How To Eat More Vegetables

July 30, 2014 / ktbuchs87

I can bet that you have been told that you need to eat more vegetables. It seems to be the first thing that comes out of peoples mouths when anything remotely close to eating healthier is mentioned. Eat more fruits and vegetables! In all honesty, it’s good advice even if it tends to be overstated. The problem is that the advice stops there. We’re told to eat more vegetables but not necessarily how to do it. A lot of people have bad associations with vegetables. Some were forced to eat them as kids or were served mushy tasteless dishes that made them believe all vegetables taste the same, gross. Maybe you want to eat more vegetables but you have no clue how to go about doing that. My post today is going to focus on simple ways to incorporate more vegetables into your meals. It doesn’t have to be complicated, tasteless, or boring and the more that you eat vegetables the more you will come to love them as much as I do!

Roast Them Up

This is my absolute favorite way to prepare vegetables. It’s an amazing way to add great flavor to your vegetables and it works on virtually any vegetable. I roast everything from sweet potatoes to zucchini, cabbage and beets. If I can slice it up and add a little olive oil to it, I can roast it. If you have a hard time enjoying the taste of vegetables, this cooking method is for you. Simply preheat your oven to 400-425 and prepare a baking pan with a piece of parchment paper or a Silpat. Then take your vegetable and cut it up into bite size chunks and place them in a large bowl. Add a few tablespoons of oil (I alternate between olive oil and coconut oil) and whatever seasonings you like (try Italian blends, curry powder, garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, or even just salt and pepper) and mix everything together. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on the pan and roast for 20-45 minutes depending on the vegetable you are using. I usually rotate the pan halfway through the cooking process. Once you start to get a nice brown edge, your vegetables are done! You can eat them as is, add to salads, or stir fry’s. Roasted vegetables also keep really well in the fridge and make great leftovers.

Make Soup or Stew

Soup is another easy way to get in more vegetables as well as large quantities of vegetables. You can add vegetables to any soup you’re making and bulk it up with extra nutrition and flavor. You could puree a variety of root vegetables, like sweet potatoes or parsnips, and after you have roasted them, add either broth or water or even almond milk to make a creamy soup. Or you could blend up a variety of vegetables from your garden like tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini and make a refreshing gazpacho on a hot summer day.

Sauces and Dips

This is another favorite way to add more vegetables to my meals. Make sauces and dips out of them! You can make a simple homemade salsa with tomatoes, onions, garlic, and cilantro. Or maybe you’re a guacamole fan. Try making your own homemade spaghetti sauce and besides the tomatoes, add in zucchini and carrots. You can even make creamy sauces with cauliflower or try a vegetable based spread like baba ghanoush. Kids especially like dipping things in sauces and this is a really good way to get a little extra nutrition into their meal without fighting over broccoli.

Drink Them

While I think that juicing is a great thing, I am also a big fan of eating my meals. But I know that for some people juicing their vegetables is what works best for them due to time constraints or they really can’t handle the taste of eating vegetables. If this sounds like you, try juicing your vegetables or adding them to smoothies. Leafy greens are very easy to add into your drinks and as long as you add some fruits like apples or pears, you don’t have to feel like you’re drinking grass. If you have a juicer, you can juice pretty much any vegetable quickly. I like the combination of carrots, beets, spinach, apples, and a little bit of ginger, but get creative and see what flavors you like. Remember though, if you can, it’s better to eat your vegetables so that you can get all the fiber and nutrients that fruit and vegetables have to offer. Sometimes, just drinking juice can leave you feeling hungrier sooner than eating those same foods would have.

Salads

I know this one sounds obvious and is probable one of the least favorite ways for people to get their vegetables in but salads don’t have to be boring or taste yucky. There are so many ways to spruce up a salad, like adding more vegetables, dried fruits, nuts or seeds, herbs, and topping it all with homemade dressing. Salads are a great way to get in a TON of vegetables into one meal as well as a great way to use up all the odd leftovers you have in your fridge. Start with a base of some type of leafy green (think outside the romaine and iceberg box and try kale, arugala, collard, watercress, or spinach), and add whatever you want. Try leftover cooked chicken or fish, roasted sweet potatoes or cauliflower, raw almonds or pistachios, dried (and unsweetened) cranberries or goji berries, add pumpkin or sunflower seeds for a little extra crunch. And the dressing options are endless and just as simple to make. Give salads a chance and you might just fall in love with them.

Eating more vegetables shouldn’t make you want to run screaming to your nearest bakery and shove as many donuts as you can into your mouth. Incorporating these healthy foods into your meals is simple and only takes a little bit of effort and creativity. So now that you know what to do, go eat your vegetables!

Using Shame

July 28, 2014 / ktbuchs87

Have you heard of dog-shaming? The basic idea is that a dog will do something bad, like chew up a pair of shoes, and then the owner will write a snarky sign, put it in front of the dog, take a picture and then post it on the internet. It’s actually pretty funny and I have had my share of laughs over the ridiculous things that dogs do. There is a new trend going around though that I refuse to find funny and that is fat shaming.

I was listening to the news last week and heard that there was a facebook group started called fat shaming. It was based in California and people would post unflattering photos of overweight people on the group and then usually write hurtful comments along with the picture. Supposedly the group was shut down but then put back up and then shut down again. I have no clue what the current status of the group is and quite frankly I don’t care. My question is what were the people of the group trying to accomplish?

My first instinct was to believe that these people were just mean and hurtful and were trying to put others down to bring themselves up. The thought never crossed my mind that they were in any way trying to help these people better their health. Then I remembered hearing about a school a few months ago that was sending letters home to parents with overweight children, essentially doing the same thing just using nicer language. This school thought that it was doing the right thing to help those kids become healthier. Instead it sparked anger and outrage not only with the parents but the community as well. In my opinion this tactic should spark a little anger and outrage, because it really isn’t effective at all.

Think of the last time that someone made you feel ashamed about something. Think of feeling ashamed about a part of your personality. Did that feeling of shame make you want to get up and change? Did you feel thankful that someone pointed out your flaws in a possibly hurtful matter? I’m going to take a stab in the dark and say probably not. Using shame to make a person change their ways is not very helpful. In fact, it’s counterproductive in most cases and makes the shamed person fall even deeper into their bad habits. When it comes to health, if all you’re doing is telling someone that they’re fat or eat too much or look horrible in a bikini and should never wear one, you aren’t doing anything to help them make a change in their health. You’re breaking them down even more than they already are, and they’ll do the only things that they know how to do to cope. They’ll eat more food than they should, or sit on the couch all day instead of go for a walk, or maybe even put off a doctors visit because they don’t want one more person to make them feel bad about their health. Shame can exacerbate the problem.

It’s not just other people shaming someone that can cause problems. If you use shame on yourself, you’re doing just as much damage possibly more. Tearing yourself down will never get you to make positive changes and become healthier. All it does is make you feel hopeless. Believe me, for years I told myself I wasn’t good enough, wasn’t pretty enough, didn’t have the right body, wasn’t athletic. You know what all that negative talk did? Absolutely nothing good. I would talk myself out of trying things just because I didn’t want to further embarrass myself. I kept doing all the things that I knew weren’t good for my health, because there was no point in trying if it was always going to be this way. I told myself negative things and that resulted in a negative outlook on life and myself. Once I was finally able to realize that I am so much more than I thought, and once I started to talk to myself in a positive light, suddenly positive changes started to happen. It wasn’t easy and I definitely still have my days where I start to get down on myself, but things are so much better when I build myself up rather than tear myself down.

I don’t know if those who partcipate in fat shaming are coming from a place of concern and honestly believe that they are helping people. I don’t know if they are just doing it to be mean or they think it’s funny or they are trying to make themselves feel better. I do know that it is not helping even a little bit. In order to help those that are struggling with their health, we need to come at them from a place of compassion. We need to use positive tactics rather than negative ones. We need to offer support and encouragement and know when to back off and let them figure it out. These are the things that will bring about healthy change and a better life. Dog-shaming can be funny and merit a chuckle or two. Fat shaming is never funny and we all need to work on being more positive and less negative.

Your Body And Mine

July 21, 2014 / ktbuchs87

I read this article last week and found it very interesting. If you aren’t familiar with fitbit, it is a fitness band that keeps count of your steps and calories eaten. It is suppose to help with weight loss but some users are finding that they are actually gaining weight while using fitness bands. These users are confused because weight loss should be a simple equation of less calories in than calories out. But is weight loss that simple?

Unfortunately, it isn’t. Yes, if you have a deficit of calories at the end of the day you will lose weight. The thing with weight loss is that there are so many more variables than just the amount of calories you consume or burn. More and more people are realizing that each person is different when it comes to losing weight or getting healthier. The way that food affects each person is different, the way that exercise affects each person is different, and this means that the way each person goes about getting healthier has to be different. We can’t have cookie cutter diets or workout routines any longer, because they don’t work. I have preached this lesson before, because I believe that it is so important.

People don’t want to hear that losing weight is hard. They don’t want to have to put in a ton of work, so they are constantly looking for the magic bullet that will give them a quick fix. It is much more comforting to just pick up the newest book outlining the latest diet and believe that your weight problem will just go away in 30 days. I’m sorry to tell you that to get the kind of results that most people want or need, they need to put in much more work. You have to put in the effort to find what works best for you.

I know that sounds depressing. But putting in the work is going to make your journey to be healthier so much more rewarding. It is also going to make it last a lifetime. When people keep switching from diet fad to diet fad, they aren’t really learning how to eat better and fuel their body. They think that because this has worked for others, it should work for them. Relying on others or fitness gadgets totally to get healthier backfires because you are now dependant on something else. Put in the effort to customize your lifestyle to your needs, and suddenly you intuitively know what your body needs to stay healthy. Now you know what works for you and what doesn’t and it is easier to make health decisions. It becomes a habit to choose the good and turn down the bad.

I don’t want to bash fitness bands or certain diets. Those things work for some people and they are great places to start when you decide to get healthier. Just don’t rely too heavily on these things for too long. Take risks, experiment with different techniques, and embrace that you are uniquely you. It is a good thing that we each have our own set of needs, because who wants to be just like every other person? Bottom line: The most important step for better health is to make the decision to change. Once you do that, really commit to finding what works best for you to accomplish that goal. Putting in the work and extra effort will make you that much prouder when you get the results you are looking for.

How To Dress A Salad

July 16, 2014July 16, 2014 / ktbuchs87

No, I’m not talking about putting little shirts and pants on your lettuce leaves. I’m not that weird. Ok, yes I am but that is beside the point. Salads are a great way to get in a ton of vegetables and there are endless varieties of salads. Even with so many different combinations, people still find salads boring. Their solution to fix boring salads is to top them off with dressings. Don’t get me wrong, I love dressing and probably have consumed a mind boggling amount of ranch dressing. Store bought dressings though are LOADED with chemicals and preservatives and a ton of other not good for you ingredients. Go ahead and get that bottle of dressing out of the fridge and read the ingredient list. I’m going to bet there are some things in there that you can’t pronounce. That’s no good. Fear not! You do not have to give your dressings, you just need to go about them in a different way. Homemade dressing is super simple to make and so much better for you than store bought. In fact, you probably have all the ingredients on hand to make your own simple dressing. I’m going to show you how to make a simple dressing and give you a few variations so that you can make your own delicious salad dressing!

The basic components of a salad dressing are simple. Oil and some kind of vinegar. Your ratio of oil to vinegar can be made to your preference, but I tend to like a little bit more vinegar than oil in my dressing. Now there are a variety of different oils that you can use to make your dressing beyond the obvious olive oil. I also like avocado oil, flaxseed oil, and I have even tried walnut oil which was pretty tasty. You want to stick with lighter tasting oils since you won’t be cooking the oil. Oils like peanut, coconut, or palm oil will have a little bit stronger taste and could overpower the other flavors of the dressing. Once you pick the type of oil you want to use you can pick a vinegar to go with it. The three that I use the most are apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, and white wine vinegar. I’ve also made some dressings with rice vinegar. There are many types of vinegars out there, so pick ones that you like the most. Once you’ve chosen an oil and a vinegar, it’s time to add some seasonings. The sky is the limit here so use your favorites or whatever you have on hand.

Ok, that is the bare bones of a homemade salad dressing. Tasty for sure, but a little boring. Good thing it is easy to come up with a variety of different dressings to top your salad. The easiest way to make most of these dressings is to place all the ingredients in a jar and shake them up. That way they are easy to store and you can add to them whenever you need to. Some of the dressings I’m going to share need a blender or food processor, but I’ll make a note if they do. Here are a few dressings that I have made myself:

1/4 cup olive oil – 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar – 1 tsp oregano – 1 tsp basil – pepper to taste
1/4 cup avocado oil – 1/3 cup rice vinegar – 2 tbsp lime juice – 1 tsp cilantro – 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup flaxseed oil – 1/3 cup white wine vinegar – 2 tsp italian seasonings – pepper to taste

These are quick and easy to make and will keep in your fridge for a few weeks. Now, perhaps you are more a fan of creamy dressings (ranch lovers unite!) and these oil and vinegar combos are not doing it for you. Not to worry, there are plenty of options when it comes to homemade creamy dressings. These dressings will need to be made in a blender or food processor to get the right consistency.

1/2 avocado, diced – 1/4 cup tahini – 3-4 tbsp lime juice – 1 tsp cilantro – 1 tsp chili powder – salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup smooth almond butter – 1/4 cup soy sauce or liquid aminos – 2 cloves garlic, minced – 1 tsp chinese five spice
1/2 cup cashew cream – 1/4 cup smooth peanut butter – 2 cloves garlic – 1-2 tsp smoked paprika – salt and pepper to taste

You can also do a very simple herb and oil dressing. Using 1/4 to 1/2 cup oil of your choice, blend in a few handfuls of your favorite herbs, and a few tbsp of mustard (I like spicy brown) until you have a pourable consistency.

There are so many options when it comes to homemade salad dressings. Get creative and try making some of your own concoctions. Use pureed beans to get a creamy, hummus like dressing or go super simple with just a little oil and vinegar. Find flavors that you enjoy and will have you devouring salads by the plateful! Remember, healthy doesn’t have to be hard or complicated. More often than not, it’s better to just keep it simple!

Needs Vs. Wants

July 14, 2014 / ktbuchs87

It seems like a simple concept. A need is something you have to have to keep going. A want is something you would like to have, but isn’t necessary to continue going. You need air. You want a brand new car. On the surface it can look like a very simple thing to figure out. Unfortunately, rarely are things that cut and dry. Needs and wants can get muddled and you may find yourself believing that what you need is actually what you want. You might know all too well that when it comes to being healthier this is very true.

Do you need that extra helping or do you want it? Do you need three rest days in a row or do you want them? When you are so used to doing something, it can be hard to decipher whether your motives are driven by needs or wants. If you have always gone back for seconds, you might truly think that you need that much food to feel full. If you have had a certain exercise schedule for years, you might think that this is exactly what your body needs. Needs and wants can go the opposite way too. Maybe you think that you need to be super strict with the way you eat 100% of the time or you will fail. You believe that you need to run 10 miles a day or you’ll be out of shape.

Wants are not a bad thing. It is ok to want things. Desire is what can push us to reach our goals, they motivate us to do better. Don’t let your life get clouded by wants though. Wants can overshadow things that you actually need. But on the flip side, make sure that your needs are real needs. Take a moment and evaluate your health needs. Do you need to have a six pack? Is that need running the rest of the show? If that is true then your needs might have to shift. With an overall goal of better health, make sure that your needs are helping you reach that goal. If you find yourself hindered by your needs, start making changes.

Being healthier is a journey with A LOT of bumps along the way. It’s ok to reevaluate, adjust, and change your tactics or goals. It’s ok to reroute and head towards your goals in a different way. The best advice I can give is to start small and see what works the best for you. It can be difficult to differentiate between a want or a need so keep it simple. When you first start out your needs can be to move a little extra each day and eat one more serving of vegetables. Then as you progress, evolve your needs and wants to fit your life. Be kind to yourself and realize that you won’t be perfect and that is alright. Be able to acknowledge when something you did doesn’t work and move on and learn from that mistake. As time goes on things will get easier and you will be able to make healthier choices with ease. You need to be healthier and I want to be there to help you reach that goal.