Day 11

I'm not doing very well with blogging my food on here. I have been inputting the data in crono-o-meter, but have just been really busy these last few days to copy the screenshots and post them here. As a small summary, I will say that I've been averaging 50g of fiber the last 3 days with about 1600 calories each day.

Today I managed to do all right, but I seemed more hungry than usual. I was out all day with my family, going to a place where I knew it would be tough to get compliant food. I stopped off at the grocery store before meeting my family and picked up a bag of sugar snap peas, a mixed bag of raw broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots and some hummus (not compliant, had oil in it). But I was in a rush this morning and didn't have any food I could whip up and bring with me. I was happy that I woke up early enough to get in a short workout before meeting everyone.

I had forgotten to bring water with me though and was pretty dehydrated by the time I got home, around 4:30 pm. I had a huge headache by then.

7:30 am - swim: 0:45

9:30 am - shredded wheat, 1/2 cup blueberries, almond milk

1:30 pm - 12 oz bag of sugar snap peas, most of the carrots from the mixed veg bag, some hummus

4:30 pm - breakfast bar (not compliant either)

7:00 pm - 2 cups brown rice with kale, cheezy sauce, rest of the broccoli/cauliflower mix

8:15 pm - hungry still. 2 cups shredded wheat, soy milk

cron-o-meter report:

Pretty high on the caloric intake today. I shouldn't have eaten the breakfast bar, but I was starving on the way back from our excursion. Perhaps I should have had some starch at lunch time (I wish I had heated up a potato this morning!). 98% of targets met and 67g of fiber. OK, but could be improved.

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Shredded Wheat?

I was talking to a girlfriend recently about my recent constipation problems due to the pregnancy and she suggested shredded wheat.  She said she had similar problems while pregnant but once she started eating shredded wheat for breakfast, she was fine and the problem went away.

Hmmmmmmm.

I haven't eaten cold cereal in a long, long time.  The problem is I love cold cereal and never seem to feel full after eating it... so I can eat bowls and bowls... I don't have that problem with oats, which is why I switched years ago.  Plus commercial cereals are so expensive these days.  What does a box of cereal cost now, $4?  A box of Post Shredded Wheat is 16.4 oz which is a little over a lb.  So 1 lb of this cereal costs $4 whereas I can buy 1 lb of oats for $1 (sometimes less, sometimes more).  That's over 4 times as expensive!

I looked up the nutritional labels for Post Shredded Wheat and also Post Shredded Wheat and Bran.  They have 5 grams and 7 grams of insoluble fiber, respectively, per serving.  Insoluble fiber is the one that helps with constipation.  Oats apparently do not have as much of this: 2g soluble, 2.3g insoluble in a 1/2 cup (dry) serving, which is what I usually eat in the morning.

So I purchased a box of Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value Shredded Wheat and it was surprisingly $2.69 with a $1 coupon, making it $1.69.  The box is 14 oz, which means it cost about 0.12/oz, which is $1.93/lb, a little less than twice the price of dry oats.  I figured I'll try one box and see if (1) I can contain myself to eating 1 bowl and (2) it makes a difference moving my food along better.

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Day 8

Very busy work day. I'm covering for a coworker while he's out on vacation for two weeks and it was hectic. Met a friend of dinner at Rubio's and ordered a bowl, but I'm sure elements had oil in it. I still haven't entered my food into cron-o-meter, but here is the log for today.

9:00 am - 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 T chia seed

12:45 pm - Cheezy kale soup, crustless quiche

6:30 pm - Rubio's: California veggie bowl: citrus rice, black beans, salsa, grilled veggies, guacamole, lettuce

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Chef AJ's Disappearing Lasagna

I finally got around to making this. I had put it off for a while because I knew it was going to take a loooooong time and I was having bad memories of staying up very late Christmas Eve to prepare the Engine 2 Raise the Roof Lasagna for Christmas one year. (Delicious, but not really appreciated by SAD-eaters which was disappointing).

I made the various components over the course of a couple of days: no oil marinara sauce in the morning (are there commercial no-oil brands by the way?), kale dip (made with spinach) in the afternoon, saucy mushrooms and faux parmesan (I used walnuts though) in the evening.

Then the following day, I assembled everything and baked it for one hour.

It was quite good! But, a little too salty for me. I am not sure whether this was because I used full-sodium tamari (all I had), or that possibly the marinara sauce I made was too acidic (it had a lot of vinegar in it). I served it on a bed of spinach, but actually found myself adding more spinach to it in order to cut the salty flavor.

Chef AJ's Disappearing Lasagna

2 boxes no-boil rice lasagna noodles (I used 1 box of whole wheat and just made sure I covered each noodle with sauce so it would cook properly)
6 cups no-oil marinara sauce

Kale Dip:
1 box extra firm tofu, drained and wrapped in paper towel to remove excess moisture or 2 15 oz. cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed (I used 1 19 oz box of firm tofu)
2 oz fresh basil leaves
1 cup pine nuts, raw cashews, or hemp seeds (I used cashews)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup low-sodium miso
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
2 pounds frozen chopped spinach or 1 pound frozen chopped kale (I used 2 lbs frozen spinach)

Saucy Mushrooms:
2 pounds sliced mushrooms
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup tamari
1 large red onion, diced

Faux Parmesan:
1 cup raw cashews or almonds (I used walnuts for the omega-3)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 T salt-free seasoning

4 oz can sliced olives, rinsed and drained (optional)

Faux Parmesan:
In a food processor, grind 1 cup raw cashews or almonds, 1/2 cup nutritional yeast and 1 Tbsp of salt-free seasoning, until a powdery mixture is achieved. If you like it more chunky, process less.

Kale Dip:
Make the filling in a food processor fitted with the "S" blade by adding tofu, basil, garlic, lemon juice, miso, nutritional yeast, nuts, and red pepper flakes. Purée until smooth. Add drained spinach or kale and process again.

Saucy Mushrooms:
In a large non-stick sauté pan, sauté chopped onion in 2 Tbsp water or broth until translucent, about 8 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Add garlic, mushrooms, and tamari and sauté until browned. Taste mixture, adding more garlic and/or tamari according to your taste. Cook until mushrooms appear to be glazed and there is no more liquid left in pan.

Pour 3 cups of the sauce in a 9" x 13" lasagna pan. Place one layer of noodles on top. Cover noodles with half of tofu/spinach mix, then with half of mushroom mix. Place another layer of noodles on top and add remaining halves of tofu and mush. Place one more layer of noodles on top and smother evenly with remaining sauce. Sprinkle olives on top of sauce and sprinkle with faux parmesan. (I omitted the olives and only used about 1/3 of the faux parmesan that the recipe made.)

Bake uncovered 375 degrees for one hour. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes: If you have time, marinate sliced mushrooms in tamari several hours in advance. Make sure top layer of noodles are fully covered with sauce.

Verdict: Very time-consuming (that was no surprise) but delicious! I would make it again for a special occasion but I can't see myself making this on a regular basis because of the time needed. I might just make the individual components like the kale dip and saucy mushrooms for other applications, which might also help me figure out what was too salty in the overall dish. This might be my favorite plant-based lasagna so far!

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Day 7

Ugh, I keep going to bed too late which makes it very difficult for me to wake up in the morning and workout. Tuesdays are a tough day to sneak in anything during the day because I have an evening class that runs until 9 pm, which also means I can't go outside for lunch.

A coworker has been expressing some interest in adopting a plant-based diet. He is pre-diabetic and is in a household where an older relative is diabetic (and eats terribly from what I understand). I've given him many resources and talked to him over the past few weeks about various topics but I'm curious to see what will actually happen. I am trying very hard not to be preachy and just volunteer information when he asks for it.

When I mentioned yesterday that I would be making a plant-based lasagna, he asked me if I could bring some in for him. I did but was also a little worried, because I generally don't think people should expect vegan, oil-free things to taste like the SAD foods they're replacing. Honestly I think they taste better :) , but different. He said it was "outstanding" and seemed to be impressed that plant-based food could be so tasty.

9:00 am - oatmeal: 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 T chia seeds

10:00 am - gigantic organic fuji apple

12:30 pm - Chef AJ's disappearing lasagna with 6 oz spinach

9:45 pm - another serving of lasagna

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Day 6

Stayed up too late last night again so I missed my workout. I should have gone at lunchtime.

9:00 am - oatmeal: 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 T chia seeds. I heated them up this time for a warm breakfast.



12:30 pm - cheesy kale soup, gigantic apple



I finally made a recipe that's been on my "to try" list for a while: Chef AJ's Disappearing Lasagna. I tend to make simpler recipes but was able to do this one because I made the components in stages: no-oil marinara one day, tofu-spinach filling and saucy mushrooms another day, assembly and baking today. It was pretty good, but too salty for me. I think maybe using full sodium tamari for the mushrooms (I didn't have any low-sodium) was the culprit? I ended up serving the lasagna on a bed of spinach but later found that since it was so salty, I just ate handfuls of spinach between bites to cut the salty taste.

7:30 pm - salad: romaine, spinach, red pepper, tomatoes, carrot, red cabbage, orange/hummus dressing; Chef AJ's disappearing lasagna with about 6 oz of spinach





Sorry, this was the first piece of lasagna out of the pan and I couldn't get it out cleanly. Looks more like "lasagna mess"!

cron-o-meter report:

100% of my targets met today (yay!) and almost 60g of fiber.

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Days 4 and 5

I had a bit of a health problem over the weekend (unrelated to the pregnancy) and spent most of the weekend away from home.

The good:
I tried running for the first time since being pregnant and whoa, I am SLOW. I'd like to continue to try to run as long as I feel good, since it's so much faster to run 3 miles than to walk it.

The bad:
Since I was away from home, I didn't really log my food, and I ate out most of my meals. I used cron-o-meter but am not going to post it, because it's not very accurate. I customized a lot of things on the menus (without dairy for example) but didn't go through the hassle of customizing the data in crono-o-meter.

Everything is back to normal health-wise, and I'm back to my healthy eating plan today.

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