Keeping track

Today was adventurous! The kids and I were home together as hubby had a class to attend. We enjoyed some time just sitting out on our back deck basking in the glorious sunshine! After a couple of hours of that we decided we needed a bit more adventure and headed out the door for some geocaching. Out of the 3 we looked for we found 1. We still had a great time!

Today was a good day food wise, I thought about how glad I am that I am back to eating! :)

Breakfast:
hash brown potatoes with onions diced up
London Fog tea, that was a wonderful treat!


Lunch:
Green smoothie, consisted of about 2 cups of kale, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup banana, flax meal, soy milk and water, it was filling but not sustaining.

Snack:
Mexican brown rice and beans
Apple with soy nut butter

Dinner:
Salmon patty
Frozen french fries
salad with an avocado dressing, tomatoes and cucumbers

I ate too much at dinner. Darn it. I irritate myself sometimes. Honestly I was not even hungry for dinner, but everyone was eating so I did too. What was I thinking? I did head out for a 20 minute walk....not sure how much it helped, but I am glad I did it. Now...we are having guests for dinner tomorrow night, what will dinner be???

FOOD!

Well...today is officially a food day again. I am glad I did not try to struggle through 10 days of juice fasting...the 4 I did were PLENTY! I did however stick to the plan of juicing during the daytime meals and eating a plant based dinner each evening. It worked out great!

So, my meals listing here will be pretty boring but I will give you the highlights of my dinner entrees each evening. I have them pinned on pinterest and these are the photos from the blogs I gleaned the recipes from. I will include a link to the blog as well.

Dinner on Tuesday night was a homemade vegetable soup...and if I do say so myself, it came out fantastic! Basically I just sauteed up some onions, carrots, zuchinni (green and yellow), and garlic. I then filled up the crockpot with water, added in a can of organic tomatoes chopped up some sweet potatoes and I put in about a cup and a half of organic sprouted wild rice and quiona (that had already been cooked). Let it simmer all day on low.  It was perfect. I made so much it made for quick and filling lunches too.

Wednesday night was Vegetarian Shepherds pie.

Found this on a super fun blog called "The Shiksa in the Kitchen" . Go and check it out, you will enjoy her style, humor and fabulous recipes! I doubled this recipe and so glad I did! It makes great leftovers for lunches. Next time I think I will add in a little bbq sauce or liquid smoke to the lentil mixture. This was filling and felt like comfort food. Perfect and healthy.

For breakfast this morning I had a green smoothie instead of a juice. It was quite good!

You can find this recipe at Zoey's Kitchen. I am looking to incorporate more kale into my daily diet. I think smoothies are a great way to do that. I was concerned our little magic bullet wouldn't have enough umph to get the job done, but I was WRONG! It made this smoothie perfectly! I am just thrilled with that little mixer!

 Check out this video clip to find out why kale is just so incredible for your body!





Tonight dinner is a meat dish! We have not had any meat for two weeks! We are hoping to cut back our meat consumption to just a couple of nights per week....which we really only ate it about 3-4 nights a week before, so this is not a huge change for us. For tonight we will be having Blackened Chicken and Cilantro Lime Quinoa, on the side will be asparagus and probably some sauteed chard as well. We will also indulge in some dessert tonight...although I am not sure what that will be! Hopefully I will keep up the posting on this little blog sharing my fun food finds and lessons I learn about eating and cooking with lots of fruits and veggies!
Shabbat Shalom!

Juice Fast...nearly over

Whew! I am eating food again! Scott and I juice fasted from Friday until Sunday night...when Scott decided he could not do it all week long. We both did OK over the weekend, but Scott was feeling weak and had a headache and just didn't feel like he could work a regular shift of physical labor on so few calories. That kinda took the wind out of my sails. I felt like giving up. However, Scott then said, he wanted to commit to plant based meals for the rest of the week as well as still drinking the mean green juice. Monday morning I received a text from Scott...."Don't quit". It was perfect. I decided to continue juicing all day and have a light dinner each night with the family. That was the perfect compromise. I did have some troubles anyway on Monday morning I felt very lightheaded and broke out in a rash, after a call to my doctor she recommended I add in a bit of food each day. Perfect! We have also decided we would eat chicken for the sabbath. We have not had any meat of any kind for nearly two weeks. So....what will erev shabbat dinner be? I don't know, but I am looking forward to it!

I am glad we tried the juice fast and thankful for friends who did it with us...however they were way more successful than we were. They made it the full 10 day goal we had set. I am really proud of them, they did fantastic!

I will say that I find I have more energy, I wake up much easier and I no longer find I am slumping from 3-4 in the afternoon. I also have energy at night after dinner, which is fantastic! I plan to incorporate green smoothies into my regular diet, as well as many more plant based meals and less meats. The big change will be less sugar, which I apparently have a terrible addiction to. I will have to learn to save those treats for sabbath and no more than that. I am currently looking into recipes and blogs that will help me with this new goal.

oh...did I mention I lost 4 pounds in the last few days? Wahoo! :)

Day 4

Day 4...was good! So far I am for the most part enjoying this revised way of eating. Here is the breakdown:

Breakfast:
Oatmeal cooked with water, added in fresh strawberries and flax meal.
I thought it would not be sweet enough, but to my  surprise the strawberries added just the right amount of sweet!

Snack:
Appple

Lunch:
Leftover spaghetti squash, brown rice noodles and sauce with kale.

Dinner:
Chili with tempeh (it was also loaded with carrots, onions and celery)...first time trying it. Quite good, didn't even really notice it. The whole family said they liked it better than tofu and it is MUCH better for you as it is fermented. Adds a LOT of protein, 20 grams per serving! We did have a little fun last night as we added in some oven baked french fries to go with our chili. YUM!

Snack:
Cereal mix with strawberries and soy milk
Plain popcorn and tea

Still feeling good, although I noticed yesterday I was sleepy at around 3-4 o clock. Not sure why...although I did not get enough sleep after Weds morning being up so early for Jordans class. Feeling good today though! We are starting our juice cleanse today, so...I am not sure how much I will be posting over this week...we end next Saturday. You will see me then if not before!

Day 3

 PICTURES! So, day 3...tonight I have a headache. It came on suddenly...I think it is sinus....well on to our meals! For breakfast (above) I cheated a little, at least I think it is a cheat, but I made frozen hash brown potatoes. I did add in bell peppers and onion to boost the veggie count. I made them in a fry pan, without oil They turned out great!

This was dinner, sorry the picture kind of stinks, I had my itouch with me and that is how I got this picture. Not the best....but the dinner was actually quite good. We made spring rolls with a dipping sauce and brown rice on the side. Wholesome? Yes! Happy family? Not so much. Scott and I enjoyed these, but the kids were not as keen on them. Trial and error...that's ok, they were total troopers eating their dinner, but this won't be on the redo list for the family. I would totally make this for lunch or for dinner for just the hubby and myself.

Breakfast:
hash brown potatoes, onions and peppers
banana

Workout today! Mean ole Jillian Michaels kick my booty DVD

Snack:
apple

Lunch:
Leftover spaghetti, brown rice noodles, spaghetti squash and sauce with kale

Snack:
Marys Gone Crackers
1/2 an avocado...feeling like I was lacking in some protein or fat or something....it certainly helped

Dinner:
Spring rolls and dipping sauce with brown rice topped with cilantro and green onions

Snack:
 Oatmeal blueberry bar, tea

I was up super early today, that could have something to do with this headache, in addition, I woke up too early and could not fall back asleep. Thankfully I did, but I think it left me a bit "off" today. 

Day 2

I probably should offer an update to yesterdays post, after I wrote out my meals for the day, I ended up being hungry in the evening and ate a bowl of cereal mix with berries and soy milk. It was just right...I also did so by 8pm, as I am trying to not eat within 3 hours of going to bed. SUCCESS!

For today, I am still feeling good, had a pretty busy day, but feel quite productive despite outside commitments. After running some errands, I came home, made a wholesome lunch (more about that later), ironed clothing, cleaned up around the house, hung curtains and did some laundry. It's 3:30 now and I am not having my mid-afternoon slump! WAHOO!

So, our meals today are coming out like this:

Breakfast:
Cereal, berries and soy milk. This one is quick and easy....
Banana

Snack:
Fruit leather

Lunch:
Bokchoy soup, I got the recipe here: Bok Choy Soup
For myself I mix it up a bit nearly everytime I make it! For today I boiled some water with the harder parts of the baby bok choy chopped up in it, and grated in some ginger (tip! Freeze your ginger, it lasts for a long time and grates even easier!), I then added in the tops of the bokchoy and rice noodles, cooked until noodles were done. In a bowl I poured in a tsp of sesame oil, added the soup and topped with sprouts, cilantro and green onions and splashed in soy sauce to taste, SO YUMMY!

Snack:
Smoothie with powdered greens
Oatmeal blueberry bar

Dinner:
Spaghetti:
Jarred sauce (low fat), kale chopped fine and added to sauce, serve over brown rice noodles and spaghetti squash. Since it is unleavened bread we will have garlic spelt matzah on the side, which I slathered with oil-free roasted garlic, super nummy. :)

Snack:
Bowl of strawberries and kiwis cut up topped with chia seeds. Still feel hungry tonight...but I think I will just stop since it is getting late and I am going to be pretty soon.



For Scott I packed him: soy yogurt, berry oat bar, builder bar, whole grain wrap with avocado, hummus, pumpkin seeds, sprouts, lettuce and tomatoes, cashews, macaroni salad. It seems to be enough food at this point, although he was quite hungry when he got home, but a smoothie with raw protein powder did the job.

I saw my doctor today and she is very excited about us trying this out. I am hoping to see changes for me both physically and emotionally. At the suggestion of one of my health care providers I am reading the book "The Ultramind Solution". It is lining up quite nicely with our diet plan for now...perhaps I will be adding in some of the recommended supplements as I learn more. For now, I am just sticking with our current plan and seeing how things go. For Scott, I am hoping he will see a reduction in general pain...and perhaps help him to feel happier and more peaceful as well. From what I am learning in the book, we are generally more stressed by our food choices, as they directly effect our brain! Very interesting stuff, I highly recommend even though I am only on the 4th chapter right now. Hope it stays this good!

Well, off to take my nighttime supplements, get in a little reading before heading off to bed. Good night!

Genesis 1:29

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

For years I have had an interest in nutrition as well as holistic health and healing. I feel overall we have had a pretty good diet, although my husband and I both felt we could add a lot more veggies to our daily menu. For myself, I have always had strong cravings for sugary foods as well as baked goods, something I seem to struggle and fight with on a daily basis...and I say struggle because these cravings make it quite difficult to lose weight and also maintain my healthy weight.

About a year ago I came down with a serious sinus infection, it seemed to come on practically overnight. I had a fever and was quite sick. This was the first one I had contracted in years and was not happy about it. I saw my naturopath a few weeks in since I could not seem to clear it and she put me on several different herbals to help clear it, they helped but I was still left feeling not well. In addition to the infection I began having lightheadness, foggy brain, fatigue, I would sometimes experience bouts of dizziness which all led to bringing back anxiety, a condition I had struggled with years ago and felt, for the most part, I had conquered. Frustratingly it came back and was awful. I made another appointment with my naturopath, and she recommended I have a blood draw to determine food allergies, which I happily did. Turns out several things showed up on my results and after clearing and testing them, turns out I actually have some food allergies! Top of my list is eggs, which was my main source of protein since I am not a big meat eater. I ate a LOT of eggs. Wheat also seems to give me some troubles as well, and I am still not sure about the dairy.

Well, over the course of all of these food issues, I ran across several videos on Netflix. First I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Wow, what a life transformation! INCREDIBLE and inspiring! I followed that with Forks over Knives and Engine 2 diet. I was definitely intrigued....but seemed too hard, especially with a family. I asked my husband to view these movies as well and to my blissful surprise he was on board! He suffers with chronic pain and is looking for relief from that, as well as not using over the counter pain medications on a regular basis. He takes ibuprofen and is not a fan of putting that in his body regularly.  So, together we decided we would take a journey with our diets.

Since Passover was approaching and we needed to clear our home of leaven, we decided this would be a good opportunity to try out the diet. So, as we are experiencing this week of unleavened bread, our journey has begun and today is DAY ONE!

Welcome to our journey!

As we go along, I am hoping to write about our experience, share our meal plans and document some photos...hoping for some good before and after shots. Make that GREAT after shots!

Meal plan 4/9

Breakfast:
Cereal mix, soy milk, strawberries and raisins 
(Note, my cereal mix had to be modified because I am currently not eating wheat, so my mix contains: cheerios, organic puffed brown rice cereal, rice chex, flax meal), green tea

Snack: banana

Lunch:
Pasta salad: brown rice pasta, homemade soy mayo, broccoli slaw, bell pepper
Smoothie: mixed berries, frozen banana, greens powder
caffeine free earl grey tea

Snack: apple fruit leather

Dinner:
Tostadas, corn tortillas, baked at 425 for 10 minutes (came out perfect!)
Refried (fat free) pinto beans with salsa mixed in
Sprouts
Tomatoes
Avocado

Interestingly, I noticed for just being my first day, I did not feel hungry at any point. I also noticed at around 3 I was not in a crazed raid of my kitchen looking for something sugary to keep me awake...nor did I feel like flopping on the couch in hopes of catching a few zzzzz's. Instead I went outside and weeded the garden! Not a bad start! I am looking forward to where this leads....

Oh, in case you are looking for ideas for packable lunches, I pack my husbands breakfast/lunch everyday , so here is todays menu:
Soy yogurt, banana, whole wheat wrap with jalapeno hummus, sprouts, pumpkin seeds, tomatoes inside, builder bar (not exactly on plan, but he works in a physical field and needs the boost),  spiced cashews, pasta salad