Like millions of others, I've started and stopped so many diet and exercise plans in my life that I have to be honest, I'm so sick and tired of starting another one, but here I go again...
Time will tell [it always does], but I'm very hopeful that the journey I'm about to share not only helps me once and for all get to a healthy weight [for life], maybe what I'm learning along the way might help others as well.
So no more talking, as I'm going to Just Begin It!
Ok, here's my first Smart Phone Diet pic of the McCann's oatmeal I made this morning topped with a few dried cranberries and pepitas. I doubt anyone would argue that this is a healthy way to start the day.
One of my goals is to start brewing more coffee at home and make my trips to Starbuck's more of a treat than a habit. Part of the obvious benefit is shear cost. Time to travel, gas and paying retail, even though I'm not a fancy coffee drinker, just venti 1/2 cafs, but even they add up. So this morning I cranked up the coffee maker, had one big cup with 1% milk and Sweet & Low.
For lunch I defrosted a navy bean chicken sausage soup I made a few weeks ago and added in a package of chopped frozen spinach to add some more flavor and fiber. Then we headed out to Eden Gourmet to get some greens for a salad and a few things for dinner.
Even though we have an office in NYC, Kim and I more often than not work from home which obviously makes it easy to eat from home, but I find that unless I'm planning for it ahead of time I tend to say "let's go out." One because it's nice to take break away from where you're working from all day, but it's really more so because it's become a habit.
So our break today was to go out and get a few supplies and then eat at home. We even chose to sit at the table vs. what we often do, watch the Food Network in the living room while eating lunch. So we had a nice baby arugula salad with a few grape tomato's, olive oil and white balsamic vinegar which tastes so good on any salad. We split a whole grain roll that we dipped in a little high quality olive oil. We had our salad first, I ate it very slowly enjoying every bite, and then we had our bowls of soup.
I must admit it was quite refreshing eating this way. I was much more aware of what I was eating so I can see how eating this way is much more conducive to eat healthier.
I also keep forgetting to share that I'm drinking water throughout the day. I think I've had 3 very large glasses.
I started snooping around for a really healthy oatmeal cookie recipe. Here's the first good one I came across from The Whole Grain Gourmet.
Oh, this one really looks great too from one of my favorite food blogs 101 Cookbooks. I very well might just have to make both of them later. OMG! I shouldn't have looked, I just found another great looking recipe from 101 Cookbooks called Nikki's Healthy Cookie Recipe.
I know my searching for a cookie recipe may seem off strategy for a blog titled The Smart Phone Diet, especially on the day of my first posting.
So let me be very clear right up front, I love great food, well prepared and well presented food.
I've eaten more than my share of great food over the years, but truth be told, the real God's-honest-truth of how I became morbidly obese has been more about overeating bad food [calorically-poor], fast food, nutrient-poor food, lots of refined carbs and sugar, and barely a vegetable, and hardly a fruit than too much better quality food.
What I want The Smart Phone Diet to embody and share is weight loss and wellness personal empowerment by tapping into the amazing consciousness your smart phone can bring us 24/7.
The Smart Phone Diet isn't another one of those restrictive diet's about what you can't have, and what you shouldn't do. That's old news, and who's ever motivated by what you "can't do."
The Smart Phone Diet is about "having your cake and eating [enjoying] it too."
Now that's a message that will motivate any dieter.
The Smart Phone Diet is about using your smart phone and the multitudes of tools that are already built into it to help us all be much more mindful of what we're eating and doing everyday. Those those tools by themselves will work wonders for any of us trying to lose weight and then keep it off, but to add to our smart phones value are the multitudes of motivational, nutritional, weight loss, exercise and wellness applications that not only exist, but are releasing everyday.
Our smart phones have the ability to be a weight loss silver bullet for our mind and our belly.
I started this diet to prove to myself that not only can I get my body to a much healthier weight in lbs, I'm determined to get a healthier weight by eating healthier foods. This time I'm not just interested in some short term test to see how long I can trick my body into losing weight with lots of highly processed lo-cal this and and that crap.
No, I've tried that "weigh" too many times as probably many of you who are reading this have as well. Only too fall off the wagon pretty near the beginning time and time again, or even after say losing 100 lbs you gain it back, and then more.
The Smart Phone Diet is going to be grounded in a philosophy that you can "Eat and Grow Rich."
You can lose weight by eating better quality, less refined foods, and in doing so, not only will you save a lot of money on anything food related, your overall medical costs will lessen, and the new quality of life you'll gain will bring you "riches" beyond your wildest imagination.
Ok, off my soapbox and back to dinner.
To make these healthy cookies I had to run out to the store to get some ingredients and when I got back I got right into making dinner. Oh, on my way to the store I ate a piece of Theresa's pumpkin bread.
Earlier in the day we had decided to have one of our favorites canned tuna over pasta which doesn't sound that tasty, but with just a few good ingredients it's a great dish.
Kim's been in an experimental pasta mood lately so we picked up some better quality pasta when we were at Eden Gourmet.
So we started with a salad of baby arugula, olive oil, lemon and shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano and a glass of 3 Buck Chuck had tuna w/capers sauteed in olive oil over the foglie d'olivia pasta.
So after all that thinking about making some healthy cookies, going to the store to get ingredients and making dinner I lost all interest in making cookies. But I do have the ingredients now.
So as I've been in the habit of doing for a while now [which I've gotta change] I fell asleep on the couch watching TV, only to wake up around 10 looking for a sweet treat. I could have had a few of the cookies Jen made over the weekend, but I opted for another slice of Theresa's healthier pumpkin bread she made.
Not going to go into a big story about my after dinner treat cravings, I'll save that for another post. It's just something I need move beyond as being a habit vs. more of an occasional treat.
Comments