Spark People

Things have been crazy around here once again. I do have some recipes to share once things calm down a bit! One thing I wanted to share is a website I've been enjoying: Spark People. This is a great site for a variety of purposes: losing weight, tracking nutrition, analyzing recipes, tracking exercise, setting goals, and more. I first learned about this site on my beloved Veggie Board. I was skeptical, only because it's FREE! I've been very impressed though. I think this site is probably just as valuable as the Weight Watchers site for folks trying to lose weight, and infinitely more useful for those just maintaing their weight. It's helped me to see where I'm doing okay with my nutrition, and what I need to work on. (I need to eat more spinach!) I've also really enjoyed being able to get a better idea of the nutrition in the recipes I create. It took me a bit to get used to the system, but if you're interested in this kind of program, I'd encourage you to give it a week or two and see how you like it. I'll keep a link to it in my sidebar in case you want to find if later. It's become a valuable tool for me.

Good Food

I've been reflecting on how I came to be a foodie as well as my weight loss success, and I've finally realized that the two are intertwined. The two are not mutually exclusive, and have their own roots, but they ended up working together. I was leaning towards a love of good food before, and my interest in eating more locally and even more whole and organic foods was the foundation for my inner Foodie. My weight loss would have been impossible without my determination and desire to succeed. As I was talking to my Mom tonight I made the connection. When I realized that I had to eat less food, and had to really slow down and enjoy the food that I could eat, I started putting more time and energy into making sure that that food was the best it could be. It needed to be delicious, appealing, and also healthy and nutrient packed so that I could maximize its benefits. I think my love of well prepared good whole foods, and willingness to learn how to and take time to prepare those foods on my own, is actually what helped me achieve the weight loss and maintain it. I think that both my love of good food and my health will continue to support eachother as I continue to move forward. It makes me wonder what America's health could look like if the slow and local food movements could gain more momentum and popularity in the population at large. (No pun intended.) I plan to keep this in mind as I keep exploring the difference I can make.

GOAL!!!

From 163 to 133. 30 pounds gone the year I turn 30. Enough living with mediocraty. "Stop whining, start doing!"

Joy of Cooking Indeed

The past three months have been ones of incredible change in my life. I decided to give my life the makeover it needed, stop complaining and dragging my feet, and create change. Surprisingly (to me), joining Weight Watchers has instigated all kinds of change in my life. Finding the Veggie Board there has sparked a renewed passion for me. I have found the most wonderful people, many of whom have inspired me to get back in the kitchen. We have always eaten relatively healthy meals, but we'd fallen into the habit of eating easy convenience foods, (even if they were organic they weren't the healthiest) and eating out. I think one of the things that kept me from cooking as much as I'd like was being afraid to try new recipes and not like them. It's much easier to cook when a) you need to know what's in your food, and b) the recipe comes highly reccomended, and with pointers no less! We picked up Moosewood Low-Fat Vegetarian Cookbook, and then started trying out community shared recipes. First I tried a simple recipe for calzones. It was amazing, and relatively easy! Next it was a Country Pie, with all kinds of vegetables, and seasonings I'd never used before (caraway seeds, combined with dill-very unique!). I started looking for new recipes on the web too and pulled off a low fat alfredo sauce that has great promise. Next to come was homemade dark chocolate pudding from Moosewood Low-Fat. Mmmmmm. Chickpea Mock Tuna Salad, Lentil Loaf, there have been lots of fun and healthy finds. My how I love those Veggie Boarders!

My latest joy has been learning a bit about Indian cooking. After eating at a small Nepalese place that we love, I was inspired to ask the Indians on the Veggie Board if they could help me learn to make a good curry. I wanted the basics, not just a recipe. Teach me how to fish, as it were. I couldn't have asked for more! I have been guided along every step of the way by a wonderful (and patient, generous) woman who is very skilled in Indian cuisine. I can now make a lovely curry with just her simple (but specific!) guidelines, and I'm experimenting more with the Indian spices I'm learning about. Pictured is a recent curry creation on a bed of whole wheat cous cous. This is quickly becoming a standard here.

The best thing about trying all of these new recipes is that I'm more bold with my techniques and my experiments. I can create a relatively simple meal that's different enough to keep things interesting. We've come to love the Quorn products, a brilliant me@t substitute that's easy and delicious. Recently I sauteed a couple of Quorn naked cutlets, topped them with an herbed sour cream, and did sides of steamed broccoli spritzed with olive oil and sprinkled with paprika and sunchokes sauteed with Garam Masala. It was so simple, and a delicious change. The kids can have a modified version with Quorn nuggets and either the curried vegetables or some veggies that I steam and set aside before adding to the curry. EcoMama's in the kitchen, and loving it!

The Body in the Mirror

Over the past 3 months I have been undergoing the process of transforming my body. Up through my sophomore year of college I was a skinny girl. In High School people thought I had an eating disorder because I was so thin. The fact was that I could eat grilled cheese and french fries with ranch dressing (mmmmm....) with the best of 'em, I was just "naturally thin". Well of course it caught up with me. I started gaining weight my junior year, leveled out for a while about 10 pounds heavier, and then kept gaining slowly every year until I ended up about 30 pounds heavier than my high school weight. When I went to change my drivers license to my married name 7 years ago, the woman at the DOT said she would leave 140 on my drivers license, even though I knew I was at least 150. "Wedding weight" I believe she called it. I gained a lot of weight with my first pregnancy, and had just gotten back to pre-pregnancy weight when I found out I was pregnant with Bird. I have been losing and gaining the same 10 pounds since getting back to pre-pregnancy weight after bird. I used to tell myself over and over that I didn't have to "diet"-would NEVER diet and deprive myself--that it was a 'stupid' way to live life. I saw people doing diets like Atkins and refusing even a few bites of their favorite foods, and wouldn't do it. I am relatively active--for an American--but my phsyical activity was down a lot after having the kids. No matter how many times I read "Eat less, move more" I wouldn't do it. I ate natural, organic, healthy foods. Why should I diet? It took me years to even realize that I did not look to everyone else like I did to ME. I simply was not thin anymore. At the beginning of this year I was 163. I got myself down to 159 and I said that my goal was to get back to 150. I said I would love to see 140 but I knew it couldn't happen. Finally one day I realized that I had to stop telling myself all of the things I "couldn't" do, and just DO them.

Every journey begins with a single step.

I signed up for Weight Watchers online, and picked up my Billy Blanks Boot Camp routine again. In the past three months I have lost another 17 pounds. I've gone from a size 12/14 to a size 6/8. I feel better than I have in years. What took me so long to do this? What took me so long to believe in myself? I am so glad that I took matters into my own hands and decided to change my life. Yet there's still one battle to conquer. I look in the mirror, and I'm thrilled. My face has slimmed, my waist is slender, I look great. The second I walk away from the mirror I gain 20 pounds and my face swells. I step into my size 6 pants which are perfectly comfortable, and think to myself that it's only that the pants ran huge, that I'm not really that small. I know how hard I've worked to get here, but I just can't see myself as I am now. Beo tells me that I've spent the past 10 years learning to see myself as I really was, and now it's that image that's in my head. It will take more than three months to start seeing my new thin self in my head. I believe that I will keep this weight off. Weight Watchers has helped me to learn how to eat our foods in a healthier way. I've learned so much about how different foods affect me, about portion control, and about satiety. This weight loss is ushering in the new era of Me. Reminding me that I must honor and nurture myself if I am to do my best to honor and nurture my children, husband, friends, and environment.