Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Wednesday, February 22

Today does not feel like a Wednesday. I think its because I took Monday off. This week feels like winning. I made a commitment to make sure I'm being active every day and it feels good.
Yesterday I made myself take a lunch break and work out. Today I went to Fit Club and did workouts with some old Team in Training friends.
Plus I successfully made chicken tenders/nuggets for the family using corn Chex as a "breading" and have meals all ready to go for the remainder of the week.
Oh yeah, and since I got my tax return, I've bought my plane ticket for this summer's vacation - I'm headed back to Yellowstone again. This time just me meeting up with my sister and we're going to try to go backpacking. I'm so pumped! Annyka will be going to Michigan and Wisconsin with my parents during the same week.
So even though work is crazy (broken record), this week is going swimmingly. 

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Mission: almost impossible


Yesterday I ventured out on a mission. A mission to find energy foods that I can eat with my new dietary restrictions. Unfortunately almost all of the energy gels that I am familiar with use maltodextrin as their main proprietary carb blend. That will not work for me as malt is one of the “big three” sensitivities for me (malt, barley, gluten). 

BUT with the help of the associate at Performance Bicycle, I found one. One brand, one flavor that does not have maltodextrin: Honey Stinger Gold. That’s it. Even the other Honey Stinger flavors have it, but Gold does not. Hopefully I can stomach it and I will be able to use that for races.

I also slipped up though. I was so focused on finding (or hopefully not finding) maltodextrin on the label of the energy products that I totally missed that WHEAT FLOUR was the first ingredient on one item I bought and ate today after my workout. IDIOT. I feel kind of stupid. 

Oh well, I’ll survive. Happy Mardi Gras. Tonight’s dinner will be red beans and rice with andouille sausage (from Trader Joes).

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Sunday, February 19

Thankfully, I'm feeling much better than my last post. The weekend has been...well it has been. I had my first bad restaurant experience at Steak n Shake on Thursday. Thursday was a pretty rough day all around - I worked nonstop from 8 am until 5:40, picked Annyka up and headed straight to a meeting that lasted 2 hours. And did I mention I still had more work to finish once I got home?

We went to SNS for dinner on the way home at about 8 pm since we were both starving. I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich without the bun. It came out with a bun and with cheese on it - and that was after we had waited about 30 minutes for our food and watched other tables arrive, eat and leave while we waited for our food. I almost started crying when I told the server to take the food back. I didn't feel like waiting for another meal and I couldn't eat what they brought me. I hate having to be so picky. Annyka had her corn dog nuggets and I ended up eating meatloaf and rice at home.

Friday night the rest of the family had rotisserie chicken (dang yeast extract flavoring) and mac & cheese. I had more meatloaf, roasted potatoes and broccolini. The rest of the weekend included meals of hot dogs (Nathan's Famous), taquitos at our favorite Mexican restaurant, chicken curry with rice and some mini bean burritos.

I got a little pissy with Scott this week because he used all of my almond milk to eat cereal and once he used all my almond milk, he went and bought a gallon of cow's milk. Um...what am I supposed to use? I spend a lot on "special groceries" and get a little frustrated when other people eat mine and leave me with nothing.

Tomorrow I think Annyka and I are going to head up to Trader Joes. Hopefully I won't spend too much!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Wednesday, February 15

Well I feel like crap today. I'm sure that's exactly what you (not that I think anyone is reading) wanted to hear. Sunday I started feeling a little congested. I still have that - no better, no worse - but now I also have a horrible headache. Like it hurts to move headache.
Maybe it's just stress. Work is crazy like always, plus I've got Team in Training and I also have PTSO stuff going on. Anyway, it's only 6:30 in the evening and I wish I could put the kids to bed so I could follow suit.
Lately I've been really working at not having negative feelings about food, but sometimes that hard when every event includes things I can't have. Every commercial is something I can't have. Every vending machine...you get the picture. I used to look forward to going to get-togethers with friends and trying new restaurants. Now I dread them and I find myself avoiding them. I don't want to be that person, but how do I work around it. I want to be healthy and feel better, but I have to find a way to that without affecting my mental well-being.
I don't have anything else to say about that, but it's something I'm working on.
Food-wise...food has been okay. I'm getting a little bored. I can't remember the weekend - that was days ago - but Monday was turkey burgers with onions, cauliflower and rice. Yesterday was tortilla soup that ANNYKA LIKED! Today was corn pasta with meat sauce. Two meals in a row that Annyka ate without complaint. That is a huge deal. I'm going to go try to convince the kids it's really 8:30 now. Good night. 

Friday, February 10, 2012

Friday, February 10

Today was my first day being furloughed from work. After I took the kiddo to school, I crawled back into bed to sleep until 11:30. When I finally got up, I paid medical bills (sadly, I have several) and spent the next couple hours doing my taxes. Lunch was hummus and carrots. I'm not sure why I wasn't too hungry.

Around three I got to the park to run and had a Luna bar and some berries for a snack. I attempted to make some gluten-free flatbread today, but it didn't turn out all that well. It was edible, but kind of chewy. The texture wasn't very good. I had it topped with black beans, avocado, lettuce and some turkey.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Thursday, February 9

I can't believe it's already Thursday. This week flew by...actually almost all weeks fly by, but this week has been no different.

Anyway, it's been an extra busy week with a parent-teacher-student organization meeting, a Team in Training meeting, moving at work and an open house at a new school we're looking at for Annyka. Thank God I have tomorrow off - unpaid, but at least I'm not working.

Anyway, the Greek quinoa was excellent. I wish we had more of it, but I already finished the leftovers. We had tacos last night. Also very good. Tonight was leftover chili with half of an avocado and corn chips. I had no idea what we'll have tomorrow, but we'll figure something out.

I want to take a trip up to Whole Foods and Trader Joes at some point, but I'm not sure when I'll do it.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Monday, February 6

I'm feeling much better about the food situation this weekend. Using some time over the weekend to do some planning always helps.

Saturday I made some homemade chili in the crockpot and we had that Saturday night as well as last night on baked potatoes. Yesterday I also made some homemade guacamole to eat with corn tortilla chips last night. I had also planned to have some bean dip out, but I wasn't hungry enough for that.

On Saturday I also had crunchy tacos (no cheese) and on Sunday KGC - that would be Kentucky Grilled Chicken. Tonight the dinner plan is a chicken stirfry - I've got some snap peas, lots of bell pepper and some bok choy for that. I'm not sure if we'll have that with rice or rice noodles.

Tomorrow night will be quinoa tabboule with chicken. The chicken is already baked so tonight I'll make the quinoa and mix it up with the dressing. I've got a meeting tomorrow after work so we'll need something quick.

I also found some energy bars that I can eat - Larabars and Luna Bars. Yay!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Saturday, February 4

Holy crap, it's February! And my life is ramping back up again in a big way. Annyka's in the middle of her first sports season - indoor soccer - and I've joined  back up with my athletic fund-raising friends again. I'm doing Team in Training again for the spring season.

For those not in the know, Team in Training is a part of the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. In exchange for agreeing to raise a specific amount of money for LLS, they help me train for endurance events - in this case the 500 Festival Mini-marathon. In addition, this year I will be mentoring as well as fundraising. That just means that I am an alum responsible for helping the newbies with their fundraising and any other questions they may have as they take on this lofty and admirable challenge.

Anyway, I was up before the sun this morning for group training. My 35-minute run felt good. Something about running with other people makes it easier to get up for in the morning. I had a bowl of Chex before and a shake after. I need to do something with the shakes though - they have milk and egg in them, so I really can't keep using them. Shakeology is vegan so I can use it, but it's soooo expensive. I have to decide if its really worth it.

So anyway, on the dinner plate the last couple days were cereal and milk with a banana - Yeah, not very dinnery, but it was all I was really hungry for. It was a rough day. Then last night we had grilled pork chops, portobello mushrooms, fingerling potatoes and brussel sprouts. I just discovered brussel sprouts this winter and found out I really like them roasted.

I've got chili in the crockpot for either tonight or tomorrow. The plan for the Super Bowl snacking will be tortilla chips, guacamole and bean dip. At some point this weekend we'll probably have some big ol' baked potatoes too. Mine will be less exciting than normal without cheese, but I'll live.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Success...albeit small

Very quickly before I go back to work, I will share a couple successes from yesterday

1. I had a pretty good salad yesterday for lunch - grilled chicken breast, spinach, cranberries and a dressing made from olive oil and pomegranate-blueberry juice. It actually got me through the afternoon and that included a quick lunchtime run.

2. We had rice spaghetti and meat sauce last night. No one complained about any difference in the pasta. It was a little starchier when I drained it, but once the sauce was on, no difference.

I also decided to join Team in Training for my second season, so I guess I'll be finding more energy-boosting foods sooner rather than later.

Back to work.