The kids had a cooking birthday party this weekend. They made (white) english muffin pizzas, Cups of Dirt (chocolate pudding, crushed Oreos and gummy worms), and decorated cupcakes. My son has newly found allergies to soy, dairy, nuts and egg whites. I brought all his food: allergen free bread, homemade (allergen free) cupcakes and icing, and pudding made with rice milk (which did not congeal. ick.).  HIS meal was healthy. Hers was not. HE did not eat his meal, She did.

What should I do? I know the stuff she’s eating is bad for her, but I’m not sure how to tell her she can’t have 4 of the only 8 foods she eats! Occationally, fine. I get it. Don’t interfere; you don’t want them to rebel. But their diet, with all these birthday parties, is turning into more than occasion!

Any advice? How do you teach your kids about healthy living?

If you liked this post, please vote for it on Digg

Tag Cloud
Comments: Comment (0)
Filed under: Kid Stuff |
Article tags: Birthday, Healthy living, kids eating healthy, Rule of Three Diet

With the colder weather upon us, I have remembered just how much I like soups and how healthy they are for you!

I’ve decided to change the rules a bit and add soups to the weekly goal of having 3 salads-as-a-meal. The new goal is to have 3:

I don’t see any reason why you can’t have smaller portions and combine the two, having a meal with a soup and salad.

 What is your favorite soup recipe?

If you liked this post, please vote for it on Digg

Tag Cloud
Comments: Comment (0)
Filed under: Rule of Three Rules |
Article tags: cold weather, healthy, meal, rule of 3 diet, soups

 How does one develop an aversion to  food? Specifically, Halloween candy?  I really need to know.

I started out my day in the right mindset to leave the candy alone, but after lunch, my sweet-tooth hit me hard and I caved in to some chocolate eyeballs (shhhh! Don’t tell the kids; they came from their bags).

I tried to be good this Halloween. I even risked, and probably ruined, my neighborhood candy-giver reputation, and gave out Halloween shaped pretsels instead of candy (I won’t eat pretsels, and I would have eaten all the chocolate, so at least I had something left to give out!)

My memory lapsed a bit, and I didn’t anticipate the candy that the kiddos would bring home!  Now what!? My son is, (in this case) conveniently allergic to peanuts. Do you know what candies have peanuts?  All the good ones!  Reeces, Peanut M&M’s, Snickers. I’m sure there is a lot more, but that’s all he brought home.  And somehow, my daughter brought home different, and equally as good, chocolates than he did. (I could care less about the pure-sugar candies….I WANT CHOCOLATE!!!)

The kids leave their candy bags around the house and the chocolate is silently shouting out to me, “Come eaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat meeeeeeeeee!!!”

Grr! Go Away!  I guess I should mention that my kids are 2 and 4. There is no way that they could eat all that candy, or would notice if, say, half of it went missing!

Maybe I should think of it like I’m stealing *food* out of the mouths of my children. I don’t like filling them up with sugar, and I want to throw it all away or just let them have one a day. I try to set a good example for them, but part of me reverts to my fun childhood memories of Halloween and says, “What the hell? Let them eat it all until their stomachs hurt!”

What do you do with Halloween candy in your house?

If you liked this post, please vote for it on Digg

Tag Cloud
Comments: Comments (2)
Filed under: Motivation |
Article tags: chocolate, food aversion, Halloween candy, Rule of Three Diet

 Tonight’s dinner was, hands down, the most stressful meal I’ve ever made (aside from Thanksgiving dinner). What did you make, you ask? Spaghetti and freakin’ meatballs (damn meatball song)!  I was planning on a simple meal of beef fajitas. Beef, onion, green pepper, tortilla and salsa. OOOOOOHHHHHH NO!  Beau calls about three, asking if we have any spaghetti in the house. Hmmmm…. wonder what he wants. I tell him we’re having fajitas and using the meat that he took out of the freezer last night but didn’t use. Even though this was not the planned meal, my ‘good wife’ mode kicked in, and I remembered that you could make your own ground beef in a food processor. So the internet search began for steak meatballs. I came up with a recipe that asked for steak, pork and veal. I had two of the three and thus my hellacious evening began.  

I started cooking at 3:30. The meal wasn’t finished until 5:30. Two solid hours of cooking! Oh. Did I mention I was trying to raise two children in the process? One was excited that she could cut, and called the other to show him the scissors. He got ahold of them, and was ‘cutting the air’ with them, using both hands. Her hand got in the way. My scissor-monster got in time out two times and argued with me about both of them ending up with more time than he expected. I was so busy in the kitchen that I was annoyed at my children when they’d ask for something or where something was, and I would practically yell at them for doing so. This really stressed me out. I don’t like ignoring my kids, but I just could not stop or those stupid little meatballs would burn! (which some of them did because the recipe told me to set my pan on high, but don’t let the oil smoke. Well, it didn’t smoke, but it was TOO high!! They ended up cooking perfectly on LOW. Stupid recipe).

The worst part?  Beau didn’t LOVE it. I envisioned him going for seconds and thirds and giving a loving belch afterward (not really). First, I had him try the two sauces. Two sauces? Yes, two sauces. There were so many stupid meatballs that the sauce I lovingly created from scratch only covered half of them. So I got out another skillet and covered the other half of the meatballs with bottled sauce. He liked the bottled sauce better (stupid Prego).

Dinner was served, he handed me some of his spaghetti squash (which I serve with the pasta) and whispered “I don’t like that.”

He picked at the meatballs and said, “This looks like turkey meat.”

“It’s not”

“Why does it look so white inside? Did you sneak something in there?”

“Carrots”

“Oh. I can taste them”. (Long Pause) ”What’s wrong?”

 I pouted that I slaved over this dinner FOR HIM and he didn’t like it.

“What are you talking about? Look! I’m eating it! I like the meatballs! I love it!”

Whatever.  Next time I’m buying frozen.

food journal Read more »

If you liked this post, please vote for it on Digg

Tag Cloud
Comments: Comment (0)
Filed under: Daily Journal |
Article tags: homemade ground beef and pork, Italian, Rule of Three Diet, Spaghetti and Meatballs

Last night, after dinner while I’m cleaning up, I start singing On Top Of Spaghetti to my kids for the first time. I had only sung the first three verses (up to where the meatball turns into mush) and my newly-4-year-old son started to cry!  I was watching his intent little face watch me as I was singing the song. It went from joy to concern to almost fear. By the time I sang “mush”, he was in tears. Small, but very concerned and sad ones. Small, to the point where I thought he had been taking drama lessons on the side from my 2 year old daughter. But since this was his first attempt at theatrics, I played along, not yet sure if he was indeed playing me or not.

I gave all sorts of concern. Picked him up into my lap.  His big frown just kept saying, “I don’t like that song” but he didn’t know why. He told me he was scared of the song. I asked what part? He didn’t know, but amidst a sea of tears, he kept asking me about that stupid meatball!  “Why did it go under a bush?” “what happened to it?” All the while, my “Me Too! Girl”, was climbing on my back,  half choking me, telling me she too, was scared of the song and didn’t like it (roll eyes).

My conclusion is that his tears were real because he asked me about the meatball several times today, and started making comparisons with his baseballs, and how they don’t roll under bushes, just into the street. 

Poor little guy. It’ll probably be a long time before he’ll try this Italian classic.

food journal Read more »

If you liked this post, please vote for it on Digg

Tag Cloud
Comments: Comments (8)
Filed under: Daily Journal, Kid Stuff |
Article tags: drama queen, kids, on top of spaghetti, Rule of Three Diet

Wednesday night is kid’s night at our house. My son got a cook book for his birthday and he gets to choose the recipe we make for kid’s night. I let them stand on chairs and alternate helping me with everything. Last week he chose roasted sausages and winter vegetables. It was a hit. Tonight he chose Italian Tuna Pasta. He can not read, so he chooses by looking at all the pictures. I wanted to post the recipe because both my kids liked it! Did you see that?  My picky 2 year old liked it (well, the sauce anyway. My carbohydrate-loving daughter does not like pasta). This recipe is from Kids’ Fun & Healthy Cookbook:

Ingredients:
2 1/2 C pasta bows
2 T Olive Oil
2 large cloves garlic (crushed)
1 tsp. dried oregano (optional)
2 tsp. tomato puree
2 15.5 oz. cans chopped tomatoes
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
6 oz. canned tuna in Olive Oil (drained)
salt & pepper

Directions: (summarized)
1. Cook pasta until tender.
2. Heal oil in saucepan, Saute garlic for about 1 min. Stir in the oregano, tomatoes and the puree.
3. Bring the sauce to a boil and reduce heat. Half cover the pan and simmer for 15 min, until sauce has reduced by 1/3 and thickened.
4. Stir tuna into the sauce. Heat through, adding sugar if necessary.
5. Drain pasta, reserving 2 T of the water. Return pasta and water to the saucepan. Stir in sauce until pasta is coated.

Add chickpeas for a protein boost (I was planning on doing this, but I forgot)
If you try the recipe, let me know what you think.

diet journal Read more »

If you liked this post, please vote for it on Digg

Tag Cloud
Comments: Comment (0)
Filed under: Daily Journal, Kid Stuff |
Article tags: Fun and Healthy Cookbook, Kids in the Kitchen, Rule of Three Diet

I can’t hold it back anymore. What is it with older ladies thinking they need to ”dress to impress” at the gym?  About a month ago, I wanted to blog about somone I saw in my gym, but didn’t feel I had enough content to have a blog post. Then today, there was another one, so now, I have twice as much to say. ha! 

A month ago: Here I am, minding my own business on the treadmill. On the machines next to me were two women running and chatting (I was impressed. I sure can’t talk and run). Then it happened. A horrendous sight imposed upon us. Strolling in front of us was a woman in her late-fifties. Her frizzy hair was a disaster, but I guess that didn’t matter because it was obvious she was trying to draw attention, um, elsewhere.  She had large implants (D’s?) without a bra! Just a thin grey shirt. Please people! I’m all for implants if you want them, but wear a bra at the gym! No one wants to see grandma with her highbeams on! All three of us on the treadmills had to pick our jaws up off the floor. We looked at each other to be sure we were indeed seeing the atrocity in front of us. One of the women made a loud comment and we all snickered. I felt like I was in high school. I wonder if ‘boob-grandma’ heard her as I haven’t seen her in the gym since. 

Today: Another woman. In her fourties. Spandex capris and a sports bra.  I think I counted 3 ab rolls and I didn’t want to try to count the dimples when she turned around. Ew.

My assessment: I am a self admitted fashion amateur, but I do know that women should always wear a sports bra at the gym. And I know that if you can count belly rolls or leg dimples you should wear shirts and pants, respectively. 

Excuse me. I’m going to go throw up.

food journal Read more »

If you liked this post, please vote for it on Digg

Tag Cloud
Comments: Comments (7)
Filed under: Daily Journal, Motivation |
Article tags: ab rolls, appropriate gym attire, fake boobs, fashion, Rule of Three Diet

We had the opportunity to see Body Worlds 3 this weekend. The exhibit envoked a range of emotions from me: facination, somberness, wonderment and repugnance to name a few. I had tears in my eyes when I visited the fetal development room. Had I ever lost a child, I would not have been able to enter that room. It was amazing to see an 8 week old fetus having eyes and fingers. Eight weeks is usually the time when one finds out she is pregnant. There is no room for argument that I was looking at a tiny human being. I do not want to get into a debate, I’m just reporting what I saw.

Going through the exhibit, you see muscles and tendons, skin and arteries. I found myself wondering if these people had been fit or fat when they were alive, as there was no way to tell because all fat had been removed. I hoped we’d be able to see an example of what a fat person looked like on the inside; just what does fat do to your insides and how unhealthy is it? I was in luck because there was a cross section of a 300 pound man. You could tell by the cross section that his stomach hung very low. The cross section was mostly white (fat cells). All of his organs were compressed, his heart taking the biggest beating (pun intended) because it had to work doubly hard to keep this man alive.  It gave me new inspiration to be healthy.

read more about the Opening Night of Body Worlds 3 here Read more »

If you liked this post, please vote for it on Digg

Tag Cloud
Comments: Comments (2)
Filed under: Motivation |
Article tags: 300 pound man, black tie event, Body Worlds, Catering St. Louis, fat, St. Louis Science Center

Just when I tell the world I want to post every day, I have nothing to say. Sorry, all.  I’ll post when I have something good to blog about.

read my food journal here Read more »

If you liked this post, please vote for it on Digg

Tag Cloud
Comments: Comments (2)
Filed under: Daily Journal |
Article tags: Irony, Jessica Seinfeld, nothing to say, Rule of Three Diet

I don’t know why, but this guy is cute!  

Me. A food addict? In therapy today, my psychologist told me she wanted me to pick up a copy of Anatomy of A Food Addiction by Anne Katherine. I went in feeling guilty and depressed about my food choices this weekend. I told her I felt that I earned the pizza because I had worked out a lot during the week. I guess “earned” and “guilt” were red flags for her because now she thinks I might be addicted to food. After some research today, while I’m still unsure about all of this, I think I fit best into Binge Eating Disorder . (By the way, I did do more research than just Wikepedia; this just seemed to give the best overall explanation.)

I also researched to see if, in fact, I am a food addict. There were several sites I found that gave diagnostic questions. The FA website was really good, but this site’s list was the most succinct. 

One need only ask themselves a few key questions to determine his or her addiction:

• Do you eat when you are not hungry or when you feel low or depressed?
• Do you eat in secret or eat differently in front of others than when you’re alone?
• Do you consume inordinate amounts of food and then purge later with vomiting or laxatives to get rid of the excess?
• Are there foods that are harmful to you, but you eat them anyway?
• Do you feel guilty after eating?

If you can answer yes to any of these questions than you are likely addicted to food.  

So where does that leave me? Confused. A possible excuse at the tip of my fingers. Relieved. Curious. Anxious to know more. I’ve ordered the book. I’ll need to do a lot of research before I can convince myself that this is true. While it’s true that the majority of people with BED are overweight, I’m not discounting the fact that I could be amongst the few that are within normal weight range.  

Thoughts?

food journal Read more »

If you liked this post, please vote for it on Digg

Tag Cloud
Comments: Comment (0)
Filed under: Daily Journal |
Article tags: Anne Katherine, depressed, food addict