Healthy Enchilada Grains

I made the best concoction for my lunch this week. I had to share it because it tastes so good I almost forgot how healthy it was. the bonus is that it makes enough that I had a nice big helping for lunch, and was able to freeze some for future meals. It's so good, I may even use it to fill whole grain tortillas for some incredible veggie enchiladas.

(In a crockpot) Just take a large can of Enchilada sauce, a cup of wild rice and a half cup of Bulgar wheat (all wild rice if you're avoiding gluten) put enough water in it to make the measurements of liquid correct according to your rice and wheat packages...chop up an onion in there, and cook on low overnight. Shred a little cheddar cheese over the top, or you could use fat free...and it is so delish. it's like eating beefy enchilada filling...Yum! You can make the enchilada sauce from scratch if you want to, that way you avoid the sodium too. The great thing is, a whole cup and a half of this filling meal only has 400 calories...and they are all whole grain, dairy and veggie.

Enchilada Sauce

* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* 1 tablespoon rice flour
* 1/4 cup chili powder
* 2 cups vegetable stock
* 10 ounces tomato paste
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Directions

In a medium saucepan heat oil, add rice flour, smoothing and stirring with a wooden spoon. Cook for 1 minute. Add chili powder and cook for 30 seconds. Add stock, tomato paste, oregano, and cumin. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook for 15 minutes. The sauce will thicken and smooth out. Adjust the seasonings. Serve atop your favorite enchiladas.

Celebrating day 42 with a great recipe

Hi my name is Pamela and I am addicted to processed, unhealthy foods.

Wow, hard to believe it has been 42 days since I realized food addiction was the primary cause of my weight issues and was leading me toward health problems and aches and pains as each day passed.

42 days in, I am happy to say, as of this morning, I have lost 29 pounds. This is amazing to me because I am not counting calories, I'm not on any specific plan, I'm not writing down every morsel I put in my mouth. I am simply saying no to any foods that are processed, packaged or made specifically for the fast food industry. I have consumed cheese, red meat and even a small slice of homemade apple pie. Yes, those things are limited in my daily routine and I would not eat them every day, but none of those foods are triggers for binges on large amounts of calorie laden, unhealthy foods. It was very freeing to discover that foods made from scratch without preservatives, even if they contain some sugar or a little bit of fat, are not triggers. Of course this convinces me even more of the dangers/problems with processed foods. I am still researching that and when I feel like I know what I am talking about a little more, I will post the results of my study. In the mean time, I'm celebrating the freedom of walking each day in food sobriety. I don't have a weight loss goal set because as I wrote previously, it isn't as much about losing weight as it is about being healthy. But, just so that none of the readers get concerned about the weight loss, I could easily lose another 70 to 80 pounds without being in danger of being under weight. ;) I don't know if my body will shed that much or not. Wherever the number lands I will still work out my food-sobriety each day, sometimes each hour. Just like a alcoholic or drug addict, this will not go away and no matter what my body weight or BMI I must be committed to food sobriety for the rest of my life.

This morning I made a wonderful wild rice dish. In celebration of 42 days of food-sobriety, here is the recipe.

Wild Spanish Rice

4 cups cooked wild rice
1 cup chopped green onion
1 cup enchilada sauce
1 large can, chopped green chiles
1 cup shredded cheddar/jack cheese

Stir all ingredients into rice over medium heat. Keep stirring as mixture heats. (to avoid scorching) If you want to add some lean protein to this dish, add 1 cup of diced, cooked chicken breast. Serve as a side dish or as a wonderful lunch. It's great served with a side of fruit or stuffed in a tomato or bell pepper. This will serve 6 to 8 adults as a side dish, or at least 4 as a main dish.

Enjoy!

Keep coming back, It works if you work it!

Let's Dance

Hi my name is Pamela and I am a recovering addict.

Wow, I can hardly believe 28 days have passed since I first posted about this addiction. Today is my 29^th day of food-sobriety and I feel terrific. I never knew I could feel so free while taking better care of myself. In AA and NA they use the serenity prayer as a mantra in each meeting. I decided to start each day incorporating that into my morning talks with my Heavenly Father. ­

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, (like the ingredients in processed food that triggers a binge in my body, or the fact that stress can be a trigger for me too.) The courage to change the things I can (I can change the way I react to those triggers and I can change what I eat so that most of those triggers are avoided. I can get enough sleep, and drink enough water so that my body is operating fully charged and fueled properly) and the wisdom to know the difference (I must do what I can do this day, this moment, unless I am healthy and walking in food sobriety, I cannot be useful to anyone else.)

Step 4 says this, “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”

When I first read it I didn’t think that really applied to food addiction. I mean, overall I am one of the most moral people I know. I don’t even watch TV that has violence or illicit sexual themes, I don’t get drunk, I don’t use drugs, I don’t usually cuss, I love my country, my mama and my dog, I don’t cheat on my husband…Yep, I could go on and on. Moral inventory seemed more appropriate for people who struggle with bad morals. But, I want to do this with integrity, so I decided to ask God to show me anything I needed to recognize as immoral in my life, or anything that was hindering me from the freedom to live healthy and food-wise in sobriety.

We tend to label things according to what we find to be moral, but none of us is without sin, therefore no one is completely moral. Lusting after Nutty Bars, Committing Gluttony with French onion dip, following a binge with sloth thereby keeping every calorie preserved in our hips and many other practices of the food-addict are all immoral by God’s standard. If we really allow God to show us the truth of our lives and take that FEARLESS moral inventory, we will recognize the things we CAN change with the help of God.

The good thing is, I already took a moral inventory at the same time I admitted my powerlessness over this addiction in step one. The hard part is, there is still more God is revealing to me as I walk in my sobriety and these steps are not a group of instructions that you follow one at a time until you have worked all 12. All 12 have to be worked all the time. Initially you have to come to understand them one at a time, but I believe these steps are more like a dance than a lesson plan. Thankfully most dances I know don’t have 12 steps to learn, but this life of sobriety is like, 1-2-3-Kick…repeat.  Every day that I dance in food sobriety is a day closer to understanding how much God can use me when I am not under bondage to unhealthy foods and stress induced habits.

Let’s dance!

Three and a half weeks in...

Hi, my name is Pamela and I am addicted to unhealthy & processed foods.

Three-and-a-half weeks into food-sobriety and I feel amazing. I was elated when the first 15 pounds came off so easily just because I was not participating in my addiction to processed or sugary foods. But, the first 10-15 pounds always comes off easily, so I rationalized that it would slow down right away. I didn’t want to be discouraged if my food-sobriety didn’t always have that awesome side effect. Well, so-far I have lost 24 pounds, and yes, I do expect it to slow down at some point and I will have to increase exercise to keep the weight coming down, if that is what I choose.

The great thing is, I get to make that choice. My big discovery this week is that I am seeking food-sobriety, and choosing to walk in that sobriety with God’s help on a daily basis FOR ME. My motivation is not to lose x number of pounds by a certain date or event, it’s not to impress my viewers or readers and it’s not even because my mom has been telling me I should get some weight off. For the first time in my life, no one else is making this choice for me. For the first time in my life, it is truly not primarily about a number on the scale, but about staying sober and vigilant about my food choices. It’s not even that absolutely everything I am eating would be considered the healthiest by some people. I eat regular cheese, I eat red meat sometimes, I even ate some stroganoff the other night…but I’m not eating any of the foods that I know will trigger a binge.

I did get caught unexpectedly this past Sunday. A friend and I went to lunch after church. The restaurant serves baskets of popcorn on each table, fresh and warm. I thought, A few pieces of popcorn sounds good. So I ate a few. Not more than 10 and I was fine. I thought, Cool, that was tasty. We ate our lunch and went our separate ways. I was surprised that on the way home I had an urge to swing through a drive through. I didn’t even know what I wanted…my body was just signaling that I wasn’t fully satisfied with lunch. I knew better. I had enjoyed two servings of squash, onions and peppers and a petite steak. I was fine. Still, even as I resisted that urge and arrived home everything in me, except my spirit and my will, craved something else to eat. I thought back on my food choices for the day…what had I eaten to trigger the craving? It was the popcorn, the popcorn oil/salt combo they use on it is like what movie theater’s use. I am positive it has ingredients that are not natural, but I didn’t consider that before I ate it.

With the mystery solved I was able to avoid a binge, but it was a tough afternoon. Lesson learned…if I do want popcorn I will select a natural variety and pop it myself, that way I know what I am putting into my body.

How about you, what were your successes and struggles this week?

Marinated Cucumber Salad

This is one of my absolutely favorite side dishes, and it's super easy to make. You can leaves the
peel on the cucumbers if you want to, just taste a slice first to make sure it's not bitter.

2 cucumbers, peeled and sliced

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1 small red bell pepper, julienned

1 TBSP chopped fresh dill, or 1 tsp dried dill.

1 pkt Truvia, or 1 TBSP Agave Nectar (I like the agave but truvia is better for diabetics)

¾ cup white vinegar

2 ¼ cups water

Combine all ingredients, put in fridge and marinate at least 3 hours, but overnight is better. Yum

Are you healthy? Comparitively?

I Googled healthy to see what the definitions would be. It was exactly what I expected, still as I took time to really read the definitions it made me think of how relatively they may be interpreted. Over the next week or so, I'm going to look at all of those definitions and how they affect my goals of a healthier life.


Healthy:
health•y adjective /ˈhelTHē/ 
healthier, comparative; healthiest, superlative

This part made me think. Not even to the definitions yet, and I saw a huge stumbling block for myself.

 I know that I am overweight, I know that I need to be more consistent when it comes to eating right and exercising, but I am healthier than a lot of people I know, and in some circles, I am the healthiest in the crowd. We need to be careful not to make such comparisons. Doing so can create a false sense of health. It's like wanting to be photographed with people larger than me, so no one notices how much weight I need to lose. It doesn't change the facts, it's just a lie to make us feel better about the thing that makes us feel worse. No wonder we walk around confused so much of the time.

I had a friend once who refused to be friends with anyone thinner than she. When I found that out, I actually pulled away from her "friendship". It felt a lot like codependency in supporting an addiction. Not good. Friendships based solely on a common addiction, problem or destructive lifestyle are rarely lasting once one person has moved toward a healthier life. It is very difficult to bring others with you, unless they are motivated and working toward the same goal themselves. I used to try to motivate people to get healthy with me. Then I realized that while I am on the journey, I can encourage them and share what I learn along the way...but I can't be an effective cheer leader until I learn to reach the goal myself.

I can understand the concept though. If we go to lunch with a friend who eats right, or only finishes a rational amount of the food that is on their plate and skips dessert, then it can bring a ton of guilt if we want to order, "the double bacon cheeseburger with extra mayo and a side of fries"...eat the WHOLE thing and then finish with the, "double chocolate brownie sundae for dessert...and NO we don't need three spoons, thank you."  

If we stick with friends who are in the same boat, we can follow their lead and feel justified in making unhealthy choices. I actually had a friend scold me for ordering healthy in a restaurant, because then she felt guilty for ordering what she wanted. It is amazing to see how much pressure we put on ourselves based on the behavior of those around us. It's okay to make your own choices, not based on what your friends are doing. Isn't that something we learned in elementary school?

Remember, "If your friends jumped off a building, would you do it too?"  But today we would call ourselves smarter because we went last, even after we saw everyone else having heart attacks and developing diabetes? Yes, mom had something there. I know that if I don’t do the things my body needs to stay healthy, it won’t be long before the abuses I have inflicted on myself every time I shovel in a donut instead of fruit , will catch up with me and I will be less healthy than I am now. The comparison must be with our own body…am I as healthy as I can be? If not, why not? Life changes have to come from a motivation to be the best ME I can be. Lets get motivated! You can do this!