friday fluff- the McOlympian

19 02 2010

I read this blog on NPR today & cracked up about McDonald’s being a sponsor of the Olympics.  I’ve thought about the irony of Mcdonald’s being a sponsor for the most prestigious athletic competitions in the world for awhile & how no athlete is going to fuel up on protien and carbs from a big mac & fries! That said, I generally try to not be cynical but this blog echoed my sentiments exactly. It seems like their sponsorship of the olympics is a way to manage their tarnished image from movies like supersize me.

That said, since most of us will never compete in the olympics but still want to take care of our bodies can you actually eat healthily at McDonalds?  Where do you eat when you’re in a hurry but want to eat healthy? My sister was telling me about the shocked look on the face of moms from her son’s school when they suggested going to McDonald’s for lunch when Rachel’s son asked “what’s McDonalds?” If you know my sister, you’ll roll your eyes because she is a gorgeous woman who is also an amazing cook and loves food! Besides, her poison is Taco Bell :)

I actually am a sucker for the golden arches. more than any other fast food restaurant that is where I go if I’m in a rush, there isn’t a panera or jimmy johns available for healthier options.  The funny thing is that  I used to feel like all was lost if I stepped into a Mcdonald’s- like I needed to eat a big mac & giant fries, washed down, of course, with a diet coke- that it was the worst option or no option. Just because you eat there doesn’t mean you need to eat everything there!

Even at McDonald’s I try to stick with my strive for five principle, ordering a side salad off the $1 menu or some apple dippers without the carmel sauce.  True- it won’t be the best salad in the world but at least it’s vegetables that aren’t fried!  If I do get fries, which I try not to do that often, I’ll order a small & split it with Dave so I can enjoy the taste without the supersize. Splitting fries with Reuben is a lost cause- even if I steal one, he’ll cry out in horror- “that’s MY french fry!!!” I once spit the partially chewed fry back out to see what he’d do. He ate it anyways. My son has a deep love of french fries.

Even small choices at McD’s can save you calories- a 6-piece mcnugget is 280 calories compared to a double cheeseburger at 440 calories. You wouldn’t think it’d be that big of a difference- but every healthier choice ends up paying off! If you’re on the road a lot and don’t have many healthy options, it’s worth it to check the nutritional information for fast food locations listed online to know what you’re eating.  Spending 5 minutes doing a little research can help you make healthier choices every time you’re in the drive-through.  Better yet- skip the drive through and eat what you’ve got at home or pack a meal for the car!

cost-effective & healthy- the classic brown bag lunch!


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fighting the february flab

3 02 2010

I thought my jeans were tight the other day because I had just washed them. Then I noticed some muffin’ stuffin when I looked in the mirror.

thank God that the low-rise jean phenomenon is over!

So it wasn’t quite like the one in the picture, but it was enough for me to do a double take & realize that “dun-laps” (as in “my stomach dun lapped over my belt!) disease had caught up with me this month. It’s easy to freak out and think about cutting all the goodies completely- but when I’ve done this in the past it shoots me in the foot. So, I decided to:

Losing a few pounds over the course of a month is a feasible goal- but to help me get there I decided I needed to set some mini-goals. I like the way I look (and even did when I weighed 20 lbs. more) as my grandma told me as an awkward 7th grader- “honey, if you’ve got it, flaunt it.” Oh, grandma. So wholesome. Anyways- the issue is more about clothes fitting comfortably, staying on track with healthy eating during the winter months and not giving up because it’s freezing outside and there are warm cookies inside :)

Since it’s the easiest thing to do, I decided to resume a more active pursuit of Strive For Five each week to get my five fruits/veggies a day, set an exercise goal of strength training three times a week and cardio (walking) twice a week. I think the other thing that’s helped the muffin-top develop is well, all the muffins I’ve been eating. I love to bake and it’s so cozy to bake in the winter. But then all those chocolate chip cookies, lemon pound cakes and peach muffins stick around my house (and my waistline a little too long). That, coupled with less exercise = the fight of the february flab.

So, anyone else setting out this month to keep up their new years resolutions, starting to tone up for summer or drop a few pounds in the next month? What are your mini-goals? I


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dinner insurance

19 11 2009

Ever since my mother-in-law encouraged me to think of November-February as the “cozy months” it’s helped me to think about all the things I enjoy about winter. After our CSA ended I was lamenting the end of fresh lettuce, herbs and all the other weekly goodies we recieved. However, after freezing everything we gleaned recently I am excited about ways to work in 5 fruits/veggies a day through SOUP! Check out our haul. We pretty much froze all of this stuff to throw into soups later this winter.

Tonight I made one of my favorite healthy/cheap/quick soups that I saw on The Biggest Loser a year ago- Tiny Turkey Meatball soup. This has been one of my quick go-to soups when I need something easy to make & it freezes well too. Which brings me to the title of my post- I don’t know about you but when winter hits my motivation to eat well mostly revolves around the amount of protein I get in a piece of pecan pie. It’s dark and cold & way too easy to hunker down with some take-out instead making cheaper and healthier options.  So here is a recipe that you can make, eat, freeze half and thaw when the craving for pizza hits for the third night in a row. For single people- you can freeze this in clean, recycled yogurt containers, it’s about 2 portions.

Here is the recipe with my less bougie mods below.

Yield: Serves 4, 289 calories/serving

Tiny Turkey Meatball Soup
Ingredients:

  • 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups low-fat salt-free marinara
  • One 15 ounce can low-sodium chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • Crushed red pepper flakes to taste
  • 1-1/3 pound package ground lean turkey
  • Nu-Salt
  • ½ pound broccoli rabe, cut into bite size pieces
  • 2 tablespoons grated pecorino romano

Instructions

  1. Heat a large pot over high heat with chicken broth, marinara sauce, beans and crushed red pepper flakes until mixture comes to a simmer
  2. While mixture comes to a simmer, season ground turkey with Nu-Salt and pepper flakes
  3. Roll turkey into about 40 meatballs
  4. Next, stir broccoli rabe into the broth and bring to a simmer
  5. Add meatballs to the broth, cover pan with lid and lightly poach the meatballs until just cooked through, stirring occasionally for about 6 minutes
  6. The broth should barely simmer
  7. Check soup for seasoning
  8. Ladle into 4 large bowls and top with pecorino
  9. Although no actual salt is called for in this recipe, please add it as you see fit

My modifications:
I use regular marinara sauce, and normal chicken broth. Instead of broccoli rabe, I throw in whatever greens I have- spinach or kale usually. I like the chickpeas in the soup, but tonight I used kidney beans because I didn’t have any in my cupboard. The chickpeas do add a nicer flavor but the kidney beans did in a pinch! I typically use parmesan instead of pecorino.  Enjoy cozying up with some yummy soup in the next couple weeks! What are some of your favorite/healthy recipes for winter! Post the links & share them to keep the strive for five going!


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pick your five and lose five pounds

7 10 2009

You’re proactive when it comes to your calendar, scheduling times to spend with friends, projects you’ll do at work and the vacation you’ll enjoy- why wouldn’t you do the same thing with the food you eat every day?

Before I started to strive for five I would dread cooking and would respond to the grumbling in my stomach by grabbing whatever was easiest and most convenient- usually a granola bar or some type of carb.  Occasionally this would be an apple or banana but more often than not it was something other than fruit.  The problem with this (for me) was that I was just mindlessly trying to fuel my body without actually thinking about the type of fuel I was putting into it! I love bread, pasta, baked goods- you name the carb & I’ll slather it up with butter- so it has always been difficult for me to either give these up completely like on the South Beach Diet or Body for Life.  It was torture not to eat bread and spaghetti!

mmm....pasta! I eat whole wheat pasta now- it takes a little while to get used to, but it's nice that it's so filling so you eat less!

mmm....pasta! I eat whole wheat pasta now- it takes a little while to get used to, but it's nice that it's so filling so you eat less!

When I started strive for five I realized that I had to think about what I was eating a lot more than I normally did. I would mentally scan through my meals during the day to count the servings of fruit/veggies I’d consumed and then it became easy to make food choices after that because I was motivated to reach my goal.  I started thinking more about what I was eating and this helped me to have a practice of anticipating when I would fit in my next serving of fruits/veggies. This also helped at night when I was tired & had less self-discipline of what I ate. I was less likely to overeat at night because I had eaten whole pieces of fruit or veggies all day- high fiber items that kept me full longer than a granola bar or crackers and were more nutritious too.

When you set a goal like this for yourself it becomes like a fun challenge to be more creative how you can work fruit and veggies into your diet rather than a chore to whip out a meal.  I know every body is different but it’s medically documented that keeping a food journal- or in this case being accountable and mindful of what you’re eating helps with weightloss.  Here are my “top five for five”; some of the easiest ways I’ve found to get my five fruits or veggies a day and have a healthy outlook on food.

  • Eat fruit or veggies with breakfast. I’ve felt like this starts the day right & helps me begin with working towards my goal.  Whether it’s bananas sliced on cereal, raisins in oatmeal or scrambled eggs with some sliced peaches on the side, the fiber helps to keep me full and fueled as I begin my day. I’ve really liked eating omelets with peppers, onions and mushrooms to get a serving of veggies and having some fruit on the side too. If you don’t have time in the morning to make an omelet consider whipping up some of these- Veggie Quiche cups easy to make and they keep in the fridge! Really, you could throw any kind of veggie or cheese into these & just use normal eggs.  I made these when I was doing South Beach & I still like them because they’re convenient & healthy.
  • Plan ahead. When I would drive home from Grand Valley State University when I began working for InterVarsity Christian fellowship as a campus minister I would drive through what I named “the gauntlet.”
    get thee behind me cheeseburgers!

    get thee behind me cheeseburgers!

    I would be hungry, exhausted and emotionally spent and as I drove past Taco Bell, McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s their siren song of salty, greasy, cheap food called to this nutritionally wayward pirate. I’d find myself ordering a ton of food because, hey, it is a value meal after all, wolfing it down in the car and then going to sleep 1/2 an hour later.  There isn’t anything wrong eating food late at night according to my smarty-pants sister in law Rachel who researched this medical myth in her book Don’t Swallow Your Gum!

    eating late at night & other medical myths debunked in this great book!

    eating late at night & other medical myths debunked in this great book!

    The problem isn’t eating at night- it’s eating when you’re so tired and hungry that it’s too difficult to exercise self-restraint!  Now if I’m going out to run errands, will be taking a long drive or will be in an all-day meeting, I tuck a bag of almonds, dried fruit or an apple into my bag to eat later when I feel like I could eat a horse.  That way I won’t just wolf down what’s in front of me or the cheeseburger thats forever tempting me.  This has really helped working with college students where there is ALWAYS a piece of pizza or cake that’s being offered to you! I had to realize “hey- I’m not 19 anymore & sure don’t have the metabolism I used to!”

  • Work it in everywhere: Like I mentioned in my first post about this- my goal was to add more fruits and veggies to my diet- not cut out everything that was “bad” for me.  You can easily add in veggies to almost anything you’re making:Making mac & cheese from the blue box? Steam some broccoli to throw in! Real Simple magazine has this awesome recipe for mac & cheese with cauliflower that I really liked this past winter when I was craving comfort food. Dave and I like to make pita pizzas for an easy week-day meal- pita bread with spaghetti sauce & cheese and whatever toppings we have in the fridge. Throw a 1/2 cup of sauteed peppers, mushrooms, onions, spinach or whatever toppings you like & you can get at least 1/2 of a serving of veggies this way! Toast the bread first to make sure it doesn’t get soggy from the sauce, pop it in the oven at 350 and let it cook until the cheese melts to your  liking. The other night we had ramen noodles for dinner because we had sore throats & wanted soup- not exactly the healthiest choice but I still got my serving of veggies because we steamed some cauliflower, carrots & celery to throw in the soup.
  • Mix it up: Variety is the spice of life! I once read that Jennifer Aniston ate the same salad everyday for lunch while she was on the cast of Friends.
    sometimes I still feel a little sad that she and Brad split up :(

    sometimes I still feel a little sad that she and Brad split up :(

    I could never do this even if it did promise me her svelte thighs and toned arms! We all get in a boring routine of things so it helps to browse ways to mix it up.  I just got a recipe for a turkey-apple panini from the Michigan Apple association when I went apple picking this past weekend.  Here is a similar recipe- open-faced turkey apple sandwich at epicurious.com- I love that name :) . If that sounds gross to you, just think about the fancy-schmancy restaurants that serve salads with ham, gorgonzola cheese and pears. You can make your own fancy sandwich or salad at home! Having a good variety of veggies and fruits at home helps with this. I also found having different kinds of salad-dressing I could use as sauce helped with this too- asian sesame dressing works great over chopped cabbage for a quick salad, sweet vidalia onion dressing is yummy on a sweet-savory sandwich or salad like the one above!

  • it's way too easy to get in a salad rut- think about what kinds of veggies you eat at restaurants & then try to recreate it at home for yourself@

    it's way too easy to get in a salad rut- think about what kinds of veggies you eat at restaurants & then try to recreate it at home for yourself!

  • Don’t stress about the fat.  I used to rationalize that it was better to eat a granola bar than some carrots and dip because the ranch dressing had too much fat in it.  I didn’t think about the fact that the carrots were high in fiber, low calorie & that if I looked at the recommended portion size of dressing on the back of the bottle, I was actually eating less dressing than the average portion size of 2 TBSP.  So, 4 carrot sticks = 15 calories, 2 TBSP ranch = 180 for a total of 195 calories. An average granola bar is anywhere from 120-200 calories.  And let’s face it people- we all go for the chocolate chip granola bars when left with a choice between that and a raisin granola bar :) My philosophy is; better to eat broccoli with cheese sauce than no broccoli at all! At least you are getting the fiber and nutrients this way. I know everyones body is different & I’ve learned that I need to watch my intake of refined carbs to feel good all around. This is what worked for me- it may not work for you.

What have been some creative ways that you’ve worked in more fruits and veggies into your meals recently? Dave made a great spaghetti sauce recently & threw in some summer squash, mushrooms and eggplant. It was so yummy!


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last day(s) of strive for five!

29 09 2009

So, for those of you who took my challenge to “Strive for Five” fruits and vegetables over the month of September, how did it go? I know we still technically have the rest of today & tomorrow, but I’m guessing you’re going to go the distance and eat a few extra carrots :) (you go mr. banana grabber man- get down with your tomato devouring self lady-friend!)

go Mr. Banana Grabber go!

go Mr. Banana Grabber go!

This has actually been my best month yet- I think knowing that I’d photograph my sticker calendar at the end of the month to post on my blog was good motivation!  Each month I try to beat my record- my best record was 18 out of 31 days eating 5 a day.  This month I broke the record & went 26- not counting tomorrow! I feel proud! And more importantly, I feel healthy.

So how did it go for you guys? What was one change you noticed internally or externally when you began to strive for five? Some people have told me they’ve lost weight. Others have told me they’ve discovered they don’t actually like fruit. Still others have told me that they’ll cut up veggies now & put them on their pizza instead of just eating it with meat. All great ideas to get in your veggies! Here are the top five things I noticed for myself while I’ve done Strive for Five:

  1. It can be too easy to fall into perfectionism when it comes to eating. A few weeks ago I went apple picking with my family & ate like, 5 apples & peaches and handfuls of raspberries in three hours.  My mouth actually hurt later from all the fruit acid. Needless to say, I did NOT feel like eating any fruit the next day. I hadn’t skipped a day yet but I finally thought- “hey! I don’t need to be perfect! It’s o.k. if I have an occasional day where I don’t hit my goal!” Eating isn’t about being being perfect- it’s about enjoying what you have and exercising self-control. I should have eaten LESS fruit that day!

    even gluttony with fruit can be a bad thing as my sister & I recently learned.

    even gluttony with fruit can be a bad thing as my sister & I recently learned.

  2. Indulgence feels better when you’ve earned it. I was craving chocolate chip cookies last week so I whipped up a batch. Thanks to the tip of my brilliant sister- I froze 1/2 of the dough for later. This way I’ll have the dough made the next time I want warm cookies & I also don’t have 2 dozen huge cookies laying around that I “have to eat or they’ll go bad” ;) When I hit my goal each day, it was really nice to sit down at night with a warm cookie & milk and savor it rather than mindlessly sneak them all day and feel guilty about it later. Anyone else feel me on this one?
  3. When I’m thinking about what I eat, I’m more thankful for my food. As my sister, Dave and our kids crouched over raspberry bushes to pick the luscious red berries, I felt so happy at the diversity of food God has given us to enjoy. I felt thankful for the farmers who grew it and the sun and rain that enabled it to bear fruit. At one point my sister started singing the doxology which she was going to sing in church the next day. If you don’t know it the words are: “praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly hosts! Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.” I couldn’t think of a more fitting response to a bounty of glistening raspberries picked with people whom I love.
  4. Trying to eat more veggies helps me to be more creative with what I cook. With anything, it’s easy to fall into a rut- boring steamed broccoli on the side of your plate every night. A bag of dried out baby carrots in your lunch bag or a bruised apple. When I’m trying to consume so many veggies and fruits, I find that I begin to find new ways to use them or to try things I’ve never eaten or cooked before. Things like dragon’s lingerie beans, chinese cabbage, leeks or pickled turnips.
  5. Planning what I eat and when I eat it curbs impulse foods. Because I’m always thinking of when I can get my next helping of fruits or veggies, it helps me to plan ahead. It’s easier to incorporate fruits or veggies when I sit down for a meal- I’ve already planned and cooked (or packed) what I’m going to eat. But the hours between 10am and 1pm and 2pm and 6pm are the times of precarious eating for me (how about you?). I typically always need a snack at some point between meals & if I remember this before I run out for an errand that will take me a few hours, I’ll grab an apple or banana that I can eat in the car. Or I’ll drink a glass of water or mug of tea and eat some carrot sticks with dip and hour or so before dinner so I’m not ravenous & end up overeating.

    whether in Texas or in Michigan- JUST SAY NO! :)

    whether in Texas or in Michigan- drive thrus are everywhere!

Overall I’ve felt really good this month- healthy, energetic and enjoying food. I even ended up losing a few pounds! I wasn’t trying to do but is the kind of thing that seems to happen when you’re making decisions about what you eat rather than reacting to when your tummy is rumbling and you grab the first bag of chips thing in sight.

Here are some ideas I’ve had for the next month of blogs on eating/food. Would you vote for the ones you’d like to read about the most? Pick your top four & I’ll go with the top picks for the next four tuesdays in October.

  1. What’s a portion of veggies/fruit? It can be confusing knowing how much is enough/too little. Tips for clarifying how much you should be getting.
  2. Eating on the go/for busy people. I’ll be traveling a lot this month & have been thinking about how to keep eating healthy while on the road/in airports & figured I’m not the only one who could use help with this.
  3. My favorite healthy (and fast recipes) to help you get your daily veggie servings. I’d love to share recipes! Best cooking resources for healthy eating.  Some quick tips on wading through all the websites, magazines and cookbooks.
  4. What’s the cost of veggies? How to get the most bang for your buck buying produce.
  5. Getting derailed on healthy eating. How to get back on track when you’ve eaten your way through a weekend (or month) of pizza, wings, beer, cookies, ice cream…..pick your poison :D
  6. Fast food- is it even possible to eat healthy when you’re going through a drive- through? Learn the best & worst fast food picks to stay on track with healthy eating.

So, pick your top 4 for this month & I’ll blog away.  Way to go to everyone who did strive for five! I hope this month has set some healthy patterns into motion that will stick around for the months to come! Even if you didn’t do it this month, there’s always next month :)


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with a little help from my friends (or how I lost 20 lbs)

22 09 2009

I’ve been having so much fun doing strive for five with you guys! It almost makes me not want to stop blogging about it on Tuesdays in October when we’ll shift our focus to a spiritual challenge! I was thinking about possibly continuing to blog about food/eating/recipes/being healthy on another day because I’ve personally enjoyed it & have loved hearing from many of you how strive for five has been going & the creative things you’ve been doing to challenge yourself to eat healthier.  So what do you think- keep blogging about food stuff on another day besides Tuesdays? In October we’ll focus on the challenge of integrating prayer into our daily routine but I’d love to help keep us encouraged to continue healthy eating habits. Let me know what you think!

My sweet friend Michelle sent me this email recently & I asked her if I could post it in my blog today to encourage others:

Hi Jessica,

I just wanted you to know how much I appreciated your blog about striving for five. I’ve been taking your challenge seriously for over a week now, and lost 2.8 pounds last week! I’ve been following Weight Watchers, but never really paid attention to their suggestion to get 5 servings in each day. I can’t believe the difference… especially in my mindset. Instead of thinking about what I should be avoiding, I’m thinking about when I’m going to eat my servings. It really has made a massive change in me… hopefully to stay. Anyway, just thought you’d like to hear it!

Thanks, girl!
Michelle

words of affirmation are one of the ways I feel most loved so this meant a lot to me! I hope it encourages you too- to either start doing strive for five or to keep at it! With women, so much can be about competition and comparison especially when it comes to our bodies. I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t struggle with this at times especially when I see how cute skinny jeans look on other people but am horrified that they seemingly magnify the size of my thighs so that I look like a giant pair of thighs with a head floating above them.

Michelle’s email was particularly encouraging for me both because it’s nice to know that what I’m writing isn’t just floating out there into blog abyss. But it was also encouraging because Michelle is a writer, and the author of this awesome book Wanting to Be Her: Body Image Secrets that Victoria Won’t Tell You.

we are bombarded with images that make us dissatisfied with ourselves.

we are bombarded with images that make us dissatisfied with ourselves.

I’m thankful that many of the women I interact with encourage each other to make healthy choices rather than make those offhand digs that you often find in conversations. You know what I’m talking about- “wow, those jeans look great on you! you must eat nothing besides celery!” “I could never get away with a dress like that!” ugh. I hate comments like this- is there any diplomatic way to respond?

A few of the biggest encouragements for me have been the women who love to eat and to enjoy life while doing so in moderation.  That’s the key right? Yet it is so rare to find.  The women in my book club love to eat and try new foods- we’re meeting this Wednesday to discuss “The Memory Keepers Daughter” (awesome book!). I can’t wait to see  what everyone brings for us to snack on! My mom and sister have also been a great encouragement too- both of them love to cook and are really creative in the kitchen- I am amazed at the stuff my sister can just whip up!  We have all had our struggles with a healthy perspective on weight in some way or another but it’s been great to have family members that try to balance the enjoyment of pecan pie at Thanksgiving with a healthy serving of asparagus during the meal. Lastly, I stumbled upon a blog called Carrots n’ Cake- a food blog devoted to healthy balance when I was looking for a Real Simple recipe a few months ago.  Tina, the blogger simply writes about her daily food & exercise choices & for whatever reason it is so motivating to see what this is like in the life of a regular person- not in the pages of a slick magazine or on the latest episode of Access Hollywood. I read Tina’s blog regularly & it’s been a fun way to see different ways to eat oatmeal (who knew there could be so many possibilities!) and learn about new foods or workouts.  When I found this site I forwarded the link to all my girlfriends because I enjoyed it so much!

Who are people in your life that help you to make healthy choices?  One of the biggest struggles can feel like you’re doing it alone- without the help of people at your gym, workplace, family or friends. So let’s keep encouraging each other!



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channeling my inner 5th grader (or how I lost 20 lbs)

15 09 2009

What helps you to stay motivated when you’re working towards a goal?  For me it had to do with some stickers…and a little reminder from cookie monster. (if you don’t think you have time to click on this link, just doooo it- trust me it will be a highlight of your day.)

Thanks for the encouragement cookie monster- “cookies are sometimes foods, fruits and veggies are anytime foods.” :) Besides setting a goal of eating 5 fruits and vegetables a day I also knew that I’d need a little visual encouragement to help me track my goal.  Many people advocate for using a food diary, but that seemed like too much work to me at the time.  On a trip where I was leading an outreach at the University of Pittsburgh my friend Chloe and I were buying some last minute supplies when I spotted them- stickers with little fruits on them that said things like  ”mango-ificent!” and “berry good.”  My inner 5th grader couldn’t resist! I didn’t even have my wallet with me so I had to ask Chloe (very much like a 5th grader) “will you buy me some stickers please?”  So I printed a calendar from ical and stuck it on my fridge to help me track the days when I met my goal of eating 5 fruits/veggies.

it helps that I look at this every time I'm in the kitchen. The picture of the Asian kid in the bad vest holding the clarinet just makes me laugh.

it helps that I look at this every time I'm in the kitchen. The picture of the Asian kid in the bad vest holding the clarinet just makes me laugh. The text above his picture says "say YES when they ask you to play in band or orchestra!"

Each month I try to beat how many days I’ve gone eating fruits & veggies.  I think this month it’s helped that I’m blogging about this because I’ve gone a whopping record 14 days in a row meeting my goal! woo hoo! There’s something about accountability that helps with this kind of stuff.  How have you been doing meeting this goal? Noticed any external or internal changes? One of my internal changes was that I began to become excited about trying new fruits and veggies and began to see eating as an adventure rather than a chore, opportunity to indulge in gluttony or a mystery of what to cook.  It was like a whole world opened up when I started eating stuff like this:

yummy burrito!

yummy burrito!

Now tell me that doesn’t look like something from Chipotle!  It was crazy easy to make too- black beans & brown rice leftover from the night before with a little thawed corn thrown in + sauteed peppers & onions topped with some tomatoes and cilantro. I didn’t have any cheese so I made a little concoction of ranch dressing plus Frank’s Red Hot, my favorite hot sauce. It took about 10 minutes to make since the black beans and rice were already cooked- I usually cook a little extra beans or rice  since it can take awhile for beans to soak and rice to cook. I was so stuffed until dinner and I had at least two servings of veggies in this meal! I’m getting hungry just looking at it.

One of the challenges was learning to incorporate more veggies into my meals and cookbooks like Simply in Season really helped me to know how to cook things I’d never made before.

good recipes for seasonal eating.

good recipes for seasonal eating.

I especially like that this cookbook was created to help people be more aware of how the food they eat impacts their local and global neighbors.  There are great stories on most pages about how peoples perspectives on food has changed as they began to eat more locally grown produce and how with it has come a spirit of thankfulness.  This prayer is included under a recipe for Winter Squash Bars:

A tasty prayer of thanks

Delicious Creator God, I taste your glory in the tangy crunch of a crisp apple. I taste your glory in salty tears of emotion. I taste your glory in cool, clear, life-giving water. I taste your glory in the heavy sweetness of dark chocolate. Your glory flavors the early peas and new lettuce of spring, the raspberries and sour cherries of my backyard, the mealy goodness of new potatoes and butternut squash, it steeps in my tea and bakes in my peach cobbler.

For the nibbles and feasts of your glory and for my taste buds, I give you thanks. -Donna Mast

You can usually check out cookbooks from your local library which is what I like to do before purchasing them to make sure that they have recipes that I’ll actually make and don’t call for ingredients that will be costly or hard to find. I made the chard cheese bake from this cookbook recently & it was so delicious- plus I added kale which is a superfood (for more info click here-on this cheeseball article which is also informative).

Here is the recipe if you’re interested in trying it:

  • 1 pound Swiss chard or spinach (chopped)
  • 4 eggs (beaten)
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup swiss cheese or another cheese- shredded (I used cheddar)
  • 1 cup bread- cubed (I used rye which added a nice flavor & extra fiber)
  • 1/2 cup green onions- sliced
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (grated)

Combine with cooked greens. Pour into a greased 2-quart baking dish. Cover and bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees until set, 25-30 minutes.

Now as I’m reading the recipe, I realized I forgot to add the milk or cover it, and it still tasted great! :) Dave suggested that some bacon would taste great in this too- but there are some who say that

hey, I thought dogs preferred snausages?

hey, I thought dogs preferred snausages?

Whether you’re a meat-a-sauras or like the veggies, it was a really yummy recipe & I could even see making it for a brunch- it was a lot like a soufflé.

So- how did you do this past week with the strive for five challenge? Need more encouragement? I was thinking about adding a post about this for the next few Saturdays to see where people are at & provide accountability & encouragement- what do you think?


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Categories : food, inner world, nature, spirituality

give me more fruit! (or, how I lost 20 lbs.)

8 09 2009

It’s rare to find a person that isn’t interested in dropping a little weight. Few of us are content with how we look even though 20 years from now it’s likely that we’ll look back on pictures and think- “dang! I looked gooood!” and chide ourselves for not being more thankful for bodies that function well & were healthy.

In my post about running recently I wrote about how I decided to try and “strive for five” fruits and veggies a day starting last January.

taste the rainbow!

taste the rainbow!

While I had developed a good running routine, the extra 20 lbs. of baby weight just wasn’t coming off very quickly.  It’s funny that the things that are the easiest often seem the most difficult to practice- namely self-discipline when it comes to eating and exercise.  It’s simple to say, “have an apple instead of five one cookie, but far more difficult to have the self-restraint to make this choice.  In January I had set a goal to lose 10 lbs by March 1st.  I didn’t put myself “on a diet” per say because I love to bake and I love to eat what I bake.  Every other time I’ve tried to do things like Body for Life or the South Beach Diet I end up a: obsessing about what I CAN’T eat, b: sneaking things that the diet says I can’t eat (just a little ketchup won’t hurt will it Bill Phillips?) c: basically being really cranky because my life is consumed with thinking about what I should and shouldn’t eat.

So when I just decided to try and strive for 5 the only guideline I gave myself was that when I hit my goal of eating 5 a day, I could eat whatever I wanted after that.  Pretty soon I found that when I had eaten portions of grapes, apples dipped in sunflower seed butter and stir-fry loaded with veggies, I wasn’t even hungry for the cookies I had baked or the ginormous bowl of popcorn to munch on while watching Lost. And even though I had set a goal of losing 10 lbs. by March 1st, I ended up dropping 15 lbs by the third week in February.  I was amazed by how making this small yet powerful shift in my eating habits both changed my body and the way I thought about food.

The funny thing was, I felt like doing this was something I sensed God encouraging me towards years ago. When I was on a silent retreat I decided to get a massage- something I loooooove to indulge in every once in awhile.  During the massage as I was enjoying the scent of lavender oils and feeling relaxed during a really stressful time in the year, I sensed God saying to me “eat only what I’ve made.”  Now, I know to some people this will sound freaky-deaky. But it wasn’t- God likes to speak in lots of ways- through scripture, through our spirit sensing some kind of encouragement (rather than in booming thunder) or in words of truth spoken through a friend.  It’s always personal and it’s always true.  But at the time I thought- “dang it Lord, I LIKE Hot Cheetos! I like McDonald’s cheeseburgers (and I still do), I like brownies warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and hot fudge drizzled on top!”

At the time though I sensed God was encouraging me to be more mindful of what I put into this body of mine, I wasn’t too into pursuing the self-discipline to change.  When I started to eat more fruits and veggies, though my body was changing from what I was consuming, my inner world began to change too.  Scripture tells us that “But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.” galatians 5:22-23

These things are often referred to as “the fruit of the spirit.” And while I was putting more literal fruit into my body, I sensed that God was growing spiritual fruit of self-discipline in my life, a thankfulness for the people who grew the food I was consuming and a body that is healthy because of the choices I was making to care for it.  Though we often think of things like self-control, love or peace as ethereal things- they aren’t.  Our internal worlds shape our external world. God made us so that everything is connected- our bodies, our spirits our minds.

I’d going to throw down a challenge for anyone who reads my blog: September is national “5 a day month.” I’d love for you to join me in the challenge to eat 5 fruits and veggies a day for the rest of the month. Not only because it’s healthy, but I’m curious if what happened to me will happen to you too- that as you are more mindful of what you eat your inner world begins to change.  Rather than just making this about physical fitness, I want to challenge you to pray that God would give you a spirit of self-discipline when it comes to eating or another area of your life.  So how bout it? Anybody up for the challenge? Every Tuesday I’ll post something about how our inner world affects our outer world when it comes to eating & encouragements & accountability to “strive for 5″ together.  Post a comment in response to this blog if you’re in!

Here are some resources to help you get started:

Fruits and Veggies Matter

Strive For Five

Roasted beet wedges: Here’s a recipe for the roasted beets I recently made- try a new fruit or veggie this week! Or just use the allrecipes.com website to find out how to cook veggies you’ve never tried before!


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