Are We Really What We Eat?

The more I read of The Omnivore's Dilemna, the more I think about what I eat. To give you all an idea of what I eat on a typical day, here is a log of everything I ate today:

Breakfast
a bowl of kashi puffs cereal with fat-free half and half
coffee
truvia

Lunch
Veggie Wrap with Tofu (details to come in tomorrow's post)
2 Apricots
Annie's fruit snacks
rice cake with grape jelly (pre-workout snack)

Dinner
red lentils (see earlier posts for recipe)
brown rice
cantaloupe

As I reflected on what I ate today, I realized that the only thing I ate that wouldn't qualify as vegan was the fat-free half and half that I put in my cereal. Despite the fact that my diet is borderline vegan, I don't think I would ever be able to make the commitment to becoming a full-time vegan. I'm not saying that it's a bad idea to go vegan (in fact, I have a lot of respect for those of you who have that willpower). It's just that I like having the option to use dairy products when I need/want to.

I feel like the main reason my diet has evolved to become borderline vegan is because I am making a greater effort to eat more whole foods. I am making a greater effort to avoid processed foods, especially those that contain HFCS and hydrogenated oils. In the process of doing so, I have turned to the produce section of my grocery store.

My new mantra for food is this:
Buy more produce, especially that which is in season and/or grown locally. Avoid HFCS and hydrogenated oils when possible, but don't starve yourself in the process.

The fact of the matter is, not only is produce better when it's in season and/or local, but it's cheaper.

Here is my problem with processed foods: our bodies aren't meant to break down the chemicals used in those foods. One could argue that we've evolved to digest preservatives, dyes, and HFCS, but is that actually a good thing? I often feel better when I eat whole foods: I have more energy and feel healthier.

today's lunch: whole wheat sweet potato gnocchi

i was not as ambitious as i hoped to be when i returned last night from my hoosier weekend, so i didn't make it to the grocery store. i didn't think this would be an issue until I opened my fridge to make my lunch this morning. I stared at the empty fridge for about 30 seconds, then quickly put a plan in action, aka put a pot of water on the stovetop to boil. I boiled 3/4 cup of the gnocchi from Jungle Jim's, then tossed it with 1 Tbsp of my homemade basil pesto, 1 tbsp of grated parmigiano reggiano cheese, and a couple of sundried tomatoes.

This turned out to be a great combination! The pesto is a little on the garlicky side, so the added cheese helps to sweeten it, while the tartness of the sundried tomatoes adds a little punch to it.

Open Thread/Opion Piece: Healthy Eating on the Road

A recent guest blogger on Mrs. Q's Fed Up With School Lunch blog (you can find the link on my blog roll) discussed the lack of nutrition in convenience store food. This is far from news to me. I remember the feeling of disgust towards the junk food stocked at the local 24 hour convenience store near my college's campus, especially after I returned from a semester abroad in France. European convenience stores always feature fresh fruits and vegetables. I still look back fondly on a family trip to Italy, during which we stopped a rest stop while driving from Venice to Florence (worst idea ever. Never drive in that country unless you are native to the area or learned how to drive in Chicago). I was starving, so you could imagine how enthralled I was to see a full salad bar that even offered fresh fruit.

In preparation for my drive to Indiana, I stocked up on healthy snacks. I went to a local health store and bought a sesame cookie, a luna snack cookie, and shelled pistachios. The morning before I left, I ran to a grocery store and bought a bag of red grapes. This was more than enough to last the 7 hour drive, and I didn't even eat the cookies.

To prepare for the drive back to Wisconisn, I bought a bag of dried kiwis and a bag of pumpkin seeds at Jungle Jim's. When I stopped at Meijer's to fill up my gas tank before leaving this morning, I was shocked by what I saw inside the convenience store: fresh apples and bananas! And they were ripe, too! I bought a banana for the road, which came out to a mere quarter. It definitely came in handy when I was stuck in traffic outside of Gary.

I'd like to know what you all bring on road trips. Do you ever give in and buy snacks at convenience stores, or do you always pre-pack your road trip munchies?

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Unfortunately, my friends are without a grill, so we are having the closest thing we can to a cookout by boiling corn and hot dogs/tofu dogs.

For those of you who are lucky enough to have access to a grill, what are you having for your cookout today?

A Field Trip Fit for a Foodie

This weekend I am visiting my alma mater, which is located in Indiana, just on the border of Ohio. Those of us who were lucky enough to have cars while attending college took advantage of this by taking day trips to various locations in Ohio, including Dayton, Columbus, and Oxford. If you were anything like me, though, you lived for the rare trips to Jungle Jim's, a large international supermarket located by Hamilton.

There's no words to describe the feeling you get when you walk inside Jungle Jim's for the first time. Depending on how old you are, it's likely that your first stop will be their liquor department. To say that it is well-stocked would be an understatement. They have wine, beer, and hard liquor from everywhere. And I mean everywhere. I picked up a bottle of red bicyclette rose wine, which is from the pays d'oc region of france. I wanted to get a bottle of funky llama shiraz, which is from argentina, but they were out of the shiraz. My bottle of French wine was only $6.

Their grocery section is also mind-blowingly well-stocked. They have an incredible selection of hot sauces, some of which are kept under lock and key. I easily spent 20 minutes trying to decide on coffee beans (I ended up getting a bag of Jamaican coffee and a bag of Kona blend coffee).

But here's the best thing about this store: if you look around, the prices are very reasonable. I bought an eight ounce resealable container of yellow curry for $2 and a large packet of thai fruit flavored agar (vegan jello...I'm not vegan, but I don't eat gelatin) for under a dollar. I also bought a jar of sun-dried tomatoes, a bottle of Louisiana hot sauce, a large container of whole wheat sweet potato gnocchi, a bar of venezuelan chocolate, a small box of salted margarita caramels, a package of dried kiwis, and a decent sized bag of pumpkin seeds. My total came out to something around $40.

Notice

Just to let you all know, I will be heading to Indiana for Independance Day weekend, so my posts will be backlogged. Don't worry, I haven't abandoned this blog!

Have a happy and safe holiday, everybody!

Reinventing the Personal Pizza

Last night I went to a bikram yoga class for the first time. I was told not to eat anything 2 hours before the class, which would have been ok if the class wasn't from 7:30-9:00pm. Needless to say, I was starving when I got home.

Here's the thing, though: when I opened my fridge, I realized I had nothing leftover that I could heat up easily. I don't know what caused the next few actions, but the next thing I knew, I had created my own personal pizza from scratch.

using whole wheat pita bread as the base, I smothered a Tbsp of my homemade roasted red pepper pesto on top as the sauce. My cheeses of choice this time were reduced sodium mozzarella cheese and parmigiano reggiano, topped with fresh basil, yellow bell pepper, and zucchini. I then popped it in the oven at 400 degrees for 12 minutes, and voila! homemade pizza.