Seriously, What is Up with the Dairy Out Here?

It is confirmed by friend from Wisconsin, an expert in dairy, as well as my used-to-drink-a-gallon-of-milk-a-day brother, the dairy out here is gross/weird/not right.

Not right. I say. Just not right.

The biggest offender: cottage cheese. I love it. I don't care what all you haters say about the texture, cottage cheese is good (when done right, as in created in the Midwest) and is an excellent source of low-fat protein.

Anyhoo, the cottage cheese out here is undeniably disgusting. Except for a few select brands. I have tested, confired and learned the hard way for years as to what brands I can tolerate and which are so gross that I have to ralph my curds. After I thought I knew it all about the brands of cottage cheese out here, I took a chance. I bought a non-store brand of cottage cheese from a grocery store we don't shop often.

Big mistake.

It tastes so weird that I been putting it on my one-hundred calorie pack mini cookies to choke it down. Why did I bother? Well, if I don't eat it, I will be hungry in an hour because it is the main source of protein in my meal. And as an aside, the cookies do an awesome job of masking the taste. But that is beside the point:

It is wrong, people. So. Incredibly. Wrong.

And yet, I feel like people out here don't have any clue how bad it really is. They are unaware or oblivious to their own plight. It could be so much better or at least not gross. And yet, they stand by and let this travesty happen to them, unaware, uncaring or unwilling to take a stand against dairy products that no person should have to suffer through. It is an injustice to humanity to serve that crap and call it dairy, a blessed food group if there ever was one.

The challenges of even thinking about being healthy

I was looking at some gov. websites for work, and came across this:
http://www.fruitsandveggiesmatter.gov/

You enter your age, sex, and activity level and it spits out the number of servings of fruits and veggies you need to get.

Easy enough...

BAM, I need 2 cups fruit and 2.5 cups veggies.

Not too bad, I think, that's less than "5/day". Then I read more about what constitutes a cup.

Sample day for me would be:
12 carrots
apple
large banana
1 cup salad
1/2 a sweet potato


I am not saying it's not doable, because I think it is, but that it will take an effort to actually achieve this as in that I will have to actually plan/think about meals.

I am still in the "contemplation" stage of behavior change in regards to see if I am actually going to pursue this (at least this week).

Cosi breakfast bar, you are dead to me

I forgot to eat breakfast again this a.m., also a day when I hit the pool this a.m. Apparently I am not even awake on the mornings I go to the pool. I did manage to get flip flops in the bag though, so I am making continuous improvement...sigma 6 anyone?...in my packing abilities.

Anyway, I stopped by the overpriced, yet very tasty Marvelous Market (MM) after the pool and found me a "Mojo" bar by cliff. 180 calores and 8 grams of fat and I think 5 or so grams of protein. It was damn good too. Pretzels, dried fruit and an impressive amount of chocolate chips. Forget almost 500 calories for that stupid Cosi breakfast bar. Mojo is my new best-I-forgot-to-eat-breakfast friend.

I also got annoyed at MM when the guy was like, is this all you are having?

Me: Yes

MM guy: are you sure you don't want a coffee

Me: (In my head) "If I wanted one, I think I would have answered that in response to your first question. Why are you making me feel inadequate for purchasing an overpriced granola bar?"

Me: (words actually spoken)..."no, that will be all"

What's with the peer pressure point-of-purchase? (good illertartion, eh?) I hate that!

I really hate it when food lets you down...

It is rare that I miss breakfast. I am a dedicated and consistent eater of breakfast. In the past year or so, I quit eating cereal which is what I ate for years. I have moved to South Beach Granola bars when I am running late or oatmeal when I have time (so basically I eat South Beach Granola bars).

I did my water areobics this a.m., but walked out the door without some key items including flip flops--don't go writing me emails about some gross fungus I am going to get from the pool, I am fully aware and equalled grossed out--a lock (I found one I had left on the door of locker, wouln't be the first time), and you guessed it: breakfast.

So I was going to go to Cosi on my way in and get the breakfast bar, granolly thinging. I decided to go into work first and unload etc. So about 9:00, I decided to just check the nutritional information online because I was curious.

463calories
24 grams of fat

It's granola and some cranberries and it is not very big.

Sad.

I went to Potbelly's and had some steel cut oatmeal, but I am still filled with sadness knowing that breakfast bar and I have had to part ways. Why did he betray me like that?

Are you waiting to be happy?

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another. Then we are frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are. After that we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We will certainly be happy when they are out of that stage. We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together, when we get a nicer car, get a better job, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire.

The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when? Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be happy anyway. One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D Souza. He said, "For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

*I am sure someone wrote this and it was not me, but I liked it. :) *

and I would highly recommend this beer

Afflingem Blonde

It's been a while...

After several inquiries/requests about my blog, I have decided that I will revive it for my people.

Danny came to town this weekend. We had a splendid time. Friday night we went to Bit's housewarming, and I may or may not have attempted to introduce a friend to a guy who was gay. He was a really nice guy though. And an architect. I was just trying to help a sister out, yah know?

Saturday we got breakfast at Market Lunch and bought some jewelry from this guy who makes things out of nails, forks, screws, and whatnot. Very clever. Whenever I go to EM I think about what I could make and sell. Apparently nothing.

Anyway, we went bummed around Capitol Hill, ran into Donna Brazil who we chatted while she was at a stop sign (very DC experience), went to the Folger Shakespeare Library, but couldn't see the folios because it is closed for a new exhibit. After Ed made Pad Thai (and Danny helped), I took him out the asian grocery store to get supplies. We also stopped by Target so Dan could get some classroom supplies. I lived vicarously. I do love school supplies. :) Dan and then went to Belga for dinner while Ed headed to the Celtics/Wizards game. Belga is really good and really close and yet that was only my 2nd trip there. It's a little spendy, but not outrageous. I will be back for more mussels!

Our recruitment trip (I neglected to tell you that we are recruiting Danny to move to DC next year) concluded with some desserts from Tryst in Adams Morgan. Sunday was a lazy day of crepes, a tour of DC, and getting Dan to bus stop.

Last night I felt like I was getting a cold, but now I feel better. Everyone is sick, so I am afraid that is only a matter of time.