Monday's Health Update for Lynn and Happy Holiday Wishes

Eating out, eating in, always a challenge to stay on track. My TRACK is my new (of the past six months) LIFE TIME health track regarding preparing vegan dishes, exercising, and living a healthy and happy life style.

 

A fruit smoothie seen before pressing BLEND is still the thing that kicks off my morning:

raspberries, banana, Fuji apple, grapefruit, coconut flakes and non-dairy coconut milk *unsweetened

 

First of all let me tell you TODAY that I honestly DO NOT MISS ANYTHING I no longer eat, but did, grow up on in fact. We were big meat eaters in my childhood home. Every Sunday was Roast Beef that bled on the platter; middle of the week was steaks, lamb chops, chicken, turkey, fish. I do remember my mother trying to get me to eat LIVER, and rebelling loudly. I finally got lamb chops instead. I did like the sautéed onions that went over the liver. My grandparents came to visit with corn beef and tongue from the deli where they lived.

This Saturday we ate out in a Mexican Restaurant and I was able to order steamed vegetables in a bed of lettuce.

In the past there were desserts: ICE CREAM, CAKE, CANDY. My mother baked beautiful to look at and delicious to taste confections and baked goods. She even baked bread. Well, I did too in the 1970's.

But today since SUGAR, FLOUR, DAIRY, EGGS, are things I NO LONGER EAT, I am happy to say that FRESH FRUIT, and an occasional raw cocoa/coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract treat satisfies me just fine.

My new mantra is: "I NO LONGER EAT THAT!"

one I will be bringing with me to a family Thanksgiving this week along with some

beautiful vegan main dishes and desserts.

More pictures and recipes from that next week.

But I do eat:

Last night I stir fried in a dollop of olive oil, mushrooms, red bell pepper, yellow onion, and julienned zucchini. And topped it with some left over cooked lentils in marinara sauce. A perfect dinner.
With enough left over for lunch or dinner tomorrow.

It was a busy weekend. We went sailing yesterday afternoon, a short, free sail offered by the CAL Sailing club in Berkeley, CA. Before the sail we stopped at a sandwich shack near by. What could I order there? I asked the woman what they had that would be vegetarian. She said they had an avocado sandwich. I said, "But I don't eat bread." She offered to wrap it in a big lettuce leaf. It was avocado slices, tomato slices, bean spouts, and pickle in a big dark green lettuce leaf. Delicious and very vegan! I didn't ask if the veggies or pickle were organic. Sometimes you can't be too choosy.

Last week I wrote about my commitments and you can read that here!

I continue to live up to those commitments, and have exercised every day since last Monday. My weight continues to decrease slowly over time. I found myself getting disappointed if it went up a few tenths or stayed the same, as it has for the past three days in a row. But I keep reminding myself that this is a  LIFE TIME GOAL and HABIT so I trust my body will let go of it's unneeded fat in a fashion that will assure it going and staying gone over time. In the meantime I feel ever so good in my NEW BODY! Walking is easier, It just feels good to look down on myself and see less of me there! ;-) And knowing that things on my insides are doing better too.

I am giving away two very good pairs of Cabella's jean's that I have out grown! They used to be tight, they are now too loose fresh out of the drier. That my friends is SUCCESS!

Books!

I bought a new cookbook: The Occasional Vegetarian 100 Delicious Dishes That Put Vegetables at the Center of the Plate by Elaine Louie 2011.  by Hyperon NY
It is full of vegan and vegetarian recipes!

I also follow Sonnet Lauberth's blog and have her just out E-book:  The Seasonal Comfort Food Cookbook on my iPad.

Have a healthy week!

 

Wishing you and yours a

Happy Thanksgiving

and

Happy Chanukah

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.

 

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

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! ;-)