Monday, March 9, 2015

1950s Diet: Day 6 (Mexican Food and Final Thoughts)

Well that was a looooong stretch in-between posts! I could give you the long winded version but basically me and my old lady ways threw my back out so the last week has been somewhat of a crap shoot. But! I'm better now, so onwards with the bloggin. 

Day 6 was probably my most true to form day of the 1950s diet-

I had a picture perfect breakfast:
About 1 cup of Cheerios w/ 3/4 cup of milk and 1 tsp sugar, 1 glass of OJ (about 6 oz) and an 8 oz glass of milk
and lunch:
1 sandwich: whole wheat bread, 2 slices of Swiss cheese, around 4 tsp of mustard, lots of lettuce, 1 hard boiled egg, and grapes. I had the apple later for a snack. (Betty says you can have lots of fresh fruit!)

Both meals I was able to do without any substitutions, and keep exactly to the book's suggestions. Dinner was one of my favorites, Mexican food, yay! I forgot to take a picture (blame the margaritas), but I had a delicious vegetarian taco salad. If this was the 50s my choices would have been more limited, with only really one or two options. Here's a 1950s menu from El Toreador, "The Only Spanish and Mexican Restaurant in Miami":

What's up with the spaghetti!?

So as you can see, only a few vegetarian options, but I'd be perfectly content chowing down the "fried tortillas with melted cheese" option, just sayin'.

Your choice in restaurants was quite a bit more limited as well, there were of course family owned places sprinkled around, but from what I gather the first chain was El Torito, which first opened in 1954 in Los Angeles. The chain's success had a lot to do with the "mild" version of Mexican food served there, it was a lot easier for those who were unfamiliar to ease into. 

For the more adventurous, canned Mexican food and cookbooks dedicated to the cuisine were also an option for home cooked meals:
















So that just about wraps up my eating journal for the week! Here are my final thoughts and take aways from the week: 

1) Dinner has definitely been the hardest to keep authentic throughout this experiment. It relies heavily on meat and as someone who only eats fish about twice a year, it's not a great option. But I was able to get the jist of the balance of the meals and work around that. It seems like most plates were about 1/4 protein, 1/2 vegetables (2 different kinds), and 1/4 some other kind of fruit/soup/starch (this was sort of a mixed bag and didn't seem to follow a pattern). You also always got a "healthy" dessert like sherbet, stewed fruit, or jello, and of course, 1 glass of milk. (As an adult with a slower metabolism I think it's smarter to cut out the 1/4 mixed bag portion, and keep it to one or two glasses of milk a day, not "one with every meal plus one extra" as Betty advises for the teenage quota of about 2,000 calories a day. 

2) I saved a bunch of money (about $45 bucks!) just eating my breakfast at home and bringing lunch. As I said in a pervious post, this is definitely one aspect of the experiment I will carry on doing!

3) Even with what felt like "extra" food, the portions were smaller, and the emphasis seemed to be on a little bit of everything, and with that variety (taste, texture and visual), in the end you felt more satisfied and full. 

4) I loved having homemade, fresh meals (versus my usual microwaved dinners or oil filled omelette breakfasts), and that is also something from the experiment I want to keep on doing. 

5) Taking the time to make and have breakfast at home (instead of rushing around in the morning then eating breakfast at my desk) really sort of set the tone for a more collected day.

Now for the ultimate question...did I lose any weight? Was this diet even really a diet at all? Well the answer is sadly no, not really. When I weighed my self on Day 7 I was exactly the same weight as when I began this whole shebang. BUT I felt and looked much less bloated thanks to less salt and oil, as well as the homemade meals. A few days later however I weighed myself and was down .8 ounces, hey, that's something, right?! Like Betty says, "Do not be discouraged if nothing happens immediately. A diet that progresses slowly progresses more surely." I definitely believe this to be true, but my patience is still coming to terms with the "slow and steady wins the race" mantra. 

Well I hope you all have enjoyed this little vintage diet experiment as much as I did, till next time, happy eating!


2 comments:

  1. I loved it!!! I think you should do a 30 day one and check your weight then. I don't want this to be over is also a reason

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    1. Haha Aww you're the best, thank you!! Maybe I will do a 30-day check-in/update or something. I'm not sure if I can totally follow it for that long though, not using the microwave is DANG hard!

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