Healthy Habits #4 AND Enjoying Exersice #3

Since I am planning a major event in California in October, my time has been drawn away from writing. Hopefully I will get back to more frequent posts soon.

I have watched "Fed Up" three times this week. I still shake my head in disbelief and learn something from it each time. If you haven't seen it, it is a must see. Have you ever noticed that the FDA, who controls putting labels on food, has deliberately chosen to leave off the percentage of daily recommenced sugar intake? The government & other groups say to those of us over weight that we need more discipline and we need to exercise, while they continue to lie to the American people about what they are putting in our foods.

By the time you have had a bowl of most cereals, glass of juice, and a piece of fruit for breakfast, you have already surpassed your daily recommend percentage of sugar. The food industry surrounds us with unhealthy processed foods at the check out stands, in our school, and places of work and then tells us it is our own fault for gaining weight. The line of 'calorie in = calorie out' isn't so equal. The people who made this documentary are selling nothing and gain nothing, so why would they lie? The challenge?
For 10 days:
1.  don't eat any unnatural sugar (fruits & vegies are fine)
2. Don't eat any processed foods, you know things in a box, fast food, etc
3. COOK! Actually cook fresh foods.

Personally, I am trying to avoid high fructose corn syrup, sodium nitrate, and anything I can't say on a label! Interesting fact, my weight gain corresponds with the years they started changing foods and adding crap, and entering the work world where cooking became a chore instead of a time to spend with family cooking.

Now on to the fun part of my week! I bought an elliptical and have actually used it 4 times in a week! I also talked my daughter into doing the 'Obsticles of Obesity' 5K. On this one we had to do the course in a blow up suit so the thinner people in the crowd could see how had some things were to do. This was my 6th 5K this summer and I have two more I want to do! It has been a lot of fun doing these crazy 5Ks. I am not a runner, so this has been great. Find something you enjoy doing and go do it!

Fun Food #4

Food is so much more fun to write about! Since I started this blog, I have made better food choices and still gained weight. No fair! Part of this has to do with the doctor adding 3 new medications to my routine.  I don't like meds and am really bad at remembering to take them. My LDL is way too high along with my triglycerides. Knowing my dad passed away from a massive heart attack at the age of 63 isn't comforting.

But I am on the right track and learning a ton from my nutrition classes. I am loving all the fruit this summer and still learning how to make great health food. One of my favorite treats now is kale chips. By eating kale chips and juicing fruit, I am doing pretty darn good.

I don't have a lot of self control so for me it is best not to have food in the house that is not healthy. We had a lot of great fruit and salads for the 4th of July.

I love this vegie dish that Rachel taught me. It is healthy and delicious! You can find the recipe on my Pinterest or at http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/08/summer-vegetable-tian/

Food Fun #3 - Urban Farm & Feed

In my quest to eat more healthy, I joined a farm share. How it works is I paid for farm fresh food from May to October. Every week I have a pick up with a variety of farm fresh foods. Urban Farm & Feed is a family farm that does not spray their food and they raise happy chickens! Each week I receive a dozen eggs and several veggies with a newsletter with recipes.

Several times I have received food that I have no idea what it is! I just post pictures of the veggies on Facebook and my knowledgeable friends clue me in as to what I have.  For several weeks I have received peas (in the pod) kale, radishes, turnips, lettuce, Arugula, and a variety of herbs and edible flowers.

I have made cards with pictures so I can learn to identify them each week and I add some recipes to
the cards. Still not sure what to do with collards or chard, but we have had some fun with learning new recipes. Tonight my son-in-law decided to make kale chips!

Recipe:
Wash, dry and clip the steams of the kale. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay the kale leafs out on a pan and drizzle oil on the leafs, add a little sea salt, and bake for 10-15 minutes. It is that easy and taste like sheets of dried seaweed. I liked it!

While he was making that I tried my hand at Roasted Baby Turnips, a recipe that was on our Urban Farm & Feed news letter called "Farmshare Weekly."

Recipe:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a bowl, whisk 1 tablespoon of vinegar with 1 1/2 teaspoons whole-grain mustard (I just used my dried powered mustard), one minced scallion, 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley, and 1/4 cup of olive oil (I used my coconut oil.)  Season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper. 

Heat a rimmed baking sheet in the oven. Cut 12-24 baby turnips (2 pounds), stems trimmed to 2 inches; quarter them if they are large. In a bowl, toss the turnips with the 1/4 cup of oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread the turnips on the preheated baking sheet and roast for about 18 minutes, until tender. Transfer the turnips to a platter and let cool. Drizzle with the vinaigrette and serve.

I have made these twice now and really like them. The kids came over for dinner Sunday and my daughter likes spinach leafs over lettuce leafs. We just happened to have some strawberries and blue berries on hand so she made a spinach salad with just the leafs, strawberries, and blueberries. We had some raspberry vinaigrette dressing on hand but I think she ate it plain!

It sure is nice to have the fresh fruits and vegetables in the summer time.

Healthy Habits #1 - Happiness Is A Choice

I have always believed that happiness is a choice. It bothers me when people say, "I will be happy when...." You can fill in the black with: when I get a job, when I get married, when I loose weight, etc. Life is tough, but most of us can choose to be happy while going though the tough times.

I get it, there are people that suffer from depression that cannot make that choice all the time. My late husband couldn't choose to be happy and after battling extremely bad clinical depression for 27 years, he took his life. One of my daughters will always deal with clinical depression and there are some days the demons of that brain disease, steal her happiness from her. But do not have depression.

I suffer from being overweight, chronic pain, bursitis, a lack of nutritious eating, and just bad habits! So I am taking control of my life. This blog will be about my journey to lose weight so the pain will stop. It will be about finding recipes that help you eat healthy and foods that taste great while promoting good eating habits, as well as exercising and a happy attitude. Basically as a school teacher, I know when you learn a concept, you will retain it better if you teach it to someone else. So this is my way of sharing what I learn and teaching it so I can grasp it even better.

Welcome to my journey!


Areas of concern: Large flabby upper arms, flexibility, large thighs, fat rolls around the middle!
Weight: 222 (can't believe I am actually posting that) was at 210 before I moved to a different state.
Eating: Don't get enough fruits or veggies, I eat mostly starches.
Exercise: try to walk a few days a week, I like to do 5K walks every summer
Mood:  HAPPY and loving life!