Eats and Treats

 

Its been awhile since I have shown a full day of my eating and I was good about taking pictures yesterday. 

Breakfast 

It was chilly yesterday and after doing a tempo workout with my friend at the park (even colder because its on the water,) I came home to have some TROPICAL OATS… I finally got some more fresh mango from COstso (the best) I made it with pumpkin, oatbran, vanilla soy milk and topped with coconut and sunflower seed butter and some dates!

LUNCH

Salad with boca chicken patty, wild rice, shreds, mango, avocado and sour cream. The key is to cook the shred with the patty so you have the contrast of warm and cold… its perfect… and because I like sweets I had this one the side… a mini “dessert”

 

About 1/4 c of kashi sunshine, 1tbsp carob chips, some carob powder and tbsp of LF plain yogurt

DINNER

We went to an early movie and I needed to make something quick, I decided to make the rest of the Tempeh and use a new sauce I had…

I cooked onion in a pan and added sliced tempeh and shreds… after it cooked a little I topped it with some Annies maple BBQ sauce and put it all in a wrap. this sauce is great and turns an ordinary meal into something SPICY! 

To fill my veggie quota I had some steamed broc and zucc on the side… the spice it up a little I added balsamic, goat cheese and a spinkle of sunflower seeds.

DESERT

We saw fireproof last night and it was a great movie, great plot.. the acting was not the best but it really makes you think about being selfless. I was hungry when I got home so I had a random concotion. 

 

Yogurt with sliced honey crips apple, 1/2 choc chip zbar and 1/2 pb zbar with some carob chips and slivered almonds

The honeycrips apples are from costco too and they are so good!

** I AM A CREATURE OF HABIT SO CURRENTLY I AM OBSESSED WITH TJ’S HIGH FIBER CEREAL WITH YOGURT AND A LITTLE PUMPKIN BUTTER.. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT OBSESSION?

Has anyone heard of p90x… I am considering ordering it?

 

Weekend but no time to rest

My weekend usually starts thursday night when I get out of school. YEsterday I had 2 tests, one went well the other I DID NOT feel good about. I can not be mad at myself because it is not a result of no studying but rather TRUE/FALSE questions. I HATE true/false questions I would rather write an essay than anwser those ( i think way too much into them!) I was physically drained when I got home at 8:00. The GRad Class test was all essay and my hand was killing me when I was done. It is the type of questions that you dont even know where to start because it is so detailed, but I love advanced nutrition so it was not terrible. 

LET ME BULLET SOME STUFF I WANT TO SHARE:

• I had spoken in the past about an organization called Rock N Wrap it up… they sent me an introduction letter to go to places and ask if they would donate food. On sundays I have been pikcing up food from the catering company I work for, and on Wednesday I will now be picking up from 2 local bakery’s ( at the end of the night they throw out a lot of food) You can not believe what they throw out and knowing that I can bring this food to a shelter the next day and feed someone is an overwhelming feeling. I encourage you guys to get involved, because there is so much food that goes to waste! 
• I am very good at planning my meals for my busy days, I am usually running late because I have to pack so much food, but what I did realize is the stress of those long days often causes me to be more lenient on allowing certain things I would not usually have (articial sugars) I DEF FEEL THE EFFECTS TODAY (BAD HEADACHE) DOES THIS HAPPEN TO ANYONE ELSE??? I NEED TO START BEING MORE DISCIPLINED ON THOSE DAYS! 
• I told you guys I was doing an article for the newspaper on cereal…. and I just came across this write up on breakfast cereals in relation to children: http://www.consumerreports.org/health/healthy-living/diet-nutrition/healthy-foods/breakfast-cereals/overview/breakfast-cereals-ov.htm                   HEre are some key findings from this article: 
• 1. 58% of “children’s” cereals are consumed by adults. The leprechaun is obviously charming more than just the kids. For those of you who haven’t been charmed, look at your own “adult” cereal and see how much sugar it has. You may be surprised that is has the same or more than the kid’s cereal.
  2. The average American consumed 134 grams of added sugar daily in 2000, a 40% increase from the 1950’s. Most cereals contain between 1 and 16 grams of added sugar per serving.
  3. When researchers watched kids pour their bowl of cereal, kids were pouring 50-65% more than the serving size suggested most often.
  4. These exact same brands of cereal are sold in Europe, but they contain 40% less sugar than the cereals in the US. Our taste pallets in the US are becoming accustomed to a lot of sugar, fat, and salt in our food. The companies add these ingredients to make their product taste better than the competitor’s, but we as consumers are suffering.
  5. Two cereals had more than 50% sugar and 9 cereals had 40% sugar. That means that of all the ingredients in the cereal, a good percentage is just plain sugar. 
  6. Many cereals have very little fiber. The 4 cereals that got the “Very Good” rating from Consumer Reports were Cheerios, Kix, Life, and Honey Nut Cheerios and all had at least 2-3 grams of fiber.

SOme food from yesterday:

I am always on the run on thursdays and I grabbed this out of the fridge, this is one of the drinks I normally would not have. I have to say I liked the taste but the ingredients list just is a little much for me. I need to try to find one that isnt so “fake” I should have just grabbed one of my milk “to-go” containers! 

This was lunch at work.. I mentioned how I often pack foods and than order something little. My new fav is mixing WHIPPED COTTAGE CHEESE with AVOCADO! It is so good, just put a sprinkle of black pepper. I had that with 2 TJ’s mini wraps, a greek salad and some steamed broccoli. I heave learned to pack PROTEIN containing foods because that is often the hardest thing for me to get in during my busy days, because I dont eat chicken/meat/fish.

Q: What do you find is the easiest thing for you to pack that satisfies you and is nutritious? 

** I am off to go do a tempo run and than spend the rest of my day writing a paper and studying for Research Methods test on Tuesday. 

•  

 

Studying Like Crazy.. and A spin off Tina’s Famous Bars

Today has been nothing but serious work… well OK I LIED this morning I went to the gym and did some lifting and walking, followed by trying a new PILATES studio. I signed up to get 3-sessions with 2 other women who I run with which will include the tower, mat and the reformer so I will let you know how that goes!

Finished my ED paper today, and studied for Advanced Nutrition Test on Carbohydrates and my Community Nutrition Test (both are tomorrow.) 

I had an awesome lunch which I was very creative with… I was trying to use the leftover of the mixed rice/soybean stuff I bought at TJ’s that I blogged about in the past 

What I did was cook a Boca chicken patty (love these ) in a frying pan with some broccolli slaw, while that was cooking I put some mixed salad, avocado and the TJ’s rice mixture in the bowl than topped it with the patty/brocolli slaw and sour cream. It was delish.. especially b/c the rice mixture has a mexican flavor to it. I also had a pink lady apple. 

TOMMOROW WE HAVE A NUTRITION HARVEST PARTY AND I ALWASY VOLUNTEER TO BAKE… I CANT MAKE IT CAUSE I HAVE WORK BUT I USED TINA’S OATMEAL BAR RECIPE FOR THE BACKBONE OF MY RECIPE AND DOUBLED IT TOO.

4 CUPS OATMEAL 

1.5 CUPS FLOUR ( HALF WW/HALF REGULAR)

3 EGGS/ 1 EGG WHITE

1 CUP MIXTURE OF APPLESAUCE/PRUNE PUREE AND OLIVE OIL (PROB ABOUT 3 TBSP OLIVE OIL, 2TBSP PRUNE PUREE AND THE REST APPLESAUCE)

3 TSBP CAROB POWDER

.5 CUP BROWN SUGAR

3 TBSP AGAVE NECTAR

2 CUPS WORTH OF RAISENS, PRUNES AND DATES 

1 TSP EACH OF SALT AND CINN

TOPPED IT OFF WITH A GENEROUS SPRINKLE OF DARK CHOC CHIPS!

* They def taste healthy but delish non the less! 

** Since I have been in school for SO LONG hahah I have come up with some great study techniques. I am best studying by myself and with no distractions and sometimes I drift off if I am just tryin to go through my notes in my head… SO WHAT I DO IS I OPEN MICROSOFT WORD AND I TRY TO WRITE OUT ALL MY NOTES/QUESTIONS ETC TO MAKE SURE I UNDERSTAND IT. ITS LIKE STUDYING BUT WRITING IT OUT SO IT HELPS ME STAY FOCUSED AND IT IS FASTER… 

WHAT IS YOUR BEST WAY TO STUDY????

 

Tempeh.. Tortillas.. Tofu.. OH MY!

 

Sorry I couldnt help myself with the title! 

I am so excited with some of the new stuff I have made. 

First of all this is the first time I have bought TEMPEH and I am requesting some info and recipes on it from any of you FOODIES out there who eat it a lot. I decided to just wing the recipe and came up with this.

I like to call this creation ASIAN INSPIRED TLT (TEMPEH LETTUCE & TOMATO)

BAsically I cut the tempeh into thin slices and cooked it in a pan and at the end added a little soy sauce (low sodium) and agave nectar to each slice. When I say a little I mean like maybe half a tsp of each just to give it a little flavor. Than i placed the tempeh on 2 sliced of whole wheat bread with lettuce and tomato and put it back in the PAN to get it nice and toasted.. Once it was done I topped it with a 1/2 tbsp of Smart Balance Mayo.. THIS WAS DELISH… to get some veggies in I had a side salad. 

WRAP ATTACK

Rememeber those gummy wraps I blogged about… well I had 2 yesterday for a mid-day meal 

 

One wrap has tofu, avocado and mango salsa and the other had whipped cottage cheese, avocado and brocolli slaw

SNACK 

 

Plain yogurt with chopped prunes, 2tbsp honey roasted peanuts, TJ

This was so good and very satisfying… that little guy sneaky out from the top was a peice of a cliff kids graham z-bar!

PASTA DINNER 

I got the inspiration for this dinner from JENNA at EAT LIVE RUN awhile ago and it has been a staple for me… so easy and so good.

BAsically you cook pasta and while that is cooking in a pan I saute onions, garlic, brocolli, zuccini, a little tofu and a little boca crumbles (throw that in last) As it is cooking I usually add veggie broth to keep it moist. 

When the pasts is done i throw it in the pan with the veggie/tofu/crumble mix with a little bit of the pasta water. 

While that is mixing (5 min) mix about 1/4 c part skim RICOTTA with 2 tbsp FF milk, 1 tbsp parm cheese 1 tbsp water and some pepper. 

Pour veggie pasta mixture into a bowl and top with ricotta sauce… DELISH!

 

OCD and Anorexia Nervosa

I am almost done with one of my research papers… the one on Anorexia Nervosa and Excessive Exercise. I wanted to share with you one part of my paper… I found it particularly interesting the link to obsessive compulsive disorder with anorexia nervosa. 

ANOREXIA NERVOSA WITH EXCESSIVE EXERCISE A CLOSE LINK TO OCD

 

Obsessive-compulsive personality traits are important risk factors for anorexia nervosa. There is evidence to suggest that there is co-transmission of AN and obsessive personality traits fostering the hypothesis that a broader phenotype exists featuring perfectionism, rigidity and tendency for behavioral constraint, of which AN is one possible expression<!–[if supportFields]> NOTEREF _Ref84314790 \f \h <![endif]–>6<!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–>. Expending calories through exercise activities may be parallel to compulsive washing and cleaning rituals, but the question is whether the obsessionality is a core feature of AN or a consequence of starvation. A recent study by Davis and Kaptein examined 50 female patients with RAN who completed a inpatient treatment program. Subjects were divided into excessive exercise (N=25,) and non-excessive exercise (N=25;) excessive exercise was described as minimum of 6h per week with subjects believed their activity level was “out of control” or “excessive.” Obsessive-compulsive personality was assessed by the total of six subscales (emotional constriction, orderliness, parsimony, perseverance, rigidity, and high superego) whose items reflect “obsessional” or “anal” personality. As predicted the study showed a strong link between exercise profile of RAN and their level of obsessionality. The implication is that excessive exercise has the potential to become a behavioral addiction as a means to cope with persistent anxiety resulting in poor prognosis and heightened psychopathology in the eating disorder<!–[if supportFields]> NOTEREF _Ref84317172 \f \h <![endif]–>8<!–[if supportFields]><![endif]–>. Davis and Kaptein measured OCD symptoms and personality traits upon discharge after 16-weeks of impatient treatment and found that obsessive-compulsive symptoms diminished to a lesser extent among excessive exercisers upon re-feeding. These findings helps to establish the clinical parallels of AN and OCD regardless of nutrition status.

---

Davis, C., Kaptein. S. (2005.) Anorexia nervosa with excessive-exercise: A phenotype with close links to obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatric Research, 142, 209-217.

 

** what are your thoughts on this? This is the result of one study. I think it is interesting to note that malnutrtion does have an effect on the hypothalamus and hormones, so in some people anxiety and OCD may be a cause of anorexia while in others anxiety and OCD may cause anorexia. 

I will post some food later.. i had TEMPEH for the first time and it was delish along with some new wrap ideas and a new dessert!

 

Successful Pie.. Workout and TJ’s Products

Yesterday went great and my pie was a success. I prob. should have made 2 because it went so fast, and even poeple who usually would not eat dessert loved it!

This recipe is so simple here is what I did:

I had the ArrowheadMIlls organic pie crust.. which is so great and ready to use!

- First I melted some of whole foods dark choc chunks in the microwave. I spread a generous layer of melted dark choc over the pie crust. 

-Once is was cooled (couple of minutes) i spread a layer of mashed banana over the dark choc ( about 2 mashed bananas)

- I took some peanut butter, little less than half a jar and mixed it with fat free cool whip and another mashed banana. (NOTE: I do not usually use cool whip but for my boyfriend i knew he would like this, you can sub tofu and agace nectar here for the cool whip, just sweeten it to your desire taste with the agave.) 

-Once that was whipped up a filled the pie crust with the mixture. I topped the pie off with dark choc chunks and banana slices. 

- They key here is to freeze it over night and than take it out a couple hours before serving and keep it refrigerated! 

MONDAY MORNING 

I had a great workout today as I needed it after a little bit of indulging yesterday here is my pre workout snack (for anyone who has a hard time eating before I workout I suggest trying something like this as it is light, tasty and holds you through the workout)

 

Plain FF yogurt, chopped date, TJ

QUICK PUMP WORKOUT

WHEN YOU WANT TO GET A GOOD PUMP BUT DONT FEEL LIKE DOING A LOT OF EXERCISES I HIGHLY RECOMEND DOING THIS:

Say your doing chest, take a barbell ( I used 40 lbs) and lay on a flat bench and perform 10 reps of regualar bench press, followed by 5 reps of half sets-top to middle ( with arms extended lower half way and push back up) after those 5 than you do 5 reps of halfs sets from the bottom up (lower barbell to the best and push up half way. Finish off with 5 reps of full bench press. In total you are doing 25 reps.. this is killer but allows you to finsih the last 5 strong! You can do this for any muscle you focus on. 

My chest was done by the end of my work out.. I did 2 other exercises for chest (nothing crazy) and i wanted to do push ups but my chest was sore already from the above workout!

Trader Joes

Just wanted to highlight 2 products I just bought from there that I love 

The whole wheat mini wraps are low carb but that is not why I buy them… they have the best consistency (gummy like) and they are a perfect size for a snack with hummus or peanut butter. I really love these! 

The peanuts are honey roasted and great idea for a night time snack mixed with cottage cheese or yogurt and some carob chips… very satisfying!

 

Apple Peanut Butter Granola Sticks

I first had this recipe at last years nutrition harvest party… I remade them for my boyfriends birthday last year… and today is my boyfriends birthday… but I made something else I will share with you guys later (Peanut butter banana mousse pie)

Apple Peanut Butter Granola Sticks

I dont have the measurements but what you do is depending on the amount of people you need to get enough apples ( i use green apples) the apples will be sliced in wedges.

- Plain rolled oats (again I dont have measuremtns)

-Peanut butter ( has to be more solid- whole foods has one of this consistency)

- Smart balance butter

-Plain/Vanilla Yogurt

-Brown Sugar

-Agave Nectar 

-Cinn

Basically you take the oats (let say about 1 cup) and mix it in a bowl with yogurt (1/2c), brown sugar (1/4 c),, agave(2 tbsp) and smart balance (2+tsbp)

Once everything is mixed you put it in a pan on the stove and cook it untill it is crunchy and all the flavors have come together well (sprinkle with cinn)

As it is cooking slice the apples into thin wedges (into 8th’s) squeez lemon juice over them to keep them from browning.

Spread a generous layer on each side of the slice and once oat mixture is cooled press it on to each apple slice.

Insert sicks into the bottom of each apple slice and refrigerate for a couple hours!

 

Breakfast and Dinner (RECIPE)

Yesterday was a crazy day.. spent doing the work! I had to do a workout on the treadmill do to the weather and my body def was feeling it after. I use to always do workouts on the treadmille, but now that I go outside I realize how the treadmill worksouts are not the best thing for me. My hip flexors are so sore today and my back last night was killing me! 

Breakfast

 

Plain Chobani with apple, mango, frozen cheeries, mixture of cereal nut butter and CAROB POWDER

The carob powder gives this a nice flavor and taste great with the cherries and almond butter!

I did not take pics of my meal throughout the day because I was at Barnes and Nobles studying all day.

Dinner- MAde a new Recipe and it was great

Lemon Butter Whole Wheat Pasta

 

Some ingredients I used

-Whole wheat pasta (1.5-2oz) cook pasta while you prepare other parts of the meal 

-Brocolli ( as much as you want) steam broccoli in microwave with a little bit of water to keep it moist. 

- In a pan sautee some garlic untill slightly brown than add the steamed brocolli ( I let this cook for a little to get the flavors together, as it is cooking i usually add some veggie broth to keep it moist.)

-In a microwave save dish add 1tbsp smart balance butter and heat untill melted. 

-Once melted add 4 tbsp of veggie broth and juice and some of the peel of a lemon ( it depends on your taste preference how much you want to add) 

-To the broccolli add boca crumbles or other meat substitute. At the same time drain the pasta and toss it into the pan with the veggies and crmbles (just to mix eveything) 

-Place the pasta and veggies in a bowl and pour the lemon sauce over the dish. 

-Garnish with 1tbsp of parmesian cheese. 

* Note there was alot of liquid in the bottomof the dish so you can always pour it onto the vegges and pasta when its in the pan and let it cook down a little!

ENjoy and happy Saturday

 

Partially Hydrogenated Oils

OK by now most of us have seen the commercials for the HFCS… I have to laugh at the because it is so true how we “hear” something is bad for us and we refuse to eat it and buy stuff with it in it… but rarely do we really understand why… so the commericals are partly true that consumers need more education on WHY these things are harmful. 

I say all that because a lot of people KNOW what Partially Hydrogenated OIls are but they really dont know WHY they are bad for you. Here are 2 kinds of fatty acids– mono/poly and satrurated. Saturated has no double bonds and therefore each carbon is “full” with hydrogens. Monounsat has 1 double bond and polyunsat has 2 or more double bonds. Double bonds can exist in CIS or TRANs orientation 

This is the naturally ocuring cis bond where the carbon chain is all on one side. 

Partial Hydrogenation was discovered on accident… manufacturers were trying to make a substitution for lard. Vegetable oils are much cheeper than animal fats and so they came up with partial hydrogenation where you don’t turn the fat to fully saturated so there are still some double bonds, the problem is some of the double bonds turn from cis orientation to trans orientation 

 Here you can see oleic acid (which is in olive oil and is monounsaturated) once Partially hydrogenated it tranforms so some of the fatty acids become trans orientation. 

The result of partial hydrogenation is they have a higher degree of hardness (more stable) think shelf products lasting longer, in frying oils they have enhanced stability, and they are not oxidized as easily as polyunsaturated fatty acids. 

So whats the deal with them being do bad? Glad you asked

Recent research has pointed to partially hydrogenated oils increasing LDL and total cholesterol as well as decreasing HDL. The mechanism behind this is that these partially hydrogenated oils stay in our body (blood stream) because we can not break them down, they can not get through the lipid bylayers (which compose the outside of most of the cells) so they change the way the cell operates.. so not only do they accumualte in the blood but they then will not allow the cell to function the way it should which results in other problems (like cholesterol not being able to get into the cell to be metabolized, and therefore accumlating in the blood.) So the decrease permeability of the cell results in build up of plaque and eventually heart disease. 

DOES THIS MAKE SENSE???

 

Question For You

 

 

 

 

 

Today was ANOTHER long day.. but due to the Jewish Holiday I will not have school again untill next thursday. Thank the Lord because I have a Advanced Nutrition and  Community Nutrition Test next week as well as working on some of my papers! 

 

HERE ARE SOME RANDOM FOOD EATS 

This was a snack… and I highly recomend getting the HONEY ROASTED PEANUT BUTTER from whole foods… it is the best thing ever!

 

 

BEFORE ASSEMBLY

 

 

 

AFTER ASSEMBLY

 

This was last nights dinner I made a similar stir fry but used pressed tofu and put it in a wrap with some of the TJ’s rice/bean mixture from the other night and some sour cream on the side I had this side salad with some agave/dijon/olive oil mixture for a dressing (I put the left over stir fry on top of the salad_ I love the contrast i the cold lettuce with warm toppings!

Tide me Over 

These are protein powder packets I got from HSN (home shopping network) I also have the big container of vanilla which is SOOO good and I use it to top oatmeal and yogurt. My ONLY complaint with this is it has some sucrolose (splenda) in it, but very little and I use it sparingly. It has 70calories, taste great and really holds you over. It is made my Dr. Andrew Liesman you can read more about him on HSN. VEry knowledgeable doctor!

LUNCH AT WORK 

I have said before my boss buys us lunch at work but I usually bring some of my own stuff and order some stuff. Today I ordered a small greek salad (no onions/dressing on the side) I got egg whites added on. I also had a side of my sweet pot/lentil dish from the other night and not picture I got a side of steamed broccoli. Perfect meal!

 

 

**HERE IS A QUESTION FOR YOU GUYS… I AM CURIOUS HOW MANY PEOPLE REALLY KNOW WHAT A TRANS FAT IS? AND WHY IT IS HARMFUL? I THINK A LOT OF TIMES WE HEAR BAD STUFF RELATED TO NUTRITION BUT WE REALLY DONT UNDERSTAND IT (LIKE THE HFCS) I WILL DO A POST ON THIS AFTER BUT I AM CURIOUS TO SEE WHAT YOU GUYS THINK… WITHOUT LOOKIN IT UP!!!