As some of you know, the week 3 challenge for Amy's 15 Week Challenge was to have a whole day eating only real foods, (aka 'clean' foods). I crapped out on the last couple of challenges so I was determined to do this one.
Unfortunately, it meant rethinking my whole day, because most of my meals involve SOME processed foods.
My normal menu:
Breakfast is a vanilla Activia yogurt, with 1/3 cup of light granola and 1/3 cup all-bran 'buds', plus about a cup of berries.
Lunch is soup (I buy Pacific Foods in a tetrapak -- it's organic and has no preservatives, but it's still processed), along with a few crackers and a couple wedges of Laughing Cow cheese.
Dinner changes a bit more, but usually involves at least a pita or a tortilla.
Of course, I also have two coffees during the day, with milk and splenda, and often in the evening I have a beer or a glass of wine.
So lots of things changed today! Below are the pictures. (Sorry, Fatinah! :) )
I decided to start with a Green Monster! I used a cup of soy milk, 1/2 a frozen banana, a peach, and a few blackberries. And of course, several large handfuls of spinach!
Not sure why this picture is so crooked, I think I was half-asleep still! :) Anyway, sadly, this smoothie turned into more of a GREY monster, as evidenced below.
Still, I bravely poured it into my thermos and got ready to hit the road. The thing about eating this way meant I had to do a lot more preparation. Like, seriously, I never bring this much stuff to work!
Aw, good kitty, thanks for packing my lunch!
Anyway, my smoothie actually didn't fill me up too much, so around 10am, I had this hard-boiled egg.
Lunch was one of my faves: Lentils! These are so easy! I just put measured one cup (straight out of the can, after draining and rinsing them), mixed with lemon juice, ground pepper, garlic, and a dash of red pepper flakes, then microwaved it for 2 minutes or so and topped with goat cheese. On the side I had a ton of raw veggies, which I munched on all afternoon.
Around 3 I was desperate for a coffee, so I distracted myself with this 1/4 cup of blueberries, and a grapefruit.
Unfortunately, they did not keep me awake and this afternoon, I'm embarrassed to admit: I FELL ASLEEP AT MY DESK. Amy, my boss would like to have a word with you! Just kidding. :) Actually, no one saw me and it was just for a minute or two, but sheesh!
And after bootcamp, I made this recipe from Cooking Light: Grilled Chicken Salad with Peaches, Pecans and Goat Cheese. It was super delish! You might want to click on the link to see a prettier picture of it, but here's what mine looked like:
They recommend using a store-bought rotisserie chicken to save time, but I just did up a breast on my counter-top grill. Tasted great to me!
So that was my 'real foods' day! It was pretty good although I found breakfast hard. I don't know if this is physical or mental, but I never really feel satisfied without some grains. But it nothing else, this challenge pointed out that most of the grains I currently eat are processed: granola, crackers, pitas, etc. So I think I'm going to make more effort to get better ones in: brown rice, whole wheat pasta -- and maybe even crack open that bag of quinoa that's been sitting in cupboard intimidating me for the last two months!
Also, I gotta say: I truly have no interest in giving up coffee. I am almost EXCITED to get up and go to work tomorrow just for that stop at Tim Horton's. AW YEAH.
