How to Avoid a Food 911

How to Avoid a Food 911

How to Avoid a Food 911

By Mareya Ibrahim, The Fit Foodie


 

You get to work. No time to leave for lunch. Stomach starts to rumble. Get distracted. Feel incredibly lethargic all of a sudden. Start to yawn. Chug a bunch of coffee or energy drinks. Rub your eyes. Desperation hits. Grab a bag of chips from the vending machine. Reach into your desk drawer and fish out a bag of year-old Halloween candy you pillaged from your kids and proceed to go into a caffeinated sugar and salt coma in the middle of your manager’s meeting, then fall face first into your co-worker’s lunch. Or maybe, just bite his head off and chew slowly.

The hunger beast emergeth.

you-won-t-like-me-when-i-m-hungry

How does the vicious cycle begin? The ideal of three ‘square meals’ a day was engrained in us from day 1. Snacks were something that would sabotage your diet and consisted of a lot of fried, sugary stuff. The real scenario plays out like this…you skip a meal, like, say breakfast or lunch, the snacking goes awry and your hunger dominoes like a pack of rabid wolves that will do anything for survival, including picking off of carcasses, donuts, fries and any other office meeting remnants or infinite shelf life, processed items that might present themselves from behind a vending window with lots of buttons. Will Power is not your wingman that shoulders you on to good health when a sugar-and-fried-food-fest feels a lot more like a party.

The body loves routine in what it eats and when. It wants to know it will receive energy on a regular basis to operate, just like a car. If you let the tank run dry and keep trying to drive, you’ll probably have to hitch a ride home no matter where you are. It just won’t go anymore. Plus, it takes a lot more energy to get it running in tip top shape again and don’t even think about giving it the cheap gas, unless you want to gunk up the engine.

White flour, refined sweeteners, chemical additives and processed foods are perfectly designed to gunk up your engine.

So, here’s my secret. The key to staving off hunger and managing blood sugar is to eat better, more often. Food affects our mood, energy level, how we handle stress, our ability to sleep, how we deal with relationships, and ultimately, governs our decisions. Have you ever seen the shirt that says ‘I’m sorry for what I said when I was hungry?’

Im sorry for what i said what i was hungry

Eating regularly seems like such an easy concept but one that’s not always given priority in our go, go, go lives. As a health coach, I hear it all the time. “I forgot to eat.” “I don’t always have time to go grocery shopping.” “I’m on a diet, so I’m skipping lunch.” The fact is, your body needs you to eat right, regularly. Not eating right will come back to bite you in the derriere. You won’t just gain fat, you’ll also drag down your system, and just like that car, you will break down.

You not only are encouraged to eat often, choosing a combination of protein with slow burning carbohydrates and essential fatty acids can actually stoke your metabolic fire and help you burn more calories, even in your sleep. Clean foods + smaller portions at regular intervals = higher metabolism. If that doesn’t sound like a license to eat, I don’t know what more a fit foodie could ask for!


 

Quick meal ideas can help keep the hunger beast from rearing its ugly head. Eat a few a day:

  • Nitrate-free turkey breast, arugula and tomato rolled in a whole grain tortilla
  • Baked fish with veggies and farro (See recipe)
  • Oatmeal made with old fashioned oats, flax meal, fresh fruit and unsweetened nut milk
  • Sushi hand rolls made with toasted seaweed, vinegar-seasoned brown rice, avocado, seared tuna and cucumber

Smart snacks can also help you avoid a food emergency. Eat a couple each day:

  • Protein shake made with high quality protein powder, spinach, coconut water and berries
  • Sprouted toast topped with almond butter and sliced apples
  • Homemade trail mix with unsalted cashews, dried cranberries and dark chocolate chips
  • Bell pepper, Jicama and cucumber sticks with avocado hummus
  • Crunchy chickpeas, baked with cumin

A little bit of planning goes a long way. Make sure you’ve got some meals prepped and snacks packed before heading into the week. I like to keep a bag in my car that travels with me, full of transportable snacks like raw cashews, packs of wild-caught albacore tuna, coconut water, low sugar bars and apples with individual packets of nut butter so that I’m never seduced by the blinking lights of the fast food drive through. I figure as long as I’m armed, I’ll never have to succumb to a food 911.

 


 

Baked Dover Sole with Caper ‘Butter’ Sauce

 

Baked Dover Sole

I’m a fan of 1-pan dishes because there’s nothing that makes me happier than not a lot of clean up. Delicate, white fleshed fish like Dover Sole makes the perfect main course in this case because it’s perfect baked, and it takes no time. It’s also very affordable.

Ingredients:

Nonstick Cooking Spray or Olive Oil

2 Lbs. Wild Caught Dover Sole

1 Cup Grape Tomatoes

2 Fresh Lemons 2 tsp Zest (grate the zest first) then squeeze the juice

2 Tbsp Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, melted

3 Tbsp Ground Flax Meal

3 Tbsp Capers

Sea Salt and fresh ground Black Pepper

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375F. Spray baking pan with a little non-stick cooking spray or coat with a thin layer of olive oil.

2) In a small bowl, whisk together fresh lemon juice, zest and melted Earth Balance until uniform. Wash tomatoes and lemons with Eat Cleaner Fruit & Vegetable Wash.

3) Clean fish with Eat Cleaner Seafood & Poultry Wash. Place fillets of sole into the baking dish in one layer. Season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper. Pour butter sauce over fish.

4) Sprinkle with ground flax meal, lightly patting down into each fillet. Top with capers. Arrange grape tomatoes around the edges of the sole fillets.

5) Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until fish is cooked through. Serve with farro, quinoa or a side of fresh greens. Buon appetito!

Screen Shot 2015-06-16 at 3.40.01 PM


 

Crunchy Cumin and Chili Chickpeas

Screen Shot 2015-06-16 at 3.40.15 PM

These make for a great, high protein snack that satiate your need to crunch.

 

Ingredients:

4 cups garbanzo beans, canned, rinsed

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground Chili powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 400°F and arrange a rack in the middle.

2. Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients until evenly coated.

3. Spread the chickpeas in an even layer onto a rimmed baking sheet and bake until crisp, about 30 to 40 minutes.

4. Package in individual portion sizes in paper bags to keep crunchy.


 

For more great tips and recipes from Chef Mareya, The Fit Foodie, visit www.eatcleaner.com or text EATCLEANER to 22828 to Join The Cleaner Plate Club!

fitfoodie-2013-1001x1024

Be sure to FOLLOW us on social media & SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel!

Screen Shot 2015-05-04 at 3.06.00 PM

@eatcleaner on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, & YouTube

@eatcleanerfood on Twitter


Older post Newer post