Day 9 Struggles - Too Much Food! and a fresh new Day 10!

Well, I over-ordered groceries this week. I meal planned and worked really hard to coordinate dinners and leftovers for lunch and had a large FreshDirect order delivered Saturday and yesterday my dinner plans were ruined as were tonight's due to spoiled food. I guess by trying to save money and buy a lot of food and have leftovers, I wasted money because now I have to throw food out and re-buy. I am starting to plan next weeks meals and I think instead of ordering FreshDirect, I am going to buy 2 nights worth of food at a time at the grocery store on my way home from work to ensure that my food is fresh. It is really frustrating to have meal planning sabotaged because that is when I would go off track and snack and binge and eat whatever I could find. Luckily last night I thought quickly about what to cook and only slightly went off plan.

Last night I had planned to make shrimp. I was craving fresh seafood since I had been eating a lot of meat this week and had ordered 1 pound of fresh shrimp (guess I should have ordered frozen). I was debating between coconut shrimp, shrimp stirfry and shrimp fra diablo. While I was deciding, I prepared cauliflower rice which wasn't too bad but I will have to work on the recipe to make it more flavorful and a better texture. Cauliflower rice was really easy to make - I put cauliflower heads in the food processor and pulsed until it looked like rice. Next time I might do this in batches because some was rice and some was mush from over-pulsing. Then I heated a pot with ghee and added the "rice" and covered and let cook for 10 minutes!

 This is where things got complicated...I was already making the rice, and I had vegetables frying in a pan with coconut oil and my shrimp was spoiled. Obviously I was making a stirfry at this point, but what to stirfry...I quickly looked in the fridge and grabbed the last remaining coconut chicken leftover and cut it up and threw it in the pan with the vegetables. I added some balsamic vinegar (I really need to buy coconut aminos because balsamic stirfry is just not the same, it's just a salad)! It was quick, easy and I was done thinking about cooking. I was full from the meal, but I guess I wasn't satisfied because my mind quickly started wandering to what I wanted to eat next. Trust me, I was not hungry, but being full and satisfied are two completely different feelings. I grabbed the last 2 dates wrapped in proscioutto and hoped this would fix me need for sweets - but alas, it did not and I ended up eating the remaining half of the cocoa RxBar. So although I didn't go off whole30, I still snacked and was not happy about it. However, I did not feel as guilty as I would have had I gone to the freezer and grabbed ice cream and other sweet treats. At least I knew that I needed protein to satisfy me which is why I gravitated to the RxBar. After that I was full and happy(ish) and had some peppermint tea before going to bed early.

Today I took the morning off from Bar Method to spend time with Ryan (tomorrow is class 500)! We had a wonderful breakfast together. He had an apple raspberry nutribullet and a sausage, cheese and vegetable omelette with a side of bacon. I decided to get a little creative and get away from my usual omelette and used the remaining cauliflower rice to make tortillas! They were perfect and so filling and I honestly liked them better than cauliflower rice (which was more like cauliflower mash). I added an egg to the leftovers (which were about 1 cup) and placed the mixture in 3 circles on a sheet of parchment paper and baked at 375 for 10 minutes on each side. Then I took them out of the oven and put them in the pan to fry them and make them crispy for 5 minutes on each side!

I used the last coffee-cocoa short rib and made vegetable-rib mix and topped that with an egg white and served it over the tortillas. Honestly, as similar as this was to dinner, this was so much better! It was a bit sweet from the ribs, a bit crunchy from the tortilla, and packed with vegetables (broccoli, peppers, cherry tomatoes, avocado). There is another lunch meeting today so let's hope this gets me through the endless platters of sandwiches that will be served. I brought leftover spaghetti squash and turkey bolognese and salad for lunch. There's still one more serving of spaghetti squash left so I have to figure out a creative way to use that (squash tortillas?).

Lately I have been feeling good - less bloated, full, happy...today, maybe because of the dinner situation last night, I am feeling a little down and frustrated. It is so upsetting to plan and get excited about meals only to be let down. I also woke up early this morning to marinade chicken for tonight, but of course, the chicken spoiled. So now I don't know what to make for dinner and will have to pick up some ingredients on the way home. I also have to buy ingredients for burgers tomorrow so it looks like I will be spending more money on groceries this week than I had planned. I am also feeling a bit "bloated" in the sense because I have been eating a lot of meat and vegetables and need some variety to my meals - that is why I was looking forward so much to fish last night. I just feel weighed down a bit and need to "lighten" up. A lot of my meals seem to be the same - a meat stirfry with vegetables. I think week 2 is hard because I was so excited and motivated week 1 and week 2 is a bit more "real." Hopefully I can prepare some exciting meals for next week and better plan grocery shopping. I don't want to lose my drive for Whole30 and eating clean - I am still not craving sweets or chocolate so I know everything is working, but in order to keep it up, I need to satisfy myself with better meals so I don't start snacking again!

Have a great day everyone!
XO

Short Ribs to end Day 7 and the beginning of Day 8!

Last nights dinner was delicious. The ribs were falling off the bone when we took them out of the slow cooker and we served them with zucchini fritters and a blood orange salad! I even got to have leftover ribs with my salad today for lunch! They were so sweet and the spices were perfect. Next time we will make spicy spare ribs!

Today is Day 8 - one week on program and I am feeling great. I feel less bloated, less hungry, more in control of my eating and well balanced and happy. I can't believe it has also been a week without measuring or counting points or grams, or oz! I am impressed with myself. And I am not hungry! It has been 1 week of not snacking at work or at home after dinner. I never thought I would be able to control my eating this much that I feel satisfied and not having cravings! I only hope the rest of the 22 days goes this smoothly! Tonight I am planning to make spaghetti squash with a turkey bolognese. Ryan hates spaghetti squash so he is going to make pasta to serve with his bolognese! That means I will have left over spaghetti for lunch and another dinner hopefully! I think my only error with groceries this week is that I planned 4 dinner and leftovers for lunch but I am missing something, more salad? more sides? I don't know what. It is just so expensive to order groceries for the week that I feel like I got so much but still didn't get anything at all. I want to make burgers but didn't buy the meat, I want to make fritters again, but didn't buy enough zuchhini and between 2 people eating salads, we definitely don't have enough mixed greens. We are going to have to find a better solution for grocery shopping because FreshDirect and our grocery stores are just too expensive!

This morning I had the remaining small cup of n'oatmeal at Bar Method in the locker room. I got there really early for the 6:45am class with Brittany, so I took some time for myself and relaxed and ate and had a cup of green tea. Class was great! We did standing seat facing the bar which I haven't done before (yes, after almost 500 class there is always something new to learn at Bar Method)!

After class I had a Larabar Carrot Cake. It tasted good, not too sweat, very similar to Cashew Cookie. The ingredients were "dates, almonds, walnuts, raisins, pineapple, unsweetened coconut, carrots, cinnamon, olive oil." I am so glad I ate in the locker room at 7:45am while I was getting ready because I did not eat breakfast until I was at the office and settled by 9:20am. I used to never eat before or after Bar Method so my last meal that I was working out on was dinner at 6pm and dessert at 9pm. Not the best way to have energy in the morning. I wish I could have lean protein right after my workout but it seems impossible to have grilled chicken in the small locker room at Bar Method while over 25-30 girls are trying to shower and blowdry their hair and get dressed.

Breakfast was a yummy vegetable omelette but I really need to figure out breakfast at work besides eggs! It's keeping my full for awhile, but it's starting to get boring! And lunch was a delicious vegetable salad with short ribs, a zucchini fritter and 2 dates wrapped in prosciutto left over from Saturday (my dessert!)

The fritters were really easy to make and Ryan LOVED them. They were a bit soggy so after pan-frying them I put them in the oven to dry out. They were less moist today after I microwaved them but I wish they were a bit crispier. I need to purchase a cheese cloth in order to get all of the water out! Just when you think you have squeezed the zucchini hard enough, squeeze some more! They need to be absolutely dry! I know I got lazy after squeezing 5 zucchini's so there was water still left. But the flavors were there! I also want to make this again and have them with cashew cheese. Now that I have learned the wonders of a food processor, cashew cheese is going to be the best thing to make ever! I became obsessed with cashew cheese when I started eating the Cashew Ravioli from Juice Generation. I found a recipe but never made it because I thought it would be so hard, but seriously, the food processor is amazing and I have used it everyday now that I learned how! Not sure I would know what to do without it (shh, don't tell my mom I said that)!

Zucchini Fritters
Adapted from Stupid Easy Paleo

5 zucchini, shredded
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, optional
coconut oil or ghee for cooking

1. Shred zucchini using food processor (or by hand). Place in a bowl with salt and toss. Let sit for 10 minutes

2. After 10 minutes, squeeze the moisture out of the zucchini! Place dry zucchini in a separate bowl.

3. Add coconut flour, egg (beaten), pepper and baking soda. Combine!

4. Form fritters by packing zucchini mixture in hand and rolling into a ball. Set aside. I made 9 fritters.

5. Heat a pan over medium-high heat and add fat of choice. When hot, add zucchini fritters to the pan. Do not over crowd. I flattened mine when they were in the pan and needed the extra space. Add more fat with each round of fritters. Cook for 5-8 minutes on each side.

 

Serve and enjoy!

We had these and the ribs with a blood orange salad which was simple - blood oranges, diced red onions, pepper, lime juice, lemon juice, cilantro (toss and serve).

 

Day 7 was successful and I am so proud of myself for getting through the weekend without snacking! And we stayed home all day Sunday and never left the couch, we watched a whole season of Nurse Jackie! Normally I would have eaten so many bowls of cereal and sandwiches and quest bars, but I controlled my appetite and had a wonderful omelette, a huge garden salad with leftover almond-coconut chicken and our wonderful dinner!

 

One week down, 3 more to go!

XO

Day 5 Struggles

I don't know if the day is slow, I didn't sleep well, or what, but today is a difficult one. I didn't wake up with the greatest energy and felt a pain in my lower left abdomen all morning. I tried my best to stay hydrated but really didn't want water. So I drank a lemon tea and now I am having black coffee just in case I needed caffeine. But I am feeling very tired, very worn out and a little loopy - not a headache but not quite all there. I wonder if my body is feeling weak from the colonic - even though bad bacteria is taken out, so is good bacteria. I wish I had taken a probiotic when I got home but I was feeling so great I didn't think I needed it. I am feeding my body all of the right things so hopefully this is just a 24 Hour thing. I am having a hard time not reverting back to old habits like snacking on days when I feel like this. I didn't work out and I feel not normal and these are days when my chocolate and grazing and snacking habits come alive. I am so tempted to reach in my drawer and grab an apricot or a larabar but I really want to resist. I am really not hungry so this is obviously hungry from HALT. Steamed fish does not sound good right now so I know I do not need to eat. I think I am just ready for the weekend! I want to go home and make dinner (still haven't decided on that yet) and read all of my new Paleo cookbooks that I bought last week.

I made a meal plan for week #2 and did a FreshDirect order. I have to plan ahead otherwise I will want to take the easy way out and microwave something bad for me. I want to use the Paleo cookbooks for Week #3, #4 and #4.5 so that I am ready for the rest of the program. I just have to sift through the recipes for added sugar like honey, maple syrup, agave, etc. Anything with those ingredients will have to be saved for Week #5. I also need to figure out how to handle Passover, which falls on Day #29. I am hosting it at our new home and my mom is going to help me cook but I need to have some recipes on hand that are Whole30 approved. I guess I should have started Whole30 2 days earlier, Passover would have been such a treat for post-Whole30.

Lunch was salmon cakes and salad, nothing fancy, but delicious. Just trying to get through the next 2.5 hours. I would take a walk but I feel lightheaded and weak. So frustrating to have gone 4 days feeling fabulous only to feel horrible again.

The sweetest surrender of winter, She put up a flag it is waving. The thunder of summer is rumbling in.

March seems to be flying by and when we moved our clocks forward this past weekend, the days are finally getting longer. Although this is great for the evenings when the sun doesn't set so early and I can walk home from work or feel more productive with my day, it also means the mornings are darker so it is much harder to get up for Bar Method! But spring and summer will soon be here and hopefully it will bring beautiful sunny days (after this next prediction of cold and snow for this week of course)!

March has been very busy. Every weekend we seem to be going out, eating out, staying out late and not sleeping as much. As fun as everything is, I can feel it in my body and the effect it is having. The first weekend of March we ate the 16 course meal at Eleven Madison, This past Friday we had burgers and fries before the Avett Brothers concert in Brooklyn, Saturday we went out to dinner with my parents and this coming weekend we have dinner plans Friday with friends and Saturday we are going to our favorite pizza restraint, Nizza, which now serves gluten free polenta crust before going to see Bryan Cranston in "All The Way." I love the excitement of being busy, seeing friends, having fun and living every minute of this month to the fullest, but eating out every weekend is not only expensive, but my body feels it as well. I feel the salt in the meals, the extra larger portions that I am not in control of, the appetizer, entree and desserts that I am eating and the tiredness I feel from being out late and not being able to wake up early for a Bar Method class the next day. Living a healthy lifestyle is about control and moderation though. I can't not go out with friends or to dinner with Ryan just because I don't want to eat badly. There are healthy options on all menus including salads, grilled chicken and fish. But it's also good to indulge and not deprive otherwise it does not become fun to live a healthy lifestyle because you end up resenting everyone else.

Because we have also been so busy on weekends, I have made it a point to cook meals at home for dinner that has plenty of leftovers for lunch the next day! We have done a few Fresh Direct orders and have purchased pre-marinated meats that require little effort other than to put them in the oven and create a side dish! Last Sunday (after our filling meal at Eleven Madison) I made peppercorn petite filet with a side of sweet mashed yams (Fresh Direct 4 minute sides in a snap) and a brussel sprout and red onion salad on the side. The meat cooked in the oven for 25 minutes and was a perfect medium rare. The meal was so simple and it came with 3 filets so we cooked 2 and froze 1. I was able to make steak salad for lunch Monday and Tuesday from the leftovers! It saved a lot of time, money and energy! And the meat was delicious!

Wednesday night I made one of Ryan's favorite dishes, tilapia with a balsamic butter sauce. Tilapia is really easy to make and does not produce a fishy smell when cooked which makes it the perfect protein! The sauce is really light and flavorful and the butter is so decadent! The sauce is made by melting 2 tbsp of butter in a sauce pan and letting it brown. You then add 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar and let it simmer for a few minutes, stirring occasionally until it thickens. Pour it over the fish (or any protein or vegetables) and enjoy! Our meal (half a pound of tilapia each) was 7 points and we served broccoli and carrots on the side. Another easy meal to make at home. The fish took about 10 minutes to cook!

I also made a lot of Quest Bar desserts this past week. The protein meal replacement bar served as a great dessert because it kept me full later at night and helped energize me to get through morning bar classes. My stomach wasn't rumbling and I felt like I could go longer without eating between dinner and breakfast the next day. But rather than eat it as a protein bar, I tried to get creative.

My first dessert this week was a Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough cookie - it is cookie dough after all! I cut the bar into 4 even sized and rolled them into balls to form cookies. I baked them in the oven (350 degrees) for 10 minutes and served with ice cream and frozen bananas! The bar tasted even better baked than it did raw!

The second quest dessert was strawberry cheesecake cereal. I cut the quest bar into small chunks and rolled them into balls. I baked these for 10 minutes in the oven and served with almond milk!

Another quick and easy dinner that we made last week was sesame chicken with stir fry vegetables. The plate was so colorful and vibrant with the mixture of vegatbales and the chicken was coated in a sauce made with 2 tbsp honey, 3/4 tsp rice wine vinegar, 3/4 tsp cornstarch, 1/4 cup water and sesame seeds. For 3 servings (Ryan had double what I ate), it was 6 points! The chicken cooked for 10-15 minutes on high heat and then I added the vegetables for another 2-5 minutes. The sauce I made while the chicken cooked and added to the pot with the chicken and vegetables and mixed well. I added sesame seeds at the end for garnish.

I went to Bar Method Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning and Thursday morning! I took Monday off because I wasn't feeling well and Friday I took off because we were going to Barclay's Center for the Avett Brothers concert and I wouldn't be able to bring my huge backpack with me inside.

Friday morning, I cooked breakfast with Ryan...egg white and oatmeal pancake with chia seeds, topped with chocolate pb2, coconut flakes and hemp seeds (5 points). I love this breakfast because it keeps me full and energized all morning long!

For lunch I had a salad from Just Salad so that I could keep my points low since I knew we would be going out to dinner before the concert! I had kale and spinach chopped with artichoke hearts, broccoli, banana peppers, asparagus and egg whites with a serving of honey-dijon herb dressing. I had 2 cups of Chia Pop Aged Cheddar (2 points). It was so flavorful and filling. I had never had it before, but will have it more often now. It was so delicious and was a perfect side to my salad!

For dinner, I can honestly say I had the best burger ever! We went to Pure Bistro on 5th Avenue only a few blocks from Barclay's. It was exciting to be back in Brooklyn, but we both really did not miss the long commute on the subway! We didn't even realize how long our daily commutes were until we now can walk to work! I got an 8oz. beef burger cooked medium rare with swiss cheese and portobella mushrooms. It was served with a small salad and pickle on the side and I ordered a baked sweet potato on the side. They are known for their gluten free breads and I can tell you that this was the best roll ever, gluten free or not. It didn't fall apart like a tapioca rice bun but was crunchy and hard on the outside and soft and moist on the inside. The burger was so filling and I could only eat half of my baked potato! Ryan got the western BBQ burger with beef cooked medium well, american cheese and bbq sauce! We will definitely be going back to Pure Bistro the next time we are in Brooklyn. I was so full the whole night and I was dreaming about that burger all weekend!! There were also some amazing looking entrees on the menu like a pineapple mango salsa salmon! As delicious as it sounds though, I want, no I need, another burger from there soon! I ate way too quickly and forgot to take a photo (which I'm sure Ryan was happy about since he is always embarrassed when I take pictures of my food), but I found a few online to show the wonders of the burger! They even had a juice bar making fresh juices and smoothies!

After this amazing dinner, we headed to Barclay's Center! The show started at 8pm and featured Old Crow Medicine Show opening for The Avett Brothers! The show was incredible. There was so much energy and happiness and Ryan and I could not stop smiling and singing along. We were dancing and singing and screaming and we loved every minute. The Avett Brothers had an amazing setlist which featured rock songs that transitioned smoothly into their softer ballads and then back again to the faster songs. The buidlup was incredible and we all stood in anticipation for what was next! The music was beautiful too! They had a double bass, drums, cello, banjo and guitars and during instrument switches, the cello played beautiful melodies that I could have listened to all day! The show's encore featured both bands on stage which had 2 fiddles, 2 banjos, 2 double basses, a cello, drums, keyboard...ahh it was so beautiful. I have been listening to Avett Brothers nonstop the rest of the weekend!

Saturday my parents came over in the afternoon to see the progress we have made on the apartment now that the desk and dining room table were built. Ryan hung photos which added such personality and flair to the bare walls and now it feels so homey! We went to Frank's on First for dinner where we went the first night they came over to help us unpack! I had the veal special with mozzarella, roasted red peppers and a putenesca sauce! I was so full and definitely felt this meal the next morning. It was delicious, homemade, salty and savory and after a long night out the night before, this meal was a good way to end the weekend! Sunday was relaxing - the weather was warm and sunny and we hung around the house - listening to the Avett Brothers of course. Fresh Direct delivered in the morning everything we need for the week to make salads, a few dinners (rotisserie chicken, pulled chicken, and maple mustard glazed pork). For dinner we had Maple Mustard glazed pork (which I will be having as a salad for lunch today) with mashed potatoes and asparagus. It felt good to be able to weigh my food, know the ingredients that I am cooking with and know the points! I gave up a lot of control the past 2 weekends and had fun and don't have any regrets, but it felt good to be back on track (at least until Friday when the craziness starts again).

Work has been busy and great, and I am having a positive attitude about everything. I feel good, I am working out, eating right (cheat meals on weekends) and am loving life right now. I had a great Bar Method class with Brittany this morning - my glutes were shaking the full hour - and I plan to go to class Wednesday and Thursday morning and hopefully Spin at Pablo Thursday night - I have to sweat off some of this delicious food I have been eating! Dinners will be Fresh Direct prepared meats (pulled chicken) with fresh vegetables and lunch will be salads with the premade rotisserie chicken! I hope the week goes by fast because I can't wait for this weekend! It makes everything so exciting when we have something to look forward to. We have been so busy though that it will be nice in April to relax a little when it's warmer out and enjoy the city!

XO

7 Years

Today Ryan and I are celebrating 7 years together. We met 7 years ago at Clark University at Hughes Hall where we lived on the same floor a few doors down from each other. We have stayed together through 1.5 years at Clark University, 2 years long distance while we both finished our Masters Degree and 1.5 years living at my parents apartment and 2 years in our first apartment together in Brooklyn where we got engaged and married last March. It's a special time as we are also about to celebrate 1 year of marriage! I couldn't be happier spending this time with my best friend (and our wonderful cat Haley who is celebrating her half birthday as well today as she turns 6.5 years old).

We started the morning early with a FreshDirect delivery - we got a few premade salads (Nicoise, Grilled Salmon and Blue Cheese/Pistachio) and a few dinners for the week. Tonight we are going to make coconut rice with Chicken Tikka and a side salad. We also have Grilled Salmon with Lemon and Capers and Mashed Yams. FreshDirect sides in a snap and meal helpers are so easy to prepare and most are gluten free, clean and contain no preservatives or hydrogenated oils. They make meal time easy and fun and keep us from microwaving a meal that has a lot of sodium and isn't the best option - though sometimes they are what we need to just eat and be done with the meal quickly. I also got everything we need to make Chicken Parmesan with gluten free linguine for Friday's dinner!

Ryan has been working so hard on the apartment and staying up late to make the track lighting in the living room perfect. He installed a dimmer last night and hung a picture in the entryway. Everything is really coming together beautifully and I have to give Ryan and lot of credit. I may be able to spend money non-stop to decorate the apartment, but without the lighting and photos on the wall, it wouldn't be a home! Our dining room table should be arriving this weekend / early next week so we are going to get the track lighting up soon so we aren't drilling the ceiling above a glass table!

This morning I was up early for the food delivery so I made Ryan breakfast - bacon, scrambled eggs with cheese wrapped in a corn tortilla (left over from taco Sunday) and a red juice that had spinach, pear, orange, apple and a beet! The color was beautiful and I think he liked it, though he mentioned that next time I should not juice the rind of the orange because it makes the juice bitter and not sweet!

It got really cold and bitter this morning so I couldn't bike to work, but I took the bus and was at the office within 15 minutes of leaving my house! I did a focus group last night and biked home in under 10 minutes! It's such a great thing to be able to commute so quickly. It's cold in the winter though so I'm not biking as much as I would like and I just hope in the summer bikes are available at docks where I need them and I don't have to go looking for an available bike!

Have a great day everyone and stay warm!
XO