My intuitive coping method for stress is to shutdown. Lately I have been stressed in both my personal and professional life; which has resulted in only eating once a day, sleeping poorly, achieving high scores in Candy Crush, and an embarassing amount of dirty laundry in my bathroom.
Enough. Inner control freak, type-A personality must activate. For the next two weeks I will focus on reminding my body that it has a metabolism. Beginning tomorrow I will eat every two hours. I am going to focus on introducing nutritious foods instead of counting calories.
(I can feel the Type-A awakening as I type this post. THIS I CAN CONTROL. I LIKE CONTROL.)
First part of this plan is to make a large pot of something tasty in the crockpot that can be portioned for the rest of the week. I believe I pulled this recipe originally from Food Network and tweaked it to my personal taste preferences:
Chicken Pumpkin Stew
- 2 lbs. Skinless Chicken Breast
- 3 Chipotles in Adobe Sauce
- 1 Poblano Pepper Diced
- 2 Onions Diced
- 4 Cloves Garlic Grated
- 1 Yellow Pepper Diced
- 2 Sweet Potatoes Diced
- 1 Can Corn Kernels Drained
- 1 Can Black Beans Drained and Rinsed
- 1 Can Diced Tomatoes
- 1 Can Pumpkin
- 4 Cups Low Sodium Chicken Stock
- 2 Inches Fresh Ginger Grated
- 1 Bunch Kale Torn
Cut the chicken into bit size pieces and marinate in the adobe sauce overnight. In the crockpot mix together all ingredients except for the kale. Cook on low for eight hours. Thirty minutes before cooktime ends add kale.
The second part of this plan is that I will have to make a list each evening outling what I will eat the next day. (To-Do lists have a strange amount of control over me.)
10AM: 1 Cup Greek Yogurt with a sliced banana, honey, and cinnamon.
12PM: 1/2 can tuna fish mixed with 1/2 avocado heavily seasoned on a whole grain English muffin.
2PM: 1 apple with 2 Tbs. almond butter.
4PM: 1/2 cucumber sliced with 1/4 cup baba ganoush
6PM: 2 Cups chicken stew with brown rice
8PM: Heavily spiced airpopped popcorn with 1 Tbs. margarin
10PM: 1 oz. dark chocolate
Finally, I will also focus on hydration. For these next two weeks I am going to drink my body weight in ounces of water daily. Much like eating every two hours, I know this is overkill but I want to shock my body into realizing that it will receive more water and doesn't have to hold onto every precious ounce.
What about you? What is your gameplan as we enter into the final two weeks of this DB?