Man, did I just have a caloric weekend or what? Normally I wouldn’t care because that’s my strategy. Wise all week, no worries on the weekend and it works to keep me happy and my weight stable. But, since the summer had a few too many weekends and I have blasted to my twitter world that I am going to lead them with some tightening up tips, I feel like I did take two steps back.
And, it often works this way, we are about four weeks in to our new regime and it gets a little boring, always watching what you eat. There is a large social component to eating which is why I engaged the #BlubBgone group in the first place. If I was going to feel a little better a few pounds lighter, it would be a lot easier to do it with friends. That chatter amongst ourselves holds us all accountable. It also helps to tune out the screaming that our world does to get us to consume food.
The best book I have ever read that helps explain this noise is The End of Overeating by David Kessler, MD (McClelland and Stewart, 2009).In this book he explains:
• How we are biologically designed to want sugar and fat (our ancestors needed to store for the coming famine)
• How packaged food is manufactured to engage you to eat more
• How our culture has conditioned us to be hypereaters
• How we can break the pattern for life
One of those tips is to band together, enlist support and count on the culture around you to drive you in the right direction. This goes well beyond what you eat and into what you think and what your friends think. It goes into where you eat out, what you order and what goes into your fridge. People will only tell you they are worried about you once or twice, they don’t want to nag. You may need to reach out and ask for help.
Who/What do you have in place for support? Are you listening to them?
This is one of my favorite, no brainer, no time, one pot meals. A touch of blue cheese adds a ton of flavor and just enough creaminess to hit all the right notes but still be light and extremely nourishing.
Baked pork tenderloin with spinach and blue cheese
Recipe By :Theresa Albert, DHN, RNCP
Serving Size : 6-8 Preparation Time :0:12
2 pounds pork tenderloin -- whole
900 grams (2pkg) frozen chopped spinach -- thawed and drained
2 cloves garlic -- minced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup red wine
2 teaspoons dried oregano
6 ounces blue cheese -- crumbled
Side Salad:
2 cups cherry tomato
2 cloves garlic -- minced
1 cup fresh basil -- chopped
Microwave spinach just to thaw and let drain in a colander in the sink until ready to assemble.
Break up spinach into large, low casserole dish.
Cut each pork tenderloin into 4 equal portions on a diagonal and nestle into the spinach mixture. Sprinkle with garlic, vinegar, wine, oregano, salt and pepper. Break up blue cheese to spread on top of and around pork. Leave one end un-cheesed if blue cheese isn't popular with someone in your home. (Cream cheese is a good substitute)
Cover with foil and place into 350f oven to bake for 45 minutes or until heated through. Meat Internal temperature should read 145-160F.
In a separate bowl: cut cherry tomatoes in half, toss with chopped basil, garlic and salt and pepper.
Serve 1 piece of pork with 1/4 cup of spinach and the side salad of tomatoes.
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