Will Eat for Food: Part 1 of 2

I'm trying to be relatively healthy of late, but there's just one catch:

I. Love. Food.

I love shopping for food, buying food, cooking food, smelling food, eating food, drinking wine with food, and I love devouring any and all of the leftovers the next day. I love food other people make. I love the Food Network. I love looking at fresh, colorful food in a market. I love reading recipes. I love food blogs and columns. I love imagining what certain types of dishes will taste like. I love eating with my hands, eating with a fork and knife, and eating with chopsticks. I love sandwiches. I love melted things. I love hot food and cold food. I love sweet things and tart things. Salt is heavenly. If something tastes good, I love to eat as much of it as I can. And then maybe some more.

This past Thanksgiving, I injured myself from eating too much. I was couch-ridden and moaning for four hours. I'd do it again, too.

So, it does not come naturally to me to practice the whole "all things in moderation" credo when it comes to food. Not at all. If it's good, I want as much of it as possible.

But, lately I've been doing alright, and here's how: I've found a few new things that are good for me that I LOVE, and I've stopped being as much of a miser as usual (yay for my job!) and started letting myself spend a little more money to get things that I know I love that are wonderful and healthy. Also, putting aside portions ahead of time (while you're NOT hungry!) is incredibly helpful. So, here are my typical meals:

Breakfast: Now, I love a big, greasy breakfast. But during the week, I keep it healthy and yummy:

• Kashi GoLean Crunch Cereal- 1 cup with skim milk
• 4-5 big strawberries
• A hardboiled egg

(The Kashi is a recent purchase and good lord, it's good. It's a little expensive, but I think it's worth it. Strawberries are something to buy when they're in-season, and a carton lasts me three breakfasts. And the bun LOVES strawberry tops. The hardboiled eggs are great because I can make them all at once for the whole work week. I'm so satisfied after this breakfast, that I'm able to wait a little longer to eat lunch.)

Lunch: The place where I work is surrounded by amazing restaurants and food vendors. This can be good, and this can be bad. The best thing I have access to is a reasonably-priced salad bar next door... I make my lunch salad with:

• 1/2 romaine Lettuce, 1/2 spinach
• Shredded carrots
• Cucumbers
• Artichoke hearts
• Wasabi peas
• Artificial crab meat
• Cheddar cheese
• Balsamic vinegar
• Pineapple on the side

(I will also admit to often buying a chocolate chunk cookie along with my salad...)

Dinner: This is the hardest meal to keep healthy for me. Especially because I either eat what Chris makes or try to make something we'll both like. Here's a typical I-Don't-Want-to-Spend-Too-Much-Time-On-Dinner healthy-ish meal that I make:

• Salmon fillet with a little brown sugar and brown mustard
• Cous-cous
• Salad or asparagus or steamed broccoli 

(I wish I could eat salmon every single day. Wait, no! Moderation!)

You'll notice in the title that this is Part 1 of 2. That's because I also want to do a post on something I've been trying to do lately, which is to try making a new recipe once a week. It's been fun, mostly healthy, and yummy.

Mmmm, food.