I Run...But I'm NOT A Runner!

by Dawn Miller

What a great week!  I spent most of my time being educated and putting a plan in place. 

Step 1:               Read the book - Half Marathon:  You Can Do It!                

Step 2:              Recruited a running partner

Step 3:              Attended a Good Form Running clinic

Step 4:              Bought  running shoes with the advice of an expert 

Step 5:              Joined the 2012 Lansing Marathon Planning Committee

Step 6:              Put a running/workout/meal schedule (from the book) on my refrigerator

Step 7:              Bought a journal to chart my progress

I believe, that for many, the challenge of running teaches individuals that they have unused hidden resources that can be used to deal with other challenges in life. Much of the success and joy comes from a unique endurance blending of body, mind and spirit.  If you haven’t done this before, you have one of life’s great rewards waiting for you as you discover that you have much more strength inside than you envisioned.

Next Week:  Training Begins

Give yourself an upgrade: Cauliflower crust pizza recipe

This week, we asked our friends on Facebook to be a part of a pizza crust contest.  Participants were asked to comment on a photo of a delicious slice of homemade pizza (pictured below) to try to identify the main ingredient for the pizza crust (our winner received a free Food Target!).  With an overwhelmingly positive response to the healthy pizza crust contest, we decided to share the recipe.

Great guesses but wrong answers for the pizza
crust contest included quinoa, polenta and brown rice

Cauliflower pizza crust

- 1/2 LARGE head of cauliflower (or 1 1/2 cups shredded cauliflower)
- 1 large free range egg
- 1 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese (or try another kind!)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic (or fresh garlic)
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder


Crust preparation:
For the crust: Shred the cauliflower into small crumbles.  Use the food processor if you'd like, but be sure it's cauliflower crumbles (not puree!).  You'll need a total of 1 1/2 cups of cauliflower crumbles (approximately half of a large head of cauliflower).

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray a cookie sheet or pizza stone with nonstick Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) spray (or use a nonstick surface).

In a medium bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups cauliflower crumbles with the remaining crust ingredients. Pat the crust into a 9 to 12-inch round on the prepared pan. Spray the crust lightly with nonstick EVOO spray and bake for 15 minutes (or until golden). Remove the crust from the oven and turn the heat up to broil.

Cauliflower crust pizza topped with mushrooms and onion

Now for the pizza:
Spread the sauce on top of the baked crust, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge.

Sprinkle 1/4 cup organic mozzarella cheese on top.

Add any toppings you desire, spreading them out to cover the surface of the pizza. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Broil the pizza 3 to 4 minutes, or until the toppings are hot.  Pizza is done when the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Cut into 6 slices and serve immediately.

Welcome the challenge of cooking great tasting, healthy foods with our cookbook and enjoy the food you eat! We encourage you to try this healthier option for pizza and give us your review of the recipe in the comments below.

Healthy Living Success in Small Steps: Share Your Support, Tweets and Posts

January 1st may mark the beginning of a new calendar year, but the magic of reaching your goals and moving forward with a fresh start begins when you choose to make a change. Each small step you take toward your goals this year with On Target Living's 13 Week Challenge will contribute to a string of successes and that could be just the motivation you need to maintain that change.

To support you in your journey, here is some extra encouragement from our friends on Twitter who are taking small steps every day toward their goals:

Find more motivation for making positive changes when you follow us on Twitter at @OnTargetLiving and @ChrisJohnsonOTL!

Give yourself an upgrade: Healthy, homemade shrimp ravioli recipe

Healthy eating can become boring if you rely on a routine of repetitive meals. Oatmeal, salad, chicken and broccoli. Eat, repeat, eat, repeat... Within a week you may start to wonder why good tasting food isn't included in your new plan for healthy living and the long list at the drive thru might be tempting, but don't be fooled. What the fast food restaurants are offering you is all the same thing: Processed foods and trans-fatty acids.

On Target Living gives you more choices with an amazing variety of fruits, vegetables, meats, grains and seasonings. Healthy, homemade shrimp ravioli with creamy white wine sauce is just one great example:

Ravioli Filling

· 1 lb. of shrimp
· 2 cloves of garlic
· 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
· 8 oz. of ricotta
· 3 organic free range eggs
· freshly chopped parsley

Preparation:
Cook shrimp with extra virgin olive oil and garlic until pink. Drain & puree in food processor. Add remaining filling ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

Signed, sealed and ready to deliver for dinner!

Pasta Dough

· 2 cups of Bob’s Redmill semolina flour
· 2 organic free range eggs
· 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
· ½ tbsp. sea salt
· A few drops of water (if needed)

Preparation: 

Put flour in a large bowl and make a “well” in center. Put eggs, extra virgin olive oil, and sea salt in well. Mix together until dough can be made into a ball. Kneed on floured board about 10 minutes until dough is smooth, shiny and elastic. Wrap in wax paper and let rest for about 10 minutes. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into a rectangle to 1/8” thick (or if you have a pasta machine feed through the machine). 

Put a spoonful of filling 2 inches apart from each other on the dough. Cover with other rectangle sheet of dough and use a ravioli stamp to seal the pasta. Put ravioli on cookie sheet and put in freezer until it is easy to handle. Since not all the dough is used each time, reuse and repeat the process.

Bring a large pot of water to boil, add a pinch of sea salt and ravioli, one at a time. Cook until the pasta starts to float (5-7 minutes).

Add a salad or roasted vegetables for a colorful side dish

Sauce:

· 2 tbsp. finely minced onion
· ½ cup chicken broth
· 2 cups organic skim milk
· 1/3 cup organic all-purpose flour
· ½ cup white wine
·  ¼ cup freshly grated parmesan

· Sea salt and pepper for taste 

Preparation:
Cook onion and broth in 1-quart saucepan until liquid is almost all cooked away.

In a small bowl, whisk flour with the skim milk. Add to the saucepan and continue to cook, whisking until sauce begins to thicken. Add wine and soup base; taste and season with sea salt and pepper.

If desired, add the freshly grated parmesan.

Shopping list for this recipe:

· 1 lb. of shrimp
· Garlic (3 cloves)

· Parsley (freshly chopped)

· Onion (2 tbsp. finely minced)
· Extra virgin olive oil (4 tbsp)

· Bob’s Redmill semolina flour (2 cups)

· Organic all-purpose flour (1/3 cup)

· Chicken broth  (½ cup)

· 8 oz. of ricotta cheese

· Parmesan cheese (¼ cup freshly grated)
· Organic free range eggs (5 eggs)
· Organic skim milk (2 cups)

· White wine (½ cup)

· Sea salt

· Pepper 

 Welcome the challenge of cooking great tasting, healthy foods with our cookbook and enjoy the food you eat!  We encourage you to offer your favorite healthy options for other cooks in the comments below.

I Run...But I'm Not A Runner! by Dawn Miller

Happy New Year!

I always enjoy the start of a New Year.  It’s the perfect time to erase the old slate and start writing a new one.  I am particularly excited about this year, because it involves a goal I am working on with my 18 year old daughter, Taylar.

Let me start of by saying that I have run, off-and-on, for about 30 years.  (I am 45 years old) It started back in 1983 when I joined the cross country team my junior year in high school to lose some of the “extra” teenage weight.  In no time at all I had dropped the weight and so much more.   

During the past 30 years I have run for the following reasons:

·         get rid of extra baby weight

·         enjoy the nice weather

·         avoid indoor exercise

·         enjoy time alone to think, pray, meditate

·         accomplish a few goals (5k’s, half marathon)

Let me clarify something:  I am not a runner!  I just run.  I get up in the morning.  Do a 1-2 minute stretch routine and “off I go.”   I don’t follow a plan, I don’t own special running gear, I buy running shoes based on looks.  I’m not even sure I am running the right way.  (My husband says I run like a “girl” and I keep reminding him that he married one!)



Detroit 2010 Half Marathon with Taylar

In 2010 my daughter asked me to run the Detroit Half Marathon with her.  I didn’t think too long about it and said “sure”.  Before this point, my longest run had been 5 miles.  I was up for the challenge and decided to get on the “Dawn Miller” running plan to accomplish this goal.  Simple, I would run every day and just run a little further than the day before.  In no time I would be able to run 13.1 miles, right?  Right!  It totally worked.  The Detroit Half-Marathon came, I finished it in a decent time, celebrated my goal, went home, couldn’t move for the next 7 days, and decided I had checked that one off the bucket list.  (Once and done!)

…or so I thought.  Over this past Christmas break Taylar asked me if I would like to run the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon on July 22, 2012 with her.  I thought about it for 5 seconds and I said “sure”.  (If your teenage daughter asks you to do something with her—you don’t say “no!”) However, I’m planning to do things a little differently this time around. 

It doesn’t take seven months to train for a half-marathon, so I have an interim goal.  I put together team of six (mothers and daughters), and we are going to run the innaugural Lansing Marathon relay on April 22.  A relay means that each runner will run one leg of the marathon.  Then we will have four months to train for the half marathon in Chicago.

So, this blog is for all of you non-runners out there who want to join me in training.  I am going to blog each week about how I am training, what I am eating, etc…. First stop will be the bookstore to buy Jeff Galloway’s  book  Half-Marathon-You Can Do It!

I already know I can do it, and so can you!  We were all born to run.  I just want to have a plan in place this time and do it the right way.   Come join us in Lansing and in Chicago!

Lansing Marathon - April 22, 2012

Rock 'N' Roll Chicago Half Marathon - July 22, 2012

Jeff Galloway: Half Marathon You-Can-Do-It!

Achieve Your Healthy Living Goals with an Action Plan

Miss Teen South Carolina 2007

Remember the Miss America speeches stating those specific goals for a one-year term as a beauty queen like achieving world peace or putting an end to poverty? These ambitious aims probably made your eyes roll, and yet many New Year’s resolutions are just as unrealistic. 

General claims like “I need to lose lots of weight” and “I have to eat healthier food” are popular resolutions of the past. This year, challenge yourself to rethink the redundant pattern of grand gestures and failed attempts. 

Instead, achieve your goals for living a healthier, happier life in 2012 by replacing last year’s resolutions with small, sustainable changes. 

Whether it’s a big goal or a small step; nothing is out of your reach. Hey, a world with less poverty and more peace sounds great, but how do you get there? Let’s start with one of the same ol’ recycled resolutions and set-up small steps to stay on target. 

I need to lose weight 

1) Consider the question: Why do I need to lose weight? 

Write down the answer. This is your fuel for change and you’ll need to remember this reason WHY when your resolution feels difficult to follow. 

2) Forget problems, focus on solutions: Positivity is much more motivating than negative statements. If you wrote your reason WHY with a focus on a problem like “I need to lose weight because I hate my thighs”, then it’s time for a revision, rewrite it. Try “I want to weigh XXX lbs on June 2, 2012 so I have more energy and can enjoy play time with my grandkids”.

Find positive inspiration here

3) Resolutions with results are not diets: They’re lifestyle changes and you can’t change everything all at once, but you can build everyday changes into healthy habits sustainable over time. Don’t rely on a diet to get you to your goal, instead develop a new eating plan that progressively introduces foods and replaces unhealthy routines.

4) Happiness is part of good health: Deprivation is not a positive approach to achieving your goals (remember #2?). Don’t be discouraged by one meal or even one day off track; in fact, the 80/20 rule is a great guide for healthy living goals just like this!

5) Start with small steps: To help you take small steps toward a healthier, happier life, On Target Living started the 13 Week Challenge Action Plan on January 9th, 2012.

Forming healthy habits requires focus and commitment. Make a plan, take action and feel your best!

Haven’t started yet? It’s not too late! Join us on Facebook to find out more about this week’s challenge!

Real People. Real Stories. Real Inspiration.

A very wise man recently told me, “You’re in the middle of the marathon, enjoy the scenery.” These words couldn’t be truer – it totally sums up my life now. There is no finish line and there is no end to the marathon.

I’ve always put everyone and everything before myself, and it hit me one day that I needed to make some changes. My weight had got to a number that even I couldn’t believe and I didn’t like how I looked at all. I was fortunate that I didn’t have any health problems as a result of being overweight, but I knew that the odds were against me and I didn’t want that to happen either. I realized that I had to make time to do something for myself – that I deserved it and I was worth it. 

I knew that living a healthier lifestyle would make me a better person and that everyone around me would benefit from that.    

Sure, anyone can go on a “diet” and lose a few pounds – been there, done that, got the t-shirt. I did whatever desperate thing it took to get the weight off, but once the weight left I had no idea how to live the rest of my life because I learned nothing about health, nothing about wellness, nothing about my body and how it really works, and nothing about fitness. Every pound and, then some, came back. 

The difference this time is I’m not on a diet; I’m simply living a healthy lifestyle and the weight loss is the added bonus. This is who I am and I love it! I’m never turning back. For the first time in my life I see the person on the outside who was always inside of me. I am healthier, happier and more outgoing physically than I have ever been in my life and that is an amazing feeling.

I have lost 115 pounds to date! Every day is a new challenge and I know it will be for the rest of my life. Those challenges keep me going. I’m not perfect and I don’t have all the answers, but each day I have the opportunity to start over and look forward, and not beat myself up over what I may have done the previous day. I continue to learn about my body and overall health and wellness. I set goals for myself that keep me focused. I push myself to do things that many people will never dream of trying.

A friend introduced me to On Target Living not so long ago. She was right – one lunch, one man, and my life would be forever changed. She has no idea what an amazing gift she gave me the day that she handed me her copy of Chris’s book. OTL is just what I needed to further educate myself and take my journey to the next level. I continue to focus on finding balance in my life. It’s about vitality – living a long, healthy life. If I can do this, anyone can. You just have to believe in yourself and believe that you’re worth it. 

STOP DIETING AND START LIVING!!!!

Angel Sanders