Everyday Goddess

146

I'm trying very hard not to panic.

I started this post on March 2. As in, I typed in the title and a different first line and then I saved a draft. At the time, "146" was the number on the scale. The weight that bumps me into an "overweight" BMI. The weight at which I really start to see it and feel it. Long past the weight at which my cute winter clothes from LAST YEAR stopped fitting. The cute clothes I didn't get to wear this year after my late summer/fall eat-through-the-stress-a-thon.

This week the scale says 147.5.

I knew there was a problem, and I gained a pound and a half. And I know my body. This isn't I-stepped-on-the-scale-one-day and it said 147.5 and I'm freaking out. I am solidly up to 147.5. More of my clothes don't fit, and I've suddenly got this tummy-sticking-out thing I don't feel like I've ever had before, even the couple times in my life that I've gone over 150.

Metabolism change.

Holy shit.

And I'm trying really hard not to panic because I know how to be healthy. I've already been taking steps this year, and the biggest one, I feel, is that I've SERIOUSLY got to start exercising more. Doing more cardio. Especially since I don't feel like hard-core dieting right now.

But I stopped obviously overeating and I started doing some cardio and I still gained a pound and a half.

Don't panic!

I am CLINGING to the fact that I received Just Dance 3 for the Wii from Nintendo last week, and I love it, and I've been dancing my ass off with it since the day it walked in the door. (Note: I received this for free because I'm a Nintendo Brand Ambassador.)

I am CLINGING to the fact that I live close enough to work to bike and I have a nice bike and I WILL start biking to work once a week. I'm actually HAPPY that I am going to get my car air conditioning fixed in April and that that is going to put me in a position where I have to pop the cherry of biking to work for the first time.

I am CLINGING to the fact that I feel strong and healthy and am able to exercise and buy good healthy food. I know that's important, and I'm thankful for that.

A small, odd consolation I've noticed: Now that my fat is all pooling in my tummy, butt, and thighs, I don't have back fat. Weird, but I'll take it. I wish I got more consolation out of bigger breasts, but really, they just stretch out all my bras so that I'll have to buy all new ones again when I lose the weight. And good bras are expensive. Sigh.

So. 147.5. The new line. The last line.

I will figure this out. I can do this.

But for now, here's what 146 looked like:

If despite my best efforts I hit 148, I'll give you the side view.

In the meantime, if I say I don't want desert, I DON'T WANT DESERT.

Breathing, breathing...

Fit October Can Not Come Fast Enough

Apparently I've become someone who eats through job stress and heartbreak, just for September. JUST FOR SEPTEMBER, because first of all, WTF? And second of all, FIT OCTOBER.

I've gotta admit, y'all, I'm not sure if I've got it in me this year. So I may kick it off with something a little drastic. Reading about the master cleanse made me cry, so instead of *that* insanity, there may be cabbage. Lots and lots of cabbage.

And exercise, of course. I only went to yoga three times in September, and that counts tomorrow.

Fit October. The last healthy stand before the holidays hit. Own it! Love it.

Body as Hobby

I've been thinking a lot lately about next steps in my diet, and I suddenly realized that my body is my hobby. Film and television and most of the things I do and the places I go are related to my career - diet and exercise are practically the only thing I do that isn't. Improving my nutrition and exercise is what I do for fun.

Health and fitness are also my first priority in life - over my directing and over my love life, which share the number two spot in a sort of strange life tango. I prioritize health and fitness first, because that's what keeps me going for as long as possible on my journey. Health and fitness are what give me my stamina, drive, confidence, strength, positive attitude and mental acuity.

This is also why having a partner who's into healthy eating and exercise is a deal-breaker for me and something I really value. Hiking with a boyfriend is so full of win. (Suddenly my last relationship makes total sense.)

More hiking is also my summer workout goal.

And here's my next steps, dietwise:

• I've switched to whole milk as part of a whole food diet. It has flavor. I'm trying to get used to that.
• I'm working on using a lighter hand with olive oil. Glug instead of glug, glug, glug.
• Working on my portion control. Turns out that you *can* overeat broccoli.
• I need to eat more beans. Questing for more bean recipes this summer, especially in salads.
• I'd like to eat more carrots. Questing for more carrot recipes this summer, probably not in salads.
• My friend Siel (Green LA Girl) turned me onto Seafood Watch so I can make better choices about seafood.
• When I buy whole grain products, I'm looking for high fiber; basically even better whole grains than I've been eating when possible.
• I've cut back on alcohol. It's amazing how you can change a habit and then just get used to it. I used to have a drink every night, now I go shopping and don't even think about buying beer or wine. Usually.

When I think about how I eat today, what most amazes me is that it took so many baby steps over so much time to get here. I could never have cold-turkey'd into pescetarianism. The first time I did the South Beach Diet, I could never have done it without meat and poultry. And now, I'm kind of transcending South Beach to allow my diet to include a richer variety of nutrients - Hence the move to whole milk and carrots. Previously, I made a move to incorporate more fruits as well. Not that South Beach doesn't include carrots and fruits, but I found that I had turned from them, and now I'm just turning back. I've realized that I like when my body is like soft skin over hard muscle. So I don't want to eat as lean as I've been aspiring to in the past.

So I'll see how it goes with the whole milk; that's a bit of a grand experiment. Which is exactly what I mean by body as hobby. It's a little bit of, Hey, let's see what this does!

What about you? Got any exercise or diet goals for the summer?

Summer Means Salads!

And it can't come fast enough. My carb consumption is out of hand, my friends. And summer salads are my salvation.

So I thought I'd share a few of my most superyum favorites.

Cucumber Peanut Salad from 101 Cookbooks. I didn't use the cilantro. Also, may I recommend washing your hands after mincing serrano chiles? Trust me...

Summer Green Bean Salad Recipe from 101 Cookbooks.I really love the frisee in this one.

Tassajara Warm Red Cabbage Salad Recipe from 101 Cookbooks. This recipe is the birth of my love of golden raisins. So. Yum.

Chickpea, Artichoke Heart, and Tomato Salad with Arugula from Vegetarian Times. I am on a mad arugula kick this summer for sure.

Corn-Quinoa Salad from Vegetarian Times. The dressing on this one is crazy delicious.

Wilted Dandelion Salad with Pine Nuts and Crispy Garlic from Vegetarian Times. I'll link this one up once they put it up on their website. It's in April/May 2011.

Minty Bulgar Wheat Salad from The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook. An old fav.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad Recipe with Lemon, Dijon, and Tarragon Vinaigrette from Kalyn's Kitchen. Crunchy goodness!

Avocado, Tomato, Edamame, and Red Onion Salad Recipe with Cumin-Lime Vinaigrette from Kalyn's Kitchen. I cannot imagine a summer without this one.

And here's my own simple favorite: Romaine lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, fresh mozzarella, and a sprinkle of Alaea Hawaiian sea salt. If I've got some fish, I'll cook it up and put it on top. Superyum!

Do you have any fav salads for the summer? Link 'em up in the comments!

~

Want more ideas? Here's a link to all the salads on 101 Cookbooks!

And here's a link to all the salads on Kalyn's Kitchen!

And here's a link to all the salads on Vegetarian Times!

That's A LOT of salads. I know I'll be trying some new ones this summer, too.

Nothing Tastes As Good As Thin Feels.

I first learned this phrase when I was doing Weight Watchers, back in the day, and I’m pretty sure it was written across my bathroom mirror in lipstick at least once. It was a useful mantra. This was when I first learned the philosophy that certain sweets are a great treat – something homemade, or a special dessert at a fancy dinner. But something like snacking on store candy or a supermarket cake simply isn’t worth the calories.

And like Cookie Monster says, “A cookie is a sometime food!”

Then I moved on to The South Beach Diet, and now I don’t even want to snack on candy, generally speaking. And I can probably only eat half that fancy dessert because it’s going to be a lot more sugar than I usually consume and I won’t be able to stomach the whole thing. Now I’m a person who gets mad cravings for kale and romaine lettuce. Truth!

But at some point, through the power of the Internets, I gathered that the mantra “Nothing Tastes As Good As Thin Feels” had fallen out of favor because pro-anorexia websites had taken it up. I remember feeling really sad the first time I read this. One, because anorexia is sad. Two, because I’ve always found “Nothing Tastes As Good As Thin Feels” to be a really useful mantra.

Because it’s true. FOR ME anyway, there’s no food that tastes better than having a (healthy!) thin body feels.

And “thin” doesn’t mean “anorexic.”

That said, I’ve mostly moved on from needing a health mantra these days. I think when you’re transitioning to healthy eating you sometimes need to mentally focus your willpower, but now I simply crave and enjoy healthy food. Although, when I did South Beach phase one at the top of this year, it was the first time I’d ever done it when I was under 140 pounds, and it was more challenging than usual. I pulled out the mantra for days two and three, let me tell you! And now I’m at 132 (BMI at 22.7, hooray!), and loving it.

It’s funny when you talk about healthy food on Facebook, especially vegetables, and someone will come on and “ew, gross” you. I always think, Hey, I don’t hop on your posts about what you eat and say “ew, gross”! Even when I TOTALLY think that what you eat is gross. I mean, does anyone ever "ew, gross" someone talking about junk food or bad carb overload? I guess somebody probably does.

Maybe I should jump on and say something like, Hey, that bacon double cheeseburger with cheese fries looks SO GOOD; I just had shredded Brussels sprouts and apples, and they were superyum, too!

Give me Brussels sprouts or give me death!

In other weight news, I have definitively observed that significantly cutting beer from my diet is making a HUGE difference in my tummy and fatty areas generally. Which is horrible, horrible news. Because if *anything* was going to taste better than thin feels, Baby, It’s Beer.

Portobellos with Snow Pea Salad

In my dreams I create a Pescatarian South Beach Diet Cookbook, and this is definitely one of the Phase 1 Recipes.

Portobellos with Snow Pea Salad

• 1 pound snow peas, ends clipped
• 1 tablespoon + 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
• 2 large or 4 small portobello mushrooms
• 2 scallions, sliced
• 2 teaspoons dark sesame oil

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice and water. Boil snow peas for 2 minutes, then drain and put into ice water for 1 minute, drain again.

Mix 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and ginger in a shallow bowl. Coat the portobellos as best you can, rubbing the mixture on them with your hands. If they have long stems, trim the stems so they can lie flat in a frying pan - keep those stems and just toss them in the frying pan, too.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium high skillet. Add the portobellos stems down and rub 1/2 of the remaining mixture on the top of the portobellos. (I use my hands.) Turn heat to medium, cover, and cook 3 to 4 minutes. Then turn the mushrooms, pouring any remaining mixture onto the bottoms. Cover and cook another 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and slice. At this stage I leave any ginger that falls off of the portobellos on the cutting board.

While the portobellos are cooking, combine chilled peas, scallions, sesame oil, and remaining teaspoon of soy sauce and toss together. (I use my hands for this, too.)

Serve sliced portobello over a scoop of the snow peas. Superyum!

NOTE:  If you're feeling ambitious, I recommend doubling the snow peas and/or the portobellos (and their respective dressings). You'll find yourself snacking on the snow peas, and the portobellos are delicious the next day sliced over some romaine lettuce and tomatoes, maybe with a little sprinkle of Hawaiian red sea salt or shredded parmesan cheese.

This recipe was adapted from my most favorite cookbook: The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook: 200 Delicious Recipes Ready in 30 Minutes or Less.

*Really* Can't Catch Me! says the Ninjabread Man

Call it a testament to the power of Facebook. For when my ThinkGeek catalog came, and I saw the Ninjabread Men cookie cutters, I knew I had to have them... but they were out of stock. I immediately linked and bemoaned my fate on Facebook.

"Fear not!" said friend Jane. "I just saw them at Handmade L.A."

"Wha... What? Where is this wonderous place?"

Well, it's on Ventura in Sherman Oaks, and it is chock full of beautiful things and gorgeous jewelry I studiously ignored in my quest for the Ninjamen Cutters, which were promptly procured in time for some baking this weekend. Behold!

Now, I had black icing coloring, and I was going to go for it... until it made this:

Yeah, that's not black. That's like a terrifying witches brew of green sludge. So I whipped up a new batch of icing and just went with the traditional - for gingerbread men anyway - white. I do think my cream of tartar needs replacing though, because the last couple times I've made royal icing I can't get it to stiffen up the way it should. (That's what she said...)

Still I think they came out OK, and they smell and taste great, if I do say so myself. I also made peppermint crescents this weekend, and I can't remember the last time I made those. I'm pretty pleased with them.

I haven't been able to get into the Christmas spirit too hard-core this year. I'm not putting up a tree for the first time ever, and I'll be spending the solstice celebrating The Social Network at work, so it was nice to do some baking this weekend.

Shout out also to the Jacquie Lawson Advent Calendar, which is wonderous and beautiful and bringing Christmas joy to my pagan heart even with its inevitable dashes of Christianity. So thankful for my little moment of Christmas magic every morning this month.

My Meaty Holiday Weekend

A friend asked me recently why, if I'm an omnivore who can easily get free-range meat and poultry, did I go pescatarian?

The answer is two-fold. First, my primary motivations for how I choose to eat are my feelings and ethics about industrial food in America, and my health and fitness. I find that when I keep my diet focused on vegetables and fish, I feel stronger, leaner, and more energentic. And I find the way the majority of meat is raised in this country completely disgusting on multiple levels. I also don't eat factory meat, because it eats factory corn.

Second, it's simply easier to express and be understood and respected when I say "I'm a pescatarian," and then make the occasionally exception for free-range options.

Hence, there was (free-range) Thanksgiving turkey:

 

My friends Matt and Amanda also brought some happy ham.

And, because I had my parents visiting, I also picked up a Lindner Bison brisket for Saturday night dinner.

So Thanksgiving weekend, there was meat consumption. Truthfully, it doesn't hold the charm it once did. (Though I definitely enjoy Thanksgiving turkey.) I'll even go so far as to say that my occasional bite of steak or bacon off a friend's plate in a restaurant is infinantly more satisfying than all the meat I can eat in a weekend.

Oh, it was delicious, don't get me wrong. But coming off of the weekend I found myself SO READY to get back to my normal diet. So much meat, sugar and bad carbs, not to mention the need to constantly refuse more, more, more.

It feels like coming back from vacation and getting back into one's usual schedule.

On the other hand, there was so much to be thankful for this weekend, including the ability to easily purchase free-range meat and enjoy it with wonderful friends and family. Many, many thanks to all who joined my table and brought their own bounty to share. Cheers!

Beer and The Ice Cream Rule

When I searched to find if I'd ever blogged about The Ice Cream Rule, I found that in 2008 I blogged: Wine needs to go the way of Ice Cream in my house. Yeah, uh, that didn't happen.

But starting with Fit October, I have expelled beer from my home. Like ice cream, I no longer buy beer and keep it in the house unless it's for a party or get-together. If I want to enjoy a beer, I enjoy it when I'm out.

For the record, The Beer Rule is MUCH, MUCH harder and suckier than The Ice Cream Rule. It was hard to say goodbye to an evening beer in front of the TV. Not so hard to say goodbye to the beer gut.

Hellooo, Abs!

Liz & Lukas

I've fallen in love. With a cookbook.

And it is so *not* Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1. I loved "Julie & Julia," but that's just not the sort of food that excites me. Meat. Butter. Aspic. No, thank you!

But a whole cookbook of veggie burgers? This, my friends, is the cookbook of my dreams: Veggie Burgers Every Which Way: Fresh, Flavorful and Healthy Vegan and Vegetarian Burgers-Plus Toppings, Sides, Buns and More. If I was ever going to do an old-school concept blog, Liz & Lukas it would be.

I've already made two of the burgers, the quick pickles (with Armenian cucumbers!), and the cumin-spiked sweet potato fries. Both burgers were yum, AND held together, AND gave me an excellent reason to use my cast iron skillet, which is completely vegetarian, thank you very much! Here's the Spinach Chickpea Burgers:

They were pretty good on the bun, but I had one with eggs this morning which was superyum.

On the bun, I really loved the Tuscan White Bean Burgers, which I had with pineapple and dijon mustard:

Shown with side yums.

No idea which I will try next because seriously, I want to try them all and it is near impossible to decide. These two I picked because I had most of the ingredients. For the Tuscan White Bean Burgers I just bought fresh sage, and for the Spinach Chickpea Burgers I just had to get fresh spinach. Hm... I saw some gorgeous beets in the market today, maybe I'll try the Beet and Brown Rice Burgers next...

Definitely making my way through the whole cookbook. No doubt.