February Temptations

February turned out to be a very tough month for my diet. Don't get me wrong, I didn't cheat, not even once, but it was hard. Very hard. And I did lose a little bit of weight, but not even close to the 10 or 12 lbs I was hoping for. Still, a loss is a loss, so I'm grateful. And I'm not giving up!

After my first month of healthy eating in January, I'd lost 16.4 lbs. During the entire month of February, I only lost 4.8 lbs more, for a grand total of 21.2 lbs. It's disappointing but, on the other hand, would I want those 21 lbs back? Not only NO, but HECK NO!

So I'm trying to take the long view. Even if I only lost 5 lbs per month for the rest of the year, I would still have shed 56 lbs by the time we go on vacation to Southern California in October. I could live with that!

I'd also like to share that my daughter is rocking her diet! So far, Sarah has lost 24 lbs in just 5 weeks. That's an average of almost 5 lbs per week! She is kicking my butt. And I am thrilled for her!

My dietary path was strewn with temptations throughout the month of February, and some of those challenges did affect my weight loss negatively. February started right off with seductive enticements and continued in that vein all the way through the month...

1. School District Training Meeting on Friday, February 5th

The district provided this tempting display of decadent sweets.

I knew there would be junk food galore at this meeting. There always is. So I went prepared, with a couple of sugar-free Russell Stover dark-chocolate pecan delights in my purse. As it turned out, however, I didn't need them because, nestled amidst the cupcakes, I found these little gems. I enjoyed my fill of berries and even splurged on a few bites of sweet, fresh pineapple (which is pretty high in natural sugars but otherwise healthy).

Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and pineapple.

2. Lunch at the Hospital on Wednesday, February 10th

Grading papers while noshing on chicken salad with pickle and tomato slices.

During my second marriage, I spent a a lot of time waiting at the hospital for my husband to undergo various surgeries and procedures, and now history is repeating myself as I find myself waiting at the same hospital for my first ex-husband, who is now my, uh, my--friend, roommate, boyfriend, fiance, significant other?--to have his heart procedures done. Over the years, I have come to equate this hospital time with comfort food from the little hospital deli or the cafeteria: croissant sandwiches, French fries, popcorn, an ice cream cone, whatever.

This time, recognizing that I'd start craving those things the minute I walked in the hospital door, I steeled myself to face down the temptations. I admit, the scent of popcorn made my mouth water and I was sorely tempted to eat something I shouldn't, but I stayed strong. After questioning the lady who'd prepared the chicken salad that morning and learning that it contained only mayonnaise, diced vegetables, and bits of dried cranberries, I settled for a scoop of chicken salad on lettuce instead of bread. It was quite yummy, and I nibbled at it for about an hour while I focused on working through a tall stack of freshman English study guides that needed grading.

3. The Nasty Head Cold, February 6th to February 19th

I had to wear this while at the hospital with Mark because of my cold germs.

Late in the evening after the district training meeting, I developed a scratchy throat. By the next morning, my throat was hot and red. Sinus pressure made my eyes ache and it hurt to swallow. I knew I was in trouble.

My biggest concern was the fact that the only thing that makes me feel better when I have a cold is to eat. I don't know if it releases feel-good endorphins or what, but I feel almost normal for about an hour after I eat something. And, of course, what I want to eat is never healthy. As a matter of fact, the one food that makes me feel best is Lay's Potato Chips. I can eat a whole family-size bag in two days when I'm sick. By myself. Really.

This was probably the biggest test of my commitment in 2016 so far. I'm relieved to say that I passed, but it was incredibly hard. I still ate constantly, which surely was a huge part of the slowing of my weight loss, but I only ate healthy foods. I made myself some chicken soup for a couple of days and I drank lots of fluids. In place of the potato chips, I snacked on mixed nuts. They were nicely salty, but they also irritated the back of my throat and made me cough, which was never a problem with potato chips. I had better luck as I ate my way through two baskets of strawberries over four days. Besides being high in vitamin C, the berries were soothing to my sore throat.

I made myself hot chicken-and-onion soup. No noodles! Just bouillon and spices.

One huge plus to sticking with healthy eating while I was sick was how quickly I was able to kick the cold. Keep in mind, I am now 61 years old. For more than a dozen years now, even a simple cold always progresses quickly to something worse, including bronchitis or pneumonia, and lasts for at least three weeks and usually much longer. Recovery had become a very slow process, losing sleep for weeks while fighting a brutal cough and trying to get my strength back. I'd begun to live in dread of the scratchy throat that heralded the start of a month or more of misery.

This time, though, the progression of the cold peaked at twelve days and then was almost totally gone three days later. A small cough hung on for a few days longer, but now I'm fine. It never did get as nasty as every other cold I've had during the past fifteen years or so. I attribute it to supporting my immune system by eating right. Everyone else I know who has caught a cold this winter has been knocked off their feet for weeks, so I doubt I merely got lucky enough to catch a mild strain. Healthy foods rock!

4. Valentine's Day on Sunday, February 14th

Sugar-free chocolates for me from my son and his friend.

We all know the challenge of dieting during the Valentine season. It's great that love is in the air, but there is also chocolate everywhere! No matter where you turn, you're faced with a beautiful red and pink display begging you to succumb to the creamy delight of chocolaty goodness, all in the name of romance.

Godiva dark chocolate with 72% cacao from Mark.

I would like to express my gratitude to my family for remembering my commitment, even at Valentine's Day. They each gave me sugar-free candies or low-sugar dark chocolate. The boys gave me a bottle of sparkling cider, too, but I drank only a few swallows and let them finish off the bottle. And I haven't even eaten all the goodies they gave me yet, almost three weeks later!

5. Traveling and Eating on the Road, February 19th to 21st

Meats and vegetables from the Golden Corral Buffet...

As I recovered from my cold, I faced my next challenge. My sister was getting married in the Valley, a three-hour drive from our mountain home, which meant a three-day, out-of-town trip for our entire family. Eating healthy while traveling is one of the greatest trials I regularly face, and usually I fail. This time, though, I was determined to plan ahead and prevail!

So during the two days before we left home, I cooked and baked low-carb foods that could travel well in an ice chest. I made deviled eggs for my breakfasts and I made low-carb sweets to enjoy at the wedding (see below). And I packed nuts and berries and cheeses for snacks.

...and strawberries for dessert, without the chocolate fountain drizzle.

One of the best things about this trip was that my older son and his wife drove all the way from their home in Utah to attend the wedding, so we got to enjoy spending time with them. It was their idea that we all gather at Golden Corral for dinner when we arrived in Mesa on Friday night. I cringed. Buffets are hard. To me, it's like asking an alcoholic to be content drinking soda in a tavern while everyone around you is gulping down liquor.

But I did it. I filled my plate with fish, chicken, beef, and pork, as well as non-starchy, non-breaded vegetables. It filled me up, tasted delicious, and I still had energy after that big meal. No carb crash!

El Pollo Loco has a nice avocado chicken salad.

But that still left the rest of the weekend. Since we were staying in a hotel with nothing more than a small fridge, rather than our usual resort with a full kitchen, we ended up eating out more than I liked, which presents a whole other set of challenges.

On Saturday morning everyone wanted to go out to breakfast, so we ended up at Denny's. Breakfast is pretty easy in a restaurant: I had a ham-and-cheese omelet with broccoli on the side instead of toast and potatoes.

That afternoon, my sister's reception went from 3:00 to 5:00 and featured a luncheon buffet, so that took care of our lunch (for details, see below). Our late dinner came from my favorite fast-food restaurant, Carl's Jr. I enjoyed my usual Super-Star lettuce wrap with no sides, which I order nearly every time we're in the Valley (since, sadly, we have no Carl's Jr. in my rural mountain community). I no longer eat burgers with a bun, including homemade burgers. even when I'm not dieting. Although I love and miss breads, burger buns simply seem unnecessary to me.

For Sunday morning's breakfast I had my deviled eggs. Lunch was a bit more difficult, due to transportation problems (more on that below), but we ended up at El Pollo Loco, another fast food place I used to frequent when I lived in the Valley in the 1980s (back when it was called El Pollo Flojo and then El Pollo Asado). I hadn't been there in years, though, because their signature chicken meals all featured tortillas in some form. However, I'd noted recently that their commercials were promoting "healthy" chicken salads, so I wanted to check it out. Sarah and I ended up ordering their avocado chicken salad, which was very good. There was a bit of corn in the salad, which imparted a sweet flavor, and I took a risk on the creamy cilantro and avocado dressings, but when I checked their nutrition guide a week later, I learned that the whole salad contained only about 15-16 carbs. Not too bad for a vegetable-based fast food lunch.

6. The Wedding on Saturday, February 20th

All the ingredients needed for Double Chocolate Paleo Banana Bread.

I always find it hard to resist wedding cake, plus my sister always puts on a spread of delicious goodies when she plans a wedding (she has married off and done the weddings for one son and five daughters so far--two more daughters and two sons left to go--so she's a pro). I knew the buffet would include other sweets, as well as her signature pasta salad and her famous chicken salad on croissants (I love croissants).

I also knew the buffet would likely include some things we could eat, like the chicken salad minus the croissant, perhaps some nuts, maybe some cheese balls, and probably fresh vegetables and homemade dip. All I needed to focus on were sweet options to offset those that would beguile us at the reception. I decided to make a non-wheat-flour cake and my own signature MacTurtles.

Bananas, eggs, and vanilla go into the blender.

Someone had posted this recipe for Double Chocolate Paleo Banana Bread on Facebook, and it looked scrumptious. I don't recommend this "bread" (I consider it more of a cake) as a regular treat because of the sugar content of the bananas that sweeten it, but it seemed appropriate for something special like a wedding, so I decided to give it a try. It was amazing!

Double Chocolate Paleo Banana Bread

3/4 cup almond flour

1/3 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

4 ripe bananas

2 eggs

splash of vanilla

3 + 1 oz dark chocolate

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease an 8 x 8 baking dish (I used butter).

Sift the dry ingredients together and blend the other ingredients. Then mix all together well.

Chop up 3 oz of dark chocolate and fold into the batter.

Pour into baking dish and smooth the top. Sprinkle 1 oz of chopped dark chocolate on top.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Then cool and cut into 12 squares.

Voila! To me, it looked dry and grainy, but it wasn't that way at all.

It was moist and had a texture like gooey brownies, my favorite!

And the little pockets of hot, melted chocolate inside were the best!

The dark chocolate I use for baking is Ross dark chocolate bars. These gourmet Belgian chocolate bars contain no sugar and just 2 net carbs for a 1.2 oz bar. Years ago, for a brief time, Walmart carried Ross chocolates in their diet section, but for most of the 15 years I've been enjoying them, I've only been able to find them online. They have a variety of other flavors, as well, but those have more carbs (3 to 5 per bar) and, besides, dark chocolate has always been my favorite.

I always order a case of 96 bars to avoid paying for shipping. Although the regular price for a case is almost $140 (unless it's on sale, which is when I buy), it lasts me for at least two years. I'm pretty sure I spend much more than that on sugary treats from Walmart in a 2-year period when I'm not eating right! And, having a case in the closet, I always know I'll have it when I need it.

If you're interested, here is a link to their website: Ross Chocolates Online

Only two ingredients for my MacTurtles: Ross dark chocolate and macadamias.

Macadamia nuts are the healthiest, with a perfect ratio of protein to healthy fats.

Break up and melt the chocolate bars in a double-boiler over low heat.

I've used the microwave before, but there's a higher risk of burning the chocolate.

Once it's fully melted, add the chopped macadamias and stir to coat well.

Generally, 4 Ross dark chocolate bars and 50 macadamias will yield 12 MacTurtles.

I usually cut each whole nut into about 4 pieces because I like my MacTurtles chunky,

but you could chop them finer if you prefer more chocolate and less nut.

Finally, drop one heaping teaspoon of the chocolate-nut mix onto wax paper.

Place in the freezer until firmed up, then put in a sealed container and refrigerate.

They won't melt, but they will soften if left out for more than a couple of hours.

With our low-carb goodies ready to go, we packed them up, took them to the Valley with us, and carried them into the reception, where we enjoyed our own healthy treats while other guests enjoyed wedding cake and other goodies. And, as I'd hoped, there were a few items on the buffet that were allowable on our diet. As for the croissant-chicken salad sandwiches, I bypassed the tall pile of prepared sandwiches and headed straight to the kitchen, where I found the big bag of chicken salad in the refrigerator. (Having helped in the kitchen at my nieces' weddings, I knew exactly where to look.) I put a big scoop on two plates, one for Sarah and one for me. Other than the bits of purple grapes added to it (higher sugar content), the chicken salad was a delicious and very healthy main course for our lunch.

Our table at the reception, with my containers of sugar-free sweets.

I'd also brought bottles of sugar-free root beer so we wouldn't be tempted

by the colorful punch. We enjoyed the chicken salad sans bread and fresh vegetables

with handmade dip, which I think may have been a creamy spinach dip. Very tasty!

Without our low-carb options, this would have been far more tempting!

7. New Car Woes and Crushing Stress, February 20th to 21st

My "new" 2009 Chevy Traverse is towed away.

I'd only owned it for two weeks.

Having made it through the wedding reception unscathed, we were almost home free, but there was one more issue I had to tackle before this eventful Valley weekend ended.

On February 4th I had purchased a used car, a nice SUV that would make our future family vacations more comfortable and more convenient, with the extra cargo space I'd been missing since I'd traded in my 2000 GMC Jimmy back in 2008. Everything was fine until February 18th, the day before we left for the wedding. My older son had arrived from Utah, and he took my new Traverse to the car wash that evening. When he returned, he noted that he thought there was a problem with my power steering. On our way out of town the next day, I stopped to see my mechanic. He confirmed that there was a "strain' on my power steering system and told me I needed to get it to a dealership soon (since I'd owned it less than 30 days), but he felt it would get me safely to the Valley for now.

It did get us there safely, with a beautifully smooth ride despite the occasionally troubling noises on tight turns, but that all changed after my sister's wedding reception. Once Karla and Steve had driven away from the church to begin their honeymoon, we headed over to visit a friend who lived nearby. We'd only gone a mile when gray smoke began pouring out of the back of the car and an acrid burning stench filled the air. By the time we reached my friend's house, I could barely turn the steering wheel at all. Ultimately, I called AAA and my poor car was towed away into the darkness.

Essentially, we were stranded 175 miles from home. My AAA services only included a 100-mile tow, so it would have cost more than $350 to tow my car the rest of the way home. I called my insurance company, which would tow only to the nearest service facility and provided no rental car unless I was stuck due to an accident. I contacted a car rental company but found that it would cost almost $200 (plus gas) to drive the 175 miles home because of their one-way fee. My son's car seated only four comfortably, but there were eight of us who needed to get home. We all needed to be at our jobs and school the next morning, and my older son and his wife had to drive back to Utah the next day. It was Saturday night and Sunday morning/afternoon, so of course I was unable to reach my dealership at home, and no local service departments were open. And how was I going to pay for this after I'd just taken on a new car payment? Would my dealership man up and take responsibility for selling me a damaged car or was I facing a long, ugly battle? I was feeling just a little stress...

And I am a stress eater. The more tension and frustration I feel, the more I want to comfort myself with food. And not the healthy kind. In the end, my car was stuck at a Valley dealership for the rest of the month, but my step-sister's husband graciously offered to drive the other half of us home. That drive was, perhaps, the most dangerous time of all for my healthy eating commitment.

I cannot tell you how close I came to having us all stop at Burger House in Miami on the way home, for one of the world's greatest (for real, truly) green chile burros, which I love, love, love, and which would have been immensely comforting, even if I'd hate myself for it later. And once we'd made it safely home, all nine of us went to El Rancho for dinner and I had to sit on my hands to prevent myself from eating the pre-dinner chips and salsa or from ordering a fat, shredded beef chimichanga or three cheesy enchiladas instead of my usual taco salad without the tortilla shell or beans.

But I did it. Somehow, I DID IT! I got through all 29 tough days of February without cheating even a single time. The rewards weren't huge, but in the end I had lost weight when I could so easily have gained instead. Surprisingly, I only gained 1.2 lbs of bloat from our weekend in the Valley (normally I gain 3-5 lbs), and I dropped that much and more after the first day back at home. All in all, a net loss of 4.8 lbs is nothing to sneer at.

Therefore, I'm going to call this month a success. A modest success, to be sure, but a success nonetheless. Here's to an even better month in March!