I weighed 258.2 lbs. this morning, which in looking at my stats for the last quarter or so, is the least I have weighed during that period of time. My BGL was 137, which also was a low number.
[04/27/25]: Funny. This morning when I weighed, I was at 250 lbs. again. I’ve been as low as 243 just a little over a week ago. And, my resting BGL was 139, but I had just drank some hot tea with milk, so that may have been up because of that. I have been recording very low (for me) resting numbers for a couple of weeks (under 120 mostly). [end]
Not sure, but I drank a lot of Pomegranate juice yesterday. I don’t recall exactly where in Sprouts it was located, but it is a Sprouts bottle. One thing I find unusual is that the juice is a dark color. It says that it is made from Pomegranate Concentrate, but I recall what the seeds looked like and each little seed was surrounded by a clear gelatinous flesh. *Unusual, but when I was growing up diagonally across from the old Swansboro High School (1960s & 70s) on the corner of Highway 24 and Queens Creek Roads, we had a Pomegranate tree in the backyard next to a deep drainage ditch. Mom nor I ever figured out how to make this edible. If you could strain the juice and put a little sweetener with it that might be good. But the little seeds were little pulpy things. Not quite as irritating as trying to chew watermelon seeds, but not pleasant for me either.
I checked online regarding Pomegranates and diabetics. Surprisingly, pomegranates & their juice are a positive for diabetics, in moderation.
I started to write this posting because I have been struggling with organizing what I eat, especially over the course of a week. That would be 21 meals, not counting any snacking I would do, of which seven of these would be breakfasts. Lately, I have three favorite breakfasts… fried apples, bacon and either tea or coffee; egg salad, bacon, slice of bread, a few small grape tomatoes, tea or coffee; or a waffle with sugar free syrup & Agave Nectar, some margarine, tea or coffee.
[04/27/25]: I’m planning on fixing a waffle this morning. Haven’t had them in a couple of weeks. I haven’t been paying as close attention to what I am eating, and that is why I have been going up. I basically have 14 meals (lunch & dinner) to coordinate. My breakfasts are locked in as to the basic ingredients. I either have fried apples & bacon, or an egg salad with bacon, or avocado, and some toast, or a waffle and bacon. I do substitute polenta for the bread, and the bread is usually either a sourdough from Publix, or “Knock Your Sprouts Off” from Aldi. If I have half an avocado for breakfast, it will turn brown if I don’t use it for lunch or dinner, latter that same day.
The problem with lunch & dinner is that for instance, I broiled two large thick cut pork chops yesterday. That will be at least 4 meals, if not 5. But, I also have some chicken thighs, which need to be cut up for stir fry and most of it frozen. And then what if I slip in a steak (usually cook enough for two meals) or have a ground sirloin burger meal? [end]
When I have fried apples, I put some Splenda sweetener on the apples and then sift the following spices: cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger, mace, nutmeg & Pumpkin Spice (which includes several of the previous). I guess I could have mashed sweet potato for breakfast, because most of these spices would go well with this also.
Finally, what I wanted to get to. So, there are 14 meals in a week, 7 lunches and 7 dinners. I’m probably going to eat one dinner from Taco Bell; a Beef Burrito Supreme, a Bean Burrito and a Crunchy Taco. I might leave off either the bean burrito or the taco, and a few times I might not order the burrito supreme. I will sometimes make salsa at home. *I stopped eating a meal at Taco Bell quite a few months ago. I may get one bean burrito, but that’s about it because of the high calorie count.
Last night, I roasted several peppers in the oven and then added them to some diced roasted tomatoes, chipotles, and some sweet onion with sweetener, Agave Nectar and some lime juice. I also chop up some sweet onion separately, and also put some sour cream in one of my “three footed” bowls. My favorite bowls are yellow and lime green, made of plastic. *Having a few of these bowls is a necessity, if for no other reason than using them as salsa bowls (maybe guacamole too).
So, day before yesterday, I made both spaghetti sauce and some vegetable soup. The soup was about 4 helpings and the spaghetti sauce was about 2.5 helpings. I had a bowl of the soup yesterday.
Now, I like to have my Polska Kielbasa, Shrimp & Zucchini dish, but when making it, I end up with two helpings. One to eat immediately, and one to put in the refrigerator. I came up with this meal a few years ago, and I have continued to love the flavors. Not a lot of ingredients (I’ve added some raw peppers, mild & hot, lately.), but consistently satisfying in flavor. *Odd, but I haven’t fixed this meal in quite a while, and I have at least one zucchini and the Kielbasa. I am out of frozen shrimp, but have it on the grocery list, and plan to try the HT frozen shrimp instead of the Publix. HT sells a 12 oz. package compared to the 16 oz. Publix bag, but HT is cheaper per ounce than Publix.
How about a salad with the spaghetti? I could make some Catalina dressing, or use some “store bought” Ranch. In this salad: cauliflower, tomatoes, sweet onion, baby spinach leaves. The homemade Thousand Island dressing is for my Pastrami Rachel sandwiches. These also come with some extra sauerkraut, a spicy dill pickle and maybe even some wavy potato chips. Satisfying, and I now have a process that generates a delicious sandwich, with toasted margarine on the outside and toasted Swiss cheese on the inside, sauerkraut & Thousand Island dressing, but the sandwich doesn’t become messy. *Way different from my first attempt.
Now, I like a Round Bone Lamb Chop (London Broil in the oven.) with maybe some mashed potatoes (add some chopped asparagus to the potatoes), maybe some cabbage slaw, and a few sliced small tomatoes, and a slice of White Mountain Bread. Oh yeah, how soon I forget: corn on the cob, fried okra & onions, or a tomato chutney.
I like a Greek Salad with the lamb chop too. What makes it Greek for me is using a few Kalamata olives, some Romaine lettuce, tomato and sweet onion, and the dressing is basically some mustard (with seeds), red wine vinegar & olive oil. This dressing isn’t sweet.
I haven’t made any carrots with maple syrup & butter (margarine) on the stove top in a while. I just bought a new bottle of Cary’s Sugar Free Syrup. I don’t think I would buy an old bottle. But interestingly to me, you can pour some of the sugar free syrup into the pan, with the carrots, and also add some margarine. Unlike sugar or Karo Syrup, when you heat these they thicken in the pan and sometimes burn black. The sugar free syrup does not thicken. It remains thin and cooks the carrots well. The margarine makes a good sauce with a sheen on the carrots.
Some polenta might be good. I haven’t made that in a while, and it sops up gravy really well.
NOTE [I’ll probably come back to add more to this…]:
A traditional Greek salad consists of sliced cucumbers, tomatoes, green bell pepper, red onion, olives, and feta cheese. Greek salad dressing is a simple mix of olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, and dried oregano. *I don’t usually add cucumbers, and normally don’t have any green bell peppers, but do have red/orange/yellow bell peppers, but don’t add these either. I do like cucumbers and bell peppers, but just don’t put them in a Greek Salad. I like the cucumbers diced up, with some sweet onion, and maybe diced bell peppers, with a little Red Wine vinegar & sweetener. The colorful bell peppers, which are normally milder & sweeter than the green ones, I like to use in my spaghetti sauce, or my Mexican chicken dish, with tomatoes, onions & the peppers. **One other, more exotic thing, is that I might chop some bell peppers, sweet onion and tomatoes and add Red Wine vinegar to a small Tupperware bowl, and then add a bunch of Turmeric. Let this sit for a while and hopefully the Turmeric will leech into these veggies. The result is a pleasing, acrid taste. You might even add some Kalamata olives to this. And, this would go well with some homemade hummus. ***Hummus is easy to make, and you could have a “veggie” meal including: sliced small tomatoes, sweet bell peppers (various colors), some chopped sweet (Vidalia) onion, sliced carrots (for some reason I don’t like celery stalks with hummus, but I do like celery). Not vegetarian, but I’ve found I really like to open a can of Smoked Oysters and include this with my hummus & veggies. Also, Fresh Market has an olive bar which includes red pearl peppers in vinegar, some curried cauliflower, roasted garlic, those smallish hollowed out peppers in sweet vinegar, etc. I normally don’t do cheese with hummus. Castlevetrano olives or some of the green California olives (which taste like black olives) would also be good. And, although I don’t think I’ve ever done it, maybe some guacamole (mashed avocado) would also add interestingly to this mix.
Why was I thinking of a Greek Salad today? Well I have a couple of helpings left, of spaghetti sauce that I made a couple of days ago, in the refrigerator. A salad would go well with the spaghetti.
But, I also have several helpings of vegetable soup that I made at the same time as the spaghetti sauce, and they need to be eaten also. Okay, unusual, but I might just have soup for breakfast this morning.
Bill Gibson, II 