Eating Reasonably

What do you think about that phraseology?  Is that a better word for some of us than ‘intuitive?’  That’s what I think about the way I”ve been eating most of the time recently.  Its helped that there hasn’t been much junk food in the breakroom.  Even when there was, it seems like I’ve been better at controlling the amounts of junk I ate.

Here’s how I ate yesterday.  Confession first.  I did not take Noah for a walk FIRST.  It was a conscious decision.  Dog training was coming up, and I have a long-standing ‘date’ to talk to my brother on Saturday morning (6am my time, 8am his time, ) and share a cup of good coffee.  So I started out with one of those little protein bars, only 50 calories.

At 9am, right before I left for dog training, I warmed up a leftover banana chocolate chip pancake, spread a little greek yogurt on there, and rolled it up.  Topped with a spray of ‘butter’ and some cinnamon splenda.  BTW, this was Georgie’s creation, and quite yummy.  Very similar to our protein pancakes, but she decreased the amount of cottage cheese and added some banana. Most delicious. Her recipe makes two big pancakes, thus the leftover.  Calories:  280.

By the time I got back from dog training at 12:30, I was pretty hungry.  I had gotten a package of ‘sopas’ [ingredients:  corn, water, and lime] at a new market, so had that with a little cheese on  top, and my ‘simple salad–just romaine, home grown tomatoes, and garlic salt.  I had a 3 ounce piece of beef, and a fuji apple.  Pretty big lunch for me, but very satisfying.  BTW, the sopa was similar to those ‘little puffy corn tortilla thingies’ that I was eating a while ago.  Remember I said they only had 115 calories?  Yeah, that’s what the package said.  When I went back to get them again, the package said 230 calories.  Which actually makes more sense…  Lunchtime calories:  500.

Now, this next part might not seem reasonable to you.   But that new market that I had checked out?  Kind of like Whole Foods.  And I was thinking about how I DIDN’T get any of their fancy desserts.  And how I was wanting something special.  So I decided I could have two of these ‘red velvet brownies’ I had made a while ago.  They are not exactly ‘health food,’ but they are definitely better than  ‘junk food.’  The red in them comes from BEETS!  Total calories:  320.  Most satisfying on a lazy Saturday afternoon  watching the Dog Whisperer from the couch.

Dinner:  I roasted some beets from above market, and made a salad with some baby greens, walnuts, beets, and a little blue cheese from the same market.  My first blue cheese!  I feel so grown up.  I was starting to feel like I was getting a cold or a sore throat, and I wanted something cold, so I had a small bowl of that delicious combination (from Vickie) of cottage cheese, crushed pineapple, and walnuts.  I could get in trouble with this stuff if I wasn’t careful.  Calories for dinner:  480.

Late dessert:  I tried something new.  Shelley keeps talking about the Oikos Chocolate yogurt.  I just can’t find that stuff.  So I got the idea to melt some chocolate chips and mix it into some homemade greek yogurt (plus a little splenda.)  Quite tasty.  170 calories with the walnuts on top.

That’s 1800 calories for the day.  Not losing weight calories.  But reasonable maintenance calories.  Lets see, I got in some whole grains,some veggies, some fruit, some dairy, some meat, and some chocolate.  All the major food groups covered.  I don’t eat that much every day, ESPECIALLY the two brownies.  Some people would disagree with adding the calories up.  That’s not reasonable, they would say.  But for those of us with long-term food issues, it is comforting to add up the calories honestly and see that a day of good food was still within reason.

In the interest of full disclosure, here are a few unreasonable eating habits I am working on.  I started taking a little bowl of walnuts, raisins, and chocolate chips to bed with me every night.  NOT  a good habit, and one I am working on stopping.  One of my strategies is to save my ‘planned dessert/snack’ for as long as possible.  Then I am pretty full, and not as tempted to take my ‘trail mix’ to bed.

Second, debby’s supply of ‘healthy baked goods’ can get a little out of control.  I like to bake, and I like having a variety.  But for goodness sake.  There’s only one of me.  So I don’t get to bake any more goodies until the current stock is all gone.  When there is too much food on hand, I am tempted to overeat.  (don’t want it to go to waste…) I will just have to be content with  bookmarking promising new recipes.  Like this one.

Today after church I still felt a little puny, so I changed my meal plans.  Something cool for my throat, and something warm and comforting for my tummy.  Just right!

Banana smoothie: frozen banana, ice, water, and whey (leftover from straining my yogurt.)

Classic custard oats with cinnamon, splenda, walnuts, and raisins.

This reminds me of something I’ve been meaning to mention.  I really believe that eating healthy foods and exercising has vastly improved my immune system.  I just don’t get sick that often.  And usually when something starts up like this, it is mild and short lived.  I also noticed that my complexion is a lot better.  Anyone else notice these positive side effects of the healthy life?

And now, in spite of not feeling 100%, I am heading out for a walk.  Because you-know-who has been very patient for as long as he can.  And maybe I’ll feel better for it too.  BTW, PJ asked if the little guys get to take a walk.  They do!  They used to be content to stay home and have a cookie while Noah and I walk.  But once I started taking them, they really want to go too.  Its quite the hoopla getting them all leashed up, but once we get out there we’re very organized.  So I usually take Noah for a longer walk, then loop back, and take everybody for a shorter walk.