Redlands Village Supper Club

I'm taking my food talk for a new walk...

So that I can "walk the talk," I'm starting a neighborhood supper club this month. I've invited residents of Redlands Village interested in improving their health to dine together on whole foods once a week, enjoy stimulating conversation, and applaud those improvements, however small.

While I firmly believe that awareness of our eating behavior is an essential part of learning to eat well, the support and connection with other people is essential, as well, because we all crave that. It may or may not happen in our homes around our own dinner tables. We seek it, nevertheless.

It will be fun to see who decides to join us, what new ways we'll learn of preparing healthy foods, the information we'll share and the friendships we'll make. And because we're gathering for such a laudable purpose, namely good health, I fully expect much good to come of it.

Exercise is part of the deal, and so each person will partner with a neighbor or spouse to walk our beautiful streets at least 30 minutes a day. We'll also drink more water and eat an apple a day. Everything else is optional.

So if someone has high cholesterol and high blood pressure, for example, I'm interested to see if it changes. I'm interested in finding out whether people notice that they sleep better, or that they have more energy. All or any of those things will show them that they're one the right track.

Who knows what else might emerge as a result of the little social experiment.

Our first gathering is next Tuesday evening over at Meadowlark Gardens Nursery. 

We'll see what happens. I can't wait!

Immediate Gratification

I'm all for the immediate gratification that food provides! Whole food, that is.

I've noticed that, just like a high-balance credit card account, the amount of sugar and carbs you eat can inch up during the day until the scales are tipped away from fruits and vegetables.

This can happen to all of us if we're not being mindful, moment to moment. In every aspect, that's the way we need to live in this world in order to thrive. But I found by paying closer attention, that I, too, have veered off the path.

I just wasn't noticing.

But I noticed last night. I wasn't craving an evening snack (like carbs!). I was over at Barnes & Noble later in the evening, and as I wandered over to the coffee bar and the pastry shelves as I usually do, I stopped and realized I didn't need any of that. I was satisfied.

How come?

Well, I had focused yesterday on eating lots of vegetables and fruits. I had apples on my oatmeal at breakfast, and for lunch had packed some homemade vegetable soup with plenty of high-fiber beans to microwave (had there been a stove, I would have heated it). Along with that, I had also prepared some coleslaw mixing shredded cabbage and carrots, some rice vinegar and olive oil, and some cilantro. Mid-afternoon, I ate an apple.

Dinner was a few ounces of baked chicken thighs, some more of that coleslaw, and a small helping of penne pasta with peppers and onions.

Sound like a lot of trouble. Not if you make a batch of soup and coleslaw that you can pull from the fridge. It's easy if you just think ahead and prepare a few simple dishes every few days.

This morning, I started again with oatmeal and chopped apples; and I have some more of that soup to take for lunch. For dinner, I'll make a large garden salad that I can eat over several days, and saute some portabello mushrooms to add to the rest of that vegetable pasta.

The benefits in how I feel provide great motivation!

I'm Back!

I took a hiatus this spring. I decided I had to take time and notice how well I was "walking the talk."
I'm glad I did because sometimes when I'm saying a lot, I don't stop to notice how well I'm following my own advice.

Most of us are that way, I think. It's so very easy to spot all the areas where the rest of the world needs to improve, often the same areas we ourselves are neglecting.

There's a lot of truth in the phrase: "You spot it, you got it!"

I gained some awareness these past few months. The most valuable "aha moment" gained from slowing down and being more purposeful ~ or mindful ~ was that the more you truly nurture your body, the easier it is to make healthy choices.

Prior to that, the pace of my days was pretty ramped up, and I found that I was racing to complete whatever tick list was in front of me. I was totally in my head, and during that time the foods I was eating were more acidic than alkaline. It's the recipe for inflammation, and I found I was trying to think my way past it.

I write this because most of the time, this is how we are. We rely on thinking. I loved that arena. However, from that spot there's not much forward movement.

Instead, we have to rely on the intellect of our bodies. I found it's a pretty dependable vantage point if I'm getting enough sleep, enough water to drink, and enough fruits and vegetables.To do that, I had to be purposeful and I had to slow down.

Healthy eating truly is about residing in the moment, with one very simple question to answer every single time we make a choice: "Does this give me energy, or does it take away energy?"

Paula Deen's Got it Down!

I never thought I'd be singing Paula Deen's praises, but I think she's figured it out!

America's best known Southern cook has a pretty good grasp of healthy eating witnessed by the fact that she's now 36 pounds lighter onthe scale. I predict she will be able to maintain on that path because she's not totally eliminating the foods she likes; she's just eating less of them!

Other tips she's shared: she watches her portions, loads her plate with "greens", doesn't totally abstain from her favorite foods, and she takes time to notice and appreciate what she's eating.

As with any self-improvement path, unless you're a Tibetan monk, it's best to cut yourself a bit of slack. In Paula Deen's case, she still enjoyed fried chicken. The difference is that it's now an occasional treat, rather than an almost daily staple.

For some ridiculous reason, we will go for "perfect" in our journey to be better people. But being "better" is different that being "best" or, well, perfect. "Perfect" suggests a comparison with others ~ so that we can stand out. "Better" means, we're better than we used to be. Not necessarily a huge transformation, but rather a shift.

Turns out those shifts in behavior are a lot easier to sustain.

Just ask Paula Deen!

Another New Year of Broken Resolutions

New Year's resolutions are over rated, aren't they?

Made to be broken.  But maybe because we set the bar way too high, as a result of visions of where we think we should be.

"Should" is  a word laden with high expectations and a good dose of shame. No surprise, then, that we fall short of our lofty goals.

Few resolutions are more popular than the resolve to loose weight.

We create a grand plan, but we seriously underestimate how the bombardment of stimulation in our day-to day lives continually pulls us off course.

But it doesn't have to be so hard. Small shifts in behavior can produce huge results.

During this busy holiday season, start integrating those small changes by just drinking more water and eating an apple a day. Along with that, take the time to savor what this practice means for your body.

Taking time to notice and be aware of the nurturing you are providing yourself is a great way to punctuate your day. Little by little, you'll notice that those small changes are making a noticeable difference in the way you feel.

Give it a try. Passage into the coming year just might be a while lot smoother.

Twinkies Are Toast!

That's it! Twinkies are toast!

After a run of grocery stores, no doubt the shelves where the junk food introduced when Boomer's were kids will soon have some other brand of sugar fix to offer.

But it won't be from the folks who brought us Wonder Bread and Hostess cupcakes.They've shut their doors and given all their workers pink slips.

Somewhere between 1948 and 1950 I sank my baby teeth into my first chocolate, cream- filled Hostess cupcake. A bakery truck used to drive to our door out on our Ohio farm, and the driver would gleefully write out a bill on those occasions when my brother and I would let him in the door and unload the goods. 

I would wash mine down with a glass of chocolate-flavored Ovaltine, while my grandmother would lecture me about not chewing my food enough to let the digestive enzymes from my saliva do their work.(She also used to tell me a penny would turn green if I dropped it into a glass of Coke. I laughed then because I thought she was behind the times. Now I think she was brilliant.)

Absent back then,  Hostess products would have left a significant void in all of the sugary snacks available to Americans.

Not so now.

That's because high-fructose corn syrup laces most of the food products in those middle grocery aisles. If it's in a box or a can, it's probably got sugar, fat or salt; often, all three.

Back in the day when Twinkies premiered, most Americans were fairly fit. But as a society, we became more prosperous, we accumulated more stuff, and we began to eat a lot more food.

Food was no longer fuel for our bodies three times a day; smewhere along the way we became hooked, and food became a drug of choice.

Few people will go through withdrawal in the absence of Twinkies. There's still plenty of sugar out there.

Signficant Change Starts With Just a Shift

I attended an obesity conference here in town last week.

We all know the situation is grim. Just take a look around.

The room was filled with worried professionals who work to serve health care and wellness. They know it's a situation that not only destroys a person's health, but collectively it is on track to bankrupt the country.

Understandably, not a few people doubt their ability to make themselves healthier because they've failed before; and they assume that, should they try, they'll fail again.

Someone who is 25 or more pounds overweight (much of the population), living with the stress of an uncertain economy (most of the population) can't find the first rung on the ladder towards gaining some sense of control.

There seems to be little sense of "space" amidst the complexities of the world in which we live where we can collect ourselves and consciously decide our course, and then carry it out. We're blown all over the place by the winds of change.

We live in a culture of people who frame reality around the way it's gonna be someday rather than the way it is. Our minds reside in the realm of expectations, putting any decisions that might carry us forward on hold. Maybe that's what's been modeled for them in their families, or what's projected through media advertising. What we want is always somehow out of reach, but we wish and hope for that to change.

Those are extremely strong beliefs ~ enough to solidly stop any forward momentum.

Those are the beliefs of the disempowered, but it's really a short distance to empowerment.

That's becuase the most significant changes are only the slightest shifts; when you choose to go without fries when you order that cheeseburger, or drink from your water bottle instead of a soda cup.

It can be when you steam some diced broccoli and carrots to mix with the kids' mac and cheese; and then take them for a 10 minute walk around the neighborhood instead of heading right to the TV.

Or maybe you give your husband or wife a hug and just say "I love you" for no reason, and feel how that feeds your heart so much more than does food.

Those represent those "first rungs" we're looking for on the road to better health!