Enticing Healthy Eating

Chew Your Food

04/16/2014

Does this look familar?....

We're all guilty of it at one point or another. Eating food WAY too fast. Have you ever sat down with a bowl of chips and started watching TV and the next thing you know, you're reaching into an empty bowl? Did you even enjoy the chips? Remember tasting them?

I'll admit, I have fallen guilty to this many times in my life. And I get it--we're busy! Having a job, taking college classes, trying to run errands, taking care of your kids, no matter what it is--life can get hectic. And it's your mealtimes that suffer. Food doesn't deserve being pushed to the side like that. Food deserves to be enjoyed more often, to be savored. We should try to put aside more time in our days for our meals. Whenever you have the chance, I'm asking you, PLEASE give your mealtimes a little more respect.

As I have been going through the lessons and lectures of my Institute for Integrative Nutrition program, some key points that they bring up I feel need a little extra attention. Because they're so important and can be applied to all types of diets! From vegetarian to vegan to junk-food addict. It doesn't matter what kind of food you eat, we all should start practicing more mindful eating. And it all starts with chewing your food.

Wait...chewing food? Don't you already do that?! Well, try this experiment and you'll see what I mean.

An experiment:

Try this: place a forkful or spoonful of food in your mouth. It doesn't matter what the food is, but make it something you really enjoy and look forward to eating. Maybe it's your favorite ravioli you're sharing with your loved one at dinnertime or that first bowl of cereal you look forward to every morning.

Now here's all I want you to do....Put the fork or spoon down after the first bite. It might be challenging, you might want to shovel more food immediately into your mouth because that first bite was so tasty! Or perhaps your'e really hungry. But don't do it. Put the utensil down. Chew the food completely. And continue to do this between each bite.

The experiment involves becoming aware of the reflexive urge to shove food into your mouth like Garfield on a lasagna bender. You have to resist the urge. Chew the food slowly and savor it. Tune into the flavor, the texture, the bright colors of the food, the smells....pay attention to the details. And don't try this experiment while watching television or working at your computer, I want you to focus on the food! Be thankful for it.

If you continue this way through the course of the whole meal you'll experience mindful eating. Mindful eating is definitely something I feel like so many people today really don't practice or appreciate.

And guess what? There are lots of health benefits to mindul eating too!

Weight Management: If you're trying to watch your weight or lose a few pounds, weight management becomes easier if we learn how to put down our forks before we feel stuffed. You can more easily recognize the cues from your body when you are full and satisfied.
More Energy: Have you ever really felt "energized" after stuffing yourself to the point of being too full? Or do you think you'd feel more energized after eating to the point until you're about 80% full? Digestion takes up a lot of energy from our bodies. When you can start listening to our cues and eating only to the point of being about 80% full, you won't be wasting as much of your precious energy on digestion.
Better Management of Emotions: Sometimes people restrict or overeat to deal with negative feelings and emotions. When you can practice mindful eating in a healthy manner and reflect and enjoy the food you're eating, you may no longer manage your emotions through your food choices.
Absorb more Nutrients and Energy from Food: Chewing your food into small particles allows them to be more easily broken down by your digestive system. This, in turn, allows more nutrients and energy to be taken into your body.
It's Good for your Teeth: The more you chew and hold food in your mouth cavity, the more saliva is produced to clean your teeth of bacteria and plaque build up.
Prevents Heartburn: If you're taking in food so quickly that you're taking in air as well, this can contribute to heartburn. Chewing also promotes saliva production which can help neutralize the stomach acid.

Clearly, chewing your food is a lot more important than some of you may realize. You'd think with all this extra chewing, your mouth would get quite a workout and burn some more calories too! And though it may help you burn a few more calories...I wouldn't hold my breath on that being a significant source of weight loss with the mindful eating. Ha!

Next time you eat, take a moment to think about the food. Take your time savoring every morsel, every bite, and being thankful. Being thankful for our food is so important. Even if it's just a simple, "Hey, thanks for the grub."

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Easy Baked Taquitos and My First Catering Job-Personal Chef Business

04/11/2014

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Hey, you guys! (Anyone else instantly think of Sloth saying this in The Goonies?...)

I successfully pulled off my first hired catering job for my personal chef business! I can't tell you how elated I am that it all went off without a hitch. Here was the final spread of food I made all set up at the event.

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When I first got contacted to do this event, it was a little late notice so I was hesitant to take on the job, especially since I already had to do a lot of cooking and prep work for another client of mine on the same day I'd be prepping for the catering. But I wanted a challenge. I wanted to push myslef and face my fears and try something new. So I said "Bring it on!" to my first catering job.

This job was for a friend of mine I have known since elementary school. He contacted me to see if I could provide some snacks or light hor d'oeuvres for his event he was having at the University of Arkansas campus to introduce and talk about his nonprofit organization he created to teachers, music professionals, and others from our local community.

I wanted to try these baked taquitos because they seemed pretty simple to make, they were healthy, AND the perfect finger food! I just added some salsa and sour cream on the side in those red bowls for people to use for dipping the taquitos or using it as a topping. I thought the baked chicken and black bean taquitos paired well with the roasted corn, pepper, and bean salsa.

I made two sweet snacks as well. The summer fruit salad included strawberries, grapes, bananas, and pineapple. The blackberry baked brie bites I got from an idea I had seen on Pinterest. I've been wanting to try them out for a while now and I had the perfect opportunity to do so for this catering event.

The blackberry brie bites were my favorite little hor d'ouvre I fixed. Aren't they adorable?! I could just eat them all up...but I had to save them for the catering event guests.

I wanted to share with you all how I made these baked taquitos. I made chicken taquitos with some black bean taquitos for a meatless option. I cut down the recipe to what would typically be needed for a smaller gathering of people.

Easy Baked Taquitos

Serves: 3-4

12 (8in.) white corn tortillas
1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast
2 cups shredded cheese
1 (15 oz.) can black beans
1 lime
1 cup chicken stock
1 1/2--2 Tbsp. taco seasoning.

Directions:
Trim fat from chicken breasts and place in pot of water to where the water just covers the chicken breast. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium until chicken is cooked through. You can test it by cutting into it and checking if the chicken breast is still pink inside. It took about 15 minutes for the size chicken breasts I used, but time may vary.

Meanwhile, drain black beans and rinse well. Place beans in bowl with about 1 tsp. taco seasoning and juice of half a lime. Mix well.

Once chicken is cooked through, turn off heat and drain water. Allow chicken to cool. Shred chicken with your hands into small pieces (that's why you wait for the chicken to completely cool--otherwise that chicken is freaking hot to handle!)

Add 1 1/2 Tbsp. taco seasoning and juice of half a lime to shredded chicken. Mix well. Pour 1 cup of chicken stock into shallow bowl. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease cookie sheet.

Now you're ready to assemble! Take 6 tortillas at a time, wrap them in damp paper towels and microwave for 30 seconds. This gets the tortillas to be much more flexible so they're less likely to crack. To assemble a taquito, take 1 tortilla and dip into chicken stock briefly. Place about 1/4 cup shredded chicken into tortilla and about 2 Tbsp. black beans. Add shredded cheese (about 1/4 cup). Roll the taquito up and place seam side down onto greased cookie sheet. Continue to do this with the remaining 5 tortillas you have heated up, then do the same thing with the last 6 tortillas (heating them in microwave first in damp paper towel--don't forget that, or you'll have a really cracked tortilla in the end!)

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or just until tortillas are getting crispy and turning golden brown on edges. This is really your own preference here for how long they bake--if you like the tortillas crispier, bake them a bit longer, or if you like them softer than bake them a bit less time. Whatever your heart desires!

Best served with salsa or sour cream or guacamole for dipping. Along with a frozen margarita perhaps if you're celebrating Cinco de Mayo or just feel a need to party.

Healthy Recipe Tidbits

I used corn tortillas instead of flour. Corn tortillas have less calories, fat, and sodium than flour tortillas.
The black beans are added to the taquitos for extra nutrients. In particular black beans are great sources of dietary fiber (7.5 g in 1/2 cup serving), folate, iron, and protein.
Typical taquitos you buy frozen in the grocery store are fried, while these are baked. Plus these homemade taquitos taste far better than the store bought frozen ones.
If you're wanting to go meatless, you could always just do a bean taquitos and even switch up the beans--use black beans mixed with pinto beans perhaps? Go bean crazy.

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Simple Roasted Brussel Sprouts

04/04/2014

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Hello, hello! Have you all been enjoying the "Springier" weather we've been having? I'm just still so dang ecstatic that Spring is upon us. One fun thing I did recently to celebrate the coming of Spring was I got together with my good friend, Natalie, and we decided to have a little crafting session. I got the idea for doing these DIY succulents in a jar from pinterest. Natalie agreed that they sounded like a fun and cute craft for us to make with our time, so we collaborated on collecting the necessary materials and got to it!

And what did we figure was the best thing to plant the cute little succulent plants in?....Some mason jars, of course! Had to add that southern touch. And we've always got mason jars in our house. We thought they came out great.

Succulents are also well known for being very easy to take care of, which is good news for me. My mother has quite the green thumb, but I guess she didn't pass it along to me in the genes because I have not had a lot of success growing plants in the past. I'm keeping my eye on these little cuties though, and will make sure to follow their directions to take care of them accordingly.

Another green thing I want to talk about is brussel sprouts. Brussel sprouts really do get kinda a bad rep, particularly with young children. I don't even remember eating them often as a kid, but I wasn't a particularly picky eater so I probably would have tried them.

If you're scared to try them because you don't know how to fix them, I have the perfect recipe to remedy that situation!

These brussel sprouts are so easy and quick to throw together for a healthy side dish. The little leaves that break off and roast by themselves become sort of like brussel sprouts "chips" (think kale chips if you've ever had those) and they are the best part in my opinion! I always try to grab lots of the chips from the pan of roasted sprouts.

Simple Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Serves: 3
Ingredients

1 lb. brussel sprouts
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper

Directions:
Trim the very roots by cutting off the very ends of the sprouts. This will cause some of the leaves to flake away from the whole sprout--that's a good thing! Flake some of them away and place all sprouts and leaves in a bowl.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the sprouts with olive oil, salt, and pepper in the bowl. Pour out onto a baking sheet sprayed with some cooking spray. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until brussel sprouts just start to char and burn a bit.

That's it!
Simple.
Healthy.
Delicious.

Healthy Recipe Tidbits

Brussel sprouts are an excellent source of Vitamins C and K. In just one cup of cooked brussel sprouts, you're getting about 240% Daily Recommended Intake (DRI) of Vitamin K and 128% DRI of Vitamin C!
Brussel sprouts are an excellent source of the B Vitamin, Folate. Folate helps play a role in the formation and maintenance of DNA.
Brussel sprouts also help fight inflammation, help lower cholesterol, are full of antioxidants, and are a good source of fiber, among other health benefits.

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Chew Your Food

An experiment:

Easy Baked Taquitos and My First Catering Job-Personal Chef Business

Easy Baked Taquitos

Healthy Recipe Tidbits

Simple Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Simple Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Healthy Recipe Tidbits

Happiness is Homemade

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