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February 27, 2009
Triplets
It's official folks. It's triplets. I now have three campaigns, running at the same time, for a total of over 1500 nurses.
Yes, it's going to be a good year.
That being said, it is obvious why I am so busy. SOOOOOOOOOOOO busy. Can't write. Can't talk. Can't deal with anything.
1400 challenge -- went okay but fell off on two days, due to not planning well. Very bad combination: very hungry, no pre-packed food, very delicious food in the conference room at work.
More when I can...
Posted by april at 5:12 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 15, 2009
1400 Challenge
1400 is kinda like my overall calorie goal. If you think that 1400 is a high number of calories, you have no idea how much you eat. Either that or you very rarely move at all and have no muscle mass. I suspect that 1400 is too low for me as an average, but as a quotidian number that I can diverge from on occasional out-eating days, it's a good number... I think. Even after these years I'm not 100% sure. Unless you weigh and measure everything, everyday, it's hard to know.
Meanwhile, I need a shot of super charged energy to get through all I have to do at work. So I am going on the strict end of CR, not eating anything un-measured, for a week. Sunday to next Sunday. Next Sunday I have a potluck supper so I'll eat whatever there. But this week: strict. I know that dropping my calories gives me energy... fast! It's an amazing trick.
So today I'll be packing up all my food for the day, unless maybe I decide to treat myself to a Subway Club salad. I'll let you know how it goes.
I'm also keeping up with yoga, hitting at least four days a week. Today I probably won't have time to take yoga, and I'm sore from the last three days' classes. But tomorrow I should be back.
Anybody feel like doing a calorie goal challenge with me for a week? It's always nice to have company!
Posted by april at 7:28 AM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
February 14, 2009
The Quick Coleslaw
Took yoga. Meditated. Went to work. Spent an hour and a half on a conference call afterwards and then on several other work calls. Made dinner. A boring dinner. Coleslaw with cauliflower, mozza, etc. Not fancy, but last night's dinner was fancy enough for Valentine's Day.
I got up at 4 this morning. I have to work until 1 am. Luckily a co-worker carpools with me and will be driving home. I'll get home at 2 and I bet I won't be to sleep till 3. So that's a 23 hour day.
I was supposed to get a nap, but this conference call that was delayed by half an hour and took an hour and a half, ate my nap.
So dinner is a simple coleslaw. Cabbage, cauliflower, Walden Farms' Russian dressing, dill pickle relish, nonfat mozzarella, olive and flax oil. A little eggwhite to bump up the protein. Cruciferous delicous, and quick and easy. Took me about five minutes to prepare.
I would really like to sleep at some point, but that point is about nine months from now.
Posted by april at 3:56 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Stuffed Peppers of Love
I've hardly been home at all... work is really crazy, and guaranteed to remain so for months if not years. But last night I was able to spend the evening at home and make a Valentine's Day dinner for MR. I'm hoping to steal away from work briefly tonight to make dinner again, as it is the real Valentine's Day, but I have work from 12 - 3 and then again 10 - 1 in the city, so we'll see...
Last night's dinner was a stuffed pepper of love. Or at least that's what I called it. I stuffed a red pepper with tomatoes, basil, oregano, non-fat ricotta, and a dash of red wine vinegar, then topped with non-fat mozzarella. It was served in a nest of cheesy vegetables: asparagus (sorry Davy Arizona, but I can still eat asparagus when you're not around!) topped with red wine vinegar, capers and FF mozza on one side, zucchini topped with Walden Farms marinara and FF mozza on the other. 100 g eggwhites with marinara on the side to up the protein a bit. MR is doing a bit of methionine restriction so I'm limited to 100 g eggwhites a day, thus the added emphasis on dairy sources of protein. On the side I made him a cucumber salad marinated in cider vinegar with one of our hotter than usual chili powders and chipoltle Tabasco and avocado. Plus olive oil and flax and his usual dose of pinot noir.
Eating has been a challenge, with spending so much time out and a super messed up sleep schedule, but I'm doing okay, still gradually losing weight. Having a hard time staying consistent with my calories, but getting better there too. Avoiding eating out really helps on that score. My super high protein casseroles have been a tremendous help. They give me just the boost I need to get through a very long day and night. The one with Trader Joe's Harvest Hodgepodge veggie mix is definitely the best.
Off to get some work done before yoga and then more work...
Posted by april at 2:38 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 9, 2009
It's A Thin Line Between Casserole and Fritatta
"What distinguishes that from a tatta?" asked MR as I removed my "casserole" from the oven.
"The cream of celery soup," I answered, though I had doubts at the time. The dish is clearly a souped up fritatta. Eggwhites, veggies, spices, and a can of 98% fat free Campbell's Cream of Celery soup, topped off with nonfat mozzarella and baked. Then add flax or olive oil after removing from heat. That's right folks, I am making imitation covered dish casseroles. And they're really, really good.
I made up a big casserole dish of the first one with frozen cauliflower and broccoli last week. While it was a bit watery upon removing from the oven (the veggies release all their water while they cook) five minutes in the microwave solved that problem. And it reheats perfectly, so I had about five servings of a high protein, high cruciferous veggie meal. I will definitely be making the casserole/tatta again. Today, in fact. It's the perfect thing to pop in the microwave while I'm getting ready to go into the hospital for the 10 pm - 1 am shift. All that protein holds me and keeps me from eating the conference room food.
Yesterday, in some ways, I lucked out. I was running late getting ready for the evening shift... due to schedules and being out of town for a friend's wedding, I hadn't been on late night conference room shift in about a week, and I am solidly back on my normal sleep schedule (more like 9 pm to 4 or 5 am.) So last night I tried to lie down for forty-five minutes before heading out to the hospital, but by the time I fell asleep it was time to get up again, leading to that situation where I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed and went in but didn't have time to eat a snack. So I got to the hospital hoping that there would be those little sandwiches that I take the meat out of and throw away the bread. A few slices of turkey can hold me quite comfortably for hours. However, there were only cookies and brownies, which I can't eat as sugar gives me anxiety. So I avoided eating all together, and will know in future to bring my cottage cheese in with me even when I'm running. Cottage cheese is so easy to carry on the go, especially in winter when in this part of the world you can leave it in the car and it stays plenty cold.
Sorry I haven't written much lately... work is so busy that I haven't had any time at all. Been keeping up with yoga and Pilates off and on, doing a lot of stuff at home but catching fewer classes than I'd like.
Today I'm pulling together my second casserole creation. This one may have cream of mushroom soup... 98% fat free version. "Suburban Mom Food" one of my organizers called it.
Posted by april at 6:01 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
February 1, 2009
Comfort Casseroles
Sorry I haven't written... my flight was delayed by an entire day by weather, and when I got home I had to plunge immediately back into work. Now it's the middle of Saturday night and I'm having a familiar Saturday night date with my computer, as I can't sleep. My sleep schedule is extremely messed up by spending late nights in the hospital (for work, I'm not sick!) and I was never that good at sleeping to begin with.
The funeral was a very good service. We gathered for a family luncheon in the church fellowship hall beforehand, and my Aunt Ruth's church Circle prepared a lovely meal for us. When the pastor said grace, she mentioned that Ruth had made dishes for this kind of meal too many times to count. The love of all of those churchwomen for Uncle Tom, Aunt Ruth, and our entire family was evident on all their faces as they set out the dishes on the buffet and circulated serving iced tea (both sweet tea and un) and waters. The meal itself was one of the best I've had in a long time. It was the classic Methodist church covered-dish supper, at least for the South. Slices of ham for the main dish, and then a huge buffet table of every kind of casserole imaginable. All my old favorites: broccoli and rice, green beans and cream of mushroom soup, scalloped potatoes and mushrooms, and many, many more. They were all deliciously creamy, and seemed to embody the notion of "comfort food." In addition to the casseroles, there was a salad, a fruit salad, a bean salad, corn, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, and a huge table of desserts, including that old Southern favorite, red velvet cake. I skipped the desserts and had a second helping of "dessert casserole" instead.
I got to thinking about how to make a CR-friendly comfort casserole. It would be fairly easy to substitute fat free or lowfat soup for the traditional cream of cream soups that hold an old-fashioned casserole together, and you could also use fat free sour cream or fat free cream cheese to increase the creaminess. Casserole vegetables like mushrooms, green beans, broccoli, and carrots would be just fine as is, and cauliflower could substitute (sorry Rachel! I really do love mashed cauliflower, but in a casserole it would be a substitute) for potatoes. Quorn grounds could easily substitute for ground beef and nonfat cheese for regular. Coming up with a crispy topping to replace the a) breadcrumbs or worse b) fried onions (yikes! I just wrote unions! I do love my work, really I do...) is a bit harder. I tried to make a Quorn stuffing last Christmas and while I liked the product, it wasn't stuffing. Also, replacing the rice or pasta that tends to show up in these casseroles is a challenge. I liked Minicronnie's concept of Ophelia lasagna, and I often make lasagna without the pasta, though I never linked it to Hamlet before.
I may try my hand at a CR-friendly comfort casserole, something I could heat up in small portions all week. Suggestions are most welcome.
The funeral was a beautiful service, attended by maybe 400 people or more. You could see how many lives my Uncle Tommy had touched. You could also tell that his family was not at all ready to see him go, and that 77 was way too young for him to leave us. Unlike my grandfather's funeral after he died at 93, this funeral had a sense of possibilities lost. It made me sad to think that my uncle won't live to see his granddaughters' weddings. His grandchildren loved him so much, and one of the granddaughters who is 13 gave a remembrance of her grandfather. He died the day after her birthday.
I was proud of my entire family for coming together and crying. My uncle Gerald, my father's closest in age brother, looked pale and tired. He's 70, and I'm sure it was quite a shock to lose one of his siblings. My aunt Nancy had a terrible case of shingles (she must be in her mid-seventies somewhere though she could easily pass for a woman in her fifties when she's feeling well) and seemed to be in horrible pain. My grandmother was pretty as a picture, as always.
My father is exhausted from working extremely hard as a church pastor. He loves his job, more than he's ever loved any job in his life, but his hours are crazy (and that's a lot coming from me!) and he's having trouble carving out time to rest, relax, or exercise. He's had a bad case of bronchitis that he can't seem to shake for over two months now. My father used to be the kind of person who worked hard but played hard too, and always made time for a long walk in the park, a glass of wine with dinner, and trips to the beach with my step-mother. On the way to the airport at 3:45 on Thursday morning, we talked about his health concerns. I urged him to *not* wait until he has a heart attack to start taking care of himself again. Maybe we were all shaken by the death of the first of my grandparents' four children, but I made it clear that I have no interest in attending my father's funeral anytime soon.
The irony is that throughout my twenties, my dad identified me as a workaholic and said I should take more time off, take care of myself more. I wasn't a workaholic: I just loved my work and wasn't that interested in much else. I get so much satisfaction both from the job itself and from the friendships I have with my co-workers that sometimes I don't need much else. But in my 29th year it all seemed to spiral out of control and that was when I took up CR, as both a health project and a hobby. Nowadays it's my dad who has trouble balancing health with work. And he's not making it up: a large church has so many needs that you could never fulfill them all, no matter how many hours you worked. The work is emotionally draining, physically demanding, and often requires one to eat a lot of unhealthy food. I can eat a casserole dinner once every few years, but my dad goes to things like this at least weekly.
I'm very glad that he and my step-mother have joined a gym and are attending a "Senior Stretch" class, which sounds kinda like a yoga class without the "Om." On Tuesday night I ended up teaching a sort of impromptu yoga class in the living room. That was really fun. The power of yoga to heal the body and spirit is awe-inspiring. My fantasies of become a yoga instructor are becoming more and more frequent. Of course I'd never quit my job, but I could do it on the side... yoga for nurses? Yoga for organizers? Yoga for stressed out clergy?
I am excited that my father has enrolled in the Duke Clergy Health Initiative. I just read that clergy have one of the highest rates of heart disease of any profession. For all of you religious people out there, take a moment to consider what you can do to help your pastor/rabbi/priest/coven leader/whatever stay healthy. Instead of bringing a cake to the next church function, consider a fruit salad or a giant bean salad (we had an amazing one at the funeral luncheon, with kidney beans, chickpeas and lentils in a spicy vinegarette.) Invite your pastor to go for a walk in the park with you instead of meeting in his or her office. And remember that your church staff may be called by God, but they're human too. The demands of the job are overwhelming, and the kind of people who go into the ministry (just like the kind of people who go into nursing... or organizing... do you notice a theme here?) are the kind of people who will self-sacrifice until they have nothing left to give. I make my staff take time off because I know that some of them will keep working until they fall over (which reminds me... Jeannie needs some time off. She's so valuable to the organization that I have to make sure we take good care of her.)
I'm struggling to take care of myself in the midst of a truly insane work schedule. I do a job that is meant for a twenty-something, and I have to stay healthy enough to do it. On nights when I'm in the hospital till 1 am, I can't usually get to sleep until 3, and then MR wakes up at 5 and I can rarely sleep much past then. I've run many days in January on two or three hours of sleep. But I'm learning how to sleep better with the schedule, and also getting my yoga and Pilates in again. I really need to take class almost everyday to maintain basic physical and mental health. It is a wise investment.
My comfort food lately in the cold weather we've been having is salad soup. I take my usual salad (kale, collards, green pepper, mustard greens) and dunk them in a bowl of no-salt added vegetable broth, then I add 2 tbsps brewers yeast and cup of yogurt, plus a dash or two of No-Salt and sometimes a spike of Texas Pete hot sauce or low-sodium soy sauce. It's a very hot, creamy comforting treat, with all the nutrition of my regular salad. A cup of my nonfat plain yogurt gives me 40% of the RDA of calcium, and the greens are nutrition-packed. I also add a teaspoon of flax oil if it's dinner, and 50 calories of almonds if it's lunch. I may still be a refugee from the low-fat nineties, but I'm learning!
Okay, back to bed... visions of casseroles dancing in my head...
Posted by april at 1:12 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack