The quick update

Because I said I was going to be accountable, but I am finding I have less and less time for myself, here is the quickest update: Down 1.5 lbs (should be a little more, but got slightly side-tracked). Doing really well this last week and going in for blood work next week to see if my cholesterol has gone down (I'm not quite in the range I should be).

I'm also finally FINALLY back into a good running groove. I'm only running 20 mpw but hey, it's been 20 mpw for 3 weeks now with TWO group workouts (one track and one tempo-ish). After 1.5 months of solid running, I'm finally feeling like myself and getting the slightest bit of speed back.

Unfortunately, no cycling as it takes too much time and there is a wedding to plan!

6-week Challenge Wrap-up

I didn't exactly post daily like I originally wanted to. Honestly I just have so much going on right now that it's difficult to get on the computer in the evenings. However, I did want to report that I think the 6-week challenge was successful. My goal was to stick to only Eat-to-Live approved foods and I mostly did this. I would say that I strayed from this goal about 5 different days total. 5 out of 42 isn't horrible and is certainly better than my average before!

My next goal is to see if I can improve on that and to actually look like I've been ETL-ing. I've been stuck with about 15 lbs to go until I reach my "ideal weight" according to Dr. F. It's hard to convince anyone that my diet is healthier than theirs when I'm still overweight surrounded by thin people. Also, my dress is supposed to come in a few weeks and I have my first fitting in exactly one month. I'd love to be "almost there" at the first fitting. I know better than to set unrealistic expectations so I'm just going to aim for 5 lbs in the next month. I can't promise that I'll report daily (I know I won't), but I will promise to check in weekly on my progress for accountability.

"You've ruined me for smoothies."

Best line I've heard all week:

"You've ruined me for fast food smoothies."

That line was straight from the boyfriend's lips, who claims my delicious, 100% whole-fruit, HEALTHY smoothies actually taste better than the smoothies he's been trying at McDonald's. He said when he tried the McDonald's "fruit smoothie", he could taste the chemicals in it!

Now, I don't know whether there are chemicals in their smoothies since I couldn't find any ingredients lists online, but I wouldn't be surprised if there were. Anyway, I am thrilled! One baby step in the right direction...

6WC: Day 29

I had a harder run workout this morning and was hungry most of the day. I overate on some dates in the evening, which was not good at all, but on the bright side, it wasn't chocolate or the junk food coffee cake that is sitting on my counter as we speak.

Breakfast was another green smoothie with 1/2 grapefruit, 1/2 banana, 1/2 orange, kale and flax seed. I had made 2 yesterday which is why it might look familiar. It was still just "okay" -- maybe I accidentally pureed a seed in there. I was still hungry and had about 2 tablespoons of sunflower seeds to feel just about satisfied.

Lunch was a salad made from collards, green leaf lettuce, romaine, carrots, pinto beans, and casinera's caesar dressing. 2 large pluots and 1 passionfruit with about 2 tablespoons of sunflower seeds for dessert.

Dinner was some steamed broccoli with tomato sauce. I also had a kale salad with fresh cucumbers. And lots of dates.

Calories: 1909, Carb: 357.7g (66.6%), Pro: 68.6g (12.8%), Fat: 23.g (20.6%), Fiber: 76.4g

6WC: Day 28

I dare say I might, just might, be getting the hang of this nutritarian living. My cravings haven't gone away yet, but I am developing good habits and building a nice daily routine. It is getting easier which is great!

Breakfast was a green smoothie made with 1/2 grapefruit, 1/2 banana, 1/2 orange, flax seed and kale. It was just okay.

Lunch was a big salad made with green leaf lettuce, arugula, broccoli, carrots, pinto beans, and casinera's caesar salad. A whole cantaloupe and passion fruit for dessert.

Dinner was a simple saute made with beet greens, broccoli, radish greens, Swiss chard, garlic and onions. I had 3 pluots with almonds shortly after.

I am honestly scared I will "fall off the wagon" but I keep promising myself not to think that far ahead and just take it one day at a time. For that reason, I haven't been weighing myself either but my pants seem looser.

Calories: 1262, Carb: 247.8g (71%), Pro: 49.6g (14.2%), Fat: 23.g (14.8%), Fiber: 64g

6WC: Day 27

Nothing interesting to report today. It was almost a repeat of yesterday. I had too much fruit though. I got home and immediately had to get to an appointment so I quickly at my dinner and when I got back, I was hungry so I had an entire melon! Better than chocolate, I suppose.

Breakfast was a mixed fruit bowl, which I ate on the way to work in the car. It had an orange, strawberries, a pear and an apple with some sunflower seeds.

Lunch was a big salad made with green leaf lettuce, arugula, carrots, broccoli, 1 cup kidney beans, and casinera's caesar dressing. Also a bowl of vegetable soup.

Dinner was the leftover Late Summer Veggie Medley from yesterday. Then about 2 hours later, I had an entire medium-sized melon. Not sure what type it was but it came in the CSA this week.

Calories: 1275, Carb: 270.7g (77.1%), Pro: 48.5g (13.8%), Fat: 14.1g (9%), Fiber: 64.3g

Late Summer Veggie-Medley

Someone posted this Late Summer Veggie-Medley recipe on the Yahoo ETL group. I just happened to have most of the ingredients on hand from my CSA box so it was easy enough to make it tonight. I didn't have leeks so I used an extra onion and of course, I omitted the oil and salt. I steamed some Swiss chard (also from the CSA) and served the medley over that, with a sprinkle of red pepper flakes. Very good. Solid B.

6WC: Day 26 - Haven't disappeared, just got busy

Oops, I let too long of a lapse go again. Thankfully, I haven't fallen off the wagon or given up, I just got busy with some other projects (can we say "wedding"??) that I haven't been able to post. Or rather, I keep getting on the computer late at night working on other things and finally think about posting, but then decide to go to sleep instead. This is good for my health but not good for my audience of one person. Hah.

I've been doing well so far with the CSA boxes. They've forced me to be a bit more creative in my recipes and to try things I don't normally eat. I made some raw tomato sauces from all of the tomatoes I've gotten and I'm trying to figure out something else I can make with all of the tomatoes I got this week. I also have a few long green eggplants that I'm not sure what to do with yet.

Today was a fairly normal day with my food. I had a fruit salad containing melon, strawberries, passion fruit, grapefruit, and sunflower seeds over finely chopped lettuce and broccoli. For lunch, I had a bigger raw salad made with lettuce, collards, broccoli, carrots, kidney beans, tomatoes, and casinera's caesar dressing (a favorite standby) with more fruit for dessert. Dinner was this veggie medley that I made with tomatoes, eggplants, and onions I had from my CSA. I had a cup of a spinach soup as well. For dessert, it was strawberries, 1/2 frozen banana, and some almonds.

Calories: 1439, Carb: 276.2g (69.9%), Pro: 60.8g (15.4%), Fat: 25.9g (14.7%), Fiber: 74.1g

6WC: Day 16

Uneventful day today. I'm still having cravings. The desires to eat are especially bad around 4 pm until dinner and again after dinner. I am used to lots of sweet eating after dinner.

Today's food was pretty much the same as yesterday. Breakfast was 2 nectarines, a plum and two passion fruits. Lunch was a big salad of collards, carrots, heirloom tomatoes, kidney beans, broccoli, scallions and Not Cheese Sauce (I swear I'm almost done with the container). I forgot to bring more fruit with me so no fruit with lunch.

For dinner, I had the leftover raw zucchini "noodles" with tomato sauce that I made last night and then the leftover cauliflower / onions / scallions / mushrooms / radish greens mixture (I added no-salt seasonings to this). For dessert I had 3 small apples that I cut up and warmed up. I sprinkled some cinnamon and topped with 1/2 oz of walnuts.

Calories: 1218, Carb: 229.7g (68.3%), Pro: 53.2g (15.8%), Fat: 23.6g (15.8%), Fiber: 59.8g

6WC: Days 14 and 15

Yesterday was a harder day because I was out for both lunch and dinner. I always do better when I have planned ahead and am eating my own food. I know exactly what's in it!

For breakfast I had some fresh figs, sunflower seeds, and two nectarines. Lunch was out at a fish place and I had a salad with lemon squeezed on top with a cup of minestrone soup (definitely too much salt). We were out doing "wedding stuff" last night and at 8 pm were famished, so we ended up at a Japanese restaurant. I was ate some edamame, rice, and what I thought were steamed vegetables, but I think they had some oil on them). I came home still hungry and had some dates after that.

Today was MUCH better. I had some organic carrots, nectarines, a plum, and some sunflower seeds for breakfast. For lunch, it was a big salad of collards, romaine, carrots, heirloom tomatoes, kidney beans, broccoli, scallions and Not Cheese Sauce (I swear I'm almost done with the container). For dessert I had another nectarine and 2 passion fruits. This nectarine was a little dry, so I scooped out the passion fruit flesh and poured it over the cut up nectarine pieces and ate the whole thing together. It was lovely.

For dinner, I made some raw zucchini "noodles" with tomato sauce as a first course and then had a small bowl of a concoction I threw together that included steamed cauliflower, onions, scallions, mushrooms, and radish greens. For dessert I had 2 pluots and 1 plum with 1/4 oz sliced almonds on top.

I'm pretty full and am again surprised at these numbers:
Calories: 1127, Carb: 203.5g (65.6%), Pro: 48.3g (15.6%), Fat: 26g (18.9%), Fiber: 55g

6WC: Day 13

Went out last night with some friends so I didn't get back home until late and I was too tired to post. I was able to stay away from eating the non-ETL foods while out, but I did snack substantially yesterday, although on ETL foods.

Breakfast was a green smoothie made with oranges, passion fruit, flax and bok choy. I also had an entire small "mystery" melon that I got from the CSA. Mystery only because I didn't know what type it was.

Lunch was a cup of spinach soup with dill and basil plus a big salad again with kidney beans, fresh tomatoes and Not Cheese sauce. I also had a plum and white nectarine for dessert.

Around 4:30 pm, I started to really have desires to eat. Not sure if I was actually hungry. I ended up eating a lot of raw sunflower seeds.

When I got home for dinner, I wasn't very hungry (how surprising!) and had a few pieces of fruit before meeting my friends.

6WC: Day 12

Oops, didn't get a chance to post last night so here is what I ate yesterday.  For breakfast, I had a green smoothie made with flax, bok choy, oranges and passion fruit.

Lunch was a delicious salad with heirloom tomatoes, collards, romaine, carrots, kidney beans and some Not Cheese sauce, plus a bowl of spinach soup with dill and basil. 2 white peaches and a plum for dessert.

I was definitely hungry in the afternoon but was able to hold off until I made dinner at 7 pm. Dinner was a bunch of things thrown together, that just tasted "okay." It was some mushrooms, cauliflower, radish greens and radishes with some no-salt seasoning over raw kale. I am not sure I like radishes. They are a little too "spicy" for me. What else can I do with them?? I need suggestions!

I ate the rest of the fresh figs from the CSA for dessert. About 7 of them! So good.

I've decided it might be interesting to track caloric intake as Barb has been doing on her blog for a week.

Calories: 1416, Carb: 292g (73%), Pro: 63.7g (16%), Fat: 18.6g (11%), Fiber: 79g

I'm amazed I can eat this much food and the numbers are so low.

6WC: Day 11

Had a great day today! First, I got up early and exercised. That always puts me in the right frame of mine for the day. Sometimes I feel like it's the only time I have to myself and is great for clearing my head and organizing my thoughts for the upcoming day/week. I only ran for about an hour but it was enough to get the endorphins running.

I had two white peaches and a plum for breakfast, before meeting up with my sister-in-law to go to the farmer's market. We had a great time sampling lots of fresh fruit and talking to the growers. I ended up signing up for a trial at a CSA. I really like the ideas of CSAs, but I didn't think I could do one by myself since I wasn't sure if it would be cost-effective for me and if I would finish all of the food by myself. After I saw the box though, I was sold.

Here is the box they made for me today:

Of course, after I got home and researched all the CSAs in the area, I discovered I chose one of the higher priced ones. I figure if I do like it and use up the produce, I may do trial periods at a couple others I found online (one that was notorious for being mostly greens) to see which one I like the best.

When I got home, I had lunch, which was a huge salad of bargain greens (a whole bag for 99 cents!), a nut-based dressing, a tomato from my sister's yard, and about 5 figs from the CSA box.

Dinner was a huge amount of roasted vegetables (broccoli, onions, carrots) with some tomato sauce and a piece of garlic bread (whole-grain).

My new running partner?

This is Maddie.  She's my sister's dog and FULL of energy.  Her husband BIKES with her while she runs along.  Sometimes they do this for an hour! She has that much energy.

Although I've been running for a long time, when I look back at some of the things I've done, I think they haven't been the wisest decisions. I used to run in secluded trails very early in the morning by myself. Probably not so smart.

Since I recently moved into the same neighborhood as my sister and she recently had a baby, she doesn't have as much time for Maddie. This might be a good opportunity for Maddie to get some exercise and for me to gain an exercise partner for my early morning runs. Though she can look ferocious and mean, she's really a sweet dog. I ran with her this afternoon and we had a good time. She was going at a pretty good pace and was fairly well-behaved, save for the few attempts to chase after the bunnies she saw.

I wonder if she'll do intervals too??

6WC: Day 10

First day in a long time where I ate like a nutritarian on a WEEKEND. It helps that I didn't have any social plans today. I didn't get up as early as I wanted so I didn't get a chance to ride my bike but hopefully I'll do that tomorrow.

Breakfast was some oatmeal with blueberries and peaches mixed in. Lunch was a big salad with cooked broccoli and tomatoes. Pluots for dessert. Dinner was some cooked cauliflower with peas, curry, cilantro and garbanzos. I might have some more fruit for dessert in a bit.

6WC: Day 9

Oops, somehow I only wrote a draft last night of Day 9 and didn't hit the "publish" button. It's finally starting to feel like a routine. I didn't even flinch when the usual Friday evening went out on the free pizza at the local pizza joint. Even when they were "celebrating" with two people leaving and free beer. It helps that I am not a beer drinker. Haha.

Breakfast was 2 plums, 2 white peaches and some chopped kale. Lunch was the rest of the pinto bean and basil barley soup with raw salad greens mixed in and some frozen berries. Dinner was leftover broccoli and peas with Not cheese sauce and a whole grain english muffin.

I didn't get a chance to do much exercise this morning. With the power just coming back in some places, I wasn't sure what would be open. I went for a brief 20 minute jog this morning and that is it.

6WC: Day 8: Dinner by headlamp!

This is a day late, because of the massive power outage that occurred in a lot of southern California yesterday afternoon. It took me TWO HOURS to drive home yesterday! That was pretty horrible.

There was some daylight by the time I got home so I managed to round up some candles, matches, and find my headlamp. I just got a new one last year for Christmas. People scoff at the lowly headlamp, but it really does have a lot of uses! I use it mostly for hiking, but have a friend who will wear it if we run in the dark (we were running at 4:30 in the morning for a while and it is dark that early!). Notice I said I let him wear it and not me. Hah. Yesterday though, I wore mine all around the house. It was a lot brighter than the candles we lit and much less dangerous.

The fiance and I decided to try not to open our fridge and freezer up so the food would stay insulated longer since we did not know how long the outage would last. Instead, I made dinner from pantry items: rinsed can of garbanzo beans, a couple of peaches, and some cashews. Not fancy but it did the trick.

We took a walk around the neighborhood and went to sleep early (what a luxury!).

6WC: Day 7

I stuck to all nutritarian foods today, as my goal states, but I did give in to snacking.  I wasn't really even hungry, as usual, just having a bit of a mental breakdown.  Oh well.  At least I didn't use it as an excuse to throw in the towel and continue eating.  That has to count for something.

Breakfast was another fruit salad.  This time it was 1/2 a cantaloupe with 1 white peach and 1 plum over spinach and some sunflower seeds.  Lunch was another salad with soup as the dressing and some berries for dessert.  My snack was some dried fruit and way too many sunflower seeds.  Dinner was some blanched broccoli and peas with the awesome Not Cheese sauce. A handful of strawberries for dessert.

Broccoli and Not Cheese

I admit it.  I used to love macaroni and cheese.  But it's probably one of the top disease-promoting foods so I can't imagine eating it anymore.  I found this substitute from Rip Esselstyn's Engine 2 and finally got around to making it tonight.

Wow.

It's pretty good! I've tried a few "cheeze" sauces and this one is delicious. I didn't add any onion to it because I ran out of them so the sauce was a bit thin. I served it over blanched broccoli with the addition of peas instead of the pasta. Comfort food!

The recipe can be found here.

6WC: Day 6 - Now that's a fruit salad!

I've been a little burned out on green smoothies lately but there are so many delicious fruits in season now.  One thing I've been doing for breakfast is having cut up fruit with greens.  Here is my breakfast from this morning - it's 2 white peaches, 2 black plums over 5 oz of chopped spinach.  Now that's what I call a real fruit salad!

I was having a lot of wanting-to-eat desires, but not actually being hungry.  For lunch I had 2 cups of a pinto bean and basil barley soup over chopped kale, romaine, carrots and broccoli with a handful of frozen blackberries and blueberries for dessert.

Dinner was the rest of a chili I made over the weekend and some leftover mixed vegetables.

6WC: Days 3-5

Whew, that weekend went by fast. I did okay this weekend, exercising all three days, and mostly sticking to ETL foods, but I did participate in some snacking.

Highlight of the weekend: the juiciest, sweetest, most delicious pluots from the farmer's market:

I ate the last 3 I bought tonight after dinner.  I even got the fiance to try a piece of one.

6WC: Day 2

A couple more "tempting" situations today but I'm glad to say I got through them. Hurray!

Tempting situation #1: We finished our morning workout and a bunch of us decided to have breakfast together. I was tasked to help a friend out by ordering his food and picking it up, which I did, without buying anything for myself (except a beverage). This was at a favorite coffee shop of mine. While everyone else was eating their bagel-egg-ham-cheese-bacon-doughnut, I whipped out my container of fruit and nuts. Yes, I am a total dork. Although - two girls did admit that my fruit looked pretty good.

Tempting situation #2: Work potluck day. We have potlucks at work every month and there are about 0.001% healthy choices so lately I've been avoiding them. But today, I wanted to put in my "face time" and I wanted to help one of the guys who was doing a lot of work preparing food for everyone. So I volunteered and helped season all the burgers and helped prep some food (mostly SAD). I admit a lot of it looked good to me, but I also tried to tell myself that that stuff isn't real food.

Decent day overall, even though I did not get to the gym at lunch like I wanted to (too busy). I did swim this morning for an hour though.

Breakfast today was the earlier mentioned fruit and nuts (cantaloupe and blueberries with walnuts). Lunch was more cooked veggies and a big bowl of split pea soup. Dinner was mashed cauliflower and spinach with mushrooms and a lot of organic black plums. Mmmm.

Mashed Cauliflower and Spinach with Mushroom Duxelle

I subscribe to Dr. Fuhrman's mailing list and get sent the daily recipes. I had all of the ingredients to make this one tonight. I love anything cauliflower and this one was pretty good. I'd give it a solid B. It was good (not Wow!) and I might make it again, but it was slightly more time-consuming than I expected since there are a few components to the dish.

I followed the recipe mostly, except I didn't have any wine so I skipped that part. I used a mix of shiitake and oyster mushrooms.

Mashed Cauliflower and Spinach with Mushroom Duxelle
Serves: 4
Preparation Time: 30 min

10 ounces mushrooms
1/4 cup shallots, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme or 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1/2 cup dry white wine or sherry
6 cups cauliflower florets
4 cloves garlic
10 ounces fresh spinach
1/4 cup raw cashew butter or 1/2 cup raw cashews
soy, hemp or almond milk, if needed to thin
2 tablespoons Dr. Fuhrman's VegiZest, or other no salt seasoning blend, to taste
black pepper, to taste

Finely chop mushrooms in a food processor

Heat 2-3 tablespoons water in a large skillet and water saute shallots for 1 minute.

Add mushrooms and thyme and continue cooking until all mushroom liquid has evaporated.

Add wine and cook for an additional 4 minutes or until evaporated. Set aside.

Steam cauliflower and garlic for 8 to 10 minutes or until tender.

Drain and press out as much water as possible.

Place spinach in steamer, steam until just wilted, drain and set aside.

Process cauliflower, garlic, and cashew butter in a food processor until creamy and smooth. If necessary, add soy milk to adjust consistency.

Add Vegizest, stir in wilted spinach and add black pepper to taste.
Serve topped with Mushroom Duxelle.

6WC: Day 1

Day 1 of the 6-week challenge was relatively easy since my motivation is still high. I had a slight breakdown this morning though. I had forgotten my green smoothie I had planned on drinking for breakfast at home so I needed to get something to eat for breakfast. I was starving after my morning workout and went to a nearby Trader Joe's. Although I was highly tempted to buy junk food (everything looks good when you're hungry!), I stayed the course and bought only what I came for.

Breakfast ended up being a bag of frozen vegetables and a can of garbanzo beans from Trader Joe's. Lunch was some leftover stir-fry (made in an ETL way) over raw romaine and carrots with some sunflower seeds and a fruit for dessert. For dinner, I had a date with the fiance, but we went to a vegan friendly Mexican restaurant where I was able to get steamed vegetables and a whole wheat tortilla with salsa.

The holiday weekend is coming which I am slightly apprehensive about but I know I can do it because I'm committed.

Just what I needed

Barb at Food = Health is starting a challenge for September. The prize is a Vitamix, which I don't need, but this is definitely good motivation for me. We're to send her our goals and post our progress as we go. I'll be posting my progress here and my goal is to eat only ETL foods. I want to get the sugar and refined flour out of my system for good. Veteran ETL'ers say that the longer you stay away from SAD, the better your SAD cravings diminish. I want these cravings gone for good.

The Revival

January 30, eh?  It's been more than 6 months since I updated last!  It's time to get this blog revived and started up again.  To say I've been "busy" would be putting it mildly.  In the last 6+ months, I bought a house and moved into it with my significant other.

And most recently, that significant other became my fiance.

Once the proposal happened, we quickly secured a venue.  We "lucked" out in some ways, because the venue is gorgeous and usually needs to be reserved 1-2 years in advance, but there was an opening and the opening meant the wedding is in January!  That left me about 6 months to plan, which meant I've been a major stress-o-holic for the past month.  I finally feel like I am almost caught up and can breathe a bit easier.

But enough about boring personal details, this is an ETL blog.  I've been doing what I can, but to be honest, I have only been about 60% ETL.  In some ways, moving in with someone has curbed my bingeing.  I can't pig out in front of someone or bring home bags of [insert artery-clogging foods] only to snack on them into the late night.  The downside is that I end up giving in a lot to social situations.  Now we eat out more together (typically SAD) and I am surrounded at home by SAD items he eats.  Of course it is ultimately my responsibility and my choice to eat these things so these aren't excuses.

I know that I really need to be doing ETL closer to 95%, not 60% and I want to get there.  Blogging seems to help me even if no one is listening (hah), so here we go again.

Hearty breakfasts

I hate to admit it, but sometimes on the weekends, I miss big breakfasts of eggs and bacon. They still look good to me, but I know if I eat them, I certainly won't feel good. These days, I've been treating myself to my own versions of hearty breakfasts, ETL-style:

It's a big plate of scrambled tofu, tomatoes with basil, steamed broccoli and beans.

The Annual 1 Hour Postal Swim

When the alarm went off this morning at 4:30 am, I sat in bed for a good 20 minutes debating whether I was going to wake up and go to swim practice. D tried to convince me to do the 1-hr postal swim workout with her this morning, but I haven't been getting a lot of sleep lately and I really wanted to sleep in. I decided I was going to weigh myself and if the number was higher than yesterday (I honestly thought it wouldn't be), then I'd go. Well, it was 0.6 lb higher which is not much, but enough to drag my butt out of bed and do the workout!

The one-hour postal swim is an annual January event where instead of doing a "workout" we get in and try to see how many continuous yards we can swim in 1 hour. I think our times get mailed to USMS and it's probably some kind of competition, but since my times are not competitive, I've never actually looked.

I can't remember my yardage from the past since I think I've only done this swim once and remember it kind of sucking. I didn't think it was going to be any better today seeing how I haven't been swimming and am not in great swim shape. But we had 3 of us in the lane and decided that we'd trade off leading by 500s so it would be easier to count and we could all take turns drafting. I did okay in the beginning but by the end, I was reaaaaaally dragging and swimming pretty slow. The coach said we started doing our 100s on 1:15 and ended at 1:30, which is a significant difference! Anyway, I was so glad when the whistle was blown and we were done. We ended up swimming 4250 yards, which is "okay" but I actually thought we might make it to 4500 yds. :)

This just makes me think about the strength I've lost since IM. I haven't been strength training at all even though it's listed on my schedule. I keep sleeping in or driving home instead of to the gym after work. I need to make it a priority again.

Broccoli Fra Diablo

I was supposed to have another dinner salad tonight but after meals and meals of salads, I didn't think I could stomach another. I was craving tomatoes (specifically, PIZZA), and remembered people on the Dr. Fuhrman forums recommending this dish. Though not consisting of pizza-like flavors, I thought this might do the trick for that tomato craving.

It was incredibly easy to make, coming together in about 20 minutes or less. I used fresh broccoli. The dish itself came out rather soupy, even though I added more broccoli than required. Perhaps my taste buds haven't been retrained yet, but I found it just a tad on the bland side. It tastes nothing like pizza (not that it ever claimed it did, but I wanted to make that disclaimer!) but was nice comfort food.

Recommended for easy, quick, and healthy. Recipe can be found
here.

Bad habits be gone

After a couple of false starts, I am ready to take 2011 on.

#1 "resolution": STOP BINGEING

I don't care about anything else. Well, I do, but that's definitely #1. I'm so sick of spending all this time and energy loathing myself, feeling guilty, abusing my body, and putting The Evil Trinity (sugar, fat, and salt) before health. I want to be a "normal" person again and eat normally. Losing a few pounds and making myself disease proof are just the welcome side effects.

Like any goal, I need to break it down and take smaller steps to get there. I'm going to start tracking the days I stay binge-free (goal is to make it to 1 week first) and make smaller weekly goals.

First set of weekly goals:

• Read reasons why I'm Eating-to-Live daily.
• Plan out meals for the following day
• Limit dinner time to 1 hour. Obviously the time can be shorter than that, but no more eating after 1 hour is up
• After dinner, clean up kitchen and immediately brush + floss until any other "wind down" activities begin.

These are aimed toward my tendency to overeat in the evenings. I'll report back next week.

Mexican Raw Stew/Soup

Today I made a Mexican raw stew I saw on Barb's blog in this post. I thought it looked interesting and didn't have high expectations but I was pleasantly surprised! I liked this, even if it's not much to look at - hah.  It looks a lot like salsa, but the flavor is more complex with the additional vegetables.

I used the same "base" of tomatoes, cucumber, celery, cucumber and lettuce, and then added the spices and rest of the suggestions to finish off the "Mexican" version. I can see how this could be adapted to lots of variations.

I forgot to mention that Santa was fairly nice to me this year. Among the fun stuff I got, I also received some ETL-friendly items!

Yellow Eye heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo

Vallarta heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo

Table Tasty from Bensons's Gourmet Seasonings

Vidalia Chop Wizard

A dehydrator!

I'm pretty excited to put these to use!