A Little Red Cabin

We’ve reached the end of day one. So, how did I do? Here is my food log for the day. My 2 year-old brought some grapes to share with me in bed as I was getting up but I only ate a half a dozen or so along with half a dozen candy corns as well. (It is only 2 days after Halloween after all) Here is my breakfast:

Breakfast Day 1

Lunch Day1

A couple of steam-fried eggs (yes, from our own chickens), a half of a grapefruit, and a bit over a 1/2 cup of sauteed chard with some diced bacon and a glass of milk. The chard started out as 2 cups of loosely packed leaves but it really cooks down. For lunch I had a cup of arugula with a diced tomato, a small wedge of diced green pepper with cottage cheese and lemon pepper on it along with a glass of fresh juice made from 1 orange and 3 carrots. My dad moved recently and left me a Jack Lalanne’s Power Juicer
so I thought I would give it a try. It worked much better than the cheapo juicer I had that I got from good will a few years ago. In the afternoon I snacked on some tortilla chips and salsa mixed with sour cream along with some more Halloween candy. I spoiled my dinner majorly by eating an apple…dipped in caramel and chocolate. I had a bunch of melted caramel leftover from the Halloween party we had and I really couldn’t waste it, could I? For dinner I had spaghetti made with Tinkyada Brown Rice Spaghetti. I’m watching my gluten intake for the time being and the brown rice pasta seems to be the best substitute I’ve found. I’m not on a gluten-free diet right now, though I’ve considered it, but I do watch my grain consumption, particularly processed grain and the brown rice pasta has the added advantage of being whole grain. I topped the pasta with spaghetti sauce with ground pork mixed in (from the pigs we raised last year), a cup of green beans with a bit of butter and Parmesan cheese, and 1/2 cup of mashed sweet potato with a touch of butter, brown sugar, and pepper.

Dinner Day 1

So how does that add up?

Fruit:

1/2 grapefruit= 1 serving

Juice of one orange= 1 serving

1 apple= 1 serving

plus a few grapes

Veggies:

2 cups of chard= 2 servings (even though it cooked down to only about 2/3 cup)

1 cup of arugula= 1 serving

1 diced tomato + some green pepper= 1 serving

1 cup green beans= 2 servings

1/2 cup mashed sweet potato= 1 serving

plus the juice from 3 carrots and the spaghetti sauce for a grand total of 10 full servings of fruits and veggies today! Hooray, I did it!

Surprisingly, I’m actually really full right now though that is likely in part due to all of the Halloween junk I ate today. Which is an important point to remember; if you are eating a lot of junk there simply isn’t room left to consume as much produce as is required for health. I’m still a bit confused as to what is considered an ideal serving size but this isn’t really about being exact; it is more about just consuming a lot of vegetables. I’ll be back tomorrow!