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From FAST Food to SLOW Food

~ Jenni at 100 Cups of Coffee ~ Leave a comment
This year has marked the next chapter in my journey with the popular four letter word FOOD.  Honestly it’s been a deep and spiritual journey that has caused me to SLOW down and research what I put in my own body as well as my husband and daughters.
Prior to this year, I had given food some thought as my family ate pretty clean and mostly organic.  However, I began to realize that my moderation and exceptions had become our norm.  My girls began to ask for dessert after every meal, driving through Chick-fil-a became my go to place when I just didn’t feel like cooking, and every other day it seemed we were celebrating a birthday party or special event.  I realized they were eating more sugar and sodium and not enough vegetables & fruits on a daily basis.  I had fallen into the lies that convenience matters more than health.  I needed our moderation and exceptions to be fewer.
I began training with Jenni in January and we bonded over food and what we were feeding our kids and husbands.  She suggested I read The China Study, and shortly after reading the book, we drove our cute husbands for a vegetarian meal & to the theater to view Forks Over Knives.  Both push for a PLANT based diet.  The more I research and read, the more I am convinced God gave us food to fuel our bodies and to protect us from many of the diseases of this world through a plant based diet.  This road is NOT popular and many believe this is crazy!   However, I believe this road leads to health and wellness.  My husband and I want to educate our own daughters on the importance of food for their bodies.  Pop culture will try to tell them to eat low fat and low calorie diets to maintain a certain weight.  I want them to KNOW & BELIEVE eating the proper vitamins & minerals will help them perform their best each day!  I am an educator by nature and believe the best way to CHANGE is through EDUCATION.
This year my life is moving from FAST to SLOW.  It has been HARD to slow down in a world built upon convenience and speed.  I will not lie, eating a plant based diet DOES require more time!  I pack more lunches, I cook more meals at home, and I shop more frequently for fresh produce.   However, I firmly believe the health of my family is WORTH EVERY MINUTE of the time I spend caring about what fuels their bodies.


Guest Blogger:  LeAnne Olive

Young Professionals Perspective on EATING CLEAN…

~ Jenni at 100 Cups of Coffee ~ Leave a comment
October’s CLEAN EATING blogs were written primarily from my perspective and I personally started eating clean post babies and husband.  Starting clean at this point in my life takes on it’s own challenges.  Having said this, I recognize that there are unique challenges of trying to clean eat while working a regular 9 to 5 job or cooking for one that I was unable to address.  This is a different “animal” and adaptations need to be made.  Having said this, INCREDIBLY the 3 “cleanest” eaters in my studio were young professionals.  They navigated the business lunches, eating out with friends, and weekend travel—and still came out on top!  KUDOS.  I asked if they would share just a few tips or reflections from their month in hopes to help and inspire other young professionals who see the clean eating journey as TOO difficult to attempt!
I would say the biggest thing to success in eating clean is to PLAN.  I know you have said this before but it completely makes the difference. You have to plan what you are going to eat–everything from breakfast to dinner and snacks in between before you go to the grocery.  You can’t just walk around and pick up the groceries that are clean and hope they can all go together.  You have to think about what are some dinner, breakfast, lunch, snack options.  
PREP is another big part of success.  Make the meals ahead of time (even salads) and have it divided out in the containers so that it is easy to just get and pack or eat.  If that means one dish for the week that you take for lunch, that’s great.  Just add other items for variety and make sure you also have enough recipes to rotate! 🙂  That is what I have done and it makes the world of difference.  I don’t want to waste the food so I have to eat it!!!  
I think it’s also so important that you have places to find information or ask questions.  That has been huge for me this year and I think a big difference.  Are these really clean?  What should I buy here? Going shopping with someone who eats clean was helpful as well.  
One last thing–you have to give yourself grace.  I know that there are times when one isn’t going to eat completely clean and you have to realize that it is ok.  October is a crazy time with football games, the fair, etc. (as is every month–there is always something) and I knew that it would be hard on football days to go to tailgates.  So I took the clean foods and then tried to eat more of those than the un-clean food.  To me, that is success.  Even if it is not considered a clean day, I know that it is a journey… 

Kate Garrison
Typically, my daily meals are looking like this:
 – Breakfast: Trader Joe’s Rolled Oats with almonds and banana
 – Snacks that I pack and take to work to eat throughout the day: Apple, Lara Bar, Baby Carrots, Dates, Almonds, Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel Bread, Apple Sauce
 – Dinner: Steamed Vegetables (carrots, broccoli and cauliflower) with hummus and a smoothie (spinach, mixed berries, a little bit of coconut milk (unsweetened), water, cinnamon and protein powder). OR Brown rice, black beans, peppers, onions and SPICES (I have a newfound love for spices)! I have made sweet potato fries a few times with plain sweet potato slices, cumin & pepper
-I also still drink coffee w/ soy and cinnamon some days
-Water has been huge for me. I think it helps stop cravings that lead to bad food choices for me. I always have a water bottle with me now to make sure I’m drinking enough throughout the day. If I don’t have it, I get headaches that I attribute to hunger.
Eating out is still really tough I think. I don’t have any good pointers on this one. In general, I’m learning it’s best to just pack snacks everywhere I go!

Kristen Zwingler

This is no challenge for a procrastinator…preparation and thinking ahead is key!  The facts are simple–the days when I’m successful in my clean eating are the days that I’m prepared.  Likewise, the days that I fall short of clean eating are the days when I leave my meals to chance.  There is power in declining a lunch invitation from colleagues at work because I have brought my lunch.  NOT ONLY have I packed my lunch, but I have made an intentional trip to Trader Joes to buy my food, taken the time to chop my veggies and wash my fruit, AND brought it to work.  I’m NOT wasting all that effort just to go indulge in some mexican lunch that will only make me feel overly full and sluggish for the rest of the afternoon! 
I’ve learned that I most often leave my meals to chance when I’m on the road, out of town, or traveling.  Being away from home and out of my routine throws a kink in my schedule and eating for convenience becomes even more tempting.  So, I’ve taken this 30 day challenge to see if I can eat clean even when I’m on the road.  Sarah and I took a weekend trip to Charlotte for a wedding and we packed just as many groceries as we did clothes!  It made so much sense-when we got hungry; we just reached for our water bottles and grabbed our carrots and hummus out of the cooler that we packed in the backseat!  We laughed as we realized how accustomed we’ve become to the mentality that ‘road trip=fast food.”  Our hotel room had a table full of protein bars and other clean snacks and we never woke up starving and itching to make a quick run to Starbucks!  So my advice is to NOT over think this–just be prepared!  Just like you are with your outfits for work-you have to make sure the dry cleaning has been picked up, the laundry is done, and everything is ironed because you HAVE to get dressed everyday.  You HAVE to eat too, so prepare for it!     
Emily Utz
So very proud of each and EVERY woman that participated in POWER’s clean eating challenge.  Continue to take what you have learned and keep going!  This is just the beginning…

Guest Blogger…Chris Cockerham on FOOD for FUEL

~ Jenni at 100 Cups of Coffee ~ 2 Comments

As I entered the month of October knowing so much of the focus would be on food and nutrition…I felt getting a few other perspectives would be a good idea!   Over the next week or so I will have a few of my clients share their experiences of eating clean and what their journey has been like as they change their nutrition.

The first blog is actually from my hubby.   He has a “gift” for getting things on one page.  Last night he told me he was going to write a few of his thoughts down on one page concerning food.  Once they were on paper I realized they were share worthy!  Chris formerly was a “meatatarian”.  His two food groups were meat and potatoes.  He actually used to tell others that “vegetables stunt your growth”.  Bojangles was a bi-weekly occurrence and I believe he won the “pounder challenge” at Fudruckers a few years back.   So the fact that he now is on a totally different “page” when it comes to food and nutrition is quite a shock to myself and those who know him!  Having said this, he is quite passionate about this “food thing” and has great information to share.  I hope you enjoy his…

Fueling the Machine:  A Guide to Wise Eating
FACT…
We are what we eat.
So if we eat non-nutrient rich, crappy food, we will feel poor and crappy.  We will lack the energy, and in turn the motivation to exercise, and generally feel lethargic.  But if we fuel our body like the intricately designed machines they are, they will perform for us like we have never seen before.
The FDA does NOT have your best interest in mind.
It’s not the FDA’s job to make sure that everything that hits the shelves is healthy and good for you.  It’s their job to make sure that everything that hits the shelves won’t kill you THE DAY YOU EAT IT.  Therefore, don’t assume that just because it made it to the supermarket shelves that it is good for human consumption.  We must become savvy food shoppers. 
We have OVERVALUED convenience and value.
In our fast paced world, we avoid being inconvenienced like its the plague and we been romanced by the idea that, “there’s nothing like a bargain.”  We can often find ourselves thinking, “Well I know it’s not good for me, but it was sooooo convenient,” or “I know this is artery clogging, but it was so cheap I had to get it.”  Begin to develop an appreciation for good, wholesome, nutrient-rich food that you would commit to going out of your way or paying a little bit more for food that is good for you.  YOU’RE WORTH IT.
We have become slaves to our taste buds.
Most of us know that what we eat is not good for us.  But, instead of listening to the wisdom of professionals, or our own common sense, we instead do whatever our taste buds desire.  As soon as we walk into a restaurant and smell that deep fried fill-in-the-blank, our taste buds begin clamoring for it and we appease them by giving them whatever they want.  Take control…form an uprising…demand your rights…tell them who’s boss.  Discipline yourself to surround yourself with healthy options and make up your mind about what you will eat BEFORE entering the restaurant and are tempted to be enslaved by your taste buds.
Start with these simple, but intentional changes
Get down with the BROWN.
The research is very clear that the processed white food items (pastas, white breads, white rice) that we fill our plates with, should not be part of a healthy diet.  Instead, replace those items with WHOLE GRAIN items: whole wheat breads, whole wheat pastas, and brown rice.  If it doesn’t include the word “whole” then don’t get it.  “Multigrain” is a ploy…don’t be fooled…this just means that it is a variety of processed grains but not the WHOLE GRAIN (bran, germ, and endosperm).  The whole grain has all the vitamins and nutrients that we are intended to get from this food source AND a significantly increased amount of fiber, which is essential for good colon health.
Aggressively insert vegetables into your diet.
Without intentional effort, most or our meals would consist almost entirely of meat, cheese, and a starch (rice, potatoes or bread).  In our culture, we generally have to go out of our way to get vegetables on to our plates.  We don’t need nearly as much meat as the common American fare would dictate and indeed, the negative consequences of our meat, egg, cheese, and dairy addiction are well founded.  Try to limit your meat intake to once a day, at most.  Replace it with beans, nuts, and more veggies (even spinach is 51% protein).
Remove the EMPTY calories from your diet.
Sodas, chips, white bagels, donuts, cookies, etc…
These items have NO nutritional value and literally damage your body’s internal organs.  Commit to filling your body with NUTRIENT-RICH food.  

Chris Cockerham

Tummy Troubles?!?!

~ Jenni at 100 Cups of Coffee ~ 1 Comment

As we have embarked on week one and two of P.O.W.E.R.’s Clean Eating Challenge,  Janine and I have heard many rumblings of concern.  Tummy rumblings that is.   We are hoping this is not because you are hungry–as this challenge encourages you to eat 5-6 times a day!  They are actually rumblings of discomfort.

This is because your body is likely going through a detox of sorts!    You may feel bloated, have extra gas, diarrhea, nausea, cramping, and many other intestinal responses.    It can even feel like you have the flu.   This is normal.  I know you are thinking, “I am eating healthier, shouldn’t I be feeling lighter and better than ever before?”  Slow down sister.  It takes a while for your body to move through the OLD stuff before it can process the NEW.     Fiber sweeps through your system like a broom.   Simply speaking, the extra fiber (a.k.a. fruits, veggies, beans and nuts) are all doing their jobs to eliminate toxins and remnants of processed foods and other chemicals in your body…and those things may have been hanging out in your intestines for years!   The response can be uncomfortable and annoying.  Truly when you make this shift it can feel like you are “detoxing” for a few days up to a few weeks.

The general consensus as you move through this adjustment period is to…

DRINK LOTS OF WATER…this helps to flush out the toxins and aids with digestion.

CHEW YOUR FOOD…this takes away from your body having to do the extra work.

EXERCISE…good news! You are in the right place!  This moves things through your system literally.

DIGESTIVE ENZYMES…can also be a helpful addition to your meal if you continue to have difficulty…but research and find one that is right for you…and give the first 3 a shot first!

If you are having tummy troubles…hang in there…it is normal.  You should be feeling better and reaping the benefits of a healthier, stronger YOU very soon!  


P.O.W.E.R. on and P.O.W.E.R. through!








Jump Ship

~ Jenni at 100 Cups of Coffee ~ 1 Comment

I think I mentioned I am going to try to insert a “Mommy Confessions Monday” every couple of Mondays.  I also have been tossing around and jotting down notes for a “Wellness Wednesday”!  So be on the lookout for more thoughts on Mommy madness on Mondays and health and wellness on Wednesdays!   


JUMP SHIP
Seven days and seven nights.  A SUPER long and super fantastic family vacation.  I was looking most forward to quality family time with no cooking and no clean up.   Mission accomplished.  I “cook” or prepare 4 to 6 dinners a week for myself and my family as well as mini meals, healthy snacks, and super intentional breakfasts and lunches.  I spend many Saturdays prepping for the next week by freezing, chopping or shopping to have healthy options even on nights when I work.   Occasionally we eat out, but the majority of meals we eat in…and so the thought of not having to cook and clean up after 30-35 snacks and meals sounded pretty fabulous!  And it WAS!  I loved walking to the buffet  or the main dinning room knowing that I would have wonderful servers taking our orders and then taking our dishes away.  

The boat was filled with food. Knowing that our family has been trying to make different choices and options I was so pleased with all that there was to eat:  oatmeal, and whole wheat toast for breakfast, stir fry and salad bar for lunch, and a sushi bar every night.  There was a fish and vegetarian meal option for the formal dinners.    The fruit and vegetables were beautiful. The options were endless! 

The boat was also filled with over indulgence.  Because it was available 24 hours a day, food portions were out of control.  The comments that I overheard concerning food at times saddened and often angered me.  There were children under the age of 10 over 100lbs overweight.  Those same children were being served 2 and 3 hamburgers, fries, and several desserts.  My children (if they ordered off the kids menu) were automatically given french fries or chips as their “side”. 

My kids quickly learned that they had choices on the boat.  They were given the choice to eat sugars in the morning immediately once they got up…or they could save their sugar intake for a special dessert treat.  (Great lesson.)   Since they understand simple math we showed them how to read the chocolate milk label explaining that it had 24g of sugar in one serving, and fruit loops had 12g in one small single serving.  We explained that they could choose Cheerios that had less than 1g of sugar, or they could choose the chocolate milk…but that would mean no ice cream sundae or special cake at dinner.  It was a quick and simple lesson.  They were reading the back of every box.  May be TMI but I am going to share anyway!  By day 2 my kids were not as “regular” as they are at home.  We eat a lot of fiber at home!  So they were uncomfortable and we quickly decided as a family to up our fiber in-take.  Back to the boxes.  We read the back and realized that Special K had no significant fiber and really most of the cereals didn’t.  So we switched to oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and quickly found everything in good working order.  The kids were happy to make these switches and the education and explanation was helpful.  I LOVED how they were reading the nutritional information on everything they were putting in their little bodies!   To them it was about making a great choice and they were happy after dinner to enjoy a MUCH more delicious melting cake than several sweet sugary cereals and snacks throughout the day!   

Food is personal.  I overheard a young couple discuss the meal they were about to eat.  The man expressed that he was tired of eating hamburgers and hotdogs as apparently they kept missing the main meal times for lunch and so they “had” to eat from the grill.  The girl who was very young and several hundred pounds overweight said, “I never get sick of hamburgers and hotdogs.”  My heart was sad.  Deep down I knew that it was  probably true.  But I also knew it was very likely that she was sick of being uncomfortable in her own skin.  She was sick of the looks and sick of the stares. She was sick or feeling the way she felt most days.  Food and the way she felt personally about food (and a myriad of other reasons) had shackled her to the body she was in…and it broke my heart. 
   
On one of the last days I was on the cruise there was a free seminar that was offered to the patrons of the boat:
“Can’t bear the thought of giving up dessert?  Got a weakness for pizza?  Not to worry.  Let our fitness instructors show you how to lose weight and still enjoy the foods you love.”  
SERIOUSLY?   The seminar was offered at 11am and I read this advertisement at 2pm or you can BET I would have attended and given the entire group a piece of my red-headed mind!   We are bombarded with lies.   We are told that it is EASY to lose weight…and specifically fat.   We are told that we can work out minimally and achieve maximum results. 

In this life the road less traveled is FAR from easy.  We were never promised an easy life or easy road.  We were never promised a carefree easy to maintain body that burns calories like a raging forest fire.  We were given a body to care for.  We were given a mind to make wise choices.  We were given taste buds (yes) but to enjoy the foods that God created for us to enjoy…not the crazy out of control madness that we pretend is “food”…what is a Dorito or a Peep anyway?    90% of the options that were offered on the boat to “fuel” our bodies were JUNK.  99% of the people were consuming them happily.  Some had guilt attached, many had emotion attached, many were confused and trying to eat well, but were confused about what actually is healthy, and some were ignorant of the fact that the fuel they were putting in their bodies was actually just rubbish.

Food is a choice.  Food is personal.  Food is fuel.  We have a personal choice to fuel our body with healthy whole foods that give us energy and that move our “system” the way it is supposed to move.  Whole foods and specifically vegetables provide a pharmacy of goodness and can even heal our bodies.   In light of what I saw and experienced, I realized that this cruise highlighted a very real and deadly epidemic that we face.  It is an appetite for something that was never intended to fuel our bodies.   To quote my husband, “we have become a slave to our tastebuds”…and that slavery is diminishing our quality of life.   It is a pride that says, “Why can’t I eat that?  I refuse to be deprived of my very right to put whatever I want in to my body whenever I want to put it there! After all, it is my body, it tastes good and makes me feel good…at least temporarily.”  
We have that right because we are given CHOICES.   If I were God and I knew all that I know in my finite mind about food and nutrition I can tell you right now I would not be so generous.   I would be certain that my creation would be eating GOOD food, food that was making them healthy and not sick.   Food that made their bodies strong and not fat.  (Food that I intended for them to eat, because I, being God created it that way, and I know what is best!)   But I am not God…and He is much more gracious than me. Therefore we have Carnival Cruises filled with more food options than you can imagine and most folks that are choosing to eat 2 to 3 hamburgers in one sitting as well as every buffet dessert option on the bar.  The volume of calories consumed in the one week alone was astronomical and I am not even considering alcohol in the equation. 

Good news!  The boat has a gym.  A gym with trainers who teach seminars about how folks can eat what they want and still lose weight!  A gym that was occupied by 5-15 people (at the most) when I was there…and a gym that took up very little space compared to the volume of people on the ship!  


Whew!   I know what you are thinking!  Get her off that ship and off her soap box!  

 Friends!  Unlike the trainers on the ship…I CARE about my friends and family.  I care about my clients.  I care about the young 20 something young woman who was 200lbs over”fat”, and the sweet little boy with red hair and freckles who had trouble walking around the ship due to the excess amount of weight on his precious 10 year old body!    I care that they know truth.  I care less about people being offended and more about their future well-being and life long health and wellness.  

My personal journey in nutritional changes did not occur until just a few years ago.  I know if I had read a blog like this a few years ago I would have quickly exited the site and made a mental note to never read the “Wellness Wednesdays” section of the blog!  Having said this, I started small.  We made simple small changes as a family.  So hear me say loud and clear…if you are fueling your body with things that are not real food…if you are skipping breakfast…if you are only eating 3 small meals a day…if you are eating 3 large meals a day…if you are only eating a small percentage of your daily fruit and vegetables…if you are eating food with more than 10-15 ingredients or ingredients you can’t pronounce…if you are not drinking water…if you are eating a lot of simple carbs and processed foods…if you eat out more than you eat in…then PLEASE…

Jump ship.  Get off at the next port.   Start to make small changes…read labels not the front of the box but the back of the box…eat fresh produce and lots of it…shop at a famrers market or the peripheries of the grocery store…eat breakfast…eat a small mini meal/snack every 4 hours…limit fast food…don’t drink your calories (i.e. soda, juice), drink LOTS of water…start to “cook in” more than eating out…take an hour or two and watch Food Inc. or grab a copy of The China Study.   Start by doing one or two SMALL THINGS.  


Our cruise was wonderful for our family and was a much needed cooking break for me.  I treasured every morsel I put in my mouth.  I treasured every waiter who took my plates away.   I would not trade the experience and was thankful for the opportunity for my awareness to be raised.  Now it is my turn to raise YOUR awareness.   Consider making a small dietary change or two.  AND here is my SHAMELESS PLUG:   Go check out FORKS OVER KNIVES  (http://forksoverknives.com/)  Join me this weekend on Saturday night as we view the Raleigh Premiere of Forks Over Knives!   (Wakefield 12)   It just might give you the courage you need to JUMP SHIP!