Food in social settings

(image from johnbarban.com)

Perhaps the hardest part about choosing to revamp my dietary choices has not been changing the food I eat itself (although it was difficult at first).  It's been how other people react to my dietary changes, and it's made me think a lot about how food is, in so many ways, a part of our social engagement with one another.  There's a whole culture surrounding food and its consumption, and suddenly, I'm breaking the rules.   I don't think most people would bat an eye if each meal I shared with them lacked fruits and vegetables, but when I pick the hearty salad over the pizza, I make others uncomfortable.  Over the past few months, I've been accused of being anorexic, told I'm not eating adequate or proper foods, and people question why I choose not to eat "real food."  In some ways, I think it makes a lot of people I know uneasy.  I'm sure part of this is to justify their own food choices; for others, it's bad nutrition knowledge, and others are perfectly happy with the status quo of a Western diet; it's seen as being American; it's natural, normal, and safe.  But still, the social pressure is frustrating and challenging, especially when I visit other people's homes for meals.  Do I be upfront with people about what I'm willing to eat and not eat?  Do I grin and bear it, and deal with getting physically ill later?  (When I eat typical Western foods now, I get sick.)  Am I bratty for expecting others to accommodate for my food choices?  My family knows, and they do a wonderful job making sure I have plenty of food options (often times, it's as simple as me not eating the bread with a meal).  But for other people in my life, it doesn't seem as easy.  Since it's not "technically" a food allergy, I feel awkward demanding alternatives.  But is that wrong of me?  I'm not sure.  And it's honestly why I prefer inviting others to my home and cooking for them -- it's totally a control issue, and I don't want to have to justify myself to anyone.

(image from starchildglobal.com)

It also makes me realize how much food has shaped my relationship with other people.  In college, my friends and I gathered at the local Irish pub or Chili's for burgers and wings.  My grandmother and I used to share Oreos together and she'd always make me brownies.  In the evenings, my mother and I would take Tostitos and melt shredded cheese on them for instant nachos.  For breakfast, my mother would make the best french toast I've ever eaten.   My sister would mail me her special pumpkin bread.  Thinking about all these examples, I just get a warm and fuzzy feeling associated with them.  There are so many memories attached to these foods, and in many ways, it's cemented a bond between me and the person I shared them with.  Our relationships with food are so loaded, and it goes beyond eating what we eat simply for nutrition.

So, I don't know the best way to address food with others in my life.  I probably feel this way because I don't want to make other people uncomfortable.  But at this point, I don't necessarily want to make myself uncomfortable, either.   But some things I've realized or learned:
If it wasn't for revamping my diet, I wouldn't be able to buy workout pants like this:

I wouldn't be able to do this:

Or this:

And I'm certainly a happier person all around.  It's amazing how much my outlook on life and my mood has changed since eating a Primal/clean diet and working out with CrossFit.  But more on that next time.

How do you address food with the people in your life?  What's the best way to explain this dietary change?

Recipes for (a green) dinner!

For dinner, I decided to make salsa verde to put on some beef, and a kale salad recipe I found in the NY Times that I've been dying to try.

In terms of timing my cooking, I decided to make the salsa verde first, then work on the kale salad, and then working on grilling my meat on the stove top while the kale salad soaked in its vinaigrette.
Note: I made enough salsa verde to last at least two meals -- we can probably get three out of it (for two adults).

Salsa Verde:

1 bunch of parsley, chopped (organic)
1 small box of mint, chopped (approximately 2 tablespoons; organic)
9 teaspoons capers, drained, rinsed, and coarsely chopped
4 small garlic cloves, minced with garlic press
4 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons (organic) EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
sea salt
pepper
steak (the recipe I based my creation off of recommends flank, but I only had skirt steak).  I also made about about 3/4 pound (maybe a tad more), but the salsa verde would easily work for at least 2 pounds, if not more.

Chop all your delicious foods, and mix the parsley, mint, capers, garlic, white wine vinegar, EVOO, and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt in a bowl.  Let sit for at least 20 minutes.  While it's infusing flavors, get going on the salad!

The original recipe for the kale salad is here, but I modified it by not including the cheddar cheese and I used almonds (although I didn't toast them).

For the kale, I took about half the bunch, rinsed it, then soaked it in a bowl of water, rinsed it again, and then patted it dry with paper towels.

Kale salad:
1/2 bunch kale, bottom of stems removed
1 Gala apple, diced into small chunks
1 1/2 tablespoons slivered almonds

dressing:
1/2 fresh squeezed lemon (with lemon press)
5 tablespoons EVOO (organic)
2 small garlic cloves, minced with garlic press (I was too lazy to puree it)
a dash of sea salt

and to top it off:
fresh grated parmesan (omit it if you're hard core Paleo)

After you've washed the kale, slice it in thin slivers:

Put in bowl and set aside.  Add almonds.

Dice apples and add to kale:

For the dressing, combine the fresh lemon juice, olive oil, minced garlic, and a dash of sea salt.  Whisk together, add to the kale, apples, and almonds, and toss dressing throughout the salad.  The dressing definitely helps soften the kale, so let it sit for at least 15 minutes.  Once you're ready to serve, grate on some parmesan to your liking (not too much!)

While the kale is sitting in its dressing, grill that steak on the stove top!

For the steak, lightly season with some sea salt and pepper.  Once you've cooked the steak to your liking, put that yummy salsa verde on top!

Final product:

Hence, my "green" dinner.  I try to vary up colors in my food, but I'll take green tonight (for breakfast, I made scrambled eggs with orange bell peppers and onions, and had blueberries as a side, so I definitely eat my colors).

Food was delicious, and incredibly filling.  I didn't make it through all of my salad or my steak.  (I ate about two-thirds of each).

Before I started Primal/clean eating, I remember lamenting to my doctor that I was fat.  (I was 144 pounds at the time).  She suggested that I not eat carbs with dinner or at night, and said that's how she lost weight.  No grains at dinner!  I was horrified.  How would I survive without cous cous, french bread, or tortillas?  Surely I would melt away and starve to a slow, painful death.

Goodness, she was onto something.  After getting over the initial phase of "how will I survive life without carbs/grains!  I want to eat everything in sight that I'm not supposed to!" I definitely don't feel deprived. (Note: it definitely takes about two weeks to get over the initial shock, and I'd say up to eight weeks to start to make it a steady habit).  But now, it's nice that veggies and some protein make me full.  It's the best way to go.

Let me know if you try either recipe!

It takes a village...

... to get me in shape.

You know how fitness magazines recommend working out with a friend?  The idea is that if you grab a workout buddy, you'll be held accountable to going to the gym, and you'll actually get in shape!  In some ways, it does sound brilliant, but I've never managed to coordinate with/coerce friends or family members to join the same gym or to get together for a workout.  Alas, I guess I had to create my own support network.

And that's exactly what I did, and that's part of why I think I've been able to stick to this exercise/eating plan out for the past eight months.  (Oh, and also because I now crave it and love it.  But it takes time to make something part of our routine, and that wouldn't have been possible without a community to support me).

Over a year ago, I was going to the gym on my own, and working out about three or four days a week.  I usually schlepped on the elliptical for 45 minutes, and maybe I did the stairmaster for another 10 or 15.  Then, I'd probably do some crunches, and if I was ambitious, the occasional walking lunges.  Or maybe I'd run a mile or two on the treadmill.  I'd exercise for at least an hour and a half, but nothing I did seemed to make a difference.  I needed help.

It all started with finding the right trainer.  I had worked with four other trainers before, but I felt like a) they either weren't in great shape themselves and weren't committed to a serious, physically active and nutritiously healthy lifestyle, b) didn't take me seriously and just wanted my money, and c) didn't think women could be physically strong.  (One trainer I had was committed to getting me to do push ups, but he left the gym to become a consultant.  His loss!)

Enter Melissa.

 She's the first trainer I've met who said that I could be strong and physically fit, and that I didn't need to spend hours in the gym to do it.  Even though I was a girl, that didn't mean that I couldn't lift weights and do pull ups -- in fact, I should be doing all those things, and that I could and should live by "I am woman, hear me roar!"  With Melissa, I untapped the idea that I am strong, I am amazing, and I can do anything if I set my mind to it.  She's the perfect match for my feminist self.  Plus, she lives and breathes what she preaches.  She is crazy strong, and she's always finding ways to push herself even further.  My guru, indeed.
She's also the first trainer I met who sat me down and said that I needed to change my diet if I truly wanted to be successful at getting healthy and in shape.  And being "healthy" didn't mean Diet Coke and 100 calorie packs -- it meant eating actual, real food that wasn't highly processed and packaged.  She challenged me to check out Primal/Paleo foods and to try it for "just a month."  The great thing about it? Melissa encouraged me to make changes as I saw fit, and to read as much as I could to see what I thought about it.  No coercion, but realistic.  If I wanted "my insides" to be healthy and not to just be skinny, I had to eat foods like fruits, veggies, and fats to actually be healthy.

(Photo courtesy of TopNews New Zealand -- check out the article above!)

I'm never one to back down from a challenge; plus, I was desperate.  After tracking my calorie intake for months on livestrong.com (eating anywhere between 1400 and 1600 calories a day) and not losing any weight, I knew I needed a better plan of attack.  So, I read about Primal foods, made changes over time, and told Melissa about the foods I ate -- the good and the bad.

What also made Melissa exceptional is that if she ever saw me at the gym, she would always come over to check up on me.  And if I'd ever be working out when she would, she'd have me join her workout.  Seriously, I think there are few trainers in the world who would basically train a client for free.

And through Melissa, I began to meet other trainers at the gym.  If I ever worked out and Melissa wasn't there, Erik, Rob, or Meng would come and check up on me.  They'd check my form, give me tips, or maybe a hard time if they hadn't seen me in a few days.  Steve taught me how to kip and helped me on my pull up form.  Phoebe would create work outs for me and work out with me on those days when I just didn't feel like doing anything.  And slowly, I began to meet their clients, and we'd talk and touch base.  We'd share a tough day, sing each other's praises, or give exercise tips.  Sometimes, we'd even work out together.

All of a sudden, I had several work out buddies.  I had other people who understood the food changes I had made.  I had people who wanted to be as healthy as I did.  Over time, I had made my own network to help me through.

And now, with Charles River CrossFit, which Erik and Melissa opened this past Tuesday, I will always have that community.  My first work out was yesterday, and it was fabulous!  I made a new exercise buddy, and  I worked to conquer those pull ups.  I cheered on others while they rowed and was complimented on my box jumps.  To me, that is happiness.  Making CRCF my new home gym is perhaps the best gift I can ever give myself -- I have the support and assistance I need to take on any food or fitness challenge.

My tips to you:
1.  Find the right trainer.  Don't just settle for anyone.  Watch them train other clients; talk to them about their fitness philosophies, and try an intro session or two together.  Don't pay for someone you don't like!  Training is a great way to get instant support and help to kick start your journey to healthy living.
2. Vary your workouts. Add weight lifting.  Weights are your friend.  Cardio alone won't cut it.
3. You cannot change your health and body with exercise alone.  Eating real foods (fruits, veggies, protein, fats, and in my case, certain dairy) is what will make the difference.  You cannot be healthy eating chips and cereal.  It's not going to give your body the fuel or nutrients you need, even if you consume the "appropriate" amount of calories.  Remember, 100 years ago, people didn't eat foods made from soy lecithin and corn syrup.  The foods we ate today are not helping us to be healthy or lead a healthy lifestyle, and we need to change our mentality of viewing them as a normal part of our food habits.
4.  Join me at CRCF if you're in the area!
5. Build your community.  Say hello to other gym members in the locker room.  Ask trainers for tips (part of their job is to be on the gym floor to help you).  Take a class and chat up the people there.  Over time, you will build a network.
6. Make changes as you can.  You aren't going to change your diet overnight, and it's unrealistic to think you'll whip into shape in 30 days.  It's a lifelong journey, and I'm still trying to figure it out.  Be realistic, be honest with yourself, and over time, these changes will be easier and feel more natural.

What keeps you motivated?

Quickie Post for a Quickie WOD

It's cold in Boston -- colder than normal.  It reached a high of 12 degrees.  Thankfully, years of living in the Chicagoland area trained me for the ridiculously cold, but it's one of those day where you don't really want to do much.
It was also a busy day, full of grading/getting grades submitted/finishing writing reflections on my students.  It was one of those work days where you could easily justify skipping the gym.  I didn't want to take the almost hour it would take to get back and forth to the gym, but I needed something to break up the monotony of staring at papers/my gradebook/my computer.  I needed to get some blood flowing and feel a bit more energized.

Thus, the quickie winter workout of the day, where you don't need to go anywhere!  Any living room/family room will do:

Three rounds of

-2 minutes jumping jacks
-1 minute plank
-15 push ups
-25 squats

Definitely enough to get you sweating and moving in 15 minutes.

Modifications:
If you can't do the push up, do 5 to 8 push up negatives instead.  It's not worth doing "modified" push ups, and it will help you get to push ups faster!
If two minutes of jumping jacks is a bit much, do jumping jacks for just one minute, or break up the two minutes -- have one minute before the plank, 1 minute after.

Enjoy!

Feeding the Family on a Friday

Last Friday, I invited my whole family over for an evening of delicious, home cooked, (mostly) Primal/clean food.  Yum.
Normally I cook for two, so cooking for eight adults and one child made me nervous that I wouldn't have enough food.  So, I planned to make a lot and made two grocery runs. (Side note: my two favorite stores in this world would have to be grocery stores and book stores!)

On my dinner menu:
-chicken
-sirloin steak
-scallops (the only seafood I ever make)
-sweet potatoes
-broccoli
-salad

I also bought fresh ciabatta bread.  I didn't eat any, and I feel a bit of a hypocrite for purchasing it, although it made my brother happy.

On Thursday, I purchased and marinated a five pound, "all natural" chicken.  (By all natural, antibiotic free).

For the marinade:

-Juice from five lemons
-zest from two lemons (note: peel the zest first, then squeeze the juice from the lemon.  A lemon press is a huge help and a great investment as well)
-six garlic gloves, minced (I always use my garlic press)
-1/2 cup olive oil
-2 tablespoons fresh, chopped rosemary

Mix all these ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
Rub down chicken with a teaspoon of sea salt
Place said chicken in the bowl, and marinade overnight (make sure you flip the chicken once, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap before putting in the fridge)

To cook, I put the chicken in a roasting pan, pre-heated the oven at 375 degrees, and popped that bad baby in for two hours.  

To the bottom of the roaster, I added  5 sliced sweet potatoes.  I coated the sweet potatoes lightly in olive oil and added about a tablespoon and a half of fresh, chopped rosemary.

NOTE: the lemon juice from the chicken was definitely infused in the sweet potatoes.  I liked it and would do it again, but it was an interesting taste.  If you're not up for lemony sweet potatoes, put them in a separate pan in the oven.

For the scallops:

-1 pound of fresh scallops

-Juice from 1/2 lemon (just a quick squeeze by hand)

-1 tablespoon fresh, chopped cilantro 

-3 large garlic cloves, minced

-1 tablespoon olive oil

Heat olive oil in a pan over medium heat

add garlic for about two to three minutes

add scallops to mix and pan sear for about five or six minutes, cooking them on both sides

add lemon juice

cook for two to three minutes; turn up heat to medium high to burn off excess juices

add cilantro; remove from heat when juices are nearly gone and scallops are cooked!

Steak:  dry rub (Montreal seasoning (don't add too much): grilled on stove top over medium heat).  I had somewhere between 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of meat.

Salad:

-arugula (4 ounces)

-red lettuce (1/2 head)

-green lettuce (1/2 head)

-green onions, chopped (approximately 1/4 cup)

-one orange pepper, chopped

-one yellow pepper, chopped

-one small cucumber, thinly sliced

-one pint grape tomatoes, sliced in half

-feta cheese (1/3 cup and it can always be omitted)

salad dressing was simply olive oil and balsamic vinegar, at the discretion of the consumer:

I also made:
Four heads broccoli, steamed

And a sauce to go along with the broccoli (my family loves it), which consisted of:
-1/4 cup olive oil
-1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
-1 teaspoon organic dijon mustard (I like Annie's Naturals)
-1 large garlic clove, minced
-a squeeze of lemon juice

Final product:

And a very happy family was fed and satiated.  

Clearly, I love rosemary, garlic, olive oil, and lemon, and consider them to be some of my staple ingredients in my kitchen.  It is a sad day when I run out of garlic, and I always buy heads (never used it from a jar).

What's the best thing you've cooked (or eaten) lately?

Evolutionary Addictions

My friend Thea recently wrote an article about how stress sparks our desire to want something --anything-- to make us feel better.  It turns out that food -- sweets, specifically -- increase endorphins in our brain, and endorphins make us happy.  That's why we so often turn to food as comfort when we're stressed out.

Going with a Primal theme, Thea's article talks about how this chemical surge has existed since our hunter-gatherer days, and was necessary for our survival.  But given that over time, we've adapted to a sedentary lifestyle, our stressors are no longer "can we make the hunt today?  I hope the buffalo doesn't trample me," but instead are "am I going to make the deadline at work?" or "why is there morning traffic?"  These stressors are mostly mental, not physical, and as a result, our bodies do not need the "sugar/carb" rush that we seek, but we give into that desire anyway.  So, we end up gaining weight.

The good news -- when we stress, we can train our brains to want something else -- like exercise!  Thea also informs us that we should be aware of what we eat, and eat mindfully.  Instead of shoveling that bag of Doritos in our mouths to feel better, thinking about what we eat while we eat it makes a significant difference.

I like to think I am developing a healthy exercise addiction since I get incredibly cranky and antsy when I go without exercise.  Having a workout of the day makes a huge difference in my general outlook and attitude.

Speaking of workouts, here's my workout of the day from yesterday:

Run 1.2 miles (11 minutes for me, on the treadmill);
100 push ups
150 sit ups
200 squats

It was awesome.  Next time, I'll run another 1.2 miles after the squats.

I also like to think that I am kicking my sugar addiction (which researchers have discovered, sugar is more addictive than cocaine) by eliminating it from sneaky places like coffee creamers, marinades, and my personal favorite, hard cider.  It hasn't been easy, but I find that when I eat foods with a lot of sugar in them, they are far too sweet for me.  I've also been healthier this winter -- while my coworkers and family members have gotten nasty flus and colds, I've been relatively cold-free, which is highly unusual for me.  Pretty impressive, I think, especially since I'm a middle school teacher, which means that I work in a germ factory.  I'm still working on the sugar-free lifestyle, and for some motivation, I read this article from Men's Health. (Random aside: I love reading Men's Health, and renewed my husband's subscription because I look forward to it coming each month.  I find it far more helpful and interesting than Women's Health).

The more I read and the healthier I feel, the more convinced I am that sugar is bad news.

How do you handle stress?

The Biggest Loser?

Last night, I put on The Biggest Loser.  I have mixed feelings about the show, but I love Alison Sweeney, and  I'm interested to see the exercise and food philosophy the show has.
The snippet I watched had recipes from Curtis Stone.  I love trying new recipes, and was excited for this segment.  The acorn squash and arugula salad he made looked great!  But he lost me at the dessert, which was poached pears smothered in apple cider and fresh squeezed orange juice (from an actual orange -- not a can).  I can completely forgive Curtis for making a a recipe with juice, but then he made a comment to the contestant about what a great dessert this was, especially since there was no sugar in this recipe.  No sugar???  Are you kidding me???

Looking up New York Cider nutrition information,

Thirty grams of sugar in 8 ounces of cider.  Women are not supposed to consume more than 40 grams a day; for men, sugar consumption should be no more than 50 or 60 grams.  I'm sure I'll have more to say on The Biggest Loser in the future.

How can Curtis Stone claim there's no sugar in his recipe?  The Biggest Loser -- you lose big time for this one.  I'm disappointed that they are misleading and misrepresenting the food they cook.  

Winter WOD

Winter workout of the day: Shoveling the four inches of snow in my driveway and walkway.


What was your WOD?

Low-Fat

As I've mentioned earlier, I rarely check food labels.  When I started rethinking my relationship with food this summer, I  neglected to pay attention to two important types of food: condiments and coffee creamer. (Condiments are still a work in progress).
For the past year or two, I've purchased Garelick Farms Non-Fat Half and Half.  I briefly questioned how half and half could be non-fat, but I never paid much attention to it.  I simply poured it in my morning cup of coffee and assumed non-fat = healthier for me, especially since it only had 20 calories per serving, where other creamers I saw had close to double.  And if I wanted to lose weight, my old mentality said I had to cut calories.  That's what nutritionists and magazines said, right?  Fat was the fad enemy of the day.
In my new quest to figure out how to eat well, I've realized that low-fat translates to higher amounts of additives in my food.  I'm also learning to love fats, and make sure I have olive oil and other healthy fats every day.  But for some reason, I kept on buying the non-fat half and half.  Old habits die hard, and I never thought much of it.
After picking up Food Rules, I saw that Rule #9 warns us to avoid foods that are low-fat or non-fat in nature.  Why?  It comes as no surprise, but these foods are chock-full of carbs, sugars, and salt to make sure these foods still taste good without fat.  And that means we consume more and gain weight.
But would lite half and half have sugar and salt?  Last week, I would have proclaimed, "no!"  But as a new saavy food consumer, I had a lightbulb moment: I went to my fridge to read the label of one of my staple products.

Corn syrup?  Artificial color?  Words I can't pronounce?  What was I putting in my body?  Garelick advertises the non-fat half and half as "delightfully delicious and good for your waistline, too."  How?  Disappointed, I ran back out to the grocery store and bought this instead:

And the most important part:

No sugar.  And ingredients I know and love.  And that I can pronounce (Pollan's Rule #7).  And it tastes great in my morning brew.  A win-win situation.

It's all about making small changes that are right for me, and I like Pollan's rules as guidelines for eating. Much of what he says seems like it should be common sense, but when you're used to eating a certain way for years, it's not always intuitive.

Have you swapped out any foods lately?

WOD

Alright, I've noticed that my WOD have the similar theme of running 400 meters.  I'm not a huge runner, but I'm trying to vary up my workouts, and somehow have gotten on this kick of running laps in between sets.  (You can always hop on the rowing machine or bike instead).

On Friday, I arrived at the gym, completely unmotivated and unwillingly to do anything.  So, I did one of the most painful exercises I could think to do: row 500 meters.  (Note:  the most I've ever rowed was a 5K, in 26 minutes and change, and it was the most torturous experiences of my life.  I'll have to do another one soon.  I'm masochistic like that.  Surviving a row makes me feel like a stronger person).
I also had left my ipod at home, so I had nothing to distract me during my row.  It was just me and the machine, baby.
I pushed through to row 500m in 1:56 -- my fastest row ever! (My last record was 1:59 in December, and my first 500m row was 2:12 in July.  I think).
Victory!
After hopping down to the front desk to grab a pen to record my victorious moment, and spending far too long catching my breath and gabbing to the girl at the front desk, I grabbed my WOD record book, and flipped through it to find ideas for the rest of my workout.  It has a list of suggested CrossFit workouts, most of which intimidate me:

I love my CRCF WOD book, and I try to record my workouts whenever I remember.  Why?  To make sure I'm mixing up my exercise routines, and to record any new records I've set, and to track my overall progress.

I settled on the Claudia:
20 kettlebell swings (I used a 20 kg kettlebell, which is about 45 pounds)
400 meter run
x 5

Man, this workout killed me.  I have no idea why.  I took far too many breaks between the KB swings and the laps but I finished in 23 minutes.  It was definitely worth it.

What really helped me was seeing Paul, someone I've gotten to know at the gym because we always work out at the same time.  Paul is retired, incredibly supportive, and thinks I'm a rockstar athlete because I can sprint on the rowing machine and do burpees.  As I struggled to make my last KB swings and laps, he came over to give me a big thumbs up.  It's what I needed to finish a tough work out.

A supportive network has truly made the biggest difference in my life.  I have gotten to know lots of clients and trainers at my gym, and we all motivate one another to keep on going.  Part of the reason I cannot wait to start at CRCF on Wednesday is to have that strong community -- but more on the importance of community later.  Happy Sunday!

Let me know if you try any of my WODs or if you have a WOD of your own!  I'd love to try it!

Confession

There would be no point in writing this blog if I didn't share in my successes and my moments of poor choices, so here goes...

On the up side, I had my morning plain Chobani yogurt with blueberries, sans honey.  To my surprise, it was tasty without the added sugar.  Excellent.  Another healthy choice made.

On the down side...

I had cake on Sunday and hot chocolate with marshmallows last night and tonight.

Gulp.  In every sense of the word.

The main culprit:

I have spent a long time trying to understand why I made the food choices I did.  Did I feel entitled?  Was I hungry?  Stressed?  Bored?  I have to admit, the 18 inches of snow which just fell in my neighborhood fueled part of the hot chocolate binge.  I also drink it with my husband, so perhaps I view it as a nice bonding experience, or ritual.  But did I make a bad choice this week?  Or am I being too hard on myself?

In Food Rules, Michael Pollan's Rule 60 tells us to "Treat Treats as Treats" and his final rule, #64, tells us to "Break the Rules Once in a While."  This is, in part, the advice I need to hear, considering the amount of sugar, corn syrup, flour, and butter I consumed.  I also had to remind myself that a year ago, I would have had no problem eating the sweets I did this week, and in fact, I probably would have eaten more.  But part of me feels icky (mentally and physically).

So, I took a step back.  In a way, I don't think there's anything wrong with occasionally eating a delicious piece of cake or drink a nice hot cup of hot cocoa, but three in a week is probably a bit much.  Instead of the hot cocoa as a ritual, I may grab a nice piece of dark chocolate instead.  And then, I reminded myself why I strive to eat what I eat -- so I can be a healthy 20-something who maintains my health as I age.  I refuse to accept diabetes or heart disease as a "normal" part of the aging process.  And with the GI issues I've had in the past, I will not go on medication to fuel poor eating habits.  And then I watched this to keep my health choices in perspective:

and then I watched this to make me laugh:

What kind of treats to you eat?  How do you get your eating back on track?

Me, fat?

This was precisely the question I asked myself when I stepped on the scale the summer between sophomore and junior year of college at the gym.
How could it be?  I occasionally worked out, I walked over a mile to get to work, and while I frequently indulged in the Starbucks mocha and the brownie, the exercise should burn that off -- right?  Calories in, calories out, or something like that.  Besides, I bought a lot of my groceries from Whole Foods, so didn't that mean I was automatically healthy?
Clearly, my denial and justification of my poor eating habits hurt me in the worst way, with a weight gain of nearly 25 pounds.  I was now considered overweight.
I'm apparently not the only one who's dealt with this dilemma.  According to msnbc.com, while 68 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, only 11 percent believe they are.
Part of the problem, the article cites, is that between the granola bars, 100 calorie packs, and fat free ice cream, we aren't eating healthy, even though we think we are.
One of the biggest problems is that we're eating too much sugar.  Sugar is measured in grams, and Americans (myself included) really have no idea how much a gram is.  Women aren't supposed to consume more than 40 grams of sugar in a day.  Hm.  Perhaps too much sugar contributed to my significant weight gain in college (although I'm sure other factors were involved).  But how am I doing now?  Do I still eat too much sugar?  To get some clarity, I decided to look in my fridge.  I've already made some steps to switch over the foods I eat, but I honestly don't check food labels the way I should.  So here goes a look at my Chobani yogurt...

Nine grams doesn't seem awful -- but given I put about a teaspoon of honey in my morning yogurt (which is about 8 grams of sugar), that's nearly half my sugar consumption at breakfast -- and that doesn't include the sugar in the fruit I add to it.  Yikes!
Wake up call.  I know I'm addicted to sugar, and I've been trying to cut back for the past six months.  Last week, I finally made the commitment to not put any sugar in my coffee.  I'm not going to lie -- I miss the sugar, but it gets easier every day.
Help me continue to cut out sugar!  Words of encouragement or thoughts on SAD (Standard American Diet) welcome.

Taste the Rainbow

Today's trip to the grocery store:

I aimed for color.  Clearly, green was a dominate theme, but I have clementines, blueberries, and a sweet yellow pepper from last week. (Fresh scallops are in the plastic bag).  

What can I say -- I definitely enjoy eating different colors.  For me, it makes the dining experiences more sensory and therefore more enjoyable.  I didn't always try to eat a variety of colors, and it's definitely been a work in progress -- and one that I need to be very conscious of on a daily basis.

While I'd be lying if I said I never get tempted by junk food (I will save this for another posting), my taste for food have definitely adapted over the past six months.  I've discovered that foods I used to eat with delight (TGI Fridays mozzarella sticks and glazed stick donuts, anyone?), I find a lot of fast foods to either too sugary, too salty, or too bland.  One thing I've started to learn is that I prefer my own cooking to most other foods I put in my body.

Best advice I can give for tasting the rainbow:

ALWAYS shop the periphery of the grocery store.  I start in produce and spend the bulk of my time there.  Next, I peruse the nuts and gourmet cheeses, and head to the meats.  I wrap around to the eggs, milk, and yogurt.  This was so vital for me when I first checked out a more primal/clean lifestyle, simply because I craved what I thought I was depriving my body of -- and if I went into the aisles, Oreos inevitably came home.  It was a tough battle.

TRY new produce.  Aim to bring home a produce you've never tried at least twice a month. The new foods I've tried lately?  Kale, brussel sprouts, turnips, and parsnips, all of which I discovered I actually liked.

BUY what you can carry out yourself.  I bring reusable bags and always leave the cart in the grocery store.  The clerks think I'm crazy for carrying out my groceries myself without a cart, but I find it so satisfying.  It helps control how much I buy, and I also feel strong for carrying my bags myself to my car!  While there can definitely be exceptions to this rule, I've enjoyed it so far.

On my quest to better understand what it means to "eat clean" and to help me better explore why I feel compelled to eat unprocessed foods and "be healthy," I enlisted in some help:

Michael Pollan's "Food Rules" and "In Defense of Food."  "Food Rules" is a guide to eating clean, set up with a new rule on each page.  Pollan argues that eating is now been far too complicated in Western society, and that with our Western Diet of salt, sugar, and highly processed foods, we suffer from terrible diet-linked diseases, like heart disease and diabetes.  He offers food solutions with 64 rules for selecting and eating food.  While I figured out to shop the periphery of the grocery store somewhat accidentally this summer, "shop the peripheries of the supermarket and stay out of the middle," is Rule #12.  More to come!

I'm not going to lie -- appearance has a lot to do with my diet and exercise choices.  But the more I delve into this lifestyle, I realize that a large part of why I'm doing it is because I don't want to be placed on medication for diabetes or hypertension.  I want to be mobile and energetic as possible as I age.  In college, I was put on Prevacid due to acid reflux, which was necessary because of what I was eating.  Changing my diet means I don't need it.  And why would I choose to eat foods that are making me so sick that I need to be medicated?  I refuse to do it.

What exciting new produce have you tried lately?

WOD and dinner ideas

Happy Friday!

Today, I thought I'd share my WOD along with my quick and easy dinner.  (I promise to come up with some more interesting dinners in the future).

After work and some errands, I went to the gym (not CrossFit.  Aside: I met my trainer through the gym where I've been working out, and she decided to open her own CrossFit, so I'll be there starting January 15! So, my CrossFit experience so far has just been with her.)  Anyway, I was originally thinking of doing some deadlifts, push presses, and kettlebell swings, but I changed my mind last minute.

I started off on my quest to learn how to do a pull up.  I started by trying my hand at kipping, hoping that the momentum could help me pull myself up.  I wasn't that successful, but I definitely had the "kipping" part down!  So, I decided to try negative pull ups.  I wasn't very good at slowly lowering myself down.  I think I'll have more success this way, but it's going to take time.  I could definitely feel the burn, though!  Awesome.

I did the rest of my workout on the track at the gym.

WOD (3 rounds):
spiderman crawls
(bicycle crunches
jumping jacks
push ups
squats
v sit crunches
wall sits (almost did burpees, but changed my mind))
400 m run

How I did it:
For round 1, I did a spiderman crawl 1/4 of the way around the track.  I stopped there, and did bicycle crunches in place for 30 seconds (I used my ipod as a timer).  I continued on with the spiderman crawl for another 1/4 of the track and did 30 second of jumping jacks in place; 1/4 spiderman crawls with bicycle crunches in place, 1/4 spiderman crawls and 30 second jumping jacks.  I then ran 400 meters (about 5 laps around the track).
For round 2, I followed the same pattern, but replaced the crunches and jumping jacks with 10 push ups and 20 squats, and followed it with another 400 meter run.
For round 3, same deal, but I did 15 v sit crunches and one minute walls sits and finished with another 400 meter run.  It was a very exciting work out, and what's great is that it is really customizable.  One problem:  I have short hair, and it's hard to pull back.  I have these really thin, stretchy headbands, but they're too big for my head and keep falling off.  Any suggestions on how I should pull back my hair?

For dinner, I threw together what I had in the house.  I cut up some peppers:

Put this rub on some chicken breast:

(I love it because it has very simple ingredients, and it's not too salty);

and I steamed the last of our green beans.  I grilled the chicken on the stove top, sauteed the peppers with a smidgen of olive oil, and read E.L. Doctorow's "Homer and Langley" while I waited for everything to finish.  

Final product:

Yum.

FYI -- the green beans are pre-cut.

Today, I saw this great NY Times article titled "Sustainable Food" that basically said that while everyone knows that successful dieting starts with eating real food (which we need to cook ourselves), that people today are less willing to cook than ever before because we feel we don't have enough time.  The author thinks a lack of time is a bogus excuse for not cooking (he cited the latest Nielsen ratings which revealed that the average American watches 35 hours of TV a week).  He also provides some basic, easy recipes (they aren't Primal, but they look pretty good).  I feel slightly vindicated in my desire to eat tasty, colorful salads for lunch.

What was the best part of your week? Any great workouts?

Reclaiming the Salad

Growing up, I had this idea that the girls in school who ate salad for lunch were unhealthy, anorexic, and not "real girls." Granted, they may have been healthy or unhealthy, I really have no idea.  My point is that I believed that "real girls" weren't afraid to eat "real food" -- food like pizza, white pasta, cookies, chips (name your overly processed, full of crap food of choice).  To me, that was healthy.  It's what you're supposed to eat if you didn't have any body image issues, right?  If you ate carrots instead of hamburgers at lunch, you clearly didn't know how to eat or how to love your body.  But I wondered why I never had fabulous abs or a celebrity body.  Even though I never exercised and didn't always put a vegetable in my body, wasn't I doing what you were supposed to do to be the average, normal, American girl?

Now, of course,  I've learned that's totally wrong.  But, it's made me think a lot about what constitutes healthy and non-healthy food.  How should we define healthy? Is it calorie-based, vitamin-based, omega-3 fatty acid based? What's the difference between Coke and Diet Coke, Fruit Loops and Special K, cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory and cheesecake made by Sara Lee?  There's so much information about nutrition out there and so many different diet options available, it's really hard to know what you're supposed to eat or not eat.  How many carbs should you consume?  Do you eat low-fat? Low-calorie?  Is it better to grab the Skinny Cow and the Weight Watchers meal on the go, or the chewy granola bar and the Yoplait yogurt?

Lately, I've thought a lot about my motivations to lead a healthy lifestyle, and to be quite frank, my motivations were purely aesthetic.  I wanted to be thin and fabulous looking, a.k.a "healthy."  And if I had to get there by eating Atkins/South Beach/Grapefruit/Weight Watchers/Insert Trendy Diet Here, I was willing to do it.  If those foods made me thinner, they were clearly healthy.  But the second I went back to "real food," the weight came back.  So, what did healthy mean?  What was I doing wrong?  What is the "real food" I was supposed to be eating?

I still struggle with my body image and what I should be eating, and I don't have abs of steel.  But this week, I finally had a lightbulb moment.  When people (myself included) jump on these diets, we don't actually want to be healthy; we want to be thin.  And we're willing to do everything except what we actually need to do to get there.

Why don't the mainstream diet options tell us to make a salad everyday?  Why are packaged, processed foods usually part of the deal?  Is it connected to how we view our relationship with food?

I feel like part of the problem is that salad has such a stigma in our culture.  A salad isn't seen as adequate food consumption.  Obviously, not all salads are made equal, and it's clear that there's a huge difference between the salad with iceberg lettuce and ranch dressing, and the salad with romaine lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, peppers, onions, almonds, and some olive oil and vinegar.  But still, I just have this feeling that salad = not real food and is only viewed as acceptable when it's loaded with croutons, salad dressing, and chicken fingers.  I want to save the salad and make it my healthy food.  I want people to realize that when done correctly with veggies, healthy fat, and perhaps some protein (maybe even fruit!), salads for lunch/dinner, etc.,. are healthy, nutritious, and fuel our bodies in a positive way.  

Perhaps I'm missing something, and I'd love some other perspectives!

What are you perspectives on salad and/or dieting? What constitutes "healthy food?"

Push Up Follow-Up

Today, I completed 28 push ups in one minute.  That's 11 more since July!

According to the National Institute of Health:

Age	17-19	20-29
Excellent	> 35	> 36
Good	27-35	30-36
Above Average	21-27	23-29
Average	11-20	12-22
Below average	6-10	7-11
Poor	2-5	2-6
Very Poor	0-1	0-1

I fall into the "above average" group!  I'm excited that I bumped up a group.  It's a small victory.

My next goal: 30 push ups in one minute by March.

Perhaps a new year has inspired you -- what exercise goals do you have or are working to meet?

The Art of the Push Up

According to the New York Times, push ups are a great measure of our physical fitness -- they help us to build muscle strength to fight against aging, and those who can do push ups in old age are literally in better shape to withstand a fall.  But, as the article mentions, push ups are seen asa  part of a male athletic culture -- for women, push ups are taught "modified," meaning on the knees.  Hopefully, that's beginning to change, with magazines like Women's Health describing how to do a basic push up.

From Women's Health

 But I know from my own experience, I was always encouraged to do a modified push up, since it was "easier" for a girl.

I'm glad things have changed.

Up until last May, I could not do a push up.  My upper body strength was virtually non-existant, and I loathed the thought of having to propel my body up using my arms.  I'm a very lazy person, and it just seemed too hard!  Would my arms bulk up?  Would I end up looking like a freak of nature?  Couldn't I just lift some five pound weights and look fabulous?

And then a very fabulous trainer named Dan introduced me to the world of the Push Up Negative.  (Check out a youtube video of Mike from San Diego's Premier Training on a push up negative tutorial here.)  Seriously, it changed my life.  Working with Melissa, I've perfected my push up even more -- I no longer buckle in my knees for extra support.  For me, it's such a source of pride to be able to finally do a push up, and I feel so much stronger and happier now that I can whip out 20 push ups.  I think since I was always so weak, it was nice to finally feel strong!

My point -- push ups are a great measure of physical fitness, and vital to our health.  Today, I'm going to head to the gym and see how many push ups I can do in a minute.  Last May, it was zero -- last July, it was 17.  I'll repost my new record, as well as the national averages, and we can dialogue!

How many push ups can you do in a minute?

WOD and food

Per request of my sister, I'll be posting exercise routines and meal ideas here.  Comments, questions, and recommendations are always welcome!


Workout Of the Day:

5 rounds of:
Rowing 250 meters
10 burpees with push up and vertical jump
20 squats

all for time.

I completed my rounds in 17:15, and I think next time I'll push for 6 rounds in under 20 minutes.  It was tough, but wonderful and amazing.  Rowing always kicks my butt, and I try to sprint as I row.  I finished my workout with some planks on the stability ball and butterfly crunches.  Unlike the video, I come all the way up -- not sure if it matters -- any thoughts?

After the gym, I came home and put together a pretty easy dinner of grilled, grass fed beef, sauteed tomatoes, and steamed green beans:

I love this meal because it's colorful, tasty, and super easy.  For the meat (which I got at my local grocery store -- no hormones or antibiotics in it!), I put on the Montreal Steak Dry Rub.  I can read all of the ingredients in the rub, and it's mostly salt, pepper, sunflower seed, and paprika.  But don't add too much, or else it's overwhelming.

For the tomatoes, I used:

1 pound grape tomatoes

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced (with a garlic press)

basil (in this case, dried, but fresh basil tastes wonderful)

I put the oil in the pan, added the garlic, and sauteed the tomatoes until they started to shrivel and soften.

Green beans were steamed, and dinner was on the table in under 25 minutes (with a lot of the cooking time spent by me reading the junk mail that arrived today!)

Any great meals you've had or cooked lately?  What do you enjoy to eat (or cook?)

Pull Up Challenge Begins

Since last year, I made it a goal to finally learn how to do a pull up.  But, I've struggled to find a way to meet this goal, mostly by my own lack of will power to meet it.  Pull ups terrify me.  In some way, I think I feel it will mean I have a lack of control.  I despise heights, and perhaps this has something to do with it.  Or it might be laziness.  I think I must have some bizarre mental block with pull ups that I need to unlock.  Maybe I'm afraid of being weak, failing, and being laughed at at the gym (although I know it wouldn't happen).  But, I'd like to do this, but haven't mustered up the courage:

Finally, last night, my husband challenged me to finally learn how to do a pull up by my birthday in June.  Part of me feels overconfident -- I have plenty of time to do it.  At the same time, I'm afraid I'll wait to the last minute to try it.  Or chicken out.

So, this is my new challenge.  My question is: how do I learn up to do a pull up, without a weighted machine?  How do I overcome my fear of pull ups? Help!