Since the first day of summer is Friday, I’d imagine that many of us have farmers markets popping up all over. And in Vermont, we are especially fortunate to have a ton of local farmers markets.

For recipes like this, I love being able to buy local eggs and talk to the people who are raising and caring for the chickens (I also am a fan of farms on Facebook, so I’m able to see the farm and get a better sense of how the animals are treated). Farm Fresh eggs are typically fresher in taste and the chickens may have a more varied diet. In fact, Mother Earth tested farm fresh eggs against commercial eggs and found they may contain:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene

In addition to finding local eggs, I’m certain you’ll find a wide variety of vegetables that will work well in this tart.  The recipe calls for summer squash, bell pepper, and onion, but you could certainly try other vegetables like spinach, mushrooms, broccoli, tomato or even grated carrot. Go wild!

As it’s written, this recipe uses a pre-made pie crust, but lately we make this with a polenta crust.  If you wanted to do so, you could use our recipe for Polenta Fries to make the crust. Just pour the hot polenta into a pie pan and let it set in the fridge before making the tart.

What have you been making with food from your local farmer’s market?

The post Farm Fresh Eggs and Vegetable and Mozzarella Tart appeared first on Green Mountain at Fox Run.

• I wish I had lost weight before this wedding.
• I wish I didn’t have to wear this strapless dress.
  
• Oh, I look so fat! I am going to sit down at this table where no one will notice me.
• I think those people over there are looking at me…
• How will I handle another person asking me why I’m not married yet?

It’s time to let go of fretting at weddings. Otherwise, you miss the opportunity to immerse yourself in the celebration, enjoy the music and food, and engage in conversation with new and old friends. Here’s how:

• Remember that comparison is the opposite of compassion. When we start comparing ourselves, our appearance, or our achievements to others the slippery slope of feeling socially isolated, awkward and uncomfortable is upon us.
• Practice mindfulness. Look for the details in the venue that please you… bouquets, hair design, the wedding cake.
• Indulge in healthy rebel behavior and silliness. Entertain your mind by imagining what secret the guy in the polka dot tie might have. Or look for the craziest dancer and sit back and enjoy the show.
• Laugh. Ask people about a joke or funny story they have heard recently. Or ask them about the best/worst wedding they ever attended.
• Learn something deeper. See how many conversations you can generate that have a real quality to them. How can you find out what really matters to someone, what they treasure or really care about?
• Appreciate someone else’s angst. Then, focus on two things that you are grateful for.

Do you have any wedding strategies that help you to let go of fretting at weddings?

The post Fretting about Weddings: Stop Comparing, Start Celebrating appeared first on Green Mountain at Fox Run.

You can find a lot of hiking essentials articles and videos on the Internet, including our own hiking video at the bottom of this blog post, that emphasize what you need for safety. But I’m going to include just my recommendations on what to bring to make sure that it’s all happy trails and happy hiking for you.

• Enough water for the whole hike. It’s no fun when you run out of water halfway through.
• Bandana or small towel for wiping away sweat.
• DEET-based insect repellents on exposed skin – helps keep the ticks away.
• Ibuprofen and Band-Aids. If it’s a strenuous hike and you’re getting sore, this can take the edge off very well.
• Snacks! Almonds and an apple are good for a hike that’s a few hours long, but if it’s a day hike, you’re going to need more than that! Also, consider what will still taste good or be appetizing after a few hours in your backpack.
• Wet wipes. You never know if you’ll need to “wash” your hands.
• Sunscreen. Don’t get burned – it is completely preventable.
• Bear bell. Just for extra peace of mind.
• Poncho. Who knows when a storm will blow in?
• A fully charged cell phone or camera. For those once-in-a-lifetime photo opps!

What do you always bring with you on a hike?

The post Fitness Friday: Happy Hiking appeared first on Green Mountain at Fox Run.

• chaotic work schedules – resulting in being poorly fed during the day
• not having access to food during the day – either from a lack of meal planning and/or shopping
• poorly balanced meals earlier in the day – lacking major nutrients such as carbohydrate, protein, or fat in meals/snacks
• dieting during the day – intentionally cutting calories, resulting in being overly hungry by the end of the day
• emotional triggers that come to a head by the day’s end
• a lack of meaning, purpose, joy in your daily activities – resulting in eating being your primary source of fun/entertainment

No matter what the original trigger was for night eating, it can eventually morph into habit eating.  You no longer need to have any of the above triggers occur to have the desire to eat at night.  Breaking habit eating is a tough thing to do.  Changing ANY well-developed habit is a tough thing to do. To increase your chances of success with developing new healthier habits, try the following tip from the book The Power of Habit written by Charles Duhigg, which is, maintain the same cue and reward, but change the behavior. Let’s run through a few examples, shall we?

Habit #1 – eating in front of the TV at night

• Cue: sitting in your favorite chair in living room, with TV on
• Behavior: bring food into living room every commercial break
• Reward: mind-numbing, zoning out

New Habit:

• Cue: sitting in your favorite chair in living room, with TV on
• Behavior: Listen to 2 minutes of guided meditation app during commercial break
• Reward: mind-numbing, zoning out

Habit #2 – eating in the car.

• Cue: getting in your car
• Behavior: snacking while driving
• Reward: entertainment during a boring commute.

New Habit:

• Cue: getting in your car
• Behavior: listening to audio books
• Reward: entertainment

Habit #3 - eating chocolate mid-afternoon

• Cue: afternoon break time at work
• Behavior: eat chocolate
• Reward: stress reduction via opioid production

New Habit:

• Cue: break time
• Behavior: step outside in the sunshine or spend a minute or two doing some deep breathing
• Reward: stress reduction via opioid production

What habit are you looking to change?  Can you think of a new behavior to practice that would give you the same reward?

The post Night Eating Turns Habit Eating appeared first on Green Mountain at Fox Run.

Michelle Rosenthal writes in her blog about trauma and PTSD that “The fact is, the brain makes structural changes according to how you use your mind. Take your amygdala, for example. An almond shaped mass deep within your brain, the amygdala is the seat of your survival emotions and response. Studies have proven that the amygdala can actually enlarge in people with PTSD. It’s almost as if it’s a muscle; the more you work it the bigger it gets.

However, studies have also proven that the amygdala can shrink back to it’s original size when PTSD reduces. Want to know how to help that happen? In PTSD your amygdala gets sensitized to pain, fear, anxiety, panic, terror, etc. Starting today, however, you can start sensitizing it to something else, say, joy, delight, happiness, contentment, gratitude, etc.”

Rick Hanson’s work on mindfulness teaches strategies to help shrink the amygdala. Here at Green Mountain, we practice mindful eating to reconnect with the pleasure  food offers us as well as  reconnect with our hunger and satiety signals. A fun formula for practicing shrinking your amygdala that Michelle Rosenthal suggests is:

Positive experience + mindfulness = neuronal change

Experiment:

1. Choose a food you really, really love.

2. Eat it slower than you ever have before and really be aware of how it tastes in your mouth, how it smells, how it feels sliding down your throat, how it rests in your stomach and makes your whole body feel.

3. Focus on that good feeling for a solid 10-20 seconds. For best results: do this over and over and over again.

Mindfulness practice allows us to create new neurons. Delicious focused experiences actually change our brains.

What food would you choose to focus on for 10-20 seconds to connect with its yumminess?

Photo by Greencolander

The post Change Your Brain with Mindfulness appeared first on Green Mountain at Fox Run.

Let’s be real for a moment.

Nothing can be more frustrating than trying to become more active, only for your efforts to be hampered by an annoyance like thigh chafing. Here we are trying to move our bodies and what do we get? Red, irritated skin that hurts when we move and makes us walk funny. In summer, when we generally have more choices for exercise, the issue is further exacerbated by heat, humidity and sweat.

Yes, it’s unfortunate, but there are some things we can do to prevent and lessen the discomfort of thigh chafing so we can keep moving. I am going to tell you about a few I’ve tried and a few I’ve read about.

1. Monistat Soothing Care Powder Gel. I’ve not tried this, but I like the word soothing a lot, and it received rave reviews on sites like Drugstore. com.

2. BODYGLIDE Anti-Chafe Balm. This, I’ve used. Overall, it seems to help if I put it on before I work out. It doesn’t prevent chafing all together, but I feel like I can do a lot more exercise before chafing begins.

3. Baby Powder. Good at absorbing moisture in warm places and an inexpensive fix. If you don’t have a specific anti-chafing product, this will do, but the effects seem to be more temporary.

4. Petroleum Jelly. Another good measure if you don’t want to buy a more expensive product and you’ve got it lying around the house. It prevents skin sticking together, but like baby powder, doesn’t seem to last as long as specific anti-chafing products.

In addition to the products I’ve mentioned, avoid loose clothing with exaggerated seams. The tighter the clothing, the less obvious the seams, the less likely you are to chafe. Also, according to Runner’s World, look for moisture-wicking fabric. While cotton can be a softer option, it can hold water from sweat or rain, which can contribute to chafing.

But, what to do once you’ve already experienced chafing?

Aloe Vera. If it’s good for a sunburn, I think it’s good for a chafing burn. It feels nice and cool when you apply it, but can get sticky quickly. I usually apply it for a short period of time, wash it off after 10-15 minutes, and then apply baby powder.

Ice packs. Applying ice packs immediately after exercise helps reduce redness and irritation, according to exercise expert Rochelle Rice. 

Rest. You may need to take a day or two off until the rash disappears, and then start with the prevention methods above.

Swim. If you don’t want any downtime, hit the pool. It’s one place you won’t chafe and it feels great!

How do you prevent thigh chafing?

The post Fitness Friday: The Unfortunate Reality of Thigh Chafing appeared first on Green Mountain at Fox Run.

Great Granola

(Makes 12 ¼-cup servings)

1 1/2 cups rolled grains (oats, rye flakes, quinoa flakes, barley flakes, etc.)
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, cashews, etc.)
1/4 cup raw seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, hemp, chia, etc.)
1/4 cup coconut (optional)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, apricots, mango, apple, pineapple, etc.)

Pre-heat oven to 250°F. In a large bowl, combine grains, nuts, seeds, coconut and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, mix maple syrup, oil and salt; stir into the dry ingredients. Spread mixture out on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for about 1 hour, stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and mix in dried fruit.

We serve granola for breakfast with high-protein Greek yogurt and mixed fresh fruit.

What do you like in your granola? 

View/Download 4×6 Recipe Card

The post Add Variety to Breakfast with Granola appeared first on Green Mountain at Fox Run.

These jeans look terrible on me.  My thighs are just huge.  Do you think I look fat? 

In the NY Times article Fat Talk Compels but Carries a Cost Jan Hoffman writes that “fat talk” is a bonding ritual described as “contagious,” aggravating poor body image and even setting the stage for eating disorders. Some researchers have found that it is so embedded among women that it often reflects not how the speaker actually feels about her body but how she is expected to feel about it.

And while research shows that most women neither enjoy nor admire fat talk, it compels them. In one study, 93 percent of college women admitted to engaging in it.

So if we know that it doesn’t help why do we keep doing it? Fat Talk…

• Makes your body the enemy.
• Keeps you focused on looks and not your whole self.
• Erodes confidence just for conversation.
• Hurts your feelings or someone else’s.

What would happen if we interrupted this ritual and found other ways to greet each other and bond with our friends?

Interrupt your own fat talk and have something to say when someone else is fat talking. Ask:

• When do you fat talk yourself?
• What triggers your fat talk?
• What do you want the fat talk to do for you:
• How much $$ would someone have to pay you to say what you say to yourself to your friend or neighbor?

Here’s what you can say:

• Ooo..ouch! That hurt!
• Take it easy that kind of talk doesn’t help.
• I don’t know about you, but focusing on fat makes me eat more.

What are you willing to try?

The post Fat Talk Carries a Price Tag appeared first on Green Mountain at Fox Run.

What did you study in school?

I have my bachelor’s degree in health and physical education and two master’s degrees, one in exercise and sport science with a concentration in sport psychology and one in health education.

Why did you want to go into fitness?

I could not imagine my life without exercise or physical activity. Teaching group exercise is one of my passions. I love working with people individually, as well as in a group setting. That’s why I chose to go into group fitness and decided to teach classes.

What are your favorite fitness activities?

I really enjoy circuit and interval training. With circuit training you can decide what you want to do, change it up easily, and keep your routines fresh. Interval training is great if you want to improve your cardiovascular fitness and prevent the onset of boredom. I also love being outdoors and enjoy activities such as hiking and running. Why? Just look outside, it is beautiful!

Do you have any personal fitness philosophies?

I strongly believe that everyone should do things that they love to do as long as there are no negative consequences. A phrase that comes to mind is “everything in moderation.” And you can apply this to anything really… nutrition, exercise, chores (haha!). For example, we all know that being sedentary can have negative consequences, but it is also not good to overtrain. The other phrase that comes to mind, which is totally unrelated to fitness is “live, laugh, love.” You know, it is important to do the things you love, be able to laugh at yourself or laugh with others, and to love and appreciate the people in your life.

What do you want to bring to Green Mountain?

In college I restricted calories to be a “better” distance runner. I lost a lot of weight during that time, but gained it all back and plus some during the following year. Until a few years ago, I struggled with my body image. I always wanted to be  thinner, but it seemed like I could never get there. Yes, I exercised, but I know I was doing it for the wrong reasons. I was exercising to get thinner, not to be healthy. I guess I just needed to open my eyes. And once I did, I realized that I was wasting my life away exercising and worrying about my weight. I am glad that it happened when it did. I am kinder to my body now, I don’t critique it. And even though I still try to exercise every day, I believe that it is okay to take a day or two off, do a shorter workout, or go on a hike instead of running. And this is what I would like to share with the women who come to GM: the importance of listening to your body, being kind to it, doing the things that you love, and spending some time outdoors.

What is your favorite workout song?

HAHA…I don’t really have a favorite song. I have many. I usually go for something pretty fast and upbeat. A few that come to mind now are “ Becoming Insane” by Infected Mushroom, “Cinema” by Benni Benassi and Skrillex, and “Midnight City” by M83.

What do you like most about Vermont so far?

The landscape of Vermont reminds me a lot of Ithaca, NY, where I went to grad school. The scenery is breathtaking.

What attracted you to Green Mountain?

Green Mountain is a very unique place. This program is not just about nutrition, exercise, or behavior change… it combines all three aspects. I love it. It is a great place for women who want to learn how to become healthy and how to continue living a healthy lifestyle when they leave. Also, here at GM many women have an opportunity to work on the negative feelings toward their bodies, understand their struggles with weight, and learn the necessary tools to overcome those obstacles in the future.

Who inspires you?

My mom. She held down three jobs, raised a child alone, and was willing to move to another country and leave all her friends behind to provide a better life for me.

Share something random about yourself.

I have two guinea pigs named Coconut and Elmo, and a hamster named Mishka, which means little bear in Russian.

Welcome, Masha!

The post Fitness Friday: Meet the Team! appeared first on Green Mountain at Fox Run.

What’s the Link Between Weight Loss & BED?
A large part of the reason so many weight strugglers have BED is because diets are the go-to strategy for people who struggle with weight.  Yet dieting is at the core of BED for many (most?) people, either triggering or exacerbating the problem.  It certainly is for the women who come to Green Mountain.  The vast majority have been on and off too many diets, only to end up confused about how to feed themselves well, and how take care of themselves.  And many have ended up with BED, although they often don’t know that’s what they’re struggling with.  They think they’re just weak-willed instead, or some other belief that points to them as being failures.

Fortunately, since Green Mountain was founded 40 years ago this summer, our program has offered true help for the women who come to us struggling with BED.  That’s because our program has always been non-diet — we know dieting leads to more struggles around food, weight and body.  For four decades, we’ve offered a program that guides women instead on how to eat — mindfully and intuitively.  We also work to help women discover ways to move their bodies that feel good, as physical activity is a key ingredient in feeling and being well.  And we also work on all those sticky areas that weight struggles and BED are known for — emotional eating (which BED is a form of), body image, self esteem, stress management.

But Enough About Us!
I really wanted to tell you about BED Week, which I was so pleased to be a part of. BED Week is an online campaign tha is the brainchild of Lizabeth Wesely-Casella of BingeBehavior.com.  She launched it along with partners to coincide with the release of the fifth version of the American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5).  The DSM-5 marks the official recognition of BED  as an eating disorder. The campaign focuses on education (what is BED), preventing weight bias and stigma (including identifying bias, cultivating positive body image and legislative activism) and support (what types of help are available and where to find those resources).

A number of activities have gone on this week, but you can catch up on them here.  Also, there have been some dynamite posts on the subject, including one from yours truly:  Binge Eating Disorder: The What, Why and What it Takes to Treat It.  Well, genuine humility makes me take the dynamite descriptor off my post but Amy Pershing’s on weight stigma is truly a must-read — Coming Home: Rescuing Our Bodies from Weight Stigma.

Want to add your voice to the effort?  Read the Call to Action to find how how you can help prevent BED and encourage treatment for those who already have it.

The post Preventing & Treating Binge Eating Disorder: It’s BED Week! appeared first on Green Mountain at Fox Run.