No topic.

[Trinity]

Yesterday: 1 cup of black tea with 2 oz. unsweetened Silk, oolong tea, potatoes, maple brown sugar instant oatmeal, vegetables, balsamic vinegar, Red Lentil Chili, fruit, some Coke Zero, exercised.

Does anyone remember a thread about a lady who was going to see how long she could go eating only potatoes and carrots? I’ve never been able to find it since.

I’m happy that my pantry and freezer are cleaned out except he did forget the beer (or more likely, didn’t bring it on purpose) so that’s in the pantry. I did later put 2 back in the fridge. I might have one on Sunday when we get back from my parents.’ My long-term goal is a maximum of 3 drinks a week per Jeff Novick’s “4 or less.” Because if I have two 5-oz. glasses of wine (my glasses have a line on them), and if the wine is more than 12% alcohol, then it’s more than 2 drinks.

I absolutely never want to drink coffee regularly again as I was so tired a week ago compared to today. Only in case of emergency or if I absolutely can’t get tea or can, but would have to drink it black on an empty stomach.

My daughter was excited to win her basketball game and my son lost his baseball game, but his RBI helped score one of 2 runs his team got, and it was over before 8 so it wasn’t an insanely late night.

I’m going to pick up my kids after school and drive straight up to my parents, where I’m going to eat what they have (some food will definitely contain oil) but eat slowly and stop when I’m full, avoid eating too much bread, and get right back on track Sunday evening for dinner back at home. Maybe there will be fewer sweets around since I think my mom gave them up for Lent. Oh, and I am only eating 3 meals today so I’m going to really make each one count! Ha.

[Trinity]

Yesterday: I did just eat 3 times. While I was at home: tea with 2 oz. unsweetened Silk, fruit, vegetables, balsamic vinegar, potatoes, Red Lentil Chili, A1, the rest of the Coke Zero from the baseball game the night before. Exercised. I had to eat past satiation so I needed some A1 to get the last potato down. At my parents’ for dinner I had a pasta dish that had greens and beans in it and a little bit of cheese but I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. I also had 1 chocolate chip muffin.

[Trinity]

Yesterday: black tea (2 cups in the morning plus 1 decaf at dinner) with sweetened (original) Silk which I didn’t measure, and oatmeal with maple syrup for breakfast. Then, since my older daughter and I apparently caught my younger daughter’s cough, we both took a dose (me: full; her: half) of store-brand daytime DelSym because I didn’t realize it was DelSym. If I had I would have NOT taken it and ignored my dad who would have harped on me every time I coughed for the rest of our trip (“What are you taking for that?”). Instead I felt loopy and that mild medicine-has-caused-this nausea until this afternoon and I am not exaggerating. We went to the mall Saturday around the middle of the day and I was thinking to myself, what have I done/eaten to feel this way? I’m not pregnant, not drinking, didn’t drink black tea black and realized it was the dumb cough syrup. Bleah. I really didn’t feel hungry until mealtimes when food was actually in front of me. For lunch we went to La Madeleine where I had some bread with jam and a lettuce/pecan/dried cranberry salad which I did end up putting a little vinaigrette on (contained oil) because it was so dry. It just needed some corn and/or beans and/or fresh fruit on it but I guess that’s not very French (?). I had a bite of my daughter’s lollipop and for dinner we got Chinese takeout: steamed vegetables and white rice which I ate with soy sauce and sweet/duck sauce. And 2 Luden’s cherry cough drops during the day which may as well be candy too. Exercised.

[Trinity]

Up in the wee smalls with my son who’s got a stomach bug (or something) though he seems better now.

Yesterday: tea with sweetened Silk, fruit, oatmeal, maple syrup, a footlong Subway veggie with black olives (and most of the other veg.) (bread contained oil but fat is < 10% total calories), a Diet Coke, Red Lentil Chili, balsamic vinegar, nutritional yeast, salad, 1 beer, 5 Dum-dums. Exercised.

I did much better than I usually do at my parents’ which I attribute to not drinking, being accountable here, and of course the dextromethorphan-induced nausea.

Tomorrow—that is, 3 1/2 hours from now—may have to be an emergency coffee day.

[Trinity]

Well, it turns out he was NOT better and that was only the beginning. Didn’t drink coffee because I didn’t have to wake up—I was already awake when it was time to get up.

Today: tea, 2 oz. unsweetened Silk, 2 Publix Chicago hard rolls I accidentally didn’t freeze properly (not whole-wheat and technically not compliant due to mono- and diglycerides), 1 Diet Coke, potatoes, vegetables, balsamic vinegar. Exercised.

My husband is in the middle of a long work trip so my mom came down to help me out—thank God for moms!

[bunsofaluminum]

For the record, in Italy they do not dip bread straight into olive oil! They definitely cook with olive oil, but they use bread to sop up the rest of the sauce after the pasta is gone. Also Alfredo sauce does not exist there. And spaghetti is a first course and meatballs are a second course so they are not served together. Not that we went out to eat very often, as we were there during Covid.

Hear! Hear! Same with pizza. I ate pizza in actual Italy, and there it is a flat bread baked with a tasty tomato sauce on the top. That is all. At least, that's what they served where I ate pizza. It was a side dish, for helping scoop up the pasta or whatever was the actual entree. whenever someone says "That's REAL Italian pizza" about a two inch thick pizza loaded with everything, I just SMH. I imagine they put cheese on it over there, but from what I saw REAL Italian pizza is pretty simple.

Thanks for the visit to my journal

[Trinity]

Wow! Thanks for visiting MY journal! What a pleasant surprise. Haha. It’s like I have the autograph of a famous person. I used to do Tai Chi (Northern Wu style) so I know what you mean about loving qi gong. When I am someday retired (?) or somehow have more free time I would love to get back into Tai Chi and meditation. Actually, what I really wanted to learn was kung fu, and found an instructor but then found out I was pregnant with my 1st so luckily he taught Tai Chi too.

Almost forgot to post but today: tea, 2+ oz. unsweetened Silk (I forgot to take the bag out of my oolong tea and had to put a splash of Silk in it to make it drinkable), potatoes, fruit, beans, vegetables, International Stew, 2 dried figs. Exercised.

Son is better. No one else is sick yet luckily. Mom is still here and agreeing to stay until Friday morning because my husband will be back by Friday night, and truly my biggest phobia is children waking up vomiting in the night when I am the only adult (which happened Sunday night—aack—we all survived) so I am just really grateful and so comforted that she’s around if I need her. Whew.

[Trinity]

Today: tea, 2 oz. unsweetened Silk, fruit, potatoes, beans, balsamic vinegar, pasta with oil-free sauce, nutritional yeast, vegetables, 15 dried figs. Exercised.

[Trinity]

Husband came home from his trip (1-2 days earlier than he thought which was great) and my mom went back home.

Today’s non-lunch stuff: tea, 2 oz. unsweetened Silk, a couple bites of white rice, (the rest of the) dried strawberries, potatoes, fruit, beans, balsamic vinegar, 8 dried figs (the rest of them). Exercised.

My mom needed one “fun” meal before we left though she was a great sport about my McDougall food which gets even more simple/boring when my husband is out of town. We found a little Mexican restaurant when I realized my first choice was only open for dinner where I got a vegetarian “bowl,” hold the sour cream and cheese. It was rice (Mexican, I could tell by the the color, so it was most likely made with chicken broth—oh well), black beans, fajita vegetables (sautéed in oil of course) and then some lettuce and tomatoes. It tasted pretty good considering and I didn’t eat any chips. I also drank most of a sweet tea—I specified “unsweetened iced tea” but I guess the waiter only heard the “sweet” part. The music was already turned up for St. Patrick’s Day even though it was only noon. We wore green today and that was it, ha, even though we’re all Irish. Leprechauns visited each of my kids’ classrooms (even my middle schooler) and they got candy so—check.

In other news my daughter requested fruit leather that I then couldn’t find at the store so I ended up getting some dried figs and dried strawberries. No one really liked the figs except me and the strawberries had added sugar so even though the kids liked those ok I finished the rest of the small, overpriced bag. A mistake I won’t make again—dried fruit is not safe around me, haha—too delicious. Even raisins. And “healthy” so it’s hard for me to not eat it.

[Trinity]

Today: I did eat 3 meals only. Vegetables, beans, balsamic vinegar, potatoes, fruit, and the rest of a kid’s fruit leather I guess they didn’t like that much after all. Exercised.

I had one cup of black coffee this morning which was planned as it turned out to be a good (that is, free in the morning) day to go in for my labs since I had to go before 4/8. And I wanted to have fasted beforehand so my cholesterol comes back more accurately—even from my 2 oz. of soy milk. I’m not going to drink coffee regularly again and this is why: I want to be able to use it as a tool when I need it. My eyes felt as wide as a Disney princess and I got so much done around the house. But it’s just not sustainable. No wonder I was tired for 5 days after I switched from coffee to tea. Also the caffeine is just different. And neither are as bad as soda which always leaves me irritable and/or shaky.

[Trinity]

Today: tea, 2 oz. unsweetened Silk, potatoes, 2 bags of Bird’s Eye Southwest Style Power Blend (beans, lentils, corn, brown rice, vegetables), balsamic vinegar, fruit, white rice, strawberry jam, cotton candy, 2 glasses of white wine. Exercised.

We were going to go to my parents’ this weekend but my son’s baseball game that was cancelled Thursday due to rain was rescheduled for today. He got to play both whole games (it was a doubleheader)! He did great. It was so fun to watch even though they lost and the weather was perfect.

Today is the Solemnity of St. Joseph so it’s like a Sunday, a break from fasting/Lenten sacrifices. I’m on my first glass of white wine that’s leftover from when my mom was here this week. I don’t even like it. Why am I drinking it? This is a great question. So it doesn’t go to waste, I guess.

Those microwave-steamable bags were pretty tasty (they still needed a splash of balsamic vinegar) but I bet it was the salt that set me up for a Starburst FaveRed jellybean craving for the rest of the day. I got them (the Bird’s Eye bags) for my husband a few weeks ago when he was getting ready for his weigh-in and he never ate them. I saw them (the jellybeans) when I went to the commissary this morning. During Covid quarantine in Italy I would order bags of them on Amazon and keep them in my closet and when I “needed a minute” I would hide from my family in my bedroom and eat them, haha. I never managed to eat a whole bag in one sitting but definitely 2/3 of one. Anyways, I saw them at the store today and did not buy any, and came home and ate an apple, then ate the rest of the leftover white rice in the fridge heated up and put some strawberry jam in it. That helped for awhile. Most of my daughter’s cotton candy at the game—she didn’t really like the consistency I think—finally stopped the craving. Lots of sugar which is no good but at least no oil or anything else. And no chocolate. Trying to at least keep it fruity.

[Trinity]

Today: tea, 2 oz. unsweetened Silk, the rest of my 4-year-old’s cornflakes with sweetened Silk, potatoes, the rest of my son’s tofu, 1 beer, 3 Starburst candy canes, vegetables, beans, balsamic vinegar, 1 pickle slice. Exercised (finally managed to get back on my mini-stair-stepper again today). Brushed & flossed so I’m not going to eat or drink anything else.

My Mass pants are definitely fitting looser. Of course last week was an off week. I have trouble eating much of anything if anyone in the family has a stomachache for any reason.

Still thinking about those Starburst FaveRed jellybeans but I’m going to wait until the Easter bunny brings me some (ha). My mom brought down the Starburst candy canes last week that were leftover from Christmas and they are not good at all. I tried one of each color.

I actually couldn’t finish the second glass of white wine last night and put it in the fridge for today. I am really starting to enjoy not drinking alcohol. I drank one of my husband’s beers today because he got an interesting kind and because I could. I wasn’t craving it and I didn’t want another. I hope I can look back at this after Lent is over and remember how great it feels to NOT drink and be able to stick with it, at least on weekdays. And not get pressured into it!

It’s going to be a busy week and then I guess we are spending the weekend in a cabin nearby. I’m tempted to just make my husband take the 2 older kids. My son has 3 baseball games, M W F and then my daughter has basketball T Th. If only they could have after-school activities on the same day! It’s only happened once so far this month.

[Trinity]

Waiting in the parking lot for the baseball bus to get back. It’s 9:45 pm!

Today: tea, 2 oz. unsweetened Silk, potatoes, a couple bites of white rice, vegetables, beans, leftover (white) couscous that was seriously old with canned diced tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, fruit, Split Pea Soup. Exercised.

Still wanted chewy, fruity sweets today but told myself that that stuff is poison. My mind wants it but my body does NOT. I also managed to not eat anyone’s leftover bread from dinner and stuck it in the freezer.

Did you read the e-mail about Linda from Saturday? She’s 5’ 8” and 119? Doesn’t that seem really thin? I think that BMI is 18.1. I can’t decide from her picture if that seems like her real weight. She is 78 though so maybe just a little natural bone/muscle loss?

My doctor left a message that my lab results were all normal but I’m still curious about the actual numbers. Mainly cholesterol. Also I’m wondering if my vitamin D was measured. Of course, if it was “low” I wouldn’t take supplements. I take B12 so I’m sure that’s fine. Online the results say “not yet available” so I’ll give it a couple more days and maybe message them.

I realized yesterday when I was not craving alcohol that it had been exactly 3 weeks since I decided to (basically) quit! I know 21 days is not always necessarily the magic number but it did the trick this time I think.

[Trinity]

Today: various teas, 2 oz. unsweetened Silk, fruit, potatoes, vegetables, balsamic vinegar, Split Pea Soup, “oat bars,” Thai Green Curry sauce (this was from SS without vegetables or rice, just blended the ingredients with an immersion blender), brown rice. Exercised.

My numbers are in. Everything in normal range except my white blood cell count was a little on the low side (from 1 cup of coffee that morning and/or a meal with oil in it the day before? Who knows) and my potassium was slightly higher than normal range, I guess because of all the potatoes. My cholesterol is 100 even so that was pretty cool.

There is a lunch monitor at my kids’ school who has from time to time bothered them individually with, “Where is your meat? Where is your cheese?” Today my daughter told me this lady took a picture of her lunch: asked her to remove all the little lids and took a picture of it. Now, I’m not really sure why but this TOTALLY got under my skin. I brought a jelly sandwich to lunch every day of grade school and no one cared! I e-mailed the lady (who is a Spanish teacher) and told her our family limits meat and dairy for personal reasons and to delete the picture and leave my kids alone. I mean, for my son especially this is his ONLY break in the day to relax and talk with friends—he doesn’t even have recess in 6th grade. Just leave my kids alone! Gah!!! It’s not like she’s a health instructor. It’s not anyone’s business anyway! The school lunches are absurd: hot dogs, cheeseburgers, fried chicken, and fries. OK, end of rant.

I sort of tried to make the oat bars from the e-mail today, but all I did was empty the rest of the cinnamon spice instant oatmeal packets we had into a bowl, mix it with water, and bake it so it didn’t work that great—tasted OK but turned out kind of rubbery. I’ll try it for real when I get some more rolled oats.

[Trinity]

I started getting anxious about Easter today, hearing other people talk about already being ready to go with baskets and whatnot and so I got some stuff at the PX and commissary. So grateful my mom can (and wants to! She loves holidays) help out this year. The PX cashier was inspecting and commenting on all my items, going really slow and there were a bunch of soldiers behind me and I got all flustered/embarrassed/ sweaty. It was so muggy today. So then I was rushing at the commissary to be able to get some other stuff, run home to stash everything, and be on time to pick my youngest up from preschool. Also that lunch lady never e-mailed me back but I got nervous every time I checked my e-mail. I guess the conclusion of this is that I did cave for a bag of Starburst FaveRed jellybeans. I ate the whole bag (over the course of the afternoon) and put the empty bag really deep into the trash can because my kids notice everything and I didn’t want to have any leftover to have to report tomorrow. Needless to say I felt pretty sick afterwards and they didn’t taste quite as good as I thought. Too waxy as they have both carnauba (?) and beeswax plus mineral oil. Isn’t wax technically a fat? Will research later. Anyways, I’m going to go ahead and post what I ate/will still eat today:

Tea, 2 oz. unsweetened Silk, potatoes (breakfast), Starburst FaveRed jellybeans (lunch—ha), dinner: Golden Sunrise Soup, vegetables, fruit. Exercised.

Edit: remove “fruit” (a couple of orange slices leftover from my son’s I’ll eat tomorrow) and add “fruit leather” that my youngest thought she wanted then didn’t like.