The Sandcastle

This morning was different. I got up shortly after 9 am and Dave was still sleeping. That usually means he had an interrupted night but, in this case, it might just mean the Whole 30 side effects are beginning to hit him. He’s going without caffeine for the first time in a long time. He has gotten off it before but winds up with headaches until his body adjusts and headaches often send him to bed.

The result of this, though, is we both had breakfast for breakfast today. We had egg salad. That was the last of that batch so we’ll probably be eating some other type of egg tomorrow. Dave prefers scrambled but I also like over-easy so what we do may depend on who gets up when tomorrow morning.

For lunch Dave is making meatloaf burgers again. This time with broccoli and applesauce for side dishes.

Then I need to peel and chop carrots for the roasted carrots that go with the last of the chicken thighs we baked earlier.

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One of the things I like about this way of eating is having a variety of options available. After lunch, instead of peeling and chopping carrots I decided to dice the leftover steak and make an oriental marinade for it to go with today’s leftover broccoli to make beef and broccoli.

I know. I know. Most of you would have still peeled and chopped the carrots but my back is complaining about last night’s dead hang from the pull up bar so I’m going to go sit in the recliner instead.

That doesn’t mean I’m goofing off; it means I’ll be doing some more reading that will help me continue to get healthy. I have a lot more study to do. I haven’t owned this many physical books since we bought my first eReader but I’m learning a lot. Hopefully, enough that I can leave most of the books here in the apartment when I move into my RV.

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When supper time came, we changed our minds again. We ate the leftover Pakistani Kima to give the steak longer time to marinate. We had bananas for desert. Have to keep my potassium up, you know.

TTYL,

Linda

Today’s support newsletter was mostly about cravings–how to decide what you really need and what to do about it. I seem to be getting a handle on that one.

My best technique so far is to drink water then wait to see if it was really thirst instead of hunger. Often the combination of something in the stomach and the distraction that happens while waiting is enough to avoid eating.

But my biggest problem is Netflix. Dave really enjoys watching something pretty much every evening. He usually picks something I will enjoy too. But, I am in the habit of eating while watching TV/movies. For an hour or two. Yes, I mean eating for an hour or two. My standard foods have been homemade trail mix and Jack Link’s steak nuggets. Those come in small enough pieces or take enough chewing that I can drag them out a long time. But, neither one is Whole 30 compliant. Yes, I could buy ingredients for my trail mix that would be compliant but you still aren’t supposed to eat as much of those ingredients as I do. And, yes you can buy Whole 30 compliant jerky but that’s jerky not steak nuggets–different taste and different texture.

So, I found a new snack that comes in lots of little pieces. Coconut flakes. I bought mine at the co-op so I know there are no added ingredients. And, not knowing any better, we put them in a paper bag and put them in the cupboard. When I remembered we had them, I found the bag had leached a lot of the oils out of the coconut. So I dumped them in a Tupperware bowl, put the lid on it, and sat it by my chair. When evening came, there it was just waiting for my to sit down and begin munching. By taking only one flake at a time then chewing it thoroughly I ate for more than an hour which may have totaled two tablespoons worth of coconut. Score! And they were chewy enough to make my jaw too tired to chew anything else. Double score!

My other go-to snack is olives which helps with my salt cravings and is Whole 30 approved as a source of good fats. I usually eat 6 of the large, greens ones stuffed with pimento. I learned that snack when Weight Watchers was my primary focus. Six olives is only 1 Points Plus and, when nibbled slowly, is enough to make you feel like you actually ate something.

Techniques. For me, this program is all about learning new techniques of eating so as to be healthier. So far, I have Mel’s cook-up and Meal Map and my snack needs pretty well down.

Oh, the Meal Map? That says any meal is easy. You just serve one portion of protein with lots of vegetables, some healthful fat and seasonings and you have a meal. You all do this you just might not realize you do it. Sauté onion in butter, adding ground beef, then tomatoes and tomato sauce with chili powder makes…? I’m learning all kinds of tasty combinations. Which is good because I like variety in my meals.

Breakfast was chili.

Lunch was Pakistani kimi which we liked a LOT more than we thought we would. No curry powder in ours, though.

Snacks were coconut flakes and olives.

Supper is about to be egg salad.

Then reading until I wind down enough to sleep.

TTYL,

Linda

 

How long does it take you to make dinner? Does it sound to you like we are spending a lot of our time cooking? We’re really not. For most of the pre-cooking we do, the time is measured in minutes not hours. And we cook extras each time so many of our meals are just get something from the frig and heat it or eat it cold.

Take tonight’s supper. I just peeled and chopped a pre-cooked sweet potato and stirred that into some leftover green beans. Later I will add pre-cooked ground beef, half a can of tomatoes and some spices. That will then get heated in the microwave and served. This is my version of Wellness Mama’s Pakistani Kimi.  http://wellnessmama.com/5228/pakistani-kima/

All that takes less time to get food on our table than any food we can get locally and we live within a mile of McDonald’s, Red Robin, Broadway Pizza, Wendy’s, Arby’s, Burger King, Perkins, Chili’s, DQ, LeAnn Chin, Subway, Jimmy John’s, Davanni’s, and two sports bars that keep changing their names.

Fast food? It’s in our kitchen.

TTYL,

Linda

I slept even later this morning so I was relieved to read in today’s support newsletter that this is the day you are most likely to need extra sleep. It even talked about how to take the best nap this afternoon. See, it’s not just me being lazy. 🙂

Because I slept so late Dave was ready for lunch when I was ready for breakfast. This is not new territory for us. I had dinner for breakfast today. We had steak, baked sweet potato, and green beans.

The steak was our first grass-fed steak. The Primal/Paleo/Whole 30 folks are big on pastured/free-range meats and poultry. No corn-fed beef if you can get grass-fed. Now I know for sure that cattle free to wander develop stronger muscles than those kept penned up; the steak could have used some tenderizer. But it was good.

After that meal we spent a little time preparing for future meals. Dave boiled and peeled a dozen eggs. I chopped pre-cooked turkey thighs and stirred them with Paleo mayo and seasonings into some of the carrots and zucchini I shredded yesterday to make chicken salad. Having a plan for meals and doing the prep work to make it easy to eat when you get hungry is an important part of sticking to a strict eating plan. We are doing it right so far.

Lunch was the chicken salad and a banana.

Part of the afternoon was spent on more food prep with Dave pre-cooking 2 pounds of ground beef and me making the egg salad.

Supper for me was a salmon Grab-it and applesauce. A Grab-it is where I mix a can of tuna or salmon with an egg and some spices in a greased Corning Grab-it bowl then microwave it for 3 minutes. If you don’t have a Grab-it you can use a Corning cereal bowl but I like having the Grab-it’s handle to make mixing and cooking easier.

Shortly I will be headed off to bed. No, I didn’t make it by midnight but I have no one but myself to blame this time because Dave went to bed early as he’s getting up early tomorrow to go operating again. I wonder if I will sleep in again or get up and do tons of stuff before Dave gets home?

TTYL,

Linda

Dave was out late operating a new to him model railroad last night so I didn’t make it to bed by midnight. Which means I slept this morning until 10 am. When I got up my body immediately announced its displeasure with yesterday’s exercises. Today will obviously be a recovery day.

But, I must say I am so proud of Dave. About 3/4 of the way into last night’s op session he discovered they were serving Oreos and M&Ms, two of his favorite foods. He didn’t eat any! He didn’t stop on the way home to get treats either! He waited until he got home then ate half a leftover meatloaf burger. Yay, Dave! Until then I didn’t know how committed he was to this program. I’ve been trying hard not to push him so I am thrilled to see him push himself.

At breakfast time today I didn’t feel like expending a lot of energy so settled for a leftover meatloaf burger and a banana. Still healthful and tasty.

For lunch we had chicken thighs we had baked previously, leftover roasted squash, and more salad with dressing.  Still easy, healthful, and tasty.

For supper I had another chicken thigh, olives, grape tomatoes, and ranch dressing to dip the tomatoes into. Finished off that batch of ranch dressing so have to decide whether or not to make more tomorrow.

I also spent some time putting carrots and zucchini through the food processor for later comsumption then needed a rest before cleaning up the kitchen. My poor body does not know what to make of these demands on it. It is used to spending most of its time sitting at the computer or in my recliner. I had planned to start a walking program now, too, but apparently that was a little too ambitious.

But the program guidelines saying most people feel like they are hungover on day two so I guess I’m glad to have just a few muscle aches.

TTYL,

Linda