"The rest of the world lives to eat, while I eat to live." -Socrates
The basis behind MindfulEats is a plant-based, whole foods diet (don't worry, you can still eat meat - it's just not the emphasis of your meals). It isn't revolutionary. It just works. Sometimes it's called the Meditteranean diet, or the whole foods diet, or the Asian diet. Call it whatever you want, just follow it.
However, in today's time pressed world, it does take some work. The Mindful diet means less processed food. The only way to be sure of what goes into your food is to make it yourself. So cut down on your packaged, restaurant and take-out meals. Spend some time handling and preparing your own food. This will take some meal planning, grocery shopping and work, but it doesn't need to take a tremendous amount of time. You just need to be efficient - follow the Mindful Battle Plan.
So how are you going to pick your meals for the Mindful Battle Plan and prepare them? I personally hate to spend time cooking (I'm a utilitarian cook - the faster the better). These time efficient, one-pan methods work well for me:
How to Cook Healthy: The Utilitarian Cook
- Go raw. If you have a beautiful selection of produce, make a salad. Cooking reduces the amount of nutrients in food (see USDA study) anyway. In the summer, one of my favorite dinners is chopped fresh tomatoes, garlic, and basil, tossed with olive oil and whole wheat pasta.
- Steam. All you have to do is chop and steam, and clean-up is super easy. You want to use quicker cooking vegetables for this, like broccoli, spinach, brussell sprouts, mushrooms, tofu, etc.
- Stir-fry. Chop up the ingredients, throw in a wok and stir at high heat until done. Any type of ingredient works here.
- Saute. Close relative to stir-frying, but it takes a little longer. I often saute seafood. Anything can be sauteed.
- Roast. Chop vegetables, throw in a pan, coat in olive oil, bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes and you're done. You can do meat this way too. This is a good way to make a large amount of food during the winter. Use sturdier veggies like eggplant, squash, peppers, portobello mushrooms, etc.
- Slow-cook. I just started slow-cooking this year, and I have no idea why I didn't do it earlier. Put some ingredients together in the morning before work, and when you come home, the finished chili, soup, or stew is waiting for you (and smelling mighty good).
- Make a sandwich. Hummus, a delicious ripe tomato and an avocado between two slices of whole-wheat bread takes less than two minutes and is divine.
Tip: Make a large quantity at once, and you have several meals for the next couple days
I will be the first person to admit I am not a gourmet cook. You probably get the sense that I am fairly utilitarian, so you should have an all-around basic cookbook for reference. I use The New Basics Cookbook constantly and rarely refer elsewhere. I've heard strong recommendations for How to Cook Everything, and there is always the classic Joy of Cooking.
For additional online resources on healthy cooking, there are:
- Mayo Clinic's Healthy Cooking Techniques
- WebMD's Health & Cooking
If you love to cook, there are a lot of blogs about beautiful food and recipes (101 Cookbooks, The Slow Cook, Smitten Kitchen, Chocolate & Zucchini, Matt Bites, etc.)
What healthy cooking tips do you have?
What I ate: (this was a tough day - a bridal shower followed by two parties, anyway...) 2 kiwis, 12 oz. green juice, 2 slices bread with hummus, 1/2 roasted veggie wrap, 1 cupcake, cheese and crackers, 4T M&Ms, 2 cups fruit salad, carrots, coffee, 1/2 c steamed veggies, pasta + pesto, roasted brussell sprouts and cauliflower, 1 slice tomato pizza, 3 mushroom polenta things, more cheese, 40 oz. water
Exercise: ran 7 miles
