Recipe Of The Week–Sweet & Sour Turkey Pea Skillet Stir-Fry

Turkey Pea Skillet Stir-Fry
1 small onion, chopped
1-¼ cup sliced celery
2 packages T&H chicken bouillon supplement
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
¼ cup cornstarch
2 cups frozen peas
1 can (8 ounces) sliced water chestnuts, drained
2 tablespoons fat-free margarine
1 can (4 ounces) mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1 cup water, divided
2 teaspoons chicken bouillon granules
3 cups cubed cooked turkey or chicken
1 can (8 ounces) pineapple chunks, drained
Hot cooked rice or chow mien noodles

In a skillet, sauté onions in margarine until tender. Stir in celery and mushrooms; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Combine the broth, ¾ cups water, soy sauce, and bouillon; stir into skillet. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 3 minutes.

Combine cornstarch and remaining water until smooth; stir into skillet. Return to a boil. Cook and stir for 1-2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Stir in the turkey, peas, pineapple, and water chestnuts; heat through. Serve over rice.

Serves:  6                                                       Fat grams: 4.1
Phase:  3, 4                                                   Protein:  32.5

You may substitute 1 can chicken broth in place of T&H supplement, although best results are achieved using supplements.

*Drop us a line and tell us what recipes you’d like to see in upcoming  Healthy Hope issues.  We can’t wait to hear from you! Email us at: thinandhealthyezine@thinandhealthy.com

This recipe can be found in our Thin&Healthy Forever Cookbook. Pick up your copy from your local Thin&Healthy Center or order it now by clicking here

The Scoop on Calories

Calories are the energy in food. Your body has a constant demand for energy and uses the calories from food to keep you functioning. Energy from calories fuels your every action, much as gasoline powers your car.

Carbohydrates, fats and proteins are the types of nutrients that contain calories and thus are the main energy sources for your body. The amount of energy in each varies:

• Proteins and carbohydrates have about 4 calories a gram
• Fats have about 9 calories a gram
• Alcohol also is a source of calories, providing about 7 calories a gram

Regardless of where they come from, calories you eat are either converted to physical energy or stored within your body as fat. Unless you use these stored calories – either by reducing calorie intake so that your body must draw on reserves for energy, or by increasing physical activity so that you burn more calories – these calories will remain within your body as fat.

Tipping the scale: Cutting calories

Your weight is a balancing act, but the equation is simple: If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight.

Because 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. So if you cut 500 calories from your typical diet each day, you’d lose approximately 1 pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories).

Cutting calories doesn’t have to be difficult. In fact, it might be as simple as forgoing one extra item a day, swapping foods or trimming serving sizes. The number of calories you save is likely to translate into pounds lost.

Strength Training is Critical as People Age

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, strength training is especially important in older adults because of the tendency to lose muscle mass and bone density with aging. A recent study backs up this claim by comparing a group of elderly exercisers with a group of elderly non-exercisers who were on a diet to lose weight. The study was published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, the journal of the American Physiological Society.

Researchers evaluated a group of 64 participants who were 60-75 years of age and were either overweight or obese; all were sedentary at the beginning of the study. The researchers divided the participants into three groups: exercise only, diet only, or exercise plus diet. Researchers measured weight loss and task performance after a year. Although the participants who were dieting did lose weight, body composition tests proved that they lost mainly muscle mass, whereas the exercise group gained muscle mass. Further, the diet-only group lost efficiency in performing the exercise tasks, whereas the exercise group increased task performance.

Source: IHRSA

Resist the Upsize Offer

As we all know, fast food portions are already oversized, so there’s no need to add insult to injury by upgrading your meal. No matter how much of a “better deal” it may seem, don’t be tempted. In fact, steering clear of “meal deals” altogether is very wise. You’re much better off ordering a grilled chicken sandwich, or even a regular hamburger (hold the mayo on both), along with a side salad, than ordering a combo that comes with a silo-sized soda, too.

Kids meals are a good alternative at fast food restaurants; they contain what were considered normal-sized portions for us grown-ups a few decades ago.

TEMPORARY MOTIVATION WORKS TEMPORARILY

There are three components to a person being over weight or not being able to keep weight off once they lose that weight.

Those components are:

• Food (what you eat)
• Exercise (how much you move)
• Motivation (what we call Life Success).

Now the thing is people think that they appear in that order. People think that what you eat matters first, how much you exercise matters second, and your motivation, if they even think about it, matters last. Most of the time people don’t even think about it. Actually, it’s the other way around. If you have a powerful “why”, if you know why you want to lose the weight, or why you ultimately want to keep the weight off, that’ll keep you focused. And that’s internal. Nobody can give that to you.

The temporary motivators are not good. The “I’m going on a cruise.” “I’ve got to lose weight for my family reunion.” Those types of temporary motivators will work, but they’ll work temporarily. So the motivation is what matters most. However, the determination is what is really the key. Motivation gives you that focus on why you want to lose but the determination to come against the motivation assassinators is what’s really going to keep you losing or have you keep the weight off.