After a disastrous attempt at making roast duck last week, I think I'm going to be going vegetarian for a while. The duck was fine, but apparently, I don't like duck. So much so that just the smell of the meat made he gag. I couldn't even take one taste, I couldn't even touch the meat because of the fatiness. Now I can't seem to tolerate any flesh at all, it's grossing me out so badly. I've been thinking about going veggie for maybe the summer, but now I'm thinking of dong this for a lot longer. Even canned tuna is grossing me so much right now.
O, of course, won't be going vegetarian, but even he's happy about cutting back a bit on his meat consumption. This will mean a lot more meals of grain salads, beans and veggies, something that should help out the weight loss and blood sugar stabilization a lot.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
I'm baaaack
So I've been gone for a while, but things are going well here. I've been super busy with lots of events at the arena, but have been really focusing on my herbal routine, and my eating, and I've lost about 7 lbs and my energy is going way up.
After watching Oprah's last Dr. Oz show (I love Dr. Oz sooooo much, his purple gloves, his yoga poses, his habit of bringing gifts of embalmed body parts, what's not to love?), where he said most adults in North America have parasites, I decided to add some parasite cleansing to my herbal routine, picked up some goldenseal after some research, and man, it's working fantastic! I think that's what I really needed to add with the pao d'arco and garlic. I'm also really focusing on taking the psyllium seed and probiotic every night, and I think that's probably the most important part of the routine, I really feel it when I fall asleep before doing my nighttime stuff.
Knowing that I was going to be spending probably 25 days out of 30 at work, at least a few hours of the day, I finally got smart and stocked my office and the restaurant fridge with some healthy snack food, high fiber/high protein cereal, almond butter, whole grain crackers, sliced veggies and hummus, cheese, sliced fruit. I made sure to pick very carefully from the buffet (mostly eating only the soups and salads, and made my own, sugar-free salad dressing.)
I'm contemplating going vegetarian for the summer maybe, too. I'm just not feeling the meat thing right now. Maybe it's because O has been eating so much of it, but I just can't stand to touch another piece of meat. I'm actually craving chick peas and black beans and tofu. When I started to cook a lot more meat to satisfy O, I just kind of lost my zest for cooking. I think I'm really just not interested in meat (it's not you, roast beef, it's me.) I'm way more interested in learning to cook a new bean curry or soup than I am in flesh.
After watching Oprah's last Dr. Oz show (I love Dr. Oz sooooo much, his purple gloves, his yoga poses, his habit of bringing gifts of embalmed body parts, what's not to love?), where he said most adults in North America have parasites, I decided to add some parasite cleansing to my herbal routine, picked up some goldenseal after some research, and man, it's working fantastic! I think that's what I really needed to add with the pao d'arco and garlic. I'm also really focusing on taking the psyllium seed and probiotic every night, and I think that's probably the most important part of the routine, I really feel it when I fall asleep before doing my nighttime stuff.
Knowing that I was going to be spending probably 25 days out of 30 at work, at least a few hours of the day, I finally got smart and stocked my office and the restaurant fridge with some healthy snack food, high fiber/high protein cereal, almond butter, whole grain crackers, sliced veggies and hummus, cheese, sliced fruit. I made sure to pick very carefully from the buffet (mostly eating only the soups and salads, and made my own, sugar-free salad dressing.)
I'm contemplating going vegetarian for the summer maybe, too. I'm just not feeling the meat thing right now. Maybe it's because O has been eating so much of it, but I just can't stand to touch another piece of meat. I'm actually craving chick peas and black beans and tofu. When I started to cook a lot more meat to satisfy O, I just kind of lost my zest for cooking. I think I'm really just not interested in meat (it's not you, roast beef, it's me.) I'm way more interested in learning to cook a new bean curry or soup than I am in flesh.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Been busy
Last week was very busy at work, but now I have 5 whole days off of work to relax, and prepare for the Brier. I will be working 10 days straight, and O will be working at least half that, so I'll need to have 2 weeks of menus planned out, and lots of meals prepped and frozen. I will be working the VIP room, where they will be putting out an enormous selection of bad, bad food, so I'll have to be hypervigilant for the duration, too.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Check-in
The walk down the river trail from home to work is 2 miles, and includes scrambling up and down the river bank at the access points. I've done this walk 2 times now this week, a 3.5 mile walk on Sunday, and another 2 mile walk on Saturday. Plus the one mile walk to or from work, that adds up to a heck of a lot of miles this week already, 12.5 so far from Saturday to Wednesday, and I've been doing a lot of walking and stair climbing at work, too. Hope this shows up on the scale this week.
I haven't yet done a full yoga program, but have been stretching and doing some squats, lunges, downwards dog, twists and crunches. I even managed to stay out of the dessert buffet at work tonight, ok, had a couple of little cheesecake bites, but totally not what I would normally have, and didn't have any till after I had salad and some protein. I kept to my eating schedule and I don't feel nearly as wiped after work as I normally do.
I haven't yet done a full yoga program, but have been stretching and doing some squats, lunges, downwards dog, twists and crunches. I even managed to stay out of the dessert buffet at work tonight, ok, had a couple of little cheesecake bites, but totally not what I would normally have, and didn't have any till after I had salad and some protein. I kept to my eating schedule and I don't feel nearly as wiped after work as I normally do.
Doing Good!
...if I say so myself, hehe.
I've suddenly lost most of my food cravings. I really put a lot of energy last week into food prep, and maintaining my eating and supplement schedule, and it is really paying off this week. I'm not craving sugar at all (ok, maybe not at all, but only for a few minutes, at night, right before bed, not the overwhelming "I must have sugar" zombie-like, can't think of anything else, sugar cravings I used to have.)
I'm keeping up on my food journal and adding in more fruits and veggies, have had beans 4 or 5 times in the last week, and really cut back on the dairy and meat. In fact, I'm finding meat really gross again, the side effect of a veggie/whole grain heavy diet, I think.
It's warming up outside and I've been making a point to go walking on the river trail at least every other day, the slippery, uneven trail and climbing up and down the river bank to get to it has been way more of a physical challenge than it looks. I feel fine when I'm walking, but I'm really feeling it in my legs and abs at night!
It feels great to have finally put together a couple of good weeks where I really stuck to my plan, and to have it pay off. I'm hoping that I will remember how bad I felt when I was off all supplements, not exercising and eating so much sugar! But this is my biggest bad habit. As soon as I start to feel better, I forget how bad I was and start to doubt that I was ever really sick, start thinking I can live and eat like everyone else and not have it rebound on me 100 times over.
Here's hoping this blog will keep me honest and focused. I'm still not 100%, not even 50%, but I'm feeling so much better, I can wake up in the morning, I'm not dragging myself around exhausted and overwhelmed, I'm not too tired to cook, clean, shop or hang out with my kid, or even read a book. I don't want to go back!
I've suddenly lost most of my food cravings. I really put a lot of energy last week into food prep, and maintaining my eating and supplement schedule, and it is really paying off this week. I'm not craving sugar at all (ok, maybe not at all, but only for a few minutes, at night, right before bed, not the overwhelming "I must have sugar" zombie-like, can't think of anything else, sugar cravings I used to have.)
I'm keeping up on my food journal and adding in more fruits and veggies, have had beans 4 or 5 times in the last week, and really cut back on the dairy and meat. In fact, I'm finding meat really gross again, the side effect of a veggie/whole grain heavy diet, I think.
It's warming up outside and I've been making a point to go walking on the river trail at least every other day, the slippery, uneven trail and climbing up and down the river bank to get to it has been way more of a physical challenge than it looks. I feel fine when I'm walking, but I'm really feeling it in my legs and abs at night!
It feels great to have finally put together a couple of good weeks where I really stuck to my plan, and to have it pay off. I'm hoping that I will remember how bad I felt when I was off all supplements, not exercising and eating so much sugar! But this is my biggest bad habit. As soon as I start to feel better, I forget how bad I was and start to doubt that I was ever really sick, start thinking I can live and eat like everyone else and not have it rebound on me 100 times over.
Here's hoping this blog will keep me honest and focused. I'm still not 100%, not even 50%, but I'm feeling so much better, I can wake up in the morning, I'm not dragging myself around exhausted and overwhelmed, I'm not too tired to cook, clean, shop or hang out with my kid, or even read a book. I don't want to go back!
Saturday, February 23, 2008
I feel so virtuous and good!
I'm really trying to push myself to eat better in order to set a better example for my son (the poutine and milkshake I had yesterday at work notwithstanding.) So I tried really hard today, and I feel like such a good mommy, even if O is grumbling and complaining about having to eat beans.
I made the most wicked dinner tonight, skillet black beans on brown rice with chopped peppers, mango salsa and cheddar cheese. Soooo yummy. O put his in a tortilla and ate the whole things in about 30 seconds, as is usual for his 14-year-old-boy self (man, boys can pack it away!) He didn't much like the idea of beans, as mentioned, and as he mentioned, repeatedly, all day long. But still, he ate it and a whole buttload of veggies to boot.
We went for a nice long walk on the river skate trail today, climbing the river bank in a few places too. I want to start with the exercise program I came up with for O, just a few basic exercises to start with, squats, lunges, crunches and a couple of yoga poses, hopefully I can get him to do 10 minutes or so tonight, and work up to 20 minutes in a few weeks. He's been complaining so much about his back hurting. He's grown so much in the last year, and even if he loses weight, he ain't never going to be svelte, he needs strong back and core muscles to hold his own weight up. So we'll be working on core stabilization and getting a basic fitness level going, for the both of us.
I made the most wicked dinner tonight, skillet black beans on brown rice with chopped peppers, mango salsa and cheddar cheese. Soooo yummy. O put his in a tortilla and ate the whole things in about 30 seconds, as is usual for his 14-year-old-boy self (man, boys can pack it away!) He didn't much like the idea of beans, as mentioned, and as he mentioned, repeatedly, all day long. But still, he ate it and a whole buttload of veggies to boot.
We went for a nice long walk on the river skate trail today, climbing the river bank in a few places too. I want to start with the exercise program I came up with for O, just a few basic exercises to start with, squats, lunges, crunches and a couple of yoga poses, hopefully I can get him to do 10 minutes or so tonight, and work up to 20 minutes in a few weeks. He's been complaining so much about his back hurting. He's grown so much in the last year, and even if he loses weight, he ain't never going to be svelte, he needs strong back and core muscles to hold his own weight up. So we'll be working on core stabilization and getting a basic fitness level going, for the both of us.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Movie night
I went to see Juno with my niece last night (great movie!!! btw) and B was greatly amused at my standard movie picnic packing. I never eat the crap they sell at movie theaters, the butter-flavoured substance they put on the popcorn makes me violently ill, I don't drink pop, and I refuse to pay 3 bucks for a chocolate bar, so I always pack a nice meal. I figure if I ever get jacked up by ushers, I will just argue that the day they sell fresh vegetables and whole grains is the day I will start buying their food.
I'm so used to packing for a day out with O, that I wound up with waaay too much food for B and I. But O and his buddy finished off the meal when I got home, so no loss.
I packed:
-store-bought cracked pepper hummus
-sliced red and green peppers and baby carrots (B's favorite)
-a quick greek salad (no lettuce, just cherry tomatoes, cuke, red onion and feta)
-a cheese and veggie wrap sliced in half (still too much for the two of us)
-a baggie each of grapes and orange slices
-2 one liter bottles of water
-a bag of Reese's tiny peanut butter cup things (it's a movie, we needed a treat!)
The meal went over great with B, she's always asking me about food and meal suggestions. My sis and bil eat a very standard suburban family diet (lots of frozen stuff, lots of drive-thru), the two youngest are very happy with this (the middle girl has lots of food issues, will only eat a few foods, even though she's almost 18 now will still mostly eat chicken fingers and fries, and the youngest is just highly suspicious of anything new.) So B is craving whole foods in a big way. It's so much fun taking her out to shop and eat, and cooking for her. She gets so excited about simple, good food. I bought her a copy of The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters for Xmas and she's been so excited by it, calls me to tell me whenever she tries out a new recipe. It's great to have another foodie in the family.
I'm so used to packing for a day out with O, that I wound up with waaay too much food for B and I. But O and his buddy finished off the meal when I got home, so no loss.
I packed:
-store-bought cracked pepper hummus
-sliced red and green peppers and baby carrots (B's favorite)
-a quick greek salad (no lettuce, just cherry tomatoes, cuke, red onion and feta)
-a cheese and veggie wrap sliced in half (still too much for the two of us)
-a baggie each of grapes and orange slices
-2 one liter bottles of water
-a bag of Reese's tiny peanut butter cup things (it's a movie, we needed a treat!)
The meal went over great with B, she's always asking me about food and meal suggestions. My sis and bil eat a very standard suburban family diet (lots of frozen stuff, lots of drive-thru), the two youngest are very happy with this (the middle girl has lots of food issues, will only eat a few foods, even though she's almost 18 now will still mostly eat chicken fingers and fries, and the youngest is just highly suspicious of anything new.) So B is craving whole foods in a big way. It's so much fun taking her out to shop and eat, and cooking for her. She gets so excited about simple, good food. I bought her a copy of The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters for Xmas and she's been so excited by it, calls me to tell me whenever she tries out a new recipe. It's great to have another foodie in the family.
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