WOW Snowy Monday Feb 18th, 2013

I took a vacation day today. I am so glad I did that. The snow started here pretty heavy yesterday afternoon and continued through the evening and into the early morning hours. There is a lot of snow outside. The snow drifts in some areas are a much as 5 feet high. I sure hope it warms up soon and this is the last of it. I know wishful thinking. There is still a month left to winter. On sunny days you can really feel the strength of the sun.

So I didn’t have any green juice on Saturday or Sunday. I resumed my juice drinking this morning. My juice consisted of several kale leaves, several celery stalks, a cucumber, 4 okra, about a 1/3 cup of parsley, a small head of broccoli, 2 carrots, a green pepper, about a 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp of turmeric and 1 tbsp chia seeds. Chia seeds are thought to aid in relief from the pain of arthritis, which I have in both knees (more in the right) and my left foot and maybe a bit in my ankles. I believe the weight loss will aid in that alone but I’ll try anything natural for a bit of relief now.

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You can see some chia seeds floating near the bottom.

My quinoa is starting to sprout. Hopefully tomorrow evening after work I will be able to have a Quinoa Salad.

Last night for supper I made Zucchini Pasta and Marinara Sauce. I found the recipe here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y_76k1BE8I

Here is a picture of the one I made. It was so delicious. You would never know the sauce was raw. It is truly satisfying.

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Now I want to address how I felt by not having my green juice for breakfast. For breakfast on Sunday I had a large bowl of fruit, melons and strawberries. I went out in the afternoon and had a cranberry pomegranate tea and then when I got home I was so hungry I had a bowl of red grapes. When about hour later I had a huge serving of Zucchini Past and Marinara Sauce and I was stuffed. However about an hour or 2 later I was starving again and really had a bad craving for something cooked and unhealthy. I had a bowl of popcorn and added some olive oil and Himalayan salt and had 4 dates. That satisfied the salty and the sweet. The only cooked food I eat is popcorn. I have it about 2-3 times a week. When I have some its about 4-5 cups. My point is though when I don’t drink the green juice my body isn’t get nourished properly and it is putting into place the natural process of craving. We crave food because our bodies need something we are not giving them. Feed your body with the nutrients its needs and it doesn’t go into the craving mode.

I started dieting when I was 17 years old. My first experience was weight watchers. Back then which was thirty years ago it was a very strict diet. You had to have this amount of breads, and this amount of proteins and this amount of vegetables etc. It worked. I managed to lose a lot of weight and enjoy my last year in high school very much. However the weight came back on and more. When I turned 22 was pregnant with my oldest son Nick. I gained a whopping 80 lbs during the pregnancy. I was able to lose a little but not all of it. In 1992 I became pregnant with my youngest son Josh, again I gained a lot of weight, 60 lbs in total. My weight was close to 300 lbs. In 1994 I became pregnant with my youngest child a girl Kristin, not sure if because it was a girl or not but with this pregnancy I didn’t gain any weight at all. Thank goodness. I always had active jobs as I was a professionally trained cook. I did take a job in a call center in the center of the city I lived in and I lived in the north and walked home every day and managed to lose an impressive amount of weight and also became a vegetarian for about six months.  This job ended and I took a job in a restaurant that served a lot of fried foods. Well the meals were free and of course I partook. So on went the weight again.  However I ran into some health issues with my legs and required a job where I didn’t have to stand on my feet all day. That led to the world of call centers. I began with another call center in March 1999. Being so inactive for most of the day led to more weight gain. In 2002 I weight to weight watchers again. This time things were much more flexible and I lost a whopping 100 lbs. Unfortunately that only brought me down to 297 lbs. I gained a little bit back and then a little more. I went back up about 350lbs probably. Then in the magical summer of 2006 I discovered hiking. We have park where I live right in the middle of the city and it is one of largest parks within a city in Canada. I loved it. I went out every chance I got. I lost weight again went back down to around 300 lbs. I was very inactive in the winter though so managed to gain weight again. Seeing a trend yet? I’m a yoyo. In 2009 I started a diet again with a person trainer. She came into our work place. I guess when I started with her I was close to 370 lbs. I lost 100 pounds and did a lot of hiking in 2009 and 2010. In 2011 the arthritis in my knees got really bad and limited my hiking. 2012 was pretty much a write off as far as activity. So on Feb 3rd I found myself back up to 375.4 lbs. This morning when I got on the scales I was down to 357.4 lbs. So once again I’m going in the right direction. Over and above that I have done a lot of reading about the raw food way of life. I have never heard of so many healthy happy people. There has to be something to this. I feel it myself. Hopefully my knees allow me to get out and get active. If not I am going to join a local health facility that has a pool and at least I can get some low impact exercise.

I guess since I’m kinda snowed in its laundry/blogging day. For lunch I made a smoothie. It tastes good but the texture is a bit grainy. Not something I would want everyday but I wanted to try and use some of the stuff that is left after juicing. It is a lot of fibre. For example when you juice an apple you only eat the juice and the skin goes into a catch container. Well normally when I eat an apple I eat the skin, so I decided to use some of this fibre in my smoothie. I used about 1 and 1/2 cups. I think next time I’d cut it down to 1 cup. I added in 1 cup of strawberries, a banana, 3/4 cup coconut milk, 1/4 cup hemp seeds and about 2 tbls ground flax seeds and some spring water. I ended up with a 1L smoothie. Here is a picture:

High Fibre Smootie

My goal for the rest of the day is to drink at least 2L of water. I’ll need at least that much considering all the fibre I’ve had.

I think Caesar Salad will be on the menu for supper.

Sproutingly Sunday

Today’s weigh-in down 17lbs. I love quinoa. I was ambling around the internet and found this recipe: http://earthmother-intheraw.blogspot.ca/2009/04/sprouted-quinoa-mother-grain.html

I have red quinoa in my cupboard.  I found a site explaining how to sprout them: http://www.poweroffood.com/how-to-sprout-quinoa-with-ease/

So my sprouting journey begins……

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I’ll add a picture once they have sprouted. Can’t wait till supper. The Zucchini spaghetti with Marinara sauce is going to be awesome. For lunch I am going to try another smoothie. Kale, frozen banana, an orange and some coconut milk…..for now I’m having water and doing laundry.

Saturday Feb 16th, 2013

Today was grocery and buy a blender day. I awoke around 8am and read my emails for a bit. Got dressed and headed out to get the groceries and buy a blender. I went to Tim Horton’s first and bought a medium blueberry white tea which I drink black so delicious. No juice this morning. I didn’t have enough stuff left in my fridge to get one so I skipped that.

I drank the tea and then purchased a 1L bottle of water and drank throughout my shopping.

My first stop was Giant Tiger. It seems like an odd place to purchase fruits and veggies but they do have a nice variety at a very good price. I got tomatoes (a lot as I’m going to have Zucchini squash with Marinara Sauce  (mmmm I can’t wait). I got 2 large bunches of bananas, 2 mangoes, a bag of green apples and a bag of red. I got 2 containers of mushrooms, a large bag of oranges, 6 cucumbers, 2lbs of anjou pears, an Asian pear, a bag of peppers ( red, yellow and orange, 2 green peppers, 3 bunches of celery, 2 bunches of green onions and 2 honeydew melons for $60. This is a really good price where I live. If I had gone to one of the large grocery store chains I would have paid at least double.

I did have to go to one of the large grocery store chain stores to get a few items I couldn’t get at Giant Tiger. Which was Kale. I finally got my hands on some kale.

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I also got broccoli it was on for 2 for $3.00 so I got two bunches. I bought some red grapes ( a little pricey but I they are a treat), the strawberries are on sale for 2 containers for $3.00 so I got four containers, 1 nectarine, 4 zucchinis, romaine hearts (I’m making Caesar salad again), fresh oregano and sun dried tomatoes (for the marinara sauce).

Here is a link to the Marinara Sauce http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Y_76k1BE8I

For the rest of the day I drank another 2L of water. I just had supper which was a Kale, Honeydew Melon and Strawberry smoothie, It was delicious.

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I got a lot done today beside the grocery shopping I got my bedroom cleaned and am now taking it easy.

Fantastic Friday

Well another work week is almost over. It is payday which is good as my fridge is running low on veggies and fruits. I did have enough left to make my green juice this morning which I am sipping on as I write this. I put more carrots in this time to make sure I had a full litre. I added a tomato as well and 2 lemons instead of the usual one. I didn’t have any apples to add in. I did add a pinch of Himalayan salt and lots of collard greens. Maybe someday I’ll be able to find kale. It is very very limited where I live at least this time of year. In the summer the local farmers come in to the city and set up a farmers market in Queen’s Sq Park. It is wonderful and I can’t wait till it is that time of year again and I can get fresh local greens that I can juice.

Today I will have a mango for snack at work. I really like mangoes. I hadn’t really tried them before. I am more apt to experiment with new vegetables for some reason. I think I’ll purchase some kiwis tomorrow they are supposed to be in season somewhere so maybe the imports will be a little less expensive.

Well off to make my smoothie for work and then off to work…..

Happy Valentine’s Day

Got off to a bit of a late start this morning so this will be short.

I needed an extra hour of sleep. I need to start going to sleep earlier. I get off work at 9pm and by the time I get home its about 9:30pm. I usually don’t fall asleep till 1am. However I do feel sleepy at 11pm and force myself to stay awake. That has to stop. I need my sleep. I’ve read a good night’s sleep aids in weight loss. Also I think I may not be eating enough calories. Today I added about 1 cup of coconut milk to my strawberry smoothie.

Here is a picture of my Spinach Strawberry Salad from my supper yesterday.

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Have a Happy Valentine’s Day.

Winsome Wednesday

This morning I awoke shortly before 8am. I don’t begin work till 12:15pm. I began my day with 1L of spring water. This got things moving right away which is good. I like to get the bathroom business out of the way first thing. I weighed myself before drinking the water as 1L of water does have weight. I have lost a total of 14 lbs. Yesterday I was up 0.2 lbs. I have been weighing myself daily for a long time so I know that the body weight fluctuates from day to day and I don’t worry about it.

However yesterday started out as a very stressful day. Children can often be the cause of a lot of stress. I don’t like hectic in the morning. I like to be able to awake and do what I need to do. I dealt with the stress pretty well though I think and got to work and had a very stressful day. I ran out of gum which I find is a nice way to cut down on stress a bit. Just the act of chewing and using that little bit of energy is satisfying. I sit all day long and can’t just get up and walk around when I feel like it. By last break at 7:15pm I needed something………CHIPS CHIPS CHIPS my brain screamed…….I went to the work kitchen and got my lunch bag out of the fridge. I took out my apple and enjoyed its crispness. I turned and looked at all those CHIPS CHIPS CHIPS in the vending machine then I spotted the gum. So I put in my $1.35 and bought a package of gum. Disaster averted. Okay I have to stop typing and go make my morning juice. I think I will put in carrots again. This morning I have collard greens to juice as I still can’t find any kale.

This is what I had when I got home from work last night. It was delicious and was a great way to end the day. I did have a banana later about an hour after I ate this.

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Mmmm Honeydew Melon and Strawberries…… I’m pretty sure this is the first time I have tried Honeydew melon……I loved it.

Day 40 (May 4th, 2008) Sunday

Today I plan on going to Rockwood Park for a nice hike deep in the forest. I hope to find the beginnings of the Jack-in-the-Pulpit flower.

Accomplished a 2 hour hike.

Didn’t find the elusive Jack-in-the-Pulpit flower but did see a Trillium that will be in bloom shortly. Re-familiarized myself with Moose Trax and the path I need to take to re-visit the Trillium next weekend and hopefully explore a little more and find the Jack-in-a-Pulpit. Realized iron levels are not something that re-coop overnight. Had a hard time with energy on what should have been a fairly easy hike. I’ll need to really concentrate on getting my iron levels up and get my endurance up for hiking again.

Breakfast:

1 cup Source yogurt, 1 cup strawberries, 2/3 cup all bran with psyllium cereal.

Snack:

1oz almonds, 1 brazil nut, 1 orange.

1 litre of water

Lunch:

4 cups salad, 1/4 cup salad dressing, 2 tbsp sunflower seeds.

1.5 litres water

Snack:

1 tbsp peanut butter, 1 slice Country Harvest whole wheat + plus bread.

Supper:

4 oz chicken breast, 2 green onions, 1 celery stalk, 1 green pepper, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 slice Country Harvest whole wheat + plus bread, 1 tsp olive oil.

Day 38 (May 2nd, 2008) Friday

Breakfast:

2/3 cup all bran psyllium cereal, 1 cup 2% milk, 1 grapefruit, 2 large Tim Horton’s coffees with milk and artificial sweetener.

Snack:

1 banana

1.5 litres water

Lunch:

2 cups salad, 2 tsp low cal dressing.

Snack:

1 cup grapes, 100 gram container Source yogurt.

Supper:

60 baked scoops, 1 cup salsa, 1 cup no fat sour cream, 1/2 cup shredded low fat cheese.

Snack:

80 grams baked scoops.