Thursday, August 17, 2006

Not much of a pregnancy blog

I'm giving a quick update. I haven't felt up to posting lately because I've been so tired and nauseous. Just typing here, knowing it's a food blog, is making me gag. So, I'll be brief and say I'll be back as soon as this yucky part is over. Hopefully, in another 4-6 wks. I'm 8 weeks pregnant now. I'm sorry about not being able to post about food! Blech!

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Day 2 of Pregnancy Blog

Today was ok. We had to get up early to take my 14 yr. old to football practice and I grabbed 2 apples as we headed out the door. Since gas is so expensive and football was so far away, we ended up going to the park so the other kids could play.

They got hungry, so we went to the convenience mart for a snack. Not good, but not terrible. I had a small bag of Baked Lay's potato chips.

Lunch was the same salad as last night's dinner and dinner was brown rice with a huge pile of broccoli.

I was doing great when my kids asked me to make chocolate chip cookies. They're vegan, but they are cookies. I used a recipe in Vegan Family Favorites.

The dough was very moist, so I added a bit more flour and cooked them. Here's what the first batch looked like (these aren't the best pictures because it's almost 11PM and I'm tired...):



A little flat...lol. They tasted way too buttery, so I added a bunch more flour and here's what the 2nd batch looked like:



Sorry to entice you all with pictures of warm, chocolate chip cookies. Me, I had 4......ok, maybe 5 of them.

Jodi

Friday, July 21, 2006

It's sinking in

Well, I think it has sunk in that I'm pregnant. It was a crazy week! I had a little bit of spotting yesterday, so went in for another blood test and my hcg levels had more than quadrupled in 3 days (they look for them to double in 48 hours), so things look good so far. All the more reason to keep eating healthy, E2L foods!

I'm not really having any symptoms except that I'm tired in the afternoons. I "rested my eyes" today and the kids kept waving their hand over my face to see if I was asleep. They wanted me to fall asleep because I told them that when I get really tired or sick with this pregnancy, I'll pay them to watch their little brother so that I can sleep. They can't wait until I get sick. LOL.

Now for my daily food intake....

I started the day off with.........(ugh, I hate confessing this stuff!)Cheez Its. There, I said it!

That's pretty much all I had for lunch (didn't have breakfast because I didn't have time to cut up the pineapple).

For dinner, I made the Beans and Rice Bowl from Dr. McDougall's Quick and Easy cookbook. I omitted the rice for myself, but added it for my toddler and Paul. The older kids wouldn't eat it (I have no idea why because they do like that kind of meal...I make it often....maybe a little too often??), so made themselves salads....and then popcorn for a snack while they watched Narnia.

So, here is a picture of my dinner:



I've noticed that most of my salads look the same because I usually use the same vegetables. I'm a little picky, I guess. The meal is basically pinto beans (I seasoned them with Mexican spices, even though the recipe doesn't call for any seasoning.), green pepper, tomatoes, lettuce and cilantro all mixed together. Add rice if you want a starch and onion if you like raw onion, which I don't. I remember my dad used to eat them right out of his garden. He'd sprinkle a little salt on them and chomp away. Blech!

Well, I have to go make a sandwich for my 9 yr. old who has been reading over my shoulder and is talking about how picky I am. I told him I'm not as picky as he is and he said that he only likes American food and not "every country's food." (That's not true!)

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

So much for losing the baby fat...

I've been eating ok, with a few slip ups, but nothing major. I'm down to 8 lbs. above my prepregnancy weight.

BUT.....I won't be dieting to lose weight anymore! I got these a couple of days ago:




I'll have to make this blog an E2L pregnancy blog, now! I did want to lose all of my baby fat before getting pregnant again, but 8 lbs. isn't too bad and maybe I'll get lucky and lose a few more before I start gaining. I can dream, right?

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

The past 3 days....

Well, I had my birthday dinner and then ended up eating junk for the rest of the evening. UGH! Lesson learned....don't let myself get sucked into eating junk food because I can't handle it! I'm going to try and do Dr. Fuhrman's 5 day detox to get myself out of this mess. Today was OK, but I did let myself have some Cheez Its......yes, Cheez Its!!

I won't even post my menus for the past 3 days because I wouldn't want to cause someone else to stumble. Let's just say it wasn't pretty. Back to business tomorrow!

Oh, here I am at my birthday dinner. I'm 38 years young. :)



I had a total E2L dinner, but had chips and salsa and the little ice cream that you see in front of me. I wasn't going to eat it, then decided to have one bite, which led to another and then another and before I knew it, it was gone! That soda in front of me is my husband's. I did not get a soda and neither did my toddler...even though it looks like he has one in front of him. I haven't had soda since I weaned myself off of Diet Coke (the poisonous stuff!) just before I got pregnant.

Saturday, July 08, 2006

Day 13

Well, I lost a half a pound today. It's not much, but I'll take it! I didn't work out this morning because we had to get to my son's baseball game. It's so nice that Paul has been home with us all week and I'm sad that it'll end on Monday.

I did OK today, but couldn't stay away from that darned bread. Oh well. It could be worse. Here is my menu for the day.

Breakfast: Watermelon

Snack at the game: 2 bites of my son's soft pretzel (no salt)

Lunch: Salad with lettuce, organic spring mix, shredded organic carrots, shredded beets, a few dried cranberries and fat free Italian dressing. I also had a slice and a half of bread.

Dinner: Vegetarian Chili, but I didn't take a picture. I was just too .tired. I threw it together with 1 red onion, 3 c. kidney beans, 3 c. pinto beans, 3 c. great northern beans, 2 cans crushed tomatoes, 1 can tomato paste, 3 cloves garlic, 4 tbsp. chili powder, 1 tsp. onion powder, 1 tsp. cumin, 2 tsp. oregano, 1 tbsp. chipotle seasoning...oh, and 2 red peppers and 2 small diced zucchini.

Snack: 3 c. watermelon (even though I was up at 4AM last night having to go to the bathroom and I'm sure it's from the watermelon before bed!!)

It's my birthday tomorrow, so I'm planning an off-plan dinner. I think we'll go to Chevy's and I'm going to eat the chips and salsa! I'll probably have my standard bean and veggie tostada (I don't eat the shell, though) minus the cheese and sour cream and with salsa for dressing. Yum!

I'll leave you with some cute pictures of my 9 yr. old and 20 mo. old.


Friday, July 07, 2006

Day 12

Still no weight loss. I did get a full workout in again today. Here's what I ate:

Breakfast: Nothing

Lunch: Lettuce and spring mix with lentil taco mix on top and 1/2 of an avocado

Snack: Piece of homemade wheat bread....sigh...

Dinner: Bowl and a half of minestrone and 2 pieces of bread

Evening Snack: Watermelon

Total calories for the day around 1100

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Day 11

Still no weight loss today....very frustrating. I think that maybe I'm not eating enough calories. I'm still nursing my 20 mo. old and I've been eating around 1000-1100 calories per day. I know that I should be eating around 1400 calories.

I did have a lot of bread again today, but stayed at around 1200 calories. I fully intended on having a big salad at lunchtime, but I got busy and didn't have time to eat it. I didn't eat very well today.

I made Dr. Fuhrman's Date Nut Pop'em's today, but sort of threw it together. Here's what I did:

About 2 cups of nuts--blanched almonds (skin removed), cashews and sunflower nuts
10-12 dates
1 tsp. cinnamon
coconut to roll them in

I put the nuts in my grinder until they were chopped very fine. Then, I threw them into the food processor with the dates and cinnamon and processed until mushy. I rolled them into balls and then rolled them in a plate of unsweetened coconut. All of the kids loved them (including Paul!), but my 14 yr. old wouldn't even taste them because there were "gross" dates in them. His loss!



Here's my menu for the day:

Breakfast: 2 c. pineapple and half of the toddler's piece of toast with white bean paste

Lunch: 6 organic wheat thin crackers, piece of bread (I was on the go and grabbed what I could.)

Dinner: Big Mo Minestrone modified from Feeding the Young Athlete. I doubled the recipe to have leftovers. I served this with homemade bread and had 1 slice.

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, diced
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 t. dried oregano
4 c. vegetable broth (I used water with vegetable bouillon.)
1 c. fresh or frozen corn
1 c. green beans, cut into 1 1/2" pieces
1 15-ounce can kidney beans, drained and rinsed (or add 1 1/2 c. home-cooked)
black pepper
1/2 c. chopped fresh basil (optional)

In a large soup pot over medium heat, add garlic and onion. Saute' with water until onion is soft. Add carrots, celery, potato and saute' about 5 minutes more. Add tomatoes, oregano, and veggie broth. Bring heat up to simmer. Cover and cook 1/2 hour. Add corn, green beans kidney beans and simmer for another 5 minutes or until green beans are tender. Stier in fresh basil and black pepper to taste.

Prep time: 45 mins.
Makes 6-8 servings



Evening snack: 1 c. grapes

Total calories for the day: 1154

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Day 10

Today was a lazy day. Here is what I ate:

Breakfast: Nothing

Lunch: Romaine and spring mix with the lentil taco topping and 1/2 of an avocado.

Dinner: Pacesetter Salad from Feeding the Young Athlete. I modified the recipe to omit the blue cheese and oil. Basically, it was just romaine (the recipe called for red leaf lettuce, but I didn't have any, nor did I have the arugula that it called for, so I used the spring mix) and spring mix with chopped spinach, halved grapes, dried cranberries and an orange vinaigrette dressing. It also called for toasted walnuts, which I put on the side for the family and Paul and the older boys also had grilled chicken on theirs.

Here's the salad dressing recipe:

1 tsp. orange zest
1/4 c. orange juice
2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
3 T. olive oil (I used water in place of the oil.)
salt and pepper to taste (I omitted the salt.)

It was very good.



Evening snack: 1.5 c. pineapple and some rice crisps

Total calories for the day was about 1000.

I didn't lose any weight today, so that's 3 days with no loss and one day with a 1 lb. gain. I did work out again and got in the entire video. Yea!

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Day 9....Happy 4th!

I'm posting a little early today because I'm a little discouraged. I got on the scale this morning and I've gone UP a pound. :( I'm hoping it's just a fluctuation that I'm going through before losing a few more. Maybe just the smell of homemade bread made me gain the weight? LOL. I'll try not to dwell on it.....

I'll post more tonight. Have a great 4th of July!!

Update: We had a nice day today with just the family. Our neighbor always buys a huge arsenal of fireworks, so we set up in our driveway and light ours along with him. It's always a pretty good show for a home show. The kids would rather stay home and light fireworks than go watch them somewhere. I got in another full workout this morning. Woohoo! Hopefully, I'll be able to continue once Paul goes back to work.

We had a yummy picnic before we had our fireworks show. I made Dr. Fuhrman's Bean Burgers for me and my toddler, turkey burgers for Paul and the older boys, homemade hamburger buns, grilled corn on the cob and Dr. Fuhrman's Patriotic Salad.

Here are the bean burgers going into the oven.



These were OK. I think Susan's Black Bean Burgers are much tastier, though.

Here is a picture of our meal.



Here is a picture of my plate....YUM!



I have to say that Dr. F's Patriotic Salad was delicious!! Hope you all had a great 4th!

Monday, July 03, 2006

Day 8

I worked out today! I had said that I was going to start working out on Monday and Paul (hubby) was on the treadmill when I said to him that I was going to work out on Monday. It suddenly hit me that it was Monday! For a second, I considered not doing it. I had to get the kids' school stuff written up so that they could get started, I had to get them something to eat, I had to shower so that I could get on with my day, my toddler was awake and
fussy.....excuses, excuses, but I finally decided that I had to just DO it!

I was able to finish the entire video tape! I was interrupted a few times and I told the kids what they could eat for breakfast, so they could make it themselves. It felt so good to get it done. It made me want to eat well for the rest of the day (that doesn't mean I didn't have any cravings...I made homemade bread and hamburger buns for the family and had to try really hard not to eat any).



Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast: Nothing...it was late when I started working out, so I just had water.

Lunch: Smoothie consisting of--
1 orange
3 packed cups of organic baby spinach
1 c. wild blueberries
1/2 c. organic raspberries

It was very good, but didn't look very pretty.



I got hungry about an hour later, so made myself a salad with romaine and organic spring mix, shredded beets, shredded organic carrots, tomatoes and a few dried cranberries. I topped it with fat free Italian dressing. It was SO yummy! Next time, I'll omit the tomatoes because they didn't taste right in this sweet salad. It would have been perfect topped with some raw pecans or walnuts, but I'm not eating nuts right now. I had a little help eating it, too...heehee!



So, who do those chubby little fingers belong to?



Dinner: Lentil Taco Salad with avocado and tomatoes using this recipe:

Lentil Tacos (Dick Allgire)
1 cup diced onion
1/2 CUP diced celery
1 clove garlic
1 cup lentils 1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
2 cups veggie broth 2 tbsp raisins
1 cup salsa (see below)*
8 corn tortillas
lettuce, tomato garnish

Saute onions, garlic and celery in water (or broth or white wine) for five minutes, adding liquid as needed so it doesn't burn. Stir in the lentils, chili, cumin, oregano. Add a dash more liquid. Stir fry 1 minute. Add broth and raisins, cover, cook 20 minutes. Remove lid, add salsa, and cook 10 minutes. Heat tortillas and serve with lentils and garnish.

*For salsa:
2 cups tomato, chopped
1/2 cup freshcilantro
1/4 cup lime juice
1 red onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp hot sauce
salt to taste

I used prepared salsa because I spent enough time in the kitchen today as it is.
The kids had lentil tacos on sprouted corn tortillas, except my toddler who had lentils and rice mixed with avocadoes. Of course, he only ate about 2 bites and played with the rest.

Delicious!



Evening snack: 1 1/2 c. grapes and 1 c. of oil-popped popcorn

I had 1178 calories today according to Fitwatch....not bad. Since I'm still nursing, I should have a few more, though. I'm shooting for at least 1200, but preferably around 1400.

My weight stayed the same today, but that's fine with me. I'm happy with my progress so far. I have to get my 20 mo. old to sleep now and go to the store for more lettuce and pineapple. We just went shopping on Friday and there's hardly any lettuce left!

Sunday, July 02, 2006

Day 7...End of Week 1

I made it one week and it really doesn't feel like it's been that long! I'm down another pound this morning, so I've lost 6 lbs. altogether and have 9 more to go. I'll probably want to lose a few more lbs. once I get to my goal, but I definitely need to firm up.

Here's a picture of my fridge full of yummy fruits and veggies:



Breakfast: Pineapple




There sure is a lot of waste from cutting two pineapples! My compost heap will be happy, though.



Lunch: Taco salad with lots of romaine and organic spring mix, veggies from last night's dinner, organic pinto beans and hot salsa from Trader Joe's. This was very good, but next time I'll use more salsa.


Snack: A few of those rice crisps from yesterday...I can't wait until those are gone.

Dinner: I made Vegetable Jumble with Cornmeal Crust from The Garden of Vegan. I used organic pinto beans rather than the soy crumbles and I forgot to add the green chilies to the cornmeal batter. Oh well. It was still very good, but next time I won't use Tabasco as hot sauce. I've never really liked the flavor of Tabasco sauce. The kids didn't really like it much and had salad to fill them up.

Here it is straight from the oven (I made two of these....one to freeze for later.):




Here you can see the insides:



It's late and I'm exhausted!

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Day 6

Today was a nice day. I got the fridge all cleaned out (and some of those old veggies were all mushy and watery and so gross!) and organized the new veggies in there. It looks so much nicer now with the clean shelves and I know what's in there and where everything is. I need to come up with a way to organize my veggies without having all of the plastic bags everywhere. I put them in neatly, but as everyone pulls things out and puts them back in, they get all messy looking. I'll have to think about that.

We went to Trader Joe's today to get the rest of our groceries and bought more than we had planned to. Who doesn't buy more than they plan to at Trader Joe's??? Especially with a 9 yr. old along! I bought some yummy, organic cherries to munch on. I ate ok today, but didn't eat enough of the right stuff. I get so busy that I don't have time to prepare a healthful meal, so I grab a couple of things that aren't so good. Here's what I had today:

Breakfast: Nothing...got busy in the morning and wasn't really hungry. I meant to cut up the pineapples, but didn't get to it.

Lunch: I made my kids Apple Breakfast Bars and had one myself because I was hungry. It was a small one, but not 100% fat free. They weren't too bad, though. Here's the recipe (my modifications are below):

BREAKFAST APPLE BARS

1/2 cup whole wheat flour {2 cups}
1/2 cup rolled oats {2 cups}
1/2 tsp baking soda {2 tsp}
1/4 tsp cinnamon {1-2 tsp}
1/4 cup oil {1 cup}
1/4 cup applesauce {1 cup}
3 tablespoon honey {1/2 cup}
1/2 teaspoon vanilla {1-2 tsp}
1/2 cup mixed dried fruit bits (I used chopped dried apples, sweet
cherries and chopped raisins)
1/4 chopped walnuts

I just mixed all the dry and wet ingredients together and stirred in
the fruit and nuts. No sense dirtying up another bowl. Spray a 10 x 6
pan with olive oil spray. Spread evenly and bake at 350 degrees for
15 to 20 minutes.

Trish's notes: I omit the fruit and nuts. Quadruple the other
ingredients (my measurements are in {}) and add some salt to fill a
16"x11"x2" pan. Bake for about 25 minutes or until set and lightly
browned. These are very crumbly when hot, perfect for sprinkling
into a bowl of natural applesauce. They do set up some as they cool.

Jodi's notes: I omitted the fruit and nuts as well (my kids don't really like nuts cooked into breads or bars). I made Trish's quadruple batch, but I only used 1/2 c. of olive oil and upped the applesauce to 1 1/2 cups. Next time, I'll use WonderSlim instead of the olive oil. I just didn't have any today. I didn't add any salt. I crumbled them into a bowl of applesauce per Trish's suggestion and here's a pic:



Snack:
I was hungry at Trader Joe's and had some rice crisps. They were really salty and had oil in them. I had about 2 servings worth...about 30 crisps. That's 260 calories. Ugh.


Dinner: I made Asian lettuce boats. Well, everyone had something different. I had the lettuce boats, which were julienned carrots, sliced celery, chopped broccoli and shredded cabbage mixed with tamari and San J Spicy Szechuan Sauce (I LOVE that stuff!) in a romaine lettuce leaf. After taking this picture, I added some of the white bean paste from the other night's salad. You could just add beans, too. This was messy, but very tasty.



My husband added shredded chicken to his. My 14 and 11 yr. olds, had the chicken with bbq sauce and had a salad on the side with the chopped veggies. My 9 yr. old had the raw veggies (minus the soy sauce and szechuan) and chicken with a little bit of ranch dressing, rolled in a romaine leaf. My 20 mo. old had the veggies (with sauces) in one bowl and some rice and white bean paste in another. Everyone sort of does their own thing with what I make around here. :)

Snack before bed:
2 Gala Apples

Oh, I'm down another 1/2 lb. today. My pants are getting loose again!

Friday, June 30, 2006

Day 5....Grocery Day!

I love grocery day. I love getting the piles and piles of fresh fruits and veggies. Here's my fruity booty for today (I still have one more store to go to and am going to get a few more fruits like pears and strawberries.).


I had to literally keep holding my kids back because they would try to sneak in to grab some grapes. LOL! They attacked them after I took the picture.

I did OK today. Since I had to run errands, I didn't eat as I should have because I was running around and didn't plan ahead. Here's what I ate:

Breakfast: A bite of a banana

Lunch: An apple and a few bites of my son's soft pretzel (unsalted, but it was made with white flour, of course...blech)

Dinner: Vegetable soup with about 1/2 c. of rice added

Snack after I got my toddler to bed: Another bowl of vegetable soup with 1/2 c. of rice and 1 c. beans. Then, my older kids came down and were eating some DiGiorno pizza and I used to always eat their crusts. I didn't do that at dinnertime, but because I ate so little today, I was in binge mode and ate 2 small crusts. Oh well. I was craving Cheez It's earlier today, but I didn't give in (I would have had to go buy some!) because I kept thinking about how I didn't want to have to tell everyone that I caved and ate a box of Cheez It's! So, this blog is a great thing to keep the cravings at bay!

I'm down another pound and a half today, so I've lost a total of 5 lbs. and have 10 lbs. to go. I really need to get exercising because I hate being flabby. Before having my 20 mo. old, I exercised 6 days per week. Now, I'm lucky if I get in 1.

I work out at home and it's really tough with a toddler running around and wanting my attention. I do have a jogging stroller, but I have yet to start jogging. I have taken him on fast walks, but not consistently. I wake up in the morning and think about exercising, but then the kids are hungry and then I need to get their schoolwork started, so my chance of exercising slips away.

I'm the type who does better in the morning because if I don't get it done right away, I'm busy all day with other things and don't take the time to work out. I've been thinking about joining a gym, but I'm afraid of putting the money into it and then not going.

I have so many great workout videos from Beachbody and I really want to use them. I have Power 90, Slim in 6, Slim Series, Pour Half Hour and P90X. I've always been a gym rat and never liked working out at home because I couldn't find any videos that I liked. The ones from Beachbody are GREAT and they really give me good results.

We have a treadmill as well that my husband uses a lot, but I don't. My plan was to do my video and then run for 20 mins. (this is what I used to do at the gym....a weight class and then run on the treadmill). Right now, my goal is just to get in 1/2 hour of one of my videos. Maybe I'll shoot for starting my plan on Monday and set a goal of getting a workout in at least 3 days per week.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

Day 4 Six Flags

Well, we went to Six Flags today and I'm exhausted! I didn't eat much during the day. We got there at 10:30 am and left at around 3PM. The kids ended up eating their lunch on the way home. I couldn't really eat my salad and drive, so I ate some baby carrots and sugar snap peas to curb my hunger.

Because I didn't eat for a long period and because I was in the sun all day, I have a headache. I was drinking water throughout the day, so I didn't get too dehydrated. I did have one no-no food. On the way home, we stopped at the gas station and I was really hungry and hot, so I got a 12oz. "smoothie." It was more like a slush and it said "All Natural" on the machine. LOL! That was so amusing to me because I wondered how they got that bright blue color for the blue raspberry flavor by using natural ingredients! I looked for a nutrition information label, but there wasn't one on the machine. Oh well. I had it anyways. At least it said, "100% Fat Free!" lol.

Ok, on to my menu for today.

Breakfast: 1 banana and 1/4 apple (I brought the rest into the park for my toddler.)

Lunch: I didn't really eat lunch, but had a small amount of baby carrots and sugar snap peas along with my 12 oz. all natural, 100% fat free blue raspberry smoothie. LOL.

Snack: I had a half a piece of bread to take away the gnawing in my stomach. I know I hadn't eaten enough food during the day and the 1/2 piece of bread really helped until I was able to eat dinner.

Dinner: Red Pepper White Bean Paste from Vegan Family Favorites. I changed it a bit by using a food processor rather than a blender and blending the roasted red peppers in with the beans, rather than laying them on top. I put it on a salad with steamed broccoli and red and green peppers.


The kids had it over brown rice and the toddler had the same, but I cut the broccoli smaller and mixed it up a bit so it would stick to the spoon nicely when he fed himself.


The kids didn't really like it, but they did eat all of their broccoli. They are picky eaters and ended up eating salad slathered in ranch dressing after dinner and one of them had toast (homemade bread) with Earth Balance, sucanat and cinnamon on it. My 14 yr. old is sitting next to me eating a not-so-healthy frozen burrito. Oh well. He did eat all of his broccoli. lol.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm down another pound and a half today! Eleven and a half lbs. to go!

Jodi

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Day 3....hanging in there.

Well, it's the end of Day 3 and I'm hanging in there. I still didn't eat 100% E2L with my added bread (I will kick that habit, eventually!), but I didn't eat any chips and salsa that my kids were eating. That's a HUGE accomplishment.

Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast: Grapes

Lunch: Roasted vegetables leftover from a couple of days ago and a piece of french bread with homemade pizza sauce.

Dinner: Vegetable soup with a homemade hot dog bun

I know I didn't get my salad in today, but we got home late after my son's baseball game and I just wanted something quick. So, I pulled out the vegetable soup from last night and had that.

I stopped at the grocery store today to see if I could find some fat free dressing that I liked. After reading almost every label in the dressing aisle, I went home with nothing. So many of them had high fructose corn syrup and I just don't want to eat that. I really need to find a good salad dressing so that I can really enjoy my salads. I know I should learn to enjoy veggies as God made them, but I'm not there yet. It seems that many people following a lowfat, veggie diet have the salad dressing dilemma.

Tomorrow, we're going to Six Flags to celebrate my 9 yr. old's birthday (It was yesterday.). It's thundering out right now, so the kids are looking out the window and hoping the storm passes us by. I'm sure it'll be ok tomorrow, though. I don't think it's supposed to rain.

My dilemma is what to bring for lunch. I think I'll pack a salad for myself. I'll be making the kids PB and J with baby carrots and fruit. The fruit flies have ruined the oranges, so I won't be bringing those. I'm SO sick of fruit flies!

I haven't put my fruit fly remedy out yet and I know I should. I take a cup and fill about an inch deep with apple cider vinegar and cover it with plastic wrap secured with a rubber band. I take a fork and poke holes in the plastic wrap and the little buggers get stuck in there and drown in the vinegar.

It's not a nice way to die, I know, but I don't want them consuming all of my juicy fruit! I already keep my bananas in ziplock bags and I think I'll do that with the rest of my fruit. There's really no room in the fridge because it's stuffed full of my veggies. :)

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Day 2

Well, today was a better day as far as my attitude goes. I still didn't eat 100% Eat to Live, but I'll get there.

It is my 3rd son's birthday today. He's 9. We celebrated it on the weekend and are going to Six Flags on Thursday to celebrate some more, so today was a low key day.

I woke the kids up and said that I'd take them to the donut shop for a breakfast treat. They've never been there before and I know it's bad, but it's a birthday, after all. I've never taken them out for breakfast donuts before, so they were really excited. I didn't have one...I didn't even want one. I'm not really a donut person, so it was ok.

I weighed myself this morning and am 2 lbs. lighter than yesterday, so 13 lbs. to go. I know it was probably just water weight, but I'll take it!

Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast: Grapes

Lunch: Salad--Lettuce, carrots, green pepper, red pepper, great northern beans and salsa for dressing. I really need to find a fat free dressing that I like because salsa gets old after awhile.

Dinner: Veggie soup with 3...ok, maybe 4 small pieces of homemade bread. I know...I know... It's better than the bags of tortilla chips and Klondike bars I was eating over the weekend.

I didn't take any pictures of my food today because I just didn't have the time. My toddler doesn't sleep much and I got him down for a nap before I went downstairs to chop veggies for my salad. I got them all chopped up and my salad made and heard him crying. He only slept for about 1/2 hour, but I'm happy I get some time to myself.

Monday, June 26, 2006

Tomorrow is here!

Ok, so, I started today and my attitude is really bad. I'm rebelling like a child! I've been thinking today that I think I might rather be fat than not be able to eat ice cream and Cheez It's anymore. I know, it's really not very inspirational of me to talk that way.

Here's what I had to eat and it's not 100% Eat to Live, but I'm taking baby steps.

Breakfast: Pineapple

Lunch: Salad--Lettuce, refried beans, sugar snap peas, carrots and salsa for dressing....it was a boring salad and I was wishing I could just eat a bag of tortilla chips with it. I couldn't finish the whole thing, though, because I was stuffed!

Dinner: I made french bread pizza's for my family. They had ground turkey on them, although I had planned to make them veggie. I started making the bread late and the roasted veggies were still cooking when the bread was done. Everyone was starving, so I grabbed the ground turkey out of the fridge (leftovers...they had to be eaten some time) and made their pizzas with that. I had roasted veggies (potatoes, carrots and broccoli) and had a piece of french bread with homemade tomato sauce baked into it (I know it's not "legal" to eat bread....baby steps...).

I'm so excited, though! I started gardening this year and have a small garden. I've been preparing the soil for about a year and a half and have been burying our kitchen scraps there. A couple of months ago, I noticed something coming up that didn't look like a weed. I decided to keep it and tried to find a picture of the leaves on the internet. I thought it might be cantaloupe and was excited at the thought.

A friend of mine is an avid gardener and she came over one day to look at it and said that she thought it was a pumpkin. Not as exciting, but it was fun to know that we'd have free pumpkins this year to carve.

The other day I went outside to see if any pumpkins were growing yet and here's what I found!

It's taking over the whole garden...LOL!








Sunday, June 25, 2006

I start tomorrow

Ok, how many times have I said that I'm starting my diet tomorrow??? I'm really going to get back on the Eat to Live wagon tomorrow and hope that keeping this blog will help me stay on track.

I am trying to plan my meals, but with homeschooling 3 boys (14, 11 and 9) and having a toddler (20 mos.) underfoot, it's been tough. Usually, I'm planning separate meals for me. My family all eat meat and cheese at times, but I would like them to eat more fruits and veggies. Well, the fruits aren't tough, but the veggies sure are. They do enjoy salads, but only when they're slathered in ranch dressing.

So, I'm going to be trying to improve my family's eating habits as well as my own. Ok, so I have no idea what I'm going to eat tomorrow, but I need to stop eating tortilla chips and...............ice cream. Ok, I admit that I let ice cream sneak into my diet. I've never been much of an ice cream fan, but my 3rd son is having a birthday in 3 days and we went to Dairy Queen and I got a Blizzard. I really enjoyed it, too. We went shopping at Sam's Club last week and I actually bought ice cream bars for my kids! What was I thinking? I NEVER buy them junk like that! I have eaten about 3 or 4 of them, too! I've got to do something!

So, I will weigh myself tomorrow....even though I probably don't want to know the number. I was 6 lbs. away from my prepregnancy weight when I was following Eat to Live religiously. My size 12's fit me nicely, so I know I've gained at least 10 lbs. :( I'll post a before picture once I get one of my kids to take one.