Week of Eats, Thursday 15 July

Thanks for stopping by! Who would have guessed that people would be so entertained by what I eat? Yet another illumination of this experiment.

Foodie McBody asked about inulin powder. I'm a fiend for fiber, and it packs a walloping 5 grams of soluble fiber per heaping teaspoon, no sugar or fat, and only 25 calories.  (More information in this article on Livestrong.)  It's being increasingly used as a food additive, to boost fiber content of things like dairy foods, as described in this Wikipedia article, but this Medline article warns of gastrointestinal effects.  So you might want to read your food labels before adding it as a supplement.  Between inulin, oatbran, flax, chia, and all the fruits and veggies yesterday, that might explain my tummy distress in the evening!  I tend to use it more at times when I know I'm struggling to get enough fiber; I've found that it dissolves nicely in coffee.



Getting fancy! I actually took the time to pick the chives to pretty up my plate. This is half of a bagel thin, with one wedge of Laughing Cow Lite Swiss cheese and one slice of deli ham. I had two mugs of coffee with almond milk and half-and-half (only one pictured here).

I didn't bring lunch today, so I wandered over to Whole Foods and got a plate from the hot food bar.  It was Indian food, hurrah!!!  I love Indian food.  I enjoyed some madras potatoes, dal saag, Korma veggies and chicken, with a drizzle of cilatro mint sauce.  I put spinach under the veggie and chicken half of my plate.  I love that the salad bar and hot food bar is the same price per pound, so I can amp up the veggies.

My beverage was a lemonade called "Olade".  It was a bit pricier than I usually go for (I like Hint and Metromint flavored waters, or some of the various unsweetened iced teas usually).  But I had a yen for lemonade today. I grabbed it because it has only 2 grams of carb; it was the only sugar-free lemonade option in the drink case.  It is sweetened with stevia, plus it has electrolytes.  This would be even better for a post-workout drink.


Then I started reading the other part of the label.  It was designed by a self-described "healthy diabetic" guy with type 1 diabetes, and 7% of profits go to the JDRF, a foundation dedicated to finding a cure for type 1 diabetes.  Cool beans!


The lemon Olade was mildly sweet and nicely lemony.  I think, though, that given how easy lemonade is to make like that from scratch, I'd get it when I want a more exotic flavor that you can't whip up at home.  Our Whole Foods only has strawberry and lemon, but the company also makes flavors like pomegranate and tropical fruit...would love to have those available.


Sure, lunch looks virtuous and all, but...

...Behold the peril of shopping hungry!  No, I did not eat all this. Pita chips are for Mr. Handsome & Handy, who enjoyed them at a 4th of July picnic.  Bars are for workout days.  I look for ones that have 10 grams of sugar or less; some of them are really loaded with sugar.

Lunch dessert. Did the spicy food I ate for lunch mask the flavor, or did these salt & pepper mac nuts have zero pepper flavor?

Snack time: Tried the salt & pepper mac nuts again.  *sigh*  I just could not really taste the pepper much. Maybe I was expecting the zing of salt & pepper kettle chips.  I think those have a bit of lemon to pop the pepper flavor.


I bought the lime ginger raw fruit leather because I love ginger and I liked the nutritional stats.  The fruit leather was 25 calories, 6 grams carb (1 fiber, 3.5 sugar). I kept tasting and trying to decide if I Iiked this.  I tasted mostly banana and bitter citrus, there was also some tartness. Curiously intense. Not sure I picked up on the ginger flavor as much, the bitterness really overpowered it.  The bitter may also have been from the kale.  Not sure what kale added to this experience; it's probably how they managed to get 1 gram of fiber in 14 grams of leather. Or maybe it's just a raw food thing to use a lot of kale.  I'm wondering how the goji orange one is going to compare; it doesn't have the kale, but it does have goji berry, which is also bitter.

I was in the breakroom getting water. Grabbed 3 peanuts, then remembered I

had no photo. Brought the evidence back to my desk for a photo.

Blue Plate Special from Mr. Handsome-and-Handy: steak with spicy Thai peanut sauce (love this stuff!), mixed greens and tomatoes with dressing made from sauce diluted with vinegar- tasty! 1 serving pita chips on the side. And iced coffee, yum!

Thing 2 and I rode bikes after dinner.  We chatted with several neighbors and met a friendly cat named Isis. Thing 2 is new to two-wheeling, but she's doing great! We rode a couple of miles altogether. (Dream come true #52,989: kids both being able to go for a bike ride and at least one wanting to ride with me! :-)

After watching the International Space Station pass by the moon this evening (kind of dim with light fog and angle of the sun), I felt a wee peckish. I ate some nuts and a glass of milk.

[Do non-commercial bloggers need to do the FTC disclaimer thing?  If so, here it is:  I buy all of this stuff myself, and I do not receive any compensation for my blogging at all.  It's my hobby.]