Six Weeks Out

My food choices weren't the best this past week and a half. I blame it entirely on our vacation (what? me take responsibility?!). Everything I ate is written down in a little notebook, but I'm not even going to bother posting it.

So, I have 6 weeks until we move...

Here's what I've eaten today:
Breakfast: 2 slices of whole wheat bread with peanut butter
Lunch: Bowl of salad (several types of lettuce) and a small amount of Cesar dressing (it's Andrew's favorite and we don't have any other kind in the fridge at the moment)
Dinner: Small amount of chipolte flavored chicken breast, a forkful of pasta salad*, a LOT of water melon, fresh pineapple, and a Greek summer salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and olives in a vinaigrette)

Exercise: 65 minutes on the bike at the gym

*I took Loydel to the "picnic potluck" at the church because she said she wouldn't go by herself and the person who made the pasta salad was sitting right next to me. I took a forkful to be polite.

day 12

Wow. I guess Sundays are becoming my day of rest from ETL. And from exercising. I did so great up until the time Shirl and Connie brought strawberry shortcake for Father's Day. I was just going to eat the strawberries, but then I thought, "what the heck, one piece won't hurt."
Then Connie got talking about trying to find our Grandma Hendrickson's raisin-filled cookie recipe. That got us searching the internet. Then we had to try the most promising recipe to see if it was the right combination. Then of course we had to try the cookies to see if they were just like Grandma made. They were. Five or six (I lost count) cookies later I realized that this was not a good thing. Later on I figured that I'd already blown it so I'd have some of the funeral potatoes that I'd not eaten at lunch because they weren't ETL.
I can't believe the self-destructive mind games I play with myself sometime. What I do from here will determine if I'm going to be successful at this or not.
breakfast - 2 slices Vita-Bee bread, 2 Tblsp peanut butter, cherries
snack - handful of pistachios
lunch - large green salad, 1 Tblsp ranch dressing, 1/2 cup petite peas, 3x3x1 inch slice pound cake, 1 cup strawberries, dab of whipped cream
snack - 5 or 6 raisin-filled cookies
dinner - about a cup of funeral potatoes

day 11

I did not exercise today.
breakfast - peach strawberry banana blueberry flax and soy protein smoothie
snack - 1 1/2 cups pistachios
lunch - romaine, spicy refried beans, tomatoes, green onions, avocado and a little ranch (I tried some ranch on it this time to see if it made it better. Amazingly, I like it better without)
snack - handful of cherries

day 10

Willow's on vacation and I don't know why I'm posting. Yes I do. Posting my food journal is actually very motivating. Today I walked one hour at Minto Brown with Mark and one hour in Woodmansee with Connie. I'm starting to get my boots for Youth Conference broken in!
breakfast - peach strawberry banana blueberry smoothie
lunch - Mexican Salad (romaine topped with spicy refried beans, tomato, green onions, avacado)
snack - 1/2 cup pistachios
dinner - 2 sl w/w bread, tomato, cucumber, olive oil mayo, pesto sauce
snack - 1 sliced peach, soy milk

day 9

I walked 35 minutes in Woodmansee today. I also went to the temple with Kathy Smith so that meant a trip to Sweet Tomatoes.
breakfast - 1/2 grapefruit
lunch - large green salad with all the veggies that Sweet Tomatoes has to offer, ranch (also small servings of other pre-made green salads), 1/2 slice w/w bread, 1 cup pinto bean and basil soup, 1 apple/bran muffin, grapes
dinner - handful mixed unsalted nuts, handful blueberries

Day 8

Today I walked 40 minutes in Woodmansee Park.
breakfast - 1/2 grapefruit, large handful cherries
lunch - w/w pita, hummus, 2 falafel balls, cucumber, tomato, gr onion, ranch
snack - 4 w/w rolls with peanut butter
dinner - red and green grapes, baby carrots, fresh broccoli, cucumbers
This was an interesting day. It was a bad ETL day, but I would have considered it a very good day two weeks ago. I didn't have any salad and I got carried away in the afternoon with the w/w rolls and peanut butter. One positive thing was that at the Enrichment Mtg dinner I only ate the things that were fresh and didn't use any dips or dressings. They had alot of tasty looking food, but I wasn't really interested at that point. I have been the same weight for the last five days. I think I need to eat closer to the program.

Day Four

Breakfast: Banana
Lunch: A handful of dried fruit (cranberries, raisins, cherries) and nut (almonds and pistachios) mix. I wasn't very hungry.
Dinner: A half-sized Art City Trolly Spring Salad... btw their half size is HUGE. It had a mix of romain and spinach with mushrooms, bean sprouts, green beans, red peppers, carrots, red onion, cucumbers and sunflower seeds. The salad dressing wasn't my favorite, so I didn't use very much.

Exercise: I walked to the mechanics to pick up Andrew's car. It was really windy and I almost didn't make it their before five!

One Week!!

Breakfast - strawberry banana blueberry flax and soy protein smoothie
Lunch - 1 cup brown rice, about 2 cups spicy vegetables and tofu (my new favorite thing from Love Love)

I walked 35 minutes with Connie this morning. I had the smoothie at about 10am because I was busy working on a project that needed to be mailed by 11am. I didn't eat lunch until after 2pm. It was so big and so filling that I wasn't hungry for dinner. I still feel full so I won't eat anything more today. In retrospect I should have divided the spicy vegetables in half like last time so I didn't eat it all. Then I would have had a smaller portion and could have had room for a salad tonite.

day 6

Today I walked 40 minutes with Connie.
Food Journal
Breakfast - strawberry banana blueberry flax and soy protein smoothie
Lunch - w/w pita with 4 falafel balls, hummus, cucumber, gr onion, tomato, ranch dressing
Snack - orange
Dinner - steamed broccoli, green salad, ranch, homemade w/w roll, peanut butter

Day Number Three

Breakfast: Strawberries and a banana
Lunch: Two pieces of whole wheat toast with peanut butter* and some carrots
Dinner: A baked russet potato with Ranch (I know, bad) and a salad with Romain, cucumbers, carrots and cherry tomatoes (also a bit of Ranch).

*Shoulda stopped at one, but I was craving peanut butter.

Exercise: A walk. Andrews car is in the shop so he took mine to work, but I really felt like going to the gym, grrr.

Day the Second

I didn't get a chance to take my laptop up to campus to use the internet, sorry it's late.

Breakfast: A large banana and a medium sized peach
Lunch: I polished off the rest of the Cafe Rio salad from yesterday, but I left the tortilla (didn't feel like eating it yesterday or today-weird). I also drank the other half of the mango Naked juice.
Dinner: I ate a whole mango, half a pound of steamed Brussels sprouts and an ounce of almonds and pistachios.
Snack: Carrots

Exercise: Nada.

day 5

Ok. So today was Sunday, the day of rest. So I rested. I didn't exercise and I was a little lax with my ETL food choices. Today was my 10%.
Food Journal
Breakfast - 1/2 cup muesli, soy milk, banana
Lunch - 1 cup Dr. Fuhrman's soup, large green salad (with tomato, cucumber and cauliflower), 1 Tblsp ranch dressing, 1/2 panfried rainbow trout (that Mark caught on his fishing trip yesterday)
Snack - 1 slice w/w bread, 1 Tblsp. peanut butter
Dinner - w/w spagetti with Newman's Own Mushroom Marinara Sauce, green salad, ranch, 1/2"x3" sliver of lasagne

Day One - Again!

I kinda fell off the wagon before I really even got on! Here is my Day 1... This time it's for real.

Breakfast: Some dried cherries, raisins, cranberries, almonds and pistachios*.
Lunch: Half a Cafe Rio veggie salad (hand made wheat tortilla, Romain lettuce, pico de gallo, guacamole, cilantro, tortilla strips, fresh lime, green chili rice, and black beans) with a bit of their creamy tomatillo house dressing. I looove this salad!
Snack(?): About 16 oz. of mango Naked Juice (real fruit and no sugars added so it has to be OK, right?) and a medium sized peach.
Dinner: A handful of healthy pop popcorn (or some of healthy kind, don't remember the brand right off)

*We got this yummy natural fruit and nut mix from Costco. OK, technically dried fruit is not ETL and I might of had more than 1 oz. of nuts, but I did limit myself!

Exercise: Does walking around the grocery store and Bead Bath and Beyond count? We deep cleaned the apartment today and I was too tired to do anything else.

When we were cleaning we found $100 in gift cards for BB&B along with $75 in cash (all wedding gifts left in the cards we stuffed in a closet and obviously forgot about). Oh, we also found out that our dryer's hose wasn't hooked up! No wonder I always had to clean lint off the walls after we did laundry.

day 4

Andrew and I hiked for one hour today at Jory Hill.
Food Journal
Breakfast - orange pineapple strawberry banana flax smoothie
Snack - 1 slice w/w toast, peanut butter
Lunch - w/w pita, 4 falafel balls, cucumber, tomato, red onion, hummus, ranch dressing
Snack - 1 cup fresh blueberries
Dinner - large green salad, light toasted Asian sesame dressing

day 3

This morning Connie and I phone-walked for 55 minutes in Woodmansee Park and this evening Mark, Andrew and I walked 45 minutes at Minto Brown. This afternoon I took a final in my Persuasive Writing class. Now there is just one class and my capstone to finish before I graduate!
Food Journal
Breakfast - orange, pineapple, carrot smoothie (oops. I forgot to put in the flax)
Lunch - 1 cup brown rice, 2 cup spicy vegetables and tofu
Dinner - 1/2 cup rice, 1 cup Japanese curry, large green salad, 1 Tbsp ranch dressing
Snack - 1 small apple

day 2

Two days down and only 40 to go!
Today I walked 40 minutes.
Breakfast - cranberry, pomegranate, blueberry, pineapple, banana, flax smoothie
Lunch - 1 cup Dr. Fuhrman's soup, grapes, 2 cups spicy vegetables and tofu, 1/2 cup brown rice
Dinner - large salad (romaine, baby lettuces, tomato, cucumber, cauliflower) 1 Tbsp ranch dressing

Day One for Jane

This morning I walked 40 minutes while talking on the cell phone with Connie.

Food Journal:
Breakfast - fresh orange, pineapple, strawberry, banana and flax smoothie
Lunch - 1 cup of Dr. Fuhrman's famous anti-cancer soup (the jury is still out) and 1 small cucumber
Afternoon snack - 1 apple
Dinner - large salad (romaine, baby lettuces, tomato, cucumber, cauliflower, carrots) with ranch dressing spritzer, 1 cup vegetarian chili, 1 slice whole wheat toast

Today has not been that hard. Probably because I spent most of my day writing a research paper and trying to make Dr. Fuhrman's soup.

Eat-to-live

Tomorrow, 4 June 2008, Willow and I will begin posting our daily food journals for the next six weeks.

Fab Fads

According to an article on cnn.com and Cooking Light magazine these are the 5 healthy food trends worth following.

1. Flexitarianism - A diet consisting of grains, fruits, and veggies and occasional servings of protein from lean meat, fish, poultry, or dairy. According to the American Diabetic Association 25% of Americans fit this description consuming meatless meals at least four days a week.

2. Locally grown foods - Community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs and farmers markets give consumers direct access to produce, meats, cheeses, breads, honey, and other foods that are produced in nearby communities.

3. Functional foods - Foods enriched with nutrients that may not be inherent to that particular food. examples are calcium fortified Orange juice or eggs and pasta with omega-3

4. Organic Food - Well Duh! This one doesn't need to be explained (Just make sure its really organic)

5. Slow Food - A trend that started 20 years ago in Italy, the idea is to choose locally grown and produced products, prepare them in traditional ways, and enjoying them with friends and family offering a more positive way to living that is a contrast to the fast-paced world we live

Some of these food trends need to become part of my new eating lifestyle.

Technology's Version of Dieting

I ran across a camera that has a "slimming effect" feature. Maybe I'll ask my wedding photographer to use it!