Glazed Tofu

4.00 lb(s), Organic Firm Tofu (Bulk)

1.00 tsp(s), Spices - Garlic powder
3.00 tsp(s), Ginger root - Raw
3.00 tsp(s), Honey
11.00 tbsp(s), Low Sodium Soy Sauce
1.00 tbsp(s), Maple Grove Sugar Free Syrup
4.00 tbsp(s), Rice Vinegar
2.00 tsp(s), Oil - Sesame

Slice tofu into one inch strips, place ingredients in baggie and marinate tofu for at least 24 hours. Heat oven to 375 degrees and place tofu on parchment paper, bake on one side for 20 minutes, then flip tofu and bake on other side for 20 minutes until golden brown. 1 serving is 2 pieces. 173 Calories

Binge Eating Part 2 - Emotions and Eating

In Part 2 of looking at binge eating I will be looking at how emotions play a part in why some of us may over eat. In many cultures food is often used as a way to celebrate and to comfort. If you think about it how do we celebrate holidays? How do we mourn the death of a loved one? It very often involves food!

This means that from childhood many of us correlate "feelings" and "comfort" with food. If we are sad we seek comfort food, if we are happy we may want wine, etc. The key to breaking the cycle of correlating food with emotions is first to be able to identify what it is that we are feeling.

Research has shown that often the first emotion we feel is not the true emotion we are feeling, meaning that there is often an underlying emotion that we need to be able to identify to truly deal with the emotion.

This is what we call a Feelings Wheel and it outlines what the surface and underlying feelings we feel may be. For example if you look at the negative emotions you will see that if you feel frustrated you may in fact be angry. If you are feeling apathetic you may be bored. Being able to identify this and seeing what precedes a binge eating incident will help you to develop a alternative plan of behavior.

Next I plan on looking at the ABC's of developing an alternative behavior plan to help you to avoid binge eating after you have identified the emotion that precedes the binge.

Garlic Quinoa

I don't like quinoa by itself so I "fancy" it up like this:

1/2 cup Harmony Blend or bulk quinoa (rinse it first)

1 cup water
1/4 sliced onion
1 portobello mushroom
Minced garlic
Cajun seasoning
Cumin
Olive oil

Carmelize onion on low heat. Add quinoa, water, cajun, cumin and garlic. Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cover for 10 minutes. Add diced mushroom and cook for 5- 10 more minutes. Quinoa is cooked when you see the "ring" around the grain. (Think the planet Saturn).

1/2 cup Harmony Blend quinoa 1 cup water 1/4 sliced onion 1 portobello mushroom Minced garlic Cajun seasoning Cumin Olive oil Carmelize onion on low heat. Add quinoa, water, cajun, cumin and garlic. Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cover for 10 minutes. Add diced mushroom and cook for 5- 10 more minutes. Quinoa is cooked when you see the "ring" around the grain. (Think the planet Saturn).

Chicken Marsala

Here is my low fat recipe! (Serves 2)

1 Chicken breast pounded flat.

1 portobello mushroom
1 slice onion
1/2 cup all natural chicken broth
1/4 cup marsalla cooking wine
1 tbsp butter (or coconut oil)
Cooking spray (or olive oil)
Dried basil
Salt
Pepper
1 tbsp corn starch
1 tbsp water

Slice the mushroom and onion. Melt butter in microwave, mix with broth, marsalla, and corn starch. Spray cooking oil in pan and cook mushroom and onion until tender. Push to side of pan. Cut chicken breast in half and sprinkle with basil salt and pepper. Cook and flip until done. Add liquid mixture and stir until it thickens.

I served it with my quinoa recipe (below) and steamed asparagus but also suggest cooked spinach!

Carido Bootcamp

I found this on Pintrist, do you need to do cardio but can't get to the gym? Try this!

Remember, YOU are enough!

Teryaki Glazed Chicken

1 chicken breast marinated in teriyaki , sesame oil, lite soy sauce and minced ginger.

1/2 cup cooked black rice
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
Green beans
Organic chicken broth (lower sodium)
Corn starch
Marinade chicken over night. Cook in fry pan with chicken broth until done. Mix cornstarch and water in glass. When cooked add more chicken broth stirring bits in pan, add corn starch. 275 calories

Baked Chicken Meatballs

I baked half and browned half since I didn't know which would be better.

2 chicken breasts ground

1/2 head cauliflower
Rosemary
Thyme
Sage
Garlic powder
Garlic Wine seasoning
1 egg

Sweet Potato Waffles

1.5 cups fresh puréed pumpkin

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons chia seeds
2 tps cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
4 tablespoons water

186 calories each!

Sweet Potato Enchiladas

2 sweet potatoes

2 slice onion
1 cup black beans
3.5 oz reduced fat fiesta cheese
5 low carb tortillas
1 can Fat Free Cream of Chicken
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 can green chilies Quinoa
Portobello cap
Cumin
Chili powder
Salsa
Minced garlic

Chop sweet potato and onion and place in shell with black beans and cheese. Roll and place in pan. Mix Cream of Chicken 1/2 can of water with nutritional yeast and green chilies and pour on top. Bake at 400 for 1 hour until sweet potatoes are soft.

For quinoa rinse and cook with mushroom caps. When cooked add cumin, chili powder and salsa. Warm.

Binge Eating Part 1

For the past almost 6 weeks I have been participating in an App called Weilios. It is focused on healthy eating, fitness and weight loss. Needless to say I love it. One thing that anyone who has dieted or attempted to change their eating habits has most likely had to deal with is binge eating. You know the feeling, it is 3 pm and the deadline is looming and you destroy a bag of potato chips. Those poor Funions never saw what hit them!

At Weilos I also see a lot of people beating themselves up stating “I just can’t stop binge eating!” This peaked my interest for two reasons. One as a social worker I am solution based so my thought is “can’t?”. Second because I work a lot with mistaken believe and a cognitive behavioral approach and my clinical skills just kick in. Thus I feel compelled to write this, for whom ever chooses to read it. Note that this is my two cents so you can believe it or not, I have no research to back it up and you won’t hurt my feelings if you don’t agree!

First I personally find the statement “I can’t stop binge eating” to be a mistaken belief, that is something you believe to be true when in fact it is not. In saying you cannot stop you are in essence saying “I am tied to the ground and the food is marching into my mouth against my will.” This is not true. What is true is that we at times have a hard time resisting food as a coping mechanism. A more accurate statement is “I am stressed and I want to eat”.

So what do you do to help stop believing a mistaken belief? Most often I start by helping someone develop a positive affirmation focused on the truth behind the behavior. To do this you must identify what the behavior is and develop a positive affirmation to counter act it to create an alternative behavior as you cannot change a behavior without replacing it.