Healthy Eats-Along 2012

[MareMare]

I'd hop over to the dessert board, grab a recipe and treat yourself!  You've done great.  Don't let others or others' diets deflate your motivation.

Great advice! There's some nummy stuff posted too!

Yeah the no beans thing is what really gets me...plus the person I know who's doing it is also not eating fruit which I think is wack.

Anyhow, I've had a rough couple of days, eating wise, but at least managed to track my food for today and only went over my calories by about 350, which isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I've pre-logged some of my foods for tomorrow (the majority of them, but still have a bit to play with.) Here's my eats for tomorrow!

B-Pear, English muffin with 2 eggs, pat of butter
L-Instant miso soup, 1 red pepper, 1/2 cucumber, 1/4 cup of the light ranch dip I made
snack-cottage cheese
D-Salad with feta, sunflower seeds, and TJ's ff Balsamic dressing. A one pot dish of low fat smoked turkey sausage, garlic quinoa, and Southern greens (nice pre-washed, cut mix from TJ's)
snack-apple

I'm fairly happy with my mix of nutrients. Feel free to analyze If I'm extra hungry at lunch I'll probably add some tuna since I'm not quite meeting my protein goal. Does anyone else pre-plan or pre-log their whole menu? I used to do it more often but think I need to get back into the habit again!

[craftylittlemonkey]

Miss Whitney, why would they make a DINNER date if they're doing something wierd with their diet?! I mean, come on now. When I was eating raw I wouldn't go out for dinner socially unless I was ready to only order a salad and not make a big scene about it. I mean, take a little soverienty over your lifestyle people, sheesh!
So sorry you ended up missing out on a fun time but that was just pure silliness, I hope you can see the humour in it all later on and have a good laugh. 
Take a look at this article to see where that paleo nonsense leads to, lol. People are so silly with their extremist fads. Any diet is a joke if it's not sustainable and nothing radical is good for the long term. What you're doing sounds absolutely perfect, maintaining terrific eating and lifestyle habits with occasional indulgences. Yay you! http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/upshot/iceman-gets-genome-mapped-224308211.html

Maremare, sounds good. That's already a lot of protein you've listed, r u sure you need more? Have you entered your daily into a nutrition tracker like fitday? I can't remember if you said you did that or not...

The no fruit thing is actually OK, fruit is mostly sugar and some vitamins and vits aren't hard to get at all when you're eating whole foods. It's the minerals that are really needed and those are plentiful in greens, whole grains, beans, nuts and seeds. Lots of people don't eat sweet fruit, just the ones like cukes, peppers, squash etc that we don't typically consider fruit at all. Since so many people have candida imbalance, less sugar, even natural sugar, is actually a good idea.
I don't personally monitor that, I eat as much of whatever I want, whenever I want it (healthy stuff, of course). I think that if a diet is generally in good balance the body will take what it needs and send you a clear message about things that it doesn't .

[suereal]

The original palio diet was a life style.  You were supposed to walk everywhere, be outsdie most of the time, swing from your arms from tree branches, and drag heavy things around in the back yard.  Not just eating what they did, but trying to get as much (and similar) exercise as a caveman might.  I'm betting the wreack-a-meal folks took a car to the restaurant and haven't picked up anything more then a 10 pound weight at a gym in there lives.  They are just palio enough to make themselves feel superior.  I don't think cavemen were that rude

[sweets4ever]

I'm not at all familiar with that diet, but even with own [fairly strict, I think!] regimen, I'm able to customize something at almost every restaurant.  The key is to ask.  If you don't ask, you obviously won't find it out of the box/on the menu.

For example, my parents were visiting last weekend and we took them to Smokey Bones.  I created a salad from scratch and it was delish!  A bed of fresh spinach leaves, sliced strawberries, hard boiled eggs, onions, lemon wedges (I squeezed them as dressing), salt and pepper.  I even made fresh lemonade at the table with a glass of water, lemons and Lemon Stevia.  No one even batted an eye.  My plate was full just as everyone else's, and I had a happy tummy.

[LimeRiot]

I don't think cavemen were that rude

I agree, suereal .

I'm so sorry that you weren't able to enjoy what should have been a well earned fun night out, Miss Whitney. I hope you can treat yourself to something special. It definitely sounds like your way of eating is much healthier than any fad diet.

sweets - that's great advice. I think most places are willing to accommodate special requests. I've also found it really eye opening to look at the nutritional facts at restaurants. Sometimes the things you think are healthy are actually the worst on the whole menu!

[MareMare]

Maremare, sounds good. That's already a lot of protein you've listed, r u sure you need more? Have you entered your daily into a nutrition tracker like fitday? I can't remember if you said you did that or not...

Yep, I've got it entered and I'm a bit shy of the 30% a day I'm aiming for. I stay full longer and don't binge eat when I get more protein, so in the long run it saves me a lot of calories!

[MareMare]

Here's another quinoa recipe I found on MFP. I'm a good girl so I'm not going to hotlink the pic

This was sooo good!!!

Apple Walnut Quinoa Salad

1 cup chopped walnuts, divided
3 cups quinoa, cooked (about 1 cup uncooked)
2 apples, peeled and cut in 3/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
2/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled
6 green onions, diced or snipped, bulbs discarded
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, a fruity one
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
sea salt and fresh black pepper

Instructions

In a small skillet over medium heat toast walnuts about 5 minutes stirring often. Remove and allow to cool. Add olive oil, 1/3 cup of the toasted walnuts and lemon juice to a food processor. Pulse until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large bowl combine quinoa, apples, cranberries, feta cheese, green onions and the remaining walnuts. Pour dressing over top and stir well. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Best eaten at room temperature.


http://i.imgur.com/8YTPu.jpg

[craftylittlemonkey]

Mmm, that sounds like breakfast tomorrow! Yay!

[elliot_anne]

So, I kinda fell off the face of the planet (but not the bandwagon!) the last week or two. Sorry guys.

My fiance and I are "going vegan" for a month. He's doing it mostly to prove he can, I'm doing it to see if it is a sustainable choice for me for the future (2.5 months vegetarian now). Yesterday marks the start of week 2, and it is HARD. I already think this isn't going to work in the long run, but I keep telling myself that maybe I just don't have enough GOOD vegan recipes yet. We keep trying to "remake" old tried-and-true recipes and MAKE them vegan, and it just isn't working (btw, vegan cheese is AWFUL). We need to start trying out actual vegan recipes, or we're never going to make it through this...

Maremare, you asked about pre-planning and pre-logging foods. Since we're doing our vegan "challenge," I haven't been logging my food and counting calories. However, the night before we go grocery shopping, we plan all of our meals for the week. Breakfast is easy (I eat puffed rice cereal, and he eats oatmeal). Lunch is pretty consistent (baked quinoa patties or sandwich for lunch, with several healthy snacks like apples, carrots, granola, and roasted nuts). Dinner is where we get to be a little creative. There's almost always a pasta night of some kind, and usually a salad. And we also try out at least one new recipe a week (sometimes good, sometimes bad, sometimes we find it needs work...).

Last week our new recipe was a cherry tomato couscous. Neither of us had tried couscous before, but both of us liked it a LOT. We weren't crazy about the cherry tomatoes and cucumber in it (though it did give it a refreshing flavor. Perfect for a hot summer day!), but even having another whole grain that we really like and can experiment with is good.

This week we will be trying TWO new recipes. Brown rice + barley (probably won't have a problem with that one. It's a "safe" recipe), and a recipe for black eyed pea fritters. That one will be the real experiment. Hopefully it goes well.

As for HOW I keep track of all these meals, I have 2 copies of the dinner schedule. One is on a whiteboard in our room (white boards are perfect for those trying to go 'no waste'), and the other is on a notepad in a cabinet in the kitchen (so I don't have to go upstairs to remember what's for dinner). The notepad also has a column on the side so I can jot down NEXT week's grocery list as we run out of stuff. Being more organized has really been helping in the kitchen, and in the wallet!

[craftylittlemonkey]

Elliot-anne, if there are specific ingredients you're finding it hard to do without I'll bet some of us can help you figure out a substitute. I did raw vegan for a good long while without feeling like I was missing much .

Good luck!