It’s said to be “the most wonderful time of the year!” ...Gathering with friends and family, taking
time to be thankful for all our blessings, and celebrating all the memories from this year while
looking forward to next year…

Though as we know, this time of year may not be holly jolly at every moment. It seems to be
things get tighter… our wallets as we shop for the perfect gifts, our time as work deadlines
approach, and maybe even our pants as we snag a few too many holiday cookies! 

The last thing we want to do is spend extra money, time, and calories on our grocery store trips.
So here are 5 ways to make the most of your grocery shopping trips:

1. Make a list and check it twice. Santa does it - so should you. Before you even leave
the house, do some menu planning for the week to see what all you need to buy. Check
your fridge/freezer for leftovers to see if you can incorporate anything you already have.
Take inventory of your pantry to see if there is anything you need to restock.

2. Fuel your tank. Not just your car’s gas tank, don’t shop on an empty stomach; this may
lead to impulse buys and unhealthy food choices. Having a piece of fruit, handful of nuts,
or even just a glass of water before you leave the house will help keep your stomach at
bay to reduce cravings.

3. Savor the season(al). Shop seasonal produce when you can, since it is often on sale
and is at its peak nutritional quality. In December, look for cranberries (see LivRite’s
Produce of the Month blog!), winter squashes and brussels sprouts!

4. Consider convenience costs. Pre-cut produce or meal kits may certainly help you on a
busy weeknight, but it is also more expensive than if you prepared it yourself from
scratch. But if it helps you get in all your servings of fruits and vegetables, then it may be
worth it.

Also, store bought dressings, sauces, or ready-to-eat products are often higher
in calories, fat, and sodium than homemade. At home, you can control your own
ingredients and amounts you add to dishes.

5. Compare nutrition labels. I know they say “don’t judge a book by its cover,” but
absolutely judge a product based on its nutrition label! When comparing two different
products or brands, check the serving size first so you can compare apples to apples
(pun intended). Pay attention to the calories, saturated fat, sodium, cholesterol, and
added sugars. These nutrients should be limited.

Grocery shopping is one of the first steps to living a healthy lifestyle. Choose ingredients and
products based on nutrition and what will fuel your body best to achieve greatness.

For even more grocery shopping tips, check out LivRite's FREE nutrition seminars this month on Tuesday December 10th and December 17th at 6:00 PM at LivRite Fishers!

5 fast facts about the cranberry

1. Cranberries are native to North America. In fact, along with blueberries and the Concord grape, they are the only native North American fruits that are commonly cultivated today!
2. Most cranberries are wet harvested, meaning that cranberry bogs/marshes are purposely flooded so the berries float to the top to be corralled. Cranberries have four air chambers that allow them to float!
3. Water is also used during the winter months to protect the vine beds from freezing and desiccation.
4. In 1816, the first commercial cranberry bed was planted in Dennis, Massachusetts by Revolutionary War veteran, Captain Henry Hall.
5. U.S. farmers produce over 800 million pounds of cranberries per year!

Produce Pun:

Why was the cranberry late to the party?

It was bogged down in traffic

Nutrient Highlights

1. These tiny berries are packed with phytonutrients, which may provide a wide array of health benefits, including protection from bacterial pathogens, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and inflammation.
2. A specific class of phytonutrients in cranberries, called proanthocyanidins, helps prevent urinary tract infections. Research suggests that two- 8 oz. glasses of cranberry juice cocktail per day, one in the morning and one in the evening, may prevent bacterial adhesion. In the same way, cranberries may also work to prevent stomach ulcers

Kid Friendly Cranberry Pumpkin Muffin

Cranberry Pumpkin Muffin

Ingredients:

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 F and line a muffin pan with paper baking cups. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together until there are no clumps. In a small bowl, mix together the egg, milk, apple cider, and pumpkin puree. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry mixture and mix just until combined. Do not over-mix. Add cranberries, mixing just until incorporated. Fill each baking cup with batter (about 3/4 full). Bake on middle oven rack for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack. Keep stored in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.

Looking for more great  recipes?  Give this awesome sweet potato chicken chili recipe a try. 

November is Sweet Potato Awareness Month!  Oftentimes, this vegetable gets lost in the shadows=of another round, orange beauty (see October’s blog post about the Pumpkin!). 

Both sweet potatoes and pumpkins are an ample source of Vitamin A, providing over the daily recommended value in one serving!

This vitamin is a vital component in normal vision. It also plays a role in the immune system,  reproduction, and proper functioning of the heart, lungs, and kidneys.

Okay, spotlight back on our sweet potato.  

5 fast facts about the sweet potato

1. November is Sweet Potato Awareness Month!
2. Sweet potato is a vine that grows horizontally on the ground. It can reach 6-12" in height and 1-6' in length.
3. Depending on the variety, the flesh of sweet potatoes may be white, yellow, orange, red, pink or purple-colored. More intensely colored varieties of sweet potato have sweeter taste.
4. Juice extracted from sweet potatoes is used to produce hundreds of dyes (shades from purple to black) when combined with lime juice. These dyes are used in textile industry.
5. Many people think yams and sweet potatoes are the same, but yams are just one of the many varieties of sweet potatoes!

Produce Pun:

What do you call a complimentary carb?

A sweet potato

Nutrient Highlights

1. Manganese is abundant in sweet potatoes, assisting with glucose metabolism and bone formation.
2. Sweet potatoes are high in many B-Vitamins, including pantothenic acid, which may help lower risk for hyperlipidemia, due to this vitamin’s role in lipoprotein metabolism.
3. Copper, an essential mineral found in high amounts in sweet potatoes, aids in energy metabolism, iron absorption, immune function, and brain development.

4. One cup of baked sweet potato provides a quarter of daily fiber recommendations, which promotes digestion and satiation, in turn, promoting weight loss.

5.  Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of potassium, which helps regulate blood pressure. Research suggests that high potassium intake is linked to a decreased mortality risk.

Kid Friendly Sweet Potato Fries

Roasted Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

• • 1 large sweet potato (leave skin on for more fiber, potassium, and quercetin!)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 teaspoons desired spices (Garlic powder, ground black pepper, paprika, and cumin)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425 F. Rinse the potato well and cut into thin strips. In a large bowl or mix together the spices and olive oil. Toss in the potatoes and coat with spice mixture (you could also do this in a large plastic bag). Spread potatoes out on a large

baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake until brown and crisp on the bottom, about 20 minutes, then flip and cook until the other side is crispy, about 15 minutes.

Looking for more great sweet potato recipes?  Give this awesome sweet potato chicken chili recipe a try. 

Sweet Potato White Chicken Chili

Nutrition

Serving: 1bowl (no garnish) | Calories: 310 kcal | Carbohydrates: 30 g | Protein: 34 g | Sodium: 430 mg

Things I love about this recipe:

• Very Filling (all that fiber from those beans and sweet potatoes!)
• Extremely nutritious
• Even more flavorful
• Super simple, low skill-level
• Short prep time
• Small number of ingredients, budget-friendly
• One-pot meal
• Family seal of approval

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 6 hours

Servings: ~10 people

Calories: 310 kcal

First, dig out your Crock-Pot. (If you don’t have one, get out a large stock pot.)  After that, it’s pretty much dump the ingredients and go!

Ingredients

• 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 3-4 diced tomatillos (or 16 oz tomatillo salsa)
• 1 lg. sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1- 32 oz. container low sodium chicken broth
• 1- 4 oz. can diced green chiles
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1- 1.25 oz. package of white chicken chili seasoning mix
• 2- 16 oz. cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 2- 15.5 oz. cans navy beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tsp. Garlic powder
• 1 tsp. cumin
• salt and pepper, to taste

Garnish suggestions: cilantro, avocado, low-fat Mexican cheese, plain Greek yogurt, finely chopped onion, green onions.

Instructions

1. Add chicken breasts to bottom of your slow cooker and top with the diced tomatillos (or salsa). Then add in all of the remaining ingredients (except garnish ideas) and gently stir.
2. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours.
3. Remove the chicken and transfer to large mixing bowl, shred, then return to slow cooker. (Or you can shred in your slow cooker; it should be tender enough that it just falls apart when you stir!).
4. Stir and add pepper to taste if desired. Serve in a bowl, add optional garnishes, and enjoy!

Notes:

• Feel free to add more veggies as desired. Pro-tip: Mushrooms make an awesome addition!
• If you’re vegetarian, make using vegetable broth and tofu
• Can’t find white chili seasoning mix? Try this: Mix together 2 tsp. cumin, ½ tsp. paprika, ½ tsp. chili powder, ½ tsp. oregano, ½ tsp. coriander, ½ tsp. cayenne, salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

(Recipe adapted from: https://krollskorner.com/recipes/slow-cooker-green-and-white-chicken-chili/ )

New-car-smell (NCS) is intoxicating. Auto makers have developed a scent so powerful that a husband should never shop for a car without the permission and presence of his wife. That aroma causes an “autoimmune” disease that, in some men, causes them to abandon reason and responsibility! Ladies, it is not our fault. Someone should sue the makers of NCS!

To be fair, who doesn’t like “new”? Something new is fresh and full of promise. When my son Eli was born, I remember smelling his hair and skin. Ah, a new baby. New-baby-smell is also intoxicating and even more powerful than NCS. A wife should not get a whiff of someone’s new baby without the permission and presence of her husband.

Sadly, that new car smell fades quickly. You get your first scratch and door ding within the first six months. The car gets dirty inside and out and needs a lot of work to maintain the illusion of new.  That baby is keeping you awake at night. The first jaw dropping, vomit inducing diaper hits your senses like a mace attack.  In a blink of an eye, the little angel is now a demanding, boundary-pushing army of one.

The new LivRite Fitness is opening in Fishers. I got a sneak peak at the facility and it is nothing short of awesome! It is the first ever new build for LivRite. In addition to all new state of the art fitness equipment, the exterior and interior building design is new, fresh and amazing. From floor to ceiling, everything has been done with excellence, complete with new fitness club smell!

And just like that new car, the equipment will begin to age and require maintenance. As time marches on, members will become blind to the beautiful interior design. There will be carpet rip here, a floor stain there and eventually the parking lot will need to be repaved.  Nothing is new more than a day and nothing on this earth lasts forever.

But this is where the real LivRite story begins!

What remains new every day at LivRite is the culture of caring for its members; both body and soul. It is their pursuit of that which is of eternal significance for both you and your family that drew me to LivRite in June of 2018.

Yes, LivRite wants to help you live in good health and fitness, to live right in how you take care of your body. They also want to help you live with health in your soul, which is your mind, will and emotions. 

LivRite helps with your physical health by providing you the best exercise, fitness  and nutritional resources. They help with your soul-health by pointing you to Jesus because God is the only source of anything that is new every day which includes the culture of LivRite Fitness.

Lamentations 3:21-23 says, “This I recall to my mind.  Therefore I have hope. The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

Every single morning, God’s love, compassion and kindness toward you is fresh and new - a new supply of His grace which is something you cannot earn. It is His gift to you. God desires to satisfy our souls with joy when we turn to Him.

Psalm 90:14 explains it this way: “O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.”

LivRite works hard to help you live in good health. This is the only body you will ever have in this life and we must do all within our power to protect it because without good health, it is difficult to enjoy life.

John Maxwell puts it like this: “You can escape from a lot of things that might hurt you…But you can’t get away from your own body…Think about how hard it is to be positive, concentrate or pray when you have a toothache.”

When your mind is troubled or you struggle with making good decisions or your emotions are controlling you, it is possible to give the hopeless feelings to Jesus so that they do not overpower you.

I want to encourage you to remain committed to getting and staying physically fit. More importantly, I want to encourage you to spend time with Jesus every day because He is the One Who brings health to your soul.

I love this verse from Hebrews: “…Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.”  

You build physical running endurance by spending time with cardio equipment. You build soul endurance by spending time with Jesus. As Jesus refreshes you and builds your faith, your faith will lead your soul and you will live right.