Celebrating Wonder Women Freedom with an End-of-Summer Whole Wheat Caprese Pasta Salad

Several months ago, I received an email from a woman named Sherri about a women’s group she was forming to support women in having a better relationship with food and our bodies.  We met for lunch, and I was immediately struck with her humility and grace and her earnest passion for helping women.

Sherri told me about her own struggle with food and body image, and how her relationships with other women had helped her heal.  She wanted to pay this forward by forming Wonder Women Freedom, a faith-based movement of women inspiring women to have a loving, mindful and peaceful relationship with food and our bodies.

I could relate to Sherri’s story, having wrestled since my early teens with my own obsession over food, weight and exercise.  During college, I existed on plain bagels, coffee with skim milk and artificial sweetener, ‘light’ yogurt and bananas, brown rice, and fat-free ice cream.  I exercised compulsively, hitting the gym both morning and night, often doing multiple step-aerobics or kickboxing classes back-to-back.  And I wondered why I never felt satisfied, why I still hated by body? Why my knuckles cracked and bled? 

It took years for me to develop a healthy relationship with food and my body, one that feels like a partnership.  It would take a long time to tell the whole story, but my healing began when I gave up ‘giving up.’  I stopped dieting, stopped avoiding certain categories of food (fat, carbohydrates, and so on) and instead embraced a real foods, moderate way of eating.  When I stopped obsessing, I finally felt at peace. 

I’m not perfect.  I still find those critical thoughts tapping me on the shoulder.  But, I know how to deal with them—a walk, yoga, talking with a friend, a supportive husband.

I immediately offered to help Sherri, wanting to join with her in helping other women find that same peace.  About a dozen women started meeting at my home once a month, first a cooking class and then a wonderful potluck where we practiced mindful eating.  (One of the women described the mindful eating experience as “like I just had a scalp massage!”)  Last week, we gathered for another potluck and to talk about debunking food myths.  We listed questions on the blackboard and then spent the next two hours talking.

I’m so honored to be supporting Sherri in her journey to help other women.  It’s why McKenzie and I started Nourish in the first place—to spread this message of eating real foods with the people you love.  And most of all, to be nice to yourself.

In the spirit of debunking food myths, I made this End-of-Summer Caprese Pasta Salad for our potluck.  Yes, you can eat pasta and cheese!  And do so with abundant thankfulness.

Whole Wheat Caprese Pasta Salad

This is a super-easy pasta salad that makes good use of the last of the summer produce.  It can be served cold or at room temperature.  It will keep in the refrigerator, covered, for 4 – 5 days, so it’s a great make-ahead meal.  

Serves 8

1 pound whole wheat pasta (like fusilli or penne)

Zest and juice of two lemons (about ¼ cup)

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt, to taste

Pinch of red pepper flakes

2 pints cherry tomatoes, tomatoes halved

1 red bell pepper, sliced or diced

8 ounce container fresh mozzarella (small mozzarella balls*)

5 ounces of spinach or arugula

¼ cup fresh basil, sliced

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a good amount of sea salt or kosher salt.  Add the pasta and cook according to package directions, until just done. 

While the pasta is cooking, add the lemon zest, juice, olive oil, sea salt and red pepper flakes to a large bowl and whisk together.  To the lemon dressing, add the halved cherry tomatoes. (Cutting the tomatoes in half allows them to release some of their juice, which adds to the sauce of the pasta salad).  Add the sliced red bell pepper.

When the pasta is done, add the hot pasta to the lemon dressing, tomatoes and red bell pepper with about ¼ cup of the hot pasta water.  The hot pasta water will slightly soften the tomatoes and red peppers, and will release their flavors in the pasta.  Stir together and then let cool to room temperature.

Once the pasta has cooled, add the fresh mozzarella, spinach or arugula, and fresh basil and stir together until well-combined.  Taste and adjust any seasonings, if necessary. 

Enjoy, preferably with someone you love!

*If you can’t find small mozzarella balls, just buy large balls and cut them into cubes.

Mindful Eating - A Key to Digestion and Feeling Great!

Do you get tummy aches often after eating? Suffer from heartburn or indigestion?  Or find yourself uncomfortably full after meals?  When was the last time you really slowed down and thought about the process of eating?

When we eat, we don’t often really stop to think about how the food we are enjoying actually nourishes our bodies—the actual physical and biochemical processes that turn food into energy and nutrients.  But, understanding that process can be vital in getting the most nourishment from the food we eat, and in making us feel our best after we eat.  Let’s take a closer look at the process of digestion, and how eating mindfully can help make us feel great!

Digestion Begins Before We Eat

Digestion actually begins before food ever enters our mouths.  When you first start to think, see, smell or think about food, your central nerve system sends signals that release hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes which prepare your body to take in and digest food.

When you are stressed (and in fight-or-flight mode), this parasympathetic response doesn’t kick in and your digestive system doesn’t get primed for food.  Your body forgets about digestion, because it’s busy dealing with crisis.  This is one of the reasons it is important to slow down and center ourselves before meal time, not just mindlessly eating. 

Chewing: An Important First Step

Chewing food is important for two reasons.  First, the mechanical process of chewing breaks down food into smaller pieces that are more easily digested in the gut.  In fact, food should be ground down into a paste to be properly digested.  Second, chewing your food completely mixes it with saliva.  The saliva in your mouth isn’t just there to keep your mouth moist.  It also contains important digestive enzymes that begin to break down the building blocks of food (primarily starches) into smaller particles. 

Therefore, chewing food thoroughly is very important for proper digestion.  If you swallow larger pieces of food that haven’t been mixed with saliva, those food particles become food for bacteria, which can cause gas, bloating and discomfort.

Stop and think for a moment:  How long do you chew your food?

Digestion in the Stomach  

When you swallow, food passes down your esophagus and past the lower esophageal sphincter into your stomach.  When you are stressed, this sphincter can stay open, which can cause acid reflux, or heartburn.

The stomach contains hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes, which mixes with the food you have chewed and begins to break it down into smaller parts (primarily carbohydrates and proteins) to make it ready to move into the small intestines.  It usually takes about four hours for the stomach to empty, depending on what you’ve eaten.  Simple carbohydrates empty faster, whereas meals with fiber, protein or fat empty more slowly.       

The stomach works best when it’s only about 80 percent full, giving plenty of room to mix everything up effectively.  If there’s not enough room, some food in the stomach may travel into the small intestines partially undigested, causing gas and bloating.  This means eating until you are about 80 percent full—satisfied but not stuffed.

The stomach also works best when it has enough stomach acid.  Digestion can be slowed by acid-reducing medications, such as proton pump inhibitors, that stop stomach acid production.  Reduced stomach acid can actually cause IBS and other digestive conditions.

The Small Intestines: Where Nourishment Happens

The small intestine is the powerhouse of digestion.  Here, the digested food from the stomach (called chyme) are mixed with digestive enzymes (like lactase) or other secretions (like bile) which further break them down for absorption into the body. 

The lining of the small intestines are covered in villi—little fingerlike projections which grab nutrients from the food and pull them toward the surface of the small intestines for absorption into the bloodstream.  The lining of the small intestines also keep potentially harmful organisms—like bacteria—out of the bloodstream.  Approximately 70 percent of your immune system is located in your gut, protecting you from toxins.  Like the rest of your body, your gut immune system works best with a whole foods diet and balanced lifestyle.

If you have larger food particles that have escaped into the small intestine (from not chewing enough, not enough stomach acid, or eating too much) the food may move slowly through the small intestines undigested and become a breeding ground for bacteria.  While bacteria mostly live in the large intestines, when they move in to the small intestines it’s called Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), causing gas, bloating and discomfort.

The Last Stop:  The Large Intestine

All of the undigested food—what’s left of it, anyway—passes from the small intestine to the large intestine. In the large intestine, this undigested food is consumed by bacteria—most of them friendly flora that live in your body and are beneficial to you.  These good bacteria break down carbohydrates that we don’t have the enzymes to digest (like cellulose), producing biotin, vitamin K, short chain fatty acids, and other nutrients. 

We can increase these good bacteria in our gut by eating probiotic-rich foods (like yogurt, cheese, fermented foods) or taking a probiotic supplement.

It takes approximately 32 hours for digested food to move through your large intestines before it’s eliminated.  In the meantime, the large intestine absorbs nutrients produced by the bacteria and reabsorbs water into the body, before the byproduct is excreted. 

 

The Bottom Line on Digestion & Feeling Great

1. Take a few deep breaths and a moment of silence before you eat.  Give yourself time to see and smell your meal so your body becomes ready for nourishment and digestion.

2. Chew slowly and completely, giving yourself time to really taste and appreciate your food.  Make your meal last at least 20 minutes.

3. Eat until you are 80 percent full, satisfied but not stuffed.  This gives your stomach enough room to effectively digest your meal.

4. If you notice that you have symptoms of gas, bloating or acid reflux, think about these different stages of digestion.  Can you pinpoint the cause?  For example, too much stress, eating too quickly, eating too much, taking acid-reducing medications, too much sugar in your diet, no probiotic-rich foods?  Make small changes and see if your symptoms improve.

A Guide to Mindful Eating

McKenzie and I are on a mission to debunk diet myths and make eating simple.

As a society, we’ve made food and nutrition so complicated, with confusing mixed messages about what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat.  On top of that, food and eating are intricately entwined with emotions and mood, hormones and body chemistry, and celebrations and traditions.  Many of us obsess about food, thinking about it all the time.  Others avoid food altogether. 

How do we learn to make peace with food and our bodies, to learn how to nourish ourselves? We can start by practicing mindful eating, learning to listen to our bodies, honor our cravings and develop healthy habits for our body and soul. 

Here are a few strategies for letting go of the madness and giving ourself permission to nourish ourselves.   

 

Pause, Breath and Learn to Listen to Your Body

Before eating, pause and take a deep breath to connect yourself to your body and the present moment. Notice how you are feeling.  Listen to your body signals.  How hungry are you?  How do you feel?  Are you eating because you’re hungry, or because you’re tired, bored, angry, happy or celebratory?  As you eat, pause between bites to notice how you feel.  Are you still hungry? Have you had enough food? Are you satisfied? Those questions might have different answers.  Pause to consider.  After you’re eaten, notice how your body feels.  Still empty?  Just right? Uncomfortably full?  Again, pause and take a deep breath.  Connecting to your body, your body sensations and your feelings takes practice. A lot of practice.  But if you pause, breath and listen each time you eat, you will learn to listen to and understand your body, and your own hunger and fullness.    

 

Forget the Clean Plate Club

Growing up, many of us learned to finish everything on our plate, regardless of whether we wanted more food or not.  While none of us wants to waste food, we do ourselves and our body an injustice by eating more that we want or need.  If you’re at home, learn to serve yourself smaller portions to start, knowing you can always go back and get more.  When eating out, ask for a box to take the leftovers home. 

 

Food does not Equal Morality

“I was bad this weekend.”  “This is my guilty pleasure.”  “This is sinfully delicious.”  “I was good, and only ate a banana all day today.”  How often do you hear these phrases—or ones like them—coming from your lips?  Food and eating do not equal morality.  Banish these words from your food dictionary—guilty (and its opposite—guilt-free), decadent, sinful—and any other words that equate morality with eating.  Eating dessert—or not eating dessert—does not make you a good person or a bad person.  Food nourishes us.  We have to learn how to ignore unreasonable rules about good and bad foods, to learn how to accept our hunger and cravings for what they are, and to learn how to honor them.

 

Food Should be Pleasurable

Discover—or rediscover—the pleasure of eating good food, food that tastes good and makes us smile.  Finding pleasure in food is one of the keys to learning to eat just the right amount.  When you savor each bite, relishing in how the food tastes and makes you feel, it takes a lot less to satisfy your body and your taste buds.  Food is supposed to be enjoyed and savored—not feared.  If you have a food craving, allow yourself a single serving of something you really enjoy.  And do so with abundant thankfulness for the utter sensory pleasure and sense of well-being we receive from food. 

 

 

DIET is a Four-Letter Word!

Every year, around 45 million Americans go on a diet, spending a total of $33 billion dollars on weight loss products.  And yet, two-thirds of our country struggles with overweight or obesity and weight-related illnesses like diabetes and heart disease.  Diets don’t work.  While many people do, in fact, lose weight on fad diets, research shows they usually gain it back within a short period of time.  Why don’t diets work?  Diets tend to categorize certain foods as bad, wrong, or off-limits, and they don’t help you to develop a positive, loving relationship with food. This sets you up for failure or guilt. When you’re able to allow all foods into your eating world, you are finally able to relieve yourself of unconscious feelings of deprivation which can often lead to subsequent overeating.  How many times have you broken your diet and thought “I blew it anyways, so I might as well have more…”? If you allow yourself to enjoy favorite foods mindfully, you’ll be less likely to over-indulge in the long run.  Allow all foods in your life, in moderation.

 

 

Manage Stress in Healthy Ways (other than eating)

Listen to music.  Laugh.  Take a bubble bath after the kids have gone to bed.  Play with your pet.  Go on a walk.  Pick fresh flowers.  Write in a journal.  Punch a pillow.  Scream at the top of your lungs.  Call a friend.  Read a book.  Rent a movie.  Clean out your closet.  Paint.  Have a dance party in your room.  Work on a jigsaw puzzle.  Take a nap.  Breath.

 

 

Forget About the Numbers

Instead of getting hung up on a food’s nutrition content—things like grams of sugar, fat and fiber—focus just on eating real foods.  There’s no need to add more work to your already-busy day by asking you to bring a calculator to the dinner table.  Research shows we're bad at counting anyway, underestimating how much we eat by 20 - 40 percent.  When you focus on eating real foods—in reasonable portions—the nutrition takes care of itself.  In addition, don’t get stuck on a number on the scale, or the size of your pants.  Instead, focus on being the healthiest, most vibrant and active version of you.

 

Practice Self-Compassion

There are going to be some days when you eat too much and some days when you eat too little.  Or exercise too much, or too little.  That’s okay.  It’s part of being human.  It’s part of life.  Remind yourself that you are absolutely a perfectly imperfect version of you.  To help you practice self-compassion, develop a positive affirmation about nourishing and loving your body, and repeat it to yourself each day.  Put it on your refrigerator.  Write it one your mirror.  Make it your screen saver.  Add it to your prayer book.  Giver yourself the gift of a postive daily affirmation:  You are worth it.