On Eating Carrots

I know you won’t believe me, but as I type I’m eating carrots. 

 

I’m not a carrot fan, or rather I wasn’t a carrot fan. And maybe I’m still not a carrot fan, but I am a ranch fan.  And carrots with a ranch chaser…tasty. 

Ranch isn’t the best dressing to use when you’re trying to change the way you eat. But I’m not a big fan of other types of dressings either. And let’s face it, a carrot without a dressing on it…blech.

So in an attempt to make my carrots more tasty and avoid the ladles of calories that come with ranch dressing, I made a low-cal version.

Yes, I know I can buy “lite” ranch. And I’ll repeat, Blech! Someone who came up with a low cal ranch dressing that actually tastes like the other would be a millionaire. I’m sure of it.

Back to my adjustments.  In the great Northwest you can buy a powdered brand called Uncle Dan’s.  Uncle Dan’s was introduced to me by the DadUnit many, many moons ago. We lived in California and couldn’t get Uncle Dan’s. Then every time we visited Washington we’d stock up on Uncle Dan’s.  Now mind you this was before the Internet so ordering online wasn’t an option. How different my suitcase would have been? We stuffed packets of ranch in places packets of ranch shouldn’t be stuffed.

The recipe for making this ranch dressing is the same as most: some type of milk and mayo. Uncle Dan’s specifically calls for buttermilk and mayo.

I found at my grocery story low-fat buttermilk (which is only 98 calories).  I made my Uncle Dan’s with low-fat buttermilk, low-fat mayo, and a scoop of low-fat sour cream. See I like a thicker ranch for dipping. I also added more ranch packets to the mix.  One packet calls for 1c of buttermilk and mayo.  I did 1.5 packets to my 2 cups of cream goodness.  Adds that extra ranchy-ness. And Yum.

I am not a fan of fat-free mayo.  But in a mix like this you can’t even tell.

I couldn’t really figure out how many calories are in this mixture – I mean I could, but I don’t really want to.  I checked MyFitnessPal and Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing made with skim milk and light mayo is 46 calories for 2T.  So I figured my Uncle Dan’s is likely somewhere near there.

The point is, I’m eating carrots.  And choosing carrots, which is even odder for me.

Last night I had a Getting Started Meeting for the 3day. My plan was to, somehow, get in a work out and have dinner before I left for the meeting.  I had to also give myself 45 minutes to get to the meeting in rush hour.

I left work a tad early and headed to the gym, kicking and screaming. I did NOT feel like working out.  I swear on the drive to the gym I had a skinny Jenn dressed with angle wings on one shoulder telling me to go and a fat Jenn wearing red horns on the other telling me to just skip it.  So I compromised. I told myself, I’ll just drive to the gym and see how I feel (see I started bringing my workout clothes with me to work so I didn’t have go home first.). I drove to the gym and parked. I sat in the car for a minute or two trying to get up the energy to just go in.  “Just go into the gym,” I told myself.  Once in the gym I knew I couldn’t turn around.  I changed my clothes and stomped upstairs not at all wanting to work out.  Still I climbed on the elliptical and punched in 20 minutes. I figured if I did 15 of it, I’d get a gold star for just being there.  I ended up doing 20 and felt good.

I’m not going to say that I was happy with doing 20. I was happy that I managed to get there with ALL the talk of the red devil telling me not to.

I headed home, changed my clothes, and went downstairs. It wasn’t quite dinner time yet, but I was hungry. Normally, I’d grab a bag of chips and sit down with my diet coke and “snack”.  This time I opened the fridge and saw the carrots, bright and orange staring at me.  I grabbed them and some Uncle Dan’s and we had a snack.  My appetizer.  Shortly thereafter I decided it was late enough to have dinner and I was off.

A couple things I know to be true now:

1. I can make the right choice.  And making that right choice is WAY easier when you have the right things to choose from. I’m not sure I would have made the same choice if those carrots were sitting next to a bag of chips. 
2. Even on off days, you can still feel good about a lame workout.  I went. I did something.
3. Carrots and ranch are da bomb!