A new kind of sushi

Tonight I made the most yummy sushi ever! And no it wasn't fried.

I added this "alternative" cheese Natalia gives a recipe for in her Raw Food Detox Diet book.

It was so good, I forgot to take a picture.

I started with quinoa. I made a 1/2 cup and it made 2 sushi rolls.
I cooked the quinoa with veggie broth. NOT just any veggie broth, Imagine brand veggie broth. I am NOT a fan of Pacific brand veggie broth. Cook your rinsed quinoa for about 15 minutes, like you would rice and voila! YUMMY, flavorful quinoa.

Next, I made my "alternative" cheese. (Middle Eastern Nut Cheese pg. 117)

3tbsp pine nuts
3 tbsp macadamia nuts
3 tbsp walnuts
Juice of 1 1/2 lemons
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 clove garlic
7 dash's Bragg's Liquid Aminos
Dash of soy sauce-preferably the gluten free brand(s)

Blend until smooth. I tried using my Blendtec, but to no avail. I finally had to pull out the mini food processor.

I then placed this concoction in a zip lock and cut off the tip for easy squeezing down the middle of the sushi.

Last, I made sure I had my avocado, spicy "tuna" (red pepper), and cucumber ready to put on there.

With my quinoa (cooled and sprinkled with rice vinegar), "cheese", and other condiments, I was ready to roll these sushi and make me some dinner!

It turned out awesome. If you need tips on sushi or how to make a veggie spicy tuna go here.

But before I ate every last morsel of these sushi rolls, I had a yummy butter lettuce salad. I topped it with tomatoes and the easiest yummiest dressing.

First, get a plastic container with a lid, pour in about a 1/4 cup of EVOO, add a few tbsp of balsalmic and this is the kicker, add about a 1/4tsp of salt. Put the lid on and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE! WOWZERS! Something about that salt just takes it up a bit! Pour a bit on your salad and dig in!

My Smith's, which is really Kroger and/or Fred Meyer had butter lettuce on sale today! So, it being Jordan's and I's favorite lettuce, I stocked up. Yep. Bought four of those bad boys today. SOOOOOO GOOD. And once again, didn't snap a pic because it was in my belly faster than, well, butter lettuce? :)

I also am so happy to be back at this again. To say I was "on track" over the summer would be a GROSS exaggeration. I feel so good, whether I lose more weight or not. So happy to be finding more healthy recipes. Tonight Jace ate an entire roll of sushi and Kenzie ate bits of the sushi torn apart. It was amazing.

Now to get Sean to realize fruits and veggies are good for him...

I'm back. For good.

If you didn't notice I completely failed my last cleanse, like TOTAL FAILURE! One week into it I couldn't do it. So I had to stop. Ginger said I was doing my body more harm than good when I had so many negative emotions I was working on.

I'm sure even some of you are going to be like WHAT? She cleanses and does these weird things, cause we are probably new friends and you didn't realize weight loss and sticking with something is a difficult thing for me.

Well, I have a few things to post. I haven't known how I was going to word this re-entry post in to my blog.

I feel like a sinner asking for forgiveness and not knowing how to go about it. So I'm just jumping in.

The last 9 months of my life have not been the happiest, most peaceful in my life. Some you may be thinking, "Oh whatever you just went to Europe, rough life". Well, thankfully, I had that to look forward to. It's been really dark in my head and I've had to really dig deep and figure out what and who I am going to be.

Some of you may be like, "Well, tell us, tell us what has been happening." And all I can say is...

Wouldn't you like to know! :)

I just can't. So, to begin I realized at the end of April after three months of crying every day, that something was not right and I needed help. So, off to a counselor I went. And what did she suggest?

An Antidepressant. Shocking, I know. So to get an anti-depressant I had to go to a Dr. to get a prescription. At this point I realized I think I'm about as low as I've ever been in my life. So I knew I needed something. Crying every day is NOT normal in case you're wondering. LOL.

Then I had the wonderful opportunity to tell a complete chauvinist of a Dr. my tale and why I felt like I needed an anti-depressant. Unfortunately, depression and anxiety run in my family, and so I was aware of anti-depressants that have helped my family. He suggested one of those would be great. I got my prescription and after two days of taking it, threw it away. Now you may be wondering why in the world would someone do that!? Well, I remember a very special person in my life telling me, "I think everyone could use some extra serotonin." Well she is right! That is what most anti-depressants are made of, except they are a man made form of it.

I realized two days into taking Prozac, yah!, that I was going to get addicted to it. The dr. also gave me a drug that is similar to how people drink a glass of wine to take the edge off, which was HIGHLY addictive. I realized me and my addictive personality and these drugs were going to turn me into something I had worked really hard to not turn into. I saw myself 10 years from now looking for drugs, being that person addicted to prescription medications. I threw everything in the garbage and went to the internet!

I went to amazon.com and typed in serotonin in the search bar to see if there was an all natural form of the drug, aside from getting it in my meat, cheese, etc, which I have greatly limited in my life over the past couple of years. Well low and behold I found this!

This may help YOU! It may not. But I felt I had an obligation to let others know how this has really helped me.

I have been so much better since taking this. I also increased my magnesium and all my other vitamins by 3x for the first month or so, to ramp up my bodies deficiencies. Whenever your body is under stress, ie exercise, work stress, kid stress, whatever stress it might be, your body burns through minerals like crazy! And since most of our food is deficient in minerals, all of our bodies are screaming for minerals! I took 9 pills of my cal/mag/d vitamin a day. That was 1800mg of calcium, 600 mg magnesium, and 1800 IU's of vitamin d, along with my daily vitamin and the other supplements I take.

I finally felt better. Nothing was getting done in my house unless it was ABSOLUTELY necessary until I started taking care of myself with all of this. I stopped ripping everyone's heads off. I could finally think clearly and get things done. I could make a list of what needed to get done that day, instead of wandering around the house and nothing getting done. I got done more the first few days of taking this serotonin than I had the past few months.

*This is not easy to say, but here it is. I hope it can help someone. I feel strongly that antidepressants are VERY useful for a majority of the population, but I felt I could use an alternative. Please talk with your DR. before stopping your anti-depressant or starting this all natural serotonin.

Next, I started making my own all natural deodorant! LOVE IT!!! If you'd like the recipe message me and I will get it to you. :)

Lastly, I had a friend ask to do a juice fast/cleanse.

Starting tomorrow, the juice fast begins and then on Thursday her and I will begin a cleanse. If you are interested in doing one or both of these, let me know! :)

Much love and thanks for letting me get myself right!

Day 5 Is over

Had some rather strong cravings yesterday and today. Must push forward. My strongest was for Chick fila. I couldn't tell if it was for the food, or my friends in Nashville...still deciding.(Have I mentioned how much I miss Nashville?) Not just my friends. I miss everything, the weather, the incredibly beautiful landscape, that heat, the accents, the kind and friendly people, Publix, Nashville Zoo (even though I lost Sean there, opps), the red dirt, cotton fields-have you ever seen a cotton field, you haven't lived until you see one and pick some cotton, magnolias, lightening bugs that you catch in a jar,

the storms-wowzers, the cardinals, the blue jays, the incredible homes, the diversity, the southern gentlemen and ladies, the amazing city of Franklin(probably the cutest and quaint place EVER), okra-fried, a no no I know, but oh it's so good!, historic Civil War along the roadside, driving to Huntsville and the beauty of it, and oh my gosh I could go on and on. And I won't for your sake! haha

With all of us having strep and me with a cold, I couldn't wait for today to be over. I'm going to bed soon.

I had a very yummy salad, which was nice. Maybe my taste buds are working again in that department. Just mixed greens, romaine, tomato, cucumber, yellow pepper, and red onion. I poured 1 lemon juiced over it with 1 tsp stone ground mustard and a few drops of liquid stevia.

Dinner was one of my frozen cauliflower pizza crusts. It was divine, and so easy. The kids had whole wheat spaghetti for dinner. It was an easy breezy night. Jordan has been gone all day, so I needed it easy.

I think the most important thing I have learned when doing a detox is to keep it simple for meals. I am also not experimenting as much as I did with the first 30 day cleanse. That is why I made a list of meals back on Saturday. I tried to get at least 15, so all I would have to do is plan on eating each meal twice. EASY! So doable when you approach it like that right? And, like this week, if I feel like pizza twice, so be it! It is ok on the cleanse. LOVE THAT! :)

And lastly, I have the puffiest face ever. Lack of sleep and enlarged mucus membranes in my head. It is truly lovely. I really do not ever get sick, so this is making me nuts! Back in the day, I caught every cold and sickness that came through my house. NOT any more. Rarely do I get sick, so I guess this is my once a year cold.

Wear it and take it like a champ, Nat, I say. 

Cheers!

My day ended better than it began

Just a rough day. Detoxing, I'm sure, although I can't tell what is a cold/allergy symptom or detox symptom. I've never had allergies, so this is new. I was rather grumpy last night and today. But after lunch, the kids I went to the sand park, they played and I read the Ensign. Much needed. My heart is so happy when I see this thing in the mailbox. I know that sounds so Molly Mormon, but seriously, I need it. I need it!

Today, I accidentally fell asleep while Kenzie was watching Bubble Gubbies and the boys were...somewhere. Oh my gosh, bad mother moment. I just keep praying that the Lord will please watch over them. The past few days I haven't been very vigilant. I just feel so crappy. My nose is a faucet too which is no fun, and now it's extremely sore. I need to stop whining.

Ok. So dinner was sushi. I had a yummy salad before, just greens, tomato, avocado, and cucumber with Rice Vinegar. A friend posted about using just vinegar and I wanted to try it. And well it was awesome and easy. So you don't have to get fancy with dressings to enjoy your salad.

My sushi was very simple. Roasted red pepper strips in sirachi sauce, avocado, sprouts, and cucumber strips. It was super hot but it was good. I ate a lot of avocado tonight, probably two. I just wanted it!

Finished off with some chocolate.

Put my kids to bed.

I'm to bed.

Peace out!

A few of my favorite things

I know there are many skin products out on the market and I've tried a lot. But I've never had a skin care product literally heal my skin in one night!

For example I will get a few zits, and I'll pump two squirts, maybe, onto my hands at night and rub this magic into my skin, and literally they will be gone! I love it! It's all natural, smells really good and is seriously amazing! I started using it in February and have LOVED it!  Go here to read all about it!

Secondly, I cannot say enough about taking probiotics. Whether it's Kombucha, a pill form, saurkraut or raw kefir your body needs living good bacteria to do all your dirty work. If you are constipated, you are not getting enough probiotics.

Straight off amazon.  But it is cheaper technically to buy in the store cause you can open the package and on the lid of the box is a $3 off coupon! SCORE!

I suggest taking a pill form of Garden of Life Probiotic twice a day, morning and night.

And then at night taking magnesium oxide. Magnesium oxide is safe in low doses, so don't think more is better with this product, cause it ain't! It creates water in your bowels and helps to move things along. And why isn't this great in large doses? Well, let me tell you I decided a while back if a little of this product was good a lot more would be even better (against Kimberly Snyders suggestions in her book The Beauty Detox), and I believe my backache that night and next day was because my kidneys were over taxed and every ounce of water was pulled out of my body to create water in my bowels. I learned to follow the suggested dose. haha

This is the variety I use.

I suggested this to a friend back in January, and not knowing she followed my advice for more than a week, haha, told me in April what a huge difference it had made with her constipation. She was eating a ton of fiber and still very constipated. So technically fiber is not always what pulls your poo out, especially if you are VERY backed up, which honestly, 90% of Americans are!

Kombucha, ahhhh, I love this stuff. And literally could not get enough of it today. I made a batch for myself this morning and then while at Good Earth picked me up some strawberry. Yum yum. Then came home and made some more.

And for my little Kenzie Lou, who is now on an antibiotic my efforts to help her little body come in twice a day two little pink pills. They are a chewable probiotic I usually buy it at Sprouts or Good Earth. I store them in the fridge with my probiotic. It is so good for her, especially to help keep good bacteria in her gut and to hopefully avoid a yeast infection after this round of antibiotics.

I finally felt like some juice around 2pm, which is super late for me. I'm really enjoying this cleanse because it's the first time when it's time to eat I'm hungry but not starving and crazy!

Tonights dinner was, well, not something I should have been eating. Opps. I'm a ding dong. No nuts on this cleanse and didn't realize that till tonight when I looked at the chart to post to the group. Oh well. It was properly combined but a little on the heavy side. So no more of the curry.

It was massaman curry with cauliflower rice and I had my salad before too. Yummy! And then decided it would be fun to have the family have some healthy chocolate cake. The kids LOVED it and so did I! I doubled the recipe. It is here.

Another victim

Yes, today I found out Kenzie has strep. This, as she was bouncing around the doctors office, jabbering to herself and us about who knows what. I said to the doctor,"I'm not sure she has it. She had one night where she felt really hot and woke up a couple times but that was it! And other than that she's pretty happy. Every so often she freaks out but she's been ok."

Apparently, strep hits kids different than adults. So now we both are on antibiotics. Man, I haven't had this much strep since college, haha! I may be revealing some things about me with that sentence.

I still had trouble swallowing today and feeling really weak. I did my WINCO run to stock up for the week.

And then what do you do when you can't take a nap cause you have two wild men running around your house? You make a diorama. I know, you wish you would have thought of that. HA!

I wish I could admit that Jace contributed more to this diorama, but really it was a mom-orama, with Jace glueing occasionally and helping to cut. He left half way through and when he came back he said, "mom, why did you finish it without me?"-Well, son, cause you took off and it's due tomorrow.

my mojito...it was a little strong on the mint. But pretty good!

AND, I realized about halfway through making this thing, that the bird is, I believe, an Eagle, instead of a Peregrine Falcon. What little kindergartners don't know WILL NOT hurt them! So, this little craft project kept my mind and hands and stomach busy.

And what do you do if you start dinner at 4:00pm(This is probably early to most people but not for me on nights I'm planning on making cauliflower pizza crust)? You get inventive with your cauliflower rice that needs to be squeezed. I actually think this is very smart.

Excuse me while I toot my horn. Toot Toot.

So the rice is smokin' hot coming out of the boiling water (duh, I know) but I need to get pizza's cooking so I had to think of something quick. And voila! Use another strainer to push the water out of the towel covered cauliflower rice and no burned hands! It worked really well. So you should try it.

Step 1. Pour boiling cauliflower rice into towel covering a strainer. Place edges of towel over cauliflower rice.

Take second strainer and put on top of toweled cauliflower rice. And push down. Again and again, until very little liquid is coming out.

This is the end result, dry, cooked cauliflower rice.

Also, if you are going to take the time to make cauliflower pizza, please, please, PLEASE, make a second one! It is so laborious and you are already doing all that work, just double it up.

Tonight I tripled it. I had one HUGE pizza for in the future, and two small ones. I ate one of the small ones and the other two were wrapped in tinfoil and put in the freezer.

You MUST try this pizza! It is so yummy!!!!

Salad with sprouts! Yum.

So I let it sit a bit long on the pan, and it got kind of mushy. so this is like a pizza omelet, or something.

So I ate my typical salad first with the kids while they ate their pizza. And the about 6:30pm, yes 4pm to 6:30pm, I finally ate my pizza. Hence why I say I got a late start tonight.

I finished my evening with some dark chocolate and a nice HOT epsom bath. I love hot baths. The hotter the better. I think it runs in my family. ;)

Night.

First day and all I can say is: interesting

You know that feeling when you wake up in the middle of the night and you think, dang, I'm getting sick.

Well, that was last night for me.

My throat hurt so bad and it was only on one side, my left lymph node. WEIRD. Went to bed totally fine and feeling good, the rest of the night, not so good. Kenzie woke up oh, I lost count at 4 times. I hope she doesn't feel sick, hence the constant waking. And then my stinking throat hurting kept me tossing and turning.

So I didn't run today. I feel achy and tired and well, just tired.

But I'm on a cleanse and well, this stupid sore throat thing ain't going to get me down!

So I woke up, and quickly made as much juice as I could, about 50 oz. and drank that while getting three children ready, myself too, and feeling so yucky. It wasn't a fun morning, have I said that yet?

We had a dr. apointment for Sean at 10am, Jace to school by 9:15am, drop books off at the library, then swing through the Post Office and drop off a letter, and on my way down Main street see if I can figure out who my Dr. is at the one building since I can't remember his name, so I can call and try to get in and see someone!

Well, I have strep after that ridiculously long explanation. Don't know how or where I got it and as far as I know I am the only one with it in our family.

So here I am, typing, starving, and hardly swallowing my juice cause it hurts. This could probably be the easiest first day I've ever done since food is unappealing and drinking hurts. My tummy is so hungry and all I want to do is chug some liquids down this hatch and I can't. So I've decided I better prepare for tonight's dinner. I did this cleanse kind of last minute, so I planned on a meal I knew I had the ingredients for. Omelets. I hope I can eat them and not be in pain.

You can omit the butter and use coconut oil, no problemo!

I also need to eat a salad tonight, which actually really scares me right now since my throat hurts. I'm thinking romaine, tomato, cucumber, red onion...and a yummy easy dressing. Like half a lemon juiced, 1 tsp of stone ground mustard and some liquid stevia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Post 4:00pm when the above was written.

The antibiotics must be working cause I can now swallow and drink much more easily! Yes!

So I made my salad and omelet as listed above but only finished about half of each as my appetite was NO WHERE TO BE FOUND! haha. I've been lying around rather lazily and decided I'd have some dark chocolate. It was yummy. But again, didn't feel like it either. So I think I'm done trying to eat food today. Haha.

I can't get these pictures to move...dang.

All I keep telling myself is strep is better than lice...oh my, that was AWFUL! HAHA! I love you person I went through that with!!! I LOVE YOU! xoxo

Something needs to change

Something needs to change.
The size of my butt and legs is a first.
But mainly, I have been super lethargic, and there is only one culprit, not eating good food.

Over the past few months, I can only put it one way, I have been struggling. If you name it, it's been a struggle. A LOT of things have come to a head in my life and I have had to face tough choices head on and make decisions that were hard. Too many of them emotional. And well, in my life when things get emotional, I eat. And eat. And eat. And continue to eat to comfort myself. I'm not sure where I picked up this bad habit. But it's been formed, and I must break it. I also feel awful, physically and then emotionally for eating the bad food cause well I know it's bad for me. And well that's not a good path either.

It's time to truly find happiness and peace with myself.

So here I go, again.

Yes, another clease. I need to change some things. And continue to change myself. You are probably laughing at me or at this idea. Thinking, gosh why can't this girl figure her crap out. Well, each time I do one, it furthers my ability to figure my crap out. And the crap is about to hit the fan, and be DONE in my life. I am mentally really done with all the bad food. Going to the bad food for comfort, although I am finding myself going for the good food but knowingly eating too much, which isn't really good either.

Rose Cleanse #3

1.) Juice till dinner
2.) No fruit first week. After first week lemons, grapefruit, berries, and granny smith apples.
3.) Properly combined meal no sugar in meals.
4.) If I have to make a meal for my class, I will not eat it, Jordan can tell me yea or nay.
5.) Figure my crap out. Stop using food as a comfort.
6.) Find something I enjoy doing. Like a hobby Natalie. Find a hobby girl, and something that doesn't involve my kids or Jordan. JUST FOR YOU!
7.) Go to bed earlier and stop staying up so stinkin' late!
8.) I am not posting a weight goal. I need to cleanse and I know the weight will come off. I need my brain to be free from the stress of the scale. But I do have to train for Ragnar and so 4 miles every other day, with a little home resistance workout Jordan put together for on the off days will be my workout and stress relief as well.

Dinner's
Fish
Barley stew
Cauliflower pizza
Pizza veggies
Spaghetti squash casserole
Greek salad and zucchini humus
Curry with cauliflower rice
Sushi
Avocado salad with roasted veggies-brussels sprouts and sweet potato
Detox lasagna
Flourless Pumpkin Pancakes-Breakfast for dinner
Omelet
HUGE cheese salad
Mushroom and spinach Quinoa Rissotto
 Chili-cornbread for family, maybe me if I can find a clean recipe.


Lastly, please remember I'm human, and very weak, and learning. Hence, why I haven't just figured it out. I probably never will, and I need to be ok with that, too. Thanks! xo

Third times a charm

First
I have tried Detoxinista's cauliflower pizza crust twice and both times about gaged over the sogginess of my crust.

It was so sad. I want to enjoy pizza and know it's good for me too.

That was all true, until SUNDAY! Super Bowl Sunday of all Sundays!

Detoxinista's picture...mmmmmm! So gooooooooooood!

So I've had a hunch that perhaps, in the pizza crust recipe* I wasn't squeezing enough of the liquid out and that's why it was still soggy.

Determined to make this crust work, I bought a cheese cloth and asked my main man to help in my squeezing endeavors with his big burly mooooscles. (That was a plug for Jordan, yes)

So I followed the recipe here and when it came to squeezing time, I handed everything over to the man with big hands, big muscles, and even bigger heart, haha!

Well, I cannot say enough about how truly yummy this turned out. I ate the whole thing, and didn't think twice about it.

So, go on and try this delicious idea and see if it is to your taste buds liking.

*This recipe is laborious. Start earlier than you think. I up'd the oven temp to 425 degrees to make sure it really crisped up and cooked through. Half way through I flipped it over so the other side would brown. MMMMmmmmmm so good, I think I want pizza again this week! :)

Second

This is detoxinista's pic...I ate mine all too quickly to get a photo! haha

If you want something that is so healthy for you but tastes rich and decadent? Then get ready to live. Detoxinista posted about her Cheesy Spaghetti Squash Casserole. My kids were a little cautious but actually really liked it. It was our main course, but I'm sure those that are transitioning could have this as a side. It tastes like us Mormons Funeral Potatoes without all that awful, bad for you junk! Try it, try it, TRY IT! You won't regret it. I had a big salad with her ranch dressing that also uses goat yogurt and it was sooooooo good. Hope you like! :)

It's called a struggle for a reason

I struggle with my weight. It's called a struggle for a reason. For days I can do great and then one day I don't and it throws me off. I try to only have it take me off track for that one day, but I've had it happen where a week or more has passed.

And then I'm like OH CRAP! I've gained a lot of weight back.

Now people say, "well, that's why I don't diet, or call it a diet. Cause then I am setting myself up to fail."

I received a text from Ginger a few days ago with the following quote:




"You haven't failed until you have quit trying." Elder Marvin J. Ashton.





That's right! I am completely changing 29 years of bad eating habits, with extremely healthy and good eating habits. It's going to take some time. And when I give up and go back to the old ways of eating including the following:
 I can eat whatever I want if I'm under 1500 calories
 protein heavy
gym foods
processed foods
Splenda is good for you and any other fake sugar
limit your fruits mentality

then I have failed.

Over the past year it has been hard, I'm not going to lie. I started down this path when Kenzie was 6 months old, and had maintained 175+ LBS post baby for 6 MONTHS! I was running/walking 3 days a week and "trying" to eat right.

But really what is eating right. Now I know that this is truly different for every person. And yes, you can calorie count and workout every day and lose the weight.

I get sick of calorie counting and marking down everything I eat.

But get this, I allowed myself over the month of January the following:

Juice till dinner, liquids
Snack/eat around 2:30 or 3:00 carrots, veggies
Fruits ok to eat around that time too
Eat properly combined every day
Have 1 CHEAT meal a week, if I so desire
Work out every day (my average calorie burn was between 300 and 500 calories a day)
Body brush
Have colonics or enemas
Take a probiotic in the morning
Take 1 to 2 magnesium oxide at night

You might be wondering what the point of this post is? Well, last Tuesday I weighed myself and the scale said 143. When I started at the beginning of January I was 148 lbs. I was SO MAD Tuesday. That means for a whole month of being so strict I had only lost 5 lbs. I got a phone call from Ginger later that day (I believe Jordan told her to call me cause I was so mad).

And this is basically what she said.

YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO BE VERY STRICT! Did you read what I've been doing? I am pretty strict as it is!
NO CHEAT NIGHTS
ELIMINATE FRUIT (this is only for a while, till I hit my goal)
NOT NUTS OR SEED MEALS (peanuts, especially peanut butter are extremely difficult for women to digest)
ONLY HAVE A MEAT BASED MEAL ONCE OR TWICE A WEEK(meaning eggs or cheese or fish)

AND after our phone call, I had a new determination. I was going to be even more strict and I was going to get the weight off!

I also said I was going to put the scale away, but I have issues with weighing myself, and well since I've really only had this struggle since I started having kids, which was 5 years ago, I am still working through some things.

So I weighed again on Wednesday, after eating PERFECT on Tuesday, and you know what the scale said!? 145!!!!!! WHAT THE!!!! I was besides myself. SO I got off the scale, got back on and it said 141. WHAT? I got back on and it said 143 and was delaying and being weird. I then realized, I truly have a BROKEN SCALE! Isn't this what we all wish for, haha!

 So on Thursday night I bought a new scale, and Friday I weighed myself after eating perfect Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

GUESS what I weighed as of Saturday morning, cause yes I weighed Friday and then again Saturday...

139.

So really in the month of January I lost 9 lbs. This was without calorie counting. I ate as strict and as best I could allowing myself some cheats, which really only happened when we were out socially. (I need to work on this)

But I was curious, to see how many calories I was eating with doing this and feeling satisfied.
Well the days I did it on myfitnesspal.com I ate 1500 calories, and yes my biggest meal was my nighttime meal, and I still lost!

 And NOW I am only weighing myself every Friday, with my girl Ginger! :)

And gosh darn it, I'm still doing this properly combined because it works and the way I feel, even though at times it can be a lot of work, I feel incredible.

Cause after all, this is more than just weight loss, right? I want to feel good, have mental clarity, eat things that will fight cancer not create it, give me amazing skin and hair cause I eat and drink foods that flood my body with living enzymes! Really, I am on such a roll I can't stop.

Very simple. Very satisfying. Learning to be content with less.

As I was talking to a friend about this the other day I relayed the following story about how amazing and grace-filled Ginger is with me. On one of my cheat days we were going to have pizza with some friends and I sent her a message earlier in the day to see what she would do.

Well she suggested first to not eat any pizza and just the salad I brought. Then she said you can eat the pizza just no cheese.  But well, it would be my cheat day and well, homemade pizza was sounding really good.

So she ended it with the following:

  "Just know it's life and energy draining. As long as you go into it knowing its not a healthful choice for your body, but you're ok with that for this meal then enjoy. And be present so you don't over eat."

That pretty much sums up the thinking behind this type of eating. I feel our Heavenly Father gave us the word of wisdom for a reason. Fruits and vegetables, herbs and grains are here for our use.

Losing the weight takes so much work. I am tired of putting in the work, not being as disciplined and gaining back. This struggle needs to end and the more I eat right and work towards a healthy weight with the right foods, the less strict I will need to be and the struggle can end. (WHICH MEANS I can eat more nuts, cause I love pecans and almonds, OH MY!)

I am grateful for an eating plan that is teaching me to love the taste of vegetables and making them the base of my meals. I am grateful for a friend that has been so supportive, never asking a dime and doing this all because she is so loving and giving and wants everyone to feel and be healthy. I am grateful for this plan because of how amazing I feel on it, how great my skin and hair are. I look forward to having great skin as I age because I am taking care of my body the right way. I love that at night when I get snacky and naturally want more food, I can give my body just that, all the nutritious food it can handle. I am learning a way of eating that will never be a fad, because when will they ever come out and say, "Fruits and vegetables have been found to cause heart disease and colon cancer".

But this has taken me a year + to get to this point. To decide YES! This is the way I want to eat and be! Always starting my meal with a salad. Making my meal stay in an easy to digest category so my body can spend less time digesting and more time healing my body and giving it what it needs. As I get to my healthy chosen weight I will start incorporating more lunch salads and meals and only juicing till lunch. But for now I have a goal, and well, Jordan and I might be going to Las Vegas for one of his work trips, and I want to feel really good in a swimsuit and not think, man I really need some swim shorts to cover up this big 'ol bootie of mine!

My goal from this post is to have hopefully shown you that I too fail. Struggle with making the right food choices, even when I know better. That I give into stress and social eating and that most importantly, I AM NOT PERFECT! I am on a path that is the right one, that fits me like a glove when I, I I I I I follow it. Cause when I don't follow it, well, then it just leads to a lot of frustration.

I am not one of those girls that can eat whatever I like and stay thin, I don't have great self control, I DO NOT lose my baby weight through nursing, if anything it makes me extremely RAVENOUS, I can't drink soda, diet or full sugar, I gain weight and it makes me eat MORE. I know I have to be so careful and I just can't indulge anymore. It is just the way I am.

After more than a year, I think I am maybe beginning to accept that!

Lastly, I am working on 

BEING PRESENT WHEN I EAT. 

Some of you will understand this...

Vitamins and minerals, oh my!

So I have learned a lot over the last week or so since I blogged.

First, I hope you remember I am not perfect and am on a journey with myself. I am learning and growing. I did not grow up in a house where proper food and nutrition was taught. Food was viewed more as get it in and get on with life.

This is how I've been feeling over the last year, and especially, the last few weeks! (this is Nadine and Ron from livinglibations.com, check out their site for all things natural and raw!) And technically, that man could be Jordan and all his support and love for my journey, haha!

I have learned SO much over the past year about food, myself, and why and what I need to function at my best.



I have felt so great over the last few weeks, and yes, that would mean I am a happy person and mom until dinner. Don't believe me? Ask Jordan, he will tell you honestly what a change has occurred in our home recently!

I have never been one to feel down for too long, feel depressed, or unhappy with my life. Even with all the changes over the last few years, I have SO much to feel blessed and happy about.

But honestly, I have been feeling very angry and mad, especially at God for a few things, and NO that is not like me.

My shortness with my children and Jordan has been over REALLY dumb things and really, what do I have to be stressed about? Certainly nothing to make my children and husband feel like I don't love them.

This has been bothering me for some time now, and well, I have been thinking maybe I needed an anti-depressant (which bugged me too, because I feel like a lot of those type of issues and problems are diet and lifestyle related).

I like these because they are chocolate flavored and chewable, meaning my children can safely have one a day too!          

Well my answer came about a week and a half ago as I was perusing my favorite blog, detoxinista.com. I have included the link here for you to read about what caught my eye. She talks about how 80% of Americans are deficient in magnesium, and well after reading the article, and even with my pretty healthy diet, I KNEW I was in that 80% deficient category.

What a difference some magnesium, and Vitamin D can make. You can either buy the magnesium she recommends or find one you like. I use Nutrilite's vitamins. I have for years. I like them, I feel they are a good quality, so I am sticking with it. I found this vitamin D supplement at Good Earth. You can safely take up to 15,000 IU's if you are not well (mentally or physically, meaning depressed or having reoccurring infections like sinus) and be JUST fine. How do I know this? Well, when I was pregnant with Kenzie I learned so much, again something about being pregnant with her and her being my third child, my body was so deficient in so much from not giving it what it needed from my VERY mainstream diet, it was spent and I mean spent!

(I think you as my reader know I don't hold anything back, so the following will be TMI, just a fair warning!)

Natural and plant based vitamins and minerals are the best and easiest on your body to digest than synthetically produced vitamins. If you are not getting enough vitamins and minerals from your food, purchase a whole, plant based pill as the next best thing.

Ok, so how did I know I was deficient in vitamin D? I didn't. But my midwives did. (SMART WOMEN!) Well, around the end of January, beginning of February I started to get these infections, and well they wouldn't go away. And as a female they were very bothersome. I had yeast infections that would NOT stop. I had three back to back and after using the creams they sell in the stores I was so frustrated that I couldn't get rid of them. FIRST and foremost my midwife told me you HAVE to eliminate or greatly reduce your sugar and carb intake. SECONDLY, she said you are so deficient in vitamin D because you haven't seen the sun for three or  more months your immune system is severely compromised. She suggested as a pregnant women, to take 15,000 IU's of vitamin D until the infections were gone and then go to 5,000. (Consult your doctor first before following this advice, especially if you are under a doctors care for a specific disease or condition)

It was amazing how quickly those pesky infections were gone! This would be true of all illnesses at this time of year, so get your vitamin D and if you're being a real witch, you better start downing some magnesium! :)

Jordan has said how nice it is to come home at night and I'm happy, and well, ya know what, so am I! :)

Next, I have learned a thing or two about fats. Yes, I am still a firm believer that fats are good for you and that your body REALLY needs them. But, I have been using too much. I hope the following helps a few of you and that the pounds can really start to drop, cause I know they will for me.

FATS!

1.) Do not put a fat (OIL) on your salad before dinner, unless it is an avocado.

2.) DO NOT layer fats.  This would be something I have been doing almost every night, which is why some of my weight loss has been "frustrated" :) haha
           So what does that mean? It means if you are eating a fat like cheese on your salad, DO NOT have a fat in your dressing.  I believe this tip is going to greatly help me, again because that is difficult on your body to digest.

3.) THREE HEALTHY FATS: butter, coconut oil/butter, and avocado's
       Enjoy these bad boys, but beware of the other fats, even OLIVE OIL!


Another fun tip!

RAW NUTS in the United States are not actually raw. They have still been heated and pasteurized. The only way to get truly raw nuts is out of the US. Seriously, I am starting to think our government wants us fat and addicted to the wrong foods. If you are interested in getting raw nuts, message me and I'll send you info on where to find it.

And on this nutty note, I finally got around to making Kimberly Snyder's truffles. Now these are good, but as a shout out to my girl Ginger, her's are so much smoother and creamier, but until I can buy her truffles everyday, these will just have to suffice. :) They are a bit labor intensive but worth it!
Go here for Kimberly's recipe.

Lastly, things are going great with my "idea"! We are meeting with the owner/creater from Chynna's Kitchen. This is a gluten free company out of Heber, Utah, which is huge because it has been very difficult finding someone who will work with me and my ingredients that isn't half way across the country. I have learned a lot about how our food is distributed and produced! There is a reason why food costs so much! SHIPPING! And surprisingly the lighter something is, the more expensive it is to ship, OH and don't forget that if something is packaged at sea level and then is shipped to somewhere with high altitude, oh like say UTAH, the bags can/will/could explode costing you and your company money. Never less, I am not dismayed. I am working feverishly to get my product to market and know I have an idea that can and will work! SO EXCITING! YES, I believe in being an entrepreneur and that being one is the American way! ;)  As a plug for them, if you see their products, buy them. GREAT people!
   
Side note: All my meals were great and properly combined this week, and no new recipes so sorry for none of that, but I hope you enjoy the rest! xoxo

So much to share! FAT doesn't make you FAT! What?

With my compliance to my New Years Goals I have greatly been limiting my online/facebook/blogging obsessions.

So I apologize if this is greatly over due, which it really is!

My juice fast was good, a few of the days I fasted till dinner and then ate.

Since my fast and since I've been back onto properly combined meals as best I can, I have kept off the 4 lbs since the fast which is awesome, because I usually gain some of it back once food is reintroduced.

I've been running every other day, doing Tracy's dance cardio the other days, and for two weeks been able to do her strength videos every day. (This is great, since when I first started doing her videos consistently for a week I had to take 4 days off cause I jacked up my shoulder and arm and was useless in movement. But thanks to this product called Deep Blue a neighbor gave me I was seriously healed in like 24 hours, and the muscle relaxers were nice too. I think they relaxed my brain too cause I was so out of it, and since I've never taken any illegal or prescribed drugs I have to admit I might have liked it, haha!) So for a while I was doing every other day with her strength video, but now I am back in action and doing it every day, which ROCKS! And I think I am addicted to her dance cardio video, as long as I have Pandora on. This has actually turned into a fun family thing where I turn the music up really loud and all the kids come in and dance with me! Love it! If I had just a few more minutes I really want to do an hour of it, but for the time being I am happy with the 30 minutes of dancing. Oh, you're laughing? Dance cardio? Not real cardio like running? I'd like to see you dance for 30 minutes straight...IT IS HARD!

Ok so I have discovered some great recipes that I want to share on here and some other awesome things that I hope might help others.

I discovered this one night looking through Detoxinista's blog.

Fat doesn't make you fat? What?

Yes it's true. So can you stop being afraid of oils, fats, and avocados? If you feel like an alligator, your hair is as dry as hay, or your nails are constantly breaking, you could probably use some more oil in your life, so get to it! :)   Here is the link to her blog AND this very important bit of reading.


SUNDAY

Raw Cheese Salad:

        This is my new favorite with any meat meal. Go here for the recipe and tips! I used raw cow's Cheddar cheese.

Made a roast for the family and I had a few chunks of goodness. If you want a great way to cook a roast my sister Julie has perfected the best fall apart soft roast, thanks to a few tips from her mother in law. So first, you need to buy a CHUCK roast any size will do. Put in crock pot on high, sprinkled with a packet of onion soup mix. Cook on high for 5 to 6 hours. You will think you are burning it, but you aren't. MMMmmmmmm perfection from a piece of meat. :) And yes, I still do eat meat, just not every day!

MONDAY

All Hail Kale Salad
                                   Do not even attempt to make this salad unless you have all the ingredients. It is divine and the maple glazed walnuts...oh my gosh! To die for. Try not to eat all of them in one sitting. They are very high in fat (now too many of these fats will make you gain unwanted weight, especially women, sorry!) and not very detox friendly so watch your amounts on these, ok!

Peanut Butter Shake   This is my favorite treat and since my dinner was a nut base this was totally fine to enjoy!

TUESDAY

Beauty avocado salad

Roasted Brussel Sprouts and Roasted Butternut Squash

These were just ok...maybe cause I bought them bagged? I'm not sure they were still a bit hard in the center after cooking for 45 minutes :(

These brussels sprouts were amazing! Next time I need to lower the temp a bit and shorten the cooking time. Jordan said they were a bit burned, but I loved em!

WEDNESDAY


My Big Fat Greek Salad
    After this bad boy I was so full, just enjoyed a few bits of chocolate.







And since today is Thursday, I will let you know what I ate, drank today!

So I started with some herbal tea, yummy and so nice in this frigid weather!

Then I juiced about 2 cups of juice.

Then I had komboocha, but I figured out how to make mine super tastey like Synergy brand, do you believe it! So the recipe is as follows and if anyone wants a starter mushroom please let me know, I'd be happy to share one of our baby mushrooms!

about 1/2 to 1 cup of Komboocha
2 to 3 cups of sparkling water, lots of ice too
then add whatever flavor of herbal tea you like. 

I use the following brand and pick whichever flavor I'm in the mood for. 

Stevia to taste, 5 drops or so

Mix and ENJOY! CHEAP and so good for your tummy! :)

After this I had some strawberries and an avocado.

I then made some more homemade komboocha!

Then a homemade vitamin water with lime juice

Later that afternoon I was freezing and made some Hot Chocolate.

Here is the recipe:

2 cups almond milk (DO NOT buy the prepackaged shelf stable almond milk at Costco, it is disgusting)

2 tsp cacao powder

Stevia to taste

Warm, do not let boil. Drink in a big mug with your favorite book, today mine was Mockingjay! :)
 This recipe is courtesy Kimberly Snyder.

I was sooooo satisfied till dinner and then I had the following!

THURSDAY

Cheese Salad
       The dressing on this is from detoxinista and truly amazing, and totally fat free and low in calories, for those of you still not convinced of this whole not counting calories thing!

 Here it is:

 Juice of one lemon
1 tbsp of whole ground mustard
1 garlic clove minced or mashed or grated
ginger grated to taste
a few drops of stevia

 Place in a Tupperware and shake and pour over salad! DIVINE!

Eggs in Spicy Matbucha Sauce (Shakshuka)

    THIS WAS HOT! Jordan was even surprised I was eating it cause it was warm for him and he can tolerate some heat! :) SOOOOOO beware, next time I'll half the jalapeno and the cayenne pepper!

Also, these recipes were from the Fresh Energy Cookbook by Natalia Rose and Doris Choi. It's awesome!

I then had a few pieces of chocolate, like three squares. I need to let you know depending on how well I do each day I gauge my chocolate intake at night. My sister thought I was eating a whole bar of chocolate every day...only if my eating is perfect and my juicing till dinner is perfect then I allow myself if I feel like it, but I have definitely grown since my first cleanse, so I am not as ravenous.

Enjoy!
xoxo

A New Year

I am juice fasting again and yes, that means I can get a bit sentimental, sniff sniff.

Just kidding, but I do like to journal/blog my feelings about what is going on, especially as I remove myself from hours of cooking and feeding myself and my family. It is actually quite freeing to not eat meals. It gives me more time, surprisingly.

So I have made a few New Years Resolutions.

Can I be completely honest. I actually have only done this probably ONCE before. Yes, there I've admitted it.

I have a few areas in my life that need improving besides eating better and exercising more, as that was all I would focus on come New Years in the past.

So a sweet, old college roommate messaged me on Facebook and challenged me, yes, CHALLENGED me cause goals can be very challenging to me, to make up New Years resolutions with specific areas in mind. I thought I'd share because I think it could help someone. Please do not judge me. These are my problem areas, things I need to do better on. I wouldn't think less of you, so please do not think so of me! :)


My Goals for 2013
 
Spirituality:
Read scriptures for 15 minutes in the morning before checking email/facebook/text messages
Write in journal on Sunday about week/thoughts
Attend the temple once a month
Pray in the morning before starting day
 
Knowledge:
Do a lesson from classes every week (2 lessons a week)
Read a new book every month
Continue working on chip recipe and finding co-packers
 
Health:
Wake up at 6:30am and be in bed no later than 10:30pm
Run 2 to 3 miles every other day. On off days do dance video and strength video
Participate in 3 races over the next year
Continue to find healthy recipes that everyone in the family enjoys.
Begin to eliminate processed sugar from kids diet, and eliminate it from mine.
 
Service:
Pray about and take a meal to one random person in the ward a month or invite over for meal
Take a message to sisters that I know haven’t been visit taught in a few months
Be on time to church every week. This is for Jordan
 
Family:
Appreciate the kids ages more and be more calm
Work on time management and spend more time during the day focused on the kids
Control my tone and temper with the kids and Jordan
Limit TV to 1 hour a day for the kids
Do things like laundry when the kids are in bed or napping

MOST IMPORTANTLY after making this list, I made a huge decision that made my husband oh so happy! I deleted the facebook app from off my phone. I have to admit I would spend too much time on there, and believe it or not, I actually think it would make me grumpy. 

The last few days have been glorious without FACEBOOK in my life every hour, or so! Oh my yes, I just admitted that! A bit of  facebook junkie I was, as Jordan called me!


My goal right now with my juice fast is as follows:

Juice for as many days as I can. By Wednesday I will see how I am doing. Wednesday will be day 6, I might even go till Thursday and then break my fast Friday night with a properly combined dinner. I've learned how to trick myself through the day into being full and happy till dinner and also how to make properly combined eating not soooooooo stressful.

Why didn't I include anyone on this fast?
1.) Natalia did a call about how it can be dangerous for people who haven't been juicing for at least a few months to jump into a juice fast. SOOOOO from now on I will only include those that have participated with me in the past/or are juicing every day.

2.) I needed to be selfish on this one. I needed it to be as low on the stress levels as possible. I wanted to really focus on me and my family and what is going on around me and readjust some things. 

3.) Lose 10 to 15 lbs. and jump start my metabolism again.


After my juice fast is over, I am going to really work on combining properly my meals at night, always starting my meal with a huge salad and finishing it before eating any food on my plate, and while properly combining, juicing till mid afternoon, like 2:30pm or 3:00pm.

I will try to post yummy things as I go that might interest some of you.

Lastly, if you've tried juicing and it isn't your bag, please give smoothies a try. I'm not talking about an oreo smoothie but Kimberly Snyder's smoothie. Go here to try her recipe!

WHO doesn't want to have those legs, that shining skin, and glowing hair? ME ME ME! :)

It is filling and gives you a great amount of fiber and tastes good! Just make sure you use the fruit asked and LOTS OF ICE or it will not taste good! ( I love to add pineapple! Do not pay more than $1.50 for a pineapple. You are being taken if you do. Smell the pineapple, if it smells ripe it is a good one. If it smells like it is starting to rot do not buy it. It is ripe when it smells ripe and you can easily pull one of the leaves out of the stem. When you are ready to cut the pineapple, rip off the top and put it upside down in your fridge. This helps the sugars to go from the bottom of the pineapple and be dispersed to the rest of it. Then place on your cutting board and shave off the sides, with it standing up right. Hope that helps your pineapple adventures! This is a great tutorial.)