Clean out the fridge day!

Things have been going well lately, but it's definitely harder than I thought to stick with eating 80% vegan! Sometimes I needed something quick and easy like a grilled cheese or bowl of cereal. I have noticed that the more I eat normal foods, the quicker I feel cravings again which makes it super easy to slip back into eating horribly.  I realize now how much of a complete lifestyle change this is because a big part of my day consists of food decisions! I know it will get easier as I learn how to quickly throw together veggie meals and I just bought a food processor so that should speed things up a little! Of course the smoothies continue to be one of my favorite parts of healthy eating and I'm getting more and more adventurous with what I'm using.

Today was a "clean out the fridge/freezer" day so for breakfast I had a Salad Smoothie as I called it - I had about 1.5 cups of lettuce left and 1 cup of fresh blueberries, so I threw that in the bullet and then added a cup of frozen strawberries, 3 Splenda packets & some water.  It tasted okay for me because I'm kind of getting used to the "greener" flavor but I wouldn't recommend the lettuce to someone who isn't fond of the green taste.  It is NOT like spinach, whos flavor just disappears.  I forgot to take a picture until the end, sorry - haha

Lunch: I looked in the fridge and I had 1 zucchini and some left over tortillas.  In the freezer I had half a bag of yellow squash and 3 breaded fish patties.  So why not put it all together?!  I call these Fishstick & Grilled Veggie tacos!  I boiled the squash, then used my grill pan for the zucchini, threw on the squash to get some grill marks, and grilled up some frozen "seasoning blend" which is onion, celery, and bell pepper.  I used Tony's, garlic powder &  onion powder to season.  Heated up the tortillas and used a little tartar sauce and Tiger sauce (spicy red chili sauce).  Baked the fish patties then sliced them into strips.  I must say - they were delicious! Definitely NOT anywhere close to Vegan, but we've got to get rid of some of this food and I hate to throw things away!

Dinner: We had our friends, Daniel & Caroline, over so we grilled some chicken wingettes and veggie kabobs.  I used this recipe for the chicken ---> Grill Master Chicken Wings

They came out amazing! Definitely a keeper recipe! (Sorry no picture, we ate everything too fast! haha)

Eggplant Veggie Roll-Ups!

Ohhhhhhhhh my goodness, this is my new favorite dish since starting a healthy way of eating! Here is the link for the recipe: http://withstyle.me/2011/09/08/eggplant-vegetable-roll-ups-recipe/

Here are what mine looked like with added shredded Almond Cheese:

I also used a NO SALT ADDED can of tomato sauce and added a fresh chopped tomato to it, then seasoned it with lite salt, Tony's, and Italian seasoning.  Then I put a little almond cheese in each roll-up as well as on top of them all.  It melted to look like I put a lot, but I really didn't! The recipe calls for 1 cup of spinach, I wanted to get rid of the rest of my spinach so I used about 1.5-2 cups and I'm so glad I did because once it was wilted I actually could have used more! I will use about 2-3 cups next time. I used an orange bell pepper which is a little sweeter than the red.  I didn't use mushrooms because I don't care for them, but they probably give it a little meaty flavor.

Nathan even really enjoyed these, so I will definitely be making them again and I may add some more veggies next time!

3 days post-diet!

     I've been so busy since I last posted that I haven't had a chance to update until now! The next morning after the 7-day crash diet was over, I had lost another half pound, so overall I lost 6 lbs in 7 days which I think is great for not having to count ONE CALORIE!
Like I said before, it was an eye-opening experience to learn so much about what I'm eating and what it's doing to my body but I must admit, this diet is NOT for everybody! It was extremely strict as you all could see and I even cheated a bit compared to exactly what Dr. Fuhrman wrote about in his book. I do think anybody could do it for 7 days though, think of it as a challenge!!!
So I bet you are wondering what I've been eating since RIGHT?! Haha Wellllllll.......the next day I had a dinner party at my house for my church girlfriends and it was Mexican food pot-luck. I made grilled vegetable fajitas which were DELICIOUS by the way (I just used my grill pan, sprayed a little cooking spray, seasoned with Tony's and grilled red & yellow bell peppers, onion, zucchini and squash) Of course everyone else brought amazing dishes full of meat, cheese, and deliciousness! Haha  I made a plate and took a little bit of everything. I figured I'd go out with a bang, right?! So I finished off with a bit of ice cream with my friends. It was a great time of fellowship and it made me feel good to know I could control myself not to pig out.
The following day was my little cousin's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese and I did very good, I made a big salad with some fruit and stayed away from the pizza! That night was a friend's wedding and I took just a small spoonful of things I liked and a big plate of fruit.

Then yesterday was Father's Day and I knew that Nathan really wanted Dominos because we hadn't eaten it in forever. So I ordered him a small pepperoni and myself a small thin crust veggie pizza with light cheese.
I ate entirely too much of it though and felt bad afterwards. So this morning I know I need to really be careful not to slip back into old habits of eating whatever is easy and quick.
My friend Tabitha sent me a recipe for banana ice cream that's literally JUST bananas. I made it this morning and it's absolutely amazing!
3 bananas, sliced and put in freezer until frozen.
Put into food processor (I only have a blender and it worked too)
Scrape down sides several times and just keep blending until all of a sudden the bananas turn into this whipped goodness.

It tastes great alone, but the recipe also says you can add some peanut butter and cocoa powder for fun. I haven't tried adding anything yet. This will definitely be something I make often because it satisfies that sweet craving and it feels like you are doing something bad by eating ice cream! haha

I have continued to lose weight and I'm down another pound. I look forward to trying new recipes with eggplant and lots of grilled veggies!

Eat to Live Day 7

     This morning I slept in since it was Nathan's turn to wake up with Bella.  She naps at 9am so since I was still in bed, Nathan decided he would just go back to sleep too.  My phone rang at 9:45 and it was work asking if I could come in to help out because there were a bunch of patients.  So I got ready, weighed in & I lost 1/2 lb from yesterday, then went straight to work.  Therefore, I didn't eat any breakfast! I only needed to stay a couple of hours, so I was back home at 1:30 and that's when I ate lunch.  This was the first time I was genuinely super hungry and wanted to just quickly make a bowl of cereal or a pb&j.  BUT I didn't and luckily I had washed all my salad yesterday and had it in those nice jars ready to go! I just had to wash my fruit and add the toppings. 


Lunch: A strawberry, blueberry, & spinach salad topped with mixed seeds/nuts and balsamic vinegar.

Later that afternoon we needed to make a trip to Walmart for a few items including Nathan's "normal" food... a warning to anyone wanting to try this diet - DO NOT GO TO WALMART! lol  Literally everywhere I looked were these awful processed (aka delicious and tempting) foods! hahaha  It was very strange for me because I used to spend a good 5-10 minutes picking out Healthy Choice dinners or Smart Ones but this trip I grabbed a couple bags of frozen fruit and I was out of there! We spent way too much money, as usual, because Walmart has this weird way of just emptying your pockets...

Afternoon Snack: Plain Black bean chips (which are better because they don't have any flavoring/extra ingredients) with Jalapeno Hummus which was very good! Just the right amount of spice!

Dinner: I was originally going to make Dr. Fuhrman's recipe for Veggie Pizza but I looked it up too late and realized it was going to take about 40 minutes and I was hungy NOW soooooooooo I went fridge diving and found this package of "BBQ pulled shreds" that I got at Whole Foods last week.  It's meatless and made out of soy/grains??? or something like that...Nathan and I still aren't sure exactly what it is BUT we can both agree that it tastes GOOD!  I heated up a whole grain pita pocket and stuffed it with the bbq mixture while Nathan just put his on sandwich bread w/some mayo. 

 

It was very satisfying and we agreed that if someone would have cooked this and told us it was just pulled pork, we wouldn't have questioned them while eating it.  The only reason someone may not like this is if they over-thought it while eating it, because you know it's not meat which is kind of weird when you're chewing it so you CAN'T overthink it. lol I would definitely buy this again and it really went great in the pita pocket. (Oh and this definitely wasn't on the Eat to Live plan because I'm sure the bbq sauce was full of sugar!)

Dessert: A cup of yummy watermelon! Princess obviously knows what's up!

I can honestly say I'm enjoying eating this way because I can definitely tell my stomach has shrunk, I get full so much quicker and I don't crave anything bad for me! That's not to say I won't dive into a peanut butter sandwich in a couple days but I intend to continue eating mostly vegan from here on out. I still haven't had any meat this week and I'm not missing it yet!  I'll probably eat vegan like 80-90% of the time and then if we are eating out or for a special occasion I will eat dairy or meat.  This has been such an eye opening experience for me and it's like some kind of switch flipped during this week and I all of  sudden stopped craving all the bad foods and I actually desired to put healthy things in my body.  Now don't get me wrong, if you put a donut in front of my face I'm going to want to eat it! lol  BUT I don't have a desire to go searching for a donut to satisfy some sort of sugar craving.  Dr. Fuhrman is right about filling your body with nutrient-rich foods and it causing your body to demolish those bad cravings. 
Tomorrow will be the official weigh in day for the "7 day crash diet" but of course I'm not stopping there.  I'll continue to blog now and again about my progress but it won't be daily menus like this week.  It's been fun though!!! Can't wait to see how I'm going to feel in a few weeks!

Eat to Live Day 6

This morning I decided I really need to stick with one scale because I'm going crazy over here! lol  I'll stick with the high-tech scale even though it's the one that's usually more unkind to me...haha.  But this morning it did tell me I lost a 1/2 pound from yesterday.  So I'm officially down 5 pounds in 5 days, this is definitely worth it. 

Breakfast: I made my own smoothie concoction this morning ~

 1 large banana

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 whole pitted nectarine

1 cup fresh spinach

1.5 tbsp ground flax seed

1/2 cup vanilla soymilk

1 cup crushed ice

2 fresh strawberries to garnish ;-)

It made 2 whole glasses for us to share and it tasted delicious (even though it's a weird color)!!!

Lunch: I had the smoothie at 8am and I wasn't hungry for lunch until 3pm! I made a salad of spinach & romaine, a grated carrot, raisins, my cucumber confetti from yesterday and spicy pumpkin seeds topped with Tomato Basil dressing. I actually only finished less than half and I had to give the rest to Nathan because I was too full.

While I was washing my spinach & romaine, I decided to try a Pinterest idea of storing my lettuce in jars in the fridge.  It sure looks pretty if anything else, lol.

Dinner: We have been craving sushi for a while so we went to Sushi Brothers.  I ordered Edemame and ate almost all of it by myself! Then I got a seaweed salad roll and a vegetable roll.  Unfortunately I completely forgot to ask them to use brown rice :(  I was bummed out but I'll definitely remember next time! It was good of course, but the whole time I was hoping all this white rice wouldn't stick to my thighs! lol 

I still feel good about today, even with the white rice incident.  I can't believe tomorrow is the 7th day already! And I was just thinking about it...I've gone a whole week without ANY soda or caffeine!!! That in itself is probably a record for me because I love diet soda, tea and coffee!!! To anyone who is considering this 7 day experiment - DO IT! :)   And to end this post, here is an adorable picture of Bella wearing Aunt Lauren's outfit! And yes she's 7 months wearing a 3-6 month outfit, lol.

Cutie Pie

Eat to Live Day 5

     This morning I think I lost about a half pound...the reason I don't really know is because apparently I enjoy torturing myself and I weigh on TWO scales.  I have one in my bathroom that isn't all that high tech, it's just a digital reading of my weight.  Then a while back I bought a new high tech scale (it gives me BMI, bone density, etc) and we keep it in the kitchen.  Well OF COURSE they don't tell me the same weight...and I really have no way of knowing which one is correct.  Soooooooo all that to say one scale had me at the same weight as yesterday and the other said I was down about 3/4 of a lb.  Whatever - I'll just go with maybe I lost 1/2 lb?! lol

Breakfast: A slice of the Yummy Banana Oat bars I made yesterday, but today I drizzled agave nectar on top and it made it perfect! Just sweet enough to enjoy (thank goodness because I was highly disappointed last night and thought the whole batch was going to be a waste).  That slice made me very full!

Lunch: Chili & a cucumber confetti salad (Nathan's creation).  As pictured below I used Amy's Organic Chili with vegetables.  It was absolutely delicious, Nathan even LOVED it!

Nathan sliced up 4 cucumbers & 2 tomatoes from my grandpa's garden....

The we used the Vidalia Onion chopper to cut them into tiny pieces...



Added some left over red onion that I already had chopped up and voila! a Cucumber Confetti Salad! Isn't it pretty?!?!

Nathan put some Italian dressing on his and I just put a dash of Raspberry Vinaigrette but really it doesn't need any dressing at all, just some seasoning. We had plenty leftover to use tomorrow.

Dinner: We walked down to Cafe Rani on Magazine St. and I ordered a Veggie Spud which was a baked potato topped with grilled zucchini, squash, onions, brocolli, carrots, & I think some chopped eggplant. Then swiss & provolone cheese melted throughout. It also came with sides of sour cream & salsa but I didn't eat either one.  The dish was AMAZING! I never even thought of just using grilled veggies as a potato topping and of course the cheese was delicious, haha.  I also never thought I'd be eating a baked potato without lots of butter and sour cream!

Bella hanging out during dinner :)

We walked a total of 1.5 miles so that was a good end to the day.  I'm still feeling great and I know this is going to change my way of eating forever!  Before dinner we stopped at Starbucks and it was the first time I was really disappointed on this diet because I couldn't have my usual Caramel Macchiato.  I actually couldn't have anything because Dr. Fuhrman doesn't recommend coffee at all, even decaf plus I can't have sugar so there wasn't anything I was interested in drinking unsweetened. Yuck! But it's okay, I got through it and it wasn't really a big deal.  Great day!

Eat to Live Day 4

Didn't lose any weight this morning but I'm still 4 lbs down since I started and I feel good.

Breakfast: A large bowl of fruit- Watermelon, peaches, orange, and strawberries
                                   
  
Lunch: I ate my left over Veggie burger from yesterday. I put the bun in my toaster oven and microwaved the patty. It tasted just as good as yesterday! I planned on eating a salad afterwards but I was so full I didn't want one.

Snack: Nathan and I shared a cup of guacamole with those delicious Beanitos (Black bean chips)

2nd snack: a handful of this yummy mix (I'm allowed 1 oz. of nuts/seeds per day)



Dinner: A spinach & romaine salad topped with strawberries, raisins, a few walnuts and balsamic vinegar



Dessert: I made an Eat to Live recipe called Yummy Banana Oat Bars - Here is a picture of all the ingredients...

I didn't have date sugar (I couldn't find it at Whole foods) so instead I used a drizzle of Agave Nectar to add a little sweetness.  I also made my own applesauce (it was actually some I already had made for Bella so that worked out!) by chopping up an apple and steaming it in a little water in the microwave then pureed it in a blender. It tastes really good, actually better than store bought applesauce and it doesn't have ANYTHING added...it's literally just apple.  I also put those walnuts in my bullet and gave those a quick chop to make them tiny.

The recipe calls for a 9x9 square pan, I couldn't find mine so the round pan was the next best thing...here is what it looked like all mixed together and mushed in the pan.

Miss Bella Rae was watching my every move...maybe we have a future cook on our hands??

Finished product! They are definitely more breakfasty than desserty and could be a little sweeter for Nathan and I's palate.  Maybe adding the Agave nectar on top would be better? Or perhaps I just need to search harder for the date sugar (whatever that is!) haha But all in all they are tasty and I'm sure very filling if you ate a couple of slices for breakfast.

Eat to Live Day 3

     Another 2 lbs down this morning! Woo hoo! So glad that pizza didn't destroy my efforts...BUT I did have some bad tummy cramps/issues around 3 am and I can't help but wonder if the pizza was to blame.  I don't think I mentioned it before but Dr. Fuhrman suggests NOT working out during this 7 day diet because his philosphy is that most people start out this diet feeling pretty crappy (ain't that the truth) and this diet isn't the easiest to accomplish, so adding on working out right now is just not going to make things any easier.  But once your body begins digesting all these good nutrients and flushes out all the bad stuff I've been eating the last 26 years - you should actually start to want to work out! Now if that happens to me I may just jump up and down because never in my life have I had a strong desire to work out for my health.  I've only wanted to work out to try and drop a few lbs.  So we shall see, but either way I can already tell that I'm feeling better about the way I'm eating and what's being put into my body. 

Breakfast: I slept a little late this morning and Nathan took care of Bella, so I only had a few minutes before church to whip up a Strawberry Banana smoothie like I had yesterday. 

Today in church we actually discussed insecurities that we all have and of course weight/body image was brought up.  The truth is that we are all comparing ourselves to others and wanting to live up to some sort of "standard".  Unfortunately this means we aren't giving 100% of ourselves to God and trusting that we are pleasing in His eyes and that's all that really matters.  This is a hard pill to swallow because I definitely hate to think that I'm not trusting God with everything.  But honestly I had never put my body insecurities in the same category as trusting God.  But today I realized I do need to take a step back and pray that He will show me how to give all my insecurities to Him and not compare myself to others.  Because in the big scheme of things...none of that matters and even though I've always known that, it sure is tough to live that way.  I do still believe that our bodies are something God gave us as a gift and we need to take care of this precious gift to the best of our ability.  Sorry for the mini-sermon but it just hit me hard this morning :)

Lunch: I sauteed some onions, bell pepper & celery and mixed those with some canned Navy beans. Nathan and I split the can of beans and I put them over 1/4 cup of brown rice.  They were yummy!

Dinner: We ate at New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood with my parents and I ordered the Big Veggie which is a Grilled Veggie Patty, Grilled Peppers and Onions, Avocado, Swiss, Toasted Wheat Bun with a side salad topped with Balsamic Vinegar.  I actually asked for no cheese, but of course it arrived with cheese on it and I didn't feel like waiting for a new burger so I didn't complain.  I ate the whole salad and only half the burger.  I brought the other half home and will have it tomorrow for lunch.  It was literally better tasting than many hamburgers I've tried.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and will again tomorrow! :) 

So far so good - just taking it day by day! So far I'm enjoying this diet more than any other I've tried!

Eat to Live Day 2

Today started out great when I weighed in at 2 lbs less than yesterday! Yay! Even though I know it's mostly water weight, it still makes me feel like I'm making some progress. 

Breakfast: Strawberry Banana Smoothie
1 Cup Frozen Strawberries
2 Bananas
1/3 Cup Vanilla soymilk
1 Tbsp Ground Flaxseed
Dash of Vanilla extract
1/2 cup Ice

 It was VERY GOOD!

While I was at it, I pureed a couple of strawberries to mix with Bella's yogurt for her breakfast.

Brunch: a 1/2 cup of quick oats with a few slices of peaches on top.  I couldn't add any sugar, milk, or butter like my momma used to make it for me which was really tough but the peaches made it surprisingly sweet enough to eat.  I only at about 2/3 of it though and I was full.

Late Lunch: I was still very full from the oats so lunch was really just snacking on a few things.  Nathan finished off this bag of Kale Chips (I didn't care for them that much but he loved them!)

I ate about a handful of Cinnamon Apple Chips which are just freeze dried apples with cinnamon and they are very good!

I also ate some of the Spiced Sweet Roasted Red Pepper Hummus that I made yesterday with these yummy Beanitos chips (they are my favorite of the wierd foods I've tried so far!) Nathan toasted some whole wheat tortillas to use with the hummus, but I only ate a couple pieces since I had the oats earlier.  I am only allowed 1 cup of whole grain products a day and I was already planning to have some for dinner.

Dinner: We had a dinner date with our friends Tim and Holly at Ancora. It was absolutely delicious but I probably had more than my 10% allowance of dairy with the all the cheese on my pizza. I got a vegetarian pizza with spinach and cherry tomatoes. Technically I shouldn't have had the pizza crust because it wasn't whole grain but I'll let it slide this one time ;-)

Eat to Live Day 1

Today started off with an hour and a half trip to Whole Foods. Let me tell ya...that place is a little overwhelming!!! I have been there about three times in my life and it was usually to get a couple of off the wall items and that was it. This was the first time I was actually doing all of my grocery shopping there and it proved to be the best/hardest shopping trip ever! I had an entire basket full of organic produce, healthy meat & dairy alternatives, and some other really wierd items that I NEVER thought I would try! haha I assumed that my experience was going to end with a $300 grocery bill, but I was happy to find out that I only spent $150 which would have been a typical Wal-Mart trip for us to get our overly processed "normal" food. So the diet plan is mostly vegan, but he gives you the option to have 10% of your daily intake to be dairy and/or meat. I intend to mostly do vegan and only indulge in dairy or meat if I absolutely can't stand to put another vegetable in my mouth...haha I've never been a huge meat eater, but I absolutely LOVE carbs and dairy plus I could basically live off of fast food or peanut butter & jelly sandwiches. SO needless to say, this is going to be a bit of a challenge for me but I hope to take this experience and learn how to eat to live instead of living to eat ;-P
Breakfast: nothing, because I literally got out of bed, took a shower and went to Whole Foods. I didn't get home until almost 11 so I just made lunch.
Lunch: I had a half bag of shredded lettuce left from earlier this week so I poured that in a bowl, added these fun things (the pea crisps are part of my 10% because they had some kind of yeast flour in the ingredients)

Then for my dressing I used a Tomato Basil dressing that was all-natural with no added sugar or oils. It tasted very good, kind of like a pasta sauce. I was only able to finish half the salad and I gave the rest to Nathan. I then had to hurry off to work at noon. I got home at 5pm and had a few chunks of watermelon while I made some homemade roasted red pepper hummus. It's a recipe I've made several times before and it's absolutely delicious!!! Find that recipe here!  I had a few bites of that with a little whole wheat pita bread.
Dinner: For the first time in my life I used real spinach that wasn't already in a bag or box! ::gasp:: plus some romaine lettuce.

I washed it and just peeled off some and tore it into chunks into my bowl. Then I took one of these carrots and used my cheese grater to grate some carrot over my salad.  If you've never had fresh grated carrots, they are delicious! Way better than the hard funky carrot shreds that come in the pre-mixed bagged salad.

Then I cut up some fresh organic strawberries...

Added some raw walnuts and raisins, then topped it all with a balsamic vinegar drizzle (I just worded it that way because it sounds cool...lol) And VOILA! This was probably one of the best salads I've had in a long time.  It had a great combination of sweetness and tartness which left me feeling satisfied and not like I just ate another boring salad.