I Love to Eat with Friends

Calamity Jane has asked me to share my thoughts on how I love to eat. Because I really do!

My family loved to eat. In the summer we had piles of food at dinner (farm talk for what we eat at noon), and delicious suppers at night to keep us fueled for the hard work we had to do. We ate our beef through the winter along side our winter squash.

My dad would sit at the table and I would sit with him. We would talk. Eating was a joint experience that our family partook in - it was a communal and bonding experience.

One day, I became and engineer and began working for a German company, remotely located in Seattle. I loved going to Munich and driving really fast on the Autobahn; but even more, I loved the eating attitude of my European friends.

I can remember the first time we entertained some clients in Seattle.

We sat down to eat at the Metropolitan Grill, hosting a variety of aerospace bigwigs, and my German boss began to talk. Sooner or later we had a small plate of something delicious come buy. I just had a bite. Yum. We talked more and enjoyed the evening. Then we had a small salad or soup. Then we talked more. We all ordered something, I had a delicious Fillet Mignon, which we ate at our leisure. By the time we went home 4 hours had transpired and we all had smiles on our faces.

I liked the food and we all enjoyed ourselves. Food must not be the enemy.

D&C 89:10,11 And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man - Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.

I think if you can stop, laugh, talk and enjoy the food with all the yummy herbs and spices that the Lord has given us and give Him thanks - He will be glad and so will we.

The Staff of Life

I don't count calories. It doesn't work for me. I can't ever figure out how many calories are in the food I eat, and when I do I feel rebellious and want to eat more calories than I have been allotted. I have made a choice, I let my body do the talking and the counting. I know what it feels like to be hungry, I know what it feels like to be full, I know how long it takes to go from hungry to full - 20 minutes. I try to eat 5 small healthy meals every day slowly for 20 minutes and I eat only the portion size. I eat extremely low fat, and substitute healthier options when I can. If I am full I stop, if I am still hungry, I eat more. Food is my friend and partner in my life. I need fuel to go, I don't look at the gas my car needs as an enemy. I think it would be funny if we took all of the emotional garbage we have with eating and left it at Chevron. I know that counting is successful for some. But there is another way to lose weight because this is how I did it.

"All grain is ordained for the use of man...to be the staff of life"(D&C 89:14) A staff is something that people use for support. I think of Charlton Heston as Moses leaning on his staff. In Hebrews Paul tells us that Jacob "blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff."(Hebrews 11:21) Shepherds use staffs to help them tend the sheep, which is their livelihood. Grains as a staff is used to help us accomplish our tasks, for me in my season, I need energy to be a mother. Whatever season you are in, couldn't you use a staff to lean on? I am sure that to run races Thoroughbred horses are given the finest grains, and no matter how much they whinny they will not be getting a Twinkie.

The best way for me to get this staff is homemade whole wheat bread. It is so hard to find store bought bread that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup. Besides homemade tastes best. My family goes through about a loaf a day during the week. I make 5 loaves about every 5-6 days. When I am in a hurry, I grab a few pieces, when I my cravings are out of control, I fill up on bread and low sugar jam, by doing that I truly get full. Believe me when I say that when my stomach is full of wheat bread, I have no cravings for other things. I know that this screams in the face of Mr. Atkins, but I imagine that when the Lord said "Wheat for Man" he meant it.

Tomorrow I am going to post my recipe for my "staff of life" bread. It is yummy, soft and very filling. I have to have my husband put it in a table because I use a Bosh mixer which makes 5-6 loaves of bread. I know that the smaller kitchen aid which is so popular can only make 2 loaves of bread. I have a wee bit of math to do, and since I am married to a brilliant engineer help is on his way! Stay tuned!!!

Road Trip!

Our annual trip to Utah was a wonderful thing. My mom packed, while my dad brought home provisions from the “Piggly Wiggly” (our grocery store). I loved it when my dad shopped! Hostess was a favorite of his and he brought home Twinkies, ding dongs, ho ho’s , cherry pies and my favorite, the Hostess cupcake. I loved to first surgically separate the white curlicue of icing and eat, then, peel the chocolate frosting off, eat it, break the cupcake in half lick out the frosting and finish it off by jamming the cake into my mouth. Sitting in the rumble seat in our tan station wagon with the wood paneling on the side was made bearable by shoving cheetos, m&m's, pop-rocks, and cupcakes into my mouth. I had a great dad!

I looked forward to our first trip as a married couple, expecting the food in the car to be a culinary equivalent of a carnival. Mel was finished with his finals before mine and said that he would get the food for our trip and pick me up from the testing center. We would leave for Canada from there. Mel obtaining the provisions was part of the script written in my mind. I had no reason to fear.

The test was hard, I was hungry. As we headed out on I-15 north I grabbed the cooler anticipating a party. The term "Completely Horrified" does not even begin to describe my emotions as I saw my husbands idea of provisions, I found apple slices, hard boiled eggs, celery, carrot slices, and sandwiches.

Wanting to appear grateful I grabbed a sandwich and ate. I survived the trip and I learned a different way - I did decide to procure the food for every other trip after that, but a lesson was learned. I learned that just because something is a tradition does not mean it is a necessity.

I love Paul, he talks of himself saying: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Cor 12:12)

When I was a child there was no connection in my mind between eating and health. I ate what I wanted when I wanted, and had no concern for consequences. When I became a woman I had to “put away childish things” like Paul. King Lamoni’s father said to God in a prayer “I will give away all my sins to know thee” (Alma 22:18) I had to decide If I was willing to give up all my “sins”(bad eating habits) to become healthy. Sometimes good things are found through sacrificing the bad. A decision must be made between eating everything you enjoy whenever you want and being heavy or learning to “bridle all your passions” (Alma 38:12). All the power of a huge horse can be put in control through a small bridle. He is not locked in a cage, or tied up with ropes and your appetite doesn’t have to either, merely put into control through knowledge, prayer, and some sacrifice.

Road trips with my husband taught me that there was another way to travel. I was reluctant to accept it. Learning that happiness can be found in healthy eating is still hard. Each road trip I must rewrite my menu and turn it into a healthy one. Sometimes things that are good offer a pay off later (a smaller size of pants).

Here is what we do now, maybe it could help you on your Labor Day holiday. I make a menu where I decide what and how much we will need. I try to not overbuy so that we will not be tempted to overeat. You all probably do that, but for me in the past, buying provisions meant walking through the store and picking out anything that looked yummy and fun. This past road trip our menu was:

Breakfast - A yogurt smoothie, fruit, whole wheat bagels and fat free strawberry cream cheese.
Snack - grapes and sugar snap peas
Lunch: I made sandwiches with whole wheat bread, fat free cream cheese, turkey, and cranberries, (we call them thanksgiving sandwiches) YUM! Also, baked lays and fruit snacks
Snack: Froot Loops in baggies. (A nod to my childhood)
Dinner: “Tim Hortons” sandwiches, chili and whole wheat buns – If you are ever in Canada Tim Hortons restraints are an AMAZING experience. It is a doughnut chain that serves soups and sandwiches unlike any other you can find in this world. So yes, I did have a doughnut - what, it’s Canada- don’t look at me like that. When in Rome. . .

Have a happy and safe holiday!

The Cake and Mike, David, Joseph and Amulek

I love cake. Not fancy homemade ones, but the store bought ones with eerie blue icing made of Crisco. One particularly long day at work many years ago I got a craving bigger than my will. I drove to the Albertsons bakery and picked up a cake and looked at it, it was a perfect birthday cake but it was not my birthday. I felt unseen eyes watching me, I knew that the bakery girls were whispering “I bet she has no friends, and that she is going to eat it herself”. It was true, yet I wanted to share that secret with no one. With angry eyes I handed the cake to the baker and asked her to write “Happy Birthday Mike”. That would show her! I felt smug with my pretend friend, Of course this Mike was handsome, rich and successful, and more than those silly girls could ever hope for. I, the adoring girlfriend was going to celebrate this very special day in his arms. I was sure that those judgmental girls were instantly jealous, and as I left the bakery with a plastic fork I felt giddy in my charade. The eating wasn’t as fun as the acquiring.

As you know this past week we were on holiday. Mel and I made a menu and shopped in advance. The food for our trip was carefully planned and was going to all be healthy choices to go with our new lifestyle. Of course there were two spontaneous purchases, Hershey’s Kissables, and Mother’s pink and white frosted circus cookies, the kind with the sprinkles. I said that they were for the kids, but those treats were really intended for “Mike”

Most of the trip I resisted temptation. I passed out the cookies and candy. They weren’t all eaten and so I put them away for later. Later came after a few days and found me in the car alone tired and hungry. I was on my way to Taber for some 2X16 joist hangers (this was a working vacation). The siren call of the treats woke me up. I smiled.

With the two bags on my lap I started in on my celebration. There was an internal battle however. (If you haven’t already figured out, I talk to myself.) “What would you tell your blog friends to do?” “Right, pray - I’m supposed to pray right now and that is supposed to make me not want to eat this?” I said a feeble prayer, felt nothing, and then ate the candy and cookies. Maybe the spirit helped me to not inhale as fast as I could have, but I was not delivered.

Troubled at what I had done I wondered what it was that I am trying to say to you all. “Prayer didn’t work for me – but I think you should try it.”? After much more prayer and reflection I figured it out. My fall didn't have anything to do with lack of faith I fell because I did not avoid danger.

Think David. Seeing Bath-sheba and calling for her was putting himself in danger. If he could have jumped off his roof and went for a nice cool walk his life would have continued and his exaltation made sure. By calling for Bath-sheba he put himself in grave danger. He put himself in a situation where he could not succeed.

Now think Joseph. In Genesis 39:12 it says “And she (Potiphar’s wife) caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.”

Amulek is fighting with Zeezrom and says: “Oh thou child of hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the righteous yieldeth to no such temptations?”

Could we liken that? I should have not invited my favorite candies and cookies on my trip. I should have said to hersheys in the store, “Oh thou candy from hell, why tempt ye me? Knowest thou that the skinny yieldeth to no such temptations?” And then like Joseph, I should have “got me out”

When I returned from Taber with the joist hangars and a large bag of guilt I brought in with me the rest of the cookies and candy and put them in bowls and shared them with the kids. I couldn’t keep them around any longer for “Mike”, we broke up.

You have to remove the temptations from your life so you don’t get into situations where even prayer cannot deliver you. The junk food that you buy for the kids and can’t leave alone, don’t buy anymore. The kids’ probably will be better off anyway. I have flushed chocolate down the toilet in the morning when I was strong, to protect myself from the afternoon when I am weak. The garbage can isn’t even safe when I get to foraging.

Is it time for you to break up with your “Mike”? It isn’t a healthy relationship. Get his junk food out of your house and kick him to the curb.

Captain Moroni and Eating Healthy

As a mom I can usually predict what my children will forget. My oldest son will always forget his lunch on the kitchen counter. My second son will always forget he has additional homework until bedtime. My daughter will always lose her Sunday shoes; I can go on and on making predictions about what I know about my children. I am usually right. In order to help them succeed, I place Coltons lunch in his backpack. I ask Zac if I can see his homework assignment after school, and I tell Alida “DO NOT TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES UNTIL YOU GET TO YOUR CLOSET”

I know where I am weak. If I am hungry I am unable to eat healthy. A starving stomach is not rational. Healthy eating requires preparation. If I do not have a plan before hand and food at the ready, I will not succeed in weight loss, and healthy living. Just like sitting out your work out clothes the night before I have to plan what I will eat before hunger decides for me. Moroni teaches that I have to provide strength to my weakest spots. I am weak when I am running errands, serving after school snacks (we usually share) and eating seconds.

This is my plan:

In the morning I make a menu for the day. I decide before hand what I can prepare that day to feed me and my family. I make sure I know what I need to pick up and that I will have time to prepare. I have made dinner many times at 8:00 in the morning when I know that my afternoon will be impossible.

I have a huge breakfast of Bob’s Red Mill hot cereal, fruit, & milk. If I am hungry after that I will have wheat toast and freezer jam. If I am in a rush I grab a banana and 3 slices of homemade wheat bread and take it with me. Reading the scriptures while eating helps me stretch the meal out past the 20 minute mark. Make sure you are nice and comfortably full. Do not leave the house unfortified! You are setting yourself up for failure.

I make everyone’s lunches in the morning. I even make the two pre –schoolers and my lunch as well. I bag it, and set it on the counter or take it with us. I usually run errands, and if they go too late I will be tempted to stop and buy McDonalds or Taco Bell. I make myself a lunch of a whole grain bread sandwich, fruit, peas and carrots and a treat like one of those Hershey chocolate 100 calorie sticks, or a snack size big hunk, or 3 musketeers. As long as I have a little chocolate about 2:00 I can get through the day.

In my purse I have a bag of raw almonds and raisins ready to help me defeat the popcorn at Target. I also carry water, and for a treat I will carry flavored water, or diet pop, that helps me defeat starbucks frapachinos (I live in the Northwest – they are everywhere.)

In my van I carry slim-fast snack bars and meal replacement bars. That is backup, which protects me from candy bars and starvation in the afterschool driving thing, or when I am crazy busy and didn’t get to eat breakfast. This is important. You have to have back up. I also buy Costco size Extra bubble gum. I place some in my purse, some in my van and some in my drawers in the kitchen. If you chew gum while you cook, you won’t be tempted to taste. I always make sure I have gum in my mouth during my greatest temptations, cookie dough or yellow cake batter.

Dinner is always spent together sitting down. I find if I plate the food before it gets to the table it is easier to resist seconds. I have never asked for seconds at a restaurant. I will prepare veggies different ways and serve more of that than the main course. I use brown rice, homemade whole wheat bread, wheat pasta, and fresh fruit. My goal is to get good and full within 20 minutes which will get me through the night.

There are zillions of recipies for healthy food everywhere. Be creative. Instead of white tortillias in enchiladas, use corn tortillias. White pasta, use wheat, cheerios, use cracked wheat or oatmeal. Use the thing with the most power in it.

Remember Pac Man? The little dots fed the guy, but the big colored blobs gave him super energy. You want super energy! You want to be full of grains, fruit and veggies so that you can resist the worthless foods. They are not your friends.

In the evening I drink hot chocolate, peppermint tea or chamomile tea. I always stop eating by 7:00 then it is just water or nothing baby.

For the things that come up that always include treats like book club, young womens, or R.S. I prepare in advance and have a smaller dinner, or smaller snack. Then I take the treat, (don’t be afraid to offend by asking for small) and enjoy, and stay away from the table after that. When treats are left out they are dangerous. You have no way of monitoring yourself. Pretend they are kryptonite. Stay on the other side of the room. If the temptation is too much and you don’t feel very strong, don’t be afraid to leave before the refreshments come out.

Don’t drink calories. Eating is so much more fun. Stay away from regular pop, juices and consider milk as a serving of dairy. It has calories too so be careful to not be unlimited.

Here is a plug for “retiring to thy bed early” (D&C 88:124) I am in bed by 9:30 and asleep by 10:00. It is easier to avoid late night snacking while asleep. It is easier to get up early and exercise too. DVR’s make it possible to save any show that you want to watch, and going to bed early will protect you from so much temptation and I feel so much better when I get my 8 hours. You can do anything for 2 weeks, give it a try and see if I am right. Remember “an ounce a morning beats a pound of afternoon.

In the comments section write out some of your ideas. Things that help you fortify your weak spots. This can be useful to others that read this blog.

“And why should I yield to sin, because of my flesh? Yea, why should I give way to temptations, that the evil one have place in my heart to destroy my peace and afflict my soul? Why am I angry because of mine enemy?
Awake my soul! No longer droop in sin. Rejoice, O my heart, and give place no more for the enemy of my soul.” (2 Nephi 4:27-28)