Greek Orzo and Grilled Shrimp Salad

I've been a bit MIA in more aspects than one, and unfortunately my blog has become victim to this treatment. However, I have continued along my path, and in the spirit of summer, despite the rainy skies in New Jersey today, here is a great pasta salad recipe. It's so great, that I'm actually thinking about how much I would want to eat it RIGHT NOW!

Greek Orzo and Grilled Shrimp Salad

I substituted whole wheat pasta for this one to make it a bit cleaner, and I used a heavier pasta like penne because the Orzo seemed a bit mushy for my taste.

Tonight I'm going to experiment with a classic restaurant recipe, wish me luck :)

Cultural Identity, Consumerism, and Ravioli :)

As I have previously blogged, I hate running in the summer. The humidity, sweat, heat, I hate it all. I recently started getting chills, which significantly alarmed me. If you are a heat runner or just a runner in general, you should read this article. Here is a snip bit:

Goose bumps and chills occurring while exercising in warm, humid conditions are concerning symptoms. Evaporation of sweat is the main mechanism by which the body regulates the core temperature while exercising. When this system is not working well or is overwhelmed by heat stress, the core temperature will continue to rise. The high level of humidity during your race inhibited the evaporation of sweat, compromising the body’s cooling mechanism. Another factor that impedes the cooling mechanism is dehydration; this compromises sweat production. Even though you drank fluid at every station, the humidity could cause an even greater sweat rate than usual.

Onto the fun stuff:

FOOD!

I'm very good at eating three healthy meals a day. What I'm not so good at is healthy snacking. I rarely snack, and at dinner I find myself hungry. I would like to snack on cupcakes, chocolate cake, pistachio ice cream with peanut butter cups, and many other generally unhealthy options. But, snacks are important. They help you maintain energy and keep you full between meals, which decreases your chances of pigging out. I read this, which improved my ideas a bit.

Recipe of the day:

Tomatoes and Ravioli with Escarole.

My only suggestion is to use whole wheat ravioli if you can find it, or sub ravioli for delicious eggplant or grilled chicken to remove the excess carbohydrates, depending on your diet.

Side comment, but I love to BBQ. BBQs are traditional unhealthy, as I previously posted. My new favorite side to replace potato salad and pasta salad, is zucchini. Slice up a zucchini, and chop up garlic. Salt and pepper the veggies, wrap them in foil, and pop them on the grill. By the time your meats are cooked up, the zucchini will be super tender and delicious. Less calories, fat, and just overall healthier, but tasty side option.

Last thing I wanted to comment on, and I've been thinking about this for a while: The word diet is pejorative in our culture. In my opinion, companies like Jenny Craig and Nutri-system capitalize on this negative connotation be promising its customers with weights loss that occurs without changing your diet. Jenny Craig offers it's costumers "Jenny Cheese Curls," which closely mirror Cheetos. It's like a magic potion; a person can still eat crappy foods, with little nutritional value, but meet his or her desired weight.

The problem? The majority of these costumers gain weight back.

The reason? They never learn anything about nutrition. Instead of going on a diet, without the pejorative context, because I feel diet is truly a lifestyle choice, they sustain the negative diet connotation eating these "healthy" options of the same crap they were eating before. A person who wants to loose weight or eat healthier shouldn't be eating "Jenny Cheese Curls" or the "Jenny Anytime Peanut butter chocolate bar" as part of their diet plan; they should instead opt for apples, bananas, dark chocolate, nuts, and the list goes on. The only true way to maintain a healthy lifestyle is to learn the ropes and climb the mountain.

It makes me upset to think that companies capitalize on people's ignorance, and sustain our cultural identity as one that lacks nutrition as a key ideology.

Post Pig Out Plan

I find running in LBI to be one of the most inspirational times as a runner. Generally, I wake up at 7:30 and go for a halcyon run with little company from other people. But in the summer, people are outside more. In LBI there are few roads to run, and therefore lots of people; people watching is one of my favorite hobbies. What I find inspirational are the varying fitness levels holding the same keep-going fighting spirit. When I'm having a bad run, and I see this variety it picks me up. How can you not find inspiration in a marathon running jogging along a 75 year old power walker or a father pushing his children in a stroller while running? There are some familiar faces, but overall I love seeing people caring about themselves and stepping out in a healthy way regardless of their fitness level. It shows me that it is never to late to start a new journey. This is something we could all benefit from.

Moving on, last night did me dirty, from a healthy perspective. At one o'clock in the morning, I thought it was a good idea to eat chips, salsa, and a hamburger. In the event you find yourself in this position here are some Post-Pig-Out Tips. Post-Pig-Out never feels good. But, this is my favorite tip:

DO A REALITY CHECK
As full and heavy as you may feel, the numbers don't lie. It takes 3,500 extra calories to gain 1 pound of body fat. So unless you ate six slices of cake and drank eight glasses of wine, you're in the clear.

To recover from my post-pig-out, I want to start with a healthy breakfast. Pumpkin-Gingerbread Waffles is the perfect sweet treat without over indulgence. Hey, it's under 300 calories! The worst thing you can do is starve yourself post-pig-out. Start fresh and recharge. If it makes you feel better do a harder worker, but NEVER forsake food, ESPECIALLY BREAKFAST.

I'm a bit of a pumpkin-aholic. Anything and everything (minus cold pumpkin soup, yuck!) pumpkin, I love.

I find that, I'd rather eat like a pig in the morning at breakfast and gradually taper my meals in the day. It feels better to eat a salad for dinner after I've had these great waffles, as opposed to eating egg whites for breakfast and then chowing down on chips, salsa, and a hamburger at night (I only had a protein shake for breakfast yesterday, which I'm sure was a contributing factor to my late night pig-out). Though the obvious choice is to eat healthy throughout all meals, but honestly whose perfect? I love food and with that I know I'll never be super thin and super strict.

For me, food is about taste, pleasure, and sociability.

Good morning and happy Saturday :)

Beat the Heat & Shepherds Pie

I am a winter runner. The cold air hitting my lungs creates a refreshing surge throughout my body, and keeps me going.

I am NOT a summer runner. Whereas in the winter I run up to eight miles a day, in the summer I struggle to break two miles. It's frustrating, and an activity that calms me quickly begins to stress me out. To combat this hurtle, I found some weird tricks to beat the heat; the tips are from runners world.

Miami Ice: Steve Brookner of the Bikila Athletic Club in Miami came up with this idea while running the marathon leg of Ironman Arizona. "They had thin sponges at each aid station," he says. "So I took one and grabbed a couple of ice cubes." He put the cubes on top of the sponge, then put his hat on over both. As the ice melted into the sponge, it created a cool spot on his head and a nice trickle of water running down his neck.

The Tucson Cold Cap: Randy Accetta, president of the Southern Arizona Roadrunners and a 1996 Olympic Trials marathoner, keeps his head cool in the extreme heat of Tucson with his "cold cap." "I'll soak a baseball cap in water and put it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or overnight before a morning run," he says. "An old baseball cap retains the moisture longer than the new technical hats."

The Badwater Bandanna: For years, Denise Jones puzzled over the best way to keep the competitors in the Badwater Ultramarathon cool. Finally, Jones--considered the "dean" of Badwater aid-station volunteers--came up with the answer: Lay a bandanna out in a diamond shape. Place a row of ice cubes in a horizontal line, just below one tip of the bandanna. Then roll it up "like a burrito," and tie it around your neck. "We've found that this is the best way to keep runners cool," she says. "It feels wonderful."

I am considering the Badwater Bandanna. The other seems a little silly. I hate running with hats on.

This is an amazing article about a heat running experiment. It's definitely worth a read. Here are some highlights:

During the hot run, my heart rate soared to 175, about 96 percent of my max. My temperature spiked to 103.5, close to the edge of heatstroke, which can potentially occur when your core temperature reaches 104.0. My lactic acid climbed above 4.0, the point most physiologists define as the lactate threshold where the leg muscles no longer function efficiently. And my plasma volume contracted by more than 10 percent, which, coupled with a 2.6 percent total dehydration, forced my heart to work harder to push blood to my legs. All this at a pace I considered comfortable. If I had run much longer or harder at 90 degrees, it's possible that I could have staggered into heat illness, the precursor to the heatstroke hurt zone.

Now onto the good stuff:
Recipe of the day:
Turkey Shepherds Pie with Scallion Mashed Potatoes

Anytime a comfort food has a healthy option, I'm happy. This one is worth a try!

Banana Fosters French Toast

Bananas Foster French Toast (this is from Women's Health May 2009):



Makes 8 servings: (my comments are in parenthesis)
1/4 c chopped pecans (optional)
2 tbsp unsalted butter (you can use smart balance as a healthy substitute)
1/4 c brown sugar
2 large bananas peeled and cut into 1/2" rounds
1 1/2 c egg substitute (or egg whites, whatever you have on hand)
1 1/2 c low-fat milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp cinnamon
8 slices (1/2" thick) challah or Italian bread (I used whole wheat)

1. In a skillet over medium heat, toast pecans until lightly browned and set aside.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add brown sugar and 2 tablespoons water; stir until sugar dissolves. Continue stirring until mixture is foamy (about 2 minutes). Add bananas and cook for about 5 more minutes.
3. Spray a griddle (I used the foreman grill) with cooking spray and place over medium heat. In a large bowl mix together egg, milk, vanilla extract, and cinnamon. Dip bread in batter and thoroughly coat both sides. Place on hot griddle and cook until golden brown (about 2 to 3 minutes each side).
4. Spoon equal amounts of banana mixture on 4 slices of French toast, and top each with another slice. Cut and serve halves garnished with nuts.

I did steps 2 and 3 at the same time, so I could keep the mixture warm. This was delicious. Is it the healthiest breakfast option? With the butter and brown sugar of course not, but it's a sweet treat without the post-crash sugar high and it's under 250 calories. If you want sweets and carbs, it's best to eat them in the morning than later on in the day.

Nutritional facts:
214 calories
8 g fat
30 g carbs
196 mg sodium
2 g fiber
8g protein

15 Worst Food Creations of 2010

For those of you who follow me, I apologize for the hiatus. But I'm back :)

Have you ever gone to a restaurant and before you even open the car door to leave your house, you are salivating with hunger. By the time you get to the restaurant, your eyes are far bigger than your stomach; you innocently order a side of cheese fries or mozzarella sticks. It's a small appetizer and you'll share it, so it won't be that bad, right? WRONG: Check out the 15 Worst Food Creations of 2010.

Topping the list are the:

Aussie Cheese Fries at Outback Steakhouse. These bad boys are 2,135 calories, 150 g of fat, and 2,344 milligrams of sodium.

To tackle the hunger drink lots of water before you leave your house, and when you get to the restaurant. If you can grab a handful of veggies or fruit before you leave, it will curb the hunger. Eating a handful of grapes is much better than eating over a days worth of calories in one sitting. The fries taste good going down, but the bloat and disgust after is not worth it. Plus, you are sabotaging your workout. It's like studying for a test, and then just filling in random "C" for ever entry. Why would you want to do that to your hard work?

Over the weekend, I picked up some old magazines from my parents house with great healthy brunch recipes. I'm going to test those out during the week. It's difficult to find the time to bake and work, especially since I do not have a dish washer! But if you find the time, bake a lot and freeze it. Microwaves are awesome for people on time crunches.

Tonight for dinner, I used ground turkey meat (I make 2 lbs because I can eat it over a salad, in a sandwich, pita, enchilada and so on). As you are browning the turkey, pour tomato sauce over it. I feel like Rachael Ray because I didn't measure it. Put enough over it that it's partially coated, but not drowning. Cook all the meat until it is brown and the sauce is boil. Sprinkle salt, pepper, and cumin for flavor. Allow it to simmer. I built a taco of sorts by adding lettuce, salsa, tomato, and Greek yogurt on a whole wheat tortilla. Greek yogurt is one of my favorite food items. You can eat it as yogurt with some fruit or use it to replace sour cream/heavy cream in some recipes. It tastes great and is a good way to cut calories and fat.

Until tomorrow, enjoy!

Snacking Tips

When I look into the refrigerator I fell a true sense of accomplishment. Forgive me because I have a bad memory, but a month ago I have no idea what was in my fridge. I know what was not in it: veggies and fruits. Now, I laugh. The small drawer inside my refrigerator that says "produce" is stuffed to capacity, and a majority of the fridge is in fact produce. Not only that, but thanks to the wonderful farmers market near my house, I've managed to save a ton on my grocery bills. Right now we have, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, lettuce, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, lemon, and lime just to name a few items for under fifteen dollars.

My friend's father gave me a great anecdote, and so I'm passing it on: next to you feel like having a binge of junk food, look at the number of calories. Then, consider how many apples (or whatever healthy snack food you enjoy) you can eat to get the same calories. For some junk foods, I wouldn't be able or want to even eat the amount of apples needed to get those calories. When you think of it this way, it really makes you change your ideas on food.

I haven't been blogging because I've been in a diet rut, essentially recycling the same old recipes. But, I just got a great "yoga diet" that I'm going to dig through. New recipes to come soon, I promise...