mother nature is a man and other observations..

Hunger Pangs

A great feeling when my niece loves my tips on nutrition. Lovely when you make a difference. A positive influence. We all get that feeling when we want to eat everything that’s not crawling. I remember before I  discovered trigger foods that make you hungrier….. that you can eat all you want of certain very filling and nutritious foods. I remember being hungry and eating a pretzel…..then another…then another. crunchy and salty. Then a handful of surgery cereal and then another handful….granola actually and full of sugar. I might add  being fortunate, I never had a weight problem. The most I ever wanted to lose was 8 pounds, but when you have a very slender and small figure, that’s a lot. I knew after age 50, certain foods were not allowed in the house. Chips, anything fried, all animals for food……I became a pescetarian . A vegan that eats dairy and fish. Someone once told me that nothing tastes as good as feeling thin feels….. I put my own slant on and say nothing tastes as good as feeling healthy feels. Body image is very different for different people. I realized I have to eat several meals a day. This I have been doing for over 50 years. I never realized that health wise, it was something I had to do, having mitral valve prolapse. If you don’t eat several meals a day, you get very anxious. It has to with the  autonomic nervous system. It works for me to always have nuts or dried fruit with me at all times so I’m never hungry.  So, back to what you can eat that is filling and a few tips. Always have on hand in the refrigerator a few of these veggies…….washed and cut up celery, colored peppers, radishes, carrots, string beans, tomatoes,  cucumbers, and super greens. humus is a great snack as well. Especially the ones made with olive oil. Not a combination of various oils. . Water based veggies are filling. When I’m in Virginia, my sister-in-law, the wonderful cook, always has veggies ready to eat. She has jicama, radishes, onions, garlic,  turnips, and every veggie known to man. It’s so much better there, because she has such a variety. If you enjoy dark chocolate, try the darkest, with a few almonds…. I am so used to 95-100% that anything sweeter is too sweet. Speaking of which, I don’t have a sweet tooth, because when I was growing up, we never had pastries for dessert, we had fresh fruit.  I read about nutrition and it seems sugar is the villain. There is sugar in almost everything and the easiest thing to do is read ingredient’s. If I buy canned soups, I buy low sodium and organic. Amy’s are wonderful. I adore good bread and that’s why it’s never in my home. When I go out, that’s my treat. Lots of it with olive oil. For me so much of a treat instead of any dessert. It’s easy to open a can of beans when hungry and add some mustard. Gourmet mustard on celery works.. The more sugar you eat, the more you want to eat. Same goes for carbs. Scandinavian Crisp Bread. GG is not only filling, but very high in fiber. I’m not a nutritionist. I only know you have to eat. And we are what we eat. The older you become, the more you realize that eating is for pleasure, but first and foremost, for nutrition, So when you have hunger pangs, don’t have chips…….. open your refrigerator and see the beautiful array of colorful veggies to satisfy you. Cheers to your good health….

Organic Pumpkin Seeds

I found almost impossible to find this nutritious seed Not Made in China. I finally found the best. I have nothing to do with the company. All I know is this. Proudly Made in Oregon and this is printed on the back. Calcium,Iron,Magnesium,Potassium, Zinc… VitaminsA, B1, B2, B3, B6, CDE.

You can google Seed Oil Company. I did and purchased on Amazon. Pricy, but better than the cost of pastries and unhealthy snacks. Cheers to your good health🤗

Sugar etc etc

I was raised having fruit for dessert and rarely any sweets. So its easy for me not to have a sweet tooth or craving for pastries, and all the other dessert like treats. It seems with many, sugar is the enemy. One of the easiest solutions re craving sweets is having a square of chocolate, as dark as you can tolerate, every morning. Dried fruit is also a good choice because there should be no added sugar and the variety is endless. Eating healthy can become a habit. I have never put on weight eating almost a cup of nuts daily. I need to eat many meals a day, never the three meal thing. I spent almost three months in Virginia and that meant eating vegetables of every variety and color every day. The usual ones mixed with the unusual. Raw and cooked. We never had sweets for dessert, and with all the veggies and grains consumed at dinner, we had no appetite for more after our meal. We dinned European style as well. Fresh soups filled with several kinds of beans and veggies of every color, and of course grains. The American way of eating doesn’t seem to work very well with obesity so prevalent. I have heard people say it’s too expensive to eat healthy. Not true since a can of beans is less than a cake. The saying “you are what you eat” is real. Aging is inevitable and what you want to strive for is quality of life. You can’t have that being grossly overweight, and you can do something about it No one force feeds you. Write down everything you eat in a day and substitute some raw veggies for chips. It’s really about choices. I have people ask me what I eat. Actually I’ve never dieted, and I eat what I like or what my body tells me to eat or what I need. Hummus is my everyday food. Everything in moderation is a given. Try the healthy route, you might like the road to feeling better. Please read all ingredients and try to stay clear of words you can’t spell or pronounce. If a binge in arriving, eat the entire bag of unsalted organic popcorn. I get the no oil kind, and add two caps of olive oil. Not for everyone, but seaweed snax are delicious and they have ones without sugar.
I’m just saying!!!!

Beyond Easy and Delicious

My sister-in law loves shopping for food, chopping and cooking foods of all varieties, and then enjoying them. She offered me what looked like a pancake triangle. I tried and it was delicious and only two ingredients and probably the simplest thing to make. Two ingredients.
So you mash one banana. Add 1 egg and mix together. That’s it. You can always top it with berries or whatever, but delicious as is. Add a small tsp of olive oil or less to a non stick pan and put in the mixture making sure all even. When done on one side, nice and brown, flip over and Voila!!!!!! A Banana Pancake…….

Nuts and Seeds

I’m not going to write about politics. I do enough of that on Facebook. It’s rather like a wonderful support group. I’ve never been in a true support group other than friends and family. This is mostly strangers all feeling the exact same way and very comforting.
I’m not going to write about Valentines Day since I already did that, several times over the years, and not much has changed. My Valentine Love died over 12 years ago, and no one has come close to my heart.
I’m not going to write about dating sites since I covered almost all of them, and will only be on Stitch.net where people are verified and catfish are not swimming around their site. I recommend to anyone over 50 looking for romantic or non romantic connections. A lovely and delightful community.
So what I would like to blog about is nutrition. I’m not a trained nutritionist or doctor. Just my opinion and my experience, and at this age, hopefully some wisdom.
I have always viewed food as not only pleasure, but you are what you eat philosophy. My weight has always stayed the same, and would be considered slim. Not going into exercise regime, I’ll save for another time.
I have a nice relationship with food. Have always practiced portion control, and I rarely if ever let emotions drive my appetite. I have had people say “you can’t love food. Otherwise you would weigh more.” That is as false as saying “you probably have no appetite.” Another falsehood. So food is my friend and not my enemy. I do stay away from poured salt and sugary snacks or desserts. I eat about 8 small amounts of food all day. Rarely if ever have 3 meals a day. My go to always……nuts and seeds. Contrary to what you hear, nuts are not fattening. Like avocados, good fat.I eat one cup of nuts throughout the day. Filling and doesn’t create hunger as carbs do. You’re snacking during the day and rarely have a craving. Like beans, they are satisfying. Walnuts are called heart healthy, and you can google all the rest to see vitamin content. Almonds, filberts, cashews,and macadamia nuts should be mixed in a cup. Adding sunflower and pumpkin seeds only enhances the value. There are many other seeds and I have flax and chia in the morning. Every morning I have a square of very dark intense chocolate. 95-100%…I recommend if you can eat nuts…
Never obsessed with weight. I fortunately have never had a problem because I eat what I like and never feel deprived. I would rather have some raw veggies than a cookie. I would rather have a glass of wine when I’m out then dessert. I would rather have a few slices of great bread with olive oil than any dessert.
So instead of going nuts with the news lately, have some to enjoy.
Happy Valentines Day All…..May the love in your hearts keep nourishing each other.

You Are What You Eat

It sounds so simple, but so true. I’m always asked what I do to stay thin. I actually don’t consciously do anything. It becomes a way of life, because nutrition has always been a way of living since childhood. My brother at the time didn’t like canned foods. My mother never had sweets for dessert. We had fresh fruit. She was once criticized by her sister for spending money on out of season fruit. I remember my mom asking how much the chocolate cake was her sister just purchased. It was more.
Not that she was nutritionally savvy. She wasn’t and we had fried foods with bad oils many meals.
Over 50 years ago when we were raising our sons, I became very aware of what was a good way of eating. Fruits and veggies, not processed foods. very little deli. Whole grains only…. I did make meat and fish for them. Everything in moderation, but still low on sweets and fast foods. I baked cookies and the only store cookie was Pepperridge Farm because of the ingredients and Breyer Ice Cream because that too was all natural. My sons immediately traded their whole wheat sandwiches with peanut butter for fluffernut on wonder white bread. We never had soda in the house except ginger ale if sick.
I remember when they stayed for dinner at a friends. There were four boys in the family and each son had a friend their age. They came home and said they had the best dinner they ever had and could I please get the recipe from their friends mom. It was great fried chicken, apple sauce, and peas in a pretty silver tray I called Mary and of course she told me the “fabulous” meal she prepared was a TV dinner…very popular at the time and something I never had in the house.
So the big treat whenever my husband and I went out, was to buy TV dinners for the boys and the baby sitter.
So now everyone is all grown and happy to say my sons appreciate and tell me “Mom you were ahead of your time.” Nice to be appreciated at any age.
My point in doing this post and I don’t pretend to be a nutritionist. What I do just works. Instead of having three meals a day, I have always grazed all day. I eat when I’m hungry. I eat what is known as fattening foods and I don’t gain a pound. I eat avocado every day. Almost every kind of nut. Dried fruits in moderation. A square of dark chocolate in the morning. No butter, very little if no salt. no fast foods or processed deli foods.Carbs in moderation. I happen to be a pescatarian, a vegan who eats fish and dairy. I eat eggs. 7 glasses of water. There’s really no secret. The secret if any, is knowing what to eat. A can of beans, even organic is very inexpensive and one of the healthiest foods. Hummus is a staple. My niece tells me all the time that I’m very disciplined. I am and being five feet one, additional weight is just that. Added pounds that accumulate over the years. Not obsessive about what I eat. I listen to my body and I enjoy food.
In this country obesity is a major problem, especially in children. Food shouldn’t be your enemy, but you need to know what to eat. If you have a sweet tooth, have a bite or a tablespoon, not huge portions. Going to a party, have two glasses of club soda before you start drinking and eating.
The worst is the word diet. It often means losing 40 pounds and gaining 50. Anyone I know that want to lose weight is either drinking too much or eating too much. It’s just that simple. Changing your life style isn’t.
It takes discipline. It’s worth the work I wish you all Healthy Eating and Happy Times.
BTW If you want to binge. Buy zero fat, zero salt organic popcorn. Nuke and when hot, add some olive oil. Eat the entire bag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apple Cider Vinegar Jelly

I have no advertisers on my blog, nor do I just recommend products randomly. I do like to share occasionally food and tips that are healthy, and have worked for me. Not everyone tolerates vinegar so you have to know your body. I was in Vermont last year and came across a wonderful company that makes Vermont Cider Jelly. I always used sugar-free jams and jellies, all natural…..but have never had such a wonderful jelly as this. The ingredients are Fresh Vermont Apple Cider and that is all. Unfortunately I can’t find anyplace that sells in New York because the company keeps their recipe to themselves. Cold Hollow Cider Mill is the company and they are lovely to deal with. They have no clue that I’m even blogging about them. They call it a “magical cider product.”….The health benefits are wonderful if you Google apple cider vinegar. Cheers to Good Health!  I respect companies and products with integrity and this has it all. Delicious too.

Food, Your Friend

First and foremost, I am not trained as a nutritionist…all based on what works for me for so many years. True, I have never been overweight, and think I maintained my weight in a positive nutritional way. The definition of a diet in most cases? Lose lbs or whatever and gain more. Diets rarely, if ever work. I have seen people on liquid diets, no carbs, all protein, and the list goes on. Everyone knows discipline is the key word and not to deprive, but moderation, the key. What has worked for me almost my entire life, is never three meals a day. Grazing all day and only eating when hungry. Starting the day with breakfast of course. If you want specifics, I will be happy to go more into details…and you can have dinner food for breakfast and oatmeal for dinner. Nuts have a very bad rap re the fattening word. Actually I eat at least half a cup everyday (raw almonds, filberts, walnuts, and pecans) and never gained. My metabolism is normal, not running wild..If I eat a lot of carbs, salt, and sugar, I would gain weight. All the working out doesn’t work, if what you are putting in your mouth is full of fats and chemicals. Snacks can be great or can put you in an eating frenzy. Years ago, if I was on a bit of an emotional eating “thing” I would get a handful of cereal, and then the frenzy, and I would eat anything that wasn’t crawling. If hungry for a snack, organic (no salt, no oil) popcorn (bag has no chemicals) nuke and then when hot add just some olive oil.. Eating the entire bag? No weight gain….beans, humus, dried fruit (organic) and of course nuts…takes the edge off and will not make you hungrier..If buying organic, I read most important are berries, greens and anything that doesn’t have a thick skin. Just a few tips to start the day. Veggies, raw, the best…. Stores make it so easy, having a huge variety all cut up and ready to eat…so eat healthy and keep your karma nourished as well. Great combination!

A sweet day

If you are able medically, a lovely way to start the day is with a few small pieces of very dark chocolate…anything above 85%. It really is quite satisfying, and if not allergic, is very healthy. 90-100% is even better. Also, if you eat several meals a day as I do,, small portions of almonds, walnuts, filberts, and pecans, throughout the day are not only beneficial, but very filling.. Please add any of your own healthy tips..Thanks..I think everyone has something of interest to add.

Ice water wake up for the face.

 Have always used ice water on cotton balls to wake up morning skin..feels great and if you leave the water on your face, moisturizer will absorb quicker. Just read about leaving soup spoons in the freezer, and then using them on your eyes in the morning for any puffiness…just tried and it works. Since I have very little food in my freezer, a couple of soup spoons will now reside there.