This is a little embarrassing since I write a healthy food blog, but over the holidays I fell off the wagon a lot. I mean, I couldn’t say no to my brother’s from-scratch plum pudding (including seconds and thirds), the cakes and candies and chocolates everywhere, the late-night snacks that fueled last-minute package wrapping…
Turns out I can resist anything but temptation.
Sleep deprivation + stress = snacking
Worse, I’m finding it harder than ever to mend my ways. You see, I recently started an online insomnia program called SHUT-i that my doctor suggested. The good news? It’s working! The bad news? The first part of the treatment involves mild sleep deprivation. (!) Now I don’t know about you, but being wiped out drastically lowers my junk-food defenses.
But wait, there’s more! đ
I’m also applying for a dietetic internship, the 10-month supervised practice program you have to go through to become a registered dietitian. The application process is wildly competitiveâonly half of applicants will be matched to an internship at all, and many programs have something like a 10% acceptance rate. Yikes.
Needless to say, I’ve been sweating it over here latelyâand stress-snacking as a result.
Unfortunately, my body isn’t happy with the changes. My pants are tight, my breast pain is back, and I generally feel schlumpy and blah. (I believe those are the technical terms.)
Yet despite having good reasons to do it, I’m still finding it hard to shift back into healthy eating.
Climbing back on the wagon (again)
Luckily, the new year brought with it some fresh motivation. With friends and family kicking their health into high gear, I’ve realized it’s time for me to step it up a notch. I mean, I may not be able to get as much sleep as I want right now, and I still have to contend with my internship applications, but by golly I can be healthier than this while I do it!
Besides, if I’ve learned one thing over the years, it’s that being healthy isn’t about being perfect all the time, but rather about mastering the art of course correction.
Being healthy isn't about being perfect all the timeâit's about mastering the art of course correction. Share on XSo in my pursuit of feeling better (and looking better too, who am I kidding ) I’m dusting off four get-healthy tricks that have worked for me in the past:
- Swapping snack breaks for doing small-but-rewarding tasks, like organizing a junk drawer or tidying my desk. It energizes me and gives me a little burst of accomplishment.
- Walking every morning, rain or shine
- Upping my vegetable intake by eating salads at lunch and dinner
- Making healthy food that I like more than junk food
While I’m only a few days in, so far I’m having luck with my old tricks. Not only am I not snacking as much, but my office is tidier than ever. đ I’m walking every morning, even if I have to bundle up like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man (woman?). And I’m eating more veggies than I have in a long time, thanks in part to my new go-to butternut squash salad.
Crazy nutritious, ridiculously delicious butternut squash salad
Adapted from a salad I experimented with for my October 2-pounds-of-vegetables-a-day challenge, this butternut squash salad is helping me get back on the straight and narrow.
Packed with fiber, 15 grams of plant-based protein, and revitalizing vitamins and minerals, it’ll power you through your day.
I mean, where else can you get 935% of the daily value of vitamin A, 127% vitamin C, 213% vitamin K, 66% folate, 57% magnesium, 54% potassium, and 13% zinc, all in one place?
But more importantly, this salad is downright delicious. I’m talking tender chunks of roasted butternut squash; sweet caramelized red onion wedges; and crisp, buttery arugulaâall drizzled with a creamy cashew dressing that puts the whole thing right over the edge.
In fact, just writing about it is making me hungry…for salad. (Cool, huh?) And having a salad on hand that I love this much? That’s helping me getâand stayâon the wagon.
I hope it does the same for you!
- 1 medium butternut squash (~2 lbs), peeled, seeded, and chopped into ž-inch chunks
- 1 medium red onion (½ lb), peeled and cut into wedges
- cooking spray
- 1-2 tsp ground cumin
- salt to taste
- 2 c baby spinach
- 2 c arugula
- 1ž c (1 can) great northern beans or other white beans, rinsed, drained, and divided (you'll use ž c for salad, and 1 c for the dressing below)
- 2 tsp hemp hearts (optional)
- 2 Tbsp cashew butter (see note)
- 2 Tbsp agave nectar or maple syrup
- 3 Tbsp water
- Âź c white (distilled) vinegar
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 c white beans, rinsed and drained
- Âź tsp salt
- Preheat oven to 425F
- Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil coated with cooking spray.
- Spread butternut squash chunks over one baking sheet and half of the second baking sheet. Spread the onion wedges over the other half of the second baking sheet.
- Spray squash and onions lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with salt. Sprinkle the squash with 1-2 tsp ground cumin.
- Roast for 10 minutes. Flip the onion wedges only and roast for another 10 minutes.
- Remove onions from the baking sheet and set aside.
- Flip the squash chunks on both baking sheets, and roast for an additional 15-20 minutes, or until squash is browned and tender. Remove from oven and let cool.
- While squash is roasting, place all dressing ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Toss spinach and arugula together and top with roasted squash, onions, and remaining beans. Drizzle with Âź c creamy cashew dressing (you will have about a cup left over) and enjoy!
Your turn:
- What’s your favorite go-to healthy food or recipe?
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I'm Lee, an RD thriving on a healthy plant based diet.
I’ve got to admit that most recipe development efforts leave me wanting to put that food aside for a few days or more before eating them again (heck, I’ve even got a couple of those delicious cinnamon roll muffins stashed in the freezer still), but I’ve eaten this salad four days in a row (and sometimes for multiple meals), and I just keep coming back to it. And since I made the last batch, I can say that it is EASY to put together. Thanks again, Lee!
I know, every time I open the fridge door and realize that there’s no more roasted butternut squash and onions I’m crestfallen. Unlike you, however, I could happily eat those cinnamon roll muffins every day, pretty much forever. (Good thing those last two are in your freezer at work!)
Hi Lee–two of my favorite things about your blog are your sense of humor and your honesty about where you’re at in your journey to eat healthy. It must be very encouraging to others and a breath of fresh air that you are willing to say when things have been tough for you, why, and how you plan to get back on track, what works, what doesn’t. And this salad looks amazing!! I have been roasting a lot of cauliflower and broccoli lately with a “wings” kind of dressing from a book my daughter in law has–I think it’s The China Study Quick and Easy Cookbook. I don’t need as much of the “batter” as the recipe calls for so I save it and ration it out over several trays of cruciferous tastiness. It calls for wheat flou- I use spelt, but I don’t see why you couldn’t use a bit of gluten-free baking mix or cornmeal, perhaps even mixed with a bit of your cashew dressing or something like that. And here’s a virtually fat free “caramel sauce.” Carob powder (You could use cocoa powder), a dash of vanilla extract, a small spoonful for chickpea miso and enough water to make a fudge or frosting consistency. Dip fruit into it, or put it in the bottom of a bowl and layer fruit and oatmeal over it. Divine! Rooting for you for the dietetic position too!! xo
Hey Maria,
I LOVE dipping vegetables in wing sauce and need to look into The China Study recipe as I’m sure the off the shelf sauces have way more salt, fast, etc than I need
Hi Maria, sometimes, you just have to laugh, you know?
Amazingly, this salad was a kickoff for a healthy eating streak that’s lasted more than a couple of days, so I’m beating my record for pretty much all of December. đ
Your suggestions for getting back to healthy food sound delicious! I was hoping beyond hope that the cauliflower wing/dressing recipe combo you were referring to was in the regular China Study Cookbook, which I have. Alas, it’s not. Guess I’ll have to get the Quick-and-Easy China Study Cookbook now! Onto the Amazon wish list it goes. đ
I actually really like carob on its own merits, so no need to sub cocoa. I never thought of mixing it with chickpea miso, though! Can I get the miso at Whole Foods, or do I have to order it? I’m completely intrigued. I’ll admit, though, that the miso-carob-vanilla combo sounds a little crazy to me. But culinarily it makes sense–salty, sweet, and just a hint of umami from the miso. I have to try it! Will report back!
And thanks for the kind words on the dietetic internship. Applying is a major ordeal, as is the internship! It’s like the “lite” version of a medical residency for dietitians.
“Turns out I can resist anything but temptation.” Ha. I think we all have that problem over the holidays. A few times a year diverging from plan is ok I think đ
Oh and your internship sounds exciting! Good luck =)
This salad sounds super delicious! What better way to get back on track. Yum!
Oh, if only I were just diverging a few times a year…whoops. Progress, not perfection, right?
And thanks for the kind wishes on the internship application. It’s definitely stressful, so I appreciate the support!
I can totally relate – normally I stay away from sugar but over Christmas I ended up eating a few too many sugar cookies! I’m definitely back on the wagon now though. I love this salad, so healthy (and I love that comforting creamy dressing too). By the way – I know too much vitamin A is not good for your body, and that the vitamin A in this salad is actually beta-carotene, but is too much beta-carotene bad for you too? Or your body just converts what it needs and the rest of the beta-carotene gets flushed out? Thanks Lee đ
Hi Kyra, great question!
You’re right that too much vitamin A from supplements can be dangerous. However, there’s more to the vitamin A story…
The vitamin A in this salad–from the greens and squash–is actually a combination of hundreds of different carotenoids! (Beta-carotene is just one of them. There’s also alpha-carotene, lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin,…etc.) Getting large amounts of a wide variety of carotenoids from whole plant foods is healthy.
The danger from vitamin A comes from taking a large dose of a single form. It appears that this can interfere with the absorption of other forms of vitamin A, like the carotenoids. It may block absorption of other nutrients, too.
So taking a high dose of beta-carotene in a pill could be dangerous. However, getting a large amount of vitamin A from whole plant foods–in all its hundreds of forms, of which beta-carotene is only one–is not only safe, but healthy.
Hope that helps! (I may actually write a post on this.) In the meantime, find more info here: http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/cat-carotenoids.html . Thanks for reading! đ
Thank you so much for clarifying this Lee! đ
That looks amazing, Lee! How do you even make red onions look so good? :p I would never think to put squash like that in a salad. Thanks for sharing at Food and Fitness Friday!
Thanks Jebbica! I confess, sometimes most of the squash chunks don’t actually make it onto the salad, because I snack on them so much as they’re cooling. Delayed gratification isn’t really my thing. đ Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Lee,
Just a note to let you know that I have chosen your post as one of features for this weeks Real Food Fridays blog hop that goes live every Thursday @ 7pm EST. Thanks for being part of Real Food Fridays mission to help make this world a little bit healthier every week.
Marla, thanks so much! I’m always honored to be featured on Real Food Fridays!
I love cashew butter! This looks so great!
Thanks Amber, I love cashew butter too! I feel like it’s going to start trending soon, lol.
Hi, I just made this today for our Thanksgiving meal and it was terrific! I ended up using all the beans for the dressing so I roasted some chickpeas to sprinkle on top as croutons. I especially loved the roasted red onions! Thanks for a very tasty and perfectly fall salad!
Hi Rebecca, thanks for letting me know you enjoyed the salad–your comment made my day! đ