Archive for April, 2010

Sweet Spot

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

I have a serious problem with sweets. Sugar is absolutely my drug (and yes, I know it is also probably my biggest hurdle in losing weight, but I’m not quite ready to admit that and give it up). Anyway, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve been short on time lately, so this Twitter Tuesday, while not under 140 characters, is a short, simple suggestion for sweet snacking.

Picture this: it’s late, you’re hungry—perhaps out of boredom, or perhaps your stomach is actually growling—and your logical brain repeats to you all those articles you’ve read telling you to reach for fruit or veggies, while your sweet tooth begs for a bowl of ice cream and sprinkles. What to do? (You could just brush your teeth and go to bed; after all, that would be the really smart thing to do.) Now I hope all this lead-up hasn’t made you too excited, or you’re about to be really disappointed by my very lame suggestion, but it has been a bit of a triumph for me when I hear the siren call of Breyer’s.

My new late-night go-to snack is a nice, cold, juicy orange, paired with a nice fluffy dollop of whipped cream. Think of it as the raw food form of a dreamsicle. It satisfies both my craving to eat something healthy and my sweet craving. And for that little part of me that wants to be a calorie-counter, it’s really not too damaging to that number either. Two tablespoons of whipped cream is only 15 calories. And 2 tablespoons is plenty for one orange. Of course, I recommend the kind made with real cream and sugar. Plus, the fake stuff (ingredients reading: water, corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil, high fructose corn syrup…) actually packs on more calories, and really doesn’t taste as good.

So there you have it. I know it may not be epiphany-enducing for you, but you can at least feel pleased with yourself that you’re not such a lame-o as I am. Sweet snacking!

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Shape Up

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Every April, Vogue puts the focus of their magazine on the “celebration of size and silhouette,” and makes the emphasis of their articles on the female body in a more healthful, rather than just fashion-full, way. I was actually pleasantly surprised; perhaps because I was reading this at a time when my shape seems to be deteriorating despite increased efforts at improving it. While I don’t want to rehash the entire issue, there were 3 articles that stood out to me in a very positive light.

The first attracted my attention because in my desire to find a new solution to my weight-loss issues, I was becoming slightly dazzled by the miraculous promises of a number of fasts/detox diets/miracle pills. Now, being ordinarily a very sensible, logical person who doesn’t like to do “weird” things to my body, I was even surprising myself at the desperateness I was feeling. So this first article grounded me, and I haven’t been back to the flashy “Order now! Lose 30 pounds in 30 days or your money back!” sites. It is titled Coming Clean, and addresses the foolish claims of many of these miracle programs. (I have not checked the research on this article, so yes, I realize this may not be entirely accurate either, but it was still an encouraging thing to read!)

It focuses mostly on the detox/juice diets, and recognizes the truths in many of the claims, but also provides the whole story. For example, pointing out that our bodies were already designed to flush out toxins—through the liver—and any the body can’t rid itself of are not sitting around in the colon, waiting to be cleansed, but are stored in fatty tissues like the brain. Also, these diets tend to make you lose weight because you lose muscle, which will also slow your metabolism for when you do go back to eating. My favorite claim they combated, though, was the euphoria many say they experience. In some study, they discovered that the endorphin system in starving animals kicks in a feeling of euphoria to ease the trauma of imminent death. Nice, huh?

The next article that followed was one on how to (perhaps) lose those last five pounds (I’d like to know how to lose the ten I gained while trying to lose the last five!). Anyway, I really felt in touch with the author, who aptly summed up my food experience when she said, “My self-control around food is right up there with my ability to speak Mandarin.” So, apparently, the next “in” thing for portion control is not in the measurements, but in the mind. She interviewed a social psychologist by the name of Ronna Kabatznick, Ph.D., who is a leading advocate of mindful eating. She makes the focus of eating on how you feel about it. How hungry are you really? And why are you eating? Beyond being aware before beginning, you’re also supposed to be aware while you’re eating—aware of the sensations your food brings about. Eat slowly, and with purpose and acknowledgement of each bite.

Another interesting tidbit in the article is that a study found that yoga practicers have a lower BMI than regular walkers and gymgoers. Admittedly, there are still plenty of gymgoers that I’m sure do just fine (and don’t even get me started on the apparent ease in which men seem to shed pounds just by deciding to!), but in the crazy life of a (somewhat single) stay-at-home mother to young children, the gym is nowhere in my foreseeable future. Of course, I also read this article a month ago, and remember being aware of my first pb&j sandwich afterwards, but nothing else beyond that. I loved reading the author’s journey though: “I’m aware that I’m eating a whole Toblerone bar at 10:00 A.M., but down it goes. I’m aware that I’m looking for something other than sustenance in the refrigerator, but I eat some filet mignon anyway. The only difference: I feel guiltier now.” I think it’s even more difficult to be mindful around grunting, begging, needy children, too. I already only eat when I can squeeze it in between child duties, but the encouraging message in the article is to just keep trying. Each meal is a chance to start over, and the authors journey did eventually have a pleasing reward, so maybe it can work for others too!

The last article was also inspiring to me, because it was written by the blogging-spectacular Julie Powell. Vogue approached her with a proposition to get fit and write about it (which also begs the question—if someone were going to pay me to really, really work on getting fit, could I get there? We all have our motivators…). So she did! She, of course, interviewed and got to choose a personal trainer, and had no kids to get in the way of her schedule, but had her own issues with traveling for her book tour (oh, the travesty!). But the article was still really inspiring, because she did learn how to get into a routine, and found that the more she made it a priority, the more she wanted it as a priority. And her work paid off as well, and she was able to continue her routine after her time with the trainer had ended. I guess I feel more like her success can be my success just because despite her great fortune, I feel like she’s a normal person. I know we’re all normal people, but I’m not sure I feel like I could ever be Jennifer Aniston, but Julie Powell—she’s attainable. (And while you can’t read her article online, you can read this.)

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Birthday Tea Party: The Plan

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Ok. I promised I would get some info up on throwing a tea party birthday, and I’ve been awfully slow on my follow-though. So here is part two, designed to give ideas for what to do at the party. I like to think of parties in four parts: craft project, games, cake, and presents. But first, I’d like to talk invitations.

Invitations set the mood of the party, so a tea-themed invitation is a good start. Ideas include a simple tea bag-shaped invitation, cut out of white paper, or perhaps creating a large tea bag with translucent vellum paper and including the party information inside as the actual “tea.” I chose to use a teapot shape as the invitation and wrote the party information on the pot with a string attached to the top to look like the string of tea bag hanging outside. The label for the tea bag had the child’s name on it.

The front of the teapots

The information side

In order to get your teapot shape you could either print out a teapot image and trace one, or draw one yourself. I found a picture of a shape I liked and copied it as best I could. I think it turned out just great! Because the marker bled through a little, I decided to add the dual-color on the back of the teapot. Also note, we encouraged dressing up, because what little kid (especially girls) doesn’t love to dress up? So . . . on to the party itself.

Crafts are a good way to get a party started because it’s an individual project that kids can work on as they’re arriving, since inevitably there will be parents (like me) who show up late. Our party had an age range of 3-5, and had boys and girls so I just let Emma pick whatever she wanted to do, but I came up with quite a few options for her to choose from. Here are some ideas:

♦Make paper fans out of construction paper and doilies, for an extra fancy look. Let the kids glue on a doily and decorate however they wish, then fold the paper accordian-style and secure the bottom with a rubberband or tape.
♦For a simple project, trace teapot shapes for each child to color (or print out an outline; I have no printer so I used the teapot I had drawn for the invitation template and used it again for the coloring sheets).
♦Paint ceramic teapots or tea sets.
♦Decorate a small pot and plant a flower/plant. You could also use a teapot as a planter. (This would be especially fun if you had a tea party in a garden outside; sadly, February in Nebraska is not great for an outdoor party.)
♦Decorate fancy nametags out of cardstock for a place setting at the tea table.
♦Check a local craft store for inexpensive kids’ crafts. We only have a Wal-Mart here, but they had a nice selection, including packages of suncatchers, bead kits, or even foam puppets (which is what Emma wanted!).

Craft time!

So after everyone arrived and either finished their crafts or got bored, we moved on to games. We started with Emma’s favorite: Pin the _____ on the ______. Last year we had a princess party and we pinned the lips on the frog prince. This year it was a tea cup on a saucer. And being a little older, the kids weren’t scared of the blindfold!

Pin the teacup on the saucer

Pin the teacup on the saucer

We also used the previously colored teapot pictures for a game of musical teapots. We set the pictures on the floor and walked on them while playing music, and when the music stopped, they had to find a teapot to sit on. I don’t think they quite understood the game at this age, so we had to all hold hands and walk in the circle, and there was no mad rush to sit when the music stopped, but eventually we did get a winner!

The next game was a sugar cube relay. We split them into two teams and gave each team one spoon. Starting on one side of the room, they were given a sugar cube to carry on the spoon to the other side of the room where there were empty teacups waiting to be filled. The first team to fill their teacup wins. I had tested the coordination portion of this game before the party with Emma, and indeed, they were all quite capable of carrying a sugar cube on a spoon and walking to the other side of the room. What they didn’t understand was the concept of a race, and competition. One little boy kept waiting for the other team to catch up so they he wasn’t getting ahead of anyone. It was very sweet. Fortunately, they had fun, and they didn’t care about the concept of winning or losing anyway!

Dropping the sugar cube was a sad event

After that, we moved the party back to the table and distracted them by having them build towers out of the sugar cubes (this also served as a counting exercise, as we had to count whose was tallest!). I’m sure there could be many variations on sugar cube building—or even crafts with the sugar cubes. Just watch out for sneaky kids who pop them in their mouths when you’re not looking!

Those were all the activities we did, but I also considered making a tea party themed Bingo game, which would be fairly simple. You could also include personalized spaces for the birthday child, and you’d also have a game that you could play after the party that any kid would enjoy. Another idea would be some form of a tea bag tossing game. It could be simple, using different sized bowls and literally throwing tea bags into them for different point values. Or you could make little bean bags to look like tea bags, and use those. You could also throw them into actual teapots or get some cardboard and draw on teapots and cut out holes for different point values. This would definitely be for older, more coordinated children!

After games, we busted out the cake. At one point, I considered having snacks as well, but decided it really wasn’t necessary. I was just really tempted to make a lot of cute little sandwiches. But the cake was plenty, and we served pink lemonade in real teacups on saucers, which all the kids loved. We also had ice cubes shaped like flowers from trays at IKEA (I just had to bring IKEA up, I love it so!).

After that was the spoiling of my child, and then the inevitable opening and sharing of her plunder until parents were ready to take their kids home. Another successful birthday, that I can only hope she’ll remember a glimmer of later (hey, I still remember my bunny cake for my 4th birthday!). Stay tuned for one more post on the budget for such a shindig!

And as a separate note, I wanted to mention that I am going to be moving slightly away from blogging. As much as I enjoy it, it has been a catalyst to my cooking experimentation, and I’m finding that I really love the cooking. And once I’ve cooked, cleaned the dishes from my experiment, taken care of the kids, kept up with the house, and started fitting in a regular exercise routine, I’m finding that the something that’s gotta give has been my blogging. I don’t intend to completely quit; I’m just going to be a bit unpredictable!

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