Joy dot: red tailed hawk flying over a field this morning while I was driving to work

Sounds like you are doing a great job finding breakfasts that work for you. I love rainbow chard. The green chard sometimes tastes a little salty, but the rainbow chard has a subtle sweetness to it, plus the colors are fun. Frozen chopped spinach is another good grain you can add to your shake that doesn't change the taste.
Allison

: Hi everyone. It has been months now
: that I have been trying to get
: step one under my belt. Still dont
: have it down, but I am inching
: towards victory. I sampled some
: breakfast meats and realized that
: I like canadian bacon the best. So
: I went to Costco and got a bunch
: of that. But I dont have time on
: the days I work to make breakfast
: so I was still experimenting with
: my shake. Come to find out it was
: the tofu making me have that
: overwhelming feeling and when I
: leave out the tofu, I am fine. So
: my shake is with the protein
: powder, almond milk, 1/2 cup
: oatmeal and a handful of chard and
: then I eat a stringcheese stick
: with it. This seems to be working
: for me on the days that I work.
: Only thing is I do not make it
: within the 1 hour, but like I said
: I am inching towards that. The
: other days I feast on canadian
: bacon, eggs and Ezekiel sprout
: bread. I soooo enjoy these days
: that I look forward to them all
: week. I do like my shake but am
: too busy working in the morning to
: really stop and enjoy so it works
: great for me. It is kind of fun to
: look forward to my 3-day weekend
: and all my eggs and toast and
: bacon. So, I think I got
: breakfast, other than the time,
: down.

: I am doing pretty good with the other
: meals. I am not on that step yet
: but I dabble with trying to do it.
: I read Your Last Diet and love
: that book. It does not go into as
: much detail as PNP. What I liked
: was that it talked about all this
: other stuff other than dieting. It
: really is a long process and I can
: now see that that long process is
: what works. It is just not a quick
: fix. I wish sooo much I could lose
: the weight. But if I went on some
: weird diet that promised me 20
: pounds in a month I know deep down
: I would gain it back. I would not
: have learned the lessons. After
: about 4 months of eating the high
: protein I can see a subtle change
: in what I want. When my body
: starts wanting to binge, I can now
: "see" what the sugar
: will do and I dont want that kind
: of high any more. Someone shone a
: light on what was really
: happening, it was not a nice place
: that my brain was running to, it
: was not comfort food, it was not
: really that great of a feeling so
: why was I killing myself to try to
: get there.....all it was was some
: brain chemicals and there is
: another avenue, another feeling
: that is better so why not get
: myself to that place instead. For
: some reason, these days I have a
: choice. Before I felt chained. So
: for this I am truly grateful and
: thank you Kathleen and all the
: people on this board who just keep
: on writing and keep on listing the
: steps for breakfast over and over.
: Each time I read them I am amazed
: at how simple it really is.... but
: it aint easy.

: I did try cooking up the green chard
: and the rainbow chard and oh it
: was sooo good and now I have a new
: favorite vegetable. I love it. I
: really never expected it to be
: that good. Plus I can put it in my
: shake and it does not change the
: flavor. So I can actually have a
: green with my breakfast. For my
: lunches I have been eating tuna,
: string cheese and yogurt....not
: all at one lunch but those are my
: staples, and carrots. For dinner I
: have been grilling chicken or slow
: cooking it and having brown rice
: and a vege, or make a salad and
: cut up turkey breast into it. I
: dont have a lot of ideas and so I
: hang out here and try to pick some
: up. I like cottage cheese but it
: is very high in sodium and I have
: high blood pressure and try to cut
: down on that, which makes the
: canadian bacon kind of a no no but
: it is hard to find the protein,
: have it low fat and low sodium.
: That is why I like the greek
: yogurt - it is high in protein,
: low fat low sodium. I eat the fage
: with the fruit at the side and I
: have slowly eaten less and less
: fruit and now hardly have but a
: half spoonful with the yogurt and
: I am enjoying the taste of the
: actual yogurt.

: I had a bout of depression for a
: couple of weeks and was wondering
: what was wrong. I just kept
: trudging along with the high
: protein, brown, etc. and today it
: seems to be lifting. I realized I
: am afraid of something happening,
: anything bad happening. So I live
: in fear all the time. Instead of
: realizing that whatever happens, I
: will be able to cope with it. My
: goodness, it is not like I have
: not had bad things happen to me. I
: got a long list and every time I
: have coped. So why be afraid every
: day of what bad thing might
: happen? Instead I am trying to
: dwell on the fact that I will
: handle whatever comes my way, one
: step at a time. I have had what
: Kathleen termed as "a sense
: of dread" for years....waking
: up with that every morning and not
: wanting to start my day. Wanting
: instead to pull the covers up and
: forget what lies ahead, forget me.
: But that is getting better also.
: Still got issues, but things
: overall seem to be slowly getting
: better. I am hoping when I get to
: the potato step that things will
: get even better.

: Well goodnight folks. Thanks for
: letting me pour all this out.