Finishing the Hat

I should credit three people whose recent new blogs inspired me to start this one.  My dear friend (and former college roommate, and once-my-bridesmaid) Aimee started hers to correspond and do some self-discovery.  Mark, who I mentioned two days ago, started his to keep him creating.  And David, another friend from college, started his to stay accountable as he takes care of his health.  His story is amazing.  He was a segment producer for a popular talk show, and worked on an interview with Richard Simmons, who offered to help him lose weight.  He has since lost 128 pounds - the old-fashioned way - since January.  I'm so proud of him, and he's definitely inspiring.  So here I am, with my own blog, hoping to balance the best of the three.  To correspond and discover.  To create and share.  To stay accountable - to myself and to you - for my health.

On the good news front, I have flipped what was floppy.

After writing about the gruesome glass of fuzzy lime-mint (and I don't mean fuzzy a la carbonation), I made sure to take the time to wash my work dishes last night, and bring to work a new lime and a fresh sprig of mint from our new herb garden.  Daily carafe-filling has become like a kind of spiritual ritual. No wonder I feel more centered today.

Photographic proof of fuzz-free limes!

Today's morning list made me happier:

• Got out of bed promptly.  Check!
• Get ready for work. Check!
• Eat a healthy breakfast of ~300 calories (Check - today, a boiled egg, crumpets, and a teaspoon of the leftover passionfruit curd I made for Dad's visit.)
• Pack three healthy lunch-snacks of ~200 calories. Check, check, check!  More on this in a moment.
• Slice up the limes and tear up the mint for today's carafe of water. (Check the photo to the right!)
• Enter today's chow into LiveStrong's Daily Plate (Check, right about ~1100 with 400-500 for dinner.)
• Write with Tom for 1 hour in the morning.  Check!

When I'm mindful about what I'm eating, it is very easy for me to keep my calorie level around 1500-1600 while staying sated and satisfied.  Especially when we spend an hour each Sunday planning our menus for the week.  But when I'm not thinking about it, I can double that without even realizing it.  Especially when eating out - which we have nearly eliminated from our lives (except when visitors or special occasions call for it.)  We cook at home, and I pack my lunch.  Here's yesterday's slate of food, as an example:

• Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, 1 nonfat greek honey yogurt. (190 cal)
  
• Midday mini-meal #1:  low-carb tortilla with 2 oz turkey, 1 oz goat cheese, sliced tomatoes. (272 cal)
• Midday mini-meal #2: A delicious bartlett pear that tasted just like the ones my grandmother used to grow. A serving of baby carrots. 12 almonds. (220 cal)
• Midday mini-meal #3: A bowl of my favorite Tangy Edamame Salad. A nectarine. (160 cal)
• Dinner: Morningstar Farms Veggieburger "Griller," with pickles and a wedge of Laughing Cow cheese. 3 oz of air-baked sweet potato wedges. (436 cal)
• Dessert: 3 oz of homemade mulberry sorbet (200 cal)

For a grand total of 1478 calories. I'm not bored, and I'm not sacrificing flavor.  And because I'm eating small meals frequently, I'm not hungry.  (#1 on the whole hungry/angry/lonely/tired theory.  When I'm hungry - especially when my blood sugar is low, my judgment isn't as reliable.)

Over the last year, I've been seeking out salad recipes that didn't rely on leafy greens (which I have to limit - thanks, Coumadin.) I make a veggie salad on Sunday and portion it out through the week.  The edamame salad is definitely one of my new favorites.  I adapted it from a couple of sources, and it's the perfect light and healthy - but flavorful - combination.  I figure I'll share recipes on here as I find/tweak them, because who doesn't love a new healthy-and-tasty recipe? 

Mmm, Cherokee Purples...

Tangy Edamame Salad

• 12 ounces of shelled edamame beans (fresh or thawed)
• 1/2 cup corn kernels (fresh or canned)
• 1 cup chopped fresh tomato
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup finely diced scallion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Mix everything together, and wha-la. Summer in a bowl.  This works best with ripe heirloom tomatoes - and Cherokee Purples are my favorite (witness their beautiful flesh above.)

Packing my lunch makes everything easier... except for those days when the office provides lunch.  It's a nice gesture, of course, and I know they're doing it in an effort to get us hanging out more socially.  But this week we had two office-sponsored lunches instead of one, and when that happens, I have to A) make good choices, which can be hard depending on the menu, and B) make sure I'm still getting the protein & veggies I typically bring in my lunch.  I wish there was a way to get our team to be social... that didn't have to involve food (of which I'm being mindful), alcohol (which I can't drink, due to my meds) or dodge-ball & paint-ball (which is dangerous for a Coumadin patient.)  We are... different, my team and I.

The team... goes out to food trucks every day for lunch. The greasy ones, not the gourmet ones.
....and I? Bring my lunch every day.

The team... talks about sports games incessantly, and are in a football pool.
...and I? Well, no one ever wants to talk about swimming laps.  On the other hand, have you seen the trailer for Black Swan? Odds are good for my Oscar pool next year.

 The team... wears sporty clothes, team jerseys, and other such things.
...and I? Am a Fatshionista.

Ah, well. I'm a black sheep in cute flats, with a yummy plum and a handful of spiced almonds awaiting my next snacktime.