~Skye~'s journal

[~Skye~]

Salad-Dayz, thanks for your thoughts on my father. I don't really know what more to say about that. I didn't have the typical relationship with my father. He never really seemed "fatherly" to me. But it is weird that he's gone. I just have to remember to take care of myself so I don't end up like he did.

Ooooh, french fries! I haven't had french fries in so long! I used to love french fries. But, they have the same problem as the potato chips - too much oil. So I can't have any of those either. I think I'm experiencing potato withdrawal, so I should have something potato today.

Thanks for the encouragement!

~Skye~

[~Skye~]

Yesterday's menu:

Breakfast: Coffee with 1 Tbs. sugar, and some almond milk; gluten-free oatmeal with 1 Tbs. sugar, and cinnamon

Lunch: romaine lettuce with Mary's Dijon Asian dressing; Chickpeas and Spinach in a Pressure Cooker with brown rice

Dinner: pistachios; hummus with just a tad of de-fatted tahini; baked corn tortilla chips; green seedless grapes; chardonnay

I went to the store yesterday to buy seltzer, and I didn't buy chips. I did buy nuts, fruit, and wine though. But, I was able to walk right by the chip aisle without so much as slowing down. So, no added oils yesterday, and the wine didn't make it onto my goal list so I don't feel too bad about that. The grapes I got because I wanted something different. It was between that, snow peas, and a rutabaga.

So, I did exercise. I had a personal trainer appointment, and we talked food. He thinks olive oil is a good fat. I kept telling him that it was just less bad, and all oil is bad, but he has a degree in nutrition, and he thinks he knows what he's talking about. He tried to tell me that fat builds muscle, and that's why I need olive oil. Well, it was a spirited discussion.

The personal trainer also thinks you need a lot of protein. I told him I get my protein from lettuce. I love telling people that. Romaine lettuce is pretty high in protein. One head of lettuce has 8g of protein. I have to remember that number so I can be specific when I'm talking to people.

So yesterday was a good day, now I just have to figure out what I'm going to eat today.

~Skye~

[mtns]

I don't know why personal trainers say that about protein. I am studying to be a personal trainer, and in the book they talk about the fact that high protein diets are bad for you and that to maintain muscle and to have energry to workout that you need carbohydrates. They actually say that you should not have over 35 % protein and that it is bad for your body, yet I see many people that eat close to 50% protein. I am thinking do they read the material that they study or what. Sorry I had to give my two cents.
Kathy

[~Skye~]

Don't be sorry, Kathy. I'm really glad to hear that. Maybe my personal trainer is working from a different book. All I know is that I've had great success with this WOE and I'm not likely to give it up any time soon. Since I'm not likely to read all the research or do my own, I have to rely on someone else's opinion, and I trust Dr. McDougall more than I do this personal trainer. Plus, except for lettuce being high in protein, what Dr. McDougall and all the rest say makes more sense.

~Skye~

[~Skye~]

Yesterday's menu:

Breakfast: Coffee with 1 Tbs. sugar, and some almond milk; Nature's Path - Mesa Sunrise cereal, and almond milk

Dinner: frozen hash-browns; frozen vegetables (corn, carrots, asparagus); pistachios

Snack: pumpkin seeds

I try to eat three meals a day, but it's a real challenge for me. Yesterday I got up really late - 10:00 AM, and there wasn't time for three meals as I had an appointment at 2:00 PM, and went to visit a friend in the evening. So, a late lunch and dinner wasn't really feasible. I did sort of want something to eat when I got home, but it was close to 11:00 PM and I didn't want to eat in the middle of the night so I just went to bed.

For the longest time I didn't eat breakfast. Because of that it's often hard for me to get up and eat. I don't get hungry in the morning, and I don't feel like eating. At this point (after 10 years of living with my mother) I've gotten used to the idea of eating breakfast, but it's still hard. And yesterday, I managed to eat breakfast, but it was so late there wasn't time for lunch.

My friend had candy at her house. Apparently they only had three trick-or-treaters come to their house. But, the candy didn't tempt me too much. I did think to myself "I can't have that." But, I didn't really want it anyway. I did eat some of her pumpkin seeds. I don't think they had any oil in them. I tried to ask, but I didn't want to make too big a deal of it.

It's funny, but I feel like if someone has food that I can eat, then I should eat it. Just like if I find a packaged product in the store that I can eat, I feel I should buy it. I think of it like voting. I think it's important to vote. Speaking of which... This year I am walking to my polling place. It's not a long walk, maybe 200 yards or less. My polling place is in a church across the street from my apartment complex. So that will be good.

My TopChips thingy is supposed to arrive Wed. so I have a few more days to go without potato chips. And on the cheese front, the brown rice is still soaking. It hasn't sprouted yet. This is day two, so we will see if it sprouts in the estimated three days. The thought that you can sprout brown rice is new for me, but then when I was young I planted popcorn, and it grew into cornstalks, and produced ears of corn which we dried, and then popped. So maybe you can make cheese out of brown rice and cashews. We'll see.

~Skye~

[bunsofaluminum]

oh cool! I want to see how your rice-cheeze experiment turns out.

I already done voted. From Utah...they started early voting because this election is gonna be HUGE in this state. big election in the whole country, eh? And I like how that ties in with "voting" with our food purchases

keep on going!

blessings, Heidi

[~Skye~]

If the brown rice manages to sprout, I'll take pictures. There's not enough pictures on this forum. I like pictures.

Thanks for your continued interest Heidi. I really appreciate it!

Today's menu:

Breakfast: Coffee with 1 Tbs. sugar, and some almond milk; gluten-free oatmeal with 1 Tbs. sugar, and cinnamon

Lunch: Curried Chickpeas and Spinach in a Pressure Cooker with brown rice; grapes

Dinner: Hummus and crackers; cornbread; white wine

Well, the crackers had oil. I forgot they had oil until I got home and had eaten a couple with the hummus. I decided to eat them anyway because I had already bought them and opened them. I'll just have to learn from this and not make the same mistake again.

I didn't exercise either. I was going to, but the traffic coming back from Whole Foods was just terrible. I think it has to do with early voting. I'm not sure though. All I know is that there have been lines out front of the government building down the street for the last few days and that the traffic seems to let up just past that building. I'm guessing it's early voting.

So, one small victory? I made the cornbread without any oil. I didn't have any parchment paper, so I lined the dish with wax paper. The bread stuck to the paper, and by the time I got it out of the dish, it was all in pieces. It was pale and totally non-crusty. But, it tasted good. So that means it would work as a base for stuffing for Thanksgiving. I ate the whole thing. It. Was. That. Good.

So some hit, some miss today. On the upside I didn't buy any chips even though I was in the grocery store twice today. That's a plus. Yay! Now I'm going to watch TV, and tomorrow I'm going to melt glass.

~Skye~

[~Skye~]

Well I'll be... !! The brown rice is actually sprouting! I'll take pictures when I come back from my glass bead making class.

~Skye~

[~Skye~]

Here is a picture of my sprouted brown rice. Notice the little tails coming off the ends of the individual rice grains. They aren't all sprouted, so I'll give it until the morning.



~Skye~

Oh, and just since I'm posting pictures, here's a bead:

[eri]

^^That is gorgeous!

[~Skye~]

Thanks eri! I was happy with how that one came out.

Yesterday's menu:

Breakfast: coffee with 1 Tbs. sugar, and some almond milk; gluten-free oatmeal with 1 Tbs. sugar, and cinnamon

Snack: rice cakes; seltzer

Dinner: frozen hash-browns; frozen vegetables (corn, carrots, asparagus); pistachios; grapes; chardonnay

Weekly Weigh In: 130 lbs.

I think I did pretty well yesterday. I did snack a little after dinner because I didn't really have lunch. Lunch is difficult on Saturdays because I have a class that goes from 10:00 AM through lunch. I don't know what time it is supposed to end, but people usually stay until the kilns come down and that's 4:30 PM or so.

I still need to work on the exercise. Perhaps I'll go today. The problem with exercise is that I say it's a goal, but I'm not really committed to it. I think of myself as someone who eats a plant based diet, but I don't think of myself as someone who exercises.

I need to think about my father for motivation. For the last several years of his life he had very limited movement. He spent a lot of time in a wheelchair, and his mobility issues really interfered with his life. There was no medical reason he couldn't walk. Yes he had broken both hips, but he just had a strength issue. Whenever he went into a nursing home for a few weeks and got physical therapy, his mobility improved. But when he got out, he didn't use it, and he lost it.

I don't want to have that kind of limitation. Being some sort of fit is part of being healthy. And being healthy is about getting rid of limitations. I need to refocus my desire to be healthy to include getting fit.

But I also have some other stuff going on. I'm coming off some meds which belong to a class of meds that I've been on for over 10 years, and it is a big deal. It's not really time consuming, but I don't want to put undue stress on myself during this time. Still, either I exercise or I don't. I can't keep being all wishy-washy about it.

~Skye~

[bunsofaluminum]

how cool...you do beads. One of my oldest friends is a glass artisan, and she gave me the opportunity to make a little bead that ended up looking like a piece of sunset sky. It was fun.

The rice is sprouting! woot! That doesn't surprise me, because rice is a seed. Have you ever sprouted sun seeds? yum!

keep us posted on that rice cheese project

[~Skye~]

Hi Buns, yes I quite enjoy the beads, although I don't get a chance to torch as often as I used to since I move to the Atlanta area. I find that I enjoy myself more when I do torch though.

The only seeds I've ever sprouted are popcorn, and now brown rice. I don't know why I'm surprised the brown rice sprouted. I guess I just never thought about it being a seed. I am familiar with seeds, and development of animals - not so much of plants. I have a degree in Biology. And just to save some face I'm going to point out that it was a very good school, and I did pretty well. I do know that tomato is a fruit though.

~Skye~

[~Skye~]

Yesterday's menu:

Breakfast: coffee with 1 Tbs. sugar, and some almond milk; gluten-free oatmeal with 1 Tbs. sugar, and cinnamon

Lunch: Creamy Artichoke Spinach Dip, baked tortilla chips

Dinner: Veggie Queen's Autumn Night Soup, cornbread, chardonnay

Well, my lunch was a little high in fat. I have a problem with fat. I may eat too much of it. Or, I may not. Just because my mother beats me up for eating cashews doesn't mean that I have to also. I don't understand how she can fail to understand that some people find this harder than others. She is uncompromising, which can be a good thing when it comes to healthy eating, but it can be a bad thing as well.

I was just so excited to finally find a spinach-artichoke dip that I really liked. I don't generally look to replace foods I liked on the SAD. But it just seemed like spinach-artichoke dip should be adaptable. And with a couple of modifications, I had everything on hand so I could just make it. And it was so good!

But after being chastised for eating a little cashew cream, I really almost bought some chips. I didn't. But my resolve was weakened. I don't even know what the thought process is here. I just know that I came close to buying chips.

Instead I cooked myself a wonderful dinner. That soup is soooooo good! And, the cornbread went well with it. I think I need to double the cornbread recipe though. I ate the whole thing again. But it was a good dinner. Although, according to my mother, the almond milk in the cornbread is a problem. I suspect the cornmeal balances out the fat in the almond milk though.

I have a gastroenterologist appointment today. We'll see how that goes. I'm considering getting a new doctor. I don't like this one much. She threatened me with taking out my colon every time I declined Remicade or failed to go to her nutritionist. She said my ulcers would not heal without Remicade, and Dr. McDougall very bluntly said she was lying to me. I don't think I can tolerate that in a doctor. Wow, now that I've written it out I think I really do need a new doctor.

~Skye~

[bunsofaluminum]

Oh, I hope you listen to your instincts. That Dr needs to be replaced. It is absolutely astounding to me that dr's who specialize in the DIGESTIVE SYSTEM don't see that there might be a connection between DIET and DIGESTION. Honestly.

Don't let your mom bother you. Do what is good for you. If Cashew cream makes your favorite treat dip into a vegan treat...then use it. And I'm uber proud of you for not buying chips. Honestly, what our relationships with our mothers can do to us. My mom started hassling me about my weight when i was 13. When I picked up smoking, she took that on. then i quit smoking, and my weight was back on as her topic of choice. Until I blew up at her told her in no uncertain terms to quit bothering me about my weight, and she never mentioned it again, in 30 years.

You're doing so good! Keep it up