Back to School

I gave great thought to my earlier post.

I think...I think...I think I know nothing about nutrition. I hate saying that after all the diet/self-help books I've read when it comes to eating...

I did some research. I looked into what other people are doing.

I found Spark People. Have you heard about it?

I've been playing around with it all afternoon. I like it. I like it a lot. Today, I entered in all of my food consumption and was surprised by the quick access to information. I need that information.

Because Spark People also has a blog section, I'm going to devote my time there (unfortunately, I don't have enough time to maintain this blog and my Spark People account) - at least until I have a firm grip on what I'm stuffing in the piehole.

So, I'm taking a blog break (LOL - after less than two weeks) to go back to school and get an education.

Please visit me there. I need all the support I can get. I don't know how to give a link, but my Spark People name is "MindfulEating1."

Know a Good Program?

I wanted to take a look at the nutritional values of my 'fresh from the garden' homemade meal. I have a tendency to 'think' I know about calories and fat, but in reality, I think I know very little.

I actually made a double batch of my pasta sauce... But, most of it is destined for the freezer. My chicken meatballs yielded 60 (weight of chicken was determined by total weight less weight of bowl).

Chicken Meatballs
			Calories	Fat	Chol	Carbs	Fiber	Protein
Ground chicken	1.89	pound	1204	69 g	440 mg	0	0	138 g
Romano Cheese	1/2	cup	220	16 g	58 mg	3 g	0	18 g
Breadcrumbs	1/4	cup	200	10 g	30 mg	16 g	0	12 g
Dried onions	2	tbsp	32	1 g	0	8 g	1 g	1 g
			1656	96 g	0	0	0	0
	Yield 60		44	1.5 g	9 mg	.5 g	0 g	3 g
Pasta Sauce
Tomatoes	6	pounds	462	3 g	0	102	24 g	23 g
Onion	1/2	medium	67	1 g	0	16 g	2 g	2 g
			529	4	0	118	26	25
	Yield 6 cups		88	0.6	0	20 g	4 g	4 g
Pasta	1	serving	180	1 g	0	36 g	4 g	7 g
Totals			312	3.1 g	9 mg	56.5 g	8 g	14 g

I had to look up all the nutritional information and do you know what?

It was time consuming...

And, not fun...

And, it involved math.

I am not a friend to math.

Plus, you can probably guess what the end result was - I was totally surprised by all the values. Apparently, I know very little about nutritional information.

I think I need a program where I can enter what I eat and then the program does all the work. I need to educate myself.

Know any good programs?

I'm going to go read some other blogs and see what everyone is using.

Gardening - It Does a Body Good

I knew what I had to do this morning to help myself get back on track - GARDEN! My garden, aka The Wild Wild West, is my biggest de-stresser. Without fail, every time I trim roses, pick fresh organic veggies, and find worms to feed to my girls (chickens) I feel better. Refreshed. Gardening is able to 'wash away' a lot of my stress, anxiety, worries, etc.

I haven't been able to garden much in the last week due to triple digit temps. This morning, I took full advantage of a break in weather and headed straight out.

We are currently redoing the small Potager behind our back porch. After the brick work is done, I will plant lots of herbs for cooking.

I never really saw gardening as an 'activity.' I don't know why. Maybe because I find it so pleasurable. You can imagine my surprise when once finished, my pedometer was over 4,000 steps. Can that be?

Apparently, gardening does a body good.

Both my husband and I enjoy gardening... I think we need to do it more. We have a system where I do all the planting, pruning, and watering and he does all the harvesting. He does the harvesting because a) I'm allergic to the leaves of the tomato plant (we have over 200 tomato plants this year) and b) I'm freaked out by bugs crawling on me (I've been known to cry like a baby if a lizard happens to wander by).

Daily, I find lots of fresh veggies on my counter. Today's pick included zucchini, peaches, nectarines, cucumbers, green peppers, and many different kinds of tomatoes.

I cook down our tomatoes (the ones that aren't eaten in a salad) with some garlic and onion into a thick tomato sauce. Remember last week when I had marina on pasta twice? Yeah...this is where I get my marina from - from the garden. Generally, I save enough to eat for a couple of meals and then freeze the rest (it freezes well and we eat it frozen during the winter months). I like cooking it from scratch because I don't add a ton of salt and I make it without any fat (oil). Believe it or not, it's pretty low in calories and quite healthy.

Tonight, as a pasta alternative, I am trying a new noodle I ordered : brown rice noodles. Should be interesting. I may make some chicken meatballs, too.

Speaking of interesting... I ordered a jar of this - PB2. I read about it on the "Runs for Cookies" blog (www.runsforcookies.com). I love her blog - I find it so motivating and 'real.' I have no idea what to do with this stuff.

In case you were wondering why a second post today, I'll fill you in:

#1: I am stalling. I really need to put on my tennies and get my rear on the treadmill.

#2: I still really want to eat crack-crackers and am trying to divert my thinking into good healthy food (like homemade marina over some potentially freakish noodles).

Okay. Okay.

I'm going to have some intimate time with my treadmill now.

I Said, "Screw It!"

Well...Crap.

When I started this journey (double-crap...was that just barely two weeks ago?), I really wanted to be thorough (honest!) with my obstacles, thoughts, crash-n-burns, etc. I wanted to be able to reflect and learn from this journey.

That is, until I got tired.

Reflection...effort...mindfulness - you know, it all takes energy! My energy went down the drain on Thursday.

Wednesday weigh-in was great. My weight? 297. I was pleased with the three pound loss as I was having my cycle and for me, that means lots of water retention... I was jazzed. I was motivated.

Then came Thursday and Friday. Two days that were so cram-packed that I literally said, "Screw it!" I didn't care. I didn't want to blog. I didn't want to wear my pedometer. I told myself I don't have time for any of the aforementioned and I threw in the towel.

I threw in the towel. I gave up. Day 8.

Funny. Once you decide to throw in the towel, you give yourself all sorts of freedom. Freedom that came (for me) in the form of one slice of cheesecake, two bowls of my crack-crackers (Keeblers Flips), a peanute butter cup, two junk granola bars, a bowl of Pops, bread at two meals, and two pop tarts. Did you really want to know all of that? I felt the need to write it out.

I'm struggling. I want a bowl of crack-crackers.

Today I picked up the pieces, tucked my fat rolls into my big girl panties, and told myself to snap out of it.

My pedometer went back on. I hit the gardens early. I ate yogurt for breakfast (instead of the trough of Pops I had yesterday)... And, I'm back on this blog writing about what happened.

I need some major coping skills when it comes to being overbooked (tired, run down, no time to go pee) and handling food.

Today will be a test as I come off my 'overeating high.' My body is craving all the foods that it took me an entire week to work out of my system.

[Side note: I used the word 'fat.' Did you catch that? I just caught it while rereading this entry. That tells you how pissed off I am at myself. WOW. I dislike the word fat - a lot.]