Day 301: The Scoop On Sugars!

Exercise: Ran 2 miles at the gym.

What's all the hoopla about sugar substitutes lately? I never add sugar to anything. In fact I have never owned a bag or container of sugar in my life at my home that is. I did have sugar at work many years ago, but that was for science experiments!  : )

Been hearing a lot lately that sugar is the silent killer and causes all sorts of havoc to the body. I'm sure over consumption does so I really try hard to stay away from sweats as best I can. I love sweats and crave them at times. Those times being when I don't eat healthy real foods or not enough food.


Just some of the sugar substitutes
I see at the grocery store. What
REALLY are these and what can
they do to your body. If they aren't
sugar then what are they?

 Sugar substitues:
Xylitol
Stevia
Aspartame- I never eat this if I am aware of it. It is in diet cokes, some yogurts etc. Some say it causes cancer, headaches and brittle bones. You can search on your own. I have negative opinions of it.
Splenda
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and have no more knowledge about sugar substitues than what I read on the internet websites. I do not claim these sites to be truth. I find them interesting and learn from some.

Breakfast: scrambled eggs mixed with mushrooms, zucchini, orange bell pepper. Frozen blueberries, green tea.
Snack: apple slices, few raw, unsalted almonds, water
Lunch: peanut butter sandwich, plain Greek yogurt, plum, water
Second Lunch: a tuna sandwich from Subway with cheese, spinach leaves, tomatoes, cumumbers, olives, red onion, oil and vinegar, water
Dinner: Salad with tomatoes, fetta cheese, orange bell pepper, salmon, salt and pepper, side of broccoli, snowpeas and corn. Water
Snack: organic strawberries soon.



Did you know many different foods that you many not think of have hidden sugars.
Food with hidden sugars.  See more foods.




During my lunch time, instead of eating, I was able to get away
and run 2 quick miles at the gym in about 20 minutes.  Ate
later while working at my computer. So hungry after the workout
that I had to get this sandwich later. I think the run at noon make
me extra hungry.




Shop healthy and you will
eat healthy!!




Check this out. All the more expensive pasta sauces have
a lot more sugar than the geneic cheap version. Who knew?




I found this brand to only have 3 grams
of sugar. The best offered at Krogers.
I guess the healthiest would be to make
your own tomato sauce from scratch.



Day 300: Air Hockey Tournament, Pizza, and Pancakes

Exercise: Walked 2 miles at the gym. Wanted to run real badly, but purposely allowing a day of rest.

Today Vince and I went to SROs (Sports Bar) for the World Champion Air Hockey Tournament. Vince played for years and years and won many trophies in the past. In fact, he was very good and taught many of the younger generation how to play like Champions. He hasn't played seriously in a few years now. He just visited with all his friends today. We do have an air hockey table, but it isn't used. Vince used to have several in game rooms along with other video games back in the 80s when that was his job. Air Hockey is actually very good exercise!

There are others playing on different tables throughout the place.

Vince wishing the trophy was his!

Made a healthy pizza today. Of course the wheat bread part isn't healthy because it has white flour, but I was in the mood for pizza. Better to make it than to buy it for sure! Remember portion control.

Homemade pizza

Pizza Ingredients: zucchini, banana peppers, orange bell peppers,
onion, mushrooms, tomatoes, garlic, fetta cheese, little mozzarella cheese,
tomato sauce (I found that the super cheap can had only 3 grams of sugar)
All the more expensive ones had up to 10 grams of sugar. Yikes!

Yesterday I bought some ancho peppers. Found a great looking recipe to try later in the week.
Ancho Pepper Recipe.

Made glutten free pancakes with real blueberry syrup for dinner today! Yep, dinner. We were out of the house by 7:45am today so didn't have time to make them early and I've wanted some all week. It is too hard to make elaborate breakfasts during the work week.

Dinner! Ended up eating 3 of them.
Just boil 2 cups frozen blueberries, add
a cup of cold water and a little
corn starch. Stevia or sugar if
desired. We don't add any though.

Glutten free pancakes. Yum!


Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with mushrooms and
zucchini, salt, pepper in a corn tortilla, green tea.
Snack: vanilla soymilk with unsweetened cocoa
Lunch: 2 slices of pizza
Dinner: glutten free pancakes with homemade blueberry syrup with a little cornstarch (No sugar)
Snack: 2 small oranges
Late night snack: peanut butter sandwich
(Trying to get out of the habit of eating late night!)

Day 299: Habanero Pepper Fish Recipe

Exercise: Gym. Walked 1 mile. Ran .25 mile and had a sudden slight pain in my ankle. Stopped. Spin bike for 25 minutes. Always a great workout on the spin bike!

Lunch/Dinner

Noticed all the great chilies and peppers at the grocery store. Have no idea how to cook with them. They all looked so great so I spontaneously bought a few kinds with no plan of what to do with them.

Found a great habanero pepper recipe and made it for lunch. Hot! Must have put too many peppers in. I like the kick it added to my fish. It is a must try. Recipe Here. I made the Habanero Salsa and poured it over the fish.

Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, 1/4 cup oatmeal, frozen blueberries, green tea, vanilla soymilk with unsweetend cocoa
Snack: peanut butter sandwich, water
Lunch/Dinner: fish, bell peppers, red potatoes with basil and rosemary, green beans, corn, salsa with habanero pepper, onion, garlic, lemon juice, cumin, cilantro, parsely, salt, olive oil.
Snack: TBA





Will make more recipes this week (hopefully).

 Here are the peppers I have. The dark ones are ancho peppers. I remember hearing about them on a cooking show so I bought them. Ancho Peppers  I learned they are green poblano peppers, but dried. So now I know that is what Vince ate in yesterdays restaurant meal.

Day 298

Exercise: At the gym: walked 2 miles and ran 2 miles. Felt great!

Ate at Teala's Mexican Restaurant for our Anniversary. Nice place, but I found it to be over priced. Maybe that is because it is in the River Oaks area. Great service for sure and good atmosphere. Greeted immediately upon entry.  Teala's Restaurant. Hard to find healthy food there.

Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, frozen blueberries, green tea
Snack: 1/2 an egg roll (thank goodness those are gone now). vanilla soymilk with unsweatened cocoa
Snack: boiled egg (no time for lunch)
GYM
Snack: peanut butter sandwich
Dinner: restaurant salad: lettuce, tomato, avacado, grilled chicken, tiny bit of honey mustard dressing, few tortilla chips in black bean dip, small orange, water
Snack: 2 plums



My dinner at Teala's Restaurant. Seems healthy, but who really knows
when it comes to restaurant.




VINCE'S DINNER! I was surprised Vince ordered something obviously unhealthy.
The giant lump is actually a large pepper stuffed with chicken and
sauces drizzled with sauce and lots of cheese, refried black beans,
Spanish rice, and little salad, water



Day 297 Our Anniversary: The Lion King

Exercise: None. : (

Worked late and barely had time to get ready for the Lion King performance at the Hobby Center Downtown. Home after 11pm. Today Vince and I have been married 4 years. Time sure flies!
The Lion King was great. Loved the singing, dancing and costumes, but we had an issue with our seating in the beginning. Well, I did. I was the one who got the tickets and when I looked at the seating map of the Hobby Center online, I didn't understand that their were 2 levels. I thought I purchased expensive tickets to sit in the back of the first section close to the stage. Turned out I purchased expensive tickets to sit in the back of the lower level! .....and check out our seats!!



Look! We didn't even get normal
seats. We were behind the wall in
just regular chairs in the very
back. It was like we weren't part
of the audience. How did that
happen??



We still had a great time. Turned out that we had the best
view of the actors coming out of the backstage and running
down the aisles. We also were able to get out first during
intermission and didn't have to wait in line to get something
to drink/eat.

         Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, 1/4 oatmeal, green tea
        Snack: stawberries
        Lunch: Los Tios Mexican Restaurant with several co-workers.
        Ate Fish tacos in corn tortillas with cilantro and red cabbage.
        Dinner: Egg rolls again, quinoa and brown rice with mixed
        veggies and broccoli
        Snack: SNICKERS candy bar at the show! Can't even remember
        the last time I ate a candy bar. I was hungry!

Fish Tacos

Dinner

From Costco. All natural with
only peanuts and sea salt in the
ingredients.

Has a lot of calories. Don't eat
too much.

Day 296

Exercise: None. Got home late from work and laid around with an annoying headache. How pathetic is that?! Also, Vince really wanted to watch a movie so we did that instead.

Looking at my blog lately I can see the poor change in my diet. More desserts again, fast meals that aren't as healthy. It is all because I started back at work this week and work long hours to make up for not working on Fridays during the summer. Tired too. These should not be excuses though. I just need to get back into planning. Planning is the key. Plan the meals, freeze some meals, plan my workout days and routines, buy more groceries, cook some meals.

Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, 1/4 oatmeal, frozen blueberries, green tea
Snack: strawberries
Lunch: Egg rolls, quinoa/brown rice mixture with mixed veggies and broccoli
Dinner: Subway sandwich: grilled chicken on wheat bread with sweet onion sauce and spicey mustard, spinach leaves, red onions, olives, banana peppers, tomatoes, pickles and cucumbers, water
Snack: plain Greek yogurt, frozen blueberries, strawberries
Snack: popcorn popped on the stove.

The eggrolls are not healthy. We made them for an event
yesterday and had left overs.

Subway Sandwich

If you happen to count calories,
you can find some healthier
choices at Subway.

Day 295 Benefits of Water

Exercise: None  (worked until 5:30pm, went to a Toastmasters officer's meeting by 6:30pm and Toastmasters until almost 9pm. Really tired today. Hoping to have more energy tomorrow by going to bed soon and working out after work. Can't wait! Didn't have my usual water today so I feel tired and fat! Water is the trick to feeling good!! Drink plenty of water!
Read: Benefits of water.
Function of Water in the body.

Went to a class just before lunch. Ran into "Baconator." That is the name I gave to one of my best teacher friends. Her last name is Bacon. Got to go out and have lunch together. Meant a great time catching up, but also meant RESTAURANT FOOD! I rarely eat beef (unless in a hamburger), but I was in the mood so I ordered steak kabobs on a stick. After the meal I felt bloated and not as good as when I eat healthy.

Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, 1/4 cup oatmeal, frozen blueberries, green tea.
Snack: some grape tomatoes and some cashews
Lunch: Steak kabobs with bell peppers, onions, white potatoes, broccoli, and a side of white kidney beans. I'm sure the veggies were swimming in butter because they were very good. Sounds healthy, but it was a high calorie meal.
Dinner: 2 corn tortilla tacos with leafy greens and tomatoes and cheese. One taco had salmon and the other had an egg. (left overs), some pineapple and strawberries.
Snack: at Toastmasters: ate a fried chicken thigh!! A chocolate brownie and even drank a small can of Sprite! Felt really gross after all that.

What a day of eating. I can always tell that I don't feel well if I don't eat well and exercise or get sleep. That is why I strive to do so. I want to be at my best.

lunch with a little water

Dinner

Snacks at our Toastmasters meeting tonight.

Day 294 Back To Work Today & Excedrin Issue!!

Exercise: Ran close to 2 miles and walked 1 mile at the gym.

Back to work today after a month off. So excited to see my friends today, although my day consisted of 3 meetings and getting caught in a heavy rain storm far from my car with no umbrella, which caused me to have to go home and dry off! Had a meeting during lunch so didn't get a "real" lunch. Did take a peanut butter sandwich, but it just wasn't enough. Instant headache. Didn't have my usual morning snack either. By 3:30pm I was still at another meeting and starving! Worked from home the last hour of the day since I was drenched!

Took an Excedrin Migrane for my headache. Didn't work so I quickly took another. There is caffeine in Excedrin. Oh boy....let me tell you what happened. It was 6pm. Only had time to eat some soup. Headache went away quickly, but I felt jittery and wanted to move around. Was talking very fast and couldn't stop. Felt pumped up. Enormous energy burst. I still feel uncomfortable and it is after 9pm. At 7pm I couldn't stand it and went to the gym. Just kept running with no sense of getting tired. Wanted to run, run, and run. Made myself stop at 2 miles because I didn't want to get injured. Still working my way up to higher mileage slowly. Never again will I take 2 extra strength Excedrin. I doubt I'll be going to sleep anytime soon, which is bad since I only got about 5 hours of sleep last night. Oh well. Live and learn.

Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, 1/4 cup oatmeal, frozen blueberries, green tea
Snack: some grape tomatoes, water
Snack: Large fruity, spicey muffin, watermelon and cantaloupe slice offered to us at work!
Lunch: peanut butter sandwich
Dinner: sprouted bean soup with veggies and chicken and wontons.
Dinner again: 1/2 salmon on a bed of leafy greens, tomatoes, pineapple before my run, water
Later Dinner: hungry after my run: 2 egg rolls and some strawberries, water

Day 293: Hungry!

Exercise: Ran 1 mile and walked on mile at the gym. Since I started running again, I find myself getting HUNGRY often!

Early Breakfast: 1 boiled egg, 1/4 oatmeal, green tea, frozen blueberries
Second Breakfast!: 1 corn tortilla, leafy greens, 1 boiled egg, some tomatoes and bell pepers, little pineapple, water
Snack: few cashews, vanilla soymilk with unsweetened hot cocoa
Lunch: gluten free pasta, mixed veggies, broccoli, chicken tenders with spices
Snack: small orange
Dinner: soup and salad
Going to bed soon and would you believe it....I'm hungry again!!



2nd Breakfast around 10am.




Lunch




Soup: sprouted beans, chicken, corn,
mixed veggies, chicken wontons all
in chicken broth.




Vince had a coupon for a free
ice-cream cone. RATS!
It was very good!
Is there no hope for me??



Day 292

Exercise: Back at the gym today! Woohooo! Walked/Ran 4 miles. Feel great!

Breakfast: 1/4 cup oatmeal, 1 boiled egg, frozen blueberries, green tea
Lunch: salad with tomatoes, carrot, little feta cheese, mixed leafy greens, canned salmon, olive oil
Snack: plain Greek yogurt with organic strawberries, organic frozen blueberries, few almonds. Later: unsweetened cocoa in vanilla soymilk.
Dinner: salmon tacos on corn tortillas with mixed leafy greens, grape tomatoes, little cheese, salmon, basil, salt, olive oil. Small orange, water.

Lunch

Snack

Dinner

Day 291 Shopping For Healthy Food

Exercise: None


After a long trip you find yourself with absolutely NOTHING in the fridge when you return. Made a Costco run today. Invisioned making many healthy, colorful meals to come so I bought quite a bit to stock up. Lots of colorful fruits and veggies. Still need to go to Kroger to buy some other veggies like squash, zucchini and onions.


My grocery cart at Costco. Love
all this healthy food!



Breakfast: oatmeal in soymilk and
frozen blueberries.



Lunch



Breakfast: 1/4 cup oatmeal, frozen blueberries, green tea

Lunch: 1/2 Wild Alaskan Salmon, snowpeas, corn, broccoli, red and yellow bell peppers, quinoa, water

Snack: red, juicey strawberries, water

Snack: soymilk with
unsweetened cocoa, small orange

Dinner: salad

Mixed leafy greens, snowpeas, bell peppers, grape tomatoes,
carrots, little cheese, canned salmon, basil, thyme, salt,
olive oil, water

Late Snack: popcorn popped on stove, and peanut butter sandwich very late.

Day 290 End of Road Trip Across America! : (

Exercise: Comtemplating going to spin class, but since it begins in 20 minutes I guess I'm going to miss it. Doing all the laundry right now anyway. What a lame excuse!! I'm just tired to be honest and may miss another day.

Drove from visiting my little Sis in Dallas to Houston today. Sad to see our road trip end, but loved all the new adventures and and sights we experienced. Great to visit different states, friends and family. What a great 15 days it was! Enjoyed just hanging with my Hun in the car listening to music or chatting for what seemed like forever! So much green and wide open spaces. So many 18 wheelers! People from other states were friendly and the food was good, but nothing beats TEXAS! Vince and I started singing "Deep In The Heart of Texas" when we crossed the state line. Did I mention he would sing that song by Julie Andrews...."Climb Every Mountain" every time we walked up hills in Pennsylvania? ha ha

Our trip started out on July 4th from Houston to New Orleans, Louisiana where we saw the French Quarter a bit. Headed to Biloxi, Mississippi where we stepped on the beach in Crystal Springs a bit. Stayed in Atlanta, Georgia at a friend,s house. Through South Carolina to reach our North Carolina destination...the lighthouses! Fun times at the beaches and lighthouses. Onward to Pottsville, Pennsylvania to stay with Vince's parents. On our return we ventured through Maryland and West Virginia. Stopped some in Virginia and spent most of our time in Memphis, Tennessee at Graceland, home of Elvis Presely. Had lunch and fun times in Little Rock Arkansas and spent the evening with family in Dallas, Texas for my sister's birthday. Arrived home this afternoon. Whew! Loved every moment of it and would do it again. How about the West Coast next time?

Amazing to think I go back to work on Monday. June 17 was my first official start of summer break and I don't know where the entire month went!! Time sure flies when you are having fun!

You know you are back in Texas when you see this....

Only in Texas!

Day 289 Road Trip: Little Rock Arkansas Today

Exercise: None again. On the road most of the day.

Drove from Memphis Tennessee to Little Rock Arkansas to Dallas Texas today. Spending time with my little sister in Dallas now. Today is her 33rd birthday! Happy Birthday Sissy!

Rebekah (Sissy) and her husband Gabriel. Paul our brother on right.

Now that I am on my way home, I find myself amidst so many temptations. I am able to pass up many temptations now such as sugary desserts, but still select some unhealthy foods at times.

Vince took me to Market Street in Little Rock. Many shops and eateries to choose from. There is a huge organic Farmer's Market on Tuesdays and Thursdays (we missed it today). Lots of healthy foods to choose from and fun shops to see. Enjoyed our lunchtime walk.

Vince at Vincent Street and
President Clitnon cross street.  : )

Some of the eateries

Add caption

Raspberry/Plum popcicle (all natural)...
whatever that means.

Beef Lasagna while celebrating my sister's brithday

Vince and I shared this birthday cupcake.