Jerry the Blogger

One of my weaknesses when it comes to healthy eating is portion sizes. I can eat a giant bowl of cereal or a steak big enough for two people without thinking about it. My new secret weapon in the battle over portion sizes has been fresh fruit and vegetables. In other words: Bulk up on the natural fiber and you won't have as much room for the main course.

I find the Summer is a great time of year now because fresh fruits and veggies--particularly berries--are on sale because they're in season. My wife loves adding raspberries to just about everything that she can while I prefer strawberries and blueberries added to my breakfast cereal. I even love eating just plain blackberries with nothing extra. I think fresh blackberries are a great snack.

However, fruit isn't the only thing that tends to be cheaper in the Summer, veggies often drop in price and can be added to your meals in much the same way that fruit can. Rather than have a giant steak for dinner, eat a smaller, palm-sized portion of meat and large amounts of steamed or fried vegetables (assuming you fry them with very little oil or PAM no-stick spray). Likewise, rather than eating three or four eggs for breakfast try easting just one mixed with sliced or diced peppers. I've also found that Egg Beaters makes it easy to make a morning omelet because I can just pour it into a mixing cup with some chopped peppers and then drop the mix into a hot skillet for a fast breakfast.

Long story short, this is the time of year to take advantage of the fresh fruits and vegetables available at your local grocery store. If you've found an interesting way to mix fresh fruits and vegetables into your meals feel free to post your ideas in the comments section below. Good luck with your continued healthy living.

I'm a huge fan of healthy, low-calorie snack/energy bars. Unfortunately, most energy bars are high-calorie, and just supply an energy rush in the form of sugar. Thankfully, I've just discovered a new energy bar from Kellogg's called "Live Bright." Each of these Live Bright bars contains only 150 calories and 5 grams of fat. Almost as important is the fact that they are loaded with Vitamin E, folic acid, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6 and B12. The DHA Omega-3 in each bar is important for brain activity and prevents Coronary heart disease by helping to regulate cholesterol in the body.

That said, none of that stuff would matter to average folks if these bars didn't taste great. Luckily, I think these bars taste amazing. The texture is chewy like good fudge and the only down side is that the bars can melt slightly if they're left in a warm (sunny) environment. I purchased a box of these Live Bright bars from Amazon.com and it was a very hot day when the box containing my bars arrived so the vanilla outside of the bars melted slightly while the box was sitting on my front porch.

Bottom line, if you like healthy snack bars and are looking for a tasty alternative to fish oil pills for DHA Omega-3 then buy these Live Bright bars ... they taste great.

Do you have any favorite energy bars that are low-calorie, low-fat, and aren't loaded with sugar? Feel free to mention them in the comments section. I'm always glad to hear about healthy snack alternatives.

Although I often bring a Healthy Choice frozen meal with me to my office for lunch, the reality is that I prefer to have at least one "freshly made" meal per day ... usually for dinner. That said, as I've started to make balanced nutrition part of my daily life I've started to understand why I used to eat so much fast food and order so many pizzas for delivery: convenience.

In this hectic world we live in it's simply very, very hard to make the time (and energy) needed to prepare meals at home. When my wife and I come home after a full day at our offices, and we take care of our two-year-old daughter, and exercise, and do more work from home, it's hard to find the time and energy needed to cook. Heck, even coming up with the idea of what to cook can be too much after a really stressful day. That's why my wife and I have started turning to pre-made meals. 

Pre-made or "ready made" meal preparation services are local companies that provide tasty, restaurant-quality meals designed for you to freeze and cook at home, saving you time and money. The meals are made from scratch with healthy ingredients, and you don't have to pay for tons of extra ingredients at the store ... you're just paying for what you get. Some of the better pre-made meal services do all the meal planning, shopping, food prep, and sometimes even deliver! There's nothing nicer than being able to order a bunch of fresh, healthy meals that you can stick in your freezer or refrigerator and simply heat when you're ready to eat.

For even greater convenience, some pre-made meal services will even make your meals for you and deliver them ready-to-eat upon arrival. It's almost like fast food ... only you need to plan ahead by selecting your menu and scheduling the appointments. However, the greater benefit is that these types of meals tend to be lower in fat and calories than your average fast food meal.

One of the more well-known meal preparation services is "Dinners Ready" a service with franchise locations in British Columbia, California, Idaho, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington.