Healthful Eating Hazards

Often when we try to revamp our diet we are met with many obstacles. Even when we completely change our shopping list, we still need to think about changing our eating habits when we are not eating in our home - which for most of is quite often.

• the workplace - Do you have a breakroom stocked with high fat/low nutrition snacks? Think about bringing healthier alternatives such as carrots sticks and hummus (our new favorite combo) or your favorote in-season fruit. For us our workplace hazard was our own business: We own a café and had grown accustomed to eating breakfast there. What started out as a pastry every once in a while became a full fledged habit at 3-4 times a week. Exchanging the pastry for two generous slices of rustic toast with jam eliminated at least 14g total fat and 8g saturated fat every time we normally would have eaten a pastry.
  

• in a rush - Convencience food can be a killer - literally! When we don't plan out our meals and we only think about them when we want to eat in the next 15 minutes to a half hour, we are particularly vulnerable to eating junk food. I'm not just talking about potato chips and soda - I mean all kinds of fast food, ordering pizza, many frozen dinners, and take-out. If you aren't very careful with your selections you may wind up eating more fat, cholesterol, and calories in one meal than you should for an entire day. Watch out!
• Some tips:Think about your week and on days when your have time to cook make a little extra so that you'll have healthy options on your busiest days. LefOr for a great meal in just minutes keep ingredients on-hand for salad anytime. One of the greatest innovations in recent years for fast-yet-healthy-food are the bags of pre-washed greens that just need toppings.
  

• beverages - Everyone knows that regular soda is loaded with tons of sugar, but what about our favorite morning beverages? In Spain, pretty much all cafés and restaurants serve a café con leche with whole milk. My husband was averaging about three a day (~15oz.) Just switching to three cortados (a shot of espresso with just a few drops of milk) saved him 14g total fat and 8.5g saturated fat every day. Sometimes little changes can have the biggest difference.

These are just a few hazards we've encountered and how we try to deal with them. Where is it hardest for you to eat well and how do you deal with it?

Our Journey to Wellness (Poached Pears)

A few months ago there was a scare in my husband Matt's family, so he decided to go to the doctor and get a check-up and have his cholesterol checked. Being only 29, active, running three times a week, and eating what we thought was a fairly healthy diet, we really weren't expecting the results we got - the doctor even joked a bit at why such a young guy was so concerned when Matt first went in.

Then we got the results back - really high LDL (bad cholesterol) and really low HDL (good cholesterol) - not a good combo at all. The doctor immediately wanted to put Matt on cholesterol lowering drugs, but we asked for a three month grace period to see if we could improve his levels through changing our diet and exercise habits. We thought that if lifestyle changes didn't affect his levels, then it would seem that in his case heredity was winning out and he would have to begin medication. But if there was something we could do about it without costly medication, then this was the preferable choice for us.

We have three girls, and the week after his diagnosis our third daughter was born so there was no way that I was going to prepare special meals for Matt. So thus began our whole family's journey toward eating to take care of our hearts.

I knew that I would need some help so I immediately ordered two new cookbooks: the American Heart Association's Low-Cholesterol Cookbook and Eating for Lower Cholesterol by Elaine Trujillo and Catherine Jones. These have been great. Not only do they have great recipes but they have great tips for eating well, cutting cholesterol and boosting nutrition.

Matt has since gone in for his three month check-up and his levels were drastically reduced. So much so that the doctor said that for now medication is not necessary. In six months he has another test to make sure things are not creeping back up. An added bonus of all this was that Matt lost weight as well. We weren't eating with the intent to lose weight, but to gain health, however in the process Matt has lost 12 kg. (about 26 lbs.).

So all of this to let you know why healthful eating is so important to us in the first place. And so I'll leave you with a fantastic dessert that we discovered over the holidays that is fat free yet tastes absolutely decadent.

Pears Poached in Red Wine with Cinnamon and Orange

1 bottle red wine (75cl.)
1 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
3 strips orange zest
6 large ripe pears, peeled

Bring first four ingredients to a boil over medium high heat in a medium sized saucepan. Add pears, return to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat and allow pears to absorb the syrup for at least three hours. Can be served warm or cold and can be prepared several days in advance.