Wanted: Wedge Pillow, Stat.

January 15, 2012
Day 13

As a random aside, I will kill the day count once I hit 30 days. This isn't a short term thing but I thought that keeping track of days on for a bit might be motivating.

Another very slow start to the morning. I didn't fall asleep right away last night, but the real issue is that I seem to be deathly allergic to something around here. I wake up with a scratchy throat, almost no voice, and a fair amount of mucus. I really have no idea what it could be.

Actually, after doing ten minutes of Googling, I think there is a very good chance that I have LPR, a form of acid reflux. Hopefully I'll remember to talk to my doctor about this next time I'm in. Fortunately, the treatment is largely behavioral -- lose weight, less caffeine, that sort of thing. I'll add something that's not on the list -- spend less time lying down!

Edit: And after doing some more looking and thinking I'm off to try and find a wedge pillow.

Another edit: Bought one. It's supposed to air out for 24 hours before deployment so it'll be a couple days before any kind of trip report.

Anyhow, on with the menus.

Breakfast: 4 sausage patties, 2 slices american cheese, 4 oz V-8

Basic 500 calorie breakfast. Really could use an egg or two scrambled with some veggies to make it better. Lame excuse: Didn't feel like messing up my beautifully tidy kitchen that much. Anyhow, with the last start and family dinner tonight I didn't want to load up too much.

Lunch: None. Late breakfast, never got around to lunch. Not hungry. Could have used more water though. Went out looking for wedge pillow.

Dinner: 1 chicken breast, served salad style with lettuce, a roma tomato, some diced jalapeno, a little sharp cheddar, 1 T (more or less) of prepared spanish rice, 1+ T of black beans, salsa. Sugar free red jello.

I was cooking tonight and it was a birthday meal. Tequila-lime chicken, rice, black beans. Turned out very good. I managed to mostly skip the beans and rice -- I took a spoonful of each, they were a nice complement to the lettuce, tomato, jalapeno salad I made for myself. Broiled the chicken, basted it with the marinade and it turned out very nice.

No birthday cake, which was fine. I would have like to have had the peanut butter cup ice cream though!

Feeling relatively good. I was able to do all the cooking and all the cleanup including a bunch of hand washed dishes without any trouble. That makes me happy. I've noticed that I've been a little extra winded when climbing stairs (which isn't good -- I worry about a return of blood clots in the lungs) but otherwise have felt noticeably better!

Living For The Weekend?

January 14, 2012
Day 12

Saturday. Joy. Slept in. Went in to work for a couple hours. Did some grocery shopping. Cleaned out the fridge. Came to the conclusion that I'm buying too much food. Force of habit, I guess.

Breakfast: None. Still feeling the effects of yesterday.

Lunch: 4 sausage patties, 2 slices american cheese.

Had lunch before getting groceries.

Dinner: Taco salad, no shell, with spicy pork, lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, beans, cheese. Hot sauce.

Same mexican place as last week. I do like their taco salad and once a week is probably just fine. Shouldn't eat the beans but there aren't that many so I don't worry about it.

After dinner: 1 glass of red wine (Reserve Perrin cotes du rhone 2007) so far, might have another. There are smallish glasses, probably in 4-6 oz range.

Catching Up

They say confession is good for the soul, so here goes: I not only am four days behind in posting menus, I stumbled tonight. If I'd looked at a calendar I could have pinpointed the day. Family dinner out, happens every year on this date, they chose an italian place. Right back on top of things though.

January 10, 2012
Day 8

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham, coffee

Late again. This is a recurring theme this week.

Lunch: I actually forgot to eat lunch.

Snack: 2.6 oz Spanish peanuts.

Finished off the can.

Dinner: 2 beef brats with jalapeno mustard, 2 slices sharp cheddar, 2 pickle spears, 4 oz V-8

January 11, 2012
Day 9

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz ham, coffee

Uh oh, that's the last of the ham, what am I going to do?

Lunch: ~ 4 oz Armour roast beef, 2 slices sharp cheddar, 2 pickles, 2 carrot sticks, 2 celery sticks

Dinner: 3 eggs scrambled with 3 strips bacon, jalapeno, 1 slice American cheese, 1 large avacado, 1/2 grapefruit, 4 oz V-8

January 12, 2012
Day 10

Breakfast: 2 big slices sharp cheddar cheese, coffee

Lunch: 1 Slim Jim (large size), water

Dinner: 3 beef brats, 2 slices sharp cheddar, 2 pickle spears, 4 oz V-8

January 13, 2012
Day 11

Breakfast: 2 slices American cheese, coffee

Lunch: 1 beef brat, ~ 6 oz Armour roast beef, 8 oz V-8 juice

Dinner: 1/2 of a 14" pizza, thinnest crust, pepperoni, meatball, green pepper. 2 servings of salad with house italian, roll with garlic butter, 16 oz Miller Lite

Yeah, there is the stumble. To make it worse, I ate a piece of pizza after my stomach already said "enough".

OK, self pep talk time. It's a fail. But it's not the end of the world. Don't compound the fail. Stay on track and in a year's time you won't even think to have that 3rd slice of pizza. You're still early enough in the process that this is still a lot better day than you had a month ago. Other than the roll and the pizza crust, the rest of it was OK.

Also: Remember how awful you feel right now. Ugh. Again thinking positive -- a long week with more than 60 hours in so far and all that food has me tired enough that going to bed early is sounding mighty appealing. That could be helpful in one of the next phases of this project: Getting up and going to bed early! (... and at consistent times)

Picture Blogging

January 9, 2012
Day 7

One week down, a lifetime to go. It's gone reasonably well. The first couple days were a little rocky, which I especially attribute to giving up (large quantities of) regular soda at the same time I dramatically reduced other carb intake. System shock. But I have to say that I haven't had any kind of problem with cravings which is great. "The thirst" has taunted me in the past. So far so good.

I'm not weighing myself at this point because I'm probably too fat for my scale. I'll worry about that in a couple of months assuming that things progress.

On with the food stuff.

Menu:

Breakfast: ~ 3 oz Meijer smoked ham, coffee

Total fail. I was really pushing it on time this morning and just grabbed the fastest thing I could come up with. I didn't even take the time to open a new package of cheese, just a few slices of deli ham. This is fail all around but thankfully it didn't cause any problems. I was able to eat lunch a little early to compensate but really wasn't extra hungry.

Lunch: 6 oz Armour roast beef, 2 big slices Kraft cheddar cheese, 2 dill pickle spears, 2 carrot sticks, 2 celery sticks, trace amount beef boullion.

Oh hey look, it's a picture.

This is probably a bit more than I needed, really, but I wanted to be sure to fuel up in anticipation of a long time until dinner. I was planning on 6 hours, it ended up being 7 until snack time and barely under 8 until dinner. In hindsight, good planning!

Snack: 2 oz. spanish peanuts.

I probably could have skipped this and gone directly to dinner. I was waffling on what to have for dinner, so instead I had a snack and read the paper while thinking about it. It ended up being late enough that I went with the easy preparation option.

Dinner: 3 eggs over medium, 4 strips bacon, 4 oz V-8 juice, 1/2 grapefruit

Yes, another picture.

This is probably one of my all time favorite "diet" meals. Breakfast for dinner. In another life I would add a slice or two of toast with butter and/or jam but I'm OK with skipping them for the foreseeable future. Let's break it down:

3 eggs x 70 calories, according to carton: 210 calories
4 strips bacon, according to carton: 70 calories (actually this may be a bit higher, I may have the portion size wrong, I thought it was 4 strips, the website says 16g)
4 oz V-8: 25 calories
1/2 large grapefruit: about 80 calories (web range is from 60-84)

So a total, accounting for error, is about 400 calories. Probably a little light in that department, actually. If my avacado was ripe I'd probably eat that too.

Avoiding Memory Fail

January 8, 2012
Day 6

It was a little harder than it should have been to recall exactly what I ate on Friday when I got around to updating yesterday. I did get it figured out but good grief. I'm not ready for memory loss.

The fridge is beautifully loaded with lots of good stuff to eat this week, especially more vegetables. I should take a picture. I'm still going to be a overly dependent on prepared meats -- very much so in fact --- but that's something I can work on next week. While I know that sausages and deli meats aren't close to the best, I've been buying good quality stuff and other than some unnecessary additives in the brats they're relatively clean. Not to justify the shortcut but one reason for not doing as much serious cooking is that I've been reorganizing the kitchen. I'm just about done and by next week should be a position to cook more. Looking forward to that!

Menu:

Breakfast: 3 eggs over easy, 4 strips bacon, ~ 4 oz V-8

Got a late start after inexplicably staying up past 3:00 a.m. I was working on stuff until past midnight but the last couple hours were just not being able to shut the brain off.

Lunch: 1 Jack Links beef stick (1.5 oz)

Hunger is fully under control and I just plain forgot to eat lunch. Grabbed a snack stick at the grocery store as a total impulse purchase. Not a big deal as Sunday dinner is a little early and is a big meal.

Dinner: Several slices of beef roast with gravy, 1 spoonful 4 cheese box mashed potatoes, cooked carrots, sugar free Jell-o, 1 serving sugar free Jell-o pudding

There is definitely a little fail here. The gravy was flour-thickened but only a little. I did have the one spoonful of potatoes. Ate lots of carrots. Had a couple servings of Jell-o and dessert. Ate more than I really needed. Still, it wasn't all that bad. I skipped the bread, and didn't eat that much of the truly bad stuff. Sunday dinner will always be a problem, since I don't have full control over it, but if I can do at least this well I'll still make progress.

Non-Dietary Wins

January 7, 2012
Day 5

It's amazing how much joy I get out of stupid things. I got a new dishwasher today. I've wanted one ever since I bought my house more than 10 years ago. I went to the local appliance store about 1:40. I picked out two options and asked how they were running on delivery. It was delivered and installed by 3:00. That's running gooooood.

While I was looking, a guy walked in and purchased a closeout range hood that was hanging above the dishwashers. Color me jealous, it was a screaming bargain for a beautiful unit. Most of the range hoods were at least 3x what he paid. One little scratch was all I saw. I don't have a range hood and it frustrates me to no end when I generate smoke or a lot of steam in the kitchen.

Anyway, lots of running around today. Did a bunch of shopping, a little cleaning and some grocery-getting.

Menu:

Breakfast: 4 sausage patties, 2 slices american cheese, 1/2 grapefruit

Lunch: 3 oz Dietz and Watson corned beef

I was scrounging for something to eat and remembered that I had bought a small quantity of deli corned beef to sample. It was OK but really, corned beef is useless without kraut and dressing!

Dinner: Taco salad with spicy pork, lettuce, tomato, cheese, cilantro, some refried beans and hot sauce.

Decided to eat out before going to the store this evening. Was getting pretty hungry and didn't want to shop on fumes. I was pretty tired as it was. I guess I could have asked for no beans on the salad but since it was the bottom layer I think I kept my intake to a reasonable level. Besides, they already thought I was kooky because I declined the free chips and salsa.

Lots of win today overall.

I Eat Too Much Cheese

January 6, 2012
Day 4

Title says it all. Fridge getting a little low.

Menu:

Breakfast: 2 big slices sharp cheddar cheese, 4 oz V-8, coffee

Lunch: ~4-5 oz Dietz & Watson peppered turkey, 1 big slice sharp cheddar cheese

Snack: 2 oz spanish peanuts

Dinner: 3 eggs scrambled with jalapeno peppers, 4 slices bacon and 1 slice american cheese, 4 sausage patties, ~ 8 oz V-8

That's probably my favorite way to eat eggs. Adding some green pepper and onion is another option, also delicious.

It Gets Easier. Really.

January 5, 2012
Day 3

Today was better in many ways. Getting a jump on things, though, was not one of them. Thankfully I didn't have any early meetings and could sleep in a bit. Other than being slow getting out of bed - a problem I have always had* - I felt pretty good today. I would even say I'm a bit energetic this evening.

On the food front, smooth sailing so far. I did go out to lunch today unexpectedly but fortunately my lunch companion is on a similar program and we just went to a place that does breakfast anytime.

Menu:

Breakfast: 3-4 oz. leftover sprial sliced ham, ~ 4 oz. V-8, coffee

That was the last of the spiral ham. My dad got it for new years and it was a crazy good bargain, marked down something like $33 to $10. It's been a good quick breakfast. I realize that my diet is a bit on the salty side, but I'll worry about that later.

Lunch: 3 egg omelet with bacon, avacado and cream cheese, 3 slices of bacon, coffee

Tried something new, it was very tasty. I absentmindedly ordered the side of bacon, forgetting that I ordered an omelet with bacon in it. Oops. Good thing I like bacon.

Snack: 2 oz. spanish peanuts

Not nearly as hungry this evening but it was still pushing 7:00 by the time I got home and I ate lunch earlier than usual so a bit hungry.

Dinner: 3 beef brats with jalapeno mustard, 2 big slices sharp cheddar cheese, small lettuce salad with Kraft zesty italian dressing

All the lettuce (all bagged preshreds) I've purchased lately has tasted chemical-y for some reason. I think I'm going to get plain old head lettuce, organic if I can find it, for next week, and also try and work in some other veggies.

Dessert: 1/2 grapefruit

Probably just a touch high on the calories - dinner was probably pushing 900 by itself -- but it's still a lot less than I had been eating.

Planning on hitting the grocery store tomorrow assuming that I have the energy. I have a surprisingly long list, considering that I have a lot of stuff in the fridge yet. Probably going to open a bottle of wine too!

* There was a time 10+ years ago where I lost a lot of weight on this sort of diet and was even getting pretty regular (mild) exercise. One day I woke up well in advance of my alarm, completely refreshed and actually sprung out of bed to tackle the day. Pretty much a once-in-my-lifetime event.

Waiting for the Burst!

January 4, 2012
Day 2

There's a common theme in carb-restricted diets that it takes a couple of days for your body to stop assuming that you're going to keep shoving starches and sugars down your piehole ... and once that happens you start to feel great. That waiting period feeling is aptly called the 'induction flu'.

Holy hell did I feel awful this morning. I did stay up way too late watching a bowl game last night, but I was still not prepared to bolt awake at 8:30 and say "holy **** I have to leave for work in 10 minutes". A little coffee did nothing for a dull headache and I just generally felt off. So I took a nap after doing a couple hours and felt much, much better this afternoon. Not energetic, but better.

So it goes. Feeling fine now, hoping for more energy tomorrow though.

I didn't have enough fat with my lunch yesterday and was ravenous by dinnertime. Much better today and from past experience I know that after a week or two I will have fully adjusted and will never be hungry.

Menu:

Breakfast: Coffee. Too late for food, should have at least grabbed cheese. Dumb.

Lunch: About 4-6 oz of leftover spiral ham, 2 big slices sharp cheddar cheese. Rushed.

Snack: 2 oz spanish peanuts. Need to have a better snack on hand after I finish the can.

Dinner: 3 Johnsonville beef brats with jalapeno mustard, small salad of lettuce, american cheese, green olives, ranch dressing. "2" avacados.

I didn't like the taste of the salad so I only had a few bites. Trying a different lettuce mix next time (or maybe I'll just get head lettuce). I had a couple overripe avacados sitting around -- was going to make guacamole for new year's eve but didn't -- so I ate those instead. I say "2" because I didn't eat anything that possibly could have been less than 100% tasty.

Speaking of avacados, that was the first time I've ever "prepared" them myself! I only discovered last year that I reallllly like avacado and I've never been motivated to eat them at home, I just get avacado as a burger topping or on a taco salad.

Thought about having a half grapefruit for dessert but never did.

Dude, Where's My Carbs?

January 3, 2012
Day 1

Rebooting for the millionth time. 2011 was awful in every respect. Just awful. Despite a major health scare I managed to gain weight and limped through the holiday season in terrible condition. Stress is a contributing factor but really, it's just me. I eat way too much of the wrong stuff.

Thinking back, of all the different approaches I've tried the one that produced the best results, both in terms of weight and in how I feel, was the Protein Power plan. That experience has really framed how I think about 'diet' these days -- I have no interest in a low fat starvation diet.

For now, I am going to see how I do without slavishly following that plan or any other. I simply want to greatly reduce my consumption of wheat, corn, soy and sugar. Don't eat those things. Less processed food. More real meat, lots of fresh vegetables, reasonable quantities of fruits, eggs and some amount of dairy. I would like to find myself in the 1800-2000 calorie per day range but probably won't track that real closely either. I did buy a food scale not too long ago so I will likely make at least a half-assed effort at measuring quantities.

I am also a little underprepared. I did get some stuff at the grocery store so it's not like I have no food, in fact I'm in pretty good shape there. I just haven't tossed everything I need to yet. I tried to make a beef roast over the weekend and overcooked it badly. A rare but annoying screwup.

The hardest part of all this may be giving up soda yet again. I've been drinking a ton of Coca Cola and am determined to stop that immediately. That's priority number one. Lots of water on hand and I have to say coffee tasted unusually good this morning.

Perfection will not be accomplished. But any sort of honest effort will be rewarded -- of that I have no doubt.

Menu:

Breakfast: 4 oz. leftover spiral ham, small glass ~ 4 oz V-8 juice, coffee

Lunch: 6 oz. Dietz & Watson peppered turkey, 2 big slices Kraft sharp cheddar, ~12 dill pickle chips, trace amount chicken bouillon

Snack: 2 oz spanish peanuts

Dinner: Bunless big macs. 4 x 2.0 oz (precooked) burger patties made from 80/20 ground beef, shredded lettuce, pickles, 3 slices american cheese, a little onion and a sauce of mayo + jalapeno mustard + a dash of ketchup for color.

Quite good actually. Would eat again.

Grocery FAIL

I keep coming back to this space with new thoughts. With long breaks in between, of course, because sustaining efforts is not one of my strong points.

Lately I've been stuck in a rut. It was a long, hot summer here. I don't have air conditioning. I'm busy, tired and lazy. So I've been eating a lot of takeout. Terrible. Just terrible. That needed to change for health reasons but it's also expensive and I need to really watch my budget at the moment. I'm not going to starve but I do need to stop spending $150+ a week on food.

I don't have a specific budget in mind, but the basic fact is that after paying bills I now have about $100 per week for food, gas and entertainment. With gas being as expensive as it is, that really limits the money I should spend on food. I do get occasional mileage reimbursement, so I think a soft target of $50 per week is the "goal".

On with the show.

WEEK 1

Total spent: $36.83
Total spent on food: $30.98

Went to Wal-Mart. I hate shopping at Wal-Mart and this isn't normal. I had a prescription to pick up ($10 not included above) so I bit the bullet and did it. The package of meat tilted so it's not visible is ground beef.

I do have some supplies on hand but not much. I do have a fresh bag of flour and some yeast so I have a loaf of bread going in the bread machine for sandwiches. Pizza dough is probably also in the cards.

There is a definite lack of fresh fruit and vegetables. I planned to go to the farmer's market but the weather was dismal. I will probably pick some up during the week, along with other items needed due to poor planning.

Day 12: Dining Out Difficulties?

Breakfast: 2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese

Snack: can Cherry Coke Zero

Lunch: Huge "taco salad" with carne asada steak, lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, cheese, beans and lots of hot sauce, some chips and salsa

Snack: Dill pickle half

Dinner: 2 eggs scrambled with a little jalapeno and cheddar, 6 bacon strips

***

I got an invitation to lunch today and mexican sounded good to both of us. The "taco salad" -- NO SHELL -- was a good choice although I forgot to tell them to hold the beans. I don't think there were all that many, so not a big deal. I could have skipped the chips and that would have been a good thing, I probably had a dozen or so of various sizes. I'm a fan of this place and will continue to eat there once in a while -- I think this meal (again, other than the chips) is perfectly fine. Okay, it could be less huge.

The rest of the day was normal and very much on plan. Really, other than the chips, this was a pretty good day.

Day 11: I Blame The Stumble On The Snow

Breakfast: 2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese

Snack: can of Cherry Coke Zero

Lunch: 3 jalapeno and cheddar smoked sausages w/ jalapeno mustard, 2 dill pickle halves

Dinner: 2.5 slices of pizza w/ pepperoni, sausage / meatball, green pepper, lots of salad w/ house italian, 1 slice garlic bread w/ cheese, 2.5 slices bread, 16 oz Bell's Two Hearted Ale

***

Yeah, dinner was a fail. The plan was to go to a steakhouse, but plans changed to italian. Not much on the menu was too diet friendly. It was my decision - nobody else - to just eat a regular carby meal. I had hoped to make it a few more weeks (other than Sunday nights that is) before having a meal like this, but so be it. The trick absolutely is to let it end here. One bad meal. Believe me, i thought about stopping on the way home for something more.

The bottom line is that carbs make me hungry. For more carbs.

One small positive I guess is that I didn't have any sugar.

No accomplishments again, got home at 8.

Day 10: Can You Be In A Rut And Like It?

Breakfast: 2 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese

Snack: can Cherry Coke Zero

Lunch: 3 jalapeno and cheese smoked sausages with jalapeno mustard, small green salad with 2 pickle spears and olive oil & vinegar dressing (pictured at right)

Snacks: 1/2 dill pickle, 1.5 oz of Meijer hot & spicy pork rinds

Dinner: 2 eggs scrambled with a little onion, jalapeno and sharp cheddar, 4 strips bacon

Dessert: 1/2 grapefruit

***

So, yeah, pretty much the same stuff. Dinner was exactly the same only with less bacon. I can only do 4 strips at a time and didn't feel like making more. I like all this stuff. I could probably skip the pork rinds but they do take the edge off and I can eat dinner later.

Tomorrow will be a bit different as I know I'm going out for dinner.

I bought some Claussen pickles today. They're the kind that is always refrigerated, not cooked. I've been trying pickles in my salad, partly as a way to add a little more of a vinegar kick to the dressing. Hopefully I get to try it with the "ooh fancy" pickles tomorrow!

Went to the store after work, so no accomplishments this evening. Tired. Stress related.

Day 9: Snowslick

Breakfast: 2 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese

Snack: can of Cherry Coke Zero

Lunch: 3 jalapeno & cheese smoked sausages with jalapeno mustard

Snacks: 1.5 oz Jays Hot Sauce pork skins, 1 Old Wisconsin beef sausage stick

Dinner: 2 eggs scrambled with a little onion, diced jalapeno and sharp cheddar, 6 strips of bacon (pictured at right)

Dessert: 1/2 grapefruit

***

Pretty routine day today, but very, very stressful. I'm backlogged at work and that makes life extra difficult. Plus I had to drive to the big city (about 30 miles each way) this afternoon in the snow. That was two hours of white knuckle time round trip.

Quite enjoyed everything I ate today. I definitely should eat more greens and regular meats, but this is still an improvement.

Nothing on the accomplishments list today either. Got home about 7:00. Beat. Okay, I've been playing around a little with Fitday.com, it tells me that I had about 1800 calories today, sounds about right. I suspect that I could eat 1800 calories of anything and lose weight at the moment, but I'm glad to have a plan of sorts.

Day 8: Not Quite Crack, Not Quite Kryptonite

Breakfast: 2 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese

Lunch: Western omelet, 1.5 slices of homemade wheat toast with butter, coffee

Snack: 1.5 oz bag Jays Hot Sauce pork rinds

Dinner: about 5 oz ground beef with jalapeno mustard, green salad with 1/3 cucumber, dill pickle spear, a little diced jalapeno and olive oil & vinegar

Dessert: 1/2 grapefruit

***

Thankfully this morning wasn't as painful as I'd feared it might be. I guess all that sleep this weekend meant something.

Went out to lunch today. The place in question serves a homemade wheat toast that is just about the closest thing to crack. It's ridiculously good. I knew ahead of time that I'd have a piece. I'm pretty happy to have had just 3 of the 6 half slices they gave me.

For dinner I cooked up some ground round and it just wasn't great. I usually buy chuck which has more flavor in my opinion. I only ate about half of what was on the plate. It didn't help that I'd had the bag of pork rinds.

Otherwise, not much to report. Busy watching the football game so accomplishments will be nil tonight.

Day 7: Well Now THAT Was Different

"Breakfast": 2 oz. extra sharp cheddar cheese

"Lunch": Green salad with 1/2 cucumber, olive oil & vinegar dressing, 3 pepperocinis

Dinner: About 6 oz chuck roast, 2 spoonfuls mashed potatoes, about 8 baby carrots, gravy, 1.5 french rolls with butter

***

First things first. I slept later today than I have in years. I knew I was in trouble when I wasn't the least bit sleepy last night, even after 1 a.m. I think I finally fell asleep about 2. I got up at 1:00 this afternoon. Totally ridiculous. Tomorrow morning is going to suck.

So that got today off to an odd start on the food front. I had my usual "breakfast" and mid-afternoon had a salad knowing that dinner would be about 6:30.

Sunday dinners will be an ongoing challenge. They're always a big family production and most of the approved menus are fairly starchy. Tonight's went about as expected, although I could have skipped the extra half roll and the gravy (which was flour-thickened). I think I'm still under 60g carb for the day and the calories are very reasonable. Also, no food pictures today.

***

Today's accomplishments are few. I did some more work on the kitchen and rearranged the pan cupboard. Other than some other routine housework, that's about it. Maybe I can count being well-rested as an accomplishment?

Day 6: Walkin'

Breakfast: 2 oz extra sharp cheddar

Snack: can Cherry Coke Zero

Lunch: 2 McDonald's double cheeseburgers, no buns, essentially no condiments except pickles

Snack: Old Wisconsin beef sausage stick

Dinner: 3 jalapeno and cheese smoked sausages with jalapeno mustard, lettuce salad with 1/2 cucumber and Newman's Own olive oil & vinegar dressing (dinner pictured at right)

Dessert: 1/2 grapefruit

***

So far I'm batting .000 for my efforts to get up earlier. I managed to turn off my alarm instead of snoozing as intended and woke up at 10:00. Sigh. Monday could be rough.

I spent most of the day doing something I never do: Shopping. I got a bug to get a different dining room chair (and someday I'd like to get a new set). I didn't care if it was new or used, it just needed to be sturdy and comfortable. FAIL. I did find an exceptionally comfortable floor sample, but it was a counter height. And I did find the set I'd like someday, it's a L.J. Gascho set sold at Art Van. I don't have the ~$2000 it would take to buy it though. During another stop I randomly ended up at the first day of the Klingman's Furniture going out of business auction. That was pretty neat and with time and/or money there were some fantastic deals. You can certainly tell the difference between premium furniture and the discount stuff.

Anyway, the upside of all of this is that I did a lot of walking. Much more than usual. I stopped by the grocery store on my way home for a couple items and that was it. Made some dinner, watched some football.

As part of the deal I called an audible on my lunch selection. I had planned to be home and was going to eat the sausages, but since I decided to head the the big city to shop I did McDonald's instead. I have to say - that was the best job I've ever done of skipping the condiments. Everything stuck to the bun! I pulled the pickles off so I got some trace amounts of ketchup but that's about it.

That reminds me, when I purchased my chunk of cheese at the store the other day, they had sharp, extra sharp and "New York sharp". I need to google the difference, it's been bugging me.

***

Accomplishments: No wasteful spending (other than gas) - didn't find what I wanted so I didn't buy it. Got in quite a bit of walking. Going to go finish cleaning up the kitchen which I didn't do yesterday.

New Year, New Fail

Just for kicks, let's see how long this lasts. As usual, I've been going backward. Eating terribly, way too much, gaining weight in bunches. New Year resolution is to do better. Vague enough for you?

Monday 1/3/11: No breakfast (slept late), McLunch 2 cheeseburgers, sm fries, diet coke (980 cal), dinner a large pizza (total fail), diet Squirt. Okay, yeah, the pizza is a fail, but on the positive side I had no sugar today. I've been drinking a ton of regular soda and that more than anything has to stop. So today wasn't complete fail. I do drink a lot of water too but see no need to track that. I'm well hydrated.

By the way, this isn't a conventional new years resolution - I just decided to make some changes today. It might have gone better with some pre-planning but whatever. Just getting started is enough.

Tuesday 1/4/11: No breakfast (again, slept late), lunch 1 ham steak, diet cherry coke zero (about 300 cal), dinner a junior wet burrito, chips and salsa, water (semi-fail), dessert 1/2 grapefruit. Again, no sugar, no soda. The dinner out was kinda planned as it was while I was doing laundry. Definitely didn't need the chips and salsa and it was definitely carby but still, a bit of progress. I should eat a little something for breakfast and need to eat a bit more at lunch - I was rather hungry come dinner time.

Wednesday 1/5/11: No breakfast. I need to get up a lot earlier. lunch 1 ham steak, cherry coke zero (so about 300 cal), dinner some stew meat (chuck roast) that I slow cooked yesterday with some butter and seasonings, 1/3 of a tub of garlic mashed potatoes, diet Squirt. No idea on calories but about 20g carb from the potatoes. A bit later a chunk of Velveeta sounded like a good idea. It wasn't (blech). I need to clean out the fridge (it was on hand for new years Rotel dip). I think I'm going to have the other half of yesterday's grapefruit too. Some water, not as much as yesterday. Felt pretty good today, not as hungry come dinner time but still somewhat. I do need to eat more for lunch. Going to have to go to the store soon.

Initial comments: I don't usually skip breakfast. In fact I'm well known at the local McDonalds for my extreme affection for their breakfast menu. I go out for breakfast usually at least once a week at a local diner. My schedule is just way way off this week and the dietary changes aren't making it easier. Fortunately it's not too rough at work at the moment and I can sleep in a bit.

Thursday, 1/6/11: I slept super late this morning - I just couldn't get out of bed. When I finally did I felt fine and in fact notably good. I think there's just an adjustment process any time you make a change and considering the extreme nature of the changes this week I'm not at all worried about it. Anyway, since I didn't get up until 10:00, I skipped breakfast again. For lunch, the rest of the leftover stew meat cooked with butter and spices, another serving of leftover garlic mashed potatoes (20g). Can of cherry Coke Zero. Went shopping after work. I was hungry when I got home (finally) so I had a 1.5 oz bag of Jays Hot Sauce Pork Skins. They were pretty decent and definitely took the edge off - I ended up eating dinner almost 2 hours later. Two ~5 oz hamburger patties with a bit of dehydrated onion and jalapeno mustard. 1/2 of a grapefruit for dessert. Lots of water. I had planned on having a green salad with dinner but decided to skip it.

Fun note of the day: I bought the bottle of Woeber's Sandwich Pal Jalapeno Mustard a few weeks ago on a whim but had never opened it. All I can say is WOW. It's fantastic. And there are no mystery ingredients or chemicals.

Friday, 1/7/11: And the first workweek of the new year limps to a conclusion. I was able to get up a little earlier today but I was still late. One of this weekend's projects is going to be to try and fix the schedule. We'll see if that happens. Yeah.

On the food front, I had about 1.5 oz of extra sharp cheddar cheese for breakfast. A cherry Coke Zero for a snack. Lunch was late and was 3 smoked bratwurst (Johnsonville Jalapeno and Cheese) with jalapeno mustard. Dinner was 3 eggs scrambled in a little butter with maybe an ounce of shredded sharp cheddar plus about 5 oz ground beef cooked with a bit of dehydrated onion and cayenne, with jalapeno mustard. And I even took a picture of it! -->

There will most likely be a 1/2 grapefruit for dessert a little later on.

Today will go in the books as a success although the carb total is definitely higher than it needed to be thanks to the ridiculous 3g/link in the brats. I need to find a brand that doesn't have corn syrup. I think Hillshire Farm is even worse. Again I meant to have a green salad, this time with lunch, but since I only 15 minutes to fix and eat the brats I passed. Hopefully this weekend I can get some veggies in.

Also, I don't know how long this fling with the jalapeno mustard will last but for now it's obviously my go-to condiment.

I think starting this weekend these are either going to become individual posts or else I'm going to put the most current day at the top, it seems a little strange to scroll down to get to today.

New feature: Accomplishments! They may be stupid but they matter to me. Tonight I hauled up from the basement my old dining room table and re-assembled it. I've been unhappy with the low height of my inherited "new" table but have been too lazy to do anything about it. Boom. And I might even shop for a new chair.

Dinner Report: Pastured Pork Chops

I just finished dinner. I cooked up the Creswick Farms pork chops I bought last week and they were among the best chops I've ever had.

By way of preparation, I sliced an onion and sauted it in butter and olive oil. Removed from the pan - I used my french oven. Added the chops and browned them on all sides. Topped with a mix of 1 can cream of celery soup, about 1/2 C milk, a little water, some garlic powder salt and pepper. Baked at 350 for about 35 minutes (these weren't super thick chops).

The result was very tender with good flavor. Served with mashed potatoes and used the 'gravy'. I'm looking forward to having the other chop tomorrow night!

Sorry, no pictures, already ate. Oops.

#declaringvictory

Tonight's experiment was simple - test out the "french" cycle on the bread machine.

Yeah, I'm a creature of habit. I select the same cycle (rapid regular) and use the same recipe pretty much every time.

Results: Pretty good. Fantastic crust. The bread itself is super dense - this might be the smallest 1.5 lb loaf I've ever seen. I'm a little puzzled as why that's the case - I think I deviated from the standard recipe by adding just a hair more oil and yeast, but not enough to make a difference. I think I'll just chalk it up to me winging it - something I do a lot of. I could never write a cookbook.

Looking forward to seeing how the bread holds up on sandwich duty tomorrow. Pending that, I'm declaring victory.

Mealtime: Simple Pork Stew

After my trip to the market on Saturday - I backed it up with a run to Meijer of course - I felt like making something simple for dinner.

Oh, and I had a second motivation too. I wanted to try out the french oven I picked up the weekend before. What could I make? How about a real basic stew?

Pork stew it was.

Ideally I would have cubed some of the pork I picked up at the market, but it was frozen and I didn't feel like trying to rush the defrost process (I'll be eating those tomorrow), so I used a package of supermarket chop suey meat. Other ingredients: One medium organic onion, a little olive oil and two cans of Ro*Tel.

I like Ro*Tel. If you ever want an easy meal, find your self a chunk of meat that can be slow cooked, throw it in the crock pot with some Ro*Tel and in eight hours you'll have dinner.

Back to the stew.

Isn't that a good looking pot?

Oops, I digress.

Keeping it basic, I diced the onion and sauted it in a little olive oil, then browned the pork - I skipped flouring it. Added the onions back in, the Ro*Tel and a pinch of salt. Simmered for about 20 minutes.

The end result? Tasty. I think it would have been better with a longer simmer, the pork had just a bit more chew that I would prefer, but it was still quite good. Served with a side of organic potatoes, mashed. Simple comfort food for a late winter evening.



Let's go to the scoreboard:

Taste Rating: B. Would make and eat again, but would probably tinker with cooking time.

I Done Good Rating: D+. Didn't use the local pork. Ro*Tel is neither local nor organic afaik - tastes good though. The organic onion and potatoes were trucked in from who knows where. I'm not giving this a failing grade because I did intentionally select the (industrial) organic produce and at least I went through the effort of making it. Oh, and I just ate the leftovers, so no waste.

Market Buys and Butter Question

I rolled into the Sweetwater Local Foods Market rather late this week. It runs 9-1 during the winter season and I got there about 11:30. As a result, some items were sold out.

I still ended up with most of what I had on my list. I picked up some raw milk Gouda from Grassfields, a couple of pastured pork chops from Creswick Farms and a dozen eggs from Happy Hill Farm. I picked up a quart of milk on the way home and I'm in good shape.

In hindsight, I would have liked to have picked up some stuffing mix from Earthly Kneads - especially since it was half off - to have with the chops. Oh well. They'll still be good with potatoes.

***

On another subject, I spent a few minutes this week trying to locate a source for locally-made butter and I struck out.

I wonder why that is - is there some sort of regulation that makes the production of artisan (for lack of a better word) butter uneconomical or illegal?

I plan to do some more looking - I still have a few sticks of regular butter left, so time is on my side. There is always the organic stuff available at Meijer I guess.

Simple Weekend Breakfast

I've been slacking.

I had great intentions this week but got slammed on the work front and so I ate more takeout than I would like.

The good news is the food I bought last weekend will wait for me. I did use up the ground beef making spaghetti sauce - which went into the freezer so no review of that yet.

Every time I've opened the fridge the thick cut applewood smoked bacon from Creswick Farms has been taunting me. If bacon could talk it would say "cook me, I'm delicious".

So I did. (Finally)

I was hungry so I didn't go for anything fancy. I pan fried four strips of the bacon, fried two of the farm fresh eggs in butter with a splash of the bacon grease, and briefly toasted - also in the bacon grease, isn't it wonderful stuff - a buttered slice of some bread that I made mid-week.

That's how breakfast is done.

And how it should be done more often.

It wasn't perfect - I overcooked the bacon slightly - but it was still very tasty.

If you wanted to assign some kind of score for being local, sustainable and otherwise "good" this meal would rate pretty high. The eggs and bacon are local. I haven't found a local source for butter yet and the same for the flour in the bread - it's just King Arthur organic all purpose. I don't expect to find truly local sources for oil, yeast or pepper (duh) but only small amounts of each are involved.

What's up for this week? Well, I have lots of ingredients left from what I bought last weekend. Time permitting, I think I'm going to try oven baking most of the rest of the bacon - I'll probably freeze a few slices. I'm thinking I might make scrambled eggs with salsa tomorrow. I need to bake another loaf of bread - stupid easy when you have a bread machine - and hmm, maybe I'll have a grilled cheese with some of that local cheddar for dinner tonight.

Downside to posting this stuff: It makes me hungry!

Future Projects File: Sourdough Bread

I've always been a huge fan of sourdough bread but have never tried to make it. I think there's something about the process - having to make a starter and then keep it going - that has kept me from doing it.

{insert joke about guys being afraid of commitment here}

Which is dumb.

This isn't rocket science, and if you screw up all you're out is a few cents worth of flour.

I picked up some inspiration yesterday by reading this 10,000 word post on sourdough over at Sour Salty Bitter Sweet. It's worth the read if you have time.

Even after that, though, I'm not motivated enough to get started just yet. Instead I'm happy to file this away as something I want to try.

A Trip To The "Market"

Saturday usually means grocery shopping. I still have to go to Meijer for some things later - oh how I dread going there - but I decided to kick things off by visiting a local farmers market.

"But wait," I hear you saying, "a farmer's market in February?"

Yes. We're lucky to have an organization called the Sweetwater Local Foods Market that puts on a market year-round. It's only every other week during the winter, weekly during the summer. It runs Saturday mornings until 1 pm. Check out their motto - it ties absolutely perfectly into what I'm trying to do:

The Sweetwater Local Foods Market is Michigan’s first farmers market that exclusively sells locally grown animal products and fruits and vegetables raised in a manner that enhances biological diversity, builds soil health and promotes animal welfare. Our message is, “Healthy. Humane. Homegrown. Local food you can trust at the Sweetwater Local Foods Market.”

Local, fresh, sustainable. Perfect. About the only thing that isn't perfect is the timing - I always have other things going on Saturday mornings during the spring, summer and fall. But that's on me, for most people Saturday mornings are perfect.

I went this morning and was pleased to see that it was busy. Busy with normal people doing the same thing I was doing, buying real food. It'd be real easy to stereotype this as a hippie venture (nttawwt), but no, things were very normal.

I picked up several items:

* A pound of applewood smoked bacon from Creswick Farms ($5.50)
* A half pound of organic raw milk cheddar from Grassfields ($6.50)
* A pound of grass fed ground chuck ($4.50)
* A dozen eggs from Happy Hill farm ($3.25)

and a total splurge, a package of malted chocolate chip oatmeal cookies from Earthly Kneads bakery in Muskegon ($4.50). More on those in a separate post.

Hopefully I'll have a picture to post here shortly of the stuff I got. (edit: Here it is)



I didn't have a real list of what I planned to get - other than the eggs - so I wasn't as prepared as I hope to be in coming weeks. Most of the vendors had whiteboards with a list of the products they had for sale and prices. I took a few mental notes and hope to be back in two weeks with some menus planned and ready to go.

I made one other stop on the way home. Sunflower Gourmet carries milk from Hilhof Dairy, which is relatively local. It's organic, straight from the farm and packaged in glass bottles. I don't drink a ton of milk, but it's nice to have a quart on hand.

Link Love 1

Whenever possible I plan to link to websites - sites for merchants that I patronize, resources that help with the quest to eat local, inspirational material. I think I'm off to a good start. Obviously a lot of my links will be local to West Michigan - and that won't do you much good if you stumbled across this blog from California. Oh well. This isn't rocket science.

While I'm thinking about it, here are a couple other links for your perusal:

Epic Organic: My invisible internet pal Shelly also has a blog about quest to eat organic and local food. She's definitely part of my inspiration for blogging on this subject - if only so I don't clutter her blog with too many comments. I don't know about her quest to add pureed veggies to everything, but hey, to each their own! Go read.

Life is Fare: I randomly stumbled across this blog, written by Marcia Davis of Grand Rapids. She's a writer, a self-described foodie and she has posts on a variety of subjects related to the local food movement. Also very much worth the time. Her post today links to a seasonal ingredient map put out by epicurious - how useful!

West Michigan Co-Op: The site of an idea that should exist everywhere. A co-operative of local farmer and producers. You place orders from a huge list of products on offer and on the designated pickup day (I think it's once a month) you pick up your goodies. Simple. Easy. I don't belong - YET - as I live 45 minutes away and for now I can get what I need at the Sweetwater market. But I may try it out this summer once Saturday mornings become impossible.

Malted Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I picked up a package of these cookies from Earthly Kneads today. It was a total impulse purchase and I have to say that I'm glad I made it. Okay, I've only had one cookie so far, but they really are very good.

Look at that ingredient list. There is not a single 2,4 maltohydrodexetrone-type mystery chemical anywhere to be found! I suppose this means that they won't last forever like a Twinkie would and that I'll have to eat them in the next couple of days ... but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

I plan to try and make more of my own bread and baked goods, but it's nice to know that there is a bakery not that far away that makes the kind of stuff I'd actually want to eat.

From their website:

Unique Bread, Cookies, Granola, and Pastries baked from scratch using local, organic, and sustainable ingredients.

We use:
- Michigan flour that is stone-ground, certified organic, and NEVER bleached or brominated.
- Pastured chicken eggs from Creswick Farms.
- Dairy products from farms that practice sustainable and organic farming.

No funny stuff! Our ingredients are minimally processed. We take special care to make sure that there are no artifical colors, flavors or sweeteners and no GMO ingredients in our baked goods. We never use high fructose corn syrup in any of our products.

Sounds good to me. One of these days when I'm in Muskegon I think I'll stop by the bakery and check out the full complement of offerings.

A New Focus

You have to love the fact that Blogger isn't quick to delete inactive blogs. Let's give this one another go, shall we?

There will be a slight change of focus. I still hope to blog for accountability - to myself that is - but I probably won't be posting everything I eat or pictures of every meal. That's too much of a commitment. Instead, I'll just post things as I feel like it. I think that's doable.

The new focus will be on the following:

1. Trying to choose local and sustainable foods.
2. If those aren't available, trying to choose organic over chemical/factory farmed.
3. Making it myself. I spend way too much of my food dollar on drive through and takeout "meals".

In any event, not a tremendous amount has changed in the three years it's been since I used this blog for anything. My eating habits haven't improved much, but I have a new interest in working on them. I read a lot and a couple of my recent reads have been The Omnivore's Dilemma and Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle -- both highly recommended. Even if you don't agree with every last detail, the overall logic is inescapable: Our current food system is crazy. Crazy in many ways - in its incredible dependence on oil, in the lack of care taken to ensure quality, in its lack of respect for the soil, in the way it diverts money away from the people that actually grow the food.

That won't change overnight, and let's get some things out in the open.

I'm not a revolutionary. I'm focused on improving things for myself.

I'm not a purist. While I will be trying to "do better", I will probably still eat the occasional Big Mac. And I will not be beating myself up for doing so.

I'm not interested in criticizing the food choices other people make. If Kraft Mac n Cheez works for you and your family, great.

I'm not a vegetarian or vegan. It doesn't work for me. See the above points.

With that out of the way, I'm going to try and have some fun with this.

The End

New content begins here. Archives are worthless. There you have it.