Bagged Lunch

Eating outside the house can be an absolute disaster without preparing ahead of time. My husband falls prey to the super fast, super cheap McDonald's looming across the street from his office. I end up with over-priced coffee from Starbucks and something wilted and flavorless from Price Chopper's salad bar. Although school lunch has made some steps in the right direction, I don't want bug eating what they offer most days either.

I've found the only way to avoid these "quick fixes" is with food prep ahead of time. We are doing awesome with planning and packing the bug's lunches and making some definite progress with packing for ourselves too. Here are some of the lunches we've been enjoying this month...

TJ's chocolate almond spread on whole wheat bread, chips, carrot sticks, watermelon, and homemade mini M&M sugar cookies (This was the first week of school, so I let more junk food slip by)

TJ's chocolate almond spread on Back to Nature cracker rounds, carrot sticks, TJ's cheddar rockets, mandarin oranges in 100% juice, cantaloupe, and mini M&M sugar cookies (Still the first week of school...I sent a lot of options)

Ham and cheese pita bread roll-up, cooked and chilled green beans, carrot sticks, homemade applesauce, and homemade pumpkin snickerdoodle

One of my lunches! Homemade chicken salad (Chicken, walnuts, celery, with cranberry mayo) over TJ's herb spring mix, grape tomatoes and fresh mozzarella drizzled with balsamic and cracker pepper, and raw cashews.

Food Cleansing

I bet you expected my next post to be MORE party details, but I tricked you! Today I'm all about kick-starting my nutrition and exercise goals. I'm really using blog posting as more of a journal/motivational tool for myself, but you all can come along for the ride if you're interested.

I've been flirting with real food for awhile, but I've also been quick to stray back to old ways. I'll admit my overall diet today is still better than it was five years ago, but that really isn't saying all THAT much. In the past I relied far too heavily on fast food and processed food to get through my busy schedule. I think allowing myself to still have some of these foods on a daily basis was really sabotaging my efforts. I decided I really needed to "detox" from all the bad and give my body a chance to recover and reboot. Which brings me to...

My 14 Day Real Food/Raw Food Challenge
*This is based on so many different things I've read and watched, but does not follow one specific set of rules from any one source. This is 100% my challenge to myself - some of the ideas probably are evidence based, but I am not endorsing this in any type of medical way. This is just my journey (I hope!) to better nutrition.*

My plan is to cut out all processed foods, refined sugar, gluten, and alcohol and to cut down on dairy and animal protein. I'm intending to essentially eliminate dairy the first week and slowly introduce some back in next week. I'm also taking the Trader Joe's Total Body Cleanse vitamins to accompany my life changes.

Day 1 - 4/28
The first day was rough. I developed a horrible caffeine withdrawal headache mid-morning that continued to get worse as the day went on. By the time I got home I felt like I had a tight rubber band wrapped around my head. I also felt extremely exhausted, weak, and achy. I'm not sure if it was the change in diet, the headache, or the fact that I was so tired from bug's birthday party over the weekend but I could barely keep my eyes open driving home from work. I haven't felt that tired since residency! I went to bed before 8pm that night.

Food and Exercise Review
Breakfast - Banana and raw almonds
Snack - Red pepper slices and baby carrots with herbal tea
Lunch - Cucumber, tomato, avocado, parsley, and cilantro with lemon juice
Snack - Pear and herbal tea
Dinner - Sweet potato and avocado topped with tomato, cucumber, cilantro salsa and Chia strawberry lemon water

No exercise today! I was WAY too exhausted

Day 2 - 4/29
The second day wasn't perfect, but was much easier. I only had a mild headache during the day and didn't have any problem sticking to my food plan during the day. My first test came that evening when I picked up my very sick little bug from her grandparent's house and had to come home and cook dinner. The bug had a fever and was miserable and the little bear was her usual unruly dinnertime self (scream for food, shove as much food in her face as fast as she can, demand to get down from the table). I was very tempted to give up the attempt to cook, but took a few deep breaths, got everyone settled, and pushed through dinner prep. I was exhausted early again and started dozing off around 8:30. It was with extreme effort that I stayed up later to chat with my husband.

Food and Exercise Review
Breakfast - Green apple and raw cashews
Snack - Pear and herbal tea
Lunch - Zucchini hummus with celery and baby carrots
Snack - Herbal tea
Dinner - Cod, wilted spinach, roasted green beans, and black rice with Chia lemon water
Snack - Carrots, celery, and banana slices with organic peanut butter

No exercise again, still laying low and letting my body adjust.

Day 3 - 4/30
By the third day I was over the caffeine withdrawal headaches and the exhaustion was getting better. I slept wrong and had a searing low backache all day which made everything more frustrating, but I stuck with my plan without too much difficulty. I did get hungry in the evening and needed to eat a bigger snack. This was really the first time I felt "hungry".

Food and Exercise Review
Breakfast - Green apple and hard boiled egg
Snack - Raw cashews, herbal tea
Lunch - Kale salad with red pepper, cucumber, avocado, and lemon juice
Snack - Pear, herbal tea
Dinner - Baked sweet potato and diced avocado topped with red cabbage, red pepper, cilantro, and scallion "slaw" with apple cider vinegar dressing and Chia lemon water
Snack - Frozen blueberries and organic peanut butter

The only exercise I did was household chores - up and down the stairs about a dozen times washing and folding laundry

Day 4 - 5/1 
Today I felt great when I woke up. I was up early to sign my bug up for the before/after-school program and had to round at the hospital. Being in the hospital brought out some STRONG cravings for coffee (literally 90% of the people that walked by me had a coffee cup in their hands), but I got through it by stopping at the store for a new box of herbal tea on my way to the office.

Food and Exercise Review
Breakfast - Green apple and raw cashews
Snack - Herbal tea
Lunch - Grapefruit
Snack - Pear and cherry tomatoes
Dinner - Chicken and Quinoa Thai Salad (modified dressing to remove anything processed) with Chia lime water

I finally felt like I had enough energy today to get back into the swing of things with exercise. I went for a short 1.6 mile walk/jog outside and followed it up with an arm workout and an ab workout.

Fruit and Oatmeal Cookies

 

 

I've mentioned before that I am always looking for recipes to use up leftover bananas so when Gina over at Skinnytaste posted her recipe for 3 ingredient Healthy Cookies I knew I would be trying them out soon. I was all set to make them per her recipe, but then I realized I had an over-ripe mango in the fruit bowl as well. Hmmm...could pureed mango work the same way as the bananas? I figured the worst that could happen would be that I would have to throw it away. I also decided to add some cranberries and chocolate chips for good measure.

 

Fruit and Oatmeal Cookies (1 point plus per cookie)

2 mashed medium sized bananas

1/2 cup pureed mango

1 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup dried cranberries

2 tbsp mini chocolate chips

 

Put all the ingredients in a bowl

Mix everything together

Measure level tablespoons of "dough" and place on a cookie sheet.

 

Bake cookies at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. I know this is a random number, but I got 19 cookies from my batch. If you get 19-20 cookies the points are 1 per cookie. If you get 16-18 cookies out of your batch the points increase to 2 per cookie.

 

 



These cookies will keep in an air-tight container for a few days, but are best when eaten within 24 hours. These are healthy and hearty enough to eat with a cup of yogurt and some orange slices for a yummy, filling breakfast

 

Avocado Egg Salad for One

I really am not the type of person to toot my own horn, but I've been having a lot of success with Weight Watchers and want to celebrate it! My daughter will be 4 months old on Tuesday and since the day I gave birth I've lost 38lbs - 26 of that was "baby weight" and the other 12 are baggage I've been holding on to for way too long.

I can not understate how much easier losing the weight was because of breast-feeding. For the math savvy moms out there, each ounce of breast-milk is 20 calories and the average 3 month old drinks between 20-30 ounces per day which means 400-600 calories literally pour out of you on a daily basis!

Of course, the other part of losing the weight was following a reasonable diet. After hearing much praise for WW from some family members, I decided to join about 3 weeks after the baby was born. In the beginning I was too exhausted to spend time playing with recipe builder and figuring out points for meals myself, so I relied heavily on recipes from skinnytaste and laaloosh to get me through. Now that we are in more of a routine, I've been starting to play around a bit more and am adapting my own favorite recipes into WW friendly meals. Here is my super yummy version of egg salad that makes just enough for one hearty sized portion...

Avocado Egg Salad (3 points plus)

1 hard boiled egg, diced
1 oz avocado, mashed
1 tsp light mayonnaise
1 oz plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tsp dijon mustard (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
*This is delicious and creamy without the mustard, but has a nice little kick with it added. *

Mix everything together in a bowl until smooth. Simple as that!

When I was a little girl my mom always made me egg salad sandwiches on a lightly toasted English muffin and I loved it. By serving it this way my lunch came to a total of 6 points (3 for the salad, 3 for the English muffin). Fresh sides included red and yellow bell pepper strips and granny smith apple slices.

Mommy Tips: Dealing with Picky Eaters

You might be one of those lucky moms like I was (in the beginning) who has an infant who seems to love trying and eating anything. I would brag all the time about how much she loved her fruits and veggies above all else, how she preferred seafood to boring "kid friendly meats" like hamburger, and that her favorite food was shrimp in coconut curry sauce. I felt like a rock star of motherhood getting my kid to eat such a wide variety of healthy foods. 

Then, in a matter of days, she changed. Some days she refused EVERYTHING and I was convinced she was going to starve. One day she would love bananas and eat three, the next she would wail at the sight of one. And the requests for junk food instead of real food started coming more and more frequently. It is from this daily (and ongoing) struggle that I present these tips to help you maintain your sanity and get that monster sweetie of yours to eat!

1. Serve your kid's food on a plate with well defined sections. For some mysterious reason one food touching another food (even if they like each food separately) can set a toddler off on a rage like you would not believe. Having sections will also prompt you to make sure you are offering a variety of foods (including a fruit and veggie) at each meal.
2. Pastas are great for making a meal "fun" because they come in so many different shapes (stars, wagon wheels, twists, shells, bow ties, etc). Your kid might refuse spaghetti and meatballs, but he/she will probably love bows from Minnie's Bowtique or Lightening McQueen's wheels from Cars - you need to be creative if you want to win this battle!
3. Become a food sculptor. This might sound crazy, but if I give my kid half a banana she will almost always refuse to eat it. If I stick a few mini chocolate chips in it for eyes and a mouth and call it a ghost or attach mini pretzel twists to either side for wings and call it a butterfly she actually eats it. Give your mind a workout and see what kind of masterpieces you can come up with.
4. Never let your kid see you cut food. For completely reasonable reasons kids want their food to be entirely intact and will FREAK OUT if you break a cereal bar in half or chop up a cheese stick in front of them. Decide before serving your kid if things need to be cut and do it out of their line of vision. If they ask, adamantly insist that it came that way.
5. When all else fails, serve it on a stick. Yup, that's right. Kids love to eat things on a stick. Either buy some lollipop sticks from a craft store or use pretzel sticks to spear items your kid might normally refuse and you will be amazed how much more they eat.
6. For the older kids, let them help you cook. My kid loves the ownership of saying she made something and will eat more of it that way. This is easy to do with crockpot meals or baked goods because you can let your kid help with the pouring and mixing.
7. As infuriating as my kid can be when it comes to meal time, she has never not yet refused vegetables. For the kids that do, get creative with hiding those veggies in unexpected ways. Interestingly, I've found a lot of great ways to do this by following Weight Watcher's recipes for myself because the veggies bulk up meals in a points free way. Two of my kid's favorite WW meals that are packed with veggies are this Turkey Veggie Meatloaf and these Sloppy Joe's.
8. Don't fall into the trap of letting your kid eat snacks whenever he/she wants because you are afraid they aren't eating enough overall. This will just backfire on you because they won't be as hungry for meals and be more apt to refuse the healthier, more substantial meals you want them to eat. Offering organic yogurt (drinkable or "tube" varieties go over especially well), low fat cheese sticks, or pre-portioned baggies of pretzels/graham crackers/cheese crackers are good for snacks. If you are super ambitious, try the homemade recipes linked above to cut out the amount of processed food your kid eats.
9. No matter how insane your kid goes on you for offering something different, try your hardest to make them stick to the one bite rule. No matter how weird something looks, they have to try just one little, teeny, tiny bite. You would not believe how often this leads to a completely shocked declaration of, "Hey! I like it!"

I probably have more tips and this might require a follow-up post some day, but I think this is a start. Good luck and happy meal planning for your own picky critics.

Addendum: Minutes after finishing this post my bug asked me to make her, "breakfast that is all different shapes." My husband started to tell her no, but I decided to follow my own advice and accepted the challenge...

Star cantaloupe and strawberries, whole wheat heart toast bites with a dab of strawberry jelly, ham and cheese omelet squares with bacon sprinkles, and turkey bacon hearts

Her response, pure glee!
And, yes she is wearing skeleton jammies in February. She's also eating off of a Thanksgiving plate. Is that a problem?