Comeback Week Three

January 28, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Finally, here is last week’s food journal: Jan 21-27.

The good news is that I am down 6 lbs. from my post-holiday high, recorded the first week in January.

What I still need to work on:

  1. Weekends. I get off regular schedule, which hurts me with workouts and water consumption more than food.
  2. Weekday Workouts. If I get my cardio and/or training early in the morning, I’m generally set for the day. I generally get all of my water in before 8 a.m. on those days, and I also have a little more flexibility. (I missed Friday last weLG_Veggiesek!)
  3. Veggies: I didn’t have the two veggies every day last week. I did do a green smoothie most mornings, but didn’t get that second one in.
  4. Animal products: Although it is more a personal preference, with the addition of Greek yogurt, I’m getting more animal proteins than I did on my best days with Traci. In addition to one Meatless Monday a week, I want to add an animal-free” day this week, too.

I am finally starting to get back into a better routine, and I feel so much better. It’s funny, but when I do better with my exercise and eating, everything seems to improve: work, attitude, productivity, etc. That is a good thing! On to week four!

 

Filed Under: Comeback Tagged With: ,

Update: Comeback Week One

January 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Food Journals: Week of January 7_2013

This was a “get my groove back” week, and as such, wasn’t a bad week at all. After a stretch with too few vegetables and too many holiday sweets, my goals were to have at least one vegetable a day and no candy. I think I met those goals, even though one or two days, it was only the vegetables in my Taco Soup, i.e. tomatoes and corn.

Today I weighed in for the first time since January 4. I was down 4.2 lbs. I expect that perhaps I’d eaten something salty before that first weigh-in as 4.2 lbs. in 10 days seems a little much. (But I’ll take it!)

More notes:

  • My new food to be OCD about is the Greek yogurt. I love it. Not so bad, I know, but it is more dairy than I usually have. The non-fat makes it a better option, but still probably best not to have it twice a day. (In my defense, usually those are crazy days when it is the easiest grab.)
  • Weekends continue to be my weakest days, generally because I’m “off schedule.”
  • Not enough veggies, I know, especially not enough leafy greens. But I had a lot more this past week than I have in a while.

Goals for the Week of January 14:
I will be traveling this week, and my goals is to not only stay on track, but to go meat-free the three days I am gone. I also want to work out at least five days this week.

 

 

Filed Under: Changes and Milestones, Comeback, Fitness/Exercise, Healthy Eating/Nutrition Tagged With: , , , ,

A Nutritionist’s Grocery Cart

September 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I’m still hoping to do a post detailing the best items for a healthy pantry, but for now, I’m loving the WebMD blog post “What’s in a Nutritionist’s Grocery Cart.”

A quick check of my kitchen shows I have the following:

  • Carrots, lettuce,watermelon,  tomatoes and nectarines (close enough to peaches!)
    Other seasonal fruit and veggies including cabbage, cherries, grapes and the “not-so-seasonal in SC” pineapple
  • Chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans and other beans, too
  • Quinoa and popcorn (just air-popped some, in fact)

But the post reminds me that:

  1. I need to find a good organic rotisserie chicken. It’s a great time saver for weeknight cooking.
  2. I can’t buy dark chocolate almonds. I can’t eat them in moderation!
  3. I need to find a good hummus recipe.
  4. We need some almond butter for a recipe Sister wants to try!

And while I’m on the subject of groceries, does anyone have a sure-fire method of keeping track of spices? Mine get stuck in the deepest recesses of the pantry where I forget about them. Only after I buy a new spice for a specific recipe do I find a duplicate already in the pantry. Not only are spices getting more expensive, but there’s only so much ground cayenne red pepper you can use!

What’s in YOUR grocery cart and/or pantry this week? Trying anything new? How do YOU organize your spices?

 

Filed Under: Healthy Eating/Nutrition Tagged With: , , , , , ,

First Great Salad I’ve Had

August 16, 2011 by 2 Comments

Yum! Grilled chicken salad from Houston’s in Atlanta. Shaved chicken, Key Lime vinaigrette made it wonderful! Hopefully the first of many great salads!

20110816-045244.jpg

Filed Under: On the Go (Post from Mobile) Tagged With: , , ,

My Salad Days

July 24, 2011 by 2 Comments

One of my goals for this week is to have 1/2 cup of leafy greens per day. And pureed in a green drink doesn’t count.

I’ve tried this before, you know. When I was 29 years old, I had a goal to learn to eat salad by the time I was 30. At the time, I was attending a Wednesday evening church service, and there was a dinner beforehand. Two children from the church were making me a salad each Wednesday, and then I’d doctor it up with “good stuff” like bacon, croutons, boiled eggs, meats and plenty of honey mustard dressing. Each Wednesday, I’d eat one more bite that the previous week. I made it to three or four bites, and then I turned thirty, when I proclaimed,”Wait, I’m 30 now. I don’t HAVE to eat salad if I don’t want to!”

The difference in then and now is remarkable. Then, I took a bunch of stuff that I didn’t like and smothered it with tastier but far less healthier toppings. Now, some 15 years later, I’m trying new things and incorporating what I like into the salad. And yes, the salads are small, but I’m learning to like what I’m eating and hope to add to it, both new ingredients and the amount of what I am eating.

It’s a work-in-progress, for sure. The first day or so, I topped lettuce with my quinoa pilaf and heated it a little to soften the crisp. When I mastered that, the next couple of days I got a grilled chicken salad at Chick-Fil-A. The first day, I just wrapped lettuce around the chicken and ate it, but then moved to eating it with a fork like a normal person. Last night, I actually made a little salad consisting of romaine, cherry tomatoes, mandarin oranges, pomegranate arils and grilled shrimp. Following is what I made on Saturday, as well as proof that I ate it all.

                       

Right now, I like a mix of fruit and vegetables, as well as the addition of a lean meat. As well as raspberry balsamic vinaigrette, on the side, of course. I also like the dark green romaine leaves, in little bited-sized pieces, not the crispy lighter leaves. This week, I hope to try to replace the lean meat with one of my red quinoa burgers or perhaps even some seasoned tofu; tomorrow, though, I’m going to a lunch meeting at Longhorn, and I’m actually excited about trying their Grilled Chicken and Strawberry Salad.

BTW, nutritionist Traci has been saying all along that she wasn’t going to release me until she and I ate a salad together. I suppose we’re getting a little closer to that day, but until this week, I told her that she’d be stuck with me for life.

In closing, I looked back at the early entries on this blog, and I think this quote froma post titled “What Will I Eat?” sums up the changes I have made in just 10 months, “…And I need to learn to eat some vegetables, which scares me. I generally only like the high-carb veggies, which I suspect will be limited. I know I can make this work, though.”

Filed Under: Changes and Milestones, Healthy Eating/Nutrition Tagged With: , , , , , ,

I LOVE This Quiche!

May 28, 2011 by 2 Comments

I can’t quite call it my own, as this recipe includes bits and pieces from a bunch of recipes, but it is GOOD!

Crust Ingredients:

  • 2 cups brown rice, cooked (I use Minute Ready to Serve because it’s fully cooked)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/4 c mozzarella cheese, 2%

Sneaky Chef Make Ahead White Puree Ingredients:

  • 2 cups cauliflower, cut into florets
  • 2 small to medium zucchini, peeled and rough chopped
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1-2 tablespoons water, if necessary

Filling Ingredients:

Crust Directions:

  1. Mix together cooked rice, egg and cheese.
  2. Spread evenly to cover 9-in baking pan/dish. Press down evenly.
  3. Bake rice crust at 350 F for 10-15 minutes.
  4. Remove from oven.

Filling Directions:

  1. Mix together: eggs, milk, cheese, white puree, salt, pepper
  2. Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes, or until set.
  3. Remove from oven, and let sit ten minutes before slicing, if serving fresh; or wrap pie pan, label and freeze.
  4. Quiche can be served cold after thawing for a yummy hot weather treat; or heat the thawed quiche at 350 F for 20 minutes.

 

Filed Under: Healthy Eating/Nutrition Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Sunday in the Kitchen

May 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Finally, a relatively quiet Sunday – plenty of time to get some things done!

I start out by saying that I missed having Sunday as my one skip day at the gym! Thursday, I had a fasting blood test in the morning and a meeting at night, so I made that my skip day. I love having Sunday as a skip day as it allows me an entire day at the house. But, it got me out to run an errand or two before my exercise.

So, here’s just a sampling of what I did today:

  1. Made a double batch of Broccoli Quinoa Pilaf (added beans, too): one batch for the week, the other for the freezer.
  2. Cut and prepared a fresh pineapple.
  3. Made homemade whole grain pizza dough: froze half, made mini pizzas from the other half. Six pizza lunches in the freezer.
  4. Froze four meal size and six snack size taco soups for “emergencies,” such as don’t wanna cook, too late to cook or no time to pack lunch mornings.
  5. Cooked a brown rice crust quiche for dinner and the rest of the week.
  6. Peeled, cubed and roasted sweet potatoes to add to the frozen veggie mixes I bought. (When eaten with sweet potatoes, nearly any vegetable is more palatable.)
  7. Prepared the steamed veggies
  8. Put all of the flattened cardboard boxes stacked in the kitchen in my car for drop-off recycling center.
  9. Packed paper grocery bags in the car for Tuesday co-op pick up.
  10. Washed two loads of dishes so I can start the week with an empty sink and dishwasher! (Vital to my sanity!)

And these weren’t in the kitchen, but things that needed to be done:

  1. Washed a couple loads of clothes
  2. Cleaned a few things off of the porch. Our screened back porch is a little cluttered, and I want to clear it to use as a little getaway for my morning coffee.
  3. Weeded the rose garden and jotted a list for our fab yard man to tackle.
  4. Cleaned out the litter box (ugh!)
  5. Worked out.
  6. Changed my bed clothes.
  7. Fueled and washed the car.

I haven’t had this productive a Sunday in months, and it feels awesome! Ready for the week and upcoming long weekend!

Filed Under: Healthy Eating/Nutrition, Misc. Tagged With: , , , , ,

Making Peace with Veggies

April 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment

The past two days, I have made some huge strides in my relationship with vegetables.

Yesterday, I bought a chargrilled chicken and fruit salad from Chick-Fil-A. I had to eat it while driving to pick up my co-op bag, but managed to wrap and eat each chicken strip in lettuce AND ate all of the shredded carrots.

Today, while Mom was in surgery, we took Dad to Longhorn, where I ordered a side of steamed asparagus with my steak. And it wasn’t just for show – I ate two or three stalks!

To you veggie loving folks out there, you may scoff at my progress. I know that the quantity isn’t where it needs to be, but every bite I take gets me one step closer!

As Louis L’Amour said, “Victory is not won in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later win a little more.”

Filed Under: Healthy Eating/Nutrition Tagged With:

Give Corn a Chance

March 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment

In a recent nutrition meeting with Traci, she referred to corn as a vegetable, and I immediately corrected her with, “Corn isn’t a vegetable; it’s a starch!”

I’ve long demonized corn, and it probably goes back to Weight Watchers days when corn didn’t count as a vegetable.  (And I think that’s still the same in WW, although I’m not sure.)

When Traci replied, “Of course it’s a vegetable,” I began to rethink corn. That’s why I was excited to see this reminder in a recent e-mail from the Nutrition Diva:

Ask the Diva: Is Corn Really Bad For You?

Q. A friend of mine scolds me when I put corn in salads or roast ears in the summer, saying there is no nutritional goodness in corn. “It’s all bad carbs and sugar!” she says. But I love corn. Seriously, it’s my favorite. Looking online, I’ve found reports claiming corn is a great source of fiber and protein and other sources supporting my friend’s claims.  So which is it? Is corn a good source of nutrients, or should I cut it out of my diet?

A. The truth about corn lies somewhere between “all bad carbs and sugar,” and “great source of fiber and protein.” A lot depends on what you’re comparing it to!  It’s true that corn is quite a bit higher in natural sugars and calories than most green vegetables. On the other hand, it is higher in fiber and protein–although I still wouldn’t consider it a “great” source of protein.  Because you love corn so much, I think you should feel free to enjoy it–especially when it’s in season. Freshly-picked corn is one of the great pleasures of summer!  But because it’s so high in carbohydrates, I suggest thinking of it as a “starch” rather than a vegetable. In other words, it’s OK to enjoy corn instead of bread or potatoes; just don’t skimp on the other veggies.

Filed Under: Healthy Eating/Nutrition Tagged With: , , , ,

Eggplant Shortage

March 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Did you know that there is an eggplant shortage?

One of my goals for the week is to try a new eggplant recipe that Traci gave me, but I haven’t been able to find an eggplant. I asked the manager at Publix today, and he said that there was an eggplant shortage.

Apparently, freezes in both Florida and Mexico have caused shortages with several vegetables.

Read more here.

Filed Under: Healthy Eating/Nutrition Tagged With: ,
«Older Posts