Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Green breakfast--no smoothies!
Now, first let me say that these are not the most "healthy" breakfasts, but they work pretty well when you are sick of smoothies and fresh fruit. Yes, I do get sick of that sometimes. I still have a starch addiction that I feed periodically. When I do, I try to make it more healthy than I would traditionally eat it.
Yesterday, we ate grits! Yes good ol' grits. I'm southern and will probably never fully give them up. Don't judge me. Shoot, go ahead and judge me. I don't care. lol Anyhoo, here are the pics.
I really hope you try this if you like grits. It's a healthier way to have an old Southern favorite.
Now, this morning my son asked for potatoes. Of course I couldn't just let the baby eat starch by itself so I tried to figure out a way to to make it healthier. Here's what we came up with.
Take these ideas and make them your own to improve you meals.
Yesterday, we ate grits! Yes good ol' grits. I'm southern and will probably never fully give them up. Don't judge me. Shoot, go ahead and judge me. I don't care. lol Anyhoo, here are the pics.
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| Raw chopped spinach, raw chopped tomatoes, and sauteed onions. |
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| Add you hot grits. I seasoned mine with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and black pepper. The yellow stuff is my vegan "cheese" or nutritional yeast. While the grits are cooling the spinach is wilting and the tomatoes are warming up. The point is to keep them as close to raw as possible. |
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| Mix it all up and try not to burn your mouth as you gobble this up!!! It's SOOOO GOOD!!! |
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| My daughter eats hers with everything except the onions and heavy nutritional yeast. |
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| My son eats his with everything except tomatoes. |
Now, this morning my son asked for potatoes. Of course I couldn't just let the baby eat starch by itself so I tried to figure out a way to to make it healthier. Here's what we came up with.
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| Potatoes cut on the spiralizer with a lovely miso mayo. Sauteed veggies (onions, tomatoes, and spinach) with seasonings. I topped it with Daiya cheese which is vegan. |
Monday, February 27, 2012
LOOK AT ME!!! I HEALED MYSELF!!!
I am so excited about this, but first some background.
I have, as some of you know, have suffered migraines for years. If I eat the way I should and get a decent amount of rest I don't have them at all. Of course like most of you, I don't always do what I should even when I know what's best. I started having migraines again and started taking migraine medicine. Because it has aspirin and caffeine combined it gives me and a lot of other people stomach ulcers.
The other day I was reading something (sorry I don't remember what) and it talked about capsaicin healing stomach ulcers. Like most of you I don't really do cayenne, at least not to the point that it would be useful. I remembered a friend of mine, Mushirah, telling me about making your own gel capsules. Thanks Mushirah!!!
Again, this idea came back to me because of lack of funds. I already had more cayenne than I could possibly use. I bought the capsules for about $7 (I'll find them cheaper later) and sat down at the table to pack them with hot smoking magic!!!
BE CAREFUL WHEN PACKING CAPSULES WITH CAYENNE!!! Don't touch your face PERIOD!!! I didn't and it still made me sneeze and the "dust" got in my nose and down my throat. It was bad, but I can only imagine if I forgot and touched my face. Anyhoo, I gave one to my husband. He said his burned going down, but I think he got one of the ones I packed before realizing that they kind of "lock" in place. Mine didn't burn at all. So usually when I'm hungry and once I start eating my stomach begins to hurt really bad. I was bracing myself for it the entire time. Btw, I made some slammin' cauliflower mashed "potatoes". Everybody loved them. Back on topic, my stomach is still pain free and I am SO happy!!!
Hope this helps somebody else along the way. Now, I will say this as a note. Herbal remedies only work or work best when you already have a healthy lifestyle. Otherwise you can take them as much as you want and never reap the benefits.
I have, as some of you know, have suffered migraines for years. If I eat the way I should and get a decent amount of rest I don't have them at all. Of course like most of you, I don't always do what I should even when I know what's best. I started having migraines again and started taking migraine medicine. Because it has aspirin and caffeine combined it gives me and a lot of other people stomach ulcers.
The other day I was reading something (sorry I don't remember what) and it talked about capsaicin healing stomach ulcers. Like most of you I don't really do cayenne, at least not to the point that it would be useful. I remembered a friend of mine, Mushirah, telling me about making your own gel capsules. Thanks Mushirah!!!
Again, this idea came back to me because of lack of funds. I already had more cayenne than I could possibly use. I bought the capsules for about $7 (I'll find them cheaper later) and sat down at the table to pack them with hot smoking magic!!!
BE CAREFUL WHEN PACKING CAPSULES WITH CAYENNE!!! Don't touch your face PERIOD!!! I didn't and it still made me sneeze and the "dust" got in my nose and down my throat. It was bad, but I can only imagine if I forgot and touched my face. Anyhoo, I gave one to my husband. He said his burned going down, but I think he got one of the ones I packed before realizing that they kind of "lock" in place. Mine didn't burn at all. So usually when I'm hungry and once I start eating my stomach begins to hurt really bad. I was bracing myself for it the entire time. Btw, I made some slammin' cauliflower mashed "potatoes". Everybody loved them. Back on topic, my stomach is still pain free and I am SO happy!!!
Hope this helps somebody else along the way. Now, I will say this as a note. Herbal remedies only work or work best when you already have a healthy lifestyle. Otherwise you can take them as much as you want and never reap the benefits.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
A friend of mine called today while talking about dietary changes, we ended up talking about how to make it affordable. Well, I thought I would an example with the rest of you. Today I bought some bananas from the clearance section in the produce area.
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| These bananas are perfect and ready to eat. See the little brown spots? That means that the sugars are perfect and easy to digest. These will NOT cause constipation. |
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| Banana smoothie anyone? |
Jackfruit and Sweet Lemon
Today we went to a local grocery store that is more like an international food store called Compare Foods. As fast as they are spreading, you probably have one in your area. Anywhoo, the kids and I have been doing mono-dieting when money is short or when we feel like it. They funny thing is that they request it. Mari's fruit of choice is cantaloupe while David's is mango. Today we went to Compare Foods because I knew they would have a wider variety. They did NOT disappoint. The first thing we tried was something called Sweet Lemon.
Sweet Lemon looks like a yellow orange with a little green tinge. When you cut it open it is an extremely pale yellow, almost white. The peel is very thin and easy to pull off and the flesh pulls away from the filmy thin skin on the inside much like a grapefruit does. It taste clean, almost watery with a very slight sweet taste. I can imagine that this would be DELISH on a hot summer day and it also would travel and keep well since it is in the citrus family.
I think the first time I heard about Jackfruit was from an vegan-master blogging-guru-down-to-earth-sistah by the name of Evelyn. Today we tried it for ourselves. First of all this thing is the size and weight of a watermelon, but it has this very prickly skin. To get to the flesh, I took a large knife and cut it like I would a watermelon. You will meet with some resistance in the middle as it does have a type of firm/soft core. Once you cut it into pieces that you can work with you will find something that looks like pods throughout the fruit. This is what you want to eat. They are hollow because the seed is in it. The seeds are surrounded by a stringy flesh. They part you eat has a light sweet taste. It's not a juicy fruit. It has a fleshy rubbery feel to it, but it isn't unpleasant at all. It does take a little work to eat, so it's not something to eat when you are in a rush. It seems like something that would be good to take on a picnic. I really enjoyed it and will be going for another slice when I'm done blogging.
I'm glad that we enjoyed the fruit that we tried today, but the truth of it is that you should always be willing to give new fruits and veggies a try. Sometimes you will love what you try and sometimes you will hate it. Sometimes you will find that you have to try it again at a later date to give it another shot. Either way variety is indeed the spice of life, so spice up your life and your plate with new foods. Try something new at least once a month and be sure to involve the children. If you have picky eaters make it an event and involve them in the process. Let them pic the new fruit/veggie and help prepare it. Eat and enjoy!!!
Sweet Lemon looks like a yellow orange with a little green tinge. When you cut it open it is an extremely pale yellow, almost white. The peel is very thin and easy to pull off and the flesh pulls away from the filmy thin skin on the inside much like a grapefruit does. It taste clean, almost watery with a very slight sweet taste. I can imagine that this would be DELISH on a hot summer day and it also would travel and keep well since it is in the citrus family.
I think the first time I heard about Jackfruit was from an vegan-master blogging-guru-down-to-earth-sistah by the name of Evelyn. Today we tried it for ourselves. First of all this thing is the size and weight of a watermelon, but it has this very prickly skin. To get to the flesh, I took a large knife and cut it like I would a watermelon. You will meet with some resistance in the middle as it does have a type of firm/soft core. Once you cut it into pieces that you can work with you will find something that looks like pods throughout the fruit. This is what you want to eat. They are hollow because the seed is in it. The seeds are surrounded by a stringy flesh. They part you eat has a light sweet taste. It's not a juicy fruit. It has a fleshy rubbery feel to it, but it isn't unpleasant at all. It does take a little work to eat, so it's not something to eat when you are in a rush. It seems like something that would be good to take on a picnic. I really enjoyed it and will be going for another slice when I'm done blogging.
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| Whole Jackfruit |
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| Sliced in half. |
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| Flesh & fruit pods |
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| This is the part you eat, but be careful of the seed. If you squeeze it, you can feel where it is inside. |
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| Inside of the fruit pod. |
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Vegetarian Relapse, Food Combining, Big Starchy Mistake, and Mono Dieting
I always seek to be as transparent as possible...even when it is somewhat humiliating. There are lessons in all things.
First of all I at a sandwich from a place called Jimmy Johns that was SO good!!! OMG! It had mayo, Dijon mustard, tomato, onions, sprouts, and cheese all on French bread with a HUGE dill pickle on the side with a large lemonade. *lick lips* I am proud about one thing. I chose the smaller sandwich rather than the one with all the extras. As I reclined in my chair to enjoy the lingering flavor in my mouth a familiar feeling began to resurface. *BUUUUUURRRRRRPPP* Here we go with the burping...again. Bless my husbands heart, he is so understanding because there is NOTHING sexy about the man sized burps. I am finding that I don't do well when I have too many different kinds of foods in one sitting. Hence my entertaining the whole mono-diet idea.
On to a short lil diddy about food combining. See the chart I posted here. I think that I am either becoming more sensitive OR I am becoming more aware of when I have made bad decisions with food combining. I still think that I was just less aware of all the burping, farting, and bloating before because people make it seem like that is a normal part of eating/overeating. I think in near future, as a become more disciplined, I will eat sandwiches with a lot less stuff on them.
About that starch. Today, I found myself again trying to figure out what to eat with less then $20. Well we had some pretty strange combinations in the freezer, but they were mostly starchy. I didn't have a lot of money so I decided to just eat what was in the freezer. Well, after eating it I found my blood sugar ALL out of whack. I haven't felt like this in a VERY long time and I do NOT like it at all. This will not happen again. I should have gone and bought $20 worth of fruits and veggies. Live and learn, and when you learn teach.
I am looking into something called Mono Dieting. It's just like sounds, you eating only one thing. Now, I read one site where the lady ate the same thing for an extended amount of time...like months. I was thinking more like eating one thing all day today and then something else all day tomorrow. I think this will be a really good break for my body. Of course I will post about it when I try it. I also plan to do it according to what's on sale. lol I might even start or finish with a coconut water cleanse.
Edit: I found this site and she did a wonderful job explaining and exploring mono meals.
First of all I at a sandwich from a place called Jimmy Johns that was SO good!!! OMG! It had mayo, Dijon mustard, tomato, onions, sprouts, and cheese all on French bread with a HUGE dill pickle on the side with a large lemonade. *lick lips* I am proud about one thing. I chose the smaller sandwich rather than the one with all the extras. As I reclined in my chair to enjoy the lingering flavor in my mouth a familiar feeling began to resurface. *BUUUUUURRRRRRPPP* Here we go with the burping...again. Bless my husbands heart, he is so understanding because there is NOTHING sexy about the man sized burps. I am finding that I don't do well when I have too many different kinds of foods in one sitting. Hence my entertaining the whole mono-diet idea.
On to a short lil diddy about food combining. See the chart I posted here. I think that I am either becoming more sensitive OR I am becoming more aware of when I have made bad decisions with food combining. I still think that I was just less aware of all the burping, farting, and bloating before because people make it seem like that is a normal part of eating/overeating. I think in near future, as a become more disciplined, I will eat sandwiches with a lot less stuff on them.
About that starch. Today, I found myself again trying to figure out what to eat with less then $20. Well we had some pretty strange combinations in the freezer, but they were mostly starchy. I didn't have a lot of money so I decided to just eat what was in the freezer. Well, after eating it I found my blood sugar ALL out of whack. I haven't felt like this in a VERY long time and I do NOT like it at all. This will not happen again. I should have gone and bought $20 worth of fruits and veggies. Live and learn, and when you learn teach.
I am looking into something called Mono Dieting. It's just like sounds, you eating only one thing. Now, I read one site where the lady ate the same thing for an extended amount of time...like months. I was thinking more like eating one thing all day today and then something else all day tomorrow. I think this will be a really good break for my body. Of course I will post about it when I try it. I also plan to do it according to what's on sale. lol I might even start or finish with a coconut water cleanse.
Edit: I found this site and she did a wonderful job explaining and exploring mono meals.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Friday, February 10, 2012
Tabata & Free Online Interval Timer!!! Brangin' Sexy Back SUGAH!!!
Hey Sexy Sistah Crew!!!
A while back Mari and I discovered a really good workout that only takes 4 minutes! Literally. You WILL feel it, and depending on the type of exercise you choose, you WILL burn fat and/or reach your cardio peak.
It's called Tabata. The way it works is that you can do ANY exercise(s) of your choice. You do the first exercise as hard and fast as you can for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds. I know it sounds like a bunch of nothing, but do it first and then lemme know what you think.
One problem we had was that the timer on my phone doesn't do intervals very easily, so that meant I was spending most of my rest period resetting my phone. Here is something cool I found for FREE!!! A TABATA TIMER!!! Click here for the timer!
Here's an example of what we do:
A while back Mari and I discovered a really good workout that only takes 4 minutes! Literally. You WILL feel it, and depending on the type of exercise you choose, you WILL burn fat and/or reach your cardio peak.
It's called Tabata. The way it works is that you can do ANY exercise(s) of your choice. You do the first exercise as hard and fast as you can for 20 seconds and rest for 10 seconds. I know it sounds like a bunch of nothing, but do it first and then lemme know what you think.
One problem we had was that the timer on my phone doesn't do intervals very easily, so that meant I was spending most of my rest period resetting my phone. Here is something cool I found for FREE!!! A TABATA TIMER!!! Click here for the timer!
Here's an example of what we do:
- Downward Dog to Plank (repeat for 20 seconds)
- Rest (10 seconds)
- Jumping Jacks
- Rest
- Push Ups
- Rest
- Crunches
- Rest
- Jump Rope
- Rest
- Crab Walk
- Rest
- Run with knees high
- Rest
- Shake Weight
- Rest
- REJOICE BECAUSE YOU MADE IT!!!!!
I really hope you find this helpful as another option to get and stay in shape. I am a bit ADHD when it comes to exercise. I have found that if I just have a lot of options and don't hold myself to specific periods of time I do very well and it works for me. The point is to do more than you used to do.
Friday, February 3, 2012
My Good/Bad Lunch
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| 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. |
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| 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! |
1 Month Update!!!
Greetings Family!!! Today is my 1 month up date and I'm so glad that I don't have to be humiliated by failure! To be honest, I'm not where I thought I'd be, but that's because I didn't starve myself with cleanse after cleanse, but instead am trying to INCOPORATE cleanses as a natural complement to good eating habits.
So a month ago I posted my weights and such so here is the update for this month.Height
5'2" (I'm 34 so that isn't going to change. lol)
Weight
Last Month: Pre-colon flush 169.4 After flush 166.4
This Month: 157.2 (I do fluctuate between 157 and 160 depending on the time of the day and my discipline that day.)
Chest
Last Month: 39"
This Month: 37"(doesn't matter to me because I hate bras.)
Waist
Last Month: 37"
This Month: 34" (I AM BRANGIN' SEXY BACK SUGAH!!!)
Hips
Last Month: 43"
This Month: 42" (What can I say? I'm a grown ass woman...*shrugs and sashays off*
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| Before-Notice the chin and stomach specifically |
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| Before-Notice my width. lol |
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| Trying to get a pic of my sweat from walking on the treadmill |
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| Can you see it? Can you see my beautiful sweat?!?!?! Oh wait! I almost forgot. I don't sweat I GLISTEN... |
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| I don't know why I'm leaning like that. I think I was copying my daughter who was taking the picture. lol Not quite so wide this month!!! YAY! |
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| My chin and gut are melting away!!! |
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