Things I THOUGHT I would miss - Pizza, Dr Pepper, Fast Food.
Things I actually miss - none of that. VERY SURPRISED about that. I did cheat and have the 2 pieces of so-so pizza the other night (just cheese). I really just drink water now (even though the orange juice at breakfast the other day tasted good). The lack of fast food craving shocks me the most. I used to eat 2, 3 sometimes 4 meals a day at McD, Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell.
Things that I have noticed changed. I am not as sweaty. (Uncle Jimmy is WET, was the line my nieces used ALL the time). I actually feel GOOD after I eat and not like I want to go take a nap. Under the TMI category... Since I changed what is going in to my body, there has been a DRAMATIC change in what comes out.
Up until the cold and now pneumonia, I was feeling like I needed less sleep, but that I had more energy then ever before.
Things I have found that I like. COOKING, I think I always enjoyed this, but NEVER really did much of it. But I am liking the chopping of the vegetables, and the measuring of the liquids and spices.
Things tied to COOKING I do NOT LIKE.
a) Shopping. There are times I wonder around the grocery store NOT sure what I am looking for, nor where it is located. I have no idea what a good price on produce or nuts is. It is getting better and now I have the cookbooks, so there are more new ingredients that will start coming. (Nutritional yeast, tofu)
b) Cleaning Dishes. I use SOOOOOO many bowls, measuring cups, cutting boards, and I feel our water bill is going to double, because I am constantly rinsing things off, then I have to prewash off the nuts and stuck on stuff BEFORE it goes to dish washer (which I run almost every day)
Things I am shocked I enjoy. Huge plate of Veggies. With onions, mushrooms, broccoli, peppers, garlic... I just love the smells, the colors, the textures. I cannot believe how good different veggies taste.
Pleasant surprise is how many veggie/vegan options are out there in a normal restaurant. I was afraid I was not going to be able to eat out much, but I can still always get a salad and mix a bunch of the side veggies to make my own plate.
Other things that have amazed me is the support from those around my. Deb has been AMAZING at making sure WHEREVER we go out, that she looks to find something for me to eat. The other day when I was at Reese's party, my little sister asked about cheese on salad and other things that she would have done separate just for me. I love the outpouring of support all of you that read my blogs give me. Little comments on face book, or a comment at work (from co-workers I did not know read my blog). Even friends of friends are reaching out to me and asking me questions.
I was afraid this was going to be impossible and that I would QUIT 2 to 3 weeks in. But I feel I have BARELY scraped the surface as to food options that are out there. And I am so looking forward to NEW foods to fall in love with
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Now back to your regularly schedule food post :-)
Breakfast was a "bar" I made last night.
I also had an orange and a banana throughout the morning.
Working from home for at least the 1st 3 days this week, so I waited until lunch time to make my lunches for the week.
First to prep was the 5 salads that will be LUNCH every day.
2 cups baby Spinach
2 cups Romaine
red, green, orange pre cut peppers. Enough to make about 2/3rds of a pepper per.
I made a nut/seed mixture of (These are the per salad average)
1/2 tbsp each of flax seed, sesame seed and pumpkin seed
about 9 grams each of Almonds, Cashews and walnuts.
(I actually had about 10 times that and blended it all together with my hand blender. It was so much that I split it in HALF. Half for this week and half in fridge for next week)
I have 4 or 5 different dressing, so today was 0 cal French. Tomorrow I may do 0 cal Blue Cheese.
This salad, due to the nuts, has about 375 calories.
Here is where the REAL cooking finally took a hold of me. I decided to may Veggie Shepherd's Pie.
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So a bunch of NEW stuff here. Never baked sweet potatoes, never had a leek. This was A LOT of work!! I started at 5:15. Here are most of the ingredients.
By the time ALL was said and done, it was almost 7:30 before I ate. This makes 2 "pies", so I froze 1 without cooking, the other I cooked for dinner tonight. Here is what it turned out like
It tasted REALLY good. I ate about a 1/3rd of it, and put separated the remaining into 2 tupperware case for the next 2 nights. I think I may eat this every night. I liked it. The calories on this are about 260 per serving
But the cooking did not end!! I still wanted a little snack, so I made the below recipe.
I ate a 1/3 of it and Deb wanted to try it. She REALY liked it. I saved what was left in a plastic container for tomorrow.
All in all I was glad that my 2+ hours of work yield something that will end up being 6 meals for me, so time well spent. Lunches are set for the week. I should make some more of that overnight oatmeal I like so much. Maybe I will do that in the morning and have it for the rest of the week.
All this and I have bags of chili in the freezer, so I am pretty set for the rest of the work week.
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