Food for Thought: Fruit for Breakfast

Last January, as a first step toward eating more healthfully, I started serving fruit for breakfast.  It started out as a few strawberries, some orange slices, and a banana.  

A couple of things happened:

1. We were surprised to learn we did not feel hungry again until lunchtime.

2. This new practice helped us begin losing weight.

3. My husband said he could not eat another orange or banana again...ever.

So we might have overdone it with the bananas.  (Itt was winter--not a lot of "in season" fruits!)

But I definitely noticed that eating fruit for breakfast made me feel much better than anything else, particularly cereal.  When I ate a bowl of cereal (even "healthy" cereal) with any kind of milk (even almond milk), I found myself getting shaky-hungry around 10:30 later that morning.  I could not make it until lunchtime without having a snack--whereas with the fruit, I was fine until lunch, without any shakiness.

Then came along another gamechanger: the Blendtec.  I cobbled together some money in our budget this past summer to purchase a high-powered blender.  I debated and researched Blendtec vs Vitamix vs Ninja vs Magic Bullet, and Blendtec came out on top for us.  Yes, it is on the pricier side, but it was well worth it.  I chose Blendtec because it was higher-powered than Ninja or Magic Bullet--I decided that meant something to me, because the power to make a whole juice or blend my own almond milk appealed to me.  I chose Blendtec over Vitamix for several reasons: it sits lower on the countertop and thus fits under my cabinets, its blades were not sharp like Vitamix's--they are blunt and just spin at a very high speed, there was no fiddling with it during blending--no tampers, and it had settings that allow me to push a button and walk away from it as opposed to standing there and pulsing it until blended.  And it looked cooler.  Just kidding.  Kind of. 

You guys, I LOVE this blender.  And it took my fruit-for-breakfast habit to the next level--I was able to add spinach and other vegetables, ice, and chia seeds or berries with seeds and end up with a super-smooth drink.  I wasn't just eating a few pieces of fruit--I was eating a lot of fruit PLUS veggies & seeds.  Triple the nutrients!  

If you can budget for a high-powered blender, I highly recommend it.  And even if you can't, I used my inexpensive Black & Decker blender for several months (before the rubber seal broke and the bottom fell out!) with adequate results. 

Depending on what you put in your smoothie, it can save you money on breakfasts.  For 3 of us to eat cereal everyday for a week, we used up about 3-4 boxes of cereal plus a carton and a half of almond milk.  I've done more "elaborate" smoothies some weeks, with lots of different kinds of produce--or even a different kind of smoothie every day.  But what works best for us is something simple that we have everyday for a week...then, I switch it up to something different the next week.  In the picture above, I made fresh spinach + frozen strawberries + fresh pineapple (that I cut up and then froze) + frozen banana.  The pineapples were on sale that week at Aldi for 99 cents--I bought two and they lasted me all week and into the next.  I buy packages of overripe bananas on clearance for 40 cents a bunch at EasyWay every few weeks.  I almost always use plain old (free) tap water for our liquid.  

No blender and no money to budget for one?  Buy a bag of oranges & a bunch of bananas at Aldi (usually around $3 a bag & 44 cents/lb for a bunch) and get started with some fruit for breakfast!  It's the cheapest, healthiest way to get the most nutrients and the lowest calories into one meal!

Spring Menu for Meat-Likers

We've been going through a ton of eating-habit changes around our house lately, hence the lack of posting.  Sometimes you have to just hunker down and start from square one, right?  In short, we've been trying to eat lots of veggies & fruits, cutting back on gluten products, and almost eliminating dairy & meat products.  I'm not "calling it" anything...we haven't gone "vegan" or "raw" or "gluten-free" or "paleo" or whatever other buzzword you want to throw out there.  I'm just dabbling with healthy things, that's all.

Changing the way you eat can be kind of exhausting to daily life.  Your habits have to be reimagined & reformed, so there is nothing to fall back on when it's 4:30p and your day has unraveled to the very last thread.  Looking for new recipes takes time, and there are likely many ingredients that you don't just have on hand in your pantry.  Grocery shopping takes longer, especially if you're on a budget.  You find yourself in new aisles, looking at new products, gaping at price tags, trying to internally weigh whether this alternative ingredient is going to matter enough to justify the "x" amount extra.

And then there's this blog.  The one where I share menu plans & recipe ideas.  I say, "Make this, please--it's delicious!"  It's not like there are a billion people out there screaming, "Yes!  Give us the meat-free, dairy-free, gluten-free recipes!  We are dying to make every single one of them!"  No, we are all pinning "Cheesy, Beefy Enchiladas Wrapped in Cinnamon Rolls & Deep-Fried in Bacon Fat" on Pinterest and it's showing up on my Facebook feed and I'm feeling so out-of-touch and tempted over here in weird granola-land.

I have a Fall/Winter binder & a Spring/Summer binder full of recipes that I have made & enjoyed in the past.  I am in the process of weeding out the so-so's & keeping the LOVES so that I can make room for new healthier loves as well. Without further ado, I give you a spring menu for meat-likers...there is a little meat in some of the recipes, and yet there is also fresh spring produce--a menu for those who like moderation.  These are some of my "keepers."  

If you're interested in purchasing the Menu Planner in it's entirety, including a grocery list & menu calendar, you can click on the image below. $5.50 will getcha these five recipes, a grocery list, & a blank prep calendar--how easy to run to the store tonight with your list and magically be ready for dinner this week, eh?

CLICK ON THE MENU TO PREVIEW AND/OR PURCHASE

Otherwise, check back Monday through Friday for each day's delicious recipe.  Cya later this afternoon for today's easy "peasy" recipe!  ;)

The Chicken & The Egg

A handful of years ago, I read this...

I have to be honest...I only read some of it.  It was really interesting, but I knew it would require changes, and I wasn't up for that at the time.

Then, I read this:

And boy did it intrigue slash bother me so much that I didn't finish it either.  Are you seeing a pattern?  I may have refused to watch Food Inc or Supersize Me for the same reasons.

Recently, in my quest for healthier living (AKA: I am a 30-something food-lover with slowing metabolism, minor self-restraint, and major emotional eating patterns), I read this...

And this time I read all of it.  Fuhrman's book caught my eye with it's flashy weight loss promises, but his premise was deeper than that.  The way we eat makes us fat & sick.  And lately, I've been feeling a bit fat-ish & sick-ish, so that resonated with me.  Fuhrman's plan for healthier living is so simple but its implications in my everyday life are so dramatic.  Simply put, he recommends a person eat foods with only the highest nutrient values (per calorie), which are vegetables, fruits, and legumes.  They provide all of the necessary things needed (protein, vitamins, carbohydrates, etc) without loading you up with calories.  Fuhrman's plan also pretty much requires swearing off meat, dairy, and refined carbohydrates.  (He goes much further in-depth with his reasons why you should completely cut those things out of your diet, but I'll leave it up to the book to explain it.)

I got fired up.  We were going to do this and we were going to do it in DECEMBER.  We'd keep off the inevitable holiday weight gain WHILE shedding pounds and feeling better.  Sign me up!  

Ok, it was terrible.  

You're laughing, because you knew it was coming.  But I really wanted this change.  Kind of.  

I am a terrible "dieter."  I grew up with a naturally thin frame and I ate whatever I wanted.  Until my mid-20's. And then as I've creeped into the 30's, I have become painfully aware that those days of gleefully stuffing myself with junk are over.  All that's left is this lady who has no idea how to put a cap on her sweet tooth.

So I know I need to change, and I mostly want to, but I also really love food.  

Pollan's & Foer's books, on the other hand, came at me from moral & global perspectives that have just kind of hung around me like an itchy scarf.

(I'm giving you guys the major nutshell version here.  I really recommend the books above--they provide lots to think about!)

So that's where I was.  And swearing off meat, dairy, & refined carbs (SUGAR!) for 6 weeks to see what would happen turned into 1 week.  Although it was terrible, I did feel better.  And I lost 8 lbs.  (Don't worry--I gained 6 of them back over the holidays.)  Also, this is another post for another day, but my almost-3-yr-old daughter LOVED the change...what a weirdo.

I felt stuck...I had no idea how to implement the changes Fuhrman was challenging me to without losing a "hobby" that I really enjoy.  (Cooking, baking, eating...)  I started to question my "love" of food...am I REALLY a food lover?  Or do I just crave butter and chocolate and cheese and pasta and anything with maple and...?  If I really loved food, wouldn't I also be able to enjoy it most in its simplest form...a raw salad...roasted or steamed vegetables...a piece of fruit?  They seem boring and ick and how do I even cook with those things?  

I know I'm sounding dramatic, but I'm being serious.  I only make side dishes for holidays.  I enjoy preparing an entree for everyone to share and putting some "salad" and bread on the side.  If I drop the bread and make the salad the entree...what am I supposed to make every night?  My hypocritical self may drool over the beet salad with walnuts, goat cheese, & balsamic reduction in a fine restaurant, but it's not like I'm going to make that at home, right?

Such is the mind of a processed-food-eating, sugar-loving, refined-carbs-craving cook.

So then, I pulled out a book my husband gave me an entire year ago for Christmas 2011...

This book had perfect timing.  If I had read it before "Eat to Live," I might have been jazzed about Mark Bittman's idea, but it would have seemed too severe.  But after I read Fuhrman's book, this book seemed super lenient in its recommendations.  And doable.  And it tied everything together--the desire to eat for health in addition to my nagging moral & environmental concerns.  

I was already a fan of Bittman's, so his voice in this matter was legit to me.  He not only echoes Furhman by challenging his reader to eat less meat, dairy, & refined carbs by eating more vegetables, fruits, & legumes, but he tells you HOW.  He also did it himself before writing about it, and his own method was what clicked for me.  Bittman started his transition to eating more healthfully by eating only fruits, vegetables, beans, & a tiny amount of whole grains for breakfast & lunch.  Then, he ate whatever he wanted for dinner.  His reasoning was that if he allowed himself a "cheat" earlier in the day, he knew himself well enough to know he would still "cheat" later on as well.  I have the same pattern of will-power (or lack thereof), so this resonated with me.  He let himself have a cookie or that slice of pie or whatever it was he was denying himself at dinnertime, but he ate like a saint before the sun went down.  He also made a conscious effort to front-load his dinners with vegetables, and he says he found himself painlessly making better choices and desiring more veggie-centric dinners later on because his tastes changed.

I felt hopeful after I read "Food Matters" that 2013 was the year I would learn how to improve my family's meals AND my cooking.  I know it's so cliche to start focusing on fitness and weight-loss and health in January of a new year, but I really have to wonder if it was all happening anyways.  I was creating these meal plans for you all, and although I did not question their deliciousness, I did question their truth health benefits.  When I wrote that post about simplifying dinner and all you needed for a well-balanced meal, I found myself researching on the internet "what is a well-balanced meal" and questioning whether mine hit the mark.  What came first--the chicken or the egg?  Who cares--I need to eat less of both!

So here we are.  Happy New Year.  My Frugal Foodie resolution is to change the way I cook this year.  I already considered myself a "flexitarian" in the sense that I didn't include meat in every single meal I made each week.  But I'm making an effort to pile on the veggies this year, and to learn how to love them.  I want to LOVE food.  The good food.  And I'm inviting you to join me!

It all starts next week.  I'll post the Menu Planner list mid-week on this blog & on Facebook.  If you email me (frugalfoodiememphis@gmail.com) or comment with your email address on FB, then I'll send you 3 weeks of January's Menu Planners for free--one each week for 3 weeks.  I'm keeping things fairly simple in the beginning.  I'm trying to take baby steps so we can all learn what we like.  I'll include what I'm doing for breakfasts & lunches in case you want to full-out jump on board.

Who knows whether Mark Bittman's book pushed me over the edge or not?  Perhaps it's time to finish Pollan's & Foer's books.  I'm not scared anymore--now that I've decided to "transition" instead of swearing anything off, the hardest part is figuring out how to meal plan & cook differently.  I'm up for the challenge, and I hope you are too!