Getting the Food Ball Rolling

So, one of the reasons I started this blog was because a lot of people wanted a source of nutrition advice. A place to find meal plans, grocery shopping ideas, etc. I haven’t done the best at this. Mostly because my personal focus has been school, training for the half marathon, and personal finance goals. I think it’s time to get the ball rolling on this section of the blog.

I think a good place to start is the introduction of MyPyramid. If you’re anywhere close to my age, you probably learned the Food Guide Pyramid when you were a kid in school or even in college. Well, the Food Guide Pyramid is extinct. The new myPyramid has some fantastic symbolism and well chosen verbiage that is explained on the USDA website. If you go to the myPyramid food tracker page, you can enter your age, height, weight, and activity level for a personalized daily food guide.

My personalized plan looks something like this:

About 2200 kcal made up of

7 oz grains

3 cups veggies

2 cups fruit

3 cups dairy

6 oz meat/beans

The number of servings may be cryptic at first, but if you poke around a bit there is more info available. I think using ounces of grains is a bit odd, but the website has all the info you need to translate 1 ounce equivalents of grain based foods. For example, 1 slice of bread is a 1 ounce grain equivalent.

I will post my food intake as many days as I can remember in effort to show you what following MyPyramid looks like. I am less than perfect, so I’m not saying that I’ll be able to meet the plan every day. Let’s just see how it works! I think I’ll keep the running log on the side bar for now, but I hope to turn this into a planning section to help readers find meal ideas to meet their own goals! 

Kids in the Hall

Today I got to talk to seniors in high school about nutrition. Actually I ended up talking to them about nutrition and traveling. The whole thing went even better than I expected. The teacher was my phys ed and health class teacher back in the day. Over 10 years ago. Craziness. It was fun to go back to my old stomping grounds though for sure. Telling kids that I'm in grade 24 always gets me the funniest looks. I think the young people were boggled when I told them how much our country spends on obesity related health care costs each year. Their guesses were $30-100 million, when in fact it's somewhere over $75 billion. BILLION! Their nutrition questions were all very genuine. We had a great discussion about fruits and vegetables. They were also curious about things like snacks before sports practice, acai berry, and soda vs. juice. Several of them like to cook which made me happy! Maybe one will be a dietitian some day! They were the cutest when they were asking me about traveling. They wanted to know about foods I've eaten, how I dealt with language barriers, and the best was when a really quiet kid asked if I got homesick. Heck yeah, I used to get crazy homesick! Ah, the joys of youth. To think back when I was their age I happily exercised 5 hours a day or more and still managed to make it through an 8 hour school day. Not sure how that worked. No way I could do that now!

Who loves Chipotle?!?!

I hope you love Chipotle! I hope you love Qdoba too! They are both amazing burrito joints. You might want to go to their nutrition page though and think through how burrito joints fit into your nutrition plan. A typical burrito at either place is around 1000 kcal or more. Eek! You can find the nutrient information for Chipotle ingredients on their website. Don't be too scared. A lot of people need around 1800 - 2000 kcal a day anyway. Try to compensate the rest of the day and you should be just fine. However, if you're trying to lose weight, maybe you're going to want to remember to leave off the sour cream, guacamole, and tortillas. Going "naked" at a burrito joint can save you almost 300 kcal. Yikes, right?!?! Good to know though...good to know.

Also good to know that you can get a coupon for buy one get one free if you "Like" Chipotle on Facebook, watch a little video about the next food reality show, and hit print!

Grab a friend and go!

Dietitians aren't perfect

I've seen a few things that made me want to write this post. I'm a dietitian. The girl in the picture above doesn't represent me very well. People have expectations for dietitians. I'm pretty sure most people think of the girl above when they think about a dietitian. Surrounded by fruits and vegetables and glowing because she eats so healthy. I am not that girl. For one, my boobs aren't that big and I certainly don't radiate healthy quite like that. I need to dispel some of those expectations right here, right now.


1. I saw another blog with a disclaimer that said her writing and opinions do not reflect the opinions of her employer. Eek. Do I need a disclaimer like that? It's just a blog. I'm working hard to post evidence based information without boring your with all the statistical modeling that I have to interpret every day. Thoughts? Do I need a lawyer for this blog?!?

2. There was an article in the ADA Times (a quarterly magazine that I get from the American Dietetic Association) about dietitians who don't cook. Horror of horrors! Think about the implications of getting advice from someone who doesn't cook! The article points out that a dietitian can be very good at what he or she does, but should not forget that cooking and grocery shopping are at the root of what we do and we dietitians should re-familiarize ourselves with the tools of our trade. Hopefully my adventures and misadventures in cooking will at least give you a laugh on occasion. But really I hope that what I'm able to manage in my crazy busy life will help you in your crazy busy life. Unlike a lot of the mom blog authors, I don't have a blogging team and I don't have a personal house assistant. Seriously, if you read the blogs of some of those do-it-all moms out there you'll start to realize that they aren't doing it all!

3. An article in a Woman's Health (I love love love reading magazines) about being foodier than though. There was a question in bold letters in the middle of the page. "Have you ever mentally judged the person in front of you for ordering a full fat latte?" Um...yeah. But I don't want to be THAT girl! Some of it's just an artifact of my training. I was trained to help people make small changes to help them cut back on discretionary calories. If you tell me what you ate yesterday, I could probably go through and figure out how to reduce it by a few hundred calories in about 45 seconds or less. But truth is I judge people when they order "Skinny, soy, triple shot, no whip" blahbady blah too. I mean really? You just sound goofy when it takes you 30 seconds to ramble off your coffee order! But on this blog I don't want to sound judgmental because...

4. DIETITIANS AREN'T PERFECT! A girl in the class for which I am a teaching assistant was wearing the a t-shirt that said "Dietitians Aren't Perfect!" and the words were surrounded by french fries, hot dogs,pizza, burgers, ice cream, etc. Hilarius! I want to give her an A just for wearing that shirt. So true. I try to get 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day, but truth is, I don't. I have serious food weaknesses. One of my many weaknesses is french fries dipped in mayo. Another happens to be a weakness for me and my best dietitian friend. You know who you are! It's fried pickles dipped in ranch dressing. I mean really? Could you take a cucumber and turn it into a bigger disaster than that?!?! I think not! Oh, and I like Coke. Especially Cherry Coke. I probably drink it once a week or less, but sometimes I drink it several days in a row. Yup! You read that right. I'm a dietitian who likes Coke! Coke Zero and Cherry Coke Zero is ok if it's really cold, but 8/10 times I drink the real stuff. Full on Coke.

Please keep these things in mind when reading my Thoughts On Food. I'm not here to be your personal dietitian. I am not a substitute for going to see a dietitian if that's what your doctor has suggested you do. I am not necessarily providing ideas that will work perfectly for you nor should you expect all of my ideas to work perfectly for you! I like food. I think we all need to follow a diet that resembles the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and a lot of my posts will relate to that. Just sayin' though...I don't walk on water.

Apple sauce: another shopping at home experience

I don't know how a bag of apples managed to lose themselves in my fridge, but they did. I guess I just forgot I had them. They were getting a little shriveled, but not too bad. They were perfect for applesauce! Only problem I had was that the recipe didn't make much apple sauce. Maybe 2 cups or so.

Here's the recipe I used. I found it on allrecipes.com and want to give "JACKSWIFE" credit for the recipe. My additions are in italics.

Ingredients

6 cups apples - peeled, cored and chopped Or more. All measurements are approximate in my opinion
3/4 cup water weird. I don't remember adding water. Oops!
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves This and a splash of vanilla extract are key for amazing flavor!
1/2 cup white sugar Or brown sugar or splenda if you want to get all low cal on it.
1/2 cup raisins. your call on this one. some people seem to have a raisin phobia, but I liked it!

Directions
In a 2 quart saucepan over medium heat, combine apples, water, cinnamon, and cloves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes. Stir in sugar and vanilla, and simmer 5 more minutes.

I think you'll like this recipe a lot. Let me know your take on the deal. Did you eat it out of the pot while it was still warm like me? ooh...maybe that's what it seems like it didn't make much! Did you serve it with pork chops like they do in Ireland? Did you just eat it cold for lunch or breakfast? I hope you'll try it!

Shopping in my kitchen and a recipe that came from it

If you're going to get serious about grocery shopping, saving money, eating right, etc...it's going to take some planning. A good place to start is in your own kitchen. Don't you hate it when you open the fridge and think, "Of for the love of God, there's a fridge full of food and nothing to eat!" It's usually worse in the pantry. Cans of stuff and nothing to really eat. Time to think through step one. Inventory time. I've read a bit on the mom blogs and there is great advice out there on having a better grocery budget, but it's a little out of order in my mind. I think starting with an inventory of what you already have is the best place to start. A piece of notebook paper will work just fine, but if you want to print out something snazzier here's a link to Money Saving Mom's inventory worksheet. Your paper should have 3 columns: stuff you have, stuff you think you could make from it, stuff you need to make it happen. You can probably tell where I'm going with each column, but today it's just about seeing what you can do with what you have. First look in your freezer and write down what you have. Then do the same with the fridge and the pantry.

The go to column 2: meal ideas. See if any meal ideas come to you. Some might be really easy. Pasta, spaghetti sauce, broccoli on the side. Others might get more involved. Last weekend did a fridge and freezer inventory. I didn't even do the pantry shelves, because it was too overwhelming.

I realized I had tortillas, shredded cheese, and frozen ground turkey.I was thinking burritos or tacos could be in my near future.. As it turned out, there was a recipe on some blog that day for lunch bag burritos. After looking on the pantry shelves, I realized I had refried beans, but I didn't have enchelada sauce. No problem! Time to improvise! I had tomato sauce, cumin powder, and I had sriracha sauce. Bingo. I threw in some garlic for good measure and half an hour later I had a bunch foil wrapped burritos in my freezer! Here's the recipe. It will probably remind you a little of el cheapo frozen burritos, but I promise it will taste much better!

Photo rights attributed to http://www.flickr.com/photos/frozenfoodjournal/

Lunch Bag Burritos
1 lb ground beef or ground turkey
1 can refried beens
1 cup shredded cheese
1 small can of tomato sauce
1 tbs cumin powder (basically it's taco seasoning. If you have a packet of taco seasoning, that would work too!)
1 tbs minced garlic (I really like garlic!)
2-3 or more tbs sriracha sauce
6-8 large flour tortillas

In a decent sized pot or pan, brown the meat. Pour off the grease when it's done. Then add everything else. If it's not spicy enough, add more sriracha sauce or another hot sauce of your fancy. Let it simmer about 15-20 minutes so all the flavors have a chance to get to know each other.

Meanwhile, get some paper towel and rip off pieces of aluminum foil about 10 inches long.

Scoop the burrito filling onto a tortilla and fold up the burrito. Make sure the filling is oozing out any corners. Wrap the burrito in a paper towel, then in a piece of aluminum foil. Then put them in the freezer. When you're running out the door in the morning, grab a burrito and throw it in your bag. Grab a piece of fruit while you're at it! At lunch time, take the foil off, but leave the paper towel. Microwave for 1:30-2 minutes. I haven't had any trouble with the paper towel sticking to my burrito. It helps keep them from drying out during microwaving. Yay for a way super easy lunch!

I can't find the original recipe online, but I know some lady wrote it for her church cookbook back in the 80s. If she ends up reading this, I'll totally give her credit for the recipe!

The Amazing Kiwi

Did you know now is the time to enjoy kiwi? Kiwi are best in the winter and spring. Even I didn't know that till I started poking around the California Kiwifruit Commission website. I have to admit, it's a great website. Here are some fun nutrition tidbits about kiwifruit. The only thing I don't know is if all this information assumes you eat the skin. The furry skin kinda creeps me out, but it's edible and when you eat the skin of almost any fruit you get more nutrients.

* Vitamin C: Each serving of kiwifruit has nearly two-and-a-half times the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C.
* Fiber: Two kiwifruit contain more fiber than a bowl of bran cereal, the tasty way to maintain heart health, regular digestion and lower cholesterol. This is only if you eat the skin!
* Potassium: A serving of California Kiwifruit has more potassium than a banana.
* Antioxidants: Kiwifruit is an excellent source of antioxidants which are important in reducing your risk of cancer, heart disease and stroke.
* Magnesium: Two kiwifruit deliver 30 mg of magnesium.
* Folate: With nearly 10% of the recommended daily value of folate, kiwifruit is a good way to protect the health of mother and baby during pregnancy while helping prevent birth defects.
* Zinc: Men will appreciate kiwifruit's zinc content, which helps produce testosterone, while everyone can enjoy its other benefits like healthy hair, skin, teeth and nails.Really, I haven't seen the evidence for this, but it's still kinda fun.

Looks to me like kiwi is pretty power packed in the nutrient world!

So my favorite part about the California Kiwi Commission is that you can get a free kiwi slooper spoon. These are a MUST for kiwi eaters! This makes kiwi more fun to eat every single time and I love keeping my kiwi spoon in my lunch box. One side is a knife so you can cut your kiwi in half. Keep a napkin or paper towel close by! Kiwi are juicy little buggers. The other side is a spoon so you can scoop out the insides to eat. All in one convenient little tool. LOVE IT! Go here to get your own for free. Free is good! Poke around the website a bit. I recommend watching the video. I learned a lot. Did you know it's a berry? Did you know it grows on a vine?

This is the first post of my fruit and vegetable campaign. I'll post more soon about the rational behind my plea. We all need to be getting more fruits and vegetables and let's face it...the slooper spoon adds an element of convenience to the whole 5-a-day idea. Although I like the More Matters campaign even better. More friends...eat more fruits and vegetables!