Category Archives: Nutrition

Turmeric Tea to Manage Inflammation

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Turmeric Tea

Over the course of the last 2.5 years, I’ve been looking for natural remedies to manage my hip osteo-arthritis. Changing my diet was a big part of that. Although I have no cartilage in either hip and am looking to schedule hip replacement surgery in the fall, I don’t need pain medications such as ibuprofen to get me through the day. I only take my ibuprofen in the evenings before I go to sleep. I have stronger pain meds that I can take only when the ibuprofen doesn’t work, which is rare.

A friend in Michigan sent me a link for this tea and I love it. I drink it to help fight inflammation and it’s also a nice, warm, sweet relaxing drink in the evenings before bedtime.

http://www.doctoroz.com/recipe/dr-sanjay-guptas-calming-creamy-turmeric-tea

I’ve tweaked this recipe slightly. I use almost 1.5 C of almond milk because that’s how big my coffee mug is. I will sometimes substitute stevia for the honey to cut down on sugar which can cause inflammation. You could use any type of non-dairy milk for this, I would just make sure it doesn’t contain carrageenan, which is a red seaweed extract used for thickening and adding richer texture to foods. It can cause inflammation, and as you well know, reducing inflammation is important in managing any type of arthritis.

Turmeric Tea:

1 to 1.5 Cups Almond Milk (I use unsweetened vanilla flavor)

1/2 tsp turmeric (I have been using dried, ground turmeric, haven’t tried fresh yet)

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp honey (I will sometimes use Stevia instead)

1/4 tsp ginger (again, I use the ground ginger)

I whisk all the ingredients together and heat in a small saucepan on the stove. If you use fresh turmeric or ginger, you might want to strain it before you pour it in a mug.

I also take turmeric capsules on occasion to give myself a break from the ibuprofen. This was my favorite night-time cold weather drink, but I’m feeling in the mood for it this week for some reason.

Breakfast Smoothie Made with Kefir

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Kefir, fruit and spinach smoothie

I think my best smoothie concoctions are created when I just use whatever I have on-hand.

I came down with strep throat in March and was prescribed a 10-day antibiotic. I haven’t taken a 10-day round of antibiotics in decades. The only times I have needed an antibiotic were for sinus infections and I usually get a Z-pack. Right after I finished my prescription I experienced terrible stomach upset to the point where I had no appetite. I didn’t feel like eating and when I did I couldn’t eat more than a couple of bites at time. This went on for 4 days before I started looking up information on the side effects of antibiotics and gut health.

I guessed that the 10 days of amoxicillin might have caused an imbalance of the good bacteria in my gut. So off to the store I went and found a probiotic supplement. Later when I was grocery shopping I saw a bottles of kefir. Kefir is like drinkable yogurt and contains the active yogurt cultures that help maintain gut health. I have avoided buying it in the past because most of the kefir I’ve come across contains a high amount of sugar (except for the plain variety). This brand was low-fat, fruit flavored and sweetened with Stevia. I bought a bottle and tried it out immediately. I really liked the taste and texture. It must be good because my little 8-year foodie daughter loves it.

I drank a cup of the kefir every morning for a week. It helped settle my stomach and gave me a little energy (I was feeling run-down from not eating enough). Within that week my stomach finally returned to normal but I still wanted to keep kefir on hand.

Before my trip to the grocery store last week, I was rummaging around my refrigerator and freezer looking to use up food remnants for breakfast. The remains I found were some of this kefir, 1 cup of frozen cherries, half a carton of blueberries, and one big handful of spinach. I blended them all together, added a little water to make it less thick, and put a few drops of liquid stevia in so that Joe B would drink it.

This is one of the best smoothies I’ve ever come up with. I’ve made it 3 times for our breakfast since then. The exact ingredients and the amounts I used are below.

Lifeway Kefir

Kefir, Fruit and Spinach Smoothie:

Makes 2 servings

1 Cup Kefir – low-fat, fruit flavored (sweetened with Stevia)
1 heaping Cup frozen sweet cherries
1/2 Cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1-2 Cups Spinach (I just use a big handful)
1/2 C water
Drops of liquid Stevia to taste

The combination of the kefir and frozen fruit gives it a really nice cold texture, similar to a milkshake but it’s tart, not overly sweet. And the best thing is that you get a serving of dairy and fruit, and half a serving of veggies, not to mention some gut healthy probiotics, all in one shot. Let me know if you try it and if you liked it. 🙂

Family Recipe for Tacos

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I’ve mentioned before that my mom used to cook for us all the time. Eating out at a fast-food place back then was a treat reserved for payday, and it might have happened every other week at the most. My mom cooked all the time for us. We never ate Hamburger Helper and she made her own taco meat and seasoning. I’m lucky to still have several of her recipes that I cook for my family today.

Her taco recipe is one of my go-to meals. I’ve cooked it for company and it is always well-received. I usually make a double batch because they make great leftovers and can be used for taco salads or taco bowls. My daughter likes to take this in a thermos for her lunch at school and I love to pack it for my lunch at work as well. It’s also a great vehicle to sneak some extra veggies in. My addition to my mom’s recipe is the shredded zucchini. It cooks down and blends in with the tomato sauce and beef until you can barely see it.

What I love about this recipe is that you have several options for your protein. I’ve cooked this using 95% lean ground beef, I’ve used ground bison meat, I’ve tried it with half lean ground turkey and half lean ground beef. I love ground bison meat but it is expensive. I also love using grass-fed beef, but it costs about the same per pound as ground bison. What I often do is mix ground bison or grass-fed beef with lean ground beef. If I can’t swing the expense of using all bison or grass-fed beef, I will up the nutrition value of the beef by mixing it with a less expensive, but lean protein.

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs lean ground beef (optional: mix 50/50 with ground bison or grass-fed beef, or lean ground turkey)
1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 small onion – diced
1 small zucchini – shredded
2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin

Brown diced onion in a heated skillet. Add ground beef and brown until cooked through. Remove cooked beef and onions with a slotted spoon to drain excess fat, place in a medium sauce pan. Add tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin and shredded zucchini. Simmer for about 20 minutes until zucchini has softened and some of the liquid has cooked down. The meat mixture will have a little extra liquid the first night, but it thickens up when re-heating the leftovers.

There are a variety of ways to serve this. My girls like using regular corn tortilla taco shells. I like to make a soft taco using a whole grain flour tortilla. Top the hard shell or soft tacos with shredded cheese, shredded lettuce or spinach, chopped tomato and salsa or hot sauce. Joe B likes to make deluxe nachos.

I also love to make a taco salad out of this. I’ll take one serving of tortilla chips (about 8 chips) and break them up in the bottom of a bowl. Then I’ll layer on about 1 1/2 to 2 cups of some type of leafy green (I like to use spinach but will serve romaine lettuce to company), approximately half a cup of the taco meat mixture, then top with shredded cheese, salsa or picante sauce, and chopped tomato.

I’ve experimented cooking different vegetables with the taco meat such as red bell pepper, and one time I mixed a can of rinsed and drained black beans into the meat mixture while it was still in the skillet. That particular experiment didn’t go over so well because my girls could see and taste the beans. I’ll try that one again a later date. 🙂

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By the way, this is my first attempt at photographing a meal I cooked for the blog. I’ll continue to be brave and experiment some more with this.

Springtime Heralds a New Beginning

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This week spring has arrived in our region! We have an additional hour of daylight as well, so there is more time after work to enjoy the outdoors. Spring always feels like a new beginning….trees and plants are starting to bud, people are talking about turning over the soil in their garden beds, and you see people outside enjoying walks and riding bikes. The smell of charcoal and cooking outdoors is also a welcome part of spring.

Spring also feels like a new chance to do things differently, or to try things again. A new growing season, another chance to eat locally as much as possible (our CSA application for the summer is due at the end of this month), and another try at the home garden. We built our raised beds last year but didn’t have the time or money to do the rest of the steps to start our garden. We have time and money budgeted this year, so I am excited to give it whirl.

Spring feels like hope. It feels positive. Spring always has the “goodest vibes” (as my friend Mike likes to say). It feels better than the calendar New Year’s Day. And yesterday just made me realize how much I’ve looked forward to spring and the new beginning it heralds.

My 76-yr mom is recovering from knee replacement surgery. She came home last week after her hospital stay, and then 2 weeks in a rapid recovery rehabilitation facility. She is scheduled for outpatient physical therapy 4 times per week as she continues to work on getting her knee to bend and walking without a walker. She chose outpatient PT over in-home PT because she and my dad and her doctor felt it would be best because it would make her get up and out of the house and be more mobile. We had a cookout yesterday to celebrate her being home.

I’ve always felt that my family eats pretty healthy due to my mom. She always cooked for us growing up and she always made her own potato salad and/or macaroni salad for cookouts. We rarely bought sides from the store. I had my nutrition class watch a segment of the HBO documentary “The Weight of the Nation” and a visual that has stayed with me was one of a cookout or dinner at the beginning the episode….there was fried chicken, white bread, several salads heavy with mayonnaise, greens drowned in butter, anything that had fruit was covered with a cool whip & cream cheese mixture. I always have mixed feelings when I see things like that. I feel empathy because I know people are socialized to eat those foods for celebration or for comfort (I see foods like that after a funeral). I feel a little sad because people want to be healthy and it makes it hard when families/communities default to food like that in times of celebration or sorrow. And I feel fortunate because my family has the motivation and means to do things differently.

The menu for our cookout was burgers and hotdogs (of course), but the burgers were 95% lean ground beef and the hotdogs were all-beef franks. We had whole wheat hamburger and the closest thing to whole wheat hotdog buns that I could find at the store (enriched wheat flour does not a whole grain make). I looked at the table before we started eating and it made me feel good. In addition to the meat my husband cooked on the grill, I saw a bowl of homemade potato salad that my sister made, baked beans, fresh watermelon and strawberries, and plates of cucumber slices, baby carrots and lettuce. There was some debate about whether to get a pie or potato chips, but my sister gave up potato chips for Lent and we decided we had enough without a pie. We gave in slightly and got a bag of organic tortilla chips. It was the nicest feeling to be sitting at my parents table, with the windows and door open, in warm weather with a table of fresh food. We all got full off of some good and healthy food. And the fact that we were celebrating my mom being home made it that much better.

Hopefully spring signals a new beginning for this blog as well. Lol. I am going to make an effort to blog once per week at a minimum, instead of my sporadic monthly installments. I hope the weather is warm where you are and that you enjoy the beginning of the new season.

New Breakfast Recipe

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Being considered the “Food Police” has its benefits. It gets people talking with me about healthy food which I think is always a good thing. I usually get asked for ideas on healthy meals, but once in awhile I get a message from someone asking if I’ve ever tried a certain recipe.

My friend Justin (fancy dancer from Canada) asked me a year ago if I’ve ever made oatmeal banana loaf. I hadn’t because I’d never heard of oatmeal banana loaf. There were some confused messages from me until I got an idea of what he was talking about. He sent me a link with the recipe and for some reason I just sat on it and never tired it. Until this morning.

And I have to say I now have a favorite weekend breakfast. The recipe is called Blueberry Banana Baked Oatmeal and the recipe is found on the Budget Bytes website. http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/08/blueberry-banana-baked-oatmeal/

This oatmeal bake is warm, sweet with all natural sugars, and loaded with whole grains, fruit, and milk. I wish I had a picture but we ate most of it before I thought that maybe I should’ve Instagrammed it. 🙂

Depending on your nutrition goals, this can be made in several different ways. You can use different types of milk such as skim, almond, low-fat or whole milk. You can substitute different types of sweeteners, such as maple syrup, evaporated cane sugar, or stevia for the 1/4 C of white sugar that the recipe calls for. It can be “clean” and all natural or it can be fat-free and table sugar-free.

Since I am back on Weight Watcher and following the “Simply Filling” plan, I used fat-free milk and Splenda for baking in this recipe to keep the ingredients all Power Foods or 0 point ingredients. I will plan to use Stevia next time, but I was in a hurry and didn’t want to sit and do the calculations with Stevia when I could just use 1/4 C of baking Splenda.

This was absolutely delicious and easy to make. I broke mine up in the bowl and topped it with a little unsweetened vanilla almond milk. My husband topped his with chopped pecans and almond milk. I have no idea why it took me whole year to try it, but we both agreed this will be entered into the weekend breakfast lineup. Enjoy!

 Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
45 mins
Total time
1 hour
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups (3 med) mashed bananas
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¼ cup white sugar (I used Stevia
  • ¾ tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ¾ tsp baking powder
  • 2 cups milk
  • 2½ cups old fashioned oats
  • 8 ounces frozen blueberries
 Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Mash the bananas in a measuring cup, starting with two or three and adding more until you have 1.5 cups of banana mash.
  2. Combine the banana mash in the large bowl with the eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine. Add the milk and whisk again until smooth.
  3. Stir in the dry old-fashioned oats. Lastly, stir in the frozen blueberries (keeping them frozen and stirring them in last helps prevent the entire mix from turning purple). Spray an 8×8 inch baking dish with non-stick spray and then pour in the oat mixture.
  4. Bake in the preheated 375 degree oven and bake for about 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the center is no longer wet to the touch.
Notes
Serve warm or refrigerate until ready to eat. These oats can be quickly reheated in the microwave each morning for a quick, filling breakfast.

Something is Working…..

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So far this end of summer/fall season has been extremely busy. I was asked to up my hours at work and I received a contract to be an adjunct instructor at the tribal college where I have taught a diabetes class for years. I’m also taking a nutrition course online at through K-State Distance Learning. But with the hectic schedule, I’ve been making time to do something everyday, even if it’s just a walk.

Over the summer I noticed that I was developing a forward lean in my gait. The lean was due to hip joint pain and stiffness. I would get very stiff sitting at my computer at work, and even getting up and walking around didn’t relieve the stiffness. It was painful to stand straight up and walk, so I compensated with the lean. After gaining 5 pounds during our summer travels at the end of July, I came home with determination to change things. Attending an obesity conference at the beginning of August for my work did wonders for my motivation. So, August 1, I focused on consistently taking my Omega-3 supplement and a glucosamine/condroitin supplement. I also started taking turmeric regularly again. I had always heard that the glucosamine helped arthritic joints feel better and needed to be taken for about 2 weeks before you could feel a difference, but I had never taken them long enough to notice anything.

We went to a powwow in Oklahoma the first weekend in August and then traveled there again for another powwow 2 weeks later. By the third weekend that month, I noticed that I was standing up straighter. My joints weren’t as stiff and I could walk fully upright with no joint pain. I also noticed that when my joints would get stiff sitting at my desk, that they loosened up with a short walk around my department. I danced pain-free for the first time since the beginning of June. 🙂

I have worked out with my trainer Travis for 8 sessions now. I’ve more than doubled the number of regular pushups I can do (went from 3 to 10) and yesterday I pushed a prowler (sled) with 110 pounds on it, 6 times, each time in under 2 minutes (the prowler weighs 75 lbs by itself, for a total weight pushed of 185 lbs). I find myself sitting up more straight at work, and standing taller. I am beginning to see definition in my arms and more definition in my legs. Walking around campus at my job is much easier than a couple of months ago. And my heavy white beadwork feels slightly lighter now….not as light as I would like just yet, but I am being patient and know it will continue to feel lighter as long as I continue to put in the work.

I ask my diabetes course students to keep a food journal near the middle of the semester and I am required to keep one for my nutrition course at K-State. So I began last week to journal in earnest, and I have been consistent. It helps remind me to get my veggies and fruits in and to keep an eye on my carb count. The week before school started, I began to double the amount of dinners I cooked and freezing one batch. That has helped immensely on the nights where I am too tired to cook or don’t have time to grocery shop. We just have to thaw and heat and we can eat a homemade meal.

So something is working….lol. I feel better, I am walking upright without pain and I am getting stronger. I set a beginning goal of losing 18 pounds and I have lost 6 of those. My clothes are fitting better. I feel better. I just need to stay consistent.

Motivation….that elusive “thing”

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I have osteoarthritis in both hips. I am only 46 years old and I am looking at total hip replacement surgery sometime down the line. It’s hard for me to run because of the ensuing joint pain and I’m losing range of motion in my right hip. It’s painful to tie my shoes or tape up my moccasins when I dance. I can’t dance the way I used to even 2 years ago….I have to modify several of my steps or just not do them.

I am getting a good lesson in dealing with a chronic condition….like diabetes or lupus or rheumatoid arthritis. It’s hard. It’s hard to get motivated to find what works to manage the pain. It’s hard and very emotional when I look at what may be down the line for me…it’s hard when I think about losing the things that have been such a big part of me for so long. Like running and shawl dancing. I have a lot of ups and downs and it’s hard to tell anyone about it because I don’t want to drag anyone down, and I don’t feel very many understand. I just recently went through a very difficult and emotional time, one of several that I’ve experienced in the last 20 months.

But this week I have felt awesome. Really really good. I feel like I have found and gotten a good grip on that thing that health educators talk about all the time…”motivation”.  Defined as “the general desire or willingness of someone to do something.” In order to make positive change, we must be motivated to do so. I remember working a social work job and one of the social work specialists said, “They don’t train us in this job how to motivate people to change.” Which is true. While psychologists or public health workers can be trained in motivational interviewing (a technique used to evaluate the level of a person’s willingness to change and help push them forward), most people in the helping professions are at a loss as to how to motivate people.

There are 2 types of motivation: “Intrinsic” and “Extrinsic”. Extrinsic motivation is where your motivation comes from an external source….like getting good grades because your parents offer to pay you for every A on your report card, or buying you something if you make the Dean’s List. There are endless examples of extrinsic motivation….but this type of motivation is short-lived. It may last until the reward has been earned and then it’s gone. It may disappear before the reward is earned if the reward seems too far away or unattainable. Point is, It doesn’t last long. Intrinsic motivation, is the internal desire to change….it can be based on some type of perceived reward or fear that hits close to home. My best example of that is when a grandparent makes long-term changes to their health regimen in order to be able to see their grandchildren grow up. Or a person decides to lose weight or exercise more, not because they want to improve their appearance alone, but because they want to FEEL better both physically and emotionally.

My motivation has had some severe ups and downs since my diagnosis. I believe I’ve had a string of short-term motivated times because my motivation has been extrinsic…I’ve been motivated to do my PT exercises until I felt it wasn’t really helping the pain or help me get back to running. I’ve been motivated to just keep doing what I’ve been doing, kind of like rebelling against my OA, only to be struck down by debilitating joint pain. I’ve been motivated to try all different kinds of supplements until I overdid my activity and felt miserable because of the pain.

These days I feel very motivated. And I believe the positive vibe I have going is because I’m finally sorting out everything I have tried before, which includes changes in diet, supplements, hot yoga, biking, reaching out to friends and family, and changing my way of thinking of my dance career. A few weeks ago I was looking at the near-end of my shawl dance career….I thought that I could last another year or two at the most and then I would be done. And when that sunk in, I grieved….like I was losing a life-friend. Thankfully my friends, my companion, and my family pulled me out of that pit of despair. I have a sense of hope now….which feels brand new to me. And I have a deep-seated confidence, which is also new, that I will achieve my wellness goals that I have altered in a positive and realistic way. Both of those feelings, the hope and the confidence, have boosted my motivation.

My motivation comes now from knowing that I can manage my OA pain. It’s not hopeless. A good quality of life is not out of my reach.  I’ve had several weeks of pain-free joints and I’m confident that what I’m doing is working and that I can continue. I KNOW what works now. Limiting carbohydrates in my diet, taking some supplements that are working, including Xyngular’s Global Blend, alfalfa, Omega-3, a B-complex, and drinking my turmeric tea. Drinking alot of water. Eating alot of nutrient rich vegetables. Avoiding commercially raised feed-lot red meat and switching to grass-fed beef. I love the elliptical machine…it feels like I’m running without the joint pain. Stretching, I am learning to love and get better at. And getting my rest. My motivation increases each day that I wake and can walk with little to no pain. And my shawl dancing….we’ll see how that goes. But I’m hopeful. I’m focused and grateful for what my body can do….instead of obsessing about what it can’t do. I’m looking at all I have to gain with maintaining these positive changes, instead of thinking about what I am losing. When I make food choices in a restaurant I think about what will help me the most, and that means selecting salmon and spinach and broccoli and giving away my bread and NOT ordering dessert. I don’t think about HAVING to give up a French Dip sandwich or a slice of lemon meringue pie, I think about all the good things the salmon and the Omega-3 and all those green veggies will do for my body and my joints. So my motivation comes from a place of positive thinking, encouragement, helping and healing my body. Because I want to feel better. I love how I feel when I do these things. The changes make my bad days not so bad and make the good days that much better. I’m making myself better, which will make me better for all those around me.

I really want to publicly thank my husband Joe B…who has had to put up with my mood swings but he never gives in to my negative thinking. And I want to thank my sister Sharon who is my biggest cheerleader and always finding new things for me to try. My sister Sandy, who with my sister Sharon, always keeps it real with me, and my BFF, my Maske, Erica….my example of perseverance through tough times. My brother Elwood because he has no idea of how special he is to me. Special acknowledgement and thanks to Mike LaFrombois and Kevin Tacan….the male version of “maske” for me. They both have such positive outlooks even with all they deal with, and lend me their good vibes all the time. They are excellent listeners, and Kevin recommended the alfalfa supplements. These people help hold me up even if they don’t realize it, and I’m eternally grateful. Wopida tanka to each of you, and to the others I didn’t mention (you know who you are) who have helped me in any way.

Need your daily fruits and veggies? Make smoothies!!

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We are doing our Nutrition unit in my diabetes class and we discussed the number of fruit and vegetable servings that people need each day (5-7). A smoothie can be a really good meal/snack and a very efficient way to get your fruits and veggies in. I prefer making a smoothie to “juicing” because when you juice fruits and veggies it just extracts the liquid and the fructose, leaving you with a simple carbohydrate (read “sugar”). The pulp is left in the bottom tray of the juice machine and discarded, but that’s the important part….the pulp contains the fiber of the fruits and veggies. Whole fruits and veggies have a high water content, fructose, nutrients, and FIBER which is important to heart health, colon health, and keeping your digestive system running like a well-oiled machine. Your body has to work harder to break down whole fruits and veggies due to the fiber so it slows down the blood sugar spike that can occur when you drink fruit juice alone. Smoothies are the way to go. Although the blender breaks down some of the food for you, smoothies are still a healthier alternative to any kind of juice.

I have four “go-to” smoothie recipes. My kids like some of them, Joe B likes all of them, except for the new one I came up with this morning because he hasn’t tried it yet. One of them I got online and the others are variations of recipes I’ve seen on-line. Easy to make and I love the fact that I can get a couple of servings of fruit and vegetables consumed in one shot.

Green Monster Smoothie (courtesy of “Fit Mama” and motivational speaker Erin Brown): 1 Cup of milk (I use unsweetened almond milk for myself, 1% organic milk for the Swirlies), 1 banana, 2 Cups of Spinach. Optional: I will add half a scoop of organic whey vanilla flavored protein powder to give it smoother, more creamy texture. Feel free to add a little bit of maple syrup or stevia if it’s not sweet enough (although the bananas add plenty of sweetness). Make sure the put the spinach on the bottom of the blender and the rest of the ingredients on top so it doesn’t fly up and stick to the lid. And add some ice, it will feel like a milkshake. Shelby’s favorite smoothie to date. Makes 1 large serving or 2 Swirlie sized servings. http://www.fitmamatraining.com

Green Kale/Cucumber/Apple/Pineapple Smoothie (2 Servings): 2 Cups Kale (or spinach), 1 cup peeled diced cucumber (i use seedless cucumbers), 1 diced apple (leave the peel on, use any apple of choice), 1 C diced pineapple, 1 C water, 1 C ice, 1-2 packets of Stevia. Optional: 2 tsp. Omega-3-oil supplement. Put the leafy greens at the bottom of the blender and layer the rest of the ingredients. Blend until smooth. Joe B’s favorite smoothie. Even some of my students have tried this and like it, bright green color and all. 🙂 I didn’t see a recipe for this, I just used what I thought sounded good.

Peanut Butter Protein Smoothie (serves 1):  1 C unsweetened Almond Milk, 2 Tbs natural peanut butter, 1 scoop organic chocolate whey protein powder (make sure there are no more than 2 g of carbs per serving), handful of ice. I take this smoothie on the road with us to powwows and this is mine and Joe B’s breakfast in the morning. I bring my Magic Bullet and my protein powder. I usually find the milk and PB when I get there, or I bring it in a cooler. Good power protein breakfast and this also makes a good workout recovery drink.

Cherry Almond Smoothie (serves 1): Just tried this out this morning. Modified a recipe I saw on Pinterest. 1 C frozen cherries, 1 handful of spinach, 1/2 C unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 C greek yogurt (I use regular, full-fat greek yogurt), I threw in some sliced almonds and a little dab of maple syrup. It was delicious! The recipe I saw on Sweet Peas and Saffron’s website (www.sweatpeasandsaffron) called for almond extract instead of the sliced almonds (I didn’t have any extract) and omitted the spinach. I added so I could get the leafy greens. And it called for 1/2 tsp of honey but I just added a very small drizzle of maple syrup, I knew the cherries would make it very sweet.

I’m sure I’ll add more blog entries like this when I try different smoothie combinations. Drinking fruit and veggie smoothies consistently does wonders for your energy, your mood, your skin, etc. You will be surprised how your body responds to really nutritious foods on the regular.

Some of the “Rules” I Go By

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I just came home from a trip to a powwow in Michigan. Drove all night to get there, danced all weekend, drove all night traveling home. I am exhausted. When I am this tired I have the most trouble trying to stick to my healthy eating and exercise. I have many many times that I don’t feel like working out, many times that I actually don’t. As for healthy eating 24/7….lol. That doesn’t happen in my house. But we try. And I have found a few things that help me push through the times that I feel like I’m failing at my healthy habits and doing healthy things for my family.

It feels like there are a million different “rules” that govern healthy eating and activity. Don’t eat this, make sure you eat that….etc. People tend to give up on any eating plan when they encounter difficulty sticking to the rules or guidelines of the plan. They get frustrated with having to start over, or wonder why they can’t stick to it 100% of the time. Same with working out. If they can’t get their workouts in everyday as planned they tend to give up. So here are two of my “Rules” that help me persist in my search for good health.

“80/20 Rule”:  I don’t remember the exact place where I read this rule, I did not come up with this on my own. It basically says to strive to adhere to your plan of eating and/or exercise 80% of the time. 80% shows consistency and persistence. It is much better than 0% and also far preferable to 50%. Strive to stay on-plan 80% of the time and then you have 20% for incidentals…such as a time crunch that leaves you little-to-no opportunity to get a health meal or workout, fatigue, stress-induced cravings or naps, or to just treat yourself. 80% is your goal and you can relax with the remaining 20%. This helps me feel accomplished on the days that I feel like I’m falling off of everything. If I can eat really good and healthy 80% out of my day or week, I feel ok about letting myself have a little indulgence for the 20% of the day/week.

“!5-Minute Rule”. Again, I don’t remember the exact place I read this, I know it was years ago. The 15-Minute Rule is put in use during times of procrastination…when you don’t feel like doing something you need to do. Such as workout, study for school, or write a new blog entry. 🙂 If I am feeling very tired but I have a run planned for after work, instead of heading for the couch (which is what I want more than anything at that moment), I tell myself, “If I start my run right NOW, I will only run for 15 minutes then I’ll stop.”  Or, “If I start to study/write this paper right NOW, I’ll only study/write for 15 minutes then I’ll stop.” See a pattern here?  The idea behind committing to 15 minutes immediately is this….once you get going on your run, studying, writing, 9 times out of 10 you will complete your task.

I’ve put the 15-Minute Rule into effect many, many times. Sometimes I do feel like quitting my run after 15 minutes. I’ll tell myself then, “Ok, I think I can do another 10 minutes.” Then ten minutes later if I’m still not feeling it, “Ok, I’ll try another 5 minutes.” I kept giving myself small increments of time to run and pretty soon I had completed my entire workout.

Now, here is the beauty of the Rule…sometimes you won’t be able to talk yourself past 15 minutes of anything…sometimes you are done. Fork stuck in…just D.O.N.E. If that is the case, then BE DONE. You told yourself you will stop after 15 minutes, so by all means, stop. Even if you stop, you still will have gotten in 15 minutes of activity, which is far preferable, and much more beneficial to your body then zero minutes of activity.

Both rules encourage and promote consistency. Research has shown that the workouts you do consistently, even if they are mild to moderate, are more beneficial to your health than a vigorous workout only done occasionally. Walking for 30 minutes 6 times a week will bring more health benefits than running 5 miles 1-2 times per week.

So now, even though I am still recovering from my travels and I just want to lay down on the couch, I just told the Swirlies I would take them for a short bike ride….a 15 minute bike ride and then we are coming home. We’ll see how far we end up going. 🙂

Eating is complicated….

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I teach a class called “Diabetes and the Native Americans”. I took over teaching this class seven years ago and it has morphed from a wellness/exercise class to a culturally-tailored, science-based course on how type 2 diabetes impacts Native populations. We discuss risk factors, symptoms, diagnostic tests, complications, in addition to the history of Native health and all the legislation that has impacted our population’s health. During the unit where we discuss prevention and management, we discuss eating. Just a whole lecture or two devoted to just how and why we eat.

I first read this book in August of 2008. I was overweight, having gained weight from breaking my foot the previous summer, and had difficulty motivating myself to track calories and keep up with my food journal. I don’t remember what made me buy this book (“Mindless Eating” by Brian Wansink, PhD), but I read it on the way back from a powwow in Michigan. It was eye-opening. And my first insight into the complicated maze of the psychology of eating.

There is so much fascinating information in this book: food labs to research exclusively what will make us eat more, “health halos”, why we seek comfort foods, how labeling and marketing campaigns convince us to buy more/eat more, and what was most interesting to me….the different “cues” to let us know when to stop eating. I didn’t realize that we are socialized to know when to stop eating.

For example….as in the book, I ask my class “When do you know that you have had enough food? When do you know when to stop eating?” I get all kinds of answers. “When I fall asleep”, or “When I have to unbutton the top button of my jeans”, or “When I have to change into stretchy pants”, or “When my plate is clean” or “When I’m full”. I got similar answers to what Dr. Wansink lists in his book. I catch myself telling my kids “just 2 more bites” which means I am socializing them to eat more as well (I have since made a concerted effort to not do that).

I read in his book that eating until you are full, and “eating until you are no longer hungry” are two entirely different things. He went on to describe how there can be a 25% caloric intake difference by stopping eating when you no longer experience hunger, as opposed to when you feel full. I like the examples he gave from France and Japan and how they are socialized to eat until they are no longer hungry. In the U.S., the love of Golden Corral restaurants (my husband’s favorite) and the proliferation of casino buffets, we tend to encourage eating until we pass the point of being full. Although I am well-acquainted with the concept of “eating until you are satisfied”, that phrase never truly clicked with me….but eating until I wasn’t hungry anymore did click (*lightbulb!!*)

So I had to see for myself. After getting back from Michigan and thinking about the concept of “eating until I wasn’t hungry”, I gave it a whirl. I had some leftover taco meat that I was going to fix a salad with for my lunch. I served myself the amount I normally eat, but I paid close attention to how I felt as I ate. I didn’t read or watch TV, or do anything that would take my mind off the eating task at-hand. I ate slowly, drank water, and when I reached the point where I didn’t feel hungry anymore I looked at my bowl. There was approximately 1/4 left of what I served myself. I then set about to see if those results would be replicated in my dinner and breakfast the following morning. I discovered I ate 25-30% LESS when I really attended to what I ate and stopped when I didn’t feel hungry anymore.

I ended up losing about 6 pounds within 2-3 weeks just by paying attention, or being mindful of what I ate and how I felt. I didn’t count calories, I didn’t buy any specific “diet friendly” foods (such as low-fat or fat free or low calorie). I I felt much more comfortable after eating because I wasn’t stuffed. As a result, I started serving myself less food so it wouldn’t go to waste, and learned to take more if I felt I really needed it. I figured if I didn’t stop eating when I was no longer hungry, the food was going to waste in one of two ways: it would either be left on my plate and go to “waste” and be tossed out, or it would go to “waist” and be stored as fat in the form of a muffin-top if I cleared my plate and didn’t burn up all the energy I took in. It was a true epiphany.

Native people have additional factors to deal with as well in regards to what we eat and how much we eat. On-going colonization (the methods used by dominate society/government to subjugate Indigenous peoples) is a huge factor in the status of our health. Under the colonization heading we can list historical trauma, food insecurity, socio-economic factors and all the mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, trauma from abuse. These factors can make it difficult to stop eating when we are no longer hungry. If you have experienced times where there wasn’t enough food, or have learned through hard life’s experiences that you need to eat as much as possible as fast as possible because you don’t know when your next meal will be, it will make it next to impossible to not clear your plate because you have been conditioned to not waste food. If you have attended residential boarding schools or were in the military, you have been conditioned to clean your plate. Depression and anxiety, or chronic stress, heavily influences our eating behaviors, as does substance abuse. And that’s not even taking into account the sugar/starch/carbohydrate-laden commodity foods many of us grew up on, and may find comfort in. We also have our cultural/social mores, many times which dictate having to serve ourselves a portion of each food offered at a feast or ceremony, or not turning down an offer of food so as to not offend a host/hostess in their own home. Although these factors influencing our eating are not insurmountable by any means, they are deeply entrenched and it will take concentrated effort and practice, and learning new coping mechanisms to overcome them to regain our health.

Like I tell my students, eating is complicated. There is so much more to healthy eating than just “don’t eat junk” (which is a blog post all on its own). Like one of my previous weight-loss participants said, “There’s more to it than just making poor choices.” We have many many influences on what we eat and how much we eat, but I truly believe they can be managed and we can improve our collective Indigenous health.