Review of Sky1 - Foundation

First, sorry I've not been on here much lately. I've been settling in to my new job and running kids around for the summer. Also, I've begun a wordpress blog and will be working on that one more then this one. If you're interested it's http://www.almosthealthy101.wordpress.com. I'm posting recipes and workouts, tips over there. I'll still come over here and post occasionally.

So, recently I received a copy of the book Sky1-Foundation written by William Ammerman. This is a futuristic type of story about a group of people who find out the government is not lifting quarantines inside their walled world. The main character, Nick, finds out some sketchy things are going on and rushes to attempt to get his wife, child, and a few others to immigrate to another level for safety.

The city this book is based in walled itself off from the rest of the world. Inside this wall are different levels, these levels represent different castes of people. You have many levels, from one to 137 or more. The people in the lower levels are impoverished and less educated. They are also subject to abuse from those in authority. There is some opportunity for "leveling up", I guess. The book it's stated a couple times that people usually only go up 1-2 levels in their life time. Though at least one person went up from level 55 to 130-something due to his intelligence and probably underhandedness.  In short, he's not really a good guy.

The first few chapters were okay, then I got a bit lost when the author jumped between characters to show the events that were all happening at the same time. However it fairly quickly comes back together as the main characters are rushing to try and secure documentation to get out of the level they are in. This level is being quarantined and conditions are quickly deteriorating.

Just when they thought they made it to safety, things change. You're left with a nice cliff-hanger that encourages you to get the second book in the series. In short, not my usual type of book, but a fairly interesting read. The ending was great, made me want to get the second book in the series. Sky1 - Post-Apocalyptic Thriller http://www.amazon.com/sky1-foundation-the-sky-series-ebook/dp/b00ic9cs4w

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Juneathon Days 7-8

Juneathon Day 7

Today ended up being another rest day. It was my baby's 13th birthday so I tried to make the day about him. It also rained and stormed again making doing anything outside difficult.

Juneathon Day 8

Today I went for a walk, dragging my oldest son along this time. He talked about a favorite game the whole time and I just smiled and nodded. He's getting ready for his Senior year in high school so I'm just enjoying every minute I can now.

I logged 1.25 miles but it was actually a little bit longer than that. Our cat decided it wanted to come for a walk as well and so I had my son take it back to the house. I was worried if I let it come along it would of gotten ran over. Sometimes I think this cat thinks it's part dog.

Anyway, it was a cool 75 degrees outside, with a nice breeze and the humidity felt like it was a bit lower for once. Went a bit slower than I intended, but I did something.  I'm also going to go through  my challenge exercises and be done for the day.

Have a good evening dear readers.

Juneathon-day 6

Rest day, I've decided today will be a total rest day. The most I did today was go grocery shopping for about an hour. I'm dealing with issues that have me feeling kind of depressed and it stormed/rained all afternoon not helping things.

Tomorrow is another day, and I will probably do a few squats here in a bit. I just think I needed a lazy day.

Juneathon -Day 5

Today I decided to take a rest day from running/walking, the storm rolling through and rain a good part of the day kind of helped that idea along. It was also a scheduled rest day on the burpee challenge.

However I did do 70 squats, 8 burpees, 2 x 20s planks, 8 chair dips.  I'm trying to stay active and keep going on this Juneathon challenge. Some days my motivation is really low and working out is the last thing I want to do. I figure, though, if I do a little bit maybe I'll want to do a little bit more.

5 days in, almost a week. If I make it past a week, I'll be doing better than I do on most challenges. How sad is that? Anyway, I'm off to finish up my day.



Have a great evening dear readers.

Juneathon Day4

Today I really didn't feel like doing much. I did do a little more than a half mile walk with the dog in tow and completed today's challenge exercises. So, better than nothing I suppose.

I hope all my dear readers out there accomplished more, tomorrow I've nowhere to be so maybe I'll do a longer distance.

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Juneathon day 3

I know today is day four of Juneathon, but technical errors (my crappy internet) kept me from posting last night.

So, I didn't do much a fairly slow walk for about a mile. I made my dog walk along with me, so that's my excuse for the slowness. I couldn't rush him in 90% humidity. I also did my tribesports challenge exercises of 15 burpees and 60 squats. Though I didn't get around to doing my other challenge. I'll catch that all up today.

I'll post later today after I complete today's run/walk and workouts. Have a great day dear readers.

Juneathon, Day 2

Me after my sticky run this morning. 

I've got my run in this morning, still have to do my other challenge workouts. I'll get to those in a bit. I've got a big afternoon and so wanted to make sure I got this posted before I forgot.

Today's stats from adidas micoach app

I didn't make the mile and a half I was going to try for. Humidity being 88% even though the temperature is only 75(real feel according to Accuweather is 85) makes running any distance very wet and sticky. Still it's better than  yesterday and I'm sure tomorrow will be better than today. It's also better than sitting on the coach watching the kiddies play video games.

Have a wonderful day, dear readers.




*oh and for those that are curious, I'm going to add a body measurement section to the sidebar over here -> to record progress. Hopefully.

Juneathon Day 1.

Day 1 is done and done. I just did an easy mile, which was ten trips up and down my driveway. Tomorrow I plan on going on the street and doing a mile and a half, or more depending on weather.  I also completed day 1 on my squat and burpee challenges and day 1 of the Sisterhood of the Shrinking Pants June challenge.  Tomorrow I'll record some measurements so I can see if I make any changes this month.

Goodnight dear readers.

Posted via Blogaway

Juneathon 2014

Just a quicky post to say that I'm once again attempting Juneathon. This is where you run/walk/something and blog or microblog about it every day for the month of June. If you're interested in attempting Juneathon as well just go signup HERE.

Good luck Juneathoners

Also, I'm over on Tribesports.com doing a couple challenges they have there for the month of June. So if you've a hankering to do 250 squats and/or 100 burpees at the end of a month then look me up over there. Just search for @jackief1 or click HERE.

Let's have a great first month of Summer, dear readers.

A timer I created for a Challenge I'm doing.

Make Fat Cry Custom Timer

Create your own interval timer or download our interval timer app

Just using this post as a placeholder for this interval timer using workouts from Betty Rockers "Make Fat Cry Challenge." If you're interested in joining the challenge go to the challenge page HERE and sign up. Sign ups are open until May 7th, 2014

Oops

So I picked a bad week to do a No Sugar Challenge. Auntie Flo visited and nothing shuts her up better than something sweet, chocolaty, and so not good for you. So I'm enjoying my sweets this week and just upping my workouts and avoiding soda...mostly anyway I did slip up last night. With the stress of finals and end of semester stuff I'm thinking a restricting type of challenge is not a good thing right now.

So lets change up the challenge (because I like doing personal challenges) and make it a move more challenge. It goes with my 2014 resolution and health/fitness goals for this year.  So I challenge myself, and you if you wish, to move more. Set your phone alarm to go off every 30, 35 or 60 minutes and get up and do 5 minutes or more of some activity. Especially, if like me, you are studying for finals and lose track of time.

So do squats and jumping jacks during commercials, take a 5 minute run outside around the house and up and down the driveway, tickle the kiddos for 5 minutes, wrestle with the hubby. Anything,just get up and move for 5 minutes or more. The goal for adults is 150 minutes of exercise type activity per week. So if you get up and dance 6x a day for 5 minutes each time you have 30 minutes a day. Do this 5x a week and you've hit that 150 minutes. Easy peasy, right.

So, here's today's activity thus far for accountability:

25 minutes Zumba-style dancing (I worked out to Dance Fitness with Jessica, just search for her on YouTube. She's great.)
75 squats
1 minute 40 seconds of burpees
1 minute 20 seconds of wall sits


So I'm up to a little more then 30 minutes of exercise today. Am I done? Nope, it's only 11am here, there's still a whole day to go through.

2 Week No Sugar Challenge

Hello Dear Readers. Sorry I've been MIA for the past month and a half. I've been busy with school stuff and time has flown by. I only have a couple more weeks of my senior year at University of Memphis left and am so anxious about finishing well.

So I've been trying to ramp up my healthy eating and healthy habits. I figure I really need to practice what I preach. I want to be a great example to friends, family, patients/clients, random strangers. I can't do this if I'm telling them to cut back or quit drinking soda pop and I'm chugging down a 32oz Dr Pepper a week (more on bad weeks). I can't say get up and move if I'm not doing it as well. The difference between me and them is that I know what I'm doing to myself and I know how to fix it. That makes what I do to myself when I let bad choices reign even worse. So I need to get that straight quick.

So one thing  I'm doing, as the title of this post states, is a quick 2-week no sugar challenge. It's really a no ADDED sugar challenge. I'll still eat fruit and naturally sweetened items. I'm also going to keep adding a teaspoon of sugar to my morning 20 oz coffee. However, all that Easter candy, leftover cheesecake, cinnamon rolls. That will not cross my lips. No soda pop, no sweet tea, no candy bars, no cookies (unless I bake some sweetened with fruit). It's not as horrible as it sounds, and I've made it 2-3 weeks before sugar free. I can do it again.  I'll try to post on here how it's going, but not giving any promises since I also have to study for finals and wrap up my senior project and internship.

Have a great week Dear Readers.

Yummy Spaghetti

Tonight I didn't feel like cooking. Nothing new really, some days I do some days I don't. So I turned to my go to dish for nights when I want something quick and easy...spaghetti.

So here we have the spaghetti with meat sauce I made, cheesy garlic bread and wilted lettuce. The garlic bread wasn't anything special. Just store bought french bread, sliced, sprinkled with garlic salt and Italian seasoning mix and a pinch of shredded cheese. The wilted lettuce was a experiment and a bit of a fail. With some tweaking it may work. I wilted it with a bit olive oil, some garlic salt and put it in the oven. It had a very strong lettuce flavor. The Hubby said it may be good with some vinegar sprinkled on it.

The family gave me mixed reviews on the spaghetti. I thought it was great, others thought it was okay, and a couple thought the flavor was a bit odd...but okay.

I made the noodles the usual way...boil in salty water. I browned the meat and while that was all going I made the tomato sauce.  Since I liked it I thought I would post the recipe here. Just a warning, I guessed on the seasoning amounts, so all seasoning amounts are pretty much to taste. Bad Jackie for not measuring.

Spaghetti Sauce with a twist
3 cans diced tomatoes (low sodium preferred)
1 can navy beans, rinsed and drained
1 small can tomato paste
1 lb lean ground chuck
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp Mrs dash
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground mustard
1/4 tsp turmeric

1. Brown meat in large skillet.
2. Puree two cans of tomatoes, the beans, and tomato paste together.
3. Add seasonings to tomato sauce.
4. After meat has browned, add tomato sauce and last can of tomatoes.
5. Simmer for 15-20 minutes.



Nutrient data for 8 servings (based on calculator on caloriecount.about.com)
Calories 192, Total Fat 4.2g, Cholesterol 51mg, Sodium 289mg, Total Carbohydrates 16.6g, Dietary Fiber 4.1g, Sugars 4.2g, Protein 22.4g, Vitamin A 16% • Vitamin C 19% Calcium 3% • Iron 73%

Easy Hummus

Part of my senior internship is requiring me to teach a nutrition education class to patients who are mostly low income and/or homeless. Or at the very least very insecure about home and food. 

They may be experiencing hardships in trying to find healthy food to eat. If they have food to eat, the cooking areas and utensils may be limited.

So my goal is showing them how they can fix yummy, healthy food when they have a super limited budget and may have very little experience or equipment when it comes to preparing food.

One of my favorite easy to prepare snacks is hummus. It only requires a few ingredients, of most you usually have in your home. No real prep work as you're just throwing a bunch of stuff together and mushing it together. The only problem is that most people usually make it with a blender, food processor, immersion blender or something similar. The people I will be talking with may not have access to these handy dandy items.

So I came up with an easy peasy hummus that requires nothing but your ingredients, a plastic zipper bag, and something to smash with (your hands, a rolling pin, can of veggies, etc...).

Easy Hummus

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon cumin

1-2 teaspoons Salt Free Seasoning Blend

1 teaspoon garlic powder

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

4 tablespoons water (more if needed)

1. Open, drain and rinse one can of chickpeas. You can either leave the skins on or take them off for a smoother hummus.
   
   2. Put all the ingredients, except for water, into a plastic baggy.
   
   
    3. Smash. I used a rolling pin and palm of my hand for about 6 minutes to get it to look like this. If the hummus looks dry add water to the bag a couple tablespoons at a time. Smash until it looks like peanut butter.
   
   
    4. Either place in a fridge for later or put into a bowl with a side of veggies or pita chips and enjoy. Hummus is also great to use in place of mayo or miracle whip on sandwiches and wraps.
   
   

My hummus turned out a bit rustic looking due to leaving the skins and probably could of used a touch more water to make it creamier. However it looks, it tastes delicious and hits the spot for a snack or lunch.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 47 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories  165 Calories from Fat  51

% Daily Value*

Total Fat  5.7g 9%

Saturated Fat  0.9g 5%

Cholesterol  0mg 0%

Sodium  10mg 0%

Potassium  329mg 9%

Total Carbohydrates  22.5g 7%

Dietary Fiber  6.4g 26%

Sugars  4.0g

Protein  7.1g

Vitamin A 1% • Vitamin C 3% Calcium 4% • Iron 13%

Nutrition Grade A

Nutrition data is based on 12, 2 tablespooon, servings. Such as if you were to use the hummus for dip with friends or sandwich spread.

I Am Here, I Am Here, I Am Here

Nevermind the poor Dr Suess reference in the title. Just a bit of silliness, though I do feel like a tiny Who once in a while.

Anyway, I am here. I've been busy with school stuff and learning lots. Well, applying lots and learning some. It's been an exciting semester so far. Right now I'm working on a general nutrition lesson plan and diabetic education plan. Also making diabetic friendly, low-sodium menu plans. One using a slow cooker and utilizing leftovers as a cost saving feature.

I'm no longer a Beachbody coach. While I think it's a great company, it just wasn't for me. I'm not much of a salesman (saleswoman?) I guess.  So now instead of bringing in any money I'm concentrating on not spending any more then absolutely necessary and cutting costs where I can.

Also, over at Mamavation they are doing a virtual 5K this coming weekend. I decided to sign up and kick off my running season. Last year I didn't do a single 5K, and barely ran at all. If you would like to check out and sign up for this free virtual 5k and mayhap win prizes just go over to Mamavation and check it out.

To keep you on track..

If you made a goal/resolution to get into shape for 2014, I'm here to help. Today is the last day for free shipping on the P90X3 and Focus T25 challenge packs. After today the shipping and handling goes up to a discounted 2.00 and then will go up again after 1/31/2014. The challenge packs are on sale through January for only 180.00. With the challenge pack you receive the fitness program, one of five delicious Shakeology flavors, and a FREE 30-day trial membership to the Team Beachbody Club. Everything you need to be successful.

To order the P90X3 challenge pack go here: http://teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/BCPX3205?referringRepId=301613

And to order Focus T25 challenge pack go here: http://www.teambeachbody.com/shop/-/shopping/BCPT25205?referringRepId=301613

First Challenge of 2014

It's been 2014 for a week now. Has anyone fell off their resolutions yet? Honestly, I'm barely keeping mine. Stress lately has been doing that to me. I need accountability (which, of course, is one reason for this page). I have fitness apps on my phone and kindle, but rarely use them. So I decided on my January challenge. This one will run through the end of February as well. 

For the next 7 weeks the challenge is log your health/fitness journey. You can choose your favorite way to do this. I'm going to be using a free printable from here http://www.designfinch.com/2012/09/01/planning-to-get-fit/# (I'm using number 6). Starting this evening I will take a snapshot of my journal each day, whether I fill it out or not. I need to log the good as well as the bad. I will post the picture on here for accountability. 

If you would like to join along just like and comment  on my Facebook page and (if you can) share your log entry. You don't have to share any measurements if you don't want to. Just share that you followed along. Let's hold each other to our goals.

Shaking the Old Tin Cup

I really dislike doing this, because it seems like begging (maybe 'cause it is). However, I am trying to raise up money so that I can finish my last semester of college and complete my undergrad. So I am shaking the virtual tin cup in order to do so. I've got to raise at least 1700 dollars in the next two weeks so I can attend my final 3 classes this semester. I need 3624.00 to pay for the entire semester. Education is expensive but I know it's worth it.

I'm so close to finishing and excited about the future. However, I'm not sure what my future will hold if I cannot finish these final 9 credit hours. I've already pushed my graduation date back several times due to different reasons (finances was the reason a couple times) I'm not sure I'll be able to do so much more.

So if you're feeling generous please donate a bit on my GoFundMe page located HERE. If you're feeling generous but unable to help out please consider sharing my link on your twitter or facebook page so maybe it can  be reached by those who are able.

I thank you dear readers and I hope you had a great New Year.