Posts Tagged‘healthy living’

Eat less the easy way – Just trick yourself

by KitchenRebel on September 25, 2014

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I have something to confess – Sometimes I’m totally amazed that the amount of food I now eat in a week, is often the same as what I used to eat in one day.

There was a time I could quite easily eat 3 big meals a day, snacks in between meals and still eat more if the opportunity or right snack presented itself.  Ah those days of thinking “I might as well just finish off the ice cream” or chocolate. I might as well eat it all, its almost finished and I already at this much.

And worse still, the foods I ate because I felt the need to finish them off so they wouldn’t go to waste. I rationalized that I did not want to waste food or money. I was really just treating my body like a garbage disposal.

One of my favourite and most used excuses was that I work in the food industry. I’m a chef. I have to cook and taste all day long, so I can’t be expected to eat as little as civilians. What a load of bull twaddle. I was really good at justifying my bad habits and unhappiness.

And I was unhappy. I was tired, had little energy, and one of the worst things – I woke up in the morning feeling terrible.. and I’d rush to get coffee to make me feel better.

But in a few short weeks I learned to eat less by tricking my body and appetite by doing just five simple things:

1 – Use small plates and bowls

Studies have shown that people tend to serve themselves considerably less in small plates than large plates. A 2006 study found that even nutritional experts dished themselves (and ate) more when given larger dinnerware.
We tend to fill our plates, I found that filling a small plate and even having seconds was most often still less than a full large plate of food.
Small plates worked like magic for me.

2 – Eating with smaller forks and spoons

While studies suggest using bigger utensils, I found using smaller utensils helped. It made me feel like I’m eating more, having more fork/spoonfuls of food. I eat with dessert forks and spoons. Not only are they cute, and I buy myself special single fork and spoons, it makes my meal time feel special.
I also like using the fancy plates. Treating myself like a guest and my meal like a photoshoot. Every meal is a date with myself!

3 – Enjoy every bite

Chew slowly and purposely. Savouring and enjoying every bite. I stopped inhaling my food!  I was surprised by how much longer it took me to eat. I was even more surprised by how quickly I had been eating before. They say take time to smell the flowers, slow down to appreciate beauty and the wonders of the world around you, that includes food. And food is one of the most wonderful things to me.
Every meal is a date with yourself, your body and your health. Don’t rush it.

4 – Want seconds? Take a break

I’m not one of those people who doesn’t like eating their own food. I love my food. After all I make it just the way I like it. I realized that when I want a second helping, its not because I’m still hungry, its because I just enjoyed eating the meal so much and I want more. So when I want a second helping, I get up, talk a walk around the house. Or just step out of the “food zone” away from the table, my plate and the kitchen. Sometimes I’d just walk to the bathroom. 95% of the time I would not have a second helping.

5 – Drink more water

Often when contemplating a second helping, I would just drink some water.  Its also one of the best fixes for “I really want something, but I don’t know what”

Image credit: The pic isn’t mine, I stumbled upon the pic while doing a Google search, but clicking on the pic gave “Page not found” messages. 

 

Weapons of Mass Destruction

by KitchenRebel on July 10, 2014

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Food is Medicine

We eat more processed and packaged foods than ever in our history.  We are being fed so many chemicals in our food supply. We are fatter and unhealthier than ever. We are eating ourselves sick!!

Our diets rely heavily on foods that include artificial colour, additives, flavourings, chemically-altered fats and sweeteners.  Foods that are convenient and taste really good, but are often highly processed, and contain very little nutritional value.  The grocery store has become one of the worst places to get food. When last have you seen a food label that didn’t contain ingredients you couldn’t pronounce, or wouldn’t recognize if you saw it. Do you know what a soy lecithin is and what it looks like?

Our food contains Empty calories – calories with no actual nutritional value. Even many ‘health’ foods (e.g. tofu) are so highly processed that they are no better for you than fast food. Most of these foods natural nutrients are removed in the refining process.

We’ve all heard it.. our moms, or grandmas (or me!), talking about how tomatoes used to taste like tomato, so tasty and sweet you could eat them like apples.  Our food is not the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago. Nutrients in the soil have been depleted so food grown in that soil has fewer nutrients to start with. Large industrial factory farms specialize in fewer products, so chemicals are needed to manipulate the land to produce maximum volume. Think about it, that just isn’t how Mother nature works. Fruits and vegetables shouldn’t be that perfectly uniform, like Stepford fruit.If-its-not-safe-to-breathe-is-it-safe-to-eat_copy

You don’t need to be knowledgeable about nutrition to know that you shouldn’t eat poison. If the ‘farmer’ is wearing a hazmat suit to handle the chemicals he puts on your food it’s probably not safe to put in your mouth.

Animals shouldn’t be tortured and made to suffer, pumped full of chemicals.. until its burger time.

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But the food industry and pharmaceutical industries are worth billions of dollars.  And they sell us drugs when we develop the diseases they cause. They’re in the business for customers not cures.

If you sell diseases AND the cures you don’t care about people being healthy. A drug dealer doesn’t want addicts to get clean.

The good news is that you can eat yourself healthy again. It’s never too late too start.
 And it doesn’t have to complicated and more importantly expensive. Eating less shouldn’t cost you more!

It also doesn’t mean a life sentence to kale and arugula. Because quite frankly there are some superfoods that I just have no interest in eating.  Good for you if you like eating vile tasting weeds.  I don’t care how many kale chips you get me to try they do not taste just like potato chips. I don’t know what weird shitty tasting potato chips you’re eating, because the chips the rest of us eat is fucking delicious and nothing like kale chips.

Eating healthy doesn’t mean no more chips, it just means no more chips from the drug dealer.

Just stop eating chemicals.

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We all know to be careful what we put in the other holes in our bodies, we wrap things in condoms to shove it in our naughty bits, but food, most of us just put it in our mouth and eat it. We don’t think about what’s in THAT flesh or where it comes from?  That hardly makes sense.  Don’t be a mouth whore!  Be selective about what you put in your mouth. Learn where your food comes from.

All it takes is you respecting your body, Mother Nature and our planet enough to want better for yourself. Are you giving your body and your life the respect it deserves?

Your food is medicine.  We’ve all heard it before. You are what you eat. But just think about it..

Every 35  days or so your skin replaces itself and your body creates new cells from the food you eat. What you eat literally becomes you.

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT.

Your bodies make new cells from everything you eat! It doesn’t skip the fries and only take the salad and vitamin supplements. The food you eat literally becomes you.

And you have a choice in what you’re made of.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” – Hippocrates

 

 

Gaining Weight and Other Mind Fucks

by KitchenRebel on July 7, 2014

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Losing weight, getting healthy and studying nutrition actually made me lazy!

When my husband was diagnosed with Diabetes I started studying nutrition. Determined that if diet causes diseases, then diet should reverse it. In just a few short months he turned his health around. And I lost a considerable amount of weight. (Over 65lbs and 10 dress sizes)

The only big change we made was going organic. Just eating real food. Avoiding fake food containing chemicals that cause addiction.

The transformation and change in lifestyle was easy. We still had treats and ate our favourites. Once a month or so we had a treat, mine was always sugar (cake or ice cream or chocolate) his was usually fried food (chicken, steak or chips).
But it was so easy getting healthy and losing weight we thought “we got this”. I thought I know what to do, and we can do, we did do it, and it was so very easy we can do it anytime we want.

So we started having treats more often. We went from once a month (or less) to weekly and then almost daily treats. Before I knew it, my weight started creeping back on.

 

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I recognized the mistakes I was making as I was making them, but I tried to live in denial for as long as I could.

I was so disappointed in myself. I vowed I would never again feel bad about my body, never again feel this disconnect and self hate. Feeling like I’m carrying around this body that is not a part of me..This thing I have to live with..

The sluggish mornings were back. The struggle finding clothes that felt comfortable were back.

When you’re spiraling, really it was more of a nice steady cruise, out of control, and feeding sugar and fat dependency, it often feels like its easier and more satisfying to just keep eating. It seems like getting back on track is this huge monumental thing, but its only as hard as the first step.

Someone complimented me, saying, “Don’t get wrong, you looked good when you lost all that weight, but you’ve gained weight and mmmm mmmmm damn you look goooood” He immediately went on to apologize (I think for making so many grunting noises lol) All I heard was “you’re fat” I actually felt angry at him.. and mostly myself.

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But then I was reminded of the day when I wrote this.

I am not defined by my waistline or the number on the scale. No one really notices or cares that much. Just me. The world didn’t stop when my skinny jeans needed a belt to keep them up. Neither did it stop when I was trying to hide my belly and body in big clothes. All that matters is how you feel about you.

Love yourself. Love the journey.

Getting healthy and being the best version of myself is what makes me happiest. And this time around, I’m going to document the process and share it with you. I believe health, weight loss and good nutrition information is free. No gimmicks. No special potions. (I’ve tried most of them!)
I did it the easy way, spending less money and eating better than ever. And it was easy. I want to share that with the world.

I’ve taken my a step back on the happy wagon. Not my first step. I refuse to let myself start over. I’ve taken too many steps to get here. I have the same body I was born with al those years ago.
I’m just taking new steps everyday.
One day at a time.

 

Ultimate Blog Challenge

by KitchenRebel on July 3, 2014

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I’ve always wanted to join a blog challenge so that I would blog more, but I never did because then I would have to blog more.

But I have finally done it! Thanks to the awesome and talented Lisa at A New Lis.com (dontcha just love that name!) I found the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

I’m excited about exercising my blogging muscles. Tomorrow I start blogging!

Wait.. I think I just started today!

 

Salami and Prosciutto Fried Eggs

by KitchenRebel on February 16, 2014

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Polony (SA version of baloney) Fried Eggs was one of my favourite breakfasts growing up.. With a slice of fresh government white bread. We had like state issued white and brown bread. Ah good times lol

Today I did the non-starving African version.. we’re not in M’pumalanga any more baby.

I used Salami and Prosciutto.. and farm fresh eggs from Fridays Market (These eggs were still inside a chicken this time last week! lol) Toasted Portuguese Olive bread with fresh butter. The butter was in a cow last week this time too!

Wonder if the cow and chicken know each other?

After he ate his eggs he said, “That was really  good, I’ve never had eggs like that before”

Eggs fried on meat?

Sometimes I wonder who this man I’m married to is..

Not the prettiest pic, but when he said he’d never had them before, I took a pic, mid-meal, sticky fingers and all. I think I should share more of my favourite fried egg recipes.

Nothing like a good fried egg.