Let's Talk Food

Oooooooooooooh my favorite topic! FOOD!

I've been writing a fair bit about eating "clean". No processed or packaged food, no sugar other than the natural sugar that's in fruit and vegetables. No gluten, very little dairy, next to no caffeine. HOWEVER I did neglect to say that I have a glass of red wine every day or a small tot of scotch. Yes, I  can't give up EVERYTHING and besides a little is supposed to be good for you. I snack on almonds or popcorn - luckily I never get tired of either!

I've lost a little weight I think as my pants fit a bit more loosely. But I'm not worried about that - I'm not weighing myself. It's for my health. It was scary how sick I was over the Christmas holidays. I mean my personal life situation was horrible and I was worn out from 4 months of working 60 hour weeks at school so it was no wonder I was struck down by a nasty virus but I strongly feel we are what we eat. And I had been living on a steady diet of smarties and ice cream to name just two sinful foods that were a constant in my life. Yes, I'm a poor eater when I'm stressed and I was SUPER stressed. So in a way it was my own fault that my immune system was not working very well.

Refined sugar = poor health in so many ways.

Yet I don't feel restricted in any way after eliminating so many no no's from my diet. I am eating REALLY WELL and feel so good - more energy, my skin looks great and I imagine over time my body will rearrange itself along more healthy lines. Less muffin top - well a girl can dream can't she?

Let's see what I'm eating these days...

I saw the recipe for this potato on Facebook, where else? It looked so intriguing I just had to try it and man oh man was it good! I brushed on some flavoured olive oil (garlic and herbs) after I had cut the potato very thinly (is that a word?) and baked in a 450 oven for 45 minutes (I think). Delicious with a large side of green beans.

 Another Facebook recipe (14 recipes in all) for refrigerator oatmeal. This one is for Blueberry Maple oatmeal and it is better than candy! Ingredients - 1/4 cup of oatmeal, 1 and a half teaspoons of chia seeds, 1/3 cup of skim milk (I used soy) and 1/4 cup of plain 0% fat greek yogurt. That is the base for all of the 14 recipes for cold "summer" oatmeal.

For this version I added fresh blueberries and a teaspoon of maple syrup. Let it sit overnight in the fridge and it makes a totally satisfying breakfast or snack. Last night I made Raspberry Vanilla and it was scrumptious too.

Here's a shot of my fridge. You can see my mason jar of oatmeal, my bottle of juice (containing half a beet, a couple of carrots, spinach, a pepper, an apple, an asian pear, cucumber & celery) and another container containing my lunch - black bean vegetable soup! It's easy to eat clean if you stock your fridge full of fresh goodness and keep temptations OUT of the house!

Here's tonight's dinner! Doesn't it look amazing? It was....oops...

Here we go, that's better. For the first time I made veggie fried rice with egg. Chopped onion, carrots, celery and peas along with a couple of scrambled eggs and a dash of soy sauce. Oh boy it was so good! So today I had 16oz of juice, a mid-morning snack of Raspberry Vanilla oatmeal, black bean veggie soup for lunch, almonds for an afternoon pick-me-up and veggie fried rice for dinner - and a nice glass of red wine. I don't think anyone can find fault with that! And absolutely no feeling of deprivation.

Now I'm off to ride my bike and watch another fun episode of "Orange is the New Black"! Oh, and I wouldn't be surprised if they cancel school tomorrow due to extreme cold and a wind chill warning. It's supposed to be super windy tomorrow making a wind chill factor in the -30's!!! Skin will freeze within 10 minutes. I don't want frozen skin!!

Keep warm!