For the April session of First Friday’s Wellness Cafe we went over recipes from VFit Studio’s Recipe Rolodex with Maria and then Lauren broke down different ways you talk about about food and your body.
Maria first showed the free resource of VFit’s Recipe Rolodex in a live demo and then shared recipe lists. The Recipe Rolodex has over 250 real food recipes made with clean ingredients to help fuel you and your family. The recipes are simple and time tested with our own families. You can also access the Recipe Rolodex via the main menu on VFit Studio’s branded app from iTunes or Google Play.
During the upcoming Wellness Reset held April 12th – 25th, we will go over all 7 pillars of wellness with the food pillar being highlighted. During the 14 days, there will be information and group activities centered on each pillar: food, exercise, water, me time, outdoor time, gratitude, and sleep. You can learn more about the Wellness Reset here. Maria will share 3 more Rolodex Fav Lists during the reset which is intended to help spur new ideas and invite you to try new recipes.
Recipe Rolodex Fav Lists
Presented in First Fridays Wellness Cafe 4/2/21
Breakfast Revisited
- No Bake Trail Mix Breakfast Cookies
- Banana French Toast
- Cinnamon Carrot Breakfast Muffins
- Greek Yogurt Papaya Bowl
- Huevos Rancheros
- Kefir Buckwheat Pancakes
- Loaded Veggie Egg Bake
- Oatmeal Protein Bars
- Poached Eggs Delight
- Pumpcakes
- Slow Cooker Carrot Oatmeal
- Sweet Potato and Brussels Sprouts Hash
- Triple Berry Smoothie
Top 10 Biohacking Recipes
- Zucchini Soft Shell Tacos
- Bulletproof Coffee
- Cauliflower Crust Pizza with Kale Pesto
- Superfood Bomb Smoothie
- Maria’s 5 C’s Power Balls
- Rachele’s Staple Zoodles and Meat Sauce
- Green Goddess Bowl
- Mexi-Cauli Rice
- Ginger Molasses Cookies with Dark Chocolate
- Collard Green Enchiladas
Once the Recipe Rolodex session ended, Lauren took over. Here are Lauren’s notes about her session on how we talk about food and our bodies.
Diet talk is all around us. Just think of the diet ads you see, fad diets galore, and friends or family members complaining about their bodies and their looks. The happy people you see in ads are thin, selling you the idea that thinness equals health and happiness. Although this is getting slightly better with more body diversity, it’s nowhere near where it should be. Think about the articles and headlines that get you confused about nutrition and create food phobia. We want to create an environment for ourselves and our children where all bodies are accepted and food is just food.
Think back to growing up… did your family talk about being healthy vs unhealthy, and what did that mean? Did you discuss what it mean to be fat vs thin? Did they discuss dieting and put a big emphasis on looks? Did you feel like your diet was restricted or controlled? Does that affect you now, and how you see food, fitness and your body?
Those ideas growing up STICK WITH US for a lifetime. You may have found that your relationship with your food and body stems from how your parents felt about themselves, or how they treated you. What messages would you like to send to your children?
This may make you want to shy away from talking to your kids about food, but don’t let it. It’s HOW you say things and what you do that have a bigger impact. The message we want to display is that all foods can fit and all bodies can fit, while avoiding negative connotation relating to eating and body size. It’s OK to say that different bodies respond in different ways to different foods. The only time it becomes risky is when we talk about weight loss diets with kids. When we do that, our kids may be less happy with their own weight and are more likely diet to lose weight. And when kids go on diets, they are at a much higher risk of developing an eating disorder or disordered eating. I don’t recommend talking about weight loss or diets with kids.
Weight is not a medical condition. If you have a medical condition such as high cholesterol, then you can talk about cholesterol and adding in fiber to your diet for it’s beneficial effects. You can discuss the way you eat while also taking weight out of the picture. Kids do not need to be scared to eat certain foods, or concern themselves with fat grams, calories or other potentially harmful information. Food talk and self-talk will be positive and non-critical.
Multiple studies have shown the effects of caregivers trying to control their children’s intake. The result? High levels of critical and restrictive eating messages from caregivers are associated with low IE scores and higher BMI. When parents attempt to restrict children’s eating, it backfires by disconnecting them from their natural hunger and satiety cues, ultimately creating the problem they were trying to circumvent. (Intuitive Eating, 4th Ed.)
What can you do to help create a more positive body image?
Don’t body bash yourself or others. Quit the body check game. Don’t discuss size or compare yourself or your children to others.
Instead of focusing on what you don’t like about your body, focus on your relationship with your body and how you can speak kindly to yourself.
– I love that my arms hold my loved ones
– I’m grateful that feet allow me to walk
– I love that my smile connects me to people
What if friends question you?
Lauren, registered dietician
When others start diet talk, remove yourself or have some good go-to phrases:
– Dieting leads to deprivation, deprivation leads to craving, and craving can lead to out of control behavior.
– I give myself permission to eat whatever I want when I’m hungry and find that I’m more easily able to stop when I’m full.
– When I feel satisfied with what I eat, I eat just what my body needs.
– I’m learning to cope with my emotions with kindness, instead of relying on food.
– I realized that my life is so much better when I don’t worry about food or my body.
– I have so much time to enjoy other things when I’m not preoccupied with food.
What to say instead of “This is Healthy” or “This is good for you.”
– “Purple and blue foods give you a strong brain. Orange food helps you see better.”
– Keep it simple – call foods by their names. “This is a carrot. This is a cookie. This is a potato.” Food is just food. It’s not a special treat, bad for you, special, or a guilty pleasure.
– Tips for dessert: Don’t make kids earn dessert by eating a certain amount of other food, downplay it by serving with a meal, use non-food rewards and bribes, use neutral language, give kids opportunities to eat as much dessert as they want occasionally. – You can discuss what’s in a food, what it does for your body, and how it makes you feel, but without judgment.
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