7 posts tagged “healthy eating”

Tea Time

New Day...new tracking. Did our intrepid hero start off on the right foot? Did he scarf down massive amounts of chemically induced, pre-packaged and greasy foods?

I had a bowl of Cheerios and had Strawberries chopped into it.

Cheerios - (103 Calories, 21g Carbs, 3g Fiber, 12 GL)
Milk - (146 Calories, 13g Carbs, 0g Fiber, 9 GL)
Srawberries - (49 Calories, 12g Carbs, 3g Fiber, 3 GL)
Stash Spiced Chi Tea - (Pink Packet) - (0s across the board)

298 Calories/1600 Calories
24 GL/100 GL

Nice start... time to get some water, going to keep tanking down the H2O.

Turkey/chicken breast, ham & swiss and salami sandwiches

It is now time to back over my previous day and talk about what I had for lunch and dinner and see what the Glycemic Load was.

So for lunch I ended up going to this great sub place called Sub Depot. As there is only one of this place I am going to need to break this down into its core ingredients and attempt to figure this out.

I had a Turkey on Oat bread with tomatoes and red onions and had a light mayo on it.

Turkey - (66 Calories, 3g Carbs, 0g Fiber, 3 GL)
Oat Bread - (140 Calories, 24g Carbs, 2g Fiber, 12 GL)
Tomato - (4 Calories, 1g Carbs, 0g Fiber, 0 GL)
Red Onion - (11 Calories, 3g Carbs, 0g Fiber, 1 GL)
Romain Lettuce - (8 Calories, 2g Carbs, 1g Fiber, 1 GL)
Iceberg Lettuce - (10 Calories, 2g Carbs, 1g Fiber, 1 GL)
Light Mayo - (45 Calories, 1g Carbs, 0g Fiber, 0 GL)
Unsweetened Tea - (6 Calories, 0g Carbs, 0g Fiber, 0 GL)

In Total
Calories: 284
Carbs: 36g
Fiber: 4g
GL: 18

A load less than what I had at Starbucks and overall since this was my lunch this kept me full for many hours... this was worth it.

So at this point in the day I had a total GL of 71 and I had 712 Calories left over I could use.

So let's head for dinner time when my wife wanted to make me a nice salmon salad, which in hindsight is awesome. Instead we went the hamburger, potatoes and corn route cause I am a whiny bitch. I am almost afraid to figure this out.

Hamburger - 2 patties (NO bread) - (392 Calores, 0g Carbs, 0g Fiber, 0 GL)
Mashed Potatoes - 1 Serving - (174 Calories, 37g Carbs, 3g Fiber, 16 GL) *Whimper*
Corn - 2 Servings - (192 Calories, 44g Carbs, 4g Fiber, 18 GL)
Water - 16 Ounces (Not even worth putting here since it is all 0s and look at me I am still wasting time)

So I surpassed my daily intake by: 52 calories
My Glycemic Load by: 5

I succeeded in a different way however. Had I not been tracking, I would have surpassed this by an even greater amount and I see I should have gone with the nice salmon salad the wife offered to make for me. However, I do not feel guilty as I was careful during the day and was able to splurge on what I really loved at dinner time. With some fine tuning I can stay on target.

Also I succeeded in that on a sandwich I added something other than lettuce and mayo. I generally am NOT a fan of tomatoes or onions and I went ahead and added them...and then absolutely fell in love with the taste they brought to the sandwich.

Thursday night was my cheat day

For lunch, my bosses took me and a few others to Santa Fe, yes that place I went to a few weeks back, I ordered a salad and a steak.

Then at night the wife informed me that we are running low on food and we have to go grocery shopping... so last night we ordered pizza. I mean I had already killed my diet for the day sooo... might as well continue the cheat day.

BIG mistake.

BIG BIG mistake.

I woke up with a very sick stomach and I think I am single handedly the person responsible for Nashville's Air Alerts today.

So I am back on the right track, cheat day is over. I am now about to partake of my fruit bowl and my Smart Start cereal.

image.jpg

fresh coffee beans background

Ok, every morning I have a cup of French Vanilla Mocha Coffee from Nestle in this free machine we have at work. I noticed that most coffee, black, with nothing added has about 8 calories so I figured perhaps my coffee was about 20 calories with all of the added stuff I like in it.

This morning I went and got my coffee and then I googled it....

227 Calories per serving...

227!!!!

And on some days I have 2 cups.

I of course immediately dumped out my coffee without taking a single drink of it.

It is interesting to see that I learn something new every day and still I find stuff that is basically kicking my backside. No big deal however I will get the straight black coffee and purchase my own sugar substitutes and creamers and mix it my way.

I am still shocked however.

Baked Salmon

Last night I ate 1 serving of potatoes and 1 medium salmon fillet. However, I realized upon finishing my meal I was stuffed. Like gorged and in pain.

This was a shock to me, a pleasant one for certain, but still a shock.

I could easily pack away much more food than that in the past. But my changes are having some impact and that is awesome.

This morning I had a Canadian Bacon omelet made from egg whites and 2 pieces of toast. Again, I can pack away much more food than that... however I was once again very full.

This is fantastic news.

My exercise has all fallen by the wayside though, however I am going to get back into doing that... starting tonight. I will let you guys know how that goes.

Overall, while not giving many updates, I have mostly stuck to everything healthy. I am actually succeeding where I failed before.

I am staying away from those fatty meats and processed foods. My breakfasts on most days still contains a bowl of fruit and a serving of oatmeal.

Must keep going... a few more weeks of this healthy eating and I think it will be a permanent lifestyle change.

Dumbbells

I am almost embarrassed to show you the breakdown for the day.

But once I lay it out in the open I will tell you exactly how it happened.

Calories: 1733 (out of 1600) so I am +133
Protein: 58gms
Cholesterol: 259mgs
Fiber: 13gms

Ok, so it went a little overboard yesterday. I do not consider it failure however, I ahhhh... just succeeded at discovering what did not work. Yeah that's the ticket.

So how did this go bad?

I am a victim of being in between shopping days. I never paid much attention to fruits and vegetables until now. For me I have always been a steak and potatoes kind of a guy. Now that I am focusing on the healthy stuff and discovering something new I need to go and shop with the wife.

I have always had a problem finding what I will take with me for lunch, so the last shopping day I bought a box of hamburger patties. However, I did not realize until today how horribly bad those are. That is a TON of cholesterol. I ate them yesterday thinking that they could not be "That Bad". Let me tell you now, yes... yes they are "THAT BAD" if not worse. These are not lean at all and have 170 mgs of cholesterol in each one.

Now having enough fruits or veggies really did me in yesterday.

When I got home I played Dance Dance Revolution for 10-15 minutes and now my legs are sore. VERY sore. I think tonight I will ride the bike and then I have plans to walk on Friday, DDR on Saturday and then meet up with Potty Mouth on Sunday and we and our kids are going to walk the green in Nashville. Should be fun times.

I want to stress though that this food journal has helped me when other attempts at living healthy have failed. It is a daily reminder of what I am doing to myself... be it good or bad. I can adjust it and yesterday was just one of those learning days. This should not get you down if it happens to you. It happens... so what are you going to do next?

I need to eat healthier...and I refuse to go on a "diet". I like eating...

But what I want to do is step to the side and replace meals with healthier alternatives. But I have never been too fond of vegetables. Fruits I am ok with...

But I need recipes for meals that are healthy and tasty and include vegetables. I am normally a plain steak and potatoes kind of a guy...pastas too... spaghetti for instance. So I need meal ideas that are not too exotic yet... and what I mean by this is some kind of wierd salads filled with 15 different types of peppers... that just does not sound good to me...lol

So what do you recommend?