Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Lack of posts
Happy holidays!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Free stuff rocks!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Recipes of the week: Holiday Gifts, Part 1
Menu Plan Monday: Week of December 15
Friday, December 12, 2008
Food of the week: Black Beans
- Good source of cholesterol lowering fiber. This means that your blood sugar will not spike after eating them. Good news for diabetics and those with hypoglycemia. And since the fiber is insoluble, it helps to prevent constipation, irritable bowel and diverticulosis.
- Protein that’s almost fat free (unlike those pesky meats)!
- Detoxifies sulfites.
- Antioxidants! And much like chocolate, the darker the bean the more antioxidants.
- Help prevent cancer.
- Lowers risk of heart attack.
- Good source of Iron.
Drawbacks:
- Because black beans contain Purines, excessive eating may lead to the gout or kidney stones.
Ways to eat black beans:
- Cuban black beans and rice are a favorite side dish of mine. I always get them whenever I go out for Cuban food. Trader Joe’s makes a pretty decent version that you can just heat up and throw over some rice.
- Amy’s Organics makes the best darn black bean soup I’ve ever tasted.
- I process black beans with olive oil to make the base for my taco dip, which is loved by all. By all!
- Essential in my Southwestern Quinoa recipe.
Little known facts:
- Dried black beans can be stored for up to a year.
- Black beans have been around for over 7,000 years.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
The quintessential birthday dinner
Here is a break down of the totally wonderful meal.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Menu Plan Monday: Week of December 8
Also, I would like to add that although my menu's often look healthy, I don't always stick strictly to them and there are usually unhealthy snacks eaten during the day sometime. I find that if I make a plan to eat healthy ahead of time, I'm more likely to do it. But still, things happen.
Monday
Breakfast: Chai Latte (not helping the pocketbook) and a bagel
Lunch: Soup and salad
Dinner: Sushi (homemade by a friend!) and other foods brought by my knitting circle friends.
Tuesday
Breakfast: Hot cereal with raspberries
Lunch: PB & J and chips
Dinner: Out for Mexican with a friend
Wednesday
Breakfast: Hot Cereal with banana
Lunch: Salad with tuna, black beans and beets
Dinner: Alumni holiday party (free food and booze, woo!)
Thursday
Breakfast: Bagel
Lunch: PB & J sandwich and chips
Dinner: Burrito
Friday
Breakfast: Hot cereal with strawberries
Lunch: Egg salad sandwich
Dinner: Pasta primavera
Friday, December 5, 2008
Food of the week: Chocolate
I am not really differentiating between semisweet and dark chocolate, although I outline how they differ in health benefits and drawbacks at times. They are very similar and come to be through mostly the same process. I will NOT be talking about white chocolate, however, because it is an abomination to chocolate everywhere. You hear that white chocolate? An abomination! You're not really even chocolate, how dare you soil the good name!
- Cocoa beans are high in fiber and antioxidants and help to lower blood pressure and prevent blood clots. These are diluted when mixed with milk, sugar and other additives. The darker the chocolate the better your cardiovascular health! (Actually dark, and even milk, chocolate rated the highest in antioxidants of all foods.)
- Contains Phenylethylamine and Serotonin, which make us happy. Cocoa also helps to relieve PMS symptoms. See ladies, there is a reason why we crave chocolate every month!
- Lots of essential vitamins and minerals.
- When mixed with milk, chocolate can be high in cholesterol.
- Chocolate itself is high in fat and sugar. Yes, even the darker chocolate.
- Chocolate is high in caffeine. Do what you want with that.
- Bad news if you’re prone to kidney stones and possibly migraines.
Ways to eat chocolate:
- A few bites of dark chocolate while sipping (sipping!) on a spicy red wine (perhaps a syrah).
- Mixed with peanuts and/or peanut butter. Reese’s sure has something right.
- An idea for a gift or to make for yourself: I put a cup of cashews, 1/3 cup of dark chocolate chips and some peanut oil in a food processor and made a decadent nut butter.
- Brownies!
- Strawberries dipped in chocolate, even better in dark chocolate.
- See my earlier post from today.
- I could go on, but really, you know….
Little known facts:
Your mother lied! There is no link between chocolate consumption and acne.
Ever wonder how chocolate is made?
Chocolate is made using beans harvested from the cocoa tree, Theobroma cacao. The beans are removed from their pod, fermented, dried, roasted and then ground to produce a cocoa mass or cocoa liquor. This is then pressed to yield cocoa butter and cocoa cake which is ground up into cocoa powder.
Why is dark chocolate healthier than milk chocolate?
- As you add more milk, you increase the fat and cholesterol in chocolate.
- Dark chocolate is made without hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils.
- As mentioned earlier, dark chocolate contains more antioxidants, for greater health benefits.
So, there you have it people. Eat chocolate and be happy, but not if you get kidney stones or migraines (you poor souls).
Some recipes to tide you over
Chai Hot Cocoa Recipe:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 chai-flavored tea bag
1 envelope Hot Cocoa Mix
Heat milk & water to boiling then pour into mug.
Add tea bag. let stand for at least 1 minute.
Remove tea bag; tir in cocoa mix.
5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake:
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional) a small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug
Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts. The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate ifdesired.
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous). And why
is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now we are all
only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!
Thanks to my sister and her friend Kelly for the decadent recipes!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
In the absence of an actual post
To keep you entertained until my next post, I will pass the buck on to other bloggers.
- How about giving away fetus cookies for holiday gifts?
- Some ideas for your Thanksgiving leftovers.
- Avocados, Avocados, Avocados! (And no, I am not linking to this post just because my blog was referenced in it. Although I do feel a bit like a celebrity. Avocados are a higher priority in my life than fame. If that seems to you in any way sad or wrong, I pose one question to you. Have you ever eaten an avocado?!?!?!?)
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Recipe of the week: Southwestern Style Quinoa
The dish at 'sNice also had greens, I cannot remember if it was spinach or some kind of lettuce. I didn't use it in my recipe, but it could be easily added.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Menu Plan Monday: Week of November 24
This week's menu includes a quinoa recipe I devised from a local restaurant, much of the old-standby dishes, and holiday treats. I'm very excited about this weekend and all the Christmas preparation that will commence after the the gobble gobble has hit my belly on Thursday. Hooray for shortened work weeks and spending time with loved ones! Happy holidays!
Breakfast: Scrambled Egg Whites and Fruit (got to keep it light for the heavy eating to come!)
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Food of the week: Pomegranate
Pomegranates are in season! Yet another reason to love fall. I've been seeing and hearing pomegranate everywhere lately, it seems. I think it's time to make the pomegranate food of the week!
Benefits:
- Rich in antioxidants, which help to prevent cancer and heart disease.
- Good source of Vitamin C, Potassium, and fiber.
- Low in calories.
- May help lower cholesterol.
- May slow the metabolism of some medications.
- May cause low blood pressure when combined with blood pressure lowering medications.
Ways to eat Pomegranate:
- The seeds can be added to yogurt or pudding for a sweet treat.
- Pomegranate juice is tasty (fyi, I wouldn't drink it if you have a sore throat, it's a little rough)
- Pomegranate martini, mojito, what have you....
- I went to a party last weekend where there was guacamole with pomegranate seeds in it! Yum!
- How to cut open a pomegranate with as little mess as possible.
- Pomegranates are known as Granada in Spanish and Grenade in French.
- Pomegranate trees do well in dry climates, therefore in the U.S. they are most successfully grown in the southwest, Southern California especially.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Recipe of the week: Hot! Cereal
Back to the crappy camera phone pics. Sorry!
Monday, November 17, 2008
See the pictures!
Menu Plan Monday: Week of November 17
Breakfast: Hot Cereal (with sweet potato - I'll post it as recipe of the week later)
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Food of the week: Quinoa
- Excellent source of magnesium, which helps prevent migraines and hypertension.
- Helps lower blood pressure and cholesterol in postmenopausal women.
- Fiber, fiber, fiber!
- Lowers incidence of asthma in children.
- Contains plant lignans which help protect against breast cancer and heart disease.
- Lowers type II diabetes risk.
- Good source of protein (especially for vegans because it provides all the essential amino acids found in meat and dairy).
- Easy to cook
- Cool looking
- Can be more expensive than grains (but it expands a lot when cooking, so it kind-of evens itself out).
- Substitute quinoa for pasta or rice, as I did with my Cheesy Quinoa Surprise.
- Add it to vegetable soup.
- Eat it like a hot cereal.
- Use it in cookies.
- Quinoa is not actually a grain, but the seed of a plant closely related to spinach.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Recipe of the week: Green Tea–Poached Asian Chicken with Lemongrass and Green Onion and Brown Rice
You may have noticed my shotty pictures of the finished products in previous posts. That's because my laptop died and so I've just been taking pictures on my phone and sending them to myself. Unacceptable, I know. Well, this week, I invited a friend to dinner in return for his mad food photography skills. Thanks Ian!
6 cups water
6 green tea bags
1 teaspoon vegetable or canola oil
1 cup brown rice (basmati is more aromatic, but any brown rice will do)
2 split skinless chicken breasts on or off the bone (4 halves)
1 red pepper
2 carrots
4 spring onions
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon low-sodium tamari
1 bunch of cilantro leaves, chopped (optional)
Basically you brew the tea and then cook the rice in 2 cups of the tea rather than water. Oh, and you throw in 2 of the stalks of lemongrass.
Then use the remaining 4 cups of tea to cook the chicken breasts. And use the rest of the lemongrass. This poaches the chicken. Do so for about 30 minutes over low heat.
After the chicken is cooked, shred it and put it back in the tea broth with the pepper, carrots, spring onions, and pepper flakes. Add the tamari and poach for another 3 to 4 minutes until the vegetables are crisp tender. Add the chopped cilantro.
Serve it over the brown rice and enjoy.
Not only was it a tasty Thai treat, it looked beautiful too! Ian helped me out and prepared the cranberry-walnut salad of Recipe of the Week fame.
I have learned something today
1. Plastic bowls do melt in the microwave if you put them in for long enough.
2. Essence of lemongrass is not quite the same as lemongrass.
3. Cheap prepackaged food that you heat up in the microwave hits the spot sometimes.
Things I will learn tomorrow.
1. How melted plastic in prepackaged foods affects the body.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Menu Planning Monday: Week of Nov 10
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Don't forget to vote!
Any who, if you need some incentive (other than having a say in who the next leader of the free world will be) to get your butt out there and vote, a few businesses are rewarding voters for their job well done. Starbucks is giving away free coffee and Ben and Jerry's a free scoop of ice cream. This was originally for people who voted, but I just heard on WNYC that it is actually illegal to reward people for voting or not voting, so they've changed it to anyone who comes in. Also, Krispy Kreme is sticking it to the man and giving away free donuts to people who have voted (and no one else!). So, you should take advantage of these give aways!
Monday, November 3, 2008
Recipe of the week: Stuffed Veggie Meat Loaf (aka Turkey Meat Mush)
Saturday, I brought a recipe for Stuffed Veggie Meat Loaf from the Natural Health website to Alisa's place for an autumn night feast. I'd never made a meat loaf before and I was drawn to the combination of meat and vegetables all in one dish! We decided that we needed a side dish to go with this, so we made a salad with cranberries, sunflower seeds, and crumbled blue cheese. (Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the results, so you'll just have to imagine the finished products).
Sounds like a lovely dinner, yes? Well, things happened during cooking prep and the recipe was sort of thrown out the window. Please consider the original meat loaf recipe:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onions
1 medium carrot, small dice
1 celery stalk, small dice
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning (a packaged blend of dried oregano, basil, and other herbs)
½ cup spinach, finely chopped
1 1/3 pounds lean ground turkey (not extra-lean)
½ cup low-fat or fat-free chicken stock
½ cup shredded Parmesan1
tablespoon ketchup (We didn't use)
1 egg, beaten
15 low-sodium crackers, crushed
½ cup chopped leeks
½ cup chopped red bell peppers
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar (We used Red Wine Vinegar)
1 teaspoon organic evaporated cane juice sugar (We didn't use)
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add onions, carrots, and celery, and cook until soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Add ½ teaspoon salt, garlic, Italian seasoning, and spinach; stir to combine and sauté 5 more minutes, then turn off heat.
In large bowl, mix turkey, chicken stock, cheese, ketchup, egg, and vegetable mixture. Stir in crackers, then shape into rectangular loaf on oiled baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes.
While the loaf is in the oven, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a saucepan and add leeks and peppers, sauté 5 minutes, then add tomatoes, ½ teaspoon salt, sherry vinegar, and sugar. Cover and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Blend in a food processor until smooth.
Remove loaf from oven and top with sauce. Place back in oven and cook about 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Now, here's we went rogue! Instead of putting 1/2 cup of chicken stock in the meat mixture we (I) put in a whole 14 ounce can. Also, we (I) mixed the undrained crushed tomatoes into the meat mixture as well. Needless to say, the mixture was very runny and was not going to form into a loaf shape. We improvised though and drained some of the excess liquid, added some flour and poured the mixture into a 9 x 12 glass baking dish. We left it in for about 45 minutes.
It wasn't quite loaf consistency, but woo was it tasty! The vegetables and herbs mixed so well together. Also, since I used the tomatoes in the loaf, we had to come up with an alternative for the sauce. So we cut up a little bit of fresh tomato with red wine vinegar, the leek and red pepper. It wasn't exactly sauce-like but did make a good topping to the meat mush. All the while, we were sipping on some Malbec (may have contributed slightly to not following the recipe exactly).
After dinner we played some scrabble and then had dessert - whipped cream and berries. Yum!
It was such a fun night. Even though we messed up the original recipe, we got creative and had a fun time together. But the food turned out great anyway and only added to our fun night!
Menu Planning Monday: Week of Nov 3
Monday
Breakfast: Hot Cereal
Lunch: Bean and Cheese Bites
Dinner: Pumpkin Tortellini with a Garlic/Parmesan Sauce
Tuesday
Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast and Yogurt
Lunch: Salad with Tuna, Black Beans, Corn and Beets
Dinner: Bacon, Lettuce and Avocado Sandwich
Wednesday
Breakfast: Hot Cereal
Lunch: Bacon and Apple sandwich/Small Salad
Dinner: Vegetable Soup
Thursday
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: Salad with Cranberries, Walnuts and Avocado
Dinner: Out with some friends
Friday
Breakfast: Chai Latte and Muffin
Lunch: PB and Jelly Sandwich/Vegetable Chips
Dinner: Green Tea–Poached Asian Chicken with Lemongrass and Green Onion and Brown Rice
Let the cooking commence!
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Food of the week: Eggs
Benefits:
- One egg contains about 6 grams of protein.
- Eggs are a good source of Choline, which is important for brain function and health and may help reduce inflammation; Lutein and Zeaxanthin, which may protect against vision loss; and vitamin B-12, which is good for your heart.
- They help prevent blod clots and protect against Macular Degeneration and Cataracts.
- Very high in cholesterol (but saturated and trans fats have much bigger effects on blood cholesterol levels than cholesterol in food.) The cholesterol is in the yolk of the egg. To cut out cholesterol, just use the whites.
- If not properly stored and cooked, could lead to salmonella poisoning.
- Scrambled, poached, or fried with sides of potatoes and bacon (fakin’ bacon if you choose).
- Omelets filled with whatever your heart desires! This heart desires green peppers, onions and cheddar cheese.
- Eggs are the ingredient in baked goods that make it “risky” to eat the dough.
- Soak some sliced pieces of a baguette in a mixture of eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Griddle and Viola! French Toast!
- Hard boiled eggs are good in a variety of ways; cut up in a salad, egg salad sandwiches, deviled eggs, and plain with a few sprinkles of salt.
- Quiche!
- Eggs Benedict is favorite brunch entrée of mine.
- Souffles and Meringues are made by beating egg whites vigorously, which increases their volume 6-8 times.
Little known facts:
- If you do not store eggs in a container, they will absorb the odors around them.
- The color of the egg (white or brown) depends on the breed of the hen.
As with much of the meat-packing industry, the egg industry draws into question the treatment of egg producing hens. We see a lot of “Cage-Free” eggs around now, which you would think would be more humane for the chickens. However, many stories have come out in recent years about the truth behind cage-fee chickens. As always, my recommendation is to buy eggs from your local farmers. That is, unless your local farmer is a mass-meat/egg producer that lines it’s animals up in small cages and feeds them things that make their stomachs explode.
More on Calorie Counts
According to the article there are some federal bills waiting to be passed, that could make this more of a national priority. Viva la calorie count!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Recipe of the week: Vegetable Soup
1 - 32 oz carton of vegetable broth
Menu Plan Monday!
Breakfast: Smoothie
Lunch: Chicken Parmesan
BTW - I made a large amount of vegetable soup this weekend, which will provide me with meals for a while! I put some of in the refrigerator, knowing that I would eat it over the next week, and the rest in the freezer.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Food of the week: Pickles
It's embarassing to admit how old I was when I realized that a pickle was really a cucumber. So, I won't tell you. It's funny that we do not call them pickled cucumbers. Think about it, when we pickle anything else, peppers for instance, we call them pickled peppers. What's that about? Pickling is an action, not the food itself. Maybe there was a universal agreement that pickled cucumbers were the best tasting pickled anything and therefore got to claim the title of pickle.
What is pickling exactly? The fermentation caused by soaking food in vinegar or salt brine kills with a vengeance the bad bacteria that causes food to go bad!
Good examples of pickled foods: Pickles, Peppers, Cauliflower
Bad examples of pickled foods: Sauerkraut, Eggs
Haven't tried: Kim chi
There's lots of things to say about pickled foods. I don't have all day so I'm just going to focus on pickles themselves. Let's take a looksy-loo at pickles.
Pickles come in many varieties, Dill, Kosher, Bread and Butter, Gherkin. The difference is the way they are fermented, specifically what condiment, herbs and spices they are fermented in.
Benefits:
- Low in calories and fat. But do keep in mind that most of us do not eat pickles alone.
- Although there are recommended uses for each type of pickle, really they all taste good cut up on a sandwich or burger.
- Beer battered pickles! It may not sound appetizing, but they're so good, especially dipped in some ranch dressing. Yeah, that's healthy.
- September 14 was International Pickle Day. Ah man, I missed it!
- Should kids eat pickles? There's no definitive judgement (at least that I could find) that says pickles are good or bad for children. The consensus seems to be that they're not bad (low in calories and fat) but don't really have much nutritional value either.
Monday, October 20, 2008
The cool air goes to my head and my stomach!
I decided to make some recipes from the Moosewood Cookbook. For dinner I made the Stuffed Squash recipe (which called for apples in the stuffing), along with some grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and mixed vegetables. I have to say I was very disppointed with the squash. It wasn't horrible, but it did not meet my expectations for all of the work that went into it. (I always hold my breath when cutting thick squash, I inherited terrible cutting skills from my mother. Both of us often draw blood in these circumstances. No blood this time though.)
The highlight of the dinner ended up being the apple crisp I made for dessert! This was also from the Moosewood Cookbook. I made a smaller batch then called for because it turned out half of my apples were rotten inside (ewww!). But the ones that were good made a totally delicious dessert. It consisted mostly of an apple-cinnamin-sugar-lemon juice mixture beneath a topping of oats, flour, brown sugar, butter and spices. Delicious!
With my dinner and wonderful dessert I enjoyed a glass (or two) of a Cabernet Franc I got from a winery a few hours upstate. The apples, the wine, I was trying to keep it local!
Recipe of the week: Katy's Beet Pasta
Katy's Beet Pasta
One bunch of Beets (with beet greens or you can use spinach instead)
One box o pasta radiatore, prepared
Chicken broth/water
Olive Oil for Sautéing
Parmesan or Romano Cheese, to taste
Chop beets. Sauté beets in olive oil under tender (add chicken broth or water after about fifteen minutes.) Add spinach or beet greens to wilt them. Mix with pasta radiatore.
Serve with Parmesan or Romano cheese.
Thanks Alisa...and Katy!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Food of the week: Pumpkin
Did you know that 80% of the pumpkin supply in the United States is available in October?
Benefits:
- Low in fat and calories, and have lots of vitamins.
- Good source of Beta Carotene, Fiber, and Potassium.
Drawbacks:
- Some pumpkin recipes call for pumpkin pie mix, not pureed pumpkin. While pumpkin puree is just as healthy as fresh pumpkins, the pumpkin pie mix tends to have additives that increase sugar and cholesterol.
Ways to eat Pumpkins:
- See last week’s Recipe of the week, Pumpkin Pancakes.
- Pumpkins can used to make soups.
- Pumpkin pie!
- I found this recipe that I would like to make for Thanksgiving, it’s a baked stuffed pumpkin.
- Pumpkin seeds are tasty too! They have their own health benefits.
Little Known Facts:
- Pumpkins are 90% Water.
- Pumpkins are grown in 6 of the 7 continents, all except Antarctica.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Recipe of the week: Burrito Bar Options
2 ripe medium California avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
1 large ripe tomato, diced
¼ Cup finely chopped red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 1 large lime
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
¼ tsp salt
HAHAHAHA. Recipe?????We ended up making an apple and ginger salsa instead, because a) we forgot to buy peaches at the grocery store and b) we had gone apple picking and had TONS of apples. I would like to try the 2nd slasa with peaches. Both salsas were great, but the apple and ginger had a bit of a kick to it.
I think it was a pull things out of my fridge sort of deal, as usual. Chopped mango, bell pepper, red onions or sweet white onions....something like that. You can also do it with tomatoes, but they make it more watery--I think mine was without because there were tomatoes in the taco filling already.
My other favorite is ginger peach salsa--you can do it with nectarines, too--cube peaches, and stir in finely chopped ginger, chili, and sweet red onion (you can leave that out as well)...add a dash of cinnamon, voila! And if you have mealy peaches that don't ripen, you can cook them down and then add the other ingredients at the end.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Cultivating a healthy lifestyle
Diet:
You can obviously see that I love food. My interest here has been a work in progress throughout the years as I try to expand my diet. As a child I was a very picky eater, and this ran into my teens and early 20’s as well. For a while, in fact, I subsisted on a diet of mostly McDonalds. In the last so many years, however, I’ve been acclimating to a healthier diet, eating things I never would have tried before. I try to be aware of where my meal has come from and what it will do to my body. I’ve stopped eating fast food altogether because it scores horribly in both catergories.
My biggest battle at this point is balancing the preparation of my own meals and buying them. If I don’t plan out my meals for the week, I’ll most likely end up getting breakfast from Starbucks, lunch from the cafeteria, and a frozen pizza for dinner. So, each week I try to sit down and plan out a schedule of meals for the week. Some weeks are better than others. And even if I do plan, life is always throwing wrenches in our plans, and I have to be flexible. For instance, last night I ended up eating much later than I thought I would. So the chicken burrito was replaced by a frozen pizza. Not ideal, but it had to do.
Today, I was much more prepared for healthy options. I got up this morning and made some hot cereal, and brought that and a banana to work for my breakfast (I have a hard time eating right when I get up in the morning, so I eat at work instead). Additionally, I packaged up some leftover salad, made a pb & j sandwich, and grabbed some vegetable chips for lunch. A well balanced breakfast and lunch. In addition, I plan to actually make the dinner I failed to make last night, which will leave me with leftovers for tomorrow’s lunch.
Exercise:
Living in NYC, I tend to already have a somewhat active lifestyle. I take public transportation to and from work everyday, which includes a 10 minute uphill walk and 3 flights of stairs/escalators every day. But, this past year I noticed that I’m still out of breath when doing these things. I also found this to be true when hiking upstate last month. So, I recently joined a gym and am trying to find the right motivation strategy. At first I thought that I should not intimidate myself by scheduling a lot of time for the gym; I would start slow and work my way up. But, then I would make excuses or something would happen that would prevent me from going to the gym as much as I wanted to.
This is my new strategy. I am planning to go the gym everyday, if even for a short workout, and am taking my gym bag to work so that I can just stop on my way home. I figure with this schedule, should I miss a day or two, I will still be getting enough exercise. So far, I’ve gone to the gym the past 3 days in row. Let’s see if I can keep up that stamina. I do yoga once a week as well, which helps to keep me stretched and toned.
Mind/Mental Well-being:
I find that my mental state significantly affects both my diet and my activity level. This makes perfect sense and really is not a groundbreaking discovery in the terms of science and health. But, to truly acknowledge this and to incorporate it into your lifestyle is really the key to maintaining healthy actions.
There are a few things I do to keep myself healthy mentally:
- Having a set schedule: As I mentioned before, if I do not plan out my meals and schedule a visit to the gym, I will resort to unhealthy lifestyle choices. So, I try to schedule these things ahead of time, so that I’m not deciding what to do on a whim.
- Meditation: I practice Zen meditation on a weekly basis. Every Saturday morning I get up and sit 2- 40 minutes periods of zazen. This routine gives me a consistent point of grounding and a supportive social environment as well. The mindfulness that comes from sitting, as well as from my yoga practice, helps me to be honest with myself. Also, it helps me to really feel what’s going on throughout my body while eating or exercising. Food tastes better when mindful, because I notice more of the flavors and textures, and I feel when I am full. I am also able to increase my exercise activities when I stay present in my body and notice how the activity affects my body.
- Sleep: Getting a full night’s sleep is essential to my mental and physical functioning. If I am going to be sharp and energetic throughout the day, I need to get enough sleep. Mornings are a little rough for me, so I’ve been trying to schedule morning activities to help energize me while not taking much time away from my sleep. I recently wrote out a daily schedule of morning activities, including a few energizing yoga poses and some brief meditation time.
In reality, people have their own strategies for a healthy lifestyle. This is my strategy and so far it’s been okay. I have tweaked it and will continue to do so when I find a better way to do something. A healthy lifestyle requires constant attention. If you lose focus, it will not sustain itself. This is why so many people are unhealthy. There are lots of convenient ways to distract ourselves or forget to be healthy in our choices. I find mindfulness and planning the best ways to cultivate and maintain a healthy lifestyle. And, of course, I allow myself those times when I eat out with friends and have a few drinks. I need the balance of both to keep me healthy, both mentally and physically.