Lola: Day 1. chapter 2

Day 1.  Chapter 2.

Like so many other dieters, I have bits and pieces of different diets running through my head and it becomes blurry.  Eat only proteins, eat whole grain, food combining principles of eating vegetables and whole grains together. Eating proteins with whole grains.   Eat fruit alone.  No fruit at all.  Eat beans and rice.  Oy vey!   Paleo.... I mean this whole thing makes sense doesn't it?  Eating cleaner, less processed foods to help your body run better.   You wouldn't put sand in your gas tank and expect it to run well, do you?   The more the food is to its natural state..the better is it for you.  The foods we have become accustomed to eating are for convenience. Work keeps us busy, families keep us busy and the store shelves are filled with foods that take 5 minutes to prepare..from box to table!   I've never been a frozen food meal maker or a boxed mac and cheese kind of girl.  I cook.  I like to cook.  I bake.  However my good intentions of feeding my family healthy meals may have been misguided.  Pastas, homemade breads and cinnamon rolls, cookies biscotti, homemade cornbreads....and the list goes on. 

My goal is to take my usual homemade food recipes and tweak them to be healthier, smarter, more Paleo friendly.   Italian wedding soup now is pasta free.  Chicken Noodle soup will be chicken vegetable.  Minestrone will not have pasta but extra zucchini.  Cheese is going to be a struggle for me.  I use Parmesan, Feta... and other strong cheeses for salads.    I love fresh vegetables.  I love salads.  Ive lived dairy free before. (Ive always been a firm believer in the not drinking milk.  No other animal does..why do we??!)  When thinking back to the time in my life that I had the most energy, was at my ideal weight and  felt the most empowered..I was eating Paleo and didn't even know it.  It was prior to meeting my ex husband.... (that could be why also, but I am focusing on the food right now..bear with me.)  I ate vegetables, lean proteins, soups, salads and no dairy.    My head was clear, my face was clear, I was lean and a force to be reckoned with.  I miss that woman.

That brings us back to : PALEO. 

I am on chapter 2.   I have been reading information on the internet as well so I decided to jump right in.   

Spinach and chicken meatball soup for breakfast, more for lunch along with some chicken salad..sauteed chicken tenderloins and mushrooms for dinner.   I am not a big breakfast eater so some kind of  soup may be my choice every day.

I don't know all the details of it so far.  I haven't given up my coffee with sugar free creamer yet. (YET).   I confess I had a few Wilbur milk chocolate Buds. (google it ...they are tasty !)  But overall, I have been satisfied and may even say 'energized'.   I did laundry, yard work, shopping and didn't take a nap!  My feet are still sore, my body still sore overall (in my defense I did just walk a bazillion miles on vacation...okay..that's a stretch.  Maybe it was only a million miles.)   The main thing I noticed was I wasn't logy, overfull, overly cranky or overly bitchy.  -Can I say that here :)

I worked ahead a bit on my food (prepping is everything right?).  I bought a head of cauliflower, cleaned and cut it for snacks and salads. I cooked turkey sausage for tomorrows breakfast along with eggs for tomorrow.   Lettuce is cleaned and cut in the frig.    Tomorrow after work I will poach more chicken, boil some eggs for salad and cook some turkey burgers for turkey burger salad. (just like a hamburger without the bun...see what I did there..?! )

Also thought about taking some leftover poached chicken and making a chicken taco salad sans sour cream, cheese and shell. 

On my immediate grocery list is Almond butter to go with apples for snacks.  

Overall, I think today was a success.  :)