Q1 Check In

Hey, you.  How's it going?  Remember those resolutions, er - goals we made in December for the coming year?  How are you doing with them?  As a reminder mine were: to eat more fruits and veg - check.  Drink more water - hhhmmm..still need to work on that one. Exercise 30 minutes, 3 days per week - this one I've gotten much closer to reaching, since I have been exercising almost every day.

How about you?  We're getting ready to start Quarter 2 (Q2), so it's a good time to retool and start again if needed.  Assess where you are and adjust.  Keep moving toward your goal.  The only race you're really in is against yourself.  If you've gotten off track, get up and get going again. You can do it.  Be healthy!

#NNM - It's National Nutrition Month!

Yeah!  It's National Nutrition Month!!  What a great time to focus on healthy eating, right?  When I get this enthusiastic about food and nutrition, my family just looks at me like I'm crazy.  Then, they move on to mock me.  It hurts.  Seriously, I know they appreciate that I love food and nutrition so they can spend their time thinking about other things and still reap the benefit of good-for-them foods. 

This year's theme is "Enjoy the taste of eating right."  Emphasis on ENJOY.  You see, food that's good for you can also be food that is delicious. In fact, it should taste great.  After all, who wants to eat food that tastes like cardboard?  Not me. 

Here are four tips to healthy great tasting meals and snacks:

1. Use fresh, colorful ingredients - with a focus on fruits and vegetables.
2. Add spices and fresh herbs often and in abundance.  Parsley, mint, thyme, ground cumin, curry blends, and cinnamon are fantastic in many different dishes.
3. Vary your protein and try to go meatless at least one day a week.  Non animal proteins to start with include black beans, split peas and lentils, peanuts and peanut butter, tofu, and high protein grains like quinoa.
4. Be adventurous.  Try something new, such as ethnic cuisines, since these are often vegetarian (or meat is used in small amounts) and filled with healthful spices.

It's a great time to try your hand at making the meals in your house delicious AND nutritious.  Be healthy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I <3 You!  Seriously, if you're reading this it's probably because you're a friend or a family member and I really do love you.  If you are neither, then I bet I would love you if I got to know you.

Today is a wonderful day to practice loving others.  Jesus said that others would know us by the way we love others (John 13:34-35).  I hope that most of the time I do that.  Today, I'm going to try extra hard to be loving.  I love John Wesley's admonition to us:

It's also a good day to love on someone with a good meal.  Hopefully you have something special planned for yourself today, maybe it even includes someone else.   Make it a healthy one.  Today is also a good day to think about your heart and the heart of the ones you love.  Whatever you're putting into your mouth is impacting your heart too.  Choose wisely.  

While we were snowed in this week, I made a version of these delicious Snickerdoodle Pancakes.  I couldn't actually bring myself to making them just as the recipe is...too indulgent, too much sugar, not really breakfast material.  Instead, I tweaked the recipe like this - replace the AP flour with 1/2 cup buckwheat flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour; omit sugar (you'll add syrup and they'll be sweet enough); trim the butter to 3 Tbs; replace sour cream with plain yogurt and use buttermilk instead of milk.  They were delicious, cinnamony, light, and slightly sour from the buttermilk, slightly sweet from a drizzle or real maple syrup (not the fake stuff!).  And...no guilt for me.  Enjoy! Be healthy!

More Snow?!

So here we are in Atlanta anticipating more snow.  Seriously?  I'm a native and I can't remember ever having back to back snowstorms.  And yes, 2" of snow is a snowstorm in Atlanta. 

Like most people around here, I hit the grocery store today.  There were a ridiculous number of people there in the middle of the day on a Monday.  There was still plenty of bread, milk and staples when I was there at 11, but I heard (via Facebook, which is the most reliable place for news, of course) that the markets were cleared out before the evening.  I didn't buy bread because I always have plenty of ingredients to make fresh homemade bread if I need it...as long as we have power. 

Here's what I bought:

• 1/2 gallon of organic whole milk
• extra firm tofu
• bunch of organic beets
• bananas
• organic parsley
• beet juice
• organic broccoli
• whole wheat hamburger buns

I keep a very well stocked pantry and fridge.  I just wanted a few delicious items to round out what I have on hand. What am I going to make?  Burger buns are for black bean burgers (I <3 Morningstar Farms spicy black bean).  Tofu and broccoli will become stir fry.  Beets are for roasting to top salads and for pureeing for the baby.  Bananas for PB & banana sandwiches, banana bread, and mashed for baby.  Milk and beet juice for drinking.  Not together.  I'll share some recipes this week.

Did you hit the market?  What was in your cart?  Stay warm.  Be healthy!

What the Wheat?!

Recently, I went to see a chiropractor - I have carpal tunnel syndrome, seriously, doesn't that suck? - and she asked me about wheat.  Specifically, she asked me about a book that talks about wheat and the midsection and pretty much blames wheat for all of the illnesses that people have, especially overweight.  I tried not to look at her cross-eyed, but I'm sure she saw the displeasure on my face.  Here's the deal on wheat:

1. If you do not have an allergy or sensitivity and don't have celiac disease, you need not avoid wheat altogether.
2. Wheat, in and of itself, is not evil or poisonous, despite the bill of goods someone might have sold you.
3. Too much wheat (and too much sugar) isn't good for you.  And when you eat it, it should be whole wheat, wheat berries, or cracked wheat - not highly refined flour.

Source: wholegrainscouncil.org

Expanding beyond just wheat, whole grains are a great source of nutrients, including protein, fiber, and a variety of micronutrients.  Check out the Whole Grains Council nutrition page for detailed information on specific grains.  Again, enjoying grains in their whole form ensures that the nutrients are retained. 

Here are a few delicious whole grain recipes to try:
Ellie Krieger's Wheat Berry Salad via The Food Network
Miso-Ginger Wild Rice with Carrots and Cabbage via Whole Paycheck Foods
One-pan Farro with Tomatoes via Smitten Kitchen
100% Whole Grain Wheat Bread via Food.com (I bet you could make this in a bread machine)

Grains should be part of your daily diet, but not the bulk of your diet.  So, don't give up wheat or your favorite grain, unless you have to.  Do enjoy it in moderation.  Be healthy!

I didn't receive any compensation and don't have a relationship with the Whole Grains Council, by the way.

To Raise an Adventurous Eater

One of my primary goals as a registered dietitian nutritionist mamma is to raise an adventurous eater.  I want my son to enjoy food - to share my own fascination with colors, textures, flavors of food from around the world.  Spices, vegetables, exotic fruits, sauces, and soups...there are so many delicious dishes to try!  My little guy just hit the 6 months mark and I couldn't be prouder.

He's growing beautifully and enjoying new foods and flavors all the time. I started introducing little tastes of this and that at just over 4 months and his interest in food has continued to grow.  Early on, he still had a little but of tongue thrust and he would push anything put in his mouth out, but that's gradually disappeared.  Now he eagerly lunges toward the spoon lapping up whatever is on it.  Here are three ideas on feeding the adventurer in him...

1. He gets to taste whatever mommy is eating...the key is a TASTE.  I don't feed him very salty or sweet foods, although he did get a little taste of hot cocoa and a lick of a tortilla chip recently.  Not at the same time mind you.  Seriously, if I'm eating spaghetti, he gets a taste of the sauce, same for everything from scrambled eggs to tikka masala to oatmeal with molasses to peanut butter and banana sandwich (which he totally just gums at and can't eat, of course).  As the result, he will taste pretty much anything.
2. I add spices to his food.  For instance, G's "dinner" tonight was a bit of infant oatmeal made with breastmilk with curry spiced pureed pumpkin.  He ate it up.  He also really likes the flavor of cinnamon.  I'm not afraid to try these foods with him, since he's been tasting them through my diet since before he was born. He only eats a couple of tablespoons at a time and that's fine - I try to make that little bit extra interesting!
3. He gets to decide if and how much he eats.  If I make him something and he doesn't want it, that's fine.  He can refuse and I just toss it out.  He can take one bite and decide he doesn't like it yet - or today, if it's something he liked in the past.  Since he can't tell me how he's feeling, it's just trial and error.  I'm mindful to allow him to have some control, since he doesn't get to decide what or when he gets to eat.  If he doesn't open his mouth to receive the food or if he turns his head away, I don't stick the spoon in his mouth.

 That's an update on developing an adventurous eater.  Be healthy!

It's Monday...Be Encouraged

Source

Whatever's going on in your life, do not despair.  Don't give up.  Put your faith in Jesus.  He's got a plan for your life.  Hold on.  He knows what He's doing.  Trust Him.  Be healthy!

The Power of Connections

I believe that we are meant to live in community with others.  We are social creatures, designed to have relationships with other people.  Healthy, positive relationships can be life-enriching (sometimes life-saving!).  This is so true when it comes to developing and maintaining healthy habits.  Research has shown that when we partner with a friend or group we are more likely to:

• eat healthy if our partner or friends do too (and eat worse if your friends do!);
• stick to a physical activity regimen (or skip it if our spouse does);
• push ourselves harder and farther toward our physical activity goals;
• and have happier, more satisfying lives.

There's power in connections.  Life has currents - they will carry you along.  We are never truly standing still.  We are moving toward or farther from our goals, aspirations, and health.  Are you connected to one or more people who are moving with you toward a healthy more satisfying life?  If not, it's time to get connected!  Find a buddy, ask a friend, recruit a mentor or coach.  Life is better when we're together.  Be healthy!

Source

Eating My Veggies (and Fruit)

Time for a check in!  How are you doing with those goals you set at the beginning of the year?  Yeah, those...from just a couple of weeks ago!  Are you still doing it?  According to StatisticBrain.com, by this time more than 25% of people have given up on their resolution.  I'm sticking with my goals and doing okay...still struggling to get in the physical activity and drink enough water.  But I do have a win!  Where I'm really excelling is in eating my veggies and fruits.  Being more aware of the need to eat more of them has had me bumping up servings at all of my meals.  Each of the following pictures features a delicious combo of fruits and vegetables worked into or served on the side of each meal. 

Chicken and Israeli couscous salad with dried fruit, roasted beets and watermelon.

Turkey mini-meatloaf with baked apples, mashed cauliflower and braised kale.

Vegetarian chili served over a sweet potato and topped with avocado, side of watermelon and pineapple.

Vegetable "quiche" with mashed potato crust - made from the previous night's leftovers!

What do you think?  Does it give you some ideas for making the most of your produce?  Eat your veggies, friends!  Be healthy!

The Magic of a Checklist

I'm a bit of a "type A" personality, what with my recovering perfectionism and all.  I love a list and a list that I can check off is even better.  Make that list an app that strikes through each task as I check it off and I'm in heaven! 

I make lists for my daily and ongoing to do, groceries, Target (do you love Target like I do?), cleaning, 2014 Christmas gifts, bucket list, and the list goes on (see what I did there?). 

Recently, I was looking for an app to help me with getting organized about cleaning my house.  I don't have a great big house with lots of rooms, but I have a 5 month old baby.  Anything outside his nursery is too much to clean some days.  I like a clean space, but I don't have time to spend hours cleaning all at once.  I also like to check things off my list.  I found such a helpful app!  Motivated Moms is an app for organizing chores and so much more. 

The Motivated Moms app has a simple interface that allows for organizing by
daily (everyday tasks), today's specific tasks only, or all tasks.

Some of the other great reminders include:

• exercise
• quite time
• take your vitamins
• read to children
• clip children's nails
• a daily Bible reading suggestion that will walk me through the Bible in a year (I think)
• pamper yourself (yes, I need a reminder for this)
• spend time on a hobby or craft

You can also add items to the lists and customize it somewhat - although I haven't gotten into that yet - hhhmmm...maybe it will help me consolidate some of my lists.  After a week of using it, the app seems pretty "no-frills" overall.  Still, I love the great reminders to take time for self-care and to slow down - and the Bible reading plan.  I need to be reminded to take care of myself, not just to dust the bathroom light fixtures (which by the way was a very helpful reminder, since I don't think I've done that since we moved in).  If you're like me and an overachiever with the need to check things off, who is also a little scattered and disorganized, you should check out this app.  Be healthy!

Soup, Glorious Soup

Not much will warm you up quicker and better than a steaming bowl of soup.  That's not all...soup is the perfect vehicle for veggies.  And lots of them!  One of the fantastic things about veggie soups is that since the veggies cook in the broth, any nutrients leached out by the liquid are also eaten, so you lose less vitamins and minerals in the end dish.  I love all kinds of vegetable soups and you're only limited by your imagination.  This week's featured soup at my house is a play off this Savory Kale, Cannellini Bean and Potato Soup.  As I've mentioned before, recipes are just guides (and this totally reminded me that I still owe you 3 more from my top 5 cookbooks!), so you can doctor and adjust them to your taste or to what you happen to have on hand.  Here's what I made...give it a try or tweak it for your preference. 

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, scraped and chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 small/medium potatoes, scrubbed and chopped
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken stock
• 3 cups water
• 2 teaspoons herbs de Provence
• pinch red pepper flakes 
• 5 cups chopped kale
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• salt and pepper to taste

In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and saute onions for 5 minutes.  Add carrots and garlic and stir, cooking for about 3 more minutes.  Add potatoes and cook, stirring so they don't stick, for about 3 minutes more.  Pour in the chicken stock and water and add the herbs and red pepper flakes.  Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook partially covered for 20 minutes.  Add kale and garbanzo beans and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with salad, and a grilled cheese on homemade bread like I did. Yum! Be healthy!

A Warm Breakfast for You

 

Good morning!  I hope you're keeping warm where you are.  Quick and easy and full of nutrition, steel cut oats are the perfect breakfast for a cold, cold morning - like it is here...and probably is where you are too!  Here's my favorite simple recipe for creamy steel cut oats.  You can use water instead of milk and frozen berries instead of fresh, as well as honey instead of brown sugar. It'll make 4 servings - or two if you're really hungry.

• 1/2 cup steel cut oats
• 2 cups milk
• 2 Tbs chia seeds
• 2 Tbs brown sugar
• 4 Tbs peanut butter
• 1/2 pint fresh blueberries, strawberries, or blackberries

Bring milk to simmer over medium heat.  Add steel cut oats and stir.  Allow to simmer until most of the milk has been absorbed and the oats are beginning to get soft.  Stir in chia seeds and brown sugar, then turn off heat, cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.    Serves 4, each topped with 1 Tbs peanut butter and fresh berries.

Hope this little breakfast warms you up.  Plus, it'll provide fiber, B vitamins, delicious antioxidants, protein and good fat!  Be healthy!

First Things First

As it is the 2nd (3rd when you read this), my mind is still on the beginning of a new year.  Things I want to accomplish professionally and personally, anticipation for wonderful milestones with my baby boy, and hopes for expanding our family.  I'll get back to all of that on the next post.  Today is about priorities.

As I was working through my day - feed the baby, play, rock the baby to sleep, write/email/laundry, repeat - I read a post on Facebook that a friend's son is being moved to hospice following a battle with cancer.  The post stopped me in my tracks.  My friend is the same age as me, we went to high-school together.  She started her family earlier, so her son is nearly grown.  Still, my heart knows that he remains her baby boy and it breaks with hers at the thought of what she's facing.  I can hardly force myself to think about it.  As a new mom, my heart is too tender still, hormones too ripe - no, that wouldn't matter.  Mothers aren't supposed to bury their children.  I prayed for her right away.  I've prayed for her over and over today.

After reading her post, my perspective shifted.  My priorities got right.  I cried for her.  I found myself on my hands and knees scrubbing the shower praying for her.  Crying for her and at the same time thanking God that my greatest inconvenience of the day is fighting the mold in my shower grout.  Grateful that I have the opportunity to be exhausted from lack of sleep and days that run into each other as I change diapers, wake up at night to calm tears, feed and rock my son, clean our house (even the floors and the bathrooms), and work for my clients, without the heartbreak my friend suffers.  But for the grace of God...

Yet I know the grace of God is with her too.  It is with her son.  Though they may not always know, His grace is with all those who suffer loss, injustice, the unfairness of cancer, "random" accidents, heartbreaks that we cannot, do not understand.

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted, and saves those who are crushed in spirit. ~Psalm 34:18

I do not understand why.  I won't pretend to understand.  I have borne witness to the losses of friends and loved ones - holding the hands and sharing my heart with others as they've lost in ways I do not fully understand.  Felt completely helpless, useless, because I didn't understand why then either.  In the midst of loss, I have known what I know still.  God does not leave us alone in our pain.  We may not always feel His presence or hear his voice, but He does not leave us.  Whatever comes, my deepest desire is that my heart be tethered to Him, to the One who knows, who sees all of history past and future together and knows the whole story. And to be able to share that with others in their suffering - and in their joy.

Abide in me and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in me. ~John 15:4

I want to abide in Jesus.  [Verb: Abide - live; dwell.]  I want to live, to dwell with Jesus. To find rest in Jesus. How do I do that in a crazy world? with so many competing "priorities"? with pain and suffering and sorrow?  The simple phrase "keep first things first" fits.  If Jesus is to be first, it must be how I start each day.  Scripture.  Prayer.  To prioritize means to make first, more important than other things.  First thing each day I need to seek His face, His will, His word.  First thing when worry, fear, calamity strike.  First thing when I see needs, feel the heartache of someone else.  To paraphrase Ann Graham Lotz...Jesus.  Just give me Jesus.  Not Jesus and ___.  Jesus is enough.  He is first.  Abide in Him today.

Resolving to Set (and Keep) Goals

Are you a resolution setter?  I have set and broken so many resolutions that I don't make them anymore.  But I'm hardly immune to the effects of the New Year.  I know that for some it's just a flip of the calendar, but for me it's always an emotional time.  The ending of a year and start of a new one is a great opportunity to take stock of where I am - and how near (or far) I am from where I want to be.  If you're like me, you rehash the year in your mind, think about what's to come and make lists.  Lots of lists.  In the past, I've made lists for health related goals, for home, one for finances, relationship lists, etc, etc.  This year, I'm keeping it simple.  I'm keeping it SMART. I'll still probably add a goal or two for home and relationship, but this year I'm doing just three health related goals. If you're setting goals, I encourage you to keep them smart too!

What's a SMART goal?

• Specific - not vague or lofty, but really specific things you can actually DO.  I will eat less fast food vs. I will eat home-cooked meals 6 days of the week and eat out one day of the week.
• Measurable - how do you know if you met your goal?  You must make them measurable for them to count.
• Attainable - choose goals that you can really meet.  If you need to lose 200 pounds, maybe just start with 20.
• Realistic - you might want to work out 6 days per week, but what's really doable for you is 3.  Start there and work up if/when you can!  Three days per week is better than none.
• Time sensitive - set a deadline.  When do you want to meet this goal.  Or how frequently are you going to do whatever it is you're going to do.  For instance, each day, I will eat five servings of vegetables.  Or by June 1, 2014, I will pay off 50% of my debt.

SMART, right?   Now, what are my goals you ask?  Here you go:

1. Each day, I will eat at least 2 servings of fruit and 5 servings of vegetables. (I'm close on this one, but not as consistent as I would like.)
2. I will drink 56 oz water every day.  (This one is a stretch for me, since I'm like a camel - who drinks a lot of coffee.)
3. Three days per week, I will engage in at least 30 minutes of physical activity. (Seeking out a yoga class one day per week to help me get 1/3 of the way there!  Plus I bought a super cute running skirt today to help me be motivated - cute workout clothes does that.)

Source

Just three health related goals this year.  I started today.  I'm off to a good start!  What are your goals? Share them here.  Be healthy!

Coffee or Tea

I love coffee.  I like tea.  I don't find myself torn about either one, but I find the controversy over coffee and tea consumption interesting.  Should we drink either?  Are they bad for us?  Are they good for us?!  What's a bitter beverage lover to do?

Homemade Latte with whole milk and a little Cinnamon = ~60 cals and 4g fat

The truth is the same for many questions about nutrition - it depends.  Overdoing it on caffeinated beverages is a bad idea.  Since caffeine is a stimulant, it can certainly cause in increase in heart rate, which isn't good for those who already have high blood pressure.  In addition, it can interfere with sleep.  For those who are particularly sensitive, caffeine can interfere with falling and staying asleep for hours after being enjoyed.  Finally, if you like your sugar with a little coffee or tea, you could have problems.  While coffee and tea are nearly free of calories on their own, when you add several teaspoons of sugar and cream, you can quickly approach a hundred calories per cup.  Don't even get me started on the coffee shop specialty drinks that can run well into the hundreds of calories - even close to a THOUSAND for one grand cup.

Tall PSL = 330 calories and 14g fat

But if you're drinking 3 cups or less a day and avoiding all the added fat and sugar, there may be some benefits.  Researchers have found that coffee and tea contain potent antioxidants.  They may help control blood sugar.  People who drink modest amounts may benefit from the mental alertness (though overdoing it really lessens this over time) caffeine provides.  So if you like coffee or tea, enjoy them...in moderation.  Be healthy!

Keeping It Simple

Can I do this?  Can you?  Want to try?  A simple life sounds good to me today.  How about you? Be healthy!