It has been a busy week full of celebrations: Lunar New Year, Mardi Gras(Fat Tuesday), Ash Wednesday, Ramadan, and others including more February Birthdays- happy birthday if that was you. It means a lot of changes as we prepare for the upcoming Spring season.

For my older children that also involves mid-term exams, oral presentations, and papers all due around the same week. It has made them super busy and maybe even a little bit stressed. I can tell when they are feeling overwhelmed because they will ask for their favorite comfort foods. As some of them leave junior college and move onwards towards their bachelors degrees, they may leave home and have to find the new norm. I’m expecting to stock their freezers with emergency meals, and send them food deliveries.

Food is a big part of how we connect, celebrate, and show love. For me, it involves some planning, something I’m not known for. In order to combat my OCD, I let a lot of things just go. Otherwise I would be a tyrannical dictator, not much fun to be around. I try and keep my Zen energy going and just take what the day gives me.

With family members that have health issues (including myself) it means making sure each meal has the right amount of protein, carbohydrates, and fiber while still looking like something enjoyable to eat. It was so much easier when they were little because julienned carrots and homemade Italian dressing was a great way to get them to eat their vitamin A while getting some prebiotic fiber, healthy fats from olive oil, all while still giving them a sense of autonomy. Yeah, being a mom is friggin’ crazy.

Now with all of my children on the verge of adulthood, and some already there, meal prepping is more challenging. When you have to take food preferences and dietary requirements into account for a family of seven, it can get a little nuts and there are days I just decide to call for pizza and salad with no dressing (most dressings have sugar to balance the acidity) and remember that OCD is my superpower, so I will make it work even if I have some salad and a can of tuna while they have pizza.

I look back on my former career as a nurse and think that nothing I have ever learned has been put to waste. My last A1C (blood sugar measurement for 3 or so months) was crazy, so the first thing I did was grab the glucose monitor and start watching how my body is using food. I have an app and record everything I eat along with my blood sugars so I know which foods are out. (sorry pizza, I’ll miss you)

One of my sons is showing the same problem, insulin resistance and is being monitored while Mommy adjusts his diet and hopes he doesn’t cheat while he is out. Having two parents with it, means water is the only beverage in the house, outside of milk (which does have carbohydrates) and sugar free teas. Temptation is everywhere. It means teaching about making the hard choices now to ensure that life runs more smoothly later, but when you get invited to a party and there is soda, cake, and chips the peer pressure is there. Even a trip out for lunch can be stressful when everything on the menu has more refined sugars and processed foods than you can shake a stick at, even the tomato sauce for mozzarella sticks has sugar, argh! You send them with a bottle of water, hope what you taught them is good enough, and understand that one small piece of cake is not the end of the world.

I get firsthand the challenges because I had gestational diabetes with three of the five imps and used OCD to get me through it. I sat with a dietician for three hours and hashed out a plan of what I would eat. Then came the executing part. I bought stainless steel measuring cups, a food scale that had both ounces and grams, and I sat and read the labels for everything I normally kept in the house, working out how much of what I could have. I cooked for the entirely family like that, since many of them were small they had enough of everything they needed caloric and vitamin wise. Remember I said that knowledge is never wasted, because I did the same for my mother-in-law and husband to help get them on track with their diabetes. I’ve also come to understand that not everyone is me, and some people would rather fast and have one meal a day than have three really tiny meals, or six even smaller meals. My husband does one meal a day now and he has lost about 60 pounds so far and stabilized his sugars with minimal medication, so it’s working for him. Yay!

I seem to have an ass backwards metabolism and was living on 1200 calories per day with no weight loss. I have since moved to 750 calories per day, which seems a cruel and unusual punishment for anyone with a stomach. It has had two effects. 1. I cannot do this on one meal per day as my sugar spikes after five hours without food(when I start burning through fat stores for energy my sugar goes up), so 3 or 6 much smaller meals are required to maintain my glucose at the appropriate level (under 160mg/dl). 2. I am prepping food all day which is exhausting mentally and physically. We will see if I lose any weight along with improvement of sugars, but from my past experiences with “dieting” I’d say no. It’s just my metabolism and I’ve been suggest weight loss management and surgery-however, since I record everything I eat, and I am on medication that make you bleed-there is no need for surgery and its entirely out of the question. I guess, I just have a recession proof metabolism.

Since my glucose measurements are more important than weight loss right now to help reduce inflammation for everything from cardiac status to autoimmune, I wont even weigh myself until blood sugars are stable.

Many people use religious feasts to work on their relationship with the divine, like Lent, and often they sacrifice food in favor of religion. I could blog for days on the scientific research that has been done with fasting and changes in brain activity, but I’m just going to say that small changes can have big impacts. If you choose to change your diet or exercise just check with your physician first, to see what is safe for you. Please, don’t subscribe to fad diets. More often than not those kinds of diets lead to nutritional deficits which can have negative long term impacts. It’s better to adopt a healthy relationship with food for lifelong health.

My family has helped out at food pantries and I can tell you firsthand that many people live in a food desert, where getting nutritious affordable food is difficult or impossible. Since lots of people are living with the biggie size lifestyle, it’s hard on my heart to think that there are people that simply can’t get enough calories or the right kind of calories, and it’s a scary number for such a rich country. I’m fortunate to be able to drive to the grocery store, but if I had to pay for delivery of food items it would be a struggle to feed seven people. I’m also lucky to have the hubby run to the store for me on days my RA is bothersome, so if you have a neighbor who needs a personal shopper, sometimes just picking up grocery items on their list is a wonderful thing to do and can really save the day. We all struggle sometimes.

I probably have three bookshelves of cookbooks for different diet approaches towards better health, but I keep going back to the nutrition book I got in nursing school and the booklets the dietician gave me to make the best possible food choices for myself and the children. Right now that means a lot of purple foods: potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage… I’m even looking into that purple corn. The food pyramid has changed from the one I grew up with (starches, dairy, fats, proteins…) to one that is color coordinated, so not only do you have to have some proteins, some fats, and some carbohydrates (present in veggies too) but you need your food to be colorful to ensure you get lots of vitamins. Similarly, our relationship with food has to change.

For my family, that means finding adventures instead of eating out and skipping out on processed foods and the soda fountain, hopefully simple changes we can keep up our entire lives. It makes me rethink holiday traditions, and yes, I’ve even brought a hot quinoa salad to the Thanksgiving table or only picked one complex carbohydrate to serve during holiday feasts, so if they want stuffing (dressing) then mac n’ cheese has to go.

The children have opted for fish this Lent so I’m baking fish instead of frying this year. It’s something I know they enjoy and is easy enough for them to do on their own if I feel like a night out. Letting them cook, also ensures they learn healthy recipes and that the food they are eating is interesting to them and not something they’ll leave behind in favor of fast food when they move out. It also means that since I know with two of my children that have food as their love language, they’ll be able to cook great food to share with their friends.

Does that mean that chocolate is out for Valentine’s Day and we’re passing on Christmas cookies? Absolutely not. In fact I have some chocolate every single day for the antioxidants and polyphenols, and no its not that cardboard tasting vegan chocolate. I eat real, full fat, 72% dark chocolate. There is a lot of research out there supporting getting your polyphenols and chocolate being important in heart health and blood pressure, so it’s in. Plus, when you deny something, people tend to cheat. I’d rather count it as part of my fats and carbs, than wonder why my sugar suddenly spiked. I’ve eaten everything on the diabetic diet, just weighed portions combined with the right amount of other foods.

Some of our best recipes have been handed down from one generation to another and I don’t think great grandma’s favorite chocolate cookie recipe should be lost to time. I think we just need to portion better.

I’ve looked at family photo albums. It’s full of thin men and women dressed so stylishly. It makes me feel a little inferior. I’ve never been one for fashion and I’m happiest gardening in comfy clothes. Yes, I like to get my hands dirty and connect with the earth physically. there is something about the smell of the soil and feel of it in your hands that is transformative. I used to grow my own vegetables, even if that mean an absurd amount of zucchini and a freezer full of homemade tomato sauce ice cubes (single serve portions to go with mozzarella sticks-great way to get dairy into reluctant children).

Those old family recipes help the newer generation connect with the previous one. My children enjoy soups their grandmother and great grandmother made and pierogi their aunt Maria used to carefully make along with their holiday traditions. We’ve just added in some portioning. Here’s a favorite recipe handed down from Grandma Ewa.

Cauliflower Soup-great way to get even stubborn children to eat some veggies

Stuff you’ll need:

stock pot (8 qt)

cutting mat/board

sharp cleaver or paring knife

heating element

optional: blender

Ingredients:

cauliflower head or 20 ounces frozen cauliflower

Optional: 8 oz. fresh green beans or 8oz mixed frozen vegetables

1 leek or onion

1 bunch dill

3 carrots

3 stalks celery

5 balls allspice

1/2 teaspoon tumeric

1/2 teaspoon paprika

2 garlic cloves (minced)

fresh black pepper

salt to taste

optional: 2 brined pickles diced

optional: sour cream 2-4 oz

optional: other fresh herbs like thyme or basil

How to:

1. Wash all your veg (except frozen). If you are using leeks, be sure to cut in half lengthwise and wash thoroughly.
2. Add 3 -4 quarts water to pot (enough to cover cauliflower and vegetables)
3. Clean cauliflower of outer leaves and stalk. Add cauliflower to the pot. No need to chop. If using frozen cauliflower, just add to pot right away.
4. Peel carrots and chop into small disks and add to pot.
5. Chop celery and add to pot
6. Mince dill and garlic. You can use dill stems, too. Add to pot. Reserve a couple tablespoons dill for garnish at the end.
7. Mince onion or leek and add to pot.
8. Optional: Quarter green beans and add to pot, or use small bag frozen vegetables.
9. Add your seasonings (salt, pepper, tumeric, allspice, paprika).
10. Optional: Add pickle
11. Bring pot to a boil and lower heat to simmer.
12. Let cook until cauliflower is tender enough to fall apart.
13. At this point you are ready to taste and see if you need salt. If you added brined pickles you may not need any.
14. Optional: Blend vegetables for kids that don’t like chunks of things in their soup
15. Optional: Add sour cream a little bit at a time and stir. You may get tiny chunks of sour cream, that’s fine. Or you can just put a dollop of it in your bowl-personal choice.
16. Garnish with dill and serve.

This soup can also be chilled and is perfect for spring & summer lunches when you don’t want anything hot. Since it has very little fat(sour cream), you can just count it as a serving of vegetables.

What are some of your comfort foods, and have you made any changes to find that healthier happier you?