Day 4

End of Day 4. I have really been eating well because of YOU. Thanks for helping me! I hope you are getting the help you need too. PLEASE post a comment, or send me a link to your own blog where you are tracking your progress and success. Accountability really makes a difference.

One of the biggest changes I've made is journaling my food more often. I used to do it at the end of the day, but the nutritionist says research shows that journaling food as close to consumption as possible has really positive consequences--more accountability and honesty, less chance of "forgetting" the extra whats-it-called.

Here's my food today:

B: 2 cups warm lemon water, 1 egg white salad (100 cals), 3.5 wasa (105 cals), 1 large pear
L: In-n-Out This is real. I went to In-n-Out with Brandon after his endo appt. I ordered and ate a cheeseburger protein style, animal style (no bun, extra condiments) I learned that I really like to eat volume and for the calories this little burger was my entire meal...it made it difficult to hold steady the rest of the afternoon
PM snack: 1 Fiber Rich cracker & 1 "Clean you out" cracker (these are the highest fiber crackers in the world--available from Scandanavia and from the nutritionist. They have the power of a colonic...not that I've ever experienced that 7th wonder. But what I do is soak them in 1/2 c almond breeze and 1/2 c 1% milk for 3 hours or so (30 minutes will, allegedly, soften them up enough, but I like to be safe). Then I sprinkle with 1 pkg. splenda (the teeny package) and 1 tsp or so of cocoa and eat it like cereal. It's pretty good and the crackers themselves count as a "free" food per the nutritionist. They fill me up and let me hold steady for a bit...not to mention the added fiber boost. Apparently the Scandanavians with their high protein diet need extra cleansing power...hey, a few hundred thousand Swedes can't all be wrong.
I also had 1/2 egg white salad (50 cals) and 2 light rye wasa (60 cals) I was so hungry

D
Henry came over to play. Henry is 6 years old and about to be in 1st grade. He is as close to a gosh-darn-genius as anyone not related to me is allowed to be. I picked him up from school and we went swimming at his house. It was Wild Kingdom at his house--there was a dead dragonfly that we fished out of the pool and set on the edge of the jacuzzi and it came back to life. I do not exaggerate. Then there was a praying mantis--too cool. Then a giant beetle that tried to carry Henry off like an eagle with a fish. Awesome. But the fact is, Henry sees me and thinks "cooking."

I had intended to swim and then go home, but I cannot resist a brilliant child who wants to cook. He said this time I had to do the dangerous parts. (Dangerous parts are the parts with fire.) So as we're getting into my car to go to market to buy a "chicken with the legs attached." He looks up at the trees in his front yard and says, "Kristen, where does toilet paper come from." And I learned long ago that it is far more interesting and appropriate to say, "I don't know, where do you think it comes from" to which he replies, "Does God make it?" And I say, "hmmm, what do you think?" And Henry says, "If God doesn't make it, how does it get in trees." And all the wheels click in to place for me and I say, "Henry, sometimes teenagers throw toilet paper in trees to make a funny joke for their friends." (Henry is the only brother of three older and quite beautiful sisters.) And Henry says, "those rotten teenagers." Where on earth did he hear that phrase???

So for dinner Henry and I went to the market and we bought a chicken with the legs attached (thankfully I was not required to pull out the feathers as Henry had predicted). Then we had to buy some shark. Henry is quite enthusiastic in discovering all features and variations of sharks, so he decided to get some shark. I hate fish, by the way, so even though I cook it fairly well, I rarely eat it because it makes me so nervous...but for Henry, anything. I bought a piece of thresher shark and I got the fishmonger (yah, right...more like employee of the hour) to cut the piece up small--which turned out to be a mistake because it was delicious. I marinated it in olive oil, garlic, dijon and salt and pepper for 20 minutes and grilled it in the kitchen. Wow. Henry ate the whole thing declaring that it was, "a little rubbery." Then he graciously took the piece off of my plate totally relieving me of the responsibility of eating it!

We stuffed the chicken with lemon and onion wedges and roasted it at 500 degrees for an hour. I made new potatoes, green and yellow beans (sauteed in spray olive oil and sprinkled with some spicy asian chili something or other), and a giant green salad. Dinner was really good. I put butter in the potatoes and had a little lemon and onion chicken gravy--so I'm sure I was over calories, but I'll say that I had one plate full of food and that is very big for me. Henry wanted ice cream sandwiches for dessert and I had already done my part; didn't think I could handle making those from scratch, so I bought some and didn't have to eat it. Triumph goes to me.

Lots of love and best wishes to you on your healthy quest!