Counting the ways

I love Fiber One granola bars, that is :)




You would think after a year and a half of almost daily chocolate fiber one granola bar ingestion, I would get sick of these buggers. Sure there have been times when I have eaten less of them, or changed up flavors (apple cinnamon being a distant 2nd favorite), but no other food has had such a constant presence in my diet.

I have two favorite breakfasts (Special K red berries, fiber one, and almonds and kashi waffles with peanut butter and apple butter) if you want to argue about their presence being competitive. But being that there are two breakfasts already reduces their competitive edge.

I have tried other granola bars. My last trip to BJs, I purchased Kashi Chewy bars. I have had them before (the nut and fruit ones?) and they are fine. A bit dry and not sweet enough. I am probably going to go through another BJs size box of fiber one bars before I finish these.

I realize that my favorite fiber one bars have not only high fructose corn syrup, but also have high maltose corn syrup. This may be the reason behind my intense love of them-- they are super sweet.

Anyway- that is all for today. I am gearing up for some new vegetarian recipe entries for my parents who are beginning a "somewhat" vegetarian diet. I am going to their house this weekend with plans to show them at least 3 different ways to cook tofu! Stay tuned :)

New Leaf

It is a strange new world with CR recently.

I have been recording, thinking about food (I have even been enjoying my cookbooks again!), and loving the food prep!

Keeping track of numbers in my head over a long period of time has always been a problem for me; for example - I was a swimmer in high school and we would have to count laps during practice- my lane would never let me go first unless it was sets of 100's (4 laps) because I would never be able to keep track of anything higher than that.

Also, in my job before I started grad school, I had to count chromosomes (humans have 46) while looking through a microscope. I would select cells where I could divide the chromosomes up into 3 or 4 groups by eye so that I would not lose track of which ones I had already counted...

Learning disability? Maybe... needless to say I have found ways to get around it so that I can do what I need to do.

So how does this relate to CR? I have found a new way to count my calories in my head-- I am now thinking about my meals in blocks of 400 calories. Breakfast: 400, Lunch: 400, Dinner: 400, Snacks: 400. Easy! So much less thinking, especially if I can design meals to fit that structure.

Also this has made food recording in my PDA less stressful. I have not been recording the exact food that I am eating, as long as the calories are the same. When I eat a kashi meal, and it has 360 calories I find my listing for the Amy's burrito (300cal) and say 1.2 servings. Easy peasy! I may be adding in some "generic" 400 calorie recipes to make it even better :)

I think this new way of recording will help me get on my way to be more independent and free from my PDA when this is all over (I only have 7-8months left!!). The time has really flown by... so crazy.

New upcoming posts will include my 400 calorie meal ideas.

Also I will be telling you all about how my new exercise regimen affects my hunger (I am doing 2 sprint triathlons this summer- one with a fellow CALERIE participant!). So far, so good. :)

Black Bean Soup- YUM

I will not gush about this soup.

It is amazing.

It takes a lot of time.

It is TOTALLY worth it.

Black Bean Soup With Roasted Squash
From the New World Kitchen (seriously we have not made anything from this cookbook that was not to.die.for.). You need to buy this book if you like making good food.
Makes 12cups
Serves 8
455 cal/serving (I was close... the CRON-o-Meter may have been off with the ham hock)
See additional nutritional info below

Recipe is as we made it

6oz bacon
1T olive oil
1 Scotch Bonnet Chili (may or may not have been??)
3 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1 large vidalia onion
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
3 stalks of celery
1T cumin (called for 2T toasted and ground cumin seeds)
2 bay leaves
1c Spanish dry sherry (very important)
5c canned black beans, rinsed (called for 2c dry beans soaked overnight)
1 smoked ham hock (also very important, must be smoked)
3qt Chicken stock (we added it then had to remove some so everything could fit into our 5qt dutch oven)
Salt and pepper to taste

For the Squash (Calabaza)
2lb calabaza (we used an acorn/winter squash) peeled and cut into bite size pieces
2T melted butter
2T sugar
1tsp salt
0.5tsp fresh ground pepper

For the Crema
1c Sour cream (we used lowfat)
juice from 1/2 lime
salt to taste
0.5tsp toasted ground coriander seeds

1) Cook bacon in olive oil (seems counter-intuitive to me) in large soup pot over medium heat, until crisp
2) Stir in chili pepper and garlic
3) Turn up heat to medium high and add the onion, bell pepper, and celery- stir to coat
4) Let veggies caramelize (10min)
5) Add cumin, bay leaves and sherry- bring to simmer and cook until the liquid is reduced to half
6) Add the beans, ham hock, and stock
7) Skim the impurities off the top and reduce heat to medium-low
8) Simmer until the beans are tender, but not mushy- 1-1.5hrs

In the meantime prepare the squash
1) preheat oven to 350
2) Combine all the squash ingredients and stir to coat
3) Place on roasting pan and roast until squash is fork tender (30-40min)

For the crema:
whisk together all ingredients in a bowl and chill until ready to serve

9) Remove bay leaves from broth
10) Scoop 2.5cups from the pot and puree in blender (this gives the soup more body)
11) Simmer for additional 30m

Enjoy soup topped with creme!!

General (34%)
===========================================
Energy | 455.1 kcal 27%
Protein | 29.7 g 59%
Carbs | 45.4 g 35%
Fiber | 9.3 g 37%
Fat | 17.7 g 27%
Water | 534.4 g 20%

Vitamins (40%)
===========================================
Vitamin A | 900.4 IU 39%
Folate | 251.6 µg 63%
B1 (Thiamine) | 0.9 mg 82%
B2 (Riboflavin) | 0.4 mg 34%
B3 (Niacin) | 8.4 mg 60%
B5 (Pantothenic Acid)| 1.7 mg 34%
B6 (Pyridoxine) | 0.7 mg 56%
B12 (Cyanocobalamin) | 1.2 µg 48%
Vitamin C | 35.7 mg 48%
Vitamin D | 2.0 IU 1%
Vitamin E | 1.0 mg 7%
Vitamin K | 10.1 µg 11%

Minerals (51%)
===========================================
Calcium | 128.5 mg 13%
Copper | 0.8 mg 88%
Iron | 5.4 mg 30%
Magnesium | 133.8 mg 43%
Manganese | 0.8 mg 44%
Phosphorus | 445.6 mg 64%
Potassium | 1436.1 mg 31%
Selenium | 26.1 µg 47%
Sodium | 2095.2 mg 140%
Zinc | 3.7 mg 46%

Lipids (21%)
===========================================
Saturated | 6.0 g 30%
Omega-3 | 0.2 g 22%
Omega-6 | 1.7 g 15%
Cholesterol | 56.7 mg 19%

Free at last!

Yeehaaa!! The talk is over and I am relaxed and ready for a new start. (Don't I say this every year?!)

The talk went well (enough)- I am always so so nervous about public speaking. Even when I try to rationalize it, it lurks, just beneath my consciousness until I realize it is there... growing more and more anxious. But it is over and thanks to Mel, my knight-in-shining-armor, the talk went better than it could have been without her help.

Graduation is coming, but I still have a bit of data to collect so we decided to meet again in the "early" fall to discuss dates.

Back to my stress- It is so funny how I am about food when I am nervous. I am not -at all- hungry. Nothing seems good. No matter how great it is. That is one thing about my severe anxiety that I actually like. I like having a different perspective on food. Also- it is during this time that I allow myself to eat whatever I want (did someone say 440 calorie, black and white cookie?!), because I could be eating a salad or a chocolate covered, creme filled, doughnut- the internal reaction will be the same for me-- and I think that is cool :) It is also the only way for me to get close to my actual calories for the day.

It is a bit of the same with some other things too: like commuting. When I bike I get irate at drivers who cut me off, pedestrians who walk out in front of me, sink-holes in the pavement... pretty much anything gets me crazed when I am on my bike. I noticed that it took about 10 things that would have set me off before I actually got a little miffed. Funny how anxiety works...

But anyway- I took the weekend off from work and cleaned my apartment (which was definitely struck by a tornado while I was not paying attention) and planned out my week of food (!!). It was decadent. Although TE probably wanted to do more hiking, biking, and Kan Jamming (don't ask- his newest addiction)-- we cleaned, organized and drank coffee/ate meals on our new patio set!! It was beautiful outside and I loved having "nothing" to think about.

Here is a photo of our lunch on Saturday. A shared roast beef sandwich and fruit salad. mmmm! TE won this fabulous patio set at work!


Today I am easing myself back into the school work. I made a list of what needs to get done (ASAP) and I am organizing my desk/lab notebook. That is more overwhelming than it should be- but considering I spent the last few weeks writing everything down on scrap papers (everything...even meals) it is a daunting task-- having to put it all together into something meaningful. But it will be done! :)

I will be back with more posts and excitement soon. I am figuring out a better way to beat the burn-out of keeping track of what I eat and will keep you all updated on my progress :) Also TE made a black bean soup that was seriously.to.die.for yesterday. I mean really. A-mazing. I am betting around 550cals per serving, so we will see how my estimations are doing once I put it into CRON-O-Meter tonight :)

Nothing To Say

*This post may not make much sense/be cohesive. Read at your own risk :)

It has been a long time since I have wanted to blog, and I apologize to my faithful readers. Don't worry though- this thought void is not restricted to the blogosphere- I have nothing to say on FB, my friends' blogs, email, anything.... My brain is 100% focused (almost!) on the impending annual graduate student seminar that I am giving on Friday.

This year I am less stressed about the content of my talk (I am resigned to the fact that this is my project- love it or leave it)-- but I am going nutty trying to cram in more experiments than any one person should do in such a short amount of time, trying to make a new/better/different talk, and somehow trying to squeeze a little sleep in each day :) Which is leaving me frazzled. Not stressed/panic-stricken/or any loss of appetite like I was last year- just kind of dazed/distracted for anything that is not talk/school related. That is better, right?!

The diet has not been easy the last few months. I still have had no motivation for recording. I have planned out meals better/eating better and I have started estimated general calorie amounts a little more- but even my modified recording techniques seem like too much for me right now... I keep telling myself- this is life, if I want to keep my weight off, stay healthy, and succeed in lifelong dietary restriction- this is what I need to figure out.

I sound so whiny at our meetings. I have no reason as to why I can't/don't want to/am not doing things well- I know what I need to do- why is it so hard to do?? I feel like I need to go back onto packaged foods to "shock" myself back into the mindset again- but then I think about it and I know what to do, I know how to do it- I should just do it. Ugh.

Last week was a model week. TE and I planned out our whole week worth of food, and we totally stuck to it. I felt really good about it- but this week: TE is travelling, I am crazed: eating canned soup/frozen burritos/anything that does not require thought/more money-- doing the whole week-long planned food was great but it gets expensive... We bought enough stuff for 2 weeks but only 1 week's worth of fresh stuff (meat and veggies)- so week 2 after a big food shopping is always less satisfying...

Dinner is over- must return to lab/talk/experiments that are bound to not work...

I will return in a week hopefully with a new can-do attitude! Let's hope!! :)

Friendly Support

Things are a bit slow on the CALERIE front. I am lacking motivation to record/track/monitor my food intake and to make matters worse- my Palm Centro that is my cell phone/pda/mp3 player died Friday.

Not just a little dead: won't turn on- and if it does turn on it keeps trying to sync, so I hooked it up to the computer and nothing, no connection, then it dies again. I am hoping I can get my stuff off it before I have to send it away to get fixed- but things do not look promising...

But there is one shining moment (with regards to my food prep/consumption) I am happy to report :)

My labmate, Christine, made me an energy bar snack as a thank you for processing some of her samples (I was also doing mine so she totally did not have to thank me so well- but I am not complaining!!). I can not find the recipe online but she packaged the bars up and gave me the original recipe with the nutritional information and everything! Totally sweet :)
*Recipe is from a Fine Cooking publication: Eat Smart. Recipe is not available to the public- enjoy!

Other fun fact about Christine: she is also very interested in the CALERIE study and is currently on the waiting list in case someone drops out of the study.



Energy Bars
130 cal/bar
5g Fat
5g Protein
2.5g Fiber

Cooking Spray
1c Quick cooking rolled oats
1/2c Shelled unsalted raw sunflower seeds
1/2c toasted wheat germ
1/4c whole grain pastry flour or whole wheat flour
1/2c dried apricots
1/2c raw almonds
1/2c raisins
1/2c pitted dried dates
1/2c nonfat dry milk
1/2t ground cinnamon
1/3c pure maple syrup (she used agave nectar instead)
2 large eggs

• Preheat oven to 350 and coat a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray
• Place all ingredients except the syrup and eggs into a food processor and pulse until everything is finely chopped.
• Add syrup and eggs and pulse until mixture is well combined. It will resemble a coarse paste.
• Transfer to a baking pan and spread evenly to cover the bottom.
• Bake until lightly browned, about 20min.
• Allow to cool for 15min, then cut into 24 bars

Thank you Christine!! They are so yummy!

The Grass is Always Greener

Not too much new on the food front. Still lacking in motivation to think and plan the way I should... but I think things are pretty stable...

Things are very busy with school, on the other hand. I have been investigating my options with regards to my future job prospects. Last night I attended a networking event at a local biotech company and it was amazing the stark contrast between industry and academia.

Last night the company was selling itself to us, actively interested in recruiting "cool" "hard-working" scientists, telling us all that this company has to offer us. When looking for a post-doc I feel the opposite vibe. Academia is more like me- begging for a job where I will be underpaid, under-appreciated, with minimal structure and high risk (will I be able to find a good mentor?).

This is not to say that I am going to start looking for a job and not a post-doc... I am still weighing my options.

So that is what's new here. Hopefully I will have some more food updates soon!