Day 4 of the Quest for Clean

I'm approximately 30ish% of the way through my ten-day clean eating plan, (today is morning of Day 4) and I thought a subjective and objective update on how it's going would be appropriate, from my kitchen to your computer screen.  Some ups, some sorta-but-not-really downs.. it's all part of the learning process.  Arguably more important, firstly, I bring you my subjective evaluation:  Days 1 through 3 of my Clean Eating Adventure felt good.

Ten Days as a Lean Mean Clean Queen

Ed left this early morning for a business trip to San Francisco for ten days.  (Sad.)  He's actually going to be about 30 minutes away from most of my Mom's side of the family - wish I could have tagged along!  With finishing up this semester of school and starting training for my new job, the timing was just not gonna cut it.  Bummer!  However, I've decided to make good use of this mandatory Me-time: Strict clean eating for ten days.  (If you don't know clean eating and Tosca Reno yet, you should.)  We had a pretty indulgent weekend with friends and I am feeling sluggier than usual this Monday morning, so I've decided to scour all of my past issues of Oxygen magazine and whip up a week of planned-in-advance healthy meals, tailored to my ideal calorie level and macro breakdown.

This means I got to indulge myself in some healthy grocery shopping!  Does anyone else look forward to shopping for food?  (I have grocery issues - eh, just lump that together with my scone and coffee issues.)  We've been on a tight-ish budget recently, which meant we've whittled down our pantry, fridge, and freezer foods to a respectable emptiness, so I didn't feel too bad for stocking up.  It was refreshing to replenish my clean eating staple foods.  Today's grocer choice was Trader Joe's - and I got some great deals!  Impressive.  Seeing my fridge fully stocked, I already feel more motivated to work toward my goals.

Friday Night "Cheat": Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta

Yum.  Ed and I have been eating superbly healthy as of late, and as the weekend approaches, so do our cravings for some "treat" food.  We really didn't want to order out last night, essentially spending extra money by phoning in an order for salty, greasy dishes and subsequent bloaty tummies.  No, thanks.  So, I got my butt in the kitchen and test-ran a new recipe! 

Not in the mood for pizza, we navigated to the second-most-ordered junkie-type food: burgers.  I wanted to keep it interesting, because it's fairly easy to health up a burger (lean meat, pack the patties with chopped veggies, light cheese, etc)  So.. how about we remove the bun, and replace it with a different grain.. like.. whole grain pasta?  Something along the lines of Hambuger Helper, but very much not.  And man, that Bacon & Blue burger from Wendy's sounds good, but the nutrition label stops me in my tracks.  Hmm.. bacon.. Bacon!  Normally, this nitrate-ridden, salt-packed meat is a no-no, but in measured tablespoon portions, bits of real bacon pack enough flavor to really make a nice difference in a dish.  And in a cheat meal, cheese is a must for us.  Looking to combine these ideas, I found a bunch of recipes for healthed-up hamburger helper-type foods.  So, I melded a tidbit from each recipe and created tonight's dish:  Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta. 

Popovers - Who Knew?

I certainly didn't!  Last night in my Food Lab (yes, I have 'food lab' as part of my graduate education.. life is good.) after a informational lecture, we broke up into groups to cook, as usual.  But, not like usual, we were baking instead of cooking.  In cooking, you can get away with a dash of this or that, but with baking, it comes down to a chemical science of acids and bases, gluten formation and gelatinization, etc.  We were practicing recipe standardization, which is basically what chefs/cooks/other various people who cook do to get the best version of the recipe they can.  They might write one up, try it, and decide to make a change in the ingredient list or in a step in the preparation.  Then they make that recipe, and tweak that.  Then they try that one, and so on and so forth until they have, according to them, the best version possible. 

So, each group in my class had a different quick bread to design and bake, and then we had to analyze nutrition data for our product.  (Quick breads are just that - baked goods that are prepared and ready in a short amount of time, and aren't leavened with yeast.)  My group made Mocha scones with espresso and dark chocolate. ... hmm.  Wow. I only just realized, as I'm typing this, what a loser I am for choosing scones for my project.. unintentionally mentioned here!  I swear I didn't choose to make scones just so I could 'blog' about it!  Lame.

My point is, another group made rosemary-scented popovers.  Have you had popovers?  WOW!  They are delightful.  And potentially a new healthy treat.

What's cookin' with Vegan Kids?

Recently, a vegan friend of mine and I were chatting about how she wanted to have kids soon, and plans to raise them in her own vegan lifestyle.  She knows I'm a nutrition junkie and was asking me all kinds of questions about what would be different for vegan kids versus vegan adults.  I happily delved into this topic as my newest project, and I even ended up writing a term paper on the subject.  I'll do my best to contain my rambling self, but some tidbits are definitely interesting enough to report!

Veganism, which is completely plant-based diet, can be an awesome nutritional plan that helps lower the risk of chronic diseases that have origins in childhood, like obesity and high cholesterol.  Establishing healthy eating habits from the get-go is a great idea for your kids.  Vegan kids tend to eat above and beyond the dietary recommendations for fruits and veggies, and due to this awesomeness, they usually get plenty of vitamins and minerals, are within healthy weight ranges, and have strong immune systems.  However, they might be at risk for some necessary nutrients that must be addressed to ensure normal growth and development.  What I like is that some of the technigues and tidbits I gleaned from my research can be totally applicable to myself as an omnivores.  I just looove finding ways I can continually improve how I get nutrients outta my food and into my body.

Me + New Food-Related Job = Good

Just a quickie post to announce that I officially got a new job!  A job all about organic food!  My current job is decent, but not in the food field and thus not a longterm gig.  This is exciting stuff.. it will be (hopefully) the last job I have before I begin my career as a registered dietician.  As I finish up school and my mandatory internship, I'll be working in the Natural Foods section of the an awesome grocery store in my area.  There's a blurb in my New Employee manual that disencourages posting the name of the store all over here (even though I would rave with joy each time!) I'll be in the organic and natural foods section inside the store, so I'll be spending some -hopefully most- of my time educating customers about my favorite healthy food finds.. which is what I love to do!  And I will happily receive a paycheck for this.. which is also something I love to do!  As I uncover even more behind-the-scenes info on current and upcoming healthy foods, I will of course share my finds with you lovely people.  I'll keep you posted.

Isn't that Sweet?

Dessert.. hmm.. what to do, what to do when it's time for dessert?  Sometimes you just have a sweet tooth, simple as that.  But how can we endulge and not flood our systems with sugar at the end of a perfecty decent, balanced day?  Yes yes, fruit is lovely.  But it's also a little a moderate sugar source, and sometimes you just don't. want. fruit.  You wanna be bad.  Not bad-bad, but.. just.. not good.  I believe in a controlled splurge to maintain sanity.  I do not, however, believe in a daily splurge and we therefore need some sane dessert options beyond 'fresh fruit.'  Typically, if it's not a special occasion, and I need a treat at home post-dinner, I more or less choose from 5 different options, and they keep me pretty happy.

Eat Your Kale! Part Two

Ta da!  I bring you the follow-up to my Ode to Veggie Buying post, Veggie recipes! Coming atcha.  These are some of my favorite ways to sneak veggies into my days, so I'm not just using steamfresh bags over and over and over, boring myself (and my tastebuds) to tears.  Some of them are pretty darn simple, but worth mentioning.  So, without further adieu, here be my top 8 Veggie-getter-inners.  Enjoy!

Eat Your Kale! Part One

Ok, it is officially time for us all to be getting in the 2-and-a-half cups of vegetables each day recommended by the Dietary Guidlelines.  C'mon people!  These many-hued, many-textured gems are what should make up a sizeable bulk of your nutritional intake for each day, and they will maximize your weight loss potential. 

I don't really want to go on and on about how awesome vegetables are, but they are!  And we Americans aren't eating enough of them, particularly leafy green and orange varieties.  (We are eating pleeenty of starchy veggies like white potatoes and corn - the latter of which is actually a grain.  Sad.)  So, in this post, though I am tempted to go on a tangent about anthocyanins and plant hemicellulose, I will instead divert my energies first toward providing handy veggie-purchasing tips that will save you money and super-fuel your body right.

What I often hear as a big no-veggies excuse is the taste.  I'll take care of that in veggie post number two, with some awesome recipes from my repetoire that I use often.  Another excuse I hear is regarding the price of fresh veggies.  I understand that one, but there are some rules of thumb to aide you, and you're in the right place to learn about that.

Cinnamon to the Sorta-Rescue

Happy Day-After-the-Day-After-Easter!  Today I bring you a sweet treat to consider instead of the traditional belly-busting leftover giant chocolate bunnies that adorn so many tables across the country this week.  Instead of milk chocolate - or, even worse - PEEPS (yikes) - try and spice it up.  Cinnamon is where it's at!

As an apple-shaped type of person, meaning I carry some tummy chub instead of thigh & butt-based chub (though there is a bit there as well), I am constantly on the hunt for legitimate 'belly-fat' fighting foods and exercise tactics.  Subsequently, I've tried many a variety of twisty-turny kickbox pilate'd tae bo crunch and burn.  While I tackle those moves, I search for food-based strategies to help me out.  Recently, cinnamon has piqued my interest.