A Practical Guide To Healthy Living

Ahhh, “balance.”  It means different things to different people, but most of you would probably say you’re continually striving to achieve it, right?  That its state is an ever-elusive destination?  It is for me. I know it when I feel it, but I don’t feel as regularly as I’d like.

I’ve been thinking about balance this week ’cause it’s been a crazy week for me, and yesterday I woke up feeling overwhelmed.  When I’m feeling like that, I try my best to tune in and listen to what I might need to perk me up and chill me out, and yesterday it was to skip working out in the gym and to enjoy the great weather a little bit instead.  So I decided to work in the yard for a while after I did the camp drop-off.

Now, this was not easy for me.  Know this about me, I can get a little bit compulsive about things – you may have guessed this just reading the few entries I’ve posted already.  I’m regimented, dedicated and driven in most things I take on – exercise being one of my biggies.  And when I say “exercise,” I don’t mean a stroll around the block, I mean a heart-pumping, muscle-engaging, sweat-producing ass-kicking workout.  But in the last few months I’ve finally learned that balance in matters related to exercise can be better for me, overall, than killing it every day.

I got here the hard way – again.  I’ve had a series of relatively minor over-use injuries over the years, but since January, I have been dealing with a stubborn case of plantar fasciitis in my left foot, and until recently, I was unable to do any exercise at all that involved my feet.  I had to quit going to my fabulous trainer, who I’d been seeing twice a week.  The arm bike (yawn) was my friend, and even my daily activities had to be very circumscribed.  I was panicked.  I was sure that this would lead me to balloon to proportions I’d never before witnessed.  And you know what?  It didn’t.  I did gain a little weight, and I did spread out a bit from lack of weight training, but I could still wear my clothes . . . albeit with a few extra handles in places they hadn’t been. 

And after doing some soul-searching, what I finally have admitted to myself is that my compulsive exercise ways, although commendable, routinely get me in trouble, and that really what I was doing was abusing my body instead of improving it.  So, in honor of turning 40 recently, I’ve made a resolution.  To take it easier on myself.  To take better care not to pound on my body every single day – each week to incorporate one day of yoga, at least one day of water exercise (have you tried aqua jogging?  It’s a killer workout and zero impact), a little more biking, a little less running.  So I’ll still watch the weight and not allow myself to gain, as I have for the last 18 years, but I’m going to try to stop worrying about the exercise component so much and instead, learn from the experience and move forward in a more gentle way.

I’ve read it before, and I’m reminded of it here again – Pema Chodron has said:

“People get into a heavy-duty sin and guilt trip, feeling that if things are going wrong, that means that they did something bad and they are being punished. That’s not the idea at all . . . you continually get the teachings that you need to open your heart. To the degree that you didn’t understand in the past how to stop protecting your soft spot, how to stop armoring your heart, you’re given this gift of teachings in the form of your life, to give you everything you need to open further.”

Think about it – what freaks you out, what’s going on in your life, and what can it teach you for the future?  Maybe you need to be gentler with yourself, too.

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There’s a good article in today’s N.Y. Times about how people who work with food manage their fitness.  Check it out here.

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So, a disclaimer . . . these are dishes I haven’t yet tried, but that I’ve flagged in various magazines and on-line.  I’m including links, and I’m going to try to make at least a few in the next week or so.  How ’bout we mix up our routines and expand our repertoires together?  If you try any of these, please post a comment and let everyone know what you tried and how it was!

This delicious Arugula Pesto Wheatberry recipe landed in my in-box today.  If you haven’t checked out Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks site, get with it!  She is an award-winning, go-to resource for whole food cooking.  There are LOTS of vegetarian options here.

It’s still summer, thank goodness, and many of us love a good burger on the grill.  I flagged this recipe for Grilled Turkey Burgers With Cheddar And Smoky Aioli in August’s Bon Appetit – don’t panic, it’s from their “Fast Easy Fresh” section, so it’s approximately 40 minutes from counter to table – definitely do-able – and you can even make the burgers up to 4 hours ahead and throw ‘em in the fridge ’til you’re ready to grill.  This has one of my favorite ingredients, smoked paprika – I will eat almost anything with smoked paprika in it (that and butter, but that’s for another post).

Also from the August Bon Appetit, a good farmers’ market recipe – Orecchiette With Fresh Mozzarella, Grape Tomatoes And Garlic Chives.  Instead of the pea-sized mozz. from Trader Joe’s that they suggest, I’d hit up a local farmers’ market and score some uber-fresh mozzarella from Fiore di Nonno Cheese - for the Belmontians reading here, they’re at our market on Thursdays.

Summer’s a great time for super-easy, casual suppers.  Cooking Light’s August issue has a good-looking recipe for a Chicken and Roquefort Sandwich that’d be nice with a cold beer or glass of wine, if you like those sorts of things. Serve it up with some crudites or a quick tossed salad as a side.

More quinoa, please!  Food & Wine’s August issue has a simple Quinoa Salad With Sugar Snap Peas that’d make an interesting side to some grilled tofu or chicken. I’m always looking for new ways to eat quinoa.  This would look especially beautiful if you can find red quinoa.

For a simple, seasonal dessert, the kings of food-porn at Gourmet send our way a delicious-looking Yogurt Cake With Currant Raspberry Sauce - again, don’t get tense, it’s a sheet cake and if you can’t find or don’t want to deal with fresh currants, you can use more raspberries (see Cooks’ Notes in the recipe).  And do you realize how impressed your fans will be when you turn out a from-scratch cake?  They really are worth the effort.  Trust me on this.

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Forgive me, people, I keep forgetting to send out an alert on this!

Mark Bittman will be in residence on Chowhound’s Home Cooking board for the week starting Monday, August 3, responding to questions about cooking and his new book, Kitchen Express, which focuses on quick, easy, flexible recipes.  FYI, Kitchen Express looks great, and they have it at Costco right now . . . had to talk myself out of buying it last week (do you realize how many cookbooks I have?  I have a problem.).

For those of you unfamiliar with him, Mark Bittman is known for his no-nonsense style and his simple, approachable recipes. In addition to his award-winning cookbooks How to Cook Everything and How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, he also writes “The Minimalist” column and the blog “Bitten” for the New York Times.

Here’s the link to the thread.  Enjoy!

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On Monday night we took friends from Toronto to Picco, in the South End.  Have you been?  If you haven’t, you should go . . . especially now while the weather is nice . . . ’cause you can eat outside on their front patio and watch the parade of peeps and pooches go by.

Picco emphasizes fresh, seasonal, housemade ingredients.  They make their own soup stocks, sauces, sausage, meatballs, salad dressings, ice cream, and baked desserts on site, and their pizza dough is divine - they use a slow, cold rising and fermentation process to make it, which allows the dough to develop a wonderful structure a very rich, toasty flavor.  I actually think it’s the best I’ve had, anywhere.

“Picco” stands for Pizza & Ice Cream Company, and while there are a few other things on Picco’s menu, I’d say those items are the standouts.  Their salads are nice, fresh and simple.  The warm spinach salad with bacon is always a hit, as is the minimalist but satisfying arugula salad with Parmigiano Reggiano, lemon juice and olive oil, which we ordered Monday.

For a starter, we also ordered the Caprese Bruschetta, with local cherry tomatoes in basil oil, tiny slivers of red onion, Lioni fresh mozzarella and balsamic vinaigrette.  I’m assuming it was made on Clear Flour Bakery bread, as Picco’s sandwiches are all made with Clear Flour loaves and rolls.  The bruschetta was delicious – bread was toasty from the oven, slathered with nice olive oil, topped with the fresh toppings.

We ordered our absolute, to-die-for favorite on the pizza list:  the Alsatian, Picco’s pizza-fied version of a tarte flambe.  This creamy, crispy disk of deliciousness is covered in sautéed onions, shallots, garlic, creme fraiche, bacon and Gruyere cheese.  It is rich.  It is luscious.  The saltiness of the bacon offsets all the butteriness of the creme fraiche and Gruyere.  The onions add flavor, but no harsh bite.  I know it’s a lot of ingredients, but as our friend raved, “mmm, they all just work so well together.”   I’m salivating now, just writing about it.

Ice cream is the star of the dessert menu, and they also have a selection of sorbets. There are various ice-creamy drink desserts, a brownie sundae and so forth, but the dessert I love the most is the warm gingerbread cake.  It’s the real deal – made from scratch with real ginger and served with raspberry sauce (which I actually do not like – I get it on the side), whipped cream and a scoop of their fabulous ice cream.

And here’s the really interesting and fun thing about Picco – it is a perfect kid-friendly destination (and you will have company even if you’re there at 5 p.m. on a Saturday night), but it is also a place you and your adult friends would like to meet, later-night, for some delicious informal food in a fun neighborhood.  How many places can boast that versatility?

Get all the specifics here.

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Yesterday, the Mass. DPH issued a public health advisory on bisphenol A (BPA), warning pregnant and breastfeeding women and children up to two years old to avoid exposure.  Although heralded by some as a “landmark warning” about BPA’s toxicity, the DPH stopped short of calling for a ban on BPA.

You’ve probably heard about BPA before, it’s been in the news a lot lately.  BPA is used in hard polycarbonate plastic food and beverage containers, including some water and baby bottles and sippy cups, as well as in the epoxy lining of food and infant formula cans.  But BPA is an estrogen “mimic,” meaning that it activates the same receptors in the body as estrogen does.  In fact, according to the Center For Science In The Public Interest (CSPI), BPA was first studied in the 1930s as a synthetic estrogen for women.  Chemicals like BPA are known as “endocrine disruptors.”

BPA leaches into food and drinks, and numerous studies show that BPA exposure is associated with a wide range of adverse health effects including breast cancer, infertility, early-onset puberty in girls, diabetes and obesity. The DPH advisory also cites recent studies that found BPA can interfere with chemotherapy for breast cancer.

I think that Congress needs to step up and ban the chemical in food and beverage containers, period, no qualifications. And while a ban is being implemented, the FDA should follow Massachusetts’ lead and initiate a public education campaign to educate consumers on avoiding BPA exposure.

You can read the related article in today’s Globe here.

Want to find out more about hard plastics?  Read CSPI’s informative article “Hard Questions About Hard Plastic,” which includes information on how to reduce your exposure to BPA, and a key to what all those recycling numbers on the bottom of plastic containers mean.

A couple of tips from me:  Eden Organics is the only manufacturer I know of who currently produces canned goods in BPA-free cans.  You can get Eden brand foods at Whole Foods.  And if you’re using canned tomato products, try finding some packaged in aseptic brick pacs instead – such as the Pomi brand, which is also available at Whole Foods.  Those Tetra Pacs are BPA-free too.

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Leaves and twigs . . . colon-blow . . . whatever you call it (these are some of my husband’s favorite disparaging terms for fiber), we’ve been hearing it for a while, now – “eat fiber.”  But even I find it hard to get 25-30 grams of fiber into my daily diet, and I eat a ton of fruits and veggies and very little processed food.  And then there is the matter of all those new foods with fiber added – yogurt with fiber!?  Fiber in a diet drink?  I don’t go for those sorts of Franken-foods, but a lot people do, and so one wonders . . . is the fiber that’s added to those as good for you as the naturally-occurring stuff?

Turns out it’s not, according to the Center For Science In The Public Interest.  Their article, “Fiber Free For All,” was published in the Nutrition Action Healthletter last summer, but to date it’s the best run-down on fiber I’ve seen. 

One strategy for getting your requisite grams is to start off your day with a bowl of high-fiber cereal, or a high-fiber, low-calorie bran muffin like these from the Zen Bakery.  Little tip from me – Trader Joe’s sells these under their own name – they’re called “Apple Cranberry Bran Muffins,” and they’re much better if you heat them a little in the microwave before you eat them.  Word to the wise!  They are VERY fiber-y and a bit of an acquired taste . . . but they’ll give you a good boost of fiber for only 80 cal.  I eat one of these almost every morning (along with 3/4 c. of Fage 0% yogurt and some fruit).

For snacks or an on-the-go breakfast, Gnu Foods makes some great fiber bars.  They’re higher in calories, around 130 per bar depending on the flavor, but each bar has 12 grams of fiber, and the flavors are tasty – and they’re a lot less hardcore than the cakes.  The Cinnamon Raisin and Orange Cranberry flavors are my favorites.  I’ve been eating these since they were first launched, and now they’re available at most Whole Foods – you can buy a few and see which flavors appeal to you.

Page 6 of the CSPI article has a list of foods and their fiber counts – try something new this week, bulgur pilaf, perhaps?  Get those numbers up!

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I’m Sarah Isenberg, a recovering lawyer, avid home cook, cancer survivor, nutrition/fitness/food enthusiast, wife and mother, freelance writer and editor, and I’m here to help.

If you’re interested in being as healthy as you can be, without making yourself (or your family) insane in the process, you’ve come to the right place.  I follow all sorts of health-related news, read zillions of food and lifestyle magazines, and try loads of recipes in my own kitchen.  I also love to dine out in and around Boston. 

Some might call me a “health freak.”  I do exercise almost every single day.  I do buy organic when possible.  I don’t eat fast food very often.  I avoid foods with artificial ingredients and additives and make most of our meals from scratch.  I’m skeptical of the industrial food machine and of big pharma.  But I’m also interested in balance – so while I’m a regular at my local Whole Foods and farmers’ markets, I also occasionally treat myself to some Crunchy Cheetos, and I believe that Velveeta makes a GREAT grilled cheese sandwich.  In short, I practice balance and moderation in my approach to healthy eating and living. 

Small, incremental changes in the way we live and the way we eat can make a big difference in our overall health.   Semi-Sweet is an effort to share what I’ve learned, what I’m learning, what I’m cooking and what I’m eating.  Take away what you like and apply it to your life.  I hope you enjoy the blog.

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