Mexican Chicken and Beans

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken (strips)

1 envelope (1 1/4 ounces) taco seasoning mix

1 can of black or pinto beans, rinsed and drained

1 can of whole kernel corn with red and green peppers, undrained

1/4 cup of water

Spray 10-inch nonstick skillet with cooking spray. Cook Chicken in skillet over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes, just until no longer pink in the center.

Stir in seasoning mix, beans, corn and water. Cook over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until sauce is slightly thickened. Serve with whole wheat tortillas.

FAST, EASY AND DELICIOUS! One of the faves. Excellent source of protein, fiber, and good carbs. This recipe is from the Betty Crocker Diabetes Cookbook.

South Beach Snack Bars

Sometimes it's almost impossible to be able to find time to eat a snack in between meals, or when you don't have a piece of fruit and string cheese near by-this is a handy snack that I absolutely live by. The South Beach Bar. They're a little pricey ($3.80 for a box of 5) but well worth it. Each bar has 140 calories, 10 grams of protein, 4 grams of fiber, and 14 grams of Carbs. It literally is the perfect snack.
Dietitians recommend (for snacks) only eating 150 calories or less which is 15 grams of carbs. It's also approved through the American Dietitian Association. This little bar fills you up for a good while, and has zero hydrogenated oils in it. It's a fantastic snack to be caring around with you.
The only downside is that it has Aspartame in it for all your anti-aspartame'ers. Other than that, I consider it the perfect snack.

They come in a variety of flavors. I highly suggest the Chocolate.

Summer VS Ice Cream

There's just something about Summer time and ice-cream that seem to come hand in hand. I always considered myself more of a doughnut/cake/pie kind of person, but for some reason this summer has had my mouth watering for some good old plain ice-cream. So I did some comparing for the healthiest between fat-free vanilla yogurt or sugar-free to see what was the best choice along with some other options:


(One serving of ice-cream is 1/2 cup)

Fat-Free Vanilla Frozen Yogurt:

150 cal., 33 g carbs., 0 g fat

Sugar-Free Vanilla Ice-Cream:

165 cal., 32 g carbs., 5 g fat (3 g sat. fat)

Soft-Serve Vanilla Ice-Cream:

185 cal., 25 g carbs., 7 g fat (5 g sat. fat)

Plain Vanilla Ice-Cream:
260 cal., 26 g carb., 16 g fat (16 g sat. fat)



Waffle Cone: 160 cal., 28 g carb., 4 g fat (o g sat. fat)


Sugar Cone: 50 cal., 10 g carbs., 0 g fat

For this summer, your best bet would to be to try to stick with Fat-Free Ice-Cream. If you absolutely can't stand it or just love the real deal too much, then keep your control with eating just one serving at a time(1/2 cup).

When it comes to toppings, try to do what you can to get ice-cream that is already flavored so you don't feel like you need to add more. If your counting calories, toppings alone can add an extra 150 calories. For example: 2 tbsp of Chocolate Sauce is 109 calories, 1 tbsp of Chopped nuts is 50 calories, 1 tbsp of Whipped Cream is 8 calories, and a regular Maraschino Cherry is 8 calories. So just be careful when you load on the goodness.

Everyone always needs a good bowl of ice-cream, but just be careful so you don't end up hating it by the end of the Summer for what it did to your bod. When you eat your ice-cream, eat it slow and savor every bite so you can thoroughly enjoy it and be satisfied when it's gone. But don't deprive yourself! Just keep control so you enjoy all aspects of eating it.

Top Basic Weight Loss Strategies

I'm so sorry it has been so long since I have last updated. I've fallen off the ban-wagon of blogging and eating. Man, this summer weather is giving me the appetite of a lifetime! This week I literally have had to start over and get everything back in order. I'm sure all of us know, its 100% harder than it sounds. So for all of us that have fallen off, lets get back on and start over:). Thank goodness for even being able to start over, HA!

Today's post is really simple, but it was a good reminder so I thought I would go ahead and post it.

So a 10-year study called the National Weight Control Registry tracked more than 5,000 people to see how they lost weight and how they kept it off. Here are the strategies the successful participants had in common:

~Calorie controlled diet.

~One hour of exercise daily.

~Weighing in regularly-at least once a week. This allowed them to catch small increases in weight very quickly and take some corrective action.
Losing weight for medical reasons.

I really like this, because it comes back to consistency again. Just basic, simple habits that we can make or change in our day. For calorie controlled diet, just remember to go by your HANDS for those portions, and you will have all the control you need.

Also, when you think of the word exercise, don't think of you sweating off your nose and working out till you literally can't even stand up. This could mean walking, running, gardening, cleaning your house, even grocery shopping. Just keep your body moving through out the day and that will keep your metabolism going!