Turns Out, Life Really Is a Bowl of Cherries

I got off my daily schedule of writing for two reasons: first because it is difficult to cut away in the evening to do it as Roger likes me to spend that time with him, and secondly because this week has been too unbelievable.

Sunday was Mother's Day and while I kept to my program, I went a little crazy with the not-so-good carbs. Why? Just because I thought I deserved it. It was freakin' Mother's Day for crying out loud. By not-so-good carbs, I mean honey roasted peanuts (which used to be my go-to breakfast when I had to eat in the car), and a 4 oz box of Wheat Thins that had been taunting me for a couple of months. Never mind that they were a little stale. On the plus side, I did have bananas and then some cherries Darius got to share with me on Mother's Day. First of the season, and they were delicious. It was nice to spend the day with his family, but I missed being with the other boys and my mom who chose to spend the day with my half-brother.

Sunday night it is hard for us to go to bed knowing that we have to start our 4:40 in the morning routine again the next day, so I think we finally got to bed about 11:00 only to be awakened at midnight by my daughter-in-law, Alicia, saying the Darius was having a grand mal seizure again (again because it was a repeat of what happened 16 August 2007). I don't think we were all ever so frightened in our lives. The first time this happened, we didn't know what caused it: a stage 4 brain tumor the size of an avocado pit. When the seizure occurred this time our worst fears were realized: the tumor must have returned. He came out of the seizure as the EMT's were carrying him to the hospital, and they did a CAT scan there. While we were waiting for the results, his father gave him a blessing that said he would recover quickly and return to his previous activities. We all thought Roger had lost it this time. There was no way someone could recover from a returning cancer. We all knew that meant certain death.

When the doctor came in to say there was no evidence of a tumor redeveloping, I think it shocked me as much as the doctor telling me my son had 6 months to live the first time. Then my next thoughts were of how faithless I was. I was truly ashamed to not have trusted my Heavenly Father. We learned that recurring seizures are not unusual in those who have had them. In fact, he was "lucky" it had only occurred this many years later. The doctor the next day explained to them that the scar tissue has very tender nerve endings which can trigger seizures.

Anyway, I don't think any of us had had this traumatic an experience in a long time, and we were all a couple of days in recovering (and, in my case, repenting). I have continued to journal my eating to make sure I stay on track, but I haven't been blogging it (obviously). I actually had a couple of really low calorie days Monday and Tuesday, but I think I am getting back on track. Until today anyway. I was so tired this morning that after I finished my morning work, instead of having breakfast I took a nap, so breakfast wasn't until 3:00, and that's never a good thing. It's hard to cram 2500 calories into a short space of time.

Salad Days Are Killing Me

I love salads, I really do, but I think it's the sauciness of all those veggies swimming around in dressing that I like. I mixed the pineapple/raisin mixture up in my dressing hoping to minimize the fat content of the salad, but it didn't help much. I've got a couple of recipes for low fat dressings that I'm going to try out if I can get them made before Roger surprises me with another salad. He put olives in there too, but that only accounted for 1% of the fat. The vegannaise in the Thousand Island was the big killer.

Anyway, I made the black bean burgers I've been wanting to make all week, but I didn't have any flax or chia to hold them together since we don't use eggs. It was more like a bean/rice hash, and it was okay. Not too flavorful like you want a burger to be, but I'll work on it. They have some really good black bean burgers at Costco, but I think they have egg in them. If you want it done right, you gotta do it yourself! Here's what I ended up eating today. (Notice the carb loading after the salad to try to offset the fat calories - it's all a numbers game I tell ya. In fact, if I could have eaten 35 more bananas, I'd have gotten the fat percent down to 10. It would have been almost 6000 calories though, so I'd have had to run a marathon or something to work that off. It makes me tired just thinking about it!)

Breakfast: 2 kiwi, 3 bananas

Lunch: huge salad w/ tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, pineapple & raisins, and 4 oz Vegan Thousand Island dressing

Snack: 3 bananas, 2 mangos

Dinner: black bean “burgers” with catsup on Romaine leaves (I was going to have them on bread, but I really wasn't hungry enough even though I knew I needed more carbs.)

Total calories: 1861 fruit;  2308 total

Caloronutrient ratio (carbs/protein/fat): 72/6/21

A Different Kind of Coconut Song

I didn't have a monumental food day. I felt kind of blah, actually; not bad but not good either. I didn't feel like eating, so nothing I ate was very exciting. So, with that being said, I thought I'd share a coconut water with you that my son found called Harmless Harvest. Since coconut water has become such a "thing" and it's everywhere, I have to say the best kind is the one you get from the actual coconut. There are just a couple of little problems with that. These are a bit of a challenge to bust open to get their delicious liquor, and it is very perishable. Also, I found out they soak the coconuts in formaldehyde to keep them from molding while they are transported out of Thailand, their country of origin. So what's a fella to do?

Some brilliant marketing genius decided to start processing the coconut water, so all we had to do is pick up a pack and have all we want. One problem. It didn't really taste much like real coconut water. Now, if you've never had real coconut water, that may not be a problem. But for me, it was. I'd buy a few here and there and use them in smoothies, but I couldn't drink them straight up. Until now. These Harmless Harvest guys figured out a way to cold press the coconut water so that it is not heat processed. I was still skeptical until I tasted it. Wowee Kazowee. It tastes like the real thing, and I really love it. I'm finally able to buy coconut water again and not have to worry about the formaldehyde thing since these are organically grown. Check out their website for more info: http://www.harmlessharvest.com/

Sultana Cucumbers; We call them baby
cukes, but these are full size at 4 to
6 inches. We eat them peel and all.
Thanks, Emil, at Beli Farms for
growing them and Viva La Verde
who delivers them to
my house. (Who does that?)

And ... here's what else I ate today:

Breakfast: 16 oz Harmless Harvest coconut water, 135 g raisins

Lunch: an apple, 2 mangoes

Dinner: 1 oz Stacy’s multi-grain pita chips w/ 4 oz Hummus in a blender; 4 slices Alpine Valley Multi-grain w/ Omega 3 bread (oops, found out it has honey and is therefore not vegan) w/ Dijon mustard and Sultana cucumber slices (my favorite vegan sandwich)

Total calories: 1007 fruit;  1819 total

Caloronutrient ratio (carbs/protein/fat): 80/10/10

Hummus in a Vitamix

I found a new bread at the store yesterday, and since I only have one starch meal a day, I haven't been able to try it until today. I had to redeem myself from the travesty that was last Thursday's dinner for my son when I used store bought white hoagie rolls and what I thought was vegan cheese. I don't want to talk about it, but you can read about it in last week's post if you really need to know about my bloopers. So tonight was sandwich night again, but much improved.

Our first course was a bowl of chocolate nice cream as we always eat the easily digested fruits before the items that don't digest as quickly. While they were eating their nice cream, I made the sandwiches on the griddle/grill my daughter-in-law gave me for Christmas last year. Nice grill marks! They consisted of hummus spread on both pieces with lots of nice veggies in between: arugula, sliced cucumber, sliced roasted red pepper, banana pepper rings, and green onion spears. I had made the hummus earlier in the day from this new recipe I found on Fat Free Vegan (http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2012/03/hummus-in-the-blender.html). The chickpeas had been cooked over the weekend, and were salt-free. (They were cooked with a few pieces of kombu and some bay leaves. I don't know if the kombu adds sodium or not.) Anyway, that was one delicious sandwich. I have been looking for a sandwich spread to replace my beloved mayonnaise, and I think hummus is a great substitute. I might have to have sandwich day every week, but I know my son likes to try different things, so I'll have it on a different day. Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast: 7 bananas

Lunch: 203 g dried persimmons, 2 mangoes

Dinner: 2 veggie sandwiches: (each sandwich) 2 slices Killer Dave’s 21 Whole Grain bread, ¼ cup Hummus in a Blender, arugula, sultana cucumbers, roasted red pepper, banana pepper rings, green onion

Total calories: 1695 fruit;  2357 total

Caloronutrient ratio (carbs/protein/fat): 85/8/7

Be Nice, and I'll Make You a Nice Cream

So why "nice" cream? Well, it's nice on a couple of different levels. Because it's made from plant food instead of exploiting our bovine friends, so the cows are a lot happier. Also, it's pretty nice to our heart and other organs as there is no fat or cholesterol to clog things up. Oh, yeah, and it tastes good, too, and you can can eat it for breakfast like I did today. I put 5 frozen bananas in my Vitamix and let them sit for a few minutes to thaw a tiny bit. I added a fresh banana, 1 tablespoon raw cacao powder, and 25 grams of coconut sugar. (It doesn't really need the extra sweetening, but it helps get the carb calories up where they're supposed to be.) That was it. No liquid. The Vitamix mixed it up into a lovely softserve bowl of goodness which held me for about 6 hours until lunch time. I'd say that's pretty nice. Here's what else I ate today:

Breakfast: 7 bananas, 1 T cacao powder, 25 g coconut sugar, vanilla stevia

Lunch: 4 mangoes

Dinner: 4 cups basmati rice, diced tomatoes, El Pato tomato sauce

Total calories: 1657 fruit; 2533 total

Caloronutrient ratio (carbs/protein/fat): 90/6/4

Back on Track

I was pretty happy with how today turned out after the frustrations of yesterday. I think the beauty of this kind of clean eating is that one feels comfortable with it. There is a more positive outcome on a lot of different levels. Plus, I found out today I've lost 14 pounds since starting. While my objective is health, the weight loss is certainly a contributor to that. Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast: 5 bananas

Lunch: 16 oz strawberries, 32 g coconut sugar, 4 bananas

Dinner: 4 cups basmati rice, 362 g of crushed pineapple mixed with raisins

Total calories: 1631 fruit; 2358 total

Caloronutrient ratio (carbs/protein/fat): 93/5/2

Mess Up Day

I've spent a lot of years dieting, so it comes as no surprise to me when I have a mess up day. I learned long ago that my resolve to NEVER eat another whatever, wasn't going to happen. HOWEVER, this wasn't one of those days. I just wanted a salad, and my husband had been talking about making one for 5 or 6 days, so today was the day. So what's the problem, you ask.

For me a salad is not a lovely bowl of lettuce lightly sprinkled with lemon juice. My salads are huge and literally doused in salad dressing. I think when I am wanting a salad, what I am really wanting is a big bowl of greens floating in salad dressing. At least today when I ate my salad, I prepared a vegan dressing using a vegan mayonnaise. But my, what a price to pay in terms of my being able to stay within my parameters. After I entered what I had eaten in CRON-O-Meter and realized how badly I had done, I tried for a high carb no fat dinner, but the damage had been done. I'd like to say lesson learned, but who knows. I can be such a dummy sometimes.

I tried to tell Roger I wanted the salad at night so that I could get more fruit in during the day, but he gets very confused about the precise details of what I'm eating. At least he knew not to put the meat and cheese on my salad that was added to his and Wyatt's. Who am I to complain when someone wants to fix food for me when I'm working and don't have time to fix it. Of course, how difficult is it to peel a banana? Seriously?

Re: recipes. I am trying to decide if I want to go down the tofu trail to replicate vegan mayonnaise, ranch dip, etc. I have not been a fan before as I think there are issues with soy not being as healthy as just plain food, but I can't just eat fruit and vegetables yet (especially vegetables) without dips, dressings, and sauces. Of course, the need for too many vegetables is not great. One can get all their nutrients from fruit, but I am not yet acclimated to that. Sometimes I just don't want any more sweet. (Anyone who knows me finds that hard to believe, I know.) So now that we've had true confessions, here's what I ate today:

Breakfast: 6 bananas, 16 oz Harmless Harvest coconut water

Lunch: Large tossed salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, craisins, and 162 g homemade Thousand Island dressing (This is the recipe for a batch: (It makes about 2 pints) 16 oz jar vegenaise, 8 oz catsup, 4 oz sweet pickle relish, and 25 g coconut sugar)

Dinner: 2 cups leftover lima bean soup with an 8 oz can of El Pato tomato sauce, 33 grams coconut sugar, and a splash of apple cider vinegar (I’m trying to replicate catsup.)

Total calories: 841 fruit; 2609 total

Caloronutrient ratio (carbs/protein/fat): 69/8/24 (Yikes!)