Bentobsessed.

I have a problem.

I suffer from a major weakness for fun lunch containers.

On Saturday, I was at one of my favourite stores, Fenigo, "just browsing." Lately I've been looking at lots of pictures (and some youtube videos) of bento-style lunches, and when I saw some cute Japanese bento boxes at Fenigo, I just couldn't resist. I bought one for myself, and one to give my sister as a thank-you for all of the times she's taken me out to practice my driving.

On Sunday, we met for one last practice session before my road test on Thursday (yes, THURSDAY! Aaaahhhhh). I decided to pack us a fun picnic lunch in our new bento boxes. First, I set out all of my bento ingredients:

I followed this tutorial on Youtube to make hatching chicks from hardboiled eggs. Look, I know they're deformed, but it was my first attempt:

Lettuce for the eyes and carrot for the lips!

In the boxes were pinwheel sandwiches, carrot and cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, the hardboiled eggs/hatching chicks, grapes, strawberries cut to look like hearts, and mini cinnamon buns in silicone baking cups. Oh, and cheesestrings to really bring things to the next level. (And some fun animal toothpick things that I had lying around in a cupcake-making kit.)

 Here are the boxes all closed up:

Mine is the yellow one!

 I packed the bentos (and some extra food...) in my big cooler bag, and was on my way.

I'm pleased to say the bento boxes were a hit! My sister was very impressed. We've since decided that everything we eat from now on has to be out of a bento.

In other food news, a few weeks ago I discovered a really cool meal delivery service here in Waterloo called Food Naturally. It's run by holistic nutritionist Dana Rourke. You have the option of ordering one or two portions of three different meals. The meals are vegetarian and gluten-, sugar-, and dairy-free (not to mention made from scratch with whole foods!). As you know, I often find it EXTREMELY difficult to garner the motivation to do as much cooking as I should. Sometimes, I also have trouble thinking of interesting, healthy meals to cook. So, this meal service sounded like the perfect occasional treat.

I tried it for the first time a few weeks ago and loved it. When I saw the meal plan for this coming week, I knew I had to order again. I picked up my meals for the week this evening:

I received two big, delicious salads; two servings of falafels with brown rice, millet tabbouleh, hummus, and tahini sauce; and lots of tomato soup. She also included some complimentary granola! I had the falafel meal for dinner tonight and it was FANTASTIC.

Ordering the meals is obviously more expensive than making the food myself, but it's no more expensive than buying my lunch everyday (which I was doing just a few weeks ago... as well as buying many unhealthy breakfasts and dinners). I think it's definitely worth it to give myself a break once in awhile and still enjoy lots of super-healthy food. :)

Well, it's almost my bedtime! I'm meeting my trainer at 7:00 am tomorrow - which is better than our usual time of 6:45, but not by much... Toodles!

Back to cooking

Hi folks! So, it's been three days of healthy cooking and eating, and I feel great. I have energy, my stomach isn't having any issues, and I have that smug I'm so healthy feeling. I have willpower of steel and can't imagine ever going back to my old ways (of, you know, last week). Might as well enjoy it while it lasts, right? ;)

Ever since my awesome results from following the Eat to Live program for 6 weeks last summer, I have been "planning" to get back to a similar way of eating. I have had a few false starts, where I bought some groceries or cooked a few big meals to freeze and have on hand, but nothing has stuck. Instead, I've found myself buying practically every meal out for the past little while... and now I'm more or less back at my highest weight ever. And I refuse to buy any more new pairs of pants!

I decided to eliminate the planning/thinking step of eating healthy and try out a 7-day meal plan from Happy Herbivore. I have two Happy Herbivore cookbooks, and really like Lindsay's blog. The meal plans are plant-based and low-fat. I haven't been cooking lately and I wanted to learn some go-to, easy dishes that don't involve meat or cheese. Since I live alone, it's easy to get stuck eating the same thing over and over again (and getting sick of it and ordering a pizza instead). The meal plan is designed for one person and most of the recipes are just one or two servings (she also has a family option).

I am not following the plan exactly (which was my original intention), but I'd say I'm doing a pretty good job! I'm mostly just having oatmeal for breakfast, and I've switched around some of the lunches and dinners, but other than that I've been sticking to it pretty closely.  Here are some of my eats from the past few days:

Lentil and sweet potato stew. This was surprisingly good. However, I didn't use low-sodium vegetable broth like I was supposed to, and it did taste rather salty.

Salad, broccoli, and macaroni (brown rice pasta) and "cheese." I didn't use Lindsay's recipe for the "cheese" because I was missing one of the ingredients (yellow miso). I used a recipe I found online instead and I did NOT like it. I think it was because of all the nutritional yeast. I ended up rinsing the sauce off and eating the pasta by itself...

Moroccan stew, with chickpeas, carrots, and potatoes. This stew was amazing and so simple to make! 

 

Tonight for dinner, I had Veggie Pot Pie with biscuits on top. SO delicious and quick to make! I added some frozen spinach that wasn't called for in the recipe because hey, why not?

For the most part, I'm really enjoying the recipes. The best part is that everything is fast and easy to prepare.

I think I will get the new meal plan for next week, and just see how things go for now. I'm not going to be too strict with myself. I know I won't be home for the next two weekends, and I might eat a bad meal or two. But hopefully that won't derail me!

Toodles!

Eat to Live Days 37-42

First of all, I have to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone for your really kind comments and congratulations on my last post. I will be starting my new job in Waterloo two weeks from today... eep! In those two weeks, I have to find a place to live, move, finish out the semester at my current job... and probably a million other things. I am feeling slightly anxious about it, but I'm mostly really, really excited. Andrea commented: "It'll be awesome for you to settle into some real routine and stability after this crazy year you've had." I couldn't agree more! This past year has been the most difficult year of my life. I'm excited for a change of scenery, a new routine, and a fresh start. :)

I spent the long weekend at my family's cottage. I can't lie, it was a challenge sticking to my eating plan up there. Usually, I eat whatever I want at the cottage. I just HAVE to go get an ice cream cone in town, or stop at the chip wagon at every opportunity, because it just feels so cottagey and fun... but thankfully, this weekend I didn't do either of those things.

I even managed to get something healthy at a fast-food place on the drive up! We stopped at a Harvey's/Swiss Chalet, and I got a baked potato, garden salad without dressing, and steamed vegetables.

While at the cottage, I managed to snap a couple of pics of my meals:

A toasted avocado and tomato sandwich with a spinach & berry smoothie (doesn't everyone bring a blender to the cottage?).

Oatmeal with natural peanut butter.

Sweet potato fries, salad, and a corn-black bean-onion-tomato creation.

All in all, I'm very pleased with how I did this weekend. And.... I finished the 6 weeks! I survived!! I brought my scale along for my final weigh-in:

Starting Weight: 262.7 pounds
Week 1 Weight: 255.9 pounds
Week 2 Weight: 251.0 pounds
Week 3 Weight: 246.8 pounds
Week 4 Weight: 245.1 pounds
Week 5 Weight: 243 pounds
Final Weight: 238.9 pounds

I am THRILLED, guys. In 6 weeks, I lost 23.8 pounds. I am almost fitting into clothes that I was wearing in... December (I gained this weight quite quickly, haha).

I should mention that I did not follow the plan in the Eat to Live book perfectly. I might go into more detail on this in a future post. But essentially, I avoided meat, dairy, sugar, oil, and processed food. I did not restrict starches as much as the book suggests (or at all, really).

Today was my first restriction-free day. Did I go crazy? No! My plan for the immediate future is to eat almost like how I was eating for the 6 weeks. I may have animal products 2-3 times a week, and I will definitely have big splurges from time to time. But I really need to make those splurges rare. I  don't want to count calories or points, so I'm not going to for now. I will keep weighing myself, and reassess my eating plan as necessary.

Lately, I feel very aware that every bit of food I put in my mouth makes a difference. I have gotten used to looking at ingredients on everything, packing my lunch every day, and eating whole foods. I'm hoping these habits stick. We shall see!

I definitely want to keep blogging, too. The next few weeks will be hectic, with the move and the new job. But I will do my best to keep you all updated!

Bye for now!

Eat to Live Days 26-28

Well, I certainly had a jam-packed weekend! On Friday, I headed out of town to visit some family (including my cousin's new baby!). I knew I'd probably be gone until Saturday, so I decided to plan ahead to make sure I didn't stray from my healthy eats.

First of all, I had a big breakfast - a green smoothie AND some oatmeal.

Then I packed up a ton of food:

Salad, raspberry balsamic vinegar, leftover soup, black beans, avocado, tomato, homemade salsa, and some chopped up red and yellow peppers. While out of town, I must admit that I ate several sandwiches, BUT they were all on oil-free, whole grain bread. When everyone else had grilled halibut or fish and chips for dinner Friday night, I ordered a garden salad with no dressing (and added my own balsamic vinegar).

On Saturday morning, I had the opportunity to go to a local farmers market! Not only did I resist all the delicious baked goods that were for sale, I bought lots of healthy, delicious produce.

I got fresh corn on the cob, peppers, tomatoes, garlic, carrots, and Ontario peaches. Not too shabby!

On the way home to Toronto on Saturday, I was struck with how, in the past, being out of town would have been a great "excuse" for me to splurge. I honestly would have had a muffin or donut or bagel at every opportunity, as well as splurged on fish and chips and other goodies. Even if I was on Weight Watchers, I would have eaten whatever I wanted and selectively tracked it (or not...) afterwards. If nothing else, this experiment is showing me that there are truly NO excuses! Because I had committed to eating a certain way, it didn't even really take willpower. I just felt I had no other choice but to eat well. :)

When I got home yesterday evening, I was starving. I quickly threw together a healthy meal of tofu scramble and cauliflower (with a couple of leftover pieces of broccoli).

This morning, I hopped on the GO train to Port Credit to meet some of my bestest university friends for brunch. We went to Cora's. Now, let me just say that brunch is possibly my favourite meal of the day. I LOVE going out for brunch and ordering a huge platter of eggs, toast, homefries, and sausage (not to mention several cups of coffee!).

This morning, I knew I couldn't do that. I stuck to a hot water with lemon and a fruit platter.

This dish usually comes with toast, but I actually called ahead to the restaurant to find out if there was any oil or dairy in their bread (there was oil). This way, I didn't have to ask the waitress and make a big deal of it at the restaurant - I just said I didn't want any toast.

Eating so strictly is teaching me that it's possible to speak up at restaurants (or phone ahead) to make sure my needs are accommodated. I still don't think it's easy, and I still haven't tried to make requests that my food be prepared a certain way... but maybe I'll get there!

Tonight, I needed something hearty, simple, and delicious for dinner. The solution: another giant batch of chili.

SO delicious. I ate it with some corn on the cob from the farmers market (while watching the season finale of The Bachelorette!!!!!).

That's Better Butter on the side!

And so ends the fourth week. I'm two-thirds done! I must admit, I'm a bit nervous for tomorrow's weigh-in. I did eat a LOT of bread this weekend, and I'm worried I've been overdoing it with the nuts, too. We shall see!

Night all!

Eat to Live Days 23-25

Hello all! I don't work on Fridays right now, so Thursdays are my favourite day of the week. :)

I'm also having a good day food-wise. I just ate an incredibly delicious dinner:

The last of my mom's chili (from the freezer) and a baked potato. But what's that on my baked potato? It looks like butter... but no - it's Better Butter!!!

When my aunt found out I was following a plant-based diet for a few weeks, she very kindly sent me some recipes (at times in her life, she's been a vegan). I heard stories that when her daughters were growing up, they would beg for Better Butter! I was anxious to try it for myself.

Cornmeal, nutritional yeast, and unsweetened coconut.

First I brought 1/4 cup of cornmeal and 1 cup of water to a boil. Then I lowered the heat and stirred until it thickened a bit.

Into the blender it went, along with 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast, 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut, and 1/2 cup water. (The recipe called for salt, too, but I omitted it.)

Then I chilled it for awhile, and it was ready for my baked potato! I quite liked it. It mostly tasted like coconut, but it totally had a buttery consistency and overall... essence.

Believe it or not, that's not the only exciting thing I made today. I also made an attempt at peanut butter! And it was SUCCESSFUL!

Just raw peanuts in the Magic Bullet, baby. Mmmmmmmmm.

But I needed a vehicle for my peanut butter. I also needed to do something with the kale I bought a couple of days ago. Can you guess what I made?

Kale chips, of course! I've only made kale chips once before, and I didn't love them (I think I was expecting them to be as good as potato chips). I was determined to try again. I mixed about 2 tablespoons of my homemade peanut butter with two big bowls of kale. I put the kale on parchment paper in the oven at 170 degrees (the lowest setting) with the door open, and left it until the kale was totally dried out (about an hour and a half).

I really enjoyed this (in fact, I'm eating some as I type this post). All in all, a wonderful day in my kitchen. PLUS my most recent pair of jeans (bought in January to replace jeans I'd "outgrown") are not as painfully tight as they were a few weeks ago! :D

Just over two weeks left in this adventure. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to the end...

Have a good night!

Eat to Live Day 15

It's late, so I'm going to make it snappy.

I was excited to step on the scale this morning to see my Week 2 results. I wasn't disappointed:

Starting Weight: 262.7 pounds
Week 1 Weight: 255.9 pounds
Current Weight: 251.0 pounds

I lost 4.9 pounds since last week, and I've lost 11.7 pounds in total! Not too shabby! :D

I was in a big hurry this morning, so I took my breakfast green smoothie to go:

I brought a delicious lunch to work--leftover chili pinto beans on brown rice, along with my homemade salsa from yesterday:

I also had a juicy nectarine and some strawberries for dessert.

I threw dinner together quickly, but it worked out well. I tried to include LOTS of veggies, and I think I was successful!

I made a salad using the leftover dressing I had from my Whole Foods salad on Saturday, along with some raw green pepper, carrots, and baked zucchini. I also ate some leftover chili with the last two No-Meat Balls from last week. Very filling!

Of course, I couldn't eat dinner without dessert...

Have a good night, all!

Eat to Live Days 13-14

I've made it through two weeks of the Eat to Live program! (More or less - sometimes I overdo it on the grains, nuts, salt, and avocado.) Only four more weeks go to.

I feel like I spent my entire weekend grocery shopping, food planning, and cooking. Maybe because I did...

On Saturday, I decided to make good use of my TTC metropass and go to a few health food stores. I started out at Whole Foods, where I had big plans to treat myself to an expensive salad from their salad bar. I was pleased to find that they offer many salads and dressings that are oil-free! Perfect!

I don't even know what all I piled on there! There were lots of greens, some grains, and an oil-free avocado dressing. I only managed to eat half for lunch, and saved the rest for dinner. After my stop at Whole Foods, I headed over to my old neighbourhood in the east end. I went to Strictly Bulk at Pape and Danforth to pick up some pinto beans, raw cashews, raw peanuts, and almond milk. Then, since I was in the area, I wandered over to The Big Carrot.

After going to three different stores, you'd think I would be done with grocery shopping. Not the case! I still needed a tonne of produce, so I went to the regular grocery store Saturday evening. Then it was time to start cooking!

I made black bean burgers for dinner on Saturday, with the plan to bring one to the barbecue I had to attend today. However, they didn't turn out that great (I wasn't really following a recipe).

I was feeling very anxious about going to this barbecue--I felt awkward about bringing my own food, and I wasn't sure how to explain it to people. I even had a dream last night where I ate a hamburger (and subsequently felt guilty about it)!

Today, I started cooking as soon as I woke up. I really wanted to tackle this recipe for taco salad. I cooked pinto beans with lots of spices and I also made my own salsa!!! I was so impressed with myself. Turns out, it's not even difficult!

I piled loads of pinto beans, salsa, and avocado on some romaine lettuce for lunch.

It was delicious!! I also cooked up a big batch of brown rice to eat throughout the week.

But I still had the matter of the family barbecue to deal with. I had emailed my aunt in advance to let her know that I was avoiding fat and oil due to my gallbladder issues, and that I would be bringing my own food to eat. I decided to abandon the mediocre black bean burgers I made last night, and made a burrito using the pinto beans and salsa I had for lunch.

I'm pleased to say the barbecue was a success! No one questioned me eating my own food, and my aunt even had a plain salad ready for me to eat. Also, my bean burrito was so delicious I didn't miss the burgers and hot dogs that everyone else was eating!

I was shocked to realize that I didn't feel deprived--even when everyone else was eating cookies and ice cream for dessert (I had a banana). On a normal day, at this kind of event, I would have been tortured by the cookies and ice cream. I would agonize over the plate of cookies, wondering how many Weight Watchers Points each one was, and if people would think I was eating too much if I took another one (and another one, and another one...). Tonight, I was just able to enjoy the conversation and not think about food at all. I'd already made the decision about what I was eating, and I could actually focus on other things. It was great! So, in sum, I worried for nothing (as usual).

Stay tuned for tomorrow's weigh-in!

Eat to Live Days 9-12

Hey bloggies! Did you miss me?

I don't know why, but this week flew by and I didn't manage to squeeze in any blog posts! But you'll be happy to know I'm still sticking to the Eat to Live plan. :)

On Wednesday and Thursday, my willpower was fading. I felt hungry and sick of salads. I didn't have time to prepare any delicious meals, and I started wondering if I could sustain this for much longer.

I came home from work on Thursday to the smell of some delicious vegetarian, oil-free chili. It turns out my mother knew just what I needed (don't they always?) - a hearty meal! I had the brilliant idea to eat my chili over a baked potato (with broccoli on the side).

SO delicious and satisfying. My willpower was back!

While my mom was cooking the chili, she ALSO prepared some "No-Meat Balls" from the Eat to Live book. I had some for dinner tonight with cauliflower and brown rice.

I REALLY enjoyed this meal. The brown rice turned out perfectly (I followed these directions), and the No-Meat Balls (which I think consisted of some brown rice, lentils, and lots of herbs and spices) were really tasty.

Today was an awesome day, not only because of the No-Meat Balls, but because I got to hang out with this lovely lady. Andrea biked over to my condo to lounge by the pool and get pedicures. Does it get any better than that??

I'm on the left!

Can you believe this was my very first pedicure? I could get used to this!

Happy Friday!

Eat to Live Day 8

This morning, I stepped on the scale to see the results after one week of (mostly) following Dr. Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live program.

Starting Weight: 262.7 pounds
Current Weight: 255.9 pounds

I am down 6.8 pounds! Yay! Let me point out that this week I did NOT track or measure my food (for the most part - some foods are limited) and I was NOT starving all week. I was usually quite full after meals and I ate tonnes of food. I haven't had many cravings, but that might just be because I'm still in super-motivated mode. :)

In other news... I did the first run of Couch to 5K today! Lately it seems that a lot of my friends have the running bug and are signing up for 5Ks, so I thought I should stop thinking about getting back to running and just DO IT. Let me tell you, it was tough! I was sooooo hot and exhausted afterwards. And this was just Day 1 - the next step after "couch"! Despite being worn out, I felt really really good.

Breakfast and lunch today were pretty boring. For breakfast, I had a green smoothie (surprise, surprise). For lunch, I had salad and leftover scrambled tofu.

I had black beans cooking in the slow cooker all day, but come dinnertime, they still weren't cooked. So I had to use canned beans to make some black bean burgers for dinner.

I ate mine on an Ezekiel tortilla with avocado, tomato, and spring mix. Yummy!

I also threw together some cauliflower soup. It consisted of vegetable broth, cauliflower, onion, chives, roasted garlic, and cashews (for creaminess) all blended together.

Not the most attractive soup!

I still have room for improvement in terms of cooking delicious, oil-free meals, but they have at least been highly edible! Overall, I haven't felt deprived. Of course, it's easy when I'm at home and in control of my environment. The real temptations and challenges will come when I have to deal with less than ideal circumstances...

Anyway, I am writing this post from my bed (ooh la la!), so I'd better actually get some sleep! It's back to work tomorrow for me. Good night, all!

Eat to Live Day 7

ONE WEEK DOWN. Boo-yah.

My most exciting meal today was lunch. (For breakfast, I had another smoothie. For dinner, I may or may not have gone to Fresh again and ordered the same thing I had last time.)

Before making my lunch, I roasted some garlic. I had big plans for the garlic: hummus!

To make the hummus, I combined one big can of chickpeas, some lemon juice, and the roasted garlic in my food processor. I also used some of the chickpea liquid from the can (the brand of chickpeas I used was not sodium-free, but it seemed to have a lot less than other brands... sodium is one area where I'm not being as "perfect" as I could be).

The hummus was a success! I had it with lots of raw vegetables. I also had a big salad with some of yesterday's Hidden Cashew Ranch Dressing.

I'll weigh myself tomorrow morning to see my Week 1 result! I am actually excited to step on that scale!

Oh, and Happy Canada Day everyone!! :)

Eat to Live Day 6

Almost one week down! I have to say, I'm getting into the groove of eating this way. Yesterday, I found a couple of new recipes that are giving me more confidence that I can make it through 5 more weeks of this!

I'm also feeling great. Before starting this, I would often feel not-so-good after eating (probably because I was eating TONS of junk food all the time). A few weeks ago, I also had a gallbladder attack. While my first couple of days on Eat to Live were tough, I'm feeling really good now. I'm less moody and don't have any digestion issues. And I don't think there is ANY possibility of having a gallbladder attack while eating this way.

I've also definitely lost weight. Since I weigh a lot right now, and I've radically changed my eating habits, I will have a big loss this week (which I will report on Monday). It's mostly water weight at this point, but it's still motivating!

Yesterday, I started my day off with my usual smoothie, along with some almonds. For lunch, it was time to try some scrambled tofu. There are TONS of recipes for this online, so I hemmed and hawed about which one to try. I finally settled on the Breakfast Scrambler recipe from a book I recently got from the library (I've REALLY been making use of my library card lately): Breaking the Food Seduction by Neal Barnard, M.D.

First, I mixed minced onion flakes, garlic powder, turmeric, and parsley flakes together. I omitted the salt and pepper called for in the recipe, but added in some Mrs. Dash (a salt-free seasoning blend) later on.

I crumbled up some extra-firm tofu that I had pressed the water out of already. The recipe called for firm tofu, not extra-firm, but mine worked fine. It seemed I was doing more smooshing than crumbling, though. I added the tofu and the seasonings to a nonstick pan over medium heat (I didn't use any oil or cooking spray. Oil would probably make it taste MUCH better, haha).

I heated it through, and tried a taste. It seemed a bit bland, so I decided to add in one more ingredient... something I bought on Friday for the very first time in my life.

Nutritional yeast!!!!! I have read about nutritional yeast for ages on other blogs, and I think I had some once in a dish prepared by someone else. There is a good description of what it is here, but it's basically used as a healthy flavouring in vegan dishes. Apparently it can be a good ingredient to use for a cheesy taste, among other things. It also contains lots of nutrients. Anyway, I sprinkled it over my scrambled tofu.

It was pretty good! I still think it could use a bit more flavour. Also, I found that all the dehydrated onion flakes and parsley flakes were clumping together a bit - it was almost like a Mr. Noodles seasoning packet (without salt and msg, of course). Next time, I will cook it with real onion. The best part was when my mother tried it and thought it tasted like eggs! She even asked if she could have some. :)

For dessert, I had some strawberries and grapes. One reason I've been able to stick to this eating plan is because I've been eating lots of delicious fruit!

I was excited for dinner, because the day before, I came across this recipe. First of all, the FatFree Vegan Kitchen website has been indispensible to me during this challenge. And when I found Susan's recipe for Hidden Cashew Ranch Dressing that had NO oil in it, I started to have faith that I wasn't destined for five more weeks of boring salads.

I made the recipe exactly as written. It smelled good. I was hopeful.

I decided to be daring in my dinner salad in another way:

That may look like an innocent picture of a mushroom, but it represents so much more. You see, I HATE mushrooms. HATE THEM. But lately, I've been wondering if I should give them another chance. They're just so darned good for you! Dr. Furhman (who wrote Eat to Live) recommends eating them every day, for Pete's sake (along with greens, onions, berries, and beans)! I sliced one up and hoped for the best.

First things first: the dressing was good! I found it a bit too garlicky, so next time I will either decrease the garlic or use roasted garlic (yum). I am so pleased, though, that I have a creamy, low-fat dressing ready to go in the fridge for the next few days.

As for the mushrooms: I managed to choke down a few slices before abandoning them. I think I can safely say that I hate them less than I used to, so that's progress, right??

Along with my huge salad, I had leftovers from my dinner at Fresh on Friday night.

For dessert, I blended some frozen mangoes and strawberries with soymilk. I had to add some water when it wouldn't blend. It was pretty good, but not great. I did something similar with bananas last week that was MUCH yummier (I'm sure I'll be making that again soon, and I'll blog about it next time).

All in all, a successful Saturday!