Rules for Life

My post Whole30 diet has been less than stellar.  First I went to the beach.  In full vacation mode I consumed Oreos, ice cream, pizza, and LOTS of wine.  I told myself it was ok because I was on vacation and I wouldn't be associating all this "bad" food with being at home.

Not true.  When I got home I had a whirlwind of activities for 4th of July weekend.  There was eating out (Ra sushi... YUMM), eating at BBQ's and then more eating out (Buffalo Wild Wings.. also YUMM).  Tonight I have a softball game and I am already planning on eating a crab pretzel at the bar after.  I've been eating a nice and healthy breakfast and then its all down hill from there.  Oh yea, did I mention the girl scout cookies?  Lots of girl scout cookies!

So clearly Whole30 was great for me but not long enough to break my habits.  I am going to start again in September to control the beginning of the school year cravings and stress.  In the meantime, I want to come up with my own rules.  Maybe with written rules I will stick to a partial Whole30 diet in the long run.

So here it is... Jessi's Eating Rules:

1. Have a vegetable with every meal (how hard is it to add spinach to scrambled eggs?  Not that hard)

2. No cow's milk.  I will be eating cheese and yogurt occasionally, but not milk.

3. Dairy with only one meal a day.

4. Only gluten free grains.

5. No bread (This is a given based on the previous rule, but I needed to see it in writing anyway... ugh. Bread.)

6. No added sugar/ sweeteners.  Exception: cane sugar in things like chocolate chips.  But this can only be a couple times a week.

7. Only one "cheat" meal a week.  Not cheat day, cheat meal.  Just one a week.  I will have to plan these out for now so that I can stay on track.

8. Only 4 servings of alcohol a week.  This may seem high to some people, but I'm a  teacher and its summer time.  This can be 4 servings in one day, or one serving for four days.  These expire at the end of the week.  I can't "save up" my alcohol servings from week to week.

9. No processed foods.

Am I missing anything?  This starts when i get back from Peru.  I won't have control over what I am eating there, and I am going to eat a crab pretzel tonight.

Done??

I am writing this post on the morning of day 32 (apparently I'm not ready to stop counting my days in relation to the Whole 30 yet... if this conditions persists for much longer I'll seek help... promise).  I have to say, Day 31 was obviously a little over indulgent (and AWESOME) but now that I'm "done" with the program I feel a little lost.  But first, let me back up.

On day 30 I decided to try out the recipes in the back of the book It Starts With Food for their "fancy pants" meal.  The purpose of the recipes was to show you that you can have a fancy dinner party and still comply with Whole 30.  I wasn't quite ready to debut fancy cooking on an entire dinner party, but I knew I could convince my friend Susan to eat with me (she will be starting her own Whole 30 on July 7... there Susan, its in writing on the internet now, so it must be true!).  

Anyway the meal was: Baked Salmon with hazelnut butter, green beans with a fig balsamic vinaigrette, roasted squash and garlic puree.  Dessert was poached pears with raspberry cream and toasted almonds.  If you want the recipes, well, you'll have to buy the book them won't you???  I promise I looked for them on their website and would have linked them if I had found them.  But since I love the book and the program I don't want to rip them off by retyping the recipes from the book here.  But here are some pictures to inspire you.

First, I got the butternut squash and garlic in the oven to roast.  The recipe told me to take the papery outside off of an entire head of garlic and wrap it in aluminum foil.  I was doubtful about how I was going to get the garlic out the clove later on... but it just squeezed right out like toothpaste. 

Next up was the hazelnut butter. Yup, I chopped hazelnuts by hand.  And then mixed them with A CUP of clarified butter.  Some other stuff was in there too (garlic, thyme).  After mixing everything, you wrapped it in saran wrap in a log shape (mine was a little flatter than most logs...) and put it in the fridge to cool.

I didn't take any other pictures of the preparations because I was in a zone.  I literally spent 3 hours prepping for this dinner the morning of.  I made the squash puree, hazelnut butter, and the vinaigrette for the green beans.  I also poached the pears, which was a weird experience.  I put 2 in of lemon rind, 10 peppercorns and vanilla extract in Boiling water with pealed pears for 30 min.  Seemed like a weird combination to me, but the finished product was DELICIOUS.  Anyway, because I had done so much prep work, when it came time to actually make dinner, all I had to do was pop the salmon in the over with some butter, salt and pepper.  While that was baking, I boiled green beans and then tossed them with the fig vinaigrette (by the way... figs look weird.  I stared at them in the grocery store for about 5 minutes because I couldn't believe this weird shaped thing was going to turn into something delicious).

And here is the finished product:

See those white chunks on top of the salmon?  THAT'S ALL BUTTER.  Delicious, hazelnut butter.  The butter melted and left hazelnuts on top of the salmon.  I don't generally like fish and this was delicious.  Everything was.  I want to make more of the roasted squash, like today. 

After dinner (and a detour to target to buy beach chairs) I made the raspberry cream with balsamic vinegar, raspberries, and coconut milk.  Put that in the bottom of a shallow bowl and then put the pear and toasted almonds on top.

And yes, it did taste as good as it looks.

I will definitely be making this meal for some holiday/event/ Tuesday in the future.  It was labor intensive, but worth it. 

Alright, so that was my "last meal" on Whole 30.  The next morning I went a little crazy and went to Chick-fil-A for breakfast.  Chicken minis and a Chicken egg and cheese bagel are just as delicious as I remember. 

For lunch I had a chicken sausage, leftover squash and green beans.  With a girl scout cookie on the side.  Lunch was late, so dinner was cashews and almonds with a clementine while I was at work.

When I got home from Boordy last night I had a half a glass of wine, a square of Dove mint dark chocolate and 2 Oreos.

What was interesting was that even while I was eating the cookies my brain was like "Eh, its ok I guess."  The other part of my brain was like "hey, jerk, you're supposed to love this treat so that I have an excuse to eat a third one."  I almost didn't even eat the second one.  I just didn't want it.  What a sad world to live in when you don't want to eat and Oreo!!!!  I know, I know, that was one of the goals of Whole 30, but I still want to eat stuff like this as a treat every now and then... or maybe I don't??  So confusing!

Don't worry, the wine was delicious.  While I don't plan to go overboard, wine is definitely a part of my diet again. 

*Side note- the rest of the chocolate bar is getting thrown out.  It has blue and yellow food dye in it.  The Oreo may have three different types of sugar, but at least there is no dye. 

For those of you interested here are some results I saw on Whole 30:

- Unintended weight loss.  I LOST 10 LBS.  No calorie counting, did not increase my work outs.  Just followed the Whole 30.  I also lost 3 inches off my waist, 2 inches from my hips, and 3 inches off my belly. 

- Drinking less coffee.  Today I didn't even have any, I had tea instead.  In the past three weeks, I don't think I've finished my coffee any day.  I end up dumping about a 1/4 of it out. 

- Consistent energy all day.  No afternoon slump. And this is without my normal amount of coffee (see above).

- Not needing to hit snooze a million times when the alarm goes off.  This is only based on like a week because after that school was over and I didn't need to set an alarm.  But even when we were in NY the week school got out, I woke up at about 7:30 am every day and was wide awake and ready to go.

- Almost no snacking between meals.  Sometimes I'll have a piece of fruit of handful of nuts, but for the most part I haven't been hungry between meals at all (because my meals have protein and fat in stead of carbs so I am full until the next meal).

- Lower blood pressure.  My blood pressure went from about 130/90 (this is on blood pressure medication) to an average of about 110/70 (also on medication).

- Falling asleep quicker.  I also stopped watching TV before bed... so that probably has a lot to do with this one. 

- I'm happier.  This could be a placebo effect (or maybe its because I'm sleeping better, have more energy and am not hungry all the time).  Knowing that I am putting quality, whole foods into my body instead of crap really is satisfying.

- Almost no cravings.  Even as I was eating the Oreos last night, I didn't want them.  

- Sounds cliche, but Whole 30 really has changed my relationship with food.  I am appreciating tastes that I probably never noticed before, I am enjoying the process of making food.  Most of all though, I enjoy that I am in control.  I am not succumbing to cravings or mindless eating just because (if you're a teacher, you know that the teacher's lounge is the WORST place for mindless eating.  There is always leftover cake in the staff lounge.  ALWAYS.)

Moving Forward

So, now what?  I have a busy couple weeks ahead of me.  Tonight is a birthday party and wine tasting with friends.  Tomorrow I am going to the O's game for an all you can eat/ all you can drink JMU alumni event (No, you didn't miss anything, I didn't go to JMU.  Friends of ours are going and got us tickets).  Sunday I leave for the beach for a few days.  Shortly after that Tom and I are going to Peru for a 4 day hike up to Machu Pichu.  I plan to stay on Whole 30 as much as possible.  I am not going to go to the game tomorrow and eat only cookies and pulled pork with BBQ sauce on a potato roll.  I will probably still have the pulled pork, but I'll take it off the roll.  I'll swap the cookie for a salad instead.  I won't promise not to eat crab fries during the game though.  This is Maryland baseball after all. 

What I'm Aiming For

• No added sugar.  With the exception of occasional baking, I don't see any reason to bring added sugar back into my house.  
• Stick with spaghetti squash and mashed cauliflower instead of pasta and mashed potatoes, most of the time.  
• Limit bread.  This one sucks because I have a $300 bread maker sitting in my basement that I used to use twice a week.  But I feel so much better without all the carbs in bread, so why add them back into my diet?
• Limit other products with flour- pancakes, muffins, biscuits.  Every now and then is OK, but not a lot. 
• There will be cheese.  I love cheese.  But I'm not going back to cow's milk to drink or put in coffee.  Almond milk and coconut milk are good for me.
• There will also be wine.  In moderation.  
• Eat more fat.  From avocado, nuts, olive oil.  I definitely was not eating this much fat before Whole 30.  I plan to continue incorporating fat into every meal.
• No more peanut butter.  My heart rate sped up just typing this.  Its a little sad.  I used to eat peanut butter every day.  But I don't miss it.  Almond butter is delicious.  So again, why add something back to my diet that I don't miss?

 I am going to do another round of Whole 30 in September to keep me on track at the beginning of the school year (which usually involves stress eating and a lot of wine).  I am also going to reintroduce foods one at a time (instead of having grains and dairy all in one delicious breakfast sandwich) so that I can actually see if grains and dairy are negatively effecting (or is it affecting?) me at all. Stay tuned.

Paelo baking

A friend of mine on facebook posted some really yummy looking pics of some chocolate gooey cookies from this blog:

http://cleaneatingwithadirtymind.com/ 

Once I checked the blog out I wanted to make everything.  I was searching for gluten free recipes because I have a coworker who is gluten free (and another one is nut free, and another chocolate free).  I was planning to have a team meeting today (but thanks to the snow that did not happen) and I knew everyone would hate me for making them come to a meeting on Valentines day, so I wanted to find a recipe that everyone could have.

 Last Sunday my friend Susan came over and we set out to make chocolate chip cookies.  Just kidding!  The recipe called for coconut flour and giant does not carry such a product.  I came home from the grocery store and ordered some on Amazon.  Plan B. Reese's swirl brownies.  The recipe calls for almond butter but the nut free substitute was sunflower seed butter (also not available at Giant).  I ordered some of that online too.  We decided to make it with the almond butter and try it out.  I was excited bc I thought this recipe would satisfy gluten free and nut free (once the sunflower seed butter came in) but it turns out my nut free coworker can't do that either.  :(  Oh well, we made them anyway... (My notes on the recipe are in red, the rest is from the blog)

Paleo “Reese’s” Swirl Brownies
*Makes 9 servings
Ingredients:
3 ounce dark chocolate bar 60% cacao or higher (I used Alter Eco) I used whatever I had in my cabinet...
1/2 cup coconut oil, liquid
3/4 cup creamy almond butter or sunflower seed butter (separated into 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup, grade b My maple syrup is grade A.  Not sure of the difference... guessing its a processing thing, Paleo diets are EXTREMELY unprocessed (like the next recipe calls for "grass fed butter" what??)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
3 organic cage free eggs My eggs were not cage free, too poor for that.
1/4 cup coconut palm sugar I used stevia instead, which should be ok Paleo wise bc its a plant
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips

These are the chocolate chips I prefer, Enjoy Life.  Whole Foods usually carries the mini chips, the mega chunks I found on Amazon.  I got a package with 3 bags of mini chips and 3 bags of the mega chunks for 30 bucks.  

Ignore the ingredients to the right of the bread maker, those are for the cookies that we didn't end up making.... 
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a medium sized metal bowl melt the dark chocolate bar using the double boiler method by placing the bowl over a pot of boiling water.
3. Once the chocolate is melted remove from heat and slowly stir in the liquid coconut oil.
4. Then stir in 1/4 cup almond butter (or sunflower seed butter for nut-free option), maple syrup, vanilla extract and eggs.
5. Now whisk in the dry ingredients, the coconut palm sugar and unsweetened cocoa powder.
6. Fold in the chocolate chips.
7. Grease an 8×8″ square glass pan liberally with coconut oil or butter and pour in the brownie batter. Then pour the remaining 1/2 cup almond butter (or sunflower seed butter for nut-free option) evenly over the top of the batter and gently slide a butter knife around to create swirls through the batter.
8. Cook for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy!

Susan will probably back me up and say they were good.  They definitely didn't taste like Godiva brownies form a box (I mean, who doesn't love those?) but I liked them.  I would even choose them over Godiva yumminess because I know that they are not half bad for me.  We each had one and the rest went in freezer bags.  Now I have no excuse to eat crappy junk food when I need a fix (damn it!)

Cut to this week and two snow days in a  row (today is day 2!!!)  I promised my class I would make them cookies for Valentine's day because they filled up the warm fuzzy jar (they get to put cotton balls in a jar for doing nice things and then when its full they get a reward).  Anyway... the coconut flour came in the mail on Wednesday and I wanted to try the Paleo cookies anyway.  Win- win.  

Paleo C4 Cookies
*Makes 24
Ingredients:
2 cups cashew butter (see recipe below)
1/2 cup grass-fed butter, melted
1 organic free-range egg 
1/4 cup raw honey, melted I used regular honey not raw.... 
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup coconut flour
2 tablespoons organic maple sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 bag Guittard Extra Dark Chocolate Chips I used the enjoy life chocolate chips and chunk (1/4 cup each)




 Funny note about the coconut oil... Tom saw it in the cabinet and got excited because he thought it was marshmallow fluff (gross).  He was disappointed when he realized it was coconut oil. 


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Make cashew butter using recipe below.
2. Put the grass-fed butter in a microwave safe dish and microwave until melted, about 30-60 seconds. Watch closely to make sure it doesn’t get too hot. When most of it has melted, stir to melt any remaining butter.
3. In a medium sized bowl add the melted butter, egg, honey, and vanilla. Make sure the butter isn’t too hot so it doesn’t cook the egg. Mix the ingredients together using a whisk or hand mixer. Set aside.
4. In a separate large bowl add the cashew butter, coconut flour, maple sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Pour the melted butter mixture on top and stir the ingredients together with a whisk or spoon until completely combined. Fold in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Add more if desired. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes or until dough firms up.
5. Take a handful of dough and roll into a ball about the size of a golf ball. Place on the parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat the process until you have 12 on the tray. Use your palm to slightly press and flatten the balls down into a cookie shape. They will spread some during baking.
6. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until golden brown. Repeat process with remaining dough. Let cool on the baking sheet.
7. While the cookies are cooling, melt the rest of the chocolate chips using the double boiler method by placing a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water and stirring until the chocolate is melted. Then dip the bottom of a cooled cookie in the melted chocolate, tip the bowl to get a better coating if needed. Place back on to the parchment lined baking tray. Once completed, place in the refrigerator to harden for at least 10 minutes. Enjoy!
Cashew Butter
Ingredients:
3 cups raw cashews
2 teaspoons coconut oil, melted
few pinches of sea salt
Directions:
1. In a food processor add your cashews and puree for a few minutes or so depending on how awesome your food processor is. You will have to stop and scrape down the sides a few times. Once you start to get an almost dough like consistency, slowly add the coconut oil and then a little bit of salt and puree some more. For this recipe it doesn’t have to be as finely textured as store bought nut butter, you actually want it to be more dough like.


 Man, that's a lot of cashews!!!!  You definitely had to scrape a lot!  Not really on the sides, but getting down by the blades.  As the cashews turned to a dough like consistency they got stuck around the blades.  It did actually turn out pretty dough like, but there were still some clumps so I ended up having to mix the dry ingredients into it by hand to break them up (I washed my hands first).

Well, so far so good.  They certainly look like cookies!  Also, the dough is the most delicious cookie dough ever.  And its basically all protein (and fat...) because its mostly nuts.  Seriously, yummm.



Look at that!  It looks like a cookie after baking too!!!!  And, they were pretty good.  Like I would choose these over some processed chocolate chip cookies (maybe not Nestle, but definitely chips ahoy). 



I left 10 cookies out and put the rest in the freezer.  Oh yeah, and I forgot I have a kid with nut allergies so I can't even bring these into school.  I made them heart shaped sugar cookies from a bag instead... sorry kids. :(

Weekend Shenanigans (did I spell that right?)

Ok short and sweet wrap up of my weekend tonight because I cut my finger on something this evening (I have no idea what) and it kinda hurts to type.....

Susan and I decided to start our reward day a little early and go from Friday night until Saturday afternoon instead of all day Saturday.  We went to Social Pub and Pie in Fed Hill for the most delicious pizza ever.


There might be several pics of this pizza on my blog in other posts because I love it that much.  Like I want to be eating it right now.  Caramelized onion and blue cheese!  Off to the side of the plate is pesto and chicken pizza.  That was our first item trying that one and it was pretty tasty.  After a bottle of wine we ended up ordering another blue cheese and onion pizza... yes that's right, 3 pizzas + 2 ladies + 1 bottle of wine = reward day indeed.

The next day I made up for it (slightly) by having a fairly ok breakfast.  I mean, that is cream cheese inside my omelet, but the rest is not unhealthy.

Saturday morning I paid bills and did dishes and then it was time to go to the gym.  Power Hour at Charm City Fitness was certainly worth it this past weekend.  It kicked my butt.  As I was doing a million and one calf raises (with lots of weight) the trainer told me I would not be able to comfortably wear heels until next weekend (which is good timing because I'll be in Vegas next weekend!!!!!).  He meant it.  My legs hurt all day Sunday and Monday.  We went to Panera after class which undid a lot of the work out (mostly because I got my sandwich on asiego cheese bread, had broccoli and cheddar soup instead of black bean, and got a baguette... whoops).  But hey, this was supposed to be my last reward day meal anyway. 

I was all set to eat well the rest of the day (since I technically started my reward day on Friday).  But after LITERALLY 6 hours of sitting at my computer doing work for my online grad class (which started the week I was in NY so I was playing catch up) I decided I needed some Great Pumpkin Dessert (my dads name for this really yummy dessert. Recipe is below).  I have a bunch of this frozen from Christmas when my dad made it.  It was delicious.  

On Sunday I had A LOT more homework to do. I also knew I would have to do a lot of homework throughout the week since I would be gone this weekend.  So I decided to prep as much for the week as I could.  First, I got chili going in the crock pot for Sunday dinner.  Then I made taco meat, egg muffins, packed yogurt and cheese for snacks, measured out protein powder for shakes, made bread crumbs.  It was a really productive morning/ early afternoon.

Later on Sunday I did some Paleo baking... but more on that in a post on another day.  I said I wasn't going to type a lot and I lied, so now my finger hurts.  Also, apparently an injured finger makes me over use parenthesis (like this) so I apologize (but not really).  Good night everyone. 

Oh yeah... Great Pumpkin dessert (not unprocessed at all, but delicious):

So I finally read the book...

So I started carb cycling a week and a half ago without ever reading the book about it, just skimming the blog post on Chris Powell's site... Today I finally read the book. 

Overall the book is ok... however it wasn't the amazing, life changing thing I was expecting.  First, it has a lot less information than I was anticipating.  There are a lot of success stories.  While I think its a creative way to start each chapter, all the success stories are these depressing, my life was in shambles and I weighed 400 pounds stories.  The book doesn't really address people like me who are pretty fit and just looking to loose a few pounds.  I just don't know that carb cycling is what I'm looking for long term. 

I think in the last week and a half the good things it has done for me are paying attention to serving sizes and macro nutrients (carbs, fat, protein).  I've also eatten A TON more veggies then I usually do (I tend to stick to fruits).  Some good things I anticipate it doing for me: quick workouts every morning to get the day started.

So let me start by telling you that I have not been doing things right:

- You're supposed to start each week day with a 9 minute workout (and he actually provides 20 different workouts so you never have to repeat one all month)

- You're also supposed to do cardio 5 days a week... just not possible with my time schedule

- I have been eating fats (mostly peanut butter) everyday instead of just on low carb days

- I have not been having protein with every snack

- Some days I only have 4 meals instead of 5 (they are still 3 hours apart but I just don't get to the 5th one because I wake up late and still go to bed around the same time on weekends)

Going forward things I am going to try to commit to:

- Doing the 9 minute workout in the morning

- Planning more carefully to avoid fats on high carb days (mostly- sometimes a girl just needs cheese on a piece of chicken or a sandwich) and getting in more protein

- Cardio 3 days a week 

I like that Powell has different carb cycling options in his book "Choose More, Loose More for Life."  I am going to stick with the classic for now (high, low, high, low, high, low, Reward day) but will probably switch to the easy cycle (same as the classic but you get 1 reward meal on each high carb day) or the fit cycle (high, high, low, high, high, low, reward) once I loose 5 to 10 pounds.  I get the science behind carb cycling, and I also just think it makes good sense to flush out your system with more veggies and less carbs every few days.  I'm just not sure that its going to be sustainable for me.  I need wine and ice cream and chocolate on a fairly regular basis. In the short term, I definitely need to get more creative with my planning.  I'm really bored with chicken and brown rice.  Last week I did ok with BBQ chicken and chicken parmesean but I need to do a little bit more (turkey burgers, maybe tofu, burritos- which means I need to buy whole wheat tortillas).

Saturday's are my reward days so I really only have 3 days left to plan for this week.  I've kind of been muddling along since Sunday. Ok.. tonight I'm going to plan for wed- fri.  Starting tomorrow I am going to do the 9 minute missions (that's what he calls the workouts in his book) in the morning on week days.  I am going to attempt to get in 3 runs a week, but will not beat myself up if I don't since I still have boot camp, power hour at the gym, and hiking with friends. Tomorrow I had planned to run but since its still snowing its doubtful that will happen... I would have to run in the street since sidewalks are not cleared and I would probably fall on ice and break something. Hmmmm. Will keep you posted tomorrow. :)

Carb Cycling: Week 1

On Tuesday a coworker lent me Chris Powell's book about carb cycling.  When I started reading it I realized I was doing A LOT of stuff wrong.  Like on high carb days  you're not supposed to have any fat.  Apparently this includes putting milk in my coffee.  Powell's is crazy if he thinks I'm drinking my coffee without milk. Also, I had not been having protein with every meal.  I mean my three big meas yes, but some days my snack was just a cheese stick or a piece of fruit.  I bought his book for my nook and my plan is to read that today/ tomorrow so that I can better plan out meals for this week (yes, I know this week already started... but since I'm a teacher and not at work today or tomorrow its still basically the weekend).

Things that are going to be really hard:

- No fat on high carb days (seriously how is that possible)

- Getting bored with salad and grilled chicken on low carb days
- Eating 5 meals on weekends.  Its easy to do when I'm at work.  But this weekend was bad.  Sat, Sun and Mon I only ate 4 meals each day.  I slept later and just don't want to have a meal at 8 or 9 pm..... 

Things that I still don't understand:

- I work out a lot more than he suggests in the book (he has a 9 min workout each day).  How do I accommodate for this when I'm planning meals?

Anyway... some highlights from this week. 

Thursday night: Low carb... chicken parm.  Technically not totally low carb because there were bread crumbs on the chicken.  But close enough.

I had half a serving of chicken with some leftover eggplant Parmesan to get in more veggies. 

Then I had leftover chicken on a sandwich the next day for my high carb lunch.  Technically doesn't fit the profile because it has cheese on it... but again, close enough!

Saturday was my reward day.  My breakfast was not too extravagant.  Although that is cream cheese inside of the omelet. Yummmm. 

We went rock climbing on Saturday and went out to lunch afterwards with friends.  I had a grilled chicken sandwich with green apple cole slaw and rice and beans.  If it wasn't for the cheese and the bread that was not whole wheat I think it would have actually qualified as a high carb meal. Since it was a reward day I had my lunch with a Woodchuck Pumpkin Cider. Delicious.

When we got back in the late afternoon we went to my neighbor's house to continue the merriment in the form of wine and rock band.  We ended up ordering pizza and Chinese for dinner.  I had a slice (or 3) of Papa John's think crust with BBQ sauce, chicken, peppers and onions and crab and cheese wontons.  Most delicious combination ever after a bottle of wine.  Yup, I certainly took advantage of the reward day.

On the plus side, this week I did A LOT of exercise.  8 mile hike on Sunday. Boot camp at school Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Went for  run Tuesday night and then to a kayak rolling class. Power hour at the gym Friday night. Rock climbing on Saturday.  Then another hike on Sunday. 

At the end of the week (Saturday morning) I got on the scale.  I did not loose any weight this week, but I didn't gain any either.  It might just be my imagination but I feel like my stomach is flatter. I will read the book tomorrow (I started typing this blog post earlier today and planned to do some reading today... but then Tom and I went to the zoo instead :)  Hopefully the book will answer some of my questions and help me to plan better for the rest of this week.  About to go have brown rice, peas, and grilled chicken for dinner (although all I really want is the leftover pizza that Tom will be having for dinner.... the reward day might have ruined me).

October Unprocessed... Thoughts and Revelations

So I did not do as well as I had hoped with October Unprocessed.  :(  I knew already that there would be a few cheat meals in the month (one weekend we had a wedding to go to).  And I was pretty impressed with myself that I went to the Renaissance Festival twice and packed lunch both times so that I didn't buy food there. So there is that.  But I really, really wanted to go 100% this month.

Before the challenge I would say that about 80% of my diet was unprocessed.  Tom and I made a switch last winter and have been pretty good about sticking with it.  This month I would say it was closer to 90% or 95%.  Other than the wedding, there were two days when I ate food at the bar after our football game (who can say no to a blue cheese chicken cheese steak).  There were a couple other things here and there too (cliff bar at work, cheddar cheese with some preservatives when I sent Tom to the grocery store...).  I will say that a  point in the win column is that I did not order Papa Johns or Chinese food at all this month.

So with all that being said... how do I feel about all of this?  Blah.  I was kind of hoping for some weight loss or feeling less tired or something.  But I think because most of my diet was already unprocessed I didn't see any big changes this month.  What I really struggled with was the guilt I felt every time I ate out this month.  I mean, I get that eating unprocessed foods is better for me.  BUT I also do not want to be that person that doesn't have any fun with my friends because I'm too concerned with what I'm eating.  Take yesterday for example, fire pit at my neighbors house.  I may have consumed my body weight in cheese curls, Halloween candy and Doritos.  Could I have eaten carrots instead?  ABSOLUTELY.  I definitely think I over did it yesterday.  I think my goal going forward is to make healthier options when I am at friends houses.  When I'm at a restaurant I have no problem ordering what I want.  But when I'm at a friends house, it should be easy to choose something healthy over cheese curls.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm not going to eat cheese curls.  But maybe one handful instead of five would be better.

Staff breakfast

 So my school is awesome.  Every month one of the grade level teams hosts a staff breakfast.  It is always delicious.  ALWAYS.  So before I show you what we had at this staff breakfast let me show you what I had for breakfast on Friday....

 

 

 

Greek yogurt, honey and granola.... delicious, but not compared to this.....

 

 

Bagel, quiche, doughnut, and cheesy potatoes.

 

 

 

 

Oh yea, and don't forge the most delicious scones ever.  Cinnamon chip.  Yummm.  But made with regular flour, sugar and other processed things for sure. :( 

 

 

So obviously it's safe to say that when Unprocessed October is over I will be partaking in staff breakfast once again.  But here it is.... my plan.... going forward I will only eat home made things at staff breakfast... cheesy potatoes, scones and quiche.  I'll stay away from the doughnuts and bagels.  Sounds fair right?

Food discoveries

Some good and bad food discoveries recently.  I'll start with the good.....

Good food discoveries recently:

* Cheese and onion bread.  Yes that's right, I said cheese and onion bread.  It is amazing.  I'm guessing because it has a cup and a half of cheese in it.  It makes the bread really light and fluffy.  We've made three loaves in the last week and a half.  Seriously, but this bread maker and make your own bread:
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/store/product/Black-Home-Bakery-Supreme-Bread-Machine-by-Zojirushi/1017407503?_requestid=276952

I know I've said it in previous blog posts, and I really, really mean it.  I love this bread maker.  Homemade bread is one of the best things ever. EVER.

 

See all the cheese and butter?  Delicious.

 

* Amy's organic frozen meals.  They aren't all totally unprocessed, but I found 2 that pass the kitchen test as far as I am concerned.  I had the enchilada one for lunch today and it was pretty good.  I bought two of each to keep on hand for quick meals.

 





 

 

Not so good food discovery:



Natural string cheese isn't stringy!  Something that is added to string cheese must be what makes it so much fun to eat.  I tried to peel a nature's promise string cheese into strings without much success :(  Boo.  What fun is eating string cheese if you can't eat it like your 5 years old?

 

Fitness, food, and motivation

Let me start by stating what this blog post will not include:
1. yummy recipes
2. pictures of yummy food


What it will include:
1. lots of lists (I'm in a list mood)
2. Lots of confusing rants
3. links to some other great blog posts

Ok... so those of you who know me know that I went back to work two weeks ago.  Yikes.  Now as a teacher I love back to school time, but back to school also means I am:
1. stressed
2. not working out
3. drinking wine (almost daily)
4. working late everyday
5. working on weekends (even labor day...)

This year back to school time has been no exception to the above list.  In fact I've actually been back to work for 3 weeks because I went back early to move classrooms (thus adding to the stress).  In the last month or so I have gained about 5 lbs.  I know that doesn't sound like much, but when you're 5 ft tall and only weight 115 most of the time an extra 5-7 lbs (I may have lied the first time when I said 5 lbs...) shows.  In fact, last week I only had two pairs of dress pants I could comfortably button.  Ugh. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I know a lot of you reading this HATE when people my size complain about their weight.  Stop reading now if that's you.  I started to get really freaked out about my weight gain this weekend and just went to a body weight calculator before typing this post:
http://www.nchmd.org/HealthTools/hbwcalc.html#calc

According to the calculator a healthy weight range for my height is 97 lbs-127 lbs.  What this means is that yes, I am in the range.  What it also means is that I could loose 15 lbs and still be in a healthy weight range (I am NOT saying that I want to loose 15 lbs.... that's crazy talk). 

A few months ago I read the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Rules-Lifting-Women/dp/1583333398

I really, really loved this book.  It made me want to start weight lifting.  There are however a few problems with that:
1. joining a gym costs money
2. hiring a trainer to keep me accountable would cost even more money
3. I like running and there is a whole chapter about how you should not be running as much as I was at the time
4. We have a gym that's not put together, we also don't own weights for it

After reading the book I started nagging Tom about getting our home gym put together (its been in the box for years).  My dad came over and they poured cement in our garage to close a gap that was between the floor and the door (I'm freaked out about rodents getting into the garage).  Then they started putting the gym together.  They got about half way.  4 months later the gym is still half put together (Tom- if you're reading this I am not calling you out.... we've been super busy and I totally could have gotten my butt out there to put it together too). 

Ok getting my thoughts back together because I kind of got off track.  So...
1. I am unhappy about my weight gain
2. I have a gym that is not put together and I want to start lifting
3. I haven't been that great with my eating lately

I'm not that concerned about my eating... I'm planning to do unprocessed October this year and that will help get me back on track.  Unprocessed October comes from the blog Eating Rules:
http://www.eatingrules.com/october-unprocessed-2013/
This blog is what first got me into eating unprocessed.  I really like it.

Anyway... that takes care of my eating (for the most part).  The real problem is the working out.  There are a lot of things standing in my way:

1. I wake up at 5 am already so getting up earlier to work out is out
2. I spend at least 2 hours a day in the car
3. My daily schedule sucks:
5 am- wake up
6 am- drive to work
7-4pm- at work
4-5:30- drive home
5:30-7- make dinner, talk to my husband
7-7:30- dinner and jeopardy
7:30-8 TV
8-9 TV in bed
9 ish- bed

As if this wasn't on my mind enough... I get email updates from this group called Girls Gone Strong.  Today I got an email containing this blog post about motivation:
http://mollygalbraith.com/category/blog/motivation/

In the blog post, Molly talks about the choices she has made to pursue her fitness goals.  She talks about all the social events she has skipped in favor of going to bed early and eating healthy.  This really got me thinking about my motivation.

My motivation:
1. My husband has a great stomach (like 10 times better than mine)
2. My pants are tight and I can't afford new ones
3. I want to look better naked
4. We have been trying to have a baby and some of the blogs my friend reads keep saying how much success people have had by cutting out carbs (I will NEVER cut out carbs, but I would consider cutting down on my carbs)

My Anti-Motivation:
1. Oreos are delicious
2. Wine is delicious
3. I like the amount of sleep that I get (they only way I can see to fit working out into my daily schedule is to go to bed later)
4. I will hopefully be pregnant in the next year and then all my hard work to get toned is out the window
5. I enjoy going out with my friends (seriously... I have great friends.  We have fun)

Somehow I thought typing all of these thoughts out would help me figure stuff out but I might be more unsure now.... ugh. Bottom line:
1. I want to start the workout plan in the book The New Rules of Lifting for Women
2. I can make time if I start to prep my meals on the weekends so that I need less time to make dinner
3. My gym still needs to get put together

Here are some things I will try to commit to:
1. Re read The New Rules of Lifting
2. Start Unprocessed October in October (duh) and get my eating back on track
3.  Try to get the gym put together in the next month
4. Start working out in October (seems like a good goal since that's when the eating will start too)
Workout plan:
Sun- long run
Mon- Rest
Tues- Lift
Wed- Rest (or yoga)
Thurs- Lift
Fri- Rest
Sat- Lift
5. In the meantime my workout plan:
Sun- long run
Mon- rest
Tues- 20 min Jillian Michaels workout
Wed- rest
Thurs- 20 min Jillian Michaels workout
Fri- rest
Sat- 50 min Jillian Michaels workout
(I figure this will get me into the routine so that when I start the other workouts, which are more strenuous, I'll be ready)
6. Drink wine a little less
7. Eat crappy food a little less

Thoughts? Suggestions?  Seriously... help me!

Thins I wonder...

Questions that come to the surface when you think about eating unprocessed:

1. Will I ever find an unprocessed version of Doritos?

2. If I find such a thing... will they be as delicious? (NO)

3. Will I ever be able to say no to processed chocolate in the teachers lounge in favor of unprocessed dark chocolate? (NO)

4. Do I really care about number 3?

5. How come I've made unprocessed cookies twice with 2 different recipes and they are still not as delicious as Nestle's recipe?  (I don't think I've quite figured out the molasses to sugar ratio for brown sugar substitutions... its frustrating).

6. Why does anyone buy bread?  Seriously.  Go buy a bread maker.  Homemade bread is the most delicious thing ever.  Well not ever (see number 3, 4,  and 5 for my chocolate/cookie obsession).

7. Is eating unprocessed effecting my health at all?  I'd like to think yes but there is really no proof of that?

8. Did I use effecting correctly or should it have been affecting?

9. Why haven't I gone running in weeks (other than the couple races I've done).  Come on Jessi... get moving! (Yes, I just referred to myself in the 3rd person in a blog post).

10. How come hot fries are a huge weakness of mine?

Well I lied...

So as soon as I say “Oh I’m doing so great.  Who needs a food diary???”  I fall off the bandwagon and start eating like crap.  There was a whole array of reasons/excuses for this… its report card time at school so I’ve been more stressed than usual.  Then we went to Mexico for a week for spring break.  The resort was all inclusive so we drank and ate all week long (banana mojito… delicious!  Crepe with nutella for breakfast everyday… sure, why not!).  Needless to say we did not stick to unprocessed foods on vacation.  Even before vacation, we ate a lot of fast food because we were trying not to buy too much food and then have it go bad while we were gone.  On top of all this I started taking fertility drugs and they made me gain back all the weight I had lost so it encouraged me to eat things like m and ms and cookies (if I’m going to gain weight on the medicine… might as well enjoy it!).  Oh yeah, and then we had a 3D shape party at school so I ate crap at that too:

Wait... thats actually from snack at class the night before the 3D shape party.  So not only did I eat this plate of food but then the next day I had baked lays (hexagon), cookies (circle) , and ice cream (sphere)... (yes I know... you want to be in my kindergaten class.  3D shape parties are awesome). 

 

On the trip home from Mexico I said at least 5 times to Tom that when we get home we need to get back on track.  The night after we got home we went to the movies, and although Tom made snide comments… I insisted on cookie dough bites and a blue Icee.  WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME???? (Although in my defense I only ate half the cookie dough bites and threw the rest away).

I have been a little better since the movies… I thought I took pictures of some meals from the past 24 hours but apparently my phone decided not to save them…

Yesterday for lunch I had a whole wheat wrap with tuna, spicy mustard, spinach, and cheddar cheese.  It was quick and easy and also DELICIOUS!!!  I will probably have the same thing tonight for dinner since Tom is at work.

This morning for breakfast Tom made scrambled eggs with peppers and spinach and cheddar cheese.  Yummm.  Eating healthy is delicious… and these past two meals have reminded me of that.  Time to get back in gear.  I think part of the problem is not taking the time to prep things for the week (but our weekends have been so jam packed it’s been impossible).  Tonight I’m going to make granola, hard boil some eggs and hopefully make chocolate chip cookies (I just need to look up how to substitute molasses for brown sugar).  I think having snacks on hand and easy to access will help get me back on track. Time will tell….