Beef fried rice

This has become something that I make on a regular basis.  Especially while I am trying to lose a few pounds.  I don’t always make it with the beef but I didn’t think many people would just view the vegetables and rice dish that I enjoy eating for my dinner during my weight loss:)

Rice is a wonderful whole food to eat.  Make sure to not buy the white rice, keep it brown.  You want it to be a more natural food.  It fills you up and is good for digestion and tastes great too.

For most of my dinners, I make a cup of rice and add some frozen mixed vegetables and let it simmer.  To top it I sprinkle on some low sodium soy sauce and sesame seed oil.  Top with some green onions and you have a great tasting meal that will fill you up.  Your body will digest it quickly so don’t worry that you eat a large bowl to fix your cravings.  Those will go away eventually.

On the other hand, my husband doesn’t really like to eat my “healthy” lower calorie meals and likes some beef.  So I compromise and came up with this recipe.  I can enjoy the rice and vegetables and he can have the beef to fulfill his “man” need of meat.

 

For the beef I take whatever size roast I have. I usually buy a rump roast at the meat store and cook it all day in the crockpot.  When it is done it makes the most tender meat.  I then cut this into strips and will put in the freezer until I need them for recipes.  Very simple, no need for spices or tenderizing, the crockpot will do the work.

I then take my 2-3 pounds of beef and saute it with 2 Tablespoons of minced garlic.  1/2 of chopped green pepper, 2 T beef bouillon, 1/4 cup soy sauce, and few dashes of sesame seed oil.  Saute over medium heat.  If you want more flavor add more of the soy sauce or sesame seed oil.  However you like it.

In my wok, or a chicken fryer pan whatever you have in your home.  We just got the wok as a Christmas gift so we use that, but we did it for years in  a chicken fryer pan.  Add some vegetables.  We like frozen mixed vegetables, can of bean sprouts, and water chestnuts.  We cook that until it is thoroughly heated.  Add a few dashes of soy sauce and sesame seed oil.

 

When it is all heated we cook some eggs.  Push your vegetables around the sides of the pan and crack a few eggs in the center.  We were making enough for our large family so we did 6 eggs.  But for the average person figure 2 eggs per person.

We cook up a separate pot of brown rice.  Measure however much you will need per person.  Figure a cup of uncooked rice per person.

I keep it all separate and then build it with rice, veges, and beef.  Top with green onions and add some more soy sauce and sesame seed oil for taste.

I have found I really like to add sweet chili oil as a condiment to my rice.  It gives it a nice spicy taste and is yummy.  Spicy foods are good for the metabolism.  Try it.

 

 

The challenge: to exercise

Oops, probably not the one you wanted to hear, I know been there before.  Always had an excuse, too busy, pregnant, just had a baby, no sleep, no time for anything.  But I had time to feel miserable, I had time to lay in bed for hours because my back hurt, I had time to research why my body felt different, time to go to the doctors for medication to fix things.  But I couldn’t find the time for preventative maintenance.

Why make the change:

When I was young I felt great could mainly eat whatever I wanted and not really worry about it, well then I got older.  I had 10 babies and not much time in between to THINK about losing weight, it was all about survival.  Then I just got tired.  Tired of feeling tired, tired of feeling fat, tired of feeling miserable.

I needed a change.  Sure I could find every “miracle” cure to treat my ailments.  “Eat pineapple for this, take this vitamin supplement for that. ”  But none were going to get to the real issue.  The real issue was that I was overweight.  My body could not function properly because it was doing enough “overtime” work keeping my body going.  I decided to change.

We all know or should know that we can’t just expect our bodies to work properly if we don’t exercise.  Even if we think we are active enough, if we have “jiggle” on our body more than likely we need to exercise.  You can look at all the statistics on heart disease, arthritis, every ailment that starts to affect a person especially around 40 years of age.  I am sure most of us knows someone that is taking numerous amount of medication because of health reasons.  I am sure with some proper diet and exercise most all of those pills can be gone.

We need to be doing preventative maintenance on ourselves.  The time is minimal when compared to the shortening of our lifespan and the amount of time spent trying to control our health conditions.  Did I mention the amount of money you will save by taking care of yourself now???

How to make the change:

I didn’t change my eating habits at all in the beginning of my weight loss journey.  But I did change the amount of activity that I did.  I decided to exercise almost everyday.  I had babies and I had lots of little ones at that time.  5 under 5 to be exact!   But I chose to do it, I chose to exercise every week for myself.  I started out by walking.  I didn’t go on long walks away from my children, I did it outside around my yard.  Thank goodness we don’t have any neighbors or they probably would be wondering what I was doing.

I did that for a few months and then my husband bought me an elliptical.  My absolutely favorite thing, still after 3 years!  I would suggest looking for a used piece of equipment, as most people buy them in hopes of using them and then don’t:)  look on Craigslist for one in your area.

If you still aren’t able to get outside or purchase equipment, be creative in your venture to exercise.  I actually started dancing to my children’s Wiggles videos and got a great workout for the half hour it was on.  Try it, it was exhausting—those men are troopers:)

Get your children involved doing some of the following:

• sit ups
• push ups
• leg lifts
• squats
• march around the house, doing high knee lifts
• stretch—your arms, legs, back, and neck muscles

There are numerous FREE things you can do to exercise.  If you really need help, look up some on youtube or rent a video from the library–Denise Austin is my favorite.

Again, this is a challenge, try it for a week, I would recommend 2.  See how you feel at the end of those weeks.  Do you have more energy?  Have you lost some weight?  How about your mood?  Does it make you want to continue?  I pray it does.  You will never regret exercising.