Eating Adjustments

Goal Post #11

Early this past summer Nic and I decided to get serious about eating less meat. We'll probably never be vegetarians, but eating more vegetable products in general is better for our bodies and hopefully the planet.

To get started, I bought a bunch of cheap veggie burgers from Aldi to pre-cook and crumble over salads the next day for lunch. This was a fantastic idea and helped cut down on lunch costs without sacrificing protein intake.

For dinner we wanted higher quality so began taste-testing meatless burgers and sausages. After all, it was summer and we love to grill. Right up front I'm going to admit we never found a satisfying meatless alternative to any sausage you eat on a bun. Moving on to burgers.

Nic's favorite meatless burger is the FieldBurger because of the texture, salt content and how satisfied he feels after eating. My favorites are Dr. Prager's mushroom risotto and kale burgers for flavor, flavor and flavor. Both of us like the other's favorite enough to eat it on a regular basis.

We haven't had the pleasure of trying the beyond burger yet, but it won GMM's taste test and we trust them enough to at least give it a whirl.

While eating out, we tried a couple of impossible burgers. They are extremely tasty when prepared correctly. This of course depends on the restaurant but I'm impressed enough to keep ordering.

Don't let the sugar monster get me!

Holiday cravings and coffee

It started before Halloween. Like a zombie stalking closer, sugar seeped back into my veins and tricked me into wanting more, more, MORE! If you’ve been following this blog at all, you might have figured out I don’t have much of a sweet tooth but sugar cravings hit hard this fall.

First, my stepdaughter made a batch of cookies the same day I brought three home to share from a coffee shop. This was unnecessary amount of cookies for just three people. After sending at least a dozen home with her, Nic and I still had enough for the entire week.

On top of that, my library had an event that served - guess what? - cookies. The leftovers sat in the breakroom all week. With self control limiting my intake to two cookies a day, this still added up big time.

By Halloween I was craving sugar multiple times a day. For perspective, one tiny trick-or-treat size twix is usually enough to satisfy my candy cravings for a week. This year on Halloween I had two tiny twix plus a snickers bite and still wanted more.

Now we are deep in the land of pies, cakes, and holiday goodies. Cookies are literally multiplying in our pantry and we're kinda just rolling with it. The week before Christmas I carbo-loaded like holiday eating was going to be my own personal marathon. As a treat to myself I didn't track any holiday calories this year. In my personal digital universe Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve and New Year's were all fasting days. (By the way, this is how we will defeat the computer uprising.)

In early November I started testing my reaction to coffee. It started with 4 ounces. No issues. Three days later I upped it to 6 ounces. No issues. It’s not clear if coffee will come back into my life on a daily basis but for now I’m happy I can have an occasional cup with pastry products or if I'm desperate at work.

Overall, progress is still good. The sugar thing will have to be dealt with, but food is a big part of the holidays and I'm really enjoying those carbs.