Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you had a wonderful, relaxing holiday filled with friends, family and lots of yummy food. I had A LOT of yummy food and I don’t know about you, but I actually looked forward to getting back to my healthy lifestyle after a week (or more!) of indulgence. As many of you know, I spent years of my life dieting and setting new years resolutions to lose weight, and the Monday after New Years, I would begrudgingly start my diet.
So, I got to thinking: why is it that I now look forward to my healthy lifestyle instead of dreading it like I did for so many years? And I came up with a few reasons:
1. My healthy eating program doesn’t feel anything like the diets I used to subject myself to. The way I eat now makes me feel really great, alive and energetic.
2. I really LOVE the healthy food I eat. No Kidding! Why? I took the time necessary to determine what flavors and textures in foods appeal to me and I make sure my healthy food always tastes good. I mean, I am a girl who loves food and instead of trying to ignore that fact, I embraced it 100%. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy the taste of decadent foods, the only change from my yo-yo dieting ‘daze’ is that I now also love healthy foods and eat them more often!
3. I am intimately involved with my food (ooh, la la)! I feel up my produce when I am selecting it, I love gazing at the colors of the beans in the bulk foods section and cutting vegetables feels meditative (well, some of the time!). Food used to be so clinical to me, it was all about calorie content, fat grams and portion sizes and even though I thought about food all the time, I was totally disconnected from it. This relationship with food is so much more joyous!
3. I think the most important difference is that my eating program is no longer goal driven. I used to eat just to “get” something–like a thinner body, better athletic performance, etc. While it is great to have goals, I found that when I didn’t achieve them (or when I did, I wasn’t as happy as I thought I would be), I would revert right back to my old eating habits. By taking the focus off of a goal and putting it on eating to feel good NOW, I am able to make healthier choices which will ultimately lead to the goal anyway. Plus, it is SO much more fun this way!
How about you? Are you starting back on some type of eating program this week ? If so, are you excited and empowered about it? If not, what needs to change to make it exciting? Over the next few weeks, I will be focusing these posts on eating healthier and achieving the health and vitality you deserve in 2010 without feeling like you are on a diet.
Here’s to making 2010 our healthiest and happiest year yet!
~Jennifer
Speaking of healthy AND yummy, enjoy this Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili, one of my all time faves!
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili
Serves 4-6
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 40 minutes
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 anaheim pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 sweet potatoes (1 1/2 lbs), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 28-can whole plum tomatoes
1 cup water or vegetable stock
2 15-ounce cans black beans, drained
1 dried chipotle pepper (smoked jalepeno), seeded and chopped (easiest to do with scissors)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 cup chopped cilantro leaves, washed and dried
Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat and add the onion, pepper, garlic, and sweet potato chunks. Saute, stirring often, until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up with the back of a wooden spoon. Add water or stock, beans, chipotle, cumin, and chili powder, bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook for 30 minutes, or until sweet potatoes are tender. Stir in cilantro and serve.
Chef Jenny Brewer MS, CNS