A few things...

I am a firm believer that if a bird can eat it, it's not littering. I throw my apple core out the window because birds can eat it. You're welcome for feeding the birds.

I really hate it when people bring up my age at work. I realize it's a great thing to have a job like mine at my age, but it wasn't handed to me. It wasn't a gift my daddy gave me because he loves me. I worked to get there. I know no one can say anything about me being a woman because that's considered sexist. I would like people to stop saying stuff about my age because that's sexist too (and by sexist I mean ageist??). either way..stop bringing it up. I appreciate the opportunities I have, but outside of a Higher Being, no one has handed anything to me. I have worked to where I am, and I will continue to work to where I go. I earned it and I deserve it. Me being 23 has nothing to do with it.

I am still struggling with adjusting my life and eating habits. I realized all the food I had taken to work today, combined with my breakfast, only totaled 600 calories. It's not realistic! I feel like I have to eat everything in my fridge every day to get the amount of food I should be eating. I'm still losing weight because I'm just not getting enough to eat. It's frustrating. I come home and eat half a block of cheese and a dark chocolate bar because I just need the calories. I can't figure out a way to balance a grocery budget because 90% of what I can eat is fresh food and I'm eating pretty much my whole stock of groceries within just a few days. I know it's not a huge problem....but it's my current problem. and I'm struggling with it.

Fresh Food Grocery Shopping

Bart and I this past weekend in the 103 degree heat

Happy July everyone! It's smokin' hot and straight up Summer outside. I love coming home from work and relaxing in the pool for an hour. A little R&R goes a long way.

I have been kind of MIA in the blogging world. my bad! I haven't had tons to say, and I have had less time to say it! Things at work have been crazy busy and when I am home I just want to spend that time with Bart. Since he's home for the summer he needs a little lovin' when his sugar momma gets home :) I only have time now because he went to the store for some avocados so he can make a little guacamole.

Bart decided to join me in my quest of health (aka forced diet) last week. He's been struggling but he's doing a great job. This is the longest he has ever gone without Pepsi so that right there is a huge accomplishment. It's been fun to have him diet with me because he actually likes to cook so we have been trying a few new recipes that are Doctor approved! I told him he should have started this with me months ago and I don't think I would have been so hungry!

Grocery shopping is quite the interesting experience for me. It amazes me how many things I CAN'T have because I eat 100% fresh/non-processed foods. Basically the produce isle is my best friend!

Here are a few pictures of what a typical grocery store trip looks like.

Basically the things I buy on a weekly basis (assuming they are in season)

Bananas

Apples

Carrots

Sweet Potatoes

Yams

Strawberries

Raspberries

Grapes

Spaghetti Squash

Yellow Squash

Zuchinni

Green Beans

Red, Green and Yellow Peppers

Avacado

Spinach 

Romaine Lettuce 

Almonds

Chicken

Eggs

Almond Milk

I add to this list when we have new recipes to try, or when I run out of staples in my pantry like black beans and almond butter.

We tried out the local farmer's market last weekend and picked up a few things. There wasn't a ton of options, but it was fun to buy fresh local food and know you are supporting local growers!

Bottom line? If you are trying to incorporate this diet into your lifestyle plan on taking a few trips to the grocery store each week. I try to make sure to pick everything up, but things run out and you don't want to buy too much at once or it will go bad. I like to plan out our weekly menu and then go shopping. Also, don't forget about leftovers! I don't plan specific lunch ideas because I know we can just have left overs from the past couple nights. It adds a little variety into your day. I will do a future post on a few of my favorite go-to snacks and quick meals.

Last piece of advice. Experiment! As I have mentioned before...not all recipes work, but it's still worth a shot! This week we made Cabbage Wraps and those puppies just had ZERO flavor. Not only that, they were a pain to make. Definitely not attempting that one again. A new favorite of mine is a mushroom/onion mixture on top of Spaghetti squash! Courtesy of my mother, it is delish! ( I will have to post recipes later...)


~ live happy, be healthy~

Cold Asparagus and Imitation Crab

What is the worst meal you have ever eaten at a restaurant? Do you have a story to go along with it? Well this is now mine:

Bart comes home today with $150 cash for a football thing he did on Saturday. He waves it in my face and says "Date Night?" Well who could resist an offer like that? Not me! I ran upstairs, redid my makeup, put some red lipstick on and hopped in the car. After watching the Food Network yesterday Bart was really craving some crab so we headed for Market Street Grill. Since I can eat all things fishy I was pretty happy with this decision. I thought, fresh fish?! How delish! (haha!)

Anywho...we sit down and eventually I order a crab/shrimp salad. At $30 I was expecting heaven on a plate. When it got to our table let's just say I wasn't impressed. It looked like something I could have prepared myself. I should have taken a picture but instead I will try to paint you a picture.

Bagged Iceburg lettuce with a half a boiled egg, a few olives, one slice of red pepper, beets on the side, ONE piece of asparagus and a few spinach leaves on the corner of the plate. It was topped off with some imitation crab and a few tiny shrimp. Mmmmm doesn't that just sound appetizing???!

The real trouble started when I actually took a bite of said salad. The first thing I did was pick up the huge piece of asparagus and found out it was ICE COLD. WTF. A raw piece of asparagus?? Is that a thing? I took one bite and had enough. I was laughing at the table to Bart asking him if we were being punked.......why would someone not cook a delicious veggie like asparagus? They are always my favorite thing at a meal...WHEN THEY'RE COOKED......the next few bites I noticed something else....ZERO flavor. Keep in mind that the past 7 weeks I have been eating 100% FRESH food so I can taste something out of a bag a mile away. There was nothing on this plate that wasn't bagged, canned or frozen at some point.

Okay, so what? Plenty of places have bagged salads and frozen meat. Yes, but when you go to a restaurant that claims to have fresh fish you expect a little more. If I am paying $30 for a salad that shit better be hand picked from a tree you are growing outside and carefully placed on a freakin' golden platter. I could have bought imitation crab for $5 a pound at the grocery store, I expected a little more class from this place.

Don't even get me started on the other parts of the salad...the olives tasted like the inside of an aluminum can (coincidence?) and I didn't even dare to try the boiled eggs...the beets weren't even separated from their canned state and just sat nicely in a pile on the side. I was so blown away by how horrible this meal was! When the server came around to ask how things were I told her (very nicely) that nothing on my plate had any flavor and obviously it wasn't fresh. She offered to take it away and have me try something else. I ordered the shrimp cocktail just to get this experience over with.

Bringing out that shrimp cocktail just opened up a whole new can of worms. Since I can't eat the cocktail sauce I popped one of the huge shrimp in my mouth plain...I'm lucky I didn't barf all over the table. It took me a solid 2 minutes to finish chewing the thing without gagging all over my plate. It was straight up frozen shrimp completely void of any flavor as well! Are you kidding me?!?! At this point Bart and I are both laughing. We just couldn't believe how horrible this meal was turning out to be. I made him finish it off because I couldn't be forced to choke down anymore food from this place.

The only thing I ended up eating were the green beans off of Bart's plate and I'm pretty sure they were slathered with butter which is why I was inhaling them like crack (shhhh don't tell the doc). In the end we gave the server a pretty generous tip and made Market Street Grill black listed. I have NEVER sent a plate of food back because I didn't like it. I have put up with a few unimpressive meals....but this one takes the cake. Nothing about it was acceptable. Luckily for us we ended up with a good laugh and a funny story to tell....even if I still am hungry....

Moderation

Bodies are a weird weird thing. They are amazing and they are confusing. You hear so many different things when it comes to nutrition and taking care of your body...

Don't eat meat. Eat locally grown meat. OK fine, meat is okay, but only sometimes. Red meat no, fish yes, chicken occasionally. Umm..meat is actually amazing and you should eat it every day.

There is no such thing as a "bad" vegetable. Well potatoes can be bad...and you shouldn't eat too many carrots. Actually carrots are good, just don't cook them. Ya, cooked veggies are bad. No, cooked veggies bring out different nutrients so you SHOULD cook your veggies.

Don't even get me started on grains. ONLY whole grains. Well multigrains are OK too...but no white flour! Well white flour can be okay sometimes, moderation! No, just cut out all grains. If cavemen didn't eat it, neither should you! Actually the Egyptians know where it's at when it comes to food...or was it islanders? Are you a hunter or gatherer? Because that matters too. 

Fruit is great in unlimited amounts...except no it's not because they have tons of sugar and acidity. Acid is good for you! No, be on team Alkaline. 3 servings is all you need, unless you want beautiful hair, skin and nails..then eat 6 servings a day! mix them in a smoothie, that looks extra healthy.

Speaking of smoothies....DONT DRINK YOUR CALORIES! unless it's a green smoothie with spinach..you can drink that. OJ yes, Apple J no. Tomato juice and soups are good, but not the best. Caffeine is bad, so is sugar and don't even get me started on aspartame! Ya know what? just drink water. only water. nothing else. 

Time to chat about sugar. it's poison in your body, you're killing yourself a slow and painful death when you eat sugar. sugar came from hell disguised as an angel from heaven. but NATURAL sugars...well of course that's okay...except it's not. all sugar is just bad. stop eating it. STOP IT! (okay fine, eat it...but only a little bit..)

See what I mean?!?! It can be exhausting and entertaining to hear all the advice. The awesome answer is "Moderation in all things" but is that even true? My body would tell you no. The 14 pounds I have lost in 6 weeks with NO exercise would tell you it's not about moderation...it's about cutting out the "crap" and eating clean. I practiced Moderation in All Things for years and never have I seen the results that I am seeing now. It's fascinating! I can't wrap my brain around it or pretend to understand what's going on under my skin where no one can see. All I know is that for 6 weeks I have been eating 100 % fresh and my body is lovin' it.

Never underestimate a grilled steak

So I decided that I need to blog more about the happenings of our happy life and it just so happens that Bart decided to bust out the grill tonight, which is pretty happy....right?

Bart is a pretty incredible chef. Brownies are in the oven.

mmmmmmmmm