I hate thinking of titles!

I can never think of anything witty or funny... I like the idea of using a line from a song like Krissie does but I don't want to a copy-cat. And I'm overthinking this because titles really aren't that important are they? LOL On to other things...

Several blog friends have been doing the six word thingie (a 6 word sentence that sums up your life so far is what it is supposed to be I believe).Cammy posted hers yesterday("I learned in time to live") and I just love it! So after some thought, I came up with mine:

I am stronger than I thought.

That sums me up in so many different areas of my life both now and in the past. I've done things that I never imagined possible and survived through some bad stuff... and I'm stronger for it all.

Today has been a rest day exercise-wise and overall, it's been a great day. I took the girls to Coffee and Scream this morning, where we met with my cousin and her girls. Then we came home for lunch and naps and walked to the park this afternoon to play. It was really nice to have a whole day with them to do stuff seeing as T had no school due to Spring Break.

Food-wise... well, I'm over in points today by a few. I just couldn't resist eating the rest of the yogurt covered raisins from Easter. But I tracked them all and this is the first of any flex points I've used this week so it's all good. Sooooooooo yummy!

Lastly, I wanted to post the recipe for my spinach and feta omelet. I make this a few times a week, usually after a workout and have finally gotten the points down to a very reasonable amount. And it is really really delicious!! Even if you think you don't like spinach, you'll like this omelet!



Spinach and Feta Omelet

• 100 grams Omega 3 Break Free Eggs (or two large eggs if you prefer)
• 60 grams fresh spinach (could also use the frozen stuff, thawed)
• 4-5 small mushrooms (depends if you like mushrooms or not)
• 35 grams fat free ham, cut up into small pieces
• 30 grams feta cheese (I really like feta.. you could half this if you want to reduce points)
  
• pinch oregano
• 1 tsp. oil
  
• couple tablespoons water
  

1. Sautee sliced mushrooms in oil over medium heat in frying pan. Once they have started to cook, add in ham, spinach and water.
   
2. Cover so the spinach can steam and reduce heat a little bit. After a couple of minutes, remove the lid so excess water can evaporate.
3. Mix oregano into eggs and then add mixture into the frying pan. Sprinkle feta on top.
4. Let cook for about two minutes, then place in preheated oven under broiler. Remove when egg is fully cooked and top is slightly browned.

Total points: 5.5 (or 7.5 if you use real eggs)

Variations: Sometimes (when I have it on hand), I throw in some shredded frozen potato a bit before the mushrooms. This is really delicious and bulks up the omelet even more. I think 2/3 cup of the potato adds 1.5-2 points.

A whole bunch of self-realization...

The last two days have been sort of weird for me food-wise. I haven't felt hungry. I haven't felt the need to snack. I haven't felt the urge to rip apart the kitchen looking for something sweet. I've had to struggle to eat all of my points, or at least not have a huge amount leftover. This is so completely opposite to how I was feeling last week that I am wondering what the heck is wrong with me!

But it's making me think of how they say that it takes 3 weeks to make a habit... well, in more than three weeks I haven't had a chocolate bar. I Haven't had any desserts other than the weekend of my daughter's birthday last month. I haven't had anything deep fried. I haven't had any fast food (except my little Burger King slip up 2 weeks ago and all I ordered was a grilled chicken sandwich OOOOOH BAAAAD). And you know what, I don't want any of that stuff. And it makes me feel incredibly strong, powerful and determined to feel that way.

Now I'm not a complete dreamer. I realize that it's not like I'm never going to want or NEED some chocolate. But it would appear as though the bad habits that I had of eating those types of things on a regular basis seem to be broken. And yeah... well, that feels powerful. It feels like I have control over the food instead of me being controlled by the food. At some points in my life, I thought that would be impossible.

Here's another thing I've noticed. When I'm eating badly and not exercising, I feel really badly about myself. I'm embarassed of my body. I avoid mirrors. I don't even try dressing up because I feel like I'll look like crap in everything anyways. My self talk is very negative. But since I've had a little success in this journey and know that I'm making better choices and taking positive steps in my life, I feel amazing! I'm always trying to look my best, I'm making eye contact when I talk with people, I'm smiling more, I'm walking with confidence... I feel beautiful. And outwardly, I'm sure I don't look that much different because at my weight, 13ish lbs isn't really that noticeable. But that part doesn't even matter. My self esteem is getting better! And I realize now that all it took was making some good choices and feeling a sense of accomplishment, feeling proud of me! And it's been oooooh so verrrrry long since I've been able to feel proud of myself.

The last 10 or so years of my life, I've been through a lot. A lot of people would say that I had so much promise, then threw it all away for a guy. I compromised my whole self, all of my values and everything that I had held as important. Like all bad decisions, you have to deal with the consequences. Trust me, there are a lot of difficult consequences to throwing away your education to get married at the age of 20 to a much older, yet extremely immature, alcoholic, drug-addicted man who cannot hold a job. And having two of his children. Don't get me wrong - I don't regret any of it for a milisecond. My girls are my world and I've learned so much and I am blessed with a very supportive family. But what I'm trying to get at is that making bad choices and compromising yourself and living in an abusive place can leave you feeling like a pile of crap. You blame yourself for your situation but don't know what to do about it. You feel ashamed and embarassed. You feel like you have no value and everything is your fault. And my point is that I don't feel like that anymore!!!! This has not happened overnight. I have made many positive steps in the last year and half since my separation. But up until the last few weeks, I still felt embarassed about myself because of my weight. And now that's starting to go too. I just can't imagine how great I'm going to feel when (NOT if) I reach my weight goal if I feel this good already. I think I will want to shout from the roof tops! It will be such a freedom.

You now know that I can really ramble. Sorry about that. I'll get to something more food related now. One point muffins!!! I've had a container of nonfat plain yogurt in my fridge for a while now so I've been looking for a way to use it up. I came across a recipe from the Beantown Baker and adapted it a little bit to suit the ingredients that I had. Here's what I came up with:

One Point Berry Muffins

1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
3 tbsp applesauce
2 egg whites
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup splenda
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup mixed frozen berries

Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls, then mix together. Add the frozen berries last and stir gently. Bake at 400 degrees for 15-17 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched. Makes 12 muffins.

They are really good! I was really impressed because there is basically no fat or oil of any kind in the recipe. I've never made any like this before. The dough is weird though... it's actually doughy, not kind of pourable like other recipes I've made. Don't worry - they are supposed to be like that.

Healthy You Check In

First I just want to thank everyone for reading my blog and leaving comments. You don't know how much those comments help!!

Well, this week has been a little rough. It all started last Friday when I had to make cupcakes for my daughter's birthday. Then Saturday was her party, we were at the mall and I was so busy tending to the kids that I ended up just shoving in a piece of leftover pizza from the party. Sunday was another off day. We had a potluck at church and I had been so busy the night before and that morning that I didn't have the chance to prepare myself something healthy to take along. So when I weighed in yesterday, I really was shocked to see that I lost, even if it was only 0.6 lbs. I'll take it! I did good throughout the day yesterday... then we had yet another birthday party for my daughter last night and I did eat some chips/salsa and a piece of cake. I didn't track that but I figure I'll just assume that all of my flex points for the week are gone.

So anyways, today is a new day! I've already been to the gym this morning and did an hour of cardio. I started the Couch to 5K program last Thursday and I did the second workout of week 1 today followed by some time on the ellipitcal (love that machine!!).

One of my original goals was to be out of the 250s by the end of January. I've decided to extend the deadline to Feb. 4th (my next official weigh in). Only 3.4 lbs to go!

My goals for this week are:
1. Eat all my servings of fruit and veggies
2. Earn 32 activity points
3. Plan meals and cook ahead
4. Get my application in for Nursing at Mount Royal

I have 11 APs so far this week so I'm well on my way. I also cooked up some yummy stuff in the crock pot yesterday and have the leftovers put away for the week. It's delish!!

Salsa Crockpot Chicken
1 can condensed low fat Campbell's Cream of Chicken Soup
1 cup (approx) salsa
16 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast

Toss it all into the crockpot and cook on low for approx. 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours. You could also add in some extra veggies but make sure you add the points/calories for them.

Makes 4 servings, 5 points each

Mmmmm Cookies

But they were really healthy, I promise! I mentioned a few days ago that I was going to make the Carrot Cake cookies from Shirl's recipe blog and I finally gathered up all the ingredients and got to it. I'm going to post the recipe here because I think it's just THAT good!

Carrot Cake Cookies (only 1 point each!!)

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup rolled oats, ground in a blender until four like
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup splenda
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
t tsp cinnamon
1 medium carrot grated
1/2 cup crushed pineapple drained

Bake in 350 oven for 15 mins.

I don't have any instructions for the recipe, but I mixed all my dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately and then combined them. The recipe yields 18 cookies.

I followed the recipe exactly this time but I think next time I'll throw in some extras... maybe some wheat germ, raisins, sunflower seeds... you get the picture. You could really make these heartier and turn them into a really healthy breakfast cookie if you wanted.

I also started the Couch to 5k program today. I originally started it last October but then got sick and yadda yadda... so restarting now. I found these awesome podcasts that take you through each workout, telling you when to walk and when to run so you don't have to keep your eyes glued to your watch or timer. It really made the time fly by. I mean, I actually ran for 6 minutes (ok, not 6 min in a row but that's still good for me!). I did my session on the treadmill today and had an incline of 3.5. My speed for walking was 3.5 and for running it was 4.5. My plan is to get through the program to increase my endurance, and THEN worry about increasing my speed. Anyhow, I highly recommend checking the C25K program out!

The last two nights I've been feeling a little hungry so I've decided that I need to increase my protein, especially at dinner time. And it worked. Tonight I am stuffed! I had a 3.5 oz chicken breast, 3 oz of cooked carrots with dill and 3.5 oz of cauliflower with a little cheese melted on top. All of that was only 4.5 points!! I couldn't believe it when I added it all up. The only downside is that it's 8pm and I've still got 7 points left for the day. A couple of my yummy cookies and a cup of my delish French Vanilla coffee should take care of most of those though ;).

Happy Saturday!

Well, despite having two sick little girls, I managed to get in a great workout today as my looked after them for me. Then I came home and made this delicious concoction:

Creamy Taco Salad
Makes 1 serving - 7.5 points

Approx. 2 cups of lettuce (I used green leaf)
2 oz ground beef, thoroughly drained
taco seasoning
2 tbsp. low fat sour cream
2 tbsp. guacamole
3 tbsp. salsa
1/3 cup shredded low fat cheese
8 Quaker Mini Rice Cakes - Salt and Lime flavour
Assorted veggies (I used cucumber)

1. Cook ground beef and add taco seasoning according to the directions on the package. (I skipped this step as I had leftovers from tacos last night)

2. Mix the sour cream with the salsa in a bowl and set aside. This is your dressing.

3. Break up the mini rice cakes into little pieces. Toss lettuce, veggies, cheese, cooked meat and rice cake pieces with the dressing. Garnish with guacamole and enjoy!

I have a hard time getting in my salads and I used to be the type who would smother their lettuce in dressing so this was totally awesome for me. The salsa/sour cream dressing was really creamy and there was lots of it (for only 1 point!!). The rice cakes gave the salad some crunch and are less points than nacho chips.

I also went to Costco this afternoon and bought a new George Foreman Grill. I used to have one but it was one of the things I left behind when I moved here and I've missed it ever since. I can't wait to get cooking with it tomorrow!