After (nearly) one week on the Lunch Box Diet

OK so just about one week on with the Lunch Box Diet -- I actually started on Monday, not last weekend, but I don't want my official weigh in day to be Monday. It's easier on the weekends.

In any case -- as of this morning I'm down 1.6kg (3.53lb) from Monday's start weight. I'll take that. It's not the big 7 pound losses I'd read some were having in their first week, but none-the-less, I'm happy with that. The book arrived a couple of days ago and I actually read it in one sitting. It really didn't expand all that much upon the word document I'd found online, so I don't think anyone really needs to read the book to start this diet. Many pages were devoted to different ways to prepare vegetables. I think I've got a handle on that already. LOL Other sections gave advise for those that don't like veggies enough to graze on them all day -- such as only doing the diet a few days a week, or taking the weekends off. I've kind of done the latter -- Saturday is the day hubby and I always go out to lunch together. It's usually Subway or the Thai place down the road, and I didn't want to give that up.

I don't eat breakfast on Saturdays because we wake up later, walk the dogs, do some laundry and then go have our lunch. I have a foot long veggie patty sub with a bag of potato chips, so to keep the rest of the day on track I decided just to have some soaked muesli for dinner. I have a very small amount of that left so I'm soaking that now to have for Sunday breakfast, and then we'll go shopping so I'll probably graze the rest of the day.

As my salad spinner broke recently, we picked up a new one at the mall yesterday, so I'll be giving that a spin today. The first few box combinations had a gourmet lettuce mix, tomatoes, carrots, green peppers, sugar snap peas, and broccoli, and for the protein and dressing/fat portions I used leftover scrambled tofu & veggie sausage, or kidney beans mixed with salsa and Toffutti cream cheese. But the most delicious lunch box I had last week involved a grilled veggie burger cut into chunks and hummus tossed through my gourmet lettuce mix, tomatoes, shredded carrot, and grilled onion and green pepper. Usually all the veggies go in the box raw, but with the veggie burger, I thought it might taste nicer with the onion and pepper grilled, and boy was it nice! Especially with the hummus! I'd like to do that combination more often, so I think I'll make up a batch of home made hummus today. You get more for a lot less money, and I put way less fat in it. It's already got tahini in it (it's kind of like peanut butter made from sesame seeds instead of peanuts) which is enough fat, why do the commercial brands also add oil?

I'm planning to make a batch of Vegan Dad's hickory smoked veggie turkey lunch meat so I can slice or chunk that up for the lunch box. Breakfasts have been no problem, I always have muesli or soaked oatmeal with raisins or blueberries, and usually banana as well. It's dinners I need to work on more. Twice last week I had hot chips (thick fries) with vegetarian chicken-style nuggets, and even though I'm getting a lot of veggies in the lunch box, I still think I could have something better than fries for dinner. Maybe some more of those rosemary roasted sweet potatoes I made last week! Those are delicious and went into two of my lunch box mixes. They're so quick and easy -- since I only used 1 sweet potato in an 8" square pan, I found they were done after the initial 15 minutes, though the recipe calls for baking longer. Anyway, I'll post the recipe below.

So here's to another good week, hopefully -- as I said in a previous post, he's definitely right that I do not get hungry on this diet. As soon as I feel the slightest bit hungry, I look at the clock and realize it's been over an hour since my last graze, so I just bring out the box, grab a few more bites, and I'm good to go. One other thing I'd like to do in the coming week is drink more water -- less diet soda. Wish me luck. :)

Rosemary Roasted Sweet Potatoes
From The Good Carb Cookbook by Sandra Woodruff

5 cups (1/4" thick) peeled sweet potato slices (about 1-3/4 lb or 840g)
1 tsp dried rosemary
1-1/2 tsp crushed garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Place the potatoes in a large bowl. Sprinkle with the rosemary, garlic and salt, and drizzle with the oil. Toss well to coat. Coat a 9x13" pan with non-stick cooking spray and spread the potatoes evenly in the pan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake at 400 degrees F (205 C) for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 10 additional minutes. Turn the potatoes and bake for another 10 minutes more or until tender. Serve hot or cold.