The Power of Protein

I'm supposed to eat 50-60 grams of protein every day.  I don't know that I eat that much every day, though. In as much as I can only eat a little bit at a time, it's tough to get that much protein in.  Friday night, "Buddy" and I went to Olive Garden, where he ordered the "Tour of Italy".  I ate about half of his chicken parmesan and a little bit of salad; no breadstick for me, thanks.  (Even though I love those breadsticks, bread is just too filling, and if I don't eat enough protein, I have no energy!)

I bought Atkins protein bars, and I try to supplement my protein with them--the chocolate peanut butter has 19 grams all by itself!  I can't eat a whole one in one sitting, but they are delicious.  I had a "caramel chocolate peanut nougat bar" for breakfast yesterday--it's smaller than the chocolate peanut butter, but it contains 10 grams of protein, which isn't bad.  For lunch, I took Buddy to Cary to Roma's Italian, so that he could try a spiedie sandwich. (I know I've mentioned them before, but for the uninitiated, spiedies are cubes of meat marinated in oil, vinegar or lemon juice and spices and then grilled and served on either sliced Italian bread or on a sub roll.)  We ordered two: chicken and pork.  I tasted the pork, but I ate half of the chicken spiedie--without the bread, of course. Buddy loved them and even ate my bread for me.  (What a trooper, huh?)   It was delicious, but I was really "bad"and tried to drink a root beer with my chicken.  

For those of you who don't know, gastric bypass patients aren't supposed to drink soda.  The bubbles are really hard to deal with.  I tried to stir out some of the bubbles, but I still had horrible gas pain after drinking about a quarter of the root beer.  I immediately regretted the choice and didn't finish the soda, of course. I guess that I had to try it.  Five months have passed, and I still have to try the forbidden! I'm still learning!

For dinner, he and I went to the "shiny diner" and shared pork chops and mashed potatoes.  The chops were huge--like the size of t-bone steaks!  I had just a couple ounces, about a third of his scoop of mashed potatoes, which were real potatoes and was totally satisfied.  I'm willing to bet that Saturday, I did get  my 50-60 grams of protein!

When I eat the right amount of protein--or even close to the right amount--I feel great! My energy levels are up, and I feel strong and happy!!  I feel unstoppable! 

Have a serene Sunday everyone--and thanks again for sticking with me!