5 Healthy Foods That are Time-Savers and Stores Well

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Beans, cooking, eating, frozen, healthy, vegetarian

Photo from Fun Learning Life blog – http://funlearninglife.com/2015/02/seeds-of-change-rice-microwavable/

I love the farmers market just as much as anyone else – here in San Diego, my favorite is the Hillcrest Farmer’s Market. Conversations about interesting vegetables you have never seen with the farmers that grew them, fruits that are in season, and the freshest greens ever! And lets not forget the weird/cool stuff – like a booth with just jewellery and decorative items made of old spoons! But lets face it, I end up throwing out about half of those fresh microgreens.

Once I started residency, the days of only cooking in cast-iron, never microwave and eating home-made salsa were a thing of the past. Instead though, I learned some new, really sustainable habits – I cook a big meal/s at the beginning of the week, and I buy ingredients that are easy to use and can last because I don’t have a long time to shop! And of course, because I LOVE food and have zero impulse control, and because I stress eat, everything at my house has to be healthy. I realized that some of you may benefit from knowing the staples I get – not just from Trader Joes (which has saved my Bee-Hind many times) but also from really anywhere.

1. Canned beans – Beans are one of my favorite foods to write about. They are eco-friendly, filling, great for your microbiome, FULL of fiber, help with glycemic control, and versatile. When you buy them in the can, they are pre-cooked and you don’t need to do much to them. Tip: wash the canned beans first (once or twice) to reduce the sodium content.
2. Frozen greens – There is nothing wrong with frozen food, so long as it is not full of fats, salt and sugar. Frozen vegetables might even be healthier than fresh, because they are literally frozen at the farm, ensuring that they lose as little nutrient content as possible. Frozen greens can be quickly added to soups, cooked rice dishes, casseroles,  and even fruit smoothies to increase the health-factor.
3. Frozen or pre-packaged grains – I use frozen brown-rice a LOT. To save time, I would throw the frozen brown rice into the dish as I am cooking, rather than making a stand alone brown rice as a side. Frozen brown rice is also a good filler for a dish, like adding it into a  soup as a thickener.
4. Arugula – Arugula lasts forever. Well maybe not forever, but pre-washed Arugula lasts me ~2 weeks. And my favorite thing about microgreens is that they are so compact and I can put a whole pack of arugula into a dish without feeling like it has taken over the dish.
5. Frozen berries – I keep all kinds of frozen fruit, but frozen berries top the list because they are nutrient dense without having a lot of calories. For example, on the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index, which wholefoods uses to label its foods, berries are on the top 5, with fresh cranberries topping the list.  Just remember to buy your berries organic – strawberries top the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen.

 

-DS

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Creating a Mindset for Successful Weight Loss: Tackling Your Failure Through Behavior Change

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Behavior change, behavioral change, eating, habits, lifestyle, quitting, smoking, weight loss

Lifestyle changes are hard and require continuous committment. While there is a whole field on how to effectively change your lifestyle and “bad habits” using behavioral change there is a common issue I often see in my patients that I would like to share with you.

This is not a moral issue: It is a fact of life that priorities shift from week to week. Having an “I just need to get my act together” view only allows for short term gain because it makes you think of the lapse/relapse as attributed to personal weakness. In reality, unhealthy behaviors are a part of our lives for several reasons, of which determination and personal discipline are a very small part. Having a resolve is only the first step! A time will come (often sooner than you expect) when you will have a crisis (perhaps at work) and find yourself at that familiar “forbidden” place (If your goal is to eat healthy, perhaps you buy yourself a slice of pizza). Now, this is a critical moment. What do you tell yourself during this moment of relapse?

• Scenario 1: you tell yourself “well, I already had one slice, might as well just have 2 more. And oh yeah, I’m clearly not cut out to be a skinny person.” Then followed by the fateful look at yourself in the mirror the next morning. The self-hatred, and the cycle continues. Your exciting journey full of hope just came to a crashing halt.
• Scenario 2: you say, “well one slice isn’t too bad…everything in moderation right?” Believe it or not, this is a hotly debated word. Some might argue that one slice of pizza causes physiologic changes that cause you to crave and eat more and more. Just ask award winning journalist Michael Moss: how much of an addictive substance are you allowed to have? Regardless of how you feel about the issue, you just lost this opportunity to find a way to resolve your craving.

A helpful way to tackle the above scenario is to use Failure as a Problem Solving Opportunity. This is what health coaches do with their clients. As a health coach myself, I have seen this work over and over again. Think about the process. What led you to pick up that slice of pizza? Was it an emotion? Can you think of other ways to deal with that emotion? Do you find that each time you are in a similar situation (maybe it is that damn TPS report), you have to eat pizza to comfort yourself? Is there a way to improve your current situation? Perhaps changing your work space will help to cut the pizza eating cycle.

Remember that failure is part of the process. Tobacco is one of the most addictive substances in the world. To quit, it often takes an individual 7-10 attempts. The key is to realize that every attempt at quitting brings you closer.

– DS