A Start

As I’m thinking about how I’m going to write this, one of the concerns that comes up is that I should temper my enthusiasm a little. It’s easy to get excited when I’m in the early stages – brimming over with hope and expectations for the future.

But that’s the fascinating thing. It is real excitement, not just for the potential end goal, but the process too. I think this bodes well…

Last week I visited the gym 4 times – boxing, crossfit, and two types of yoga. One was very low intensity though, but now I know. This week I missed out again on the boxing class I intended to go to, but just rehashed my crossfit exercises and managed to make it to a stability ball class. There’s a short break today and no classes I can attend tomorrow, so that might be the real test. So far though, I haven’t been convincing myself out of going to the gym. I push myself to get there and if I can’t make a class I don’t try to take it easy. It feels so good!

I really hope this keeps up. I know I’ve ben obsessively weighing myself and little has changed, but there’s no way this cannot be good for me.

While grocery shopping I picked up a whole capon, so it’s been chicken after chicken. This go around I’ve been more conscious about not including the skin when it wasn’t done in a crispy prep – the only real reason you want the skin. My only concern is that I see how much I’m blanding out my food for the sake of “healthy” and it just seems a bit lazy and silly. Need to rethink the “diet” thing and come up with smarter and more flavourful ideas. It’s not even that I miss anything or am wanting (the right kind of and at the right time carbs are fine, fat consumption is going down though), but just that I might as well treat myself better. I think with the summer too, lighter is just preferable. I think I’m aiming towards latin, broths, flavourful salads from around the world, and seafood.

Meals:
Drunken chicken with Korean legume rice, wilted greens, quick pickles. Roasted chicken with salt truffled potatoes and roasted asparagus. Breakfast pastries.
Poached egg over pasta with asparagus, shallots and garlic.
Mussels and fennel in spicy herbed sake.
Chicken fingers sometimes with vegetables.

Note:
I’m noticing that the simple salads just aren’t doing it for me. They eventually get waterlogged, taste bland, and just generally disinterest me. I have to think more about this. Go heartier than leafy methinks. Also more legumes. Cook chickpeas this week.

Time Flies

It’s been almost a year since I wrote anything and it’s interesting how vividly I can recall the situation, emotions and intentions behind the last posts. What’s disappointing, surprisingly it isn’t that it’s been a year, but that I thought I had written more! Quite the cue and indicator of where I mentally was at that point.

The foodie in me wants to support a lot of the local movement within reason. I’ve been avoiding items that can be grown in Ontario, but it’s really stunted my eating and excitement for cooking. I think it’s also been incredibly limiting to a healthy and diverse diet that keeps me on track. While I was apt-ridden some of the best foods for me where the fruits that I had pushed into a corner and that set me on the path of reevaluating my purchasing choices.

I still aim for the local items, especially ones that I don’t crave on a regular basis. For example asparagus, which is now in season in Ontario and not a vegetable that I find crucial to my palate.

On the other hand, to up keep my fruit intake and keep it interesting I’m going for the melons, the pineapple, the mangoes…. I won’t buy a non-Ontario apple nor pear nor peach but the rest I’ll give a little grey area. I’m going to let my body speak for me more than my brain. I don’t think that’s a bad thing either, I’m still very aware of the decisions I’m making. But if one of the elements of locality is also health, then what my body is asking for is a big part of that.

One of the exercise “methods” I’ve taken on is purchasing the group buying coupons available for exercise within my vicinity that I find potentially interesting. At first I thought it was going to offer great variety, but I wasn’t motivated the way I thought I would be and have left things fall to the wayside. Yesterday though, I redeemed one of the monthly subscriptions to a nearby gym and I’m excited. I’ve made the resolution that rather than sit at home and watch television, I’ll go to the gym. I realize that is the hurdle for a lot of people, but in an odd way it seems like less of one for me. If I’m going to spend time alone doing unproductive things, then I might as well go and workout and potentially meet some people. The idea just feels right to me and great. It started as a push, but feels more like an invitation now. Perhaps it’s the weather… the sunshine that makes me feel great about it, but I think it has potential.

So classes have been arranged for nearly all week and I have let work get in the way a bit already but I’ve been good one day so far to either go to a later fitness class or make the decision to workout on my own. I think this is going to be a great month leading into a great rejuvenation of my life.

Breakfast – pasta with asparagus, bacon fat, shallot, garlic, chili flakes and parmesan (liberal douse of olive oil); strawberries

Lunch – arugala salad with cucumber, green onion, tomato and mustard vinaigrette; cheese and crackers

Dinner – roast chicken thigh with roasted potatoes and pea shoots

Snacks & Dessert – unknown, potentially none.

Habits

Trying to keep up the habit of documenting (even if ever so sparsely) my eating is not going well. Writing about exercise is even less appealing. I suspect that I will need to reserve (or maybe enforce) a half hour after working out as some time to decompress and write about what I’ve done. Perhaps the same will need to be done (twice weekly, perhaps?) for the food consumption.

It takes 21 days to make a habit they say. We can always try.

Sunday:

Lunch – Out (food tour)

Dinner – Spicy pork and eggplant, chili-ginger zucchini, peach

Monday:

Breakfast – Blueberry pancakes

Lunch – Thai meatball noodle soup, baby bok choy

Snack – Pepperettes, yogurt dip, chips

Dinner – Smoked Rainbow trout, roasted cauliflower, chili-ginger zucchini or Roasted chicken and root vegetables

Tuesday:

Breakfast – Yogurt and fruit or granola

Lunch -

Snack -

Dinner -

Wednesday:

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Thursday:

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Friday:

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Saturday:

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Gotta Start Somewhere

I’ve been putting this off, wanting to start on the right foot, but there’s never a better time than now… as they say.

The biggest struggle thus far has been eating. As a food-obsessed gal, that is how I got to where I am. Originally it wasn’t an issue but I think it was because I listened to my body more and ate quite well in all senses – indulging during dinners out, whatever I wanted at home, and satisfied all cravings. Nothing was out of bounds, but everything had a very perfect balance. Vegetables were always an important component, I didn’t favour rich sauces, my sweet tooth was present but not always crying out, and exercise may have been minimal but it was present in some light form on a nearly daily basis. All of those have been flipped upside down in the past couple of years and no amount of exercise I do seems to combat it. That or I’m just getting older and my body can’t keep up the same.

While I’m not keen on keeping a food diary and tracking my caloric intake, I do think I need to reorganize myself and ensure I have a plan day to day and week to week to make sure I’m not relying on the carbohydrate filled pantry when I am too tired to cook, which is very often.

Sunday:

Lunch – mystery

Dinner – Hot smoked Rainbow Trout with pea shoots and roasted cauliflower, fruit

Monday:

Breakfast – Bacon and egg

Lunch – Rainbow Trout leftovers

Snack – Frangifouti, yogurt dip, chips

Dinner – Spicy pork and eggplant, fruit

Tuesday:

Breakfast – Yogurt and peaches with honey

Lunch – Spicy pork and eggplant

Snack – Frangifouti

Dinner – Out (sloppy joe), peaches

Wednesday:

Breakfast – Bacon and egg

Lunch – Spicy pork and eggplant, baby bok choy

Snack – None

Dinner – None

Thursday:

Breakfast – None

Lunch – Thai meatball soup, baby bok choy

Dinner – Roast chicken and root vegetables

Friday:

Breakfast – Blueberry almond pancakes, bacon, Walnut Ave latte

Lunch – Out (food tour)

Dinner – Out (Thai)

Saturday:

Breakfast – Roast chicken and root vegetables

Lunch – Out (dessert crepe, smoked fish)

Dinner – Out (hotdog)