A Victorious Nag
As the family’s resident health nut, I have taken it upon myself to keep an eye on my loved ones’ diets. I don’t often offer unsolicited advice to members of the family–with the exception of my dad, of course. Steve-o has high blood pressure for which he takes medication; for this reason he has assumed that he need not watch his sodium intake. “My medication keeps it under control.” This may be true, but I am of the opinion that nutrition can heal many ills. Accordingly, I make it a point to read aloud to him the sodium content on soup cans, one of his favorite lunch-time meals, and suggest that he NOT salt his food before he tastes it. He’s been ignoring me for years, so I was shocked when he asked me yesterday, “So, exactly how much sodium is in a teaspoon of salt?” He even asked me to show him what a quarter-teaspoon looks like, so he could have a visual reference for his scrambled eggs he loves so much. As I mentioned in my video yesterday, he even picked out some reduced-sodium soup at Whole Foods. Victory! Do you ever offer nutrition/health advice to your friends and family? Do they actually listen?
After basking in my nagging victory, I managed to eat a few things today too:
Sunday
Smoothie/shake tip of the day: if you want a creamy chocolate taste, add cocoa mix (for making hot chocolate). The end result is a luxurious chocolate flavor. Many brands are calcium fortified too–score!
strawberry-raspberry chocolate shake with chocolate HempShake, soymilk, Choco Cherry Treat granola, & chocolate syrup
Monday
I know my mantra is “taste the rainbow,” but I never imagined I would be eating anything from this end of the spectrum. I introduce to you the Black Monster, the Green Monster’s darker cousin. Although it looks like tar, I promise it was quite tasty!
Amazing Grass Organic Wheat Grass
Black Monster with blueberries, banana, wheat grass, & almond milk; toast with cashew butter
mmm...tar!
Recently, the kind folks at Turtle Island foods were kind enough to send me some coupons for their marinated tempeh strips, so I picked up a few packages at Publix this weekend. Now, my preferred source of soy is tofu, and I’ve had some bad luck with marinated tempeh before, so I was hoping that these strips would change my mind…and they did! These strips were delicious and added a fabulous Asian flavor to my stir-fry. The sodium content is reasonable too;) I added ginger and garlic to the veggies for an extra Asian kick.
Turtle Island Marinated Tempeh: Sesame Garlic flavor
Sesame Garlic Tempeh Stir Fry with whole wheat noodles; orange segments
Dinner was a bit of a surprise. I picked out this recipe from ED&BV based on the title alone, assuming that it would be Mexican-themed. Wrong. Instead, it included tamari and hoisin sauce (which I randomly found in the pantry after my recent clean-out). Delish!
Garlicky Broccoli, Corn, & Bean Burrito (ED&BV); salad; plain yogurt, strawberries, & dark-cocoa almonds
Katie and Major are here, so I am off to chat…and box with Greta:) ‘Til tomorrow,
Filed under: Meals
Hello and welcome! I have created this blog for people who love food, especially healthful, vegetarian food.
I have just graduated from Duke University with degrees in English and psychology. I plan to pursue a master's degree in nutrition starting in Fall 2010. Ideally, I would like to combine my love of food and the written word someday as a health writer.
Ahhh! Black monster! Scary! JK, looks intriguing.
Yes, I’ve definitely influenced my parent’s eating habits for the better. They would not be eating half the things they’re eating if it weren’t for my influence. My mom freely admits that they eat better when I’m home! Hah. Totally tooting my own horn, but whatever.
My situation is similar to yours! After years and years of nagging my Dad (and him never listening), I stopped. And what do you know – a few years later, and I can see that he’s actually picked up some of the habits without realizing it. It also seems like exercise has become a big thing in his life – he now goes on a 4-mile walk every day!
“Mmm, tar” haha!! Love it
Have fun with dear Greta!!
I tryyyy to give advice! But sometimes I think they think I’m judging! Which I’m not! Its a tough call but its important to look out for your loved ones
delish eats!
Love the tar monster
I credit my healthy family for imparting to me my love of fitness and nutrition. Since I am actually studying it, they sometimes come to me with questions, which I love!
I do try to give nutrition advice to my family (not friends). They listen half the time, and the other half they just ignore me >< They still have splenda in their daily cup of coffee along with creamer made with hydrogenated oils
But, my parents did listen to me about no high-sodium deli meats for lunch anymore, and their blood pressures are going down 
Whoa, I didn’t think a black monster was possible either. Maybe a brown, but that really does look like tar!
Weird, I just tried a veggie tempeh and did not like it. I still managed to swallow it down, but I think I’m going to have to trash the leftovers, but yours sounds awesome!
I’ve never offered advice, but then again, I’ve never been asked. My parents and I eat quite differently but I figure food preferences is a very personal thing, and some people (ie. my parents, haha) don’t care. Like you, I would also offer my advice to someone I’m close to, if they were interested!
Okay so I got those Wheat Grass Samples….but I’ve been too afraid to try them! Maybe I’ll give the Black Monster a try!
loving the BLACK monster! so cool! and the burrito looks really good too. i should make that sometime. ED&BV is great! i always enjoy your posts, love.
-JB
http://cardiovegsular.wordpress.com
i love that you are the go to health gal and that you give everyone advice! it reminds me of cher in clueless making sure her dad’s cholesterol is in check, ahah remember that! holler to that burrito, burritos make this world go round.
I am always nagging my Dad about his salt and he never listens
Whoa, black monster? I’ve never seen that before! And yeah, I am the health nut of my family too. They usually eat whatever I make them and don’t even realize it’s healthy, so…
That’s so great that your daddy started to listen to you and take your advice. I try to help my brother as much as possible and convince him to eat veggies but he doesnt listen haha. I always try to offer little pieces of advice when the topic comes up but otherwise I let everyone live their own lives and enjoy what tastes yummy to their tummies! We all have different likes right?!
ahh i can relate to everything you said about giving nutritional advice. my dad is a skinny guy but he doesn’t eat healthy foods. he just eats whatever sits in front of him which most of the time is some fried stuff. but now as he slowly becomes an older men his metabolism seems to stop doing the ‘burn it all’ effect and guess who starts coming back to me for advice? haha gotta love these men.
hope you have a wonderful tuesday
I think my parents pay a little more to the nutrition info on the sides of boxes now because of me. For example, my mom was buying this popcorn which had about 13 g of saturated fat! Just a small change in which brand she buys could help a bit.
Other than that, I may say aloud why a certain food is so good for us, but I don’t tell them what to eat or not eat. I wish they made healthier choices, but it is in their hands.
I just help out someone if they ask like my grandmother who has high blood pressure. We have weekly shopping trips that way she can ask me if something has a lot of salt, etc (she is from italy, she doesn’t understand salt = bad for high blood pressure)
I am dying to try those tempeh bites! That meal looks delicious
Sometimes my mom will ask about nutrition and stuff but unless I’m asked first, I don’t like trying to influence other people. They can do what they want
I’m glad that flavor of tempeh was a hit – I haven’t tried tempeh yet because I’m too nervous.
Oh and the spirutein flavor – nasty nast! I wasn’t a fan!! GRETA!!!! <3 love!
“Black monster”!! LOL!
Love that burrito you made….
Huzzah for getting through to your dad! Ever since I made my not-so-casual interest in nutrition known, I’ve been getting way more random questions from friends and family, so it’s good to know that my example is rubbing off. Sounds like your influence is making itself known!
yum chocolate!! I must try that smoothie…
http://ajangel25.wordpress.com
A lot of my family and friends actually ask me for nutrition advice because they know I’m really into my health. I love helping people out but I never really offer it because I don’t want to be preachy!
I find giving nutritional advice super hard for me right now… even though I probably eat the healthiest among the people I’m surrounded by, I feel inadequate to give any suggestions or advice since I’m UNDERWEIGHT… But thinking about it, I should never have an issue with it. No matter if you are under, over, or at-weight, if you eat well and know what foods and nutrients bodies need (and don’t need), then I should be happy to point out fun food facts and whatnot.
Mmmm, wheat grass does some fun things to monsters… (:
I don’t care if you want to enter or not, but if you wouldn’t mind posting a link back to my giveaway or blog in one of your next posts, that would be SO awesome! Don’t mean to be a bother, but I just thought I’d ask!
Thanks beautiful!
Keri
My dad has high cholesterol and has been trying to keep it under control. He often asks me if a food is “good” or “bad” for him or what he can substitute for an ingredient that he knows is high in cholesterol. I try to help when I’m asked without preaching and keep my mouth shut otherwise. Much easier said than done.
I’m guilty of offering unwanted nutritional advice too! Sometimes I just can’t help it. Oh, and I had some of those sesame strips tonight too!! I love that flavor (I was disappointed by the coconut one).
Catching up… Wow, Caroline, I absolutely loved your pancake post! Just loved it– the pictures, the yummy-sounding recipe, everything! You’re so awesome, girl!!
Love,
CCV
Oh I just received a package of that Wheat grass too! I’m gonna try that combo you did, it looks really cool and black! lol.
I do offer nutritional advices sometimes, and my family listens because they know I’m the expert in the house. But I refrain from talking about nutrition too much because I know it can be rather obsessive and ED of me.
[...] lime juice, salt, pepper, and cilantro from the garden. Based on this lunch and my Black Monster yesterday, I am still diggin’ the banana-blueberry (B&BB) combo. I washed it all down with a [...]
Score for you! How cool is it that your dad finally came around a bit?!
I used to be a nutrition-nag to my immediate family members, so I completely stopped offering my advice. I used to really go off on them… But now I only talk about nutrition if asked a direct question, because I got sick of wasting my breath on fast-food lovers! (Yes, I have to get dinner from somewhere else because my family is full of fast-food junkies, and I was finally wise enough to depart from their artery-clogging ways!)
That tempeh looks sooooo good! And I could swear that ED&BV burrito is gourmet restaurant worthy – you did a pretty pretty job!
Wow, I’m too much of a coward to try a green monster, let alone a black one ; )
I seriously admire your self-control with nut butters ~ I had to squint just to see the serving on your toast, where as my version would be 90% nut butter with a 10% side of toast…and your pantry video was so interesting! How you can have about fifteen plus jars of the stuff in your house and not devour them all within a month (as I have done many, many times *shame*) I don’t know. I wish I had that level of self-discipline!
I do try to give health advice without being too much of a nag but I usually get ignored. My Dad is totally anti-veganism as he thinks it’s ‘unnatural’ and unfortunately my Mum’s ED prevents her from listening to my pleas to get her to understand that our bodies need fat to function and eating less than 10g fat a day (as she’s done for the past ten years!) just isn’t healthy. However, after my Dad’s stroke due to high blood pressure (aged 63) this year, he’s finally started cutting his salt intake and eating less red meat/full fat dairy. My Mum’s cooking him more fish and even *gasp* a vegetarian curry which he moaned about but finished all of anyway! So all his not lost…
And I am going to try your delicious shake recipes at some point ~ the only UK company that sells Nutiva is still sold out at the moment *sniff*
mmmm love the tar.
I get frustrated with the advice giving (both unsolicited and asked for) because more often than not , no one follows it and thus I wasted my time.
As a studying dietician, I do get tons of questions from loved ones but I find the hardest ones are from my dad. He thinks its his way of connecting but he just really pushes for information that he already knows or doesn’t do anything after learning.
Latest example, he asks me ” Is it healthy for me to have a string cheese for snack right now?”
( at 10 pm after a big, late dinner at 8:30 pm).
I reply that I have no idea what he ate that day aside from dinner less than 2 hours ago so No, nothing is healthy right now because 1. you are going to sleep soon so you have nothing you need to fuel 2. you just ate and probably don’t need the kcal from whatever type of snack you eat. 3. is cheese healthy? well it could be but there are plenty of healthier options….
It’s so tough because he asks questions that cannot be answered- or require many other questions to answer.
String cheese offers calcium and protein but has saturated fat and salt. Did you eat enough kcal today? Do you need more calcium & Protein? Did you already have high fat and high salt foods ? …
How would you have answered? I’m curious because I get frustrated all the time.
oh I should say that … he did eat the cheese. And then, he opened a bag of Lays Potato Chips and had some of those. Then he had a sugar free popsicle.
[...] and final variety of Turtle Island’s tempeh strips. (You can see how I enjoyed the first two here and here). This flavor was delicious too, much better than the lemon Tempeh-tations. Among the three [...]
[...] authentic summer rolls, but my version included veggies and more of that Turtle Island tempeh from Monday. I meant to include some Thai basil from my garden, but there wasn’t any room anyway! For the [...]