What I Ate This Week: Day Five.

I made myself a proper green smoothie today! I wasted no time in using my "The Oh She Glows Cookbook," and made myself the Original Green Monster smoothie! I was going to have some Paleo bread, but was really full after my smoothie, so brought the bread to work instead.

Breakfast, 7:10: Original Green Monster Smoothie from Oh She Glows!

Snack, 9:55: Paleo Bread with Laughing Cow Strawberry Cream Cheese, Berries

Lunch, 12:00: Coconut Lentil Curry Soup (from last night), Butternut Squash Puree (also from last night), Cocoroon Cookie, Tangerine, LAST SLICE of Delicious g/f Leftover Pizza!

Snack, 3:30: Veggies, Kale Chips, Chocolate Chickpea Snacks

I was SO excited to pick up my packet for my half marathon this Sunday after work today! It's a St. Patrick's Day themed run, and the tech shirt (which I will not wear to run, because as we Californians say, it will be hella hot on Sunday) is super cute. I can't wait!

Had a diet coke craving. DIET COKE SELFIE! (Yep, my hair is straight today - just got my hairs did.)

For dinner, I was going to make chicken... then I realized I had forgotten to take it out of the freezer to thaw the night before. Blerrrgh.

But! It ended up being a great thing, because what I made was SO. GOOD.

Remembering flipping through the breakfast section of my new cookbook last night and seeing sweet potato home fries, and as I'm stepping up the carbs a little today and tomorrow, I decided to go with a variation on the Oh She Glows Cookbook's Sunrise Scramble with Roasted Home Fries and Avocado Toast.

I was hungry when I got home around 7:00, so I had a quick salad with vinaigrette, raisins, and sunflower seeds.

So I started off by dicing the sweet potato (which I had bought a few days ago and had no idea what to do with - win!) and adding the ingredients to make home fries, as well as some red peppers, because yum.

Instead of the tofu scramble suggested in my cookbook, I made a two-egg omelette with spinach, mushrooms, and blue cheese. Finally, for my avocado toast, I used the recipe from my Goop Cookbook which was super easy and delicious - I used Ezekiel Bread, Vegenaise, and avocado.

All together, it was a super easy, colorful, and delicious dinner!

WINE SELFIE!

Finally, I decided to make a baked apple (from Goop's It's All Good cookbook again). Super easy. Wash apple. Take out core. Mix chopped walnuts, raisins, 1 Tbsp or so maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg, put in apple, bake. YUM.

Happy Weekend, everyone!

What I Ate This Week: Day Four.

Happy Thursday! Is it Friday yet?

Breakfast, 7:05: Paleo Bread with Almond Butter and Drizzle of Honey and Banana; Nonfat Greek Yogurt with Maple, Berries, Banana (and coffee, duh)

Snack, 9:25: Kale Chips, Almonds

Lunch, Part 1, 11:40: Leftovers Salad (Chickpeas and Cauliflower, Salmon, Spinach, Lettuce, Carrots, Beets, Hard Boiled Egg, Mushrooms, Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette)

Sometimes I like to throw leftover meat and veggies on a salad, if I get sick of eating them by themselves. Since, as I mentioned yesterday, I've been eating the same salmon and cauliflower several days now, it was nice to have it appear in a different context!

A note: I was just super hungry this morning - not sure if my breakfast was less filling or smaller than I thought it was (I was pretty full when I was done), or if I'm just hungrier today than usual, but I decided to respect my body's hunger signals and eat some snack and lunch a little early.


Lunch, Part 2, 12:30: Leftover Pizza, Trader Joe's 70% Dark Chocolate Wedges with Caramel

(There was another piece of pizza there but I ate it before I remembered to take a picture, ooooops. P.S. I put extra fresh garlic and red pepper flakes on the leftover pizza - highly recommend.)


Snack, 3:15: Apple, Half Lara Bar (PB&J Flavor), Veggies (Carrots, Peppers) with Hummus

More snacks pre-workout: Veggie Chips, Cashews


Activity: Track Workout with a Friend!


Then I was ravenous when I was cooking dinner, so I ate some raisins and a tangerine.


So I finally made the Vegan Coconut Curry Lentil Soup (except my version was non-vegan, since I used chicken broth oops). Delicious! I omitted the diced tomato, and used black lentils rather than red, as that's what I had in my cabinet. Also threw in a handful of kale at the end.

I also had bought some butternut squash at the farmer's market on Sunday, so I boiled and pureed it.

Served the lentils with a dollop of nonfat greek yogurt, and the butternut squash puree with a bit of maple syrup and nutmeg.

Yum! Such a delicious dinner!

Dinner, 8:00 (way late, but it took awhile to cook the lentils...): Coconut Curry Lentil Soup from Vegangela, Butternut Squash with Maple and Nutmeg

I was also super excited to get a care package from my momma today! There are always a bunch of random seasonal things in a package from my mom, but the most exciting thing in this care package was the "The Oh She Glows Cookbook" from Angela Liddon. And actually, I might make the kale chips from the Oh She Glows website tomorrow! (A will be so excited... the one time I tried to make him try kale chips, he smelled them and I was immediately denied. Sigh, the life of dating a picky eater.)

Contents of care package:

Finally, dessert at 9:15: Berry Tea and A Little Ice Cream :)

TGIF!

What I Ate This Week: Day Three

Today is going to be boring. As I'm a person who lives by herself and doesn't have anyone else that eats her food (except when her boyfriend so nobly volunteers to assist her in eating the Ben & Jerry's in the freezer...), today will be a lot of leftovers.

Breakfast, 7:05: Leftover Oatmeal with Chia Seeds + Maple Syrup, Raisins, and Chopped Walnuts; One Egg + One Egg White w/Mushrooms

Snack, 10:20: Trader Joe's Teriyaki Turkey Jerky

Lunch, 12:10: The same stuff I've been eating for the past two days... Salmon, Chickpeas and Cauliflower, Beet Salad.

Snack(s) 2:45-3:45: Trader Joe's "Inner Peas," Plain Greek Yogurt with Berries, Banana, Raw Honey, and Ola! Vanilla Granola

Kept me going through an afternoon of back-to-back meetings!


No workout today! My body hurts from the last couple days - I needed a break!


So I stuck around the area where I work after I finished, as I have an extra choir rehearsal today. Now usually, I'd go find a little restaurant I want to try somewhere close to rehearsal, or at least go grab something at the grocery store, but I could just not justify spending more $$ on food after spending approximately ten million dollars at Whole Foods, and then the expensive pizza on Monday. So, I brown-bagged it and headed to Starbucks (I have since resolved my Starbucks card balance mystery, by the by.)I packed a bunch of stuff, and figured I'd eat what I felt like eating.

Dinner, 6:05: Turkey Breast, Carrots/Cucumbers with Hummus, Leftover Pizza, String Cheese, Hard Boiled Egg, Piece of Dark Chocolate Bark

P.S. There may or may not be a guy smoking one of those electric cigarrettes, like, in the Starbucks that I am sitting in. Um, awkward and certainly illegal in CA, right?

Yeah no, that was definitely just actual smoke coming out of his mouth. This is so questionable.

I'm excited that I picked up a few things tonight in preparation for making a vegan lentil curry from the Vegangela blog tomorrow! (Except I might make it non-vegan with chicken broth... because I am not a vegan.) My sister made it earlier in the week and said it was great, and I 1) have lentils and kale in the house already, and 2) am getting sick of the recipes that I made earlier in the week. That tends to happen, but if I have tons of servings of something I make and lots of leftovers, I conveniently keep serving-size tupperwares and stick stuff in the freezer.

"Dessert", 9:00: Smoked Gouda and Crackers (similar to these) were served at one of my fellow choir-members' houses, and unfortunately, though I have no pictures, let me assure you - smoked gouda is the best, ever.

K. Bedtime. Just finished watching the Bachelor finale from earlier this week, and BOY was that UNcomfortable.

I mean... I don't watch the Bachelor, what?

K gnight all.

What I Ate This Week: Day Two.

It was just one of those mornings today. One of those mornings in which you're running late already, then they insist at Starbucks that your card has no balance although you DEFINTIELY reloaded it with $20 last week. You then spill said Starbucks drink on your shirt upon getting into your car, and a minute later, promptly have to slam on the brakes because someone else is being stupid at driving, spilling more of your coffee and the contents of your bag(s) across the car floor.

One of those.

Anyway.

Breakfast, 7:05am: One egg, Smoothie with Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt, Banana, Spinach, Kale, Berries, Almond Milk, Vanilla Protein Powder, and Stevia

For a "green" smoothie, it's not alllll that green.


I LOVE my Magic Bullet blender. The name "Magic Bullet" sounds like a sex toy or something, but it is not. It is a blender. I promise. I just got it for my birthday, and it's totally genius. You just put everything in a cup, screw on the top with the blade in it, press down on the base that has power to move the blades, and voila! Smoothie. The best part is that you use the cup that the smoothie gets mixed in for drinking/eating it... way less mess, which I really appreciate, being that my kitchen is the size of a large closet. (Or if we're talking the giant walk in closet that my parents have at their house in the master bedroom, smaller than a closet.)

Starbucks: Tall nonfat cappuccino. Worth the extra $3 that I had to pay because my card "had no balance" (see above)... although you'd better believe I'ma call Starbucks and get my money back and some free stuff from this bizness.

Snack, 11:05: Kale Chips and a few Chocolate Chickpea Snacks

Lunch, 12:20pm: Salad with Leftovers/Everything (blue cheese crumbles, lettuce, mushrooms, shredded carrots, avocado, leftover lamb and turkey breast, golden raisins, sunflower seeds, vinaigrette), Paleo Bread Sandwich with Almond Butter, Banana, and Honey

Dessert: Tangerine and Vanilla Maple Cocoroon Cookie. These macaroons, which are raw and made with maple syrup, are DELICIOUS! (I find them at TJMaxx when they have them, since these and similar cookies, like everything else, are super expensive at Whole Foods.)


Snack, 3:30: A few more Chickpea snacks (The Good Bean brand, also find these at TJ Maxx sometimes), Veggies with Hummus and Black Bean Dip, Green Tea

This is what happens when I'm left alone in my office at the end of the day: selfies with veggies and tea. I promise nobody else was around.

Workout: 2 mile run around the neighborhood, then TRX class at the Y

Snack, 5:30 in between workouts: Half a PB&J Lara Bar, Half Banana

Dinner was leftovers from yesterday: Beet salad (with lemon, olive oil, avocado, raisins, and chia seeds), Salmon, Leftover Pizza (nommmm) and cauliflower and chickpeas.

Aaaaand we're about to enjoy a little Ben & Jerry's. Goodnight everyone!

What I Ate This Week: Day One.

Starting this new clean(ish) eating adventure, I was really curious to see what I was eating, and I was thinking that some of you who read my blog would be interested to see as well. I really wanted to compare what I'm eating now with a typical daily menu that I would eat while on Weight Watchers, and compare how I felt at the end of my first week doing this. So... here goes nothing!

Monday 3/10/2014

Breakfast, 7:00am: Paleo Bread with almond butter and banana, Berries with greek yogurt and maple syrup, COFFEE

Snack, 11:10am: Tangerine, Hard Boiled Egg

Lunch, 12:50pm: Grilled Salmon, Roasted Chickpeas and Cauliflower with Dijon Vinaigrette, Roasted Beet Salad (with golden raisins, fresh lemon, raw cashews, olive oil, pepper, salt), Dark Chocolate Bark with Coconut and Cherries (homemade!)

Mini-snack, 2:00pm: Tangerine

Note: It is now 3:25pm, and I am still full from lunch and my tangerine, which I was planning to eat as part of lunch and ended up eating a little later since I was full. I usually want a snack around this time, but I'm not really hungry. I may eat some of my peppers and hummus prior to leaving work at 4pm, just because I'll be going to a workout class that starts at 4:30 and I don't want to be totally starving afterwards, but I am happy that what I've eaten today so far has kept me satisfied longer than lunches would previously. Must be all the healthy fats, oils, and protein!



Snack, 3:45: A few peppers and kalamata olive hummus, Tropical green tea

Workout of the day: Pure Barre class


Now usually after Pure Barre and before choir on Mondays, I head to Freebirds, which is delicious, and get a steak taco salad creation. However, after Monday's class, I remembered that this is around the corner from the studio:

Now, to be clear again, I'm NOT eating a gluten-free diet, but I figured, why not try some gluten-free pizza? Yummmm. This place is called Palo Alto Pizza Company, and it was AWESOME.

First, I saw that they had a salad bar, so I loaded up:

(There are kidney beans, black olives, and chickpeas under there too. I went all out!)

And then of COURSE I couldn't choose a specialty pizza from the actual menu. I wanted chicken, but it seemed like all the chicken pizzas came with creamy garlic sauce or BBQ sauce, which I did not want. The veggie pizzas all had a couple veggies I don't particularly like, such as red onions and sundried tomatoes (barf). So I spent some pretty serious $$ making a custom veggie and chicken pizza... but it was totally worth it. And I'll have leftovers for later this week yaaaaahssssss.

So... if anyone wants to go get pizza again, come visit me and I'm totally down. Plus, now I have leftover pizza for the rest of the week!

Finally, I had a handful of cashews (which I keep in my purse) during choir, since I got hungry, and when I got home, I had a little treat:

We got two of the Ben & Jerry's "core" flavors (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED OMG) this weekend, and I couldn't help but sneak a bite of the Salted Caramel flavor:

So that was day #1. Stay tuned for Tuesday soon!

New Perspectives on Food and Eating

So, I was e-mailing my friend that I share stuff about food and weight loss with this week, and I realized there was a lot to share. I've done a lot of thinking about my relationship with food, and here are a lot of the things that I've learned.



"First of all, my therapist brought up a few things about me, and my relationship with food. Basically, when it comes down to it, I've never felt like I was able to trust myself with food. I was always in some pattern of restricting what I ate and then bingeing and feeling like a failure, or I've been on a diet that told me what I should eat. Lately, with Weight Watchers, and tracking what I've been eating, I've felt like I was having to restrict what I eat (without realizing it), and then I'd give myself "passes" on certain days, like my birthday, to eat whatever I wanted, and I'd go way overboard, as if those foods that I felt like I could eat only on those "free pass" days would not ever exist again. So, I've been trying to figure out how to trust myself with food, and have a normal relationship with food (which I've pretty much never had).

So I cancelled my Weight Watchers account.

I started reading a book called "Intuitive Eating," by Evelyn Trebole, where the premise is basically, you need to stop dieting and give yourself unconditional permission to eat. You are allowed to eat any food you want. It says when you have permission to eat anything you want, your body will figure out what it needs. However, it states there will be a period in which you will probably gain weight while you figure out what your body needs, and you give yourself this permission to eat. It states you need to let go of any weight loss or diet ideals, as this can cause you to restrict food. When you accept eating for health and when you become in tune with your body's hunger signals, you can trust yourself with food and know what you need to eat.

I think there are a lot of good principles there, but my problem was that I just can't let go of the "weight loss" or at least weight maintenance mentality. I was trying to use Intuitive Eating last week, and giving myself permission to eat more chocolate than usual, more sweets, more things that were not good for me, telling myself I needed to learn to trust myself around these foods... and then I saw something I didn't like on the scale when I weighed myself the other day. Now, I understand that my body's set weight might be a little higher or lower than it is right now, but I just can not let go of all the work I've done to lose weight. I feel so much healthier at my current weight, I have so much more energy. But I still want to get rid of this awful "diet or binge," "all or nothing" mentality I've always had with food.

So, I've decided to trust myself on my journey with food. Once I stopped tracking everything on Weight Watchers, I felt free. Like, why wouldn't I put walnuts on my oatmeal in the morning? They are full of good fats, and I think they are delicious in oatmeal. But l used to avoid them because they were too many "points." I also used to have a ton of crap like fat free cool whip around. I don't even like fat free cool whip, I'd just eat it because it was 0 points on WW for a few bites. It was a filler but I didn't feel satisfied after I ate it. And who says I can't have wine and dessert? I would never let myself do that "on plan," but now, since I've stopped restricting or dieting, I've realized that I enjoy a glass of red wine a few nights a week. And that makes me feel happy and satisfied.

But I still want to be healthy. I don't want to keep jelly beans, chips, and other things like that in my house, since I know that these cause me too much anxiety to be worth having around. I feel like these items are addicting, and they do nothing towards me finding my health and peace with food. I need to learn to feel when my body is truly hungry, and really feel what it needs. But, I find that if I have too many choices of what my body needs, I get anxious. I will always choose "candy" and "simple carbs" as what my body needs. They are addictive and momentarily satisfying. That is always what I will want.

So, I'm making my own rules. I don't want to follow anyone else's rules or diets. I have decided I'm going to eliminate refined sugars and flour from my diet 80-90% of the time.

I'm not going to follow a Paleo diet necessarily, or eliminate dairy. I still think that milk and greek yogurt are things that keep me satisfied and happy. And I still want flexibility so that if my boyfriend brings me a sandwich from his favorite sandwich place, or I happen to find the new Ben and Jerry's core flavors at Whole Foods, I can have some of that. I don't want anything to be "off limits" so that I will give myself permission to binge on that food if I've already "blown it" for the day, or week, or whatever. I don't want to continue buying "diet" foods that aren't satisfying, or just steaming vegetables because that way, they don't have added fat or calories. And I want to truly get in touch with my hunger signals, but I feel like I can't do that when I have so much sugar and so many simple carbs around, and the option to eat these things all the time.

So that is where I'm at. I've gone through a lot of ups and downs over the past couple weeks trying to figure this all out, but I think truly changing my lifestyle so that I am NOT restricting foods, and I AM eating wholesome, real foods, and making sure I'm feeling satisfied, will be a good thing for me in the long run. I think this will be a way for me to start to find peace with food. And I can't say for sure this is the solution for me, or that I'm not going to slip up and have ups and downs, but I definitely feel peace that this is what I need to do.

So basically, different things work for different people. There isn't one simple solution, and I've been working really hard to find mine.

But I'm excited! Although I'm not following a Paleo diet, I've been scouring Pinterest for some fun Paleo recipes, since these fit within what I want to eat, and I'm attempting Paleo bread today. I also have the Gwyneth Paltrow clean eating cookbook, and made a delicious recipe from there for dinner last night. Maybe this is just the honeymoon phase of me trying this, but I really feel that it's freeing.

I think I'm going to keep monitoring my weight, but I'm not going to judge it. I know that my body will work itself out to being its natural weight that it wants to be if I'm following my hunger signals. I know that it's going to be hard for me if I gain a few pounds, but I also know that because I'm generally healthy and active, it will be okay.

And as for exercise, I want to keep it something I enjoy doing because it
makes me feel good. I love running (not always, but a lot of the time) and love yoga, and I don't think these are just vehicles for losing weight and burning calories. I know when I work out, I don't want to worry about how many calories I've burned, and I want to try to trust my body to figure out how much more food I need once I work out. I'm on my way."



So that, friends, is my new attitude on food. Here are some of the things that I've made so far:

Dinner 3/8/14: Roasted Cauliflower and Chickpeas, Grilled Salmon with Grilled Lemon Vinaigrette (from Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Turshen's It's All Good cookbook), + spinach salad with mustard vinaigrette and golden raisins

Dark Chocolate Bark with coconut, cherries, and sea salt (also based on It's All Good's recipe)

And finally, I made Paleo bread! It does not taste like bread bread, and I didn't think it would. But it's bread-ish! And I did it!

Here's the process, in photos:

This one is the Paleo Grain Free Cashew Sourdough from Urban Poser.

And finally, this morning for breakfast I had a nice two-egg frittata with mushrooms, spinach, and avocado (the "sour cream" is plain nonfat greek yogurt) and fruit salad.

Stay tuned for more pictures of what I'll be eating this week - and have a great week, everyone!

xoxo