Tricking yourself into eating healthy..

For those of you who know me, you know that I typically:

• enjoy exercising 
• love juicing on a regular basis
• try to keep the ingredients I can't pronounce out of my food (eat real food)

For those of you who really know me, you know that I used to live off of big macs, ramen noodles, cereal and toast. I started changing my eating habits when I started learning about what's really in our food, and how this affects our bodies.  Then I realized that I buy the groceries--thus I am responsible for what Ben fuels his body with, and one day I'll be responsible for what my children put in their bodies! That is a lot of pressure!! And thus, the juicing/cleaning my diet began.
Welllllllllll, let me just tell you that I was super pleased with my eating habits before I was pregnant--I was able to eat healthy and still eat yummy, flavorful food, and even still have sweets as long as I made them.  I felt amazing, energized, healthy, and clean.  And of course we believe in balance, so 'cheating' every now and then was certainly allowed.  Once I found out I was pregnant, I was confident that I would be nurturing my growing baby with only the best foods.......and. then. came. morning/afternoon/night sickness.
It has been crazy hard to eat healthy during this pregnancy. Grocery stores, the kitchen, my refrigerator, vegetables, healthy food...all of the above makes this pregnant lady run for the bathroom. 
So anyways.  If I want to eat healthy, I have to trick myself.  I probably won't be able to drink a healthy vegetable juice for a while....but I can still eat some veggies if I hide them in a delicious sandwich like the one above.
I was so nervous to try this amazing sandwich that I loved pre-pregnancy. But it turned out that the hummus-veggie sandwich was a success--and any time I need to trick myself into eating veggies, I can put one of these together and guiltlessly fill my tummy.
Yum!!

Hummus-Veggie Sandwich
Adapted from Coastal Living magazine

Ingredients

• 4 slices bread (we use Ezekiel sprouted bread)
• 2/3 cup hummus (easy recipe here)
• 1/2 orange, yellow, or red bell pepper, sliced
• 1/4 cup baby arugula
• 2 radishes thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup broccoli or alfalfa sprouts
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

Cooking Directions

1. Spread hummus on 1 side of all 4 slices of bread.
2. On 2 slices, layer bell pepper and arugula.
3. On 2 remaining slices, layer radishes and sprouts.
4. Stir together lemon juice and olive oil, drizzle over vegetables.
5. Combine sandwich halves.

Can't believe I finished all of this...

pan seared salmon with a side of vegetable lentils

Let me start by saying that I am not a huge fish person.  I usually stick with tilapia and have to drown it in butter and lemon juice so that I do not taste a *hint* of anything fishy.  I grew up in Chicago...what can I say?!  I have tried salmon before, numerous times, hoping that my taste buds would change and that I would all of a sudden enjoy the fish flavor.
While I can't say that I will confidently order salmon off the menu the next time we go out, I can say that this salmon was yummmmmy (I did squeeze lemon all over it) and I loved the lentils! Woohoo! 

Delicious Alaskan Salmon

Ingredients

• 2 wild-caught Alaskan salmon fillets
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 lemon, juiced

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Season both fillets with salt and pepper.
3. Saute salmon in a hot pan for 4-5 minutes.
4. Place salmon into the preheated oven and bake for 10-15 minutes.
5. Squeeze fresh lemon juice over before serving.

Makes 2 servings

Vegetable Lentils

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• 2 ribs celery, diced
• 2 cups lentils, rinsed
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp Herbes de Provence

Cooking Directions

1. Saute onions, carrots, and celery in a hot medium pot for 3-5 minutes, until onions are translucent.
2. Stir in lentils. Pour in broth and add garlic and Herbes de Provence.
3. Cover with a lid and simmer for 30 minutes, until lentils are soft.

Makes 4-5 servings

season salmon with salt and pepper

pan sear for 4-5 minutes

transfer to baking dish

dice veggies for lentils

diced celery, onion, and carrots

saute veggies

add seasoning

yum!

azodicarbonamide?!

Cutting out processed foods from your diet can seem like an overwhelming task.  As I'm learning more and more about what should and shouldn't go in my body, I've found that there are definitely a few key rules that seem to be common throughout a lot of what I read.  One of those rules, as written by Michael Pollan from In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, is:

Avoid food prodcuts containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable, c) more than five in number, or that include d) high-fructose corn syrup... [These foods] have crossed over from foods to food products.
 

This one can definitely be tough!  It really only takes flour, yeast, water, and salt to make bread...but check the ingredient list the next time you buy bread from the supermarket...the list is so long!  We have made our own bread a few times, but now we mostly buy Ezekial sprouted bread from the freezer section of the supermarket, or we buy the whole wheat bread from a nearby bakery. 
Just looking at the ingredient list and becoming aware of what you are putting in your body is a great start in my opinion!

What are some of your tips for avoiding processed foods??

http://www.lilithnews.com/2012/01/why-is-bread-so-fattening-delicious.html

Can't beat it.

Okay--so it was really awkward posing for a picture while drinking a smoothie.  That's all I'm saying about that.

Green smoothies are an awesome way to recover from a workout, they replenish your electrolytes and if you're looking for extra protein, toss in 1 tbsp of flax seed.

This one that I'm drinking is Foodbabe's "green smoothie that made the news." 

• Kale is filled with powerful antioxidants, high in Vitamin K (bone health), Vitamin A (skin health), Vitamin C (immune system/metablosm), calcium, iron (liver function)
• Celery is a good source of Vitamin C, fiber, folic acid, potassium, B1, B6, is a super food for lowering blood pressure
• Cucumbers are a good source of potassium, electrolytes, antioxidants, vitamin K
• Grapefruits are rich in Vitamin A, antioxidants, Vitamin C, pectin (inhibits prostate cancer, lowers cholesterol, blood sugar levels)
• Pineapples contain an enzyme 'bromelain' that has anti-flammatory, anti-clotting and anti-cancer properties, Vitamin C,  B-complex vitamins

What sports drink can make all of those claims?!

30 broccoli florets?!

That's how much broccoli I need every day to meet the CDC's (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) daily recommended vegetable intake.  For me personally, they recommend I eat 2 cups of fruit and 3 cups of vegetables a day.  Or 30 broccoli heads and 2 large oranges.  Or 3 ears of corn and 64 grapes.  You get the point--that's a lot of fruit and vegetables.  Especially for someone who used to claim, "I just don't like vegetables, so I don't eat them.  Any of them."
You can put in your age, sex, and amount of physical activity by clicking here to find out what is recommended for you. 
So why does this matter? Who cares if we meet our daily recommended intake?!
Well, many studies, including this one done by Harvard School of Public Health, have proven that eating fruits and vegetables will lower your blood pressure, reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer...the list goes on and on! This sounds amazing--but the first downfall is that I have to eat 30 broccoli florets every day to get these benefits!! 
Another downfall is that most of the fruits and vegetables we buy from the grocery store are covered in pesticides.  Pesticides are toxic and have been linked (by U.S. and international government agencies) to brain and nervous system toxicity, cancer, hormone disruption, skin, eye, and lung irritation.....so you mean that my horribly dry and itchy skin can be related to pesticides?!  Crazy, right?
Well don't you fret, because the EWG (Environmental Working Group) recommends that while you should strive to always buy all fruits and vegetables organic to avoid pesticides completely, it is still always better to eat non-organic fruits/vegetables than processed junk food.  And it's better to eat them non-organic than to not eat them at all.  So to help us all out, they came out with the  'dirty dozen' and 'clean 15', and wouldn't you know, an apple a day might keep the doctor away, or it might not if it is not organic because 98% of apples are covered in pesticides.
Oh, and what about the '30 broccoli florets a day' downfall?  Well that's where this handy dandy juicer comes in that I just got and am super excited about!! I am new to the 'juicing' world, but have been learning about the benefits of juicing for quite some time now.
After opening it, I immediately had to try some juice--so I pulled every fruit and vegetable out of our fridge--carrots, celery, grapes, apples, blueberries, and part of a lemon.  And voila!! It was amazing, cancer fighting juice!!

If you have a juicer, what are some of your favorite combinations??

My first stir fry

I made stir fry for the first time last night and it was amazing! Oops...did I say I made it? I have a tendency of doing that, taking all the credit.  Well, Ben and I made stir fry last night and it was amazing.  It is too easy not to make, so I expect everyone who is reading this to try it and tell me how it was!! Take pictures, please!

We found the recipe on http://foodbabe.com/2011/06/09/stormy-day-stir-fry/#comments. 

Foodbabe is extremely knowledgeable in regards to healthy eating.  I love looking through her posts and learning more about what I'm putting in my body.

We used broccoli instead of cauliflower...Ben hates cauliflower.  And he said he would have liked a little more Tamari (type of soy sauce) on it next time.  There will be a next time!

What did ya'll eat for dinner last night? Did you cook alone or with a friend/hubby? 

We munched on a salad while doing the prep work..we were both pretty hungry!
This salad has arugula, kale, spinach, broccoli sprouts, blueberries, yellow pepper and lemon/evoo dressing.

prepping the veggies

helping chop--I love having a man who likes to help in the kitchen

so delicious! aaaaaand we get to have leftovers for lunch today!!  :)