Chia Seeds

I'm always looking for new healthy and tasty foods to mix into my diet. I have been hearing of chia seeds and thought I'd give them a try. Here are some nutrition facts on chia seeds.

Last week I mixed them in with my kefir and ezekiel cereal and really enjoyed them. Today I thought I'd get a little more adventurous and try to make some "Rice Pudding" from a recipe I found on a raw food website. I am not going to be making raw almond milk anytime soon so I used Almond Breeze. I really love this stuff for coffee and just to drink. It's low calorie and full of vitamins, plus tastes great!

To make the "pudding" you are to take 4-5 Tablespoons chia seeds and mix with 2 cups almond milk. You can add cinnamon, vanilla (which I did) or honey. Then you let it sit for at least 10 minutes. This is when the magic happens! The seeds sort of grow a gelatinous layer around them and thicken the milk. I think I used to little seeds (4 Tbs.) or too much milk because it wasn't as thick as I hopped for. Next time I will use 1 cup milk and 4 Tbs. seeds. I still liked it and felt very full after eating.

Tomorrow I will go back to my kefir/cereal snack but will hopefully be trying out new recipes soon. Anyone else have suggestions for me?

Gotta love having a long weekend...

Just home from a two day trip to Healdsburg with my husband. We really enjoyed ourself! We joined a new wine club and decided to leave one behind. So hard to walk away when they treat us so well, but time to try out something new. We drank lots of Pinot Noir, too much for sure, but that's what happens up there.

I did my best to eat well for the most part. I packed us up a cooler with homemade organic lowfat chicken salad and akmak crackers, loads of chopped fresh veggies and water. My downfall was Sunday night dinner at Scopa. Oh, it's our favorite, melt in your mouth chicken, spinach and polenta as well as homemade pasta and duck dish. Any an amazing Grenache from Unti Vineyards.

Monday we took it easy and enjoyed the sunshine that finally made an appearance! It's been raining lately. The Russian River is full and some of the vines in the valley are flooded with water.

Here is a pic from Sunday. You can see how misty it was ups there but still very beautiful!

Here is me on Monday, in  my sun dress taking it in. As you can see I have a ways to go as far as my fitness goals. I plan to get back to business today! I have no traveling to do until at least May so it will be easier to stick to my fitness plans.

Last week I worked out 6 days, both cardio and ms. This week I can only do 5, since I missed Monday. I'll hit it hard to day and try really hard to avoid temptation! I'm meeting a friend for lunch today, Thursday I have a birthday comedy show to attend and Friday my friend is participating in a date auction for Team in Training. It's so hard for me to stay focused when alcohol and late nights get me distracted. I will be measuring/weighing in on Friday to see if I can maintain or hopefully loose a bit more.

Well, off to start Hip Meta Sequence 4! And rock out some serious cardio, DC07 and maybe some additional Thanksgiving cardio to get me going!

I'll check back in asap! Have a great day!

Friday, results time

I'm feeling strong! Not quite slim, yet, but definitely strong! I really feel like I can get to where I want to be, it just may take a few months and I'm okay with that. Especially if the weight will STAY off and I don't have to feel hungry and deprived 95% of the time.

I weighed in this morning at 131.2, down .6lbs from last week. I'll take it! My inches stayed the same except I went down 1/4" in my lower abs. I will be using last Friday's weight and measurements as my "staring point." I plan to list all the measurements when there is some significant change or at 30ish days, whichever comes sooner.

I have to say it feels great not having to weigh in every morning, though I am tempted! Same goes for calorie counting. I will admit to doing a rough estimate in my head and okay, on paper sometimes just to get an idea of where I am. I am most likely eating around 1700-1800 calories per day.

My diet this week consists of whole grain bread and whole eggs or oatmeal with nuts, dried fruit and chopped apple for breakfast. I usually have a cup of coffee with a splash of milk to get me through my mornings with the 2 year old I tend. Lunch has been plain kefir, ezekiel 4:9 sprouted whole grain cereal with a Tablespoon of chia seeds, (more on those soon!). In the afternoon when I get hungry for a snack I'll have an apple and some raw spinach and cucumber with some peppered smoked salmon. Dinner this week was either homemade tortilla soup (low-fat cheese, non-fat sour cream, low-fat chips, avocado, black beans, corn, organic chicken) or turkey burger, no bun, with low fat cheese and avocado with a black bean and corn salad. hella good!

I also have been enjoying some of Lydia's Raw Foods from Whole Foods. For a treat after dinner I've been having Green Power Balls, nice name huh?!? They are full of all types of green goodness. However they cost $10 for 5 balls, so a splurge. I also drink at least 1/2 of a Kombucha each day. I just found out Whole Foods makes their own Kombucha that is cheaper than the other types so will be trying that out next week. Healthy food is expensive!

As you can see I'm eating really healthy, whole foods. My digestion and skin are great and I feel truly balanced this week. If I loose more slowly, I'm fine with that because I want to feel good during the process. I do have the occasional few crackers, nuts, chocolate chips, but am not going overboard! I only  eat when I am hungry.

Workouts have been great! I'm doing at least 5 days per week, aiming for 6. I'm on day 9 of Hip Meta sequence 3. I rotate my cardio daily from TAM Dance Aerobics '07, Dance Cardio '08, Dance Cardio 2, Beginning Dance Cardio, Thanksgiving Cardio and trying out a new lower impact So You Think You Can Dance, Cardio Funk. I want to give my legs a break once a week from all the jumping. I've learned the first routine and love it! I'll do a full review once I've done all 3 dances. I do at least 30 minutes of cardio and up to 70 when I can.

I've got happy hour with my girls tonight so  doing 70 minutes of Beginning Dance Cardio as soon as I'm done with this. I wanted to wait until my husband left for work so I can blast my music and get crazy! Already did my mat work.

Tomorrow I am celebrating with my parents and sister my parents 37th wedding anniversary at a sushi restaurant and jazz club. Luckily they don't drink so I won't be tempted and I can easily enjoy some sushi, veggies and brown rice without the calories getting out of control.

Sunday and Monday however, I'll be in wine country for a mini vacation with my husband. I have big plans to pack some healthy food for the first day at least. Wine will be my down fall. So plan to move my rest day to Monday and get up early Sunday for a run (yay!) and Hip Meta sequence 4, Day 1.

That's my update for now. Wish me luck! Hope you all enjoy your weekend!

I'm Back!

It's been two weeks since I've blogged but it feels like a month! The main reason I took a break from blogging is that I was getting really discouraged with my results and didn't want to
a.) Spread my doom and gloom or
b.) Talk about what mess I felt I was becoming.

Here's the deal. After I cleansed a bit to get back on track after my trip I started eating a "normal" diet and working out only about 1 hour six days a week. "Wow, ONLY 1 HOUR," my friend laughed at me. Compared to everyone else I am doing amazing work, right?!! Well, my body didn't think so. I started gaining weight really fast, almost 1 pound per day!  I completely freaked out and had a little melt down. I guess the little extra chocolate and the crackers and the (see below) was throwing my body for a loop.

I was still counting calories  and keeping it between 1700-2000 per day and keeping up with my workouts, so what gives? I think my body just wanted to be "normal." All the cleansing and dieting wasn't making it happy. So what have I decided?  I'm not going to diet anymore. I'm not going to count calories anymore. I'm going to listen to what my body wants. I'm going to give my workouts my all! I plan to avoid sugar, junk and booze most of the time except when I must have it, hopefully not more than once or twice a week. I'm only weighing/measuring myself on Friday mornings to help with the panic attacks as well.

Two Monday's ago I went to Whole Foods and stocked up on Kombucha and healthy raw foods to eat at lunch and for snacks. It's expensive but I feel all that nutrients will help control cravings. It's been almost 10 days and I think it is helping. I weighed and measured last Friday and I've "normalized," dropping about 2 pounds of weight, the 2 pounds that sent me over the edge.

I will check back in soon to let you know how things are holding up! I also have a review of a couple dance cardio DVD's coming soon!

Getting my diet back on track

Happy Monday everyone! It's kind of weird that I actually like Mondays most of the time. One of the reasons is that I don't have to actually go into work, just cook a meal for the family I nanny for that I bring on Tuesdays. So I use my Monday to prep and plan my husbands and my meals for the week as well. I also get the house back in order and do other house stuff that I can't get done while my husband is hanging around.

I had a really fun weekend which means there was a lot of wine drinking, laughing, girl time and husband time. It also means that I totally blew off my workouts. Oops! Good thing the scale only moved up less than 1 pound. I bet if I got my fitness on, I would have stayed level. Oh well. Today is another day and I'm not going to beat myself up over it.

I ate pretty well despite all the wine. I made this last night. Sauteed spinach with garlic and nutmeg, tossed with fat free feta from Trader Joe's (which is pretty amazing) and stuffed into an organic chicken breast. Then you brown each side in a little oil for about 5 minutes then finish cooking the chicken in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees. I made a side of Orzo pasta tossed with fresh parsley, a tiny bit of Parmesan, lemon juice and zest, and a little bit of olive oil. Yum!

I will be trying out many new healthy recipes in the coming weeks, months and maybe years on this blog. My goal is to have healthy eating become the norm for me and save the splurging for eating out and truly special occasions. Luckily, I already love to cook so this shouldn't be too hard if I can just get my weekly planning and prep in every Monday. It will be really fun to try out new recipes a few times each week! 

I will be tracking my calories on the Loseit! app on my iPhone, but listening to my body will also be important in determining what and when I eat.

I was thinking of working out for 2 hours today to make up for lost time this weekend, but I decided to let it go and just move forward. Trying to be more Zen about this whole thing and realize that this is not a race but a lifestyle. Self loathing is not something I want to get into again. All in all I've kept off at least 6 pounds that I've lost this year and I'm proud of that! I still have some more to go but slow and steady wins the race! I ended up doing my new usual, Meta Hip 2nd rotation and 35-40 minutes dance cardio. I really rocked out cardio today. Loving Lady Gaga's Pandora station!

Look forward to turkey tenders and brussels sprouts/cauliflower gratin tomorrow! That's what's on the menu tonight. I will get better at taking pictures while I cook as well.

Hope your week is off to a great start!

It's a New Day! Recovering from Vacation.

I'm back! Well, technically I've been back for since Sunday night but you know how it is after vacation. Unpacking, catching up on sleep, preparing tons of pureed foods...Well, that last bit may just be me. Anyways, we had such a blast! So nice to be able to reconnect with my husband, let someone else worry about the cooking and cleaning and just soak up the sun! The food was truly delicious and the deal we had included the champagne buffet breakfast and cocktails and horderves in the evening.

Here's a pic of one of the evenings spent with ceviche, canapes and rum and diet coke. There was also cheese!

I did find time two mornings to get in some time on the elliptical machine while whale watching, how cool is that! So that's the good news.

The bad news is that I sort of blew up like a whale. I was too scared to weigh in until Wednesday when I was sure that some of the fluid retention had subsided. Man can I retain water! I was up to 130.6 so I'm guessing I hit back up around 133-134 by the time I made it home. I made a decision to start the week one Meta diet just to detox a bit and get me closer to where I left off. I'm starting Day 4 today of the diet, Day 3 of exercise today. I'm now at 128.8, so down almost 2 lbs since Wednesday.

The diet has been tough for me this time! In fact I have been snacking a bit at night, a cheese stick and whole grain bread, better n' peanut butter and low sugar jam on whole grain bread, and let's not forget the wine...but still progress is being made.

I've decided I'm so fine with taking things a bit slower these next few weeks. I want to keep this weight off for the long haul and that's not going to happen by starving myself and exercising all the time. Plus, I love food. I want to eat normal things every day not just on "cheat" days. I miss oatmeal. I miss my friends. I miss getting dressed up at night and hitting a bar with the ladies. I've been avoiding being social because that means I miss my am workout and sabotage my diet. I've got to find a balance.

So I've been working on a food plan that is around 1300-1500 calories per day, mostly clean eating. I also want to keep my workouts to around 1 hour each morning, 30 minutes ms and 30 minutes cardio. I plan to incorporate other forms of exercise occasionally for variety. To be honest I'm getting bored of the dance cardio and don't want to shell out more cash for DVDs right now. I'll still be doing them most days but on a nice weekend day a run in GGP sounds so refreshing or take a yoga class with a friend. I miss running and yoga so!

That's my new plan. To loose weight more slowly and be practical about my eating habits. I still have 3 days of cleanse food in the freezer for another "bloating emergency," but enough with the cleansing for a minute. Tomorrow I start my new plan. I'll let you know how it goes!

Next Friday I will take measurements and I'm hoping my weight will have settled in around 127ish. I'm not sure where I want my ultimate goal weight or measurements to be yet, but honestly it truly is about finding a balance and being happy. I think I look great, not perfect, but like me, fit and smiling.

Week One, Shopping List

7 Bunches Kale
2 bags spinach
4 green apples
7 beets
14 medium apples
2 pints blueberries
4 medium sweet potatoes
4 ears sweet white corn
bag of carrots
11 medium parsnips
4 14 oz. cans roasted tomatoes
parsley
chives
cilantro
red onion
english cucumber
2 bell peppers, two different colors
Broccoli
bag celery
1 box plus a little more low sodium veggie or chicken stock
5 ounces chicken
bag semi sweet chocolate chips
jar of peeled cooked chestnuts, or extra blueberries
unsweetened cocoa powder
14 dates
unsweetened coconut flakes