And the Beet Goes In...

After many years of feeling lukewarm about juicing, this past summer I watched Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead and became a believer. You can read about my experience in an earlier post. Since that time I have become a juicing evangelist & wanted to give you a peak into my daily ritual.

I wash my fruits and vegetables (preferably, but not necessarily organic) while trying to embrace the Environmental Working Group's advice to avoid the dirty dozen in conventional form.  Note..it is better to eat fruits and vegetables than it is to find reasons to avoid them!

Juice-de-juor ingredients:

1/2 very large cucumber

3 carrots

1 beet with greens

1 lemon with peel

2 Granny Smith apples (no need to core)

1 inch piece of fresh ginger
Yield:  24 ounces

Juice in Cuisinart Juice Extractor

And in a few short minutes you have...

In keeping with my belief that food is the outfit you wear every day, I will admit I look great in red. Whether you are talking about music or food, there is no replacement for hearing it live or eating it live and you don't get that in V-8.



Sonny & Cher..The Beat Goes On

Cher looks pretty great in red too (click caption). May your beet go in and your beat go on today!

The Food That Fits

Interview on Huffington Post

I invite you to read an article by Alexis Sclamberg interviewing me about The Food That Fits!

The Food That Fits

The Nuance & Nuisance of Calories

At a recent family gathering, I was re-reminded of the importance of calories.  My husband's cousin looked fabulous and I was happy to discover that her weight loss was intentional.  My mind was wondering if this was the work of Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers or Sensa but I soon found out that her success was a result of classic calorie counting.  She had been limiting herself to 1,300 calories per day for the past year.

Like it or not, the calories we consume matter.  This was one of the major points that John Cloud conveyed in his controversial Time Magazine article entitled Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin.  Despite being a couple years old, the article continues to be interesting and relevant.  Cloud explains that research confirms that people often find their appetite is stimulated after exercise and that they may compensate calorically by rationalizing or rewarding themselves for having worked out so hard.  Either way, it takes a lot of minutes to burn off the calories in a blueberry muffin as noted in the following picture which also appeared in Cloud's article:

The number of minutes a 154 pound, 30-year old woman must work to burn off a 360 calorie blueberry muffin

The point of this post is NOT to diminish the benefits of exercise as there are many.  I exercise daily and I will continue to exercise.  I can count on exercise to improve my mood and my energy level as strongly as others might rely upon medication.  I like the appearance and feel of a strong body with muscle definition.  I know exercise benefits my health.

Yet, I must admit, that I have hit a weight plateau despite all of my exercise and must now face my caloric intake one bite at a time.  As a nutritional counselor, I tend to resist recommending calorie counting as it often has people eating highly processed packaged food in which the calorie content is stated and it can turn into an unhealthy fixation that doesn't fit with my vision of a healthy relationship with food.  So, my advice to you and to myself is to be more calorie aware and to stop congratulating my exercise achievements with food. 

I would like to dedicate this post to my husband's cousin & congratulate her on her 70 pound weight loss as well as thank her for the serendipitous reminder that calories do matter.

The Food That Fits

Tucci without Ty

I tucci-d the vegetables without Ty or a brick oven (see post from Monday).  I sliced eggplant, baby bella mushrooms, red peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, artichoke hearts and garlic.  I drizzled olive oil liberally over the sliced vegetables and seasoned with freshly ground salt and pepper.  Placed them onto a cookie sheet and baked them for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  Finished them under a high broiler for a few minutes and added a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.  Served with fresh hot bread.  Superb!

Please call for reservations. 

The Food That Fits 

Vege-tucci Style

Bertucci's

My husband made an executive decision to order food for us while we were at Bertucci's this past Sunday.  He ordered:

Roasted Tuscan Vegetables 

 Brick oven-roasted peppers, artichokes, zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, diced tomatoes and roasted garlic. 

$ 3.99

We sat in food bliss silence as we methodically speared our forks into the vegetables, onto hot bread and into our mouths as though we were roasted vegetable connoisseurs.  When the plate was empty I proceeded to order a second serving of this side dish.  We did not venture into other areas of the menu as our palettes and our stomachs were completely satisfied.  At 320 calories and 27 grams of fat for one plate, it isn't going to win the Pritikin/Dean Ornish/Dr. Esselstyn seal of approval but it won mine as a flavor-rich vegetable-based entree.

I took my turn at preparing these same vegetables "tucci-style" and while they were good, I think I need to remodel my kitchen to make room for the brick oven to get it just right.  I wonder if Ty Pennington is doing anything for dinner tomorrow night?

Bertucci's website includes some recipes for Roasted Zucchini & Artichokes.  Consider giving both a try and substituting other vegetables based on your preferences.  I will continue to experiment at home with my "tucci-style" but perhaps the next time I am at Bertucci's I will request less oil and see what happens!

The Food That Fits