Eat Like a Dietitian: An Invtation to Health

Hello!  Today, I'm writing to you with an invitation to health.  I've decided to undertake a 6-week experiment to track and share my ideal eating plan and my attempt at being more active - and I want you to join me.  Sound fun?  Just wait...here's what it is not: This is not a diet.  I don't diet.  And I don't advocate dieting.  Dieting is useless, because it doesn't last and it makes people grouchy and miserable.  Who needs that?  That's not an invitation to health.

To yourself and others, remember these things.
Good health is not only physical, it is mental and spiritual too.

What it is...for some of you, it is going to be extreme. We're going to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables (tbh, we already do!).  You might learn to pronounce some strange new grains.  I promise to include some treats and some meats.  Lol!!  But...It is not for the weak of heart or stomach or for those who don't want to feel and look fabulous...but that's not any of you, right?  I <3 b="b" fabulous.="fabulous." feeling="feeling">   If you do this, I know you will feel better in just 6-weeks - and so will I.

Here are the details:

Evidence of a recent shopping trip -
notice there are healthier packaged foods!

• Supplies: Each week on Saturday or Sunday I'll share my grocery list with you for the upcoming week.  Just the food.  You can assume we have paper towels, toilet paper and soap...and cleaning products, you get the picture. One major shopping rule - buy as little as possible in cans, boxes, or jars.  We're going to be cooking!
  
• Planning and Implementing: I'll send you an estimation of what I plan to make for meals during the week.  If I have them, I'll include recipes.  If not, I'll try to remember to include links to helpful recipe websites to give you inspiration, but you can be creative too.  Remember that to goal is great nutrition, so no choosing Paula Deen's fried butter or the Neely's BBQ ribs - that doesn't work here.  What I make is subject to change.  I change my mind a lot.  If I do change my mind, I'll share what I actually cooked/ate.  (Here's where you creative people can really get crazy!)

• 

  Lots of fruits and veggies!!

  Let's Get Physical: I'll find a way to squeeze in some type of intentional physical activity at least 4 times each week.  This could be a quick 20-minute jaunt around my building at lunch, an actual visit to the gym (horror!), or yoga w/my office mates.  Heck, it might even mean power-walking the neighborhood in an effort to meet the way-too-early sunset!
• Accountability: Every day, I'll share my progress on my Twitter feed @DietitianSherry, my Facebook page, and/or here on my blog.

Your assignment - should you choose to accept it - is to do it all along with me!  Buy the food, cook the food, take the walk, and share your success.  Doesn't this sound like fun?!  Come on...it'll be good for you.  ;)  So...if you're interested in joining me, ping me back and I'll add you to the list to get my emails about this experiment.

Physical activity is best with a partner - hiking,
walking, biking, swimming, cleaning the house, yard
work...they all count!

Now, you might be saying, but it's the holiday season!  I don't want to miss out on the good stuff.  You don't have to.  =)  The goal is to help you (and me) be more conscious about making the healthy choice the first choice.  And why wait?  If you begin now making the right choices most of the time, you will be way ahead of the people who make new year's resolutions and never keep them (I've been there!).  Oh, and for the record, I'm not the food police.  I'm not going to come to your house and grade you, checking your pantry for contraband, or scold you when I see you in the grocery store with a giant bag of M&Ms in the cart.  So, let me know what you think!  Are you in? 

I'll post my plan for this week tonight - I meant to get this out yesterday.  Sorry!  See - perfection's not the goal.  ;)

Green Goodness

With one quick day home between business trips, I arrive to discover that my garden is bursting with goodness!  The radishes continue to grow beautifully and the turnips are finally starting to get bigger.  Of my six asparagus crowns, five have sprouted and are looking great (of course I can't eat them for 2 more years, but they're still pretty to look at).  My sage and rosemary are filling in, and I'm ready to plant some tomatoes and peppers.  Yum!

Since I had some beautiful radishes ready to eat, I plucked them from the earth and giving them a good rinse, I chopped the greens and quartered the bulbs to make a salad.

I added some fresh parsley, jicama, chickpeas, and red onions.   Stirring together the olive oil, lime juice, a sprinkle of salt and some fresh ground pepper, I created a quick dressing for the veg.

Fantastic.  Fresh and delicious, the crunch of the radishes and the slightly spicy greens, with the creamy chickpeas and tangy lime dressing was the perfect spring snack.  Next time, I'll add a little fresh mint, but it wasn't quite ready for eating.  What are you eating from your garden?

Eat Food...Update from Healthy Kitchens

I have been MIA once again, due to my travel schedule.  Eventually I'll catch up.  I have tons of pics to share from NYC and now from California.

Meanwhile, I wanted to share a bit from the Culinary Institute of America's (CIA) Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives event.  This is a collaborative event of the CIA and Harvard School of Public Health.  The idea is that in bringing clinicians (physicians, registered dietitians, nurses, psychologists, etc.) together with chefs, we might discover the sweet spot where healthy food meets tasty food and be able to really develop some ideas and concepts that make a difference.  The speakers include some of the most influential and wise, such as Walter Willett, Kathy McManus, Suvir Saran, and Mollie Katzen (and others), led by David Eisenberg.  They discuss the science of nutritional health, disease trends and hope for prevention and turning the tide on obesity.  It's good stuff.  It's not complicated.  Here's a summary of the theme of so much of the conference, a quote from Michael Pollan, by way of summary: Eat food.  Not too much. Mostly plants.

Good advice.  Uncomplicated.  I'll share more later.  Oh, but the food...is fantastic.  The wine (we're in Napa, after all) is delicious.  Here's a peek at last night's dinner.  I think I did pretty good...mostly plants!

Cream of Celery Root Soup (note the portion here is a very small tea cup)

Green Salad with Pea Tendrils, Watermelon Radishes and Goat Cheese

Dungeness Crab Cakes with Apple and Celery Slaw

Plus...three bites of fruit sorbet, though no evidence.  Does that count as a fruit?  No, but it was good.  Practice this idea today.  Eat real food, but not too much and choose plants most often.