Tag Archives: healthy eating

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It Takes a Village

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Day 42 in my quest to be my best for Mickey

Today’s plan contains a few things:

  1. Mike eats seeds everyday.  They are his favorite snack, and he is nearly out of sunflower seeds.  So step one for today is to travel to Walgreens and shop for Mike’s seeds.  However, instead of running in and running out like I usually do, I will stay and walk and browse for at least 20 minutes.  That way I’ll get some steps in for me and my handy-dandy Fitbit.  And I will mo-o-o-ove some.  🙂
  2. We are singing with our besties, the Carlsons, the next time we visit the UP.  So step two for today is going into the basement and putting on a full-court-press to find a song, “Come, Let Us Reason.”  This means more time on my tootsies, and I’ll walk the stairs a few extra times today.  Plus there will be stretching and bending as I search.
  3. My dear daughter-in-law picked up a book from the library for me to see.  It’s titled, “I Quit Sugar” by Sarah Wilson.  So my third step for today will be to come home and looking through this book.  There are 108 sugar-free recipes in it, so I will look for some new ideas to try.

There you are, dear readers.  A threefold plan today.  As you can see it takes a village for my plan today.  Thank you Mike, Wayne, Jean and Eliza for getting me up, moving and planning today.

Meet you at the Kingdom!

BTW: 42 days ago I would not have had the energy to pull off this three step plan.  I’m definitely noticing the difference that the nutritious food and the more mo-o-o-oving are making.  🙂  PTL!

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Too Pooped to Pop

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Day 39 in my journey to see Mickey

Today I am just plain pooped.  True confession time: I didn’t make the 20 minutes in my walk yesterday.  I made 12 minutes.  I just have such a long way to go.  But I find it interesting that some days I feel full of vim and vigor and can push myself pretty far and other days it’s a no-go.  The walk was beautiful yesterday; I was just worn out from work.   I figure, at least I made the 12 minutes and I can push for longer next time.

Here’s my plan for today: take it easy on myself.  I will eat healthy: half of an omelet for breakfast with a piece of rye toast, lentil soup with a roll and an apple for lunch, a banana with sugar-free peanut butter for after work snack, and a grilled lean ham, 2% Swiss cheese, spinach and spicy mustard sandwich with a spinach and tomato salad for dinner.  Then I will go to sleep tonight (I hope I sleep better than last night) and try again in the morning.

Today I signed up for a 5K walk on November 29.  I will walk off some of my Thanksgiving dinner for a cause.  It’s called the COOL 5K/10K Walk/Run and it benefits the COOL Food Pantry in Waukegan.  They are helping me to help them.  🙂  They get the funds from the registration fee, and I get an incentive to walk more.  Win-win.

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Gettin’ Medical for Mickey

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Day 37 in my journey to meet Mickey at the Magic Kingdom

Today’s plan: At 7:20 am this morning I had a mammogram.  How is this getting me ready to meet Mickey, you ask?  Well, this whole quest of mine is to be healthier in 14 months (now 13 months until October 2015).  I need to get my health check-ups and make sure, I’m OK to make these changes in my life.  Step one was my yearly mammogram.

Modern technology amazes me!  I finished with my mammogram at 8:00 am.  I received an email with my results by 8:45 am.  Normal!  Yay!

So now, no more squeezy, boob torture for me for another year.  Yippee!  (Actually the technician was great and it really didn’t hurt this time.  Miracle!)

So, dear readers, the girls are healthy and ready to take on this Disney quest of mine.  Whew!  Meet you at the Kingdom!

BTW: I have completed my 5 weeks of being sugar-free.  It feels great.  I actually feel as though my ability to concentrate and focus is better than it used to be.  I plan to keep sugar-free as much as is humanly possible.  I’ll keep reading those labels and planning low carb meals.

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Sunday Sauntering

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Day 36 in my marathon to meet Mickey

Today Mike, Jake and I played/sang with Damascus Road, the contemporary band at St. James.  It is always such a blessing.  You know how they say that if you love your work then it never feels like work?  That’s my job as director of Damascus Road.  It’s so much more a blessing than a job.  I was bathed in the love of Christ and truly felt precious in his sight this morning.  He is healing the self-loathing that I talked about awhile back.   Slowly…but surely.

My plan for today was to decide on this week’s menu and then to shop for the ingredients.  Check and check.  I’m trying a new recipe for skinny chicken fried rice this week.  I’ll let you know what we think.

Now for an afternoon nap.  Then Jake and Eliza come over tonight and Eliza is making dinner for us: black bean stuffed red peppers.  I’m so excited that I’m doing an imitation of Pavlov’s proverbial dog.  🙂

God bless your Sunday, dear readers.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Delicious Bounty

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Day 34 in my trek to meet Mickey at the Magic Kingdom

Today’s plan is all about the food: Crock Pot Chicken a la Criolla: this is what I just spent a half an hour preparing.  Now it will cook slowly for the next six hours.  Thank you skinnytaste.com for the recipe!

Mrs. Bryan (Mike’s boss’s Mrs.) has been giving us delicious fresh vegetables from her garden.  So tonight with the chicken we’ll have a vegetable salad with peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and green beans.

Mike will grill zucchini slices brushed with olive oil.  The last time Emi visited, she taught us to cut an eggplant, set it on a rack, salt it and let it sit to get some of the water out before you grill it.    The result was firm, delicious eggplant.  We use the same method with large zucchini.  The results are scrumptious.

Here’s to planning healthy meals, preparing them and then partaking guilt-free.

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Payday One

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Day 33 in my journey to rendezvous with Mickey at the Magic Kingdom

Well this is it, the first in a series of paydays.  One month ago today I weighed myself and vowed to wait a month to do so again.  Today was W-Day (weigh day).  My plan for today was to step on the scale and to see what, if anything is happening.  Don-don-don-da….  I got myself naked this morning and boldly stepped on the scale.  13.4 pounds down in one month.  Not a bad outcome from making better food choices and moving more, hey?

Now, as my brother Gene would say, “That’s like losing a lifeboat off of the Titanic.”  True, but that’s one less lifeboat that I have to drag around everyday.  Right?

So I’m finding myself in a celebratory mood today.  It’s good to be good.  Ummm… Confession time: the night before last I said to Mike, “I want something that is bad for me, and I want it right now!”  His reply, “Hmmm, I can’t think of anything in the house that would be bad for you that doesn’t have sugar in it.”   Oh yeah, people, he’s got my back.  An hour and a half later right before I went upstairs to bed, I said contritely, “Hon, I don’t really want something that’s bad for me.”  He laughed.  🙂

Thanks for hanging in there with me, dear readers.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Choosing Wisely

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Day 30 in getting ready to meet Mickey at the Magic Kingdom

My work as a church secretary has been rather challenging this summer.  There has been major construction at the church building, so at times it has been very loud and smelly (paints, varnishes and glues) at work.  Now at last, things are pretty well put back together and the place looks so fresh and new.  I dig it!

However, I came to work with a leftover piece of salmon and potato last week for my lunch.  When I went to microwave it, the microwave was not only not working, it was missing.  😦  That was a very interesting cold lunch.  Not to be repeated.

So today I didn’t bring a lunch.  My plan for today was to go to McDonalds and pick up a salad for my lunch.  Not a Big Mac, not fries, not a quarter pounder with cheese, not a fish sandwich, not Chicken McNuggets, etc…etc…  And I did just that.  I picked up a salad with grilled chicken and savored every bite.  I didn’t even buy a drink, because I had brought a bottle of water from home.  It was delicious and satisfying.

I usually bring an apple to work everyday, too.  So this afternoon when I get home from work, I will enjoy my apple with peanut butter on it.  Yum!  I’ve gotten to a place now where I prefer peanut butter whose only ingredient is peanuts.  What a concept!

That’s it for today, dear friends.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

BTW: The microwave is being reinstalled tomorrow.  Yay!  Leftovers for lunch again.

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Mickey Drive-By

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Day 29 in tangoing with Mickey

You guys, I am so excited! Today Mike and I played/sang with Damascus Road, the contemporary band at our church.  It was Rally Day, so it was a full service with organ, choir and the band.  Very celebratory.

When I went into the church office to see if there was anything left on my desk for me to do while at church, there was a package there.  Inside was a “Sparkle Mickey” which is a TY Beanie Baby Mickey Mouse!  He has sparkly red trousers, sparkly gold shoes and sparkly silver gloves, a la Michael Jackson.  LOVE IT!  There was also a card which reads: “Thanks!  I’m looking forward to seeing you.  Keep up the good work, and thank you for being my friend.  I will be waiting here for you.  Love, Mickey.”

Can you even stand it????  A Mickey Drive-By!  What a lovely and inspiring gift from a lovely and inspiring friend!

My plan for today was to go to the church picnic, and walk right by the dessert table.  Now these are not just any desserts.  These are one inch squares of divine deliciousness from the Picnic Basket in Libertyville, all sorts of chocolatey, coconuty, lemony, sugary goodness.  In years past I would help myself to anywhere from four to six of these delicacies.  As I thought about it this morning, my resolve was waning.  I could feel the draw of the dreamy dessert table.  Then…I found Mickey, and I knew that for today I could walk right by that table without a second look.  And guess what, faithful readers,…I did just that!  I’m still sugar-free four weeks later!

VICTORY!  Thanks for reading.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Time to Tidy

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Day 28 tidying up for Mickey

Today’s plan is a very simple one: I will spend at least five minutes every hour (until Mike comes home) up and about tidying some corner of my home.  It’s good for the house, and it’s good for me.

I charged my Fitbit last night and will wear it today to see how much I walk.  And in honor of dusting it off and putting it back to work, I will take a little walk today.

This morning I woke up early to prepare a pork roast for the crock pot.  Today’s new recipe is Slow Cooked Pork Carnitas (Mexican Pulled Pork).  It smells delicious.  I am going to steam a bunch of broccoli and cook some Cilantro Lime Rice to go with it.  Yum!  (Thank you skinnytaste.com for the recipes for the pork and the rice!)

Busy day today, but I’m up for the challenge.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

 

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Working Toward Wellness

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Day 26 as I walk towards a Mickey meeting

Whew!  I had a pretty rough couple of days.  Today I am fever-free, and my stomach feels much better.  So…hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go. **whistle* Hi ho, hi ho.

Today I am being very gentle with myself as I try to recover the energy that was sapped away the last couple of days.  So, here’s the plan: 1) I am moving around at work as much as possible.  2) I ate a wonderful left-over salmon lunch.  3) I will chat with my Health Coach tonight and make a plan for the next few weeks.  4) Tonight after a rehearsal, Mike and I will dine out.  I will have a salad with dressing on the side.  5) I will get a good night’s sleep tonight and pray that I have more oomph tomorrow for bigger and better things.

Thank you for your kind thoughts and prayers the last two days.  Meet you at the Kingdom!