Where Am I, Diet-wise?

Well, let’s see, what am I eating these days?   I am eating mostly vegetables, fruit, and whole grains, but light on the grains.  I try very hard to eat as many organic foods as possible.   I am having coffee a few times a week, with either raw sugar or agave nectar in it, as well as skim milk or almond milk.  I have to say, coffee with agave nectar and almond milk is a different coffee to be sure, but it does taste good.  It’s just a different good.  I also eat an ounce of chocolate on occasion, 70% of course.  And I’ve had some popcorn here and there this week, cooked on the stove in canola oil, salted with sea salt. 

And I would say that is pretty much all I eat, other than an occasional trip around town to one of the approved restaurants in which I am willing to dine.   And I have to say I have come up with some excellent restaurant meals at places I definitely trust to serve good fresh food. 

I have to hit the sack now — super sleepy.  I sleep very well these days and when I hit that wall, I hit it hard.  See you tomorrow, my friends.

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Nice advice for shopping organic . . .

Some info from the Food Matters website How to Eat Organic on a Budget.

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She returns to blog again . . .

After a couple of weeks of non-blog living, I’m back.  I have stories to tell of good foods and of bad foods, of exercising and of . . . well . . . not exercising.    I’ll be back around tomorrow to delight and horrify you.    I’ve got new recipes, too.  And photos.   See you then!   : )

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New Food Plan – 21 Day Cleanse

So, I was going along, reading blogs, looking at tweets and spacing out like I do, when I stumbled on the Quantum Wellness Cleanse book by Kathy Freston.  I don’t have the book yet, but I like the idea.  I’m going to take 21 days to cleanse my body by removing five things from my diet:  caffeine (scream!), gluten, sugar, alcohol, and animal products.   Uh-huh.  Sugar:  ok, I only have a tiny bit in coffee and in my 70% chocolate.  Alcohol:  negligable amounts are consumed, and none in a few months, so we’re good to go on that.  Animal products:  this means taking away my precious eggs.  In my mind, those eggs are my main protein source and are giving me all my strength and energy.  But I do eat nuts and beans regularly, so I’ll be fine.  Gluten:  I have no idea where gluten is in food — that will be research for today.  Caffeine:  Oh my.  Am I really going to do this?  No coffee, no occasional diet coke, no tea?   I’ll try.  I truly will try.   But that’s a tough one.  

So far today I’ve had oatmeal with cinnamon and a tiny smidge of agave nectar.  I have to read more to see if the nectar counts as sugar, I have a feeling it does.   I also think I can eat oatmeal without agave nectar.  My taste buds are changing and adapting to the pure flavors of all foods.  Now I can appreciate the true flavors of things without having salt and sugar on every single thing.   And when I do eat a more mainstream food like pizza, I can taste the sugar in the sauce, the sugar in the crust, and I have to drink water for three days to recover from the salt.   It’s a good time for me to go to a more pure diet.  

The only other things I’ve had today are almonds, walnuts and blueberries, with a glass of grapejuice.   Lunch will be steamed zucchini and squash, and possibly some brown rice.   I’ll let you know more after my grocery trip today. 

If anyone has any advice or recipes for me, send them along!   I’ve already found some good quinoa, lentil, and chickpea recipes that I’ll share later.  

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Oscar Night – Spaghetti Squash!

So, yeah, I’m not having any great snacks or appetizers for the awards.  But I am repeating the spaghetti squash I’ve been eating for a few days.  This week was my first adventure with spaghetti squash and I love it!  You just halve the squash, put it face down on a cookie sheet, back at 375F for 45 minutes to 1 hour and then scrape the insides out to make little spaghetti-like strands.   It’s yummy with any marinara sauce you might make.  Tonight, I ate it with just chopped tomatoes and garlic.

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Seasonal Shopping Guide for Organics

These are great Season Produce Lists
to use when looking for organic produce grown close to home.  The closer to home the fruits and veggies are grown, the more nutrients they retain.   Use these lists to see what is in season — those things out of season are often shipped from long distances.     And as long as you are on the Organics.org website, check this Top 10 Reasons to go Organic.

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Another Guilty Pleasure: Juice Blends

For several weeks I have been enjoying juice blends for one of my snacks.  I will buy three or four bottles of various juices and then I just pour a little of each into my glass for a snack.  No matter what the juices, it always tastes great!

This week I’m using Naked Blue Machine, Naked Green Machine, Market Pantry Cranberry and Welch’s Grape.  I haven’t yet been too concerned with the organics of the juices, but that is just around the corner.  I’ll get to that.

The Naked Blue Machine says it’s 100% juice, and has apple, banana, blueberry and blackberry in it.  Looking at the ingredients though I’m a little concerned about “natural flavors” — do those need to be added?   So, I don’t know what those are.  The label also says that fruit and vegetable juice were added for color, but what vegetables?  So this is a little confusing, and I’ll have to sort out juices one day. 

The Naked Green Machine contains apple, banana, kiwi fruit, mango and “a hint of pineapple.”  Other ingredients are (won’t list them all)  spirulina, broccoli, spinach, algae, garlic, barley and wheat grass, ginger.  So, for my money, I think the Green Machine is the one to re-purchase; I probably can live without the Blue Machine.  

Today my drink is one part each of the four juices mentioned above and it’s pretty darn good!   I think to figure out cost on this one, I’ll just wait to see how many glasses I end up with after the juice is gone.   The whole fluid ounce measurement thang seems like way too much trouble to me.

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13 Months to 50

Yay!  One month down!   I am very satisfied with my progress so far:  I’ve lost 6 pounds and one inch off my waist.  Hurray!    I can see a slight change in the mirror, but of course I’m still waiting for that skinny girl to appear in front of me.  It will happen eventually, I’m sure of it.   I like the rate that I’m losing weight, too.  A good healthy loss of one or two pounds per week is more likely to stay off than a sudden weight loss.  I feel good about that.  And five pounds per month will add up quickly, and should only take me a few months to reach my goal.  

I still need to build more muscles and use those to help me burn calories.  I’m getting there, slowly.  I am inspired by the weight loss to increase the physical activity.  The good health is its own reward, and just makes me want to do more and become even stronger.

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OK, now, where were we?

After a week of not feeling so great, I am finally BACK!   I got my act together and stocked up on groceries today.  I have been eating well the entire time, even though I wasn’t blogging it, so I feel great!    I am really a believer in eating only foods that are good for me and I don’t plan on going back to eating awful food, ever.    So this week I have a few recipes to try and tell you about. 

The subject keeps coming up on television and in my own life about how expensive organic foods are, but I have really found that I am eating less because I am more satisfied.  The organic foods last longer before perishing, and the food I do buy is feeding me for two to three weeks.   So, yes the initial outlay is more, but it truly is not costing any more than eating awful food — and I have the future savings on medical expenses, not to mention time added to my life for being healthy.   More detail about the costs later. 

For the next 10 days, I’m pulling meal ideas from the little book which came with my Windsor Pilates dvds.   The program is called “Win in 10”  and the meal ideas seem to follow my plan, too, except for the breads.  So I’ll be replacing their english muffin or bagel with my own dense whole grain bread.   You’ll get all the details of any changes I make on those meal plans, along with the original info from the book.

And for exercise, I’ll still follow the plan outlined in the pilates book, too, which combine the pilates routines with walking.

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Goodbye, Diet Coke?

I’ve decided today will be my first day without diet coke, and so far it’s just fine.  In the last few weeks I have pretty much been able to take it or leave it, substituting tea and juice when I’m thirsty.  I also still have coffee a few mornings a week, so I’m not having a strong caffeine withdrawal.   We’ll see if I can win the psychological battle against drinking diet coke, though.   Day One so far:   I’ve had two cups of coffee, a glass of juice and a lot of water.  I’ll keep you posted.

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