Getting through Christmas

Trying to find fun things to eat at Christmas has been pretty tough..  We attempted to make a caramel sauce to use for dipping apples that didn’t have any dairy in it and it proved impossible.  We used a recipe at first but that never thickened and then we tried just making it from brown sugar and coconut oil but that just burned.  So instead I looked up some other apple dip ideas and finally decided to just mix canned pumpkin with vanilla frosting (no dairy or soy in it!) and spices.  Surprisingly, it tasted pretty good, though maybe a little runny.  I also made up some more of my lentil-walnut spread to use as a veggie dip.  I don’t think anyone else tried it (it isn’t real pretty looking) but at least it gave me some more options!  I also tried out some gluten free, egg free rye bread from Trader Joe’s and it was just okay.  It was very crumbly and didn’t work well for a sandwich.  The oat bread I made a few weeks ago was better.  When I’m back in Dubuque, I’m hoping to try out another GF bread recipe and bake it in the oven to see if I have some better luck.  I managed to stay away from the multitude of cookies!!  Buutt.. today, it is Christmas.. and I just couldn’t say no to a homemade cinnamon roll!  So that will be my one indulgence 😀

12/22 Food Diary

Breakfast

• Pinole-Chia seed waffle with a little bit of agave and some sunflower butter
• ProGreens and Acacia senegal tummy fiber with water and a little bit of tart cherry juice concentrate
• 3 slices canadian bacon
• 25 mg Pregnenalone; 2 Optivite PMT

Snacks

• Walnut cappuccino Bakery on Main bar
• Ghiradelli hot cocoa with coconut milk and marshmallows
• 2 vegan oatmeal cookies

Lunch

• Millet hot dog bun with lentil-walnut spread, fake cheese, canadian bacon
• Carrots
• Powerade, sugar free
• One Hershey dark chocolate Bliss

Dinner

• Rice spaghetti with mushroom-beef tomato sauce
• Salad: lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, carrots, balsamic vinegar dressing
• Water with Acacia senegal tummy fiber
• 2 Ambrotose; 2 Optivite PMT; 2 fish oil pills; spray of DHEA; drop of Vitamin D

GI Rating: 3

(scale of 1-5, 1 being frequent bathroom breaks and gassy, 5 being no rumbly tumbly!)

Energy level Rating: 2

(scale of 1-5, 1 being utterly exhausted, 5 being bouncing off the walls with energy)

12/21 Food Diary

Breakfast

• Smoothie:  blueberries, ground flaxseed, vanilla hemp protein, spinach, sunflower butter, coconut milk, tart cherry juice, ProGreens,  Acacia senegal tummy fiber
• Smoked salmon
• 25 mg Pregnenalone; 2 Optivite PMT

Snacks

• French vanilla coffee with coconut milk and sugar
• Half of walnut cappuccino Bakery on Main bar
• Pumpkin seeds

Lunch

• Campbell’s Healthy Request Savory Chicken and Brown rice soup
• Rice crackers
• Bob Red Mill’s GF Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal
• Two Dove dark chocolates

Dinner

• Salad: spinach, carrots, red cabbage, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, olive oil,smoked salmon
• Barley with paprika
• Squash with agave and sunflower butter
• Approx 3 tbsps of Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks
• Iced tea with Acacia senegal tummy fiber
• 2 Ambrotose; 2 Optivite PMT; 2 fish oil pills; spray of DHEA; drop of Vitamin D

GI Rating: 3

(scale of 1-5, 1 being frequent bathroom breaks and gassy, 5 being no rumbly tumbly!)

Energy level Rating: 3

(scale of 1-5, 1 being utterly exhausted, 5 being bouncing off the walls with energy)

Frustrated..

Just a quick note about something else that I found I can’t eat, though after I had already had it: fake crab!  Ugh, come on, really??  It has both wheat and egg whites in it!  I didn’t even think to look at the ingredients, I thought it just had the fish with some flavorings.. *sigh*  I guess the one bright side is that my stomach was already giving me a lot of trouble today, so I suppose this won’t make it feel any worse…  Just getting very frustrated with my stomach not feeling any better!!!

12/20 Food Diary

Breakfast

• Smoothie: banana, blueberries, ground flaxseed, chocolate hemp protein, spinach, sunflower butter, rice milk, ProGreens,  Acacia senegal tummy fiber
• 3 slices canadian bacon
• 25 mg Pregnenalone; 2 Optivite PMT

Snacks

• 1 vegan oatmeal raisin cookie
• 1 Nutty Oatmeal Raisin No-Bake Bite
• A few rosemary/salt walnuts
• Hot cocoa with coconut milk, peppermint schnapps, chocolate-mint marshmallows

Lunch

• Campbell’s Healthy Request Savory Chicken and Brown rice soup
• A few handfuls of Sensible Portions Garden Veggie Straw
• Pear
• Two Dove dark chocolates

Dinner

• Salad: spinach, carrots, red cabbage, tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, Louis Kemp fake crab
• Barley with paprika
• Iced tea with Acacia senegal tummy fiber
• 2 Ambrotose; 2 Optivite PMT; 2 fish oil pills; spray of DHEA; drop of Vitamin D

GI Rating: 2

(scale of 1-5, 1 being frequent bathroom breaks and gassy, 5 being no rumbly tumbly!)

Energy level Rating: 2

(scale of 1-5, 1 being utterly exhausted, 5 being bouncing off the walls with energy)

12/19 Food Diary

Breakfast

• Bob Red Mill’s Gluten Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal, raisins, coconut milk, sunflower seeds, agave nectar
• Banana
• Acacia senegal tummy fiber in water
• 25 mg Pregnenalone; 2 Optivite PMT

Snacks

• 2 vegan oatmeal raisin cookies
• Half of a banana walnut Bakery on Main bar

Lunch

• Trader Joe’s Garlic Rice Noodle Soup Bowl
• A few rice crackers
• Two Hershey dark chocolate Bliss

Dinner

• 2 Trader Joe’s Salmon burgers, 1 millet hot dog bun (umm didn’t have any hamburger buns), a few tablespoons of my lentil-walnut spread
• Squash with mango butter and sunflower butter
• 2 Ambrotose; 2 Optivite PMT; 2 fish oil pills; spray of DHEA; drop of Vitamin D
• ProGreens, tart cherry juice concentrate and Acacia senegal tummy fiber in water

GI Rating: 2

(scale of 1-5, 1 being frequent bathroom breaks and gassy, 5 being no rumbly tumbly!)

Energy level Rating: 1

(scale of 1-5, 1 being utterly exhausted, 5 being bouncing off the walls with energy)

Week 3: Ready to see improvements, come on!

I was hoping by week 3 I might start feeling a little better, but so far I would say I haven’t seen a lot of improvement.  Friday was my work luncheon and dinner party, so I was super careful about what I ate: salad and chicken at the lunch; sushi, candy (hah), and wine at the dinner.  And yet I felt horrible on Saturday, and not just like a “I had too much wine” type of horrible 🙂  So that was pretty frustrating since I felt just as crappy by being careful about what I ate as I would have had I just indulged in the delicious looking pecan pie!!  I know these things take time, so I’m trying not to get discouraged..

On Sunday, I tried out Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal, which contains brown rice, corn, buckwheat, and sorghum.  It had a consistency kind of between oatmeal and cream of wheat; I added raisins, sunflower seeds, and agave nectar.  It’s okay, I can’t quite decide if I like it more than steel cut oats or not.  I have a few bowls left in the fridge, so we’ll see what I think at the end of the week 🙂  I also made some vegan oatmeal cookies: http://www.cookiemadness.net/2008/06/chewy-vegan-oatmeal-raisin-cookies/  I thought they were pretty tasty and even my Bible study friends and husband thought they were good, so score one for cookies I can eat haha!

It certainly has been hard with all the Christmas parties trying to be “good” haha 🙂  But at the same time, sometimes it has been nice to have an excuse to not eat stuff that’s not good for me anyways, diet or not.  I just try to always have things on hand that I can eat  and not get to the “I’m starving” stage that might cause me to eat whatever is first in sight 🙂

12/15 Food Diary

Breakfast

• Homemade granola with vanilla rice milk
• ProGreens, tart cherry juice concentrate and Acacia senegal tummy fiber in water
• 25 mg Pregnenalone; 2 Optivite PMT

Snacks

• A few handfuls of Sensible Portions Garden Veggie Straws
• A little bit of homemade granola

Lunch

• Salad: spinach, kolrabi, carrots, red cabbage, tomatoes, avocados, balsamic vinegar, olive oil
• Banana
• Two Hershey dark chocolate Bliss
• Diet Coke

Dinner

• Homemade soup: olive oil, onion, garlic, sweet potato, white potato, chicken thigh, canned tomatoes, black beans, lentils, wild rice, smoked paprika, dried basil and oregano, poultry seasoning
• Three small corn tortillas
• Avocado with lime juice
• Approx 2 tbsps of Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks
• Iced tea with Acacia senegal tummy fiber
• 2 Ambrotose; 2 Optivite PMT; 2 fish oil pills; spray of DHEA; drop of Vitamin D
• Half a Bud Light Lime

GI Rating: 3

(scale of 1-5, 1 being frequent bathroom breaks and gassy, 5 being no rumbly tumbly!)

Energy level Rating: 2

(scale of 1-5, 1 being utterly exhausted, 5 being bouncing off the walls with energy)

12/14 Food Diary

Breakfast

• Homemade granola with vanilla rice milk
• Smoothie with ProGreens, blueberries, spinach, spoonful of sunflower butter, scoop of pea protein, coconut milk, spoonful of ground flaxseed, tart cherry juice concentrate
• Acacia senegal tummy fiber with water
• 25 mg Pregnenalone; 2 Optivite PMT

Snacks

• A few handfuls of Sensible Portions Garden Veggie Straws

Lunch

• Black beans, avocado, canned salmon with some lime juice
• Slice of homemade oat flour bread
• Two Hershey dark chocolate Bliss

Dinner

• Homemade soup: olive oil, onion, garlic, sweet potato, white potato, chicken thigh, canned tomatoes, black beans, lentils, wild rice, smoked paprika, dried basil and oregano, poultry seasoning
• A few Crunchmaster rice crackers
• Grapes, clementines, strawberries
• Approx 2 tbsps of Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks
• Iced tea with Acacia senegal tummy fiber
• 2 Ambrotose; 2 Optivite PMT; 2 fish oil pills; spray of DHEA; drop of Vitamin D
• Hot cocoa: 2 spoonfuls Hershey cocoa, 1 tsp Truvia, coconut milk/rice milk, peppermint schnapps, marshmallows

GI Rating: 3

(scale of 1-5, 1 being frequent bathroom breaks and gassy, 5 being no rumbly tumbly!)

Energy level Rating: 2

(scale of 1-5, 1 being utterly exhausted, 5 being bouncing off the walls with energy)

12/13 Food Diary

Breakfast

• Pinole-Chia seed waffle with a little bit of maple syrup and some sunflower butter
• ProGreens and Acacia senegal tummy fiber with water and a little bit of tart cherry juice concentrate
• Smoked salmon
• A few strawberries
• 25 mg Pregnenalone; 2 Optivite PMT

Snacks

• Honey-glazed walnuts
• French vanilla coffee with sweetened vanilla coconut milk and sweet n low

Lunch

• Black beans, avocado, canned salmon with some lime juice
• Walnut-cornbread
• One Hershey dark chocolate Bliss

Dinner

• Homemade soup: olive oil, onion, garlic, sweet potato, white potato, chicken thigh, canned tomatoes, black beans, lentils, wild rice, smoked paprika, dried basil and oregano, poultry seasoning
• One slice of homemade oat flour bread (see previous post for recipe) with coconut butter
• A few pieces of homemade granola
• Approx 3 tbsps of Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks
• Iced tea with Acacia senegal tummy fiber
• 2 Ambrotose; 2 Optivite PMT; 2 fish oil pills; spray of DHEA; drop of Vitamin D

GI Rating: 3

(scale of 1-5, 1 being frequent bathroom breaks and gassy, 5 being no rumbly tumbly!)

Energy level Rating: 2

(scale of 1-5, 1 being utterly exhausted, 5 being bouncing off the walls with energy)