The Little Stepmom

Fitness & Healthy Lifestyle for Families

25 Negative or Zero Calorie Foods

Have you heard of zero calorie or negative calorie foods? The concept is simple, there a foods that we can eat that actually take more calories to digest than they are worth. We actually burn calories digesting our foods so why not eat more foods that burn a lot of calories but, don’t contain many? They make perfect snacks and fillers for meals. They are often loaded with flavor and taste great.

Here’s a list of 25 negative calorie or zero calorie foods you should be eating.

  1. Cauliflower
  2. Cabbage
  3. Spinach
  4. Blackberries
  5. Asparagus
  6. Garlic
  7. Broccoli
  8. Lettuce
  9. Beets
  10. Mushrooms
  11. Green Beans
  12. Cantaloupe
  13. Celery
  14. cucumbers
  15. Peaches
  16. Zucchini
  17. Leeks
  18. Rhubarb
  19. Fennel
  20. Strawberries
  21. Watermelon
  22. Oranges
  23. Chili Peppers
  24. honeydew Melon
  25. Mangoes

When I wake up in the middle of the night starving (totally my sign of high stress I’m dealing with) I grab a prepped dish of lettuce, cucumbers, and almonds that I top with vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, and pepper. It’s a great snack that is very satisfying without busting my calorie budget at 3 am. I also keep lots of melon and berries on hand for snacking. Since they are negative calorie foods I don’t feel guilty enjoying them.

Not Just a Day in the Park

Halloween was just a few days ago, we trick or treated in a snow storm. Everyone jokes about how we have 4 seasons in one day here in the Midwest, but this week has been extra crazy!

The snow didn’t stop our kiddo’s they all dressed up and took off running. I made it about half way through the neighborhood before I declared I was frozen and went home! The kids finished up before returning home to pour heaps of candy out!

The snow melted the next day, but the temperature was 27 degrees. By the weekend we had a heat wave of 55 degrees! 😆 no better weather for a day in the park!

We packed up 3 children, the dog, myself, and my husband and headed to our local park. Funny I have 1 stepdaughter but, children seem to multiple around here. The more the merrier.

They have an awesome fitness trail that I frequent but, today was about letting the kids play aka burn off extra energy from the Halloween candy and being confined to the indoors while the Arctic temps blasted us.

We played freeze tag which burned more calories than any cardio workout at home! Then hide-n-seek followed by an impromptu photo shoot of the girls acting silly which my husband and I joined into.

I look forward to playing with the kids unlike the way I sometimes dread a cardio workout and I burn tons of calories laughing, running, climbing the equipment, getting stuck in the slide, and attempting the monkey bars. Even the dog was beat when we got back home.

The grown-ups took nearly 20,000 steps just playing and laughing! We lost some unwanted calories and the girls made some great memories with us! Bonus I got some hilarious pictures to remember the day with.

What unexpected workouts have you gotten in this week?

15 Foods That Can Increase Your Metabolism

I look at food as fuel for my body. If I want my body to perform like a Jaguar then I can’t fill my tank with shit fuel left over in the gas can from last year. I have to give it the good stuff! There are some foods that help our body to burn calories better or take more energy to digest than the calories they contain. I aim to eat more of these foods especially when I need a snack.

Here’s a list of food that can help increase your metabolism

1. Broccoli

2. Avocados

3. Spinach

4. Water

5. Green Tea

6. Coffee

7. Full Fat Real Yogurt

8. Grapefruit

9. Apples

10. Beans

11. Cinnamon

12. Soy Milk

13. Almonds

14. Oatmeal

15. Turkey

Try eating these foods when your hungry or needing an extra snack. They will fill you up and help you burn some calories. Have you heard of negative calorie foods? Check this post out to learn about some of my favorite negative calorie foods to eat.

5 Ways For Your Family to Give Back and Get Your Sweat On

5 Family Friendly Ways to Workout While Giving Back

Have you ever hidden veggies in your kids dinner? Maybe carrots and zucchini in muffins or broccoli in the meats balls? I mean if your don’t hide something in your pasta sauce are you even a parent? Just kidding, not every mom has to deal with a picky eater (insert eye roll). My point is, as parents sometimes we have to hide workouts into our day to keep everyone active, you know the kids, husband, and yourself.

I am always looking for ways to give back to my community and workout so duh, why not combine the two. Here are a few of the things my family has done to keep active and help others.

Walk the Dog. Sometimes life gets busy and we forget that our 4-legged friends need some exercise too! Grab the dog’s leash and get moving! Better yet, walk the neighbors dog too.
Arrange a Park Pick-Up Day. Get your friends and family together for a day at the park. You can play and pick-up the litter left laying around. Sort the garbage and recycle what you can. We only have one earth let’s help keep it clean!

Beach Clean-Up. I found a company, Mermaid Straw, though a family member. They do a monthly beach clean-up. We went to as many as we could because, what’s more fun than cleaning up the beach followed by playing in the water and sand! We worked up a major sweat and helped save some turtles.

Mermaid Straw Beach Clean-up! Photo credit: Mermaid Straw Staff

Do Some Yard Work For Your Elderly Neighbors. Yard work can be hard work making it an awesome workout for you and your family. You can pass on some kindness by helping your elderly neighbors with some of the harder chores like, mowing, raking, landscaping, and tree trimming. It feels great to help others!
Habitat For Humanity is a non-profit organization that helps to build and improve the places people call home. We have recently started looking into helping with the upcoming build in our area. We haven’t started yet, but I know it will be hard work and very rewarding to help build someone in need a new place to call home. This has long been on my bucket list and I can’t wait to update you with how it goes.

I am always looking for new ideas of way to give back and keep my family active!

Comment below with your ideas.

Seven Binge Worthy Food and Health Documentries

Part of a healthy lifestyle and exercise is rest & recovery days. What better way to spend your rest and recovery day than binge watching Netflix, It is my guilty pleasure. To keep myself motivated I go straight to documentaries on health and wellness. I’m always intrigued by these shows and I love learning more about the body. Here are a few of my favorites!

FED UP

I love this documentary because, it touches base on one of my biggest sore spots: ADVERTISING! The way that the food industry has manipulated Americans into thinking we are making healthy choices when in realty all we are really doing is getting more unhealthy and making them money sickens me. I can’t stand being lied to and that is all the food industry as done.

FOOD INC.
This is one of the first food documentaries I ever watched and it change how I look at food forever. It’s a bit raw and honest, just what I look for in a good documentary. It’s hard to learn the truth about where my food comes from and how it’s processed, but it lead me to make some healthy changes so I guess honesty is what I needed.

WHAT THE HEALTH
This one stirs some deep thinking on my part and brought to light some fishy tactics. Why on earth world McDonald’s give money to fight cancer or obesity when they are a huge part of the problem? Something isn’t right and this documentary digs deep into that!

HEAL

This is a deep documentary all about your inner self and what power you have to heal your self from the inside out. It’s enlightening and I’ve watched it a few times reminding myself what power my own thoughts and beliefs have over my life.

THE TRUTH ABOUT ALCOHOL

Javid Abdekmoneim is a British doctor who took a long hard look at alcohol consumption. It’s a bit more fun than most documentaries, but it’s also full of insightful information. This documentary may just change how you look at that drink in your hand.

HUNGRY FOR CHANGE

I really enjoy the way this is filmed, you observe someone watching the film and making changes along side of you, it’s unique. The documentary goes into details about how we are not eating the right foods and how our bodies aren’t designed to function on the crap food the industry’s sell us. It motivated me to make changes and I’ve stuck with them because, I understand why I made the changes.

THE MAGIC PILL

I get a little irritated with all the vegetables people push on me, they just aren’t my favorite. I’m like a child who eats veggies because someone hid them in my sauce. This documentary won’t drone on about being vegan. It takes a look at the Keto type diets that are high fat and high protein. I appreciated them explaining so many of the myths away!

What’s your favorite health, food, or fitness documentary? I’m always looking for my next binge session film!

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