Food food food

It was back to Aquatics today.  Another fun workout.  I'm really glad I invested in the Polar Monitor. When I am in the pool, I have no idea if I am working hard or not. I don't sweat the same way I do on land and my breathing seems to be different as well.  Now, all I have to do is look down at my wrist and pop! there it is.  Right away I can see if I am at THR (target heart rate) or not.  Love it.  Today, the workout was 45 minutes long and I was at THR for 35 minutes.  Perfect.

When I got home, the lovely Fooducopia delivery man was here with my groceries.  I put them away and got right down to making lunch.  I made open faced chicken salad sandwiches with avocado and tomatoes (see my how I make the chicken salad by clicking on the link on the side of this page), spinach salad, and strawberries and iced tea.  So easy and delicious.

Lunch

Later in the day, Joe and I ran some errands and then when I got home, I started dinner.  We had enchiladas, spanish rice, and fajita style peppers, onions and mushrooms.  I used Fontera's Red Chile Sauce and filled three tortillas with shredded chicken and three with fajita veggies, covered them with the sauce and baked them for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.  Again...amazing.   Here's a photo.

Dinner

Finally, after an email from my cool Aunt Sue, I decided to start putting some of the recipes I use on this blog so others can use them.  You will find a number I have cooked so far on the right hand side of this page.  I've also put a page called "Meal Plans" so I can keep track of the different meals I have been making.  This way, in a month or so when I say to myself, "I don't know what to cook!" I can look back and remake things.  I hope these are helpful to some of you! And let me know if I haven't put up something you would like to make and I'll add it.  Enjoy!

Sundays Are Full of Options

When working out my meal plans for the week, I plan to cook dinner 5 times a week.  I then plan for one night of leftovers and one night out to eat at a restaurant.  This makes it the easiest for me to control what I am putting in my mouth all week, plus as Joe and I are trying to stick to a budget, eating out only once a week (a opposed to the 2-3 times a week we were doing before) really helps.

Part of my new life style is that nothing is off limits.  No foods are prohibited and we aren't supposed to deny our bodies anything as that can lead to overeating on that item later.  While this is all liberating and good, I'm not about to fill my house with chocolate chip cookies.  In order to stay being healthy, I need to continue to eat balanced meals and then allow myself 'fun options' every now and then.  So my plan is to not have the fun options in my house but to allow myself a fun option when I go out to dinner once a week.  (You may remember that I did also go out to lunch on Wednesday with a friend, but I won't try to have my fun option at lunch because to me, dessert should be a dinner thing.)  That way, I am not denying myself of desserts completely, but now I have a more special night out once a week.

Tonight Joe and I went to Steuban's.  It is probably my favorite restaurant in Denver.  It is best known for its comfort foods and cool atmosphere.  My favorite thing to get there is the pulled pork sandwich that comes on texas toast and has coleslaw on top.  They give you a choice of two BBQ sauces on the side that you get to put on yourself.  I learned years ago that this sandwich is best eaten with a knife and fork, so when I ordered it tonight, I took off the top piece of the texas toast and ate my sandwich open faced.  In the past, I have eaten the entire sandwich as well as a few sugar rolled hush puppies (yes, they are as good as they sound).  Tonight, I only ate until I was full (leaving a whole piece of toast and about a 1/4 c. of meat) and I ordered the green beans instead of my hush puppies.  While the hush puppies could have been my option, I decided that I would rather have a real dessert.  Plus, I haven't had any fried food in a month and was afraid the hush puppies wouldn't sit well with me.

The dinner was delicious and filling, but I totally left enough room for dessert.  After looking over the dessert menu, I chose a chocolate cupcake that Joe agreed to share with me.  Thankfully it was a normal size and not one of those huge cupcakes.  We asked for a knife, cut it down the middle and oh man....it was soooo good.  I was really glad that Joe wanted to take half of it, because I don't think I could have stopped myself even though I wasn't tasting the last bite of my half.  He saved me from eating something I wasn't going to fully enjoy because that half would never be as amazing as my first bite.  Isn't that the same thing Meth addicts say?  Chasing the first high?  Well, I'm not embarrassed to say that finishing any dessert is like chasing the high of the first bite for me.  It'll never be the same...at least not for the next 30 minutes.  Another reason I am glad I don't have fun options available to me at home.

Hello my name is Beth and I am a sugar addict.

Some Days Are Harder

There are just going to be days that will be harder than others.  I wouldn't classify yesterday as a 'hard' day, but I would say that I just didn't want to do everything at 100%.  While I did go to aquatics in the AM and make a kickass pizza from scratch for lunch, I think that is where my motivation left me for the day.

I was supposed to do my Upper Body Strength Training in the evening and I was supposed to have a balanced dinner, but neither of those things happened.  Joe had to work late yesterday, so instead of my usual healthy dinner, I really just wanted and had toast with peanut butter and a glass of milk.  No veggies, no variety, and actually the same thing I had for breakfast.  But you know what?  It was exactly what I wanted and so I ate it and felt completely satisfied.  (Though I do believe my stomach wasn't too happy with it in the middle of the night because I didn't sleep well and I dreamt about magical boxes that transported cheese snacks to you whenever you gave it a gummy bear.)

The second thing I neglected was my upper body strength.  Instead I watched, "Gandhi".  Now I know that it is a 3 hour movie and I could have easily worked in my 30 minutes of upper body while watching it, but you know what?  I just didn't want to.  Apparently my inner child was full of opinions last night about my activities and eating.  And sometimes you need to just listen to your inner child and be the rebel you want to be and not do those adult things.

I am happy to report that I survived these setbacks and I didn't gain a bazillion pounds over night and no Green Mountain Police showed up at my door to reprimand me.  Today I veered back onto my path and had balanced lunch and dinner and did both my upper and lower body strength.

For dinner I made Turkey Meatloaf in handy little perfectly portioned sizes, roasted sweet potatoes drizzled with honey, and a spinach salad.  Below is a photo of the colorful meal.

Tomorrow is a new day and who knows what it will bring!

Look What I've Made!

Yesterday I finished my "This Month Belongs to Me!" calendar.  I'm pretty proud of it...here are some pictures of the cards and the cork board I have hanging by my kitchen table/work space.

I can't figure out how to rotate this picture in blogger...sorry.

On my board, I have my fitness schedule on top, the Rec Center's schedule on the bottom and the photos are my visualization pieces to help me visualize where I want to be.

And I wanted to post a couple pictures of what I've been eating.  

 This was lunch yesterday.  Salad with Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette, open faced turkey sandwich with tomato, 10 Grain bread slice, and cheddar and a side of strawberries, raspberries, and grapes.  Unsweet iced tea on the side.  Very Good.

Today for lunch, I made this pizza.  I made the whole wheat dough from scratch and used an organic veggie pizza sauce.  I first sauteed mushrooms, yellow squash, and onions and put it on the pizza with mozzarella.  It was awesome.

This morning I went to my second aquatics class and then bought an annual membership.  I'm very excited to continue my aquatics classes and try other classes in the future.  Must get my upper body strength training in today...more tomorrow.

Oh Walgreens, You Temptress

I'm sad to say that I have been avoiding places like Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid for 5 weeks.  They honestly scare me.  For years, I have been giving myself excuses for why I need to enter one of these stores so I could go in and buy some kind of candy.  The holiday seasons are the worst.  And I'm not talking Thanksgiving through Christmas, I'm talking Halloween through Easter.  The time when the various 'Reese's Eggs' shapes are out.  It used to be that we would only get those big ol' gobs of extra Reese's Peanut Butter Cups at Easter.  Hence the name "Reese's Eggs".  But the geniuses at Reese's realized that they can make those addictive little guys in the shapes of Pumpkins! Christmas trees! Hearts!  So now they are available 6 months out of the year!  Hurrah!

Needless to say, I have wanted to avoid them since my time at Green Mountain.  Given that it was a week after Easter and to be honest, those things aren't as good stale, I decided it was time to enter a Walgreens.  I had to go get a prescription and we were almost out of toilet paper in our apartment.  I used the nice, sunny day as an excuse to walk the few blocks.  Once I entered the store, I mindlessly took the candy aisle to get to the back of the store.  Bad idea.  While I didn't see any Reese's Eggs calling out to me, I did see Ghirardelli Caramel Filled Milk Chocolate Squares...another chocolate vice.  I picked up the bag that contains like 10-12 delicious squares and turned it over to look at the ingredients.

Surely my high-end chocolate wouldn't deceive me.  It has to be all natural ingredients, right?  Wrong.  The first few words that popped out at me were Corn Syrup, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil, Hydrogenated Coconut and Soybean Oils, Sorbitol, Artificial Flavoring....the list went on and on.  "Well, I thought to myself....the squares are individually wrapped.  So if I bring this bag home, I could just have like one a day..."  So I picked up the bag and continued to the back of the store to pick up my toilet paper and then I hopped in line at the pharmacy.  Thank goodness the pharmacy line was long and slow.  While in line, I was surrounded by all kinds of medicines and not too healthy looking people.  I looked closely at some of the people around me and just noticed how tired they all looked.  Then I looked back at the chocolate in my hand and I started to remember what I feel like when I come down hard from a sugar crash.  I remembered getting chocolate from Walgreens the last time I was there before my GM month. I brought it home, ate it, and then I didn't not have the energy to move from the couch the rest of the day.

So I decided to bid farewell to the chocolate and put it back.  Unfortunately, I didn't want to lose my place in line, so I sneakily put the bag on a shelf among some allergy medication and then looked up at the surveillance camera and saw myself doing the sneaky move.  I half excepted the Walgreens manager to seek me out and force me to buy the chocolate since I didn't put it back where it belonged, but thankfully he didn't.

I got my two things I needed, left, and walked home, forgetting all about the chocolate squares.  I decided to have some of my Chocolate Zucchini Bread I bought from Foodcopia when I got home instead and felt great after I had it with some strawberries.

Success!

I'm Going to Swim Gosh Darn-it!

On Wednesday morning, I was full of energy and excitement to attend my first aquatics class in Denver.  I woke up early, had my breakfast, drove Joe to work, and found the Rude Recreation center.  The building was fairly new and beautiful.  I walked up to the lady at the desk and told her I wanted to take the Deep Water Aquatics class and she, rather rudely as the name of the facility suggested, informed me that the class had been cancelled due to a sick instructor.  I asked if I could just swim on my own and she flat out said no.

Completely bummed, I hung my head low and walked out the door back to my car.  Didn't that lady know how much this meant to me?  Being able to swim in my own home town away from the comfort of Green Mountain?!  Didn't she know that she was dealing with a fragile woman who handles her emotions with food?  My first thought when I got back to my car, and I'm not going to lie, was "I guess I'll go home and lounge on the couch and eat whatever I want because my plan has failed...."  But then my second thought was of anger and I just couldn't let that stupid lady and the stupid sick instructor (I honestly hope she feels better soon) derail me after only being home for 3 full days!  So I got out my iPhone and looked up the schedules of other rec centers that were near by.  Thankfully, the rec center at 20th Street had a class starting at 9:30 AM.  It was 9:05 AM, and I was going to make it!

And I did.  The rec center is located on the outskirts of downtown in an old building.  The locker room and pool aren't nearly as nice as I assume the Rude Center's were, but I paid my $5.50 and got in the pool.  I was with 4 older ladies who knew each other very well and the instructor.  The class consisted of a lot of water walking and jogging, which I love, and I had my polar monitor on the whole time, so I could keep track of my heart rate.  The class was 50 minutes long and I was in THR for 30 minutes!  Perfect!

After class, I picked up the schedule and asked about the rates.  I think I will go ahead and buy a yearly membership.  In the end, it is most cost effective and comes out to about $20 a month.  Much more affordable to me than the nearby gym.  Plus, as a Denver 'Local' I will have access to around 20 rec centers with my membership.

I went home, showered, had an orange, and then prepared to join my friend for lunch.  We went to a Vietnamese restaurant called P17 and it was great.  I got a lunch special that included chicken pot stickers, tomato bisque, and a salad.  The food was delicious and the company was awesome.

Once back at home, I worked on a few projects around the apartment and did my Upper Body Strength Training.  I picked up Joe from work and it was so nice outside that we decided to go for walk to Cheesman Park.  We were gone about an hour on a leisurely walk and when we returned, I started making dinner.  We had baked mahi mahi, sauteed summer squash and mushrooms, and long grain herb & butter wild rice.  It was a hit and Joe requested fish more often....deal.

By the time dinner was over, I was pretty exhausted.  So I neglected my blog and went to bed.  :0)  Back at it this morning!

Budget in Cooking Time

This morning I started off with natural honey peanut butter on toast with an orange and a glass of milk.  It was nice because that is what I had taken to eating at GM.  I then took a trip to Target where I managed to spend a healthy amount of money...as always.  I bought my eight pound weights, my supplies to make my "This Month Belongs to Me" calendars, and a dry erase Menu board for my kitchen so I can keep track of my meal plans during the week.

By the time I got home and made lunch, it was close to 2:30 PM.  Today I made turkey sandwiches for me and Joe.  I toasted the bread, added cheddar cheese, avocado and tomato and really delicious turkey breast from a local farmer.  We also had a cup of fruit (strawberries, raspberries, and grapes) and a salad.  By the time lunch ended and I started working on my month cards, I started thinking about dinner.

The thing about being away from GM that really sticks out right away to me is the lack of personal chef's in my apartment!  Joe and I had plans to go to trivia tonight with some friends, so I needed to think about, prepare, and eat dinner before a certain hour.  So it felt as though as soon as lunch was finished, I was on to the next meal.  Luckily, I work from home right now, so I know this can be managed.

Tonight I made Veggie Mac & Cheese and green beans.  Very good and helpful in my quest to cut back on my meat consumption.  Here is the link to recipe for the Mac & Cheese if you are interested: http://networkedblogs.com/JHlZG  I'm sure it's great for kids because it hides veggies in the cheese sauce!  Plus, I used whole wheat pasta and both Joe and I really enjoyed it.

Tomorrow starts my at home fitness routine.  I am going to my first Denver aquatics class at a local community center in the morning and plan to do my Upper Body Strength Training DVD after my lunch with a friend.  I hope the class is good!  Looking forward to getting into my fitness routine.