Good Habit #3: Mindfulness

Bye-bye Bad Habit: 

Mindlessly shoving food in my mouth when I am ravenous or emotional will fall by the wayside (I hope!) I wish I was one of those people who didn't care about food. You know, the kind that forgets they are hungry or eats only for survival. Somewhere in my life food became a psychological soother or reward. In my inner thoughts I frequently hear, today was so hard, I deserve to eat a bowl of cheese macaroni or chips or McDonald's bacon, egg & cheese biscuit etc.

Hello Good Habit:

I have already started stocking my cabinets and refrigerator with good healthy snacks so that when I am having those moments of weakness good food is easy to find.  The raw chocolate mousse is a good example of this. I made up a batch of that two weeks ago. I just had the last cup last night. It is great for when I have a sweet craving. I have also taken to chomping on nuts when I get a hankering for something salty. Smokehouse Almonds are soooo yummy. Cashews all by themselves are pretty great too.

The other thing that I really need to work on which is not so easy, is the same questioning that I have to do when I go shopping; do I really need to buy this? Can I live with out it? The food question is, am I really hungry right now or am I eating just to be eating?

Last week in Review

I am down 2 pounds. I was fighting a cold so I didn't get to the gym as much as I should have. I will remedy that this week. Food-wise was great. I learned some new recipes and fell back on some old ones.

To the left is Tempeh Bacon (from Vegan with a Vengeance,) Scarlet Barley (from Appetite for Reduction) and my own Guacamole. The tempeh was just ok. It was not as flavorful as I was hoping. I will add more maple syrup, soy sauce and smoky flavor next time. I think that marinating overnight would have helped too. The Scarlet Barley was good. It will definitely become a staple around here. It was Justin-approved which is impressive considering he hates beets. Guacamole - well, can one really ever go wrong with guacamole. It is totally a crowd pleaser staple around here. I think we had it on our plate for 3 different meals last week.

To the right is my own version of Raw Pasta Bolognese. I used my new spiralizer to make "pasta" from zucchini. You don't need a spiralizer to do make zucchini pasta; before I had one I used a veggie peeler and made wide noodles. The sauce is a blend of garlic, carrots, celery, onion, sun-dried tomatoes, and fresh tomatoes. Very tasty. For the protein I made an Italian-style nut loaf and crumbled it on top. The best thing about this dish is that you can eat as much of it as you want. It is satisfying and bursting with flavor. I am trying to have at least one raw meal a week. I know that I am getting optimum nutritional benefits when I do and I can actually eat mindlessly. 

Finally, the yummiest of yummy vegan comfort food alternatives -Veggie Potpie Stew (from Appetite for Reduction.) I topped it off with Sweet Potato Biscuits (also from Appetite for Reduction.) This was totally scrumptious. It had all of those wonderful savory flavors that were so yummy about chicken pot pie without the uck of chicken. Instead of chicken, she calls for yellow split peas. Talk about a powerhouse legume! It is loaded with protein (25g per serving,) folic acid, and iron. Take that! all you who say vegans don't get their nutrition! I totally recommend this recipe. Do it! Serve it for a winter dinner and a movie party and your friends will be amazed at the goodness.