Good News and a Good Start

Remember that job interview I had last week? Well, I guess it went well... I've been hired as a supply teacher for the school board I want to work in! I am SO excited (and surprised that I found out so quickly!). I have to bring in a lot of paperwork next week (trancripts, police checks, and the like), so I hope that all goes smoothly.

As for easing into summer? I have not been eating well at all... until today. I've been doing a lot of reading and a LOT of thinking the past few weeks, and I have decided that I need to do something more extreme. I have real trouble with moderation. I have gained back most of the weight I worked so hard to lose. I think that sugar and junk food have a strong hold over me, and I feel certain that if I don't make some serious changes in my eating habits, diabetes and heart disease are in my future (not to mention the fact that I already have gallstones and suffer occasionally from painful gallbladder attacks).

Some of the books I've been reading (mostly from the library) are Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes by Dr. Neal Barnard, The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Veganist by Kathy Freston, and Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. All of these books advocate a plant-based diet (quite convincingly).

I've actually thought for a long time about one day trying to transition to a more plant-based diet. A little over a year ago, I read Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Diet and Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet, which are the books that first put the idea in my mind.

After all of this thinking, I've decided to try Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live program. There is a good description of the plan here, but essentially I will be cutting out animal products (meat and dairy), sugar, salt (as much as possible), coffee, and oil for six weeks. I will be eating tons (and tons and tons) of veggies, fruit, and beans, as well as whole grains.

After the six weeks, the goal is to try and eat this way 90% of the time, and eat other foods (like meat, dairy, sugar, or oil) 10% of the time. If I make it that far, I'll assess how I'm feeling and what I want to do next.

I don't think I will ever become 100% vegan... I don't even know if I'll make it through the six weeks! I just have to do something, and this feels right for me right now.

This weekend, I'm planning to eat mostly Eat to Live-style (I had pizza for dinner tonight, and I'm going to a barbecue on Sunday), and begin the plan in earnest on Monday. I'm also planning to blog about it all (maybe not every day or every meal, like with Joshi, but fairly frequently!). Here are some of today's eats:

For breakfast, I had a green smoothie with almond milk, bananas, strawberries, flaxseed, and lettuce, along with some walnuts.

I had lunch in a food court - a delicious salad with avocado, tomato, red onion, kidney beans, and chickpeas, followed by some fruit salad.

I also went grocery shopping. I don't think I've ever bought so many vegetables at the same time before!

All those groceries meant lots of food prep could be done. I'm planning on making soup tomorrow that calls for two bunches of kale, three leeks, five pounds of carrots, two bunches of celery, and four onions. I got it ALL washed, chopped, and ready to go. I also got some dried beans soaking. (You should know that I did all of this with a crazy caffeine-withdrawal headache.)

Will there be room in the fridge for all this kale?!

We also listed our condo for sale this week, and the showings have begun. The next few weeks will be interesting, to say the least!

I will absolutely be posting again soon with more on Eat to Live. I'm very excited!

Busy Times

As you know, I started June with the best of intentions. And while I am striving to eat well, I've faced a few obstacles.

Last Monday morning, painters descended on my condo (we only found out they were showing up the night before). They were here all day, every day until Friday evening. Every single room was being painted, which means every single room was covered by a thin layer of paint/plaster dust. Not only was I avoiding being home at all costs, when I was home, I was not too keen on preparing food in my kitchen. That led to some unhealthy eating...

Deep-fried ice cream (which is necessary when you have no kitchen access, right?).

There's definitely bacon in there.

Anyway, I haven't gone completely off the edge...

Yay, healthy (and blurry) oats!

Last Wednesday, two noteworthy things happened. You may recall that I have gallstones. It took a lot of patience, and two cancellations by the doctor, but I finally had an appointment with a general surgeon. Good news: I'm not having surgery anytime soon! Since my gallbladder attacks are very infrequent (about twice a year), I have decided to live with them for now. I am planning to make an appointment with a naturopath, as well (I will tell you all how that goes!).

While I was in the waiting room for my appointment, I got a very important phone call... I have a job interview this Thursday with the school board I want to work for! This is very exciting, people. First order of business: finding an interview outfit. No easy feat, seeing as I have a LOT of clothing that no longer fits...

I also go back to my old job tomorrow (teaching college math). So this weekend I have been cleaning up, packing tons of stuff into storage to make our condo look huge and desirable to potential buyers, preparing to teach again, and trying to get ready for my interview. You may not see another post until next weekend...

Happy Monday everybody!

Busy Bee

The past few weeks have been a bit hectic, to say the least.

The end of April brought the end of the Winter semester and exams, and my move back home. It was slightly traumatic having to sort through the contents of my beloved one-bedroom and decide what to get rid of (like my couch and TV), what to put in storage (like my collection of Sweet Valley High books), and what to bring to my parents' condo.

As I was moving home, I also had exams at school. I had to mark them VERY quickly, because immediately after exams, I had scheduled a trip to New York City with my dear friend Megan!





I had never been before, and it was AMAZING. We went to a Broadway show (Baby It's You), the Top of the Rock, saw Letterman (Betty White was on!), and did a lot of walking around and subway-riding. And if you happened to watch The Today Show on May 6, you may have seen me waving at the camera at one point. :D

Upon returning home, I had to get ready for the summer semester (and attempt to do some unpacking/organizing). Soon after I began teaching again, my boyfriend and I made the impromptu decision to take a weekend trip to Montreal! So, last weekend, off we went!




In between all this travelling, I've also been adjusting to life back at home, and planning for some major life changes coming my way in the fall (more on that soon). My dad was also in the hospital again, briefly, which brought its own batch of stress (including an awful all-nighter in the emergency room). He's home again now though, thankfully.

Living at home again isn't without its challenges, but there are also some great perks:

• saving tons of money (I am paying some rent, but not very much), which will help with the life changes I alluded to above
• gym IN THE BUILDING (I really have no excuses)
• indoor and outdoor pool (again, no excuses)
• hot tub!
• cool downtown location (yes, my parents live in a cooler neighbourhood than I used to)
  

I have been doing my best to exercise and eat well, although I've honestly had so much going on that I have not been as consistent as I'd like to be. Things seem to be settling down now, though, and I am optimistic about the summer ahead. AND I was down 3.8 pounds at my meeting yesterday! (Still up overall, but let's not dwell on that...)

Stay tuned for my news about this fall. Any guesses?

Joshi's Holistic Detox: Day One

This morning, I had a nice long sleep-in before arising to...


...check my pH levels (chezjulie was looking forward to that picture, by the way!) . I would call my results slightly inconclusive. I think it's somewhere between a 6 and 7? I know it's impossible to tell from this picture... I'll measure again after the detox to compare, obviously.

I had the kettle boiling while attending to the pH strips, and began my day with some warm water and lemon.


It was rather enjoyable!

For breakfast, I had puffed rice cereal with soy milk.


When my sister and I were little, she was allergic to all kinds of things (including dairy). We would often have soy milk with rice puffs or rice krispies, so eating it now is like a nice childhood memory.

Then, I forced myself out the door and to the gym! I did 20 minutes of intervals on the stationary bike, then some lower body and abs exercises. Booyah!

To tide me over until lunch, I had some probiotic yogurt with a banana.


Then I had the brilliant idea to add some slivered almonds!


Delicious!

For lunch, I decided to try making some green soup. Green because of all the veggies, of course!


I softened a chopped onion, some garlic, about 10 chopped baby carrots, and one stalk of celery, in one tablespoon of olive oil. Then I added some kale, spinach, broccoli, and frozen peas. I threw in some chicken stock and brought it to a boil before letting it simmer a little while.




Then I blended it all with my wonderful immersion blender. I have to admit, I was frightened. This soup smelled maybe a little too vegetable-y for my tastes...

I made some hummus (sans tahini) to eat with Mary's Crackers and the (hopefully edible) soup.


The soup ended up being pretty tasty! Success!

After lunch, I checked my e-mail only to find that I have a phone interview! I applied for a full-time position last week, and I'm very surprised they got to me so quickly (and at all!) I think the interview might end up being tomorrow afternoon, so wish me luck. I hope I don't have to resort to coffee to avoid falling asleep during it...

For dinner, I tried a recipe from the Detox book: lentil pilaf.

It consisted of lentils, brown & wild rice, slivered almonds, green onions, and chicken broth.


While it was cooking, I tried some chamomile honey vanilla tea. Can you believe I've never had chamomile tea before?!


It was okay. Not as good as coffee. ;)

The lentil pilaf, on the other hand, was pretty darn tasty! Didn't look it though, I know.


All in all, I would call my first day a total success! No headaches really, but I was dragging all afternoon. And I'm feeling pretty anxious and stressed, but I think that might just be nerves about the interview. Honestly, if I'm dragging this much tomorrow, I might have a coffee so I can focus for that... but I'll try to avoid it!

I have to get ready for bed now so I'm at the top of my game tomorrow! Good night all!

Experiment.

Hello bloggies!

This semester has been off to a busy start, which is my excuse for my lack of posts. Do you forgive me?

I've been proud of my activity levels since the new year, but my eating habits still leave a lot to be desired. My tracking has been sporadic, and my weigh-ins have reflected that.

It's time for something radical.


When I read about Kerry's experiences with Joshi's Holistic Detox over at Skinny Me Coming Soon (she describes the detox in this post), I remember being very intrigued. Last week, I went back and re-read her entries, and decided to pick the book up. I read the book over the weekend (in between grading about a billion math tests), and decided to give it a try.

Now, I'm not a fan of extreme diets, but I think this detox is mostly sensible. The main things I will be eliminating over a 21-day period (starting this Thursday) are:

• red meat
• dairy (except Greek yogurt or Bio yogurt)
• fruit (except bananas)
• wheat, gluten, and yeast
• alcohol
• coffee and tea (except herbal tea and green tea)
• sugar

The main goal of the detox, to my understanding, is to reduce the acidity of the body and make it more alkaline.

I personally do not think it's absolutely necessary to eliminate all these foods to be healthy or get rid of "toxins." I am trying the detox for the following reasons:

• Eliminate cravings. Over the past few months, my relationship with food has felt like an addiction. I feel compulsions to eat certain foods to excess, and my cravings often feel uncontrollable. If I cut out these foods (mainly sugar and refined carbs), I think my cravings will eventually go away.
• Increase my motivation. I have hardly been cooking at all. I don't feel that old excitement to make a new, healthy dish or plan out my meals. I've been eating out WAY too often and haven't been tracking regularly at all.
  
• Try new foods. If I follow this detox, I won't be able to eat the way I have been lately (which has consisted of a lot of convenience foods and take-out). This will force me to cook and discover new healthy foods and meals that I can incorporate into my everyday life after the detox is over.
• Yes, lose weight. I'm still around 20 lbs higher than my lowest weight. If I stick to healthy eating for the 21 days of the detox, I will likely lose a few pounds. This will hopefully make me feel more like myself, help my clothes fit a little better, and motivate me to continue tracking.
  

I am planning to track my Weight Watchers Points Plus values throughout the detox. It's not going to be a crash diet or anything like that - I will make sure that I'm not eating too much or too little.

In order to keep me on track, I have borrowed a camera from my parents that is much nicer than my own. I will try to photograph as much as my food as possible to share with you all.

I am also receiving lots of support from my boyfriend. He has offered to give up chocolate while I'm on the detox (and he loves his chocolate!). Since I'm going to be blogging as often as possible to tell you how I'm doing, he's challenging himself to blog every day, too. Not only that, it was all his idea! I'm one lucky lady. :)

I don't want to let him down, or let you down. I'm afraid I will go out in a blaze of caffeinated glory around day 2, but I won't let that stop me from trying. Publicly. Because I really just don't want to let myself down anymore.

Looking back on 2010

I started this blog last January with a post about New Year's resolutions. I mentioned two of them on this blog - how I wanted to reach my goal weight and become a Weight Watchers Lifetime member, and how I wanted to eliminate artificial sweetener in my coffee...

One out of two ain't bad, right??

I used to take three sweeteners in my coffee.... gross!!! I can't imagine how much aspartame my poor body has had to deal with. But I'm very proud to announce that, in a relatively short amount of time, I was able to cut that number from three down to ZERO. So at least I met one health-related goal in 2010!

As for reaching my goal weight: Nope, not even close! I gained weight instead. But instead of dwelling on that fact, I will treat the new year as a fresh start (like I always do).

2010 was a year of changes, including some difficult ones. Some significant events that come to mind are:

• Trying Booty Camp Fitness, joining the gym, and trying yoga. I'm still not in as much of a routine as I'd like to be, but I definitely put the tools in place to become a fitness machine!

• Going through a difficult break-up & dating someone new for the first time in years.

• Reaching my Weight Watchers 10% goal in May.
  

• My father suffering a fairly serious heart attack and being diagnosed with congestive heart failure (he is also a diabetic) - on the bright side, he has quit smoking. :)

• A fairly stressful job interview process for a full-time teaching job - I didn't get the job, I'm still "just" a contract teacher, but I learned a lot from the interview, and was very proud of myself for getting one in the first place.

As is evident by my weight gain, eating is definitely my number one coping mechanism for stressful situations.

Over the past couple of months, I have also been doing a lot of knitting! I don't think I've mentioned it here on the blog, but I love knitting and fancy myself pretty good. ;) In fact, for my mom's birthday (right before Christmas), I knit her a milkweed shawl that I consider my best work ever. I didn't manage to get a good picture of it yet, but here it is during blocking (I soaked it in water and pinned it in the shape I wanted it to take):


Knitting is definitely something I want to do more of in 2011 - but I will talk about my aspirations for 2011 in a post tomorrow (yes, I'm planning two posts in two days... after a hiatus of over a month...)

So stay tuned for tomorrow's 2011 post, and have a lovely Saturday evening!

Pad Thai Time

Happy Wednesday!

I do hope to get back into the groove of frequent posts... fingers crossed! The past week has been filled with marking an endless pile of tests. Thankfully, I wrapped that up yesterday, and now I have about three weeks before I have to mark again! :D

Last Friday, a dear friend was visiting from Ottawa! She came over for dinner and I wanted to make her something special.

I chose the pad thai from Eat, Shrink and Be Merry!, which I've made once before. I prepped all the ingredients before my friend came over. I felt like I was ready to shoot my own cooking show!

After all the prep was done, the meal came together quite quickly.

It was delicious! We both thoroughly enjoyed it. :)

I've also been rocking the stir fries lately, and I've gone back to an old standby: steel cut oats with brown sugar! I need something to keep me warm, since I try to keep the heat as low as possible.

I'm off to watch some Sex and the City on DVD and knit!

Great week ... finally!

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. I wanted to wait until I had some proof (for you and for myself) that I am re-committed.

For months, I've been all "action plan" this and "back on the wagon" that, but it was not leading to anything -- I pretty much just gained and gained and gained all summer.

But check this out:

That's right.

I tracked ALL WEEK. All seven days, baby. This in and of itself is a HUGE accomplishment for me.

But wait, it gets better. Not only did I track all week, but I actually STAYED WITHIN my points (exactly). It has been months, people. I honestly cannot remember the last time I had a week like this. I feel great.

In addition, I worked out three times! I'm glad my gym membership is actually getting used again. I also tried playing squash recently (for the first time), which was a lot of fun! I'm not usually into sports (due to gym class related traumas in my childhood), so this was definitely a little out of my comfort zone. Plus, I didn't suck as much as I was expecting, which was a bonus.

So, did all my hard work pay off in the meeting room this morning? I'll say! I was down 7.8 pounds to 199.4! Out of the 200's! Hopefully for good this time. :)

I think one reason I was able to stick to my points was that I did very well on the weekend (my tracking week starts on Saturday). I got through Saturday and Sunday only using 1.5 of my weekly points. Usually, I use all of my weekly points (if not more) immediately, which makes the rest of the week feel impossible. My plan is to aim for a great weekend again!

OH! I also went to that wedding, in the new dress I mentioned. I think it's rather fetching! And it has pockets! I wish my feet weren't cut off in this pic because then you could see my silver shoes.

Well, I'm off to enjoy the rest of my weekend... and by "enjoy," I mean finish marking approximately 100 math tests. Yay!

Back to school!

And I'm loving the structure & routine already--even though my first class hasn't happened yet!

I went into school yesterday to get some prep done, and I started my day off well with a healthy breakfast (eaten at the table, not on the couch with my laptop!) and packed a healthy lunch (including homemade date coconut bars - I'll blog about them soon, hopefully!) to bring in with me. I came home and made a healthy dinner (ALSO eaten at the table) and got to bed at a somewhat decent hour.

I was teaching in the summer, but only two days a week. I'm back to four days a week, and teaching a course I've never taught before, so it will be much busier (in a good way).

My last week of holiday (I had a tiny bit of time off between the summer & fall semesters) was very relaxing and fun! I went to Ontario Place & the CNE (don't worry, I avoided the deep-fried butter... although I was very tempted), among other things.

Go Banana!

I also couldn't make it to my meeting on Saturday morning, which is why there was no weigh-in this weekend. I have a good feeling about this coming Saturday, though! I'm going to a wedding in less than two weeks, and when I tried on the dress I want to wear (pictured below), it wouldn't quite zip up.

It ALMOST fits, so I'm determined to get into it! Although I might pretend it still doesn't fit so I have an excuse to buy a new dress. ;)

I'm off to school now! Wish me luck for my first class of the term!

P.S. Sheryl (aka Bitch Cakes), one of my favourite bloggers, just got lifetime! I'm so excited for her!

Long Walk & Weigh-In

On Thursday, I had big plans for a bike ride.

I rarely go for bike rides, so I was pretty excited about it.

I packed up some healthy bike snacks and I was ready to go!

Unfortunately, it was not meant to be. My back tire was flat and I have a feeling it has a puncture. I moped a little about the turn of events, but then decided to walk through Taylor Creek Park instead.

Luckily, the beautiful weather cheered me up after my bike let-down.

I stopped for a picnic and to read a bit. I picked up a sub on the way for a treat!

I had a delicious peach for dessert.

On my way home, I stopped at one of my favourite bulk food stores, Better Bulk, as well as the East Lynn Farmers Market. I picked up lots of goodies, including almonds, dates, kale, raspberries, bagels, and edamame!

All my walking must have paid off, because I was FINALLY down for my weigh-in on Saturday morning. I was down 2 pounds exactly, to 200.2 pounds. Here's hoping it's the last time I'm in the 200's EVER. :)

I hope you all had a lovely weekend!

Grocery Haul

Happy Friday!

In an effort to offset the damage of 1.5 weeks of gluttony before my weigh-in tomorrow morning, I bought some healthy groceries yesterday (it's been awhile!).

I included some "treats" to help motivate me.

Yum, watermelon!

I don't have high hopes for my weigh-in tomorrow morning. I have a strong feeling I will be at least as much as (if not higher than) what I weighed when I started going to meetings in November. Yes, folks, it's that bad. I've regained about 20 pounds!

But it's never too late to get back in the swing of things! Do I spot a pink Green Smoothie in my lunch from today?

Alongside chicken & avocado on a pita and some raw cauliflower. :)

I will report my weigh-in tomorrow morning, no matter how ugly. It's time to start being accountable for my unhealthy ways!

In other news, my dad is home from the hospital! I really have NO EXCUSES to be eating junk.

Have a lovely weekend!

Back in business.

I've missed you, dearest blog of mine!

I've had a few things on my mind lately that have kept me very busy.

For the past couple of weeks, I've been in the process of interviewing for a pretty exciting job. I had a phone interview, a written test, and an in-person interview (for which I had to prepare a 3 hour lesson plan).

It was all on the stressful side, but it's over now and I know I did my best. I don't know yet if I got the job (and I'm really trying not to get my hopes up), but no matter what, it was a good experience and I'll be that much more prepared the next time 'round!

Through all of that, my dad has still been in the hospital recovering from his heart attack. He had a defibrillator implanted on Friday and will hopefully be returning home soon. I've been visiting him most days.

I wish I could say that I've been 100% on-plan and exercising through all of this, but that's frankly just not true. I also missed my meeting yesterday because I was out of town. However, the week before was mostly good and I was actually down at my last meeting! I'm hoping to start fresh NOW and make up for some lost time this week, now that my life seems to be getting somewhat back in order.

It's also the end of the semester for the courses I'm currently teaching. On Friday, I taught the last class of the term, and now I have a little break until their final exam on Wednesday (which I have the joy of marking).

With my rare bit of free time, I visited with a couple of university friends this weekend in the country. The visit involved, among other things, a corn maze (that I danced through at times):

baby goats:

and Saved by the Bell:

All in all, a much-needed weekend of fun. :)

Hopefully, I will start blogging more frequently and, more importantly, taking care of myself with healthy eating and exercise. I know in my head that's a better way to deal with stress than, say, ordering Chinese food, but sometimes my actions don't reflect that.

I am relaxing now with So You Think You Can Dance Canada. Good night, all!