Fast(ing) Food - I'm Sorry, Body Salad

Day 94, Fast Day #40

A successful fast day! I am getting back on track this week, I swear.

My body has gone through a lot of self-inflicted abuse over the last two weeks. So I decided to say I'm sorry to my organs by eating a nutritious salad. Eating a salad while dieting is obviously not some genius, original idea of mine. It is common sense if you are looking to consume a variety of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other nutrients without a lot of calories. However, not every salad is low-calorie or nutritious. If you are trying to eat healthy by ordering a salad at a restaurant, you can end up with a plate containing over 1000 calories, a lot of sodium, or a bunch of saturated fat like in these 20 salads worse than a Whopper. This past week I ate a salad at a restaurant that ended up being over 700 calories when I looked up the nutrition facts later.

This salad I threw together is not worthy of an unhealthy salad list:

Those are flax seeds, not ants. In case you got nervous about eating insects.

I'm Sorry, Body Salad (Yields 1 large serving) ~133 kcal/serving

Takes 5-10 minutes

Feel better with 240% of the vitamin A, 128% of the vitamin C, 19% of the calcium, and 13% of the iron that is recommended daily in one big bowl. Plus some omega-3s, potassium, and fiber.

• 1/4 of a small onion, sliced (I used a yellow onion) ~7 kcal
• 3 big leaves of lettuce, chopped (I used romaine) ~14 kcal
• 1/2 medium apple, sliced (I used a Braeburn apple) ~36 kcal
• 1 small carrot, sliced (I used a purple one) ~20 kcal
• 1/2 large bell pepper (I used a green one) ~12 kcal
• 5 grape tomatoes ~10 kcal
• 1 tbsp fresh mint leaves, chopped ~3 kcal
• 1 tsp flax seeds ~17 kcal
• 1 tsp unsalted, shelled sunflower seeds ~14 kcal

Chop up all your fruit and veggies, mix in a bowl, sprinkle on seeds. You can add a dressing of your choice to toss in with the salad.

Why did I use a purple carrot? Purple carrots and other darker, smaller variants of fruits and vegetables that are more like their wild relatives, are more nutritious than common agricultural crops. Check out this lovely chart from the New York Times about nutrition in wild versus supermarket produce.

I like to make my own salad dressing when I have the time to whip one up. Here is the honey mustard vinaigrette I threw together for this salad:

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette Dressing (optional) ~264 kcal/serving

• 2 tbsp olive oil ~250 kcal
• 1 tbsp vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
• 1/2 tsp honey ~10 kcal
• 1/4 tsp minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning (or mix of marjoram, thyme, oregano, and basil)
• 1/4 tsp ground mustard powder ~3 kcal
• pepper, to taste ~1 kcal
• kosher salt to taste

Salad dressing is a very personal thing. I recommend experimenting with varying amounts and types of honey, vinegar, mustard, and spices depending on your tastes. Plus experimenting is fun.

Sure, salad does not require much by way of culinary skill and is quick. Sorry if this recipe didn't blow your mind. This is real food I prepare and eat on fast days. I need to spend less time cooking and more time wedding planning, so I see more salads in my future.

New Favorite Ready-Made Fast Day Food

Day 38, Fast Day #18

Zach and I renewed our Costco membership this weekend due to the cost-effectiveness of buying bulk lactase pills and allergy medication. For those that are unfamiliar with Costco, it is a company started in my home state of Washington that sells you pretty nice quality stuff (food, clothes, electronics, pharmaceuticals, jewelry, housewares  etc.) in giant warehouses. Many of their products come in bulk quantities, so unless we are having a party, Zach and I have to be willing to commit to any food we buy there for the rest of the week or perhaps several months. Luckily it is easy to commit to lots of fresh produce these days,

My favorite Costco purchase from this weekend is my new favorite ready-made fast day food: Amylu's Sugarhouse Maple Breakfast Chicken Sausage mini links. They are basically tiny versions of these ones:

from the ATK Foods website, the makers of Sausages by Amylu

Why am I happy we got these little chicken sausages? For one, they taste great. I don't normally go nuts over non-pork sausage, but this one has a nice savory and sweet taste combination. I just put them in a little water in a skillet over medium heat then BOOM, after a few minutes I have these tasty little suckers hot and covered in a nice glaze. Second, these sausages are a good source of protein, about 30% of my DRV, for only 90 calories per three mini links. Lastly, these breakfast links are nitrate-free and have no artificial preservatives or MSG.  These links are gluten-free and dairy-free as an added bonus. I will also note that despite their sugary name, there is only 2 grams of sugar per serving. That is less than three of those strawberries I ate.

I had three mini sausage links tonight with one serving of Progresso's Hearty Tomato soup (~110 kcal) for my dinner. The protein was great after my lunch of 11 large strawberries (~63 kcal), a salad with a half bell pepper (~30 kcal), 3 medium celery stalks (~17 kcal), and half of an English cucumber (~22 kcal) topped with some Newman's Lite Balsamic Vinaigrette (45 kcal). I also had a full can of Progresso's Light Savory Vegetable Barley Soup (~120 kcal). So about ~497 calories total.

And no, I am not a paid chicken sausage spokeswoman for ATK Foods, I just really enjoy these breakfast sausages, especially on a fast day.

Fast(ing) Food - Low-Cal Tuna Salad

Day 7, Fast Day #4

One of the reasons I have made it this far with alternate day fasting is that for one glorious part of my fast day, I feel full and the rest of the time, water and tea do a fairly good job of keeping my stomach occupied. Don't get me wrong, I am still hungry most of the time. But the tea and water help my stomach forget about its emptiness for a bit.

Now, 400-500 calories is not a lot of calories, but it can be a great mass of food if you want it to be. Or it could be less than a cup of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. Although the latter option provides a great deal of bliss for a moment, the rest of your fast day is going to be even more difficult.

So what am I eating and drinking on fast days? 

Most of the volume I am consuming is zero calorie liquids: water, tea, and coffee. The tea and coffee may have a calorie or two here or there, but they are worth it for the variety for me. I start drinking water as soon as I wake up and keep drinking it until bedtime. I have found I am much thirstier in general both fast and feast days on ADF than I was prior to this diet. I have been drinking an average of 6 cups of tea a day, one cup of coffee, and 8 glasses of water a day. I get heartburn a lot, so one coffee is all I can really handle in terms of caffeine intake on a fast day. The herbal tea is great because some of it tastes kind of like food and the different flavors provide the variety I need to not go crazy.

Currently in my tea arsenal I have: Stash Strawberry Pomegranate herbal tea, the Kroger Brand (Private Selection) Peppermint herbal tea, and Kroger Brand (Private Selection) Rooibos Red Tea. These are all caffeine-free. The strawberry pomegranate flavor is tasty, but there is no resteep value in it. The others are good overall for the money. I drank all of my remaining ginger and jasmine tea already. A lot more tea is going on the grocery list for next week. It is a good thing I love tea and normally drink it without any sweeteners.

In terms of foods, I have been mostly eating raw and pickled produce this week:

• Carrots (a whole carrot, ~30-35 kcal)
• Broccoli  (a spear, ~10 kcal)
• Onion (a slice, ~15 kcal) - for flavor
• Celery (a stalk, ~5 kcal)
• Cabbage (a leaf, ~5 kcal)
• Spinach (a leaf, ~2 kcal)
• Dill Pickles (large, whole pickle, ~10 kcal)
• Pickled Sweet Peppers (1 pepper, ~5 kcal)
• Clementine (one fruit, ~40 kcal) - TREAT
• Navel orange (one fruit, ~70 kcal) - TREAT

I feel like this little guy:

I eat most of these things solo. However, I made some of these things into a salad and put on Kraft's Fat-Free Zesty Italian dressing (~15 kcal per two tbsps). I am not really a fan of any fat-free or light dressing, so I would never eat a salad with this dressing normally. But when you are hungry, everything tastes a lot better. If you have low-calorie salad dressing recommendations that don't taste too sweet, I would LOVE to hear them.

On the pre-prepared foods side, I am currently loving Progresso's light line of soups. The ones I have been eating are 120 calories per can (60 calories per serving, two servings per can): Light Savory Vegetable Barley, Light Vegetable and Noodle, Light Zesty Southwestern-Style Vegetable. No can opener required on these, so they are an easy take-to-work food too.

I also have developed a cheap and low-calorie take on tuna salad which I plan on eating for lunch again today:

Fast Day Tuna Salad

• one 2.5 oz size Bumble Bee Premium Light Tuna in Water Pouch (~70 kcal/pouch)
• 2 tbsp celery bits (~2 kcal)
• a dash or two of lemon juice (not enough calories to register on the nutrition label)
• dill pickle relish (not enough calories to register on the nutrition label)
• sprinkle of pepper
• heavy sprinkling of Old Bay seasoning 

Mix this all in a bowl or tupperware and eat. I was surprised by how good this tasted. Always take all of my taste opinions with a grain of salt because I am rather hungry on my fast days.

I am aware some of you may have the misfortune of not knowing what Old Bay is. It is a delicious seafood spice blend from Baltimore, MD. I went to college at the University of Maryland, College Park and one of the most important things I learned in those four years is that Old Bay makes almost anything taste incredible. I put it on and in crab, crab cakes, salmon cakes, any type of fish really, mac 'n' cheese, pasta, potato chips, corn, in dips, on any battered and fried food. You can substitute this with a generic seafood seasoning... but you should really buy Old Bay and join the Old Bay Nation with me. Your mouth will thank you. No, I am not an Old Bay spokesperson, I just love it.