Healthy is hard sometimes

Let’s face it, people. Changing a lifetime of bad eating habits is no laughing matter. This is serious business and it’s tough as hell. It’s totally going to be worth it once I have these new habits in place. In the meantime? Ugh.

Yesterday I did well for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast was a small smoothie (spinach, avocado, strawberries, blueberries, banana, blueberry/pomegranate juice and almond milk), one egg and cheese breakfast taco and a cup of coffee. For lunch, I had a beautiful salad (spinach, tomato, mushroom, radish, zucchini and sunflower seeds), 1 cup of cold quinoa and a small coconut water. Then came dinner…

When I decided to start this challenge on Friday, April 16th, I forgot we had tickets to a Springfield Cardinals game. I also forgot that after being at school until 4 PM, I had a client at 4:15 which meant I didn’t have time to go home and eat. I also had no way to bring something healthy to eat after my appointment. Crap. By the time I got to Hammons Field at 6 PM, I was so hungry. So, I cheated and got nachos. The thought of eating processed cheese was, to me, way less nauseating than eating a hot dog, brat or hamburger. Blech.
After the game, we went to Ruby Tuesday’s and I ordered their bison burger. Still not the best choice, but one I can live with.

Today I had:
Breakfast: 1 egg, spinach, tomato and avocado on an Ezekial english muffin, 2 cups coffee (I had a 9 AM meeting and that 2nd cup was vital).
Lunch: A cup of orange lentil soup and the Mediterranean platter from Tea Bar and Bites. The Med platter has become my go-to when I’m at work because it provides me the energy I need to get through a full work day without being too heavy. The platter is pita with hummus, tziki and olive tapenade. Delicious!
Dinner: Fail. Veggie pizza from Pizza Hut. I definitely had a choice here. But I let the events of the day get to me and opted for comfort over smart. I’ll regret this tomorrow when I go out for a run. Yes, I know these things before that pizza touches my lips. No, I do not change my mind.

Tomorrow is another day. I’m honestly pretty happy with the fact that 4 out of my last 6 meals have been healthy. I can’t spend so much time beating myself up over my diet. I have too many other things to do.

I Ate This

I’m participating in a nutrition challenge. You can read about it here. Here is my email to Christine, A.K.A. The Holistic Guru: Queen of general bad a$$ nutrition tips.

Christine,

First of all, thank you for doing this again! Some of us seem to need an almost constant kick in the arse to do this stuff right.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what my goals are for this challenge. I thought about keeping a food log, but the last time I tried that, it stressed me out and I ended up eating worse than when I started. Here’s what I came up with:

1) Continue to stay away from the non-dairy creamer in my coffee. There’s nothing good in that stuff, but it’s hard. I like the way it tastes. My coffee tastes weird without it. But I’ve been at this for 4 or 5 days and have to stay strong. If I can change my coffee, I can do anything!

2) Have more smoothies for breakfast instead of cereal (or waffles, yum). I feel better when I start my day that way, so I need to go with that.

3) No more soda. I’ve started drinking it fairly often since I started school. Mostly on school days, during my last class on days that I have to go to work right after class. Will try the seltzer alternative you told me about yesterday. 🙂

4) Get away from the Gatorade. I drink it to break up the water monotony or when I’m out of coconut water. It’s full of sugar, I know. So I have to leave it alone.

5) Take my lunch to school. If for some reason I can’t, only buy the raw veggies and fruit; no french fries or “grilled chicken”.

6) Get my family in on as much of this as possible. BUT… I have to remember that I can’t change other people’s habits if they don’t want them to change. The kids are a different story… I’m the mom. I can force them to do it no matter how much they complain. 😉

I’m in for Friday to Friday!

Thanks again, Guru!

Love Peace and Taco Grease,
Amy

This sounds delish

I know. I have a separate page for recipes. But I just got this in my inbox from Everyday Health. They got it from Dr. Weil’s website. If you get a chance to try it before I do, let me know how it is!! 🙂

Eggplant-Walnut Paté

8 Servings

Traditional patés are often made from high-fat meats and liver. They can be delicious and quite elegant, but less than nutritious. This vegetarian version is elegant, filled with flavor, and nutritious. Enjoy it on a special occasion or as an everyday spread with whole grain crackers.

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant

1 cup walnut pieces

2 teaspoons fresh gingerroot, peeled, grated, and finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, mashed

1 tablespoon quality extra-virgin olive oil

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Salt and hot pepper sauce to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Pierce the eggplant with a fork in several places and bake until very soft, about 45 minutes.

2. While the eggplant is baking, grind the walnuts in a food processor until very fine, and set aside.

3. Remove the eggplant from oven, slash to let steam escape, drain off any liquid, and scrape the pulp into a food processor with the gingerroot, garlic, and olive oil. Process until smooth.

4. Add the ground walnuts and allspice, and process until smooth.

5. Season to taste with the salt and hot pepper sauce. Spoon into a small loaf dish and chill several hours or until firm.

Nutritional Information:

Per serving:

98 calories

8 g total fat (1 g sat)

0 mg cholesterol

6 g carbohydrate

2 g protein

2 g fiber

150 mg sodium

Mindfulness is where’s it at, yo

Bitches need to be eating more fruits and vegatabelas. – Pat Dixon

I don’t know if Pat meant to misspell that or not, but it doesn’t matter. I like the quote. It’s totes apprope for this post. Yea, I just typed “totes apprope”…WTF you gonna do about it, huh? That’s what I thought.

I’ve been slacking BAD since the holidays. I’ve barely run, can’t remember the last time I did a  push up and since I take my pull up bar down in fear of it developing a brain and trying to take me out by falling on my head when I walk underneath it, I haven’t been practicing those either. I’m paying for that. I feel like shit most of the time and my headaches are back in full force.

I have, however, been conscious of what I’m eating. I was horrified to see I had gained back about 6 pounds during the holidays and the 2 weeks after. So I started being mindful. It makes such a difference, people. I re-lost those 6 pounds by watching what I ate. Went back to quinoa, spinach salads with lean turkey breast, coconut water and as many fruits and veggies as I can get my hands on. And in case you’re wondering, eating those things is in no way a sacrifice for me. I love those foods! I can only imagine how awful I would feel if I was only eating shitty food. Which I’m still doing. Don’t be ridiculous. I have a family and very little extra time on my hands lately, so there’s plenty of craptastic food being eaten. 😉 My point is that by eating MORE of the good stuff, the bad stuff isn’t taking me completely out of the game.

I have a friend who is working her tushie off to lose some weight and improve her general fitness. I doubt I’ll ever convince her to completely lose her mind and get into triathlon, but that’s fine. She’s an awesome lady, and I want to give her all the support I can! Last time I saw her, we talked about stress eating. I told her to stop eating her feelings. She gave me the weirdest look and then chuckled. J I told her that’s one of the things I’ve learned over the last 8 or 9 months. Pay attention to why I’m eating. BE MINDFUL. Enough emphasis can’t be put on that!

I love you Sheryl! 😉

I’ve given myself til March 1^st to get it together. Going to school full time has taken more adjusting than I thought it would. I totally underestimated the impact it would have on my whole life. But I’m getting the hang of it.

Yes, those are pictures of stuff I’ve eaten over the past few weeks. Weird? Maybe. But I like to share. Sometimes.