The Experiment - Weekend Warrior

6:27 PM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

All last week I pretty much hovered at the same weight. This did not please me when it got to Friday. It really can take the wind out of a dieter's sails to go a whole week with no results. When it got to Friday I was a little extra disappointed because who ever loses weight on the weekend? Not me, I can tell you that....in fact, I tend to gain on the weekends. So I made a goal to lose a pound over the weekend. I figured I really had no plans except for going to the museum with my family to visit the Cartier exhibit and go to my brother's to dye Easter Eggs so there were few dieting distractions. My plan: Eat light, eat often, eat mostly proteins, and maybe exercise a little.

Friday:
A bunch of boys came over to play video games. I knew they were coming and I knew that they were going to make cheesy pesto paninis sandwiches for dinner. What I did was make my dinner before they came over so I would not be tempted to dine with them. I had a panini but mine consisted of some Alpine Lace swiss cheese (the lowest calorie cheese I can think of), tomatoes, mustard and a light smearing of avocado. It was filling enough to keep me from wanting some of that wonderful cheesy goodness the boys were having, even though that pesto (homemade I might add) was smelling miiiighty good. I did indulge a little on the whole roasted chicken they brought. I figured what is the harm with a couple slivers of lean chicken breast? I managed to go to bed at about 9:30, thereby missing the late night snacking the gamer boys partook in.

Saturday:
I woke up at the same weight I was trying to move down from. This is not surprising or disappointing because I really had done nothing so far to lose any weight. I made what I thought was a perfect breakfast:

Spicy Egg Scramble
I took two eggs, about two tablespoons soy milk, 1 chopped jalapeno, a tsp ground ginger, a half tsp salt and a clove of garlic, chopped and placed it all in a bowl. I whipped it into a frenzy and dry fried it in a little frying pan, trusting the non-stick coating. I placed it all on top of a piece of whole wheat toast.

Calories: 275; Fat: 12g; Fiber: 4g; Protein: 18g

That powered me up with protein, had some fiber to keep me full for a while and some spice to boost my metabolism. I put aside a few slices of the chicken breast to snack on during the day.

I then did a bunch of laundry which my boyfriend offered to do but I thought I would do it myself to burn the calories. I carted the laundry basket up and down the stairs a few times. That being finished, I put some green tea bags in my water bottle and I headed out to the beach. My dog needs to lose a bit of weight too, so we decided to take a walk on the beach then do a smidge of hiking. We climbed up to the top of a lovely hill and reaped the benefits the view offered for a while. When I got home I was famished so I made a salad that used up the left over chicken carcass the boys left from the night before.



Chicken and garbanzo bean salad:
I tossed a bunch of lettuce, a can of garbanzo beans, 4 ounces of chicken breast, 2 tomatoes, 2 ounces of feta cheese, 10 kalamata olives, 2 ounces walnuts, 2 tablespoons capers in a bowl. I added 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and 3 tablespoons balsalmic vinegar. I actually ATE only one and a half cups of this salad which was about a quarter to a fifth of the whole salad.

Total of whole salad: Calories: 961; Fat: 33g; Fiber: 25g; Protein: 53g

Since I only ate, at most, a quarter of this salad, it came out to under 200 calories but all that protein was great after a hike. After a short rest I went to my brother's for some Easter Egg dying. I had a nice cup of chamomile tea while there. When I got home I just went to bed at about 9:30.

Sunday:
I dont think I can ever come out of a weekend unscathed. There was, as always, diet distractions this day. It began very nice, I weighed in at a half pound down which is perfect. I made another tasty spicy egg scramble, this time without the toast. I met up with my family and we headed to the Legion of Honor, my favorite local museum, to check out the billions of dollars worth of Cartier jewelery on display. I figured this would be harmless because it is a calorie burner, walking around like you do at a museum. I did not count on having lunch. We decided to go to our usual post-museum lunch spot, the Beach Chalet. When we arrived at the restaurant they told us it would be an hour wait so we sat at the bar. I caved and got an Absolut Peppar Bloody Mary. It was so good! But I dont even want to know how many calories were in there. Once seated I took a look at the menu. Carbonara, French Dip, Corned Beef Hash, Steak Frites, Crab Cakes, Burgers, the list goes on. WHAT TO DO?? There werent even any real salads. They had Caesar Salad and a BLT Salad but those are not quiiite healthy. For that amount of calories I would rather just have the Steak Frites. I decided to only order from the appetizer menu figuring at least the portions would be smaller. I ordered Ahi Tuna Tartare. It came covered with a sweet aioli which is basically a mayonnaise but at least it was lean fish and not a huge portion. Some taro chips accompanied the tartare.


When I got home I was feeling a little regret for the Bloody Mary because it was calories I didnt need and it was making me feel lethargic. I spent rest of the afternoon online planning the trip to Maui that this whole diet if for. The boyfriend started to get restless and wanted to go out to eat. There was NO WAY that was happening so I had to think of something to quench his hunger. I rummaged through the refrigerator and found some ground turkey defrosting. I decided to make Turkey Chili

Turkey Chili:
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 small can corn
1 can stewed tomatoes
2 jalapenos, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tbsp cumin
3 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp smoked paprika
1/4 cup chicken broth
(I would have added chili powder if I wasnt out of it)

This came out to be a total of 1281 calories, 33 grams of fat, 33 grams of fiber and 99 grams of protein. I ate none of it but I will have it for breakfast tomorrow. I would say a serving is about 1/5 of the meal meaning this meal is about 256 calories total with 20 grams of protein and 7 grams of fat and fiber each. Not too shabby.


Before I went to bed I had what I call my guilt-tea. I also call it poopy tea for reasons I will soon explain. It is actually called Super Slimming Tea. It comes with a warning on the label. I wont mince words. It is a laxative tea. There I said it. Be VERY careful when taking this tea because it takes about 8 hours before it kicks in and you will not want to be at work or in a car when it kicks in. I take it on days I have strayed from my diet. I take it before I go to bed and when I wake up I am feeling the effects of the tea. This passes pretty quickly and I am off to work with no problems. I do not know if this actually works to help move food out of your body faster or not but it makes me feel like it is doing something and that is good for my psyche. I do not take it all the time, and I do not recommend anyone do that. It would be uncomfortable and it seems unhealthy to be constantly in the bathroom. This is just my emergency fix, weather it works or not, I acutally do not know.

What I DO know is that I woke up Monday morning one pound down from when I woke up Saturday morning!! This is just fantastic. I feel a bit back on track and now I can face this week with more confidence that I will continue to lose weight. At least, I have more motivation. So, here is to a great week, everyone! I will worry about Easter Sunday Brunch at the end of the week....more distractions!!!

My plan this week is to eat pretty much only eggs and chicken because I have an abundance of both. The boyfriend grilled up a bunch of wonderful chicken breasts and I have a ton of hard boiled eggs from the dying event this weekend. I plan to make deviled eggs. A great snack full of protein and filling as well.


So far I have to lose 15 pounds in 60 days. Wish me luck!



0 comments:

The Experiment - The Diet Easy Button

11:39 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 1 Comments

I do not like to exercise, I do not like to go out of my way for things, I want it all to fall into my lap, I want an easy way out. Sound like you? Well, it's definitely me. So, I put together some super easy things that will make your diet work for you, not the other way around. These are some things one can do, with barely lifting a finger, to help burn calories, increase metabolism and kill time. I mean, if you are just sitting there, you may as well be burning SOMETHING, right? In the end isn't it all about calories in and calories out? Every little calorie burned is good.






1. Eat Spicy Food
I have read this all over the place and no one seems to dispute it. In spicy foods there is a little molecule called Capsaicin. Capsaicin is known to increase your metabolism. Perhaps only for a half hour, but it still increases it and that is better than not increasing it. How to make it work for you: Add hot sauce to your meals. This will also add flavor without adding extra calories too, provided that you use a very low sugar hot sauce. You can also add jalapenos or other hot peppers, chopped up, to your prepared meals or blend it into a soup. You can also add cayenne pepper to your meals. If you are not accustomed to spice do not worry. You can build up a tolerance to spicy foods. Start with a small amount of cayenne or Siracha added to each meal and slowly build up more and more. I, personally, enjoy a good eye watering, nose running spicy meal so this is a very easy solution. This, in my opinion, is a really simple way to help in your weight loss. It is basically eating your self thin!


2. Stop drinking alcohol
Alright, this one is near impossible. I need to write an entire article just to address this subject. I have to say it though because it is a killer when it comes to calories...empty empty calories. I have spent decades going to bed after a nice glass or two of wine ever single day. When it comes time to diet, I know I need to cut that out if I want to really see results. My advice to those like me: get some sleeping pills. I went to my doctor and told him my situation and he gave me some lovely, mild sleeping pills. These have replaced my alcohol before bed needs. I still drink on the weekends, mind you, and I will keep on doing that. Like I said, stopping completely is simply OUT of the question. Hey, it's my JOB. Still, any corner you can cut, even if it means cutting down the amount, changing the type of alcohol or cutting out the days you drink, it all works in your weight loss favor. Avoiding a hangover is great too because the next day you have energy to go out and do things rather than want a greasy breakfast and flop on the couch for the remainder of the day.


3. Sleep
Get your 8 hours of sleep. Every study I have read agrees that sleeping helps with weight loss. I like it because I am also sleeping off 8 hours of potential hungry, eating time. The above mentioned sleeping pills help here too. Go to bed early. If you are sleeping in the early evening then you can not be doing late night snacking. Sure, you will have no life, but having a life often means eating and drinking so just think that this is temporary and in a couple months, when you are svelt and happy, you can go out on the town again.

4. Keep moving.
There are a lot of ways to be moving where you dont even know you are doing it. I am not going to say what all the other diet blogs say and tell you to play with your kids. I dont have kids so this isnt an option. Plus, I am too lazy for that kind of stuff. Instead, I will list a few things you can do to trick yourself into moving more and thereby burning extra calories. Some things may make you look ridiculous and that is ok. When I am sitting here on my ball talking to my boss, bouncing up and down, or when I am walking through the hall punching the air, I get strange looks. I just tell them that I am on a diet and trying to burn calories. They just give a laugh and understand, moving on.

Develop a nervous twitch
Tap your feet
Wiggle your toes
Stand when you are on the phone
Stand when you are waiting for something
Swing your legs
Hold your legs straight out at your desk and bounce them.
Squeeze your butt
If you can, skip or hop instead of walk (you look stupid but, hey, I do it anyways)
Twirl your hair
Use the stairs
Use the upstairs bathroom
Park your car further away and walk
Get a ball chair like I do and bounce


5. Drink tons of Ice Water
It is true, this is a very simple one. If you put ice cold water into your body, it actually takes your body ENERGY to heat the water up to your body temperature, thereby burning calories. I am going to combine the ice water with just drinking water in general. Drink two litres of it a day (64 ounces) or at least TRY. Yes, you will be peeing all day long but that is what you are actually aiming for. Think of it as flushing out all the toxins, salts, unwanted minerals and fats out of your body every half hour. You get used to it, don't worry. What I found helps, specially at work, is to have a water drinking challenge with your coworkers. Have a competition as to who is drinking towards their two liters faster. This way you are not the only one leaving a meeting to pee three times before the meeting is over.


6. Go Green
While you are drinking that water, might as well toss a bag of green tea in your water bottle or glass. I am not even going to go into how great green tea is for you. You can not Google "diet" without getting tons of info on green tea. It helps boost your metabolism, it has polyphenols, anti oxidents, it has caffeine, it increases thermogenesis....all sorts of great stuff. If you do not like caffeine you can get the decaf type. I, personally, feel that caffeine helps in the weight loss department so that is what I prefer. I toss a couple bags in my 800 ml water bottle a day. Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to heat the water to make tea. Just leave the bags sitting in the ice water and by the end of the bottle you will be drinking pretty strong tea. Just remember to cut out the caffeine a few hours before going to bed or you will never get to sleep!


7. Take Iron and Calcium
For some reason these minerals are supposed to really add to your weight loss efforts. I take an Iron pill every morning but you can also make sure you are eating a lot of Iron rich foods like shrimp, turkey, oranges, strawberries, egg yolks, spinach and beans. You can increase your calcium intake by having a glass of skim milk. I like to have one before a meal. This helps me eat less of the meal too. Other calcium rich foods include yogurt, salmon, tofu, spinach, beans, peas and almonds.


8. Have sex.
It burns calories. I don't need to read a study to tell me that. The act of kissing burns calories, undressing burns calories....and even if you are alone you can burn calories. I have read that an orgasm burns up to 150 calories. Just saying.


9. Chew gum
You can burn an additional 11 calories per hour if you chew gum. Remember, every calorie counts so if you are going to be sitting there anyways, might as well chew some gum. Sugarfree, of course!

These are my little easy button tips for burning up a few extra calories and increasing your metabolism. Follow some, follow all, either way you will end up benefiting.

As for my progress, I had another distraction last night. The Mexican Buffet. No matter how hard I try or how hard I plan I can't help myself! My plan of attack was to only eat the meat and veggies. No cheese, no refried beans, no tortilla, no tamales and no sour cream AND I planned on eating only very small portions. Most of this did not happen. It is always the same for me and "build your own" tacos. My intentions are great in the beginning. A small pile of meat on the center of the plate. A small mound of black olives. A bigger mound of tomatoes ('cause after all, they are veggies so I can pile them on, right?), a bigger mound of onions, some black beans, some salsa...by now I have a pretty big pile and my original pile of meat looks so minuscule so I add a little more meat and a little more olives. By the time I sit down at the dinner table I have an atomic burrito sized mound of food of which I shovel ferociously into my mouth. Mexican food lends itself to being shoveled I have found.


Following the dinner I was then tempted by a fantastic birthday cake consisting of crushed chocolate cookie crust, Gold Medal Ribbon ice cream and topped with a good half inch of caramel goo. Sure, I asked for a tiiiiiny sliver but I sneaked over to the pie dish and "trimmed up" the leftovers.

Soooo, where I am now is I need to lose 15.5 pounds in 64 days. This minor set back is a bit of a bummer but I keep on going. More incentive to stick to this even harder for the next few days. I hope I can get through the weekend unscathed. My plan: go to bed early. Maybe a hike too, weather permitting.


1 comments:

The Experiment - Time to eat.

8:23 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

My rapid weight loss goals were essentially met. I fell off track a million times but in the end I lost enough weight that I feel I am on my way and I have confidence. Today marks exactly three weeks that I have been on this diet. I have lost a total of ten pounds. I may have lost a ton more if all these darn distractions weren't in my way. Ten pounds is pretty good considering the things I have done that are not diet-like. I had a meeting with my wine group where I drank lots of wine and ate tons of wonderful foods, I went to Chico and ate cheesy burgers and greasy breakfasts, there was St. Patrick's Day in there and I had my Irish-themed pot luck party where we had Baileys ice cream among other things....and more. But still, I managed to lose a whole ten pounds and I feel really happy about that. Now it is time to move away from the rapid weight loss plan and onto more sensible eating plan.

First rule of the plan: Eat the biggest meal for breakfast, a medium meal for lunch and the smallest meal for dinner.

This is sort of obvious when you think about it. When do you need the most energy? During the day. This gives you the most power when you are using it, making each calorie more likely to be burned up than be stored as fat. If you eat something for breakfast that breaks down slowly then you are going to avoid having the munchies or starving later during the day where you may then gorge on something naughty. If you are like me, you won't even be hungry in the morning anyways. So you can't over eat. This is an "easy to say, not so easy to get used to", diet plan but it REALLY works and with little effort. The problem areas are, first, eating a large meal in the morning. Who has time for that? and who is hungry then? Not many people, but I will show you how to train yourself. Second, it is very difficult to not eat a hearty dinner in the evening when you are most hungry and most used to having a nice dinner. This proves even more difficult when you are living with people or peoples who are NOT on the same diet as you are. I can help there too.

First, how to eat a large breakfast:
I recommend going to bed a little earlier than usual, maybe 20 minutes, then getting up 20 minutes earlier than usual so you have time to whip up a nice breakfast. This is a good idea because it can also keep you from getting hungry and having late night snacks which I will go into in the second rule below. (If you are sleeping, you cant be eating, right?) For some people this is just not an option due to an overwhelming adversity to being awake in the morning time. I have a solution for this too: Make breakfast the night before. This can actually be easy if you are living with someone who is not on the same diet as you are. What you do is, while you are eating your light dinner, let your cohabitant make the usual, large dinner. Take the large dinner and reserve a serving for yourself for breakfast. In the morning, reheat it and voila! Breakfast is served. Believe me, after a few days of eating lettuce leafs for dinner, you begin to wake up hungry and ready to eat a larger meal.

Second, how to be hungry in the morning:
This one is a little trickier because no matter what I do, I am not really hungry in the morning BUT what really helps is the light dinner at night. I am hungry when I get home from work but I force myself to have a light dinner and I keep thinking about how in the morning I get to eat whatever I want (pretty much) so I just go to bed. I wake up in the morning hungrier than if I had eaten a large dinner the night prior.

Second rule of the plan: Do NOT eat within 3 or 4 hours before bedtime.

I know, I know, Oprah was the first to tell me this but it also makes a lot of sense. It isn't necessarily easy, but it is effective and hey, I still have not told you to exercise, so go with it. My schedule is such that this rule is really difficult but I have ways to deal with it. See, I go to bed at 8:30 (it's not by choice, I have to for work) so that means that I have to have dinner by 4:30 in the afternoon! This, in turn, means that I have to have dinner at work or immediately after I get home. Fight through the inconvenience though, because when you wake up in the morning and step on the scale, you will be very happy you did it. You should be going to bed slightly hungry and that is normal. Most of the times you want to eat at night is just snacking and not to satisfy hunger anyways. If you find difficulty avoiding snacking before bed I suggest you pour a cup of decaf tea instead. This will make your body feel like you are doing something, in effect, distracting it. Plus, some teas will help you go to sleep like chamomile or mint. What I have found is that when I do this, I lose a pound overnight. Most people weigh the least in the morning anyways, but this is a great way to guarantee a little weight loss while you sleep.

The third rule is WHAT you eat.

What you want to eat is only lean meats and proteins and fruits and vegetables and whole grains. Sound familiar? Of course it does. Most diet books will tell you this. You make these your staples and build flavor from there. Below I am listing some of the foods that are good to eat....biased towards the foods I like.

Proteins:
Lean Chicken Breast (I buy the frozen breasts that come in a bag at Costco)
Lean Ground Turkey
Eggs
Greek Yogurt
Tofu
Salmon
Tilapia

Vegetables:
Jalapenos
Spinach
Lettuce
Cabbage
Cucumber
also to a lesser degree..tomatoes, onions, carrots, bell peppers

Fruits:
Apples
Blueberries
Blackberries
Grapes
Strawberries

Good Fats to have in moderation:
Avocados
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

The Flavor Makers:
Ginger
Garlic
Lemons
Horseradish
Rosemary
Vinegar
Salt
Mustard

These are just a few things I wanted to list to give you an idea of what are the foods I am limiting myself to. I didn't list any whole grains because I try to eat them in moderation.

So, this morning what did I have for my big breakfast?

Two pieces of whole grain, crusty bread, lightly sprinkled with olive oil and toasted. Each got a tablespoon or so of fat free Greek yogurt and a half a tablespoon of capers. Then I put about an oz and a half of smoked salmon over the bunch. It was soooo filling and deelish! The total calories in that luxury breakfast was 364 with 6 grams fat, 6 grams fiber, 33 grams protein and 54 grams of carbs. All that fiber and protein filled me up for the morning.

My snack that I munch on all morning if I feel hungry: a bucket of big, fat purple grapes. I had about 10 grapes total (they are huge). This totaled 30 calories, and less than one gram of carbs, fat and fiber.

For lunch:
A small head of lettuce and a couple more ounces of smoked salmon with a splash of basalmic vinegar and capers. Total calories: 84, with 3 grams fat, 1 gram fiber, 1 gram protein and 2 grams carbs. Not too shabby.


For dinner I will most likely have an apple 95 calories, 25 grams carbs, 4 grams fiber, >1 gram fat.

That is today....but, you know me by now, tomorrow there is going to be another challenge: My cousin's birthday and the ensuing Mexican Buffet. I will keep you posted on that one. For now, I have 16 pounds to lose in 66 days.

0 comments:

The Experiment - Wagons and Corned Beef

8:10 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

This past week was yet another distraction from the diet. It started with going out of town for a friend's birthday then we had St. Patrick's Day right in the middle of the week. I ate a lot of foods one should not eat on a diet. I ate bad foods but not often and that is the recipe for the worst kid of diet. Everyone says that you HAVE to eat all day long or your body will think you are starving so when you eat the next thing your body will immediately store it as fat. I believe them. I went a day without eating, then had a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich with fries, then another day without eating, then a burger with peanut butter on it. Not very smart. I am still down from last week but only a pound. No worries, you fall of the wagon, it is super easy to get back on it.



I know it is difficult, mentally, to start up a diet again but it can be simple to physically do it. Just start by making sure your stomach is small by eating small portions. Don't gorge on anything. Not even good for you foods like cabbage (which I will get to in more detail in a minute). This will stretch your stomach. So do like everyone says and eat tiny, small meals, but eat them all day long. Think of it in your head as an IV of nutrients. You are giving yourself the fuel your body needs, but JUST enough and you are burning it as you take it. Continue to eat only the good foods: Vegetables, lean fish and meats. I did not take my own advice and went crazy yesterday on free meat and fish tacos at work. Yes, they were pretty healthy, but my portions were out of control! I have to say FREE FOOD IS THE MOST DIFFICULT THING TO AVOID. Ugh. I don't have a will power piece of advice for this distraction because I, myself, can not resist free food. And, unfortunately for me when I am dieting, we are served it a LOT at my work.


Mentally, to get back on the dieting wagon, what I recommend doing is looking at your weight loss so far. I keep a log on a calendar of my daily weight. I also have a goal at the end of each week that tells me what I would like to weigh. It turns out for me that I am right at my goal for the week. I am still disappointed because I was down a couple more pounds than that and I was ready to change all my future weekly goals to a lower number. BUUUT that is why we keep these logs: to keep on track, even when we fall off track a little bit.

That addresses my weekend of naughtiness. Let's discuss St. Patrick's Day, shall we? As you may have noticed I have written an article recently about wine pairing with Irish foods. I know there are several types of Irish foods one can prepare for the holiday but most of us have the corned beef, Irish or American as it is. This particular entry may be a bit too late since it is past the actual St. Pat's day but I want to say a few words about corned beef and cabbage. It is a delicious dish, in this blogger's opinion, and it is unavoidable (as well as irresistible) on March 17th. So how much can a dieter have and what, exactly, does the dieter get to eat?


Here is my breakdown: Beef Brisket, water and brine, cabbage, carrots, onions or leeks. That is all you need to put in the pot! Heck, you don't even need to put in the onions and carrots which have a lot of sugar in them. So what is the diet value of a beef brisket? According to an online calorie counting site:

3 oz of cured, corned beef brisket is 213 calories, 16 g of fat (8 of which are monounsaturated), and 15.4 grams protein.

So far so good. Now, what about that cabbage? According to another online site here is your cabbage info:

1 cup of boiled cabbage is 33 calories, 0.6 g fat, 3 g fiber and 1.5 of protein. Not to mention 47 mg calcium and 150 mg potassium!

So, trim up your brisket really well, toss it in a pot with the little packet of brine, cook it for a while, then toss in a head of cabbage, roughly chopped and continue to cook until the meat and cabbage are tender. To serve, give yourself two slices of brisket, each about 1/3 inch thick. (three ounces of meat is the approximate size of a full deck of cards) and up to half the head of cabbage. Put two tablespoons of whole grain, spicy mustard on top (two tablespoons is the same size as a large marshmallow).

And your total is:

Calories: 266
Fat: 18
Protein: 17
Fiber: 3

Even if you ate this for all three meals in a day, you would still be under 800 calories. I dare you to try to eat a head and a half of cabbage in a day....it is way too filling!

Back on track, I will head into the weekend now. Of course, I have my monthly pot luck dinner this Saturday where I am serving Irish Beef Stew, and having Boxty, Bangers, Baileys Ice Cream with Dark Chocolate Chunks and Fish and Chips....ha ha. Lord give me strength. My plan is small portions for the party followed by a day of pure vegetables. I also plan on having my secret weapon "the dieter's tea". I may go into what that is and how I don't recommend it for everyone on a later blog.

For now, one step at a time. Today I shall eat a whole head of lettuce through out the day as well as about two ounces of smoked salmon. I know, I live a tough life. For now, I have 17 pounds to lose in 70 days.




0 comments:

Irish Food and Wine

3:55 PM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments



St Patrick's Day is just around the corner. It is a time when we get to eat and drink our way through the Irish culture. Restaurants and bars serve Irish fare from a full Irish breakfast to Irish stew to the traditional American-Irish dish of corned beef and cabbage. At the restaurant or bar you will be offered the traditional pairing with these foods: Beer. If you celebrate by going to bars you will most likely come across a pint of Murphy's or Guinness, perhaps a shot of Jameson or a glass of Baileys. Admittedly, a Guinness or Harp do pair beautifully with the dishes of Ireland. Their robust, full body and bittersweet after taste lend themselves beautifully to the strong, hearty flavors of the Emerald Isle but what if you are not a beer drinker? What if you are hosting a party or serving Irish food at home? Many wine lovers simply won’t give up wine for beer even if Saint Patrick himself were at the table. Some dishes are easy to pair wine with and some are not as easy. I have compiled a small list of traditional Irish dishes and the wines that pair best with them. This article attempts to answer a question no one really seems to be able to answer: What wine should be served with corned beef and cabbage?

Let's begin with a classic entree: Irish stew. Start by breaking down the individual ingredients in the dish. Traditionally lamb is the main component of the stew. It is also the dominant element because the influences of the barley, stock and potatoes provide more subtle flavors. Even with this classic dish, recipes may vary; some may call for beef rather than lamb and some may suggest that Guinness or wine to be added. If you are making a hearty lamb stew you will need a substantial wine to go with it. A round Zinfandel with smooth tannins will go perfectly with an Irish stew. The sweetness of the stew's barley and carrots will compliment perfectly with the hints of jam and fruits in the Zinfandel and the wine's tannins and richness will match that of the strong, gamey flavor of the lamb. If the stew is made with beef, a good Cabernet would be your best choice. And, an Argentinean Malbec would nicely compliment a stew containing Guinness or a hearty wine.

Another traditional Irish dish is shepherd's pie. Shepherd's pie is a meat and potatoes kind of meal so similar principles apply to pairing this with a wine. A Zinfandel or Cabernet is going to be your best bet. This time, you may want a bit sharper, more acidic version of these wines because a shepherd's pie is thicker with the ground meat and mashed potatoes. You want a wine you can take a bigger gulp of to help wash down the food but still can stand up the flavors.

Bangers and mash is a delicious Irish meal. Named for the way the sausages have a tendency to explode when cooked, bangers are usually pork-based sausages that are juicy and full of flavor. The mashed potatoes or "mash" are served covered in a thick gravy. This wonderful winter meal goes perfectly with a Syrah or Shiraz. These wines are known for having full body with bold fruits and tannins that marry well with the flavors and textures in bangers and mash.
If you are lucky enough to be having my favorite St Patrick's Day meal, a traditional Irish breakfast, then you'll be having eggs; Irish sausages; Irish bacon (which is basically a thick slice of ham); white and black puddings; and a selection of mushrooms, beans, broiled tomatoes and boiled potatoes. No matter what time of day you have this meal, it still is a breakfast and I recommend having a light and bright Sparkling Wine or Champagne. The acidity of Champagne cuts through the fats in the eggs, butters, and meats giving you a fresh, clean palate. If you put a couple drops of green food coloring in the bottle it makes for a beautiful presentation when you pour as well
The most difficult pairing is also one of the most common meals served on St. Patrick's Day: corned beef and cabbage. If you look online to find what wine you should serve with corned beef and cabbage, you'll find a wide range of opinions and suggestions. There are suggestions that range from hearty Chiantis to sweet Roses. Why are there so many confusing differences of opinions? The answer lies in the dish itself. People are thrown off the right track because the main ingredient is traditionally beef brisket. The thought of a juicy, red beef brisket may generate thoughts of big red wines but we must remember this is a boiled dish so the actual flavors are not dominated by the beef itself. The dominant flavors lie more with the brine, the fats and the cabbage. The brine on the corned beef gives it a tart, salt, almost tangy taste and the additional fatty flavors call for a wine with enough acid to balance the dish out. The cabbage needs some acid and some fruitiness in its wine pairing. Cabbage is a difficult vegetable to match with wine altogether because of its sweet and sulphurous qualities. Put all these ingredients together and you will find you need an white, acidic wine with fruit or even citrus characteristics. Your best choice would be an Alsatian Riesling or a German Riesling. A Riesling will provide a crisp, off-dry citrus flavor that's followed by a smooth fruity finish which goes well with the fatty and salty flavors in the corned beef and cabbage. A second choice would be a Sauvignon Blanc. This varietal is not overpowered by the cabbage, cutting through the sulfur and providing a tart, citrus taste that offers a refreshing balance to the dish.
If you or your guests insist on a red wine with the corned beef and cabbage meal, then serve a Grenache. The Grenache has a big, berry flavor mixed with a peppery finish that would marry well with the briny tastes in the corned beef. A Sonoma Pinot Noir can offer the right amount of acids to match the bold flavors of the brisket and brine.
Now you can feel confident about pleasing your wine-drinking guests, if you follow these suggestions. But remember, if all else fails, Champagne goes with everything!

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The Experiment - The Dieting Soul

1:14 PM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments



After a week of being so good on the diet, the weekend came and everything got turned on it's ear. I have no will power as I have mentioned before. Friday I remained pretty safe. I didn't drink alcohol and I went to bed early. This was an easy act for me to do since I was all alone that night with no one or thing to tempt me. Saturday started off fantastic too. I got tons of exercise by doing six and a half hours of Spring Cleaning. It is funny how I spent so much time deep cleaning my house, tossing things out, organizing and rearranging and I only ended up getting to the bedroom and two hall closets. Having run out of energy and time, we had to leave the rest of the house in disarray. My method of deep cleaning is to move all the uncertainables to a room not yet touched by the cleaning frenzy until I have pushed everything to the final room and usually by that point I am down to a few weired objects that I don't know where to put and some dirty laundry. Since I am half way through the house I have a hallway of laundry, chairs and other furniture laying about. This is not good for the dieting soul.

If you are to go on a diet like the one I am on. I suggest you start by cleaning your house. If you have a more simple layout in your home and everything in it's place your mind is clearer and you are more at peace. (Plus it is a great workout!). This season is the best of all to do this. It's Spring!
Start with your bedroom. When dieting you need good sleep and you get the best sleep in a neat, clean, organized bedroom with neat, clean sheets and fresh air. Clean your bedroom windows. They may need it after all the rains anyways. On a warmer day, open all your windows as much as you can to let the breeze cleanse the air in your home. Get all the dust off your surfaces and clean your window sills. All this will help you feel lighter, healthier and more energized.

Next, head to your closet. Gather all the clothes you have not worn in the past year or so and donate them to charity or do what I do and send them to a family member to rummage through and then pass it along to another family member and so forth...it's like charity. Now you should be left with clothes that fit you and are in order. When you get up in the morning you can walk right to your closet and everything there is something that fits you. No more tugging down on your t shirt or being frumpy in your sweater.

Next, clean your kitchen. Throw out all your expired foods and mushy fruits and veggies. Keep your food and refrigerator organized. If you have only healthy foods in your house, you have no choice but to eat only healthy foods. Easy to reach, organized pots and pans will make cooking more enjoyable and less like a chore as well.

Clean and streamline your living room. This is where you go to relax. A messy living room is like a dirty colon. It weighs you down. If you create a zen like space, you are quieting your dieting soul.

I need to take my own advice and finish up the hallway and living room. Hopefully I get to that soon.

Also this weekend I met with my wine group where we drank lots of wine followed by more wine drinking and a pot luck of incredible food. I tried my best to not have too large a serving of each but even with that effort, there were so many dishes that my plate was completely loaded by the time I brought it to the table. Luckily, at this point, my stomach has shrunken and I was too full to have dessert.

By Monday I was not too happy with my weekend activities because I was up a pound but all the more determination to lose weight this week, right?

I have to lose 19 pounds in 79 days. Still on track I think.

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Experiment Day 4

7:47 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments



I learn something new about dieting every day. Today's lesson: Mental Health.

I have always known that attitude is paramount when trying to lose weight. I learned a long time ago that if you are negative, you will fail. For example, if you are overweight, you should not surround yourself with funny pictures of pigs or jokes about fat ladies. You may think it is just making light of your situation but it is actually putting negative images in your mind. What you should be doing is surrounding yourself with images and photos of positive things. If your motivation is to be skinny for a trip to the beach then put up pictures of the beach to remind you why you are doing this. If you want to be at a target weight that you had years ago, keep a picture of you at that weight on your desk to remind yourself you have been there before, you can be there again. If you have a celebrity that you think you look like or whom you admire, keep a picture of him or her around to inspire yourself. I keep rotating pictures of me in Hawaii on my desktop. When people come by, they compliment how nice I look in the pictures and I feel energized to continue with the diet.

My idea of doing a rapid weight loss diet followed by a healthy diet is ultimately based on keeping the spirits up. You may not know it while you are eating minimal foods, not having alcohol, never quite feeling full, not going out to eat and basically hating every one around you who gets to eat, but when you step on that scale in the morning and the number you see is lower than the number you saw the morning before you realize why you are doing this. The feeling you get when you can start seeing results is unbeatable. I think it is a fantastic motivator as well.

Weighing yourself:

Start with the scale because your scale is going to be the first one to tell you if you are losing weight or not. Don't go out and get one of those scales that calculate your body mass index and your fat cells and whatever else they do these days. The scale doesn't know how much water you are retaining or when your last BM was, how much salt you had that day or how big your breasts are. Instead, get a digital scale that gives you your weight to the nearest one or two decimal places. Mine goes to the nearest half pound and that is fine with me. I do not know how accurate my scale is and I don't really care. It is close, I am sure, to what I weigh. What is important is tracking the CHANGE. So don't go crazy trying to get your scale to match what it is at the doctor's or the gym.
So long as you have a general idea you can track your change. Now, many people suggest that you weigh yourself every week. This will give you an idea of the general direction your weight is heading supposedly without discouraging you. I do not do this. I need to have affirmation every single day. That is the only way I get through a rapid weigh loss diet. If I go off my diet and binge on a wheel of cheese (Don't laugh, I have done it) I need to know how far off the diet I went and I need to see the weight go up a half a pound to force me back on track. If I weigh myself every week, I may not know if what I did that week was really working and then I just wasted a week of trying a miserable diet that wasn't even working! No bueno. So I get up in the morning and use the restroom. This will give me the lowest weight possible. I also weigh myself wearing the same thing every time. I suggest weighing yourself in your skivvies or less. This will also make you feel better. I have been known to take my watch off just to see if I could push that scale under by a half pound mark. It has not worked but I think I get an "A" for trying. Remember, it is all in the attitude.

The whole scale and weighing yourself is a two way street when it comes to mental health. You can be thrilled when you see that you lost a half a pound or you can be devastated when you see that you GAINED a half a pound. There isn't much to say about losing weight, it is freaking fantastic. It can motivate you to go through the next day with more conviction just to get that high you get from seeing that number get smaller and smaller. You can float through the day with what seems like more energy. It is a great thing. Hence, my promotion of a rapid weight loss diet to kick off a longer term, healthy diet. Ohhhh but when you look down and see that you gained weight, that is the worst feeling. Avoiding that feeling is why the others tell you to weigh yourself on a weekly basis. But imagine, after a WEEK of suffering (let's face it, it really is suffering when it is rapid weight loss) to look down and see no change or worse..... I can only imagine that disappointment is SEVEN times worse and seven times less the motivation to gear up for the week ahead. No no no, weigh yourself every day.

So, what do you do when you get up in the morning and see that you gained weight from the day before. Yes, it could be that you had more salt, or you retained a bit more water that day or you haven't been moving enough waste out of your body OR it could be that the day BEFORE when you weighed yourself you were extra dehydrated making it look like you weighed less than you should have. Either way, it feels terrible and you feel the need to do something about it. Here is what I do: As a good Catholic girl, I first have tremendous guilt. I rant to my mother, complain and whine for a bit (I am sure she appreciates that). Then I calm down and get more focused. I tell myself...OK, you can make this better for tomorrow. That is the beauty of weighing yourself every day, it is only 24 hours to worry about fixing. So I go over the day before and try to find where I went wrong. Then I either try to fix the problem or just stay on track with more motivation than ever for that day. The reward? The following day, I get on the scale and I have lost a pound. Then it is right back to feeling like I am walking on clouds.


I bet a therapist would think this is all completely unhealthy with the ups and down, but whatever works, right? Yesterday I was miserable because I had not lost weight and I had guilt for having eaten as much as I did at my parent's. I was determined to get the weight down again so I stuck to the soup all day. I felt great. Then, at the end of work, they tempted me with wine and cheese, my greatest weaknesses. I could not just sit there and watch my coworkers sip Pinot Noir and eat Cowgirl Creamery cheese on fresh, local bread. I kept thinking about Hawaii, my goal of dropping another half pound and how much I wanted that cheese. It made me have to stop and think, rather than slicing off half the cheese, wrapping half the loaf of bread around it, and swilling it all down with a giant glass of wine. I stopped, poured a very small glass of wine and smeared a small wedge of cheese on the bread. Then, I ate SLOWLY, against every fiber of my being. I became relaxed and was able to enjoy the cheese and wine without going into my office and crying for a half hour with regret.

I made it through another day despite the wine and cheese assault. I am on track with only 20.5 pounds to lose in 84 days.

I am leaving out lots of other mental issues in this particular blog such as being grumpy or bitter. I will address those at a later time. For now, I am eating my soup, drinking my smoothie. My only distraction might be popcorn at the movie tonight. I plan on eating one or ten puffs of popcorn just so I wont be a pariah amoungst all my friends. I will let you know how that goes.

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The Experiment Day 3

8:37 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments


My attempt to eat only soup is going as I expected it to go. Not well. I have too many distractions! So last night I went to the P's for dinner. I would much prefer sticking to my plans of not eating within 4 hours before bedtime and also eating the smallest meal of the day as the last meal but the things we do for family, am I right?

Ok, so I cant control the situation but I managed to control my intake a LITTLE bit. I had about 5 ounces of pork tenderloin. My selection of toppings for the gilled loin were barbecue sauces that were laden with sugar so I opted for just salting the meat and enjoying it that way.

At least, I TRIED to enjoy it but a member of my family pointed out the fact that I have high blood pressure and shouldnt be having extra salt. My initial plans were dashed so I went to the refrigerator to look at my remaining options. Hmmm, how to make some plain pork taste interesting, with out salt and still remain low in calories. I found the horseradish. Turns out horseradish is on the list of high flavor, low cal/fat foods along with ginger, lemon and others. It also has a cleansing effect. It helps with other ailments like sinus problems (I am not surprised). I enjoyed the meat with gobs of horseradish on each bite. A small ironic alarm though: In my research about horseradish this morning, I found that it may raise blood pressure according to one article. Luckily I am on all kinds of blood pressure medications so I am not worried about a slight rise in blood pressure. I just want to warn anyone out there who reads this and chooses horseradish instead of salt. It may not be the best trade off but I still believe that if you are like me and have your blood pressure under control with medications there is no harm in training your body to need less salt by using whatever other substitutes are available. In the long run, I imagine this will ween one off of salt.


So that covered the meat. There was also spinach and a salad, both picked from the garden. Both of those options are not tasty without a little boost so I made some healthy flavor enhancers for each. For the salad I always insist using a home made dressing. This way you can know what ingredients are going into it. A simple dressing of extra virgin olive oil, vinegar and dijon mustard is a very healthy and tasty topping for a salad. Olive oil is quite good for you. It is what they call a "good fat". It is known to help prevent heart disease and lower cholesterol. It also is an antioxidant and can ease ulcers and gastritis. It goes so well with inside of your body that it even is thought to help with the prevention of colon cancer. Extra virgin olive oil (the oil from the very first press) is the most potent of this type of oil and should be a friend when dieting, not foe. You may have noticed that I have a tablespoon of the good stuff in my fruit smoothie recipe.


If you are making a salad dressing you may want to use apple cider vinegar as the vinegar too. It has great cleansing properties. You may have heard of the apple cider vinegar diet where I think you have to drink like a cup of the stuff before every meal...yikes! It is good for you but I am not going to ask anyone to drink cups of it. It's health benefits include a strengthened immune system, cured skin conditions and bladder stone prevention. It also is known to alleviate arthritis and gout symptoms, prevent urinary tract infections and balance high cholesterol. But the parts I care most about are that it increases metabolism, increases stamina and cures bad breath (which I need after all the garlic I eat on a diet!)


So I covered the salad but now to dress my plain, cooked spinach. Butter is what I want and it is what I can not have so I have devised what I think is a delicious, healthy alternative. I combine extra virgin olive oil and salt. (I cant give up ALL my salt!). This tricks my taste buds enough into thinking I am eating butter to satisfy me and even give me a hint of guilt which is always healthy ;)

So there was my meal. I feel pretty good about it even though I am dissappointed that I had to eat a larger meal right before I went to bed. I am staying steady at needing to lose 21.5 pounds in 85 days.

Today: a new batch of soup, more bouncing on my ball and tons of green tea.

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The Expreiment Day Two

8:31 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

Have you ever felt like there is a demon inside you trying to get out and you are ready to lash out on anyone who comes near you? Yeah, that is what happens to me when I don't eat. Yesterday, after eating the approximately two cups of soup I felt full so I never had my fruit smoothie for dinner. I ended up being a major grumpus last night and today I am ready to rip my coworker's heads off.

Sure, there is an upside to this, I now have only 21.5 pounds left to lose in 86 days.

I do not have the will power to stick to much of anything so today, to make up for my blunder of not eating dinner, I ended up breaking down and eating a half of a AmyLu's Caramelized Onion Chicken Burger:


It tastes much better than it looks and it is only 140 calories for a whole burger plus 22 grams of protein, 3 grams of carbs, no fiber and 7 grams fat. It satisfied my need for something solid and added a bit of protein that I think I pretty much needed. I smothered the burger with my favorite salsa, Herdez 5 Chiles Salsa. So good and so spicy!!

Herdez® Salsa 5 Chiles
The heat should boost my metabolism. I have to go to the Mexican market to get a bottle of this salsa. I usually stock up when I go. I am bummed because Safeway used to sell this product but they discontinued it and now only sell a very mild Herdez salsa.

For lunch I plan on continuing the regiment of the super soup. It is the last half of my super garlicky batch. Yesterday all that garlic didn't settle in my stomach all that well but I never got sick so that is good...right?

Exercise

I am doing a tiiiiiiny bit of exercise. I do walk my dog every day for about 30 minutes but most of that time is spent standing there watching him sniff nothing on the cement. I am sure that hardly counts and so does this: I got a new chair at work. It is difficult to describe. It looks like a space ship of some sort. I have had it for a couple days now and have found it fun to sit on.


I I try to keep moving as I sit on it...bouncing around, keeping my legs up to work my stomach muscles, and sitting with my legs crossed to work on balance. Some say this "works the core". It is a bit silly perhaps but fun and keeps me moving.

Challenges

Tonight is going to be the first of many challenges to this diet. I am going to my parents' for dinner. I am going to tryyy to only have a little of the pork tenderloin that they are serving. We shall see if I am able to avoid having wine.

Speaking of wine and temptations, we are scheduled to taste three wines at work today. I am not one for spitting out wine so I will have to be very careful with how much I intake for two reasons. One reason is the calories. It is good to have a glass of wine every now and again. I would suggest everyone have one glass of red wine a day. I certainly do that and more on a regular basis but not for the next 86 days. Alcohol has so many calories and carbohydrates in it. Every sip is like a bite of a donut. If you want rapid weight loss, you have to skip the alcohol. The second reason I have concern about how much wine I have at work today is the alcohol itself. I am on a very low calorie, fat, everything diet right now and my stomach is pretty empty. If I have a whole glass of wine and try to drive home....I may be in a bit of trouble. I am no where near a lightweight but it is something that some people on a diet may overlook. Tolerances to alcohol can change when you are on a diet.



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The Experiment

7:40 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments



It is day one of a diet experiment. My plan is to create the ultimate diet plan for weight loss. At this moment I have 87 days until I go to Maui and preferably 26 pounds to lose. This is an attempt to lose the weight with minimal, or at least FUN, exercise.

About me:

I have been going to Hawaii in November for over 10 years now. It has become a really good system for my health (mentally and physically). I go right after Harvest dies down so it is a good rest that follows working 16 hour days, 6 days a week. Last year I did not go. I learned a great lesson by not going. I learned that I never ever want to not go to Hawaii in November again. The main, lingering issue is that I realized that I lose weight from October to November for the trip. This means that I go into the Holiday season at a minimal weight. I always come OUT of the season fat and happy but not out of control. This year I went into the Holiday season fatter than I wish to be and I came out of the Holiday season...well, let's just say fat but not happy. So instead of complaining I tried to start eating healthy beginning at the new year. This was not a rapid weight loss but rather a halt to weight gain. Which isn't terrible but not what I am looking for. What I needed was a motivation. What I needed was to go to Hawaii. So that is what I am doing. I understand a lot of people cant just go buy tickets to Hawaii in order to drop a few pounds but I am hoping that this little account of my attempts to lose my own weight will help others. I know that reading other people's weight loss blogs inspires me.

About the Diet:

My plan is to begin with a rapid weight loss regimen then transition into a very healthy diet that is devoid of processed sugars, is low in fat and high in fiber and protein. I think we all know what a healthy diet is by now. Fruits, Veggies, Fish, lean meats, Whole grains, milk blah blah blah. I would recommend to others to follow the diet as I say not as I do because my lifestyle is such that I spend a lot of weekends eating and drinking at dinner parties, restaurants and events. This makes it very difficult to follow a rapid weight loss program because when you indulge, the food immediately turns to fat as we all know. Oh well, I can't help my schedule and I am certainly not going to go to a party or event and only sip wine and munch on a lettuce leaf. I am going to go over board as is my nature.

The Super Soup:

I did a bunch of research about different kinds of foods and how they affect your body. I was doing the bulk of this research on my way home from a particularly indulgent trip to Tahoe where I drank too much and ate things like cheese fondue (a fave of mine). As such I decided to create a soup that not only provides "fat-melting" foods but also detoxifying and cleansing.

Fat Melting
There is really no such thing as a food that literally melts fat, although I like to dream that is what is happening. There are, however, foods that can boost your metabolism so you are burning the fat a little faster. There are also veggies that are packed with nutrients and vitamins or fiber so you don't have to eat as much to feel the benefits. Some examples of fat melting foods are:

Ginger
Hot peppers
Spinach
Any leafy greens
Garlic
Strawberries
Apples


Detoxifying and Cleansing
There are foods that are considered good for cleaning out your system of toxins and waste. Some keep your liver clean some wash out the colon. Some detoxifying and cleansing foods are:

Ginger
Lemon
Garlic
Parsley
Cilantro
Celery

Protein
You wont go far with out having a little protein. In a diet I suggest having the most protein in the morning so you are using it all day long. Foods with high protein are

Eggs
Soy milk
Tofu
Greek style yogurt
Tuna
Lean chicken or turkey breast


Other good stuffs
Some foods act as a diuretic. This does not decrease the fat in your body but helps release some water so you feel and weigh lighter. Examples of this are Parsley and Cucumber. Flax seed is packed with Omega-3 Fatty Acid which helps with the immune system. This can be very helpful when eating a low calorie diet. It also adds fiber to your diet to keep you full. Then there is always the idea of "eating the rainbow". Eating as many different colored vegetables as you can will offer you a complete range of vitamins needed to stay healthy as you go on a rapid weight loss diet.


Ok, all that said here is the "Super Soup" that I came up with:

2 inches ginger
1 Jalapeno, seeded
1 cup fresh cilantro
1 cup fresh parsley
3 tall celery ribs
5 cloves of garlic
1 cup spinach
1 small cucumber
1 cup mixed red, orange and yellow bell peppers (I use about 6 of the mini ones)
1 tbsp flax seed
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup greek style yogurt
1 cup chicken broth

Peel the ginger and chop up everything into chunks. Place everything into a blender, preferably a Vita-Mix. Blend until smooth. Heat up individual servings in the microwave.

This makes about 4 or 5 cups of soup. I split the soup into thirds so one serving is approximately 1.5 cups. I am no expert on this stuff so I went to www.calorieking.com and entered all the ingredients to find the nutritional information and this is what I got for the whole entire blender full:

Calories: 322
Fat: 29.7
Carbs: 44.5
Fiber: 13.5
Protein: 24.8

I plan on drinking two cups of this today for breakfast and lunch. If I am in total need of chewing on something I will have a green apple. I will also be drinking 2 Litres of weak green tea today. (I can't handle the caffeine)

Also, I plan on having a cleansing smoothie for dinner. I had this smoothie after my trip to Tahoe and I really felt better after being hungover from too much wine and too much cheese. Here is my recipe for a cleansing fruit smoothie:

5 frozen strawberries
1 lemon
1 orange, rind cut off
1 apple
1/4 cup Organic grade B Maple syrup
1/2 cup water
1 inch ginger, peeled
1 Tbsp Flax Seed
1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Cut the rind off the ends of the lemon. Chop up lemon, apple and orange and place everything in the blender or Vita-Mix. Blend until relatively smooth.
Day 1

I didn't realize just HOW much garlic I put in the soup. This may not go well for me today. It certainly isn't going well for my coworkers. Next time I am putting 4 cloves in. I am also going to skip the soy milk and put in a whole cup of the yogurt because it provides less fat and more protein.



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