Day 7: Operation HOPE

One week DONE!!  {Insert Snoopy happy dance!!}

Today was a blah day.  No real reason.  Just feeling blah.  Food plan was fine.  Pain has been consistent throughout the day.  Exhaustion has gotten the best of me today.  Just plain t-i-r-e-d!

I saw this quote today, "Being in pain 24/7 takes it out of you not just physically but mentally and emotionally.  It literally drags you down more and more, the worst thing about it is, it's never going away."  This is so true in many ways.  After I read it, I thought, "Yeah, but, in my case I have HOPE that this pain will go away!"  Thank you, Lord!

Tomorrow I begin week two.  From week two through four I will be customizing my menus based on this past week.  So, I can mix and match, pick my favorites and have more of a say in what I have.  I'm super excited about this because I can leave the more in depth recipes/meals to days that I have more time; and, choose the easier meals for days that I have a lot going on.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the end of week 2.  I'm a little sad because I won't be able to do our traditional Italian Christmas Eve and Christmas Day food, but I know that this is just a season and I have to do what I have to do.  I'm planning on cooking for both days, and I do plan on eating with my family...or should I say that my family is going to eat with me.  I ran a few menu ideas for those days by my nutritionist's assistant, and she okay-ed every one of them.  She did say, "If in doubt just eat a small amount of something and savor it, and then get right back on board the next day!"  I love this!  I'm going to keep you in suspense what I'm going to make until the end of the week, though.  Partly because I love surprises & want to keep you in suspense; and partly because I'm not done figuring out exactly what I'm going to do.  I do know that Christmas Eve we'll be having fish, and Christmas Day won't be the traditional Italian fare that we normally have.

Looking forward to what week two brings, especially for Christmas!  But for now...I must sleep!

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Day 7: Menu

Breakfast was a vegetable omelet {with peppers, onions and mushrooms}, green tea and lemon water.  This is my type of breakfast.  I love eggs, especially omelets.  So, this was a winner!

Lunch was a turkey burger with mild green chilies {mixed into the meat}, romaine lettuce to act as the bun, red onion and tomato to top the burger, a small salad with oil & vinegar, green tea and lemon water.  I pan fried the burger in a little coconut oil.  Oh. My. Goodness!!  It was good!  Would have liked to have the chilies stand out a little more, though.  But, all in all, this was a winner, too!

Dinner was 4 ounces of shrimp, steamed or sauteed vegetables, small salad, green tea and lemon water.  I made another amazing recipe tonight.  It was Lemon-Garlic Shrimp and Vegetables.  The veggies were asparagus and red & green bell peppers sauteed in coconut oil with lemon zest and salt & pepper.  Once I did that, I sauteed the shrimp with garlic in coconut oil.  Made a sauce with 1/2 cup white cooking wine and 1/2 cup vegetable broth with 1-1/2 teaspoons of cornstarch whisked into it.  Poured it over the shrimp...cooked for another 2-3 minutes until it thickened.  Served it over the vegetables.  W-O-W!!  This was amazing!!  I was so full that I couldn't eat the salad!

Snacks were an apple and a KIND bar.