JOURNAL ENTRY: DAY 17

Good morning! As most of you know, yesterday (April 1st) was my birthday. This was my first birthday without my mom, which made me a bit reflective and kinda blue, but spending the day fielding phone calls, emails, Facebook messages, and e-cards from friends and family really helped! Thank you, to everyone. I had a great day of NOT standing, so that was nice. :) I enjoyed a lovely evening with Rachary; dinner at an asian/vegetarian restaurant, then next door to a microbrewery for a spot of celebratory hops. I had a great time, enjoyed a great dinner, dessert, and beer without going into excess on any of them. This is a significant departure from past behavior ("it's my birthday, so I can go nuts!"), yet I did not feel deprived in any way. Thanks to Rachel for coming up with a restaurant that had good, healthy food! (The restaurant's web site is not functioning for some reason - I tried both Safari and Firefox to no avail - so I couldn't get specific ingredients or nutrition information on my dish; I'm going to just try and remember. Rachel, feel free to pop in with any adjustments!) I also checked the brewery's web site for calorie information... no go. Anyway, here's the day's consumption:

BREAKFAST

"Fried" egg sandwich: 1 whole wheat pita pocket, 1 egg (fried in non-stick skillet w/spray), 1/2 oz jalapeno jack cheese, and a pile o' alfalfa sprouts

1/2 c. low-fat cottage cheese with fresh strawberries

LUNCH

Turkey sandwich (apparently I was in sandwich mode yesterday): 2 slices whole-grain bread, 1 t. mayo, dijon mustard, lettuce, 3 slices smoked turkey, 1/2 oz jalapeno jack cheese

8 stalks of steamed, yummy, spring asparagus

1 Fuji apple

(I have to say that I wish I'd taken a picture of my plate... it was LOVELY, with the apple slices, the bright green asparagus, and the wholesome bread with sprouts erupting out all sides. Mmm)

SNACK

15 stalks of steamed asparagus (I know it's a weird snack, but it was so bloody good; I just ate them cold. At 2 calories per stalk, that's a nutrition bargain!!)

SUPPER

1 spring roll, which I can't for the life of me remember was in it

"Orange Imagination:" soy protein, chunks of orange, snow peas, carrots, broccoli, basil, and pine nuts over brown rice

DESSERT

About 8 bites of an avocado-lemon pie; the last few of which didn't contain the crust - once Rachel pointed out (and I tasted it myself eventually) that it had kind of a bitter aftertaste

POST-PRANDIAL LIBATION

Approximately 6 oz of beer: 3 oz of 60-minute IPA (India Pale Ale), and tasting sips of 5 others; Rachel and I calculated that it was probably a total of about 6 ounces. Certainly enough to cause a brilliant red hot-flash. :-/  Getting old is pigeon poop.

As you can see, I had plenty to eat yesterday, but I don't think I overdid anything. Probably could have done without the pie, but I figure it was better than a) a chocolate cake, b) ice cream, or c) eating a whole serving of the healthy-ish pie - I ate less than 1/2 of one piece.  

It was a great lesson learned, that one doesn't need to gorge on high-calorie low-nutrition junk in order to celebrate an occasion. It was the company that made it the most enjoyable, and my belly never felt neglected or abused. :)