Tasty Oatmeal Pancakes

I love pancakes. I rarely make them because the typical pancake mix is high in calories and carbohydrates, and low in fiber. So I went looking for an alternative.

I found a way to make a healthy version of pancakes that tastes delicious (my family agrees). They are made from oatmeal, which is a great source of nutrients and fiber, and they have no added fat or sugar.

Oatmeal Pancakes
1 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1 1/4 cup hot water or fat free milk
1 cup oatmeal flour (grind oatmeal in a blender)
1 tsp. baking powder
4 egg whites, whisk with fork
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 packets Splenda

Stir oats into hot water and soak for 5 minutes. Mix in oatmeal flour, bakding powder, egg whites, vanilla and Splenda. If necessary, add water for desired consistency. Spray a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium heat. Use a 1/4-cup measuring cup to dip batter into pan. Makes 8 pancakes, 82 calories each (if made with water).

I like to add blueberries into my pancakes then top them with light Cool Whip (instead of syrup).

Sooner or Later, You have to go Home

I love to watch NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” TV show. It is inspiring to see the contestants work so hard and lose unbelievable amounts of weight each week.

I have overweight clients who tell me they wish they could be on the show, or go away to a “fat camp.” They think that if they got away from their current environment, they would find weight loss success.

Short term success, maybe. But sooner or later, you have to go home.

At home you don’t have eight hours a day to exercise. You don’t have a kitchen stocked with only healthy foods. You aren’t isolated on a resort with others who share the same purpose as you – work out like crazy and eat super clean. No trainers in your face every day. No teammates. No weigh-ins that affect other people’s lives.

At home it’s family and work responsibilities, Duncan Donuts right around the corner, parties and dinners, overtime, sick kids, fights with your spouse, office pizza luncheons, cupboards for midnight raids, and the list goes on.

At home it’s all about balance: taking care of your family, working to pay the bills, planning and preparing healthy foods, exercising…and getting enough sleep.

A weight loss show or a fat farm is not the answer. If you won’t change your lifestyle at home, you won’t change. The answer is changing your lifestyle right now, right where you’re at, right in your home and office, and right in front of your family and friends.

Teach Your Children Well

I grew up as an overweight child and teenager. I was the fattest kid in the neighborhood, among all my cousins, in my class at school, in the church youth group, etc. Let me tell you, being fat as a kid really does affect your quality of life. It affects you emotionally and socially.

I remember being the last one chosen for teams, being made fun of, being unable to run “the mile,” and (especially as I hit those teen years), being ashamed and uncomfortable with my body.

The thing is; there are even graver circumstances to consider.

Childhood obesity and diabetes are now considered an epidemic in the U. S. Children as young as age eight are being put on medication to treat conditions that should only be seen in their grandparents. Their lives are being cut short by disease.

“But,” you may say, “my child is not overweight. He’s so active he just burns it off.” Okay, but what’s going to happen as he ages? Think of him as a 40-year-old man. What food habits are you teaching him right now? What exercise habits? Are you teaching him to live a healthy life? If not, your 40-year-old child may be overweight with conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and pre-diabetes.

If you know a candy bar with 14 grams of fat and 280 calories is bad for you, why in the world would you put that into the little body of your child? How do you think that little heart and liver are going to process all that junk? What’s going to happen in his body if you let him eat that day after day, year after year?

Teach your children well. Live the life before them. Show them how to be healthy.

Live Food, Dead Food

In Dr. Colbert’s book Eat This and Live, he talks about dead food and living food. He says:

Imagine you have two shelves in your pantry, one says “dead food” and the other “living food.” On the “dead food” shelf is a label that reads: “These foods will increase your risk of developing degenerative diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and arthritis; and make you overweight. They will also make you more prone to fatigue, hypertension and high cholesterol.

But the “living food” shelf’s label reads: “These foods will help your body arm itself against cancer, heart disease, degenerative diseases and obesity; and they will sharpen your mind, energize and enliven you.”

If we would start thinking of food as life-giving or death-accelerating, it could help us make better decisions. Not only should we consider how many calories a food contains, but also what ingredients are in the food.

For instance, a 100 calorie pack may be a controlled portion of junk food, but it is still junk food. How much of the ingredients in that packet are life-giving?

Often prepackaged foods are loaded with additives and chemicals to make them taste better and keep them preserved. This kind of food does not supply life-giving nutrients.

Fresh foods, those close to their natural state, are usually packed with nutrients. They are usually lower in calories and higher in fiber – like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and lean animal products.

Take a tour through your kitchen. Separate the living from the dead. What foods should you throw out? How can you add more living food to your diet?

Eating well is not only about losing weight. It’s about living well.

Game’s Not Over

I’m working with a client to help him lose a certain amount of weight. He is only five pounds away from his goal and he’s excited to be so close.

“But it’s not like it ends there,” he told me. “It isn’t ‘game over’.”

I am really encouraged by his perspective. He understands that these are lifestyle changes. He isn’t on a diet that he will “come off of” because he reached his weight loss goal. He realizes that to stay healthy and fit, and maintain a good body weight, he will need to continue eating well and exercising.

I’ve seen so many people lose and gain, lose and gain. It’s because they have not made healthy living their style of living. They haven’t embraced it. They haven’t made a commitment to stick with it today, tomorrow, and forever.

In pursuing a healthy body weight and a fit body, the game is never over. Every day the plays we make determine our score. Are you playing to be a winner?