Day 21: Snow and Ice and Breakfast...Oh My!

No School today... That means a slow and thoughtful breakfast for me!

I greeted the morning with:

*2 mini bagels (240 cal./6 g. of sugar/2 g. of fat/ 0 trans fat)
*with about 1tsp. of Land-o-Lakes butter/canola oil (33 cal./ 4 g. of fat/0 g. trans fat/5 mg. cholesterol/
*3 Jimmy Dean Turkey Sausage links (120 cal./2 g. sugar/7 g. fat/ 0 g. trans fat) and
*1/2 of a grape fruit (60 cal. /10 g. of sugar/ 0 g. fat/110% DV Vitamin C/15% DV Vit. A/6 g. fiber/230 g. potassium/1 g. protein)

Total Calories: 453 calories for breakfast

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Lunch consisted of a peanut better and jelly sandwich with water.

Dinner included three small tuna cake that I made from Zatarain's tuna cake mix and brussel sprouts. The cakes were edible BUT lacked the onion flavor that I love in my Mom's salmon cakes/croquettes. I will definitely have to add onions IF there is a next time.

Post-dinner juice was made up of one apple, juiced and blended with one plum, 8-10 spinach leaves, three strawberries and 1/2 c. of Almond milk. Because I blended more items than I juiced, the drink was a little thicker but just as tasty as a juice-only mix.
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Exercise: During commercials between Law and Order, I bounced on my mini-trampoline and did inverted push-ups on my exercise ball.

Day 19: Introducing My GINGER GREEN GODDESS Juice

This morning got off to a wonderfully slow start. I slept 'til 8 a.m. and started juicing about 9 a.m.
I decided to try some a new ingredient for this morning's juice...cauliflower (chou-fleur in French).
I juiced about 1/2 cup of cauliflower (stem and all) with 3 strawberries and one Granny Smith apple. The cauliflower juice only made less than an 1/8 of a cup of juice and it looked like low-fat milk. I was surprised to find that it had a slightly sweet taste to it. After checking my vegetable wheel, I found out that cauliflower has 5 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of sugar. I never thought that it contained any sugar, until now.

Along with my base juice, I blended 1 strawberry, a handful of spinach leaves, 1 plum, 1/8 tsp. of ginger root and 1/3 cup of almond milk. It made about a cup and 1/2 of liquid. I'm officially in LOVE with this juice! The taste made me return to the blender to get every delicious drop!

The first enticing thing about this juice was the alluring smell of the ginger that greeted my nose(and cleared my nasal passage), even before my first sip. It provided a smooth tingling feeling, as I drank this juice. All of the ingredients created the perfect green juice that I dubbed my Ginger Green Goddess juice, since it made me feel invigorated, beautiful (from the inside out) and alive! It will definitely become a staple (regular) juice on the weekends.

Breakfast is the best meal of the day for me because it is truly a break from my overnight fasting. It gives my morning the boost that I need to have a wonderful day. This Ginger Green Goddess juice satisfied my hunger until breakfast can be cooked. This morning, I am simply having pancakes and fruit, which should get me to lunch.
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P.S. - I timed my juicing/blending this morning. It took about 1 hour for me to prepare the fruit/veggies, take pics, juice/blend/drink and wash dishes. That is comparable to preparing a regular meal; however, FOR ME it was so much more FUN and rewarding!!
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Off- schedule today--Family business will cause me not to blog anymore today.

After Spring Break 2010...

...I have managed to stay more on-track than off-track. I met with my nutritionist, Chandra Carty yesterday. I walked into her office with a plastic Kroger bag full of empty food boxes and can labels, so that I could show her what I'd been eating. After being on my own for a month, I managed to maintain my weight at 190 lbs. This was great because I didn't have to feel guilty about having gained weight over the break.

I told Chandra that cooking for ONE can be torturous. So, I devised a plan to eat BETTER than I have in the past. Cooking is the BEST way to eat healthy. Eating frozen or prepared food is usually better than eating fast foods because I am able to carefully select what I eat AHEAD of time. (That's the foundation behind the success of Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers.)

Chandra told me it was OK to start with small changes, which encourage successful, long-term habits. (I guess it's ok to share that I stopped by American Deli, after yesterday's visit to Chandra. I bought AND ate lemon pepper wings with fries and a sweet tea. I only ate five of the ten wings; however, I demolished the fries...smile.)

Today's Menu

Breakfast

This morning, I made pancakes from the Bisquick mix in the pre-portioned container. While the serving shows 6-8 pancakes, I always manage to get DOUBLE that amount because my pancakes are smaller. Standard Bisquick pancakes are 220 calories for three. I managed to cut that in half to about 110 for three. This reduced the sodium intake from a whopping 880 to 440.

The tsp. of Land o' Lakes butter/canola oil combo was about 33 calories. The 2 TBSP of Cary's syrup (the best syrup in the world) was 1/2 of the 1/4 cup serving, so my calories for the syrup totaled 105 calories. Also, I had a serving (3) turkey sausage links from Jimmy Dean. They taste AWESOME! My calories for this delicious treat were 120. I topped breakfast off with a 1/4 cup of lemonade at 60 calories, since the standard serving was 8 fl. oz (at 120 cal.) and 1 full glass of water (not shown) worth a healthy zero (0) calories.

Total Calories for Breakfast: 428 Total Daily Calories Goal = 1,400
Remaining Calories: 972/day
(Lunch and dinner = 486 each)

Lunch
I ate a small bowl of Amy's Organic Soup Low-fat Split Pea. Each can is about 2 servings. This portion was worth 100 calories, but the salt intake was a little high at 670 mg. (28% of the total daily value). I ate a piece of Pepperidge Farms Whole Grain (15 grain) bread with the total of 100 calories and only 115 mg. of sodium.

This meal was simple, yet filling.

Total Calories for Lunch: 200 calories
Remaining Calories: 772

Note to Self: I didn't eat enough food for lunch. My meals needs to be closer to 400 calories with snacks from 50-75 calories.