Missing Mardi Gras in Bend

Well, I have been putting off writing all day, and now that I’m finally getting to it, I bailed on my original post, because I just spent the last, oh, 5 hours going down a Mardi Gras rabbit hole.

If you know me, you know I’m from South Louisiana. I’m an Asian-Cajun, and I love my Mardi Gras. It is my favorite holiday (and to be clear, it’s a season, not just a day). Besides my family, it’s probably one of the biggest things I miss about home. Why is that? Well…

The Abbeys 2020

1. You get to play dress up: It’s like Halloween, but not the scary parts. You can wear big things, shiny things, velvet things, whatever you can dream up. Oh, and you can paint your face.

Krewe de Porte en Pierre 2022!

1. Community: What did we do during Mardi Gras in Louisiana? Parades, parties, events. It was a reason to celebrate, and we celebrated in community. I didn’t realize this until a friend recently brought it up to me; many people who didn’t grow up with Mardi Gras, don’t really understand what Mardi Gras is about, and many just think it’s about drinking, boobs, and debauchery. Sure, it can get that way with the right crowd, but the Mardi Gras I grew up with was all about families getting together to socialize and celebrate being together. The adults gathered, and yes, drinks were had…and there are also all kids running around being kids, and neighbors catching up with neighbors.

   Oh, and guess what else makes an appearance at these gatherings?…

Shrimp, Sausage & Chicken Gumbo

1. Food: If you know me, you know my love of food. I’ll thank my family for instilling that characteristic in me. I remember the big spreads of food at any house I went to during Mardi Gras. I particularly remember houses on parade routes…all the doors open, food and drink everywhere, people coming in, going out. There was gumbo, jambalaya, meat pies, sauce piquante, dips, crackers, burgers, hot dogs…no one was ever going to go hungry.

The Brown Owl w/ B Side Brass Band in 2020!

1. Music: I love Mardi Gras music. I love Zydeco music. I love Cajun music. Sprinkle in some old country and rock and that is the music I grew up with. It’s good music to dance to and makes you smile :-)

Handmade “throws” by yours truly! A collectors item, if you ask me ;-)

1. You get to be creative: This is related to #1, but I think “dress up” get's to have its own number. Here, I’m focused more on the general artistic side of Mardi Gras. At a time when we spend so much of our lives connected to electronics and tending to our never ending to-do list, here is an opportunity to create something, whether it’s your costume, an event with a theme, handmade throws for a parade, beading, or any other type of craft you dream up during the season. This year, I made my first ever handmade throws for our neighborhood Mardi Gras parade. It was so fun!!

All of this together creates this environment where you don’t have to take things so seriously, and can be a little carefree and celebratory. Also, it creates an opportunity to bring people together, in food, creativity, and fun. Connection….is what it’s all about!!

So you can see why I love Mardi Gras so much. Since moving to Bend, I started a small Mardi Gras parade in my neighborhood (Krewe de Porte en Pierre).

We paused in 2021, but brought it back this year and it grew! Tomorrow (Fat Tuesday) I’ll head to a local food truck for a Cajun style lunch and then head to the local theatre for a live Mardi Gras show. I know of one other spot having a Mardi Gras party. That’s about it for Mardi Gras in Bend this year. I think I’m going to do something about that for next year. Stay tuned. And if you live in Bend and are interested, you should drop me a line.

-M

San Francisco Foodie Tour

Long story short, I’m up against a blog post deadline and ran across this beauty sitting in my drafts…was just waiting for all the pictures to get uploaded. So here it is…a long awaited food diary from a family trip to San Francisco!

I love to travel…and when I travel, I do love to experience the local fare. I recently visited San Francisco with my family. If you’d like a glimpse of one of my “foodie adventures”…then read on. This was not a “healthy foodie adventure”. I repeat, not a “healthy foodie adventure”.

 We had a total of 3 days (2 full, 2 half). The premise of this trip was for my mother to see Chinatown for the first time. My Mom could and would eat Chinese food every day, for every meal. Us kids, not so much, so I made sure our dinner plans were varied. 

On the first night we had a magnificent meal at Lao Table. My sister and I were planning the meal, as we agreed to share entrees during the trip, which really worked out well! But, before we started ordering, this dim sum-like cart rolled by with server introductions. 

Well yes, I WOULD like the seaweed and papaya salad dishes!

The seaweed had an awesome texture and almost smoky flavor. It was different than the Japanese style crispy seaweed I usually eat. The papaya salad was tasty, with lots of peanuts!

Then my sister and I shared a crab curry dish on fermented noodles, which sounds intriguing, but the noodles just tasted like thick rice noodles…the dish was DELICIOUS.

The dessert pictures on Yelp were probably what pulled us in to this restaurant the first night. Mango sticky rice with a ‘side’ of a mango shaved ice. We hardly made a dent in it, but had to try it! It was also, delicious.

I am an early riser, so was out early the next morning in search of good coffee and good pastries. Enter, Mr. Holmes Bakehouse.

They were quite tasty. The bourbon sticky bun was probably my favorite, followed by the twice baked pear/Nutella croissant. The corn flake cookie and filled donuts were good.

For lunch, my Mom picked out a place outside of downtown, once we learned that the best Chinese food would be outside of Chinatown. Oh, right, my bad. Mom did good, holy wow was Lime Tree good!

Well of course I forgot to take a picture of the Poh Pia, which were these fresh spring rolls wrapped in a super thin crepe-like wrapper, with this awesome chili sauce. I could have hurt myself eating those, but I had to save room.

I got the Singapore curry noodles with shrimp….YUM YUM YUM! Then my Mom ordered this other noodle dish with shrimp and mushroom and this smoky type oyster sauce, along with her Hainan Chicken. Everything was delicious. This is probably the meal where I ate the most. But I had to save room for Italian later!

Ok, so dinner tonight was Barbara Pinseria in North Beach. This place was just too adorable. We were seated at the cool ‘window’ table which had us sitting right between where two streets meet. Loved it.

I was definitely going light tonight after the lunch I had. My sis and I would split a small butternut squash/kale salad and a ‘Pinsa” with burrata. Pinsa is this style of pizza from Rome that is made with a dough which goes through a long fermentation. It is so tasty. This place did not disappoint.

I was kind of thinking of passing on dessert, but we ended up getting the chocolate cake and pumpkin panna cotta. They were really good together!

And the next morning…off to find different coffee and pastries! I started off at Sightglass in SOMA. The place was super cool and open. Even though I planned breakfast somewhere else, and was only supposed to get coffee here, I still got a peanut butter cookie and a chocolate raspberry scone, just to taste. Yes, I actually just had a couple of bites of each and sadly never got to the rest. The PB cookie was a little to candy-like for me, but the scone was on point.

After the coffee, it was over to Vive la Tarte. This place was everything I thought it would be. I ended up get a savory, nutritious, breakfast salad. Best breakfast salad EVER! I’m going to have to re-create this one at home. Avocado, yogurt, beet hummus, greens, cucumber, falafel and toast.

I brought home an orange blossom/za’atar, almond, and chocolate croissants. I sadly only was able to try a couple bites of the orange blossom/za’atar. So good. I’ll be back someday. Just too much food. Get here if you visit San Francisco.

That night we hit Colibri Mexican Bistro. I think we were getting tired, and tired of eating by then. I ordered sopes and a side of portabello mushrooms and nopales. I think I like the side of veggies the best!

Ok, so last food item. I was up early once again for one last coffee/pastry pairing. Jane’s on Larkin was such a cute place, with such nice counter service, and some amazing looking pastries. Their savory breakfast selections also looked really good. But one thing was interestingly tugging at my foodie curiosity. The biscuit with butter and blueberry jelly. I mean this thing was LOADED with butter and blueberry jelly. I love chunky butter, haha. So I just went for it.

This was the BEST biscuit I’ve had in forever. I am so glad I don’t live close to this biscuit. I would eat it everyday.

 Ok, we’ll that’s it! A long weekend of family and food :-)

 If you’re heading to San Francisco and are interested in any of the places I mentioned, drop me a line if you have any questions! I always love to hear from you all.

-M

A very locally sourced dinner in Bend, Oregon

If there is one thing I’ve come to appreciate this year, it is the appreciation for each individuals support of causes. I live in a non-profit household. I work for one, and my husband runs one. I now have several friends that also work for nonprofits. We all have the causes we support, feel strongly about, and live by. I really appreciate people who support causes that go against the prevailing system. Why? Because it’s hard work.

Being the person that I am…food lover, real food lover, nutritious food lover, nature lover…I am a big supporter of High Desert Food & Farm Alliance (HDFFA). The organization does everything to support our local farmers and promote the local food system, from seed to table. When I go to the grocery store, I’m in awe of where much of the food comes from. Most packaged food is coming from factories everywhere, with ingredients grown all over the place. Corn is in everything…well, parts of it. I’m currently reading a book that mentions how one country will grow fish, to ship to another country for processing, only to ship the final product back to the original country for sale. Hmmm, maybe we could still call that product “local” (and the marketers probably do!).

Menu, sourcing, and HDFFA directories on hand

So I’m on board with supporting a local food system. There are so many reasons that locally grown and processed food is better for us physically, mentally, and for our community. I wanted to do this dinner as a fundraiser for HDFFA, and to promote locally sourced foods to my guests. So how about I get to the fun part and tell you what we had for dinner? I’d like to kick it off by mentioning that I was able to procure several of my locally sourced foods from Central Oregon Locavore market. If you haven’t been, it is a great place to get all of your locally sourced goods!

Central Oregon Locavore haul

First, we had a Rogue Creamery blue cheese on crackers with a local honey from Sun Life farm. Jeff & Amy at Sun Life are friends of mine, so I was happy to start my dinner off with one of their products. I also featured a Chemistry Pinot Noir from Stoller Family Estate, with vineyards just over the hill in the Willamette Valley.

I made a homemade Dutch oven bread with local herbs and both white and red wheat flour from Rainshadow Organics. If you live in the area and haven’t visited them, you should check out the website, and make plans for a future tour while attending one of their brunches or dinners.

My salad idea came to me while in Dayton, OR. I ran into some delicious hazelnuts from Baird Family Orchards, and thought they would pair well with the Casad Family Farms beets I picked up at the then, recent Fill Your Pantry event. I found arugula, mesclun mix, and microgreens from Fields Farm, Boundless Farmstead, and Bend Gorilla Greens, respectively. THEN, I topped in all with olive oil and a delicious aged balsamic made right here in Bend by Celia’s Gourmet Foods.

Then, the main dish, a Beef Bourguignon. The beef is from a 1/4 cow share that we purchased from a local guy in Sisters, with my root veggies coming from farms I’ve already listed. I used a pretty basic recipe, and I puree some of the cooked carrots and onions to thicken the sauce (a tip from my dear friend!). Additional tip…the Vitamix is a game changer in pureeing those veggies. I tried it with my Ninja once and didn’t quite get the glossy finish that I got with the Vitamix.

I invited a new friend to this dinner and learned she is a vegetarian. I love the opportunity to cater to different diets, so I also whipped up a dish of roasted carrots, with a honey/yogurt/tahini sauce and crushed pistachios. It came out splendidly!

And now for dessert. After all the work I put in planning, sourcing, prepping, cooking, and printing out a menu with sources, I decided I’d keep dessert simple. I made Levain style chocolate chip walnut cookies (with Shelby’s eggs from Field’s Farm!) and paired them with our local favorite Bontà ice cream.

I know I referenced a lot of different places in this post, but I guess that was my intention with this first dinner. I wanted to showcase an example of the many local producers in our area. Takeaways? I think the dinner execution went well. I served and ate with 5 other guests. I’d like to attempt a larger group next time, and just maybe not eat with, so that I can concentrate more on serving, clearing, and dropping in tidbits of interesting local food system info. I’m hoping to make it at least a quarterly event, perhaps each solstice?

I’d love to hear any feedback or if you would like to hear more about any piece I wrote about, here!

And that’s a wrap!

3 Things that are stopping you from living the life you want to live...

You have that list of things you want to do, habits you want to stop, habits you want to start, people you want to move closer towards, people you want to distance from…but some of it isn’t happening, and we’re reaching that time of year when we’re identifying successes and lessons.

Below are what I believe to be the three biggest reasons why we can’t get to things on our “to do” list, from small daily tasks to more permanent habit changes.

#1 - Competing priorities

Everything’s important. I know. It’s really hard to get it all done when it’s all important. In this case we’re likely just getting to the things on the top of the list and we’ll never make our way to the bottom of the list. You may benefit mentally from creating lists that you can actually complete and goals you can achieve.

Try this - Be realistic. If you can’t do it all, you should take some things off the list and take some pressure off yourself. You may need to rethink what is most important to you now, 3 months from now, and a year from now, and reorganize your priorities accordingly. And for Pete’s sake (and your sake), give yourself some time to just BE, instead of always “doing” <check out my friend, Kristi’s ideas for Sunday Self-Care.>

#2 - Lifestyle

We often set goals or want to incorporate habits that don’t fit with our current lifestyle. If I wanted to start eating breakfast at 6am but I haven’t been out of bed before 8am in the past five years, I might have a tough time. If I wanted to start cooking my own meals every weeknight but am often on the go with little time to cook before dinner, I either need to figure out how to clear out 1-2 hours before dinner for nightly cooking, or I need to rethink that goal.

Often our goal IS to change our lifestyle. It is certainly possible, but takes a bit of discipline, and accountability. This is where I like working with my clients; figuring out their personalized strategy to achieving their goals. Lasting change takes time. The journey is valuable and the end result is worth it. As you stick with that journey of change you see yourself in the constant state of “becoming”.

Try this - Attaching habits. Identify one of your favored habits. Attach your new goal to this current habit. Already running weekday mornings and want to add a nutritious breakfast? Add it post-run. Cleaning the kitchen nightly and want to start a meditation habit? Add a 10 -minute session after you clean the kitchen. Consistently associating the new habit to the familiar habit will make it easier to incorporate into your life.

#3 - Environment

Where are you throughout the week? Who are the people you surround yourself with?What’s going on in your own head? Your physical AND mental environment have a huge impact on your ability to change, and we often move through life not really understanding the magnitude of that impact. If you want to change, grow, whatever you want to call it, you must feed yourself knowledge, variety of perspective, and space for that growth. Consider this in your usual environment of friends, work, home, conversations, and weekly rituals. This is something we should be reminded of all the time, so as not to become complacent in our usual physical AND mental environments.

Try this - Beware of social media. Know that social media algorithms know your likes and dislikes, opinions, and friends. What you see on social media is constantly tailored to REINFORCE what you already feel and believe. If your goal is to actually learn more or open your mind to something new, you likely won’t find it on social media. Also, make a point to push yourself out of your usual physical environment on a regular basis, whether daily, weekly, or monthly. If you need ideas, give me a holler.

I hope this small bit of insight is helpful. If you are hell bent on making some changes for 2022, or just have a question, comments, or questions you want answered for a future blog post, please reach out to me!

-M

How do YOU define “quality of life”? How is YOUR “quality of life”?

I had a recent assignment to connect with a couple of people to ask them a bit about their definition of “quality of life”. I know I’ve thrown the term around a lot in conversation, and with my clients. I don’t know that I’ve ever pondered it enough to define it, or define exactly what it means to me.

Of course the first thing I did, as I do anytime I’m looking for the answers to life’s questions...I Googled it.

Google says: qual.i.ty of life - The standard of health, comfort, and happiness experienced by an individual or group

“The standard” - Well, that makes it subjective, so the definition will be different for everyone.

Nature - important to me

Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office has even categorized things for us with quality of life indicators: 

• Income/Jobs

• Housing Conditions

• Health 

• Education

• Environmental Quality

• Personal Security

• Civic Engagement

Good food - Also important to me

Work/Life Balance

Being the humans we are, we are always reassessing. One friend I spoke with made the observation that her quality of life indicators changed when moving to Bend. For instance, easy access to nature is an important quality of life indicator for her now.

We all have different standards and expectations. Those might change based on circumstances. For instance, the current pandemic. Supply chains are slow, jobs are hard to fill, some of us are drinking a bit more. There is a drop in expectations of packages arriving quickly, restaurants staying open, and being sober.

It all comes back to our values and what is most important to us. Accurately defining your values and staying true to what is most important to you (i.e. living according to your values) will always push you in the direction of a good quality of life. Not living in line with your true values? Your quality of life, and happiness, will suffer. 

It won’t serve you to try to live your life according to what you think another values, or what some group approves of. I’ve struggled with that in the past. I’m sure many of us have. I hope that this spatter of words moves you to think of what’s most important to you, write it down in a list, and reference it often. Do a thing every day that fills your soul according to that list, and I imagine you’ll thrive instead of just survive. How lucky are we that we even have the capacity to ponder this.

Feeling “too busy” lately?

Culture of “Busy”

This is something I’ve been pondering a lot lately. Have you had a recent conversation that started with “How have you been?”, followed by, “Oh, busy, very busy!”. Do you often feel too busy? Shoving food in your mouth quickly as time permits? Waking at 4am to squeeze in a workout (or extra work!)? Becoming the King or Queen of multitasking? Welcome to what I feel is our culture of “busy”. This is most people I know, including me. Getting a group together, sometimes even a close group of friends, is hard. We live in a world of innovation that has awarded us with the ability to pile it on when it comes to the “to do” list.

It’s Not Enough

Continuing to feel like you (still) aren’t doing enough? Another aspect of today’s culture, if you ask me. Achieve more, attain more, do more...it’s never enough. Busy from the time you wake until bedtime? You’re doing plenty. Maybe it’s time to take a look at your time management. Maybe it’s time to reassess your values. The last couple of years have brought about much change. That has likely had an impact on what is most important to you. What you value most might have changed, and you need to make sure that you are living your life according to those values.

Finding “Balance”

Finding balance...what does that even mean? Well, it could be about avoiding the feeling that you may “break”, or avoiding unhealthy stress, and living a life according to what’s most important to you. It’s also about taking some time for “being” instead of always “doing”. Self care isn’t selfish, it helps us to be our best selves for others.

Personal Connection

My inspiration for this post. I see a lack of personal connection these days. We are social organisms. We need social contact and social support. Research shows that we engage better in person, and that social support systems are incredibly important for our mental health, and survival. Emails and texts, Zoom meetings, social media, masks, are all deteriorating our much needed in-person, genuine connection. 

I invite you to re-evaluate what’s most important to you, and reorganize your schedule to reflect that. I hope you find time for what’s most important, time for yourself, time for “being”, and become a bit more zen, overall.

-M

Hiking up the mountain of meaningful health

What do I mean by “meaningful health”? 

What does health mean to you, and why, specifically do you wish to be in a state of good health? Your detailed answer is your personal definition of meaningful health. What good is good health without the “why” behind it?

If meaningful health is something you crave, read on.

Yesterday, I summited South Sister for the first time. It was my 43rd birthday, and one of my favorite things to do is hike up mountains, so that is the present my hubby gave me!

Enjoying the summit views.

Along the way, I thought about how the important tenets for success on that hike are very much the same for finding and living a lifestyle that fosters your best physical and mental health.

Knowing yourself

Like I just mentioned. I know myself pretty well. I am in touch with my physical capabilities. I like big physical challenges. It was a fitting birthday goal to hike up an unfamiliar mountain. 

How well do you know yourself? 

What are your top life values? What are your strengths? What are the things that bring you joy? What types of tasks do you usually follow through? The answers to these questions are valuable in defining the actions you take toward your best physical and mental health.

Physical & Mental preparation

While I might not be in top shape physically, at the moment, I knew I was in decent enough shape for summiting. If I needed the extra push, I knew that my mind was certainly made up that I would summit yesterday.

Let’s do this!

When it comes to developing healthy habits, education is a great starting point. It is important to learn about health and well-being from credible sources. When setting a goal, assess your motivation to complete that goal. Is your motivation waning? What will it take to feed your motivation?

“Whether you think you can, or think you can’t - you’re right” -Henry Ford

Mindset is everything. Henry was right. Optimistic thinking is helpful here. Take control of the choices you have, because you have choices. Choosing to do nothing...that is a choice. Take responsibility for your choices. When something bad happens to you for reasons that are not in your control...don’t blame yourself. Look at what you can control and make a choice. That, my friends, is power.

Mental preparedness is the inner support you need for any sort of physical preparation. This covers everything from cleaning the house and preparing a meal, to hiking a local trail or running a 5K. Meaningful health is a lifelong goal requiring a lifetime of keeping your mind in the right place to facilitate your desired actions.

Dedication & Perseverance

Without the strong commitment to my goal of summiting yesterday, I might not have made it. There is a flat meadow about three miles in that has great views and makes a very nice turnaround point (as you look at the very steep trail ahead). Dedication kept me focused on my goal. Though there were times I needed to stop to either catch my breath or eat (oh my goodness I was so hungry!), I attended to my needs, and then continued forward. 

Close to the halfway point of the hike, realizing the real climb is about to begin.

Focusing on your goals, along with being sure that your goals fall in line with your values, is important with lifestyle change. A commitment to consistent, small tasks, emerges as habits.

There are many things competing for your attention. The ability to focus on those things that you value most can be difficult even when you are very clear about your priorities. It’s either up to you to provide yourself the accountability for staying focused on your goals (apps, reminders, lists), or to find someone else to help you with the accountability necessary to keep you consistent and moving towards your goals (friend, group, professional).

Enjoying the journey

The final three miles of the South Sister summit trail, is a slow slog through very steep, sandy, rocky terrain. Yesterday, add to that some pretty blustery sustained winds, and you get fun times!

Without delving too much into perspective (that’s for another post), I did take a moment to remind myself to enjoy the journey, yesterday. I was grateful for every part of that hike. My joke to Derek was that the wind came out in full force to sing me Happy Birthday! Even though stopping on the steep trail was a bit of a challenge, I did my best to secure my footing every now and then, in order to stop and really enjoy the incredible surroundings. Taking the time to enjoy and appreciate the journey, adds meaning to both the journey and the goal, and reinforces those values you are living.

Continuous action

I did not summit yesterday without continuously moving, or preparing to move. If I would have stood there in the middle of the hike, dreaming about the top, or beneath several paths that went up, pondering which one to take, or looking back down, wondering how far I’ve come, replaying how I could have done things differently so far, I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere closer to the top. Taking steps forward (literally) was how I got to the top (and then back down, an often important overlooked part of a summit hike).

Keep moving forward! Bonus points if you do it with a smile on your face :-)

If you have a goal that is important to you, you have to keep taking steps toward that goal. If you just keep planning and dreaming, then success will remain a dream. Deadlines become important here. Yesterday, my goal was to be back to the car before sunset. Goal accomplished.

In closing

This advice could apply to so many areas of our lives. I plan to use my own advice on a few projects I’ve been dreaming about. I hope that you find some value in the words above, and that you enjoy your journey!

-M

WHY DO WE EAT?

I remember once, a long time ago, someone asking me, “Do you eat to live, or do you live to eat?”

Oh, the latter, for sure.

Mmmm, breakfast, my favorite!

I LOVE to eat. I am obsessed with food...not just with eating it, but the science of food, where food comes from, the life of my food, the social impact of food, food in different cultures, and what food does in our bodies. It’s why I became a dietitian.

I’m pretty meticulous about my food choices. Preparing my food can be quite the production. Food is never an afterthought, to me. 

My husband, on the other hand, is more of an “eat to live” guy. He can make it until lunch, sometimes later, if I don’t slip a meal under his nose beforehand. He will wait until he is “hangry” and then will eat whatever is most readily available.

Beyond being somewhere on the spectrum between the two people above, I’ll touch on four main types of cues when it comes to making the decision to eat.

BIOLOGICAL CUES

Well this one is easy. We get hungry. We eat. There’s a big hormone party going on inside that brings about your hunger and fullness. And if that is all there was to it, we’d probably be running around foraging berries, roasting duck over the fire, and calling it a day. Today, though, there are far more reasons we eat than just biological hunger.

EMOTIONAL CUES

Name an emotion. That emotion, for you, might be a trigger for eating. I know I’m one of those people. I will chow down if I am happy, scared, stressed, bored...maybe even sad. I have many friends that will actually lose their appetite when they are stressed or nervous. Not me. 

What do you eat when you are happy? Stressed?

COGNITIVE CUES

The one thing I want to point out here is planned eating. With our hectic lives and busy schedules, we often must plan our meals at certain times, and possibly eat when we aren’t hungry. For instance, your lunch break is at 11:30am. You aren’t really hungry yet, but you know you won’t get another chance for a snack until 3:00pm, so you eat anyway.

ENVIRONMENTAL CUES

This is the category for the other 738 reasons we eat, and it really is the most interesting to me. It’s all about the external conditions around us, and there are A LOT of external conditions. I am talking about everything from marketing, to temperature, lighting, the way food is presented, the sounds around you and decibel level, the people you are with, who is watching you, a conversation, a picture, ease of access to food, colors, portion sizes, weather...you get the picture.

Doesn’t just the sight of this make you want to eat?? Well…I guess IF you like chocolate waffles…

So what’s the advice for developing eating habits that support optimal health and well-being? 

Getting those veggies in!

It starts with awareness. First, practicing mindful eating and meditation will do wonders for helping you to feel actual hunger and satiety cues in your body. Second, recognizing your emotions and eating behaviors around those emotions, is the first step in changing those behaviors. Third, awareness of your environment, along with a focus on yourself, will help you to make intentional decisions on what and how much to eat. Otherwise, the environment will decide for you.

Questions or comments on why you eat? Want to change your eating habits? Please reach out to me, I’d love to hear from you!

-M

Buddha Bowls! -And a Miso-Maple dressing

In case you haven’t already committed to another of the million or so recipes for a Buddha Bowl, welcome to my version :-)

This was the star of my third Facebook Live appearance. I’m hoping to bring you guys some quick videos of unfussy options for making nutritious, whole food, plant based meals, along with just enough commentary to keep it interesting.

I wanted to make a pretty simple, and delicious bowl, with ingredients that you might just have on hand.

Buddha Bowl:

Mixed greens

Quinoa

Sweet Potatoes

Edamame

Broccoli

Mushrooms

Cashews

I highly recommend keeping something similar to the above ingredients on hand always, as these ingredients are versatile, and happen to make a great “Buddha Bowl”. You can use a variety of other veggies in this bowl, such as peppers, green or purple cabbage, carrots, cucumber, squash, and snap peas, to name a few.

The star here, really, is this dressing. I wanted to come up with a recipe that was very easy to remember. So, 5 ingredients (6 if you count the water).

Miso Maple Dressing:

Miso paste (whichever you have is fine)

Maple Syrup

Tahini

Rice Vinegar

Lemon Juice

Water

One tablespoon of each. Whisk it all for a couple minutes until it comes together…and yummm!

I think the lemon juice does a great job of brightening the dressing, so you have that umami flavor, deep tahini flavor, yet light and bright.

If you make the bowl and/or the dressing, let me know how it goes! And please, always feel free to email me with suggestions for future videos.

-M

Thoughts on life during the COVID-19 pandemic: Part 2 - Nutrition & your food supply

Nutrition-

Have the changes of your daily routine had an effect on your diet? How has grocery shopping changed for you in the last month or so?

Normally, I head to the grocery store, two, three times a week. I buy what I need for a few days. I always forget something, meaning I always “need to go to the grocery store”. On top of that, I go to two or three different stores regularly. We also frequented several local bakeries and restaurants during the week for pastries, sandwiches, and special meals out.

Things have changed.

In the effort to stay home as much as possible, I’m trying to shop as little as possible, meaning I go to one store, and try to buy for as long as I can (which led to a very large Trader Joe’s bill a couple of weeks ago). Since I can’t buy 2 weeks of fresh veggies and fruit, I’ve mixed things up with frozen and canned food, and some shelf stable snacks, canned tuna, soups, etc.

We are certainly not eating from outside the home as much (though at least once a week we are supporting a local restaurant with takeout). I may be making up for that by craving a lot of comfort food. Velveeta shells and cheese are just as delicious as I remember (they get a nutritious kick when I mix in steamed broccoli). I’m eating more crackers and chips, and my baking might be out of control, which is kind of funny, since I’m not really a baker.

If you’re feeling like your diet is falling apart and want to pull the reins in a bit, here are three things to focus on:

1.     Eat veggies with each meal, and whole fruit as a snack – these are your nutritional powerhouses, providing vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and water! As mentioned in the next section, it’s important to keep buying as much fresh produce as possible. I also recommend keeping several frozen and canned options so you always have something available.

2.     Portion control – sometimes we need the reminder. If you are also craving more comfort food than normal, don’t fret, just watch the portion sizes. Pour some chips into a small bowl instead of eating from the bag. Baked a cake? Slice a small piece, for now.

3.     Don’t put too much stress on yourself when preparing meals – we are all likely under enough stress. Just do your best. Graze if you want to graze. Make do with the ingredients you have. Eating while anxious can affect your digestion, which can be uncomfortable, and affect nutrient absorption. Being anxious can also lead to emotional eating, which can lead to more anxiety. Just check in with yourself. Relax and notice your hunger level. Ask yourself if you are indeed hungry. Maybe you need to take a walk, color, do a puzzle, or talk to someone.

Your food supply-

There is a huge shift going on in the food system. Farmers who produce for restaurant and school accounts are throwing away fresh produce and milk due to closed schools and restaurants. It is financially hard for many farmers to switch from a system that sells to large accounts, to a system that can package and get the product to the public.

Now is a great time to renew your deep appreciation for the food you eat, and to consider where your food comes from. My thoughts are with the restaurants, distributors, and farmers. This is certainly the time to support them in any way you can. From seed to harvest, much time and effort is spent producing the food that we put on our plates. It’s not just that our food comes from the farm. Think about the years that go into raising the cows that provide your steak, or the people that tend to your squash and beans, from preparing the soil, to harvest, to transport. Supporting your local farmers and food systems keeps your food source closer. This is beneficial for many reasons, such as less impact on the environment, most often better quality product, a stronger local economy, and in times like this, a better chance that your food supply won’t feel the effects of the system shift.

When everything begins to return to “normal”, let’s try to remember to keep supporting our local farmers and restaurants, and remember the value of the food we put on our plate.

-M