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?
Ugh, that conversation makes me sad.
I was in the shower at the YMCA one day when I overheard other girls talking about how to properly make themselves throw up. It was heartbreaking. :(
It is so sad to hear young girls call themselves fat. It almost makes me scared. Should I ever have a daughter, would I be able to protect her from our cruel culture??
I think about that ALL THE TIME. It makes me so scared!
I was at the YMCA in the women’s locker room when a mother was weighing her probably 5-6 year old daughter on the scales. When she told her daughter her weight, the daughter asked “Mommy, am I fat?” She was obviously a normal looking young girl and it hurt my heart that such a young girl would automatically associate those words with weighing herself.
I wonder why the mother was weighing her 5-6 year old daughter in the first place?
How heartbreaking :/
This topic is exactly what I wrote my thesis on (I’m a wannabe school counselor – just need a position to open up) and I developed a counseling program to teach students how to fight the negative criticism – from themselves and others. Within my research, I found that no schools within the U.S. had yet to implement similar programs. What’s even more heartbreaking is that yes, it does start at home, but I hear moms and dads make the same remarks about themselves.
When I was waiting in line for the bus to my first race ever, I was standing behind two women who looked like they were in their mid to late 30’s. They both were very pretty and had nice figures, but were definitely talking about how they needed to run more to make up for stuff they’d recently eaten. A girl walked by who was *very* emaciated. (I know some people are naturally very very thin and I’m not judging the thin girl in anyway. However, she seemed significantly underweight for her height in a way that I would not assume was healthy.) The ladies both said in an admiring tone “Wow. That’s what a *real* runner looks like.” I thought it was so sad. The runners who win local races are very lean, but they also tend to have really good muscle tone, which the thin girl didn’t. I felt really bad that those women were impressed by the idea of being skin and bones.
It only made me run faster though, I thought “I’ll show you what a real runner looks like!”
One of my biggest goals when I have children is to teach them to be comfortable with their bodies. I had a lot of scrutiny from my Mom when I was growing up which is one of the things that fueled my eating disorder. Even if I have to lie a little because I’m not feeling too pretty one day, I want to teach my children that I am beautiful no matter how many lumps, bumps, or curves I have and hopefully they will follow suite!
When I make granola, I bake it low — at 300 degrees F for about 30-40 minutes. Although, mine lacks a clump factor too! Doesn’t it make the house smell more fabulous than any candle could?!
I have 2 boys, and I know body image is becoming an issue among the male population too, I’m so glad I don’t have to fight this war with a daughter! It’s so sad. Why aren’t 10 yr olds out playing jail break or roller skating? A kid that age (either sex) shouldn’t be so concerned about fashion and appearance. :(
This is a topic I could go on and on about. Its very sad to see that young girls are judging themselves so negatively and basing self worth on how they look in a pair of jeans. I think parts of our society sends an unfortunate message that is heard loud and clear from a young age. Celebrity culture, Barbie, movies, they all have an impact on impressionable youth. But I think that this idea is perpetuated closer to home for some girls too. Its hard not to think “fat” thoughts when your mom, aunt, sister stands in front of a mirror and dissects her appearance or is constantly on one diet or another. Until we can convince women to love themselves its going to be really hard to manage that idea with young girls.
The choco carob looks great!
I think it’s so sad when young girls suffer from poor body image. I think it’s based on environmental, cultural and familial factors, mostly, but ultimately I agree with Jessica in that a healthy lifestyle and personal view does start at home.
I had two instances that upset me recently, especially since they were with health focused people. One was with a nutritionist. I had mentioned my cleanse- which I did for my health and skin, not weight loss- and she asked excitedly “Ooh did you lose any weight?” I replied “I don’t weigh myself, I don’t know.” And she seemed shock. Another was at the vegetarian food fair with one of the vendors. I mentioned how I eat mostly vegan and that it worries my mother because she has it in her head that I’ll lose too much weight eating this way (even though it’s kept me at a very healthy weight). She said “Is it even possible to lose too much weight?” I was so surprised I half smiled and left the conversation. I wasn’t ready to go into the fact that YES, it is very possible, it is something I’ve experienced and never want to focus on again.
Yep, heard this before…very sad.
However I distinctly remember pounding on my hips willing them to be narrower when I was about 10. Sigh…starts so early!
The sad thing is, you know the place these girls most likely picked up this kind of talk: the mothers. I think as women we have to work harder at listening to what we say more consciously. Young girls identify so closely with their mothers, and if the mothers believe they are inadequate in some way and voice that feeling, the daughters will also believe they are inadequate. It takes a lot of work to break the cycle.
On another note, I heard a similar conversation standing in line for the restroom of a nightclub in Vegas. One girl, who was as cute as a button, was looking at the girl across from her and finally said, “You are so pretty. How do you do it? I wish I was as pretty as you.” And the other girl–no joke–made a face and said something bad about herself. I couldn’t take it, so I said “You are both pretty. You should know that.” The line got quiet, and everyone looked at me like I was a nut. Another woman about my age (early 40s) turned to me and said, “I stay out of those things.” But I couldn’t help myself. I am so tired of hearing women put down themselves and others, and it just makes me sad so many respond this way to any sort of kindness or compliments.
Good for you!! Don’t listen to that women- you did the right thing! We can’t sit back and complain about this, if we don’t stand up and say something!
Wow that is SO young. It makes me think of my cousin, Jenna, who is is 7th grade right now. I would never want her to feel anything less than perfect just the way she is. I agree about adding REAL LIFE classes to school curriculum, like um, how to parent children, etc. — I just bought carob chips for the first time and wow they are different. I think I like them? hehe
I think it’s important to recognize that this stuff doesn’t come from school or tv, it usually comes from home.
I have a friend who gained weight after a hard pregnancy and when I try to take pictures of her and her daughter she says “don’t take my picture, I look awful!” At some point, her daughter is going to notice this is wonder why, and realize that there’s a connection between weight and shame.
We have to think about children when we talk about our bodies, and we shouldn’t say things we wouldn’t want them to repeat.
This is a topic that is starting to concern me. I have two girls, age 5 and 3, and already they are starting to internalize this idea of beauty, and I don’t know how to counter it. For example, their Nana (my mom) loves to send them fancy crinolined dresses. Whenever they wear them out, complete strangers will ooh and aah and tell them how beautiful they are. When they wear their regular pants and t-shirts (or even the occasional skirt), no one says much. So, they’ve logically concluded that they’re only beautiful if they wear fancy dresses. Combine that with the flourishing “princess” culture being marketed to young girls, and it’s hard for us as parents to overcome those messages and convince them that beauty is not about what you wear and how you look, but about who you are.
Sigh… I just hope that at some level what we tell them and how we live is sinking in, even if it’s not apparent right now.
Have I ever overheard such a conversation? Hoo boy, yes. Every time I’m with my mother/aunt/grandmother (yes, my 86-year-old grandmother still talks about how she’s “too fat”. Which, by the way, is not true). We were _not_ raised with positive body image. My mom misses no opportunity to talk about how she’s “fat”… and then she reaches for the prepackaged fake food, drives to places when she could walk, and wonders why she has trouble with her weight.
Now that I have a baby niece, I’m working hard to be a positive influence for her. I want her to grow up loving who she is and enjoying all the things her body is capable of. My sister is doing the same thing: focusing on fitness and eating real food. Here’s hoping this baby girl isn’t having that same conversation 9 years from now…
that’s so sad…and i totally remember having those conversations when i was young too! i honestly think the best thing is to maybe say that you have those jeans and they look great…and i think that (not to be totally creepy) coming from a beautiful, thin, and HEALTHY woman like you it would mean a lot. even if you don’t have those jeans, letting the girls know they look great in anything is something they’ll remember forever!
What a heartbreaking conversation. When I was in my high school, I was in the bathroom when a girl came out of the stall and told her friend that was standing at the sinks near me:
Girl 1: “I totally just threw up!”
Girl 2: “Good for you! I threw up this morning as well!!”
I was shocked that anyone would be encouraging such awful behavior even though we take numerous classes telling us all the horrible consequences of eating disorders :(
I think your suggestion to incorporate some kind body-image education into the school curriculum is an interesting one. Perhaps it would be worthwhile to think even more broadly – a self-acceptance curriculum, if you will. Because while body image is of course an issue, young girls and boys are told that they are not good enough in many ways that go beyond their body shape or size. Shy kids are told they need to speak up, or gregarious girls are told they’re too loud, etc. I would love to see the entire dialogue be altered – from “here’s what’s wrong with you and how you should fix it” to “here are your unique strengths and how they can be used to do good things in this world.”
from “here’s what’s wrong with you and how you should fix it” to “here are your unique strengths and how they can be used to do good things in this world.”
YES. If there was a ‘like’ button I’d ‘like’ this a bunch of times :)