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Easy ways to eat more vegetables

September 25, 2008 in Treasure Chest of Useful Information | No comments

Here are some great ideas for getting more vegetables in your diet (edited slightly by me) from Fruits and Veggies Matter by the CDC (Center for Disease Control.)  They have more tips and an interactive recipe planner on their site.

Meal Ideas

  • Add vegetables like bell peppers, broccoli, spinach, mushrooms or tomatoes to your egg or egg white omelet.
  • Add broccoli, green beans, corn, or peas to a casserole or pasta.
  • Have soup. You can stick with the basics like tomato or vegetable soup or mix up some minestrone or veggie chili to cut winter’s chill. When possible, choose soups with less sodium.
  • Add lettuce, tomato, onion, and cucumber to sandwiches.
  • Order salads, vegetable soups, or stir-fried vegetables when eating out.
  • add tomatoes, radishes, and green bell peppers to a tuna salad made with mayonnaise.
  • Top broiled lean meat, chicken, or fish with salsa. Each 1/2 cup of salsa counts as a 1/2 cup toward meeting your daily vegetable needs.

Salsa counts?? Woo hoo! :)

Make it Quick

  1. Store cleaned, cut-up vegetables in the fridge at eye level.
  2. Try hummus and vegetables like bell pepper strips and broccoli.
  3. Pick up ready-packed salad greens from the produce shelf for a quick salad any time.
  4. Snack on mini-carrots at work instead of candy.

Recipes

Vegetable Primavera

1. Choose a combination of different vegetables, such as mushrooms, tomatoes, cauliflower, and bell peppers. Chop the vegetables into bite-size pieces.
2. Sauté in a skillet with a small amount of cooking oil or non-stick cooking spray until the vegetables are tender, but still crisp.
3. Toss with your favorite pasta and add garlic and basil to taste.
4. Top with low-fat or fat-free parmesan cheese.

Make-Ahead Salads

1. Chop up some cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions.
2. Lightly toss with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
3. Store it in the refrigerator in a bowl with a lid.
4. When you’re ready to eat, take a scoop of the marinated vegetables and spoon it over your favorite lettuce and toss.
5. You have a flavorful salad in no time.

I love this make ahead salad idea! What a great way to make a quick, yummy salad!

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Kathy Smith’s fitness blog

April 19, 2008 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

Do you remember Kathy Smith, the star of many fitness videos? I found a couple of her videos at the thrift store today and decided to hop online and see what she had to say for herself these days. It turns out that she has quite a lot to say.

Click here to check out Kathy Smith’s fitness blog.

She is pro women’s sports, pro exercising and eating healthy, pro women of all shapes and sizes, and anti-deprivation. So, I think she’s my kind of gal. I found many of her posts to be really inspiring (even though some also link to her products.)

Check out what she says about deprivation:

“I’ve noticed that most people get caught up in that vicious cycle of dieting and then blowing the diet. It usually goes like this: You’re unhappy with the way you look and feel. You seek a diet that promises instant weight loss through complete control of what, when, and how you eat. Soon you discover that you can’t stick with it, and you end up right back where you started…

“To be successful, you have to move out of a diet mentality. Most plans don’t take into account what food really means to us. They don’t consider how the flavor and color and texture and presentation of food can give us so much pleasure. They don’t consider how eating foods that you don’t like leaves you unsatisfied.

“It was a good reminder for me today that, as I support others in their efforts to lose weight, choosing foods you truly love and that also enhance your physiological well-being are the key to becoming an independent eater.”

Well said, Kathy! And a timely reminder for me as I was about to launch into diet-like behavior by eating a protein shake on a regular basis, rather than a really yummy breakfast. My diet like thoughts may help explain why I was eating cake mix out of the package with a spoon this week. (I know, pretty image.)

When I just decide to eat really delicious and mostly healthy food, I end up eating a very healthy, balanced diet. (It doesn’t necessarily make me lose weight, but I do feel and look healthier.) But if I start thinking that I need to get thinner and then focus on that goal, the fearful gorging begins.

Breathe in, deep breath. I’m letting go of needing to look a certain way. That won’t guarantee me love. People of all shapes and sizes are loved. (I’m already loved, why am I trying to get all thin to get love?) Just focus on moving my awesome body and eating very delicious, mostly healthy food. Breath out…

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B’s decisions and techniques for happy and healthy exercise and eating

November 8, 2007 in Treasure Chest of Useful Information | 2 comments

* Eat whatever I want to whenever I want to.
* Don’t eat anything I don’t want to. (I just discovered this one.)

* Only exercise if I feel like exercising.
* If I feel like moving, let myself move! (I just discovered this one!)

These decisions are about noticing how I feel and completely trusting that what I want to do is alright. What would taste good to me? What do I really want right now? Do I want to lay in bed for an hour, or go on a walk in the park, or take a long hot shower, or do an exercise tape I haven’t done in years and then stop after 14 minutes, or go running and then sprint on some blocks juse for fun?

It’s a huge leap of faith! You mean, I could just eat whatever I want to?? Really? Me? :) And still be alive and stuff? And not weigh 300 pounds and stuff?

You mean, I could just, like, exercise when I want to?? And then like, lay around or dance in my living room if I want to? Like I’m just some kind of animal? ;)

Here I am deciding to let myself eat whatever I desire and move when, if and how I desire to. (Sounds very hedonistic no? Scary to inner puritan, no?) When I first made the decision to NEVER DIET AGAIN, about 2 years ago, I ate hot pockets everyday for about a month. Then I went through a licorice phase. I gained 25 pounds!

And then I eventually, blessedly, stopped obsessing about food.

I stopped eating more than I wanted to at parties because I knew, but really knew that I could eat more later if I felt like it. I stopped finishing all my chips if I wasn’t in the mood for chips, because I knew, I mean really knew that I could have more chips if ever I wanted to. I mean, it is amazingly freeing to stop obsessing about food. You of the long time dieters know how much brain energy goes into thinking about food. Imagine my relief.

You know which countries don’t have more depressed woman than men? The countries where women don’t diet.

But! You say, I don’t want to gain 25 pounds and have my arteries clogged with hot pockets! I know, I know, me neither. But I was even more sick of dieting or even being hyper alert about eating “healthy.” I made a full committment to never diet again whatever the results, and the results were not leading to many health goals at first, but strangely, I think this process of following my desires has now led me on a journey of having health and energy. Tune in tomorrow for the super secret of my success. Wait, that sounds too cheeky. Tune in tomorrow for the super secrets of my ordinary life of being fairly healthy and freeing up my brain to think about whatever I want to think about!

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