Day 1

Well today started out with a blast, literally. I was making my green smoothie and it was not working like I had seen the green smoothie lady do it. She says to put your greens in first. I highly recommend not doing that, unless you have quite a bit of water in the blender first. So, it was not blending well at all and in my hurry and frustration (this all happened lightening fast) I somehow took off the protective cover and put the plunger directly into the blender jar all the way down without thinking. (Like I said, it all happened so fast I didn't realize what I was doing). Well, the blades caught the bottom of the plunger and green leaves and liquid went everywhere, and I mean everywhere: the ceiling, cupboards, wall, floor, chair on the other side of the counter, the counter top, books and papers, my hair, face and clothes. If it had not been so literally funny I would have cried. To top things off, I was in a hurry because on Mondays I have to be to work at 7:30 am for a work meeting and would have barely had time to get the smoothie made and eaten in time. As I was cleaning it up I thought I should take a picture of it as pictures are much more fun in a journal. So here it is, you can't see as much in the picture, but it was AWFUL!!!
Let me tell you that green soggy leaves don't wipe up very easily either.

Well I did get it cleaned up and a new smoothie made. This time I was smart and put the fruit in first. It was good, not delicious, but good (too thick - I will have to experiment on that).

For breakfast I had a Green smoothie made with:
1 banana
1/2 avocado
1 cup frozen berries
1 TBSP agave (for sweetness)
2 small apples (from my apple tree)
5 - 6 handfuls of spinach leaves
water
I poured half into a container for lunch and added ground flax seed to the remainder and some ice as it was kind of warmish. The flax seed is a good source of Omega 3 fatty acid. I drank that one on the way to and at work (since I didn't have time to have a leisure breakfast this morning due to the blast). I couldn't believe that I was full until about 12:30. I had taken some nuts and other fruit for a snack, but never got hungry. At 1:00 I had the other green smoothie with a handful of mixed nuts and a sliced cucumber. I really enjoyed it, especially the crunchiness of the nuts and cuke. Again I was full until dinner and didn't need a snack.
Dinner was 1/2 of a trout that my grandsons had caught over the weekend, with 1/2 tomato (from my garden), corn on the cob and steamed broccoli. I would have liked to have some wild or brown rice, but I haven't gotten any yet. It was good and very filling. I got the idea to eat on a smaller plate from a dear friend who lost weight just from changing the size of plate she ate on. It does play a trick with your mind thinking you have plate full of food.

I am drinking lots of water, probably about 100 oz or so a day. I heard that you shouldn't drink with meals as that dilutes the enzymes that digest the food so I am trying not to drink during meals. It is a challenge, because I have always drank with my meals. But I have also been told that I have poor digestion, so I am willing to give it a try, as I want to gain all the benefits from the food I eat as I possibly can.

While dinner was cooking I made some oat bran muffins for the rest of the week. My Chiropractor brother in law recommended a book called "The New 8-week cholesterol cure" by Robert E. Kowalski, and it talks about the benefit of oats and especially oat bran in helping lower cholesterol. I wanted to use one of the ones in his book, but I didn't have all the ingredients. Here is the recipe I used. It is one I had cut from the newspaper and have used several times, and is delicious.
Classic Bran Muffins
1 1/2 cups wheat bran (I have used wheat bran before, but used oat bran this time)
1 cup buttermilk (I used soy milk instead)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg
2/3 cup brown sugar (I used turbinado sugar as I hear it is better for you)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (I use sea salt)
1/2 cup raisins (I use whatever fruit I have on hand or feel like adding at the time - today I added nectarines as they are getting too ripe (thanks to my dad who gave them to me from his nectarine tree)
The ingredient list ends there, but I always add grated carrots, zucchini or both. Today I just added carrots, as I was too tired to walk out to the garden and pick one.
Prehead oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tin or line with paper muffin liners.
Mix together wheat (or oat) bran with milk; let stand for 10 minutes. Add oil, eff, sugar and vanilla, mix well. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into milk-bran mixture, until just blended. Now I fold in my fruit and grated veggies.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins. Bake 15-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center of muffin comes out clean. Cool. ENJOY!!! They are yummy and very healthy.
The recipe goes on to say: this recipe seems to survive any changes (except the bran). Regular, 2 percent or soy milk can be substituted for buttermilk. Readers also exchanged applesauce or bananas for the oil and craisens, walnuts or dates for raisens. Some readers added 3/4 tsp cinnamon. This will be part of my breakfast tomorrow along with another delicious green shake.

I started my exercise program bright and early (5:15 am) this morning. My good friend Kellie and I walked around 2 city blocks 3 times. I felt so good I wanted to keep going, and it is so nice to have someone to do it with, but I had to go and get ready for work. Later during the day I got really stiff and my buttocks and back of my thighs are so tight and sore. I'm sure sitting at a desk all day didn't help that at all. Since I haven't exercised all summer it will take me some time to get up to the running thing. One of my goals is to run a 5k next summer. That should make Dennis and my children happy. They have been after me FOREVER to run. As if 4 runners in the family is not enough. But when they run, they keep the weight off so I am going to go for it.