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Terez's W30: Jan 2, 2013 - Feb 1, 2013


Terez

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Here is yesterday's chart. Hooray me for getting to bed at 11:15! My best time yet, by a big margin. My dog, unfortunately, needed to go outside at 3AM. Well, he notified me at 2:30 and it took half an hour to drag myself out of bed. When I crawled back into bed it was 3:18. Would've had overall more sleep if I'd hopped right up and taken him out but I was way too groggy for that.

Woke up tired but had people coming over so I couldn't stay in bed despite the fact that I knew the dog could wait for his morning walk and I have a new sleep mask and the light wouldn't have bothered me.

I'm calling last night "real close" and taking heart that soon I'll be in the full flush of an 8-hour slumber.

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The meal I dug out of the freezer for lunch yesterday was salmon fillets with a pineapple salsa (homemade). When I prepped that meal a few months back, I had split that recipe into two portions, so I already knew that the salsa would be a bit much (the garlic in it is kind of strong). Since I happened to be making mayo while the fish was thawing, I put some mayo into the salsa and used the immersion blender to mix it. Wow, it made a terrific dressing and it looks festive with tiny specks of green cilantro, red pepper and yellow pineapple.

Today I'm supposed to be doing my weekly cook-up but I spent all my time getting the house ready for my guests (earlier) and I am not ready for the cook-up. Think I need to ditch that for today and just make the most of my evening. Maybe come up with a shopping list to be ready to do the cook-up tomorrow night.

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Ugh I know how you're feeling! But so happy that you've come out at the other end for now anyway. This is tough! We're not quitting heroin though...ha! ;) Good for you for seeing and focusing on the positive aspects of what you're accomplishing! And yes...take tonight and enjoy your company. Maybe even eat leftovers for breakfast tomorrow then plan and shop and chop tomorrow. Good luck and keep hanging in there...you're doing great!

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take tonight and enjoy your company

Actually company was already here this afternoon. No excuses here, just not well organized yet. That's OK, I'm getting there.

Hey, guess what? I've got bones and water in my pressure cooker, making bone broth as I type! Big progress for me to use the darned contraption. Was way easier than I expected. (Although perhaps I should withhold my cheering until I see the results!)

Feeling kind of proud of myself for inaugurating it. And feeling pretty positive because I know I'll be able to cook things frozen in a pressure cooker. No need to thaw first.

As for the cook-up, I was clicking through the links in our Daily30 email yesterday and noticed the tip about peeled carrots. Costco has a 5-lb bag of peeled organic carrots. I can pick that up. And it turns out that bok choy is both a cruciferous vegetable and "greens." I bought 2 lbs of baby bok choy on Friday but when I chop it up, it becomes a much smaller volume. I'm going to get more of that at Costco too. Then a pound or two of (hopefully) washed, chopped kale from the grocery store. And I've got frozen cauliflower and frozen broccoli already.

Wow. I'm in better shape than I realized. I've got two pastured chickens in the freezer. If one will fit in the pressure cooker, then I can plan on one of them this week. And I've got a pastured pork roast. Add the beef pot roast and I think that's my week.

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Had a few people over on Saturday to watch an internet broadcast together. Boiled eggs on Friday with the intention of serving deviled eggs. But when I began to cut the eggs open, I saw that I hadn't cooked them enough! All that was on offer was what other guests brought: cheese and crackers, cookies, hummous and bread, little nut packets. Oh, and coffee and coconut milk.

Thank heaven for the nut packets! In retrospect I could have put out a few dishes of nuts but I am so programmed not to have nuts on my W30 that I didn't think of it. Had just one packet of the nuts (raw walnuts and almonds) but the took the edge off.

Made three batches of beef bone stock in the pressure cooker this weekend (seven quarts) plus a beef pot roast yesterday.

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Just have to say that the pot roast I made in my new pressure cooker came out more tender than any beef roast I've cooked in the crock pot or the oven. Have gotten great flavor with the other methods but it's been chewier than I like. Had cold pot roast (and cold carrots and an avocado) for lunch. The cold meat was nice and tender.

Oh, I'm happy.

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Terez - loving your spreadsheet. I started trying to keep track in a W30 journal, then tried evernote, but will give your spreadsheet a go. Love the GR, C and D for each day. A nice reminder re the veggies. I will add a couple more rows (which you may already have) for activity, physical, emotional and any improvements I notice each day. Thanks :D

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Terez - loving your spreadsheet. I started trying to keep track in a W30 journal, then tried evernote, but will give your spreadsheet a go. Love the GR, C and D for each day. A nice reminder re the veggies. I will add a couple more rows (which you may already have) for activity, physical, emotional and any improvements I notice each day. Thanks :D

Thanks, cpb! I do have a row for my workouts, I just haven't been doing them! :unsure: However, I did do it last night so you'll see it on the next chart. (I walk the dog two or three times a day and don't track that because I never "skip" it but I have considered keeping track of how long or far the walks are because that does vary.)

Interesting idea to add emotions and improvements each day.

The vegetable quotas have been enormously helpful. Many a day I've wanted to skip vegetables at breakfast or have a "lazy" meal but didn't do it. Yesterday I had a bowl of chili for lunch and was hungry an hour later. Then I realized: there was not 3 cups of tomatoes in that bowl of chili! So I went to the kitchen and had me a heaping helping of carrots. If not for my chart, I would likely have had more chili or maybe some coconut butter for the satiety.

Ooooh, I love your chart, too!! I am such a list person, I might have to do one of these!

Simple structure works really well for me too, Ann. I had to separate out my meals to make it easier to fill the chart in (you can see a difference from my first few charts at the beginning here).

Terez

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Eileen, not doing too well with changing the sleep position. The reason is, I snore when I sleep on my back and I wake myself up! :blink: So then I turn onto my side. I think I've read where people stopped snoring from eating like this so maybe I should keep trying.

One thing that has clearly improved my quality of sleep is wearing a sleep mask. I bought this one for less than $4:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005L811OK/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

I'm definitely getting better rest in the mornings. I know that blackout curtains are ideal (and would provide my dog with a nice dark room too!) but the sleep mask made a pleasing difference. I wear it all night.

Terez

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Here's yesterday's chart. That dinner of chicken & cauliflower? My first pressure cooker fail. Way way way overcooked cauliflower. Mush city. Ate it for last night's dinner and today's breakfast. Thankfully, that's all there was. Now I'm afraid to try that chicken cacciatore recipe in the email from the other day!

Today I was hungry in the afternoon and nothing to take care of it. Must not have had enough fat in my lunch, or maybe there wasn't enough volume in my lunch. Then I stopped to pick up my pastured meat and my order wasn't there! So I came home and put a pork roast straight from the freezer into the pressure cooker. Had to wait for it to cook. Had some coconut butter to stave off the hunger.

When the pressure cooker was ready to open, the meat was cooked but not succulent as it should have been. I hacked off a piece to eat with my bok choy leaves, and put the pressure cooker back on for another 13 minutes. That helped but this is definitely a slow-cooker cut.

Then I feasted on the dark parts of the roast when I took it out after the second round. It is so strange to be hungry today! I have a butternut squash and I think I'll break it out tomorrow to make my meals more satisfying. (Today's chart will be posted tomorrow.)

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I appreciate the supportive words, Eileen!

BTW, I clicked through to your blog. Loved the tip about oven-roasted vegetables, to just put them under the broiler at the end rather than turning them in the pan. (Well, your tip was for potatoes but I'm sure it works for any veg!)

Terez

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Hey Terez, do you have any specific strategy for changing sleep positions? I'm a stomach sleeper and have tried and tried to sleep on my side or back, but just can't seem to do it. I have back issues and I'm sure it would help a lot if I did not sleep on my stomach

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Terez, thanks for the kind words. I've been working on making good oven-roasted sweet potatoes lately. Those I soak awhile in water, and roast at lower temp plus I do stir them, but it's easieer because I cube them smaller. Sorry. It's hard to stop myself from going on about food. :)

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Hi Ann. I used to be a stomach sleeper too, way back when. First I switched to a back sleeper (because my face was getting a smooshy look to it from stomach sleeping). But the snoring was an issue and then I became a side sleeper. So it's not as hard for me to try sleeping on my back because I know that I used to do it.

At the same time, yes, I have switched my sleep position and I do have some tricks I use. (Funny you should ask!) What I do (since the new position is uncomfortable unfamiliar) is:

  1. I gently focus my mind. I like to play the "what went right today" game and mentally comb through my day and remember good moments. That relaxes me. On Monday as I drove down a long stretch of roadway on my way home from work, I saw the traffic lights turning green up ahead as I approached. Kind of a delayed domino effect, as if I were triggering them with my approach. That was a terrific feeling and I kept replaying that image in my mind.
  2. If that kind of thinking is too "energizing" and keeps me awake, then I dial things back and just do some basic meditation of counting my breathing (breathing in for three big breaths then breathing out for five smaller breaths; using an uneven number to give my mind a bit of meaningless focus to disengage from thinking).
  3. When I'm giving myself limiting self-talk about the position ("this is uncomfortable") then I talk it down. "It's just unfamiliar; as I do this more it will become more familiar." Or, "I don't have to stay this way all night, I'm just going to lie this way for a few minutes longer than I did last time," or something like that -- and then I go back to my "what went right" game or I focus on my breathing.

If those don't feel like a fit for you, maybe they'll spark some ideas for you.

Terez

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Terez, thanks for the kind words. I've been working on making good oven-roasted sweet potatoes lately. Those I soak awhile in water, and roast at lower temp plus I do stir them, but it's easieer because I cube them smaller. Sorry. It's hard to stop myself from going on about food. :)

Why do you soak them, Eileen? (If you don't mind my picking your mind for cooking wisdom!)

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