Starling Fitness: Daily writings on Fitness, Diet, and Health

Winter makes me want soup and sandwiches, but I can only eat tomato soup three ways: plain, with skim milk and with Mexican spices. Min Jung Kim gives us the recipe for her Pumpkin Curry Soup that looks delicious and healthy.

• MinJungKim.com – Braindump v 5.0 » MJ’s Awesome Pumpkin Curry Soup Recipe

One word of warning, the Golden Curry spices are a little high in fat, so make sure you take that into account when you are calculating your caloric intake. On another note, it’s completely worth it. I’ve never been able to spice things up right without Golden Curry. You should be able to find it in your grocery store with the Asian cuisine. If not, you can order it online here:

• S&B – Golden Curry Sauce Mix

If the cold weather has made you rushing indoor for soup, here is a recipe for you that will warm your mouth and belly.

The question of the week comes from a comment from a reader:

Hi all.

I’m heading into week 4 of the WW plan with the girls from work. So far it’s going well, but I’m finding it hard with the holiday approaching. I’m getting sick of smart pop popcorn, and find myself craving things I never did before. Does anyone know some good snack ideas that are low points for the holidays?

Sally

What do you do when the feeling to snack hits you? Do you choose items that are low in calories so you can eat a lot or do you choose a small serving of a beloved food?

Help Sally out and leave your ideas on the comments here.

Last year, I wrote an entire series on Thanksgiving. How to survive it, what to do if you “blew it” and everything else. Here is a list of links to that series:

• Starling Fitness » How To Enjoy Thanksgiving Without Guilt

• Starling Fitness » Thanksgiving Calorie List

• Starling Fitness » I Blew It On Thanksgiving! Now What?

• Starling Fitness » Dealing with Post-Thanksgiving Temptation

This holiday seems to be focused on food, but in reality, it’s supposed to be about gratitude. I’m grateful that I live in a country where abundance is so easily acquired. I’m grateful that I have been able to live such a healthy and happy life up to this point, even when I was fat. I’m especially grateful to all you readers. Your comments are so inspiring and positive that sometimes it feels like I get a lot more out of this daily conversation than you folks do. Thank you for reading and have a healthy Thanksgiving this year.

For the last few years, I’ve been hearing that the tryptophan in turkey is what makes you sleepy, but Cheryl Koch from Yahoo! Health has a different idea:

• Expert Blogs Eat Right, Stay Fit – The Truth About Those Thanksgiving Naps on Yahoo! Health

She says tryptophan would need to be taken on an empty stomach with no protein in order to make you sleepy enough for a nap. Here is the true culprit…

“What will make you drowsy? Consuming a large meal that’s high in fat definitely helps. Remember that the larger the portions and the richer the meal, the more energy that’s required to digest it. In addition, digestion directs energy away from other organs, including the brain, making you feel lethargic and sleepy. Finally, consuming alcohol as part of your holiday celebration also is likely to slow you down and add to your need for a nap.”

So, tomorrow, remember to eat light and go easy on the alcohol to keep the droopy eyelids away. Suggesting a brisk walk outside in the cool air would be even better.

Thank goodness the lawyers have settled this:

• Is a burrito a sandwich? Judge says no – Yahoo! News

The White City Shopping Center signed a lease with Panera stating that they would not allow another sandwich shop within their mall. Panera sued them when they leased to Qdoba Mexican Grill. In the end the judge ruled that a burrito is not a sandwich. I’m glad the courts are spending time and tax dollars resolving the all-important burrito issues.

Too bad there aren’t any clauses in those leases that require them to provide healthy food. A single serving of Panera’s Spinach and Artichoke Souffle has 490 calories, 32 grams of fat and only 2 grams of fiber. That’s a pretty hefty caloric price to pay for only 6.25 ounces of food.

Via: Accidental Hedonist – A burrito is NOT a sandwich

Laura,

I find your informations to be informative but I must ask, How do I stop the cravings for fatty foods and quick meat that has been processed. I live on a budget and do not have alot to choose from. It appears that prices are not fixed when it comes to fresh foods at my grocery store. I am wheelchair bound and it is difficult for me to cook meals constantly,not to mention that I am the worst cook ever. Can you tell me what is the best foods that I can afford and stay healthy doing it?

Ed

Ed,

You’re right fresh veggies and fruit are more expensive in the winter than they are in the summer, but compared to a frozen dinner, they are pretty inexpensive. You don’t have to be a good cook to cut up fresh veggies and eat them raw. That is what I do for most of my snacks throughout the day. Fresh apples, nectarines, pears, oranges, green peppers, carrots and celery are the best to choose from during the winter. I would avoid cucumbers and zuchinni. They tend to be small, shriveled and expensive this time of year.

As far as stoping cravings for fatty foods, I don’t really know what to tell you. I’ve found that my cravings have NOTHING to do with food and everything to do with my emotions. My binges are spurred by what I am feeling. Getting to the bottom of my feelings really helps, so I end up writing in my journal when I feel like eating food that I know isn’t healthy for me.

Choosing healthy options might not be the easiest thing to do. If it was easy, we all would be bastions of health. Choose to go to the extra effort. Choose life.

Good luck,
Laura Moncur

What is your favorite Thanksgiving food? Is it the pumpkin pie? The turkey? The stuffing? The mashed potatoes? That weird green bean casserole with the french fried onions on top?

Whatever it is, start eating it NOW.

If your mouth is watering at the thought of turkey and stuffing, make a turkey with stuffing this week. The fact that you even have a favorite Thanksgiving food may be the reason that you end up going overboard on Thanksgiving. The idea that food is scarce has caused some of my worst binges. Food that you can only have once a year is the definition of scarcity.

So, give yourself permission to have Thanksgiving food now, in April and even in July. Cooking a turkey several times a year will prevent the gorging that is typical on Thanksgiving. Suddenly, it’s just another meal instead of a once a year event.

Whatever your favorite Thanksgiving food is, your homework assignment this week is to have it now.

Even though you know that you live in a neighborhood that doesn’t get many trick-or-treaters, you bought a few bags of candy. Not just normal candy, but your favorites. Now, you are sitting in a house full of individual servings of your favorite candy still sitting in a bowl, enticing you. I’m going to tell you what no other person would tell you.

Don’t throw it away.

Yep, don’t throw it away. If it was just candy that you didn’t like, I would happily tell you to take it to work and leave it in the breakroom for the people who don’t need to watch their weight, but because you bought your favorites “for the kids,” I’m telling you to keep it.

You bought that candy for a reason and you need to figure out what that reason is.

Have you been restricting your diet so much that tiny bars of your favorite candy were irresistible?

If you have been, KEEP the candy. Figure out the calorie counts for a couple of servings a day and make sure you include them in your diet. Plan for 150-200 calories a day of your favorite candy. If you keep restricting this food from your diet, you’ll end up with a HUGE binge that could end your dedication to eating healthy. Allowing yourself a small bit of your favorite candy every day is how to avoid the real binge.

Has it gone too far? Do you want to binge?

If you do, it’s NOT about the candy. Find out what spurred this desire to binge. What are you avoiding? What have you been sweeping under the rug of your consciousness? Get it out and suddenly that candy won’t have as much power over you.

Leftover Halloween candy is an amazing opportunity.

You have the chance to learn more about your own eating habits. Find out what you have been avoiding or make sure your diet hasn’t become lifeless. Whatever the temptation, you can master it, either by allowing a small portion every day or working through the problems that make you turn to food.

I once told a friend that I had a personal chef.

“You do?” they responded.

“Yes, I have many in the restaurants all over town,” was my answer.

The only problem with that plan is that restaurant food isn’t always healthy or even freshly prepared. Here are a couple of options. If you wish you had a personal chef, there are companies out there that are willing to create healthy and delicious food for you. They’ll probably even help you with portion control.

• The Dinner A’Fare | 12 Meals. 2 Hours. Simple.

• Dream Dinners Meal Preparation Stores & Franchise Opportunities

• Dinners Done Right – Cook and Carry Cuisine: Home

Now, I am on both sides of this argument. The first is: Yeah! There are companies out there who will make healthy food for me to have every evening!

The other side is: Geez! You can’t even cook for yourself?! If you paid more attention to what you put in your mouth, maybe you wouldn’t be so fat.

That other side is the destructive side of myself. It’s the mean part of myself that berates me until I end up bingeing. If you heard that voice within yourself, sit down with a piece of paper and write it out. What do you need to do to be healthy? If it means paying a company to make you dinner, then it just might be worth it.

Via: Rudd Sound Bites: 12 Meals…in 2 Hours!

While I am researching for Starling Fitness, I read a number of weblogs. They give me ideas. They tell me about the news. They inspire me to keep fit. If you were wondering what I read every day, here is my list of weblogs I read. Just to be fair these are in alphabetical order:

• Accidental Hedonist: This weblog is about eating well. Every once and a while they’ll have a health or obesity entry, but mostly it’s about food.

• Complete Running Network » Where Passion Runs Deep: I would like to say that this is a great weblog for people who like running, but it isn’t. They tend to go overboard on their recommendations and idolize people who push themselves to the point of exhaustion. I get a little bit of inspiration here, but it’s hard to wade through all the entries to find it.

• food museum blog: Another weblog about food and eating well. I get some good information about food safety and such here.

• Health-Hack.com | Health News and Tips For Computer Users and Abusers: There is some good stuff here. They also have a podcast if you like listening to your health and fitness news.

• Health Hacks | Healthacker.comThis is a different weblog about health issues. Every once and a while, I find something good here. Usually, it’s just an echo chamber, but if I didn’t hear the original call, the echo helps me.

• A Passion for Running: I don’t always agree with Mark, but I do enjoy reading his website. He is a barefoot runner who has recently overcome an injury and changed his running style from striking with the heel to landing on the ball of his foot. He hopes to see if this change in stride will improve his running times. I get inspired (or worried) every time I read his entries.

• Rudd Sound Bites: Whenever I take the time to read Rudd Sound Bites, I usually am rewarded with something entirely different. That’s the beauty of a weblog like this one. It’s pretty unique.

• Slashfood: This website is all about food in the most decadent sense. If you are going to spend your calories, do it on food that is REALLY good. Don’t waste it on junk. This website gives you an idea of what good food is.

• SupersizedMeals.com – Foodstuffs of Epic Proportions: Yet ANOTHER weblog about food. The large meals, super-sized creations and strange fair food that make me disgusted and curious at the same time.

• That’s Fit: This is a weblog that is pumped out by several people posting several times a day. It’s easy to just get buried under the weight of this weblog. Sadly, it would be a great place to turn to if it were comprehensive, but they miss out on some of the coolest things every time. I scan the headlines to see if there is anything interesting. Usually there isn’t and I wasted a couple of minutes loading up fifty entries a day on my blog reader.

• Treatment Online – Anxiety, Addiction and Depression Treatments: This is where I find out more information on eating disorders like anorexia, bulimia and binge-eating. They also cover a wide variety of other subjects.

• A Veggie Venture: This weblog is about inventive ways to add vegetables to your life.

• About.com – Walking for Fitness – by Wendy Bumgardner: If you didn’t know that I LOVE this weblog, you haven’t been paying attention. Some of the best thoughts about fitness come from this weblog. Kudos to Wendy!

After looking at my list of weblogs that I read, it’s very indicative of my personality. Dealing with binge-eating disorder is like dealing with an addiction for me. I can tell if I’ve been restricting my diet too much because I end up reading EVERY entry in all the food weblogs. When I feel satiated, I don’t even read those weblogs and just pass them by. When I’m excited about exercise, I read the fitness weblogs more often. When I’m in a binge-induced slump, the entries just keep piling up higher and higher because I don’t want to read about anything.

So, if you were willing to read all those weblogs every day, you could almost replace me. Instead, I read and glean and wade through the information and you get the cream of the crop!