Food philosophy

My premise about food is that we should not only be conscientious about what we eat, but also conscious of from where it comes. We have a tendency to go to the supermarket and look at neat packages of meat, etc. and not think about how it got there. I was guilty of this, too. I have been guilty all my life of not thinking things through, but my awareness is expanding with my age. :)

We need to respect our food, not only in regards to our health, but with regard to the animals that gave their lives to feed us and also with regard to the environment. I have watched documentaries showing how rivers have disappeared for the sake of agriculture. Trucking produce across the country adds to pollution and oil consumption (and therefore our greed for oil and reliance on other countries).

And now let's talk about CAFOs. Confined animal feeding operations. Just the term does not conjure up good images. The mass production of food is taking a huge toll on our environment and our health. Animals are penned in close quarters creating unhealthy environments and are raised to market weight as quickly as possible. That brings about the need to feed them antibiotics and hormones which in turn brings health problems to the humans who consume this meat such as antibiotic resistant diseases like MRSA. The runoff from these operations are toxic.

Here are a couple of articles about CAFOs with more detail if you are interested.
One by Dr. Mercola.
And this one.

The point I really want to drive home with this post is about food waste, however. I believe that quality, not quantity is an important priority when it comes to groceries. (Buying items in bulk like grain and beans reduces packaging and garbage.) Focusing on locally farmed meat and produce and using everything you buy will not only result in a healthier you, but a healthier planet. Respect your food and where it comes from. Respect your body. A conscious life....

Healthy is the new skinny

So, you may read my blog, look at my photo and think, "who is this skinny bitch trying to give me advice on how to eat? She's probably never had a weight problem in her life."
Well, you're right, I've never been more than about 15 lbs overweight in my 53 years, but I did and still do have a binge eating problem. No purging, I just overeat. I'm missing some sort of stop mechanism, once I start eating I simply don't want to stop. (I'm kinda the same way with beer.) If I buy cookies, ice cream or chips I will eat the entire package in one or two sittings. I solve that problem for myself by not buying those things. I'm not saying I never buy it, but I don't as a rule. When I do eat "bad stuff" I keep craving it and eating it for days until I am able to break the cycle. It's easier to just stay away.

When I advise about exercising portion control it is a reminder to myself as well; I eat way too much at one sitting. And so, since my 20's I have had to work at maintaining my ideal weight, thus my lifelong interest in fitness and nutrition. I don't like being overweight, it is uncomfortable and I'm too cheap to buy new clothes.

My saving grace is that I never sit still and I like healthy food. And about 4 years ago I had a black cloud in my life that came with a super shiny silver lining. I had throat cancer. Luckily (oh so luckily!!) it was caught early and I'm here to tell you about it. I had 7 weeks of radiation that completely changed the landscape of my mouth and turned it into a science ficton project. After the first week I noticed that grapes tasted really, really bad. Pretty much the rest of the fruit family followed. I lived on mostly Ensure, hot tea, and a little bland food like oats and pasta with butter. Veggies tasted okay, but my mouth hurt and eating was not pleasant. Boy, did Thanksgiving suck that year!

Slowly after the radiation treatment I was able to incorporate food back into my life. Some things were easier to eat than others.  And I was not only fortunate to survive my illness, but also to recover my taste buds! Somehow my bout with cancer turned into an advantage for me because cookies and cake just turned to dough in my mouth and I no longer desired eating them. I did ingest a lot of fatty things at first to recover some of the weight I'd lost, but found that sugary foods wreaked havoc with my mouth, causing a yeasty reaction as well as the corners of my mouth cracking. Never a huge fan of squashes, post radiation they were the friendlest food for my mouth. Now I love all of them and eat them often. Vegetables continue to be one of my most palatable foods and sometimes I'm amazed at how sweet they taste to me. Recovery was a very slow and gradual thing for my taste buds and mouth and I still have trouble with things sticking in my throat, but all in all I'm a very lucky girl.

And so I say, healthy is the new skinny. Don't worry about trying to conform to society's unrealistic ideals on looks and size. Instead eat food that is going to keep your hair, skin and organs healthy.

Here's another little healthy tidbit....

...if you prepare your own food instead of buying fast food you will not only consume less fat and other unhealthy ingredients, you will also be burning calories! All that chopping, mixing and prep uses energy.

Trying to Ditch the Soda Habit?

It takes gradual change to adopt new eating habits. I'm not espousing switching your fast food and pizza diet to a whole food diet overnight. If you gradually incorporate new foods and healthier options into your daily routine then you will slowly become a healthier you and I also believe your tastes will change and you will crave junk less. And my outlook is, a little is better than nothing.

A daily soda habit is one of the worst things you can do for your health, whether it's diet soda or not. I'm not going to go into all the boring detail about why all that sugar is bad for you (though you can read about it here), I'm just going to give you this pretty, tasty and nutritious alternative. If you can cut back on some soda you'll be doing yourself a big favor.

p.s. I recently read an article by a doctor saying that one of his patients lost 75 lbs in 1 year just by cutting out soda from her diet.

Sparkly Berry soda
Fill a tall glass with ice. Drop in a couple of frozen berries*. Fill with club soda or seltzer.
When you finish the soda eat the berries. :)

*I always have some organic frozen berries on hand in my freezer. They come in awful handy for smoothies, but also if you get a dessert craving you can defrost a bowl, drizzle it with raw honey or maple syrup and top with granola or some other crunchy stuff. Or pour it over plain Greek yogurt.

My kid came home for the weekend and like most moms, I enjoy cooking for her. She's a busy girl, working and taking classes and doesn't often get the chance to eat healthy. I am a firm believer that eating a nutrient dense diet is key to maintaining a healthy body, but especially so for my daughter because she may have an autoimmune disease.

What is a nutrient dense diet you ask? It simply means eating food as close to its natural form and cooked in a healthy manner*. That means you buy your groceries and you cook your food. It means you don't eat prepared packaged dinners, fast food, frozen packages of vegetables laden with cheese sauce, canned ravioli, boxed mac and cheese, etc. You buy fresh meat, vegetables, fruit, rice, oats, potatoes, bread, eggs, milk. Getting it yet? Like the way our grandparents shopped when they were young.

Now, I understand that busy people don't have a lot of time on their hands to prepare food, but grilling some meat, simmering some veggies and making a salad is really not all that difficult or time consuming. It only takes a bit of fore-thought, organization and prep. When you do cook, make enough to have leftovers for a second meal. Make a big pot of rice (preferably brown) or better yet, quinoa to serve different ways for a couple of meals. One night make several different kinds of veggies that you can eat all week. You should strive to eat a big salad every day as raw vegetables provide you with added fiber and enzymes.

The reason you don't want to have a steady diet of processed food is because if you look at the ingredient list you are sure to find a plethora of unknown, possibly unpronouncable items that are usually chemicals, i.e. preservatives, artificial flavors or colors. There may also be more sodium in these food items than you'd like to consume in a serving. Now, I'm not saying you can't eat this food in a pinch, I'm advocating avoiding them and keeping them to 10% or less of your diet.

You can also take your healthy eating plan a step further by avoiding unhealthy fat, GMO food and non-organic produce, particularly the "dirty dozen".

A friend recently told me "I don't know how to cook healthy". Well, I live to show you! Let's take for example the breakfast I served this morning.

On the plate are scrambled eggs with a moderate amount of cheese (I slice to 4 eggs). The eggs were scrambled in a bit of olive oil and a bit of butter (I like to buy grass fed or Irish butter).
Small red potatoes steamed in the microwave and tossed with a small amount of butter (maybe 1/2 T) and some fresh herbs from my garden and finished with a sprinkling of cajun and steak seasoning. They take the place of hash browns which not only saves you the fat and calories, but provides you with vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals that come from fresh produce.
There's one slice of bacon on my plate, it's Applegate bacon, which is nitrate free. It's an indulence, my daughter adores bacon. (She got two slices, which is what you should limit your portion to and eat very infrequently if you are trying to trim down.)
Since my daughter is trying to avoid wheat I served up some leftover veggies from last nights dinner: green beans sauteed in olive oil with shallots, mushrooms, and a bit of sundried tomato.
And of course, I always like to serve fresh fruit for breakfast. I sprinkled this bowl of fruit with a spoonful of chia seeds which are super antioxidants.

You should concentrate on feeding your body nutrients, not just bulk to fill up. If it's beige, brown, white or drab, it's probably mostly empty calories.
Which is why I say, REAL FOOD IS PRETTY!!

*Grilled, baked, steamed or sauteed in olive oil, not deep fried.

Salad anyone?

Here's a couple of tips on how to improve your diet, be healthier and possibly trim your waistline.

Satisfy your cravings on a salad. Dying for some Buffalo wings? Put some buffalo chicken tenders, blue cheese crumbles and some chopped celery on a big bed of lettuce.  Grill the chicken, then dip in hot sauce.

The greener the lettuce the higher the nutritional content, but if your palate only likes iceberg then start there with maybe a handful of baby spinach leaves added in.  When you use salad greens for your base instead of bread, pasta or whatever, you are getting fiber, antioxidants and phytochemicals along with less fat and calories.
Some salad combos that I make are:
- Very thinly sliced grilled steak with bleu cheese crumbles, sliced red onion and arugula. Add leftover asparagus, roasted potatoes, roasted red peppers, beets.. Make your own vinagrette by shaking up some olive oil with vinegar, a clove of garlic and a dab of dijon mustard. If you like it more subtle add a little water.
-Dried or fresh fruit with goat cheese or gorgonzola, pecans or walnuts and a raspberry vinagrette.
-Add some beans to your salad for a heartier meal. Chickpeas, red beans. Add seeds for added crunch: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and even chia seeds for an antioxidant boost.
And then of course, there's your old Taco Salad...
Get creative.

Instead of having chips with your lunchtime sandwich have a side of leftover veggies.

Buy a big box of organic baby spinach when you go grocery shopping and add a handful to every thing you eat. Just throw a layeron your plate first, the heat from your food will wilt the spinach. Put it on sandwiches instead of lettuce. Put a handful into your berry yogurt smoothie- you won't even taste it!

And of course, the most basic, simplest tip of all: fill your cupboards with healthy food and when you're hungry prepare it and eat it!!

By boosting your intake of nutrient rich produce you are not only feeding your stomach, but all your organs and your skin, hair and nails. And you are improving your chances of avoiding disease as you age.

Breakfast of Champions

I had a craving for kale and eggs for breakfast today, as I sometimes do. I knew I had some kale in the fridge that needed to be used. Then I realized that today was the day to put the garbage out so I started digging through the refrigerator. I decided to use up a rice mix that I'd be given: light brown rice with quinoa and other grains. I find that both brown rice and quinoa do not have a long shelf life and usually keep both these grains in the fridge or freezer.

Digging through my produce drawers I found not only the aforementioned kale but also some old leek ends, half an onion and a shallot, carrots that were looking tired as well as fresher ones, some white mushrooms and a beautiful head of broccoli crowns that I just bought. There was also the remnants of an aging bunch of parsley.

The older, tireder produce went into a pot for vegetable stock along with some celery tops and bay leaf. Then I started chopping veggies for my stir fry. The onion skins and ends went into the stock pot along with the mushroom stems. I used a clove of garlic in my stir fry so the skin of that went into the stockpot, too.

For the stir fry I started with a nice, heavy non-stick skillet. I keep a blend of grapeseed and olive oil for cooking near the stove so I put a couple tablespoons of that and heated the skillet to med high. My produce was washed and ready and my aromatics sliced and diced. The onion and shallot went into the skillet, then the crushed garlic. (I add ingredients and then chop the next batch while the first round is getting started cooking.) The chopped carrots went in next, then the mushrooms, broccoli and finally the kale, adding ingredients according to how quickly they cook or how tender I want them done. Then a little salt and pepper...

I try to always keep some organic sundried tomatoes around. They add great depth and richness to many dishes. I also had some chipotles in adobo sauce in the fridge, so I diced up a couple of the tomatoes and one chipotle and added that into my skillet. 

At this point my vegetable broth (and rice) were pretty much done so I added a scoop of the broth to my skillet to braise the vegetables. When they were done I cleared a spot in the center of the pan and cracked an egg* into the center, added a little more broth, lowered the heat and covered the pan. 

When the egg was done I plated my dish: rice, then egg then veggies. I can't even tell you how yummy this was, the chipotle added just the right touch of smoky heat to this hearty dish. It really hit the spot on this overcast and chilly day.

Plus, my fridge is cleaned out and I utilized a lot of groceries that would have ended up in the garbage. And I have a pot of vegetable stock to cook with the rest of the week. :)

*I like to use antibiotic/hormone free eggs and meat. Preferably cage free, too.