Day 12

Yes, indeed I felt much better today!! Yay! So I'm back on and I have to make it look really good cuz I get weighed again on Wed night. Yikes! I haven't done much exercise due to that stoopid cold, but today I took a long walk with Sharaya. Probably too leisurely but it felt good to be outside. 

Today I ate (same old stuff):

Breakfast -

Puffed Rice cereal with Rice Milk, Stevia, Banana

Almonds

Lunch -

Baked potato

organic butter

sea salt

more almonds (for protein)

Dinner -

homemade tomato sauce with lots of garlic, basil, oregano

Chicken breast

Brown rice

Sauteed veggies

How I feel: Really good actually! I haven't had any aches or pains like I had been having for the last few months. Not hungry, not too fatigued. No tummy problems either lately!

Day 10 & 11

Spent the whole day in bed yesterday. :(  This cold is not letting go that easily. I got a lot of sleep but also didn't eat very much nor did I exercise. I've mostly been eating puffed rice cereal and cream of rice with fruit. 

Tomorrow I'll get back on track. That's the plan anyway.

Day 8 & 9

I cheated today.  :(  i'm just not feeling very well today due to this cold...so I broke down and made some chicken noodle soup. Progresso soup. It comes from a can so it's not allowed. Oh well. It tasted really good. Tonight I'm taking Chuck out to eat for his birthday and we are going to Bugatti's. So I have to try to find something to eat there that's okay.

Yesterday I ate:

no breakfast

Lunch -

Rice puffs cereal. not very hungry...went back to bed

no snack

Dinner -

Cream of Rice Cereal with blueberries

Today I ate:

Breakfast -

Rice puffs cereal

banana

Lunch -

chicken soup

baked potato

Snack -

Sunflowers seeds and pistachios

Dinner -

(I went way off track here)

Manicotti

Cheesecake with Raspberry sauce

How I feel: Still crumby from the cold. I need to exercise but haven't. I'm hoping tomorrow I will feel better.

Day 7

Yay! I made it through a whole week! I stuck to the diet all the way and didn't cheat. I didn't do as much exercise as I should, but all in all it was a fairly good week!

Today I ate:

Breakfast - 

Smoothie with banana, whey protein, rice milk, some leftover fruit salad and yogurt

Snack -

cherry tomatoes

Lunch -

Baked potato with organic butter

Snack -

none

Dinner -

Spaghetti that I found that is made from rice flour and quinoa flour.

(It was really good pasta, but I found out at my meeting that it's not allowed during these 30 days because it's "processed"....arggghhh)

Fresh Tomato sauce made from garlic and roma tomatoes

Ground turkey

Steamed green beans with almonds and red pepper

Snack -

pistachios and sunflower seeds

How I feel: good, except now I've managed to catch the cold that Cassidy had. Many of the ladies there at the meeting also had the same cold. Guess it's going around although I would have thought that with all this healthy eating, I would have had better immunity to it.

My weight: 156 - I thought I lost more than only this one pound! But I'm happy it's something!

Days 5 & 6

Yesterday started out great! I took a 1 mile walk with Sharaya and then ate my breakfast. I took the girls shopping but when we got back home a felt really nauseous and ended up getting sick. So that was no fun. I wasn't feeling well today either so I haven't eaten all my meals.

Cassi and I did some of our exercises and I'm feeling better now...but I sure could use a piece of cheesecake and a cup of coffee! 

What I ate yesterday:

Breakfast -

2 eggs, scrambled with mashed avocado and cherry tomatoes

Snack -

Almonds, half a banana

Lunch -

nothing

Dinner - 

Fruit and plain yogurt

What I ate today:

Breakfast -

Puffed rice cereal

1/2 banana

Rice milk

1 pkt stevia

Lunch -

nothing

Dinner -

Tilapia, lemon pepper, organic butter

brown rice

sauteed veggies

Snack -

Cream of rice cereal

rice milk

1 pkt stevia

organic butter

blueberries

I'm feeling much better tonight although I'm a little tired of this whole thing :(  I'm feeling good about the exercise but I need to do more to do the 30 minutes. 

Tomorrow I go back to the group and will get weighed, measured and an update picture taken.

Day 4

Today went by really quickly! And I still didn't feel very hungry. Just the appropriate amount of hungry for each meal.

Today I ate:

Breakfast -

Cream of Rice Cereal 

Blueberries

Rice milk

1 pkt stevia

organic butter

Snack - 

Cherry tomatoes

Lunch -

Smoothie with 1 banana, 1 cup of plain yogurt, blackberries and 1 pkt stevia

Almonds

Snack - 

Pumpkin seeds (they're called pepitas at trader joes)

Dinner - 

Black beans made with garlic and red pepper

Brown rice made with organic chicken stock

Salad with olive oil, sea salt and red wine vinegar

Fruit Salad

How I feel: I'm still sore from the little exercise I did on Friday. But I did more today like I was supposed to. Cassi did them with me so that made it more fun. She can actually touch her back knee to the floor when she does her lunge. When I try to go that far down I fall! :(

I had my typical bout of IBS last night. I sure am tired of that. I'm really hoping this new diet will help. And I had a headache today because of it. I took aspirin and drank a bunch of water and it went away. And I have a yucky taste in my mouth...but that's to be expected as part of the "cleansing".

All and all I still am excited about learning how to eat healthier and changing my diet. 

Day 3

Today was a good day, hunger-wise. I didn't feel hungry much at all. I tried really hard to drink all the water I'm supposed to and got closer to my goal. I'm sore though from the little exercise that I did yesterday...just goes to show how completely out of shape I truly am. But overall I'm happy with my diet and exercise plan.

Today I ate:

Breakfast -

2 egg omelet with steamed broccoli and avocado. It was really good!

Herbal tea

Snack -

sunflower seeds and pistacios

Lunch - 

Banana and yogurt with cinnamon

almonds

Snack -

pumpkin seeds

Dinner - 

Chicken and homemade tomato sauce. This was really had...we should have it again

Brown rice

Green beans

I decided today that I would exercise on EVEN number program days. Like today is day 3 so I will exercise tomorrow (day 4).

Day 2

Yeah I made it to Day 2! Only 28 more days to go till Cheetos!

Not really. At least I hope not. I hope to carry on with this healthy stuff in the future.

What I ate today:

Breakfast -

Same as yesterday...I really like that stuff! 

Cream of Rice

Rice milk

Organic Butter

Blueberries

1 packet of Stevia

Snack -

Pistachio Seeds and Sunflower Seeds

Lunch - 

Left over fruit salad from last nite mixed with...

Organic plain Yogurt with cinnamon 

almonds (the yogurt and almonds are the protein)

Snack -

Cherry tomatoes

Dinner - 

Tuna Steaks marinated in Soy Sauce, Lemon Juice, Ginger and Garlic, Olive Oil

Quinoa with fresh basil

Sauteed vegetables

The tuna steaks were great! I really liked them and they had lots of flavor. They are similar to porkchops in consistency (well at least to me). The quinoa looks like birdseed. :) But it was pretty good. The recipe called for juice from a whole lemon which I think made it too lemony. So next time I'll use less juice.

I did my exercises today. At least I tried to anyway. They weren't that simple for someone who sits around for a living. Every time I try to exercise I remember why I don't like it. I'm sure that has everything to do with the fact that I don't exercise to begin with. So I did most of one rep of all 10 exercises, but couldn't bring myself to do the other 2 reps. But I think tomorrow is a great day to do them all!

How I feel: Satisfied, not too hungry, frustrated that I didn't exercise more and tired.

Day 1

Well today is the first day of this new plan. I'm excited to start and I have all the food that I will be able to eat ready to make.

I've already tried some recipes in the last few days that are on the new menu just to see if I could make them okay and see if I like them. I made chicken and veggies (in a wok) and brown rice one night and salmon (YAY!) another night. The chicken was kind of boring but the salmon was wonderful! 

Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast -

Cream of Rice hot cereal (tastes similar to cream of wheat with kind of a wheatena texture)

Organic Butter

1 packet of Stevia

1/4 cup of blueberries

Rice milk

and a handful of raw almonds

Snack - 

Handful of pistachios and sunflower seeds

Lunch - 

Baked Sweet Potato

Organic Butter

Raw Veggies (carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, snow peas, broccoli)

Slice of Avocado

Handful of almonds

Snack - 

more pistachios and sunflower seeds

Dinner - 

Stirfry chicken and veggies

Brown rice

Mixed fruit salad with stevia 

Morning weight: 157

I didn't do my exercises today, but I plan to do them on Mon Wed Fri and Sat. 

How do I feel? I feel energetic and not hungry

Happy Family

Happy Fruit Salad

Happy Face

Getting Started

I am following a guide from a great lady who has compiled tons of information to help her nutritionally treat a neurological disorder. She is also a fitness trainer with many years of experience.

My goal is initially to lose some weight but ultimately to learn to cook healthier for my family. I also haven't felt all that well in the last year or so. I struggle with IBS and lately have had muscle and joint aches that are bothersome but not anything requiring treatment. Also, I have TMJ and hormonal headaches. I'm hoping eating better and being on an exercise plan will help in all those areas. It's an added bonus for me to also have a physical fitness regimen that is easy for me to remember and also be able to do it at home.

I discovered the key to what this plan is really all about is eliminating the foods that are "trigger" foods to your body (everybody is different) and finding out what you thrive on. That happens by completely banning sugar, wheat and dairy along with red meats. (After 30 days these can be added back in slowly if desired) AND no caffeine! That was the hardest so far...giving up caffeine. Talk about headaches! And not to mention that glorious smell in the morning. But I did it and I have started to enjoy herbal teas. 

The "organic" part of it eliminates all the extra ingredients like pesticides, hormones, sugars, preservatives, and other "flavorings".

Okay... so here's what I will be able to eat in these 30 days:

Fish! Everybody's favorite right? Includes tuna, but not canned

Organic Chicken

Eggs

Raw nuts and seeds (but not peanuts)

Beans (legumes)

Rice (mostly brown rice)

Most Veggies

Most Fruits

oh and organic plain yogurt is ok

so is organic butter and certain oils

all spices

And there's another type of sweetener called Stevia which is made from some leaf of some plant and it's really sweet and no after taste.

Well that's pretty much it. Most of these items can be found at Trader Joe's or whole food-type stores.