Food Discussions, Topic 1

How you STOP eating? ( Stop grazing, Stop that Nibbling)

This question was posted on a couple blogs the past few days * Carrots & Cake and on Kath Eats Real Food )… So my response on Kath’s was:

I think this is a great topic for discussion and so helpful to hear other readers comments on! So kudos to Kath for asking suggestions on How to Stop Nibbling? and Tina for How do you Stop eating? …suggestions that can help “all of us”…

My suggestion aside from what others already posted, DRINK WATER!

Drink a glass of water before eating a meal to prep your digestion system. I find it helps me pick up on my internal cue of “fullness”. You can always eat at the next meal!

Then whenever you go to “nibble” …. ask yourself my favorite question

“What am I really hungry for ?”

such a powerful question! in essence: do you NEED whatever it is you nibble on, Why do you WANT it ?

If you need it, eat it! If you REALLY want it, drink a glass of water. Then, have your nibble if you still want it. The refreshing water will probably help more than immediately satisfaction of the Nibble ( which will then have an immediate “let down” so then you want more)

Other questions you could ask yourself:
Did you not enough at your last meal?
You might need to look at your meals vs. snack and up both, or decrease meal and increase nibble size to a “snack”…

Are you nervous about something/avoiding something ?

* This is my problem, sometimes I find myself wanting to reach for nibbles of food to make me “feel” better about whatever it is I am nervous/avoiding/procrastinating…**

Reaching again for another bite is NOT going to help your situation, it will only delay the inevitable and reinforce a behavior that you are not happy with… perpetuation of the cycle!

So these are my thoughts, and I would love more from others other there. I would like to start a “Food Discussions” Section so that I can have a reference as well as others for stuff like this!

Breakfast Pumpkin Pie for One

I watched christmas movies last night and keep seeing Holiday stuff all the time ( the only marketing that every seems to influence me is holiday stuff!) So I had this idea last night of making an individual pumpkin pie for breakfast! But, of course, make it “B_Healthy” style. Isn’t it cute!? I thought it tasted absolutely fantastic and worth the amount of work/dishes I had to do (considering I usually don’t take much time at all)!

Here is what I did:

“Crust”:

What to do:

• 1/2 Cup total of Irish oats ( I mixed flaxseed cereal with it too)
• Put into an oven AND microwave safe dish (I used this corningware dish) with
• 1/2 cup water ( so that the oats are soaked but not floating in water)
• Microwaved for 2 minutes
• Spread out oat crust to the sides of the dish so that its a flat crust like shape
• Put oven-safe dish into (toaster) oven at 375 for about 5 minutes

“Filling”

What to do:

• Mix following ngredients into a separate bowl
• 1/4 c organic pumpkin puree
• 1/3 cup egg beaters- or I’ve used carton egg whites
• pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon Brown sugar
• Microwave for 2 minutes till slightly firm

Put-It All-Together:

• Take out crust dish w/ oven mitt!
• Spoon this slightly firm mix into the crust dish
• Put back into oven for another 8 minutes + at 375

Topped with a spoonful of “cream” aka nonfat greek yogurt, sprinkled with cinnamon

YUMMM!
on the side I had blueberries, cranberries, mango- all frozen and heated in the microwave for a few minutes

Calorie Total if you are interested:
220 for the pie, 10-20 for the yogurt glob, about 50 for the fruit..total about 290

Fiber: 8g

Protein: 16g

Fat: 3g (the healthy unsaturated kind from oats)

What a difference from nutrition of pumpkin pie-The only taste difference was really overall sweetness! This was sweet but it wasn’t “Dessert” sweet so it was a great breakfast because the soluble/insoluble fiber from oats and flaxseeds, the protein from the egg, the big dose of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals from the veggie and fruit servings ( pumpkin, blueberries, mango, cranberries) makes this an long-lasting healthy breakfast!

Body:
I would like to get in a run before class today but first I would much rather…

Mind:
..Finish my powerpoint for next wednesday’s class- so that I can practice it over the weekend with my family

Soul:
Got 9.5 hours of sleep! I know I needed it, so I’m not too concerned with getting in the run or not today because I am still stuffy! ICK!! AND.. I had more trouble with my asthma than usual today. So the problem is mentally, I am like “okay lets go lets go, long easy run, project, pack etc etc” but then my body is like “eh!” (annoyingly)… not “ugggh I can’t move” (awful)
Does that make sense? Not sure what to do yet…

Dinner for One

Veggie Plate!

Some extra slices of mozarella on
Mixed frozen veggies with fresh brussel sprouts – salt and peppered
Vegetarian Crumbles.. Morningstar Meal Starters

And..on the way home from Minority Health class, I kept seeing pizza delivery cars. I wanted pizza but I REALLY didnt want to spend the money on ordering one (especially since Jeff is gone tonight and tomorrow on a business trip and the next day we leave for my parents)… Sooo.. I made three Mini “pizzas”…kashi crackers with a thin slice of mozzarella, a slice of turkey pepperoni on each!

I think it was mostly the pepperoni and mozzarella! Hit the spot perfectly for 80% of the cost and calories! ( note nothing other than good pizza can TRULY hit the spot but this was a great solution b/c I didn’t really WANT to purchase a pizza)