Continuing……….

Teresa served me dinner – doesn’t that have a nice ring to it— homemade pea soup – delicious, and steamed swiss chard and butternut squash. It was okay – not my favorite though. I am so full right now . There was a lot of food today!!

I managed last week to eat out in a restaurant twice and do well. One night – I think I have already written about it- Italian – Teresa and I had Italian spinach and a side salad – and NO alcohol. We brought our own kombucha! Then the next night I was out with some work friends to a Mexican place. A lot more difficult to find something to eat but they did have a Mexican salad – I just asked that they hold the tortilla strips and the cheese. Again, it was plenty to eat. And again, I drank kombucha. The kombucha has a slight vinegary taste – google it to find out exactly what it is. They have it in flavors also althought I have onlly had the plain.

So this weekend will be another little challenge as I am going with friends to Savannah TN to my friend’s house on the Tennessee river. Eating will be a challenge – and not drinking will be a challenge. There is a wonderful restaurant and bar that makes the greatest martinis!! Yikes!

So all in all – things are going well. I have lost about 12 pounds. This is a good thing since I put on about 9 lbs this summer!!!! So I figure I’m about 3 lbs up. Guess I have to hang on to the fact that every pound counts. Have been walking every day except Sunday. And Saturdays I go to yoga too. So am keeping up with my exercise.

Week 5 – Day 3

Even I am having a hard time believing we are in week 5. Haven’t blogged in a while – no real reason – maybe lazy????

We finished 3 weeks and decided to keep on going. Last week was a little difficult since we started with week 1 – and it is pretty basic with only vegies. So now that we are in week 2 – the menus improve immensely. Today’s lunch was delicious: Asian slaw, steamed olive oil spinach with salt and pepper, and potato salad (yukon potato, leeks, olive oil, salt and pepper). You can’t imagine how tasty that is. And we even had dessert – a cut up pear with a wee bit of maple syrup. I swear – it was so yummy!

Teresa continues to cook like a mad woman. It seems she is ALWAYS in the kitchen. I learned a little of how she feels this past weekend. Teresa went to her sister’s for the weekend so I fended for myself in the kitchen. What a damn nightmar!!! On Friday I went to 4 – yes 4 stores to get stuff we needed. Costco, Kroger, vegetable market and Whole Foods. And then it felt like I was in the kitchen all weekend long. I would no more get done with breakfast – then a hour or so later it was time to start lunch. And the same for dinner. And then there was the broth we drink twice a day to be made. There is tons of chopping for that. Let me just say that when Teresa got home on Sunday night – I jumped up and hugged her!!! I was so glad to see her!!

Okay – have to sign off for a little bit – my evening soup – pea soup has just been served to me!

Our snack today!! 6 cashews!!! Really????

cashew-snack.jpg

Day 20 and 21!!

I can’t believe we made it!! Day 21 is today. We celebrated tonight by going to a small Vietnamese restaurant to have rice noodle soup with shrimp and chicken. Delicious! What a treat! The first time we have eaten out since we started.

As you can see from the photo – we are going to keep it up for a few more weeks. So Teresa and I stopped at the International Market and stocked up on all sorts of vegies – especially greens, to get ready for next week. We have decided to start the whole thing again – which means starting with week one and all the steamed vegies – that is basically all we eat – and some steel cut oats in the morning with an apple. Week one is pretty grim but now we have experienced all the great recipes and food from week 2 and 3, there is some incentive there.

And had to take a photo of the kohlrabi (is that the correct spelling? – Well you know what I mean). It is so green and fresh!

Still no alcohol. I almost folded tonight at the restaurant. A really cold vietnamese beer would have been so very lovely. I was weakening, but Teresa said she wasn’t going to have any. So I didn’t either.

Today for lunch we had a lovely pecan crusted catfish. It was really delicious. And we had a lovely slaw made from cabbage and pineapple. I know it sounds not so good, but it was quite yummy.

My energy level is still soaring. Today I walked my two miles on the treadmill at the condo clubhouse, and then went to yoga for an hour. It was quite a workout. It felt great though so I am not complaining.

The week ahead will be interesting because on Wednesday night Teresa and I will be meeting our high school friends for dinner. So we will have the challenge of eating out – staying the course – and not having any alcohol. Then Thursday night I am going out with my girlfriends at work. We always go somewhere nice where we can get good martinis and drinks. So will have to decide whether to drink or not drink – and if not – what to drink. Am I too old to ask for a Shirley Temple in a martini glass? And goodness knows what I am going to eat. Wenesday night’s dinner will be easy – we are going to an Italian place so I can eat Italian spinach and a salad.

I am glad to be going on…… I love having a personal chef! It has been so easy for me. And Teresa assures me she is loving every minute of it – well – probably not the 5 a.m. wake up on workdays……..but the rest of it she is very pleased with. Also, we have both lost about 8-9 pounds, so it would be nice to drop a few more pounds.

So tomorrow – we start again. Will keep you posted!

Beautiful Kohlrabi

The Refrigerator!

Getting ready for week 4.

The Refrigerator!

Day 18!!

Where do the days go???? It seems like just yesterday I was blogging – but then maybe not. It’s been days. Everything continues to go well. The menus have really improved – we have eaten some absolutely delicious meals. One of them today – the soup today is shown in the photo! I could eat this stuff every day. And Teresa made a beautiful salad with all sorts of lovely vegies.

I am going to start making my own salad dressing. This is so yummy and especially simple. 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, 1 clove of garlic, salt and pepper. Let this sit a while, and it is so good. I could eat it on everything. Try it!

The other day we had potato salad!! Yes – potato salad. So simple – and so good. Use Yukon gold potatoes and leeks. The dressing is the same as above just without the garlic. Soooooo good.

Quite a few people at work are fascinated by what I am doing. Mostly, I have to admit, they are jealous of the personal chef! The main question I get is, “Where do you get your protein?” And you might be asking the same thing. Well, we get it from cheese, yogurt, beans, quinoa, nuts, fish (later this week), broccoli, eggs, and even rice. There is plenty of protein in all sorts of different foods besides meat and chicken. It is interesting that I have had no meat at all and my energy level is soaring!

Okay, my dinner has just been served to me – I will add a photo after I finish this. Pizza – made with spelt bread, goat cheese with basil and salt and pepper, and calamara olives! Delicious! With fresh steamed broccoli. Gotta eat!!!

Delicious soup!