As the New Year approaches...

What's on your horizon?

I can't believe that we are just 24 hours from the close of 2012. What a year this has been. I have had incredible good fortune and opportunity come my way and learned the meaning of the term 'burnt out'. My life has not felt in balance much of this year. I have often joked that the only thing keeping me going was all the kale I eat (the beans and blueberries deserve honourable mention too!). My fitness level has, ahem, dropped off and my immune system seems to have escaped to sunnier climes... Which leads me to where I am now: preparing to venture into a totally new phase in my career and personal life. And today, I realized that many of you are probably meeting the day with the same introspective and forward-looking thoughts, especially where your health is concerned.

The diet starts January 1st, doesn't it? I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that I also enjoy setting healthy eating goals in the New Year but I no longer view it in the same absolute terms that many of us do in North America. I am not "going on a cleanse" or attempting to lose weight. I won't vow to give my diet a radical makeover that is out totally of sync with how I really live. The payoff? Come February 1st, I won't be cringing about my total inability to "stick with my resolutions".

As you are writing your own New Year's resolutions, take a moment to reflect on the intention behind those goals and how you can ensure that they are a source of joy and positivity and not just another rigid plan of attack on all you feel might be "lacking" in your life. I have been following Danielle Laporte for some time now and her last post on setting goals really resonated with me and I think you might enjoy it too. A great read pre-resolution.

Don't get me wrong - I love the fresh start that a New Year brings. I am simply trying to bring a more positive spin to my resolve. Here are the resolutions I plan to keep in 2013 (nothing like an audience to keep you accountable!):

1. Drink more green juice. (Greens are the nutritional mother load and my toddler refuses to eat them in the quantities I prefer. At least he will eat them!)
2. Complete my first half marathon (BMO Vancouver, May 5th). If I enjoy it, complete my second (SeaWheeze, August 10th).
3. Work 40 hours a week. That will be taking it easy.
4. Write my first nutrition book. Hmm...that's the biggie, I think.

If you are looking to improve your nutrition, I am a huge fan of incremental change. Why not choose 3 distinct and measurable goals and tackle them one at a time, adding a new goal with each passing month?Great, powerful food changes include:

1. Have a totally meat and dairy-less Monday.
2. Eat a daily green veggie.
3. Eat breakfast daily.
4. Pack your lunch to work.
5. Try one new vegetable a week.
6. Have one meal a day that doesn't include processed flour such as bread, pasta or muffins.
7. Snack on fruits and vegetables instead of 'snack foods'.

If the time has come for you to get a bit more serious about how you care for your health and know that weight loss is an important piece in that, check out this post on the psychology of eating and why we normally fail at that weight loss resolution so you can meet the challenge with clear vision and self-care. 

I wish you much success, health and happiness for the New Year. 
My new website, www.desireerd.com, will be launching soon and I can't wait to share all of my new adventures with you!

Feast or Famine? Time to get off the diet roller coaster.

This week, someone shared this Bloomberg Business Week article revealing interesting data from a few US chains showing increased salad sales on Mondays. 


Monday - day of perpetual hope and new beginnings! 


Diets always start on Mondays, usually to crash and burn with Friday night drinks after work. In fact, one business owner in the article cites Friday lunch as a boom time for burgers. Or, maybe Monday is the day of repentance, as the article suggests. Many of us have been there: weekends filled with nachos, beers and double-scoop ice cream to be followed by All Bran and skinny lattes come Monday morning. In fact, as dietitians, we always ensure that clients record food habits on both weekends and weekdays as dietary habits are so different during those times. Yet another option is if a new dietary regime is already in the works, we plan to start it on Monday. We can then "take advantage" of the weekend to get all of our favourites "out of our system". 


You know when would be a good time to start a diet? Right now. And let's not call it a diet, so  much as a "new way of eating". The best part? No radical overhauls to how you eat. You don't have to say goodbye to some of your favourite treats. You simply need to figure out how to make them work for you and your bottom line.


If you are planning on making a big change, think about what your goals are and how realistic your plan is for long term success. Dieting is a bore so if you have weight to lose, consider how well your plan can be followed for life. If you can't see yourself on this regime for the rest of your life (or if it doesn't teach you how to adapt the plan for maintenance) you may find yourself selecting another Monday for another new diet in 6 months time. 


If like the fresh start Mondays provide, use that power for permanent change by trying my UnDiet project, with weekly tips to slowly makeover your diet for good. Small changes have a powerful effect over time.

Wheat Belly? Wheat BERRY!

Diet books come and go - the shelves are filled with titles that generally go unnoticed. Every once in a while there comes a book that, as a dietitian who works with the public, you just know you have to read. Wheat Belly, by William Davis MD, is one of them. Actually, it is probably THE book to read in 2012 if you are interested in this sort of thing. 


The premise of the book (spoiler alert!) is that wheat (and gluten - for which he uses the term "wheat" incorrectly and interchangeably) is the reason we are sick, fat and inflamed. To his credit, Dr Davis (and/or his editor at Rodale) knows how to spin a yarn. He has a very convincing and direct style - the only acceptable conclusion to the information he presents is that wheat makes us ill. In fact, Dr Davis' writing would be very much at home on the gossip sites - such is his sensational story-telling style. His arguments might be very convincing, until you look a little closer. 


Franken-wheat?
Core to his argument is that modern wheat has been cross-bred to the point that it barely resembles the wheat we ate even 50 years ago. I won't argue that our 42 chromosome modern wheat is anything like the 14 chromosome einkorn wheat and that, according to a baker friend of mine, it is "much stronger" than wheat commonly used in Europe. It is also true that Celiac Disease is increasing in numbers; it is estimated that 1 in 133 of us have Celiac Disease and we might not even know it. And non-Celiac gluten sensitivity is also on the rise. Dr Alessio Fasano, one of the heavyweights of Celiac research, estimates that 6% of us have gluten sensitivity. So for those of us who fall into those categories, wheat and gluten do make us sick. But those numbers do not equal 100%. Dr Davis is a cardiologist, not a Celiac specialist.


1+1=3?
My biggest concern with the book are the Swiss cheese-like holes in his logic and the way he cherry picks his evidence to support his arguments. Dr Davis makes the case that the molecular structure of wheat causes it to raise your blood sugar more than any other food. Then he tells you that you must also avoid most gluten free alternatives because they also raise your blood sugar. If it truly was the wheat/gluten (which one is it?) raising your blood sugar, then shouldn't gluten free options not have the same effect? In reality, it is all of our processed wheat products that wreak havoc with our blood sugar - any processed grain food, be it rice, oat or quinoa will do the same. Dr Davis knows that - his diet plan is pretty low on grains of any sort. Here are just a couple more of his transgressions:


1. Dr Davis claims that gluten acts like an opium-like drug in our system, making it addictive. To back up his argument, he cites a study from 1979 which used a concentrated gluten sample that had 10,000 times more opiate-like activity than the original 100g sample of gluten it was derived from. If you drank a glass of wine that had 10,000 times the alcohol...you wouldn't be so alive. The poison is in the dose.


2. Dr Davis also claims that newly diagnosed Celiacs lose weight when they eliminate gluten. The study he incorrectly cites to back his claim actually found that 82% of already overweight patients gained even more weight on a gluten free diet. People with Celiac Disease generally have malabsorption issues; as their gut heals and they are better able to absorb nutrients, weight gain isn't uncommon. In addition, many gluten free foods have lower fibre than their gluten-containing counterparts - making them easy to overeat and contributing to weight gain.


Yes, but....
I agree with Dr Davis on this: wheat has a large part to play in our current diabesity epidemic. But it isn't the wheat itself - our biggest sin is what we have done to the incredibly nutritious wheat berry. And the fact that we eat it 4-6 times a day in place of healthier foods like fruits, vegetables and beans. I have never met anyone who had blood sugar issues or uncontrolled appetite or weight gain from eating a wheat berry salad. I will bet $20 that many of you have never actually seen a wheat berry! Take a peek here. Cup for cup, they are higher in fibre than quinoa and have almost as much protein. And we call quinoa a superfood. Using more sound logic, by that rationale, wheat berries should be superfood too.


I have met a few people who have lost significant amounts of weight on Dr Davis' plan. And the internet is packed with glowing testimonials. That his plan works is not part of the debate. If you, like most North Americans, gave up all the processed wheat products you currently eat there wouldn't be much left but a bit of meat and a few veg. You would be, in fact, on a low carb plan much like Atkins or South Beach. Those plans help you lose weight because they replace high calorie, unsatisfying food with very satisfying options that result in a lower calorie intake. 


Dr Davis knows this. He also would know, after years of counselling, that people will have less trouble following a diet plan if the rules are clear and concrete. If wheat and gluten are poison, it is easier to rationalize avoidance of a whole food group. It takes willpower out of the equation somewhat because the overarching diet philosophy is so black and white. If you simply hear that you should "try and avoid processed grain foods" which is the kind of sane nutrition advice a dietitian would give - it requires you to make constant judgements about the definition of processed, how much is too much, etc. Much easier to rationalize falling off the wagon. 


Do the ends justify the means?
What bothers me most about this book is that it further confuses an already confused public, nutritionally speaking. Yes, you can lose weight by avoiding processed grain foods like cereals, granola bars and cookies. No, wheat is NOT the same as gluten. Wheat contains gluten but so do other grains such as rye, barley, spelt and commercial oats. Eating a wheat berry will not cause the health effects outlined in Wheat Belly (unless you are gluten sensitive or intolerant, in which any crumb of gluten will trigger a reaction). If you think gluten-containing foods are causing illness, you should go and get the tTg blood test to screen for Celiac Disease so you can get the medical care you need and nutrition support to help you fully adopt a gluten free diet for life. Because a lot of foods that have nothing to do with bread - BBQ sauce, ice creams and trail mixes - contain gluten.


Yes, wheat contributes to weight gain but only because we abuse it, not because it is some franken-plant. Sure, having a diet rich in processed (usually wheat) foods can contribute to acne but only because unstable blood sugars lead to acne-promoting inflammation and usually leave a person without much in the way of nutrition to support healthy skin. Switch all your processed wheat to wheat berries and let's see what happens.


The bottom line
If you take one thing away from Wheat Belly (and this review!), I hope it is this - we are not meant to eat wheat 6 times a day and we should not eat such poor quality, processed wheat foods all the time. Just please don't allow his mis-information to cloud your mind. You are savvy, intuitive eaters - real food brings health, processed food diminishes it. Now go enjoy an apple. You know, to keep Dr Davis away. 


A HUGE thank you to Melissa Baker, Marianne Bloudoff, Kim Lucas - three very savvy future dietitians - who took the time to dig deep into the science behind Wheat Belly. Marianne has her own blog, French Fries to Flaxseeds. Follow her on Twitter here. Melissa, who has been one of my amazing volunteers this year, also has a Twitter page here. 

Desiree on Global Morning News

I was on Global Morning News with Sophie Lui and Steve Darling today so I thought I would post the video if you missed it. I was promoting our new weight loss book for Choices Markets called Find YOUR Healthy Weight and I prepared my Pear, Feta and Beet salad from the book (delish!). Fast forward on the video to just after 12 minutes to see my segment. 

If you are new to EDBH and found me on Global, welcome! Enjoy the site...

Eat...a little love for the super foods

Hi Everyone!


My list of 10 (real food!) super foods has been getting a bit of love this week...here are the links!


I was on CTV Morning Live, with Norma Reid, this morning talking about super foods for weight loss. You can check out the video and my super foods list, here:

Ten superfoods for weight loss | CTV British Columbia

Erin Ireland, master of life-changing banana bread and Vancouver food writer extraordinaire, shared my list here. Do check out her blog...it's to die for :)


10 Super Foods for a Super You in 2012

Eat...to find YOUR Healthy Weight

In my day job, I get to do a lot of cool stuff and this month is no exception. 


I am proud to announce (shameless plug!) that I wrote a little weight loss plan for Choices Markets, our first ever, called Find YOUR Healthy Weight. 


Before you go doubting my intentions...this is no fad diet. Find YOUR Healthy Weight is all about getting off the diet roller coaster (a familiar theme around here, n'est pas?) and eating whole food, plant-based diet to help you normalize your weight for life. Included in the book is a workout plan designed for us by Innovative Fitness, a 7 day meal plan, grocery shopping lists and 25 recipes to help get you started. The book is just $11.95 at your local Choices Markets. 


We are also hosting an unprecedented amount of programming at the stores to support you on your path to health: nutrition tours, dietitian consultations, a weight loss club and seminars. 


You can learn more in our newsletters and at the Find YOUR Healthy Weight home page.


If you want to hear me speak about finding YOUR healthy weight, you can do so at the following times and locations:


Thursday, January 5 7PM Choices Markets Kelowna 
Monday, January 9 7PM Choices Markets South Surrey 
Thursday, January 12 7PM Canadian Memorial Centre for Peace West 16th Ave @ Burrard
Tuesday, January 17 7PM Choices Markets at the Crest (Burnaby)


All seminars are $5 at the door.


Good luck to you as you make 2012 your healthiest year yet!
Desiree

UnDiet...Week 52

Merry Christmas UnDieters!


This week, you have only one task: eat, drink and be happy. Get close to your loved ones; whatever food you choose to prepare as you celebrate, use the best quality ingredients possible and prepare foods with love. That way, you are guaranteed to nourish your soul (even if all not all the foods you eat this week nourish your body!)


Thank you so much for following along this year. At certain points, you might have strayed...at certain points, I have strayed! When beginning this project, I never realized the dedication it would take to keep going all year long - what a good reminder that any commitment you make to yourself requires passion, perseverance and willpower to keep it going. The lovely thing about an UnDiet is that there is no true beginning or end point: should you feel the need to reinvest in your health in 2012, simply start back at week one! 


Health is a journey; no one (not even a dietitian) eats "perfectly" all the time or exercises religiously, gets enough sleep or manages stress all the time. The key is tipping the scale in your favour. Always strive to be healthier today, in any way that you can. That is key to true health. 


I hope you enjoy the remaining days of 2011. Be sure to keep tuning into EDBH in the New Year for plenty more delicious adventures.


All the best of the season,
Desiree


PS - should you have any thoughts on what you would like to see on EDBH in 2012, let me know!

UnDiet...Week 51

Hello UnDieters!


I hope you are all snug and toasty with your loved ones this morning, enjoying a warm cup of tea or coffee and saying to yourself, "TGIF!" Take a moment this morning to relax and get ready to UnDiet, holiday style.


For your festive mission this coming week, I would like you to eat one holiday superfood each day. Because, what are the holidays without a celebration of food? I have chosen 5 foods that are readily available, nutritious and absolutely delicious for you to enjoy. When you eat your daily superfood, think of all the nourishment that good food (and good spirits!) can offer. Appreciate. Savour. Nourish. Enjoy.


1. Citrus - a delightful seasonal (if not local) treat, enjoy satsumas, moros, clementines, Meyer lemons, ruby grapefruit and kumquats. Squeeze yourself a bit of upliftingly scented vitamin C. The scent of grapefruit might even help to curb appetite. Any help around the holidays is appreciated :)


2. Cranberries - a potent bacteria fighter the colour of holiday lights. Make a lightly sweetened compote with apples for dessert or a snack; drink unsweetened, not-from-concentrate juice with sparkling water or dice raw cranberries into salads, pilafs and casseroles for a tart hit of nutrition.


3. Nuts - enjoy a 1/4 cup of your favourite raw nuts. Go holiday style and crack them right from the shell or take it easy and buy shelled nuts to eat on oatmeal, with dried fruit or on their own. Healthy fats will moisturize from the inside out and provide plenty of micronutrients to keep you resilient during all the holiday festivities.


4. Turkey - not just for the big feast, enjoy easy-to-prepare turkey roast as a nutritious and delicious main, slice for sandwiches, wraps and scrambles before you are totally sick of leftovers.


5. Yams and sweet potatoes - without all the sugar and marshmallow (say it ain't so!), these super spuds are super nutritious. Use them in place of other grains or starches: baked, roasted, boiled or mashed, these colourful tubers are a rich source of vitamin A.


Enjoy the holidays,
Desiree

UnDiet...Week 48

Santa is watching, UnDieters...drop that cookie!

Hello UnDieters! 


Just a few weeks to go in 2011...hope you are starting to enjoy the glitter of the holiday season without submitting to the all too pervasive stress of it all.


As the days get darker and we get more sedentary, I would like you to explore your nighttime noshing. Usually when we eat after dinner, it is for one of two reasons: we didn't eat nearly enough during the day or we are simply in the habit of snacking in front of the television. After a long day, we rush get dinner on, kids fed, bathed and tucked in and then we crash in front of the television to decompress. Potato chips in hand. And before you know it, you are passed out in front of The Office and the potato chips are gone. 


It is exactly this kind of behaviour that can result in massive weight gain over time. At night, we are less likely to need those extra calories we are ingesting and far less likely to burn them off if we eat them. This week, let's try and break from routine. If you want to eat after dinner, eat only vegetables. You still get to engage in what is probably a deeply engrained habit but you will be eating healthy, low calorie food that contributes to making you a healthier human. We can capitalize on our propensity to overeat and work towards getting our 10 daily servings of vegetables!


To make this task easier, as you grocery shop this weekend, buy extra vegetables and then wash and chop them right away. Place the chopped veggies in an airtight container in the fridge so that if you have a snack attack, you have emergency snacks at the ready.


Ever tried to overeat broccoli? Trust me, you will thank me later.


To your health,
Desiree

UnDiet...Week 47

Hello UnDieters!


Week 47....New Year's Day is just around the corner. Hopefully, with a year of UnDieting under your belt the one thing you won't be worried about come January 1st is how you are eating. This week I want to get you eating some more food to save your nutritional soul...greens.


"Kale!" is a routinely heard battle cry at the office. We shout "kale!" when things really rock. Don't laugh. Yes, I am a food geek. That is besides the point (or it is the point entirely.) Why should kale represent the height of my exuberance? Because kale and other greens are serious foodie medicine. So nutritious is it almost ridiculous to start naming names...all you really need to know is that you should eat greens every day. Even Canada's Food Guide, which is not always heralded as the most progressive of texts, recommends you get some daily greens. Who am I to argue?


Does a daily green food seem like an impossible task? Perhaps it is because you simply need more ideas on how to use them. First, let me start by counting the greens...


Black kale, purple kale, curly kale, red chard, rainbow chard, collard greens, mizuna, broccoli, bok choy, gai lan, beet greens, spinach, baby kale, arugula, broccolini, rapini, cilantro, parsley, basil, dandelion greens...you get the picture!


Next, here are 10 ideas on how you can use all of those delicious greens in your daily diet:


Steam collard leaves and use instead of tortillas.


Stew chard with onions and garlic as the base for a hearty winter soup.


Add de-stemmed black kale to a blueberry smoothie.


Saute your favourite green with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and chili flakes for a simply delicious side.


Make a salad with mizuna, baby spinach, cilantro and add Mexican flavours like chipotle simmered black beans, corn and queso fresco.


Stir fry gai lan with lots of garlic and add sriracha marinated tofu. Serve over rice noodles.


Layer steamed, sliced beet greens in a vegetarian lasagna.


Simmer broccolini with white beans, garlic and finish with lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice.


Make kale chips with your favourite kale by tossing pieces with olive oil, salt and pepper and baking at 325 for 15-20 minutes...watch carefully!


Wrap dandelion greens with feta, pickled beets, hummus and grated carrot in a sprouted grain wrap.


See? It's easy being green...

UnDiet...Week 45

Hello UnDieters!


2011 is slowly drawing to a close and I want to ensure that all of you who have stuck with me through my ups and downs creating this Un-Diet plan finish off the year on solid footing. We have introduced so many different types of foods; skimmed the fat where it isn't necessary and added quality fats (by the measured spoonful, of course!) where they are. We have gotten up to our elbows in roughage and celebrated the harvest. So let's finish strong, with a focus on good food fundamentals. 


Last week, we revisited the apple (or pear) a day challenge and I do hope you can keep going with it throughout the balance of the year. For this week, I want to introduce a habit that is also worthy of maintaining for the last 7 weeks of the year at the very least. Could it really be only 7? 


Each time you sit down to eat, I am asking that you put your fork or spoon or chopsticks down in between bites. In our fastest-just-gets-there-fastest world, this seems almost ridiculous now. But what are we really rushing to accomplish? By physically getting in the way of hoovering your meal, you can stretch out the eating process for just a little longer. This is a good idea for your stress levels, your waist line and your overall health.


When the rest of our day is fast paced and stress filled, why not consider meal time as a break from the madness? If you are already making the commitment to nourish your body with food, why not go the extra step to truly nourish your body with a moment's respite from chaos? Doing so will actually help you maintain a healthy weight as well; eating slowly gives our body time to realize that it is full and satisfied before we over eat. A slower pace also helps promotes proper digestion and absorption of nutrients so that we derive all of the benefits of the food we eat and don't end up with an angry gas filled gut later on. We need a relaxed environment and state of mind for our body to do its best work.


So for the rest of the year, simply take a moment's pause. It's good for you. And if you want to be really bold, invite a friend to break bread with you. Use those pauses to reconnect. 


Cheers,
Desiree

UnDiet...Week 41

Hello UnDieters! 

Don't those look good? 

Are any of you still eating an apple a day? If you can remember back, oh-so-long ago, that was our very first challenge in this year of healthy eating. Sometimes the simplest missions are the best. 


You would easily be forgiven if you had abandoned your resolve to eat a daily apple through the summer, with all of that blushing summer produce. However, now that the berries, peaches and plums have been either preserved or composted, it is time to get reacquainted with the fruits of fall labour. So as we get back in touch with our original goal, let's up the ante just a little bit. You are all now very well established UnDieters and it shouldn't faze you at all! 


For this week, let's eat one apple AND one pear a day...and keep it up through New Year's Day. These beautiful fruits are the very best that BC has to offer right now. Crisp, sweet and packed with fibre, eating an apple and a pear everyday will help boost your intake of fruit and veg in a season when it can be all too simple to forget produce. Red skins will provide anthocyanins for a healthy heart; apples feature quercetin to support respiratory health and copper in pears helps build SOD, a super antioxidant in the body. Just what this busy season calls for, I think...


To your health!
Desiree

UnDiet...Week 39

Kiwis growing in the warm Vancouver sun...

Hello UnDieters!


I hope you enjoyed this gorgeous autumn weekend. It really couldn't have been more beautiful. I spent these sunny days taking full advantage of the season: we wandered through a corn maze, visited the UBC apple festival (and saw these kiwis growing at the botanical garden!) and picked up our CSA share of local wheat from Urban Grains. And I bought an apple tree. Which I intend to grow on my patio. Wish me luck folks - I hope to have some 0 mile apples next fall!


As the days turn colder, we start looking for heartier food and sometimes it is easy to forget a bit about fruits and vegetables in favour of grains and proteins. So this week, we are going to measure up! You all know that I am not a big fan of counting calories but a few simple metrics can help us all eat a bit healthier. So this week, your number is 50. Each time to sit down to a meal or snack, ensure that 50 percent of the food you are eating is a fruit, a vegetable or both! 


Basing all of your meals on produce is an easy way to keep calories down without skimping on the actual volume of food you are eating (and therefore not feeling satisfied). You all already know how energizing fruits and veggies are so I won't spend volumes expounding upon the virtues of fresh produce. Even if won't touch another salad until April, be sure to get those veggies in. Cool weather fruits and vegetables lend themselves beautifully to cooking: think stewed greens with cannellini beans; roast squash or red peppers over pasta; baked apple crumbles and poached pears. 


Enjoy the harvest,
Desiree

UnDiet...Week 37

Hello UnDieters!

This turkey is breathing a sigh of relief that this is a Tofurkey house!

For all of my Canadian friends, this weekend marks Thanksgiving, one of my favourite feast days. I love thanksgiving because there is no other celebration, recognized across different faiths and cultures, that is solely focused on gratitude. We give thanks for the love we receive from others, the blessings and abundance we have in our life and the beautiful food that we feast with. 


In fact, this is a great intention to set for the whole week. So, UnDieters, in keeping with our theme of evaluating how and why we eat, this is a week to give thanks. Each time that you are about to put food to lip, take a 30 second pause to reflect on how that particular food got to your lips and give thanks. Nothing formal, nothing out loud...just a brief pause to connect yourself with your food.


Whether it was the turkey who provided its life as nourishment, the warm sun that helped the pear to ripen or your roommate who took the time to prepare a simple dinner because you are both far from family - give thanks for the conditions that aligned to help nourish your body at this moment.


What am I thankful for this Thanksgiving? The miracle that is my son, the amazing people I am proud to call my friends, colleagues and family and that through my work I get to help people live healthier and happier lives. And some good food. 


Thanks to you for continuing to read!
Desiree

UnDiet...36

Hello UnDieters!

Now that the days are darker and a chill is creeping into the air, I always feel an intense desire to stay closer to home. I find that all of that outward energy and exuberance that spring and summer bring with them softens as thoughts turn inward for a bit of mental hibernation. Fall and winter months find us looking for warmth, comfort and maybe some time to reflect. So for this week, I thought it would be a great time to reflect on our motives for picking up our forks. 

This week, before you put a bite of something in your mouth, I want you to ask yourself, "Am I really hungry?"

Be honest with yourself. If the answer is no, consider how would best meet your needs right now. Do you need a nap? A cry? A chat with a friend? A bath? A hug? Something more interesting to do than sitting on the couch? If you can think of something that might be more constructive to your mental and physical state than eating, then do that instead. However, you might find that the scoop of leftover mac and cheese may be just what the doctor ordered. So go ahead and enjoy. The goal this week is simply to be more present about what drives us to fill our bellies.

See how this week changes the way you think about food - is it simply fuel? Soul nourishment? Entertainment? Comfort? Punishment? How can you give food its rightful (and joyful) place in your life? Warm up a mug of tea, lounge on the couch and think about how you can truly eat well.

Cheers,

Desiree

UnDiet...Week 34

I think it is time for another measure up post, don't you? Let's talk protein. The stuff of nutrition myth and legend, every health professional has an opinion on protein. We eat too much, we don't eat enough. No animal protein...nothing is better for you than animal protein! 


Let's set the record straight on just one meaty issue: portion size. Rummage through your junk drawer to find a deck of cards. Got 'em? Good. Take a good hard look at that deck and imagine it is a piece of chicken. There is your serving size. If the deck starts clucking at you, put it down. Walk away. Consult a physician.


Before you pale at the thought of starving on such scarce flesh, remember this: whether you are a vegetarian or a meatatarian, veggies and grains should be the centrepiece of your dish. They provide the fibre, the antioxidants, vitamins and minerals that your body needs. Protein is a compliment to these nutrients. Getting enough protein helps support stable blood sugars and a strong immune system. Even the average North American vegetarian gets more protein than they need (us poor vegetarians...where could we possibly be getting all that protein?).


So this week, instead of slapping a huge hunk of meat on your plate, serve yourself a smaller portion. Or "extend" meat the old fashioned way: add slivers of chicken to your stirfry, combine grass fed beef with lentils, veggies and breadcrumbs into a meatloaf or add some lentils to a soup or stew. Be sure to get a good source of protein at every meal...just don't gorge yourself on it!


And while you're at it...try and eat more veggie protein too. It comes loaded with fibre and we all need more roughage. Go hug a lentil, already.


Cheers,
Desiree

UnDiet...Week 32

Stressed? Just gaze at this sunset and take a deep breath.

Hello UnDieters!


I hope you all enjoy this last blissful weekend of summer. Get outside and hike, bike, walk, swim and run. Pack a picnic and lounge at the park or grab a book and sit on your deck and ponder life. Next week, it is back to traffic, busy schedules and (perhaps) stress. 


Do you know what is the perfect antidote for a stressful life? Good clean living! When we get stressed out, the first thing many of us do is to stop exercising, start eating "comfort" food and then we end up even more lethargic and energy deprived. However tough it is to keep up with our self care, it is even more vital the crazier life gets because eating well and exercising builds our body's resilience and helps us cope with a stressful stretch. 


This week, we should all help make sticking to our eating plans easier. Take a lazy morning to plan out a couple of go-to healthy meals. Then saunter over to the grocery store, grab your supplies and after the sun goes down, have a glass of wine and make a few big batches of food to carry you through the week. This way, when life is crazy, trying to eat well doesn't have to be. 


Some great ideas for big batch cooking to make the week easier:


- Make and freeze some whole grain muffins, with lots of fruit, nuts and seeds for breakfast on the go.
-Make a batch of steel cut oats Monday night and portion out for the week with some dried fruit and hemp seeds. Just a splash of milk in the morning and heat!
- If the days are already cooling off where you are, make some delicious corn soup, a zesty chili or a roasted tomato stew. Fill lunch sized containers for the week and freeze a couple of portions for your emergency food stash. Serve with whole grain crackers and cheese.
- Cook a big batch of barley or brown rice to have for evening dinners as that is usually the meal component that takes the longest.


Check me out on The Fresh Sheet this month as Heather and I will be sharing our favourite lunch ideas to make brown baggin' it easy and fresh.


Enjoy the sun,
Desiree

UnDiet...Week 31

Hello UnDieters!


It's hot out there, people! As promised, for another week or two we are going to keep our approach to healthy eating simple lest we anger the blood with too much exertion. So when I was thinking how best to keep my cool during these dog days, I immediately thought of cucumbers. Cucumbers don't get much respect in the nutrition world but they are a deliciously cooling vegetable and at their best right now as the heat produces some gorgeous field cucumbers. 


That gorgeous dark green skin is chock full of anti-oxidant pigments and its high water content is perfect for these dehydrating days. Rich in anti-inflammatory flavonols and a unique source of anti-cancer lignans, cucumbers deserve a regular place in your diet. So this week, try and have some cucumber everyday.


Here are some easy ways to enjoy cukes...


If you juice, add a bit of cucumber to a green juice (goes well with lemon, apple and kale)


Make a tzatziki or raita...the ultimate cooling blend of yogurt and cukes!


Chop cucumbers with tomatoes, olives, red onion and feta for a classic greek salad.


Top cucumbers with hummus for a quick snack.




Stay cool, cucumbers!
Desiree

UnDiet...Week 30

Hello UnDieters!


It's the lazy days of summer...I always feel that in August all motivation to expend serious energy on anything is lost. So this week, I will ask for a very simple but very powerful swap. Many weeks back, I asked you to add more seeds to your diet and this week I will ask you to start adding more nuts to your diet.


I have never been a fan of low fat diets but it can be easy to go overboard when our main sources of fat are added oils. However, we tend to overlook food sources of healthy fat, such as nuts. When we eat our fats in a package that includes protein and fibre and other vitamins you are getting more bang for your nutrition buck and they help to fill you up too. Nuts are also a great alternative to all those carb-based snacks that we tend to overeat. 


So this week, consider swapping one of your snacks for a 1/4 cup of raw nuts. For a higher protein nut, try almonds. To boost your omega 3 intake, try walnuts. To keep it local, go for hazelnuts. Whichever are your favourite, buy small amounts and keep them fresh in the refrigerator and enjoy daily. Nuts will help to fill you up and keep your energy up between meals without the blood sugar roller coaster of a granola bar. Need a bigger snack? Add a piece of fresh fruit. There are gorgeous BC plums out there right now!


Go nuts, folks.
Desiree

UnDiet...Week 26

Hello UnDieters!


Well, this is a special post: not only does it mark the halfway point in our UnDiet journey but it is also my 100th blog post on Eat Drink Be Happy! In just a year, this little blog has come a long way. From only a handful of my friends and family reading it to over a thousand of you checking it out every month. I can't wait to see it grow even more....and am eager to know what you would like to see here too. Feel free to send me an email or make a comment and let me know what kind of topics you are interested in seeing on Eat Drink Be Happy.


For this week on the UnDiet, I want us to explore our food choices by reading the ingredients on our food packages. I am not interested in having you "label reading" but INGREDIENT reading. There is an important distinction here; we can get caught up in the nutrients and become focused on eating more fibre, less salt etc. but these well intentioned goals can be co-opted by food manufacturers to make their processed, lifeless food seem healthier. Think Lucky Charms "made with 100% whole grain". "Cholesterol free!" potato chips. "Trans fat free" Oreos. 


While you can makeover a food with differing nutrient profiles, you can't hide what is in your food in terms of ingredients. Most of the packaged food we eat today is a combination of just a few ingredients: processed sugar, wheat, corn and soy in their many derivatives. These foods just kind of fill us up; they don't really nourish our body the way modern life demands.


This week, please choose at least two days to read the ingredients on each and every food you put in your mouth. If they don't have ingredients on the package, try the internet. Most food websites will offer this info. Then really think about what you are reading. Do you understand all the names on the ingredients list? Is it a mile long or is it simple? Are most of the foods you eat little more than sweetened, salted flour? Think about the foods you are putting into your body. Perhaps after taking a close look at the ingredients, you may shift towards foods with very different ingredients lists. Or better yet, foods without ingredients lists at all. Now there is a health goal that can't be messed with!


In Good Health,
Desiree