Fitness

And FRUSTRATION. Let us NOT forget FRUSTRATION.

Some of you know that I've been on a health and FITNESS lifestyle change for about 4 years now. I've tried this and that and that and this. Some of it has worked, some of it hasn't and some of it might have worked had I stuck with it.

Over the last four years, I've seen success, back-sliding, success, FRUSTRATION, more back-sliding, success...it's a vicious cycle.

I've also learned MUCH. Quite a lot. More than I ever thought I would. And I'm still learning.

My FITNESS level is better than it has been in YEARS. Decades. My nutrition was great when I was growing up and when the lovelies were growing up. But, in the years that they were really growing up and going off to college followed by going out into the big world, my nutrition level plummeted to its lowest EVER.

I've been back on track for quite a while now. Especially in the FITNESS arena. It's become a habit.

I started running again and interchange it with Sprint 8s. So, every other day I'm either running or running sprint 8s seven days every week.

Until the Wednesday before spring break when my little Tucker darted in front of me. Yep. I hit the pavement and gave myself a slight meniscus tear in my left knee. Talk about FRUSTRATION.

I was on a roll (not when I fell...stop laughing) with my FITNESS regimen. I was becoming firm in places that thought they'd never see firm again. I was going to look close to good at Bestie's daughter's wedding next week. I even bought a new outfit. And my nutrition plan was adding to my exhilaration.

Now, I'm just flat out FRUSTRATED. I've been off the knee for ten days now. TEN. DAYS. I miss running. I miss my sprint 8s.

I started walking Tucker again two days ago. But we only go about a quarter of a mile. And it's slow going for now. I know not to rush it. But I want to get moving!!!

Exercise is like that. Before you know it, you're addicted to it and you need it.

And, when you can't do it, you get FRUSTRATED.

The most recent thing I've learned about FITNESS:

• Take the dog for a walk and go back out to run. Duh.

I'm linking this post to the sixth post of the April, A-Z Challenge!

Just click the badge below to enjoy other participants. 

Ok, let's see what y'all came up with for the letter 'F'!

Summer SIZZLE...In the Rain

Believe it or not, I'm on time for the Summer Sizzle update for the end of Week 11 and the beginning of Week 12! It MUST be a miracle! :)

No wrenches thrown into the mix this week, thankfully. I've been running again- in 100% humidity. That has NOT been fun at all but it's been doable. And, now that summer has rounded the corner and might actually leave (PLEASE, PLEASE leave!) before we all suffer extreme consequences, I'm acclimated. Figures. It has been nice having some rain though. And storms. I love storms.

I decided to step on the scale just to see- and I'm three pounds down. I'll take it. Though I have no idea how much I've lost during this challenge. Way to keep up, I know.  Anyway, that means there is no picture of my weight loss in terms of food which was our challenge from last week.

Everything pretty much remains the same here with eating only organic foods and nothing processed. And water is my only drink except for that cup of coffee in the mornings. I've never been a coffee drinker but I found this espresso blend at Trader Joe's and I AM HOOKED! Oh how I LOVE that buzz burst of energy morning cuppa! Although I am looking for a recipe to make my own organic ginger ale. Anybody have one?

The challenge for this week is to surpass your fitness goals from week 10. Since week 10 had me down with hay-fever, I'm thinking this won't be that difficult. :) Tomorrow is the first day of Synergy for 8 weeks (I know I've said before that I'm starting it but I am this week for real because I just can't put it off any longer). I'm expecting big fitness improvements and will also be incorporating some 5k training in there thanks to Birdie.

And there you have it. Hope everyone has been enjoying a fantastic weekend!

Tuesday's Yummy Goodness

I have 2 new-to-me recipes to share today.

Both came from Gerson recipes though I did do a few things differently.The things I stick to with the Gerson plan are the slow cooking, the use of only organic veggies, the preparing of the veggies and the use of only stainless steel or glass cookware. Sometimes, I change up a recipe a bit to suit my mood of the moment.

RED CABBAGE

Combine in pan:

1/2 cabbage, shredded (red and organic)
3 TBS vinegar (I used coconut vinegar from Tropical Traditions)
3 large chopped onions (I used leeks because I LOVE them)
2 bay leaves
a little soup stock (I am out of soup stock so I used spring water)

Stew over low heat approximately 1/2 hour.

The last half hour, ADD:
3 apples, peeled and grated (I used Gala apples)
1 TBS raw sugar (I used Turbinado, next time I will use NuNaturals Stevia)

CORN WITH MIXED VEGGIES

2 ears of corn (I used organic, frozen)
2 zucchini squash
3 stalks celery (I was not in a celery mood so I used leeks again. Because I LOVE them)
2 carrots

Wash the corn and cut off the kernels (right. I used organic, frozen). Slice the other veggies (organic, of course) into smaller pieces. Put the corn in a baking dish and add the other veggies. Bake in oven at 200 degrees for 1 hour.

I made a pot of brown rice too. Just because the husband likes it with everything under the sun. And, as usual, I made more than the recipes called for because we had Birdie and DoodleBug!

We're not usually cabbage eaters but this recipe was quite yummy! The corn and veggie recipe was delicious! With or without the brown rice!

What's cooking in your kitchen this week?

Don't forget to check out my current giveaway at the top of my sidebar. And look for another one coming soon from NuNaturals!

Garden Goodness

I'm trying a few Gerson recipes before my July 1 experiment begins just to...just because...well, because I'm jumping the gun. As usual.

I tried the Zucchini and Potato Bake last week. It was delicious! I served broccoli burgers with it- not a Gerson recipe but so good! I had to more than double the recipes to feed the gang!

The veggies were not from my garden but they were all local and organic-

Once the veggies are prepared, it's time to layer--

The broccoli burgers were a cinch-- just process--

then form patties and bake--

Viola!

Now, from my backyard garden---GREEN TOMATOES--

from which I prepared---

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES!

A family favorite around here! And yes, it is a movie. But in the south, it's also a scrumptious side dish! I served these with string beans (from the garden) and potatoes, and grilled flounder fillets AND totally forgot to take a picture of the meal! For those of you who count calories, as far as I can tell, one friend green tomato had about 74 calories in it. Well worth it too! And I'm not telling you how many I ate. Sigh.

I don't have the recipe for the fried green tomatoes because it's one of those recipes that I just do- I don't follow a written recipe.

However, here are the recipes for the casserole and the burgers!

Zucchini and Potato Bake (2 servings)
(this recipe came from Healing the Gerson Way)

1 lb zucchini
1 lb potatoes
2 medium onions
2 cloves garlic
10 oz yogurt (I didn't use the yogurt because I thought I had plain but it was vanilla..oops)

Finely slice zucchini, potatoes and onions. Place alternate layers of each in casserole dish, adding a sprinkling of crushed garlic between layers. Cook in oven at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half. Add second garlic clove to yogurt. When dish is cooked, spread yogurt on top.


Broccoli Burgers (makes 4 burgers)
(this recipe came from One Green Planet)

Ingredients:

1/3 cup dry couscous (I used brown rice because I forgot to buy couscous)
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion (I used a vidalia onion)
2 tsp ground cumin (Ick...I skipped this ingredient)
1- 15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 TBS sesame tahini (I didn't use this because do you know how much tahini sauce cost??????)
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (don't like panko, used my gluten free bread crumbs)

There is Tahini Dressing for the burger, which I didn't make, but here's that part:

1/3 cup sesame tahini
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup plus 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, chopped
3/4 tsp sea salt


Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In a small pot, bring the water and couscous to a boil. (I skipped these 3 steps because I just made some brown rice and used that)
• Remove from heat immediately and allow the couscous to sit in the pot for 10 minutes to soak up the water.
• Steam the broccoli in a steamer for 5-7 minutes
• In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add in the onion and scallions, stirring occasionally for 3-5 minutes until the onion softens.
• Remove the onions from the heat and stir in the cumin.
• Place couscous, broccoli, onion mix, chickpeas and sesame tahini in a food processor and combine.
• Pour the mixture into a bowl and stir in the bread crumbs.
• Form it into patties and place the patties on a cookie sheet--I sprayed a little organic olive oil on the pan.
• Bake for 50 minutes, turning the patties over halfway through. You’ll know they are done when the tops begin to brown.
• To make the tahini sauce, place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until combined, for about 30 seconds.
• Top your burgers with the sauce and anything else you like on a burger and ENJOY!

I have discovered a website called Calorie Count that is good for determining the caloric value of recipes. Using the site, the zucchini/potato bake has about 241 calories per serving and the burgers have about 161 WITHOUT the sauce.

What's cooking in your kitchen?

Smoothie Mother-lode

I've found it! The smoothie mother-lode! Holy Cow! This is awesome!

Her name is Olivia Parker and her book---the mother-lode- is Sensational Smoothies, Drink You Way to Health Deliciously!

I've looked over this wonderful eBook and I can't find one piece of information left out. If there's a question you have about smoothies and their relation to health- it's answered in this book.

Does she include any recipes? DOES SHE?! That's a big Y.E.S.

Besides information, she also includes over 180 recipes! I read through the book myself and found so much information that I hadn't even thought of before. If you're new to the smoothie experience, this is THE book to own!

Olivia even includes recipes that require you to use CHOCOLATE! WHAT?! AND---if you do decide to buy the ebook, Olivia is including 3--THREE--other ebooks for no extra cost! (Geez, I sound like a freaking infomercial). Seriously, it is such a beneficial book for learning all about smoothies!

Y'all can click the banner on this post or the one on my sidebar to get the whole story on Olivia's book(s)! Meanwhile, here's a guest post to check out! 

Low Fat Smoothie Recipes for the Health Conscious You

By: Olivia Parker 

A lot of people are now becoming more conscious of staying and being healthy. They look for ways to improve their diet and incorporate exercise into their lifestyle. And since smoothies are so good, a lot of people are turning to smoothies and learning how to make smoothies that not only taste good but are healthy all around, too.
Smoothies fit a healthy lifestyle perfectly. It allows heath conscious people to enjoy a refreshing drink and lose weight at the same time. If you’re looking for a low-fat food source, it’s the perfect guilt-free treat. It’s also very easy and very convenient to prepare. All you need is a blender where you can mix and combine fruits, vegetables, and other ingredients. You can create recipes that provide you with an energy boost, add lots of fiber, provide your daily dose of minerals and vitamins and so much more.

Health conscious people will be happy to note that smoothies also provide these host of benefits:

-    You can add natural fruit juices that contain vitamin c; studies have also shown it to be beneficial and helpful in the prevention of certain cancers and other debilitating diseases or illnesses.

-    Smoothies made of fruits and vegetables boost your immune system and help speed up metabolism (at least, some fruit juices do)

-    Because fruits and vegetables are broken down, the nutrients are absorbed easily by the body.

-    Smoothies can replace meals and provide you with the energy you need to last the day. This is why smoothie breakfasts are perfect if you need to go to a workout, or before going to work.

-    Smoothies with fruits and vegetables can help correct your body’s acidity or alkalinity balance (since fruits have natural acids and enzymes)

Here are some tried-and-tested smoothies, perfect for the start of your healthy lifestyle:

-          Combine and blend the following ingredients: 1 cup of milk, 1 packet of instant plain oatmeal (or about 1 cup of it), 1 cup of orange juice, and 1 frozen chunked banana. Blend and process for about a minute. Serve immediately.

-          Blend 1 frozen banana (chilled or frozen fruits exude much more of the fruit’s natural sweetness – you don’t even have to put sugar or honey to sweeten your smoothie), ½ cup of low fat milk, ½ a cup of shredded ice, and 2 8-oz. of low-fat yogurt (you can choose your favorite flavor). Blend and serve immediately.

-          If you love apples, you should definitely try this: Blend 6 oz. cold apple juice, 1 cup skimmed milk, 8 oz. of vanilla or plain low-fat yogurt, 3 to 4 crushed ice cubes and a dash of apple pie spice (optional). This yields about 4 cups so it’s perfect for the whole family.

-          If you’re into soy products, then you’re going to love this: Blend 1 cup of soy milk, 1 frozen banana, 2 cups of pineapple juice, 2 tablespoons non-fat dry milk, 2 to 3 ice cubes, 1 tablespoon of coconut milk (or coconut essence/extract), and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup. Blend until smooth, and as usual, serve immediately.

Having low-fat smoothies as part of your diet isn’t hard to assimilate. The key is variety - which you can easily achieve these days with books like “Sensational Smoothies: Drink Your Way To Health Deliciously”. Reconcile yourself with the idea that smoothies – although sinfully delicious – are a great way to inject some healthiness in your diet. 


WooHoo! What are you doing to get healthy this week?

Recipes

The first months of being gluten and sugar free required some research for some new recipes. And now that we are considering trying the RAW route for the summer months, I'm on a recipe hunt again.

After a time, it became much easier and, as I got the hang of things, I was able to take my old standby recipes and convert them to suit our new lifestyle eating habits.

The RAW foods are brand new to me but the recipes out there are in abundance! And easy! AND, I won't have to turn on the oven this summer when, instead of temps being hot, they'll be hotter. Which will lead to hotter than hell and then eventually turn into do-not-even-THINK-about-talking-to-me-because-it-is-too-damn-hot-and-you-WILL-draw-back-a-nub.

Wednesday night I tried a few newtome RAW recipes. The college crew LOVED it! (Gotta love having college kids over for new recipes- they'll eat just about anything AND make you feel good about preparing it for them!).

We had veggie roll-ups that looked like Sushi without the fish! Cause I'm NOT eating RAW fish. No. Anyway, they're wrapped in Nori- which is seaweed. 

And a spinach and arugula salad with strawberries and walnuts with a homemade dressing.

And, for dessert, mixed fresh, chopped fruit on Romaine lettuce. It was supposed to be rolled but I couldn't manage the rolling of the Romaine leaf. So it wasn't rolled. It was placed.

We also had some brown rice with roasted veggies just in case they needed more. And they did. But I forgot to take pictures of that.

Here are a few of my favorite websites/blogs for recipes. Some feature RAW, some gluten/sugar free, some have the usual things but made healthier and still others have a nice combination of one or more. Hope you find some you like!

Debbi Does Dinner Healthy and Low Calorie
Koko's Kitchen
The Spunky Coconut
Holistic Kid
Divine Health
In the Raw
Jenn Cuisine
The Coconut Mama
Cultures for Health
The Raw Foods Witch
Sweetly Raw
The Raw Difference
The Rawtarian
Raw Guru
Healthy Blender Recipes

This is the eighteenth day of the A-Z April Challenge. I thought I might try a theme this year and focus on my personal journey to health and fitness, including weight loss.

Today's letter is R and my word for the day is RECIPES.

Coconut

The only thing I used to know about the coconut is that my grandmother used them to make her fabulous coconut cakes from scratch. She would drill a hole in the coconut to get the water out and then crack the entire thing open and shred the meat. Those were some amazing cakes!

Along this health journey of mine I have, through readingreadingreading and tryingtryingtrying, discovered that there are health benefits of coconut products.

For example, coconut oil does not release toxins when heated and, when mixed with a bit of lecithin, nothing sticks to your pan. I also use coconut oil for my daily oil pulling, baking, moisturizing, hair care…As a matter of fact, I buy coconut oil by the gallon from Tropical Traditions!

I use coconut sugar, flour and oil for baking as well as coconut milk---be careful when buying coconut milk, the stuff in the dairy section in milk cartons IS NOT coconut milk but coconut drink. Coconut milk comes in cans.While I have yet to master the art of baking with coconut flour, I have found that I can substitute coconut (or palm) sugar in any recipe that calls for refined sugar or brown sugar--my favorite thing to do is use half coconut sugar/half Turbinado in these recipes. Coconut milk is easily substituted for cow's milk--or soy, almond, etc. milk. 

Just leaving white, refined sugar behind made such a difference in my mood, focus, clarity, energy…but I had to leave the substitutes behind too. And the difference became even greater. And more so once we left the gluten behind- but that’s for another post.

I have also starting buying other coconut products for use such as insect repellent, shampoo, deodorant, etc.

Ah, the coconut. How did I ever live without it?

My favorite sites if you want to readreadread and find some amazing recipes:

The Coconut Mama

The Spunky Coconut

Organic Facts

Coconut Research Center
Simply Sugar and Gluten Free

For products and more recipes:

Tropical Traditions

This is the third day of the A-Z April Challenge. I thought I might try a theme this year and focus on my personal journey to health and fitness, including weight loss.

Today's letter is C and my word for the day is COCONUT.

Fessin' Up Day: Week 7

Another summer Monday has arrived and that means it's time for the Slimmer this Summer update/check-in/fess up post for week number 7.

My goals for the challenge remain safe.

Water intake: Nothing new here either. I drank the usual 64 oz of water each and every day followed by the usual 16-24 oz of my beloved iced green tea made with spring water, Splenda, and lemon juice. 

Exercise: I walked every day again for a WEEKLY total of 14 miles and  I continued Pilates 5 of the 7 days- the focus being on abs and arms and 2 days I tried a Pilates fat burning workout- it was AWESOME!

Calories: The calories remain within the challenge limit and I will forever give credit for this to 1- livestrong.com (where I record my caloric intake and exercise); b- Debbi's delicious recipes; 3-my own sheer determination; and d-the challenge.  Consider me forever grateful!

Here's the breakdown for week 7:

• Monday:1318
• Tuesday:1216
• Wednesday:1367
• Thursday: 1377
• Friday:1352
• Saturday: 1202
• Sunday:1250
• WEEKLY TOTAL:  9082 calories

Discoveries?  Yes. I discovered this week that I can experience one of the lovelies moving 20 hours away without eating because of it.  I also discovered that I can make Shrimp and Grits for DoodleBug's birthday lunch and NOT EAT A BITE OF IT!   I also made a wonderful garden salad and the Tomato/Zucchini Bisque that Debbi featured this week.  I ate the salad and the bisque!  And it was EASY to avoid the Shrimp and Grits!  BTW- if you haven't tried the Tomato/Zucchini bisque, do it!  That stuff was FANTASTIC!  And ONLY 100 calories/cup.  Mine might have been a bit less because I used fat free Half-n-Half!  LOVE IT!  Oh, and I've also discovered that, when I get up and go out to walk at 6 IN THE MORNING, and the temps are already in the 90s, I don't like it.  Neither does Tucker.  So that's why our mileage was only 14 this week.  It's also why I'm trying the fat burning Pilates video on Netflix.  Did y'all know that you can get several of the Pilates videos via instant watch on Netflix?  Awesome!

Goal changes? None this week.

Here are the numbers for week 7:

Weight loss:  -3 lbs (Total for 7 weeks: 33 pounds gone forever!)

Inches: -2 total (chest:= -1"; hips = no change; waist = -.5"; neck = -.5")  Total for 7 weeks:-19.5 inches off forever! (Isn't that the way it always goes----the chest first THEN the hips?  LOL)



Hope everyone has a fantabulous week!