Start a Love Affair With Food

Eating is serious business, no? As we gear up for Valentine’s Day, who e’ll likely have visions of sumptuous meals to share with loved ones…or maybe visions of something tasty and a single fork or spoon if we are trying to treat ourselves independent of the holiday.

There’s clearly a sensual component to eating. All of our senses can be employed: the sound of a sizzling fajita plate; the scent of your favorite food instantaneously entering your nostrils and unlocking memories as soon as you enter your family home for a holiday meal; the tantalizing sight and taste of your favorite food; the feel of the tender morsel of crab that you gently pull from the shell, or the weight of a juice-laden orange in your hands. Good food grabs ahold of your brain and takes up residence there, in your short-term and long-term memory.

And yet we sometimes try our hardest to run on the opposite direction from the aspects of dining that are more art than science. In Michael Pollan’s noteworthy book In Defense of Food, he shares that President Martin Van Buren lost his re-election bid, in part, because he had hired a French chef for the White House, a move that was seen as being too highbrow, too focused on food as something other than fuel.

I have written about relegating food to fuel status, but I’m learning that making the experience enjoyable and treating the food lovingly, rather than giving it a cursory once-over with your utensils, goes a long way, even for healthy food. As does sharing a meal with someone you love. If you’re partnered up for Valentine’s Day, when it comes to your first date, the combination of the restaurant, the food, and the conversation–the experience in its entirety–all made the event memorable.

Tomorrow, many of us will smile a little brighter when we think of Valentine’s Day. If you don’t already have a love affair with food–eating the best ingredients, opting for flavorful accents whenever possible, or otherwise paying attention to the quality of the food you eat–why not start on one of the most love-focused days of the year?

Super Bowl Sunday and My Dad’s Burger Trick

Super Bowl Sunday coincided nicely with my usual weekend cooking routine. I shifted the menu to turkey burgers and grilled chicken and beef, for burritos and salads, to add a little pizzazz alongside the roasted chicken, broccoli rabe, rice and honey-glazed carrots I’d also made.

As I was prepping the burgers (see recipe below!) I couldn’t help but think of my father. While I’ve gotten my interest in health from my mom (who introduced me to wheat germ as a child, takes an apothecary’s worth of vitamin and mineral supplements every day as a relatively spry near-octogenarian, and phased out red meat from my childhood home), I’ve gotten my love of cooking from my dad, who once worked as a short-order cook.

I wasn’t ready to grill the burgers right away, so I individually wrapped them in waxed paper, just like he used to do. I thank him for teaching me how to prep things like burgers and chicken for future use–cutting whole chickens and leg quarters into parts. What else have I gotten from him about food?

I thank him for letting me know there’s nothing wrong with putting sugar in grits (though I prefer the savory kind… Note to self to make shrimp and grits sometime soon!)

I thank him for instilling in me an interest in grilling–though I still have to bow down to him on charcoal, as I’m a gas girl.

I thank him for teaching me how to make scrambled eggs (and I thank Julia Child for teaching me how to make omelets!)

I thank him for encoding into my genes the kind of rapid-fire, assembly line cooking and prep needed to keep a family well-fed for road trips and beach and amusement park outings.

My dad passed away more than 10 years ago, but I bet that if I had asked, he would have helped me to understand football when I was younger. But I guess there is something fun about learning football in fits and starts during the Super Bowl and other lower-priority, regular season games. Just as it was this past Sunday. Regardless of the state of my football knowledge, though, I know he would have been proud of the burgers.

Here’s my recipe for the turkey burgers I made (serves 8):

2lbs lean ground turkey
2 envelopes onion soup mix
4 capfuls of liquid smoke

Mix the ingredients. Plan to grill right away, or marinate for a bit by  forming patties and individually wrapping them in waxed paper. (Bundle the patties in a foil parcel.)

When ready, grill the burgers to desired doneness, place on a light hamburger bun, and add your favorite toppings.

How to Feed a Hungry Man…and Meet Weight Loss Goals

I stopped by the Pathmark yesterday evening to get dinner and check for sales. I scored on both points! I got $4.99/lb. salmon, a beef tenderloin for $20 (first time I’ve seen them for less than $40 or $50 bucks!) discounted bread, and a rotisserie chicken. I felt like the woman in the Ikea commercial who feels like she just committed a heist.

While I was getting out of my work clothes, my husband proceeded to snatch up half of the chicken for himself, with a healthy serving of rice and beans. What did I eat? A little chicken on two corn tortillas, with a little chile powder, cumin, cayenne, garlic powder and salt sprinkled on, and a dollop of Greek yogurt, with a salad topped with salsa. (My son had soft tacos, too, with cheese.)

Yes, it is possible to feed a hungry significant other or child while you’re trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy lifestyle. It just calls for flexibility and moderation. Here’s how I make that happen every day:

Grill, baby, grill. I’ve never met as voracious eater who didn’t like grilled meat. Grill chicken breast, pork loin chops, lean cuts of meat, shrimp, fish, turkey burgers…There are lots of options!

You have your carbs, and I have mine. My husband loves white rice. I don’t eat a lot of brown rice, even. Neither of us is a major pasta eater. While I eat mostly corn, carrots, green peas and sweet potatoes, I make the rice for him and my son, and mashed potatoes. When they eat bread, I often eat corn tortillas instead.

Smaller portions. For things like my skinny lasagna, I eat a serving with a salad, and everyone else eats as much as they want. Problem solved!

This is the remix. Even when I splurge, I still tread lightly for myself. For example, while I might make a chicken cheese steak for my husband on a proper roll (Philly stand up!), with cheese, mayo and ketchup (the only way to do it, IMO), I make mine with a little less cheese and serve it in a fat-free tortilla.

For me, there’s nothing better than being able to put together something that’s stock and has universal appeal for my family. What are you favorite loved-by-everyone meals?

Keeping the Balls in the Air

I’ve stepped into a very busy work period lately. That’s because I’m trying to juggle 3 projects at the same time. And write this blog. And maybe get some time in with my family, and some time for myself as well. It’s trying, but I’m making the best of it that I can. (One thing I’ve done for myself is to halt the kebab challenge I wanted to embark on this summer, making a kebab recipe a week for this blog. Sorry, maybe I’ll pick it up again next year.)

I found myself finishing up my work yesterday, with no dinner or complete lunch for the next day on deck. I quickly decided on grilled chicken breast and turkey chili.

I bought chicken and ground turkey from the store, and some cheese to go with the chili. (Thankfully I keep beans, crushed tomatoes, spices, onions and garlic handy, so this wasn’t a major shopping expedition.)

At home, I pounded the chicken uniformly flat, then marinated it with spices, a little olive oil, and vinegar. I chopped some onion and smashed and minced garlic. Then, I went to sit in with my husband and son for reading practice. It’s a special treat when I’m home early to get to be part teacher, part cheerleader!

After that, it was back to the kitchen. I turned on the grill and heated my skillet. I rinsed and drained my beans while everything was heating. Then I threw the chicken on the (indoor) grill and began on the chili. Fast forward about 30 minutes, and everything was ready. We live to eat again another two or three days, and I also get the satisfaction of knowing that my loved ones are well fed with quality food.

That’s a glimpse into how I pull healthy meals together, how I juggle kitchen duties, how I make room for family time, and what I keep in stock to make life easier for myself. But I know I’m not the only person juggling life needs and a desire to eat healthy. How do you keep all the balls you have to juggle safely in the air? What are your quick, healthy go-to meals?

Meet Your Eating Muscles

My son went to a football practice for the first time this week. We wanted to give him a chance to check out team sports and meet new children. He had a blast that night, running and crouching with a bunch of other kids.

But by the next morning, he shared that he didn’t want to go back, because he felt sore. (Did I mention this was an extra-lengthy session for some reason?) I tried to explain that he might feel sore because he was using muscles that he doesn’t normally use, that his body was “practicing” and getting used to moving in the ways he was moving at the practice. Even with this explanation, though, the end result is still no more football.

The experience of stepping out of one’s comfort zone for physical activity has a counterpart in what’s needed to change eating habits. You have to exercise your “eating muscles,” so to speak, by getting used to eating new foods and getting used to eating less food.

I often hear people complain about being hungry on diets, or not wanting to try to lose weight because they don’t think they can survive on less food. My arguments would be, one, that choosing the right healthy foods can be filling, and two, you’ll be surprised by how easily your mind and body adapt to eating less if you let them. It really is a matter of giving your body practice time with a new way of life.

And guess what? “Practice” means that sometimes you get it right, and sometimes you don’t. It means there’s ample opportunity to learn and change what doesn’t work. It means challenges aren’t failures, just part of the learning curve.

You haven’t stretched your healthy “eating muscles” before now. Be patient, be persistent, and reap the results.

Nourishment With the Other Kind of Food

My son recently graduated from preschool (full ceremony, diploma and all, no lie!), and when the teachers were giving out personality awards, he was dubbed most creative. Although part of me raised an eyebrow at this set of feel-good awards, he really is creative, and I am really in awe of the creative things that he does–picking up lyrics to songs he hears, singing his own “compositions,” having jam sessions on empty oatmeal cans, boxes, aluminum baseball bats–whatever’s handy. And he also likes to draw and make figures out of clay. I don’t know who he will become in life, but I hope he never loses sight of this side of him.

I have been reconnecting with the value of creativity in my life, and this blog has been a big part of that for me. Aside from wanting to share my story and inspire people to consider that you can have delicious food while eating healthy (for losing weight or maintaining weight loss), I also found it necessary to write to give myself a creative outlet.Cooking has been another creative outlet for me–scoping out ingredients at the market, playing out possible combinations and ideas in my head, and then, hot or cold, bringing them to life on a plate.

I think that part of getting settled into a healthy life is making sure that you have other sources of nourishment, not just food.

When my life whizzes by too fast for me to ensure my inner life is being fed, I’m usually also feeling stressed and prone to seeking that sense of satisfaction and nourishment through food. Knowing my penchant for eating for reasons other than hunger, I’m convinced that there are others who are languishing in eating patterns they can’t get out of because they are not feeding their creative spirit.

How often do you take time to sit and daydream? To organize thoughts for writing stories, poems, songs? How often do you let your body get lost in the groove of a song, or your hand, equipped with a paintbrush, get lost on a canvas? How often does an idea shake you out of bed in the wee hours of the morning, only setting you free when you’ve gotten it captured sufficiently in your medium of choice? How often do you crawl in to bed, exhausted after working on something you can’t let go? Some of us need to expend our energy in a similarly productive way. I think even people who don’t feel particularly creative would be surprised by how satisfying, how nourishing it feels to pull some sort of idea out of the ether, dress it in feathers of color, sound, words, movement or images, and let it take flight to inspire and comfort others.

Have you taken on other activities or challenges during the course of your weight loss journey? What are you doing? What has inspired you? How does it make you feel?

The Pizza Project

Skinny meatsa meatsa, word to Little Caesar’s.

I’m all about cooking, spending time with my son, and saving money, so whenever those three things can come together, I’m definitely a happy person!

This happened recently on pizza night. My son and I made pizza together, in the comfort of our own home.

I love the dough, more than you know.

It makes me proud to know that he’s interested in cooking, and I appreciate an opportunity to teach him some of what I know. Pizza ended up being the perfect thing for us to make because nothing is really complicated or dangerous in the assembly (until it’s time for me to put the finished work in the oven), and what child doesn’t like pizza? My son was definitely curious to understand how this mealtime treat comes together.

We made a light meat lover’s pizza and talked about ingredients, measurements, and the typical things that inspire a 5-year-old, like friends and superheroes.

Yours for well under a dollar!

Recipe (for 2 pizzas)

• 2 packages of pizza crust (the just add water kind)
• Olive oil
• 2 cups spaghetti sauce (or you could buy the legit pizza sauce from the market)
• 1 package part-skim mozzarella
• 6-8 turkey meatballs, heated and diced
• 4-6 slices of turkey salami, diced

Preheat your oven to package directions. Prepare the dough to package directions, using water and a little olive oil.

I typically make one pizza at a time, because I have one pizza pan. Stretch the dough onto your pan; top with half of the sauce, cheese and meat. Bake in the oven until it’s heated through to your desired doneness. (I like my cheese to be lightly browned, but if you’re in just melted, gooey cheese camp, go for it.) Then cut, serve and make the other pizza.

Notes: Other family-friendly topping ideas? Turkey pepperoni; lean ground beef; chicken, barbecue sauce and red onion; taco-seasoned ground turkey (with or without black olives, peppers and onions).

Birthday Reflections on My Future Health

My birthday was yesterday. I never truly grew up, I guess, because my family and close friends will tell you that I get giddy with child-like excitement when my birthday rolls around. I’m now on the side of 30 that’s closer to 40, but birthdays are still a big deal to me. I shamelessly promote my birthday to any and everyone who will listen to me, and I appoint myself Queen for the Day. (Someone has to, right?)

I always reflect a lot on what transpired during the past year, and what I’d like to be doing in the year to come. This year, I’ve had a couple of interesting things to reflect on in this area.

First, I updated my driver’s license on Saturday–new photo and all. Normally this is a routine, every-four-years event, but this license photo is the first one I’ve taken that reflects the new, smaller me. My image on the license has been out of sync with the image of me, in the flesh, for a few years now. I’ve always wondered if anyone contemplated the differences, but no one who has checked my license during this time period has commented on it.

But it’s been in the back of my mind. In some way, this new license communicates another layer of permanence for this new identity for myself, one that I have been living fully in physical form, but not always mentally to the fullest extent. Seeing this new, official photo of myself, on top of inspecting my old size 20 jeans recently, have both inspired me to really carry myself as though I have changed and am not going back. If you have lost a considerable amount of weight and have noticed your mind lagging when it comes to acknowledging the change, I encourage you to embrace your weight loss mentally, and the space for freedom and reinvention that comes with it.

The other interesting thought I had this morning is that being closer to 40 than 30 means any bad habits I have could catch up with me if I don’t stop to take preventative, health-protecting steps now. My cholesterol has, thankfully, always been average, but I had been diagnosed with high blood pressure at one time and placed on medication. I was off the meds within a year, but with everyone else in my immediate family having high blood pressure, it’s definitely something that’s always on my mind. I will continue to try to go easy on sodium–using the low-sodium salt, and seeking out low-salt or no-salt-added items as much as possible.

On most days, I’m pretty successful about getting in fruit, vegetable and whole grain requirements, but I can absolutely do better at exercise and vitamins, however. My mom is inspiring me to step my game up in these areas.

My mom will be 80 in a few years, and I feel blessed for her and myself to say that she is still very active–walking regularly, helping out in church, and watching her grandson from time to time. Every day, she takes a combination of vitamins and antioxidants, and has been for as long as I can remember. She does take high blood pressure and cholesterol medication, but her situation is controlled, without complications.

The jury is still out on the effectiveness of vitamins, and in my mom’s case, it’s certainly possible that a combination of healthy habits has kept her pretty healthy, but I figure that it can’t hurt me to start taking vitamins regularly, as long as I stick to dosages that aren’t in toxic amounts. I have never been successful with getting a vitamin-taking routine down, but I think this is something I will push for now.

I’ve said before that weight loss doesn’t end with the loss of the weight. To be successful in the long term, a mental paradigm shift is absolutely necessary. Part of that’s about how someone regards food, and how someone copes with challenging emotions, but it’s also obviously about physical fitness, balanced nutrition intake, with or without supplements, and water consumption, among other factors. I don’t know the full story of my genes and the effects of my past lifestyle habits, but I can certainly control my habits moving forward, so I have the opportunity to wear my Queen for the Day crown as many times as possible.

Look Back… And Celebrate!

Today will be my last post of the year. I can’t help but think back over the course of 2011, as I’m sure you’ve done once or twice lately.

It was an up-and-down year for the world at large, with weather catastrophes like those In Japan, New Zealand and the United States. There were highs, like the Arab Spring uprisings and the death of Osama bin Laden, and then there was a disruption of the status quo, with the Occupy protests and the NBA lockout.

In my life, I started out the year in the upper 180s, made it to 177, and currently find myself at 183 lbs. I made a goal and met it. I started eating frozen fruit for dessert. I explored a love of dancing.  I boldly wore a red dress to work, rather than wait for a night out. I reached out to friends and family a bit more, and I laughed a lot. There were a lot of rough patches during the year, but I learned important lessons about myself, my eating habits, and my resilience.

I will take these memories into the New Year with me. What would I say are the three biggest lessons I learned from these high points?

Goals are not so bad after all. Having a mini goal in mind helped me to stick to the plan, so I will definitely do it again.

It’s better to do nice things for myself on a regular basis than to wait for a particular reason–even when I’m trying to lose weight. I’m not saying this like I have trouble doing nice things for myself; it’s just that sometimes when you’re on a weight loss journey, it feels like you should deny or deprive yourself to get ahead. But it’s better to not hold back, but indulge in simple, appropriate ways instead. That can be something as small as eating a sensible dessert for lunch and/or dinner, or finding ways to ditch a drive for perfection and enjoy life more. When I seek out more happiness in simple ways, I am less likely to seek food for that kind of comfort.

I am more resilient than I give myself credit for. When my weight goes up, I know how to bring it back down. When I have bad moments, I have a support system to lean on; I don’t have to suffer in silence, like I’ve done in the past. These and other high points have let me know that I can get myself back on track after an emotional setback, and I can get myself back on track physically after a weight gain.

It is for these reasons, and many others, that I will celebrate this New Year’s Eve. I am happy to say that I learned valuable lessons, even when things didn’t go the way I’d hoped.

I hope that you, too, will find many reasons to look back and celebrate!

Better Value, Better Choices

With Christmas fast approaching, I’ve been thinking a lot about gifts, value, and what we place our attention on.

This year, following Thanksgiving, there has been a lot of focus on the family-unfriendly practices of many retailers. Shops opening at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, forcing workers to curtail their celebrations and come on down to the store, only to be a witness to fights over merchandise. Other stores promoting sales hysteria the weekend before Christmas, rather than on Saturday, Christmas Eve, to instill an artificial sense of urgency for people to come out and overspend.

In my immediate family, we’re trying to have a low-key Christmas this year, to avoid the brunt of the stress and nastiness that can rear its head if you’re not careful. That means a gathering with only a few close family members and a light hand on the gift giving.

The reason why we are not trying to go all out is because we want to focus on the true meaning of Christmas, and because we want to enjoy our family to the fullest. Mixing in variables of jostling for spaces in parking lots, stalking the year’s “it” toy or driving each other nuts trying to wrap a mountain of gifts or make a cafeteria’s worth of cookies don’t make it easy to enjoy the season. Or each other.

The way that we have made a conscious decision to focus on what we value doing the most this season has gotten me to thinking about choices and weight loss. I have the same kind of choice when it comes to what I eat. Good food is everywhere this time of year, but it doesn’t mean I have to eat everything, or in large quantities. It is my choice.

Believe me, I have not been going spartan in December (or November) as far as how I’ve been eating, but I have been practicing exercising my right to choose. There are times when I don’t get it right, but I am amazed by how I feel when I do.

It’s surprising, refreshing, and extremely empowering. It makes me feel accomplished. This is a big change for me. I used to feel that what I ate was somewhat beyond my control, that I wouldn’t be able to stop the inertia I had going, in terms of the desire I had to eat. It seemed an impossibility to get myself to slow down or stop eating, or to make better choices.

It is hard to change the course of your thoughts mid-thought, but it is possible. I think that’s one of the biggest lessons I’ve gotten this year, that I can take control of my thoughts and direct them in a better direction.

For me, when it comes to eating, that means doing one of three things:

• Flat out telling myself no,
• Asking myself why I want to eat something, and
• Talking myself through options to identify the best one.

Is it tough? Yes. Is it tough love? Yes, but that’s the point; it’s about love. Me making tough decisions about my eating is about choosing to focus on the way I can best show love to myself. It is stripping away the power that drama can have on me and getting back to basics, as far as eating and my feelings are concerned. It is shutting out the cries of the world, about improved fast-food french fries or size 0 models, and shutting out my negative feelings, and simply focusing on my mind and body and how I can get to making my first course of action in any situation the one that will show them the most respect. Even if there’s an undertone of a disappointing lack of respect for others that can be felt during this time of year, I can still handle my own feelings and show myself a little more respect. I can make better choices to focus on the things that really have the most value to me.