Author Archives: edwinandlisa

Thirty Days of No Sugar: Days 5-12

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It is day number 12 and I am still on track for keeping my goal of avoiding sugars for this month.  Days 5 and 6 were pretty easy because I fasted pretty much all day long.  Today, day 12, is also easy because I am fasting.  But those other days did present some challenges…

Day 7 was Hillsboro’s First Tuesday art walk in downtown.  Two of the art spaces I went to had a scrumptious spread of cookies, brownies, cakes and more.  But oh, they were so hard to pass up!  On day 8, Wednesday, I stopped by Great Harvest Bread company is passed on their chocolate chip cookie samples as well as their cinnamon swirl bread slice sample.

I have decided that I will not entirely eliminate all added sugars from my diet, as I will still have a few crackers here and there with my cheese.  I’m aiming for no more than about 10 grams per day of added sugar, which can be hidden in things like salad dressings and crackers.  The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggests less than 200 calories per day of added sugar (50 grams) and the American Heart Association suggests less than 150 calories of added sugar (36 grams).  This data came from a Greatist.com article “Here’s How Much Sugar You’re Really Eating in a Day.”  Realistically, I’ve probably been at less than 5 grams per day of added sugar.

I have had cravings for sure, especially after a meal when I am wanting some sort of dessert.  Peanut M&Ms are my favorite, and I actually bought a big post-Halloween discounted package of the stuff on Wednesday.  But I hid it away so it is out of sight, but not necessarily out of mind.  I’ll bust open a small snack size bag on December 1st, when I will have made my goal.  But for now, I’ve been eating a lot of nuts and more fruit, though not enough vegetables just yet.  At any rate, I’m happy with my progress and I think I’ve been pretty good thus far, and plan to keep at it!

Thirty Days of No Sugar: Days 3 & 4

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Big test this weekend, as Lisa and I are doing a mini-road trip up north in Seattle.  It’s been a lot of eating out and while I haven’t exactly been super duper healthy as far as my food choices, I am aware and making the effort to be good!

Friday

Breakfast:  scrambled eggs with avocado and bacon, with roasted potatoes and buttered bread (avoided the jelly)

Lunch:  Arby’s Roast Beef classic sandwich with loaded curly fries (cheese sauce, bacon and sour cream)

Dinner:  cheese slices, apple slices, tortilla chips and guacamole as an appetizer, then the main course was white bean chicken chili with cheese and sour cream.

Saturday

Breakfast:  scrambled eggs with cheese, one maple sausage link, fried potato cubes and two Trader Joe’s gluten-free pumpkin spice pancakes with just a trace of real maple syrup.  Sure, there is some sugar in the pancakes, but Dan made them and I’m not going to disregard his hospitality!

Lunch:  Cheesecake Factory Carne Asada medallions with corn kernels and a bunch of steamed broccoli.  I also had three pieces of bread with butter, but no dessert!

Beverage:  got a little bit of Lisa’s hot chocolate from Starbucks and added some milk and Bailey’s Irish Cream

Dinner:  Happy hour at Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse, split small plates of ribeye sliders, flatbread pizza and grilled shrimp.  Yummy!

 

So that’s that, still haven’t succumbed to my desserts and treats and I did substitute white rice for broccoli.  Probably could have chosen something other than Arby’s, but I’m not going to beat myself over that.  It is day four and I think I’m still on track, so there!

Thirty Days of No Sugar: Day 2

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Was faced with my first challenge today:  chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  We guided a cooking/baking class for our students, and on the menu were gluten-free chocolate cupcakes.  They looked and smelled delicious, but I held firm — come on, two days in and quit?  Puh-leeze.

Breakfast:  slice of toast with one hard-boiled egg made into egg salad

Lunch:  Yogurt with fresh blueberries, half banana and nuts.  I was surprised to see that my Plain, 2% Greek yogurt actually had 8 grams of sugar per serving!  I probably had half a serving, and I’m not going to count this as breaking my no-sugar rule.

Snack:  handful of baby carrots with hummus

Dinner:  Chicken sausage sauteed with spinach, onions and sweet potato.  Also ate handfuls of peanuts, hard to stop!

So there – aside from my peanut binge, I think I did all right.  I’m adding a few more “rules” to my daily intake:

#4- drink green tea, preferably non-caffeinated, daily

#5 – continue my intake of at least three large glasses of water per day

Day two done and in the bag.  Bring on the sugar challenge, I can do this!

Thirty Days of No Sugar: Day 1

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Went to my doctor last week for my every-four-year annual physical and got some blood work done.  My test results revealed some concerns, which my doctor translated into some actions:  “Avoid fatty foods, carbohydrates and sweets.”  With a history of diabetes and high blood pressure in my family, this is some timely advice, and as a result, I have decided to go sugar-free for the next thirty days.  I know that sugar is everywhere, but I won’t be scrutinizing every single label.  I’ll be diligent in avoiding the most obvious foods — cake, cookies, candy, etc.

That’s step one, avoiding sweets.

Step two is eating more fruits and veggies.

Step three is getting more consistent exercise.

And step four is being mindful of these changes, and one way I can do this is self-reporting at theLun end of everyday on this web site.

Thus, Day 1:

Breakfast:  didn’t start off too well, as I had a free sausage breakfast biscuit at Chick-Fil-A.  It wasn’t that great, and I would not pay money for that.  I also had a bowl of Greek plain yogurt with some blueberries and half a banana.

Lunch:  bowl of my chicken rice soup with diced avocado and almonds.  Also had a handful of cashews and pistachios.

Dinner:  spinach salad with sliced cucumber, pecans and avocado-ranch dressing.  Also had one corn tortilla with refried beans and cheddar cheese.

Not so good:  finished off the last of my movie theater popcorn that I brought home from yesterday.

Bottom line:  not a bad start, could definitely be better.  But at least I had no sugar in the forms of doughnuts, cake and candy.  I’ll have to come up with a breakfast and lunch routine for my work days, and then just be careful on the weekends…

Nacho Madness

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Nachos!  I love them!

This huge plate of chicken nachos is from downtown Portland’s Yard House, and for $12 they aren’t your cheapskate dive bar or 7-Eleven variety.  However, this gut-busting meal was actually a freebie, so long as I made another purchase of anything else on the menu.  Seems like the construction inside the Pioneer Place Mall has hurt business at the Yard House, and to get people in the door they have been running ads on Facebook.  The ad is basically a coupon for one free appetizer with the purchase of another item.  I suppose I could have gotten a $3 soda pop, but instead Lisa was yearning for some chicken strips and fries so we went with that and a couple of waters.  We showed our server the Facebook ad on my phone, and when we were ready for our bill the manager came by to verify the coupon.  It was a very simple process and the best part is that there was nothing to print and no code to give them.

Itemized bill:  $10.45 chicken strips, $11.95 nachos (comped) and $5.55 tip.

So for $16 Lisa and I both scored some great food that hit-the-spot, great service and a plethora of college football games on TVs spread throughout the restaurant.  Unfortunately they also had the Oregon State vs Washington game up, which was difficult to watch since we ended up losing 42-7 after we held the Huskies to a 7-0 lead at halftime… but YAY for nachos!