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!)

"Real" Salad Dressing...

I'm trying to get in the habit of daily blogging, but I'm having a hard time thinking of what to say today. That's not good. I found the CD from the Jason guy I blogged about yesterday; I had not heard any of his music. It is kind of similar to Jack Johnson's style. Today on the Rachel Ray show she did another short from Justin Kredible; this time he was teaching children how to like fruits and vegetables better, especially in trying to get them to try new vegetables. He encouraged them to use dips and such if that would make them more enticing. (He poured caramel sauce on the romaine; the kids loved that!)

I remember something Anna Marie Clement said while we were at Hippocrates. She said they had a little girl there who was not eating. When Ms. Clement asked her why, she said she didn't like salad without "real" salad dressing. Ms. Clement went to the grocery store and bought one of every kind of salad dressing. She said eating salad with store-bought dressing is better than not eating any salad at all. Needless to say, the little girl finally started eating and was a very happy camper after that.

That is probably the hardest thing for me: "real" salad dressing. When I say "real", of course I am talking about the salad dressings I have been eating all my life. I have always liked salad, but now I realize it is the salad dressings that have made them so appealing to me prior to my current dietary changes. I am experimenting with live foods to dress my salads; last night I mixed avocado and 1/2 a ponderosa lemon from our tree outside. It was okay as I really wanted some greens, but it is not as satisfying, shall we say, for lack of a better word.

What was satisfying was all the home grown produce in our salad: cucumber, tomato, and pepper. They are all doing great for the time being.

Today I did not eat a salad as I was starving when we got home from work. I just had a peach and a large slice of our giant watermelon. I have been trying not to eat late at night, so I won't have anything else tonight.

Currently reading: Raw Spirit by Matt Monarch. Awesome. I read the second half of the book first: his interview with Dr. Fred Bisci. Dr. Bisci has been a raw foodist for 40 years and has seen a lot of failures. Basically this book is teaching people how to succeed if they have a desire to eat living foods. One of the main points of their teachings is that once you have improved your life by getting rid of a food that is destructive, you will make yourself very ill by going back to the offending food. This applies whether one is doing South Beach or Weightwatchers or Living Foods. It explains why people gain all their weight back and more when they quit a diet regime.

Well, I guess that wasn't too bad for someone who didn't have anything to say!