Back on Track – Week 1 Healthy Eating Plan
Back in July 2018 I was diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Instead of taking prescription medication I went on my own healthy eating plan. I had much success, my lab results showed a great improvement but I stuck with my healthy eating plan because my stomach issues felt so much better. This is a blog I wrote after a 1 1/2 years of changing my diet. It also has links to the blogs I wrote from the beginning of being diagnosed. http://themarthareview.com/1-1-2-years-later/
But for the past few months my stomach as been telling me I’m falling off the band wagon! I blame a lot of that on Lia with all her delicious baking! LOL I’ll have to tell her to make more zucchini or banana bread instead of cake or cookies! This is the update I wrote last month for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. http://themarthareview.com/healthy-eating-update/
My goal is to get back and stay on track, start preparing more healthy foods and eat more fruits and vegetables. I’m always looking for a challenge so this will be my next challenge, get back to my healthy eating plan where I was when I posted my 18 month update in January 2020. Stay tuned for my January 2021 update!
On November 1st I started getting back to healthy eating again and I made a diary of my daily meals. Each week I will share my quick, easy and healthy meals with you. This is me getting back on track – week one.
Sunday November 1
Day 1 – Breakfast was plain yogurt with pineapple chunks and granola. Dinner was meatloaf, brown rice and fresh frozen peas. Cost of meal, ground beef -$6.00, fixins’ for meatloaf, peas and rice – $2.00. We had enough meat loaf left over for tomorrow so $8.00 for 4 meals isn’t bad. Plus it was delicious!
Monday November 2
Day 2 – Breakfast was the same as yesterday. Dinner was left over meatloaf and eggplant (frozen from our garden) that I turned into eggplant parmesan. EDIT: The slice of quick bread I had for a snack might have made me go overboard but it only has 1/3 cup sugar and I used Monk Fruit sweetener for the glaze. Lia made the bread and it’s so quick and easy to make not to mention delicious! Here is the recipe: http://themarthareview.com/delicious-cinnamon-swirl-bread/
November 3
Breakfast was homemade cinnamon swirl bread with grape juice and cut up apple for noontime snack. Dinner was eye of round cut in thin slices, stir fried with peppers and onions. I added some beef gravy and covered with brown rice. The package of beef was $5.68 and there is enough left over for Rich’s dinner tomorrow. I’m eyeing to have cabbage!
Day 4
Breakfast was the same as yesterday, Lia’s homemade cinnamon swirl bread. Dinner was delicious fried cabbage with bacon and chopped onions. (I love that so much!) Worked out perfect, there is enough left over for tomorrow but I had to put it in a storage container quick or I would have eaten it all tonight! My recipe is here: http://themarthareview.com/fried-cabbage-with-bacon You can also add cut up potatoes and carrots and can substitute sausage or kielbasa for the bacon.
Day 5
I had a banana split for breakfast! No it didn’t have ice cream, I started with the banana, added plain vanilla yogurt, granola with dried raspberries, pineapple and drizzled some of the juice over the top. Delicious breakfast! Lia made a vanilla cake so I had a small piece of that for a noontime snack. No frosting, just sprinkled with cinnamon before baking. Dinner was the best! Left over friend cabbage and bacon from last night’s and left over eggplant from Wednesday’s dinner. I forgot all about that yesterday! All my meals are so filling.
Day 6
For the next 3 days my meals will be almost non-existent as I am on a special diet for a Monday colonoscopy. 
For breakfast I had plain vanilla yogurt with a cut up banana. Dinner was white rice (I have to hold up on brown rice until after Monday) with salmon. I just mixed the cooked rice with the pouch of salmon. I also had 2 of Lia’s homemade chocolate chip cookies without any chips in them for a snack. She was so sweet to make some plain for me!
Day 7
The end of my first week on my healthy eating plan. Today I had a dish of applesauce for breakfast and dinner was egg and cheese omelet with a side of low fat cottage cheese. But these eggs were not just scrambled eggs, they were whipped! I whipped 2 egg whites in my mini chopper (with whipping attachment) until frothy. Then I added the yolks and whipped them until blended. After I poured them in the frying pan I broke up a slice of swiss cheese into small pieces and topped the eggs. I covered the pan and when the cheese melted I folded the eggs in half. They are so smooth and delicious this way. Thanks to Chef William for giving me this idea when I made one of his omelets from a recipe on his page A Whole Foods Lifestyle with keto and Blue Zone Diets
Along with my meals I am drinking lots of water daily. Sometimes plain water just doesn’t hit it so try adding some frozen grapes or berries to the water. The fruit will give the water a slight fruity taste! The other thing, I’m not eating as much but I’m not hungry either. I eat slow and get filled up. Once my test is over Monday I will add some snacks like trail mix and more fruit. If you want to join me on my healthy eating plan, I post my daily meals on Facebook each night. While I’m back on my healthy eating plan for health reasons and not to lose weight, I will probably drop a few pounds also because I’m eating healthy foods and not many sweets. I’ll be back next week for my week 2 of getting back on track.
Some great ideas and getting back to better eating before the holidays is really smart. I’m growing some cabbages in my patio garden so when they get bigger, I can try your recipe.
You know me and challenges Virginia! By the time we are ready to do Christmas baking I’ll be set in my eating plan and won’t over indulge. Come January 2021 I want to post a great report! WOW, I’d love to plant cabbage in the winter. I’ll have to check into that, I love it!
Eating healthy is not easy when you have a great little baker making all those goodies. You are doing well, though.
LOL Brenda, you can say that again! I’ve been looking at her container of chocolate chip cookies and drooling but not touching! We will look for healthy baking treats which shouldn’t be too hard.
I think you need to have a heart to heart with your baker. Teach her to make pancakes instead of the dessert items. She can make blueberry pancakes, harvest grain pancakes, or plane pancakes with some fruit glase toppings using fresh fruits and monk fruit for sweetner. Banana bread is high in natural sugars but if she adds chopped walnuts or pecans you will be getting some good fiber. I think you are doing good so far, and I am looking forward to seeing the meals you choose next week
Oh Lia loves pancakes and we always add chopped nuts to our breads, usually pecans. We will be baking for the holidays soon for our neighbors and I’ll be looking for healthy treats! Thanks for the the pep talk Chef Willam!
The pandemic has forced many of us to clean up our diet. I no longer eat out, for instance, and eat when hungry as opposed to some set meal schedule. I live alone, so it’s easier to do that. Intermittent fasting is a fascinating habit to develop, keeping mealtime at a set time schedule, and fasting 12-18 hours in between, thus keeping weight under control.
I was doing good on my healthy eating plan Kate until Lia started baking so many goodies. Actually the pandemic hasn’t changed our eating habits that much since we hardly go out to eat. But I’m looking forward to getting back on track and finding new foods to cook for both meals and snacks.
Glad you liked those choices. Not for me.
Someday I’ll find a meal that you like Roy! Or maybe Lia will find a yummy dessert you can drool over! Thanks for visiting.
Keep going. One little change can lead to other great changes.
I’m trying to keep on track Amanda! Need to get back to healthy eating for my insides.