Is it really April? Seems like I was just saying that about March.
This past month was pure madness though…moving apartments, a funeral, Kyle’s birthday, ExpoWest, Seinfeld standup, Laura’s last days in the US, a few trips to Nor Cal, antibiotics…
I’d really love to finally get settled in April.
As a way to encourage me to write about more than food (aka self-reflect) I signed up for the Health Activist Writers Month Challenge (#HAWMC). You can join me if you’d like. I’m not sure I’ll be doing every single one because it seems like a pretty intense schedule to keep, but some of the prompts looked interesting and worth the time. So there you have it.
The first question is called Health Time Capsule which asks you to pretend you’re making a time capsule of your current health focus that won’t be opened until 2112. Consider what you’d include and what you/others would think once it was opened?
My current dietary focus is on understanding FODMAPs and making it work with a plant strong diet. Maybe I’d put some kale seeds in the capsule?
In the past month, my fitness focus has shifted greatly, so it’s hard to say if this phase is representative of me since I’ve been an exercise fiend for 99% of my life. I guess I’m just in a different place right now. Up until a month ago, I thought being a fast runner/cyclist/whatever with a strong lean physique indicated good health. But what’s important to me now is my overall wellness, including my emotional and mental state. To counter the stresses in my life, I think exercising my mind is more beneficial than completing a half marathon. I’m not closing that chapter in my life, but I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished and don’t feel like I need to push myself to do more races right now. Meditation and yoga are better ways for me to occupy myself. So before I may have put running shoes in the capsule, but now I’d probably include a yoga mat.
As far as what people will think of these things in 100 years… Wow. Who knows what health trends will be like then? Maybe we will all have hovercrafts with apps that eat and exercise for us?
So anyway, happy April 1st and a belated rabbit rabbit if you’re into that superstition. 🙂
Now about that soup-a-thon…
Amy’s organic split pea with Vital Vittles organic 12 grain. This bread rocks my socks off. The soup gets 4/5 stars. It’s good and I’d buy at again, but it’s not reinventing the wheel. I usually buy the low sodium one, but have found it to be way bland for my salt-loving palate. This one is juuust right.
WF Butternut Squash Bisque with Ginger and Orange Zest. This soup was oddly sweet and savory at the same time. Really yummy. Open faced fried egg sammie with toasted Vital Vittles on the side.
Amy’s organic lentil with Vital Vittles bread. This soup was pretty blah. If you’re looking for a bomb canned lentil soup, I much prefer Amy’s organic curried lentil. Or Indian Dal Golden Lentil. Both are stellar.
This bread is nearly gone because it’s the best stuff on Earth.
I raved about Vital Vittles a while ago and recently the company recognized my obsession for their brand and decided to bless me with a package of goodness.
It was a bit of a process to get them since they were delivered to our old address, but if there’s anything I’m willing to hunt down, it’s fluffy, soft, glorious bread.
But back to the soup review.
WF Tuscan Kale and White Bean soup with a pretzel baguette. The soup was good, the pretzel bread was outstanding.
WF curried chickpea and tofu soup and pretzel baguette. I need to find the recipe for this soup because it was the best. The best!
I never really crave soup. I tend to forget about it in the depths of the pantry, but lately it’s been so comforting. I really need to think of it more often. It’s the perfect way to fill out my meal – an ideal complement to a salad or sandwich. And when you’re sick, it’s heavenly. Almost as good as bread.
PS I’m still waiting for the four winners to send me their addresses from the Sokenbicha giveaway. I’ll give them til tomorrow to RSVP yes to the tea party and then I’ll pick four new winners. Deal? Winners, send me your addresses!!
I’ve never heard of that bread, but from the looks of things, I would START running if it meant I could find that deliciousness somewhere. But in all seriousness, I agree with you on the fitness front. I think what we need and define as “fitness” evolve and change as we get older. While I might be in a phase as well seeing as I’ve always been balls to the wall with working out, at this point in time, I find much more satisfaction in doing what keeps me healthy physically and emotionally.
This doesn’t mean excruciating workouts (although for some there’s nothing wrong with that, ) but rather finding new ways to define accomplishments that don’t involve my body 100 percent. Given my history with overexercise, this is a challenge, but if I don’t have a quiet and content mind, I’m really pretty much screwed. That can come from exercise or simply meditation–it’s personal and it changes. Either way…bread for the win.
Haha that’s a lot of soup! And I feel like my nutrition and fitness are constantly changing as I find new things! It would be hard to pick something even for the last year!
Hope you’re feeling better after all of that soup!!
Everything goes in cycles.. I used to practice yoga 5-6 times a week and that was pretty much my entire fitness focus. Now I’m lucky to do it twice a week and that’s counting teaching my classes. If you asked me back then if I would ever stop practicing so diligently I would have told you you were crazy! For me the work is more about being balanced and doing a good mix of things that I love for the long term success and wellness that I seek! Great job paying attention to your bodies needs.
a few comments:
(1) what you said about emotional/mental health really resonated with me, and i feel like in the past couple of years, i’ve had a similar journey where my conception of “health” has changed, and i’ve begun realizing how slower forms of both physical and mental exercise help me so much more than more intense forms of cardio ever did (also i just read this: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/#axzz1qiBCqW2a)
(2) secondly i also LOVE vital vittles bread. you have good taste in bread 😉
I agree about the exercise evolving I used to run A LOT then I broke my foot (damn osteoporosis) and now I walk (probably too much (aka 5-6 hours a day)) but I’m so much happier walking and actually seeing my surroundings
And omfg that soup the whole foods butternut squash soup… Ummm I’ll be walking to the grocery to buy the ingredient list
I hope you’re feeling better and getting all the rest your body deserves! As a fellow FODMAPS(per), I was wondering if wheat does not bother you–you seem to eat sandwiches and breads…just wondering if you’ve found that moderation works for more than a few of the FODMAPS foods?
P.S. Thank you so much for being the only constant source of FODMAPS information!
while all that soup actually looks really good (i’m not a huge soup person), i’m mostly interested in the pretzel baguette! that just sounds so delicious.
So about seven years ago I was wondering around Berkley wait for my Scharffenberger factory tour to begin and smelled the most amazing smell on Earth, of freshly baked YUM. It was a great bakery with all sorts of hippie-licious breads that I could never find again but was totally to die and I craved for years!
Fast forward to many years later sitting on my couch recovering from an upper GI scope this AM, and I find you talking about Vital Vittles, which with a little research I find is the same bakery!! I do recall wondering at the time how these adorable asian people learned how to make hippie food so well, and now I know! I can finally order some and get some yum on the east coast! Yay!!! Thank you!
Ok, that last soup looks FANTASTIC. I will be attempting a poor imitation this evening.
I have a prediction…
oh! i meant to mention this subject in the post actually. here goes…
i was really surprised by how tolerant my GI system was through the worst of the cold. since starting fodmaps i have avoided pairing wheat (pasta, breads, pretzels, etc) with the bean things (lentil, pea, tofu-filled soups) because thats combining fructans and galactans. [bonus points for you being super awesome and noticing that]
so, i was definitely scared to eat them together while ill. that said, i felt like crap and wasnt really concerned with my GI tract because i was soooo miserable otherwise. unable to really “cook” much, the microwave and toaster were my best friends. i was alone for two of the days which meant i had two canned soup options. and with practically zero appetite and had to force myself to eat something.
amazingly enough, i think my GI system was ok with it. the reason i say “i think” is because i wasn’t doing ANYTHING but lying on the couch. so i have no way of testing how my body with activity would have responded. i wasn’t exercising, i wasnt running around taking care of patients, i wasnt doing a single thing. zero activity. so my digestive system wasn’t exactly put to the test.
i also wasnt all “there” if you know what i mean. i was kinda in and out of it and when i was aware of my body it was because all my attention was on my throbbing head and raging headache. i hardly paid attention to my gut at all. i may have been bloated, but i was in PJs and lying down and couldnt really tell.
that said, i didnt go to the bathroom at all while i was sick, so it didn’t help in the constipation department.
im now better enough to where i can go back to the low fodmaps plans, but this does make me want to do more trials with combining wheat and other fodmaps.
to get back to another part of your question though, i generally tolerate wheat in its pure form fine on its own. bread with whole wheat as one of a few ingredients (no additives no preservatives) and pasta (same requirements) dont bother me like highly processed packaged crackers and bars and stuff.
i alternate udi’s GF bread in the rotation (bc its expensive) when i want to eat a fodmaps free (elimination) diet.
hope that helps!
im so obsessed with it. whole foods carries them in the fresh baked goods section (with the individual rolls and pastries) and it takes all self control to not buy a dozen every time im there.
yes! im so happy to have connected your long lost missing bread link. you have to try the cinnamon raisin rolls – they are insanely good.
ps sorry about the upper endo. hope all turned out well?
???
it was AMAZING. ive been hounding the site for a recipe, but still havent found anything. so so good.
holy moly joy, thats a lot of walking.
thanks for the link. it blows my (bio major) mind that glucose may, in fact, NOT be the preferred source of energy for our bodies after studying ATP and nitty gritty details in biochemistry forever.
of course i take various studies with a grain of salt – until i know who funded what, im skeptical. or just cautiously open minded. mark’s post did acknowledge that it was “brought to you” by a multivitamin company…
doesnt it seem like lately so much research has been done supporting primitive diets? im not sure about paleo and all that, but last night’s 60 minutes on sugar and my recent foray in IBS research (with SIBO, candida, and fodmaps diets) makes me wonder about what we know now vs what we thought we knew back then vs what we may discover in another decade…the effects of fructose are scary, but we keep thinking we are onto the next big thing (and safest thing) and then we learn something new…it makes me scared to eat anything!
anyway. i think eating as close to mother nature is probably best.
and vital vittles 🙂
thanks coco. i completely know what you mean – asking me if id ever stop running – i would have laughed in your face.
i havent laced up my running shoes in over two weeks. [truthfully, ive been sick so thats a big part, but still]
exactly!! so well said.
All looks well, which leaves specialist and probably leaves me with an ibs diagnosis…
I could eat soup everyday and be a happy camper. I used to eat it a lot more often – looking at all of those soups made me realize I should eat it more often again! That and I should get my butt down to Whole Foods, even if the parking at the WeHo location (the closest to me) is awful…
I’m going to yoga tonight – I’ve slipped away from it the last 2 months and miss it so much, it’s just good in every way.
Love the idea of a Health Activist Writers Month Challenge. I may join in with that one. I’m all about yoga. I think my job places so much stress on my body and mind, that I want to pursue activites outside work that help replenish both. Does that sound like a cop out?
Btw, great array of soups and breads! xxx