My Good/Bad Lunch

Whole wheat pita pockets stuffed with mushrooms, veggie bacon, pickles, and avocado!!! Although the salt is higher than what I should have, it's less than what I normally have. Plus everybody else also had veggie burgers and I didn't.

I ate it with slaw that I learned to make from my friend Mushirah, although I have tweaked it a little bit to my taste. Yes, those are french fries. What can I say, potatoes are my weakness. I didn't add oil this time and normally I would have. I will be eating the slaw tomorrow for lunch...yes, it's that good!

UGH!!!

I am starting to realize that I get very irritated when people don't take their health seriously, but pretend like they do. If you are sick and know what you should be doing and choose not to do it, don't tell me. It makes me not even WANT to help you. To be honest I'm like that on everything. If you ask for my help and don't do what I suggest, then please stop asking. I am going through my own issues with eating and getting healthy. I'm tired of being overweight, out of shape, and clogged up. If you aren't then that is just fine with me, but just know that I won't beg you to do better. I won't continue to try and teach you if you don't want to learn.

I...WANT...TO...LIVE!!!

I don't want to die from preventable diseases. I don't want to be the person in the casket that people look at my fat ass and lie saying, "Lawd, she was so young. I can't believe she died from *insert preventable disease of choice here*." I have heard that lie so many times and I am SO sick of it.

I watched Paula Dean today on that cooking show "The Chew". She sittin' up there crying and going on about having diabetes, giving up sweet tea, blah, blah, blah. Then she goes on to say that she has always preached moderation! WHEN?!?! THEN she said gave all these reasons that people can be diabetics, including race which is a steaming pile of bullshit, but conveniently left out diet. Really Paula? Really?

It's time for us to stop choosing to buy into these lies. There are so many people out here that are older than Paula Dean and super healthy because they have discipline! I'm trying to learn from them. I don't want to make anymore excuses. I'm not saying that I won't screw up, but I can say that I won't quit. I am back down to the size I was when I did the MC originally and I did it just by changing my diet and 3 days on the treadmill. I have messed up a few times, but I made up for it. My children WILL NOT bury me before my time. I owe it to them to stay around as long as possible and to slip peacefully to the other side.

Oh, btw, I ate a really good salad with hummus instead of dressing and it was better than I could have ever imagined!!! I'll try to remember to take a picture of it tomorrow...if I don't gobble it down again. That's something else I'm working on.

Finding a Middle Ground with Grits

Okay, so when you are trying to change you diet you often feel as though you are being told "don't eat this...don't eat that...this is poisonous...that causes cancer..." You are also often told that you have to give up your favorite foods. Well one of my guilty pleasures is grits. I don't know what's wrong with grits and to be honest I don't want to know because I'm not going to give it up yet. Queen Afua mentioned replacing grits with somethings that made me prefer giving them up completely so that's a no go. I actually don't eat them that much. For the most part I only eat them when my husband request them, which is maybe about every couple of months.

 Anyhoo, since beginning to read "The Remedy" I feel as though I need to add greens wherever and whenever possible. So yesterday as I sat staring at the pot of grits, thinking about how much starch I was about to feed to myself and my family, I had an idea. I would add spinach to it. I added fresh chopped spinach to the bottom of the bowls, allowed the heat and moisture from the grits to wilt the spinach, and a new middle ground was born. I am a southerner by birth and still live here. We tend to eat really heavy meals and so this is just one more step in the right direction. Next I need to work on portion control and gluttony. Until I get that under control I'll just try to find a healthier way so that I don't balloon back up to my former 185+lbs.

Pics to catch y'all up

Look what I made!!!

My new favorite snack & Sunshine

This is a picture of my daughter Sunshine learning to prepare my new favorite snack. We have been receiving fresh fruits and veggies from www.absouluteorganics.com. Well they sent string beans and honey let me tell ya, it was good. She and I both have eaten them for snack when they were both warm and cold and we LOVE THEM!!!

REPOST: Absolute Organics

I got this box of fruits and vegetables delivered to my door for $40 dollars. Much cheaper than I could get it in the store. It is also wonderful because it is delivered for free. Anyway, all of the vegetables looked really good. In this batch I received kiwi, bananas, apples, squash, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, romaine lettuce, and broccoli. I think that's all. Anyway it was quite a bit of stuff and I will definitely be using this service regularly.

No longer veggie dog virgins & a bonus "unmeat".

Yesterday we celebrated that last day of a summer program sponsored by the local Parks & Rec. They provided food that included veggie hotdogs. Let me tell you. I was so amazed at how good they were. Now, the only thing that was missing was the chili. What was a southern black woman to do with no chili on a hotdog? I came home and told Big Daddy about it and he was all excited. We haven't had hotdogs in over a year. He told the kids and it was on. I called Sunshine when I was half done with shopping and told her how to make fries over the phone (Let me tell you, she did her thang with those fries. Seasoned 'um jest like huh Mama). When I got home we have some veggie chili. It was delish. Here are the pics.

Veggie Dogs with Veggie Chili and Fries

Spike and Sunshine preparing and eating their veggie dogs. I just noticed how Sunshine's face looks. She ate 2 veggie dogs, so contrary to how her face looks she loved them.

Big Daddy at 3 Veggie Dogs and is already looking forward to having more.


Bonus "UnMeat"

I decided while I was buying the veggie hotdogs to buy the veggie sausage. It was okay, but I think I needed to add a little salt. Oh, and the other thing is a egg fried in grapeseed oil.

REPOST: The Breakfast of Champions!

Believe it or not this is me with my favorite breakfast. What is it you ask? Frozen bananas and almond milk. My husband bought me a blender that blends icy drinks and it has made all the difference, because I burned the last blender up and cracked it...it wasn't my fault. Anyhoo, this is my favorite because I am full and I don't feel miserable and sleepy later like with a heavier breakfast (grits, eggs, french toast etc.). Also, I still have a periodic problem with gluttony so this keeps it in check for at least one meal.

Y'all know I'm anti-scales...right?

Y'all know that I have been anti-scales for a while now. I only used a scale during the Master Cleanse to chart out of curiosity. Well, yesterday my sister brought me her old scale because they bought a new one. I decided with much trepidation to get on it last night. Guess what? I lost 5 more pounds. I normally tell what shape I'm in by how my clothes fit, but know half of my clothes don't fit properly so that isn't a good gauge anymore. Anyway, I have scale now and I don't mind it so much since I'm no longer 180 lbs at the statuesque height of 5'2".

Before:

After:

(My daughter has on makeup because she was playing dress up with me and my friends from out of town. LOL)