The Health Kick Chick

Musings on my weight loss journey, workouts, recipes and maintenance.

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#mood

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Naturally Slim - Week 4

I watched the video on H2Orange again and decided to take the plunge. The drink is supposed to help keep your blood sugars in line a little more so you’re less likely to crash -- or need to snack. It’s not great. Imagine you have a cup of orange juice and start rinsing out the glass then decide to take a swig. 

. 

But, I decided, I’m in for a penny, in for a pound (literally) so I drank the H2Orange and after a few days, kinda got used to it. I think I did drink a little more water than I normally would’ve but I tend to drink a lot of water anyway and it was hard to tell because it’s been so hot and maybe that’s also why I’m drinking more? 

I added in some exercise this week b/c that is the focus. I walked mainly with some yoga for stretching. I haven’t really exercised since the start of the year so my hips are super sore. 

I reintroduced sweets into my diet and...bad idea. Bad bad bad idea. I polished off 2 slices of coconut cake, 1 slice of birthday cake, 1/2 of a ginormous blueberry muffin, 3 scoops of ice cream and malai kulfi all in one week. That’s more desert in one week than I’d normally eat in an entire month. I’m not even PMSing so there’s really no excuse for it but whatever.

 I don’t think I’ve mentioned the focus on lowering your “set point”. So a huge part of this program is getting your body to a lower set point by shrinking your stomach thereby lowering the amount of food needed to keep you at goal weight. Chewing slowly, taking breaks and stopping when full is supposed to get you there. It sounded woo woo at first but I get it. I’m at the point now where the thought of chewing more really kind of feels like a chore. I think I’m getting to a point where I feel like I’m consistently getting full on smaller amounts of food. One of the videos on lowering your set point, Marcia says “if you’re not willing to chew slowly for 6 weeks, you can’t be slim while eating regular foods.” I def like not having to track my calories so I’ll push through.

It’s confusing because the last couple of weeks, I’ve been asked if I used my food diary but there’s no real prompt or mention in any of the materials to use a food diary. I have my Happy Planner Fitness Planner handy (I actually got the box kit last year during their end of year planner clearance but either one will work). They’re undated but it doesn’t matter because I just add a page to the middle of my week.

I’m not tracking weights, measures, etc. aside from how many cups of water I drink per day. On the days that I did the H2Orange, I tracked that also --or at least I’ll start tracking that to see how it goes. 

I’m starting over tomorrow and that’s the best I can do for myself. This week, we focused on sugar, salt and alcohol in your diet. In talking about added sugars,  Marcia counts out how many teaspoons are in a can of soda. Teaspoon  by teaspoon she gets this incredulous almost Infomercial Silly look on her face of incredulity. 

Sugar is the bane of our existence, yes we know. She also names fruit sugars as something to limit which...I dunno. They’re not saying don’t eat fruit but just be mindful of it.  I’ve done the No S diet for almost 18  months and gotten very comfortable with limiting my sugar so it shouldn’t be too hard to limit my intake. I’m allowning myself 2 sweets a week. I went on the forum, called NSTown to ask people how they managed their sweets intake. Almost everyone said that after the sugar ‘detox’ they rarely have sugar or they make sure that they have sweets as part of a meal and not on it’s own. ‘It should take you as long to finish a dessert as it would a meal: 10-5-10′ they say (meaning 10 minutes to eat, 5 minute break, resume eating for 10 more minutes). I’ll try that next week.

Weight change: -.8 lb

[healthkickchick]

Mood

Cake is the first sweetened food I’ve had in 21 days and Marcia knows.  🍰 🍰 🍰

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Naturally Slim - Week 3

There are other people besides Marcia on the videos. Todd and Dr. Church who break down the more medical side of things. They also focus on exercise, which is the new ‘skill’ to focus on this week. There’s no calorie/POINTS counting on the plan so it’s not like you have to focus on carrying a deficit. This is a more holistic approach where you should be focusing on building exercise into your lifestyle. This I like.

My reason for exercising is because I like being flexible, I want to be fit and I want to look amazing clothed or naked.

For me, that means dance, kickboxing (especially the TurboKick/Fire workouts), yoga and walking. I should say strength training but I don’t really love strength training. I do it because I know I should but I don’t do it as often as I should. I don’t enjoy pouring down in sweat because I sweat in my scalp and it pours into my eyes and stings like mad. It also makes my hair look lifeless and frizzy until I can wash it and frankly, there are enough exercises I *can* do so those 4 are my jam.

One thing to note about this program is that 10 days after your week starts, your lessons are removed and you get something called ‘refresher’ videos that are similar in content but shorter and focus on the key points from the week before’s lesson. 

I’m missing sweets. I went to two graduation parties this weekend and Mr. Softee was around. I wanted nothing more than a slice of cake and a vanilla cone with rainbow sprinkles. Nothing says the start of summer like Mr. Softee.

 But lo! I moved away from the dessert table and sat near my mom and chatted instead. I was so full from the food anyway that I knew any sweets would not be a good idea. 

I did my skills check and managed to get better about chewing slowly at most meals, stopping for a break while chewing and stopping when full. I’ve been getting full quickly and leaving more and more food behind. Even at my favorite Italian restaurant, I ate as slowly as I could until I felt comfortably full with my usual order of bowties with tomato garlic cream sauce, sundried tomatoes and seafood. I left a little more than half behind and had it for leftovers the next day. Normally, I polish off the entire bowl in one sitting. I’ve dined out several times on the plan in my favorite eateries and left behind: 2 slices of margherita pizza, 2 bites of a felafel in a pita, an entire serving of coleslaw, half of an enchilada, almost all of the rice from the rice and beans (guess what? I mainly love the beans!) and most of the pint of green jade tofu with brown rice and more. I rarely leave behind servings in my favorite restaurants and never in such a sequence.

And this is mostly because I am sick to death of chewing. Sick of it. I look at food like how long will that take me to chew? LMAO. It’s a progress but if I don’t have to count calories/POINTS, I’ll be a trooper. But I noticed that chewing something until it dissolves is nauseating and more than once, I’ve felt queasy during a meal from thinking about it. I’ve gotten better at putting my food or the fork/spoon down between bites. This causes me to not shovel everything in my mouth. Last week my pledge was to focus on eating one food at a time on my plate and I did for at least 90% of my meals. 

At the graduation party, I ate slowly while chatting with everyone tasting a little bit of everything I’d selected. I couldn’t finish all of the food on my plate and covered it with a napkin so I wouldn’t be tempted to keep picking at it. An hour later, I was still full -- well, stuffed actually but I didn’t eat my entire portion and normally I would’ve so I still count that as a win.

I also learned about vital needs this week. These are needs you’ll need met to improve your quality of life and reduce stress. I picked the 7/25 that are most important to me. I’m fully sure yet what I’m supposed to do with this information besides being aware of them there they are:

This week, my pledge is to continue eating just one food at a time on my plate.

Weight change: -1 lb

[healthkickchick]

Naturally Slim - Week 2

Each weight loss program is hard in it’s own way. Calorie/POINTS counting requires sticking to your daily allotment and notating it, portion control requires meal prep, other plans require eliminating entire food groups or food altogether. Naturally Slim requires you to chew the crap out of your food. 

When I logged in this week to check in, I entered my weight (more on that later) and did a skills check test which asked if I chewed my food slowly, ate till I was comfortably full, and ate one food at a time. It also asked if I kept a food diary but it turns out that was a system bug. 

I spent the past 7 days mindfully chewing my food slowly till it dissolved in my mouth. There is nothing sexy about that. I literally got to a point where I thought, mmm, this veggie burger would go well with some dill pickles. Shit! But then I’d have to chew them. Ya. So the pickles stayed in their container because I had chewing fatigue. Non scale victory.

This week, the focus is on identifying your hunger levels and not eating if you’re not hungry. Prior to this plan, you may recall that I was on the No S diet for about a 18 months. In that time, I lost 6 lbs and felt frustrated as I saw the weight slowing down no matter how stringent I was about abstaining from snacks, seconds and sweets that weren’t on “S” days. There are tons of people on the awesome Facebook and No S message boards who gave me so much advice who lost gobs and gobs of weight but at some point, my losses slowed to a grind even with exercise. The one great takeaway from the plan is that I learned not to snack and not to eat sweets throughout the week which has been serving me well this week as I avoid sweets altogether and focus on my hunger signals.

This week’s lesson is on hydration, eating only when you’re at a hunger level that you’re hungry but not famished and using approved “Hunger Savers”. The hunger savers Marcia points out, aren’t snacks but foods to tide you over only in instances where you’re creeping into famished territory but can’t eat a full meal. The list includes a set amount of peanut products, strawberries, popcorn, meat, jerky, hard boiled eggs, fiber cereal and edamame. I bought some Skinny Pop and peanuts. You’re still supposed to chew these foods slowly over 10 minutes which kind of kills your desire to overeat them.

You also learn this week that eating when you’re hungry means paying attention to your body. Maybe your body doesn’t need breakfast. Or maybe you need breakfast but not lunch. Either way, just take note of this. I stopped eating breakfast most days last year when I realized I wasn’t always hungry for breakfast so this isn't’ a really big change for me. 

As for hydration, I learned about H2Orange, a 1:7 dilution of not-from-concentrate orange juice with water. You can drink plain water if you like (and I do) but the drink is from the American Academy of Sports Medicine and touted as a great way to keep your blood sugar from dipping too low. If you’re doing a lot of exercise, you can put a pinch or two of salt in it. I’ll pass for now.

I finally downloaded the app and...I don’t really love it. 

The one thing I’d really use the app for is the eating timer where you can time your meals and take a break from chewing. I don’t know that I’d use the message boards on my phone since I can do that on my desktop/laptop or watch the videos on my tablet since I can cast them to my Smart TV. I’ll stick with it a little while longer because it’s still new but I’m finding the timer glitchy. 

I lost this week. I’m happy I did but still hesitant because I’ve lost weight on every single diet I’ve ever done on the first week. There are scientific reasons for that but still, a loss is a loss and I’m happy.

This week I took a pledge to commit to one food activity over the course of the next week that I’d focus on and it’s eating one food at a time. That’s still something I have to remind myself to do.

Weight change: -2 lbs

[healthkickchick]

On Naturally Slim - Week 1

So, I started a program this week called Naturally Slim. 

I came across this program when a woman on my favorite message board mentioned how her husband worked at a Texan university and signed up for the program. He lost 40lbs in 6 months without any shakes, pills, powders. Okay, so that’s not really impressive, right? Because a lot of plans nowadays rely on calories, POINTS or eliminating entire food groups. But this plan didn’t do that either. That got my attention. She started doing just some of what he was doing and lost over 20 lbs herself.  I badgered her with twenty questions then went down a YouTube rabbit hole of watching videos and trying to get more about the program from blogs.

Most of the blogs looked or felt sponsored so I wasn’t sure. I did a little more searching and came across another woman on that same message board who was 2 months into the program and had lost 14 lbs of stubborn baby weight. Now that made me pay attention. So, I took the plunge after 4 weeks of research and badgering those lovely ladies.

I’ll start out by saying that this post is *not* sponsored by Naturally Slim nor did they ask me to write or endorse them in any way. I spend my hard earned money on this plan. I was hoping my Flexible Savings Account (FSA) would cover it but they only cover weight loss plans if my doctor okays it. The FSAstore website says:

You're only able to use your FSA funds for a weight loss program if the purpose is to treat, mitigate, cure, diagnose or prevent a specific illness. This condition needs to be diagnosed by a physician and may include conditions such as obesity, heart disease and hypertension. 

I have my annual doctor’s appointment next month and will broach the subject with him then. I have hundreds of dollars on my account and if this can eat up some of the money so I don’t have do a mad dash on Dec 31 to use it all up, it would be awesome.

But back to Naturally Slim. You register on their website. At the time I joined, I was given an option between their sale of $399 or doing one of the payment plans. I did the $50 a month for 6 months payment plan because I thought hey, if this doesn’t work out, I’m not out a lump sum of cash. It’ll work out to be more expensive if it does work but if it doesn’t, I’m okay with that. I did Weight Watchers on an off for a decade and paid an average over the years of $42 a month for unlimited meetings + online access then around $20 a month when I did online only. Naturally Slim is a one time payment, meaning there are no annual or monthly fees once you finish paying once you’re quoted so that sounded good to me.

I filled out a questionnaire about my gender, height, age, weight loss goals, medical conditions, etc. so they can customize the plan for me. Then I got my confirmation email and a welcome kit in the mail a week later (and forgot to take a picture of it).

Inside the welcome kit is a mini pack of plain Pringles, peanuts, measuring tape and a sort of manual. It was $12 and there was no way to opt out of it. Frankly, I wish they’d have just mailed me the manual for the cost of shipping and saved the fancy display but whatever.

The program is entirely digital and is a year long. Thee’s a 10 week foundation program. You get weekly videos and lessons to learn new skills. Then you’re phased into NS4You which is also 10 weeks long and is called a “reinforcement program.” I’m not sure what that means, honestly. Finally, you finish the program with a 6 month series called NS4Life where you focus on maintenance with monthly videos. I’m not sure what happens if you’re not at maintenance by the 6 month plan but I’ll keep you informed throughout the process, as usual.

When you login get to a dashboard where you can start watching the videos, join the community, view the PDFs of the pages in your manual, post your weigh in or download the iOs or Android apps. You’re supposed to get bloodwork done and a doctors appointment so you can do a sort of baseline but I didn’t because #AintNobodyGotTimeForThat.

The first few videos explain the programs. You’ll meet Marcia Upson, the creator of this plan. She’s a Family Nurse Practitioner and is very much a Southern belle. She reminds me of someone you’d meet at Joel Osteen’s church:

I don’t mind Southern accents, in fact I like them. Marcia’s accent doesn’t grate on me much but I notice right away she’s a little corny and comfortable with it which makes me dislike her. But I don’t distrust her. There’s a 14ish minute exercise on chewing your food and tasting your food with the welcome kit foods. I’ve never chewed food so much in my life. You’re also given information on how naturally slim or “true thins” approach their meals versus fatties. I’m also a little surprised by how little I notice food when I eat. I don’t notice how it tastes all the time because I’m eating and enjoying it. But when you’ve chewed a peanut for 30 seconds, you really start to notice the nuances of it. 

The program places great emphasis on not shying away from any foods you love, just focus on how you eat them and when. I thought there was a catch -- and there still may be, I’m only in week one -- but I hope not. For this week, my homework is to eat my food slowly, divide up large portions on my plate and most importantly eat only one food at a time. 

The homework is simple but not easy. I had lunch shortly after starting the plan and had Gardein tenders, salad, and mashed potatoes. I started working around the plate in my usual fashion and stopped myself. I was also chewing way too fast. So I took a breath and started eating just the mashed potatoes, chewing that very slowly and moving it around my mouth to saturate my taste buds. Then I got to the tenders and did the same. By the time I took a break from the chewing, I was starting to feel full. I resumed eating and could only eat some more of the tenders and the salad before feeling like I was comfortably full. I looked at my plate in shock. I’ve eaten this meal at least 20 times before and know I can easily polish off 4 tenders, about a cup of mashed potatoes and 3 cups of salad no problem. But I left behind half a tender, half a cup of mashed potatoes and none of the salad. And not on purpose. 

If this keeps up, this will be awesome for my waistline. My old Weight Watchers meeting leader used to say “when you leave a little behind, you’ll have a little behind.” I hope the scale reflects my efforts next week. 

 Oh, and I can’t eat sweetened foods for 21 days, whether real or artificial sugars.

[healthkickchick]

Change: -.2 lb

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EatSmart Precision Digital Bathroom Scale w/ Extra Large Lighted Display (not affiliated) I just bought this scale two weeks ago to weigh in on. I originally bought an analog scale but returned it because I figured on a diet where the losses may be slow, I’d still like to see if I lost even 0.2 lbs. The hatch marks for the analog scale were so tiny that I needed to bend over or squat down with my glasses on to see the numbers. With this extra large readout, I don’t need to. The scale also comes with this handy measurement tape but I rarely ever use these things.

I'm 21 days into the No S diet and am noticing small but significant changes. The other day, I realized that I felt gross when I pigged out...something I rarely feel. So, I ate a more fiber filled but substantial meal the next sitting. Also, when I was working on a project with a coworker, she pulled out a bag of cherries she just bought at the farmers market and asked if I wanted some. I did but it wasn't meal time and I thought "I wasn't hungry for cherries when I came over here" so I told her no. Sure, they're just cherries but a snack is a snack. I count that a non scale victory. I also started doing some fun Barre workout videos in the evenings. I also plan to incorporate back in yoga and walking. I'll post the videos next time. Change: -1.8 lbs

[healthkickchick]

Starting over...again

In the almost 3 years since I last posted, so much has changed in my life. Along the way, I lost my drive to be fit and struggled hard on my fitness and health journey. I wanted to post about it, I did. But then I thought, who the hell would want to hear some chick posting on and on about her failed attempt to move her butt and stick with a diet plan? Boring! And yet, we all struggle so here I am. Laying myself bare.

I decided 2 weeks ago to love myself enough to make a change in the way I eat, to start working out again and to love myself back to goal. 

I’ve decided that I don’t have the patience, desire or attention span for calorie counting. I tried that over and over again and wasn’t successful. Weight Watchers also lost a Lifetime member with their repeated updates and program changes. 

I only look for a few basic things in any weight loss program. It must be:

Sustainable - I have to be able to stick with it not just to lose 10 lbs before a big event but for the next 20 years, at the minimum.

Inclusive - I’m not giving up entire food groups to lose weight.

Affordable - As much as I think I’d love to spend hundreds of dollars just to get thin, that’s not going to happen. I’m not going to go to drive all over God’s earth just to find ingredients/foods either.

And the newest addition to my list is:

It can’t involve counting/tracking - It just isn’t intuitive to me anymore and there are millions if not billions of people who maintain a healthy weight without apps or food journals

So what does that leave for me? The No S Diet. 

And yes, that little badge pretty much sums up the entire diet. I know you may be thinking, that’s not going to work. You need to do much more than that to lose weight! But do you? I think about how many calories I’d cut out a day by just not eating snacks. I usually have a snack of string cheese before breakfast on my commute and then a piece of fruit with or without nut butter either between lunch and dinner. Then I’d have a scoop of ice cream for dessert. By conservative estimate, that’s roughly 400 calories saved daily. You can, however, indulge on some “S” days (an “S” day is defined as either Saturday, Sunday or a “special” day). It’s not a cheat day, however as the diet creator just warns that you don’t overdo it.  

I did overdo it the first two weekends I was on the diet and still lost but I felt sick to my stomach on Saturday and will have to learn to do better. It’s all a process. 2 weeks in, I’ve already learned where my sore spots are and have to focus on them. Moderation is a bitch to learn! On the process, I’m also learning to be okay with hunger. I’m not starving and my body will equalize. At least, that’s what I tell myself when my tummy rumbles.

Now, for the hard part. You’re not going to lose a ton of weight per week on this diet (allegedly, as with any diet it’s YMMV). I’m okay with that. I figure that I either continue not doing anything or caring and staying neutral or I make a change and lose slowly. The average is 1/2 pound per week, which in all honesty is what WW promoted when I was a member. I’m sure some weeks will be higher or lower but given my general malaise, I’d rather lose 13 lbs a year not tracking or counting vs 50 otherwise. Also, I can see myself on this for decades to come. It’s how my grandparents ate and they lived well into their 80′s.

My next step is to get better about fitness. I resolved this year to get to 10k steps daily but had an allergic reaction to the nickel in my Fitbit and never continued. I will, however, commit to doing dance, walking or yoga as my forms of exercising (of course with some strength training thrown in).

Wish me luck! 

Change: -0.60 lb

[healthkickchick]

" can set numerous micronutrients to track, see a daily readout of whether or not I’m on track to reaching that goal (above chart) and what my caloric breakdown looks like over the course of the day (below chart)." Just wanted to let you know that you CAN do all of these things with MFP! It's all in the 'food' settings.

You are correct. However, MFP only allows you to display 5 nutrients. And not necessarily something you'd like to track like Riboflavin or Manganese. Only the "biggies" like calories, fat, fiber, etc.

[healthkickchick]

I've not been doing C25K.

I've not been counting calories.

I've been walking a lot and "watching what I eat". On the plus side, I haven't gained any weight. On the minus side, I haven't lost any weight. 

I'm in a state of stasis and working on everything but my weight right now. 

#HonestyIsTheBestPolicy

[healthkickchick]

No foil no oil slow cooker roasted beets

So a few weeks ago, I let you in on how I roast beets in a slow cooker. I was chatting with my friend, Y, and she was shocked.

"I just wash them off and throw them in the crockpot."

"No foil?"

"No foil, no oil. It's too messy and wastes the oil."

"Ok, but how does it peel?"

"The same. You use the oil and then you have to peel it off. Try it my way"

I did and lo! It's the absolute same exact texture, consistency and yum.

#LazyCookingWin

[healthkickchick]

I've been meal planning for a few months now because I hate running around after a long day's work trying to figure out what I should cook. Because 9 times out of 10, when I get frazzled the answer is almost always cereal. 

So now, after I go grocery shopping, I decide what I can use to make meals either from recently bought foods or from frozen. Supreme meal planners buy groceries based on the items they've pre-planned for the week but I'm not there yet.

Here's a great meal planning guide that I keep in a stack in the drawer under the microwave. It even has a section that'll help me remember what I need to pick up last minute or prep for the following day.

[healthkickchick]

There will always be a special place in my heart for SparkPeople. As cool and *now* as MyFitnessPal is, it has limitations. With SparkPeople, I can set numerous micronutrients to track, see a daily readout of whether or not I'm on track to reaching that goal (above chart) and what my caloric  breakdown looks like over the course of the day (below chart). I can't with MyFitnessPal. 

I also like that when you're tracking over a week, you'll get a weekly readout that'll show you whether or not you're meeting your own pre-defined micro and macronutrient goals. Maybe you were over-indulging on cheese one day and got too much calcium. Two days later, you ate like crap and got almost none. It'll show you that, overall, maybe you're evening out. I need that. 

I'm still pausing C25K due to the numerous heat waves we've had in our area but I will focus on tracking and getting in some sort of exercise. I'm pledging to do 30 days of tracking my food intake. The good, the bad and the ugly. Days 1 done!

[healthkickchick]

I wanted to make some beet salad to go with the honey mustard salmon for dinner tonight. And some fresh corn is definitely appealing too, right? Though I wouldn't get home in time to cook the corn, the beets *and* the salmon before I dropped from exhaustion/starvation. So the lazy cooker in me decided to stack the corn on top of the beets in the crock pot. Yeah!

All the recipes I saw online for steaming corn in the slow cooker tell you to de-husk and de-silk the corn then wrap it in foil. That's dumb, why de-husk then re-husk with foil? This lady's got it figured out. 

I'll let you know how it goes.

nb: I added no water.

***Update***

Everything came out beautifully. The corn was a little starchy but I'm not sure if they would've been naturally or not. Next time (if there is a next time), I'll reduce the cooking time since my crock goes from High/Low to Warm when it's done cooking and keeps heating the food.

[healthkickchick]

I'm scared of C25K Week 5

I looked at the program for Week 5 almost 2 weeks ago now and I got spooked. 5 minute runs? In sweltering, humid ass NYC weather? No thanks. I knew that it'd get to this point but I was hoping the cool, dry weather would last and my runs would be painless. Yet, it's been about 80 degrees every morning and so humid, I wake up sweating under the fan. So I'm avoiding it.

I know I can't avoid it forever since the longer I wait is the longer I'll have to rebuild myself up but yowza, this wasn't well thought out. So I've been trying to keep my calorie intake low instead, focusing on salads for dinner. I'm a salad genius at this point! I've got all sorts of fun and healthy add-ons. I'm experimenting. My newest experiment is Beet Salad.

My beet salad is one I can have on the table in 5 minutes because a lot of the work is done before hand in the slow cooker. I hate boiled or steamed beets. Somehow the added water makes me feel like I can taste the iron in the beets and it also seems water logged. I'd rather roast. My crockpot handles that beautifully and keeps the house cool, so it's my preferred method. I'll get back to C25K Week 5 once the weather breaks but for now, Beet Salad. Beet Salad 6 cups chopped, roasted beets 1 Tb oil 1 Tb kosher salt 3 Tb minced parsley 3 Tb blue cheese or gorgonzola crumbles 3 T oil and vinegar salad dressing

Rinse beets and pat dry. I cut off the greens (but reserve them) and ends, saving an inch.

In a large bowl, place beets and drizzle with oil and salt. Toss or manhandle to distribute evenly.

Wrap each beet in a piece of aluminum foil and stack in a slow cooker.

I use lil' Bessie -- a 1.5 quart slow cooker. I put the larger ones on the bottom and stack them until the smaller ones are on top.

Roast for 5 hours on low and test for doneness. Using a paper towel or bare hands (roasted beets don't stain your hands), peel off the skin of the beets.

Chop the beets into thumb-sized pieces. Mince the parsley, using the stems as well. Place in a bowl with all the other ingredients and toss gently to incorporate. Don't overmix or else you'll end up with purple cheese. Not sexy.

Enjoy!

Note: Since much of the oil and salt is removed when the beets are peeled, the sodium, fat and calories may be inflated.