Bunny on the Move

Bunny’s vacation with her friend Lucy started, predictably, at the airport. The flight left at approximately sunrise, so she dragged herself out of bed and spent the next hour making strange whimpering sounds was up and at ‘em at o’dark-thirty.

 Since they knew they would have to jump out of bed and dash off to the airport with no time for breakfast, they had planned ahead and brought protein bars to eat in the car.

Actually, the label said they were cereal bars. Is that the same thing? We’re thinking no.

All she knows is she didn’t get the one made by CinnaBun, on the theory that the health benefits of anything made by CinnaBun was highly suspect. This cereal bar thingy at least used the phrase “whole grain.” It was ok, cinnamony, probably not the best choice, but not the worst either. It put something in her tummy before the flight, which is important. Since they had three take-offs and 3 landings and 8 hours on a plane ahead of them, Bunny didn’t want her tummy upset. Oh, dear, no.

Once they made their way through airport security, were all checked in and sitting at the gate, it was finally time for coffee.

Ah, morning coffee. The cure for those early-morning whimpering sounds.

Oh look! There’s a Starbucks!

 Danger! Danger!

Bunny is now standing before a display case full of muffins and scones and all kinds of yummy pastries, and it’s so early that her defenses and most of her rational mind are still sleeping. There is serious potential for diet slippage here.

May I take your order?

Bunny thought: venti frappawhozewhatsis with extra whipped cream and 4 blueberry muffins, please.

Bunny said: grande drip, a banana and a bottle of water, please.

 All right, Bunny!!

Grande drip. Ingredients: coffee, blessed caffeine, water. The girl even drinks her coffee black (thank goodness for small favors).

Banana. Ingredients: a nice collection of vitamins and minerals, potassium bananarama, antioxidoodles and other nice things.

The banana was for the flight. Bunny planned to eat it when they came around to offer to sell her a prepackaged preservative-ridden overpriced pseudo-breakfast to serve breakfast.

She was a bit worried about the peel. What would she do with the peel on the plane? Tuck it into the seat pocket? No. Hold it? Leave it on her tray? Shove it in her purse? Bunny decided to worry about that later.

Bottle of water. Ingredients: Water and a few electrical lights. Or something. Hydration for the flight. Very important to avoid swollen ankles and other awful things.

On the plane, Bunny ate her banana and tucked the peel neatly into her empty coffee cup. When the beverage cart came around, she went with black coffee on the first 2 flights, but gave up and went for merlot on the afternoon flight. She felt she should keep Lucy company while she sipped the last of the Bloody Marys she bought with her stash of drink coupons.

So Bunny is off to a good start on her adventure! Many challenges await. We’re anxious to see how she meets them.

Stay away from the buffet, Bunny. We’re watching you.

And so is the scale.

Have fun!

Shaking Bunny’s Buns

Bunny’s breakfast shake consists of nonfat milk, a scoop of natural peanut butter, half a scoop of chocolate protein powder, a banana, and ice. Four food groups (protein, dairy, fat, fruit). Let’s look more closely at the shake.

Banana. Healthy, full of potassium and all kinds of nutrients. And tasty, too.  But wait. Bunny’s doctor’s diet of choice, Adkins, forbids bananas and all other fruits, accusing them of excessive carbiness. So Bunny’s not sure. Should she eat a whole banana every day? Every 3 days? Should she cut the banana in half, and face the eternal dilemma of how to keep half a banana fresh? Sure, it’s going into a shake, it doesn’t matter if it’s soft and brown and yucky, but a half of a banana sitting around looks kind of disgusting. Bunny’s just not sure.

Non-Fat Milk:  Adkins doesn’t like milk either. Bunny did lose a lot of weight on Adkins last time we took this journey, but she didn’t like the exclusion of fruits and dairy. A little non-fat milk isn’t too objectionable. Vitamin D and all that.

Peanut Butter:  Adkins likes peanut butter, as does Weight Watchers, and it supplies a nice boost of protein and the kind of fat that seems to make these food plans and other nutritional expert types happy. A healthy scoop of all-natural peanut butter seems OK.

Chocolate Whey Powder:  It was Bunny’s Adkins-loving doctor who recommended whey protein powder to her. This confused Bunny profoundly, but who is she to argue with a licensed physician? So, she uses half a scoop, which provides 9G of protein. Bunny’s a fairly sedentary woman in her 50’s with a desk job, so she’s not sure how much protein she needs, and let’s not forget that there’s protein in the peanut butter, too.

OK, let’s check it out.  An article on www.steadyhealth.com  says: “Whey protein: most common type of protein used, which contains high levels of all the essential amino acids and is readily absorbed by the body.”  As to how much protein is needed per day, the article states: “Women: between the ages of 51-70 years old, approximately 46 grams per day.”  So, Bunny is relatively comfortable with the whey powder, but then wonders, how much protein can/should/does she consume the rest of the day? We’d better keep an eye on that.

Ice. This seems to be pretty safe. Nobody seems to have any strenuous objection to ice, and it does do a great job making the shake nice and fluffy.

Now that Bunny’s rational mind (as opposed to the irrational eating monster that lives inside her head) has analyzed her breakfast shake more closely, she wonders if she might be better off by rotating the ingredients in the shake every few days. Perhaps berries and strawberry whey instead of a banana and peanut butter. Maybe a whole-grain cereal for breakfast every couple of days.  Bunny knows that a variety of healthful foods is most beneficial, and most of the nutrition-loving world shouts the benefits of berries. Alternating between three or four healthful breakfasts will give her a good start to the day, and should help shrink Bunny’s buns.

Assuming that she doesn’t stop by the shop in her office building and grab a giant muffin when she gets to work.

Reference: http://www.steadyhealth.com/Protein_Shakes__Are_They_Safe_and_What_Are_The_Benefits__a939.html