Hungry All Day

Yesterday was a hungry day, I woke up starving! I wonder if it has something to do with my eating less over the last few days? Anyway, I have bought some new cereal that I actually thought was muesli so on Monday night, I mixed it with some greek yogurt and let it sit overnight. Turns out cereal doesn’t make a good muesli unless you like soggy cereal. And since I didn’t eat it the way it was intended, I’m not going to reveal what it was until I have. I think it has awesome potential as a cold cereal.  But I digress.  I topped it with some blueberries and stirred in a little extra milk because it was very gloppy. Not my favorite breakfast, but it did the trick.

not quite muesli

When I got to work, everything was quiet and calm, a rarity around golf world. The Pro is on vacation so I had the first part of the morning to myself. No blacklisting, to computer crashing, nothing. I was able to really dive into my work without going at break neck speed. I had been feeling hungry most of them morning so I had a banana around 10ish. I know I said this before but I really am liking them as snacks! Too bad they are perfect ripeness everyday!

banana

Around 11, I went downstairs to have some staff lunch. It was chicken, barley and veggie soup with salad. I put some balsamic vinaigrette on the salad and made my way back up stairs. The soup was not all that great and I have to say, that isn’t the norm around here. There isn’t much I’ve had that hasn’t been awesome. The salad was good, it had lettuce, tomato, cukes, carrots, small cubes of cheddar cheese and two small slices of grilled chicken. I ate until I thought I wasn’t hungry anymore but I guess it wasn’t actually enough. Most of the afternoon my stomach had that empty gnawing feeling.

soup and salad

Finally, around 2:30, I decided to have another snack. And this snack, my friends, was the best! I had some greek yogurt with local blackberries and honey. Oh, it was so good. I hadn’t put honey on my greek yogurt in a long time and I think I had forgotten how delicious it is.

yum

After my snack, I finished up the days work and headed home. Once home, I made some polenta stuffed peppers along with a green salad. I once again ate until I thought I wasn’t hungry anymore but the rest of the evening I still felt hungry. I guess I ate too little in fear of eating too much. I know I will get the hang of it, I just need to tune in further to my bodies signals.

polenta stuffed peppers

Dear husband and I had planned to do some yoga last night but we ended up not doing any. We are in the middle of having new siding put on our house and the banging and sawing is really loud. We thought they would leave in time to get it in but they didn’t leave until 8:30! I can’t tell you how ready for this portion of the fun to be over. About they time they were leaving, I decided that I really was still hungry and had a small bowl of chocolate hazelnut biscotti cereal with some milk. This stuff is the best cereal on earth, it is my favorite dessert. It rounded out my “hungry all day” day nicely and afterwards, I was off to bed.

dessert!

Fun Food Day

Yesterday was a really good day.I had decided after a long week on wanting to diet that I need to really just start keeping my portions in check. To accomplish this, I decided that I would try eating until “not hungry” instead of to “full”. I was a little nervous about the results but here is how it went.

I woke up early and ate breakfast almost right away. I had made some muelsi the night before with Bob’s Red Mill Muesli, a very ripe nectarine and some greek yogurt. When I was ready to eat it, I added some ground flax seed, a little milk to thin it out and topped it with some local strawberry jam. Oh, it was oh so good, I think muesli may be one of my new favorite summertime breakfasts! I ate really really slow, something that is REALLY new to me. About two thirds of they way threw, I decided I wasn’t hungry anymore and I stopped eating.

muesli

About 30 minutes later, my stomach was growling again so I drank a big glass of water to see if it was just thirst. Ten minutes later, it was growling again. Ok, so my experiment wasn’t going as well as I had planned. I needed to have a little something more. The muesli wasn’t an option as Georgy, one of our cats, had had a few bites. So, I put about a teaspoon of almond butter on a slice of whole wheat bread and had that. That seemed to do the trick, at least for a while.

breakfast number two

After my two breakfasts, we headed out to Ukrops to do some grocery shopping. It has a starbucks inside so, of course, we got some lattes. Today, I had another tall vanilla latte, I seem to be addicted to those things lately! There is something so perfectly delicious about them.

I can't get enough of these

We took our time and loaded our cart with all sorts of goodness. We bought some local peaches, tomatoes, blackberries and green peppers. That is one of the reasons why I like Ukrops, they always have local food available. We took the groceries home and discovered that our little Georgy likes a little local tomato with his muesli. He had noshed on a good portion of this poor tomato! Into the compost pile it went 😦

yes, the cat did that

After we put the groceries away we decidedto head out to lunch. We went to another on of our favorite places, the Central Park Deli. They are New York deli right in our backyard. The food is ALWAYS good and every time I go, I have a hard time deciding what to get. One of my favorite things about the place is that they bring the most fabulous dill pickles to the table as soon as you sit down. I have a hard time not eating the whole bowl! I also have a hard time deciding what to get. Yesterday, I debated between the veggie sub or the chicken cordon blue. I ended up picking the cordon blue on wheat along with an order of steak fries for the dear husband and I to share. As expected, it was fantastic. I had maybe two thirds of the sandwich and a few of the fries. Which is less than what I would have eaten in the past. I left feeling satisfied from the meal but not heavy and bloated. I think I ate just the right amount.

the best pickles on earth

steak fries

doesn't that look good?

After lunch, we headed out jean shopping. As every woman knows, this is a task that could drive anyone over the edge. Luckily, at the fourth store, I endedup with two pairs that I like and that fit very well. Once I had the jeans, we hurried home to get ready for my friend Beth’s birthday party. I couldn’t wait because I knew there would be tons of good food there.  It was a pot luck and that always means plentiful and interesing eats.

When we arrived, I started with a small glass of wine called Jerimiah from Rockbridge, a winery in the mountains of VA. This particular wine brings back tons of memories for Beth and I so I thought it would be fun to bring it along. After the first glass and some catching up with so many people that I hadn’t seen in years, I had another small glass. In total, I probably had about 5 ounces of wine. Since I don’t drink much anymore, this had me a little tispy and I was ready for some food. All of the food looked so yummy but I knew that I didn’t want to over do it. I filled my plate with just the things that I really wanted and didn’t heap on the portions. I had a hot dog with ketchup and mustard, some baked beans, a deviled egg, a litle fruit and mint salad, and a good size portion of the salad I brought along. It had mixed greens, dried cranberries, walnuts, crumbled goat cheese and some maple balsamic vinaigrette by Maple Farms of Vermont.

potlucks are the best

All of the food was awesome and I ate very slowly, pausing between bites and putting my fork down. I realized I was “not hungry” anymore after about two thirds of my plate. This was seeming to be a trend. I am sure had I finished the plate, I would have been full. I was proud of myself, I made it through a party without stuffing myself silly. About an hour or so later, Beth’s dad told me that I had to try the cheese dip and since I am a cheese lover, I knew he was right. I smeared a little of the dip on a piece of crostini and ate half and handed the other half to dear husband. Sorry for the lack of picture, it was kind of a spontaneous thing. The dip was awesome but I did the right thing and didn’t continue eating it because I wasn’t hungry.

After some hanging out and catching up with old friends, it was time for birthday cake. But this cake wasn’t just any ole birthday cake, it was a 7-up cake turned fabulous berry cake. I had never had 7-up cake but everyone was telling me how awesome it was. The cake was very dense pound cake with berries and whipped cream. Dear husband and I shared a slice and it was so good. The outside edges of the cake had this crsipy caramalizedcrust on it that I think I could have eaten all day long.  Oh, my and the way it melded with the berries and whipped cream was divine. But keeping true to my new form, I did not stuff myself. I had a few nice bites and stopped.

heaven on earth

Shortly after cake, we said our goodbyes and headed home. It had been a long day and we were both exhausted. Once home, the dear husband did some man things around the house and I read for a bit.  It had been an awesome day and I was ready for a good nights sleep.

Diet Thoughts

One of the things I have been avoiding writing about recently is probably the one thing that I should be writing about the most.  For the last week I have been ravaged with thoughts of starting a diet. I have gained a couple pounds over the top of my “comfortable fat” weight. I woke up yesterday with these thoughts stronger than ever. I toiled over ways to cut calories without dieting. I racked my brain for ways to explain to my readers that I was going to start a diet. And I eventually moments before eating, I decided that if I wanted to start a diet, I didn’t have to do it right then. I proceeded with breakfast as usual. I had muesli that I had made the night before with Bob’s Red Mill Old Country Style Muesli, greek yogurt and a splash of milk. I topped it with a banana and a little honey.  It was really tasty and satisfying.

muesli

Work was much calmer than it had been and I was able to work at a nice pace without panic of not getting it all done. Before I knew it, I looked at the clock and realized that I was about to miss the staff lunch. I knew it was salad bar day and I had two choices, run downstairs RIGHT THEN or wait 10 minutes and have to PAY for lunch. OK, clearly I chose the less expensive option. I ran downstairs and found the picking to be slim, there was just enough left for me. I filled my plate with lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cukes, grilled chicken, a little egg salad and a little chicken salad. I asked the chef intern for a slice of wheat bread and some of that delicious ponzu dressing and I was on my way. A hearty and filling lunch.

salad bar day

Shortly after lunch, I had about 4 sips of my homemade latte but I had been having some fluttering in my chest all day and that seemed to make it worse so I didn’t finish it.  ***Edited to add: The fluttering in my chest is related to an ear infection, I believe. Not heart related at all, the fluttering was in the upper part of my chest near my throat. End of edit*** G came upstairs around 2 and wanted to break chocolate and today, I was in the mood for it. I had a little less than half of a frozen snickers bar and it was really good. It had been years since I had one!

kers

The afternoon flew by and it was time to go home in what felt like minutes. Once home, I heated up some beef and bulgur casserole and steamed some asparagus. I topped the asparagus with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic and salt and pepper. It was a fantastic meal, it was comforting and delicious.

comfort food

After dinner, we just kind of hung around and watched some television. I went to bed early because I knew a long day was ahead of me at work. At least it would be Friday.