Prep yourself before you wreck yourself

April 22, 2013 / ktbuchs87 / 1 Comment

Eating healthy is too hard and too time consuming. It is so much easier to just grab some quick snack that is already made and get on with my day.

No, I haven’t gone crazy, and no it was not me who uttered those words. But I have heard every variation of this complaint when it comes to eating well. In fact I know that this is a big issue that keeps a lot of people from giving up their junk food lifestyle and eating healthy. People just don’t have time in their busy lives to sit there and prepare their own meals and snacks. While I am not diminishing all the hard working, busy people out there, I believe that everyone has enough time to prep their own food and snacks. I do it every week, and there are a ton of other bloggers out there who are just as busy as you that do it too. Check out Lindsay from The Lean Green Bean, who posts tons of pictures and recipes for her week of eating.

My point is that with a little planning and a little bit of time one or two days a week, you can make sure that you eat healthy the whole week. Sure, it does take a little effort, but I argue that the effort is well worth it in the end. Your good health counts on it! This week I am going to invite you into my kitchen and share some of the foods/tips I use to have a successful healthy week of eats for both Adam and I!

Plan it out. My number one tip for eating better is to take a few minutes and write out your menus for the week. I’m weird and I like to plan way ahead and have the whole week of dinners written out so I know exactly what I am making each night. You don’t have to write out a detailed menu for every single meal for the week, but creating a general plan will help eliminate the frantic 5:30 rush to find something to put on the table. This usually leads to throwing something unhealthy (think: frozen pizza) into the oven just to feed the hungry masses slobbering away at your kitchen door. When you have a rough plan of your meals it makes it that much simpler come eating time. I do my grocery shopping on Friday’s, so on Thursday I usually write out a weeks worth of dinner and then make my grocery list. I don’t do any fancy new recipes during the week and I stick to simple dishes. If I want to try something new I save that for my weekends when I have more time. Some examples of a typical weeknight meal are frozen fish (tilapia, salmon), steamed veggies and brown rice. Another favorite of Adam’s is a skillet scramble that usually consists of potatoes, eggs, beans, salsa, various spices, and anything else in the fridge that looks good. Keep it simple and easy and that will make your nights a breeze. No need to be a gourmet chef every night to eat well.

Pick a prep day. Like most people I work Monday-Friday and don’t have much extra time during the week. So I take one day over the weekend and I get as much food prep for the week done as I can. It usually takes me only about 2 hours at the most to get what I need to get done and for some of my prep I can do two things at once. A typical prep day will include making quinoa breakfast bars for Adam, hard cooking eggs for snacks during the week, making roasted chickpeas for lunches, cooking brown rice or quinoa for dinner sides, cooking dried beans, and cutting up vegetables for lunches and dinners. Simple steps like this make it so easy during the week to just grab the prepped food and be on your way. When I first started utilizing a prep day it took me a little longer to get everything done. But as I did it each week I got faster and more efficient at my routine and now it is just habit to get all the stuff done that I need to. Don’t give up if it seems like you are in the kitchen forever when you first start out, once you get your rhythm the steps will fly by and you will be done before you know it!

One magic word: LEFTOVERS. Seriously, learn to love and use leftover food. This habit alone will make your life 10 times easier. Plan to make a little extra food for your dinner and voila! You have just created lunch for the next day. Remember how I mentioned my best friend the slow cooker last week? On the weekends I make three big crockpot meals that provide us with leftovers for the entire week. I also make extra vegetables for dinners during the week and those also get used for lunches or as sides for another dinner. Leftovers have been a major help in our life and keep us eating healthy at every meal!

Now that I have given you my three biggest (and in my humble opinion most helpful) hints, I thought I would share my refridgerator/freezer/pantry with you to give you some visuals on how I stock/prep for the week!

First up we have my freezer:

I buy big bags of frozen fish (top left corner) from Aldi. This saves money and time because it is so easy to grab a piece of tilapia or salmon, season it, put it in a baking dish, cover and bake for 20 or so minutes. Remember, you don’t need to get all fancy for your week night meals. I also have frozen veggies, that I steam for quick sides. I also have individual bags of beans that have been cooked and frozen (top right corner). These are so simple to throw into any dish, from soups to scrambles to salads, and they are so easy to make in your crockpot. There are also some frozen pork chops that I make for dinner for Adam some nights (bottom left corner) and frozen homemade bread for Adam’s breakfast toast (bottom left corner).

Next up, my fridge:

Starting with the top we have a lot of eggs. We use eggs for breakfast, dinner, and snacks. We hard cook them, scramble them, turn them into omelettes or frittatas, poach them, pretty much any way you can eat/cook an egg we have done. Eggs are relatively cheap and they make healthy, quick meals! Moving on down to the next shelf we have parsnips and carrots that will be used for lunches and dinners and next to that we have those beautiful leftovers I mentioned earlier! On the bottom shelf and in the drawers we have more fruits and veggies (like broccoli, cabbage, beets, turnips, and pears) that will be used for lunches and sides for dinners. My go to method for veggies is to cut them up and then come dinner time throw them on a foil covered pan, drizzle some olive or coconut oil, season with whatever strikes my fancy, and roast them at 400 for 20-35 minutes. Simple, quick, and delicious. Also on the bottom shelf we have water (a must no matter what), almond milk for my breakfasts/baking purposes, veggie broth, oj, and hidden back there are some beers for Adam. A guy’s gotta have his brew! On the door, where you can’t really see, I have a variety of condiments such as mustard, homemade ketchup, hot sauce, salsa, jams, and other various things that can be thrown into recipes to make things taste delicious!

A quick glance at my spice cabinet:

I’m not going to name every single spice in my cabinet, because quite frankly I am a spice junky and have probably hundreds of spices! I have talked before about how important spices are to healthy eating because they are such a great way to season your food without adding unnecessary chemicals/calories to your meal. Start experimenting and find out what your favorite tastes are and once you figure that out you can even start making your own spice blends, like a taco or pizza seasoning!

And finally my cupboard/pantry:

In the top picture we have all my grains and flours. I use everything from brown rice to quinoa to lentils to steel cut oats. I also have almond flour (for gluten free baking), whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour. I also have raw almonds for snacks, onions and potatoes for meals, ground flax seed for baking, and various dried beans to be cooked. In the bottom picture we have mostly canned goods and stockpiled stuff like soups, peanut butter (a MUST in this household), loose leaf teas and various other baking supplies. Usually when there is a good sale on say pumpkin or diced tomatoes (fire roasted and no salt added are my favorite), I will stock up. This makes it easy to have them on hand to throw into any meal.

Now this is by no means all the food we have in the house any given week. We also have various other fruits and vegetables that are kept in different areas. Hopefully the pictures helped give you an idea of how of how to stock your own kitchen and some of the tips I use gave you some ideas of how to prep your own healthy eating lifestyle. Eating better does not have to be stressful as long as you just take some time to plan it out and stick to simple techniques. The easy act of just cutting up some carrots for lunches or adding an extra chicken breast for dinner to make leftovers can make a world of difference in eating better! So give a few of these tips a try and see how easy and beneficial it really is! If you already do your own prep day and have some tips/advice of your own, feel free to share with everyone! The more we talk with each other and share our healthy ideas the easier it is to change the way we eat and live!

Have a fabulous week and I’ll see you next Monday with a post about some of the meals Adam and I eat throughout the week!

Moving, without all the stress

April 15, 2013 / ktbuchs87 / 1 Comment

It’s official, we have finally moved! I know I haven’t mentioned much on here about us having to move, mostly because we weren’t really looking to move. We found out in February from our landlord that she was not renewing our lease and that we had until May to find a new place. Needless to say we were a little shocked.

Living room, with gorgeous sunlight coming in off the balcony!

From that point it was a mad dash to try and find a new place in the area and within our price range. Because we were not expecting this, it was obviously a bit of a stressful situation. I’ve mentioned it before in the wedding post, I do not tend to handle stress very well. I pretty much turn into a huge mess and no one really wants to deal with me. Plus it messes with my health big time. My acne flares up, my digestion goes haywire, I become more susceptible to illnesses, and overall, I just feel awful.

Dining room!

Knowing this about myself, I was determined not to let that happen to me this time around. One of my health goals this year is to really work on how I manage stress, as well as how I react to stress. An unexpected move seemed like the perfect stressful situation to try and work through. I know that everyone goes through stressful times in their lives, so I thought that I would share with you some of the steps I took this time around to try and minimize/manage my stress. You can tailor these to your specific needs and hopefully they will help you out as much as they did for me!

Office/guest bedroom. Hi Adam!

Accept the stressful situation. Huh? Yes, I said accept. I am a person who loves to have control over every aspect of my life. Unfortunately, life does not care about that and will inevitably throw curve balls your way, causing you stress. It has taken me a very long time to learn and begin to accept the fact that there are just some times when I will not be able to control a problem. I had no control over the fact that my landlord was not going to renew my lease. Nor did I have control over the fact that I had less than three months to find a new home and move. Worrying or stressing over the situation was going to get me nowhere, so rather than let it bring me down I decided to just accept the fact that this was happening and move on from there. I am not saying you have to be happy about unplanned stress in your life, but there are times when all the worrying and fretting will amount to nothing. In fact, it will just add to your misery. So once that curve ball is thrown your way, take a deep breath, accept that this is happening and move forward. Which leads to my next point…

Make a plan. Once you accept that some stress is going to enter your life, create a plan to help and work through that stress. For me, creating a timeline showing how we would deal with the situation helps to lessen the stress. For this move, I made a timeline of when certain things needed to be completed. The time when we needed to find a new place, the time we needed to tell our landlord, the time when we needed to start packing, and the date we needed to move by. Having checkpoints for me to reference helped me feel more in control of the situation and it also helped to make sure we were getting things done in time. Having a basic outline of how you can tackle your dilemma will help you to feel more in control of your situation.

Our bedroom… don’t mind the laundry on the bed

Realize there will be hiccups. Even if you plan down to the very last detail, there will probably still be some unforeseen issues that will arise. Clearly there is no way to make sure everything goes 100% smoothly, 100% of the time. By knowing that beforehand, it can make it a little easier to deal with the little things that pop up. Don’t let those little things stress you more, handle them in the best way possible and keep moving towards your ultimate goal.

Laundry room/mucho storage! I love having a washer and dryer right in my home!

These tips are obviously of the broader type, meant to be utilized in most types of stressful situations. Here are some of the more specific things that I did to deal with this move and not freak out.

1. I asked for help. This is a huge thing for me because I generally have the attitude of I can do it all by myself. I have learned the hard way that I can NOT do it by myself, and I have a ton of people in my life who are more than willing to help me when I need. All I have to do is ask them. I asked both my parents and my in-laws for help with the move as well as my sister and to our surprise and delight, some of Adam’s friends offered to help us the day of our move. Everyone was ready and willing to help and never once made it feel like it was a huge inconvenience. I was overwhelmed with their gusto and both Adam and I were super appreciative.

2. I started packing early. Instead of trying to jam all the packing into just one day, I spread it out over a few weeks. This helped it to seem less overwhelming and made the process go fairly smoothly. Plus, with the way the timing worked out on our lease, we were able to move some things in stages, which REALLY made the actual moving day less stressful.

3. I became best friends with my slow cooker. I was already on fairly good terms with my slow cooker before this move, but I really gave it a work out that whole weekend. Because I knew that I would not have the time (or quite frankly the energy) to make healthy dinners, I planned to have three slow cooker meals for that weekend. It was so simple to just throw the ingredients in in the morning and have a delicious meal at the end of a long day. It was so important for me to eat, and eat healthy, so that I could function properly. I also made sure to save some leftovers from the week before so that we could also have quick lunches ready.

Kitchen, and yes that is the crock pot cooking our dinner!

All these things helped to greatly reduce my stress levels this past weekend. Did I still freak out and have to calm down? Of course. Like I said before, this was my first real test of better handling a stressful situation. There were times I felt like crying and giving up, but rather than bottle that up and let it destroy me, I talked with Adam or my friends and family. They were able (and happy) to listen and offer advice and encouragement and it really made a difference. I experienced none of my usual health problems, and in fact have felt even better than I did before the move! You can work through a stressful situation and come out better on the other side. Just take some time to compose yourself, create a plan of attack, and call on the ones who love you to lend a helping hand!

I hope that these tips can help you guys out whenever life gives you some lemons and that you are able to better maintain a healthy life while dealing with adversity. I think that I am going to start writing more about what Adam and I do to eat healthy throughout the week. I think it will be helpful for those of you out there who might not be sure what to do to even start eating better and taking care of your health. Again, if you have any suggestions just let me know! I would love to hear from you! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and are ready to attack the week ahead with some energy!

Someone’s in the Kitchen with Dinah….

February 11, 2013 / ktbuchs87

It’s probably no shock that I love to be in the kitchen, cooking and creating delicious (and healthy!) meals. For me, there is something therapeutic and fulfilling about the whole process of putting a meal on the table. I love searching through recipes, gathering the ingredients, tying my apron around my waist and getting down to business. I’ll be the first to tell you that I am not a gourmet chef by any means. I wouldn’t even claim to be an amateur chef. Just a gal who likes to cook and serve meals.

I’ve heard many times that people would love to be able to cook all their meals, but they aren’t good cooks or don’t have time, or (gasp!) hate to be in the kitchen. All of these (except for that last one!), are legitimate problems when it comes to eating healthier. One of the best ways to make sure you are getting proper nutrition, is to be the one in charge of all the food that goes into your body. Easier said than done right? I understand that not everyone will share my love of all things kitchen/cooking. I do however have a few tips that can help you navigate your way through the kitchen maze and start to take your health into your own very capable hands!

Have some confidence! My mom always told me that if you could read you could cook. At it’s very minimum, cooking is being able to read a recipe and follow the instructions. Of course there are some exceptions to this and cooking does have a lot more involved, but don’t second guess yourself. You are at the top of the food chain! You are an intelligent being (I assume!). You are more than capable of tackling that chicken noodle soup recipe!

Keep it simple. Going along with the first point, keep your cooking simple. Don’t make your kitchen debut with a fancy schmancy recipe that has hard-to-find ingredients and will chain you to the oven all day using crazy techniques like braising or caramelizing. Find simple, short recipes that have a few steps and common ingredients. You will feel so much more calm and proud of yourself when you can place a complete meal on the table as opposed to a failure when your souffle deflates half way through cooking! As you cook more and more you will get better and be able to “graduate” to more complicated meals.

Read the whole recipe BEFORE you start. It’s a rookie mistake (one that I have made at least once…) to not read through the whole recipe before you dive right in. There is nothing worse than being halfway through your cooking and realizing you need fresh basil and there is none to be found in your kitchen. By making sure you read through all the ingredients and all the steps, you will be able to make sure you have everything and save yourself a big headache later on.

Schedule out your meal. What I mean by this it make sure you time out your cooking. If you are preparing a whole meal (entree and side dishes), you’ll want to make sure everything will finish generally around the same time. I still struggle with this sometimes, and estimated cooking times aren’t always right. Create a rough time table of when you need to start preparing the food, then when you need to start cooking. I find it’s easiest to decide when you want to eat and work backwards from there.

Have fun! Yes. I know this is a cliche piece of advice. But in all seriousness, you will enjoy your time in the kitchen a lot more if you have fun. Don’t stress if something doesn’t turn out perfectly the first time you make it. You’ll have to eat again in the very near future and have your second chance at getting it right! Pick recipes with foods and ingredients you know you will like, involve your family or friends in the prep work, have music playing in the background, dance! The more fun you have while in the kitchen the more motivated you will be to keep practicing and the better you will get!

I know this is just a short list and that it probably won’t be enough to convince some of you that cooking can be simple and fun. Humor me though and give one meal a shot. This would be a great way for those of you who made the resolution to eat better to take charge of your nutrition! Trust me, I know you will feel super proud of yourself when put that plate of yummy food down on the table with the knowledge that YOU put in all the work and love it to took to create that dish. So throw on your aprons, fire of the stove, and get cookin’!

If you need some ideas for quick and healthy recipes, follow me over on Pinterest! I pin recipes pretty much everyday and they are all fairly easy to follow! Katie Buchanan http://pinterest.com/ktbuchs87/

There might be a line crossed about how much fun I have in the kitchen…. Oh well!

Baking + smiling = winning combo!

And of course the best part about cooking… EATING!!

Mindful eating: How to get started

December 31, 2012 / ktbuchs87

I hope that everyone had a FABULOUS Christmas! I know that I was doubly blessed this year and got to celebrate twice! Once on Christmas with my family and then Adam and I celebrated our very first Christmas as husband and wife yesterday. It was a great day filled with cheer, board games, presents, delicious food, and Christmas shows. I could not have asked for a better day. Now on to today’s topic!

One of the many cookbooks I got, but I was REALLY excited for this one! Love root veggies!

Cooking my first Christmas feast. Yup I smile like that most of the time

I talked last week about mindful eating and what that means. Simply put, it is experiencing your food with ALL your senses and taking the time to fully savor your meal. So often we are distracted while eating a meal and this leads to you inhaling your food and not really remembering what you ate. This then leads to more (read: over) eating because you do not feel like you got a full meal. Clearly this is a problem and can lead to weight gain and numerous health problems. My humble opinion is that we all need to practice a little mindful eating.

But how exactly do you eat mindfully? It is actually very simple, although I will warn you that it does take practice and patience. When you are used to eating one way for so long it becomes a habit and habits can be tough to break/change. Here are some of the steps that I personally have taken to eat mindfully and they have really helped.

Eliminate all distractions while eating. Turn off your TV, log off your laptop, put away your cellphone/tablet/whatever electronic device you have in your clutches. When you are eating you should be totally focused on the plate in front of you. Distractions while eating cause you to over eat and not pay attention (hence the name distractions… like I said most of this advice is pretty simple). The one thing that I do have while I am eating a meal is music. I like to have the radio on in the background and it is usually tuned to the classical radio station (unless it is Christmas time and then you best believe Bing Crosby is singing to me about a White Christmas). I understand that music could be a distraction for some, but might enhance the eating experience for others.

When possible, sit at a table for your meal. Another simple but effective tool of mindful eating is having a designated area to sit and eat all of your meals. This allows your body to know that it is about to receive food and it can adjust accordingly. I know that a lot of you are eating on the go because you have super busy lives and I understand that sitting down at the kitchen table for every meal might not be possible. But try to make at least one meal a sit down meal. Once you start this habit, you will really notice how just sitting at a table helps to put your focus on the delicious meal you are about to eat.

Try to be involved in the process of putting a meal together. I totally get that not everyone loves to cook or be in the kitchen making a meal. Some people find it a chore or too hard or have the tendency to burn water whenever they are trying to make food. However, you do not have to make the whole meal by yourself to be involved in the process. Help cut veggies, make the sauce, pick a wine to go with dinner, set the table or even just spend time in the kitchen observing the meal being put together. Getting involved in the whole process really allows you, the eater of food, to be more connected to the food and get more out of the act of eating. When you are more aware of your meal, you are better able to appreciate eating that food. Which leads into the next step…

Use all your senses when eating. Don’t just limit your eating to your sense of taste. Yes that is one of the most important senses, but you really miss out on a lot if you are just shoveling food in your mouth barely tasting anything. Smell all the wonderful aromas of your meal before you take a bite, or look at the bright colors of the veggies on your plate. Really listen to the sizzle of that hot steak as it comes your way to the table. Touching your food might be frowned upon in some situations, but notice the texture of that pasta as you eat or feel how creamy your mashed potatoes are. All of these actions make eating so much more than the simple act of putting a fork to your lips. It will also allow you to feel more satisfied with less food. And finally…

SLOW DOWN. It is surprising how fast some folks eat a meal. I kid you not, I have seen a family sit down to dinner and finish in 7 minutes flat. A meal should not be along the lines of a hotdog eating competition. It takes your body at least 20 minutes to register that it has eaten something, so try to make your meal last at least that long. If possible try to stretch it out even longer. Take the time to savor your food and take note that you are eating. Also with this last tip, try to eat just one helping and not go back for seconds. The longer you take to eat, the more you feel satisfied with just that one helping of food.

These are just some guidelines for mindful eating and there are a lot more. There are actually whole classes and seminars dedicated to teaching the “art” of mindful eating. But you don’t need a class to start incorporating these steps into your daily eating. Try one or two and don’t get discouraged. You may feel silly taking at least 20 minutes to eat or that it is ridiculous to smell your food, but these things WILL help you to eat mindfully and in the long run eat better and find more satisfaction with less food.

I will be taking a short break after this post because Adam and I are leaving for our honeymoon on Sunday! I am super excited to head to Jamaica with him and can’t wait to tell you all about it! So enjoy your New Year and I pray that it is a wonderful year for all of you!

Mindful Eating: Wait… Did I just eat that?

December 24, 2012December 24, 2012 / ktbuchs87

Oh the holidays! What a wonderful time of friends, family, and food! How many of you have been in this situation? You’re at a Christmas party, there is food EVERYWHERE, people all around talking, laughing, drinking, having a good time. You are enjoying the rush of holiday spirit and look down at your plate and realize you have downed five pigs in a blanket, a mountain of chips and dip, and there are still cookie crumbs on your face. You know you had a full plate just a minute ago, but you can’t remember finishing any of it.

Unfortunately, this happens all too often, and not just at Christmas time. I’ve been just as guilty of plopping myself in front of the TV for dinner and inhaling my meal without even remembering the taste of what was on my plate. Or how about the mindless snacking that just seems to go hand in hand with surfing the internet? What would Facebook-stalking your friends be without that endless bag of Doritos? We have become a society that has gotten really good at multitasking, but multitasking while eating can be detrimental to your health.

Enter mindful eating. Maybe you have heard/seen/read about this idea but never really gave much thought to it (pun intended there). This idea has been picking up speed and support here in the United States for the past few years, but the practice of mindfulness has been around for much longer than that. In Buddhist culture, they have been practicing the art of mindful eating for thousands of years. So what is mindful eating exactly? In the simplest terms, it is being completely present and aware of everything that goes in to the act of sitting down and eating a meal. Not just the taste of food, but the smell, the sight, the texture, and the ambiance around you. It is really focusing on being in the moment, so to speak, with your food.

Now, I can see some of you rolling your eyes at the computer screen. “Great. She is one of THOSE people. How long before she has us hugging trees and dancing around with scarves to advocate healthy eating?” No, I am not one of THOSE people, although there is nothing wrong with them and I do a pretty wicked healthy food scarf dance. Mindful eating doesn’t have to be some crazy spiritual food experience to be helpful to you and your health. There have been numerous studies and research products on the effects of mindful eating on a healthy diet. And a lot of them have shown very positive results.

Over the next few posts, I want to go more into the principles of mindful eating as well as share some of my experiences with the practice. It really has helped improve my health, and I was one of the skeptical ones when I first heard the idea (30 minutes to eat a banana? No thanks, get it in my belly asap). But I now see the benefits and I think that you can reap those same benefits for yourself!

With that in mind (yup another pun) I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! Enjoy the time with your loved ones and bask in the glow of this wonderful season! And just maybe think before reaching for that fifth candy cane….