Modern Daisy Hippee

Yesterday w=142.5 / bf=31%
Today w=142

On day 2, I basically duplicated my food from day 1. For dinner, I had some Thai peanut cabbage spring rolls. I also had some almonds & cashews to snack on. I didn’t feel like the green smoothie yesterday morning so I had rye flakes first, then later had the smoothie.

No smoothie today. Breakfast was cooked rye flakes & lunch was quinoa cakes with yogurt sauce. That was basically satisfying. I think I’ll have whole wheat pasta for dinner. I’ll either have it with the leftover butternut squash soup as sauce or some leftover jarred pasta sauce.

I did some stretching yesterday. My back muscles still feel sore, although not so much.

Parachute fabric for my yoga swing arrived too. More on that later… I have to be sure it works out before I say too much about it, right?

I’m still doing fine with no caffeine… yippee! I did have some oatmeal… actually cooked rye flakes, which winds up tasting much the same as oatmeal. I added a few sliced almonds, cinnamon & a bit of raw honey.

For lunch I decided to use up some of this butternut squash from the garden. I roasted one for about half an hour. Then I sauteed some leeks in olive oil, added a cup or so of water, cut the squash in 1″ chunks & added that. I let it simmer for about an hour, then blended the squash with some of the liquid & put it back in the pan, stirred it together with nutmeg, salt & pepper to taste.

I thought grilled cheese would go wonderfully with this soup & didn’t want to eat regular bread. I made sort of a crepe pancake… 1 egg, about 1 cup whole wheat flour, about 1/4 tsp baking soda, about 1/2 cup milk & a bit of water to thin. I didn’t really measure anything so that’s why “about” (I’m guessing how much I used). I heated a pan with just a bit of olive oil, poured in the batter & spread fairly thin. I cooked 2 pancakes, then put feta & cheddar cheese in between, grilling each side until browned. The “recipe” would make about 4 pancakes.

It tasted great & gave a gourmet touch to comfort food. The soup was creamy & thick. I thought it would also be great as a pasta sauce. I’m sure I’ll do that with some of the leftovers by adding some Italian herbs. Heck, maybe I’ll do that for dinner.

Case study for what?

I’ve been lax in my dietary considerations. It’s coming through in how my muscles feel, as well as my weight. I’ve been stretching, although alone that doesn’t seem to be cutting it.

I need to get back on track with my eating, continue stretching/yoga and maybe some other activity. The main correction is with what I’m putting in my body. I’m getting back to the diligence I had a while ago.

Today (morning)… W=145 /BF=31%

For breakfast, I had a green smoothie. I used frozen mixed fruit (I know, that’s taboo… it’s much more convenient though & I need some practicality here), mustard greens from the garden & organic baby spinach (from the store… hasn’t really come into the garden yet), a little flax seed & about a Tb raw honey. I didn’t use a lot of greens because I wanted to be able to drink it. The spinach isn’t very strong tasting, however the mustard greens can be. Their smell is strong for sure.

I wanted the greens because it’s supposed to be good for muscle health & flexibility. That’s what I’m going for. I’ll probably have some oatmeal also because the smoothie isn’t super filling. So far, I haven’t made coffee. We’ll see how that goes. I don’t want a caffeine withdrawal headache.

Step One to getting my body back!!!

I cleaned out my pantry to purge any “bad” foods.  Mainly I’m looking at “toxic” additives.  Ideally, I’m looking to keep only foods that are whole or close to whole.  I want some convenience, so I’m not eliminating canned and packaged products altogether.

As it turns out, the pantry wasn’t too bad.  I had some crackers that, of course, had partially hydrogenated oil in them.  The surprise is that refried beans also have partially hydrogenated oil.  I’m not a big fan of refried beans anymore, however I used to eat bean burritos all the time.  They were convenient and I thought, healthy.  That just goes to show you that you don’t know what you don’t know.  Anyone can think they’re eating healthy and not be.  I’m thinking of all the bean burritos I’ve eaten and how that translates to the amount of partially hydrogenated oil I’ve consumed in my life.  Of course, I’ve eaten many other things that I’d consider pseudo-food because of this ingredient.

I have pretzels and dried fruits in my pantry also.  These were intended as healthy snacks.  I thought I’d find additives that are unacceptable by my new “whole” standards.  I was happy to find that they really aren’t too bad.  Especially the “Craisins”, which I love…  just cranberries and sugar!  Yippee!!!  I can still have those with no concerns.

Canned chicken broth is not ideal.  As it turns out, there’s a bunch of sugar in it.  In fact, it’s listed several different ways…  sugar, dextrose, etc.  Swanson’s adds claim there is no MSG in their chicken broth, however there is something listed as “chicken flavor”.  I don’t know what that means.  Usually when a label lists “natural flavor” or something along those lines, to my knowledge, it’s the same as MSG.  So, that’s a little perplexing and I’m going to look into it further.

The instant oatmeal isn’t too bad, however I want to use more whole products, so I’m getting rid of the last few packages of that.  The granola and breakfast bars are also going.  Some have partially hydrogenated oils, so that’s a no brainer as far as I’m concerned.  Others just have lots of sugar and other non-whole stuff.

So, if you’re wondering what the big deal is about “partially hydrogenated” stuff, I’ll write a separate post about that & link to it from here when it’s done.  For now, I’ll just say it’s what you might call a “pseudo” food and not “whole”.  The chemical structure of it is not compatible with our bodies.  It essentially becomes toxic.  Unfortunately, it’s in a LOT of stuff.

I keep saying that I’d like to look the way I did when I was 20.  In the past 10 years, I’ve put on a few pounds.  I’d say I’m still “average” and not visibly over weight by most standards.  I haven’t been happy with how I look for a while though.

So, this afternoon I dug out my old prom dress for someone to borrow for a theme party they’re going to.  I was curious to find out if it would still fit me.  Not even close!  It’s hard to imagine how I could have grown so much that I couldn’t even zip it.

It reminded me of a suit I still have that fit me only 10 years ago.  I’ve kept it because I figure it’s totally feasible to expect it will fit me again.  I pulled that out too so I could see how far I have to go before it will.  The skirt has such a tiny waist (26″), I find it hard to believe I ever actually fit into it.  Yet, I know I did.  And it’s not like I was a “child” at the time.  I was 30 years old!  There’s no reason for me not to be that size again!!!

Here’s the bottom line.  I have decided I am going to fit into it again and I’m going to do it by being diligent about going totally natural.  I’m also going to work out and be more active, of course.

I’ve been moving toward going more natural lately.  It’s much more difficult than you would imagine.  Part of the problem is that it’s actually hard to find anything prepared that’s all natural.  I’m talking about things like bread.  I can cook with fresh foods instead of processed.  I can find organic meat and veggies, with a little effort and I’m growing my own organic veggies.  It’s funny (ironic) that it’s so difficult to find food that’s actually FOOD.

The trick to succeeding at this will be to have a plan and making sure I always have the right kinds of foods handy, without always having to prepare and cook something.  That means planning ahead and preparing things ahead of time.  I especially need to be sure I have prepared some things for snacks.  You know, breakfast seems to be the most challenging meal.

I’m thinking one strategy I’ll use is to prep the ingredients for several entree recipes and assemble them so all I have to do is the cooking when I’m ready to go.  In the past I’ve done something like that, freezing meats in pre-portioned packages with a marinade.  That made it much more handy to fix dinners.  I’ll just take that to another level.

Things like bread and tortillas will be tricky.  I’ve done flatbreads and tortillas, which just never seem to turn out quite right.  Practice makes perfect though, right!

Well, that’s my general plan.  Hello 26″ waist…  Here I come!!!