Under a Copper Sky

Making pancakes?

Probably not with these.

These are a couple of new "toys" I got in today.

They are called pancake dies

and I have all kinds of

new creations planned out...

I just love new tools.

Happy Tuesday!

Down 30

Yesterday marked 60 days on our new health journey

and I'm down 30 pounds.

I used to celebrate every pound lost with a dance,

now I stop and think "how in the hell did I get where I was?".

I keep wanting to share this new chapter in my life

in hopes of saving the world

from not only weight issues, but health issues.

Tell them that in the beginning it is not easy,

but if you commit, you will never want to go back.

I saw this on FB this morning.

Robin and I laugh about this everytime we go grocery shopping now.

We first hit organic produce which is the front right side.

Go to the back for our grass fed, organic meats.

Then grab a coconut milk, almond milk and yogurt from the back left.

The only time we visit the middle is for coffee

(can't quit that stuff).

Hopefully I'll do a post this week on what consistutes

"healthy foods".

It's not just the weight loss from eating

70% veggies

20% meats

5% nuts

5% dairy

it's how much better we feel.

Medically speaking we are the epitome of health.

I still have a few pounds to drop

and we'd like to start a more regimented workout routine,

but all in all we are delightfully healthy and happy.

I know some folks out there say

"I'm not overweight, I can eat whatever I want".

I'd like that person to tell me that they have no health issues.

I know many folks who are a normal weight and they have

high blood pressure,

high cholesterol,

etc.

Eating healthy applies to everyone.

Just can't preach it enough.

So stay tuned this week while I chat about

why it's so important to stay clear of processed foods

and eat only the good stuff.

After all, hasn't your body been really good to you?

Do something nice for it.

Greatest Day of the Year

January 24th

Today is my birthday.  Most, including myself, recognize today as the "greatest day of the year".  Okay, so not "most", hell, really not even a few.  But I do.  Always have.

Robin got a book this past Christmas from "the kids" (yes we give each other gifts from our pets, get over it).  The book is called "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson.  If you have a curiously scientific brain, this is a must read.  If you are like me and love the information but aren't much of a reader, buy it for your spouse and let them read you the most interesting parts.  

While waiting for the dealership to clean up Muddy to take home for the very first time, Robin read me what I consider the most interesting blip from that book.  It reads like this "Not only have you been lucky enough to be attached since time immemorial to a favored evolutionary line, but you have also been extremely - make that miraculously - fortunate in your personal ancestry.  Consider the fact that for 3.8 billion years, a period of time older that the Earth's mountains and rivers and oceans, every one of your forebears on both sides has been attractive enough to find a mate, healthy enough to reproduce, and sufficiently blessed by fate and circumstances to live long enough to do so.  Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from its life's quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result - eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly - in you."  (Deep, eh?).

I think my feeble brain caught on to that concept long before hearing it read to me from some book, but it's not been until this year that I've realized how important that fact is to me.  It is, after all, the reason that I celebrate my birthday every year with all the greatest gratitude and intentions.  

Kathleen first met Mike while he was picketing for better wages at the phone company.  They worked at the same place, but I guess for whatever reason Kathleen felt it best not to picket and be content with her measly wages.  Mike stopped her one afternoon as she was leaving work, told her how pretty she was and asked her on a date.  A year later I was conceived.  Being that Mike was married and had a family my existence in this world could have ended there.  But Kathleen made the decision to carry me "in secret", then pass me along to a family that could potentially give me a better life.  I am here today because of that decision.  I know it wasn't an easy decision, it was not made in haste, it was not made lightly.  It was a decision that was well thought out and the result is me.  And just as she celebrated my birthday every year (even though I wasn't there) with close friends and a small cake, I now celebrate hers and mine.  See, her birthday was one week ago today and even with a heavy heart I celebrated as much as she would have celebrated mine.  

For all those people who ignore their birthday for sheer vanity reasons I say "shame on you!".  Do you know what it took to get you here?  Do you realize the odds of you being in existence today?  You should embrace every year with acceptance and gratitude.  

Today I am 43.  Another reason to be thankful.  You know the old saying "if I knew then what I know now".  Geez, how much better my life would have been if I had just known that if I'd be a bit patient my life would turn out to be this good.  All those stupid mistakes, boughts of extreme sadness, bad relationships, bad people, negativity abound, those things would just be a part of my past.  And that's exactly what they are, a part of the past...  43.  I am 43 today and so grateful for those years, those learning experiences, those memories and everything I have today.

The odds of me being here today were slim.  Two people met for a brief drop in time and created a little Izzy.  So everyone raise your glass.  Here's to Kathleen, first and foremost, for without her and her big heart I wouldn't be here today.  And here's to Mike, even though I don't know him, I still needed him to create me.  And here's to my husband, kids, the universe, friends, all the spirit guides, animal totems, words of wisdom and everything else that has made this such an amazing journey for 43 years.  Namaste.

"We turn not older with years, but newer every day."

~ Emily Dickinson

Upcoming giveaway...

 

Sleeping in the Forest 

I thought the earth remembered me,

she took me back so tenderly,

arranging her dark skirts, her pockets

full of lichens and seeds.

I slept as never before, a stone on the river bed,

nothing between me and the white fire of the stars

but my thoughts, and they floated light as moths

among the branches of the perfect trees.

All night I heard the small kingdoms

breathing around me, the insects,

and the birds who do their work in the darkness.

All night I rose and fell, as if in water,

grappling with a luminous doom. By morning

I had vanished at least a dozen times

into something better.

~Mary Oliver

Stay tuned for details.

 

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Robin and I had this tonight and it was so good I had to share.

Ingredients

3 acorn squash, halved and seeds removed

1 head of cauliflower

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1 pound ground bison

1 apple, diced

1 onion, diced

2 tablespoons coconut aminos (you could use Bragg's or a dash of low sodium soy sauce)

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ginger

pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Place acorn squash halves side down on a cookie sheet or baking dish.  Bake for 45-60 minutes depending on the size of the squash.

3. While the squash is cooking start stuffing.

4. Brown bison

5. Add onion and apple

6. Steam cauliflower and carrots.  I usually cut mine into one inch pieces throw it in a microwavable bowl and heat for 8-10 minutes on high (along with the carrots).  Or you can throw it in a steamer.

7. Place cauliflower and carrots into food processor and blend to a "rice" consistancy (I use the S blade).

8. Add the cauliflower and carrots to the bison, onion and apple.  Then add the coconut aminos, apple cider vinegar, blasamic vinegar, garlic powder, cinnamon, ginger and pepper.

9. Cook on low until squash is cooked.

10. Stuff squash, top with a bit of light mozarella (optional) and cook for another 5-10 minutes.

11. Say "yummy in my tummy".

This recipe is for 6 stuffed squash halves.  I only cooked four so that we could have enough for two nights worth of dinner.  I put the rest of the stuffing in the freezer for another time.

(adapted from the recipe on PaleoOMG)

Just passing through...

Robin and I ate our lunch yesterday,

looking out our back window,

watching these girls wander through

the back yard.

What a wonderful way

to spend a Monday.

New Rings

Hope to have these on Etsy soon...

Down time...

I've been sick for 36 hours.

A stomach bug that has beaten me to a mere, limp rag.

Waves of nasea interrupt sleep.  Nausea, sleep, nausea.

That's how I've spent these past 36 hours.

Sometimes, however, being sick forces us to stop.

Simply stop.

I share this amazing video with you today.

Hoping it forces you to stop, if only for a few minutes.

 

The Great Bell Chant (The End of Suffering)

by R Smittenaar

Read by Thich Nath Hanh, chanted by brother Phap Niem.

 

 

Eating on the go...

As I've discussed before, Robin and I are avoiding restaurants.  Not because we don't love to eat out, we really do, but after much research we can no longer eat meals loaded in sugar, sodium, fats and chemicals without guilt.  However, there are times when we are running around, traveling, etc. and need to eat somewhere convenient.  So one afternoon I spent a few hours looking at various restaurants in search of "decent" meals.  To be honest, I didn't find much.  But what I did find I'm sharing here.  For those who, like us, are on the path to q-tipdom.

	Calories	Sodium	Sugar
Subway (salads, oil & vinegar)
Oven Roasted Chicken	130	270	4
Grilled Chicken & Baby Spinach	130	330	4
Roast Beef	140	450	5
Turkey	110	570	5
Veggie	50	65	4
Chickfila (salads)
Side Salad	70	110	2
Chargrilled Chicken Garden	180	640	6
Southwest Chargrilled	240	820	6
Chargrilled & Fruit	220	640	17
FF Honey Mustard dressing	60	220	12
Lite Italian dressing	15	510	2
Reduced Fat Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing	70	150	9
Chargrilled Chicken Sandwich	290	1030	9
Breast of Chicken Soup	140	1110	3
Panera (salads)
Chopped Chicken Cobb	230	550	2
no gorgonzola or greek dressing
Classic Cafe	130	240	12
no reduced fat balsamic vinaigrette
Balsamic vinaigrette dressing	60	120	4
Light Buttermilk Ranch dressing	80	350	3
Wendys (salads ½ size)
BLT Cobb	330	1020	4
Spicy Chicken	430	1770	7
Garden Side	98	30	3
Small Chili	227	880	6
Ultimate Chicken Grill Sandwich	234	1080	10
Jersey Mikes (in a tub salad)
BLT Cobb	280	790	5
Veggie (no green peppers)	460	290	7
Roast Beef (no cheese)	430	990	5
Turkey (no cheese)	250	930	5

 

As you can see there are no options from McDonald's or Burger King.  I guess that states the obvious.  Also, most of these are salads because neither of us are eating breads (breads are bad).  But I threw a few on just for the hell of it.  I didn't want to add Wendy's because of the sodium counts, but Robin likes Wendy's so here it is.  I had only eaten at Subway a few times prior to making this list but looks like we will be eating there more often.  Sodium counts are low, you can pick and chose from all kinds of fresh veggies and if you throw on oil, vinegar, oregano and pepper you cut out all the sugar from dressings.  We've eaten at our local Subway twice now since my discovery and those salads are good.  GOOD I say!

Just a quick side note for mom's.  Chickfila just announced that it is now offering "grilled" nuggets for a child menu option in it's marketing campaign to stomp out childhood obesity.  Please note that with further research I discovered that a 6 pack of grilled nuggets have 840 grams of sodium.  Why I ask?  If you are going to "preach" healthy then do it right.  You'd be much better off going to subway getting a 6" oven roasted chicken sandwich, splitting it with your kid and both of you having apple slices as a side.  That equals 160 calories, 320 mg sodium, 4 grams of sugar and 2.5 grams of fat for the sandwich (for each of you if you've split it) and don't even count the apple because it's just good for you. 

Hope this helps give you "clean eaters" a few options when you just don't feel like cooking or are on the road.  Feel free to do your own research on some of your favorites.  You might just be surprised.

If it won't rot don't eat it...

I'm currently reading the book "Food Rules" by Michael Pollan.  A small book filled with great little tips gathered from all over the world.  On page 29 the title reads "Eat only foods that will eventually rot".

The days of no fuss, no hassle, post-war meals in a flash are gone.  Or, rather, I hope on the way out the door.  With today's internet accessibility and mountains of other information, facts and figures we can easily deduce that processed foods are bad.  Not just bad, they are down right despicable.  The longer the shelf life, the bigger the list of added chemicals and less nutrients.

But let's be realistic.  In these days and times it's not easy to eat everything fresh.  Not unless you live somewhere where you can grow just about everything.  But it is easy to eat less preserved and more garden grown.

When Robin and I started on our journey to better health, aka cotton ball to q-tip path, I completely cleaned out our pantry.  Following the rule that we are to eat more plants and less of what is made in a plant.  Here's what I was left with.

Condiments - ketchup (low sugar), organic mustard and mayo (low sugar) all three of these to be used sparingly and on an infrequent basis.

Flours - almond and coconut (and baking soda and aluminum free baking powder)

Oils - safflower, grapeseed, coconut, olive

Sweeteners - honey, maple syrup (used sparingly)

Canned - diced tomatoes, tomato paste and tomato sauce.  This is the only area we really use canned goods.  All are organic with no salt added.  Oh, and of course, my organic pumpkin.

Other - vinegar (apple cider is the best for you)

Dairy - light yogurt (Activia vanilla is our favorite, avoid ones with fruit added as they are really high in sugar), almond milk (Almond Breeze), coconut milk (So Delicious) and string cheese (Kroger Brand is our favorite).

I may have missed a couple of items, but this is basically it.  Our pantry is virtually empty.  I have three large bowls of veggies and fruits that sit on the counter and bowls and bins full of the same in the fridge.  Our grocery list is about 7/8 produce.  Our trash that goes to the curb weekly is almost non-existant (most goes to the compost bin).  Just about everything we eat these days will rot.  Never thought I'd say that with such enthusiasm.  Never thought I'd eat this way and not miss bad stuff.

My weight loss is now down 4 bags of sugar (figuratively speaking).  Not bad for 41 days.  Robin and I together have lost 7 bags of sugar.  Geez, really?  Yay for us.

Anyone else out there eating clean?  Any other tid bits or things you'd like to share?