Resolutions Refresher: March is National Nutrition Month!

March 1st. Wow, where have the last 2 months gone?! I swear, between work-work (like, for-pay) and school-work (like, pay-for) I've been swamped. But I've recently gotten back on track to healthy eating, (okay, only this past week -- but we all start somewhere!)  and March 1st kicks off National Nutrition month (i.e. the perfect time to refresh your New Year's Resolutions if you've let them slide). I love me a fresh start, or two. :)


The theme of this year's National Nutrition Month hosted by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is "Get Your Plate in Shape." I like the sound of that. 


So what's the easiest way to do that? Well, for starters, eat off a smaller plate. Seriously, this WORKS. Research shows that we're more likely to eat all the the food we serve ourselves (there's also something about eating of white dishes that makes food look more appealing so we eat more. But that's a post for a different day. I won't tell you to run out and buy all new dishes, unless you're Mrs. Deep-Pockets. In which case, send me a set too!) Anyway, Americans have a serious problem with the see-food diet. As in, we see food, we eat it. But this one trick actually helps you feel less deprived because you can load up your small plate and enjoy fewer calories. If you're hub is 6 feet somethin' and you're only 5'3" it makes no sense to eat the same amount he does, right? So start by swapping out your big dinner plates for that smaller salad plate and see what happens. If you're still hungry, have a piece of fruit or a second helping of veggies. I know this works because I've seen the results of people who have done it!


Another idea: Eat more greens. How much you ask? About 1/4 of your plate. Easy-peasy, right? Dark green leafy vegetables are excellent sources of antioxidants (like vitamins A, C and K), fiber, and other phytonutrients that are essential to health. The recommendation is 5-9 servings of a combination of fruit and veggies per day, which sounds like a lot until you realize that a serving is as little as 1/2 cup cooked vegetables. Have you measured out a 1/2 cup broccoli lately? It's pretty dang small. I happen to LOOOOOVE broccoli. Try it with some squeezed lemon if you don't like the bitter taste, with a sprinkle of pepper. Or even try throwing some frozen broccoli or spinach in your favorite recipes. You honestly won't even know it's there. This is also a great tip for tricking  getting kids to eat more vegetables! A friend of mine recently told her 3 year old the "green specks" in her zucchini bread were peppermint flakes. Hey, whatever works. I know Green Smoothies are all the rage on the blogosphere right now, so why not hop on the Green bandwagon? Try blending 1/2 banana (frozen or fresh), 1/2 cup berries, 1/2 cup fresh spinach, and 1/2 cup low fat milk with a sprinkle of splenda or stevia for a tasty, nutritious breakfast. Trust me, you can't even taste the spinach. Cross my heart.


When I'm in a veggie rut, I always turn to the web to try something new. Allrecipes, and heck, even Pinterest have great ideas for new veggie recipes. I won't blab on and on about other ways to add more veggies, but I will maybe write another post dedicated to that. 


Just remember, March is National Nutrition Month! Where can you work to "Get Your Plate in Shape?"

3 Day Fruit Flush Part 4: Wrap it Up!

So I'm done with the 3 day Fruit Flush Diet Detox. Wow, that's a mouthful. AND, I'm 3.6 lbs lighter!!! I don't really want to share my stats with the world, but whatev. I started at 145.6 and ended at 142.0 this morning. I'm so excited, this is the lightest I've been since I had baby boy a year ago. I still have about 5 or so lbs to go to be back to my pre-baby weight, but I'm ecstatic. I know most of it is water weight, but without giving you TMI, the cleanse really, umm, cleansed... if you know what I mean.  I see most of the difference in my stomach, it's much flatter today. In fact, I liked the cleanse so much that I'm continuing on with a modified version of the Standard Process 21-day Cleanse!! OMG. Three days ago I never would have considered such a thing. In fact, a friend of mine just finished it and is getting ready to start another round because she liked it so much. I will be reviewing the Standard Process in upcoming posts, so look out for those!


Anyhoo, yesterday wasn't so bad either except that I was HUNGRY STARVING all day. I did actually cave and decided to start my modified version of Standard Process a day early so that I could have the salmon and salad I ordered for lunch yesterday. (Hey, I never claimed to be perfect). But I stuck to fruit the rest of day, and had steamed veggies plus 3 oz of chicken for dinner. This MAY have affected my results a little, but I don't care. I was HUNGRY. However, I was commenting to hub how much energy I had. I was surprised because I didn't get that afternoon slump I usually get, nor the massive sweets craving. I met with a partner to talk shop and ended up having a decaf coffee with cinnamon so that may have helped the sweet tooth part, but my energy was pretty stable the whole day. Impressive. 


Check back soon for a breakdown of how I will be modifying the strict Standard Process cleanse for a 21-day diet clean-up! 

3 Day Fruit Flush Part 3: Day 2 Review!

It's Monday. I'm so glad I started this thing on a Sunday. Next time I would recommend starting over a weekend so you only have to endure one day of torture  in the real world. :) Really though, it's not that bad. I woke up this morning and wasn't even hungry. I did feel slightly bloated but I think that's because I definitely did not drink all the recommended water yesterday in between my shakes. I was supposed to have 8 oz of water one hour after each shake, and as much as I wanted the rest of the day. But I didn't drink that much. Oops. 


I'm trying to keep this as interesting as possible for those of you who are following me, so this doesn't become a boring public food journal. But I figure if you're thinking about trying the Fruit Flush Detox, then it helps to see what someone else ate to give you a better idea of whether this might be something you want to try. 


Day 2 consists of one serving (about 100 calories worth) of fruit every 2 hours. Yesssss. I'm soooo happy to chew something today after yesterday's shake fiesta! Then dinner is the same as Day 1, a raw veggie salad with 3-6 oz of protein plus lemon/olive oil. The lemon+olive oil mixture is actually really good with some cracked pepper, kinda fresh tasting. Mmmm. I may just continue to use this in place of salad dressing in the future. 


Honestly, the hardest part so far is packing all my fruit for work since I work out of my car, plus I wouldn't call myself the most organized person on the planet. I don't have an office to go to where I can use the fridge, and there are certain fruits I can't STAND eating unless they're cold. Thank goodness I already tote an ice chest around for work, so I just crammed some fruit in there to keep it crisp. Shhhh, don't tell. 

Day 2 Diary

7:30 am: 1/2 cup (ish) fresh raspberries. I didn't even mind that I was making toast for hub and little guy. And trust me when I say this, my name is Stacy, and I'm a carboholic. Seriously. This was a big step for me. So proud! 


9:30 am: My lunch with a customer called to cancel and I must say I'm actually kinda glad. I'm not sure if I have the willpower to sit through lunch watching everyone else eat fried rice or enchiladas, or whatever other deliciousness I wouldn't be able have. It might make me want to jab their eyes out with chopsticks. So I devoured my 5 large strawberries in the privacy of my car. Yum.


11:30: Banana or apple, banana or apple? Oh my, the decisions are killing me. I went with the banana. Easier to eat on the road. Actually, they're both pretty easy. Note to self to pack more bananas and apples daily. 


1:30: 1 medium apple. This is when it started getting hard. I was reallllllly craving a cookie, or a pastry, or hell, even some peanut butter on my damn apple. I headed to sbux to get coffee for an office I was visiting, and opted for a hot herbal mint tea (decaf and no sweetener). Not sure if that's allowed, but I wanted it. 


4:00 pm: 1 small blood orange. By now, the massive sweets craving has passed. Funny, you would think that with all the fruit I'm eating I wouldn't want JUNK sugar. But I guess that's what eating too much toxic food for too long will do to you. 


6:30 pm: Same spinach salad as last night (red bells, carrots, cucumber, olive oil+lemon, cracked pepper), topped with one black bean burger. (BTW, I had never tried these frozen black bean burgers by Morningstar. Sooooo good.) I actually had a second one since I was kinda hungry and the rules called for a protein shake after dinner if needed. With 12 grams of protein each, I'm sure these qualify. ;) And after a quick calculation, my calorie intake for today was probably around 1000, even with the 2 black bean burgers. Pretty low. 


2/3 of the way there!

3 Day Fruit Flush Part 2: Done with Day One!!

A couple things I forgot to mention in Part 1 were the items you're not supposed to consume during the 3 Day Fruit Flush Detox. Here they are: NO caffeine, NO sugar/sweeteners, NO dairy, NO grains, NO canned foods. I think the no caffeine rule may be the hardest part for me! I actually cheated already (I know, I KNOW) and had one cup of black coffee this morning before my first shake. The Fruit Flush also recommends not working out during the diet, but we'll see whether I adhere to that rule. Depends on how I feel as we get groovin'.


So today's menu looks something like this:


10:30 am - protein shake #1
12:30 pm - protein shake #2
2:30 pm - protein shake #3
4:30 pm- protein shake #4
6:30 pm - raw spinach salad (cucumbers, carrots, bell pepper) with chicken, avocado, lemon+olive oil 

Day 1 Fruit Flush Review

10:45 am: starting to get pretty hungry since I've been up for a couple hours working on homework blogging, and I already cheated with my one cup of black coffee. I usually drink it with a splenda so I did give up something I'm not supposed to be having! I really like these Body by Vi shakes that I get from my friend, Amy, so I'm using them as my "protein" shake, even though they are more of a meal replacement. I usually blend the powder with milk and fruit, or milk/juice or even just milk, so mixing with water was quite a change for me. To be honest, I stuck the whole glass in the fridge for a few minutes to chill after I took the first sip because I knew I couldn't drink it at room temp. Then I added ice cubes. It was actually not bad. Anyhoo, first shake down and I'm back to  finishing a paper for my masters program. Better get crackin' because hub will be on his way home with the little guy in a couple hours and I want this shiz done so I can spend some time with my boys!


1:00 pm: Time to have another shake. I'm actually pretty darn hungry right now, mixing those Vi Shakes with water just ain't cuttin' it. But it's one day. I can DO THIS. I just made the shake with ice cubes this time, I was too hungry to stick it the fridge to chill. Now I'm off to down 2 huge glasses of water to see if that helps curb my appetite. I've consumed only 180 calories the whole day so far! :/ Looks like I probably won't be working out today. Thank goodness I have this paper I'm working on to keep me distracted. And I think I'm getting a headache. 


3:00 pm: Actually it was about 3:15 before I remembered it was time for a shake. I am hungry though, and Shake 3 is not nearly as exciting. I was pretty tempted to sneak just one teensy piece of fruit. But I didn't! I'm pretty amazed at my self-control. BTW, my belly never looks this flat in the afternoon, just sayin. 


5:00 pm: Hub and little guy are on their way home! So excited to see them. I may pass on this shake and go straight to dinner. I'm over the shakes. 


6:30 pm: Decided to get a workout in, that's what The Firm Express does to you! It's so fast, and so effective, you can't make up any excuses. Even I have 20 minutes. 


7:00 pm: OMG. I've never been so excited to eat a salad in my life. I was too lazy to grill a chicken breast so I just plopped some tuna on my spinach, carrots, red bells, cucumber, then spritzed some olive oil with my Misto. Add a drizzle of lemon, and viola! Delish. Seriously, though, I'm not even that hungry. Weird. 


Hey, I'm 1/3 of the way through this thing. I got this. 

3 Day Fruit Flush Part 1: Will I Survive?

A couple years ago I stumbled upon Jay Robb's 3-Day Fruit Flush Cleanse, that supposedly allows you to lose up to 9 pounds in just 3 days! I've never been able to commit to any sort of restrictive diet (with the exception of the 2 weeks I tried Atkins back in 2002), so I thought 3 days might be doable. Most cleanses I've read about are long (21 days! Who am I kidding?) or extremely restrictive (lemonade for 2 weeks?!). But with the Fruit Flush I get to eat fruit for 3 days and lose weight? Let's give this thing a shot. 

I decided to give it a try because I just recently recommitted to working out again with the Firm Express, who offers a 4 day diet kick-start, but I wanted more of a cleanse than just a jump-start on my diet. I know how to eat for health and weight loss, it's just a matter of committing to it. I felt the need for a cleanse of toxins and impurities to really prepare me for a diet overhaul. 

The interesting thing about the 3 Day Fruit Flush is that Jay Robb touts it as a cleanse you can do once a week for 12 weeks, or 1-2 times a month, forever. I like the idea of incorporating a healthy cleanse into my lifestyle on a regular basis, or for those times I need a tune-up. The other thing that sold me on the Fruit Flush is the fact that you do get to consume one meal of raw veggies and protein (!) on days 2 and 3, so you can spare your body's lean muscle mass during the cleanse. Read on for details!

3 Day Fruit Flush Basics:

You can go to Jay Robb's website to download a $5 e-book (or hard copy) of the Fruit Flush "rules." It's an easy read, about 50 pages, that explains his theory behind the flush, including improvements in skin, attitude, and weight loss in just 3 days. (We'll see about that Mr. Robb). But it is cheaper than that bottle of Cab I'll be giving up, so here we go. Basically, day one is protein shakes every 2 hours (a total of 4) followed by a dinner of raw veggies (as much as you like!) plus a protein of your choice, with a little lemon and olive oil. I can totally do this. Days 2 and 3 consist of one serving of fruits every 2 hours, followed by the same dinner of raw veggies plus protein. How bad can it be?

Fruit Flush Shopping List

So with my list in hand, off to the grocery store I went to stock up on fruits and veggies. The challenging part for me is that I eat lunch out with customers almost EVERY day, so it might be kind of odd that I'm passing up a meal for fruit. Oh well, it's only 3 days. All the more reason to be prepared. Here's my list:

bananas (yum!)

apples

spinach

red bell pepper

carrots

oranges (blah)

strawberries

blueberries

tomato (yuck)

cucumber

lemon

avocado

melon

This isn't sounding so bad, right?

The only things I didn't need to buy were olive oil and protein powder. Robb recommends using organic everything, plus a protein powder that doesn't contain any additives like sucralose, casein, etc. but I was not about to buy a new protein powder for 3 days. So I went with my Body by Vi shakes (love them -- as much as one can love protein shakes) and whatever olive oil I had on hand. I also didn't buy organic produce because I don't feel the benefits outweigh the cost (my hub works in the ag industry and this is a heated topic in our home), but you can certainly do all-organic if you choose. 

Stay tuned for my daily reviews in Part 2 and Part 3, I have high hopes!

Sweet (Potato) September

I ventured over to Costco the other day and stumbled across a huge box of sweet potatoes for $6.49! I scooped up the whole box because there's nothing I like more than sweet potatoes and pumpkin to welcome the Fall. Well, maybe a steaming Chai Tea Latte on a cool, crisp day...but I digress. 


I had no idea what I was going to do with all these sweet potatoes but was having fun dreaming of all the tasty possibilties. A couple days later, my mother-in-law showed up with all sorts of yummy goodness from the Farmer's Market. I mumbled to my hubby, "I sure hope she didn't bring any sweet potatoes..." But, too late. Out came the GIGANTIC sweet potatoes she had found for us. So now I have to come up with even more clever recipes to use up these bad boys. 


So far we've experimented with sweet potato pancakes. UH-mazing. Tasty, healthy and different than your usual, run-of-the mill hot cakes. I can't wait for the little guy to be big enough to try these! I actually made these because I heard on the radio it was National Pancake Day. That's reason enough for me! :)


Next, we tried plain old microwaved sweet potatoes just using the "Baked Potato" setting. I usually don't prefer to microwave veggies, but let's face it -- I'm busy, and hungry usually wins out. To mine and hub's surprise, they actually came out quite nicely. Easy-peasy for a weeknight dinner. Top with whatever you like (just salt, pepper and dab of butter or olive oil for me!) and enjoy in less than 5 minutes. 


Next on the list for this weekend is this healthy, low glycemic Spicy Crock Pot Sweet Potato recipe. Again, ingredient list is pretty short and it has some KICK which I like. I can't wait to come up home to the yummy aromas of this one!


I may even try my hand at some sweet potato bread. I make a mean pumpkin bread so I can imagine this one would be equally as good, just maybe not as sweet. Pair it with a nice cup of coffee on a fall morning...heaven! (ETA: this was super delicious. For the last few years, I've used use a pumpkin bread base from my favorite redheaded chef, Bobby Flay, and this blog has a great pictorial!)


Lastly, I've been itching to try making pureed sweet potatoes for the little guy since those Gerber jars are kinda pricey. With 10 lbs of sweet potatoes for $6.49 I can make a year's supply of baby food (well, you know what I mean)! I plan on peeling, cubing, then steaming the potatoes before pureeing in my trusty food processor. I thought about buying a Baby Bullet, but for 60 bucks I think it's just a fancy-schmancy marketing ploy. I'll stick to my old-skool way, thank you!


But sweet potatoes are not only super tasty, they're also super healthy! Topping the charts in nutrient density, they're one of the best super-foods for your buck.


What are your fave sweet potato recipes? Anything I'm missing that I should try??

My Week of Food Journaling: Helpful Hints

UGH. Just the word "food journaling" makes me shudder. (Okay, so it's two words). If you're like me, you need some motivation to make you write down what you eat. I've always slacked in this department, only doing it when mandated by one of my nutrition classes in college. I can think of a myriad of reasons why food journaling is not for me: I'm too busy. I'm in my car all day (I really am!).  I"ll forget. I just plain don't wanna.


But experts agree that people who have had the most success at losing and keeping off weight were consistent with their food journals. It's a little something we like to call accountability.


I don't know if I can commit to doing this regularly but I figured I would give it the ol' college try for a good 7 days. That's one week out of my life, whatev. Like I've mentioned before, these last 10 pounds of baby weight are all the motivation I need.


SHOCKER ALERT! I eat A LOT. Here's an excerpt from a day in my food journal, er, BlackBerry: 


AM: Coffee with splenda, granola bar (driving, no time, starving) 
AM: water 32 oz,  grande sbux latte with s-free hazelnut (coffee with partner)
Lunch: Chinese food (spring roll, veggies, Kung Pao chicken, chicken salad), diet pepsi (lunch w/ customer, starving, working)
PM: 4 small cookies from bakery :( (driving home, hungry, tired, bored)
PM: small apple :) (hungry)
Dinner: left-over turkey loin, small quesadilla on corn tortilla w/ 3 small slices monterey jack, diet sierra mist (hungry, dinner by myself)
PM: greek yogurt w/ blueberries (slightly hungry, craving sweets, working on computer)


Wowza. I can use some improvement. Most of the other days weren't much better.


What I learned from my little experiment was that being accountable to that dreaded notebook (or Blackberry, in my case) did help me make better decisions as time went on because I had to face my food at the end of each day. Instead of opting for a handful of tortilla chips and my mother-in-law's homemade salsa (delish!) I would have...an apple. The mere thought of having to document every.single.morsel was enough to make me steer clear of random bites of food here and there. Apparently not the cookies on this day, however.


Whenever I've read articles about food journaling, I've turned up my nose. Yeah, yeah. Write down what you eat...blah blah. Even Carrie Underwood has been showing off the results of her commitment to food journaling (have you SEEN her lately?!) But here are some tips I discovered during my week of food journaling that I hope will make it easier for you to try (and stick with!) if you haven't already.

Food Journal Helpful Hints

1. Make it easy! I recorded my meals on my Blackberry because it's attached to me 24/7. Even lying in bed at 2 am when I can't sleep. Choose a place you will remember to write it down. Your work computer? A notebook in your purse? A website like SparkPeople? Or for you very brave souls, you could even make a Facebook note and post it for all your friends to read. (Um, no thanks!) I read somewhere recently that with all the newfangled smartphones out there, some people have had success with taking a photo on their phone of everything they eat and drink, then review it at the end of the week. I just may have to try that, would make for an interesting post! ;)

2. Make it fun! Every day I would make 8 checks as I drank my glasses of water, and a check-mark if I took my vitamin. It became a game to get all those check-marks, and I got satisfaction from completing them. You can get creative and give yourself stars or stickers for each day completed, and maybe a small, non-food reward after a week of journaling torture? :) 

3. Write down your emotional state and hunger level. Do this every time you put something in your mouth. This will help you pinpoint emotional triggers that cause you to eat when you're not really hungry. For me, it's the drive home or the afternoon lull before dinner. I'm home from a long work day and find myself mindlessly snacking because I'm starving and distracted with the little guy. Am the only one who does that? I found that I nibble here and there which can add up to a few hundred calories every day. Definitely sabotaging my last 10 pound efforts.


4. Read it. Go back after a few days and review your eat/drinking habits. Where can you make small changes? Are you consuming a lot of empty calories from soft drinks and juices? That's an easy fix that can save you hundreds of calories a day! Do you have a midmorning Starbucks habit? Save the money and have a cup of joe from the office coffee pot. Put the money you would have spent into something you really want. A new bag? A pair of skinnys? Ooooh, those wedge booties that are so cute for Fall?! 


5. Plan for success. As my hub likes to point out to me all the time, remember the "Seven P's." Ever heard that? "Seven P's" = Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance. Find one or two areas that you can improve and create a strategy for preventing fall-backs. For instance, if your trouble area is the mid-afternoon munchies, plan on bringing healthy snacks with you that you can munch while driving home. Or have veggies and fruit slices pre-sliced so they are easier to reach for after a long day. Spending an hour over the weekend to pre-wash and pre-chop all of your veggies for the week will help ensure that you actually cook and eat them on a busy weeknight.


Hopefully with these strategies you will have success with your own food journaling and it will bring  closer to your goals. If you have never tried, I guarantee you will be surprised by the results!