Identify what is most important )0( Eliminate everything else
The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world. Dr. Paul Farmer
The suffering of others is not alleviated when no one knows about it.
There is no one right way to live. Daniel Quinn Ishmael
The only thing that you need to start an asylum is an empty room and the right sort of people.
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. Kurt Vonnegut

Friday, July 11, 2014

Healthier eating - Day 5

BREAKFAST
Salad, vinaigrette.

LUNCH
1 ounce of chocolate.

SNACK
Watermelon and turkey bacon jerky.
Wow, was that jerky good!  I bought this maybe six months ago, forgot about it and would totally buy it again.  It is another food that I can take along with me.

DINNER
Turkey leg, roasted, kind of on the small size.
Salad, vinaigrette.

I worked a 6-hour day at the library.  It is a drop-in lab and I cannot even take a bathroom break unless one of the security guards passes by and watches the room for me.

I am beginning to feel really full after eating and for hours.  But, just a casual look at these posts informs me that I might not be eating enough calories.  I vowed, promised, well, just kind of thought about it, that I was not going to count calories or weigh myself.  I do not have a scale, but I do know how to count and it is so tempting to keep a casual record of approximate daily calories.

However, I am going to resist.  I remember dieting one time, amongst many, many times of dieting, being all right for a while and and then slowly gaining all of the weight back again.  Usually weighing more than when I started.  So, no more of that counting and weighing insanity.  It has not worked before and there is no reason to expect that it will make any positive difference now.

I am feeling fine, though.  No tiredness today, not even thinking about a nap.  I shopped again today, a week since last time. 

I bought an English roast, whatever that is, will have to Google it.  I will slice some against the grain for fast broiling and freeze the rest in slices and little chunks for future meals.  70% lean ground beef was on sale for $2.00/pound/US, so I got a few pounds of that.  I will be making that into patties for the freezer.  I also bought two small turkey legs, and had one for dinner tonight.

I had forgotten how much more yummy turkey is than chicken.  I know that part of the taste of food is because I do not buy organic, but turkey will be more of what I buy than any other kind of meat. 

I looked at other beef cuts.  Too expensive.  Pork chops, the long, thin ones were affordable, but the way they look.  Too great of an ewwwww factor.

Lots of salad ingredients, watermelon (the biggish seedless ones for $2.99 and cherries (on sale, but not all that nice).  I wanted grapefruit, but it was too expensive, as were any of the kinds of oranges.  Same thing for apples and other fruits.  But, that is fine, because if I have extra money I can stop mid-week for more.

I bought four bags of frozen Brussels sprouts and two of chopped broccoli.

That is it.  This is expensive and I am hoping that I will stop freaking-out when the cashier rings the total.  For this week and next, just those minimal items came to over $100.00, which is 25% more than I usually spend.  Yikes.  I am hoping to stretch all of the ground meat and the roast for at least ten meals.  The turkey legs are just three meals, one leg tonight and the other chopped up for two stir-fry meals.

I was afraid of my southern hemisphere response, so I did not have any eggs today, but it is clear that if I want to get the same amount of protein benefit as I did as a vegan, eggs have to be part of what I eat.  I forgot to hard cook a few for experimenting with that, so I will try to do it this weekend.

I cannot increase my food budget like this.  It is stressing me so much, but I have to give this a chance and the only way to do that is to be strong about refined carbs.  It was difficult to resist buying any today, and the weird thing is that I finished shopping in such a short time because I went to only three sections of the store, produce, meat and frozen stuff.

Well, off to bed.  I want to get up early and meet my old friends for coffee, but not breakfast because without the carbs, there is not anything to order that will not make me feel sick.  Maybe I will have a big plate of bacon and maybe they will take mercy on me and throw a salad together.

Be strong, J, go long and sing a song.

I need a new quote to become my brain creature, as I keep thinking about the lie one.

O.K.  George Burns, the American comic actor, said "I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate."

Does that count if being a success at something you hate also pays insanely well?  Because, you know, I would be willing to work at a heinous job for a short while if they threw a whole bunch of money at me to be there and be miserable.  Just a short while, until I built up some savings, then I would dump that job in a heartbeat. 

Nice fantasy, as that is never going to happen.  I used to pray for abundance, believing that praying for lots of money was just plain rude.  And, guess what?  Prayer works, because I am filled to the gills and beyond with abundance of all kinds. 

Totally great family and friends. 
Seriously meaningful work of the kind that feels more like play than work should. 
I have a great place to live, in a not-too-bad city.
I have enough money to pay my bills, although I am not factoring in the new food expenses quite yet.
I have access to easy transportation. 
I sleep exceedingly well and wake refreshed, almost always before the alarm goes off.
I have clean water at my fingertips for drinking and bathing and laundry.

More importantly (and is it not always the way) I am safe here, at least as safe as anyone can be these days.

I am one seriously lucky person.  

4 comments:

  1. I might be inspired to quilt but I'm not at all inspired to change my eating habits! ;-D Well done you for making the change xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. You are doing well, J but you seem to be eating like a bird. I think I would be famished if I ate that small amount of food and I certainly couldn't cope with salad for brekky. You are very brave :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I couldn't eat salad for breakfast either but tucking away the previous nights spaghetti bolognaise or warmed up roast veges is no problem. I think you are doing well as starting these eating changes is the most difficult part. Once I was in a routine it was easy and even the odd "naughty" fluctuation didn't effect me all that much as I'd "cleaned" my system out and it could handle a greasy takeaway if there was no alternative though a sugar hit made my head spin! Finding positives in your life is always a great help :).

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am a little surprised at how I am able to resist my favorite foods. It helps that they are not around, but, still.

    Sue, if I ate as well as you do, I would not be interested in changing a single thing, and you already quilt, so there is that. :)

    I am thinking pretty much the same, Chel, but it is really difficult to make myself eat just these foods. I miss bread and potatoes so much. I always eat lots of raw vegetables/salads, so it is relaively easy to eat a salad for breakfast. Missing oats, too.

    Robyn, I have always loved leftovers for breakfast, heck, they are my favorite stuff to eat because all the work has already been done.

    ReplyDelete