Tweeter button Facebook button

My Top 5 Healthy Vegan Breakfasts

March 14, 2013 by 1 Comment

vegan bfast 2

You may have noticed there have been fewer recipe posts lately.  The reason for that is kind of interesting, I think.  Since I have adopted a more Nutritarian style of eating, I have begun to understand the difference between eating to live and living to eat.  I promise I will write a whole post on that subject soon.  But in the meantime, what that means is that I am eating really simple meals and not really using recipes and creating all sorts of fancy taste treats.  It is quite liberating actually!

But I know that people still get hung up on what the heck to eat each day, so I thought I’d do a little series on my top 5 healthy vegan breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks.

First up, BREAKIE!  All recipes cook in 5-10 minutes so don’t tell there’s no time for breakfast!  (Calories listed at the top of each recipe with serving size. All recipes make one serving except the tofu and you can half the recipe if desired).

1.

Print
Tofu Scramble

Serving Size: 2 (save 1/2 for the following day)

Calories per serving: 207 calories, 28g protein

Tofu Scramble

Ingredients

  • 300g tofu
  • spritz of oil spray
  • 2 cups of whatever veggies I happen to have on hand (mushrooms, green onions, spinach, tomatoes etc)
  • dash turmeric for color
  • seasonings vary: soy sauce, or tomato sauce, or a cream sauce of 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast + 1 Tbsp non-dairy milk, salt and pepper

Instructions

  1. Crumble tofu in a bowl and mix well with turmeric.
  2. Spray non-stick pan with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat.
  3. Add any veggies (except spinach) and saute for about 1-2 minutes.
  4. Add tofu and saute for another 1-2 minutes, seasoning as desired.
  5. Add spinach in the last 30 seconds and stir just until wilted.

Notes

high in calcium and fiber too!

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin
http://triumphwellness.com/my-top-5-healthy-vegan-breakfasts/

 

2.

Print
Whipped Banana Oats

Serving Size: 1

Calories per serving: 360 calories, 6g protein

Whipped Banana Oats

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup rolled oats (Quaker Aveh in Israel)
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1/3 cup non-dairy milk of choice
  • 1 banana
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • dash cinnamon
  • 1/2 oz (15g) chopped nuts of choice
  • 1/2 oz (15g) raisins

Instructions

  1. Put all ingredients in a saucepan.
  2. Turn heat to medium-high.
  3. Mash banana with a fork and stir mixture until uniform consistency.
  4. Cook 3-5 minutes until your desired texture.
  5. Serve topped with nuts and raisins.
Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin
http://triumphwellness.com/my-top-5-healthy-vegan-breakfasts/

3.

Print
Fruit and/or Green Smoothie

Serving Size: 1

Calories per serving: depends on the fruit, but usually about 250-300

Fruit and/or Green Smoothie

Ingredients

  • 1 banana
  • 1-2 other fruit(s) of choice (right now I like 1 cup strawberries and 1/2 cup frozen blueberries. In the summer I like to use a mango or peach).
  • 2 big handfuls raw spinach (optional)
  • 1 1/2 cups water
  • 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed (optional)

Instructions

  1. Blend everything in the blender until smooth.
Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin
http://triumphwellness.com/my-top-5-healthy-vegan-breakfasts/

4.

Print
Chickpea Flour Omlette

Serving Size: 1

Calories per serving: 225 calories, 15g protein

Chickpea Flour Omlette

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup chickpea flour (Kemach Hummus)
  • 1/4 cup salsa or tomato sauce
  • 1/4 cup water
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
  • spray of oil spray

Instructions

  1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. It should be like a thick pancake batter.
  2. Spray pan and heat over medium-high heat.
  3. Pour batter into pan and gently spread to edges with the back of a spoon.
  4. Cook 1-2 minutes on one side.
  5. Flip with a spatula and cook on second side 1-2 minutes. Both sides should be golden brown and center should be firm.

Notes

You can add veggies to this too. Scallions and chopped spinach work well. Mix them raw into the batter and proceed with directions.

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin
http://triumphwellness.com/my-top-5-healthy-vegan-breakfasts/

5.  Can’t believe I’m going to list this but it be truth:

Print
Good old PB&J plus an orange

Serving Size: 1

Calories per serving: 270 calories for the sandwich alone

Ingredients

  • 2 slices whole grain bread
  • 1 Tbsp natural, no-sugar or any else added peanut butter (or almond butter)
  • 1 Tbsp no-sugar jam
  • 1 orange or other fruit of choice

Instructions

  1. Spread peanut butter and jelly on bread.
  2. Put slices together.
  3. Eat.
  4. Enjoy a piece of fruit for dessert!

Notes

Seems silly but sometimes we over-complicate things. I eat a PB& J for breakfast on days I am really rushed and need to eat on my way.

Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin
http://triumphwellness.com/my-top-5-healthy-vegan-breakfasts/

This post is participating in Healthy Vegan Fridays and Wellness Weekends.  Check those links for loads of delicious, vegan recipes!

Pin It

Filed Under: Recipes, vegan Tagged With: , ,

Redefine Hard

January 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment

On a typical morning, I wake up, walk the dog,  feed everyone breakfast, pack  lunches, and get the kids off to school.  Then I put on my running clothes…

…and spend the next 30 – 60 minutes whining to my husband about why I do not want to go running!

My husband, observing this phenomenon in me for years, and now experiencing it for himself while training for his first Half Marathon, has sagely noted:

The training is not the hard part.  Getting out the door to DO the training is what is really hard!

Often when a client first comes to see me for weight loss or diet change, he or she holds the belief that “Weight Loss is Hard”. This belief has probably formed during past attempts where it either felt hard to diet or to maintain the weight lost.

Now imagine for a minute how much motivation and excitement to get started you feel when you think “Weight Loss is Hard.”

Ugh, not very much, right?

So we re-frame the belief that “weight loss is hard” by listing all the things about being overweight and food addicted that are hard:

  • Finding clothes to wear that you feel good in each day
  • Clothes shopping (nothing you want looks good on you)
  • Being without food for several hours (start to get crave-y and hypoglyecmic)
  • Having heartburn
  • Having a stomach ache
  • Taking medications for diet-caused illnesses
  • Being out of breath
  • Feeling insecure or even ashamed
  • Walking in to a room and assessing if you are the biggest person there
  • Being tired
  • Feeling depressed
  • Worrying about your own health
  • Worrying about passing these food problems on to your kids

I know that not every overweight person feels these things.  These are things my clients say or things I experienced myself when I was overweight.

When we re-frame the question “What is Hard?” we can now see that being overweight and food addicted is really pretty hard!  Look at that list!  Is it just possible that, in comparison, sticking to a healthy food plan might not be so hard after all?

As for we exercisers, what is the re-frame we do to get us out that door?  Personally, I think about the things that would be hard in my life if I did NOT workout:

  • feeling depressed
  • achy muscles
  • low energy
  • muddy thinking
  • flabby legs
  • being out of breath
  • setting a poor example for my kids
  • and the one that gets me most right now, 8 weeks from my race day: failing and/or suffering in front of thousands of people.

36802921924457156_BsSNWLMw_c

It’s all in the re-frame!

Pin It

Filed Under: coaching exercises, Exercise, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Positive Thinking, Running, weight loss Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Guest Post: Confessions of a Newbie Vegan

December 13, 2012 by 2 Comments

Our guest writer today, Fred Schlomka, is the husband of a dear friend of mine.  I asked Fred to share his story with my readers and he generously does so very honestly below.

Now, I know that for some of you, the fact that Fred identifies as a vegan but is willing to eat a few non-vegan items or push pieces of meat off the top of a dish and still eat it, is problematic.  If that troubles you, don’t read this post.  If on the other hand, you can focus on the changes this man has made, the impact those changes have had, and allow that we each walk our own path, then I think you will really be inspired by Fred’s story.

 *            *            *             *

It’s really not that hard to be vegan. People are always asking me “How did you do it?” or gasping “What?  No milk or meat products?! What on earth do you eat?”

Well, here’s my secret: There isn’t one!

Most people know whether they are living a healthy lifestyle or not. Some of us have metabolisms and psychologies that enable a life of moderation and balance. I believe that most foods in moderation do not harm us, and that includes milk and meat products. However most of us in the ‘Developed World’ learn various types of addictions at an early age,  sugar, milk and meat tend to be the worst culprits. From our earliest years these products are shovelled into our bodies in quantities far exceeding our nutritional requirements. Our bodies then become dependent on them, and subsequently prone to all kinds of cardiovascular problems and exotic cancers. Our parents, schools, communities, corporations and governments all work together to reinforce the idea that these foods are needed in huge quantities.

Thus we become addicted, except the people I mentioned earlier who seem to float through life unaffected by all the food indoctrination. They remain gloriously healthy.

There was no real decision point for me to alter my eating habits. It was more like a continuum of knowledge easing me towards a healthier lifestyle. My daughter Maya was an inspiration. She has been vegetarian since she was twelve years old, and during the summer of 2011 stopped eating milk products as well. She never proselytized to my wife or myself, but our kitchen was always a reflection of our daughter’s culinary needs.

Meat was never a big factor in our diet. At home we used to have meat once or twice a week and I would eat the occasional shwarma or steak at restaurants. However I did like slabs of bread and butter, and snack foods such as chips, chocolate, ice cream etc., which, as I passed through my 50′s, started adding to my girth. It was becoming a problem. After a blood test last year, my doctor wanted to put me on drugs to reduce my cholesterol, and giving me red flag warnings about heart disease and cancer. I have also been an on-again/off-again smoker for most of my life.

So in early 2012 I started mulling over what to do. I think my wife’s comments on my emerging breasts had something to do with it. Then my daughter suggested I take a look at a video, Forks over Knives. If anything tipped my decision it was that movie, plus some research it prompted me to do. My reasons are for health alone. I have no ethical problem with the eating of animals or their products, although I am pleased to now be on the side of more ecologically sane eating.

Like most people I have a mild addictive personality so I knew that ‘going on a diet’ would not solve my health issues. Diets are by definition short-lived, so I have chosen a lifestyle change which includes new and permanent eating patterns. Most people have addictive personalities to a greater or lesser degree. This is possibly why most diets do not last. If you bristle at the idea that you are some kind of addict, then I challenge you to give up sugar for the next 60 days – zero sugar – none. This means no sugar in hot drinks, no fizzy soft drinks, no ice cream, cakes, etc etc.

1268185_35256686

I made a decision to remove from my eating plan any meat, dairy, sugar, bread, and processed foods. I am not fanatical about it. Just last night I had a little slice of birthday cake at a dinner party. So sugar and the like become occasional treats, not daily fare. Sometimes I visit my Bedouin friends who might serve Makluba for lunch, a delicious dish of chicken and goat meat cooked together with rice and vegetables. It arrives at the table on a huge platter. I just move aside the meat and help myself to the rice and veggies. A little meat flavour does not bother me.

During the first six week after beginning my modified eating plan, I dropped from 76 kilos to 69 kilos. That was ten months ago. Since then I have fluctuated between 67 and 70 kilos. I believe my healthiest weigh should be around 64-65 kilos so am working on reducing my “healthy” snacks which tend to include a lot of nuts.  Now when I am on the road I take fruit or nuts with me, or snack on falafel. Just about any falafel shop will provide a bag of falafel or a platter of falafel and salads without the pita. But I need to still cut down on the nuts.

Of course real health comes from a combination of proper eating and exercise. I practice karate 2-3 times a week and visit my personal trainer at the gym once a week, plus more sporadic working out at home, a little biking (which I want to increase), and lots of walking. I recently had a full blood workup and my doctor informed me that everything was 100%. No one was more surprised than he was!   “I wish all my patients were like you.” he admitted.

Oh, did I mention I stopped smoking several months ago? Now, as I approach the end of my first year as a vegan, I believe I am doing everything possible to improve my health and extend my life as much as possible. It really hasn’t been that hard. The American Philosopher John C. Lilly once wrote ”What one believes to be true either is true or becomes true within the limits of the mind. Those limits are beliefs to be transcended.”  Once upon a time I believed I was a meat-eating smoker, and I was.  Over a period of time I came to believe I was a non-smoking vegan – so I became one. No trauma. No cravings. We all have within ourselves the capacity to change, but for change to come successfully, we have to first imagine a new status, a new way of being and relating to the world. This creates a window of opportunity for change. I stepped through the window and haven’t looked back.

 

Fred & Cindy_croppedWhen he is not eating well or practicing karate, Fred manages Green Olive Tours, an “alternative” tour company. He spends a great deal of time driving around the country, introducing foreign visitors to the culture, social mores, religions, and politics of the region.

 

 

 

Pin It

Filed Under: Inspiration, Positive Thinking, vegan, weight loss Tagged With: , , , ,

The Frightening New Normal

November 11, 2012 by 1 Comment

We live in a world where the following things are considered “normal”:

  • Eating everything, and I mean, EVERYTHING … but in “moderation”, of course
  • Allowing our kids to eat sugar and junk food every day because they are doing so “in moderation” and because not doing so is not “normal”
  • Spending day after day completely sedentary, moving from house to car to office then back to house
  • Hiring people to do all manual labor around our homes from cooking to cleaning to gardening to childcare
  • “Relaxing” at the end of our long day by watching mindless television or chatting with our equally exhausted and equally “normal” mindset cyber-friends
  • Believing that despite our hired help, our cars to take us everywhere, households full of time saving equipment like dish washers and washing machines, and the hours spent on passive screen-based entertainment, that we don’t have time to cook healthy meals or get any exercise
  • Taking all kinds of pills to alleviate illnesses and symptoms brought on entirely from doing all of the above
  • Having to take more pills to alleviate the side effects caused by the first pills
  • Undergoing surgeries where a doctor cuts our bodies open with knives and saws (um hello, SAWS, yes they do!) to fix the problem the pills didn’t fix
  • Feeling this physical and mental decline is all an inevitable part of the aging process
  • Feeling hopeless to change anything

The other day on Facebook, someone posted one of those quote boxes that said “Adulthood:  If you’re not tired, you’re not doing it right.” and a whole string of people said “Amen to that!”  People, I would like to add, who are at least 20 years younger than my remarkably UN-tired self.  

WHA????

I feel so bad for these people.  I feel so sad that people just stumble through life exhausted and drained, not ever imagining the kind of energy and health they could have if they just chose it.  I sometimes feel like I am living in a world that is the exact enactment of the films Wall-E and Idiocracy!  The future has arrived indeed.

Folks, please, please, PLEASE wake up!  Please make the connection between HOW you live your life and the way you FEEL living your life!  Stop waving your white flag of defeat before even stepping onto the battlefield!  

My thoughts:

  • I don’t think that most of us can live in this modern food obsessed, food-abundant world and NOT worry about what we eat and how much.  Very few people have the ability to stop when they are full and only eat when truly hungry. Some can, but judging by the “obesity crisis” most can’t.  I can’t.  I have tried it and it got me obese, sick and miserable.  I pledge everyday to not ever go back to that dark place.  Read the fascinating  Myth of Moderation HERE.
  • Kill yourself in the gym?  Give me a break!  I don’t “kill” myself in the gym.  I kill myself when I am NOT in the gym.  Our bodies need to move, lift heavy things, stretch, jump and climb.  If those actions are not part of your natural life (ie you sit at a computer all day) then you need to work them in somehow.  Working out is what keeps us alive, strong, supple, and mentally well-balanced.  Being sedentary is what is a death sentence.  How have we gotten that so backwards?
  • F*&k Normal!   “Normal” these days is synonymous with diseases like cancer, being overweight and or under-strong, and complaining of how tiring life is.  People hobble along like sheep following the crowd, accepting that cancer is normal, stiff bodies are normal, being tired and overwhelmed by life is normal. They believe that making time to cook healthy food is some weirdo fringe behavior and that rolling up to the drive-through window is “normal eating”.  
  • People say to me “I let my kids eat junk food because I want them to “feel normal about food.”  When did junk food become normal food?  When did cooking healthy food become bizarre and extreme??
  • Every day I wake up and say “I can be better.  I can do better.  I can feel better.  I can be happier.”  Eating healthy, exercising, having a purpose, a dream, and the energy to pursue it – those are the rungs on the ladder I will keep climbing.

 ”Normal” is going to kill you – escape while you can!

 

Pin It

Filed Under: coaching exercises, Exercise, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Positive Thinking, Rants, weight loss Tagged With: , , , , ,

The 5 Stages of Change

September 3, 2012 by 2 Comments

As you know I have been struggling with a post I am trying to write about parents and kids, feeding and weight.  I have SO much to say on the topic that it will end up being several posts!  

I also want to do a post about loved ones who need to make changes to their health or diet, but refuse, leaving us shaking in frustration.

What I think these topics have in common is an understanding of the psychology of change.  The following is based on the book Changing for Good by James Prochaska, PhD and is the basis I use when evaluating a new client or dealing with a client who proves to be resistant to change despite having hired me to help her do just that.

As you see in the above figure, in order to make behavior changes, most people go through at least 5 distinct stages.  We move in a spiral pattern upwards through the stages, but I would add that there can be, and usually is, some back-sliding between stages.

Below is an explanation of each stage in detail.  See if you can identify where you yourself currently sit in relation to some behavior you are wishing to change:

Stage One:  Pre-Contemplation

In this stage, you are not aware or deny there is a problem at all. You blame circumstances beyond your control.

“My doctor says I need to lower my cholesterol but I can’t help my love of fatty foods.  I’ll be fine.  ”

“I can’t lose weight because of my wife’s cooking.”

“I can’t cook these new foods because my family will reject them and starve.”

“I can’t manage this life stress without chocolate.”

“Its better to be fat and happy than skinny and starving all the time!”

Stage One Action Step:  Fact-finding and reflection to gain awareness and ownership of the problem.  Focus on the facts of your situation and become aware of the benefits of this behavior.  Yes, I said benefits of the behavior!  You wouldn’t be engaging in harmful behavior if it weren’t serving some very good purpose for you!  Make a list of pros and cons for behavior change.  If the pros don’t significantly out-weigh the cons, you are not ready to move on.

 

Stage Two:  Contemplation

You have declared your intention to change but just don’t feel ready to take immediate action. Maybe you take a few steps towards your goal but then get knocked off course and wonder where your motivation went.  Frustrating!

Stage Two Action Step:  Jumping into full action while still in this stage can result in failure – that two steps forward, to steps back dance, or quitting altogether.  To successfully complete this stage, make sure you fully understand the health risks you face.  One important process used by successful changers is to get emotionally aroused by the problem.  Try to imagine what your life will be like in 5, 10, 15 years if you do NOT make changes.  This is also a stage to ask for support (hello health coach!) and to continue to do the pro and con list.

 

Stage Three:  Preparation

It’s still not pedal to the metal time!  Jumping into action too early can backfire as yo-yo weight loss/gain, drug or smoking relapses.  In this stage you move from self-criticism to future vision.  Motivation begins to switch from “away from” to “towards” motivators. (“Away from” motivators are the things you are running away from ie: diabetes, divorce, lung cancer, low self-esteem. “Towards” motivators are the things you are moving towards with excitement: new clothes, being cancer free, getting off medication, feeling great about yourself.)

Stage Three Action Step:  You start making small positive changes slowly and gently (baby steps as they are often called).  Once you are regularly performing one of your steps without too much struggle, you can add the the next small step.  From here on out you begin repeating the desired actions over and over again which leads to…

 

Stage Four:  Action

You have finally arrived at the stage you have been waiting for!  In this stage you begin to find alternatives to bad habits and replace them.  But don’t put yourself into “testing” situations quite yet (ie going on vacation right when you are settling into a new diet).

Stage Four Action Step:  Begin to visualize how you will look and feel when you have made the desired change.  It is often hard for people to imagine themselves at goal until this point.  It is also important to pre-plan rewards for yourself as you achieve short-term goals.  Focus closely on keeping yourself on track each day.  This is no time to lose your clarity and regress to previous stages.

 

Stage Five:  Motivate/Maintain

This is the stage most people omit with disastrous results!  Your work is not done just because you have achieved your goal.  In my opinion, it is just beginning!

Stage Five Action Steps:  Keep a list handy of the negative aspects of your old problem-causing behavior.  It seems obvious but honestly you WILL forget how bad you felt before!!  Continue to remind yourself why you are doing this.  Note the difficulties you have overcome to get here.  Give yourself tons of credit but stay on your toes.  Constantly renew your commitment and find new challenges.  If you do relapse, evaluate the situation immediately and learn from it.

Pin It

Filed Under: coaching exercises, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration Tagged With: , , ,

Incorrect Assumptions

June 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Several of you have asked what’s happening with my suspected gluten intolerance.  So I am happy to say that I have good news!  I think my “gluten intolerance” was more of an “over-eating intolerance”.  

Yup, that’s correct.  I made an incorrect assumption.  Allow me to explain:

You see, every time I ate gluten, I had gastric distress.  But when I looked closer (thank you Health Coach!), I realized that every time I ate gluten, I also tended to over-eat because I just LOVE breads, crackers, tortillas, pasta, crackers and crackers.  However, when I woke up to this fact and began to carefully measure and eat a small portion, voila, I am OK.

That got me thinking about how we often attribute an effect to a cause without properly evaluating other causes.

For example, a million years ago I worked at a family planning clinic.  Women would often complain that the birth control pill they had recently started taking had caused them to gain weight.  While I am sure that in some cases there may indeed have been a hormonal problem caused by the pill, many times, when we dug a little deeper, we found a different cause entirely.

These women were going on the pill because they were in new relationships.  In new relationships we often eat together with our lovers often as a form of romantic entertainment don’t we?  We eat out in restaurants a lot more than we did when we were single.  And as time goes on and we get more comfortable in the relationship, maybe our previous desire to stay slim when we were “on the market” mellows a bit, we eat a bit more, workout a bit less and waistlines expand. But it’s a lot easier to blame the pill than to take responsibility for our own actions, isn’t it?

I also see this incorrect assumption effect in play when I hear people say “Yeah, I tried to be vegan but I just didn’t feel well.”  Usually when I can get these people to open up a little more, I hear them say that yes, they really weren’t eating very well in that phase.  They were not cooking or were relying on processed vegan foods, or never took the time to learn about their nutritional needs or how to meet them as vegans.  They rarely ate the large amount of green vegetables vegans need to thrive or they were eating too much fat or sugar.

And quite often I think that new vegans don’t adjust for the lower calorie density of plant-based foods.  The fatigue and loss of vitality they experience as vegans is quite likely due to a too low caloric intake. (Yes, you must eat a higher VOLUME of food on a plant-based diet. Can I get a yay to that??)

Could there be people who ate great and ate enough calories and STILL felt bad as vegans?  There probably are.  But it’s a lot easier to blame veganism than to take responsibility for our own actions.

Are there places in your life where you are drawing incorrect assumptions?  

  • Maybe you assume that your metabolism is “messed up” because no matter how hard you try, you just can’t lose weight?  Get your metabolism tested and I’ll bet it’s just fine. You probably have trouble losing weight because you have never gotten to the root of why you gained it in the first place.  Or because you have a problem being consistent with your changes or sticking with it long enough to see results.  It’s a lot easier to blame our metabolism than take responsibility for our own actions.
  • Perhaps you have drawn the incorrect assumption that you need to eat some low-carb fad diet in order to lose weight.  Incorrect because you never counted your calories and if you had, you would have seen that your low-carb fad diet is simply a lower calorie diet.  You could have achieved the same weight loss by just eating smaller portions of the regular food you enjoy.  It’s a lot easier to blame a certain food (carbs) than to take responsibility for our own actions.

I don’t mean to sound preachy.  We all do this.  I did it with the gluten issues above and as I am learning with my coach, I have done it repeatedly with my incorrect assumption that I cannot achieve anything without OVERCOMING some sort of major adversity.  I am stuck on my hero scenario.  (in case you, um, hadn’t noticed…)

I hope you can see how believing incorrect assumptions takes your power away.  It makes you a victim.  It gives you no hope.

The only way to move forward is to…  take responsibility for our own actions.

Explore your assumptions.  Shine a big ole flashlight on them.  Expose them for what they are, and

Filed Under: coaching exercises, Growth, health coach, Rants, vegan Tagged With: , , , ,

Healthy Sugar-free Cookies

March 20, 2012 by 89 Comments

During much of my life, I have been so addicted to cookies that there was a time when even seeing the word written out could trigger a binge!  My friends had to write “ookies”  or “seikooc”.  Some of you reading today were actually there back then  and can testify to this crazy truth! Can I get an Amen?

Happily I got off of cookies and moved on with my life.

But every now and then I wander back into the cookie field to test that electric fence.  Is this thing still on?

zzzzzzaaaaaapppppppp!

“Yes, it is” I reply regretfully from the bottom of a sugar bowl into which I have once again tumbled.

Maybe one day I will be able to practice moderation with cookies, but if not, I am OK with staying away from them completely.  It is more peaceful for me without the struggle.

Having a delicious substitute is also crucially important.  I have posted these recipes before and anyone who has ever worked me with or bought any of my ebooks, has already experienced these wonders.  But recently a long time friend from my seikooc’s day, confessed that although she had had these recipes forever, she had never tried them.  When she did, she couldn’t believe she had waited so long.

raw brownie balls, raw peanut butter oatmeal balls. healthy cookies, no sugar cookies

Print
Raw Brownies

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups walnuts
  • pinch sea salt
  • 13-14 large Medjool dates, pitted
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract (you could also use mint extract or cherry extract, or orange...)

Instructions

  1. Place walnuts and salt in a food processor.
  2. Process until finely ground.
  3. Add remaining ingredients and process until all mixed and uniformly crumbly.
  4. With the machine running, add a few drops of water at a time, just until the mass starts to stick together in a big ball. (Better to add too little that too much!)
  5. Roll mixture into balls or press into a square pan and cut into squares.
  6. Balls can then be rolled in dried coconut, chopped nuts, or cocoa powder if you wish.
Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin
http://triumphwellness.com/healthy-sugar-free-cookies/

 

Print
Raw Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • dash sea salt
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup pitted Medjool dates
  • 2 Tbsp peanut butter (OK to leave out to make nut-free)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

  1. Put oats and salt in food processor.
  2. Process until finely ground.
  3. Add remaining ingredients and process until fully combined.
  4. Add a few drops of water if needed to form balls.
  5. Form into balls or press into a square pan and cut into squares.
Schema/Recipe SEO Data Markup by ZipList Recipe Plugin
http://triumphwellness.com/healthy-sugar-free-cookies/

Some may ask what is the difference between eating these and eating a real cookie.  Calorically, there is no difference.  Same amount of calories.  My raw cookies have a bit more nutrition, fiber, protein and healthy fats.  The fiber slows down the entry of sugar into your bloodstream.

But the big difference is that they do not cause binging the way real cookies do. I don’t know why, but I have never met anyone who binges on these after the first week of making them.  (The first few times there is sometimes an excitement binge, but then it goes away).

I can, and do, keep these cookies in my fridge at all times.  My kids eat them.  Their friends eat them.  I serve them to company.  No one knows they are “healthy” or sugar-free.  And my mind is peaceful with just eating one.

Maybe it is the lack of refined sugar, flour and fat?  Maybe it is something else?  Not sure, but they work.

Amen.

This post is participating in Wellness Weekend at DietDessertNDogs.com and Healthy Vegan Fridays #4 HERE.

Pin It

Filed Under: cookies, dessert, health coach, Recipes Tagged With: , , ,

Don’t Rush Weight Loss

February 19, 2012 by 1 Comment

OK, I know I trot this statistic out a lot, but apparently I have not said it enough for some of my readers:

Of people who have lost weight via dieting, only 3% will maintain that new weight for longer than one year.  97 out of 100 people gain back what they lose, often with extra.

So, as a coach who helps many people with weight loss, I spend a lot of time reading studies on the 3% who ARE successful.  It helps that I myself am one of the 3% and understand just what it takes from my own personal experience.  In this post I will share with you some of the “secrets” of the 3% who succeed:

obstacles to weight loss, weight loss motivation

One of the reasons I believe people gain the weight back is that they lose it too quickly.  Just as nature abhors a vacuum, your body is designed to see rapid weight loss as a survival emergency.  Your thyroid will dial your metabolism  WAY back to conserve energy.  You often become tired, lethargic, you exercise less, you MOVE less.  All the while, your brain is in overdrive encouraging and pushing you to eat more, to crave more, to give in to your rumbly tummy, and faced with the buffet of calories we face each day, to eat, eat, eat.

When I lost 70lbs for the very last time, I did it fairly slowly.  It took me a year to lose the first 50, at a rate of less than 1 lb per week, and the next full year to lose the final 20!  The third year was the most intense of all, as I struggled the most with the factors I mention above.  I had to focus harder than ever before to learn to keep my balance.

But when most people start a diet, they want it off FAST!  They have lived with their creeping overweight by denying it for years, but when the curtain of reality is ripped back, they cannot WAIT to jettison their fat asap.  Thus begin the calculations:  ”OK, I have a wedding in 5 weeks and I need to lose 20 lbs, so if I can just lose 4 lbs each week, I will be fine”.  Of course to lose 4 lbs per week you need to generate a 2000 calorie deficit per day and if that doesn’t start ringing your body’s alarm bells, I don’t know what will!

That’s an extreme, but true example.  Most people come to me wanting to lose 1-2 lbs per week (.5-1kg roughly).  STILL, in order to do that, you need to generate either a 500 calorie deficit each day to lose the .5kg, or a 1000 calorie deficit per day to lose the 1kg per week.  I still hear alarm bells clanging my body’s homeostasis.  That’s a lot of calories to cut and requires you to be in caloric deficit EVERY day – no days off, no special occasions.

In the last month I have received 2 letters from former clients, thanking me for teaching them to live healthier lives, and in both cases, the women reported having lost 10 lbs over the course of the past year “without even really trying.”

Did you realize that if one were to just cut 100 calories from their maintenance level, each day, either by eating one less snack, one less slice of bread, a few less spoonfuls of ice cream, soda or alcohol, OR by burning just 100 calories through a daily walk or a restful yoga class, one would lose 10 lbs in one year!  That’s all it would take!

When I work with a client, we make tiny changes each week.  So tiny that we are both certain they can be accomplished. Things like, take a 20 minute walk every day.  Or swap one apple for one candy bar.  The clients who succeed in this approach stick with their small changes and have the big picture vision to understand that, over time, it is these small changes that will create major shifts.

But every once in awhile I get a client who says “No, that’s not enough.  That will never work for me.  My body is so messed up that I have to make DRASTIC steps like going from zero exercise to 2 hours in the gym everyday.  And 1500 calories??  I can’t lose unless I keep my intake at 1000.”

Yet, 97% of the time, these changes are so big and so hard that the client will abandon them within a few weeks, (or never even get them started in the first place!)

And most often, without even realizing it, they eat a surplus of just those same 100 calories per day, and in reverse, instead of losing 10 lbs that year, they GAIN it.  Then I hear  ”I gained 10 lbs last year and I barely eat anything!  I swear, I don’t eat half of what my friends eat and I just keep gaining!”

That’s right.  You ate only 100 calories more than your friend did each day.  That’s one candy bar instead of an apple, that’s one soda instead of a glass of water, that’s one daily walk you didn’t take…

Small changes, done every day, lead to big differences over time.

But remember that this theory works in both directions!

Don’t be in such a pants-on-fire hurry to lose weight that you set yourself up for failure right from the start.  We don’t say Slow and Steady wins the Race, for nothing!

Oh, and the TOP habit the 3% of successful maintainers usually credit their success to?  Daily food logging.  You can’t know how many calories you are eating – deficit or surplus – if you don’t record what you are eating.

what are calories

Pin It

Filed Under: coaching exercises, Exercise, Goals, health coach, Rants, weight loss Tagged With: , , ,

It’s My Life

January 11, 2012 by 14 Comments

I made you sing Bon Jovi, didn’t I?

OK, so back when I asked for feedback about what you want to read about here, several people said they want to know more about ME, how things roll in my life and how I get stuff done.  I thought to myself  ”Huh?? Why does anyone want to know about my boring life for?!” Then I realized that I like reading posts about people’s boring lives and maybe it can even be helpful to pull back the curtain a little.

So…  today.  It’s mid January and “winter” has finally come to Israel.  The temp is 13C (55F) and where I live on the coastal plain, that’s about as cold as it ever gets.  It is also raining which only happens about 10 days a year, so it’s a pretty darn special day.  I am wrapped in blankets and wearing a scarf indoors because, although I swore I would never lose my New Yorker hardiness, I did in fact lose it.  I adapted down and my body thinks this is freezing.

Ridiculous, I know, please don’t hate me.

Anyway, I woke up this morning, as always at 5:45am to write my 3 Morning Pages.  (This is a practice from Julia Cameron’s book The Artist’s Way that  I began back in August and have been doing every morning since).  Yes, it is dark at that hour and I have to sneak out of bed so as not to wake anyone.  I drink steaming hot tea while I write.  This is my favorite time of the entire day. After my writing is done, I reward myself by playing on facebook a bit so I can interact with the North Americans who are still enjoying yesterday.

The kids get up and I make breakfast which is either cereal, oatmeal, smoothies, muffins, toast and eggs (they are not vegans), toast and peanut butter…  Then I pack their lunches – as well as my husband’s – which are sandwiches or leftovers from dinner.  I walk the dog for the 1st time.

Once everyone has launched off into their day, it is time for my workout.  I either go running, head to the gym, or workout at home.  Every day is Training Day, just like my t-shirt says! ( except Saturday)

Before I go, I eat a little something depending on what the workout will be.  If it’s anything under an hour I just drink a glass of freshly squeezed oj with green powder stirred into it, or I eat 3 dates.  A long workout is usually fueled by a bowl of rice with soy sauce.  Strange, but it is the best breakkie I have found to fuel me far without stomach upset.

Upon returning home I’m a starvin’ Marvin and breakfast needs to happen ASAP.  I normally drink a green smoothie with some Sun Warrior protein powder in it.  Other times I have oatmeal or pb&j+fruit.

TaDa!  is it bedtime yet?  Are you totally bored of this?

Now it is time to settle down and work.  I see clients – yay!  I write articles.  I work on my own website.  I do some marketing woo-woo and call my people in to me.  I work all the way to lunchtime.

Happy Herbivore Meatless Balls

These are Happy Herbivore’s Meatless Balls which are leftover from my dinner last night.  More lunch will follow (veggies, and a grain, if I didn’t have oats for breakfast) but these are super filling!

Then it’s back to work until the off-spring return home from school.  They both come home in need of immediate sustenance:  food, snuggles and a listening ear are all needed after a day away from the nest.  I dispense all three in large supply.  Once they are sated, I finish up any work I need to finish and by 3pm I turn to my home chores (Job #2 for the modern woman!).  We eat dinner between 5:30-6:00 and it takes me awhile to get it cooked, so I usually start somewhere around 4pm and intersperse the cooking with housekeeping, homework advising, and any errands or appointments.  Another dog walk happens in this time also.

vegan slow cooker

Today I dumped a bunch of veggies, grains and beans in the slow cooker because it’s a slow cooker kind of day.  I’ll serve it with leftover pasta from last night.

Unless I have an overseas Skype client, I try to keep evenings free of work, although much pinterest pinning and facebooking happens. The only TV show I watch is Glee, once a week.  Not a big tv person.  This frees up A LOT of time in my life!

I also spend some time each evening planning the following day and that usually includes pre-logging what I am going to eat into Sparkpeople.  I like it planned ahead because then all I need to do is eat what is on my plan and I get the right amount of calories and nutrients without any guesswork.  This has been an important part of maintaining my weight loss all these years!

I’m under the covers by 10pm and read until I fall asleep (approximately 10 seconds later).  And that’s a wrap!

There are other things about my life in Israel that differ from the US life:

1.  With just one car between us, I go everywhere by foot or bus during the day.

2.  We do one big grocery shop a week but I often have to fill in with trips to the health food store, the shuk (daily farm-fresh fruits and veggies), and the little makolet (small private corner market).  I do that all on foot with one of those granny carts my husband calls The Mitsubishi.

3.  Laundry is an every day thing for me.  I alone generate huge amounts of sweaty, stinky clothes, not to mention the kids and husband.  Like most Israelis, we don’t use a clothes dryer because the weather is usually quite lovely.  Laundry is hung on lines in a little laundry balcony.  Its eco and green, but it takes a bit more time.

No hanging laundry on a rainy day!

4.  My kids don’t do tons of classes or clubs, but they didn’t in the US either.  I personally believe childhood is for school, homework, and decompressing at home with an adult care-giver or with your best buds.  I know that makes me out-of-step with lots of parents who believe every moment should be filled with some sort of meaningful learning or hobby, but this works for us.  Not to mention it keeps my life simpler than my friends (and clients) who carpool their kids around from place to place all afternoon and evening.  We didn’t have all this time-filling stuff when we were kids and you know what?  Childhood was plenty fun.  We got bored and created things to do.  We had time to dream and to think.  We knew how to entertain ourselves. We read books and colored and used our creativity.  I want those things for my kids too.  I know I am lucky that I am working from home and I don’t mean to put down working parent’s or their lifestyles.  Just telling my truth and hoping it can be a light for those of you who feel the same but are afraid their kids will “miss out” if they are not in tons of after school activities.  They’ll be amazingly fine and happy and so will you!

I didn’t write this so you would compare your life to mine, for better or worse, but basically just to give a glimpse at the way things are for me right now.  They may change.  Your life might be totally different.  There is no right or wrong.  Just create a lifestyle that works for you and enjoy each day – even the rainy ones!

Filed Under: Inspiration, Primary Food, What Was For Dinner Tonight Tagged With: , , , , ,

Tasty Now, But How About Tomorrow?

December 14, 2011 by 2 Comments

When strangers start asking you how the training is going and why there haven’t been any updates, you know it’s been too long since you’ve seen the inside of your website.

Training is going WELL dear readers!  I officially have Thighs of Steel.

Yeah, just like those except bigger and steelier.

The big advancement this week has been the move from 3 running days a week to 4.  That means one day is back-to-back running, which was scary, but seems to be just fine.  Four shorter runs that focus on either speed, hills, or form, and one long run that just focuses on the distance.

Three days a week I’m also at the gym working upper body and abs so that the rest of my body doesn’t completely atrophy as I build up the legs of an Olympian.  That would look weird, right?

As for my Nutrition Plan, well when you burn over 1000 calories in a workout, there is a VERY STRONG desire to eat lots and lots of food afterwards.  I could easily throw back 2500 calories post-long run and end up actually gaining weight.  Huge bummer but not uncommon and I wrote about this danger HERE.

So, I am being as careful as I can to log everything I eat over at sparkpeople.com and to stay in line with my actual calorie requirements, as well as macro and micro-nutrients.  I keep telling myself  ”Whatever you eat extra, you’ll have to carry with you for 42.2K.” That tends to dampen my desire for over-eating.  But sometimes I still goof up and I’ve got the story to prove it:

One day, perhaps I was pms-y, but I really wanted to eat a lot of chocolate.  I bought myself a 100g Vered HaGalil Dark Chocolate bar and portioned it out for myself over the course of a day.  Sounds reasonable, right?  I thought so at the time, even though I could read as plain as day on the label that my little treat contained 500 calories.  I burned at least that much in my workout so I “deserved” this and could “absorb” it.

Well, next day I went out for a run and had a horrible time of it.  Total Bonk-City. And for the Brits who think bonking means I had whoopie while running, in Yank English, a Bonk equals terrible joint pain, legs slow and lead-filled, racing heart, gasping for breath.  I mean, seriously unpleasant.  Not at all like British Bonking.  Or maybe… nah, I’m not going there.

Anyway…

I reviewed my previous day: Sleep? great; Rest? plenty; Back-to-back workout? no; Mental state? fine; Nutrition? all fine except for that big old Bar o’ Bliss!  I started thinking “I really enjoyed that chocolate bar, but seriously, I used 500 calories on pure junk, nothing at all that my body could use and probably quite a bit that caused it harm.  I wonder how this run would have felt if I had eaten 500 calories of something healthy like protein, complex carbs, veggies, greens, sprouts…?”

At that moment I promised myself that if I feel the need to eat 500 calories, then I will, but I’m not going to waste it on crap when it can mean the difference between a great run and awful pain and suffering.

I don’t know how many of you can see it, but that is a pretty huge mental leap forward.  When you start looking at the long-term effects of your food BEFORE you put it in your mouth, you are well on the road to a healthier body and life.

Back when I first began my weight loss journey, I remember making that mental shift from “ooo, this is so good and so tasty and I just LOVE eating it!” to “Hm, so this is going to taste great for like 20 minutes, but then there is going to be too much sugar in my blood, which is going to start damaging my organs for Pete’s sake, not to mention giving me a tummy ache and heartburn and that sinking sense of disappointment in myself for throwing my plans and goals away yet again…”  Whoa, Bummer Train!

I am not saying that food should not equal pleasure!  Eating is delightfully pleasurable and I’ve got a recipe index on this website to prove it.  But you must look beyond the immediate pleasure and evaluate what you put in your mouth for more than just it’s immediate return.

There’s definitely a time for chocolate.  You just have to be prepared to carry it’s bags.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Filed Under: coaching exercises, dessert, Exercise, Goals, Growth, health coach, Inspiration, Running, Tel Aviv Marathon, Triumph Race Club, weight loss Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
«Older Posts