I still feel great! I'm not ravaging yet and actually got some pleasure out of eating peppers and hummus. Yes, vegetables!

Day 1

Day 1 is always easiest... I feel like every Sunday is "Day 1" of eating healthy, but this time I'm writing it down.

No sugar today. In fact, I was so stuffed from the past 2 days of eating that I didn't need much of anything. I felt great up until dinner--well rested, I'd worked out for an hour, and hadn't eaten too much-- but then I went to dinner with my dad since we were supposed to have plans tonight. I tried to be healthy by getting chicken fajitas at Friday's, but I'm pretty sure they were fried and coated in oil. I've never ordered them before... Oh well. I tried.

My sugar cravings are bound to return tomorrow. They like to make appearances after hibernating for a whopping 24 hours.

So here it is.... I'm not eating sugar for one week. ONE WEEK.

....so now that it's out there, I have to stick to it with motivation from blogs like this:

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=2132908656488658042

The Little Arm That Lives in my Stomach...

Ok, so this has been the least consistent blog that I, or anyone, has ever written. I know that I need to write and I know I have a gazillion ideas that have to do with money, food, etc. that I want to share. For now though, I need to stop trying to narrow down the topic of it and just use it as MY blog. Not define it as a money-saving blog or a recipe blog, or a motivational blog to keep me running and working out. No. This will be whatever I want it to be that day... maybe I'll even just find a blog entry of someone else's one day and just post a link to say "hey, I enjoyed this, and this was my inspiration for the day!"

Today though, I've just gotta vent. I am so disgusted by my roller-coaster eating habits and wonder why I tell people I eat healthy. There is this little arm that lives inside of my stomach that just reaches out without notice and grabs whatever it wants to eat. It's not me or my brain; it is this invisible hand. I swear. Last night was my mom's 50th birthday celebration (if that's what you call the 2 of us eating cake and drinking wine....) After dinner, I was just stuffed but had to have the chocolate cake that I baked, of course. We had 1 piece and I could not stop thinking about this cake until I had another trans-fatty filled piece. I wasn't even hungry for it!

So this morning, I made the long drive to my friend's bridal shower while telling myself that I would not, could not, eat any cake or sweets of any kind. I would almost throw up I was still so full and bloated from the night before. On top of that, I didn't get to run this morning to at least make myself feel better about it.

So 2 hours later, I'm sitting there with a second plate of desserts at this shower because they were so fabulous. "Better-Than-Sex" cake?! YUM. But of course, here I sit at home, looking up vegetable recipes.

I hate vegetables.

HATE.

I bet anything tomorrow I will eat super-clean and then Monday will spiral downwards again.

Thank you sweet Jesus for a physical job and a high metabolism.

Redefining "The Monthly Goal"

I'm still trying to find the right subject for this blog. I have so many interests but need to find something that will keep the attention of both you and myself. I'm an extremely scatter-brained human being, (much like one of my favorite bloggers who writes the positively hysterical Hyperbole and a Half)

This past year, I have taken a ridiculous liking to food that far exceeds my past interest. Documentaries such as "Food, Inc." have changed the way I view meat, and an assortment of books have taught me the good, bad, and ugly of every other food that we cross paths with.

I do a great deal of Googling to discover all that I can about food. Forget reports about what causes cancer today and will cure it tomorrow; all of those studies simply make me roll my eyes. Sometimes I will explore the hype about High Fructose Corn Syrup or other corn products in our foods. Today I researched about the source of Chipotle's meat (good news: it's semi-humane!)

I'm also an avid coupon-clipper and money-saver. My job, if you have read several entries before, is a sales rep for a major food company. This means that I am in and out of grocery stores all day, 5 days a week. It's a fascinating and scarring place to be on the other side of the curtain.

(One thing I am afraid to research? My own company. They are simply too big to do all good things!)

So, to define this blog, I will narrow it down to these things:

1) Nutrition and need-to-know facts
2) Any recipes that I try or come up with that may produce pretty pictures! (This is rare.)
3) Money-saving tips and stories for the grocery store (or other useful money tips)
4) Occasionally fitness, because reading/writing about it motivates me to accomplish my goals!

It would make sense to change the name of the blog, but maybe I will still try to incorporate goals into this, such as introducing a new food into my diet or saving a certain amount on my grocery bill (like past goals... I'm still doing $100/month!)

So it's one of those where I wake up at 6 for no reason, and I'm already WIRED for my day! I have to stop at a Kroger in a little bit to make sure we have enough product for our $1.88 cracker sale... even though it's supposed to be a work-free Saturday. Grrrr... but gotta do what the rep needs me to do in his stores while he's on vacation.

So yesterday I became obsessed with smoothies. OBSESSED. I have been making them for awhile because my hot apartment gets me workin' up a craving for ice cream or something cold and cooling, but then my fridge broke. I was suddenly in withdrawal of anything cold. The new fridge came yesterday, all my produce was sorta wilted and weird, so it all went into the blender. It came out black. Oh, gross. So I threw in a packet of Carnation Instant Breakfast and it magically made everything taste like chocolate. Delicious!! I didn't even put milk or yogurt or any sort of base in it, yummy yummy yummy. Can't wait to get some more fruits and veggies today at the market to make some more.

Off to eat a good breakfast and head to Kroger. Cookout later... what should I bring?

Confessions of a Food Obsessor...

Basically, I'm the most and least motivated person in the entire world. I get extremely excited about having a new hobby and finally having something that I will keep up with, and then I lose all that motivation a week later. So I think I will have to broaden the topics of my blog. From now on, it won't be just about goals, but about anything else I want to write about. Mostly it will be about food, exercise, or work (and I work for Kraft, so lo and behold! It will likely relate to food.)

I obsess about food. OBSESS. I think about it all day, and plan my day around my food. If I feel hungry at work, I completely slack and cut corners just so I can go home faster or get to my lunch in my car and eat. I know all of the stores I work that have samples and what days are more likely to have them. Kroger in Troy, Ohio? Fabulous bites of angel food cake and Lofthouse cookies. Kroger in Kettering? Pitas, cheeses, mini-sandwiches. Jungle Jims? California rolls! I grab one on my way in, and one on my way out.

Which is why for awhile I decided not to post anything in here. If my blog related only to food, then that meant that the one hobby I took up would also be about food instead of keeping me sidetracked. Also, I felt that I would be healthy and more creative with my cooking if I was showing pictures to the world. I felt that if I ate badly, there would be people that knew. That's a disadvantage to living alone... you know that only your dog sees you indulge.

Don't get me wrong. I still eat healthier than probably 95% of America but I have rediscovered my sweet tooth after taking a Wilton cake decorating class, and also because my hands are all over Nabisco products all day. (As we speak, I'm staring at an entire case of Oreo Cakesters that came home with me. However, this is the type of thing that will get distributed to neighbors or family rather than me opening a single box!)