Tonight's dinner was grilled eggplant stacks with goat cheese and balsamic reduction, a tomato-basil salad with cucumber and red onion, lemon-scented bulgur, and corn on the cob. So yummy!
Saturday, September 1, 2007
A Plate of Summer
Tonight's dinner was grilled eggplant stacks with goat cheese and balsamic reduction, a tomato-basil salad with cucumber and red onion, lemon-scented bulgur, and corn on the cob. So yummy!
Eat Local Challenge, weigh in, and daily menu for September 1
I will spend September participating in the Eat Local Challenge. As part of this challenge, I will continue to buy, prepare, photograph, and eat locally, sustainably grown foods, and will blog all about it. I'm commiting to posting my daily menu every day for the month of September. I'll also try my hand at canning, freezing, and dehydrating the local produce available now so that I have it in the winter.
The exceptions: I will eat spices and condiments like soy sauce that are already in my pantry, grains already in my pantry, and will buy the ingredients for my son's birthday cake that aren't locally produced. All are organic and fair trade (chocolate for the cake) and were (or will be) purchased at a locally owned store.
I'll do it on the USDA's Thrifty Plan budget (currently $132.30 a week for my family), not part of the Eat Local Challenge but an ongoing challenge for myself. I hope to lose an additional 8 lb. this month.
***
Budget Update
As I anticipated, August was an outliar in the budget. I prepaid for 6 months of grains and a full year of produce through CSAs, bringing the total to a whopping $1056.78. Not including the CSA renewals, my total was a much more reasonable $321.53, well under the $519.13 a month that I am alloted on the Thrifty Budget.
The plus side of this outlay of cash is that my food bill for the rest of the year be significantly lower, with both fresh produce and grains paid for in advance.
***
For my first act in the Eat Local Challenge, today I am disassembling 7 local, pastured chickens from Soul Food Farm, packaging and freezing them, and making a big pot of stock, also to be frozen for future use. The chickens cost me $97.00, the first expenditure for this month's budget. I also bought a dozen pastured eggs for $5.
***
Today's Full Belly Farm CSA box includes:
Eggplant
Grapes
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Peaches
Summer squash
Peppers
Melon
At the farmer's market, I spent $32 and bought garlic chevre (goat cheese), cilantro, green onion, fresh peanuts (I haven't ever seen local peanuts!), olive oil, and LOTS of red peppers to roast and freeze.
Including the chickens, I'm up to $135 for September's food.
***
Another Saturday morning, another weigh in! This week, the scale showed a lost of 2.8 lb., for a total of 29.2 gone. I'm well on my way to the goal of 30 lb. by September 23.
***
Daily Menu
Breakfast
Melon from Full Belly Farm
2 c. milk from Clover Stornetta Farms
Lunch
2 eggs
1/4 oz. cheese (.5 Points)
apple
Dinner
Grilled eggplant stacks with goat cheese and balsamic reduction (2 Points) including eggplant from Full Belly Farm, red peppers from Happy Quail, vinegar from Hare Hollow, wine from Frog's Leap, and garlic chevre (goat cheese) from Spring Hill Cheese
Bulgur (locally purchased but not produced) with homemade chicken stock, lemon juice and lemon zest from the tree across the street, and lemon olive oil from St. Helena Olive Oil Company and a bit of fresh thyme
Grilled corn on the cob
A glass of wine from Frog's Leap
WPA (Weekly Points Allowance) points used today: 4.5
WPA points available: 33.5
Activity points today: 3 (30 minute Walk Away the Pounds video)
Activity points this week: 3
Daily 8 - the 8 Healthy Guidelines
1. Fruits and veggies - 5+
2. Whole grains - bulgur
3. Milk - yes
4. Healthy oil - yes
5. Protein - eggs
6. Limit sugar and alcohol - yes
7. Water - 8+
8. Multivitamin - yes
Friday, August 31, 2007
How I got here in the first place
I received an e-mail today from Vickie in Iowa, who is also eating local on CORE (and makes her own yogurt, butter, and cheese!) Here is an excerpt from that e-mail:
So how did I get so fat? It certainly wasn't from eating locally grown, organic foods in moderate portions like I am now. Before I started to learn about agribusiness and the industrial food industry, before I understood the importance of buying local, I was the woman who ate everything. I was a chubby baby, kid, teen, and young adult, slipping into obesity somewhere around my 16th birthday and never getting back out of it. I was on Weight Watchers half a dozen times before this, starting with the Exchange program when I was 12, but it never stuck. I never had the determination. I knew what I should be eating and patently ignored it.
I used food in a lot of ways, but filling physical hunger wasn't always at the top of that list. I was not picky, and unfortunately ate fast food, junk food and processed crap far too frequently and in huge quantities. Why I am heavy is not such a surprise to me, although there is certainly more to it than this, and it is not because I ate whole foods in reasonable amounts.
It took becoming a mother to get me to wake up to what I was eating, how I was living my life, and made me step back and evaluate. I was feeding my son all organic baby foods, carefully making sure he received balanced nutrition, but I wasn't giving the same nurturing care of my own body. I realized that as his role model, it was my job to demonstrate healthy eating habits so that he doesn't grow up overweight and with the food issues I've struggled through. Also, if I didn't get healthy, I couldn't be the kind of parent I want to be. I couldn't easily chase him around the park or get on the floor to play with him, and I wouldn't be as healthy or live as long if I remained obese. I didn't want that for him, and I started to change my eating habits not for me but for him. In the process, it has become about me.
At about the same time, I read an article about the 100 mile diet in the Utne Reader while waiting for a doctor's appointment and it resonated with me. I'd never considered the source of my food before, and didn't think I could do it. It was the push I needed to do more research, and I read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, the book that changed my life and view of food 100%. If you haven't yet read it, I highly recommend it. I learned about industrial agriculture, monoculture, subsidies, and our entirely screwed up food system, and I wanted out! I went into it with no notion of how food got to my plate, and I quit eating industrial meat cold (pastured) turkey in January of this year. I wasn't watching my weight, but I was watching where food came from and started buying organic and paying attention to buying local.
In May, I rejoined Weight Watchers with a commitment I'd never before had, and with a new way of looking at my food. I'm making conscious food choices not entirely based on the calorie count, but on the quality of the food, and I've found something surprising: I don't need a huge quantity if the food is high quality. A small amount of good, real cheese is so much more satisfying than a whole package of fat free cheese product.
Another surprise to me: I've become picky! My list of things I will eat is now smaller than the things I won't for the first time in my life. (I never expected this!) This is wonderful for my health, and for the first time, I'm eating according to my values. I don't want animals to live in inhumane conditions so I can eat meat, but I don't want to give up meat. I don't want to eat genetically modified foods or chemicals dressed up as foods. I want nutritious, flavorful food that hasn't spent weeks in transit, hasn't been sprayed with toxic chemicals, and isn't leaving the environment (and people growing and harvesting it) irreparably damaged. I'm enjoying the "hunt" for new sources, the success of new recipes, and real, whole food - none of it individually packaged and frozen. So I skip industrial meat, conventionally grown fruits and vegetables, genetically modified foods and artificial colors/flavors/sweeteners/preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated fats, and so in short, almost all packaged foods.
I've said the same thing as Vickie: I'm still obsessed with food. I am not sure that will ever dissipate, but it has found a new focus. Instead of constantly wondering how I'd get my next fix of sugar and deep fried (fill in the blank), I'm searching for new sources for healthy, sustainable foods. I'm excited when I find local beans and pastured chickens. The obsession may never leave me, but my life and the lives of my family members are better off for the obsession finding this direction. I am not cured of my food issues and I still struggle with fast food cravings and wanting to eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's to console myself over bad news, but I'm now making conscious choices and learning to feel the feeling instead of feeding it. That hard work is outside of the scope of this blog and I'm not getting much into it here, but it's going on behind the scenes.
My son, who will be 2 years old this month, is a great eater. He'll eat just about whatever I put in front of him and eats the same daily menu that I post here with a few modifications - more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and whole milk, for example. So far, he loves fruits and vegetables and has never had a chicken nugget. I'm striving to keep it that way.
There are only a couple of other Core folks at my meeting so the flexers can get very fixated on what you can fool your body into thinking is food.....I've had it with the fat free cool whip cheers. That's not food...
I find you particularly interesting because we share something: a sincere commitment to healthy foods, and yet we're both pretty overweight. I can't get my head around that really. Sometimes I think that I'm overweight because I'm obsessed with food, (that comes from my family,) and the localvore CSA slowfood movement just helps me to channel that obsession away from cookies and into making yogurt. On the Core I still get to think about food all the time, but in a positive way; that works for me. Nonetheless, I'm still fat, and the other people in this movement around here are not. If we're who we claim to be, how can we be fat in the first place?????
So how did I get so fat? It certainly wasn't from eating locally grown, organic foods in moderate portions like I am now. Before I started to learn about agribusiness and the industrial food industry, before I understood the importance of buying local, I was the woman who ate everything. I was a chubby baby, kid, teen, and young adult, slipping into obesity somewhere around my 16th birthday and never getting back out of it. I was on Weight Watchers half a dozen times before this, starting with the Exchange program when I was 12, but it never stuck. I never had the determination. I knew what I should be eating and patently ignored it.
I used food in a lot of ways, but filling physical hunger wasn't always at the top of that list. I was not picky, and unfortunately ate fast food, junk food and processed crap far too frequently and in huge quantities. Why I am heavy is not such a surprise to me, although there is certainly more to it than this, and it is not because I ate whole foods in reasonable amounts.
It took becoming a mother to get me to wake up to what I was eating, how I was living my life, and made me step back and evaluate. I was feeding my son all organic baby foods, carefully making sure he received balanced nutrition, but I wasn't giving the same nurturing care of my own body. I realized that as his role model, it was my job to demonstrate healthy eating habits so that he doesn't grow up overweight and with the food issues I've struggled through. Also, if I didn't get healthy, I couldn't be the kind of parent I want to be. I couldn't easily chase him around the park or get on the floor to play with him, and I wouldn't be as healthy or live as long if I remained obese. I didn't want that for him, and I started to change my eating habits not for me but for him. In the process, it has become about me.
At about the same time, I read an article about the 100 mile diet in the Utne Reader while waiting for a doctor's appointment and it resonated with me. I'd never considered the source of my food before, and didn't think I could do it. It was the push I needed to do more research, and I read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, the book that changed my life and view of food 100%. If you haven't yet read it, I highly recommend it. I learned about industrial agriculture, monoculture, subsidies, and our entirely screwed up food system, and I wanted out! I went into it with no notion of how food got to my plate, and I quit eating industrial meat cold (pastured) turkey in January of this year. I wasn't watching my weight, but I was watching where food came from and started buying organic and paying attention to buying local.
In May, I rejoined Weight Watchers with a commitment I'd never before had, and with a new way of looking at my food. I'm making conscious food choices not entirely based on the calorie count, but on the quality of the food, and I've found something surprising: I don't need a huge quantity if the food is high quality. A small amount of good, real cheese is so much more satisfying than a whole package of fat free cheese product.
Another surprise to me: I've become picky! My list of things I will eat is now smaller than the things I won't for the first time in my life. (I never expected this!) This is wonderful for my health, and for the first time, I'm eating according to my values. I don't want animals to live in inhumane conditions so I can eat meat, but I don't want to give up meat. I don't want to eat genetically modified foods or chemicals dressed up as foods. I want nutritious, flavorful food that hasn't spent weeks in transit, hasn't been sprayed with toxic chemicals, and isn't leaving the environment (and people growing and harvesting it) irreparably damaged. I'm enjoying the "hunt" for new sources, the success of new recipes, and real, whole food - none of it individually packaged and frozen. So I skip industrial meat, conventionally grown fruits and vegetables, genetically modified foods and artificial colors/flavors/sweeteners/preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated fats, and so in short, almost all packaged foods.
I've said the same thing as Vickie: I'm still obsessed with food. I am not sure that will ever dissipate, but it has found a new focus. Instead of constantly wondering how I'd get my next fix of sugar and deep fried (fill in the blank), I'm searching for new sources for healthy, sustainable foods. I'm excited when I find local beans and pastured chickens. The obsession may never leave me, but my life and the lives of my family members are better off for the obsession finding this direction. I am not cured of my food issues and I still struggle with fast food cravings and wanting to eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's to console myself over bad news, but I'm now making conscious choices and learning to feel the feeling instead of feeding it. That hard work is outside of the scope of this blog and I'm not getting much into it here, but it's going on behind the scenes.
My son, who will be 2 years old this month, is a great eater. He'll eat just about whatever I put in front of him and eats the same daily menu that I post here with a few modifications - more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and whole milk, for example. So far, he loves fruits and vegetables and has never had a chicken nugget. I'm striving to keep it that way.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Daily Menu for August 29
I passed up free ice cream at school, started the weight lifting circuit, and ate 100% on plan. It was a good day. Here's my plan for tomorrow:
Breakfast
2 cups milk
honeydew melon
shredded wheat
Lunch
Egg curry on couscous
carrots
Dinner
TBD - we're going out to eat
WPA (Weekly Points Allowance) points used today: TBD
WPA points available: 35
Activity points today: 3 (walking)
Activity points this week: 11
Daily 8 - the 8 Healthy Guidelines
1. Fruits and veggies - 5+
2. Whole grains -
3. Milk - yes
4. Healthy oil - yes
5. Protein - yes
6. Limit sugar and alcohol - yes
7. Water - 8+
8. Multivitamin - yes
Breakfast
2 cups milk
honeydew melon
shredded wheat
Lunch
Egg curry on couscous
carrots
Dinner
TBD - we're going out to eat
WPA (Weekly Points Allowance) points used today: TBD
WPA points available: 35
Activity points today: 3 (walking)
Activity points this week: 11
Daily 8 - the 8 Healthy Guidelines
1. Fruits and veggies - 5+
2. Whole grains -
3. Milk - yes
4. Healthy oil - yes
5. Protein - yes
6. Limit sugar and alcohol - yes
7. Water - 8+
8. Multivitamin - yes
Monday, August 27, 2007
Daily Menu for August 28
Breakfast
Apricot muesli (yogurt, oatmeal, apricots and applesauce)
Lunch
Chickpea, eggplant and tahini with bulgur (1 Point)
Carrots and bell peppers with white-bean dip
Dinner
Egg curry
Brown rice
Green beans
Milk
WPA (Weekly Points Allowance) points used today: 1
WPA points available: 35
Activity points today: 6 (lifting weights in the gym for 60 minutes)
Activity points this week: 8
Daily 8 - the 8 Healthy Guidelines
1. Fruits and veggies - 5+
2. Whole grains - oatmeal, bulgur, brown rice
3. Milk - yes
4. Healthy oil - yes
5. Protein - yes (chickpeas, eggs)
6. Limit sugar and alcohol - yes
7. Water - 8+
8. Multivitamin - yes
Apricot muesli (yogurt, oatmeal, apricots and applesauce)
Lunch
Chickpea, eggplant and tahini with bulgur (1 Point)
Carrots and bell peppers with white-bean dip
Dinner
Egg curry
Brown rice
Green beans
Milk
WPA (Weekly Points Allowance) points used today: 1
WPA points available: 35
Activity points today: 6 (lifting weights in the gym for 60 minutes)
Activity points this week: 8
Daily 8 - the 8 Healthy Guidelines
1. Fruits and veggies - 5+
2. Whole grains - oatmeal, bulgur, brown rice
3. Milk - yes
4. Healthy oil - yes
5. Protein - yes (chickpeas, eggs)
6. Limit sugar and alcohol - yes
7. Water - 8+
8. Multivitamin - yes
Sick and crabby, but on plan!
I have had a cold for a few days, and it's grown to include phlegm and fever, never especially fun. I ate little yesterday, and my appetite doesn't seem especially close to the surface today. I'm still planning a healthy daily menu for the day and I'll try to have as much of it as my hunger allows. I know I haven't been hitting all of the daily 8's lately and that has to get back in line. I've also avoided exercise, since I've felt pretty miserable, but I'm getting back to that too, adding the 1 mile Walk Away the Pounds to the day instead of the planned 2 mile. If I have more energy, I'll do it twice.
***
After nearly a decade out of school, I'm back at community college taking classes. I'm taking 16 units this semester, and will be packing lunches Tuesday and Thursday for school in addition to my current Wednesdays spent nannying. I've revived my Mr.Bento love and am excited to pack fun, healthy lunches to take with me.
***
Meatless Monday Daily Menu
Breakfast
Apricot muesli (yogurt, oatmeal, apricots, applesauce)
Lunch
Lentil soup
quinoa
carrots
milk
Dinner
Chickpeas, eggplant, tahini, and spinach w/1 t. olive oil (1 Point for the tahini)
zucchini with 1 t. olive oil
Brown rice
WPA (Weekly Points Allowance) points used today: 1
WPA points available: 35
Activity points today: 2 (Walk Away the Pounds 1 mile video)
Activity points this week: 2
Daily 8 - the 8 Healthy Guidelines
1. Fruits and veggies - 5+
2. Whole grains - oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice
3. Milk - yes
4. Healthy oil - yes
5. Protein - yes (lentils, chickpeas)
6. Limit sugar and alcohol - yes
7. Water - 8+
8. Multivitamin - yes
***
After nearly a decade out of school, I'm back at community college taking classes. I'm taking 16 units this semester, and will be packing lunches Tuesday and Thursday for school in addition to my current Wednesdays spent nannying. I've revived my Mr.Bento love and am excited to pack fun, healthy lunches to take with me.
***
Meatless Monday Daily Menu
Breakfast
Apricot muesli (yogurt, oatmeal, apricots, applesauce)
Lunch
Lentil soup
quinoa
carrots
milk
Dinner
Chickpeas, eggplant, tahini, and spinach w/1 t. olive oil (1 Point for the tahini)
zucchini with 1 t. olive oil
Brown rice
WPA (Weekly Points Allowance) points used today: 1
WPA points available: 35
Activity points today: 2 (Walk Away the Pounds 1 mile video)
Activity points this week: 2
Daily 8 - the 8 Healthy Guidelines
1. Fruits and veggies - 5+
2. Whole grains - oatmeal, quinoa, brown rice
3. Milk - yes
4. Healthy oil - yes
5. Protein - yes (lentils, chickpeas)
6. Limit sugar and alcohol - yes
7. Water - 8+
8. Multivitamin - yes
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Sick and whiny: why I missed Weight Watchers and flew threw the farmer's market
I started sniffling yesterday afternoon and by the evening, full blown cold had set in. I woke up this morning with a sinus headache, sniffles, aches, sneezes, and a sore throat, and decided to stay in bed for as much extra rest as I could manage while Mr.M took Jax to swim class. Still sniffly, I made my way out to grocery shop so we have the food to make a week of menus and aren't tempted to eat out instead. I have to stop that habit in its tracks if I want to continue along losing weight! On my home scale (which is routinely the same as the Weight Watcher's scale), I'm up 1.4 lb. this week. Hopefully next week will drop that and more. Perhaps a sore throat will come in handy after all, haha.
Jax came shopping with me after swim class, and he seemed to enjoy the market. Usually he's home with Dad, and I wish I'd brought him on a morning when I didn't feel so awful! I picked up the CSA box from Full Belly, visited briefly with Ariel from Green Oaks Creek, and shared a basket of strawberries on the lawn, listening to music for a few minutes before heading off to Country Sun for staple grains and dairy. I spent $67.96 at Country Sun on several pounds of each:
Lentils
Whole wheat pasta
Soba (buckwheat) noodles
Bulgur
Wheat Berries
Whole wheat Couscous
Short grain brown rice
And:
Cumin seeds
String cheese for Jax
2 gallons of milk from Clover
a quart of yogurt from Wallaby
2 mineral waters (from Calistoga so still local)
and a fruit leather for Jax to eat in the cart
So while there are no kabobs tonight, as I neglected to stop by the meat booth, we can still have couscous, tzatziki, and grilled vegetables.
Jax came shopping with me after swim class, and he seemed to enjoy the market. Usually he's home with Dad, and I wish I'd brought him on a morning when I didn't feel so awful! I picked up the CSA box from Full Belly, visited briefly with Ariel from Green Oaks Creek, and shared a basket of strawberries on the lawn, listening to music for a few minutes before heading off to Country Sun for staple grains and dairy. I spent $67.96 at Country Sun on several pounds of each:
Lentils
Whole wheat pasta
Soba (buckwheat) noodles
Bulgur
Wheat Berries
Whole wheat Couscous
Short grain brown rice
And:
Cumin seeds
String cheese for Jax
2 gallons of milk from Clover
a quart of yogurt from Wallaby
2 mineral waters (from Calistoga so still local)
and a fruit leather for Jax to eat in the cart
So while there are no kabobs tonight, as I neglected to stop by the meat booth, we can still have couscous, tzatziki, and grilled vegetables.
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