Day 17: Taking a mental health day

I skipped my weights workout this morning.  As I've said before, I like lifting weights but when the alarm went off this morning I was just.... blah.  A headache was brewing and I was just so tired.  I'll do more on the new bodybugg later in the week, but in looking at my first day stats last night I was surprised to learn that I had gotten more than an hour less of sleep than I had thought.   And since it seemed like it had been a normal night, maybe I'm not getting as much sleep overall as I had thought.  No wonder I was so tired last night!  Tonight I definitely want to be in bed by 9:00 since the alarm will be going off at 5:30 again tomorrow.  I might go do weights on Saturday (otherwise a rest day); I'm interested in trying my gym's Zumba class and I think it's offered on Saturdays.

You may remember one of my 2010 goals is to try five new vegetables.  I've already tried kale; I had kale chips on New Year's day, and there is a tasty sounding soup recipe that I want to try with kale and white beans.  Last night I had to run to the market on my way home to get some plain yogurt for the halibut I was making and I decided to pick up some veggies while I was there -- I was at New Seasons, where I don't typically shop but as I move towards eating more organic I may go there more in the future.  Anyhow, I decided to buy -- dun dun DUN!!! -- brussel sprouts.  Which I then ate.  With my halibut and sweet potato fries. 

Verdict on the sprouts:  Not bad.  If I had to choose between broccoli and brussel sprouts, I might choose the sprouts (although I've been working on my broccoli cooking techniques; it's much better when it's not broccoli mush).  I did a recipe for the sprouts where you parboil them until just tender, then cut them into slices.  The slices are sauteed with a little olive oil and garlic (and onion, if you're not, you know, me), then finished off with a bit of balsamic vinegar cooked down.  When it came towards time to add the balsamic vinegar, I found out.... I actually did not have any.  Could've sworn I did.  So either (a) I used it all up some time ago and don't remember doing it, or (b) it grew legs and walked off.  Maybe my ex made off with it.  Since that was several years ago (the ex, that is), obviously I don't use balsamic vinegar very often.  I made do with a little balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing but that turned out too oily.  Balsamic vinegar is now on my shopping list.  And I have three more veggies yet to try in 2010.

Speaking of food, a few weeks ago I was grocery shopping and looking for ways to trim calories.  I found some whole wheat bread that is only 45 calories per slice, compared to the 110 calories per slice bread (and not always whole wheat; usually 12-grain always tastes better) that I had been using for my sandwiches and toast.  That whole wheat bread has good taste but I don't like the texture; it's a little too Wonder bread-ish for me.  As in, light and squishy.  It's also about the size of Wonder bread slices, so pretty small.  Made it easier not to go overboard on sandwich fillings, but overall the bread just wasn't my favorite.  Last night as New Seasons I went and perused their bread aisle to see if I could find a better alternative that was still under 100 calories per slice.  I finally went with a Russian Rye; it's not whole grain but it is 70 calories per good-sized slice.  And it has that heavier texture I like.  Once the (organic) avocados I bought ripen, I'll be having turkey and swiss with avocado on Russian rye!  Next time I might try the Jewish rye (just what is the difference, anyway?) or maybe go for a large-slice higher calorie whole grain bread and just make sandwiches using one slice of bread.

I also got a small butternut squash that I will probably roast to have with salmon.  And I forgot I got broccoli, so I can have that as well.   Hmm, now I'm getting hungry!

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl