Perfect Meal Plan Week 3 and Beyond

The most amazing thing happened during what should have been week 3 of my healthy eating plan.  I was upstairs giving the kiddo a bath when my husband comes in and says there is someone selling cookbooks at the door and he thought I might be interested.  We rarely buy things from door-to-door sales people and I was surprised that my husband didn't say "no thanks."  So I left the kiddo with him and went to investigate.  The young woman at the door was raising money for college by selling cookbooks.  I flipped through the first one expecting to find a bunch of meat recipes and was surprised to find that it was vegetarian.  I commented on this and the woman turned out to be a vegetarian too.  I would normally expect a salesperson to point out that the cookbook was vegetarian but she barely said a word.  I also noticed that all the cookbooks in her hands were different, but she only offered me this one.  Strange.  But mostly I noticed that the recipes looked tasty and healthy.  So I bought it.

Upon further reading, the cookbook was not only vegetarian, but it focused on cutting out oil, cheese, and butter exactly like my perfect meal plan.  The cookbook turned out to be vegan with the exception of honey.  It was also very religious, which I found odd.  Most Christians that I've met use the Bible to support eating meat, but this cookbook used the Bible to support being vegetarian.  I'm not very religious, but to find a cookbook that met my exact meal plan specifications right when I was complaining about the lack of appealing vegan cuisine seemed pretty miraculous to me. 

I've made about a dozen recipes from the book so far and all of them have been delicious.  I even relented and tried a recipe containing my arch nemesis: nutritional yeast.  The book explained that the yeast has a cheese-like taste, which is why it is so commonly used in vegan recipes.  As long as I think of it as just another seasoning, it doesn't bother me as much. 

The cookbook?  Seven Secrets Cookbook, by Neva and Jim Brackett

The recipes?  I don't think it is right to publish the actual recipes on the internet, but I'll tell you about the ones I love and you can check it out yourself.  That, however, is a future post.

I haven't lost any weight yet. In fact I've gained weight, but I've still been stress eating and not strictly following the cookbook so don't blame that.  I'm attempting to cut all sugar except honey out of my diet for the month of August as a detox program.  As my friend's bumper sticker says, "Sugar - the Gateway Drug."  I'm feeling slightly less stressed of late so hopefully I won't fall off the wagon again.

This post just reminded me of an article I read about how we only present our ideal self when posting information on the internet.  Well, let me come right out and say I'm a big fat failure when it comes to eating right and I think many people can relate so I won't hide from it.  But like a lot of people, I'm always striving to do better and be better.  Stories of failure can be just as motivating as stories of success.  

Perfect Meal Plan Week 2

I know I'm very delinquent in following up on this.  Here is my excuse.  About halfway through week 2 a decision was made that stressed me out so much I was driven to my go-to depression fixer: sugar.  I don't want to talk about the details in blog format, but let's just say that I've been very busy trying to remedy the situation and am therefore quite behind on blogging and too busy to come up with another perfect meal plan.  Here, however, is a list of what I had planned for week 2.

Breakfast:
Almond-Raisin Oatmeal (Modified from week 1 oatmeal recipe)

Baked Eggs (See week 1 for recipe)

Lunch:
Black Bean Soup with Avocado Salsa

Snack:
1/2 cup cottage cheese
1 Banana
10 pecan halves

Dinner:
Smokey Quinoa with Mushroom

I found this week's meals much more suited to my personal tastes.  The soup was a bit on the bland side, but overall no complaints.