Saturday, March 13, 2010
Blogging? Check the Time Zone
OK--last night I realized that when I started this blog, I didn`'t specify what time zone I was in. To my horror, I think I was in GMT -8 or something, and it therefore looks like I've been posting to this blog during business hours or in the middle of the night. Not the case. Anyway, I fixed it and now you'll see that it is 9:35 on Saturday night.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Master the Art of Dealing With a Few Extra Pounds
It’s uncanny how a few extra pounds can drastically alter your mood and your perception of yourself and your life. No matter what weight you were before, a few extra pounds can make you feel a gamut of annoying things, like unattractive, sad, unorganized, or like an all-around loser.
Well, you aren’t any of those things (or if you truly feel that you are, chances are you were before you gained a few pounds. No offense—extra weight sometimes exacerbates an existing crisis of confidence). You are just a few pounds heavier. No harm done. You can either live with and celebrate the extra pounds, or lose them. Here’s some advice on how to do both gracefully.
ACCEPT THE EXTRA POUNDS
Who says that just because you gained a bit of weight you have to lose it? You can in fact just keep it. Make peace with it. Or deal with it later. Remember that you are a free agent in the matter. You can make a choice to not worry about it. If you do, take my advice.
Go up a size or two—We usually look and feel bad with extra weight because our clothes don’t fit right. Nobody can feel good with muffin top going on, it’s impossible. If you choose to live with the extra pounds, invest in some clothes that fit better. You can look fabulous at any size in clothes that fit right. A couple of pairs of pants and a new shirt or two will make a big difference to how you look and feel.
Discover shapewear—A little shapewear also goes a long way. It helps hold you in a little and creates a nice, smooth surface for your clothes to hang beautifully on. You’ll look curvy in all the right places, and feel really put together. In fact, before you go out and buy new clothes, buy some shapewear: the clothes you thought didn’t fit you anymore might look just fine. And it’s not your granny’s girdle anymore. Shapewear comes in lots of great colours and patterns, is light and super comfortable. Many trendy clothing chains carry their own brands, and you can always find it in lingerie stores. There’s shapewear for virtually every curvy spot on your body, from tummies to thighs.
Accessorize—Things like chunky necklaces, bold earrings, rings, bracelets and structured handbags all add pizzazz an outfit and put the focus on your lovely face or hands, taking it away from spots you feel sensitive about.
CHOOSE TO LOOSE
If you’d like to lose the extra pounds, take my advice and you’ll see results quickly. But first, get into the right frame of mind:
Rule #1: To lose a few pounds, you need to change what you eat or increase your physical activity, or ideally both. It’s that simple. Change the food; move more.
Rule #2: If you gained a few pounds (barring some health problem) you may have added something (or several things) to your diet that caused you to gain weight. So don’t think of this as going on a “diet.” You’re just going back to how things used to be, in a sense. And you were just fine then, weren’t you?
Rule #3: Changing what you eat is like slashing a budget. It means changing some comfortable habits. This may suck at first, but eventually, new habits replace old and feel just fine.
OK. Now try this.
Cut out or reduce:
•Carbohydrates—remove or greatly reduce them from lunch, dinner and snacks. Make lunch and dinner protein/vegetable combos (meat, poultry or fish with a side of vegetables or salad; salad with tuna, and cheese, lentil soup, for example). Snacks can be nuts, yogurt, cheese, vegetables with hummus, fruit.
•Beverages—you should never have these. They serve no purpose. Drink water. Juices, sodas, “vitamin water;” ice tea…just forget about them, you don’t need them. Not even unsweetened orange juice for breakfast. It does nothing for you. It’s pure sugar as far as your body is concerned. Milk? Forget about it. You can get calcium from cheese, yogurt, broccoli, almonds and supplements if need be. Don’t OD on diet or sugar-free drinks in exchange because they are full of chemicals and also they mess with your body’s natural ability to feel “full.” Use these as once in a while treats though.
•Cheese—Limit your intake of this delicious, salty fat. That said, a sprinkle of parmesan, a handful of shredded low-fat mozzarella or some feta can really make a salad go from ho-hum to yummy.
•Alcohol—sometimes out of the blue I start having a glass of wine with dinner with some regularity. No big deal but when I’m looking to shave a few pounds, I lose the wine. It’s just empty calories, after all.
Eat:
•Protein and vegetables—Your protein can be a legume, eggs, poultry, any red meat, fish, or tofu. For lunch, make a quick green salad and put a protein mixed in. At dinner, steam some veggies and serve a protein on top or on the side.
•Flavour. You can use herbs, flavoured oils, garlic, flavoured sea salts, spices on most proteins or in salad dressings to ramp up the flavour volume.
•Breakfast: Splurge and have carbs with breakfast (bread, oatmeal, cereal). But make sure there is protein in your breakfast (egg, or peanut butter; milk alone, be it cow or soy, are not enough). This will stabilize your hunger and you will not want to pig out mid-morning.
•Fruit! When your stomach is empty (generally, 1.5 hours after you’ve eaten something), that is the perfect time to have fruit. It’s a great pre-lunch and bedtime snack. Fruit is detoxifying and takes only 30 minutes to digest, so it requires little energy from your body. Avoid eating fruit with anything else or on a full stomach. This slows digestion down and will make you feel bloated (which is exactly what we are trying to avoid).
•Treats. I kid you not. Eat a treat for god’s sake at least once a day so you don’t feel deprived. Lots of snacks are available in 100-calorie packs (cookies, chocolate bars, popcorn, even soft drinks come in those little cans). 100 calories won’t make or break you. Nor will the odd chocolate bar, doughnut, or bread with dinner. Just think of these things as occasional treats (note the key word in this sentence is “odd,” as in once a week).
Check the Calories
•Read the nutrition panel—Often, when I’m debating whether or not to eat something, I check the nutritional information on the package: the calorie count, the percentage of fat, sugars and protein. This information is often surprising: some “health food store” cookies and muffins, for example, have an exceptionally high fat content and calorie count, while some dark chocolate bars (Lindt, for example) come in at less than 200 calories. Knowing exactly what I’m about to eat often changes my mind, or my choice.
•Google it—Wondering whether you should help yourself to bagel and cream cheese at an office breakfast, or add a bit of bacon to your salad, or whether you can “afford” a slice of pizza for lunch? Google it. I Googled “how many calories in a slice of bacon” just yesterday and was shocked to read the answer (286--Today, I actually changed my lunch plans thanks to that little nugget of info).
Last piece of advice: Read the part about keeping the weight. If your efforts to lose the extra pounds are making you miserable, consider simply accepting it gracefully. Nothing should make you miserable. You can always lose it later or try a more established regimen than my little made up one.
Well, you aren’t any of those things (or if you truly feel that you are, chances are you were before you gained a few pounds. No offense—extra weight sometimes exacerbates an existing crisis of confidence). You are just a few pounds heavier. No harm done. You can either live with and celebrate the extra pounds, or lose them. Here’s some advice on how to do both gracefully.
ACCEPT THE EXTRA POUNDS
Who says that just because you gained a bit of weight you have to lose it? You can in fact just keep it. Make peace with it. Or deal with it later. Remember that you are a free agent in the matter. You can make a choice to not worry about it. If you do, take my advice.
Go up a size or two—We usually look and feel bad with extra weight because our clothes don’t fit right. Nobody can feel good with muffin top going on, it’s impossible. If you choose to live with the extra pounds, invest in some clothes that fit better. You can look fabulous at any size in clothes that fit right. A couple of pairs of pants and a new shirt or two will make a big difference to how you look and feel.
Discover shapewear—A little shapewear also goes a long way. It helps hold you in a little and creates a nice, smooth surface for your clothes to hang beautifully on. You’ll look curvy in all the right places, and feel really put together. In fact, before you go out and buy new clothes, buy some shapewear: the clothes you thought didn’t fit you anymore might look just fine. And it’s not your granny’s girdle anymore. Shapewear comes in lots of great colours and patterns, is light and super comfortable. Many trendy clothing chains carry their own brands, and you can always find it in lingerie stores. There’s shapewear for virtually every curvy spot on your body, from tummies to thighs.
Accessorize—Things like chunky necklaces, bold earrings, rings, bracelets and structured handbags all add pizzazz an outfit and put the focus on your lovely face or hands, taking it away from spots you feel sensitive about.
CHOOSE TO LOOSE
If you’d like to lose the extra pounds, take my advice and you’ll see results quickly. But first, get into the right frame of mind:
Rule #1: To lose a few pounds, you need to change what you eat or increase your physical activity, or ideally both. It’s that simple. Change the food; move more.
Rule #2: If you gained a few pounds (barring some health problem) you may have added something (or several things) to your diet that caused you to gain weight. So don’t think of this as going on a “diet.” You’re just going back to how things used to be, in a sense. And you were just fine then, weren’t you?
Rule #3: Changing what you eat is like slashing a budget. It means changing some comfortable habits. This may suck at first, but eventually, new habits replace old and feel just fine.
OK. Now try this.
Cut out or reduce:
•Carbohydrates—remove or greatly reduce them from lunch, dinner and snacks. Make lunch and dinner protein/vegetable combos (meat, poultry or fish with a side of vegetables or salad; salad with tuna, and cheese, lentil soup, for example). Snacks can be nuts, yogurt, cheese, vegetables with hummus, fruit.
•Beverages—you should never have these. They serve no purpose. Drink water. Juices, sodas, “vitamin water;” ice tea…just forget about them, you don’t need them. Not even unsweetened orange juice for breakfast. It does nothing for you. It’s pure sugar as far as your body is concerned. Milk? Forget about it. You can get calcium from cheese, yogurt, broccoli, almonds and supplements if need be. Don’t OD on diet or sugar-free drinks in exchange because they are full of chemicals and also they mess with your body’s natural ability to feel “full.” Use these as once in a while treats though.
•Cheese—Limit your intake of this delicious, salty fat. That said, a sprinkle of parmesan, a handful of shredded low-fat mozzarella or some feta can really make a salad go from ho-hum to yummy.
•Alcohol—sometimes out of the blue I start having a glass of wine with dinner with some regularity. No big deal but when I’m looking to shave a few pounds, I lose the wine. It’s just empty calories, after all.
Eat:
•Protein and vegetables—Your protein can be a legume, eggs, poultry, any red meat, fish, or tofu. For lunch, make a quick green salad and put a protein mixed in. At dinner, steam some veggies and serve a protein on top or on the side.
•Flavour. You can use herbs, flavoured oils, garlic, flavoured sea salts, spices on most proteins or in salad dressings to ramp up the flavour volume.
•Breakfast: Splurge and have carbs with breakfast (bread, oatmeal, cereal). But make sure there is protein in your breakfast (egg, or peanut butter; milk alone, be it cow or soy, are not enough). This will stabilize your hunger and you will not want to pig out mid-morning.
•Fruit! When your stomach is empty (generally, 1.5 hours after you’ve eaten something), that is the perfect time to have fruit. It’s a great pre-lunch and bedtime snack. Fruit is detoxifying and takes only 30 minutes to digest, so it requires little energy from your body. Avoid eating fruit with anything else or on a full stomach. This slows digestion down and will make you feel bloated (which is exactly what we are trying to avoid).
•Treats. I kid you not. Eat a treat for god’s sake at least once a day so you don’t feel deprived. Lots of snacks are available in 100-calorie packs (cookies, chocolate bars, popcorn, even soft drinks come in those little cans). 100 calories won’t make or break you. Nor will the odd chocolate bar, doughnut, or bread with dinner. Just think of these things as occasional treats (note the key word in this sentence is “odd,” as in once a week).
Check the Calories
•Read the nutrition panel—Often, when I’m debating whether or not to eat something, I check the nutritional information on the package: the calorie count, the percentage of fat, sugars and protein. This information is often surprising: some “health food store” cookies and muffins, for example, have an exceptionally high fat content and calorie count, while some dark chocolate bars (Lindt, for example) come in at less than 200 calories. Knowing exactly what I’m about to eat often changes my mind, or my choice.
•Google it—Wondering whether you should help yourself to bagel and cream cheese at an office breakfast, or add a bit of bacon to your salad, or whether you can “afford” a slice of pizza for lunch? Google it. I Googled “how many calories in a slice of bacon” just yesterday and was shocked to read the answer (286--Today, I actually changed my lunch plans thanks to that little nugget of info).
Last piece of advice: Read the part about keeping the weight. If your efforts to lose the extra pounds are making you miserable, consider simply accepting it gracefully. Nothing should make you miserable. You can always lose it later or try a more established regimen than my little made up one.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Master the Art of Roasting a Chicken
Roasting a chicken is the ultimate culinary experience for me for several reasons:
1) It is a fear I conquered.
2) It makes me feel like I'm someone who's organized and got it together.
3) When done right, the result is delicious.
4) Then I have left overs and I yet again feel like someone who's organized and got it togeter.
4) Once the chicken is gone, I save the carcass and eventually make a stock and the whole house smells like my grandmother's kitchen.
5) I make soup with the stock and then guess what? I really feel like someone who's organized and got it together.
It's ridiculous, I know. But if you've never done it before, it'll do wonders for your self-esteem. This is my own recipe, derived from experience, a Jamie's Kitchen episode and a Tyler's Ultimate episode (on turkey, actually) I saw on the Food Network while I was pregnant and entertaining fantasies of feeding my family homecooked meals every day.
You'll need:
A small chicken* (l.65 kg is good)
4 tablespoons grapeseed oil or soft butter
1 tablespoon of sea salt
2 tablespoons of dried, rubbed sage
1 lemon, washed and cut in half
Gear
1 ceramic roasting pan
A meat thermometer is a great thing; if you don't have one, no worries, I'll tell you how to tell it's done.
*I like organic chicken best, but it's very expensive. Lately we've been using the the President's Choice Free From chicken and really like it. It's not organic but free from a lot of the bad things like hormones and antibiotics. And cheap. Also, there are no "giblets" inside which is good for chicken novices.
If you have the time, let the chicken sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before you cook it.
If there are giblets in your chicken, remember you have to remove them. Just throw them out. We are not Julia Child. Remove string if there is one. Make sure to wash your hands.
1) Pre-heat oven at 350.
2) Mix the oil (or butter) with the sea salt and sage in a small mixing bowl.
3) Place the chicken in a roasting pan (ceramic is best). There should be plenty of room around the chicken, but it's ok if the dish is shallow.
5) Spread the oil or butter / sage mixture with you (clean) hands all-over the chicken, like a massage. Mixture should cover most of the chicken.
6) Place the lemon halves inside the cavity.
7) Cover chicken with tin foil. Place in oven for 1 hour 10 minutes (for 1.60 kg bird). Remove foil and save; roast chicken for another 30 minutes.
8) Check if done by inserting a meat thermometer** into one of the thighs, making sure you don't hit any bone. Temperature should be between 180 and 200 degrees.
9) When done, remove from stove and cover with saved foil for about 15 minutes before serving.
**No meat thermometer: with tongs or a fork shake one of the thighs (like shaking hands). The thigh should come off easily under the skin.
Fancypants: If you want to go the extra mile, make extra oil or butter / sage mixture and insert it underneath the skin as well. You can loosen the skin and make pockets between skin and meat by inserting a knife under the skin at the base of the bird. I believe in Tyler's turkey recipe, they stuck bacon in there; I've never tried that.
Stock? Save the carcass when there's still a little meat left. Put it in a large plastic freezer bag and freeze. When you have 2 carcasses, you can make a small batch of stock. Recipe to come later.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Throw Out Old Underwear
Just do it. Then find a style that works for you and buy a dozen pair.
Why should you take my advice? Is there anything worst than spending the day trying find subtle ways to retrieve underwear from places it shouldn't be? No, there isn't and I know because I spent the day doing just that. But no more. Those culprits are in the trash.
Why should you take my advice? Is there anything worst than spending the day trying find subtle ways to retrieve underwear from places it shouldn't be? No, there isn't and I know because I spent the day doing just that. But no more. Those culprits are in the trash.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Busy Parents: Consider Running
Short on time and exercise? Consider running. All it takes is 40 minutes and a pair of sneakers. It's free, fast and all those endorphins make you feel good.
It's not a perfect workout: it's all cardio. But it is better than nothing.
If this appeals to you and you've never given much thought to running before, consider a running class. You'll learn about proper techniques and hopefully avoid injury, and how to pace yourself to maximize your workout. Once you've learned the basics, you can pretty much set your own agenda; or you can move on to an advanced class and train for a half marathon, if your a goal-oriented person.
Why should you take my advice? After taking a handful of classes, I rediscovered running and I'm having a great time with it. I run sporadically and the only goal I have is to run as often as I can.
I've rarely met a parent who found the time to exercise adequately, yet it's a great way to increase energy, release stress, improve sleep--all of which most parents can use.
It's not a perfect workout: it's all cardio. But it is better than nothing.
If this appeals to you and you've never given much thought to running before, consider a running class. You'll learn about proper techniques and hopefully avoid injury, and how to pace yourself to maximize your workout. Once you've learned the basics, you can pretty much set your own agenda; or you can move on to an advanced class and train for a half marathon, if your a goal-oriented person.
Why should you take my advice? After taking a handful of classes, I rediscovered running and I'm having a great time with it. I run sporadically and the only goal I have is to run as often as I can.
I've rarely met a parent who found the time to exercise adequately, yet it's a great way to increase energy, release stress, improve sleep--all of which most parents can use.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Lose the Fantasy
Being happy has a lot to do with what we expect from life and whether or not our expections are met in the life we've chosen. While there's nothing wrong with having expectations, I think a lot of us fall into the trap of feeling unhappy when we've had unrealistic expectations that can't possibly be met. We develop fantasies and are disappointed when our real lives fall short of them.
Take marriage and family life, for example. Both have been idealized in popular culture forever. We're presented with images of romantic marriage proposals, perfect, happy families in which the parents are always well groomed, the houses are tidy, meals are home-cooked and always ready on time and the children always well-behaved. No one is to blame for this, for these images are usually used to sell something, from box office tickets to detergent. Who would want to buy anything from a bedraggled parent with bedhead trying to wrangle two dirty kids into ratty snowsuits and out of the disaster zone that is their mortgaged-to-the-hilt home? Nobody in their right mind, that's who. And I bet most of us wouldn't include that particular scene in our fantasies either.
And yet, in that scene, there can be so much beauty: The parent has bedhead because she decided to make pancakes for breakfast and skip a shower; the kids look dirty because the frozen blueberries got on their hands while they were helping make the pancakes and those really stain; the house is a disaster because they played a great game of hide-and-seek the night before; the snowsuits are ratty because the parent is concerned for the environment and dresses her kids in hand-me-downs. OK, so maybe the kids are having a fight right now, or the parent is having a moment where she regrets not having showered or even having had kids, but that comes with the territory because it is not a fantasy, it is life.
Fantasies are fun. They can allow us to grow and acheive dreams and all that business. But they glean over most of the stuff real life is made of, because we're not encouraged to see the beauty in that stuff (which is why that stuff isn't used to sell...stuff).
If you find your life is falling short of your fantasies, stop and think about whether the problem is the fantasy or your life. If it's your life, then maybe think of ways to make it more like your fantasy in small ways. If it's your fantasy, then either lose it, or accept it for what it is: a lovely dream.
Why should you take my advice? I'm a pretty happy person and I often think part of the reason for that is that I had low expectations when I was young. A former colleague made me reaize that. She'd been one of these perfect kids who excelled at everything. She told me once that she'd been told for so many years growing up that she would be a future leader, that the world was her oyster, she could achieve anything yada yada yada. And while she was doing just fine in her life, she found that "just fine" wasn't what she'd been lead to expect, and she often felt like she'd somehow failed to attain the heights she'd been promised. Never having been promised I would achieve great things (not a complaint, btw, but I was more of a fly under the radar type of kid), I usually feel pretty pleased with the things I do achieve. I like that.
Take marriage and family life, for example. Both have been idealized in popular culture forever. We're presented with images of romantic marriage proposals, perfect, happy families in which the parents are always well groomed, the houses are tidy, meals are home-cooked and always ready on time and the children always well-behaved. No one is to blame for this, for these images are usually used to sell something, from box office tickets to detergent. Who would want to buy anything from a bedraggled parent with bedhead trying to wrangle two dirty kids into ratty snowsuits and out of the disaster zone that is their mortgaged-to-the-hilt home? Nobody in their right mind, that's who. And I bet most of us wouldn't include that particular scene in our fantasies either.
And yet, in that scene, there can be so much beauty: The parent has bedhead because she decided to make pancakes for breakfast and skip a shower; the kids look dirty because the frozen blueberries got on their hands while they were helping make the pancakes and those really stain; the house is a disaster because they played a great game of hide-and-seek the night before; the snowsuits are ratty because the parent is concerned for the environment and dresses her kids in hand-me-downs. OK, so maybe the kids are having a fight right now, or the parent is having a moment where she regrets not having showered or even having had kids, but that comes with the territory because it is not a fantasy, it is life.
Fantasies are fun. They can allow us to grow and acheive dreams and all that business. But they glean over most of the stuff real life is made of, because we're not encouraged to see the beauty in that stuff (which is why that stuff isn't used to sell...stuff).
If you find your life is falling short of your fantasies, stop and think about whether the problem is the fantasy or your life. If it's your life, then maybe think of ways to make it more like your fantasy in small ways. If it's your fantasy, then either lose it, or accept it for what it is: a lovely dream.
Why should you take my advice? I'm a pretty happy person and I often think part of the reason for that is that I had low expectations when I was young. A former colleague made me reaize that. She'd been one of these perfect kids who excelled at everything. She told me once that she'd been told for so many years growing up that she would be a future leader, that the world was her oyster, she could achieve anything yada yada yada. And while she was doing just fine in her life, she found that "just fine" wasn't what she'd been lead to expect, and she often felt like she'd somehow failed to attain the heights she'd been promised. Never having been promised I would achieve great things (not a complaint, btw, but I was more of a fly under the radar type of kid), I usually feel pretty pleased with the things I do achieve. I like that.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Yes, There Actually Are Stupid Questions (part 1)
In this age of Google, there is no excuse for asking a lesbian exactly how her biological children came into existence. Or a gay man. Can you imagine asking a heterosexual person the same question? “How did you conceive your kids? Were you in the missionary position?”
While there is nothing wrong with wondering about such topics if they are new to you, and while I personally have happily answered such questions repeatedly, I have to say such questions often leave me flustered due to their deeply personal nature. They usually come out of left field from someone I barely know. And I can’t help thinking, “Really? You live in this time and place and can’t even put forth a hypothesis or two as to how this could have happened?”
Before you ask any question that might be deeply personal, it’s a good idea to do a little research. 5 minutes on the Internet is all you really need to answer most of life’s questions. If you still want to ask the question, at least let it be known that you’ve looked into it yourself. This might be appreciated.
As for how children enter the lives of gays and lesbians, all it takes is a meeting between one sperm and one egg. How these entities are obtained, where and how the meeting occurred, when and how the children that spring from this meeting find their way into a same sex family can vary wildly.
Why should you take my advice? We can all benefit from coming across as a little smarter and more sensitive than we actually are.
While there is nothing wrong with wondering about such topics if they are new to you, and while I personally have happily answered such questions repeatedly, I have to say such questions often leave me flustered due to their deeply personal nature. They usually come out of left field from someone I barely know. And I can’t help thinking, “Really? You live in this time and place and can’t even put forth a hypothesis or two as to how this could have happened?”
Before you ask any question that might be deeply personal, it’s a good idea to do a little research. 5 minutes on the Internet is all you really need to answer most of life’s questions. If you still want to ask the question, at least let it be known that you’ve looked into it yourself. This might be appreciated.
As for how children enter the lives of gays and lesbians, all it takes is a meeting between one sperm and one egg. How these entities are obtained, where and how the meeting occurred, when and how the children that spring from this meeting find their way into a same sex family can vary wildly.
Why should you take my advice? We can all benefit from coming across as a little smarter and more sensitive than we actually are.
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