Day 13

It's been a good day! Not feeling quite as well as yesterday, but better than I have been! I've been up late planning for a last minute weekend trip so I'm off to bed. I'll post more over the weekend :)

Mood: happy

General Feeling: Not as energetic as yesterday, but still good!

Exercise: none

Food Journal:
Breakfast: organic granola cereal with milk
Snack- blueberries
Lunch- grilled cheese sandwich, fresh broccoli and cauliflower
Dinner- Cottage pie with meat substitute
Snack- dry cereal

Day 12- An Energetic Day

I felt so great yesterday- lots of energy (for me anyway!) and was very productive. I really think it was because of my diet the day before. I had plenty of fruit and veg, and was able to get in some healthy proteins. It's not easy, but the effects are definitely worth it!

Mood: Feeling happy and upbeat!

General Feeling: Very energetic

Exercise: none

Food Journal:
Breakfast: organic pop-tart and milk
Snack- blueberries
Lunch- PB&J
Dinner- baked beans and mashed potatoes
Snack- cereal bar, milk

Day 11- Made My 5

Today is another tired day….I think I’m reliving Monday! I’m not sure if it’s lack of protein or the wonderful “girly time” that’s the culprit. Either way, it’s not making for very productive days. Although my diet could use some more tweaks, today’s menu had more fresh food and I even think I got in my five a day. Woohoo!

Mood: happy and tired, ah!

General Feeling: Not feeling great today…no energy

Exercise: none- maybe the cause of lack of energy?

Food Journal:
Breakfast: cereal with organic milk, coffee
Snack- blueberries
Lunch- salad with ranch
Snack- flax seed toast with organic almond butter, blueberries
Dinner- bean tacos
Snack- apple, cereal bar, milk

Day 10- Better Planning

I’m feeling a bit tired today and I have to wonder- is it the lack of protein and iron? The past several days have been hectic, and combined with lack of proper planning, my diet is lacking. I’m still eating vegetarian, but just like I suspected, doing so in a healthy way is tough. I am taking a good multi-vitamin which I think helps, but nothing compares to getting nutrients straight from the source!

I’m making my shopping list tonight and hitting the market tomorrow. Hopefully better planning will help me make better decisions when time is an issue. Unfortunately, the fastest foods are not always the freshest!

This is a new week- let’s give it another go!

Mood: excitement

General Feeling: a bit tired today

Exercise: none

Food Journal:
Breakfast: organic poptart and milk, coffee
Snack- a few blueberries
Lunch- grilled cheese, fries
Dinner- organic spaghetti, peas
Snack- banana

Day 9- Mother's Day Lunch

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there! I hope you’ve had a lovely day.

For lunch today, my husband treated me to “Sunday Roast” at favorite restaurant of ours. For my American readers, a Sunday roast is referring to the method of cooking and not the type of meat. There are usually choices of chicken, turkey, pork, or actual roast. Accompanied by the roasted meat is a plate full of veggies, which is all covered in gravy- that’s my kind of meal! What’s even better about this particular place is it has a carvery. The food is buffet style so you plate your own food, then go to the carver to get freshly carved meat- which of course I skipped! It was all delicious!

Mood: blah

General Feeling: tired, but otherwise good

Exercise: family walk around the village

Food Journal:
Breakfast: in a big hurry- organic poptart and milk
Lunch- “Sunday Roast” without the roast….which means lots of roasted and steamed veggies- broccoli, cauliflower casserole, roasted potatoes, peas, carrots, parsnips, and Yorkshire pudding
Dinner- 3 cheese quesadilla with salsa
Snack- popcorn

Recipe- Peanut Butter and Ganola Banana

This is one of my favorite breakfasts. It's fast, easy, healthy, and filling! What better breakfast is there?

1 banana
2 tbls peanut butter
1/8 cup granola
bit of honey

Peel your banana, add the peanut butter along the top. Sprinkle with the granola, and drizzle with the honey, and voila! A yummy breakfast.

If you would like to make this more portable- drizzle the honey in a hot dog bun, add the peanut butter, then the granola. Lastly add the banana- an on the go breakfast!

Day 8

Busy day with lots of shopping! Dinner out was easy. I ordered a taco salad and asked for extra beans, no meat. It was yummy and filling!

Tomorrow I’m making spinach and artichoke lasagna for lunch. If the recipe turns out well I’ll be posting the recipe.

It’s been a long day and I’m exhausted- but I promise to have a more interesting post tomorrow!

Mood: tired but happy

General Feeling: tired, a little achy from yesterdays excerise

Exercise: just shopping

Food Journal:
Breakfast: blueberry waffles with banana slices, milk, coffee
Lunch- banana with peanut butter, sprinkled with granola and honey, milk, cucumber slices
Dinner- taco salad, water
Snack- Key lime ice cream

Day 7

This was a hard day! Courteous of a very precious friend, hubby and I had a date night. Which was WONDERFUL- but not good for a diet! After dinner we went to see Ironman 2. One the of the coolest things about going to the movies in England is there is a Basking Robins inside! So we splurged…so sad. Date night was great though!

Mood: happy and relaxed

General Feeling: energetic!

Exercise: 40 minutes moderate aerobics

Food Journal:
Breakfast: cereal, organic milk, coffee
Lunch- cheese toastie, banana, water
Snack- cereal
Dinner- salad, curry rice
Snack- coffee ice cream with fudge

Day Six- A New Food

I discovered something new in my veg box this week! It’s wild garlic and it’s the first I’ve ever seen it. Wild garlic has the same smell and taste as traditional garlic, but on a milder level. If fact, it’s mild enough to toss into salads. It’s actually leaves which are long and look similar to leaves on corn stalks. I have quite a large bag so I’ll be on the lookout this week for ways to use it. Tonight we had spinach pizza so I added it on top and it was delicious- a mild garlic flavor in every bite! I’m thinking wild garlic bread sounds really nice…

wild garlic leaves

shredded and ready for the pizza!

the (slightly over done) finished product

Mood: Happy

General Feeling: More energetic today! A little upset stomach though...maybe the coffee was too strong?

Exercise: Lots of cleaning

Food Journal:
Breakfast: Open egg and cheese sandwich, milk, coffee
Snack: banana, water
Lunch: leftover veggies- peas, potato salad, and peanut butter sandwich for protein
Snack: Cereal bar, water
Dinner- Spinach and garlic pizza, water
*Snack- apple

*Haven’t eaten this yet, but if I have a snack sometime this evening this will be it.

Recipe- Spinach and Wild Garlic Pizza

Ingredients:
1 pizza crust
1/2 cup cheese sauce
2 cups torn spinach leaves
1 1/2 cups shredded Italian cheese blend
1/4 cup shredded wild garlic
2 small tomatoes, thinly sliced
oregano *optional

Directions:
1- Pre-heat oven to 425*F/210*C. Prepare pizza crust, and lay on pizza pan. Pinch up the sides to form a thicker edge.

2- Evenly spread the cheese sauce over the crust


3- Evenly spread the spinach over the sauce


4- Spread the cheese

5- Sporadically lay the wild garlic, then add the tomato slices and sprinkle with oregano

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the crust edges are light brown

TIP- Brush the crust with melted butter for a slightly softer crust

*This pizza is a little too brown on top- Hubby was supposed to be watching it while I changed a diaper!

YUM! Hope you enjoy :)

Day Five- Will Power Struggle

SO I think I have this eating vegetarian eating thing down…unfortunately I don’t have HEALTHY vegetarian eating down. The good thing is I know what to eat; I just have to do it. That’s the hardest part for me- making the right choices. For whatever reason, be it tiredness, lack of time, or lack groceries, I usually opt for the easiest solution to the hunger issue. And this tends to mean the food of choice is less healthy. Solutions for these problems is another post for another time; but the point is I have the ability to make good choices- I just need to use that ability! If only will power was something I had a lot of…

How about you? Do you find it hard to make good food choices?



Mood: sick but energetic, who knew?

General Feeling: Still sick today, but getting better

Exercise: No formal, but cooked and clean enough for it to count!

Food Journal:
Breakfast: Organic strawberry poptart, milk
Lunch- Grilled cheese toastie, fresh blueberries, water
Dinner- Fries, peas, and NO sloppy joe!
Snack- small slice of carrot cake

Day Four- Still Going...

Well, the day started out nice and promising…and then the pressure started. Pressure is in the nose, in the temples, and in the forehead. I thought it was my allergies, but my herbs aren’t working and now hubby is sick as well.
But there is one good thing about today- I’M STILL A VEGETARIAN!

Mood: blah

General Feeling: Not well, achy and no energy

Exercise: *laughs*

Food Journal:
Breakfast: BP&J English muffin with coffee, milk
Lunch- leftover veggies from the fridge, corn and potatoes, pineapple
Snack- popcorn
Dinner- not feeling well- had a bowl of cereal, comfort food
*Snack- apple

*Haven’t eaten this yet, but if I have a snack sometime this evening this will be it.

Beautiful Morning

It's so beautiful outside this morning! The sunshine is streaming through all my windows, warming the house. These morning rays make me feel energized and ready to start my day! Let's hope it's a productive one!

Yesterdays meals didn't have nearly enough fresh fruits and veg so I'm going to remedy that today. I'm waiting on my fruit and veg delivery which doesn't come until tomorrow, so there is a bit of a shortage on fruit at the moment, but I should be able to make it through the day.

Hope you all have such a beautiful morning as this!

~Candace

Day Three- Love those Eggs!

So problem getting protein today! For breakfast, instead of having an egg and cheese sandwich, I lightened it up and had an open sandwich. I used one egg, a very small amount of shredded cheese, and one slice of whole meal toast. I only used enough cheese for a very thin layer on the toast so I saved calories there, and of course using one slice of bread saved some too. Yummy and filling!

Being a bit lazy today, I found something super easy for dinner: pasta. Three ingredients and 20 minutes later dinner was ready! Enough spaghetti for two, half container of natural cheese sauce, and chopped baby spinach- what’s easier?

I was excited to find that the organic pasta I used had 8 grams of protein per serving. After heating the cooked noodles and sauce together, I turned off the heat, added the spinach, and put the lid on for a few to wilt the spinach. Yum!

Mood: Happy, and a little sassy!

General Feeling: Feeling a little tired, and not much motivation for doing anything

Exercise: none

Food Journal:
Breakfast: Open egg and cheese sandwich, OJ, coffee
Snack- Cereal bar
Lunch- Breakfast burritos with eggs, sausage substitute, cheese, and salsa, milk
Dinner- Pasta with cheese sauce and spinach, water, more coffee
*Snack- apple, granola bar

*Haven’t eaten this yet, but if I have a snack sometime this evening this will be it.

~Candace

Day Two

My second day has gone well. I actually quite pleased! I went to a baby shower this afternoon with some friends. I was a little worried that there wouldn’t be much for me to eat, but actually there was only one thing on the table with meat in it! There was some yummy looking chicken salad, which I of course opted out for and that’s it- everything else was allowed! I was especially happy to have the cake- it was the best carrot cake I’ve ever had! Delicious!

I’m a little surprised by my energy levels- I was expecting to feel a little sluggish today which I’m not at all. This means that so far I’m getting enough protein- the biggest challenge when eating vegetarian. I know many manage to get enough protein and maintain good energy levels, but I’m expecting my body to have some effects- detoxing or withdrawals have you. This could take days, if at all. We’ll see in the days to come!

Mood: Same as yesterday- happy and positive.

General Feeling: Feeling well today and energy levels are good. I am a bit sleepy, but not more than usual!

Exercise: none :(

Food Journal:
Breakfast: Lazy morning- a bowl of my fave cereal and organic skim milk, coffee
Lunch- No lunch, but snacks at a baby shower- carrots and cucumber with ranch, pasta with broccoli, deviled eggs, apple slices, cake, punch
Dinner- The fam had fish, I had the veggie sides- boiled potatoes, carrots, lima beans, and baked beans
*Snack- apple, popcorn

*Haven’t eaten this yet, but if I have a snack sometime this evening this will be it.

~Candace

Day One

So far, easy to eat vegetarian! It wasn’t hard at all finding things I enjoy that are also healthy and vege. The peanut butter muffin wasn’t my first choice but I had somewhere to be early this morning, and it was very portable (and tasty!). My Mexican salad didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped- kidney beans weren’t nearly as good as black bean would have been! But it tasted fine, was healthy, (minus the ranch) and I was able to get some healthy proteins in with the beans.

I think the most important part of eating healthy and vegetarian is going to be having ingredients on hand to put meals together. It was easy to put together the Mexican salad- just add beans and corn to your salad mix and toss with your dressing and salsa. We had everything already in the pantry.It took hardly any time at all, was moderately filling, and had 2-3 servings of veggies! Add a few baked tortillas and it’s a great meal- not to mention inexpensive.

Mood: I’m feeling great today, even on very little sleep. Happy, positive- no crankiness here!
General Feeling: A little tired from going to bed late, but otherwise feeling good.
Exercise: No formal exercise, but I did park at a friend’s house and walked into town. Not an awful lot of walking, but better than nothing!

Food Journal:
Breakfast- Flaxseed English muffin with natural peanut butter and organic honey, coffee
Snack- dried papaya
Lunch- Romaine and spinach salad with kidney beans (was out of black beans), and corn drizzled with spicy ranch and salsa, water


Snack- Cereal bar
Dinner- Yummy omelet with onions, spinach, and mozzarella and cheddar cheese, wheat toast with jam, OJ

*Snack- apple, popcorn

*Haven’t eaten this yet, but if I have a snack sometime this evening this will be it.

Til tomorrow,

Candace

Ready...Set...GO!

The Day Before:

So I'm about to start on 30 days of vegetarian eating...shouldn't be too hard right? We'll see! I'll be checking in each day with a food journal and how I'm feeling. Stay tuned for recipes, tips, and how-tos, and please pipe in if you have some of your own! I could certainly use the help.

The hard part is not avoiding meat- it's avoiding meat AND eating healthy at the same time. How easy would it be to go to the nearest fast food joint and have fries, a loaded baked potato, or a salad with all the fixings disguised as something healthy? No, the real challenge here is eating healthy and getting protein without the animals.

By the end of the 30 days I hope to have more energy, lost weight, and generally feel better than I do now. Let's see if there is something to this vegetarian deal!

In anticipation,
Candace