Our 2020 Lifestyle Reboot…

Being an author has its perks. You can work in whatever clothes (or none) you desire, get up at whatever time you wish, and the travel time from your bedroom to office is practically nil. Unless, of course, you decide to go write at your local coffee shop. However, sitting in a chair for a good portion of the day has its drawbacks. Our bodies were meant to move. Period. So I try to get up every so often, stretch and walk around. I get in a workout early in the morning at least five days a week, and have done so for many years. Yes, some days are harder than others and the recent December holidays added a little more to my frame than I’d like, but it never bothered me much. Until hubby was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at the end of January.

That was our wake-up call.

Enter our lifestyle reboot. Thankfully, we had already started making healthier food choices just after New Year’s Day, using our son’s wedding in May 2020 as our incentive. Trust me, weddings are great motivators! More vegetables (raw and cooked), fruits, whole grains, protein like skinless-boneless chicken breasts, fish (salmon, sole, cod, and haddock) were our go-tos. I used the Mediterranean Diet as the basis for our meals, and created a two week rotating menu to use as a guide, adding different recipes from health-centered websites and cookbooks to keep our meals from getting…well, boring.

We met with a dietitian the beginning of February who helped us understand the Glycemic Index food guide to make better choices when grocery shopping. She also pressed that the portion size is important when you fill your plate. I always told hubby that size mattered! Wink. Exercise was discussed, and she gave us both a thumbs up for being proactive with our morning workouts. Hubby was prescribed a blood glucose monitor, and faithfully checks his blood sugar every day. We are both well on our way to investing in our health and wellbeing in this new decade, and so far, I’m happy to report that as of writing this post (mid-March), hubby has lost almost twenty pounds. I’ve lost almost five pounds, but in truth, was going for losing more inches, and toning those…um sagging bits, which I’m pleased to say have noticeably shrunk. Woohoo!

I’m including a couple of recipes with images from Sloane Taylor’s Date Night Dinners cookbook, because these meals were part of the menu I created in January, and they were just too darned delicious not to share!

Baked Salmon

Non-stick cooking spray

3 salmon fillets, no more than 1 inch (2.5cm) thick

¼ cup (30g) brown sugar

¼ cup Dijon mustard

½ tbsp. (10ml) white wine

2 tbsp. (30ml) butter

1 tbsp. pine nuts

3 scallions/green onions, sliced, be sure to include much of the green

PREHEAT oven to 425° F (220°C).

SPRAY aluminum foil and lay it on a cookie sheet. Place fish on foil.

COMBINE sugar, mustard, and wine in a small bowl. Whisk until smooth.

SPREAD mixture evenly over salmon to cover it. Bake 15 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork.

MEANWHILE, prepare green onion topping while salmon bakes. Melt butter in small fry pan. Add nuts, they give the dish extra crunch. Stir in onion. Saute until onion is soft and lightly colored. Set aside.

TURN oven to broil. Move fish to 4 inches from heat. Broil 2 minutes or until golden.

ADD a dollop of green onion mixture on top of each salmon steak and serve.

Easy Baked Chicken Breast

Non-stick cooking spray

3 chicken breasts, boneless and skinless

½ cup (60g) mayonnaise

5 tsp. (25ml) Italian seasoned dry bread crumbs

½ cup (60g) Parmesan cheese, grated

PREHEAT oven to 425°F (220°C).

SPRAY a baking dish lightly with cooking spray. Rinse chicken and pat dry.

MIX mayo and bread crumbs together in a small bowl. Spread onto both sides of chicken.

LAY chicken in prepared dish. Sprinkle the top of coated chicken with Parmesan cheese.

BAKE for 20 minutes or until the juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a sharp knife.

So, that’s just a sampling of what we’ve been eating since the beginning of 2020. What recipe appeals to you? Or would you rather indulge in a vegetarian dish? What have you done to reboot your health in this new decade? Would love to read your comments. Cheers, and thank you for reading my blog.