Happy Sunday night!

I don’t have to work tomorrow, so I am stoked about an extra prep day. My husband has some travel coming up, so I am trying to do as much as I can to stock up my freezer with things for the kids, soups, etc. Today, I tested a few recipes to see what the kids or I liked. It was semi-successful. I missed a few pictures over the past few days, but I’ll go over a few things and give some details.

I was still a little anxious this weekend and can tell I am still detoxing. My lips are dry, and I’m not sure if it’s from the colder weather or needing to drink more water. I usually feel great on that front in the morning, but by the afternoon, I end up feeling a little behind on water. Hopefully, I can regulate on that soon. It’s not overly enjoyable.

I’ve made it to 168.8, which is the lowest I have been since 2020. I typically would derail myself once I got to somewhere close to 171 pounds. I would allow myself a treat for the accomplishment, and then I would spiral right off every wagon I was ever on. I am mentally telling myself, no splurge, no cheat. This is about more than weight; this is about health and wellness for the rest of my life. This week is vital to me. Once I make it past this week, I really think things will be flowing well for me. It’s like my body knows we are under or prior set point and its rebelling. 

I actually wanted to take a moment and talk about my diet prior to this current adjustment. You might be reading this and thinking, she must have extreme will power, or she must have eaten pretty healthy before. The fact is, no, I do not and did not. I struggle with textures, so really the only time I ate fruit was when I would blend them up in a smoothie. There’s a meme out there that says something like: “fruit is inconsistent, but you know what’s not? Oreos.” And I related to this. I still eat most of my fruit either in a smoothie or my salad, so it’s mixed with other things, but I still prefer firm fruit, and it’s always been that way. I also didn’t like most breakfast foods or sandwiches much. I still don’t really like breakfast foods, so I am working in my smoothies. I load them up with greens and a bit of fruit. Eventually I will likely use less fruit once my tastes are more sensitive as well.

A typical day for me was a struggle. I didn’t like fruit, and I didn’t like most standard breakfast foods. Or at least ones I could make easily and quickly. So, I would either not have breakfast or eat something like Honey Nut Cheerios. Occasionally, I would make oatmeal or a bagel if I was in a phase of doing so. It was rarely something good. For lunch, I ate a lot of pita chips and hummus. It was a go-to for me, or something like tortilla chips and salsa. Occasionally, I would get a turkey sandwich on a croissant with mayonnaise and mustard. Dinner was usually healthy, or what the Standard American diet would consider healthy. A side note here, this way of life is against the grain and focuses on getting the most nutrients per calorie, within balance. So, not purely kale or purely blueberries, of course. Anyway, we enjoyed cheese, cream, chicken, beef, and salmon. The kids enjoyed nuggets when there was little time to cook, or McDonald’s or Taco Time occasionally. We tried really hard not to eat out, but it happened more than I wanted it to. I would also occasionally get a treat for myself on the way home from school drop-off, or when I was grocery shopping. All of this to say, I was not treating my body well. I was not eating the proper things, and I do not have super willpower.

Change is uncomfortable, and I am feeling all the feelings. I went to a party on Saturday evening with my husband and my kids, and I intentionally brought my dinner and a small bit of healthy, nutritious dessert. I knew if I didn’t, I would eat something I didn’t want to. Sure enough, there were treats that I so desired to eat. I would have derailed myself had I not brought my intended dinner and dessert. No one cared! I was still social, and life went on. The crazy thing is, when I type “things I didn’t want to eat,” I do realize that most of the time we are aware of what we are eating, that it’s not nutritious, and we don’t really want to eat it. But we do it anyway, or we impulsively buy it and eat it, and feel guilty for hours or days after. I am hoping one day I can come on here and tell you none of those cravings are there anymore. I hope it’s within the next 6 weeks too. When we nourish our bodies with the things it needs, it is satisfied, satiated, and in balance.

Now my weekend. I know I mentioned I brought food along with me, and a dessert at that. Let’s get to it, because a lot of food happened. 

Friday, I made a Quick Quinoa Breakfast. It wasn’t super quick, but compared to some options, I suppose it was. Someday maybe I’ll get better at chopping, or more efficient at the very least. It wasn’t too bad, just not like a toaster waffle or something. It had raisins, dates, almond milk, apples, and blueberries in it, with some walnuts as well. I think for meals for my kids, I will likely need to up the nut quota for the healthy fats. I ate some, and I wasn’t a fan, but they loved it, so WIN! The only reason I didn’t like it was because the blueberries were gushy from being heated up. Not my favorite, and back to the whole texture issue. That’s below in the blue/white bowl.

Lunch was another huge salad. Like I mentioned above, I like to put fruit in there, and this time was some raspberries and some pomegranate seeds. Boy that was a good salad day. I love pomegranate seeds, and on a salad they’re phenomenal. I do want to note that these salads take me a while to eat. I realize that’s not feasible to do if you work in certain jobs, or even away from home. I could easily swap my dinner and lunch and do my salad at home late in the day and do my soups etc. in the afternoon for lunch. It doesn’t matter when its eaten, but it’s vital to eat large salad daily, of all or mostly raw vegetables. I could even do the salad for breakfast, but it’s usually best to do the calorie heavy meals in the morning, which are typically going to have your fruits in it. There was no dinner picture, but I had the last of my stir fry from the prior Saturday. Still delicious and I really enjoyed it all week. 

I ended up at the grocery store to replenish my stash of foods and prep them. I ended up chopping several veggies. I still plan to make a post about prepping, but I use mason jars, a paper towel or more depending on how wet the veggie is, and chop it all up, again in tiny pieces. I try to prep for about a week, so if I end up running out of something its usually only one item before the week mark. Again, still learning and trying to figure out the best way to prep ahead for dinners, but I think batch cooking will be great, at least then I would be in the kitchen for more intensive meals only once or twice a week.  

Saturday was a busy day. We ended up having two playdates. 10 a.m. at a friend’s house for the kids to play, and around 5 p.m., other friends and the kids played. I still got some decent work in between the two events. I may have overcommitted myself, but I wanted to spend the evening with my husband, so I joined as well. I started the day with a chocolate cherry smoothie. Still one of my favorites. The combination is delicious. I added kale, spinach, and green cabbage, pine nuts, and a mix of hemp, flax, and chia seeds.

Since I was going to a friend’s house, I prepped a salad for myself. I was slightly rushing so I forgot the pepitas and the beans on it, so I didn’t feel as satisfied from it. It was still delicious though. I also packed my kids sandwiches with mashed blueberries and almond butter. Another tip here, you don’t have to have jam that’s full of sugar, even the low sugar jams still have way more than any human needs. Did you know that your body takes away nutrients from itself to digest sugar? And if it doesn’t have those nutrients, it does some serious damage to our cells? This is partly why it’s so important to eat sugars in their true form. Fruit! It is literally giving your body what it needs to digest and use it as energy, so it doesn’t harm itself. How freaking cool is that? I learned this last week. I am always learning something new when it comes to nutrition. I seriously suggest listening to this podcast with Dr. Fuhrman: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sugar-sugar-and-more-sugar/id1556543189?i=1000540756067. He talks very sciency in the beginning about sucrose, glucose, and fructose, but if you can hang on through those few minutes, he gives some really good pieces of advice. 

I got home from the play date, and we decided to go to the other friend’s house. I did so much in a small amount of time. 

1. I made dinner for myself. It was the base of a tofu meal I was going to make for dinner for the whole family. I didn’t end up giving it to the kids on Saturday, but I prepped it. I also needed noodles and tofu made up, but I didn’t have time by the time I realized I wasn’t going to get it done. So, I took the veggies for myself (pictured with broccoli below) with some brown rice. Did you know you can cook up whole grains and freeze them in serving sizes? Microwaves aren’t great for you, but you can stick them in a pan super-fast and defrost them? Or leave them on the counter for a few minutes and let them just come to room temp? Makes prep and weeknight meals easier as well.

2. I made and orange sesame dressing since I just used up the last of my walnut dressing at lunch. I am trying to branch out and see if any other dressings hit me as a winner. 

3. I made a blueberry cake that is totally plant based and healthy foods, aiming for a snack or dessert etc. for the kids. They each tried it and loved it. I took a bit, probably more than I needed, with me to the party. It wasn’t super sweet, which is good since I didn’t hit what Dr. Fuhrman calls the bliss point, which can put you over the edge for food addiction and triggers a spiral. I took the first bite with caution.

Today, Sunday. Gosh, I did a lot today too.

We woke up and got ready for church. I heated up the quinoa breakfast for the kids, and while they ate, I made the Dreamy Green Milk Shake. Holy cow, that was good. I think I was borderline hitting the bliss point. It was one banana, a handful of spinach, almond butter, vanilla bean powder, and maca powder. I think maca is what did it. I had Googled what it tasted like before ordering it, since you never know, and if it was bitter, I wasn’t sure if I would want it. It said it tastes like caramel or is sweet, and boy, did it! I might have to limit how often I make that. It was so small, so maybe just a Sunday morning treat. Since it was so small, I added an apple on the side to munch on at church.

I got home and started on a couple of things. I began by making some tofu “egg” bites, hoping the kids would want them for lunch, but that was not a win. I may freeze them and make more for me, then stick them in the freezer. I added some chopped green onions, orange pepper, and chopped-up broccoli. I thought they tasted great. You can make them with almost any combination of veggies too.

I ate my salad and tried the Orange Sesame dressing, but I don’t think it’s a winner. I made it, so I’ll finish it and try something else. I ended up not finishing my salad, so there will be some leftovers for tomorrow.

After lunch, I also made a massive amount of soup. I’m either going to freeze some, or I’ll see if my kids will give it a shot. My son is more likely to try it than my daughter, but the more things I try, the more I’m bound to find something they enjoy and can add to the rotation. The last thing I made today was some little apple pie bites. They were fairly easy to make, and between them and the blueberry cake, the kids and I should have some healthy options to choose from for snacks, dessert, or something for their lunch. I’m trying not to snack between meals, but I can have one of the options after dinner if I haven’t had too many grains during the day. I am exhausted, but I really wanted to get this out to you since it’s been a couple of days since I posted and updated you all. At the end of the day, I’m still sticking with it and still moving forward every day. I still have some dishes in the sink and will get those done tomorrow, along with a load of laundry to swap over. Oy! Have a good evening, curious folks!