NUTRITIOUS FOODS CAN TASTE GOOD
One participant’s confession that he didn’t look forward to meals sparks ideas for making good nutrition tasty
Entering the Times Colonist Health Challenge about two months ago, we all knew we’d have to make adjustments to our diets.
But we were all kind of blind-sided when at a recent nutrition session, one of the participants, Ted Daly, said that since the challenge began, he hadn’t prepared one meal he actually looked forward to eating.
“I mean these recipes that I’m eating are surprisingly tasty, and I’m enjoying them, but I’m not going, ‘Oh, I can hardly wait ’til dinner time tonight so I can eat that whatever-it-is concoction.’
“There’s nothing I’ve been looking forward to whatsoever.”
Ted’s comments, half made in jest, initially met with a moment of stunned silence, followed quickly by a collective: “What?” from the half dozen Challenge participants at the table.
Then came a flurry of questions and recipe suggestions.
His remarks certainly got the attention of Jackie Connelly, registered holistic nutritionist with the Pacific Institute of Sports Excellence (PISE), who has been offering us nutrition advice.
Jackie said that no matter what the specific challenge goals are, it’s important that eating be more than just an exercise in getting sustenance.
“If eating becomes a chore, you will not look forward to it and it will not become part of your longterm health program,” Jackie said.
“When I’m working with clients on meal planning and getting them to a situation where they feel good about what they are eating and it’s supporting their goals, we want to include foods that they love to eat.
“So, yes, you may have to remove white rice or French fries, but let’s find some other things you like to eat.”
It turns out that in the eight weeks since the Challenge began, Ted’s been consciously trying to break away from his old eating routine, which had him eating anything he wanted and would have regularly seen him cooking up the likes of burritos or red meat, often with white rice.
“So I really feel like I’m eating differently, but I’m not looking forward to any of this stuff,” he said, adding that mostly he’s been missing white rice, something he says he used to “live on.”
So why not cheat once in a while? asked some of the participants.
“It’s not cheating if it’s mindful cheating,” said participant Jennifer Roberts-Hall. “If I want a square of chocolate, I just make sure I can have one square of chocolate.”
Not out of the question, said Jackie.
“Everyone is different. Some people look forward to that ‘mindful cheat’ meal and other people can’t. If they have one, it’s going to turn into four,” Jackie said.
But, she said, just because you decide to have that hamburger on a Sunday night as a “mindful cheat” meal, it doesn’t mean you have to have the fullmeal deal.
That means instead of having a burger and fries, the treat meal could be a burger and salad.
Sponsored by PISE in cooperation with West Shore Recreation, Panorama Recreation Centre, the Crystal Pool and Fitness Centre and Recreation Oak Bay, the Times Colonist Health Challenge is a 12-week fitness and health program begun in 2011.
The challenge incorporates expert advice from fitness trainers, diet and nutrition specialists and a mental-health trainer to help the participants develop new patterns of living.
We’re an eclectic bunch and not all of us entered looking to lose weight.
I’m 60 and my wife, Hilary, is 59. We both are looking to help reverse nagging aches and pains and to adopt a fitness routine we can stick with as we near our retirement years.
Ted, 63, is a widower and recent grandfather wanting to get fit so he will be around to watch his granddaughters grow.
Rather than lose weight, he expects he might actually add a couple of pounds through the 12 weeks.
Anne Graves, 58, is using the challenge as a kick-start to get active again following the death of her husband, Len. Weight loss wasn’t top of mind for her, either.
Those with specific weight-loss targets include Jennifer, 39, a mother of two special-needs boys who is trying to squeeze fitness into a harried working mom’s routine; Lisa Berting, 38, a civilian employee at DND who, after weighing in at a high of 323 pounds last year, decided losing weight was no longer optional; and Carolyn Power, 48, who works for Island Health.
Carolyn entered the challenge struggling with lack of motivation and low selfesteem, and with a recommendation from her doctor to lose weight to ease the stress on her arthritic knees.
Lisa said she could totally understand the concept of viewing food as mere sustenance.
“I would not have ended up 152 pounds overweight if I had a healthy relationship with food, and that enjoyment with food needed to go away because that’s where you get your impulse eating,” she said.
“Now I’m re-engaging with food, but it’s on my terms.”
Jennifer has found the best way to manage her diet is to prepare a week’s worth of meals and snacks on Sunday. That way, everything is ready to go and there’s no excuse to head to the drivethru.
Over the past couple of months, recipes have been exchanged and we’ve all been making pretty radical fitness adjustments.
I never pictured myself walking into the office after a workout in the morning, let alone walking in with a protein smoothie (a blended mix of blueberries, mango, banana and protein powder), but I’ve come to enjoy them both (despite comments from colleague Karen Calland, who derisively refers to the smoothies as sludge).
The local hamburger joint is no longer getting my money, as I’m more inclined to walk down to the grocery store to make a salad for lunch.
Chips are all but a memory in our household, where the occasional evening snack is more likely to be frozen yogurt.
One of the areas where Ted has succeeded is cutting back on snacking.
He used to drink at least two pops a week and now doesn’t have any. Chips in the evening have been replaced with veggies and hummus, and he was so proud of a recent batch of muffins, he posted pictures of both the muffins and the ingredients on his Facebook page.
“The kids are going to wonder who kidnapped their dad. I’ve got a picture of whole wheat flour, a carrot, a zucchini and coconut oil and these are ingredients for my muffins,” he said.