Snacky McSnackerson

Everyday I bring two snacks with me to work. One for before lunch if I need it, and one for after lunch, when I always need it.

I’ve tried various bars, Larabar’s, Luna Bars, Clif Z Bars, Odwalla bars.
And to be honest, I’m a little barred out. (barred out? Is that even English?)

Each week I plan before I go grocery shopping, I plan out our dinner menu, what I am going to take for packed lunches, and what I am going to take for snacks. This week I decided to go a different route.
I bought a big container of lowfat plain yogurt:
This is the only brand my cheap grocery store sells. I could go to the more expensive stores, but seriously, we save so much on groceries this way. Plus, I like the yogurt. It’s no Fage, but it’s good. Speaking of greek yogurts, I noticed yesterday that one of our stores started stocking Oikos. I might have to try that. No sign of Chobani yet though.

I then went to the cereal aisle. This store sells Kashi products (well, cereals anyway) pretty consistently, but not much else. Then I happened upon this!

Yum….chocolate granola? Yes Please.

This is a divine combination, the granola is VERY crunchy and I don’t like eating it plain by the handful (unlike Honey Nut Cheerios).

I’m using about 1/3 a cup of the granola. A serving is labeled as ¾ of a cup and has 220 calories, so I’m estimating my 1/3 of a cup to have 74. I then use 100 calories-ish of yogurt. I don’t measure the yogurt. I just know the size of my container, and blob spoonfuls in until I think I have about a cup. So….for 174 calories I get a lot more volume and A LOT more protein than any of the bars that I’ve been eating. Most of the bars usually come in between 200 and 250 calories.

Also, eating this with a spoon forces me to snack slower, instead of mowing my way through a bar.

And as a follow up to yesterday, I am loving my body today. It’s kind of like Valentines Day. You shouldn’t tell people you love them just once a year, it should be everyday.

And I leave you with a picture of our pup. He is five months old now! awwww look at that face! He sits patiently by the counter each morning as I'm making my breakfast...just waiting for the day that I drop something on the floor!

fitting in your 5-7 a day

I just thought I would share the creative ways I had some fruits and veggies (ha) in the last week. I also did actually eat fruits and veggies in healthy forms as well....

So, at my office we have a blackberry patch that grows along our fence line, way back in the corner. Yesterday the office assistant and I picked some....and this morning she brought in vanilla bean icecream. This my friends....is what I call a 10am snack!


seriously...yum.
I didn't get to serve myself though, which was my plan...and I ended up with probably the equivalent of 1.5 cups of icecream! I used to eat this amount All.The.Time. Now, I"m better about portion control...but this? This was worth it. So delicously cool, creamy and aaaahhh.I could go on.

Then last weekend, as we were cruising past the beer section, on our way to dairy in the grocery store this beer caught my eye...
Does pumpkin in your beer count as veggie? I wish it did. In college there was this great brewery that had pumpkin ale that was out of this world. They usually only make 3 or 4 kegs of it, and it's usually gone in like a week. I was hoping this would be half as good. And...it was good beer, but didn't have a pumpkin flavor at all.

Finally!

I can't believe it is already 2:45pm and this is my first post of the day. I had a three hour meeting this morning, and then it's just been one thing after another today! Although, I'm not complaining, I'd rather it was like this, then the days when nothing is going on.

Breakfast this morning was two mini bagels with peanut butter and a half of a banana and half a glass of milk. I guess that is half of a pint glass..so technically a full glass, if we are counting glasses as 8 oz. I had planned to eat this at my desk after going to the gym, but I just couldn't make my self get out of bed this morning..it was just so warm and cozy. I'm usually pretty good about that..but today..just no.
Lunch was this spinach, walnut, cucumber and carrot salad, with flax and balsamic vin.

Yep, I offcially win the award for ugliest food this week. Yesterday I realized that I had leftovers in the work fridge from last week, so I planned to eat them today. It turned out perfectly that we had turkey burgers last night..I just "crumbled" it into the left over pasta...although there wasn't very much pasta, probably 1/2 a cup cooked.

And finally, at 2:40 I had this LARABAR. I know it's not going to keep me full until dinner at 6.

Speaking of dinner..we are going out tonight with my in-laws to THE MOST DELICIOUS restaurant. We actually just went there last weekend, but it's seriously so good. I'll just admit right now..that I'm not going to take a picture. My in-laws don't know about the blog..and while my Mother and Father in law probalby wouldn't ever look at it, by BIL and SIL (look, i'm a trendy blogger with abbreviations) probably would, and I'm not ready to share this with them.

There are only two people whom I know in "real life" who know how much I weigh. My mother and my husband...and now maybe another friend..depending on how far back in the archives he's read. I know it's just a number, and while I know that the number doesn't have any moral value, to me....it does to other people. My BMI, Height, Weight..shouldn't matter...but we classify people this way, and while I'm making peace with this, not everyone makes peace, and I'm not ready to be judged...I haven't made that much peace.

busy day off!

Well, after lunch I spent all afternoon running around town getting things done. Gotta love a day off!

My last stop was the grocery store, and when I walked in I was starving! I had some yogurt (plain, with one spoonful of cherry yogurt, and some Kashi Heart 2 heart mixed in), before I even put away my groceries!
Here are the groceries:

Non produce:

Heart 2 Heart

Flax

tuna

whole wheat bread

whole wheat mini bagels

whole grain natural bread

walnuts

LARABARS

Black Beans,

Navy Beans

Garbanzo Beans

Amy's Low Fat/ Low Sodium tomato soup

Cheese

Milk

Butter

And the produce:

Spring Mix

red and green bell peppers

bananas

pomelo

frozen mixed veggies

cukes

and carrots.

Whew!

I think dinner tonight is going to be Steak Pitas. We had steak last night at my inlaws, and we have two pitas left that need to be used. Not a very diverse food day!

full of FAT

Well my toast actually held me over pretty well, I was hungry about 10:30 am.
I had this apple, it's a "pink lady" These are some of my favorite apples. And I love my nalgene. I know people feel like they smell (which mine doesn't) or that the water tastes like plastic...but I don't experience that either...and it's great for knowing how much water you are intaking.
I had this Kashi bar about 20 mins later.. . the apple only made me hungrier!

I live in a city that has a dairy farming background, and each year the city has "Dairy Days" in one of the city parks. My co-worker who usually goes to the Dairy Days meeting couldn't go...so I got to go instead. They handed out little presents! A "milk lover" luggage tag, and this little piece of chocolate shaped like lips!-I ate the chocolate around 11:50, don't worry it didn't spoil my lunch!

Lunch, was pretty high in two things: fiber and fat! Good fat though! I had some vegetarian refried beans with an avacado (an organic one on sale for only $1.25!). I also had a whole wheat tortilla, and a whole cut up carrot and a whole cut up red bell pepper.

Right now( 2:37pm) I'm having some peppermint tea in hopes of burning all the little germies in my throat. I know..wishful thinking....i'm sure the germs will persevere through my tea!

Trusty Starbucks cup!

Still working on it...

Sigh..I was hungry at 2:15...I had a cup of tea and it occupied my mouth until 3:00pm. I was still hungry at 3pm..and I really had to pee (estimated at this point I had consumed 62 oz of water today, including tea) and then I ate my LARABAR. It was the first time I tasted the cinnamon roll flavor. Very good, not too sweet, which is nice. But..then my body wanted something sweet...ah...attack of the candy jar. I had this mini reeses crispy crunch bar. It was 90 calories. I guess I had the two snacks about an hour apart, and another 16 oz of water. So now i feel super full...and I'm trying not to feel guilty about the candy bar. I know, I know..guilt over food is not worth it and quickly leads to disordered thinking. I'm still trying to find the balance between not feeling guilty about eating things that I "want." and knowing that my body doesn't actually "want" a reeses crispy crunch bar..it wants a good whole food..or something that more readily resembles whole foods. damn...
I'm also afraid to not feel guilty about eating....not feeling guilty about eating is how I ended up with a binge eating disorder and 262 pounds. I didnt' feel guilty while I ate whole boxes of Girl Scout cookies....and I certainly didn't feel guilty while I ate super size hot pockets at 3 am when my husband got home from work (seriously, living next to a convenience store was just about the worst thing that happend to both of us) but I guess I have always felt some modicum of guilt afterwards.
Man....heading towards a healthy relationship with food is tough!

what to do about weekends....

These little Kashi bars are what I've been putting in my plain yogurt this week. There are two bars in a pack. I ate one bar about an hour after my lunch, and the second bar about an hour after that, with a cup of English Breakfast tea in between.

I just got glasses for the computer...they are super cute, but the case? It looks like a giant pepto-bismol pill. Ick!



I think I will have a LARABAR on the way home, or if I cand hold out, I will snack on some veggies during my dinner prep. I didn't plan to well for today at all. Next monday on my lunch break, I will be going to the store for sure, to stock up on plain yogurts, they held me so well and gave me extra protein. I know that is what I am missing today. boo.

Tonight we are having whole wheat pasta with home made spaghetti sauce. I might throw a little ground beef in there for some protein.

After that we are heading out to our new favorite friday night spot; Market Limone. Tonight they are having a microbrew tasting. I think I'm going to stick with wine. It's six dollars a glass, for ANY kind...doesn't matter how much the bottle costs! That should be fun, hopefully I remember the camera!

So, about weekends...I think I'm going to do a weekend wrap up...similar to what Cristin does on her Eatlikeme blog. I spend so much time infront of the computer during the week, that I just can't bring my self to spend too much time infront of it on weekends. Well, except to check facebook of course! :)