Set yourself up to win.

Yesterday, I set myself a menu. I stayed away from unnecessary bread and ate lots of vegetables, lean meats, and nuts. I packed my lunch so I would not be tempted to go out at work, and planned a nice healthy baked chicken breast dinner.

I stuck to it pretty closely for most of the day, until I got home a bit early and was waiting until it was nearly time for LL to get home so I could cook dinner. I thought "I'll just snack on some carrots and hummus while I wait" I brought out the bag of baby carrots and a tub of Trader Joe's Mediterranean hummus. This is an exceptionally tasty substance that comes with some oil and pine nuts on top. It also happens to contain fifteen 70 calorie servings in the tub.

Before I knew it, I had eaten 2/3rd's of the tub with half a bag of carrots. I actually said out loud "What on Earth did I do *that* for?" and proceeded to mindfully put away the hummus and carrots so that LL can have some at her leisure. I went on to cook a nice dinner of three color quinoa cooked with chicken broth in the microwave, steamed broccoli (Get yourself a steamer. Don't think. Just do it. A Steamer makes eating cooked veggies as easy as pouring water.) and baked chicken breast tenderloins.  All of these were seasoned with Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute, which is a really tasty seasoning blend that just happens to also be salt free. I am not against salt but, like Tylenol, I prefer it to be its own product, added separately.

I overcooked my chicken a bit, but it was only a bit dry. the quinoa came out awesome with minimal work and the broccoli was, well, steamed broccoli. I love steamed broccoli. Dinner was great and it made me feel better to eat specifically healthy after over consuming my snack food.

Imagine my surprise this morning when I tracked my day's calories and I find I was less than 6% over my (arbitrary) 2200 calorie limit! This felt like a pretty major victory to me. It means I am starting to correctly plan my meals and making choices on snack food that protect me from crazy over consumption. It felt as good as walking out of Trader Joe's the day before having put a package of cookies in my cart with the intention of snacking on the way home and immediately replacing them on the shelf.

Interesting Link of the Day: http://www.crockford.com/pwl/. I have not really done anything other than read this page of Mr. Crockford writing, but, even if it has no factual basis, it rings really true to the forces I feel acting upon my appetite. Demons from the Ice Age telling me to be lazy and eat because food may not be plentiful for long just about exactly describes my consumption urges.