Vegetarian?

It struck me today that a possible route for me to go in my efforts to lose the 15 or so pounds that I want to is by changing my diet. Most days, I am on my own for breakfast and lunch. As such, I could eat what ever I want. I feel a bit silly realizing this so late, but it was a delightful thing to realize.

As such, I could start eating a more vegetarian diet. I think this would have a lot of healthy effects. I am more then a little bit sure that it would lower my cholesterol. Getting more fiber would be good for my digestive tract. If I do it right, I could possibly even manage to work myself to eating the correct amount of calories to be at my ideal weight (150 lbs) for the lifestyle that I have right now.

Today, quite by accident, I did just that. I had my usual morning breakfast of oatmeal with fruit and a bit of maple syrup. I blame McDonald's for getting me hooked on that combination. I'm not using instant oatmeal or artificial maple syrup for this. I do the refrigerator trick with quick cooking oats (I tried using steel cut and it just didn't work). To cut down on fat, I have been using just plain water for it. I must say, I prefer it this way. It could be because I'm a closet oatmeal purist but I doubt that. When I remember, I chop up half an apple and throw in one of those mini-boxes of raisins and a mini-box of dried cranberries.

This afternoon, I was feeling hungry but I didn't want to do much cooking. Then I remembered that I had ramen. Ramen cooks up fast and I will confess, I enjoy it far more then I rightly should. As I was boiling the water for the noodles, I realized that I had some veggies that I was going to cut up for a cold noodle salad last week. The clover sprouts that I was going to try turned questionable. So I tossed those, but I chopped up some celery, a tiny cucumber, and half of a small zucchini. Once the noodles were cooked, I drained them and rinsed them with cool water. Then I tossed everything in a medium sized bowl with a few tablespoons of balsamic vinaigrette dressing.

I ate about half of this. It probably was more then I really should have but it tasted SO good I couldn't help myself. I put the rest into a container and stashed it in the fridge. Because it is something vegetarian, I know that Beloved won't be terribly interested in it. As for the boys, the container is not see through, so I won't have little food bandits pilfering my noodle salad. Huzza for that, am I right?

Upon some consideration, I like the idea of eating a diet that is more vegetarian then not. One reason why is because I think it may help me control my PCOS related blood sugar issues. When I was pregnant with the boys, I was eating a diet that was low in processed foods, high in vegetables, and meat only when I craved it. I think I must have kept the grape producers hopping with how much I scarfed down. I found that when I had cravings, it wasn't for stuff like junk food. (No pickles and ice cream for this momma!)

I think the closest I came to craving junk food was when I wanted popcorn. (That's a whole story by itself. I'll tell it later!) I suspect that if I go with that kind of diet that I accidentally did while I was pregnant, I'll lose a few pounds all by itself. Throw in some increased exercise (I've been bad about that one) and I may see even more improvement. But, that's what's on my mind right now. I thought I'd share. :)