Domino Effect

It's funny how one little slip up can have such a domino effect. Well, slip up is the wrong word, I was fully aware of what I was doing and made the conscious decision to do it. Last Friday night I was in the grocery store after work, and in addition to all the veggies & good stuff I was buying, I also bought a small container of peanut butter chocolate fudge cookies and a box of Kraft Dinner. I had been eating so well all week; lots and lots of veggies, combined with rice noodles or rice (as an aside -totally try black rice. It's quite tasty, with a nice chewy texture, and when you cook it it turns purple! That's reason enough in my world. Oh, and it's loaded with iron and fibre and nutrients, but PURPLE!) I was enjoying cooking every night, I loved chopping up all my ingredients beforehand (something I read on my foodie friend's food blog - thank you M! It seems so obvious but I've only ever chopped my ingredients as I've needed them. Chopping them up beforehand and having them in little colourful piles ready to go as soon as you need them really makes a huge difference in your cooking.) Most of all I loved eating my delicious and nutritious meals. I knew I was doing something really good for my body, and I was enjoying the food. Then came Friday, and that box of Kraft Dinner. I LOVE Kraft Dinner. LOVE it. If you're a Canadian no doubt you had KD quite a bit as a child, sometimes with ketchup and chopped wieners *memories*. I still love it as an adult. Anyway I hadn't had it in ages, and it was Friday night, and I'd been good all week, and it was on sale, so I figured what the hell, let's have a treat tonight! KD and a couple of peanut butter chocolate fudge cookies. Not very nutritious but I figured it was one night, no big deal. Well, the next day, I had some of the cookies for breakfast. Then I went to a friend's house to make vegan baklava (which was planned, I wasn't giving that up for anything.) I should have put most of the baklava in the freezer when I got home, but I ate half of it Saturday night, and the other half Sunday morning for breakfast. So by this point on the weekend all I'd eaten was crap. I've only just today gotten back on track. One little change in my food routine Friday night equals 4 days of not taking proper care of myself. How come that happens? Why is it so hard to stay on track after a little indulgence?

Wok 'n Yoga

So I never did get my bike last weekend. Long story short: Wal Mart sucks. Pretty sure they're pulling the ol' bait & switch, which is in fact illegal, but I so do not care enough to pursue it. I mean, really. Come on now. I did buy an exercise DVD for just under $5, but I've yet to watch it. What I have been doing this week though is yoga. I'm pretty sure I mentioned in an earlier post that I don't like yoga because it hurts my knees and back (and I have legitimate medical issues with my knees and my back.) I tried to take a class a few years ago, but it was awful; I was in so much agony. But doing it at home, where I don't feel so self conscious, especially if I need to modify certain moves to avoid stress on my knees, seems to be OK. In fact, I've actually really enjoyed it both times, and I'm looking forward to doing it again tomorrow morning. And wow, do you ever feel it! I've never been convinced that yoga is much of a workout, but I was wrong. There's also the extra workout of trying to do the moves with a cat or two on your back, legs, head, in your shirt (true story.)

As for food, I haven't been doing too badly. I did buy some ice cream on Sunday night; I was having a massive craving and could not stop thinking about ice cream. Seriously, while I was washing dishes, playing with the cats, making my bed, watching TV, it was non-stop, "icecreamicecreamicecreamicecream". So finally I broke down and bought some. But other than that I've been doing well, especially because of some great advice from a friend. I bought a wok a few weeks ago on this friend's advice, and I've been experimenting with Thai cooking. You couldn't ever call what I've been making authentic Thai, not in any way, shape or form, but I've taken a few bits of Thai cooking here and there, specifically fish sauce and chilis, and have been using them to cook my veggies, chicken, and tofu. I've found when I combine just a touch of the fish sauce (I hate fish, but a small amount of this sauce is OK,) garlic chili sauce, and olive oil, it makes anything I'm cooking taste like THE BEST FOOD IN THE WORLD. So I'm actually enjoying my meals, they're healthy, and I'm enjoying cooking, which is rare for me.

So all in all it hasn't been a bad week. My mood is much better than it has been, too, which always helps with the diet and exercise, since my moods play a big role in my health and self care. If I'm feeling OK, I'm far more likely to do something good for myself, like eat properly and exercise. If I'm down, I'm staying down for a while, and I won't do anything beneficial for myself. So yeah, this has been a good week.

Weekend

I had a pretty good weekend as far as food goes. I didn't overeat, I didn't eat junk (and we all know the weekend is pretty much a free pass to eat junk food,) and I didn't obsess. I'm concerned that I may become as obsessed with the changes I'm making as I am with food in general, which I don't want. The goal is not to trade a negative obsession with food for a positive one; that's still an obsession, which I don't need. It's all about the changes, but it's also about not making food such a huge part of my life. I think about food constantly; I need to change that. So this weekend was good in that respect. It was also good because on Sunday I made a conscious decision to actually eat three regular meals, breakfast lunch and dinner. I rarely eat regular meals on weekends. Often I can go to five or six o'clock without even thinking about food. That's not healthy. Saturday I only had two meals; it was my mom who reminded me I need to eat regularly, that I can't get by with just dinner, or just lunch and dinner, or breakfast and dinner, etc.

I also made my chili - 2 cans of tomatoes, can of tomato paste, a small dash of olive oil, onions, smidgen of chili powder (last time I made chili I put in way too much chili powder and damn near blew my face off,) white and red kidney beans, AND, a cup of quinoa. The addition of the quinoa was a genius move, if I do say so myself. I love adding it to meals where I can. The chili was delicious. And easy. Easy is key for me. Which reminds me: I mentioned below that if anyone has any cheap, healthy, and EASY recipes to share please do so. I'm lazy and I don't like cooking.