Sure, we’ve been quiet for a while – it happens. Sometimes, we’re busy doing nothing at all and are just lazy.

Other times, we might be revamping our entire relationship with food.

…Ok, that doesn’t happen that often, but this time (for me) – that’s exactly what I’m doing.

I grew up eating macaroni & cheese every night (straight . . . → Read More: The Impossible May Have Happened]]>

Sure, we’ve been quiet for a while – it happens. Sometimes, we’re busy doing nothing at all and are just lazy.

Other times, we might be revamping our entire relationship with food.

…Ok, that doesn’t happen that often, but this time (for me) – that’s exactly what I’m doing.

I grew up eating macaroni & cheese every night (straight out of the pot) while my single father grilled himself up a steak and peas as we set up the television for a feasting session every night. For one of my birthdays, I received a Costco pack of the good ol’ mac’n'cheese which should be an indication of my nutritional education during my youth. My mother has always been calorie/body conscious and likely shook her head in disappointment every time my little mouth spouted off “what I’ve eaten at Dad’s place.” My father could eat pork, fried chicken, and NutterButters every night for the rest of his life and be the happiest camper in the park.

This lifestyle – combined with my love for computer-playing and television-watching – gave me ample experience in the world of childhood obesity. I’ve been overweight my entire life. Not just overweight, but very unhealthy. While I played lots of sports and went quite far in my athletic career, I was almost always the biggest girl on whichever team I was on. Despite the fact that I’ve ditched my bathroom scale for good, I know that I am still quite overweight.

Once upon a time, I had a step-mother who convinced me that I would have more friends and be more popular if I were thinner, and was quick to put my 11 year old self onto the Atkins diet. I know, right? Needless to say, I lost weight, but as soon as I deviated from the no-carb lifestyle, I packed it all back on. Then, in my late teens, I gave a go to South Beach diet. Then, the cabbage soup diet (lordy, the embarrassment accompanying this text is palpable). I was so fixated on losing weight and “getting thin” that I would try anything.

Then, upon moving to Chicago in 2008, I actually lost weight when I didn’t intend to. How? Through the time-tested method of being dirt poor and not having a car. I ate Top Ramen and frozen burritos – lost about thirty pounds. Wow. Really? Yes, really. I kept it off for a while before moving back to Seattle in August of this year. I lived in my car, as previously mentioned, and had no kitchen of my own. Do you  know what that produces? Pounds back on, that’s what. I gained a bit of the weight back, for sure.

I’m exhausted, as this point. I’m no longer living in my car, and I have a kitchen – but dude, I am exhausted. I’m in a shit mood most of the time, and my energy level is low, low, low. But I have everything I want – what is the deal?

A couple nights ago, I was surfing Netflix Instant – as I am wont to do – and stumbled upon a film called Foodmatters. I am a sucker for food show of any kind, so this was an immediate play as I sat in bed with my boyfriend. The show illustrated how off-kilter our culture is – allotting our largest dollar amounts to cars, homes, and luxuries… Completely ignoring our bodies – you know, that part of life where the life comes from. That was a major “duh” moment for me. They continued to talk about how processed foods affect our bodies and how the medical industry promotes “a pill for every ill” and touts that “too much [vitamins] can make you sick – be careful!” They had experts from every industry speak on it – food, agriculture, nutrition, medicine… Something clicked.

While no diets were being promoted or especially waxed upon, talk of superfoods and vitamin supplements caught my attention. The raw foodist’s words caught my attention. The organic farmer’s words caught my attention.

The next morning, my boyfriend and I decided we were going to try going raw.

Not 100% raw, mind you – I will never give up pizza. But every person in that program mentioned that at least a 51% raw diet not only helps your body function, but it helps your mind function. What more can you really ask for? We went to our local used book store and purchased Raw Food Life Force Energy by nutritionist Natalia Rose. While the book’s focus on “lose so much weight!”, “be gorgeous!”, “youthful appearance forever!!” really rubs my TD button the wrong way, the food-related and body-related information contained within… just makes sense.

I’m excited to start this new path and have a place to share how it’s affecting my brain and body – I think it’s going to be pretty major. I’d love to hear from any raw food purveyors or anyone who has seen Foodmatters- leave a comment!

Not just two posts in a row, but two meals in a row that I didn’t completely mess up with 1/2 lbs. of melted cheese or something.

Lunch was almost an entire bag of orange chicken (so delicious – might be dinner), but instead was this:

JEALOUS? You should be, because this is the best salad ever.

Good afternoon from beautiful Queen Anne.

I’m housesitting for my sister, as well as taking care of her kitties. This is great for several reasons:

1. Remember how I’m homeless? 2. ANTM Marathon Wednesdays have gone uninterrupted. 3. I get to, you know, cook for myself which means I eat more than pre-packaged crap! Very exciting.

As a direct product of . . . → Read More: Starting to “get” it?]]>

Good afternoon from beautiful Queen Anne.

I’m housesitting for my sister, as well as taking care of her kitties. This is great for several reasons:

1. Remember how I’m homeless?
2. ANTM Marathon Wednesdays have gone uninterrupted.
3. I get to, you know, cook for myself which means I eat more than pre-packaged crap! Very exciting.

As a direct product of the above, this morning started off perfectly with a cup of coffee and email-checking while looking out at Elliot Bay and the train yard.

Gorgeous! After my first cup of coffee, I ate breakfast (and before 10:30am – I know!).

Last night, my boyfriend and I had some appetizer-y foods involving some fresh mozzarella, basil, tomatoes and a sourdough baguette. This morning was “leftovers” that I threw into the broiler for a minute, accompanied by some apples and amazing Valencia peanut butter (with flax seeds!).

It was amazing. However, now it’s 12:08 and I’m snacking on almonds… Because I’m hungry! Already! What gives!

Lunch plans include spinach, a chicken patty thing, and tomatoes. Can you guess what it is?

Did I mention that I’m sick? Because I am. And it’s making it really hard to know what my body wants. Between coughs and sneezes, I feel like I want to eat an entire cow, an entire bag of pasta, and three cans of soup. I’m trying to avoid dairy for mucous-related (entirely too pleasant, that . . . → Read More: But there’s, like… no cheese…?]]>

Did I mention that I’m sick? Because I am. And it’s making it really hard to know what my body wants. Between coughs and sneezes, I feel like I want to eat an entire cow, an entire bag of pasta, and three cans of soup. I’m trying to avoid dairy for mucous-related (entirely too pleasant, that thought) reasons… But that… means… no… cheese? I don’t understand.

So lunch was chili. I’ve been looking forward to my Trader Joe’s Turkey Chili for like three days. It’s my favorite chili they make (the chicken is good, too… Wait, maybe it’s the chicken I love and the turkey was an ok substitute…?), but today it was just so-so. Why? No 5 lbs. of melted cheddar on top. I could have cried.

I made another slice of toast (Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat Sourdough I Don’t Know Why I’m Capitalizing Everything), but this time, wiped some butter (literally, with the stick) across the top and doused it in garlic powder – it’s one of my favorite soup/chili/red sauce accompaniments. Also? A massive salad (half a romaine heart with one and a half tomatoes).

I lied a little bit with the “no cheese” claim, because on both, I sprinkled a little grated Parmesan on both the salad and the chili. I know, I know.

I also decided to try some of that crazy spray dressing, as I seem to over-dress my salads, typically. I used to know a girl named Jovana who only put salt, pepper and garlic salt on her salads… But I can’t. I love dressing too much. So this spritz stuff was a potential lifesaver.

2 calories per spray, it says! Ok. I probably sprayed like 15 times (one for each bite, I guess) so that’s pretty good. It’s allegedly “ranch”, but it wasn’t terribly ranch-y. It’s hard to duplicate the creaminess of ranch when you’re literally spraying a stream of it onto lettuce. I’d probably do it again, it was easy and dare I say – fun.

This was a pretty mega-tastic lunch, so I’ll probably try to convince the boyfriend to have a lighter dinner. Of. Something. No idea yet.

Back to insane amounts of tea. (Inhaling Traditional Medicinals Gypsy Cold Care - feels amazing but takes too long to make! I don’t like waiting 15 minutes for my damned tea bag to steep, ok?)

Oh, and on the water front: it’s been 4 hours and I’ve gone through… 3/4 of my bottle. Bad Lindsay.

So, over the last day, I’ve been trying to examine my relationship with food a little more closely. Namely:

That was… revealing. Here are some [ridiculous] things I discovered:

I don’t believe that coffee and food should go together. Well, espresso and food . . . → Read More: Brain Functions & Break…fast?]]>

So, over the last day, I’ve been trying to examine my relationship with food a little more closely. Namely:

• When I eat
• How I’m feeling when I get hungry
• What I crave
• What I actually end up eating

That was… revealing. Here are some [ridiculous] things I discovered:

I don’t believe that coffee and food should go together. Well, espresso and food should not go together. Because of the nutritional contents of a soy latte, I figure it is adequate as a meal-replacement. This is… not… so… good. According to this site, there are 202 calories, 6.5g of fat, 36g carbs, and 9g of protein (!!) in my mocha. While that’s a lot of nutritional content for a morning coffee, it is not a meal. That is not an adequate 9am-1pm hold-over.

When I do feel hungry (which, I’ve read, is usually a sign that you’ve waited too long to eat), about 50% of the time, I remember that I want to eat healthy. The other 50% of the time, I grab whatever is convenient. The healthy 50% usually results in me sifting through the refrigerator, getting annoyed that anything I could eat will take 45 minutes of prep or simply doesn’t exist, and I end up going for, again, the most convenient food available while I try not to think about it. SO HEALTHY.

Oh, and I don’t drink NEARLY enough water.

So. This morning, I decided it would be different. At 11am, I decided that I, LINDSAY, WAS GOING TO EAT SOMETHING. After looking through the fridge at “my office”, I sourced some Trader Joe’s whole wheat sourdough (my favorite bread of all time), some Trader Joe’s whipped cream cheese (um… going to eliminate dairy soon, swear…), and some smoked salmon. Oh! And capers. VOILA. In this crazy fridge where I usually glaze over and see nothing, I found something delicious.

It was amazing. It was about 250 calories which, combined with my coffee-of-doom, equals a good breakfast. 11am is not a great time for breakfast… but it’s a start.

As for the water, my sister gave me this great water bottle (after my brand new, 40 oz., $30 Kleen Kanteen immediately dented, 2 days after I bought it), so it is officially filled and iced and ready for massive consumption.

How many bottles of water do you drink per day? Or glasses? Or whatever? I think this thing is like 20 oz. or something. I’m going to shoot for 2-3 of these per day.

Lunch will hopefully be easier. (I HAVE CANS OF THINGS.)

I’m Lindsay.

This is basically me, if I had no skin, bones, or muscle mass:

Delicious mocha from Bird On A Wire Espresso

20 ounces of chocolate, soy milk, peppermint and three shots of espresso. Nice to meet you.

Here’s my issue: I’m so enamored with food that I find really extremely stupid and illogical ways to validate . . . → Read More: 20 oz. of Soy Mocha Does Not A Healthy Choice Make]]>

I’m Lindsay.

This is basically me, if I had no skin, bones, or muscle mass:

Delicious mocha from Bird On A Wire Espresso

20 ounces of chocolate, soy milk, peppermint and three shots of espresso. Nice to meet you.

Here’s my issue: I’m so enamored with food that I find really extremely stupid and illogical ways to validate eating things. Be it my caloric intake for that day (“breakfast was only, like, 200 calories…[of mocha].“) or such intense concepts as my own mortality (“You only live once… LIFE COULD BE OVER TOMORROW I’ll take two brownies, thank you.“).

There is… one other slight issue: I currently live in my car. It’s not like an “oh-so-impoverished” thing, it’s more like an “I just moved across the country for my own sanity” thing that didn’t come free with mounds of extra cash for me to snap up a fancy place to live. I’m a freelancer, so work isn’t always constant, and in tough financial times, my options become “eat nothing” or “eat crap.”  I spend a lot of time at my boyfriend’s place (he has a kitchen, it is fancy) so I can cook every so often…

…That’s a lie – if I wanted to, I could find access to a kitchen every day. See my excuses? They’re silly.

I’ve been overweight for the majority of my life. Over the last couple years, I lost a decent amount of weight – about 25-30 lbs. – and was on my way to being in good health… Then I moved home. Since I’ve been back (a whopping 6 weeks), I’ve managed to put some of that weight back on. I KNOW. Six weeks of new-home bliss is all it took to get the pounds back on. I’m not going to let myself slide back down that slippery slope of carelessness again.

Today, I started writing down what I eat, and when I eat it. Because I have no set schedule, I often eat at random times during the day. I don’t have scheduled lunch breaks, and my location varies all the time… I need to get organized.

This morning, I had [don't laugh] a delicious Trader Joe’s veggie corn dog. Then, for lunch, I had a HUGE salad, and a chicken… tamale. No, it’s not perfect, but it’s a lot less than I usually eat.

We’ll see how this goes.

Good With: Meat of most kinds, pasta, soup, sandwiches… Prep Time: <5 minutes Cook Time: N/A Cost: Less than $1 per serving

Makes 2 Servings

Conor makes fun of me because I enjoy a good Caesar Salad. Well, he makes fun of me for constantly ordering it (it’s my staple fallback if nothing else looks good!), because it prevents . . . → Read More: Caesar Salad]]>

Good With: Meat of most kinds, pasta, soup, sandwiches…
Prep Time: <5 minutes
Cook Time: N/A
Cost: Less than $1 per serving

Makes 2 Servings

Conor makes fun of me because I enjoy a good Caesar Salad. Well, he makes fun of me for constantly ordering it (it’s my staple fallback if nothing else looks good!), because it prevents me from trying new things. Caesar Salads are salads with reputation, they’re one of the only meal-worthy salads out there and, for that, it should be celebrated.

Ingredients

2-3 hearts of romaine lettuce
6 cloves garlic, peeled
3/4 cup mayonnaise
5 anchovy fillets, minced
6 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 lemon
Salt & Pepper

Preparation Instructions

1. Wash & dry the iceberg lettuce. Chop it into bite-sized pieces. Put a paper towel in the bottom of a mixing bowl, and pt the romaine on top, allowing it to drain while you assemble the dressing.

2. Combine all ingredients into a bowl, and whisk thoroughly. Remove paper towel from lettuce bowl and combine.

3. Serve with shaved parmasan (or grated), and a lemon wedge.

Yaaaaaaaaargh!: We’ve used this recipe so many times since we first tried it. It’s so fast, and so easy… And after the initial investment in anchovies (get the oil packed, in a jar), it’s pretty cheap. The anchovies are pretty… soft, meaning “5 fillets” is nearly impossible to acquire because they fall apart very easily, so just estimate, or adjust based on your love for salty, miniature fish. We love a lot of black pepper on this salad, but it’s not required – just highly recommended. If this recipe is too salty, fishy, lemon-y, or what have you… Adjust it! Play around with each ingredient and see what mix you like best. This recipe can be expanded to accommodate dinner salads.

We’ve decided that formulaic television programming isn’t just for making fun of anymore – it’s an excuse to drink beer.

…When you make it into a drinking game, anyway.

Our first subject was the high-school-based comedy-romantic-drama-satire, Glee. Here’s . . . → Read More: Drinking With TV: Glee #8]]>

We’ve decided that formulaic television programming isn’t just for making fun of anymore – it’s an excuse to drink beer.

…When you make it into a drinking game, anyway.

Our first subject was the high-school-based comedy-romantic-drama-satire, Glee. Here’s the result:

Good With: Salad, Chicken dishes, Stand Alone Prep Time: <5 minutes Cook Time: 35-45 minutes Cost: <$1.00 per serving

Growing up in a poor household and raised by two hippies, this dish was a staple of my upbringing. Extremely cheap and easy to make, but packing a flavorful and healthy punch, it’s something I’ve never stopped eating. . . . → Read More: Brewer’s Yeast, Rice & Cheese]]>

Good With: Salad, Chicken dishes, Stand Alone
Prep Time: <5 minutes
Cook Time: 35-45 minutes
Cost: <$1.00 per serving

Growing up in a poor household and raised by two hippies, this dish was a staple of my upbringing. Extremely cheap and easy to make, but packing a flavorful and healthy punch, it’s something I’ve never stopped eating. There’s really not much to it – rice, brewer’s yeast, cheese – it’s about as simple as you can get.

Ingredients

Makes: About 2 servings

1 c. uncooked rice
2 c. water
4 tbsp. Brewer’s Yeast
1/2 c. shredded cheese (cheddar, jack, etc.)

Prepraration Instructions

1. Bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan, add rice. Bring to a second boil, and turn the heat all the way to low. Simmer, covered, for 35 minutes.

2. Once rice is done, spoon into bowls. Divide and add shredded cheese, followed by half the Brewer’s Yeast. Serve hot.

Yaaaaaaaargh!: We weren’t kidding when we said “easy”. However, Brewer’s Yeast can scare some people with its ominous price tag. We bought a sizeable can (28 oz.) for about $17, and have been using it for almost a year. If you need more convincing, Brewer’s Yeast has 16g. of protein per each two tablespoons. If that’s not nutritious, I don’t know what is.