I just started working out again this week (not overdoing it because of congestion and such, and besides, it’s hotter than hell out there), and also keeping a food journal. I had a rough start last week and decided to start over yesterday. I just ended up half-asleep this afternoon (benadryl sucks) and did my workout later than I planned. It was going on sunset (still hot as hell) when I got the bench that the FedEx guy dropped off and started putting it together while talking to and corralling the dogs as they enjoyed the evening outside.

Unfortunately, though I got those major objectives out of the way (can’t wait to journal on my new bench in the morning), it meant that I REALLY needed to eat something, and it was gonna be a really late meal.

I remembered I had some bagged salads and there was a bit of protein in ’em, so I figured it was light and filling enough I should try them.

Well, I forgot something when it came to my interesting little bagged salads: the sell-by date.

Some were several days past and the cabbage and such in the bag looked okay, but perhaps a bit watery. I forgot how cabbage can weep in it’s container (learned that lesson with cole slaw), and the salad itself looked okay, but was definitely watery.

I figured I’d do some draining. The bags were chopped salads and using a spinner to get rid of the water would result in over half the salad being thrown out, so I figured I’d put it in paper towels and squeeze the excess out.

It kinda worked, but man, cabbage can create a LOT of water.

When I felt the consistency of the first bag’s salad after lots of squeezing, I figured I’d better not.

So, I got the 2nd bag, a few days newer.

That one was even worse.

Well, that messed me up a bit and I figured so much for that plan. I did save the packets of toppings and dressing that come with the bags to use, though (they’ll go on the door shelf with a half dozen other packets I hadn’t used yet.

But I remembered I’d made the birds’ veggie mix for their breakfast yesterday. Two whole containers of it.

And it had most of the same stuff those bagged salads did.

It felt weird, but I went for the one I hadn’t dug my hands around in (yet) to feed the birds, and said “what the hell” and grabbed a bowl and some tongs.

Whenever I said that I thought I must be nuts regarding my health, because the birds would be eating spinach and kale and cabbage and carrots while I was eating a Hot Pocket… now I know I was.

It was kind of funny. Though my workout was a bit more intense than yesterday, I was still wired enough to hang out by the bird cages and talk to them between bites. I even stuck a piece of kale through the bars (without dressing, of course) to see if any of ’em would bite. And yeah, they didn’t miss a beat.

It was kinda funny for all of us to be eating together in there, and eating the same thing for the most part. I wouldn’t have expected I’d do that. But it’s nice to know I’ve got a decent backup plan for my diet… as long as I remember which container I had NOT dug into with my bare hands. I probably could’ve eaten an apple and not worried about the salad, but I knew if I just had an apple, even if it was so late that I shouldn’t eat much, I’d be in there making some unhealthy, unreasonable stuff just to feel better (and then conversely, much worse).

Portion sizes are hard for me to stick to, but after today, that’s the big thing I’m tackling tomorrow. I should’ve had all that lasagna over the course of a week, but it was gone in 3 days (with some veggies on the side). Being that it’s so hot outside, tomorrow’s a smoothie day. I finally got quite a bit of frozen veggies out of the freezer, so now I have room for bags to freeze smoothies in for the week.

I wonder if the birds would like a small piece of nectarine to nibble on before I throw the rest in the blender…