Health Changes Continue; Before and After or On the Way Shots ... Plus Recipes

 This is me a couple of years ago ...

And here I am a couple of months ago ...

 

 

And here I am TODAY!

 

My goals-to-date have been reached. We'll call this a SECOND GOAL...to be down

20 pounds

from where I started. Reached today!

And gone from size L to size M.

 

 FIRST GOAL was obtained four months into starting a VEGAN/PLANT BASED way of eating.

 

And the health benefits are:

 

1. No more need of Statin drugs for high cholesterol, because my cholesterol is NORMAL.

2. No more medication for GERD, because I no longer have GERD.

3. I am no longer pre-diabetic.

4. All of 15 blood tests were within the normal range including tests for Calcium, B12, iron,

and Vitamin D.

 

All of this has been accomplished in less than six months.

 

I continue to eat a plant based diet.

 

I continue to exercise almost daily.

(40-60 crunches; 20-40 minutes on the treadmill, plus stationary bicycle; small weights; back stretches)

 

Stay tuned, I am not done yet.

I am sure my weight will stay in one place once I reach the weight I am supposed to be for my height and BMI.

Until then, I will keep working out and working on it.

And I will continue this way of eating and exercising for the rest of my life.

It's enjoyable, easy and delicious!

 

Excuse me, I need to go check on the roasting veggies in the little kitchen counter oven.

One big long orange Butternut squash lightly herbed.

 

MYTH BLASTING

Things I Told Myself to Keep from Making Changes

 

 

1. You gain weight as you age.

        Now that's relative. We are all aging every single day of our lives, however, it depends on what and how much we eat and exercise no matter what age we are!

 

2. Diets don't work.

           That's true if a diet is something you do for a time, lose weight and then return to old

habits. But if its a lifestyle change and you stick to it for a life time you will retain the positive results of that choice that worked for you. Just make sure it's a healthy one.

 

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My Sunday Dinner:

 

Farro and Roasted Butternut Squash:

 

I had roasted the squash a couple of days ago and used the left overs for this dish. I roasted the walnuts first, then added the herbs to the squash and onion and roasted them in a very small amount of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

           

 
It was my first time cooking and eating FARRO. It can also be used as a breakfast cereal.
I cooked it in my rice cooker on the "white rice" setting.

 
Here is all is mixed together.

 
I used the recipe on the back of the package. However, I left out the goat cheese (not vegan) and used a yellow onion, as I did not have a red onion on hand. I cut the recipe down to enough for only 2-3 servings. I vacuum packed the left overs using my Food Saver I spoke about in an earlier post.

 
For dessert I had half of one of my wonderful Coconut oil/ raw cacao/maple syrup/vanilla extract frozen treats. I got this recipe from my daughter in law, Jackie.

This time I added a mixture of ground coconut, walnuts, cinnamon,  that I mixed using the individual portion cup of my Ninja Blender. I added a slice of fresh organic strawberry on top of each serving. Popped them in the freezer in cupcake papers filled about an 8th of an inch deep; and I could of had the first one in less than 15 minutes, but I waited until after dinner and only had half of one, as they are apt to keep me up all night (caffeine in the cocoa) if I eat too much too late. They are very decadent so a little bit goes a long way. The recipe makes an even dozen. They last me several weeks!

 

 Bon Appetite!

 

Previous Posts with Recipes, HERE, HERE, HERE!

The dessert recipe is in the third HERE! ;-)