Breakfast
Slept in! Happy Labor Day!
Lunch
Chickfila Chicken Sandwich. Half of a small order of Chickfila fries. Two packages of chickfila sauce. A diet coke. A coke zero.
Snacks
Almonds. Leftover roasted cauliflower. Almonds. Almonds
Dinner
Oven baked pork chops with a little raspberry-chipotle glaze. Carrots. Garlic Spinach.
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Free Chickfila!!! That's right. Chickfila was running a promotion today where if you wore your favorite team logo you got a free chicken sandwich. After checking out the Chickfila nutritional information online (thank you!) we realized that if we split a fry, we could both get a sandwich and still be in our per meal carb range. (At the upper end of the range, but still in the range.) Having some fast food sure was good!
Also at lunch I hit up the diet drinks. I don't think I'll be doing this every day, but after some reading and research, I don't think it's going to kill me.
Dinner was our first across the board success here at home. The pork was good. The carrots were good. The garlic spinach was good. Yahoo for a good at home dinner!
Finally, today I really hit the almonds. They are a great snack. Super low in carbs. Salty. Crunchy. Filling. So far, they've proved to be a great chip replacement.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Mark Day #4 - Abuelos, Tabouli, and The Superstar: Cauliflower
Breakfast
A bowl of Cheerios
Lunch
Abuelos. A corn tortilla and salsa. Half a chicken breast (from Shevwan's meal) and half of a mexican salad with lettuce, shredded chicken, cheese, and beans. No chips!
Snacks
Cheese. Almonds. The other half of the lunch salad.
Dinner
Tortilla crusted tilapia. Roasted Cauliflower. Tabouli.
---
Lunch at Abuelos was pretty tough. First off, no nutritional info on the web and none in the restaurant. I think in this day and age there really isn't any reason not to do this, but if you don't want to provide that level of information about your product that's definitely your choice.
We have noticed that eating out either requires a good deal of planning ahead or some extra time with the menu. It's amazing how well we have trained our brain to filter these large menus based on taste preferences. Throwing estimated carb counts into the filter definitely slows things down a bit.
Also during lunch, there were at least 3 times that I started to reach for chips just out of impulse.
At dinner, I had my first taste of tabouli. It was ok, but there was something in there that I didn't quite love. (After looking at the ingredients, we think it was mint.) That said, I do enjoy trying new foods and I think tabouli will be fun to work with over coming weeks.
The culinary highlight of the day was definitely the roasted cauliflower. (My mom might just pass out if she saw the words "highlight" and "cauliflower" in a sentence written by me.) I think I even made the comment, "These are as good as french fries." Shevawn posted the recipe and it's definitely worth checking out.
A bowl of Cheerios
Lunch
Abuelos. A corn tortilla and salsa. Half a chicken breast (from Shevwan's meal) and half of a mexican salad with lettuce, shredded chicken, cheese, and beans. No chips!
Snacks
Cheese. Almonds. The other half of the lunch salad.
Dinner
Tortilla crusted tilapia. Roasted Cauliflower. Tabouli.
---
Lunch at Abuelos was pretty tough. First off, no nutritional info on the web and none in the restaurant. I think in this day and age there really isn't any reason not to do this, but if you don't want to provide that level of information about your product that's definitely your choice.
We have noticed that eating out either requires a good deal of planning ahead or some extra time with the menu. It's amazing how well we have trained our brain to filter these large menus based on taste preferences. Throwing estimated carb counts into the filter definitely slows things down a bit.
Also during lunch, there were at least 3 times that I started to reach for chips just out of impulse.
At dinner, I had my first taste of tabouli. It was ok, but there was something in there that I didn't quite love. (After looking at the ingredients, we think it was mint.) That said, I do enjoy trying new foods and I think tabouli will be fun to work with over coming weeks.
The culinary highlight of the day was definitely the roasted cauliflower. (My mom might just pass out if she saw the words "highlight" and "cauliflower" in a sentence written by me.) I think I even made the comment, "These are as good as french fries." Shevawn posted the recipe and it's definitely worth checking out.
Shevawn Day #4-Cauliflower is yummy...
DAY #4
Sunday... usually a quiche or something like that before church...nope! Not today... we stuck to it again!
Breakfast- Cheerios, 2 pieces turkey bacon, 3 oz. juice (this may only last 1 more day, and I'll have to move to egg whites or something...)
Snack- Cheese Stick (seeing a trend?)
Snack again (at the end of church)- 4 pieces watermelon
Lunch- THE HARDEST MEAL OF THE DAY- Where does everyone choose to go? Abuelos. One of my favs. But BRING IT! So, Mark and I did our best to get nutritional facts. The chips we knew we couldn't have, so we each had 1 corn tortilla w/ salsa (yummy), and we split a salad w/ shredded chicken and pinto beans, and a dish that had a chicken breast, veggies, and pinto beans (with the garlic butter sauce on the side)... not gonna lie, at one point I almost reached over to the girl's plate next to me and took a bite of her cheese enchilada, but it didn't seem appropriate. :)
Snack- Small cup applesauce
Snack- 10 almonds
Dinner- (to come)- Tortilla crusted tilapia (surprising low in carbs), tabouli wheat salad (to replace rice- Mark wasn't keen on it... it was a little "ethnic" for his taste), and roasted cauliflower (we eat this a lot and it is so very yummy... kind of like french fries) Here's the recipe for it:
Roasted Cauliflower Recipe (super easy and my husband loves it... that says a lot!)
Snack/ Dessert Plans: 1 cup of choco pudding... I am REALLY REALLY looking forward to this!
I don't know if this has anything to do with it or not, but in the past 2 days I have felt the baby move a ton more than normal. Perhaps she is having sugar withdrawals like mommy and daddy, or perhaps before, all the sugar/ carbs were putting her to sleep. Either way, it sure is a wonderful affirmation to feel her moving around and seemingly "happy." That's something I just love!!!
Happy Healthy Eating!
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Mark Day #3 - Needs Ketchup.
Breakfast
1 bowl of Cheerios (at 10:30! yahoo for sleeping in on Saturdays)
Lunch
Salad. Lettuce, black beans, tomatoes, avocado, cheese, and light chipotle ranch dressing.
Snacks
Grapes.
Dinner
Steak. Barley Mac and Cheese. Green Beans. Ketchup.
Dessert
Jr. Oreo Sundae from Sonic
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Today we made our first big grocery trip. It definitely took a long time to sort through all the foods and find stuff that would fit our new found restrictions. Surprisingly, checkout was actually cheaper than expected. We spent just under $100, which is high for a normal trip but not when you consider how many groceries we bought. Looking back on the trip we realized that many of the big carb items (chips, carb snacks, drinks) are also kind of expensive. We'll see if that trend holds up over several weeks.
Also, don't be fooled by dinner. It may look good on paper, but it was pretty bad. (I made it so it's ok for that kind of commentary from me.) We were out of propane so I did the steak on the stove top and it came out way too done and chewy.
Next, I was trying a mac and cheese recipe that used barley instead of macaroni and somewhere along the way I forgot to add milk. So the barley and cheese was a big fail.
This dinner monstrosity did give us the opportunity to check out the carb counts in our favorite condiments. There are 3 grams of carbs in a tablespoon of A1 and 4 grams in a tablespoon of ketchup. These carbs were well worth it on this meal!
After dinner we thought we deserved some dessert. We had only done about 20 carbs at dinner and right now we're allowed between 40 and 60 carbs for any meal. We checked out the Sonic nutritional facts online and their Jr. Sundaes fall between 22 and 27 grams of carbs so we opted for the lowest on the list, the Jr. Oreo Sundae. It was good and given the meal we had finished earlier, it tasted like a 5 star dessert.
So that was Day #3. Worth noting, Day #3 was the first Saturday of college football. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the Dr. Pepper, chips and queso, and wings that usually accompany this occasion. There's always next year! :)
1 bowl of Cheerios (at 10:30! yahoo for sleeping in on Saturdays)
Lunch
Salad. Lettuce, black beans, tomatoes, avocado, cheese, and light chipotle ranch dressing.
Snacks
Grapes.
Dinner
Steak. Barley Mac and Cheese. Green Beans. Ketchup.
Dessert
Jr. Oreo Sundae from Sonic
-----
Today we made our first big grocery trip. It definitely took a long time to sort through all the foods and find stuff that would fit our new found restrictions. Surprisingly, checkout was actually cheaper than expected. We spent just under $100, which is high for a normal trip but not when you consider how many groceries we bought. Looking back on the trip we realized that many of the big carb items (chips, carb snacks, drinks) are also kind of expensive. We'll see if that trend holds up over several weeks.
Also, don't be fooled by dinner. It may look good on paper, but it was pretty bad. (I made it so it's ok for that kind of commentary from me.) We were out of propane so I did the steak on the stove top and it came out way too done and chewy.
Next, I was trying a mac and cheese recipe that used barley instead of macaroni and somewhere along the way I forgot to add milk. So the barley and cheese was a big fail.
This dinner monstrosity did give us the opportunity to check out the carb counts in our favorite condiments. There are 3 grams of carbs in a tablespoon of A1 and 4 grams in a tablespoon of ketchup. These carbs were well worth it on this meal!
After dinner we thought we deserved some dessert. We had only done about 20 carbs at dinner and right now we're allowed between 40 and 60 carbs for any meal. We checked out the Sonic nutritional facts online and their Jr. Sundaes fall between 22 and 27 grams of carbs so we opted for the lowest on the list, the Jr. Oreo Sundae. It was good and given the meal we had finished earlier, it tasted like a 5 star dessert.
So that was Day #3. Worth noting, Day #3 was the first Saturday of college football. I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the Dr. Pepper, chips and queso, and wings that usually accompany this occasion. There's always next year! :)
Shevawn Day #3- Groceries and an interesting dinner...
DAY #3
Well, Saturday was Day 3, and here's how it turned out-Breakfast- Cheerios w/ 1% Milk, 2 pieces turkey bacon, 3 oz. Peach/Mango juice
Snack- 2% Cheese Stick
Lunch- Market Street Salad Bar- lettuce, tomatoes, small amt. of cheese, artichokes, red bell pepper, tobouli (small amt. of wheat salad), grilled chicken, oil and vinegar dressing, Iced Tea
Snack- Whole Wheat toast with a smear of peanut butter
Dinner- Steak, 1 tbspn AI (I love this stuff... I could eat it on anything), green beans, Barley and cheese (See Mark's blog for an explanation...), water
Dessert- Yes! Dessert! We had 20 carbs left from dinner, so we looked up nutritional facts in Sonic desserts, and our only option was the 20 carb Jr. Oreo Sundae... yummo! It was great!
Snack- Early dinner with less carbs = starving wife= 4 small pieces of watermelon :)
Overall a good eating day. A few things that "got us" were how many carbs were in our favorite desserts... don't get me started on DQ Blizzards and Sonic Hot Fudge Shakes! Also, we went to the grocery store, and here's what we were surprised by:
1. It didn't cost nearly as much as we thought to eat this way... we bought more veggies, fruits, and "non packaged" things, as well as 3 things of meat... hmmm....
2. It took a looonnnnngggg time to find lunch meals that were the right amount of protein for "McBaby Girl" and the right amount of carbs for one meal (45 g total for the whole meal). Next time you eat lunch (frozen or whatever...) just look at how many carbs are in that meal! It's tough!
3. College Football wasn't the same w/o wings, fries, and soda, so we'll have to come up with a way to enjoy the games "Diabetes" style. :)
4. There are a lot of options of what to eat out there; you just have to be creative and open minded!
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Shevawn Day #2
Well, Day 2 was tough, but it started off great. Mark got up early and made us a "diabetic friendly" breakfast.
Breakfast- Egg whites with salsa (because really w/o the salsa it was pretty sick), turkey bacon (I prefer this anyway, so no complaints there), about a drop of juice (this was tough b/c I LOVE juice. :(), and very whole wheat toast with simply jif peanut butter (not too bad)
Snack- 2% cheese stick (as always)
Snack again- grapes (always yummy)
Lunch- the only thing I really had in the fridge was a Lean Cuisine pasta, which didn't have too many carbs, spinach salad with very little cheese, tomatoes, and a vinegarette dressing (I eat this everyday, so no real changes here), and water (I missed my mini sprite at this point)
Snack- Apple sauce (no changes there)
Snack again- whole grain crackers (still something I've always eaten)
Dinner- Dickey's bbq brisket w/3 tblspns sauce (mmm...meat...), cucumber salad (I always get this, and green beans (I missed the potatoes)
Dessert- NOTHING (perhaps the saddest part of the night... :()
So really, looking back at today, I wonder, if most of this is stuff I'm already doing, why is my blood sugar so high??? So, tomorrow I will add back in my daily walks (I've just been so beat lately), and pay more attention at the grocery story and get snacks and meals that have less carbs. I think the dessert thing and the fact that every once in awhile I want something fried (hello... wings, chick-fil-a, french fries...uggghhh), that's gonna be challenging.
But, I will remain optimistic!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Mark Day #2 - Egg Whites, BBQ, and Missing Macaroni.
Breakfast #1
A mini bowl of Cheerios with Milk.
Breakfast #2
Scrambled egg whites w/ a little salsa
2 pieces of turkey bacon
1 piece of 100% wheat toast with peanut butter
Ok. Sometimes, I eat two breakfasts. When I get up even remotely early (6am this morning) I like to head straight to the computer to get at least an hour of work done. My body needs something to start churning on so I usually do a small bowl of cereal. It's enough to get things moving.
The toast and peanut butter plus the turkey bacon was pretty good. The peanut butter had good flavor and helped compensate for the dry texture of the 100% wheat bread. Turkey bacon, well that's meat. I like meat.
But Egg whites. Can't really say I've ever had them. Can certainly say I've never made them. Everything I'm reading says these are a good start to the day, but honestly, I'm gonna need some help with these. This morning I tried whisking them for a bit then scrabbling them with just a bit of salt and pepper. They weren't awful, but I wouldn't call them good. (Let's put it this way, I wouldn't serve them to guests.)
So, if you know anything about egg whites or how to make a high protein, low carb breakfast that is good, let me know.
Lunch
So lunch was the misstep of the day for me. I went out to the office (a rarity for this workathomeaholic) and we ended up at a local pizza/pasta place. I knew that staying away from the greasy pizza and pin wheels (they are oh so good) was probably a good bet. So a quick scan of the menu landed me on a Meatball Sandwich. I was thinking..."Ok a little bread, probably not great, but meatballs, some marinara sauces and a little parmesan cheese shouldn't be too bad." (I'm not even sure if that's right or not.) However, when I got the sandwich that was mostly bread, some good sized meatballs, a little marinara and a ton of cheese I knew that I wasn't going to get an "A" for lunch.
I only ate half the sandwich and revisited the rest for a 3pm snack. I don't know why I decided that was ok, but I did.
Snack
If I end up at the office on a Friday, I usually christen the weekend with a stop on the way home to get gas and a soda and a candy bar. Today I stopped for gas and I went in to find something to drink. A Diet Mountain Dew called out to me with a shiny can that claimed "0 cals, 0 carbs, 0 sugar" and I heeded the call. I know, I know. Aspartame causes the plague. But it's Friday, and like I told Shevawn, it's not like a bought a case of the stuff. Just one can.
Dinner
We still haven't diabeticized our pantry so another night of finding acceptable food from the local establishments. Tonight it was Dickies BBQ. I'm not gonna lie, I don't like Dickies all that much. There is so much better BBQ in the state that a trip to Dickies feels like a wasted opportunity. That said, it's close and they had meat. So I just had a serving of Brisket, 3 tbsp of barbeque sauce, a few green beans, a few slices of cucumber, and half a roll.
Two things really hurt with this meal. First was the BBQ sauce measuring. I do like me some BBQ sauce, but at 9g of carbs per 2 tbsp, measuring was a must. Actually 3 tbsp was a good amount and got most of my brisket well covered.
Second was skipping on the macaroni and cheese. I reaaaaallllllyyyyyy like macaroni and cheese. But Dickies rendition is definitely not diabetic friendly. (I will probably post more on this later.)
----
So that's Day #2. Not a home run, but I don't think it was a strike out.
A mini bowl of Cheerios with Milk.
Breakfast #2
Scrambled egg whites w/ a little salsa
2 pieces of turkey bacon
1 piece of 100% wheat toast with peanut butter
Ok. Sometimes, I eat two breakfasts. When I get up even remotely early (6am this morning) I like to head straight to the computer to get at least an hour of work done. My body needs something to start churning on so I usually do a small bowl of cereal. It's enough to get things moving.
The toast and peanut butter plus the turkey bacon was pretty good. The peanut butter had good flavor and helped compensate for the dry texture of the 100% wheat bread. Turkey bacon, well that's meat. I like meat.
But Egg whites. Can't really say I've ever had them. Can certainly say I've never made them. Everything I'm reading says these are a good start to the day, but honestly, I'm gonna need some help with these. This morning I tried whisking them for a bit then scrabbling them with just a bit of salt and pepper. They weren't awful, but I wouldn't call them good. (Let's put it this way, I wouldn't serve them to guests.)
So, if you know anything about egg whites or how to make a high protein, low carb breakfast that is good, let me know.
Lunch
So lunch was the misstep of the day for me. I went out to the office (a rarity for this workathomeaholic) and we ended up at a local pizza/pasta place. I knew that staying away from the greasy pizza and pin wheels (they are oh so good) was probably a good bet. So a quick scan of the menu landed me on a Meatball Sandwich. I was thinking..."Ok a little bread, probably not great, but meatballs, some marinara sauces and a little parmesan cheese shouldn't be too bad." (I'm not even sure if that's right or not.) However, when I got the sandwich that was mostly bread, some good sized meatballs, a little marinara and a ton of cheese I knew that I wasn't going to get an "A" for lunch.
I only ate half the sandwich and revisited the rest for a 3pm snack. I don't know why I decided that was ok, but I did.
Snack
If I end up at the office on a Friday, I usually christen the weekend with a stop on the way home to get gas and a soda and a candy bar. Today I stopped for gas and I went in to find something to drink. A Diet Mountain Dew called out to me with a shiny can that claimed "0 cals, 0 carbs, 0 sugar" and I heeded the call. I know, I know. Aspartame causes the plague. But it's Friday, and like I told Shevawn, it's not like a bought a case of the stuff. Just one can.
Dinner
We still haven't diabeticized our pantry so another night of finding acceptable food from the local establishments. Tonight it was Dickies BBQ. I'm not gonna lie, I don't like Dickies all that much. There is so much better BBQ in the state that a trip to Dickies feels like a wasted opportunity. That said, it's close and they had meat. So I just had a serving of Brisket, 3 tbsp of barbeque sauce, a few green beans, a few slices of cucumber, and half a roll.
Two things really hurt with this meal. First was the BBQ sauce measuring. I do like me some BBQ sauce, but at 9g of carbs per 2 tbsp, measuring was a must. Actually 3 tbsp was a good amount and got most of my brisket well covered.
Second was skipping on the macaroni and cheese. I reaaaaallllllyyyyyy like macaroni and cheese. But Dickies rendition is definitely not diabetic friendly. (I will probably post more on this later.)
----
So that's Day #2. Not a home run, but I don't think it was a strike out.
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