This Avocado Toast, Latte and Red Velvet Cookie have nothing to do with the blog, but look (and were) yummy, and were courtesy of The Juniper Tree Coffee Shop, Eagle, PA.
When I was a kid, I used to come home from school and eat Doritos like it was my job. The salty, cheesy, spicy taste was my favorite thing in the world. And I still had the build of a stick-insect.
In high school, I wasn’t into sports but walked around the farms where I lived.
At my city university, I ate pizza, ramen noodles, beer—anything a college kid could afford. I walked miles day from my apartment to school, sometimes to the art store, everywhere, I walked. Still skinny.
When I moved to Florida, my lifestyle got considerably more sedentary. A new friend of mine made fried chicken with a Corn Flakes crust, three-cheese mac and cheese and ‘coffee drinks’. Her coffee drinks were thick, creamy concoctions of ¾ cream, ¼ coffee, ice, sugar, whipped cream, and sugar to top it off.
After months of dinners like this and hanging out to watch Highlander or La Femme Nikita (the original tv series), I was shocked when I saw photos of myself: my head was getting smaller. I was not a stick-insect anymore.
Throughout my life, I sat for hours on end making art, but now I had to reconsider my lifestyle, especially as someone who had to be sedentary for much of the day drawing, painting or writing.
‘They’ (the scientists called ‘they’) say weight loss is about 80% diet and 20% moving/working out. But how can you adjust your life as an artist, and stay healthy while doing the inevitable job description of ‘sitting there’?
In future blogs, I’ll get more detailed about recipe, workout and other hacks. For now, it’s all preparation: preparing healthy food beforehand and making appointments with yourself to MOVE, whether that means an actual workout or walking or some kind of ‘not-sitting’.
Today, here’s a recipe I use for a second and fourth meal (if you do the 6 meals a day), or a snack in between meals:
Christine’s Art Break Muffins
Preheat oven to 350°.
- 12 tbsp oat bran
- 4 eggs
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 12 tbsp no- or lowfat yogurt (plain, or your favorite flavor)
- ¼ cup walnuts
- 4 tbsp cinnamon
- ¼ cup blueberries or other fruit (dried or fresh; be sure to mince larger fruit)
Mix ingredients together. Pour into muffin tins or silicon muffin cups on a cookie sheet or baking pan. Bake for 15-18 minutes.
These muffins are low-carb and stave off hunger. Just remember to keep them refrigerated if you won’t be eating them for a day or more.
