Finishing STRONG! 21 Day Fix

Last week had a few "bad" eating days.  I don't really agree with the concept that you should NEVER eat certain foods.  I'm all about things in moderation.  My problem is that once I start eating something that isn't the healthiest choice (ahem ice cream), I do NOT eat in moderation.  I'm telling you, sugar is addictive and I feel the effects immediately after eating it!

We were out of town for a funeral and then we came home and I had LASIK (AMAZING!  But a separate post.)  So Monday-Thursday last week, I wasn't able to work out.  (Though I totally did some push ups Wednesday night after having LASIK that morning.  Not being able to read or watch TV or be on the computer left me a little bored.  So we went for ice cream - oops.)

Friday I came back strong and decided that I would try to finish up this challenge by doing the 3 day quick fix.  Except I had 5 days left, haha.  So I decided 2 days of the quick fix, a regular day of eating (I had lunch plans with a friend) and then 2 days to finish up doing the quick fix.

The quick fix may seem extreme to some, but I can assure you that I ate more than I think I did the entire challenge and it really just followed paleo principles more closely, which I'm a huge fan of.

You have 6 smaller meals per day.  I made some substitutions because I would rather have 2 whole eggs than 8 egg whites, and the first day I didn't have any chicken to cook in the morning, so I ate 2 more eggs for my second meal.

So Friday looked like this:

7:00 

2 eggs

oatmeal with cinnamon and coconut oil mixed in (the guide says to use steel cut oats but I had gluten free quick oats so I used that and made enough for the days ahead)

black coffee

7:40 

cardio fix workout - 30 minutes

Dirty 30 workout - 30 minutes

10:00

2 eggs

steamed yam with cinnamon

12:30

sauteed fish with salad - lettuce/tomato/celery - coconut oil and coconut vinegar dressing

This dressing is just a homemade concoction - about 40% coconut oil and 60% coconut vinegar with some salt and pepper mixed in.  You could certainly use red wine vinegar, but I really like the light flavor of the coconut vinegar!  You could also add some dried or fresh herbs to spice it up!  

3:30

chicken (went to Wegmans, haha)

sliced cucumber with coconut vinegar and oil dressing

6:00

tilapia with steamed green beans

7:30

Ground turkey with peppers, onions, tomato, zucchini, carrots and green salsa

I added in some homemade chili seasoning to make it like a turkey chili goulash - minus the pasta

I knew that my ground turkey would be 4 servings, so to make it easy to portion out, I added 3 containers or green veggies and coconut oil.  These are the 4 veggies I had on hand decided would be delicious.

Tomatoes, orange bell peppers, zucchini, chopped onion and carrot with some salsa verde (just tomatillos and jalapeno)

I started by sauteing the veggies in some coconut oil and added in some chili seasoning I had - so easy to assemble and no preservatives, fillers or salt!  Then I added in the ground turkey to cook that through.

Once it was all cooked through, I tasted it to make sure it had enough seasoning, and then let it cool.  I portioned it out into 4 containers so I wouldn't have to guess how much a serving is when the time comes to eat it!

Each container is 1 red, 1 green and 1/2 tsp

Saturday was very similar, but I really wasn't craving anything extra so it really wasn't that difficult for some reason!

7:30 

2 eggs

oatmeal with cinnamon and coconut oil mixed in 

black coffee

9:15

chicken and yams

10:00 PiYo Live class - 60 minutes

11:45

Tilapia with steamed mixed veggies - seasoned with some of the all purpose seasoning from the fix guide

I kept this super simple and used Wegmans Organic mixed veggies and steamed them right in the bag in the microwave

2:30

chicken with tomato, cucumber, celery salad with that coconut vinegar and oil dressing

Yes this is a paper plate - food prep creates so many dishes that it's OK to use paper once in a while!

5:15

Salmon salad - pan seared salmon, lettuce, celery, cucumber with dressing

7:00

Run through PiYo Lesson 27 - 30 minutes

Yoga fix - 30 minutes

8:30

Turkey goulash

On Sunday morning, I stepped on the scale and was down 2 pounds!  It's VERY important to know though that in addition to this food listed here, I drank a FULL GALLON of water every day.  Do you know how much water that is?  It's 16-8oz glasses of water!  Because I love water so much, that wasn't too difficult for me and it definitely helps to keep you hydrated and feeling refreshed.

I'm ready to rock these last two days of the 21 day fix.  I don't want to post a summary yet, but I can tell you that I'm loving the workouts so much that I know that I'll continue them after the official challenge is over.

21 Day Fix - day 10

Somehow the end of the week slipped past me!

Thursday was Day 10 and Mexican Fiesta night at Summer FX Family Week at church.  I LOVE all food Mexican.  Love it.  There are lots of ways to make it "healthy" which makes me like it even more!

8:30 Breakfast
2 eggs
1/2 container zucchini (leftover from dinner last night)
3/4 container of yams (also leftover from dinner last night)
coffee and water

11:15 Snack
Apple

12:00 Zumba Toning - 45 minutes

1:30 Lunch
Chicken
Celery/tomato/green salsa
romaine lettuce - 1/2 container
Sunflower seeds (not pictured)
water

6:00 Dinner
corn/beans - part of a tortilla shell
chicken and beef
cheese and avocado
tomato/lettuce
water

I didn't take a picture of my plate at dinner tonight, but I promise that it was all healthy!

I did take a picture of some cupcakes that I baked today.  I signed up at the last minute to bring cupcakes.  It was very hard to resist!  I will admit that I did lick the frosting spoon when I was done frosting these.  (Baby steps people!)

8:30 Snack
Almonds - too many (!)

9:30 Lower Fix Workout - 30 minutes

10:00 - oops - Paleo Zucchini Banana Brownie

Some slip ups today, but hopefully getting two workouts in will help!

Here is a summary of the day:

I posted this on IG and FB, but wanted to share here in case someone who isn't FB friends or an IG follower sees this.

The bottom left pic was a Time Hop app picture.  It shows you pictures or status from 1, 2, 3, 4, etc years ago.  The picture that showed up was from 2 years ago at a going away party for my BIL Ben.  G was only 3 months old, but I had managed to lose all of the baby weight thanks to tracking my food intake daily as soon as I was home from the hospital (I gave myself 2 days off from tracking, the day I gave birth and the day after, haha), breastfeeding, and some exercise mixed in.  My sister L was getting married in August, so it wasn't until after the wedding that I was able to step up my exercise into more of a routine instead of sporadic activity.  I was back to work, nursing in the evenings, pumping in the days, so leaving my newborn (and husband and son) was really difficult to do.

When I finally was able to get back into the saddle, I still wasn't able to get to Bounce as frequently as I had when I was pregnant.  (Yes I worked out while I was pregnant - with my doctor's approval of course - up until the NIGHT I went into labor.  I was literally at a Booty Bounce class, went home, showered and then my water broke.)  I loved all classes, Zumba, Bootcamp, Turbo, Yoga, Hip Hop, but my favorite was/is PiYo.  I felt like it gave me the most "bang for my buck" if you will.  I got a great strength workout, worked on my flexibility, with some cardio mixed in.  So basically, if I was working out, it was PiYo or my friend Sarah's Pilates Remix class.  After a few months of this, I started to notice that I was getting leaner.  I was weighing the same, more or less, but my pants were baggier and my arms looked thinner.

In Feb 2013, I did the 21 Day Sugar Detox which led me to more paleo/primal ways of eating, which helped as well.  In June 2013, I became certified to teach PiYo because I had completely fallen in love with the workout.

Why am I sharing?  Not because I like to take flexing pictures.  (I actually don't like to take selfie flexing pics - I'm more of a face selfie with friends kinda girl.)  I wanted to share because I want people to know that the scale only provides part of your "health" story.

In all of those pictures above, I weigh the same amount.  I was a little discouraged a few weeks ago because since being at home (and a few weeks/months prior) I had gained a little weight.  I had lost a few more pounds and was where I wanted to be, but had gone back up a total of 8.  It's really not that much, but it bothered me.  Once I saw that Time Hop picture, however, I started to really see that weight is just a number.  Yes, I weigh more than a few months ago, but looking at my body, I can see muscles.  No, they aren't big, but they are there.  I'm stronger, I have more energy, and I'm happier.

If you'd like to try PiYo LIVE, you'll be able to start taking it with ME Thursdays at 9 at Bounce, along with other days on the schedule.  If you aren't local, and want to try PiYo AT HOME, you are in luck.  The PiYo home workout is available!  And the challenge pack is ON SALE until the end of this month.  I'll be hosting a PiYo challenge group starting August 1.  If you are interested in joining, please contact me and we'll get  you added to the private accountability and encouragement group.

21 Day Fix - Day 9

I'm completely uninspired today with food choices.  That's my warning ahead of time, haha.

8:00 Breakfast
2 eggs
strawberries and blueberries
coffee

9:15 Workout
Upper Fix - 30 minutes

I love this workout!  This was the first one that I was able to get EMX to do with me last week.  He said his arms and pecs hurt for 2 days.  You'll need a set of heavy weights and light weights, but that's it!  You can also substitute a resistance band for the weights.

12:00 Lunch
carrots and celery with zucchini hummus
apple with 2 tsp almond butter

I know it doesn't seem like a ton of food - it's not, but for some weird reason, I wasn't all that hungry today.  G woke up with a cold, so I wonder if I'm somehow infected, haha.

4:00 Snack
Coffee (cold) with vanilla shakeology and ice

So good!  Never thought I'd be a "shake person."

6:00 Dinner
EMX took Reedster to church tonight, so G and I were on our own.  I had some bacon in the fridge, and since I still needed two red containers, I decided eggs with bacon would be a great compromise.  Who doesn't love breakfast for dinner?

2 eggs
2 slices of pork bacon *
cheese and avocado
smashed sweet potato
sauteed zucchini

This ended up being a lot of food!  I guess tomorrow I need to plan and divide a little better during the day.  I managed to pull through and eat it all (ha).

*I am not a fan of turkey bacon.  4 slices of turkey bacon is considered one red container.  I did some investigating on nutritional values and 2 slices of pork bacon is more or less equal to 4 slices of turkey bacon.

So at the end of the day, I had an orange container, a green and a yellow left.  That is seriously never a problem for me.  I had some leftover zucchini that was starting to turn, so what should I do?  Make zucchini muffins?  AND zucchini brownies?  Why not?!

I'm going to have to freeze some of this stuff!

21 Day Fix - Day 8 - when plans change

I was determined to get an A+ for today's meal.  I knew that I was bringing baked ziti to church tonight for dinner, so I planned my day to leave two yellow containers and one blue for my ziti.  I also left one green container for veggies thinking I'd have salad.  Unfortunately, plans changed... but I think I did OK in the end!

8:00 Breakfast
2 eggs
strawberries and blueberries
coffee

11:45 workout
Total Body Cardio Fix - 30 minutes
Pilates Fix - 30 minutes

Sweaty after the total body cardio, but I wanted to try the Pilates Fix!

1:25 Lunch
spinach / green salsa
chicken
carrots
sunflower seeds (not pictured)

Not so pretty.  But pretty tasty!

So for lunch, I was lazy, but inventive.  I didn't want regular dressing.  I thought maybe green salsa would be a good topping for a simple spinach and chicken salad, and low and behold, it's a perfect GREEN condiment.  It's all veggies, no sugar!  Love it.  This is what I had on hand.  It's really tasty and healthy!

3:00 Snack
Apple with almond butter (1tsp)

6:00 Dinner
Spaghetti Squash
shredded mozzarella cheese
tomato sauce (1/2 purple container)
chicken

At the last minute (as the ziti was cooking), EMX and I decided that since Mama and Papa were going to be at church tonight, it might be better if we stayed home with G.  I would be able to get some more work done, G would be able to get to bed at her normal time, we'd have time for her bath, etc.  This threw a kink into my food plan for the day since I had already allotted two yellow and one blue for the ziti.  I couldn't very well take ziti out of the pan before we sent it to church, so again, we got creative with what we had in the house.  I didn't plan much for dinners at home this week since we would be at church every night and only really bought stuff that we'd be bringing, or that we could have for lunches.  I made some rigatoni for EMX and G, and I warmed up leftover spaghetti squash for myself.  Since we had all smelled the ziti cooking, we added sauce and leftover baked chicken to our "pasta" of choice and topped with cheese.

G ate 2 bowls of her rigatoni.  I don't know how she does it at such a young age, but she knows the difference between pasta and chicken and refused to eat most of her chicken tonight.  Little stinker.

8:00 Workout
Yoga Fix - 30 minutes

Again, unplanned.  If I had known that we would be home tonight, I wouldn't have done two workouts during the day.  But EMX actually liked (GASP) the other 21 Day Fix workout that we did, so it was easy to persuade him to try the yoga one, especially since he's really trying to amp up his training for the WineGlass Marathon coming this fall.  I had done this video previously and really enjoyed the variety of moves and ample stretching.

So, I never ever EVER thought I'd like doing a home workout, but I'm really enjoying these workouts!  I'm finding them different enough each day, and through each individual workout that I challenge myself and don't fall into the trap of taking the easy route.  I honestly never thought I'd be able to do this everyday, let alone multiple times in a day!

8:30 snack
4 oz pinot grigio

Hey - need to use up at least one of those yellows, right?

21 Day Fix - Day 7 - late posting

This week is Family Week at our church - think VBS but in the evening so the entire family can join in on the fun and learning!  I know that doing the 21 day fix while not being in complete control over what I'm eating is going to be difficult but I'm still trying to make it all work out the best I can!  To give myself a little wiggle room, I'm trying to add in a few extra workouts this week in case I'm over in one color container (or two, haha).

Day 7 was Monday for me.

7:00 Breakfast
Paleo cereal with almond milk, coffee and water

I decided along with my fellow group members that paleo cereal could substitute a yellow container a few times a week for me.  My paleo cereal is homemade.  I use a blue container to measure it out, but count it as a yellow container since the nutrients are very similar to other yellow container foods, like yams.

Paleo cereal - Michelle style
Any mixture of nuts you like - this batch is raw almonds, raw cashews
Any seeds you like - this batch has roasted sunflower seeds
shredded unsweetened coconut
dried cranberries

Place ingredients in a food processor and pulse until it resembles cereal/granola consistency.

Pour your favorite milk over it and eat it!  You can also add sliced banana for some added yummy-ness.

11:00 Lower Fix workout

LOVE this workout.  I feel sore almost instantly and walking up the stairs is a chore.  I really like to feel sore after a workout so I know that I pushed it hard enough.   The Lower Fix will provide soreness.  I promise.

1:00 Lunch
1 full container of lettuce
1 container with peppers, celery, more lettuce and zucchini hummus
chicken
dressing - olive oil and vinegar
apple with almond butter

OK - so after the smaller breakfast, a workout, and then a late lunch, I was STARVING when it came time for lunch.  I would have eaten earlier but the kids woke up late and subsequently had a later breakfast and weren't hungry when I was.  I didn't feel like prepping two separate lunches so I just waited until they were hungry.

A rendition of one of my favorite salads that I make, this one has banana peppers, celery, romaine and chicken.  My favorite salad right now is romaine, salami, tomatoes, celery, provolone and banana peppers with vinaigrette.  I improvised with what I had in the fridge.

4:00 snack
almonds - definitely more than what a blue container is.  oops

6:00 Dinner at church

Tonight's theme was BBQ!  There were a ton of different meats to choose from and lots of mac and cheese.  There was also an activity at each table including grapes and whipped cream with a cherry on top.  (Even when we feel like the cherry - alone, Jesus is WITH US!  Always.)

I shared a plate with G for ease of going through the food line.  I ate the pulled bbq pork (which was seriously amazing.  I really need to figure out who made that one) and a few bites of the mac and cheese.  G was a HUGE fan of the mac and cheese so I fed her that.  I also had a cup of grapes with the whipped cream and cherry on top.  YUM.

8:30 snack

I got home from church and got G to bed (she fell asleep on the way home after not taking a nap today).

Don't worry - took this pic in the garage.  How cute is she hugging her bear?

I still had to make baked ziti for dinner at church for Tuesday and was a little hungry still, so I opted for an easy snack to eat while I was cooking.  I figured I was probably not on track for the day so I decided on chips with green salsa.  Not a horrible choice, but I definitely ate more than one yellow container full.  More like 2 containers.

When I went to my notebook and actually went through the day, it actually doesn't look as bad as I would have thought.  I just need to make sure that I don't continue to not have enough reds - only 2 per day is definitely  not enough!

For those of you doing the fix with me:

How is everyone doing?  What is the hardest thing for you so far?  What is your favorite workout?

For those of you NOT doing the fix with me:

Are you interested in doing the 21 Day Fix?  

21 day fix - Day 2

Woot!  Day one is done and was successful.  I have to admit that I really missed snacking on almonds while working, however, this morning I was down 1.5 lbs (really probably from just not eating 3 donuts in a day as I did on vacation)!

This morning when I woke up, I tried to pre-plan out my day a little better than yesterday since I did feel a little frazzled not having many things to choose from until I went shopping.  If you are not a morning person, this can certainly be done the night before as I did for a LONG time before starting to work from home.  In fact, I still pack my husband's breakfast and lunch the night before.  Even though I'm up early, I'm not up THAT early - he leaves for work by 5:30.

6:00 am Breakfast

2 eggs
sunflower seeds
raspberries & grapes
black coffee
water (not pictured) 3 cups

I don't know why, but sunflower seeds sounded really good this morning, haha.












9:00 Workout - Total Strength - 60 minutes
water - 3 cups

11:30 Lunch

The prep.

Mid prep.

6 slices of ham

lettuce, tomato, carrots

tortilla chips

mustard

All nice and pretty.

1:00 snack

Yes, I realize that this was not much after lunch, but I was still hungry and the thought of having to wait at least 4 more hours until dinner was not making me happy.


carrots
1 tsp almond butter (in the orange container for convenience - not measuring!)
black coffee

More water - like my fancy water cup?  I holds 24 oz.  I like that because then I only have to fill it up 3 times per day to make sure I get enough water - even though I often drink more than that!




Dinner


4 oz lean ground beef
cheddar cheese
mustard (not pictured)
spaghetti squash - 3/4 container
zucchini, eggplant and onion roasted with coconut oil spray

I was originally planning on sweet potato "fries" with dinner but didn't realize that I had run out!  So I improved with spaghetti squash.  The sweet potato fries would have given the plate a little more color though!








7:45 PiYo LIVE class - 45 minutes - Taught the class.  :)

9:00 Evening Snack (AKA dessert!):
1 package of chocolate shakeology
1/2 frozen banana
1 tsp almond butter
4 oz almond milk - 1/4 container
4 oz water
ICE

Notes for today:

• So again, I really planned on doing the Dirty 30 workout today which was on my calendar in addition to the Total Strength workout that I went to at Bounce.  But then I was asked to sub PiYo this evening and decided that I better not do the Dirty 30 workout before having to teach, haha.  
• Something I missed yesterday while posting - WATER!  I drink MINIMUM 8 cups (a cup is 8 oz) of water a day.  most days, it's closer to 9-10 and when I'm really doing well it's closer to 12 cups.  I space it out through the day.  I know it can be really hard to drink water if you are a big fan of pop/soda.  I've never been a huge fan of it, so it was really easy for me to transition to water when I started really getting into healthy eating practices.  Now I really only ever drink 4 things - water, coffee, almond milk and wine.  :)
• Even though I'm really looking forward to my kids coming home tomorrow, I'm a little nervous about how the fix is going to work for me since G prefers to eat MY food instead of hers - even though it's usually identical.
• Am I the only one who likes to have three things to eat at every meal?  There are obviously times when I don't, but it feels like not enough food if there are only two things on my plate and too much if there are four.

Are you doing the 21 day fix right now?  What is your favorite meal that you've had so far?  

21 day fix - Day 1

So, this am I had plans of waking up early and going to the public market to load up on veggies and fruit and then hitting up Wegmans for everything else.  But guess what?  I fell back asleep after my alarm and with the kids in VT camping with my ILs, I had no one to wake me up.  Apparently I was tired after our 4 days camping.  So my pre-planned day wasn't really going to work today since I had limited food in the fridge!

8:00 am Breakfast

So, I made do with 2 eggs, an apple and 3/4 of a yellow container of sweet potatoes that were leftover in my fridge from the day before we left.  

Why the 3/4 yellow container, you ask?  Later today I plan on using 4 oz of almond milk to make shakeology.  You can substitute 16 oz of almond milk for one yellow container and since I don't really need 16 oz, I'm using 1/4 of a yellow container for my shakeology and 3/4 this morning. #MathIsFun

Not a face anymore.

I couldn't resist - looks like a face.  :)

2 eggs

black coffee

apple

Yam - 3/4 container

Looking at the apple whole I wasn't sure if it would fit into a purple container once cut up, but it did!  I was pretty excited about that because I would have been less than thrilled if I had to eat just part of an apple this

morning. 

It fits!

12:00 pm Workout = Zumba 45 minutes

2:00 Lunch

I stopped at Wegmans after Zumba to do a quick shopping trip to make sure we had some veggies and fruits to choose from.  I had some leftovers to eat up though in the fridge that I could make work for today so I decided to do that.  I didn't take a picture of my lunch because, well, it wasn't pretty, haha.  I made a chicken salad with avocado and tahini and the avocado was all brown and icky and though it still tasted great, it was ugly leftover so I spared you the picture of that.  Instead I took a picture of what containers I used for lunch.  :)


leftover chicken salad:
chicken
tahini (ground sesame seeds) 1/2 container
avocado
lettuce and tomato cut up and combined
dressing (21 day fix approved) 1/2 container






4:00 Snack 

Coffee with 1 tbsp coconut milk - I really wanted something sweet and this took the edge off. 

5:00 Dinner

So today was kind of weird for me.  Normally I need a morning snack before a noon workout, but today I felt ok.  But after lunch, I was still hungry.  So even though I would normally eat a later dinner after having lunch at 2:00, I really was hungry at 5 and since I was heading back to Bounce for another class at 6:30, I decided to have an early dinner and then have a snack later on.

Doesn't look like much?

Now it does!

chicken (leftover baked)

spaghetti squash with lemon

leftover roasted broccoli

carrot sticks (not pictured)

I would normally add a little butter and Parmesan cheese to the spaghetti squash, but it was really good with just some fresh lemon juice!

6:30 Workout = 60 minutes Red Warrior Class at Bounce

8:15 Snack

Ok listen.  I've never ever been a "shake" person.  Like, ever.  I just have never seen the appeal to drinking your food as opposed to eating your food.  I'm giving shakeology a try while doing this challenge for a couple of reasons.  1. It will help me bump up my 4th red container without having to eat 4 meals of chicken.  2. It tastes good - it's like a natural healthy dessert!  3. It's SUPER easy.

So we'll see how it goes!

1 package of chocolate shakeology
1/2 frozen banana
1 tsp almond butter
4 oz almond milk - 1/4 container
4 oz water
ICE





Some additional notes:

• I plan on incorporating the 21 day fix workouts every day no matter if I get to Bounce that day or not, but since today was going to be the cardio workout and I went to Bounce twice, I decided to not do the fix workout in addition for today. 
• I only did 1 tsp of oil/almond butter today because the leftover yams and broccoli had olive oil on them when I roasted them.  Since I really can't be sure how much there was in my serving, I decided to play it safe and only use 1 tsp of the almond butter instead of the normal 2 that I plan on having.  :)

Are you doing the fix right now?  How are you doing?  Please feel free to share any tips or comments below!

Really Fancy Post About Planning For the 21 Day Fix

As the title indicates, this is a super fancy post about my planning for the 21 day fix.  I'm talking, high tech, very difficult, labor intensive, beautifully designed planning.  The image below is so amazing and you totally cannot see my legs in the bottom of the picture.

I told you this was fancy.

So, while I'm all about typing things out usually, for some reason, this is what I'm finding to be the most useful way for me to start planning  for the 21 day fix.  Plus I get to use markers, lol.  Because I'm trying to keep mostly paleo/primal while doing the fix, there are certain foods that I'm probably not going to want to eat, but my family might want to eat, etc.  So what I did to start was go through the guide that comes with the fix and start by writing out which foods we are most likely to actually all eat (or most of us eat) in each category.  Then I'm going through and planning several days that will use similar foods.  One thing I seriously despise is having to buy a million ingredients for one week worth of meals (or 3 days worth of meals, ha).

Like I said, this is very technical, but also very preliminary.  I wanted to have a few days planned in advance so I can feel prepared, but also wanted to be able to have some options in case I don't feel in the mood for a certain meal on a particular day.  Because that tends to happen frequently, I'm attempting to keep the colors in a sort of pattern every day so I can swap dinner from one day to another if needed.

So, we'll see how this goes!  Do you want to join me?  You can get the 21 day fix with or without Shakeology which makes this a great option for everyone who is ready to work on portion control and exercise!

Monday Musings and Quick Paleo Pancakes

Well, hello.  

Some of you may know that I have a new job.  Last week was my first week as a SAHM / PT WAHM mom.  I have to say that it was a great week.  It was a little bit of a transition, but really, it was awesome.  I realized quickly how much I have missed and how stressed I had been for the last year.  With a full time job for me, EMX working major OT hours lately, one kid in karate (two nights a week), and a rambunctious 2 year old, and other commitments to church and family/friends and our own fitness commitments, I was beginning to run myself ragged trying to make sure that everyone was well fed (I'll get to that in a minute), dressed, bags packed, lunches/breakfasts/snacks ready, activities/HW complete, etc.

One thing that I just don't want to compromise on is healthy eating.  Yes, we do order pizza (or like last night, ahem, garbage plates) from time to time, but most of the time afterwards, I start to feel groggy, overfull and just kind of gross!

So what does eating healthy look like for us?  For the most part, EMX and I eat a paleo/primal diet.  EMX eats that way as a default since I do 99.9% of the cooking for our family and he has no choice to but eat what I make.  He still does get Bruegger's bagels though once a week and orders Chinese food at work on Fridays.  The kids do eat PB&J and bunny crackers and the like, but I do try and get the healthiest ingredients I can and would rather make something than buy a packaged version whenever possible.  (Even though now Reedster won't eat my PB&J, haha.  He has been choosing fruits, vegetables and nuts for lunch instead - which I'm obviously fine with.)

There have been a few articles and studies released lately that state that there is no thing such as "gluten sensitivity."  So while there may be no scientific proof that people can be sensitive to gluten, I will tell you what I have found in my very scientific research from the last year and a half - from when I did my first 21 Day Sugar Detox in February 2013.

- The first time I completed a sugar detox, I didn't do it to lose weight.  I was trying to find a way to fight the MAJOR cravings for cookies and cake that I started to have while pregnant with Giselle, and continued through the postpartum time while breastfeeding and then continued until she was almost 1, haha.  I initially thought that I would be a raging BRAT while doing the detox but what I found was actually the opposite.  By the end of the 21 days, I was downright euphoric.  I was honestly happy, energetic, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.  I had so much energy and was in such a good mood that it was VERY evident that the way I had been eating beforehand may not have been the best nutrition.  While I was eating a lot of fruit and veggies and meats before the detox, the whole grains and sugars in general were just not working for me.  I DID end up losing 5 lbs during those 21 days, which I didn't complain about.  I also did find that my sugar cravings were better controlled.  If I did have a major craving, the best treat to me was anything combined with almond butter. Dark chocolate is a great indulgence, but even a banana or apple with almond butter is DIVINE to me, lol.

- After the detox, I indulged in what I had been craving (or really THINKING I was craving) during the detox - a bagel.  I cut out a portion of the middle of the bagel because I was a little nervous that I may not feel all that great after eating it.  I ate it and probably an hour later, I was groggy and ended up having a sugar crash a few hours later.

- NOW, pretty much as soon as I eat something with gluten in it, I start to crave MORE sweets or breads.  It's INSANE.  Last night we ate garbage plates and even though I was disgustingly full after eating it, I HAD to eat something sweet.  I nibbled on mini marshmallows and then had some chocolate even though I was not hungry.  As a result, I felt pretty gross later on.

So, for me, and for our family, that's why we do eat mostly paleo/primal type foods.  It's funny because EMX can tell usually pretty quickly if I've been falling off the wagon with my eating habits by my mood and demeanor.  I will never ever claim to be paleo perfect.  If I want regular pizza with pepperoni and banana peppers, I'm going to eat it.  But I do try to eat paleo/primal foods 80% of the time.

This morning I was ready to get back on track after a day of eating not so healthy foods.   I saw this pin yesterday for the "best pancakes" - one banana mixed with two eggs and a dash of cinnamon.  This morning I decided to give it a whirl, even though honestly, most paleo/primal pancakes that I've tried haven't really come close to the real deal pancakes (especially the delicious ones we had a church yesterday morning).

The batter seemed a little thin to me so I added a few teaspoons of coconut flour in to thicken it up a little bit.  I think the reason why they tasted so good today vs in the past was a small (pun intended) difference.  Today I made the pancakes on the smaller size.  They were a little bigger than a half/dollar.  This made them cook more evenly.  I cooked them in a little bit of regular butter and topped with real maple syrup (the ONLY syrup in my opinion), and even had a few topped with just almond butter.  

G and I gobbled them up!  So quick, easy and delicious.  Even better, they are a healthy alternative to regular pancakes.

G loves pancakes!

The real test will be to have Reedster taste them when he gets home from school.  That boy is the pancake master taster.  :)

Breast Cancer Awareness

Before this October, though I donated money to Breast Cancer Research, I never (thankfully) felt a personal connection to the disease that claims so many lives. I've been struggling with sharing this because although I post a lot on social media, I don't usually get really personal if there isn't a funny story behind it. For some reason though today, as I'm baking some oatmeal toffee cookies, I decided to sit down and write just in case this could help someone.

 I had my annual ob/gyn appointment the end of September. During the breast exam, I noticed a tender spot that I mentioned to my Doctor. We both didn't really feel a lump, but there was definitely a spot that was tender. Because it was in the same area that I had a MAJOR blockage in during my last marathon mastitis episode, my Doctor ordered a mammogram and a follow-up ultrasound of the area. (I had an ultrasound when I had the mastitis last October.) They initially offered me an appointment with the radiologist the very next day, but the following week worked better for my schedule, so I waited until October 1 to go.

I have to say, I was a little (a LOT) terrified of getting a mammogram. No one really wants to have their boob squished in between two metal plates. To be honest, it wasn't as bad as I had built it up in my head. The woman taking the images was really comforting and did her best to keep my mind off of the situation at hand.

 Next was the ultrasound. I was fortunate enough to have the same woman doing my ultrasound that did it last October during my mastitis. She had a baby since our last visit and we chatted during the exam. Unfortunately, I did keep peeking at the screen and could see a shape in the screen that did not look like the rest of the image. My heart definitely started beating a million miles a minute. She wrote up her report (and I could see the word MASS on the screen which did little to help my nerves). Then the radiologist came in to take another peek and give me the news. There was SOMETHING there. He really didn't go into much detail other than the fact that they wanted to biopsy it. The room seriously started spinning and I just basically nodded and tried to not cry. As soon as he left, the technician told me that 99.9% of these types of "things" were benign. Seeing as we just spent 20 minutes talking about our kids, she knew that the first thing I would worry about is being around for my kids. It calmed my nerves (a little) and I left and waited for the scheduler to contact me for my biopsy.

 During the next few days, I was a basket of nerves. Though I knew that 99.9% were nothing for me to worry about, what happens if I was that 0.01%? I tried my best to keep my mind off of it, but it was difficult to forget seeing that shape on the screen. It was 8 days until the biopsy was scheduled and during that time I had to wait, I began to worry about something new. A needle being stuck into my boob! Finally, it was the day of the biopsy. Again, I was fortunate to have two wonderful women taking care of me during the procedure. While confirming who I was, my date of birth and why I was there about 25 times, we cracked jokes about me skipping out on work to hang out and get my boob biopsied. Thankfully, they numbed me up pretty well so I barely could feel the actual needle, though the biopsy itself was a little painful. After it was over, I was a little nauseous and lightheaded though because I made myself look at the screen and watch the entire thing via ultrasound image. I just had to be sure that they biopsied the right "area" or I wouldn't be able to sleep. That probably, in retrospect, was not a wise decision as I am not the best when it comes to needles. I was able to resume normal activities within 24 hours, although I did get a bruise and felt like I got punched in the boob.

 I'm very happy to report that I do NOT have breast cancer. There IS something there that really isn't supposed to be, however, unless it starts to change, or really bother me, it can be left as is. I'll go back in 6 months for a followup ultrasound to make sure it hasn't changed in any way. To give a name to the "shape," it's called a fibroadenoma. Apparently, it's super common in young women (they all called me young so I'm going with it), although I never have heard of it.

 Today, I was fortunate enough to participate in a Kick for a Cure Event at RIT which featured 2 hours of Turbo Kick, Zumba and Bokwa taught by the wonderful Bounce Aerobics owners and other local instructors. Something about sweating it out with some awesome friends made me realize again how thankful I am that everything turned out OK for me. The reason that I struggled to share this, is because I haven't shared this with a lot of close friends and family. During the waiting game, I decided to not even share with my sisters (who I seriously share everything with - now that we are adults anyway) because I didn't want them to worry unnecessarily if it turned out to be nothing. I guess the reason that I opted to share today was because I want to remind women to do a breast exam every month. Before this month, I was not one to do it regularly, but you bet your butt that I'll be way more diligent now. I've been told that these fibroadenomas can develop in the other breast as well, though if I do encounter another lump or tender spot, I should not assume that it's the same thing and still get it checked! If you do notice a lump, or spot, call your doctor, schedule an appointment and get it checked out. Hopefully you will be able to have the same results that I did and maybe by sharing this story, you'll be a little less nervous!