July 29

I thought I was hungrrrry when I woke up, but when I actually got food I was full almost right away. I did have a few ounces of fresh grapefruit juice (non-pasteurized) from Whole Foods on the way to get food/go to the office. Then quickly picked up lunch. I had:

-a few bites of a side salad with spinach, carrots, peas, chick peas, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, 3 bites of potato, 1 hard boiled egg white, cottage cheese, drizzle of ranch

-a few bites/sips of spicy lentil veggie soup

-grande iced americano with a splash of soy

-fiji water

Gotta love the Central Market soup and salad bar!

But after satisfying that craving, mostly I just kept thinking about the gelato I wanted later :). I saw Monkey Business on the Pacuigo flavors list and it sounded soo good. Banana ice cream with a chocolate-hazelnut swirl. MMM! I got a size small (as always. perfect size) with half that + half baileys. They were each good on their own, but great when I mixed them together towards the end. I still really want to try the raw banana ice cream I keep reading about on blogger, but I either threw away or lost my food processor, because I could never figure out how to use it haha. I wonder if it would work in the blender. Probably not....?

I got the Raw Food Detox Diet book today. Every Summer it seems like I flirt with the idea of going raw, but end up being too hesitant to follow through. Last Summer I think I made it a few days? If that? This Summer I haven't fully attempted at all, though I am trying to incorporate raw foods on a daily basis (preferably with every meal, as previously stated earlier this week). I think I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll likely never be 100% (or even close) to raw, even for short periods, but that's ok. Just adding as much raw as possible is beneficial too. I'm just curious what the book says. Especially about food group combining. I doubt I'll be able to follow through with that either, but it never hurts to educate yourself. Plus, I hear that book doesn't try to push 100% raw anyway, so it seems like a good read. I don't even like food THAT much, but I'm still too much of a "foodie" to limit myself in any dietary way, especially long-term. I'd love to be able to be vegan, mostly raw, blah blah and be happy about it, but I love my sashami and sour cream a little too much. Not to mention convenience, variety being the spice of life, blah blah. Just in case I haven't clearly mentioned it in here before, obviously losing a few lbs is nice and something I'm always keen to do (aren't we all?), but overall I'm trying to achieve balance and the best possible health.

When we got home, my brother decided to go on a jog (outside--even though it's super humid and prob 100 degrees out), so I went too. He only goes for like 15 min usually, so I figured it'd be fine. At least it's something, ya know? Note to self: don't wear these shorts when jogging every again. I swear they almost fell off every few seconds. & O.M.G. I am out of shape! I'm inclined to partially blame it on my asthma/allergies/the heat, but realistically I know it's just me. Needless to say we walked probably 3/4 of the way. He could only run a little more than me, so at least we both suck. I'm so nice :). We were gone almost exactly 20 minutes total. I thought about doing another 10 on the treadmill when we got home, but decided I'll probably just play Wii Sports Active later tonite, since I haven't done that in awhile. In fact, I've only done it twice total (the two days after I got it). So much for every day for 30 days. Damn discouraging lunges!

I still wasn't hungry, but decided to go ahead and make dinner after that. I don't like red meat (except filet mignon from fancy steakhouses or McDonalds cheeseburgers) especially ground meat, but we had a pack of extra lean beef in the fridge, so I made a ground beef strogonoff. If I'm gonna eat beef I'd prefer it with beef chunks (lol that sounds gross..chunks...what a word), but it was ok. I used some fortified (I guess that's the word) whole grain pasta with lots of omega 3's and 18 grams of protein per serving. Not bad! I was going to save my portion for later, but it was already after 7, so I went ahead and ate it.

I guess because I've been drinking other things too, but I am really sucking in the water department lately! I've gotten about a liter down thus far. I used to drink 3, easily. I'm thinking I'll drink at least one more tonite, but I also don't want to be up all night peeing. TMI :).

I finished my soup/salad + had a plum a few hours later. I'm craving one of my Holey Donut's a little bit, but probably don't need it. I'm not hungry anyway.

I feel like I did eat one more (healthy) thing after that, but maybe not? I'm blanking.

I also didn't play Wii, surprise surprise lol.

xo,

Amanda

Still haven't really started my plan yet, oops

July 26

-1/2 a nine grain bagel w/ light cream cheese, veggies, and lox

-coffee

-2 bites of a spinach and swiss omelete

-a few bites of cottage cheese

-1.5 small pancakes (dry)

-1/2 a spinach and swiss omelete (minus the 2 bites I'd already tried lol)

-half a bag of peanut butter m&ms (my aunt brought us a bunch of candy for the movie and I didn't want her to feel bad if we didn't eat any. Who am I to turn down free candy? haha)

-small coke

-small handful of popcorn

-individual pizza with sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts

-vodka tonic with lime

-glass of cabernet

July 27

-1/2 peanut butter cookie lara bar

-cup of cauliflower cheddar soup

-salad with mixed greens, 2 hard boiled egg whites, chick peas, black beans, corn, cottage cheese, hearts of palm, mushrooms, etc. with a small drizzle of greek dressing

-small coke

-sample size of McDonalds iced mocha (sans whip)

-a few peanut butter and jelly m&ms

-extra lean turkey taco with sour cream, tomato, and mixed greens in a hard blue corn shell

-pluot

-pom juice mixed with club soda

-2 joe-joe cookies (natural oreos)

July 28

Bad eating day

-cheeseburger happy meal with fries and a coke (only had 1/2 the coke--as you can see I rarely drink soda, but once I start it becomes a mini-phase)

-half of a summer shandy beer

-5 or 6 peanut butter and jelly m&ms

-a little less than 4 oz of chicken marinated in a pina colada sauce sauteed in 1 tbsp coconut oil with panko and a little unsweetened coconut

-a few bites of black eyed peas

-2 or 3 grilled pineapple chunks

-a few sips of a light pina colada

-small bowl of chicken and dumplings (basically just dumplings)

-plum

-celery with ranch

-club soda with a few splashes of pom juice

-a 2% milk string cheese

July 25

MEAL ONE:

-1 piece of raisin ezekiel toast with a smidge of flax oil smart balance spread + apple butter

-1 egg fried in olive oil cooking spray

-1 egg white

-half a cup of cheerios with half a cup of almond milk and 3 cut up strawberries

-4 extra strawberries sliced on the side

-english breakfast tea with a splash of almond milk

can you believe all of that is under 350 cals?

MEAL TWO:

-tilapia (2 small filets) topped with a tomato salsa topping and I added some sour cream (I ate it all. Oink, lol)

-spanish rice (small portion and I only ate maybe half)

-tiny lil salad with shredded lettuce, grape tomato cut in two, lil bit of cheese with lemon juice squirted on top

-2-3 chips with salsa

-3 small slices of zucchini with tomato salsa topping and a small amt of shredded cheese

-large sangria

That's it. Again, not hungry. How ironic that all Summer I've been hungry 24-7 and when I finally come up with a great solution my appetite almost completely goes away. I guess it always works out that way, huh? I still ate two big meals tho, even if they were both pretty healthy...not like I skimped on portions lol.

I saw 500 Days of Summer tonite. I liked it a lot. Kinda sad, but not really. Even though her character wasn't the most likeable ever, I love me some Zooey Deschanel. Tomorrow I'm going w/ my Mom and aunt to see the Ugly Truth. I hope it's good. The previews make it seem cute. I'm hoping we'll go out for happy hour or something too.

July 23 & 24

July 23

-smart one's egg mcmuffin

-1 slice ezikel raisin toast with chocolate chip cookie dough peanut butter

-about 2 oz pom juice mixed with club soda

-leftover pho (mostly just the broth tho)

-almost an entire pack/serving of these organic chocolate chip cookie dough popumz (basically like bite sized multigrain soy crackers with a chocolate drizzle on top. whole pack is 120 cals, and it's fairly big and has omega 3's, 5g protein, 3g fiber)

-mug of chinese herbal blood pressure tea (trying to counteract the affects of the sodium in the pho, ha)

-2 vodka sodas with lime

-the meat and onions from beef and steak fajitas with guac, sour cream, and pico de gallo (only about 1/3 of one small tortilla, mostly just the meat)

-a few bites of spanish rice (maybe 1/3 of what was served?)

-cherries

-hibiscus tea

(I don't eat refried beans usually)

Sorry, still haven't updated you on my new food ideas, but here's a sneak peak. Part of my new potential plan is to break food up into 4-6 meals/day. Yesterday I pretty much had to force myself to eat at all, I just wasn't hungry, so I'm off to a bad start lol. But yeah, my plan in a nutshell is to eat either four 400 cal meals a day, five 300ish cals a day, or four 250 cal mini-meals and two 200 cal snacks. Just some combo like that where I'm eating every 2-4 hours or so, depending, but just a little at a time. I think for now I'm aiming between 1400-1600 cals. I'm bsically trying a modified body for life plan, though I need to actually look more into it. A blog friend is a BFL fan and has me inspired to try it out. I need to learn more about the protein/fat/carb mixing and ratios, though. I'm also trying to incorporate raw foods into every meal.

July 24

MEAL ONE:

-hemp oatmeal with bees knees peanut butter and banana

-sliced organic apple

MEAL TWO:

-1/2 a veggie sandwich on multigrain bread w/ a slice of provolone cheese

-original sunchips

-about 90% of a medium strawberry-watermelon fruit chiller

MEAL THREE:

-small to mediumish sized baked potato w/ smart balance and sour cream

-about 1.5oz pork chop with teriyaki sauce

-side salad (just herb mix, dollop of cottage cheese, black pepper, and dollop of ranch)

(so good. I as worried w/o meat it wouldn't feel as substantial, but it was great)

...

Playing catch up. AGAIN. Been kinda busy working at the office more and not sleeping well. I got a $130 memory foam mattress pad and it actually HURT me. I've been fighting neck/head/back pain ever since. Fun. It also woke me up a bunch of times. I used it for 2 days and I think it's been 3 days since I took it off and I'm only now starting to feel sort of better (altho the pain kinda came back today...fun...). My friend told me about a product for pain and sleeping called the Cuddle Ewe (www.cuddleewe.com), but it costs nearly as much as my brand new mattress, so I'm undecided if I should get it or not. I probably will, but we'll see. Mostly I just want that nice, soft sinking feeling when I sleep. Aside from the foam ordeal, my new mattress seems to have helped with my back pain quite a bit and it is comfy, it's just not the-comfiest-bed-in-the-WORLD like I'm going for :-P.

Tuesday nite our office was invited to a special screening of the new indie film, Adam (http://www.apple.com/trailers/fox_searchlight/adam/). Please go see it, you guys. It comes out either at the end of this month or in August, depending on where you live. Its success really depends on word of mouth and trust me, it deserves it. It was brilliant. It may be a little hard for people to understand who aren't affiliated in the Asperger/Autism world, but it's still a great story nonetheless. Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, and the director were all there as well. They did a Q&A for us after the film. Very cool.

Other than that not too much has been going on. Here's all of my food I haven't posted yet. I'm not going to do the calorie counts for the time being. I'll probably start that again soon, but for now this is fine. I'm also considering making some more dietary changes, but I want to discuss that in another post. Hopefully I'll get that one up later tonite. Stay tuned :).

July 18

-fancyish theatre lunch buffet (salad, various samples of pork/beef/fish/chicken, veggies, chocolate mousse, iced tea, black coffee, etc) (my Mom and I saw Chorus line, 4th row. Fantastic!)

-chocolate banana vivanno

-less than half of small greek salad

-gyro w/ fries and a few bites of penne pasta (I tried not to eat the pita part of the gyro--so much starch in that meal--but when I ate the second half later in the evening I caved)

-caramel tim tam cookie

July 19

-lots of black flavored coffee (approx. 3 diff cups....sampled 4 diff flavors--we ate at Cafe Brazil where they have a get it yourself coffee bar w/ 7 alternating flavors)

-veggie egg white omelet w/ feta

-wheat toast w/ jam

-half of a double fiber english muffin with jam

-fruit salad

-apple slices with choco chip cookie dough peanut butter

-side salad

-steak with A1 (about 3 oz?)

-organic baked potato w/ a lil butter and sour cream

-a little less than 1/2 piece of strawberry rhubarb pie

-bowl of cherries

-chocolate vitamuffin with choco chip cookie dough peanut butter (amaaazing. I seriously like chocolate vitamuffins as much or more than regular cake)

(the leftovers I finished up later)

July 20

-1 slice eziekel raisin toast (finally! I've been meaning to try this for months. It's realllly good)

-1/2 container liberte coconut yogurt with blueberries (also amazing, too bad the yogurt is 250 cals/container. doubt i'll be buying it again)

-half a panera turkey spin artichoke panini

-panera strawberry half salad w/ barely any ff poppyseed dressing (big disappointment. basically iceverg lettuce w/ canned/frozen fruit, blah)

-large black coffee (dark roast)

-random bites of stuff (a vegan cookie, a bbq chip, etc)

-just fruit salad (dehydrated fruit)

-grilled chicken breast w/ evoo, lemon juice, and dill (the chicken was fantastic. soo moist. kind of expensive...it was organic, free-range, blah blah, but worth it)

-cheddar broccoli risotto (not that great)

-brussel sprouts (made in the steamer bags. easyy)

-big bowl of cherries

-3 carob spirulina bites

-1/2 kombucha oolong sparkling tea

July 21

-cheese pizza (some high grain, high fiber one, but it ended up being pretty gross. back to kashi for me...)

-1 boneless honey bbq wing

-small sorbet/gelato mix

-1 shrimp spring roll in rice paper with peanut sauce

-beef pho (a little more than 1/2 of a large)

-organic cherries (rainier and sweet)

July 22

-1/2 a whole wheat pita filled with chicken, lil cheese, marinara, grape tomatoes

-peach

-1/2 an orange

-1/2 a ham, provolone, and cream cheese sandwich (it was my mom's. she usually only eats half a sandwich at a time anyway and I was still hungry. opted not to get my own, since I'd already eaten an hour or so before, but an hour later...starving. oops)

-low-fat dill chips

-large iced tea (wanted coffee, but they didn't have any and acted like I was crazy for asking. sorrrrry. :-P)

-small gelato

-about 1/3 of a medium sorbet my mom decided she didn't want

-1/2 kombucha oolong sparkling tea

-fortified penne with meat sauce (extra lean ground turkey with an organic mushroom marinara)

-2 or 3 just banana slices (dehydrated)

-hibiscus tea

-nectarine

-natural chocolate chip cookie