Day 2

Today I felt much more confident about making better choices because we actually have food in the house that contributes to healthy eating.

Breakfast: Cereal with milk. Special K Vanilla Almond cereal with 1% milk. I also sliced up half a banana and me and A split it between our cereal bowls. This was an extremely good breakfast.

Snack: Half a banana. I simply ate the second half of the banana we used for breakfast when I was feeling hungry later in the morning.

Lunch: Turkey & cheese toasted sandwich. I used two slices of whole grain bread, 1 slice of American cheese and 2 slices of medium-thick deli turkey. This is a common lunch item I have made in the past, so it was not difficult. However, instead of buttering the end sides of both slices of bread as I have in the past, I drizzled extra virgin olive oil on them. Then I proceeded to fry both sides of the sandwich on medium heat until they were toasted and the cheese had melted. This was an extremely good sandwich - and I did not taste a difference between using butter or olive oil, although I will say that my fingers got "greasier" than normal holding this sandwich. Will need to remember to cut back on the amount of oil used next time.

Dinner: Salmon, brown rice and stir fry vegetables. I cooked all of the food on the stove top. Brown rice was 100% whole grain. There was some left over so I will probably use it for a meal at lunchtime tomorrow. Vegetables consisted of yellow squash, red peppers and vidalia onions seasoned with garlic salt, Italian seasoning and olive oil sauteed in a skillet. I got involved doing something else and thus burned the vegetables a little bit - beginner's mistake. I will have to remember to keep the pan on medium heat rather than turning it up to high. I cooked the salmon in a skillet mixed with a little bit of olive oil as well. I'm finding myself thinking it is strange to use all of this olive oil for cooking, but then I remember that I was using butter in the same way before. What I do like about using the olive oil in place of the butter is that the fats in olive oil are much better for you, hence why nutritionists point to the Mediterranean diet as being healthy.

Treat: Brownie and small piece of banana bread. I made a pan of brownies today and I ate the equivalent of a small size brownie. (I was too impatient for the pan to cool completely, so I did a hack job at the corner.) Then I received a care package in the mail that included a couple of pieces of banana bread. In a way I feel that it is not a good idea to eat a brownie or a treat every day but considering that I have cut out around 450 calories and 120g of sugar a day by not drinking my typical servings of soda, I am not ashamed of letting myself eat a brownie and a bite of something yummy a friend sent me. However, I will not be making or buying any more treats to have in the house for a couple of weeks, as I also have ice cream in the freezer. That's too much temptation!

So far, A hasn't made a big deal out of the diet changes although he was a tad upset that he was asked to cut up vegetables for me tonight. I'm still not clear on how to do everything, so it's nice that he comes from a family that always made meals at home, eat a variety of vegetables, etc. I just honestly don't even know the simplest things, like that you should cut out the center of a bell pepper before slicing it. I am trying to not be discouraged by all of this and am just letting myself soak up the knowledge like a sponge.

No more Mountain Dew again today and I have been drinking water like crazy. I have gone through quite a few glasses! I will say that I haven't experienced any indigestion or queasiness from anything I've eaten today. I guess that time will tell on if I have any adverse effects to the introduction of more olive oil and whole grains into my diet - but I am hoping there are only positive things to come!