Clean Eating

A friend of mine at church told me yesterday that she was amazed at how healthy I look and wanted to get my entire eating plan. I haven't been running in forever and I have to nap way more now that I have MS, but whatever. Most days I feel pretty good. I haven't weighed myself since early January...so, I'm kind of curious how much weight I've lost. 

Here's what I'm not eating:

• sugar
• dairy
• grain (wheat, rice, corn, oatmeal)
• gum (or anything) with aspartame 

So, my diet is somewhere between the Whole30 (if you're not familiar with that, read this: http://whole30.com/step-one/) and paleo (if you're not familiar with that, read this.

I think how I eat is closer to paleo because I do have the occasional bit of sweet, like honey and maple syrup. On the Whole30, you don't have any of that for 30 days. 

So, here are my go-to meals:

Breakfast: eggs and avocado or this great frittata done in a muffin tin recipe or this awesome muffin recipe or these awesome waffles. I throw in some almond butter if I'm feeling super hungry. 

Muffin recipe: I seriously make these nearly EVERY week. They taste phenomenal out of the oven with almond butter on them. 

Frittata recipe: These can be refrigerated for a week of meals—economy is the scale here, people. 

Waffle recipe: This is a Saturday morning treat for me, usually. I go to this website a lot for paleo recipes. She is a bit wacky...but, the recipes are wonderful.

Snacks: nuts, beet/ginger/greens/orange/apple/carrot juice/banana smoothies, more nuts, carrots, fruit, avocado

Lunch: leftovers from the day before, large green salad (mostly with this easy dressing), avocado and other random veggies.

Dinner: something paleo (I plan two weeks at a time...and I'm still fine tuning what I like and what my family will tolerate or like). 

Here are a few websites I found great recipes and the websites have useful info:

http://paleomg.com/

http://detoxinista.com/

http://www.elanaspantry.com/ (I believe this woman has MS)

http://paleopot.com/

http://nomnompaleo.com/ (AWESOME recipes here)

Also, I never cook or reheat my food in plastic containers. Storing them in plastic is fine.

I try to get organic meats, but my budget often doesn't allow for that all the time. Maybe once I am an empty nester or something I'll switch to all organic meat...or maybe I'll move to a farm in the country and raise my own. Wouldn't that be awesome? My city boy husband would be a great farmer.  

Exercise, you ask? I do lots of yoga (like 4x/week), walk and swim. Seriously...I'm not the same person I used to be with exercise. For me and exercise, less is more and my body is feeling stronger than ever...it's weird. 

Has clean eating helped you? Are you a fan of clean eating? 

How to Make Popcorn on the Stove

While I was making popcorn on the stove top for my kiddos, one of my friends told me I should post that action...apparently this skill I am so used to doing isn't one that many people know how to do.

Popcorn is both healthy and tasty...so, make some today to snack on or enjoy in front of a movie.

What you'll need:

Coconut oil
White popcorn kernels
Stainless steel deep soup pan with clear glass lid
Salt

Steps:

1. Put your pan on a burner at medium high heat. 
2. Scoop out enough coconut oil to coat the bottom of your pan.
3. Drop one kernel into the pot once all coconut oil is melted (there should be about a 1/4" of cocunut oil in the base of the pot). Put on the lid.
4.  Wait for that one little kernel to pop.
5. Once the kernel has popped, pour enough popcorn in to coat the bottom of your pan in a single layer. I use 1/2 cup.
6. Shake the pot back and forth to coat all the kernels.
7. Wait for it all to start popping. 
8. Once the popping slows down or stops, pour the contents into a big bowl.
9. Salt to taste.
10. Enjoy!

Here's a quick video to show how it's done:

Green Smoothie Recipe

Today, I'm a guest blogger on my friend, Emily's blog, Is This Really My Life. She's doing a whole week of blogs on green smoothies. I'd bookmark that site, if I were you. My smoothie featured on her site was one a friend shared with me. He and I share the same aversion to processed sugar, but love a sweet smoothie once in a while.

After reading Yoga Journal for two years, I finally tried one of their recipes and fell in love with it. The reason it's green is because of the honeydew and mint...so, I guess it's more a mint green smoothie than anything else. This tasty drink cools you off on a hot day and tastes exotic and fresh, like you're vacationing on Tahiti.







Here it is:
1 to 2 cups of fresh honeydew melon
1/2 to 1 cup of water
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp coriander
2 Tbsp lime juice
8 to 10 fresh mint leaves

Blend everything and enjoy.
By the way, Yoga Journal has a great article on their site right now on how to build a great smoothie, along with recipes. Check it out!

Mmmmm, Bread

I still don't eat white sugar...but, I recently rediscovered a bread recipe given to me by my older sister. I tweaked it a bit to make it a bit more healthy (but, it's still bread and it uses white flour, so it will still pack on the pounds if you eat too much). If you haven't closed your window from that last parenthetical statement, here is the recipe. This works best if you have a Kitchenaid or another mixer with a powerful dough hook.

This recipe makes enough to make all or several of the following:

bread
cinnamon rolls
pizza crust
bread sticks


3.5 cups hot water
1 Tbsp yeast
1/3 cup agave
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp sea salt
2/3 cup canola oil
7 cups unbleached flour
1 cup wheat germ
1/2 flax meal

1. Dissolve yeast in 2 cups of the hot water. Make sure the water is about bath-water warm, not too hot.
2. Add remaining ingredients one by one, while mixing (including the 1.5 cups of warm/hot water), until they form  a ball. The dough will still be slightly gooey and may stick to the sides of the bowl.
3. Remove dough hook, cover with a towel, and let it rise for 40 minutes.
4. Punch down and let it rise for 20 minutes.
5. Divide into fourths.

Each fourth is good for cinnamon rolls, pizza dough, a loaf of bread, bread sticks, etc. Freeze dough or store in the fridge.

Bake at 350 degrees.
Bread sticks and cinnamon rolls: 20 minutes
Pizza dough: 17 minutes
Loaves of bread: 1 hour

Fresh, warm-out-of-the-oven, homemade bread. Is there anything better on a cool, rainy fall day? Maybe if you have no where to go, no kids to corral or fetch, and a quiet house, you could even eat your warm bread in peace. This is what I wish for all the busy mommies out there.

Is Busy-ness the New Addiction?

Even professional athletes have to take breaks from their workouts to recover. I wouldn't put myself in the  category of a professional athlete, but I can attest to the need for recovery. For the past four months, I've been trying to recover and it's the toughest thing I've done in a while.

That sounds lame when I read it out loud. But, it's true. I have adrenal fatigue and I'm learning that means I have to slow down and recover from my need to be busy.


I used to say these things on a fairly regular basis:

"I've got a million things to do."
"There just isn't enough time in the day!"
"I don't have time to do that."

Have you heard yourself saying similar things? Does saying those things make us seem more important or more valuable? You know the saying that if you want something done you should give it to a busy person. Is it because busy people can't say "no" or just that they have an addiction to being everything to everyone. I think I fell into that trap. In the past four months, I've been trying to make a shift away from saying those all-to-familiar phrases. The shift has been difficult, but liberating.

Why does our society look down on resting? Do we fear being called lazy? Do we feel we have evolved and now have the capability to do it all? I think our technology is so prevalent, we might feel we have to adapt to it, not the other way around. Maybe some part of us has a really hard time doing nothing. We don't want to be labeled as lazy. One of my friends said she thinks our society places far too much emphasis on the importance of being busy. Like somehow busy people are more important.

Here's what I'm not doing:

• blogging at a high frequency (or even a regular schedule).
• checking my email every five minutes (including while sitting at stoplights — c'mon, I think a lot of us do this!)
• training for a triathlon or running or visiting the gym. 
• trying to increase my followers on Twitter or on my blog.
• actively pursuing any major accomplishments...like writing a book, or planning a trip to Europe.
• cleaning my house regularly.
• going to every event I'm invited to.
• pushing myself to put a lot of things on my to-do list.
• scheduling myself or my kids to a lot of activities.

This holiday season is the time that most over achievers go overboard. This year, I'm going to go underboard.  This year I'm committing to slowing down, doing less and under achieving. 

What are you not going to do this season? 

Sugar-Free Cheesecake

Most gatherings involve food. This can be tricky when you don't eat sugar of the processed variety. Your options get pared down to next to nothing when dessert is part of the menu. But, you don't have to be relegated to fruit and fruit smoothies for the rest of your sugar-free days. There are some alternatives you can make when the need arises. Arm yourself with ideas for what to cook when it's your birthday or when you get asked to bring a dessert, so you don't end up with an empty fork and a whole lot of trying-to-find-something-to-talk-about-while-everyone-else-is-eating situations.

Note: Although this doesn't contain white sugar, it sweet. As with anything sweet, limit yourself to one piece per day. I usually only make this dessert about twice a year. Once on my birthday (in the summer) and once for Thanksgiving or Christmas.


Sugar-Free Cheesecake
Reading The 7 Principles of Fat Burning by Eric Berg DC was the precursor to my decision to get off refined sugars and refined flour. I noticed my body having an easier time shedding pounds and I would recommend the book to anyone who has tried just about everything to lose those last 5-10 pounds of stubborn post-baby weight. The original version of this recipe appeared in the book. I've adapted it only slightly.

Crust:

1 1/3 cups ground nut-meal (I put about 2 cups of almonds, cashews or pecans in a blender and make my own. If you have time, soak them for a few hours first.)

1/3 cup melted coconut oil, melted
2 tablespoons natural peanut butter (I like Adam's best, but Costco has a healthy natural peanut butter, too.)

Mix crust ingredients together well and spread in a pie dish (glass is best). 


Filling:
2 packages of 1/2 fat cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 whole eggs

Combine all filling ingredients together until well blended. Pour filling into crust and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until slightly golden brown on top.

Enjoy!

Healthy Days Ahead - Get Off Sugar

Diabetes runs in the paternal side of my family. My grandmother and great aunts have all passed away due to complications related to diabetes. So, I decided to take matters into my own hands and avoid any and all foods that could compromise my health and longevity. (I want to be around to see grandbabies!)

Many of you know I decided to swear off sugar and processed foods when I was about five months into my fourth pregnancy. That was a year and a half ago and I'm still going strong. I am amazed how much better I feel, how keeping weight off is no longer a struggle and how clear-headed I've become about my food choices. I think taking the sugar out of my diet has fostered a better relationship with the food I eat. I've noticed I never over eat any more. My body has a much better sense of what it needs and when it's full.

I love healthy food. I love to make it, talk about it, and most of all — eat it! So, as the second blog on creating a healthy 2011, I offer my adaption of a healthy granola from a book called The Green Diet by Mary Jolley. Since I believe in making big batches, this one makes a lot more than you'll use in one day.

3 3/4 cup regular rolled oats

1/2 cup flax meal

1 cup chopped nuts (almonds or pecans are my favorites)

1 cup fruit-juice sweetened dried cranberries

3 teaspoons cinnamon

pinch of sea salt

3/4 unsweetened apple juice

6 Tablespoons agave

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking oil. 

Combine all dry ingredients together.

Mix all wet ingredients in a seperate bowl. Combine the dry and wet mixes and stir until well blended and moistened.

Spread the mixture on a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Stir. Bake mixture for an additional 10 minutes or until lightly toasted and golden brown.

While still warm, pour some into a bowl and enjoy with some milk. Mm..mm..mm...warm goodness.

Take remaining granola, once cooled, and store in an airtight container, preferably away from everyone else so there's plenty for you!

Just kidding.

Not really.

If you're worried about how to eliminate sugar and not be an ogre with your family or forbid your children from eating sugar...watch for future posts. Feel free to ask me questions about giving up sugar. I'm more than happy to answer.