Greetings From Philly!

I’m in the airport, another $7.99 contributed to the wireless internet bank account! Flight this morning went well, and our client presentation went very well.

Breakfast

Started the day at 4:00 a.m. and was at the airport and through security by 5:30. I stopped in Starbucks for my latte = long line.

For breakfast I packed a PB + Banana + Honey portable sandwich.

It was great and although I was skeptical it would fill me up, I think in combo with the latte, it worked. I had this at 5:30 and we didn’t eat lunch until 12 and I was just getting hungry around that time. I did have a snack…see below.

Breakfast calories: ~450.  

Snack

I had some seltzer on the plane – no photo. It was boring. And half a mini box of raisins to tide my hunger around 9:30. I wasn’t really hungry, but worried I wouldn’t make it to lunch. I’m reading the book “Eating Well For Optimal Health” by Dr. Weil. It seems to be a great overview of nutrition, health, and wellness. I’ll give you updates as I make it through the chapters! I was reading about the glycemic index and noted that raisins have a GI of only 6, which is REALLY low. So I thought they’d make a good snack and they did!

Lunch

Apologies in advance. No photos. This was my first ever meeting with this client and we were all eating at a small table – I just didn’t feel comfortable pulling out my camera and telling them about the blog (which I usually have to do to explain myself – normally I like sharing, but this was a bit inappropriate). So here’s what I had:

Panera Bread Catering – thank GOODNESS it was something I liked!!

Half a Sierra Turkey sandwich. It had very minimal of the mayo they put on and no cheese. Seemed like a better choice than tuna salad (onions + full-fat mayo) and ham and cheese (more fat, cheese), plus I like turkey! I knew the sandwhich would be about 400 calories because I’m familiar with Panera’s nutritional stats, but 480!? For half! Damn! Turkey is pretty low-cal, so that means it was 400 calories worth of bread. I knew it would be high, but not that high. Oh well – it was yummy!

Had two generous portions of salad with cucumber, tomato, lettuce and a drizzle of balsamic. I tried to eat as many veggies as I could. Plus 2 pickles!

Lastly, I had 1/3 of an oatmeal cookie. It took all the willpower in the WORLD to not eating the whole thing. I wanted to eat 25% and ended up with 1/3. Ok with me! My client said I should eat 2 cookies because I was “thin enough to handle them.” I told him I was thin because I didn’t eat cookies!

I skipped the chips, the delicious looking baguette, and the 6 other kinds of cookies. Drool! It took a long time for my stomach to realize it had been fed. I wanted to keep eating, but knew I’d had enough. Finally, about an hour later, hunger went away. I wish I’d been able to have 1/2 that sandwich and a yogurt instead!

I thought I did pretty well, all things considered. Had I gotten a good workout in today, lunch would be no problem, but on a rest day it was a big high. Shouldn’t have eaten the cookie, but it’s a special occasion!

Lunch calories: ~670

Snack

At the airport now and had a hot tea with a touch of skim milk.

I’ll probably have the other half of my raisins and a bar or some almonds in an hour or so. Not sure about dinner yet. I want to go to my favorite salad bar, but I might be better off finding something at home. We’ll see! Let’s hope my flight is on-time….

See you later!

Kath

Fresh, Fresh, Fresh!

LOVED this lunch. It was almost too much food – I kept having new things to eat! But it was delicious and filling. Hopefully it’ll last me through 5:00 when I have my early dinner, but if not, I’ve got a half portion of oatmeal planned.

Tuna salad with carrots, celery, mustard, and tons of red curry powder:

Spinach salad with pom and spaghetti squash, topped with quality balsamic vinegar:

2 clementines

Kashis

Finally, A Balanced Lunch

So glad to have 100% foods I like and want to be eating! Eating out is fun if you have good options, but not when you have to settle for things that aren’t quality.

Had the BEST PB + Banana sandwich today!!!

Plus a spinach salad with pom and spaghetti squash and a touch of Newman’s Own Dijon Dressing

Plus a clementine

And finally, plain yogurt with pumpkin and cinnamon stirred in!

Lunch calories: 540.

Got in a nice 25-minute walk afterwards. It’s great to be back in chilly, as opposed to freezing, weather!

On the menu tonight for dinner: Wild Mushroom Soup with Turkey!

**** Edited to add: I’m hoping to get to all these questions this afternoon! I’ve got lots to do after returning from my trip, but I’ve got a list of them in my email inbox to tackle ASAP!*****

Glad to be Home!

Snowy Syracuse

I don’t know how people live there. The outdoors are simply off-limits when it’s snowy and windy! You have to live 100% indoors. That sucks!

 

Morning Snack

Lunch

Lunch was a disappointment. I started with a club sandwich with swiss, turkey and ham Also had a plate of fruit, a pickle and 2 bites of Christmas cookies!

When I opened the sandwich, however, I discovered it was COVERED in mayo (full fat, most likely). I thought I could just take off one slice of bread and eat it open faced. Then I discovered the ham was really salty. At that point I went back for a wrap to try to change directions! I kept the original turkey and tomato though, so I ate parts of that.

The new wrap was chicken, mushroom and Italian dressing, but luckily the dressing was only on one side. I ate pieces of the chicken and some of the mushrooms and about 2/3 of the tortilla (which I’m sure was not whole wheat despite it’s color and probably had trans-fats in it )

I ate all my fruit plus some more since I was still hungry and not feeling very satisfied. The second plate isn’t pictured.

The cookies were delicious and really hit the spot!

So I had two more bites, one pictured here.

My stomach was unhappy when our meetings resumed, but more significantly my brain was unsatisfied with the lunch. I should have just eaten the first sandwich without the ham, but oh well. I still felt hungry, but it calmed after 20 minutes or so so I guess I just had to catch up.

Snacks

I had a kashi bar at the airport – where I couldn’t get the WiFi to work :angry: Sorry, no photo.

I was starving when my flight took off at 4:45 and welcomed a 60-calorie pack of soy nuts, pretzels, and sesame sticks. And a seltzer.

Dinner

Had only 45 minutes to grab something to eat in Washington, but since I’d spent 5 hours there the day before I knew my options. I was craving a salad, so salad it was. The California Chicken with sun-dried tomatoes, soggy croutons, kalamata olives, and a garliky but good avocado dressing of which I had about a tsp. After starting to eat, I had to take dinner on the plane because we started to board – not quite the ideal dining experience!

Also grabbed more fresh fruit, which seems to be the world’s #1 grab and go healthy food. Some of my grapes were rotten though

The whole she-bang, including my LaraBar for dessert! Total calories ~ 631. I needed the fuel!

Dessert

I don’t eat bars that much, but they’re hard to beat when you’re on the go. I like LaraBars, but I don’t eat them often because they are on the high-cal side. But this seemed like the perfect dessert considering my dinner only totaled about 400 calories and I was pretty low over the day, all things considered. I ate this guy really slowly and he was great. Really hit the spot.

Total Tuesday calories: ~ 1665

- 444 through morning workout. I’m sure I burned more through airport walking and lugging my bags around, but I have no way of guessing. Maybe add 100?

=net of 1221 ish.

Stuck In The Airport

My flight out of Charlotte was delayed 45 minutes, so of course I missed my connection and am now stuck in the Washington airport for 5 hours. I was very annoyed to find out I had to pay for WiFi, but I’m an internet nerd and decided it was worth $9.99 to have internet for 5 hours I’m missing the whole first day of our PR retreat – and my presentation – but there is nothing I can do. I’m happy enough sitting at a table with my laptop and at least they have healthy food at this airport!

…..which brings me to lunch! Well before I get to lunch, I got settled at a table at 11 a.m. and was starving, so I had a Clementine (from home), a few almonds and pistachios, and hot tea! I debated a latte (I don’t drink them often but love them) but thought I didn’t need it since lunch was looming on the horizon.

But before I settled down, I scoped out all of my lunch options (I know better than to set up camp and then I have to pack up to leave for 10 minutes and come back since I have no one to watch my stuff.)

There’s a little booth called Cibo Gourmet Express with lots of exciting things: sandwiches, fresh fruit, diced fruit, a good looking chef salad, Larabars, Perrier, dried fruit and nuts, and some other stuff. There’s also a place with these good looking panini things on pita bread that lots of people are eating, but I know better I wanted a black forest ham and brie sandwich and the turkey and cheddar but they all had mayonnaise and were large with cheese so I figured I’d have more fun with a smaller sandwich and more sides. There was also a really good looking vegan veggie sandwich, but it has onions on it and I couldn’t tell if they were chopped finely (bad) or big and easy to pick off (good) but I decided not to risk it.

I ended up with the boring turkey, lettuce, tomato and mustard on what looks like whole grain bread. It was a LOT of bread. I logged it as 2 slices at 110 calories each, but hard to tell. I guess lugging my heavy bags around the airport can cancel it out.

Although the bread was good, it actually wasn’t that great of a sandwich on the inside….

On the side I got fresh berries

And a Colombo yogurt from another vendor. (Which I noticed after the fact has HFCS it it! Ug. I’ll eat this on occasion). It was no plain yogurt + cran….

Drink:

I looked all over for a small salad, but I all I could find was a hefty $10 one and an iceburg one, so I’m veggie-less today.

Lunch calories: ~475.

I also swiped a Nectar bar to try at some point this week. And a little dark chocolate, which I didn’t end up eating because it was 11 grams = 60 calories!! Not worth it for something that small, at least right now it’s not

I hate that I’m not going to be able to workout today and am eating my normal amounts of food, but I guess this is a good example of “you gain some, you lose some.” (I updated the FAQs with this concept, by the way.) I’m just going to keep my focus on making the healthiest choices and we’ll see where this evening takes me. My plan now is 1 glass of wine and 2 bites of dessert, but we’ll see!

So long for now!

Dreary Lunch

I wish it weren’t so dreary out there!!

Run

After pittering around the house all morning, the husband and I set out on our run around 11:30. We did a really nice 5.2 miles – my legs felt strong and my body was in a running mood. Actually, I think it was the socks I was wearing that are extra cushy, unlike my normal athletic socks. They gave me an extra spring or something!! 426 calories burned

Lunch

After showers and dressing, it was 1:30 and we were starving!

I had leftover salmon casserole. You can see the recipe here! It was good, but it’s not the most filling dish for 325 calories. Perhaps I need to serve it over a spinach salad? I didn’t use whole wheat egg noodles because the only ones my store had weren’t the right shape, but I’m all out and will get them regardless next time.

Also had a half serving of Kashis

And kiwi with 4 oz plain yogurt and 10 grams Fiber One for some more fiber

All together for 525 calories:

Off to two grocery stores!!  But it’s a shame – I’m headed to Syracuse, NY on Monday and Tuesday for work, then I have my class on Thursday, then I’m flying to Philly for the day on Friday so I only have ONE dinner I get to plan this week

 

Welcome to the New Blog!!

I’ve been working hard on this all week (hence being so busy!) I hope you guys like the content, photos, and expanded information. And of course, the old blog is all here! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

Now here’s the bad news……….

For the first time in 3 months of blogging, I accidentally deleted all of my photos for the day. I’m seriously on the verge of tears because I had so many great photos to share tonight!!

I’ll give a quick recap of my day, but I know it’s not the same without photos!

Here’s the ONLY photo that made it!!! Me on the lightrail platform in my college outfit

The Game

Duke won, but only by a few points! While there I had an acid water (Diet Coke) and 2 sips of the husbands beer (insert good picture here!).

Lunch

We got home around 2:30 and I was pretty hungry. We made chicken, avocado, spinach and tomato sandwiches and had apple slices. I had a great photo!

Lunch calories: 369

Wine Tasting

We went to a wine tasting with my college roommate and her boyfriend (insert another cute picture here!) As predicted, I drank too much. But not too-too much! I’m guessing I had about 2 glasses. The wines were all high-quality and I just couldn’t resist when I tried one Pinot and the person suggested I try the contrasting region’s version. You can tell, wine tastings are a weakness of mine! Anyways, I tried about 20-25 wines, but I did pour some out and they do only pour about 1/3 an oz-1/2 an oz per taste. I was more than a little tipsy when we got home, and didn’t really want to be, but it passed soon enough.

At the tasting I had 2 flatbread triangles, a bunch of grapes, a bite of brie and an orange slice.

Tasting calories: ~400. Yikes!

Dinner

Husband and I made salmon casserole. Sadly, the beautiful photos are gone and I don’t have the heart to explain the recipe. We basically used the one on the back of the Cream of Celery soup can but bulked it up with mushrooms and peppers. I do have leftovers, so you’ll get to see those tomorrow.

And I had hot tea after dinner….

Dinner calories: 350

We were going to walk to the movie rental store to rent Waitress but I just had to finish this new blog tonight so to the computer it was! But sadly, I missed my afternoon walk
Total Saturday calories: 1672

-465 through morning workout

= net of 1207.

I’m sorry to say too many calories came from wine today. Tomorrow I’ll focus on getting some fresh, healthy meals!

Cute Lunch!

The husband made my lunch today since my class went late last night. I asked him for a half sandwich and spinach salad made with some leftover chicken and he came up with the cutest lunch!

Spinach salad with carrots, apples, almonds, and 1.5 oz diced white meat chicken. Plus a homemade walnut oil-lime-honey dressing.

Cranberry sauce in low-fat plain yogurt with flax (it looks kind of gross!)

Half a pimento cheese sandwich on Ezekiel bread:

Apple slices with cinnamon:

All together for ~550 calories:

After lunch I went on a 30 minute walk. It was sunny and chilly out there, but so refreshing. -111 calories more.

Thanks for all of your comments! I promise I’ll get to them this weekend….I’m really busy and need to work this afternoon!

Almost Friday!

Great lunch today

PB + Banana + Honey

Spinach salad with spaghetti squash and the last of the leftover brussels sprouts. Having these on hand was great – a way to get in a delicious side of veggies without having to prep them during the week. If you have a favorite vegetable dish, make some on the weekend to have for lunch during the week. It really ups the quality of my salads!

Yogurt + cran

All together for 543 calories:

After lunch I went for a 30 minute walk. It was nice to get some fresh air!

I’ll do my best to post dinner in the dining hall tonight when I get home, but if class runs until 8:45-9, I might have to hit the sack….but I’ll do my best!!

New Lunch Spot!

FABULOUS lunch!!! I discovered this place called Crisp a few weeks ago and had the most amazing split pea soup there (here’s the old post) and so I decided to go back with a friend and the husband. I had another WONDERFUL soup:

Red Beet!!!

I struck up a conversation with the chef behind the counter because I wanted to know how it was made, and I wanted some insight into the nutritional information. He said it was just beets, EVOO, onions, and cream. Oh, onions and cream, my favorites! *Sarcasm* Honesty it wasn’t that creamy, but I had to take this into account. He said the batch used 25 lbs of beets and he used 3 quarts of cream. After some quick math and the assumption I consumed about a cup of pureed beet soup, I settled for about 250 calories for this portion. I gave a little of it to the husband too. Not too bad for such a good soup, but it certainly would have been a lot healthier had he used half and half or cut back on the cream (of the 250 calories, I’m estimating about 150 were cream and 100 were the beets!) But it was worth it and was delicious, warm and filling.

With the soup I had a big salad with:

• Spinach
• Mixed greens
• Roasted turkey (I’m guessing I ate 2 oz worth and gave 2 pieces to the husband)
• 1/4 cup raisins (they totally made the salad!! But for 100 calories? I could have done better with another vegetable
• Roasted portabella mushrooms
• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Honey dijon dressing (I had about .75 oz and settled at 50 calories’ worth)

It also came with a toasted buttered piece of bread, which I gave away too (empty calories).

And the best part? They have a table with free CRISP apples!! I took one for snack

Lunch calories: ~500.

After lunch we got in 15 minutes of walking around the neighborhood. Nice!

I was so busy this morning that I never needed a snack. Sweet!

Dinner tonight is titled Tropical Delight