Category Archives: DIET!

Superfoods Chili Recipe

HungerActions.wordpress.com

HungerActions.wordpress.com

Recently I told you about a new recipe book I’m really enjoying: Low Carb Recipes for Diabetics by Don Orwell. He concentrates on Super Foods that boost immunity, promote weight loss and slow aging.

I gave you the recipe for his Minestrone. Today I’m sharing his recipe for Superfoods Chili.

My husband’s first reaction was, “This isn’t chili. It’s a stew.” But then he started eating. Then got a second bowl. Wanted it for dinner the next night – and we finished it for lunch yesterday. And he’s requested more…

This recipe is Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free,* Egg Free, and Nut Free

SuperFoods Chili

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbsp. coconut oil
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 3/4 pound beef sirloin, cubed
  • 1 cup diced tomatoes
  • 1 cup strong brewed coffee
  • 1/2 cup tomato paste
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 cups cooked kidney beans
  • 4 fresh hot chili peppers, chopped

Instructions:

Put all ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours.

MY NOTES:

I hate using half a cap of something, only to have to throw away the remainder several days later, so I used

  • one can of diced tomatoes
  • one can of tomato paste

We don’t like ‘hot’, so I eliminated the cayenne pepper,  and hot chili peppers, substituting some regular ground peppercorns and some chili powder.

I used 2 cans of kidney beans, draining and rinsing them in a strainer before adding to the slow cooker.

*We sprinkled on some shredded cheese, so our version was not dairy free.

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Low Carb Minestrone Soup Is a Winner!

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

My husband’s firm opinion is that Campbell’s Soup is the best and that no one should even try to compete. He ate his words – as well as the soup – last night! :0)

The recipe is for “Minestrone” and the source is Low Carb Recipes for Diabetics by Don Orwell.

He looks as food as medicine. He promotes what he calls Super Foods that boost immunity, promote weight loss, and slow aging. This is the first of his recipes we’ve tried, and we’re really impressed.

The Minestrone Recipe serves 8 to 10. It’s sugar fee, gluten free, dairy free, egg free, and nut free. So what’s left? Really good soup!

Ingredients:

  • 3 tbsp. coconut oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 2 cups chopped celery
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 cup tomato sauce*
  • 1/2 oz red wine (optional)
  • 1 cup raw cannellini beans*
  • 2 cups green beans*
  • 2 cups baby spinach, rinsed
  • 3 zucchinis, quartered and sliced*
  • 1 tbsp. chopped oregano
  • 2 tbsp. chopped basil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tbsp. olive oil or cumin oil

Instructions:

Put all ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 hours

NOTES: (MINE)

  • I used a whole can of tomato sauce
  • I used a CAN of cannellini beans
  • I used a CAN of green beans
  • I used ONE zucchini
  • I went lighter on the herbs and spices
  • At my husband’s request, I added some cut up roast beef (about one cup, diced)
  • I added some xanthan gum thickener about half an hour before serving

I really liked this soup, but I’m much easier to please than my husband. HE liked it, too. He requested we eat some of the leftovers tonight, along with garlic bread made with our new low carb bread.  He sounded surprised when he told me it was “good – really good,” and then mentioned it again when we were cleaning up. I have two large glass bowls of soup left. I’m thinking that I’ll serve one of them for us tonight and freeze the other to enjoy later.

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Getting the Lard Off Progress Report 12/15/2016

AnimalWallpapers - DesktopNexus

AnimalWallpapers – DesktopNexus

I’m finally getting my eating after dinner until better control, though I have to admit it’s a fight, one night after the next.

I’m doing a combination of

  • re-reading the books that got me motivated in the first place
  • finding better low carb snacks to eat
  • finding more active things to do to distract me before bed
  • drinking more water after dinner

My scale is beginning to show a downward movement again, although I’m still re-losing the weight I thought was gone.

I’m feeling good about my yoga practice.

Bajiroo.com

Bajiroo.com

Most every day I’m doing two 1/2 hour sections of the DVD set “Gentle Yoga.” Today I just finished “Legs,” and “Overall Flow.” I’m beginning to feel looser. I’m beginning to be able to sit with my knees bent, feet under me, without my feet cramping so much, and without the tops of my thighs screaming. I may never be able to bend over and touch my fingers to the floor, but I’m stretching the right muscles to do so. When my back is hurting, I now know that doing yoga will make it feel better. I’m also learning to relax at the end of the sections for 5 minutes, something I feel REALLY hard to do at the beginning. AND, I can now lie on my back on the floor and put my hands over my head and touch the floor behind me – something that was impossible in the beginning.

I’m pairing the yoga practice with some exercises for my abdomen. I’m hoping all this will come together gradually to impress my tape measure, too.

Today I made a new recipe for dinner – Low Carb Minestrone.  My husband came in while I was avidly chopping up veggies and said he thought it was good I was making Beef Stew. I told him it was Minestrone. He said, “But it has beef in it, doesn’t it?” I told him it didn’t have ANY meat in it. He looked disappointed, and asked, “But COULD it have some beef in it?” At that point I relented and added some leftover roast beef to the mix. I’ll let you know what we think tomorrow.

I hope your day has been fun.

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise

Getting the Lard Off Progress Report 12/7/2016

Funny Animals Pictures Images

Funny Animals Pictures Images

I’m actually moving backwards lately on trying to get the lard off.  :0(   I’m having problems not eating after dinner. It used to be that I would eat my orange dream bar and that was it. Lately, it’s like I have a tapeworm or something. I’m hungry.

My weight loss right now is 35 lbs.

I’m now doing better on adapting to trying to cook for my low carbs and my husband’s diabetes. I’ve decided to basically serve low carb meals and then make sugar free puddings for dessert. I’m trying lots of different recipes. We’re experimenting with a lot of low carb, low or no sugar foods. Some of them are good, and we’ll incorporate them into our eating plan. Others we try and try to forget. We’re working our way through, resulting in many mistakes and resulting hunger.

Sometimes my husband is being strong and eating only what he should. That helps ME do better, as well. Sometimes we both fall off and indulge.

We’re concentrating on figuring out what we’re doing wrong and making changes that will work for the long run. If we figure we can NEVER eat bread again, we tend to obsess about it, feeling sorry for ourselves. We found a wonderful low carb, sugar free plain bread recently. It’s expensive, but we found it great for turkey sandwiches – one of our favorite parts of Thanksgiving, and then enjoyed it with sugar free jams and jellies as toast with bacon and eggs. We won’t eat our weight in it, but it’s terrific for the morale to be able to eat bread occasionally again.

So, with all the above excuses, I gained 5 lbs of the weight I lost. :0(

The good side is that with the exercise I’m doing, there are 26 inches less of me!

The new concentration is continuing the exercise and controlled snacking after dinner. Hopefully, next week I can report another weight loss!

I realize that each day is a new chance to do well. Each meal is a new chance to make better choices. I’ll concentrate on my mantra –

taolife.com

taolife.com

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Find – Low Carb Bread!

Great Low Carb Plain Bread

Great Low Carb Plain Bread

I switched to a low carb diet about 16 months ago. We discovered that my husband has diabetes and that his body could use wheat to MAKE sugar in his body, even if he’s not eating any added sugar. So it’s been a shorter time for him and a LONG time for me without having any bread.

Imagine my joy to find a company who specializes in making low carb, 0 sugar bread!

I have to admit I tried some from another company earlier and it was awful. I just figured I would have to do without except when I splurge on really special occasions.

We received the two loaves of Great Low Carb Plain Bread I ordered yesterday morning. We had turkey sandwiches for dinner last night. I won’t say it’s the best bread we’ve ever tasted,  but it’s good enough that we’ll look forward to eating it again. (In fact, we’ll have bacon, eggs, and TOAST with sugar-free jelly tonight!)

The bread we tried is called Great Low Carb Plain Bread. It has 0 sugar, 8 carbs per slice, 7 carbs fiber per slice – for a net carb of 1 per slice!!!!  For those interested, the bread is Kosher and non-GMO, too. Calories are 60 per slice. Fat is 3 grams per slice, and sodium is 140 mgs. per slice. Protein is 7 grams per slice.  Has Vitamin A, C, Calcium, Iron, and Folic Acid.

The next time we order, we’ll try the “Everything Bread,” and the “Sourdough Bread.”

They suggest you freeze the loaves on receipt (though we’re going through the first loaf too fast to freeze much. :0)

We still won’t be eating bread all the time, but it’s such a comfort to know that when we DO want bread, this is bread we can enjoy without ruining our day’s good efforts. HOOOORAAAAAY!

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Jaw Wired Shut?

My ‘progress report’ for the week is I gained some lard back and didn’t lose any inches.  ARRRGH!!

I could use the excuse of Thanksgiving, but it would be a lie. I do fine until after dinner, and then I seem to be unable to stop stuffing my face. I’m not sure what the problem is, but I’m going to have a serious talk with myself and see if I can stop.  Otherwise, I’m considering having my jaw wired shut until further notice….

I’m about half way to my goal. I’m exercising every day, either with projects that require a lot of movement, my new yoga practice, or both. I still WANT to lose another 40 lbs, but my motivation seems to have gotten buried.  I floundered a bit – not knowing what to cook for sure in the wake of our discovery that my husband has diabetes. We’re doing well on that now, learning that my low carb lifestyle is really good for his diabetes, as well. We’ve been searching all over the place for sugar-free alternatives for the sweet drinks, candy, and desserts he loves. Mostly, we’ve been successful, although we’re now searching for a low sugar hot chocolate mix. (The latest one we tried was a failure for him.)

I don’t really know why this caused my efforts to derail, but I’m going to concentrate on finding my motivation again.  If you’ve fallen off your good habits and then found a way to get back up and going again, I would appreciate your sharing your experiences and what worked for you.

 

 

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Getting the Lard Off – Progress Report Nov. 21, 2016

Pinterest.com

Pinterest.com

I’m happy to say that I am FINALLY back on the getting the lard off road! I lost my way for a bit, but – with the addition of yoga poses done daily – I’m starting to lose again.

My husband – who is a newly-diagnosed diabetic – and I are eating a low carb diet, substituting sugar-free candy, pudding, and tea for the things he’s missing the most.

 

Bored Panda

Bored Panda

The biggest change is that I’m doing two sections of my yoga DVD set daily. Today, for example, I’m doing “Joint Mobility” and “Overall Flow.”

Yesterday I ALMOST skipped the yoga because I had some sore muscles. I went ahead, grimly, and found that my soreness disappeared! Let this be an ongoing lesson for me!!!!!

I’ve been doing the two sections daily for a bit over a week now, and I decided to see whether my measuring tape was impressed or not.

It was! To date, I’ve lost 21.75 inches and 40 pounds. (Some of these pounds have been regained and now lost again. I’m looking forward to breaking into new territory soon.)

Yesterday I was doing the ‘fold-yourself-into-a-paper-airplane-and-twist’ pose. I end up with my leg bent and twisted over to the side across my body with my knee on the floor. The opposite arm is stretched up above my head. See what I mean about folding yourself into a paper airplane?

Anyway, you get into the pose, holding it while you breathe in deeply into the stretch, and then exhale several times. When I was doing the last deep breath, my fingers touched the floor! Just barely – but they did!!!!! Only on one side, and only for a second, but HOOORAAAAAY!

The only other exercise I’m doing right now is sitting on the exercise ball while watching TV.  This is supposed to be good for building up my ‘core’ muscles and strengthening my balance. Since I need both, I spend some time bouncing around each evening.

I’m going right now to do my yoga sessions.

Hope YOUR day is good, too.

 

 

 

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off

Help!

Ryan Fitness Professional - WordPress.com

Ryan Fitness Professional – WordPress.com

For two days in a row I’ve been really, REALLY good – eating what I’m supposed to eat, and NOT eating what I’m not supposed to eat. I’ve done two sections on my yoga DVDS for two days in a row – the first day was “Joints Mobility” and “Overall.” Yesterday was “Head, Neck & Shoulders” and “Overall.” Today my day got away from me and I didn’t do my yoga.

My scales are laughing at me.

Clipartix

Clipartix

I realize that the scales may be showing water weight, increased muscle, etc., but right at the moment, it seems I’m making excuses for myself.  I’m going to be sure to get my yoga for the rest of the week, but it would be SO NICE if the scale would at least PRETEND to be impressed….

By the way, I tried a nice low carb recipe for chicken, broccoli and pimento cheese that we liked. I’m going to tweak it a bit before I present it here, but this will definitely be a keeper!

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Susan’s To Die For Low Carb Meatloaf

 

 

 

I told you that I cooked a lot  yesterday.

My husband asked me today if I had put more Jello Sugar Free Banana Pudding on the shopping list. :0)

He also raved about the meatloaf!  He asked me to put this recipe on the ones we do over and over again.

I got this recipe in the Low Carb section of a website called, “Christy Jordan’s Southern Plate.”

_______________________

Susan’s To Die For Low Carb Meatloaf

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 envelope Onion Soup Mix
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/3 cup No Fructose Ketchup ( I used reduced sugar)
  • 3/4 cup crushed PORK RINDS (crush, then measure)
  • 1 lb. ground beef
  • 1 lb. ground chicken

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Using clean hands, mix together all ingredients in a large bowl until well blended.
  3. Place two ends from a loaf of bread, end to end, onto the surface of a 9″x13″ baking dish (I used hamburger buns)
  4. Form the meat mixture into a loaf, on top of the bread slices.
  5. Squeeze a little more ketchup on top of the meatloaf.
  6. Bake for 1 hour.
  7. Let stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

NOTES:

Susan’s Tips:

To take this meatloaf over the moon, heat each slice on a sizzling hot cast iron griddle skillet, putting a crusty sear on both sides! Peel off the bread from the bottom of the meatloaf and give it to your 4-legged children. Tails will wag and they will love you forever!

MY NOTES:

I used ground turkey instead of ground chicken. It came in a 3 lb. package, so I divided it roughly into thirds, freezing the other two pounds separately. I was a bit worried because the meat mixture was much softer than I’m used to having when forming the loaf. I went ahead and followed directions and it was REALLY, REALLY good. :0)

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Getting the Lard Off – November 9, 2016

Pinterest.com

Pinterest.com

I’m still trying to curb my after dinner eating. I’m getting better, though the problem is not yet completely solved.  For some reason, it’s almost as if I had a tapeworm. I feel hungry soon after eating dinner, though our dinner is low carb. That’s some kind of emotional hang-up that I’m determined to stop.

Yesterday I cooked up a storm.

  • I hard-boiled a bunch of eggs for my breakfast and our snacks
  • I made a batch of sausage balls for lunches and snacks
  • I made sugar-free banana pudding for my husband (He loved it!)
  • I made a low carb meatloaf that my husband raved about (I’ll share the recipe later today)

In-between I was cleaning up and running the dishwasher again, plus washing clothes, stripping our bed and working in the flower beds. I had a really full, satisfying day.

Today I tried two new sections of my 2-DVD-set of “Gentle Yoga.”

Bajiroo.com

Bajiroo.com

The first was for “Legs” and the second was for “Balance.” I’m feeling a lot more relaxed now and I’m happy I bought the set. Tomorrow I’ll try the “Overall Flow” section, the last in the set. My goal is to do some yoga each day. My body is feeling looser and more relaxed and this will improve as I practice. I really like and trust the teacher of these poses, and I feel that I’m getting in touch with my body in a way I have never done before. It’s wonderful.

Doctor appointments for both me and my husband tomorrow afternoon. We’ll see how we’re doing, discuss where we’re trying to go and ways to get there, and keep on keepin’ on.

taolife.com

taolife.com

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Getting the Lard Off Progress (?) Report – November 2, 2016

Amy Adenoro Terrell-www.keyword-suggestions.com

Amy Adenoro Terrell-www.keyword-suggestions.com

I’ve been on a roller-coaster since about the middle of October. At that time my husband finally got serious about trying to avoid sugar. That might sound easy, but it’s been pretty traumatic around here. He LOVES sugar and was in denial about his problem and its inevitable consequences. I’ve been scrambling to figure out what we’re eating while trying to find something he can drink instead of soda, something to eat besides candy, and then some kind of dessert for him to look forward to.

I’ve also found, in my research so far, that simply trying to get sugar-free everything isn’t the answer. First my husband is REALLY sensitive to any alternative for sugar aftertaste. This week we’ve finally settled on Arizona Peach Sugar Free Tea, after buying and trying at least six other things. We found sugar-free hard candy easily enough, but he’s finding out the hard way that eating too much sugar-free candy has its consequences. He’s cutting that back on his own now. We’ve found ‘no added sugar’ pies that are good, and he likes a kind of cobbler that my wonderful cousin-in-law/friend Murray gave me.

I also discovered in my reading that, even if you cut out all the sugar you can, your body uses carbs to manufacture its own sugar! He tried giving up his cold cereal, but was unhappy, so we’ve done the next best thing – Special K is the best one for diabetics, since it’s not made from wheat.

Since low carb eating is also good for diabetics, I found a low carb for diabetics cook book. This is an ongoing process, but it took my attention and motivation away from my own challenges. In the past week I’ve gotten serious again, trying desperately not to eat after dinner, except for my orange dream bar as I used to do. This has been remarkably hard to do, since I’m staying up until at least midnight because my husband’s restless leg problem is better if he goes right to sleep, rather than our reading in bed as we’ve done for a hundred years or so. I found that delaying our dessert until 10:30 or so helps with my eating anything in sight…

________________

I’m finished with the excuses now. I’m back on my “low carb and exercising” horse again. With all the flailing around for almost a month, my weight loss is now 41 pounds. My inches loss is now 18.25″.

I started yoga (for old broads, 60+) about a week ago and I have to say I enjoy it. I’m not in any danger of becoming a gym rat, but I don’t dread doing yoga and really do feel relaxed afterward. Today I’m planning to do the last two sections on the 2nd DVD: “Legs” and “Overall Flow” (I think it’s called.)  The DVD series is called, “Gentle Yoga.”

We’re supposed to get rain late tonight and into tomorrow morning, so I’m planning to do weed eating across the back yard where we have to clean up a bit after wonderful Shane cut down a bunch of stuff to open up our view again and create a fire break. I also plan to create a lot more leaf mulch while the leaves are dry, harvest lettuce, etc.

I’m disgusted with myself that I allowed myself to be thrown for a loop over the changes needed in our lifestyle. I excuse myself a bit because I’m very fond of my husband and want him to live – feeling better and better – for a good, long time. That involves finding replacements for the important luxuries in his life. He seems to be adjusting pretty well now after some depression. He still threatens to stop all the good efforts if his sugar numbers don’t get lower as fast as he would like. That’s an ongoing discussion as well…

I feel good that I’ve stayed on my low carb plan really well the past two or three days now, and some of the regained lard is coming off. The yoga is making me feel looser and stronger, though I did have a bit of leg aching last night. I think I’ll feel better and better as I continue my practice.  The last two sections today, plus my day doing yard work, will be a really good amount of exercise for me today.

I hope that you, also, will try to

taolife.com

taolife.com

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off

Bullets, Spaghetti Squash and Cauli-Rice

shootingpractice

It’s important to my husband that I am able to defend myself if the need arises. To this end, he built this set of metal ‘falling plate’ targets. We shoot at the plates, knowing that if we miss the bullets go into the high hill of slag behind the targets.  (This pic was taken about a week ago, when I hadn’t taken the fabric shade off the garden behind the slag pile.)  When you hit a plate, it falls back and down. When all the plates are down, you stop shooting, set the plates up again, then go back to kill them again. :0)

 

shootingpractice3

Here’s another view of the targets. Today he added half a brick to each of the plate rods, making a nice counter-weight. I hit more than I missed, but need practice again soon. He wants to work on the targets more, since the small one on the end fell down if you hit any of the other three plates.

 

sq-beyondzucchini

Beyond Zucchini

I’ve gotten lax about eating, my excuse being I’m trying new things to satisfy my husband’s sweet tooth now that he has to avoid anything with sugar. I’m trying to get back on track, so I bought a spaghetti squash and a head of cauliflower at the grocery today.

I split the spaghetti squash in half long-wise, then put the halves face down on a tray lined with aluminum foil. I baked it for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, then pulled it out and let it cool. When it was easy to pick up without burning myself, I took a fork and scraped out all the squash inside. The one spaghetti squash yielded 4 cups of nice spaghetti-looking squash. I put a cup into each of four sandwich bags and then put the bags inside one gallon freezer bag, labeled it and put it in the freezer. That will be good for four dinners for me, while I make some actual spaghetti or elbow macaroni for my husband, topped with spaghetti sauce, Alfredo sauce, or other goody.

 

cauliflowerrice-yupitsvegan

Yup! It’s Vegan

I cut up the cauliflower into chunks. I put the chunks through the food processor, pulsing. I measured out the cauliflower into one cup increments, putting them into sandwich bags, then into a gallon freezer bag. I got 5 cups of cauliflower, meaning 5 meals for me, when I make rice for my husband.

My husband is really turned off by eating spaghetti squash or cauliflower, but that’s okay. He’s trying to avoid sugar and I’m trying to limit my carbs. This works well because I can make the starchy stuff for him, heat up the squash or ‘rice’ for me in the microwave, and make one sauce to go over both.

 

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Sugar-Free, Low Carb Blueberry Muffins

blueberrymuffins

I’m not sure there IS such a thing as sugar-free, low carb blueberry muffins, but the mix is in the oven as I type. I’m making them for my husband, primarily, since his sweet tooth is very appreciative. I’ve been scouring the net and our stores for things he’ll consider a treat even though he’s having to really watch his sugar these days. If these pass muster, I’ll write more about them tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

*P.S. Judgment – Pass

They smelled wonderful, both while I mixing it up and later, when I took them out of the oven. I was hopeful. I served us each one hot, with a small pat of butter.

My husband ate one half of the muffin. He thanked me for trying, but gave the other half to our pit bull, who thought it was wonderful. I wasn’t enthusiastic, either. It wasn’t worth the 8 carbs. Sigh.

At least the doggies can have a healthy treat mixed in with their dog food for several days. And the search goes on…

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Impatience

Laila Ali via Akiva Huber

Laila Ali via Akiva Huber

 

I’m going to print this one and hang it up so I see it over and over.  I’m impatient by nature and have to really talk to myself (I know – I’m nuts) to keep going, whether I’m trying to lose weight and build strength and flexibility, undo several years worth of ‘stuffing’ things into drawers or onto shelves in our master bath, or get our garden and yard under control.

I’m looking at this as a character-building exercise, something that will make me a better person in the long run. I AM making progress on learning my own limitations as I age and modifying my expectations of what I can now do in a day. I still tend to overdo, spending the next day trying to recover. I’m learning to do projects in ‘sessions,’ stopping when I’m feeling overwhelmed, then doing another session until the job is done.

With my weight and strength, there is no time limit. This isn’t a ‘diet.’ It’s a lifestyle change. Now things are complicated because we need to do low or no sugar for my husband. It’s a worthy goal to achieve because it’ll do both of us good. I want my husband to live as long as he is able, feeling as good as possible. Scrambling to learn what I can do to help is something I really want to do. An example, I’ve discovered that avoiding gluten for him is counter-productive, since the gluten is offset by alcohol sugars and other additives. We MUST do a good job of reading labels!

On the master bathroom going through/throwing out/reorganizing/cleaning project – right now it looks as if a bomb exploded in there again, since I’ve emptied out my three large drawers and put things on the step that goes around or bathtub. I’ve already thrown a bunch away and plan to do more of that before deciding what do to with what’s left. Assuming I can finish that today, I’ll plan on the last session tomorrow – pulling out the rugs and doing a deep cleaning of the whole area, including the tub, shower, vanities, floor, and rugs. If I falter, I’ll reread the reminder above…

 

 

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Attitude, Challenges, Changes, Cooking/Recipes/Low Carb Lifestyle, DIET!, Healthy Eating, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob

Crock Pot Roast Chicken Recipe

NYT Cooking

NYT Cooking

I found a nice recipe for crock pot roast chicken at Spark Recipes .  This one was submitted by JESSYLOO.  The picture above shows a regular roasted chicken. This recipe is more of a poached chicken, but it’s delicious. It called for a whole chicken, but my husband doesn’t care for the dark meat, so I simply used six chicken breasts. To have my husband asking if we have some leftovers is quite a compliment around here –

 

Crock Pot Roast Chicken, Spark Recipes, submitted by JESSYLOO

Crock Pot Roast Chicken, Spark Recipes, submitted by JESSYLOO

We’ve already had one meal of this and we both liked it a lot. Tonight we’re having leftovers so that we can enjoy the chicken with the new sugar free BBQ sauce we found. I’ll have enough that I can fix some chicken salad, or chicken alfredo, as well. I will be using this recipe often. Thank you, JESSYLOO!

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Sugar Free BBQ Sauce – Take 2

G Hughes Smokehouse Sugar Free BBQ Sauce Gluten Free Hickory Flavored

G Hughes Smokehouse Sugar Free BBQ Sauce Gluten Free Hickory Flavored

I wrote recently that, after looking all over Greenwood and Fort Smith AR for a sugar-free BBQ sauce, I found a recipe and made it. My husband was very grateful, since he loves BBQ sauce. He said it wasn’t the best he had ever eaten, but that it tasted ‘fine’ and that he was SO glad he could use it.

I later got on the net and found some I thought we should try. The name of it is G Hughes Smokehouse Sugar Free BBQ Sauce. It’s gluten free and hickory flavored.

We received it recently. I had made a crock pot chicken that was good – but that my husband thought needed something more. I brought out this sauce and we both tried it.

WE LOVED IT. I can’t say enough about the flavor.

I can’t believe the nutrition label:

  • Total fat 0 grams
  • Saturated fat 0 grams
  • Trans fat 0 grams
  • Cholesterol 0 grams
  • Sodium 190 mg
  • Total Carbs 2 grams
  • Dietary Fiber 0 grams
  • Sugars 0 grams
  • Protein 0 grams
  • Vitamin C 2%
  • 0% Vitamins A, Iron, and Calcium

Ingredients: Crushed tomatoes, water, apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, modified cornstarch, salt, Black pepper, ground cinnamon, natural hickory smoke, spices, natural hickory smoke flavor, natural caramel, color, xanthan gum, sucralose. No allergens.

We feel that we have won the lottery on BBQ sauce. My husband asked if we had more of the ‘good chicken’ so that we could have it with the BBQ sauce tonight…

 

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Filed under Cooking/Recipes/Low Carb Lifestyle, DIET!

Food Part of Pantry is DONE!

foodpantry1

The high carb or high sugar foods have been boxed up to give to the local food pantry or relegated to the lower shelves where ‘out of sight – out of mind’ reigns. I threw away a lot of half-used things from the pantry and the fridge. I went through all the containers to make sure all was good and then wiped down all the shelves with Clorox Clean-up.

 

foodpantry2

My husband feeds the dogs twice a day, and his only request was that I keep the shelves clear where he is working with the dogs and bowls. Otherwise, he just said, “Wow! You’re getting serious, aren’t you?” when I was about half way finished.

 

foodpantry3

All is clean and reorganized now so that I can find the ingredients I need to make our low carb, low or sugar-free meals. I’m going to be trying to find recipes for the condiments we use most often if I cannot find good sugar-free alternatives.

Tomorrow I’ll start on the other side of the panty where we keep supplies. Right now it looks as if a bomb went off somewhere near… :0)

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, Housekeeping - Maintenance

Cleaning Out the Pantry

The Spadina Monologues - WordPress.com

The Spadina Monologues – WordPress.com

I’ve spent about an hour so far in our pantry. I’m making progress, but it’s VERRRRRRY  slow. Thus far, I’ve discovered that

  • almost NO condiments, such as A1 Sauce, Tartar Sauce, Ketchup, BBQ sauce, etc. are good for our low carb/as-little-sugar-as-possible lifestyle. ( I did find a mayonnaise made with olive oil that’s good, a low-sugar ketchup, and I made sugar-free BBQ sauce a couple of days ago. I’m going to need to do lots of research – particularly in the area of tartar sauce for my husband – and do some good replacing, or making more of my own.)
  • I’m not at all sure my husband can be switched to low sugar or sugar-free jelly. (But then I also realized that we’re not going to be eating bread!)
  • We have LOTS of fruit in heavy syrup :0(
  • I’m going to need to get lots of boxes from the shop to hold all the stuff we’ll give to the local food pantry. (NOW I feel guilty that we’ll be giving families the stuff we KNOW isn’t healthy…)
  • My husband ordered an entire CASE of Krustees Snickerdoodle cookie mix – I’m hiding this in one of the back corners of one of the shelves so that I can treat him on his birthday and Christmas…
  • SOME of the things I’m finding I ordered in order to use it for particular recipes – but I don’t remember WHICH recipes. I’ll have to look up the ingredients on the net to find out if I want to keep these or not.
  • Cleaning out and reorganizing the pantry should be at LEAST an every-six-months job so that I’m not completely overwhelmed by the size of the job

It’s a very good thing that I’m not on a strict schedule for completing this job. I’ll do hour+ sessions, resting in-between, until I’ve finished.

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Filed under Acting Like a Grownup, Challenges, Changes, DIET!, Housekeeping - Maintenance

Ahhhhhh!

s-media-cache-ako.pinimg.com via Cathy Ruggiero

s-media-cache-ako.pinimg.com via Cathy Ruggiero

Isn’t this picture WONDERFUL? This is just how I feel this morning. The front came through late last night/early this morning. Yesterday the high was 91. Today it’s supposed to be 71. AHHHHHH!

I’m happily wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt as I type. The doors are open, front and back, airing out the house. We may actually have to close a door if it gets TOO cool. How great is that!!!!

Since working outside may not be an option, at least until later in the day, I’m going to dive head-first into our pantry and see what good I can do. Since my husband is serious now about trying to avoid sugar, or things he eats that cause his body to MAKE sugar, I’m going to get together a huge group of things to go to the local food pantry.  (When we had our home built almost 30 years ago, we devoted the room off the kitchen to be a walk-in pantry. We have huge, heavy-duty built-in shelves going from wall to wall with a place for a 2nd fridge. We live on top of a ridge line. Sometimes we get snowed in up here and can’t get down – or back up – our STEEP driveway until the snow and ice melts – once for 14 days without power or public water.)

If you don’t hear from me, I probably got buried in there.

 

cliparting.com

cliparting.com

 

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Filed under Challenges, Changes, DIET!, Housekeeping - Maintenance

Sugar Free BBQ Sauce Recipe

I found this recipe for “The World’s Best Barbeque Sauce (Sugar Free)” on the net. It’s by A Real Food Lover

(makes 2 cups)

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 Tbsp grass-fed butter or coconut oil
  • 1 cup sweet onion, diced small
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp dry mustard powder
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 tsp chipotle chili powder
  • 1 Tbsp chili powder
  • 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
  • 1-1/2 cups homemade chicken stock (or beef or vegetable)
  • 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 to 1 tsp Stevia Powder (or sweetener of choice)

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Heat butter/oil in sauce pan and saute’ onion for 3-4 minutes until translucent.
  2. Add all remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. (You can serve it like this, but I like to boil it down to thicken it a while. I turn down the heat, cover the pan and let it simmer for 20 minutes or so. I also find the longer cooking time melds the flavors, and it turns out to be even more delicious.

NOTES:

This keeps for 3 weeks in the fridge and also freezes very well. If you eat as much meat as we do, it won’t last you that long.

COMMENTS: (mine)

Since we are wimps when it comes to lots of spices or any idea of what we consider ‘hot,’ I used maybe 1/4 tsp regular chili powder, and didn’t have the chipotle chili power at all. I used 1/2 tsp of Truvia, rather than the Stevia, just because I had that. I used Kerry Gold butter, and Swanson chicken stock.

My husband was skeptical, but got interested as he smelled the simmering sauce. :0) We ate it on our servings of pork loin. I waited to hear what my husband thought. He said it wasn’t the best BBQ sauce he ever ate, but that it was GOOD – and that he was delighted he could still have BBQ sauce even though he’s watching his sugar. HOORAY!

 

 

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Pork Loin Roast in Crock Pot

I found the following recipe on Facebook. My husband hasn’t stopped raving about it.

PORK LOIN ROAST IN CROCK POT

INGREDIENTS:

  • 3 lb pork loin
  • 1 apple
  • 1 onion
  • honey
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Cut pork loin across top to make places to put the apple slices (approximately 1 cut every 1 inch)
  2. slice apple and put sections in the cuts in the pork loin
  3. put pork loin in crock pot
  4. dice onion and put on top of roast
  5. drizzle honey over roast and onions
  6. add 1 tsp cinnamon
  7. add 1 tsp salt
  8. cook on low for 3 hours

NOTES:

  • We’re spice wimpy, so I used half as much cinnamon and salt listed.
  • I drizzled very little honey because we need low sugar.
  • out pork loin was 4.5 lbs, so I just set the temperature to low and cooked it for 8 hours.

COMMENTS:

My husband was really enthusiastic about this. He said it was “YUMMY” a couple of times while eating it, and then at least a couple of times the next day. We ate another batch for another meal, and he wanted to put BBQ sauce on it, saying it reminded him of pulled pork – one of his favorite things. We didn’t have any sugar-free BBQ sauce, so I made a bit of gravy. (I found a recipe for sugar-free BBQ sauce I’m making today. Will let you know how things went later.) I think the rest of this will freeze nicely for us to enjoy at another time.

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Disarray

pinterest.com

pinterest.com

We are in a bit of disarray around here as we put an emphasis on “sugar-free” for my husband’s efforts to control his sugar and my low carb efforts to get my lard off.  Eating and sleeping patterns are new, resulting in HIS losing weight and MY gaining. :0(

  • Example 1 – we’re not reading upstairs in bed anymore due to his trying to get his restless leg problems under control. If he stays up later and then turns off the light and goes right to sleep, he has fewer problems with his legs.  Staying up later is okay for me, but we tend to watch TV, rather than reading, so I have more trouble getting to – and staying asleep, missing my wind-down with reading. We pass like ships in the night many times, coming back downstairs for an hour or so as we try to build new habits.
  • Example 2 – Since we’re not sleeping as well as we would like, we tend to sleep in, eating breakfast later. That causes me to be hungry mid afternoon. Many times my husband isn’t hungry (GRRRR!) and I fix snacky stuff for me. THEN he’s hungry at about 5, causing us to each dinner later…
  • Example 3 – our low carb eating is great for Type 2 diabetes, as well as getting the lard off. We’re concentrating, though, on reading labels of things my husband used to routinely eat without thought, and now misses a LOT. Now we’re trying to find (or make) sugar-free condiments, sugar-free drinks, sugar-free candy, sugar-free desserts. Today we’re on the lookout for sugar-free BBQ sauce. I’ve also found a recipe if we don’t find something readily available. I’m gradually going through the pantry, getting rid of things my husband can no longer eat/drink/use. (Before I was just not using them myself. Now we have a whole different ball game.) We’ve never read labels as we should have, and now are finding out all sorts of problems we need to fix.
  • Example 4 – my husband is exasperated that he’s been ‘good’ and his sugar numbers aren’t reflecting it as much as he would like. He tends to concentrate on what he can’t have, rather than being happy we can find good substitutes.  He really liked the low carb sausage balls I made last week and wants me to make more. He also raved about a pork loin roast I made. But – the bottom line is – he describes the new regimen as “not eating anything I like”.  I’m scrambling to come up with things he DOES like and emphasize the positive.

SO – as we search and scramble – the result has been a bit of exhaustion around here, wacky meals and wackier hours – so less emphasis on getting the lard off and a LOT on getting our act together for the long run. The healthier we can get, the better. As I’m fond of him, I want my husband to last as long as possible – AND feel good doing it. We’ll take each day at a time, concentrate on what we’re learning to do right and building new healthy habits.

If you’re having similar challenges, I hope you’re finding the help you need and are making steady progress toward your goals.

One meal at a time.

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Filed under Attitude, DIET!

Raised Bed Planter # 5 is UP!

 

planter-2of3

Late yesterday afternoon my husband and I tackled putting up raised bed planter # 5 in our square foot garden. It took us 3-1/2 hours and we were exhausted by the time we finished, but we’re delighted it’s up!

Today I put the Mel’s Mix I dug out into the finished planter.

 

planter-lastsquare

I then dug the Mel’s Mix out of the remaining square on the ground, putting it into three trash barrels. I put the barrels under the newly finished planter in case it rains before we can get the last planter up.  We’ll actually put the last planter closer to the perimeter fence, giving me plenty of room to walk all the way around each planter.

I took the old, rotted wood out to the burn barrel.

The new planters should last a good while. The wood isn’t on the ground as it was before, so it shouldn’t deteriorate nearly as fast.

____________________

I took some pics of the south side of the garden so you can see how the fall garden is doing –

 

fallgarden20161016-1

You can see the sides of two of the three planters on the south side of the garden. Mostly, you’re seeing broccoli and cauliflower plants, but there’s a head lettuce (light green), too.

 

fallgarden20161016-2

This is a picture taken at my eye level of the two kinds of lettuce. Isn’t it wonderful!

 

fallgarden20161016-3

The first sign I’m actually growing broccoli, instead of just great leaves!

 

fallgarden20161016-5

No sign of actual cauliflower heads yet. I’ll need to harvest lettuce and plant another batch of radishes soon.

 

fallgarden20161016-7

I’m rich in lettuce!

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Filed under DIET!, Gardening, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds

Wonderful Low Carb Sausage Ball Recipe

low-carb-sausage-balls

low-carb-sausage-balls

I found this recipe on Christy Jordan’s Southern Plate

I was looking for something for snacks, or a light lunch, or….. that was low carb and TASTY. I found it! Hooray for Christy!!!!

Low Carb Sausage Balls

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound pork breakfast sausage (Christy says, “spicy is great!” – but I used MILD because we’re weenies.) :0)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup almond meal
  • 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

  1. In a large mixing bowl, place all ingredients. Mix with an electric mixer until well combined.
  2. Use a cookie dough scoop or two spoons and spoon out onto lightly greased baking sheet.
  3. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
  4. Makes about 30. Refrigerate leftovers. Reheat very well in microwave or oven.

Notes:

From Christy – *These freeze really well. These have about 1 carb each. Please calculate nutritional information on your own for accuracy.

From me – (I didn’t get 30 balls, but I just made them until all the ingredients were used. I think I’ll line the baking sheet with foil next time for easier clean up.

SPECIAL NOTES : These were absolutely delicious. We have an early ‘lunch’ on Fridays with friends after not eating breakfast, so we get hungry mid afternoon. My husband and I each ate 4 sausage balls. They were filling and YUMMY! I’m going to buy several pounds of sausage Sunday and will make a bunch of these for the freezer. This was EXACTLY what I was hoping for. Easy to make. YUMMY to eat as a snack or anytime.

Christy has a whole section of her website devoted to low carb recipes. I’m following her now, and will keep trying more of these as we have the time.

 

 

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Getting the Lard Off Progress (?) Report – 10/12/2016

On our vacation last week, we stopped at fast food places while we were on the road to get something to eat. We ate quickly, went to the bathroom, and got on the road again. While we were in Thibodaux, we ate well, and Murray and John were really good about showing my husband and me how he could stay away from sugar, and any carbs I ate were my own choice. After coming home, we decided to finish out the week eating things we had missed while we were being good; i.e., spaghetti casserole and Texas toast; KFC meal with mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and the glorious biscuit; etc.

The result is that my husband LOST weight while I gained. His sugar count was up and my scale yelled at me, pleading for mercy.

scale-reddit

Monday morning we got serious again about controlling our eating. We have agreed that our one-scoop-of-ice-cream-in-a-cup at Braum’s after bowling on Monday nights is the only dessert we will have, other than an occasional OUTSHINE fruit bar if we really need it. I’m trying to go back to the basics on my low carb lifestyle, concentrating on eating beef, poultry, fish and low carb veggies. I’m also trying to get back to my exercising, though so far, only my intentions have been good.

Today I’ve found the exercise instruction sheet that came with my new exercise ball. There are 9 different exercises listed:

  • abdominal crunches while lying on your back on the ball
  • oblique crunches, where you lie on your side on the ball, then use your core muscles (assuming you HAVE some) to straighten up, doing it 8 to 12 times on each side.
  • push ups, with your feet up on the ball and your hands on the floor
  • push ups, with your feet on the floor behind you and your elbows or hands on the ball
  • overhead squat with twist
  • Leg lunge – leg behind you on the ball, then bending the opposite knee and coming back up
  • bridge leg lifts – feet on ball while lying on your back. Lift body off the floor while extending one leg up toward the ceiling.
  • Leg raises – Standing up while holding the ball. Lean forward while lifting one leg as far up behind yourself as possible.
  • Fold yourself into a paper airplane and fly across the room
dumpaday.com

dumpaday.com

 

So far – I’m intimidated. I think I’ll go do my elliptical (hoping for 30 minutes) and then try ONE of the exercises with the ball.  I can tell I need these exercises, but I’ll work into them slowly so I don’t fall on my head.

SO –

I’m determined to get the weight off that I gained last week plus get started again with my exercises. Hopefully, I’ll can report good progress next week.

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Filed under DIET!, exercise, getting the lard off

Tapeworm?

unknown photography credit via emily davis, trendingly.com

unknown photography credit via emily davis, trendingly.com

I’m trying to cook with no sugar for my husband. Since he’s having a tough time making the conversion, I’ve been trying to cook some of his favorite non-sugar meals. That means rice and pasta. I have little self-control, so I’ve been indulging in eating starches with him. This has resulted in non-stop hunger for me. My husband is losing weight, but I’m gaining. :0(

Every morning this week I’ve tried to get back on my low carb eating plan. Every evening I’m angry with myself because I’ve stuffed my face – again. I feel I have a tapeworm. I haven’t experienced this non-stop hunger for over a year – since I started eating low carb.  My energy level is down. I don’t like this!

TODAY I’m trying to make it be different. I’ve started out with a good low carb breakfast. I have a water bottle beside me. I’ve just finished making some hard-boiled eggs for meals and snacks. We’ll be eating leftovers for dinner, so there is no reason for me not to do my usual thing, getting back on track. Today I’ll get on the elliptical trainer and also use the exercise ball.

I’ll get out a low carb book and start reading. Maybe I can find my motivation again. I’m about half way to my goal and I want to start making progress again!

 

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Progress Report – Getting the Lard Off – 9/21/2016

taolife.com

taolife.com

I’m still on the ‘Plateau from Hell,’ as far as weight and inches go, (46 pounds and 23-1/2 inches off) but I freely admit that I’ve been eating more carbs than I should for the past week. My husband was really hungry for a few things, and I had put him off because they weren’t on my low-carb foods. I finally decided to indulge, since I didn’t want to prepare two separate meals for us. I think we’re now at the end of his really strong requests. He’s happy and so am I. :0)

He’s cutting WAAAAY back on sugar. This is a really good thing and I’m trying to encourage him every way I can. There are a lot of good recipes that are low carb AND low sugar, so we should be good for the near future.

 

I’ve been made newly aware, lately, of my age. This is mainly due to my trying to do two miles walking with annoying Leslie every day PLUS either upper or lower body strength exercises. I messed myself up, paying the price with several days where I felt 90+ years old. I decided to try a different approach.

I’m now doing the elliptical trainer for 30 minutes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

yourellipticals.com

yourellipticals.com

 

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I’m doing both upper and lower body strength exercises with 5 lb. weights. (several different exercises, 3 sets of 8 reps each)

 

 

I also got an exercise ball that is now aired up and ready for me.

One of my good friends has one. She says she’s sitting on it while watching TV, bouncing. Isn’t that a wonderful mental picture? It makes me smile. She has to keep her balance in order to do this, so that involves lots of muscles.

The ball also comes with a chart of exercises I can add things as I want. I’m planning to do the ball stuff a little at a time on days I’m doing the strength exercises.  I can really use the emphasis on balance. This plan, along with just being aware that I need to keep moving (I carry a pedometer in my pocket),  hopefully will prove a good combination for me.

 

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Getting the Lard Off – Progress Report – 9/7/2016

www-acuteaday.com

www-acuteaday.com

“Progress Report” is a misnomer in that I don’t have any changes to report today. I’m still at 46 lbs off and 22 inches off. I’m on DAY 8 of my new exercise regimen (2 miles with walking with annoying Leslie DVD and then either upper or lower body strength exercises.) It’s almost 5:00 now, and we spent most of the day going to Poteau and back with the auctions my husband wanted to attend, so I’ll have to scramble to get my exercises done today.

I CAN report that I feel “looser’ when I walk and can feel my meager stomach muscles working as I do – a new thing for me. I’m hopeful that in the coming weeks  I can look at this and call it my new base of exercising and add more to it. For now, I’m gritting my teeth and making myself get in the living room and move my lard.

I also can report that with the walking we did today – all over two large industrial manufacturing businesses, my hips and knees did not hurt! Hooraaaaaay!

One day at a time. Slow and steady.

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I’m Trying to Remind Myself…

Peaceful Daily via Marianna Bellantoni

http://www.marcandangel.com via Peaceful Daily via Marianna Bellantoni

I’m half-finished with “DAY 5” of my new exercise regimen of

  • Walking 2 Miles (or as far as I can each day) with the Annoying Leslie Fat Womans’ Walk DVD, and
  • Either UPPER or LOWER body strength exercises with weights. (I’m using 5 lb weights and doing three groups of eight repetitions each of about 5 or 6 different exercises.

I’ve tried to do this and failed before. I’ve told myself that I’m busy enough working in the garden and the yard that I don’t need the formal exercises. I’ve proven to myself once again that the movements I do in the yard, no matter how strenuous DO NOT equal the DVD and the exercises with weights.

Once again I have worked up to two miles – rather than one – on the DVD, and I’m then doing the strength stuff later in the afternoon.

I’m counting the days, both in my head and on paper, because I know you have to do things over and over every day for a length of time before something becomes a habit. Right now I’m having to push myself hard enough to do this I can’t even FEATURE it becoming a habit or something I would miss, but stranger things have happened.

A year ago I really didn’t believe that I could lose 45 pounds and 22 inches and change to eating a low carb diet. I didn’t believe that I could actually make a difference on my quarterly blood tests, or not have to take cholesterol medication anymore. I didn’t believe that I might actually be able to completely avoid having knee or hip replacement. I didn’t believe that I could work in the yard for over half an hour a day.

It’s one year later and I’ve done some real good for myself. I’m about half way to my goal now. I’m hoping that I can make the above exercise my daily HABIT and that then I can build on that, getting stronger and healthier as I lose the lard.

I’ve printed this reminder and put it up on the side of my filing cabinet beside my computer. “No matter how many mistakes you make or how slow you progress, you are still way ahead of everyone who isn’t trying.”

 

taolife.com

taolife.com

 

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