Spinach Salad Recipe

It's been a while since I posted a recipe. Here is one of my favorite salad recipes. I season it with either Ceasar salad dressing or a squeeze of lemon juice and some olive oil.

Serves 2

3 cups baby spinach
1/2 cup pitted black olives
2 palm hearts, sliced in eighths
2 tablespoons feta or ricotta salata
dried or fresh oregano to sprinkle on the top

Arrange spinach leaves on a platter. Follow that with olives and palm hearts. Sprinkle cheese over the vegetables. Garnish with oregano. Serve the dressing on the side.

Stinging Nettle Infusions

Lately I've been thinking a lot about Germany and how healthy I felt when I lived there. I was twenty pounds thinner than I am now. I lost all that weight when I lived there. Moving back to the U.S. I slowly started to creep on the pounds. I still don't understand why.

I am trying to figure out what it is I did differently back then. I walked more. I drank herbal infusions (herbs like red clover, stinging nettle, and oatstraw steeped overnight). I foraged. I ate whole foods. I do these things sometimes, by they aren't a part of my life.

The first habit I will re-enter into my life is the daily making of infusions. I have the pot of water boiling and my stinging nettle is standing by, waiting to be added to the boiing water. Yum!

Weston Price Organization

I have been glued to the Weston Price Organization's website for a while now. I used to read and apply the information contained within it all the time. I stopped doing so when I moved back to the U.S. from Germany. That is when I was at my skinniest. I don't think it was an accident.

The information on that site makes a lot of sense to me. I have been trying to loose weight by eating fortified protien powder shakes or meal replacement bars and taking supplements. I've watched the pounds creep on and have been plagued by bad periods and odd food cravings.

According to that site, the kind of eating I have been doing is part of the problem. How could I have let myself eat in a way that doesn't make sense? Eating like the way I have has never made sense to me. Why have I been doing it?

I am not sure I can answer that. Convenience, maybe. All I know is that I have been doing things all wrong and want to get back in touch with my holistic, herbalist self.

I raise my glass for a toast. Here is to ditching the diet and focusing on making my diet healthy and holistic once again.

Haagan Daz Low Fat Ice Cream

Is SO GOOD. I just had some. The serving size is pretty small- 1/2 c. is 5 grams of fat. But really, it has a rich chocolate flavor. The only difference I notice is that it is harder to scoop than its high fat counterpart.

It is good, but as soon as I reach my goal, I am switching to the high fat version because it is better. But, the low fat kind is good for a chocolate fix.

What are your favorite low fat foods? What do you do when a chocolate craving strikes?

Magazine Obsessions

Well, keeping track of what I eat hasn't happened yet. I am not sure if I want to be that regimented or if I can lose weight without it.

Anyway, I noticed something. I have a tendency to reach for a fitness magazine when I start to feel like I could be in better shape. The articles promise 6 weeks to a fitter you, transform your body in 4 weeks, etc etc. I did this the other day. I went to the news stand and almost bought another issue.

But I've realized something. All these articles say the same thing. I have yet to find one that tells me something I don't already know.

The secret isn't those articles. It comes from within. It comes from actually applying what you learn and being consistent. Duh.