Resveratrol, my very little co-worker, and the Woodlands

Yesterday after I ate my kale and swiss chard "collards," I got in the car and drove just over two hours to do a series of meetings in a far away city.  My very little co-worker rode with me, along with our delicious fruit salad.  When we got to the hotel where we were doing the meetings, we noticed a large bowl of free fruit!  So we descended with vigor upon it, and I ate a large banana.  Myfoodbuddy.com says that's 105 calories.  Then we had a break between meetings, and we found a Ruby Tuesday's, home of the excellent salad bar.  I ate a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, red onions, hot cherry peppers (I love hot peppers), green peppers, and cucumbers, topped with salad vinegar.  The entire two plates of salad can't have been more than 100 calories, if that.  But as anyone knows who consumes giant salads, it was very filling.  I could eat vinegar covered lettuce at every meal.  However, in about three hours, after the second meeting, I was hungry again so I ate a banana I had hidden in my purse.  So that's 210 calories from bananas yesterday.  No more bananas for the week for me.  So by about nine thirty pm, I had eaten no more than 500 calories, including the salad earlier and the kale soup. 

We checked into our rooms at the hotel where we were staying overnight, which is this crazy ski resort called the Woodlands, where they give our organization very cheap deals on rooms on weeknights.  Urban legend has it that the Woodlands sells more liquor than any other Pennsylvania establishment, and I believe it.  They have about five bars in the hotel, and they give you a coupon for one free drink when you check in.  So we decided to go to the bar, get a glass of wine, and do some people watching.  Very little co-worker (VLC) brought the fruit salad we had packed, but neglected to pack a fork, so we picked at a few blueberries while we drank our glasses of red wine (restaurant pour, probably 110 - 120 calories).  We sat by the window overlooking the outdoor bar, she ate most of the fruit, and I drank a second glass of red wine.  So with 210 calories coming from bananas, and 220 calories coming from red wine, you could call yesterday the "Red Wine Banana Diet" day.  Not perfect, but I'm sure I stayed under 800 and I felt fine.  No little glass of wine for me tonight though.  I've got to devote my calories to catching up on the dark green and yellow and orange veggies that I missed out on yesterday. 

Got some great advice from a veteran CR practitioner today, and am looking for ways to up my protein.  I'm such a long term vegetarian that I don't think I can eat meat, but I might try some of the protein sources that Dean and Kenton use.  They're both vegan, and they have designed diets that work really well for them.  Thoughts, anyone out there in blogland? 

Today, I ate an eggwhite omlet for breakfast at the free Woodlands breakfast buffet with omlet station.  I was so happy to see the eggwhites.  I also drank about four ounces of tomato juice.  40 calories on the juice, about 100 (based on VLC's estimate, and she's a veteran egg white calorie counter.  She's also the only living human who actually enjoys reading the calorie counts on the Ruby Tuesday's menu with me.)  At lunch, I ate 110 in cottage cheese, a lettuce salad that was at most 10 on the lettuce and 20 on the fat free salad dressing (where's my vinegar?) and about 50 calories worth of yummy broccoli that I dropped into the leftover kale broth from yesterday.  I was excited to see that two threads on the CR list picked up things I had been thinking about: first, nutrients in cooked veggies creeping out into the broth (hence, my broth recycling), and second, the longevity benefits of resveratrol, the chemical found in the skins of red grapes that some think gives red wine its benefits.  Was thinking: I drink a lot of red wine, so I love it when I hear about resveratrol's benefits.  However, I'm getting too many of my calories from it in a little calorie diet, so I'm going to start spacing out my red wine drinking days so that I can still go out with my friends and drink wine with them without disrupting my weekly calorie averages.  A little resveratrol, a lot of fun, more protein, more iron, more green vegetables... sounds like a plan. 

And if you're ever in PA, you've got to go to the Woodlands.  The people watching is more interesting than a fast paced nature show, and the mountains are beautiful. 

Later in the afternoon... was hungry and had limited food choices as in office.  Ate another cottage cheese.  That's 110, bringing today's total so far to 440.  I have a big salad at home waiting for me.  I want to get some asparagus or something green like that.  Perhaps will hit the store on the way home. 

Ooops, forgot to mention a half of a sweet potato, 55 calories, make that 495.  Only 300 left for the day.  It will most likely be all vegetable matter. 

All this talk of protein is making me crave it.  Just ate a hard boiled egg.  100 cals.  200 left for the day.