Tag Archives: nutrition

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Research Reading Round 2

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Day 53 in my Disney quest to meet Mickey at the Magic Kingdom

I am happy to report that I took my 20+ minute walk after work yesterday, and it did not bust me!  Hallelujah!  My honey Mike dropped me off at the end of the long stretch at Crab Tree Farm and I walked home.  Talk about incentive!  I knew that at the end of that walk I had a tall glass of cold water and my recliner waiting for me.  And sure enough they were there waiting when I arrived.

Today’s plan: I will continue my research in Birnbaum’s Disney World, The Official Guide and The Skinnytaste Cookbook.  I barely scratched the surface yesterday, so I will dive back in after work today.

And I will attempt to resurrect the remaining filling from our Leftover-Turkey Quesadillas that we had a couple night’s ago.  They were so good, and I don’t think it will be too hard to bring the filling back to life for round two.

Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Rampant Research Reading

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Day 52 in my moves toward meeting Mickey

Today’s plan is a no-brainer.  I received in the mail “Birnbaum’s 2015 Walt Disney World” The Official Guide.  Am I excited?  Oh, yeah!!!  I will look it over and begin to read it in earnest tonight.  Then I will begin to plot our parks schedule for 2015.

I also received “The Skinnytaste Cookbook” by Gina Homolka with Heather K. Jones, R.D.  In previous blogs I have mentioned the website skinnytaste.com.  I love the light recipes that I’ve found there, so I am pretty excited about the new cookbook.  I will also give this book the once over tonight to start getting some new ideas.

It’s a very chilly 55 degrees here today, so settling in with two good books sounds just about right for this evening.  First though, I am going to go for a walk when I get home, 20 minutes or bust…I might just bust.  🙂  No more fear!

Meet you at the Kingdom!

BTW: The quesadillas last night were outstanding!

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Working on Work Days

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Day 51 in my destiny to dance with Mickey

Today’s plan is all about the lifestyle:

  1. I will remain sugar-free.
  2. I will move more often at work.
  3. I will cook us a healthy, nutritious meal tonight.  (I think “left-over turkey” whole-wheat quesadillas with a salad)
  4. I will spend some quiet time reminding myself that I am precious in God’s sight, therefore, I have value as a human being.  (In other words, the work is worth it!  And if God loves me, then maybe I can love me, too, by taking care of myself.)
  5. I will visualize myself walking around the Magic Kingdom, as I take a little walk after work today.

This is pretty much the way my work days look now.  So different from just 50 days ago!  And so much better!

Thank you for reading, dear friends.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

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Shopping and Walking…Walking and Shopping

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Day 50 in making my way to meet Mickey

Today’s plan is to go grocery shopping and pick healthy, low-sugar, low salt products, and to take a walk.

We had breakfast at Denny’s this morning.  They now have a a FitSlam which is egg whites scrambled together with fresh spinach and grape tomatoes, plus two turkey bacon strips, English muffin and fruit.   I only left one half of the unbuttered English muffin and half the fruit.  It was a delightful find.

Then we shopped at Trader Joe’s for our groceries.  We found everything except olive oil (They only had EVOO which is not great for cooking.) and a few specialty items.  (unsweetened pumpkin puree, unsweetened shredded coconut and vanilla powder)  Off to the health food store for me this week.

When I finish my blog, I’m going to start walking to the farm for a sauna.  Mike will pick me up in 20 minutes this time.  However, far I make it, I make it.  Period.  It’s a warm, beautiful day here today, about 78 degrees and sunny.  Actually a bit warm for me, but bring it on!  No more fear!  [I talk so tough, hey?  🙂  ]

Wish me luck/blessings, dear readers.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

BTW: Shout out to Jean.  I am really enjoying reading “Trim, Healthy Mama” by Pearl P. Barrett and Serene C. Allison   I don’t understand it all yet, but I am in there swinging and learning all I can.

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Whistling While I Work (Around the Soreness)

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Day 49 in my moves toward meeting Mickey

When I spoke with my Mayo Clinic Health Coach on Wednesday, we decided on a two step goal for the next three weeks.  1) I would attempt to walk for 20 minutes three days a week, and 2) I would dance while listening to my iPod for five minutes every hour on my days off while I putz around the house.

Since I’m off today, my plan was going to be a 20 minute walk and some dancing. However, I think I hurt myself yesterday with my rather vigorous trek at the mall.  My back and side are very sore today.  (Although the side might be my diverticulitis kicking in.)  So instead, I will cook Mike and myself a primo turkey breast dinner tonight with baked sweet potato and steamed green beans, with plenty of fresh veggies and hummus dip.  And I will research a menu for this next week with at least two new, healthy recipes.  Thanks to Eliza, I have found some new recipes in “I Quit Sugar” by Sarah Wilson.  I hope to make a “Breakfast Casserole” for dinner one evening this week.  The recipe has rutabaga in it, should be interesting.

I’m off to research, dear readers.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

BTW: The Destination Channel is playing shows about Walt Disney World today.  Woo hoo!  I’m loving seeing some of the new things to see and do on our trip!  Instant inspiration!  And a great reminder of why I’m on this quest.  🙂

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NO MORE FEAR!

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Day 43 in my charge to meet Mickey

Confession time again.  There’s just something about Sunday’s that bring out the confessions.  Hmmm…  I did pull off yesterday’s three phase plan and even added some extra minutes on my feet at Walgreens.  It felt good.  However, what I wanted to do yesterday was to go and work at the AJ Katzenmaier Back to School Carnival in North Chicago.  St. James pairs with some other churches to bring some support to the staff and kids at a school in North Chicago, which is an economically challenged town.  I was determined to go and work the carnival this year.  But when it came time to go and do it, I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to stand up long enough to be of any help.  Sad, but true.  My fear stopped me.  That makes me downright angry!  I let my fear stop me.  NO MORE.  The next time I want to try to do something, dang it, I’m going for it!  If I run out of steam in the middle of something, then that’s just too bad.  I’ll stand there and sweat and pant until I recover, and then I’ll keep on keeping on.  I’m done being afraid.  The bible says, “Perfect love casts out all fear.”  I know Him.  I know that perfect love, and I claim it right now in my life.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Now today’s plan: I planned my weekly menu and went and shopped for the ingredients.  BTW: Have you seen the Roasted Cauliflower recipe going around on Facebook?  It looks amazing!  That is definitely in my future.  Emi, let’s try it when you’re here, OK?  And I might try to squeeze in a little walk today, just to get out there and   breathe some fresh air.  (20 minutes a day walking in the sun for vitamin D, right Wayno?)

Love to you all, dear readers.  Meet you at the Kingdom!

 

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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!