Productful Produce

Yes. I'm absolutely relishing every last bit of summer. And my garden is too! It's still producing like crazy!

1 bowl of strawberries, 1 basket of Jalapeños, a bunch of green beans, 4 pickling cucumbers, and 11 regular cucumbers.


And ANY DAY NOW we should finally be getting tomatoes!


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Bubble Girl

Today I visited the allergist! Yay! For months now I've been experiencing severe allergies; sneezing, itchy nose, itchy eyes, plugged ears, and some mild coughing. It comes and goes, but has been pretty consistent. The thing that got me into the dr was the ear plugging/clogging. I had no idea why that would be happening, and then my dr said that it might be an allergy symptom. So, off to the allergist I went to get pricked all up and down my arm to find out what I'm allergic to.


Turns out I am allergic to grass, weeds, trees, cats, and have a lactose intolerance. With the cat allergy- I explained to them that I've had my cat for 3 years now and that I don't experience allergic reactions much with her. I was told that people with cat allergies can adapt to their own cat, and stop experiencing a reaction. But if I were to have another cat rub up against me, I might have an allergy attack.

The lactose intolerance I'm actually not surprised about. When I gave dairy up a month ago, I stopped feeling all the discomfort I was having. The trigger on the gun for me was actually last night. After a month of no dairy, I had quite a bit of cheese last night at a party. By the time we were driving home, my stomach was painfully bloated to the point that I looked like I was 3 or 4 months pregnant.

And as far as the weeds, grass, and tree allergies, I will try a nasal spray to combat symptoms. If that doesn't work very well then I will have to get allergy injections.

I'm also waiting results from a blood draw to see if I'm allergic to our guinea pig... It's leaning towards a yes, but they wanted to do the blood draw to be 100% sure.

It's just good to know what it is that I'm allergic to, and to be able to treat it a little better and avoid things that may cause an allergy attack. Currently I have been trying to keep my allergies at bay by taking a Claritin every morning, and then Benadryl every night, to no avail.

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Warning: Graphic Image!

So yesterday was pretty interesting.

First- I just wanted to show you this.





I made my own dishwasher detergent. AND when my laundry detergent runs out I'm making that too! So excited!

Ok- yesterday started out great. Woke up early, made breakfast, sent John to work, and started yoga by 8:30. And- Daphne had already shown me that she was writing a chapter book. Yeah. It's pretty amazing. I'll post more on that later cause I don't have pictures.

Anyway, I was doing yoga and Daphne was sitting next to me writing her book. All of a sudden I hear weird noises and I can't pin point what it was. I was in the middle of yoga, so I tried to let it go. The noises persisted, and I soon thought "that sounds like a bird flapping". Sure enough, it was. I went down the hall to see that my mean cat had dragged a bird inside.

It was sitting at the base of the steps, so I was sure it was almost dead. I'm practically standing there with my head right over it and it FLIES INTO MY BEDROOM!






Yes, it's brains are exposed.

Sorry. But I just had to share. So, I FREAK out, panic, and hyperventilate. John was already gone, so I called my brother (pretty much an expert in gross things). I was worried because this poor bird was obviously suffering, and needed to die. So I ask my brother "should I kill it?", to which he tells me that I could either stomp on it (YUCK!) or put it outside with the cat so she can finish it off. I chose the second option. I pick up the bird with a plastic bag, catch my cat, and take them both to the backyard.

I put the bird down but before my cat could get to it, the bird flies away into the trees! :(

And now! Recipes! Yay!

So I made some vegan cookies. Only because Daphne was most persistent on making cookies for daddy and I didn't have eggs. These turned out so yummy!

Vegan Strawberry Walnut Drop Cookies.






And look at this! What is it you ask? It's a plate of "spaghetti" for only 300 calories!







Spaghetti squash that is! Here is the short form version of the recipe:

Prepare one spaghetti squash (boil, bake, microwave, whatever)

In a skillet sauté some onion and garlic in Pam.

Add 7% fat ground beef. Cook until no longer pink.

Add 2-3 cups chopped summer squash.

Add one large can red pasta sauce.

Simmer for 30 minutes-1 hour (the longer you let it simmer the better it tastes!)

I placed 1.5 cups of the sauce on top of 1.5 cups of the spaghetti squash which equaled about 300 calories. And I didn't finish it all!

Enjoy!

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Lifestyle Change

So I have been doing this yoga dvd for about two months. First of all- I have the flexibility of a man :( I think it has to do with my extremely long legs. I can't bend my legs straight in most yoga moves, although it has been getting better with time. But! Yesterday, something monumental happened. They do the bridge in the dvd, and each time I would stick to what the man was doing because there was no way in hell that I would ever be able to do a bridge. Well, after practicing it for a while... I finally did it!

Sorry if it seems like I'm bragging, but I am extremely proud of myself! But notice my legs??

So, I wanted to start to go into my diet. I absolutely LOVE my diet since ending The Cleanse. And by diet, I don't mean some short term eating style to achieve some goal, and then return to eating junk. By diet, I mean my forever changed eating habits.

First, I decided that I MUST start counting my calories. That is the SINGLE most important part of my diet. I have tried counting calories in the past by writing it down in a journal and then calculating it. EPIC FAIL. All I have to say is- thank science for iPhone apps. I have been using the Lose It! app to record everything I eat for about a month. I love it because most things I eat are already in there. I don't have to look up every item's nutritional value on the internet, and record it's calories, fat, sugar, etc. And for items that aren't in the app, I can add them in one time and then it's there forever. It usually takes about 1 minute to log my meal and it helps me make healthy choices EVERYDAY, EVERY MEAL. I can also keep track of my fat, protein, and carbohydrate intake as well as log my weight and keep track of weight goals. AND when you make a profile, you enter in your gender, age, and weight so that when record your exercises, you know EXACTLY how many calories YOU burned according to YOUR specifications!

The rest of the diet seems to be almost a natural consequence of counting calories. Once you restrict your calorie intake to a certain number, high calorie unhealthy food doesn't even become an option as something to eat. It seems so much more logical to eat half a plate of veggies and be full as opposed to some tiny portion of a calorie loaded and unhealthy side dish. So.... here are some things that I have cut out of my (and my families) diet.

Liquids:

No soda (we've been soda free for years now actually), no juice, no fru fru flavored coffees, no flavored waters disguised to be healthy... Actually- I think it might be easier to list what we DO drink. Every morning John and I drink one cup of black coffee. We phased out sugar in our coffee a couple years ago. A few weeks ago when we stopped putting half and half in our coffee we could barely notice the difference. Daphne usually drinks ice water or almond milk. In fact, I had a discussion with her today, that if she joined us in giving up juice, that I would buy her silly straws for her icy water and milk. She EXCITEDLY joined the bandwagon!

Almond milk is SO good. It tastes better than cows milk or soy milk AND it has more calcium than cows milk. Just sayin!

We all drink ice water throughout the day and nothing else. The body doesn't need anything else. I try to drink green or herbals teas in the afternoon. Then we'll have ice water at dinner, accompanied by an alcoholic drink such as beer or wine. Before the cleanse I used to drink a FEW drinks after dinner! I know- not good. I knew it was not good, but had a hard time sticking to just one drink. Come to find out, the lemonade cleanse helps detoxify the liver and gal bladder. Consuming alcohol has been so much more refreshing after the cleanse. When I have one drink now I know that I am done.

So, that's pretty much it. Ironically enough, we almost only drink everything that is against the WOW. And super ironically enough, those are the only beverages that are (in moderation) good for you!

Dairy:

No dairy. At all. I have stopped buying it. HOWEVER- there have been a FEW week moments while eating out that I have either "forgotten" to ask for no cheese, or "forgotten" to pick it off of something. But ya know what? Most of the time I can't even TASTE it, or notice when it's not there! Such an easy thing to give up!

Processed Foods:

So, for this one, it would be easier to SAY "No more processed foods" than it would be to religiously do it. Because, what all counts as a processed food? Is my almond milk a processed food? Is my store bought turkey burger a processed food? It's a little bit of a grey line for me right now. But as for now, I will say "no more processed foods" as in, no crackers, cookies, cereals, or junk food of any kind pretty much. I check the ingredient list of everything I buy if it's remotely processed to check for whole, real ingredients. I'm working on not purchasing ANYTHING with high fructose corn syrup, regular corn syrup, and anything else that isn't a "real" food in it's ingredient list. We're trying to consume as many whole foods as we can. (And if THAT doesn't get you thinking- maybe this will. Look closely at the first paragraph under "Where Is Our Honey Coming From")

Here are some examples of meals we've been eating lately:

Green Smoothie made with almond milk

"Ants on a log" with produce from the garden and almond milk on the side.

Dairy-free frittata with chicken sausage and spinach, strawberries from the garden

Salmon with cheese-less pesto and green beans from the garden

I have to tell you- eating like this is EASY! And delicious! And with it being summer, nearly all of our produce is coming from the garden.

Since this dietary lifestyle change, I feel fantastic! Combined with the cleanse and the diet change, I have lost and kept off 12 pounds. John has lost 10 pounds. I haven't had ANY bloating, and both John and I haven't had stomach pains.

More later :)

Who Needs The Beach??

So happy at John's suggestion to go down and visit the Vancouver Riverfront.

My hat makes me feel fabulous. I was trying to get a picture of me acting fabulous... but I think I failed.

A little better.

This sand looked like it was speckled with GOLD.

Diet Update

I am stuck in a bad habit. Every morning, John wakes up and gets in the shower. I wake up, go upstairs and make breakfast for everyone. We eat breakfast together (I love that we make it a point to do this everyday), John leaves for work, I continue to eat breakfast (since The Cleanse it takes me FOREVER to eat) and sip coffee after he leaves. I then take my coffee and mozy to the office where I web surf for TOO LONG. Then by mid morning I chastise myself for wasting too much time as I proceed to get in the shower. Is it really a bad habit? Or just one of those simple joys in life to relish? I think it's the latter.

SO, I have been meaning to update about what happened after I finished the cleanse. Because, let me tell you, it was quite interesting.

As you may recall, I announced that I would not be doing the orange juice day on the ease out process. I went straight into the fruit and veggie day. It was harder than I imagined it would be. That first day of eating real food again was really tough. I could feel my body kinda freaking out. I believe I only consumed 700 calories that day. I had green smoothies for breakfast and lunch. The breakfast smoothie kept me full for 4 hours, and I was only able to drink a little for lunch.

The next day was Saturday. I think I had an omelet for breakfast, and only ate half. And I can't remember what I had for lunch, but I do remember that John and I were heading out to a friends house for a party. Just as we were leaving the house, my body decided to turn against me. I felt sick all over. I didn't know why, or what I could do to fix it. We were driving in the car down I5, and we had to get off and turn around. At this time, I was trying to convince myself that my body was extremely deficient in carbs and protein, so John convinced me to eat a Burger King cheeseburger. I gobbled that thing down in record time. BAD IDEA.

It didn't help me feel any better and by the time we got to John's sister's house (to drop off Daphne) I felt nauseous, and like there was a HUGE pit in my stomach. I rested on the sofa waiting to see if anything would improve. It didn't. So, I decided the only way I could begin to feel better was to help the nausea along, and try to throw up the cheeseburger. Oh, and my SIL also gave me some Pepto Bismal to help my upset stomach. So I went in the bathroom, and threw up every ounce of that cheeseburger and Pepto. My body completely rejected it. And after that happened I felt like a million bucks.

We took off for the party, and I forced myself to eat some veggies and water. I did consume 2/3 of a beer (first one in 3 weeks), but stuck to drinking lots of water. I was actually very happy with myself at the party. There was a whole table full of food (carbs, cheese, unhealthy snacks, etc) and I didn't touch any of it. I didn't even WANT to eat it. Whereas, before, I would have snacked on it all night long.

The day after was pretty similar. I struggled eating, kept myself on very healthy foods, felt pretty weak, etc. I could feel the difference in my body. My body was really working on accepting food again. It was such a strange feeling.

Since then I have slowly worked my way up to eating 1,200-1,500 calories per day. As part of my new eating lifestyle, I am counting every calorie I consume. I have also given up LOTS of foods that I used to eat. My diet is fairly simple, and I absolutely love it. To break it up I will talk about what I am eating and not eating in different posts. So, stay tuned.

Reunion Video #2

Daphne performing her "button song".

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Reunion Video #1

Cousins rehearsing for the Talent Show.... wth is that guy on the right doing?

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Terry Family Reunion 2011

Last Wednesday we loaded up the car and drove to Utah (again). The best part of being the passenger is taking and editing photos of myself.

We arrived on Thursday evening just in time for the family dinner at the Bit & Spur, where we witnessed John's cousin surprise her parents by unexpectedly showing up at the reunion from Australia. SO AWESOME.

Friday morning a few of us gathered to climb what is known as "Grandma's Mountain". Little Daphne braved the hike as well. It was hot and difficult... yet worth it.

Poor Daphne is not used to 95 degree temperatures.

We made it to the top!

Much needed relaxation afterwords.

That night was spent in jubilation.

On Saturday morning we attended the traditional soft ball game. Lots of fun! Here's Daphne up to bat with Daddy helping her.

After soft ball we went swimming and then had lunch at a yummy restaurant called Oscars with the world's best turkey burger. We just had to put that to the test... and it WAS the best turkey burger ever.

Daphne caught a lizard.

Saturday night was the talent show.

John playing guitar for Lisa's song.

The Rockvillains.

One last night of Jubilation.

And then we headed home...

A picture of the ground on fire.

STUD.

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News

http://vancouver.katu.com/news/crime/bail-set-50k-woman-who-tried-sell-her-baby-fast-food-restaurant/442209

Oh wow. Check out this lady's attorney...

My Day- Day 10

Yes. Today is the last day of this cleanse. I guess you could say that I am so happy that I'm speechless.

Well, first, I thought I'd share some random photos from today.

My cat has been catching a lot of birds lately. And bringing them to me. I opened the door to go outside and she burst in and plopped this bird at my feet. It startled me, just because I wasn't expecting it. I didn't know where to put it so I left it outside until John came home. Later John and I found her playing with it like a toy. YUCK.

Our cucumber plants are starting to produce a lot of regular cucumbers and pickling cucumbers. Very exciting. I found out that pickling the cucumbers is very easy and turned 3 of them into this-

Daphne spelled this all by herself. Most of the words are unidentifiable, but she got "clap" and "boom" correct!

Now back to my cleanse. So, today started out pretty normal. I woke up refreshed, had a lemonade, showered, had another lemonade, made Daphne lunch, she ate it outside and I sat with her, came inside to get ready to go to the library, packed myself some lemonades to take with me- and then all of a sudden I feel HORRIBLE. I felt like I ate something bad (but I didn't of course). I felt queasy and weak with a slight headache. It just came from nowhere.

I rested on the sofa to see if it would pass. It wasn't going away so I thought that maybe some calories would help me feel better so I drank a lemonade. That didn't help. Daphne was impatiently waiting for me to take her to the library like I had promised her so I forced myself through it and took her to the library anyway. Once we got inside I sat on a chair for about an hour while Daphne played and read. At about this point I started to feel a little better.

It was about the time that I would usually drink another lemonade, but my mind and body didn't want lemonade. I started to think about all the delicious food I could eat. I started to think about how I made it so far that eating something now would be ok. I started to think about cheeseburgers. "No body will know but me... But I'll know. I'll know that I didn't really make it 10 days." I was starting to feel better and better even though I wasn't drinking the lemonade I brought with me. I drank some water. After an hour and a half at the library we left and I was even feeling good enough to go to the grocery store to get the ingredients for my menu tomorrow.

We came home and I felt pretty weak so I rested on the bed for about 15 minutes. At that point I started to think about pickling the cucumbers and I couldn't stop thinking about it so I got up and did it. Luckily it was very quick and easy. So now it's about 5pm, John's on his way home from work and it had been 4 hours since I had my last lemonade. I knew I should do something, but I just did NOT want that stinking lemonade.

John came home and I talked to him about it. We entertained the idea of having a smoothie TONIGHT and then more smoothies tomorrow... but ultimately I decided to stick it out. John made me an altered version of the lemonade with mint leaves and without cayenne pepper. It tasted a little better but I still took about an hour to drink the whole thing.

I know I can make it. Tomorrow it will be over. I can go to bed soon and never have to have spicy lemonade again.

I am SO looking forward to my smoothie tomorrow morning. I bought some kale, mangoes, kiwis, bananas, and almond milk (thanks Alecia). I have a ton of strawberries in my garden to put in it too.

And then for dinner I'm going to make a soup with zucchini, green beans, carrots, and herbs from the garden and then add some potatoes, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and celery.

I am so done with this cleanse.

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Closing Out Day 9

I thought today was Thursday for most of the day. Does that ever happen to you? Weird.

So, you have no idea how happy I am to see day 9 come and go. Only one more day left. And it couldn't have come sooner. The lemonade drinks are starting to make me gag a little bit. Well, not seriously. But I don't know if I could do this for more than 10 days. Some people seriously do this for 20 or 40 days. How that is even possible, I don't know.

Daphne asked if we could make chocolate chip cookies today. I figured it's close enough to the end that I could make them and be able to save some for when I'm done. Well, I HAD to taste them to make sure they were good, right? So I took a bite... savored it for a while... and then spit it out. That was the most flavorful cookie I have EVER tasted.

So I have decided that I am going to skip the Orange Juice day on the easing out process. I feel that the orange juice day helped A LOT for easing in. It really helped my body and mind prepare for the lemonade diet. But I think I'll be just fine to skip the Orange Juice day on the way out. And instead of doing just V8 juice for the second day, I am going to do smoothies and liquid soups instead. And then the last day will be pretty much vegan, like it's supposed to be. And then FINALLY I'll be back to a normal, HEALTHY, diet. I'm really excited.

Home Stretch

I am getting so freakin' antsy it's really not funny. Really. Maybe I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. Maybe Daphne exhausted me today. Maybe it's the diet (it's most likely the diet). But I really just want to eat real food and not that lemonade crap anymore. I don't want to prepare delicious food for John and Daphne only to sit there and watch them eat it.

I had it in my mind this morning that I was going to this totally positive post about how enlightened I am. But really, today I just feel weary and fatigued. I am so freakin' glad that there is only 2 days left after today.

Today I went to the store (again) to buy the LAST round of lemons I am going to buy for a long time. 18. I bought 18 lemons.

I want coffee. And beer.

Ok. Now that I got that out of my system. I actually did have a moment of enlightenment today. I thought about all the times I've had to turn down delicious food these past 11 days. Two times were at social events and it was extremely hard to not eat when EVERYONE else was. And it has really got me in the mind set that I don't always have to eat food that I KNOW my body doesn't need- only because it tastes good. I feel that I have definitely broke some bad habits of mindless eating. I feel that I can better control myself when there is a buffet of food laying in front of my eyes.

On Saturday John and I are headed out to a friend's summer party. I'm really looking forward to it. It marks my last day of this process. It will also be the first time that I am allowed to eat when I know that there will be lots of food and drinks offered to me. I really want to see how well I can do. I think I'm a whole new person.

Monday Update

So here I am on day 7. I am SO glad I am almost done with this. Sorry for the lack of postings over the weekend to those who are intensely following, but things are a little busy. And honestly, I guess I felt that I don't have a lot to update on. I feel that things have been pretty steady and consistent.

I was so happy to see day 5 come and go to mark the half way point of this cleanse. I am now seeing day 6 and 7 go by very quickly. After today, just 3 short days left.

I am feeling very good. I am drinking about 7 lemonades a day, every two hours, so it's not like I'm sitting here starving to death. I just miss food. So much. I miss the way it tastes and feels in my stomach. Last night we went to a bbq at a friends house. THEY HAD SO MUCH FOOD! Hamburgers, sausages, chicken, chips, dips, watermelon, brownies, beer... sigh. As far as being confronted with the tough situation of having to resist delicious food on this cleanse, last night was tied with that night that I made pizza for Daphne and John. What made it even harder was my friend kept asking me if I was sure I didn't want anything.

Sausage. Sausage is SO good. That's way up on the list of favorite foods.

Also, I am feeling VERY thin. A little too thin. I can definitely see it in my face, arms, legs, tummy... pretty much all over.

So, that's pretty much it. Feeling good, energetic, happy, optimistic... just yearning for this to be over so I can eat again.