Tag Archives: healthy eating blog

Day 8: Food of the Week – Pico de Gallo

I’ve been making an effort to cook a lot more since I re-started this challenge. I would normally come home from work and just have a salad with some smoked salmon or something, but that’s not so appetizing when it’s dark and cold outside. (Well, cold-ish. Let’s be serious, we’re in California. It never gets full on cold. Like you Ireland. Teehee. Smug emigrant moment happening.)

However, I typically don’t feel up to cooking a huge meal when I get home either. During the week I’m all about simple and easy but nutritious and wholefood-ious (totes a word). This is not an easy task! BUT there is one thing that has greatly contributed to the healthy eating cause and that is…drumroll…Pico de Gallo – my food of the week!

Actually, full disclosure, it was Mags who pointed out the amazingness of this food

For those of you unfamiliar (and I would imagine that’s everyone in Ireland as I had never heard of this before coming over here) Pico de Gallo is a fresh salsa (or salad) made from tomato, onion, serranos, coriander leaves, salt and lime juice. Hailing from Mexico it’s got an amazing zing to it, and is perfect for jazzing up the most boring of dishes. (A lot of zing-ing and jazzing going on with this – I’m obviously excited about it.)

This is so easy to make (see recipe here), but if you’re really, really lazy like me, you can buy it ready-made from Wholefoods. This week I paired it with some frozen, white, wild-caught fish I bought from Trader Joes, roasting them in the oven with some cherry tomatoes and capers. I also steamed some green beans to accompany it. All in all 25 minutes to make. And I made a second one for the next night!

Any other good uses of pico del gallo out there? I have a half a tub left!

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Today was a good day – but then again Mondays always are! I always feel like if I have too much fun on a Monday (both in terms of food-fun and fun-fun) it throws me off kilter for the week. I really tried to eat fewer calories today as my weekend was probably a little excessive.

Food and exercise

Hot water with lemon and fresh ginger
Breakfast: 1/2 cup of scrambled whole eggs, 1/2 scrambled egg whites, steamed kale
Lunch: Salad with veg, 1 cup of chicken, tbsp olive oil, tbsp apple cider vinegar
Snack: Celery and carrot sticks with little container of baba ganoush
Exercise: 35 mins spin class
Dinner: See above
Snack: 6 almonds

Day 6: The importance of a work out buddy

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Workout buddies – there to share the pain of your hill run, high five you after a new deadlift PB, compete with you on squat reps and most importantly…save you from your hangover.

Sometimes some tough love is needed

Yes, the inevitable happened. After the excesses of Day 5’s night out at Zeitgeist I woke up with a hangover. I felt cheated! Surely that’s not supposed to happen when you only drink vodka soda(s x 3 large ones). As soon as I woke up and felt my head pounding I groaned into my pillow. Today was Barry’s Bootcamp day – the first one after the holidays and guaranteed to be horrendous even for normal-headed folks.

After lying there for a while, trying to assess the damage, I sent a message to Mags, my workout buddy, who had also been out with me the night before.

‘There’s a small family of leprechauns having an actual Ceili in my actual head. I don’t think I can do Barry’s today.’

Confident in the knowledge Mags would also be in the throes like me, I dragged myself down to my fave Noe Valley diner Toast for some consolatory eggs and smoked salmon. (Healthy.) Just as I was about to tuck in, a smug little smile on my face, squirming in my seat with happiness, Mags replied.

‘None of your guff, girly – I’m feeling amazing. Friends don’t let other friends skip Barry’s Bootcamp.’

(FYI – Mags is also Irish, hence the excessive Irish-ness of our conversation).

Goddammit, I thought. Fine, fine FINE! I’ll go. I’d never live it down if I skipped out. (How she managed to escape the damage of those three vodka sodas is beyond me. I’m convinced she’s a genetically superior human being).

So, we went to Barry’s, we ran, we lifted, we squatted, we crunched. I would lie if I said it was enjoyable at the time. It was disgusting. And I felt like puking. But the victory was in participating as far as I’m concerned. And as we walked out, with our skinny peanut butter protein shakes in hand, I had to admit- my workout buddy done good. Without her I would have certainly gone back to bed after Toast, followed by a day of unhealthiness and self-loathing.

Thanks Mags!

Trying to take a selfie at the Bay Bridge. 8 pictures, no bridge.

Trying to take a selfie at the Bay Bridge after the class. 8 pictures, no bridge. Well maybe a corner of a bridge

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On account of the hangover the day was probs not as healthy as it could have been. BUT I didn’t go mad. The unhealthy things were an English muffin and then sushi and more alcohol later on when I went out for Karaoke. Could have been worse though.

Food and exercise:

Breakfast: Lox scrambler from Toast, with an English muffin and fresh fruit
Exercise: 1 hour Barry’s Bootcamp
Snack: Skinny protein shake (unsweetened almond milk, no sugar peanut butter and vanilla protein powder)
Lunch: Sweet potato with a handful of pistachios (random I know)
Dinner: Split with Lysbet – edamame, miso soup, poki salad, 2 sushi rolls, sake
Drinks: 2 x glass of wine
Entertainment: Karaoke at Encore, a go of a friend’s massage chair and Super Mario (also random.)

Day 4: Exhausted, but a healthy SF take out saves the day!

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Day 4 and I’ve been slammed by a wave of exhaustion. Naively, I had convinced myself that I would be able to cheat jet lag, bounce and frolick my way back into a healthy, daily routine, go to my 8 exercise classes and cook balanced meals from scratch. Hah!

Turns out I’m not quite the super-food cooking superhero just yet.

Instead, I’m more like this.

I love this crazy looking creature.

I’ve gone through similar periods of exhaustion in the past, so I’m all too familiar with the havoc this can wreak upon a healthy living resolution. In an effort to simply keep your eyes open, all you want to do is to eat carby, sugary, starchy, fatty (DELICIOUS) food- and the last thing you want to do is to cook it. Inevitably, this leads to a stop at the local burrito place on the way home from work or a sneaky take out that usually involves pizza.

I am extraordinarily happy to report that good sense and and great health prevailed in this instance. Whilst I did order take-out it was of the very healthy variety. Actually, scratch that, it was of the very, very healthy variety. And it doesn’t get much better than very, very healthy.

Enter Thistle – the pioneers (in my mind – maybe there are others?) of genuinely healthy fast food. I’ve been using them for a while now. They have a variety of healthy, vegetarian dishes that you can order online and have delivered to your doorstep in 30 minutes (or less, more often than not). The dishes always provide a balance of veg, healthy carbs, fat and protein. Honestly speaking, I always feel 100% satisfied afterwards, and never want anything else after.

Jaysus, this sounds like it’s a commercial, but it’s not, I promise.

My dish of choice was the Power Bowl – steamed quinoa, marinated kale, mashed sweet potato, black beans, carrots, housemade kimchi, sunflower seeds, and tahini sauce. I also got the Snow drink (almond milk with peppermint) and I got the Verdance green juice for the following morning.

Thistle is great if you need a quick fix, but in the future I plan to have a freezer-load of healthy meals on hand, ready to defrost when the need hits.

But I’ll get to that when i’m less tired…

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Whilst I did a good job on the eating front, exercise failed miserably. I had signed up for two exercise classes, canceled them, asked some friends if they wanted to go for a walk, canceled that and then ended up on the couch for the night. But you know what – needs must and sometimes you just need to listen to your body.

Food and exercise:

Hot water with lemon
Breakfast: scrambled eggs (whole and whites), kale, two large coffees with milk
Lunch: Salad, with fresh veg, chicken and some fried plantain (healthy? Probs not…but only a small bit), sprinkle nuts and seeds, olive oil and apple cider vinegar
Snack: Chobani Greek yogurt and handful almonds
Dinner: See above
Exercise: channel surfing…

Day 3: Sweating the holidays out with Bikram Yoga in the Mission

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During some kind of a jet-lagged fueled, manic episode I decided to sign up to no less than 8 exercise classes this week. One of these being Bikram Yoga. No better way to rid yourself of your holiday demons than sweating them out of you.

My friend Katie, suggested we check out the Bikram Yoga class at Mission Yoga in San Francisco. We managed to get an amazing deal on Groupon – 25 classes for $108. Score! (There’s also still time remaining to get the deal FYI).

This wasn’t my first time doing Bikram, thankfully. I used to do it quite regularly while living in Dublin and I loved it. I think if it had been my first time, I would have suffered even more than I did.

For those of you who refuse to call something a workout unless it involves lifting serious lbs or sprinting 5 miles – let me enlighten you. Bikram Yoga is not for wimps. It’s badass. I find that it gets my heart racing as much as a hill run or a round of wall balls . The class consists of a continuous flow of 26 postures in 40 °C (104 °F) heat with a humidity of 40% for 90 badass minutes. That’s right…badass.

More often than not it’s the heat and humidity that’s the most difficult part of the class. It gets hot! And the postures themselves can be pretty challenging. There’s contorting, squatting and oodles of balancing postures. For those of you who know me you’ll know I don’t do balancing that well. I sometimes fall down even when standing still.

This all being said, Bikram Yog is still totally do-able and accessible to everyone, regardless of fitness level. You’re encouraged to take it at your own speed and sit down whenever you want. I spent half of my first few classes sitting on the mat.

In addition to the physicality I find that there’s something that happens to you on an emotional level when you practice Bikram. Bear with me. My friend Marie used to tell me that she found it to be amazing for unlocking pent up emotions. Sure enough, at the end of the class as we were lying in the dark in the savasana pose I could feel the tears pricking my eyes for no reason at all. It wasn’t a bad thing necessarily – I felt like something had been dislodged, emotionally speaking. Strange…

Anyway, suffice to say I thought the class was great and I’ll definitely be going back again. I really want to get better at it! I want to be the teachers pet, and be the one to hear ‘You there in the back, that’s the best tree pose I’ve seen this side of India.’

Like I said – lofty goals this year.

In other yoga related news I just saw they’re running a weed-fueled yoga class in SOMA on Wednesdays. This is so San Francisco, it hurts! Something to put on the bucket list I think.

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Today was again quite a good day for healthy living. I managed to eat healthfully and do two exercise classes. I did have a brief moment though, as I was eating my raw vegetable snack, when I thought I couldn’t stomach any more veg. But I persevered! 3 good days so far – not bad!

Food and exercise

Hot water with lemon
Snack: Small handful walnuts
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs and Kale, 2 large coffees
Exercise: 1 hour PT
Lunch: Salad with veg, chicken, roasted brussel sprouts, sliced almonds, sunflower seeds, olive oil and apple cider vinegar
Snack: Raw veg with lemon hummus
Exercise: 90 (badass) mins of Bikram Yoga
Snack: Handful pecans
Dinner: White fish, green beans, half an avocado

Day 1: The Rules

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The first rule of the 100 Healthy Days in SF challenge is that you need rules. I love rules. I’m a Canadian (more or less)…And I ob-eh’ the rules.

A lot of people have asked me what the rules of my challenge are, and more specifically, what I mean by ‘healthy’. Whenever I try to explain, it gets a bit muddied and unclear – obviously because I’m unclear myself.

As such I need a list of rules. And a mission statement.

(Actually, I’m slightly tardy with the mission statement – for life in general, not just this challenge. Everyone living in San Francisco needs to have a mission statement. If you don’t have one, and if you haven’t written it down, laminated it, or tattooed it somewhere on your body nobody will take you seriously as you obviously haven’t found your purpose in life or business. You also need to have a solid idea for an app.)

So, here is my mission statement:

“I will strive daily to make the healthiest choices possible, that benefit my mind, body and spirit, whilst living life to the fullest in San Francisco.’

And here are my three simple rules:

Eat as cleanly as possible – ie, food that has not been heavily processed
Do some form of exercise every day
Don’t become a hermit

There will be sub-rules in addition to these (like only drinking vodka-soda on a night out), and mini tasks that I set myself along the way (like giving up sugar for a few weeks) but as long as I stick to these principles my challenge should have an impact and also be sustainable for a happy, fun life.

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Today was all about getting back on track on trying to cast the demons of bad living out of my body. My primary strategy was to hydrate, hydrate and then hydrate some more. Water is holy. At any one time I had two cups of herbal tea at my desk. It worked as I was able to make healthy choices all day.

What I wasn’t able to do is go to the spin class I had signed up for. Jet lag is a bitch!

Tonight was the first time my roommates and I were all back after the holidays so we celebrated with a lovely home-cooked dinner (thanks Venessa!!) and some present giving. So lovely. It was hard to say goodbye to Ireland after the holidays, but I’m also happy to back in SF!

What you see there, in addition to lovely roommates and a tasty dinner is a book light. An actual book that is also a light. Fascinating.

Too many meals at my computer. Terrible habit!

Food

Snack: Green Juice from Pressed Juicery
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs (25% whole eggs, 75% egg whites), steamed greens, chia seeds, 2 x large coffees with almond milk
Lunch: Salad with lots of veggies, grilled chicken, walnuts, sliced almonds, pumpkin seeds, olive oil, apple cider vinegar
Snack: Raw veg and handful of almonds
Dinner: Vegan tamales, salad, avocado, rice, red wine
Loads and loads and loads of water and herbal teas (dandelion, peppermint, green)

Exercise:

Getting off at a bus stop farther away than my usual one. Lame, I know. But I was exhausted from stupid jet lag.

New year, new start, new post

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Nothing quite like the 1st of January (or, ahem, the 5th of January), of a brand spanking new year to kick-start (or kick-resume, in actual fairness to myself) a healthy living regime. Yes, I am that cliche, how embarrassing for me.

But, regardless of how ridiculous new years’ resolutions can seem, particularly when viewed through the lens of years of dismal failures, it’s almost impossible NOT to make them. There’s no denying there’s a reason it all happens on January 1st.

Yes, yes, yes there’s obviously something very alluring about the fact that it’s a brand new year, a brand new month, a nice blank canvas upon which you can start to paint the masterpiece of your year ahead – your best work to date.

However, let’s face it – it’s almost 100% due to the fact that you’ve just spent one whole month (or maybe two if you’re particularly precocious) poisoning your body and mind with too much fun. Boozey fun. And chocolate. And booze filled chocolate. And, em, probably some cheese.

And so, when the 1st of January dawns upon the candy wrapper and champagne bottle-strewn wreckage of the holiday season, you feel so diseased and disgusting you determine that you will henceforth become THE 2015 HEALTHIEST HUMAN BEING THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.

My other new year’s resolution is to set loftier goals for myself.

The good news is I’ve been living the healthy lifestyle already, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get back into the swing of things. I know my last post stopped on Day 43, but it was more to do with limited time as opposed to falling off the wagon. (Since I last wrote I managed to give up sugar for 5 weeks! More on this to come in another post, as I’m going to attempt to do the same thing again.)

So, here I am, back on the 100 healthy days challenge, on Day 1.

Wish me luck!

Day 42: Combatting sugar cravings with water

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For a while now I’ve been battling some serious sugar cravings. Have you ever experienced this? The ‘can’t sit still at your desk, about to claw your nails down your face or throw someone down the stairs just to get to the granola jar faster’ kind of feeling.

When I first started the challenge I didn’t suffer from this at all. I actually wrote a post on Day 13 about the evils of breakfast cereal and boasted about the fact that I was able to breeze past the jars in work, and not be tempted to grab some.

Oh how cocky and naive I was!

What happened? Why am I suddenly afflicted like this? What was I doing differently back then?

Thinking back, I was more motivated, certainly – I was all keen to do the best job I could with the 100 Healthy Days Challenge. All the enthusiasm of someone starting out on a new project.

But I don’t think motivation, or lack thereof, is the reason.

What I really think was different was the water I was drinking. I was making a massive effort to drink water and herbal teas – nettle, dandelion and mint predominantly.

So, as an experiment I decided to drown myself with water and tea today. I constantly made sure I had a bottle of water and a herbal tea on the go. I probably drank more than I would normally, or felt like I needed.

And, good news – I didn’t have any sugar cravings today! I was once again able to breeze past the granola jar, mentally giving it the middle finger and a big #$% you. I’m hesitant to start the celebrations just yet. All too often I think I’ve solved my sugar issues, only to find myself nose deep in a cereal bowl.

Let’s just call this an interesting observation. And let’s just try it again tomorrow and see how we get on.

This is going to be my strategy for upping my water intake:

Keeping a large glass of water by my bedside and drinking the full thing as soon as I wake up in the morning.
Whenever I have a coffee, I’ll make sure to have a glass of water with it. Italians do this in bars all the time!
Drink water flavoured with natural fruit – we have lots of this in work. The new thing is basil flavoured water. Kids these days!
Carry a bag big enough to fit a bottle of water and make sure I have one when going out.

FYI – I also tried the below things as well, which apparently have an impact on blood sugar and sugar cravings.

I did not eat any fruit
I started taking a good probiotic
I started taking Omega 3s
I put cinnamon on everything!
I upped the protein and healthy fat amounts in my salad – extra chicken, avocado and added in pumpkin seeds and olive oil

Fingers crossed we can have another good day tomorrow!

Food and Exercise

Snack: 10 almonds
Exercise: 45 mins spin with light weights
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs (made with olive oil), steamed egg whites, chia seeds, steamed mustard greens and kale, raw peppers, large coffee with half and half
Lunch: Green salad, with chicken, avocado, olive oil, apple cider vinegar
Snack: Hummus with crudites – including PURPLE CAULIFLOWER
Dinner: Kale salad, cherry tomatoes, sweet potato, cannelini beans, goat’s cheese, olive oil and apple cider vinegar

It’s PURPLE

Day 41: Ode to Spaghetti Squash

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Since moving to San Francisco, my new favourite thing in life* is spaghetti squash. This is, in my mind, the savior that will rid the world of the evils of processed carbs and gluten.

This baby deserves a fist pump for being so healthy

For those of you unfamiliar, spaghetti squash is not pasta made from or with squash. It’s actually a VEGETABLE, itself a member of the squash family, and looks like this:

I’m a spaghetti squash, not a melon

And when you cook it, it kind of looks like this:

Pretty standard, nothing to write home about yet

And, then, this is where the magic happens; when you take a fork and rake it down the flesh of the cooked spaghetti squash, you get this:

Here’s one I made earlier. The pic doesn’t do it justice.

In other words, long strands that look and act exactly like spaghetti!!

The sheer and utter beauty of the spaghetti squash, lies in the fact that you don’t even need to use any fancy gadget, like a spiralizer, to turn the flesh it into strands. IT DOES IT BY ITSELF! And, to top it all off, you can cook it in the microwave and it’s ready in 15 minutes.

The discovery of spaghetti squash has pretty much changed my life for the better.

I am a pasta-fiend. I grew up in an Italian/Irish(Canadian/Scottish) household and while all my Irish friends were chowing down on Irish stew, Shepherd’s Pie or other meat, veg and potato combos, I was twirling and slurping my way through parmesan laden pasta dishes. To me, it’s the ultimate comfort food and reminds me of home.

But, of course, pasta is not necessarily the healthiest of dishes. All that icky gluten can cause reactions, and too many carbs give you back-fat (scientific term), so it can’t really feature regularly in a healthy eating regime, except as a treat. Cue 😦

But this is where spaghetti squash comes in! You get the bulk and strand-like consistency of spaghetti and you can pair it with all of your fave pasta sauces. Well, maybe not the carbonara…

The sad news is, I haven’t seen this outside of the US. Certainly not in Ireland anyway. My advice is to do anything you can to import/smuggle this sucker in – ethically and sustainably, of course.

(*I actually have multiple new favourite things in life since moving to San Francisco – bridges, Mission graffiti, margaritas, people watching in Dolores Park, farmer’s markets…I’m loving this city more and more every day).

Food and Exercise

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, with goat’s cheese, avocado and smoked salmon
Lunch: Smoked salmon, tbsp hummus and avocado
Snack: Chia seed pudding (chia seeds, almond milk, vanilla essence) with stewed apple
Dinner: Spaghetti squash with tomato sauce, green salad, enochi mushrooms, 2x small pieces of bread with cheese, glass of wine (all homemade by Venessa – such a treat!)
Exercise: none – I was still to tired!!

Day 40: Ending a week of bad living

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The most appropriate way to end a week of bad living – eating poorly, no exercising, general slovenliness- is with a hangover.

Whilst it’s no fun for anyone, it serves two purposes:

It’s a fitting punishment for the crime- after a week of abusing my body with food and unhealthy activities, I deserve to feel the effects of my bad behaviour in a physical way.
It’s motivation to start leading a healthy lifestyle again.

Yes, I deserve it

Thinking about it, hangovers are actually excellent motivators for living a healthy life.

As you’re lying on the couch, with last night’s make up still caked on your face and that little stamp on your hand from that dodgy club, you’re filled with so much fear, shame and self-loathing that the only way to dig yourself out of it, is to promise yourself that it will Never. Happen. Again. And that starting from now you won’t drink any more, you’ll eat healthfully, cook from scratch, exercise daily, meditate every morning, spend quality time with your family, donate to charity, volunteer in the community and be the best damn human being you can be!

…Actually, let’s start from tomorrow. The take out is on the way and you’ve just accidentally eaten half the packet of cookies belonging to your roommate and being honest, you’re probably going to go in for a second round.

So, my advice to anyone looking to become healthier is to go out immediately, neck 10 margaritas, don’t eat dinner, dance on some tables, maybe kiss the barman and then watch your life magically transform for the better.

(NOTE: As always, I’m being slightly melodramatic. I actually wasn’t that hungover. I didn’t drink that much, but I was still exhausted and emotional, possibly from a cold. And I also think I’m allergic to alcohol!!! 😦 )

(NOTE #2: The night before the hangover was spent at the Hozier concert. He was playing the Regency Ballroom in SF, which is a brilliant venue. Small enough for it to feel intimate, pretty theatre-like building, ample bar staff. If you don’t know him, check him out. His voice is amazing. And he’s Irish. So, obviously I love him even more!)

Hozier, the big ride!

So, what caused the week of bad living that ended with a hangover? God, what ever causes it?!? I always have so many theories on the subject. It could have been any and all of the below.

Out of my regular routine
Dehydrated
Time of the month
Sugary breakfasts
Busy at work
Exhaustion
Too many carbs
Not enough carbs

Suffice to say it happened and I got a hangover that caused sufficient pain, heart-ache and general self-loathing to prompt me into affirmative action. Once again. Yes everyone, once again I am hopping back onto the wagon, having yet again fallen off it.

But sure, as I learned this week (in an interesting talk on film-making that I attended), you need conflict for any great story with a happy ending. And if this challenge was going to be easy there wouldn’t be a point to it. The only thing I can do is dust the crumbs off, buy some brussel sprouts and get right back to it!

Food and exercise

Not going to get into the details of what I ate. But, randomly, the first thing I did when I woke up with my hangover was make Chia Seed pudding, which is what I’ve been wanting to do for ages.

Gelatinous muck or tasty breakfast? Maybe a combo of both.

I admit, it looks disgusting

Day 39: My list of must-watch food documentaries

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I’ve always been really interested in health, wellness and nutrition. I devour any and all articles or videos on the topic that I can get my hands on. Most of the companies and personalities that I follow on social media are health and wellness sites or gurus.

(There’s also a healthy (arguably unhealthy) dose of reality TV stars in there as well. My guilty pleasure. Yes you, TOWIE.)

I’m also really interested in relaying the random health facts that I learn, back to my friends and family – spewing them up just as they’re about to sink their teeth into something amazingly tasty, fatty, sugary and unhealthy. Much to their annoyance, unsurprisingly.

”Ohhhh, you’re eating non-organic pumpkin spice ice-cream, are you?!’, I exclaim. ‘I just read a funny story about that, last week.’

This would inevitably lead to me being glared at across the table, and perhaps a spoon being flung in my direction.

‘It’s probably not a funny story Michelle,’ they would reply. ‘It’s actually probably a very,very sad story. So, please, please, please just shut your pie-hole and let me eat my unhealthy, yes, but extraordinarily tasty pumpkin-spice ice-cream, in peace. You are ruining eating for me.’

Needless to say, I’ve stopped sharing my health facts at meal-times.

But the more I read and watch, the more I want to talk about it! This is true, in particular, when it comes to my latest obsession – the secrets of the processed food industry and the failure of the regulatory bodies to regulate. I’m truly shocked at what I’ve learned recently – how the big food companies are doing their best to hide what’s going into their products, how they trick the public into thinking there are nutritional benefits, and how they load everything with sugar to get people hooked! It’s criminal, in my mind.

Note, this is particularly bad in the US – it would appear that the food restrictions here, related to additives, are not as tight as they are in the EU or elsewhere.

I’m not even going to try to relate back the nuggets of information I picked up on this topic- I’m not a scientist, doctor or dietitian and I would probably get the facts entirely wrong.

Instead, I’ve listed out three really great documentaries I’ve watched recently on the topic. These are must-watch if you’re interested in health and are curious about what goes on in the food industry, behind the scenes.

All three approach the topic slightly differently, but for me, the one overriding message in all of them is that processed food is making people sick and the only way to stay healthy is to stick to ‘real’ food – as close to its natural state as possible.

And this message has definitely had an impact on the way I eat. I now always check food labels for wacky ingredients and I rarely (if at all) buy heavily processed items. Even the granola I binge on is all-natural, with nothing artificial in it.

So, have a watch. These are all available on Netflix or Google Play.

Fed Up: “Everything we’ve been told about food and exercise for the past 30 years is dead wrong. FED UP is the film the food industry doesn’t want you to see.” (Scariest fact from this film is that some companies put sugar into baby food, to get people hooked from the beginning!!!)

Crazy Sexy Cancer: “In 2003, when I was a 31-year-old actress/photographer, I was diagnosed with a rare and incurable cancer. Weeks later I began filming my story. Taking a seemingly tragic situation and turning it into a creative expression, I share my cancer documentary of survival with courage, strength and lots of humor.”

Food Matters: “With nutritionally-depleted foods, chemical additives and our tendency to rely upon pharmaceutical drugs to treat what’s wrong with our malnourished bodies, it’s no wonder that modern society is getting sicker. Food Matters sets about uncovering the trillion dollar worldwide ‘sickness industry’ and gives people some scientifically verifiable solutions for overcoming illness naturally.”

Food and exercise:

There’s Quinn cooking up a storm. Amazing tacos!

Breakfast: Greek yogurt, apple, pear, chia seeds, pecans, almonds
Exercise: Barry’s Bootcamp. Soooo tough! 10 x sprints on the treadmill. Felt like puking
Snack: Peanut butter and unsweetened almond milk smoothie. OMGawd it’s good.
Lunch: Salad from Wholefoods – lettuce and veg with prawns, feta cheese and olives with balsamic and olive oil.
Snack: Rye bread, tortilla chips and hummus
Dinner: Beef tacos made by Quinn – he grilled the beef and peppers. So yum and fresh!
Drinks: prosecco, 1 vodka tonic and 1 beer
Snack: Tortilla chips and hummus
Comment: It could have ended with a burrito.

100 Days in SF

100 days of fun in San Francisco

Tag Archives: healthy eating blog

Day 8: Food of the Week – Pico de Gallo

Day 6: The importance of a work out buddy

Day 4: Exhausted, but a healthy SF take out saves the day!

Day 3: Sweating the holidays out with Bikram Yoga in the Mission

Day 1: The Rules

New year, new start, new post

Day 42: Combatting sugar cravings with water

Day 41: Ode to Spaghetti Squash

Day 40: Ending a week of bad living

Day 39: My list of must-watch food documentaries