Before we get to the bummer part of my day I thought I’d share my latest and greatest easy meal creation – aka “So easy your dog could make this” recipe:
Orange Cranberry Couscous
Ingredients: 1c OJ, 1c ww couscous, 1/3c cranberries, 1c cooked chickpeas, salt, 1 Tbs. olive oil, 1 Tbs. vinegar
Directions: Bring OJ to a boil, add couscous and immediately take off heat and cover. After couscous sits for 5 minutes fluff with fork and add salt, vinegar and olive oil. Mix. Add cranberries and chickpeas, mix well. Serve and Enjoy! 
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Stop a Bad Day
Warning: This is just a rant about how I fell off the wagon today, feel free to skip 🙂
Today I had what I would define as a “bad eating day”. For some reason I ate my lunch at 11am, then wanted to eat again around 12:30pm (not out of hunger) and ended up snacking on bars (plural) and junk food.
Boo. I was super upset with myself because I had been doing so well! But, I decided to write down all my eats anyways. It turns out the damage wasn’t too bad and even with an afternoon snack and dinner I wouldn’t gain 4 pounds today.
The key for me was to write it down and be accountable – NOT just say “F it” and continue to ruin my day even more. Any time I fall off the wagon I usually chalk up the day as a disaster and continue to ruin my diet nice and good so I can start again tomorrow.
Well, today I recorded all the extra damage and ate the rest of the day as normal – not binging, but not starving myself either. And I’m glad I did that or I’d feel either overly bloated and full or hungry and ready for binge #2 if I didn’t eat.
Overall, it was definitely more food than I needed (or burned) today, but I am tired and stressed and I’m moving on 🙂
End Rant.
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I actually am not feeling ready for my exam and need to get on studying! See you tomorrow morning…
It’s so hard to stop a bad day when it’s on full speed. I’m so proud of you for getting back on track and not letting the first bad half get you down.
Don’t worry about it 🙂 It’s a victory in itself just to STOP which you did do! Sometimes our bodies randomly want extra food, and sometimes not and we eat it anyways. In the end, as long as it isn’t an everyday thing, I think it evens out.
I definitely have to make that couscous … anything with orange juice and dried cranberries usually turns out pretty good. 🙂
Don’t worry about the rant – at least you admitted it and wrote it down! We’re only human – you have to remember that.
K
First of all, I just bought my first box of TJ’s whole wheat couscous on Sunday AND have been trying to work more chickpeas into the ol’ diet, so your killer recipe is right up my alley.
Second, I had week-long bingefest last week that was just awful. I like your idea of writing everything down as soon as you realize the damage you’ve done. For me, I’m going on a treat detox for two weeks, which means I can plan out one or two treats a week, but I am forbidden to snack on foods that I should only be eating once in a while anyway (ie chocolate, cookies, etc. etc.).
Keep up the good work – love the blog!
Your cous cous looks amazingly delicious! 🙂 I appreciate your honest posting and love that after you wrote everything down you realized that it wasn’t so bad, but you also didn’t continue to sabatage yourself either. It’s baby steps. Every decision we make is just a small moment in time and yes they add up over time but one bad meal isn’t going to ruin all your progress. I needed to hear this post today as I have been feeling similar lately. Thank you!
I nominated you for an award – check out my latest post!
Thanks for being so honest, it’s so hard when you get the emotional hungry horrors. Sometimes you’re just hungry all day long and you feel like a bottomless pit. You did so well by recognizing that you could stop it and not say ‘screw it’ and keep going. It’s one thing if it’s real hunger, but for me a lot of the time it’s just other reasons that I want to eat. That’s when I know it’s time to stop.
Your couscous looks delicious! “So easy your dog could make it.” Haha.
Ummm need to make that couscous! I LOVE chickpeas and any orange-cranberry combo. Win!!
I love the honesty of your blog! I have had MANY of those days myself so it does feel good to know I am not alone! But, you dealt with it really well (better than I would have). AND your couscous looks delicious.
Let’s not say that you had a “bad” eating day–no need to beat yourself up about it! Start each day with a clean slate. 🙂
yum – the couscous looks amazing! I think I saw something similar from Rachel Ray, but w/o chick peas. So yours definitely wins because I love chickpeas 😛
And good for you for realizing what you were doing and not beating yourself up – rather thought about it and moved on like normal. Sometimes it’s too easy to dwell on mistakes, making it seem way worse than it really is, when you look at it in comparison to everything else 🙂
I think the hardest part of overeating is catching yourself and not letting the whole day be an eating extravaganza! Good for you for getting back on track and for not starving for the rest of the day. Well done! And well done on the cous cous dish! So pretty!
That is good that you stopped yourself, I know exactly what you mean and usually I end up continuing on too. Yesterday I should have done the same thing as you, but I didn’t. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been, but I binged and I hadn’t in almost two weeks :-/ Next time I am going to try your method though
Don’t beat yourself up about it. 🙂 We all have days like that. Good job on being accountable and moving on. That’s hard to do!!! Tomorrow is a new day!
Whose to say you werent feeding hunger anyway? I constantly tell myself that my munching (and admittedly, often binging) has nothing to do with my hunger because its abnormal to the typical american female meal plan. Its not the right time, food, or quantity-so i tell/berate myself. But what if we were to say f-it in a good way? Embrace the ability to feed more than a physical hunger, but an emotional one. I know my Ts are always encouraging me to stear away from food as a drug, but i think thats the wrong idea-for me at least. I think if I were to view it as more of a support, like a good friend or hug, I wouldnt treat it like a drug and maybe savor it. I feel SOOOOO guilty for what i just ate/semi binged on, but maybe together we can fugetabout-da guilt and accept that we needed to feed some kind of hunger, possibly an emotional one and that HELL, we’re okay. In fact, if it wasnt for the label that i attach to eating more than i should once in a while-is it so bad? just ramblings… feel free to disregard.
MA
Hiya Monica,
I’m a intuitive eating wanna be too. One thing that has really helped me stop thinking about food and (mostly) stop mindless snacking and binge eating is that I refuse to categorise my days as good or bad based on what I’ve eaten.
Having said that though, I do still mindlessly snack at times and think *ugh* that sooooo wasn’t worth it!
ABB
If it makes you feel any better my “dinner” tonight was a bowl of Greek yogurt with almond butter and cinnamon, some granola with soy milk, some shredded wheat cereal with soy milk, a piece of chocolate, spaghetti squash with parmesan cheese and half a container of blueberries. Meh. Tomorrow will be better….
Thank you for sharing that recipe! I’m going to have to try that!
Don’t worry about your eating today. Tomorrow’s a new day. And the fact that you stopped in its tracks is HUGE! Most people would have said F this and kept going downhill. You’re such an inspiration!
I accidentally responded with my old username 🙂 Oops!
good for you for stopping a bad day in it’s tracks and yet not going “eff this”. that’s such a huge step, no? very healthy attitude 🙂
So funny– I recently stopped the “screwed up, so f- it” mentality too. I used to do the same thing .. one thing wrong and I’d scratch the whole day. But then I realized that usually, my mindless snackfest didn’t completely RUIN me.
And it seems like you did the same exact thing! Yay! Good minds think alike 🙂
Writing it down is a good trick … I’ll try that
Thanks for posting about that, it’s nice to know that other people have bad eating days too!
I used to stress out about it and subtract the extra food I ate from my “allowance” for the next day. As a result I’d then be feeling even worse about myself because I’d end up eating more at the end of the next day because of denying myself of food early on. Now I’ve learned not to stress out about it and don’t let it affect the rest of my day.
🙂
We all have good days and we all have bad days. It’s great when you realized that you were having a bad day and decided that you just wouldn’t continue down that path.
Love the couscous recipe. I have a ton that I haven’t found anything to do with!
Meant last week, not next week…
Don’t sweat it. If you’re hungry you should eat. I find that I’m rarely hungry when I snack which is a problem. I’ve devised new methods by which to overcome my mindless stress eating (I blogged about it next week). When I reach for a snack without being hungry, I’m making myself clean something instead. If I still want it when I’m done cleaning, I can have it.
Your meal looks delicious!! I love dried fruit and grains together!
That’s a good idea! Especially because I have so much cleaning to do (I’m messy…)
I wouldn’t worry about it; after all, who can really tell us how much energy our bodies expend? Certainly no online calculator; even machinery is only good if you’re wearing it 24/7
That meal looks so quick and simple! Definitely one to try, maybe with quinoa? I don’t think I’ve ever eaten that OR couscous
Wait, tell me you’ve tried couscous! It’s one of my absolute faves and super easy. TJ’s whole wheat couscous!