Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A New Food-itude

Well, people, yesterday was my first official day off the juice, so to speak.  I did start the day with a pear-blueberry-banana smoothie, just 'cuz it's so damned delicious!  But by mid morning, I was ready for some mastication.  (I love that word... it sounds so dirty, but it's not.)  More than anything, I've been craving vegetables.  Crazy, right?  A week off food and all that talk about motor-boating pizzas, and now all I can think about is salad?!  'Tis true, I'm afraid.  I wasn't hungry enough to put together a salad, but I had some steam-in-bag frozen butternut squash in the freezer, so I nuked that.  I tossed it with a little coconut oil, some maple syrup (grade B... since I've got like 3 jugs of it left!), some cinnamon, and a little salt.  It was so delicious and comforting, not to mention beautiful... that bright yellow-orange with flecks of cinnamon?  Come on!  It was exactly what I needed to get me through the rest of the morning.  The husbie and I decided we'd hit up Whole Foods for lunch, but we wouldn't be able to leave until The Precious finished her nap.  It's like she knows when we're waiting around for her to wake up and decides to sleep even longer just to be a pain in the ass.  But if I'm counting on her to sleep so I can get things accomplished, she's wide awake in less than an hour.  Sigh.  Can't win.  I microwaved some edamame to munch on while we waited for her to wake up, but I forgot Jake won't touch soy with a 10ft pole if he can help it (something about it raising estrogen levels in men and giving them moobs - that's what happened to Jeremy Piven, allegedly), so he opted for carrots and cucumber w/ dip.  I should note that he no longer feels the need to don the "cloak of shame" during snack time.  Baby girl finally woke up, and in a good mood! Bonus!

We got to Whole Foods and opted to eat first and shop later.  I hit up the salad/hot food bar and started taking spoonfuls here and there of various things that looked good or that I'd never tried and wanted to.  I wasn't feeling any of the meat dishes, so I grabbed some veggie stuff and a couple of different pasta salads.  I didn't grab a huge amount of food, but I still couldn't even finish half of it.  The stomach has definitely suffered some shrinkage.  (Not that I mind - my portions pre-cleanse were a little out of control.)  A few of the dishes I got were completely off-putting.  I can't really pin-point the specific flavors I found foul.  I think it was more that there was just too much of the flavors.  I tried the smoked mozzarella pasta salad that had been calling my name since the first day I started shopping there, and was, unfortunately, disappointed.  The cheese was just a little too... I don't know, mozzarella-y?  Any cheese cravings I've been having have been for bleu, goat, parmigiano, aged gouda, and things like that. Funky cheese - that's what I want!  (I totally just opened things up for a Fromunda joke, didn't I?  You know who you are, and you can Shutty!)  It didn't help that all I could taste in the pasta salad was mayonnaise.  There was just too much.  It needed some acid like vinegar or lemon juice to cut through all that fat.  It's something I'd like to make at home and Fabulize.

I didn't really have a shopping list, something which always elicits a whiney "Oh, noooo!" from my husband.  He LOVES for me to mosey through all the aisles going, "Oooo - look at THIS!"  He LOVES it.  Especially when The Diva is with us and putting on her usual performance.  Good times!  NOT.  But I did get some cool stuff... red quinoa, chia seeds, hemp protein powder, du puy lentils (which I'm gonna use to make Ina Garten's insanely delicious warm French lentil salad), organic whole grain baked chicken nuggets for the kiddies, all natural bacon-ranch(!) popcorn, and Vosgue's alderwood-smoked-salt-and-BACON dark chocolate.  Oh, yeah, baby.  (I draw the line of my vegetarian tendencies at bacon.)  You just can't find this stuff at the regular grocery.  I was in heaven!  This makes me a total foodie nerd, I know, but I own it.  One other thing I picked up was Arctic Zero.  Have you heard of this?  I know all of you TAM-ers have, because it's on the food plan as a dessert option.  I'd never seen it anywhere before this, so I had to check it out.  It looks like pint of ice cream, but it's made from whey protein (safe for most dairy allergies) and has 150 calories in THE WHOLE PINT.  I grabbed the strawberry flavor for me and the mint chocolate for Jake.  On the way out of the store, I stopped by the cafe and bought a few of their mini-cannolis - I'd been drooling over them for weeks, and since the craving wasn't going away, I indulged and got a traditional, a pistachio, and a chocolate one.  They were each about 3" in length and about an inch around, and I thought the four of us could share.  We ate them when we got home and were NOT disappointed.  That shit was da bomb, yo.  I had one or two bites of each one (about the equivalent of one whole mini cannoli) and was so satisfied.  I didn't feel guilty or like I'd over done it.  It was just right.  I love when I can have my cake and eat it, too and not feel like a gluttonous fat ass afterward!

For dinner, I made Tracy's veggie-protein soup, minus the protein.  It's basically just carrots, celery, and broccoli simmered in vegetable broth with some parsley and black pepper thrown in at the end.  I added some lemon zest, as well.  You can add tofu or chicken or whatever floats your boat in the protein department.  I hadn't made it for months, and I remember the first time 'round adding coconut milk, cilantro, scallions, lime juice, and siracha to boost the flavor, because I found it a little blah.  A week of cleansing, however, has apparently reset my palate.  Not only did I have to dilute the broth with water because I found it too salty, but both Jake and I were marveling at how amazingly tasty the carrots were.  CARROTS.  What?!  But they were.  They were sweet and delicious.  The kids liked it, too.  And they went nuts for those chicken nuggets, by the way.  Even out of the microwave!  My little guy, who is quite the kid food connoisseur, said they were "waaaay better than McDonald's."   (So if you can get your mitts on some Earth's Best Baked Chicken Nuggets, they're kid tested and approved.)  Later, we tried out the Arctic Zero.  Not. A. Fan.  Especially of the strawberry.  Hurl.  It tasted like a strawberry protein shake.  If strawberry protein shakes are your deal, then getchur freak on, by all means.  You can have mine!  The only way it's gonna get used up in this house is if I put it in a beet smoothie.  Because maybe the beets would mask the taste.  In other words, raw beets taste better than strawberry Arctic Zero.  Hell, asshole might taste better than strawberry Arctic Zero.  I haven't tasted asshole (other than in hot dogs), so I can't be sure.  The mint chocolate was bearable, but it's got a weird aftertaste.  I just asked Jake to describe what the aftertaste is like, and he said, "Bigfoot's dick." 


So there you go.  Personally, I'd rather have a half cup of Haagen Dazs than a pint of Bigfoot's Dick.

I put off the workout until almost 9pm... downer.  But I sucked it up and cleared some space and did my first day on Level 2 of Meta.  Cringe.  I remembered hating Level 2 the first go round, and this time was no different, unfortunately.  Remember that whole promise to myself to do full reps?  Well I fucking LIED.  I was able to do more than I did when I first started Level 2 back in November, and I was able to go full reps on some of the moves.  But those damned planky-kicky-moves get me every time.  Those, and that damned half triangle thing she does at the end.  I pushed through to 3/4 of the reps on the really tough moves on the right side, but by the time I switched to the left, my right (supporting) leg was in Muscle. Failure.  I almost busted my face on the mat a couple of times from falling over.  I did more like half the reps of the tough moves on the left side.  If I keep this up, my ass is gonna be its own before and after pic.  I love Tracy Anderson, but by the time the cool-down started, I was ready to tell the bitch to fuck OFF.  And I mean that in the nicest way possible, Tracy.  Really.

6 comments:

  1. Lol nice :) Jessica I didnt know you had it in you....you foul mouthed chicka lol baaahaa but I like,it :)

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    1. I'm glad you liked it! I've always had a foul mouth... most people just didn't know me well enough to hear me use it :)

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  2. I've been looking for Arctic Zero for months, to no avail--- glad you figured out how horrible it was before I bought up a freezer-full of that crap! I felt the exact same way about food/cravings/vegetarian leanings after the last cleanse I did. I ate raw for the first couple weeks and didn't go back to meat for a month or so. Kind of amazing that the natural impulse is for fruits and veggies and NOT pizza, cheese, and junk food. All I can think about right now,(in an order that changes by the hour) is 1. watermelon with fresh chopped basil 2. sweet green peas 3. garbanzo beans 4. jasmine rice.

    4 more days until I can nosh on something other than spicy lemonade-- I'm psyched!

    Good for you on the workout-- I am both looking forward to and dreading the beginning of META. Prolly will start it on Saturday and take the DVD to LA with me to do while we're on vacae. Bikini season is upon us and I am sooooo close to my goal weight!

    LOVING your blog posts, Mama!

    xxoo

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    1. Your daydream foods sound wonderful! I actually picked up some brown jasmine rice on that shopping trip. I wanna make it with coconut milk and maybe some lime zest and try out your cashew chicken recipe! Sounds SO good. Thanks for reading, my love! xoxo

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  3. Jessica you never cease to amaze me with your writting. I have no idea where you are finding these things to do but please tell me I would love to start trying them since I am doing everything I can to loose this baby fat. ;) Miss your face love.

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    1. Aww, thanks honey! If you're interested in starting up with the Tracy Anderson Method, you can check out her website at http://tracyandersonmethod.com/. It's the most challenging workout I've ever done, but I LOVE it. She's not about bulking up at ALL... it's about getting that teeny-tiny dancer's body. I don't follow the food plan, but while I was trying to lose weight I really cleaned up my diet and logged my calories to keep track of what was going in my mouth. There are a lot of tasty soups and stuff in her food plan that I incorporate. It's hard to give it everything you've got when you've got a family to take care of, but I do what I can, whenever I can. The program is constantly changing, so it's never boring. If you want to know more, let me know :) xoxo

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