Play with My Food? Yes!

Growing up, most of us probably got scolded for playing with our food. It's time to change our perspective on the subject.

Playing with your food does have it's own boundaries so let's set them out to be clear. On one end of the spectrum is the curious toddler-inspecting, tasting, spitting out, touching, and staring at their food. On the opposite end is the person struggling with an eating disorder who is cutting up the food, strategically moving pieces on the plate so others think more is being consumed than what really is.

When I say, play with your food, I'm encouraging you to do just that! Set up mini-experiments, indulge in taste tests with your family, or copy Gordon Ramsey's blind taste test challenge from his TV show Hell's Kitchen. 

Doing this serves an important purpose! It gets you & your family/friends together by introducing everyone to new foods in a fun, non-threatening way. It encourages food acceptance, reduces the risk of developing eating disorders(ED), and can help an person struggling with ED to challenge those feared foods in a supportive environment. For those of you just beginning to develop your kitchen skills, playing with your food will help you feel more comfortable in the kitchen and familiar with foods you don't have experience working with.

Paddle Boarding!

Between recipes, nutrition, and behavior change tactic posts, I thought it would be also fun to write an activity-related blog post.

Have you ever heard of paddle boarding? Apparently, it is also referred to as SUP- Stand Up Paddle Boarding. Think surf board, but not surfing; and paddling without the boat. This will give you an idea:

Image: Alki Kayak Tours

I went for the first time on the 4th of July and it was a blast! We went to the Alki Kayak Tours stand, paid 15 dollars, signed a waiver, put on our life jackets (of course!) and we were off. There are lessons too if you desire though. I thought it was going to be a lot harder to balance than it was. I actually ended up jumping off my board at one point just because I wanted to get into the water. SUP is a sneaky workout too! I didn't even know that I was really getting a workout until we got back to the shore and I almost fell over when I tried to pick up my board.

There are many places to try paddle boarding in the Seattle area: Alki, LakeUnion, Green Lake.

Do you know of others? Please post them. Have you tried it before? We would love to hear about your experience. And if you have advice for others, that would be helpful too.

Also, for those of you looking for a real challenge, there are SUP races and also SUP Yoga and Pilates- yes you heard me right, yoga on a paddle board. I would have never thought of that. It sounds really tough but really fun.

Whatever you have planned this weekend, be safe and enjoy! And if the weather is nice (or not) maybe give paddle boarding a try. Cheers!

What do We Really Want?

This post is to help those who struggle with emotional eating and overeating.

Have you heard of intuitive eating before? Intuitive eating is a way of eating that involves some concepts like: eat when hungry, stop eating when satiated, enjoy eating, eat mindfully, and eat as desired.


I want to help you use intuitive eating concepts to work through a common stumbling block: eating "post-full" at a restaurant. You may have heard all the tactics: box half to take home, eat until satisfied, eat vegetables if I want more, or share the meal with someone else. These are all great tactics and yet, we often still find ourselves munching on food we are not even hungry for!

Let’s check a typical restaurant situation with intuitive eating concepts:

1.      Did I eat when hungry? Yes, and it was delicious.

2.      Did I stop when satiated? Well, I am and have stopped but I still want more.

3.      Eat as desired. Wait, what? Stop when I am satiated but eat as desired? How is that not contradictory when what I want is more food?

This is my challenge to you the next time you are in this situation. What do you really want? Is it that you want more food? Yes, maybe in the moment. Food can be very gratifying; however, is it not also common that as we take that next bite, and the next, and the next, we end up wishing we would have stopped at checkpoint #2 above? Pause and ask yourself again: “what do I really want?” I may want that extra bite on the surface but on a deeper level what do I want? I want to not overeat.

Explore this concept of “surface want” versus “deeper want” the next time you have welcomed a nourishing meal and still desire to eat more.

Instead of focusing on thoughts like:

-          Just one more bite

-          I’ve already started overeating, I might as well finish

-          This is not enough to put in a box

-          I am full but that was just so good, I just want a little more

Try focusing on thoughts like:

-          I may “want” that next bite on the surface

-          What I really want though is to be able to sit here some day and not take that next bite

-          What I really want is peace in these moments of tension

-          What I really want is to not eat until I am stuffed

The key is to actually give ourselves the space to even explore these thoughts; we usually are too busy taking that next bite and then getting down on ourselves for taking that bite! 

Give these thoughts a try and follow them up with action. Let us know what your experience is like! Remember, we have to start somewhere and we have to make the conscious effort to get started.

Great summer side or appetizer recipe (with a little kick!)

Cantaloupe and Mozzarella with Prosciutto and Basil
- 1 cantaloupe halved and seeded
- 3/4 pound bocconcini (bite-size fresh mozzarella balls)
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp red-pepper flakes
- Coarse salt and pepper
- 1/2 pound thinly sliced prosciutto
- 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn

With a large melon baller, scoop melon flesh into a large bowl (or cut into bite-size pieces). Add bocconcini, oil, and red-pepper flakes; season with salt and pepper and stir to combine. Arrange prosciutto along edges of a large serving platter. Stir basil into melon mixture, transfer to center of platter and serve.

This recipe is from the Martha Stewart Everyday Food July edition.

Rainbow Birthday Party

My neighbor loves to throw parties. And when it comes to her daughter, she does not hold back. This year's theme, Rainbow.

For a 5 year old's birthday, I was completely impressed with not only her decorations, but her food choices as well. You would have thought this woman was a dietitian. Her tips and tricks were enough to inspire me to share them with you only moments after leaving the festivities.

Let's start with the kiddie bags!
She filled a rainbow pinata with small craft supplies like
- mini marker sets
- mini glitter glues
- small ziploc bags containing 1 colored pipe cleaner & 15 or so small colored beads to make bracelets
-Other ideas to add: chapstick, funky shaped straws, hacky sacs

The Food Spread!
- Bowl of Blueberries
- Bowl of Raspberries
- Bowl of Strawberries
- Tray of Green & Red Grapes
- Radishes cut into flowers
- Watermelon Radishes from the Farmer's Market sliced thinly and spread in a fan
- Yellow, Orange, & Purple Carrot slices
- White Bean Dip
- Blue Corn Tortilla Chips
- Red Corn Tortilla Chips
- Then she made pizza puffs filled with a wonderful veggies and small doses of cheese to represent each color of the rainbow (using artichoke hearts, scallions, olives, blue potatoes, red peppers, etc to naturally color each one)

The cake was a Rainbow Cake. She separated out her cake batter to make 6 layers & used all natural food coloring to represent the theme. Homemade icing with sprinkles served to top the simple, yet sophisticated cake.

Keep posted to her blog if you're interested in reading more about her creative ventures: Brass Paper Clip