Week Two Coming To A Close

I haven't posted much about the diet this week because I was getting pretty discouraged and found cooking every single meal was driving me nuts. I ended up sleeping more than necessary and often failed to eat that 3rd meal.

I also tried to go out to restaurants to relieve my frustration. I hit Outback twice, a Japanese place once, and a local steak place. With Outback especially, it felt like I was eating two meals at once. Some of you may be horrified that I had a 12oz steak and loved it (grin) but at least the 2nd time I managed to save back a portion of it for my next meal. Outback works great and is easily SB friendly. The Japanese place...suffice to say I won't be going back there anytime soon. I'm not sure if there was a language issue (the waiter's English sounded just fine) or if they just didn't care, but only one of my requests was followed through on. Happily, I did get double vegetables instead of the fried rice but they'd been cooked in oil and a soy sauce that I hoped didn't have sugar in it. The grilled shrimp looked pretty clean of sauces and oils, but tasted fishy and I had a hard time forcing myself to eat it. Normally I love shrimp. It was a big let down. Worse, I didn't even make it halfway home before my stomach started seizing up. So the shrimp was bad in more than taste. That was the final insult to the $23 hit my wallet took on that meal.

Thus, my monthly food budget has taken a severe nose dive. I have a package of lean turkey burgers that taste like cardboard to survive on til I leave for vacation. I have a few more odds and ends, meat-wise, in the freezer that I can scrounge, but I'm going to have to be miraculously creative with that turkey.

I had a recipe for Balsamic Chicken that I wanted to try today. What could it hurt to sub in the turkey burgers instead of the chicken? It wasn't so bad. Much better than plain. But my favorite of the day is the veggie stir fry. I used a steam in the bag frozen pouch of broccoli and cauliflower. While it was cooking in the microwave, I cut up some onion and several slices of 98% fat free bologne. I pan fried the onion and bologne in sesame oil, then added the cooked broccoli and cauliflower. A tiny bit of kosher salt and a good grinding of fresh black pepper and the mix was smelling really good. I added some cheese when I plated it, because the turkey burgers looked so depressing. It was great. In fact, I'm going back to finish off the veggie fry's remains as an early snack.

As for my goals for the week: failure, failure, failure. Though maybe I should qualify that, as my liquid intake has definitely increased and is just about what I'm supposed to be drinking. I drank too much Diet Coke this week, though, an average of two or three cans a day. This is bad because Nutrasweet gives me massive headaches and the sparkling water I drink already has a small amount of acesulfame potassium in it.

I got back into cooking a bit already today. I also went out and got some meal replacement shakes to help with the meal missing problem. I wasn't looking forward to trying them as they have hardly any fat and no sugar, also very low artificial sweetner. I was expecting total grossness, with that chalky or sandy texture, when I had my first one last night. It wasn't great, but it wasn't horrible. No chalk, so sand. It was very much like chocolate milk and the taste wasn't off too badly. Not something I'm going to enjoy drinking, but in emergencies, it'll work. One shake ends up being about a regular mug full of liquid and I can chug it pretty quick. I have to remind myself that I hated the V-8 juice when I first started drinking that and now I kinda like it. I just wish the stuff was cheaper. Though at $5 a four pack, it's still cheaper than the almost $7 low carb Slim Fast alternative. The other option, which comes in vanilla and strawberry too, is the Atkins version. It's the same price, but has a bit more sugar and 4g more fat.

I'm probably going to keep myself on Phase One an extra week, til I leave for Florida. It's going to be a challenge, eating right while away from home (and away from my own kitchen) but I'm going to plan ahead, bring SB friendly food with me--including those meal replacement shakes. I figure that if I always have a zip lock baggie of nuts or turkey pepperoni with me, it'll be enough to get me past whatever difficulty I encounter.

And I will have difficulties. Dad has cheerfully informed me of the Einstein's Bagels and Smoothie King just down the street. Two of my biggest temptations ever. I can handle the bagel thing, but Smoothie King is going to be hard to avoid, especially since it's so hot in Florida. But I'll have a little support, with Dad being there. And I resolve not to go anywhere without a big bottle of sparkling water in the car (or the purse). I'm hoping that I'll be having too much fun to get into much trouble. That, and the outdoor activities should push up my pride for being healthy.

I'll be back again at the start of Week Three and we'll see if I've lost any more weight this week. Have a great weekend, all.

Dani's Shawl

Once upon a time there was a scratchy shawl made of acrylic yarn. The color was right, the stitches were perfect, but the overall impression was of an attic afghan made of cheap yarn. But wait, with a wave of my magic wand, the ugly duckling shawl becomes...

A Beautiful Swan. Can you believe this is the same shawl? Drapey, soft, and light, the lace pattern comes through with distinction.

Before you start googling for fabric magic wands, let me let you in on a secret callled killing. If you apply a lot of heat and hot steam to acrylic, the extruded yarn loses its crimp, gets softer, and becomes oh so drapey.

I made this for my dear friend Danielle who is having her second child any day now. She's been feeling less than lovely in the last stages of her pregnancy and I wanted to remind her how beautiful she is. I picked this color because it reminds me of a favorite shirt she had when we first met, 20 years ago. This almost periwinkle blue was one of her favorite colors back then.

May this shawl surround her with comfort and love, because she's the sister of my heart and I love her dearly.

Week One Comes To A Close

Today marks the end of week one and I'm glad to say I'm halfway there! One more week of phase one to go.

I ended up only eating the one big meal yesterday. I was feeling nauseated at work last night and a little dizzy. Everytime I put a piece of food in my mouth I felt worse, so I just didn't eat anything and instead just drank my sparkling water. So when I got up today, I was starving. I'd have been in trouble except I had something already made. I turned off my crock pot and dished out a big bowl of chili.

I should say that I've always been very proud of my chili recipe and think it's far better than anything in a restaurant. Being in phase one, however, meant my usual chili wasn't going to work. I've always eaten chili over rice with lots of sour cream and cheese. I thought giving up all that was going to make eating chili an unhappy experience. But I was wrong.

I've always been a big fan of Wendy's chili. For fast food, it's a pretty good, reliable staple that's reasonably healthy. I've been eating it for decades. But recently, Wendy's has changed the recipe and the new stuff isn't as good. So went another good thing, I thought. But then I found a recipe online that claimed to be the original Wendy's recipe. It was also phase one friendly, so I tried it. And boy am I glad I have a crock pot full of the stuff. I can't wait for dinner, to have another bowl. I don't miss the sour cream or the rice though I did put a little bit of reduced fat cheese on top. It does have the same taste as Wendy's, but it's a bit chunkier and definitely better. I'll never go back to my old chili recipe, that's for sure.

Better Than Wendy's Chili (South Beach Phase 1)

• 2 lbs 93% lean ground beef
• 25 oz can tomato sauce (NOT spagetti sauce)
• 15 oz can red chili beans
• 15 oz can kidney beans (undrained)
• two 15 oz cans of pinto beans (undrained)
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 celery stalk, sliced thinly
• two large, fresh tomatoes, chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 3 teaspoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons kosher or coarse salt
• 2 cups chicken broth (I like Rachel Ray's in the carton)
• 2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

Brown the beef on the stovetop in a non-stick pan so you don't need any additional oil. When done, do not drain the liquid off, just dump the whole thing into the crockpot. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well so that spices are evenly distributed. Set temperature to low and cook 3 hours.

**This makes a mildy spiced savory chili. If you like yours really spicy, add chopped serrano or habanero chilis and use hot chili powder.**

I have to say this recipe is really indicative of why I don't feel like I'm on a diet, even though I'm on the most restrictive phase of South Beach. My co-workers are always peeking in to see what I've brought to eat every night and they, too, can't believe I'm on a diet. So much of what I read made me think phase one was going to be a scary thing, but it hasn't. The worst of it was switching over from going out to eat all the time to cooking at home instead (and that was the scary part for me). With a little bit of work ahead of time--mostly searching for recipes online--I don't feel deprived or restricted. Maybe even a little bit pampered, since most of these recipes are special dishes, things I wouldn't cook on a regular basis, much less a different one every night.

The thing that kept me sane the most this week: not eating breakfast foods at breakfast. Alot of people complain that the variety at breakfast time in phase one is almost non-existant. Eggs, eggs, and more eggs. I was dreading this because, as much as I love eggs, three days in a row would put me off eggs for quite a while. So I treat breakfast as just another lunch or dinner and that works great for me.

My other big concern was my schedule. I rarely eat a regular 3 meals a day and I certainly don't eat at the time most people do, since I work from 11pm to 7am. So keeping up with a breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, and dessert schedule looked impossible. So I didn't. As long as I eat the amount of food I'm supposed to on a daily basis, I let myself be the judge of when I need to eat instead of putting food in my mouth at alarmed intervals. It works and I am definitely losing weight.

My goals for the coming week:

1. making sure I drink at least 64 oz of water a day (I met that goal only twice this week)
2. taking a good multi-vitamin supplement every day (skipped that this week)
3. adding 45 minutes of aerobic exercise, 3 days a week (due to my extreme lack of fitness, this will be lap swimming in the local pool)

Week One, Day Five

I woke up this morning dragging like a snail and did the one thing you aren't supposed to do: weigh yourself. I steeled myself for being the same weight or even a few pounds heavier (just in case) but got a big surprise. I was ten pounds lighter! I can't tell you how great that makes me feel.

Most people who do the South Beach Diet don't see results that quick or that dramatic. That's because they only need to lose 30 pounds. For those of us enormously overweight, we lose a lot more in the beginning. I experienced the same thing on Atkins, ten years ago. It's like a consolation prize since we have so much farther to go than you light weights (smile).

I had a bit of a bad day yesterday, eating only a meal and a snack before going off for what I thought was a nap which turned into sleeping til the next day. So today's start was a little rocky. Oddly enough, I was really not hungry when I woke and the idea of cooking was just revolting. I ended up puttering around the house and getting some chores done (including chopping up some veggies and putting them in the crock pot to cook while I was gone). I finally left the house at 1:30, off to the grocery store to grab a few items, and decided I deserved a treat. I'd reward myself with steak.

I was a little nervous, not knowing exactly where I'd have the best luck with my dietary restrictions (my small town is pretty limited in restaurants) but settled on Ruby Tuesday. They're usually really expensive, but it turned out to be a good choice. The waitress was really great and understanding, making sure my side of broccoli, for example, wasn't cooked with any butter, that no added oils were used with the steak, etc. She even came out and handed me a photocopy of their "healthy choices" menu with all the nutritional info about each of the featured dishes. Very sweet.

For my salad, I had peas, edame (green soybeans), a little parmesan, and a generous sprinkling of ham over my romaine lettuce, topping it all off with a little balsamic vinagrette. My entree was top round steak with a side of broccoli and mashed cauliflower (a little overwhelmingly garlicky). I happily sucked down 3 Diet Cokes (probably too much) and for dessert, I had a stick of sugarless gum. It was a lot of food but I was really, really hungry by that point. And being waited on, not having to eat my own cooking, was such a wonderful luxury. It was worth the $22.

In a blissful mood after my meal, I went to Walmart and was informed by a helpful stranger about the sudden run on gas that's going on, apparently, in this area. Sure enough, there were huge lines for each pump, stretching out 7 and 8 cars long. And the price had jumped from yesterday's $3.51 to a whopping $3.95. It reminded me of the 70's, when I was a kid, and gas rationing was in effect. Not a good sight. I got in line and by the time I got to the pump, the station was totally out of midgrade and premium. This is Walmart, mind, not a tiny station. It was scary. So I filled my tank with regular, got my groceries, and headed home. I saw four other stations on my way with signs that they were completely out of gas. They were all over $4 a gallon, too. People are crazy. Although, it's gas companies that will use any excuse to cause a sudden price inflation, the crooks!

Still, ten pounds down for the week, more food cooking as we speak (chili) and plenty of stuff in the fridge to make a work dinner a quick and easy assembly. It's raining again (we can certainly use it) and Dad's bunny Ivan is demanding attention (or else: destruction). A great day to all my fellow dieters: you can do it!

Japanese Cucumber Salad (South Beach Phase 1)

Traditionally, this is made with just cucumbers, but I love to add fresh tomatoes and green onion as well. It seems to make the dish that much tastier.

Ingredients:

1 large or 2 small cucumbers, peeled and sliced
2 roma or plum tomatos, diced
2 green onions, sliced fine
1 tsp (3 single serve packets) Splenda
2 teaspoons sesame oil (do not substitute another oil)
3 tablespoons rice vinegar (not the seasoned kind)


Combine cucumbers, green onions, and tomatoes in a bowl. In a coffee mug or small glass, mix the Splenda, sesame oil, and rice vinegar together very well. Pour over salad. You can eat right away, but flavor intensifies the longer it sits (for some of us, that's a good thing). Serve cold. Keeps several days to a week in the fridge.

Cajun Turky Roll-ups (South Beach Phase 1)

One of my new favorites, this is fast and savory. Eat it cold or grill it in a pan for more flavor, either way it's a dish all phases of the South Beach Diet can enjoy.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 to 2 pounds Sara Lee Cajun Turkey (from the deli), sliced thin
16oz low fat Ricotta cheese
1 handful of Romano or Parmesan cheese
2 wedges Laughing Cow Lite Cheese, Garlic and Herb flavor
2 teaspoons (or to taste) chili powder
1-2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh minced basil

Drain the Ricotta, if necessary, to get rid of excess liquid. Add in everything but the turkey and mix well. Refridgerate minimum of 2 hours to combine flavors (or, if you're hungry and impatient, skip this step).

Lay out a slice of turkey. Thinly spread a layer of the ricotta mix on top. Roll up. Set aside. Repeat until you run out of turkey or ricotta. Eat cold or, optionally, secure roll up with toothpick, add a little oil to a pan, and fry the turkey rolls just until they are hot or the filling starts to ooze out.

Cooking for one? Cut the lunch meat down to a 1/4 pound and freeze the rest of the ricotta mix. It's a great staple to have on hand. It's also great for parties.

Week One, Day Four

I'm starting to get seriously sick of deviled eggs. They're just so easy to make! After a long morning, I have another tray of them in the fridge. Of course, a few of them made their way into my tummy, because cooking is hard work. I also have the ricotta herb stuffing ready for my tiny little cherry tomatoes. My ground beef for "just like Wendy's" chili is defrosted, ready to brown. I've already used up half of my small cold cut ration for breakfast. And I am nowhere near preparations for the other foods I've got to cook today.

(Big Yawn) It's always a bad idea to work all night and then think you can stay up and cook the whole day away. There's nothing good on tv during the daytime, for one. I've already learned the hard way that I can either listen to an audio book on my iPod or I can chop veggies. For some reason, I can't concentrate on both at the same time. Happily, few veggies were damaged by my gushing finger--no, just joking. Me and my fingers are fine. But I'm craving some kind of distraction. Um.. kind of like sleep. I'm also out of room in the fridge.

But I digress. It should be disturbing how much like a diet this whole process ISN'T. Which must mean that I've always been somewhat helpless about feeding myself consistently, without the help of a menu and a kitchen staff. Still, I think I'm coping ok.

Take last night for example. I overslept. In a big way. I woke up, got myself un-disoriented, looked at the clock and realized with total panic that I only had an hour and a half to feed myself, make dinner for work, provision the rabbits, and take a shower. How was this possible? I had luck on my side. I'd put some thin cut steaks in the fridge that morning to thaw and I also found the leftover veggie salad from the day before. My Dad has one of those tiny little George Foreman grills that everyone demeans (until it actually comes in handy) which heats up in 30 seconds. In literally 5 minutes, I had two steaks on my plate. All I did was take the jarred minced garlic (talk about staples) out of the fridge and spread it with a little cracked pepper, a dash of kosher salt, on the mostly defrosted meat. Because the grill cooks both sides at once, I didn't even have to turn it. From ziplock to table. And it was pretty good. I put a tablespoon of blue cheese dressing on my cukes and tomatoes and pulled a sparkling flavored water (no cals) from the cooler. By the time Law and Order was just starting up it's 9pm rerun, I was about done with dinner.

While showering, I ran over possible options to make for work dinner. They weren't good. Oh, I had raw materials aplenty, but nothing that could be assembled fast. Then, inspiration hit. South Beach makes frozen dinners that, if rather tasteless, are still Phase 1 acceptable. And there was a grocery store on the way to work. Saved! I got Caprese Chicken, which is chicken tenders covered with some sort of tomato-like sauce and a small bit of micro fat cheese with a side of broccoli. The store also had deviled eggs in the deli section, an unexpected bonus. Technically, I shouldn't have gotten those (not the right type of mayo and sure to have a small bit of sugar in it) but desperation does not lend itself to nitpickyness. I also had two cups of sugar free jello (black cherry flavor--pretty good) for dessert. More no cal flavored water--the remains of what was left from dinner and only a few sips of a new bottle (did very poorly at water drinking yesterday) finished off that meal. I did get that feeling of wanting something more around 4am. Thankfully I remembered, dug for, and found a jar of South Beach Planter's Diet Nut mix which did the trick.

Today, I have a lot more cooking to do so I have ready made and waiting choices for the next three days. On the agenda: chili, cauliflower soup, strawberry chiffon (a dessert), stuffed cherry tomatos, and stuffed mushrooms. I also made another batch of what's turning out to be my favorite thing on the diet so far: Japanese Cucumber Salad. Sadly, I ate half of it, along with my cold cut roll-ups, for breakfast. I just can't keep the stuff in the fridge.

Another two days successfully negotiated.

It's suddenly thundering outside and threatening an afternoon shower. A good excuse to nap. I'll post my two favorite recipes before I head off. But before I go, a bit of hope. I read online that after 2 weeks of phase 1, a person can definitely see a difference in their face and torso. Maybe not a dramatic difference, but definite, I-am-not-imagining-this difference. It's part of what keeps me going!

Snorkeling Reward

In two weeks, this is going to be me!!

Ever since the family trip was canceled (due to Dad's sudden romance and now impending marriage), I knew I had about 7 days of vacation time that was expiring the first week in October. Use it or lose it was the only choice. Happily, my soon-to-be-mom lives in Florida and has generously offered the use of her guest room. So in two weeks, I'm off to Florida.

Two or three of those days are going to be spent in the Keys, learning to snorkel. I'm so excited, it's hard to sit still. I haven't been to the beach since college--yikes, that's something like 20 years ago. I'll probably come back looking like a boiled lobster because even with sunscreen, I burn (part of the trade off of being a third shift vampire, rarely seeing the sun. Or so I'm told.) I'd like to see if I can do a little scuba diving, too, if the cost isn't too severe.

I'll be driving down Alligator Alley and spending a few hours in Everglades National Park before stopping in Key Largo. Then it's on to John Pennecamp's world famous natural reef and wildlife sanctuary. I'm just hoping the weather cooperates and a hurricane doesn't ruin my plans. I might even be able to stop and see St. Augustine on the way home. But I might skip that in favor of a visit to the Dolphin Research Center instead.

Talk about a great finale to the end of Phase One..

Week One, Day Two

It's been a rocky beginning so far. Not so much adhering to the diet's restrictions but the work and the cost required to change gears and commit to eating this way. I have friends who will snicker at this point (you uber homemakers know who you are) because if there's one thing that's always been true about my life it is this: I can handle almost anything outside the home but housework and domestic goddess stuff is mostly beyond my capabilities. At least, it is from a June Cleaver standpoint.

Like many ADD'ers, it takes me twice the time and triple the effort to do the same thing the average person does without thinking. Like grocery shopping or preparing a meal. Oh, I can cook and I do that very well, but making one dish is different than orchestrating a meal. I remember all the times, growing up, when Mom and I used to eat our meals in stages, according to whatever came off the stove first. If the potatoes were done, we ate that. When the roast came out of the oven, we ate that. And so with the green beans and the salad that usually came last because Mom forgot about it sitting in the fridge until she started to put the leftovers away. I thought that kind of thing was wildly exotic and wonderful. Not so anymore. It really is a complex dance of organization, making the meat, the veggies, the salad and the starch all come out together (and still hot). I just find it mind boggling and exhausting.

To prepare for my first week, I wrote out a meal planner to cover all the breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks and desserts for 6 days. Once I had that, I made a list to put on the fridge detailing the options I could choose to make, each day. Then I cleaned out the fridge and the freezer, even the cupboards, of non-productive and temptation food. I checked my staples and made a list of grocery items I needed. That took 2 days. Then I went grocery shopping and got most of the items on my list. Three hours later, and $142 lighter, I dragged myself home in a state of sticker shock. I don't ever think I've spent that much on groceries at any one time. It was nerve wracking. What have I done? I can't afford this diet!

So today I settled into the notion that I have to take the time to prepare everything I want to eat. No short cuts. No restaurants or fast food drive thrus. Somehow, I have to live without Taco Bell. And it's not that I mind the cooking and prepping. It's just that it takes sooo looong. Make something, wash the dishes, make something else, more dishes. When do I actually get to eat?

And then there's the question of schedule. I'm a third shifter. I go to work at 10pm and get off at 7am. I don't eat breakfast when I come home, I stagger to bed and collapse. My schedule isn't exactly normal, so I have to restructure my eating times to include 3 meals, 2 snacks, and one dessert. Sigh. That usually means eating breakfast at dinner time and squeezing in a snack while trying to cook the two meals, snack, and dessert I'm supposed to eat during work.

I ended up making a good amount of the dishes for a main meal and eating on that same thing all day. Today's was Indonesian Beef Patties with peanut butter on top, Japanese cucumber salad (really yummy!), and deviled eggs. The meat wasn't spiced strongly enough for me to taste it and so I found the patties quite bland and unappetizing. But the other two items are tasty and, in the case of the cucumbers, are all gone. Still have several deviled eggs left to carry into tomorrow (yeah!). I had my cup of
V-8 and some nuts as my first snack and some cheese and a sugar free jello as the later snack. I'll have my cup of milk when I get home in the morning. As for my water intake, I only hit 45oz instead of 64. Hope to improve on that tomorrow.

So far, no cheating whatsoever. My only problem is an aweful Nutrasweet headache. I got it within 2 swallows of the sugar free Ocean Spray Cran-Grape drink. Ugh. And I even watered the stuff down quite a bit. Have to declare that stuff off limits and stick to plain water. Used Splenda twice today and had no problems, though, so at least there is some recourse. Hopefully phase one will go quickly and I can be onto phase two with a lot more choices and flexability. I'll keep everyone posted.

Turning 40

It's still half a year away, the big 4-0, but I know I have to do something special, something memorable. How about losing 140 pounds and going to Hawaii? Yeah, 140 pounds. It's hard to believe I am that much overweight, but I am. It's taken 2 decades to get here but the day has come and I can't let more time go by without changing this.. permanently. So, if I want that dream vacation, if I want to learn to snorkel and kite board and surf (and I do!), then South Beach is gonna have to be my method for getting there.

Temporarily, at least, this blog is going to detour a bit and chronicle my journey.

This week: cleaning out the fridge, freezer, and cupboards of not SBD friendly food. Come Monday: I start Phase 1. Stay tuned for all the (scary) details.