For the love of cereal

        Of all the things that I've been having trouble cutting out, I have found my cereal to be the most difficult. Beer and cupcakes and chips have been also hard, but I never realized how much I actually go through cereal.... I was told to cut gluten/soy/dairy. I was given a very specific plan with approved food lists and meals. I have obviously been having trouble sticking to the plan. This week may give it a shot because it's recovery week. I noticed that with my workouts averaging 15hours a week, the portions were not enough, but this week is less, so will give it a shot again.
      Back to my love of cereal. Since I can remember Honey Nut Cherrios have always been a favorite. I was told if I'm going to eat starchy carbs, go gluten free- I'm not allergic to it, but after the most disgusting cereal experience I've ever had, I started looking at the nutrition labels and starting thinking why? The gluten fre had more calories and more carbs per serving- but my favorite Honey Nut more sugar. Again, I sat there thinking why? I decided that Ironman is my goal this year, but an occasional bowl of delicious honey nut cherrios is not going to destroy my race. I will continue to make good choices about what I fuel up with, how much I'm eating, and the effefts it has on my body and energy, but Mr. Honey Bee- I'm glad you're back in my life.

Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

Had an extra can of pumpkin from the Thai Style Chicken Pumpkin Soup so thought I would try this out. Not bad, tastes a bit like pumpkin bread.
I also added a little molasses for some more flavor- and I didn't have "pumpkin spice" available so used this recipe for pumpkin spice:
Measure 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon into a small bowl or cup.
Makes 1 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice.
Add 1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger.
Add 1/8 teaspoon of ground allspice or ground cloves.
Add 1/8 teaspoon of ground nutmeg.
Stir to blend. (makes 1 tsp of pumpkin spice blend)
I followed the rest of the recipe pretty closely (only I doubled it)
ORIGINAL RECIPE:
Paleo Pumpkin Muffins from PaleoPlan.com
Makes 6 muffins.
Approximate cooking time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
1½ cups almond flour
3/4 cup canned pumpkin (or cook and puree pumpkin yourself)
3 large eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup raw honey (optional)
2 tsp almond butter
1 Tbs sliced almonds
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350℉.
Coat 6 muffin tins with coconut oil (or use paper muffin cups and add 1/2 tsp melted coconut oil to batter).
Mix all ingredients and pour evenly into tins.
Bake for 25 minutes on the middle rack.
Sprinkle almonds on top immediately after taking them out of the oven.

Lox and Eggs

Inspired by breakfast at Eleven City Dinner with Henry, made this tasty breakfast. Again, cheated the portions.

-2 eggs, with yolks
-About 1/2 cup of fresh smoked salmon, cut into chunks
- 1/2 cup spinach
- 1/4 cup of Almond Milk
- Salt to taste
-TBSP olive oil.

Basically hit up a small frying pan with oil. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl. Fry in pan, could have been scrambled, but did it more omlette style, hold the cheese, flipping once a little brown and cooked. The rice crackers were instead of toast, and only had 3- adjustment from usual love of toast and butter and jam with my egg breakfasts.

more pre-Melissa- not terrible, but better

This was a summer salad I put together. Had the right idea, but should have left the blue cheese out. NO DAIRY. At all. It's for the best. Pretty tasty salad!

Salad included-
-Baby Spinach
- Garbanzo Beans
- Crumbled Blue Cheese- mistake!
- Smoked Salmon
- Glazed Nut mix
- Tomatoes
- Bacon Bits
- Honey Mustard Dressing


This actually would be Melissa approved.
-8oz smoked chicken sausage with portabella mushrooms
-Quinoa with brown rice pilaf
- Sauteed Spinach.

Nothing fancy- basically sauteed sausage with garlic and onion, made the grain and spinach and mixed everything together.  I used too much olive oil this time, note to self, ease up next time or move sausage to a paper towel before mixing in with grain.

Pre-Melissa

I'm titling this "Pre-Melissa" because in the first few meetings with meeting with Melissa, from physiolife.  http://www.physiolifestudios.com/
I've already learned a ton of info and I'm hopeful. I've said I could never diet, but going to give this an actual shot. If it means feeling better it's worth a shot. So including these dishes, but again, these are all pre-Melissa. Not all that terrible, but for sure have some adjustments to make!

Carbo- whoa.
Buca di Bippity Boppity Boop.
Tray of Pumpkin Ravioli, Chicken Penne Artichoke, Green Beans and Mashed Potatoes. Yup. Did I eat this all on one sitting? Almost. Yikes. Delicious? Absolutely. No more starchy carbs- Unless it's gluten free according to Melissa. Sigh. Ok, again going to give it an honest shot. That's going to be trickiest, trying to say good bye to gluten. I won't say that I won't cheat every once and a while. But my days of starch starch starch have to end. She noted patterns in my glucose / sugar levels and tied it to my energy levels and my thyroid. My constant hunger- before, during, and after workouts was not because I was not eating enough, but really because of what I was eating. So again, trying different foods/habits in hopes that the constant hunger subsides and that the energy levels go up. I need to remember that if I am hungry, that it's my body burning fat. "Belly fat" more specifically- the target area and focus for the next four weeks.


Adjusting the smoothies- Bye Bye Soy
One of the first things that Melissa pulled was soy. She noted that it has probably been interfering with my synthroid for my hypothyroidism- which levels were super high last time, hence the constant desire for a nap.
So yup, no more Soy milk either- only Almond, Rice or Coconut.
So while I will still be doing the smoothies, I threw away the soy powder to replace with a different protein powder. I have also been visiting the yummy juice bar peeled. Yes, it's expensive, but they have delicious ingredients and have dairy free milk options like Almond Milk and Coconut Milk. They also have Hemp powder available.

http://getpeeled.com/?page_id=62

Greek Yogurt!

My new favorite breakfast has been greek yogurt, with fresh fruit, and granola. Yes I know, it's more expensive than standard yogurt, but it has more protein- 14g in one cup :) Usually the kind with added fruit have more added sugar- (but are tastier)- but the plain fat free vanilla is also good. I sometimes add just natural honey also.