Day 2: Another day without coffee

Why hello there millions of people who have yet to read my ever-so-compelling blog about my daily diet! Here's today's food update in no particular order concerning breakfast, lunch and dinner. And what one might affectionately refer to as "snacks."

The food I've consumed in my body as of today:

• oatmeal with honey, cinnamon, nutmeg
• green apple with peanut butter

• cheese quesadilla with corn tortilla
• 1/2 can of microwaved French green beans with olive oil, dried rosemary, garlic, and salt

• soggy Ladyfingers soaked in creams, cider with cinnamon and nutmeg, cranberries, green apple and pear, reheated from the previous day

• 1/2 batch of lemon bars (estimate approx. 3-4)

• kale salad with roma tomato, cilantro, lemon, Mexican onion, cucumber and nopalitos...(nopalitos are the fleshy part of a prickly pear cactus, high in fiber and yummy!) sprinkled with dried Mexican oregano and olive oil

• 7 glasses of cold water, 1 camomile tea with lemon and honey, 2 cups of hot water with lemon
• handful of green olives (that had the seeds inside, tasted kinda funny)

Exercise:

• I took my dogs for a 10, yes, I know, how sad, 10 minute walk
• Played "fetch" for about 5 minutes

Last night's dinner:

• Grilled chicken breast marinated with lemon and cilantro and black pepper mixed with artichoke pesto tomato pasta sauce, angel hair pasta, and stir-fried zucchini, spinach, and green pepper

How I'm feeling:

Other than having ate a little too much, I had some caffeine withdrawal headaches. I felt pretty sluggish today and managed to get very little accomplished. My mood hasn't necessarily improved. I read somewhere that caffeine withdrawals can make people feel down. I am feeling very critical of my skin as it still looks like a mess, but at the same time I acknowledge that I cannot be too hard on myself...

Without having realized it, I didn't get a lot of protein today and maybe that would attribute to my low energy. I think it's a combination of not being outside. I went out for a walk with my dogs and my headache got worse, followed by some mild nausea. I suppose the caffeine withdrawal symptoms have kicked into high gear today.

I never fully intended on doing it "vegetarian-style" today and I'm already dreaming of the meat I'll eat tomorrow: steak and brown rice, tuna salad (it's a special version that I like to make...) Nonetheless, I feel ok considering some of the foods I ate had significant amounts of iron.

I started fantasizing about grinding my coffee (espresso roast, dark, yum!) and making a pot, but then I stuck to my guns and opted to smell some coffee grounds instead.

I know it might seem odd but the very smell of coffee perks me right up! Instead of going through with brewing a pot, I drank some hot water with lemon. It curbed the craving ever so slightly, but at least doing so helped my headache. After I ate the kale salad, my headache started to go away. Hurray!

All of this food for thought has turned me into a food nutritionist nerd wannabe. I have googled the health benefits for everything I ate to justify the health factor on everything I've consumed. I'm slightly obsessed at this point. I'm not doing this for weight, but rather for my skin and energy. I reviewed some interesting findings, but admittedly, the science went over my head.

Sleeping last night didn't go well, although I did go to bed a little after 10:00 pm and fell asleep about 20 minutes later. At three o'clock, I woke up to go to the bathroom, and when I was done, my fiance told me he heard gun shots outside. This has been a repeated occurrence where I live so I'm probably going to move soon.

My dogs have already lied down to go to sleep as I type. It's really cute and puts a smile on my face. Before bed, I will take them out for a walk around the block. They'd like that.

Cheers and sweet thoughts,

Jennifer