Interesting and Surprising Project part 1

I just finished a project for school, actually a few, but this one in particular was quite an eye opener for me!

Here's the deal. I had to enter everything I ate for one day into the nutritional software I have, and analyze ALL of my vitamin and mineral intake for an entire day.

When I configured my charts (anyone that did the nutritional study may remember the detail) I was surprised and a bit astonished about the results! Many of you know that I eat A LOT of fruits and veggies tons in the matter of fact! I love them. I eat very little processed food and when I do I am very choosy about what will buy! No refined flour, sugar etc. Anyhow, some nutrients I was completely deficient in, meaning NONE, some were very low and some were SO high they were beyond the UL's (upper limit) set by the USDA.

It really got me thinking about some things, for one, with all the whole foods I eat how in the world do I really get all my nutrients if I have to eat even MORE than I do to get them. ?

Is one day really a good representation of how well rounded my diet is? I am going to experiment with this and will report again later.

If I eat 'healthy' are people that eat fast food, processed foods, and refined foods on a daily or weekly basis getting any nutrients? Do we really wonder why there is so much chronic disease in our country?

With all I am learning, I am so much more aware of the big picture. The facts are right there for me to see, and it is proof positive that no matter how 'healthy' we truly think we eat there is always room for improvement. Always!

With this said, I have some work to do, for one, I am going to enter my food in the nutritional analysis software for at least a week, then I am going to look at each day individually and as a whole to see the differences in the analysis each day and the whole week.

If anyone else is curious to look at your own dietary intake, let me know. I can send you links and information to play with me. It does take effort to enter all your foods... but I am game to not play alone!

This isn't really where I thought I was going with this, but hey, it is important to prevent illness and promote optimal health to really be aware of what we are eating. I do take some supplements multivitamins and B12 (since I am a vegetarian) and I am relieved that even though I eat healthy I continue to take them.

Stay tuned for more information and followup in the next few weeks.... My brain is thinking!

yummalicious!!!!!

Tonight's dinner was delicious!! I took my own version these Parmesan crisps. Instead of Goddess dressing I used Bolthouse Farms Honey Mustard dressing mixed in the eggs. The kids loved it and there wasn't much left after dinner.

The main course is sliced tofu, browned in a skillet, layered on grilled eggplant slices ( I used the George Forman Grill) and a homemade sauce from fresh and sun dried tomatoes, crushed garlic and chopped fresh basil. It had such a good flavor layered on top of the eggplant and tofu. I got the original idea from The Eat Clean Diet Cookbook it had eggplant with tomato slices, squash sliced(longways) with some sort of grilled chicken. Since I don't eat chicken I thought I would try tofu. Then I decided to make the crisps and so I didn't put the squash on it, and from there I just started making up the sauce. I figured that the kids would eat the eggplant and tofu better with a sauce instead of sliced tomatoes, thus a recipe is born. I have no idea what to call it nor do I know if I can reproduce it ever again.

Nutrition and more for the New Year

2008 is now in the past, and it was definitely a big year in terms of nutrition actually in terms of so much. Late summer of 2007 we made a cross country move, it was tough, it was stressful and well I can say that I just did not want to do it! 2008 was our first year in this new(very old) house, starting over one mored time. It's exhausting emotionally and physically.

The biggest part of my journey began in 2004, I have learned so much grown so much and somehow I always seem to land on my feet no matter how painful it may seem at the time. On the other hand as the old adage goes "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger", on the inside I have the biggest muscles on this side of the continent.

My journey started slowly, mostly by just learning to drink water. I look back and wonder how in the world I could have possibly lost all that weight with what I was eating. Much less and better than before. It's just that looking back it is too funny to me. The biggest thing I have learned is that it is about the journey, there will never be perfection unless I can airbrush myself to the outside world and to myself. Impossible, I am sorry to say.

The truth is I believe today that beauty shines from the inside. Good health, confidence and contentment (I don't say happy because we can't be 'happy' every minute of the day) and being content and at peace with who I am is much better for me. This has taken much work over the past few years, a lot of letting go and soul searching. Am I there ALL the time now, no, I am however there much more than before.

I am out of excuses of why I 'can not' get to my goals, I have to just continue on the journey. It's about making choices and making the right ones. Where does nutrition have to come into all of this. Well it does, for me I can say most things lead to it. I have a stomach ache, it's probably something I ate or didn't eat, headache same thing. Tired, not enough water and perhaps not enough sleep. All in all, I know that I feel better from the inside when I eat better.

How do I know what to eat? Honestly, I keep reading learning and experimenting (with my own body) 4.5 years ago, I didn't even know what hunger felt like. I couldn't stop eating when I was full because I didn't recognize the feeling as full. Some days it felt impossible to trust myself that I was not going to starve to death if I stopped eating or waited to eat. Today I know when I am hungry, I know when I am thirsty and I know when I am lonely. Today it is about a choice I make.

Once I began school in June. I was exposed to even more 'diets' than I thought possible. I have read most diet books on the market from Susan Powter (remember her) to Atkins (funny for a vegetarian), Richard Simmons, French Woman don't get fat, South Beach, Mcdougall and much more. I have experimented with vegan, raw, omnivorous (not recently) etc. What I realize about most of these is that they are all very hard to keep up with long term. All of these plans have positive and negative points; however, I still have interest in what the authors/founders have to say about each one, because I can take positive aspects of each and incorporate them into my lifestyle. Raw food is great for me, but if I miserable trying to eat it all the time, I know I will not shine. Just like anything else, I have to follow my intuition and do what feels good in my own body.

The journey of learning about me, is what it is all about. I have no expectations of myself except to learn what feels good to me and offer to nourish myself and my family in that way. My food choices are different then they were 4 years ago, and even 1 year ago, and they will probably be different this time next year. 2009 is my year to have complete postitive choices, try new recipes, and begin fresh and new. Nothing more nothing less. I strive to be healthier and more energetic this time next year.

A very important aspect along with nutrition for me is exercise. Really they go hand in hand. The muscles store and utilize energy (from food/calories) better with use. So balance is the key. Not to much and not to little. I am looking forward to what the new year will bring and what new things will come into my life.

Feast Fit for a Vegetarian King!

Wishing Everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving! I started cooking some of the food for today's meal yesterday. My very first time making cranberry sauce from scratch! It was much easier than I thought and so very good! Definitely a success with the family. The only thing that I didn't make from scratch was the tofurky... No one in my family has ever liked it before. Today, it only lasted about 2 minutes on the table and there is not one bit of it leftover for tomorrow. (sigh) These mashed potatoes were to die for! Hurray! I loaded them with chives and they were delicious. Of course they were the spuds that we dug up in October.... I hope you didn't miss out of this great sale from Zach's boy scout troop.... These taters are the best!!! Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete to me without the corn pudding. I replaced the white sugar with sucanat, it worked out great and the corn pudding was delicious!

This was a brand new recipe to me. I took it right off the cover of vegetarian times! It was loaded with mushrooms, red peppers(the ones I didn't eat while cooking) and believe it or not I put mushrooms in it too! pretty good... I also made stuffing(although it wasn't stuffed into anything) made with whole grain bread, apples, walnuts, some seasonings and fresh apple juice. I forgot to upload a photo sorry... No Thanksgiving is complete without dessert, this one was great...apple crisp made with apples (of course) oats, spelt flour, a bit of butter and sucanat.. This was fabulous. I haven't had any dessert in a LONG time, but I justified it being that I went to the gym and did an hour and half aerobics class this morning! Our Y does it every year, admission is non-perishable food item... What a killer workout... Ariana gives dinner the thumbs up!!! Dasher is enjoying the fire today, the first time we have lit it this season! Boys will be boys! What more can I say.... may not want to enlarge this photo ;) No Thanksgiving is complete without turkey, so here's ours. Ariana made it at school and he is cute and patriotic, no antibiotics, hormones and well he's free range too!!

Eat This.....

I have not posted much, does wanting to post count? I have in the midst of lots going on, felt a strong need to have healthy whole foods to supplement healing and stress reduction. Yes I strongly believe that immunity to disease(physical and emotional) comes from what you put in your body. So I will say it again, You are What You Eat. (for the most part)

Here's a great soup recipe It's delicious, easy and vegan, and I just can't stop thinking about and in the matter of fact, I am going to make it again this week... Not to mention those yummy spuds that I have in abundance and need to eat.

Corn and Potato Chowder

2 TBS Vegetable Oil (I think I used coconut oil)
2 medium carrots peeled and chopped
2 stalks of celery chopped
1 medium onion
1 leek (white part only, saved the rest for broth)
2 cups corn kernels (I used frozen, or cut from 4 cobs, wouldn't that be yummy)
2 medium russet potatoes (I used our eastern whites, might be fun to try with yams too)
5 cups rich vegetable broth
2TBS chopped fresh basil or 2 t dried
1 t chopped fresh thyme or 1/4 t dried
salt and pepper to taste

In a pot over medium heat, warm the oil, add carrots, celery, onion, and leek, stirring until soft. (10 min)

Add the corn, potatoes, broth, thyme and basil. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat. Reduce and simmer until the potatoes are tender and the liquid is reduced to just cover the ingredients (I admit I didn't pay much attention to this part, and I added a bit of garlic too)

In batches transfer into the blender and blend, I only blended a portion of it (maybe half) as I really like more texture to my soup. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy...

*This recipe if from The Big Book of Vegetarian by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley (here)

Oh I have been busy!

My Mother in Law came to visit bringing her back seat full of these wonderful veggies! We have been cooking like crazy! I have never seen brussel sprouts on their stalk before. They were good! We cooked up the acorn squash with a blueberries, apple and a bit of succant. It was delicious! The large Hubbard squash I had to THROW onto the driveway to crack it open and we are still working on getting it cut up to cook! Then off to pick potatoes, lots of them, with my oldest son Zach's boy scout troop. Here's Brian at the beginning of the day. In total the group bagged 800 bags of spuds. It was an enormous success of a fundraiser. The farm was beautiful and I loved getting in the dirt it was very relaxing. Here's Zach working on filling up his buckets. Others came through and bagged them up and loaded the bags into trucks to be brought back to town. Here I am with Zach and my prized spud! Click on this photo and see how enormous it really is. And it looks like a submarine! That's the tater field behind us. The farm was amazing and so relaxing to be out there working! Then it was off to Tiger Scout Harvest Fun day. Nikolas runs in a relay race. Ariana does pumpkin bowling. She loved it. Zach also helped the younger kids with bowling here he is encouraging his brother! Here's two of my 'boys' Comet and Dasher. It was a great photo so I had to share! Homemade applesauce. NO sugar or preservatives! Made with fresh NY apples! Here's dinner a few nights ago. Eggplant, zucchini, onion, garlic, red pepper and a bit of pine nuts and feta in a home made whole wheat crust. I have been busy with the kids, sewing costumes, doing my schoolwork, helping the kids with schoolwork and generally just never stop going. I hope that next week I can get back to more regular blogging. I have managed to fit in a few runs this week, and a few exercise classes and lose a few more pounds too. Yeah!

Nutritional Lectures at Their Best

Well here it is! A very bad photo of me with Dr T. Colin Campbell. I debated not putting it up here, but I suppose that as long as I said I really wanted to meet him and get my 'groupie' photo with him here it is!

He spoke that the Vegetarian Expo, in Saratoga Springs, NY, today. I was in heaven all day. I listened to 4 lectures on Nutritional information. I am so excited about each one!

First lecture was on, Heart Healthy Recipes the speaker was Ann Crille Esselystyn, She really didn't give much recipes which was a bit disappointing to me. She was a dynamic speaker although she just talked mostly about the ingredients in health foods, she did talk about dark leafy greens, the rest of her talk was on packaged 'health' foods.

After her lecture, I had a great opportunity to move up to the front row! A few hours from Dr Campbell's lecture I moved up and vowed to stay there. I did take a quick break to grab a bite to eat, and the gal sitting next to me, saved my seat for me!

The next Speaker, Brenda Davis RD(from Canada), spoke on defeating Diabetes and work she did in the Marshall Islands. she was a marvelous speaker, with a myriad of books, including her new Raw Revolution Diet (which I picked up and she signed it with a very kind and inspiring note!) She was a dynamic speaker with exceptional knowledge and it was obvious that she loved her job. Although, diabetes is not my primary focus, she had SO many good things to say during her lecture, and we really had a great and inspiring conversation afterwards. I would like to get some more of her books as well, they are going on my wish list. You can read more about this inspiring lady here.

After Brenda Davis, I heard the most inspirational and informative speaker of the day, he was smart, funny and really knew his stuff. His name Jeff Novick. His lecture was on Healthy food vs Health Food, this lecture was amazing in every way. I felt so enlightened throughout his whole talk. He brought great humor to a otherwise, frustrating topic. The majority of his lecture was on the proper reading of nutritional labels and packaging. I never thought I would learn so much. he very humorously exposed the truth about labeling laws and how to defeat it! Brilliant. Also, encouraged us to eat whole foods where ever possible. My only horror here was when he talked about how bad coconut oil is for us! ARGH! Could it possibly be true!? I do recommend anyone with a chance to hear this man speak do! Despite the coconut oil rumor! I guess I will have to do more research! You can visit his website here.

Last but certainly not least was Dr T. Colin Campbell. Definitely not as funny as the speaker before him, I learned so much. Not to mention he is writing another book! yeah! He did speak a lot on The China Study (the actual study not the book) and on the benefits of eating a plant based diet. It was incredible to hear about it first hand. How he came to believe what he does and why! Coming from a dairy farm, eventually converting to a vegan diet. He also has an nutritional .org website that will be coming out. I will post when I get the link for it. (I signed up for his newsletter) His son is now an MD and will be following in his footsteps for sure.

Overall I had an amazing day. I got to see lots of new products and eat some really good vegan chili! I picked up a VegNews magazine (and subscribed) I got Dr Campbell to sign my book and pretty much now I am home and resting. I am tired for sure!