Day # 3

Hello!

Another good day! Lunch was late today but when we finally had it, it was sooo good! It was the leftover Cantonese chicken. For some reason today my water intake SUCKED!!! I will definitely have to make a point to drink more during the day tomorrow.

As for supper tonight, it was a meatless dish called Quesadilla torte...SOOO YUMMY! Basically you take some onion and green or red or yellow pepper...whatever you like and sautee them until they are soft. Then you add some beans. I chose a canned six bean blend. Ideally I would like to use real beans but I need to learn how to cook with them first. Anyhow, then you add some frozen corn. In a spring form pan you put a tortilla on the bottom then some of the bean mix, some salsa and cheese. You repeat until you have 4 layers and on top you brush the final tortilla with some olive oil and cheese and bake it. If you try this, make sure to cut the tortilla into pie pieces and form it back together, it worked well! Mike and Meg also make some freshly squeezed OJ to go along with supper. It was SOOOO tasty!

This evening, our family spent some time in the backyard. Our lil one jumped on the trampoline to entertain us and Mike and I tossed a ball around. We tried to toss the ball fast enough to get a bit of a workout and it worked well. Tonight I may make myself a fruit smoothie as a dessert. That sounds yummy. Well, that is all for today! Your challenge...Pick a meatless dish to make, experiment you just may be surprised! Take care!

Day # 2

Hi Again! It is day two of our new change. Today seemed to be just as easy. Breakfast was....Interesting. I had made some whole wheat blueberry and raspberry muffins and put them in the freezer so I could just pull them out when we needed them. I don't know what went wrong with them...Maybe I left them out too long before freezing them and the berries went bad but the muffins were HORRIBLE! LOL! That is alright though! We ate around the berries and had additional fruit with it! We had some almonds later for snacks and for lunch we ate leftover Mac N Cheese along with a side tossed salad....FILLING! Also the Mac N Cheese was good the second day!!

Our supper tonight is pictured above. Cantonese chicken, basmati rice, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and sauteed red, yellow, orange peppers with onion. It was so tasty and I made enough for leftovers tomorrow! I am looking forward to it. :)

As for exercise it was tougher today. We managed to walk a bit but the weather is very threatening.

My family and I have not been hungry at all and we don't feel deprived of anything as of yet. I am not missing pop or sugary drinks or candy! WOW! Could it be because I have cut sugar out of our diets? I really think so! I find that if I want a dessert or candy (which I have not yet, fruit will be enough). I am feeling really good. I know that I am feeding my family properly and it just feels so right! There are so many benefits to eating better and getting active! I can't wait until I can report how these changes have affected our health! Until tomorrow...instead of that ice cream to cool you down grab a few strawberries, or other fruit on hand with some ice cubes, throw it in the blender and enjoy a refreshing, healthy treat! :)

Day # 1

Here I am with one whole day of eating healthy under my belt (dare I say smaller belt?) Ok so it wouldn't be THAT quick but lets just say that I stepped on the scale this morning (poor thing...) and did NOT like what I saw. I am happy to begin this venture.

It was REALLY tough to begin to today as I am not feeling well at all! I have a sore throat and I have been fighting a fever all day. I think it was because of lack of sleep and the fact that I had 10 kids over yesterday for our now four year old's birthday party. The kids didn't make me sick (well I don't think anyways) but I think it was because it was STINKING HOT (33 degrees Celsius) and I was running in and out of our air conditioned house. I think the temp. change plus the lack of sleep finally caught up with me. I am sure the added stress of work doesn't help either. God will win, Yes He will...HOWEVER, I will say that today was a great success! Here is why:

It would have been so easy to grab a bowl of sugary cereal but we managed to have some plain yogurt and fruit for breakfast. I tried to eat it without sweetener but decided to try it with some pure Maple Syrup...YUMMY! I had some ginger mint tea with it as well. I think I would need more substance in the morning...Maybe a protein so I added a few almonds and that seemed to help (I ate maybe 2 or three). For lunch we went out and I had a delicious bowl of homemade beef vegetable soup and a side garden salad (which I took home because I was too full). After I got home from a tough day at the office, I decided to make a meatless meal because I was missing one ingredient for my Cantonese chicken. I made Gourmet Mac N Cheese. If I was up to it and knew how...I would post the link to the recipe. Just check on Hospitality Haven's blog for the recipe she is on my blog list! This was the first time I used coconut milk for anything and I have to say that I smiled when I opened it, tasted it, and cooked with it! I felt I was somewhere exotic, somewhere tropical. I had a wonderful feeling, It just felt good. The picture you see is our actual meal. The Mac N Cheese was made with coconut milk (as mentioned) but sprinkled on top are bread crumbs and cheese. The veggies were locally grown and bought from a farmers market, except the spinach unfortunately. I LOVVVVE fresh veggies! With being sick, we still managed to get in some exercise. Our lil one rode her bike and we all walked for 1/2 an hour. On the walk I told my dear hubby that I think we will do well! I think so because it could have been SOOOO easy to start tomorrow instead of today because of how we are feeling but we decided to stick to the plan and I feel GREAT (well, I don't physically but I do about our new life!)...I even have our breakfast prepped and in the fridge ready for tomorrow and our supper is marinating in the fridge. I am sure you will hear about that tomorrow. OH and I drank my quota of water today! Go Me!!

Well this was a long post/day so I am going to now sit down with a bowl of air popped, buttered (sans salt), sprinkled with herb and garlic sea salt (YUMMY) popcorn and enjoy some mindless entertainment. Have you tried something new and healthy lately?

A New Direction

Hello Blogger Friends!

Well, as promised I am here to tell you about the new direction that my family is taking. This new direction will affect our health and well being....For the BETTER! We are taking up a challenge that a friend has given to us. Beginning August 9th, Our challenge will be to eat better. We are to eat only wholesome foods. This means nothing processed, nothing full of grease or sugar. We are doing away with that harmful salt and we have replaced it with sea salt (which we prefer anyway). This challenge looks awesome! I feel so much better already just preparing for it! Yesterday I cleaned out my pantry as instructed. I packed up two laundry baskets FULL of the foods that our family is to stay away from. These foods included: canned meats, canned soups, KD, packaged soups, iced tea and other drinks full of chemicals. As I was packing up the pantry and taking note of the ingredients listed on the side of the boxes or cans, my eyes grew big and I was shocked at the amount of junk that I was willing to feed my family. I didn't often use that food because I prefer to cook fresh but I was amazed that I had that much processed food in my house!

So why the change? Because I am ready. Recently I was diagnosed with PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome) you can google it if you wish. Basically it means that it would be tough for me to conceive again without some sort of treatments, rapid weight gain with it being hard to lose which can lead to more serious diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, bad cholesterol (high or low) etc...! There is more to this disease but that is the short of it. I have decided that with Gods help, I will be healthy in order to serve him better and longer!!! I am passionate about my health and I am ready to take control. THAT is why I have accepted this healthy lifestyle change. I don't like calling it a diet because it really isn't. It is a lifestyle change. I am re-learning how to choose healthier food and I am re-learning how to take the time to care for myself and my family by preparing proper meals. Also, my three year old will learn at an early age how to choose healthier foods and meals. She has been involved with the grocery shopping and the baking. I intend on allowing her to help prepare all the meals she wants! She has enjoyed making our Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins that we will eat for breakfast along with fresh fruit (instead of sugar we used real maple syrup). We also made Chocolate Chip Oatmeal cookies...Again, no sugar. Both were VERY YUMMY!!! If you would like the recipes just let me know. :)

Anyhow, as for blogging I will be sharing my journey of this change of lifestyle. I will tell the truth...the good the bad and the UGLY! I will share my thoughts and feelings about all of the changes and I will hopefully be able to post a picture of myself that hopefully will grow smaller and smaller each week! I am sure I will have other posts about life as well. My hope is that you will join me in this journey and the odd time I may challenge you as well! For now...Here is YOUR challenge...Go to your cupboards and take a box or can from it. Now...READ THE INGREDIENTS! Pay particular attention to the serving size and then look at the sodium content and other harmful ingredients that are in it. So far I have really learned that if you can't pronounce the name...STAY AWAY! :) Here's to a new direction and a healthy life!

I am Still Here

Hi!

I just thought I would let my faithful readers know that I am still here...Just on holidays. I plan on sharing more about our trip when I get home in a few weeks. For those who don't know, we are in the Yukon and we are enjoying the midnight sun! What an experience but like I said I will tell you more about this journey later. We are Alaska bound here in a few days and then we are going camping with our good friends the Howards. So I will fill you in when I return.

I also wanted to let you know that when I get back my blog may look a bit different (content wise) for a while as I have accepted an interesting and exciting challenge from my friend Alison http://alison.blogsome.com/ again you will hear more about that when I return. Until then, I will "see" you later! Thanks for still following me. :)