Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Monday, February 27, 2012

I knew It!!

Huffington Post Salt and Medicare

I knew it!!!  Reading the above article, Medicare covers the Ornish program which teaches a plant-based, meatless diet, meditation and regular exercise.  *Sticking out my tongue to all the critics of my diet*

Happy Monday!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Hopefully the Right Balance

So, I went grocery shopping yesterday and hopefully I have struck the right balance between myself and my family.  I bought more containers for serving size fruit and veggies.



If this doesn't get it, I am in trouble.  I will say, my husband had a hard time finding the beef brisket in the fridge:) They will have that tonight and for me, veggie soup. 

I am really feeling on a roll now that I have lost 15 pounds.  I am interested to see what my interventional  cardiologist has to say when I go see him.  I find it odd that I don't have an appointment until May.  They released me from the hospital on Oct. 15 and I didn't see him for a month and then they didn't want to see me until May.  I would have felt a little more warm and fuzzy if they wanted to see me more often.  What about people that don't do their own research?  It seems like not much direction to me.

I eat mostly raw.  It is just easiest for me while I try to figure this all out.  Vegas is in 4 1/2 weeks, and then maybe I will explore a little more.  I am a little worried about eating for those five days.  I'm sure it will be fine, but it will be the first time I am out of my controlled food environment since going down the vegan road.

I took some cute pics of my grand baby yesterday.  She is a cutie--another reason not to have another heart attack!

                                   
Last but not least today, Rock Chalk!!


Friday, February 24, 2012

My Kids Nutrition

So, as I embarked on this journey, I had particular struggles with what my family would eat.  My husband was raised on a cattle ranch in Kansas.  He will never give up meat.  I didn't think my kids would adjust very well to the change in food in the house.  I have been proved half wrong.

My husband is watching what he eats a little more, but he isn't ever going to subscribe to my new way of eating.  That is ok.  I won't push this on anyone.   I would love for him to consider it, but I understand that he won't.

My kids are coming around.  The day after Valentine's day, I bought some Valentine's  cookies that were on sale.  They are still up in the cabinet.  I also bought some soda that I don't like (since I am still struggling with not drinking it) and there are only a couple gone.  What I did run out of was fruit--grapes, blackberries, blueberries and strawberries.  I also ran out of bottled water.  I scraped together just enough to take to work today.  I can't be mad about it because I want them to eat natural with lots of fruit and veggies because I don't want them to have a heart attack like I did.  They are really making smart choices now that there are lots of smart choices in the house.  My little one was in the kitchen making her lunch to take to school today so that she can eat "natural".  She informed me that school lunch wasn't natural.  Oh, how right she is.  Have you seen what some of that food looks like?!


The veggie crumbles were a hit with another daughter.  She ate quite a bit of my veggie chili with the veggie crumbles and then asked if she could have more.  She also loves the sweet potato chips I made.  I have to rethink this weeks trip to the grocery store.  Many more fruits and such on tap for this week.  I won't need to buy any soda because we have plenty left.  All of this makes me happy.  If there is one thing I could go back and change it is that I would have started my kids eating much healthier right from the start.

I have started drinking coffee again in an attempt to stop drinking soda.  I need something to drink besides water and I hate tea.  So, just to help me with my attempt to quit drinking soda, the building I work in just installed soda machines that take debit cards.  Are you kidding me?? Now even if I am out of change, I can still get a soda.  I know it is horrible for me.  It is my last vice.  I am having bad trouble kicking it.  On the upside, I have been getting up at 5 am to get on the treadmill.  This is quite a feat as I loathe exercising.  It makes me feel good though, so I might end up hooked!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

NY Times Article

NY Times Article

Again, please pay attention to the signs of a heart attack!!
Facebook--Skinny Bitch Chronicles

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I Don't Care What You Say, The Number Matters

As I continue on in the quest to find the ever elusive skinny bitch, I find that the number matters to me.  I refer to the ever loathed scale number.  The scale number is slowly going down but has been stuck on the same number for the last couple of weeks.

Well meaning acquaintances ask if I've lost weight and I say I have lost twelve pounds but not any in the last couple weeks.  This is when they start into a long thing about how it is best to loose weight real slow and that the number doesn't matter; it is how your clothes fit.  That is a big bunch of crap! Yes, my jeans are much looser.  The number still has not gone down in two weeks.  This is disheartening that I have given up all of the food I love and the number stays the same. I know it will come down eventually, but right now I am mad about it. 

Then there are those who say well, as long as you feel good.  I feel great--but the number hasn't moved.  I really do feel good.  I'm glad I made this change--I don't want to have another heart attack.  Damn the number though!!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Total Dip Failure

So, the tofu rotel??  Total failure!!  I am going to need to do some research on how to use the tofu.  It was kind of nasty and curdled--it stunk and I doubt if the dog would have eaten it!  Anyway, it went down the garbage disposal and from now on, that will be the garbage disposal dip.  I think it would work well if I can figure out how to work with the tofu.  I have a steep learning curve when it comes to working with anything new.  I am so not a natural in the kitchen.  After 7 weeks of cooking everything, I am lucky to still have all my fingers.

On the upside, the veggie crumbles are very much like ground beef and are fabulous in my veggie chili.  All of the tortillas that I dehydrated in anticipation of what I now call the garbage dip are great crushed over the veggie chili.  I am really looking forward to my veggie crumble soft tacos later in the week.

Today ended up being food day instead of yesterday.  Yesterday I got the dehydrators going with the sweet potato slices and while I was doing that, I realized that I had too much crap on my kitchen counters.  Now, I have a super small kitchen.  This was never an issue in my carnivore days because a lot of meals came prepared already by the take out joint.  That meant it just had to come into the house and sit on the counter.  Now, I prepare and make everything.  The exception would be once a week that I order pizza for the kids, but I don't eat any.  So, since I don't have a pantry, I cleaned out the hall closet and reorganized everything using the space in that closet and now I feel like I can function so much better!

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend and that anything you cooked was better than my tofu snafu!

I love this:


Friday, February 17, 2012

Ready for Food Day

I am all ready for food day tomorrow.  I made a trip to a grocery store I don't usually frequent and found all kinds of  fun things to buy tonight.  Keeping in the tradition of trying something new, I bought blood oranges:







I have never had them, so they looked worth trying.  While I was milling around the very large produce section in Checkers, I ran across all of the tofu and veggie products.  They had a much wider selection than any of the other stores I have been to.  I bought some vegan egg type noodles to put in my soup.  I also bought some vegan angel hair pasta.  While I was in that section, I also bought some veggie ground stuff.  It looks like ground beef\, but is ground veggie something.  I bought the regular and the mexican seasoned.  I am going to try some tacos with that.  I also bought some extra soft tofu that says it is good for dips.  I am going to attempt some tofu rotel dip.  I think that I can throw some nutritional yeast in for some cheese flavor and the rotel tomatoes.  I have some of the no oil tortillas in my dehydrators right now (I have two) so that I have some chips.  I am getting pretty bold now that I had such success with my veggie soup--I have a little kitchen ego right at the moment!  It could be short lived if the tofu rotel fails.  I also bought some frozen spinach and canned artichoke hearts.  I found some that weren't canned in oil (it will be better than stinking up my house with the stinky whole artichoke).  I thought about attempting spinach artichoke dip.

Tomorrow I am going to dehydrate sliced sweet potatoes with a little Mrs. Dash on them so I have some sweet potato chips for the week.  I also am going to parse out blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and slice up some pears to take to work for the week.

To be all set for next week, I need to make a trip to Wheatfield's and get some no oil whole grain bread.  I also need to make some more hummus so I have some salad dressing and something to put on the bread.

Here's to hoping for an injury free kitchen day!