Hey, so this week has been great so far. I started at Mellow Mushroom yesterday and I had a lot of fun training. This people I work with are great and I really like serving. I'll be solo next week and bringing in some much needed cash.
Today I picked up my CSA box for this week and I got some lovely little cherry tomatoes that I decided to put on my sandwich instead of regular heirlooms. I think they add a little bit of an artistic flavor to my sandwich..
Cute, huh? This sandwich is basically what I've been having for lunch all week. Creamy hummus spead on rye bread that I got from the farmers' market last week, some spinach, and local tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers. DELISH! And so simple. A mostly local and completely nutritious meal. Yum. I used the last of my rye bread with this sammich so I'll have to move on to some other fun meals for the rest of the week.
Oh, and "What's with the glasses?" you say.
I'M GOING TO SEE HARRY POTTER TONIGHT!!!
The guy who trained me last night is taking me to see it in 3D as compensation since I don't get tips while training. Heck yeah!
I've been doing some serious brainstorming and pondering about med school and my life today and last night with Julia, but more on that when I have all of my thoughts collected in a coherent fashion.. well semi-coherent at least.
Another note about food before I end this blog.
As I'm trying to cut back calories and as I'm getting this abundance of fresh fruits and veggies every week I'm trying to find ways to cut back on really calorie dense food items. We definitely need our whole grains but I try to get them in minimally processed ways. For a while now I've really made the effort to not have bread and pasta on the regular. Not that they are bad at all if they are whole grain, but seeing as I have a lot of produce to eat, I don't really have the calories available in my diet for that. Also, much to my dismay, this also applies to muffins, scones, and cookies. I was on a huge cooking spree for a while and I was making sooo many delicious and nutritious baked goodies but even if they are nutritional, they are very calorie dense. This doesn't necessarily mean there are a ton of calories in a muffin, but I can have a much more filling bowl of oatmeal for probably half the calories. And with the fiber in the oatmeal, I'll stay full longer and that may even replace some more food I would have eaten in the future. I love food and I'm definitely not going to completely cut out all of the wonderful things in life (aka breakfast scones with a big cup of coffee), but I just really need to work on letting those be special enjoyments. If you eat pancakes every morning, they aren't as special as if you were to have a special pancake time once or twice a month to really slow down and enjoy the morning.
Basically, the most optimal nutrition and the most benefits from food will come from eating things as closely to its natural state as possible. Minimally processed if you will. This is where the idea of eating raw comes from (not going raw anytime soon, no worries). One of the other aspects of an overall healthy diet that's still considered processed is oil. A lot of time we can do without it. Most of the time it can be reduced a lot in recipes. Oil and fat are essential in our diets, but we don't need a lot.
I'm really trying to use less oil in cooking and instead just add a small drizzle of flaxseed oil to a meal to get those essential fatty acids. Again, I'm not looking to deprive myself but just to simply be conscious of the amount of oil I'm using. Eating consciously is a major part of living healthfully and losing weight (or preventing weight gain).
Other calorie dense foods, like nuts and seeds I'm going to limit to using them for flavor adders (like sliced almonds on a salad), as opposed to just snacking on them. I want the majority of my food to be veggies, then whole grains, then fruits, nuts and oils (for you omni's out there, try to think of the veggies as the main dish and the meat as a small side or use cheese as you would salt, not something to be the main flavor of the dish but to compliment and bring out other flavors). These are the things that will lead to health and weight loss if that's your goal.
So, my food journey continues and is as adventurous as always. This week I'm going to tackle some recipes using chinese eggplant, summer squash, and red cabbage among other things. : ] Can't wait.
Oh boy, I love cabbage. : ]
No comments:
Post a Comment