National Nutrition Month® - Go Further With Food

National Nutrition Month® is a nutrition education and information campaign created annually in March by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.  The campaign focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. 

“Go Further with Food” is the theme for 2018.  What does it mean to go “further with food” – whether it’s starting the day with breakfast or fueling up before your afternoon workout, the foods you choose can make a direct impact on your performance.  Preparing your foods to go further, by planning meals and snacks in advance will also help to reduce food loss and waste.  Go Further with Food encourages us to gain the benefits from eating healthy all while encouraging us to also find ways to cut back on food waste.  That's the challenge, eating healthy all while managing our food resources. 

Sunday is typically the day when I plan my meals for the week and then meal prep.  I sit down and gather all the recipes I’ve seen throughout the week that interest me (or browse through my cookbooks) and start making my grocery list.  I go to the grocery store and then do 1-2 hours of meal prep – washing and cutting veggies, making grains for the week, draining tofu to sauté, etc.   Some people ask me actually how long this takes me and the answer is that it just depends on how much food I’m making and also how intricate the recipes are.  Meal prep doesn’t have to take you hours on end, but this truly does help me so that I don’t have to literally cook every night after getting home from work.  Find what works for you and you do you.

I’ve always boasted that I eat most of my meals at home and keep my grocery bill down to less than $100.  But recently, not only have I been spending more but I’ve also been eating out more.  You may wonder how that’s possible – how can she be spending more money at the store if she’s eating out as well.  I’ve been experimenting with recipes here and there and that takes extra ingredients.  But with all this experimenting I’ve noticed as of recent that I’ve been wasting some food I prepare because I might in fact eat out instead of eating what I’ve prepared.  So I’m calling myself out this National Nutrition Month® and making it my aim to reduce the amount of food that I’ve been wasting.  Now don’t get me wrong I do share some things that I’ve prepared that make an excess amount – just ask my dad or brother – but come the end of the week and I’m cleaning out the fridge and I can see where some things go bad because I haven’t eaten them in time.  I’ve got to plan my week better and stay strong when asked to eat out and just eat my own food.  Call me a food snob, but 9 times out of 10 I prefer my food anyways.

We as individuals can implement small changes that make a BIG difference in the amount of food we throw away each year.  Just pick and choose from the list of the following tips for reducing food waste.  Even better? Try to do them all, implementing them one at a time.

Shop smart.  Only buy what you need.  This sounds obvious, but it’s the truth.  How many of us have the best of intentions of cooking every meal for the week?  Okay, maybe not everybody, but my point is to PLAN YOUR MEALS.  Again, this may sound obvious, but even I need reminding of this.  I planned my meals for this week and know that my Wednesday is going to be an early day and a long day.  What that means for me is that I need to plan something to have for lunch and dinner and bring it with me.  Too many times in this past month I’ve been eating lunch out and end up wasting what I brought.  This has been the pattern and I recognize it and I’m changing it all in the hopes to reduce my food waste (and money!).

Shop more often – This might sound absurd, but hear me out.  Your initial thought might be that this will make you end up spending more money, but overall it might be helpful in avoiding having to throw away unused items that go bad by the end of the week.   Perfect example?  Bananas.  I buy a couple of bananas for the beginning of the week to enjoy when they’re ripe and not too brown, because I definitely don’t like a too ripe banana (and no I do not freeze bananas for smoothies.  #worsttrendever).  If I need more throughout the week I pick a few more bananas up.  Sometimes I find that the other fruit I’ve bought for the week ends up being enough and don’t even need to pick up more bananas.  This has been helpful for bananas as well as for when I am experimenting with new recipes – I will give some of my already prepared food away (less food waste) so that I’m able to make the new recipe I’ve been wanting to make.  Bonus is that I am in walking distance from work to a grocery store – but of course, only shop more often if it’s a possibility.

Lists are your friends – Apparently now some refrigerators have an app that you can see into your refrigerator?  I’m not that high-tech, yet.  For now I make a running list of things as I run out of them.  This allows me to know what I need to buy at the store.  Efficiency at its best.  Otherwise I’m buying double of something and end up wasting what I already had.  Now if it happens to be simply extra vegetables see my suggestion below.  But sometimes it’s milk or creamer and that should really be FIFO (first in first out) and I can only drink so much of that at a time.  The list is my friend and helps me buy what I need in the moment.  And shopping more often helps me pick up when I need more, so I don’t feel pressured to pick it up on my weekly shopping day.  I hope that made sense.  Remember, these are just tips to get you thinking and ultimately you’ll need to reflect and find what works for you.

Watch out for BOGO (buy one get one) – while it may be a deal, think about if it’s actually a healthy food (Publix I’m looking at you and all of your tempting unhealthy BOGOs) and if you really will be able to use them all.  Strawberries this week are 3 for $6.  Keep in mind some stores will let you get just one package for $2.  It doesn’t mean you have to get all 3 packages. (& yes, I know that some stores do make you get all 3, but the point is to check out the store’s policy).  The deal is good, but maybe then you need to freeze what you won’t use!   Just please don’t make a smoothie #worsttrendever.

One bad apple can ruin a bunch – I’ve had this happen all too often with oranges recently.  I’ll buy the bag of oranges and there will be just one bad one that starts to mold the others.  I’ve recently bought a nice fruit bowl and I take the oranges out of the bag so they don’t even have a chance to spoil the others.  Fruit in sight makes for a healthy snack too!

Bread can freeze and so can leftovers.  I know most people know this and I also know that most bread doesn’t mold (that’s a problem to talk about for another day).  However, it’s important to point out for the mere fact that not just bread freezes.  Mind blown?  Stating the obvious?  Maybe, but how many of us utilize the freezer and freeze leftovers?  I use my crock-pot occasionally to make homemade soups.  As a single person household that’s a lot of soup.  I utilize a few portions of the soup for the week and then save some for the upcoming weeks.  It’s a win-win:  food for the week, less food waste, and food already prepared when I’m too busy to cook! 

Freeze Leftover Fresh Herbs – I’ve been buying fresh herbs more and more often.  I would grow them but I do not have a green thumb to save my life.  My problem most times is that I may not use all of them for the recipes for that week.  And me being me I buy the fresh herbs to make sure the recipe tastes the way it should.  But how much tarragon can you use in a week really?  Answer to my problem (not really a problem) – freezing the herbs in olive oil.  So simple and so life-changing.  Now to simply label the frozen items a little better.  And the other thing I really try hard to do is to make recipes that might call for the same herbs throughout the week (so that it’s all used up).  But again, how much tarragon can I really use?  Freezing the extra has been my solution.

Tupperware.  I invested recently and switched out almost all of my storage containers for glass.  After starting my new job, I found out real quick glass weighs WAY too much.  So I went on the search for storage containers that were safe.  Thanks Container Store for the find -  Décor TellFresh – free of BPA, PVC, lead and phthalates, so they’re completely safe for storing food.  Pantry. Freezer. Microwave.  And the best part?  They have the measuring amounts on the container.  Call me a nutrition nerd if you want, but that helps/take the guessing out of some measuring when I need to!

Cook with every part of the food.  I’m calling all you “zoodlers” out there.  How many of you zoodle your way through the zucchini and simply throw the core away once you’re done zoodling?  I’ve seen it happen.  It doesn’t look like the zoodle and so you toss it to the side.  Well, that my friends is the opposite of going further with food.  Another thing to point out is that you can eat the greens of many vegetables.  Beet greens sautéed are delish!  So what you might thing is waste is actually edible.  Re-think all parts of your vegetables.

Make frittatas with your leftover vegetables.  A frittata is a quick and simple meal for breakfast or dinner (aka brinner).  And the best part is that almost any vegetable combination will work.  So instead of tossing some of those vegetables, sauté them up and add eggs and cheese and you’ve got a simple weeknight meal.  We’re filming an upcoming video for our series of #BaptistHealthy.  Stay tuned and I’ll post that video in the next few months (if you want a sure proof combination!)

When all else fails, compost.  Hate potato skins?  Don’t feel like turning wilted vegetables into soup stock?  No worries; food scraps still don’t need to be tossed.  Just start a compost pile in the backyard and convert food waste into a useful resource.  Don’t worry, I’m writing this partially for myself.  I’ve always wanted to start one.  Maybe this will be the year to do so!

Cutting back on food waste is incredibly easy.  I hope these tips were helpful and have made you think about how you and your family can help to “Go Further with Food”.  Happy National Nutrition Month®!

Self-Love Sunday

Self-Love Sunday

Valentine’s Day.  A day for love.  Love is defined as, “an intense feeling of deep affection.”  Love comes in many forms:  partnership, friendship, hugs, kisses, food, and even solidarity.   Many times on Valentine’s Day we put the focus on others in our lives.  But I challenge you this Valentine’s Day to love yourself.  The saying goes, you can’t love someone else until you truly love yourself.   YOU are special, YOU deserve love, and YOU should practice self-love.  Here are a few suggestions to show yourself some love:

Self-Acceptance – Accepting yourself for who you are is one of THE most important steps to self-love.  In this world of social media there are posts/pictures all the time that can lead one to begin to compare themselves with others.  Social media tends to promote “perfect pictures” and that’s not always truth.  Stop comparing yourself and begin to accept yourself.  We each have beautiful qualities about ourselves, whether they be physical or emotional, that attract people to us.  We definitely don’t need to look like or act like anyone else but ourselves.  We are unique and different.  That’s what makes the world so beautiful.

Minimize – What’s minimalism?  Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important – so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom.  We often times begin to accumulate “stuff” and we often equate this “stuff” to love.  When in fact, sometimes this “stuff” is literally weighing us down.  It doesn’t mean you’re not able to own material possessions, but the problem today is the meaning we assign to our stuff.  We at times give too much meaning to our things.  A minimalist will search for happiness not through things, but rather through life itself.  This Wednesday is Valentine’s Day.  Rather than buy yourself something that will only last for a small moment in time, i.e chocolate, flowers, etc, treat yourself to an experience – something that you will be able to look back and remember – really living in the moment.  Which leads us to the next way to practice self-love:

Pamper Yourself – Respect your body for the amazing vessel that it is!  Take care of your body.  Simple self-care techniques:  exfoliate your skin, take a soothing bath, get a mani/pedi, indulge in a massage, prioritize your sleep routine – all of these are ways to show respect to your body by showing it the love it NEEDS and deserves! 

Nourish Your Body – I talk about this one all the time as a dietitian.  The old saying, “you are what you eat”.  There is some truth to this.  Our bodies naturally detoxify themselves (that amazing liver and kidney just doing their thing!  You can see me talk about it here in this video I did for the New Tropic).  But if we continuously put junk in, we will feel like garbage.  Replenish your body with real, whole food.  Food can provide the nutrients our bodies need and help sustain us by providing us with the nourishment that we need.  This is just one other way to show yourself some love – choosing healthy food  WILL help you to thrive!

Write yourself a note – We all have our days.  Some days are busier and more stressful than others and that can get the best of us sometimes.   Try writing yourself a positive note or have an inspirational quote you like written somewhere so that you can see it first thing in the morning or during the day (when you need to get over the mid-day slump).  We all can use a pep talk sometimes and having the reminders nearby is helpful (so the negative thoughts don’t take over). 

Be the ENERGY you WANT to attract – “Your friends should motivate and inspire you.  Your circle should be well rounded and supportive.  Keep it tight.  Quality over quantity, always.”  As we get older, the number of friends we have does tend to shrink – it’s the shift from having a large volume of friends to having those close to us that we can truly depend on.  Your vibe attracts your tribe – be the energy that you want to have surrounding you: uplifting, supportive people.

Be Grateful– Finding things to be grateful for on a daily basis can help change your inner dialogue.  This year I made the commitment to start my day and end my day with one thing that I am grateful for.  It truly helps me change my perspective on things that I used to think would be “earth shattering” or I would let ruin my day. 

We so many times tend to have negative internal conversations with ourselves.  Practicing gratitude can help change this internal chatter.  Are you grateful for a healthy body – that moves and allows you to be able to do exercise?  Are you grateful for your sense of smell – for those freshly baking cookies in the oven –currently the situation in my house.  Are you thankful for being able to learn from your mistakes?  Are you grateful for this present moment?  Gratitude is an attitude of practice.

Let It Go– This is definitely easier said than done.  But the truth is you never really are able to move forward unless you do leave the past in the past – “You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk.” ~Louise Smith  Each day is new and fresh and I do believe that’s helpful in committing to letting things go.  Again, easier said than done, but a step in the right direction if you truly want to move forward.

“Me” Time– Everybody needs ME time.  Taking time out of the day, even if it’s just 10 minutes is so important for us.  We often times give so much of ourselves – whether it’s at work with our patients or whether it’s at home with our family – the key is to give back to yourself so you have more to give to others.  If you run yourself into the ground, what good will you be to anyone else?  Don’t feel guilty or think you’re being selfish, think of it as giving back to yourself.  This giving back will help you recharge, reset, and reenergize!  Not only is this important for you but it’s important for those around you as well.

Disconnect To Connect– In this day and age, we are TOO connected – from our cell phones that receive emails from work to our smart watches that receive text messages (thanks Garmin, but no thanks).  Truly take time at the end of the day to disconnect from all of your devices.  Evidence shows that our devices are creating havoc when it comes to our sleep patterns – even MORE reason to disconnect.  Take time to reconnect with how you’re feeling, what you’re thinking and even what might be going on in your body – I use it as a wind down time before bed.  I reflect on the day and write down in my gratitude journal a few things that occurred during the day.  A calm mind helps for sound sleep.

Positive Affirmations– With time, positive affirmations can help transform our mind.  Truly focusing on the positive moments in our day will help in removing that negative chatter I mentioned before.  Start with something positive about yourself.  It can be something as simple as your hair looks good this morning or something from the previous day that you’re proud that you accomplished – possibly handling a stressful situation at work in a positive manner.  Stay consistent with your positive affirmations, over time it will help change your outlook and again remove the negative self-talk it’s so easy to get into the trap of.

Learn Forgiveness– with yourself!  No one is perfect and I’ve always said that practice is what makes perfect.  There are going to be some hits and misses – the true failure lies in not even trying!  So be a little easy going on yourself and be proud of yourself for even trying.  Today I tried making homemade chocolate candies – epic fail.  Instead of getting upset with myself I already told myself I WILL be trying again (I’m already reflecting on what went wrong - pretty sure it was the recipe or the lack of a thermometer).  And while candy making is not something to get uber upset about, remember this practicing forgiveness goes to the deeper stuff – not beating yourself up at the latest “mistake” you made but rather focusing on what you learned from that situation.  Each struggle or mistake helps you to learn new things.  This in turn helps us to be strong, amazing people – sure that have some imperfections but that make us each unique beings.

Practice Saying “No”– This one is important.  Learning to say no helps you to set boundaries for yourself and helps protect you (from those that WILL take advantage of you).  Believe me when I say it IS uncomfortable to say no but it IS important.  There’s no way for you to please everyone and sometimes you already have enough on your plate – saying yes will only add to that stress and create aggravation.  Remember the goal is to practice self-love – respect yourself by standing up for yourself – and practice saying no (so when the time comes you’ll be able to put yourself first and say no!)

Have FUN!  Do not get me wrong – there is definitely a time and place for being serious.  But on the flip side, make sure you leave some time for FUN!  When was the last time you danced?  You sang karaoke? Or went paddle boarding?  I’m reading the book, Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert and this is the essence of her novel – she wants you to embrace your curiosity, find what fuels your happiness, and face your fears – so you can uncover the “strange jewels” that are hidden within each of us.  Be creative and find what stokes your spirit – giving back to yourself with some fun!

So this Valentine’s day, as you may be off showing all the special someone’s in your life how much you care for them, don’t forget about YOURSELF! 

“You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere.  You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.” – The Budda