Tuesday 27 July 2010

Breakfast: Bright and early and "to go" (hello, 7 a.m. Pilates class that's 30 minutes away!). Kind bar and a mug of green tea.

Post-workout snack: 2 cups coffee with half-and-half at work. Coffee cake was about 3/4 serving. (I noticed that the cake puffed up in the middle; the center was nearly double the height of the sides. Anyone know how to make a sheet cake more level? I think that next time, I will go by weight, weighing the pan before I put in the batter and then again after baking, then divide by 12 to discover how many ounces or grams per serving.)

Notice that I delayed taking those fish pills until after Pilates class.  (We spend a great deal of class laying down on our backs and crunching our abs, then prone on an exercise ball, lifting our legs.)  You see, I am learning things in there!

Lunch: I got this idea from Debby, when she wrote about peaches, Laughing Cow cheese, and walnuts. This is lowfat cottage cheese and fresh peaches from a neighbor. Oh my gosh, it was so good!!! I think the peaches have to be very peachy tasting and sweet for best effect.

Afternoon snack: I was hangry after my lunchtime errands. I wanted to see if this meant I was having a low, so I measured my blood glucose levels. Nope, 95, which is definitely not a low! (But not overly high, either; I could still eat something.) I ate the cheese stick and celery first, then gradually ate about 3 ounces of that can of nuts.

While on my lunchtime errands, I thought to myself, "I can stop at Trader Joe's and get a big bag of JUST roasted, salted pecan nuts." And you know what? I remembered a guest post on FoodFoodBodyBody: "Pat Barone on Driving Permanent Weight Change". Pat stated, "Whenever I see myself becoming attached to a certain food, or I hear 'an energy buzz' around it, I know I’m putting more meaning into that food than it deserves or I want. Then, it’s time to take a step back and remember: Food is fuel." Whoa. Did I know what she meant by the "energy buzz." I was feeling an "energy buzz" around the idea of pecans. I don't think I wanted those pecans to be anything other than their lovely, pecan selves. But craving itself has its own energy, so I decided to skip TJs during that errand.

However, I did find a can of "Pecan Mix" at Rite Aid: Pecans, cashews, and pistachios. Well, I still really wanted some pecans, but the strong, "I want to eat a whole, big ol' bagful!" energy was gone. So I bought them and ate a bunch.

This is the part that will make anyone reading shake their head, because it sounds insane. It even sounds insane to me. I had a hard time pulling up from that can of nuts. So I tried the 74% Solution: maybe if I had a little chocolate, it would break the spell of the nuts. Oddly enough, 3 little rectangles did the trick. I think it worked because nuts + dark chocolate is often my dessert at home, and it said, "I'm done eating."

Dinner: No, not just these! But this is the part that gets really weird. Mr. Handsome-and-Handy and The Things had gone out to eat, and so I was on my own for dinner. I decided to pick up some goat cheese at...yes, Trader Joe's! I had no desire for pecans. The walnuts sounded really good, though, especially since Debby ate them with her peaches and Laughing Cow, and I thought they'd go nicely with my peaches and cottage cheese. I ate four before eating dinner. (Several things interrupted meal prep after this: a gorgeous sunset making the light on the hills behind our house AMAZING, watching a brief video that Thing 2 wanted me to see, and chatting with Mr. Handsome-and-Handy while putting away the TJ's swag.)

Here is one of my food finds from Whole Foods! It's a wheat-free raw crust. Gee, doesn't that sound appetizing? The nutrition stats might perk your taste buds, one of these planks is as follows: "Calories 210, Calories from Fat 139, Total Fat 15.4g, Saturated Fat 1.5g, Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 0 mg, Sodium 126mg, Total Carbohydrate 10.2g, Dietary Fiber 7.3g, Protein 7.6g". I like the flavor; they are savory and salty and crunchy. They're a little messy, but they go great with spreadable cheese. And each one takes forever to eat! (On seeing this, Mr. Handsome-and-Handy said, "I could have gotten you a bird seed brick from the feed store, you know.")

Here's the full meal: a crust, some herbed goat cheese, and a salad with my garbanzos, lettuce, tomato, and artichoke hearts. I wanted to love the TJ's red wine and olive oil dressing I bought, but alas! No punch of vinegar. So I added extra vinegar. I also had 2 strawberries (1 shown) from our plant. And the last of the Merlot.  (I bought a pot full of herb plants, including mint, so I'll be showing you all how to make sugar-free mojitos this weekend!)

This took a really long time to eat...so much so, I was reminded of Shauna's comment on the last Two Fit Chicks podcast, in which she remembers eating a salad one time by herself and how long she seemed to be chewing!  Everyone was off doing their own thing, so this was a quiet meal...a little too quiet.  Maybe next time I won't go for stuff that takes so long to eat, although that's usually a good thing in my book.

Dessert: The family saved me a cookie, and I ate it with some more walnuts.