Day 15 of 62: My Fruit/Vegetable of the Day is Cherries

I've actually been chowing down on some cherries for about a week. It seems like you can munch on them for a couple of hours and still barely consume calories. I haven't managed to get a tummy ache yet and we're on our second large bag in the house. Each cherry is a little bit of a surprise because one might be sweet, another one tart, then the next one both sweet and tart. Cherries are one of the super antioxidant fruits and the cherry industry also promotes them as helpful for relieving pain from muscle soreness and arthritis by relieving inflammation. The next time my wife complains about stiffness in her neck I'll know that's my queue to go get her some cherries from the fridge.

Day 14 of 62: My Fruit/Veg of the Day is Tuscan Cantaloupe

So, with 450 calories to spare toward the end of the day, I had already consumed plenty of fruits and veggies that I could have counted yesterday. I had been doing well on my diet and a McDonald's Sundae sure sounded like a refreshing idea that wouldn't break the calorie count for the day. Instead I went to the fridge, and by the time I would have been at the drive through window after getting ready, I had already consumed half of my sweet and juicy summer melon. Preparation was easier than deciding whether I wanted chocolate or caramel on my sundae, I about froze my teeth eating it, and the total calorie count came out to 100 calories. It also meant not adding a little more cholesterol into my body the night before a blood test that will show how I've been progressing in my cholesterol reduction goals. It probably cost a little more than the sundae (at least short-term) and was pretty satisfied with the substitution.

Days 12&13 of the Fruit/Veg Challenge: Beets and Napa Cabbage

My wife and I took some time to go out on a date night so I didn't slavishly update the blog, but never fear I am not defeated in my quest. Once again beets were up against another veggie, but this time I'm picking them over spinach since I'm sure I'll have spinach quite a few more times. We went out to a Greek restaurant in South Bend called Alexander's Grill. For our appetizer we got cold marinated beets and sadly they didn't have the wow factor like the cooked beets we had last week from Apple Valley. They were a little short on flavor but were still enjoyable, again they just didn't amaze us. I also had a classic Greek dish: spanikopita, spinach and feta with lemon juice cooked in filo.

This afternoon my wife made a wonderful Napa cabbage salad with an apple vinegar, ramen noodles, and roasted sesame seeds and almonds. I had three small bowls and loved it! The sesame seeds and almonds put a yummy crispy and sweet salad over the top. I'm so blessed with some of the things she makes.

Day 11 of 62: My Fruit/Veg of the Day is Kale

Kale is a vegetable that survives in the wild by looking like something you don't want to eat. Even when it's removed from the ground and relocated to the supermarket, it still looks like something that you don't want to eat. Somehow my kale made it all the way to a restaurant that actually lets you look at your food before you eat it. It still managed to make it on my plate and into my stomach. I blame this fluke in odds on the very fact that I'm intentionally trying to eat different fruits and vegetables. So despite it's unappetizing appearance, it ended up on my plate because someone else had already done the work of cooking it for me and because it fit well into my plans of eating outside of my comfort zone. Then something odd happened, my wife ordered kale as well. I don't know what her excuse was but as with most foods that she orders, she ate what she wanted and saved the rest for me.

The nice thing was the kale was well-prepared and had a nice flavor to it. It seems to have been lightly sauteed in oil and rice vinegar. This helped overcome the slightly bitter flavor of the kale and even though it was cooked, it wasn't cooked to death. There was still plenty of crunch to it and it took a lot of chewing for each bite.I was pleasantly surprised and I'd enjoy eating kale again if it's prepared like this.

As far as nutritional value, kale is a superfood. While it grows in the ground snubbed and ignored for it's ugly look, it grows in nutrients while other plants get killed and eaten before they can get so many nutrients. In fact, it has so many nutrients that I can't talk about them all without plagerizing someone else. Here is a link for a good article about the nutritional value of kale on WebMD: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/the-truth-about-kale

Day 10 of 62: My Fruit/Veg of the Day is Figs

So I found myself needing to make a grocery store run to see what caught my eye for the fruit/veg challenge today. Just as I was planning on eating something usual, I saw a package of figs out of the corner of my eye. I certainly don't go eating figs often and I've probably only eaten them raw a few times in my life.

When I got the chance I split the fig by hand and just ate the fruit and the seeds. I enjoyed the texture of the seeds popping in my mouth as I chewed. The only similar experience I could think of was when I tried some sushi with fish eggs. These particular figs weren't exciting as far as flavor goes and at over $5 for 7 figs I was a little dissapointed in the flavor and quality. My food diary is showing them at about 35 calories each. I just have the hope that there are many figs out there that will taste much better than these ones.

Day 9 of 62: My Fruit/Veg of the Day is Watermelon

We had a church picnic in the park this afternoon and when I bit into this sweet melon I thought to myself, "What a melon!". I left the other fruit I was planning on having today at my friends' house but I had plenty of veggies at the picnic and a very sweet helping (or two) of this perfect melon. There isn't much more to say about it, and I'm looking forward to the second full week of the challenge which begins tomorrow.

Day 8 of 62: My Fruit/Veg of the Day is Key Lime

I haven't had a lot of key lime yet today but I'm still hoping for the dessert we began working on before I had to leave for an appointment. The key limes are about the size of a ping pong ball and are one of two fruits I'll be having from the Carribean region this weekend.

For the sake of my challenge, I ate a whole key lime raw and I have to say it made my lips pucker and my face clench up. These things are sour! My friend and I picked up two bags with the idea of making a nice sorbet tonight and let me tell you, juicing two bags of key lime takes some time. They smelled wonderful and I'm hoping my wife will bring me a serving either to work or for when I get home.

Update: This is by far the most intense sorbet I've ever had. We also added some mint which brings out the intensity even more. My serving size was only 1/2 a cup and that seemed like a lot. Each bite was a blast of sour bitterness followed by the soothing relief of the sweetness of the condensed milk. Maybe we could have used half the lime juice since we were originally planning for two batches. I'm also thinking the greek yogurt we tried using wasn't the best choice as it adds sourness where sourness wasn't really needed. A smoother vanilla yogurt might have been better. We did discuss cream cheese as an option.

While this dessert might have a lot of high-calorie/questionable ingredients for a health challenge, I'm allowing for a little fun in the form of a dessert here and there and by it's nature this dish came with portion control!