Eat The Rainbow & I ain't talking Skittles Here!

Believe it or not, both Hubs and I were asleep at the stroke of midnight.  Well, mostly asleep.  The fireworks woke us briefly.  We did, however, wake early enough to greet the New Year sunrise.  It was golden and beautiful.  We shared a hug and kiss and Hubs went back to bed.  LOL

While he rested, I took a tour in the pantry.  I was amazed to find a few things I had shoved to the back and forgotten.  Fortunate, really.  I found agave syrup, rice syrup, molasses, organic long grain and wild rice, barley, bulgur, farro, brown rice and 7-grain cereal!  Imagine that!  What a way to start the year off right!

I also found a great seasonal 'Eat the Rainbow' chart after a little investigation online yesterday.  I hope it helps you as much as it does me!

So, for breakfast today, I made what I am lovingly calling Blue Goo.  It's 7-grain cereal, blueberries, flax seeds & wild pecans (Thank you Mom!) with a spoonful of local honey and a small pat of butter.  It was very tasty and let me tell you, one serving of this stuff kept me completely satisfied until lunch.  I also had a cup of coffee but instead of my normal white sugar, I used the agave syrup.  A little bit of this stuff goes a long way.  It's very sweet but didn't give my coffee a funky taste.  All in all, delicious breakfast.

Lunch was homemade split pea soup with a slice of toasted homemade honey oatmeal bread with a  smidge of butter.  Again, filling, nutritious and completely satisfying.  The recipes are in the links. 

As you can see, I like to cook so it'll be easier for me to stick to the Clean Eating.  Hubs is onboard too and even agreed to going meatless a few nights a week.  I see falafel and eggplant parmesan in our future! Yum!

Dinner tonight was Spicy Chicken Pinwheels with garlic sautéed spinach.  The only modifications I made to the recipe was to use agave nectar instead of white sugar.  It was a great way to use up some of the leftover chicken I had.  I had one pinwheel and a large amount of spinach.  Hubs ate three pinwheels and requested one be packed up for his lunch tomorrow.  Winner winner, chicken dinner!

So, how did I do eating Roy G. Biv today?  Let's see.  Red tomatoes. Orange carrots secretly hidden in the pea soup. Yellow mushrooms & onions?  Green spinach and peas.  Indigo and violet blueberries and black olives.  WOOHOO!  I did it! 

I did have a small snack this evening. It's very cold and windy and I was seriously craving hot chocolate.  I busted out the cocoa powder, stevia, whole milk (yes, we drink real whole milk here), pinch of salt and vanilla and enjoyed my cuppa  chocolaty goodness.  It was so satisfying. 

A New Year's Resolution for 2014-Part 4

I approach life very holistically, meaning I believe the body, mind and spirit all work together to create a healthy person.  If you neglect one area, the whole suffers.  I've neglected all areas and yeah, I've been paying for it.

For my mind, I'm starting back to work in my chosen career field.  I've been in adult education for many years and absolutely love it.  I lost my job in 2011 when my school closed and have been searching for a good fit ever since.  I've worked at a big box store, did some temp work at a home health agency, IT work for an attorney, and two call centers. None were satisfying other than providing a pay check. 

Fortunately, I have a great opportunity on the horizon for another teaching position and am going in this week to finish up some details.  This will ease our financial burdens and will also bring the joy only teaching can bring.  Yes, it really is a joy to watch someone learn and grow and to be part of that, well, it's definitely a beautiful experience.

Spiritually, I just need to become a bit more involved.  I used to be extremely active in my community.  I know I need to do so again.  It does take some time and commitment but ultimately, it's worth it.  I'm not 100% sure how this is going to come about  but I know I'm ready for it.  What's the saying, If you build it, they will come?  Same goes here.  I'm ready so the opportunities will present themselves.

One other thing I want to do is plant a herb and veggie garden. This incorporates all my goals.  It provides wholesome, organic vegetables for my table, is outdoors, provides plenty of stretching and strength exercises,  helps ease our finances, provides a creative outlet (canning & cooking), and can be shared with others. 

So there you have it.  My New Year's Resolutions for 2014.  I hope you stick with me through this journey.   I promise to be 100% honest with my successes and failures if you promise to be kind.  There will be tons of pictures, charts and such as well. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR ALL!!!!! 

A New year's Resolution for 2014 -Part 3

An important change for the physical side is the dreaded word...exercise.  Daily exercise for that matter. 

What's really kind of funny in a sad way is that I also like exercise.  I love being outside.  In my youth, I was very physically active.  I rode my bike everywhere, I played varsity sports, I walked, I swam.  I did all sorts of things.  Again, I'm not sure why I stopped doing these things.  Perhaps working and life just got in my way and I no longer made it a priority.  I think I just got lazy.

So, obviously, I'm going to incorporate movement into my daily life.  Walking is a high priority on my list.  It's cheap, you can do it anywhere, and I enjoy it. 

I am going to start walking for 15 minutes a day, every day.  I know it's not much but compared to what I'm doing, it's progress.  I will add 15 minutes per week until I reach my goal of 1 hour per session.

Flexibility and strength are also important.  I'm looking into trying yoga again.  I also love Tai Chi and plan on seeing if there are still free classes available.  If you've never tried it, give it a go.  It's amazing and not nearly as easy as it looks. 

For strength, I will look into weights.  Weight bearing exercise is good not only to build core strength and muscle mass but it also helps bone density.  My maternal family is prone to osteoporosis.  Fortunately for me, my bone structure is a bit larger than my little bird-boned mother but better safe than sorry. 

Obviously, I am not going to jump into all of this from day one.  It's going to be added progressively. 
One new activity a month.

In Spring, I plan on getting on this bike again.  How cute is this I ask? 

And this Summer, all I have to do is go right into my own back yard for this.

A New Year's Resolution for 2014-Part 2

First on the list is my physical self.  I've become quite a couch potato.  My typical day consists of getting up, eating breakfast, cleaning a bit, then sitting or laying on the couch watching crap T.V.  until lunch, where I eat, clean up a bit, then repeat until dinner.  Day in and day out.  It's no big surprise I've gained 15 more pounds.  What is surprising is that it isn't more! 

This is a very dangerous lifestyle for me.  I have high blood pressure, am about 100 pounds overweight, I get breathless when I do anything physical, and a few years ago, I had what is commonly known as a mini stroke.  What's worse, my dear, sweet Hubs told me that he didn't care how fat I get as long as I was healthy.  Of course, I don't consider any of the above 'healthy' so.

Since I'm being 100% honest on this little blog of mine, I might as well go for broke.  I am 5'5 inches tall, 50 years old and my weight (gulp) is 240.6 pounds.  Here is a recent picture.  Yes, that's me.  To be honest, I was a bit shocked when I saw this one.  Cameras are good for cruel reality checks!

 

So how am I going to change?  I'm going about it a bit differently.  Typically, I'd try some weird diet (see the past years' entries) or join Weight Watchers or something.  It's expensive and frankly, a pain in the ass.  All that weighing, measuring, etc. is not my style.  Plus, it lets me include stuff I know without a shadow of doubt is not a healthy way to eat, i.e. fast food & junk food. 

This time, I'm going to start cutting out all fast food, processed foods and refined sugars.  I want to go 100% organic but at the moment, I'm not sure I can swing it financially so that will evolve as things progress.

Besides taking away things, I plan on adding things as well.  Whole grains, fruits and vegetables.  I actually love these foods so it's not difficult to make this change.  I'm not even sure why I quite eating them.  Laziness perhaps?  Could be. 

See next installment for the other physical change.

A New Year's Resolution for 2014: Part 1

Or maybe a few resolutions.  Obviously, I didn't complete the year how I started.  In truth, I actually completed the year heavier than I began by about 15 pounds.  I'm not happy about this but it's reality.

It's been a difficult year.  I still haven't settled into a good job, financially we're just keeping our heads above water, and I'm mentally, spiritually and physically exhausted. 

The good news is I've spent the last few months really looking hard at myself, digging deep into places I basically refused to look at before.  You know, those ugly little dark corners that we don't even want to admit exist, much less shine a light on.  But it was necessary because until I did, I knew I was going to be stuck.  What's the definition of insanity?  Doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. 

This year is the year for changes.  All sorts of changes.  I plan on addressing each and every part of myself and then reaching out beyond myself as well.  How am I going to do this?  Well, I do understand that to reach long-term goals, I must start by making short-term ones.  Simple, small things done every single day will add up to large changes.  So here are a few of the long-term goals for 2014.  They may seem a bit vague at the moment but I promise, as time passes, they will become more concrete.

Stay tuned!

A New Hope

Yeah, I love Star Wars!  Apparently it's deep in my subconscious as I typed in the header without even a thought.  Pretty funny.  The chest & abs on Luke are also pretty damn funny.  I don't recall Mark Hamill ever being that buff!

Well, I made it through the holiday season!  Yes, I ate too many cookies and too much food in general but fortunately, I only gained back 3 pounds. I was shocked and amazed!

Obviously, my New Year's resolution is to eat the CAD.  I know I really did feel better when I was following the diet.  I've also decided that I will eat no fast food this year.  Between the two, I should lose more weight but more than that, I will be healthier.  That's the ultimate goal.  To get off my high blood pressure meds and never worry about it again. 

I'm car less today and I need to go grocery shopping so I will officially begin next week. I'm sort of working my way back into it.  Getting my mind prepared. 

I even dreamed about it last night. I dreamed it was morning and I went into the kitchen and made a cheese omelet. Guess my subconscious is working overtime. Even in my sleep, I'm sticking to the CAD.

Day 57

OK, yeah, I haven't been doing CAD.  I got off of it for a few weeks and just haven't had the inclination to start again. 

I've been job hunting and to be honest, I'm a bit stressed out over that.  When I'm stressed, I turn to food for comfort.  I know it. You know it. We all know it.  At least I'm aware of what's going on and I'm facing it honestly. 

The good news is I haven't gone completely crazy.  I'm still eating just meals even if those contain carbs.  Not really snacking or overeating like before.  And, the food cravings are still under control. 

My plan is to get back to it once my life settles down a bit.  I've got a few prospects and my stress level is easing.  If I start before the new year, great, but I know the plan is to begin again on New Year's Day. 

So if you've been following me, please don't give up.  There will be more posts coming soon.