"Meatless Monday"

Aside from my post about sugar yesterday, another food-related goal I've decided to implement is to eat vegetarian 2-3 days a week. I originally got this idea from hearing about a movement called "Meatless Monday" (www.meatlessmonday.com). For health and environmental reasons, many people have chosen to follow Meatless Monday, which cuts down their meat consumption by 15%.

There are a couple reasons I want to do this. Health is first and foremost. We Americans tend to see meat as the main dish and relegate vegetables, fruits, and whole grains to side dishes. In fact, diets containing high consumption of meat can lead to higher risks for cancer and heart disease. Going vegetarian even for a couple days a week can be a challenge if you still want to eat healthy. The easiest thing to do is to reach for breads, pasta, cheese, and other not-so-good-for-you items. I'm hoping that by taking this on, it will force me to be a more creative cook by having to find ways to make satisfying, tasty meals that are vegetarian and healthy.



A general note about me and the future of this blog:

Right now, I feel like I'm in a phase of active searching. I have been doing a lot of research and reading about holistic health: physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional. I have become particularly interested in the interaction between Eastern and Western medicine and what the two can teach each other. What's fascinating is that the more I read, the more everything is revealed to be interconnected. I am letting instinct take over: if a certain book seems like it might be interesting, I'll pick it up; if I'm reading online and a link seems pertinent, I'll click it. More often than not, what I find somehow ties into and reinforces everything I've already learned. I realize this paragraph is a little abstract or esoteric. I can't help that now, though, because even I am not yet sure where I'm going with all of this. I hope to use this blog as an outlet to explore some of these thoughts and to share with anyone who is interested what I'm finding out. I do think I'm on an interesting path, and I hope you'll want to come along for the ride!

Various Food-Related Thoughts

Even some people who don't know me very well know that I'm a candy fanatic. Especially if it's chewy and sour (but really regardless of what type it is), I love love love candy. With start of school stress this semester, though, things got a little out of hand. Valentine's Day and Easter candy had just hit the stores and I was EXCITED. I bought two (big) bags of Sweethearts in the span of a week. I bought Sweettarts shaped like hearts. I bought Cadbury eggs and Russell Stovers. I honestly went on a mad candy binge for almost a week. As I did homework, a bag of candy was always within arm's reach on the coffee table.

Then the second week of school started and I noticed something weird. I was exhausted. Not just tired: I could barely get out of bed in the morning and I was struggling through every day. It didn't matter how much sleep I got or what time I went to bed at night. I also had no motivation to do anything at all. I felt distracted and anxious, almost depressed, and I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me.

Then, genius me made the connection and started doing some research. Like pretty much everyone, I certainly knew sugar wasn't GOOD for you. After all, it's just empty calories. Plus, John always refuses to put sugar in his coffee or drink regular pop because of how you get an immediate "sugar rush," but have an energy crash shortly after. Sure, I knew these things. But what I found out was truly unbelievable. Not only is sugar responsible for that "crash" not long after eating it, eating too much consistently can cause or contribute to fatigue, anxiety, distraction/inability to focus, and depression. In fact, one study on rats (who apparently metabolize sugar similarly to how we do) showed that rats offered either sugar or cocaine went for the sugar. This included rats who had already ingested cocaine and had become addicted to it. Even they still picked sugar! (Forgive me for not citing this study, I can't remember where I found it and I don't feel like digging it up.) Now, I'm not suggesting that sugar is more addictive than cocaine, but this is just an example of ongoing research that suggests that sugar can have effects on the brain similar to addictive substances.

After finding all that out, I've decided to significantly cut down on sugar consumption. By this I'm referring to refined sugars and high fructose corn syrup, not natural sugars in fruit. I have had no candy or other sweets in the last week or so, and I can't even describe how much better I feel. That alone is a great motivation to stick with this.

I would caution anyone who might be interested in trying the same thing to be careful about sugars found in unexpected foods. A lot of white breads and other refined carbohydrates are full of sugars. Also, I was comparing labels at Kroger the other day for canned tomatoes, and found that Kroger brand canned tomatoes have high fructose corn syrup as their THIRD ingredient (right after tomatoes and tomato juice!). Hunts brand doesn't have any. It also makes me question the quality of the tomatoes Kroger is using if they have to add a bunch of corn syrup to get them to taste good.

Here is an article with some great tips on cutting back on sugar and having more energy generally:

Letting It Go

I just wrote and then deleted a signature Laura tirade for this blog. Instead I'm writing this:

I want this page to remain a purely positive, calming influence. And- sorry, everyone- that's for totally selfish reasons. Although I hope if you're reading this you find what I have to say worthwhile, I began this blog for myself and myself only.

It's back to "don't sweat the small stuff," and also, as the immortal song goes, "let it be."

I know- and I have known for a long time- that I can be short-tempered. Rash. You name it. And I have a tendency to dwell on things that have angered me, giving them far more attention than they deserve. As I noted in my first post, this blog is for me to try to be honest about my personal shortcomings. By putting them out in the open and owning them, I hope to gain the motivation to work toward overcoming them.

So: in the area of emotions, of tempers, of relationships: I will make an effort to think before I speak, to get worked up or upset only about things that truly matter to my life, and to let go of negative feelings that hurt me far more than they hurt anyone else.

Thinking positive...

Idea Notebooks

Ever since I was little, I've tried to keep a notebook with me at all times to write down random thoughts, ideas, song lyrics, or quotes I hear that I want to remember for the future. Sometimes I doodled, sometimes I wrote mini diary entries, and sometimes I just made grocery lists. Somehow, when I got to college, I kind of fell out of the habit of doing this, and my old notebooks are probably long gone after all the moving I've done since I graduated high school.

Now that summer is drawing to a close and first semester of 2L year is about to begin, I'm thinking of rediscovering the idea notebook. New Years has never been a big goal-setting time for me; the time of the year when I get the feeling of "new beginnings" has always been the beginning of the school year. Over New Years, the Christmas letdown still lingers, the weather has been frigid for months and will continue to be for months, and other than the date, nothing seems to really change. When school begins, though, it's time to buy fresh school supplies and pick up brand new books. The air itself begins to change: the smell of Autumn slowly drifts to the senses, the evenings and mornings become brisk. There is nothing more exciting than the feeling of being on the brink of a big change. Therefore, the beginning of the school year is when I evaluate my life. This year, I want to do so quite holistically. There is always room for improvement in all areas of life.

First things first: this blog. I created this blog to be an extension of my idea notebook ("IN"). (Sidenote: how law school was the short cite I just did? ;-).) The IN will serve as a place for drafts and brainstorming and the blog will be the final product. The nice thing about the blog is that I virtully can't lose it. Hopefully it will be a place to share my aspirations and plans- and if anyone reads it, it'll be motivation to stay on track. Sometimes life gets in the way of my great ideas- school, work, and social life are all important, and personal goals can often fall by the wayside. I want to try to have better follow through on my ideas and take the necessary time to put them into action.

I will probably do a post for each facet of my life to evaluate where I am now and where I want to be. I still need some time to consider these things, and I don't want to write prematurely. For now, though, I want to post some long-term goals that will be ongoing before and throughout the beginning of the semester.

• I read a wonderful idea in a magazine about indexing all your cookbooks. I cook quite a bit and from several different cookbooks, and I'm afraid at some point I will remember recipes but not remember where they are located. The suggestion I read involves getting one of those recipe boxes with index cards. You file the name of the recipe on an individual index card in alphabetical order, and on the index card you write the recipe name, the cookbook it came from, and the page of the cookbook. That way you keep track of everything you've cooked and where it came from.
• I also have a ton of recipes I've cut out from various magazines and printed from online. They're all stuffed in a notebook somewhere, and I rarely ever use them because they're so disorganized. I want to organize them into a binder (probably multiple binders) by category, and create a table of contents and index for them.
• Once school starts, I find it so easy to go eat something quick, and generally what I eat ends up being unhealthy. I want to spend a couple of days before school starts cooking things that freeze easily (lasagna, pesto, chicken stock, bread, etc.). I'll freeze these and other things into individual serving sizes and reheat as a meal or as the beginning of a quick meal. I also found a great recipe in my new Barefoot Contessa cookbook (Barefoot at Home) for orange marmalade that you can can yourself and keep up to 6 months. That might be a great breakfast staple.

On the topic of food, I also hope to have a few dinner parties this semester!

I'm going to call it quits for now- I think this post has become too long already. I guess I had more to say than I thought. If anyone has any suggestions about what I've written please share!