Tag: Dole

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General Weight Loss Tips

Minus 50 to 29

This post has been a few weeks coming, I’ve been nailing down exactly what I want to say and my plan. It’s been awhile since I’ve made any concrete weight loss goals on this blog, and I’m ready to make it happen. I want to lose 50 pounds for my 29th birthday on March 14th. That’s exactly four months, 16 weeks, and 111 days. 50 pounds for me, at my weight is totally reasonable, and of course, if I lose 40, that is reason to celebrate, but 50 is what I’m aiming for.

I’ve shied away from making weight loss goals public, because there is a little part of me that worries that people will think I’m setting myself up for failure and give me advice to just have other smaller or slower goals. To be reasonable with myself. I want to get into it and make it happen. And not just in a way that will only work short term.

While I was visiting Dole, I had the opportunitiy to stop over at the California Health and Longevity Institute which was incredible. If I ever have a spare few thousand, I’m high tailing it to California for a thorough health assessment. During my time there, I was given an hour-long healthy life consultation with a nice lady named Claudia.

Before I even sat down she had read my blog and had printed out notes for me. She was ready. I told her that I struggle with consistency in my life, in all ways. I get really excited and then I drop everything. The tool that she gave me to keep going, was so simple, yet powerful. She told me that when I have the strong desire to drop everything and flee, to ask myself how much can I do?

For example, can I exercise for five minutes? If I can, to do just five minutes. Or one minute. Whatever I can do, to do it. I told her that I struggle with that in two ways, 1) not thinking it’s enough and 2) feeling like I was tricking myself into doing more even though I said just five minutes. And then she told me something, that was a huge “a’ha!” moment for me…

It’s not about the five minutes of exercise for the sake of getting in exercise. It’s the act of doing something when I didn’t want to. She assured me that after doing this several times, I would build up confidence and the habit of doing things when I didn’t want to.

And then I got it. I struggle with lasting changes because I never get to the point of them becoming a habit. I feel like I have to go big or go home, and when I can’t give 100% I don’t try at all.

She said that when I go out and run-jog-walk for an hour, I’m setting myself up to come up with a thousand excuses on days when I can’t wrap my head around an hour spent exercising. That mentally, if I can’t do my best everyday, that I can’t do it at all, and it sets me back and I feel like a failure.

I want a weight loss goal again. I want to delve into the mode and make it happen. I’ve been coasting along with eating well enough, and exercising when I feel like it, but it’s not getting me anywhere, because I don’t have a goal. I do believe that weight loss is a result and not a goal, but having some numbers to reach for is motivating.

50 pounds, would put me at the lowest weight this blog has ever seen. It will mean smaller clothes and more mobility. It also means getting our photos taken professionally again. I told Josh I’d like to have our pictures taken every 50 pounds that I lose.

I’m getting to a place where it’s now or never. I refuse to enter my 30’s as an obese woman. I just cannot do that. I deserve more.

My plan of action is to count calories using MyFitnessPal, Lorriebee and restarting the Insanity program (with days of zumba, strength and running outside when it’s nice).  As always I will use this blog to track my progress through photos, what I’m eating, daily thoughts and struggles and celebrations.

 

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Dole Health Summit: Part Two: Real Fruit Bites and More

Lunch at Dole: whipped ginger sweet potatoes, salmon with fresh tomatoes, vegetables lasagna, roasted squash, salad and chocolate covered pineapple

One thing that stood out to me during the Dole Health Summit was how proud the employees are of their health and habits. Before I went to the Dole Health Summit I kind of expected that there would be fresh produce available, but I was not expecting it to be so delicious and thoughtfully prepared.

Throughout my life I’ve believed that health food and good food were on two different teams. It never occured to me that they could be one in the same. When I thought of health food, I thought of “diet food” and to me it was boring, raw, cold, and uninteresting. I grew up in the 90’s where people were told not to eat fat, so I doused my iceburg lettuce in fat-free ranch dressing. We were told to eat cottage cheese, fat-free frozen yogurt, diet soda, and celery sticks to be healthy.

Onyx Restaurant at Four Seasons: ginger salad with miso soup

If I’m being totally honest, the concept of healthy can equal delicious is new to me. I use the term healthy loosely, because it seems that we all, scientists included, have our own idea of what healthy eating looks like.

But Dole managed to merge the two worlds effortlessly. You’d never know that health food wasn’t delicious and you’d never feel deprived or cheated eating this way.  Good, delicious, thoughtful and interesting food. I want more of that in my life, the merging of healthy and delicious foods.

Onyx: risotto with mushrooms

I realize that this may sound strange to those reading who already “get” it, but for me, it’s been a very long journey to this point. You see, it wasn’t until my mid-20’s that I had fresh blueberries, cherries, salmon, black beans, avocados, asparagus, dark leafy greens, or roasted vegetables. Blueberries were made into muffins. Cherries came from a jar in syrup. Salmon was from a can. Beans were brown or green and swimming with bacon. And vegetables were cooked in the microwave.

Dinner at Onyx, Four Seasons Hotel

I’ve since taught myself to enjoy interesting and new flavors. I prefer tea and coffee unsweetened. I rarely drink soda or diet soda. I’m not afraid to try new foods. I want to continue challenging my to change my definition of what good food is. Good food can be a local burger or butternut squash roasted to perfection with garlic, olive oil and chili powder. It can be coconut curry with chicken and vegetables. Good food, or delicious food, doesn’t have to be saturated in fat, salt or sugar to taste good. And I say these things as a reminder for myself, because I sometimes forget how good fruit and vegetables can be.

basil mango sorbet with dark chocolate and mint

Even the Dole employee cafeteria offered a healthy array of food choices. We had the opportunity to eat breakfast there our first morning. You could choose from whole wheat pancakes, to breakfast burritos with made-to-order omelets, homemade salsa, and avacado, or lox with cream cheese, bran muffins or fresh fruit.

In the Dole test kitchen we had the opportunity to try out new products and old favorites. For me, you can’t go wrong with frozen banana soft serve. Oh the miracles of the internet for bringing this amazing concoction into our lives.

We tried the salad kits which were filled with things like dried cherries, blue cheese and nuts. Not to mention the Real Fruit Bites. I really enjoyed these a lot (maybe too much!). I liked that you could taste the oatmeal in them. Apple was my favorite, and pineapple takes second. Josh really liked these too and I was sad to find out he raided my goodie bag and ate most of my packets.

Next was a new product that I haven’t seen yet…

Dole Shakers. Basically they are frozen fruit and yogurt, similar to dippin’ dots. You add fruit juice to them and shake for an on-the-go smoothie. I really liked the taste of these and enjoyed the thick texture. Some of the other bloggers noted that they took on the flavor of whatever juice you use, I didn’t mind that though. I thought they were refreshing and could imagine using these in a pinch or while traveling. I also think they might be good with unsweetened vanilla almond milk to cut down the sugar.

What are you favorite healthy, yet delicious recipes?

Click Here to read Dole Health Summit: Part One

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Dole Health Summit Recap: Part One

Sitting down to write this post is daunting. Mainly because there is so much to cover and much to still think about. So my solution is to break it up into little pieces and go from there.

A couple of months ago I got an email from a PR firm representing Dole asking me to join other bloggers in California for a summit. They covered the airfare, hotel costs at the Four Seasons in Westlake Village, transportation and the food during my stay. It was hard to say no.

To start, I’m still not 100% sure why I was invited. I’m not a full-time blogger, nor am I a “popular blogger”, not sure what that means, but I’m no KERF, right? To be frank, I struggle with blogging. There were ladies at the summit who were blogging the entire time. Tweeting, facebooking, networking, linking, and did I mention blogging? They were on top of their blogging game.  I just kept looking around thinking “I’m at Dole! I’m in California! oooh this food is good! wow,  I’m learning so much! palm trees!”

Not to mention the elephant in the room. Pun intended, I can’t help myself. The thing is, if you look at the roster of bloggers, and the group photo. You’ll notice the obvious… I was the only fat person there.  I couldn’t help but sing “one of these things is not like the other”. For the most part, I was okay with this. But, I’d be lying if I said I was super confident about it either.  Before I even stepped foot on the first plane to California I did a lot of self talk. Some of it was purely indulgent to make myself feel better. Here’s what it sounded like in my head: They want you to go for exactly who you are now, you are providing a different perspective, you’re representing other Americans who struggle with binge eating, you are on a journey, you can do this!

At one point I almost asked for a refund and high tailed it home when I found out our first flight was cancelled.  I was uncomfortable. A lot was out of my control and I was vulnerable. If Josh hadn’t been there to convince me to keep going, I probably would have chickened out.

When we arrived in California 16 hours later, I didn’t care that I was sleep deprived and looking like a hot mess, I was in California. Once I stepped foot into the king suite at the Four Seasons, nothing else mattered. Awkward encounters and ugly duckling feelings be damned, there was a TV in the bathroom and a soaking tub, not to mention l’occitane soaps and shampoo. I was in heaven.

Because I arrived a few hours later than expected, I missed the cocktail hour and the Thanksgiving food challenge. But, I was just in time for the first Dole meal and it was incredible. We started with a creamy asparagus soup before we were lead to the buffet filled with fig salad, fish, turkey, cauliflower gratin, and the star of the show: roasted yams with bananas.  Everything was savory and flavorful, yet healthy and light. They even gave us recipes for the dishes served to recreate a home.

Enjoying a cup of banana soft serve- my favorite!

I ended up sitting with those working for and with Dole. Their PR team and marketers. I’m not sure how this happened, but it strangely put me at ease. I felt 12 again, hanging out with the parents on a 6th grade field trip. I  chatted with Marty Ordman, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Donna Skidmore,  Director, Consumer Services and Michael, who works for Dole, but I cannot remember his last name or title. Amanda Notarangelo who does PR for Dole with Gibraltar Associates in DC was also at our table . We were ooh and aahing over the food when I had to go and ruin it with a question about local food and farming, GMOs (which I was told they don’t use) and pesticides sprayed on fruits and vegetables. I kicked myself immediately for asking during dinner, but it just came out. I thought for sure I was going to have to sleep outside of the Four Seasons that night. But, they took it in stride, apparently these were frequent, yet valid questions. They explained that they support and encourage local farming, they support people eating more fruits and vegetables regardless of where it comes from. And that they are always working on new ways to work with local farmers with their projects such as the salad bars they sponsor in public schools. But I learned something else.

Not everyone is as lucky as I am. I live in a town where local food is prevalent, abundant and affordable. This is not normal for small-town America. For example, on my way home this evening I stopped at a locally owned grocer and bought a big bag of local and organic mixed salad greens for $3, organic/fair trade bananas for about $4, and a few other produce items that were either local or organic, if not both. I even got a zucchini for free because it was a little soft. My total was $37 and the food will last till the end of the week. Not to mention that I was about 2 miles from my house.

But there are people in our country, children, who have never had fresh fruit or vegetables. There are a lot of mouths to feed in the world and I’m not sure that small farmers could keep up with the demand. I don’t have a major point or opinion other than, it’s easy to throw our hands up and talk about how screwed up the system is. It is. But, it’s complex. Dole is trying to make bananas affordable and look as cool as soda or twinkies. I can get behind that. I’m trying to get to a point where I’m not becoming narrow from my assumed opinions of the food industry. I think sometimes we want an easy answer, and there isn’t always one. There are better answers and solutions, but I appreciate that they are taking public opinion seriously. I appreciate that they took the time to answer the harder questions, because I wasn’t the only one asking.

I took some time to research Dole before I went on this trip and found the documentary “Bananas!” enlightening and heartbreaking. I also found out that Dole launched www.doleorganics.com in 2007  in response to demand from consumers who increasingly want specific information relative to the farms where the Dole organic bananas are grown or purchased from growers (referenced from www.non-gmoreport.com) You can also read about Dole, Monsanto and GMOs here.

Next up: Part Two, Dole food testing, the other bloggers and much more!

Here are a few recaps from some of the bloggers who attended.

Meals and Miles: Dole’s Test Kitchen, A Cooking Challenge

Run Eat Repeat: Double Dole Day, Dole Healthy Lifestyle Blogger Summit

Cranky Fitness: An Unusually Frank Blog Update

Iowa Girl Eats: Healthified Meat and Potatoes Meal

CarrotsNCake: Dinner At Onyx, Sunrise Run + New Dole Products, Dole’s Healthy Lifestyle Blogger Summit, It’s Over Already

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