Good morning all – happy Tuesday! I hope everyone’s Monday was good and all the Boston marathoners are recovering nicely. I was checking the progress of my 18-year-old cousin and this lovely lady and both did AWESOME! Congrats to them and everyone who ran it!
My Marathon Monday was good. As I mentioned yesterday, I was up super early to get in a quick 5-mile run. I made a yummy oatmeal and banana morning mash-up with some delicious brown sugar on top.
Then I headed to work for the day…just a little bit tired.
What a boring eating and snacking day at work. Mid-morning snack was a granola bar and then lunch was a salad with romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, carrots, walnuts, raisins and chickpeas.
My afternoon snacks were an unphotographed apple and yogurt with Kashi Go Lean. And it was the yucky yogurt. I just couldn’t throw it out – it felt too wasteful. Plus, the pickens were slim in our fridge yesterday and beggars can’t be choosers right? So I sucked it up and at the Yoplait yucky yogurt.
It was loaded with cereal, which made it a little bit better.
After work I headed to the Lower East Side to meet up with my friend Katie for dinner. She suggested Caravan of Dreams, which is where I met up with a few bloggers and blog readers a little while back. I loved it then, so I happily agreed!
We decided that we wanted to share an appetizer and then split our entrees as well, we really wanted to try as much as possible. We started with the Classic Nachos and they were scrumptious!
For our main courses, we split the Shiitake Stir Fry and The Ecuador “live meal.”
They both looked delicious, but the stir fry was the only one that impressed us. The Ecuador was too much like a plain salad – there were hardly any noodles and hardly any of the dressing and pic de gallo. It was unimpressive to say the least. I wish we had ordered another of the main entrees.
I did enjoy the stir fry a lot. However, after our meal I was craving something sweet. Katie had just mentioned a frozen yogurt place called 16 Handles, which was in the neighborhood, so I decided I needed to try it.
All I can say is YUM!! The yogurt at 16 Handles was delicious!! I tried to control myself, but you get to make your own, so it’s kind of tough. Here was my creation:
Yeah, there was a lot going on in there. The frozen yogurt in my bowl is vanilla (boring), NY Cheesecake (divine) and Dulce de Leche (YUMMM). Then I topped my three flavors with a few cookie dough bites (love em), granola and shredded coconut. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!! It ended up coming to about $4, which isn’t so bad. I’ve definitely spent more a Pinkberry.
Have you ever tried 16 Handles?
I certainly do recommend.
However, one thing got me thinking as we were leaving. I noticed a group of three high-schoolers with their yogurt containers piled high and deep with everything you can imagine. I looked at their obscenely large yogurts and then instinctively I looked at them to see what kind of health they appeared to be in. (I couldn’t help it) Two out of the three were extremely overweight. And for some reason this made me really uneasy. I immediately thought of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, which I’ve been watching lately, and about all the obese kids in high school these days. These girls were probably about consume at least 500-calorie yogurts (if not more, I’m so bad at estimating) and were likely thinking that because it’s “frozen yogurt” and they saw signs posted that said “low-fat” they were being healthy. Or maybe they just didn’t care.
And it’s certainly not my place to judge anyone, I just know that if/when I have kids they will learn the value of their food — what it gives you in terms of nutrition and energy and how to enjoy desserts and treats in moderation. To be fair, I wasn’t much of a moderation-kid. I wanted candy, fruit rollups, Little Debbie dessert cakes – you name it and I wanted to eat it. But my mom also instilled in me the need to have three nutritious square meals a day. So maybe that helped tame my snacking a bit. That and the fact that I was always on the go – riding bikes, playing tag, climbing trees, building forts. I didn’t really discover video games until junior high and even then, I wasn’t a huge fan. So I burned a lot of the extra calories I ate through cardio activities.
Sorry for this long tangent. The yogurt place just seemed to be a perfect example of how we got to where we are today in terms of childhood obesity.
For all you mothers out there – what are some of your techniques and tips to teach your kids about nutritious foods? And do they seem to get it, and/or are they interested?
Alright all – have a good Tuesday!
Eat, Read, Run 
Sometimes i feel like I need to do an intervention in public. I was in Mississippi last week and saw a family at a gas station. They were all obese – the parents, the teenage daughter, the young son. They were selecting snacks and the son had a 1-liter Coke and 4 sleeves of mini donuts. The teenage daughter was picking up the same drink, but her mother was urging her to select the diet drink instead! I felt so bad for the whole family – not only were they eating complete junk, they were spending over $20 just on snack food. I wanted to just blurt out, “Why don’t you go across the street to the grocery store and buy an apple?” The encounter left me feeling completely depressed!
PS- we used to have a self-serve frozen yogurt within walking distance and when it closed I literally cried. It was the BEST.
I totally agree with this post!!! Sometimes I feel like when people see the words “low-fat” they instantly forget about portion sizes. I mean is it not interesting that we (as a society) has continued to get more and more obese despite the plethura of low-fat and fat-free foods available everywhere?!
I loooove 16 Handles! The cheesecake bites topping is heaven, especially on the red velvet yogurt! I need to go to Caravan of Dreams, I think I really need those nachos!
Aw thanks for the shot out.
Yeah when we went out for pasta before the race we just hit up Olive Garden as it was easier…. despite the fact that we were running a marathon the next day we probably ate the least out of anyone there! I was horrified watching some of the food being served and then huge dishes of ice cream going out after! There is definitely an issue in this country.
That said 16 Handles sounds delish…. of course in small doses. LOL
My little guy is only 7 mo. old, so all he is eating right now is baby food and formula! BUT…I make all his baby food homemade, I figure it is the LEAST I can do to ensure he’s getting nutritious food. Hopefully when he grows up, he’ll continue healthy eating!
I’ve never been to a frozen yogurt place that has all of the fun toppings. I feel like I’m missing out! You make some great points re: the false messages of health. I haven’t watched food revolution but it’s on my to do list!
btw- we definitely were on Captain Andy’s catamaran cruise around the Napali coast! Too funny. SO many people were seasick- the waves were insane! What time of year were you there?
Oh that looks delicious! I have walked by Caravan so many times…maybe time to try it out!!
Sara
http://eatmanhattan.wordpress.com
I find myself doing that sometimes too, but then I have to stop myself. Because I know I can eat a large froyo myself and not be stuffed. 😉
But in all seriousness, it is very hard to find the balance of guiding your kids to healthy eating habits. I was actually planning to do a post about this tonight.