Wednesday, August 6, 2014

Friend Makin' Monday...late again, of course!

So, I had issues staying with the diet over the weekend.  Ugh.  I’ve got to get back on it and stay true to it.  I have no “real” excuses not to follow it.  I love the food in it.  I feel full and satisfied on it.  I don’t have any cravings I can’t just brush aside on it.  I love how I feel.  And I did tell my friend Heather (the one that’s been doing this exact diet off and on for the last few months and has had great success) that, weight loss or not, I love eating the way the diet has me eating. 

I’ve been feeling a little “under the weather” the last few days.  It all started Sunday night when I didn’t sleep more than 3 hours and then went to work for 16 hours, went home, slept for 5.5 hours, then worked another 16 hours.  Monday and Tuesday, I had a splitting headache.  It literally felt like someone had driven a railroad spike through my head.  And there was nausea.  I’m pretty sure it was a migraine, but nothing was helping it.  I took way more ibuprofen than I wanted to take and it didn’t even make a dent in the pain.  A friend gave me a migraine pill and that at least took the nausea and a little bit of the edge off the pain.  I was also feverish Monday.  I slept good Monday night for that 5.5 hours.  The headache came back on Tuesday and was accompanied by severe gas issues.  It was horrible.  My throat also started to hurt and so I thought maybe I was getting strep throat.  I remembered I had some Emergen-C in my bag, so I took some of that.  It helped with the throat pain and the general “I’m feeling like I’m getting sick” feeling.  Then, Tuesday night, I slept a LOT.  I woke up Wednesday morning and took some more Emergen-C and flushed my sinuses (as I’m sure this was all centered around something going on in my sinuses).  I’m sure part of the reason I was feeling crappy was because I was eating healthy for a good while and then I just started throwing in junk.  But, Wednesday, I decided to go back on the diet and stick to it.  I will be off diet on Saturday but that’s only because I’ll be out and about all day with my awesome friend Amanda.  We’re going to the Ice Cream Festival and to the Austin Zoo.  So, I’ll at least be eating a bunch of ice cream.  If her and I don’t go somewhere for a late lunch or dinner together, I’ll probably go get some fajitas at my favorite Mexican restaurant after we part company.  Then, Sunday, back on diet again.

I have no overtime scheduled at work until the 19th.  That’s the week after next!  So, no overtime next week at all, unless I pick some up last minute.  Which means I need to go to work each day next week prepared to stay all night…that way I don’t have to break my diet like I did last Friday when I stayed unplanned for.  I’m also going to use the fact that I currently have no overtime for next week to start exercising again.  I asked my apartment office people the other day if there was an open wifi network for the office/fitness center area and they said there was.  This means I can take my tablet and watch my DVRed programs on it while I run on the treadmill.  This will solve the problem of not wanting to run in the heat & humidity that’s going on right now in Texas.  So, 3 runs on the treadmill next week.  I’ll just run until I’m not feeling it anymore since I’ll be on the treadmill and won’t have to worry about making it back home in a timely manner.  Then, I’d really like to make it to the gym twice, but if I can make it at least once, that will still be an improvement over what I’ve been doing.  And, if I can get in a bike ride as well that will be awesome.

I received my new chest freezer Sunday evening via Lowe’s free delivery service and am now storing food in it!  YAY! 

I was going to do the meal map out of the cookbook for the FMD, but I was looking at it the other day and I think I’m going to just use the blank meal map and choose the foods I eat based on what the meal map says (ie: phase 1 grain + phase 1 fruit, etc).  I’ll chose some more recipes out of the cookbook to beef up my food selection in my freezers that I can choose from for my meals.  I think I’ll choose 2-4 recipes each week to cook up and add to my freezer stockpile.  This weekend, I need to go through my frozen meals and label them according to the phase they’re part of (phase 1, 2 or 3) so that I can select them easier.  I think I’m going to go through the breakfast selections and choose 2 breakfasts per phase that are my favorites and just stick to those.  Like, for instance, I love the strawberry French toast in phase 1.  And I like the toast with tomato and red onion slices with a fried egg on top…not sure off hand what phase that’s from.  For phase 2 there’s a breakfast that includes turkey bacon, and I really like that one, so that one will be one of my favorites for phase 2 for sure.

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This week’s Friend Makin’ Monday topic is 'Veggies' (following on from last week's fruity topic)…

1. What is your favorite vegetable?
hmmm…if I go simple, I think I’d have to say cucumber…the cucumber is so versatile.   You can eat it plain with just some sea salt sprinkled on it, you can marinate it in oil and vinegar or in a vinaigrette dressing, or you can eat it with cream cheese or hummus, or pretty much whatever you want.  If I’m getting “fancy” my favorite would be acorn squash.  It’s so tasty.

2. Is there a vegetable that you really really don’t like?
greens.  Mustard, collard…they’re just plain disgusting to me.

3. Do you drink vegetable juices? If so what flavors?
I like the spicy V8…so yummy!!!

4. Potatoes - do you count them as a vegetable serving?
only if they’re sweet potatoes.  I believe that a regular white potato is a starch, not a vegetable.

5. How many portions of vegetables do you eat a day?
probably at least 5

6. if you were making a smoothie would you add vegetables?
kale, swiss chard, spinach

7. Are you allergic to any vegetables?
nope.  

8. Do you have a favorite vegetable recipe? Feel free to share the recipe with us.
Roasted Acorn Squash Stuffed with Mushroom and Sage

1 medium Acorn Squash
3/4 tsp. plus 1/4 tsp. Sea Salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground Black Pepper
6 Tbsp. Olive Oil, plus extra for brushing
2 Garlic cloves, minced
1 large Portobello Mushroom, chopped
1 small Onion, chopped
2 tsp. Fresh Sage, finely chopped
Pinch Red Pepper Flakes, optional

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Trim off each end of the squash. Stand
the squash upright and halve lengthwise. Scoop out the pulp and the
seeds and discard. Brush each squash half with olive oil, and then
sprinkle with 3/4 tsp. salt and the black pepper. Arrange cut sides
down on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast the squash
until the flesh is tender and the edges are golden brown,
approximately 25-35 minutes. Remove from the oven, flip the squash
halves over and set aside.

While the squash roasts, heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over
medium high heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute 2 minutes, or
until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add the mushrooms, sage,
1/4 tsp. salt and the red pepper flakes if using, and saute until the
mushrooms begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Fill the roasted squash
halves with the mushroom mixture and bake again for another 10
minutes.

Makes 4 servings

Per serving:
Calories: 254
Protein: 2 g
Fiber: 2.5 g


9. Do you grow any veggies in your garden?
I wish I had a garden.  I live in an apartment.  So, let me tell you what I would grow in my garden if I had a house with a backyard: tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini & other squash, a variety of peppers, berries, eggplant, onions, carrots, melons, and whatever else I think would grow well.

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