Milk

I have been thinking of switching from regular cow milk to another product. Kip and I were talking the other night and somehow we got on the topic of buying and using raw milk. Neither of us were sure what the benefits vs. the cons would be. And if you know me at all, that means as soon as I can get my fingers on something I am going to look it up. So I did some reading on the subject and then some more reading on milk in general. It was pretty interesting and it reminded me that I had been thinking about switching. Not sure which route I will end up going with; soy, almond, rice or coconut or even sticking with the milk that I currently drink. I bought some almond milk a week or so but it has just been sitting there. I did finish off the milk that I had on hand before wanting to try it. I had some on my cereal this morning and was surprised that I liked it as much as I did. I think I can do that. I will probably still try the other kinds and then pick a favorite from there. 

I am trying to not throw away everything in the pantry and fridge/freezer as I am eliminating processed foods. The main reason is that I can't really justify to myself throwing away the money that I spent buying it in the first place. There isn't that much left and I will add it to a meal here and there just to use it up. But is one of them shows up in a meal it will typically be the only processed thing on the menu that night.

Anyone else drink a milk alternative?

Weekly Weigh in 1/24

Better this week, I lost 2.0 pounds. Still following my eating plan pretty closely and slowly adding in more and more real foods and eliminating artificial ones. I went grocery shopping yesterday and it took ma even longer than usual because in addition to price comparison I read every label of every product I put in the cart. Some things I don't know if I will be able to completely stop buying. Like crackers. I know those can be made, but I think that is a project for later after I have mastered a few other items. Last night for dinner we had refried beans, tortillas, corn and then the usual fixings for tacos. The refried beans were made from dried beans and cooked in the crock pot over night and weren't actually refried so they had no lard or oil in them. The salsa was made and canned by my Dad from items grown in his garden. For the first time, I attempted to make my own tortillas. For a first time thing they weren't bad. They were too thick though, next time I will know to roll them out thinner. I found a new recipe for ranch dressing so I am making that to go with dinner tonight. It is interesting all the things I used to buy, I have started looking at differently. I am leaning there is a recipe for everything on the internet!

I went to the doctor yesterday for my 6 month check up on my blood pressure. It is staying in the normal range on medication. I really want to get to the point that I no longer need it though. We are also trying a higher dose of the medication I take for my back, increasing it by 25 mg. Hopefully that will give me even more relief. As it is, I can tell a difference. It does not take away the pain or really diminish it that much. What it does do is keep me at my base pain level for a longer period of time and allow me a longer period of time of functioning. Keeping my fingers crossed for more pain relief too!

Sunday Dinner

This was our third week of "Sunday Dinner" and the second week that we invited people over to eat with us. I wish I had taken a picture of the table. I pulled out the china and then each place setting had their own napkin and napkin ring. It looked cute. I cooked Chicken Pot Pie, mashed potatoes, home made rolls and an apple/avocado salad. It was pretty good. Not as healthy as I have been eating, but that was in the plan. I invited my friends L & C and I knew when I invited them that I would have to make a pot pie. C tells everyone that I make the best chicken pot pie in the world. I did use a commercial pie crust and the potatoes were instant. I am slowly phasing out all the prepared stuff but in the interest of not throwing away food (and money), I am trying to use what is in the pantry. I am replacing them with more whole food and more basic options. 

Friday night I made BBQ Chicken Pizza. It was my first attempt to make a whole wheat crust. I was pretty happy with the result. The recipe said that it would make 2 thin or one thick crust. Normally when I use my large baking stone, I use the full recipe and it is kind of a medium thickness. This one was a little thicker than what we like, so the next time I make it I will only use half of it. Oh, but it was delicious!

I have some beans cooking in the crock pot for tomorrow nights dinner. I am going to make refried beans and attempt to make tortillas. That should be an adventure! The beans are a healthier version and aren't actually refried and don't have a lot of the calories that commercial beans have. Tomorrow is weigh in day!

Eating Out

One thing I am trying to do to be healthy is limit the meals that I eat in restaurants. I have been making a detailed menu and the sticking with it which helps with that late afternoon "I don't want to cook" feeling. Since I am following the meal plan that I made and shopped for I have been less tempted. I am really trying to make sure I eat foods where I know what the ingredients are. For the longest time I did not realize that restaurants added butter to steaks and other meats. I thought they just cooked theirs better than I did and theirs stayed tender while mine were more dried out. That butter really packs on the calories too!

I remember when I was growing up we didn't eat out a lot. Sometimes on Sundays after church and then an occasional Friday night or so. As I got older we ate out more, but when I was younger it was a real treat. If you drew a circle about two miles around my house there are probably at least 40 restaurants. There are times when Kip will ask where I want to eat and none of them sound appealing. I would like to get back to where eating out is a little special and is actually something to look forward to. 

We are having another Sunday Dinner this weekend and will be having four additional guests. I am having so much fun with this, planning the menus and pulling out some of my serving dishes that haven't been used in a long time. I didn't do this for our first one, but I am going to start setting the table using real linens and everything to make it feel even a little more special. We are celebrating friendships so that certainly deserves the good stuff!

Weekly weigh in 1/17

Hmmm, not really sure what happened this week but the scale stayed the same. I have been making healthy choices and I have exercised too. If I were on Biggest Loser, it would be the dreaded Week 2 weigh in which is pretty notorious for low numbers. I am not discouraged, at least it did not go in the opposite direction and I know that I have eaten healthy for the most part. We did eat out twice this week so I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not. But I didn't go crazy at the restaurants either. I enjoyed my meals and probably ate a little more than I should had. I went shopping with my new week's meal plan and got lots of fresh foods. one thing I did do yesterday that wasn't the best for me was making homemade potato chips. I was craving something crunchy and salty. I did make them with a sweet potato though. And I only made one potato that Kip and I split. 

I am kind of on a kick too where I am trying to make as much of the food I eat as possible. I have been making my own salad dressing, made my own chips and  bought the ingredients to start making my own bread. It bothers me that so many of the foods I eat have ingredients that I have no clue as to what they even are. I have also made the last several batches of salsa that we have had too. One the menu for Friday night is a BBQ Chicken Pizza with whole wheat crust and I am going to make the BBQ sauce too.

Healthier Fried Rice

I haven't blogged this week much, but I am still eating healthy and have managed to get it some exercise almost every day. the changes I have been making over the past few months have become more and more routine so that i am not having to think about is as much. I wanted to share this picture of a recipe I made from the Biggest Loser cookbook. It is a brown rice saute filled with veggies and using brown rice. Several months ago I decided I really liked making my own fried rice meals. They are fairly economical and a great way to use up leftovers without having to eat the same meal over and over. I followed this recipe as written with the exception of leaving out the celery. That is one food that I just do not like at all. When I make it again I would do it the same way except I would probably add some mushrooms. Other than that I really liked this healthier version of Fried Rice. Tomorrow is weigh in day!

Weekly Weigh-In

Mondays are my weigh in day for several reasons. Because it's Monday and isn't that the day you start all diet related goals?? Seriously though, having that Monday weigh-in does help keep me on track for the weekend. I know that I don't want to blow an entire week of work on two days of eating so that is a motivation. Another reason is I am logging my food and calories using the Lose It! app on my phone and it resets each week on Monday too. I have learned logging everything really works for me and having something that calculated my calories for me as I go is even better. No chances of adding wrong and accidently over eating or anything like that. Having the app on my phone means my food log is also always with me so it is easier to log everything, I am not forgetting foods like I probably would if I waited and added it all at the end of the day. 

So what's the verdict, how did I do? Drumroll please....I lost 4.8 lbs last week. I am very pleased with that number. I did start the healthy eating and exercise both last week. Because remember, my goal is to be healthy and healthy people gets regular exercise. I want to start establishing that habit as soon as possible.

I live in Tennessee and we don't get a lot of snow. When even flurries are in the weather forecast everyone makes a mad dash to the store to buy milk and bread. We were supposed to get snow last night (and we did) and more through the day and tomorrow too. Mondays are my regular grocery day and I braved all those shoppers last night to make sure I had plenty of fresh food so that I could stick with my eating plan!

One of our other resolutions we are working together this year is bringing back the Sunday Dinner in our lives. We plan to have Sunday Dinner at our house on a regular basis, sometimes alone and sometimes inviting others into our home. We are doing this for several reasons, one of which is that we tend to eat out on Sundays and we are cutting way back on that. The most important reason is that if I make it, I know exactly what is in it. Plus I decided I could make enough food to feed the both of us plus several other people for the same or less than we could buy dinner for two at a sit down restaurant, especially if you add in $2.00 drinks and a tip. Sundays I will not be following my plan as closely but still plan to make wise choices and watch portion sizes. I don't think I will be recording my Sunday meals here (they are logged in my food plan though and calories counted). Yesterday we invited Kip's entire family over to eat with us. It was nice. Normally we do more buffet style, everyone fixing a plate and then eating at the table. Kip decided to put all the food on the table and we passed it around family style. As the food was going around, I thought it was like eating "sunday dinner" with the Waltons or something. 

I am comfortable cooking for large groups and can just as easily cook for 25 as I can two. I have tons of beautiful serving dishes that do not get enough use. I also enjoy cooking for large groups. In our quest to simplify more, I decided having friends into our home more often would make me happy and Kip agreed. One thing I did not do yesterday that I plan on doing more is using my china. We were having chili yesterday and I used the regular dishes mainly because of the size of the bowls. Not everything matched and that was okay because we had a good meal and a great time of fellowship with family. And when it comes down to it, that was what was important and the only thing that mattered. Sunday Dinner at the Lindsay house?Mission accomplished.

Ahh, the weekend

Weekends are hard for me to keep from snacking. I find that I do better if I stick to scheduled times for eating and since I am not at work and my days aren't as defined by having to be somewhere, I tend to get off my schedule. I have done pretty good today though. I also walked on the treadmill for quite a while. I am actually proud that I walked for 30 minutes. I also included a couple of 30-45 second bursts of running. When some stuff got moved a couple of months ago, the treadmill got piled up and I just got it cleaned off and useable again. Usually when I start walking after such a long break, it takes me a few days to work up to 30 minutes. Since one of my goals this year is to participate in a 5K, I was going to try and see how long it would take me to walk it on the treadmill. Let's just say I am not there yet. I am happy that I did log in the 30 minutes though. I think I am going to start keeping up with how many miles I walk each week. Just because that is one of those weird things I would enjoy keeping up with!

Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: Oatmeal, 2 pieces of bacon, 2 pieces of whole wheat toast with Smart Balance spread.  (382 calories)

Snack: Mozzarella string cheese stick (80 calories)

Lunch: BBQ Lentils with rice (385 calories)

Snack: Homemade Hummus and carrot sticks (143 calories)

Dinner: Chicken breast, green beans and corn (300 calories)

Snack: Popcorn (200 calories)

I had the munchies last night so I ended up eating another snack between dinner and bed. I think part of the problem was that I ate dinner about an hour early so I was still a little hungry. Here is todays eating plan:

Breakfast: eggs scrambled with basil, spinach and mushrooms, 2 slices of bacon, 1/2 grapefruit  (236 calories)

Snack: Homemade hummus, carrot sticks (143 calories)

Lunch: 4 oz. of ground turkey (burger) on whole wheat bread with lettuce and slice of swiss cheese (373 calories)

Dinner: 5 oz pork tenderloin, sautéed mushrooms, peas and small salad with homemade shallot vinegrette dressing ( 526 calories)

I am trying something to see if it works too. I have been reading how "fake" foods are one of the things being attributed to the obesity epidemic. That often the original thing is more satisfying so our hunger is met and cravings are reduced. Things that are low fat or substitutes for other things are slowly going off my list. I do nothing fat free, but I will chose the lite option if the the calories and carbs are very close. The thing I am currently trying it on is bacon. I love bacon. I had been eating turkey bacon which is okay, but I still wanted real bacon. The calories are very close in the brand I was buying vs. the bacon I bought last week, so I thought I would give it a try. I guess I will be able to tell when I weigh in on Monday.

Wednesday/Thursday

I started adding in some exercise along with my healthy eating. Starting out a little slow but I figure anything is better than nothing. Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: Eggs scrambled with some spinach and mushrooms, whole wheat toast, 1 tsp. smart balance, 4 oz orange juice (when I scramble eggs, I use 2 egg whites and 1 egg yolk)

Snack: Strawberry Yogurt

Lunch: tuna salad sandwich 

(3 oz tuna, 1 tbs lite mayo, 1 tsp mustard, a little pickle and a little ontion)

Small salad with 1 tbs lite ranch dressing

Snack: Small apple sliced, 1 tbs peanut butter

Dinner: 1/2 Wendy's BLT Cobb salad, small chili

Dessert": 1/2 cup Peppermint ice cream

We eat out on Wednesday nights before church and usually we eat at Wendy's. I like their salads, they are always fresh and I have the option of eating chili or a potato and don't blow my calories out of the water. I also like that they are listed on my Lose It! app on my phone which makes it easier to keep up with my calories too. 

Here s what today's meals consisted of:

Breakfast: oatmeal with 1/4 cup dried mixed berries, 4 oz orange juice

Snack: Laughing Cow cheese wedges (lite) and 2 Wasa mulitgrain crackers

Lunch: Turkey Sandwich (turkey, whole wheat bread, lettuce, mustard, slice of cheese) 

carrot sticks

Snack: small orange, 1/4 cup peanuts

Dinner: Herb Crusted Salmon, green beans, small salad

I mentioned that my goal wasn't to just lose weight, that I wanted to be healthier too. I didn't mention what a couple of those benchmarks would be. One thing I would like to see happen is for my doctor to take me off of blood pressure medication. Another thing I would like to happen before the end of the year is that I would like to be able to participate in a 5K race. I have always wanted to run in a marathon or something like that. I am not even sure that I would be able to do even a 5 K with my back, I am not sure I have the endurance for that. Hopefully by losing some weight, exercising on a regular basis and strengthening my core muscles I can relieve some of the pain and build my endurance. Even if i have to do a walk/run and even if I have to use my cane, I want to participate in at least one 5K run before the end of the year.

How's it going?

Did you make those New year's resolutions, or set some goals for yourself? If so, how it going? My main focus is to get healthy, not just lose weight or see some magic number on the scale. I am trying to get healthy. I am not on some crazy diet, I am making sure that I eat healthy foods and reasonable portions of that food. We are now on day 3 and I have pretty much stuck to that decision and have started exercising too. This is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast: leftover lo mein noodles (ok, not a good choice, but I overslept!)

Snack: Light Laughing Cow Cheese with multi-grain Wasa crackers

Lunch: BBQ Lentils and rice

Dinner: Pork Stir Fry with Ginger (small strips of pork stir fried with lots of fresh veggies) and rice.

For exercise, I did some walking, some yoga and some arm exercises using weights. 

I know I feel better when I eat better and exercise. Yoga especially helps me control my back pain a little better too. 

Resolutions?? Goals?? Who knows??

     Ahh, the beginning of a new year. Time to make those resolutions, right? Every year I say I am going to try and get healthier. Every year I fail, usually by Jan 5th too! But this past year, I was able to make some healthy changes that I have mostly stuck too. I was 16 lbs lighter than I was at the beginning of last year, and that was even after gaining about 10 lbs between Thanksgiving and New Years. 

     I became much more aware of what I put into my body. I didn't always make the wisest decisions, but I was more aware of what I put in my mouth. I started really paying attention to how many calories in the food I was eating, especially when we eat out. Who knew that the "healthy" chicken salad I was eating at a casual sit down restaurant could contain slightly more than 1, 300 calories? Really? I could have had the Bacon Cheddar Cheeseburger that I wanted and still have 370 to eat. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the salad would have more calories than a bacon cheeseburger.

     I started moving a little more. Last year I had a pedometer and would try to get in a certain number of steps  a day. I need to get a new one, I lost that one. But I got into several habits that I still do. One is parking a little further away instead of taking the closest parking spot. All bets are off if it's cold or raining! ANother thing I still do, especially is I am shopping at Wal-Mart is as soon as I get in the store, I will take a brisk walk around the entire perimeter of the store before I start my shopping. Nothing major, but it does get me moving a little more. 

     I have learned it is okay to splurge at times and if I am going to splurge, I might as well enjoy the real thing. Fat free sugar free cookies do not satisfy a sweet tooth, one or two real ones will.  

     I quit drinking soda for a while. I do still drink it on occasion, but it is rarely my first choice and I almost never buy it and keep it in the house. 

     One thing that has helped me more than anything is using the Lose It! app on my phone. I can log in my foods as I go through out the day which keeps me very aware of my calorie count for the day. They also have a website that you can register at and it is free. I love the way it is set up and have found it incredibly simple to use. For me, the more simply it is, the more likely it is that I will actually use it. I cannot recommend this enough, it is pretty wonderful.

     

So what are my main resolutions this year? 

***I am going to continue the changes that I have made. I also want to implement these changes throughout the rest of the year too. 

***I want to continue my quest to be at a healthier weight. 

***I would like to lose enough weight that my doctor will take me off my blood pressure medication.

***I would like to become more aware of where my food comes from and try to incorporate as much local food into my diet as possible.

***I want to cook from scratch as much as possible so that I know exactly what is going into my food. I am pretty good with this one, but I know I could do better.

So what about you? Any goals you want to share?