Thirteen Miserable Days...
You know the story by now, Jackie and I are trying to quick fix a lifestyle by jumping on the "17 Day Diet ".
It's to be expected, this ain't my first rodeo. Dieted before, and I know that my body suddenly woke up and realized... "This is all I get????". So, with almost 2 weeks down, on my first 17 day cycle, time to have a little introspection.
2 belt loop notches down. That's how I really want to measure, not the nearly insignificant number on the scale, but how well my pants fit. I am indeed in the jeans that make my butt look good (with the jeans that make my butt look great almost fitting (they do fit if I don't need to sit down).
Honestly, the first few days of the diet, I was weak. What was a breeze the week before (I walk for exercise) was a serious effort to continue at the same pace and distance I had built up. I was not sleeping well and I was not pleased. But, the other side of my body using calories more efficiently (polite way of saying the weight is going to come off slower), my body is used to getting done what it needs to get done on the food I eat. So, my 5 mile walk to the store and back in the mornings is now as easy as it was pre-diet.
And another new joy I have found is a return to simple cooking. On more than one occasion a week (OK, usually on more than one occasion a day), I cook for my blog. Meaning adding ingredients, techniques and difficulties just to make it look good on the blog. Be honest, we all do it.
But within the limitations of the diet, the selected foods that you can eat unlimited amounts of, there are not as many opportunities for glamorous complicated cooking.
So, here;s my simple...
Raw tomato, sauteed peppers and onions and steamed flounder...
No trick... The tomatoes are seasoned with my low salt substitute, "Sodom and Gomorrah" Garlic/ Sesame Seed/ Sea Salt mix.
The onions are first sweated in a saute pan with the lid on set over low medium heat for about 10 minutes. You will end up with about 1/2 a cup of liquid in the pan. Add the sliced sweet peppers, mix for just a single minute (so the peppers still have a bit of a snap when served).
the flounder is so thin that it is a simple matter of resting the fillets on top of the onions and peppers for 3 minutes per side. The steam from the cooking onions and peppers cooks the flounder to fork tender.
I seasoned with salt, pepper and a little sweet paprika.
And one more tip is to make the plate look pretty and filled. Time to play mind games on your body!
Dieting... it ain't so bad!
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Good luck with the diet. I'm loving all these healthy dishes you're posting at the moment. This is really colourful and the spices on the fish make it look really tasty too.
ReplyDeleteDave, I am SO impressed with how well you're doing! And yeah it's definitely better to measure by belt loops than my numbers on a scale. With all of this deliciously healthy food, you're making it look easy! You and Jackie are going to rock that wedding!
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