Veggies Oh How I Missed You!

Megan without veggies = not good.  So I was really sad to discover that that is exactly what the first trimester didn't allow me to eat.  Morning Perpetual sickness set in several months ago, and is just starting to let up now.  Not only was I completely repulsed by the thought of eating a salad, but my body couldn't digest it.  Really.  The few times I forced myself I had to run to my Shiny White Friend. 

No, to all my meat-lovers friends' disappointment, I did NOT crave red meat or poultry.  Bleh, fat chance.  When my mom was pregnant with me, she had an Orange Julius and chili dog every day, so I think I got my fill in utero. 

It's amazing how you can listen to your body to understand what you need nutritionally.  The one thing I did seem to crave every day over the past three months was dairy - yogurt and pudding.  Which makes so much sense because baby's bones were being formed. 

Today I had a huge slab of green beans with my lunch, and not only did I want them, the actually tasted good!   The old me is back!

Leave Your Fair Share

A new Panera opened outside of St. Louis, MO last week that's a little bit different from all the others.  It's a non-profit!  The shop's motto is "Take what you need, leave your fair share," and donations cover  food costs.  If this location is successful, Panera hopes to open similar non-profit restaurants in every region of the country that houses its for-profit restaurants. 

Check out the "Suggested Funding Levels" on the menu.

I'd like to think I'd pay my fair share, and hopefully the Missourans will too.   I'd love to see some of these in Texas!

Yum...

This is really gross, but certainly effective (for me at least).  I gave up caffeine several months ago, and I think I'll bookmark this video for any time I get a craving in the future.  I wonder if it will make a dent in soda sales in NYC.

Heaven

Give the Customer What She Wants

There's an interesting article in this month's Atlantic about changes Walmart has made to its produce section. Of course, as a corporation, Walmart has chosen to supply what is demanded.  In this case, that equals more local and organic produce.

The author did a blind taste test here in Austin at Fino using meals cooked with all ingredients from Walmart and our snazzy downtown Whole Foods.  Here's what ensued:

...16 critics, bloggers, and general food lovers gathered around a long, high table at the restaurant. Stubbs passed out scoring sheets with bullets for grades of one (worst) to five (best) for each of the four courses, and lines for comments. 

The first course, bowls of almonds and pieces of fried goat cheese with red-onion jam and honey, was a clear win for Walmart. The Walmart almonds were described as “aromatic,” “mellow,” “pure,” and “yummy,” the Whole Foods almonds as “raw,” though also more “natural”; they were in fact fresher, though duller in flavor. (Like the best of the food I saw at the Austin Walmart, the packaging for the almonds had a homegrown Mexican look.) The second course, mixed spring greens in a sherry vinaigrette, was another Walmart win: only a few tasters preferred the Whole Foods greens, calling them fresher and heartier-flavored. And only one noticed the little brown age spots on a few Walmart leaves, but she was a ringer—Carol Ann Sayle, a local farmer famous for her greens.

So far Walmart was ahead. But then came the chicken, served with a poached egg on a bed of spinach and golden raisins. A woman whose taste I already thought uncanny—she works as an aromatherapist—compared the broth-infused meat to something out of a hospital cafeteria: “It’s like they injected it with something to make it taste like fast food.” I thought it was salty, damp, and dismal. The spinach, though, was another story: even the most ardent brothy-breast haters thought the Walmart spinach was fresher.

Dessert was the most puzzling. I had thought that Walmart’s locally sourced milk and exotic-looking vanilla would be the gold standard, but the Whole Foods house brands slaughtered them (“Kicks A’s ass,” one taster wrote). People couldn’t find enough words to diss the Walmart panna cotta (“artificial, thin”) and praise the Whole Foods one (“like a good Christmas”). I wished I’d bought the identical Promised Land milk at Whole Foods, to see if there is in fact a difference in the branded food products that suppliers give Walmart, as there is in the case of other branded products. The pomegranate seeds, sadly, were wan, with barely any flavor, particularly compared with the garnet gems from Whole Foods. But Walmart got points from the chef, and from me, for carrying pomegranates at all. 

As I had been in my own kitchen, the tasters were surprised when the results were unblinded at the end of the meal and they learned that in a number of instances they had adamantly preferred Walmart produce. And they weren’t entirely happy.

I'm not saying that I prefer Walmart or Whole Foods or anything else.  I'm just saying that more competition in organic and natural food sales can't hurt anyone.  I haven't been to a Walmart in years, but I am glad there is enough financial incentive for them to begin providing more healthy and responsible food options at decent prices.  Think about how many small towns with Walmart as their only option can benefit from these changes.  I know that when I lived on the Tex-Mex border, I did have to rely on Walmart more than I would have liked.  My uncle owned a IGA (Independent Grocers of America) grocery store in south Louisiana for years, and he decided to close it after Hurricane Rita and Walmart both came to visit his small town.  This has happened all over the country and isn't going to change, so at least Walmart is expanding their selection of quality food.  That has huge ramifications for rural America. 

On a related note, I've been enjoying Newflower Farmers Market in my work neighborhood of Bee Cave (there's also one in south Austin, but I haven't been there).  It's probably one of the closest things we have to glorious Trader Joe's in that it actually has some affordable stuff.  It has a good bulk selection and the household and personal products actually go on sale*, unlike at Central Market and Whole Foods.  When it comes to things (that I can control) that go on my body or in my lungs, I'm a real stickler for chem-free.  I've always sucked up the higher prices on these things, but that could be a thing of the past as more competitors enter our local market. 

On another related note, check out Johnson's Backyard Garden of east Austin.  They deliver vegetables to families all over Austin, but they also have a volunteer program.. You can work in their garden for four hours and get a big box of their veggies in return.  My buddy did it last week and had a blast.  I need to play hooky one day so I can join in (main volunteer days are Wednesdays and Fridays).

*Their entire line of Kiss My Face is 30% off this week :)!

Change the World with Every Bite

I finally watched Food, Inc. and highly recommend it. The documentary continues the conversation started by The Jungle in 1901 and continued by Fast Food Nation and The Omnivore's Dilemma in recent years. It presents good background of the issues surrounding our food: foodborne illness, corporate bullying, employee safety and protection (or lack thereof), corn subsidies and the resulting pervasiveness in our food, animal welfare, early onset diabetes and obesity, poverty's affect on diet and health, genetic engineering, oligopoly and government lobbying, death of the small farmer, the blurring of industry and regulation, cloning...


Food, Inc. did a great job of reminding me that my dollars are my power. I've made many informed choices about what I choose to eat and not eat, but there's still room to improve for sure. Choose education over ignorance, friends. In the words of the filmmakers, "change the world with every bite!"

Some Great New Local Biz

I've been to a few great new spots here in Austin recently and just thought I'd share. Please reply if you have suggestions of your own.

First of all, if you haven't heard of Bennu yet, it's probably because you are not a student.
I'm actually at Bennu right now. It's 12:30am and I just arrived....yep, a great new 24-hour coffee spot! It's on East MLK and has lots of comfy couches and chairs and I have to say...it arrived just in time for end-of-semester chaos so I'm very thankful. Another plus - it doesn't serve alcohol (yet, at least) so you don't have to worry about being the only nerd trying to work done on weekend nights :)

There's also a great new pizza spot in my very own neighborhood called House Pizzeria.
It's on Airport at 52nd, right in that strange mix of Pawn Shops and I Love Video/Coldtowne fun. Their pizzas are unique - I had the arugula pizza - and they use lots of local ingredients. They also have local beers on tap, a jukebox, and a fabulous turquoise concrete floor. You should check it out.

My final recommendation for the night is Somnio's on South First.
Somnio's serves brunch, lunch, and dinner, and I've been there for all three. It actually opened several months ago but is a fairly small place so many people still haven't heard of it. It's in an old house and probably only has about six tables inside. The menu is small and made of foods obtained locally (both produce and meat). My favorite experience at Somnio's was when Chris and I went for brunch and were delighted to find a large bluegrass band playing inside. They probably look up over half of the room :) They were great and I felt like I was in New England again. Anyway, I don't know if the bluegrass is a regular thing on Sundays, but the food is enough reason to check it out.

Daily Arithmetic for Thirtysomethings

Oh boy, metabolism's a b.....est friend? Well, it used to be anyway. I remember the high school days when I used to eat a box of Hot Tamales, down it with a Coke, and somehow still be able to fit through Carlo's doggy door when I lost the house key. But then again, Deebo also learned how to fit through the doggy door.*

Ah, I digress. Metabolism. Mine used to pace itself with a ride on a bullet train, but now is just a steady Amtrak. And I do realize that there's still time for it to become little Tommy the Tank Engine sputtering along.

Some girlfriends and I were recently talking about health, and I made a comment regarding diet and exercise that I hadn't realized until it came out of my mouth. I came to the realization that when I was younger, exercise seemed to be the more important component for me personally (because my metabolism ran free). Now, however, diet is much more important for me. I'm realizing that I really do need a system for what goes in my piehole.

I'm working on regaining my pregradschool body. We'll just call it my PGS body. It's not all that different from my GS body; just more toned and less round around the middle. I'm not looking to dethrone Miss Hawaiian Tropic here. Anyway, I don't know how much of my PGS body is to blame on grad school or just the fact that 30 is knocking on my door this year. So, I've taken it upon myself to really get educated about my diet.

Before I know what I need to improve on, I need to understand what I'm eating now and how it does or does not help me in the long run. So I started a food diary. It's the first part of my experiment only to monitor, not to change. I've always heard about keeping a food diary, but have never been able to do it because of the time commitment. But I found a great site that is making the task much easier. It's called Calorie Count.

Here's what I like about it. There are three types of data you can log on a daily basis:
1. Food. Enter all of the foods you eat. Many foods are already in the database, which contains all nutritional label data. If you are eating a particular food not in the database, you can enter the info yourself and of course save the data for the next time you eat that food. If you are using a recipe to cook something, you can also enter it in to get nutritional data for the final product.
2. Activity. Enter significant activity you accomplish (i.e. spin class, walking the dog, etc) and the duration. The site calculates how many calories per hour are burned for that activity.
3. Weight. Keep track of your weight. If you have a goal weight you are trying to reach, the site will calculate what date you will probably reach that weight given your past eating and exercising trends.

The first day I started entering food data, I'll admit it took a little bit of time. But it gets faster and faster as you continue to eat things you have already eaten before. Once they're in the system, they're there. And once you get into the habit of registering the food you've eaten, it gets easier. The activity log is also very easy to keep track of. I've not done a good job logging my weight because I don't own a scale (and have no desire to). Maybe I'll check it out at the gym every few weeks or something.

So what I'm realizing from my little experiment is that just by the simple process of entering food, I've become a thousand times more aware of what I'm eating. I was not even planning on changing anything at this point - I just want to look for trends and deficiencies - but I can't help thinking about things before I choose to put them in my mouth. Here's a sample report card from today.

Nutrition Report

Fat - 25.7% (77 grams) Protein - 13.4% (91 grams) Carbohydrates - 60.9% (412 grams) Alcohol - 0.0% (1 grams) Other - 0.0% Daily Sodium Intake - 1,321 mg Daily Sugar Intake - 98 grams Daily Cholesterol Intake - 96 mg Daily Saturated Fat Intake - 22 grams Daily Fiber Intake - 65 grams

Nutrition Grade

	Calories	Grams	Fat	Carbs	Protein	Grade
	2,644	1,556	77	412	91	A

As you can see, I did okay today. Some things surprised me. I had 430% RDA of Vitamin C (yay, fruit and beans) and also did great on Vitamin A and calcium. I have been pleased to see I've been doing well on protein too, which will make all of you meatheads happy. I promise there are other ways to get protein! I have been somewhat low on iron though, and this is one I want to follow. We'll see what trend comes out of that one.

Calorie Counter also provides a daily Calories In, Calories Out estimate given the foods you eat and the activities you complete. For those of us who are mathematically minded, this is very satisfactory. :)

Give it a whirl, see what you think. I'll update in a few weeks with my progress.


* Carlo = 10 pounds, Deebo = 60 pounds :)

My Pep Upper = Peppermint

I'd like to dedicate a few minutes of my day to my best friend, peppermint. Peppermint has been known for its health effects for centuries:

• alleviates allergies and asthma
• aids with motion sickness, upset stomach, and nausea
  
• opens nasal passages
• gets rid of bad breath
• cures headache
• refreshes and alerts
• cools the skin
• improves blood circulation
• many more benefits here

I grow peppermint and chocolate mint, although there are dozens of other varieties of mint out there. It's easy to grow and really, really tasty.

Aside from my mint plants, many of the products I use on a daily basis are mint-based. Here are a few of my favorites that are very useful this time of year (with allergies sneaking on in...).

I start my day off with a refreshing mint shower. My Dr. Bronners mint soap really opens my nasal passage after a stuffy night of sleep.

I also like to use peppermint hand soap throughout the day:


And my favorite thing (especially after eating to aid with digestion and freshen my breath) is to dring peppermint water. I simply add a drop or two of peppermint oil to my water...yum.


And my guilty pleasure this time of year that got me excited about peppermint again: peppermint nougat!

It's also been a while since I've made backyard mojitos...

Poor Squirrels

Hermie, Chris, and I love our backdoor squirrels. They provide Hermie with countless hours of entertainment as they bark at him from just high enough that he can't reach.

I'm feeling a little bad for the squirrels this fall. Last year was heaven for them. The pecan crop in Austin was humongous because of the crazy rain in the previous summer. But this entire year we've been parched, and there are no pecans.

We didn't have time to carve our Halloween pumpkins this year. So earlier this week I sacrificed one for some soup and roasted pumpkin seeds, but decided to leave the other one outside to see if anyone would take a nibble. Sure enough, take a look.

It started out as nibbles, but I'm thinking now either our backyard buddies have brought in the troops, or some larger critters I don't want to think about are at play. Either way, I'm glad to provide a superfood to the neighborhood in time of need!