Only By the Grace of God and Clementines

Holy cow! I stayed the same weight this week! That was a gift, for sure. And I plan to be more diligent this week - as we all celebrate the fact that Thanksgiving is only once a year. Can you imagine trying to eat another meal like that this week? Nope, this week is about fruit, veggies, and making my way through all my good groceries!

I Couldn't Take It!

What would you call the food version of an earworm? You know, something that gets stuck in your head and you just can't get rid of it? Well, I had that happen with food this weekend, and the power of suggestion proved much stronger than my will.

Friday night, Onyah and I saw the movie "Stranger than Fiction." It was really sweet - and there was a key scene that involved the baking and eating of homemade chocolate chip cookies. I leaned over and said "Wow, now I really want cookies." And from that moment on, I couldn't stop thinking about them.

I was really good today and ate a lot of fresh, fiber-rific stuff. But by tonight, my tummy was a little upset and I felt in need of comforting. So I just decided "what the heck!" and went downstairs to the basement store. I bought a package of Nestle Tollhouse break-and-bakes and turned on the oven.

The package is cut into 24 squares. I fit 18 on a cookie sheet and popped them in the oven, then proceeded to eat the raw dough of 3 cookies while I waited for the buzzer. Ah, sweet evil cookie dough! Then when they were ready, I totally basked in the gooey, chocolatey goodness. Mmmmmm. But so bad!

I guess the only good news out of this is that when I found myself feeling full, after about 5 of the baked cookies, I threw all of the rest away. So there's no chance of eating the rest of the batch tomorrow. Really, cookies are only that heavenly straight out of the oven.

Well, at least now that movie no longer has evil power over me! I'm just very afraid of tomorrow's post-Thanksgiving AND post-Tollhouse weigh-in!

Sweet!

I have a new love: sweet potatoes. I had a fantastic s.p. as a side dish in Charleston, and Mom gave me tips on how she eats them all the time at home. So I got a giant 1+ pound s.p. in my grocery delivery today and went to town:



I cooked it in the microwave for 10 minutes, whole with no piercing of the skin, then topped it with a little I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light and some ground cinnamon. HEAVEN.

And the nutritional benefits? Well, a little searching on the Internets will tell you that the sweet potato is just about the most perfect food ever. It has more Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and dietary fiber than you can shake a stick at, it's filled with powerful antioxidants, plus a whole lot more.

Now my new mission is to find lots of ways to incorporate sweet potatoes into my regular diet. It sounds like there are some great recipes out there - let me know if you have any favorites!

Restraint

We had a 9 am staff meeting today (yes, 9 am on a Monday!) and I SHOCKED myself with the level of restraint I was able to display. Early on in the meeting, people brought in two platters filled with donuts. Glazed, cinnamon, and these incredible-looking chocolate iced devils. These platters were set up around the table and a huge jug of orange juice started going around. One platter of the chocolate iced evil sat in front of me for the whole meeting. And guess what? I didn't take anything!!!! It helped that I had a friend right next to me who was also trying to be good, but we both refused the donut's evil stare and made it through the meeting calorie-free.

Then she and I went to Starbucks (yo, a 9 am meeting = caffeine required). I was hungry, but still wanted to be good. Their selection was a little picked over, but they did have a bunch of muffins out that weren't labeled. I asked if any of them were of their low-fat varieties. They were not - the barista told me that they were all the regular kinds. So I didn't get any Starbucks treats either! Just a skim latte to go.

Woohoo! That's TWO major temptations I've faced down already, and it isn't even lunchtime yet!

No More Vacation from the Scale

Well, I took a few passes the last few weeks from paying attention to the scale. But now I'm back and taking it into account again. And when the dial stopped wavering, it appears that I've gained 2 pounds. Ah, heck! Well, I did eat A LOT of really rich food on vacation. So now that I'm back it's time to pay more attention to what I'm eating. Except for this Thursday, of course!

The good news is I worked out THREE TIMES this weekend! Hooray! Once at the actual gym, and twice at home with on of my pull-out Self magazine routines. It felt good.

Nutritionists' Top Ten

WebMD has an article detailing nutritionists' nightmare foods - all of the common things that are just so bad for us. It's worth a read for reminders on paying attention to snacks, portion sizes, restaurant options, etc.

The Good and The Bad of Vacay

I will soon post on my other blog about all of the great things I sampled in the restaurants of Charleston. But here, I'll give the WW highlights:

The Bad:

• I had dessert twice, but both times I split it with my mom. And she's aggressive about making sure she gets at least 50% of what's on the plate!
• I ate a lot of rich cream-based stuff and a lot of really salty stuff. So I'm sure my fat and sodium intake was way up over the last few days.
• It was restaurant food all the time, so portions were big and I wasn't as great about balancing fruits and veggies. Oopsie.

The Good:

• Fish! Lots of fish!
• We did A LOT of walking. I felt like a lot of the rich stuff I was eating had to be balanced out by all of our walking tours.
• Mom is an early diner and an early-to-bed person, so I usually was done with dinner by 7 pm and didn't eat anything again until breakfast the next day. So NO SNACKING.

I have no idea how this will affect the scale. I missed today's weigh-in. I'm going to try it out tomorrow, but I may give myself a vacation free pass and work hard this week to counteract any gains.... stay tuned!

Revenge of the Grease

So I declared last night a non-diet night, cuz it was a very tense evening all around. And I indulged way too much - I had about 6 boneless buffalo wings with bleu cheese dressing, then 2 pieces of pepperoni and mushroom pizza, then a dish of full-fat Ben & Jerry's ice cream. Plus 2 beers and some Fresca. Yeah, pigging out.... although, I have to say, in earlier days I probably would have even gone for MORE of all of it. But.... here's the good news. My stomach rebelled. I felt awful all night long, with my tummy doing somersaults. I regretted every bite of the bad food I ate. (Well, maybe not the ice cream, but definitely the wings and pizza.) Even though I indulged, I learned a little lesson out of it.... the good news is I just can't indulge in the bad stuff like I used to!

Get Out of Jail Free

The scale was wavering this morning. I may be up a little bit, I may not. But, since I'm not feeling great and since this past week was incredibly stressful - both mentally and physically - I've decided to just give myself a pass on the scale this week.

I'm staying home sick today and plan to spend most of it in bed, sleeping, or eating things that help soothe my throat. Luckily I'm all stocked up with sugar-free pudding, since that's a much better option than Ben & Jerry's!

A Busy Saturday at the Safeway

I got some good deals today, and this trip was very needed since I haven't bought groceries in 2 weeks! So hooray for having good stuff in the kitchen again!

Today's Safeway Sales:
Safeway brand pink lemonade drink mix - $2.50, reg price $3.60
Bush's Homestyle Chili - $1.75, reg price $3.14
Starkist tuna 3-pack - $2.59, reg price $2.79
Lean Cuisine, select varieties - $2.20, reg price $3.49
Green Giant boxed frozen veggies - $1.50, reg price $2.00
Jell-o Sugar Free Pudding 6-packs (wheee!) - $3.00, reg price $3.99
Fresh Express bag salads - $3.00, reg price $3.79

Happy cheap eating!!!

A Good Dinner from the Freezer

I keep reading articles that say you should eat fish 3+ times a week. That's a lot! But I am trying to increase my overall fish intake, and those bags of fresh-frozen fish fillets from Whole Foods are a great solution. Tonight I made a very satisfying, light, low-guilt dinner straight out of the freezer. First I thawed out a cod fillet, then drizzled it with olive oil and black pepper and baked it for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. Once it was done (with the pan filled with sizzling fish drippings and oil, ick), I spritzed it with some lemon juice and voila! A tasty, light fish dinner. I paired it with a package of Green Giant frozen broccoli in the low-fat cheese sauce. Yummy and filling, and I got in some fish, some veggies, AND some dairy. Hooray!

FYI - just a note in general. I'm no longer posting point values for things on the site, since it's now somewhat of an ethical question. I'll spare you the full details, but WW asks its members to refrain from sharing point values since it's a proprietary formula. Etc. But I'll still share all kinds of advice on calories, fat, sodium, and healthy choices in general.

Grocery Advice

Looking for good suggestions on healthy things to pick up at the store? Well, HungryGirl has a great list of groceries in all categories that are worth checking out. I was happy to see that she mentions several of my favorite items!