Eat This, and That…and That, too

Thanks to everyone who were kind enough to comment on my previous post about…well, everything! I decided to forego the P90x regimen for now. I actually became seriously interested in its “colleague” within the BeachBody universe, the Insanity program, but I couldn’t quite pull the trigger on the $144+ total cost. Not when one of my other New Year’s resolutions is to pay down the debt I accumulated from running my business!

Fortunately, we already have a Netflix account, so I’ve been going through a few DVDs, including some by Jillian Michaels, Kathy Smith, and yep, even some old Taebo DVDs (remember those?). It’s been raining a bit, and I was sick most of last week, so I’ve only been able to work out a few times, but otherwise I’ve been able to stick to my diet and — when I’m not suffering through another bout of sinus trouble — exercise plans.

Photo courtesy of _-0-_ on Flickr.

My diet has been surprisingly simple to implement, although it’s early yet. (Hard to believe that it’s only January 8!) I bought an armful of bags of organic frozen vegetables at Whole Foods, as well as legumes (chickpeas and black beans are my favorite), whole wheat flour, basmati brown rice, a big box of mikans (which I used to eat like M&Ms when I lived in Japan), and vegan meat substitues (the Quorn brand is a personal favorite). By the way, in case you’re wondering, I primarily buy frozen veggies because of all the things that I’ve read about the deterioration of nutrients in most vegetables by the time they reach the produce section of your local grocery store, even those at Whole Foods. Frozen veggies, on the other hand, are typically flash-frozen at the source, keeping most of their nutritious goodness intact until you can use them in your cooking. Since there are only two of us here in our little household, we just don’t use up enough produce in time to justify buying fresh. Frozen can be a little more expensive, but until we have the resources and time to grow our own veggies, we’ll stick with frozen for the majority of our produce needs.

In any case, I’ve been doing a lot of scratch cooking of late, which I’ve done for years and years, but now I’m really trying to be more conscious of the amount of food I put on my plate. I’ve read through a ton of books about French women and how they stay so thin, so I know it all really boils down to this: portion control. You can be a total lazy ass and not lift a finger to exercise, but if you keep your meals small and nutritious, you’ll be chic and slim, as Anne Barone would say.

Of course, I would still exercise if only for the stress relief benefits, but as I work through my DVDs and try to find better-fitting exercise clothes (most of mine are at least — wait for it — a decade old and well-worn. As you can see, I’m not a big shopper!) I’ve also been focusing on cutting back on what I eat but at the same time improving the quality of what I eat. So for example, rather than just rummaging through our not-well-organized pantry for a random Luna bar and a glass of juice for lunch, I actually took some time yesterday to saute some Tofurky Lemon Pepper Tempeh Strips in canola oil, grill a couple of whole wheat English muffins, and make sandwiches for me and B. (He’s still sick at home with the same sinus infection that felled me last week.)

I had a little tub of Raw Kale with Avocado salad that I picked up at the Whole Foods deli a couple of days before, and that made a perfect — and I mean perfect — “relish” for the sandwich. It’s meant to be eaten as an actual salad, but it had so much lemon juice in it that it needed something to cut the sourness. It really transformed the sandwich into a tasty, healthy lunch treat. We finished up with some homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (a modified recipe from the 1997 New Joy of Cooking), and boy, did I feel virtuous. Who said healthy, nutritious food has to taste bland?