Saturday -- Date Night

27th day

snack: banana and walnuts on way to yoga

yoga in Bonita Springs; had planned to meet D & K at 9 @crossfit, but CF is closed this weekend. :( When shall I do Cindy? This Saturday, I shall do it!

strawberries

NAP!

meal 1: salad -- carrots, dried/sugar free cranberries, onion, tomato, walnuts, sunflower seeds, HBE, walnut oil, a little hot sauce and a spoonful of AB with a little honey. oops. ;) i wanted a little. so i let myself. i feel good about it. was starving post nap with not a lot of options in house -- is grocery shopping time. my goal is to be rigid during the week, and let loose -- A LITTLE -- on the weekend.

meal 2: we planned to go to PF Chang's but the wait was 45 minutes. So we went to the FirePit City Grill. I ate Salmon w olive oil, mango pineapple salsa, 3 tips of asparagus(!), & spinach w roasted garlic. Eric wanted an appetizer but didn't want to order it unless i ate some. he ordered shrimp tempura, which came loaded with "junk:" an orange, mayo like substance -- ew; i hate mayonnaise -- and breading. i ate 3 and gave him the rest. my meal was good, but i must do some haranging. why oh why do cooks salt food? my spinach not only had parmesan on it, which is annoying because the menu listed the dish as "spinach w roasted garlic," and not "spinach w roasted garlic AND parmesan," but also was salted heavily. NOT COOL! I personally don't use a lot of salt, and when i do salt post prep, i use sea salt. cooks: don't salt food! let people add salt at the table, if they so choose, which also allows the diner to control the quantity. dang.

PLANNED CHEAT ALERT!
after dinner we walked in the bitter cold to Stone Cold Creamery. Ahhh. I have been CRAVING ice cream for days and days. I had intended to indulge the day before the paleo challenge began, but didn't make it out. So I decided to indulge in a little treat last night. I'm glad I did. No regrets. I appreciated and savored it, and didn't over do it. I ordered a small dish (i easily could have ordered a medium) of chocolate ice cream w graham cracker and almonds. YUM! The forever diet philosophy I am developing is to keep it clean most of the time, but indulge a little here and there, especially when going out or celebrating. (this is the primal philosophy; check out the book, "The Primal Blueprint," which i lent to MK. Is so good!) HOWEVER, i think we only should indulge in treats we really yearn for, and avoid the foods that are especially harmful. for me, that's gluten, too much cheese, preservatives, and alcohol, especially wine, which i used to enjoy. (I love that PF Changs has a gluten free menu. stupid wait.) I am not remotely regretting the ice cream, but i am thinking about those tempura shrimp -- you cannot completely remove the gluten laden tempura -- and the parmesan and salt infested spinach. bastards. ruining perfectly good spinach with cheese and salt!

funny story: I told eric before we left for date night that i had decided to treat myself to a cheat of CSC ice cream. he said no way! you have committed to the challenge. cheating is bad; you have been so good, AND tomorrow you will lament the eating of the ice cream. i explained that paleo is a lifeway and not a diet, and that cheats are built into the paleo lifestyle, especially in the U.S., where we are surrounded by, and raised on culinary evil. he didn't believe me so he texted my sister, who said that i'd been doing so well and had earned a cheat; that i should do it and enjoy it. HA! so we did and i did and i'm happy, especially since my naked body STILL looked good this morning. crossfit and paleo are doing wonders for my body and bodily self esteem. i may never be MK or Sarah (can you guess that i was the ridiculously skinny, gangly, pale kid who always was picked last in PE? i also have been known to trip over my own feet) but i push myself and do the best that i can do, which again, is what matters. at least i excel in intellectual awesomeness. ;)

saw shutter island. was quite good. haunting, in fact. the end.