You are what you eat, or something like that

When I am not exercising, my ability to eat well goes right out the window.  I don't fully understand why that is, because you'd think that if I am not exercising I really should be better about what I am shoving in my pie hole.   Today I downed an entire package of dried mango.  We're talking like 600 calories and 130 grams of carbohydrates in about 15 minutes.  OK, so there are worse things than binge eating mango, but if any of those worse things were within reach, I'd have eaten that too.

I have been wearing sweat pants or gym shorts for the last two weeks.   I fear the day I need to put on pants without an elastic waist.

It also doesn't help that my husband is in charge of preparing our meals while I am on the DL.  Not that he's a bad cook, but he's not as strict as I am about what it is that we eat.   Like, we probably wouldn't have had pizza three times in the last two weeks.   At least it was homemade pizza, I suppose.   And we also eat very late because he still needs to get his workouts in.  Dinner at 8pm means that I am snacking constantly until he can get a meal ready.  Thankfully, the meals I had prepped ahead of time and froze have gotten us out of a few way-too-late-to-cook jams... but we're already through most of it now!

Normally, I would do all the cooking.  I do what I call a "Sunday cook up" where I will prep as much of the week's meals as I can on Sunday. Sometimes I will even cook full meals so it's just a quick reheat for lunch or breakfast.  Sunday also includes getting some good snacks ready, so that when I am hungry, I don't devour 600 calories worth of dried fruit.   I keep track of everything I have in the fridge and the weekly meals with a magnetic white board.  I can get dinner on the table quickly during the week, so that I can get a workout in and still have dinner at a normal-ish hour.  I am anxious to regain control of my kitchen!

My basic rules for what I eat (you know, when not on the DL and eating everything in sight):
- Eat mostly fresh things that need refrigeration or have a quick expiration (i.e. not indefinitely shelf stable Twinkies)
- Limit things that come in packages
- And if it does come in a package, avoid gluten, dairy (ok, this one I cheat on too much), corn, soy, fake sugars, processed/added sugar

I tend to use paleo recipes because I know they will be gluten- and dairy-free.  I can't really call my diet paleo though since I have no real issue with rice or potatoes.

In June, our CSA will open and we'll have lots of fresh local veggies every week.  I love going to the farm!  It's a beautiful spot and it's nice to see where our food comes from and visiting with the cows and chickens.

CSA haul

Some of my favorite recipes:
Belly dance beet salad
Stovetop pork carnitas
Tricolor pepper steak - I make a few substitutions in this one, (like coconut aminos for the soy sauce) but the basic recipe is good
Pork medallions with cherries
Ginger beef with mango salsa
Southwestern frittata