the weight loss papers

It seems like it’s only been a week or so since the kids got out of school, but it’s well into over a month now and the summer is just cruisin’ by! Hard to believe it’s July already. With the rate things are going, I think next week will be September.

So . . . let’s see - what’s newsworthy for weight loss here?

Oh yes! I tried almond milk and found that it’s VERY tasty. I really like the flavor and texture much better than soy or rice milk. Also tried a hemp shake mix that is delicious! It’s by Nutiva and comes in a couple of different flavors. I like the Berry Pomegranate but am not so crazy about the chocolate.

I’ll be back soon with updates and what-not and some recipes I’ve tried recently that even the kids enjoyed.

Have a great day!

~ Annie

Well, hello! Long time, no speak. I’ve had sick kids - one with allergy and sinus problems, one with a toothache, one with a stomach flu and a pre-schooler with a serious case of attitude. And I have had another sinus infection (allergy related, too).

Anyway, I wanted to briefly update my plan and talk about some things I’ve been doing lately that I’m really liking a lot. The last few times I posted, I mentioned Blended Salads and I’m still drinking those - I really like them and I can even get my husband to drink them. That’s always a bonus. I’ve found, though, that although I love avocados, I don’t really like them in the blended salad.

My favorite blended salad is a couple handfuls of 50/50 Spring Mix (lettuce variety with spinach) and a handful of extra Baby Spinach blended with 12 oz of water, 2 tablespoons of flaxseed, 2-3 cloves of garlic, and a splash of fresh lemon juice.

I like to drink the blended salad in the afternoon and I’ve been making a quart size container of it which lasts 2-3 days in the refrigerator and still tastes fresh and great.

Now, breakfast is the hardest meal for me because I’m either allergic to, or just plain don’t like a lot of traditional breakfast foods. It’s one of my biggest struggles food-wise - what to eat for breakfast. I’d just as soon not eat it at all. However, skipping meals is not a good idea especially for a person intent on losing weight and maintaining it.

So, in the mornings, I’ve been drinking a fruit-berry smoothie - once at breakfast and then again for mid-morning snack. My favorite blend is 1/2 cup of raspberries, a medium banana, 1/2 cup of mangos and about 20 oz of water. It makes a couple of 10-12 oz servings. (Make sure to cut the banana up into 1-2 inch chunks for easy blending.)

I love oranges but I’m allergic to them so I can’t eat them. But I’ve been adding some extra fiber to my meal plan (and some orange flavor) by using an orange-flavored, powdered fiber supplement (like Metamucil). Sometimes I add it to my morning smoothie and sometimes I just drink a glassful mixed as per the package directions. I also generally have a slice of a good whole grain or oat bread with the smoothie.

You know, I’m the kind of person who could pretty much eat the same things day in and day out and not get tired of them. But part of a good, healthy eating plan includes a variety of foods and combinations of foods. Lunch is one of the things I have the hardest time with in getting a good variety because I don’t really like to eat sandwiches and such. As a result, I often eat soup - lentil, black bean, split pea or tomato. Sometimes I will eat beef stew or chicken noodle or some other variety.

Sometimes I’ll have a blended salad or tuna on whole wheat pita bread with a little spinach and fresh tomatoes for lunch. That’s pretty good. I don’t put anything on my tuna other than sometimes a bit of mustard or some roasted red pepper vinaigrette. I also have some tomato basil vinaigrette that’s very good on with tuna or I’ll put my tuna in some lemon spinach couscous.

One of my favorite dinners is a plate with a couple handfuls of baby spinach, some green beans, a couple tablespoons of chickpeas, some diced tomatoes, a couple minced cloves of garlic and a splash of tomato basil vinaigrette. I briefly warm the spinach, green beans and chickpeas in the microwave (just enough to begin to wilt the spinach - 45 seconds or so and warm the beans) and then add the rest. Once in a while, I’ll crumble a bit of feta cheese on top or add some chicken breast pieces.

Other vegetables I really enjoy are broccoli, zucchini, carrots and peas. I’ll often stir fry them with some peppers and onions and put them over warmed spinach with a baked salmon filet. Very good. Salmon also tastes great with couscous.

When I follow the six small meals per day plan, I don’t get hungry and I don’t have to eat as much. I think that’s where most people have the problems - they let themselves get too hungry. And I know when I do that, I have a greater tendency to load up on things like rice or bread and stuff like that or to eat things like sweets or quick boxed meals. I think the biggest key is to eat enough to feel satisfied throughout the day. It also helps keep metabolism up and thus burns more calories.

And lastly, I continue to exercise. Now, I’ll admit I haven’t been working out in the mornings. Since I got sick back February, I just can’t get up that early. I’ve never been a morning person and I think trying to push myself to be one, really was more harmful than good and is what lead me to getting sick in the first place. So, I haven’t been working out in the morning - other than my daily walk (1.5 miles in the morning and 1.5 miles in the afternoon) - and I still need to find a good time to get that in. Once I get the kids up for school, though, everything becomes a rush and I find it’s lunch time or after school before I have a chance to even think about working out.

I might have to get the little kids settled into an activity when we get back from walking the kids to school and do it then. That might just work. The key will be finding something to the occupy them long enough to get a good workout. I like to aim for 20 minutes at the least and 30-40 at the most so if you’ve ever been around pre-school age children, you know finding something for them to do for that length of time can be quite the challenge!

Anyway, I’ve rambled on enough for now. I hope you haven’t gotten bored!

See you next time, (hopefully tomorrow)

I’ve been steadily working on some major projects, causing a sort of “unexcused absence” from this blog over the past few weeks. Well, that, and the kids were on spring break April 7-11. I had planned to write some advanced posts for this blog and somehow never had the time.

So, anyway - not much has happened on the weight loss front. I’ve been continuing to experiment with the suggestions in the candida article I read a while back including adding flax seed to my foods, staying away from “white” foods (bread, rice, potatoes, etc), eating no dairy products (except pizza last week for my oldest sons birthday) and drinking plenty of veggie juice and smoothies as well as cutting out sugars.

Although I still have not had any significant success with it, there are some small successes that I’m pleased enough with to keep going on it. I’ve also added some Niacin (aka, Vitamin B3) to my supplements for heart health and have also added a fiber supplement.

One of the things I like best so far are the “blended salads” I’ve been drinking. (I wrote about those in one of my last posts.) I’ve found a concoction that is really tasty -

• A handful of 50/50 Spring Mix (pre-mixed, bagged salad)
• A handful of Baby Spinach
• 1-2 tablespoons ground Flax Seed
• 2-3 cloves minced Garlic
• 1 teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• Half of a medium sized Apple, seeded and cored
• 1 tablespoon psyllium powder (can use a fiber supplement like Metamucil or something)
• 10-12 ounces of water

Every once in a while, I’ll put some horseradish in there to give it some kick. It’s pretty good. I’ve been drinking this once or twice a day. Be warned, though, that if you use extra Spinach (there’s already some in the Spring Mix), you’ll need a pretty high powered blender as the Spinach can get pretty heavy and stringy when it’s wet and has a tendency to wrap itself around the blades. It doesn’t work so well in my Bullet Blender, but it does just fine in my regular, full size, multi-speed Oster.

Ok . . . let’s see . . . what else have you missed?

Oh, I know!

I made an incredibly delicious oatmeal bread last week. Even my picky 10 year old son who only wants to eat white bread, ate it. It was SO good! In fact, I’ve got to make some more soon. I’ll share the recipe later this week. I’d take a picture of it for you, but 3 year old seems have taken off with my SD card for camera and the camera won’t download pics to my computer without it. Hopefully I’ll find it soon. Maybe my 14 year old would let me borrow hers? Hmmm . . . will have to ask. (Unless I get lucky and she reads this post. Can I borrow your camera, sweetie? Please?)

Well, speaking of the 3 year old terrorizer, I hear him messing with something in the bathroom. I’d better go see what mess he’s left for me to clean up . . .

Note to self - don’t scream too loudly.

Til later,
Annie

Last week I wrote a post on an article I’d read about candida issues and what one can eat to help alleviate the problem. The article suggested eliminating certain foods from your diet as well as eating more greens and other healthy foods. In the week since, I’ve been fairly diligent in keeping up with recommended greens and elimination of those problem foods.

I do feel like it’s helping - my nasal congestion seems to be doing better and I hope will be totally gone soon. As a result of that, I can smell a lot better which is something I’ve been having trouble with for quite some time. I also seem to be losing some inches. That’s always a bonus! My pants are a bit more loose. My skin seems clearer as well.

I plan to continue this for another week or so at this point. And I am looking for a good way to get probiotics into my diet without eating yogurt and without  adding more supplements to my daily regimen. So, if you know of something, please do share!

I’ve added ground flax seed to my diet as well. It doesn’t seem to bother me as much as the flax seed oil so I like that a lot. I’m being very careful of the breads and grains I’m eating too, making sure to include whole grains and fiber rich foods.

You know, I think that many of the issues I’ve been dealing with are due mostly to my allergies. I’ve known since I was about 8-9 years old that I have food allergies but they never bothered me much so I continued to eat those foods. But I’m learning that those foods DO bother me, just not in the typical allergic reaction of hives and rashes etc ways.

In addition to ensuring I eat more greens, vegetables and other foods that help support a healthy body, I am eliminating those allergens. Even if they are things that don’t seem to “bother” me - like peanut butter. I really like peanut butter and although I don’t eat it all the time, I’m thinking it’s likely one of the culprits of the whole health and weight dilemma. I  will strive to be much more conscientious of the allergy-causing foods and to stop eating them, even in small amounts.

Thus, I have purchased some almond butter. I tried this years ago and didn’t like the taste but I found some organic almond butter when I went grocery shopping this weekend. It doesn’t contain any of the things I’m allergic to nor any junk like high fructose corn syrup and the like.

I put some in my “blended salad” that I’ve been drinking the past few days and it’s very good. It adds a light nutty flavor to it that doesn’t overwhelm the greens. I also sprinkled in a little ground flax seed. I think I may experiment a bit more by adding other vegetables, fruits and perhaps some spices like garlic or cayenne.

If you drink smoothies or other liquid “meals,” what do you put in them? Feel free to post in the comments or write a post on your blog and link back here if you’d like.

Until next time,

~ Annie

This is a recipe of my own concoction. Can’t promise the flavor is good, but it’s not horribly bad either. One of those flavors I can live with.

Combine and mix in blender the following:

• 1-2 teaspoons Flax Oil (I suppose you could use ground flax seed as well)
• 1 scoop of HealthyGreens (or an equivalent product)
• 1-2 teaspoons Fresh squeezed Lemon Juice
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• 2 tablespoons MLO Vegan Brown Rice Protein Powder
• 8-12 oz cold, purified water
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt (optional)

You can adjust to suit your taste but not much is going to make it great, I don’t think. Like I said, it’s certainly not delicious but it won’t make you puke, either. At least, I hope not. If you use yogurt, I would suggest not using a flavored one - it tastes worse! Plain or vanilla is best and will tone down the taste of the HealthyGreens which can be overpowering and although tastes a bit like licorice, is not that wonderful. I think it’s the texture more than anything that makes it that way.

In any case, enjoy! Let me know if you try and what you think.

~ Annie