Wow. Four months away from this blog. It shows in more ways than one. :)

New Year. Time for detox around here. I've informed the kiddos to eat up! All sugar is either trashed or frozen Tuesday morning. We all need a total detox.

So back to raw fruits and veggies, occasional lean meats, lots of greens.

Colorful days.

Not white days.

So today I worked on my menus for this next week.

5 breakfasts
~ Egg sandwich
~ Omelettes
~ Egg/ww toast
~ Tropical Smoothie (from CE)
~ Blueberry Scones (Vacation breakfast)

This is a menu for the kids. I eat eggs and veggies every morning.

5 lunches
~ chicken noodle soup with apples
~ tuna on spinach
~ veggie chili (from CE) with spinach salad
~ stuff peppers (use deer meat) with carrots
~ big veggie salad (spinach)


5 dinners
~ skillet spanish chicken & rice (from CE) with salad
~ Mahi Mahi with roasted veggies/brown rice
~ Southwest meatballs (using deer meat) (from CE)
~ Braised Beef (from CE)
~ Jamaican Jerk Chicken (from CE)

I can't wait to get back to clean eating. I have gained weight, gone off the deep end on sweets and carbs and haven't exercised. I am feeling it physically and not just in weight. Headaches, fatigue, and a 5-week cold!

It is time.

I am ready.

"If you keep doing what you've been doing, you will keep getting what you've been getting." ~ Dave Ramsey

Wade and I are listening to Ramsey's cds on money management (financial peace, I think) and many of the things he is saying SOOOOO apply to more areas of my life, like food.

Bottom line, I just need to get disciplined in many areas.

One of my other favorite things he says:

"YOU JUST NEED TO GET MAD!!"

Yes, I need to get mad and motivated!

Lord, help me.

There are have been so many wise choices and "successes" this week. It has been an emotional week for me, but I never -- let me say that again, I NEVER -- went to food for comfort. That has to be a first for me.

I spent more time in the Word and in prayer, but I never went to sugar.....not even chocolate. Thank You, Lord.

Huge victory for me. And it was not a battle. I just never thought about going to food. I just kept busy.

Today I was running errands and started to turn into the new Chick Fil A for lunch because I was so very hungry, but no! I didn't go. I changed the direction of my car and went home. I knew I had to go to the grocery store (and didn't want to go hungry), but I just went knowing that I could eat what I wanted (which was avocados at the moment) when I got home.

Another HUGE victory for me!

I am loving this clean eating. These foods make me feel satisfied without getting full. My cravings have changed. I no longer want chocolate or chips. I think if I started eating them, I would love them again, but I am completely satisfied with what I am eating. It is real food and it has tons of taste.

I am losing weight consistently, but slowly. Everyday I am down about a half a pound. That makes me smile.

We are trying new recipes right and left. I just went to the store and bought mostly meat (mostly seafood) because I will get my fruits and veggies from the farmer's market in the morning.

Love Clean Eating.

Love.

I could do this for a lifetime.

Guacamole Elk Burgers.....Minus the Bun

Last week we tried bison burgers.

Tonight it was elk burgers.

I seasoned them the very same way: egg, worchestershire sauce, chopped onion, minced garlic, sea salt, ground black pepper and while it was cooking, I sprinkled them with our favorite steak seasoning. It has salt in it so I went easy on the sea salt.

We usually would cook these on the grill, but it was just Wade and I and he was working on his truck, so I just cooked them on the stove.



These burgers were much leaner than the bison. I know that Wade asked for 10% fat to be added to the elk when it was processed, but it was so lean, I had to add a bit more oil to the pan while cooking. Bison wasn't that way.

We enjoy guacamole burgers, but since we are taking it easy on the bread, we just had guacamole and elk burgers. I am no food stylist and my camera is not working well, so this isn't a good picture, but we both wound up putting that guac on our burger and eating it that way.



It tasted good. Texture was a bit different, but we both enjoyed it a lot. We have a freezer full of elk so this will not cost us any money! Guess what? We'll be having elk burgers regularly.

New Clean Eating Recipe

Wade and I are in the middle of trying to revamp our eating lifestyle. I am turning often to my favorite food magazine, Clean Eating.



All of the recipes I have tried so far, we have enjoyed.

Even the kids.

Tonight there were only three of us at home: Me, Wade and Grant. So I had enough ingredients to make "Shrimp and Goat Cheese Quesadillas" out of the March 2011 magazine.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

I only had frozen shrimp on hand, so I thawed and rinsed them, making sure they really were deveined well. Then I gave them a rough chop. You will need to use about 6 oz of shrimp.

Next you will be chopping your ingredients for the mixture that will be placed inside you quesadillas. First you chop about 1/4 cup of green olives.



Then it calls for a 1/2 cup jarred sliced roasted red peppers. I had some fresh red peppers in my crisper drawer that needed to be used up, so I gave them a rough chop, along with some cucumber (which I love), tossed them with olive oil and a little bit of salt then put them in the over to roast while I finished the rest of the mixture. I think you could use a variety of veggies for this.



Next chop some fresh basil, about 1 Tbsp of the yummy herb.



It didn't take long for the veggies to be done in a really hot oven. Don't you just love the look of roasted veggies?



In a large bowl, put together the chopped shrimp, basil, roasted veggies (after you give them a slicing), olives and then crumble in about 4 oz of goat cheese.

Now I will have to tell you that before tonight, I have never had goat cheese. Just the sound of it put me off.

But you can't cook with an ingredient that you don't taste, right? So I took a taste and I learned something new tonight:

I LOVE GOAT CHEESE!

It has such depth of flavor and is really bold.

So mix all of this together well.

Place 4 whole wheat tortillas on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. I use a silpat, but you can use parchment paper. Using one fourth of the mixture for each tortilla, spoon the mixture onto half of the tortilla leaving room to fold it over as shown.



Fold the tortillas over. Brush each tortilla with olive oil and then sprinkle with crushed black pepper.



Into the oven they go! But only for 6 minutes. So I had these babies all ready and when Wade walked in the door tonight, I popped then in the oven. They were ready by the time he laid his stuff down, washed his hands and came to the bar to eat! How easy is that?

They looked yummy and crisp on top!



And they tasted yummy, too! Can you see that beautiful color inside?! I love food with color. Makes you want to dig in! And dig in we did.



I will say that the bottoms of these were soft and soggy. When I do these again, and I will, I will think about oiling the bottom of the tortillas or browning them in a skillet in order to get a crispiness on top and bottom of the tortillas.

They also did not have as much "kick" as I anticipated they would, so next time I will increase the spices. I think I will try something "hotter" which is what we prefer. Maybe jalapenos, cayenne pepper, paprika.........

Wade took seconds which is always a sign that he likes them. He gave this a "keeper" status and that means it will go into the recipe box for good with the necessary changes.

Grant ate a small portion. He didn't love it, but he doesn't like shrimp or olives. He did well to eat what he did. Our kids have to taste and try new things, even if it is not their favorite.

Thanks, Clean Eating! Once again you have delivered a quick and easy meal for my family that was healthy and yummy!

Still sick. Actually worse today. Last night was rough so I went to Dr. Bishop's early this morning to get my motor turned on. She recommended some probiotics, Olsba (?) (instead of Vicks Vapor Rub) and Zinc. She also encouraged me to up the dosages of Bio Fizz. I will do all of the above.

When I went by Whole Foods to get the probiotics, I also picked up some of their Chicken Soup which has cayenne pepper in it to open me up. It is the first thing I have taken in that has stopped the coughing for a while! :) I need more of that yummy stuff! I bought the biggest container of it, but need about 3 more!

This week's eating well has helped, I'm sure, although I can't see it physically, as in my chest cold/sinus trouble being gone. I can see it on the scale. I have lost 3.4 pounds since Monday. Go figure! Why would I ever eat sugar!?

I haven't felt like doing much exercise, but I have done some yoga because it doesn't make me cough.

Praying for all of these supplements to work quickly. I am so weary of coughing. And I want to cook! I have some, but really don't feel like it. And today I am in bed.

Worst day yet.

I know, I know......I've been lazy here. Lazy to blog, but also very lazy with my diet and exercise. Well, exercise has gone well, but eating has not. You know that if it had been going well, I would have been posting all the time, right? Just the way my pride works. :)

We just got back from a week at the beach. There were some victories in that most of us that were going (extended family) are trying to eat healthy. My niece, who is a massage therapist, asked that we pack our lunches on the way down and eat no fast food. I was so happy to hear that because we have really cut out the fast food. Well, except for the occasional Chickfila.

So we packed veggies, fruit, protein bars, Babybel cheese, etc. It was really great. We even had to stop at fast food for breakfast because of a mix-up, but half of us didn't even order. We just ate what we had packed.

Then we went grocery shopping and bought a ton of avocados, fruit, salad makings, etc. We had healthy snacks to choose from. We ate a ton of seafood (tilapia, shrimp, crab) but fixed them in healthier ways.

But we also were indulgent. Leah and I made Kimmy's wonderful scones one morning. I think bacon and sausage were on the breakfast plates every morning. We did eat a lot of eggs. I love eggs! I ate more bread than I have been, as well as chips and ice cream. We had ice cream cones every single night!

So now Wade and I are back "on track." Starting over.

No sugar.

Exercise.

No grains or bread for a time.

No alcohol.

Very little caffeine.

Today was the first day.

Of course, it didn't help me that I came home sick from the beach. I have not had a bit of sinus trouble since seeing Dr. Bishop, my wonderful chiropractor, but the first night in Florida brought allergy symptoms. Ugh!

I should have "upped" my greens and taken my Bio Fizz (high dose of vit C), but didn't. I have not felt well since Friday night and Saturday, Sunday and today I have spent coughing.

Thankfully, today I was able to get an adjustment to "turn my motor on" and will get one every day for the next three days. Should help.

Today when I went grocery shopping, I found bison on sale. I bought three packages and decided to make bison burgers tonight. They were really tasty! Better than beef any day! I hope to find it on sale again soon. I think I will go back tomorrow and see if there is any of the bison left that was on sale.

I seasoned them with onion, egg, garlic powder, sea salt, ground black pepper, mustard and worchestershire sauce. As I cooked them, I sprinkled a little bit of our favorite steak seasoning on it. They were delish!

And sweet hubby and all the kids but Luke (who wasn't here) loved them and are fighting over who gets to eat the leftovers tomorrow!

We also tried baked sweet potato fries, but we need some help in that area. They were soft. We followed a recipe tip in the Clean Eating magazine (my favorite right now), but it didn't work.

We did eat them because the taste was fine, but I would like them to be a bit more crispy. We will try again with a new recipe.

Then we all had a huge helping of spinach salad with tomatoes drizzled with olive oil.

Healthy.

Yummy.

Good start to back to healthy.

Hopefully, I will share more here as I work hard on this lifestyle change with the whole family.

Day 4

Yesterday brought the maxT3 lower body workout. That was fun after riding bikes the night before!

NOT!

But I did it and pushed myself in the midst of it. The wall sit at the end just about killed me. I didn't finish the whole minute, but will work up to that.

Today was the maxT3 core workout. Wow. I think I have pretty strong abs, but some of his exercises, I couldn't even get the form down! And form is everything!

Like those grasshopper push ups! Really?!

I will have to just keep going and work on these. My abs don't hurt and I had to really think to engage the core, but I know I will see results over time.

Days 1-3 have gone well. Eating all week has gone well.

Today I have a lab draw to see where my counts are. In December, my cholesterol was high, very low iron and even lower D. I hope that these results today show definite improvement. I think the iron and D will be much better. I have been taking iron and D5 supplements twice a day for the past 5 months.

Not sure about the cholesterol.

Why did I schedule a 3pm appointment when I have to fast!?

Dr. Bishop has said she will look over my numbers when I get them (both before and after).

This week has proven to give me a 3 pound weight loss, but I am not counting it overall since I had put 5 pounds back on. I am pleased with our pursuing health as a family. Now I need to get us all at home at one time so that I can cook for us. I am thinking that I will need to cook on Saturdays for the week so that they can have healthy lunch options.

And I need to do more research for good lunch options.

One more great thing about this week: Wade and I had our 3 month review at Dr. Bishop's office to see how our treatment was going. When I started, I had two curves in my spine, one at the top and one at the bottom. The curve in the bottom is completely straight!!!! And my neck has improved 100%!!! I am totally sold on this chiropractor thing! I will recommend her to anyone and everyone.

Dr. Bishop's information (about nutrition and surge training) and "ministry" (she is not in practice) has changed my life! This woman longs to help people get healthy!

I thank God for her and pray that God will give me perseverance to run this race of health as well as godliness.

Have I told you that all of my kids are going now?! I can't wait to see their results. Right now the biggest thing that it has done for them is to give them a desire to exercise everyday and eat healthy. Grant has learned to drink water FIRST!

Had a biking date with hubby tonight. It was perfect weather to get back into it a bit. I felt like I was starting completely over since I haven't ridden in almost a year! Yes, almost a year.

Wade is rehabilitating his knee (AND I am not sure where my endurance is) so we only did 10 miles tonight. We both felt we could have gone farther and longer in the end, but the trail we rode was done. Our girls were also coming home after being gone for 2 days/2 nights, so we stopped.

It felt great! It helped me with my sore quads from yesterday. I am feeling tight now, but not sore.

Mostly, I love riding with Wade. He's just great to be with. We can talk and ride at the pace we rode today, so it was good.

And the weather was absolutely beautiful! The river trail was very busy, but we didn't have any trouble.

This will have to be a once-a-week date for sure!

maxT3

Last week, I went to a surge training session at my chiropractor's office. After the session, I bought a dvd entitled maxT3. My two daughters have tried the DVD, but I hadn't until today. Every time I would go to do the program, I couldn't find the DVD. They were doing it daily and kept it upstairs.

It is a commitment of 12 minutes a day, with only 6 minutes of actual energy expended.

And I was breathing hard.

Sounds like I am a wimp, I know.

I have done surge training on the treadmill as well as jumping jacks, jump rope, push ups, etc.

This DVD is different.

I took the time this morning to listen to all of the intro stuff by the creator of the program. There was not anything "new" from this intro because of all that I have read in the past year, but it was very motivating.

Don't get me wrong. This DVD stretched me and I feel the muscles in my arms now. Good kind of ache. My muscles were stretched and taken to their little limit.

There is room to "grow" in this DVD, as well. Every program has 3 levels: beginner, intermediate, and elite athlete. You can follow the person on the DVD that is doing the exercise at the level that you are.

This morning I did the "Fast Upper Body." There are several tracks of this program, but I am following the calendar in the booklet day by day.

Day One, Fast Upper Body, DONE.

Feels good.

And had my protein shake 30 minutes afterward. Now off to do some more spring (now summer) cleaning. One of the things we learned in the seminar was that you ONLY eat protein for the 2 hours after surging, preferably 30 minutes after the workout.

If you are interested in this maxT3 dvd, you can pick one up at Natural State Health Center on Cantrell Road in Little Rock, Arkansas. If you stop by, take the time to meet Dr. Bishop. You will love her! She loves the Lord and she loves sharing health information to others.

You can also find this dvd (and other great health information) at www.maximizedliving.com.

This is my new favorite product right now: almond oil. I am using it as my moisturizer and I am enjoying the results. I use it for my whole body moisturizer.

It is an oil, but it dries quickly and drier than you might expect. I put it on my face at night and the next morning, my face is so soft. Because it is a bit oily when you first put it on, I don't use it in the mornings. That is only because I am usually moisturizing right before I put on my powder. I don't think that would make for a smooth look.

Dr. Bishop, my chiropractor, has told me that a lot of her patients also use coconut oil as their only moisturizer. I might have to try it after this bottle is empty.

But for now, I am liking this. And I have had it for a month, use it everyday and there is still so much left! Gotta love that.

Surge training and yoga continue.

I actually went to a surge training DVD from my chiropractor. My daughter has tried it......or confiscated it! When I want to do it, I can't find it!

But I am still surging. Either on the treadmill or a combo of jumping jacks, sit ups, jump rope and push ups. It is all good.

I will eventually get that DVD. She keeps talking about how good, but hard it is. Just 12 minutes, but effective.

We'll see.....

If I can get the DVD from her. :)

Tried several different things with my surge training this week.......push ups (girl ones because I can't do that many real ones or that fast), jumping jacks and jump rope. The jumping jacks actually worked me harder than running on the treadmill. How in the world is that possible?

Doesn't matter. Just convinces me even more that this works well.

Now if I could just get my eating under control and disciplined.

I am still around. Still surge training. The eating is the harder thing. I am on again, off again. Right now I am off of sugar and doing well, but have had a couple of binges in the past two weeks. It has slowed the weight loss, but not stopped it.

Have I said that I am loving my Wholy Fit dvd? I do. The movements are yoga in style and are strengthening my core, but there is wonderful worship music along with it.

I can tell my core if getting stronger and stronger. I find myself able to do the moves right now, moving from one to the next pretty easily. However, I am finding that I am working harder to perfect each move and feeling it in my muscles. I want to "perfect" the moves in this dvd before buying the next one.

My favorite part is the recovery part. As I lay on that mat, completely relaxed, the soft, soothing voice on the DVD quotes Scripture to me. Galatians 6:22-23. Romans 12:1-2. And I forget the other one right now.

It is so very relaxing and encouraging at the same time. There is something unique about coming to the cool down section of my exercise and hearing God's Word spoken.

Just gotta love it!

Jesus Thank You

One of my favorite songs right now that we are doing in youth group. It is hard to hear, read or sing these words---and really believe them---without tears.

What a rescue!

What love!

What forgiveness!

What a God and Savior!

Jesus, thank You.

Thank You.

Wow, things are so busy around here and I don't see an end in sight until June. Yes, June!

Youth retreat was this past weekend I can't tell you how much having my "greens" everyday helped me. I slept like a baby both nights and I came home NOT exhausted. I was emotionally tired, but not physically tired like I usually am. I drank them everyday and I felt great! I even lost a pound over the weekend! Added benefit! :)

I leave tomorrow for another retreat. A women's retreat that my sister is leading. She has done this Faith Walk for years now, but with her being lay leader, I want to go and support her. As it approaches, I am getting excited about what God might want to do in my life through this weekend. I am almost pack and, yes, I am packing my "greens." She has told me that there will be long days.

Exercise has not happened since before retreat. That is a shame, but Monday-Wednesday this week, I have spent a lot of time out of the house running errands, catching up on things since I was gone last weekend and will be gone this weekend. It is hard for mom to be gone two weekends in a row!

I am eating pretty well. Not always making wise choices, but more than I used to. It is getting easier and easier. Like today's lunch, I had half of an avocado, baby bel cheese (we love those!) and blueberries. I am totally satisfied. Totally. I am done and not craving anything.

Slowly, I am learning that sugar and junk makes me crave MORE. More junk, more sugar, more anything I can put in my mouth. Good food satisfies my body and I don't feel hungry afterward. It feels like food was meant to be: FUEL for my body. I wish I could always remember this when making my choices. It would make me NOT go through Chick-Fil-A or ever eat ice cream!

Inspite of not always making wise choices, I am so happy with where I am. I am learning more and more about good health. My choices are becoming wiser more often. My body is slimming down. I feel better than I have felt in a long time.

Next week, hopefully, life will be more routine so I can get back to my surge training, running and yoga-like stuff. I miss it.

For now, I am looking forward to a weekend of being with women who are seeking after God. May He meet me there and show me exactly what I need to see about myself and about Him.

Pretty good week for me. The eating was not so good because of spring break and the many activities we had, but I did get to run several times which was nice. I had to hit the dirt road, though, because we have had boys sleeping in the game room since Tuesday night. Oh the joys of good friends!

We are off to youth retreat, so the food will be not so great and not so healthy, but I am taking my greens with me to mix up each day. I will try to get one of those drinks in each day.

I can't wait to post next week about some new products I have been trying out and love! Not enough time this morning, but I'll get to it.

Praying for good health inspite of not sleeping well this week and the expectation of rainy weather all weekend. :)

Kind of working on a new workout schedule this week. I am trying surge training on MWF with running and/or yoga on TTHS.

Today I went out on the dirt road to see how I would do. Plugged my ears with my favorite playlist for running (Skillet, of course!) and headed out. To run to the "neighbors" up the road, the terrain is all uphill. I was pleasantly surprised that I could run to their road and back without stopping (1.2 miles) or hurting. My breathing was good. My legs felt strong.

Wearing my Nike Plus chip, I could tell that my pace going uphill was good for me (8:45), but when I got back to my driveway, my overall pace wasn't what I thought it would be, considering that the way back was mostly downhill with a few small rises in the road. (10:45) I must have slowed or maybe the uphill reading was my pace at the moment, not the average.

I could tell (again) that the surge training was helping me overall in running at a pretty steady pace without feeling exhausted. I felt strong today.

You can imagine how sad I was to get back inside and load my first run in months on Nike, only to find that because it has been so long since I have used my Nike chip that it was no longer calibrated and had no information on it. :)

Well, I guess it did have some info on it. I had a surge training run early in the month where I used my iPod, but it didn't have today's run. So it posted this little short sprint run for some reason. Oh well........technology sometimes gets the best of me.

Today was short, but a start. A friend has motivated me to get back into Nike Plus. She has moved quickly from the orange to the green level through encouragement (and great competitiveness) from a friend. :) Go, Christy! You are THE BOMB!

So here is today's meager info: 1.2 miles/12:36 min/10:45 mph

After I realized it wasn't calibrated (and I found out I needed to put my weight in!), I went out again and ran enough to calibrate this baby.

We are now ready to go! Not sure what it will look like, but today felt great. The weather was perfect for me. Cloudy with a little wind, about 65 degrees.

The best part of it all was sitting on the porch afterward listening to Kari Jobe sing "My Beloved" and just meditate on how God Almighty could love a wretch like me. Highlight of my day.

I wanted to see how I would do just running a mile today. No surge training.

I ran a mile in 9:47. My pace was 6.0-6.6. On faster songs, I ran faster. Gotta love workout playlists. I will have to say that I had to "hop off" twice because of dropping my iPod and losing my Nike Plus out of my shoe! So it is not a true time for me. We'll see what happens on Tuesday.

Pleased. The surge training is helping.

Now I don't know how long I could sustain that pace right now because I haven't done anything of endurance. Maybe I can work on that part on the days I don't do surge training.

Great frustration with my Nike Plus today. It didn't read anything. I'm not sure why, but I had it in my shoe, but NOTHING.

Sadness. Oh well, it's a good thing I am not competing like Betsy and Christy! :)

Just realized that I didn't weigh this past Thursday. There is only one reason you "forget" to weigh in the right day........you didn't have a good week.

You know that I had worked hard and was expecting a weight loss, I would not have missed that weigh in on Thursday morning.

Just honest.

Made some great choices today with the Lord's help.

Did surge training even though I was short on time and wanted to nix it.

Ran a bit after the surge training and found that my comfortable pace had increased because of the surge training.

When the waitress at Bonefish tonight asked me if we wanted dessert, I quickly said, "no thank you" before I caved. They have THE BEST chocolate creme brulee in the city!

Once I got home, to an empty house (Wade went to the office tonight), I didn't indulge in two things that were tempting me here at home.

I drank water instead. I knew I wasn't hungry.

I drank water.

The decision has been made to not put anything else in my mouth before I go to bed except water.

Some good decisions.

One more thing I have realized: When I exercise, I want to eat well. I don't want to "waste" the hard work of the exercise.

So......exercise, exercise, exercise.

Daily.

Do something.

Do anything.

It's a must.

Deny and Discipline Myself

This is my prayer. Lord, help me deny myself what I think is appealing, but really isn't good for me. Help me to discipline myself to do what isn't attractive (right now), but would be really beneficial to my body, mind and spirit.

Simply put......keep me from sin.

Got some answers at the doctor today. Now, more than ever, I need to be eating well and giving my body the fuel it needs. I am fine. Nothing is wrong. I just need to be diligent and disciplined in my pursuit of health.

God help me when I am weak......which seems to be coming about once a week.

Frustration has set in a bit for me. The past 6 months has brought sickness to myself, my family, more than normal.

Yesterday I found myself on immediate bedrest for a day or two.

Bedrest affects my whole life.

Today will be no exercise.

The kids will come to my bed for school instruction and help.

The temptation to eat the wrong foods and more of it will come often. That's what happens when I am just lying around.

Lord, give me endurance and patience. All things come from Your hand. Even this time on bedrest. May I look to You in faith and trust.

Yummy New Chicken Recipe

Oh how I wish I had taken a picture to show you of dinner last night. It wasn't really that the chicken was so beautiful, though it wasn't ugly.

Now the salad was absolutely beautiful with fresh spinach, red romaine, broccoli and then some beautiful red peppers on the top. Beautiful AND tastes great!

The chicken recipe was from one of the Maximized Living books I am reading right now. It was sooooo yummy! So tender and tasty! It is a "keeper" as we say at our house. If the family likes a dish and votes that it is a "keeper" I write it on a card and it actually makes it into the family recipe box, as well as Leah's and Lydia's boxes.

The comment in the book says this: "This chicken is juicy and delectable plus simple to prepare."

I LOVE adding healthy recipes!

CHICKEN SAVOY (Serves 4)

4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1/8 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2/3 Cup Water with 1 Tbsp Sea Salt
2-3 Cloves of Garlic, Minced or Grated
1/2 - 1 Tsp. Dried Oregano or Basil (See *NOTE)
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1/4 Cup Grated Italian Romano Cheese
3 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place the chicken breasts in a 9x13 or other shallow baking dish. I used a glass 9x13. Mix olive oil, water and salt together in a small bowl. Pour over chicken breasts. Grate or mince garlic and sprinkle on the chicken breasts. Sprinkle salt, pepper and other seasonings over chicken. Sprinkle cheese over the top. Bake at 450 degrees for 20-30 minutes. (My oven took 25 minutes). Remove the dish from the oven, and pour off excess fluid, leaving the chicken in the baking dish. (I served the plates with the chicken on it, so I just lift the chicken out of the fluid onto the plate. I wanted the chicken to sit in the fluid until everything else was ready to eat). Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and serve. (As I reread this recipe before typing it, I realized that I totally forgot about the vinegar! Yet it was sooooo yummy!)

*NOTE: I did not have fresh basil or oregano, so I used a spice mixture that we like, Kroger Chicken Grill Seasoning. It contains no sugar. It does contain salt, so I would sprinkle lightly or cut the salt in the water bath to 3/4 Tbsp.

**NOTE: I was serving 5, used 5 breasts, but still used the same measurements of other ingredients.

Great tasting chicken! After eating, we talked about how it would be good next time to cook double of the chicken so that we can put it on a salad the next day. Great meal to send to work with Wade.

This recipe will become a "regular" at the Arnold house. And it was so simple! I didn't get home until 6pm last night, but we were sitting down to eat by 7pm. Gotta love that!

I'm up .6 today. I am just thankful it wasn't more. I didn't eat well over the weekend and my first day of exercise was today. I'll take it.

In my reading lately, I read about a variation of surge training. I decided to try it today just to throw myself a curve ball, so to speak.

Run for 30 seconds as hard and as fast as you can. I did for 9.0, 9.3, working up to a 9.5 for the last 3 intervals.

Rest for 1.5 minutes. I walked at a 2.7.

Do this 8 times.

I didn't find this to be as hard as the training I was doing with only a 30 second rest in between the first 4 surges. However, that let me move my speed up higher than I have ever run. So I ran harder in the 30 second intervals, but I had more recovery time.

There was more sweat. Does that mean I worked harder even though I didn't necessarily feel more tired at the end? :)

Maybe variation is the key. Both take me about 16-18 minutes depending on warm up and cool down.

One more time--I know I sound like a broken record--when I ate sugar Friday, Saturday and Monday nights, I felt horrible. Monday morning I had a migraine that just screamed for the covers to be pulled over my head for the day.

Once I went back to eating healthy foods, I felt better......well, after a day of getting the toxins out of my system. I'm back to more energy and sleeping well. During the time I was eating horrible, I woke up a couple of times a night. Now I am sleeping all the way through the night without getting up once.

Why would I ever go back? What would make me DESIRE to eat sugar knowing the side effects?

It reminds me of the Israelites who had been enslaved to the Egyptians. God rescued them from their enslavement, but when it came time to endure and trust what they knew to be true, they longed and begged to go back to Egypt! Slavery!

They could only remember how sweet everything tasted! Oh, those wonderful foods they gave us while we were all chained up!

Yep! That is me. I am learning so much great information about healthy eating in ways that fuel this body God gave us, yet when endurance is needed or when my flesh craves sugar, I am a wimp! I know the truth, but I sacrifice it for a LIE!

All I can remember is how sweet the sugar taste in my mouth. I believe at that moment of "crisis" that sugar is the only thing that will calm my stressful heart, body, soul, spirit........whatever is stressing me at that time.

Then I pay the consequences.

Thankfully, my consequences aren't nearly as severe as the Israelites. All but two of the Israelites died in the wilderness because they could not, would not trust and believe in the TRUTH, in GOD.

Lord, help me to endure and deny myself fleshly indulgences that are not good for my body. May I long to trust and obey You more than feed my flesh.

A Venison Spaghetti I Liked

My freezer is full of venison. We have deer and elk in abundance in our freezer here at home, as well as in the one up at the poolhouse. I should be using it. It is grass fed, not grain fed. It is lean. It is healthy.

One simple problem. I really don't care for the taste of it.

With all that I am learning, I know that the venison would be a healthy choice for us, so I am determined to learn some YUMMY recipes using it.

Here is one that we made earlier this week. It is for spaghetti because Grantmeister had asked for spaghetti. *NOTE: He asked for spaghetti not because he wanted to eat spaghetti, but because he wanted to have the garlic bread served with the spaghetti! Learned that later. ;)

In this recipe, I used several things that were from cans of organic products because tomatoes aren't good this time of year. In season, I would use our homegrown tomatoes.

2 packages deer breakfast sausage
2 packages ground elk
1 large onion
5 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp Italian seasoning (use fresh basil and oregano if you have it; I was out!)
3-4 Tbsp grapeseed oil
1 can black olives, chopped
1 jar Classico (Tomato/Basil) pasta sauce
1/2 box of organic beef stock
1 can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, oregano (in season, use fresh!)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2 box of Whole Wheat spaghetti noodles

Heat oil in large Dutch oven. Add onions and garlic; saute. Add venison and beef stock. The venison is so lean, I add beef stock to moisten it up a bit. It also helps lessen that "gamey" taste that I don't care for. Cover and let cook down til meat is brown and tender. Remove lid for last 15 minutes of browning time.

Add pasta sauce, tomatoes with peppers, olives, seasonings, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Cover, turn to low, and let simmer for 20-30 minutes til flavors all combine.

Cook whole wheat pasta per package directions.

Top with parmesan cheese.

*NOTE: This spaghetti is thick and not a lot of red sauce because Wade doesn't prefer red sauce. I made it very chunky for him, but everyone else loved it except Lydia who LOVES red sauce. I could have just added more red sauce to her portion.

Should have taken a picture, but I didn't. This made a whole lot of meat. I used half for meat for the spaghetti and froze half of it for later use.

Rough Week

Rough week as far as health.

Hubby got the flu.

I did not meet with the Lord for 3 days except through little prayers.

I have given in to eating sugar 3 nights in a row.

There has been NO exercise since Friday.

I missed my Monday appointment with Dr. Bishop because of a migraine.

All in all. I rough 5 days.




Thankfully, His mercies are new everyday.

The Lord and I met today and it was wonderfully sweet.

Today the eating was much better.

Tomorrow the treadmill will welcome me back with open arms.

Had to post again to process.

I am sad. I am angry. All at the same time.

Bottom line is: I am emotional right now.

Which in the past has only meant one thing: Go get chocolate!

Like chocolate can help my situation or my emotions. In reality, it only makes it worse after I give in. Then I am down on myself.

So I am choosing (with God's help) to go to the Lord and to do something else. I am drinking water and going to get my handwork out. I am going to get my hands busy working on something that doesn't need crumbs in it.

The answer is NEVER in food. It is always in the Lord. So, Lord, help me to make a wise choice, not a foolish one. Running to food at moments like this is just plain stupid! I don't want to be stupid, but wise. Help me be wise.

UPDATE: I went to the treadmill instead. Great choice! Burned calories AND destressed my mind.

Not Worth It

Just posted yesterday about how wonderful I feel and then decided last night to have a "vacation meal." A meal where I eat something I want to eat that might not be as good for me.

Wade and I went to dinner at Bonefish and I didn't order my normal salmon and broccoli. I ordered the Baja Fish Tacos which I used to love. My taste buds didn't enjoy them as much last night, but it might be because I had eaten so much before I got them that my taste buds had shriveled up and were begging for mercy!

We were to meet at 5:30. I finished at the chiropractic at 5 and went straight there, taking my new book with me that I had just taken out of the mailbox. I thought I would read while I waited. So I sat down around 5:10 and started enjoying my book.

The waiter brought me something to drink and I settled in, started to relax. I was going to enjoy the next 20 minutes of reading, as well as a nice relaxing dinner with Wade. It was so nice to be out of the sicky house! I had not been out of the house for 3 days.

At 5:30, I ordered the Bang Bang shrimp (which we always get), knowing that they would be hot when Wade got there. Instead, Wade called at 5:35 and began apologizing profusely.

Someone had tried to break into his truck. He was going to be 30 minutes longer.

Oh well, he is worth waiting on and I still had my book.

The only problem with this was that the waiter had brought the Bang Bang shrimp AND bread with that yummy pesto oil! So I ate and read. Ate and read. No self-control.

I should have just said, "No thank you" to the bread.

At least the Bang Bang, I knew I had to share with Wade and leave him at least half, right?!

But I didn't stop there. No! We decided NOT to share a meal and I ordered the Baja Fish Tacos with......yes, with the chips instead of mixed greens!

I will have to say...........I don't remember when I had a chip last and I enjoyed everyone of those chips!

But I immediately didn't feel well.

Symptoms? Fuzzy headiness (yes, it was the food, not my age!). Stomach issues. Reflux back. Stomach bloated. Strange feeling in my neck and chest. All I wanted to do as climb into my bed and go to sleep.

And after taking care of my flu-sick girls, that's what I did.

Only it took me a while to go to sleep. I had to read to try to get to sleep. Finally I slept.......

Until 3am.

That meal so hurt my body, I can't sleep. I have been awake since 3. Finally got up around 3:45am. I couldn't lay there anymore.

I have said that it is not worth it, but here is another example of it not being worth it.

One day I will learn. I feel so great when eating healthy! I want to become addicted to that great feeling. I want to remember how horrible it feels to NOT eat well.

I don't think I am a good candidate for "vacation meals."

When I think of my surge training and yoga from yesterday, I think it was all null and void.

But today is a new day. Today I can say "no" to the unhealthy stuff and go back to my healthy eating plan.

It's like God's grace. His mercies truly are new every morning.

And I'm so thankful.

This has been a pretty good week. I have felt well, made good choices, tried a new dvd with yoga moves which I love, and increased my surge training.

First, I feel great! It is a HUGE thing to have sickness in my house (flu) and me not get it. I am usually the one who gets sick. Me and Grantmeister. Grant got the flu nasal vaccine, but I didn't. And I didn't get sick. Yet. And I feel great about that. That says something to me about eating well and exercising, as well as taking my supplements. Just taking care of myself is so preventative.

Second, once I make a good choice it leads to other good choices. The planning that I did on Sunday helped, but I have also made great choices when it came to snack time. I have munched on cashews, blueberries, granny smith apples and cheese.

You know what? I haven't had a "sinking" time once! That is because the choices I am making are energizing, not putting me in a sugar coma.

Third, my new WholyFit DVD has been a good addition to my exercise routine. It is yoga moves to Scripture and Christian, meditative music. It is a basic DVD since I am just beginning, but I want to do this DVD for a month, then buy the next level.

This basic DVD is enough to make me sweat a bit and to stretch (ha!) my abilities. I am not flexible at all, but hope to increase that as I do this kind of exercise. It will be important as I get older. I have to work to keep my body in the poses and, at times, my body trembles underneath me, but I like the way I feel afterward. I liked it so much yesterday, I did it again today even though I was only going to do it every other day. :)

Lastly, I have been able to push myself in my surge training. Today my intervals were at a 8.5 speed on the treadmill. That is the fastest for me that I have ever run. I even tried a 9.0 once and did fine til the end. When I went to reach for my iPod at the end of the 30 seconds, I almost fell off the treadmill! That would NOT be good!

So an increase in surge training tells me that my body adjusted to the 7.0 and the 7.5 and the 7.8. It even adjusted to the 8.0. That means I am able to increase my speed because my body is enduring well.

Surge training today was 4 intervals at 8.5+/3 cycles. My legs were exhausted when I stopped, but I still made it through the yoga. My legs were really trembling!

But right now, I feel great! I have energy to attack my spring cleaning!

Oh, one more thing: I am down another pound this week. :)

Still reading and learning.

New WholyFit dvd done and enjoyed.

Taking care of sick kiddos.

Eating well.

Drinking water, water, water.

Weight still going down.

Wise snack choice today.

Feeling great!

Another good start to my day. I was up at 5am which is my best time. It gives me a long time to meet with the Lord. That early, I can do my surge training before the kids get up, too.

Surge training today I increased my speed up to 8.4 and put it on a small incline. I did 4 intervals/3 cycles. Felt good, but worked hard. My thighs hurt. I also added push ups (which are very hard for me) and sit ups. I hope to do yoga later today.

I am finding that I am craving carbs in the afternoon. That is usually when I crave something, but now that I am not eating bad carbs, I am craving them. Yesterday I ate cashews (but too many), but I went for a few pita chips. Not a good choice. I wish I had eaten a granny smith apple and some cheese instead.

Then we had an organic pizza for dinner. I ate too much and I didn't check to see what kind of flour it was made out of. Sadness.

I did deny myself a glass of wine. I wanted to have some with the pizza last night, but didn't. I also ate one bite of organic dark chocolate. That's all it takes with really dark chocolate.

Water, water, water. I am drinking so much water. It is all I am drinking besides cup or two of coffee. The bathroom and I are friends. :)

The Maximized Book that includes many recipes is really, really good. I started reading it yesterday while at the dr's office. It is some of the same information (same author), but the recipes are going to help me more further toward greater health.

Because of the sickness and late afternoon dr's visit, I didn't get to make the meatloaf, but I will do that tonight. I will have lots of time since we will be home all day.

Feels good to be back on track with no sugar. I feel great again today. I increased my surge training intervals to 4x in a cycle. Dr. Bishop told me I could do up to 4x in a cycle and 4 cycles. I did 4 intervals, 3 cycles. I also increased my speed and tried to run on an incline a bit. Felt good. Felt faster. Felt like I needed air.

After a week of no chiropractor (she was sick with the mumps), I went back today. There's something about the whole process. It relaxes me, stretches me, inspires me for some odd reason.

And those people there! Every last one of them are so kind. They smile, know my name, encourage me. Of course, they are helpful, but it's more than that. It seems to be from the heart.

There is sickness in the house. Not sure if it is flu or strep because it is presenting pretty similarly. I haven't seen Leah this sick since she was a baby. Which makes me lean toward flu. We are taking her in this afternoon to find out for sure what is going on.

Right before I left for Dr. Bishop's, Lydia came down not feeling well. I sent her back to bed and she didn't wake up for 3 hours. It begins in her body. Lord, heal my family and keep me well.

So I am making some homemade chicken noodle soup for them now. Bought a beautiful chicken from whole foods and I'm waiting on it to cook now. I hope it helps both of them.

So excited!!! Received in the mail: Wholy Fit DVD, Extreme Makeover God's Way book, One Minute Wellness book and Maximized Living Nutrition Plans (which I am mostly excited about)! The last book has so many recipes for all meals: breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner. I can't wait to dive in. Tonight we are going to try our first meal from this book. Should be fun.

I also ordered a book (and received it over the weekend) called The Maximized Living Bible. I am disappointed. I didn't know it would be a BIBLE. I have tons of Bibles. I love the Word of God, but I didn't need this Bible. Oh well, that's what I get for becoming overly excited and ordering every book this guy wrote!

Can't wait to find some reading time today to get some more info.

So many books. So little time.

Okay, first day of eating "vacation" meals. Except that I made my vacation meal a couple of vacation hours and I FAILED. I binged on all the wrong things.

I ate way too much sugar. I ate chocolate chip cookies til I couldn't stay awake on the couch. I felt horrible! It was not worth it.

I also proved that I still have no self-control. For several hours, I ate what I wanted, but no sugar. Even told myself that if I gave in, I would not be able to control it.

That was true. Should have listened to myself!

Once I took one bite of that sugar, I wanted more and more. And I thought my taste buds were changing! NOT! I should have just taken one bite of dark chocolate. One bite of dark chocolate satisfies. But if I take one bite of milk chocolate, I only want more and more and more..............

So today, no sugar. I don't need to have "vacation" meals that contain sugar. I can have a vacation meal that has a bit of carbs, but no desserts. As long as I am just beginning this journey and trying to lose weight, I don't need to eat sugar.

It just isn't worth it. It affects me, but also my family because I can't function and I am grumpy. It never just affects me.

Kind of like sin.

Last night at church went well. Really all of yesterday went well except that I didn't get to exercise at all. I am amazed how much I missed it. My mindset has changed so much!

I ate well yesterday, but felt the need for exercise. This morning I got up, dressed to get on the treadmill and there were two little boys fast asleep in the gameroom. So it will have to wait. No fun! I like to do it before I eat in the morning. I will just do it to maintain the habit and give me the time to clear my mind and relieve stress. And I love the feeling afterward.

Thursday I met with Dr. Bishop and learned some more about nutrition. Turns out I am doing a lot right. There is always more that I can do, but I was pleased that the information I have been reading and implementing is right on. She was not feeling great, but still met with us. She's a very kind soul.

Dr. Bishop helped me figure out how to help Wade since he eats two meals out of the house everyday. I need to do some planning and go buy a few things to help him. He is so ready to do this. I want to help us both succeed and move closer to great health!

I received my most anticipated book in the mail yesterday but couldn't even open it because of a fundraiser I was working on and attending last night. I can't wait to get into it today because it has tons of recipes for me! I can't wait to try several new ones each week. Tomorrow I will sit down and plan my menus.

Have I said how much I am enjoying how I feel, the great sleep I am getting (without getting up to go to the bathroom!), and how much more productive I am because of increased energy? Just did. Thank You, Lord.

NEW PRODUCT USED THIS WEEK:

Grapeseed Oil. I have never used grapeseed oil, but I have used it twice this week while making omelettes or putting veggies in the skillet to saute. I couldn't tell any difference......nothing good, nothing bad. I will be using this. I also bought sesame seed oil, but haven't used it yet. I need to research when it is best to use these oils.

I've lost 3.4 pounds this week! Whoo-hoo! I have a busy weekend with lots going on. I am praying that I can plan wisely for exercise and food.

Surge training today: 30 sec intervals/3 cycles

Breakfast: omelette with red pepper, green onion, cilantro and mango salsa. Yummo!

Off to learn more about nutrition from Dr. Bishop this morning. She is meeting with me and a friend to go over some things to help me learn to live differently with food. I am excited about the information coming in. It is a bit overwhelming, but mostly encouraging and inspiring.

I am reading a great book right now, "Winning Your Race," which I bought from Dr. Bishop, and I am so amazed at the God-centered focus of this book! We want a healthy body so that we can serve God for as long as He has us on earth! We can't lengthen our lives, but we can make the quality of our lives better for sure. The more I get into this book, the more I love it!

There will be a few challenges for me this weekend as I face two meals at church. I think I can eat the chili (hoping no one puts sugar in it) and I can eat the salad on Saturday. Praying for wisdom and self-control.

Yoga morning. Feel the stretch.

Hate the mantra that goes with my particular dvd. Really new age......I just don't ever see me becoming one with the sun or feeling the sun in my heart (sUn, not sOn).

Can't wait for my Wholy Fit to get here so I can do the yoga moves without all of the empty-your-mind talk going on.

I actually LOVE the way those moves stretch my stiff body and strengthen my core.

The music is over good. Relaxing.

It's just the jibber-jabber of a lost soul believing that we can be one with nature.....or that we would WANT to!

That makes me sad.

So I will say a prayer for her.

And wait for my dvd with Christian music to come in the mail.

First day on the two week "reboot" (as I am calling it) was a little difficult for me. Around 2 or 3pm, I was craving something--anything--sweet. Isn't that sad?

Iced coffee with just a splash of skim milk I thought would hit the spot, but it didn't, so I drank a ton of water. Maybe I was just thirsty. I've heard that I can think I am hungry when I am really thirsty.

When the hunger didn't subside, I brought out the pistachios. They were great!

I did manage to go all day without one bit of sugar. All labels were read and if it contained sugar at all, I didn't put it in my mouth.

After looking over the menus, I drove over to the nicest Kroger in town (in my opinion). No, it is NOT the one on Chenal. I love the way they have redone the Kroger on Rodney Parham near I-430. The produce department is displayed like it is about to be in a magazine. You will find almost NO items that are bruised or look bad. I can't say that for Chenal's produce section.

This Kroger has a decent organic section and I knew that if they didn't have something, I could run over to Whole Foods.

Grocery shopping took longer today just because I was looking for new items, reading lots of labels and running back and forth for things I couldn't find. I wanted to make sure I couldn't find them there before going to Whole Foods.

We now have a frig and pantry full of healthy items that will help us move toward greater health. I am even cooking turkey bacon this morning. It's in the pan right now and I am wondering if turkey bacon gets crispy. We like our bacon crispy and this is not crispy. That will make it hard for my kiddos to eat. I think I will eat it just because I am learning to like new things and this is probably something I want to learn to eat if I ever desire meat for breakfast.

Surge training this morning: 30 second intervals/3 cycles. I ran faster and longer.

Yoga: for flexibility

I don't know if it is what we are doing, but I am sleeping like a log! I go to sleep and I am not waking up until my alarm goes off. That is huge in this 45 year old's life! HUGE!

Wade made me jealous yesterday. He didn't realize (yeah, right!) that we were starting yesterday and he went to Five Guys with a couple of buds. Just hearing about the burger and greasy fries........oh, my.

I just kept telling myself that I was two meals ahead of him on this REBOOT and I would need that "head start." He always loses faster than me. He's such a guy! :)

Praying today goes well and that I am able to stay on target. Being out of the house makes my planning hard. I am wondering what I will hit for dinner since I will be out of the house.

And I am having coffee with a couple of my girls today. What do I order at Starbucks? Iced coffee again? I think everything else would have sugar or sweetener in it.

Maybe I need to learn to drink black coffee.

When I was craving sweets yesterday, I was going to have some of Starbucks VIA that I had in the cabinet. It was mocha flavored and so it had sugar! Shucks!

My prayer today: "Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father." (Col. 3:17)

Mr. and I are adding a new element to our new adventure toward health. We bought two books while at the chiropractor last week. I read one of them this weekend. The healthy eating explained in this book was recommended to me if I am seeking greater health.

So today Mr. and I are started this initial two-week plan. It will be strict to begin with, but then we will add things back into the eating plan.

From what I am reading, since I eat so much sugar (and have for years), my body has been trained to burn sugar instead of fat. I have to retrain my body to burn the right stuff.

To do this, I am eating no sugar and no grains for two weeks. During this two week time period, I also do what they call surge training. It sounds like it will retrain my metabolism. Not sure about that, but it is what it reads like.

Surge training is where I do the hardest of whatever I am doing for 20-60 seconds, then rest for an equal amount of time. I do this three times and that equals one cycle. There is a 2 minute rest time in between cycles and I do three cycles.

I did my first one this morning on the treadmill. You can do anything really hard for 20 seconds! I wasn't expecting much since I am not doing endurance or even a fast pace for long, but doing the three cycles took me 11:35 min, I covered 1 mile and I burned 132 calories.

Now this surge training is NOT about those stats that I usually post. It is about retraining my body to burn fat. That will only show over time if I lose weight. I will have to let you know about that.

This sounds really restrictive, but there is a menu, grocery list and recipes in the book. I am going today to whole foods and buying the stuff for week I. Wade and I are ready to make the changes necessary. It will be hard to not have brown rice (which I love!) and any sugar at all, but it will be good for me. I have gotten off of sugar once before and I felt so much better! Wish I had continued........

Some of my favorite quotes of the book, entitled "Cruise Ship or Nursing Home," are:

"Good intentions don't determine where you will end up, your actions do." (pg. 3)

"Your body needs no help to heal you; it just needs no interference." (pg.4)

"Disease occurs now. It just kills you later." (pg. 14)

"To experience change, YOU need to change." (pg. 20)

"If you don't change your belief system, you'll never change your habits!" (pg. 30)

"The biggest shame that we see as doctors is when people settle for less than their potential." (pg. 31)

"If a person has a big enough WHY, they can endure almost any HOW." (pg. 34)

"While ten years ago is always the best time to have started taking care of yourself, the second best time is right now." (pg. 89)

"100 percent nerve flow gives 100 percent life to the organs." (pg. 90)

"Healthy lifestyles are the biggest threat to the growth and expansion of the drug industry." (pg. 115)

"The most common prescription durgs sold in the U.S. today, and possibly the most toxic to your system, are antidepressant medications." (pg. 117)

"You can't eliminate all toxins, but you can trust your body to do what it was created to do. When it is working at its optimum level--healing and functioning normally--your body is made to process and remove a certain amount of poison, but not the amounts in 'modern' Western living." (pg. 119) Wow! Something to think about.

The healthy eating plan for the first two weeks consists of five guidelines:

1. Eliminate sugars.
2. Cut out grains.
3. Remove bad fats and add good fats.
4. Consume very little fruit.
5. Avoid toxins.

This is ONLY for the first two weeks. Just while we are readjusting my body to burn fat, not sugar.

This means I WILL be eating:

1. Vegetables
2. Good fats
3. Proteins (lean, healthy)

And I will continue to drink lots and lots of water.

There is also a schedule for resistance exercises that I am going to try to implement beginning today. You focus on a different body part once a week and do quick sets. We'll see how this goes.

I am excited! I am hopeful. I am planning for change.

Lord, please make it so in my life. I want a healthy body in order to serve You as long as You leave me on this earth.

Today was yoga day. I did a 45 minute DVD, but I am looking for something more "Christian." I am going to hunt on the internet this afternoon for something less new age. It was relaxing and I found myself praying during the relaxation part, but still. I don't need to open my mind. I need to speak truth to my mind!

Wade and I embraced a chiropractic plan for us yesterday. I was shocked by my x-rays in several ways. We both need some work. Me more than Mr. We will begin to see Dr. Bishop on a regular basis at first during the corrective stage, but less often in the maintenance phase. It will be a while for me to get to the maintenance phase.

However, I want to do all that I can to help my body move faster through the corrective stage. There is so much information to digest and go through. So many things to slowly implement into our lives to change the way we live to move from unhealthy to healthy.

I told Wade yesterday that I have to rehearse the things we are doing well. After 45 years of treating my body very poorly, I have made progress. For some of you out there, these will be minor changes, but for me, a junk-food junky, it is total progress. Forward progress. And I have to keep telling myself what good things are already happening. Otherwise I will be overwhelmed with how far away I am from where I want to be.

Some of the good changes we have made are:

1. Our whole family is exercising on a regular basis.

2. We are not buying cokes and only buying chips on special occasions.

3. Water, water, water. I have always been a water drinker, but we are drinking more of it. That is about all that we drink now both in the house and when we go out.

4. Wade and I are seeing Dr. Bishop on a regular basis.

5. We are getting plenty of sleep even when it means we must go to bed around 9pm. We often beat our kids in bed, but we are both up at 5am.

6. When eating out, we are selecting places where we can have healthier options. There has been almost no fast food for me in a long while.

7. When eating out, we are selecting items that fuel our bodies for good health. Last night, Mr. and I went out and I had salmon with a lemon/garlic/tomato sauce with steamed broccoli. Now I also had the Bang-Bang shrimp, so it wasn't all healthy, but in the past I would have eaten the Bang-Bang as well as a heavy meal.

8. Sometimes we share meals when we go out. Mr. and I often share items and the girls share, too.

9. I am shopping more at Whole Foods or in the organic section of Kroger.

10. Mr. is eating "in" his office every single day! That is huge! He has eaten out for lunch the entire time we have been married. He is saving money and calories!

11. We are taking necessary supplements to enhance our immune system, especially me. Right now this includes fish oil, vit C/biofizz, vitamin D3 and iron. Hopefully, over time I will be able to get these nutrients through my diet, but for now I am supplementing. In the past, I have had good intentions, but have not followed through. I am not missing a dose right now.

12. We are taking items to family gatherings when we know there will be little healthy there. Tomorrow, we have a family birthday and I am taking the veggie tray. It doesn't mean we won't eat some of the other stuff, but we will have options and, hopefully, choose some healthy options.

13. We are taking healthy snacks to basketball games instead of getting the snacks at the concession stand. We take apples, pears or pistachios usually. That is huge for us.

14. We are just more health conscience. We are looking for ways to be healthy each day.

15. We are trying to undo "bad" habits on a regular basis.

16. My kids are choosing to go do things that incorporate exercise and fun together like climb Pinnacle. They have gone twice this week and I couldn't go either time!

17. We are buying and eating much more fruit. My husband never ate fruit and now he is taking a banana out the door with him every morning on his way to workout at 5:30am. That is huge!

These are a few things we are doing better. Wiser choices we have been making. New habits we are forming. There are many more that we want to make, but they will come slowly. We will implement them one at a time and try them for weeks at a time to try to make them habits.

I am looking forward to 2011. What will it hold me us? I pray that my health is greatly improved so that I can minister more for the Lord and take great care of my family. I pray we enjoy the process of it as well. If we don't enjoy it, we won't stick with it.

Lord, help us.

I told a friend just recently that "walking doesn't help me lose weight."

Well, I was wrong. This past week I have been able to walk, but not run. I have tried to put some variety in my walks so that I am not doing the same old thing everyday.

I am losing weight this week. (We are not weighing in at WW today because of a chiropractor's appt, but are weighing in here at home). I have lost weight this week.

It is not about the exercise. It is about the amount of energy I am exerting and how long I am exercising.

My goal each day is to exercise 45-60 minutes. I seek to sweat and be out of breath at certain points of my exercise. I want my heart rate up. Side note: I think I really want a heart rate monitor!

One day I would walk at a slower pace, but walk longer, working on my verses. Another day I would put in my iPod with my faster playlist and walk as fast as I could for 45 minutes. Today I walked hills. I took the big hill and the logging road out here. I didn't cover as many miles, but I gave my quads a workout!

I guess I walked for so long years ago, doing it the same old way, that my body adjusted to the exercise.

Now I don't want to walk every day. It was hard NOT to run sometimes today because I was walking as fast as I could, just under a jog. But walking CAN benefit my body if I will work really hard at doing it well, fast, pushing my body as I do it.

Good workout. I walked hills for 37:20 minutes. I'm not sure how far I went because my Nike thingy fell out of my shoe halfway through and I had to go back and get it. It doesn't matter. I know I worked out well today. My body feels it.

I have not been talking about my exercise because I was sick for 2 weeks and on restriction from the doctor. I now have permission to walk, but no running until I see the doctor in March. I have been walking this week, though.

Today I went outside because it is so nice out there. It also helps me work on my verses when I walk and don't jog. I am ready to say chapter 3 of Colossians after my 46 minutes today. I reviewed a lot and have the first 3 chapters down, I think. I love memorizing His Word!

Anyway, back to the walking. Sometimes I think walking doesn't help me, but it was good to walk outside. Where I live, there are only hills, nothing flat. So it gives me a different workout than walking on the treadmill even though I change up the incline.

Plus the fresh air does something to my attitude!

I just finished 46:28 min/ 2.8 miles/266 calories burned.

What it did for my spirit? Unmeasurable!

Off to see the chiropractor again this afternoon for another "adjustment." Hope it eventually helps the soreness I feel right now.

Still fighting this cold! Any helpful, healthy, natural suggestions out there in blog-o-sphere?

Okay, so I made two visits to the chiropractor yesterday. The first one in the morning was for a foundational, get-acquainted and information meeting. They took x-rays and talked to me. The second one, she "adjusted" me. She said that most people say that it feels like "a load has been lifted off." It felt good, but I couldn't tell that dramatic of a result. Maybe it takes a while.

I know I have some spots that are horribly tight and need to be worked out from going to see my niece who is a massage therapist. I can point the places out to you in my back and neck. Of course, that showed up on the chiropractor's back scan "thingy." The areas that I know are a struggle for me were "black" which means "off the charts" bad.

My hubby surprised me and showed up at my afternoon appointment. So funny! The sceptic couldn't believe he was in the room listening to this "propaganda" when he doesn't believe in it. I saw him smile on occasion with that smile that said as much.

He and I go back on Thursday for our consultation where she talks about a "plan" and reads our x-rays. That is the time to decide whether we want to pursue this plan or not. I am praying for wisdom.

There are several things that make me question. There was already talk about her seeing my whole family. I was forewarned about this.

There were some moments that I felt that she said exactly the same thing to Wade as she said to me even though our scans revealed different problems. She was more specific to me, but I asked more questions than he did.

The biggest doubt I have is that the results are subjective and unmeasurable in many ways. I know that I will be able to tell if I feel better or not, but I know that if I want it to make me better, to a large extent it will. Half of the battle is in my mindset.

I also thought that putting Vicks on my feet at night would help me stop coughing. And it did. For three hours. It probably did just because I expected it to. But it didn't take care of the problem.

I want to be wise with the money we have and with my body. I like the more holistic approach, treating the whole body and being preventative. My curiosity is peeked to see if this will work "miracles" as they all kept saying yesterday. It wasn't said to me, but it was said to Wade twice. Miracles? Really?

We will see what happens. Will their claims come true? Will I really be able to get off of my reflux medicine? Will my neck trouble go away over time? Will my joint pain be taken care of?

I sure hope so. But I am not sure it can do all of that.

I guess I am a sceptic, too.

And for the record, I was sore last night from the adjustment. My neck didn't feel as tight, but my back and neck were sore. But I expected that and they said it was possible.

I am embarking on a new adventure today......going to see a chiropractor. My sweet hubby is a real sceptic about it all, but I can't wait! I am leaving here in just a few minutes for a free evaluation, but I already know I want to schedule a time to see her this week. I have several friends from church who go to this gal and have highly recommended her. I have never been to a chiropractor and even grew up being told they were quacks. That is why Wade keeps saying to me, "Now when are you going to see your quacker-cracker?" He makes me laugh!

I hope it goes well. A little nervous because it is all new to me. Supposedly, she also have some great info for me about cholesterol! We'll see!

Small and Big Victories

One of the things I am trying hard to do each day is to make note of the wise choices I make each day. It reinforces my desire to make more wise choices. I write these in my health journal and sometimes post them here. Today I made a HUGE choice that I have only done one other time.

I took Grantmeister into Shipley's Donuts, saw and smelled the yummy donuts, ordered one dozen glazed, one dozen donut holes (my favorite) and his sprinkle donut. However, I did not take one bite. Not one donut hole. I didn't even lick my finger and steal a little sugar. Nothing. Notta.

In my reading, I am learning that sugar is not my friend when dealing with cholesterol. I am not sure sugar is ever our friend when we are pursuing health.

I know, too, that sugar will not help me get well this week. It will had nothing to the process of healing my body. In fact, I believe it will hurt it, so: SAY NO TO THE SUGAR!

So today my greatest victory was saying no to the donut and yes to my healthy breakfast that I waited to have when I got home. Yippee!! And I was very satisfied. Very satisfied.

Seeking Health. The title of this blog. We are truly seeking a lifestyle of health, but right now I am seeking general health.

I got a cold about 8 days ago. It doesn't seem to have gone into an infection yet. I have no fever, no symptoms other than post nasal drip that has responded to taking OTC medicine. However, I cannot get rid of this cough.

Sleeping sitting up for the past few nights has not been fun, but last night was the worst yet. Around 1:30am, I went to the green chair so that Wade could get some sleep. I was so hopeful about last night, too.

I had tried some new ideas that I had read/heard about that I thought would work. I put Vicks on my feet, slipped on socks and headed to bed hopeful that this was the ticket because I had read about this so often. Well, it worked for about 3 hours. So I reapplied at 1:30am, but it didn't help. I even rubbed some on my chest for good measure because that is what my mom always did when I was young.

I have a Vicks vapor humidifier by my bed as well which I have used every single night.

Hot tea is streaming through my veins right now because I had had so much in the past few days. Don't get me wrong. I love hot tea, but I have run our supply down because it seemed to help my throat. Well, not last night.

Chicken noodle soup. I made some chicken noodle soup and have eaten it religiously. I am blowing, blowing, blowing my nose.

I have had elderberry syrup before bed. Maybe I should have taken another dose of that. I am taking my vitamins, especially C. I am eating fruit, fruit, fruit.....including blueberries, clementines, apples, pears and pineapple. I am limiting bad foods which really isn't too hard because I am not hungry. My taste buds are numb.

I have even made my family laugh as I use my saline wash to clear out my sinuses. They think that is both horrible and funny. I find it kind of nice. It seems to work, but it is not helping my cough.

The only thing I haven't is a shot of whisky which seniors in my life tell me they have used for a long time and that it works miracles. I guess that yucky stuff would kill any bacteria in the back of my throat. I don't have any in the house and don't think I am going to buy any.........

So today, I am calling the doctor. Yes, I am giving in. I just hope they can see me. After snow closing the roads for several days this week, I know I would be a work in. I am just praying they can work me in or have had a cancellation.

And I realize that all of the healthy eating that I have been doing to try to get well is best when done as a preventative probably.

Another reason to seek a lifestyle of good health habits.

And, yes, it is true. I haven't weighed in two weeks. That is never good. Last week, I had a medical procedure and this week we had 6-7 inches of snow and couldn't get off the mountain.

Snow Day!

We had snow today! For Arkansas, we had a lot of snow today. 5-6 inches fell during the day today. Because the forecasters were pretty certain this was going to happen, we let the kids have friends over on Tuesday night so they could enjoy the snow together. So we have 5 extra kids in the house and it is so much fun! They are great kids, great friends.

I made some really great choices and some really bad choices today. It started out with me sleeping in until 9:45 because of some medication I had taken. I woke up to the smell of bacon frying. Wade was making a huge breakfast for the kids before they went out into the snow: bacon, link sausage, eggs and biscuits. So I let him cook me a fried egg (which my dad calls "the perfect food"), had a biscuit and 3 half pieces of bacon. It was so yummy!

I also indulged in a little bit of taco dip with some potato chips later in the afternoon. I tasted the guacamole we made (twice!) and only had 2 bites of the cheese dip.

Some of the great choices I made today were: lots and lots of fruit. I ate fruit with every meal today. Blueberries, pineapple, apples, pears and clementines. I had all of those today and they were really yummy!

Green tea. I bet I had 5 cups today with Luscious Lemon added to it. It really makes me scratchy throat feel so much better.

So some good and some bad, but I feel good about my good choices. My biggest excitement is that I went to the frig twice today to get fruit. I knew I was hungry and I grabbed fruit FIRST. That is not normal!

Thank You, Lord.

A New Favorite Product

Tropicana has a new orange juice out that I love! I first heard about it at my WW meetings a few weeks ago. It is half of the sugar and has Vitamin D and Calcium. Usually orange juice immediately hurts my reflux, but this one doesn't. Not sure why that is, but I also love that an 8 ounce glass only costs me 1 point in WW.

As I fight this sinus infection, I am drinking up!

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

We have had this twice in the last two weeks and thought I would share. It has been comfort to my sore throat and sinuses.

8 cups of chicken stock or low sodium broth (fat free)
4 chicken breasts cooked and cut up into bite-size pieces
3 cups of dry egg noodle pasta (can vary the kind used)
2 cups of carrots, washed and sliced
1 bunch of green onions, washed and sliced
2-3 tsps Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt
2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Bring the chicken broth to a boil and put in carrots and onions. Boil til carrots are softened. Add egg noodles and boil for 8 minutes. Turn heat down and add chicken, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Heat for 10 minutes more.

This soup is 4 points per 1 cup serving on WW.

I did well yesterday denying myself things I wanted. I stayed within points and didn't overeat.

I am really fighting a sinus infection and want to fight it without antibiotics, if I can. I am drinking hot tea, eating raw fruits and veggies, homemade chicken noodle soup, and hope to get a sinus wash today. We'll see if I can get through this without a dr or antibiotics. I want to, but want to be wise, too. I have things that need to get done without me being sick for a week.

So far today:

Hot tea: green tea/luscious lemon combo

Have had 3 cups of hot tea, a pear, 2 cups of homemade chicken noodle soup, and 2 cups of coffee. Still not feeling well. Hate feeling a bit low; not enough energy to get a lot done, but not bad enough to put me in the bed. Just sluggish.

I'll be updating throughout the day.

Today's a New Day

Thankful for new starts. Today is a new day. A day open for new choices. Wiser choices.

So far I have made wiser choices. Of course, it is only 9:50am, but I am counting my wise choices today.

I've eaten fruit already and instead of the bacon, biscuits and eggs my family had, I ate old fashioned oatmeal. I need to lower my cholesterol and it will help fuel my body against this sinus infection, too. I am also making some homemade chicken noodle soup right now. I think I will use brown rice instead of pasta because I only have regular pasta. Chicken and brown rice, lots of carrots and scallions. Sounds yummy to my throat right now.

A few months ago, my kids and I did a 6-week "no sweets" deal together. It was hard, but it was good for all of us. We managed to make it 5 weeks before Thanksgiving hit and we ended a week early. I was still excited that I made it 5 weeks because I love sweets! I crave them because that is often what I feed myself.

Last night we talked about doing it again. There is something so beneficial to denying yourself something you crave. It helps me in every area of my life to deny myself and learn to go to the Lord for strength when greatly tempted.

We agreed last night to keep our sweets to one-a-week. I have one daughter that wants to do no sweets. We will let her make that decision. Hubby is not a sweet eater, but is greatly tempted by chips, so he is making his challenge "no chips" for the same amount of time.

We talked a lot about how long to do this challenge, but we didn't set a time limit. In my mind, I would like this to be a life change that I make from here on out, but maybe I need to set a time to begin this challenge. I am not sure. Still thinking about it and need to talk to the girls again. We will agree to a time limit (for them), but then work toward a lifestyle change on this.

To help us in this, I will NOT be buying chips or sweets. Well, I take that back. I will buy the kids small packages of chips for their lunches on Tuesdays (SEEK), but I will NOT buy big bags of chips. We will have veggies cleaned and washed and chopped to snack size, easily accessible in the veggie drawer in the frig.

I am going to look up some more good snacks that are WW friendly and healthy today while sitting here with hubby. We all need some lifestyle changes and, although they are slow, we are making them one step at a time.

I started a new book last night that I am intrigued by entitled "Younger in a Year for Women." Apparently, these two guys wrote another book that was more general "Younger in a Year" and it got rave reviews. I am going to spend some time reading it today and making notes.

I also will be rereading "Made to Crave." That book had lots of Scripture in it and wise words to think about when tempted. It motivated me to change my thinking on food. I want to reread it and make notes this time in my health journal. I need all of the encouragement I can get.

Breakfast:
Coffee/creamer 0 points
1/2 c. Old-Fashioned Oatmeal w/ honey/cinnamon 4 points
Banana 0 points

Lunch:
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup (1 cup) 3 points
Saltines (6) 2 points
Coffee/dry creamer 0 points

Water: I I I I I I I
Fruit/Veggies: I I I

Dinner:
Bager Thin 3 points
Cheddar Cheese Slice 3 points
Beer Brat (1.5) 9 points
Carrots 0 points

Coffee/cream 2 points
Kettle Corn 3 points

This uses all of my points for the day. I am done except to drink water. It is only 5:30, but I don't like eating late, so praying I will keep myself busy with handwork so that I won't eat. :)

I didn't get in nearly enough fruits/veggies, but I wanted to eat what Wade had cooked on the Green Egg. I will shoot for more tomorrow. I have apples, pears and bananas in the kitchen. I hope to eat 5 fruits/veggies tomorrow.

Him: Great! Me: Not So Great!

On this journey to health, I will have to say that this week has been horrible for me. I have not been diligent at all. Because of a medical issue, I have been told I can walk a little, but no running. I am supposed to rest for a few days. It has totally pysched me out.

It also doesn't help that I am fighting a sinus infection, but that SHOULD make me want to fuel my body with healthy things! But, no. I am eating junk and that will make my body succumb to the infection. Ugh.......

My sweet hubby on the other hand lost another 2.4 pounds this week! Go, Wade! He is a machine. He even went to the 5am AND 6am D1 classes Friday because he loves playing what they call "Ghetto Ball."

His diligence should be motivating me, but it's not. Instead I find myself eating everything in sight and enjoying none of it. I feel guilty, but am not really convicted or I would change my ways.

I need to reread "Made to Crave" and write down the verses that convicted me the first time through. I need to pray more about this and yield in obedience to what is healthy for my body.

Lord, tomorrow is a new day. Help me begin again and help me to desire to put healthy things into my body and, if I don't desire it, help me do what is right no matter what!

I will not be weighing in tomorrow. It's been an unusual week for me. I have had very little exercise. Have not eaten well. Have had a minor medical procedure. Am resting now for 24 hours. Waiting on results. Very tired.

Darling hubby has done so well and will be weighing in tomorrow. He is working out at D1 4 days a week taking on Wednesdays off (of workdays). This morning he worked out because he had time before my procedure and he wasn't playing soccer tonight. That is the only reason he doesn't usually work out on Wednesday. He plays an hour of soccer each and every Wednesday night that the weather allows.

I am reading a great book on this journeying toward health. It is written from a Christian perspective and I bought it electronically. I think I would like this one in paper form. I am going to have to reread it after I finish. There are so many great things in there. Last night I read a couple of chapters before I went to bed and I woke up thinking about part of what I read. I need to reread it to get it in my head. To change my thinking. This lady writes from experience. The title of the book is "Made to Crave" but I can't remember the author right now. I'll have to look that up and let you know what it is. So far, I would recommend this book.

My goal for tomorrow is to track everything I put in my mouth (which hasn't been happening) and to eat 3 fruits and 3 veggie servings.