Mainly Herbivorous

I like vegetables, I really do.  I have yet to find a vegetable that, given just a bit of kitchen work, can’t end up a delicious part of an everyday meal.  However, I have a very hard time eating dinner without some meat as part of it.  It’s not that I necessarily believe that I shouldn’t have meat at dinner, but I am distressed that the idea of not having meat in my dinner makes the meal significantly less satisfying.  I have therefore spent some time investigating meal plans that attempt to make meals without meat to see if I can get myself over that little hump.  Remember, again, that my goal is self control, so anything that is so unexplainably compelling to me merits investigation as to why.

                My investigation led me to much of what began my initial realization that I was eating poorly as well as too much.  Particularly, I focused on Harvard’s modified food pyramid.  The pyramid, pictured above, focuses on the need for fruits and vegetables and distinctly minimizes the need for meat, and red meat in particular.  Further, though, it included studies associated with their reasoning and pointed out that traditionally humans were far more herbivorous. 

                In his book, In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan emphasizes that point.  Pollan argues for a more natural approach to food.  He calls for more fresh produce and less nutrient enhanced replacements.  This stance has been championed by the celebrity food industry for years.  Most of the chefs and cooks for Food Network, for instance, consistently advocate using the freshest ingredients available, for both health and flavor.  In concordance, the Food Network chefs who have a habit of using canned goods, boxed premade ingredients, and frozen produce have a certain notoriety for being subpar at best (think Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee). 

                As I began to investigate this further, I turned to my habit: investigate the extreme.  What exactly is a vegetarian diet?  Per its namesake, it’s a diet consisting of mainly plants.  Generally speaking, individuals who identify as vegetarian will still eat eggs, drink milk, and eat fish (as, by definition, fish isn’t “meat”).  Though there are some concerns about staying healthy while vegetarian, particularly with lacking certain chemicals and nutrients, in this day of modern science one can live as a vegetarian without any negative side effects, aside from difficulty find anything to eat when not in an urban center.  My mother did vegetarian many years ago and seemed to see some very positive results from it. Taking it one step further are the vegans.  They seek to ensure that whatever they consume was in no part a product of an animal.  Theirs is a total lifestyle, rejecting food, products, clothing— anything that made use of animals.  Fish have feelings, the whole 9 yards.  And of course, they have their crazier associates among PETA.

                On the other philosophical spectrum are those who advocate nearly all meat diets.  The Atkins diet, apart from being highly dangerous, has claimed thousands as advocates, and even convinced food chains to add it to their menus.  They advocate the consumption of meat over carbohydrates to force the

 

body to use fat as fuel.  It works, but it has its side effects.  Generally speaking you don’t have to advocate Atkins to advocate a high consumption of meat.  In fact, you just have to be American.  We package meats to such an extent that we can hardly recognize the animal in the meat.  We even alter the meat’s appearance so it can conform to our perception of what meat should look like, as though it were bread dough to be shaped into creation.

                So, as you can see, struck with dilemma, I came to no firm conclusion, but I did decide on a couple of things.  First, and foremost, if I’m going to use meat, it cannot go to waste.  Though I need to accept food waste in my home, I refuse to accept meat waste.  If an animal must die for me to eat, then dammit I’m going to eat that meat.  I should at least give the animal that much respect.  I’ve also decided to lower my meat consumption to one type of meat a day, for one meal and only one meal each day, at only one serving of that meat per meal.  Maybe I do need meat in my diet, but I don’t need much.  Other than that, I have no answers.  What do you think? 

                I’ll leave you with this discussion on the matter:

 

Chicken Soup with Dumplings

Pumpkin pancakes for breakfast to use up the rest of the pumpkin.  They were very moist but I don't know that I care for them.  Got it from one of my favorite food blogs.

Had a peach for lunch.

Made chicken soup with dumplings for dinner.  Used the chicken broth from poaching the chicken from the enchiladas as the broth for the soup.  Sauteed onions, garlic, and carrots in olive oil, added salt, pepper, and thyme to it until aromatic, then added the 6 cups of broth.    Added bays leaves and a cup of milk to the broth and let it begin to boil, before dropping it to a simmer.  Added about 15 ounces of diced chicken, cooked that for about 15 minutes, before adding some whole wheat dumplings.  Got the dumplings recipe from another of my favorite food blogs but altered the recipe to use whole wheat.  The dumplings were quite dense, next time I'll form them smaller.

Dense whole wheat dumplings, however, are extremely satisfying!

Had a cup of low fat ice cream for dessert and ate some air-popped popcorn with the kids while we watched Monsters Vs. Aliens.  Ate popcorn until I hit 1000 calories, lol.

Total Calorie Count for the Day: 1000

Salmon with Aspargus Tips

Same breakfast as the last several days.

Busy cleaning the house, neglected to have lunch.

Made salmon for dinner.  Just pan fried it with a bit of salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon zest.  Threw in some asparagus spears and used up an old box of Stove Top stuffing.  Made it using the 1/3 calories margarine substitute from Blue Bonnet.  Couldn't tell the difference, honestly.

Very simple meal.

Also made some pumpkin cookies because I'm planning to make some whole wheat pumpkin pancakes tomorrow morning.

Total Calorie Count for the Day:  983

Penne alla Vodka

Got so involved with homework, almost forgot to post!

More egg and toast for breakfast.

Went to Subway for lunch again. Oven roasted chicken feels so healthy... could be awful though. I need to look into it, I imagine.

Made Penne alla Vodka for dinner. It was very quick. I used the remaining sauce from the other night and added 1/2 cup of vodka and 1/2 cup of cream, then stirred in some chalulu and red pepper flakes, with a small amount of parmigiano-reggiano. Tasty stuff.

Total Calorie Count for the Day: 940

Enchiladas Suiza and Pear Soup

Egg and toast for breakfast again!  Had some light cran grape juice too.

Forgot to have lunch... naughty me...

Made Enchiladas Suiza for dinner.  Followed this recipe from epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Enchiladas-Suizas-235502

Replaced non-fat and low calorie things where I could, so my calorie count was lower than theirs.  I also used Cotija cheese instead of Monterrey Jack. Further, I made five servings instead of four.  Good stuff but I think next time I won't mix the cheese into the sauce and instead put it on top like the recipe advised. 

I know the pictures kind of bad... but paired with my enchiladas is a lovely bowl of poached pear soup.  Recipe follows.

·  5 pears, diced

·  3 cups sweet white wine

·  ½ cup Triple Sec

·  ½ cup syrup from canned pears or grape juice

·  splash of lemon-lime soda

·  mint leaves

Put the pears, orange liqueur, and wine in a soup pot and bring to a boil.  Once the wine is boiling, lower the heat to medium and gently poach the pears uncovered until the wine has almost completely evaporated.  Once there is only about a 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup of wine left, put the pears and wine in a food processor and puree.  Then turn the food processor on and slowly drizzle in the syrup or juice until the soup has reached the consistency you want. Chill in the refrigerator.  Right before serving, add a splash of lemon-lime soda (I used a diet soda), top with mint.  You could chop the mint leaves if you wish because they taste wonderful with the soup. 

Total Calorie Count for the Day: 947

Spaghetti with Clams

The toast with egg thing is growing on me.  The calories are so minimal but it's such a satisfying breakfast.

Had an apple for lunch.

Decided to experiment and made Spaghetti with some Venus Clams I found at Albertsons.  It was delicious!

This is actually a lot easier than it might seem.  Dice an onion and saute it in olive oil for about 5-7 minutes.  Meanwhile, start a pot of water boiling.  Once the onions are translucent, add 2-4 cloves of garlic, minced.  Saute that for 1 minute.  I wanted some green beans with this, so I added them at this point (they were fresh, not canned).  Then add about 1/2 cup to 1 cup red wine, like Marsala (to your taste, remember though, never use a wine to cook with that you wouldn't be willing to drink) though Sherry will work just as well.  Add cherry or grape tomatoes, and saute until the wine starts to look like a syrup.  It doesn't take very long.  Finally, add the clams.  As you place them one by one into the pan, if they're already open and won't close when tapped, they're bad.  You can get very sick eating a bad clam.  Once the clams are in place, cover the pan with a lid and steam for about 5-8 minutes.  This can be fun to watch because as they cook the clams will begin to pop open.  As they pop open, the clams release their juices which add to the wine and form a delicious sauce.  Once the clams are done, remove them one by one.  If any of the clams didn't open after the majority had opened, then the closed ones are bad.  Again, don't attempt to eat a bad clam.  Once you have the clams removed, toss the spaghetti with the beans, tomatoes, and sauce.  I used whole wheat spaghetti, which, by the way, tastes great.  Once you coat the spaghetti, dish it out and add the clams to the plates.  I left the shells on because I was taking a picture and it looked cool that way, however, you can easily just remove the meat and put it in the dish (though this makes it very apparent that you're not getting a whole lot of meat from it).

I have about 300 calories left for the day, so I'm gonna have some fruit for dessert.  I love clams!

Total Calorie Count for the Day: 994

Sushi!

Had a piece of toast and an egg with a teaspoon of butter for breakfast.

Ate a banana for dinner.

Time was crunched today and by the time we went to go shopping for food, it was dinner time.  We never shop while hungry, so we went to our favorite restaurant in town and had Sushi!  I love sushi, so, so much.  And it's one of few foods that I can have at a restaurant and leave feeling satisfied without overloading on calories.  I had their onion soup, a half cup of steamed rice (gave the other half to Cora) and we split 3 rolls.  We had a Crazy Jalapeno, a Snow White, and a Kamakazee.  I had 3 pieces of each, and a 4th piece of the Jalapeno one.  Got me super close to my calorie limit, but who knew you could maintain a 1000 calorie diet and still eat out?

Total Calorie Count for the Day: 994

Ravioli with "Daddy's Sketti Sauce"

Most mornings, time dictates that I eat a piece of toast while running out the door.  Weekends, on the other hand, allow for something a bit more pleasing:

This is what the British refer to as Egg in a Basket, or Eggy in the Basket if your prefer.  My girls love anything heartshaped, so I made the toast cutout from a heart cookie cutter.  Place the bread in a skillet with a bit of butter, then crack the egg into the cutout.  The egg does tend to try to coat the other side, but you end up with one side that's all nice and pretty.  All in all, breakfast at under 300 calories.  Added bonus: because the egg binds to the bread, it makes flipping the egg easy and therefore lends itself well to children helpers in the kitchen.

Had an apple and some orange juice for lunch.

Indulged a bit for dinner in order to use some frozen ravioli we bought some months ago.  Though not technically allowable by my diet (I would need to have made that from scratch), it was purchased before my diet started so I call it a gray area, lol.  Added to it my homemade marinara.  Recipe follows.

1 large onion, diced
4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
2-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large cans (15 oz-ish) diced tomatoes
2 large cans tomato sauce
2 tablespoons Basil
2 tablespoons Oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup brown sugar

Caramelize the onion and garlic, simmering on medium-low.  The longer you cook these, the sweeter the marinara.  Once you're satisfied (the onions should at least be translucent), add spices until aromatic.  I haven't actually ever measured my spices before, so those measurements are a conservative best guess.  I'm usually pretty liberal with the black pepper, btw.  And don't be afraid of the cayenne.  It's an amazing addition.  Once your kitchen is wafting with the smell of basil and oregano, add the cans of tomatoes.  Bring to a boil then drop to a simmer.  While simmering, add the brown sugar, if you wish.  If you've simmered the onions and garlic enough, you won't need the brown sugar.  Simmer for as long as you can.  The longer it simmers, the thicker and sweeter it gets.  It can be rushed, it just won't be as dynamic.  Goes great on anything from spaghetti, to pizza, to lasagna, and even the tomato sauce for shepherd's pie.  It also stores great in the fridge for about a week or two, and even better in the freezer (months).  

Having a 1/2 cup of Dreyers' ice cream for dessert.  Hurrah for the weekend!

Total Calorie Count for the Day: 976

Understanding Being Adaptive

In my first post, I mentioned body compositions and adaptation.  To truly take control over your eating habits and establish healthy routines, you have to understand how your body works.  Adaptation can be a real pitfall problem when monitoring your weight loss because it’s the biggest cause of weight loss plateau.  To explain this, let’s look at a simpler concept: gaining weight.  You may have noticed that at some point, you gained weight and at another point, your weight gain hit a relative plateau.  In a sense, this is a form of adaptation.  Your body, having been signaled by extra food consumption that lean times are over, begins packing on the pounds to prepare for lean times ahead.  However, eventually your body’s weight starts to override your extra calorie consumption.  Technically, you get so heavy that your body has to work harder to move you around and therefore, if you’re me, you hit about 230 and find, apparently, that was about enough weight to balance out the extra calories.  Your body is but a slave to our species’ evolution.

Genetically speaking, your body remains relatively unaware of modern times.  Indeed, it still generally functions according to your genetic heritage, relative to when your people established themselves by locale and their bodies slowly adapted to that type of living.  Obviously, this is all dependent upon which genes express which traits.  That said, by and large we still have some rudimentary evolutionary roles our bodies attempt to maintain.  For instance, recent research suggests that not only are we evolutionarily designed to run but also that some of us are still really good at it… really, really good at it.  It isn’t really so surprising to find that in the relatively short amount of time it has taken for our civilizations to blossom, we haven’t quite shrugged off our old adaptive traits.

So how does this caloric/weight/energy adaptation affect you when you’re trying to lose weight?  By depriving yourself of calories, similar to the calorie storage signal sent when you eat too much, you signal the opposing effect.  Initially, therefore, you use up a lot of your fat stores, particularly when the drop is abrupt.  That is, initially your body acts as though this is a temporary setback to homeostasis.  However, as it becomes apparent that you’ll be maintaining this sparse lifestyle, your body, again attempting to maintain homeostasis, adapts.  Eventually you even start to lose muscle mass, which is heavier than your fat stores, so that you body doesn’t have to work so hard to maintain you.

Exercise routines work the same way.  You run every day for an hour and eventually your body will adjust to running every day for an hour, and you’ll find your steady weight loss slowing and slowing until you’re very confused and frustrated because your waistline stopped shrinking.  Granted, you do end up conditioning yourself for a daily run very, very well, but you’re not challenging your body enough to promote weight loss.  A fantastic weight loss exercise routine might involve variation in how you do the exercise.  For instance, you might alternate between running briskly for a shorter time, running slower for a longer time, walking quickly downhill, and jogging lightly uphill, by day.

So what are we to make of this 1000 calorie diet (or any other diet)?  Don’t let your body adapt to it, as though you’re starving, by making abrupt changes triggering starvation response.  Gradually reduce your calorie intake until you hit the mark.  Ideally, you wouldn’t want to maintain a very low calorie level for more than a week or two because, again, you'll adapt, this time to your body's attempt to balance your diet with your output… but hey, we’re in the business of mind over matter on this blog!  Therefore, to help my body manage this change, I’ve added nutritional supplements to my diet (my multivitamin) to ensure that though my calorie intake is low, my nutritional value is high, making my body feel well managed even though the relative energy is unavailable.  Similarly, to discourage muscle loss, I’ve made sure that I maintain protein levels as though I were still on a 2200 calorie diet; as long as my body has what it needs to make my muscles run, it won't think it needs to unburden me by ridding me of my muscles.  Hopefully, I can trick evolution a bit.