Well, Day 1 of Eating the Pyramid has come to an end, and I think it went pretty well. Getting back into my old healthy eating habits was easier than I thought; but I had the day off and the work-related test is yet to come. The main challenge I encountered was resisting to urge to graze through the kitchen as I was cooking. Although I never thought of myself as particularly addicted to sweets, I have a box of Pirouline (those little tubular wafer cookies) from the Asian store on my counter and I kept reaching for them. The other issue was exercise. Like most humans (and some animals) a lazy malaise starts to creep over me with the onset of "fall back" time. When it's dark at 4pm, which it can be when it's cloudy here in Central Ohio, my body says "well, the day's over. Let's park it on the sofa and unwind." Although I didn't make it to the gym, I did manage about 10 minutes of doing squat/lunges around the living room/dining room/kitchen/foyer circle of the house (I bet everyone who knows me is getting a kick out of that image), much to the confusion of the cats.
But what about the food? If you choose to join my mission, and pasta is a staple in your diet as it is in mine, I am guessing you will grow to become attached to whole wheat spaghetti and canned tomatoes. Add in chicken breast, shrimp, or ground veal (which is surprisingly good for you, considering how bad most ground beef is) or turkey breast, and viola, lunch is served. I find whole wheat spaghetti almost interchangeable with white spaghetti; it's the thicker shapes I don't find as appealing - I'm not quite so fond of whole wheat penne, although I will eat it and get used to it. Why whole wheat? You might be asking. Well, because white flour products really have very little nutritional value, and I am trying to use all most of my grain "allowance" on whole grain products, such as whole grain cereals, oatmeal, brown rice, whole wheat bread and whole wheat pasta. It's an easy way to get a lot of fiber and whole grains into your diet. They are good for your heart.
So, here's the lowdown for day one:
Breakfast: Low fat Brown Cow cherry yogurt and banana
Lunch: 3 ounces whole wheat spaghetti with canned tomatoes and ground veal, side of sauteed turnips on the side (recipe to follow)
Snack while Cooking Dinner: 5 rice crackers with hummus
Dinner: Ponzu poached monkfish with roasted beets and sweet dumpling squash, mizuna salad
Treat: one Chocolate Mochi (Japanese sweet rice ball filled with chocolate ice cream), thanks to Husband, and one banana
Alcohol: one ounce scotch - for my heart!
1923 calories, 48 grams of fat, 268 carbs, 37 grams of fiber and 94 grams of protein. I ate 2 ounces more than the recommended protein, but I ate all of my fruits and vegetables, one less milk than required, and all of my grains (of course) Stay tuned for recipes and other. . .
