July 26, 2019

Shortly before I got my butt kicked by some silks.

July 25, 2019

Delicious Greek sugar-free sour cherry pop.

July 24, 2019

Compound life

July 23, 2019

This is not an artsy shot – tonight was so humid that my phone was wet to the touch from a 5-minute walk.

July 22, 2019

Selfie time with the pups

FODMAP Diet – Week 5

This was my fifth week on the FODMAP diet.

Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
An explanation

Proposed Meal Plan

Breakfasts

  • Overnight Oats with blueberry milk, collagen peptides, peanut butter thinned to a sauce, and superfood granola.

Lunches/Dinners

  • This week I want to keep it simple – all I have planned is to make up big batches of veggies, a base to go with them (rice/quinoa mix), and make a spicy lime vinaigrette to go with everything. And rotisserie chicken. I’ve got that on hand.

Snacks

  • I had no plan going to the grocery here, just knew I was tired of the marmite rice cakes, the buckwheat crackers I bought last time were yuck, and I didn’t want to rely too heavily on fruit this first week back from vacation.

Actual Meal Plan

Breakfasts

  • Overnight blueberry milk oats with superfood granola & peanut butter.
  • Breakfast out at Eggspectations: Chicken, egg & fruit.

Lunches/Dinners

  • Batch cooked a big bunch of zucchini & carrots and had a bunch of ways with a spicy lime vinaigrette and rotisserie chicken.
  • Batch cooked some brown rice pasta – had with my favorite chili tuna.
  • Lunch out at Wagamama: A rice noodle and greens salad with carrot and lemongrass vinaigrette + chicken.
  • Lunch out at Chang’s: Spicy tuna sushi that was a frustrating semi-fail.
  • Cucumber/cherry tomato/cilantro/lime vinaigrette salad – also eaten as a snack.

Snacks

  • Fairly joyless buckwheat & chia rice cake crisps – joyless because I couldn’t for the life of me think of what to put on them that wasn’t either a ton of calories, contained dairy, or was too sweet. I’ll keep working on this issue and get back to y’all with some options.
  • A semi-fail green smoothie that looked compliant from the menu, but tasted like it may not be.
Monday: My post-yoga snack out tasted less FODMAP-friendly than it looked on the menu — buuuuut, it was pretty much the only thing that *was* FODMAP approved on the whole menu. Vegan places run on FODMAPs I’ve come to find.
Tuesday: Lunch was out and I was super pleasantly surprised that Wagamama actually had a compliant salad – aaand it wasn’t 1,000 calories. Win!
Wednesday: Took myself out for breakfast and had one of my standbys – grilled chicken breast, poached eggs and swapped potatoes for fruit.
Thursday: Got cocky. Went to PF Chang’s for lunch and figured there would be something I could have other than plain rice. I was wrong. Sushi was the only thing on the menu that was FODMAP friendly without trying to explain my drama through levels of English comprehension, and that even needed substations – no avocado – and I had to pick out hidden green onions. On the other hand, this was actually all the food I needed for lunch and I was happy I didn’t order triple the amount like I wanted to.
Friday: Smoked beef brisket and fries out; cucumber tomato salad and overnight oats in
Saturday: Grilled chicken and veggies for lunch; Thai flavored mussels & Belgian frites for dinner

What did I learn this week?

This week was all about getting back into the swing – again – because for some reason I completely lost last week and thought I had just gotten back from vacation. 😆

I was a bit cocky in my restaurant choices, not wanting to believe that the vegan place really *doesn’t* have anything for me (again. It didn’t when I was doing Keto, and it’s semi-difficult to eat Paleo there too).

I also need to leave non-Japanese Asian places alone. Garlic is building block #1 of Chinese food. And yes, it’s in everything. Usually with onions.

July 21, 2019

July 20, 2019

This chicken only gets odder the more you look at it.

July 19, 2019

Strawberry Milk Overnight Oats

This recipe came about because of a chance walk-through of a German grocery store, and the bottle of strawberry Nesquick that caught my eye in the UHT/fake milks section.

I loved strawberry Nesquick as a kid – it didn’t taste like strawberries, but pink milk was super fun to drink and pretty much the only way (other than chocolate syrup, marshmallow flavoring or whatever is in an egg creme) I would touch cow milk.

This actually tastes like strawberries, and bonus: packs a bit of nutrition.

Gluten-free, FODMAP

Strawberry Milk Overnight Oats

2 strawberries
1/4 c. dry measure rolled oats
That same measuring cup full hazelnut milk
Half that cup full of water
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Few grinds salt
1 scoop collagen peptides

Toppers

Peanut (FODMAP) butter thinned Out with a little water to the consistency of tahini
Hand full raw pepitas for crunch

Blend the strawberries, water and milk. Pour over the oats, vanilla, collagen peptides and salt. Shake or stir to combine. Let sit overnight. Serve with optional toppers.

Serves 1