Lunch Lately

I've recently been introduced to Greek Feta Dressing (Trader Joe's) and have since become completely addicted. Salad had always been the same sort of thing, with homemade ranch or Brianna's Raspberry Vinaigrette—and it was tired, needed a face lift, and my stomach wanted to see other people. When staying with our friends after we just got back to California, Julia made us an delicious/healthy Greek dinner and it was then I met Trader Joe's Greek Feta Dressing.

We've been seeing each other ever since (like almost everyday).

If you've talked to me at any time since the last week of February I'm sure you've heard an earful already. When I find something I love I gotta tell EVERYBODY!

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Simple Greek Style Salad

Romain, Spinach, Persion Cucumbers, Grape Tomatoes, Green Bell Pepper, Feta Cheese, Feta Dressing... a la amazing!

love juice

I had heard a few friends talking about Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. Then Sydney and Tyson watched it and wrote a rave review... so while sitting in a waiting room at the Duke Clinic I watched it and was quickly converted. My healthy eating lifestyle started rolling downhill fast through all the stress over the last year, so I knew I needed something to change and ASAP. Jason doesn't get the good nutrients he should because he's always trying to maximize calories with very limited stomach space (I have never heard a doctor ban leafy greens from anyone's diet before this year with Jas. whoa—that kind of blew my mind). In comes juicing... all of that pure goodness (way more than possible the old fashioned way) in delicious juice form? Sign us up.

No really. We ordered a great reduced price, remanufactured juicer form Amazon (Merry Christmas!) and have been feeling better ever since.

When we first got the juicer I started a ten day juice fast (it turned into nine days because of our impromptu trip to NYC). What people say about the first few days of juice fasting is true. It sucks. Pure exhaustion, a little nausea, some stomach cramping... blech. But on day four I woke up feeling reenergized and invigorated! It was fantastic!... but it was still difficult. Once I found some recipes that we loved it all got better and better. I found some real gems from The Juicing Bible and there are a million recipes online.

Through the fast I realized that my biggest vice was snacking—snacking too much and not on the right things. Juicing eliminated that snacking need or craving from my diet. There was no need for snacks when there is juice to drink and fill me up!

I'm happy I did the fast, and I'll probably be doing it again after the holidays are over—but for now we continue to drink lots of juice daily.

We love it.

We crave it.

We have been trying to convert all of our family and friends ever since.

Maybe add a juicer to your Christmas list? I dunno... I think ya should...

Here are some of our favorite recipes:

Perfectly Sweet Orange Carrot -- this one boosted energy and made me happy, one of our top faves

3 lg carrots

2 oranges

generous handful grapes

1 med apple

Holiday Orange–Cranberry

3 oranges

1 carrot

1/2 c cranberries

1 tsp ground cinnamon

-process oranges, carrot, and cranberries. whisk together w cinnamon

Pear Pineapple – Jason's fave

2 hard ripe pears

2 spears pineapple

1 c red or green grapes

1 lemon

Apple Pear Pie

2 hard ripe pears

1 lg apple (Fugi if wanting sweeter, Granny Smith if wanting tart)

1 1/2 c grapes

1/2 lemon

1 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)

1/4 tsp pure organic vanilla (if needed)

-process pears, apples, and grapes. press lemon, add cinnamon (and vanilla if needed), whisk together

Ginger Berry – made this every morning for breakfast

1/2 in cube fresh ginger root (or to taste)

1 med bunch of grapes

2 c blackberries

some strawberries

1 ripe hard pear

1/2 lemon

1 tsp pure organic vanilla extract

-process ginger, grapes, berries, and pear. press lemon, add vanilla and whisk together

2 green juices that I honestly liked and could look forward to:

Cucumber Cooler

1 cucumber

2 c green (or red) grapes

1 or 2 handfuls spinach

sm bunch of mint

2 apples

1/2 lemon

- sometimes I add a kiwi too

A Good Green Juice – from Syd

2 apples

1 pear

1 lemon

1 lime

2 lg handfuls spinach

4–6 stalks kale

broccoli

a few handfuls grapes

sm bunch of mint

Drank this little lady every night:

Cashew Milk -- there will be some texture to this milk/juice so be prepared, but the cashew should be soft enough to blend up real nice (adapted from this recipe)

1 c raw cahsews

3 c water

2 Tbs raw honey (or agave... but that stuff made me PUKE. now even the smell... oh boy)

1 tsp pure organic vanilla

1/2 cinnamon

(option to make it chai: 1/2 tsp each--ground nutmeg, ginger, cardamon)

-soak cashews in water over night

-mix cashews/water and honey in blender

-add vanilla and spices, whisk together

*I'm still exploring in the recipe department. If I find another awesome one or two I probably won't be able to contain the excitement.

Over the weekend

I put on my apron and made minestrone, closely followed by a pumpkin roll. It is fall up in heeeea!!! (in here, outside it's still pretty much summer)

I just posed my minestrone-soup-that-will-rock-your-socks-off recipe here.

And for just about the tastiest pumpkin roll ever go here.

I was pleasantly surprised by how simple pumpkin rolls are to make! And WOW so delish.

So hurry up out of here and get to the store for supplies for these perfect fall dishes.

Your peeps will give you high fives I swear.

So into this song right now (You and Me—Dave Matthews Band). Been singing along all day.

a good smoothie combination

There was a minute there when I was making and drinking green smoothies all up in here..... then I got bored of them and my stomach told me it was thinking about a protest.

So what did I eat instead? Well chocolate and candy of course!!!

Then my stomach really did start to hate me and so did my face (I'm convinced that's where the recent break-outs have come from....).

Now I'm back on the smoothie train and this is what I made for my mucho-healthy lunch:
2 bananas
1 apple
some all natural apple juice
some frozen berries
like 3 cups spinach (or whatever fit in my blender)
+ 1 tsp vanilla

Delightful!

And it's seriously amazing how good my body feels. Much better than the left-over German pancakes smothered in syrup and powdered sugar I had for lunch yesterday—which was swiftly followed by what I believe may have been a mini heart-attack.

p.s. anybody have recommendations for a good protein powder??

ten down

Actually, 13 down..... but when I was 10 down I was under the weather and horribly unattractive, so what do ya do? You take the photos later, that's what!!! Here's the story on this lacy skirt: Jason gave it to me for Christmas, I wore it once while it was still obviously too small and swore I would wear it..... someday. Today. Yay!!!!

There was muuuuuuch learning during these first 10 (13) lbs. There was yo-yo'ing (lost 6, gained all 6 back; lost 8, gained 5 back... a couple times), there were some emotional battles, a few educational books, a few quotes and calendar/charts on my wall and many different ideas for workouts since I can't do one thing for very long.


After the first month of losing a whole 3 pounds I threw my first plan in the garbage and after a minute or two of self-loathing because I just couldn't lose weight I started trying other things. That's the ticket right there: If what you're doing isn't working, do something else!!!!! And do it after a week, not a month.


After a few other things didn't work so great I read Tom Venuto's book, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle, and things started clicking. Now I'm no longer "on a diet"—I just choose to eat healthy, I choose to take note of what exactly I am putting between my lips, I choose to eat only whole grains and as much raw fruits/vegetables as possible, I choose to exercise daily, I choose to be in control..... I choose to lose weight. I don't tell my self "Absolutely NO sweets" or "I can NEVER eat anything I ever loved again" because I know myself and that will just lead to a massive breakdown and several steps back in the wrong direction. So once a week  I can have something extra sweet and delectable and every day I can have a little square of dark chocolate if I want it and I'm happy with that.


It's very hard to try to eat as few fatty calories as possible when I have a husband who has CF and therefore he needs as many calories and as much fatty food as possible. This is the biggest obstacle, but I'm working on it and I hope I get it figured out real good at some point, but for right now I'm still learning.


Here are some side-by-sides from the start to now. The next ten will come much quicker and I can hardly wait!!!

this is the "before"

Ok. So for the first time in my life I want to talk about weight with..... all of you. BUT on here and only on here. If we have ourselves a chat in real life I don't want to hear a word about weight or exercise or pant sizes unless it's you telling me how completely and totally fantastic I look. (and I'll take as much of that as I can get! but only if you mean it :)

I have decided that this is the year that I want to start liking myself again. I'm not saying I haven't been feeling the love, but I am saying that it's been a while since I have felt good about myself because of the weight that has been adding together throughout the last few years (and they have been the most stressful and emotional years of my life so I firmly believe that I deserve every single piece of dark chocolate I had. but maybe not everything else).

The funny thing about weight (or being overweight) is you think about it when you're awake, you think about it when you're going to sleep, you think about it every time you wake up in the night and first thing when you get up in the morning. People might say things to "help" you, trying to "wake you up" or something, but that is really not helpful because you are already fully aware and you are the only person in this world who can help you. And that's what I have made up my mind to do. This year I am going to help myself out a little bit. I refuse to live another year not loving myself and the way I look. I refuse to be limited by the way I feel about myself. I refuse to wait any longer to be totally happy with my body.

I'm not saying that I'm morbidly obese, but I know that I am a little overweight and I don't want to be. I don't feel as healthy or as in shape as I used to, and I definitely don't feel as comfortable in my own skin. It's not like I haven't tried in the past—I have. I have dropped 10 lbs here, gained 15 there. But this time it will be different, there will be real results because I'm going to change my life this year. I watched a close friend do it last year and now she's almost to her goal and she's happier than I have ever seen her! She's more herself and more confident and it was all because she made the decision to change.

So here's the plan:

I am always behind the camera, almost never in front of it, so when I do see a recent photo of myself I am taken back by the person I see there. Photos don't lie and it seems like the only place I can really see me—alllllllll of me. So there will be photos taken after every 10 lbs and photos to start out (and not the creepy bikini kind).

I am drinking 2 meal replacement shakes a day (in place of meals, not in addition to) for 3o days to jump start myself.

I am eating one healthy snack between breakfast and lunch and another between lunch and dinner.

The kitchen closes at 7:30 pm each night (that means no more munching after that time).

I am drinking lots of water and staying hydrated.

I am exercising 5 times a week with Wii Active 2, running and Just Dance 2 (because dancing is fun and it might make me excited to work out on those days that I'm dreaaaaaaading it).

I'm going to go to bed earlier and and wake up earlier.

I won't be disclosing how much I weigh (unless something comes over me and I decide I really want to). And if you ask, I probably won't tell you :)

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Now you are wondering why I am spilling my guts to you?

Number one, because motivation is key. I know that all of you are going to be watching me through cyberspace (ha! haven't heard that term since You've Got Mail) and I don't want to fall on my face. You are going to help me keep going.

Number two, because I want you to join me! But only if you want to. We all know how beneficial it is to have a partner in weight-loss. You don't have to follow my plan, you don't have to do exactly what I'm doing—but if you want to shed some pounds that you found from life in general, having babies or whatever and you want a buddy, I want a buddy too! We can be buddies with each other! Email me and we'll get ourselves a little network going.

(geriegbert at gmail dot com)

I'm going to continue talking about this (don't worry, it won't be taking over). I'll be sharing my favorite snacks, exercise highs (and lows, possibly more lows I'm sure) and other things I choose to share.

Oh I am sooooooooo nervous to share this post. You can't even imagine how nervous I am to push publish. I'm letting it all hang out. And for someone who wants to let it all hang in (or something like that) this is hard for me. So hard but so exciting!

Please be kind to me :)

it looks like lettuce.

it must be like lettuce.

i think i'll just pretend it's lettuce.

in today's basket i got something i can't remember the name of.

the lady that was helping me told me what it was called.

she also told me that it was really good in stir fry.

awesome.

but i did get lots of familiar items as well.

a honey dew.

some grapes.

a big bunch of romaine lettuce.

red bell peppers, big tomatoes, corn.

and lots more. of course.

do you eat your grapes frozen?

like a little ball of icey goodness.

my basket runneth over

today i had my bountiful basket first.

$15 for tons of apples, mini peach things (i'm sure there is a real name),

3 giant oranges, a box of blackberries, a carton of strawberries, a head

of beautiful lettuce, 2 giant cucumbers, 2 yellow squash things (someone

needs to fill me in on what to do with those),  6 avocados, lots of pretty

red tomatoes and a freakin coconut. whoa.

totally worth fifteen bucks.

we're going to be so healthy.

i told you i wanted to eat lots of lettuce.

well now i'm going to eat lots of avocados and squash.

i decided to start it off with a delightful tomato sandwich.

delicious.

*yes. that is a sandwich sitting on the pretty little plate that i am

a tiny bit afraid of. i can handle it. i'm a big girl.

last night we ate squash

and it was delish.

who knew?

i think i'm going to be steaming squash in our near future.

as well as other fresh vegetables/fruits.

(since that's what webMD says is better for us. and because i'm maybe a

titch scared of the full-on-let's-do-it-nothing-but-this-terrible-drink cleanses.)

p.s. thanks y'all for your insights into colon cleansing. very informational.

(sometimes maybe to much info. not sure i like broccoli any more.)