Better for BlogHer Week 6ish

In the interest of full disclosure, I am being provided with 42 Healthy Choice meals, a counseling session at BlogHer, and am being compensated. However, all opinions expressed are my own.

You can read about my previous experiences here:
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5

Wow, today is the "official" end of Getting Better for BlogHer with Healthy Choice, but I have no intentions of stopping what I'm doing. This has been a wonderful way for me to focus on myself in a good way. I've been eating better and making sure I get in some exercise regularly.

Since the wee ones have been back at school, I've been doing my three time a week run (and no, I'm not running 5K anymore, but I'll get back there soon enough). I also got a call from a friend of mine asking if I wanted to walk once a week. We're now meeting at a local trail and doing a few miles at a pretty brisk pace, chatting for an hour. It's one of my favorite times of the week. And I've been incorporating some classes into my weekly routine - I've done yoga and soul grooves (I got the time wrong for Zumba, oops!), and I forget how much I really enjoy them.

Some of the meals that I've tried with Healthy Choice have inspired me to remember what foods I love eating, and I've found healthier ways of making them (e.g., the Orange Chicken I made last week). I'm also getting better about eating the smaller, more frequent meals that we so often hear are healthier for us.

I feel better... but not for BlogHer, for me!

The interesting thing is that I have never been an eater of frozen meals. This past week, I went to stock up on my weekly supply of Healthy Choices and stopped to look at some of the other options. Not many of them really appealed to me, but I saw one that looked "healthier" in that it was an Asian-inspired one that wasn't a huge portion and was cooked in a take out container like box. The front of the container touted 180 calories for the option I was looking at, and I was impressed. Then I turned the box around and saw that it had 2.5 servings per container. Ummm really? Really, a small takeout container that is maybe half filled once it's cooked is enough food for 2.5 people to eat for a meal? I don't think so. The previously slender 180 calories ballooned up to 450 calories. Yikes! While there are times when the 230 or 250 calories of a Healthy Choice don't feel like quite enough for me, 450 calories for that option shocked me.

On the other side of the coin, the highly anticipated (by me) Steaming Entrees have arrived in Chicago! I purchased a few of these this week to try out, and I've had two so far.

Honey Balsamic Chicken I loved that this had a ton of cherry tomatoes and asparagus in this dish - although the asparagus was a tad overcooked for me but still crunchy. The chicken was nice pieces, too, but the sauce left a little to be desired. It wasn't bad by any stretch, but it just wasn't quite what I was expecting. I am thrilled that these entrees use fewer ingredients and focus on the ones we can pronounce!

Lemon Herb Chicken This one also featured cherry tomatoes (apparently I love my tomatoes - and they work great in frozen entrees, much to my shock), although they are paired with green beans. The pasta is a whole grain pasta and not as overcooked as some of the others I've had in the Healthy Choice lines, but it still wasn't quite the al dente I prefer. I love lemon chicken, and the sauce on this was a nice lemon blended with chardonnay - which I didn't realize until I'd started eating it. I sorta liked this one and would definitely get it again.

Beyond these two new ones, I've been focusing on some of my favorites - the Cafe Steamers, primarily.

Oh, and did I mention that I have continued to lose weight? Another two pounds in the past few weeks without super "really" trying. Yay!

I have only one more of Tara's tips to share before the end of this series of posts. Move a bit more. Go for a 15 minute walk during your lunch break, walk up and down the stairs a few times, pace while you are on the phone, or get off the subway a stop or two early and walk the rest of the way. This is some of what I frequently forget. It doesn't take a lot of time, but the little things you do really add up. I may not be able to make it to the gym, but I can go up and down the stairs of my house inefficiently doing chores, and that helps. I may miss a run, but I can park further away from the store and walk, then walk to the next store instead of driving to a closer spot in the same outlot. It all helps.

I hope that you've enjoyed learning about this trek with Healthy Choice and Getting Better for BlogHer. I know it's been helpful for me, and I've enjoyed sharing my progress and Tara's tips with you - as well as trying out some of the Healthy Choice options that I might not have otherwise. While I didn't love all of them, I've certainly found some favorites that I will eat again!