Eating my feelings.

Have I posted about this before?  It has been my biggest struggle since my divorce and liar confession.    It just feels better to eat cookies, chocolate or popcorn as I drift off to sleep.  It has NOT been good for my health and my body.  I've stayed right around 15-20 lbs over my ideal weight since then.  Good news?  Well at least I'm no off the charts gaining weight.  I can feel it when I run.  It is really not good on my confidence.  My body is actually looking better because of all the working out, but I can feel the extra weight.  

Plus I feel crappy.  The night before my race last Saturday?  I ate a Jr. cheeseburger and fries from 5 guys and 3 Rolos, not single Rolo's, three packages.  THREE.  I wasn't even hungry!  After my race I decided that I needed to reset something!!  

Years ago I read this book and spent a good 2 years following it almost perfectly.  

source

Then I stressed out and didn't follow it exactly.  To get back on track I tried the Whole 30.  

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My recap

I did consider the Whole30 a success.  I did not consider it something I would do again.  I spent way too much money and time that seems prohibitive on a daily basis.  It was nice to go over my first book that was Paleo or Primal and remember why I loved it so much.

Paleo/Primal/Whole30.  It's all variations of a grain free, sugar free lifestyle.  Primal feels a little easier to maintain. I did it for a couple of years.  I stayed at a weight I felt good at and I was never hungry.  Saturday I decided to do 21 days to see if I could reset to my previous eating habits.  

I won't be posting pictures or doing any kind of updates as I do it.  I can barely throw down a blog post a couple of times a month, so I won't torture you with recipes and pictures.  

I am going to stop counting my calories too.  I've been doing that for a few weeks and it helps to watch my carbs.  I'll do that on week 2.  

Here's to hoping I can pass on that cookie!!!  

What is your food weakness?

What is the weirdest diet you have tried?

  I have tried juice cleanses and those shake diets.  I think the worst was Atkins.  Which is funny because it's a lot like Primal only more fruits and veggies.  

Blog on.........

Update, however small.

It's not so much that I haven't thought about writing a post but I'm totally at a loss for anything to write about this week.  Coming off surgery and a Whole30 month, this month seems a little dry and boring.  I think I'm OK with that.  I had a couple of small highlights. 

Started transitioning out of the boot to my new Saucony's.  I started on Friday with an hour and have added a half hour every day since.  I have had no pain while in shoes, but definitely feel the weakness.  My ankle feels loosey goosey and I walk like a drunk for a little bit.  I am happy about it so far and I'm already starting a running plan for when I get the thumbs up.  I'm going to start out SLOW....

Remember a couple of months ago when I painted my room?  Well, I finally found the bedding that I wanted and the bed skirt!  Yeah. I have the curtains for the wall behind my bed but they haven't made it up.  It is a far cry from the air mattress I was sleeping on in January.

I have made some delicious meals that happen to be Whole30 compliant. 

Eggs, chicken, bacon, cucumber and strawberries.

I found this recipe on Pinterest.

My presentation isn't the same, but the eggs were over medium and perfect. 

I made it up in Rock Springs during my off duty time and it was so amazing! 

Whole30 compliant too.

So, how has my diet been since coming off Whole30?

Better then ever!  The "reset" that it provided has helped me with snacking and eating things that I know my body hates.  My biggest food miss was my sugar free creamer in my coffee in the morning.  I drink one cup a day and I use about a tablespoon of creamer.  I did go out to dinner a couple of times and made the best choices I could without stressing out too much.   I'm not reintroducing grains, beans or even very much dairy.  That is out for good.  Plus, when you spend a month slicing, dicing and chopping veggies then you get in a great habit and I find I am craving the freshness.

All the reading and looking up running plans has got me super motivated and excited!  

What motivates you?

Blog on.............

Easter

It was a great Easter Sunday!  All my kids came to lunch and it was the first day off Whole30.  Although I did make a delicious, completely Whole30 meal for everyone.  

No nitrate/nitrite Ham from Trader Joes, Spicy Tuna Cakes, Deviled Eggs, Asparagus and a HUGE salad with all sorts of veggies in it.  

Part of the NOT Whole30 was the Sangria.  I just wanted some booze after 30 days!

My kids and Jake's girlfriend Emily.  

Clockwise:  Austin, Sami, Emily, Jake and Daniel

Me with my kids.  I can't believe they are adults.  It's crazy.  They can't take a serious picture either.  It's all good, I love them madly!

Later when my glass light broke I thought my son's cleaning technique was some good thinking.  While I was off looking for the proper dust pan, I came back to this:

Boom!  They are thinkers!

The Foot!

No pain at all.  Not even ibuprofen.  That is better then before the surgery.  Of course it's in a boot.  I've been diligent about wearing it and even put a shoe cover on it to work outside.  This Friday I can start small amounts of time in my shoe.  I will probably keep using the night splint until I see the podiatrist again.  

Yesterday I went to the gym and it felt fabulous!  I used the recumbent bike for 20 minutes to warm up and then just worked out on the machines.  I'm going again today to just keep my spirits up if nothing else. 

I also started reading this book:

 

Many runners have recommended it.  I figured since I was basically starting fresh then I might as well work on my form a little bit.  I bought the book from Thriftbooks (used books) so I can take it to the gym while I pedal the bike.  So far..LOVE IT.

Tomorrow I'm back to work.  Yeah!  I'm ready to get back to life!

Blog on.................. 

Whole30 DONE and RECAP!

Yesterday was the last day of my Whole30 challenge.  Keep in mind that I ate a Paleo lifestyle before starting the Whole30 so I didn't have a huge tired/cranky time followed by a surge of energy. 

I have really put some thought in how I would recap this.  Because I didn't have this HUGE life changing weight loss/food battle event then some may think it's not worth the time.  Lets start with the not so great stuff. 

Thumbs Down:

Cooking - there seems to be a lot of cooking.  I was also trying to keep food stocked up for Daniel (17 year old son).  

Homemade Mayo - I have about a 40% success rate on this.  Frustrating

Planning/planning and more planning - Then shopping shopping and more shopping.

Expensive - In the excitement of new recipes and the anticipation of limiting some foods I over spent.  It doesn't need to be expensive.  

Hard to find something to eat if your out and about - This is where just plain lazy comes in.  Remember when our flight team was stranded in an itty bitty town?  HERE   I did just fine at their grocery store, it's just not easy.

Almond milk - Goes hand in hand with the smoothies.  I only had 2 smoothies in 30 days and I needed to use homemade almond milk.  I like the convenience of store bought but not the taste, for smoothies.

No every day smoothies - I miss my smoothies

There is plenty of awesome:

Thumbs Up!

Homemade Mayo - it's DELICIOUS!  I just need to get better at making it.  I just don't like the idea that I HAVE to make it.

Almond Milk - Homemade - I could drink it all day it's so good!  I miss the store bought kind to put in my seldom eaten smoothies.  If I made enough for both I'd have to make it almost every day.

NOTE:  I have had people tell me that store bought Almond Milk is all natural.  I like the Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze.  Here is a list of the ingredients:

INGREDIENTS: ALMONDMILK (FILTERED WATER,  ALMONDS), CALCIUM CARBONATE, TAPIOCA STARCH, NATURAL VANILLA FLAVOR WITH OTHER NATURAL FLAVORS, SEA SALT, POTASSIUM CITRATE, CARRAGEENAN,  SUNFLOWER LECITHIN, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, VITAMIN D2 AND D-ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL (NATURAL VITAMIN E).

Hmmm

New recipes - I found some stuff that I will make over and over again

I Feel better - Overall I feel more energy and happier

My body feels tighter - Fat usually settles right on my abdomen.  In the last 30 days it has felt like there is even less there, like my body is smoothing out.

My tastebuds feel like they "re-set" - sounds really odd, but I feel like fruit tastes sweeter and I can appreciate the tastes of the foods better.  I don't have to overload them with salt or sugar.  I had a couple of small chocolates today and they were overwhelmingly sweet.

Labels - I am now a big label reader.  What is really in that season salt?  Oh, sugar, weird.  For 30 days I read labels everywhere. I even went to Whole Foods and browsed around looking for things that were simple and healthy. It is such an eye opening experience and I learned so much from it. 

My son's health - Today Daniel stated that he really didn't want to stop eating healthy, that he felt really good and he even lost a few pounds.  He also mentioned that when he eats breads and sweets they make him uncomfortable and gassy.  

My health -  Knowing that what I'm putting into my body is fresh, organic and healthy.  I am completely in charge of how my body is treated and I want to respect and give it energy and light.  Sounds a little hippie-ish but it's true.  Despite the difficulty after my surgery and frustration of just laying around I still felt great. 

Cravings  - It took at least 25 of those days but my cravings are way down!  

The Whole30 challenge was a definite success!!

I feel great and I have a clearer idea of how I want to continue eating.  I have ton's of new recipes to use and will keep making almond milk.  Today was sort of a day off, but I served my kids a completely Whole30 compliant meal (except the Sangria) for Easter. (Easter post coming)

I will continue the Paleo lifestyle and use most of the Whole30 principles.  I will have a tea with honey, crystal light and the occasional alcoholic drink.   But the majority of my day will continue in a Whole30 way.  I don't want to give up eating delicious, nutrition food and as much as I want!  I was never hungry on this challenge.  NEVER!  Cravings, yes, but not hungry.  It also got me in touch with my stress eating habits.  I'm a horrible stress eater!  Hopefully I'm on my way to conquering that battle.  

I will probably do it again when I feel like I need a restart!

I did not lose any weight.  Well, I lost about .8 lb.  I've been laying around for  9 days and unable to exercise so I didn't even measure myself.  I really don't have a lot to lose and my body LOVES this weight for some reason.  If you wanted to do this program to also lose weight then nuts and fruits have to be eaten very sparingly.  I'm sure the few pounds I would like to lose for summer will come right off when I start running again. 

If you have any questions about the Whole30 challenge you can email me, comment or check out the Whole9 website that has most of the information to get started or see if it's right for you.

Thank you for being patient with all my food pictures.  I may not stop.....

Blog on................

5th wheel out for fun

I wrote an entire blog about my night out last night, my Whole30 sins and plans for my last day off.  

Don't you hate it when your hard work is just deleted magically.  

Well, it included Tera, whiskey, bacon covered shrimp and meal plans with my kids tomorrow.

I just hit the highlights.

The picture above reminds me of my friend Tera if Karen was blonde and only waving a finger.  

Don't be jealous.

Blog on...............

Almost Normal

Yesterday was a great day!  I felt almost normal.  I'm off narcotics so I was able to drive today and get a few errands done.  It's tricky driving but I'm cautious.

I had a late breakfast/lunch but it sure was delicious!

A bed of spinach with FOUR pieces of bacon, 2 eggs and some hamburger with onions and peppers.  

Total Whole30 and completely delicious.  I had a hard time finding the right bacon that was nitrate and sugar free and I finally found some today so I bought 4 packages.  It should last me until Saturday.

Wednesday I made my 3rd batch of almond milk using my nut sack (teehee).  I added some unsweetened cocoa and the result was pure heaven.

I also made a smoothie with the almond milk for dinner.  Not the ideal Whole30 meal but I was craving something cold.  I used sunflower seed butter and some coconut milk so I got some fat and protein.  I also added lots of spinach, to give me some veggies.

Whole30 is going good and I'm feeling great.  I'm tired of some of the cooking and decided to go ahead and eat as many fruits that I want.  It doesn't end up to be too much and I don't think I'll have any problem finishing up the next two days.  After my 30 days I'll recap and reveal decide what my future nutrition plans.  

I was able to clean my room and move on out to the couch for any rest. I ran some errands and then rested my foot.  Then I spent some time catching up on little things around the house.  It felt good to not be in bed all day.  

Icing on the couch.

Waiting for my ship to sail.  :)

I also blew up my new stability ball!  Yeah! I'll start working on upper body and core work today at exactly one week post op.  I don't want to completely loose all my strength.

She's a beauty!

Overall my foot feels fine.  I get a twinge of pain occasionally but the pain is actually better then before the surgery.  Of course I have my foot completely immobile so that helps.  After they unwrapped it and I just had a sock on I felt like my arch wasn't being supported like it has been for at least the last year.  So of course I put my SOLE insert into my boot and it has been feeling great.  

ALSO...big day, I know.  I went to REI to cash in my dividends check  (4 bucks baby) and use my 20% off to get another set of inserts for my new shoes.  I'm set up for the day I can start transitioning out of the boot.  

Do you love smoothies?

Which ones are your favorite?

Blog on...........

That's a lot of days

Let's just make this very clear.  Laying around is not my "deal".  If I ever become a narcotic addict that just lays around and watches TV then you can safely assume my body has been taken over by aliens or even worse, I'm a zombie.  

I'm really not cranky, I'm just not comfortable.  My stomach hurts and I really want to get up and do stuff.  I did walk around Costco once and was able to re-supply my Avocado's (YUM!) and eggs (essential!).  I've moved to just ibuprofen, which has controlled the pain just fine with some ice and rest.  I'm also on my last set of new jammies. It's actually a nightgown.  Loving them.  

Biggest reason I want to stop taking narcotics/percocet.

Sorry, I just love this picture.   Hahaha

She does look distressed AND lady like.

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We all know this!  Or do we?  OK, I'm sure there is a soul without a soul (just kidding) that has never been constipated.  If you have never then this is how it feels:

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Luckily things are "moving" OK for me, but the slight case I had with the first 3 days of narcs set my happiness back 5 days at least.  How drug addicts do it, I have no idea.  Maybe I should start selling Colace on the down low....

Lets move (teehee) on to a better subject.  

Whole30

I made this last night and had plenty of leftovers for today.

 Sweet potatoes and mushrooms

Hamburger, onions and peppers.  Of course I added Curry, it's my favorite spice right now.

This month has gone by pretty fast.  Sticking with the Whole30 is much easier when I am busy and can stand for long periods of time.  It does take a lot of prep but the hardest part is my snacking.  I'm laying around, watching movies and taking narcotics.  That is a trifecta for snacking.  I ate too many nuts, fruits and the worst was dried fruits.  They were so good and I love to snack.  I don't think it's fare to completely judge the month long challenge today but I'm glad I did it and will keep up until Sunday.  I enjoy the idea that most of the food I'm eating is organic and fresh, the one thing I don't like is the limit that I have with fruit and I have a hard time with snacks.  

*************

My daughter came to visit me after work.  She rides her bike, I provided her with some reflective gear.  The vest is a classic from previous Ragnars.  Fits over lots of layers of warmth.

I also took lots of pictures of my messy room. Thank god for a king size bed.  Plenty of room for snacks, videos and clothes.

I'm thinking of painting my standing mirror to match the dresser.  I'm also not all the way done with decorating....or am I?

Do you snack more when your bored?

What is your favorite snack?

   Popcorn.  I could eat it for days.

Blog on...............

Day 24....day 2...

Today was pretty crappy.  I don't want to be negative but craptastic was pretty much the theme.  

I feel much better now that I had a bath.  

I

It gave me the chance to actually appreciate my tiny little old house tub and having long legs.  Is this the way I'm going to have to bathe for the next 2-3 weeks?  Well, at least I can stay fresh.  Fresh is good and fresh makes me less grumpy.

Plus my breakfast was insane it was so good.  Leftover beef stew with two eggs, over easy on top. 

I think it's impossible to keep the grumpy's away when your on your 4th hour of CTS.  CTS's are learning module's that I have to do for flight nursing.  While they are informative, we do the same ones every year.  It's how you feel when you go to skills day every day (if your in nursing) for forever.  Plus it teaches me about things like hypoxia.  Hypoxia?  I better know about that.  

So I did a little facebooking while I watched.

But I did learn how keeping fit is helping me with my job.

Boom.

Whole30.

It's going OK.  I'm sticking to the foods I'm suppose to but I've eaten way too much of the nuts and dried fruits.  But that was just for about a day and a half and I'm cutting it back down now.  I made lots of stew and warming it up and serving it over lots of fresh spinach is amazing.  

Foot.

It's fine.  It's better then I thought it would be.  It's difficult to lay with my foot up for so long, but that part is almost over.  I've started halving the one pain pill I was taking every 5 hours and I will probably be off all narcotics by tomorrow.  I'm not a big fan of them.  They give me night sweats, I can't sleep while I'm on them and well, that make everything STOP.  Constipation.  Yep, I said it.  So irritating.  

Kitchen Sink

It clogged up as it does about every 5 years.  I had an awesome company come out and he gave me a 50 dollar discount so I only had to pay about 285.00 to get it all cleaned out.  I mean really, I am growing money in the back yard!  But at least I was in town.

Great things did happen today (besides a bath).  I started watching Arrested Development last night and today I finally understood something that I just didn't get before!  

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6858255

Team Never Nudes did a video that I watched and I just didn't get why they were called Never Nudes and wore jean shorts.  AHHHHHHHHH

Do you watch Arrested Development?

Start right now if you don't.  

Then you will understand and you will laugh.  If you don't laugh....you are having a horrible day.

Overall I'm doing just fine.  I'm a little lonely.  I had a great friend call me last night and it made my day.  I've had multiple texts that have been helpful.  

I've watched 5 movies and have 3 to watch tonight.  I still have some homemade almond milk left and plenty of Kombuchi to keep me "regular". Plus a few more seasons of Arrested Development!  

Tomorrow I'll blow up my new stability ball and start some upper body work to keep things TIGHT!  I only have 6 more days of WHOLE30!!  This will be easy and I'm thinking of having one day off and to keep going.  Why not?  I love the food and it's great for me!  

This post is really all over the place, but so is my head.  Maybe it's the cute new jammies. 

Yeah, I'm bored and getting a decent picture with new jammies is a challenge.  

What is your favorite Netflix show?

I watched Mad Men and now Arrested Development.

I get worried about getting addicted to a show and spending too much time watching it.   It is nice to have something to watch when there is nothing else to do!

BLOG ON...........................

Making Memories

That's what our team did all day today.  Not by choice of course, but what the heck, you make the most of what happens.  Right?

It's almost necessary to succeed as a Flight Nurse.  

We flew into a small town to pick up a patient and then our plane had a problem.  Another flight team took our patient and we (me and my medic) ended up hanging out with the pilot in this small town airport waiting for our mechanic.  We borrowed the airport car to go get some food.

Of course I had meticulously planned my meals and taken them with me to work, but I didn't have them on the plane.  I needed to find something to eat.  After driving down the main street (took about 3 minutes) I realized a grocery store will be my only hope.

It was a Buick LaSabre.  Word.

My medic is way too cool.

Organic Turkey, an orange and 2 hard boiled egg.

Actually pretty dang good and held me over until I could eat the food that I brought. 

I am very proud of staying on task.  It was a very hard day and I just wanted a snickers, alcoholic beverage and a silly movie.  

I ended up driving 6 hours myself, in a rental car for 2 hours, flying for 30 minutes and now I'm in bed chowing down a grapefruit.  My favorite treat!

Hungry Runner Girl mentioned the Documentary "Hungry for Change" on her blog this morning and I'm watching it.  It really is good so far!  Talking about how we move less and eat so much more sugar.  Read your food labels!!  

How do you cope with a stressful day?

Blog on........

Food ala Whole30 or

Want to hear about my nut sack?  

Saturday I caught up on some cooking. 

First I started by soaking some almonds for almond milk.  It was an overnight process.

The coffee mate was pre Whole30.  I have no idea why I am keeping three bottles in the fridge.  

Getting all my stuff together.  I roasted a squash in the oven while I worked on other stuff.

I made more Sunshine Sauce and homemade Mayo.   The Mayo was giving me some trouble and I had to throw away my first batch and then I saw this video and followed her directions and BAM!  Easy. 

I saved the homemade almond milk for last and to tell you the truth I was pretty dang excited.

First I rinsed off the soaked almonds and put them in the blender.  Then I added "filtered" water.  All the recipes asked for filtered water and I figured my new fridge filters water.....tada!  

I added 2 dates, some cinnamon and vanilla and blended away with my trusty basic blender. No fancy schmancy blender needed.  I was a little worried. 

Then I poured it into my newly acquired nut sack (teeheehee) and I squeezed as much milk out that I could.

A closer look

I poured it into a Kerr jar and had enough to pour into an old juice jar I had. 

My review:   LOVE IT!! 

I never really bought almond milk to drink, but to use in smoothies and recipes.  This almond milk, I drank that smaller bottle within a couple of days.  I would walk by the fridge and shake it up and have a couple of big gulps.  So refreshing and delicious!

Fruits (or vegetables) of my labor.

Snacks.

After I was done I ate some leftover salmon, the squash and some veggies and no meal is complete without my favorite sunshine sauce!

Sunday when I got home from an uneventful rotor shift I threw together leftover chicken, squash some veggies and a hard boiled egg.  

It looks like the squash lasted but that is actually sweet potato.  Today I made some Spicy Tuna cakes and hard boiled eggs.  As long as I was making a sweet potato for the Tuna Cakes then I made them for dinner.

The 30 days is going fast and it's getting easier and easier.  I'm starting to have habits that will be easy to maintain after the 30 days.  Even my son mentioned tonight that he doesn't want the 30 days to end.  He likes the way eating healthy makes him feel.  

That is a win there!

Blog on...............

Half way? Already?

Can you believe it?   It's gone fast!  

This week, as I mentioned in my last post, I picked up 2 extra shifts in the ICU.  ICU work is a LOT different then flight nursing.  I'm basically on my feet the entire 12 hours and Wednesday I certainly got my butt handed to me.  Thursday was a little better because I was back on my game with charting, but I didn't go the day without learning more about being a nurse.  I really miss all the interactions I have when I go back.  

I managed to keep myself fed and fed well using Whole30.  I made steaks one night and had a leftover "Emergency Meat" with cabbage for lunch each day.  I feel that the energy I'm getting with this program really helped me get through those extra 24 hours of work.  

Today I didn't manage much but I did go to Trader Joe's after my Pilates class.  I needed to get some more cashews.  Someone finally got it right and now you can buy cashews and almonds that are dry roasted and salted.  No vegetable oil!  

BOOM!

Of course I picked up some dehydrated bananas that seriously are like a sugar cube!  I only had a couple and then hid them from everyone and myself.

Ingredients:  Bananas.

I also stopped by Whole Foods and picked up some Kombucha and a few things.  I checked out their bulk cashews and their dry roasted/salted are still more expensive then Trader Joes.

Organic HOT DOGS!  Hehehe.  

I also bought a couple of shrimp/veggie frozen dinners.  I'm trying to stay away from anything premixed but I'm exhausted and I'm sure my big prep day tomorrow will be a bit short.  I also bought some pecan and hazelnut encrusted salmon for dinner tonight.  It was delicious!

Along with some roasted brussel sprouts.  Yummy!

Earlier I made my own little mix for a snack.

Those are just dried bananas, not the candy I bought today.  After 2 days in the ICU I always have a day where I am just starving.  I'm sure I'm calorie deficient and certainly dehydrated.  I tried to drink lots of water today too.

Now, for my first Whole30 recipe tragedy.  

How can you go wrong with this? 

I'll tell you how.  Warm avocado is nasty and tasteless.  There isn't enough spice to help it either.  Maybe if I was a hot sauce person, but I'm not and I could hardly finish it.  Seems like a match made in heaven.  

Lesson learned.

Tomorrow I pick up my fruit/veggies coop basket and I plan to go to the farm that I get my organic meats.  I'll do some prep, but not an excessive amount. I have to work Sunday, maybe Monday and then Tuesday.  Friday is my little surgery.  ALREADY!  

Hoping for a little run tomorrow to warm up for the Virtual Jelly Bean race that I plan on running Thursday.  5K or 10K.  It hasn't been decided.  (Leaning towards 10K)

Good luck to the racers of the Canyonlands Half Marathon tomorrow.  One year ago today I was getting ready to run my very first Half.  Soon my half marathon friend, I'll come back to you......

Racing this weekend?

Blog on....................