What am I eating? How is it different from before?

So, I've been at it for a month now and I'm feeling GREAT! In a few weeks I go in for a dreaded blood draw to see if my thyroid is back to normal, and then 6 weeks after that, the doctor will check my blood glucose level. I don't know what I'll see, but I'm doing everything in my power to make it better.

Again, I don't consider myself dieting. I am simply eating better. I'm eating low carb, eating for hunger and exercising to make myself fit. This is something I am trying to do for the rest of my life.

But how is it different from what I was doing before? Well, I always had 'mostly' a good diet. I would eat a typical breakfast - bread (homemade) and peanut butter and coffee with milk. Then I would not be so good for lunch and snacks - chips for snacks, a banana maybe, sometimes a sandwich, maybe some cookies or cake like thing, but usually I was drawn to salty things. Chips were probably my nemesis. I ate them nearly every day. Then for dinner, we would eat something very healthy, lots of  veggies, beans/lean meat, and a starch. Usually a couple hours after dinner we would have tea and the boys would eat a snack, but I usually didn't. And I rarely exercised.

To change, now I don't eat simple starches and sugars. No more bread, rice, simple sugars like cake or other desserts, and very limited amounts of potato and high protein/high fiber pasta. So, obviously, bread with peanut butter for breakfast was out, chips for lunch/snacks is out, and the starch at dinner is out. For dinner I make the same meal for myself that I feed the rest of the family, just omitting the starch for me and their dinner hasn't changed at all. And, the big change is adding in exercise - an hour every day.

Here are a some typical meals for me now, and I'm loving it, not feeling starved or deprived. I'm eating things I enjoy and are good for me and I'm eating on average 1700 calories a day. I write everything down on an iphone app and I have been for a month. Some days I'm hungrier and eat 2000 calories, other days I'm not very hungry and I consume 1500 calories, but most days I tend to settle into the 1700s and I feel great. Oh, and I no longer drink coffee in the morning. Instead I drink a protein shake that I blend up in the morning. I gave up the diet cola too, but sometimes I still yearn for a soda, so I drink a caffeine free diet soda, but many times I opt for water or sparkling water instead. Before I started this, almost any water I drank I would usually mix 1/2 cup of cranberry juice with 14 ozs of water, but I've elinated all juices too, even in that small quantity. So, here's a summary of how I'm eating:

Breakfast -

• high protein, low carb chocolate shake
• orange or clementine or minneola

Second Breakfast -

• 2 scrambled eggs with a bit of sauted onion, 1 baby potato, chopped, perhaps a single sausage patty OR 2 scrambled eggs with bean sprouts, and onion OR 2 scrambled eggs with cheese and green pepper, etc.

Lunch/Late Snack (since I eat twice in the morning, I don't have a formal lunch) -

• 4 tbsp. hummus with a cup or more of raw veggies, carrots, cawliflower, peppers, etc OR an apple with cinnamon and 2 tbsp peanut butter OR hearty veggie homemade soup OR a high protein, low carb nutrition bar

Snack before dinner (if I need it)-

• 1/2 cup of nuts or handful of baked lentil chips

Dinner -

• 5 ozs chicken breast with spices, 2 cups of kale OR 5 ozs of pork loin, and a huge cabbage salad OR lentils stew/soup with lots of veggies, OR stir fry veggies with meat/tofu,  OR 6 oz fish with huge plate of steamed veggies, etc.

Late night snack - (almost NEVER happens)- 

• an apple sprinkled with cinnamon with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (if I haven't had it earlier in the day)

I'm rediscovering foods I had forgotten about, like hummus. That stuff is delicious! Why wasn't I grabbing that before, instead of chips or a cookie? I found some great low carb, high fiber, high protein nutrition bars, why didn't I buy those before for quick snacks or a sweet tooth fix? They are chock full of nutrients and taste pretty good! And, by eating so many sweet things every day, I lost touch with how sweet fruits taste. I had blueberries the other day and they were exquisite. Before, I would have found them to be somewhat bland (though I ate them).

And there are sweets and stuff in the house. The other day I bought donuts for the kids, which I rarely do, but Adrian was asking for them. We always have ginger snaps, mini chocolate wheat cereal, jams/preserves, and I still make homemade bread for everyone. So far, seeing them isn't bothersome.

So, if you've been curious about my eating, there you have it!

Stats for 2/5/11:

Weight - Beginning: 255.6    Now: 246.4
Walked it Out - 112.5 miles
Exercise hours: 32:35