Planning Meals

Like all moms, I'm busy - and only seem to get busier as the kids get older.  I love to cook, but really don't have a lot of time to do it.   For me,  meal planning is *essential* both for time and budgetary reasons (my two skinny kids can eat RIDICULOUS amounts of food!).  And with this challenge, it's become even more important.  Without planning, it's way too easy to grab packaged, processed junk when you're hungry.

Every Thursday I carve out about 30 minutes to plan out six meals I will cook for the upcoming week.   Our breakfasts and lunches are pretty set so I don't need to think a lot about those.  Occasionally, I add a new breakfast recipe to try.

 

First, I go through my pinned recipes on pinterest.  I have a "recipes to try" board, and a "tried and true" board.  Each week, I try one new recipe, and then hopefully it gets moved to my "tried and true" board with additional notes.  Or it sucks, and gets deleted forever.  That's happened a time or two!

 

I make my dinner list while sitting in the kitchen.  As I make the list, I go through the fridge, freezer and pantry to see what items I'll need to buy to make the meal.  It's really a very quick proess that helps me SO MUCH.

 

For the upcoming week:

1. Pork Tenderloin, Brussel Sprouts with Bacon, and Mashed Potatoes

pork tenderloin recipe

*this meal meets real food guidelines.

 

 

2. Grilled Turkey Cutlets with Whole Wheat Pasta and Asparagus

turkey cutlet, whole wheat pasta and asparagus from "5 Ingredient Fix"

*this meal meets real food guidelines

 

 

3. Tacos

I make my taco seasoning - it's so simple, very tasty and you avoid the nasty packaged stuff.
2 Tbsp. chili powder
½ tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. cumin
½ tsp. onion powder
½ tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. oregano
Cayenne pepper to taste

*Will need to make subsitutions for real food challenge. Husband and kids will have regular tacos (soft and hard) with fixings. I''l have a taco salad.

 

 

4. Chicken Fried Rice, Fresh Pineapple

My family loves chicken fried rice for dinner. I load it up with veggies (carrots, broccoli and peas), plus several scrambled eggs, and about 1lb of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. We season it with lots of garlic, salt and pepper, soy sauce and thai garlic chili paste. It's really like a stovetop casserole. Very filling, and a good complete meal. I will make my portion with brown rice; the fam's with jasmine.

 

 

5.  Asian Lettuce Wraps

*this meal meets real food guidelines.  For my big eating family, I double the recipe and add rice noodles to bulk up the wraps.  I imagine the kids will also have some tomato soup with this for dinner.

 

 

6. Chicken Ceci, Broccoli Bites, and Garlic Bread

http://www.staceysnacksonline.com/2011/01/broccoli-bites-for-kids.html

"Chicken Ceci" is a family favorite that is named for my dear friend Ceci. The kids first had it at her house, and they love it. It's thin chicken cutlets sauteed with olive oil and lawry's seasoning :-)

*this meets real food guidelines (minus garlic bread) - making broccoli bites with whole wheat bread crumbs

 

 

Real food items to make throughout the week for lunches, snacks:

granola

butternut squash soup

chickpea salad

 

My grocery budget each week is $200; I'm usually under that by a good bit.  Keep in mind, we are a family of four, my husband works a physical job, my boys are growing and very active (ages 14 and 11), and we buy local and organic when possible.  We eat all but one meal per week made from home.  I think we do pretty good considering.  I could not keep this budget without planning.

Sick

I. Am. Sick.
\
I don't get sick a lot. Actually, I get sick a lot less since I started to lose weight and run.  I think this is my first virus in the last two years.  But, boy, it has knocked me on my butt. I'm headachey, tired, cranky, sniffly and oh-so-tired.  

I am not one of those stoic moms. Nope, I'm a baby when I'm sick.  When the kids were little, I muddled through, but now that they are old enough to take care of themselves when I'm out of commision  I let myself be out of commission.    I hear about "man colds" and I have to laugh because I've never lived with a man who actually had those.  My husband will work 12 hours at a physically grueling job with the flu and never complain.  He's rather remarkable.  I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in the house who gets a "man cold" .   I'm secure enough in my mothering/household management the other 360+ days per year that I feel no shame in this ;-)

Not surprisingly as I've been feeling unwell, I have been craving COMFORT FOOD.  And comfort food for me does not equal real food.  I've been longing for hot cocoa with whipped cream, my favorite sugary cereal from childhood, white bread and butter, and chocolate.  Ugh.  I have resisted, and tried to satisfy myself with lots of peppermint tea, shredded wheat cereal and granola.

Which brings me to another problem  I've been having lately:  Too much of a good thing is still too much.   It's time for me to start counting calories and measuring portions.  I avoided that in the beginning because I was making drastic changes to my diet.  But, I'm pretty sure I'm eating way too much of a few things.  So phase #2 starts tomorrow - just how much granola am I putting away each day? The closest answer I have right now is:  A LOT.

A 3 mile run was on the schedule for me today - that didn't happen :(  I hate when I have to skip a run.  I get twitchy if I don't run every other day.

Dinner was a good one tonight - real food that the whole family enjoyed.  Simple sauteed chicken breasts with olive oil/salt/pepper/herbs, couscous with parmesan cheese, and roasted carrots. Delicious!

Ok....back to the sick bed.......

It's the Climb

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an  uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb



I got a phone call at 3:15pm

Sam: Mom! Mom! I got an A- on my math test!!   I worked so hard, Mom!  Are you proud of me?
Me:  Oh my God, Sam!  I am so proud!  I just want to squeeze the stuffing out of you right now.
Sam:  You can do that as soon as you get home.  I did it, Mom - all that work, and I did it.  I got an A on a math test. Did you think your son could do that???
Me:   I sure did!

My 6th grader Sam struggles in school due to a number of issues.  He's hard of hearing, and has been since he was a toddler.  Hearing loss has huge educational implications because so much of what children learn is incidental and comes just from listening, hearing and overhearing conversations, etc.  With hearing loss that incidental learning does not happen and anything auditory is only learned as direct input.  Sam's hearing is aided, but hearing aids do not work like eyeglasses do.  They don't correct a loss;  they just amplify sound.  Sitting and listening in class every day is physically exhausting for Sam.  Imagine sitting in a classroom with your ears stuffed with cotton balls, straining to hear what the teacher says as background chatter and classroom noises make it even harder.  My son does this every single day.  In addition to that, he is learning disabled in math.  Yesterday, he got his very first A on a math test :-)

The most important thing about Sam is that he is tenacious.  My God  this child never, ever, ever gives up.   He does get discouraged at times, but always gives it his all.  It inspires me, humbles me, and is the reason the song "The Climb" is directly wired to my mama tear ducts.  His climb has always been difficult and beautiful, and has changed how I measure success.   A less than perfect outcome on something you pour your heart and soul into is worth so much more than something that comes easily and is done without thought.

It's NOT about how fast you get there.  It's NOT about what's on the other side.  It's about your journey to reach your always amazing potential and what it says about you.  The steeper the climb, the more admirable the effort to keep going. There will be sweet successes along the way - a much deserved A for Sam or  maybe a faster 5K time or dropping another clothing size for me - but it's really about putting yourself out there on a journey that will challenge you and then - simply and not so simply - never, ever, ever giving up.

Thank you,  baby,  for all the valuable lessons you teach me.  You are my hero and my inspiration.

******************************************************************
Last night's dinner was one of our favorites, and easily adaptable for the entire family.

Lemony Shrimp Over Brown Rice

I doubled the sauce in the recipe.   I had mine over brown rice per the recipe with a side of roasted broccoli  For the rest of the family, I tossed the lemony shrimp with 1lb of cooked pasta.  They also enjoyed the roasted broccoli, and some garlic bread.  Man, did I want some garlic bread(!), but I resisted.

Always Be Prepared

Today marks one week since I started this challenge!



I have learned a couple of things so far:

1)  You've got to be willing to cook to eat real.  I guess that's a "well duh" sort of revelation since I'm basically cutting out processsed food.   But I really think that living this way would be impossible unless you are willing to invest the time and energy in the kitchen to make it happen.  The good news is that eating clean can also mean rather simple cooking - Grilling, stir frying, or throwing soup ingredients in a crockpot.  Simple stuff.  

and

2) Preparation is so important especially for snacks.  I am a snacky kind of gal.  Several times per day  I just want (need) something to snack on - something crunchy, or salty or warm and satisfying.  Again, I'm sure if you dig deep in my psyche this is a big part of my problem, but it's reality for me.   I can already tell that I am going to need to prep a lot of snacks for myself so that I don't give in to temptation when I'm feeling vulnerable to midday munchies.

So Sunday afternoon, I worked on healthy and delicious snacks for the week.  I'm pretty excited because I'm sure the whole family will benefit from having these healthy items on hand.

Salted cucumbers and pepper strips.  I'm also stocked up on fruits that need no prep - clementine oranges, grapes and bananas.

Kale chips - Yum!  We love kale chips (lacinato kale produces the best chips, IMO).  Thoroughly wash and dry your kale.  Remove the ribs from the kale and tear into 2" pieces. Lay on a baking sheet and toss with 1 TBS olive oil, a sprinkling of seasoning salt and cayenne pepper. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Voila!  A crunchy, healthy snack.

Granola - Loving this recipe!
  Granola Recipe

(photo from 100daysofrealfood.com)


I also pre-cut some nice smoked gouda to eat with ak-mak crackers, and hard boiled a dozen eggs.  The kids were swarming all the snacks last night so I'll be curious to see how long it lasts.

Yummy food day so far;  breakfast was some plain greek yogurt with granola and a banana.  For lunch, I enjoyed a simple creamy turkey soup that I made over the weekend with a side of cucumbers.  Looking forward to a 3 mile run tonight, and then one of my favorite meals - lemony shrimp and brown rice.  I will post that recipe tomorrow.

Thanksgiving and the Day After

We had a beautiful sunny, 64 degree day on Thanksgiving.  It was perfect.

My day started out early, heading out with the family to run a 5K Turkey Trot.  I absolutely love running 5Ks, especially since my 14 year old son has run all of them with me :-)  He's fast though, so we just see each other at the start, and then high five each other at the finish.    I love that my kids are now (finally) gaining memories of doing things with a fit, healthy mom.   That means everything to me.

Oh, and I was super excited that my brand new running shoes arrived on Wednesday night, so I got to race in them.  Yay!  My old shoes had over 300 miles on them, and I'm hard on running shoes.  They were falling apart.  But look at my crazy NEON new shoes.  I love'em.  I can pretend I'm fast when I wear them.

Thanksgiving was one of my pre-set "cheat days" for this 100 day challenge.  I'm really proud of how I handled the day!

I did not write off the whole day - I had a healthy pre-race breakfast (banana, a slice of toasted Ezekiel Bread with peanut butter), a "real food lunch" of couscous and black beans (seasoned with olive oil, lime, cumin, salt and pepper).

We celebrated the day at my mother-in-law's house.  She's a fantatastic cook and baker!  I felt totally in control.  I enjoyed turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, a french onion soup casserole.  I had one plateful, and then went back for a bit more.  I skipped bread because it's never worth it, IMO.  I then enjoyed a single slice of pie for dessert - apple! - and a cup of coffee.  I decided it wasn't worth it to cheat on the coffee and add my old favorite french vanilla coffee creamer.  I stuck with black coffee and half and half.

So, I indulged but didn't binge. I enjoyed the day, the beautiful weather, a great race, and good company.  A perfect day!

I was a little scared about how difficult it might be to jump back to clean eating the next day.  I'm happy to say not difficult at all!   I ate clean on Friday - I'm totally loving quesadillas.   Friday's quesadilla was made with eggs, yellow peppers, mushrooms, a bit of cheddar cheese and my beloved Trader Joe's whole wheat tortillas.  I enjoyed some left over turkey slices cold with a bit of mustard on them....YUM!  Lots of fruits and veggies throughout the day.   And ended the evening with some red wine, triscuit crackers (3 ingredient real food!), and guacamole.

Today is Saturday and another pre-determined "cheat day" as it's the day we are celebrating Thanksgiving with my family.   I'm actually not worried about it.   I'm looking forward to my mom's stuffing  and can't wait to try a piece of cheesecake that I made last night :-)

WHY???

Why Am I Doing this Any Way?

This was the first thought that came to my mind this morning.

I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I've been very (very) large, and quite thin - and everything in between. In past efforts, I've pretty much focused on weight loss.

And my weight loss plan usually went like this:
Join Weight Watchers. Stick to the program for awhile. Eat smaller portions of the junk I love. Throw in a few extra veggies and fruits. Exercise here and there. Have some success. Get a little cocky. Start eating bigger portions. Start "taking off weekends" from the plan. Stop going to meetings. Gain it all back.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

But something happened to me at the beginning of my 39th year. That something was the idea of being unfit, unhealthy and 40 years old. I wasn't ready to throw on a pair of give-up-on-life pants (sweatpants) and call it a day. I wanted to lose weight, get fit, and be healthy - for myself and my family.

I started my usual plan mentioned above because honestly, it's the only plan I ever had. I lost 75 lbs and then started sliding. The big difference this time was that I started to run in August 2011. THANK GOD for this amazing, life-changing discovery. Truly, it is what changed everything. I learned how amazingly forgiving my self-abused body was. I learned that I was capable of being strong and determined. And it made me hunger for MORE - an even healthier lifestyle.

I started to read about the real food movement. I started to learn more about all the "food-like" manufactured and processed substances we are putting in our bodies, and how those things are designed to create emotional and physical dependency. No wonder I always failed. The manufactured western diet is actually designed to make us fail, crave more, buy more.

So, this is really about breaking those addictions, and learning to appreciate and crave real food.

Some of the sources that have educated and inspired me:

1)“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

― Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

 

 In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto is a great place to start.  

 

Pollan's  Food Rules is a great pocket-size book that gives you common sense "rules" about how to eat a clean, real food diet. Rules like:
Eat only foods that will eventually rotEat only foods that have been cooked by humansThe whiter the bread, the sooner you’ll be dead

2). Food, Inc Only watch this movie if you really want to change your life.   You WILL want to change the way you eat after you watch it.  

3).  100 Days of Real FoodThis is the blog that made me believe that I could really do this. Real life, practical ways to start eating real food.

Sweet Dreams....Literally.

Day #2:

I had a dream last night.  A dream of a doughnut, a chocolate glazed doughnut.

When I woke up I actually yelled out (ok, more of a whisper so as not to wake my husband)... NOOOOOOO!!!! while hitting my fist on the mattress.  That did momentarily wake my husband. 

I'm feeling way more dramatic than I should be after one day of keeping it real.

Breakfast:   Same as yesterday.   This is likely to be a pattern for me.  I love eating the same breakfast day in and day out.  Always have.

Lunch:    * 1.5 cups of chick pea salad
                delicious, real food chick pea salad
               * a handful of grapes
               * "just a handful" of almonds, cashews and dried cranberries (Trader Joe's product)



Snack:    felt very snacky after work.   Had ounce of cheddar cheese, picked a bit at more chick pea salad,  some cucumber with sea salt


Dinner:     The family had beef stroganoff with egg noodles.  Yum!   I have a friend who has an at-home gig of preparing delicious meals for busy families.  This was one of her creations, and by all accounts was great!
I was craving a quesadilla of sorts so that's what I had.  It was lovely - two scrambled eggs, grape tomatoes, a bit of cheddar cheese and avocado sandwiched between two whole wheat tortillas. 

Snack:      1 (okay 1.5) glass of red wine.  Perfection!


I don't intend for this to be a daily food journal, although it might be that sometimes especially in the beginning.

Just a few things of note:

* I am NOT counting calories during this challenge.  At least not in the beginning.   I need to to adjust first to getting all the processed food, high fructose corn syrup, white flour, white rice, etc out of my diet.  These are big changes for me, and I feel like it's all I can handle right now.   I can't count calories in addition to that.  I'm trying to be reasonable in portions.  We will see how that goes. 

* I don't plan to weigh myself for the first two weeks of the challenge.  When I do I will report any losses or gains, here.  If I have a gain, I will be sitting in a corner and crying because that seems pretty impossible.   God, I hope it's impossible.

* Exercise.  I currently exercise 3-4x per week...Usually 2-3 runs and 1-2 sessions at the gym on the elliptical.   An "unofficial" part of this challenge is to go back to working out 5x per week which was my norm last summer.  Ideally, I wish to run 3x per week, elliptical-ize (?) once, and add some strength training.  I hope to return to my Thursday evening cardiokickboxing class at the Y which I really loved. 

I'm feeling pretty good.  A little "off" perhaps- distracted, irritable at times but nothing too bad.

Day 1

Day 1

"Step by step, like an infant new kid.
Inch by inch with the new solution.
Transmit hits, with no delusion.
The feeling's irresistible and that's how we movin'.

Everybody, everybody, let's get into it.
Get stupid.
Get it started, get it started, get it started
Let's get it started in here!"

I freaking love this song. 

We never let our kids call anything "stupid" when they were little.  It was a big no-no word in our household.  Our youngest son loves to sing, and "Let's Get it Started" was his favorite song when he was a preschooler,   I can clearly remember Sam sitting in his car seat getting SO excited for the upcoming "get stupid"  that his little fists would ball up, he'd start smiling and shaking with excitement and then shout out the most joyful "GET STUPID!!!!!!!" that you ever heard - actually it was GET DUPE-ED!, but we knew what he meant. .  
When I started to run, I put this song on my running playlist because hello! it's the perfect running song, and because always made me laugh  thinking of my so-excited-he-can't-sit-still-

kid waiting to GET STUPID!

When I ran my first half marathon (the Cleveland Rite Aid Marathon/Half Marathon in May 2012), "Let's Get it Started" was the blasting over the loudspeakers as I hit the start.  I will never forget the euphoric, hopeful and powerful feeling I had at that moment - jumping up and down like a lunatic with tears of joy in my eyes as I ran up the big hill behind Cleveland Browns Stadium with this song thumping in my ears. 

This song will forever be my #1 getting psyched song.  It makes me feel like I can grab life by the collar!  Or kick it in the balls!  Or change my taste buds and deny myself my favorite foods for 100 days!!

Yeah, this may be stupid (or just incredibly hard!), but let's get it started in here.

Breakfast:  coffee with half and half,  2/3 cup steel cut oatmeal with a drizzle of real maple syrup, plain greek yogurt with a drizzle of honey, and a banana

This was almost my typical breakfast.  Except no flavored coffee creamer :(  No brown sugar in the oatmeal:( and no flavored yogurt :(    The changes were not bad except for the plain yogurt with honey.  BARF! That will take some getting used to! 

Lunch:  Pulled out the old bento box  and filled with with ak-mak crackers, 2 ounces cheddar cheese, 1 "just a handful" pack of almonds cashews and dried fruit from trader joes, and a handful of grapes.
Actually LOVED this lunch.  I liked that it was a whole bunch of smaller nibbles.  Very satisfying and it slowed me down a bit - I normally eat way too fast.

Afterwork snack:   grape tomatoes  and tahini-free hummus

Dinner:  new recipe! Loobia Polow
http://turmericsaffron.blogspot.com/2008/12/rice-with-green-beans-loobia-polow.html
only difference to recipe is using brown jasmine rice rather than basmati.

Ok, I learned my lesson!  When I first found this recipe on pinterest I thought "Cool!  My kids love these ingredients!"  I shopped without really reading the cooking instructions.  Didya notice it's about a THREE HOUR recipe???  So I got stuck making dinner for three hours on a Monday night.  Also, instructions were really unclear so I'm not even sure I made it right. The kids hated it, and then I had hungry kids to worry about late at night.  So, it wasfrench bread pizza night for them.   This was one of things I was worried bout happening so it was not a great way to start the challenge.  Andy and I actually really liked this recipe.

Evening snack - what evening snack?  The lack of sugar made me turn into a slug after working all day and making a complex dinner.  I was out cold on the couch by 9:30pm :-)

In the beginning....

Hi!  My name is Jen and I'm a 40 year old married mother of two.  About 18 months ago, I embarked on a journey to lose weight and get healthy.  Initially  I lost 75lbs.  Yay!  And then I gained 15.  Boo! And then I lost 5.  Ok.  You get the picture.  It's been a rocky journey with a lot of starts and stops. 

I've tasted the thrill of victory! - I've become a runner, and completed two half-marathons! Me?  A runner.  I still can't believe that I have logged close to 600 running miles in the last 18 months. 

I've known the agony of defeat :-( - I am currently up 10lbs from my lowest weight during this process. 

One thing is certain - I'm never giving up this fight, and am committed to living a life where my healthy habits far outweigh my unhealthy ones.

Everything in my life has been better since I've been focused on a healthy lifestyle.  I have so much energy, and my kids are proud of me.  I run with them, play football, go hiking, swim.  Well, I always did those things - but  half-assed it, and even then was sucking wind after five minutes.   My marriage is even better in some important ways but I won't go into too much detail about that.  Ok, I won't go into ANY detail about that ;-)

Every once in awhile to recapture the mojo and attempt to move forward, I get these crazy ideas and give myself a food challenge.  

Just last month, I had a month of no sweets (candy, cake, ice cream, brownies,cookies), no soda, and no wine.   It was tough!   The first ten days were awful, but it was progressively better after that.     At the end of the challenge, I found that I lost only 4lbs.  I expected to do better and really wished I had blogged that experience.     I definitely replaced some of the eliminated food with too many chips!, crackers, cheese and far too many almonds, nut butters, and hummus.

One great holdover from that challenge is that I feel I am truly DONE with diet soda.  That stuff is pure poison and completely jacks your taste buds.   I've been soda free for 5 weeks, and don't plan to ever go back to it.

I also plan to never, ever, ever say goodbye to my wine again.  What the hell was I thinking with that? 

So tomorrow (November 19, 2012), I start my most ambitious food challenge to date!  I am going to attempt to follow the real food challenge as outlined on the "100 days of real food" website.  LOVE THAT SITE!

Here's a link to the rules.

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/real-food-defined-a-k-a-the-rules/

Tough huh?   A pretty big lifestyle change for me.

On this blog I will chronicle the journey to get healthy, and probably a lot of other things too - I like to talk, and I feel like I'm talking here.  This is probably a blog that won't stay entirely on topic.  I hope that doesn't get too annoying!