Soul Food Sunday and Healthy Eating Tips

This week's Healthy Soul Food Sunday recipe comes from Black America Cooks . It is Roasted Eggplant, Greens, and Okra. I know sometimes I struggle to get enough veggies in my diet so I figured I would share this dish loaded with vegetables. Check the Black America Cooks site for even more ideas!!


Healthy Eating Tips:
If you are looking to eat healthier try cooking two to three healthy dishes over the weekend. It may sound like a lot of work but it will make it easier to eat healthy during the week. Try to prepare baked chicken to go with the Eggplant dish and one more entree (such as turkey meatloaf). Then during the week you add a side of brown rice and frozen veggies to one of you entrees for a quick dinner.

To make dinner even quicker pick up a a bag (or box) of frozen brown rice from trader joes (and some local grocers).

Roast Eggplant, Greens and Okra (EGO)

1 package (16 ounces) frozen chopped turnip, mustard or collard greens
1 package (20 ounces ) frozen okra slices
1 large eggplant, unpeeled, trimmed, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunk
1 large yellow onion, trimmed, quartered, broken into wedges
1 package (6 to 8 ounces) sliced mushrooms, or to taste
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 package (6 to 8 ounces) cocktail tomatoes, halved

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place half the frozen okra and greens on a foil-lined rimmed sheet pan sprayed with oil. Repeat with the second pan. Top each sheet evenly with eggplant, onion wedges and mushrooms. Add tomato paste by teaspoons over the vegetables. Toss with your hands or use a wooden spoon to blend in tomato paste. (The brilliance of the tomato paste is how well it blends with the small amount of liquid given off by the defrosting frozen vegetables.) Top with tomato halves. If using a larger pan, such as a paellera or any huge, deep casserole, place everything in one deep pan.
Place on top and bottom oven racks, if using two baking pans. Place paellera or casserole on a rack in the center of the oven. Bake, checking and stirring with a wooden spoon every 15 minutes, until vegetables are tender and beginning to brown, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven. Let sit about 20 minutes before adding to recipe or refrigerating for later use.

Have a Healthy Week!

Join My Weight Loss Journey: Month 1

Our mission for this blog is to be supportive, authentic, and a place where women of color can come to find resources and tools to help them live a healthy lifestyle.

We send out links, rate products, share tips--but now we want to take it one step further.

As many of you know, I'm a BodyPump instructor, but what many of you don't know is I'm also an average African American woman who struggles with her weight. In college, senior year, I lost 68 lbs doing Weight Watchers. I was on top of the world. Gaining confidence and becoming a BodyPump instructor to inspire others.

Flash forward to 6 years later, and I became a statistic. Some say 95% of people who lose weight gain it back, but others disagree with that percentage, with good reason. There are many people who keep it off, and sadly other people like me, who seem to struggle to maintain.
This year, after a tough 2 years, I’m ready to get back to the fit me. (see my FIT picture).
I know the following works for me: accountability, friendly competition, and small rewards.
So you all will help me out with the accountability part. I think if I check in once a month with my progress, making a promise to all of you to do so. This will help keep me in check, avoiding the potential cheat days that will throw me off my game.
So here I am. Month 1.

Current stats:
Weight: 223
Heigh: 5’8
Body fat %: 40%
Current Weight Loss method: WeightWatchers PointsPlus
Ultimate Goal Weight: 175
My Pros: I enjoy working out.
My cons: I’m an emotional eater who has trouble drinking water per my diet soda addiction.

During my month of hopeful progress, I’ll be sharing updates on roadblocks, solutions, and handy tips that help me reach my goal.

Will you join me? If you’d like to be accountable to hundreds of your fellow goddesses across the country, please send me your month one photo, your stats as I listed them above, and a brief intro about your goal sand weight loss journey to nubianfitnessgoddess@gmail.com.

Yours in Health,

Rosethefitnessinstructor

Soul Food Sunday

Soul Food Sunday: Feed Your Soul Without Packing on the Pounds

We all love a good Soul Food Dinner but unfortunately one dinner can be 800+ calories and loaded with sodium. So we decided that we would share weekly Healthy and Tasty recipes for you all so you can enjoy your Soul Food and keep your figure tight. We also want you to share your healthy recipes with us.

Today's Recipe: Sweet Potato Pie
Sweet Potatoes have a ton of health benefits. They have low gylcemic index and have anti-oxidant properties. Today's Soul food recipes come from the Black Women Losing Weight Forum. It is low calorie and low fat but full of flavor. Give it try and let us know what you think!

Sweet Potato Pie

Yield: 16 servings
Serving size: 1 slice
Each serving provides: Calories: 147, Total fat: 3 g, Saturated fat: 1 g, Cholesterol: 40 mg, Sodium: 98 mg, Total fiber: 2 g, Protein: 4 g, Carbohydrates: 27 g, Potassium: 293 mg

For the Crust

• 1¼ cup flour
• ¼ tsp sugar
• ⅓ cup skim milk or soy milk
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

For the Filling

• 1/4 cup white sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• 3 large eggs, beaten or egg substitute
• ¼ cup canned evaporated skim milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups sweet potatoes, cooked, mashed

To start:

1. Preheat oven to 350° (Fahrenheit).

To prepare crust:

2. Combine flour and sugar in bowl.

3. Add milk and oil to flour mixture.

4. Stir with fork until well mixed. Then form pastry into smooth ball with your hands.

5. Roll ball between two, 12-inch squares of waxed paper, using short, brisk strokes, until pastry reaches edge of paper.

6. Peel off top paper and invert crust into 9-inch pie plate.

To prepare filling:

7. Combine sugars, salt, nutmeg, and eggs.

8. Add milk and vanilla. Stir.

9. Add sweet potatoes and mix well.

Putting it together:

10. Pour mixture into pie shell.

11. Bake for 60 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Cool and cut into 16 slices.

Share your recipes! Email us at nubianfitnessgoddess@gmail.com

Tisha Campbell-Martin Shares her Healthy Experience in Partnership with Yoplait

As many of you know, we recently talked to Tisha Campbell-Martin, you may remember her as Gina from the 90's TV show "Martin" or most recently from "Everybody Hates Chris".

Today, she's on a mission with Yoplait and Essence.com to encourage African American women to lead healthy lifestyles. "I'm so excited to be a part of this campaign with Yoplait," says Campbell Martin. "Many African-American women tend to juggle a lot at once, so we put off taking care of ourselves until tomorrow. That's why I support the idea that the best time to make our health a priority is today. The small manageable changes make all the difference."

We love her passion and enthusiasm for this new initative and thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with her one-on-one!

First, we had to ask, what can Yoplait do for us? She said that Yoplait can help us make that small change today for a big impact tomorrow. She carries Yoplait in her purse with nuts, cranberries, or a granola bar to replace her craving for junk food. A smart way to prepare for the sudden cravings!

Being an African American woman, we had to ask how does she keep her mane in check while working out? She recommends putting your hair up really, really high with an old-school scrunchie to avoid damage and then let the hair breathe, i.e. avoid using clothe on your hair as that will make it sweat and then lock the sweat in.

Some of you wanted to know if Tisha is into the "Power of Positive Thinking" and, if so, how has this affected her life? "Absolutely!" She approaches her healthy lifestyle without looking at the obstacles ahead. She points out that if you already look at the negative, then you've already lost. For example, she gained 65 lbs during her first pregnacy and then 90 lbs during her second pregnancy, but instead of looking for the easy way out or settling with what she had, she worked hard and found a support system with family members and friends.

So, how does she stay so fit? She works out twice a day, starting off with some light walkingo n the treadmill, doing 300 sit-ups in the morning (go girl!), and then using free weights.

I think its also important that Tisha has to work hard at being healthy just like the rest of us. When she was younger, she was not very fit but she was motivated to get in shape for the long haul and she's a working progress each day.

Want to stay updated on Tisha's lastest tips and progress? Be sure to check out more from Tisha here. Here you can find tips, videos, and even score a free sample of Yoplait (yum).

Want more encouragement to increase your calcium intake with Yoplait or other calcium-enriched foods? Check out what the government has to say!

Product Review: Sportline SOLO 925

It's a New Year and time to track your fitness goals. Tracking your progress will keep you motivated. A heart rate monitor can help you with your fitness goals. I decided to pick one up because this year I decided to ditch the treadmill and mix things up a bit. I have been doing a lot of classes like Kick Boxing, Spin, and even West African Dance. I was looking for a new heart rate monitor to keep me motivated and to make sure I am in my target zone. I came across the Sportline 925. It seemed like a good choice because I wanted to replace my old heart rate monitor with one that did not require a chest strap. With the Sportline 925 you can view your heart rate with one touch (no chest strap necessary). It's so much easier to keep up with and it also tracks your steps and calories! I love the fact that I can got to Spin class and see my heart rate and calories burned. Also, I found myself moving more just to see the steps on the pedometer increase. This monitor is especially good for all you ladies that enjoy running outside. You can track your mileage and miles power hour. So, if you are looking for fitness gadget to add your wish list you should definitely check this out.

It has a ton of features, see below:

• Any-Touch Interface
• Integrated Pedometer
• ECG Accurate HRM
• HR Zone Manager
• Audible Out-of-Zone Alerts
• Calories-Burned Calculator
• % of Max HR Indicator
• Chronograph & Countdown Timer
• Dual-Time
• Daily Alarm
• 50m Water Resistant