So...

July is just CRAZY BUSY. So, no food journal. Hope to get back to it next month. Till then...

Health Benefits of Chocolate

For my fellow chocolate lovers :D

www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/chocolates-startling-heal_b_825978.html

Wednesday

I only got 3 1/2 hours sleep last night. We had big drama right before bedtime, the boys didn't fall asleep till after 11, I didn't get to sleep till almost 1, Gabriel woke up at 3:30 and didn't get back to sleep till 5:15 (of course I was up that whole time), then Ethan woke up coughing before 6 and was up till my alarm went off... I was able to doze off this afternoon for a short time but not near long enough. It was least than 1/2 hour I think...

Breakfast - leftover yummy whatever I called it :p

1/2 cup coffee w/usual

Lunch - salad (romaine, carrots, parmesan, Caesar dressing); rotisserie chicken breast; macaroni salad; Oreos

Supper - (ordered out) roast beef po-boy w/mayo, lettuce, tomato; fried cheese sticks; chocolate chips (bittersweet and semisweet)

Sunday

Breakfast - turkey bacon, apple pancakes w/grade B maple syrup

1/2 cup coffee w/usual

Lunch - homemade beef stew; Oreos

Supper - Burger King - grilled chicken on small sesame bun w/mayo

Hmmm...

I woke up with a bit of a sore throat and by this afternoon it hurt. I'm fighting Jesse's most recent cold Ethan isn't feeling good either. I really wonder if we're all having some issues with the carpet! They put it in a day or two before we moved in and it really smelled. If it's keeping our sinuses inflamed would we be more likely to catch colds? Food for thought...

Saturday

1/2 cup coffee w/usual

Breakfast - see below ;)

Chocolate covered almonds (Gabriel was asleep on me and I was HUNGRY!)

Lunch - dilly chicken sandwich; peas w/salt; Oreo

Supper - leftovers - roasted red bell pepper pasta w/lots of extra chicken; smashed potatoes; pie

Yummy Breakfast

I threw together some of this and that I had in the fridge and freezer and made a yummy breakfast!

QUICK SKILLET BREAKFAST

1 lb lean ground beef
3 carrots, grated
~1/2 cup grated onion (or chopped)
2 frozen hash brown patties
Essence to taste (1-2 tsp)

Cook hash brown patties in microwave according to package directions. Break apart. Put all ingredients in a skillet. Cook until ground beef is browned.

Friday

Breakfast - leftover smashed potatoes; grilled chicken

Lunch - rotisserie chicken breast; (frozen) macaroni and cheese; cucumber; slice of pie

Supper - roast beef on French bread w/mayo; plain potato chips w/French onion dip; romaine w/parmesan and creamy Caesar dressing; cake

Thursday

Had an upset stomach this afternoon but no clue why... Didn't feel sick or anything.

Breakfast - cottage cheese w/peach (1/4); homemade apple buttermilk oat pancakes

Lunch - Mexican burger (93/7 ground beef, onions, canned green chilies on flour tortilla with Mexican blend cheese, tomato, sour cream); slice of French silk pie

After upset stomach - slice of plain bread

Supper - tortilla with grilled chicken, leftover cheese, sour cream; Oreo; Ghirardelli square (PB/milk chocolate)

Breakfast Sausage Patties

BREAKFAST SAUSAGE PATTIES

2 teaspoons rubbed sage
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pound lean ground beef

In a bowl, combine the first four ingredients. Add meat; mix until combined. Shape into eight patties. Lightly coat a skillet with cooking spray. Cook patties over medium heat until browned on both sides and the meat is no longer pink, about 15-20 minutes.

Yummy Brunch Pizza

Thought I had posted how I did this but obviously not :p

YUMMY BRUNCH PIZZA

I used a Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust (the one you roll out) for the base, topped it with:
Slices of fresh tomatoes (2 tomatoes, 12 good slices)
1 lb (homemade) lean beef breakfast sausage crumbles
1 big red bell pepper, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
Chopped red onion
~1/2 cup each shredded sharp cheddar and mozzarella

I baked the crust first, then added the toppings and baked just till the cheese was melted.

Everyone loved it!

Correction

Last month I said white flour at breakfast made me hungry all day. Well... that's not exactly the case...

As long as I eat a good bit of protein and not a lot of white flour, I do fine. For example, this morning I ate about 3 oz of turkey sausage and 1 slice of white bread toast. And I wasn't hungry till lunch! That's been the pattern.

I'm pretty happy about that :) It means I can eat a slice of toast or a biscuit without compromising the rest of the day's food.

Yay :)

Wednesday

Breakfast - turkey sausage w/mustaise; slice of toast w/butter and strawberry Simply Fruit

1/2 cup coffee w/usual

Lunch - roasted red bell pepper pasta; piece of pie

Supper - broiled cod w/lime; green beans w/oo and lime; red potato w/butter, sour cream and chives; chocolate almonds

Past Few Days

Sunday was a fairly normal Sunday for food. Ate a good breakfast (can't remember what now though LOL), 1/2 cup coffee, lunch out (Italian buffet), light supper.

Monday ate leftovers for breakfast I think, Sonic for lunch (chicken strips with my honey mustard and onion rings). Cup of coffee after lunch. Supper was BBQ at my best friend's. I ate a meaty burger with lettuce and tomato and mayo, and some fries with ketchup and mayo. Piece of toffee cake later. Stayed up all night ;)

Tuesday I slept through breakfast, bleu cheese chips for lunch, Logan's for supper (sirloin, sweet potato fries, caesar salad), coffee later (decaf chocolate iced americano with whipped cream)

Saturday

Breakfast - nothing

Lunch - leftover Mexican-ish w/sour cream; slice of French silk pie

Supper - jarred alfredo sauce w/roasted red bell peppers and grilled chicken; French bread; Oreos

Friday

Breakfast - breakfast pizza

Later - 1/2 cup coffee w/usual

Lunch - thrown together Mexican-ish creation (93/7 ground meat, brown rice, queso, cheddar, bell peppers, onion) w/sour cream and green onions; chocolate chips (mixed semisweet and bittersweet)

Supper - blue cheese chips; plum w/skin + skin from 2 others; watermelon

During the day I also had a couple swipes (~1 tsp each) from the jar of Nutella :p

Lemon Linguine

This was quick, simple, and yummy!

LEMON LINGUINE
(from Quick Cooking)

8 ounces linguine (I used brown rice pasta)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt-free lemon-pepper seasoning (I used Mrs. Dash)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a saucepan, cook linguine in boiling water according to package directions until tender. Meanwhile, in another saucepan, combine butter, lemon juice, basil, garlic powder and lemon-pepper; cook and stir until butter is melted. Drain linguine; add to butter mixture and toss to coat. Add Parmesan cheese and toss. Yield: 4 servings.

Thursday

Sorta weird eating day today... Gabriel woke up at 5:30am screaming with his teeth and never went back to sleep. So I spent the morning sipping coffee and trying to stay awake :p No breakfast, and everything was off for the rest of the day...

1/2 cup coffee with usual

Lunch - leftover lemon linguine and aromatic turkey

Few chocolate almonds

Another 1/2 cup coffee w/usual

Supper - 93/7 ground beef w/BBQ sauce; bleu cheese chips (kettle chips w/Monterey Jack, chunky bleu cheese salad dressing, green onions); peanut butter cup

Later - semisweet and bittersweet chocolate chips

I might've had something else but don't remember. Been a long day...

The Importance of Listening to Your Body

Just wanted to share what happened a while back...

I started craving black forest cake. Chocolate cake with cherries and whipped cream. Yum! It's not something I usually crave. That should've been clue #1...

It was a PERSISTENT craving! It went on for at least 2 weeks before I gave in. Clue #2.

I was afraid it would taste overly sweet to me. So I HAD to make it with tart cherries. Mmmmm... Tart cherries sounded SO GOOD! Clue #3.

I knew I could find tart canned cherries, but knew tart pie filling would be tough to find. Never mind that canned pie filling has MSG in it (listed as a modified starch). I looked around online and found a recipe for tart cherry pie filling that looked easy and didn't have any funky ingredients.

I baked a Duncan Hines devil's food cake in a 13x9 pan. Made the cherry filling. Bought Reddi-Wip to go on top. Oh. My. Goodness. It tasted incredibly yummy to me! I slathered on the cherries since they sounded so good.

Now what does this have to do with listening to my body?!

Well...

I was enjoying my yummy cake the days I got overheated. Remember me posting how sick I was? How I wondered if I was in a detox? As time went on, it was apparent I was DEFINITELY detoxing. The day after the grocery store incident I realized that's what it was. The next day I Googled a hunch.

Guess what...

Tart cherries can be used to trigger or enhance a detox.

The night I read that, I ate even more cherries to see if it would have an effect. Late that night my detox symptoms got a lot worse for a few hours. The next day I ate my cake at lunch. A couple hours later the detox symptoms got worse again.

Did the cherries have an effect on my detox? Most DEFINITELY!!!

Coincidence? I don't think so!

Even without always knowing what foods are high in what, my persistent cravings always prove to be related to a deficiency in my body. When I have a persistent craving, I Google "what minerals is _____ high in" and I find my current deficiency. It NEVER proves wrong!

Let me give you an example... I went through a period of craving mushrooms. I was eating them at least once a day for weeks! I had no idea what the nutrition profile of a mushroom was beyond the basics. It finally occurred to me to see if there was a vitamin or mineral they were high in. There were a few. One of the highest was zinc. "Coincidentally," for a couple of months I had cut down on the dose of one of my supplements. The main mineral in my supplement? ZINC! There are more similar incidents but that's a good example.

So this time? My theory is that my body needed some extra help with the detox so I started craving something that would help it along.

The moral of this story? Sometimes your body really does know what it's asking for ;)

Wednesday

My mom had a dentist appointment this morning so the boys and I dropped her off and went out for breakfast. It gave us something to do for the two hours she was there, plus we didn't have to get up quite so early.

Breakfast - IHOP - turkey bacon; double blueberry pancakes; coffee w/sugar and 1/2 & 1/2

"Lunch" - turkey stew (ate two bowls a couple hours apart); Oreos; cranberry candy

Supper - grilled chicken/rice/butter/parsley/cream; watermelon

Turkey stew was turkey, carrots, red potatoes, celery, salt, pepper

Tuesday

Breakfast - grilled chicken (Tyson)/brown rice/butter/parsley

1/2 cup coffee w/usual

Lunch - aromatic chicken breasts (used leftover turkey); Lemon Linguine (new recipe); green beans (frozen) w/oo, salt, Mrs. Dash lemon pepper; Oreos

My chocolate almonds

Supper - cheesy biscuit wienies (hot dog and cheddar wrapped in Grands biscuit) w/mustard; oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

To Journal or Not to Journal...

I'm talking about recording my food on here... I got out of the habit of doing it but am debating starting again.

Pros:
Accountability
Easier to track patterns to see what foods may be causing problems
I can see how old my leftovers are ;)

Cons:
Having to take the time and effort to record every day

I think I'll record for a while again and see if it's worth it or just a waste of time and effort...