Amazingly, I made it until 1 p.m. to eat lunch!! Well, I did have 3 graham sticks in my office around 10:30 when I thought I was going to go nuts if I didn’t chew something (I’ve given up sugar-free gum and am doing a digestive tract experiment after reading about sugar alcohols, so I couldn’t have gum).
But although I was pretty hungry from 10:30 to 11, the “hunger” subsided when I got busy with a project and soon enough it was time to leave for lunch!!
Lunch
After 30 minutes in rainy traffic, I made it home to have a cozy lunch with the husband in the dining room. I debated putting my food on pretty plates because deep bowls don’t photograph well, but I figured you all wouldn’t mind 🙂
Tuna salad
Leftover cherry collard greens (over 100 kcal worth of greens!)
Orange Sections + Kashi crackers (2/3 a serving)
All together with hot tea for ~500 kcal:
Afternoon
I’m full, but not too full, so I know some yogurt is in store as an afternoon snack.
I definitely want to rent a movie today – it’s just the right kind of dreary weather here! I was planning to walk to Blockbuster (in the shopping center we can walk to) but it’s pouring!! I need to stop by the grocery store too – for cream for our split pea soup – so I might have to drive, which will be horrible considering it’s only a 10 minute walk away! I guess I should break out the umbrella, but it’s so cold out there too!! Decisions, decisions. I guess I’ll let the rain sit and hope it lifts later this afternoon.
Tonight is split pea soup with ham. We’re going to make a big batch with all of our leftover ham and try to freeze it. I’m going to do the soup by weight to make it easy to measure portions. Basically just weigh the pot before we make it and then weigh the soup + pot after it’s done to get the total soup weight. Makes portioning it out SO much easier than the “one for me one for you” approach. Since we’re making such a huge batch, I want to add 1/4 – 1/2 a cup of cream or half and half to the end to make it richer. We have only cooked with cream maybe once or twice, so it should be interesting. I sure hope the flavor is worth all the extra calories!
oh my gosh, split pea soup sounds amazing for dinner! Just wanted to let you know I just reviewed your cute little "how to seed a pom." video so I could seed my first!!! I've never done it before–only stained every article of clothing I own by digging a spoon right into the fruit to eat the seeds. It was SO easy!!!! Too bad pomegranite's are so freakin expensive!
Jenna,
Glad you got the pom out easily!! We just did one here today too!! I wanted to buy 2 this week, but you're right – they're $2.99 each and for not that many seeds 🙁
Kath,
I was just wondering what do you do for a living and what are you going back to school to study? I really enjoy reading your blog!
Kate,
I've been working in public relations for the past 3 years, but I'm headed back to graduate school in 2 weeks to get a Masters in Nutrition and fulfill the requirements for a Registered Dietitian. It's going to take me 2.5 years for the R.D. and 3.5 for the masters, but I'm ready!!
Hi Kath! I'm somewhat confused/frustrated. Why do the calories listed on the panels of some foods not always match what websites say? Like Cheerio's….the box says 100 per cup. simple. so, why do websites have 108, 110, etc??
here's an example:
http://www.food-stats.com/Breakfast_Cereals/Cerea…
http://www.calorie-count.com/calories/item/8013.h…
http://www.calorie-charts.net/breakfast-cereals/2…
??those "8-10" calories could add up, and it makes me feel even more skeptical about my ability to track my calories?!
Nicole,
The three websites were all within 3 kcal of each other – 108, 111, and 110. I'd consider those to be negligible. If the Cheerios box says 100 – and the grams in parenthesis are 30 grams – then you have to go with the box and assume the websites are a little off. The way I see it, the package has to be accurate or the company could be sued by someone with an allergy, or diabetes, or something that would be affected by an "off" nutrition label.
Kath
Hi Kath!
Just curious as to why you gave up sugar free gum? I'll chew it sometimes just so I don't grab something to eat…as I'm sure many people do!
Thanks!
haha ok thanks! I know it seems trivial, but Cheerio's cereal was the easiest for me to get my point across. I kind of assumed that I should "trust" the labels since they have to be liable, as you mentioned. Thanks for the help!!!
How early do you go to bed to get up at 5am? I would LOVE to get in the habit of working out in the morning, but it's SO HARD making myself get out of bed in the morning, so I'm wondering if maybe I'm not going to bed early enough. Plus I don't have anyone to get annoyed with me for hitting the snooze button a bunch of times, haha.
Justy,
I read recently (in Dr. Weil's book) that the sugar alcohols can cause bowel trouble, especially in people with IBS. Without going into detail (:oops:) I seem to have some bowel troubles during the week, which I attributed to getting up early and the stress of my job, but everything is 100% normal on the weekends. When I read the thing about gum, it clicked that I chew 2-4 pieces of gum while I'm at work (for boredom!!) and rarely chew it on the weekend. I decided to give it up about 7 days ago and see if anything changed, and so far, I think it has worked. Hard to tell with the holidays and all though.
Shelley,
The secret is getting to bed early – subtract 8 hours from when you have to get up and get in bed 30 minutes before then. It's quite a commitment, but exercise is very important to health and well-being so I find it's easy to give up late night TV for a morning workout when you put it in that perspective.
And trust me, it gets MUCH easier when you get your body clock set to then too.
If I ever feel like skipping my workout, I just remember that I won't get to eat as much that day (300-400 calories less, which is quite a lot, although I do allow myself to eat higher than NET if I skip workouts complete because I have to) and the thought of giving up some parts of my breakfast that I wouldn't need if I didn't need the fuel gets me right out of bed!!
Kath
Hey Kath,
I know you have mentioned before you use a salter scale but just wondering what model. I want to get one but there was a couple different kinds of william sonoma and would like to get a good model.
Thanks
Hey Kath!
I went to the store today and got a Polar HRM (F6) and its all thanks to your inspiration! I now want to get a Salter scale like you said you used – what kind do you have precisely? I live in Eastern Europe so I am not totally sure they have the same things like you guys have in the US.
Oh and one more question – how exactly do you make your tuna salad? And do you think its possible to make it before hand (say the day before…or preferably more!) and then just grab it out of the fridge?
Christie,
I have the 6300, but I'm not sure if they still make it (it's over 1.5 years old).
http://www.gwdoling.co.uk/description/houseware/S…
Any of these look good to me:
http://www.amazon.com/1004-11-Pound-Stainless-Ste…
http://www.amazon.com/Salter-3003-Aquatronic-Glas…
http://www.amazon.com/Salter-Electronic-Kitchen-S…
Moran,
The recipe is listed on my website already in the recipe roll:
https://www.katheats.com/?page_id=550
And see above on scale info!
Kath,
I wanted to share my new food find with you! I know you eat Lara bars sometimes, but they're high in calories. I found these new bars (made by Clif) that have the same short ingredient list as Laras, but they're lower in calories, they count as two servings of fruit (instead of one with Laras) and they're cheaper, at least where I've found them. They're delicious, especially the dark chocolate walnut one! Check them out!
http://www.clifbar.com/eat/eat.cfm?location=necta…
Love the blog, by the way!
Meg,
I've seen these and love them!!! I've had the cashew one in my cabinet since I traveled to Syracuse and bought it at the airport but haven't had a chance to eat it (I tend to save bars for when I'm away from my refrigerator). But you're totally right on these being the same taste for a little smaller portion than LaraBars! 220 calories is quite a snack, so these are the perfect size. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Kath
hey Kath, I’m not sure how exactly I ended up looking at some of your old posts, but oh man – there is SUCH a difference. To me, it seems like you’re so much more vibrant and genuinely excited about food now than you were back in ’07. I’m curious (and of course you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to!) – are you still so mindful of your calorie intake? I lost about 20 pounds last spring and later realized that I didn’t do it in the healthiest way, and I’m just now getting back into the habit of “normal” eating (read: not trying to calculate the calories in everything)…
My posts were pretty awful weren’t they 🙂
I’d say I’m still mindful of my calorie intake, but I don’t count like I used to. I weaned myself off sometime in 2009 and have been trying to go by hunger and the feel of my clothes ever since. It’s hard at times, but I’ve found that I can lose as easily as I can gain without counting if I just shift my focus back to healthy foods.