Pledge - Day 6

This one was a toughie. My first time dealing with going out to eat while on the Pledge. I started off the morning with the usual ezekial cereal and an orange:

Lunch was some more baked ziti (this thing is neverending) and a side of grapes.

Around 4 I snacked on a hard boiled egg and some raw carrots.

Dinner is where it got tough. I went out with my friends to Border Cafe -- a big Mexican and Cajun joint in Harvard Square. I knew I'd be tempted by the endless baskets of chips and salsa so I made the decision early on to not eat even one. And I didn't!! For dinner I ordered a bowl of chili (sans cheese and sour cream) and a garden salad (sans bacon). I also skipped the drinks and stuck to water for the night.

I skipped the croutons on the salad and ate about half the bowl of chili. A super succesful eating out experience!

To be honest, once I got past the anxiety with the chips, it wasn't all that bad. I realized that I wasn't there for the food anyway, I was there to be with and catch up with friends, so who cares if I missed out on quesadillas? I could make way better ones at home anyway! 

After being home for about an hour I wanted something sweet so I had two pieces of dark chocolate with peanut butter and a clementine.

See ya tomorrow! Yay Friday!!

Pledge - Day 5

I've been feeling hungry today. After 4 semi easy days, Day 5 was really the first that I felt the pull of struggle. I started off the day with the same ole' breakfast: ezekial cereal with fat free milk and an orange.

Around 12 I got hungry but wasn't ready for my lunch yet, so I had a string cheese and an un-pictured clementine.

My meetings ended up running late so I was starving by the time I ate lunch around 3. I had a salad with mixed greens, grilled chicken, cucumbers, tomato, avocado, quinoa and greek vinaigrette dressing.

I practically scarfed it down since I was so hungry (and took a blurry photo, apparently), so didn't feel THAT satisfied by it. Around 4 I left the office to take a walk since the weather was mild...yay! Somehow I was led to the frozen yogurt shop in the mall...must be the warm weather. And now for a victory -- I SO wanted some froyo, but when I was informed the fat free vanilla wasn't sugar free I passed and bought some grapes instead. Go me! I ate the grapes alongside a dark chocolate Hershey kiss. Yum.

Dinner was a turkey and tomato sandwich, two hard boiled eggs with some of the yokes left, and some grapes on the side.

After dinner I went to the gym and walked for about an hour, covering 3 miles.

Despite the early struggle 'twas a good day!

Pledge - Day 4

Day 4 of the 12 Day Pledge has been great!!

I started off the morning with a bowl of Ezekial 4:9 cereal with fat free milk topped with some cinnamon and an orange.

Apparently this cereal is named after a bible verse?? "Take also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils and millet, and spelt and put them in one vessel…" Ezekiel 4:9. Is that a real thing? I'm obviously not up on my bible studies. Bible or not, the more I read about this cereal the more I plan to keep it in my diet! Here's what the website highlights:

• Source of Complete Protein - rated 84.3% as efficient as the highest source of protein (comparable to that of milk or eggs).
• Contains 18 Amino Acids - including all 9 essential amino acids.
• Increased digestibility - sprouting breaks down starches in grains into simple sugars so your body can digest them easily.
• Increased Absorption of Minerals - sprouting breaks down enzyme inhibitors, so your body can more easily absorb calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc.
• Increased Vitamin C & B - sprouting produces vitamin C and increased the vitamin B2, B5 and B6.
• Great source of Fiber - combining sprouted grains and legumes gives a good amount of natural fiber in each serving.

Prettttty good if ya ask me!

Lunch was a repeat from yesterday: a turkey/avocado/tomato sandwich, carrots and hummus, and popcorn with a twist.

I made a big bag of popcorn-trail mix the other night that included popcorn (obviously), a few broken pretzels from the end of a bag, mixed nuts, raisins, and a couple of white chocolate chips thrown in.

I also snacked on two clementines around 3.

When I got home from work I made a quick dinner. I still have so much baked ziti left (!) so I had a bowl full and some cucumbers on the side.

After dinner I headed to the gym for a running-walking sesh. I did 2.5 miles and then called it quits.

After the gym I had "dessert" of an orange and some blueberries. Yum.

Observation of the day: I SUCK at drinking water. What is wrong with me? Now that I've cut out diet coke I find myself choosing to have nothing to drink rather than have water. Creating different flavor waters is really helpful at home but I'm having trouble maintaining at work. So I just sit here giving the evil eye to my bottle of water while my throat dries up. Grrr.

That's all for day 4. Later!

Pledge - Day 3

Another good day for the 12 Day Pledge in the books!

Breakfast this morning was a bowl of Ezekiel 4:9 Almond Sprouted whole grain cereal with 1% milk. I sprinkled in the last tiny bit of Whole Foods brand cheerios I had in the cabinet as well.

Check out this all star ingredient list: Organic Sprouted Wheat, Malted Barley, Organic Almonds, Organic Sprouted Barley, Organic Sprouted Millet, Organic Sprouted Lentils, Organic Sprouted Soybeans, Organic Sprouted Spelt, Filtered Water, Sea Salt.

It was not that flavorful but super filling. Luckily I'm not into sugary cereals and like the taste of grains so this was perfect for me. I also had a banana on the side.

Lunch was a turkey sandwich with low sodium Boar's Head turkey, 1/4 of an avocado and tomato on a 100% WW roll. On the side was some carrots and hummus and some popcorn.

Later on I snacked on 2 clementines.

Around 4 I started to get randomly hungry. My office is currently stocked with granola bars that were calling my name, but i decided to skip and landed on a couple of pretzel thins. Not the ideal choice for the challenge but it was better than binging on 30 granola bars!

When I got home I made a superfood filled dinner: a quinoa mix, tons of sauteed garlicky kale, and a grilled bbq chicken breast that I bought prepared from the grocery store. 

So good! About half way through I found out the Harpoon event I'd be going to was serving soft pretzels, so i decided to eat only half the chicken so I could enjoy the snack.

Tom and I got into a Friend of Harpoon event for the opening of the brewery's new beer hall. It was so awesome!! The beer hall is huge and filled with long wooden tables and lost of bar space

We were given two beer chips and I got a Saison from one of their pilot batches and a White IPA. Tom and I also split two of the deliciously chewy pretzels.

I know I'm only 3 days in but I'm really happy with how I'm doing! I don't want to jinx anything, but it really hasn't been THAT hard yet. After just 3 days I feel so much better (less tired during the day, etc.) and feel good knowing that I'm making healthy choices all day. I think I might have a little spring in my step :)

Lunch is already prepped for tomorrow so day 4 is looking good. Night!

Pledge - Day 2

I'm getting very sleepy but wanted to give a brief Day 2 update for the 12 Day Pledge. Day 2 was another good day!

Breakfast: an un-photographed cheese stick and orange at Tom's.

Lunch: was a mishmash of things over a period of a few hours. I started with 2 hard boiled eggs (prepped on Saturday) and a glass of orange juice.

About an hour later I had two super sour pickles, a clementine and another cheese stick while watching The Stepford Wives on TV. I love that movie for some strange reason.

Dinner was a repeat of last night: Baked ziti with string beans, grapes and a few carrots.

And for dessert, even though chocolate isn't plan okay I think a little bit is just fine for me -- so two chocolates with a little bit of all natural peanut butter smeared on.

Perfect way to end the night!

On a random note, I've been doing some painting lately and am actually happy with 1. how things turn out and 2. how relaxing it is. I still hate the cleanup but maybe this will become more a regular thing. Here are some of my recent paintings:

 

 

 That's all for tonight! See ya tomorrow for day 3.

Pledge - Day 1

Day 1 of the 12 Day Pledge is just about over and was very successful! Here's a rundown:

Breakfast was quick -- a banana and string cheese on the go.

Lunch: Boar's Head low sodium turkey and tomato on a 100% whole wheat roll, carrots and hummus, a clementine, and another string cheese.

Plus a little piece of chocolate for dessert (that is shaped in a bride and groom from my coworkers wedding).

Before lunch I went food shopping! I haven't done a "real" food shopping in far too long. I spent almost $100 which was tough on my bank account, but I was spending WAY more buying lunch and eating out all the time. I typically go out to brunch on the weekend which is around $40 itself.

 

After lunch I went to the gym. I totally forgot that the gym closed at 5, so by the time I got there I only had about 40 minutes. I hopped on a treadmill and completed 2.5 miles running-walking.

Dinner was baked ziti! I prepped a big pan full to have for meals throughout the week. I added a whole bag of spinach for some extra veggie power.

On the side I had raw string beans and grapes, plus a glass of 100% orange juice. The day was actually pretty easy, but my only struggle was wanting to drink diet coke. I've gotten back into that habit pretty badly unfortunately, so having some OJ for dinner was helpful.

I made sure to look closely at the sauce I bought because one of the rules of the pledge is that I don't eat anything from a package with more than 5 ingredients listed. Here's what the sauce looked like:

That looks like a lot but it's actually just tomatoes (in multiple forms), water, spices, citric acid and calcium chloride. I'm counting this as A-okay for the pledge.

That's it for tonight. Hoping for another good day tomorrow!

12 Day Pledge

I decided I'm taking this 10 day pledge and extending it for 2 extra, committing to eating nothing but real food for the next twelve days. This is how I used to eat regularly. I lived by the 80/20 rule, sticking to whole, healthy foods 80% of the time and using the other 20% for alcohol, the occasional french fries, etc. How did I get so far from this? How many times have I asked that question in the past year?

I'm SO happy and satisfied with every part of my life except my health. And that's a big one. So hopefully this can  be both a mental and physical reminder as to why I so strongly pursued a healthier lifestyle.

So here's the deal. For the next 12 days, I will eat only:
- Whole foods
- Lots of fruits and vegetables
- Dairy products, low or full fat (milk, eggs, cheese)
- 100% whole wheat and whole grains
- Locally raised lean meats (if available) like chicken and turkey
- Beverages limited to water, milk, all natural juices, tea, wine & beer sparingly
- Snacks like dried fruit, seeds, nuts and natural popcorn
- All natural sweeteners (honey, 100& maple syrup)
- Healthy fats (olive oil, avocado, natural nut butters -- sparingly)

I will not eat:
- Refined grains (white flour, white rice, etc.)
- Refined sweeteners (sugar, any form of corn syrup, can juice, splenda, etc.)
- Nothing out of a box, can, bag, bottle or package that has more than 5 ingredients on the label
- No deep fried foods

Additional Rules:
- I will blog all of my meals/snacks for the 12 day period
- I will exercise [at least!] 5 times in the 12 day period

Here's my shopping list for tonight:
Lettuce
Avocados
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Baby carrots
Yellow onion
Bell Pepper
Bananas
Oranges
Apples/berries (whatever is on sale)
Hummus
Pickles
Salad Dressing (balsamic)
Popcorn
Kidney beans
Pasta Sauce
Diced Tomatoes
Tomato Paste
Turkey (deli)
Ground turkey
Lean chicken breasts
Eggs
Whole wheat bread
Whole wheat pasta
Cereal (need to look around for this one)
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Fat free ricotta cheese

. Here are some very easy, repeatable meal ideas:
Breakfast:
- cereal w/ milk
- eggs & toast
- toast w/ peanut butter

Lunch:
- Tuna salad
- Salad (veggies & hard boiled eggs)
- Turkey sandwich
- Leftovers from dinner

Dinner:
- Turkey chilli
- Baked ziti
- Grilled chicken
- Breakfast for dinner (eggs)

I'm excited, but a little nervous! I have a couple of things in the next few weeks I'll have to be strategic about. But I think...scratch that, I KNOW this will be a big step in the right direction for me. Here we gooo!

Getaway to Portland, ME

Last weekend Tom whisked me away on a short two hour ride to Portland, Maine. The short trip was a surprise Christmas present, and felt more like a week-long vacation than just a quick overnight nearby! It was fantastic :)

Saturday:
We hit the road around 10 am with hopes to make it to Portland just in time for our 12 pm check-in. We stayed at the Downtown Waterfront Residence Inn. The hotel was great! The staff was friendly, the room was beautiful, the waterfront view was very nice (I imagine its gorgeous during the summer, it was pretty foggy while we were there), and it had a great location. Highly recommended.

Once we checked in we headed out for some food. We had dinner reservations later so we didn't want to fill up too much, so we went in search for oysters! We ended up at Js Oyster, a seafood hot-spot in the Old Port area.

The restaurant is basically a huge wraparound bar, and it was filled with locals when we walked in. Always a good sign! We managed to grab two seats together and ordered our first round of oysters.

Dark photo of round 1

We ended up ordering 3 baker's dozens (39 in total!) and could have easily went for more. We are oyster monsters! The quality of the oysters was different on each batch -- the second batch was delicious while the first was lacking.

Round 2!

Round 3, plus a bloody Mary

The oysters are really cheap, and you definitely get what you pay for. The staff cracks open the oysters for you, but it's your job to do the rest -- cutting through the muscle, removing any grit or shell, and getting rid of any little "extras" you might find.

Like a little crab!

After lunch we walked around Old Port, stopping in a variety of different specialty shops. Downtown Portland is so cute and the whole weekend was really reminiscent of Iceland for me. The combination of brick buildings, cobblestone, a blanket of snow covering everything and a foggy sky really brought me back to our time walking around Reykjavik.

At 4:00 it was time for our massage appointments!!! I was SO excited about this and really needed a massage. This was only the 2nd I've ever gotten and was a reminder that I should make somewhat regular massages a priority. The massage was perfect. That's all I'll say about that :)

After the massages we went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We had a 7:30 reservation at Street & Company and to say I was excited is an understatement! The restaurant is located on one of the small cobblestone side streets downtown. I loved that it felt equally modern and rustic at the same time and was thrilled that we were seated above the wide open kitchen.

We started the meal with some bread, butter, salt and in-house ground pepper! Yum. For just $4 Street & Co. offers a series of unique "tastes" -- we went with two: the Maine shrimp stuffed egg and the salt cod with peppers. Both were just delicious.

For our entree we of course went with the "Lobster Diavolo" for two. I knew what to expect from the dozens of photos of the dish on yelp but was still totally overwhelmed when it got to the table. A huge steaming pan was overflowing with linguine, clams, mussels, calamari and topped with a huge lobster split down the middle. A shellfish lover's dream! The spicy red sauce was delicious and all of the fish was cooked to perfection. Definitely one of the best shellfish meals I've ever had.

I thought I was too full for dessert (we decided to skip it at Street & Co.) but some unknown forced sucked me into the highly rated gelato shop down the street. We got a small specialty gelato to share -- it was a wonderful end to a wonderful day.

Sunday:
On Sunday we slept in, but still made it downstairs in time for the continental breakfast! Always a big feat for me and Tom.

After breakfast we went back upstairs to relax and get ready until check out. The Shipyard Brewery was right next to our hotel so we decided to stop in for a tour. It wasn't much of a tour, but it was still a very cool experience!

There was a short film (which we missed most of) and then we were taken to the bottling line. This was actually the first time I saw the bottling line in action and it was pretty cool to see.

Afterward we got to taste a bunch of their draft beers, many of which I hadn't tried before. I ended up buying a 4-pack of 22 oz bottles to take home with me!

From the brewery we walked over to Eventide Oyster Company for lunch. Yep, more oysters! We loved the restaurant as soon as we walked in. It was very small, with a main bar, a window bar and just 1 or 2 small tables. We grabbed two seats at the main bar overlooking the big oyster ice bed. So cool!

We started with 2 each of the Maine oysters. They were so delicious. You could definitely tell the difference between these oysters and the ones at Js!

We also ordered two lobster rolls (a hot and cold version) and a side of fried squashed fingerling potatoes. The portions were on the smaller side, but the quality of food was really wonderful.

We finished up with a homemade ice cream sandwich. Yummmmmm!!!

That finished up our little Portland getaway and it was back to Boston in time for the Golden Globes! I have two questions: why didn't someone tell Lena Dunham to get rid of her shoes? and where the F was Julia Roberts hiding??