I'm cooking with awesome fresh ingredients like a fiend. This is working well. I'm focused on using the food I bought, and it is truly more delicious than just getting takeout again. I made my cole slaw - with a great vinaigrette, good olive oil, white wine vinegar, and cilantro from my garden. Who knew cabbage could be light and airy and full of summer? I made a braised chicken dish with my Amish chicken, following a recipe from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food. I served it with mixed beans soaked and cooked from dry - instead of grains, I am going to try to carb up a bit from where I was, but by using beans as my filler. And tonight my girl and I had fun creating a zucchini lasagna, not from a recipe, but making it up together as we went along. The squash was sliced length-wise and used instead of pasta noodles. It was soupy, but delicious, with four different cheeses (and canned spaghetti sauce). Making dinner as joint entertainment is not what we usually do, and I'm not sure what the magic formula was that made it work tonight, but how fun! Now I've got delicious leftovers for delicious lunches, and maybe even another dinner, before I have to shop and cook again.
I'm also really enjoying just relaxing about my eating habits and my weight. I'm darn stable in my weight, and can experiment a bit and enjoy myself doing it. I've found a "paleo" granola - more nuts and seeds than grain - and have enjoyed it with blueberries and almond milk in the morning. This is closer to what normal people eat. I'm liking the idea of less meat, without resorting to grains, and I'm enjoying the quest for what works for me.
What's not working? Breaking bad habits. It seems what I really want in the evening is excellent chocolate, and standing up in the kitchen to get it is fine. Tea doesn't do it. Cosily tucking myself into bed with tea and my book doesn't do it. Sigh. I was looking for an intelligent way out of my terrible habit. I can add over 500 calories to my day's intake in 15 minutes at the end of the day. Sigh.
What else isn't working? Running with my dog. The Very Hungry Labrador does not like the heat, not one bit. He's not wild for trotting fast while I huff and puff at a jog, either. Especially because he has had heart problems (worms in his heart) I don't want to truly strain him. We can walk forever, though if it's hot he starts to droop (and he always droops when I turn around, as if to say "let's keep going!"). But after a mile of my jogging, he slows his trot to the point where I'm dragging him. So I have to figure out how to do some training for running, which I really like, but without him. Seems such a waste to be outside without him. This weekend, when it wasn't hot, we walked over 4 miles each day, and he liked that fine, so that can be my every-other-day from running.
I'm also thinking it's time to find a new gym and get more social with my strength training workouts. There are more than a couple gyms in town, I'll need to check them out and look for sales. I'll check out the Y, but it is just that little bit further away to make it a barrier at 5:30 in the morning.
Some pluses and some minuses. Excelsior.
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