10 March 2011

How Can I Change My Lifestyle?

On More Than Mary today, I’m talking ch-ch-changes.

I got this email from a reader a while ago, and thought I’d share it along with my response to her! She writes:

I’ve always been a particularly unhealthy eater. My blessing and my curse is that this unhealthy way of life doesn’t really show up on me physically. But of course, I’m old enough to know better and I am starting to feel the effects of it – I am tired all of the time, I am lazy (hence my ordering a pizza instead of cooking a meal), I make up excuses for not getting food at the grocery store or exercising more. And worst of all, I have a history of heart disease and other ailments in my family. I need your advice on how to start living a healthier lifestyle. And let me tell you, its easier said than done to “just do it”, as everybody tells me – I need baby steps! I want to take care of my body starting at this relatively young age, I want to have energy, I want to exercise more!

This reader has the right idea when she asks for baby steps. That’s EXACTLY how she can gradually live a healthier lifestyle. I want to help her get going, so here are a few things she can start doing TODAY:

Focus on eating a nutritious breakfast. She shouldn’t try to overhaul her whole diet at once. If she focuses on changing just one meal at a time, it won’t feel so overwhelming. There’s even a diet based on this principle! Start with breakfast (and definitely eat it, I don’t care if you’re not hungry at first!). My PB&J oatmeal is nutritious, but tastes pretty decadent. You can make it with rolled oats, too, for a faster meal.
Start switching from fast food to REAL food, fast. I’ve posted several recipes that take around 10 minutes to prepare (you can’t tell me you can drive to a restaurant and pick up food much quicker than that!). If you have to start with packaged foods, that’s fine, just make sure they’re healthy. Stock up on frozen vegetables, whole grain instant couscous and brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and protein that doesn’t need cooking like tofu, pre-cooked chicken sausage, beans, white deli meat, etc. Then, gradually add foods that require more prep (See my post about Mix & Match eating.)
Plan to cook just two to three dinners a week. Ease into the rhythm of cooking dinner by planning just two or three meals a week to cook. Add the ingredients to your grocery list and then plan to cook when you have the most time and will feel the most relaxed. As you get more comfortable, you can increase the number of meals you plan to cook.

Read the rest on More Than Mary!

18 June 2010

Recovering Sugar Addict

Inspired by the Outside the Box Challenge, one reader shares her experience trying to cut back on sugar:

i realized that i was/am addicted to sugar, so i am going on a sugar detox. this means no more candy, cookies, processed crap like that. i’ve done it in the past, and always feel good afterwards. it’s amazing how cutting out sugar REALLY makes you not want it any more, and subsequently feel better and make a conscious effort to fueling your body with things that should be going into it instead of nastiness. looking forward to getting off the sugar train!

Thanks for the message! Anyone else tried to cut back on sugar? How did it go?

4 May 2010

The Plight of the College Student

Recently, I got an email from reader Brooke, who asked a question I get fairly often:

I’ve always been interested in eating healthy and, just naturally, am kind of an “organic eater.” However, in college, I don’t have the money to necessarily shop at the organic, health food markets. Do you have any tips and tricks about ways to eat healthy and organic (or minimally processed) on a budget?

Oh yes, the plight of the healthy college student! Low on funds, but high on aspirations to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Before I get into some tips and tricks for Brooke, let me say one thing about organic food: It’s nice, but it’s not the most important thing. WHAT you’re eating is much more important than whether or not it’s organic. You can eat organic cookies all day, but it’s not going to do much for your health. So first, make sure what you’re eating is quality, unprocessed food, and then worry about whether you can afford to make it organic. That said, here are some ideas for eating healthy on a tight budget:

Shop recessionista-style! The following healthy, versatile foods are all less than $1 per serving (some as low as $.22!): brown rice, green tea, broccoli, plain yogurt, bananas, black beans, apples, lentils, and sweet potatoes. You can use most of these foods in hundreds of recipes and not get sick of them!
Buy in bulk. If you have a grocery store that sells grains, nuts, and other staples in bulk bins, GO FOR IT. You can get great deals on whole, unprocessed foods. Look for staples like rice, oats, quinoa, dried fruit, and other shelf-stable foods.
Hit the .coms. If you can’t find what you want in bulk (or otherwise) at your local stores, search for staples online! I buy a lot of my “health” foods (like coconut oil) on sites like Amazon. You can get great deals on items that cost an arm and a leg in stores! I got two large jars of coconut oil for the price one costs at my local store.
Look for the deals. For meat, fish, and even produce, don’t go into the grocery store with a closed mind about what you’re going to get. Maybe you wanted salmon, but the trout is $5 less per pound — go for it! Most of the time, you can adapt whatever recipe you were using to fit the new protein.
Go veg — but make sure it’s unprocessed. Yes, vegetarian protein is less expensive than animal protein. Stock up on items like tofu, tempeh, beans, and eggs. Just make sure that you stay away from heavily processed veggie burgers and other frankenfoods (those aren’t even that cheap)!
When it comes to organic, stick to the 2010 dirty dozen. If you can’t afford to eat organic all the time, just shoot for the foods that tend to have the most pesticide residue in conventional form: celery, peaches, strawberries, apples, blueberries, nectarines, bell peppers, spinach, kale, cherries, potatoes, and grapes. Print the PDF for a handy on-the-go guide!

Hope that helps, Miss Brooke! Remember that it’s not about organic so much as it’s about unprocessed, REAL food. Happy eating!

7 April 2010

What about veggie burgers?

Reader Carol via email: What are your thoughts on Veggie Burgers? I do eat meat and fish, but I also really like the taste of Veggie Burger options, specifically the Morningstar brands. Are these too processed, or ok every once in a while?

You know, I do tend to think most veggie burgers are pretty processed. Take a look at the ingredients in a Morningstar Farms Grillers burger:

TEXTURED VEGETABLE PROTEIN (WHEAT GLUTEN, SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, WATER FOR HYDRATION), EGG WHITES, CORN OIL, CALCIUM CASEINATE, CONTAINS TWO PERCENT OR LESS OF MODIFIED TAPIOCA STARCH, ONION POWDER, CANOLA OIL, TRIGLYCERIDES FROM COCONUT OIL, HYDROLYZED VEGETABLE PROTEIN (CORN GLUTEN, WHEAT GLUTEN, SOY PROTEIN), DEXTROSE, SALT, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, SUGAR, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS FROM NON-MEAT SOURCES, CARAMEL COLOR, CULTURED WHEY, MALTODEXTRIN, GARLIC POWDER, SPICE, CELLULOSE GUM, DISODIUM GUANYLATE, DISODIUM INOSINATE, SOY SAUCE (WATER, SOYBEANS, SALT, WHEAT), VITAMINS AND MINERALS (NIACINAMIDE, IRON [FERROUS SULFATE], THIAMIN MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE [VITAMIN B6], RIBOFLAVIN [VITAMIN B2], VITAMIN B12), SESAME SEED OIL, CELERY EXTRACT, SOY LECITHIN.

I’m not super impressed. I spy some sweetening agents and a lot of additives. But the good news is that veggie burgers are really not hard to make! Here are a couple good recipes:

If you don’t have the time or desire to make your own, one decent option is Dr. Praeger’s veggie burgers. They don’t have as much protein as the others, but they’re a lot less processed. Check out the ingredients in one of their California Burgers:

Carrot, Onion, Stringbeans, Soybeans, Zucchini, Oat Bran, Peas, Spinach, Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Broccoli, Textured Soy Flour, Corn, Oat Fiber, Red Pepper, Arrowroot, Corn Meal, Corn Starch, Garlic, Salt, Parsley, Black Pepper, All Natural Vegetable Gum

Those ingredients I can sort of get behind!