The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Everyone has bad days. 

It's how you respond to them what's important.

There are many reasons - or let's be honest... most of the time they are excuses for a bad (food) day.  For example, some of my most recent bad days have been from things like having a bad cold, a social event, being exhausted from taking care of a sick infant, an injury, a slight hangover or a combination of a few of these!

Often bad food days go hand in hand with bad (low activity) days.

These bad days are inevitable once in awhile. Instead of beating yourself up about the bad days (like I used to do), I'm finding it's really important to stay positive. You can't make yourself feel too guilty, because that would most likely only backfire on you. It would backfire on me to the point I would over-compensate too much for the bad stuff I ate by trying to eat like a perfect dieter therefore depriving myself of too many things and eventually eating more (whew!). Or by eating more in the first place to comfort my guilt with food - which is so counterproductive, but made me feel better at the moment (and then worse). It was a vicious cycle.

However you can't completely overlook the bad days either, or they could start to get ugly. 

Here are some tips for not turning bad days ugly:

- It might seem really crazy but it helps me to think things to myself like: 

       * "I know what I am eating isn't the best choice, but it is not one I am going to make very often" OR

       * "If I eat too much of this, I am going to not feel so great after." 

- Don't let yourself have 2 bad days in a row. Once they start to add up it is harder and harder to turn back.

- Try not to go overboard with your bad day. For example if your guilty pleasure is a "bad" sandwich, skip the chips. Just because you are eating something bad doesn't mean you get a free pass for the day (like I used to think it did). 

Question: How do you keep bad days from turning ugly?

PS- Hello to all the new fans of the blog - welcome!

SONG THAT KEPT ME RUNNING THIS WEEK: "Bulletproof" La Roux

RANDOM TIP OF THE WEEK: If you ever have a hard time distinguishing if you are truly hungry after a meal or just want to eat something for whatever reason ask yourself a simple question: would I eat an apple? If you are truly hungry your answer will be yes every time! If your answer is no... don't eat :)!.... or at least realize that you are eating when you aren't really hungry so you minimize what you are eating. 

WHEN YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE COOKING: Walk (no... run) to your nearest Trader Joe's and buy this soup. I usually don't like processed soups but this is SO good. I added a dollop of fat free greek yogurt for a little tang and some extra protein. 

THIS WEEK'S RECIPE: "Clean" Sweet Potato Hash

I read a post recently about someone cooking something out of their comfort zone.... so I decided to make this recipe a few weeks ago as I had never poached an egg. It was delicious - since then I have refined/perfected the recipe to the recipe below... it's super satisfying and seems very fallish to me! 

"Clean" Sweet Potato Hash

Ingredients:

-2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and diced small

-2 tsp olive oil

-4 jalapeno peppers seeded and diced

-1 medium onion, diced

-3 stalked celery, diced

-2 cloves of garlic, minced

-1 cup of cooked black beans (if from a can rinse and drain)

-1/4 cup salsa (preferably low sodium)

-1/4 cup packed cilantro leaves

-White vinegar (as needed to properly poach egg)

-4 eggs

-Sea salt and ground pepper to taste

Heat a large saute pan over medium heat and add potatoes, 3/4 cup water and oil. Bring to a boil, partially cover and cook for 3-4 minutes (potatoes should be tender). If any water is remaining, drain potatoes. 

Add jalapeno peppers, onion, celery, and garlic and cook. covered, over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add beans and salsa, uncover and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat, stir in cilantro and cover. 

Poaching eggs step:

These poaching tips I received from Clean Eating magazine (you already know I love it) - the above recipe was adapted from one of theirs! 

- Fill a saucepan 2/3rds full with water, bring to a oil and add about 1 tsp vinegar for every cup of water. Reduce heat to a slow simmer. Crack egg into tea cup or large ladle. Gently lower teacup or ladle into water and pour egg out, careful not to break yolk. Repeat with remaining eggs. Cook eggs for 3-4 minutes (I cook for more like 4-5 because I don't like yolk super runny!) before scooping out with a slotted spoon. Place each egg over top of 1.5 cups vegetable-hash mixture. Season with salt and pepper...especially on the egg :)... serve immediately & enjoy!

Serves 4. Approximately 250 calories & 8 grams fat, 8 grams fiber. (and very very satisfying!)

Losing Weight & Not Hungry (Really) - Part 2

This is a follow up to last week's post about going into detail about the additional ways I'm changing the way I eat:
 1.Eating more natural, healthier foods (see detail in previous post)

 2.Eating reasonable portions  (see detail in previous post)

 3.Eating well balanced meals
 4.Eating a variety of foods        
 5.Only eating when I am hungry

Eating Well Balanced Meals-
I know this is a pretty obvious no-brainer, and I'm not necessarily doing this part to loose weight - mainly just to be healthy. The part that I had to work on the most for this was incorporating the vegetables. Of course sometimes vegetables don't taste as good as maybe the starch or protein on your plate - but they should be the majority of what you eat in a meal. I know this can't always happen, but I try to make approximately 50% of what I eat at a meal - vegetables.

Tips- Prepping veggies in advance really helps for this. For lunch when I am having a sandwich I LOAD it with different veggies. For dinner - now when I make spaghetti sauce I use just as many chopped up veggies as meat (lots of carrots, red pepper, eggplant, onion in addition to the tomatoes...) it makes a lot more sauce and you can freeze some! I also try to choose dinner options which automatically incorporate alot of veggies vs. always having them "on the side."

Eating a Variety of Foods-
Okay - this one is KEY to my long term success for this lifestyle. On previous "diets" I would eat the same things again and again. Turkey sandwiches, grilled chicken salads, just grilled chicken, boca burgers, microwave popcorn and lean cuisines... They were things that I thought I knew were "healthy" and I knew the calorie content of. I would get so sick of eating the same things over and over that I would stray to not so healthy options often I think just for variety.  
Tips- Variety definitely takes more time and planning, but researching and trying new foods/recipes that you might not have tried before (but you know are healthy) are really important. Recipes websites are a great resource because you can browse for something that sounds new/interesting and best of all you can make sure it will taste ok before you make it (by the user ratings).  I probably never would have made this week's featured recipe, but I did so because I thought it would be a nice change - and it was GREAT! Variety truly is the spice of life! 

Only Eating When I am Hungry-
This is a toughy, but I think it's been the most helpful change that I've made so far. It's one that I am still working on and it's evolving. I've used food in so many different ways in the past. Eating when I was bored, sad, happy, lonely and most recently stressed. After the birth of my second child, who had some health issues but will be fine long term, I experienced the most stress I have ever been through before on a consistent basis and it wore me down. I was alone alot during this time, and would often turn to food for comfort and liked the feeling of being full. I knew this was something that I had to drastically change.
Tips- I recently heard about a 10 point hunger scale to help judge your true food hunger and it's really helped me. Anytime you think you want to eat ask yourself how hungry you think you are number wise (1 being literally starving, 5 comfortable, and 10 overstuffed). I try not to eat unless I feel that I am at around a 3. This means you aren't always going to eat on the exact predetermined schedule of breakfast, lunch and dinner - and that's ok!

Well, that's the end of the 2 part detail of how I'm changing what and the way I eat so far. I am sure it will continue to evolve as I continue to strive to get healthy. On a side note - I finish "week 4" of the running program tomorrow. By the middle of next week I should be running 20 minutes straight - YIKES!!!

Question for followers/blog viewers: What do you like for a healthy snack?


PS- Inspired Chunky Mama now has a facebook page. See box on the right to become a fan of the page. You will receive an update in your facebook newsfeed when I add a new blog entry!

SONG THAT KEPT ME RUNNING THIS WEEK: "Jump Around" House of Pain
THIS WEEK'S RECIPE: Easy Chicken Posole (hearty mexican soup) modified from an original Cooking Light recipe

You might be thinking - say what?!- hot soup in the middle of this hot summer. But I had to share this because... I LOVE this soup (my husband even said 'it's a keeper'). It seemed summery still because it is tangy from the lime juice. It is also hearty and filling and only approx. 300 calories per serving. Enjoy :) 

Easy Chicken Posole
1 tablespoon olive oil                  
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped onion
1 (15-ounce) can crushed tomatillos (in mexican section - could also use whole and chop them)
2 (14-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (15-ounce) can white hominy, rinsed and drained
2 cups chopped skinless, boneless rotisserie chicken breast
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (I used a whole lime because I like the citrus flavor)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 ripe peeled avocado, diced
4 radishes, thinly sliced
Cilantro leaves (optional)

1. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add oregano and next 4 ingredients (through onion and celery mix); sauté 2 minutes. Stir in tomatillos; cook 1 minute. Add broth and hominy; cover and bring to a boil. Uncover and cook 8 minutes. Stir in chicken; cook 1 minute or until heated. Remove from heat; stir in lime juice, salt, and pepper. Divide evenly among 4 bowls. Top with avocado and radish. Garnish with cilantro, if desired.