Nothin' Fancy

Here are my Wed/Thurs/Fri meals...

Wednesday

Breakfast: 2/3 slice of brown rice bread w/ organic peanut butter

Snack:      1 Banana

Lunch:      2/3 piece of baked organic chicken breast and cup of vanilla goat yogurt

Snack:      2 ounce shot of wheatgrass

Pre-Dinner Snack:  Smoked Goat Cheese w/ wheat thins

Dinner:    Roasted Turkey (White parts only), steamed veggies, wild rice, sour dough roll

Dessert:    Yummy pear dish over one scoop of french vanilla ice cream (made by Matt's mom)

Thursday

Breakfast: Bowl of oatmeal w/ cut up banana and hint of brown sugar

Snack:      1.5 ounce shot of wheatgrass

Lunch:      Baked chicken spinach salad w/ hard boiled eggs, carrot, cucumber, celery, red bell pepper

Snack:      Roughly one cup of goat yogurt

Dinner:    A combination of chicken nachos and thai chicken penne pasta (we went out to eat    at our local brewery)

Dessert:    Freshly made pumpkin cheesecake

Matt and I met up with some friends for dinner on Thursday night.  I am a firm believer of ordering, within reason, what you want from the menu and not worrying about taking the "healthy" option.  Truth be told, most "healthy" dishes in restaurants aren't healthy at all...including salads and fish!!  Think of it this way, The Cheesecake Factory's grilled salmon ranges between 825-1,861 calories w/ 11g of fat...yowza!  I guess what I'm trying to say is just enjoy your night out and get what you want (within reason)!!  

Friday

Breakfast: Bowl of oatmeal with a hint of brown sugar; 1 slice of brown rice bread w/ organic  crunchy peanut butter, cup of vanilla goat yogurt, and a small glass of goat milk

Lunch:      Leftover baked chicken spinach salad 

Snack:      Veggie drink consisting of 1/2 cucumber, 1/4 beet, 2 large carrots, 2 celery stocks, 1 apple

Dinner:    Cheese pizza, 4 homemade chicken wings

Dessert:    Homemade brownie w/ a scoop of french vanilla icecream and a hint of raspberry sauce

I ate a larger breakfast than normal this morning because I was not going to be able to eat a snack between breakfast and lunch.  Tonight Matt and I are watching Bruno for the first time with our super awesome friends Andy and Sara.  Bruno wouldn't be complete without pizza and some fatty munchies.  Tonight's dinner is an anomaly for me as I normally wouldn't eat any of these foods (besides the occasional cheese or veggie pizza once every now and then).  I've heard crazy reviews about Bruno that has left me more than curious...

Oohh Salmon!

As the week progresses you'll see that my meals get pretty uneventful.  The highlight of my food intake today was eating "island style" wild coho salmon for dinner.  Wild salmon has become one of the most important foods that I eat.  It is incredibly healthy, contains essential fats, and also serves as an anti-inflammatory.  I am, by no means, a salmon expert but do know that it has helped me get, and stay, healthy.  

I only eat wild salmon.  Wild salmon has a great (non-fishy) flavor and healthy red coloring to it.  In my opinion, farm raised salmon tastes fishy, doesn't have the dark red coloring, and is just yucky (to me).  I mean, they swim around in huge nets and eat each other's poop...yeah I really want to eat a fish that does that.  And yes, I'm sure wild salmon eat poop too, but at least they're not trapped in a net and they taste wwaaayy better!  Again, just my opinion...

Here's what I ate today!!

Pre-Breakfast:  2 ounce shot of Xango

Breakfast:  Oatmeal w/ banana and a touch of brown sugar

Snack:  2 cups of Vanilla Goat Yogurt

Lunch:  A cup of leftover pumpkin soup and Baked Chicken Spinach Salad

Snack:  Vegetable Drink!  This veggie drink consisted of two large carrots, 1/3 of a large beet, ginger root, and two celery stocks.

Dinner:  Island Style Wild Coho Salmon.  The salmon is cooked in coconut milk and chicken broth seasoned with curry powder.  Leeks, cauliflower, broccoli, garlic, and onion are sauteed in the broth before the salmon is added.  This is an incredibly tasty meal!  You can cook whatever veggies you like in the broth...it will come out tasting great!!  As an added bonus, curry+salmon is a great anti-inflammatory blend!!

Dessert:  Pumpkin Pie Smoothie  (Canned Organic Pumpkin Pie mix, frozen vanilla yogurt, vanilla soy milk, pure maple syrup, cinnamon, and nutmeg blended).  

Snack:  Vanilla Goat Yogurt

With that, I'll leave you with something random.  I want to see a black bear in it's natural element before I take another vacation out of the United States.  There you have it...

Brown Rice Bread/Monday Meals

After being diagnosed with Crohn's I needed an alternative to whole wheat/whole grain breads, raw fruits and veggies, cow milk products, and a variety of other food products.  Later on in the week I will talk about my alternatives to raw fruits and veggies, cow products, etc.  Today I will give you the low down on my alternative to whole wheat/whole grain breads...

After going to the local organic store or "crazy people organic store" as some of my friends would call it, I learned that brown rice bread is not only easily digestible, but would also give me the carbohydrates I needed to sustain me for long (bike) rides, or any hard workout.  So, in short, brown rice bread became my alternative to whole wheat/whole grain breads as I could no longer digest either of the two.

When I first grabbed the frozen "brick" of brown rice bread from the organic store's freezer I definitely didn't think it was going to taste very appetizing.  It was seriously like grabbing a frozen, packaged brick out of the freezer.  At that point, however, I didn't care.  I was open to try anything and everything that would potentially work and give my body something it could digest and also the fuel it needed to get through day to day activities.

A few things I've learned about brown rice bread...

Brown Rice Bread is stored in your refrigerator once you bring it home from the market.  I have found that microwaving or toasting the bread prior to consumption will make for a better tasting piece of bread.  Brown rice bread is pretty bland, but again, gets the job done.  I also put organic jelly or organic peanut butter on my slice of bread aka slice of "brick" to make it more tasty.  Once you get used to it, the blandness sorta disappears!  Now, I love it!

Two years later, I still rely on brown rice bread.  I can now digest whole wheat/whole grain breads but still choose to eat a slice of brown rice bread prior to working out.  It's worked for me this long, so I might as well stick with it!!  So yes, I would choose a slice of brown rice bread over "normal" bread any day of the week!

Now, as promised, here is what I ate for the day:

Pre-Breakfast: 1.5 ounce shot of Xango

Breakfast: Brown Rice Bread with Organic Peanut Butter

Snack:  2 ounce shot of Wheatgrass

Pre-Lunch:  2 cups of homemade Pumpkin Soup

Lunch:  Baked Organic Chicken Breast Half Sandwich.  To make this sandwich I used about 2/3 of a seasoned baked organic chicken breast, one slice of 9-grain bread, Omega-3 Mayonnaise, red onion, and shredded pepper jack cheese.

Snack:  Roughly 1 cup of watermelon

Dinner: Chicken Spinach Salad w/ red bell pepper, carrot, hard boiled egg, red onion, and turkey bacon.  I used Red Wine Vinegar and Olive Oil as my salad dressing.

Dessert:  Homemade Pumpkin Pie Smoothie 

Snack:  Roughly two cups of Vanilla Goat Yogurt

This definitely wasn't my "normal" diet routine while flaring.  I have been in remission for almost a year and have re-introduced a number of new food items to my digestive tract.  I can now handle raw fruits and veggies.  Most recently is my body's ability to digest spinach.  About two months ago I decided to try and introduce raw spinach back into my diet.  I ate a homemade spinach salad to see how my system would react.  Well, the next day, everything was great!  This was a major milestone for me because, when sick, I couldn't even eat steamed spinach let alone raw spinach.  My digestive tract couldn't handle it and the spinach would very painfully come out the same way it looked going in.  I know that sounds kinda gross, but it is what it is.  It has taken my digestive system almost a year to heal and get strong enough to handle more roughage type foods. 

I still can't, however, handle normal lettuce or leafy greens.  Spinach is the only green leafy veggie that my system can handle at the moment.  I'll take what I can get and have decided to permanently retire "normal" lettuce and any other leafy greens besides spinach!  Who needs them anyway!

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me!!  Stay tuned for tomorrow!!  =)

Food 101 - Revisited

So, back in April I said I was going to post my daily meals for all to see due to questions I've received about my dietary restrictions, food I eat on a daily basis, etc.

Starting Monday I will post my daily meals for all to see (seriously this time)!  Stay tuned for wheatgrass, goat products, and crazy vegetable drink mixes!  Check back next week!

Until then, Bottoms up!