Monday, March 17, 2008

Weekend Survival

I survived the drinking and party filled weekend! (The drama queen returns!)

And this is my last Monday on study-provided foods. Time is flying.

Last week was very nice and slow- you may have noticed my increased blog posting. It was spring break here on my university campus and I enjoyed it almost as much as if I was an undergrad drinking on a beach somewhere tropical! My lab was mostly empty all week, I had no teaching responsibilities, I left work everyday by 5:30, and the pup and I got to play outside for 1.5hrs each night- purely decadent.


Speaking of teaching- I got to bring up CR in my classes today! Today we discussed the ethical issues of government funding for life-extension research. I saw this as a perfect opportunity to 1) talk about current research looking at nutrition and aging and 2) to enlighten my young, science loving students to the greatness that is the TV show - Scientific American Frontiers with Alan Alda. It was a great class and we had some fun discussions on this topic. I was amazed at how closely the student's opinions reflected everything I hear regularly about my involvement in a diet like this:
"What is the fun of living longer if you can not eat what you want?" (I always get this question!)
"Cool- for the mice- but why would anyone want to do that/I would never want to do that."
"Cultures and celebrations are centered on food, what would we, as humans, be without food?" (This point was made after someone brought up that future eating could be replaced with pills)

Fun day with the kids... also enhanced by that fact that I did not receive evil death stares over the difficulty of today's quiz.

Here is my report on the Mediterranean diet so far!

Day 1 (Saturday)
Breakfast:
Low fat granola with raisins
Skim Milk
Banana (although they forgot to give it to me, so I did not get to eat that...)

Lunch:
Greek Wrap (Cucumber, tomato, feta, black olives, hummus)

Dinner:
Lentils, olives and feta
Cous cous
Zucchini

Dessert:
Strawberries
*saved from lunch*
Slice of cheddar cheese
14 grapes (one serving size)

Also my daily snack is now 2T hummus with a piece of pita. So far I have been eating it with lunch, I am not thrilled about it. Miss the peanut butter bar :)

Day 2: Sunday (party day)
Breakfast:
Oatmeal with brown sugar
Peaches
Slivered almonds
Skim milk

Lunch:
Pesto pasta with chicken (maybe only an ounce of chicken- this diet has way less meat than the others)
Apple
Dinner roll

Dinner: (*ate hummus and pita while waiting for dinner to heat up)
Greek style potatoes (in olive oil with tomato, feta, olives and "Greek" seasonings)
Salmon Steak (~2oz)
Green beans

Dessert:
Mandarin Oranges

Now this day was difficult. MH and NW hosted the brunch party and there was a ton of fabulous smelling and looking food. Everyone was sensitive to not rave about the food around me, but I knew how good it must have been and it really took some serious will power to keep my hands from reaching into the bowl of Cadbury mini eggs or picking up an amazing looking hamentashen. I did not end up taking any pictures, but my hands were full with coffee, diet soda, and seltzer all day.

I think dieting in general is difficult because it is such hard work to stay "on target" and the results (whether it is weight loss or improved quality of life) do not seem so immediately rewarding. For example, I was so good this weekend that I should have lost 5lbs (or 5 months)just on effort alone, but it will be more like 1lb --and I do not think that there will be any age reversion, just slower from here on out...

Day 3: Today
Breakfast:
Cheerios
Slivered almonds
Milk
Diced pineapple

Lunch:
Grapes (eaten between classes)
Tuna salad with oil, celery and onions. *For the E family- I would say this was tuna JE-style- a lot of onions, yum!
Pita
Black bean and vegetable salad

Dinner: (I'll let you know how it goes)
Chicken Alfredo pasta
Lettuce/Tomatoes
Olive oil salad dressing
Dinner roll

This menu is higher in fat, so there seems to be less food. I think I am going to be more of a volume eater, so I will have to find the perfect balance between all these menu flavors and my 1670 calories.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think you're right - dieting in general is really hard in our culture, where everything revolves around food!

Way to go staying with it! I'm very sad that 14 grapes is one whole serving. They're so little!!

Anonymous said...

CR Haiku

Pizza Done Forgotten
Wine Can't Wipe my tears away
Diet Till the END!

TE

melcookiemonster said...

only a few more days left...you can do it. then its 100 calorie snack packs to the max! happy purim!

aprilJoy said...

enjoy the weekend...see it as a challenge to your soul :) you will survive and be stronger for the experience. Maybe you can decorate eggs? I am going to decorate some of my own this evening....

Rock on, you can do it & then your choices begin Monday. I'll stay on the lookout for great low cal recipes!!!