Day 59....

 Oh my goodness I can't believe how much time has gone by! Yikes! I am either super consistent or I fail miserably. One of these days I am praying to find a balancing middle line where I am not one extreme or the other.

 So how has the last 20 days been for me? They have been good.....mostly good.....a little bad.....a little on the side of binging here and there but I am learning things about myself.So instead beating myself up I choose to say that learning and moving forward is my focal point.

Yes I did say that I binged and more than once to be honest. But my new version of binging is a couple spoons of humus and pita chips instead of a whole bag of cookies or giant bowl of ice cream.  And I found that for a few days in a row I ate several handfuls of gingersnaps......because ginger is natural food right? haa haa Actually I found them in my hand and mouth without the slightest thought of purposing for them to be there.

I have learned that having carbs is a very sensitive thing for me. I have to be so very careful of what I allow myself or I really notice the difference. If I choose to do something like a 6" veggie sandwich at Subway (loaded veggies are a good choice right?) but there is something in the bread (or too much of it) makes me so groggy and hard to think. I could go to bed and sleep the day away.

I have learned that if I allow myself a little carb each day (like pita chips or ginger snaps for example) it sabotages my desire for raw healthy produce in the blink of an eye. Pretty soon images of cookies and doritos with nacho sauce are floating through my head and I pace the kitchen in agitation.

Sometimes the past few weeks have felt like a mountain that is so steep I surely must need an anchor rope to take a single step. I wondered, "Good grief where did my motivation go? How do I get back the fun and joy I was experiencing?"

I made myself go back to the beginning of my journey.
Yeah! Thank you God for giving me the foresight to keep a journal.
It has been a tough week but I am starting to see the end of the tunnel now as I re-cleanse my body of fillers and replace it with good healthy foods.

It reminds me very much of a parallel with spending time with God. What I mean by that is when I have a couple of days where I take the "I am busy approach" and say I don't have time to sit with God in prayer....all of a sudden other things want to build up and take precedence. Then I have to really purpose to sit with God and at first it feels awkward because everything else is circling my thoughts wanting a piece of me. But the more time I spend with God then everything balances out and I feel better....peaceful and whole.

Salads are starting to be fun again and I am getting a kick out of experimenting with different smoothies that help get produce into my system in different ways.  Here are some different recipes that have caught my attention from a book called Green For Life and all these are to be put in a blender if you are interested in trying them yourself.

Freshness

6-8 Romaine leaves

1/2 Honeydew melon seeded and no rind

2 cups water

Summer Delight

6 peaches

2 handfuls Spinach Leaves

2 cups water

Kiwi Enjoyment

4 ripe kiwi skinned

1 banana

3 stalks celery

2 cups water

What am I loving about making smoothies?

• They are full of flavor and nutrients.
• The water in the produce as well as the smoothie help keep me hydrated.
• The variety helps stave away boredom.
• They are quick and oh so easy.
• The produce doesn't have to be in pristine condition since it is going to be blended anyway.
• All recipes are subject to easy change according to what is in my refrigerator.

 Do you have a healthy smoothie recipe to share? I'd love to hear it.

Take care and be blessed.

Day 40....

 Eating salads are way too much fun when we go out on the town. Many restaurants put together yummy combinations of fruits and vegetables that I haven't thought of on my own. And it is always nice to have someone else do the making instead of me.My husband and I have been going out on Friday nights lately to enjoy one another and try out different eateries in the area.

This particular salad was one I had last night from Panera Bread and Cafe'. It is called a Fuji Apple Chicken Salad. It is antibiotic free and I was thrilled to find that the chicken didn't taste "dead". I ate most of my chicken instead of shoving it to the side for a future hubby salad.
For my own personal preferences I omitted the onions and pecans. (Until my recent experience of liking soaked almonds I have never been a nut person and I am not brave enough to try pecans just yet.)  I think also next time I will omit the Gorgonzola as it reminded me a bit too much of blue cheese.

 This salad was my husband's choice. It was a Thai Chopped Chicken Salad. It was slightly on the spicy side for his personal taste but he enjoyed it all the same and felt happily full when he bowl was empty.

 This salad was one that I went nuts over while having dinner recently with a friend at the Roadhouse Grill. I was silently sceptical at the thought of being able to order a healthy type of dinner there but was tickled with delight at my salad and am already thinking on when I will soon be able to go back again.

This was a Veggie Style Harvester Special with lemon dill dressing. I omitted the feta cheese because that makes me think of blue cheese also. It was my first experience of having artichoke hearts (aside from spinach artichoke dip) and I loved it! I wonder how many other foods I am going to find that I love that I was never brave enough to try before?

As I type away this morning, I am enjoying my breakfast smoothie that has become a staple for both myself and my husband. Then I will be going grocery shopping to fill up our dwindling produce stock. I find getting groceries to be more fun now that I am buying all of these amazing fresh colors and flavors instead of processed salt and "empty" carbohydrate filled boxes.

Happy eating and God bless your day with encouragement as you discover the many blessings He put here just to make you smile.

Day 38....

I have been having fun with my daughter's camera today. While I am completely jealous that I don't have such a good camera, I am so thrilled that she lets me use hers at will. It does so much better than my little cell phone app.

These Trio bars I found at Costco a few weeks ago. My husband and I both love them. They are gluten, dairy, preservative and additive free. Each bar promises to hold a variety of 3 types of nuts, 3 types of seeds and 3 fruits. They are also low in sodium which is now a plus for my husband.

The nuts offer a super nice crunch to satisfy those munchy cravings while all of the ingredients work together to be a nutritious snack that holds you without a sugar crash.

I keep a couple in my purse and have used them as an offering to my hungry teenagers when we are out and about. They gobble them up with no complaints.

Don't I sound like a commercial?
I just really like them. And I realized today that we are almost out of our supply so I had better get some more.


This is my lunch for today. I was starting to feel a little bored with my food choices and looked around online for solutions in varying up the show and combination without sacrificing ease. 

Here is what I did:

- I peeled a cucumber, sliced it down the middle & scooped out the inner seed core.

- In my food processor I tossed in a handful of almonds, 1/4 avocado, 1/4 yellow squash and 5 cherry tomatoes.

- I pulsed it to a consistency I liked and added garlic powder, onion powder and a small amount of shredded cheese. 

- The last step was to fill the carved out portion of the cucumber with the mixture and then enjoy.

This particular recipe was called a cucumber sandwich because you could put the two cucumber halves together and wrap them in saran wrap to throw in your lunch bag and eat later. I chose to leave it as a boat just because I thought it was too pretty to cover.  I had one boat last night for dinner and was surprisingly full so I saved the rest of it for today and am enjoying it as I type.

I added a couple of websites to the side bar that you might find of helpful interest in the area of raw foods information and recipe ideas.

God bless you!