Ups and Downs

I went up. Way up. 10lbs in a week. That wasn't from eating bread or anything containing gluten. 10lbs of a potato or a cup of rice a day. A little ice cream here and here, some chips and a few other treats. Not even eating junk constantly, just a few things I usually don't have. I felt like I died a little when I saw how much I gained in a short period of time.

So I got right back on track and lost that 10lbs in.....
.
.
.
.
Are you ready for it?
.
.
.
.
.
2 days. Yep, that's right, two lbs flew off my body in two freaking days! Isn't the body amazing? All that just came right off. Now I know it was bloat and water weight but I thought it would take a lot longer. My stomach went down a lot. I couldn't even buckle my seat belt when we got our car back, now there is room even with my winter coat.

Now, I just have to work on the rest! I have a family Christmas party tonight. I am going to have to be very careful. I'm bringing deviled eggs and if I have time to make it, almond bark made with raw almonds and dark chocolate.

I am planning on having some chips on Christmas Eve. That is something I love and an occasional indulgence is fine. Long binges are not! I hope I learned my lesson for a while.

I have been stashing away money to get a side of beef when we have enough room in the freezer. I can't wait! I made a commitment to not buy store beef anymore. It's hard. But it is gross in comparison so hopefully it will be worth the wait. I wanted to stop all freezer buying but I came upon a great deal yesterday. They had chicken breast at Sobeys for $1.99/lbs! It was regular $8.99 a pound! Yes, chicken is that expensive here. I bought 4 packs. I can get chicken breast cheap at at little local grocery store but they are hacked pieces and more skin and bones than anything (not that that's a problem but it's hard for recipes to have enough actual meat). There are nice plump premium breasts. I should of bought them all, but I didn't want to be greedy. I also bought two packs of quarters, $1.49/lbs. I usually buy quarters in the bag at the afore mentioned grocery store for 99 cents/lbs, but they haven't had them for ages on sale and they freeze in a big mass because I'm too lazy to repackage so I have to throw them in the crockpot, which means the kids may or may not eat them because they are too "slimy". We all like crispy baked chicken. I baked a whole chicken last night and it was so good! There were hardly any leftovers. Even my ultra picky son had two helpings! Then I took what was left of the meat off and made a nice broth.

This is making me hungry!

Oooo, Spicey!

I got a sweet deal today. I love spices and I have been trying to go organic (as much as I can; I live in a town where organic still seems to be rather on the underground of things). I've been trying to do it as cheaply as possible as money is always a concern with us.

Today at Sobeys they had all the Barbours Organic spices marked down to 79 cents plus 20% off (16 cents off) PLUS 5 airmiles when you buy two! Wow! I bought $15 worth of stuff and got 32 airmiles (I also got baby carrots, 2 bags of kettle chips, a couple of lemons and a piece of sticky toffee cheese, mmmm!). I got dried onion, granulated garlic, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, basil, parsley and some others I can't think of. The Barbour company is situated in New Brunswick, which is local as far as food miles go :). That is always a plus in my book!

Yesterday I FINALLY got Nourishing Traditions from the library. It kind of made me mad as I had it requested since summer and it had only been taken out once since then, returned by October 15th. They must of either kept renewing it or something. I skimmed through it and knew right away that this is a book I need to own! I have felt that way for a while but I needed it in my hands first to really know. I want my family to eat like this. I think I could even get away with occasionally eating things a little higher in carbs than I would normally permit myself on a low carb diet (like beans) because of the way they are prepared.

Pineapple is on sale tomorrow so I'm going to try making the pineapple vinegar then the corditio. Those have always interested me but I couldn't find the recipe online.

It is a much bigger book than I anticipated and it seems chaulk full of wonderful information. A point of contention I discovered last night is the books stance on chocolate as it forbids caffeine of any sort. Like all things, you take what works and ditch what doesn't. Vegetarians follow this, even though there is a heavy emphasis on meat. Low carbers follow it, even though there are a lot of carby things in there. Everybody and every body is different and we need to learn to become in tune with our bodies and what they need. The first place to start is getting the junk out! (this is where I whimper, lol! Junk, although nutritionally void, is yummy and hard to give up)

Stranger in my own life

I haven't written in a little while, as is obvious. I have had posts planned, pictures taken for food/recipe posts, successes, failures, ect... The simplest explanation is I have been depressed. Christmas is a hard time of the year for me. Things are hard on the home front. To be perfectly honest, I haven't been strictly low carb. Not really high carb either as my choices are limited. I was down about the negative celiac DX but I read some more and it is probably because I hadn't been consuming gluten before the test. The doctor never said anything but from various sources I read that you must be consuming the equivalent of several slices of bread daily for at least a week (some say a month) for the test to be accurate. I hadn't. I assumed that the doctor would have told me. Grrrr. Since I have been off gluten so long (except a few accidental "glutenings"), the damage may be repairing so an endoscopy would potentially find nothing.

I found this in a group I belong to; I will also post her blog as she is extremely knowledgable on the topic, even though the following content is from an email sent to the GFCF Native-Nutrition group (I"m not casein free yet, but I have a feeling I may have to go that route eventually, even though I just bought about 20 packs of cream cheese and 6lbs of real butter):

"Enterolab is great, and it's an easy test. But my gastro told me the
NEW "celiac diagnosis" is 1) They have the gene and 2) Going off
gluten helps. They are basically beginning to ignore the whole
antibody thing.

Basically I think they are on the right track. "Celiac" is,
technically, an autoimmune disorder where a person has lots of
transglutamase (TTG) antibodies. But more and more, the research is
showing that gluten causes *other* antibodies to be produced, such as
the ones that cause T1 diabetes or thyroid issues, and it causes brain
permeability which leads to mental issues. The celiac panel doesn't
test for those.

The Enterolab test will check for antibodies to TTG, gliadin, and
casein. Which is helpful (esp. the casein one! I think casein is
sneakier than gliadin). But it doesn't actually test for the
autoimmune antibodies, or for the degree of leaky gut (zonulin
production). If a zonulin test were available, I'd recommend it in a
minute! I expect it WILL be out in a year or three (it is available to
research labs now).

Basically though, just going GF works really well when the symptoms
are obvious. And they tend to get more obvious the longer you are off
it. When I went off gluten, we disallowed it from the house, and it
shortly became obvious that everyone else got sick when they ate it
out of the house. Per the article I posted recently, MOST people
actually do better with no gluten in their lives, so really, there is
nothing much to lose."
http://eatingoffthefoodgrid.blogspot.com/

In a way it is all confusing but simple at the same time. The science behind is confusing. What I need to do is simple; avoid gluten! I had a couple of Pringle chips yesterday. Those puppies have wheat starch in them! I was sick all day. It even struck me hard a few times when we were out. I'm still being affected by it. Strange thing is a couple of months ago I had some and I swear they didn't have wheat starch in them and they did not bother me. Did they change the ingredients or am I just becoming more sensitive in the absence of the gluten? I don't know.

At least I have not been gaining weight with my indulgences. Part of me justifies it with the stress I've been under, the depression and heck, it's Christmas! There are goodies everywhere. Chips with dip and chocolates are my downfall. I know I will get back on the losing track soon.

Tests are Back

I called the doctor today to get the results of my tests from a while back. I guess it's all good news. I do not have celiac disease, I do not have diabetes and I do not have high cholesterol. Yay! (the bad news is that Ethan was lab confirmed as having H1N1, yuck! He keeps asking why he feels so normal now because his friend had him convinced everyone who got it died. Sigh!!)

The only thing is, the blood test for celiac disease has a high false negative rate. I do not know if I want to pursue further testing since I am doing so well eating the way that I am. I do not like having foreign objects shoved up or down in me needlessly. What would it prove?

I could claim food expenses for celiac disease , but I don't eat the processed junk they sell. I eat whole, natural foods. What is that saying that most diseases are healed by food/what you eat? I believe that. We have become so far removed from our food and their natural state.

Today while shopping I was trying to do a better job. Not just for me, but my whole family. It was so tempting to pick up junk because it's easier. I did get chicken weiners since the kids wanted hot dogs and we can't afford $5 a pack for only ever so slightly less junky ones.

I paid closer attention to the peanut butter, for example. It was on sale for $2.99 for a 1kg jar plus 10 air miles if you buy two. I usually just grab the kraft in the green jar for the family and I get the unsweetened for me. I had been weaning them onto the unsweetned and planned to stock up. Today I looked at the ingredients. Soybean oil? Ugh! They had one bottle of the natural kind (smaller size at 750g) but there were no ingredients other than peanut butter. So I got a rain cheque for 4. No it's not organic but all natural is the best we can do with what we have and can afford. Baby steps. The peanut butter we used to buy had icing sugar, corn syrup and a host of other icky things. The more we learn, the better we can do.

I am so happy that I was able to get a ton of steak which was on sale for $1.69/lbs. I would of bought more if they had it but I left some packages as not to be greedy. Steak is so expensive, as is all forms of beef lately. I can't wait until we can get a side or a quarter!

I also got real Parmesan cheese for $2.49 a tub (I couldn't bring myself to buy the shaker things). I will have to grate it down but now I can attempt to make chicken parmigiana. I also bought a couple packs of cream cheese, which killed me to pay $2.79 each for. It usually goes on sale by now but it wasn't in the flyers anywhere this week or for next week. I really want to make a cheesecake or maybe mini ones so I will have portion control. Horseradish was another treat I got. It is so hot and it really pepped up the steak I had for lunch!

Most of my cart was pure unadulterated food and made/grown in Canada. It feels good when you are making positive steps. I don't know if we'll ever be able to be all organic on our budget so we do the best that we can.

You'd think I like to talk about food or something, lol! I do! I am not ashamed to admit I love food. I'm just glad that I am making better choices now about it.

So food is our healer. Eat well!

The Big 5-0

I finally did it. I hit 50lbs lost over the past year. It has been rough with a lot of bumps in the road but I did it! Yay!

I'm sorry I haven't been by the last few days. My 7 year old son was hospitalized due to breathing problems and the possibility of H1N1. I'm still not sure as the tests have not come back yet but we're waiting on it. He is feeling much better now, especially since he is home.

I stayed in with him, which is probably what pushed my weightloss to what it was. I can say this; hospital food sure is carby! Every meal except one was 90% carby stuff I could not eat, not that the food was for me but Ethan wasn't up to eating and they offered it to me. One meal was fish, green beans and a potato. I gobbled that up as I was starving (I only ate a couple bites of potato, but I should of left it alone). Other meals consisted of sandwiches, gravy covered meat, lots of potato and bread, cereal, ect... or sugary things.

Then when we came home, we both had "the runs". We never ate the same things so it must of been something in the room or maybe the shock of being home.

I also had a run of days that I couldn't get to T-Zone. After everyone was settled in yesterday, I went. It was so nice, even though my legs hurt like the dickens afterwards; I had trouble sleeping because of how my legs felt. I guess 4 days of not going really made a difference. I went first thing today though. I am still debating about continuing my membership when it expires. It really helps, but it is expensive. I'd like to buy a machine but that's pretty expensive too (nearly $2000 after tax).

So things are going to get back to normal today I hope. I haven't made up a meal plan yet but I need to. I really need a nice homecooked supper after days of just picking at things.

Get By With A Little Help..

I am a loner. I really am. I would be in my glory being by myself all the time. I do love being with my kids and enjoy time with my family but I don't really have any friends and the ones I do take advantage of me. I think this is why I like the internet so much :).

So where does a loner go for support? http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/ . I've been a member of the message board there since 2003, wow! I am not going to post my user name here because I post my weight there and no offense, I don't want people who know me IRL to know how much I weigh. I know I get some traffic here from that site but that doesn't mean you need to be blabbin' my weight, lol!!

Someday when I have lost a lot more, I will talk about my highest weight here. It hurts because I hear people say terrible things and make horrible jokes about people who weigh less than I do and I wonder what they would think of me knowing what I weigh. I hear people who act as if they are the biggest, fattest slobs on the face of the earth and they weigh a fraction of what I do. People who are complaining they are 120lbs (or less) and think they are sooo fat make me wonder what they must think of me. It's like "goodbye, self esteem", not that I had much to begin with.

Maybe that's why I'm a loner. I'm a caterpillar inside a great big cocoon waiting to come out as a beautiful butterfly. I long for the day I can do things because I felt like, simple things people take for granted like wearing a bathing suit or swimming in public, going for a long walk, hanging out with friends.

Even things like eating out lately is a cause for fear because of the possibility of gluten contaminated food and the embarrassment of how it affects me. No matter how careful people try to be, it doesn't seem to be careful enough, which I hate to say because I am grateful for the effort. It is just easier to eat nothing but I feel rude doing that too :(

I will get to where I want to be someday. It will just take time, patience and diligence on my part.

Short and Sweet

Just wanted to check in. Everyone but me has been sick this week and I'm starting to feel like I'm coming down with something. Meal plan has not been stuck to, but we've made do. Tonight DH and I had delicious wild salmon and broccoli and I had a heap of sauerkraut. I had a few sour pickles earlier. I've basically been living off the turkey wings and chocolate cake the last few days so it was nice to have something different. I need to make some kefir as mine got mouldy and I want to keep the good bacteria going on in my body.

TMI Alert!!

I had a wicked boil on my bottom (I had one as a teenager that landed me in the hospital for a week and I truly feared that is where this would land me, only the hospital is so overrun with H1N1 that probably isn't a concern). Plus I'm having other problems which make me think that I'm all out of whack inside. Yeast has always been a big problem. It's my moon time and that always ensures that I am overcome by the yeastie beasties. It is so hard getting to a place of normal when all your life you have unknowingly contributed to problems by consuming foods that you did not know were good for you. Low fat, high carb, high sugar and high processing all leave certain people paying a high price for health.

Well, I said this would be short and sweet. I need to work on my internal health. I'm coming a long way but I have a long way to go. I owe it to myself to become healthy!

Coconut Milk

Many people who are gluten free find that they must also be dairy free. Generally this is an allergy to casein, which accounts for the majority of protein in milk products. You will often find recipes listed as GFCF, which means gluten free and casein free.

I do not know if I need to avoid dairy yet. At some point in my journey I may find that I have to. I do not consume great quantities of it. I would probably be better off if I did not consume dairy, but I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

An excellent dairy replacement is coconut milk. I find that I am using it more frequently lately as it is so versatile and it is very low in carbs. It is rather expensive though. I cannot find organic around here and it is too expensive to order online. I currently favor the Rooster Brand. It comes in two types, regular and gold. The gold is ultra thick and is worth the extra 40 cents IMO. Right out of the can it is thick and creamy.

In some places you can buy coconut milk in tetra packs. It is even showing up in refrigerated sections of some grocery stores. Look around and who knows where it may pop up.

I came across a recipe today to make coconut milk right from the coconut. This may indeed prove to be very economical and no doubt healthier as it would be less processed than those intended for longer term storage. If you click on the title, it will bring you to the page where I got it, which also contains a number of recipes you may find enjoyable! ETA: I'm having trouble getting it to become clickable so here is the original page to give credit where credit is due: http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com/recipes.php#Coconut-Milk

I have not made this yet but I plan to as soon as I can find a reasonably priced coconut.

Making Homemade Coconut Milk from Fresh Coconuts For those who might want to try preparing coconut milk at home, the following provides instructions for doing so. Pierce the eyes of a fresh coconut, drain the liquid inside and place the coconut on a rack and bake in a 325F pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes. Remove the coconut from the oven, let it cool a bit and crack it with a hammer so that the shell breaks into several pieces. Remove all the coconut meat from the shell, peel off the brown skin and cut the meat into very small cubes. If you have a coconut knife and grater, then you may take the fresh coconut, open it and grate the meat without using any heat. This takes the place of the first 4 steps. Place the meat in a blender, add hot water (include the coconut water from the center of the coconut for increased flavor and nutrition). Only add enough liquid to cover all of the meat. Blend until finely pureed. The less liquid you add the thicker and richer your milk will be. Place a sieve covered with cheese cloth over a bowl and pour the coconut meat and water into the sieve squeezing handfuls of the coconut meat. Extract as much liquid as possible into the bowl. The harder you press, the more milk you will be able to remove. If you are going to use the milk in a curry you may want to just use the blended, non-strained milk. It is thicker than strained milk, white and “coconuty”. The plus to using the entire concoction is that it still contains all the fiber. Discard the squeezed coconut meat or use it in your favorite dish. Refrigerate the coconut milk that has been extracted. This delicious coconut milk should be used within 1 or 2 days. If you cannot use it that quickly, freeze it in ice cube trays to use later in smoothies, exotic drinks, and other dishes. You may also want to culture this fresh coconut milk just as you would culture the cow's milk or cream. For a good culture to do this check out our Kefir culture. Another link I found: http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/04/homemade-coconut-milk.html

Wing Me!

A lot of low carbers seem to really enjoy wings. I never really got into them because wings are usually around $4 a pound here and that is too much for something that is mostly bone in my opinion. Plus they are puny and not much meat, which means I would need a lot to fill me. I've never got them in a restaurant as I know some places bread them or even lightly dust in flour so I don't know if I could trust them, especially now where I have to be extra careful to avoid gluten.

Enter Mr. Turkey. I mentioned yesterday I found some turkey wings yesterday for $1.79 a pound and bought 6 packages. These puppies are huge! The drummie is the size of a regular chicken drumstick, although the bone is much bigger.

I made turkey drumsticks a while back and they were much better than the ones I made today. These ones were a lot milder; last time Mark drank a glass of water after every bite. I like heat; he doesn't. I was very low on Franks Hot Sauce and I learned that the store brand simply does not compare. Too bad as it is so much cheaper, but you get what you pay for and this time you pay in lack of flavor and heat.

I decided since it's not very economical to bake that I would cook all 6 packages and just reheat or even eat cold. I think they won't make it to the freezer though. They pretty yummy!

I made two different kinds. Hot and curry. For the hot, I just doused liberally with hot sauce and the curry, I sprinkled liberally with my favorite curry blend. Then I drizzled them with butter and popped them in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes. I turned them over, reduced heat to 325 and baked another 45 minutes. Here they are after about an hour in the oven. I had some at this point because it was lunch time, they were cooked through but were better after a little more cooking time.


TaDa! Lunch time!!

German Chocolate Cake

I promised chocolate and I will deliver, at least in virtual form :). I am sorry this may not be the most attractive food picture but it's a rainy day here and I stink at taking food pictures.

I wanted to make a cake that we could all enjoy for DH's birthday. I came across this recipe: http://www.elanaspantry.com/a-new-german-chocolate-cake/ and got excited. I could easily adapt it to what I wanted since I don't have or use agave. It also kind of morphed as I made it.

My original plan was a 9x13 base cake with a small snowman cake on top. However, the snowman was rounded and I didn't want to cut it. Plus after I thought how expensive the ingredients were racking up at that point, I thought I would freeze the snowman cake for me to have when I later made them a cake around Christmas. Oh, and it just didn't look right ;)

I also had to make a batch of the cupcake recipe I posted the other day to make enough. This recipe plus Elana's was enough for a 9x13 cake, a snowman cake a little smaller than 9x13, 3 mini cupcakes so the kids and I could each have a taste after they were done baking and a regular sized cupcake that I planned to bring to the IL's house last night, but forgot. So it made a lot of cake! The layer cake alone would easily serve 12 big portions, even for people who really like cake!

Without further ado, German Chocolate Cake, the way I made it:

Low Carb/Gluten Free German Chocolate Cake
1 cup coconut flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1.5 teaspoon baking soda
13 eggs
1.25 cup oil (I used half peanut and half vegetable)
1 ½ cups sweetener (I used 0.5 cup xylitol, 0.5 cup splenda, o.5 cup blend of honey and maple syrup. I also added some liquid stevia to taste. With chocolate, I find a blend of flavors makes a richer taste when baking low carb)
2-3 tablespoon vanilla (love it :o )

In a small bowl, mix dry ingredients.
In a large bowl, using a hand mixer, blend remaining ingredients.
Add dry ingredients into large bowl and stir together.
Oil your pans and dust with coconut flour or cocoa.
Pour batter into pans and bake at 350° for 35-45 minutes (or until done, top springs back if you press it; my oven is often unreliable so I have to check a lot towards the end).
Remove from oven and allow to cool before removing from pans.

I didn't make the chocolate frosting and what I did make was too runny so it has to be kept in the freezer (it would of been perfect for ice cream!). I didn't have arrowroot powder so I tried using a little cornstarch because I forgot I had xantham gum until I started writing this. You may want to follow the original for better results, but here is what I did:

Coconut Pecan Frosting

Bring 1 can of coconut milk mixed with 1 cup of sweetener and a pinch of salt to a gentle simmer. Mix together 5 tsp starch with enough water to make a paste.
Stir into simmering milk mix; remove from heat.
Add 1 cup of butter or coconut oil, stirring until it is all melted and combined.
Place in freezer until it solidifies.
Remove from freezer and add 1.5 cups each pecan meal or pecan pieces and unsweetened shredded coconut as well as a healthy splash of vanilla and blend with a hand mixer until fluffy and well combined.
Use to frost cake.

I cut the 9x13 cake in half and made it as a layer cake. I could of added a thicker layer of frosting in the middle but, ummmm, it was really good :0. Like I said, it would of made a nice ice cream and I enjoyed tasting it.

This whole recipe was so good! I highly recommend it. You can also easily adapt what you coat it with. I was thinking whipped cream would be nice or a cream cheese frosting. Mmmmmm! You could even make low carb/gluten free Cake Balls out of the base cake! Your imagination is your only limitation!

Shopping Trip

We just got back from being out. What torture, going to Pizza Delight and not being able to eat anything. There was nothing at all that I felt comfortable eating except a salad which cost $10 and the dressing was questionable (I'm cheap; I couldn't pay $10 for a salad that would cost less than $1 at home). The rest of the family enjoyed it, except my 5yoDD who is feeling under the weather.

We stopped at Sobeys to pick up a few things. The kids really like fruit so I had to get some but there were a lot of good buys. Here is what I got:

5lbs Mac apples (2.99)
2.5lbs Granny Smith apples (88 cents/lbs)
3lbs oranges (88 cents/lbs)
2lbs zucchini (99 cents/lbs)
2lbs eggplant (99 cents/lbs; I want to make ratatouille soon)
1 tub ricotta cheese (1.99)
small slab of emmental ("swiss") cheese (1.89)
6 big packages of turkey wings (1.79/lbs; where I live, turkey in any shape or form rarely goes under $2.00/lbs)
1 jar of fermented pickles (2.25; they were half off! I was so excited :D )
2 bags of marshmallows :o (1.19, for Christmas baking)
bag of mini carrots (1.27)

This came to about $33, which was pretty good IMO for 3 huge cloth shopping bags of groceries! (It seems like we had more than that but I don't have the slip handy to see what I'm forgetting. The turkey alone filled one bag). Where I live groceries are pretty expensive and everything I got today was half off or less (except the baby carrots and marshmallows). I get so jealous reading about the Americans and their 40 cents a pound or cheaper turkeys, which is all they seem to be talking about lately!

I recently bought a skirt at Frenchy's. I would say it was second hand except it still had the tags on it. A $45 skirt for $3.50! Well, it's falling off me already! Several times while wearing it I have had to pull it up as it droops down or slips down while I am walking. I am really slimming down. A lot of my tops are getting too baggy at the top, which sucks because I need them big to fit my bat winged arms. I am losing in weird places that make it hard to wear smaller clothes, not that I can afford to buy them. I have a tote of clothes I want to fit into but I need to lose another 25-50lbs first. I will get there!

Meal Planning Monday November 23rd, 2009

It's the start of a new week! Today is DH's birthday. We ended up eating at his parents house. We'll be going to Pizza Delight tomorrow for lunch. I am expecting that there won't be a single thing there I can have but who knows. I know he is dying to try the bread grill bar and chow down at the buffet. The kids will have pepperoni pizza. I'll have a glass of water. Or maybe I'll have a salad, but they are so expensive there I hate to waste my money to only come home and have something else.

So it's Meal Planning Monday. My first one. Honestly, I haven't sat down and planned anything yet so I am winging it here.

Here is how it works. I don't always know when DH is working but we always have our main meal when he will be home. Sometimes it's breakfast, sometimes it's supper. Breakfast is almost always eggs. Small meal will be leftovers or soup or salad or whatever I feel like having. The main meal is the daily planned meal. Here goes:

Monday: Salad at IL's, Eggs and leftover pork when we got home (the meat was all breaded and I hadn't eaten anything all day so I was famished!)
Tuesday: Eating out (come home and have pork soup, I'm making the broth overnight in the crockpot)
Wednesday: Crockpot roast, a couple of veggies (have some brussel sprouts need to get used up)
Thursday: Spaghetti for family, salad and taco bake for me (in freezer)
Friday: Pizza (regular for them, legal for me)
Saturday: Pork tenderloins in crockpot, rice for family, salad and another veggie
Sunday: Breakfast for Supper (bacon, eggs, pancakes, fruit)

I have a treat to post about tomorrow. Since it was DH's birthday today, that may give you a hint, as should chocolate and yummy :)

Celestial Seasonings

We don't drink regular tea but herbal tea is a staple in our home. It can be very cheap if you watch the sales and use coupons. Sometimes the Health Food Store has samples. It is naturally low carb, especially if you don't add anything to sweeten it. Then if you do like a little sweetness to it, you are free to control it and what you put in it.

One brand we really like is Celestial Seasonings. They consistently have good teas and such a wide variety. We don't have access to all the flavors in Canada but I'm starting to think that isn't such a bad thing.

I have been on the hunt for their Sugar Cookie tea for years (well, ever since I heard about it on some low carb message boards; it just sounds so yummy good!). I would always look at the herbal teas, well, not just for this but any new interesting herbal tea flavors. I recently found out it was one of their holiday flavors. All the Christmas teas are out and again it is not among them. I also recently found out this particular tea has gluten in it. Yikes! Gluten in herbal tea? I guess gluten can be anywhere. There are a number of Celestial Seasonings teas that contain gluten.

http://www.celestialseasonings.com is really good about listing if their items have gluten in them. Definitely check if there is one you like and are unsure about. Then you can enjoy a nice warm mug of tea with no worries :)

Marvelous Mayo

If there is one food I really love, it's mayo. It is so yummy and creamy good. Rich and satisfying. Heaven on the tongue.

Well, I thought I knew mayo. I always bought the big jar of PC brand real mayo, $4.99 for 1.5 liters was a pretty good deal. It would last a while, not long enough IMO, but it certainly was cheaper than the others. Hellmans was my favorite, but it never went on sale. When it did go on sale, it was still too expensive to stock up on.


Well, as I became more familiar with food and concerned about what it contains, I noticed that store bought mayo almost always contains oils and other ingredients that I wasn't happy eating (not that I am the most diligent about what I eat). When you are eating low carb and/or in a Nourishing Traditions way, you know that you need healthy fats. They are good for you, satisfying and nourishing. Here is a link about fats if you want some more information, but I will probably talk more on this on another day: http://www.westonaprice.org/knowyourfats/index.html

My first batch of mayo was a disaster. I tried to make olive oil mayo in the blender. It was *terrible*!! Ugh! I later found out that olive oil does not stand up well to being in the blender, that it needs to be treated more gently. I don't know if it's true but it seemed to make sense. My second batch was with a set of hand beaters using all olive oil.

Now I used to really hate olive oil. I think it was because I had a bad bottle once and it turned me off. Plus for some people it is bit of an acquired taste.

So my second batch was very green but it tasted decent, very strong of olive oil, but edible. Since then I have used other oils in conjunction to the olive oil to off set the taste. We have some canola oil, which I'm not crazy about but need to use it up (from our food storage and oil doesn't last forever; can't afford to just dump 6L of oil). I recently bought some peanut oil. Some people aren't crazy about peanut oil in mayo but I thought it was lovely! It was a combination of half a cup of olive oil, 3/4 cup peanut oil and a little canola drizzled in until it reached desired consistency. I used garlic and sea salt for the seasoning with a little apple cider vinegar as the acid. This is my best batch yet! The picture at the top is from this (I need better lighting in my kitchen! It is so hard to take decent pictures as we get no natural light and have all energy saver bulbs).

So how do you make mayo? It is much easier than I ever thought. I wish I had of tried it earlier instead of being intimidated.

• 1 egg yolk
  
• 1 tsp mustard powder (or other seasonings. Personalize your mayo with your favorite flavors!)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar (or a mix of both)
• fine sea salt to taste
  
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
  
• 1 cup desired oil (plus more to reach desired consistency)
• 1-2 tbsp boiling water

Beat yolk until creamy then add in seasonings and lemon juice/vinegar. Beat well. Start adding in your oil slowly. I drizzle it in with a spoon. As it starts mixing in easier, I drizzle it from the cup in a slow steady stream. I usually get about 1.25 cups of oil in it and could probably add a little more. After you have finished adding the oil, blend in the boiling water which will result in a creamy consistency. Enjoy!

T-Zone Results

How can I feel bad about such good results?

I went to T-Zone today, as usual. I am there getting my shake on and the worker asked how I was doing, if the machine was helping. I said good, that it really was working. Then she asked when the last time I got weighed and measured. It had been about a month so she offered to do it for me.

I was rather hesitant since it isn't the same person who usually does it. Different people measure in different places and in different ways. Plus I had really thick bunchy clothes on. But I consented.

Weight loss was 17lbs since I started a month and a half-ish ago :)

Inch loss, now at 23.5lbs.

I don't think she measured the same as it showed a 13 inch loss just in my abs but no loss in my hips. She also didn't measure my calf. She also thought I lost that in one month, not in a month and about 3 weeks.

So while I'm excited about the results, I just feel they are a little marred. I tried to point out the time it took but she was so exited about how much I lost. I any case, it *IS* great and I am very happy. It gives me motivation to put more effort in to eating cleanly.

Compliment

I got a compliment at T-Zone today. I was laying on the floor getting my legs massaged by the machine and a woman got on the machine next to me. I thought it was a little peculiar since all the other machines were empty and she kept looking down at me. She was a similar size to me (or in other words, very obese). When I was done the massage, I easily got up and she commented that she couldn't believe how agile I was. I think she was waiting to see if I would be rolling on the floor like a turtle stuck on its back. I have pretty much mastered how to get up since a) I fall a lot, b) I like to sit on the floor, c) it is pretty easy once you know how to maneuver around your own self, even if you are very obese. I'll take it as a compliment :)

We have had a bit of a financial shock. Our car has been having a lot of problems and has been in and out of the garage. Well we got the verdict that it will be over a thousand dollars to fix. To put it in perspective, that is about what DH makes in an month and I am a SAHM. Shock, shock!! My parents are helping us out. However, the whole situation has be re-evaluating things. The biggest drain on our finances is our grocery bill. I have a very addictive personality. It is what has gotten me so overweight in the first place, aside from potential allergies/intolerances/diseases.

A dangerous habit I have gotten into is shopping every time I go to T-Zone. I get lots of great deals but I also pick up a lot of things we often don't use. I am going to have to stop this and get tight on our grocery budget. Thankfully we have a huge food storage. Unfortunately, I can't eat most of it. Some of it I will be selling, a large portion will go to the food bank (I like to help), the rest I will be meal planning.

I am going to designate Mondays as my meal planning day. I will actually do it on Sunday but post on Monday. I really want to get this blog rolling because I think it has a lot of potential. I need to brush up on my photography skills, get creative in the kitchen and find interesting things to write about. Yes, I will admit that I need to start making money somehow and blogging is one of the few ways I know how.

I also signed up for SwagBucks (they have it in Canada, Yes!!!). I have wanted to for ages but now is the time. It is an easy way to earn things, which I plan to save for gifts for the kids.

Sorry to get off on a tangent there. Finances affect every aspect of our life. I plan to write more about this in the future and how it relates to low carb and gluten free eating. I think in these tough economic times, this is something that is on the minds of those whom it affect.

I've come to the conclusion....

...that gluten-free isn't the easy road to low carbing. I know that sounds stupid. What I mean is I subscribe to a lot of gluten-free sites and I have been taking books out of the library. There is so much focus on having bread and sweets and making life "normal" that it really twists food. I'm sorry but a recipe that calls for 5 different kinds of starch has no appeal to me. And in one book I read, there was a recipe for gluten-free pasta salad. I kid you not when I say it went something like this: 1 pack of gluten free pasta, can tuna, veggies and gluten free mayo. I mean really, do they think people have no creativity to come up with something like that on their own? Well, someone must read it for people to keep grinding things out. That may work fine for some people but not me. I find corn bothers me, as do many other starchy things. I think this sets me up perfectly for low carbing, except the mental aspect of things. There are so many things gluten free non-low carbing people can have I feel like they don't know how easy they have it.

I am going through the mourning the loss of how I eat. I used to think it was stupid, that it wouldn't happen but in a way, I think it always does when I start to LC. I feel like I am not normal, that I have to constantly be viligant, that the tiniest slip up will be terrible. It is. The kids and I went to Digby yesterday. We ate at McDonalds (their choice). I had bunless burgers. But the cook probably had gluten on his hands from the kids buns. So in about half an hour, I was flying to the bathroom, praying to get home quicker as we were far from home. It has me paranoid because there is only so much I can do. And people wonder why I don't want to eat out of the home.

Today I came off an almost 24 hour fast. I decided after breaking my fast I would go back to regular low carb. I lied, I drank a glass of milk because it's so good, fresh and local. I went to the movies with Mom, some aunts and a cousin to see 2012. I resisted the snack bar, which isn't hard since snacks cost more than the movies. I didn't eat much supper and had a piece of ham when I got home.

Tomorrow I am going to have turkey wings made up like chicken wings. Yeah, not the same but they were way cheaper and I'm game for trying different things. What I really need to do is write up a menu plan. That is so helpful. So is having food on hand to snack on when cravings hit. It isn't much of a leap for me to go from eating right to throwing it all down the drain by munching on our 2kg bag of Chippits chocolate chips.

Did I just admit to owning one?

lol! I can't find any good cheap dark chocolate lately. The cheap-cheap dark chocolate is just, well, cheap. You can taste the cheap. In chocolate it tastes like wax and is devoid of quality. I sometimes luck into good chocolate at Dollarama but more often not. Sigh. I have chocolate on the brain and I should be going to bed soon. I think tomorrow I will make up little baggies of chocolate cupcake mix, heavy on the chocolate :)

Sleep. I was reading how it can slow weight loss if you aren't getting enough sleep. If that's the case, I'll never catch up. I don't sleep well. I go to bed late, get up early because I can't sleep in and I get up to pee at least once, usually more. I also need to drink more water. It is so easy to focus on what we should do, so why is it so hard to actually do them?

I think I better sleep on it :)

Chocolate Cupcake Perfection

I am a self confessed choco-holic. I often ruin my plan with chocolate, although I have sucessfully eaten much chocolate in the past while losing weight. Today we were shopping and I blew it with chcolate. My weakness is dark chocolate but I cannot afford the really good chocolate in the quantities that I would like to consume it in.
I have been known to buy 25 bars of chocolate at Dollarama when they have good dark chocolate in the big bars :)

I have made chocolate concoctions that never really turned out. Coconut milk mixed with cocoa and some sweetner does hit the spot, but it too can get a little pricey. Plus sometimes you just want a baked goodie.

Voila!

I came across these last night and I had to make them. They are coconut flour chocolate cupcakes and I found the recipe at Elana's Gluten-Free pantry. It is perfect! It takes a small quantity of ingredients and it makes enough so if you eat the whole batch, you don't feel bad. The recipe said it would make 10 but it only made 7 for me. I probably could of made 10 if I realized they really were going to rise but they would of been puny. They are super yummy, even without frosting! I am planning on mixing little baggies of the dry ingredients to have on hand to make quick batches of cupcakes.

So without further ado, here is the recipe:

Chocolate Cupcakes
¼ cup coconut flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
¼ cup oil (I used olive but whatever you prefer)
½ cup equivalent sweetener (I used a combination of stevia and, xylitol plus a splash of splenda since I need to get it used up)

Mix together dry ingredients
Blend dry ingredients into wet thoroughly
Line a cupcake tin with paper liners and scoop a scant 1/4 cup into each
Bake at 375° for 20-22 minute.
Cool and cover with frosting (if desired) and serve.






Yum :)

Cooking Day

I had a good cooking day the other day. I made a large Taco Bake, 3 ham & cheese crustless quiche, 4 chicken quiche and 3 white castle hamburger pies. Cooking a lot of things at once saves time, money, ingredients and it is so nice to have something you can just heat up.

I have probably shared the white castle pie recipe here before. I love it so much! The rest were based on other recipes but really, I just kind of threw everything together.

In a big pot, I browned a large pack of hamburger, probably about 3-4lbs worth. While I did that, I chopped up a few large onions, a red and a green pepper. I also grated a block of cheese (600g, I think is how big it was, but I also grated some off another block plus I used mozza for the chicken quiche). In the food processor, I mixed 1/3 block of philly cream cheese, half a dozen eggs and half a cup of yogurt. I poured this in a 9x13 pan and baked at 350 about 10-15 minutes. I filled small loaf pans half full with ground beef mixed with a couple teaspoons of onion soup mix and covered with a layer of grated cheese. I covered the bottoms of the pie pans with a blend of the onions and peppers then covered with grated cheese then the meat (I used canned ham and leftover chicken breasts chopped up). For the quiche, I just mixed about half a dozen eggs for each pie pan. For the taco bake, I left the fat in the pot and mixed it with a can of tomato paste (if you drain it, you can add a can of chopped tomatoes). I added in the remaining chopped veggies then I spread it over the base. I covered it with grated cheese. For the white castle pies (loaves I guess, lol!), I blended half a block of cream cheese, a dozen eggs and a cup of yogurt, which I poured over the hamburger base. I sprinkled on the remaining cheese.

Each pan was baked until the egg was set, cooled then cut into serving sizes for the freezer, except the white castle pies, which I just wrapped in the pans. It took less than an hour of prep work and I was finished in less than two hours. I probably could of made a lot more but I didn't have enough pans, lol!



Taco Bake: Super yum!

Monday Update

I took the weekend off low carbing. I am back on. I don't think I can keep going back and forth. While I am still way under the average persons carbs, it is more than I can handle. So I will keep feeding the freezer so I'm not bored. I made two huge batches of the pumpkin soup for the freezer. Today I am going to make some taco pies, crustless quiche and some other things. I got a lot of hamburger and eggs and I know how to use them, lol! I boiled up a pot of eggs. We ate the last of the really tempting treats last night (TGIF's Bacon Cheddar potato crisps) and what is left I can resist. I have more power than I give myself credit for! I can resist. It is very easy for me to resist gluten items but there is so much that doesn't have gluten that is tempting. I need to mentally put them in the "can't have" category.

I did get down to 15lbs lost but I was up today due to the extra salt and stuff over the weekend. It will come off quickly but I need to start pushing myself to lose more! I have a long way to go but it's not a quick sprint but a marathon. I need to pace myself so I can get to the end. Slow and steady. I won't be perfect, but I can only blame myself for my lack of willpower and restraint.

I think what is important is focusing on real food. Nourishing myself with real food that isn't processed. Treats are ok once in a while but moderation is needed, sometimes in vast amounts, lol!

New Direction

I have been giving this some thought. I am commited to gluten free and I'm getting there with low carb. I need to do something. Today is the first day I have had any energy, however minute it is, in ages. I'm still not to the point where I feel like going for a walk or doing a mad cleaning of the basement or anything, but I don't feel like I have to lie in bed all day (although a nap sounds good, lol!). Some of it is long recovery from the flu. Was it H1N1? I don't know. We're not getting the vax, probably much to the horror of people who know us IRL.

I think I am going to call this my Low Carb Gluten Free blog. It will be where I discuss low carbing and eating gluten free. I hate filling my family blog with this and it doesn't really fit with my simple living one so rather than not blog because I can't decide where things go in regards to gluten free living, I will put it here. Food with food :). I hope to also delve into Traditional Foods/Eating as I learn more.

Today I am baking a ton of pumpkins plus a winter squash and a sweet potato. I lost half my pumpkin seeds down the drain when I was rinsing them after soaking, boo hoo! The remainder is roasting with some Himalayan salt. I also baked the kids cookies. I find when I make things with flour, I get sick so I bought some of the premade, cut out dough (half off) since I don't want to totally deprive them. I am going to look into getting a dust mask so I can make them things without worrying about getting sick breathing in the flour.

With my baked pumpkin I am going to make curried pumpkin coconut soup. It is my favorite! I am making a ton in case I get sick so I can have something to easily heat up. I usually make it with sausage but I will omit that. I have 4L of ham bone broth I made up. It should be really good!

I am getting in a snack rut already. I have been opening the fridge every 15-20 minutes even though I already know every single thing that is in there, lol! I need more things on hand to snack on, things that appeal to me. That can be tricky.

I am down another few pounds, so down 13 in the past month and a half. That is one month of eating terribly and 2 of working through things. I think that now I am back on track, I will start seeing more steady loss. This is for life!

Start Over...Again

Yesterday was supposed to be my big starting over day. Then we had supper at MIL's and she gave us two big bags of fudge. I indulged, then I ate some chips. Did great until that point though!

So today was my official start over day. I have been weaning myself on to it so it wasn't hard. My only slip up was I had some pumpkin soup from the freezer that had sausage made with some wheat in it (I since gave it all away. It was 1 carb/sausage). I wasn't sure as I usually used the kind without sooo...I was feeling ill tonight. Did great otherwise. I am drinking kefir though; there is some debate about it being low carb but I made my own and it is fermented, meaning the sugars are mostly eaten away (more fermented than yogurt is, I believe, and much better for you! My health is first).

I need to get some meat cooked up to help me over the initial slump of "what am I gonna eat??". I'm tired of boiled eggs, lol! Actually I have been pepping them up with some tandoori spice and curry seasoning I made (no fillers). The tandoori is soo good! I may make some ribs with it in the crockpot tomorrow.

Yo yo yo

I'm a yoyo. Nothing seems to work long. I gained back all the weight I lost this past month over the weekend. I have decided I need to go entirely grainfree and sugarfree if I am to ever lose this weight. I also need to avoid potatoes and starchy things. It is hard but necessary. I hate living like this but I know I have to. I am eating a lot of fermented foods, like sauerkraut and kefir because I want to restore my intestinal health. I think I mentioned I was going to be eating in a more nourishing traditions/traditional food type way. I just need to modify it to my needs, which is actually pretty common. I wish I could just take everything in the house I can't have and give it away because it's so hard to see the family eat things I can't and I don't think are good for them. I am slowly getting them off the junk though and trying to replace it with real food. It is a long, hard process.

Update

I haven't posted in a while. I haven't been low carbing, which is why. Right now I'm in an inbetween phase. I am in the process of getting diagnosed with celiac disease. It seems very likely that I have it so I have been on a gluten free diet. I have been eating small amounts of corn, potato, rice and sugar but way reduced from what I would be eating normal non-LC. It has only been a week so I'm not showing results yet, especially since an accidental glutening which caused me to gain 5lbs overnight.

I am going to go to a more low carb diet, I'm just phasing through it so I will stick to it better. Knowing that I cannot have gluten helps so much. I can't think of bread as a cheat, it is "if I eat this bread, it will make me sick and I have to go through the process of getting it out of my system again". Even if I do not have celiac disease, being gluten free helps so it may be an allergy or intolerance. From my reading, it is not good anyway.

I think it was the gluten that was making me crave. I can eat sugar and not get out of hand with my eating. However get some gluten in me and I become a beast who cannot stop eating. I always blamed the sugar but that was just a minor partner in crime (not totally innocent but not fully to blame).

I'm also leaning towards Traditional Foods/Nourishing Traditions. It's eating to nourish and heal your body. There are lots of fermented foods, pro/prebitoics, natural foods with lots of good fats and meat. I am still in the process of learning about it and I am waiting for books through inter-library loan.

There is just so much it makes my head spin but I will get to where I want to be some day :)

I started going to T-Zone a few weeks ago. Through that I have lost 10lbs and 14.25 inches. Everyone who goes is seeing results. It's 10 minutes a day of having your body vibrated/jiggled. It's fun and effective :)

My weight had really gone up. I got up to 25lbs less than my highest weight ever, which is scary. I am getting older and I can't keep letting this happen! I have kids to think of. I want to see my grandkids someday. I don't want to die because I caused myself to be unhealthy. This is something I can control!

I suck!

OR should that be, I got stuck. Suck and stuck. Suck for not writing more I guess. I'm having a lot of trouble sticking with it although I've done really well this week except for the chips I ate yesterday (they don't really seem to bother me). I've had some fruit but I don't think there is nothing wrong with a peach here or a handful of cherries there. I eat them like I did when Somersizing, a way I lost a lot of weight before I got pregnant Ethan. With Somersizing, you eat fruit on an empty stomach and don't eat anything else for at least a half an hour. I tried making a meal plan but it was hard to stick with as most days wouldn't end up going how I planned.

The good news is I'm not gaining, but I'm also not losing. I want to be losing but there are a lot of things I want. Life is both wonderful and terrible right now. I'm going through an extremely stressful thing and I don't know what is going to happen. I hate that I can't talk freely about it. I have found that I have an extremely supportive family, which is so awesome. I've never felt closer to my mother and brother in my adult life as I have lately. The kids are great. They have a friend for a sleepover right now.

The weather has been terrible. That really affects me. Even on nice days it is kind of foggy here since we live right off the harbour. Yesterday was nice for most of the day but I was so tired and depressed I couldn't enjoy it. Plus the kids sleepover friend was sprung on us at the last minute. I also had a late lunch and found out we were invited out for supper but no one told me. So I had this huge big mac salad two hours before having to go to my IL's house for supper. I didn't feel like eating but felt obligated to so I was super stuffed. And the house was messy and stinky from the garbage and the fruit flies are out full force again and there is so much I want to do but I'm just so tired.

Blah!

Day Two

Yes, I fell hard. I crashed, I burned, I gained 12lbs. The good news? We had a fabulous vacation and I'm back on track!

It is so nice to be back home but I'm wishing we were back in PEI. We had a wonderful time for the most part. I seemed to be plagued with misfortune, but came out alive. Would you believe I fell and had a black bum for a week? It's now more bruise-like but I could barely sit, not fun when you're 8+ hours away from home!

I did not really overboard eat. I ate until content and usually not much more. We had a wonderful buffet meal at a lobster house (DH had lobster, I didn't). We ate fast food a few times. We had yummy Cows ice cream a few times, yum yum yum!

But now we're home, back to life and back to eating how I should. I wasn't going to weigh myself until Monday to give myself a few days to get the water weight off, but it's ok. It could of been a lot worse!!

So without further ado, here's a family vacation picture (there aren't many of all of us). It's from my favorite place there, Avonlea Village.

Fridge Getting Empty

I need to get anything that will go bad while we're gone eaten up before we leave. Friday's supper should be interesting, lol! I hope we can get all the eggs eaten before we go, lol! If not I'll boil them up and bring them. I boiled up more than a dozen yesterday. Shaylee likes them as snacks. I wasn't going to grocery shop this week but I'm glad I did. I got a ton of pork tenderloin, seasoned with no carbs or funky ingredients, half off. I also got stuff the rest of the family likes on sale. I only brought one bag in and I promised myself I wouldn't buy more than that bag would hold.

I got the car checked over this morning so I'm feeling a little more at ease about our trip. We're going to the beach and having a BBQ with mom today. Her birthday is on Sunday so I wanted to see her and give her the present we got her before we left.

We're having my father over for supper on Thursday. Not sure what to have yet.

I'm not eating the best but I'm doing better. I've been keeping really busy, which helps. Man, there is so much to do. I've been getting up really early to get as much done as I can. There just aren't enough hours in the day!!

Can't Get The Slack Out

Yeah, it's been pretty bad lately. I recommitted myself to sticking to plan then being moderate on our vacation. I have been stressing so much and had been eating anything I felt like for a few days. I decided if I plan to not to stress about what I was going to eat on our vacation, then I won't gain 20lbs before we even leave. I will avoid the foods that cause distress, like bread, and I won't go out of my way to eat bad things. Cottage meals will probably still be things like hamburgers/steak/hot dogs and salad. Eggs for breakfast. Potatoes don't bother me so I won't stress if I have a seafood chowder or if the only thing at a park that isn't too expensive that won't bother me are fries. If I take the vacation food stress out of it, I may be able to survive these next two weeks.

I am busy freaking about the status of our apartment, getting everything done before we leave, I'm really freaked about our car making it (I'm taking it in Wednesday for an oil change and a look over). I'm worried about making it to everything in time. Finding places we want to go and stay. I'm concerned some big financial crisis will happen in the next week. I'm worried because we keep getting calls from this stupid scam that Mark gave personal information to over the internet, that they may steal his identity and get us in trouble (he's done similar things in the past and *just*does*not*learn*!!!). I'm worried about letting Mark drive since I still don't trust him. ect..ect..ect.................

I want to let it all go. I've also been self medicating with lots of video game playing and obsessive cleaning, along with eating. I need to let my fears and paranoia go. I will have fun. Everything will work out fine. I can't control everything!!

aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh

(nope, no less stressed)

Where have I been???

I don't know, lol! It just seems like I am always busy. There is always so much going on and so much to do. I've been sticking to low carbing pretty good but still not losing. Durn stall. I hope to break it. I hope even more I can have the self fortitude to stick with it on our vacation. I am planning a few little cheats (a seafood buffet, which shouldn't be too bad, Cow's ice cream and maybe a pizza night). I will attempt to stick otherwise and have been planning our groceries for the trip. I want it to be about having fun, not the food.

I haven't taken pictures of my new do yet. I like having short hair. It takes a few years off me but I feel like I looked really old with long hair, as much as I love long hair.

I made the kids chick pea cookies tonight and admit I had a couple. They're way better than conventional chocolate chip cookies but yeah I was weak. I made the bean chocolate cake with butter cream frosting and oh my YUM!! I'll have to come back with recipe and pictures.

I've been trying to exercise more and be active with the kids. I got them a basketball and a volley ball. I need to get out with them more. I'm getting way behind in my active challenge but I think I will just start again after our vacation. Too much going on lately.

So that's my brief check in :). I'll try to be back sooner with pics!

So Tired!

I have just been so tired these last few days. I have still been exercising and keeping low carb, but I could just sleep all day. I am still adjusting to getting up early every morning I guess, plus my period wipes me out.

I got my hair cut! Now I just need to take pictures. I need to wash it first, lol! It's not as short as I was planning because once I got there I couldn't do it. I did get a lot cut off, all the unhealthy stuff. I can really see how it has thinned on top. It was falling out like crazy but it hasn't been now that it's been cut.

Dad is taking me and the kids to the Valley tomorrow for the Apple Blossom Festival/parade. I can't wait! I'm hoping we eat at Burger King as I'd love to try the triple whopper (w/o bun of course). I know he'd rather go to a buffet but the kids don't like those and there usually isn't anything I can have. He's pretty flexible about where we eat as long as we do, lol! He was put on a diet pill and as of last week he has lost 7lbs without dieting. I think when he starts the diet he will lose a ton of weight. I don't want to go the medical route as I know if I am diligent I can lose the weight. It just might take longer.

I started making salsa last night but I got so tired I stuck it in the fridge before I started cooking it. I need to get it done today or it will go to waste. I love my homemade salsa but I can't find the recipe I used. I'll come up with something.

I haven't been losing but at least I'm not gaining, other than initially the water weight from my you-know-what. I know it will start going down again when my body evens off :)

Feel So BLAH! Today

I started my period last night and today I'm tired and pain-y. I got up at 6 and did my workout. I am cutting out the running and walking and am doing custom workouts but making sure I have a good mix. My knee is really bothering me and is keeping me up at night (this is usual when it's hurting). I think it's just the continual jerky movement of running and prolonged walking as I'm fine with lunges, squats and walking in spurts.

So after I did my workout, Shaylee wanted to exercise with me so I did another one. I was really pooped! I'm really glad that they enjoy it too. It's so much fun! Plus I love seeing that little meter tick off how many calories you're burning!

Tomorrow I am going to do something nice for me. I am getting my hair cut! It has been about 2 years so it will probably shave a couple of pounds off me, lol! I like letting it grow long but it gets frizzy despite treatments and conditioning, it gets knotted like crazy even when I brush it often and it's falling out like crazy (this is normal for me when my hair gets this long). I know it will make me feel so much better as I look so old and tired and while I love the length of my hair, the top of it weighs down my head and I feel it makes me look bigger. I'll have to take before and after shots :)

So, what did I have good to eat today? For breakfast I had fried eggs with cheese and garlic. So yummy! For lunch I had a couple of pork chops and a salad. For supper I made a honey and maple ham in the crockpot but threw in a couple of pork chops for me. I did have a little of their ham (2 carbs/slice) but I thought my chops were so yummy having slow cooked all day. I've also snacked on dark chocolate since I crave it during this time of the month. I only have one bar in the freezer (may have some hiding) and I don't plan on buying more. I need to stop the chocolate madness!

Tomorrow mom is taking the kids and I bought some chicken wings (fresh) for my lunch! I want to deep fry them but I'm going to look around for good wing recipes. I never have wings and can't wait!

Oh and I am also going to make salsa! I love my salsa so much. We are almost through what I canned last year. The Dayton Fruit and Veg has tomatoes and peppers for 75 cents a pound. While I plan on making tons with local producethis , this will suffice until then ;). I am actually growing tons of tomatoes, or I should say I hope they grow, lol! I also have lots of other veggies starting. There is no community garden so I am going to do what I can around here and possibly put some stuff in Mark's parent's garden. It will be fun and interesting. Reminds me there may be a frost so I need to get my plants in.

Well, I could talk and talk but I need to get ready for bed. I'll be sure to post pics tomorrow. I should also have a progress pic since I'm nearly 50lbs down *gasp* (with miles to go...wah!!!!)

Feel The Burn

I am really loving EA Sports Active. It's so fun! Today was supposed to be my rest day but I put together a custom workout of dance moves, some lower body work (lunges, squats, ect...), triceps and sports. It was fun and I burned a lot of calories. So far I've burned close to 1000 calories between my workouts and the extra work I've been doing and it is so energizing! I look forward to it and it doesn't tire me out. My biggest problem is the running. It really bothers my bad knee and I have a knotted muscle in my back right calf which I can't work out. I wish I could change it to just walking.

Yesterday I was a bottomless pit. I ate all low carb but I know I got too much salt as my weight was really up today and I'm all bloaty. I'm trying to drink more water. I think I'm due to start my period soon.

The other day I made a good recipe I meant to blog about but forgot and now I can't take pictures. I made the family chocolate donut holes (we call them "Timbits" as they look like the Timbits at Tim Hortons) and I wanted something. So I made coconut flour donut holes. They came out really good. I just took a couple of eggs, a little milk, sweetner, vanilla, pinch paking powder and beat in enough coconut flour to make a dough. Then I dropped it into hot oil to cook in small flat balls (the round ones weren't cooking through and they puffed up a bit anyway). They are good with a bit of cream cheese but after I thought I should of coated them with coconut. I'll have to make them again while writing down the recipe and take a picture. It made enough to have a few a day for 3 days.

Well, I need to get this day going as there is a lot I wanted to do before the family gets up, the bunch of lazy heads. I'm doing a lot better getting up at 6:30 am than I expected but I need to remember to go to bed earlier to make up for it as I tend to stay up really, really late. Eventually I'd like to get up even earlier as I find I am extremely productive in the very early morning.

Get Active!

I am a gamer. I love to play games. I am lazy. I hate to work out. When you can combine something you love with something you hate, good things can come about :)

Yes, I caved. I have been wanting this since I heard about it months ago but was hesitant.

So there was a tax free sale at Superstore and we had nearly $100 worth of PC points to use so basically it only cost us $10 using $60 worth of PC points, whoo hoo!!

Problem number one. I am very heavy thighed. I mentioned I hate having my legs covered with fabric and this is one of the reasons. My upper thighs are insanely huge; well I've seen bigger at my weight but for me they are out of proportion. I tinkered around and could not find a good solution. Sure enough they have an addition to make it smaller, but not bigger. Sigh. Finally I figured out a way to pin it into my pocket and that worked. Not perfect but good enough :)

So I got my profile going and I am now part of the 30 day challenge :). Whether I want to or not, I'm exercising! And it was a lot challenging than I thought. I was sweating minutes into it. I was impressed that it only took 22 minutes and most of that was watching the videos and tinkering with the darn nunchuck. I was really sweating but feeling energized at the end of it. I think this is something I won't mind doing daily. Plus you can customize workouts so I can do an extra one in for an added boost.

Oh yeah, I love it! The kids love it too. Mark keeps saying he wants to start working out and now he has something he can use to help him (if he wants to, that is).

So I did a lot better today in general. I was up at 3:30am, cleaning the house and gathered up a carload of stuff to drop off, then I cleaned for an hour in the basement, picked up all the junk around the back steps and set up my gardening table. I want to spend more time outside this summer. Then I ran errand and by 11am, I hit the wall. I was so tired I thought I would fall asleep driving. I didn't get enough sleep and I felt so pumped and full of energy that I totally crashed.

I did well low carbing all day. When I dropped the stuff off at 5am I was going to cheat and get breakfast at McDonalds but I just got a large diet coke (only a buck, whoo hoo! Of course that's probably why I crashed when I did, duh!). I had eggs for breakfast, steak and red pepper slices for lunch and pork roast with mashed cauliflower, green beans and broccoli for supper. I snacked on some pepperoni sticks and cheese and more red pepper (so good!). And I exercised burning over 200 calories :)

I'm feeling a little better like maybe I can do this. I just need to buck up and stick with it. I need to work out my problems with exercise instead of food.

Exercise

Exercise; I know I should be doing it but why is it so hard? I have tons of excuses, mainly my bad knee. Then there is the DVD player isn't working. It's too hard to get up early as once the kids are up, I'm busy the rest of the day. If I take them walking, I can't keep up with them. The Y is too inconvenient (still haven't brought in my registration and I'm debating again). It's too hard. I'm too tired. Blah blah blah.

I know I need to. I think I will start slow in my home. I'm buying a new DVD player today so I have no excuses. I'm going to start out again with WATP 1 mile (walk away the pounds) and work myself back up. I am going to have to find a way to get up earlier even if it means going to bed earlier. Shaylee was up between 5am and 6am all week since she was sick, plus some through the night and a couple all nighters but now she is better so I can start counting on getting sleep again.

Yesterday it was so nice we went to Ellenwood Park. The kids had a lot of fun in the water and it was 25 degrees! That is practically mid-summer weather here. After a while I noticed the family wasn't around and realized Mark took the kids for a walk. I sat there a few minutes with my aching bones then I got up and went around the other way to meet up with them. It felt kind of nice to walk since it was so warm (and the bugs don't swarm around so much when you're moving, lol!). I need to get active. I want to be able to run and play with the kids.

I also need to stick to my no excuses induction plan a little better. I've been under a lot of stress for reasons I can't write about and have taken comfort in a couple of ice cream sandwiches and some tortilla chips and salsa this week. It has taken a ton of restraint not to go into full fledged binges but I've been doing better about not keeping a lot of junk around (except their ice cream) and it usually passes before I get to the point of going out for binge food. I'm hoping exercise will help with the stress and I think I'm going to have to go back to counseling to work on things. Sometimes things just really suck and don't seem fair when you can't do anything about the hand you are dealt with in life and can't talk to anyone about it :(

Clothes

Today I am wearing a pair of capris that I was too fat for last year. Yay! I am the type of person who only wears dresses and skirts. I really hate having my legs surrounded with material and showing their true size so I like dresses/skirts. I even do yard work and dirty work in them. Recently I went to help a friend garden as a church activity and she was like "You plan to garden in a skirt?". MIL and I laughed and she said I do everything in a skirt ;). I find them more comfy and I tend to dress better in them. I used to save my capris for the gym but I think I may actually wear them this summer. I just need longer shirts to cover my belly :o

I have a gift card for Penningtons. I'm debating about just buying some flowing skirts with drawstring waists so I can wear them even when I do lose more weight. We may be taking our vacation next month and I need comfy clothes for the beach and getting around.

I made the chicken broccoli alfredo last night and it was soooo good! I cut up a bunch of broccoli and steamed with chicken broth. Then I grated in a couple of cloves of garlic and added the leftover chicken to heat through. Then I added half a jar of Alfredo sauce and let it heat through and sprinkled with a little Parmesan before serving. Yum! It was so good! I had the leftovers for breakfast as I didn't feel like making eggs (I had the top of the stove taken apart to clean it).

I set my alarm to get up at 6:30 am as I want to start walking before the family gets up but Shaylee was up at 6am. She still hasn't been feeling very good and was quite sick last night. I need to get a little more fit and build up some endurance.

Well, I want to get some prep work for the little garden I am planning. I think I will start some things inside but I need to accomplish the ever impossible task of dragging the kids out of the house.

Oh yeah, there is a really cool site called sugar stackers and they show the amount of sugar that is in food. I was showing it to the kids yesterday and it really made them aware of how much sugar there is in everything. I am really trying to get them to eat better, which is an uphill battle. Ethan is always hungry and Shaylee isn't because of her stomach and they both always want the bad stuff. It will be easier to work on it now than let it get really out of control. Shaylee is actually losing weight, which is good. She had gotten up to 70lbs but the doctor said not to worry about it. Now she is 60lbs which is still a lot for a 4 year old but she is very tall and carries it well.

I need to get some pictures in this blog :)

Down!

Wow! I can't believe that I actually lost. Last night before I went to bed and I weighed the same as when I got up, which never happens. I usually fluctuate about 5lbs through the day. Then I woke up and I was down 2lbs, so a 47lbs weight loss for me, whoo hoo!

We had a change of plans for supper last night. Superstore had mussels on sale for 99 cents a pound so Mark and I split a 5lbs bag; yeah, we were stuffed after. Dipped in butter they are so yummy! I ate them a lot as a child as I'd pry them off the rocks at the beach. I also enjoyed clamming and tried to get crabs but wasn't as successful. Those little buggers move fast!

Oh and I thought I was having taco bake for lunch but I realized it was the white castle cheeseburger pie after I piled it up with salsa and hot banana peppers, lol! It was still good though. I guess I should label the things I freeze.

Mark and I went shopping last night. I had to laugh as I picked up a couple boxes of whole wheat Kraft Dinner on sale for 99 cents at Superstore and I thought about what I wrote about the prices of KD. Well, Walmart had it for 77 cents a box but I didn't get any. Shaylee wants it every day but I only make it occasionally. No one else here really cares for it and I can't have it. At least the whole wheat will be marginally better, but it's still fakey cheese.

It's amazing how one can go in a store with a few items on a list and come out with three big totes. Yes, I'm guilty. I find it so hard to restrain myself when shopping when there are so many good buys. I need to sit down and figure out how I can shop smarter. I mean we do really well for how much we spend but I know we can do better. Our grocery bills have gone up $100 a month each year for the past two years. Of course having growing kids with big appetites has something to do with that as well as the ever rising cost of food. We pay more for food than we do for housing and electricity :o. But we need all three.

It's expensive to meet your needs!

Monday Morning Weigh In

With great fear and trepidation, I weighed myself this morning. I am back down to my lowest so I'm down 45lbs from my highest! Whoo hooo! I'm not going to rock the boat anymore with cheats. I was concerned all the chocolate I ate yesterday would of prevented loss, not to mention that I ate like a horse. I ate nearly two dozen eggs in the last two days :o, not to mention all the other stuff. I don't feel so ravenous so far today so I think the hunger beast is starting to calm down.

I am going to change what I planned for supper. I was just going to snack on the leftover chicken but I realized I had a head of broccoli in the fridge. So I'm going to make a chicken and broccoli Alfredo dish tonight. I'm going to cheat and use jarred sauce (low in carbs) because we don't have any cream and it's so expensive here; I get so jealous when I hear how cheap it is in the USA but then most things are compared to here. I will probably serve mine on zucchini noodles and the rest can have theirs on pasta.

I have a lot of cleaning planned today and lunch will be Linda Sue's Taco Bake which I made and froze a little while back. It's very yummy and I highly recommend it! (I think I have mentioned it before

Sunday Check In

Boy I can say this, I sure have been hungry these last two days!! I just can't seem to feel satiated. I've eaten so many eggs I'm sure I'll turn into a chicken, lol! I've been doing pretty good except I ate chocolate today and I was trying to avoid it. It has been stress city with DD being sick as a dog. I don't know if it's something she ate or a stomach bug; at first I thought it was the former as she had supper at a friends house last night. Kraft dinner and bologna. I'm not condemning those foods as we have them here.

However I got to thinking how people think that is such a cheap meal but really it isn't. KD goes on sale here for no less than 99 cents a box, I think you can still get the cheap tastes-like-cardboard crap at the dollar store two for a dollar and the store "non-name" occasionally goes on sale between 50 cents to 80 cents a box. It's not that cheap anymore. And bologna is usually $1.99 a pound, very rarely 99 cents a pound (the kind I get with lowest carbs I snatch up at $1.79 a pound as it's usually about $2.99 a pound). So if you figure about $2 for bologna and about $2 for enough kraft dinner for 4 people, that's about $4, not including milk/butter to make it.

Tonight for supper I made a $4 chicken in the crockpot, we had a 50 cent can of string beans, plus I cooked about 25 cents worth of rice for the family which left enough to make a big pot of rice pudding for about 50 cents-$1 more. Plus there was at least half a chicken left and I made a quart of stock from the bones, a bay leaf and couple cloves of garlic (like 5 cents). So there is enough food for two meals and some snacks/desserts for a couple of days for just over $5.

Yes, I'm sometimes crazy and analyze food like that, lol! I like breaking it down so I can see that just because we're eating better doesn't mean we have to spend more. Some meals will cost more, like the lobsters we had for lunch, but those were a treat from my father so free to us, and OH! so good!!! I could eat lobster all the time.

So I'm committed to seeing this through. It was tempting to eat the rice pudding I made but I didn't other than a tiny taste the size of a grain of rice to make sure it was good (it was). I know that it's not worth it to eat things I should not have. It can lead down dark and ugly paths. Ones I don't want to keep going back and forth on.