How I became Oprah's Ultimate Viewer

“What does it mean to be an ‘Ultimate Viewer?” People have asked me what I wrote to Oprah to earn a spot on her “Ultimate Australian Adventure.” I wrote Oprah a heartfelt “thank-you” letter about how her show dramatically influenced my life.

Twenty-seven years ago, my Mother was a freshman at Bangor Christian High School in Maine.  At the delicate age of 15 she was pregnant with me.  Many people had negative opinions about my Mom and her pregnancy, and she was even kicked out of school for her sin.  You see, we all (me included) judge others decisions and decide what is “good” and “bad” for other people.  Twenty-seven years ago, I am pretty certain that most people thought that my mother’s pregnant belly was very, very, very “bad.”

My Mom enjoyed watching Oprah, and she always let me watch the show (some parents may think the show is too mature for young children).  Something about Oprah and her ability to connect with people from every background, race, and circumstance drew me to her.  I trusted her.  I did not know her, but I deeply respected her.

I continued to watch Oprah as I grew up (before DVR, watching Oprah daily was nearly impossible-but, thanks to modern technology, now, I don’t have to miss one show!)  Her show taught me that anything is possible in life.  Negative experiences in our lives do not define us.  Greatness has many meanings, and everyone is capable of greatness.

My favorite Oprah series is “Live Your Best Life” where Oprah taught me not only the importance of healthy relationships, finances, exercise, eating, and careers, but how to have them all!

When I graduated nursing school, I secured a job at an RN on a cardiac telemetry unit.  Almost immediately, I recognized a critical emergency in our health care system.  In health care, we like to “fix” everyone by giving them high-cost medical interventions, medication, and acute care.  But, I couldn’t help but think “what if nurses promoted Oprah’s teachings in practice?  If people had less stress because they were exercising, eating well, managing their finances, and enjoying positive relationships, would we have less disease?  Could the system save billions of dollars? Would patients be happier?”  I believe YES! 

I immediately started searching for a way to bring “wellness-care” into health care and nursing practice.  I quit my job at the hospital without another one lined up!  Most people thought I was wicked stupid!  They didn’t believe that “wellness” had anything to do with nursing.  Random strangers on the street would tell me that I wasn’t a nurse if I didn’t work in a hospital.  Nurses told me I was “ruining” my career.

Three years later, I earned a Master’s Degree in Nursing.  Then I was accepted under a fully funded grant in the PhD nursing program at Northeastern University to research wellness in nursing practice. 

Oprah taught me to chase dreams, fulfill your passions, and stay true to yourself.  I am living proof that great things can happen in life (even vacationing in Australia with Oprah!).  Some people thought my Mom rearing me at 15 was a “bad” decision, but I don’t think I am all that bad after all. 

Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventure series begins at 4pm EST TODAY! 

 

Thou Shalt Not Waste: Funky Tortilla Casserole

 

I used to grocery shop aimlessly! I would throw a few Cheeze-Its and sale items in the cart and top it off with a couple of bananas and call it a trip.  I had no rhyme or reason to my madness.  Consequently, James and I ate more, spent more, and threw away more than we both realized.

James prepping the casserole (he tolerates my pink needs)

Today we have a strict $500 per month food budget.  Food is EXPENSIVE, but we learned that meal planning is one of the best tricks to stay within our food budget.  We literally have a plan for every piece of food we buy.  Some call us insane, and I would agree.  However, I am proud of our meticulous food planning skills, and I will tell you why.

  

1.     More than half the food produced in our country is wasted, I am happy that we waste little to NO food, EVER

2.     We feed our bodies exactly what they need

3.     We save TONS of $$ which translates to paying down DEBT

4.     We don’t stress about “what’s for dinner?” every night because we already know!

5.     We have fun cooking at home and eating our crazy healthy food concoctions

I have the easiest, most delicious super food recipe to share!  This recipe was approved by my Dad, my siblings, and our two great friends in Boston- it’s a keeper!

This funky tortilla casserole is packed with seven super foods: beans, spinach, whole wheat, tomatoes, chicken and yogurt!  You will get six healthy servings from the dish; James and I eat one casserole for dinner for three nights. The homemade salsa used to create this dish yields about five or six cups, so we always plan another dinner that requires salsa.

Funky Tortilla Casserole- fresh from the oven!

Bone Appetite!

 
Print Recipe Here:  Funky Tortilla Casserole
Print salsa recipe here:  Homemade Salsa

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

I can confidently say that 2010 was the best year of my 27 years.  I lived an unimaginable dream in December when I vacationed in Australia for 10 days with Oprah Winfrey.  Even as I write this blog, I find it hard to wrap my head around the fact that I met and hugged Oprah Winfrey.  In July, I told James that meeting Oprah was impossible, now I believe that anything is possible.

My experiences in 2010 did not come without challenges.  James and I moved from our home state that we know and love to the city.  We both embraced incredible challenges in our first semester as graduate students at Northeastern University.  Through most of the months of September through December, we both believed that we made a terrible decision to pursue our PhDs.  I suffered severe insomnia, and I went as many as seven days without sleeping (on more than one occasion).  I did not even know what a good night sleep felt like for about four months.

As I reflect back on 2010, I realized that the last part of the year my stress and uncertainty was a result of imbalance in my life.  I cannot maintain happiness and productivity in my life if I put all of my energy into one small piece of my life.  In 2011, I vow to put education and my career in it’s place in my life.  The rest of my life I hope to fill with joy and experiences with my friends and family.

I look forward to sharing more amazing super food recipes and positive experiences of my life in the crazy city of Boston.

2010 highlights:

·      James and I trained for and completed two triathlons

·      We moved from Maine to Massachusetts to pursue PhDs at Northeastern University

·      I attended traveled to Chicago with my Mom to view the season premier taping of the Oprah Winfrey show

·      James lived one of his dreams to vacation in Australia

·      We met amazing new friends and neighbors

·      I ran with my sister in her first 5K race

·      I met Oprah!!!

The "O" for Oprah on the Sydney Harbor Bridge, Australia

Kangaroo Island, Australia- The most beautiful place in the world

First day of School

Moving to the City

Karrie's first 5K

I hope 2011 will bring more surprises and happiness, and I really hope to pay off our remaining debt and celebrate the feeling of being DEBT FREE!

 

23 Power House Foods that Dropped my Husband's "BAD" cholesterol 46 POINTS!!

Do you think you could eat super foods most of the time? Six months ago, James and I set out on a “Super food adventure!” We pledged to consume nothing but super foods for one week. Well, one week turned into two and before long, we decided to devote our eating habits to super foods.



Why did we decide to embark on such a seemingly radical adventure? For starters, I read a significant amount of research about the health benefits associated with super foods and since James is a good husband and listens to me talk endlessly, he thought: “if these foods are so great for you, why don’t we just eat them!?”

Even though Super foods are grounded in evidence based research, I never imagined that we would experience personal and drastic health benefits from eating them!




I am here to scream from the mountain tops the value of eating a diet rich with super foods! Why? Because here are the facts: our healthcare system is collapsing around us, we must eat to survive, we CHOOSE our own healthcare, why wouldn’t we want to feed our body the best medicine on earth: food, specifically nutrient-rich, power house, super foods?



Six months ago James had his cholesterol drawn, below are his results (good thing he isn’t a modest husband, here I go plastering his personal information over the internet!)

(12/2009)

Total Cholesterol: 172

HDL (healthy cholesterol, the more you have the better). 50

LDL (loser cholesterol, the less you have the better). 116

SIX MONTHS & LOADS OF SUPER FOODS LATER (06/2010)

Total Cholesterol: 145

HDL: 55

LDL: 70

James total cholesterol DROPPED 27 points, his LDL dropped 46 points, and his HDL increased 5 points!  Is that, or is that not, AMMMAZING!? We have experienced other health benefits, too: improved sleep, increased energy, increased concentration, decreased stress, improved GI, increased athletic performance, and the list goes on.... 

I included the complete list of super foods below. Each super food listed has a “partner in crime” Pratt (2009) defines these little partners as “side-kicks” meaning they have a similar nutrient profile as the defined super food. The partners in crime help to add variety to your diet.

Remember, the power of super foods exists from eating each food consistently. You cannot expect to eat a big Mac from McDonalds and wash it down with an apple and be “okay.” Super foods improve your health when you consume most of them daily. Trust me, if James and I can make this happen, you can make it happen, too!!



Original 14 Super foods & Their Partners in crime:

Beans: all dried beans, string beans, sugar snap peas, green peas

Blueberries: purple grapes, cranberries, boysenberries, raspberries, strawberries, fresh currants, blackberries, cherries, and all other fresh or frozen berries

Broccoli: Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, turnips, cauliflower, collards, bok choy, mustard green, Swiss chard

Oats: wheat germ, ground flaxseed, brown rice, barley, wheat, buckwheat, rye millet, bulgar wheat, amaranth, quinoa, triticale, kamut, yellow corn, wild rice, spelt, couscous

Oranges: lemons, white and pink grapefruit, kumquats, tangerines, limes

Pumpkin: Carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, orange bell peppers

Salmon: Alaskan halibut, chunk light tuna, sardines, herring, trout, bass, oysters, clams

Soy: tofu, soy milk, soy nuts, edamame, tempeh, miso

Spinach: kale, collards, Swiss chard, mustard greens, turnip greens, bok-choy, romaine lettuce, orange bell peppers

Tea: green and black

Tomatoes: watermelon, pink grapefruit, Japanese persimmons, red fleshed papaya, strawberry guava

Turkey: skinless chicken breast

Walnuts: almonds, pistachios, pumpkin, sesame and sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, pecans, hazelnuts, cashews, peanuts, pine nuts, Brazil nuts

Additional research uncovered the following additional super foods & super spices

Apples: pears

Avocado: asparagus, artichokes, extra virgin olive oil

Dark Chocolate (don’t let crazy packaging fool you, real dark chocolate doesn’t really taste that great)

Dried Super Fruits: raisins, dates, prunes, figs, apricots, blueberries, cranberries, cherries, currants

Extra virgin olive oil: canola oil

Honey (the darker the better)

Kiwi: pineapple, guava

Onions: garlic, scallions, shallots, leeks, chives

Pomegranates: plums

Super Spices:

Cinnamon

Oregano

Cumin

Garlic

Thyme

Turmeric

I included a few of our favorite super food recipies below, I will continue to post more recipies as we create, taste, and give the Strout stamp of approval!
Macoronin & Cheese

Breakfast Oats Recent additions: 1 tsp cinnamon & 1 tsp honey

Pizza

Sketti & Meatballs

Meatball Sub

Shopping for superfoods on a budget!

Amazed by NAKED pizza!

James and I budget $500 per month for food (max $125/week). Most of the time, our weekly food expense is about $100, but sometimes special occasions, guests, or food gifts cause our weekly budget to tip over! Last week, with James traveling home to Bangor, our food budget tipped in the wrong direction! To recoup the losses, we were challenged to save some $$ on food this week.

Some of our most expensive food items include: cheese, meat, and vegetables. In order to maintain our budget, we had to shave about $30 off our grocery bill this week. We didn’t want to skimp on veggies, so we decided to ditch the cheese and meat.

What did this mean? NAKED PIZZA!! This delicious whole wheat pizza topped with natural pizza sauce and four veggies: mushrooms, orange pepper, onion, and spinach is not only loaded with TONS of nutrients, and saved us $$, but I honestly was amazed that I didn’t notice the missing CHEESE! WOOT WOOT!!


"The wise man should consider that health is the greatst of human blessings.  Let food be your medicine."  Hippocrates

"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun!"

Mary Lou Cook

[This week’s grocery bill= $70.15, I am NOT lying!!!] YAY, WE’RE GETTING OUT OF DEBT! Plus, we are EATING HEALHTY!!! BAAAABY!!!