Showing posts with label fish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fish. Show all posts

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Supplements

Hey, so yeah. Do NOT Google Image search the word 'cleanse'.
There's some really gross stuff inside people's colons. MY GOD.
One of my Facebook friends (a distant cousin that I'm not close to at all) has been posting recently about doing a cleanse and how great she feels; she's posted several links to the company she's using - Advocare. I'd never heard of them before, so I went to check it out. I'm admittedly very wary of the word "cleanse" - to me, it brings to mind  starvation, lots of pooping, crazy sugar and carb withdrawals, feeling even sicker than I do on a regular basis already, scary frothy green smoothies, etc. One big frightening mess, in other words. I'm not even sure I buy the concept of "our bodies are full of toxins and we need to get them out in order to HEAAAL!"

Still, the idea of cleaning out toxins, if it IS true, intrigues me. The idea of filling my body with healthy, beneficial fuel and cleaning out the junk appeals to me. So every time I hear of someone going on any kind of cleanse, I check it out to see what the deal is. Usually it's the crazy scary mess kind of cleanse. This Advocare thing doesn't sound like that though. It sounds like it's mostly a variety of supplements, taken in conjunction to maximize their benefit, along with a healthy eating and exercise plan. Basically Advocare seems to be a high-end (so they claim, anyway) nutritional supplement company, and of course they want to sell you their products and packages and whatnot. They sell through individual distributors; I don't know if my distant relative is a distributor or just an end user and frankly, I'm not keen on asking because I don't want a sales pitch. I'm open to supplements. I've even taken a variety of them in the past. I'm even open to Advocare... their products sound pretty decent from the little research I did. What I need in my supplements though is good quality at a fair price, and I haven't done any pricing research yet.

What I'd like to figure out now is what sorts of supplements I'd like to take and then price them out and get the best deals. Walgreens and CVS almost always have supplements on sale, Buy One Get One Free. I still don't know if those are the best values because I don't buy them often... quite frankly, supplements are expensive, and when you start taking multiple pills several times a day it can get REALLY pricey. We're quite poor these days so we don't have a lot of options.

After doing a bit more research, and building on what I used to do and what I already know, these are supplements I'm interested in adding to my regimen:

probiotics - I hear lots and lots of good things about them. I do eat yogurt but not every day. I'm going to try to eat more yogurt as well. I have a lot of GI problems of late though, and I'd like to do anything that might help with those.

fiber - I'm supposed to be taking Benefiber daily because of my GI problems. I haven't been lately because we ran out and, well, money. But I'm really miserable most days and again, I need to do whatever I can to help myself feel better.

multivitamin - I think we should all take one daily.

milk thistle - supposed to be great for liver problems. I have a fatty liver and would like to help my liver repair itself.

omega 3 fatty acids - I just keep hearing more and more good things about them and how we should all be getting greater amounts of them, and we don't eat a lot of fish, so I'd like to supplement.

amino acids - I'm not sure about this. I read a little about how they are good for building muscle, which in turn will help your metabolism increase, but I need to do more research.

echinacea and garlic - I don't know if they come together, or if there's some kind of combo immune boosting supplement, but I'd like to do some more research and possibly take something with these during the winter. I tend to get sick a lot, and I hate it.

vitamin B - specifically B6 and B12, as I hear they're good for energy boosts. I've been suffering extreme fatigue for months now. I NEED more energy. I can't live like this, it's awful. I just don't know if this is a vitamin you can overdose on, so I need to check... I don't want to take too much if I'm going to take this and a multivitamin.

So that's my wish list. Now I just need to figure out the most cost-effective way to get these items in my house. It's hard to be healthy when you're poor. :/

What supplements, if any, do you take?

Monday, January 9, 2012

Quick Fix Fish

I posted tonight's dinner recipe on SparkRecipes; you can find it here if you are interested. It's still baking so I haven't tried it yet. The original recipe came out of the book What To Eat When You're Expecting; I modified it based on the ingredients we had on hand.

After dinner, using a 5-star scale where
1 = hated it
2 = didn't like it
3 = it was OK
4 = liked it
5 = loved it

We rated it as follows:
Husband - 3
Me - 3
7 year old son - 4
5 year old daughter - 2

Bear in mind that none of us are crazy about mustard. I wanted to try out the French's Dijon Mustard with Chardonnay that I got for free at a cooking show once, to see if it was milder and/or if we would like it better. Obviously we didn't mind it but mustard is still not our favorite thing.

Quick Tilapia

Submitted by: ILWITCHGRRL



Number of Servings: 4


Tips

Cooking time will vary depending on whether you use fresh or frozen fillets as well as how thick the fillets are.


Ingredients


    4-8 Tilapia fillets, equaling 12 total ounces 2 TBSP Mayonnaise 1/4 cup Dijon or Grainy Mustard 1.5 tsp dried marjoram 1 cup white wine (2 TBSP set aside) salt and pepper to taste



Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix the mayo, mustard, 2 T of wine, and half the marjoram together in a small bowl.
Arrange the fish fillets in a single layer in a nonstick baking dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread the mustard mixture over the fillets and sprinkle on the remaining marjoram. Pour the remainder of the wine around the fish.
Bake until the fish is lightly browned and flakes with a fork, 15-25 minutes.

Serving Size: Makes 4 3-ounce servings.

Number of Servings: 4


Nutritional Info
  • Servings Per Recipe: 4
  • Amount Per Serving
  • Calories: 218.2
  • Total Fat: 7.7 g
  • Cholesterol: 51.8 mg
  • Sodium: 613.4 mg
  • Total Carbs: 0.7 g
  • Dietary Fiber: 0.1 g
  • Protein: 20.5 g