Missing my munchies

Today was a rough day. I was really craving sweets and Hubby was missing 'real' food (a.k.a.chicken nuggets). We really had to push each other to stay on track. I snacked more than I wanted to today but at least I can say I stuck to the general meal plan. I ate a lot of raisins this afternoon and had a couple too many banana bread granola bars. (Recipe coming soon!)

I'm starting to put together the meal plan for the weekend since we have to go shopping tomorrow. It takes a lot of work to plan everything because I need to make sure we both have enough ingredients for all our juices and food items for the next couple of days. Plus I have to take inventory of the things we haven't used yet so I can incorporate them into a recipe and not buy more if I don't need it.

Hakuna matata!

A diet by any other name would taste just as sweet

I've been stuggling all week to find a term to call this new diet. Everyone know vegetarian, Atkins, Weight Watchers, fruitarian, South Beach, gluten free, etc. Up until now I've just been telling people I was on a whole food, plant based diet. A bit of a mouthful. But today I finally found a name: nutritarian.

Simply put, a Nutritarian diet is a way of eating which bases food choices on maximizing the micronutrients per calorie.

Hakuna matata!

Carrot and Sweet Potato “Fries”

Directly from Reboot With Joe's website. This is one of our favorites and great if you're craving fast food.

Makes 2 servings
Nutrition per serving: 265 kCal; 1108 kJ; 3 g protein; 34 g carbohydrates; 14 g fat; 2 g saturated fat; 6 g fiber; 10 g sugar; 133 mg salt

Ingredients:

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 2 large carrots
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C/gas 7).
2. Cut the potatoes in half lengthways, and slice each half into 4 equal wedges.
3. Cut the carrots in half crossways, then lengthways, and cut each piece into 2 or 3 wedges,making them roughly the same size as the potatoes.

4. Put all the wedges in a bowl and toss with the oil, cumin, and salt and pepper to taste.

5. Place all the wedges on a baking sheet lined with baking parchment and bake for 30 minutes, or until tender and lightly browned, with slightly crisp edges.

Hakuna matata!

So 'beet' it, but you wanna be bad

Another shopping trip behind us. I'm pretty sure I spend all night in the kitchen making my food for today. But the good news is that now I have lunches done for the rest of the week. Today's breakfast, snack, and lunch include:

An important lesson also came out of yesterday's food prep: Wear gloves while peeling beets otherwise it looks like you were finger painting. My hand is better today but definitely still has a noticeable magenta tone to it. Hubby can do his own beet peeling from now on. Now I understand why beet juice makes such a great natural food coloring!

There was a lot of temptations at work today. We had a celebration breakfast for a few new people to our department as well as celebrating a few birthdays. It was so difficult to walk past all the bagels, muffins, and pastries that I previously would have filled my plate with (and probably my lunch plate too). But I was good and only had a few strawberries and pieces of pineapple.

Hakuna Matata!

We survived

We finally made it through Day 1 of our reboot and on to Day 2. Yesterday had some highlights and it definitely had some low points. For me, the juice was tolerable but definitely not one I'd add to my favorites list, unlike breakfast which was delicious.

The hardest part for both of us was the salads. I'm not a salad person. The only salads I ever have are smothered in ranch, caesar, or italian dressing and mostly consist of tomatoes. The lettuce is really just there to keep my tomatoes on my plate.

I could only force myself to eat about a third my lunch salad. Hubby did better and managed about 2/3 of his. We didn't even bother to make the dinner salad. We just ate the sweet potatoes. Hey, it's better than chowing down on a bag of potato chips!

After some discussion last night we decided to not follow that specific meal plan anymore. Tomorrow Hubby will go 100% juice and I made a meal plan that's part juice part whole food.

Hakuna matata!

Another beginning

Today it begins, whether we're ready or not. Last night we spent a long while cutting, juicing, cooking, and packing. Today is Day 1 of our whole food, plant based reboot. It won't be easy, especially since 'munchies' was it's own food group up until now, but this is needed.

Hubby's starting weight: 265
My starting weight: 205

Today's menu includes:

Hakuna matata!

Stocked full of produce

Today was a really rough depression day for me. Emotions and anxiety were on high alert and it took a while to get going for the day.

Once we did get going, Hubby and I went shopping for days 1 and 2 of our reboot. Yes the below picture is only 2 days worth of food for two people.

There's a lot of things we bought that will be used over time (such as the rice and balsamic vinegars, olive oil, and herb plants). But there's definitely about $100 worth of produce that is specifically for day 1 or day 2 of our reboot.

This is definitely not something that we will be able to afford long term. I'm hoping that prices drop as the weather warms up in a few months. Luckily we live across the street from a local farm and they have a produce stand most of they year. I've never stopped so I'm not sure how their prices compare but I would feel good supporting a local business.

Hakuna Matata!

Bring on the veggies

For the past several days, Hubby and I have been watching a number of documentaries on Netflix realting to healthier eating. Each of these films focuses on reducing the amount of refined sugars and processed foods and focusing more on eating a whole food, plant based diet. Our watch list includes:

Hungry for Change
Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (1 & 2)
Forks Over Knives

By the way, I highly reccomend watching any one of these if you need some motivation to start eating healthier. What I like about these films is that they focus on the health benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables and don't focus so much on being vegan because animals are treated poorly or eating organic because of pesticides, GMOs, etc. I'm not saying that isn't happening in the world and that it's not important, but really for me that is not a motivating factor at this time to change my eating habits.

I like meat and dairy. I refuse to entirely give up meat and dairy. I also can't afford to eat entirely organic. I do however think I need to turn my current food habits upside down and eat mainly plant based foods and only have meat and dairy sparingly.

Hubby and I have both struggled with our weight and several medical conditions, especially the last couple of years. We decided to jump in together and get our eating habits in check. Starting Monday (2/16), Hubby and I will be doing a diet reboot. (Check out the plans here!)

Tomorrow we go shopping and our grocery list is huge! Hopefully my fridge is big enough to hold all this produce.

Hakuna matata!