Airplane Food

My other blog is about m y traveling and moving to the UK but this one is about diet and stuff so I thought I'd go into detail about my meal. I was on British Airways from Chicago to London. I am lactose intollerant and my family has been trying a vegan diet. My mom found it because my dad's friend had luck with it. We are very big meat eaters but my mom wanted to try the vegan diet out. I do a lot better when I don't have milk product so I was ok...but I would sneak out for a hamburger once in a while.

On the flight I requested a vegan meal. Everyone should do that specifically because you get your food first so then you can get on with your movie or nap. The regular food was a cheesy chicken paska thing with cheese cake and a side salad. I had a WAY fancy salad with gross arugula and crap but my meal was better. I had a fruit cup with watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, and pineapple. It tasted great and I think my stomach liked it better than cheesecake. Instead of chicken pasta mash I had an eggplant tomato broccoli thing. I usually don't like eggplant but the airplane either cooked it better than I did or overcooked it, but it was great. Surprise surprise an airplane meal is making me rethink eggplant!

UM hello I'm still here.
I've gained a lot of weight :( but I've moved and changed my life. I'm going to start school in Scotland in a few weeks!!! I'm getting on an airplane Wednesday!!! I can hardly contain my nervousness and excitement. I've started a blog about my move and travels check it out at ericasansamerica.blogspot.com

For the past 2 years I've been working on my career. (That sounds like I knew what I was doing, but I don't know how else to describe it) I really liked the idea of my job but I did not like working for my crazy boss. I decided I'd return to school for a masters. I know what I want to do but I knew I needed to get out of my current situation. Almost on a dare I started looking at schools in the UK. I found a great one in Scotland and everything worked out. I just couldn't say no! In June I moved back to my parents house for the summer. Currently my weight is 298lbs! I'm excited to move to a larger city so I can walk and hike more and try different cuisines.

My mom had a new "fad" diet she wanted to try so we've been doing it for this summer. The book is Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. It's a plant based diet; vegan but also no oils or nuts! For me it's a fad; I cannot do this long term. My father and I are both lactose intolerant so cutting out dairy has made us both feel better...but going without meat is very hard. I often sneak out of the house for a turkey sandwich or hamburger (shhhh).  I have eaten a lot less meat then I know I would've and it also makes us eat really fresh food which is better than hamburger helper or fast food.

I really should've been posting about the different recipes I've tried but I didn't think about it until tonight. I got some recipes off the internet and got so many compliments I didn't want to lose it. So I will post it here!

Quick and Easy Baked Beans

Ingredients:

• 3 cups navy beans or pinto beans, pre-cooked or from a can
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 cup tomato paste
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large casserole or baking dish, stir together all ingredients, mixing well to combine.

Cover and bake for one hour. If baked beans are too saucy, bake uncovered for another 15 minutes.

(I used ketchup instead of paste and ended up baking for 1.5hrs but it does thicken after you take it out of the oven)

The other recipe is not quite awesome. The sauce taste fine but it doesn't have the rich hearty squash taste. Any advice is welcome! 

Vegan Rigatoni with Butternut Squash. 

Ingredients

(Serves 4) 

1 head garlic, topped trimmed, drizzled with olive oil

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 cups veggie broth

1 package whole-wheat rigatoni

2 cups kale, chopped

1 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

1/4 cup almond milk

1 pinch cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

1/4 cup fresh sage, chopped

Preparation

Wrap garlic in aluminum foil and roast at 325°F degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large pot cover the squash with the broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until squash is very tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. 

Once tender, purée the squash, veggie broth and roasted garlic until smooth. Stir in the nutritional yeast, almond milk, cayenne pepper and salt to taste. Season a pot of boiling water with salt and add the rigatoni. When it is nearly cooked to al dente, add the kale into the pot so it wilts and tenderizes. Cook for the last couple of minutes and strain pasta and kale. 

Finally, toss the rigatoni and kale with the sauce and garnish with fresh sage.

Start and Scared

For lent I have given up dairy. I don't really drink milk since the doctor told me I was probably lactose intolerant. I still managed to eat a lot of cheese...and ice cream....and chocolate. So I'm giving it up. Since I'm intolerant hopefully it will help with my sinus infections (I heard there was a link between mucus and milk)  and my weight. Cheese is one of those sneaky calories. It tastes so simple and creamy and good but it's not.

I've started Isagenix which is a protein shake program. If (when) I stick to it I only have to deal with one non cheesy meal a day.

So on another note. Sometimes I realize I have irrational fears. Like being hit by a bicyclist while walking.  started thinking about going kayaking in Puget sound with whales. Just thinking about it gives me anxiety  Being so small next to something so HUGE. and the possibility of falling in the water and getting swept out to the middle of the ocean and then eaten by an orca. There's my most recent irrational fear.

Day Three-ish

The best intentions don't stop me walking to the fridge. Especially after going grocery shopping. I love food (obviously) and get excited about the new foods I buy. So I went grocery shopping on Monday and got pesto, and bruschetta, and hummus, peanut butter, and sprout bread. When I get home I want a sandwich with pesto and avocado, peanut butter and jelly, and peppers and hummus. Everything taste so good but healthy food isn't healthy if you eat it all in one day.

I'm listening to Valerie Bertinelli's book Losing It. She talks about all these things going on in her life like getting a movie part or fighting with her ex-husband. But then she would go back to her date book or diary and it would just say "feel fat today" or "current weight...." She wondered how weight and body image can take a priority role in her life when there were emotional and relationship issues she needed to work out first.

This made me think about how unhappy I was last year at a bad job in a new place. Maybe I just comforted myself with food to avoid trying to confront my boss or try to get out of my comfort zone to meet people. Like I can blame the weight for me not meeting people instead of blaming myself. After a while I realized I did make friends and now I have a new job. So now I can focus on me. :)

Tomorrow my main goal is to work out. I will either hike with the hyper dog or go to the gym depending how annoyed with said dog I am. I also need to do homework. It's hard to be motivated to do work for a very uninteresting course. The subject is not so bad but somehow the discussion questions are weird which makes me avoid the work.

back again

so yet again it's been about 2 months since my last post. Can I say anything is really different? Well it's summer. My last day of teacher school was May 18th. Since then I've had job interview, visited my parents, and am currently house/office sitting for my cousin and aunt. The house sitting includes a ridiculously hyper dog. Unfortunately it's been too rainy to actually take her for walks and get myself some exercise. Today is beautiful and we are spending it outside :)

Currently my weight is 291 lbs. EGATS!!! that's like 100lbs more than my lowest weight recorded in my blog and that was about Jan 2011. It is also 160lbs greater than the internet says my ideal weight is. Instead of focusing on losing an entire person from my hips and stomach I'm going to focus on 10lbs. Dr. Oz (who's book I just got) says there are a lot of health benefits from just losing 10lbs. And breaking 160 into 10lb increments is just 16 steps, which seems much less daunting than the huge number all at once.

A big factor in my weight gain I know has been stress. I worked really hard as a math teacher and then wasn't asked to return. I totally put myself and my online classes on the back burner to focus on my job and for what? And what does one turn to in isolated NE Montana besides comfort food? When you feel like a failure what's the point of eating salad?

But that is over now. The boss that gave me hell resigned in a blaze of fury so I'm happy my students won't have to deal with her. I also just got a job at the local community college. I'm going to be helping remedial students so it won't actually be that different from teaching high school. I'm super excited and happy about this. 1) I get to stay in a community that needs me. 2) I don't have to move 3) I get a membership to the gym!!! Ok it's not like going to the gym was super expensive before but now I get it for free. Oh and 4) My day starts at 9am instead of 7:45 and my commute is 15 minutes shorter. All meaning I can sleep til 8am instead of 6:30. I find getting up at 8 much more reasonable than basically any moment before 8.

Like I said I recently bought Dr. Oz YOU! the owner's manual. Although I'm gunhoe about it I'm not keen on following the diet exactly. With good reason though. The initial 10 day diet is basically a taste of every single item he approves. So am I supposed to go to the grocery story and buy a ton of ingredients? Did I mention I'm not at home. I'll be at my cousins for 2 weeks. So I printed off the shopping list for the flat belly diet. I have the book and cookbook at home and I know it works. The main thing is the first week repeats foods while still being different and new. I know if I follow the shopping list I will have just enough food for the week I am staying at my cousins. And the point is to be better right? better is better and not limited to all or nothing diets.

It's real on video

As a new teacher I have to have myself videotaped and then analyze my style and see where to make improvements. Unfortunately I have to watch that. And WHOA a mirror is not the same thing as watching a video. Yes my weight went up, yes I need bigger clothes, yes exercise is a bit harder. I could see a bigger tummy in the mirror but when you look at something everyday you don't notice the minor changes. Holey mackeral if you want proof of weight gain or weight loss take a video. I also think I gain weight in my tummy so I get thicker not wider. When I look in the mirror I look ok but the profile is where the big change can be seen.

I logged my food for the first time in about a year. I also went to aerobics class. It was hard but I feel awesome. Tomorrow I plan to go to the gym and then put a check in the bank!

First New Weigh In

I used to weigh myself like everyday, but since I've gained weight I stopped checking. Yesterday I went to McDonald's and sat on the couch in preparation for a new regime. Unfortunately my weight was a lot higher than I thought it was. In Febuary I went to the doctor and my weight was like 275, today my weight was 282.2!!!!

Oh goodness my goal weight is 165, and now that seems like an impossible goal. I think I will concentrate on making small good choices each day. I have been going to the gym and doing some yoga at home. I need to concentrate on dinner and not munching all night long. It helps a lot when I do go to the gym simply because there less time for me to snack at home. Oh and I need to kick up my water consumption.