Recently my doctor told me that I needed to eat more fruits and vegetables. An average day for me usually consisted of about 2-3 cups of fruits and veggies so within the 5 servings a day. He told me that they now reccemend 3-6 cups depending on your gender/age/activity level. For me, a 20-something modereately active girl it's 2.5 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of veggies For a girl with a short attention span and gastric bypass, it's harder than you think. It's so easy to have a day of meals like this:
Breakfast: cereal (hot or cold) with 1/2 cup of fruit, almond milk
Lunch: Onigiri and roasted veggies (3/4 cup)
work snack: 3/4 cup fruit and yoghurt
after work snack: homemade kale chips, sesame sticks, beer
dinner: pan fried tofu, veggies, sauce over wheatberries
not bad, right? 2.25 cups of veggies, 1.25 cups of fruit, some good dairy, a little whole grain, and some beer to take the edge off. But that's 3.5 cups of veggies still 1.5 cups away from the goal.
So I turned to my 2 best online tools: Google and Springpad. I created a Springpad that all my fellow springers need to check out (because Springpad > Pinterest)
And now more of my days are looking like this:
Breakfast: Hardboiled egg Oatmeal Stuff Peach half (.5 F)
Lunch: Salad with dried figs, feta cheese, drizzle of dressing (1V 1F)
Work snack: Peppers and carrots with hummus (.75 V)
Dinner: lamb with roasted brussel sprouts and crispy baked potatoes, beer (1v)
after swim smoothie: 1/2 peach, blueberries and strawberries (1.5F)
Actually that was yesterday, and it was awesome.3 cups of fruit 2.75 cups of veggies. I been feeling allot better the days I eat more fruits and vegetables too. And even with beer the cal content is pretty low. Sometimes in life we say we don't have time to eat healthy but when take a little time to really think it through it's do-able. Most of the time I'm eating them raw, roasted, or whirled in a blender, very little prep. I have the advantage of working near "the bowl" (Berkeley Bowl West - it's like a local version of whole foods) where discount veggies/fruit determine my meals over everything. But I've been eating things I rarely eat before and it's really cool.
So if you spring, be sure to add my springpad as I'm updating often with some good recipes (and yea I guess if you "pin" them, I can forgive you for the sake of health)
25.7.13
18.7.13
Back and Peachy Keen!
I thought about just ignoring the fact that I literally up and disappeared for over a month from the blog. Life just went a little awry and slowly but surely getting life back to abnormal in regards to total health.
One of the more amusing things that's happened with my health is just in general dealing with a new insurance that I have on this job:Kaiser. I was in an accident that really threw my body for a loop. One of the unexpected side effects was high blood pressure.
Earlier this summer my blood pressure was 150/100 area. I assumed it was stress and my doctor half-heartedly agreed. I know that I've got the markers for high blood pressure: black and overweight. In reality though, I'd always had normal blood pressure and as an adult have had low-ish blood pressure. Maybe it's the combination of the WLS, decent eating, and being a pedestrian Fast forward a month nothing drastic, calmed down on the sugar more than anything, blood pressure had eased to 108/60, still a bit higher than my norm which is 95/50.
Still I'm eating more fruits and vegetables ever since my doctor told me I needed 5 cups of fruits and vegetables a day. That is a lot of fruits and veggies. My average was about 2-3 (so within the 5 servings I thought I was aiming for). It means everytime I eat something there should probably be a fruit or vegetable in the snack/meal. Breakfast being the toughest. This week I tried something new. Peaches are everywhere, so I tried my hand at Oatmeal stuffed peaches in the toaster oven at work. So delicious and simple to make. I saw this recipe a few places online but it wasn't really health-forward with butter and brown sugar. I had coconut cream and found it a good medium to make the oatmeal more like streusal.
Baked Peaches stuffed with Oatmeal
Ingredients
1 fresh peach
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp coconut cream
honey (optional)
1 cup oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
diced fine crystalized ginger (optional for topping)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Cut peaches in half using a sharp knife and scoop out the pits with a melon baller or spoon, creating a well for your oat topping (make sure peaches are very ripe!).
In a small bowl mix together oats, cinnamon, ginger, blend in coconut cream, and honey to taste. (I used some leftover sweetened coconut cream so I didn't add anything in.)
Spoon in oat mixture into peach halves, making sure to pack firmly. depending on the size of the fruit you may get 1/4 to 1/2 cup of oats in the fruit.
Top with crystallised ginger
Bake for 15-20 for slightly soft peach, still crunchy oatmeal (my pref) 20-30 for a more caramelised peach with softer oatmeal.
If I'm only making one for myself, I stored the peach half wrapped and the oatmeal mixture separate for the next day.
Good to be back,
Jasmine
One of the more amusing things that's happened with my health is just in general dealing with a new insurance that I have on this job:Kaiser. I was in an accident that really threw my body for a loop. One of the unexpected side effects was high blood pressure.
Earlier this summer my blood pressure was 150/100 area. I assumed it was stress and my doctor half-heartedly agreed. I know that I've got the markers for high blood pressure: black and overweight. In reality though, I'd always had normal blood pressure and as an adult have had low-ish blood pressure. Maybe it's the combination of the WLS, decent eating, and being a pedestrian Fast forward a month nothing drastic, calmed down on the sugar more than anything, blood pressure had eased to 108/60, still a bit higher than my norm which is 95/50.
Still I'm eating more fruits and vegetables ever since my doctor told me I needed 5 cups of fruits and vegetables a day. That is a lot of fruits and veggies. My average was about 2-3 (so within the 5 servings I thought I was aiming for). It means everytime I eat something there should probably be a fruit or vegetable in the snack/meal. Breakfast being the toughest. This week I tried something new. Peaches are everywhere, so I tried my hand at Oatmeal stuffed peaches in the toaster oven at work. So delicious and simple to make. I saw this recipe a few places online but it wasn't really health-forward with butter and brown sugar. I had coconut cream and found it a good medium to make the oatmeal more like streusal.
Baked Peaches stuffed with Oatmeal
Ingredients
1 fresh peach
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp coconut cream
honey (optional)
1 cup oats
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
diced fine crystalized ginger (optional for topping)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Cut peaches in half using a sharp knife and scoop out the pits with a melon baller or spoon, creating a well for your oat topping (make sure peaches are very ripe!).
In a small bowl mix together oats, cinnamon, ginger, blend in coconut cream, and honey to taste. (I used some leftover sweetened coconut cream so I didn't add anything in.)
Spoon in oat mixture into peach halves, making sure to pack firmly. depending on the size of the fruit you may get 1/4 to 1/2 cup of oats in the fruit.
Top with crystallised ginger
Bake for 15-20 for slightly soft peach, still crunchy oatmeal (my pref) 20-30 for a more caramelised peach with softer oatmeal.
If I'm only making one for myself, I stored the peach half wrapped and the oatmeal mixture separate for the next day.
Good to be back,
Jasmine