Let’s Eat (every meal out of the house!)

Not because it was too much “work” or hard to do, but because….

BUT that is exactly why I knew I had to follow through.

One of my biggest challenges with food in the past has been falling prey to what I call, “The All or Nothing Effect”.  Most people who have ever struggled with their weight, know exactly what I am talking about!  As soon as you eat something that does not align with what your idea of a “perfect diet” is, you decide there’s no point in trying to eat well OR work towards your goals SO ya throw in the towel and eat whatever ya want and then some because, well after all, you are a big fat failure anyway so you may as well eat cause at least that feels good (or at least for a moment it does!).

Oh yes.  This was SO me (and still a mentality I struggle with at times).

Learning to let this mentality go has been a process of learning to surrender the idea of trying to be perfect in life.  Ultimately it has very little to do with food and everything to do with learning to ride the wave of life. – BUT this a whole other story that I promise to talk more about in the future BUT for now, let’s take a look at my efforst to “Eat clean” on the road!

BTW – spending two days in a hotel in Santa Monica is very much like being on vacation so when I say “every meal out of the house” think “every meal out of the house on vacation” NOT “every meal out of the house at the office” – there is definitely a difference, don’t you think?

First things first.  My morning started off  as it alwas does.  With my beloved COFFEE.

Oh. How I LOVE my coffee.  Technically it is a shot of expresso that I hold down for a longer time to make an americano (expresso w/ water) then I add 1/2 cup of unsweetened vanilla soymilk (warmed in the microwave) and 1/2 tsp of maple syrup.  It’s so good.  I think about my morning coffee when I am going to bed at  night….  I absolutely LOVE it!

After I finished my coffee I made half an Ezekiel English muffin with 2 tsp of almond butter and a sprinkle of cacao nibs.  (coffee was at 5:30 am – English muffin was at 6 am).

By 8 am the “carpet guys” had arrived and we had officially leave the house for the day.  What to do at 8 in the morning??  GO out for breakfast of course.

Now my plan was (and my brain was saying) egg whites w/ veggies but my body was wanting something richer and more indulgent.  I thought about it and decided to listen to my body and eat s-l-o-w-l-y (another habit I’ve been working on).

I went for the All American – 2 eggs scrambled soft, 2 slices of bacon (the real deal – not turkey) and 2 slices of french toast.  (this was at 9am and I was HUNGRY!)

And I shared a side of strawberries with the hubby:

I ate most of the eggs and just about all the bacon and one piece of french toast which I dipped into maple syrup.  Here’s what was left:

It was deeeelicious.  Oh and I also had a cup of decaf:

Then lots and lots of walking with Katie (Did I mention we left the house at 8 am but could not check in the hotel until 4pm and did NOT have a car).  Oh yes.  We did lots of walking today – I would say 5 miles EASILY.

Finally at 1pm I met a friend and Beng (my hubby) for lunch in Santa Monica.
Beng and I shared a grilled halibut sandwich with fresh shaved fennel on whole grain bread and a side of broccolini.

I decided to eat my half of the sandwich “open faced” since I knew we were going to be doing lots of eating out today (I figured every little bit helps!).

This was yet another deeeelicious meal but I must admit, I was far from full when I was done.  I was definetly looking for a little something more.

Enter Urth Cafe (World’s most amazing coffee!!).

I ordered a small skim latte BUT of course Beng ordered a big fat peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie that was calling my name.  SO i had a little piece with my joe… it was as yummy as it looks!

Then I was off for some more walking and a bit of shopping on Main St. in Santa Monica.  Mostly shopping for Katie… they have some great fun stores on Main.

Finally 4pm rolled around (and I’m not complaining b/c I had a blast strolling around Santa Monica all day) and we checked into our room.  Once I sat down, I was beat and hungry, but dinner wasn’t going to be for a while SO I reached into my bag for a snack (at the very least I usually keep a bar on hand).

I was only planning on eating half but the whole thing went down way too easily!

Around five we went out to run a few errands and check on the condo (and the carpet – which is looking amazing!) and then it was time for dinner and past Katie’s bedtime so we made it simple and snappy.  We opted for a stand by… Chinese.

Sadly the batteries on my camera died and before I remembered thatI could snap a picture with my phone I ate a cup of hot and sour soup.

Then for dinner we shared steamed chicken and broccoli with the sauce on the side and braised green beans with ginger and jalapeno (to die for!).

Whenever I am in front of “family style food” I always try and make my plate.  This prevents me from mindlessly eating and going back for seconds and thirds. 

As much as it pains me to share this horrid picture taken with my phone, it’s all I got, and I want to give you the visual of the serving size:

It was perfect and super tasty!  I also had 2 slices of orange and a fortune cookie that did not get photographed.

Once we got back to the room, I had to get Katie to sleep ASAP b/c we had pushed her boundaries to the max!!!  After a nice big fat bottle, she fell asleep on me…

I mean seriously…. does it get any sweeter than that?

Oh wait!  Yes it does… because once K was sleeping, I gently placed her in her crib, poured a glass a wine, chatted with the hubby, wrote this post and snacked on one handful of cashews:).

So there ya have it – my far-from-perfect-efforts-to-”Eat-Clean”-while-out-of-the-house-all-day photo journal post!!!

I may have to do this more often – not every day – perhaps once a week – hmmmmmm….

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