Healthy Eats: Paleo Acorn Squash

I am participating in a "Healthy Holidays Challenge" being hosted by The Chicken Scoop (a blog about "Fitness, Food, and Farming") and one of the challenges was to try something new, specifically, acorn squash.

Now mind you, I HATE acorn squash.  It's mushy, not much flavor, blech... Yeah, I guess you get the point!  So this was a huge challenge for me!  Then someone posted a link to a recipe that didn't sound half bad.  The originally recipe can be found on My Man's Belly but, I'm trying to follow the Paleo lifestyle.  Basically, only all natural foods, seeds, nuts, fruits and veggies are ok but no dairy (eggs are ok but no butter or milk), no refined sugar, no beans and nothing processed.  You should also eat organic if you can.  (For more info, you can go to Mark's Daily Apple). 

So I adapted the recipe to make it Paleo.  This is non-dairy, gluten-free too.  

Paleo Acorn Squash

  1 acorn squash
  olive oil
  2 tablespoons of Coconut Manna or Coconut oil
  1 tablespoon of Raw Honey
  1 teaspoon of orange peel (or 1 tablespoon of fresh orange zest)
  1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg)
  1/4 teaspoon chipolte powder
  Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 325.  Cut acorn squash into quarters and remove seeds.  Brush inside of squash with olive oil and place on a pan cut side down (forming 2 halves).  Bake 45 minutes.  

About 5 minutes before it's done, melt coconut manna/oil and raw honey together in a small pan on the stove (if you have one with a pour spout, like one to melt butter in, it helps).  Mix in all the rest of the ingredients when melted, constantly stirring and remove from heat once melted.  DO NOT BOIL!

Remove acorn squash from oven and flip over.  You can do one of 2 things now.  You can either scoop out the squash into a bowl, coarsely mash it up then mix the coconut mixture in with it.  Or you can drizzle the coconut oil on the top of each piece of squash and place them back in the oven for about 10-15 minutes before serving.  The latter makes for a great presentation, the former is good if you want to serve it to a family with children.

Before serving, add chopped walnuts if desired.

I've got to admit, I can't say I hate acorn squash anymore since I was already trying to figure out when I could make this recipe again.  It was also so easy to make.  I absolutely loved it!

Nutrition Facts:  Serves 4
  Amount per serving (without walnuts):  Calories:  140; Fat:  8g;  Carbohydrates:  17.2g;  Fiber:  1.7g;  Protein:  1.4g

Healthy Eating: Eliminating Sugar

Photo: photo-dictionary.com

Hi, I'm Michele and I'm a sugar addict! I've been a sugar addict for a long time. It started when I was little. The standard snack in our house when I was younger was cookies, cake, candy, or sour cream and onion potato chips (which are loaded with sugar!). I always swore to my mom that when I had a child, they would never have sugar (I have yet to make good on that promise since I don't have any children but... well, anyway!). I have tried to give up sugary foods many times only to give in a day or two later and make a run for the closest convenience store or bakery to get something sweet, that would melt in my mouth, and taste so good!

Photo: photo-dictionary.com 

It's hard as a single person (or even not a single person!), constantly on the go, to choose healthy grab and go foods. Just pick up any package in a store and look for the words sugar, dextrose, syrup, nectar, <place fruit type here> concentrate or many other "sugar" code words that are in the foods we eat. It's hard, so hard, in fact, that I figured the only way I could give it up was to do it for God.  

I'm Catholic and traditionally Catholics give up something for Lent. I decided I was going to give up refined sugar and anything else that would taste sweet to me (honey, molasses, agave nectar, you get the picture) and limit artificial sweeteners and anything that might have sugar in the ingredient list that didn't really taste sweet (like ketchup or crackers). The reason I decided to do this for Lent is because I wasn't giving it up for me, I was giving it up for GOD, and if you make a promise to God, you really should not try to break it! (Now please, you devout Catholics out there, I know this is something I've done between me and God and don't scold me for sharing with others!)

Photo:  photo-dictionary.com

Fat Tuesday, February 21 - Why, when we know what we're going to give up, do we indulge the day before? I had my pastries (and everyone else's pastries too!), and loved every bite! Then comes Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. No coffee (with artificial sweetener), no cereal (OMG look at the sugar content even for what I thought was healthy cereal!), no oatmeal (since I like brown sugar in it), no healthy meal replacement bar (it's loaded with sugar!)... panic is starting to set in... eggs... I can have eggs! Whew, good thing I had time before work to make some. Note to self: must plan meals better!

Giving up sugar isn't as easy as it sounds! Just at work, we've had 4 parties in 10 days! Someone leaving, someone getting recognition for a job well done, someone getting married, and someone having a baby. Every party had some type of pastry there to eat! About 4 days into my sugar fast, I could have fought a baby for his/her lollipop! The cravings were SO BAD! They started on the first day but slowly increased until it was almost unbearable! The only way for me to get through this was to remind myself that I gave it up for GOD not for ME! My mantra for the week was "Jesus gave you his life, you can give him your sugar." Miraculously on day 5, when I thought that I could just have something with Splenda or Nutrasweet in it, the cravings vanished. They didn't slow down, they just completely disappeared. Wow!  

Photo:  Starbucks.com

Photo:  sekweldinglighting.com

So now it's been 10 days. I did have a sugar-free Starbucks drink with my sister and I had wine tasting with my best friend (but I skipped the chocolate that they recommended pairing with a couple of the wines and only went for the cheese, grapes, and a couple of crackers!) All in all, I've been doing a pretty good job!

Photo:  salterhousewares.com

So, today I decided I would weigh myself. The struggle went on in my head... Really, do you REALLY want to weigh yourself? Yes, I should to see if giving up sugar is helping my journey to a healthier weight and healthier eating. But do you REALLY, REALLY want to weigh yourself? Shouldn't you just wait until Lent is over? It's not going to do any good now. It's not going to change that you gave up sugar will it? Well, no... Then why not wait to weigh yourself. The struggle went on for a good 5 minutes I tell you!

I FINALLY broke down and decided to weigh myself. I stepped on the scale (a digital one) looked down, the stepped off. That can't be right! I did it again. Nope, still not right! I moved the scale to a different part of the floor (that part might not be level) and it said the same thing. 5 times I stepped on it with the same result. Lent has been going on for 10 days now (and is a total of 40 days). In those 10 days, I've lost 8 pounds. I did nothing but give up sugar.

Photo:  betterworldbooks.com

A couple of years ago, I got a CD-lecture series to listen to in the car on the way to and from work. It is called "Making the Shift" and is given by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. (I highly recommend this lecture to anyone who is looking to make a shift in their way of thinking or living. He's very inspirational!) In one part of this lecture series, he talks about giving up eating sugar. He says something to the effect that he decided to give up sugar one day and he did. He also said that people couldn't believe he could do it and "wasn't it hard?" His response was that you just do it and don't think about it. You then make your choices based on what you've decided. Listening to that part of the lecture I remembered thinking, "I could NEVER give up sugar! I don't know how he's done that!"  

Maybe I have given up sugar this time. I have for at least the past 10 days! We'll see how this ends up in the end but this might have been the jump start I needed to get me going into the healthy eating world again! I'm feeling better, eating better, and have been in a better mood in general. I've had more energy and don't want to be the hermit I have been for the past couple of months. I want to take my dog for a walk and enjoy being outside and more active. If giving up sugar has made me feel this good, maybe I can give it up for good this time!