Hello, All! It’s been way too long since I posted a blog, so here I go again, doing what I do best: finding recipes other people created, testing it out, stuffing my face with said recipe and then telling you guys all about it. I also write about Pilates, my experience doing Pilates and teaching it, but today I’m gonna write about something near and dear to my heart: food.
Food is delicious. I think we all know that at this point and, unless you have been living under a rock, you also know that eating certain types of delicious foods in excess can be bad for you. Like wings (yum!) or pizza (yum!) or in general fried, greasy anything. You shouldn’t be eating these things all the times, or you know, frequently, so what do you eat the rest of the time? How can you eat healthy and be full?
My personal answer? Fiber. Now I AM NOT a nutritionist, so always take what I say with a grain of salt and know that it comes from my personal experience with life and not a degree. Anyway, fiber keeps you full. Things that are high in fiber will fill you up so it feels like you have consumed the amount of calories you actually did. Take a bag of skittles for example. They have nearly no nutritional value, (unless you count sugar and I’ve never met anyone who needed to add sugar to their diet) are 250 calories a bag and if you managed to scarf that down you would still be hungry and probably feel a little sick. Why? In my extremely not expert opinion, no fiber.
Fiber doesn’t just keep you full either. It is an essential regulator of your digestive tract. When you have the runs, it firms you up. If you are blocked up, it gets you going. It helps maintain your digestive flora and helps keep your digestive tract in balance. And as a Pilates teacher, I am obsessed with balance.
So rather than sprinkling some psyllium husk on your skittles and shoving them in your mouth, which would be disgusting, fill yourself up on high fiber foods. Almost all veggies and fruit are high in fiber as are whole grains. So in general eat more of those things. They aren’t only loaded with fiber, they are full of vitamins and nutrients that your body needs to perform at its best. “But, Becca!” you say, “I take a multi-vitamin!” Don’t kid yourself. It is no replacement for eating a balanced diet. (except possibly in the case of vegans and the need for vitamin b12) The nutrients in fruits and vegetables are easier for your body to absorb and often full of phytonutrients that aren’t even in your simple little multi.
Are there down sides to eating this way? You betcha! The number one I can think of is gas, a rough by product of eating foods high in fiber and nutrients. When you begin eating this way, there is usually a breaking in period where your body tries to reject your new fiber-licious lifestyle. I call this the “hey where did you put my *&^%@#$ cheese?!” syndrome. The intestines, unused to having to work and digest, protest in an effort to get you to relent and feed them grease and cheese.(Actually, I’m pretty sure it has to do with bacterial balance and week intestinal tissue, but I prefer to imagine your intestines attempting to manipulate you. It is more fun) But if you persevere, this unpleasant aspect usually goes away after a week or two. For me, I think my Swedish heritage had me a little screwed. I can eat dairy and ice cream until the cows come home but a big old bowl of salad has me bloating to size of a house. (My theory on this is that the Swedes had plenty of cows but NOT plenty of greens during the cold long winters and so they evolved to do better with dairy than the average person. Am I right? Who knows. But I like my theory.) My husband? Just the opposite. But I took a cue from him popping his lactose pills before every meal. While I adjust to eating lots of fiber and greens I simply eat a digestive aid to help with the unpleasant side effects of fiber. (NOTE: if you take a digestive aid, swallow it with your first bite.)
So here is a fiber-full (and oh holy lord do I mean FIBER-FULL) recipe that I found online at www.allrecipes.com. I actually went looking for my daughter, whose mouth loves all things dairy and cheese but whose digestive track stops at the site of a grilled cheese sandwich. Her intestines and taste buds should have a meeting to discuss their differing views of the world. Anyway, its delicious, nutritious and easy. Note: I used all whole wheat flour.
Blueberry Bran Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups wheat bran
- 1 cup nonfat milk
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup blueberries
bostonpilates.wordpress.com 