Day 5 One Step Forward Two Steps Back

It started off a decent enough day.  My husband was off from work so we had time to hang out together in the morning, he went with me on a hunt for ingredients for some meals I wanted to try.  If there is an upside to this day it is that I have an extremely supported husband.  

We had lunch together which was awesome. I even ate mushrooms which is another new thing for me! Then we just spent some time hanging out, it was a nice afternoon.  It was around 3:30 when everything started to fall apart.  

The first thing that happened was that I noticed that I bought cucumbers instead of zucchini for my fake vegetable spaghetti.  I didn't make a big deal about  it, I hopped in the car and ran to the store. I wound up grabbing some more peppers, green beans, and more cashews.  I wish I had used my brain and found something easy in case this great plan of mine did not turn out.

When I got home I got the family's version of what I was having ready because I wanted to have fun with what I my recipe.  (Man was I in for a let down.)  Once they were fed I started in on mine.  I used the slicer and my vegetable pasta came out amazing.  The picture above shows how it came out.  This tool works amazing, which is the only good thing I have to say about my dinner experience tonight.  

After I had my veggies ready to go I sauteed them in the pan with some olive oil and garlic, when they felt tender I added my sauce to it.  My guess is, I didn't cook this right, but the other problem I had with it was the flavor.  

Now let me be really real with you guys here, my entire life I have struggled with trying new things and have never been a big vegetable eater, but I have grown mountains in the last couple of years. That being said, this was a harder experience then I anticipated.  

How bad can this be I thought....I took a bite, it was disgusting to my pallet, I did not like the texture or the flavor.  I think that I didn't let the "pasta" cook long enough and maybe I didn't let the flavors combine enough, because it tasted like three separate ingredients that didn't belong together.

So my dinner was awful and repulsive enough to me that I could not finish it, although I did try 4 different bites hoping for a different experience.  (Should have stopped at one)

Now for those of you keeping track, I have now prepared and cooked 2 meals and still have not had a meal.  I was getting really grumpy about it so I made a couple slices of bacon, had a handful of nuts and some raisins.  Not really my idea of a dinner but I had not prepared a  back up plan.  I knew I was making something that I might not enjoy and had nothing easy just in case...this was a bad move.

A bit later when I was still hungry and still frustrated I told my husband I was going to attempt to make a recipe for 3 ingredient naan bread I had seen. I had purchased the Tapioca starch, Almond flour, and coconut milk earlier in the day so why not.  Probably my next bad move as I was already in a less then stellar mood.

 I started and knew I was in trouble the second I opened up the coconut milk, the smell reminded me of my mom's suntan oil growing up.  I feared it would be like the coconut rum back in college, something I would not be able to stomach.  I continued on, and when I got frustrated my husband took over flipping these breads as they are like making pancakes and I stink at flipping pancakes on a good day.  After that we popped them in the oven, when it was done I took a bite and sure enough I felt like I was eating suntan oil.  It did not stop me from eating a piece anyhow because I was just so freaking hungry.

My frustration peaked at that point and I sat on the couch sort of miserable.  My wonderful husband offered to make me popcorn in our air popper.  I ate it like it was my job, it was filling and at that point I was ready for bed.

I am typing this in the morning again.  It seems I can't bring myself to recap on the terrible days.  The good news is I woke up with an idea to substitute almond milk for the coconut milk.  Which seems like a pretty simple idea now that I am not over tired, angry, and hungry.

Progress:  I made it through this day by the skin of my teeth

Notes: Always have a back up plan when trying new recipes!

Day 4...a bright day after that

For those of you who don't know, I am a crazy Tupac fan.  All day I have been hearing him in my head, saying in Me Against The World, "I know it seems hard sometimes but remember one thing, through every dark night there's a bright day after that, so keep your head up and handle it."

That line has helped me get through some of the most awful battles in my life, so it was nice that this morning I felt more focused on actually experiencing that brighter day.   

Yesterday was indeed my dark night, but today certainly is brighter.  I didn't even end up needing that cup of coffee I was sure I would be having.  The lemon water is changing my life! I think I have decided that I will drink coffee when I feel like it but try not to have it be an everyday thing.

On to other things, I am super excited to share with you guys what I got in the mail today.    

This is my Paderno World Cuisine Vegetable slicer!  I can't wait to see all the different things I will be able to do with my vegetables with this handy tool.  The first thing I am going to use it for is making noodles out of cucumbers to have while the kids have pasta!  I am so excited!!  I am hoping having fun experimenting with different  recipes will make this whole thing a little more fun and a little less stressful.

I have been finding little tricks to make things a little easier on myself.  (You know like never ever going shopping on an empty stomach.)  I find if I have a plan as to what I to eat the following day that I don't feel nearly as nervous about breaking down and having a crazy M&M eating spree.  I also like to have fresh fruits and vegetables ready to go.  Currently I have celery, carrots, apples, grapes, blueberries, cashews, almonds, and pistachios ready to go when I feel like snacking. 

Tonight I made marinated flank steaks wrapped around green beans and green and red bell peppers.  This was a lot of fun for me and I just love how colorful they are.  I was so surprised to taste how sweet the peppers tasted to me.  They tasted like candy which helped oodles with the chocolate craving I was having.  

What was an extremely pleasant surprise to me was how much my oldest liked these!  She actually said to me, "Thank You so much for encouraging me to eat healthier and try new foods I really liked this."   

When I get well versed with my vegetable slicer I am hoping to come  up with some fun side dishes so I don't feel left out when they are eating rice. Or any other sides I am trying to avoid.

I can't believe how amazing I feel today.  I am really hoping I feel this good again tomorrow.

Progress: I made it through another day and am helping my family make changes in there diet too!

Notes: Look in to good seasoned vegetable sides (feel free to leave recipes in my comments here or on facebook)

Hope you are all having a great day!

Day 3 ...could also be titled what was I thinking!?!

Photo by Shane Ford
Shane Ford Photography

I am writing this Wednesday morning because let me be honest with you here, yesterday was a hard day.   I normally like to recap my day that night and then edit in the morning and post, I was not getting this blog down last night.

I stuck to my plan, but yesterday I didn't want to.  I was in a terrible mood and had a rotten headache the whole day.  I think I may have felt worse yesterday then I did on my 3rd day of quitting smoking.  

I drank my water and exercised quite a bit but honestly it didn't do much to curb what I was feeling. If it had a major effect and I was unaware I can't imagine what I would have looked like without them.

I will say that this morning I feel a small sense of accomplishment having made it through it.  But honestly yesterday was terrible.  I am trying so hard to make these changes but I can see clearly now that it won't be with out struggles and I feel fairly certain at some point I will slip up.

I stuck with lemon water in the morning and skipped my cup of coffee. Clearly I have gone absolutely insane to attempt that right along side everything else I am doing but those of you who know me, know that anything I do I do BIG! That being said I don't really have the stones to do caffeine and sugar at the same time, so this morning I am having my  3 quarters to a cup of black coffee.  It is one of the few things that makes me feel normal.  Besides  a half to one cup of black coffee is not the worst thing in the world.

I can tell you one thing that is close to one of the worst things in the world.  I made the mistake of going grocery shopping without a list while hungry!  Not a good idea, I was roaming  those isles almost in a trance.  It seemed truly impossible to pick foods that had not been prepackaged.  It was so bad that I did not in anyway complete my shopping.  I found a quick meal for George and the kids and decided on reheated soup for myself I grabbed some cashews and was on my way! I will be back there again today, this time with list in hand and right after my breakfast!

I have been sticking to the exercise, but may need to spend a little more time with my calm app. given my mood yesterday.  I am truly hoping today is a better day.

Progress: Made it, stumbling the whole way, through another day without processed food.
Notes: learned a valuable lesson about shopping during the early phases of cutting something out of your diet

Day 2

A lot of people resist transition and therefore never allow themselves to enjoy who they are.  Embrace the change, no matter what it is; once you do you can learn about the new world your in and take advantage of it.

Nikki Giovann

I did some research about the herb garden and it seems the best way is to cut from a portion of a plant that is in the ground.  Seeing as how we are in New York where there is 2 foot of snow everywhere it looks like I am waiting until spring to start one outside and then transition it indoors in the fall.  

When I woke up this morning I had a headache still and wanted to call it quits already.  But I didn't, instead of pouring a huge cup of coffee for myself the way I wanted to, I made myself a big glass of lemon water.  I drank that and then waited 20 minutes,  I still wanted my coffee so I had a half of a cup.

 I chose my breakfast to be liquid form this morning because after I got my little one ready I was headed off to go visit my grandma in the home and to see my husband's grandma as well.   So I made myself a spinach smoothie with some strawberries, blueberries, and almonds and was on my way.  Speaking of smoothies, I would love to hear your favorite smoothie recipes so feel free to share in the comments!

I feel like I am actually starting to adjust to this a little bit.  Having a little more energy, and feeling a lot less grumpy.  Although for most of the day the kids were at school and the hubby was at work so I didn't have to watch everyone eating things I couldn't have.  At dinner I was completely satisfied because I made an amazing homemade chicken soup and it was so good I am using it for lunch tomorrow!

Progress:
Day two NO Processed foods!!
Notes: On to researching planting an herb garden!

Day 1

There is a beginning for everything, Semi Sonic says " Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."  I'm sure they didn't come up with that saying but that is the song that is ringing in my ears.  Starting a journey off any course you have ever imagined yourself on can make you a little nervous.  I am a little excited too!

Today marks the end of me eating crazy processed foods.  I keep telling myself that I quit smoking back in August so this should be a breeze.  Something tells me that breaking this habit isn't going to be that easy.  I am afraid that my vices I have let go of already like alcohol and nicotine are nothing in comparison to my addiction to refined sugar that I have been cultivating since I was a child.  I love it in all it's terrible forms.

Today is my first day of trying to eat cleaner and so far what I have noticed is that having a glass of Lemon water in the morning did help me to cut way back on my coffee consumption.  I only had 3/4 of a cup this morning.  I was in a pretty good mood most of the day.  During the  late afternoon I felt pretty grumpy. I took time to go be on my own for a little while and use the free Calm app I down loaded.  It seemed to help!
 This evening my moodiness has been coupled with a pretty nasty headache so I have been drinking water to try to help get rid of it.  I also am noticing a little bit of break out on my face.  I suspect toxins leaving but not sure.



 Progress:
I made it through without eating anything prepackaged.  With the exception of seasonings I used at dinner.  I LOVE LEMON WATER!!!

Notes:
I would like to even begin to make my foods with fresh seasoning...I think I will look into indoor herb gardens !

I hope to update again with more experiences tomorrow.

(I am writing at days end and posting the following morning)

Change is in the air

This blog is probably going to go through a bit of a change in the upcoming weeks.  I will still post deals as I see fit but honestly my focus has changed.

 As I am sure most of you have noticed I have gone on a bit of a hiatus.  I have been going through some personal struggles that have kind of taken the wind out of my sails.  I was recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease.  I have Alopecia Areata, Most simply put it is thought to be an autoimmune disease that makes my immune system think my hair follicle is something bad so it attacks it.  The only symptoms the hair loss and sometimes it itches a little bit.

When it started it was merely a dime sized patch on the back of my head, The spot has grown into something between the size of an orange and a grapefruit.  There are other spots all over my head from the size of a dime to the size of a quarter or bigger.  As you can imagine it has been a bit upsetting.  My morning ritual can be a bit time consuming trying to make sure all the bald spots are covered by the hair I do have...think Christian Bale at the beginning of American Hustle.  It's okay laugh it was meant to be funny.  I have gone through some stages of pretty nasty depression trying to deal all the while continuing to do all the things I have to do.

 I am seeing a dermatologist and I have gone through the joy of having needles injecting steroids into the spots in hopes of hair regrowth.  The great thing is that I am seeing some results.  I will continue to see my Dr.  but in truth I just don't feel like it is enough and my hair may be regrowing but it is still falling out at an alarming rate as well.

One of the first steps I am taking is to change my diet.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I have always had a pretty awful diet.  I have been known to eat more pizza in a week than any person should admit to, and in my life I have consumed enough chocolate to lay m&ms from New York to California several times.  I knew it would catch up with me.  I had hoped it wouldn't but I knew it would. I think I just thought it would hurt me in an ever expanding waistline and clogged arteries when I became elderly.  I didn't think I would see health ramifications when I was this young.  Which lets face it I am not as young as I used to be.

I have read that there have been people who have had success going gluten free, I am at this point willing to try anything, And I get it, it seems to be a buzz word everywhere these days, but I am seriously willing to try ANYTHING to help this to stop.  I don't know exactly what I am doing or where this will lead but I thought I would write about my observations of how this changes me.

I am also going to try meditating and increasing my exercise.  I am going to limit my social media use and focus on my family.  I am going to go back to reading books in the solid form.  I am hoping that just by living a whole life I will start to get better, and if not at least have a whole bunch of new healthy habits to keep me busy.

I am starting these changes today..so I will have my first post to share my experiences tomorrow.

Christmas Tags By Artful Creations By Deb

My Good Friend over at http://www.artfulcreationsbydeb.com/ just sent me the cutest Christmas gift tags I have ever seen.  

Christmas Tags with Sass!!

(I completely stole this picture off her Etsy page because my pictures aren't going to do these justice)

These sell for $4.00

I like these ones so much because they are completely unique, I think that the adults I exchange gifts with will get a real kick out of them. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am pretty sarcastic..I like that these tags seem to have a bit of my personality in them.

I also like when I can make my gift unique and special in every way for the person I am giving it to.

For The Kids!!

(Stole this too :) )

These sell for $5.00

I think my children will absolutely love that these feel like they came straight from the North Pole.  Plus they are personalized so I can save my hand a little bit of the hand cramping that writing all the tags gives me!  

Here is my picture..which does not do them justice.  

These tags look just like the picture off her site if not better!!!

Head on over to Deb's Etsy Shop and check out all her other amazing creations!!!