Handling the Eggnog & the In-Laws

Happy Holidays Everyone! Tis the season for parties, family get-togethers, gift giving and all the food and emotions that tag along. Here are a few pointers for keeping yourself sane this month.

1. Remember the PLATE MODEL: this tool will keep you focused no matter where on earth you are enjoying that meal. Plate Model Handout 

  

2. Check In With Yourself EACH day: Feeling more intense emotions is common around this time of year.  Ask yourself these questions periodically to keep yourself in balance: How am I feeling? What do I need? Am I eating because I'm emotionally hungry or because my body needs fuel right now?

3. Give Yourself a Pep Talk: Negative self talk that includes lots of should statements or comparing yourself with others can damage your confidence and self esteem. Consider a quote, scripture verse, or your own mantra that you can tell yourself when you notice that you are putting yourself down and trying hard to be "perfect."

4. Plan for the Unexpected: When doing your meal planning for the week, consider adding in 1 or 2 emergency meal and snack ideas to keep in the freezer and cupboard for those nights that you won't feel up for cooking or in case your holiday shopping takes longer than expected.

5.   Move Your Body in Healthy & Supportive Ways: Feeling more stress during this time will take a toll on on anybody. De-stress by adding gentle stretches and deep breaths into your day either when you wake up or right before bed. Honor your body by acknowledging when it calls you to move more and when it tells you to slow down. If over-exercising is a concern, ask your medical team for guidelines and support to find the right balance.

80/20: Holidays, Food, Perspective

As we celebrate with family and friends this Thanksgiving, let us give thanks for our lives, our loved ones, and everything we have been given.

In having just kicked off the holiday season with Thanksgiving, we want to share something called the 80/20 rule to help you keep perspective especially during the holiday season. Eighty stands for 80% of the time that we eat balanced (plate model) and strive to optimally nourish ourselves. Twenty stands for 20% of the time that we nourish ourselves in other ways and let our relationship with food relax a little. We might eat a little more this 20% of the time, or shift our balance at the plate to bring in some more of one type of food we really enjoy for example.

Does the 20% mean cheating? One could call it that, but why? Is it really? We don't think so. Eating perfect is not the goal of Creating Peace with Food. Eating in balance, being mindful during meals, and truly enjoying the meal experience (food and our surroundings) is what Peace with Food is all about.

At the end of the day, the 20% is not going to make you gain weight, it is not going to throw off your goals, and it is certainly not going to hurt anyone. Instead, the concept of 80/20 explains how Creating Peace with Food includes nourishing ourselves well while at the same time letting ourselves be human and enjoy the process.

As we give thanks this season, let us utilize the 80/20 rule to nourish ourselves, enjoy our food, enjoy our surroundings, and focus on what is really important like the loved ones we are with. 

Food Desert Week 3

For the past few weeks we have been talking about Food Deserts- areas (primarily low income neighborhoods) where it is difficult to access nutritious and healthful food items. An innovative approach to solving the Food Desert issue in the Seattle area is Stockbox. Their concept uses reclaimed shipping containers as grocery store fronts for food access in Desert areas.

We were hoping to visit the first Stockbox location set up in Delridge, South Seattle.  We found though, that this was an 8 week pilot program for Stockbox and it just ended. Fortunately, the concept was very successful and Stockbox is looking forward to opening a permanent Stockbox grocery location in the Seattle area in spring of 2012.

As the program came to an end, the Delridge Stockbox was working to sell their remaining inventory. Although we were not able to visit the location, this advertised sale gave us a peak into some of their impressive offerings: 7th Generation, Method, Newman’s Own, Campbell’s, Hunts, Annie’s, and Western Family.  Stock up on beans, tomato sauce, soup, cereal, spices, baking supplies, condiments, and other staples.

We are looking forward  visiting the future permanent Stockbox location. We will post a blog update when this does happen and keep you posted on other innovative efforts seeking to solve the issue of Food Deserts. 

Food Desert Week 2

After last week’s findings about food deserts in Chicago, we thought we’d investigate our own backyard and see if Seattle has anything up its sleeve…and we’ve discovered some incredible information! 

Meet Stockbox: a miniature grocer tucked inside a reclaimed shipping container!  Just outside of South Seattle, Stockbox Grocers  - a new startup funded by Kickstarter - is bringing fresh and healthy food options to the Delridge neighborhood where the nearest grocery is over 45 minutes away. 

Stockbox just started in early September; their goal is to expand with two permanent sites by early 2012, and at least two more later in the year.  They offer a spectrum of fresh food, meat and dairy for communities that would otherwise likely go without these nutritional necessities.   

Seattleite, Carrie Ferrence, Stockbox’s cofounder, noted their goal is to “bring food back into community, and that is something that resonates in all kinds of places.” 

In visiting many of our clients' struggles with food and the fact that most of us readily have access to fresh options, it’s a sobering reality to imagine a place where access is utterly limited.    

An idea is to practice gratitude for the fresh food you have in your home; the fresh food you’re going to buy from your local grocer; or the fresh food which you will consume from a restaurant or café today.  Not everyone is so fortunate, but with the ingenious ideas like Stockbox, the path to fresh food access for all is being paved.  No matter what struggle we’re going through food related or not, access to food, is one thing many of us have on our side! 

In the coming weeks, we hope to visit Stockbox and get an inside look at what they’re offering to the community.  For more information about Stockbox or if you’d like to help promote their cause please see their website. If you know of other efforts to help solve food desert dilemmas in Seattle, post us a comment!

Life Problem? Got a Great Pathway for you.

This picture is courtesy of my friend Kristen Reaves Bell. Just something fun to ponder.