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Today is the Superbowl. The Packers are not playing in it, so my interest lies more in watching the unique and hopefully entertaining TV commercials than in the results of the game. I’ll be at a neighbor’s house for a party, and am getting my head set for another event with food and drink at the center stage.  This mental preparation is another type of party planning, and has long term consequences far beyond the actual party.

The planning starts with breakfast. I want to have a good breakfast, with protein, fiber and fats, to make sure that I am never really hungry today. When I start with a hearty breakfast, the rest of the day is easier to control.  Today’s breakfast was four of my protein pancakes topped with strawberry Greek yogurt, two eggs fried up, and three ounces of leftover pork loin, pan fried with a bit of olive oil.

Total numbers for the breakfast:
Calories:     604
Fat:             18.1g    (23%)
Sat fat:             5g
Chol:           491mg
Sodium:       778mg
Carb:         70.7g     (40%)
Fiber:           18g
Protein:        65g     (37%)

Now I need to consider tonight’s party. What to eat? What to drink? I can’t really bring a scale along (well, I could, but I won’t) so I need to think of foods that are easily portioned. And I need to choose foods that won’t trigger a binge. That means I need to avoid chips. I LOVE chips. Any chips. All chips. They are my one true food weakness, my Frito Lay kryptonite.

I am bringing chicken wings. Not with hot sauce or Buffalo-style. The hot sauces are all heavily salted, and I generally avoid salt in my diet. This recipe is full of garlic, onion, and black pepper, with a combination of butter and olive oil. Just before grilling them, I will hit them with some Penzey’s 33rd and Galena salt-free spice blend.

I am also making two loaves of rye bread. It is hearty, thick, and chewy. It will fill me up faster and more rewarding than a handful of pretzels. It will also work well as a base for the one thing I purchased (pickled herring, sour cream style and vinegar style.) Yeah, I need some weird fish dish once in a while. 

I am bringing several large bottles of water, and two bottles of good beer. (Wisconsin’s Sprecher Brewing Company’s Seasonal Offering, Abbey Trippel.) That will be my way of limiting how my beer I will drink. If it’s not there, it is harder to drink. Of course, the fact that their house and ours share a common lot line means that I still need to exercise control, but I can do it.  (Note:  I only drank one bottle.)

I know there will be snack items that I will eat that are not on the “generally approved” list. I will still log them. And I will enjoy them. It is okay to eat unhealthy foods occasionally, but I believe that you must accept ownership of the foods. You stomach does not know that you are at a Superbowl party, and that those calories “don’t count”. If you want success, you need to follow the path every day. Log everything. Think before eating. And eat only what you really want.

When we looked through the cookbook, we saw a recipe that was based on cod. We haven’t had cod in a while, so we put it on the menu. But I was in the mood for something different. When I went to the grocery store, I saw fresh catfish fillets. I bought some of each.

The side dishes were simple (steamed red quinoa, and a garlicky sauteed spinach.) I made a quick and easy pesto (2 Tablespoons dried basil, 1 clove garlic crushed, 2 Tablespoons olive oil, 2 Tablespoons water.  Microwave for 1 minute and let it rest for 3-4 minutes.)

I rubbed the pesto on the cod and sprinkled a salt-free seasoning on the catfish (Penzey’s Forward).  I heated my skillet with a tablespoon of olive oil and fried the fish about 4 minutes on a side.

It was an easy meal.  Everything was finished in the 15 minutes it took to make the quinoa.

That was the meal. But what about the jogging in the title of this post?  I am learning how to jog. Sounds crazy, right? What’s to learn? Just go out and run low. It is as simple as that.

But for the longest time, I thought that I had no stamina to run. Signing up for the Bellin Run was an act of faith, because I wasn’t able to run far at all. How was ever going to make 6.2 miles?

I was basing that opinion on faulty information. When I would take Ozzy for a walk, sometimes I woujld challenge him. We would run. Believe it or not, pugs can run pretty fast, and I was trying to keep up with him. I couldn’t. I failed at it.

Then I tried to jog alone. Same result. Failed before I made it to the end of the block. Wow. The Bellin Run was going to be a fiasco. But yesterday I tried our treadmill. I set the speed at 5.5 mph and was able to stay on it for 0.4 miles. Today, at 5 mph I lasted 0.52 miles. My earlier problem was that I didn’t know how fast I should be jogging. I was sprinting instead of jogging.

My point is if you want to extend your abilities, sometimes you need guidance and help. In my case, a simple treadmill was the answer. But don’t assume that just because you can’t do something right now, you will never be able to accomplish it. Time, practice, effort and learning the proper techniques will result in success!

I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons as a child (back when they really were cartoons, with  anvils being dropped on many characters, booby traps exploding in their faces, and steamrollers making the “bad guys” as flat as a my laptop screen). Now THAT was good Saturday morning TV!  Sitting in the living room eating apple wedges and Skippy peanut butter, I would also watch all the commercials in the old black and white TV. It seems like kid’s cereals paid for everything on Saturday morning. Lucky Charms (“They’re magically delicious!”).  Cocoa Puffs (“I’m cuckoo for cocoa!”). Trix (“Silly Rabbit. Trix are for kids!”) And they all came with a special toy inside! I know that I pestered my mom to buy me cereal solely for that little diving submarine that came inside.

I also remember a line in every commercial: “Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs! Part of your balanced breakfast!” And they would show a bowl of their cereal with milk and a strawberry, a piece of white bread toast and a glass of orange juice.  (Translated to nutritional values, that was carbs in a bowl with milk, carbs on a plate, and carbs in a glass.)

Things have changed since then. Saturday morning TV has few animated cartoons (Bugs Bunny and Road Runner, et al. are long since retired in favor of Japanese-style anime.) And I no longer buy cereal based on secret toy surprises. Now I buy it based on nutritional labels. But what do I look for? I like a cereal with fiber, low sodium, and some protein. Up until this week, my cereal of choice has been Kellogg’s All Bran Original. It meets all my requirements.

Last weekend I was shopping at Aldi (my preferred grocery store) and found a new option. It’s their store brand (“Millville”) and the cereal is called Fiber Now. I bought a box. It is great. I will show you the numbers and let you compare them for yourself.

That is 1 cup of Fiber Now, topped with 1/4 cup fresh blueberries. I added 4 ounces milk (2% milk fat). Then I fried two large eggs and warmed up two slices of pork (leftover from a meal last weekend, saved for this purpose.) The pork totaled 3 ounces. The eggs were seasoned with Penzey’s Arizona Dreaming (salt-free) and topped with a total of 1/4 of mashed avocado.

The nutritional numbers for the entire breakfast:

Calories:            523           20% of the day’s calories

This breakfast is a VERY balance meal, and net carbs of only 30g!  Cholesterol is higher than what is generally suggested to consume, but I have never had a problem with serum cholesterol so I don’t really consider that to be a number of concern (however, if you have cholesterol issues, then maybe only use one egg, or two egg whites only.)

(Full disclosure: I have no financial interest in Aldi, Penzey’s or any other company or product I mention. If I talk about it, it is only because I am a very satisfied consumer. That being said, if anyone who reads my blog is the CEO of any of these companies and wants to talk with me further, I am always open to negotiations!)

It happens to everyone. We get in a routine, we develop a pattern. We get comfortable.

And then something happens. Maybe it’s the road construction that requires an unfamiliar detour. Maybe it’s an unexpected illness in you or a loved one. It could be unbudgeted expenses, such as car repairs or a broken hot water heater.

Disruptions come in many varieties, but they all have the same immediate result: a change in our plans, in our way of thinking. I’m thinking of two disruption right now. One is minor and the other rather major. The minor disruption is working my clinical schedule into my daily meal plans. My clinical rotation results in me being out of the house from 10am to 9:30pm. And when I am in the clinical site, there are no guarantees of a times to eat. I eat when I have a moment and when my student’s needs, and their patient’s needs, are all met. That means I eat quick and simple food and at random times. I can work around it, but it requires some planning. It also generally does not allow me to make nice meals, worthy of photos on the blog. 

Fortunately, today’s breakfast is a nice one:

That is a mini whole wheat bagel (toasted with a tablespoon olive oil), with two fried eggs, fresh avocado, and some random berries.  Simple. Delicious. Fast. Healthy. So at least my breakfast is starting off right. Nutritional data (excluding the berries):
Calories: 487
Fat: 35.4g
Sat fat: 6.5g
Chol: 423mg
Sodium: 325mg
Carbs: 28.7g
Fiber: 7.6g
Protein: 18.9g

Obviously, you can reduce the calories by eliminating the olive oil, or using less avocado, or only one egg, or no bagel. But this is a well-balanced breakfast, with a lot of healthy fats (62.6% of the calories come from fat) as well as proteins and fiber. This breakfast will keep me fuller for longer.

The other disruption is something that I’ve discussed on LoseIt. I achieved my weight loss goal, and now I began to founder. The enthusiasm of “Wow, I’m losing weight” was replaced by “Huh. I’m done losing weight.” Intellectually, I knew that at the end of this goal, there would be a transition, but I never expected it to be so visceral. I accomplished a great goal. And it felt almost empty. Many of my LoseIt friends reminded me (but Tracy especially) reminded me that Olympians often experience depression after participating in the Olympics. After all the energy and focus, after their event is done, their raison d’etre (cool, I’ve never had the chance to use that phrase!) is gone.

I feel the same way, but thanks to everyone on LoseIt, I think this phase will pass quickly. And I already had other goals in mind (the Bellin 10K Run) but to be honest, that seems so far away that it isn’t real. I’m able to run/jog almost a half mile without stopping. I have about 16 weeks before the Bellin. If I increase my ability by only 0.4 miles per week, I will be at 6.5 miles of running capacity in time for the run. So now I have a new, immediate and attainable goal. I believe that with a goal like this, I will break out of this minor funk and get back in the groove.

By the way, if you need to search for the meaning of raison d’etre, there are other definitions beside “purpose, the reason for existing, the rationalization”.  It is the name of a Swedish band, and the name of many songs. And the link goes to a fantastic beer from Dogfish Head Brewing. That beer is not your average Miller or Bud! If you can find it, and if you like big, bold and robust foods/beverages, I encourage you to give it a try. In fact, I can recommend any Dogfish Head beer without reservation (other than the caloric content.) Sam Calagione and his brewers are fantastic. (No, I am not a shareholder in the company.)

Sometimes a quick and easy salad is a perfect side dish, or even a main course. I try to keep a variety of greens on hand. I always have bags of baby spinach (we use three 9 ounce bags a week just as ingredients in our smoothies.) Aldi also has bags of what they call “Spring Mix Lettuces” but I always think it looks like someone just got done weeding a garden. (I don’t know what the leaves are, but it makes for a nice salad, and always tastes great.)

I like to slice a few cherry tomatoes on top. If I have some berries, I will add a quarter cup (this time it was blueberries.)  I also like to add a tablespoon of cheese. Sometimes cheddar, sometimes mozzarella, sometimes a bleu, but the cheese helps to balance the acidity of the berries.

My vinaigrette is simple, and will also vary according to my whim, but it follows the same basic recipe:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Teaspoon vinegar (I like balsamic, but I will also use red wine, malt or cider)
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon sweetener
Black pepper
1/4 tsp dried herbs (and as noted before, I like to use the salt-free blends from Penzeys.com.  This time I used their Mural of Flavor.)

Mix together. The mustard helps the oil and vinegar to combine without separating as quickly.

When I make my salad a main course, I add some smoked salmon, grilled shrimp, diced grilled chicken, or some leftover steak (about 4 ounces of each protein choice.) Another option is to add the vinaigrette to a can of tuna (drained), mix together, and top the salad with the tuna.

If you want to be vegetarian, slice a hard boiled egg on it and add an ounce of walnuts. If your personal diet choices allow it, a piece of hearty whole wheat or rye bread goes very well. 

Eating healthy can be interesting and exciting. You simply need to keep some basics on hand so that you will be able to make the foods that you want.

I won’t give any real recipes for this meal, just a description of my techniques.

The flank steak is lightly scored on both sides, rubbed with olive oil, black pepper and a lot of fresh garlic. I grilled it over high heat, about 6 minutes on a side. Normally that results in a medium steak, but the cold weather and wind reduced the heat. This steak turned our medium-rare to rare (which is also acceptable in my family.)

The mashed potatoes were peeled and boiled Yukon Golds, approximately 1 pound. After boiling, I mashed them, and then whipped them with an electric mixer, adding 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon low fat cream cheese. I topped my portion with 1 tablespoon Gorgonzola cheese.

A Kabocha squash is easy to make. I cut it in half and scoop out the seeds. I place it on a plate, cut side down, and microwave on high for 10 minutes.  Then I flip it over, add 1 tsp olive oil, and wrap with plastic wrap tightly, and microwave an additional 3 minutes (this keeps the steam trapped and helps it cook quicker.)  When finished, I scrape the flesh out of the shells, and serve with a teaspoon (or more) olive oil drizzled on each portion, with salt and pepper to taste.

The entire meal was 550 calories.

The TV was on this morning while I was making breakfast. I was just using the TV as a “white noise” generator, when a commercial for some brand of yogurt (I don’t recall it) came on touting its yogurt as being a good alternative to other snacks. The premise of the commercial was a youth spelling bee, and the word was “swap-ortunity”.

It got me thinking. What have I swapped in my journey to my current weight?

In terms of food, I made many changes. I drink water almost exclusively over any beverage with calories. I use olive oil instead of butter on my bread (and the bread is now homemade, with extra fiber from milled flax seed.)  Here is my most recent bread, a Rye/Flax loaf.

Formerly, I used to take 1-2 fish oil capsules daily (300mg omega-3 fatty acids per capsule), but one serving of flax seed (2 tablespoons) has more omega-3 than 8 capsules, plus fiber and protein.

I eat eggs frequently for breakfast, but toast rarely. Initially, I swapped whole eggs for egg whites in omelets, but as I went along I went back the whole eggs for the nutrients and fats. I used to worry about the fat in my diet; now I worry about too many carbs and not enough fat and protein.  Plain Greek yogurt has taken the place of low-fat sour cream for the same flavor and consistency but much more protein.
I’ve swapped salt for increased herbs and spices (I use a lot more fresh ginger and garlic now, and have many salt-free blends from Penzeys.com to punch up the flavor without adding salt.)

Instead of 1-3 beers a day, I have 6 ounces of red wine 3-4 times a week. I swapped caffeinated beverages for decaf (another step toward getting my blood pressure under control.)

I’ve swapped many things related to exercise, too. I walk the stairs instead of elevators and use distant parking spots instead of a spot as close to the door as possible. I use an old-fashioned reel mower (the kind with no motor) instead of my riding lawn mower. I used to just time my walks when I took Ozzy out, but now my FitBit counts them far more accurately (and then transmits the calories expended to my LoseIt profile for me!)

Finally, and most importantly, mentally I have swapped things. I no longer assume that I am a non-athlete, so to reinforce that I registered for the 10K Bellin Run. I am going to buy a bike as spring nears, and will start training for long-distance rides. I will be making a hike this summer (a round-trip walk from my current city to my hometown and back, totalling 166 miles, with only what I can carry on my back for support) just to do it.  I am learning to believe in myself and that I deserve to be healthy, and that being healthy is a step toward being happy.

What are some of your swaps?

1 Pita bread, softened
4 tablespoons roasted eggplant-hummus spread
1/4 cucumber
1/4 cup alfalfa sprouts
1/4 medium tomato, diced

Spread hummus on pita. Top with remaining ingredients. Fold and enjoy!

Nutritional Data
Calories: 265
Fat:         6.7g
Sat Fat:   0.5g
Chol:         0mg
Sodium: 221mg
Carbs:    43.2g
Fiber:       4.1g
Protein:  10.1g

Roasted Eggplant-Hummus Spread

Makes approximately 12 servings, 2 tablespoons each

1 medium eggplant
1 garlic bulb, separated into cloves, peeled
1 can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons olive oil
Black pepper to taste

Make slits in the eggplant. Insert a clove of garlic into each slit. Heat your grill, and place eggplant over the heat. As the eggplant begins to char, turn. Remove when charred on all sides and it is beginning to get soft.  Let cool until you can handle it.

Slice the eggplant in half and scoop out the flesh and garlic cloves. Place in blender or food processor. Add the can of beans. Blend or process until beginning to get smooth. Add tahini (sesame paste) and olive oil, and process/blend until very smooth. Serve warm or cold. Can be frozen for future use.

Nutritional Data
Calories:  67
Fat:       3.7g
Sat fat:  0.5g
Chol:     0mg
Sodium: 69mg
Carbs:   7.6g
Fiber:    3.2g
Protein: 2.6g