Begin Again!

And so I begin again!  

I am going to review some short term and long term goals and get on the band wagon again.  A few years ago, I was in a session with a psychologist trying to determine why I was angry at the world and eating myself to death.  This is a picture I drew at the time.  It is how I imagine myself when I am happy and healthy.  I have it pinned to a bulletin board so I can see it every day and it became my mantra.  

I am going to use it again and try to remember that eating healthy is a gift that I give myself.

It's been a good day

Monday starts the week

So, today is the day that I start eating healthy.  I am reminded of a drawing I made when I was in therapy for depression a few years ago.  It had two lines on it that I want to be my mantra!  "I CAN PAMPER MYSELF WITH HEALTHY FOOD"  and "I CAN TREAT MY BODY AS A TEMPLE TO MY SOUL"

Today, I have eaten a great salad with tuna and olives and a serving of vanilla fat free yogurt.  It is a good start.  I will be starting my food log on fatsecret.com again too, so I can put my numbers here.

I have to eat what is in the house now.  So, until I get rid of things, I will be counting calories and doing weight watchers simply filling.

The changes from the original plan

Part of the reason that this strict Belly Fat Cure didn't work for me was the lack of dairy.  I love yogurt and learned long ago that the benefits of putting live acidophiles bacteria into my diet are many things including digestion and preventing yeast infections.  So, I am doing the Belly Fat Cure, but I am including fat free/sugar free yogurt every day and not counting the sugar.  From everything that I have been reading, lactose, which is the sugar in dairy products, digests differently in the body than all other sugars.

Another reason that I had trouble was the cost.  It is far cheaper to buy a package of bagels for $2.99 and have it last a week rather than buying a pound of ham or turkey ($7) and have it last 2-3 days.  Even if I cook my own meats and slice them, proteins are expensive.  So, this time, I am going to work on learning how to improve my "perfect protein" combinations of rice and beans to supplement my meats.  One of the tough parts of this option is that all other protein options are full of carbohydrates too.  So, we will see if this works.

Time to stop dying and start living

I am back!  It's been almost a year.  I drink too much and eat too much.  I have terrible sleep habits and last night I spent 6 hours thinking I was going to have a stroke or heart attack while the palpitations in my heart roared in my ears.  ENOUGH!  I am back on the wagon.

Thoughts today

Well it's been a couple of days since I have posted. I have been busy, but I haven't fallen off the wagon!

I succeeded with those ribs I was writing about. I used 12 ounces of really flavorful beer that had an undertone of cherries. The beer had 3 carbs for the entire pot of ribs and NO SUGAR! And, it was so good. Hubby said it was a keeper.

So, here is what I did:

In slow cooker:

1 onion, sliced
1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms, crush in your hands
2 pounds country style pork ribs
1 6 ounce can tomato paste
3 cloves of garlic crushed
12 ounces robust beer, preferably with a fruit undertown

Set on high and cook for 5-6 hours.

YUMMY!!!

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Daily Thoughts

Today I am reading through a great cookbook called "500 Low Carb Recipes" by Dana Carpender. I am looking for methods as well as recipes. One specific thing I was looking for was ideas for making ribs or anything that cries out for a BBQ sauce.

Since most BBQ sauces are full of sugar, I was looking for more natural ways to sweeten tomatoes and vinegar without sugar. I didn't find the answer in the book, but I was reminded that one of our favorite ways to enjoy ribs was to cook them in a slow cooker with diet soda. The soda does 2 things. First it tenderizes the meat; it's the carbonation that does that. And, it sweetens the meat from the artificial sweetness in the soda. It doesn't really work on the stove or in the oven with diet soda because bringing aspartame to a boil makes it very bitter. But a slow cooker slowly cooks/heats it so all you get is the sweetness.

Tonight is one of our favorite local bands at a place only 1 mile away. We will eat dinner before we go, so it will be a very cheap night out.

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