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Anne: Flavors from Finland

Today’s guest post on ethnic food ties into my new theme. Anne blogs over at Food Loving Polar Bear. She likes yoga and walking just as much as I do and she’s going to share some of her favorite foods from Finland (that’s where she lives!). A quick side note…

How does ethnic food tie into intuitive eating?

Ethnic food is usually not particularly low-calorie or in line with clean-eating principles. But it’s usually delicious; if you can eat a diet filled with wonderful ethnic foods and not gain weight (or maintain a healthy weight) you are probably eating intuitively. Here’s an example – the traditional European diet (French, Finnish, etc…) is filled with things like heavy cream, cheese, and decadent desserts and pastries like croissants (oh, croissants!). Yet Europeans are generally much thinner than Americans. Why?

Why French Women Don’t Get Fat

French women don’t obsess about food, they eat what they crave, and they eat real food. They’re in tune with the body’s hunger and fullness signals. They don’t eat emotionally (meaning they’re not the type to turn to Mr. Ben or Mr. Jerry when they’re sad) and they’re not emotional about eating. These are generalizations of course, but these are the general principles of intuitive eating.

Enough of my rambling. Without further ado… the lovely Anne!

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Hi!

I’m a new blogger from Finland and I am proud to introduce you some flavors from my home country. Thanks Maggie for the chance to promote my tiny country and its delicious foods!

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A little background information about Finland:

  • Finland is situated between Sweden and Russia, in northern Europe
  • Finland has 5.4 million inhabitants
  • The capital of Finland is Helsinki
  • There are more than 2 million saunas in Finland
  • We do not have polar bears in Finland 😉

Now you know a bit about my home country! In this post I’m going to concentrate on my favorite topic: FOOD.

Traditional Finnish cuisine is similar to Swedish, German and Russian cuisines. Finnish dishes tend to be less sweet than Swedish ones, and Finns use little or no sour cream in preparation compared to their Russian neighbors.

Traditional dishes (perinneruoka) are rarely eaten on a daily basis and saved for the real holidays, such as Christmas and Easter. The traditional dishes are often regional and more valued by the older generations or only eaten during a specific holiday; for example Mämmi during Easter. This following dish is only eaten during Easter, (almost) never on other occasions. For the recipe of Mämmi click here.

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Mämmi does not look very appealing 😀

Home-made food (kotiruoka) can be also found in restaurants and we have many restaurants in Helsinki specializing in traditional Finnish food.

The most common traditional foods in Finland (which are eaten on daily basis in Finnish homes):

Leipäjuusto (the direct translation is bread cheese):

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It’s usually eaten with jam, but I usually eat without. It doesn’t have much flavor and it feels a bit rubbery in your mouth but once you get used to it, you will love it!

Reindeer (poronkäristys)

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Reindeer is usually eaten with mashed potatoes, jam and pickles. It’s one of the most popular dishes among those foreigners whom I have introduced this dish to.

Cabbage rolls (kaalikääryleet)

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They look like spring rolls, but are not. It’s minced meat (ground beef) rolled into a cabbage leaf. They’re also served with jam, usually with cranberry. These took me almost 20 years to like them, but now I actually like eating the rolls, I also should try making them at home. As a child this used to be my most-hated-dish-ever 😀

Pea Soup (hernekeitto)

Pea soup is one of the most popular dishes among poor students. It’s cheap, filling and even though you have tons of gas in your stomach after eating a can, sometimes you just don’t mind. Pea soup is usually eaten here every Thursday. Even my office has pea soup Thursdays! It’s eaten with mustard or, like in the picture, with ham 😉

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Finnish meatballs (lihapullat)

These are a familiar dish in my kitchen. My boyfriend loves my home made meatballs and I have also made them in Germany for a bunch of Germans who had no idea how to make them at home, they were a success!

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They are also usually eaten with mashed potatoes.

Pickled herring (silli)

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There are tons of different kinds of pickled herrings in Finnish grocery stores. I personally love the middle one, herring with mustard. They are a traditional summer dish and are eaten with new (small) potatoes and dill.

Viili

This is a product I tried to explain in my blog some time ago. It was difficult! I found an article in Foodista about viili!

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Smoked fish (savustettu liha)

We Finns love fish, especially smoked fish! We have so many different kinds of fish and I really want to make you drool in the end of my guest post, so here are some pictures of my favorite delicacy 😉

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Mmmmh!

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I hope you all enjoyed this little journey to Finnish cuisine. Feel free to ask me more anytime!

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Thanks again, Anne! Finnish food sounds awesome. I have actually had a lot of these dishes because I’m part German (Cabbage Rolls, Pickled Herring, Meatballs, Pea Soup). I’ve never had reindeer but it sounds really cool. And anything that is translated as “bread-cheese” is okay in my book.

What’s your favorite ethnic food? What do you think about ethnic food and intuitive eating?

P.S. I have been playing around and updating my blog; poke about and check out my new tabs and some updated pages if you want. I’m not quite done yet so I’ll do another announcement when I finish.

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Thursday Recap – Intuitive Eating and Guest Posts

In case you are a new reader, or have been confused about all the guest posts you’ve been seeing recently, here is a recap of recent events:

  • Mid-July: lots of wedding prep
  • Late July: wedding + honeymoon in Maui (Kaanapali) – lots of guest posts
  • Early August: honeymoon in Maui – lots of guest posts
  • Now: exploration of Intuitive Eating

I had 3 posts this week on intuitive eating:

And if you missed them the first time around, here are all of my fabulous guest posts from some of my favorite bloggers (in order of posting):

Thanks again, girls. I do have a few more guest posts on the way (I had too many to post while I was gone) so expect about one per week for a little while.

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Happy Thursday!

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Knowing When to Stop (Eating)

I am never really sure what I want this blog to be about. You could say I’m a flip-flopper…

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So: it’s time to stop flipping and flopping (or at least flip and flop decisively), because I think I know what my blog is all about. It’s about how I learned (and am still learning) to eat intuitively, and how those principles spill over into the rest of my life (for example, yoga and intuitive eating go hand in hand – just wait for a post on that).

Speaking of Knowing When to Stop… How do you know when to stop eating? Is it really as simple as knowing when you are full? My guess is NO.

Now that is a big bed meal. (Source.)

Some people “save” lots of calories during the day so that they can have a big dinner or snack a lot after dinner. This can be unpleasant though (stomachache, indigestion, etc…), and can lead to a vicious cycle of a poor night’s sleep, feeling sick the next day, and repeating it all over again.

How can you end the cycle? Here are some tactics…

Dessert for Dinner, or: Eat What You Love and Be Satisfied

Last night I was on my own for dinner. My husband (I can’t stop saying that!) was at a work event until late so I was alone for the evening. Normally this might be a tricky situation – when I’m alone I’m more likely to snack out of boredom.

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Trick one: know yourself. I’m a girl who can’t go without dessert. Ever. I cannot remember that last time I didn’t have dessert. I also know that once I have dessert it can turn into a snackfest. My belly and my head are not satisfied with a piece of fruit for dinner. Maybe your weakness is potato chips, or cereal. Whatever it is, make a note of it. Then…

Trick two: trick yourself. I may like dessert, but I am not okay with having Rocky Road for dinner. So what is a good substitute? Breakfast foods are usually desserty enough for me. French Toast in particular is comforting, delicious, and sweet enough to satisfy my dessert tooth. If you love your potato chips, portion out a serving (1 serving) to have with your dinner. If you don’t want it with a meal, you probably shouldn’t have it while watching TV anyway.

Trick three: indulge (just a little). I put tart frozen yogurt (from Trader Joe’s) on top of my dessert for dinner French Toast. If I didn’t do that I would probably want to eat frozen yogurt after dinner anyway. Again with the potato chips – why not get some really delicious potato chips (I like Terra Chips) so that you really enjoy your treat.

Trick four: Stop. (Okay, that’s not a trick, that just the end result – hopefully.) I loved this meal. So much so that I didn’t need to eat anything the rest of the night. Hopefully if you had the chips with dinner you won’t want them the rest of the night either.

My Easy Peasy (Healthy) French Toast For One Recipe. Check it out if you want a low calorie but filling and healthy meal. I think it has about 300 calories total depending on your bread and toppings.

Good reads:

  • Brian Wansink discusses the French paradox (they eat lots of fatty things yet are – on average – thinner, healthier, and live longer than Americans).
  • I think I linked here before, but I really really like Honoring Health – it’s an intuitive eating blog, and Christie (the author) is very inspiring. Plus, she is helping me figure out how to organize my recipes!

Have you ever had dessert for dinner? What foods are really satisfying for you?

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3 Steps to Intuitive Eating – Marriage and Food Intuition

Intuitive Eating and Marriage. That sounds like a rather odd combination? Surprisingly, it’s not. I just got back from my 2-week long honeymoon (it was absolutely amazing) and I am pretty sure I have discovered what might just be the ticket (or at least my ticket) to being an intuitive eater for good.

How I Got Married and Became an Intuitive Eater

I married an intuitive eater.

When we first started going out, I mostly ate just like Bobby (my husband) – but it can be hard to keep up with a 19-year-old boy, not to mention the fact that it’s not that good for your waistline.

For the next few years I tried to eat intuitively, and eventually something stuck. Creating good new habits takes work. But sometimes you can get a kick in the pants, or find motivation that will get your butt in gear. Here are the three steps that helped me (finally!) truly embrace eating intuitively:

  1. Name your flaw: I have an odd relationship with food. I knew that I did not eat intuitively. Lots of oatmeal does not a dinner make. For years I berated myself for not being able to “just snap out of it”, which many people seemed to think was good advice.
  2. Reframe the flaw: I have two glorious weeks to be completely free around food. Before I left for my honeymoon, I decided that it didn’t matter how much weight I gained while I was gone; I wanted to enjoy myself and I wanted to have fun on my honeymoon! (It turns out that I didn’t gain a pound – in fact, I lost 1-2.) Maybe your reframe could be, “I have a chance to completely change the way I eat,” or “I love eating locally and organically,” or “I am a great role model for my children,” and so on. This should be a positive statement about YOU that has at least a remote connection to that initial flaw you named above.
  3. Own it! I am an intuitive eater. This one is all about the power of positive thinking. “Fake it ‘til you make it.” Focus on your successes. Keep going. Push through. Pretend. If you can’t be an intuitive eater just yet, pretend you are anyway. Just don’t give up.

Why did it work for me this time? Because I keep trying. And because I followed all three steps, not just the first one. I’d named the flaw before (over and over again) but I never turned it into something positive. I think (hope) that everyone who tries to quit something fails the first few times (if they don’t fail, they are either lying or superhuman). If you quit smoking successfully, you probably “quit” several times before you succeeded. (Note: I do not smoke, but this is a good common example.) It’s the same with food – if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

An Intuitive Eating Dinner

Open-faced tuna melts. Mine (2 slices of whole wheat bread, tuna salad, tomatoes, and melted cheese):

Bobby’s (sesame seed bagel, tuna salad, cheddar cheese):

My easy tuna salad recipe. Dessert was tart frozen yogurt (shared) from Trader Joe’s. Then wine – a mix of Trader Joe’s wine (Dr. Beckermann Auslese Rheinhessen – it’s a white wine and it’s fantastic – sweet and refreshing) mixed with seltzer:

Are you an intuitive eater? Why or why not?

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3 Tips for Eating Mindfully + Ciabatta Meals

Whether we are trying to lose weight, gain weight, or just maintain what we worked so hard to achieve, it is almost always a struggle to listen to our bodies and honor what they want. Here are three of my favorite tricks to be more mindful and intuitive about my eating.
  1. Scrap the diet. Diets don’t work. If you start labeling foods as “good” or “bad” you’ll set yourself up for bingeing, deprivation, and obsessing. Instead of cutting things out completely, start small and gradually improve you diet. Maybe that means eating one more salad each week, one less diet soda, or swapping fish for steak. Small steps over time add up.
  2. Avoid your triggers. If you know that you’re going to eat the whole box of cereal, don’t buy it. If you overexercise when you belong to a gym, schedule an appointment afterwards so you can only be there an hour (or ditch the gym altogether). Knowing yourself is key 🙂 It only takes one moment of weakness to feel bad.
  3. Pamper yourself. If you feel great, you’ll want to keep feeling great – so go get that massage, facial, mani/pedi. By taking care of your body you’ll value it more (and you’ll value your health). Do (healthy) things that make you feel good, and hopefully those things will help you make healthier choices every day.

With my wedding coming up, I’m trying to be as relaxed around food as possible because I want to feel awesome on that very special day.

Yesterday’s lunch was this yummy ciabatta sandwich:

Ingredients: Ciabatta roll, organic tomatoes, herbed chevre goat cheese – grilled on Mr. George. I had a huge apple with it and it kept me full for 6 hours.

I also like rolls and bread for breakfast…

This was a ciabatta roll grilled on Mr. George with Miss Pam – then I spread it with guacamole from FreshDirect.

Thanks to these tips and lots of filling things like breads and fats, my stomach is flat and my pants are a little loose.

Exercise of the day: walking to and from work (2.8 miles total) + an exercise video TBD.

What’s your favorite food **right now**? I’m really digging sandwiches. Does that count?