Real Food Assessment

Thanks to an active discussion on LinkedIn about how to implement an employee wellness program on a budget, I'm working on some new self-assessment tools to add to Move.Eat.Be.. The first one is The Real Food Assessment as a way for people to assess their current eating habits and discover opportunities for improvement. This tool stems from our work on the Real Food Label and is built upon The Real Food Hierarchy and The Real Food Plate all designed to help people eat more real food and less processed foods. If we can get people to choose 80% of their food from the real and almost real categories, we would go a long way to improving health and stemming the tide on obesity.


The Real Food Assessment

The idea with the assessment tool is to take an honest and general look at each of your meals (either daily or weekly) and determine if you choose mostly real food or mostly fake food. If you make most of your meals at home, from scratch, you're most likely in the green category. If you eat out frequently, you're closer to red. Simply put an "X" for each meal under the category that you think most closely matches your food choices.

For the detailed definitions of what belongs in each category, click on this link to The Real Food Plate information on our website. Remember, to make improvements in your health you must start by being honest with yourself and understanding where you are today. Knowing where you are today will help you craft a good plan for tomorrow's improvements.

As always, I love feedback as everything's better when we're working together. Feel free to comment, write to me and share with your friends and colleagues.

Eat (at home).

My friend Bill wrote to me a few weeks back and asked how I was doing on my own quest to lose 10 pounds. Back in October, the numbers on the scale had crept up a bit too much and I began writing about my own experience to lose 10 pounds. After a month or so, my 10pound updates were consumed by other blog writing and, quite honestly, I didn't know if anyone was reading or if my observations were actually serving anyone else. I don't blog for me and in the absence of feedback or support to continue telling my story, I stopped. Thank you, Bill, for letting me know you did read and for taking the time to send me a note to check in on my progress!

Since my last update (11/15 at 127 pounds), we've had the holiday season and traveling and 2011 started off with more travel and many more meetings. Last week for example, nearly every meal was at a restaurant for lunch and dinner meetings on top of which I had a nasty cough so didn't do any cardio work for fear I'd cough up a lung. The scale on Sunday morning was 133. I grumbled about the house for a little while. It is so frustrating to make progress and then go in the opposite direction. Grrrrrr.

Since Sunday evening, I've prepared every meal for myself. The scale this morning? 130. I've lost 1 pound a day for three days in a row. I'm eating whatever I want, including having wine with dinner. Granted, when I made my Move.Eat.Be. plan for the week, the foods I chose were healthy. I concocted kale and white bean casseroles in my new little Le Creuset pots (I love them!) with a side salad and bread (yes, I'm eating bread!). Last night was poached salmon with tomato and green onion sauce (cooked in 2 TBS of butter), side salad, a left-over mini casserole and more bread. Tonight is roast chicken with root vegetables. Lunches are leftovers or salad greens with hummus, mushrooms and avocado. Breakfast is (usually always) banana, blueberries (frozen, wild, organic), other fresh fruit as available, topped with ground flaxseed and accompanied by almonds. I had a cookie last night. And, I've done a workout each morning and am following along to most of our 10-to Workday Workout program.

The moral of this story? Eat at home! It is much less expensive. It is much better for you. And, honest, it does not take that much time to cook dinner. Please don't be freaked out by the cooking shows and the celebrity chefs who use 10 pans, 20 bowls and claim you can cook like them in 30 minutes (sure you can, if there is a crew prepping for you and cleaning up after you).

Take the poached salmon. It literally took me 20 minutes from start to table like so:

1. Turn oven to 350⁰
2. Put water on to boil
3. Slice green onions and salmon filet into 1" wide serving pieces (sprinkle with salt and pepper)
4. Put mini-casseroles in oven to reheat
5. Make a salad dressing (olive oil, balsamic, dijon mustard, pepper, salt, thyme)
6. Stage sauce ingredients (grape tomatos, 2 TBS butter, sliced green onions, salt, pepper) near stovetop
7. Put salmon into boiling water (cooks in 10 minutes for 1" inch think slices)
8. Slice bread and pour some olive oil into a dish with freshly ground pepper
9. Put plates on counter. Set the table. Pour wine.
10. Heat butter in skillet
11. Poor a wee bit of salad dressing into bag of salad greens. Shake.
12. Put tomatoes in skillet with butter, cook for 2 minutes, add green onions. Cook for 2 more minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
13. Take salmon out of water
14. Plate (salmon with sauce on top next to salad). Slices of lemon. 
15. Retrieve casseroles from oven
16. Carry to table
17. Sit. Eat. Enjoy.
18. Cleanup took less than 10 minutes, including hand-washing the cookware.

Going out to eat is one of my very favorite things to do. But, until we can implement The Real Food Label in our restaurants, it is very difficult to understand what is really in the food we eat when we're out. And, I fear the additives and quality of the food when eating out (there are very few organic restaurants) has a negative impact on my ability to avoid weight gain. I'm amazed by how three days of eating at home has made such a big difference. Do yourself, and your scale, a favor.... create a Move.Eat.Be. plan each week and explore the rewards from your own cooking. 

Go Small!

Last month, I suggested a good way to manage your weight was to use small plates and dishes for your meals. Doing so helps you manage the amount of food you can put on your plate and will help re-program your brain from "big gulp" training.

For Christmas I received lovely Le Creuset pots as a gift (thank you ♥). These little gems are fun and a great way to make quick and easy mini-meals. Last night, we tried a ravioli, pesto and goat cheese concoction. Very easy... simply layer the goodies and pop them in the oven for 15 minutes. The contents were so tasty one little pot was plenty of dinner for one person (accompanied by an arugula salad and sourdough bread).

I'm now pondering all kinds of things to mini-make. Each of these pots will hold about about one serving of lean meats and fish so are a great way to quickly cook dinner for the family. I am also planning on white bean, kale creation. Turnips and onions. Sweet potatoes with rosemary. Tilapia, a little soy sauce and some green onions. The possibilities are endless!

If you've forgotten, find a new kitchen gadget and remind yourself how much fun it is to cook! Stay tuned for more experiments and share your ideas.

Fall for Dinner

Autumn is upon us and the last of the summer tomato harvests are near complete. One of my favorite things about autumn is the excuse to make soup. There is something about a large pot of simmering soup that perfectly compliments the growing chill in the air.

This weekend is a terrific time to make your first slow-cooked, homemade soup this fall. You have a few days to peruse soup recipes and plan your meal. Both Whole Foods and Epicurious have terrific soup recipes for you to consider. Choose a recipe which will require a bit of effort (make the time; it will be the weekend!) and find one that will simmer for hours on the stove top. Your home will be filled with wonderful aromas which will make your meal that much more tasty.

Round out your souper meal with a loaf of whole grain bread and salad greens topped with sliced apples and cheese (manchego and blue types both work nicely). If you're feeling extra domestic, whip up a nice Apple and Pear crisp as dessert. And, the best part of devoting a bit of your weekend making soup is you can make extra so you have leftovers to enjoy as dinner or lunches during the week.

Who knows... you might enjoy it so much you make a regular weekend practice of a steaming bowl full of luscious, satisfying soup. Bon Appetit!