Trying New Things is Always in Style

Of the fourteen different 100 Days of Real Food mini challenges, I have been looking forward to this past week’s the longest.

Week Six: Try a minimum of two new whole foods that you’ve never had before.

This challenge was the perfect opportunity to take whole foods I pass by in the supermarket and think, “I wonder what that tastes like,” or “I wonder how that is cooked” and to actually explore and find those answers for myself.

I scheduled this challenge for almost halfway through all of the challenges because though it is exciting, having to cook and/or eat two completely new-to-you items each week is quite a commitment, not only in grocery shopping, but also in meal preparation.

I started out simple by choosing items I didn’t necessarily have to cook. I also stuck to one food group: fruits.

My first week’s choices:

Papaya

Star fruit

Kumato tomatoes

I decided that the items I will choose as I continue this challenge are going to be whole foods that I have never purchased and/or prepared at home. I say that because chances are some of these items I choose I may have actually tasted once before or had as an ingredient in something ordered at a restaurant.

I chose these three fruits out of a simple process of elimination. It was towards the end of the week and I hadn’t fulfilled the challenge yet. I knew I wanted to try star fruit after watching a Chopped episode where contestants were given star fruit in one of their baskets. Unlike the Chopped chefs, we ate ours raw and didn’t get too fancy by making it an ingredient in a meal. Then I saw the papaya and thought it was possible I had tasted it before, but couldn’t recall. Either way, I had never actually sliced, diced, or served one in my house. The Kumato tomatoes were my last choice after Hubby pointed to Elephant Garlic and suggested I try it. In case you have never seen Elephant Garlic…it is monstrous! I wasn’t ready to figure out why it was so huge nor did I want to try to find a recipe in which I could use such massive amounts of garlic. The Kumato tomatoes were right next to the garlic, so I suppose Hubby thought I was being rather cheeky in choosing them over the garlic. But the truth is, I’ve always looked at Kumato tomatoes and thought they were interesting, and in the same breath, a little strange. Brownish green tomatoes? Doesn’t green usually mean not-yet-ripe, and brown mean mushy-and-old? How could they possibly be tasty?

I served all our new-to-us whole foods for breakfast. We had funny eggs on our snow day and I thought that star fruit would make a perfect side.

I’m not sure how I feel about star fruit. For starters, it is pretty expensive. Only one cost $1.99 at Acme (of course, Acme doesn’t always have the cheapest prices). I liked the texture, it had a crunchy sweetness, but something about the flavor wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t hate it, but I’d rather spend half the money on a juicy orange.

I cut up the papaya and Kumato tomatoes for Saturday’s breakfast. Not even remembering that Hubby has a love for tomatoes and eggs I decided I would make a quick breakfast sandwich with the Kumato tomatoes as the star. I scrambled a few eggs with mozzarella cheese and some sliced pork roll—umm, yumm!—and served them on whole-wheat English muffins with two slices of tomato on top.

It was such a thrown together, quickie of a breakfast that I didn’t think Hubby would even mention it. But immediately he told me what a delicious and wonderful meal it had been, reminding me of how much he loves tomatoes and eggs—which, of course, I had forgotten. The papaya wasn’t as thrilling as I had expected— in fact it was pretty flavorless. Though the caviar-like seeds inside intrigued me and made me want to learn more about the papaya fruit.

What I especially love about this challenge was that instead of limiting what I could eat, it gave me the push to try out new and different food options. I’m going to branch out to new meats and grains eventually. This week I’ve purchased beets and tomatillos (apparently I’m on a tomato kick) as my two new whole foods.

I’m terrified of beets…so we’ll see how this goes.

Limited Drinks and No Fast Food--How Will We Ever Survive?

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think going completely cold turkey and taking the 100 Days of Real Food challenge would have been easier than taking the 100 Days of Real Food mini challenges.  Part of my issue is that I'm constantly thinking to myself, 'Wait, what was the new challenge this week? And wait, what was last week's challenge?' 

Then of course there are the times I miss blogging about a week--like last week for example. I started the post, but life got in the way.

Thanks a lot, life.

As the week progressed, and I continued to not post about the fourth week's challenge, the realization sunk in that if I had just given everything up, then I would at least know that basically everything is off limits.

Of course then I considered that if I had made such a move I might not be writing this post from the comfort of my home. Instead I might be writing it from my jail cell, reflecting on how jumping blindy into a food challenge led to the worst food rage known to man.

Even so, I am recognizing that I am now making better choices in my eating. I question what I really want, I question what I really need, and I drink water constantly and eat more fruits and vegetables than ever before.

Homemade Kale and Basil Pesto

The most difficult challenge thus far was certainly last last week:

Week Four: "Real" beverages: Beverages will be limited to coffee, tea, water, and milk (only naturally sweetened with a little honey or 100% pure maple syrup). One cup of juice will be allowed throughout the week, and wine (preferably red) will be allowed in moderation (an average of one drink per day). 

This shouldn't have been so challenging. I haven't had a need to drink soda since the 9th grade, I rarely drink juice and if I do it is usually Bai 5 drinks which are 100% natural using only natural sweeteners and colors and coffeefruit extract (the fruit that surrounds the coffee bean). Basically it is the most amazingly good-for-you drink out there that has tons of flavor and a teeny tiny 10-calorie count per bottle. While I do drink wine, if I have more than two or three glasses in a week, then that was one crazy week!

Milkshakes are definitely an occasional weakness, but specialty coffees hold the key to my heart. Lattes, macchiatos, cappuccinos, basically anything with frothed milk and espresso makes me weak in the knees.

The only problem is that most of these drinks contain a lot of sugar. Luckily a cappuccino and your bare bones latte are still just espresso and milk, but of course during the past two week's my mouth desperately has been craving the sweet flavor of caramel throughout my drink.

I've been strong.

This pictures was not taken during the last two weeks, I promise. Ps: It's a Salted Pretzel Latte--yum?!

Most of the time.

I'm still keeping up with the other challenges. I haven't been able to loyally serve two fruits or veggies with every meal, but I start out my day with some fruit, occasionally adding a little peanut butter in the mix. At lunch I've tried to have a veggie and fruit, but most days I'm lucky to have brought anything with me for lunch. 

While I'm at it, I'll cover what Week Five looked like:

Week Five: No fast foods or deep-fried foods: No fast foods or any foods that have been deep-fried in oil.

Because our eating habits have been slowly changing, we actually haven't had too much of a struggle avoiding fast foods. Of course, this might depend on what you classify as fast food versus what I classify as fast food. McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, etc...those are my "fast foods". Things like Wawa (which if you don't live on the east coast you don't have and my heart cries for you), Panera, and Qdoba I don't really lump into the 'fast food' category. It's like I saw on a sign at Pei Wei a few weeks ago: Food fast, not fast food. Naturally, you still have to be cautious. There are healthy and not-so-healthy choices at such places. And yes, what they are cooking with is probably not 100% natural. And yes, some might have items that are deep-fried (meaning now I've got to avoid them!) but they aren't of the same exact caliber of your typical fast food burger joint.

McDonald's used to be a dear friend of mine, but after a few months without it, I went and ordered a small fry (this was probably three weeks ago, before the fast food challenge) and I wasn't impressed. Maybe it was a bad batch, the wrong time of day, they had been sitting for a while, or perhaps my tastes have changed and the thrill of McDonalds is wearing off.*

*Note: I still ate that entire fry. I had to be sure.

I'm really learning, most of all, that when I'm hungry the worst-for-me-things are usually the most convenient (cookies, cakes, chips, chocolates--looks like today's letter is 'C'). But in the end they always leave me wanting more.

The same, I think, can be said for dinner. I've noticed when I overstuff myself* on fatty foods, foods that don't have a lot of 'real' foods to them, I feel bloated but longing for something better, almost regretting having chosen something of a lower quality.

*Note: This was the first challenge, and everyday I work on reminding myself of the importance of not overstuffing myself.

Though I haven’t been overly strict, yes I had one caramel latte two weeks ago; I wouldn’t say I’m miserably failing these challenges. If anything, they are alerting my mind to better standards for eating and living healthy.

More Fruits and Veggies, Please!

We've reached week three!

The three completed weeks haven't passed without their challenges. As I said at the start--- I'm trying. Trying with the realization that I will occasionally fail. Like when I was nibbling on a Twizzler the other night and realized, Wait a minute, I'm pretty sure that Twizzlers have 'Low fat' printed on their packaging. And sure enough, there was "LOW FAT" printed bold for all the world to see.

I'm finally reaching a point where I am truly listening to my internal cues and stopping eating when I feel full. There are only two times I still struggle with this: 1. When eating pasta, and 2. When eating out.

I don't think I need to explain the deliciousness of pasta. The issue with eating out is that I know the leftovers won't taste the same reheated and, chances are, I probably won't end up eating them anyway. If I don't eat the entire meal, or a major portion of it, I feel as though I've wasted my money.

This is a mind over matter battle that I'm fighting.

Week Three: Eat a minimum of two different fruits and/or vegetables with every meal.

Week three was a toughie, too. Mostly because it required buying a lot of fruits and veggies and making sure those that needed prepping were ready. Our breakfasts and lunches are pretty much grab-what-you-can-on-your-way-out-the-door. This doesn't work too well when you need to have two fruits or veggies as part of your meal. We had carrots, but they needed chopping. We had mangos, but they needed slicing. Two days in, I went to the grocery store and grabbed a bag of clementines and a bunch of bananas. At least they work with the grab-what-you-can approach.

Though I love fruits and vegetables, the issue I've always had with them is their short life span.* Of course there are ways around this, i.e.: canned, frozen, etc.**, but again, I haven't been the model planner over the course of the past three weeks of challenges.

*Of course, I realize, that means they are actually natural--and good for you!
**Yes, these would also be ways around all the chopping and slicing barriers I faced. Don't judge me.

The thing I love about fruits and vegetables is their low calorie count. I've started tracking what I eat in My Fitness Pal, again. I did this about a year or so ago and lost about 15 pounds. When I have a meal that consists of mostly fruits and vegetables, I find my calorie count is usually slashed in half.

This gives me extra calories for coffee and chocolate.

I'm kidding.

Okay, maybe not.

While every single meal I ate last week didn't always have two  fruits or veggies on the side---Valentine's Day was this weekend, after all---I certainly ate more of these two food groups than I usually do.

For a better part of the week, I either skipped breakfast (the horrors, I know) or ate a clementine and a banana. Lunch was the most difficult meal to incorporate two fruits or veggies, and again, if I had been a better planner it wouldn't have been. Most often I ended up having another clementine and a small leftover portion of veggies from dinner as my two fruits or veggies.

For dinner I wanted to make a major effort to incorporate two fruits or veggies, but I also wanted it to be in an out of the ordinary way.

Here are two of the most unusual combinations:

This melon salad with Parmesan and prosciutto was the edgiest dinner. Luckily, Hubby ate it without complaint! The steak I served with it was a little tough, convincing me that some exploration in the world of steak is a necessary part of my future.

The below salad pushed the limits of our usual at home salads. We aren't fancy salad people, at least at home. I love the varieties and flavor combinations that I've tasted in salads in my foodie travels, but at home some romaine, cucumber, tomato, and a little vinaigrette is about as far as I usually take it.

This salad consisted of mixed baby greens, diced pear, cheddar cheese, and a cranberry dressing. The cranberry dressing called for a few tablespoons of cranberry sauce. Since I knew that there was cranberry sauce in the dressing, it was a little difficult for my brain to push past that as I ate the salad. The flavor wasn't horrible, it was just a thicker texture than is expected in dressing. Next time I think I would boil some cranberries until the liquid reduces and use that as my cranberry flavor. It would certainly give the dressing a thinner consistency.

Having two fruits or veggies with every meal isn't an easy transition for someone who usually averages one or two fruits or veggies in an entire day. My goal is to at least have one with every meal and to really focus on making dinner more fruit and vegetable oriented.

How Low Can't You Go?

It's been some time since my first post about following the 100 Days of Real Food 14-week mini challenges for eating better. Reason being, Hubby and I repeated the first week due to our lack of preparation. As we finished our second week challenge and entered into our third, I faced the ever pressing reality that eating healthy takes a lot of thought and preparation.

But let me not get ahead of myself. Here they are, the highs and lows of our second week challenge: 
Do not eat any food products that are labels as "low-fat", "lite", "light", "reduced fat", "nonfat".

 As we came to the end of our first go at the first week challenge (before we had decided we needed to repeat it) we came home from grocery shopping with a gallon of 1% low fat milk and about a dozen nonfat yogurts. Some habits are difficult to break, even when you have every intention of breaking them. 

The reason we have always purchased 1% milk is merely a calorie counting one. However, what I have learned from 100 Days and other sources, is that the fats taken out of milk (making it low fat or nonfat) consist of nutrients that are actually good for you.*

*But of course, this is the type of "real food" that makes me wrinkle my nose and raise my eyes in that judgmental way that occasionally takes over me. The way I see it, so long as they are only removing good things, rather than putting in bad things, I don't see that food as not real or bad for me to eat.

However, the 100-calorie snack packs and slew of other prepacked items with the words "LOW FAT" screaming in bright bold colors are items that I am consciously avoiding. In all truth, I have been avoiding them for years after realizing that they don't fill me and ordinarily don't taste very good.

With the exception of having to switch our milk drinking habits and having to overly screen our yogurt choices, this week was a cinch. It made me almost want to jump right into the next challenge.

I say almost.

And Now For Something...Completely Different

I told you something new and exciting was coming.

It turns out I needed a little me time before I decided to commit to blogging about my new venture. Hence, my short absence.

I have been following the 100 Days of Real Food blog for about a year now. In a sentence, the blog's author, Lisa Leake, her husband and two children challenged themselves to eat only real food for 100 days. Following this, Leake has continued to feed her family a diet of primarily real foods. On her blog, she offers readers a 10-day pledge* as well as meal plans and a slew of resources for eating real food. While it is certainly commendable that Leake and her family have committed to such a lifestyle, her passion goes a bit overboard to borderline obsession. It puts me in mind of a Wall Street Journal article I recently read which states in a medically eloquent way that the eating healthy obsession has actually become unhealthy for some.

*Please note: While Leake refers to these commitments as 'pledges', I call them 'challenges' at home, because Lord knows, they are challenging.

While we aren't looking to make a lifetime pledge to eating only real food or foods with only five ingredients, Hubby and I did decide it was time we started eating better. This is partially due to wanting to lose a little weight but also due to just wanting to feel better all around. If I've learned anything from doctors, proper eating is key.

We decided we would take the 10-day pledge. I'm realistic. I knew I would never, ever survive a 100-day challenge. And if you sit there thinking, it's just real foods, how hard could it be? Just check out Leake's Real Food Rules.

I was just finishing up blogging about my recipe challenge when we took the 10-day pledge. So I was a little tuckered out and surprisingly not in the mood to photograph any food I cooked.

Here, in a nutshell, is how it went:

Days 1, 2, 3: Ate only real foods. Began the day with a banana and whole wheat bread*. Lunch was a mixture of PB&J, fruits, and leftover real food dinners. Dinners were filled with veggies, pan fried chicken and fish.

*Not all whole wheat breads are equal. To find one that is actually "real" you have to search the ingredients list and/or search for the whole grains approval stamp.

Day 4: I cracked. It was a Saturday, I had been busy all morning and hadn't eaten a thing when noon rolled around. Hubby took me to Starbucks, and I was under the impression he would be cheating, too. So I ordered a caramel macchiato and a breakfast sandwich.

Then Hubby ordered a black coffee and I wanted to ring his neck like a wet towel. This proceeded to tears, a quiet car ride, a breakfast sandwich being thrown out the window, and a trip to Cracker Barrel.

Day 5 and 6: Repeated the same as Days 1-3.

Day 7 and 8: I cheated in small ways. I ate one or two food items that had only one or two "not real" additives.*

*Like sugar. Because I needed a little chocolate in my life, and no matter how they package it, chocolate bars made without delicious white sugar taste like bitter mud.

Day 9 and 10: Finished the challenge on two days of real food only.

Whew! That was a pretty large nutshell!

Despite my lack of control, I learned a lot from the ten days of attempting to eat only real food. I learned to really read food labels. I learned that I eat less when I eat real food. I also discovered, after this past week of being able to eat what I wanted, that I feel better eating real food. Maybe it is a trick of the subconscious, but I suppose it is a rather positive trick.

So what now? I'm sure you've guessed that this isn't the end of the road. Leake realizes that not everyone can jump into real food eating immediately. It is certainly a gradual process. Enter her 14-week mini pledges. Each week has a different pledge. For instance: Week 4 is "No fast food or deep-fried food". We have decided to mix the order of the pledges up and to build each week upon the next.

The next fourteen weeks on this blog I will be writing about how these pledges (challenges) are going. 

Please know that the most difficult part of this challenge will be the eventual forfeiting of sugar and white flour from my diet. Also, please know that I do not intend to keep these eating habits forever, but only to complete this challenge and instill a framework for better eating habits in my house.