New Plan, Day Two

I woke up at 5am after falling asleep around midnight, downstairs with my computer in my lap. Not the best night's sleep, but I'll address that another time.

Breakfast, 6:45am

• 1.5 oz ham and 1 oz. American cheese on a whole wheat sandwich roll
• 1 orange
• 16 oz. water

I love this breakfast - it's good to start the day with protein. While eating, I talked with my dad about a bunch of things and eased into the morning.

Exercise, 8am

Walked 1.97 miles with my parents and the dogs. Pedometer read 5082 steps, 679 of which were at a moderate pace (6 min), for approximately 188 calories burned. Not fantastic, but it was nice to spend time with my folks and get outside in the morning.

Mid-Morning Snack, 10am

• can of tomato soup with salt, pepper, basil, and a sprinkle of pecorino Romano cheese
• fresh herb salad with 2 TBSP Light Creamy Caesar dressing

I was vaguely procrastinating some work I needed to get done for an afternoon meeting, and I kept convincing myself I was hungry so that I could rationalize taking a break. I realize I do this a lot, using food or eating as a means to avoid doing what I'm supposed to, but in this instance it was a delicious and welcome diversion.

The tomato soup was absolute perfection - I think hot tomato is my favorite flavor. The salad was also extraordinary - I actually measured out the dressing to make sure I was using an appropriate amount to count it as one of my fats. Such a treat.

Lunch, 1:45pm

• flatbread pizza made with tomato sauce, part-skim mozzarella, broccoli and mushrooms on a pita
• 24 oz. Diet Coke (not pictured

I was running late, and ordinarily in those circumstances my plan would be to grab Burger King to eat while driving, which is obviously out of the question. I was going back and forth on what to do, wondering if I really had time to prepare pizzas for myself and my mother, but I decided that rather than waste time hemming and hawing, I should just cook the silly things.

This was absolutely phenomenal, and both my mom and I agreed that we enjoyed it more than anything we've had for lunch in weeks. I think a lot of the success came in flavoring the tomato sauce with basil, oregano, garlic powder, fresh black pepper, salt, and a tiny sprinkle of nutmeg. I then assembled the rest of the ingredients and put it under the broiler until the vegetables were cooked and the cheese was slightly browned. This crisped the pita into a very satisfying crust, making for one tasty little pizza. After eating this, I spent about 6 hours driving to Brooklyn and back for this meeting, and I wasn't hungry the whole time - I was actually in a spectacular mood and feeling very energetic. Score for the flatbread pizza!

More "Exercise," 4-5pm

I don't really think it counts as exercise, but I wore my pedometer for the rest of the afternoon and kept track of how much I walked from my car to my meeting, around campus etc. It was an additional 2731 steps, 1391 and 12 min. of which were at a moderate pace, for an additional 1.1 miles and approximately 94 calories.

This brought my day's totals to 3.07 miles or 7813 steps, 2070 and 18 min of which were at a moderate pace, for approximately 282 calories burned. It's not great, but it's not nothing.

Dinner, 9pm

• chicken breast cooked with onions, garlic, Crimini mushrooms, sliced zucchini, broccoli florets, sliced red pepper, eggplant, and stewed tomatoes, with herbs and spices
• approximately 1 cup white rice

My parents were antsy for me to cook dinner when I got home, but I was in the middle of video chatting with a friend (aforementioned massive crush), so I had to rush preparing it once I got to it. This sort of resembles the meal I prepared most frequently when I lived in Italy, based on finding the best-looking produce and cooking it all together with olive oil in tomato sauce or more often fresh tomatoes, either with or without added meat. The difference, of course, between cooking for one and cooking for three, meant that it was much more time consuming to chop down and cook all the vegetables, and I needed to move everything from a large skillet into a cast-iron pan so it would all fit.

Nevertheless, the flavor was bang-on, I suspect from letting the vegetables and chicken simmer together in the liquid from the stewed tomatoes, as well as generous spicing. My parents both seemed surprised that a bowl of mostly vegetables over rice could have so much flavor, and we all agreed that this was a great way to get more fresh vegetables into our diet.

Something I have observed, in the past few meals, is the immense difference that cooking with fresh vegetables makes. I am accustomed to always using fresh, having lived down the street from a grocery and produce stand for five years in Brooklyn, as well as only buying and cooking with fresh vegetables in Italy. My parents, by contrast, would usually microwave or boil frozen vegetables when preparing meals, and I think that is part of why they're happy to omit them regularly, or at the very least, rarely enjoy them. Lately they've been observing just how flavorful they are and commenting on the exciting textures and such, which gives me hope that they will continue coming over to the fresh side more often.

Summary

I had planned on having a yogurt and almonds for a snack, but I fell asleep before I got around to it. I think it's alright, since I probably had more than one serving of cheese on my lunchtime pizza. I was also planning to have my second fruit after dinner, but I had more than enough vegetables to have compensated for that.

The only area where I'm disappointed with myself is that I was woefully under on my waters again. My mother has taken to carrying around her 24oz. refillable water bottle to sip on water throughout the day, and I'm thinking I should probably do the same, since I am so much more likely to grab a can or glass of soda than get a glass of water. Otherwise today was a very nice day, and I felt cheerful and energetic throughout. It's nice to feel such immediate benefits from eating right!