Monday, December 30, 2013

Book Review: The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion

I just finished reading The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion, by Fannie Flagg. Fannie is the author of Fried Green Tomatoes, one of my all time favorite stories. When I heard an interview with her on NPR a few weeks ago about this latest novel of hers, I was eager to read it. She didn't disappoint!

This book is the current read of my book group, The Novelties. We meet to talk about it next Wednesday. I'm looking forward to hearing what my girls have to say about it.

This, and Fried Green Tomatoes, are the only two novels of Flagg's I've read. Her writing style was consistent between the two. She goes back and forth between a historical time and current day, and as the story progresses the two plots intermingle, one solving the mystery of the other.

Our current day leading lady is Sookie, a 60-something year old woman with four grown children, a loving, supportive husband and a narcissistic, controlling mother. After a lifetime of putting up with and taking care of a mother like that, Sookie suddenly finds out she's adopted.

The historical timeline in the story is of the early 1940s, when three sisters served as female pilots in WWII (WASPS). The family consists of four sisters total, plus a male sibling. Their family ran a popular filling station in Pulaski, Wisconsin before the war.

As you can imagine, one of the sisters turns out to be Sookie's biological mother. True to Flagg's style, you may think you've put the pieces together well before the story ends, but, trust me, Flagg remains in control until the very end.

Also similar to Fried Green Tomatoes, the woman in the current day part of the story is a bit meek and lacks confidence, and the women in the historical piece are strong-willed and courageous. I'm not sure what to make of Flagg's tendency to portray current-day women as weak and broken.

I LOVE how pieces of true history are woven into the book. I learned things about females in WWII I didn't know before. The story of these women (even if they're fictitious) reminds us of the difficulties women incurred over the years in order for us to have the choices and freedom we have today.

If I were rating this book out of 5 stars, it would receive all 5. 

Sunday, December 15, 2013

This Week's Meal Plan: Dec. 15 - Dec. 20, 2013

Over the weekend I created and shopped for my meal plan for the week. The meals that came from recipes I found online include links here for you.

Check out this meal planning website: www.plantoeat.com. You can import and store recipes and plan all meals for the week, and link to the recipes. It also creates a shopping list you can view from your phone while you're at the store.

Tex-Mex Casserole
Coconut Chicken
Hashbrown Casserole
Lasagna Soup
Banana Bread (I added chocolate chips to this recipe)




My Workout Week: Dec. 8 - Dec. 14, 2013

I'm working through Jamie Eason's 12 week Live Fit program on bodybuilding.com. I'm following the weight training program she's outlined, but doing my own nutrition plan.

On days that included cardio, I did the weight training early in the morning before work, and the cardio after work before dinner.

Sunday: off
Monday: Back, cardio
Tuesday: chest, abs, cardio
Wednesday: glutes, legs
Thursday: biceps, triceps, abs, cardio
Friday: shoulders (should have done cardio too, but I didn't make it back to the gym for it)
Saturday: was supposed to be another leg day, but I skipped it






Sunday, December 8, 2013

My Experience On The 21 Day Sugar Detox

I've finished my 21 Day Sugar Detox diet. I'll summarize here how well I followed it, how I felt on it, what I learned and how I plan on eating now.

How well I followed it: The first week, my motivation level was high to stick with it 100%. I followed the week one meal plan pretty much exactly.

Our trip to Tennessee for the Thanksgiving holiday was during the second week. My first day in Tennessee was the first time I fell off the wagon a bit. During those three days we were there, I stuck to the plan about 75% of the time. For the most part, I stayed away from all the bread, biscuits, dinner rolls, etc., that were present at all meals, and I steered clear of food with added sugar as much as possible. I did, however, allow myself some of my favorite holiday treats, like my mom's chocolate pie.

After we returned home and life got back to normal, I got right back on the plan 100%. I was comfortable enough with it that I was able to eat in an a' la cart manner, sticking to foods on the 'yes' list, instead of following the meal plan laid out in the book. All week long, though, I was wishing I had planned out meals, because eating on the fly with this was a little more difficult.

How I felt on it: That first week was tough. I found out quickly that my body doesn't respond well to not getting enough carbs. Around day three I felt weak and irritable. The morning of day four I woke up feeling sick and shaky. At that point, I calculated the amount of carbs I'd eaten each day, and it averaged around 50g per day. From that day on, I made sure to eat around 130g - 150g each day.

Going into the second week, I started to feel more energy, a clearer head, and enough excitement about that to strengthen my resolve.

By the third week, it wasn't very difficult to not eat sweet stuff. Cravings weren't much of a struggle most of the time. A bonus: I lost 7 pounds!

What I learned:
  • You have to be extremely intentional about reading labels and knowing what you're buying in order to not buy grocery items without some sort of added sugar or artificial ingredients. 
  • It IS possible, though, and not that difficult once you get in the habit of looking and knowing what to look for. 
  • I also (re)learned the importance of planning and cooking.
  • Meals that are home-cooked with real food ingredients have a high quality taste that I've come to desire much more than all that crap junk full of fillers and chemicals.
My exit plan and how I intend to eat going forward: This morning, I made my own meal plan for the upcoming week and went shopping for it. My experience with this diet has helped me get back into the habit of cooking dinner every night. When I do that, I'm able to easily pack lunch for the next day so that I'm not eating on the fly. I stay in control of what I eat this way.

I intend to continue to find and/or create new recipes and work with a weekly meal plan. I will use recipes that call for real food ingredients and use honey, maple or fruit when I need sweetener. It won't be difficult at all to cook without adding sugar to things, and I'm confident I'll be able to buy food without any kind of sugar ingredients added.

The only thing I truly missed and have figured out I don't want to do without is having sweetener in my coffee. I got away from using sugar a long time ago, substituting honey instead. I will definitely go back to using honey in my coffee now, but I bet I won't need as much of it. :)

The last consideration for my eating plan going forward is that I intend to follow the plan I just described here probably 80-90% of the time. If I'm out with friends or on occasions where I want to enjoy a sweet treat, slice of pizza, or otherwise go off the path a little bit, I will do so without regret.

As for the 21 Day Sugar Detox, I'm extremely glad I did it and highly recommend it to everyone. I wasn't perfect on it, but it did a great service to my resolve to clean up my eating and completely changed my mindset about food and feeding my body. I anticipate doing it again sometime next year.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Social Media, Meetings and Not-So-Creative Meals

Day 19 of the 21 Day Sugar Detox

Today was a whirlwind of a day, and my meals were blah. My work day started with a seminar in Lansing about social media, taught by one of my colleagues, Matt Bonifiglio, of MLive Media Group. Lots of great information about how to use social media to grow your business!

This morning, I was up at 5:00 for my workout and ate yogurt and a banana for breakfast around 7:30. I took my coffee with me for the drive. By 10:00 I was starving and sitting in that seminar. They had bagels and cream cheese for us, but I was good and didn't have any. As hungry as I was, it wasn't worth it to me to cave in and have all that bread. It would have kicked off a spiral of bread cravings.

I got to our Lansing office after the seminar around noon and ate my lunch, which was leftovers from last night: a chicken leg and fried rice and a carrot. Thankfully, I got full with that, because it was about that time when pizza was delivered. Ugh! One of my toughest weaknesses! Again, I didn't have any. It would have doomed my day.

I was busy with meetings the rest of the afternoon and ate a not-sweet cinnamon cookie with almond butter at 3:00 for a snack while taking care of some work on my computer.

As I said in yesterday's post, I haven't done much prep for this week's meals, and it was a late, long drive home from work, so I didn't feel like stopping at the store. Dinner was four slices of bacon and some rice crackers with almond butter. Oh, and a small glass of wine. Oh well, tomorrow's a new day. :)

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

On The Home Stretch

I had fun with my new UP24 today. I've wondered lots of times how many calories I burn in my day to day activities. This technology isn't perfectly accurate, but it uses a formula based on my age, weight, height and steps taken throughout the day. I also recorded everything I ate today.

It's 8:15 pm right now. According to my UP24, I walked 5,554 steps - the equivalent of 2.4 miles. I ate approximately 1,984 calories, which included 160 grams of carbs, 117 grams of protein, 52 grams of unsaturated fat, 37 grams of saturated fat, and 317 mg of cholesterol. Including my walking around and my morning workout, I burned 1,688 calories.

According to this data, I'm at a calorie surplus for the day. They were clean calories though, so hopefully they will go toward muscle gain.

I didn't have much time to plan my meals this week, having just gotten back from our Tennessee trip on Sunday evening. Our freezer is stocked with plenty of meat, so I'm just working with what I have in the kitchen and cooking up meals that fit my 21 Day Sugar Detox nutrition plan.

Today was day 17. Breakfast was full-fat plain yogurt with a cut-up banana mixed in and a 12 oz. latte made with whole milk. I had a handful of almonds after my morning appointment while I was driving back to Jackson. For lunch I ate more leftover chicken thighs and a red skin potato with butter and salt. My afternoon snack was a not-sweet cinnamon cookie from the book, with almond butter spread on it.

Dinner was chicken legs and fried rice (cooked rice fried in coconut oil with seasonings, some balsamic vinegar and scrambled eggs). I baked the chicken basted with coconut oil and seasoned with sage, chives, salt and pepper. I also had a glass of red wine tonight. It's been a long few days!

Scott took Harley, one of our dogs, to the vet this afternoon because her ears have been bothering her. Turns out she has a yeast infection in them. Poor girl. We're getting her all fixed up now. Hopefully she'll feel better soon.

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Early Birthday Present: Jawbone UP24

I got a Jawbone UP24 today as an early birthday present from my wonderful, sexy, awesome hubby! Yay! I've downloaded the app, paired it to the device and personalized it. One of the first features I'll be using is the alarm. It will vibrate to wake me during the best sleep cycle within 10 minutes of the set time. Can't wait to experience that in the morning and start logging my activity and nutrition!

Day 16 of the 21 Day Sugar Detox

I noticed this morning after my workout, before breakfast, that I was feeling hungry. It felt good. It was a primal kind of hunger - my belly growling, telling me I need fuel - not that light-headed, blood sugar dip I've felt before that makes me feel shaky. I made bacon and an egg for breakfast again this morning with my coffee.

At around 10:30 I ate full-fat, regular yogurt with a cut-up banana. I'm really loving this snack. No need for all those sugary flavored "perfume" yogurts, as my step dad would call them.

For lunch I ate leftover mustard glazed chicken thighs and a red skin potato with butter and salt.

I found a recipe on the Paleo Diet Lifestyle website: Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaves. It sounded delicious and fit the 21DSD plan, so I made it tonight. It was awesome. Definitely a keeper.
I ate this plus some raw carrots and cauliflower for dinner. Yum! My son just ate one and said, "It's like heaven in my mouth." Ha!

Monday, December 2, 2013

Back To Work...

Today was a very full, long, good day. It started with a workout at 4:30 am, then off to Lansing to get back in the swing of things at work after being gone for four days.

I got home around 5:45 pm, just in time to eat dinner and head back out to watch my handsome stepson's school Christmas play. The kids did such a great job. Kudos go to their music teacher. She's a saint!

Last night I packed lunch and snacks for today, but I walked out and left it sitting on the back porch this morning. So... I had to eat out and find something to fit my 21DSD eating plan I'm on. Today was day 15. I'm well into my third and final week now. Even though I wasn't 100% "on" over the holiday weekend, I snapped right back into it today. It's getting much easier, almost like a habit already. :)

Today I ate:
  • 4 slices bacon
  • 1 scrambled egg
  • coffee with half & half
  • spinach and goat cheese salad with chopped apples (no dressing) from Grand Traverse Pie Co.
  • whole milk latte
  • cashews
  • sushi made with shrimp and rice (no soy sauce or other dressings)
I love the way I feel after a couple of weeks of eating like this. I'm already getting ideas of what maintenance will be like after this week.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Thankful For Family, Friends and Traditions

We're back home from Thanksgiving vacation at my mom's home in Tennessee. In all, we spent two days on the road and three days at my mom's.

For my eating plan, the two days on the road weren't difficult at all. The three days at mom's, however, were challenging.

I'm on day fourteen of the 21 Day Sugar Detox. During the days at mom's, I stayed on course with the plan approximately 75% of the time. I did indulge in that chocolate pie of my mom's a couple of times, and I wasn't able to examine ingredient lists of some things or know how everything was prepared.

Last night, the last dinner we had there, I took over cooking duty. I made pork chops simmered in pinto beans and tomatoes, and mashed potatoes. I was able to control that meal a little better.

I haven't thought much about this in a while, but it's no wonder I'm usually such a carb junkie. Every single meal in my mom's house contains a large percentage of bread. Breakfast always includes biscuits and some kind of sweat sauce (jam, preserves, gravy, etc.). For dinner, some kind of biscuit or rolls are a staple, as well as something like breaded meat and/or dressing. Lunch, of course is some type of sandwich or leftovers. That's the way I grew up eating. Most of our meals were home-cooked, but we didn't realize how harmful the excessive amount of bread and sugar-loaded sides we consumed was.

While I was there, I was able to abstain from the bread at my meals and stick with the meat and vegetables, but the effort I had to put forth to be intentional with it really opened my eyes to how much processed grains and sugar my family consumes as part of their normal diet. I'm thankful I was knee-deep in the 21 Day Sugar Detox while I was there. Even though I didn't follow it perfectly, it served its purpose of keeping me from coming home miserable.

My mom and her husband own a Christmas tree farm on their property at their home. Our family tradition is for us to travel there for Thanksgiving and help with their opening weekend that week. It's a very active "vacation." Their tree farm has become a destination and family tradition for so many local families. It's heart-warming to be involved in all the positive, festive energy. And the weather was beautiful each day we were there.

It was really nice to be able to spend some time with my sister. She and her family live about a mile from my mom's house, and she's always a huge part of the farm's opening weekend. You may have read in an earlier post that she's battling breast cancer. She's been through 12 weeks of chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, and is currently receiving another 12 weeks of chemo, which will be followed by radiation. Thankfully, her treatment so far has been successful and hasn't run her down very much. She looks great and has her typical upbeat, always-smiling attitude. We all feel blessed for that and pray for continued success in her fight of this terrible disease.

I was also able to catch up with one of my lifelong friends. Beth and I were friends in high school in Kingsport, TN. She now lives in the Nashville area, and I live in Michigan. We usually meet up while we're both in town for Thanksgiving.

I truly am blessed with close family and friends who love and support each other. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend as well.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Day 10: Travel Day. So Far So Good.

Day 10 of the 21 Day Sugar Detox.

Today was a work/travel day. We're spending the holiday weekend at my folks' home and Christmas tree farm in Tennessee.

Before we hit the road I packed an insulated bag with some safe snacks. I counted on being able to find a meal on the menu of most any restaurant we stopped at for lunch that fits.

This morning I got up early and went to the gym to get my workout in. When I got home I had leftover pumpkin pancakes with almond butter and coffee with half & half for breakfast. Mid-morning I had a handful of almonds.

We were on the road by lunchtime and stopped at a Wendy's to eat. I ordered an apple pecan chicken salad and ate all of the chicken, the salad greens and apple pieces. I skipped the pecans and dressing. So far so good...

Mid-afternoon I had a half banana with almond butter, and a couple hours later a handful of pumpkin seeds.

When we arrived at my mom's, she had dinner ready for us, which was country fried steak, veggies covered in cheese and garlic biscuits. I was very tempted to have one of the biscuits - they're usually one of my favorite parts of a meal. But I stayed the course. I ate a piece of the steak and a few veggies. I was a little apprehensive about the veggies because I think they came from a bag in the freezer section of the grocery store, and I wasn't able to read the ingredient list of the cheese sauce.

All in all it was a successful day. I'm going to a have to stay out of the kitchen tomorrow as much as possible. There are already three different pies on the counter, one of them being my all time favorite chocolate!

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Fresh Resolve for Clean Eating

Day 9 of 21 Day Sugar Detox

This morning during my workout, I found a new, strong resolve for this diet. I'm not sure what it was - could have been the great mood I was in or the extra energy I felt... or the fact that I've dropped five pounds in the last eight days!
Smiley


I made the pumpkin pancakes from the book this morning for breakfast. Yum!!!
I ate them with almond butter. This is one of those recipes that's a keeper. I usually don't like things made with pumpkin, so this again makes me think my palette is changing and my body is craving new things. I love that.

For lunch I had a red potato, baked (microwaved) with butter and salt, and full-fat yogurt with a cut-up banana. That meal was probably too carb-y, but since I didn't have leftovers from last night, this was easy and on-hand. It kept me on the "yes" food list.

I kept the earlier carb load in mind when I had dinner. I made salmon with salt, pepper and fresh lemon, and I had that with a salad.

Another thing I'm finding with this eating plan that I love, is that I eat as much as I want. I eat when I get hungry, and eat until I can't eat anymore. This morning, I started with three pancakes and couldn't finish it all. I also didn't finish the salmon I put on my plate tonight. I was just full. And.... it's a little after 8 pm right now, and I'm not craving munchies!

I'm a little bit anxious for the upcoming Thanksgiving trip we're taking to my parents' home in Tennessee. Usually when I go down there I eat and eat and eat. There's always so much good food, and my mom's chocolate pie is THE BEST chocolate pie you'll ever taste. And she makes a chocolate sauce to pour over biscuits for breakfast.... Oh my gosh, I need to stop. We'll be there by late tomorrow night. Wish me luck.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Day 8: All Is Good!

Day 8 of the 21 Day Sugar Detox.

Today was a good day. I was up at 4:30 to go to the gym (Monday is my early day). After my workout I came home to get ready for work and have breakfast. I had bacon, a scrambled egg and coffee with half & half. While I was driving to Lansing I ate a small green apple.

Before lunch a staff meeting and client appointment kept me busy. I made the drive back to Jackson and ate my lunch in our Jackson office while catching up on some work on the computer. Lunch was leftovers from last night - the "leftover makeover". (So I had leftover leftovers for lunch.)

Snack was full-fat plain yogurt (no sweeteners added) with a cut up banana mixed in. I enjoyed that more than I thought I would. I've tried plain yogurt before and didn't care for it. Adding the banana was the perfect complimentary flavor. Could this be because I'm getting used to not-so-sweet stuff? ;-)

For dinner tonight I made the ginger-garlic beef & broccoli from the book.
Didn't care for this one. It had good flavor and probably would have bee much better if I'd bought a better cut of beef for it.

Oh, and for desert for both lunch and dinner I had a not sweet cinnamon cookie. I really love that recipe!

Since dinner was a bust tonight, I'm going to have to find something else to do for lunch tomorrow. I won't be taking leftovers of this. I'll figure something out. It's probably going to be a slow day at work because of the upcoming holiday, so maybe I'll have time to come home and cook something.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

My Workout Week: Nov. 18 - Nov. 23, 2013

My workouts this week consisted of only weight training. I will add in cardio two weeks from now. This is part of Jamie Eason's Live Fit workout on bodybuilding.com. I should have done five days, but I only got four of them in. I didn't make it on Thursday or Saturday - no biggie.... still trucking.

Sunday: off
Monday: legs
Tuesday: back & biceps
Wednesday: chest & triceps
Thursday: off
Friday: legs





One Week Down! (21 Day Sugar Detox)

I successfully made it through my first week of the 21 Day Sugar Detox. WooHoo! I'm charged up and ready to tackle the next one.

For most of the week, I stuck very closely to the daily meal plan in the book. I think I'll enjoy the meals more, though, if I pick and choose from the recipes and just use the ones I think I'll like, and substitute any items I don't care for with others on the 'yes' list. I feel like I'm prepared to do this next week a la cart.

On that note, tonight I cleaned out the refrigerator and did a leftover makeover. I had some leftover sausage, meatballs and shepherd's pie.

I started by heating up some bacon fat in a large skillet, adding some chopped onion, cut-up squash, salt and pepper.
I let that cook for a few minutes and then started adding the meat. I added a can of diced tomatoes and beans, some paprika, basil and sage and cooked it all through.
I served it over rice, and that was dinner tonight.
I did some heavy house cleaning and laundry today. And, of course, I slept in late this morning, so I didn't really have a defined breakfast and lunch. When I got up I ate one of the not sweet cinnamon cookies I made last night (with almond butter spread on top) with my coffee/coconut milk.
A couple of hours later I had leftover shepherd's pie. Then I started cleaning. A couple of hours later I ate another one of those cookies. They're delicious! And that held me over till dinner.

I noticed something about my body this weekend that I love - a by product of this plan: I'm seeing a reduction of fat in my belly and upper arms, which allows more of my hard work at the gym show through. Yay!!! THAT's what's going to keep me going through the next two weeks.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Day 6: Strong Facing Temptation



Today is day 6 on the 21 Day Sugar Detox plan I’m doing. 

Yesterday was a good day overall. Work went well; I was busy all day and had plenty of energy. After work, my hubby and I met some friends at a restaurant downtown. That was my first step off the menu, and I was a little bit anxious that it would be difficult to stay with my plan. 

The appetizer menu had loaded potato skins, and they were topped with cheese, bacon and green onions. Other than not knowing how the potatoes were prepared (they could have been prepared using trans-fats when they were cooked, but I’m pretty sure no sugar was used), the ingredients in the dish sounded like they fit otherwise, so that’s what I ordered. Others around the table had pizza, big pretzels and wings. I was ok sticking with my own food, and I didn’t feel cheated. I was having a lot of fun with good friends.

When we got home, I didn’t feel like getting on the computer, so I’m covering both yesterday and today in this post.

Yesterday breakfast was four slices of bacon, an egg scrambled with shredded cheese, half of a green apple and coffee with coconut milk.
Lunch was leftover mustard glazed chicken thighs and brown rice. I LOVE that chicken recipe (did I say that before?). Around 3:00 I ate a banana with almond butter for a snack. Then we went out for dinner. It was a good day.

It's about 6:00 pm Saturday as I write this post. I slept in till about 9:00 this morning and had a banana with almond butter with my coffee/coconut milk for breakfast. At 10:00 I had a hair appointment - shout out to Jessica Roberts. When I got home I had bacon and an egg again. I just made the shepherd's pie from the book for dinner.
My challenge tonight is that my daughter made a big batch of puppy chow - you know, that yummy, chex, chocolate, peanut butter, powdered sugar snack. She, her boyfriend, my husband and son will be snacking on it. It's ok though. I was strong in the face of temptation last night. I can do it tonight too. :)
 

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Day 4: My Body Spoke Loud and Clear

Day 4 of 21 Day Sugar Detox.

This morning I crashed. I didn't sleep well last night. I never got into that deep sleep phase. I dreamed all night long and kept waking up. This morning when I got up I felt light headed and weak. My body was sending me a message loud and clear that I need to up the carbs.

For breakfast I had leftover sausage patties and a green apple with my coffee and coconut milk. That green apple was exactly what I needed. I started feeling better really soon after I ate it.

For lunch I had more of the chicken from last night (I LOVE that recipe), a baked potato with butter and sea salt, and an herb biscuit that I made from a recipe in the book. (I'm not crazy about that one.)

Around 3:30 this afternoon I had a banana with almond butter. That's one of my favorite snacks, and I usually use peanut butter, but the almond butter was just as good.

For dinner I made the Asian meatballs and ate them with brown rice. I'm not crazy about this recipe either. I enjoy trying most of the recipes, and I'm definitely figuring out which ones I'll make again and which ones I won't.

Ok, lesson learned yesterday and today. I need to keep my carb intake up and steady throughout the day. I should have known to anyway, because I work out every morning and my work day is fairly active. I should've paid attention to the energy add-ons in the book.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Day 3 on the 21 Day Sugar Detox

Day 3 on the 21 Day Sugar Detox

Today was a little tougher than the past two. I had pretty strong cravings for chocolate and lattes. I was also irritable. Those things could be attributed to the type of day I was having, or they could have been because of the diet.

My morning was busy with appointments, but the afternoon was spent sitting in the office making phone calls and doing tasks on the computer. It was during those afternoon hours that the cravings were most challenging.

As for my mood, I was having one of those days: argument with my daughter, flat tire on the way to a client appointment, and one work-related thing I'll spare you here. Those things would have made me irritable anyway, but today, by the time I got home I felt like I was wound so tight I could burst. I was a pretty intense grumpy butt. (I just had a glass of wine, and now I just feel like going to bed and calling today a wash.)

I mentioned in an earlier post that I've started clean eating plans before and dropped off after a couple of days because of lack of planning. This is about the time I usually drop off... about 3 days into it. I start craving the sweets and give in to it, somehow justifying it. This time, however, I plowed through the day and was successful with sticking to it. Now I'm proud of myself. :)

For breakfast I had those sausage patties I made last night, a carrot and some almonds, plus my morning coffee with coconut milk.
Lunch was left over salmon from last night and broccoli. I snacked on a couple of boiled eggs around 3:00, and I had iced herbal green tea throughout the day.
Dinner was the mustard glazed chicken thighs in the book and a salad.
I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed all the meals today. The chicken tonight was awesome! So far, that's my favorite recipe. That's definitely one I'll be repeating.

Ok, off to bed. I need this day to be over. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Day 2 of 21 Day Sugar Detox and Interview With Diane Sanfilippo

I heard an interview of Diane Sanfilippo, author of 21 Day Sugar Detox, on a podcast today. I encourage you to listen. It worked great for a burst of motivation! Listen here.

I really enjoyed my meals today! Breakfast was more of the buffalo chicken egg muffins (which I liked better the 2nd time for some reason) and coffee with coconut milk. I usually put honey in my coffee, so I'm having to get used to the taste of it without sweetener.

I was hungry at around 9:30 again, so I snacked on some of the cinna-vanilla nuts. Last night I made some green and herbal tea and chilled it overnight. I took a bottle of it with me to work today and drank on it throughout the day.

I had my lunch at noon: leftover meatloaf and rice from last night and a salad without any dressing. I forgot to make the dressing to take with me, and I actually enjoy raw veggies like that, so I ate it naked. ;-)

I had a client appointment at 2:00, then spent an hour in the car. While I was driving, around 3:00, I ate the rest of the cinna-vanilla nuts.

For dinner, I made salmon fillets. I ate just the salmon without any sides or toppings. It was delicious. This is one of the recipes in the book, and it called for seasoning the fillets with salt, pepper and fresh lemon juice and zest. Yum! It also called for a caper lemon sauce, but I skipped that because I don't have any capers.

I spent some extra time in the kitchen after dinner prepping for tomorrow. I made up the green apple sausage patties.
I forgot to snap a picture of them finished. I'll try to remember to do that when I eat them for breakfast in the morning. I'm really looking forward to trying these. I also boiled some eggs for my snacks for tomorrow.

Some things to note about how I felt today: I was hungry again at 9:30 this morning. That's not really unexpected since I work out and eat breakfast so early. I noticed, though, that it wasn't a head-spinning, blood-sugar dip type of hungry. It was just an empty stomach kind of hungry. That's good.

I also had a headache that started mid-morning. I took some Ibuprofen and it eased up for the afternoon. That could be from my body not having the sugar it's used to, or it could be just because... I'm not going to dwell on it.

Yesterday I started to get a little worried that I wasn't going to enjoy the food on this plan, because I wasn't crazy about the breakfast or lunch meals. But today I loved everything I ate. 

It's now a little after 7pm, and I feel satisfied - not hungry and not craving munchies so far. I'll be heading to bed early tonight because it's going to be an extra early morning tomorrow.



Monday, November 18, 2013

21 Day Sugar Detox, Day 1

Day one of my 21DSD, and all is well. I start my weekdays early, at either 4:30 or 5:00 with a workout, and I eat breakfast around 6:30 or 7:00, so most days I'm hungry enough for another meal by 9:30 or 10:00. I was curious how that would go today.

Breakfast was buffalo chicken egg muffins with spinach and a cup of coffee with coconut milk. 
By 9:30 I was at work and hungry so I snacked on the cinna-vanilla nuts I made last night. I only had a few because I wanted to make sure I had some for my mid-afternoon snack. I had an appointment with a client at 10:00, so my mind was occupied and the snack held me over. Before I knew it, it was 12:30 and I wasn't starving. My hunger from the morning had passed, but I ate at that time anyway because I wasn't going to have time to eat for the next couple of hours.

For lunch I had salmon salad wrapped in lettuce. 
I was looking forward to it because I love salmon, but I didn't care for this very much. It was sort of dry tasting and didn't seem to have much flavor. The recipe called for capers and I forgot to pick them up when I went shopping. The capers would have made it better. This meal also made me realize that it will take some time for my palette to get used to not-so-sweet food.

For the rest of the day I forgot to take pictures of the meals. Hopefully I'll get better at that.

I had a 3:00 client appointment and then was on the road for about an hour. While I was driving I ate the rest of the nuts I had.

When I got home, I made dinner, which was meatloaf made completely from scratch with fresh herbs, onions, garlic, tomato paste, etc. and rice. I will have the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I already have it packed and ready to go.

Overall it wasn't difficult to stick to my plan. I did crave my afternoon latte, though That's one thing I'll miss the most, I think. The craving passed by the time I got home, and I was fine. It helped that I was busy this afternoon.

It's 8:00 pm now. The only thing left to overcome is the evening munchies now. I'm so proud of my day though, I don't think I'll have a problem. I don't want to mess it up at this point. 

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Tomorrow It Begins (21DSD)

Today was a busy day for a Sunday, but I got a lot done. I ate horribly all weekend, but I'm ok with that. I didn't really intend to do a "last supper" kind of thing and eat all the junk I won't have for the next three weeks, but I did allow myself to eat whatever I wanted. Today that included pancakes with peanut butter and maple syrup, popcorn and soda, nachos, and chocolate. Tomorrow I begin the 21Day Sugar Detox I've been preparing for all week.

We started our day with an awesome church service at Westwinds. Going there never fails to leave me super energized. Great music; great message.

Then we went to the theater to see Thor. I ate plenty of popcorn, candy and cherry Coke. Then I came home and did laundry and prepared food for tomorrow.

The first thing I made was the buffalo chicken egg muffins for breakfast.
Then I made a jar of homemade mayonnaise to use in salmon salad for tomorrow's lunch.

I also made a batch of cinna-vanilla nuts for snacks for tomorrow, but I forgot to snap a picture before I put them away.

I enjoyed all the cooking I did today. What I liked about it was using fresh ingredients and doing everything from scratch.

I just sat down to relax for the first time since we got home from the theater. All the kiddos (big and little) are in bed, and hubby and I are watching The Walking Dead.  Then I'm off to bed - it'll be an early morning tomorrow.