Jumping Back Into My Life - Kick-Start My OWN Health!

The time has finally arrived, when I'm just SO tired, literally and figuratively, of how I feel, and of allowing myself to make excuses - why I don't eat more healthy foods, why I don't seem to care enough about my own health that I'll let everyone else's wants and needs come before my own, why I'll sit down at the computer to "just check my email" and get sucked back into still sitting there an hour later, responding to communications about my dad's medical and financial requisites, and why I can't workout (someone else is in the house, and I don't want people watching me, it's too cold, it's too hot, I don't want to spend half an hour on the road to go to the gym, etc).

I've reached the point where I have to put on my big girl pants, and place my own physical and mental well-being ahead of jumping to do something for someone else.  Similar to being on a flight, and the attendants say, "Put on your own mask before assisting others", I need to follow thru with that myself. 

I hate to risk saying it for fear that the universe overhears it (fingers crossed!), but I believe I've finally gotten all of my father's affairs in order after his brain surgery - medicines ordered, bills all being automatically paid, change of addresses/phone numbers for various bills, and multitudes of official forms (licenses, deeds, banking info, etc.) copied for our planner to send to the VA office for some assistance, etc. 

I need to keep in mind this question:  how much good will it do for my father that I've spent the equivalent time I would have spent at a paying job, getting his financial and medical affairs in order, if I end up mentally and physically weak from the stress of not taking time to tend to my OWN body's requirements, and thus eventually can't be of assistance any longer for him or the rest of my family?  

And if I care so much for my family's well-being, why in the world don't I care about my OWN enough to do whatever I can to maintain my own health?  I want to be able to slide into the grave, fully spent from accomplishing all the adventures I wanted to undertake in life, with a drink in one hand, and the other waving high in the sky.

So, greedily, I'm clinging to maintaining this feeling that I WILL proceed with this endeavor, THIS time, to improve my own health, both physically and mentally, by eating more nutritious food, exercising more regularly, and doing yoga/meditating for better mental clarity.  

With all that in mind, yesterday I downloaded My Fitness Pal onto my phone (tho I had it on my laptop, I never used it).  I was greatly surprised by the ease of use, particularly with having the ability to scan food items and have the nutritional info for each serving easily accessible to log into my diary.  I enjoy the ability to scan a package, or type in a food search, then log in my food choices without having to read over the package info (or in a book - ew!), or have to calculate what 2-1/2 servings would equate to in calories, protein or fat grams, etc., plus have the freedom of not physically writing them down on paper or typing them into a homemade log on my computer.  

Using this app also offers me a much simpler way to log in my exercises - it even spurred me into taking that walk yesterday that I haven't been doing over the winter - I actually wanted to do something so I could record it.  And I enjoy the ease of recording time spent exercising, without checking for a list of calories burned while doing a particular activity - it's all there in the app.  

I'm one of those people who feel they need some kind of record to be able to look back over, and logging them into the computer or writing them down ends up taking too much time, so I give it up after a couple of days.  With this app, I feel more of a sense of hope that I can maintain a sense of forward movement and accomplishment of goals, without getting frustrated over paperwork.

When having lunch with my father at his senior living center one day a couple of weeks ago, the first course was a barley soup, which was almost entirely just barley in a light broth with a bit of onion.  I guess I'd forgotten how much I like that kind of toothy, more firm texture that barley typically has, as opposed to the less nutritional choice of rice or pasta.  

I skimmed thru a few of my cookbooks, looking for pearled barley recipes (yes, I'm aware that pearled has been abraded, and is slightly less nutritionally valuable than hull barley, but surprisingly it hasn't lost that many nutrients).  Following is the recipe I chose, Hamburger-Barley Soup, page 82, from The Big Book of Soups & Stews, by Maryana Vollstedt.

NOTE:  I made a few slight changes, due to not having carrots, and having a larger quantity of barley that I wanted to use up, along with more meat in my package.

I will most definitely prepare this soup again, and would probably add even more vegetables - maybe leeks, zucchini, or even sweet potatoes or butternut squash.  I might also change it up by switching the broth choice to either chicken or vegetable, or use ground turkey or chicken meat.  Quite possibly, I could see omitting the meat entirely.  

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon vegetable oil (I use EVO)

1 pound lean ground beef (I used 1-1/2 pounds)

1 large yellow onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced (I omitted)

2 stalks celery, chopped (I used 4 stalks)

2 carrots, chopped (omitted, but I would use them if I had any)

1 can (14-1/2 oz) whole tomatoes, coarsely chopped, with juice (I used a 28 oz can)

1/2 cup pearl barley, thoroughly rinsed (I used 1 cup)

4 cups beef stock or broth

1 cup water (I added probably an extra cup, since I had double the quantity of barley)

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Place a large pot over medium heat, and add oil, then meat, onion, garlic, celery, and carrots.  (I sauteed my onions before adding meat, etc.).  Cook, breaking up the meat with a spoon, until meat is no longer pink, 5-10 minutes.  

Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, until vegetables and barley are tender, about 1 hour (I only cooked mine about 45 minutes, and it had a nice toothsome texture).  Remove bay leaf and discard.  Season to taste with ground pepper.

I stirred in a few grinds of parmigiano-reggiano cheese, to add just a bit more saltiness and a touch of umami flavor.  This was a bit hit in my house - even the 'trying-to-be-a-vegetarian' older daughter liked it, meat not withstanding.  

Please do me this favor - if you enjoy reading either of my blogs, ku-ku4cookbooks OR Bartletttastestheworld! (the adventures of my friend Bartlett, an adorable stuffed moose who's on a quest to savor life's flavors), pass them along to others you think might enjoy them - while I began these blogs as something for myself, I'd still love to have others read them, outside of my family and a few friends...