Special K Diet: Day 2, Bowl 1

Ok, so about to consume the first bowl of Day 2's Special K cereal allotment. (Technically, going to eat it after I read The Upper Room story for the day.)

Didn't the Special K diet used to be simple? Something like, substitute one bowl of cereal in place of one meal. Or, eat one bowl before going to bed instead of a pint of ice cream. I don't know exactly.

I do know I didn't expect this: 7 kinds of cereal, 2 flavors of waffle, 3 meal bars, 2 snack bars, 6 cereal bars and 7 flavors of Special K "protein water," which just sounds disgusting but whatever.

Are they kidding me??? If I want to spend the time to buy that many different bars and beverages, and mix and match them throughout the day, I might as well just grocery shop and cook!

They even acknowledge on the "Getting Started" quiz page (not much of a quiz--3 questions) that one reason people have trouble losing weight is because we skip meals, eat the wrong things, are busy... why do they think that is, because we took the time to prepare a healthy dinner and then some mysterious project prevented us from eating it? No!

It's because we don't want to figure out which cut of meat to buy, look up a recipe, hope we have all the spices, and buy some vegetable that will go nicely with it. But that's not much more work than picking 5 cereals, 4 bar flavors, and 6 waters! (And probably cheaper.)

Especially because (and maybe middle America won't have this problem) I seriously doubt any one NYC-area grocery store is going to have all or even half of that stuff!

I'm going to do cereal-only. The closest grocery store has at least 4 flavors of that, so I'll be set there.

I just Googled soy milk with it, because the K site itself is nothing more than an advertisement for the many varieties of Special K products, it has no helpful info like, What if I don't drink cow's milk can I still do the diet... There is a forum on the site, but I found it hard to find anything there. So.

My search results turned up the fact that soy milk is fine. I'm thinking it's better than rice milk because the rice milk is low protein and I'll be starving.

I also found this great review, which is actually a few years old. There may be more research now and the special bars and water may help you lose more weight, but this gives me a good reality check. I quote:

"If you currently have a poor diet, but substitute it with our cereal - you may lose 4.4 pounds over the first two weeks. You will be probably feel very hungry while restricting your calories, and will may find eating cereal for dinner or lunch to be untenable after a while. Boredom could well set in. History shows that a low-fat, higher-carb diet can work, but in the long run it may backfire".

Well, my diet's pretty poor, and a big part of it is simply eating each meal and knowing psychologically I'm done with it, so I don't snack in between. And I avoid eating DB's stuff when I'm mindful of what I put in my mouth.

And, having only eaten cereal all day, it sure made dinner taste good last night... AND got my butt in gear to actually cook the cauliflower in the refrigerator!

So that can't be bad.

Accountability time: Starting weight, 150.
Goal weight for 2 weeks, 145.

Blessed by Overtipping

Yesterday by accident I put $2 (or it might have even been $3) in the tip jar at Dunkin Donuts. I love this particular DD so much I even thought of tipping, which usually I don't. But the bills stuck together and whoops! There it was, a small wad of bills in place of the single I planned on putting in. Was it even all singles? What if that was a $5 bill inside there?

The counterperson had moved on to taking someone else's order so I had a few seconds.What to do?? I wanted to get it back, simply because it was a mistake! We're not so rich we can tip like THAT! We're on a tight weekend budget, and all of Sunday stretched out before us!

I put my finger back towards the bills but they were folded together tight. I'd have had to remove my gloves, then remove the entire wad and unfold it and peel $1 off to put back in.

I didn't know how I was going to explain what I was doing if the counterperson happened to glance over! No, I'm not helping myself to the money in your tip jar!

So I left whatever it was.

And we ended the weekend with $95. Out of $100. The coffee and three donuts cost more than $5...not even counting the amount of the Unknown Tip! Figure that one out.

This post is my contribution to Bossy's Daily Poverty Party.

Finding Time for God

Last week I truly benefited from doing a devotional early in the morning. I was looking forward to a slightly relaxed morning with plenty of time to read, since I was going to drive DB to school today. I got up at 6 am -- close to the usual time -- expecting to spend 5 minutes making a phone call, take a shower, then spend some time with God.

The phone call(s) took half an hour. (Click link if you want to know why.)

Then, I took my shower, and by the time I was dressed, DB was up.
I got him settled on the couch and went to make his lunch.

I spied yesterday's leftover coffee and poured it into a microwavable pitcher and started heating it.

Then I filled the coffee maker.

Then I had to refill the Brita water pitcher.

Then my leftover coffee was hot so I poured a cup and had to refill the sugar bowl.

I noticed my phone on the counter and put it in my pocket.

That made me think about where my watch was...

And I hadn't yet started packing DB's lunch... or snack... or breakfast!

Of course I also hadn't done my devotional yet either, which made me think of all the things we do instead of spending time with God.

Last week went so well for all of us, I absolutely ascribe it to being grounded by that prayer and reading time. I'm not going to let that habit slip away.

And yes, I've done my reading this morning. I sat down as soon as I got home from driving DB to school.

Breakfast Link

Come on over to my other blog about our adventures with DuckyBoy's school, for the latest breakfast saga. It's really a smaller story than a saga, but the word saga sounds better.

It involves a 6 am start, hot muffins, microwaveable bacon, minds that change from upstairs to downstairs, and transition issues. What more could you possibly want from a post? Haha.

I also managed to brush his hair and get him to brush his teeth this morning. This isn't rocket science, I'm amazed at how difficult it is to accomplish every day. In his fourth year of some form of 5-day-a-week school.

I must be doing something wrong. (The fact that he has NO interest in any self-care doesn't help. Don't most kids WANT to do that sort of stuff, "I'm a big kid now" type of thing?)

Flopsicle

I'm tired of writing posts like this!

I tried, I really did. Tuesday is Ice Cream Day at DB's school and since he can't have dairy he can't sign up for ice cream. The PTA moms who run it soo nicely said I should bring something in he can have, stick it in the freezer for him, labeled, and they'd give it to him each week.

Well. Yesterday was the first chance to do so, and as it turned out I was helping with ice cream. Which I hate. I don't know the kids and it's just a scramble to get it to them before it melts but after they've eaten their lunch. Riiight.

Anyway. I took Popsicles. Turns out they meeeeeeeeeeeelt really quickly. I didn't know that and basically handed my already-anxiety-prone kid a bag of colored water.

Not a great day. I'm not that surprised he didn't want to go to school this morning! But it makes me want to cry when he says things like "I hate first grade, I want to go back to kindergarten" before he's out of bed.

Hopefully today will be better. Parents get to sit in the classroom for something this morning -- I think the kids will read their own writing, but DB claims to have no idea what's happening. He is interested in the fact that there will be bagels involved. Though even there, he seemed only to know when I told him.

Was I so wrong to mention that perhaps the other children's parents will not be cutting up bagels into bite-sized pieces for their offspring to consume? That made him go off on a tangent about how weird he is. ("No, you're not," I replied. "I've met the kids in your class. Z thinks he's Batman.")

Dairy-Free Muffin Mom

So here's the breakfast issue around here. DB's school-day breakfast needs to meet all of the following criteria:

* No dairy ingredients.
* High protein. It has to fortify his brain for math, among other things, from 8 AM until snack time at 10:30.
* No peanut butter. (and I feel the need to minimize other nuts, according to what I read about nut allergy; DB does not have a nut allergy but some kids in his school does; nuts are allowed in the lunchroom but not in the classrooms.)
* Dry, not messy, not crumbly.
* Must be able to be eaten by hand, no utensils.
* Larger pieces (like mini muffins) keep DB more on-task about eating than, say, small pieces of dry cereal or bite-size bagel pieces, which DB tends to dawdle at eating). But...
* Can't be too chewy, like a hunk of bagel or ciabbatta roll; DB's mouth gets too tired.
* Preferably can be transported in a disposable container.
* Needs to be variable from week to week (or thereabouts), to keep DB from getting bored.

So. In my book, cereal bars and muffins are the answer. We got through almost 2 batches of rice-krispie bars before he got tired of them, so now we're on a muffin kick (nice for cold-weather, too).

To add more protein, I've started adding rice protein powder. The one I found has 12 grams of protein per tablespoon, so a quarter-cup goes a long way!

We also found recipes in an unlikely place: Nick Jr.'s Holly Hobbie area. Somehow Db navigated to that part of the site one day and really enoyed the muffion-making game, and we've had 2 recipes printed for, oh, FOREVER and I've just got around to trying them out.

Thank goodness for vegetarian sites on the Internet to tell me how to substitute rice milk for buttermilk (answer: add 1 TB lemon juice per cup), and to give me an idea of how to add the rice protein powder, plus a bit of luck and awaaaay we go!

He liked them enough to ask for more without my offering them -- the best test! I think the sprinkling of colored-sugar sprinkles on the top helped, too.

Another muffin source I didn't expect: Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bread mix. It's quite spicy, which appeals to DB's tastebuds. I added 1/2 cup of cinnamon-flavored applesauce, which added even more cinnamon flavor. By accident the first time, I still used the full amount of oil, and the muffins were really moist and chewy. The second time, I halved the oil to allow for the applesauce, but the muffins were drier. Third time, back to the full amount!

Another Internet trick: How to thaw muffins from the freezer. Answer: 20 minutes in a 300 degree oven (which can include the warm-up time) and they taste fresh-baked. Amazing!

This is good for me because making 30-odd muffins means 1 of 2 things happen around here:

1. Husband eats the last 3 that both DB and I were expecting to have for DB's breakfast.
or
2. Halfway through the batch DB gets sick of that for breakfast and wants something else.

Voila, the freezer saves the day!

One more trick I found today: Measure out the dry ingredients twice, and put the 2nd batch ina jar so it's premeasured for next time. (Now, it's possible that I've just TOTALLY jinxed myself and DB will never want corn muffins again.)

I like the premeasure option not because I'm so busy but because, well, this is soo petty but...

The Holly Hobbie corn muffin recipes uses ALL 4 of the measuring cups 0-- 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and one cup. Usually I use 2, sometimes 3. But for all 4, I like to feel I'm getting extra value for my dishwashing dime.

Edited to add: I thought of another parameter for breakfast:
* Must be within a certain mouthfeel range. not too much grainy texture (so whole-wheat flour, oats, etc. -- nice, high-protein sources -- are marginal.

How I Save Money on Food

This post is my entry for a BlogHer contest sponsored by Prego Italian Sauce. The winner will be randomly chosen, but as I thought about what I'd say in a quickly posted comment, my ideas sounded so off-the-wall that I decided to pretend it’s an essay contest and try to craft something thoughtful.

I have always been a coupon clipper and rebate/sale circular scanner. However, in the past months we have made the decision to try to start our own business, which means making our current savings last as long as possible. We are also trying to improve our health by eating a low-carb diet, and my son has a casein allergy. These factors mean inexpensive products full of carbs or whey/milk/cheese are off-limits.

If it’s Tuesday, we must be having veggies
We joined a CSA this year – a vegetable coop. It arrives (well, we go and get it) once a week, and since it’s already paid for we’re kinda forced to cook and eat it! It didn’t feel like we were saving money writing the check, but it averages out to $10/week to split a share – with only 2 of us eating these foods, it’s more than enough. We joined because the veggies taste so good – our neighbor gave us some of her extras last year. But it’s been a money-saver too, as I hate to waste food, especially good food, so I make an effort to cook the veggies.

Woo hoo, cheap meat!
There is an episode of The Simpsons where Homer goes into the convenience store and excitedly stuffs himself with on-sale hot dogs and the like that are outdated, have been on the floor, etc. While my choices are nowhere near that, talking about saving money on meat always reminds me of that. I do 2 things here:

1. Sale meat. Really, pork tenderloin isn’t exactly roughing it. And we happen to prefer chicken thighs and wings to breast meat anyway. But how old am I that $2 a pound for the cheap cuts sounds like a lot?
2. Store-brand cold cuts. I love Boar’s Head, but at half the price, it turns out the Stop & Shop brand isn’t so bad. I have 2 supertasters in the house, so that switch wasn’t as much of a no-brainer as it may seem. Mouthfeel is king around here when it comes to meat products. But I took a chance and found an acceptable alternative to $10/lb Virginia ham.

Sufficient unto the week are the groceries thereof
I’ve stopped buying in advance, and am trying to be more mindful of what I already have, and how long it will last, rather than automatically tossing in something I see and know we’ll use (eventually).

This is a big shift for me, born of Depression-era parents who believed in stocking up. There are still a few things I always make sure to have a spare of in the house, but less important things I'm trying to cut back on. This is especially true of snack foods, which are so much fun to get for DB, when I see something new.

Benefits in addition to cost savings include:

• Making more of an effort to wean DB off prepared foods and onto “real food” (like, a grilled-chicken sandwich instead of nuggets). In the past it would have been stressful for him if I were to run out of one of his staples, but now he’ll deal.
• Having less go stale/ become outdated.
• Fewer desserts in the house – none of us really needs them anyway!

Random tips
#1 – I cook late at night sometimes now. In the past I’d think, “I’m too tired, let’s order in.” But in our neighborhood it actually takes less time to cut up veggies and roast 2 pork tenderloins than it does to order Chinese food.

#2 – I take DB with me to pick out the foods that only he will be eating (such as bread). He eats it faster and better than when I take a guess, or always buy the same thing over and over.

#3 – When I do save enough in a week to have grocery money left over, I save it up for the next trip to the pricey health food store for the convenience foods that are hard to live without right now – like enriched, single-serve almond milk and dairy-free breakfast bars that DB takes to school.

Bacon: It's What's For Bedtime Snack!

DuckyBoy is still a picky eater but now he eats much MORE of what he does eat.

He's liked bacon for a while, but last weekend he ate almost an entire package of Oscar Mayer Ready to Serve Bacon. Tonight, after wolfing down a frozen oat-bran waffle (toasted and buttered), about 10 mini chicken nuggets (close to a full serving per the package), a Tofutti ice cream cone (with an extra scoop of ice cream added halfway through) and a Peeps ghost for good measure, he STILL wanted an after-bath snack an hour later. But he didn't like the sound of anything else sweet; he went for 1/4 cup of penne with Grandma's spaghetti sauce! He ate the whole (albeit small) bowl of pasta with gusto.

And then, bacon! I wonder how much of it he'd have eaten if it hadn't been bedtime. The guy sure can pack it in at night. No wonder he never wants breakfast!

I'm delighted he wants to eat more. Now I just need to wean him off at least a few of his expensive, prepackaged tastes -- chicken nuggets, Glenny's caramel-peanut-butter marshmallow bars, and single-serve Tetrapaks of chocolate almond milk, to name a few $1-a-pop items. Of course he gets his appetite when we try to start our own business and live off our savings!!

I think I'll keep the Ready to Serve bacon; if I had to cook bacon from scratch in that quantity, I never would. And it's one of the few high-protein foods he really likes.

Another exciting food experience to report today: (and, pork-related): After I opined at the grocery store that he was going to have to learn to like ham so he could taste different brands of cold cuts to tell me which his father would like, he actually ... hold your breath... TRIED SOME! Of his own free will. He liked that I reminded him that I think he's a "Supertaster." I think his father is too. Who else do you know who can tell two national brands of peanut butter apart? I live with two people who can.

Speaking of peanut butter, I've got to go to plan B for DB's protein-rich breakfast and snacks at school; a note came home just a few days ago that the peanut-allergy problem has hit our school. Peanut butter is still allowed in the cafeteria (where there's a peanut-free table), but not in the classrooms. Anyone have an opinion on whether almond milk or cashew butter and the like are acceptable alternatives? The Web sounds a bit scary on the cashews, maybe we'd better keep them at home. I'll know more after I call the school nurse about it tomorrow.

Pickles and Honey and Bumps on the Head

Db hit his head on a tow truck Friday afternoon.

How is THAT possible, you ask? OK, picture this:

It's raining hard. He's wearing his oversize Mets jacket with the hood up. He's still got his patch on. (That reminds me, I forgot his patch this morning. Don't care.) He's not really looking where he's going.

The tow truck was parked at the corner. The iron cross bar sticks out at a 45-degree angle at a height of, I now know, about 42 inches.

I had crossed the street ahead of him (it's a quiet street) and was encouraging him to come along and stop looking at whatever he was looking at. His body moved before his head turned and

****W-H-A-M!*****

The first thing he said after he stopped crying was, "Will it be better when I'm a grownup?" Later he said something about "the truck that broke my forehead."

Poor guy.

Needless to say, he wasn't too interested in doing gymnastics after that.

We went inside anyway, mainly because it was pouring rain, and he watched part of the class and played with his friend P (whose sisters take that class) for a bit, then we left.

He didn't black out, he never took that long-nap they warn you about following head injury, yet... I still worry.

I grew up with the mindset of, "If it's not life-threating, there's no reason to go to the doctor." So I'm not the type to drag him to the pediatrician when there's probably nothing they can do.

But I wonder -- because, oddly enough, he was Really Good all weekend. Doesn't that qualify as an uncharacteristic behavior change?

Now, he may have been really good due it it being Birthday Party day (Saturday) and Sunday he had lots of new stimulation from all his new presents. Very possible.

But we also took him to Pickle Day on the Lower East Side, and he tolerated being there and even tried some honey and wanted to buy some.

Last night he said, as he laid in bed, that he was dizzy. How can you be dizzy lying in bed? So I figured it was that dropping-off-to-sleep dizziness. Then he was hot. But fever doesn't show up as a symptom of head injury. (And my Google search about pediatric head injury symptoms didn't give me anything, really, to worry about.)

Then this morning, everything worked right. He woke up and I was right there but didn't startle him. He roused himself, told me he was waking up enough to get up, got his classes, and said "I'm ready," then sat up and headed to the playroom. His bus was late so we had time to do everything: Tell a story (the usual); eat his marshmallow bar; and have a race. We said after we did all that if the bus hadn't arrived, I'd drive him, but just as we finished, the bus pulled up ... and he was OK with it. Amazing.

How sad is it that my delight is tempered with, "Is he OK?"

Wow, Great Party!

We just had DB's 3rd-of-3 birthday parties for the year. Do ya think he's turned 6 enough?

I actually think this was a good year to celebrate a lot. So far he's doing really well adjusting to school. First week was a bit rough, but now that week 2 is behind him, he seems to be getting into the swing of things.

We've got a printed list of what we need to accomplish in the mornings (which helps me as much as, if not more than, it does him), he has a nice long swim lesson with another student, a girl who's a better swimmer than he is -- good for the stretch! We're getting the breakfast-snack-lunch components tweaked so he's not complaining of being hungry in the mornings (why are wholesome foods so expensive? I spend $100 at the grocery store, then pick up a few things at the health food store and it's another $50!) And he's already had one social story come home about being flexible re: who walks him from the bus to class in the mornings.

Oh, and no early session on Fridays, so he gets to watch tv and take a little more time getting ready one day a week. (I wanted that last year, but they slotted in an OT session he wasn't supposed to miss.)

And while a bump on the head yesterday stopped him from getting back into the swing of things at gymnastics, at least he was there for a few minutes (while he recovered; he bumped his head across the street from the gym) in prep for being there Today! For! His! Party!

I was a bit of a crazy person this morning; I baked his cake(s) last night but had to cut and frost them into a bear today, and we had an appointment at the accountant (is there a prize for being the last people to file your '07 taxes?) at 9:30 and I had this idea we had to leave at 1 for the party.

Fortunately, around 11 am I realized our party did not start until 4:00, so I had a chance to relax. (Once I called the restaurant we were ordering chicken satay from and corrected the pickup time from 1:00 to 3:00!)

And at least the cake was all done!


{Edited to add: I'm so proud of my cake
I uploaded it to the Website
that gave me the idea, Coolest Birthday Cakes.}

So, Party. DB did great; when he needed a break from the noise and activity, he took one; he sat on a rocking toy by himself, or came out into the vestibule for a drink, and about 5 minutes before the end of the gym portion, which is long -- an hour! -- he simply staked his claim at the table in front of a slice of pizza and waited for everyone else to join him.

It's nice to go somewhere that the staff knows your child, and lets him do what he needs to do. As they do in class, they encourage him to rejoin the group, but don't see the need to force it during a party.

Sure, there were a couple of glitches. We did Bears2Go along with the gym, and the first thing they do is color the shopping bag they'll put their bear in. He was anxious, probably just because I wasn't in the room with him, and needed to be sure I'd help him stuff his bear. Once reassured, he wrote his name and a couple of cute happy drawings on his bag.

Since we've attended other parties there, he's been waiting for his turn to be "in the parachute" --the b'day kid gets tossed around. So when the parachute came out, DB wanted to hop into the center right away, but they had a few warm-ups to do first. He had a hard time listening to that answer, and waiting, but after a few stern words from me (I basically said, "You can calm down and wait, or we can go home ... ") he dealt with it.

And then he was great. Even rolled in the big circle (hard to describe...)
ate pizza-with-the-cheese-removed (his choice to have regular pizza be the food -- it's what everybody serves, so I think he just wanted the whole package), tolerated the always-off-key rendition of Happy Birthday, blew out his candle -- didn't even wig out when the candle blew out as the cake was placed in front of him, just waited --waited!! -- while it was relit, blew it out, ate a bit of cake, WOW.

As I write it all down, I'm blown away. And I even got a super-nice compliment from Husband that I did a great job with the party.

This was a big expense that we agreed to and then promptly lost our steady source of income. I'm glad we did it. I like having parties at home, will happily continue them in the future, but this was really special.

And the look on those little girls' faces when they got to pick a Unicorn!! With Heart-shaped Feet! to stuff? Absolutely Priceless.

Morning Rant

I could not meet one of my child’s basic needs – to eat.

I made a mistake (forgetting to bring his breakfast downstairs) that MADE HIM CRY as he got on the bus,

which I couldn’t do anything about.

I hate THAT THAT WHOLE BUS PROCESS IS OUT OF MY CONTROL. I HATE that we are always running late and now the matron has muttered something about the DOE guys or some sort of inspector timing them as they pull up in front of the school building, so we need to try extra hard to help them be on time (and in fact we like her and the driver and wouldn't want them to get in trouble).

I also HATE to make a mistake, it makes me feel ashamed and angry at myself.

I hate that I feel like that. I want to be different.

I want to be able to say, "You have to wait, I have to run upstairs and get his breakfast." I've done that before, but with the whole inspector thing I feel cowed. The idea that a mistake I make can get someone else in trouble freezes me.

All this over a flippin’ Pop-Tart, which is close to the world’s worst breakfast in the first place. Geez!