Eat Healthy By Keeping it Simple

I am proud of myself; I performed a “deep clean” of my refrigerator this past weekend. You know, cleaned out the veggie crisper of those forgotten Persian cucumbers with yucky surprises growing on them. All the sticky raspberry jam residue that glues the jar to the refrigerator door and the stray flax seeds that accumulated in the crevices are banished! My refrigerator looks brand new and I feel “cleansed” as well.

That got me thinking about my healthy eating habits lately. My nutritional eating has been slipping since the holidays. Why does winter feel like the perfect time to cheat, by eating less salads and more pizza and bagels. I can see the results in my belly area. Take this past weekend for example.

Friday night dinner with my honey at The Spare Rib. The servers’ tee shirts proclaim “Life is too short not to eat ribs” and I took their advice. Along with the ribs, I ate corn bread and barbecued potatoes. I did eat salad and steamed broccoli to make myself feel less guilty. Saturday night was at a Mexican restaurant with some friends for dinner and karaoke. Of course, chips and salsa (tomatoes have lycopene), shrimp tacos and lots of fruity sangria (sugar, a no no). Sunday was not much better. Although I walked Linus for an hour and swam laps for forty minutes at the Y pool, I ate pizza with sausage and broccoli rabe and wings with sautéed onions for a late lunch (do the two veggies cancel out the pizza?)

You get where I am going with this. I have been bad. And telling myself that I am eating most of the time between 11:00 am and 7:00 pm is not an excuse (my intermittent fasting hours). I know better! I am eating too many unhealthy foods. Which brings me to my decision to “deep clean” my nutrition as I recently deep cleaned my refrigerator.

When Meryl Streep was asked to share her most important message for women, she kept it very simple. Stop worrying about your weight! Peg Doyle, a certified holistic health and nutrition coach for women over fifty agrees. She noted, “if we harnessed all the mental and emotional energy women have used fretting about weight, we could literally change the world”!

Peg Doyle offered her tips to healthy eating, which are not time consuming and do not require weighing oneself, as follows:

1. First thing in the morning, have a glass of water before anything else. ( I squeeze lemon in mine).

2. Eat breakfast every day (at home).

3. Keep your cabinets stocked with whole grains, nuts, beans, oils and vinegars, herbs and spices. (More about herbs and spices later……)

4. Keep fresh fruit on the counter and onions and garlic.

5. Keep fresh vegetables in the refrigerator; buy a few times a week if possible.

6. Your evening meal should take no more than fifteen minutes to prepare.

7. If you follow a recipe, it must be uncomplicated and allow substitutions of things in your cabinet. ( I keep saving complicated recipes from Pinterest that I will never make).

8. Don’t have second helpings.

9. Eat slowly, chewing each bite thoroughly.

10. Keep a water pitcher on the counter to remind yourself to drink.

11. Don’t drink soda. An occasional glass of wine or beer is okay.

12. Ice cream should be a small serving topped with walnuts. (How small are we talking? This one is hard for me.)

13. Change food with the seasons; soups and stews in fall and winter, salads and more fruit and fish in spring and summer.

14. Make dinner your last food of the day.

15. At a buffet, scan the whole table before making your choices.

16. If you don’t like cooking at night, eat your main meal at mid-day and have a breakfast-like meal in the early evening. It will keep the hormones that regulate appetite and sleep in better balance.

What remains as the single best way to nourish yourself and maintain a healthy lifestyle is a diet of simple foods. Your plate should consist of 1/4 protein (lean meat, fish, tofu, beans, lentils), 1/4 whole grains (brown rice, quinoa, barley, farro), and the remaining 1/2 of vegetables (mix of sweet like carrots, sweet potatoes, beets with bitter like greens). Of course, she advocates no white flour foods, refined sugars, and limited alcohol. Bye bye pizza and bagels! Ms. Doyle reminds us that what we put in our bodies becomes a part of us in our tissues, organs, systems and senses.

Her advice is sound and seemingly easy to follow. The research on using herbs and spices, however, surprised me and has me interested in experimenting more with them in my cooking. Turmeric, the spice that gives Indian curry its distinctive golden hue, with one of its phytonutrients, curcumin, has been studied because of its anti-inflammatory agents and anti-oxidants. Research is under way examining curcumin’s effects on preventing and treating cancer and as therapy for psoriasis and Alzheimer’s disease.

Most interesting, in a recent small study, Japanese researchers have people with Alzheimer’s who displayed classic symptoms like irritability, anxiety, and agitation, taking 100 mg. of curcumin in capsule form. After three months, their symptoms improved significantly.

In addition, offering virgin Bloody Mary’s spiked with turmeric, pepper and olive oil, a pain relieving cocktail to those suffering from knee pain from osteoarthritis, proved as effective as ibuprofen.

Other herbs and spices also contain a treasure trove of compounds that fight infection and chronic diseases. Try basil, cilantro (coriander), dill, ginger, mint, oregano, parsley sage, rosemary and thyme. (sounds like a Simon and Garfunkel tune) These are popular in Mediterranean and Asian dishes. Cinnamon reduces inflammation, can combat insulin resistance, and target and eradicate cancer cells. After reading about the benefits of herbs and spices, I plan to use more of them in my cooking.

While researching this topic, I found a “bright idea for weight loss in twenty minutes a day” which incorporates something I do every morning—take Linus for a walk. One unlikely weapon against weight gain is morning sun. In a recent study, people who got the most of their daily exposure to even moderately bright light in the morning, had significantly lower BMIs (body mass index or weight to height ratio) than those who got sun exposure later in the day. To take advantage, you need twenty to thirty minutes of morning light every day between 8:00 am and noon. Use your sunscreen and it will not change the outcome; researchers believe that the sunlight’s effects go directly from the eyes to the brain. I love this!!!!

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” Lao Tzu Remember persistence pays off when it comes to health. Starting with a single step today, e.g. a short walk, an extra glass of water, or fruit for dessert can bring you closer to the healthy, fit body you’ve always wanted. XO Penny Please share your views on this subject in the comments section. I love your feedback!

Resources

Younger in Eight Weeks by the authors of Prevention with Vonda Wright, M.D.

Eighteen Ridiculously Simple Ways to Eat Healthy and Avoid Dieting After 60 by Peg Doyle Sixtyandme.com

Food Becomes You: Simple Steps for Lifelong Wellness, by Peg Doyle

Wellnessandyou.com (Peg Doyle’s nutrition blog)

Twenty Years by Bob Greene