Life is Grand Again

So I spent a day wallowing last week and started to get myself out of the duldrums by Saturday night however it wasn't until yesterday that I really got my groove on again. There is something about a productive day helping out with a new venture, cleaning the house and eating three square meals in a day that creates this amazing, amazing endorphin rush.

The day started yesterday with a  little swish and swipe, a load of laundry and making the bed. Then I got energized and vacuumed the entire downstairs before we worked out. Then it was 90 minutes of YogaX which is a crazy intense Yoga workout and jumped on the scale to realize the 2 pound weight loss of a few days ago is still with me (YAY me!) After a quick shower, the work began. We went over two presentations from start to finish, tweaking them for Saturday. We worked on two blog entries. We sent out the email blurb and tweeted. It was an amazing day for this venture operation I'm helping. I was even able to watch a little television with my DH to laugh and relax. It was quite the day ending with reading a chapter in the Girls of Aames and sleep.

So in noticing this - I have decided that taking baby steps to get out of the duldrums is good. I have decided that doing work that brings you joy is essential. I have decided that for me cleaning and keeping a nice house is imperative to my well being. Lastly, I have decided to look at life with a positive attitude knowing that the gifts and blessings I have been given are from God so who can dispute the greatness of them.

What have you noticed about a good day in your life? What made the day good and how can you take this information to make everyday good for you? That is what coaching does. You will learn what is good for you and how to implement goodness everyday. You will have a supporter by your side, throughout your journey and cheering you to victory. Your coach can help you to be the best you!

What are you going to do with this knowledge? Let's make it a great day!

Mexican on a Diet?

The key to eating healthier is to eat a variety of colors. A few posts ago I showed you my grocery cart. It's full of all the colors of the rainbow. Tonight I used some of these colors to make my version of taco salad. Total calories 633. We have red pepper, green pepper, serrano pepper, (16 cal)  lettuce greens, (70 cal)  1/2 avocado (150 cal), 1/4 cup of Veggie Shred Cheddar cheese (70 cal), 10 shrimp (100 cal), black beans (227 cal) My seasoning doesn't include wheat so it's all spices. Now some people would say 600 calories but what you have to realize is that just a year ago I could eat a big mac (500 cal) and a large fries (500 cal) and soda and still not be full so in another hour I'd be hitting the potato chip bag. Rounding out my caloric intake at about 1500 cal so to me a 600 cal dinner that leaves me satisified for the entire evening is a HUGE improvement.

That's the other key - just because your skinny friends can eat a pea and be full, you can't do that yet. It took years to get that weight on us and now it's going to take some time to get it off of us. It's a marathon journey not a sprint. Reducing my caloric intake by half it a huge accomplishment for me and I'm celebrating in style! By going to a Yoga class this morning!

I hope you are enjoying this food series. Another great meal tonight! See you then.

Lunch with my dear husband - after putting up with me yesterday he deserved something great!

Here's the deal - when you eat you should have different textures, colors and flavors.  Being a vegetarian my plate has a California Veggie Burger with Veggie Shred Smoked Provolone cheese, (DH opted for meat, no cheese) home made french fries, 1/4 of an avocado, lettuce greens with 1 Tablespoon flax oil as dressing and a pickle. So this dish was a little heavy on the green side for color but the textures and different flavors are there. Notice the lettuce greens take up almost half the plate, these are great filler foods for a tiny amount of calories. Calorie count for my meal 400 calories served with a glass of sparkling water in a wine glass to complete the setting.

Totally filled me up and got us on with our day. I'll post dinner in a little while as it will be much more colorful!

The Wall

Yesterday I woke up with a weight on my shoulders. I don't know what it was from but it was HUGE. There was no workout, bad food and wallowing involved in my morning. I couldn't get motivated to save my life. I was in a state of depression. Then I started thinking about everyone involved in my Battle to Heal campaign and thought I can't do this. I need to move. Well, let me tell you it took me all day to feel right again. At noon, I got off the couch and moved a little, taking my computer back to my office and opening up the email. However, this proved too much for me. So I tried again with doing the dishes in the sink and then rewarding myself with a 15 minute break. Yes, the break was longer than the task but yesterday that was all I could muster. I then did a quick swish and swipe in the downstairs bathroom and the day started getting better. You see for me cleaning is like soul revival. I get a sense of satisfaction that keeps me going and at the end of the day, I have a clean house. After those two tasks I was able to come up to the office and get some typing and emails done. By the end of the night my husband and I had sent out the emails he needed to get out for his business and I was feeling much better.


I started out the day with eating 10 potato chips (that is all I would allow myself to wallow with) but by the end of the day I was eating fruit and salad. As I started to feel better about the day, my eating got better. In this I realized that I eat or snack out of depressed thoughts. Next time I will work to clean my house and eat a little better, I bet the depression won't last for a day that way.

What I'm telling you is that depression and feelings of overwhelm are inevitable along our journey. Our job is to find the causes and realize solutions that will help us. For me it is taking small steps in organizing and cleaning that help me to feel better about myself thus pulling me out of my depression. I am happy to say that I only ate 10 potato chips and 2 marshmallows (only on hand because of s'mores the other night) during this little depression bout. In the past I would have eaten a ton of stuff and probably headed to a fast food joint. Don't get me wrong, I was tempted but decided the veggie pizza downstairs was a better choice and it was; 600 calories instead of 1000 makes for a much better choice. This is what my journey is about ~ making better, healthier choices thereby losing weight. At the end of the day I celebrate my choices...did I choose a better option for eating? Did I choose a workout that worked for me today? Did I choose to workout at all? Did I choose to drink water? Did I choose to drink beer or wine? Soda or lemonade? These are the choices that will ultimately lead to a healthier lifestyle and a longer life.

This is my journey and I'd love to help you with your journey. I'm human and I do the same things you do - sometimes accountability and empathy are what we need to succeed in your life journey. Feel free to email me at battle2heal@gmail.com and we can chat. I'm a coach that can take you to the places you want to go because I have been there with you, felt it with you and we can surpass expectations together!

Grocery Shopping

When you first start on a new eating regime, you inevitably must go grocery shopping. Many of my friends find the grocery store intimidating and they don't know what to do with anything when they get it home. Well, I'm here to help.  First you must get over your intimidation and buy some groceries.  Here is a photo of my grocery cart from my shopping experience today.

When you walk into the store you are usually in the fruits and vegetable section, which for most of us is the most intimidating because it's healthy food that needs preparation. However, I promise it isn't that hard to prepare these foods. Later blogs will show you these foods and how to prepare them.  Not only do I eat vegetarian, I also eat gluten free so you will see most of the items in this cart are for my diet. However there is still some lunch meat for my dear husband. You have to look for foods that will accommodate your entire family to switch from the fast food diet you are currently on to a more healthy diet without have a mutiny on your hands. Look for foods with rich colors and textures that will help you to be excited to fix them for your family. We eat every color of the rainbow so that we can always get all the nutrients to make us want to eat more good stuff. This may not seem easy but cooking at home makes a difference with your caloric intake.

Here's what I purchased today:

3 red peppers (they were on sale)

1 bunch asparagus

1 orange (they haven't been good lately but I keep trying)

1 container of strawberries

1 bunch of banannas (they were a great price $50/lb)

2 bunches of lettuce (romaine and green leaf)

3 avocados

3 roma tomatos

1 2 lb bag of potatos

1 red onion

1 lb shrimp

1/2 lb Boars Head Turkey (deli meat)

1/2 lb Boars Head Chicken (deli meat)

1 jar Kroger brand pickles

1 lb organic butter

1 pint soy creamer

1 doz eggs

1 bag of tortilla chips (Santina, all corn)

1 Bob's Red Mill Pizza Dough

1 bag Veggie Shred Cheddar

1 box Rice Chex

1 Kroger Coffee (it's cheap and delicious)

1 box Kroger Tea bags

The rest of this week I will use these items along with some I had in my pantry and will document our dinners. I hope this will help you with your Battle2Heal your eating habits.