUTTER so that they remain basically 100% carbs. Sometimes we have long-grain rice under the fish instead of potatoes on the side.

This is a very special meal for us because it isn't cheap, but because it is at home, it's still cheaper than a comparable meal at The Outback Steakhouse or Texas Roadhouse. I definitely prefer this meal over a chain-restaurant meal any day.....the best steak in town is in my backyard!

Breakfast like a king....

Triathlete.com » Racing Weight: The Benefits Of Eating A Big Breakfast – Triathlete.com

Ten years ago, I didn't believe the idea that big breakfast was the healthiest way to go. After making a concerted effort to change that in the past five years, I now know the truth. Whoever said it was right: "Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dinner like a pauper" is definitely the way to go.  Going one step further, I would like to add that a big workout right when you get up (after a couple cups of coffee, of course) followed by the big breakfast is a sure-fire way to lose weight.