2013-07-12

Husband Health Challenge, Day 2

Day two for my husband, Kevin's first week eating Nutritarian.... Went fairly well. We went to help with my church's Last day of Vacation Bible School and we happily ate fruit for breakfast, but when lunch time came around and our church started to set up for a community BBQ, the tempting smells of fried and grilled meats started wafting towards Kevin. 

In his words: "This is just torturous!"  To my surprise, Kevin was the first to crack into the soup and biscuits I had packed for lunch and made the day before. He didn't even take time to heat up the soup, but it was actually pretty good chilled, so we went with it.  

Since Kevin had to work in the late afternoon and early evening, I was on my own for going to the gym today. Kevin wrote down what I was to do on a scratch pad, and apparently he wanted to torture me just as badly as he was tortured at the BBQ (in a good way). Here was my workout:

10-15 minutes of stretching
30 minutes on the stationary bike doing the fat burner setting
100 jumping jacks
10 minutes resting and stretching
30 minutes MORE on the stationary bike doing the strength building setting
80 calf raises
250 crunches (sets of 50)
10 minutes stretching

In the end I was sweaty and exhausted, but felt more energized for our evening out dancing with friends. My abs are sore from yesterday, but it is nice to feel the muscle building there. Now I'm looking forward to what else he has in store for me for the rest of the week!

Here was our general meal plan for today:
Breakfast: bananas and apples
Lunch: chilled leftover broccoli mushroom bisque, veggies, fruit, baked beans, blackberries
Dinner: Mexican Quinoa (recipe below) and black beans in butter lettuce "tortillas", apple slices, fresh broccoli

Mexican Quinoa

Ingredients: 
1 small onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 fresh jalapeño, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1-15 oz can diced tomatoes
1-4 oz can diced green chiles
1 packet of taco seasoning
1/2 tsp liquid smoke

2 cups dry quinoa, rinsed

Directions: 
1.  Sauté the onion, bell pepper, jalapeño, and garlic until tender. 
2.  Placed the sautéed veggies and the rest of the ingredients (except the quinoa) into a high speed blender, and blend until smooth. Add enough water to bring the sauce up to 4 cups. 
3. In a large saucepan, stir together the rinsed quinoa and sauce.
4. Heat to a boil, then cover and simmer on low for 15-25  minutes, stirring every 5.  Take a taste to make sure the grain has cooked, and then remove it from heat and keep it covered for 5 more minutes. 
5. Serve with your favorite Mexican toppings and with or without taco shells (we used butter lettuce instead). 

Amy's Notes:  This recipe makes a lot.... A LOT!  This is great for having leftovers or feeding a big crowd. I added 2 cans of black beans to my recipe, but feel free to have yours plain or with any type of bean you like. Enjoy!

Have you ever tried quinoa before?  What is your favorite way to eat it?

2013-07-11

Carnivorous Husband Health Challenge (and My Gym Challenge) Day 1

Hello Readers!  It has been way too long since I have posted!  I realized I was on day 3 of week 5 of my 6-week Eat to Live health challenge the last time I posted, and for those of you who have been following.... To sum it up: I cheated and let things slip, I tried my best to stick with it, but then certain events came up including my birthday, having house (apartment*) guests stay for nearly a week, having a large basketball tournament downtown and eating on the go, eating out often with friends and family, and then a trip to the other side of the state for 4th of July weekend and staying with the in-laws. I'd like to think that I made the best choices I could in the situations I was in, but those choices ended up becoming further and further away from the Nutritarian lifestyle.  This is sad for me to admit, but we all have mistakes and setbacks and this was one of mine.  What do you tell yourself when you fall off the wagon?

In other news.... I have some pretty crazy news that I never thought I would ever hear: my very meat and potatoes carnivorous husband is going to try the Nutritarian diet.... For one week.... With a catch.... I will have to do everything he says at the gym for the week.  The reason this "deal" came about was when we had gone to our small apartment gym yesterday after not having worked out since all of the commotion that led me off of my 6-week challenge. I wanted to go because I was needing to read a bunch of blog emails and was going to power walk on the treadmill while I did. I thought I was being quite productive since I would normally sit my lazy booty in the back porch and do the same thing. Kevin, who went hard on the stationary bike, told me that when I go to the gym I should be dripping in sweat and pushing myself to work hard and improve. That is all fine and dandy, but not something I would normally do. 

Later on that evening Kevin decided to make me a deal: he would eat however I wanted him to for a week as long as I would do whatever he said at the gym for a week.  One week of hard working out to get my husband to seriously try eating Nutritarian?  I'M IN!  So this is what brings me back to blogging after my shame of not completing my 6-week challenge: documenting my husband's first tracks in Nutritarian shoes!


We started all of this today, and I have to say that it didn't go half bad. Here is how Kevin (and I) ate today:

Breakfast: Dr. Fuhrman Antioxidant Rich Breakfast Bar (find the recipe in Dr. Fuhrman's Member Center), 1 apple

Lunch: large romaine (me, spinach) salad with broccoli, cucumber, chickpeas and OMG Walnut Dressing (recipe from My Beef With Meat), 1 apple
Dinner: corn on the cob, Broccoli Mushroom Bisque (recipe in the Dr. Fuhrman Member Center), Better-Milk Biscuits (My Beef With Meat), sugar snap peas, and blackberries

Overall, Kevin was a great sport other than thinking the soup was way too bland, but he liked it with the biscuits I made. He said this was so much more food than he was used to eating (volume-wise), but that he liked the fruit. He was disappointed that today happened to be Free Slurpee Day and he wasn't allowed to have one. As for my hard work out, I was definitely sweating much more than I am used to at the gym, but feel energized and ready to go for tomorrow. 

I'm looking forward to the rest of the week and taking on new challenges at the gym and in the kitchen. My husband will not be the easiest person to cater for while eating Nutritarian, but I will make it work, and hopefully he has a longer list of vegetables and Nutritarian dishes that he likes by the end of the week.

Do you have any recipes you would suggest for a meat and potato guy going Nutritarian?  He loves broccoli, romaine lettuce, and cucumbers.... But not too many other veggies. 

Oh, and here are some fun pictures from our shenanigans over the last few weeks since I have posted: