Controversial Foods
On Tuesday night, Beanie and I went to the first session of a 3-day class called “Food is Your Best Medicine.” It’s specifically designed for people looking to lose weight but I assure you neither of us wants/needs to lose weight so we just went for fun and some food education.
I have several issues with how the class is set up, including:
- The word diet being used
- Having to cut out soy, dairy, gluten/wheat, corn, peanuts, strawberries, oranges, etc.
- Eating eggs and fish for breakfast
- Being given a 14-day meal plan that requires 2 hours of grocery shopping
To be fair, you’re told to cut out all those foods to figure out whether you’re allergic to any of them. Once you know you’re not allergic, you can add them back to your “diet.” I kind of wondered why I was there because lots of the foods he was suggesting are foods I already eat and love (quinoa, kale, tahini, etc.). But my journey towards healthy eating was LONG and I certainly didn’t wake up one day and decide I was going to do an overhaul on my lifestyle. I think baby steps are important. For me, it started with wanting to cook my own food but a lot of people don’t like to cook (gasp!) so it may not be that simple.
I could go on and on but instead let’s talk about controversial foods. Because that’s more fun.
A guest speaker got up at the end and talked about 4 controversial foods.
- Wheat/gluten
- Fat
- Soy
- Dairy
Things I learned:
- Gluten acts like glue in your system
- There’s such a thing as raw milk
- Places that consume a lot of soy (think Asia) don’t eat the highly processed forms like we Americans do
- Tempeh is fermented, tofu is processed (okay, I already knew that but I like tofu!)
- Your body needs fat, just make sure you’re giving it good fats
The speaker has been soy-free, dairy-free, gluten-free for 3 years and “feels like a million bucks.”
So what do you think about these so-called controversial foods? I’m really skeptical about removing any foods from my diet because, hey, I feel like a million bucks too.
On to something completely uncontroversial: butternut squash.
Joey and I have a friend who, inspired by food blogs like this little one I write, decided to try cooking with the butternut squash. I wanted to repay the compliment by trying the recipe out myself. I had to get… creative? fancy? difficult? by modifiying the recipe. I made it vegan!
Parmesan Butternut Squash Gratin (vegan):
Ingredients:
- 1 butternut squash (~1lb.)
- 2T olive oil (or safflower if you dropped your olive oil on the floor earlier this week…)
- 1 clove of garlic, diced
- 2T bread crumbs (or panko)
- 2T vegan parmesan “cheese” (recipe below)
- salt
- pepper
Vegan Parmesan “Cheese” (from here):
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 1T nutritional yeast
- dash of salt
Just toss it all in a food processor for a minute or less.
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375*.
- Make vegan parmesan “cheese” and set aside.
- Slice squash in half then de-seed, peel and cut into 1/2″ thick slices.
- In a small pot, heat oil and garlic together over low heat for ~2 mintues, stirring frequently.
- Mix bread crumbs (or panko), “cheese” and 1T of the oil/garlic mixture and set aside.
- Brush squash with remaining oil/garlic mixture then arrange in a 8×8 dish and sprinkle with salt, pepper and bread crumb mixture.
- Bake uncovered 30-40 minutes or until squash is done.
- Increase temperature to 425* and bake 5-10 minutes to brown the breadcrumb mixture.
I just realized I forgot that last step but it was delicious anyways. Thanks, Chris!
If your hands constantly reek of garlic and it distracts you during tree pose invest in a garlic press.
Peeling butternut is not one of my favorite tasks but I sure love that bright orange color!
We had sesame seeds to use to why not make vegan parm? Toasted sesame seeds smell sooo good.
I got a new oil brush for Christmas!
40 minutes later and I had a delicious and bright delight on my hands. Uh oh, I’m rhyming. I must be tired.
Joey bit into a piece and replied with “Oh wow this is really good.” The I told him it was vegan and he didn’t like it anymore. What a poor sport.
I thought it was grand.
Yoga Update:
Beanie and I tried to hit up a class at the local rec center and after we paid and walked up to the room we realized it was cancelled! Eek, we’re going to a discounted class at CorePower tomorrow with our favorite teacher instead but the discounted price is still twice the price of the rec center. I got in a 3.5 mile and some lifting instead of yoga.
Thursday already?!
Final Reflections: 7 Days of Yoga
Sevens days ago, I stepped in CorePower Yoga, ready to embark on a new fitness journey.
Let me begin by telling you about my past experiences with yoga.
My dance team in high school hired a yoga instructor who would come to the school and spend an hour with us once a week. I really can’t even remember how long it lasted but I hated it. I loathed downward dog and in yoga, you do downward dog a lot. I remember having a hard time taking it seriously. There was lots of giggling and lots of open eyes during times when they were supposed to be closed. And there was a lot of time spent trying things out and not as much spent on flowing.
Fast forward to my freshman year of college. I wanted to try something fun and new so I found a nearby bikram studio and went a grand total of three times with a few friends. I took it a lot more seriously and left everytime, drenched in sweat and feeling rejuvinated. It was tough though, and looking back, I don’t know if hot yoga was the best thing to jump right into, considering my lack of yoga experience. I stopped going because, well, it was expensive and the rec center at schoool was free.
After these two short experiences with yoga, I was pretty convinced that I hated it. I couldn’t breathe right and it wasn’t nearly as relaxing as I’d thought it was going to be.
So why did I decide to give it another go?
Maybe it was the free week offer and the fact that my knee had been hurting so I wanted to try something other than running or maybe it was because I’d read so much about other people’s experiences with yoga that I began to reconsider it but whatever the reason, I’m glad I went because these past 7 days have yielded one of the best experiences of my life.
Does that sound dramatic? I assure you, it’s not. I’m just genuinely happy with how I’ve felt this past week.
In 7 days, I’ve taken 8 classes and have left each time feeling strong, centered, relaxed and happy. I’ll admit that I’ve been sore but it feels so good to use muscles that I didn’t know I had and realize how strong I am! I must be more mature now because I have no trouble keeping my eyes close and focusing on my own movements and the breathing just comes naturally.
I’ve ben led by a number of different teachers and each have taught me something, be it a new pose or a different way of thinking about myself. Some classes have been really tough and others less tough, but I’ve challenged myself in each. And I finally got to do some vinyasa flow! Vinyasa means “breath-syncronized movement” so you flow through poses as you breathe. Think of it as one breath, one movement. To me, it feels really similar to dancing but in a slowed-down-so-you-can-enjoy-it-more kind of way. LOVE IT.
Here’s a few things I’m taking away from my 7-day yoga experience:
- Yoga is all about your practice. You should always believe your practice was just what it was supposed to be that day.
- Remember that it is a practice and it’s something you have to keep working at.
- Downward dog is awesome.
- Sensation is good, pain is bad.
- A yoga towel is necessary (those downward dogs are slippery!).
- You can make your practice as easy or as difficult as you want.
- Quieting your thoughts is hard.
- Yoga will make you sweat.
- “When you wholeheartedly adopt a ‘with all your heart’ attitude and go all out with the positive principle, you can do incredible things.” My teacher today kept saying this throughout class and I loved it.
Corepower Yoga is pretty expensive so I don’t think a membership is really an option but they offer two free classes a week and drop in classes are only $12 so I’ll figure something out and I can look into the classes offered at the rec center on campus.
I do know I fully intend on making yoga a commitment that I carry on into the new year.
Call me Clumsy
Despite my best attempts to get Joey to call me Lady Dorsey (I’m in Pride and Prejudice mode), I must admit that Clumsy would be a more fitting name.
Yesterday, it was a bottle of olive oil and today it really was spilled milk. Chocolate almond milk to be exact.
It went from a delicious chocolate frozen banana smoothie…
To a huge mess that had me using some not so lady Dorsey like language.
I did what any mature 21-year old would do; snapped a picture and called for Joey. He scrubbed while I continued to lament and hurried off to yoga. The last class of my free week 😦 Reflections to come so watch out for a double post today!
Once back home I downed some figgy Greek yogurt. It was thick!
Then showered and packed up a day’s worth of food. I was heading to work at noon then to a food seminar right afterwards so I had to have lunch, dinner and snacks on hand.
Thank goodness for leftovers. We made Mama Pea’s Pho Soup a couple nights ago so I was good to go on dinner.
Modifications we made:
- doubled the recipe
- 4 carrots instead of 1
- 3 T soy sauce instead of 4
- didn’t double the amount of noodles (believe me, there was plenty)
And for lunch I made up a big salad, complete with 1/2 a field roast grain sausage (crumbled), goat cheese (also crumbled), pieces of apple and leftover pan-roasted brussel sprouts from last nights dinner, which was…INCREDIBLE. Make it, I beg of you.
Anyways, back to the salad.
This seemed like such a random mix but those random salads always turn out so good. It definitely hit the spot.
Drizzled in balsamic, honey, salt, pepper and safflower oil.
And in case you were wondering, I managed to salvage my healthy banana cranberry oat bars and they turned out great. I had Joey taste one as soon as he came home, which happened to be right as they were cooling down, and he replied with “Best thing ever!”
They taste like a cross between a granola bar and banana bread. What a combination.
The best part about these bars was that I had everything on hand. Score! The only change I made was to use half the amount of sugar since I only had sweetened coconut (the recipe calls for unsweetened).
I packed myself one for a snack at work, along with some dates, half an apple and an orange.
Let’s hope I make it thorugh today without making any messes…
Lauren Loves Good Food 
