I'm Back!

I realize that was an incredibly long break from the blogging world! It was the busiest few months I have ever experienced. I was taking courses, taking clients, coaching, being a mom and training for a marathon. My last exam was early May and since then I've been to Edmonton to visit my sister, my parents came to visit, and I am typing this in beautiful Tofino!

Being idle for the first time in months has led to falling asleep every time I sit in the sun. Getting up in the morning has crept back later and later each day we're away. Initially I was checking work emails many times a day, then I graduated to one quick daily check, then filling any downtime with knitting washcloths and reading. At first I wanted to see how many cloths I could finish during the trip and how quickly I could get through my book, but now I'm fine to read menus online and plan my next meal. I think this was a much needed break for our bodies and brains!

Instead of doing one long run and a couple shorter runs, I have modified my training to include almost daily runs on the beach with the sound of the ocean crashing beside me. We also hike and walk hours a day.

One of the questions clients ask me is how to manage holidays and stay healthy (and not sabotage
 all their efforts.) It is simple, really.

1. Cook your own food 2/3 of the time. We eat out once a day or less. We still fill up on vegetables at most meals and breakfast is always at home. The rest of the time we relax and savour.

2. When you are eating out, choose higher quality restaurants. Higher quality satisfies more, and you can feel good about the choices you've made vs feeling guilt. We choose sustainably caught local fish. If we go for ice cream we look for homemade ice cream using local and/or organic ingredients.

3. Stay active. There is no better way to see a new place than by walking, hiking and running it.

When you get home, wait a few days before you take your weight and go back to normal eating/exercising  as soon as you're home.

You're on holidays, relax and have fun instead of stressing about your body!

Getting sentimental about the kitchen

I love the kitchen. Obviously. But the kitchen is where our life happens. Greg proposed to me in the kitchen. The first room I set down my tiny newborn in his car seat was the kitchen. Our first meal in Kelowna was in our new kitchen.

Now at any given moment we are prepping food, visiting, eating, learning. Bedtime stories are sometimes at the kitchen table with a warm cup of tea.  From 6:00-6:45 every morning I'm making breakfast and lunches. On weekends, as supper is cleaned up, sour dough pancakes are started for morning
. 

So why is it so hard for so many people to get in the kitchen and make food prep a priority? Why isn't the time valued?

What are the benefits of making this leap?

Healthier food

Increased vegetable consumption

Family connectedness

Teaching kids cooking, healthy eating, fractions (why not?)

And the warm memories your family will have.

 

Rejecting Resolutions!

Happy 2015! 

I wanted to completely avoid the whole New Years thing. No talk of dieting, or even being healthier. Our obsession with health has made us one of the least healthy nations in the world. I also avoided reading posts on tips for a healthy new year, anything about weight loss, any of the "swap this for that" type articles. I didn't even make a list and usually I love listing goals. For some reason it all really saddened me this year. Why do we need organized closets or to lose the last five pounds? Will we really be happier?

If you haven't made any resolutions yet, here's my advice. Stop worrying about your weight or being "healthy". Fall in love with cooking. Learn where your food comes from. Be active because it feels good, not because it is exercise. Stop calling food "carbs" or "protein". 

Find something that makes you happy, every day. But don't feel the need to post your status or tweet it. Just be happy, in that moment.

#Molkosanberry

I recently took part in a bloggers challenge for the product Molkosan Berry from A.Vogel.

Molkosanberry is a probiotic made from fermented whey with aronia and pomegranate added. It is a good source of calcium and potassium and it is a probiotic. Ongoing research is telling us again and again how great probiotics are. Research is linking healthy gut flora to better weights, better digestion, and better immunity. There appears to be a link between the unhealthy bacteria and increased allergies, autoimmune diseases, gluten sensitivity and even psychological and behavioural conditions.

I am blessed with great digestion. I feel well 99.9% of the time, and when things aren't great in my stomach, it's because of something obvious I did, like eating too much of the wrong foods. So I decided to approach the challenge differently. Being a dietitian, I thought I'd help out a client of mine and see how the product helped her. She is the perfect candidate for probiotics. She has been on several rounds of antibiotics in the past year, has ongoing digestive problems and struggles to loose weight. She also struggles with depression. For two weeks now she has been taking the Molkosan Berry.

Initially my client found she had increased stomach upset and discomfort. However, that seems to be subsiding now. In addition to adding the probiotic, we are adding foods that will feed her healthy bacteria and help it flourish. We are gradually increasing the fibre in her diet and adding other fermented foods, such as miso and sauerkraut. I want her to continue taking the product and I'll continue to report back.

Falling in love with Sandwiches

Even Dietitian's get caught up in trends. We aren't immune to what the media reports, what those around us are doing, and what the trends in nutrition are. Some are great. I eat kale several times a week and love it. Others maybe not so great, like worrying about eating bread even in the absence of celiac's disease. It seems I had forgotten about bread, just with what I hear around me and what I recommend to client's who are bread-phobic because of the trend and media.

I think it is important to diversify your grains and carbohydrate sources. If bread and wheat are your only sources, then it is time to branch out. Eat a sweet potato, or some rice, oatmeal or quinoa. But if you have no issue in digesting wheat, then nothing beats the simplicity and convenience of a sandwich.

Lunches for me are often in my vehicle. I know this is not ideal, but I sit at a table for my other meals. My car is my office, and during the travel time between appointments, it is wonderful to have a well made sandwich. Well planned, paired with veggie sticks, it is easy to pack a clean, easy to eat while driving, meal.

We found a bread maker for $10 at a garage sale. So between my sourdough baking and the new machine, we don't ever have to buy bread with suspect ingredients anymore. I'm packing different grains into the bread as well. Add some protein and veggies and you're good to go.

It is so satisfying, I find I'm much more full than I am following a salad, and this leads to less picking throughout the afternoon. My favourite combo: tofu salad, hummus, roasted red pepper and tomato. Try different spreads- kalamata olives and garlic whirred together in a food processor adds loads of flavor. Don't forget how great pickles are.

Enjoy!!

Back in the swing

School finally started and the last few weeks have been a blur of getting back into routine. My little one is slowly adjusting to kindergarten, although has had a hard time leaving me the last couple of days. Just in time for a long Thanksgiving weekend! The kids are staying with my parents while Greg and I head to Seattle. Hopefully the time apart doesn't make it harder on my kindie next week!

Fall is the most wonderful time for food. We have been enjoying squash and kale, lots of apples, and I just roasted up my first pumpkin of the season.

On these chilly fall mornings, baked oatmeal has been our go to breakfast. Today will start with baked pumpkin pie oatmeal. I like this one, which I double and bake in a 9-inch round cake pan.

http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2010/11/10/baked-pumpkin-oatmeal-for-one/

Updates

The last week has really been a whirlwind.

The half marathon was great. My "untrained" friend ended up being super fast after a summer of cycling. She ran a personal best beating her last half marathon time by 8 minutes! At 8 km I begged her to carry on without me! I was happy with my run. I had forgotten my watch, but even without the speed training was only 2 minutes slower than last year. If I'd had my watch, I may have been able to break two hours again, but the run was fun and I felt good the entire time, so I'm not disappointed at all.

With school still not starting here in BC, I decided to head to Edmonton to see my sister in her new home. The drive is 10 hours long, and unfortunately it had snowed in the mountains the day before I left, so the drive there was long and tiring. But we had a great time, and the drive back was beautiful!

Now there is talk that school is starting soon. It is really time for me to get organized! I like to have several lunch options in the freezer, and a few things for snack, especially when they first start and they are starved at 2:30.

Also time to start advertising. I'll be offering a fall special for new and returning clients, so watch for it.