Dontcha, baby? Dontcha?

Dontcha just love it when you've been eating badly, then turn it around, and watch the water weight fall off?

214 to 211.4 this morning. I love that. I freaking love it. LOVE it. Now, of course I realize if I saw that every morning, it would roughly equate to my losing 90 pounds by this time next month, and that would just be assuming I live through that kind of abrupt and insane weight loss. It's not even possible. (...Is it? I don't think so. Unless you chop off body parts.)

But, there's some kind of sick satisfaction I get from seeing numbers on the scale plummet.

Oooh, plums.


So, I should probably share my eating plan with you guys. Should I? Yeah.

Breakfast: Coffee, yogurt, granola bar
Lunch: Big salad, tuna with fat free cottage cheese instead of mayo
Dinner: Huge salad (if no tuna at lunch, add grilled chicken here)
Snack 1: Baby carrots with or without ranch
Snack 2: (if hungry) 1 banana

Now, the protein will vary- whether I decide to have tuna at lunch time or chicken on my salad at dinner. Other variables will be what exactly I put on my salads, ie: olives, artichoke hearts, peppers, peas, sliced almonds, Romano cheese, etc. The goodies I put on the salads will boost my "good fats" for the day.

Have I mentioned I begrudgingly am eating turkey and chicken again? Still can't do red meat and I can't do pork for some reason, but chicken and turkey are back on the menu. Dammit!

Oh, here's a great tip. If you're gonna use cheese in something, use a strong one. My favorites are: Parmesan, Romano, Swiss, Gorgonzola. That way you can really taste the cheese and you can use less. Also those really strong cheeses are pretty low in calories. 2 tbsp of the shredded Romano I use is only like, 15 calories. Parmesan is the same way.

So, this way I'm shoving tons of veggies into my face. I literally have it PLANNED to just do the salads. I have five bags of lettuce in my fridge.

Plus unlimited Diet Coke, Water and Coffee. I have a 1 liter bottle I fill up twice a day with water, so I am making sure to get my hydration in. I have multi-vitamins I've yet to really start taking - I hate them. Also, of course crystal light and diet green tea is unlimited. Plus green tea boosts your metabolism, so they say!

I can't wait to fit into a size 8 again.

:) <3

~J

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month

Didn't know if you guys knew, but JUNE is Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Month!



June is designated as National Fruit and Vegetable Month. According to the American Dietetic Association (ADA), more Americans than ever -- 28 percent -- are adjusting their eating habits to achieve healthier lifestyles.

I'm thinking I need to do some kind of homage. Like... have a piece of fruit every morning and a big salad with lots of veggies for lunch every day.

Oh, wait. I'm supposed to do that already. Oops!

Maybe it's just gonna be a good reminder to do it more. :)

I've Lost My Damn Mind.

So, I mentioned earlier that I had a big announcement for the day. I have decided to do something I've never done before, and I'm a little nervous. If any of you guys have succeeded, tried, failed or otherwise done what I'm about to do, I would love to hear your experiences.

I'm doing a five-day Raw Food Cleanse.

Now, it's supposed to be seven days but I'm going with five the first go-round. I figure if I make the goal a teenie bit smaller, I'll be less disappointed in myself if I don't go for 7 days and only make it for 5. :)



So let me tell you a bit about it:

I got the information from perusing Fertile Healthy's blog and clicking on her mention of the Green Smoothie Blog. There, I read about the Raw Divas and went to their website.

Now, I know when you go to the Raw Divas website it LOOKS like a typical "diet sale" website and that they might be trying to hook you into paying a crapload of money for diet tips you don't need. But, this detox program information is TOTALLY FREE. I signed up for it, and started getting some e-mails right away. They send you preparation e-mails, and are with you every step of the way.

Being that it's a free program, I'm going to share some (not all) of the information here and encourage you to sign up if you think it's something you'd enjoy doing. I'm also going to document my progress with it through the next week here on my trusty ole blog.

All the tools they give you are so awesome. There's a forum where you can share your experience, ask questions and get tips. There's a comprehensive e-book with all the info on the detox. There is a food and fitness journal for the detox as well as a detox tracker you can put on your fridge.

Now, I guess I should back up for any of you who don't know what a "Raw" lifestyle is. Raw Eating is exactly that. Eating foods that are raw and straight from nature's garden. That includes fruits and veggies. No store bought juices, no bread, eggs, cheese, milk, meat, or processed foods of any kind. For me that also means no coffee or soda, which will be REALLY difficult. It should also mean no cigarettes but I don't have the strength to give up everything. I'd actually probably have a heart attack if I tried. :)

So! It begins with a 24-hour fast on Monday night at 6pm until 6pm Tuesday evening. Then, Tuesday evening I will break into my eating with a mono-fruit meal (one type of fruit, as much as I feel I need.) Then, will continue the next 4 days with just raw, delicious, crunchy fruits and veggies. It'll include fruit, veggies, salads, smoothies and raw soups. The salads can't have oil, vinegar, dressing or any of that. I can make dressings with fruits and veggies blended up, or do fresh fruit sliced on top of the lettuce and veggies.

SO. I'm nervous and really hoping I can do it. I think it would be awesome to really feel "clean" inside my body and refresh myself with a nice, crisp, crunchy, juicy, healthy few days of eating.

Oh, and lotsa water.

So! That's the big, (long winded) announcement. I'll keep you guys posted on what I'm eating. I also wanted to try out some fun "Rawcipies" to make it a little more fun and interesting.

Also... I'm not really thinking of doing a Raw Lifestyle after this (I'd probably get really bored) but THIS gives me reason to give it a second thought. (Click the link there for a bunch of before and afters of people who "Go Raw."

This is a before and after with Jo Thomas. Her story is on the link above, and you can visit her blog here.



Or this girl, Angela Stokes, who is my favorite raw foodist, who is beautiful and I think from New Zealand ('cause she's got my favorite accent, EVER, just like Missy Higgins...) She lost 105 lbs in her first year of being RAW.




Visit her blog/website here.


It's not the first time I've considered the Raw Lifestyle... I just don't know that I could do it full time.

The Sunny Raw Kitchen talked in a recent blog post about how much she and her husband typically go through in fresh produce a WEEK:


* 35 lbs apples
* 25 lbs oranges
* 15 lbs bananas
* 8 lbs lemons and limes
* 5 lbs of fruits (depending on what's available)
* 20 lbs carrots
* 4 lbs celery
* 2 or 3 lbs lettuce
* 3 lbs greens (spinach, kale, swiss chard, etc.)
* 3 lbs tomatoes
* 3 lbs avocados
* 2 lbs beets

Plus all the other odds and ends, such as peppers, cucumbers, zucchinis, cauliflower, broccoli, green onions, fresh herbs, sprouts, etc...

WOW.

~Jenn

Jenn's Light Veggie Pasta and Garlic Roasted Potatoes

Okay, so I know that I shouldn't be eating potatoes and pasta in one sitting, but I decided to live a little bit. Dan wanted to do a romantic night of cooking a badass dinner for both of us and renting Changeling.

Well, his idea for steak sounded awful to me, particularly since I don't eat red meat. He wanted roasted garlic new potatoes and asparagus. I agreed as long as he went to the store and got the asparagus and picked up some thin wheat pasta for me.


Jenn's Light Veggie Pasta

1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1 cup broccoli heads, bite sized pieces*
1 cup cooked asparagus spears, cut into bite sized pieces*
2 servings thin whole wheat pasta
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Italian seasoning

*the asparagus and broccoli can either be raw and sauteed with the rest of the veggies, or if you do microwave pouches, add them just before putting the mixture of all veggies onto the cooked pasta.

Spray a pan with nonstick cooking spray. Coat chopped veggies (except for asparagus and broccoli if using pouch cooking) with extra virgin olive oil. Put the veggies into the pan on medium heat. When the veggies start to warm up, sprinkle with black pepper, Italian seasoning and mix in the garlic. Pour water into pan and cover, steaming for 10 minutes or until veggies are tender.

Meanwhile, boil noodles in a pot until they are at your desired tenderness.

Drain the noodles when finished, pour veggies on top and voila! Top with light butter and Parmesan cheese for a nice extra flavor.




Jenn's Garlic Roasted New Potatoes

12 new potatoes (gold or red)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp dried onion flakes
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp black pepper

Preheat oven to 450. Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Wash potatoes and cut into bite-size pieces (I do eighths.) Put the pieces in a bowl and stir in the olive oil until pieces are all coated. Mix in all the seasonings and stir until evenly coated.

Put the potatoes on the baking sheet and cover it with aluminum foil. Bake for 20 minutes. After the 20 minutes, remove the top sheet of aluminum foil and put back into oven for another 15 minutes to get the outside nice and crispy.

Enjoy! :)



And here's a picture of Dan's dinner for all you meat lovers out there:

Salad Bar Extraordinaire

I LOVE Pick and Save out here. They have a great salad bar and I get one every time I go grocery shopping. Yum!



And I just love the way it looks all mixed up:




MMmmmmmm!

Dessert Changes

I used to eat this:



Now I eat this:




I still want cookies. But the fruit is really yummy. :)