Feeling Better but new problem

Since being diagnosed officially with depression I am starting to feel better and feel like I am able to do more.  However, with my living situation and not being able to really establish any type of routine or exercise regimen.  I know that I need to start exercising again and I hope to get there soon.  It's just going to take time, dedication, and being able to create some sort of schedule.

However, now there is a new problem, for the first time in years I was able to get my blood drawn.  I got the test results back yesterday and for the most part everything tested out just where it should.  My cholesterol was good, my good cholesterol was good, but my bad cholesterol was too high, including for having heart disease.

So it looks like I have to start a new diet.  Not only do I have to cut the carbs out of my diet, I'm going to need to cut down on one of my favorite foods... Cheese.  Basically everything that has saturated fat in it, I'm going to need to cut down on.  Red meat and cheese are the biggest influences in my diet.     I don't mind cutting out the red meats, I've been doing that for a year now, eating more turkey meat than anything else.  Cheese is going to be the hardest one.

I'll keep you all updated on how this goes, I need to lower that cholesterol, I don't need to have a heart attack anytime soon.  It's bad enough to know that soon I need to have another surgery to replace my battery in my pace maker soon.

Awesome Stuffed Peppers

Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients

4 Green Peppers

1 Cup Bob's Red Mill - Organic Whole Grain Quinoa

20 oz Jennie-O Ground Turkey

2 Cups Campbell's Tomato Bisque Soup

1.5 ounces of cut up Dunbars Sweet Roasted Peppers

1/4 Cup Premium Quality Private Selection Crumbled Feta Cheese

Any spices you'd like

Directions:

Cook up Quinoa as directed on box.

Brown up ground Turkey

Take the four Green Peppers and cut in half, clean up.

Preheat oven for 350

Mix the Quinoa, Ground Turkey, Sweet Peppers, Spices, Feta Cheese, and Soup.

Put green peppers on cookie sheet and pour in the mixture.

Cook the peppers for 40-50 minutes and enjoy! 

Notes:

Of course you can always make your own home made tomato sauce to use, I just didn't have the time.  I loved how these turned out however and so did everyone who tried them. 

Outcome!:

8 servings each serving =

Calories:                   238

Fat:                          6g

Protein:                    22g

Cholesterol:             39mg

Sodium:                   264 mg

Carbs:                     25g

Sugars:                    6g

Fiber:                      3g

This mornings workout

Just a little insight to my workout this morning.  I can tell you my arms are burning right now!

For starters I warm up with a mixture of stretching and Yoga.  This allows my muscles to get warmed up and get me in the right frame of mind.  Oh and a little bit of Lead Me by Sanctus Real always helps me get going as well.




To start I used a resistance band, two 4 pound weights, and my 8 pound medicine ball. 

My first workout was a chest press using the resistance band, 2 sets of 15.
Second went into doing a seated row with the band, again 2 sets of 15.
From there I did arm curls using the band, 2 sets of 15.
Then switched to Lateral rises using the band, 2 sets of 10 (shoulders fatigued too quick for 15 haha).

Just to let you know I alternate between these.  For example I will do the chest press, move to the row, back to the chest press and then do the second row.

From here I switched it up to the dumbbells.  I did 2 reps of 15 of the squatting arm curls, bracing my back against the wall.
Then I went to triceps extensions, again 2 reps of 15.

I did then some knee bent triceps dips, 2 reps of 10 and medicine ball aided pushups.

Lastly I did with the medicine ball something called clockwork.  Starting by holding the ball at a 12 o'clock position, with locked elbows I went clockwise going from 12 to 12, and then reversed it back counterclockwise, one of those is a rep and man do those burn.

Then it was chow time!  Loaded up on some carbs and protein with some ground turkey fried up in onions and topped it on some brown rice. 

Just another day in the office. It might be a little time consuming and painful but I am seeing the results in my arms, so it's worth it.

Recipe - TurkeyLoaf

Turkey Salsa Cheese Loaf...

      Tonight, being Kate's birthday, she requested for me to make my turkey salsa cheese loaf.  Sure it might not sound all that exciting, but I have had a few people tell me it tastes great.  I am going to give you the recipe and also show you just how much healthier this is than your normal meat loaf, and has more flavor too!  

Ingredients...

2 pounds of Jennie O Turkey (93/7)

1/2 cup of Mexican style 4 cheese blend

1 cup Kirkland organic salsa

4 large eggs

1 medium onion

.5 cups of bread crumbs

.25 cups of Kirkland organic salsa for the top.

We mix together all of the ingredients in a bowl except for that last 1/4 cup of salsa.  Once the meat and the ingredients are mixed well, we then transfer the ingredients from the bowl into a 9x13 casserole pan.  Put it into the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes.  I made this into 10 servings.  Below is the nutritional information of the turkey loaf compared to if you made the same recipe, but with 80/20 ground beef.

 

Nutritional Information	Turkey Loaf	80/20 Ground meatloaf
Calories	184.4	331.6
Total Fat	4.9g	19.7g
Saturated Fat	1.9g	7.9g
Cholesterol	137mg	181mg
Sodium	456.4mg	459.6mg
Potassium	46.1mg	46.1mg
Total Carbohydrate	7.6g	7.6g
Dietary Fiber	1.4g	1.4g
Sugars	2.3g	2.3g
Protein	25.9g	27.5g

     As you can see by looking at both the calories and fat, just by changing one ingredient you can change a lot about the meal you are eating.  Not only are you eating healthier now, but you're cutting unneeded fat from your diet and lowering your calorie intake.  Another great thing is that we have been able to find the Jennie-O ground turkey on sale buy one get one free so we stock up.  It isn't often we find ground beef on sale that good of a deal.