Thursday, August 05, 2010

Day Four - What You Ate Today

Man, I tell ya... it's been some kind of day.

Thank goodness the meme has circled around to a LIGHTWEIGHT Topic. And you know I have to be "prolific". (That term was coined by my big blog sista Chele. I like it. It's positive. It feels good on me. Gives me the freedom to truly be me. It will be used from now on instead of the "l" word, lol).

What did I eat today?

As you know, I am transitioning to vegetarian. I don't talk much about it anymore. Why?

Because it's becoming a normal part of life. And that's what I want: for it to be a part of me.

At this stage, I prefer my fruits and veggies over meat. All bets are off if I'm on vacation or out of town on a trip (like on this last work trip, I had fish and shrimp at Red Lobster; some sausage and bacon from the breakfast buffet on purpose. Not a good look on the latter, because it made me feel some kind of way), and if I'm out to dinner with someone. If it wasn't for dwelling outside of my daily mundane routine, I would be able to get past a 95% reduction in meat intake. The 5% keeps hanging around, and hey... that's life, man.

So, you've caught me on a typical day. And here's a typical day of meals,

Breakfast:



Oatmeal with fruit. This is the oatmeal that has to cook for 30 minutes. NOT the instant mess. My fruit today was raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries and a few dried cranberries. I usually have chopped walnuts, but I am out of those. I also have a little brown rice vanilla milk over in there. (Poured that in after I took the picture).

Lunch:


A soy chicken salad sandwich, with lettuce and tomato. The bread is honey wheat, made by the Big Sky Company. (I haven't been able to buy the three seed bread since I blogged about it, lol). This bread is equally good, soft and sweet- great for a nice sandwich.

Along with that, I had fresh fruit.



I LOVE cutting up fresh fruit. LOVE it. Today's mix was watermelon, honydew, pineapple, red grapes, and bing cherries. That may seem like a lot of fruit, but I usually share it with my friend and cubicle mate Cowgirl Cre. If we don't eat lunch at the same time, I eat half of that above, and save the rest for later. I snack on it during my 15 minute drive home (like I did today).

I tell ya... there's nothing like rolling down Courtland street, listening to Ohio Players "I wanna be Free (Shoop, shoop), and killing watermelon chunks... and spitting seeds out the window. Peeps were looking at me like I was crazy, but it was a happy time at the end of a jacked up day, mayne!

During the day, I drink water:



That looks a little cloudy, don't it? That's because the juice of 2 lemons is in there. I try to drink a gallon a day, but I only hit that goal 25% of the time. I don't drink sodas, and may drink some lemonade or punch if I'm out to eat or at a gathering. But I try to drink a liter of water before work, one liter at work (above is 1.5 liters, drank most of that), and a couple of liters at night. That's the goal.

The nighttime is my strangest time. I would say that 75% of the time, I drink 3/4th of a gallon a day. Good enough for me!

Dinner:

Szechuan okra and sauteed squash (yellow summer squash/zuchinni). Made fresh (Yes, I chopped everything, no frozen or canned.)Very simple and quick. I made this while yacking on the phone with my baby sista. I ate around 8:30 pm. (This is okay, since I don't get home until well after 7:30 pm and don't go to bed til midnight).

And that is my typical day of meals. I'm typically very strict fruit and veggie wise on odd days, and a little lax on even days (dairy or dessert, etc).

I take more to work with me, like today, I also took an apple a peach, and some blood orange sorbet, but I didn't eat that. I left those there, and it's just in case I get snacky or hungry.

My meals are simple, yet highly nutritious and satisfying.

And I wouldn't have it any other way!

9 comments:

  1. Love this post! In fact, I'd be interested in reading about what you eat more often. Give me a chance to come over here and steal some ideas. Trying to eat healthy with variety is hard!

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  2. Lee, you eat so healthy. I'm trying to get there...I'm trying.
    Imma hate to post what I ate.

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  3. @singlema... I don't do as many vegetarian and recipe posts as I would like. I guess because I'm more intersted in the phytochemical nature of food, with my nerdy scientific self. That's hard to blog about. Got a couple of things coming up, though.

    @ali... I don't have much of a choice. Helps to ease the lupus inflammation issues.

    Oldgirl, you down in N'awlins. You don't want to know what I would be eating if I was down there, since trips are my time to eat whatever, lol.

    Start with a piece of your favorite fruit each and every day. Doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is. That's a wonderful accomplishment within itself, hon.

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  4. that szechuan okra and sauteed squash dish looks so good. where did you find that recipe at or did you make it up? i'd love to make it. i am trying to eat healthier myself. i do not have lupus but do have fibromyalgia which is in that whole family. i have to get checked for lupus everytime i get blood work to check on the fibro because they said it could turn into lupus. i know eating better would help me.

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  5. @Ginae... the szechaun okra - there's a chinese food restaurant near my job that is cafeteria style. They have REALLY good collard greens (imagine that), and I saw the okra one day. (Thinking to myself "These suckas bootleg to death making a chinese dish out of okra!") I got some, and I've been hooked. There version lit my head on fire, but I came up with my own.

    It's a simple sautee of okra and tomatoes (forgot my tomatoes tonight), in hot olive oil (made hot by chili peppers). I usually add a teaspoon or more of sczehuan sauce. VERY quick. And filling. I'm sure you can mix it up, and add other ingredients, and it will be just as good.

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  6. This stuff looks so much better than my wings ... I am doing much better. I make sure I eat fruit every single day and I always drink plenty of water. Yesterday I had a disgusting 360-calorie burrito that I had to run off at the gym later.

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  7. I'm trying my best to get 2 cups of fruit and 2 cups of veggies in every day. Not vegetarian at this point, but there are some days where I really don't have any meat. And the days that I do it's usually chicken or turkey...no more pork and very, very little beef for me. :) My BF only eats fish/seafood and I'd like to work my way to that point one day.

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  8. Anonymous9:56:00 AM

    I don't like okra but that dish looks good.

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  9. Anonymous3:34:00 PM

    I was rollin at my desk when you said you be spitting watermelon seeds out the window. I'm still laughing! You're so funny. I'm trying to be a semi vegetarian. Eat meat when I eat out. I'm going to the Books store this weekend to read the magazine you recommended a few months ago.
    Sasha

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Slap the *crickets* out the way, kindly step up to the mike, and SAY something!!