I left work and stopped at Vitamin Shoppe to pick up some of my favorite Quest Bars and chocolate powdered peanut butter. Quest Bars are a great, gluten free snack and with over 20g of protein, I always feel full and satisfied. They come in great flavors like chocolate peanut butter, banana nut muffin, chocolate chip cookie dough, mixed berries, strawberry cheesecake and apple pie. Points values range from 4 to 5 points which make it really easy to have as a filling snack or for dessert. Tonight I chose Apple Pie and after microwaving it for 20 seconds to get it soft and warm, I topped it with chocolate powdered peanut butter. With 93% less fat than peanut butter, and at only 40 calories per 2 tbsp, it's a great option for a chocolate, creamy, peanut buttery snack! I love putting this on toast, on quest bars, in my Greek yogurt, in smoothies, or alongside apples and celery. I wish I could get Ryan to eat powdered peanut butter - his favorite snack is Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches, though since going gluten free he hasn't had one yet, but I wish he would switch from peanut butter to the powdered version. We read in Grain Brain that we should eat more fats and less carbs and I am all for a fat based diet, but the amount of peanut butter he eats, he could afford to lose the fat and calories and get it from healthier options like avocados.
Dinner was a simple garden lites Carrot and Raisin Souffle. It was warm and flavorful. It tasted just like a carrot cake and I was excited to see the shredded carrots and raisins in the souffle. It was real products and I felt good eating it. Normally I would have a salad or something green to go with it, but Ryan and I wanted to go out for a quick walk before the snow started to pick up.
I find it really hard to cook dinner for us during the week. Ryan and I have such different work schedules that we can't predict who will be home first and at what hour and when we will be hungry. Ryan likes to eat early so I usually come home and cook right away since he has already eaten. My resolution this year would be to have more family dinners during the week. At least 1 or 2. We do so great on the weekends cooking and eating together that it would be nice to be motivated to do that during the week. Ryan is really conscious of my weight watchers points and does ask how many points I have left for the day. It's also hard to cook dinner together unless it's already planned because he doesn't know how many points I have eaten for breakfast and lunch. But now that we are gluten free and trying out best to eat clean, a delicious salad or a piece of fish could be really easy to cook and is really low in points.
I am trying to find recipes that Ryan can have at home to help him with his clean eating. I worry that he thinks gluten free means everything is healthy. I have to explain to him that a gluten free cookie is still a cookie and gluten free pasta is still pasta and we always have to be conscious of the processed foods we eat. It's a slow process and I can't force him to be clean right away. Gluten free is a big step for him and I am so proud of the progress he has made already. This summer, it was hard for me to be gluten free when he wasn't. I craved his pizza and when I cooked, I felt like I was being sneaky using gluten free products. But now we can do it together and support each other. The most important thing for this to become a lifestyle change and not a diet is to support each other and help each other.
We have cleaned out our cabinets of gluten free products and have stocked some boxes of pasta in the cabinets and Udi's gluten free bread. Now we just need to work together to cook dinners with meats and vegetables. It is hard to keep these items fresh and it is very hard and expensive to grocery shop each night for dinner so we will have to figure out what work's best for us. I just hope that Ryan doesn't replace gluten with gluten free and not change his eating patterns. I want to cut out the "crap." I want us to be healthy so that we have a long and healthy future together. We need to eat our vegetables and lean proteins and not as many carbs and processed foods. I'm excited for this journey and what we have ahead of us.
It's been a long day and unfortunately with tomorrow's snow I don't know if I will make it to Bar Method in the morning, maybe I can squeeze in a class after work! I am saying goodnight and taking my Advocare Herbal Cleanse packet. It contains vitamins and minerals to help clean my system while I sleep.
I hope I wake up feeling refreshed and ready for whatever the day brings - hopefully more activity as today was pretty low! Only 9,534 steps (according to my fitbit) and 1 activity point earned - and that's after being awake since 4:45am and taking a bar class! It's the lack of movement during work hours. I have to remind myself to get up and move more and not be no sedentary. It's so easy to sit at my desk and rarely get up but I have to keep moving. I have to force myself to take the long way to the bathroom or to take the stairs, or even just go for a walk at lunch and not eat at my desk. It's a struggle sometimes but I know I will feel better if I just move!
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