Tuesday 17 August 2010

Talk of the Table
Debby asked for details about the yogurt shop.  It's called "Nano's Yogurt Shack."  It has a very cute interior - a beach/tropical theme.  It's not a self-serve place; the owner mentioned that self-serve tends to be messy and that kids tend to serve themselves too large (and therefore over-priced) portions.  They have 9 different flavors, one of which was the double-chocolate "Carbolite".  As for toppings, you'd think I'd have noticed whether or not they had nuts!  I think I was just in shock that they had something of which I could enjoy more than just a couple of bites.  It looked to me that they mostly had candy and fresh fruit.  (Thing 1 got gummy bears and Thing 2 got marshmallows.) I wish they had nutritional data posted on their yogurt offerings; maybe I'll ask about it next time I'm there, it might be something they can keep on a laminated card and provide on request.  They're not a chain store and they don't have a web site, so not something I can look up online.

About the Hiatus
Sorry to have been so vague the other day.  I don't like announcing when we're going out of town, although I'm sure many of you figured out that's what was going on!  I was also flying solo; Mr. Handsome-and-Handy was in Michigan, so I had The Things all to myself.  I took photos of my food during some of the weekend, but that pretty much went "poof!" when we left on our trip to Lompoc.

I'm happy to say that food was only the focus at dinner time; breakfasts, lunches, and snacks tended to be more "snacky."  I'm not so proud to say that the kids had McDonald's 3/5 days, and not much veggie-wise on our trip.  You should have seen them inhaling their broccoli, though, when we had dinner at home the other night!  And other than our driving days, we got lots of play time at the pool and park.  I think next time, I'm going to bring some pre-steamed broccoli and heat it up for them for lunches.

Oh, and the triathlon went great!  I had a blast!  More on that later over on "Opposite Life."

Anyhow, it's back to our regularly scheduled feeding...

Breakfast:  A pastrami and cheddar omlette with 1 slice of flax toast with butter and sugar-free apricot jam,
plus two mugs of Kona Joe coffee.  Oh, it's good to have Mr. Handsome-and-Handy back!!!  (I had a 3rd mug of coffee + half-and-half + almond milk when I arrived at work.)  This held me for 5 hours!

Lunch:  I decided to not bring my al pastor plate leftovers, and instead went to Whole Foods!  I shopped hungry.  Hot food bar items are 1 chunk of sweet & sour chicken, 1/3 plate of Mongolian tofu (meh...a little heavy on the overly-sweet sauce), 1/3 plate Asian greens, and 2/3 plate grilled veggies on a bed of raw spinach and minced green onions.  And a strawberry Olade.

I also had an ounce of turkey jerky!  Yum!

***ATTENTION WALNUT-O-HOLICS!  Please proceed quickly to "Dinner."  Move along, people, nothing to see here....  ***

Afternoon snack:  Iced coffee with walnuts.

What is it about kale dehydrated with nut/seed-based stuff that makes me want to eat entire packages of the stuff?  It must be the fat/salt/sour/bitter combination of the ingredients.  I know I'm not big on kale cooked, unless it's simmered into submission in a soup.  I've tried making it myself at home roasted in the oven, and it's just not the same.  Maybe it needs dehydration to not be quite so bitter.  Anyhow, I couldn't find my usual chili lime flavor, so I tried the tahini one, and it was good.  I also appreciated that it lived up to its "stem free" advertising - kale stems get really tough, and some of the dehydrated stuff has big ol' hunks of stem.  Here's a ditty in their honor (Cheech and Chong fans may know the tune...):

"No stems on which

My tongue will impale;

'Cosmic Crunchies':

It's darn fine kale!"

And more walnuts.  I feel like I'm an eating machine today!

Dinner:  Grilled peppers & onions, green salad with Italian and extra vinegar, and a veggie patty with cheese. We got to bring home some leftover uncooked stuff from the picnic, and I don't remember the brand, but I was surprised at how carb friendly the veggie burger was.  They were a little dry and the flavor was bland, but cheese and mustard helped.  Maybe grilling isn't the best way to cook them.

That was a lot of peppers & onions!  I saved these to go with my lunch tomorrow.

Mmmm, blueberries!  (Mr. Handsome-and-Handy and The Things went to Costco yesterday, so we now have a lot of these.)

...Whew!  The Costco-sized mac nuts weren't open yet.  So I ate a few pecans left over from the bag of nuts Mr. H&H had on his flight.

And a few peanut butter-filled pretzels with 15 chocolate chips.

Thursday 12 August 2010

Breakfast: Omlette with bacon, cheese, and chives. Yum! Plus two slices of my flax toast with butter/canola spread and sugar-free apricot jam, and 2 cups of coffee with half-and-half and almond milk.

Lunch: I was off today, and we had some errands. But first, we went to Mc Donald's for lunch and to romp in the Playplace. I had the chicken bacon ranch salad, with the grilled chicken and the low-fat balsamic vinaigrette instead of ranch dressing.

I also had one of the kids' french fries.

We have a new frozen yogurt shop in town!  It's called Nano's and is on Main Street.  Much to my delight, they had double-chocolate "Carbolite" yogurt: no sugar added and non-fat.  Which kind of makes one wonder what IS in there...Anyhow, I had a small.  Can you believe all of this is a small?  I kind of wish I'd gotten the child's size.  Things 1 & 2 got the same flavor; Thing 1 liked it, but Thing 2 was bitterly disappointed that it did not taste like Costco's frozen yogurt.  I got her a child's size regular vanilla (they didn't have plain chocolate) and took a little taste.  It was good, but she was full, and so we ended up throwing it away.  I probably would have been better off value-wise getting them some regular ice cream somewhere else, but oh well.

We then went to this little grassy park near the coffee place, and we had a rousing game of tag, and did races, and got our shoes muddy.  We then went to the coffee place; Things 1 & 2 had some juice and a cookie, which Thing 1 liked and Thing 2 did not.  I had a little of their cookie (chocolate chip, with oatmeal...Thing 2 probably didn't like the trace of cinnamon; she said the chocolate chips tasted like raisins, so I can understand her disillusionment...isn't that the worst, thinking you're going to get chocolate chips and ending up with raisins?) and the free cup of coffee that came from getting some ground coffee.

Dinner:  We had kind of a snacky dinner.  I made everyone broccoli; mine has piri-piri sauce and a little butter.  The dip for my celery is made with about 1/2 cup of 2% Greek-style yogurt and about 2 Tbsp ranch dressing.  I also had my usual nuts and 15 chocolate chips.  (Make that 16; Thing 2 gave me one of hers, and asked if I was going to take a picture. :-)

Late evening snack:  I got really hungry around the time I usually take my medicine, so I had 1 serving of pastrami, a cheese stick, and half of a raw crust.

I was still hungry, so I ate the other half, too.

Mini-hiatus alert: Not sure how much will show up here over the next few days.  Hope you all enjoy a great weekend!

Wednesday 11 August

Talk of the Table

Debby asked: "Question: a quarter of a banana is enough to fuel you/hold you over for a run first thing in the morning? I would be afraid I would be just ravenous when I finished and/or I wouldn't have the energy to finish the run."

For me, it seems to work...although I did feel hungry for my spackle when I was done! I don't want anything too heavy, and my morning numbers tend to be my most challenging, so I don't want anything that's going to drive them up a ton, so 7-15 grams of carb seems about right. This run was for about a half hour, so I went with 1/4 banana (7 grams). If I'm going to go longer, I'll eat something small but that has the equivalent of one carb serving (15 grams) and 1 protein serving (7-8 grams), like a South Beach Bar protein bar. On racing days, I definitely eat breakfast before I work out.

Where did I come up with this? I have a book called The Diabetic Athlete by Dr. Sheri Colberg. (It's great; I highly recommend it, especially for insulin-dependent diabetic athletes.) In it, she has a general recommendation section for those with a non-insulin and oral medication regimen. She recommends testing before & after when you're getting started, to get a sense of how your body is responding. She also says that "for prolonged activities, you may need to eat up to 15 grams of carbohydrate per hour."

Debby also noted: "Even when you're not eating nuts, you're eating nuts."

Ha! Too true...

Biz commented on Panda Express: "When I worked in downtown Chicago I was at Panda Express probably 3 times a week! That was a long time ago - they may have better options now."

Well, "better" is probably a relative term here. I love Chinese food but rarely choose it, so this was a treat. Nutritional info is here: http://www.pandaexpress.com/menu/nutrition.aspx. They have a lot of carb-friendly options, but it might not be the best choice if you're watching your salt and fat (although they use soybean oil, so the saturated fat counts are pretty reasonable). And of course, stuff with the breading and sweet sauces are going to be pretty high on the carb and sugar count...*sniff*, like my good ol' orange chicken.

Breakfast: Spackle (1/4 cup oat bran, 1/4 cup flax seed meal, 1 tsp inulin powder, 2 Tbsp peanut butter, 2 Tbsp sugar-free maple syrup), a little green tea, and a big mug of coffee with half and half and almond milk.

More AM stuff: *Real* coffee with almond milk and half-and-half. Ah, that's better.

Lunch: I went for a walk, then headed over to Whole Foods to buy some protein to go on my salad, my flax bread, and some things I wanted to share with my mom and for Mr. Handsome-and-Handy to eat on his flight.

I found this item for Foodie McBody (who wrote a hilarious review of Cafe Gratitude here, yet also gracefully acknowledged their helping a guy she met at one of her solo performances to turn his life around here):

I AM GRATEFUL that I had no desire to spend $7.50 on a tiny package of cookies, no matter how vegan, raw, or delightful. (Before you applaud too loudly, see "Snack".)

Here's my spinach salad, with veggies and orange brought from home, lite Italian dressing I already had here at work, and some rotisserie chicken from the hot bar at WF on top. Yum!

Virtual lava lamp:  Crystal Light packet dissolving into a bottle of water.  Grooooovy, baby!

Snack: So my snarky victory over the Cafe Gratitude cookies is sort of a hollow one, because I did buy at least one overpriced, pretentious food at Whole Foods today. This package had me at "slow roasted artisan nuts" and more importantly, "smoked paprika pecans". I checked the ingredients (yay! no sugary stuff!), blanched slightly at the price, and then put them in my basket anyway.  After photographing, I finally read all the text on the back. The food writing was hilarious: They claim that their "nuts are vibrant and crunchy, tiny bits of sensory perfection that will amuse your taste buds and excite your mind." (And the creator's bank account, no doubt.)

So were they "all that?" Well, they were tasty, but I have to say I prefer the simplicity of Trader Joe's roasted & salted pecans. (Or even their rosemary marcona almonds, for that matter.) They were really rich - I actually put three back in the bag from what's pictured here, and I probably ought to have put a few more back as well. They were profoundly smokey, with a little afterkick of heat to them, not what I'd expected from paprika. But what I really started noticing after eating a few is that the tasted really, really salty. The flavor was like a high-quality BBQ potato chip, but without the sweetness (or the high carb count). It was fun to try something new, but it's not something I'd buy again.

Dinner: I have a picture on my phone, but it's on the charger and I feel too lazy to get it. :-) I had steak, Brussels sprouts with vinaigrette, and salad with romaine lettuce, tomato, and vinaigrette.

Tuesday 10 August 2010

Pre-workout breakfast:  Green tea and a Kind bar.

I went to the gym for my 2nd-to-last Pilates class, and then I rode the spin bike for 30 minutes and ran/walked on the treadmill for 22 minutes.  As you can imagine, I was ravenous afterward.

Post-workout meal:  Here are the husks of tupperstuff, remnants of the carnage.  I had the leftover sausage gravy and 1/2 cup of sweet potato.  And a couple of cups of coffee with almond milk and half-and-half.

Late lunch:  Whoops, caught mid-meal.  That was 1 slice of flax toast with cream cheese, 2 oz. pork with bbq sauce, and a spinach salad with lite Italian dressing and vinegar.

I never would have bought this stuff for myself, but my BFF Abbie got me a jar (among other goodies) for my birthday and brought it with her on her trip down here a few months ago.  It's Lulu's jasmine waterlily, 75% dark cacao.  It's vegan and raw and intensely chocolatey.   Sometimes I just open the jar and take a whiff.  But this time, I dug out a 1/2 tsp.

Late afternoon snack:  1 square of 71% Valrhona and 9 peanut butter pretzels.

I also had a nice cup of Good Earth Original tea.  I *love* this stuff.  I don't always take a picture, but I'm almost constantly drinking tea at work: green tea, mint tea, Good Earth tea, Moroccan Mint Green Tea, Chai, what have you.  I drink a fair amount at home, too.

Dinner:  Here's the meat and bread course - sloppy joes on flax toast!  Mr. H&H made it really well: BBQ sauce, a titch of molasses, and some splenda.  (This is one of the rare times when I miss a white bread bun.)

Harvest time!  We got a handful of strawberries and a couple of...tomatoes!  The larger one needs a little more ripening in our window sill (I was afraid we'd forget about it and it would rot).  The smaller one probably could have used a little more ripening, too, but it was still pretty darn tasty!  I'm hoping we'll have more this fall...there are some green fruits, but with our weather, it will probably take them awhile to ripen. (Yes, I shared! :-)

Here's the nut course!

Thing 2 grabbed the camera at this point.  Here I am with dessert - more nuts, and 15 chocolate chips.

And we end with the veggie course.  I made butternut squash fries.  I probably put too much oil on them, but oh, they turned out SO good! Mr. H&H loved them.  Thing 2 tried them, but didn't like them.  Thing 1 wouldn't touch them.  (Sad, too, because he might actually have liked them.  Oh, well, more for me!)

Monday 9 August 2010

Pre-run snack: 1/4 banana.

Post-run breakfast: 1/4 c. each oat bran and flax seed, 2 Tbsp peanut butter, 2 Tbsp sugar-free maple syrup, 1 tsp inulin powder. 1 donut hole, reheated 10 seconds in the microwave.  Decaf coffee with almond milk and half-and-half. (Not shown: the cup of fully leaded stuff with half-and-half and almond milk when I got to work. I went decaf at home mainly because we don't really need to buy it anymore, since Mr. H&H has gone decaf and my caff needs are well met by tea at home and coffee at work.)

Pre-lunch errand snack: Kashi TLC peanut peanut butter bar. I liked this. It was sweet but not sickly so, with a mild nutty taste and chewy, grainy texture. (And it was free, from the break room at work.) The nutritionals are good! 140 calories, 5 grams fat, 19 grams carb (4 fiber, 5 sugar), and 7 grams of protein. I snagged another one for my work cache.

(I'll have to do a photo essay about my food caches one of these days. It's one of those behavioral things that makes me say, "Hmmm. Why having a an emergency box with 6 cans of soup, 2 boxes containing packets of Indian food, and a bag with several mini Luna bars and a couple of packets of fruit protein smoothie powder makes me feel safer I'm not sure, but I guess that's just the way I roll. Those soups won't be very portable if I have to walk home after 'The Big One' (presuming I can get out of the building and walk), but whatever.")

Post-shopping lunch: Panda Express' "Panda Bowl" with mixed veggies and Eggplant & Tofu. Eaten outside on the patio. (It was a lovely day. Why more people weren't availing themselves of the food court patio was beyond me!)

Seriously, I need to go buy a lotto ticket or something. After doing some shopping errands, I stopped by Panda Express in the mall food court. I used to always get their Panda Bowl with mixed veggies and orange chicken. A full serving of orange chicken is just not a choice I want to make these days, although the Eggplant & Tofu wasn't the best lower-carb choice on the menu. (It was quite tasty, though.) As I wandered over, I thought to myself, "Oh, how I would love just one piece of orange chicken again! And what do you know? They were giving out samples on a toothpick. It was still "all that," but I suspect any more would have been all too much.

Dinner: Pork chop (au jus in the little bowl) and broccoli with spicy Thai peanut sauce (2 tsp), and a lovely spinach salad with spicy Thai peanut sauce (1 tsp) diluted with vinegar.

 (A baby food jar worked great as a little salad dressing shaker. I usually don't think to use one when diluting vinaigrette dressings, but it would work great. If you don't have babies to feed the baby food, you could always get a little meat one and share it with canine or feline friends. Just be sure to get the first stage stuff, because it doesn't have any seasonings - pretty much just meat and starch and water - check the ingredients. Or you could get a fruit one and add it to oatmeal or put it in a smoothie.)

Dessert: Peanuts and 15 chocolate chips.

Sunday 8 August 2010

Breakfast:  Decaf coffee with half-and-half, 2 slices flax toast (one with sugar-free apricot jam), sausage gravy, a donut hole, and half of the pictured bit of chocolate glazed twist.

Lunch:  Apple with Swiss Laughing Cow Lite and peanut butter.

Here are the same apple halves, with their cheese (sadly, we were out of walnuts, Debby!) and peanut butter.

I shared some of these almonds with Thing 1...

...and peanuts...

...with 15 chocolate chips.  (Guittard makes the absolute best ever semisweet chocolate chips.  Did you know that they are a supplier to See's?)

Dinner:  We went to Round Table Pizza.  I had one trip to the salad bar...

...and I stripped the toppings off some pieces of meat pizza and cheese pizza.  I also had half of a garlic bread stick.

Dessert:  We went to Baskin Robbins for dessert.  I had a yen for Peanut Butter & Chocolate ice cream, which I hadn't had in ages.  So Mr. Handsome-and-Handy and I split a kids' scoop.  I shared some with Thing 1, also, and the kids gave me microscopic tastes of their flavors.  And unlike old times, that was plenty.  The peanut butter part tasted pretty good, but you know?  The chocolate part was kind of overwhelmed by the peanut butter part.  Not exactly like I had remembered.  It just wasn't "all that" anymore.

I think this is where the power of really being aware of what I'm eating, taking time to notice how it tastes, and in not creating "forbidden foods" comes into play for me.  This is something that I started growing toward  when I was diagnosed, and what do you know?  It's discussed in Savor and WF&G.  I've become more particular.  I probably won't have a yen anymore for what used to be my favorite ice cream ever.  I know that if I really, really want some, I can have some more, unless BR's goes out of business.  And if it does?  Well, there are certainly other worthy flavors out there besides 31.  And I am free (FREE!) to choose an amount that will not make me sick (now and in the long term).  Looking back, you'd think each time was the last time I was ever going to get Baskin Robbins' Peanut Butter & Chocolate ice cream, because I would eat it until I felt kind of sick.

Friday 6 & Saturday 7 August 2010

Friday 6 August

I didn't track today.  It started when I ate breakfast (spackle, I think) and realized I hadn't taken a photo, and then I was in a whirl of company picnic preparation and activity at the picnic.  It was a lovely day, and my family came to the party, too.  I had a turkey burger patty with salsa and jalapeños and mustard and (sorry, Biz!) onions, with some 3-bean salad (ick, it was too sweet) and a slice of Swiss cheese.  I also ate 2-oz. package of peanuts and two brownie bites (one at lunch and one later in the afternoon), as well as some raw veggies, during the party.  I got home a little early (yeay!).  I grilled up a burger for Thing 1 and sausages for me and Thing 2, and we shared a fruit tray.  (Which meant Thing 1 ate the grapes and a little bit of orange, Thing 2 ate mostly orange slices, and I got the apple.)  I also ate some chili made out of the leftover tri-tip.

Is it normal to remember food in such detail?  Or a sign of food obsession channeled in a different direction?

Saturday 7 August

Breakfast: Today was Mr. Handsome-and-Handy's sleep-in day, so I had a few nuts when I fed the kids. And some decaf coffee.

Brunch: Mr. Handsome-and-Handy made omlettes for us and pancakes for the kids. The omlette had chives, tomatoes, and mushrooms along with some cheddar cheese. Yum! I also had half a pancake with sugar-free syrup instead of my usual toast, and 4 pieces of bacon (2 shown). And more decaf coffee.

Afternoon snack: As you can imagine, brunch held me quite well. I took the kids to the library to get their prizes for completing the summer reading program, and we went to the bakery for cookies. I had this little lovely, plus about 1/4 tsp of Thing 1's chocolate chip crescent (it had a drier texture and a slight cinnamon flavor, different from your traditional toll house recipe) and Thing 2's brownie (she didn't finish and she offered me the 2nd half, but I was content and we saved it for later...which meant I stuck it in the bread box and we forgot about it.) I also had a little of Thing 2's milk.

Dinner: Mr. Handsome-and-Handy had a yen for potatoes, and they did sound pretty good. I wanted sweet potato, too, so we cooked up 3 potatoes. I scooped out nearly all of the innards and ate the skins of the sweet potato and one of the russets; the skins have always been my favorite part. Veggies tonight were sort of token on the grown-ups' plates; the kids got most of the broccoli. Thing 2 coveted this particular steak bone, so we swapped.

Not pictured: A little wine during movie night while the kids were at our local gymnastics school's "Kids Night Out." Which looks like so much fun! 4 hours of romping around on gymnastics equipment, eating pizza and popsicles, romping some more, capped with a half hour of dance party with glow-in-the-dark bracelets, colorful disco ball, strobe lights, and kid music.

You know, I wish they had a "Gr'ups Night Out," but their insurance doesn't cover grown-ups using the equipment. Darn. I'd just love the last part, where they all dance around in the dark on the squishy floor.  It reminded me keenly of the heaven of the roller skating rink when I was a young tween: music, hours of smooth roller skating, and chocolate frozen yogurt at the snack bar.  What more could you want, except pink sparklie ponies?

So what happened to that?  I think they should have a gym where it's all fun stuff.  Roller skating to music.  Swim classes where you play "Marco Polo" and dive for stuff on the bottom.  Trampolines.  Zip lines and swings and slides.  The rope swing in Zuckerman's barn in Charlotte's Web.  Punk rope.  Lots of Zumba and Nia, which from what I read, are like a grown-up version of the dance party.  And Stairmasters would be absolutely prohibited.