Mindful Eats

New Year Resolutions!

Bonaire

We can't become what we need by remaining what we are. ~Max Dupree

The New Year and its resolutions are fast upon us. Some people are cynical about New Year's resolutions since many are abandoned by February. But here at MindfulEats, we love resolutions! They provide an opportunity to reconnect with your dreams (which are easy to forget when we're busy). And even if you don't "succeed" in your resolutions, there's a positive energy in acting aspirationally. If you do achieve them, you're a star. Funny thing about resolutions - we've failed the same ones year after year, but somehow just articulating them allowed them to seep into our unconsciousness, and at some point we ended up accomplishing them.

Love or hate the New Year, it's a natural opportunity to take stock, evaluate, and figure out what your goals are. There are lots of other times to do it - your birthday, the start of the school year, Chinese New Year, Yom Kippur, the birth of a child (the list is endless) - but why not tap into the energy behind New Year resolutions? People all over the world are making them!

There are no rules for them - your resolutions can be grand or mundane, but they'll definitely make you better. 

What to do - Make Mindful New Year's Resolutions

1. Take stock, evaluate, and figure out what your goals are. Then break your goals down into tangible actions you can take. If you want to get healthier (which is a very general goal), you might want to quit smoking or only eat out three times a week. Here's a more detailed post on goal-setting.
2. Setting resolutions is fun, but prioritize them so you can stay focused. Try to pick five or less. You can even have only one. We think you should set a health-related resolution since you're here.
3. Write down your resolutions and put them where you'll remember them. Put them on a post-it and stick them to your bathroom mirror, in your organizer, or in your car. Wherever you'll see them.
4. Share your resolutions with your friends and family. It helps to have people remind you (and it's good karma to return the favor). But pick carefully and choose people that are supportive - you don't need to tell the world.
5. Have fun with it. You don't need to have your resolutions set in stone by midnight on December 31 (but if you do, we're impressed). Take some time to think about it and get it done by the end of January. And it's ok if you fall off the wagon by March - you can always pick yourself up and start again for your birthday.
6. Leverage the energy of others. Instead of getting pissed about how crowded the gym is in January, think about all the healthy gains people are making, and how much less road rage there will be.

What are your resolutions?

What I ate: latte, yogurt + flax seeds, 1 cup of tea, spinach salad + roasted beets + broccoli + snow peas + bulgar wheat + blue cheese, 3 clementines, 1 cracker + cheddar cheese, walnuts, cinnamon almonds, dried mangos, brown rice, bok choy + tofu, seaweed, 44 oz. water, 1 cup hot chocolate

Exercise: ran 40 min, 45 min yoga

Stop to See the Possibilities

NYC Marathon Expo

We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

I left work in a rush the other night to pick up my number at the NYC Marathon Expo, and barely made it in time. Since this is my second year, I figured I would project the cool veneer of an experienced marathoner, pick up my number and leave. Nope. 

A lot of out-of-towners come to NY specifically to run the marathon. Wandering around with the group of excited visitors, I didn't see anyone I knew, so I didn't have to front that I was cooler than I am (kind of impossible anyway.) Last year I ran into a few people I knew at the Expo, so I tried to be blase. This year, I took the time to check out the scene.

I stopped to touch all the marathon-branded clothing and imagined myself in a new shirt, jacket and hat. Even gloves. I talked to pacers, and thought of myself running at improbably fast speeds. I tried on the fancy high-tech Garmin, imagining myself knowing my pace while running. I watched the video of the course and envisioned Sunday in all its gory detail. I entered a lottery - the winner will win an all expenses paid two week trip for two to Sydney, Australia and an automatic entry to that marathon.

I spent a lot more time at the Expo than I expected. It was fun imagining myself tricked out in fancy new gear, running faster than I could in all kinds of exotic places. In the end, while I enjoyed my imagination, I didn't buy any of the new stuff. My old shirt, hat and watch serve me faithfully and are plenty fine. I did buy a box of Gu though (plain). And I'm sure I'll win the lottery to Australia.

Even though I didn't leave with a bag of new gear, I left the Expo giddy and motivated. It was about seeing the possibilities. I think that's why you're here with us on MindfulEats. Because you see the possibilities in yourself and your goals. 

Keep on trucking.

What I ate: 24 oz. Gatorade, 1 banana, hummus, pita bread, mushroom omelette, sauteed spinach, latte, whole wheat spaghetti + Rao's Siciliana sauce, macadamia nuts, 1 Andes mint, 2 Bread Alone chocolate chip cookies, hot chocolate, 60 oz. water.

Exercise: ran two miles with Lance Armstrong (ok, it wasn't really with Lance Armstrong - it was in his general vicinity with 100 other people)

Save Money by Eating Healthy

Union Square Greenmarket

A healthy body is a guest-chamber for the soul; a sick body is a prison. ~Francis Bacon

Let's talk about money and getting you more of it. There's an awful lot of buzz around health insurance these days. But better insurance is not going to help U.S. health issues if people are going to continue eating a processed diet, as Michael Pollan points out in a great op-ed. It's true!

A processed diet provides calories stripped of nutrition. Good deal? Not! This kind of diet can lead to obesity and fatigue, which can then contribute to and exacerbate health problems. Not only will you look bad, you'll feel bad.

You need a good diet (whole foods) to be at your healthiest. It may seem like it costs more, but it saves you lots. You're getting more nutrition per pound, and you are saving yourself healthcare costs in the long run. Being unhealthy costs nearly 300% more in healthcare costs per year. Type II diabetes costs $6,600+ annually, or $400K+ in a lifetime.

But you knew that, didn't you smartie? That's why you're here to begin with - to get healthier, get happier and save money.  

Here's a mindful refresher:

• How to get healthier: the Mindful Eats Map
• Kick off the mindful revolution and why to pay up for your food (cause it's worth it)
• Get in your exercise

What I ate: 50 oz. Gatorade, Yogi Goji cereal + milk, macadamia nuts, 1 hard boiled egg, bagel + lox + Snofrisk, 1 plum chicken, latte, linguini + Rao's Siciliana, cheddar cheese, moon cake, hot chocolate, Union Square Cafe: carpaccio + artichoke + rocket, papardelle + wild mushrooms, broccoli rabe, 50 oz. water

Exercise: 1/2 marathon (really horrible and disappointing, argh - the marathon is in trouble)

No Short Cuts to Getting Healthy

 View from Duryea's, Montauk, July 2009

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. ~Aristotle

Hi gorgeous! You're fabulous, and the fact that you're reading this means that you're interested in getting healthier and even MORE fabulous. Stick with it - be consistent about eating and exercising more mindfully, and you will definitely see and feel results. You don't need to be perfect, you just need to get a bit better. And you can definitely do that. All you have to do is improve your batting average.

The one thing that doesn't work is a short cut. But you knew that, didn't you smartie? No diet pill, supplement, steroid, surgery or weird advertisement in the back of a magazine will get you there. Short cuts might give you a short term boost in results, but that's pretty different from the radiant health that you're looking for and deserve. Let's be honest - it took months, if not years, of your habits to get to your current state. We know you want fast results, but you can't expect to get healthy instantly. Give yourself a break! It's a gradual process.

Short cuts are appealing because they promise quick results. Who doesn't love that? I mean, how do you know it's working if you can't see results? This is where what you see is misleading. Short cuts to getting skinny or looking fitter actually hurt your health in the long run. The popular diet drug, Hydroxycut, is linked to death and health damage. Steroids cause 'roid range and long term health issues. Liposuction gets rid of bumps but doesn't give you permanent energy or joy. Short cuts also make you crazy in the head so that no one wants to hang around you anyway. What's the fun in looking skinny by yourself? So if you're using a short cut, stop! If you're thinking about it, don't. It's a waste of time, energy and money.

The only thing that really works is being mindful about eating clean, whole foods and getting enough exercise and sleep. Promise. It's hard work, but you're worth it. You'll get even more gorgeous, be happier and have more energy. And you'll be richer! (Obese Americans spend 42% more on health care). It's never too late to get healthier. I just caught up with a friend who lost 25 pounds in the past year, and he's also running faster than he ever has in his life. And he's over 40. We can all get better. If you're already perfect - awesome - find someone to mentor.

What to do

1. You want to be healthier. Yay. If you are currently using a short cut, stop! It's causing long term harm and it isn't sustainable. It's a waste of time and money. As soon as you stop, you'll bounce back to where you were, and you'll be even worse off. If you're not using a short cut, don't even think about it. Ignore the internet ads with before and after pictures. They're stupid.
2. Keep your eyes on the prize. Sure, you'll get even more attractive as you get healthier, but you'll also be more energetic, happy and radiant. You'll have more peace. No short cut can provide that.
3. Get back to basics. Review the Mindful Eats Map. It's not complicated, and it's all there.

Don't forget to have fun!

What I ate: 12 oz. vegetable juice, Whole Foods Plain low fat yogurt + strawberries + blueberries, 1 banana, 16 oz. Good Earth tea, 1/2 c. quinoa, sauteed zucchini + yellow squash + shitaake mushrooms, 3 oz. turkey jerkey, 5 pieces Pirate's Booty, 4 dried figs, 2 handfuls cherries, 1 oz. raw cheese, 12 oz. cafe au lait, 1 small madeleine, vegan nori roll, 1 handful Mindful Mix, 4 squares dark chocolate, 50 oz. water

Exercise: 30 min. weights

Recovering from a Celebration

Summer bounty - load up on strawberries, blueberries, cherries, pluots and nectarines

Our greatest glory consist not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. ~Oliver Goldsmith

This weekend I fell off the path of mindful eating into a frenzy of gluttony. I blame July 4th since it's a happy summer celebration of sun, barbecues, and fireworks. I was fortunate to celebrate it at a mini-family reunion, but I consumed far, far more calories than I expended. It happens. (ok, it was my fault). Beat yourself up a little bit, learn some lessons, then swiftly move on to celebration recovery.

But first, let's answer the question that some of you are asking: is it possible to truly celebrate without overdoing it? YES -it is possible to have fun and enjoy yourself without gorging yourself and feeling terrible later. Now that we got that out of the way -

People like to celebrate with an abundance of the richest food and drink they can find. Historically, this made sense - food used to be limited in both variety and quantity so most meals consisted of the same old thing - like cabbage soup. A celebration was a chance to eat different foods (like meat) that provided a caloric and nutritional boost. However, we now live in a time where we get more than enough calories, so celebrating the traditional way just makes us fat.

But we still show our love for each other with fat food and sugar, and my family is no exception. I usually try to celebrate mindfully, but this time I only partially succeeded. Three days of gluttony left me lying on the floor Sunday morning lamenting how much I'd eaten. It's best to avoid excessive indulgence, but if you overdo it, it's not the end of the world. You can recover! Here's how:

What to do - Celebration Recovery

1. Have a game plan going into the celebration of what you're going to eat and drink. The best defense is a good offense. But if you didn't do that, read the next few steps carefully.
2. Plan exercise time. You'll never do it otherwise. Round people up for activities before the celebration even starts - schedule flag football games, runs, bike rides, hikes, etc. I found a July 4th race, and for those of us that participated, it was a great bonding experience and a funny future memory.
3. Hydrate. Drink a lot of water. It will keep you feeling fuller so you won't be able to eat as much as you normally could.
4. Indulge in fruit and salad first. Go nuts. It'll do the same thing as hydrating. 
5. Chew sugarless gum. You can't eat and chew at the same time.
6. Slow your roll. After the first couple days of gluttony, take a good look at yourself in the mirror in your swim suit. It might prompt you to slow down the caloric intake.
7. Dive back into your routine after the celebration. It's tempting to ease back into being mindful tomorrow, but jump right back in as soon as the party's over. Make sure you exercise, and lighten up on the food more than usual to compensate for the overindulgence. 
8. Figure out what you would do differently next time. Go ahead and feel guilty, but then move on.   

You're human - you'll overindulge at times. Just be mindful and aim to make the time between overindulgences longer, and the actual celebrations increasingly less indulgent. You'll find you can have just as much fun, and you won't have to feel quite as slovenly and remorseful.

And don't forget what you're celebrating! Independence Day is earmarked to remember those that gave birth to the U.S., and those that keep it free. You can celebrate every day though! Click and remember our www.iraqwarheroes.com today.

What I ate (Fourth of July - two gross days in a row, yuk!): 1/2 Krispy Kreme, 1 banana, blueberries, cherries, strawberries, scrambled eggs, 1 smallish bag Cheetos, 1 chocolate chip granola bar, small Baskin-Robbins Cookies & Cream ice cream, coffee, fruit salad (picture up top), mango + avocado salad, grilled salmon, rice noodles, broccoli salad, 2 ears corn, 1/4 strawberry cake, 1 smore, 1 Sweettart, 1 Tootsie Roll

Exercise: Ran 8K

You Can Get Healthier

"The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.”~Oprah Winfrey

You inspire us at MindfulEats! When people ask why we blog, the answer is you. Everyone has so much potential - whether they are 12, 42, or 82 - and we love to see people become healthier (us too!). It's inspirational. They look better and become happier and more alive. We hope we're helping - all you have to do is make some gradual changes to start reaping a big payoff.  Think of it as improving your batting average. No one ever bats 1000, its just about getting better and enjoying the ride.

Journeying

When I see you - in my mind's eye - before me

I see beauty - a bright flickering light

Gorgeous potential

Fierce power straining to be unleashed

A steel blade. Hungry for continual sharpening

Transformative power, always changing always you

But "I'm tired" you say

So many responsibilities - not enough hours in the day -

It's genetic. Look at me

Just. let. me. be.

Yet your light keeps shining

You choose.

Let it flame

When I look at you

I see me

What I ate: vegetable juice, 2 cafe au laits, 2 cup coffee + milk, yogurt + strawberries + Spectrum ground flaxseed + wheat germ, 2 eggs, 1 banana, spinach salad + potatoes + sprouts + broccoli, 6 Swedish fish, 16 oz. coconut water, dinner at the Waverly Inn - porcini ravioli, wild salmon + couscous, 1/2 bread, 1/4 c. mac & chees + truffles, carrot, fries, 3 bites chocolate cake, 3 bites chocolate mousse

Exercise: Ran 4 miles - 3000 meters in intervals

Greenmarket Tour and Taste with Michael Anthony

Michael Anthony of Gramercy Tavern in the Union Square Greenmarket, NYC, 6/5/09

"Be the change you want to see in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi

Inspired. Delighted. Grateful. That's how I felt after spending a Saturday afternoon with Chef Michael Anthony, courtesy of the Council on the Environment of NYC (CENYC)'s Taste and Tours Program. I ended up on the tour randomly, and it ended up being one of my top 10 experiences. Ever. 

Michael is the Executive Chef of Gramercy Tavern, one of the best U.S. restaurants (awarded James Beard 2008 Outstanding Restaurant and consistently ranked by Zagats as NYC's most popular restaurant, among other honors). He is undisputedly a star chef. Yet, yet, YET, he spent an afternoon providing a tour of Union Square Greenmarket followed by an amazing lunch of locally sourced food to a motley group of 20 (including me). Accompanying him were Marcel Van Ooyen, Executive Director of CENYC and Arun Gupta, a line chef at Gramercy.

I was hooked the moment Michael started talking. This low-key chef has a clear vision of how food should fit in our lives. From the start, he had us all seeing his vision, but the surprise was that we were living it by the end. He started the tour by telling us he was going to highlight some of his favorite farmers, talk about how we could maximize the bounty we bought at market, and then finish at Gramercy Tavern to look at the kitchen and dine in the private dining room on a 4-course lunch prepared from market foods (and paired with local wines). I congratulated myself on hitting the jackpot.

The Greenmarket

Michael's passion and knowledge of responsibly farmed, local food is contagious. I learned so much that market specifics are in this post. Michael talks the talk AND he walks the walk. He walked us through the market, feeding us tidbits on the rich soil west of the Hudson River ("black gold") and the length of strawberry season, finding us garlic scapes to try, and pointing out the pasture-fed Angus farmer's son, who had recently come back from his tours in Iraq. He introduced us to farmers and had them teach us about the food they were growing.

Locally grown food is more than nourishment to him. It provides a sense of context and connection. As we looked at strawberries, he observed that out-of-season produce bought in grocery stores and imported from other areas "doesn't taste the same and doesn't feel the same." Michael spent his early time as a chef in Japan, and was deeply moved by the connection the Japanese had to their locally grown foods and the anticipation people had for the seasonal offerings. We learned that Gramercy Tavern takes meticulous daily notes on the market's offerings, and that strawberries came in 3 weeks later this year as opposed to last year when they arrived on May 2nd.

Kevin Starkes: Role Model for Getting Healthy

"You have to take that first step... you have to pull the trigger," Kevin Starkes tells me, clear blue eyes looking at me steadily. If anyone knows about life transformations, he does. Mindful Eats loves healthy success stories (when people lose weight, beat addictions, find talent, start cooking, etc.), and Kevin's is truly inspirational since he's done all of it. He turned his lifestyle around, started eating healthy, lost 35 pounds and became an elite athlete. In less than a year.

I met Kevin at the Nike track workouts. He radiates the typical healthy, hyper-awareness of an athlete. I figured the good-looking pacer was arrogant and unaware of us slower beings. 

Then the last time I went to a workout, I ran with a faster group than I normally do, and after a few intervals, I dropped down to my usual group which Kevin was pacing. Tired and hot, I figured I would skip the last interval. As I turned away, I heard Kevin call me a weak link under his breath. That pissed me off. I immediately got in line to finish the workout. Then I heard him call me "sucker." The guy was good.

We ran back together, and I was astonished to learn he'd only been running for two years. He came in 120th in the 2008 NYC marathon (out of 38,832) with a time of 2:39:11 (This is very fast. As a point of reference for nonrunners, it's 1.5 hours faster than me). 

We talk about his life pre-running. "It feels like night and day," he says about his life before 2007 and after. I'm surprised to learn the runner that barely drinks was a 1-2 pack a day smoker for 10 years. He had never worked out and had no idea he had any athletic talent before 2007. (He's the Grandma Moses of NY running!) Kevin describes his former life as "very social" - 5-6 evenings out a week that often ended in the early morning with greasy diner fare. "All we did was drink and smoke in high school, which led to college, which led to NYC," he explains. "It's funny, my girlfriend and friends now think I'm lying about my life before, and my friends from before think I'm lying about my life now."

I ask him what prompted him to change. "There are times when you're just like, 'I am out of shape'." Ain't that the truth. One day he had that realization, and decided he wanted to get in shape. He tagged along with his roommate to the gym in January 2007. He expected to bench a set of weights. His roommate suggested he bench the bar without weight instead. "I could barely bench the bar - 45 pounds - when I started," he laughs. He could also barely run 1/2 mile. He stuck with it. Three weeks after he started, he ran his first half-marathon in 1:27 (then he went home and slept for 9 hours - a rite of passage that all runners are familiar with). He joined a running club and ended up being hired as a Nike pacer for the 2.5 hour group in the 2007 NY Half-Marathon. "It was the most fun race I've ever done. I ended up pacing a firefighter from Engine 57 - Jimbo - for his first half. I ran with him all the way... that made me really love the running community. What's great is that if you're a runner, everyone's equal - it doesn't matter how fast you run." He'd found a niche and a passion.

Kevin also quit smoking and changed his eating habits in 2007. He swapped take-out for grocery shopping and home-prepared meals. "I got to the point where I was standing in the grocery store and comparing one bread label against another for calories." It was a complete change from the food he grew up eating. "Only turkey and chicken now, no more ham, pepperoni, salami. Egg whites, no more bacon." He observes that he has much more energy now. I can't resist asking him what he'd eaten so far today. "1 banana, 3 egg whites, a smoothie (OJ, frozen raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries, ice and whey protein), turkey on whole wheat sandwich with light mustard,large Hazelnut coffee with steamed milk." Very healthy. 

Clearly it was a watershed year for him. He developed body awareness by learning about what his body could do physically, and what effect food had on him. He lost 35 pounds, got healthy, discovered an athleticism he never knew existed, and made new friends. I'm curious about how he did it, since so many people know they want to make a change, but rarely do it as completely as Kevin did. He tells me he hardly went out for a year and purposely secluded himself. This makes sense, because you often have to stay away from your old environment if you want to change your habits (e.g. quitting smoking while drinking in bars is like shooting yourself in the foot before running a race). "But what about when your friends called you to go out?" I asked.

Being Mindful through Hard Times

 Bonneville Salt Flats, UT, Kristen Gill Photography, www.kristengill.com

"If you're going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill

Sometimes you're depressed. And when you're depressed, you barely have the energy to dress yourself, let alone exercise or eat healthy. It doesn't matter why - you might be have lost a job, a loved one, a relationship, a pet or even your favorite shirt - it's hard. But things will change. Really. The only constant in life is change.

 

For now, it's even more important than ever to take care of yourself. It might be the biggest effort you've ever made, but you HAVE to summon all your energy, go to the grocery store to get good food and make the time to exercise. Even if it's just a walk around the block. Exercise has been shown to be as effective as antidepressants for mild to moderate depression in some cases.  Making time for healthy food and exercise will add structure to your day. You need to shape your day. It might sound like the last thing you want to do, but you need it. Being healthy will help you get through this tough time. That way, when you get that interview or finally move beyond this, you will be ready.

Exercising through this time can jump-start things sooner. It will burn away some of the exhaustion, clear your head, and give you energy. When I was unemployed, exercise kept me focused and gave me the semblance of a schedule. It forced me out of bed (I did it first thing) and let me accomplish at least one thing for the day (which sometimes turned into more). Shopping and preparing good food will give you clarity and add more structure to your life. When I started working again, being moderately healthy helped me adjust to the new schedule. 

Please, do these two things - exercise and eat well. Be mindful of yourself. It will help you and those that love you. When things change, you will be poised to take advantage of it.

What to do

1. Plan your eating and exercise for the week. It's a battle; use the Mindful Battle Plan.
2. Schedule in your exercise and grocery trips for the same time every day. If you like exercising in the morning or afternoon, dedicate that time to it. Commit. Even if it's just a little a day. 
3. Day by day, feel good about accomplishing these things. 
4. Schedule activities with your family and friends. 
5. Get help if you need it - find a therapist or support group. 
6. You're not alone. Everyone's gone or will go through tough times. People care about you and love you dearly. MindfulEats cares! 

Have you/are you going through a tough time?  What helped?

What I ate: 8 oz. cafe au lait, 3 clementines, 1 banana, 4 squares dark chocolate, roasted veggies + barley, 1 apple, 1 green tea, dried apricots, sushi, hot chocolate, 66 oz. water

Exercise: 45 gym workout