We’ve all used this excuse for something.  When it comes to living a healthy lifestyle, this is typically used for exercise.  I’m sure I’ve even uttered this excuse on occasion. I call this excuse the “Time Dragon”.  Why a dragon?  Dragons have a mystical nature and often portrayed as cunning, and ruthless.  The “I don’t have time excuse” is very similar.  The excuse is ruthless  – you can always use it.  The excuse is cunning – it resolves you of responsibility. To make changes, you have to slay this excuse.  There’s no +10 magic sword to do this.  You have to find your own motivation, but here’s some thoughts.

Think Long Term: The Time Bank

Indulge me in a thought experiment.

What if exercising prevented you from getting sick at least 1x per year?

What if exercising relieved stress, increasing your work productivity 1%?

If you are using the time excuse, then you must be a really busy person.  Let’s say you work 10 hours a day with 4 hours of other tasks.  That’s a 14 hour day.  Not being sick on one of those days gives you 14 hours.  Improving your productivity by just 1% when working 50 hours per week give you an additional 25 hours per year.  So now you have 39 hours in the bank.  What can you do with 39 hours?

Work out for 20 minutes 117 time( that’s more than 2 sessions per week).

Work out for 30 minutes 72 times (that’s more than 1 sessions per week).

Work out for 45 minutes 52 times (that’s 1 session per week).

Outsource: Pay for Minutes

We’ve all heard about outsourcing to China and the impact it has on the US job market.  Outsourcing, however, does not have to be for the fortune 500.  You too can outsource.  There are many services that you can outsource.  By outsourcing, you give up some money but you get back some time.  Once again, think long term and what value you will derive from the extra time you have.

For example, I’ve outsourced the cleaning of my house.  Sure, I have to pick things up, but the routine dusting, sweeping and mopping is left to someone else (Rachel, who rocks!).  Yes, this costs money, but I gain back at least an hour a week.  I spend that hour investing in myself.  If I’m healthy, then I may be less likely to get sick or be sick for a shorter duration.  Being self-employed, being sick can really rick the paycheck, especially if it were for a long period of time.  So I consider hiring a housekeeper a financial investment in myself — think health assurance rather than health insurance.

Other things you can outsource:

-Lawn care: Check out Angie’s List for good recommendations.

-Laundry

-Grocery Shopping: Join a buyers club or PeaPod

-Appointments/Errands (anything online or by phone):  Check out Your Man in India or AskSunday

-Car Care: Mobile Detail and Oil Change services

-Cooking: Chef at home or these cooking clubs where groups cook homemade meals together

I highly advise any one to check around before saying, “I cannot afford it.”  With the current economy, you may find the services are less than you think.  Also service based companies tend to raise prices carefully.  For example, I get 15% off of my housekeeping services thanks to the economy and using Angie’s List

Go To Bed!

One of my biggest challenges was staying up and watching the late night talk shows.  You get involved in something and before you know it, the midnight hour is upon you.  Getting ready for bead at midnight means I don’t get to sleep until about 1 AM, which makes it pretty hard to get up at 7AM for a bike ride or other exercise.

If there is some late program you cannot live without, get a DVR.  I think I pay $5/mo for my DVR from comcast. If you consider that gives you an extra hour of rest every day of the month, the investment does not require Warren Buffet’s wisdom.

Trying to get to be earlier is a major change for me.  I was historically a night owl.  Making this shift has taken time, but I really enjoy riding my bike before work.  I get 30-60 minutes to myself before the busy day begins.  That helps me focus and increases my productivity, meaning I work less.

Simple Planning

If you find chores difficult in the morning, do them before bed.  Look for ways to move tasks to different days or different hours to be more efficient.  Fix your lunch the night before, lay out your clothes or your kid’s clothes if you have monsters in the house.  Small things can really help out.  If you have a smoothie for breakfast, consider portioning the fruit on the weekend, so you can just dump the bag into the blender and you are ready to go.  A few minutes here and a few minutes there do add up, especially when you make this a permanent change.  If you can find 15 minutes per week, that’s 13 hours a year.

Start Small

You have to start small.  Embarking on some rigorous time saving schedule will likely fail.  Find simple ways to claw back a few minutes here in there.  Outsource some tasks.  Enslave your family for more assistance.  Every minute you can get back for yourself is an investment in your health.  Think of the minute as an ounce of gold — how hard would you work to get an ounce of gold, now trading over $1000/oz?

Focus on the Benefits

Keep the benefits in mind.   Focusing on the outcome is what propels me to drag myself from bed at 7AM to endure an hour on the bike.  I know about 15 minutes into it I will,

• Feel more energized
• Reassure myself that I can do this
• Gain confidence
• Relax
• Be glad I did it

Your rewards may be different than mine, but if you discover both short and long term benefits, you can use these to push yourself to find more time to exercise.

My Battle

I too have used the “I don’t have time excuse.”  I finally stopped doing it.  Here’s what I’ve done to slay my Time Dragon.  I’m sure it will raise its ugly head again, but these things keep it in check:

Hired a housekeeper (saved 3-5 hours/month)

Go to bed earlier (gives me 30-60 minutes before work)

Delegated more tasks at work (saves 5-10 hours per week)

Consolidating my Traveling Preferences to 1 Site (saves 30 minutes to 60 minutes per trip 12+ trips a year)

Cook More on the Grill (kitchen is cleaner, fewer pots and pans 10-15 mins vs. cooking indoors)

Put all workout gear in one drawer in dresser (saves about 5 minutes looking for shorts, socks, etc)

Ride with a Bike Club (being new to the area, going to the bar is about the only other social activity 2 hrs/wk)

Considering ….

Instead of journaling my food, I may just start taking pictures with my cell phone and upload them to flickr.

Only doing blog posts once per week when I feel I’m ready to post.

Prepping my bike the night before for early morning rides.

Slay the Dragon

In the end, you have to slay your own Time Dragon.  You have to find that balance between work, family and self that makes sense for yourself.  Steve Covey’s time management may be for you, but for others it will fail.  Keep trying to find what works.  Claw back those few minutes.  They begin to add up.  When you see the benefits, you will be encouraged to find more time.

This week, I’m at the Gaylord National Resort in Washington D.C. for Hostingcon, the annual geek fest for people providing internet services.  Conferences pose some huge challenges:

• Disrupted Exercise Routine
• Unhealthy Food Abundant
• Networking Drinking Events

Fruit Hoarding

The food at these events is typically poor, but this year, I have to give the operation some credit. At least there is some fruit available during breaks. This is a welcome addition to the fat-laden goodies like cookies, donuts, and muffins that are typically served.  When I find some good fruit, I stash it in my conference bag.

Luckily, my fruit hoard has saved me twice.

Yesterday, before the evening network event. I had an apple.  Typically at these events I drift from one reception to another, trying to limit the drinks people are tossing my way.  Finger foods are the menu du jour, so the apple helped.  I drank less and was less tempted by the nachos on offer.

Today when walking into the exhibit hall around 10:30 AM, Otis Spunkmeyer greeted my nostrils.  For our obese nation, fresh-baked cookies are probably better than a booth babe in attracting attendees to your both.  The plum I had stashed in my bag saved me. One booth was giving out slices of chocoloate cake — that’s the last thing an overweight sedentary system administrator needs.

Lunch Deconstructed

Lunch is tough.  There is a mixed green salad offered but very little healthy protein.  Yesterday, they served some turkey and cheese sandwiches on a roll.  So I made a salad with some cucumbers and tomatoes and took the turkey from the sandwich to make a meal.  I thought this was pretty good.  I did indulge a bit in the mini-desert, which was a shot glass sized serving of cheesecake.

Today was a little tougher.  The protein option was a fish bathed in butter and bread crumbs or a chicken breast wrapped in ham with some cheese.  I scraped the ham and cheese off of the chicken and added it to my salad.  Still pretty fatty, but better than the butter soaked fish.

Not Drinking

Alcohol greases the engine of business.  Hanging out in a social setting and kicking back a beer or six builds trust.  Why you should trust a drunken salesperson is beyond me, but that’s how it works.

Last night was tough.  There are many people here I’ve know for years, so catching up required more than a couple of drinks.  Fortunately in H3I speak, this is an infrequent event, so overdoing it is relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.  I did, however, make it back with much less damage than in the past.

Tonight, I had a wonderful dinner with some of business partners.  I had a couple of drinks at dinner and one after.  Probably 3 servings of alcohol total.  The bread bowl had a flat bread in it, so I ate a very small portion of it — better than eating the entire bowl of bread which was an old habit.

I had a mixed salad and fish for dinner.  The portion was a little large but I did not have any afternoon snack and a light lunch, so on balance, I think it was a success.

Exercise (Kind of)

The conference runs from 8:30 AM to about 5:30 PM, then dinner and/or a networking reception.  By the time you’re done, exhaustion takes hold.

Yesterday, I asked myself a question:

“What benefits the my business more?  Going to a boring sessions with little import or taking 45 minutes out of the day to improve my health?”

When posed that way, the answer was clear.  In the past, I felt a little guilty about taking some “me time” at these events as they can be expensive.  After a closer inspection, I realized that being rejuvenated from exercise would make me more effective in the important sessions.

This is a win-win attitude.  I win and the business wins.  This is a big shift in my attitude about business events.  In the future, I will look for low impact events and see if I can use that time to get some exercise.

Simply Stairs

Taking the stairs.  Though sometimes I forget or just follow the crowd down the escalator, I’ve been trying to take the stairs.  This conference is spread over 3 floors which each floor occupying about 2 stories.  So to go from the exhibit hall to the conference room is 6 flights.  I did that about 4x today, so that 24 stories.

Hanging in There

I’ve one more day at the conference and then over to my aunt’s place for  some family time.  I think I’ve managed pretty well but will not know for sure until I hit the scale when I get home on Sunday.

Ingredients

10 Minute Rice Like Uncle Ben’s Whole Grain Boil in Bag

1 Green Bell Pepper Diced

1 Roma Tomato diced

1/4-1/2 Yellow Onion Diced

1 Can Organic or Low Salt Back Beans

1 Package of Frozen Corn (or fresh corn0

1 Clove of Garlic or Garlic Power (to taste)

Black Pepper

Salt

Spices: One or more of  Cilantro, Oregano, Cumin, Basil, Thyme, Rep Pepper Flake

Method:

Get all ingredients out.  If you do not cook often, then make sure you get everything you will need in once place.  This is a very fast meal – less than 15 minutes start to finish, so you want everything you will need right there.

We are not going to saute anything.  We essentially want to steam the vegetables but to expedite the process a little oil will be required.

Cook Rice

Cook rice according to package directions.  Cook your rice on the stove.  Don’t use the microwave.  You need to be paying attention so if you put your rice on the stove it’s right there with the beans.

Cook Beans

In a skillet over medium to medium high heat, at some oil or cooking spray.  Use just enough so that food will not stick.  Let pan come to temperature.  If the oil smokes, the pan is too hot.  On my electric range with a cast-iron pan, a setting of 5-6 is usually good.

Once pan is hot, add garlic, onions, bell pepper and cover.  After about 2 minutes, add 1-2 tsp of water.  You essentially want to rapidly steam these veggies until they are tender.  I like them a little on the raw side to add a bit of crunch.

Now add beans and corn.  If using dried herbs and spices add them now.  If using fresh wait. Add 1/8-1/4 cup of the water from the boiling rice.  The gluten in the water will help make a nice sauce.   Cook uncovered for 5-10 minutes until everything is hot. Increase heat to medium-high if water is not gently boiling.  Stir frequently to prevent burning. If pan begins to dry, add more water from the boiling rice.

Remove from heat, add fresh herbs, salt and pepper to taste. Cover until ready to serve.

Just before serving, toss in the diced tomatoes.

Serving Size and Calories

A serving size is about 3/4 cup of the beans. Should be around 150-200 calories max depending on how much oil you used.  Rice 1/4 to 1/2 cup: 170-340 calories. So in total, likely under 500 calories.  If you really watch the oil, this can as like as 350 calories.  Do not mix the rice and beans. Simple put the beans over the rice.

Toppings

Add fresh sliced  jalapenos or bottled hot sauce.  Fresh salsa is very nice as well.  Cayenne pepper is nice too.

Time Savers

Buy pre-diced onion, peppers at the super market.

Use a mixed herb seasoning, like “Italian Herb Mix” or any other mix with Oregano, Basil and similar green herbs.

Spices

Learn to spice to taste.  This is a key to cooking on your own.  Specifying amounts of spices is really not very helpful.  The age, quality and variety of spice makes a huge difference.  Greek oregano has a more intense flavor than Italian oregano.  Fresh herbs have more aromatics than dried herbs but dried herbs can impart stronger flavor. Learning to spice to taste is key to excellent home cooked meals.

Fresh herbs should almost always be added during the last few minutes of cooking.  Dried herbs should be added early in the process so you can extract their flavor.

Fresh herbs are more forgiving since you can easily control the amount you use.

For this dish, I recommend fresh oregano and cilantro with a touch of cumin.

Leftovers

This dish travels and re-heats well provided you did not mix the rice and beans.  If you mix them, the rice will get very gooey.  By keeping them separate in tightly sealed containers,  you can easily store this 2-4 days in the fridge.  Be sure to get the beans into the fridge as soon as they are room temp.  Keep them covered after cooking.

Experiment

If you are unsure about herbs and spices, pull a small portion out and spice it sparingly.  Keep working with that small portion to try different amounts, different ingredients.  Once you find something you like, you can then try it in your main dish.

Tip: Microwave ‘em

On its own, the product is rather lack luster. But if you put 2-3 slices between some paper towels and microwave for 30s-60s, you now have very crispy, thin pepperoni wafers. These things are amazing on a salad. Could also be added to mashed cauliflower/potatoes or used on a baked potato. At less than 4 calories each, these things pack a huge amount of flavor.

You can also microwave turkey bacon this way. You will get cracker like crunch without the fat.

Note the brand!  Hormel has more calories and fat than does Armour.  When looking at Turkey products as subs for other meat products traditionally prepared with pork or beef, read the labels.  I’ve seen the “same” product vary by as much as 3x in calories, sugars, salt and fat.

Why Salad?

Salads, properly prepared, are highly nutritious, have low caloric density, and help fill you up.  Provided you don’t lather on the dressing or add tons of other fattening items, salads can become one of the favorite members of your diet team.

Preparing Salads: Hydration

I used to live in an area where a couple of small markets had fresh mesclun greens daily.  These were always very crisp and harvested locally within 24-72 hours of arrival.  With freshness like this, you did not have to do to much to get the base of your salad ready.  However, I now have to buy the bagged or boxed variety of salad at the super-market.  Most of this salad is dehydrated.  So you have to spruce it up.

To spruce up your salad, chop it into bite size pieces.  Place it in a bowl of room temperature water for at least 10 minutes.  At the left you see a salad spinner.  This is essential.  I fill the salad spinners bowl with water and then simply dump it after 10 minutes.  Then spin away.  You will be surprised at how much more flavor and crunch the greens have.

Preparing Salad: Lettuce Diversity

Those quick mixed bags are great, but the often lack appropriate diversity for a satisfying salad.  I typically add one or more of the following … usually this comprises only 1/4 or less of the total salad: Savoy Cabbage, Radicchio,  Red Cabbage, Mustard Greens, Endive, Watercress, Romain Hearts or any other crunchy, flavorful lettuce.  Don’t forget the herbs: Dill, Lemon Basil, Oregano, Taragon or other fresh herbs can do wonders for the flavor.

Preparing Salad: Building Your Base

Your base salad should consist only of the lettuce, well drained, and other fruits and vegetables that stand up well in the fridge.  Carrots, broccoli, bell peppers and similarly, often hard, veggies will hold up well.  This is your base salad.  To this salad, you add your other items right before serving.

Preparing Salad: Mixing it Up

When you are ready to serve your salad, add in your moist veggies, such as cucumbers, tomatoes, apples or any other moist item you like.  Do this just prior to serving.

Preparing Salad: Get Nutty

Nuts and seeds are a great addition to a salad.  Try to buy raw, unsalted varieties for the best nutrition.  Most health food stores and organic stores will sell raw nuts in bulk.  Toss in some almonds, pecans, sunflower, or other nuts/seeds.  Some seeds you may want to toast.  Poppy and sesame seeds are often best after toasting 2-5′ in a skillet over low heat.

Preparing Salad: Get Fruity

Dried cherries, cranberries and yellow raisins can be  great addition to a salad.  I buy these from the bulk bins at the organic or health food stores.  Middle Eastern groceries will often have very good dried fruit.  I got to Hala Cafe here in Jax and get dried apricots, figs, cherries and other fruits.  The cost is typically lower than the supermarket and better quality than other stores.  You don’t need very little dried fruit in a salad to add a lot of zing.

Preparing Salad: Get Crunch

Croutons are often packed with hidden fat.  You can make your own by using whole wheat pita or whole grain wraps.  Just cut into bite size pieces, sprinkle with your favorite seasoning, e.g. black pepper, paprika and sparingly on the salt.  Place on baking sheet in 350-400F oven until crisp.

If you don’t have the time, take a look at Kashi’s whole grain crackers. Avoid ones with cheese as they have added fat.  Crumble 2-3 crackers over you salad before serving.

Preparing Salad: Give me the Cheese

If you can learn to leave off the cheese, then you can pretty much eat as big a salad as you want. If you must have cheese, us sparing amounts of very intense cheeses like aged reggiano, provolone or extra-sharp cheddar.  Feta is great too as are many goat cheeses.  If you are a blue cheese fan, find the most stinky cheese on the counter.  You will use less of it.

Preparing Salad: Dressing

As a dieter, you never want to put your dressing directly on the salad unless you made the dressing from scratch and you control the portion very carefully.  If you don’t, then you never realize how much fat you are adding to your healthy salad.  Serve salad dressing in a small pinch bowl or ramekin. Dip your fork into the dressing and then eat you salad.

With a fresh, well constructed salad, you may find you need little dressing.

Easy Salad Dressing

2 Tbsp Oil

2-4 Tbsp Lemon Juice

1/4 Tbsp Oregano (dried is better for more intense flavor)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Add  2 Tbsp water and put in a shaker and mix.  Taste.  Add more water and re-taste if you need more volume.  Try to use water to keep the fat content down.

Preparing Salad: Conclusion

Hydrate your Salad for 10 minutes

Mix your greens

Base salad has  greens and hard, low moisture

Add moist veggies just before serving

Spike up the salad with nuts, seeds and dried fruit

Use dressing sparingly and make your own.

Hope this helps you make a great salad!

I suspect this is how many people look at meal planning.  You figure out what your family is going to eat that week, see what your missing, and build a detailed list.  You then head out to the grocery store like you are on a scavenger hunt.

Great Food Starts with Freshness

If you ever see interviews with top chefs (not the egomaniacs that are on the reality shows), you will see one common item.  Start with the freshest, best ingredients you can find.

Now here’s a simple question?

If you plan exactly what you are going to eat before you go to the store, how do you buy the freshest ingredients?

Simple. You don’t.

Here’s a simple meal ….

Chicken Breast

Mixed Green Salad w/ tomatoes

Broccoli

Wild Grain Rice

That’s a pretty nice meal.  But consider what happens if you go to the store and find limp broccoli, aging salad, and under-ripe tomatoes? No matter how great your technique, the meal will still taste poorly.

I find many cooks, both professional and home, often compensate for poor ingredients by dumping on the oil, salt and other spices.

I’ve been to many restaurants where you cannot taste the food. You simply taste oil and salt.

Big Picture Meal Planning

Take our meal above, what if we re-wrote that meal like this:

Lean Protein

Salad

Green Vegetable

Starch/Grain

Now when we go to the store and find that tilapia is on sale and moving quickly.  It looks very fresh.  Meanwhile, the chicken breast are nearing the expiration date.  The broccoli is limp but the green beans are great.  Couscous is on sale.  The mixed green salads are looking poor but the baby spinach looks great.  Now look at our meal:

Talapia

Spinach Salad

Green Beans

Couscous

Now, here’s the best part.  Fresher ingredients are more forgiving to the novice cook.  Also, you don’t have to do as much to get the food to taste good.  This means less handling, less thought and less cooking.

Drive-by Meal Planning

When I shop for meals, I have rough ideas in mind. The number of days I need to cook, is it breakfast, lunch or dinner, and a rough idea of what I have on hand.  I then spend 10+ minutes simply looking.  I often make 2-3 trips back to the produce area.  Perhaps I intend to have one meal but find something on sale or much fresher, so I have to re-plan on the fly.  As a result I end up with great ingredients and more tasty food.

Tastier food means you eat less as satiety come quicker.  Also, those 2-3 trips back to the produce area burn more calories.

Instead of reaching for bread, I ate these pickles.  By the time the meal had arrived, I eaten the entire bowl, which is much better than eating a basket of bread.

Pickles are high in salt, so don’t do this daily, but I was thinking at deli’s and perhaps some other places there may be a healthy alternative to reaching for the bread basket.

For dinner, I had Salmon on a salad.  No cheese and dressing on the side.  Picked out the croutons and just ate 1/2 of it.  From their web site, I expect this was under 450 calories total, including the pickles.