I noticed a couple of little things lately that really made a big difference for me. I went to lunch at Cosi and realized they post the calories for menu items right there up on the big menu. They also had stickers on the drinks revealing their calorie contents. This made ordering super easy for me (didn't have to pull out my iphone to start searches). Thanks, Cosi! I'll be visiting you again.
The next thing I noticed was that calories are posted on some of the bakery items in Starbucks. My first reaction to something like this is that it probably wouldn't be a great business decision to do something like this because it might keep people from buying something they would have splurged on if they hadn't been aware of just how much damage it would cause. But then I noticed that these were posted on the little things. Starbucks Petites as they are labeled on their bakery menu. So it was a two-fold change. They put the calories up AND they made the portions tiny. HURRAY! That's the kind of business change I love to see. And with both of those things in place, I just might treat myself to a petite cupcake or whoopie pie one of these days.
Menu planning. The phrase brings to mind words that might describe television moms from the 50’s: frugal, housewife, efficient, homebody, coupon clipper. Nothing negative about any of these other than they are “not me”. Financially, I could afford to stop by the fresh market everyday and pick out whatever I wanted. I could eat out or take out any and every day of the week. For some reason words that didn’t come to mind were gourmet, exotic, fresh, and that’s what I wanted my life to be. Without a little bit of planning, the truth included phrases like time consuming, wasteful, unprepared, and woefully disappointed.
I realize now that the phrase was tainted for me and that doing some planning was the key to me being able to have great gourmet meals every day that were healthy and fresh and essential for setting up an environment in which I could be successful in my health goals.
Spending about 20 minutes a week planning what meals we will be having and creating a shopping list means that we are prepared and have everything we need as soon as we arrive at home to put together a recipe we have selected. It means that whoever gets home first knows what to start doing and we can work together in the kitchen and enjoy the time together instead of one of us having to spend time in the produce aisle every evening. It means that when I get the munchies and open the fridge or the pantry, there are only good things to tempt me and they are all part of the plan. A lapse in will power doesn’t have dire effects because my environment doesn’t allow it.
I created a great planning spreadsheet that lets me choose recipes that I like for the week, then with the press of a button, generates a shopping list that any of us can take to the grocery and fill in one trip. Our list is flexible. It has items like “seasonal vegetables” and “seasonal fruit” so that I can be impulsive at the store. This is flexibility that I build in for my own personality quirks. Others may want everything spelled out. What I’ve learned is that a little bit of planning makes it easier to be creative and I can spend more time doing the fun parts of cooking.
Here is a link to the spreadsheet. You'll have to download it and open it in Microsoft Excel...it won't work in google. There is an instruction sheet so you can see how to put your own recipes in.
When I left H3, I had in my hand a nice sheet evaluating snack bars. I knew I would need something easy to store around the office for snacks in case I got in a pickle at work and couldn't find something fresh to eat. There are too many bad choices out in our environment, so I wanted to pack some good choices in easy to find places. Since I am an internet shopper at heart, I figured I would just go to the top of the list and order the one with the highest recommendation, Gnu bars. I found out later that it is cheaper to buy them from the website than at any of my local stores that carry them!
These little devils can keep you filled up and energized between meals, can be accidentally stored for a long time in a hot car and still taste great, and come in lots of flavors. The other nifty thing is their "Joy of Fiber Club" that allows you to set up autodelivery of as many as you need per month in any combination of flavors. Anything that permanently reduces my todo list is a good thing!
My favorites are the Orange Cranberry and Espresso Chip, but there are so many flavors from which to choose that everyone will find a favorite.
