Last day of 2009

Updating in mostly real time today, since I'm lazy and groggy. Boys had me up annoyingly early after I stayed up far too late. The result: a bleary & cranky mama. Hope I can manage to stay awake for our big spectacular New Year's Eve plans tonight! Um, ok, well, I'm making a fancy dinner for us after the boys are asleep and we're going to curl up and watch movies with an assortment of semi-restricted snacks. And maybe a glass of bubbly. And will hopefully be awake - HA! Or wake up just in time for - the countdown. I know we'll be awake in the first few minutes of 2010 since our neighbours tend to shoot off fireworks.

~~~

Breakfast, 7:30
2 pc spelt toast with goat cheese
Instant plain oatmeal
Fresh blueberries
Lg coffee with soy milk

Lunch, 11:30
-Spelt pumpkin almond muffins with a few currants
-Amy's Organic minestrone soup

Made with pumpkin puree and almond butter - tasty, but not as moist as I wanted, will have to add applesauce next time!

Snack, 12:30
2-3 more muffins

Snack, 2:30
1 more muffin
2 peanut butter M&M cookies (Oh the horror!!)
-chocolate hazelnut tea with soy milk
-chunk of goat's cheddar cheese

So tempting, so delicious!

Snack, 4pm
-coffee with almond milk
-2 pc sugar & gluten free almond biscotti

Would have tasted soooooo good made with sugar, but they were really yummy dunked in coffee!

Almond Biscotti
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa
1 cup spelt flour
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
enough almond milk to mix together

Mix well and form into a flattened log. Bake at 300 for 30-40 minutes (firm to touch), remove and let cool slightly. Cut into strips and put back on pan. Bake 10 minutes, flip and bake 10 more minutes (firm to touch. Enjoy!

Supper, 5:30
-Pan fried scallops in lemon butter with brown rice pasta and broccoli

Movie snacks, 8:30-10:30
-Approx 4oz white wine
-Fresh strawberries, blueberries, grapes
-Baked brie with red pepper jelly
-Lactose free havarti & gouda
-Table water crackers, mini melba toasts, tortilla crackers
-Almonds & hazelnuts


Oh, and my weekly weigh in from Wednesday was 160 lbs, unclothed, morning.

December 30th

Breakfast, 7:30
-hard boiled egg, minus the yolk
-2 pc spelt toast with soft goat cheese
-lg coffee with almond milk

Snack, 11
-tall Starbucks coffee, half decaf, with soy milk

Lunch, 12
Spicy turkey soup with lots of corn chips and goat cheddar
2 spelt pumpkin muffins

Snack, 1pm
1 spelt pumpkin muffin
1 apple

Snack, 4:30pm
3 spelt pumpkin muffins
Handful grapes/blueberries

Supper, 6pm
Chickpeas with cucumber
Turkey risotto

December 29

Snack, 7:30
1/3 banana

Breakfast, 9:30
2 bowls steel cut oatmeal with apples, blueberries, cinnamon & almond milk
lg coffee with almond milk

Lunch, 11:30
Spicy Turkey soup with corn chips & goat cheddar cheese
Rice Crackers

Snack, 2:20
1/2 chocolate chip cookie (I tried so hard to stay away - I even put it back down after I picked it up the first time. But then I rationalized that I'd already sorta licked it so I better eat it.)
2 pc spelt toast with soft goat cheese

Snack, 4pm
3.5 spelt pumpkin/cranberry/blueberry muffins
1 cup Cargo & James chocolate hazelnut roobois tea with soy milk (Must be a specialty item, since I've searched their website for this flavour!)

Gotta love my improvised tea infuser, huh? I dumped out some chamomile tea (blech!) and reused the bag. Works for me!

Supper, 6pm
Turkey risotto with mushrooms, peas, & parmesan cheese
2 pc spelt toast with soft goat cheese

December 27 & 28

27th - Marvel at the train wreck! But my-oh-my, was it tasty!!!

~~
Breakfast
Steel cut oatmeal with apples & cinnamon
Lg coffee with almond milk

Snack
Buckwheat biscuit

Lunch
Spicy turkey soup
Buckwheat biscuit


*drumroll, please*

Snack
1 glass white whine (1st glass in 6 weeks - good lord, it was enjoyable!)
2 deviled eggs (so 1 whole egg)

Supper
Turkey, dressing, mashed potato, carrots, buttered corn, dill pickle, 2-3 slices bread & butter pickles, taste of coleslaw, gravy, 2 deviled eggs (1 whole egg)
1 glass cranberry juice

Snack
1 glass white whine
3 (smallish) pieces cranberry cake



28th - was doing SO GOOD until that second snack just before supper.
~~
Breakfast
Steel cut oatmeal with apple & cinnamon
lg coffee with almond milk

Snack
Hard-boiled egg

Lunch
Spicy turkey soup with 1 buckwheat biscuit
Apple
Most of a fresh 2-avocado guacamole with lots of corn chips

Snack
Apple
Tea

Snack
Half a bag of goldfish crackers
The legs off a gingerbread man

Supper
Turkey casserole

Bah humbug!

Ok, so I'm still riding that sugar train, but I'm slowly making my way to the door. I just need to keep myself surrounded by foods I'm allowed to eat and need to make sure I don't get hungry - that's when I'm likely to fall upon a plate of cookies.

In a way, I'm glad I had this 'fall from grace' because it's been a good reminder about just how badly sugar effects me. Within 30 minutes, I have a headache and jitters. I get lethargic and aggressive (yes, a weird combo, I agree) and have an extremely short fuse. Long term effects are constant tiredness and the itching is coming back.

So, I must wean myself off again. But I will have to try again tomorrow, as today is already screwed.

Breakfast, 7:30
Steel cut oatmeal with apples & cinnamon
lg coffee with almond milk

Snack, 10am
Pumpkin spelt cranberry muffin

Snack, 12pm
2 ryvita crackers with almond butter
4 gingerbread men cookies, complete with icing and sprinkles

Lunch, 1pm
Turkey casserole, with carrots (sugar) but no stuffing (bread) or cranberry sauce (sugar)

Snack, 3pm
Chai 'latte' made with almond milk
3 ryvita crackers with goat cheese
1 mini Lindor dark chocolate truffle
1 gingerbreadman with sprinkles & icing

Supper, 5pm
Turkey noodle veggie soup (made with ginger, garlic, onion, Braggs soy sauce, rice noodles & homemade stock = DELISH!!!)
3 Buckwheat/brown rice biscuits
1 slice lemon meringue pie (couldn't pass it up, my ultimate fave pie!)

Snack, 7pm
1 gingerbread man cookie

Snack, 9pm
1 buckwheat biscuit
chips

December 22

"All I want for Christmas is my willpower back....."

Seriously, I'm so far of the sugar-free track that I can't find my way back to it. There are too many chocolates and all-sorts and other candies in the way. Damn Quality Street box.

I WILL find my way out of here. I WILL. Anyone have a GPS?

December 21st

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.

That is all.

December 20

Yeah, let's forget this day ever happened, ok? It was an anomaly. I was surrounded by baked goods and yumminess. I surrendered. At least I didn't give in to the total sugar choices like fudge, brownies, and assorted other squares. But I did have dairy... and some sweet baked goods like cranberry loaf and a phylo pastry cheese & peach danish thing, which was awesome! I did stay away from the wine and juice and punch. Go me!

Ok. Getting back on track. Please.

December 19th

Breakfast, 8:30
Organic corn puffs with almond milk
lg coffee with almond milk

Lunch, 1pm
3 ryvita crackers with goat cheese
lots of fresh guacamole with corn chips

Snack, 3pm
Marble cheese stick (shhhhhh)

Supper, 6pm
2 lg buckwheat & banana pancakes with almond butter


Sooooooo, I'm headed to my mom's for the next 4 days. I promise to stick to my food plan as close as possible, however I may not get around to the documentation part. So until then, my lovelies... !

December 18th

Breakfast, 9am
Lg coffee with almond milk
Approx 3/4 cup steel cut oatmeal with apple chunks & almond milk

Snack, 11am
3 ryvita crackers with almond butter
Spiced tea

Lunch, 1pm
Spicy beef, onion, ginger & garlic soup
32g bag plain microwave popcorn

Snack/supper, 5-6pm
-granola with goat yogurt & almond milk
-1 turkey sausage (contained wheat and sugar ingredients, though nutritional info said 0g sugar)
-large chickpea, tomato, cucumber, goat feta salad
-1/2 chocolate sugar cookie

Snack, 9pm
Apple

December 17th

Snack, 7am
lg coffee with almond milk
pumpkin muffin

Breakfast, 8am
Steel cut oatmeal with apples and added almond milk
Pumpkin muffin

Lunch, 12:30
Hard boiled egg
Most of a 198g bag of blue corn chips
Most of a 2-avocado guacamole

Snack, 3pm
Pumpkin muffin

Supper, 5:30
Salad greens with goat feta & chicken. Dressing of olive oil, lemon & herbs
Grapefruit

December 16th

I'm trying something new today, dear readers, and updating in mostly real time. Wheeee, the excitement!!

Update for weight: 159 lbs - WOW!!!!

Breakfast, 8am
-Steel cut oatmeal with cinnamon & apples
-lg coffee with almond milk

Second Breakfast, 10am
-Steel cut oatmeal with cinnamon & apples

Snack, 11:30
-4 fresh & hot spelt apple & sweet potato muffins

Lunch, 12:30
-2 hardboiled eggs with 2 pc spelt toast (with margarine)
-apple

Snack, 4pm
-Chai tea with soy milk
-one nibble of sugar cookie

Supper, 5:30pm
-salad greens topped with roast chicken, avocado, goat herbed feta with an olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar & herb dressing
-3 ryvita & sesame crackers with almond butter



I spent some time on one of my favourite blogs this morning, A Year of Slow Cooking, and there was a link to some pretty sweet give-aways. I don't normally enter things like this, but the one for the Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook caught my eye. Doesn't it look delish?!

December 15th

My sugar & no-no cravings are all over the map. Yesterday, I could feel and taste one of the square almond flavoured caramels from the old 'Pot of Gold' Christmas boxes. Today, I would have killed for simple cheese and crackers. Nothing fancy - cheddar would have been fine.



Breakfast, 7:30am
-Granola with goat yogurt & almond milk
-3 pc potato/millet toast with margarine (end of the loaf!)
-lg coffee with vanilla almond milk

Lunch, 12pm
-1 pc leftover spelt pizza
-leftover chickpeas (approx 1/2 cup)

Snack, 2pm
-75g rice crackers with hummus
-corn chips
-apple

Supper, 6pm
-1 pc baked tilapia fish with peas and rice
-grapefruit

December 14th

Breakfast, 7:30am
-Granola custom made by Gluten Free Goodies with goat yogurt & vanilla unsweetened almond milk
-2 pc potato/millet toast with margarine
-lg coffee with vanilla almond milk

Snack, 10am
-1 garlic & herb spelt & buckwheat flour biscuit

Lunch, 12:30
Amy's organic vegetarian chili (canned) 14 oz, approx 9g sugar
-2 pc potato/millet toast with margarine
-Grapefruit

Snack, 3pm
25g rice crackers
Chickpeas, approx 1/3 cup

Supper, 5:30pm
-3 pc spelt pizza (no sauce, topped with tomatoes, mushrooms, green peppers, ham, goat feta, spices)
-2 pc potato/millet toast with margarine
-apple

Big pizza for them, little pizza for me... mmmmmmm.

December 13th

Snack, 7am
-1/2 banana
-lg coffee with vanilla almond milk

Breakfast of cheaters, 10am
Cora's "Peggy's Poached": 1 poached egg, 1 pc whole wheat toast, fruit salad, cottage cheese. Plus a side of potatoes and most of Felix's scrambled egg.

Lunch, 12pm
-Granola custom made by Gluten Free Goodies with goat yogurt & vanilla unsweetened almond milk
-corn chips with fresh guacamole (1 avocado)
-2 pc potato/millet toast with margarine

Snack, 3:30pm
Starbucks decaf coffee with soy milk

Supper, 6pm
-"Daddy's Beef Hash": ground beef & boiled potato fried in margarine with onion & green pepper
-2 pc potato/millet toast with margarine

December 12th

No real meals today, besides supper, here's the timeline, as best as I can recall:

7:30am
Lg coffee with choc almond milk
1/2 banana

10-11am
2 pumpkin muffins from Gluten Free Goodies

12:30am
1 pumpkin muffin from Gluten Free Goodies

2pm
A couple of strawberries
Several handfuls of chips
2 pieces pizza - full dairy, wheat, yeast, cheese, hopefully minimal sugar. It didn't even taste good - after 3.5 weeks without, it made me feel heavy & tired. Well, at least I didn't cheat on my "diet" with cake - because there was plenty of that thee, too! Took the boys to a birthday party.

Supper, 6pm
Large chickpea salad with cucumber, tomato, green pepper, goat feta
4 (small) pieces dairy/yeast/sugar free potato bread (Gluten Free Goodies) with Imperial margarine

December 11th

Breakfast, 7:30
2/3 banana
Pumpkin cookie (last of the batch)
Lg coffee with choc almond milk
'Forbidden' granola with goat yogurt & almond milk

Snack/lunch, 1-3
3 buckwheat baking powder biscuits with goat cheese
4 ryvita crackers with almond butter
1 hardboiled egg

Snack, 5pm
2 buckwheat baking powder biscuits
Sliced cucumber

Supper, 6pm
Chicken, rice & broccoli casserole, made with cream of mushroom soup (minimal sugar, wheat & dairy, but still present.)

Plus side:
LOTS of walking (6+km?)
Saw my chiro and she feels that my body adjusted well and there was less discomfort to me due to less inflammation due to no sugar in my system.

December 10th

Snack, 7:30
Pumpkin muffin
Lg coffee with choc almond milk

Breakfast, 10:30am
Tim Horton's biscuit & egg sandwich, plus one tasty bite of bacon
Tim Horton's small decaf coffee with milk

Snack, 11:30am
Pumpkin muffin

Snack, ?
Pumpkin muffin, 2 pumpkin cookies

Lunch, 1:30
Vitamin soup with veggies & goat's feta
Pumpkin muffin

Snack, 3pm
Pumpkin muffin

And at 4:18, I snapped and had 1 homemade chocolate cookie with a raspberry jam bellybutton

*sigh* (Oh, but it was so totally worth it!!!!)

Supper, 7pm
Sliced pork roast, salad (romaine, carrots, red cabbage, feta, cucumber, tomato), corn chips with guacamole

December 9th

Brrrrrrr... it's COLD! Would love to warm up with a hot chocolate. Booo!

Breakfast, 8am
1/3 banana
Approx 2 cups steel cut oatmeal with berries
Pumpkin muffin

Snack, 10am
Pumpkin muffin

Lunch, 12:30
Vitamin veggie soup with goat cheese
2 pc spelt toast with goat cheese
32g bag plain microwave popcorn
apple

Snack, 3pm
small Tim Horton's coffee with milk

Supper, 5:30pm
Roast chicken with salad (romaine, carrot, red cabbage, feta, herbed lemon juice & olive oil dressing), blue corn chips with guacamole

Snack, 9pm
Grapefruit
Pumpkin muffin

Weight: 161, evening, unclothed.

December 8th

Snack, 7am
Banana

Breakfast, 9am
Steel cut oatmeal, made with cinnamon, nutmeg, and mixed berries
Lg coffee with choc almond milk

Breakfast 2, 11am
More steel cut oatmeal

Snacks, 12-4
5 homemade pumpkin applesauce muffins
4 pumpkin oat spice cookies
1 nibble sugar cookie
3 ryvita sesame crackers


Meal, 4pm
Vitamin veggie soup with goat cheese

Supper, 7pm
-Applesauce & cranberry slow-cooker roasted pork, mashed potatoes, peas & corn
-Pumpkin muffin
-Pumpkin cookie

December 7th

My times are all over the place today - here's hoping I don't miss something!

Breakfast, 8am
1/2 banana
oatmeal (yep, the one with the forbidden honey, currents & cranberries) with goat yogurt
pumpkin muffin

Snack, 10:30
pumpkin muffin

Lunch, 12
lobster and goat cheese on foccacia bread

Snack, 1pm
Lg coffee with choc almond milk

Snack, 3pm
Small Tim Horton's decaf coffee with *gasp* milk
Tim Horton's plain tea biscuit (4g sugar, unknown dairy/wheat)
Approx 1/4 cup almonds

Supper, 5pm
Foccacia bread
1 grape

Snack, 8pm
Grapefruit

Snack, 9pm
Foccacia bread with goat's cheese

December 6th

Bleary-eyed breakfast, 8am
Pumpkin muffin
1/2 hard boiled egg
lg coffee with choc almond milk

Snack, 10-11
2 pumpkin muffins
foccacia bread with goat cheese

Lunch, 12pm
Vitamin soup
Pumpkin muffin

Snack, 2pm
Md coffee with soy milk (sweetened)

Snack/supper, 3:30-5
Lots of corn chips with fresh guacamole
2 bowls Greek chickpea salad
1 small chunk honeydew melon
Lots of homemade veggie sushi rolls (asparagus, squash, cucumber, avocado, onion, carrot)
1 tiny piece "freezer fudge" - just cocoa, almond butter & bit of maple syrup

Snack/teaser, 6pm
1 nibble each: shortbread cookie, "Divinity fudge", chocolate beer cupcake. All from my Christmas Goody Exchange Buddy. Soooo yummy! I had to throw caution to the wind and try them.

Snack, 8pm
Pumpkin muffin

December 5th

Breakfast, 8am
-1/2 banana
-2 pc spelt toast with goat cheese
-lg coffee with lots of vanilla soy milk (probably sweetened, but it was organic if that counts for anything)


Snack, 11am
-3/4 small Russet apple
-2 pumpkin muffins from Gluten Free Goodies (unfortunately, I later found out these delicious muffins were sweetened with agave syrup, which is most certainly not on my approved list of foods. Ahhh well, lesson learned. It was yummy, anyway!)EDIT: Hey! Spoke with the bakers and apparently, the listing for agave was a mistake - they were sweetened with applesauce only. Yay for me!

Lunch, 12pm
Spiced foccacia bread from Gluten Free Goodies with goat cheese, cucumber & sliced tomato

Snack, 1-2pm
1 foccacia bread (round)
1 medium apple
75g sesame rice crackers with hummus

Snack, 3pm
2 homemade spelt pumpkin muffins

Supper, 6pm
Small portion of 'Vitamin Soup' - kale, sweet potato, carrots, onion, garlic, navy beans, spices.

Snack, 7pm
-3 lobster legs
-1/3 pumpkin muffin

Supper 2, 8:30
2 lobsters

Snack, 9:30
Pumpkin spelt muffin
green tea

Snack, 11:30
Spelt pumpkin muffin

December 4th

Tortured myself by doing some Christmas baking today: made 1 large and 5 mini pans of fudge, a pan of Skor Squares and double batches of chocolate bark (almond and candy cane). Smelled and looked sooooooooo good. But I stood firm. I had to toss the dirty utensils and bowls and pots into the sink right away to resist scraping the bottoms, though!

Breakfast, 8:30am
2 pc spelt toast with goat cheese
lg coffee with choc almond milk

Breakfast 2, 10am
Tim Horton's breakfast sandwich - just egg on a biscuit. Supposedly 4g sugar. Unknown dairy. It was good.

Lunch, 1pm
Bowl Amy's Organic Lentil Soup
25g sesame rice crackers with hummus
1/2 banana

Snack, 5:30
1/2 cup chickpeas with last chunk of goat feta
Almonds

Supper, 6pm
Mashed potatoes, steamed green beans, meatloaf

December 3rd

Holy crap - I stepped on the scale this morning and had to get off and then back on a gain to double check the number. 161, unclothed. I was 162 when I started this blog back in July. And I was 169 at the end of October, 2 weeks before starting the Candida program.

I initially started following this program for health reasons, and I did hope that weight loss would be a happy bonus. And so it is! It only makes sense, since I'm not eating all the crap and packages of cookies and pans of fudge and loaves of bread in 1-2 sittings anymore. The scary part is that I don't know if I'll be able to keep away from those old habits once my 6 months are up. Positive - I MUST keep positive!!!

Today's foodies

Breakfast, 8:30am
1 spelt biscuit
2 buckwheat banana pancakes topped with almond butter
lg coffee with chocolate almond milk (Unsweetened! 0g sugar!)

Snack, 10am
1 plain buckwheat banana pancake

Lunch, 12
Sweet potato, chickpea, tomato stew on rice
1 spelt biscuit

Snack, 2pm
4 ryvita & sesame crackers with goat cheese
55g plain potato chips
peppermint tea

Snack, 5pm
Almonds

Supper, 6pm
Sweet potato, chickpea, tomato stew on rice
Grapefruit

December 2nd

Cheated a bit today...

Breakfast, 8am
Spelt and oat granola with currants, cranberries and honey.
Goat yogurt

Snack, 10am
Lg coffee with regular soy milk

Lunch, 12:30
Miso soup
Avocado & Cucumber maki roll

Snack, 2pm
Handful of almonds
32g bag of plain microwave popcorn
2 piece spelt toast with goat cheese

Supper, 6pm
4-5 spelt baking powder biscuits
chickpea, sweet potato & tomato stew with spices, served on rice
grapefruit

December 1st

Breakfast, 7:30
Organic cornpops with almond milk
Md coffee with almond milk

Snack, 9:30
2 ryvita crackers with almond butter

Lunch 12-1pm
2 pieces spelt sourdough bread, toasted with goat cheese
Bowl of Amy's vegetarian chili, made with tofu
Corn chips with pepper hummus

Supper, 6pm
Pork rounds with vermicelli noodles and brussels sprouts
grapefruit

Snack, 10pm
Most of a 145g bag of plain Kettle potato chips