Coconut Oats and Pollen Week

April 13th, 2013 | Posted by Nicole in Eats of the Week | Healthy Living - (0 Comments)

Did you know that bee pollen may actually be good for us? I know, it sounds ridiculous. But, I got to thinking about it after this pollen filled week. Here is Georgia, the pollen count reached 8000 and we are at peak pollen season. It’s fine if you don’t suffer from allergies, but for those who do, we kept up inside. Blurgh.

Total Pollen Count for 4/11/2013: 8024

Anyway, fyi, bee pollen is thought to be the next up and coming superfood due to its antioxidant content, and mysterious supposed healing qualities… We can not really say for sure what it may be good for, but a lot of scientists and doctors have been experimenting with it in areas such as in chemotherapy healing.

So, before the pollen hit, we got engagement pictures taken in the most beautiful spring weather!

engagement photo

And, in the meantime, I have been neglecting my blog. Poor blogosphere… Oh well, sometimes it is good to take a break.

…Just like I took a break from eating oatmeal. Sometimes I’ll eat oatmeal for weeks, then I take a month long break until I find a new way to cook it. Well, I have discovered a new oats creation!

coconut oatmeal

Coconut oats!

Cook some plain oats with your favorite milk (or water), add a pinch of cinnamon, 1 packet of stevia, and add 2 Tbsp. of unsweetened coconut. Make sure the coconut you buy is the unsweetened flakes in the bakery isle. Heat for a few minutes as needed, and enjoy! I usually stir in 1-2 Tbsp. of chopped walnuts to make it more filling.

The coconut is nice because it adds a little bit of fat to make it satisfying and a hearty breakfast. Have you tried adding coconut to your oats?

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Male vs. Female Portions

December 7th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Dietitian | Healthy Living - (2 Comments)

I often come across female patients who attribute their weight gain to matching the portions of their significant other. We simply don’t need to eat that much! I always recommend using smaller plates, and thinking about eating 50-75% of what your man is eating. This all depends on your size, his size, and both of your activity levels.

For example, I sit at a desk all day, and get in about 30-60 minutes of exercise most days. Mr. Cyclist also tends to be at a desk a good part of the day, but when he goes to exercise he does about 60-150 minutes!

So, our portions end up looking something like this:

His:

Pasta, turkey meatballs, lots of brussels sprouts!

Mine:

I always try to put a small amount of food on my plate, and then go back and get more after I see how I feel. And I did. Got another bite of turkey meatball and a few more bites of veggies :)

Another thing I am working on is eating more during the day, so that I don’t feel the need to eat a larger portion for dinner.

PS- This is a great time for brussels sprouts to be in season!

Do you have any tips or tricks for your portion control?

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Happy Food Day!

October 24th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Healthy Living | Nutrition News - (0 Comments)

Today, October 24, 2012 is National Food Day!

A day to eat real food, and celebrate being a foodie!

Some fun things for you to check out:

More updates to come in a few hours…

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Garbage Dinner

October 18th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Eats of the Week | Healthy Living - (0 Comments)

Sounds disgusting, and the picture doesn’t look too appetizing. But, this is what happens when I am not home and Mr. Cyclist scavenges through the freezer and cupboard to create a dinner of leftovers.

Definition of garbage dinner: Take a lot of your odds and ends and leftover foods, and combine them into a one-pot meal tastefully and somewhat artfully.

I heard of someone else who uses this term “garbage dinner”, but I can’t think of who. It’s a pretty smart idea. That way, you don’t have little bags of this and that hanging out in the pantry until you have to throw them away.

For our meal, we had lots of frozen vegetables: peas, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, brussels sprouts, carrots, peppers, onions, and potatoes cooked in a curry sauce (that is the dark ugly color you see). Served on top of whole wheat egg noodles. With an egg on top for protein. Haha! The curry sauce was pretty tasty and I like vegetables, so I enjoyed this meal.

Have you ever made meals out of leftovers like this?

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Sunday Dinner: Red Snapper

July 30th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Eats of the Week - (0 Comments)

I hung out with Psycho Holiday Baker on Sunday, helping her get supplies at Whole Paycheck to make Birthday dinner for my Dad.

I picked up an organic $10 t-shirt at Whole Foods. They are super soft–I highly recommend if you just need a plain old t-shirt.

I also picked up a nice snack/part of my lunch:
Strawberry kombucha (my fav!!) and a Greens Whey Protein bar. I had my Mom taste the kombucha and she thought it was the nastiest thing on earth. I told her not to smell it, but she did anyway. We had this whole discussion at the Whole Foods checkout counter about kombucha, it was hilarious. You can read more about kombucha here on diet-blog.

Psycho baker had me pick up some unhealthy ingredients at Publix on the way home… I cringed at this purchase.
She was making some kind of special parfait pie for my Dad (his Mom used to make it for him). At least she was mostly using whole ingredients from scratch (more natural that way), except for the Jell-o. And the graham crackers she got were on the healthier side.

Dinner was amazing!
Appetizer (for me):
Carrots dipped in olive tapenade

Arugula salad with pears, gorgonzola, pecans, lemon, and olive oil:
Homemade chipotle potato salad:
Recipe here.

Red snapper with parsley/cilantro puree, and a roasted corn and tomato salsa:
This was amazing. The red snapper reminded me of being at the beach. It had such a clean salt water flavor. Delicious!
Then, the parfait pie Psycho Holiday Baker made:
Just has a little sliver, but much more ice cream ;)

Now, it is the start of a new week. Let’s make it a healthy one!

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Eats of the Week: Indian Food & Trader Joe’s Salad

June 24th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Eats of the Week - (0 Comments)

I try to be pretty good about bringing my lunch to work everyday. Even if I don’t bring all the food I need for work, I at least bring part of my lunch or snacks to get me through the day.
Sometimes I just throw together whatever we have in the fridge. Green, beans, olives, cucumbers, a little cheese, and a vinaigrette.

If I don’t bring lunch from home, I at least plan what I will buy. This time it was this amazing salad from Trader Joe’s:
It had this delicious carrot orange ginger dressing that I want to try to recreate. The whole thing with the dressing was about 400 calories. Amazingly tasty and healthy.

Anyway, so I do a pretty good job of eating healthy throughout the day and packing healthy lunches. But, then, dinner who knows what can happen. For the most part, we eat healthy. But, there is the occasional deviation from the mean.

Mr. Cyclist was in India recently for about 2 months, so we wanted to try some more authentic Indian food. The dishes are so incredibly rich. Most made with a large amount of butter, or if not butter, probably some kind of heavy cream. On top of that, there is a lot of white rice and white bread. And probably more oil to cook the paneer and other ingredients. I ate about 7 bites, and felt pretty full (because the meal was heavier). So, this makes Indian food not my favorite. It was tasty, but not for me.

This past week, we also made a yellow squash dish sauteed with caramelized onions, and some thyme. I added some romano cheese to the top of mine.
What you see in the background is mixed seafood (calamari, shrimp, scallops) that has been coated with corn meal and then sauteed (with more oil than usual in order to get them crispy).

So, next week, the focus is to eat more healthy dinners since there has been a slight deviation. Perhaps this is the fault of the Costco avocados. When you give a mouse an avocado, he’ll want more chips… haha.

Have a good rest of the weekend!

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Plan to De-Stress Naturally

February 14th, 2012 | Posted by Nicole in Healthy Living - (2 Comments)

I notice that my stress levels and anxiety creep up on me without even realizing it. I tend to hold on to tension. And eliminating stress is key to optimal health!
Looking at pictures from my St. John trip like this is relaxing :)

This past week I had been trying to focus on my level of stress and anxiety and notice things that help to reduce or increase it. Here is what I have found:

  1. Morning exercise is key. However, I hate to exercise in the morning–I am an evening exercise gal. But, I felt so carefree after moving in the am.
  2. Duration and intensity of exercise: it helps when I push myself or when the activity lasts about an hour (As always, consult your doctor before beginning an exercise program or nutrition program).
  3. Avoid some multivitamins like this one I got from Whole Foods. There is some type of ingredient in here that increases my anxiety and I haven’t quite figured it out yet.
                                        Too many ingredients! Ah!
  4. Instead, I will supplement with a calcium with D occasionally, nutritional yeast (contains B vitamins), vitamin C occasionally, fish oil, and some brown rice protein powder at breakfast or at snacks. I mostly rely on eating a balanced diet with  plenty of whole foods to make sure I get what I need that way.
  5. Not eating 2 1/2- 3 hours before bedtime. When I do eat something close to bedtime that is higher in sugars or carbohydrates, I have intense dreams. This is due to the brain using glucose and becoming more active overnight.
  6. Yoga (or pilates) 1x per week. This is goal and hasn’t been happening lately, whoops!
  7. Reading before bedtime as a way to calm the mind.
  8. Avoid negative people in life. Stay away from those who bring you down, and be with those who bring you up. My Dad has always told me this :)
  9. Breathing exercises when I feel stressed, reading inspirational calming quotes, or just having a small 5 oz. portion of red wine!

Here is a whole list of things I found on Pinterest. Not sure of the source.
Enjoy the week, and I hope this is a reminder to help focus on stressing less. And since it is Valentine’s Day–1 oz. of dark chocolate has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety over a 2 week period! Eat up ;)
Up later this week… nutritional yeast, trying out different protein powders, and make at home curry!

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