A Week of Clean Eating – Who’s with me? November 28, 2011

My hubby and I have decided to have a week of “clean eating.” I say it with “” because it seems to be a somewhat self-defined term. Here’s how we are interpreting it: Limiting our consumption of all processed foods and choosing whole foods with high nutritional value. We also decided in this case to limit our intake of meat.

Why are we doing this? Well, we both want to feel a littler lighter on our feet. I see clean eating as an internal scrub-down and a mental refocussing on healthy eating. And what a great time of year to do this – not on January 1st, but the first week of the Christmas holiday. We, the Braddocks, will not be weighed down by the holidays this year! Who’s with us???!!!

To help you, and me, accomplish this task, I will post what we are eating during the day. Sometimes it’s hard to interpret our healthy eating desires into a practical plan. I assure that there will NOT be any eating perfection achieved here, but rather a good, honest attempt of cleaning up our food choices.

So consider starting your holiday off with a clean sweep. Here’s how we are doing it. Post how you are going to eat clean this week. Maybe it’s one small change that makes a big difference.

Clean Eating Braddock Style

General Principles:

1. Limit processed foods as thoroughly as possible. (This means stuff from a bag or box with more than one or two ingredients.)
2. No soda (an issue for some Braddocks). Drink a little coffee and lots of water and hot tea.
3. Eat as many fruits and vegetables as possible. Yesterday I cut up a tons of veggies and put them in baggies in the fridge. This makes it super easy to grab the good stuff when you are hungry.
4. Limit meat to once during the week and try to eat fish once.

Jenna’s Day of Eating

Breakfast: My usual smoothie consisting of a banana, frozen berries, carrot juice, kefir milk and spinach. A Black Hog Farm egg on whole wheat toast.

Lunch: (I ate a late breakfast so usually I have a morning snack.) Greek yogurt with 2 tbsp of granola. 3/4 cup yellow cherry tomatoes. 1 red bell pepper. 1 tangerine

Afternoon Snacks: 1/2 cup of raw walnuts and dark chocolate chips. 1 cup raw carrots and broccoli with 1/4 cup hummus. 1 oz Midnight Moon cheese. 3 cups of decaf green tea.

Dinner: 1 cup black beans simmered in beer, garlic, pinch of salt, and tomato paste. Avocado, spring mix, and low fat sour cream on top.

Total Veggie Count: 6

Total Fruit Count: 3

Crazy Week January 24, 2011

January is what I like to call the “Dietitian’s Season.” My husband has his football season and I have my nutrition season. This week I start teaching the Y’s No Time to Waist program at two different locations. I am also in charge of our first diabetes support group on Thursday evening (Thursday, 6pm at the Yates YMCA. Email me for more info: jbraddock@firstcoastymca.org) Therefore, I am not going to be home much this week and eating healthy gets tough.I got home from traveling around 7:45 tonight, with all my produce from yesterday in hand. Despite wanting to just veg out on the couch, I chopped and bagged everything. The spinach is washed and ready for salads. Carrots are peeled and ready to be cooked. Oranges are sliced and ready to offer lots of vitamin c to prevent getting sick. I am prepare, or as prepared as I can be to eat good food in the midst of chaos.

It’s these little things that can make a huge difference in your week. What steps do you need to take on the week to make healthy living easier during your busy week?

This Week August 17, 2010

Football season is upon us. For the Braddocks, this means way more than just something great to do on Saturday. We live, breathe and eat football, literally. My husband coaches high school football so once the season starts, we have a very fixed schedule. Compared to our crazy, jet-setting summer, I am kind of looking forward to some predictability in our lives, specifically on the dinner scene.

This week we are eating at home every night and I think our plan looks pretty tasty. Here is our meal plan for the week. Enjoy!

Day 1 – Veggie lasagna (used leftover marinara sauce I made last week for one less step)

Day 2 – (Really we ate leftovers of lasagna but the meal plan says:) Shrimp Scampi.

Day 3 – Asian beef stir fry. I have one more serving of grass fed beef from Cognito Farms!!

Day 4 – Grilled chicken sandwiches on sandwich thins, grilled corn on the cob and maybe potatoes

As a side note, figs are in season! Have you ever had a fresh fig? Fantastic. I do think it’s a little tricky finding ripe ones, but keep trying. Last night I made an almond fig tart that was so pretty. Try some this year. The fig season does not last long.

Have a healthy day!

Summer Grilling Has Started! June 2, 2010

For those that have been reading my blog for a while, you know I love to grill. Tonight we kind of kicked off the “grilling season” with all kinds of goodies: shrimp, chicken and tons of veggies. I received a bunch of squash this week from Palmetto Organics and also had some left over treasures from my last delivery. Here’s our menu from tonight that we enjoyed with some good friends. (There’s just something so fun and “summery” about BBQ’s with friends.)

Meat: Grilled chicken tenders seasoned with Monterey Chicken seasoning and BBQ 3000 seasoning (from Pensey’s), Shrimp skewers seasoned with Crazy Salt.

Veggies: Green peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, and eggplant –> simply cut them into thick, long slices and sprayed them with olive oil. Grill till tender crisp.

Sides: Roasted rosemary red potatoes (see recipes section for roasted potato recipe)

Here’s a picture of the beautiful veggies before they went on the grill. Please post any of your grilling adventures.

Squash, zucchini, eggplant, and bell peppers

5/10 – This Week’s Menu May 10, 2010

I have talked to a few friends this week who told me they really appreciated me posting my weekly meal plan. I am therefore going to try to make this a regular post and will add it as a category.

This week is very different from last week. I am working long days and won’t have the time I did last week. I also need to plan dinners all the way through Friday night, which can be a challenge. One thing that helped me put together my plan for the week was getting input from my husband and also a friend. She simply asked me what I put on pizzas and that made me remember I have leftover crusts from last week that can be used for a quick dinner this week. I can’t believe I forgot so quickly! Even though the same meal will be back to back weeks, we love pizza, so no one minds. I am thankful for the extra work I put in last week to make more pizza crusts then I needed.

Monday : Rice and bean bowls – brown rice, canned beans that I simmer with garlic and lime juice, lots of veggies, 2% cheese. I am sooo pumped that my husband likes this dinner now! This was his request for the week and I was impressed. I could eat this almost every day.

Tuesday: Spaghetti and salad- Nothing fancy here. It will be Barilla Plus pasta with jared sauce that I add ground turkey. I will try to throwh in some extra garlic and onions.

Wednesday: Pizzas with our left-over crusts from last week – Will put turkey pepperoni, fresh tomatoes and peppers on this week. FYI– the fajita chicken pizza last week was sooooo good.

Thursday: Salads with grilled chicken tenders and baked potatoes – I am going to bake the potatoes on Wednesday night so they only have to be heated up this night. If the oven is going to be on Wednesday, might as well bake a lot of things at once.

Friday: Breakfast for dinner! Who doesn’t love that? I have a triathlon on Saturday morning so I am looking forward to fueling up with whole wheat pancakes, eggs and fruit. I like to throw in fun things into my pancakes like any type of fruit, nuts and chocolate chips. I also got a device called a “Pancake Pen” when I worked at William Sonoma this Christmas that I have not used yet. I am excited to use this (because it’s neater than using a cup to pour batter) and just might be making some “J” pancakes. =)

So that’s all folks. If you are feeling up to it, please post your meal plan for the week so we can get some good ideas from you. Have a healthy week everyone. Remember, good nutrition does not happen by chance but because you planned for it!

The Menu this Week May 3, 2010

I thought I’d post my meal plan for the week since I am low on novel ideas to write about. I had a few inspirations for our menu this week. First, spring football started today so I have more time to cook dinner since my husband gets home late. Second, I am getting bok choy in my organic delivery basket this week. Third, I flipped through my Every Day Food mag and my recipes from A. Chef’s Cooking Studio (for more info on both, see “my favorite things” tab) and found two new recipes to make. Delightful! I love a menu with inspiration. I don’t have time every week to be creative, but when I do, I thoroughly enjoy it.

Sunday: Baked potatoes and salad

Monday: Beef Empanadas and salad –> I like making different ethnic foods and sometimes I will make “nutrition exceptions” because I enjoy a good culinary challenge. I discovered organic, grass fed ground beef at Publix this week that came from Georgia. I was really excited to see this available. Grass fed beef has a better nutritional profile than traditional beef, sadly. This recipe calls for onion, garlic, and peppers in the stuffing. So of course, I loaded it with lots of veggies. It also has cumin and raisins, both of which offer additional nutrients. Needless to say, they were delicious.

Tuesday: Chicken fajita pizza on whole wheat crust –> Every once in a while I have time to make my own crust. I always make a double batch and freeze uncooked, individual pizza shells for another night. This recipe is from a Food Network show that I watched this weekend. I love the creative twist to regular pizza that includes your veggies right on top. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/janet-johnston/chicken-fajita-pizza-sauce-and-toppings-recipe/index.html

Wednesday: Chicken fried rice with bok choy –> I have to be careful in telling my husband we are having “fried rice” because it’s going to healthy fried rice (he gets his hopes up easily). I will use brown rice, extra chicken that I cooked on Tuesday, and lots of veggies. The bok choy adds a familiar Asian flavor and great nutrients.

Thursday and Friday I will be out-of-town so there is nothing planned for dinner. I am hoping we will have some leftovers for Brian to eat. =)

Does anyone have anything interesting on their meal plan for the week?