Andrea's Wellness Notes

Food Thoughts

2013-05-20T03:00:00.000-07:00

More Planning

With the Conscious Cleanse starting in two weeks, I am trying to get more organized again when it comes to food. The premise of the cleanse is to eat unprocessed, real food. The cleanse food is simple, but I found last time that I do need to prepare or things get difficult.

Before I did the cleanse in January and confirmed (by eliminating and reintroducing) that I don’t do well with wheat, eggs, and yeast, a quick meal was often a slice of whole grain, dark bread with cheese and vegetables or seasoned rice with an over-easy egg. Obviously, these foods don’t work anymore.

These days, a quick meal is often cut up veggies with some smashed avocado (no tomatoes during the cleanse) or some nut “cheeze.”

Several years ago, I bought Ani's Raw Food Kitchen and enjoyed reading it, but I never really made anything from it (but the book inspired me to eat more raw foods, and I made quite a few zucchini noodles at the time...)

In January I started making several of the nut “cheezes” from the book and really enjoyed them. In the book, Ani has numerous suggested uses for the “cheezes,” but I just eat them with carrot sticks and cucumber and bell pepper slices. I look forward to trying more of the recipes in the book soon; they sound great and are really not difficult (just different.)

Yesterday I spent time in the kitchen and made some food for the week:

Carrot soup, based on the recipe from the Conscious Cleanse book
Mixed grains
Sautéed mushrooms
Sautéed bok choy
Cashew nut cheeze from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen
Roasted Brussels sprouts
Carrot sticks and cucumber and bell pepper slices
Cucumber salad

Having the fridge filled with healthy, real food makes me feel good.

Eating Out and Parties

Eating out and going to parties has changed since I don’t eat wheat and eggs anymore. I have to say that I have had a bite of bread here and there and I have also had a sip of hubby’s beer once in a while. But the discomfort that follows these small bites and sips is really not worth it at all.

When I know that I won’t eat a meal at home, I try to plan ahead as much as I can. I always carry some nuts and/or trail mix in my purse, so if there is nothing else I can eat, there are always the nuts.

If we go to a party, I try to bring a dish that I can eat. Often that turns out to be a salad. Because I usually can’t eat quite a few of the dishes at parties, I actually am “forced” to socialize more, which is a good thing! Parties should really be about the people and not so much about the food…

We don’t eat out very often, and when we do, we usually go to a restaurant we are familiar with, and I know what I can and cannot eat there. In the rare instance that we go to a new restaurant, I try to check out the menu online before we go. I have also become much better about asking about ingredients, etc. I don’t want to be a pain to eat with, but I have found that it’s often no problem for the kitchen to slightly modify a dish. I even managed to eat out one meal while I did the Conscious Cleanse in January, and numerous of the other cleansers ate out for quite a few meals.

Questions: What’s on your menu this week? What are your eating out strategies? Have your ever experimented with raw food? If so, how did you like it? What's your favorite raw food recipe?

Be well,
Andrea

Weekend Fun and Another Cleanse

2013-05-14T04:39:00.000-07:00

We had a nice Mother’s Day weekend.

On Saturday, the older kid came to visit, and we had a good time going out to lunch at a Korean restaurant, playing basketball, and hanging out at home.

On Sunday, I started the day with an early morning barre class, and then we headed to Happy Hollow.

More Cleansing

I decided to sign up for another Conscious Cleanse. The Conscious Cleanse I did in January was a very positive experience, and I continued many of the positive habits I developed during the cleanse.

Here are some of the things I continued after the cleanse:

No coffee. I know coffee has numerous health benefits and many people are able to drink one or two cups a day without problems. However, my coffee consumption gets easily out of hand, and I don’t want to go back to that place. Giving up caffeine was by far the hardest thing during the last cleanse, and I am looking forward to not having to go through withdrawal this time around!
Start the day with 32 ounces of warm lemon water. Since the cleanse in January, I missed only one day of warm lemon water. I truly look forward to my warm lemon water every morning.
Start the day with a green smoothie most days. I really enjoy my green smoothies. On days I don’t have a green smoothie in the morning, I usually have one later in the day.
Eat quite a few Conscious Cleanse meals. I still make vegetables the center of my meals. Most days, I have a very green smoothie and also eat a big salad with some protein. I also frequently make recipes from the Conscious Cleanse book.
Still don’t eat the foods I discovered I’m sensitive to: eggs, wheat, and yeast, and I feel so much better because of it. Cutting out these foods truly changed my life and the “issues” I had attributed to my gallstones are gone.

So why did I decide to do another cleanse? And why am I not doing it on my own?

Ever since the last cleanse ended, I wanted to do another one because I felt really good eating only the best foods for my body and leaving out the “extras.” While I still eat very similarly to the way I ate during the cleanse, there are some things that snuck back into my diet that I would like to limit again (and cut out during the cleanse): ketchup and other condiments (mainly sriracha and Korean hot pepper paste – all of them contain quite a bit of sugar and other “not-so-good” ingredients), dairy, and rice-based snack foods.

One of the reasons I decided to do another group cleanse is because the time to do a cleanse is never “perfect.” Signing up for the group cleanse (which starts on June 3, with five transition days before that) “forces” me to do it.

After reading the book and doing the Conscious Cleanse once, I know I have enough knowledge to do the cleanse on my own. However, I was really surprised last time by how much I appreciated and looked forward to the support the group cleanse provided: the daily emails (which focus not only on food and drink choices but also on general well being), the Facebook group, and the teleseminars. It really made the whole experience effortless, and doing the cleanse felt very self-indulgent and almost like a mini vacation (even though I was not on vacation!).

This time hubby is going to do the cleanse with me (well he said he’d “try”), and I am looking forward to doing it together! I am also looking forward to juicing more. In January, I mainly made smoothies and didn’t juice much. Now that it’s warm and more affordable produce is available, I look forward to lots of juice during the cleanse.

If you are curious about the cleanse, there is a live call tonight in which the creators of the cleanse, Jules and Jo, answer questions. Here is the info:

Date: Tuesday May 14th at 7pm MST.
You can either dial in using the number (206) 402-0100 enter pin 393898#
Or listen and ask questions online via the web by clicking on the following link: http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=41319777 (I believe the recorded call will also be available the day after.)

Questions: What was the highlight of your weekend? What have you recently cleaned up? Are you changing what you are eating now that the weather is getting warmer? What’s your favorite juice combo?

Be well,
Andrea

[Full Disclosure: I paid for the June Conscious Cleanse with my own money (at a reduced rate that is available to all repeat cleansers). The above links are affiliate links, so if you sign up for the cleanse using one of the links, I will earn a fee.]

New Breakfast & Weekend Fun

2013-05-06T05:54:00.001-07:00

Since I did the Conscious Cleanse in January, I have been having a green smoothie for breakfast pretty much every day. Before the cleanse, I had a green smoothie once in a while, but during the cleanse I got used to starting every day with plenty of greens. In addition to providing the body with lots of nutrients, greens (because of the nutrients) are supposed to help with food cravings. I didn’t have any cravings during the cleanse, which actually surprised me a bit (because I couldn’t eat quite a few foods I normally eat), and I still feel great starting the day with a green smoothie.

My smoothies are similar most days, but I do make sure to rotate the greens I use. Here is what my basic smoothie looks like:

A small banana (or half a banana)
Plenty of greens (spinach, kale, Swiss chard, etc.)
Hemp seeds
Frozen fruit (peaches, strawberries, blueberries, mango, etc.)
A little stevia, if I use little fruit
Water

While I love my smoothies, I also know that variety is good when it comes to food. Plus, it’s not always possible to make a smoothie as I teach some very early classes and sometimes (although not often!), the kid is still sleeping by the time I leave well before seven (and I don’t want to wake him up). While I don’t always eat first thing in the morning, I do eat something in the morning on teaching days. If I don’t have a smoothie, I usually have a banana, plain yogurt (sometimes with a few vanilla stevia drops) and walnuts for breakfast.

Last month, Jessie at Happiness in Health posted about a breakfast she had on a trip to Switzerland and that had become a favorite of hers: Bircher Muesli. It’s basically a version of overnight oats, something I have been meaning to make for quite a while. I decided to make the Bircher muesli one day, and we loved it. Jessie has measurements on her blog (as well as some of the muesli’s history), but I basically just poured some old-fashioned rolled oats in a bowl and topped the oats with some milk and yogurt. The mixture had quite a bit of liquid. By the next morning a lot of the liquid was absorbed, but the muesli was still quite liquid.

I added banana slices, strawberries, and walnuts. I believe apple, banana, and pineapple are more traditional additions.

We had a fun weekend filled with swimming, soccer, and a sleepover.

We also explored a small bamboo forest, with many different types of bamboo from all over the world.

The kid also got to have some fun in a small water pool in a giant bubble at a local arts festival.

Questions: What do you usually have for breakfast? Do you ever have overnight oats for breakfast? What’s your favorite breakfast? What was the highlight of your weekend?

Be well,
Andrea

Sesame Salmon Salad & Weekend Fun

2013-04-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

Since I stopped eating wheat (well, mostly; I don’t worry about very small amounts since my sensitivity isn’t that severe), I sometimes miss certain foods. The other day, I thought about Chinese chicken salad and the crunchy noodles it is often topped with. I knew I couldn’t have the noodles, and I didn’t feel like cooking some chicken for the salad. Instead, I used what I had on hand, which was some teriyaki smoked salmon from the farmers’ market. I played around with my favorite avocado dressing and used a little bit of sesame oil instead of olive oil. I also added plenty of sesame seeds to the salad for a slight crunch. The salad turned out delicious and totally satisfied my Chinese Chicken Salad craving.

Sesame Salmon Salad
Ingredients

Romaine lettuce, chopped
1/2 small avocado
Juice of one lemon
2 tsps sesame oil
Salt
Pepper
1/2 to 1 packet stevia
Sesame seeds to taste
Teriyaki smoked salmon (I buy a smoked salmon filet at the farmers’ market)

Directions

Smash the avocado in the bottom of a salad bowl.
Add the lemon juice, sesame oil, salt, pepper, and stevia and mix well.
Mix the dressing with the lettuce.
Once the salad is dressed, sprinkle it with sesame seeds.
Top with smoked salmon.

We had a nice weekend. On Saturday, we went to a Cherry Blossom Festival, where the kid got to go on a pony ride and a big slide.

On Sunday, there was lots of bouncy house and Piñata fun at a birthday party.

Questions: What’s your favorite salad at the moment? What was the highlight of your weekend?

Be well,
Andrea

Weekend Fun & Sparkling Lemony Water

2013-04-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful and hot weekend. And we found ways to stay cool.

Sparkling Lemon Water

Since I did the Conscious Cleanse in January, I’ve been pretty much only drinking water, with an occasional cup of tea once in a while. While I like plain water, I have to say that it’s been getting a bit boring, and I therefore decided to flavor some sparkling water with some NuNaturals Lemon drops, and it’s delicious. Sometimes, I add some fresh lemon juice as well. It’s a great drink on a hot day.

Yoga Challenge

The yoga challenge is going well, but it’s definitely a huge time commitment, and I feel some things don’t get done. I have also been sore for almost two weeks now (which means I’m using muscles I don’t usually use, which is a good thing). My goal is still to walk at least 70,000 steps per week. I had a few very low step days (mainly the days on which I took 1.5 hour yoga classes). But I have continued to walk and hike, and my overall step total is right on target. After the yoga challenge is over, I plan to continue to walk every day, hike several times per week, and take 3 or 4 yoga or barre classes per week.

Questions: What’s your favorite beverage? I like plain water and drink it a lot. But having a “fancier” drink once in a while is nice, and sparkling, slightly sweet lemon water fits the bill.

Be well,
Andrea

Weekly Meals & Yoga Challenge

2013-04-14T19:13:00.001-07:00

After doing The Conscious Cleanse in January, I confirmed that eggs and wheat do not sit well with me. I have therefore been avoiding both wheat and eggs. I still bake and buy some bread for “the boys,” but we have all been making vegetables the focus of our meals. I usually make a big pot of soup and/or stew each week, and I eat the leftovers for lunch throughout the week. I also eat the soup/stew on nights the boys have bread or pasta.

Here are the meals for this week:

Meal 1: Veggie/bean/beef chili over a bed of spinach. I made this “no recipe chili” a few weeks ago, and we all loved it. I start by sautéing an onion, garlic, lots of carrots (about 8) and celery (about 8 stalks). Then I added 3/4 pound of ground beef. When the beef was browned, I added three cans of beans (black, while, and pinto) and crushed tomatoes (I used one container of Pomi, which I like because the only ingredient is tomatoes) and 1 cup of water. Spices were Spanish chili powder, Korean chili powder, Tabasco, salt, pepper, cardamom, turmeric, oregano, and, ketchup. The chili gets even better toward the end of the week. In addition to enjoying the chili over spinach, hubby also enjoyed some with some toasted sourdough bread. I honestly don’t miss the bread, and I love when the spinach gets slightly wilted from the warm chili.
Meal 2: Veggie/tofu stir fry. This week the veggies are: onions, garlic, mushrooms, bok choy, and spinach. Hubby may have some rice with the stir fry.
Meal 3: Lentil soup with veggies.
Meal 4: Salad with smoked salmon. We found the best smoked salmon at the Farmers’ Market. I’m really looking forward to this meal.
Meal 5: Leftovers.

Yoga Challenge

By accident, I entered into a yoga challenge this past week. I had been looking for a yoga studio for a while, and a friend of mine told me that she had recently joined a studio that she really likes. I looked online and saw that they offered a special for new students – $20 for 14 days of unlimited classes. When I showed up, I found out that there was a catch: you have to go every day. If you miss a day, the deal is over. I signed up as I figured even if I only go a few times, it’s still a good deal. But then I decided that I really wanted to go every day for 14 days. The studio offers many different classes, but because the times I can make it to class are limited, I had to take classes I am not that comfortable with. So far, I have had a different instructor every time, and I have clearly been the new student in every class.

I confirmed that I don’t like unfamiliar situations. But I also confirmed that it’s good for me to get outside of my comfort zone and try new things and challenge myself.

Questions: What’s one thing you have recently done to get outside of your comfort zone? What’s on your menu this week?

Be well,
Andrea

Weekly Meals & Outdoor Fun

2013-04-08T04:55:00.002-07:00

It’s been a while since I posted our weekly meals. I still plan them every week in a little notebook and have also started to write detailed grocery shopping lists, something I never used to do. I only used to write down the meals but hardly ever itemized the ingredients I needed as well as pantry staples. Let’s just say that didn’t go so well and led me to not having some of the ingredients quite often. I usually was able to make the meals without the missing ingredients, but I finally realized that shopping is a lot more productive with a list!

Meal 1: Tuna/avocado salad on a bed of lettuce
Meal 2: Bulgogi lettuce wraps
Meal 3: Grilled brie cheese sandwiches with carrot & celery sticks and avocado cream
Meal 4: Chicken dumpling soup with spinach (the chicken stock and dumplings are homemade, from the freezer. I love making a big pot of chicken stock most weeks and freezing part of it.)
Meal 5: Leftovers.

During spring break we took the kid and one of his friends on a 3-mile hike. The kids loved playing around in the woods, and we probably were the slowest hikers on the trail. But the kids had lots of fun and enjoyed nature, and that’s all that counts.

Questions: What’s on your menu this week? What exercise/physical activity do you have planned for this week? I plan on walking at least 70,000 steps this week, including at least one hike. I have also planned two barre classes and two weight lifting sessions.

Be well,
Andrea

Monterey Bay Aquarium: Spring Break Fun

2013-04-04T05:17:00.002-07:00

We took a little trip during Spring break to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. While Monterey is only a little over an hour away, I hadn’t been to the aquarium since the older kid was 4. That’s 17 years ago!

Since then, the aquarium has been remodeled, and it’s even more breathtaking than it was back then (or what I remember of it). The (little) kid is 5 now, and he was the perfect age to explore what the aquarium has to offer. He even enjoyed some of the short presentations.

We decided to stay overnight at a local hotel, which allowed us to buy a special ticket only available at participating hotels. For the price of a regular one-day ticket, hotel guests get entrance to the aquarium on two consecutive days. This worked out great, as we visited the aquarium on the first day without the pressure to get a good look at everything as we knew we would return the next day.

The first day, we decided to walk to the aquarium from our hotel. It was about a 3 mile walk round trip. With all the walking at the aquarium, we ended up walking almost 7 miles that day! Let’s just say we all were tired at the end of the day, especially the kid!

Monterey Bay Aquarium Day 1

I remembered that there was a Ghirardelli Store on Cannery Row, and I had planned to stop there on our way back to the hotel.

After some rest and a little ice cream, the kid had enough energy to continue to walk to the hotel…

Monterey Bay Aquarium Day 2

We finished the day with a late lunch at Schooners before driving home.

It was a great, short trip. Hopefully, we’ll make it back to the aquarium sooner than 17 years from now!

Questions: What’s your favorite sea life to explore at an aquarium?

Be well,
Andrea

Exercise Update

2013-04-02T12:22:00.002-07:00

I have been doing more barre workouts lately, and as a result I feel stronger and more flexible. Plus, I feel I can finally make it through a tough barre class the way I “should.” I am also lifting more weights again, something I wasn’t that serious about for a while.

Because of other activities, I haven’t always reached my goal of 70,000 steps per week, but that’s okay as I know that I have been active.

I still love my FitBit Zip to track how many steps I walk per day, and it really motives me to walk more the next day after having a low-step day.

Here are my recent weekly Fitbit Zip progress reports:

I also started hiking again, and I look forward to more hikes, which should also help with my weekly step total. On my first hike in a long time, I noticed that I was seriously out of shape when it comes to very steep hills. It’ll be nice to go hiking more regularly again and working on my “steep hill stamina.”

Here are a few pictures from our recent hike:

And some animals at the farm at the end of the hike:

Questions: What’s your favorite exercise at the moment? I am really looking forward to regular, challenging hikes. How often do you mix up your exercise routine? I tend to get into exercise ruts easily and have to make a conscious effort to mix things up every month.

Be well,

Andrea

Spicy Tuna Avocado Salad & Life Update

2013-03-27T08:23:00.002-07:00

Life has been busy, but we have been having lots of fun.

The weather has been quite nice, and we are spending lots of time at the park with the kid. I love how he gets so involved in his projects…

Soccer has also started up again, and the kid is excited.

We also had some friends over the other day and did an early Easter Egg hunt with the kids.

We had lots of good food, but the highlight of the evening was the Chocolate Fountain. I always wanted to have either a chocolate fountain or a chocolate fondue and finally bought a chocolate fountain. It was a lot of fun even though setting up the chocolate fountain will be a once-in-a-while thing as it takes a lot of chocolate. Still, I’m looking forward to using it at all kinds of special occasions.

I still plan our meals even though the meal plan doesn’t always make it on the blog.
While our dinners are varied and interesting, I have been in a lunch rut lately. I used to mix tuna, chicken, or salmon with avocado to make a salad and was recently reminded of it again. So I made some spicy tuna avocado salad, and it was a nice change.

Spicy Tuna Avocado Salad

Ingredients

1 can tuna
1/2 small avocado
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Tabasco to taste
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions

Cut the avocado into pieces and smash it with a fork.
Add lemon juice, Tabasco, salt, and pepper and mix well.
Add the tuna and mix well.

I ate the tuna salad on a bed of greens with roasted Brussels sprouts. It was a quick, easy, and delicious lunch.

Questions: Do you like avocados? If so, what’s your favorite way to eat them? What do you typically eat for lunch? Do you have/want to have a chocolate fondue or a chocolate fountain?

Be well,
Andrea

4 Years Ago and WINNERS

2013-03-17T06:23:00.000-07:00

I started this blog on March 14, 2009. At the beginning, it was an online journal to help me focus on making healthier choices. But once I discovered other blogs, this blog became a lot more.

Because of my blog I dabbled in quite a few things I may have never tried without it, such as:

Juicing
Green smoothies
Raw foods
HIIT
Different exercises and exercise videos
Many different books on all kinds of topics

Because of my blog, I met (virtually and in real life) countless other bloggers, which continue to encourage and inspire me. Thank you!

The blog also helps me keep track of our life. Here are some of the first pictures of the kid (then the toddler) on the blog in June and July 2009:

At times, the blog took over my life. I used to post a lot more often but finally had to realize that more than one or two posts per week just isn’t realistic and doesn’t fit into my life. Now my blog feels just right.

And now on to the giveaway winners. Way back when, the toddler used to always help me with selecting giveaway winners, and I thought why not stick to that tradition.

So I got out my pink hat again, and the kid picked four names from all the entries.

And the winners are:

Chris
Debbie Harris
Stacie @ Snaps and Bits
Marion @ Affection For Fitness

Please email me your mailing addresses (no P.O. Boxes) to: andreaswellnessnotes [at] gmail [dot] com, and I will forward your addresses to NuNaturals, and they will ship the drops directly to you.

Questions: When did you start reading blogs and/or start your own blog? I started my blog in March 2009 and then soon discovered “mommy blogs” and through one of the mommy blogs I discovered exercise blogs and healthy living blogs. One of the first blogs I found was MizFitOnline, and Carla still inspires me to this day.

Be well,
Andrea

Chocolaty Black Rice Breakfast Pudding & A GIVEAWAY

2013-03-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

We have been enjoying the black rice I picked up at Costco a few weeks ago. Often there are leftovers. In the past, I would heat up the rice, season it with sesame oil, soy sauce, and rice vinegar and top it with an over-easy egg. However, since I confirmed that eggs don’t sit well with me, I don’t eat this dish anymore. So I have been looking for other ways to eat the leftover rice in the morning.

And I found that I very much enjoy a simple rice pudding made with the leftover rice. Plus, it’s quick and comes together in ten minutes.

Chocolaty Black Rice Breakfast Pudding

Ingredients

1 cup leftover black rice (or other rice)
1/4 cup liquid (milk, almond milk, or a mixture of milk and water) – if the rice is very dry, add some more liquid
1/2 tsp Chocolate NuStevia, more if you like it extra sweet and chocolaty
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbs dried fruit (I used one date, chopped)
1 Tbs nuts (I used raw cashews, chopped)

Directions

Add the liquid and the rice to a saucepan and heat over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the chocolate NuStevia drops, cinnamon, and dried fruit and mix well. Cook for a few more minutes so that the flavors come together.
Serve and top with nuts.

It’s certainly not the prettiest dish in the world, but the rice pudding has a slight chocolate flavor, and I very much enjoy the different textures of the rice, the date pieces, and the nuts.

New NuStevia Products & Giveaway

A few weeks ago, NuStevia contacted me to let me know about their new flavors:

Lemon NuStevia Liquid
Orange NuStevia Liquid
Peppermint NuStevia Liquid
Chocolate NuStevia Liquid
PreSweet Tagatose, an all-natural sweetener alternative

I was excited when my new flavors and some old favorites arrived (I have been known to hide the Vanilla Stevia Liquid drops from hubby…) and made chocolate milk right away.

NuNaturals has offered a generous giveaway to (4) four of my readers anywhere in the world, and each will receive the following: one bottle of each of the Lemon / Orange / Peppermint Flavored Stevia Liquids, plus the new chocolate stevia liquid.

Currently, NuNaturals has some great deals online. At the checkout page, enter discount code BLG0613 and you’ll receive a 15% discount on your entire order. This discount remains effective until June 30, 2013. Online customers also receive free shipping to the continental U.S. on all orders exceeding $35.00 after discounts.

How to Enter:

Each of the following, will get you one entry:

Leave a comment and let me know which flavor you are most excited to try.
Like Andrea’s Wellness Notes’ Facebook Page. Leave a comment to let me know you did.
Like NuNaturals’ Facebook Page. Leave a comment to let me know you did.
Tweet about the giveaway. Leave a comment to let me know you did.

The giveaway is open until Saturday, March 16, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. PST. After that time, I will announce the winners. The winners will have 48 hours to contact me. If a winner doesn’t contact me, I will select a new winner. After I have collected the winners’ information, I will forward it to NuNaturals, and they will ship the products directly to the winners.

Be well,
Andrea

Fitbit Zip Update, Weekend Fun, and Weekly Meals

2013-03-09T15:30:00.001-08:00

I finally reached my goal of 70,000 weekly steps. Here is my FitBit Zip weekly update report.

We all have been under the weather for several weeks, and I always fell short of my goal. While I walked 10,000 steps most days, I walked less on some days and therefore never reached 70,000 weekly steps.

I really love my FitBit Zip to keep track of how many steps I walk each day. It’s really motivating me to move more, and I often walk a bit more because I know I’m keeping track of my steps… It was definitely one of my best investments lately…

In addition to my brisk daily walks, I currently take two barre classes per week and do two strength workouts at the gym per week. I feel it’s a good balance, and I really enjoy my walks. They are so good for my body and soul! I can’t wait to add some hikes to my routine soon and hopefully increase my steps and mileage significantly.

The kid got to bring home the “Kindergarten alien” for the weekend, and we are having fun taking him places:

This past week I made two recipes from cookbooks I am re-reading, and they both turned out great. I think I’ll make crepes more often! We also loved the slow cooker meatballs, and I am putting another recipe from the The 150 Healthiest Slow Cooker Recipes on Earth cookbook to the test this week.

Meal 1: Low-sugar BBQ pulled chicken thighs – from The 150 Healthiest Slow Cooker Recipes on Earth cookbook; carrot, cucumber, & celery sticks with avocado cream.
Meal 2: Salmon with lemon juice & dill; oven-roasted asparagus.
Meal 3: Easy pizza made with Trader Joe’s pizza dough, topped with sautéed onions and mushrooms and brie cheese; arugula salad with avocado dressing.
Meal 4: Carrot soup with black rice.
Meal 5: Leftovers.

Questions: What’s the highlight of your weekend? What’s on your menu this week? Do you keep track of how much you walk or run? If so, how?

Be well,
Andrea

Cookbooks and Weekly Meals

2013-03-02T20:30:00.000-08:00

This week, I am making some old favorites but also some new recipes. I got a new cookbook for my Kindle: The 150 Healthiest Slow Cooker Recipes on Earth.

It was only $2.99, and the recipes sound really good and “beyond” what I would usually consider making in a slow cooker. The authors also stress the importance of buying pastured meat, chicken and eggs, which I like.

I have also been re-reading The French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook .

Mireille makes a big point that eating should be a pleasure, something I think we often forget, which is a shame. However, she also points out throughout the book that it’s important to balance things out. That is, if you splurge on something, you’ll have to cut back somewhere else. It all has to balance itself out in the end. I really like her approach. I also enjoy all her little stories and most of the recipes are simple and showcase fresh ingredients. Many of the recipes are not very different from what I normally cook, but they are nice reminders of “forgotten” ingredients, and there are some combinations I hadn’t thought of before.

Here the meals for the week:

Meal 1: Slow cooker chicken soup with veggies. I’m not following a recipe. I’ll simply put some bone-in chicken in the crock pot with spices and cook on high for about 3-4 hours, until the chicken is done. Then I’ll remove the chicken meat and return the bones to the pot. I’ll continue cooking the bones on low for another 10 hours or so (which turns the soup into a flavorful stock). I’ll also cook some veggies in the soup. Before eating the soup, I’ll cool it so that I can remove the fat, which forms on the top.
Meal 2: Meatballs from The Healthiest Slow Cooker Recipes on Earth cookbook, mashed potatoes (which have been on the kid’s “wish list” forever), carrots & peas. I would have never thought to make meatballs in the slow cooker. I’m really curious to see how they’ll turn out.
Meal 3: A big salad with a few Crepes with mushrooms. I’ll follow the crepes recipe from The French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook.
Meal 4: Spiced lentil soup with carrots, onions, and celery, flavored with curry, cardamom, and turmeric.
Meal 5: Leftovers.

Questions: Do you like to read cookbooks? I enjoy reading cookbooks with stories, but I honestly don’t follow recipes very often. But they do inspire me to cook. What’s the last cookbook you’ve read? What’s the last recipe you cooked from a cookbook? What’s on your menu this week?

Be well,
Andrea

Neighborfood and Weekly Meals

2013-02-25T06:13:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, we went on a fun food adventure in Mountain View. Basically, we got to go on a self-guided tour of eight downtown restaurants and enjoyed a small plate at each. Neighborfood was created by Dishcrawl – a company that brings people together over food. Dishcrawl was founded by Tracy Lee right here in Silicon Valley but is now all over the country. Great job, Tracy!

Here are some photos:

And here are our meals for this week (yes, I am in a “soupy mood” this week):

Meal 1: Oxtail soup with veggies.
Meal 2: Lentil/veggie soup.
Meal 3: Carrot soup with black rice.
Meal 4: Veggie stir fry with over-easy eggs.
Meal 5: Leftovers.

Questions: What was the highlight of your weekend? Is Dishcrawl in your city? What’s on your menu this week?

Be well,
Andrea

Delicious Chocolate Milk

2013-02-18T16:45:00.000-08:00

Hubby has a major sweet tooth. Left to his own devices, he would probably eat little else but sweets. I don’t bake much, and I don’t buy sweets, so we rarely have them in the house. And I try to make the sweets he eats at least somewhat nutritious.

When the folks at NuNaturals – who make a wide variety of stevia products – sent me a whole box of their products, including four new flavors, I had some fun coming up with new, sweet, non-sugar recipes, some of which I will share later this week. Stay tuned also for a NuNaturals giveaway!

One of the new flavors I got was Chocolate NuStevia drops, and I decided to use them to make hubby some no sugar added chocolate milk, using milk, unsweetened cocoa, and the Chocolate NuStevia drops. Since I used whole milk, he got only a very small glass.

He loved the chocolate milk, and it certainly satisfied his sweet tooth (for a while at least).

Questions: Do you have a sweet tooth? I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, although I like sweet things more now than when I was younger, when I didn’t like them at all. If so, what’s your favorite sweet treat? Have you ever tried NuNaturals products? If so, how do you like them? The Vanilla Stevia drops have been a favorite of mine for quite some time. The new flavors are awesome, too!

Be well,
Andrea

Simple Avocado Dressing & Weekly Meals

2013-02-11T10:44:00.000-08:00

When I was little, my mom used to make salad dressing with fresh squeezed lemon juice. I was not a fan as the lemon was too bold for my taste buds at the time. I kept thinking, “Why can’t we have the cool bottled dressings my friends get to use.?” But there was no convincing my mom to buy those “chemicals.”

While I didn’t understand my mom then, I have come pretty much full circle and now make as much as I can from scratch, especially something as simple as salad dressing.

The other day I quickly mixed together the following and everyone loved it.

Simple Avocado Dressing

Ingredients

Juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsps olive oil
2 tsps Dijon mustard
salt & pepper to taste
1/2 - 1 stevia packet
1/2 small avocado

Instructions

Mix the lemon juice, olive oil, mustard, salt, pepper, and stevia together. I like to put them into an old jar and shake the jar vigorously.
Cut the avocado into small pieces and put it in the bottom of a salad bowl and smash it with a fork
Pour the dressing over the avocado and mix well.
Add your greens and dress your salad.

And here is what we are going to eat this week. I did a lot of cooking yesterday (broccoli soup, ribs, black rice, and Brussels sprouts), so many of the meals are already in the fridge ready to assemble:

Meal 1: Broccoli soup with black rice. I sautéed some onions, two carrots, and two celery stalks for a few minutes. Then I added some garlic and the broccoli. Next I added vegetable stock and cooked everything for about 15 minutes. Then I pureed the veggies with my immersion blender. Last, I added salt, pepper, and a couple tablespoons of unsweetened almond milk.
Meal 2: Braised ribs with roasted Brussels sprouts.
Meal 3: Lemon chicken with a salad. I’ll poach a couple chicken breasts in lemon juice and olive oil and season the chicken with salt and pepper. So simple, but so good as the chicken really gets infused with the lemon juice.
Meal 4: Salmon with a salad.
Meal 5: Leftovers. There should be plenty of leftovers this week.

Questions: What’s on your menu this week? What’s your favorite salad dressing?

Be well,
Andrea

Curried Quinoa with Peas

2013-02-06T03:41:00.002-08:00

I’ve gotten into a routine of making one big pot of soup, a protein (usually fish, chicken, or beans), and a grain on the weekend. I make enough of these foods to last for several meals throughout the week. This is especially convenient for quick lunches. I’ll either pack some soup, a salad with some protein, or I’ll add some veggies to the grains.

For a few weeks, I have been making brown or black rice and was ready for a change. I looked through the cupboard and found some quinoa but wasn’t in the mood for plain quinoa. So I decided to spice it up and also add some peas to make it a bit more interesting.

Curried Quinoa with Peas

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
Curry powder, about 1 tsp
Cardamom, about 1/4 tsp or less
Turmeric, about 1/2 tsp
Salt & pepper, to taste
1.5 cups frozen peas, defrosted in cold water

Directions

Put the water and the quinoa in a pot and bring to a boil.
Add the curry powder, cardamom, turmeric, salt, and pepper and stir well.
Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes until the water is absorbed.
Add the peas and let them heat through.
Serve & enjoy, either warm or cold.

The curried quinoa was a nice addition to salads, and I also enjoyed it with some roasted vegetables. I even added some to some curried carrot soup.

Questions: What’s your favorite grain at the moment? What’s your favorite quinoa dish?

Be well,
Andrea

Weekend Fun & Easy & Quick Lentil Veggie Stew

2013-02-03T14:04:00.003-08:00

The kid had his first sleepover last night. I can’t believe he is old enough for sleepovers… It went really well, and I learned that some 5-year-olds sleep until 9 a.m.! Our kid, on the other hand, “slept in” until 6:30, which is late for him!

We also went to the Farmers’ Market and picked up lots of fresh veggies and some pretty flowers.

The other day I didn’t have anything for lunch around but needed something quickly. I realized that I had some cooked lentils from TJ’s in the fridge along with carrots and celery. While I prefer to cook lentils myself, the precooked lentils are really convenient for a quick salad or to add to soups.

I decided to make a simple stew. I rinsed the lentils to get rid of some of the salt and the “natural flavor” (not sure how “natural” the flavor really is…).

Lentil Veggie Stew

Ingredients

1 package precooked lentils
1 onion, chopped
6 carrots, chopped
6 celery stalks, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 quart vegetable broth
salt & pepper to taste (about 1/2 tsp salt)
curry to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste
Rice vinegar to taste (I decided to use vinegar instead of lemon juice as originally planned; I like to add about 1/2 Tbs vinegar per big bowl right before serving)
Coconut oil

Directions

Heat the coconut oil in a pot and add the onions, carrots, and celery.
After cooking the veggies for about 5 minutes, add curry, Cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper (use less than you think you’ll need; you can always add more at the end). Cook for a few minutes and then add the garlic.
Add the lentils and the vegetable broth to the pot and bring to a boil.
Once the stew boils, reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.
Once the soup is done and cooled a bit, add the vinegar and any additional spices as needed.

Questions: Do you like lentils? What’s your favorite lentil recipe (feel free to link in the comments)? What’s your favorite lunch? I love soups and stews for lunch. What was the highlight of your weekend?

Be well,
Andrea

The Conscious Cleanse Review

2013-01-30T09:56:00.000-08:00

[Disclosure: I received access to the Conscious Cleanse program for free to review on the blog. The following is an honest review of my experiences during the cleanse. Since I didn’t receive the book on time, I purchased the Kindle version of The Conscious Cleanse book with my own money. After the cleanse was over, I also received a hardcopy of The Conscious Cleanse book for free.]

Several weeks ago, I was contacted and asked if I was interested in participating in the Conscious Cleanse. I had never done a cleanse. In fact, I have never really followed a diet or an eating plan (put together by someone else; I plan my own meals all the time).

I briefly looked through the website for the Conscious Cleanse and noticed I would be able to eat whole foods and that the focus seemed to be on eliminating coffee, alcohol, sugar, and processed foods. Plus, the idea behind the cleanse is to continue eating that way most of the time once the cleanse is over. This all sounded good to me as I knew that there were things that needed to be cleaned up in my diet. I also knew that I wasn’t likely to take on this endeavor on my own and looked forward to the built-in support the program offers.

One thing I had been overdoing big time was coffee. Several years ago, I had worked very hard at limiting my coffee intake to one cup a day. And I did drink one cup of coffee per day for quite some time. Until life got stressful, and then it increased to a lot more.

The Conscious Cleanse is a 14 day cleansing program, with five transition days before the cleanse starts. During those days, participants are asked to do one thing a day, such as adding more veggies and fruits, eliminating everything with added sugar, and, yes, eliminating coffee. I had a few days to completely “get off” coffee, but it was rough, and I had a terrible headache and was in a fog for a few days. But by day 3 with little/no coffee I was amazed by how good I felt and that I was able to function without coffee. Who knew?!

One important part of the Conscious Cleanse is the built-in community and support system. There is a private Facebook group of only current “cleansers.” While I was in all honesty not a very active participant in terms of posting and responding to posts, I loved getting the Conscious Cleanse group updates whenever I logged into Facebook. It was a way to reconfirm and recommit to this process throughout the day. It was also great to see that others had similar questions and struggles, and it was very helpful to get questions answered right away.

There are also four teleseminars throughout the cleanse. The first is the day before the cleanse starts and goes over all the basics. The basics of the cleanse can be found in the manual participants have access to. It explains what you are allowed to eat and what you cannot to eat, includes a grocery shopping list and recipes. Participants can call in with questions or submit them online.

Participants also receive daily emails from Jo and Jules, the creators of the cleanse, that encourage them to go “deeper.” Suggestions include journaling first thing in the morning, really paying attention to how different foods make us feel, a list of foods that can be taken with you, encouragement to be active throughout the day, eating out suggestions, gratitude reminders, and more. Jo and Jules also encourage participants to email them with any questions throughout the cleanse.

In the past, when I had heard the word cleanse, I thought of lemon water or juices and no food, and that scared me. The Conscious Cleanse is different. While participants are asked to give up coffee, alcohol, added sugar, dairy, corn, eggs, soy, gluten, and processed foods (plus some known allergens), there is plenty to eat on this program.

The day starts off with 32 ounces of warm lemon water. I started to really look forward to my lemon water every morning and plan to continue doing this. For breakfast, lunch, and dinner there are many choices, including chicken, fish, or bison if you like. Breakfast for me was often a smoothie with plenty of greens, a little fruit, and hemp seeds for protein. I loved them, hubby pretended to love them, and the kid declared one day they made him lose his appetite for the rest of the day, which wasn’t true at all! But we got his point and figured out his favorite smoothie combo (a banana, frozen mango pieces, spinach, and a carrot). Hubby and the kid did not participate in the cleanse but there was plenty of food that I made for the cleanse that they ate and enjoyed a lot, especially during the second week when I did a better job planning.

I made some recipes from the manual – and there are many excellent recipes in the manual (plus a few I didn’t care for too much, but they weren’t bad, I just wouldn’t make them again) – but I also made some of my own recipes, adapted for the cleanse. For example, I made a big pot of my lentil/vegetable soup but I left out the tomatoes (which are off limits during the cleanse). I also made many simple salads with some chicken or fish on the side. This is what I often eat anyway.

In addition to the conscious eating plan briefly described above which participants follow during the week, there are also two purification days on the weekend. During the first purification weekend, participants were instructed to eat as many fruits and vegetables as they wanted, drink unlimited fruit and vegetable juices and smoothies, and drink a special broth made with vegetables. You are encouraged to clear your schedule on those days and take it easy. At first I was skeptical, and I didn’t like the idea of “starving.” But the first round of purification days was actually much easier than I thought it would be, and I had more energy than expected. The purification days are optional, and you are only supposed to do them if you can take it very easy on those days. For the second round of purification, you are only supposed to eat pureed/juiced veggies and fruits (juices, smoothies, blended soups). I did one day of the second purification weekend as I had too much going on.

How did I feel?

After the coffee withdrawal, I felt really good. I was actually really amazed that I was able to function so well without coffee. I did have some bloating and discomfort at the beginning of the cleanse, which apparently is normal (partially because of the increase of veggies). After that, I felt really good and had a lot less bloating and stomach discomfort than usually. I was however weaker during my workouts. My sleep was also affected in weird ways. During caffeine withdrawal, I woke up before 3 a.m. with a headache every day. As a result, I went to bed really early which may have led to a vicious cycle of going to bed really early and waking up really early throughout the cleanse. But I woke up refreshed and ready for the day, still 3 a.m. was a bit early. Judging from the Facebook group posts, how people felt on the cleanse varied widely, from no/very mild withdrawal symptoms and tons of energy right away to really bad struggles with cravings, headaches, etc.

How doable is the cleanse?

Because you are allowed to eat, I think the cleanse is very doable. Plus, I eat many foods that are suggested on the cleanse already anyway. Someone who eats a lot of processed foods and/or fast food could have a very different experience. The biggest challenge for me was to plan ahead. I got on board kind of late and therefore felt a bit rushed before the start of the cleanse. I would suggest to make a meal plan (like I do every week) and then write a grocery list. Some participants apparently bought pretty much everything on the shopping list that is provided in the manual, which list all the foods that are allowed on the cleanse. That is certainly not necessary and would get very expensive.

I also would suggest getting The Conscious Cleanse book and reading it before signing up for the cleanse (I didn’t buy the Kindle version of the book until the cleanse was more than half way over, and I would have definitely liked to have it at the beginning.) In fact, you can do the cleanse without signing up for the group cleanse by just reading the book. However, you’d miss out on all the support, which I found very helpful and motivating, especially the first time doing a cleanse. It didn’t even occur to me to give up, and I’m not so sure if that had been the case had I done this all on my own. Daily emails before and during the cleanse, four teleseminars, and a Facebook support group may not sound like much, but they really made a difference for me. Knowing that others were doing the same thing at the same time not only made me not even think about giving up, it also made “cheating” out of the question for me. If you want to do the cleanse with just the book, maybe you can get a “cleansing buddy” and you can cheer each other on and do daily check ins. You could also do a weekly “cooking day” and make some meals for the week together. A lot of the recipes in the manual and in the book make a lot of servings and could be shared. That way you could eat a wider variety of foods.

Did I have cravings?

Surprisingly, I really didn’t have cravings. When I saw people eat or drink things I couldn’t eat or drink, I did think “too bad” a few times, but I really never had a craving. I know some of the people who were doing the cleanse had cravings. It seemed to me that many of them were used to certain foods at a certain time of the day – for example, a piece of dark chocolate in the afternoon, etc. I don’t really have a ritual like that, so maybe that’s why I didn’t crave anything. As I mentioned before, the food on the cleanse was actually pretty similar to what I normally eat so that may be another factor. I was a bit surprised that I didn’t crave cheese since I eat a small (or not so small at times…) piece pretty much daily and really like the taste.

Did I lose weight?

Honestly, I don’t know for sure because I didn’t weigh myself before I started the cleanse. Doing this cleanse was not about losing weight for me, and I made sure to eat enough food to be satisfied. Judging from my “keep me honest pants” I can assume however that I did lose some weight. I was mindful the entire time I was on the cleanse and ate healthy foods. I plan to continue eating very similarly to the conscious eating plan now that the cleanse is over.

How is the book?

The book contains everything that is in the manual participants get at the beginning of the cleanse and the information from the daily emails and teleseminars but in a more comprehensive form. It also includes many more recipes than the manual, which is really great as you want to keep things interesting and eat a wide variety of foods. Plus there are suggested daily sample meal plans. I didn’t follow any of them (and really enjoyed that I could do “my own thing”), but I know that some people really like to have things planned out for them.

Why did I do the cleanse?

As I stated above, it was not to lose weight. I wanted to pay closer attention to what I am putting into my body and also figure out how certain foods affect me. I eat pretty healthy anyway and not that different from what I was eating on the cleanse. But I knew I was eating some processed foods that I could do without. In a way, I wanted to get back to a “true baseline” of veggies and then just see what I really needed to add. I also knew I had to do something about my coffee consumption, and this was a great way to do it. Finally, my gallstones affect my digestive system in weird and uncomfortable ways, and I was hoping to figure out how certain foods affect me. At the end of the cleanse, you are asked to reintroduce the foods you eliminated during the cleanse one by one to see if you have any food allergies. So far I have reintroduced only eggs, and, unfortunately, they didn’t sit too well. I had actually suspected that for a while. We’ll see how I’ll do with dairy, gluten, and soy.

What happens after the cleanse?

Jo and Jules recommend that cleansers strive to eat according to the conscious eating plan 80% of the time and add in other foods 20% of the time without guilt. I think that is a very realistic goal and something I plan on doing.

If you are interested in sampling some of the recipes that are part of the Conscious Cleanse, you can download Jo and Jules’ free e cookbook: A Taste of the Conscious Cleanse: 10 Fresh and Fabulously Simple Recipes.

Questions: Have you ever done a cleanse? If so, what was your experience? Would you ever consider doing a cleanse? Before doing this cleanse, I had never really considered doing one. To be honest, I am kind of rebellious (I can’t even follow a recipe!) and being told what to eat and not to eat scared me. Plus, during many cleanses you don’t eat at all. I don’t think I would want to do that. But this cleanse was really a way for me to take a good look at what I was putting into my body and be more mindful. It was definitely a good experience, and I am really glad I did it.

Be well,
Andrea

Weekend Fun and Weekly Meals

2013-01-27T11:13:00.000-08:00

We had a busy but fun weekend, filled with a dinner at our friends' house, a birthday party, and dinner out with other friends.

Our friends prepared an amazing meal for us.

Here are our contributions to the meal:

I forgot to mention another new food item in our kitchen in my last post – black rice. I picked up a big bag at Costco the other day and luckily we all like it, although the kid is still a bit suspicious. I think the color is really throwing him off. I love it especially in carrot soup as it adds such a nice pop of color.

The kid also spent plenty of time getting comfortable in our bed…

Weekly Meals

Meal 1: Spinach turkey burgers with roasted green beans. I’ll combine the turkey with chopped spinach, onion, garlic, a little sesame oil, salt, and pepper and bake the burgers in the oven for about 20 minutes. (I like to make the burgers rather small).
Meal 2: Carrot soup with black rice. I’ll sauté the carrots with onions, garlic, and celery and season the veggies with salt, pepper, and curry. I’ll add vegetable stock and cook everything for about 20 minutes and then puree it with my immersion blender.
Meal 3: Baked cod with a salad. I’ll coat the cod with lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and bake it in the oven for about 15 minutes.
Meal 4: Veggie stir fry.
Meal 5: Leftovers and refrigerator finds.

Questions: What’s on your menu this week? Do you like rice? If so, what’s your favorite kind? I like all rice, but black rice is my current favorite. What was the highlight of your weekend?

Be well,
Andrea

New-to-Me Foods

2013-01-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

I tend to eat a lot of the same foods and rarely buy new ingredients, but recently I have been experimenting with several new-to-me food items, and I am really enjoying them. All of these items have been around for a long time and have been popular for a while, so I’m sure many of you have tried them already.

Chia Seeds

I can’t believe I haven’t tried chia seeds until now as they have been everywhere. I add them to smoothies after soaking them in a bit of water, and they make the smoothie nice and thick (I like to eat smoothies with a spoon). I also make chia pudding. By adding liquid to the seeds, they thicken and become similar to tapioca pudding. You can flavor the pudding with anything you like (lemon, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.). Somebody mentioned that the consistency reminded them of glue, which is sort of true, but I enjoy it a lot. Two tablespoons contain 70 calories, 6 grams of fiber and 3 grams of protein. They also contain omega-3s.

Hemp Seeds

Hemp seeds contain quite a bit of protein (5 grams per 1.5 tbsp) and have a slightly nutty taste. I add them to smoothies and salads for some protein and to make the salads more interesting.

Tahini

Tahini is a paste made out of sesame seeds. I add it to salad dressing and dips. I don’t like too much of it, but I enjoy the added flavor of just a little.

Ume Plum Vinegar

Ume Plum Vinegar has a tangy flavor, and I like it in dressings, marinades, and dipping sauces. I use very little at a time as it contains a lot of sodium.

Questions: What are some new food items you have been trying or wanting to try lately? Have you tried any of the items above? If so, how do you like them? How do you use them?

Be well,
Andrea

Giving Up Coffee

2013-01-20T10:26:00.001-08:00

I mentioned in my last post that I had given up coffee as part of my “cleaning things up” program. If you are like me a few weeks ago, you’ll probably think, “That’s nice for you, but that’s not something I’ll ever do.” And that’s fine. In fact, I have been drinking coffee for 25 years, and it has never occurred to me to give it up completely.

I have successfully cut back to drinking one small cup a day several times over the past 25 years, but giving it up completely was never on the agenda until recently. Coffee has reported benefits, and I actually think drinking it in moderation (like most things in life) is fine and can even be beneficial.

When I was drinking one cup a day, I didn’t see a problem with it. The problem started when I increased my coffee intake more and more. Somehow over a stressful period in my life, I had increased it to up to five, or even six, big cups a day. I know. Not good.

How did I give up coffee?

Over the holidays, I had already cut back from five cups to about three cups, but I still needed those three cups desperately. When I decided to let go of coffee completely, I did it rather quickly, and I did have very unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. Here is what I did:

Day 1: Cut back to 1 cup of coffee – I had a bad headache all day and was in a daze
Day 2: 1 cup of 1/2 coffee 1/2 decaf – Again, I felt miserable
Day 3: 1 cup of black tea – You guessed, it, I felt miserable
Day 4: No caffeine at all – I didn’t feel great, but I had learned that going for a walk helped a lot

What helped when giving up coffee?

Finding other warm beverages I enjoy helped a lot – I now start my day with warm lemon water and love it. If you had told me this a few weeks ago, I would have laughed. I also enjoy all sorts of herbal teas. I had known for years that one of the draws of coffee for me was the ritual of sitting down with a warm beverage. Other warm beverages work just as well as coffee for the ritual.
Going for a walk really helped with headaches.
I realized that the headaches would eventually go away, and things got a lot better on the second day without caffeine. By the third day without caffeine they were gone.

How do I feel without caffeine?

I am amazed by how well I feel without caffeine, and I truly don’t need it at this point. In fact, I don’t even want it anymore! In the past, I would stumble out of bed and make some coffee right away. I needed that cup so desperately, and if I didn’t get it, an ugly headache would soon rear its head. I was truly dependent on it, and I couldn’t imagine getting out of bed or functioning without it.

Now I wake up ready for the day, and I am much more alert right away. No more crawling into the kitchen, unable to function. I really like that feeling. The alertness also lasts throughout the day, which is wonderful.

Will I drink coffee again?

I don’t have plans right now to getting back to coffee. I don’t like the idea of being addicted to a substance that makes me feel so miserable if I stop drinking it. I also love feeling so alert throughout the day. Never say never, but at this point, I don’t have any plans on drinking coffee again.

Questions: Do you drink coffee? If so, how much? Have you ever given it up or thought of giving it up completely?

Be well,

Andrea

Fitbit Zip Review and Cleaning Things Up

2013-01-15T06:25:00.000-08:00

[Disclaimer: I bought the Fitbit Zip with my own money and have no affiliation with the makers of the Fitbit Zip. This is an honest review of what I think of it.]

I got some money for Christmas and decided to treat myself to something I’ve had an eye on for a while: a Fitbit Zip. I know several people “in real life” who have a Fitbit Zip and love it. And I have seen numerous reviews/mentions on the Internet, and I was very curious as my experiences with “tracking devices” haven’t been all that good.

Years ago, I got a free pedometer through work. It was a pain to set up, didn’t work well, and was huge and ugly. Then I got an old model of the Garmin Forerunner. It was a great deal, but hubby made fun of me every time I wore it as it looked like it came straight from 1988. Plus, it took forever to get a satellite, and I sometime had to stand around for what seemed like forever before a run or hike.

The Fitbit Zip is the opposite of my previous experiences: it’s tiny, cute (I got a pink one!), and was incredibly easy to set up.

By simply tapping your Fitbit, you can easily scroll through the numbers it keeps track of (time, steps taken today, miles traveled, calories burned, happy/not so happy face, depending on how active you are). I love how easy it is!

The Fitbit Zip comes with an online component that automatically updates when you are within range of your computer (you can also synch it with your smart phone, iPad, etc.). The online dashboard shows you various numbers:

steps taken today
miles traveled today
calories burned
active score (the number starts at 0 every morning and goes up the more active you are)

There is also a pie chart that shows the time you were:

sedentary
lightly active
fairly active
very active

Seeing how active (or NOT active) you are throughout the day is really motivating!

You can also set up a food journal or set weight loss goals, but I haven’t done any of those.

What I Love About My Fitbit Zip

Super easy to set up
Super easy to wear – you don’t know it’s there
Seeing how many steps I have taken really motivates me to make it to at least 10,000 steps every day. I often walk another 2,000 steps at the end of the day, and I know I wouldn’t add the extra activity if I didn’t see the numbers.
My home is getting more organized as I am finding ways to walk more! The first couple nights hubby asked me why I was going up and down the stairs so many times, each time carrying only one item….

Things About My Fibit That Can Be a Bit Frustrating

The Fitbit Zip only tracks steps. So if I do a barre class or do a weight lifting session, it hardly adds any steps and looks on my activity graph pretty much the same as if I sat on the couch. It can be frustrating to see almost “no activity” during times I know I worked out hard! But once you remind yourself that the Fitbit keeps only track of steps, it all makes sense…

I am really glad I got the Fitbit Zip. It’s a great tool to keep track of my steps, and by monitoring them, I often motivate myself to walk some more at the end of the day.

Questions: Do you keep track of your miles/steps? Do you keep track of your daily activity in another way? I used to input my workouts into Daily Mile but stopped in the fall. I really liked seeing all my workouts at the end of the week; I may get back to it! Do you keep a food journal? I don’t at the moment and have only done it once for a short time.

In Other News
I am currently “cleaning up” my eating a bit by focusing on whole foods and eliminating coffee, alcohol, and added sugar. Cutting out coffee was very tough and showed me clearly that I had been drinking way too much again. I am looking forward to eating mainly plants for the next 14 days and plan on writing a recap in a few weeks.

Be well,
Andrea

Back to Meal Planning

2013-01-05T17:52:00.001-08:00

I usually plan our meals. It keeps life going smoothly and also helps keep our food budget down. Unfortunately, over the past few months, I didn’t do a very good job planning our meals. I still planned, but not as well as I could have. That is, I didn’t plan meals that used some of the same ingredients (to save money), I didn’t make sure the items in the pantry and freezer got used up, and, most importantly, I didn’t make any new and interesting meals. We pretty much ate the same things over and over again. It got pretty boring.

So I am getting back to planning meals on the blog. One of the things I plan on doing, is cooking beans and lentils on the weekends so that they can be easily added to lunches and dinners during the week. I don’t plan lunches because I usually eat leftovers and the guys often eat a sandwich, and this works. But having some beans and/or lentils around to bulk things up and add some protein will be nice.

I am also going to do most of the prep work on the weekend. Besides cooking beans and lentils, I’ll wash and cut up veggies and fruits and make sure everything is easy to grab. I find we eat a lot more veggies and fruits when they are ready to eat. I’ll also boil eggs for the week.

I’ll also precook some meals on the weekend. Some meals truly taste better on the second or even third day, such as Bolognese sauce. It’s easy to have a pot simmering on the stove while I do other things on the weekend and use the sauce for easy meals during the week. I have also several soup recipes that taste great throughout the week.

As stated before, I plan on using my slow cooker more. I made a couple meals in it over the last few weeks, and they turned out great and everyone loved them.

Finally, I plan to stock the freezer with some homemade frozen meals. By making just a bit more food and taking a few portions away right away and freeze them, we can have another meal to eat on busy nights and save money at the same time.

So here are the meals for this week (Note: Monday’s meal is planned for Monday as it’s leftovers. The other meals are interchangeable, depending on what we feel like.)

Monday: Spaghetti with Bolognese sauce and a salad. I made the sauce on Saturday, so this will be a leftover meal. I bulked up the meat sauce with lots of veggies and used more than twice the veggies that are traditionally used in a Bolognese sauce. The sauce tastes great, and the extra veggies ensured that there is enough for two meals.

Meal 2: Veggie stir fry with over easy eggs over rice. – I used to make this a lot but haven’t in many months. I’m looking forward to this meal.

Meal 3: Grilled salmon with dill and lemon juice and a salad. – I have some frozen wild salmon in the freezer that needs to be used up.

Meal 4: Kimchi stew with chicken. There is some very ripe kimchi in the fridge. It’s a bit too ripe to eat raw, but it’ll be delicious in a stew.

Meal 5: Leftovers and refrigerator and pantry finds. There is usually plenty leftover from the week in the fridge. If not, there is always wild canned salmon and tuna in the pantry. Plus, there is pasta, pasta sauce, rice, etc. In addition, I usually go to the Farmers’ Market on Fridays, so we’ll have some fresh veggies to supplement our meal with.

Questions: Do you plan meals? What’s on your menu this week?

Be well,

Andrea