Protein Bliss?

First off, this is going to sound like a product review, maybe because it is a little.

I cannot say enough good things about the company "Chike", which makes delicious protein shakes for bariatric patients. If you're drinking protein shakes for bulking up or getting muscle or something, these aren't gonna be what you want, but if you need a good source of easily-digested protein, Chike is your best bet in my opinion. They also have amazing customer service--- I bought their sample pack from their website and the next day a rep called me and was really nice about the whole thing. She wanted to know how I'd found out about them, which product I was most excited to try, etc. When I got the package and tried the French Vanilla shake, it was by far the creamiest and yummiest protein shake I'd tried yet. Same with the chocolate. I haven't tried the banana, orange dreamsicle or strawberry one yet, and I don't like coffee so I may pass on the mocha one. But the two I have were pretty delicious and they didn't have the weird chalky aftertaste that comes with  most protein shakes. After a few days, the same rep actually called me back to verify that everything got here okay and ask how I liked the shakes, which was my favorite so far, etc! If I DO buy more protein powder in the future, I will be giving my business to "Chike"... they have been bar-none the best experience I've had since the surgery.

I had a 'day' today--- as most of you know if you follow the news, yesterday a fertilizer plant in West, Texas exploded and killed or injured a lot of people. My sister Heather is an EMT/firefighter and I was afraid that they would be sending her into the chaos to help; there were massive search and rescue efforts going on all night and most of today as well. The body count has been climbing as they find casualties, and everyone in the community has come together to donate supplies, blood, money and anything else to the almost-three-thousand people who were displaced or rendered homeless by this tragedy. It's all anyone's been talking about around here, so soon on the heels of the Boston Marathon tragedy, and it makes it hard to remain cheerful.

After screwing up a math test and tuning out most of my Business Law class, I headed off to run errands. I needed an eye exam because my contacts prescription had expired, so I made a beeline for the mall. There I ran into my old friend Anne and we talked while I picked out two new pair of frames. Then I went into Forever 21 to check out their plus-sized section. Much to my surprise they had plus-sized swimwear; even though their stuff is sized pretty small, it's amazing to me that they would even carry it. Most other stores don't, unless they're somewhere like WalMart. And the swimsuits are actually cute, and very affordable; most of the ones I looked at were around $25 each. I decided to try one on, knowing that a few times this summer I'll have access to a pool, and I wiggled into a strapless 2x with flamingos on it.

Me posting that photo is NOT me saying 'whoo, I love my body!' because good lord, I do not. But I was kind of happy about the fact that I could wear a 2X, not a 3X (and many were the times when I tried on a 3X in their plus-sized section and couldn't even wiggle that up over my hips). I got it on and more importantly, I looked cute in it. I didn't buy it, because my boobs kept falling out, but I was kind of excited that I could actually fit into it.  That kind of thing alone is no easy task.

After a fairly triumphant day at the mall, I went to Drug Emporium. I have no idea why I don't go more often--- half of the store is health/alternative food and you always find something really cool! I bought a box of pasta made entirely of spinach (9g of protein per serving and almost no sugar at all!), a new kind of protein bar with no sugar, and a few other exciting things that I can't wait to try. Maybe the most stoke-worthy of them--- I found PROTEIN CEREAL.

Okay I know this means NOTHING to the people who haven't had weight loss surgery, but when you get it, they tell you that protein always comes first, then veggies, and carbs if you have any room left afterward. Which you NEVER do. And every time I try to take a bite of a hamburger or something, the bread makes me feel like I just ate Thanksgiving meal and I'm done a bite or two in. Ironically, I don't really miss bread--- it's kind of nice not eating carbs. I indulge every now and then in a few bites of spaghetti, but I'm certainly not going for the Neverending Pasta Bowl at Olive Garden ever again. Still, I do miss cereal. Breakfast for me, when I eat it, is usually a glass of my Mootopia or, if I'm starving, egg whites with turkey sausage crumbles and cheese mixed in. Most of the time it's just Mootopia though, or a piece of string cheese on my way out the door. Maybe Greek yogurt. The point is, I used to lay on the couch with a mixing bowl of Captain Crunch and watch a movie on lazy weekend mornings, and I MISS cereal.

So the idea that I could have cereal, and the cereal has like 9g of protein per serving, is more than okay with me.

Now there are two so far that I've met with this criteria; Kashi GoLean makes the claim that one serving of their cereal has as much protein as an egg in it. The new brand I bought, which is Kay's Natural Protein Cereal, comes in apple cinnamon and french vanilla flavors. At $5 a box, and running the risk that I'd hate it, I splurged and decided to try the apple cinnamon since I realllly miss Apple Jacks.

To my surprise it was really good! I mean, it's no Apple Jacks or Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but it's pretty tasty. The cinnamon covered up whatever weird proteiny aftertaste was inevitably going to happen. Plus, I ate it with Mootopia, which is 12g a serving, so really, in one teensy little bowl of cereal I got 21 grams of protein! Yay me!

Also, I had to go buy 'little kid' dishes so that I could manage portions better and stop dirtying a giant cup for a few swallows of drink. I went to Target and checked out that area they have in the front of stuff that's a dollar--- and nearly died. This is the set of little bowls I bought.

How amazing are they? I know. I'm still kind of in awe myself. I also bought the little plates that are divided up into sections so your food won't touch, and I am thinking about buying myself a bento box to take with me for when we start filming Sacrament. I know that craft services aren't exactly going to be friendly to my weird, wonky, specific little diet. A bento box is basically a way to eyeball your portions and food groups and keep track of what you're eating, but it also happens to be tiny, adorable Tupperware shaped like a panda. And I am totally on board for that.

I keep posting reference photos because they're helping me keep track. So here's two face shots--- one is from the day I auditioned for Sacrament, back in December, and the second is from last Saturday when we had rehearsal. The wig's the same. Everything else is... not.