(Found this picture on a vegetarian facebook page...LOVE IT!!)
OCTOBER 24h - FOOD DAY!!
How exciting...a day to celebrate REAL FOOD!!!
According to the Food Day website:
Real food tastes great. Meals built around vegetables, fruits, and whole grains are delicious and satisfying. But far too many Americans are eating diets composed of salty, overly processed packaged foods clad in cardboard and plastic; high-calorie sugary drinks that pack on pounds and rot teeth, but have no nutritional benefit; and fast-food meals made of white bread, fatty grain-fed factory-farmed meat, French fries, and more soda still. What we eat should be bolstering our health, but it's actually contributing to several hundred thousand premature deaths from heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and cancer each year. What's more, the way our food is produced all too often harmful to farm workers, the environment, and farm animals.
Food Day's goal is nothing less than to transform the American diet—to inspire a broad movement involving people from every corner of our land who want healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. In other words, we want America to eat real. We want to get Americans cooking real food for their families again. We want fewer people at drive-throughs and bigger crowds at farmers markets. We want to celebrate fresh fruits, vegetables, and healthy whole grains—and to support the local farms and farmers that produce them. We want all Americans—regardless of their age or income or geographic location—to be able to select healthy diets and avoid obesity, heart disease, and other diet-related conditions.
On Saturday, after an enjoyable and relaxing 30 mile bike ride, I followed the ride with a fun 2 mile run w/ Campy. The body is feeling amazingly fantastic and I must contribute it to providing my body with wholesome food throughout my entire IM journey, as well as respecting my body with movement, rest and balanced meals and snacks shortly after the Ironman.
I immediately went for a tall glass of skim milk after my workout (so refreshing) and refueled on a delicious post-workout meal of eggs mixed with cheese, broccoli, red beans and tomatoes and complemented my protein selections with a banana and peanut butter. After catching up on emails, it was time to hit the Nocatee Farmers Market which is held on the 3rd Saturday of every month.
Campy had a great time enjoying the sights and smells at the market and I picked up a beautiful selection of veggies...all for $6!!! I absolutely love supporting local farmers and even in the month of October in Florida, fresh produce looks amazing!
After the farmers market, Campy took me to the dog park where he met a friend...a BIG friend. Campy enjoyed having this 6- month puppy chase him around. Campy had his greyhound legs on him this afternoon because he was a speedy little thing, running all around the fenced-in park.
In honor of Food day, I invite you to a full day of emphasizing wholesome food in your diet. I don't believe in restriction or elimination, nor do I believe that we need to have "off-limit" food. By changing our food vocabulary and learning how to develop a healthy relationship with food, we can really appreciate the food that we put into our body. Later on this week, I will provide some tips and guidelines as to how to incorporate more wholesome food into your diet as I don't believe in having RULES when it comes to providing healthy food and fuel to your food.
The other night I made a yummy scramble for me and "burgers" for Karel.
The ingredients that I used for the scramble were:
Eggs (1 whole, 1 white)
Bread crumbs (about 1/4 cup)
Oats (about 1/3 cup)
Edamame (cooked, then I took them out of their pods)
Red beans (canned and rinsed well)
Chickpeas (canned and rinsed well)
Corn (frozen first, then defrosted)
Cabot cheese (shredded, a small handful)
Onions
Garlic
Green bell pepper
Spinach
Avocado (chopped/mashed)
Olive oil (drizzling to cover pan)
For the burgers, I took out about 3/4 of the mixture (for Karel) and added chicken (that I made for Karel the night before, reheated to 165 degrees and then chopped) and then formed the scramble into patties (added a bit more oats and bread crumbs to help with sticking - although they still didn't stick like true burgers) and placed them on a pan on medium heat, that was lightly covered in olive oil. I placed each "burger" in a whole wheat tortilla, that was spread with spicy mustard and lettuce.
For my scramble, I poured my ingredients (about 1/4 mixture) on a different pan, coated in a little olive oil on medium heat and scrambled the mixture. I added a little BOCA vegetarian crumble for a little more "Meat" and then topped a large bed of romaine lettuce with my scramble.
In an effort to eat REAL FOOD, the focus is not on what you CAN'T eat but what you CAN eat. Focus on ways to turn a meal into a salad as I did with the meal listed above. By focusing on your individual needs, you will recognize what your body needs, at the best time. The most important thing is that you are focusing on practical changes that you ENJOY and learning to appreciate a different or new way of eating. There is no PERFECT way to eat REAL FOOD, so remove any pressure that you have to be strict. Starting today, start changing the way you see food and eat food in order to live a more quality-filled life, one bite at a time.
Here's some information from the American Dietetic Association on
Vegetarian living
Again, you don't have to be a vegetarian to eat a well-balanced diet of fruits, veggies, whole grains, low fat dairy, quality protein and healthy fats.