MAKING SOME CHANGES

I am having a hard time trying to figure out why I have to be whacked up side the head a dozen times with a sledge hammer to get the point. My body is in a health crisis and I simply just can not or will not accept it. As I had said in my last post, my numbers were all way off on my blood work that I had done last week. I know that I am going to have to take charge and do something about it or I might be kissing my rear in good-by. I guess the main problem is that I feel pretty good, I go to work every day and I'm 66 years old and I figure things start to deteriorate sooner or later.

I have decided that I am going to give it one more try and see if I can't develop a healthier life style for myself ( and John too, if he will let me). The problem with John is that he thinks you should be able to eat all the butter, eggs, cookies, cakes and pies that you can hold. He thinks it is ridiculous to buy skim or low fat milk, margarine or anything sweetened with splenda. I on the other hand am a diabetic and my triglycerides are out the ceiling and I HAVE TO MAKE SOME CHANGES. I am not trying to blame John, even thought it may sound like it. I am just trying to talk myself through this situation.

Right now I am in my third day of trying to eat better and cut out some fats, cholesterol, sugar and carbs. The first day I had Brand cereal and skim milk for breakfast, a veggie wrap for lunch and baked Tilapia and wild rice for dinner. Pretty much the same thing the second day. I also had a couple of oranges and an apple when I thought I couldn't make any longer.

This morning I fixed some oatmeal and skim milk for breakfast. We went out on one of our rambles today and ended up in Athens Al.. Of course we got hungry and of course we had to stop and get something to eat. We stopped at Jack's and got a salad. John got the crispy fried chicken salad and I got the grilled chicken salad. When John got back to the table the tray was loaded down. The salad was in one of those black with a clear top 32 oz. bowls, with a pack of dressing, a pack of croutons, several packs of crackers and extra honey mustard dressing for John's crispy chicken. Now I don't care how you stretch it that ain't a low cal meal. I ate the grilled chicken and about a third of the lettuce and veggies with some of the salad dressing and the croutons. If a dietitian figured the nutrition value, it would still have been more then I needed. At least it wasn't a cheese burger, fries and drink.

This evening for dinner, and I have a few pictures to document it, I think we ate pretty healthy.

The wrap consisted of:

1 flour tortilla

fresh spinach

red peppers

tomatoes

onion

1 oz turkey

1 teaspoon of lite dressing

I put cheese and extra dressing on John's wrap.

I also made this really tasty soup.

Do you remember those really large butter beans that everyone hated as a kid. Well I always loved them. That's my problem I like everything.

Butter Bean Soup:

1 can large butter beans

1 can chicken broth

1 small onion (chopped)

1 Roma tomato (chopped)

1 handful of fresh spinach

salt and pepper to taste

Cook on medium heat until onions, tomatoes and spinach are tender. This made a very tasty soup and went well with the wrap. It was a nice comfort food for a cold rainy evening.

Now I'm not going to bore everyone with a blow by blow description of everything I eat for the rest of my life, but I will probably occasionally post a follow up as to how I'm doing with this epic battle that I am pursuing and post some recipes that I find particularly interesting.