Day... 1?

It's not day one.

Not by a long shot. But anyway... my friend has said that maybe I should think about tracking what's going on in this house as I re-integrate into America, job search, try to rehabilitate my parents off of the fast and frozen food life... (as a means to a memoir later on)... and menu records are one way to do that.

Don't worry, I don't plan to turn this into one of those macro-photos-of-everything-I-eat-all-day blogs. ;->

Breakfast:
2 cups Cheerios
1 cup skim milk
1 packet Splenda
1 piece Arnold Health Nut bread
13g JIF peanut butter
1 banana

Snack:
2 (large) mugs coffee
1/2 cup whole milk between the two
2 packets Splenda

Lunch:
2 sandwiches (using Thomas' mini pita pockets, thin-slice deli turkey & ham, Swiss cheese, brown mustard)
Large salad (mixed spring greens, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes)
2 Tbsp Raspberry vinaigrette with poppyseeds

Snack:
Handful of raw almonds
1 piece of Lindt 70% cocoa chocolate
1 string cheese

Dinner:
Oatmeal chicken
Mashed potatoes (instant - still clearing out the cupboard stocks) w/ instant chicken gravy
1 cup Broccoli
2 cups canned peaches in juice

Snack:
1/3 bag Butter Lover's popcorn (again, clearing out the stocks... will switch to natural stuff later!)
Celestial Seasoning's Sleepytime tea


Exercise:
50 minutes Zumba


I've moved the good digital scale into the bathroom, finally, so I'll work on posting my weight tomorrow. I'll measure on the weekend. :)

New Name, New Goals

Fat and Back Again... Wanderlust and Weight

I have been home for almost three weeks exactly. That dubious anniversary comes tomorrow, actually.

Things have been a bit of a mess. I won't lie. Living with others is something that I am simply not used to anymore (nor ever wanted to be again). Living with people forces you to be at least somewhat dependent on house-mates (relatives or not) for at least some support and cooperation.

While my house-mates (my parents) have been trying, much of it is with false gusto, forced smiles, and unhappy stomachs. I am dealing with VERY American palettes (too much sugar, too much salt, too much flavor/sauce/etc. on everything) which are unwilling to try new things. Hands reach for salt shakers or sweetener packets before even tasting what's in front of them. I have to resist the urge to smack them away. After all, I am not the parent.

One of the first things I bought when I got home was a lovely bag of organic quinoa, excited to have easy access to this superfood ingredient that I couldn't get in Japan. I haven't made it yet. I'm terrified to. If I have a slightly off result (as I did with the cous cous I made, because it had to sit on the stove in the pot for 20-minutes before we ate it), they'll never touch it again. I love it and I don't want that to happen... but I don't have enough experience with it to know for sure that I won't have a recipe failure.

Successes so far:

- Adding oatmeal to the weekly breakfast menu 2-3 times/week

- Reducing household restaurant/pre-fab meals to less than 3-4 times/week

- Integrating fruit and vegetables and other natural-type things into snack time

Failures:

NUMEROUS

Stay tuned.

I hope to start posting meal plans/menus here... and I hope you'll keep following my struggles back in the land of the large.