Hey check out my recipe for Blue Corn Pancakes

Blue Corn Pancakes with Fruit

This recipe uses Arrowhead Mills Blue Corn Pancakes, but you can use another brand if Arrowhead Mills is not available at your grocery store. Just make sure you read the ingredients and choose organic when possible. Blue corn is less refined than white flour, so this is a healthier, great tasting alternative to buttermilk pancakes!

3 servings (6 (5-inch) pancakes)

1 cup dry blue corn pancake mix

3/4 cup of low-fat organic milk

11/2 tablespoon of oil

1 large egg

1 banana, sliced

1 cup blueberries

Following the instructions on the package for mixing the blue corn pancakes, add half of the banana slices and half of the blueberries to the mixture.  Coat a medium pan or griddle lightly with the olive oil and heat over medium. Pour one half of the batter for each pancake into the pan and cook until bubbles form over the surface, turn gently and brown other side.  Serve with the remaining banana and blueberries.

Nutritional Information per serving: 335 calories, 10 g protein, 46 g carbohydrates, 7 g fiber, 10 g fat, 1.7 g saturated fat, 270 g sodium

The Mental and Emotional Side of Eating

The Mental and Emotional Side of Eating

“Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.”

—Socrates

When it comes to nutrition,  knowledge is power.  You need to know how to make the right food choices so you don’t feel frustrated when it is time to eat.  Is this the right food?  Is this the right time to eat it? Should I have fewer carbs and more protein?  What about those healthy fats?  Will they really help me lose weight? Should I eat a chicken burger without the bread? Are artificial sweeteners better then sugar?

You’ve probably tried one or more of the popular diets out there, lost some weight at first, then gained all of it — and sometimes more — back?  What an emotional rollercoaster! You’re not alone in your frustrations.   Millions of people experience various types of anxiety when it comes to meal time.  I recognize this is an important issue to address so you can handle any mental or emotional baggage related to your eating habits!  It is time to educate yourself about the food that you put into your body.  YOU CAN put together healthy delicious meals that taste good, help you burn fat and leave you feeling strong – physically, mentally and spiritually!

You can breathe easy, and put the yo-yoing and the frustration all behind you. I recognize that you know how important it is to eat right, but I also know that life gets crazy and sometimes when it comes to your day-to-day needs it just seems easier to call up for your favorite take-out  or stop by the fast-food drive-thru.  The problem is, once you go back onto auto pilot — not thinking or caring about the food that you eat and ignoring the negative side effects to your health, it’s too easy to keep doing it!  Before you know it, you can’t remember the last time you had something fresh and wholesome to eat and you’re back to feeling sluggish, enervated, depressed, anxious and overwhelmed. Oh yes!  There is a direct relationship between what you eat and how you feel and look!  Instead of using pharmaceuticals to lift you out of depression, try giving your brain, nervous system, and hormonal system the nutrients they need to function at their best.  Healthy eating is not just for Olympic athletes trying to win gold.  Healthy eating is a necessity for you to function mentally, spiritually and physically at your best!  Aren’t you sick and tired of feeling sick and tired?

Despite our best intentions, we still make bad choices when it comes to food because we are emotional eaters. When Socrates said “Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat,” more than 2500 years ago, he probably did not anticipate the epidemic of “living to eat,” in which we find ourselves today — and why two-thirds of us are overweight, and millions of us are suffering from diet-related diseases.  Research from the Center for Disease Control (2003-2004) reported that more than 132 million American adults over the age of 20 are either overweight or obese and more than 12.5 million children and teens between the ages of 2-19 are either overweight or obese.   In fact, obesity is a global epidemic amongst adults, children and teens.  In our world of relative comfort and plenty, we’ve completely lost touch with our bodies’ needs, and have instead become all too attuned to our wants.  Let’s get one thing straight: we eat so that the highly complex machinery of our bodies can continue to function and support us as we go about our day-to-day lives.  But, too often we turn to food for other reasons: to relieve loneliness or boredom or to alleviate stress or depression – (And it’s not uncommon for us to use the excuse of a happy occasion to celebrate with food and drink that’s not good for us.) Once you start using food as a crutch, you initiate a cycle of emotional eating that often leads to poor health, weight gain, and depression.

Emotional eating is a danger to all of us—we’re all human, and sometimes ice cream really does make us feel better!  But if you start to recognize a pattern in your behavior, like always overeating after a stressful day at work or bingeing whenever you have relationship problems, you need to find a way to address the underlying problems in a way that is not harmful to you. Often emotional eating disguises serious issues and it’s worth considering counseling or therapy if it will help you find peace somewhere other than in the fridge.  Not only do you have the ability to stop the cycle, in fact, you’re the only one who can.

Jeanette’s Rx

If you are an “emotional eater” ask yourself these questions every time you eat:

1. Why am I eating?

You should eat because you are hungry, not because you are sad, bored, or even happy, and certainly not because everyone around you is eating.

1. What am I eating?

The food you eat should be wholesome, rich in nutrients, not junk or comfort food.

1. How much am I eating?

Eat enough to satisfy you, not so much that you feel stuffed. Learn to listen to your body and know when you’ve had enough.

You have the power to free yourself from the vicious cycles of emotional eating.  First, you must educate yourself  so you know how to make the right food choices. Second, follow a meal plan and recipes so you have the step-by-step help to prepare your food every day and in the correct portion sizes. Third, complete daily spiritual affirmations and journal so you can really love yourself and strengthen your mental and spiritual foundation.  Finally,  build a supportive environment of friends, therapist, support group, family, and faith so when the going gets tough, the all- you-can-eat buffet does not turn into your best friend!

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