Healthy Easter Basket Ideas: How to Keep the Whole Family Healthy

Spring has sprung and Easter is just around the corner. We know that holidays are always a concern when you’re trying to stay fit and eat healthy. That’s why we’ve come up with a variety of creative and healthy Easter basket ideas that are sure to keep you on track.

Two-thirds of American households will wake up on Easter morning to discover that the Easter Bunny has left a huge basket of goodies for every child—and even a few adults. According to the National Confectioners Association, the trade organization that promotes the candy treat industry, most of those baskets will be filled with chocolate bunnies and eggs (55%), with a scattering of jelly beans, candy-coated eggs and marshmallow candy.

Your Easter gift could easily add up to thousands of calories worth of candy concentrated in one small nest of plastic grass. Consider this: One 16-ounce solid chocolate bunny may be 1,000 calories or more, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Yikes!

There are plenty of ways to make sure that you and your family can enjoy a healthy Easter holiday. Stop worrying that a seasonal sugar binge is going to foil your weight loss success or lead you all down a very unhealthy chocolate bunny trail. Here are just a few ideas to create a healthy Easter basket.

Put together the perfect healthy Easter basket with these five creative ideas:

1. Give a gift certificate to fun and adventure.

Your kids aren’t going to mind a downsized Easter basket if their primary Easter gift is a trip to the zoo, a visit to their favorite museum or an adventure day at an indoor (or outdoor) water park or natural area. Gifting memories and experiences rather than tangible items is the gift that keeps on giving. One study, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that giving your kids “experiential gifts” can help build a stronger parent-child relationship than material gifts. The relationship improvements “stem from the intensity of emotion that is evoked when they consume the gifts, rather than when the gifts are received,” explain researchers.

2. Think toys, not treats.

Along with a modest amount of candy, consider giving kids nonedible treats such as bubbles, kites, jump ropes, jacks, craft kits or games—things everyone in the family can enjoy together. A lot of these non-edible treats can be enjoyed outdoors, helping you and your loved ones stay active while enjoying Mother Nature this spring! You can also fill plastic Easter eggs with stickers, slime, coins, dollar bills, rubber stamps, colorful wristbands, friendship bracelets, glow sticks, marbles, erasers and fake tattoos. Many of these items are available at your local dollar store, party store or online.

3. Look for sugar-free choices.

To create a healthy adult Easter basket for yourself, spouse or coworkers, consider stocking up on some guilt-free sweets. Some of the largest confectioners make options for those who need to avoid or reduce their intake of sugar. These days, you can get everything from chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks to jelly beans and gummies that are free of sugar. There are even some stevia-sweetened candies that are available online and in stores. These will sweeten up your healthy Easter basket and keep you on track with your weight loss diet plan.

4. Choose healthier treats.

Half the fun of Easter is dyeing real, hard-boiled Easter eggs. One large egg is about 78 calories and chockful of satisfying protein, heart-healthy unsaturated fat and essential vitamins and minerals, says the USDA. According to Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California, “One study suggests that eggs don’t raise cholesterol at all for about 70% of people.” They also explain that eggs increase levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), also known as good cholesterol that decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease. This makes them a great healthy and colorful treat for Easter baskets. If you have any concerns about your cholesterol levels, speak to your doctor before consuming eggs or making any dietary changes.

Since there must be chocolate even in a healthy Easter basket, skip a few chocolate bunnies and substitute a healthier alternative. Try making some strawberries dipped in stevia-sweetened chocolate or mini whole wheat pretzels with a coating of white chocolate. Practice proper portion size and moderation by making simple fruit kebabs topped with one marshmallow chick.

5. Make your own sweets.

Not creative in the kitchen? Let the healthy recipe experts at The Leaf and Nutrisystem help! After all, one of our main goals is to create healthier versions of all your favorite foods. Head to the kitchen and create these five healthy Easter treats for a diet-friendly Easter basket:

1. Grasshopper Candy Bars >

You can easily purchase store-bought rice cereal treats. However, they’re not going to be as healthy as the ones you whip up yourself. These minty, chocolatey bars use four cups of rice cereal, two cups of mini marshmallows, two tablespoons of mini chocolate chips, one tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa, a little light butter and some peppermint extract to make a delicious goody that counts as two extras on the Nutrisystem plan.

2. Chocolate Pecan Caramel Bites >

NutriChocolates are the base of this healthier take on pecan turtles. There are only two more ingredients—pecans and caramel chews—so they’re easier than pie. Each bite is 95 calories and counts as three Extras on the Nutrisystem plan.

3. Peanut Butter Cups >

You and your family won’t miss that “other” peanut butter cup once you taste these. All you need is three simple ingredients—chocolate chips, peanut butter and coconut oil—to make a healthy candy that will come in handy this holiday. One serving counts as just one PowerFuel and two Extras on Nutrisystem.

4. Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Bars >

Avoid temptation with a healthy candy bar that’s made with wholesome ingredients. Oats, peanuts, peanut butter, dates and a couple scoops of a Vanilla Nutrisystem Shake Mix create this satisfying Easter treat. To make the recipe even more festive, feel free to shape your bars like eggs! One serving counts as one PowerFuel and one SmartCarb.

5. Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge >

This confection has the smooth, creamy texture of regular fudge but with fewer calories, fat and guilt. Plus, it’s so easy to make! Melt some peanut butter until it’s warm and thin, then pour in some NutriChocolates and almond milk. Stir, allow the mixture to cool and pour it into an ice cube tray that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Throw it in the freezer until it’s set, then eat! Each piece is only 116 calories and counts as one PowerFuel and one Extra.

Explore The Leaf and discover more delicious and healthy dessert recipes. Check out our Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough Easter Eggs for an irresistible diet food option this spring!

The post Healthy Easter Basket Ideas: How to Keep the Whole Family Healthy appeared first on The Leaf.

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Weight loss is not JUST calories in, calories out

Okay well maybe weight loss is just calories in, calories out but long-term fat loss is much more.

Some history: I’ve always been overweight. Five or so years ago I found this sub and decided to take a proven approach to lose weight: CICO. I downloaded My fitness pal and started tracking everything I ate. I learned about micros and macros, sugar and fiber, fasting and eating several small meals. The weight came off steadily. It was such a relief knowing that if I just tracked what I ate accurately and stuck to my caloric budget then I would lose weight. Yeah sure, tracking could be a pain and I could be a little bit obsessive at times but I was feeling better, sleeping better, and (most importantly at the time) looking better. People were proud of me. People asked me how I did it. I told them how easy it was and converted many serial dieters to CICO. Overall I lost over 100 pounds!

Sounds great right? Well yeah, in some ways it was but in others it was a disaster.

I quickly realized there was a tremendous difference in losing 100 lbs and losing 100 lbs of fat. I looked terrible with my clothes off. What muscle mass I had was long gone. Some days I even thought I looked worse than before.

I (obviously) never had an great sense of knowing what to eat intuitively but now any sort of regulatory system I had was completely shot. I relied on mfp for so long it felt like I had forgotten how to eat without it. When, what, and how to eat seemed strangely foreign to me.

I never learned what made me overeat in the first place. I believe that most people who are obese are self medicating with food. Maybe it’s childhood trauma or maybe it’s just stress at work. Either way, relying solely on CICO bypasses the need to confront these issues and develop healthier coping mechanisms. I believe this is why studies show that only about 5-10% of people who lose a significant amount of weight keep it off long term. The other 90% do not learn to handle their emotions without food which in turn doesn’t provide them the opportunity to develop new habits that would allow them to sustain their fat loss. Without these new habits you are very, very likely to go off the rails and gain all the weight back (and then some statistically.)

Finally my hormones were out of wack. I’m not a doctor so I won’t go into the specifics but the newest medical evidence suggests that hormones do play an important role in weight management and when they are not properly balanced it can make the process more difficult. Now, I’m not saying that you’re overweight because you have a hormonal issue and so you might as well not try. I’m just saying that it is a factor worthy of consideration.

I say all that to say this: Long term fat loss must be more than just CICO. Calories are definitely a big part of the equation, no one can deny that. But so is strength training to preserve and/or build lean mass, hormonal balance, and emotional wellness. CICO should not be the only tool in your toolbox if you want to be successful long term.

I hope you all can learn from my mistakes and start developing these skills now so that you are successful in your journey. I wish you the best of luck and believe in all of you!

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Day 1? Starting your weight loss journey on Thursday, 09 April 2020? Start here!

Today is your Day 1?

Welcome to r/Loseit!

So you aren’t sure of how to start? Don’t worry! “How do I get started?” is our most asked question. r/Loseit has helped our users lose over 1,000,000 recorded pounds and these are the steps that we’ve found most useful for getting started.

Why you’re overweight

Our bodies are amazing (yes, yours too!). In order to survive before supermarkets, we had to be able to store energy to get us through lean times, we store this energy as adipose fat tissue. If you put more energy into your body than it needs, it stores it, for (potential) later use. When you put in less than it needs, it uses the stored energy. The more energy you have stored, the more overweight you are. The trick is to get your body to use the stored energy, which can only be done if you give it less energy than it needs, consistently.

Before You Start

The very first step is calculating your calorie needs. You can do that HERE. This will give you an approximation of your calorie needs for the day. The next step is to figure how quickly you want to lose the fat. One pound of fat is equal to 3500 calories. So to lose 1 pound of fat per week you will need to consume 500 calories less than your TDEE (daily calorie needs from the link above). 750 calories less will result in 1.5 pounds and 1000 calories is an aggressive 2 pounds per week.

Tracking

Here is where it begins to resemble work. The most efficient way to lose the weight you desire is to track your calorie intake. This has gotten much simpler over the years and today it can be done right from your smartphone or computer. r/loseit recommends an app like MyFitnessPal, Loseit! (unaffiliated), or Cronometer. Create an account and be honest with it about your current stats, activities, and goals. This is your tracker and no one else needs to see it so don’t cheat the numbers. You’ll find large user created databases that make logging and tracking your food and drinks easy with just the tap of the screen or the push of a button. We also highly recommend the use of a digital kitchen scale for accuracy. Knowing how much of what you're eating is more important than what you're eating. Why? This may explain it.

Creating Your Deficit

How do you create a deficit? This is up to you. r/loseit has a few recommendations but ultimately that decision is yours. There is no perfect diet for everyone. There is a perfect diet for you and you can create it. You can eat less of exactly what you eat now. If you like pizza you can have pizza. Have 2 slices instead of 4. You can try lower calorie replacements for calorie dense foods. Some of the communities favorites are cauliflower rice, zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash in place of their more calorie rich cousins. If it appeals to you an entire dietary change like Keto, Paleo, Vegetarian.

The most important thing to remember is that this selection of foods works for you. Sustainability is the key to long term weight management success. If you hate what you’re eating you won’t stick to it.

Exercise

Is NOT mandatory. You can lose fat and create a deficit through diet alone. There is no requirement of exercise to lose weight.

It has it’s own benefits though. You will burn extra calories. Exercise is shown to be beneficial to mental health and creates an endorphin rush as well. It makes people feel awesome and has been linked to higher rates of long term success when physical activity is included in lifestyle changes.

Crawl, Walk, Run

It can seem like one needs to make a 180 degree course correction to find success. That isn’t necessarily true. Many of our users find that creating small initial changes that build a foundation allows them to progress forward in even, sustained, increments.

Acceptance

You will struggle. We have all struggled. This is natural. There is no tip or trick to get through this though. We encourage you to recognize why you are struggling and forgive yourself for whatever reason that may be. If you overindulged at your last meal that is ok. You can resolve to make the next meal better.

Do not let the pursuit of perfect get in the way of progress. We don’t need perfect. We just want better.

Additional resources

Now you’re ready to do this. Here are more details, that may help you refine your plan.

• Quick Start Guide - Build your foundation!
• Loseit Compendium - Frame it out!
• FAQ - Answers to our most Frequently Asked Questions!

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Need some guidance and advice :)

I apologise in advance for the essay lol.

Hello everyone, I’m Luke and I’m a 22 year old male, 180cm tall and currently weigh 89kg (196 pounds) I have Aspergers and have struggled with having autism for most of my life. The last 5 years I’ve been overweight and obese. My heaviest weight was 108kg (238 pounds). I was miserable and hated myself and my body. Felt disgusting and would not stop looking at myself in mirrors and feel disgusted with what I saw.

I wanted to lose weight so bad and didn’t have any idea how to do so. I just googled how to lose weight and there were so many different sites saying all kinds of different things so I didn’t feel I had a clear concise answer. I tried keto for a few weeks and I did have some success but I believe it was just the water weight and eventually I crashed and went back to my normal eating habits. At around December last year I went mini golfing with my partner and we took photos together and when I saw the photos I felt like I was hit with a realisation of how big I’d gotten. I said to myself enough is enough. I found this reddit page and saw the calories in vs calories out method. For the last 4 months I have done CICO, I’ve lost 16kg (35 pounds). I am very picky with my food and to be honest, I’ve barely had any vegetables my entire life and I struggle so much with even the thought of trying vegetables. I’m worried for my general health in the long run, my nutrition isn’t good at all. I’ve been very limited with what I’ve been eating. I usually have two slices of bread in the morning and a footlong from subway and that’s all I try to eat a day, sometimes I eat a bit more (popcorn, whatever I can find). I believe I eat around 1300-1500 calories a day.

I would like to ask you lovely people for advice and guidance. I don’t know if I’m overthinking or being paranoid or not but I feel I’m not going to lose more weight. Sometimes I focus to much on things I come across on the internet like having too much carbs or not enough Nutrition and etc and I feel I’m doing the weight loss wrong. Do I continue on with what I’m doing? The other thing is my diet. Ever since I can remember I have lived off pizza, meat pies, nuggets and fast food and everything unhealthy to be honest. want to really change my eating, i would really like to eventually be at the point where I can eat vegetables and have a balanced healthy diet and maintain a healthy weight. How can I overcome my pickyness and fear of vegetables? I don’t know how to cook so that’s a problem in itself. I appreciate you all for taking the time to read my post. Any tips, replies and advice is greatly appreciated. Hope you all have a safe and happy Easter.

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choosing a goal weight?

my dad asked me today how much weight i intend to lose. i realized i never really thought of it that way. i don’t even have like a “goal dress size” i just figured i’d keep going until i was happy with it. i’ve never been smaller than about 10 lbs away from where i am now - and i remember being very uncomfortable at that weight in high school. so i guess not that?

i’ve looked up women of my height at several different weights in a healthy bmi range and i don’t really see myself picking a true goal. but i feel like almost every weight loss community i run into, i see people with very firm “goal weights” - how did you choose yours, if you have one? has the process changed any of your expectations?

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Should I eat less than 1200kcal/day?

Hello everyone!

Sorry for my English, it's not my first language.

I'm having a little problem: I started my weight loss journey 61 days ago (according to MFP) and based it on CICO for the first time in my life. I was so surprised that it actually worked! It was easy, doable, I wasn't that hungry, and I got to eat something from my favourite restaurant and staying in my calorie budget just by making it my only meal that day. In a bit more than one month I went from 182lbs to 163lbs. I'm 5'6", 20F. My goal weight is 130. I've been eating 1200 calories/day. Some days I got to 1300, sometimes 1100. I had one cheat day a few days ago because of my partner's birthday. Using tdeecalculator.net it looks like I'd have a 500 calories deficit eating at 1300, but I have the My Body Composition scale that tells me my metabolism is actually slower than it should, meaning my maintenance calories are 1429kcal/day.. Which means I'm usually in a 200 calories deficit. I'm not sure if it's a relevant detail, but I have been diagnosed with PCOS.

Everything was good though: I was losing weight, absolutely not hungry, etc. Then, about one month ago, I started doing some exercises using the Nike Training app. I got really sore and the next day I was like 2lbs more, but I read everywhere that it's normal water retention. I kept going, and I absolutely stopped losing weight. It's been one month (a bit more actually) and I have gained and lost 1lb, and that's it.

I swear I'm tracking everything religiously. There is no food, oil, beverage, milk, coffee that I don't put on MFP. I have a food scale and I track every single bit. When I order from a restaurant (like twice a month) I ask the exact calories not to go over my calories budget. It's not stressful and I'm not obsessed about it, but I know I'm precise. I keep doing some strength exercises using NTA, but I've also implemented dancing using the sweat mode on Just Dance. My smart watch tells me I'm losing about 300/400 kcal each time , but I never log them or eat them back, I keep myself at 1200.

At this point, I don't understand. I was completely not worried when I didn't lose weight for one week, it was okay for two, I was wondering why at the third one, but now it's then end of the fifth week and I'm feeling pretty down. I read everywhere that I should not be eating less than 1200 calories/day (and I'm not really short, so I guess it's valid), but maybe my PCOS influences my metabolism. Also, the fact that I'm rarely hungry makes me feel like I should be eating a bit less? I should also point out that my doctors like to pretend my PCOS does not exist, so I never took medicines or I have never been given suggestions on how to improve the situation; this is probably because in my country it's not really considered a disease or anything to worry about particularly.

The last thing, I tried doing keto, but it's just not for me. I did low carbs for a bit (that's better!) and stopped around the time I started exercising. I still eat less than 100/150 g of carbs per day, but maybe that's the reason I'm not losing weight? Even though it does not agree with the principle, "calories in, calories out".

Also, I'm in quarantine and right now I can't go to a nutritionist/dietician. I may consider it later.

I thank you very much If you got to the end of my post. What I'm trying to ask is if you have any input... as for now, I was wondering if I should try eating 1000 calories/day. But maybe you have other suggestions or anything else really. Thank you so very much!

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How do I stop bingeing on peanut butter?

I know this is probably going to sound like the most bizarre issue ever, but the only problem I have in my weight loss journey is that I can't stop myself from craving and eating peanut butter (and lotus biscoff spread, but mostly peanut butter). I never binge on ANYTHING except for those two straight from the jar, I could literally sit down with just a spoon and spread and polish them off. I thought about incorporating it into my diet (strictly CICO at the moment), but it's so high in calories and not filling at all! There was one day where I literally just dedicated all my calories to peanut butter and not only was it not filling, it didn't really curb my cravings at all. Has anyone else experienced this, and if you have, how did you overcome it? Please help :(

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