Friday, November 4, 2011

Eating for Beauty & Wellness- My Journey

Moveable Feast Gallery


The thought of putting out there my daily "routine" and having someone edit (no judging right?) and coach me with regards to my daily intake was challenging at first, then down right frightening mostly because the day I was set to start logging my daily regimen was a blow out and not the norm!

You see I will be meeting with Matt Lennert, Co Owner of Moveable Feast of Geneva as we explore the connection of food to beauty and health.

Mostly, I think we as consumers know what are good choices to make on a daily basis (think farm to table no processed foods, sounds easy right?). We are all well educated when it comes what we should be doing. However, how many of us actually do make the right choices daily? And for me I always say my morning cup of Joe is my only VICE in life, cant a girl have a great cup of coffee? In the back of my mind I am always contemplating jumping ship..why you ask?

Its Dr Perricone (I am huge fan and love his supplements!) who recommends green tea over the beans! Speeds up metabolism due to the EGCG (to see amazing benefits of green tea check out this link http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=146) of course but with so many other health benefits its easy to make the leap...if it wasn't for the ritual and the aroma of my morning coffee!

Well here is the challenge that will coming:

Matt will deconstruct what I am doing and make some edits to substitute and tweak my diet, we will show portion sizes as well as nutrient dense tasty food that will actually bring out the best in my skin, detox my body and reduce the extra water weight, all the while addressing the concerns I have for my health.

Between being a cancer survivor + someone that survived a head on collision (where a person ran a red light at a very high rate of speed), I have decided that I am not a cat & I really don't have 9 lives. These two factors have forced me to look beyond conventional medicine for relief & if I can improve the way I feel daily by supporting my system with foods/supplements that will provide a reduction in pain and aches then I must adapt my lifestyle and fully make it over.

So its truly not in vane I make this transition. (I have for years taken good quality vitamins, enjoyed great meals)but perhaps not enough so here we go.....

The changes will be documented daily along with my noticeable physical, emotional and psychological affects of eating for beauty and wellness.

I will update right here weekly... and just to give you a sample of what Matt will get from me on my daily diary {& like I said Monday was a special outing and this is truly not the norm!}

But it is what really was consumed:

6am coffee with Creme and Sugar
8:30 am small bowl cereal with lactaid
12:30 Lunch consisted of beet salad with goat cheese, frisee & balsamic dressing, lobster club sandwich, french fries & ravioli with spinach and mushroom in a truffle broth ......keep in mind this was all split 3 ways so it was a just taste of many items :)
3:30 Sprinkles CHOCOLATE Marshmallow Cupcake So so tasty you just dont know!
6:30 1 cup of home made beef stew
9:30 another Sprinkles Chocolate Cupcake

Total gluttony! C'mon. It dawned on me that the cupcakes just might be over 300 calories ( my first estimate) and maybe I should look it up! WELL that was a mistake, they are 497 calories each so basically ate 1000 calories I didnt need to that day.

So not typical! That said  & between medications that retain water the last thing I need is the flour based foods in my diet. Extra water retention not to mention sugar showing up in our skin with excess puffiness, swollen look to the face and body.

So since Monday...guess what...no flour! I will give an update next week on how the progress goes.

Until then ...consider reducing sugar and flour, adding the most vibrant colors to your dinner table.

I love to cut up squash, brussel spouts and colorful beets this time of year put them into a bowl dress them in olive oil, sea salt and pepper then put on a cookie sheet on parchment paper & roast for 30 minutes at 400 degrees. What a yummy treat. Home made Terra chips.
http://www.terrachips.com/