One of my favorite movies is Disney’s Ratatouille.  And, one of my favorite quotes is from the food critic, Anto Ego.  Ego is a very thin man – unusual for a food critic.  My favorite exchange of the movie comes when, Linguini, the up and coming chef, tells Ego, “. . .you’re thin for someone who likes food.”  Ego responds, “I don’t LIKE food. I LOVE it. If I don’t love it, I don’t SWALLOW.”  Anton Ego is a mindful eater.

I know many people, and have many clients who claim to “love food.”  They love eating and the rituals surrounding eating.  Eating is a treat, a reward, or love.  Notice I’m using “eat” not “food.”

When I talk with these people about how they eat, they eat in ways that do not allow them to actually taste the food.  If you don’t taste the food, why eat it?  If you don’t like how the food tastes, why eat it?  Think about it. . . did you taste the last thing you ate?  Do you remember the flavors, the texture, the smell?  If not, why did you eat it?

I have been learning to pay attention to the flavors, textures, and smells of my food.  This means slowing down when I eat.  Looking at the food before I eat it, smelling the smells.  Once I begin to eat I pay attention to the flavors and textures.  And, how those flavors and textures change.

Here is my next challenge to you.  As you eat over this next week, slow down and really pay attention to your food.  Look at it, smell it, taste it, and notice the textures.  Do you like how it looks, smells, tastes, and the textures?  If not, why are you eating it?  Why eat something you don’t love?

Over the next week, take a cue from Anton Ego . . . if you don’t love it, don’t eat it.

I have learned to really enjoy cooking over the past few years.  I used not to enjoy it because I wasn’t very good at it.  I have invested in some good books and classes to help.  However, the one thing that has helped more than anything is just getting in the kitchen and cooking.

I took a class on “Saving Summer” at Williams-Sonoma last Saturday. One thing the instructor said that stuck with me is that “cooking should be fun.”  She is so right!  And, to make cooking more fun, it helps to have the right tools.  Yes, you do not need a tool for every job, and a lot of tools can multi-task.   But, occasionally treating yourself to a new cooking tool can give some incentive to get in the kitchen.  That cooking tool could be a class, or an actual piece of equipment.  One of the tasks I do not like, and am not good at, is hulling strawberries and tomatoes.

During the class, the instructor used this Strawberry Huller to hull the tomatoes.

The people around me kept saying, “I just do that with a pairing knife.”  And, yes, I know you can do it with a pairing knife.  I’m just not comfortable doing it with a pairing knife (I have visions of the knife slipping and hitting my thumb).  I decided that if that cute little tool would help me in the kitchen (and save more of the fruit), then that would be a good addition to my kitchen.  And, when I made grilled tomatoes last night, I got a little excited to use the new huller for the first time.  It worked like a charm!

If you are not comfortable in the kitchen, pick a couple of things you can do to help.  It could be taking some beginner cooking classes, or buying some beginner cooking books.  Or, one of the most helpful books I have in my kitchen is The Well Tooled Kitchen. If I don’t know what that tool is called for in a recipe, I can look in that book and find it.

Cooking is a way to take care of yourself and those around you.  It allows you to control what goes into a dish, and to modify recipes to suit your tastes.  Cooking is an art form – a way to express yourself.  But, it is an art form accessible to everyone – including you.

A recent study showed that most American’s do not know how many calories they need to eat each day to maintain their weight.  Honestly, I’m not surprised.  This also means people do not know how much they need to eat to lose weight (for most of us, eating to gain weight is not an issue).  In order to help you know your calorie needs, I’m republishing one of my first newsletters.  It is longer than usual, and you’ll need a calculator, but by the time you are done, you’ll have a good idea about how many calories you need per day.

• The equation is an estimate.  You need to pay attention to your weight to determine if the estimate is right.  If you’re gaining and don’t want to, reduce the calories.  If you’re losing and don’t want to, increase the calories.
• Be honest about the information you plug into the equation.  Remember the saying “garbage in/garbage out”?  Well, this is a prime example of that situation.  If you aren’t honest about what you put in, you’ll probably get extra “garbage” on your waist, hips, thighs, etc. 

• Male: BMR = 10×weight + 6.25×height – 5×age + 5
• Female: BMR = 10×weight + 6.25×height – 5×age – 161

Notes:

• Weight is in KG.  Take your weight in pounds and divide by 2.2
• Height is in centimeters.  Take your height in inches and multiply by 2.54.
• Age is in years.

Now that you’ve determined your BMR, you need to realistically determine your activity level.  To get a better feel for your activity level, you can use Metabolic Equivalents (METs).  I’ll include how to do this in another newsletter.  The activity levels are:

• 1.200 = sedentary (little or no exercise)
• 1.375 = lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week)
• 1.550 = moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week)
• 1.725 = very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week)
• 1.900 = extra active (very hard exercise/sports and physical job)

Take your BMR and multiply it by your activity level (the number in front of the descriptions) and it gives you the calories you need for a day.  You can also choose numbers between the given activity levels.  For example, if you feel you are between moderately and very active, you could choose 1.6 or 1.65.

If you work out a lot and know the calories you burn during your workouts, I would recommend using the activity level of your daily life (e.g. sedentary or lightly active if you sit at a desk all day) then add on the calories from your workouts.

Example:

• 155 pounds / 2.2 = 70.45
• 5’8″ = 68 inches x 2.54 = 172.72
• Female: BMR = 10×weight + 6.25×height – 5×age – 161
• BMR = (10 x 70.45) + (6.25 x 172.72) – (5 * 40) – 161
• BMR = 1423
• Total daily calories = BMR * activity level
• Total daily calories = 1423 * 1.725
• Total daily calories = 2455

Now that you know your total calories, what next?  Well, if you want to lose or gain weight, you need to subtract or add calories to that number.  A pound is approximately 3500 calories.  If you want to lose one pound per week, you need to eat 3500 calories less per week, or 500 calories less per day.  If you want to lose 2 pounds per week you need to eat 1000 calories less per day.  If you want to gain, then add that amount to your total daily calorie number.  Remember, safe and sustainable weight loss is considered no more than two pounds per week.

I’m intolerant to cow’s milk and the products made from cow’s milk.  Unfortunately, that includes ice cream.  I have not really been impressed by the alternatives until recently.  I stumbled on La Loo’s goat milk ice cream and frozen yogurt.  I seem to tolerate goat milk just fine, which makes these an option.  One of my favorite treats is chocolate-covered cherries.  The first flavor of La Loo’s I tried was Cherries Tuilerie Frozen Yogurt.  It is a mix of vanilla yogurt, cherries, and dark chocolate.  Yum!

Today, I picked up another carton of Cherries Tuilerie Frozen Yogurt and a carton of Deep Chocolate ice cream.  I can’t wait to give the Deep Chocolate a try.  They also have ice cream sandwiches.  I hope my local Whole Foods has them soon.

If you are looking for an alternative to cow milk ice cream or frozen yogurt, you might want to give this one a try.

*I did not receive compensation of any kind for this post.

As part of my work on eating mindfully, I’m learning to pay attention to my food.  This is coming along well except, it seems, for one area.  I have discovered that I eat when in motion.  And, when I eat when I’m in motion, I’m not paying attention to my food.  “Moving” could be walking around the kitchen, cooking, driving, walking to my office, etc.  I’m sure we have all done this.  Think about going through the drive thru for lunch and reaching into the bag to grab a fry because you’re really, really hungry and they smell so good.  Then, you arrive where you plan to eat and find all the fries are gone.  Do you remember tasting the fries?  Probably not.

I’m declaring that when I’m in motion, I’m in a “No Eating Zone.”  The only exceptions are when I’m training/racing and fueling to support that activity – that eating in motion is a necessity.

What about you?  Do you eat in motion?  If so, do you really taste the food or drink?  Yes, “eating” includes calorie-containing beverages.  The goal is to taste and enjoy all the calorie-containing items you eat or drink.

Next time you are eating in motion, or considering it, decide if you are going to declare it a “No Eating Zone.”  When you eat in motion, see if you are tasting the food or beverage or not.  That will help you decide if you should declare a “No Eating Zone” for yourself.

Have a great Friday and weekend!

John, my husband and I, have been enjoying Meatless Mondays.  We take turns picking dinners during the week, and taking turns on Mondays always produces a surprise.  I’ve found some amazing recipes on the Meatless Monday website including Lemon Mint Qunioa Salad.  We have pulled out our favorite vegetarian cookbooks including Deborah Madison’s great Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.  Quick-Fix Vegetarian is another favorite.   And, I’m still craving the watermelon salad from Runner’s world.

We went to a friend’s house on July 5.  She said, “You’re still doing Meatless Mondays, right?  I hope so, because I fixed vegetarian.”  She had some great dishes that have inspired me to continue playing around with my own recipes.  We have also discovered a new to us grain – teff – which makes a great breakfast.

I’m looking forward to next Monday to see what lands on the table.  John made pasta with a tomato sauce including sundried tomatoes and goat milk feta.  I’ll have to see what I can find to top that. . . .

While getting more in touch with my body’s hunger signals and working on mindful eating, I am realizing all the ways I use food other than to fuel my body.  I’m starting a series of emails called “Food Is Not. . . “  This newsletter is Food Is Not . .  A Reward.

I know my clients struggle with using food as a reward.  When I work with them they set goals and then determine a reward for reaching the goal.  However, the reward cannot be food.  Using food as a reward is everywhere in our society.  How many times as a child did you hear “if you’re good, you’ll get a _________” and fill in the blank with “cookie,” “ice cream,” etc.    I think food as a reward starts for a lot of us as children.  Then, it is reinforced as we grow up and as adults.  How many commercials are there with “you deserve a reward, eat our product?”

Food is fuel for our bodies.  Food is what allows our bodies to do all the things we do from walking around, to going for a jog, to playing with your kids or pets, to completing an Ironman.

I’m not saying that food should not be pleasurable.  Food can and should taste good.  But, food should not normally be used as reward for achieving something.  Using food as a reward clouds the relationship between your body’s hunger signals and your mind.  If your mind says, “You’ve finished that job you needed to get done.  Yeah, you’re not really hungry because you ate dinner, but you deserve that ice cream.”  Then, your body is forced to absorb more food than it needs even though it isn’t asking for it.  For most people, this results in weight gain.  Then, eating the ice cream reinforces to your mind that it is OK to eat when you are not hungry.

Next time you are setting a goal or planning a reward, plan a non-food reward.  It is easy to use food as a reward because it is easy, readily available, and usually cheap.  You may find it a bit challenging to decide on a non-food reward.  Honestly, it is something even I struggle with.  However, they are out there.  Sometimes I even decide to use my workouts as a reward.

Also, if you have children, I would encourage you to re-evaluate using food as rewards for them.  Determine if that is behavior you want to reinforce in them or not.

When you come up with a favorite non-food reward, I’d love to hear what it is.