A Few Words From The Wife

When Frank suggested starting this blog I have to say that I wasn't 100% on board.  I have tried blogging about my diets before in the hopes of providing myself with some kind of accountability and after a while they have all petered out.  I have tried Weight Watchers (at least 20 times), counting calories, the Atkins plan, reducing carbs, reducing fat and Intuitive Eating as well as many other plans.  I have become an expert label reader and can tell you the Weight Watchers points in just about anything you choose to put in your mouth.  Frank and I have tried doing Weight Watchers together a couple of times and eventually the initial  interest and enthusiasm would wear off and we would lose our initiative.  What would be different this time?

Well, after embarking on this plan together I am gaining confidence daily that this eating style is one that we can live with for the rest of our lives.  We are concentrating on improving our nutrition together and that has made a big difference.  In the past one or the other of us would get unhappy about the way we looked and make a grand plan to improve while the other halfheartedly agreed to try it out.  The problem with that was a matter of real support.  After a few days one of us would start craving chocolate or ice cream or chips and mention it to the other person.  The less enthusiastic person would cave almost immediately and the plan would be over until the next time.  Now there are no good foods or bad foods.  The only thing we agreed to do was give our taste buds a decent amount of time to adjust to eating real food before we gave ourselves a "treat".  We have been concentrating on trying to cut the excess fat and processed ingredients from our food without sacrificing flavor.  Shopping at our local Farmers Market and taking advantage of having access to the the freshest ingredients possible has really helped us to appreciate what we have been missing all along.  Real food and real flavors.  Since no food is particularly off limits, just yesterday I decided to doctor my water with a sugar free flavoring.  Although it was sugar free, it was still so sweet that it was actually bitter and the fake flavoring left a nasty aftertaste.  This is a product that I have really enjoyed using in the past and thought was really tasty, a great improvement on plain 'ol water!  After thinking about it, I realized that what I was accustomed to using in my water was loaded with chemicals and was actually pretty disgusting.  Lets have a eulogy for Mio sugar free water flavoring, it was nice to know ya Mio.  Next I predict a death knell for my oldest and most beloved nemesis - Diet Coke!

It's been about 9 days since Frank and I embarked on our new lifestyle and so far things have been going great!  Tonight while we were eating dinner Frank remarked that we had gone 4 days now without eating meat - victory! Frank said that it was the longest he had ever gone without eating meat since he was in his twenties and he was feeling really righteous, I'm so proud of him!

So far we are really keeping good on our promise to change our eating habits.  Tonight Frank prepared an Indian meal that was delicious.  After perusing our new favorite websites (Budget Bytes and Whole Living) he decided on Coconut Lentils and Spiced Tofu with Wilted Spinach.  Now, I have to be honest here, I wasn't too enthusiastic about the spinach.  I love Indian food but I have never been tempted to try the creamed spinach and cheese dish called Palak Paneer.  Palak Paneer looks like baby-food and I have never been a fan of creamed spinach in the first place.  It's a texture thing.  Also, let's have a little chat about tofu.  I don't mind it too much and will eat it when it's prepared with a lot of spices OR deep-fried to minimize the tofuness.  When something has been fried to golden brown crispy deliciousness what's not to like? I could eat a deep-fried shoe and be happy, but otherwise ... no tofu.  When Frank described the recipe to me he was really excited about it and wanted to try it out.  I figured that I would choke down a small  amount of the baby-food spinach to be nice and double up on the lentils.  I slopped some on my plate and berated myself for giving myself a large serving on accident.  Boo!  Well, when I sat down at the table and took a miserly little bite ... holy crud and slap me sideways, it was delicious!  The spinach wasn't overcooked and still had a little crunch, the yogurt gave it a nice tanginess and the onions, spices and garlic really made that dish sing.  The tofu just hung out in the background and added a nice chewy texture.  Call me a creamed spinach convert, as long as Frank prepares it it's not half bad!  As for the lentils, they added a nice salty balance to the meal when eaten with the tangy spinach.  The flavor from the coconut milk was very subtle and was just right.  Frank served the lentils over a hard-boiled egg like his Mama used to do back in the day and it added a nice extra bit of flavor.  All in all, it was a great meal and after several days of sticking to our goals I am confident that our new lifestyle will soon become old hat!