Life Lessons Learned in the Vegetable Garden

Unlike previous posts, this one is neither tipsy, nor does it contain a commentary on nutrition. I had something else to say on this particular occasion.

Following a less than comfortable conversation with somebody in my life today, with whom I had to share disappointing news, I decided to spend some time in my garden. For relaxation, nature therapy, quiet time, and to engage my mind, body and spirit in something productive.  And the more time I spent out there, doing the many things one has to do in a garden, I realized that life is a lot like a garden. Like many current-day, health-aware, nature loving Americans, I consider myself an urban farmer. I grow organic food in my backyard – delicious food, according to the seasons.

In order for anything to grow, the garden needs a good foundation – the soil. We break down the tough parts, mix it around, dig deep, and keep turning. Sometimes we find items in the soil we don’t like, which we need to remove, like pebbles, nails, pieces of trash and undesirable pests. We could just leave it there, but it would always be under the surface, in the way of something. When turning the dirt we may hit something hard like a thick plant root or large rock, which gets in the way  of our being able to get much below the surface. So we put down the shovel, get down on all fours and dig and pull with our hands through our entire bodies until we can remove what is in the way. We can’t always move some obstacles, like a pipe, so sometimes we just have to work around it.

Once the soil has been turned we need to add things to it to ensure good growth, like ammendments and fertilizer, and frankly, things that stink. We hold our breath and do it anyway for the good of the garden, and we spread it around so it’s nice and even. The soil is now ready for planting.

We carefully select which items we will grow in the garden, for we only choose to grow what we enjoy. In selecting what we will and will not bring into our personal garden, we are deciding with each plant how much care we need to give it. Some plants are vigorous and don’t need much attention at all. Some plants require a lot of care and handholding. We know we will need to check on them often. We plant our plants after strategically placing them throughout our space based on how much room they will need to grow, which plants will make good companions, and which plants should not be placed next to each other as they are notorious enemies in the garden. We plant them in just the right spot, with care for making them comfortable with soil and water, and look forward to watching the garden grow.

In the time that passes, many individuals visit the garden. Some buzz around, touching each and every plant, while leaving behind pieces they have picked up along the way to help them along in their growth. But sometimes these same individuals may sting us and hurt us, for seemingly no good reason at all. We try to stay out of the stinger’s way and mind our own business, because their aggressiveness may be unpredictable. When they choose to sting us, their decision is one which may have great consequences, because often a sting hurts the stinger more than the stingee.   But we recover from the sting and move on, and perhaps tread with a little more caution the next time we see these particular individuals buzzing around.

Others who visit the garden may have their own agendas. They destroy what we have created and insult all of our hard work. It is these individuals which keep us very mindful of our gardens, knowing that we have to constantly check for them and remove them as soon as they appear. Sometimes they appear in numbers and sometimes they appear alone. We can fight back by assembling our own defense force by planting pest resistant flowers or releasing bugs that will hunt out and demolish the pests that taunt us. We are not always successful. But we do not forget that these pests are a permanent threat, no matter how intermittent.  Some pests even require fences or other physical barriers to keep them out, as they are completely unwelcome, but sneak into our gardens to take what they want.

Underneath the surface we have a lot of support. We may not see them, but they are there - constantly turning the soil for us, and providing nutrients and strength to our garden. When we decide to dig something up and take a closer look, we see that they were there all along, even though we may forget from time to time. There’s a lot going on below the surface that we are completely unaware about.

Throughout the year the garden changes. At certain times is sparse and lacks color. At other times it is vibrant and full of life, and every day the garden rewards us with new surprises to enjoy. Watching parts of the garden grow is completely satisfying, for we know we had a hand in it. When it is in full bloom we may see beautiful creatures fly by to visit, but they don’t stay long enough for us to keep. We consider ourselves lucky to have witnessed their passing through our little garden, even if for a short while. It is during these times that we get to sit back and observe the lively garden that we have created and enjoy it in all of its natural beauty.

There are, however, many parts of growing our garden which are completely out of our control. Each time of year has its own temperament. Sometimes it helps our garden grow in exactly the way we need it to. But sometimes it is completely out of character and completely confuses the balance of the garden. Every now and them a storm or other inclement weather will come along and completely destroy our garden. We save what we can, but we also accept our losses. We pull up, we clean out, we recover, and we prepare to start all over again. We may feel badly about what has happened, but we acknowledge that we need to move on.

We will make mistakes; it’s naïve to think that we won’t. They may be small mistakes, which we can catch before it causes a problem, and fix right on the spot. But every now and then we will make a bigger mistake, whether we meant to or not. These mistakes may cause problems in the garden, stifling it’s growth, and we will feel badly about making them. But we can learn from them as well, and not make the same mistake the next season. We should acknowledge our wrongdoings and apologize for them, even if it means just apologizing to ourselves, for the purpose of forgiving ourselves. We aren’t perfect. And we shouldn’t expect that our garden should be either.

 For the garden will continue to give back. At times we put a tremendous amount of effort into it, and either those efforts may be realized or they may be destroyed. Sometimes the effort and time we put into certain parts of our garden takes away from other parts of the garden. We can’t always give 100% to everything.  But it doesn’t mean we stop trying. Other times we need not put any effort in at all and the garden continues to give.  And sometimes it’s best to just leave it alone for a while and come back to it later. It is never the same and is always changing.  What matters is that we enjoy being out there. What matters is that we believe the effort is worth it. And what matters is who we choose to share it with.

Chocolate Balls. That Got Your Attention, Right?

Sharing an awesome TREAT idea with you. You will thank me.

I meant to make homemade larabars yesterday and didn't have wax or parchment paper, which threw a wrench into my plan. So I wound up rolling my recipe into balls and coating them in cocoa powder instead. 

My kids call them chocolate balls and can't get enough of them. So I'm making more today. 

Yes, this takes time (about an hour to prepare) and yes they get eaten quickly. But they are made from whole food ingredients and delicious. Worth it. Ready?

You'll need a food processor. I use the quisenart mini prep. Fill it 3/4 full of fresh, pitted dates. Yep, I said dates. I get mine from the farmers market (for you valley peeps it's Calabasas on Saturday mornings). Trader Joe's and other stores will carry dates too. Add 1-2 Tb natural peanut or almond butter. Yesterday I used almond, today I'll use peanut. And no, it doesn't matter what your preference is regarding salty or chunky. What matters is that you're not using that crapppy peanut butter with  partially hydrogenated oils and other additives. If you are, stop reading this as you don't deserve this recipe. 

Start chopping in the food processor. You may need to start and stop and change directions a few times. Once the dates are somewhat chopped,  add 1 Tb of ground flax seed. Keep chopping. It takes some guesswork but you can keep adding small amounts of flax as you chop. Probably up to 2-3 Tb total, till you have a finely chopped, sticky mess. 

In a small bowl, pour in some cocoa powder. I used Trader Joe's sipping chocolate as it is sweetened with sugar but still very wholesome. Don't you dare use traditional hot chocolate mix. Because that's also crap. And if you don't understand why that is so, I have a dietitian I can refer you to. 

Roll your date mixture into tiny balls with your hands. Pretend it's Play-dough. They should be about the size of a dime. You'll find that any bigger is just too big when you go to eat it. 

Drop the balls into the cocoa powder about 6 at a time (or more depending on the size of your bowl) and roll them around to cover in cocoa. Remove and place in a Pyrex lined with whatever you got...plastic wrap, wax paper, parchment paper or even a paper towel. Do this till you're finished with the date mixture and stick in the refrigerator. 

That's it. Eat and enjoy. I have not done a nutritional analysis for you, nor do I care to. Here's a common sense analysis though, which is much more important:

Dates, nuts, flax seed and cocoa powder - highly nutritious foods that taste great together and satisfy a sweet craving. Good sources of heart-healthy fats, vegetarian protein, fiber and carbohydrate. Have it for breakfast. Snack on it. Have some for dessert. Anytime of day. Whatever. 

If you're still reading (and I thank you if you are!), try it and let me know what you think. And if you're reading this far just to find out what wine to drink with it, then I'd suggest a Mourvèdre, jammy Zin or port. 

Now go do something healthy today.

Cheers,

Your Tipsy Dietitian

2014: Start off With a Healthy Perspective

So here it is, the New Year’s blog.

While passing by a large bookstore in my shopping center over the past two weeks, I noticed that each and every one of the dozen or so books in the display window featured titles encouraging the reader to shed pounds, diet and be skinnier. Because that’s a surefire way to happiness, right? It made me sad. And a little disgusted with our society. Why is it that not a single book could have been a display of anything inspirational or encouraging? Is this truly what holiday shoppers are looking for? These are the gifts we should gift our loved ones? The entire theme of the display window was simply - You’re too fat America; and this is the only thing that should be on your mind.

I have been a registered dietitian for over a decade, and within the last few years have really found my passion – Wellness. Wellness of mind, body and spirit. How do we achieve wellness? We take care of ourselves and those around us. We make decisions we can be proud of. We act with confidence. We try to make a difference for the better. We inspire. We learn. We teach. What we don’t do is focus on flaws. We don’t constantly remind ourselves that we need to be thinner. That we need to deprive ourselves of joy and food and nourishment for the body and the soul. For the life of me I can no longer understand why, why, WHY our world is so anti-building people up and pro tearing people down. I don’t understand it. I am a Wellness dietitian because I do not believe in dieting. I do not believe in focusing on the one thing that torments many people throughout their lives – dieting to be thin. At the end of our lives will we wish that we had stuck to stricter diets and deprived ourselves of living fully, just to lose a few more pounds?

I have it on good authority that no other culture in the world focuses nearly as much on thinness and dieting as we Americans. We as a nation have been dieting for decades. And for decades we’ve been getting larger and sicker. I’m not the first to suggest that, in fact, dieting is the problem. Why do we put so much stock into faulty ideals? Why must our bookstore windows and shelves be plastered with this diet and that diet and diet your way to a happier life? The magazines are even worse. If you subscribe to any popular magazine, or even pick one up to pass the time at the doctor’s office, or in line at the grocery store, the magazines will tell you that you are too fat! And you are unhappy. And the only way to achieve happiness is to diet. You need a flat belly. You need to lose 2 sizes in 2 weeks. You need to stop eating these 5 shocking foods that even nutritionists won’t eat! Want to know what diet mistakes you’re making? Just flip the cover because heaven forbid you make these diet mistakes or eat the wrong foods. What a bunch of crap.

Could you make healthier choices? That’s for you to determine. Are you happy? Again, for you to decide. Would you be willing to shift your focus to find out? Focus on what you should be doing rather than what you shouldn’t. Focus on what makes you feel whole and alive. Step outside of society’s superficial box to consider what gives your life quality and meaning. If it lacks these things, go out and find them. But you won’t find them in a diet. You won’t find them in anything negative. Positive things come from positive actions. Inspire and be inspired. Learn something. Teach something. Live a life you can be proud of. And if you need to make changes, then make changes. Realistic changes. Positive changes. Changes that leave you saying, “yeah, that was a good idea.”

In the end, your opinion is the only one that matters. In the end, you answer only to yourself. Make each day count. Make each decision a good one. And if you make a poor one every once in a while, learn from it. Grow from it. Who you are now is a result of each and every decision you have made up until this point. What do you decide? What will 2014 bring for you? What will you bring to it? This is your year. This is my year. Own it. And at the end of the day, no matter what kind of day it was, remember this – life is too short to drink bad wine.

Cheers and Happy New Year,

Your Tipsy Dietitian 

Thanksgiving: It's NOT a Challenge!

A marathon – that’s a challenge. Triathlon – challenge. My recently accomplished one-day 26-mile hike along the Pacific Crest Trail, aptly named Ultimate Hike Challenge – that’s a challenge. Sitting down to consume the estimated 3,000-4,500 calories the average American consumes on Thanksgiving is not, in fact, a challenge. Like we don’t get an opportunity to eat the rest of the year? Mind you, the first Thanksgiving, as the story goes, truly was a feast among the Pilgrims and Native Americans for a myriad of reasons, including that they had to grow and hunt their own food. Who wouldn’t be proud of that? And to share it with a community – another great reason to feast. But have we taken the tradition too far?

Many of us forgot what Thanksgiving is about. Most would say it’s a four-day weekend. No work. No school. Football. Parade. Eating turkey and stuffing and pie for days on end. And my favorite, trying not to gain the same 3 pounds as the year prior and the year before that. Whatever it means to you is your business. But if you want a challenge, how about a small plate challenge? Smaller plate = less food. Or how about a challenge to go for a walk, hike, turkey trot or get outside to play? A challenge to not make this one meal last for four days. A challenge to see Thanksgiving as something other than gluttony day. Yes, it’s a special occasion. Treat it that way.

At my job in corporate wellness, I teach a class that deals directly with dining out and eating at parties, including buffets. One of the strategies I ask my students to employ: survey the buffet before diving in. It’s all too easy to start with the appetizer plate, go back for the entrée and side dish plate, return for the remainder of entrees and side dishes that wouldn’t fit on the previous plate, and then go back for the dessert plate. By the end of it all you’ve actually had four meals. Don’t believe me? Do the math. Four plates = four meals.

Be mindful of portion sizes. How many foods are offered on your holiday table? How can you follow a balanced plate model to make your plate half fruits and vegetables, a quarter lean protein and a quarter complex carbohydrate, if you’ve got four plates with a possible 20 items to plow through? Add a full serving size of each food and ta-da! 3,000-4,500 calories. For one meal. Add having a second round several hours later and you can double those calories, thank you very much. And that’s just Thursday. What are you eating Friday, Saturday and Sunday? I thought so.

Challenge: Fit everything on one plate. Read that again. I did not say STUFF or PILE everything onto one plate. It should fit. Imagine a deviled egg tray. Each indentation is the size of, well, an egg. Compare that to a full serving of any food and the size of an egg is a just taste. Challenge – take just a taste. Eat whatever you want. Go ahead, you have permission. But just a taste. And enjoy every bite of it. I know it sounds hard, but I bet you can do it. I can pretty much guarantee that by just taking a taste of everything you will still enjoy the foods just as much but with the added benefit of not having to unbutton your pants. I know, sounds crazy, right?

Challenge: Take only the foods you get once a year. Go for the more exotic fare. Do you really need chips and dip? (By the way, I’m pretty sure that is not what the Pilgrims and Native Americans feasted on).  Rolls – not sure what bread tastes like? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that one winds up on the plate just because it was there on the table. Skip it. I will even be so bold as to suggest you skip the salad. Wait, what? Yes, the dietitian is saying to skip the salad. Skip the store bought chocolate chip cookies, the ice cream, skip the filler foods. Ask yourself what you are looking forward to eating on this holiday, and focus on that. And enjoy it. Be thankful for it and the person who made it (or at least stopped by the store to pick it up). Just because it sits on the table it doesn’t necessitate that it wind up on your plate. And since I’ve got your attention let’s take this a step further…just because it sits on your plate it doesn’t have to wind up in your mouth!!! I know, crazy, right? While I realize that there are starving children in many countries around the world, their condition will not be improved by your clearing your plate. I promise you that. Harsh words, I know, but true. I have never been wrong about that one.

Enjoy the social aspects of dining out, or in. How long does it take to eat a Thanksgiving dinner? Make it last longer. Engage in conversation with the cousins you don’t get to see very often. Thank the various chefs for the delicious dishes they prepared and provided. Put your fork down between bites. Soak the day in. Slow down and take your time.

Challenge: Plan ahead. Decide your plan of attack and stick to your plan. And here’s a bonus challenge I’ll throw in for good measure. We all have those special foods we are nostalgic for, many of which appear on the Thanksgiving table. Sometimes the memory is better than the reality. If something isn’t as good as you remember, don’t force yourself to finish it! Move on. There are times when we take a bite of something, expecting it to be something it is not. Unconvinced by the first bite we go back for a second. Nope, still not what it should have been. Trying to wrap your head around the expectation and the reality you go back for yet another bite and lo and behold, the whole darn thing is gone in seconds and ya didn’t really enjoy it in the first place. What a huge disappointment. Here’s a tip from me to you – the first bite is ALWAYS the best. This is actually how your brain is designed. We continue to eat a particular food hoping to elicit the same response as the first bite, as if we’re chasing something we can’t catch. If your first bite is less than, just put it down and leave it alone, because you will never get what you want out of the rest of it.

I am lucky enough to host Thanksgiving at my house. And because of this I know exactly what is being brought to my table, including some of my favorite things. I will make sure to enjoy my aunt’s mashed potatoes because though loaded with butter and sour cream and who knows what else (she actually said to me, “you don’t want to know what is in here”), I really look forward to them once a year. I will also enjoy my grandmother’s cornbread stuffing. Am I going to load them on my plate? Nope, just a taste. Because I’m going to start with my sister-in-law’s deliciously fatty hot artichoke cheese dip, and I plan to drink good wine all night long. I will sample any new foods that appear on my table, and I will put my fork down when I have had enough. I may not have dessert. Or I might have just a forkful of each one. I will talk with my 93 year old grandmother, probably about what scarves she is currently knitting, discuss the finer points of wine with my dad and husband, and chat with my aunt and uncle about their world travels. And then I’m going outside to jump in the bouncy house with my kids and little cousins, and other adults who act like children. Because that’s what my Thanksgiving is.

 

Lunch-sized Portion

After a Paso Robles wine country extravaganza weekend, my co-wino and I stopped at the Big Sky Café in San Luis Obispo for lunch…or dinner…or whatever the meal is called at 4pm when you haven’t eaten anything but winery snacks since breakfast at 9am. Because the wine tasting started, of course, at 10am. The menu at Big Sky is fantastic for a foodie who seeks out fresh, wholesome options loaded with fiber and flavor. (They have a reasonably sized wine menu too, in case you were wondering). After debating between the Mediterranean Meze Platter, Vegetarian Black Bean Chili and Asian Vegetable Stir Fry with Tamari Tofu, I decided to go with the Vegetarian Traditional New Mexican Pozole and side of Sweet Pea Risotto. In walks the breadbasket.

For obvious reasons, I teach my clients to choose one: bread, wine or dessert. Since we were on the road and post two days of wine tasting and not in need of dessert, the choice was clear. Enjoy the hell out of those mini freshly baked cheddar jalapeno cornbread muffins. And no, there was absolutely NO need for butter on top of these suckers. Why would anyone ruin this with butter??? I am not opposed to butter, but how about we just enjoy fresh baked muffins for what they are rather than as a delivery system for butter.

My pozole arrived moments later – visual estimation says this was 2-3 cups of deliciousness in the oversized bowl. Next the risotto side shows up – and it sat just to the side of my soup, on a plate of the same size, an easy 2 cups of risotto. The dietitian in me immediately determines that there are four,  ½-cup servings of risotto in my side dish…add peas, oil or butter for cooking and flavor, an easy 600 calories. For a side dish! On the SIDE of my meal! I thoroughly enjoyed my meals until I was satisfied, leaving about 2/3 of the risotto on the plate and half of the pozole in the bowl. This meal was easily two meals, in fact I enjoyed the leftovers the next day for lunch.

When the server approached the table to clear, asking how the meal was, I mentioned that it was delicious but an enormous amount of food. To which he responds, “And this was just the lunch portion. You should see the dinner portion.” That’s right! We ordered off the lunch menu!!! And now begins my tirade. (Clearly, because I haven’t started quite yet).

We are a culture where a normal part of our restaurant lingo is terms such as lunch-sized portions, small plates (very en vogue now), light menu and half orders. Personally, I would like to know who decided that dinner should be twice the size of lunch? Why is it assumed that your dinner portion is fit to feed a farmer, while lunch is “lite”? What exactly do we need to fuel for at dinnertime? A grueling evening of intense calorie burning and energy exertion sitting on the couch? What genius decided that at the end of a long day when we are winding down, that’s when we should pile on the most calories and the largest portions? And why do we blindly follow? Now I’ve got a proposition, which may sound crazy…but what if we don’t expand the size of dinner portions and leave it at that?

Think people! When dining out, or even when preparing your own food, say NO to oversized portions. And if you need to call it a small plate or lunch at dinner, or call it Nancy or Bruce, I don’t care what you call it, just use your brain. Consult your hunger and don’t let the size of the plate and the voluminous mass of food on it determine your hunger level. Put the fork down, stop when you are satisfied (or if you follow the Japanese Confucian teaching Hari Hachi Bu – eat until you are 80 percent full).  Enjoy your dining experience like a human being with free will. I cannot say this loud enough – You should be the one to determine what the right serving size is for you. Not your plate. Not your chef. Not your restaurant. Not your significant other.  You. Because only you know when you are hungry and when you are satisfied. And if for some reason your busy American lifestyle has forced you into forgetting what hunger and satisfaction feel like, ya might want to give mindfulness a try. 
Cheers,
Your Tipsy Dietitian

National Chocolate Day!!!

In celebration of National Chocolate Day (no, really, it's a holiday - Facebook said so) I decided it was time to make this looming blog idea a reality. Because I love chocolate. And I have things to say. Many, many things to say. The first thing is EAT CHOCOLATE! I could go on and bore you with studies and statistics and reference Dr. Weil's anti-inflammatory pyramid or the American Heart Association and all their claims about how certain flavonoids in chocolate are good for your heart and your arteries. I could do that. Or I could just tell you to eat the chocolate because it’s good! Good enough to apparently have a national holiday for it.
Which brings me to the next thing I have to say. Why is this not an international holiday? Like Americans make good chocolate? Following suit with the rest of our bastardized food supply, American chocolate is mostly crap. So get out there and find the best crap you can get your hands on, and enjoy the crap out of it. Enjoy every morsel of partially hydrogenated oils, mono and diglycerides, soy and corn, stabilizers and fillers that will most likely wind up in your chocolate. If I wanted corn or soy in my chocolate I’d eat chocolate covered corn, or chocolate covered soybeans (actually not so bad), thank you very much! You want good chocolate? Check out chocolate that comes from just about every other part of the world OUTSIDE of ours.
Indulging in a really good quality chocolate means all you need is a little to satisfy you. And before you start quoting commercials, yes I do understand that Snickers satisfies, especially the King size bar...I will have you know that you can save about 300 calories and your dignity with just a 1.5 ounce square of REALLY good dark chocolate. And call yourself a gourmet. A chocolate snob. A foodie. Call yourself whatever you want, just stop eating crap chocolate.
When you do find that intensely dark, luscious, mouthwatering chocolate that demands your attention and ignites all your senses to force you into an audible “O.M.G.,” well then the next obvious question is – What do I drink with this to enhance and intensify all these flavors? At least that’s my question. Assuming you’ve selected a dark chocolate (preferably 70% or more cacao), go for the sweet to balance out the bitterness from the chocolate – Shiraz, Zin, and if you think you can take the intensely sweet, go straight for the port. If you haven’t selected dark chocolate, I have no words for you. You might as well stop reading my blog. Seriously. Stop reading. We have no use for each other.
Why are you still sitting there? Go! Go pour yourself a glass of red liquid grapes and get out the stepladder to dig out the good chocolate you're hiding from the kids (you know you are). Give National Chocolate Day the acknowledgement it deserves! And you'll need to catch up because I'm already on my second glass.
Cheers,
Your Tipsy Dietitian