Food Rut February 28, 2010

Do you ever get tired of cooking?  Do you get in patterns of eating?

Today we went to see Valentine’s Day and when we got home I did not want to cook.  Chicken did not sound good, neither did the veggies I was planning on making, the only thing that I wanted was the breakfast I have everyday, Fage 2% with cocoa, stevia, and pumpkin mixed in.  It was so weird that nothing else sounded good, well I did eat some broccoli so I guess that sounded good too.  I guess a lot of this was because it had been about 3.5 hours since the last time I ate, so my blood sugar was low.  Do you have weird cravings or get moody when your blood sugar is low/ need to eat?  Some of this is due to my PCOS that makes me insulin resistant and causes blood sugar spikes and lows.

Lately, we have been making lots of stir fries and Italian-inspired marinara and veggie dishes, but I need to break out of this box. What kind of dishes do you make a lot?

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Food, Inc. and My Soap Box

 

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Happy Sunday!  I hope you are having a relaxing day. 

So I finally watched Food, Inc last night and all I can say is AMAZING!! I have been wanting to watch it since I saw the Oprah episode, Before You Grocery Shop Again.  Watch the link because it was a really good show highlighting Michael Pollan and Alicia Silverstone.  Michael Pollan of course talked about his new book, Food Rules, and Alicia talked about her Kind Diet.  I love Oprah and I respect that she highlights intelligent experts in their respective fields, hello Dr. Oz (my idol) is a prime example! 

Okay anyway, about the movie.  I knew I wanted to see it, but I expected it to be depressing since I knew it included the slaughter houses and all.  But it was really a lot more positive.  The message was basically that we need to know where our food comes from and demand that we have higher quality.  It was a call to action to choose to buy organics and grass-fed meat and the food industry will be driven by this demand.  The website http://www.takepart.com/foodinc/ was included in the end of the film for everyone to get involved. 

Thanks Marianne, my mom, for always taking this action and buying organics and raising us on quality foods (even when it was not in vogue)!  I grew up on Whole Foods ever since I can remember.  At age 2, I was allergic to sugar and soy and my mom had many food allergies as well, so Whole Foods has always been our main grocery store.  I think I would have had a lot more health problems if I lived off of chemicals and processed foods like the rest of America has become accustomed to!  Okay, I will get off of my soap box, but this is a cause I truly believe in! 

I now know I need to read Michael Pollan’s books.  Are there any other books you all would recommend?  I so admire Michael Pollan and Food, Inc. for exposing the problems with America’s food system.  I knew healthier food was more expensive, but the lengths to which this documentary exposed how expensive healthy food is in relationship to fast food and the decision one family had to make between healthy food or diabetes meds really made an impact on me.  

Enough of the serious talk and onto my eats from last night: 

 BEFORE:   Pork Tenderloin (from Costco yesterday) marinating in Galeo’s miso dressing and Sriracha 

 AFTER: deliciousness! 

 Brussel Sprouts roasted in oven at 425* for 25 min with cayenne, salt, pepper, and onion powder 

 Salad pre-dressing, we used Galeo’s ginger wasabi miso dressing= creamy, healthy goodness (can you tell I am on a food trend of miso? love it! it’s from Whole Foods, and worth trying) 

I’m off to do Jillian Michael’s No More Trouble Zones and go for a nice jog.  Do you all have any suggestions for any other work out DVDs?

COSTCO and Chocolate

So we finally went to Costco to buy the usual, broccoli, Pellegrino, spinach, some kind of protein for dinner tonight and stirfries throughout the week, and Larabars.  I forgot how crazy it gets on Saturday, but there were ohh so many samples to keep me distracted from the crowd 🙂  I was also thinking about buying another Jillian Michaels DVD because I love her No More Trouble Zones workout, but there were none to be found, sadly. 

I also went to the Pilates of death class today, formally known as Pilates core fusion.  I have a love/hate relationship with this class because it is hard and I am always in pain and barely make it through the whole hour.  I had not been for two weeks, so it really kicked my booty!  I was talking to the instructor for tips to get stronger before her next class since my missing it for two weeks really made me weaker, and she said come more often!  haha I really like her and will make sure to go to her Tuesday and Saturday class this week!

Yesterday I made Averie’s (of Love Veggies and Yoga) Raw Vegan Coconut Oil Chocolate and loved it!  I changed her recipe just a little:

1 T Coconut oil (melted with the Agave)

1 T Agave Nectar (Instead of her 1.5T)

1/2 t vanilla extract

2 T Cocoa powder

I added in a drop of mint extract with one batch and it was good as well! Peanut butter would also be good in this recipe.

Tonight we are grilling pork tenderloin for dinner.  I did a marinade of miso dressing with Sriracha, should be good!  We are also broiling some brussle sprouts with some cayenne, onion powder, salt and pepper and making a spinach salad with miso dressing and some mushrooms.  We will see how everything turns out!

Have a great Saturday night!

xoxo Erin

Adrenal Fatigue is in Vogue February 23, 2010

Check out the Vogue December 2009 adrenal fatigue article.  I will do a whole post on this later, but I think the Vogue article is something that everyone really needs to read!  This is a problem more and more people in our stressed out society are experiencing but are having difficulty getting diagnosed.

I can not believe I forgot my favorite one!

Strawberry Mineral Water from Whole Foods (their brand),  It is amazing!  We attempted to order cases of it one day, and are now known as the strawberry water girls.  It is better than any LaCroix flavor and even better than the grapefruit Perrier.  If you have not tried it, you need to do so immediately!  My mom and sister really like the Lemon Raspberry flavor, it tastes a little like raspberry lemonade but with no added sweetener.

I could not find the strawberry version and my own pic did not turn out        😦 but here it is in lemon

A Few of My Favorite Things!!!

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1. NEW PB&J Larabar! These taste just like a peanut butter& jelly sandwich, but without the bread and convenient form.  I LOVE them and even found them at TJ Maxx the other day

2. Fage 2% yogurt- usually my breakfast with some cocoa and stevia, what can I say I wake up with a sweet tooth!  We recently found big containers (I think 20 ounces) at Whole Foods.  You save over $2 by buying the bigger containers  (I hope they come to Costco soon)!

3. Stevia extract- I was a big Splenda addict through my weight loss, not good   . But then I thought there could be something wrong with my adrenals after taking an oral steroid for my asthma and chemicals were then outlawed!  I tried no sweetener, but that did not work so Stevia it was.  I only like the Whole Foods brand, but they do count as a vitamin towards your vitamin card.

4.   Target flavored coffee-  as a dwindling Starbucks addict, cinnamon vanilla nut ground coffee is def a good replacement for my skinny cinnamon dulce latte.

5.  Cinnamon-  I swear this was my number one weight loss tool, I put it on everything.  It levels your blood sugar (a component of PCOS) and makes everything taste sweeter.

6.  Whey protein powder, I am now addicted to protein pancakes!  I currently use Jay Robb’s, but does anyone have any other faves?  I think I am ready for a new brand.

7.  ZUMBA!!! I just went to a class tonight!

8. Sriracha- I put it on stir fry, eggs, raw veggies… everything and anything.

9.  Stinging Nettles- the cure for all allergies, I have tried every allergy prescription and taking two nettles just does so much more.

10. Any Teavana tea, especially the raspberry green tea.

Hello blogworld!

Recently I have learned a lot from the many healthbogs that I follow. I figured people could learn a lot from the health problems I have experienced and how I have overcome them. Here are some of my favorite bogs:

• fitnessista.com
• heathereatsalmondbutter.com
• ohsheglows.com
• greenlitebites.com
• loveveggiesandyoga.com