A Food Update

Oh, what a great day!

I had work from 11-12, class from 12-1 today, then a big long break. During that time I visited our little farmers market here in Monmouth.

Look at that haul! All of that for about $23.00

Raspberries

18 Farm fresh eggs 

Pears

Apples

Squash

zucchini (for stuffed zucchini)

Tomatoes

Bell Peppers

Sucanat

Mixed Greens

Red Onions

A big squash/pumpkin thing (the gray thing in the back on the right)

An acorn squash

I got almost all the produce I needed. I just need a lime or lemon, and bananas. Maybe some garlic too.

Oh, I also got a lead on grass fed beef here in Monmouth! They were only selling freezer beef at the market and I really don't have a big enough freezer.

I got my poor charger in the mail today, so I'm tap tap tapping on my mini netbook once again!

I went to make a coconut smoothie today, and discovered that the cute little food processor Margie, Rick's mom, gave me didn't work. It was the first time I had tried to use it, so I was very bummed.

I had my sociology class today. Man, the professor is really full of himself. He thinks he's hilarious. It's irritating.

Then I had auditions, and we were only there for an hour and half when the director said she'd seen all she needed to and we were dismissed. 

Then guess what!

BIMART NIGHT!

Basically, a really fun event in which Bimart is open later than usual and they give out free food, pens and pencils, energy drinks, sodas, and they have a big wheel you can spin and win free stuff. 

Alysse and I stayed til the end and we kept getting free stuff. I ended up with a box of 12 satin hangers, a 30 hour febreeze candle, some cleaning products, 18 pairs of really cute short girls socks. (Which is great, because I was about to buy a pack of 6 for $4!) I also got a mug you can plug into the cigarette lighter of your car, and it heats up the contents to a steady degree. :) I have a thing for mugs, so that was great!

I bought a proctor silex mini food processor there too! It's a 1.5 cup capacity, which is perfect for just me and one other person, my honey or Alysse. :P It goes right along with our mini crockpot, rice cooker, coffee pot, sandwich maker and soon an iron. :D Maybe a griddle too. I saw a mini one at Bimart. I might have a problem. :D

My food consumption:

B: Quinoa with milk and a dollop of honey, again, since my food processor would let me make a smoothie for breakfast

That is my dinner/lunch. It was 2 strips of my uncured bacon, 2 of my farm fresh eggs, a batch of green pepper and squash sautéed and my attempt at squash hashbrowns. They weren't bad! That squash was really sweet. :D

I also had a cup of green tea with coconut oil and coconut cream and I had that during class today, so I think that's why I didn't snack much.

All in all an exciting food day!

The Contract

I have a horrible time of sticking to resolutions. I hate that word. It seems to imply failure.

I tend to rely on Rick a lot to help me keep up with the new things I want to change. However, I tend to forget I'm trying to abstain from things when Rick reminds me to stick with it. (Especially if it pertains to my sugar cravings.) That's where contracts come in. :)

I wrote up this contract last night:

From this day forward I will focus on:

• Not consuming sugar
• Not consuming grains
• Abstaining from soda
• Only eating 70% cocao or greater chocolate bars, 1 per week, and no more
• Eat more natural fats to offset the sugar cravings.
• Focus on eating low-carb foods
• Staying away from honey and sugar!
• Drink water or tea, no coffee or soda
• Increase my protein intake
• Decrease my consumption of processed foods
• Exercise regularly

August 12th, 2010

Mark Sisson from Mark's Daily Apple always says to focus on the 80/20 rule. If I can stick with this list 80 percent of the time or more, I will feel a lot better, physically and emotionally. 

A Food Challenge Update

I've tried to post a couple of times this week, but when I get to the blank page, I don't know what to say.

So here's an update on the Food Challenge, which I need to keep track of more thoroughly. Here are some of the things I will talk about in this post. I will think of a better format to lay all of this out, but not right now.

• I will include
• my menu 
• my shopping list
• the cost of shopping
• the actual carrying out of this challenge. 
• what went well, when I messed up, what I ate that day

To review what entails in the Challenge:

• I will not:
• Eat out
• Get coffee from the oh-so-convenient-located-in-the-center-of-campus coffee shop
• I will:
  
•  Brown bag my lunches and daily snacks
• Eat healthy!
• Explore ways to streamline my meals and still have time to do everything else that needs done!

Eating out:

Eating out has not been much of a problem. I did eat out last wednesday because my schedule has me in class from 12-5pm and I then have rehearsal from 5:30-10:30pm, so I opted for a cheap meal of teriyaki noodles, but noticed it didn't really fill me up much. Then I thought of keeping track of how I feel afterward to remind myself that eating out might seem nice, but your body doesn't really like food like that.

Place	Price of Meal	Type of Food	Feeling Afterward	How long contentment Lasted
Rice Time	Free	Chinese	Immediately a little dizzy and nauseous	About two hours.

Notice that this meal was free. I think I might do a post later about what to do if a guy buys you dinner when you gave him money to pick it up for you. That was a bit of a pickle, let me tell you.

Coffee:

I admit, I had coffee from the shop last Wednesday because my sleep schedule was all screwed up and I had class from 12-5, but around 2pm I started to nod off. 

Lunch and Dinner:

Dinner has not been too hard, surprisingly. Last week I only cooked twice, but there was enough food left over for about three days of lunch and dinner. So, going off of that rubric, I have come up with an altered meal plan from the one I had before which turned out to be too much food. This is what January looks like. I normally would be cooking on a Tuesday or Thursday, since those are right in the middle of the week and I have a 3 hour block of free time from 2-5 in the afternoon. I still plan on using the groceries that I got before, but I shifted things around so that the more perishable items would be used up first. I'm not sure how well that will work out, but man, it seems a lot less daunting than having to come home and cook every night after rehearsal, around 10:30pm.

Week	Tuesday	Thursday
1	oops	oops
2	Baked Cheesy Pasta	Pasta and Zucchini
3	Chicken Pasta	Garden Chowder
4	Veggie Sandwiches	Vietnam Fried Rice

Lunches have mainly been snacks I eat throughout the day and I go home and have leftovers from the night before.

I already posted my grocery shopping, which I contributed $50 to. We haven't gone back to the store at all, and its almost the end of the month, so that makes me really happy!

A Three Month Food Challenge!

Ok. Time to take control of my food situation.

I am issuing myself a challenge. A very painful, but necessary challenge. A three month long, hopefully will change my life challenge!

Beginning Winter term, January

•  The Challenge!
• I will not:
• eat out
• get coffee from the oh-so-convenient-located-in-the-center-of-campus coffee shop
• I will:
  
•  brown bag my lunches and daily snacks
• Eat healthy!
• Explore ways to streamline my meals and still have time to do everything else that needs done!

• Documenting!
• I will record my results on a weekly/daily basis depending on my homework situation. 
• I will include
• my menu 
• my shopping list
• the cost of shopping
• the actual carrying out of this challenge. 
• what went well, when I messed up, what I ate that day

• In preparation for this challenge:
• I need to prepare a monthly menu
• Basically, a four week rotation of breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks that is different enough to keep me sane
• I need to determine what I consider healthy food, i.e., nutritious, but affordable.
• I will research other blogs and see what they are doing as well and post useful things I find to here.

• Reasons for this challenge:
• I feel awful most of the time! 
• I am so sleepy all of the time!
• I spend way too much money on food.
• I eat a whole bunch of processed crap that I know is responsible for the above two points.
• I want to prepare for the future in a way that makes sense and is beneficial for me!
• I don't eat on a consistent basis when I am stressed out and I don't think that is healthy.
• I need a simple diet that is good for me and good for my budget!
• Things to know:
• I currently have a $100/month budget for food.
• My average day consists of school from 9am to 10:30pm
• I probably will do bi-monthly shopping
• I love natural foods and am open to a lot of things...except sardines. 
• Feel free to comment! 
• If you know a student who is struggling with their diet, maybe they can do this challenge with me! 
• If you have any tips, let me hear them!

To move, or not to move

I am really in favor of moving in with Alysse once I figure out the car situation. However, budget-wise, it may not be possible. Here is my list of expenses:

Rent: $287/month
Car Insurance: $140/month
Gas: $80/month
Food: $100/month
Phone: $45/month
Savings: $150/month
Misc.: $100/month (electricity, etc.)

Pros:
Close to campus
College environment
Fantastic roommate
Don't have to drive to school
Kitchen all to myself
No commuting

Cons
Expensive compared to only paying for my car at my grandparents
Has the potential to ruin my relationship with Alysse

Ok, so I don't have very many cons, but still. At the moment, I am just staying here while I feel out what is happening with my car. I really think that moving in would be helpful, though I am not sure how I could manage financially.