Quest for the BiG Skinny Journal

As promised I am taking you along on our journey toward the BiG Skinny. We are doing this family style experimenting with fitness, food and changing our thinking habits together. All of the years of fitness coaching I have heard the common dilemma most women come into as they choose to change eating and fitness habits with their families. Most give up after the first signs of resistance. After meeting some resistance with my family I began to feel like it would be easier to do it on my own and become the short order cook most women resort to as they make a meal for their family and another for themselves simply because it seemed like it would be too much work to get everyone on board. After some consideration I recognize that I was forgetting the most important philosophies I have held to all of these years.

1. It is what you do most of the time not some of the time that counts.
2. Eat high nutrient dense foods.
3. Three colors at every meal.
4. Everything in moderation.
5. You are what you think so think outside the box.

To begin our Quest for the BiG Skinny we are cutting our carbs for four weeks to get the sugar out of our systems and to get our bodies to burn the stored winter fat for fuel instead. Funny how just before we began our quest it seemed the house was filled with sugar... just what you would expect after holidays filled with goodies.  To make the change over we have been reducing carbs in our main meals and purging the cubboards of sweets. Once I changed my mind about family meals, things have gone easily and effortlessly.

I decided that WinCo is my new favorite place for shopping. The bulk foods section is filled with nuts, grains, and spices that have been fun to play with, not to mention the availability of fresh herbs at an outstanding price. We picked up Quinoa (qeen-wah) on our first visit.

I had heard that this was a great "grain" to use in place of rice and couscous. After doing some reading I found out that it's not a grain at all, but a seed from a plant similar to chard and spinach... that just makes it even more appealing as we are looking through our recipes and most include pasta, potatoes or rice all of which are off limits for a few weeks. Quinoa needs to be prepared by first soaking it. You can soak it for as little as 15 minutes, traditionally it is soaked for an hour. I would recommend the traditional method. Rinse the quinoa well to rinse any "starch" off of the seeds and to promote a fluffy end product.

This is what was for dinner tonight.

Steamed Fish with Lemon Olive Quinoa Salad

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/steamed-halibut-with-lemon-olive-quinoa-salad

I modified the recipe for the fish we had in the freezer, with fresh basil instead of the parsley and almonds in place of the pine nuts. I would add less salt than the recipe asks for because the green olives are pretty salty. This would also be good with capers in place of the olives. 

I also cooked the Quinoa at a ratio of 1:1.75 which kept the quinoa from getting mushy. You can also toast the Quinoa after rinsing and before steaming to give it a nutty flavor. To toast add a tablespoon of butter to a skillet and gently toast over medium heat for two to three minutes.

• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 4 center-cut halibut fillets (7 to 8 ounces)
• Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup green olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• Spicy Lemon Quinoa

Directions

1. Fill a large skillet halfway with water and bring to a boil. Line bottom of a bamboo steamer basket with lemon slices. Set in boiling water.
2. Season halibut with salt and pepper, place on top of lemon slices, and cover. Steam until fish is opaque, 5 to 7 minutes.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together olives, parsley, lemon zest, and olive oil.
4. Top fish with olive mixture and serve immediately with quinoa.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Steamed Halibut with Lemon Olive Quinoa Salad - Martha Stewart Recipes

Spicy Lemon Quinoa

• 2 cups quinoa
• Coarse salt
• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
• 2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
• 1/2 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Place quinoa in a fine mesh sieve. Rinse under cold water until water runs clear. Transfer to a medium saucepan, add 1 teaspoon salt and 2 1/4 cups water. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce to a simmer. Cook until water is completely absorbed, 18 to 20 minutes.
2. Transfer quinoa to a medium bowl along with pine nuts, lemon zest, parsley, cumin, cayenne; drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper; toss until well combined. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Spicy Lemon Quinoa - Martha Stewart Recipes

The verdict from the family was that some didn't like the texture of the quinoa which is like small tapioca pearls and others liked the variation. I loved it because it's not a grain, works well to replace rice, and takes on flavors well. Overall, this is a keeper. Once the quinoa is prepared (soaked and rinsed) you can store it in the refrigerator and use it as a morning cereal with fresh and dried fruit, as a side dish served cold or hot, and in any main dish.

Happy Eating,

Elle
elle@mybigskinnylyfe.com

Save the date, third Tuesday in March at the Transformation Station in Salt Lake City to attend my Body Contract Workshop. Details to come.

Joy Rising

If man was created to have joy then where is it and how can I get some? When life is life-ing joy often gets lost between the cracks of the everyday. When joy and passion are not present in our everyday lives, feelings like doubt, despair, frustration, anger and disappointment can creep in and steal happiness right out from underneath us. Then, before we know it, we are asking ourselves why we are here, wondering what the purpose of this whole thing we call “life” is, and our identity becomes confused with daily routines, work, children, friends and possessions which leave us wanting for more.

Esther Hicks says, “The most important thing is that you feel good.” When we “feel good”, we are sending out a vibrational beacon to all things that match the frequency of our vibration, much like a radio signal being picked up by a car stereo. When the stereo is tuned just right, we are delighted by the sound of beautiful music through the speakers. When we are out of alignment with the signal that matches our favorite radio station, we get static or overlapping waves that are confused and garbled.

Untangling our identity, or coming into alignment with the frequency of our favorite radio station, object, feeling, circumstance or situation is possible by retraining the way we think or process external input. Our minds are continually taking in input that we are categorizing and connecting to events, feelings, situation, and circumstances, which is how we make decisions about what to do; we call this judgment, frame of reference, experience, or conditioning. Our bodies are complex and beautiful energy systems tuned into different vibrational frequencies. Anyone who has ever experienced tension in a room so thick you could cut it with a knife has experienced the frequency of “tension” through the emotional energy system. What we do with that information happens quickly based upon “experience.” We connect the information about the tension with the images, words, actions, smells, sounds, textures, and temperatures of the event we walked into, store it in the brain and resource it as a whole or in parts when making judgments and choices in similar circumstances.


At times, we feel things that we do not like and wish we could change but feel helpless or held hostage by our emotions. Knowing how your body is receiving, storing and recalling information is the key to change. Our minds are pliable, teachable and trainable, seemingly automatic responses to input can be retrained to give us new results simply and with a little practice. I remember when my granddad taught me how to drive a stick shift. He took me out to a seldom driven dirt road in his little white truck. His instructions to me were simple, to go I needed to push on the brake, push in the clutch, put the car into first gear then slowly let out the clutch while gradually accelerating. To stop the instructions were easier. I was to take my foot off the accelerator, push in the clutch, and pull the truck out of gear then push on the brake gradually until I came to a stop. He had me begin the stopping process well before the stop sign and in my mind’s eye; the image I see is one of a stop sign about the distance of a semi-truck and trailer away from my location in the truck. Now that I am practice in the skill of manual driving this process is smooth, effortless, and automatic. I have a similar experience with my route home. I moved recently and one afternoon after completing some errands, I began the trek home. My new place is not far from my old one and the shops I frequent are the same. I was busy checking phone messages and returning calls when I came to a stop right in front of my old place. I got a good laugh as you might imagine. I had taken this route from the shops so many times in the past that it was deeply conditioned in my mind. I am almost embarrassed to tell you that this was not the last time this happened. I recognize that due to the distractions I was allowing as I was driving that I set myself on auto-pilot to get home. I needed to be more aware or conscious about my choices to get myself to my new place and retrain my brain to get there on auto-pilot. Our emotional navigation system can also be trained to get us to our desired destination as we are willing to recondition its auto-pilot.



Here are some simple manual driving instructions for you to practice. First, consider what you would like to be feeling most of the time. Next, connect with how you are currently feeling. Notice everything about it, Use all of your senses to identify it and locate it in your body. Remember a time when you felt the way you would like to feel. Notice everything about it and fill your body and mind with this feeling. What color is it? Now imagine getting out of bed tomorrow morning and feeling everything about this new feeling and notice how there is a tint of color to your world. As you move through the next weeks, months, and years you notice that the world seems more joyful, vibrant and effortless. Gently open your eyes and notice what you feel in your body. Anytime you wish to recall this feeling simply imagine being drench with the beautiful color you chose to represent this feeling and it will come back to you as a flood.


Live BiG to Give BiG,

Elle

Excerpt from the BiG LYFE Design workshop series by Elle Eyre, Emotional Intelligence. elle@mybigskinnylyfe.com. www.mybigskinnylyfe.com.