Weigh in, Farmer's Market Joy, and Daily Menu for June 9

This has been an excellent morning! I woke up bright and early with Jax cheerfully snuggled against me, never a bad way to start the day. We got up and dressed to head over to Weight Watchers for my weekly meeting, and I lost (are you ready for this?)

5.6 lb. THIS WEEK ALONE!

My goal is 30 lb. down by 9/23/07 and I'm currently down 7.8 lb. in three weeks (at 303.8 lb.), well ahead of goal.

This is craziness! I ate plenty of food, lots of great whole grains, tons of fresh fruits and veggies (made all the easier by the abundance at the farmer's market), and ate until I was satisfied and not stuffed. That's it. I counted the Points on non-Core foods and planned and tracked my meals, got in the 8 healthy guidelines almost every day, and wasn't hungry. I can do this.

Plus, Jax was happy during the meeting (another shock!), happily eating a cup of fruit and an oat muffin and sitting quietly next to me for the full half hour, clapping along whenever the group cheered for someone's accomplishment.

Next, we went over to Country Sun to pick up milk, grains, and chicken for the week. I bought more bulgur and whole wheat couscous, two puffed whole grain cereals (millet and kamut, both of them with a single ingredient - organic millet and organic kamut!), milk (fat free for me, whole for Jax), yogurt, and a whole chicken.

Onto the farmer's market in Palo Alto, which is bustling by 9:30 am. We cruised over to the Full Belly Farms stall to pick up our CSA box, which today included green beans, carrots, garlic, chard, squash, beets, apricots, and newly dug potatoes, which the "Full Belly Beet" (the accompanying newsletter) announces were "harvested, washed, and packed for you by an enthusiastic group of children from the Golden Valley Charter School."

We stopped to listen to the guitarist, and while I was tempted to get a crepe, the line was long and I didn't want to use the points so we kept moving. We took a leisurely stroll around the market, picking up tofu from Hodo Soy, snapper from F/V Anne B, blueberries, peaches from Kashiwase Farm, a bottle of apple pomegranite balsamic vinegar from Hare Hollow, radishes, cilantro, whole wheat flour (not Core), and a few heads of lettuce. We're going to eat well this week! The peaches are especially flavorful and juicy, and we sampled the many varieties before choosing Arctic Snow, a white fleshed, sweet but not too sweet peach.

My favorite part of the farmer's market is the interaction with the people producing your food. I love talking to Pietro, our fishmonger, about the best way to cook a new-to-me fish, or asking the best way to use a new vegetable from any of the produce stands.

I bought cilantro and radishes today and Stephanie from the Green Oaks Creek Farm and Retreat suggested marinating the radishes in rice wine vinegar to remove the bite and add a tangy flavor. We'll be having that one day this week. They also sell strawberries, wool in skeins for knitters, and tomato starts.

So here is today's daily menu:

The latte is from Starbucks (I wasn't on the ball enough to bring it with me this morning.)

Breakfast:
nonfat latte
peach

Lunch:
Artichoke soup

Dinner:
(out to eat)
Salmon and a huge salad
Zucchini and carrots
milk

WPA (Weekly Points Allowance) points used today: 0
WPA points available: 35
Activity points today: 4
Activity points this week: 4

Daily 8 - the 8 Healthy Guidelines
1. Fruits and veggies - 6
2. Whole grains - None today
3. Milk - 2
4. Healthy oil - yes
5. Protein - yes
6. Limit sugar and alcohol - yes
7. Water - 8+
8. Multivitamin - yes