Tag: health

Weekly meals for the week of 3/12/2023

I’ve decided to pick up trying to write a bit again.

I always try to cook healthy food for myself and my husband, and I’m renewing an attempt to eat a little fewer simple carbs (it makes me feel bloated and makes my stomach a little sick), and to eat more variety of vegetables and fruits.

I love cooking from recipes I’ve found online, expanding my cooking skills, expanding the different types of cuisines we eat….and vastly expanding my husband’s pallet from a strictly meat and potatoes man to encompass many many more things, even some vegetables!

This week we have a few recipes from various sites. And man, have they been absolutely incredibly delicious additions to our regular rotation of foods.

My husband chose a braised beef recipe as a different meat option for us this week. We cooked it with just some garlic mashed potatoes. The beef recipe came from Simply Home Cooked: https://simplyhomecooked.com/braised-beef/

I think we should have added a little more liquid for it to cook in, but the flavor was excellent and with the garlic mashed potatoes it’s really yummy.

Btw, my husband doesn’t use a recipe for his mashed potatoes. He peels, dices, then boils some potatoes, then mashes them first with a masher, then adds in butter and milk (or cream) and salt and blends with a hand mixer. I can’t tell you specific quantities, you just kinda do it til it tastes right.

The second thing I made tonight really floored me. I had high hopes because I love orzo, and it did not disappoint, although since I really have no heat tolerance I’d prob cut back on the red pepper flakes a bit.

These Baked Rosemary Chicken Meatballs with Tomato Orzo are an absolute must try. The site The Original Dish has a number of really good recipes, here’s the link to this one: https://www.theoriginaldish.com/2022/12/14/baked-rosemary-chicken-meatballs-with-tomato-orzo/

These 2 recipes made enough for us to get through about half to 3/4 of this week’s lunches and dinners. We still have some leftovers in the fridge from ordering Greek, and I prepped these Air Fryer Chicken Thighs from Skinnytaste to cook quickly one night later this week.

Definitely gonna eat well this week!

Initial thoughts on leaving weight loss behind

Image sourced from http://bodyinmotion.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/blog53-holistic-wellbeing.jpg

After listening to the podcast episode “Can you be body positive and want to lose weight” (Rebecca Scritchfield’s Body Kindness podcast, from 10/2016), I’ve started to think about what this journey means to me.

Although I’m late to this episode, I really strongly resonate with the idea of wanting to lose weight, but wanting to be positive about my body. I’ve just recently come to body kindness and this whole world of leaving diet culture, and I am definitely still feeling that desire to lose weight.

I am working so hard to try to not let weight loss or a different body shape/size be my focus or drive my motivation, but I acknowledge that I’m not there yet. I have not turned to diet culture again (I am not restrictive, no foods are off limits), but I am afraid that searching for movement that I love again will make it even more difficult to shift my focus away from weight loss, because I would hope for that to be an outcome.

I have recently thought about trying to box or dance again, have considered learning about Tai Chi (it feels like a somewhat natural transition from yoga to something else because of the mind-body connection in both areas), and I know I want to be stronger again because of my knee. I miss the feeling of strength I used to have when using my legs to jump and sprint in volleyball. And I can’t yet shake the thought that if I was lighter, it wouldn’t be so hard, and would be less strenuous for my body.

I’m also admittedly scared to death of gaining more weight before my best friend’s wedding in November. I want to fit into a nice dress in a way that is attractive, and my brain hasn’t yet transitioned to believing that my body shape is attractive.

I’m learning, and I’m working towards change, but this feeling and this acknowledgment is an indication of just how far I have to go. Figuring out what healthy means for me, and how to get where I want to be, mentally and physically, is a journey I’m both daunted by, and excited to start on.