School Lunch Shakedown Tour Wheels Around Portland

Portlanders! Watch for this at local events the weekend of September 24-25. I’ll be busy at World Animal Festival at Oregon Zoo, but if I wasn’t I would totally stalk this cart to get a salad shaker. Anna eats healthy school lunches, but she’s not quite convinced on salads. So I think this would be perfect for MY lunches! And who knows, maybe she’d give salads a chance in her school lunch if she had a cool shaker?

Here are the details (straight from the press release, yo):

Whole Foods Market and B-Line Cycles will be cruising around Portland giving away free salad shakers – healthy salads layered with fresh vegetables in shakeable containers – to children and families at five different locations Sept. 24 and 25. The tour promotes the new Whole Kid’s Foundation School Garden Grant Program, which provides grants for school and community gardens.

During this rolling tour, kids who sign a pledge to eat healthy school lunches will be entered into a drawing to win one of two $250 gift certificates to the Bike Gallery. (One boy and one girl winner will be selected.) By making the pledge, kids (12 and under) will earn a one-year membership to the Whole Kid’s Club which entitles them to a free healthy food item each time they visit a local Whole Foods Market store.Information will also be provided to parents, letting them know how they can apply to the Garden Grant Program on behalf of their neighborhood school or community garden.

The School Lunch Shakedown Tour Wheels Around Portland

 OMSI Power to the Pedal event, 1945 SE Water Ave.
Saturday, Sept. 24, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Chapman Elementary School Swift Watch, 1445 NW 26th Ave.
Saturday, Sept. 24, 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Sunday Parkways at Woodlawn Park, NE 13th Ave. and Dekum St.
Sunday, Sept. 25, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Sunday Parkways at Alberta Park, NE 22^nd Ave. and Killingsworth St.
Sunday, Sept. 25, 1:00 – 2:00 p.m.

Sunday Parkways at Fernhill Park, NE 37th Ave. and Ainsworth St.
Sunday, Sept. 25, 2:30 – 3:30 p.m.

About Whole Kids Foundation

Whole Kids Foundation’s mission is to improve children’s nutrition and wellness with the goal of ending the childhood obesity epidemic. Through partnerships with innovative organizations, schools and educators the Foundation works to provide children access to healthier choices with the goal of helping them reach their full potential through the strength of a healthy body. Whole Kids Foundation is focusing its efforts in three areas: school garden grants, salad bars in schools and nutrition education and inspiration for teachers.

About the School Garden Grant Program

The School Garden Grant Program is a collaboration between Whole Kids Foundation, Whole Foods Market and FoodCorps. Learning about the process of growing food helps children develop a deep understanding of the connection between healthy eating and a healthy body. Gardens also provide a base of knowledge that allows children to take an active role in healthy food choices. School garden grant applications are being accepted through Dec. 31, 2011. Learn more about the program and the application process.

How do you get your kids to eat healthy food? Would a cool salad shaker
convince them to eat salad?

~Krista

A new food challenge

As a parent concerned about nutrition, I’m always trying to balance making healthy meals that both the kids and us grown-ups will enjoy. I’ve recently decided to add the new twist of trying to be as vegetarian as possible, because I’m concerned about how the animals are treated before making it to my table.

So now I have a new twist. A new filter to run my potential meals through before offering them to the family.

Anti-inflammatory.

Wha?

Frustrated at my lack of progress in healing my doctor-diagnosed Achilles tendonitis, I made an appointment to see a Chinese medicine practitioner, Marya. After making the appointment, I saw Physical Therapist Dan and got the problem fixed (FYI, it wasn’t Achilles tendonitis after all!), but I still went to see her because I want to heal well, and I want to be able to start running again as soon as possible. In addition to doing a little Shiatsu massage and acupuncture, she prescribed an anti-inflammatory diet.

What is an anti-inflammatory diet, you ask?

The answer is: “Remove everything that’s fun from your diet.”

Seriously. Foods I shouldn’t be consuming include: caffeine, red meat, wheat, corn, soy, dairy, and sugar.

I wasn’t so worried about the sugar and red meat, since we don’t eat it much of either anyway. But part of my “going vegetarian” endeavor has involved a lot of pasta. I just bought a bunch of fresh basil to make pesto. I guess I can put it over fish and veggies instead of pasta… I made the mistake of perusing some vegetarian-only cookbooks, and found myself falling asleep just flipping through the pages. I’m having more fun looking at my Bon Appétit Cookbook by Barbara Fairchild, because everything is so interesting and delicious.

Here is the meal I’ve planned for dinner today:

Almond Crusted Cod with Leek & Lemon Cream (from the Bon Appétit Cookbook: it actually called for sole, but there wasn’t any sole available, the cod was fresh), to be served with saffron-lemon infused brown rice (my own creation), and rainbow chard sautéed with garlic (Anna’s idea). I know the cream in the leek & lemon cream sauce is on the no-go list, but I have to start somewhere. Almonds are highly recommended, as are leeks and lemons and chard, so I think this will be a good meal. Plus, Marya suggested using coconut oil in cooking, so I can use that when preparing the fish. I’m fairly confident it will be interesting enough for Brian and I, and the kids will like it as well. Well, I don’t think they’ll be crazy about the chard but it’s worth a try.

bok choy, carrots, basil, spring garlic, rainbow chard and collard greens from the Farmers' Market

I found a recipe for a bok choy & shrimp salad with won ton “chips” (from Prime Time Emeril) that I think we’ll try tomorrow.

I sure would appreciate any other ideas to expand my repertoire!

In good health,
~Krista

Weight a minute…

While I was visiting my doctor about my naughty Achilles tendon, I took the opportunity to ask her if she had any ideas for me for losing weight. I was so successful losing all the baby weight before Anna was a year old, but it’s been a roller coaster of up and down since I had Eric. Exercise and watching my eating have worked in the past, but even with running several times a week and not being too stupid about my intake, I can’t seem to lose.

Frustrating. I don’t even want to go to parties, because all my cute party dresses are about 20 lbs too tight. {Not go to parties? Who is this person, and what have you done with Krista?}

My doctor is awesome, and she had some valuable insight for me. So I thought I’d share it…
1. Write down everything you eat.
OK, I knew this from Weight Watchers, but I haven’t been doing it. Her reasoning is this: There is a really big window of food intake to maintain weight. There is a very small window of food intake to lose weight. The difference between losing weight and maintaining weight can be as few as 300 calories. If I’m not tracking everything, I won’t know that, and a couple snacks or an extra glass of wine might be holding me back. {If only it were only one extra glass of wine!}

2. Our bodies will tell us we’re hungry for the heaviest we’ve been in the last 2 years. TWO YEARS. So even when I’ve lost weight, my body tells me I’m hungrier than I should be. I have to maintain my real weight for TWO YEARS—and be hungry some of the time—in order to convince my brain of my new, lower weight. {And by “new,” I mean back to pre-baby!}

3. Running long distances may be thwarting my weight loss.
WHAT? That’s so counter-intuitive.
But yes, our bodies learn quickly how to conserve energy. She suggested I add some sprints into my training runs to shake things up. That makes sense!

So what will I do with this information?
Well, I guess it’s back to Weight Watchers.
And I need to adjust my thinking that it’s just going to be ok to be a little bit hungry for a few years. I know having snacks like raw veggies and fruit around will help, I just need to take the time to prepare for each day so I’m ready. I’m anxious to try the speed training as soon as my dang Achilles heals!

What do you think? Good information?
Have you been on a weight loss journey yourself? If so, what works when you’re successful?

Cheers,

~Krista