I'm not going to lie, it took me a while to finally start this new style. I've actually postponed this "experiment" for 2 weeks now and after much procrastination, I finally am going to start it.
Obviously, first things first, I needed to go grocery shopping so I decided to stop by Tops (around a 10 minute drive from Ithaca) at around 9 am.
The first aisle I checked out was the bread aisle. In my blog, I emphasized whole grains over processed grains a lot, so of course I needed to find the right kind of bread. I never realized how many different bread options that are offered at grocery stores (they had an entire section on Whole Grain Breads!), but If finally settled for Arnold's multigrain whole-grain bread. I also stopped by the dairy section and bought some almond milk and yogurt (of course had to do some nutrition comparisons for yogurt choices shown below!) And as you can probably guess, I went with the Yoplait's Greek 100 yogurt (9 grams less sugar and 40 fewer calories). As I continued around the store, I picked up a couple of spices, some chicken, olive oil, herbs, greens, fruits, peppers, and avocados. After spending almost an hour and a half at the grocery store, scouring every single aisle, I finally started to head home and this is where my blog really starts.
Day 1: Sunday April 23
Breakfast (11am): After my exhausting trip at the grocery store, I'm ready to head back to my dorm and finally fill my empty stomach. I knew eating at RPCC dinning hall would only result in me eating breakfast sandwiches or hamburgers so I decided to utilize the decrepit kitchen on our floor. Stepping into the kitchen, I dreadfully found out that there was only 1 small pot. Obviously a gourmet 4 course meal was not an option. So what did I decide to do? I decided to poach some simple eggs and make some avocado toast. Overall, this was a pretty big success despite the lack of means to cook and this meal actually kept me full until 2:30pm.
Ingredients used: avocados, Arnold's Multi-grain whole grain bread, eggs, salt, dash of cumin, olive oil, and lemon.
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Lunch (2:30pm): I wasn't very hungry, but I still craved some sort of snack before dinner. Thus, I decided to eat some sliced apples, walnuts, and Yoplait's Greek yogurt I bought this morning.
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Dinner (6:00pm): The snack didn't do very well with keeping me full until dinner time. I ended up drinking a lot of water full of chia seeds to keep me going until dinner (and it somewhat worked!). I didn't feel like cooking so I decided to head over to Appel dining hall to pick up some food. Having to avidly seek for healthy food turned out to be much harder than I had expected. When I turned left, I saw pizza; turned right, saw pasta; looked forward, saw mashed potatoes and chicken-fried steak; and turned around, saw orange chicken, hamburgers, and quesadillas. Despite the numerous temptations to just settle with a slice of pizza, I headed towards the salad bar and made myself a chickpea and quinoa salad with olive oil, salt and pepper as the dressing. It honestly tasted surprisingly good! I also ate a lot of fruits offered at the dining hall, including grapes, strawberries, honeydew, and cantaloupe.
Ingredients used: Mixed greens, broccoli, chickpeas, baby corn, quinoa, carrots, tofu, beats, corn, and olive oil.
Day 2: Monday April 24
Breakfast (9am): I actually was running very late to class this morning, but I knew I shouldn't skip breakfast. Thus, I went into bus stop bagels, ironically not for a bagel but for a Grass Monkey's green Juice. I know I suggested for you guys to make your own smoothies. However, I just don't find this tip to be very plausible for college students. I therefore reverted to the next best option, which was an all natural (no added sugars) green smoothie.
Ingredients: Kale, banana, spinach, romaine, parsley, and apple.
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Lunch (11:30pm): I should've had a larger breakfast because I was starving by 11:30. I checked Oakenshields dining hall's menu and the best thing they had to offer were chicken quesadillas. Thankfully, there are many other options other than the dining halls and so I headed over to Trillium and bought a salad.
Ingredients: Arugula, chicken, chickpeas, broccoli, spinach, raisins, onions, edamame
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Snack (2:30pm): The "2 pm snack attack" is very much real. I needed a snack before dinner and thus I headed over back to north campus. I eventually decided to eat the same avocado toast I ate yesterday morning.
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Dinner (7:00pm): The toast kept me quite full so I had a later dinner than usual. I once again went to Appel for dinner. However this time they had healthier options than the previous night, including chicken and green beans. I also ate some chicken noodle soup and some grape tomatoes. I honestly thought I would have more cravings being in such an environment, but I guess it's still too early to tell (only day 2).
Day 3: Tuesday April 25
Breakfast (9am): I decided to eat some of the berries I bought from TOPS on Sunday as well as Yoplait's Greek yogurt. I also ate a slice of plain whole grain bread to keep me fuller for a longer period of time because I knew I would be having a later lunch today.
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Lunch (1:30pm): I must say, I really, really wanted to eat a hamburger for lunch today. However, it was only day 3 and I knew that I just needed to push through. Thus, I headed over to Oakenshield's and tried to pick out a somewhat healthy meal. I reverted to the same salad as I had on Sunday (the chickpea and quinoa salad). However, this time, I decided to use balsamic vinegar to give the salad more taste. The salad was great as expected. For dessert, I reverted to eating some unsweetened apple sauce (instead of the chocolate cake offered).
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Snack (3:30pm): For snack today, I ate some more berries. Lunch filled me up pretty well, so I didn't crave much.
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Dinner (7:00pm): I decided to try out Risley dining hall. A friend told me that this dining hall tends to promote healthier foods (also the reason why I've never eaten there before today). And to my genuine surprise, they actually had fantastic food. They had REAL guacamole (unlike RPCC's unknown green slush) and had many different vegetables to offer. Tonight in particular, they served fresh fish tacos. And though they didn't have whole grain tortillas, I still decided to eat and enjoy them. Like the title of my blog, our changes to our life styles must be made in MODERATION and thus I didn't feel any guilt.
Day 4: Wednesday April 26
Breakfast (9am): I started the day with a simple breakfast: Yoplait's Greek yogurt with some berries on top.
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Lunch (12:00pm): I went to Oakenshields dining hall. They didn't have much of a selection of healthy foods, so I settled for some vegetables as well as a pre-made chickpea and quinoa salad. I still felt a little hungry so I decided to also eat an apple.
Ingredients: Quinoa, chickpeas, kale, tomatoes, carrots, cauliflower, feta cheese.
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Snack (2:30pm): Lunch today didn't fill me up at all. I was starving by 2:30 so I decided to go back to my dorm to grab a snack. On my walk back to north, I received an email that I got a package. I immediately assumed that it was the spring clothes I had ordered a week ago from Forever 21. However, after opening the package, I knew I was in trouble. My best friend from back home had sent me a care package with piles of junk food, including candy, ramen, and chips. And since this blog is suppose to be 100% honest, I caved. I ate a bag of chips. I know. I'm sorry, but also I'm not. You need junk food here and there once in a while. Don't deprive yourself, or else you're eventually going to crash and binge eat.
But also, just to be safe, I ended up giving the rest of the food to my floor mates.
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Dinner (7:00pm): I had spend my last meal swipe of the week today during lunch (meal swipes refill on Thursdays). Therefore, I knew I needed to cook my dinner and I knew I lacked kitchen supplies; the kitchen in our dorm wasn't going to be very useful being that there are essentially no supplies provided. And so I went over to my friends' townhouse (one of the living options given to freshman). Honestly, I'm very jealous of my friends who live there. The 4 of them share a fully stocked kitchen; why can't our floor have that? At the townhouse, I made some chicken with cumin and curry powder. I also added some fresh bell peppers, ginger slices, mushroom, and carrots on top. Dinner was great; I miss the taste of home cooked meals.
Why don't I cook more often? Why did I need a blog to get me to start cooking?
Day 5: Thursday April 27
Breakfast (10am): I didn't have a 9 am class today (bless)! As a result, I had time to actually make breakfast. And so, I used my last avocado to make avocado toast. However, this time, I didn't have a poached egg on top. Instead I just had lemon juice, salt, pepper, and red chili flakes.
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Lunch (12:00pm): I had a meeting at 12:30 today with my peer advisor, so I didn't have time to go to a dining hall. I thought the easiest option would just be to grab a pre-made salad from Libe Cafe. However, only afterwards did I realize how much salt was in the salad (646 mg of salt!) I still ate the salad, but wow I was in shock! That's almost just as bad as eating ramen. However, this also made me realize that "healthy" alternatives may not be as healthy as you thought (especially if they are packaged and can sit in the fridge for several days)!
Ingredients: SALT, chicken, barbecue sauce, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, corn, black beans, green peppers.
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Snack (2:30pm): For snack today I ate a banana and a hard boiled egg I made the night before.
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Dinner (7:00pm): It's my friend's birthday today. A group of friends and I decided to eat a restaurant in the Commons. I thought it was going to be a hassle to try to find a something healthy. However, after looking through the menu, I realized that I was pondering between 6 options! I didn't realize if you look thoroughly enough, you probably can always find healthier options (however, I would still be cautious of the salt content though). I settled for an avocado salad as well as some edamame beans. Yum!!
Ingredients: Arugula, egg, avocado, Brussels sprouts, red pepper, sweet potato, quinoa, olive oil, squash, zucchini.
Day 6: Friday April 28
Breakfast (9am): I started the day with another plain Yoplait's Greek yogurt, my last one left actually. I think I might go back to the grocery store and get some more. I used to skip breakfast a lot, but from this week, it seems that the food in the morning provides me with an extra kick of energy.
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Lunch (12:00pm): I just had such a tedious and gruesome chemistry lab this morning and was in a terrible mood. I was also starving after and basically all I wanted was a waffle with ice cream on top. So I thought to myself: "Why not? I deserve this." But upon arriving at Oakenshield's dining hall, I realized that I was going to regret eating such unhealthy food, so I made myself get some sweet potatoes, green beans, quinoa salad, grilled chicken, and red peppers. The lunch filled me up tremendously and I was actually very satisfied, but honestly probably not as satisfied as I could have been with ice cream.
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Dinner (6:00pm): I didn't have time for a snack today, but oddly enough I wasn't very hungry by dinner time. The first thing I grabbed stepping into the dining hall was a pear and then I proceeded to make my own chicken salad from the salad bar. I didn't even want to look at the pizza. I'm not going to lie, this diet is getting annoying.
Ingredients: Kale, broccoli, arugula, spinach, grilled chicken, olive oil (dressing)
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Snack (12:00am): I got oddly hungry around 12 am when I doing a problem set for my chemistry class. The friends I was with, being normal college students, decided to order food. One ordered mozzarella sticks while the other ordered Chinese takeout. What did I do? I went to my room and settled for a slice of bread, a slice of whole grain bread. No wonder no one ever wants to be healthy; it can be so miserable at times.
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Day 7: Saturday April 29
Brunch (11 am): Today marks the last day of my "test trial" of being healthy" and I've decided to make the most out of it. My friends and I decided that we are going on the Buttermilk trail today and thus we needed a nutrient dense breakfast this morning. We headed towards the RPCC dining hall. There, I grabbed 2 hardboiled eggs, 1 yogurt parfait with frozen berries, and some shrimp dumplings.
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Snack (2:00pm): The hike was quite draining but also very much rewarding. I needed something to reenergize me again. So as a snack today, I ate an apple, and an avocado with an egg inside with salt and pepper on top. Delicious!
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Dinner (6:00pm): I stopped by the grocery store this afternoon again. I picked up some more yogurt as well as some fruit and veggies. I know this is merely a test trial for this "healthy" lifestyle, but I honestly want to continue it. I've actually felt "clean" this entire week and didn't feel bloated after meals like I would before. However, I did also decide to stop being so strict with my changes. I should be able to eat the foods that I want even if they aren't the healthiest once in a while. And so, for dinner tonight, I decided cook some roast beef with sautéed zucchini on the side. Yes, this is red meat. Yes, red meat is a potential carcinogen. However, like I said, every change should be made
