Giveaway Winner and Random Sunday Musings

Hi Everyone! I hope all of you are enjoying the weekend – I definitely am! We were supposed to get horrible weather in the Bay Area this weekend – rain, freezing cold – even the potential of snow (which I have to admit would have been pretty cool). I’m not sure what happened – but it’s been nothing but sunny and gorgeous here (still chilly but nowhere near what the forecast was predicting!) And this sunny, springtime weather has put me in kind of a lazy, rambling mood. I’ve never done a post like this before – where there are multiple, unrelated foodie topics – so I figured I’d try it out today.

First off – I have to announce the winner from my Fearless Chocolate giveaway — Congratulations to Bobbie!!

Bobbie – your chocolates should be on their way soon. Thanks to all of you who entered! And just so you know – I’ll be launching my next awesome giveaway this Friday – so stay tuned 🙂

Now, on to my random musings for this Sunday. First – let’s talk about fast food oatmeal. It’s an interesting trend – but more and more fast food restaurants are adding oatmeal to their breakfast menus – the most recent addition coming from McDonald’s.

The most interesting thing about this newest oatmeal addition was the chatter and criticism over how unhealthy the oatmeal actually was. For those of you who haven’t seen Mark Bittman’s article: How to Make Oatmeal…Wrong – definitely check it out here. The sad thing is, he’s 100% right. Somehow, McDonald’s did manage to make oatmeal unhealthy, and I can’t begin to figure out why.

So let’s start with the basics – why is McDonald’s oatmeal unhealthy?

1. Oatmeal really should be one ingredient: whole rolled oats (or steel cut oats). McDonald’s has SEVEN – and this is just in the base – not in the added ingredients! Oats is their #1 ingredient, but they also add weird things like: “food starch modified” — what IS that?? Other added ingredients include: “natural flavor,” “barley malt extract,” and “caramel color.” Honestly – I don’t know why you need to add color to oatmeal. That’s just bizarre.
2. Oatmeal should have zero grams of sugar as a base: Of course, you can (and should) add natural sugars (like honey, or stevia, or agave) to oatmeal to sweeten it up, but as a base – it should have zero sugars. The “base” for McDonald’s has 14g sugar. And that’s BEFORE you add the sweetened dried fruit (which has another 15g sugar). Just fyi – if you add the dried fruit to your already sweetened McDonald’s oatmeal – you’ll end up with as much sugar as in a whole Snickers bar. Isn’t that crazy?
3. Instead of adding creme to oatmeal, milk is a better option: Unfortunately, the McDonald’s oatmeal only gives you the option of adding creme – not milk. The creme has 20 calories – 15 of which come from fat.

So yes, all of this really sucks, and it’s disappointing that McDonald’s didn’t try harder to make a healthier oatmeal like other fast food restaurants (more details on that below). But – to give a balanced review – I have to call out a few things about McDonald’s oatmeal that are somewhat redeeming:

1. The oatmeal “base” is made with rolled oats – which is still good for you (even with the added crap). Also – a decent size serving has only 190 calories, 2.5g fat, 3g fiber and 4g protein. That’s not bad compared to other fast food breakfast options out there. And I’ve heard you can order it without the brown sugar – which will cut down on the total sugar in the dish and will save you some calories.
2. One of the toppings is diced fresh apples. This is a GREAT option to both sweeten the oatmeal and add an extra 1g fiber without any calories. If you just got the apples + oatmeal – your entire breakfast would be 200 calories, 4g fiber, and 4g protein. (It is weird to me that the apples have “calcium ascorbate” added – doesn’t seem necessary but at least they’re still fresh apples.) One thing is for certain – stay away from the “cranberry raisin blend” and “creme” toppings – those two will add a total of 90 calories – most of which comes from sugar and fat – totally unnecessary for your breakfast.

What really gets me about all this: if you are just a normal consumer who assumes oatmeal and the toppings that come with it are healthy – you could unknowingly walk into a breakfast that causes you a sugar high & crash every day: the 30g of sugar in the fully loaded oatmeal guarantees it. And while the total caloric count (oatmeal + all toppings) isn’t outrageous (it’s only 290 calories total) – the nutritional bang for your buck isn’t great. I just feel like unless you do research and know your nutritional labels inside & out – a company like McDonald’s could totally dupe customers by introducing a “pseudo healthy” product. Which is why I felt the need to post about it today. I guess you have to give them credit for “trying,” – but even in their efforts to try they kind of get it wrong.

The good news is: there are FOUR other great fast food oatmeal options out there that actually are healthy and don’t have random ingredients added.

First up – Starbucks

This has to be one of my favorite fast food oatmeals because: 1) Their “base” has 0g sugar, 140 calories and 4g fiber. It’s instant oatmeal – which isn’t ideal, but better than oatmeal with tons of sugar added. 2) All of their toppings come in 50-100 calories packs – and you can add as much as you like: I suggest adding the nuts for extra fiber/protein, and skipping most of the dried fruit which has 20g sugar (ridiculous).

Our next fast food oatmeal star – Jamba Juice

This oatmeal option is probably the best one – because it’s made with steel cut oats! And the “Plain Oatmeal with Brown Sugar” has only 4 ingredients: Steel cut oats, soymilk, and brown sugar crumble (which you can ask for on the side, or eliminated altogether). The steel cut oats base only has 220 calories, 5g fiber and 8g protein. The brown sugar crumble has 7g sugar and 40 calories (which isn’t too bad).

Two other good options: AuBonPain and Cosi’s

ABP’s small (8oz) oatmeal has 170 calories, 1g sugar, 4g fiber, and 6g protein – and only 2 ingredients: Water and Rolled Oats.

Cosi has steel cut oats as well! And their serving has 220 calories, 4g fiber, 5g protein and 3g sugar. They have a crazy list of toppings – some of which are super unhealthy (like the dried fruit or whipped cream) – but all of them come on the side. And they have two great healthy toppings – pistachios and strawberries.

So while the McDonald’s version is deceptively unhealthy, there are plenty of good fast food oatmeal options out there – which is good news! It is sad though that consumers have to do so much digging to get to the bottom of what’s actually in the food we buy.

Which brings me to my next topic: I was recently contacted by a site called Food Facts – whose mission it is to eliminate confusion about what’s actually IN the foods we eat, and create a centralized resource for all the food information you could want! Check out their site here, and a video overview here.

I really applaud the work they’re doing and was happy to partner with them on a few things (since our sites have very similar missions). I’d definitely recommend touring their site for any food related questions you have.

And as I move on to my last topic, I’m acutely aware that it’s midnight and I have to wake up early for work tomorrow. So, I feel like a very appropriate last topic is my issue with getting enough sleep every night. Do any of you feel like you don’t sleep enough during the work week? I’m the type of person that actually needs 8 hours of sleep every night. When I’m well rested, I will wake up every morning after 8 hours of sleep like clockwork. The only trouble is, during the week I get about 6-7 hours (usually closer to 7). While that’s not bad – I feel like that’s still not enough sleep for me, because I always feel like I’m making up for lost sleep on the weekends.

So as I sign off tonight – I’ll leave you with two questions: 1) How much sleep do you usually get every night? and 2) Do you have any tips for me to make my sleep schedule more regular?

And with that, I think it’s my cue to head to bed. Happy (early) Monday everyone!

The Perfect Bowl of Oatmeal :)

I can sometimes be a creature of habit. When I was growing up, I pretty much had the same things for breakfast and lunch for like 15 YEARS. How crazy is that? It was always oatmeal in the morning and some sort of sandwich for lunch (usually PB&J!).

These days, I do like to mix it up a bit more – but I still LOVE my oatmeal 🙂 And honestly, I think sometimes oatmeal gets a bad rap for being boring, or tasting bland or whatever – but the key is to just dress it up with your favorite fruits, nuts, granola, milk, etc – and it ends up being an amazing and wholesome meal! So here’s my take on the PERFECT bowl of oatmeal!

So first, of course – you need the Oats… There are tons of options out there for Oatmeal – there’s the instant kind, the Quaker (e.g. filled with sugar) kind, there’s the slow cooking kind, the multi-grain kind, etc. I really like to get the whole grain / multi-grain variety that has oats, wheat, rye and barley with no sugar added.

I just love the way it looks in the bowl 🙂 Oatmeal is a nutritional powerhouse – with tons of soluble fiber & antioxidants. This variety is super hearty, filling, has only 130 calories per serving and 5g of fiber & protein each!

This version is also really easy to make – you just add 1 cup of water to 1/2 cup of oatmeal, microwave it for about 3-4 min and it turns out like this!

I just love how the oats get all fluffy and warm once they’re cooked! Now for the mix-ins – here are some of my favorites. First up – Blueberries!

Frozen blueberries are great because 1) They’re fresh year-round 2) They become all melty and warm in the oatmeal and 3) They never go bad! You can see them already defrosting just minutes after I put them on the oatmeal…

With a wonderful sweetness, antioxidants and fiber – you really can’t go wrong with this superfood! Once the blueberries are mixed in, I love adding in walnuts (another super food with omega 3s!)

Now – oatmeal has to be creamy and flavorful, and slightly sweet. The final three mix-ins are: Honey (yum!), Almond Milk (I like unsweetened almond breeze – see pic below), and Cinnamon (this adds a wonderful nutty flavor and goes soo well with the honey!)

Stir it all together, and your perfect bowl of oatmeal is complete! When it’s all done, it adds up to about 250-300 calories – the perfect breakfast!

Tada! We are ready to eat! I love how the oatmeal turns a bluish color as the blueberries melt into it 🙂 I totally had this for breakfast today.. and yesterday… and the day before … haha – looks like I’m still a creature of habit! What does your perfect bowl of oatmeal look like? I’d love to hear from you!

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Rajma (or Indian Spiced Vegetarian Chili)!

I found this recipe for “Rajma” on FoodNetwork.com a while back, and decided to try it out this past weekend. For those of you new to Indian food, Rajma is basically a North Indian vegetarian dish consisting of red kidney beans in a thick curry with lots of Indian whole spices – it’s usually served with rice or naan. When made without tons of oil/butter/cream, Rajma is actually a super healthy one pot meal – think of it as vegetarian chili with lots of yummy Indian spices! This recipe is especially healthy because in addition to the kidney beans (which have tons of fiber, protein and are low in calories), there are tons of veggies to round out the meal as well. The recipe with my notes are below – it only took about an hour to make and that’s including cutting all the veggies, heating the naan and waiting for the curry to simmer and cook through!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (Note – I only used 1 Tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and it was enough. Save the extra 120 calories and only use 1 Tbsp!)
• 1 cup minced onions (I used a red onion, and probably used more than a cup – I just used 1 small red onion and cut the whole thing)
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I actually used 4 cloves for more taste/flavor)
• 4 firm, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces (Roma tomatoes work great here. Note: Make sure you use all the seeds and pulp from inside the tomato, it makes a great base for the curry!)
• teaspoons minced gingerroot, or 1 teaspoon ground ginger (I ended up using closer to 1 Tbsp)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon Garam Masala
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, or to taste (optional) (I would highly recommend adding this in – gives the curry a nice kick without being too spicy!)
• 2 cups drained kidney beans (19-ounce can)
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 1/2 lemon, juiced, or to taste
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

Directions

1. In a large saucepan set over medium heat, add the oil, onions and pepper, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
2. Add the garlic, tomatoes, gingerroot, cumin seeds, Garam Masala, lemon pepper, and dried red pepper flakes, if desired, and simmer the mixture, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
3. Add the beans and salt and pepper to taste, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes more. (Note – I ended up cooking it for 10 min) Stir in the lemon juice and cilantro (and then I let it heat through for 1-2 min)

Pictures!

Perfect Sunday Brunch: French Toast Casserole, Potato Hash & Strawberry Smoothies!

This weekend, I decided to surprise my husband by making brunch from scratch for him. I had never actually cooked brunch before in my life, so I was a little nervous about how it would turn out. But I found a couple great recipes from HungryGirl and EatingWell.com that looked really yummy, so I thought I’d give it a shot. I’m happy to report that the brunch was a total success!! All of the dishes turned out AMAZINGLY well – my husband LOVED them. And the french toast was a huge hit (thank you HungryGirl!) – my husband said he’s never liked french toast made at home, but he loved this dish. And the smoothies – which was a recipe that I made up – tasted exactly like the In-N-Out Strawberry Shakes, but my recipe was much healthier 🙂 All in all, it was a really fun cooking experience! The recipes (with my notes/modifications) and pictures are below, hope you enjoy them!

The Menu:

1) Fuji Apple French Toast Casserole

2) Potato & Onion Hash Browns

3) Strawberry Smoothies

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Fuji Apple French Toast Casserole

Notes: This is an amazing recipe for a super low calorie, fiber filled, and really flavorful french toast. Most recipes like this one would run you 500+ calories for 1-2 slices of french toast, but this recipe gives you a HUGE portion (4 inch by 4 inch casserole square) for only 200 calories! The only considerations here are – a lot of the ingredients in this recipe are somewhat processed (e.g. you’re not using real butter, sugar, syrup, etc.) So if that weirds you out a little, I wouldn’t recommend this recipe. I usually try to stick to whole foods without 30 ingredients per item, but once in a while I’m ok with trying a recipe that calls for more processed ingredients if it saves on calories and still has some good nutritional value (fiber, protein, etc.). Just my two cents before I give you the recipe 🙂

Ingredients

• 8 slices light bread (40 – 45 calories each with around 2g fiber per slice), cut into cubes. I used Sara Lee 45 Calories Delightful 100% Whole Wheat bread with honey (link here)
• 4 oz. fat-free cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 medium apple (preferably Fuji), peeled and diced
• 1 1/4 cups light vanilla soymilk
• 1 cup fat-free liquid egg substitute (like Egg Beaters Original)
• 2 tbsp. sugar-free pancake syrup
• 2 tbsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread (like Brummel & Brown), melted
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 no-calorie sweetener packet (like Splenda), or more to taste. 1 packet made the french toast sweet enough for us.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Spray an 8-inch by 8-inch baking dish with nonstick spray. Place bread cubes evenly along the bottom of the dish.
3. Sprinkle diced apple evenly over the bread.
4. In a medium-large bowl, combine all other ingredients (cream cheese, soymilk, egg substitute, syrup, butter, cinnamon, and sweetener). If you like your French toast really sweet, add an extra packet of sweetener. Using a handheld electric mixer set to medium speed, mix until lump-free and smooth. Pour mixture over the bread and apple.
5. Make sure bread is soaked in the liquid mixture. If needed, toss lightly to coat.
6. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes, until egg mixture is pretty firm and cooked through. Note – mine took about 50 min. (Be sure not to overcook, as bread may burn.) Let cool slightly and cut into quarters. If you like, serve with additional syrup for dipping. Dig in!

Nutritional Info

Makes 4 servings – One serving = One 4inch by 4inch square

Calories: ~200

Fat: 4.25g

Fiber: 6g

Protein: 16.5g

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Potato and Onion Hash Browns

Note: I modified most of this recipe, so my notes are below in purple text. This recipe was also a HUGE hit with my husband. He said he’d actually want this at a restaurant (and he always thinks hash browns at restaurants are the best)!

Ingredients

• 3 medium russet potatoes, (1 pound total), peeled and cut into quarters (Note: I used 1 lb of baby red potatoes and left the skins on for added fiber)
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped (I used a red onion because I like the flavor and color)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• Pinch paprika (I omitted this)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (I actually used 1 Tbsp of chopped fresh rosemary because I love the flavors of rosemary with potatoes)

Directions

1. Place potatoes in a medium saucepan and cover with cold, lightly salted water. Bring to a boil and boil until potatoes are just tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Drain and cool. Cut into 1/2-inch cubes. (You should have 2 cups of cubed potatoes.)
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté until they are limp and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and continue to sauté until golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. (Lower heat slightly if pan becomes too hot.) Season with salt, pepper and paprika (if you use paprika). Stir in parsley or rosemary and serve immediately.

Nutritional Information (for 1 serving)

Makes 4 servings

Calories: ~120

Fat: 2g

Protein: 3g

Fiber: 2g

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Strawberry Smoothies

Notes: This recipe is SUPER easy. Only 4 ingredients, and you can make it in like 2 minutes. A great breakfast on its own, or as an accompaniment to any brunch!

Ingredients

• 8 Frozen whole strawberries (Trader Joe’s has great organic frozen strawberries)
• 3 oz low-fat vanilla yogurt (I used Trader Joe’s organic vanilla yogurt – 140 calories for 6 oz)
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup 1% milk, or soy milk, or Unsweetened almond breeze
• 1-2 packets Splenda sweetner

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender, and blend until combined, creamy and smooth. You can also use a hand blender for this – it’s a lot easier for cleanup (that’s what I used and it turned out great)

Overall, it was a super satisfying, really healthy brunch – definitely felt like we were in a restaurant. Below are the final products all combined – can’t wait to make it again!

New Product Find: Food Should Taste Good Chips!

Recently, I was contacted by the wonderful team at Food Should Taste Good – asking if I’d try their chips and write up a review. After checking out their website and reading about their company – I was intrigued, and agreed to try a sampling of 5 flavors (they have 11 total): Cheddar, Blue Corn, Sweet Potato, Chocolate, and Multi Grain. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect (especially from the Chocolate flavored chip!), but I have to say – after me and my husband tried the chips, we were both very impressed. The chips really live up to the company’s motto: they all taste really GOOD 🙂 And the best part about them – they are super healthy! I’m always on the lookout for healthy product finds, and these chips are probably the healthiest chips I’ve ever come across!

Here are the stats:

Serving size: 9-12 HUGE chips. Seriously – each chip is like a large cracker – even if you broke them all in half, youd end up with good sized chips (so you could even say that you get 18-24 half sized chips in one serving!)

Calories: 140 per serving

Fiber: 3-4g!

Protein: 2-3g

The other great thing about these chips is you can pronounce ALL the ingredients. Each ingredient list is pretty short too – and they use great power-foods like quinoa, flax seeds, stone ground corn, high oleic sunflower oil, etc. Their chips are gluten-free, kosher, lactose free, trans fat free, low in sodium, cholesterol free, not genetically modified, contain no MSG, and have no preservatives! You’d think – with a list like that, that the chips would end up tasting like cardboard. Trust me – that is NOT the case. They are super crispy, have a wonderful nutty flavor, and for the varieties like Chocolate or Sweet Potato – the chips contain a nice subtle essence of those ingredients – enough to taste, but not too much that it overpowers the flavor. Food Should Taste Good has also come up with a bunch of accompaniments to their flavor varieties on their website, from Artichoke Spinach Dip with Multigrain, to a Fresh Fruit Salsa with Sweet Potato.

Out of the flavors they sent me, I have to say the Cheddar and Multi Grain are my favorites – but I haven’t tried all of them so there could be even more amazing ones out there! I really commend this company for helping to promote healthy foods but in a very tasty, flavorful way. My husband (who is very particular about what chips he likes) – loved these as well – so these aren’t just for the health nuts out there (like me 🙂 ). If these are available at your local grocery store, I’d definitely recommend checking them out! Thanks Food Should Taste Good – great job on making an amazing product!

Farmer’s Market Salad and Parmesan Crusted Tofu!

San Diego Trip Part 2 – more yummy food from our wonderful friend! One thing me and our friend share is a love for Farmer’s Markets – and San Diego has AMAZING farmer’s markets in most of their major towns. One of my favorite things to do on a Sunday morning is take a trip to the Farmer’s Market, sample all the great fruits, veggies and prepared foods from fresh ingredients and buy a bunch of stuff to use in that night’s meal. So, for dinner, she made a Farmer’s Market Salad (which is basically a compilation of a bunch of different veggies from the Farmer’s Market), and Parmesan Crusted Tofu – which was amazing and I’m definitely going to re-create that at home sometime soon! This makes for a very balanced, healthy meal – the veggies provide tons of fiber and great antioxidants; and the tofu is a wonderful source of protein. The recipes are below – enjoy!

Farmer’s Market Salad – Summer Ingredients

• Corn
• Snap peas
• Mixed greens
• Spinach
• Pecans or Walnuts
• Cherry Tomatoes (diced Heirloom Tomatoes I think would also be a nice substitute!)
• Fresh mozzarella cheese (we didn’t have this in our San Diego salad, but my friend suggested it as an addition for future salads, and I agree it would be a nice touch!)
• Dressing: Garlic infused olive oil, Balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper

Directions

Super easy: Mix all the veggies together, and dress with the dressing! In order to make the dressing you can basically adjust the oil/vinegar combination to your tastes – depending on what you like. So you could go 50-50, 70-30, etc. Play around with it and figure out the best combination for you! I would suggest no more than 1 Tbsp olive oil because those calories do add up (1 Tbsp has about 100-120 calories).

Parmesan Crusted Tofu – Ingredients

• Extra firm tofu
• 4 eggs
• Panko bread crumbs
• Crumbled Parmesan cheese
• Mixed Italian herbs (use your favorite – oregano, basil, rosemary, garlic salt, etc. are all good!)

Directions

1. Cut the tofu into rectangular blocks – about 2 inches by 2 inches is good (make sure you don’t cut them too small because otherwise they fall apart when you cook them)
2. Beat the eggs in one bowl
3. In a separate bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheese and herbs
4. Heat olive oil in a wok or large pan over medium-high heat – make sure the oil is hot before you start cooking the tofu!
5. Coat the tofu first in the egg mixture and then in the bread crumb mixture, and shallow fry in the oil until the outside becomes golden brown and crispy

Pictures!

White Bean and Kale Soup with Parmesan Balsamic Bruschetta!

A few weekends ago, we visited one of our good friends who lives in San Diego (which, if you’ve never been there – is one of the most beautiful, peaceful places to visit in California!). The first night we were there, she made an amazing soup based off this recipe from AllRecipes.com. My husband and I both loved it – so I decided to try and recreate it tonight, with a few twists and additions of my own 🙂 It was actually very easy to make – didn’t take more than 40 minutes (and then the soup just has to simmer for a while for the flavors to combine). All in all, a great, light summer supper!

Ingredients – Soup

• 1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 8 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cups chopped raw kale
• 4 cups low-fat, low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 (15 ounce) cans white beans, such as cannellini or navy, rinsed and drained
• 4 roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1 Tsp dried oregano
• 1 Tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
• Fresh shredded Parmesan

Ingredients – Bruschetta

• Crusty, whole wheat bread
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Balsamic vinegar
• Fresh shredded Parmesan cheese
• Fresh basil, thinly sliced

Directions – Soup

1. In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onion; saute until soft.
2. Add kale and saute, stirring, until wilted.
3. Add 3 cups of broth, 2 cups of beans, and all of the tomato, herbs, salt and pepper (crushed red pepper + black pepper). Simmer 5 minutes.
4. In a blender or food processor, mix the remaining beans and broth until smooth (I actually just mashed the beans in the broth with a potato masher and it worked great). Stir into soup to thicken. Simmer 15 minutes.
5. Ladle into bowls; sprinkle with parmesan cheese

Directions – Bruschetta

1. Toast the bread on a grill or in a toaster oven until lightly browned and crispy on the surface.
2. Brush with olive oil and top with 1-2 Tbsp parmesan cheese. Broil at 350 degrees until cheese has melted.
3. Top with sliced basil and 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Serve the soup with 1-2 pieces of bruschetta. Enjoy! 🙂

6 Small Meals vs. 3 Regular Meals – Which is the Healthier Diet?

Recently, I was talking to one of my friends who is trying to lose weight. She was telling me that she regularly only eats 2 big meals every day and usually skips breakfast. My immediate thought was: She needs to eat more frequently! Most people think that if they want to lose weight, they should just eat less and the weight will come off. That’s not exactly true.

The weight will likely come off, but it won’t stay off because the only reason you’ve lost weight is because you’ve severely limited your calories. As soon as you start eating normally again, you’ll gain the weight back, and on top of that, your body will begin to store that extra meal as fat fearing that you might decide to cut out that meal again in the future.

The reason for this is, when you start consuming drastically less calories, or have long gaps between meals (e.g. one meal at 12pm and one at 8pm with nothing else in between), your body goes into starvation mode. What does that mean? Basically, when there are long gaps between meals, your body moves from a fat burning mode to a fat preservation mode. That means that your body will start burning muscle instead of fat. This eventually causes a decrease in your lean muscle mass, which actually slows down your metabolism, and makes your body fat percentage goes up.

Also, when you eat only a couple meals a day, your blood sugar levels fluctuate wildly. Those blood sugar fluctuations are often the culprit for the crazy cravings we’ll get once we’re so hungry that any food – 5 chocolate chip cookies, 2 bags of chips, 1 whole pizza – will do. So even when you do eat your meals, you’ll end up overeating and canceling out any calorie restriction gains you accomplished during the day.

So does that mean that eating 6 meals a day is healthier than eating 3 meals a day? Not necessarily. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as that. Because the other part of weight loss that’s important is a simple math equation (my husband would love that I’m incorporating math into this post by the way!). So here’s the equation: Calories in – Calories out < 0.

Or, in other words, the calories you’re consuming must be less than the calories you expend throughout the day. That doesn’t mean that you have to burn 1600 calories at the gym alone – this includes calories you burn just being you – I mean technically, we’re burning calories even while we’re sleeping! Here’s a link to an awesome tool that will help you determine your your BMR – that’s your basal metabolic rate – the amount of calories you burn doing no activity whatsoever.

But I digress 🙂 So back to the question – is eating 6 small meals a day healthier than eating 3 regular meals? Sort of. It’s only healthier if you aren’t consuming more calories as a result of eating more meals. So the key is – 6 small meals. That means that each mini-meal should be about 200-300 calories max – which puts you at a 1200-1800 calorie range per day – which is perfect.

The benefits of 6 small meals a day are:

1. Keeps your metabolism going at a steady rate which allows you to burn calories efficiently
2. Helps you maintain hunger cravings and random food binges – keeps your blood sugar steady which helps prevent hunger attacks
3. Keeps your energy up!

The pitfalls of 6 small meals a day are:

1. Overeating! Small means small! 1 slice of whole wheat toast with a slice of low fat cheese; or a handful of almonds with an apple count as mini-meals so be careful!
2. Takes effort to plan out. If you’re doing well with 3 meals a day and you don’t tend to overeat in between meals, then this might not be the best plan for you.
3. Many experts feel that trying to spread out the day’s calories rather than sitting down to regular meals may throw off the body’s internal clock making it forget how to recognize hunger and satiety cues to the point when you no longer understand what it’s like to be hungry but also never quite feel full. This is not a good thing.

So what’s the bottom line? If you’re the type of person who has the discipline and the patience to eat six small portions every day, can count calories, and you’re also the type of person to binge when you feel hungry – this could be the right fit for you. If you’re the type of person who enjoys sitting down to a regular sized meal and doesn’t have a tendency to overeat, then sticking to the traditional breakfast, lunch, dinner and one small snack is probably the best approach. Either way – the total calories you’re consuming must equal (or if you’re trying to lose weight, be less than) the calories you’re expending. And you should always be eating at least 3 balanced meals a day – don’t ever skip breakfast! 🙂

Millennium Restaurant in San Francisco – A Culinary Adventure!

Millennium Restaurant has always been one of my favorite places to eat in San Francisco – it’s an upscale, gourmet, all-vegan restaurant with unique, creative dishes and a menu that constantly changes. I have never ordered the same thing twice there – which makes it an even more fun place to eat 🙂 What I also love about them is they’re committed to using healthy, organic, fresh, seasonal ingredients and turning them into beautiful dishes that are as exciting to the eye as they are to your tastebuds! I would bet that even meat lovers would enjoy this restaurant. Last night, we went there for my husband’s birthday – and it certainly did not disappoint!

Below is a sampling of what we ordered, and pictures from our culinary adventure – hope you enjoy them!

Appetizers

We started with an Indian Spiced Red Lentil Soup infused with warm spices and a dash of coconut milk on top. It was a great way to start off the meal – reminded me a little bit of Indian Daal and Sambar mixed – with a Thai fusion twist. Both warming and simple, it was a perfect balance to the cold SF weather outside.

We also ordered the Black Bean Torte made with a whole wheat tortilla, caramelized plantains, smoky black bean puree, pumpkin-habanero papazul, cashew sour cream, and strawberry salsa. The torte just melts in your mouth as soon as you bite into it – with the flavors of the plantains and black bean puree seamlessly melding together. The salsa and papazul add a spicy kick, adding an element of surprise to every bite.

Entrees

We were really excited, and ordered four entrees from the menu. Luckily, we were so hungry and they were so tasty that we finished all of them! First up… the Indian Spiced Potato Cake with cardamom scented grilled eggplant puree, chestnut lima bean coconut saag, tamarind-tomato chutney, pickled fennel and a cherry tomato salad. In the picture below, you can see that the cherry tomato salad is on top of the potato cake. They also added a “pakora” on the side – which is like a vegetable fritter. The tomato chutney added a nice sweet and spicy flavor to the dish, and the saag was cooling against the spiciness of the potato cake.

Next up, the Peach and Pecan Glazed Tempeh with a peach & molasses glaze, a seared white corn grits cake, roasted green chile cashew cheese, seared broccoli rapini, a peach-ginger chutney, and pickled okra. I’m not usually a fan of tempeh, but this one was amazing! It had a very earthy and nutty quality – and the texture was absolutely perfect against the creaminess of the white corn grits cake.

Then we moved on to the Roasted Corn Masa Cake with pozole, caramelized fennel, pinquito beans, tomato confit and exotic mushrooms. It was served with seared kale, mole negro and an avocado-jicama relish. This one might have been my favorite of the night, just because of the strong, bold mexican flavors incorporated with such unique ingredients! The hominy in the pozole was excellent, and the beans were so cute and tiny! I’m also a big fan of avocado so no surprise that I loved the relish 🙂 And given that I’m a health nut, I was estatic to see kale incorporated into this dish!

Lastly, we had the Sesame Seed Crusted Tofu in yellow coconut curry with roasted corn, Japanese eggplant, bok choy, squash, Bhutanese red rice, stone fruit and chile de arbol sambal. It was served with a Thai basil cucumber salad. This was a great light and airy dish – the Thai and Asian inspired flavors binded the dish together, and the tofu was super flavorful and had great texture!

After all this – you can imagine – we were stuffed! But in a very good way 🙂 We also had amazing wine to pair with our meals, and finished off the night with one dessert shared by all – a caramel torte served with a coffee flavored sorbet – which was the perfect way to end the night! Needless to say, this was one of the best dining experiences I’ve had in a long time – I think Millennium might have even outdone themselves from the last time I ate there – which is definitely a feat! My husband walked out of the restaurant happy, relaxed and very full – it was the perfect birthday dinner 🙂

Curried Chickpeas and Quinoa Flatbread!

A couple days ago, I decided to try a recipe I found on Fat Free Vegan Kitchen’s Blog. It looked absolutely delicious, and really easy to make. My husband was a bit skeptical but open to trying it – especially if we used his favorite Tandoori Naan Flatbread from Trader Joe’s (see picture below) as the base 🙂 I made a few modifications (see my notes in purple) to the recipe to amp up the flavor/spicy-ness – and it turned out great! My husband liked it so much he volunteered to finish the leftovers at another meal. This meal is also extremely healthy – really balanced with veggies, protein and whole grains. The Tandoori Naan Flatbread isn’t the “healthiest” base, but it’s ok (one of them will run you about 250 calories and 2g fiber). I actually tried using a whole wheat pita and a slice of toasted whole wheat bread as alternate bases and they turned out great too (and those are healthier/lower calorie options than the flatbread). But any way you make it, this is a great recipe! Hope you enjoy it!

Ingredients – Curried Chickpeas/Flatbread

• 1 medium onion, chopped (I used a red onion)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (I actually used about 4 cloves garlic for more flavor)
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger (I think I used a little more than 1 Tbsp)
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 teaspoons good curry powder (or adjust to taste) (I ended up using closer to 1 Tbsp)
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne or other ground red pepper (or to taste) (I used 1/4 tsp and it gave it a good enough kick for my tastes!)
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes (fire-roasted preferred)
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• salt to taste (Definitely don’t omit this step – this recipe needs salt added, otherwise it will taste bland!)
• Whole wheat pita, or toasted whole wheat bread, or Naan Flatbread
  

Ingredients – Tomato “Salsa” & Other Toppings (I added this to give some more flavor dimensions to the meal)

• 1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered/halved
• Diced red onion
• Diced red bell pepper
• A few squirts of lemon juice
• Pinch of salt
• Mixed greens / baby romaine – chopped

Directions

1. Cook quinoa according to package directions
2. Heat a medium-sized, non-stick sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and a sprinkle of salt and cook, stirring, until onions soften. Add garlic and ginger and cook for another minute.
3. Add the chickpeas, curry powder, and cayenne pepper, and stir briefly. Add the tomatoes and cooked quinoa, reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer for about 10 minutes to allow flavors to blend (I simmered mine for longer – probably about 20 min total). Add salt to taste.
4. Mix tomatoes, onions, red peppers, lemon juice and salt together.
5. Make flatbreads: Top your pita/bread base with chopped romaine/baby greens, 1 serving of the chickpea / quinoa mixture, and the tomato salsa. Enjoy!

Pictures

Quick cooking quinoa from Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's Tandoori Naan Flatbread

Tomato salsa!

Chickpea Quinoa Mixture

My husband's flatbread

Flatbread part 2

My version on whole wheat toast!