Day 5-7

I was so nervous about staying on my food plan while I was out of this town this weekend.

I knew that my best friend, an amazing Cuban Muslim woman, loves to cook us Cuban feasts when we go out there. Before my changes, we had planned for a full, greasy, and fattening night of Cuban food (so fattening because I LOVE frituras de maiz [they are like fried sweet corn dumplings]).

Anyway, I practiced my new assertiveness surrounding my food and asked her if she could make us a "skinny Cuban dinner." She did make us a healthy Cuban dinner, mashaAllah. And you know what? It was still just as delicious as a more fattening version. I did feel like something was missing. We went to buy yuca at the store and they were all out so instead of "yuca con mojo," we had "mojo sin yuca!" lol!!! It was good anyway. Thinking about it now, the only other thing I would have asked if I thought about it was to have platano maduro but not fried in oil just baked.

We had pollo vasco, mojo, green bean salad, and avocado salad. We usually ALWAYS have dessert from or at least make one run to the famous Cuban bakery in Glendale, Porto's. I am so proud to say that I did not even miss having dessert or having anything from Porto's.

On the way out of town, I made another great choice for food on the go that I knew I would enjoy once I saw it. I had a tortilla-less veggie and grilled chicken bowl that was awesome. The only downside is that I could tell it had more salt than I am used to having. Had I not already had a turkey sandwich for lunch I would have taken one with me on the road instead of eating out.

The bigger test was Saturday morning breakfast, she still made the amazing breakfast but I was really good with my portions, but I could have had just 1 multigrain waffle instead of one even though 2 was the serving size. I had 2 strips of turkey bacon, egg white, multigrain waffles, and 1 hash brown. I could have also gone without the has brown but had it anyway, so I would not have 'what would it have tasted like?' on my brain all day.

I was not good about having my snacks between meals but I guess that is because my meals were a bit bigger than I have gotten used to during week 1.

Oh, man, for lunch I wanted some wings with bbq, honey sauce, and some other sauce I don't remember. I am such a sauce girl. Correction: I WAS such a sauce girl. AlhamduliAllah, I glanced over and saw baked chicken instead. I bought a salad at trader joe's earlier in the morning and my best friend got lettuce and tomatoes and I made the trader joe's single serve salad into enough for more than 3 servings by adding the other lettuce and tomatoes to it with some balsamic vinaigrette. I did not use the dressing from the trader joe's salad because the package said 850 sodium!!!! WTH!?

Anyway, Sunday morning I did have too much turkey bacon. I loved the burned pieces and there happened to be four. So, I ate them all. Plus, it was Mother's Day. Seriously though, these are just the excuses that I used to eat what I wanted. I will do better next time, nshaAllah.

All in all, I had a pretty successful weekend away, especially considering all the crap that I normally eat. Plus, I went for a short walk around the area with Suheylah Sunday morning.

The weekend away was so nice and well-needed. Three days away felt like a week, mashaAllah. Today, it is back to the grind.