Smart On Health

Cinnamon roll bread pudding

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I recently had to go to a pot luck brunch. I’m always at a loss for things to bring. I need (a) quick (b) easy and (c) easily transportable in a give-away foil casserole pan. I decided to go with a bread pudding. This is a favorite of mine during the holidays. I traditionally make it for my family on Christmas morning. It’s a good way to use up the remaining breadcrumbs from making stuffing. It’s dead-simple (bread! sugar! eggs! flavorings!). You can take a basic bread pudding and get creative with flavors. I serve mine with hard sauce made with orange peel, allspice, maple and RUM. Because booze and brunch go together like peanut butter and chocolate. Hard sauce is a type of compound butter. You mix the goodies into softened butter and chill it into molds.  You melt the “sauce” on the warm bread pudding and the result is brunch nirvana. Plus, the presentation impresses the f*ck out of people.

I decided to do things a bit differently for the brunch. I used this cinnamon roll bread pudding recipe by Tastes of Lizzy T. It’s basically a standard bread pudding except one substitutes chunks of cinnamon roll dough for the bread cubes. I wish I’d taken pictures of it because it came out beautifully. It was the hit of the buffet table.

It’s a holiday treat. So I follow my holiday treat practices. And, I leave the stuff at other people’s houses to reinforce sticking to a reasonable amount. If it’s in my house, it’s in my mouth. I’ll probably share my Christmas morning bread pudding and get some actual process pictures to show how this common recipe is made. I’m already dreaming about my traditional breakfast.

Holiday wellness practices

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I have a few traditions that I practice to keep myself feeling healthy during holidays. I take my family on an early morning walk on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years day, I limit alcohol, and I indulge in treats with some caveats.

‘Tis the season for stress, overeating, and skipping regular exercise. Health coaches aren’t immune. I’ve not been sticking to my regular way of eating lately. I usually don’t do much sugar or processed carbs. I don’t think there is anything wrong with them in moderation. My mood takes a big hit whenever I overdo it. My anxiety will spike withing 24-36 hours of eating too much of that stuff for me. That’s me. Your mileage is going to vary. I encourage everybody to make a note of how they feel right after eating something they don’t usually consume then check in with themselves 12, 24, and 36 hours later. Ask yourself, “how is that food working for me?” For me? Not so good. I’m feeling sluggish and my baseline mood has become a bit sad and grumpy with a case of the worries. I didn’t practice my treat caveats.

  1. Allow myself to eat guilt free. There’s no good or bad food. There are good and better times to eat them. I eat a well balanced meal and include my treat as a dessert. The protein, carb, and good fat in the meal ensure that my treat is satisfying. It also means my insulin will spike less from the sugar.
  2. Choose only my very favorite things. Thanksgiving included several pies, a lemon cake, cookies, and even more cookies. I had to choose between my fave pecan pie and tasting the gluten free lemon cake my friend baked.
  3. Choose only “one thing” at each meal where you choose to indulge. I suck at making choices sometimes. I split the difference and had a half-slice of pie and half-slice of cake. At brunch I had the french toast casserole instead of toast for my carb.
  4. Portion control. Monitor your serving size. Give yourself 20 minutes before having seconds. Seconds should still be serving-sized.
  5. Use some low-alcohol consumption tips: choose less caloric options (maybe a glass of wine instead of that egg nog?, a sugar free mixer?), alternate alcoholic drinks with water or a mocktail (sparkling water with a splash of cranberry and a slice of orange for garnish looks pretty in a highball glass)
  6. Carry on carrying on.  Don’t compensate for any extra calories you consume. One or two meals don’t make or break you. It’s what you do day after day after day that impacts how you feel and whether your clothes fit. Use some creativity to carve out time to stick to your regular exercise routing. I like to use Amazon Prime and avoid the crowds. Time I save shopping equals more time for the gym.
  7. Bring side dishes to the event. A salad, a vegetable platter, a sugar free desert allow you to fill up with nutrient density and avoid the richer stuff.

Little things add up. Doing a group activity with friends and family takes the focus off of food and on to sharing time with loved ones. Creating some healthy traditions can help you continue feeling well over the holiday

 

Waiting list

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My early adopter coaching test group is full! I have a limited number of waiting list spots for the soft rollout of laurajsmart.health. Wait listers will get a coaching package at a significant discount for beta testing the business systems after the “go live” date.  You can add yourself to the sign up list at http://bit.ly/laurajsmarthealth. I will be sending you an email update on the soft launch about once per week.

Counting down to official launch

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As you can see, the blog is underway in soft rollout mode. The plan is to get the graphic design and web development on track, using the Genesis framework. For now, the look and feel is using a template called writee. It’s tempting to mess around with the configuration and make it look all nice and stuff. Because that’s fun. What really needs to happen is outsourcing the cosmetics to others. Time is money and the focus has to be on the money making activities. The news feed needs to be on track for a January/February marketing blitz. Subscribers want to see an archive of regular posts to feel confident in subscribing. There are tons of posts in draft mode and they need to be trickled out on a regular schedule.

Content creators need to create content.

Other stuff still in process: legal paperwork, program development, individual coaching, sales calls, course development, photo shoot.

Living the dream people, I’m living the dream.