Corn and Farro Salad

Corn and Farro Salad

Hello, my beautiful people!

 

The best thing you can do to lose weight and avoid diabetes is stop eating flour and sugar.

 

I’m going to show you how to make this delicious side salad with sautéed corn off the cob and farro to get you on the right track.  Farro is a nutty-flavored whole grain.  It is high in fiber and protein.  It is broken down slowly so it produces a sustained, slow insulin response.  Eat more farro in place of flour products such as pasta or white rice.

 

Remember that flour and sugar cause a large release of insulin.  Too much insulin is what causes weight gain.

 

Corn and Farro Salad can be made into a light summer meal by adding salmon or grilled chicken.  For a vegetarian option add chickpeas or tofu. It is a fabulous dish to bring to BBQs and family gatherings.  It has already become a hit in my family!

 

 

Ingredients

  • 1 cup farro
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 5 large ears corn, kernels removed from the cobs (about 3-1/2 cups)
  • 2 Tbs. red-wine vinegar; more to taste
  • 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme leaves (or 1/3 tsp. dried thyme)
  • 1 small clove garlic, mashed to a paste with a pinch of salt
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (plain) OR roasted red peppers
  • Optional- 1 small head radicchio, finely shredded (about 1-1/2 cups)
  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil (or 1 Tbs. dried basil)

 

Preparation

  1. Cook the farro according to package directions and aside to cool completely.
  2. Heat 1 Tbs. of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until the kernels are bright yellow and crisp, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl to cool.
  3. In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar, thyme, garlic, 1 tsp. salt, and  1/4 tsp. pepper. Add the remaining 3 Tbs. oil, whisking until thickened. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  4. Add the cooled farro to the corn along with the tomatoes and radicchio.
  5. Toss with the dressing and basil, and season to taste with salt, pepper, and more vinegar if you like.
  6. Garnish with the basil leaves, and serve at room temperature.

 

Let me know how it turns out by leaving a comment below!

 

Recipe originally from Fine Cooking.

 

Be well,

Kristine

 

Stop overeating.

Stop overeating.

Hello, my beautiful people!

 

I want you to stop overeating.

 

Seriously.

 

Stop it.

 

Overeating causes weight gain – makes sense right?!

Let me explain.

 

When you eat refined carbohydrates in the form of flour and sugar they are absorbed rapidly by your digestive system.  As a result, your blood sugar spikes.  This leads to an overproduction of insulin.  Insulin is a hormone, known as a growth factor.  Too much insulin causes direct weight gain.

 

Rapidly absorbing carbs causes another problem too…
OVERHUNGER.

 

Our stomach doesn’t recognize processed carbs as whole foods, therefore it cannot regulate our hunger hormones appropriately.  These hormones are ghrelin and lepton.  Ghrelin tells us when we’re hungry (think “ghrelin” growls, like your stomach when you’re hungry).  Lepton tells our brain when we are full.  When we eat refined foods, our stomach doesn’t expand as it does with whole foods and the ghrelin doesn’t turn off.  In other words, it tells our brains we are still hungry.  Too much insulin blocks lepton from signaling our brain that we are full!  So when we are eating all of these processed carbs and the insulin is spiking, your brain still thinks you are hungry. So what do we do?  We overeat.

 

Wait there is still one more problem…
OVERDESIRE.

 

Every time we eat a concentrated food like sugar or flour, our brain gets a concentrated reward in the form of dopamine.  Have you heard of this hormone? It is part of the pleasure response in the brain.  This leads to more desire for concentrated foods.  Every time we desire the food and act on it, we are strengthening the reward pathway in our brain.

 

What can you do?

 

Use your brain to your advantage.  Break the cycle.  Build new pathways in your brain.  Plan ahead. Most importantly, eliminate flour and sugar and watch the pounds drop.  I’ll show you how.  Stay tuned.

 

Be well,

Kristine
Weight is just a number.

Weight is just a number.

Hello my beautiful people! We are going to put in some brain work today.

Step on the scale.

Write down the number.

That’s all it is. A number.

Let me show you…

“The Model” is a way of thinking developed by Brooke Castillo at The Life Coach School. It is useful in all aspects of life, but here we’ll talk about how to use it for weight specifically. My intention is to show you how you can achieve your goals by controlling your thinking. So here’s The Model.

You’re welcome.
  1. Circumstance
  2. Thought
  3. Feeling
  4. Action
  5. Result

The “circumstance” is a fact. Something that is known to be true. This includes things like “I have prediabetes.”
The “thought” is your own personal thought about that specific circumstance.
The “feeling” is the emotion you feel when you think that thought.
The “action” is what you DO when you experience that feeling.
The “result” is the end product of your action(s).

Here’s an example:

  1. Circumstance: My weight on the scale is ___lbs.
  2. Thought: I’ll never be able to lose weight
  3. Feeling: Embarrassed
  4. Action: Don’t ask for help.
  5. Result: No weight loss

Get the idea?

This is called an “unintentional model” because it’s the default thought the brain might have about a circumstance. Notice how the end result reinforces the initial thought.

Now, let me show you an “intentional model” where you CHOOSE the thought you are telling your brain to think. You use the same circumstance, but everything else changes.

  1. Circumstance: My weight on the scale is ___lbs.
  2. Thought: I am perfect just the way I am
  3. Feeling: Love
  4. Action: Take care of my body
  5. Result: Healthy choices

You can also use the model more specifically:

  1. Circumstance: My weight on the scale is ___lbs.
  2. Thought: I will do what it takes to lose 20lbs in 4 months.
  3. Feeling: Motivated
  4. Action: Stop eating flour and sugar
  5. Result: Lose 20lbs
Now it’s your turn.

Write the number on the scale in the “Circumstance” line. Then write down your unintentional model. Decide what you want to think on purpose and create your intentional model. This can be used for anything in life to identify your current thinking patterns and train your brain to think intentionally with your prefrontal cortex.

Now let’s go after that result.

Don’t be shy! Share your model in the comment section if you’d like to help each other out!

Sign up to work with me if you’d like more help with intentional thinking to achieve your weight loss goals.

Be well,

Kristine

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