Amy, sorry you aren't feeling well.
E, get that 2nd workout in yet?
Oh, when I am off, my food choices would curdle E's vampiric lack of soul. Really.
I can't even tell you the quantity of junk I can consume. It is staggering.
And you do have to start somewhere. It has taken me years to get to the point where I bulk my food up with veggies. Since this is confession time... I do this as much to feel FULL, and get as much food for my calories, as I do to be healthy. If all I had were two small meals, even if they only added to 1200 cals, I would be ready to punch someone by 8PM. Really.
But this week, I went into multiple health food stores to find tofu noodles. TOFU NOODLES!!
Veggies are definitely more expensive, but I will freely admit to buying non-organic, SuperWalmart veggies, and sometimes frozen ones as well. I have gone completely away from frozen meals... $2-3 here, and that can buy 1 romaine lettuce, an onion, a cucumber, and salad dressing.
I finally did find the tofu noodles, btw, at Earth Fare. The non-tofu ones that I got at the Asian market, I am eating now and they are GOOD (they taste and texture like thin rice noodles which I LOVE). The Asian market also had cheap veggies. I hear the farmers markets do as well but the one here isn't that close to me.
So tonight I made the following:
1 boneless pork chop and cut it up (240 cals), added frozen artichoke hearts (25), broccoli, zucchini, onion, spinach, 2 mushrooms (~30 total for all, likely), 1/4 cup roasted red pepper alfredo (80), and 1 tbsp parmesan (25) and 1/2 pack shirataki noodles. Total, 400 cals, 5g carb.
It filled a whole dinner plate and was yummy and filling.