Happy Monday to you all!
First things first: let’s talk about coffee.
Now, GBP patients are not supposed to drink caffeine. It’s hard enough to consume the daily required intake of water without the dehydrating effects of caffeine, right? Right. Well, I’ve never been a big caffeine person in the first place, so when my nutritionist made it known that caffeine was frowned upon, I never looked the other way.
I do, on occasion, have a mug of very very lightly caffeinated tea or a glass of iced (unsweetened) tea at a restaurant, but never sodas or regular coffee. If I ever consume regular (diet) soda, I pretty much bounce off the walls for about thirty minutes. It’s insane!
Now, I do confess that I have a deep love for iced coffees. I first discovered this the summer after my surgery, when I was working at the hospital as an interpreter. I would come in to work and pass the Starbucks inside the hospital and look longingly at the people with their sugary, frothy, delicious caramel frappuccinos, something that had been an evil pre-surgery vice of mine.
Something about that sweet, creamy coffee taste takes me back to my childhood… you see, as a child, my great-grandmother would take care of me and my brother while my parents were off doing their grown-up thing. For a quick breakfast, Iñita (her real name was Margarita, but she was always affectionately called this) would saddle me up with a big mug of cafe con leche (something that probably very much propagated my sweet tooth) and a big hunk of pan de agua (similar to Cuban bread), and I would dip the bread into the sweet liquid and eat it. Oh me.
Of course, I had to find a way to experience that in a healthy, gastric bypass-friendly way.
Enter the sugar-free caramel, decaf, soy iced latte from Starbucks: the culprit.
The sweet nutty creaminess of that expensive cup sucked me in. Every since then, I’ve been a victim of the iced coffee syndrome.
There are two problems with this:
One, I now live less than a mile away from a Dunkin Donuts, which, as we all know, has the best coffee ever.
Two, on occasion, I forget to ask for decaf.
This morning, I forgot to ask for decaf.
O.O
Y’ALL, it has made me a different person, this vast amount of caffeine. Granted, I have a 1.5 liter bottle of water that I’m working my way through to supplement my hydration levels with, but still. I now completely understand why people drink this stuff! It’s almost 11 o’clock and I don’t even remember 8:45AM-now!
Do you drink coffee? How do you feel without it in the mornings? Do you feel plenty hydrated if you do drink it often?
In addition to the coffee problem, I am a recovering bagel and cream cheese-aholic. I very rarely eat them because of the ridiculous amount of calories and the lack of positive nutritional content, but when I do, I pretty much delight in every second.
On to this week’s menu!
We kind of cheated since we didn’t follow through with two of our meals from last week. This happens often, since we sometimes just eat off of our leftovers instead of preparing a whole new meal, hence the repeats:
Monday: Portobello Sandwiches + Sweet potato fries
Tuesday: Homemade pizza with Trader Joe’s dough
Wednesday: Chana Masala + TJ’s garlic naan
Thursday: Black bean burgers + Roasted broccoli
Friday: Leek and Goat Cheese Tart
Saturday: Soup + Grilled cheese sandwiches*
Sunday: Leftovers & restaurant meal
*We might be having Robert’s birthday dinner on Saturday night with his family, so, this is tentative! Also, for the birthday boy, I’m making Jessica’s Peanut Butter Stuffed Dark Chocolate Cupcakes… Um, I know, right?
We semi-cheated with the groceries (due to repeats), so we bought a whole slew of snacks for the week and ended up spending a grand total of $45.98 on groceries out of our weekly allotted $55:
At Fresh Market:
Honey tangerines (2) – $1.72
Garlic clove (1) – $0.44
French mini baguettes (3) – $2.37
Pillow cookies (4) – $2.00 (YUM, shopping treat)
Total with tax: $7.10
At Walmart:
Vitamin water – $1.18 (was thirsty)
Cream – $1.68
Dannon Greek Yogurt (2) $2.00
Total with tax: $5.01
At Aldi:
Milk – $2.89
Applesauce – $0.89
Granola bars – $1.79
Paper towels – $1.89
Snack fruit crisps – $1.69
Eggs – $1.19
Baking soda – $0.45
Granola – $1.99
Trash bags – $2.29
Toilet paper – $2.49
Buttermilk – $1.69
Cinnamon graham crackers – $1.39
Brown sugar – $1.49
AZ Green tea – $0.79
Total with tax: $23.88
At Publix:
Goya drink – $0.99
Pie crust – $2.99
Bananas – $1.37
Hot fudge – $2.69
Pears – $1.23
Total with tax: $9.99
I’m looking forward to a yummy week!
Like a Sunday Stroll 