Slow cooking and quick typing. That’s how we roll at the Doctor of Things. It’s been hot weather this summer, every day predicted to be over 90 degrees for a couple of weeks now. Since I don’t want to heat up the house, it’s been outdoor cooking, toaster oven, and slow cooker during this time. Today I had lots of eggs and wanted o make a Spanish tortilla, but that calls for baking at 450 degrees! No thanks. But I found there is a variation that uses the slow cooker. That worked! I looked forward to that. The calorie count was tricky though.
My food intake and calorie count
Breakfast – burrito with 80g meat (200); 80g beans (60); 30g cheese (110); tortilla shell (130); sour cream (20);
- 560 calories
Lunch – 2x bratwurst (260); half a wheat wrap (55); onion (10);
- 585 calories
Dinner – 8oz slow cooker Spanish tortilla (450);
- 410 calories
Snacking – tea with half and half (40); 100g ice cream and a little chocolate syrup (280);
- 320 calories
Total for the day: 1835 calories (limit 1850)
Who knew - unless you pay attention
How many calories in Spanish tortilla, slow cooker version? 3300. That’s adding up the eggs, potatoes, olive oil, chorizo, and onion. (Chorizo sausage has more calories than you would think.) It made a 4-pound tortilla, and I had 1/8 serving or 8 ounces. That rounded to 450 calories! It’s a bit more than the piece you see in the picture, which weighed 6 ounces. And it was difficult stopping at 8 ounces, because it seemed like it wasn’t that much bulk. But because I knew how many calories were in it, I stopped myself there. When I was gaining weight and not paying attention, I might have had several pieces of that tortilla for a meal. That might have been 1200-1500 calories just for dinner. Now I don’t eat much more than that in a whole day.
I traded my reason for eating. Now, I am eating for a much more simple and direct reason: to satisfy physical hunger in the most rewarding way I can. Eating until you are full doesn’t satisfy your physical needs any better than a measured portion would.
Part of it is priorities. I wanted to get my weight under control. This was a way to do it that worked, considering my personality. I changed my thinking and rewarded myself for a job well done. Quality of the food matters more than it did; I will now ignore or throw away bad cake or cookies bought from a store rather than eat them. What did I give up? Why, the feeling of a full stomach, which never lasted very long anyway,
Always trade up! What is your reason for eating?
-The Doctor