Prep Work

by taylordyer, February 11, 2012 | Permalink

We’re almost there!  At 37 weeks, the big day could happen at any moment.  Since we saw those 2 blue lines, time has moved so slowly.  But now that we’ve made it I’d love it if I could just have a couple more weeks.  I had so much preparation planned, but I haven’t gotten anything done.  Baby clothes need to be washed, rugs need to be steam cleaned, and if only I could earn a Master’s Degree in the next two weeks, I’d feel like I was ready for that second baby.   

Since the above is not realistic, I have to focus on small steps to make our house run smoother while we welcome Baby F.  Having a fully stocked pantry, 3 weeks of meals planned, and some dinners frozen in the freezer really help to keep me feeling calm and in control.  To stock the pantry I’m using the Health Starts Here Pantry List.  Using  WFM’s 365 product line I can make sure my family has the staples and ingredients to make meals for about a month (especially if I hoard tons of frozen veggies) without a dreaded grocery trip.  The following will prepare us for long days without much time:

• 1 lb lentils
• 1 lb quinoa
• 2 lbs brown rice
• 3 (32-oz) boxes vegetable broth
• 1 (32-oz) box chicken broth
• 1 lb rolled oats
• 2 cans cannellini beans
• 1 lb orechiette pasta
• 1 lb pasta, your favorite kind
• 1 can black beans
• 1 jar unsweetened applesauce
• 1 (32-oz) box unsweetened soymilk
• 1 (32-oz) box unsweetened almondmilk
• 1 (5-oz) can tuna
• 3 (15-oz) cans diced tomatoes
• 1 package no-oil sundried tomatoes
• 1 jar pasta sauce

With these ingredients, B or I will be able to throw together a Mexican Taco Stew, Tuscan Tuna Salad, or my favorite, Lentil Chili. 

I can’t wait for the new baby!  As long as meals run smoothly, I’ll be able to pay as much attention to the new little one that she needs.

Sugar Sugar

by taylordyer, February 1, 2012 | Permalink

With my first baby, I was a model pregnant patient. I ate perfectly (only gaining 28 pds), swam on a daily basis, and made sure to do yoga 3 times per week. Not this time! Chasing after a toddler makes it near impossible to get enough sleep, eat well, and get that recommended 30 minutes/day of exercise. Add in fatigue and I’ve found it very difficult to keep up with my healthy lifestyle. To keep myself going, I’ve definitely allowed myself one too many treats. Seriously, what joy can a 4 weeks ‘till she’s due pregnant woman find in the world? Her ankles are as big as her thighs, sleep is not easy, and alcohol is totally off limits. Sugar is her only recourse for fun. Once a monthly indulgence, cookies, bites of cakes and yummy ice creams have become a weekly or even daily occurrence. Not only do I look forward to these sweet bites, I seem to count on them to get through the day. I know this isn’t a rational or intellectual decision, but one based on emotion and fatigue. A sample of my inner dialogue, “I feel bad, I need a treat, I deserve this my day because my day has been so HARD.” It’s really cute to be that into self-pity, right? Not really, but it’s a mode that I can’t get out of lately. To be honest, I don’t have a good solution to this. I wish I had some tried and true method to not overindulge on sweets when I’m really tired. I’ve tried lots of stuff. Picking out fun lotions and yummy smelling perfumes from Whole Body, yoga and stretching, buckets and buckets of water, but I still can’t stop myself from reaching for some sweet yumminess when I feel overwhelmed. How do you handle this problem?

30 Days of Wellness: Overcoming Food Addiction by Eating a Plant-Based Diet

by c.doyle.vincent, February 1, 2012 | Permalink

Follow team members and guest bloggers from our Wellness Club as they write about their 30 days of Wellness!  Here’s the first entry from guest blogger Lisa.  Check back here for more updates on 30 days of wellness!

Everyone seems to have a tale about their ups and downs with weight loss. For some, it is the Freshman 15 that never seemed to come off. For others, it is about aging and a slowing metabolism, or the “I am too busy to exercise and eat healthy.” We all have a story.

My story started at a young age when food was used as a reward. Do well in school, get a cookie. Win my Little League’s soccer game, and we’d go out for a celebratory pizza party. As a little girl, food also meant comfort. Just the other night, I was driving by my grandma’s old house (She passed away about 10 years ago) and I remembered our evening card games, which also included Cheetos as a means for currency. Win a hand, and I got big pile of crunchy, cheesy yumminess. As I sat in front of my grandma’s house remembering those nightly rounds of Hearts and 21, it dawned on me: Was I having fun because I was playing cards with my grandma, or was the fun centered around the reward of Cheetos? In all honestly, I think it had more to do with the food than anything. That’s not to say I did not love my grandma’s company. I did. I just now realize that even as a young girl food had a tremendous hold on me.

Much of this revelation about food’s stronghold is owed to the Whole Foods Market Wellness Club’s class on food addiction, which I took when I first joined the club this past October. Since taking this class my life truly has not been the same.

As kid, teenager, college student and 20-something, I never had a weight problem. Then in my 30s, I gained a lot of weight. I mean, a lot. At first, I thought it was because I was getting older and working more than exercising. Or I blamed it on my travels (I am travel and food writer) and how all those calorie-dense foods I ate on my trips were in the name of “research.” But I also noticed how my fellow travel writers weren’t gaining weight. Why not? Because after a trip, they went back to their healthy eating habits. Me? I craved that “comfort” I felt from, say, eating a slice of cheesy, meaty lasagna, although at that time, I did not realize that the “comfort” I was craving was really a chemical reaction happening in my body in response to the casein in the cheese – a chemical reaction that left me feeling sedated.

The food addiction class also helped me realize that my battle with food and weight gain was not about willpower or the lack thereof. It was not about needing “comfort” and saying to myself, “Go ahead. Have that big bowl of oily Pad Thai noodles. You deserve. It has been a long day. You can start your diet tomorrow.” Sound familiar? It was physical. Just like a drug addict, my body craved the chemical reaction it got from cheese, from processed carbs, from salt, from oil. It craved that “high” of feeling relaxed.

I credit the Whole Foods Market Wellness Club’s food addiction class with rescuing me from the food drama I was experiencing. For the past several years, I would travel, eat calorie dense foods, come home, crave those foods, eat more of them, feel guilty, try a fad diet, travel again, eat again, gain more weight and so. The cycle repeated itself, over and over again until I became a Wellness Club member. Now I feel free from the stronghold of food because I have knowledge. I have knowledge to understand how certain foods trigger binges. How certain foods give me a dopamine high, only causing me to crave more of those foods minutes or hours later. How healthy, whole foods make me feel more in control, not victim to any negative chemical reaction happening in my body. How plant-based eating gives me a sense of pleasure, not from a gigantic dopamine rush, but rather from how confident I feel that what I am eating is more about nourishment than a mental escape.

If you are experiencing food cravings, I can’t recommend the Whole Foods Market Wellness Club’s food addiction class enough. You will walk away from it not only enlightened on how certain foods react with your body, but also equipped with a game plan on how to end the cycle of food addiction.

In health and wellness,

Lisa

Winter Warm-Up

by taylordyer, January 21, 2012 | Permalink

January is here!  Chicago has received a good snowfall and the temps are at last in normal range for the winter.  E saw her first snowfall (judging by the high-pitched screams it really freaked her out) and I finally got to pull out the only shoes that fit my pregnant feet- the snow boots.  Brown and ugly, they only pass as an “okay to wear” because I have a belly the size of two basketballs.  Yes, I promise, there is only one in there.  

Because we’re spending so much time cozy at home, I’ve been making and planning for soups in our weekly menu.  I love to incorporate soups because they’re easy to freeze, heat-up, and they can do double duty as an easy brown bag lunch.  Furthermore, you can add a ton of vegetables and nobody misses the meat!

Planning for soups is easy and if you save your veggie scraps through the week you can prep a great stock on Sunday.  Whenever I prep dinner, make lunches, or cut up snacks I always have veggie and fruit scraps left over.  Not liking to waste a thing, I don’t discard the scraps, but I put them in a large plastic container and store them in the freezer.  On Sunday, I follow the HSH recipe for veggie stock, but I use the leftovers saved instead of the veggies suggested.  Sometimes I might throw in an extra onion or two or veggies about to turn in the fridge, but I try to not buy anything extra.

When the stock is prepared I’ll then make a Chicken and Brown Rice Soup, a Lentil Chili, or a Winter Vegetable Soup.  These are easy, nutritious and make a cold night warmer.  Making soups is fun and a great money saver, but this week I’m short on time.  Thankfully, Whole Foods Market is having a sale featuring BOGO (buy one get one free!)  24 oz. soups.  We have many choices from our Health Starts Here program  including  Aztec Quinoa and Black Bean Chili and Triple Green and White Bean Soup.  Both are excellent oil free and vegan options for your nightly meal.

What kinds of soup are you making this winter?

30 Days of Wellness: Vegan Hardcore

by c.doyle.vincent, January 14, 2012 | Permalink

Follow team members and guest bloggers from our Wellness Club as they write about their 30 days of Wellness!  Here’s the first entryfrom Whole Foods Market team member Pontip.  Check back here for more updates on 30 days of wellness!

January 12, 2012

New Year’s Revolution…

Ok, not really a revolution obviously, a personal revolution, maybe…but considering that this time last year I was baking non-stop (using full real butter, whole milk, eggs, sugar, cream..the whole bit), and ate a diet that included meat, diary, oil…more sugar and veggies here and there – I need to return to what I call “Vegan Hardcore”.

What’s Vegan Hardcore you ask?  Well, let me back up a few months to October 21, 2011.  I went to California on a Whole Foods Market sponsored “immersion” to Dr. McDougall’s Clinic in Santa Rosa.  It was a week of meetings, cooking classes (cooking without oil?!?), work-outs and general camaraderie with other Whole Foods Market team members.

So the food.  It was all made for us and we were encouraged to eat as much as we want!  Crazy!  But there was NO fats/NO oils/NO salt/NO meat/NO dairy/NO sugar..and even very little tofu.  Tons of veggies, potatoes, sweet potatoes, greens, brown rice, quinoa and very little by way of breads or pastas too.  And when I say tons…I’m talking what would average out to about 12+ servings of veg a day.  Veggies and starch (sweet potatoes & potatoes galore).  If you want to really learn the details of the type of diet we followed, check out www.drmcdougall.com.

For me that’s Vegan Hardcore.  I know a lot of vegans.  For many of them, fried and/or processed foods are all a part of their diets.  Vegan does not equal healthy eating, and I think people tend to forget that.  It just means you don’t eat animal products.  That’s it!

Then when I came back from the week away, I felt really good and want to continue to feel really good.  Losing weight and not feeling bad about what I eat or feeling bad after I eat is a good thing for me.  I’ve always had food issues (as so many of us do), so focusing on eating as a vehicle for health and well-being is what I like to think of as a “healthy obsession”.

I’ve fallen off the vegan hardcore wagon to just vegan…but it was the holidays right??  I wish I hadn’t learned how to make yummy cupcakes/cookies/brownies.

So for the new year it’s back to Vegan Hardcore.  Like most resolutions this may not last all year, but I was doing really well till about mid-December so it shouldn’t be too hard….I’ll keep you posted!

30 Days of Wellness: Melissa

by c.doyle.vincent, January 7, 2012 | Permalink

Follow team members and guest bloggers from our Wellness Club as they write about their 30 days of Wellness!  We’re kicking things off with a post from Wellness Club team member Melissa.  Check back here for more updates on 30 days of wellness!

For a fresh start to this year, I’ve decided to challenge myself with a 30 day commitment to the Wellness Club way of eating (nutrient dense, whole foods, healthy fats and plant strong).

I’ve been a vegetarian for 20+ years but for the past few years my pants just don’t fit as well as I’d like and I don’t feel comfortable in a swim suit.  I want to travel back home to New Mexico this February (read – swimming pools!), and I know that committing to this way of eating for 30 days will kick start me into a new pair of (totally rad) pants and a cute swimsuit.  I’m hoping to be able to stick to it for much longer though.

Batch cooking, packing lunch, and bringing snacks with me – here I come. With the pictures to prove it!

Happy New Year’s Resolutions!

by taylordyer, December 31, 2011 | Permalink

New Year’s resolutions.  Are you making any?  This year I’ve decided against participating.  I’ve got 25 extra pounds on me and I’m charged with the responsibility of carrying another human being for the next 2 months.   Maybe I’ll strive to take more naps, but working toward perfection is not on my to-do list.  I have enough trouble just getting through my day! 

Even though I’m opting out this year, I still understand the drive toward self-improvement.     About 65% of Americans make resolutions .  Their favorites include more exercise, eating better, and losing weight.  Research suggests that 75% of people maintain their resolutions past the first week, 64% after the first month and 46% of resolution makers have made their promise a personality trait after 6 months.    How do these people succeed?

Being realistic, planning ahead, educating yourself, and outlining your plan are proven ways to success.  Sounds like a ton-o-fun, right?  Yes, I know- not really.  But feeling better, breathing better, fitting into your clothes better those are things that ARE a lot of fun.    If you’re like most people, it’s hard to know where to start with your new commitment to healthy eating.  Magazines, health shows, and your Mom all give conflicting info about what helps, hurts, and how to lose five pounds in 24 hours.     

Arming yourself with tools to sift through the conflicting health information has never been easier.   The Healthy Eating Specialist, Karen Formanski, at Whole Foods Market in Lincoln Park has designed a    1- Day Intensive Workshop to help you!  On Saturday, January 7, from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 pm we will explore the four Pillars of Healthy Eating through a full day of healthy eating knowledge and delicious food.  For only $35 per person or $60 per couple you’ll get the education you need to follow through on your New Year’s Resolutions.  Can’t wait to see you there!  To register, please visit our Customer Service Desk, call us at 312.587.0648, or click here.

It’s Just Dinner

by taylordyer, December 17, 2011 | Permalink

As a newlywed, I had delusions of grandeur regarding my prowess in the kitchen.  I imagined each evening meal perfectly executed in high heels and a spotless t-shirt.  To achieve this culinary greatness, I asked my grandmother, Granny, to give me cooking lessons.  I hoped she’d teach me the mystery and skill behind the vocab of cooking.  Chiffonade, butterfly, infuse, julienne, educe, simmer, mirepoix- all words used for instruction in my ambitious recipe collection.    What really happened?  Granny taught me how to bake a one-dish meal with rice and chicken using pre-cut chicken and minute rice. As a side, we included a boiled bag of frozen veggies.   I’m embarrassed to admit, I rolled my eyes.  This easy to prep and clean up dinner did not feel like a testament of my love or culinary expertise- it just fed us.  I had higher aspirations for my family’s nightly meals.   Fast forward seven years:  I was wrong.  Granny was right. 

After 35 years caring for her family, she knew the number one secret to getting dinner on the table- “It’s just dinner.”  Now, with my responsibilities toward work and family increasing, providing my family with nutritious and tasty meals means tempering my enthusiastic expectations.  As I’ve lowered the bar for meals, my priorities for reading recipes has changed.  Questions I ask myself:  How much prep work? How many dishes used? Do I have to watch one particular element closely?  Is the ingredient list short?  Keeping these questions in mind, I’m able to choose healthy budget conscious recipes that are not overwhelming, done in roughly 30 minutes, and need minimal clean-up. This speedy execution is important if I don’t want to call take-out at 6:30 each evening.

Some of my favorite recipes can be found on the Whole Foods Health Starts Here website. Collard Wraps, Brown Rice with Chicken and Broccoli, and Linguine with Spinach, Artichokes and Red Peppers are  yummy veggie dense recipes that your family will love.  But sometimes even a recipe is too daunting.  Those nights you can just make Buddha Bowls.   I like to heat up rice or whole wheat pasta, WFM’s frozen Everyday Value Organic Whole
Grain Brown Rice is an excellent option, raid the fridge for veggies and condiments, and then let the family fend for themselves.  This strategy is a good way to use up the odds and ends left at the end of the week and to free up more time for YOU in the evening. 

Remembering that “it’s just dinner” makes each evening more enjoyable and less frantic. What easy things do you like to make?

Eat Your Veggies!

by taylordyer, December 9, 2011 | Permalink

B, my husband, is always in my way. I’m prepping dinner and he insists on grabbing a snack, sampling the start of dinner, and trying to get a drink.  I’m glad he’s around, but I just want to get him out of the kitchen.  My kitchen is built for one and he impedes my progress in getting a fast (and I want to stress FAST) healthy meal on the table.

Fast is a necessity because everyone, me, B, and E (the baby) are all about to throw a fit.  It’s been a long day full of daycare, work, and chores and everybody needs sustenance.   Faced with space problems and cranky moods I had to come up with a solution for an easier transition between work and home. 

It had to be a snack.  But what kind?  It couldn’t be chips and dip- they’d ruin everybody’s dinner.  It couldn’t be nuts because B can eat a whole bowl of them without even thinking about it, but it also had to be baby/toddler friendly.

Learning about the four Pillars of Healthy Eating, I came up with a solution.  I now prep a veggie plate and place it on the dining room table before B even comes home.  He stays out of the kitchen, eats more veggies, and still sits at the table to talk to me.  Sometimes I just throw carrots, celery, and cherry tomatoes down and call it a day.  If I’m feeling fancy I’ll get more creative. I’ll include endive leaves (great scoopers for dip) radishes, jicama (sprinkled with a little chili powder) or snow peas are always a nice sweet crunchy start.  These extra creative offerings keep the nightly veggie plate exciting and also get much needed nutrients into my family’s bodies.  B’s favorite are the snow peas and E loves the cherry tomatoes.

Also, E loves it if I include a yummy dip.  Lots of the veggies are too crunchy for her, but she can sample the dip with her tiny fingers.  Because I want to stick with healthy, unprocessed fats I’ll prep an Edamame Guacamole at the beginning of the week or pick up a White Bean and Herb Dip at Whole Foods Market.  This Plant Strong solution really smoothes out our early evening crankiness and allows us to work together better as a family.

How does your family transition to together time?

A New Journey

by taylordyer, November 4, 2011 | Permalink

Whole Foods Market Lincoln Park is so excited to bring you a new blog from our new Back-Up Healthy Eating Specialist, Taylor!  Follow along as Taylor takes her family on a journey to a new world of Healthy Eating here in Lincoln Park!

Whew!  Who knew BUSY was going to be my middle name in my 30’s.  I’ve got a 17-month-old daughter, a baby on the way, a full-time job, and a husband who also has his plate full with school and work.  While he gets his education, it falls to me to keep our family healthy and happy.  When I didn’t have kids (I had NO idea how much time they take up) perusing recipes,  spending all Sunday in the kitchen, and meal planning seemed like fun ways to use my time.  Now, it just needs to get done!

Thankfully, I’ve started a new job as Back-up Healthy Eating Specialist here at the Kingsbury Whole Foods Market in Chicago.  This position is an eye-opener in Healthy Eating and gives me excellent ideas on how to feed my family to make sure their health is at the top of our priorities.  Luckily, Whole Foods Market’s Four Pillars make healthy eating easy for me and my family.  It’s a great concept.   I just make sure each meal follows each of these simple guidelines:

1. Plant Strong
2. Nutrient Dense
3. Whole Foods
4. Healthy Fats

Keeping these four pillars in mind through shopping, meal planning, and preparation, I can ensure my family has a healthy diet, gets the nutrients they need, and also enjoys what they are eating.   

Sounds perfect, right?!  Sure, easy in theory, but what about in reality?  This blog is my opportunity to explore with you solutions to eating healthy when time, palates, and picky eaters are against us.

Let me know, where are you and your family in your healthy eating journey?