Good morning!
My special breakfast this morning was a Green Monster Parfait!
Green Monster Parfait
Ingredients:
- 2 cups spinach
- 1 large banana (reserve 1/4 of banana)
- 1/2 scoop Vega Choc-o-Lot powder
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 cup almond milk
- 1/3 cup Power House Glonola
Directions: In a blender, blend the spinach, 3/4 of the banana, Vega powder, almond milk, and chia seeds. In a large glass add a few tbsp of the glonola. Now add a large layer of the Green Monster followed by another scoop of Glonola. Finish with remaining GM (you might have some leftover) and top with the 1/4 of banana (sliced) and Glonola.
The Green Monster Parfait was ok, but not wonderful. I think I had high expectations for it and I’m not sure I liked eating it with a spoon.
After tasting my granola again this morning, I concluded that I overcooked it! Whoops.
I guess it is possible to screw it up after all. ;)
I would suggest cooking it for no longer than 10 minutes on each side and not letting it get as dark as I cooked mine.
I also concluded that the clump factor is missing in this recipe.
Checkout my ‘old’ Glonola version…
Choco-Carob:
Total clump factor!
However, the original Glonola had too much clumping and stuck together too much. Maybe I can find a happy medium with both recipes?! :)
I think I am going to make another recipe integrating the original recipe with this one. I will have to tweak it a bit more….you know me, I am picky with my recipes!
It’s Slimming
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Are you ever out in public and you hear a conversation going on and you can’t believe what you are hearing? That was me the other night. I was at a department store looking for a gift for a girlfriend and I passed a group of 3 girls who were looking for back to school clothes. They couldn’t have been more than 9-10 years old.
Girl #1: ‘I need to get some new jeans. All of my jeans at home are fugly.’
Girl #2 & #3: ‘Yea same here.’
The girls were browsing through a couple racks of jeans and holding pairs up as they went along.
Girl #2: ‘I like these ones. I might try them on.’
Girl #1: ‘Those jeans are not slimming at all…they are too light and light colours make you look FAT.’ She scrunched up her face in disgust.
The girl quickly threw down the pair of jeans, as if they had some sort of contagious illness.
Girl #3: ‘I agree, you have to get the dark wash. You will look skinny in them. Dark colours are slimming’
‘Here, try these on. I have this pair and they make your butt look awesome.’
She handed Girl #2 a pair of dark wash jeans to try on.
Then I decided to stop being a creeper and I left the scene.
But, I was sad in my heart for these girls.
They couldn’t have been more than 10 years old and they were already concerned about having jeans that made them look skinny.
I remember being around 11 years old when my disordered eating started to develop. While I admit I didn’t know about slimming jeans (or even had a general fashion sense aside from neon and snap-on bracelets), the feelings were still very real.
It is important that we do not dismiss young girls when they talk about weight or slimming jeans or wanting to look thinner because when you are going through it it, you are like a sponge that absorbs every comment, every magazine ad, or every commercial on TV. Your surroundings are telling you to be ‘skinny’ and to wear ‘slimming’ clothes and so that is what you do.
Our weight-conscious culture seems to infect whatever it touches with messages that you aren’t good enough the way you are and that you need to change your body or wear slimming pants. These messages are hard enough to dismiss when you are an adult let alone an impressionable young girl who is fighting to fit in at school and to find out who she is.
I couldn’t help but wonder as I walked around aimlessly in that department store: What can we do for these girls?
I think two big ways that we can have an impact are 1) Educating about a positive body-image at home and setting a proper example for our kids, perhaps with a great tool like Operation Beautiful. and 2) Introducing special Body-image classes (for girls and boys) into the school curriculum. I don’t think this topic gets enough attention in the school curriculum even though the issue is pervasive and affects all aspects of a student’s life.
Have you ever overheard a similar conversation or perhaps were in a conversation when this was going on? What can we do for young girls who are developing a poor body image?
I couldn’t agree more! I was raised to have a positive body image and I feel so blessed that I was. I hope I can do the same for my kids one day. I think it all starts at home.
I remember when I was teaching 3rd grade (8-9 year olds) overhearing countless conversations from the girls in class about feeling fat, eating too much, hating their outfits…wanting my outfit! The focus on outward appearance was overwhelming.
I thought and thought and thought about how to reach these girls and help them see how much more they have in life. And how beautiful they are and how unique they are. It saddened me to hear so much. As Jessica said, so much of this starts at home. We can’t control what children are exposed to at school but we can reinforce healthy body image at home!
I think the best thing we can do is to talk to anyone and everyone when the opportunity arises about body image in our culture. I might have even said something to those girls if I was overhearing that conversation, even though it might seem inappropriate. Young girls need to hear directly that they do not need to live up to anyone’s standards of beauty but their own, and that health is the most important thing.
I can’t stand how clothes are marketed as “slimming”- I won’t buy anything with such a label.
It saddens me as well when I hear anybody, young or old, feeling like they aren’t good enough. However, as a teacher, I’d rather not have “body-image” classes taught at school. Frankly, I hear too much about everyone with a special interest thinking it should be taught in schools. It’s just not the place. On the other hand, what schools (in my opinion) can be used for are simply to set good examples. Rather than explicity teaching these things, all adults can eat healthfully, not criticize their bodies or anybody elses in front of kids or teenagers (or at all!), exercise and generally be an example of a physically and emotionally healthy person.
Schools already do SO much. Some responsibilities must belong to parents, and I think this is one of them. But I agree with Michelle. The school setting a good example for students is invaluable.
As an early bloomer, I totally remember this phase of my life, and never, ever would I want to go back! My heart goes out to those girls. Unfortunately, I believe their feelings are the norm these days (and even in past days!).
I’m definitely feeling the same way about the schools. In an already overpacked curriculum should teachers really be responsible for catering to the distorted body images that students create? I think that parents should really consider the environments/experiences and media that their children are exposed to and inhibit or counter the body images that come as a result.
Definitely a valuable post in addressing children though. Thanks Angela.
Yes I’ve heard similar conversations like that! And to this day I catch myself saying stuff like that (not to a 10 year old, but to myself or a friend). I agree that projects like Oper Beautiful help girls get that positive body image, and that it should be “taught” at home. Although, my parents were always positive to me and gave m compliments when I was growing up, and yet I still have a poor self image. I’m not really sure where that finally broke into me — high school? Other girls? Peer pressure?
I think it is mostly in the media, and although that needs to change, I’m not sure it ever will! Designers will use size 0 models, magazines and movies will show thin “role models” for girls, etc. It truly makes me sad to hear this story today!
I don’t know how my mom did it, but I have always had confidence and positive images of myself… it most definitely starts at home. Something AT SCHOOL might be helpful – the conversation is already out there so any way to change it would be good.
Your parfait looks BEAUTIFUL ! YUM. Clump or not, that glonola sounds and looks tasty! :)
Have a FANTASTIC DAY, Angela !
I agree, but I have no idea how my mum did it either. I guess our mum’s are just awesome right?! :)
You’re very lucky your mom was so good about helping you have a positive body image. My mom was always nagging me about what I was eating. When I was in high school and wearing shorts one day she said to me that my shorts were riding up on my legs like they do on fat girls. This summer was the first time since that day that I wore shorts.
<3
Oh wow, that’s so sad! I’ve never heard anything like that, but I hate seeing really young girls dressing waaaay above their age, smoking, drinking, boyfriends etc. I just want to scream at them to enjoy their childhood and being young whilethey can!! It’s soo saddd :(
Iblame the media personally. If celebs’ weights weren’t criticised as much and they wrren’t all so skinny, I bet the problem wouldn’t be as big.
I too have had a constant battle with weight, food, looks, etc., so I’m always on high alert to make sure these issues are not passed along to younger girls. I was out shopping a while back and while I was perusing a rack I overhead a mother tell her young daughter (maybe 12 years old) while she was trying on clothes, “you’re getting fat, you need to watch that.” First off oh my word, who says that to anybody let alone a child, and secondly there was nothing absolutely nothing in the way of an extra pound on this child. If I had not been so mortified and caught off guard I would have said something — months later I am still reeling in shock and of course now that I am not right in the moment, I have an entire speech ready for this woman.
Wow – that is heartbreaking to hear. And to think there are even more pressures on girls at a young age now than when we were they’re age….I was reading an article how the consumption of dairy has let to girls getting their periods as early as 8 years old now.
It’s terrifying to think of my little girl having to face issues like this. I feel it is so important for mothers to be a healthy example to their daughters especially now that they are beginning to judge themselves at such an early age.
And this is why I’m glad I had to wear a uniform to school until I was 16 :)
I loved my uniform. Being able to wake up late because you don’t have to fret about what to wear to school was so liberating.
…I must admit that I would stress out about dress down days.
A uniform was both a blessing and a curse for me. It certainly helped me get to high school on time (dress down days–not so much)! And it did help me avoid body confidence issues–but all it seemed to do was DELAY them.
I got to college and A) had very little by the way of “casual” clothing, B) had no idea how to dress and C) grew increasingly aware of flaws as I tried to fix points A and B. To make matters worse, I was (and still am) in a male dominated field, and had very few women to turn to.
I am so glad you wrote about how young girls internalize the messages of skinny is good around them – I remember I was 7 years old when I started internalizing those messages, and by age 8 felt that eating less was better. And it wasn’t a feeling as much as a sense of absolute knowledge – like “I must eat less” – how sad is that? I just got sad typing it. You are right that education is the best – as wonderful as my mom is, she was always upset about her weight, as was my aunt, and my father’s mother – the only woman in my growing-up years who was not upset was my mother’s mother, but she was on the thin end – so I thought she was not upset because she was thin, but in hindsight I think she was very happy and just did not think about weight.
Stories like this break my heart. Unfortunately, they are so common. My sister is a third grade teacher. However, she interned in a Kindergarten classroom when she was still in college. One day, she noticed one of the 5 year old girls pacing around the classroom repeatedly. My sister asked the girl what she was doing, and the little girl replied, “I ate an Oreo cookie for snack. Now I have to burn off the calories.” It literally made me cry. My stepdaughter is 6 years old and already talks about “skinny” and “fat”. When she stays with us, I really try to let her know that it is OK to eat sweets in moderation, and I make sure never to use “fat talk” around her. Children are so impressionable, and we have a real opportunity to teach them at a young age that they are special because of their talents and personality.
My heart just broke reading this :/ 5 years old. I’m at a loss for words.
That makes me sad :-( I used to take a yoga class with a lot of college-age girls, and it would make me so sad to hear the way they would talk about their disordered eating (“Oh my gosh, I starved myself all day so that I can go get ice cream after this class”) and body image issues– it reminded me of how unhappy I was in my own skin during those four years (and before and after, too!).
It’s crazy how early those issues can start– I remember feeling distinctly unhappy about my body from about the age of 9-10 onwards.
i think young people should be learning about this in school. if they don’t learn early, they are just going to absorb everything from the media & develop this frame of mind throughout their lives until they learn otherwise. I didn’t learn anything about body image until I was in college. This is probably when I needed to learn it, but obviously some girls should hear these things much earlier.
I completely agree with you about needing to educate young girls about body image…girls on the run is a really great organization I’ve started supporting that is working towards just that.
I was in the airport the other week and overheard a families conversation that also made me sad. The father had just gotten an ice cream cone and was encouraging his daughter (probably in her late teens and far far from being overweight) to get one. She decided to get one but after getting it and having her mom make some discouraging comments about how unhealthy it was proclaimed she was going to eat it but start a diet when they got back from the trip. It made me sad that this young girl could not enjoy a simple ice cream cone without feeling shamed by her mother or feeling like she needed to go on a diet.
I’ve seen some of my young cousins on FB posting messages like “why am I such a fattie?” and all of their friends chiming in to say things like “you’re ridiculous, I’M the fat one” or “that’s why I skipped everything but dinner today.” It was so sad and I wanted to say something but also felt I might sound like a presumptuous adult who “doesn’t understand.” I ended up messaging my cousin the Operation Beautiful site which she loved and I hope shared and took to heart. I don’t know what the best thing to do would be, as friends my age talk the same way sometimes!
Even though this may sound harsh, I don’t think school is the place to teach girls and boys life lessons; that’s their parent’s job. As an 18 year old who is just over a year out of the US public school system, I think in this age there exists a fine balance between teaching positive body imagine and telling kids that they are acceptable no matter their size. The much bigger problem we face isn’t kids wanting to be skinny, but kids who are eating themselves to death.
my heart hurts when I overhear conversations like this… such a huge problem and I completely agree with your mindset. Luckily there are some great organizations out there that are addressing the problem head-on.
Well the parfait certainly LOOKS cool! Like a piece of art almost, haha!
I hate when I hear conversations like that. My little cousin nearly broke my heart when she told me she was fat. She’s six :(
I couldn’t agree more. I think it really needs to start at home. I know my mom used to talk about looking fat and diets when I was a young girl. Parents, friends, and family need to stop the fat talk and set a good example of healthy body image around children. I hope to never mention weight or “skinny” vs “fat”, but instead show healthy eating and being active for fun and to feel our best.