4 cream, 15 sugars

So I rolled through McDonald’s today to feed my kid breakfast. That’s right, shit happens! I tried to look at it as a treat for her, because as a child it certainly would have been a treat for me. But I couldn’t shake the guilt of ordering her a Sausage McMuffin when there’s no way in hell I would ever eat one again. But the guilt of not serving her breakfast won.

I also decided to order myself a coffee because this particular morning I overslept and had to race out of the house with my daughter trailing behind so we could drive her father to the airport. And I needed my freakin coffee. Scratch that. I WANTED my freakin coffee and I hadn’t had time to make myself one.

As I reach the pickup window the lady confirms my order by saying, “One sausage McMuffin meal?” Check.  “And one large coffee, 4 cream, 15 sugars?” WTF???

Whut the Fuck!!??? I think my neck snapped back when she said that and my horror was visible so she recanted, “Oh that’s not yours. Yours is the black coffee.”

I had to ask her, do people really order that??!! She just smiled. Maybe because I was so surprised or maybe because she also takes 4 cream and 15 sugars in her coffee. But as I drove away I couldn’t help but get a clearer picture on the state of some people’s health. We always hear that as a whole, we have bad eating habits….yadda yadda yadda. I always picture a person eating a bag of chips or maybe too many hot dogs. And for some reason, while unhealthy, it didn’t hit me over the head quite as hard as the thought of an individual starting their day off consuming 15 sugars!! How many cups of coffee like that a day do they drink? Does the coffee basically become syrup at that point? And are they begging for diabetes?

I’m judging, yes…yes I am. I’m working on it, I really am.

But I have to admit that I’m bloody thrilled to know that my worst day of eating doesn’t even enter 4 cream, 15 sugar country. Next time I eat vegetables grilled in olive oil or a cookie that I didn’t personally make I’m going to get off my own back and let myself enjoy it. I could be doing ALOT worse.

And I suppose the best part of the trip through the drive thru is that my 3-year old was disgusted with her Sausage McMuffin and refused to eat it. I convinced her to eat most of the egg, and some of the bread. But the sausage was out of the question. Yay!!!!  She ended up devouring an apple and making me proud at the same time. Maybe it’s time to realize that if I wouldn’t touch certain foods with a 10-foot pole there’s no reason I should be coercing my baby to give it a shot.

Green Breakfast of Champions

I heart coffee and coffee hearts me. But I think my insides deserve a breakfast that gives back a little more than some caffeinated pep in my step.

Over the Christmas holidays while I was gorging on salted peanuts, salted triscuits and red wine I started to feel really bloated and instead of eating better (nizzle say whut?) I decided to fantasize about being a super healthy raw food vegan. I watched this almost cultish video on the raw food lifestyle called Raw for Life . This movie, full of these energetic, passionate raw foodies hailing the electrifying powers of raw food sucked me right in. Listening the benefits of something as simple as increasing the amount of greens one eats made alot of sense to me. Green is good! So I decided then and there that when I returned home I would explore the raw lifestyle – I also acknowledge that peanuts are not raw so our love affair was coming to an end. Note to self: increase peanut consumption while you can.

When I returned home I was magically gifted with a friends used Vita-mix which I’ve come to believe is almost a requirement for successfully eating raw. (This used Vita-mix was nice because not only did I save a couple hundred bucks I didn’t purchase anything new. Woot!)

So far the Vita-mix has been great and I have been drink a ton of greens. After alot of thought I realized that I could not commit to the raw lifestyle but I could improve my eating habits by stuffing my face with more raw veggies vs those lovely salted nuts.

Green Breakfast Smoothie

* This is an ever changing recipe so be creative!

2-4 cups of greeny goodness (kale, spinach, collards etc)
1/2 cup of frozen fruit (blueberries or raspberries)
1 cup of vegan milk (I use almond or soy)
1 cup of veggies (carrots or zucchini seem to work best)
1-2 scoops of protein powder (I used pumpkin seed protein)
1-2 tbsp of ground flax (Omega III’s are your friends)
water (amount depends on whether or not you want a smooth smoothie or a chewy smoothie. Sometimes a chewy one makes you feel like you’re having a real meal.

Add together and blend the hell out of it. Enjoy!

I will not be slim in 6

At least not on my current plan. I have been faithfully working the Slim in 6 program 6 days a week for the last two weeks. Got some wonderful results during week 1: Lost 6 inches and 1.5 pounds. Yay me! Fast forward a week and I was starting to feel a little bloated. I can’t blame the program because my diet tends to be somewhat carb heavily, typical vegan diet, and I realize I am a little too liberal with my fat intake. Especially when I consider it to be the “good fat”. Walnuts, yes!. Avocado, yes! Olives, yes! French fries, yes! Shit, it appears I’ve been falling down a slippery slope. Too much good fat, mixed with a lot of carbs (brown rice, couscous, oatmeal) and a strenuous weight training routine mean I’ve slowly morphing into Chyna. Totally not the look I’m going for.

I was thinking something more like this:

That’s right. I want to look like Flo Jo minus nails. So I am redefining my whole strategy. I’m going back to my running roots. Back to the days of pounding the pavement and having a nice, lean runner’s body.

And ever since I went Vegan I haven’t felt like my eating has really been on point. I feel good about the decision and don’t want to go back but I know I need more edumacation on how to properly nourish myself with relying on cheese and eggs. Might sound silly, but my eating habits really did feel more balanced when I was still dating cheese.

My diet of choice is McDougall’s Maximum Weight Loss plan. SuzyBear has a great starting page regarding the diet and what is and is not allowed. I’m going to order a used book so I know the deets and have the recipes but I think this may turn out to be a good plan for me. It focuses on eating whole grains, veggies, 2 fruits a day and NO FAT. That means gone will be my 4 ounces of daily nuts and guacamole burritos. But what intrigues me is the “eat until you’re full” philosophy. I can dig it, especially when I resume running.

More details will come, including my 2 week report about Slim in 6, which I will say is a good program – but more suitable for someone following a high protein diet. Unless you’re striving to become a female body builder.

I vegan with Slim in 6

So I gained 8 pounds in 3 weeks over the holidays, and they say vegans and skinny waifs!
2-3 cups of peanuts daily and liquor for breakfast, lunch and dinner will do that to a person. As I’m not comfortable with my muffin tops tenting out all of my cute t-shirts and because I have resolved to buy Nothing New in 2010, my best option is to lose this Christmas weight NOW.

My method of choice: Slim in 6. Oh Debbie Sieber, you little vixen you! She works me out and kicks my ass on a daily basis. For those of you not familiar with the workout DVD’s, I’ll go into further detail in another post. Today I just want to lay down my written account that I’m officially on Day 6 of my 42 day journey of lunging, squatting and crunching my love handles away.

Say goodbye to the chub!