One step forward, two steps back

Yesterday, I started the day with a rainbow: cottage cheese with red strawberry, orange nectarine, yellow banana, green grapes, and purple plum. It was delicious and kept me happy for most of the day.

I had bits of fruit and veggies through out the day. If I keep them ready and on the top shelf of the refrigerator, I eat them.

For dinner I had chicken with tzatziki sauce, modified from a recipe I got at Cinnamon, Spice, & Everything Nice. Since I didn't want to go shopping again, I served it over rice instead of in a pita. And I broiled it in the oven, along with squash. The sauce is great, and is now my official salad dressing. It has cucumbers and Greek yogurt, so my dressing has protein. YAY! The salad was grape tomatoes, shredded carrots, romaine lettuce, green pepper, cucumber, radicchio. (Yellow from squash --- another rainbow plus lots of green.)

I fixed my plate and ate half of it. I was feeling smug right up to the point I took a box of cookies to bed with me. Don't ask me what that's about. I haven't figured it out yet.

I have to remember that it's not just eating a rainbow. That's step one. I also have to choose good protein and not choose the crappy brown stuff. I mean, the cookies weren't even homemade. What happened to don't eat anything that doesn't taste really good?

Oh Well.

Today I try again, and it should be easier since I finished the cookies and the ice cream. (Forgot to mention the ice cream.) I may walk a little this morning. It's only about 95 now. Moving on... moving on...

Eureka

Although my husband still makes fun of eating the angel way, offering me Skittles and going into what he thinks are extremely amusing monologues about chicken being white and beef being red, he is caught.

"Here, eat this, it's blue," he'll say, passing me some radicchio from his salad.

"What color are the garbanzo beans?"

"Did you see the orange carrots?"

My whole family is now searching for colorful fruits and veggies to fill out my plate, and in the process, their own.

Bob has come a long way from the day he poked around a cheese & pasta dish I'd made searching for the meat. He will eat almost anything once. As he got older and since he quit smoking, he can't eat an entire fried chicken by himself. He wants lean meat, fresh veggies, and as little bread as possible. He no longer rebels at the sight of whole wheat pasta or brown rice, as long as it's suffocated by good low-fat (not no-fat) sauces, spices, and herbs.

I cannot stand to have people watching what I eat, but there is nothing better than having a partner in health.

Funeral food

Last night, we went to a funeral and to the supper afterward. The supper was put together by church ladies, and I must say, I love me some church-lady food.

As Bob and I sat down with our groaning plates, Bob grinned at me and said, "Did you see any blue food?" I said, no, but I think I got some of everything else. I realized later that there was no orange food either (unless there were shredded carrots in the chicken casserole).

There was plenty of green --- zucchini, cucumbers, broccoli, green beans, black eyed peas with asparagus --- for the heart. Some of the prettiest red tomatoes, home grown with care. But mostly, yellow food.

They had a whole lot of yellow food. Is it the time of year, or do yellow foods comfort people in time of sorrow?

Sweet corn, squash casserole, squash with zucchini & tomatoes in a vinegar dressing, pineapple congealed salad. I don't usually eat congealed salads, but the lady who made it was standing there, so I had some. It was delicious! I think it had whipped topping stirred in it. I didn't even look at the cakes after this wonderful dessert/salad!

There is something special about funeral food. Cooked by ladies in the church or friends of the family, it is made with the intention of love and comfort for people they don't necessarily know. Whether it is the fried chicken or the rice and sausage or the zucchini/squash/tomato/cucumber salad, it is truly food from the angels. How can it be anything else when it's prepared with so much kindness?