Today's Creation and Motivation

Today's Creation: 
Grilled Tuna in a Citrus Reduction
Mango Radish Cilantro Salad

I describe motivation as the essential ingredient to making lasting lifestyle changes.  Motivation can mean the difference between the uses of the phrase “I will try” versus “I will do” and ultimately “I have succeeded”.  A strategy for maintaining motivation is engaging your network of relationships to support you in your goals.  This network may be referred to as those nagging folks we encounter regularly.  I have my own nagging network that prompted me to use weights as part of my core strengthening routine yesterday.  Sadly, while happy I did some form of weight training, I’m not feeling the oh so pleasant muscle soreness that lets me know I challenged my body.  So, for me, that’s a telling indicator that it’s time to up the ante. 

So I’m putting thoughts of the disbursement of bacteria via the towels and cleaning solution that have probably been in weekly rotation throughout the gym, and enlisting a JUST DO IT philosophy.  I have spent a lot of time setting goals and making plans and then putting off those good intentions day after day.  So yesterday, I determined that I needed to focus on each moment as an opportunity to make the best choice to support those healthful lifestyle changes, thus the strength training.  Today I will get rid of some of those distractions – the dishes – in order to stay focused.  My focus is those behaviors such as high intensity cardio for 45 minutes each day and strength training for 15 minutes each day – yes – with weights.

Stay posted for the many anticipated creations complements of my new Wustof knives.

What Today Looks Like

I start rice to cook in the steamer, then get to work onto cutting carrots (julienne style - this not only helps with consistent cooking but it looks great and changes basic sustenance into gastronomy.  I served my portion of wine and cut the carrots with my Wustof cook's knife.  I put the carrots to sauté in a large hot skillet and then added the marinated cubed beef.  I used leftover beef tenderloin from the Father's Day Fondue.  The smell of the beef cooking with the sautéed carrots was pure heaven. I used some wine to deglaze the pan, picking up all the great flavored bits to make a light sauce for the beef and carrots.  The rice cooking time even allowed for me to take a quick shower before dinner.  So in a nutshell, I enjoyed making a home cooked meal that was prepared in less than 30 minutes; the rice cooking time meant that there wasn't really a need to pre-prep the vegetables since the rice cooking time wasn't going to change.  I realize that there are many instant rice options but I enjoy the results of using basic ingredients as well as the flavor and texture that develops as a result of minimally altered foods.  This meal took a few quality ingredients such as beef tenderloin, rice and fresh carrots and the use of good ingredients meant that a delicious meal could be developed with very little time. 

Failures: 

1)      Tomorrow bi-weekly weigh-ins resume and I’m not feeling confident about that process.

2)      I haven’t gotten back into my morning workout routine.

3)      I need to make strength training an integral part of my activity routine.

Successes: 

1)       I got in a great cardiovascular workout after work (making up for sleeping in later than planned)

2)      I prepared dinner at home after resisting the temptation of picking up what would have been a less healthful dinner.

3)      I am motivated.  My refrigerator is definitely reflecting a selection of handy, healthful ingredients from which to create some amazing meals.

(Entry: 149)

Monday Mission

So once again, today is another restart for my plan. Although, the weekend didn't go too badly I am behind on my run training while I have actually done better with other aspects of my plan. Sleeping in today means that my workout needs to take place after work. I have a long history of afternoon workouts gone awry. Sometimes this means that an interrupted mid-afternoon snack leads to such after work hunger that I don’t get to the workout or perhaps the missed or light snack means that I feel faint towards the end of my workout. I have a large apple, yogurt and granola and I have some time between patients to make snack time an enjoyable rather than forced activity. And today’s special tools – my Franklin Covey Health and Fitness Tracker and an index card with today’s workout goals.

Fat Dietitian

Let me start by saying, I hesitate to refer to any person as FAT.  I don't find some terms helpful.  I tend to focus on health indicators overall in how I might explain to an individual what some of the numbers that take place in a nutrition evaluation actually mean.  But fat is a term that is thrown around when poeple talk about dietitians. 

Google –“ Fat Dietitian” and you will get around 6,040,000 results in less than a second. There is definitely a stigma for those in the field of nutrition and dietetics whom are overweight or (God forbid) obese.. Keep in mind that dietetics actually encompasses many career paths that include anything and everything from human nutrition to food sciences. Dietitians may work in the school systems but they may also be chefs and work in food product development. Trust me – there are dietitians on board with developing many worldwide favorites such as America’s favorite cookie. You can even learn about a nutrition professor losing weight on what he termed the “Twinkie diet” based on calorie control. Today at the office, we were discussing the issue of eating disorders among those in the field of nutrition. I can state from personal experience that there are a many methods to reach the same outcomes of improved health. There are even more methods to achieve weight loss. Meaning, weight loss can be attained even with unhealthful practices. Weight is definitely a (ironically) a huge health indicator but it is a single indicator. Meeting weight recommendations does place a person at lower risk of chronic diseases but that doesn’t equate health. So if you want to gauge your number, use the Body Mass Index(BMI) calculator link below. Body Mass Index (BMI) is essentially a calculation of your weight compared to your height. The higher the number, the more you weigh in comparison to how tall you are (or in my case, how tall I am NOT). It’s a good indicator of obesity (which means- are we over fat) but a waist measurement is a cheap alternative to assessing body fat and disease risk if you don’t have the ability to estimate body fat percentage which is a number that is more important than just overall weight. An adult female should have a waist measurement no more than 35 inches; males no more than 40 inches. A waist measurement can be seen as an independent risk factor due to its indication of where your body is storing fat – apple anyone? Greater fat stores around the waist means greater risk of chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease. We didn’t just pull these numbers from the sky, these measurements are based on disease risks.

http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bminojs.htm

My Number?  28.9 - which means I am almost 20 pounds overweight and less than 10 pounds from being placed in the obese category. 

Sunday's Creation

In my pursuit to negate the assumption that "dieting" is about boring the taste buds, I made a creation usings leftover salmon that I had prepared the day before. Salmon has a great mouthfeel and is something I would recommend to those that aren't really fans of fish. It has a full texture and tons of healthful fats so salmon adds great flavor and mouthfeel without the attack on our hearts.
Instructions: Put a pot of water to boil to cook wheat pasta according to package instructions. While the water is comming to a boil, flake cooled salmon, add in capers, sliced red onion and a very small amount of olive oil. Add salt to taste. Put pasta to boil and during the last few minutes of cooking time, add in asparagus. I broke the asparagus in pieces (~2 inches in length). Drain pasta and asparagus, add to pasta and toss well.


I'm off to a great start.

Beautiful Living-Skinny Gourmand Day 1

I have been struggling with so many things in my life these last few years.  Experiences have brought several questions to the forefront in my life.  I spend my days speaking about nutrition and healthful lifestyle choices to promote weight loss and chronic disease prevention.  So how can I be guilty of feeding my emotions as well?  Instead of focusing on life’s questions, I have comforted myself with food.  The answer to part of the question –Yes, I can do what I need to do to lose weight.  Another answer-Yes, I am going to do what I need to do to lose weight. 

What I am determined to make happen is lose weight while creating a genuinely fulfilling and beautiful life.  For me a beautiful life means wonderfully prepared meals, time out of doors and an almost seamless routine.  While my food choices tend to gravitate towards the less frugal, maintaining a beautiful life with financial security means that I must also take my budget into account.  Some meals are purely about sustenance while others exist to feed the soul.  Breakfast was about sustenance in the form of a breakfast shake in order to meet the demands of my rushed Friday morning.  Lunch was about catching up with a friend while trying a new dish (Thai Chicken Wrap).  The company was wonderful while the meal was less so which definitely helped with portion control since I easily left more than half my meal unconsumed.  So dinner was a reward as well as a chance for nutritional redemption.   

Today’s Menu:

Dinner

Baked Salmon (garlic blend seasoning giving it lots of zip)

Roasted Asparagus Drizzled in Olive Oil with Herbes de Provence

Fresh Sweet Corn on a Bed of Greens w/ Fresh Vinaigrette Dressing

White Wine

Fresh Cherries

I had a cart full of groceries for inspiration which included fresh salmon and a bag of frozen scallops.  Browsing cookbooks provided me with inspiration for this week’s meals.  My own knowledge of nutrition, my goals and my schedule definitely filled in the blanks as to what choices I would be making throughout the week.  Tomorrow starts baseline measurements for an interval run that will serve as a base for race training (10 k in late summer or early fall and a half marathon in late fall or early winter.  My niece will be training as well which will be a source of support although her motivation is apparently making sure that she beats me racing.  Whatever it takes.  As for myself, my motivation is the self-confidence and energy I feel when I’m in my best body.