Challenge #3 Try a new fruit or vegetable every day

My daughter mentioned that in a church lesson she attended the teacher inquired what everyone's favorite fruits were. She was surprised that the majority of ladies said strawberries. She wondered how many of them regularly tried other options from the wide variety of delicious fruits. (BTW her and my favorite fruit is pomegranate) 

If you have ever read any of the blogs or books that tout various super foods you are aware of the power pack of nutrients contained in fruits and vegetables. Yet so many of us eat the same foods day in and day out. And in making these same food choices we also partake of the same nutrients. Additionally if we make the same food choices all the time we rob our gut microbiome of the variety of foods it needs to maintain a healthy gut flora. It's time to step outside our habits and take part in a wider variety of delicious fruits and vegetables. 

I have written before about a surprising experience I had when I prepared an evening snack for some teenagers that came to our home for a church meeting. The usual refreshments for these youth activities was store bought cake and cookies. But I wanted to serve them some healthier fare. I served warm artisan whole wheat bread with honey butter (bought at Costco I just re-heated), sliced oranges and assorted veggies served in a cup with hummus. I couldn’t believe my ears when one of the girls asked what a slice of raw red bell pepper was and another exclaimed she had never before seen a snow pea pod.

Yet in my own family I have a nephew that when we reunited after a year apart shared that the last salad he had eaten was when he saw me last. ARRGGHHH! 

I know that on this challenge you are already eating several daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables. But are you in a rut of always eating romaine in your salads, and always eating apples or oranges for your fruit? It's time to step it up and seek more variety. 

A recent study Georgia State University nutrition students challenged fellow students to a “nutrition fear factor” test to encourage them to try new foods.

Alexandra Friel, one of the organizers, said, “Everyone has seen the ‘Fear Factor’ television show, and we all tend to think we are a little braver than we really are. We wanted to put Georgia State students to the test.”

So, she headed to DeKalb Farmers Market (which BTW was my favorite place to shop when I lived in Atlanta) with fellow student Rebecca Sterns to select food for the taste test. They choose some that might be familiar, such as kiwi, fresh coconut and raw mushrooms, and some that many students had never seen, let alone tasted. Jackfruit, star fruit, pomegranate and durian were on the menu, as well as baba ghanoush— an eggplant dish.

The results? “Everyone seemed to enjoy the experience of tasting different foods that were interesting and healthy to eat,” said student Lauren Sieber. “The most interesting was the durian. It is by far the worst-smelling fruit in the world, but once you get past the smell, it tastes pretty good.”

Listed below are five foods that you may not have tried and they are just a small sampling of the wonderful variety we can choose from in our diet

• Plantains: A staple of Latin American cuisine, they look like large bananas, but are really a starchy vegetable rich in potassium and vitamin C. Try the ripe ones (they will look almost black) for your test. Slice it, sauté with a little butter or margarine and a pinch of brown sugar and salt for side dish or dessert.

• Broccoli rabe: This vegetable, popular in Italy, is also called rapini and has slender stalks with broccoli-like flower buds. It can be bitter, so blanch it, toss with balsamic vinaigrette and serve it as a side dish. It is also good in salads or soups.

• Fresh or Dried figs: If you like Fig Newtons, try a dried fig instead: moist, chewy and flavorful, a perfect snack. There are many varieties. The Southern California Mission fig is one of the most popular. (I buy figs regularly at Costco and use them to sweeten my green smoothies)

• Carambola: It’s used in Southeast Asia and is also called star fruit because when sliced each piece looks like a star. Choose a sweet variety, like Arkin. Look for one that is shiny and firm to the touch. Kids will like how it looks, and moms will like the extra fiber and vitamins A and C that it delivers.

• Eggplant: If you like hummus, try something new, like baba ghanoush served with pita wedges or flatbread. This Middle Eastern dish is used as a spread or a dip. My neighbor made it for me once and it was so delicious I literally licked the plate. 

YOUR CHALLENGE FOR THIS WEEK IS, EACH DAY EAT A FRUIT OR VEGETABLE THAT YOU DO NOT NORMALLY EAT (to figure out if you “normally eat it” all foods that you have eaten within the last month cannot be used for this challenge. So each day you should be trying a new variety of fruit or vegetable that you have not eaten in the last month nor during this week of the challenge) For every day that you try a new fruit or vegetable this week you earn the 5 bonus points.

And just to make it easier I will allow a different variety of a fruit or vegetable you HAVE eaten. So if you regularly eat standard orange carrots try the purple carrots, if yellow onions are your go to try red onions etc.  In fact in a past challenge one of our contestants Melinda said during the apple a day challenge she purchased nine types of apples and discovered 2 new favorites. Snap Dragon and Ginger gold. I've only been able to find Snap Dragon but it is delicious! Hoorah for Melinda. 

Here’s a recipe that might be fun to try and please feel free to share any recipes on the blog that you have found for our more unusual fruits and veggies!

Baba Ghanouj 
Makes 2 cups or 8 (1/4-cup) servings

Hands on: 30 minutes 
Total time: 90 minutes

2 pounds eggplant,
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice,
1 small garlic clove minced,
 2 tablespoons tahini paste (sesame seed paste),
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided 
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, 
2 teaspoons chopped parsley

Grill the eggplant over a hot fire or under the broiler until the skin darkens and wrinkles on all sides, about 15 to 20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes. The eggplant should be uniformly soft when pressed with tongs. Transfer to a baking sheet and cool for 5 minutes.

Set a small colander over a bowl or in the sink. Trim the top and bottom off each eggplant. Slit the eggplants lengthwise. Use a spoon to scoop the hot pulp from the skins and place the pulp in the colander. You should have about 2 cups of packed pulp. Discard the skins. Let the pulp drain for 3 minutes.

Transfer pulp to a food processor bowl and add lemon juice, garlic, tahini, 1 tablespoon olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. Process until the mixture has a coarse, choppy texture, about 8 one-second pulses. Transfer to a serving dish, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until lightly chilled, about 45 to 60 minutes.

To serve, use a spoon to make a trough in the center of the dip and spoon in a teaspoon of olive oil and sprinkle with parsley.

— From “Perfect Vegetables From the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated” 

Per serving: 50 calories (percent of calories from fat, 72), 1 gram protein, 3 grams carbohydrates, 1 grams fiber, 4 grams fat (less than 1 gram saturated), no cholesterol, 2 milligrams sodium.

Nutritional bonus points: Don’t let the 72 percent of calories from fat scare you. This is a low-fat, low-calorie dip, and the small amount of fat comes from heart-healthy fats in the olive oil and tahini.

Week.2 Challenge a TRIBUTE to my healthy living partner GAIL and our tech girl and a plea to build muscle mass

This is my healthy living challenge partner and she is also the tech girl that handles all of our spreadsheets and reports- Gail Munck!

YES- both of these photos are of one of my best friends in the Universe- Gail.

Gail's journey to healthy living included the following:

1. 2207 Mini Gastric By-pass

2. Learning to live healthily with good portion control

3. Focusing on getting enough protein each day

4. Replacing her food addiction with healthy addictions which include exercise. First Gail became a work out maniac. If someone wanted a walking partner she would go, someone was going to the gym she would join them. A second friend was going to the gym later the same day she would go with them too. She has found committing to meet a friend at the gym greatly increases the likelihood she will follow through and go. 

Then Gail added a deep addiction to knitting through taking classes and constant practice. And she has continued to hone this skill at a very high level. And she would tell you that when you are working with beautiful, fine yarns you do not snack on cheetos.

One of Gail's favorite sweaters she has knitted 

Gail's amazing current level of skill 

5.When Gail's husband retired and they began traveling a lot her exercise was part of the travel plan with lots of walking, hiking and biking.

And so you see that while gastric bypass or Ozempic can be weight loss tools neither will get you all the way to continued health and fitness. There are still important healthy habits to be forged. 

Some of the big concerns with the current Ozempic fad are:

1. Gastrointestinal side affects- nausea, vomiting and diarrhea and harm to your microbiome

2. Sleep deprivation

3. Rebound affect-The appetite suppressant power of the drug and the quick weight loss don't lead you to build long term healthy habits so when you discontinue the drug your old habits return and you regain the weight.

4. Muscle loss- When you lose weight rapidly your body breaks down muscle for quick energy. Studies are showing that Ozemempic can lead to 20% of weight loss being lean muscle mass.

Loss of muscle mass is a huge issue as we age. Sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass) is a natural part of aging where after age 30 your body loses muscle mass and strength at a rate of 3-5% per decade. So as we get older and weaker the risk of falling increases. 3 years ago my mother fell, broke her hip and died within a week. She was healthy when she fell, so she basically died of weak muscles. When you have strong muscles and a strong core if you trip you don't fall all the way to the ground. You are strong enough to keep yourself upright. 

This week's bonus challenge is inspired by a text Gail sent me this week.
"At the gym today I used their machine to tell me what my body fat percentage was and how much lean mass (muscle, bones,).  I was 31% fat and my leans mass was 90lbs. According to the gym guy an adult woman of my height should have 100lbs of lean mass. I need to gain 10 lbs of muscle.  He said to check it once a month to see if my plan was making progress.  I’m going to be sure i am getting 100 grams of protein daily and do more weight exercise classes at the gym and at home I can use 5 lb weights to do more reps."

So ideally those of us working toward weight loss are working toward fat loss and trying to maintain and even build our muscle mass.

So this is a tricky challenge. I would LOVE it if you could all find a place to monitor your lean muscle mass and fat loss- either at a gym or by purchasing your own scale that gives that info. Amazon has one of these scales available pretty inexpensively 

I have a similar scale and while I'm not sure it is as accurate as the reading Gail is getting from gym trainers I think I can trust the relative information. It can show me my percentage of lean body mass and if that is increasing or decreasing. 

If your gym doesn't offer this monitoring and you don't have the funds for a scale to monitor your lean mass try sending a text out to girlfriends to see if they might have one you could go weigh in on every week or two.

So here is the weekly challenge:

1. Make an effort to monitor your percentage of body fat and lean mass during this competition by getting checked at the gym or buying or borrowing a scale. If this is totally not possible that's OK- you can still claim the weekly bonus points 

2. Make a personal goal of how you are going to build muscle mass this entire year (NOT just during our competition). This could include increasing your protein intake and lifting weights on a regular basis. Decide how you are going to monitor and keep track of it.

3. Monitor your fat loss and muscle mass gain

When you have made your best effort claim the weekly bonus challenge points 

 

WEEK 1 A FRESH START

 

I am hoping you are getting excited about getting started. If it is your first time joining us one thing you can work on in the next few days is setting up an account at Myfitnesspal.com

This service is free and you will learn to love it. It is one of those things that gets easier to use the more you use it.

One of the things that will earn you points is recording EVERYTHING YOU EAT every day. THE CHANGE FOR THIS ROUND OF COMPETITION IS YOU MUST RECORD WHAT YOU EAT ON THIS WEBSITE rather than in a notebook or on a scrap of paper.

A few helpful things:
1. If you have a smart phone there is an app to use myfitnesspal on your phone
2. It is OK to write what you have eaten on a paper as long as you enter it into the computer program before midnight each day
3. Take the time now to sign up for the website and to set your goals. You will choose how many pounds you want to lose per week and the program will select a number of calories per day for you to eat.
4. You will earn points every day for entering EVERYTHING you eat on the program and you will earn bonus points every day you stay within your caloric allowance
5. If you exercise the program allots you more calories in your daily amount! Yahoo!
6. The program has a lot of food items from restaurants and grocery stores already entered. As you select those things you eat most often you can save them which makes it way easier the next time to enter what you've eaten. Sounds complicated but it's super easy.
So go ahead and sign up and set up your goals. Wait until Wednesday morning to weigh and measure. That information can be entered here too!

So our BONUS challenge for the first week for which you will earn 35 points for the week is:

1. Set up your account on Myfitnesspal.com and on Wednesday morning begin entering what you eat.
2. Communicate with your partner (in person or by text or e-mail) and talk about your personal goals for healthy living and how you can support each other
3. Read the RULES and FAQS tabs on this blog 

Happy New Year

 

This last year has been a health challenge for me. The end of 2023 I suddenly had a droopy eye. I was sent to the emergency room for tests as they suspected cancer or a stroke. Over the next few months I faced a mis-diagnosis of lymphoma and later a diagnosis of sarcoidosis. I was put on a string of medications that caused extreme fatigue, hair loss, and nausea. My eye continued to droop and I could only drive if I tilted my head way back so I could see through the tiny slit. Little kids even made fun of me "Mommy what is wrong with that ladies eye?" The doctor said the eye was just traumatized and would heal in a few months but I saw no improvement as the months wore on. I sought alternative remedies with regular acupuncture, red light therapy, salt room therapy, sugar free diet, cryotherapy, and mountains of supplements with no improvement. 

I thought maybe I should seek a second opinion but had no idea how to find a qualified doctor. Finally at book club a friend said "I don't know why I hadn't thought about it sooner but maybe you should get my eye doctor to check it out." It was as if a spotlight shone on her when she said it. What a blessing to find a new doctor that diagnosed that the ligament had been severed from the muscle and that was why my eye couldn't open. I would need to continue my medication (to keep the mass that had grown in my eye gland from re-growing) and he would reattach the muscle and ligament but things should improve. 

So here I am with a much improved eye (I have a refinement surgery this week) and a renewed desire to help my body to be healthy.

I read this week that most of those that died from covid had 3 cormobidities. And so it seems if we are healthy when we get sick it is easier to get back to good health. So if for no other reason you might want to join us in our 8 week journey of focusing on our health so that we may have the most healthy and enjoyable 2025. 

Look at the FAQ's and RULES TABS on this blog for more details and then find a female partner (she does NOT have to live in your same area) and let me know that you want to join us (MomSandee@aol.com). The cost is just $5 a week so $40 for the 8 week competition and there are cash prizes for the most successful duos. We would love to have you join us.