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4-Hour Body Food Paleo Smaller Pink Cookie

Four Hour Body – What I’ve Been Eating…

I’m a picky eater. I have been for YEARS. So starting off on the Four Hour Body / Slow Carb adventure was a bit intimidating for me. Mainly because one of the things you are supposed to eat is beans. EW!! Beans! I hate beans, so I decided I’m going to be healthy and is when the nattokinase benefits could come to use, since this is a really good supplement which can help me a lot with my weight lose purpose.

Then I had to get real with myself. While I truly despise green beans, and I have given them a chance 2-3 times within the past 5 years, I haven’t tried most other beans since I was a kid. Many beans I had never tried at all. Saying you don’t like something seems to buy you time if you just have no desire to try it at all. For men who are struggling to gain muscle, then check out this guide for bulking and gaining muscle.

Ok, maybe I would like a lot more stuff if I was willing to try it.

But I have a really sensitive palate, textures sometimes gross me out, and if anything smells “weird” to me, I won’t taste it. It has to pass the smell test to even make it into my mouth.

Side note: don’t ever make fun of a picky eater, or try to convince them to try something they don’t like. They have their reasons. Being a picky eater sometimes really sucks. Being harassed about it sucks even more. Unless they are one of those whiny picky eaters – which I am not – then all bets are off. Whining earns you the right to be picked on in my book.

3 weeks now — no “fast” carbs. No sugar, flour, rice, or potatoes. No high fructose corn syrup. No “white” foods. (Cauliflower doesn’t count as a “white” food. FYI.)

I’ve lost 7 pounds. More importantly, I’ve survived. And I’ve tried best yoga mat 2017. Things that for years I declared “I don’t like”. One perk of my dietary habits is that I don’t mind eating the same thing every day. Doesn’t phase me at all. So for now, that is what I’m doing. Breakfast & lunch, same thing. Daily. That means I don’t have to think about what I want to eat or where to buy matcha. Mike cooks dinner, and some days I stick to a pretty small list of things I like. Other days I branch out more.

Breakfast: Huge glass of ICE cold water. Wakes you up FAST! 2 eggs, scrambled, with a little ham added.
Lunch: BIG BIG BIG spinach salad. I make it in a mixing bowl. I sometimes add turkey and/or ham. A sprinkle of sunflower seeds for a bonus crunch. 2 Tbsps of Newman’s Own Garlic & Parmesan salad dressing. (My only food item that has a little sugar.) Chop it all up with two knives with the dressing already on so it is spread all the way through.

Those foods on my “no” list above? Honestly, the only find myself craving them is when I let myself get too hungry. If I don’t pay attention to the clock and I suddenly find myself craving bread, I know I’ve gone too far.

Tonight for dinner I had a little salami and a piece of string cheese. I’m not supposed to eat dairy (4 Hour Body), but even more so I try not to because it is one of my “domino” foods. Domino foods are those things that if I eat a little, I normally eat a lot. I love cheese. But tonight I had one piece. Then I had:

– 1/2 can of Chickpeas (aka Garbanzo Beans): rinsed & drained, Mike taught me to put 1-1.5 Tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil in a skillet, then add the chickpeas. Cover with a lid so they don’t pop out of the pan, roll them around every so often so they don’t stick. Cook until browned & toasty looking. Sprinkle kosher salt over them to taste. We added some chopped garlic to them tonight towards the end, and some kale chips that we crushed & sprinkled over the top.

– A small portion of the lentil “meatballs” from the recipe at Sprouted Kitchen, with Mike’s own pesto sauce. He didn’t have any basil on hand, so he made a pesto out of parsley, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice & salt. YUM! Bonus? It got me past my texture issue fear of eating the lentils, because instead the texture was like meatballs!

– Sauteed Spinach with a balsamic reduction. Mike puts a little olive oil in a skillet and once heated sautes garlic for about 30 seconds in it. Then add a mound of rinsed fresh spinach and a pinch of salt. Stir once & cover. Check every couple of minutes for the spinach to be wilted (about 4-5 minutes). Add a splash of balsamic, uncover the skillet, and let that cook down. Serve.

If you had told me a month ago that my dinner was going to consist of chickpeas, lentil “meatballs”, pesto, and spinach, I would have told you that you were CRAZYPANTS!!! I did like spinach before, but not anything else on that list. Tonight? It was all amazing & scrumptious!

I’m not dieting. I’m planning out a future post about my rant about that word. But a diet these days is a temporary thing. No, this isn’t something that I can just stop. This has to be a complete change. But it is ok – I’ve hit that point. The point of no return. My friend Brett wrote about his “elephant moment” and I can relate. I’m so grateful for all of the friends & family I have cheering me on and supporting me right now. I want to say I couldn’t do it without you – but I am pretty damned determined. So while I could do it without all the support from the right medicines and without the prescription drug buy lansoprazole, it wouldn’t be quite as easy.

I guess a picky eater can learn to like new things…

PS – that whole gluten thing? I ate part of a piece of wedding cake on Saturday (it is a job requirement *grin*) and I ate homemade pizza Saturday night. Sunday morning? I woke up congested, and feeling like I was hit by a truck. Lesson learned! I need to really limit my gluten!

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BlahBlahBabble Food

Sort of Like The Iron Chef, but Better!

Summer in Paris
Honeymoon in Paris, June, 2004.

Mike won the TeaChef competition for January! His Lapsang Souchong-Smoked Stuffed Cornish Game Hen will be featured on their site for the month of February. I’m so proud of him! He really put a lot of thought and effort into his recipe, and it turned out so well.

If you want to experiment with being a Tea Chef yourself and possibly be the monthly winner, go to their site by the 10th of the month, sign up for a tea sample, and then create a recipe to go with it. A word of warning though – I’m sure Mike plans on doing it again, so you will be up against the best!

The Tea Chef! Featured at Chez Tremoulet. I’m so proud! Thank you to everyone that voted – we owe you dinner! Just let me know if you want to take us up on it.

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BlahBlahBabble Food

On the Menu This Week…

You Poor Thing...
As I mentioned before, I took a LOT of photos in Paris. Tons. I am still wrapping up posting day 1 on Flickr – and that was just a half day! The above statue is St. Denis. The angel comforting him adds a certain touch. Cracks me up every time I see it.

Mike is the official chef of Chez Tremoulet, and loves to try out new recipes. A few weeks ago, he signed up to compete in the TeaChef competition, and they sent him a sample of tea to create a recipe to go with it. His creation, Lapsang Souchong-smoked Stuffed Cornish Game Hen came out wonderfully. He has posted photos of it, along with the recipe.

Now, voting for his recipe is open! You can go and vote for his fabulous recipe, and you would make him very happy. And if you want to come by our house, maybe he will even cook it for you!

Vote! Vote! Vote! (And thank you for doing so!)

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BlahBlahBabble Food

No Soup For You…

If I’m lucky, we’ll try out Mac’s cheddar beer soup recipe in the near future. Maybe next week after the cold front comes through. Mmmm… beer cheese soup.

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BlahBlahBabble Food

Oven Mystery – SOLVED!

We tested the oven last night. It turns out that I had never noticed a problem before because if you set it to 350, it stays pretty much at 350. Most cookies and other items are backed in that range, so 350 is safe. No burnt goodies coming out of the oven.

On the other hand, if you set it for 400, you’re screwed. It climbs and climbs until it reaches great temps close to 500 degrees. It’s like the home for the Heat Miser in there. And my poor fragile spritz cookies were just no match for that kind of heat.

Last night we made a different cookie recipe – the spritz cookie that kick ass – and baked them at 375. Viola! No burnt cookies. And they taste sooooooooooo good.

Yeah! Mystery solved! I don’t have to go back to Easy Bake Oven training school after all!