A Day Off But Lots of Chores

Today is an official rest day on the training schedule. I'll probably take a walk later this evening.

I have company coming to stay for a couple weeks toward the end of this month and have a ton of stuff to get done around the house, some of which involves patching and painting the cracks from the earthquake a couple months ago, installing the window A/C upstairs, finishing the paint job on the vanity in the bathroom, cleaning, planting some iris & morning glories, etc.

This morning I ventured off to Walmart to stock up on produce. Here's the haul @ $71.23.

Avocado -$1.49
Kiwi 4@.28 - $1.12
Garlic $2.98/lb - $0.13
Strawberries - $1.98
Mushrooms 8 oz sliced - $1.88
Grape Tomatoes 2 pints - $3.94
Frozen Mixed Veggies 4 lb 8 oz - $6.12
Frozen Broccoli Florets 3 lb 8 oz - $6.12
Kale 2 lb - $2.50
Collard Greens 2 lb - $2.50
Spring Mix 5 oz - $2.98
5 Lettuce Mix 6 oz - $2.98
Red Leaf Lettuce bunch - $1.38
Acorn Squash $0.96/lb - $1.34
Cucumbers 2@$0.50 each - $1.00
Bell Peppers 3 pk - $2.64
Broccoli 2 stalks - $1.74
Cauliflower head - $2.23
Radishes 1 lb - $1.48
Carrots - $1.18
Fuji Apples 3@$1.17/lb - $2.68
Nectarines 3@$1.28/lb - $1.09
Bananas 4@$0.64/lb - $0.90
Blueberries pint - $3.98
Whole Wheat Rotini 13.25 oz - $1.26
Wild Rice Blend - $3.00
Pineapple Salsa 16 oz 2@$2.24 - $4.48
Tomato Pesto 10 oz - $2.50
Black Beans 2@0.52 - $1.04
Red Kidney Beans 2@$0.58 - $1.16
Chick Peas 2@$0.68 - $1.36
Apple Cider Vinegar - $0.92

After the Walmart trip, I walked up to the post office for some 1 cent stamps and stopped by the courthouse on the way back to visit a friend. We walked a few laps around the courthouse block. In total, the outing involved about a mile and a half or so of walking.

For lunch, I made a salad with the 6 oz bag of 5 Lettuce Mix, a kiwi, a few blueberries & grape tomatoes, edamame, & mushrooms with no oil or dressing. Afterwards, I had a couple prunes and a half-dozen almonds. Yummy!! I really like this food. Breakfast was a couple packets of Kashi Oatmeal. Morning snack was a grapefruit and about 1/2 oz almonds. I'd prefer to eat plain oatmeal and avoid added sugars, but I've got a boatload of the Kashi and a couple boxes of Quaker, so I'm going to eat it first to clear out the cabinet.

Morning Stats

weight: 146.6lbs
bf: 29%
bp: 109/63
pulse: 49 bpm
bg: I'm going to only test maybe once a week or less now ... the test strips are about $1 each.

Day 8: Breaking The Fast

At 1:12 pm the first bit of watermelon entered my mouth. After not having eaten anything other than water for over seven days, it tasted terrific. Intense, delicious flavor. Fasting helps to "reset" your appetite and taste buds. I ate about a cup of it very slowly and drank some water with it. Every bite tasted wonderful. My stomach is a little uncomfortable which is to be expected since it's not had anything to do for a while. Hey, wake up down there! Vacation is over!

I had to go to two stores. Walmart didn't have any regular watermelons, just those tiny ones for $4 or not-so-big packages of cubed mixed melon for almost $9 (what?!?!). I went to Buehlers Buy Low and got a nice, medium-sized, round one for $5. At Walmart, I picked up two cucumbers at $.50 each, two pounds of organic red grapes for $3.48, one pint of blueberries for $3.98 (still expensive, but better than a tiny package for the same price), three navel oranges for $2.04, a bunch of romaine for $1.48, one pint of grape tomatoes for $1.97, one pound of strawberries for $1.88, and a package of three bell peppers (green, yellow, orange) for $2.64. Get this: they were selling single yellow, orange, and red peppers for $2.49 each. EACH?!?!?! For crying out loud. Green ones were $.94 each.

Too bad they didn't have organic strawberries and bell peppers. Of the foods I purchased today, they are among the 12 Most Contaminated Fruits and Vegetables. Some follow-up comments posted at that site to the list essentially say that pesticides aren't harmful and that you shouldn't bother because there are tons of other toxic things we encounter everyday. Oh? Ever read the label on a pesticide container?

Since the bakery is next to the produce, I was happy to notice that the donuts and all of their relatives didn't interest me in the least. The best smell of all was the peaches.

Along the lines of eating well, here's a list of 12 Food Additives to Avoid.

Every two hours I'm supposed to eat about a cup of watery fruit, so at the next feeding I think I'll eat half an orange. Right now, about an hour after starting to eat the watermelon, I'm only very slightly hungry.