My little sister, Cedar, asked it she could interview me for an English class she in taking. Since the questions are all about gracefulfitness I thought I would share the interview with you.
1. What are three important food/diet choices that you always try to prioritize?
1. Whole foods. It really all boils down to this. Whole foods nourish you. Period.
2. Variety ensures that I am getting lots of great macro and micro nutrients in with each meal.
3. Volume. I love to eat. A lot. Eating foods with a high water content and rich in fiber allows me to eat a big volume of food for a minimal amount of calories.
2. What are three weekly fitness goals for you?
Move, move, move!
3. How do you maintain clarity in your health goals, what is your major motivator?
My major motivator is how good, clean, whole foods and balanced exercise make me feel. Maintaining a gracefully fit lifestyle makes me feel accomplished, strong, energized, capable, and boosts my focus and self-confidence in all areas of my life.
4. Do you remember a particular time or event that made you be so health focused?
Actually, no. I think exercise has always made me feel really great and it just made sense to me that to live my best life I had to fuel up with whole foods and exercise.
5. You have a blog that you report to daily with food, facts, and fun. How has your blog effected you personally? Has it changed your perspective or behaviors? Has it changed your routine or how you do or think about certain aspects of your life?
When I started Gracefulfitness back in May my goal was to reach out to others who were either making similar lifestyle choices or were interested in finding holistic fitness but needed more information. Little did I realize at that time that my own ideas and approach to fitness were shifting. Looking back over the last two years I now recognize that only recently did I reach a long-in-the-making transformation to living a life of graceful fitness.
I have improved my relationship to food and have stopped the “I shouldn’t have eaten that/that much, now I need to exercise to counteract that overindulgence” that I used to succumb to on a fairly regular basis. These days if I overindulge I note the way that it makes me feel (heavy, bloated, gassy, lethargic) and remind myself that I don’t like that feeling so next time I eat I can exercise more self-awareness and stop before I reach that point. And then I move on with my day.
Blogging has also made me more accountable to myself. Even though I don’t blog about everything that I eat it makes me “stick to my guns” more about certain choices. I used to very occasionally drink diet soda (1-2 times a year). I am adamantly against artificial sweetener, or anything for that matter, and do not want to be a hypocrite publicly so, even though it’s my choice whether or not to “tell” on myself, I do not (knowingly) drink anything with artificial sweetener any more.
Lastly, through blogging I have found a community in a time in my life that has been full of crazy transitions and uncertainty. My newfound blogging community gives me a sense of home and camaraderie that I have yet to find in my new physical home of Charlottesville.
6. Do you find that the general public is receptive to your level of health consciousness?
Yes and no. My biggest pet peeve lately is how Americans are so quick to judge other peoples choices around food. I find myself doing it sometimes and it is unacceptable. What I put in my fridge, on my plate, in my mouth is not something for you to judge. That maybe an odd statement coming from someone who puts pictures of what I put in my fridge, on my plate, and in my mouth everyday but that’s because you have to separate out enjoying sharing the magic and power of food with others and sharing a judgement about that food.
I think one of the problems in this area arises from labels, which is why I am no longer calling myself a vegetarian (only in West Virginia in the 1980’s can vegetarian mean fish eating) and instead, if necessary, I will say “I don’t care to eat much meat”. This statement leaves me open to make the choice about whether I want to eat that chicken broth or not without being a hypocrite. Each person is entitled to make their own choices on a minute to minute basis and my choices have are all about ME and MY BODY, not you.
7. What do you think are the biggest barriers for the general population when it comes to healthy diet and exercise?
The ONLY barrier is motivation and WANTpower (not willpower ;)). I truly believe that anyone and everyone can afford the time and the dollars to live their most healthy lives, you just have to want it and follow through.
8. You are planning on having children, what foods do you think are most important during pregnancy and which are most important to avoid?
Most of what I know about nutrition during pregnancy comes from instinct and experience as a personal trainer so I will definitely be doing my own research when my time comes to be pregnant. Having said that, I think it’s important to eat a diet of whole foods with a wealth of variety while pregnant. I also think it’s important to feed your hunger but not fall into the “eating for two” mentality because gaining excess weight can lead to complications, a challenging delivery, and a harder recovery. You only need to consume about 300 additional calories after your first trimester, that’s a banana and a big spoonful of peanut butter.
Along the same line I think that it’s more important than ever to make sure every calorie is highly nutritious during pregnancy. The easiest way to do this is to seriously limit or eliminate refined sugar and refined flour and highly processed foods in general.
A common choice many women make is to feed their morning sickness with carbohydrates which can actually exacerbate the problem. An excellent way to avoid or minimize nausea is to eat protein, especially at dinner so I will follow this guideline.
9. What foods do you think are most important for children to limit or avoid?
Rather than answer this directly I would like to talk about what foods are important for children to eat. I may be completely nieve, given my limited experience as a mother, but I think a major gap in kids diets comes from the idea of “kids meals”. The widely excepted, and media perpetuated, ideas around children is that they don’t like whole grains, green foods, or any vegetable that is not drowning in Ranch dressing. Like I said, maybe I am nieve, but I don’t think that these are tastes and opinions that children are born with.
When it comes to children, I think it’s important to follow the whole foods rule, as in, food in it’s natural and whole state are intrinsically nourishing. Make whole foods the reward, not the punishment (if you eat your broccoli you can have dessert). Don’t get to stuck on the idea that your kid has to eat spinach to be healthy, if she loves brussel sprouts but detests green beans, feed the kid the brussels!
In other words, it is important for children to limit refined grains, refined sugars, and completely avoid artificial colors and flavors.
10. If you had one sentence to describe your life as it relates to your health, what would it be?
It’s not my own sentence but it is my mantra, “The greatest wealth is health” (Virgil), and who doesn’t want to live a wealthy life?
Ummm, writing about whole foods makes me want to eat some :).
In the mix- 1/2 cup oats
- 1 cup plus a few tbsp water
- 2 tsp flax seeds
- 2 tbsp peanut flour
- stevia to taste
- nutmeg
- vanilla
Topped with 1 tbsp roasted and salted sunflower seeds and half a small banana. Delicious. I started adding peanut flour to my oats yesterday morning in an attempt to get more protein into my breakfast. Protein in the morning really helps satiate me and sets me up for a balanced appetite for the rest of the day. Two tablespoons of Trader Joes’s peanut flour adds 8 grams of nutty protein for less than 60 calories. It also makes the oats creamy and kind of doughy, yum. It has a surprisingly mild flavor though, which is not a bad thing, you just can’t expect it to taste like a bowl of peanut butter.
The peanut flour seems to be working, both yesterday and today’s oats left me more satisfied than usual.
Have you been wondering how my coconut oil truffles turned out? In a word, AMAZING.
To make these little cups of melt-in-your-mouth heaven I mixed half a cup of liquid unrefined coconut oil, half a cup of cocoa (preferably non-alkalized, it’s much healthier), a fourth of a cup of melted honey, a drizzle of vanilla, a pinch of salt, and stevia to taste. Next time I think I will forgo the honey all together and just sweeten with stevia.
After it was all mixed up I spooned the liquid love into silicon mini muffin cups to harden.
In a fit of last minute inspiration I added a walnut half to a few of them, some cinnamon to a few others, and a tiny sprinkle of pink himalayan sea salt to all of them.
I have yet to try a whole one but licking the bowl convinced me that these are out-of -this-world. I will be drooling at the thought of them until we break them out after dinner tonight at Matt + Kath‘s. Drooooollinnggg…..
Gotta run. Literally. It’s been nearly two weeks since I last run and I am SO ready to hit the pavement.
P.S Make coconut oil truffles. Seriously. Need more motivation? Read this.
for christmas i did the same chocolate/coconut oil melting process, and then put pom arils in the mini cups. talk about tasssty! these look delicious! when i made a second batch i left out the honey, only because it made stirring everything together easier that way. have a great day!
Are pom arils just the little individual pomegranate berry things? That sounds amazing, I can’t wait to experiment more with this recipe.
I love your interview and found myself nodding in agreement with so much of it! I share with you that one of my pet peeves is people who judge other people’s food choices. My dad is extremely judgmental about my decision to be a vegetarian. He calls it “The Clueless Diet” and makes snide remarks every chance he can get about my decision to abstain from animal flesh. I made the decision because I thought it was the healthiest choice (and came to believe it was also my ethical imperative) but I don’t proselytize, broadcast my vegetarianism at the table, demand special treatment or judge anyone else’s decision to eat meat (or to eat anything different from what I eat). I could respond by pointing out that my dad has Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and many risk factors for heart disease, so perhaps he doesn’t actually have all of the answers. But instead I just bite my tongue, which is hard – I think he has made some unhealthy choices, but he is an adult and it is his right to make those choices. I just wish he would respect that I am also an adult, and it’s my right to make the choices I have made. I try to be “graceful” (love that word) about it by reminding myself (silently) that maybe my dad is questioning his own decisions and his nasty comments come from a place of insecurity that has nothing to do with me, and by keeping that in mind I manage to smile and stay above it. But it is challenging to not allow myself to be goaded into being defensive. If people would just be a little more accepting of others’ food choices, family dinners would be infinitely more pleasant!
Sorry for writing a novel. Clearly, your post struck a nerve. Love your blog, keep up the good work! =)
Thanks for an awesome and insightful comment Jaclyn! I agree completely that judgement about food usually comes from a place of insecurity and it’s really unfortunate that it manifests in such an unpleasant way. Also, there is often a misinterpretation surrounding why people make food choices, like “I made the choice to be vegetarian thus I am judging you negatively for eating meat” when in fact that is usually not the situation.
It’s quite a topic and again, thanks for your comment.
Great interview! I agree with so much of what you said, especially the bit about people judging others’ health choices. Being so health conscious myself I really find that other people sometimes feel it’s OK to judge that, and make comments that are hurtful (or, just thoughtless). Health buffs unite!
Yes! Health buffs unite! 🙂
I found you through Kath. I’ve read your blog a bit before and I am thankful for your fresh perspective! I recently made some chocolate/coconut oil “nut cups” and “almond joy cups” – These look great, and I will try your version next time!!
Faith~I just love your perspective — maybe it’s because I agree with so much of what you said. 😉 Thank you for sharing this interview. I also hate labels & stick to pretty similar statements. “Minute by minute basis” is the perfect philosophy, because our bodies are constantly adapting&changing; each one of is entitled to decide what is best for our OWN body at that moment. Making a big deal over labels & judging dietary choices is a major pet peeve of mine. Dave & I have often talk about the problems with “kid meals” as well. Why can’t kids just eat smaller portions of “adult” food? Sorry, frozen “chicken”nuggets are not nourishing & toddlers don’t need candy–they wouldn’t even know what they are missing out on if you just held off giving it to them. Great insights intelligently portrayed. Thanks for sharing your journey.
Mmm. I am making these truffles soon! I love that you used muffin cups. [p.s. yes, pom arils are pomegranate seeds, & they are amazing with chocolate]
Make the truffles! Soon! They were amazing. Tate proclaimed “best dessert you’ve ever made” and I think I may agree (of course, he usually thinks my desserts need to be sweeter). SO GOOD!
Thanks for the feedback and, as usual, I really appreciate your perspective as well :).
Bella wants to know how did you make the white truffles?
The white ones are straight up coconut butter (shredded coconut in the processor). I just make them “truffle” shaped for portion control and because it’s easier to divvy them out while still liquid than to dig into a hardened jar. They are still delicious!
Ohhhh myyy. I’ve been planning to make these for almost a year. I finally got off my butt and did it. WOW! Not only are they fan freaking tastic, but they took almost no time to make. Yum!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed them! They’ve been off my radar, thanks for the reminder!
Yummmmmm I am very excited about making these, thanks so much for this recipe, I love coconut oil for cooking and in skin care recipes too. But eating coconut chocolates is my not so guilty pleasure