Traveling...what could be so hard?

This past weekend we traveled to Portland.  Usually this isn't a big deal as we know what we like and there is plenty of food to pick from except this time...

When we arrived on Friday we needed to find dinner.  We had planned to check out the Deschutes Brewery PDX so at least we knew where we were headed.  Now Deschutes has a nice Gluten Free Menu however, my current journey has me a bit past "gluten free."  There was a chicken salad or wings that I could have had that didn't have any other "offending" ingredients.  The special that night was a sampler platter of mini house-made sausages.  While one did have apple in it, I thought it was a good option.  I passed on the beer and gave some of my bread to my daughter.  Not too bad.  So ends the first meal.

Now for breakfast.  I had originally planned to make a smoothie at home and bring it since I knew the hotel had a fridge but time got away from me and I didn't get it done.  No problem, we can figure this out.  Of course the reason we were there was for a car appointment on Saturday and we had to be there by 8:30am.  Due to an overwhelming consensus (that of a 12 year old) we planned on having breakfast after we dropped off the car allowing everyone to sleep in.

Surely we could find some great place serving local, hand-raised eggs with "fresh from the yard" veggies and grass-fed meat.  It's Portland, right?!?!  Well, not so much.  We asked at the dealer for some near-by recommendations and didn't come up with quite what we were looking for so we ended up at Starbucks.  Now for anyone who knows me, Starbucks is up there on my "favorite" places list.  I'm pretty familiar with the menu and what's good to eat but this new eating program posed a few challenges.  Let's see, all the breakfast items have gluten, the fruit is still off the list, no to the yogurt as it has sugar or honey, hmmm, what to do?  I went ahead and ordered the egg-white, spinach feta wrap with a fork.  You know, when you open those things up to just eat the insides, there really isn't much to it.  Back in line for some salted almonds.  That wraps up meal two.  Nuts, there's still three more to go!

Lunch...hmmm.  So we're at IKEA and there are plenty of places to eat...depending on what you're eating.  There's IKEA (if you have a hankering for some Swedish meatballs), IHOP (uh, ewe!), some burger place, Panda Express, a pizza joint, Red Robin and that Buffalo Wings place.  Oh wait!  There's another Starbucks.  Like I said, I'm familiar with their menu so in we went.  This time I had to make a decision about getting in a good meal.  The last time I was in Portland I was watching my gluten so I had their protein meal which has a hard-boiled egg, some peanut butter with honey, cheese, grapes, apple slices and a muesli roll.  I assessed that meal again and decided really, outside of the peanut butter, it was all "whole" foods and I was going to go with that for lunch.  I passed the roll to my daughter and devoured the rest of the meal.  Let me tell you, those were the best tasting grapes, EV-AH!  After being without fruit for 40+ days, you realize just how sweet they taste.  Wow, made it through lunch.

Now dinner.  We had this one in the bag.  We were going to Jake's Grill.  I knew I could have something that moo'ed or swam there and I could make any side dishes work either by passing on them or substituting them for vegetables.  Leave early for dinner, take the Tri-Met to the Pearl District (not without some train excitement along the way), short walk and we're there!  Ah, not so fast.

"Reservations sir?"
"No....is that a problem?"
"Well, tonight is prom and graduation celebrations, we won't have anything available until 8:00pm"

8:00pm?!?!?  That's two hours from now.  It's early, we should be able to find something so off we go. Stop at one restaurant, packed.  Over an hour wait.  Menu not appealing enough to stay.  Moving on.  Let's try another brewery.  Walk two more blocks this way another few this direction.  Okay, they have room but let's take a look at the menu first.  Gluten heaven!  Pizza, burgers, pasta, oh my!  Keep going. Stop at an Italian restaurant that's "empty."  They have some nice entrees without pasta so I can make this work.  Once again...

"Reservations?"
"No..."
"Sorry."

Ugh!  Who thought finding food in Portland would be so hard?  Should have had my pedometer on as I know I'm nearing 20,000 steps!  Well, maybe not but it sure feels like it.  The "little one" in the crowd is whining, "Let's just go back to Deschutes."  Nope, we press on.  We are getting close to where we started (now an hour later) and we come across Henry's.  In big letters on their awning it says "steak - seafood."  Let's check in here because I know I can eat one of those.  Last time we were here it was over an hour wait so we aren't holding our breath for any miracles based on our current luck.  Believe it or not, it's a 30 minute wait.  We can handle this.  Pop in to Whole Foods across the way to get the "little one," our mouse, some cheese to hold her over.  Get back to Henry's to wait it out and they have a table ready.  Sweet!  Find a great burger on their features menu and inquire about a salad they have.  The waitress suggests we have the burger and substitute the salad for the fries.  Great gal!  Okay, no bun, sub the fries and it's dinner-time!  Thus ends Day 1 - 3 meals.  WHEW!

Since we completed all our tasks, we figure we can have breakfast and hit the road.  We have nuts to snack on until we get home and can have lunch.  This morning we have a plan.  It's back to Starbucks.  (I know, I know but it's in walking distance to the hotel and has options for everyone.)  This time it's easy-peasy for me.  I get the protein meal again and savor my fruit!  I know when I get back home I'll go without again so I'm going to eat it and enjoy it.

While I walked into this trip having a plan, we all know plans can be foiled.  I felt good about the decisions I made along the way with the options I had in front of me.  I never "fell off the wagon" as I stuck with whole foods and didn't fall into the processed-crap trap.  And as I have come to realize, I'm eating this way for my health, as a life-style change.  I never used the four-letter word (D-I-E-T) as I know that's not what I'm doing.  I'm eating for my health...are you?

Ciao!

Ups and Downs

Photo courtesy of Photoexpress.com

The last couple of weeks have had their share of ups and downs.  Spring Fest was a challenge and while I thought I made good choices (I'm sure I did considering my options) I gained weight.  It wasn't that bad and while I felt like it was a setback, overall for the week, I was down.  I guess that makes that "down" an "up."  Wow, that could totally turn into a "Who's on first?" conversation, couldn't it?

Another thing I learned is my body is VERY happy with the now gluten-free lifestyle. On Sunday we had lunch at our favorite place (yes, Jackson's Corner) and the chef slipped us a sample of his lemon-poppyseed bread pudding.  There I am thinking, "I'm doing great, I'm down, I'm allowing myself a bite."  So I did...  While I'm eating it I admit out loud, "I'm going to regret this later."  Actually, I had no idea how much I would regret it!  This is where we get into the "bloggers TMI."  My body revolted!  Big time!  Not just to me, but to everyone around.  Until I went to sleep that night, everyone around me could hear my digestive system cursing me out.  You can only image with this attitude, it wasn't being very friendly in "le toilet" either.  Lesson learned, I no longer can consume gluten.

Weekends still give me a challenge.  It's hard to go and make great choices when you're not always sure what's in what you're eating.  Two weeks ago I had a greek-style salad at a place I trust for quality ingredients.  Good choice, right?  I thought so but my scale didn't agree.  Remember how I said I weigh myself often?  Try every morning. I think it was a bit on the salty side which means my weight gain was more than likely just water.  That doesn't always make me feel better about it.  We only go out for lunch on the weekends and cook at home the rest of the time so I guess a meal or two here and there isn't too bad.  As long as I keep it all in perspective, right?

Eating out has definitely been a challenge.  I don't want to feel like I can't do things with my friends and family because now I'm eating differently for my health.  Last Friday we were "visiting" a bit too long with friends and missed the "cooking" window for our planned meal.  It was frustrating trying to find something for dinner that wasn't "meat over lettuce."  That's what I had for lunch most of the week and the last thing I really wanted for dinner was what I had for lunch.  To prepare, we checked out some menus for local restaurants in our area.  I actually found one with a specific gluten-free menu. That took some of the pressure off knowing we could go there and I would find something to eat that would not upset my system.  Dinner was great and it was nice to find what I needed.

What I am finding is I have to watch out for me.  Not to be selfish but to be here for my family.  They have been flexible and supportive and I'm sure our meals help them out too.  Our daughter is even going gluten free to see if it helps with some skin issues she's been having.  This may make some of our events more challenging but with a little preparation, I can find success!

Cheers to another Sugar Control week!

PS:  I've set up a "menus" tab where I list the menus each week (it seemed to get a bit lengthy in a post).  If any of you are interested, I can also start posting menus for those meals.

Okay, now what?

Okay, so now I know what NOT to eat, but what DO I eat?  It's time to make a plan.  Sunday is shopping day here so on Saturday we sat down with the ol' cookbooks to see what we could make that would work with my now limited, food options.

This week was more than just planning dinners.  I was now out of my regular "smoothie" breakfast routine as well as my "green juice" lunches.  This was going to take some time.  After reviewing my calendar, I knew I was going to have to plan some breakfasts that would be quick and easy.  I started with a couple days of hard boiled eggs, one day of my "old" smoothie recipe and then a couple days of fried eggs.  Now my family knows how much I "love" eggs so this is already off to a rocky start.  I don't mind eggs here and there, and even better if I don't have to clean up after them, but for the next 5-6 days!  YIKES!  Okay, it gets even better.  Let's throw in a couple of days of egg salad over greens and for "meatless Monday" a frittata!  OH YEAH, I can feel the feathers popping out now!

We balanced lunch out with some leftover salmon on greens and then one day of tuna.  Not too bad however we found out it was going to work out best if we could prepare some of our ingredients the night before.  For snacks I was focused on celery sticks with almond butter and cheese with some nuts.  Not too bad for week one.

Dinner for the week kicked off with a salmon dinner.  Now, we are not well versed in cooking fish which was one of the reasons this "meal plan" was feeling a bit challenging.  The side dishes were great and turned out on time only to find out the salmon wasn't really cooked yet.  Of course!  That's why we try these kinds of meals out on the weekend!  Not wanting the rest of the meal to go bad we went ahead and started with our broccoli and mushroom side dishes while our salmon finished cooking.  Off to a great start.  The rest of the week was mostly a blur of chicken dinners and a taco salad.  Really?  More poultry?

I'm quite the "scale" watcher so of course I continued to weigh myself daily.  I know this isn't a good practice however, at some point in time, I felt that weighing myself daily would keep me from going off the deep end.  I don't think that's been decided yet.  I also decided to journal my meals.  You know how easy it is to "remember" just how well we ate, right?  I think that's call selective memory, or something like that.

While there were some ups and downs, I ended the first week down 3.2 pounds!  There were some changes getting used to having eggs each morning but overall, it was a good week.  I didn't feel crazy that I was missing out on anything.  My biggest mountain to climb was Spring Fest.  I know this isn't the last event of its kind (they are just starting here now that the weather is improving) but I know I'm going to have to learn how to navigate around the food vendors and eat what I need to for my health.

Cheers, and ciao, to week one!

Greetings and Welcome to Sugar Me Green!

While eating dinner last night and discussing my latest adventure to good health (and in my case, weight loss) my husband suggested that I blog about my journey.  My reply, "Yeah right, because anyone else wants to hear my struggles!"  Well, here I am.  And you want to know why?  Because I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Oftentimes I think I'm all alone in what I'm experiencing but then you strike up a conversation with someone (a friend, stranger) and the next thing you know, they are feeling the same way!  At that point you realize you really aren't alone and it's great to have someone to share your ups and downs with.  

So, here I am, sharing my journey with you.  Let's start with a little back story.  I have struggled the last few years (is 12 a few?) with constant shifts in my weight, or more honestly  consistent weight gain.  In a quest for weight loss I have tried Weight Watchers, Livestrong, food diaries, the cabbage soup diet, the "drink two 'drinks' a day and eat a sensible dinner diet, the eat everything diet, the eat nothing diet (just kidding on that one) and everything in between (or at least it feels like it).

Since bringing my daughter into this world 12 years ago, we began walking the path of organic eating.  In the last several years, that has become more relevant as well as learning more about nutrition and the foods we eat.  In learning so much, my husband was constantly telling me "sugar" was my mountain to climb.  Well, tell a woman to give up sugar and you just better watch out!  Not sure who would want to live with me when that happens.  Did he really know what he was saying?  Did he really want to be part of that wrath?  Of course, I wasn't ready to do that, until now.

This January I experienced a panic attack and felt I needed to get my health together whether or not it was just in my head or in my body.  After having a wide array of blood tests, the naturopath I met with had some concerns with my iodine levels.  This seems to point to the thyroid but I don't have any of the "symptoms" that go along with it so we just focused on how to add more iodine rich food to my diet.  Okay, that's a good start but I was surprised that she didn't have much to say about my weight.  While I'm not extremely heavy, my BMI does register at "obese" so if nothing else, I have concerns about my weight.

Moving on...  So I'm having this discussion with my massage therapist and she tells me she's studying Ayurveda nutrition.  She tells me that our gut is strongly connected with our brain so my feelings of panic or worry could actually be connected to my digestive system.  Hmmm, haven't heard that one before.  In the meantime I met an acupuncturist who, just from looking at my tongue and answering a few questions, said I have "chi spleen" and should look into healing my digestive system.  Okay, now that's two different people discussing my inner workings saying they really aren't working.  After filling out a food diary and answering several pages of questions I meet back up with my massage therapist.  She recommends the (wait for it...) Sugar Control Diet to help reset my system.  Of course she did!  And yes, I did come home and tell my husband he was right.  Doesn't happen often so I thought I'd go ahead and let him bask in the glory of it.  Yeah, so now I'm ready to do this.  I'm three months into the year and have seen my weight continue to climb.  It's time.

Now, to the real point of this blog.  To walk alongside me as I venture into the unknown of a new world without sugar.  Well, I'm told after the first two weeks (heaven help us all!) we'll see where to go from there as far as what I can start adding back.  Oh, I failed to mention what I am allowed to eat...meat, eggs, soaked/roasted nuts, and vegetables (NO carrots, potatoes, peas, corn or beets).  The NO list is fun...sugar, honey, maple syrup, (basically any sweetener of any kind), beans, grains (ALL), dairy (except I can have cheese) and fruit.  Yeah, who wants to live with me now???

Okay, so now you know the story.  If you're interested in sticking around...I'll be taking you with me on how it's going so far.

Ciao!

Heidi aka Green Girl