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April 26, 2005
Quick and Easy Weekdays
You're probably thinking by now that all I ever think about is cooking. That's not entirely true... I think about how to raise money for the Mprize, how to convince people that they can take control over their lives and health by doing CR, and how to entertain my easily bored giant tabby cat. But I do spend a lot of time thinking about cooking, especially when I'm driving or flying on a plane or otherwise occupied with activities that don't take much focus. I really enjoy sharing my cooking ideas with others because I feel like by making CR friendly food easy and accessible, I might just help you and your loved ones live longer. We all have circumstances in our lives that make it difficult to eat right: family, work, stress, health problems, etc. So I try to make CR something that you can work into your life.
Quick and easy weekdays have become something of a speciality for me, since I have a job where I'm always on the go and frequently am gone from 5 am to 9 pm, so all my meals have to be eaten either at the office or on the road. I don't want to spend all weekend cooking (besides, I work a lot of weekends anyway) and I certainly don't want to come home from a long day and be faced with a giant culinary project. So I've developed some easy stand-bys that make packing a lunch bag and running out the door a ten minute affair.
First, my cottage cheese and yogurt concoctions are a staple of my lunch. Cottage cheese requires no preparation... just transfer from the container to a tupperware and go! You can even buy ready measured four ounce snack packs, though I try not to use that much excess packaging anymore because I feel certain that MR will find out about it and accuse me of destroying the environment. My yogurt concoction, with fresh lemon juice, garlic powder, half-salt and a spice or two, takes about three minutes to make up in the morning, and is delicious with chopped veggies as well. Those dishes provide both calcium and protein, two things that have to be present in a CR diet to maintain optimal health and long-term bone strength.
Meanwhile, I like to have a salad with my lunch, so I find weighing and chopping 100 g of kale is the quickest way to get great calcium, vitamin A and C, and a touch of iron, all with minimal hassle. Kale is a very substantial green, and I feel stuffed after eating 100 g of it. I laugh at the romaine on the office cafeteria salad bar now! $3.99/pound for that! As if! I sometimes add arugula to my kale salad, as well as tomatoes and chopped bell peppers, but on some days I'm so rushed that I just tear off the kale, measure and wash it, throw it in a tupperware, and go. Putting oil on my salad isn't so convenient if I'm tupperwaring at 5 am and eating lunch at noon, so I get my lunchtime fat from olives these days. I love olives, and I find them satisfying in a way that olive oil just isn't for me. They were such a forbidden food in the no-fat nineties... so I feel like I'm having a treat every time I eat ten or so on my salad.
Dinners when at the office can be heated up soups... my brewers yeast and frozen cruciferous vegetable soup is just as good tupperwared as "fresh." Also, I tend to get hungry for a little something sweet in the late afternoon and evening, so I'm thinking I will pack my megamuffins to eat at work. The danger is that my co-workers will find and consume them...
Here are some other suggestions from equally busy CR sisters:
-- microwave and chop eggwhites, then add to salads for extra protein
-- mix fat free ricotta with tapioca or cocoa powder and a touch of Splenda (or sucralose, which you can order from Warren) for a pudding like sweet snack
-- measure out ten grams of almonds or hazelnuts... enough so that you get some good fat and are satisfied, but not a whole bag that you might accidentally consume for an extra 800 calories
-- don't walk around eating carrots and celery unless you really like to. people will think you're a total poser.
Weekdays can be the easiest time to stay on the CR'd straight and narrow, once you find low calorie, nutrient dense foods that you really enjoy.
Posted by april at April 26, 2005 1:16 PM