Adventures With Our Vitamix

In our continued effort to add in more fruits and veggies to the daily eating plan, I have enlisted an ally in our kitchen:  our Vitamix.

It chops up veggies to a very fine consistency, so that they can be added to sauces or soups without noticeable chunkiness that might get detected more easily by picky eaters.  Stealth veg is my secret weapon at the moment. While we continue to work on just eating the veggies outright, I am not content to wait and try to sneak extra veggies into just about everything where I can.

When I have time, anyway -- this week has been so insanely busy that I have been grateful to just get any home-cooked food into all of us at the end of the day.  I hate it when we have that week, and am looking forward to the slow-down that the end of school brings to our house.

But my favorite use for our Vitamix is for smoothies: I just toss some juice or water, assorted frozen fruits, spinach or kale, and some protein powder into the Vitamix and whir it around to make a delicious smoothie that is bursting with antioxidant goodness.  I have found that if you use enough frozen blueberries or cherries in your fruit mix that no one will ever know the spinach or kale is in there once things are well blended.

I swear that you cannot taste the spinach or kale at all, but the healthy goodness is in there for an extra vitamin kick. 

I love that we can get 3 or 4 servings of fruits and veggies in a big glass of milkshake-tasting yumminess.  If I toss in a variety of fruits, which I normally do, we get a whole spectrum of antioxident goodness in a glass.

Vegging Out

Eat yer veggies.  How many times has that refrain come out of someone's mouth in your general vicinity over a lifetime?   Especially when you were younger, and veggies seemed like an enormous hardship at every meal (unless you were me, who loved veggies so much growing up that I would have second and third helpings of broccoli...I know!). 

For some reason, as life has gotten busier and busier for me, I have found it tougher to work a variety of veggies into our day to day diet. 

I do try, truly I do.  I buy a lovely rainbow variety of tasty veggies at the store, but then they languish in the fridge because I can't get time or energy to do prep after a long day at school, and then I end up wasting way too much veg that gets thrown out of the produce bins, looking soggy and sad at being forgotten.

So, I'm trying an experiment this week to see if I can't do a bit better.

Today, my plan is to clean out the fridge and to cut up a number of veggies that I can toss into my lunch or into dinner menu possibilities the front part of the week.  Not so much that they will go bad before they get eaten, but enough that it will be easier for my lunch-packing rush in the mornings.

Two weeks to go in school, and I still feel like I am running out the door every day.  It is wearing me out, and I need summer to recharge.  But in the meantime, I'd like to plug more veggies into the daily mix so the antioxidants and vitamins can help me gut my way through the end of the year with a little more pep.

How do you incorporate more healthy produce into your day to day?  Do tell.  I'd love some new hints and tips on making this work a little better at our house.

Cutting The Crapola

The last couple of days, I have been re-reading a lot of my healthier cookbooks, trying to revamp our eating habits to clear out the unhealthy bits and add in more healthy ones.  For the most part, we eat far more healthfully than we did for years, but my recent bout with breast cancer has made eating even more fruits and veggies a priority.

Not just for me, but for The Peanut as well, for obvious reasons.

As I'm trying to plan a menu for all of us for the week, I find myself making excuses and trying to come up with ways to continue serving the same old easy stuff, because we can all agree on it and I know it will be mostly eaten, even by the pickiest among us.  But that is ridiculous, because if the same old, same old was acceptable, I wouldn't be trying to revamp things, now would I?

It's time to cut the crapola when it comes to diet and exercise and be honest with myself:  we can, and must, do better.

Some of the cookbooks I've been perusing are:

-- The Eat-Clean Diet Recharged: Lasting Fat Loss That's Better than Ever!

-- The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook: Great-Tasting Recipes That Keep You Lean

-- Eating for Life: Your Guide to Great Health, Fat Loss and Increased Energy

-- The New Sonoma Cookbook: Simple Recipes for a Healthy, More Delicious Way to Live

-- The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook: 200 Delicious Recipes Ready in 30 Minutes or Less

-- The South Beach Diet Super Quick Cookbook: 200 Easy Solutions for Everyday Meals

For me, though, it really isn't about knowledge.  I know what I ought to be eating and doing.  What I lack is actually DOING things properly, instead of just halfway and hoping it is enough.  It isn't.  And I know it.  Which means it is time to get off my rear end and do something about it.

So, henceforth, the following will apply:

Smoothing Out The Rougher Edges

Putting the whole of life into some sort of perspective can be really useful in terms of figuring out where the pieces may not be working well.  It can also be maddening, trying to rearrange things so that everything falls smoothly into place.

Sometimes, I suppose, there needs to be a little friction in order to smooth out a rough edge or two.  But that doesn't make it easy, does it?

One of the constants in my life of late has been the need to get my act together in terms of the day to day necessities:  better, healthier diet; more regular and productive exercise; daily cleaning maintenance, even on days when I am utterly exhausted.  Doing all of this, even just to a tiny extent, would make a big difference in how things feel and work.  At least I think it would.

But when you are worn out and frazzled and past the point of thinking in the long term, doing even a little bit can certainly feel like you are attempting to summit Mt. Everest in a blizzard.

So how do you keep going in spite of that and do the things that need to be done -- not for others, but for yourself?  That is the question that I need to answer.

Walking The Walk

After spending the weekend running around from this to that and back again, I've realized a couple of things:

1.  I am horribly out of shape and I have no energy.

2.  We need to eat more fruits and veggies, because I feel so much better when my diet is more plant-centric.  So more of that, please.

We've been trying to emphasize a healthier diet for The Peanut, who is a little fruit and veggie adverse, quite frankly, due to some food texture issues.  Things like seeds (pretty much any berries, hello!) or bumpy bits (say hello to broccoli and cauliflower) completely squick her out -- we keep trying, but let's just say the food processor and the VitaMix are my friends here.

But it occurs to me that we haven't been setting the best parental example of late, either. 

Things have been so busy at our house that we have been failing to plan and just scrambling to get any food on the table at all.  That's no good.  For any of us.

So today will be all about assessing what we have in the pantry, fridge and freezer, and then trying to plan healthier menus around that with, perhaps, a trip to the store for fresh produce. 

Back On The Nutrition Wagon

After a week of eating out while we were in Pittsburgh, I realized something:  I make horrible food choices in restaurants.  Somehow, I rationalize that "I'm on vacation" and then manage to pick out the fattiest, most decadent menu item to consume.

Or at least it sure feels that way on the back end of the trip when my entire system is craving nothing but fresh veggies and fruits as if it has endured a starvation diet for eons.

Even picking a salad here and there doesn't seem to have made things better this trip.  How do people who have to travel a lot for business manage to stay the least bit healthy?

Although, I have to say, the breakfast buffet at our hotel was really nice, with fresh fruit, steel cut oatmeal, eggs cooked to order and some other options that at least started the day well.

As with all things, though, it is what you do most of the time that matters, right?  So I'm back on the good nutrition wagon as of this morning. 

Meatless Monday And Beyond: Dipping A Toe Into Healthier Family Meals

We spent some time talking over the weekend about returning to vegetarianism -- something we were exclusively for several years until our fertility doc recommended I add meat back into my diet back in the days when we were tinkering with why we were having trouble being pregnant.

I'm glad we did, because it resulted in us having The Peanut, who is the joy of our lives.  But...isn't there always a "but?"

We eat way too much meat these days.  Add to it that we eat way too much crapola in general, and need to add in far more veggies and fruits and whole grains and...well, you get the picture.

I've decided we're at least going to dive in with a meatless Monday regime and make that change and then see where that takes us.  We have an almost 9-year-old very picky child to consider and a 20-year-old nephew living with us, so a whole hog switch to sprouts and kale isn't something we can do immediately without a wailing mutiny (at least from The Peanut, anyway).

Although, as Mr. ReddHedd says, "when she gets hungry enough, she'll eat."  True, dat.

I'm not inclined to issue wholesale food changes by fiat, but at the same time we are definitely going to be shifting what we eat.  Just, perhaps, a little more gradually so that small persons have some time to adjust along the way.

My plan is a very simple one:  transform the side dishes into the main course, and the meat -- when we use it -- into more of a condiment.  Plan more meals based on healthy whole foods, mostly veggies and fruits and whole grains, and come up with more meatless meals wherever possible.

In short, what we should have been eating all along will hopefully become our norm.

Restoration, Life and Lupus

I am tired of always being tired.  Can I just say that out loud?

We just got back from what should have been a vacation, but instead just wore me out.  I had trouble adjusting tot he time change this trip, spent a lot of the time waking up at 5 am in Phoenix (which was 8 am back home in WV, so my body was convinced it was logical), and as a result am just exhausted right now.

Throw in what appears to be a cold caught on the airplane and the usual lupus issues from travel and I'm pretty much useless today.

So I'm going to take it easy.  Again.

And that is where the problem comes in:  I have been doing that a lot of late.  I don't whether it is the heat and humidity this summer, or my increasing age, or what, but life is kicking my ass and I would love to know what I can do to make it stop.

Better diet?  I'm actually eating better lately, including lots more fruits and veggies, thanks to beginning the new Weight Watchers Points Plus plan a few weeks ago.  But there's always room for improvement, right?  So I'll try to be conscious of that going forward and do better where I can.

Artist's Way Seminar: After The Second Day

Let me tell you, digging through all the artistic blocks and censors you have built up through the years is hard, exhausting work.

It has been well worth it, absolutely.  But I crashed hard last night and slept so soundly the alarm was startling this morning.  This seminar has been incredibly energizing in so many ways for me, but my body needed down time in the worst way last night -- funny how when I need to process heavy information, my refuge has always been and still is a lot of sleep.

Woke up and did my seminar homework morning pages first thing. 

It's funny to think about them as homework, because I do them regularly these days and love them.  But it's been fun doing them here because I'm in such a creative frame of mind that I'm digging at some really useful stuff that has helped unlock so many things for me.  It's really been a wonderful tool for meditation and creativity while I've been here.

Meals yesterday were also wonderful.  Again.

Artist's Way Seminar: After The First Day

It's the morning after the first day of the Artist's Way seminar, and I'm exhausted, but having a lot of fun as well.

Yesterday, I started the day with a great breakfast of steel cut oats, fortified with a little yogurt, some walnuts and a little maple syrup and cinnamon.   Yum.  Let me say that again -- yummmmmmmm.  I also had a couple of boiled eggs and some stewed apple slices.

As I was enjoying the meal, I sat at the table thinking "Why don't I eat this way all the time at home?" 

There is no good answer for that, because I really could eat this way at home more often.

So I hereby vow to try and do so.  Because eating healthy food makes me feel so much better than eating crap.  ("Duh, Christy, how many times do you need to learn this lesson?" you ask me.  "As many times as it takes to learn it," I reply.)

Artist's Way Seminar: Prelude

My Artist's Way seminar starts today, but I've already been here for a whole day.

I arrived a day early to the Kripalu Center on purpose so that I could get my bearings in the new surroundings before plunging into the writing seminar.

Plus, I wanted to have time for a yoga class or two and some nutritional discussion, as well as go to a meditation class.

It turns out to have been a really good decision.

Here's a report about my doings from yesterday, from start to finish:

A Clear-Eyed View

Alas, for all of us, politics and common sense do not often meet in the middle in much of anything these days.

But occasionally?  Miracles do happen.  Via Marion Nestle:

The new guidelines recognize that obesity is the number-one public health nutrition problem in America and actually give good advice about what to do about it: eat less and eat better. For the first time, the guidelines make it clear that eating less is a priority.

Why is it such a miracle that the national dietary guidelines would say something so obvious when we have a nation faced with a serious obesity problem?

Huzzah!

I found a few websites and blogs with some yummy South Beach Diet recipes on them.  Thought I'd share with all of you, in case you are interested in perusing, too:

-- Kalyn's Kitchen -- some seriously awesome and healthy recipes here.  I can already tell I'm going to enjoy these a lot!

-- Once Upon A Feast -- found a stash of recipes here as well.

-- Century Club -- lots of recipes to peruse.

Dinner Tonight? Easy Veggie Stir-Fry

I'm in the mood for some Chinese food this evening.  Which might be inconvenient, given that we are doing very well thus far on the The South Beach Diet Phase 1.

But I've come up with a plan that will satisfy my urge for a Chinese food fix, and still keep us within the parameters of Phase 1 requirements.

Woo hoo!

I've taken a recipe from Bill Phillips' Eating For Life cookbook, which I absolutely love, btw, because it's chock full of easy, healthy recipes that Mr. ReddHedd will happily eat, and tweaked it.

Originally this was the "Sesame Beef Stir-Fry recipe on page 125 -- but I've modified it a wee bit to make it South Beach Phase 1 friendly.  It took only a little bit of tweaking, and I've managed to add a bit more veggies to the mix for color, fiber and antioxidants while still maintaining a healthy profile.

So, here's what we are having for dinner here this evening:

Veggie Recipes Galore

In all of my reading and efforts to steer our diet in a more healthy direction, one thing has become abundantly clear:  we don't eat nearly enough veggies in this house.

I suspect that this may be true for most households in this country -- except the vegetarian ones, although I've known a lot of folks who lived on microwave mac and cheese who called themselves vegetarians, too, who wouldn't have known a rutabaga from a radish.

So I've been trying to come up with some great and easy ways to add veggies into our meals.  Thus far?  I've been rather successful with a few tricks that I thought might be worth passing on to all of you:

-- When I make meatloaf, I add rolled oats (good fiber from a whole grain), and then a mix of veggies that I grind up small in my food processor -- onion, carrot, zucchini, sometimes a little spinach or Swiss chard, and a cup or so of salsa for flavor kick.   The salsa spices things up nicely, and thus the ground up veggies go relatively unnoticed by my veggie averse brood, especially if I top said meatloaf with some ketchup while it bakes.

-- I do the same with spaghetti sauce.  You of course want onion and garlic for flavor along with basil, oregano, marjoram, and parsley (which add wonderful antioxidants because herbs are full of them), but you can add in some extra grated carrot, zucchini, spinach, too.  I take a page from Remy in Ratatouille and just tell The Peanut that I "got fancy with the spices," and she gobbles it up if I've added some turkey meatballs to the mix.

Hobbling To The Resolution Starting Line

It's time to put all those resolutions into action, gang.

Although I could not have timed my 2nd degree burn any more poorly, I refuse to allow my current state of mobility limitations to prevent me from moving forward on my plans.

Sometimes life throws you a curveball.  The trick for me is figuring out how to move past it without sabotaging my own plans for better health.

And so?  Today will mean that I clean out our fridge so that we can start off Monday with a fresh and healthy set of choices.

Sure, I'll be cleaning things out while sitting on a chair, and Mr. ReddHedd is going to have to help me -- and go shopping for me -- but we will make do.  Then I'll spend some time, still sitting on a kitchen stool, prepping snacks and some other food for tomorrow.

And hopefully, if I can keep moving forward today -- which isn't a given since I've been needing naps as my scalded leg heals -- I'll try to post what my menu plans are for the week.

You Say You Want A Resolution?

'Tis the season for resolutions at year's end. Which, if you are like me, have already been broken and stomped into the dust by mid-February.

This year, though?  I'm vowing to do things differently.  And as I said last week, I'd love it if you all joined in as well because I think there is definite strength in numbers on something like this.

I've been working on an actual, definable plan, with realistic goals that can be worked toward on a week by week basis instead of coming up with meaningless, blobby goals that only sound good in the abstract.  It's the difference between:

"lose some weight"

and

"lose at least 1 pound per week through exercise -- 5 days per week at a minimum -- and following a diet plan that is akin to South Beach diet's good carbs in moderation/healthy proteins/lots of veggies and Clean Eating and Eating For Life's healthier lifestyle choices at every meal, until I reach my goal weight of 140 pounds,"

which is to say there is a huge difference in planning, accountability and execution.  I'm including a requirement for blocking off time each week for meal planning, for going over what worked and what didn't, and for planning my workouts as well.

Because for me?  Having a roadmap to success makes the whole thing easier.  But forcing myself to be accountable for following it?  Makes a world of difference.

Bits And Pieces

It's been a busy weekend, so I thought I'd share some things I've found intriguing or fun lately:

-- This sesame noodles recipe is at once really simple, and incredibly yummy looking.  So much so that I want to have it for breakfast because I'm not certain that I can wait until later to try it.  (Found this via the NYTimes' Reader Recipe contest.)

-- Through the same NYTimes recipe contest, I found a new (to me!) food blog that I really like:  Opera Girl Cooks.  Huzzah -- it has clean eating recipes that are full of veggies and whole foods. 

-- Speaking of clean eating, I just finished reading Tosca Reno's new book and there was information in there that was incredibly helpful and encouraging.  Especially for someone who is on the front end of her weight loss and fitness journey (and still trying to figure out who she wants to be when she grows up, frankly, if we're being totally honest).  It's comprehensive, dealing not just with eating and exercise, but also the mental changes needed to sustain a healthier lifestyle and the support you need to give yourself to find the courage to take the steps to get healthy.  Well done book and well worth a read: Your Best Body Now: Look and Feel Fabulous at Any Age the Eat-Clean Way.

-- The high temperature average for Yellowstone in June?  68.5 F.  The low average?  36.6.  We'll be packing lots of layers.  LOTS of layers, because sometimes they still get a blizzard in June.  It's going to be such a great trip.

Berry Good Recipes

In the quest for better nutrition, the terms "fiber rich" and "nutrient dense" keep coming up over and over.

Hitting the sweet spot for both?  Berries.

They are loaded in fiber and antioxidants.  And they taste fab.  Plus, they are pretty low in calories, so you can fill up without filling out.

What's not to love?

I've been looking specifically for berry recipes that are healthy, fresh and not loaded down with processed gunk.  I've found quite a few, and thought that folks might enjoy them as well.

So, here goes:

-- Honeyed Yogurt and Mixed Berries with Whole Grain Waffles
-- Strawberry Marmalade Salad
-- Honeyed Peach and Blackberry Cobbler
-- Strawberry Pie With Chocolate Crust

Living Consciously

Yesterday, I had one of those epiphany moments that just light everything else up like a Christmas tree on steroids.

When eating, my "stop" signal does not kick on any more until my tummy is so stuffed that I am well-beyond where I ought to be full.  And it isn't a natural occurrence, because I used to regularly stop eating well before I was beginning to be uncomfortably full.

No longer.  I've trained myself to do otherwise.

As a result, I have to be taking in way more calories than I need.  Which is not good over the long haul, now is it?

The realization struck me while watching The Peanut eat at lunch while I was doing the same.  We've purposely tried to not force her to eat if she is genuinely not hungry.

The rule at our house is that she has to try a few bites of everything -- she's a fairly picky eater because of some early texture issues, but we've had some success with broadening her palate by taking it day by day instead of cramming it down her anyway (which was not working at all -- she inherited both our stubborn streaks, alas).  We don't make her clean her plate after it's been totally loaded down -- we do small bits to start, and she's allowed to get more of whatever she likes after she eats the little bit first.

She rarely gets overly full, because she uses her own internal compass and lets her own system be her guide instead of some outside, forced concept of what is appropriate.  We wanted to avoid the pitfalls of a "clean your plate or else" mindset, since we both have had some experience with that -- and its aftermath -- as adults.

Her mindfulness as she eats is really wonderful to watch.

When she's hungry, she devours her food like a ravenous beasty.  When she's not?  She picks and pushes it away, sensing internally when she's reached her limit in some way.

I have lost that ability.  And I desperately need to find it again.