Posts from — March 2010

I found this recipe online and tried it for the first time for lunch today. It was quite good, with a simple, low-key flavor, and I can see it becoming a summer favorite as I experiment with adding in an additional protein like shrimp, grilled salmon, or chicken. I could also spice it up with more cilantro and salt and pepper—still not sure I have that “add salt and pepper to taste” thing down!

Serves 4.

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Today that phrase means a couple of things! First, I made it through the lemonade fast. It wasn’t terrible, and I felt kind of refreshed afterward. By the last night, I’ll admit, I was feeling pretty grumpy and hungry, but I think that had a lot to do with knowing I only had about 12 hours to go.

Friday was my first day of “real” food again, and I had protein smoothies for breakfast and lunch and veggies for dinner. I’ve never enjoyed a smoothie so much! I would have gone straight into the Detoxification/Elimination Diet portion, but I needed the extra protein for energy because I ran a 5K race on Saturday afternoon.

My second “I did it” is for the race. Not only did I do it, but I ran my fastest 5K ever! I can’t say I felt my best—my body was definitely a little confused at the reintroduction of food, and I was a little overzealous and had a fairly large smoothie only a few hours before the race—but somehow I did it! And since racing is never exactly comfortable (if I don’t hurt by the end I don’t think I tried hard enough), I prefer to judge how I felt by how fast I recovered, and I recovered like a champ! A couple of hours after the race I was eating soup and getting ready to go out to a friend’s housewarming party!

I can’t really judge if my cravings have been improved yet. I can’t pretend that thinking about baked goods or Easter candy doesn’t still make me interested. But as far as actual cravings, my body definitely wanted those healthy smoothies and the veggies I have been eating since then.

The phase I am in now is 4 days (starting yesterday) of basically just vegetables (in smoothies, raw, or steamed) with a small portion of protein at dinner. I like the concept—this is like rebooting a sluggish computer, and will help me reset my palate—but we’ll  have to see how it goes. So far it doesn’t feel that strange, just repetitive. Yesterday I had a green veggie smoothie for breakfast, veggie soup for lunch, and a salad with salmon on top for dinner. Today will be very similar…so we’ll see.

Just had to share my “I did it!” moments.

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…all for me to drink!

I’m on Day 3 of my Lemonade Fast and it’s going much better than I expected. The lemonade is tasty and easy to make. I juice all the lemons first thing in the morning with my new $15 juicer–a totally worthwhile expense–and then make myself lemonade throughout the day. It’s nice to have a break from deciding what to cook and eat all day, although I can’t say I don’t think about food at all.

It’s been interesting to see how although my stomach truly hasn’t been super hungry, my brain certainly thinks it should be. I can’t help but feel like I forgot to do something important because I  haven’t eaten a real meal, and at this point, any food that crosses my mind sounds delicious. But the lemonade does satiate me, although now on Day 3 I am starting to feel more physically hungry.

I thought I might feel weak and super tired, and I can’t say I have a ton of energy, but I don’t feel bad. Very calm and restful, which is the point of a fast/cleanse like this–my body is taking a break from all the hard work it does for me every day!

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My “journey” described within this blog has definitely taken an exciting turn: I am now officially enrolled in the Institute of Integrative Nutrition’s Spring 2010 Distance Learning Program! Over the next year I will be exponentially expanding the knowledge that I have gained through Cameron’s coaching and my own research, and turning it into a new career!

The idea started as a tiny inkling, then grew into an urge, and now is something I feel with absolute conviction is right for me. Beyond just my newfound passion for the subject of holistic health and wellness, there have been a lot of “signs” that tell me that this was meant to be. It’s amazing to have a moment in your life when you can literally look back and appreciate so many events that at the time seemed insignificant or even negative, but I can see many such events leading up to where I am now and I am so grateful.

One of the things that holistic wellness encourages is not just focusing on actual food as your “nutrition,” but considering an entire “Circle of Life” that includes things such as Joy, Spirituality, Career, Relationships, and Home Environment as your “primary foods” that nourish you. Although the focus of most of my coaching (and this blog) has been food in the traditional sense, I’ve thought a lot about this circle and had realized that Career, Education, and even Relationships were not where I’d like them to be right now. I have been learning as much as I can about health and wellness through Cameron and various books and websites, but I really want more. And although I do like a lot about what I am doing as Director of RefrigeratorArtist.com, and working together from home has been great for my relationship with my husband, I am not feeling fulfilled by it as a career and I deeply miss the relationships I used to develop and maintain as a manager and coach in my previous job.

So, I am planning to use my training from IIN to become a health coach, but that can take many different forms, and there is much for me to decide before I am actually practicing. I’m liking the idea of “specializing” in health coaching for moms and families, but look forward to taking in everything IIN has to teach and then making the business decisions along the way.

I’ve already set up a new little “office” in our house to be my place for studying and working on building a coaching practice. It has the feel of a college dorm room (helped by the fact that it doubles as a guest room and does have a full bed in it) and it’s quite cozy. This new venture has me feeling so enthusiastic and excited, I can’t stop smiling as I write this!

As I mentioned before my last coaching session, the one thing I keep struggling with as far as cravings go is sugar. I had asked Cameron for help doing some sort of complete detox to try to really beat the sugar cravings, so she came prepared to our session with a whole plan for me.

Now, when I asked for it, I still hadn’t really accepted the title of “Sugar Addict” but Cameron told me that’s the case, and that it’s best to just embrace it and work with it. It feels a little extreme (I always thought “sweet tooth” was just fine) but it is accurate. I know a lot of people who are around me day-to-day would be surprised, because although it’s known that I like sweets (and believe that cake is absolutely necessary to celebrate most occasions) I don’t actually indulge that often. I’m not someone who ever gets a candy bar from the vending machine, and in fact, I used to keep a candy jar in my office at work and everyone was impressed that I so rarely took anything from it (and never during Lent!). That was me relying on a LOT of willpower. Even if I wasn’t acting on my “addiction,” the cravings were there, and I’ve come to believe mine are stronger than the average person’s (although lots of people have sugar cravings and addictions) and that they are stronger than they have to be, so I am pulling out all the stops to combat them!

Which brings me to the plan for this week. Cameron brought me a 3-part plan (a preparation limited diet, then a lemonade fast, then a period of detoxification through elimination), and we modified it a little to fit my schedule (I am running a 5K next weekend, so no fasting that day or the day before!!) I am a little freaked out but also really excited. I’ve read the handouts she gave me about 20 times to made sure I know what to do (and not do) and the logic just really makes sense to me.

The handouts liken the fast (which is based on the Master Cleanse) to taking a car with a dirty and clogged engine to the mechanic to have the engine’s buildup cleansed out. Even with the best oil and gasoline going into a car, if the engine is all dirty and clogged, the performance won’t be what it could be–but after a clean-out and tune-up, you’re good to go and you can start fresh using the best fuels. Makes sense, right?

So for four days now I have cut out all SNACCs: Sugar, Nicotine, Alcohol, Caffeine, and Chemicals. Not too tough since I have been avoiding all of those anyway…except maybe sugar, and the caffeine in my tea, so I was extra careful and didn’t splurge on anything with sugar and drank only my herbal teas for these 4 days.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll be doing the Lemonade Fast for 4 days. Now this means I literally won’t eat anything for 4 days…I will only be drinking a homemade “lemonade” and water, and some special tea. The idea is literally to cleanse my body. Yeah, I know…doesn’t sound that fun to me either but the list of positive side effects and results is very appealing, and the idea of really “resetting” my palette to eliminate those cravings is worth it to me. And don’t worry, Mom…the lemonade will give me all the vitamins and minerals I need, and a human can live for 40 days without food (only 4 without water!) so no need to worry.

Like I said, I’m actually pretty excited about this. The overall idea is that this is a rest and relaxation time for your body–a time for regeneration and rejuvenation. That means no gym, which is hard for me but I’m embracing the idea that a break will actually help me come back more energized and stronger.  Unfortunately, my brain has already started thinking of all the little “projects” I could get done since I will be getting a couple of hours back in my days this week with no gym/errands/grocery shopping. So I am putting post-it notes around the house that remind me to relax (seriously, I am doing this.)

Here goes nothing!

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My husband loves shortbread cookies and doesn’t care for frosting on his cookies, so the sugar cut-out cookies I usually bake and painstakingly decorate for holidays usually get “oohs” and “aahs” from other people but he always asks me to keep some undecorated for him. When I saw this recipe, I knew he would like them, and they looked quick and easier than the kind I usually decorate.

The other reason I was excited to try this recipe was that it only has five ingredients, and they are all things I can get organic/natural versions of. I even took it a step further and used Xylitol instead of sugar!

I first bought some Xylitol as a sweetener for coffee, after I decided to cut out Splenda and before I decided to cut out coffee. Now I have it in my cabinet and don’t know what to do with it, so I decided to give it a try today. After consulting Cameron and doing a Google search I determined that a 1-for-1 substitute should work. As some of the sites predicted, the cookies did turn out a little dry, and they are not overly sweet, but they are pretty good (yes, even though they have flour in them (wheat!), I cheated on Lent and had a small piece when the stem broke off!) I thought it was pretty good, and my husband confirmed they are tasty but a little dry, which he says can easily be solved by drinking a glass of milk with them!

For (nearly) sugar-free cookies (the sprinkles added sugar), I think they came out quite well and it was fun and easy to make them for St. Patrick’s Day!

Here’s the recipe, with modifications/specifics added:

Yield: 24-30 cookies (depending on cookie cutter size)

Prep time: 10 minutes
Bake time: 20-25 minutes per batch
Total time: 30-60 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (all-natural, unsalted) butter (no substitute!), softened
• ½ cup xylitol (use 1/2 cup sugar if you prefer)
  
• 1 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
• 2 ½ cups organic all-purpose flour
• ½ cup green sprinkles

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla; add in flour very gradually.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness.
3. Let your kids go to town (obviously I did this myself!) by cutting dough with 2-inch cookie cutters.
4. Transfer cookies from counter to lined baking sheet using a thin metal spatula. Place cookies 1 inch apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Sprinkle cookies with colored sugar, if desired.
5. Bake at 300 degrees F for 20 – 25 minutes (took mine 26-27!), until lightly browned.
6. Place cookies on wire racks until they cool (when I did this, they broke, so the next batch I left on the sheet to cool).

Source: AmazingMoms.com

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As promised, here is a post about shifting my mindset from focusing on having willpower to focusing on making good choices. During my last coaching session Cameron and I talked about the distinction, which is hard for me to articulate, but I’ll try because I want to keep it front of mind until it becomes natural.

Having been a lifelong dieter, and someone who prides myself on strength of willpower and determination when it comes to things like resisting chocolate during Lent or running that last mile of a workout, I naturally say things like “I didn’t have the willpower to resist the chocolate frosting on the knife when I was making the cake,” “I will hope for willpower today when Jason is eating Monkey Bread,” or “I wanted to quit running but I used sheer willpower to push through it.” During our discussion, Cameron encouraged me to look beyond willpower and the idea of either succeeding or failing at resisting something, without anything in between. Willpower doesn’t last forever, and the fall when you give up is often pretty hard (I am thinking back to all of my post-Lenten Easter binges…which inevitably lasted weeks rather than 1 day).

Relying on willpower, even when it’s your own willpower, still personifies it to the level of something outside of yourself–and outside of your control. Eating should be exactly the opposite! It’s absolutely within our control, just like everything else we choose to do or not to do every day.

I am not saying this is an easy mindset to adopt. I have literally spent entire social events in a continual mental battle with myself over whether or not to eat that tempting item (insert “cookie/brownie/cake/etc.” here), or worse, wondering if I did just go ahead and eat something, would anyone notice/judge/care? As if other people’s judgments would somehow make it worse or make it ok for my body?! I hate to admit it, but those distorted thoughts still creep back in now even when I am totally aware of them and how distorted they are.

However, I am working on adopting a much healthier way of thinking. Now I am making a conscious effort to really think about that thing that I think I should “resist” and just make the call: am I going to choose to eat it or choose not to eat it? I am in control…not relying on willpower, not agonizing for hours. I’ll either have it, and savor and enjoy it, fully aware of whatever the likely consequence is, or I won’t, and I’ll take joy in knowing how much better I will feel as I make yet another healthy choice for my long-term health and well-being.

I’m not going to lie, sometimes this makes it seem easier to choose the things that aren’t the most healthful choices, but often it’s the opposite. Knowing that I can have something if I want to, but thinking through how it will make me feel and anticipating the long-term personal satisfaction of not having it (or having a better alternative) typically makes me decide against it. And once the choice is made, I don’t second-guess it or dwell on it.

So far, for me this works a lot better for bread and coffee than it does with sweets. I am still having trouble getting my brain to really connect the mood swings and energy dips that I know used to be caused by sugar in my diet with the sugar itself…whereas looking at a cup of coffee, which smells really good, really does make me remember how awesome I felt that first week when I didn’t drink it, and I don’t really want it anymore. I actually crave tea instead!

Tomorrow’s my next coaching session and Cameron and I are going to talk about my continued sugar cravings. I am determined to find a way to combat the cravings and get to a place where I can make the most healthful, mindful choices for my body regarding sugar. Stay tuned!

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I’ve never been a meatloaf fan, so I was not looking for a substitute, but if I needed one, this would be it! I’ll basically try any recipe with quinoa now, I love it!

I really liked this, even though I had to leave out the sun-dried tomatoes because my husband does not care for them, and I did not have a full 1/2 cup of parsley, so those probably would have given it a bit more flavor. “Salt and pepper to taste” is something I am still trying to master, and I don’t think I added enough before baking, but I added a little sea salt and pepper on top when eating it and really enjoyed it. My husband ate his with ketchup and gave it a thumbs up too.

Quinoa Loaf with Mushrooms and Peas

Welcome spring–or vegetarian guests–to your table with this delicious main-course recipe that is destined to become a favorite for family and feasts alike. For killer veggie burgers, serve any leftover slices on toasted whole wheat buns with lettuce and spicy mustard.

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
• 8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 2 cups cooked quinoa
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley and/or 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
• 10 sundried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped
• 1 cup (about 1 onion) chopped red onion

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8-inch loaf pan with oil; set aside. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, put beans, oats and 1/2 cup water into a food processor and pulse until almost smooth. In a large bowl, combine mushrooms, bean mixture, quinoa, peas, parsley, tomatoes, onion, salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to prepared loaf pan, gently pressing down and mounding it in the middle. Bake until firm and golden brown, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Set aside to let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Source: Whole Foods

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Somehow it’s been a whole week since my last coaching session and I haven’t written about it yet!

I’ve reached a stage now where Cameron is starting to “let me go” (she likened it to teaching a someone to ride a bike) and supporting me alongside, so I don’t have explicit goals for the next two weeks or anything new I need to work on or try out.

I struggled with that a little bit, because I crave rules and as much as I like routine and don’t love abrupt change, I do like progress. Moving through what I saw as “modules” kind of felt like progress.

So to remind myself of my progress, I decided to make a list of the changes I have made that have made me feel awesome. (Remember, this is not a “to do” list for everyone–these are changes that worked for me.)

1. Cut out Propel (a.k.a. sugar) in my water all day, every day
2. Cut out coffee (and milk and Splenda that went with it)
3. Started drinking tea daily
4. Added lots more green veggies to diet
5. Added protein to small pre-workout breakfasts (used to be just a banana every single day)
6. Added whey protein/fruit/veggie smoothie as lunch almost daily
7. Started cooking more and using new recipes that focus on veggies, lean proteins, and cool new things like quinoa!
8. Cut out wheat
9. I rarely open packages of food anymore…we literally have less trash!
10. Discovered nut butters, dates, raisins, and other natural “sweets” that satisfy me instead of chocolate chips, marshmallows, or ice cream like my sweet tooth  used to guide me toward
11. Gave up weighing myself daily

Not a bad list! And more importantly, the changes I have noticed in myself as a result:

1. I feel stronger at the gym and feel better when I see myself in the mirror lifting weights or jumping on a step
2. My clothes fit better
3. My energy level is consistently higher
4. I feel excited to cook dinner each night, and I make meals that taste good and I feel good about nutritionally
5. My mood is consistently better, and when it’s not great, I can usually pinpoint why–I feel fewer “generalized” emotions that I can’t shake
6. I’m constantly learning new things that I can incorporate into my daily thinking and eating
7. Friends and family are intrigued by what I am doing and I feel helpful when they ask me questions and I get to encourage them to try new things

So what I am I focusing on now? I guess it’s “staying the course,” and I’m focusing a lot on the  mental aspect of this new way of life.

For the past week, I have not been keeping the food and mood journal. It was getting tiresome and I felt it wasn’t as helpful as it used to be, because I wasn’t thinking very hard about the moods and hunger levels.

I mentioned to Cameron that I was feeling more interested in keeping track of my energy level and true hunger, so she gave me a cool energy tracker. I have to admit, though, I have been checking in mentally on my energy each day, but not really recording on paper. Paper/at the computer just hasn’t been where I wanted to be the past week (maybe it’s the gorgeous weather!)

Every time I feel a craving to eat something (specific or general) I am pausing to ask myself: “am a I physically hungry? what food do I think would satisfy this feeling? Is that food truly going to nourish me?” In my last session we went over a list of 8 common causes of cravings, so I try to identify which it might be. It’s harder than I expected! It does at least make me pause before I just reach for something that I think will satisfy the craving…mindful rather than mindless eating!

The final thing I have been keeping in mind over the past week is the distinction between relying on willpower and making deliberate choices. I think that will be a separate post because I am still struggling with articulating it and this post is long enough…plus it’s sunny outside and I can’t wait to get out for a run!

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The idea of choice (choosing my food, as opposed to “what can I eat? what can’t I eat?”) has been on my mind a lot lately, especially since my email dialogue with Cameron last week. We continued the discussion in my coaching session yesterday and I know it will continue to be something I muse about.

Last week I read an article online called Eating Habits – Food for Thought. The author was trying to figure out what to cook at a dinner party when a guest was a “flexitarian,” which means “mostly vegetarian, but sometimes will eat animals.” Helpful, right? I don’t want to be THAT dinner guest who makes people second-guess everything they cook because they don’t know what I “am.” I would, of course, prefer to be given food options that I would want, but if that means giving friends and family a rulebook, forget it! I don’t want to get tied down to a specific label because I am trying to think of everything in terms of choices, not rules!

So now after reading this article,  I have an addition to the little list I already had going for myself:

• Selectarian (“a person who can eat anything, as long as she/he is mindful about the choice“)
• Eating for Balance
• Mindful Eating
• Eating Clean Foods
• Eating Whole Foods

I don’t think I need a label, but if the right one is out there, I want to know what it is. And I might want a snappy answer when people ask me about what I eat…I guess I’ll see what else I come across as I learn more and more, and what pops into my head when I get that inevitable question: “What are you, again?”

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