In case you don't remember, rule #15 is "Break the rules once in a while," and I think this rule will be my saving grace that will help me to not feel like a complete failure throughout this challenge. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's go back to yesterday. (And please, excuse the poor quality of my photos. My apartment has awful lighting and I'm more interested in eating my food that getting the perfect picture.)
Tuesday, 7/24:
I did really well with my goals today.
Breakfast: Whole grain toast w/ natural peanut butter and a blueberry & banana smoothie. [The smoothie is very simple. I just took frozen bananas and blueberries from my freezer (bought fresh and frozen just before they went bad); put them in a blender; added milk, a little vanilla, and a few ice cubes; and blended. A couple minutes later...a delicious smoothie! Having frozen fruit is the key to a good smoothie because the frozenness gives the smoothie a fabulous texture, almost like a milkshake.]
Lunch: Left over whole grain pasta with zucchini, yellow squash and broccoli in homemade pesto sauce, and cantaloupe (I forgot to take a picture, sorry!)
Afternoon snack: Green grapes
Dinner: Salad with red leaf and romaine lettuce, white onion, carrots, black beans, corn from a cob, and lemon pepper seasoned shrimp (cooked in a pan coated w/ cooking spray) with Italian dressing, homemade whole grain garlic bread, and skim milk.
Today, 7/25:
Today I did well until dinner. And this is where rule #15 will save me. I was invited to dinner at my boyfriend's house for dinner, and while it was a healthy, well-balanced meal, it didn't follow all my rules. For instance, we had chicken, and I highly doubt it was free-range chicken. We also had instant rice, which had more than 5 ingredients, although every ingredient was an actual whole food. And then he offered a treat for dessert, and I couldn't turn it down. I told you I have a serious sweet tooth.
Anyway, the point of this challenge isn't meant to make me a food snob; it's just to improve my awareness of what I eat, encourage me to cook more (even when I'm feeling lazy), reduce my sweets intake (my real goal is no more than 1x per week), and get back to eating more plant-based (I used to be almost exclusively vegetarian - except for seafood - and I'd like to get back to that frequency of meat intake). So, when I'm eating a meal someone else prepared, I'm going to eat it and enjoy it, and not worry about how many rules I'm breaking. Thus, rule #15 will save me.
So, back to what I ate today...
Breakfast: Two pieces of whole grain toast - one with natural peanut butter and the other with a little butter and blackberry jam, and instant Arabica coffee mixed with skim milk and Splenda
Lunch: Salad with red leaf and romaine lettuce, fresh basil leaves, white onion, fresh green beans, blueberries, walnuts, and strawberry blush vinaigrette dressing; and cantaloupe
Afternoon snack: Red pepper hummus with 6 whole grain crackers
Dinner: Chicken and sweet pepper kabobs, whole grain medley rice (brown rice, 2 varieties of couscous, and seasonings), steamed green beans, corn on the cob, and homemade basil lemonade. Plus a chocolate covered vanilla ice cream bar with toffee bits (only 170 calories - so not too awful).
My lunch and dinner look really pretty today, if I do say so myself. It's true, it really is more enjoyable to eat a pretty, colorful plate of food. So how'd you do today?
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