Food - What I eat and don't eat..

Here's a list of foods I love and foods I do not eat.. just for fun :)

I love brussel sprouts. cooked a certain way of course, I can't stand when they get bitter. I'm pretty sure most of the US has only ever experienced the bitter and it just isn't the way to go. Never buy frozen!

I don't eat yogurt. I'd really like to though, and i've tried on many occasions only to be disgusted by the texture. It feels like i'm eating pudding with sand in it. Maybe i'll try again in a few years and my taste buds will have changed.

I love berries. Especially freshly picked from the farm berries. I also enjoy berry flavored things such as black raspberry ice cream. And berry wine of course. Summertime staple.

I don't eat meatloaf, or any loaf with meat in it. I've never liked meatloaf.. I think it started because my mother used to put the tomato sauce on top which as a kid i ate plain spaghetti, so.. tomato sauce, no thanks. I just don't get why people enjoy a loaf of meat.. make a steak! And more recently, I've tried ham loaf.. also another why make it into a loaf question. It grosses me out!

I love tacos. Especially hard shell ones, though we rarely eat those. We mostly have taco salads but I think i'll be going back to shelled tacos soon.. it actually helps control portions!

I don't drink coffee. I think it smells good but it ends there. The taste is too bitter for me and I just can't stomach it. Not to mention that I have an adversion to hot foods/drinks where I need to let them come down a great deal in temperature before I can put them in my mouth. My husband drinks coffee straight out of the pot.. how he doesn't burn his tongue, i'm not sure.

I used to not eat chocolate. And still can't eat things such as hershey kisses or hershey bars. I need something else in there. I love mini peanut butter cups and oreos. And chocolate cake.

I don't eat sushi. I've tried it and i'd rather just have a tempura, hibachi or even a spicy tuna roll.. big hunks of raw fish just aren't my thing.

I love canned corn. I don't eat it very often but it tastes so so delicious! Too bad there aren't more nutrients in that stuff.

Pistachios are the bomb.

I don't like shellfish other than shrimp. I really enjoy cracking crab legs but I don't like eating it. I also don't like oysters, mussels or clams as well as scallops. Fish and Shrimp are my thing.

Kale and Collards are not my favorite greens, however Alex really enjoys them and likes to make them from time to time.

I also don't like indian food. Love the naan but can't do such spicy stuff. If Alex could change one thing about me, this would be it.

I love margaritas and could drink them at every meal.. but i'm not an alcoholic, so i don't! :)

I don't eat lamb. Most of the time it's too tough for me. I enjoy tenderness.

I love waffle fries. But don't eat them very often. I guess fries in general are a favorite.

MMM this makes me hungry! :)

Discouraging

Well.. Happy South Beach Diet Week 2.. I weighed myself this morning and i lost 2 lbs. This isn't normal. After one week i've normally lost at least 5 or 6.. so i'm a tad discouraged. I don't really know what the problem is but I have a hypothesis.. I haven't been loving the eggs for breakfast thing which i was consistent with the other times I did this. But I haven't been skipping breakfast.. I try to have other things instead, mostly cheese. But my guess is that the egg has so much protein that starts the diet process right in the morning and i've somehow been missing out on that process because i haven't been eating eggs.

Well, what a crock! It makes me mad and of course discouraged. But for some reason it doesn't make me want to quit. I actually want to see what happens when I start having an egg for breakfast every morning to see if that was in fact the cause of this non-weight loss. And maybe if i'm lucky it'll mean that it's going to just speed up and i'll drop 10 lbs in one day ;) just kidding that would be pretty unhealthy. But I do kinda feel like i'm starting all over and that really isn't fun.

It's not going to ruin my day but it is kind of annoying.

South Beach Progress

So I was a very good girl this weekend, other than taking a few sips of wine that I was peer pressured into. And Alex isn't holding it against me for the Hoss's deal, thank goodness. Just wanted to chart my progress so far and outline the future goals.

Basically, it's been going really well.. but I must be moving slowly this time around because the weight seems to be coming off a lot slower. I'm not really sure why that is? But hopefully as I keep going it'll keep going and i'll get lighter and lighter. Due to the slow factor, i'm extending it until November 7th. That's 3 1/2 weeks with no carbs. Will be tricky but worth it, hopefully.

Again, I need to exercise more. Mondays I play volleyball but that's about the extent of my exercising. I found my exercise mat though so I'm hoping to do 2 work outs a week. This weekend coming up is going to be busy and it's going to be hard to stick to it but i think i can manage. I've made it one week with no problem. That commercial for the new Wendy's burger though is killing me :)

Breakfast is still the hardest meal but i'm trying harder with that. I can hopefully drop a total of 15 lbs.. that's my goal. Especially before christmas and new clothes shopping.. I don't want to get any gifts that will end up not fitting.

Good Girls Get Hoss's

So Alex and I started the South Beach yesterday. I think I said I was going to in a previous blog a while back but it didn't end up happening. However, I normally go to sleep thinking, I should eat better, I should exercise more.. and then I wake up the next morning and think, nahh.. no need, i'm good the way I am.

Then one morning I woke up and thought, Today is the Day i start my detox. That's basically what the South Beach is.. a detox. First you lose water weight and then you move to actual weight.. and the 2 week phase is a bit of a motivator since you're losing about 2 lbs a day. Though sometimes I only lost one lb a day but still.. that's a whole lb. I did this diet 10 days before my wedding and felt awesome. Then of course we went on our honeymoon... oops!

The point of my title is, Alex told me that if I stay on the diet for a full week without messing up, we can go to Hoss's. I love Hoss's with a passion and even with all the other great food choices in Lancaster, we go there probably once a month. The salad bar is just phenom and I can't find another one like it. Plus, where else do you go and only eat salad for your meal? No where!

So everytime I think about the foods i'm not currently allowed to have, I remind myself that good girls get hoss's. And i'm not sure what the reward for going 2 full weeks will be but i definitely need something to work towards, other then a weight loss goal.

I love dinner..

My favorite meal of the day has got to be dinner.. it's always the biggest (though it's not supposed to be) but also the most savory. We spend so much more time on dinner than the other meals of the day.

On Tuesday evening we headed up to York to visit our friends Jim and Mark and spend some time with their mom, Mrs. T.. she makes the BEST food. The last time we were up she made delicious enchiladas.. Jim made homemade guacamole (awesome) and it was just a perfect meal. On tuesday she made us pork tenderloin on the grill with a potato/onion mixture (also grilled) as well as the best zucchini bread i've ever eaten and a greek veggie bruschetta (basically). Some fantastic spaghetti squash and corn on the cob. It was so great! Alex and I never make that much food since we're only cooking for us, but it makes me happy that some day we can make big elaborate meals for our family and guests! Everything was so well timed and yummy.. timing is really important to me when it comes to food. Alex could eat each side dish as a separate portion but I love sitting down to everything being hot and ready at the same time.

Needless to say i love home cooked meals made by others. The company (as always) was fantastic and we just had a wonderful time. Oddly, it kind of felt like a family dinner.. it was that comfortable. Can't wait to do it again, but maybe have the T's up to our place for us to make an elaborate meal! MMMM.. i can just taste it!

As I wait..

As i'm waiting for my pictures to upload to snapfish so I can make a wedding album, I figured i'd write a post.

My ear doesn't hurt anymore and I don't have a headache! Last night it was coming on pretty strong when it got close to bedtime. I took a Benadryl Allergy to help me sleep since we didn't have any nyquil or sudafed. Must've been the ticket (plus sleeping in AC instead of fresh air) because I woke up with no pain at all! I'm chalking it up to allergies.. oddly enough. But now i know if it happens again, to take a benadryl!

Something a little less boring.. i'm excited for the weekend. We're going down to Delaware to hit the Newark Food & Brew Fest with Nick and Laurel. It's going to be so much fun, I can already tell!

In food related news, I've been doing pretty well. No meat! Other than a burger last night on the farm. It's hard to say no to other people's home cooking that they worked hard on, ya know? Plus the burger was AWESOME. The good news is, i've lost 4 lbs.. since sunday! It's only wednesday! That's faster than the south beach! Now i just have to keep it going. So much easier when fruit is allowed though!

We're over the hump and hopefully sliding down the rest until Friday! (I'm taking a half day) Woo!

I'm a wannabe foodie..

So though I claim to be on the South Beach lifestyle a lot.. I really enjoy not living the SB lifestyle. I love pasta and homemade bread. I could eat cereal every morning for goodness sake! Unfortunately, I currently don't get enough exercise to support the non-SB lifestyle.. so until I do, I keep eating veggies.

I really enjoy reading cooking blogs.. people make the best looking recipes and even post pictures! It makes me very hungry while i'm at work during lunchtime.. even if i've just eaten! I really wish I had some spare time to make some of these things.. like a cake everyday, or something like that. If only I had a husband who actually liked cake and ice cream and desserts and pasta!

I did make a tart for the 4th of july which was FAB and I cannot wait to make it again! It was probably the best dessert I ever made / ate! I'd post the recipe on here but this isn't a food blog and I don't have pictures of it, but let me tell you, it was DARN GOOD!

Maybe I should start doing pilates everyday so that I can enjoy this stuff.. who am I kidding, 30 minutes of pilates wouldn't forgive eating a whole pie! ;)

Happy almost friday! :)

All I Want..

.. is a slice of pizza
.. is one peanut butter cup (who am i kidding that would turn into at least 5 more)
..is to make a fulfilling lunch (lunch is so hard for me, i would eat a sandwich everyday if it was considered healthy.. in weight loss cases anyway)
..is a job that i enjoy and look forward to
..is the world to be a little less judgmental
..is to eat and not worry about it
..is to look hot in hawaii

Being on a diet isn't easy. I'm aware that it's not supposed to be easy, and that the results drive you forward.. which, they are. 8 lbs! But when you don't see physical results.. it's a little disheartening. I've noticed that my legs have gotten a bit smaller, my arms, a tad smaller, and my face.. a teeny bit smaller. I guess maybe if i exercised more, it would accelerate things, however.. i don't currently have time to do that. This week is busy with the wedding on Saturday.

Tuesday: Dinner at my parents and to work on the programs/place cards.
Wednesday: Shopping for our Trip
Thursday: Tuxes, Champagne for the Limo, Hoss's!, Alex's Basketball Game
Friday: Nails, Lunch, going to the Base to drop off the goods, Rehearsal Dinner
Saturday: Get Married!

I can't say it's really stressful, it just keeps me really busy! And tired because I'm not fueling my body with as much food as normal. I'm still around 800 calories a day though which is good. At least I get to have a piece of cake at the wedding!

You are what you eat..

For some reason I really enjoy reading health blogs. It's fun to see how people go from overweight to healthy weight. Tipping the scale is very beneficial for your life.

Over a year ago.. I think it was February 2008. Alex started the South Beach Diet because his mom had recently tried it as she is pre-diabetic. Alex started at about 265. We don't know the exact weight, but we're guessing it's around there. His current weight is about 203. That's about 60 lbs.. it's crazy! Crazy good of course, but nuts to know that he dropped 60 lbs.. and about 20 of it was in the first month! I now call him my skinny minnie because i've never seen him this small since i've been dating him (2 years and 9 months). This is apparently where he was at weight wise in high school. I'm pretty proud of him.. plus not that he wasn't hot before.. but this makes him even hotter!

Moving on.. i'm currently on the SB to shape up a bit before the wedding/honeymoon. I started on Monday. I've been doing really well. One thing i'd like to mention though is scales are finicky.. it says i lost 4 lbs in 3 days. I'm not sure if this is accurate or not. I was thinking that my first weigh in was inaccurate, but hey, maybe it wasn't? 4 lbs in 3 days just seems crazy. I've been tracking my food intake.. calories, carbs and sugars and then how many calories I think i'm burning.. which really, might balance out because I'm eating an average of 750 calories a day. That doesn't seem like much compared to the 'recommended' amount that the gov't says you need, however i eat breakfast, snack, lunch, snack (sometimes), dinner. It's the south beach.. actually you're supposed to snack more on the south beach! I'm thinking that 4 lbs was water weight, and I know there's more water weight to come off (since i've done this a few times). Easter really threw me off last time with it's peanut butter cups! I just need to keep being strict with it. It's going to be hard to do that this weekend at my cousin's graduation party, but i'll do my best!!

Here's a fun website, 100+ Nutrition Facts about Well-Known Foods. It's very interesting. Count how many of those foods you eat on a regular basis. I'm 11 out of 25. I think that's pretty good?? it's only 44% but still!

I know it's hard not to eat processed foods, but you really are what you eat. If you eat a lot of junk, you're body will fill up with junk (fat) and if you eat foods that your body actually uses, then you're on the right track! So many of the foods on that list are anti-carcinogenic and can help cancer patients greatly by removing toxins from their body that they get during radiation and chemo.

Alex has a dream (yes another one) to one day be self sufficient on the farm and not need to go to the grocery store for anything (of course, somethings.. like toilet paper will need to be purchased) but you have a large garden in the summer where you grow all the veggies you'll need for a year. Obviously you'll have to freeze some or can some to make it the whole year but there are a lot of seasonal veggies. And he wants to have a couple chickens for egg production, a steer or two for beef production, sheep for lamb production, and of course a large garden. I agree with this dream, and though it will be a lot of work, we may live 10+ years longer because of it.

Sometimes I wish I lived in simpler times, like little house on the prairie. They didn't worry about much. Sure, Nelly was a biotch but other then her and her mother, everyone was super nice (from what I can remember). It just seemed like such a carefree life.. little to no bills to pay, no tv (which i couldn't live without but hey this is hypothetical).. no drugs (in your face, of course there were drugs).. no rehab though. It will never go back to that unless the earth becomes extinct and we start all over.. that's another topic tho!

Happy Thursday, Tomorrow is Friday!

She's a Maniac

As you can see by the lack of posting. I've been busy. And sick actually. Tuesday, after feeling great all Memorial Day weekend, I woke up with a Severe sore throat, but went to work and left at lunch time to spend the rest of the day miserable on the couch watching Tori & Dean re-runs (which i love). Yesterday I felt better, but today my throat hurts again on the right side, no swollen lymph node, but pain. I'm pretty sure I have strep throat! My boss had it for 2 weeks (untreated) and i'm pretty sure it's spread to me. Of course, i'm getting married in 16 days and can't afford to be sick, so i'm going to call the doctor at lunchtime and hope he believes my strep and sends the local pharmacy a prescription. I need to get a new doctor, since this one is still in Harrisburg and I've been living in Lancaster County for years now. It's hard though! Plus, I like him, he's been my doctor forever. Anyway, I'm headed up there this evening for a highlight touch up, so if worse comes to worse I can leave work early and stop into his office.
On a lighter/brighter note: My weekend was awesome! We found the kittens at Alex's parent's farm that we've been wondering about, by found I mean we saw them from a distance and when we went to search for them, we had no luck, they're good little hiders, well trained I guess. I'll find them next time i'm out there. I'm thinking of getting two of them and Laurel wants the other two, so that'd be perfect! Alex doesn't want a cat but they're so cute! Also, i've officially started my 18 day diet/exercise plan.. the South Beach has begun and this is the first time i'm actually exercising with it, so i'm hoping to get good results. Usually I lose about 8-10 lbs in 14 days, so maybe working out will speed this up. Plus, I need to be bikini fit for Hawaii. Super excited!

This weekend is packed full of fun as well.. Friday night i'm hanging out with the Brewing Wives Club, going to eat some yummy Thai food at Sukothai and then back to my house to play some Apples to Apples. Saturday is my Bridal Shower, yay!! And it's at Hoss's which i loooove. I'm always begging Alex to take me to Hoss's. The salad bar is out of this world, i think i wrote that in a previous post?? haha. Anyway, after that is my Bachelorette party with my bridesmaids and a couple close friends. We're going to dinner downtown in Harrisburg at Cafe Fresco and then we're going to go out for a little while.. play it by ear and maybe head back to Jess's.. I'm kinda boring so I kinda wanna keep it low key. Should be fun though! Then Sunday, Alex and I are having a date day, we're going to write Thank you notes and maybe hit the movies, probably some dinner, relaxing stuff.

Today's only Thursday, but it feels like Friday and should fly by pretty quickly. Next friday we get our new desk that my grama got us for our Wedding Gift. It's awesome! And now I don't have to hear Alex complain anymore about papers being all over the kitchen bc we don't have a decent desk to store them innn!! :)

Happy Thursday!

Things I could eat right now..

It's after lunchtime but i just thought of a couple things I would love to eat right now.. First of all, my lunch consisted of some raw cauliflower and some light ranch dip.. yummy but not very filling. Here's the list..

..Hoss's salad bar - there's no time in my life that i will ever turn this down.. best salad bar ever.. you can hardly call it a salad bar, as it has soup, bread, make your own nachos, mac n cheese, and then there's the dessert bar.. again, best salad bar ever!
..Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (Mini's only) - the weird thing is, it's hard for me to each a regular size peanut butter cup, but i can shovel in the mini's.. i guess there's just too much peanut butter to chocolate in the regular cups.. the ratio is WAY off.
..Sushi - in particular, a spicy tuna roll.. it's basically the only one i like (other than maybe california and tnt) but i like when the tuna is a little spicy, i've had it before where there's no spice, and i don't waste time with the soy sauce and wasabi, so it needs to taste good on it's own!
..Hard Taco from Taco Bell - I can't even tell you the last time I went to Taco Bell, i'm so sad that it's been that long, probably over a year.. and a year is a long time people! I might have to drag Alex there tonight!
..An Isaac's Scarlet Ibis on a wheat wrap - nothing beats their turkey, and the combo is just amazing.. not to mention the chips, sweet potato are my favorite but you never get enough of those in your little bunch. I've heard you can buy just a bag though, i should try that sometime.
..Guacamole - a good guacamole is awesome, it really depends a lot on the avacados..i should move somewhere that they're fresh and ripened year round.. i could eat guacamole all day, and normally when i make some, i literally want to eat it all when i'm done making it and Alex has to take it from me.

And lastly.. Banana Ice Cream from Coldstone with Banana's Mashed in - I have a banana here at my desk that isn't quite ripe yet.. and it makes me think of maybe the 2 times in my life that i went to coldstone (too pricey) for Banana ice cream with bananas in it.. Banana is probably my favorite flavoring, that and cotton candy.. but i don't ever eat cotton candy because the amount of sugar is outrageous.

Now let's count the things on my list that are remotely healthy.. i'm counting.... 2 : Hoss's Salad Bar (bc all i normally will get is 2 salads and then i'm full) and Guacamole because i dont care what they say about saturated fat, if it comes from a veggie, it's good for you! Sushi might be deemed healthy as well.. i could really use a bento box right now!

Hope this post doesnt make you hungry!

It's HUMP day!

So, it's wednesday, yippy skippy. I don't have much to report on, but I will say that the rest of the week and weekend is filled with activities! Tonight we're having a cookout with Alex's parents.. makes me feel like we should get some patio furniture so we can eat outside, even though it's not going to be warm enough.. i'm thinking into the future.

Thursday night we're heading over to York to have dinner with Jim and his parents, they are awesome! And his mom is such a great cook, can't wait to see what we're having. I'm making a dessert for both occasions, strawberry trifle but only 2 layers instead of a bunch bc i actually don't have a trifle dish thing. It's pound cake, vanilla pudding, whipped cream and strawberries then another layer of the same. It's going to be DELICIOUS and really the only sugary items are the pound cake and strawberries because i got sugar free pudding and whipped cream! wahoo!

Friday we're going out with Dan and Steph to celebrate they're engagement! So exciting! I love weddings and engagements because the bottom line is parties! Speaking of weddings, i really need to go out and get my cousin and his bride a gift since that wedding is on Saturday! It's at the Capital's Rotunda (i know i spelled that wrong) and it's going to be lovely! No to mention, FUN! This is going to be practice for Miss Makayla, as she is the flower girl in this wedding as well as my own. The only difference is, she'll be running to Alex at the end of the aisle. She refers to him as her Beyonce (instead of Fiance) and i'm pretty sure she wants to marry him.. but i'm sure after Jess pulls her off and sits her with my mom, she'll probably cry.. good start to a wedding, i think!?

Sunday we're going to Brunch at the Navy Base's Officer's Club, aka where my reception is.. and then we're meeting with the Catering Manager to go over a couple more things and survey the room one last time to get an idea of what we want setup to look like. I need to get her the numbers by the end of the week, so i'm hoping that the people who haven't responded and got a follow up message from Charmayne, are planning to attend, or at least respond with a no thank you.

I worked on the programs yesterday, I just need to verify with the church that i have it in the correct order. I also made the list for the placecards I just need to find out if people arent coming and then put all the table numbers by the names. I'll probably do this at lunchtime.

More updates to come this week and the next couple, really it's insane how booked our weekends are. But it's for a good cause. I don't know what i'll do with all the free time, probably have Alex yell at me about painting. He's the slowest painter alive, that's probably why he says that. He wants to re-paint everything we painted when we first moved in.. and not change the color, just re-paint everything. We're going to get carpet when we get back from our honeymoon, and we do need to get the painting in now (or soon) but it's a little insane to repaint everything we've already painted. So i refuse. We'll see how it ends up. :)

Rain Rain go away..

Happy Cinco de Mayo! If only it were nice and warm outside instead of raining for the 3rd or 4th day straight. I hear there's going to be at least another few days of rain.. what the heck? It's not April anymore, May is supposed to be about flowers! I know rain is necessary and all for life to exist.. but i'd really prefer that it rain maybe once a week and all the other days be perfect. I should really just move to San Diego where they think 90 degrees with no humidity is hot. I was there last May and on the news they were saying, "It's going to be a blazer out there today, 90 degrees" Their advice was to stay indoors in the A/C to avoid overheating. These people are spoiled! (this is jealousy talking).. they don't know what humidity feels like. It makes 90 degrees feel like 105! Luckily, we don't really approach that much in PA which is nice but humidity is a sweaty killer.

OKAY! That is enough complaining about weather! Let's talk food. I'm currently munching on Celery and Hummus. I used to really dislike hummus due to the fact that I don't really enjoy chickpeas.. they're basically tasteless! However with hummus, there's garlic and cumin and tahini that make it taste more like peanut butter. The only difference between hummus and peanut butter is that it's super healthy with little fat (okay that's not the only difference but the main one). Therefore I suggest hummus as a healthy snack. I just had maybe 8 celery sticks with hummus and i'm stuffed! I'll have to wait to eat lunch i'm so un-hungry. Speaking of lunch, last night Alex sauteed some of his dad's organic asparagus with garlic and olive oil.. seriously, anything with garlic and olive oil is like heaven! I should start taking pictures of these things for illustrations, a blog with no pictures = no fun. I'll work on that.

Tonight i'm going to drink a margarita in front of a space heater to really celebrate cinco de mayo! And to keep warm of course!