Fantastic Fruit Delights (aka Energy Bites!)
They’re raw, easy to make, and nutritious, and they’re known as “energy bites” in my home. Instead of buying a bunch of Power Bars, I make a batch of these. Just a couple fill my belly when it’s not quite mealtime, and they’ll last forever in the fridge.
Spicy* Sweet Potato & Peanut Soup with Chickpeas
1 T olive oil
5-6 c sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 c onions, diced
1 c celery, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 t sea salt
2 t cumin
3 t ground coriander
1 t paprika
½ t crushed red pepper flakes (*or to taste)
2 c vegetable stock
3 c water
3-5 T fresh ginger, grated (we used the tube of ginger from the produce section at Kroger)
2 T natural peanut butter
2 c (1 can) chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
3-4 T fresh lime juice
Cilantro leaves, chopped, for garnish (optional)
Continue reading “Spicy* Sweet Potato & Peanut Soup with Chickpeas”
To juice or not to juice? If you saw Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, no doubt you came away from it wanting to try a juice “cleanse”—no matter your weight. It was so inspiring to watch the people in the movie not just lose weight, but detox their bodies of all the crap they were subjecting themselves to: sugar, caffeine, processed foods…
I absolutely do not approve of fad diets. I do, however, think that short-term, doctor-monitored juice “fasts” are an interesting idea. There is not much wrong with eating only fruits and vegetables in their purest form, at least to kick start your quest for healthier eating. I do believe that a short-term fast can adjust your taste buds, help with taming your processed food addictions, and jump-start your weight loss, if that’s part of your goal.
Fajitas
1 T olive oil
Green, red, and/or orange peppers (about 2 cups), sliced
Small onion, sliced
About ½ package Morningstar Farms or Gardein chicken strips
Dashes of each or any of these: cumin, coriander, oregano, chili powder or ancho chili powder, salt
Sour cream, salsa, and/or avocado for toppings
Small flour tortillas
Cook onions and peppers in the oil on medium heat. Add spices and cook about five minutes, or until the veggies are tender. Add the chicken strips and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until chicken is heated through. Warm tortillas in toaster oven or microwave, then add the fajita mixture. Top with suggested toppings, or come up with your own!
Several of you have asked for the recipe for the green smoothie I drink in the afternoons. Here it is!
About 1 T chia or flax seeds (throw them in first so they are weighed down in the blender or they’ll stick to the sides when you blend), a cup of almond milk, 1/2 or whole banana, healthy handful of spinach, 1 T nut butter (I’m using almond right now, but be creative), and a few ice cubes. Sometimes I add a few baby carrots, sometimes a T of carob powder.
That is it! It’s easy, delicious, and for me, fills the void between lunch and dinner. Let me know what you think.
I’ve been thinking about my face lately. I can’t seem to avoid doing so, since I read an article about face transplants in The New Yorker and then literally a day later read a chapter in Women Food and God in which the face issue reappeared. Who am I without my face? If my face were to suffer a terrible allergic reaction and be covered with boils, would I be the same person? To myself, surely—my soul is my soul. But to others? Would my words be as convincing?
What if you were a different size? Do you feel like you are who you arebecause you’re a size 12? Would people take you more seriously if you were a size 8? Do you think they would? I guess I’m hung up on the topic of digging to the root of your overweight issues because I think it’s that important. If you identify yourself with your yo-yoing weight or your diet of the moment, I truly fear you won’t ever succeed in keeping the weight off. You’re just too connected to yourself as “person on a quest for a new and better body.” Will that new body, when finally achieved, bring you all the happiness and bliss you imagine? Not a chance. Not if you don’t address the issues that made you fat in the first place.
Continue reading “#41: Searching for Freedom from Yo-Yo Dieting?”
Oh, the sad horror of losing your mind. I’m constantly doing that now, but I’m able to find it again, usually minutes later. What this is really about, though, is dementia, and boy, will I ever do whatever it takes to keep that demon away.
Thankfully, there is tons of research being done right now to help us learn ways to keep our brains young, active, and sane. So now not only can we say that exercise helps reverse or relieve age-related body changes such as sarcopenia (the loss of muscle), symptoms of menopause, and osteoporosis, it also decreases the risk of dementia. Even more, higher levels of exercise might correlate with even lower risk of dementia. Awesome.
Broiled Blackened Tofu
Spices:
2 ½ t sweet smoked paprika (if all you have is hot paprika, just eliminate the cayenne)
2 t ground cumin
1 t dried oregano
1 t dried thyme
1 t sugar
¼ t salt
¼ t cayenne
A few pinches freshly ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
Maybe some of you are familiar with this New Year’s resolution: Clean out the house and keep it clutter-free. It is hard work to keep the house uncluttered when you’re busy, and even more so when you’re busy and have children. When you work, too, well, it’s almost easier to just give up. But don’t.
When you live in a cluttered home, you hold clutter on the inside, too. In fact, when you visit a person’s home and it’s just stuff everywhere, you can tell a lot about that person. Not that he or she is necessarily dirty or lazy, but that he or she likely has some unresolved issues. It’s true: Clutter is only a surface expression of a deeper issue. When you keep your home organized and clean, your heart and mind are more free and available to the people and things that are important to you.
Listen to yourself talking to your friends about your typical “I ate this,” “I really shouldn’t eat that,” “I feel so…” body conversations.
If you are always looking to a certain weight or measurement that you think will make you finally “just right,” then your life—where you are and who you are right now—is just a means to an end. You’ll be missing out on the you that you are at this moment, and frankly, the goal weight or whatever it is you have in mind will likely make you only fleetingly happy. You can become addicted to seeking.
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