A Friendly Nudge
...because we all could use a little encouragement!
Writing and posting content about fitness and movement means that I’ve heard from a lot of people that wish they’d started paying more attention to their health, strength and mobility earlier. Their responses motivated me to keep posting the daily exercise snacks on social media but to also launch A Friendly Nudge to insure that getting my message out doesn’t solely depend on the whims of the various social media algorithms.
I think movement is critical to our well being, but our health and how we feel take a hit if we ignore the quality of our food or shortchange our recovery.
I’m a little less dogmatic about food than I used to be, but I still think we benefit from eating food that is a single ingredient, like steak, chicken or broccoli instead of food with a list of ingredients that only a food scientist could love or pronounce. But as you’ll see in this week’s food video, I’ll have a piece of sourdough on occasion and I'm pretty sure the wheels won’t fall off.
I want to talk a little about recovery because I think it’s essential to how we feel and perform and for years it was almost treated as an afterthought..
Years ago, I literally said that I’d sleep when I’m dead.
My insulin resistance, heart disease and cancer convinced me that I might want to rethink my strategy. Years later when I read Matthew Walker’s, Why We Sleep. His explanation about the consequences of prolonged sleep deprivation resonated with my own experience.
I’m convinced that recovery goes beyond just making sure that we get enough sleep every night. My balance has gotten a lot better with deliberate practice. How much better could my emotional health get if I got a little more intentional about things like gratitude, mindfulness and self compassion.
Something to think about, but now let’s show some appreciation for the lowly sardine.
Giving sardines another chance…
I love smoked salmon and we almost always have some in the freezer for those times when I want something effortless and delicious.
But a few weeks ago I was listening to an interview with restaurateur and humanitarian Jose Andres and he mentioned that one of his favorite simple meals was sardines on toast.
I decided that since Bar Harbor smoked kipper snacks were tasty, I needed to give sardines another chance.
This one is going to be pretty simple.
Ingredients:
1 piece of hearty bread toasted - I used a piece of stale sourdough rye.
1 can of Nuri Spicy Sardines in Olive Oil
2 eggs - fried
Butter
Spinach
Tomatoes
Olive Oil 3 parts
Red Wine Vinegar 1 part
Dijon Mustard - 1 squirt
1 tbsp ginger, scallion, jalapeno topping we made on 12/09/23 (I’ve made a few batches since then)
While the bread is toasting, add one part of red wine vinegar and 3 parts olive oil, a squirt or two of Dijon mustard and if you have a recent batch, add a tablespoon of the ginger, scallion, jalapeno sauce that we made in December. Combine all of that with an immersion blender or give it a good shake in a sealed container.
Place your sardines and the olive oil that’s in the tin on your piece of toast and top them with the eggs that you just fried.
Dress your salad and now you have a simple, nutrient dense, but delicious meal.