Wasn’t it John Lennon who said something like life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans? This really was a horrible time, emotionally, for me to start this project. I’m not giving up or anything, no no. I just am emotionally exhausted and hurting in ways I wouldn’t normally be. It’s a distraction. A few days ago I couldn’t find my journal. I keep making little notes here and there and mental tallies of what I’d eaten, but didn’t write them in the missing journal. After two full days I found the journal, but had an extremely emotional day and didn’t even feel like breathing, let alone journal my food intake. Though overall I ate small portions and all the healthy stuff I was supposed to – I ate two cookies yesterday when I probably would have only had a half a cookie had I been journaling. Other than that – fruit, fish, seeds, veggies and some quinoa. That’s it. All good.
Anyway, I did take the trouble to write down some soup I made that was for my husband who is having severe stomach problems. I thought it would taste terrible because I couldn’t use onions and garlic and a good portion of salt. I did some pinches of sea salt and used carrot and celery and parsley for the main stock in olive oil. It worked out lovely. I couldn’t believe how tasty it was in the end. Here is the recipe (sorry no real measurements):
TASTY SIMPLE SOUP!!!
You could make this vegan by just not adding the chicken – the stock has no meat or meat by-products!
Three stalks of celery warmed in olive oil in the bottom of a large stock pot – until a little soft
Lots of baby carrots chopped and added
about a cup of fresh chopped parsley
Some sprigs of fresh basil all chopped up
Cook for a while in the olive oil, but not too long – don’t want mushy veggies
Add plenty of filtered water
Approx 2tbsp each of dried parsley, dried basil, powdered thyme, celery seed, powdered coriander (I may have used three tablespoons of coriander) and a small handful of sea salt
Then add:
a cup of barley
one or two large russet potatoes – you could do reds if you like
frozen sweet corn – however much you like
diced fresh chicken
After it was all cooked up I tasted the broth and adjusted a little more salt, but be careful, it’s not great for you.
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YUMMY PEACHY SMOOTHIE!
Then I made a beautiful smoothie – it was SOOOOO GOOOOOOD! If you like peaches and bananas you will like this one. I recommend it fresh – it was better made right away and less amazing the next day:
Fill the blender half way with vanilla soy milk (I like Silk brand)
add a container of Silk vanilla soy yogurt
one banana
about two cups of frozen mango
one very ripe peach – slice it up and put it in the blender with the skin on
one scoop (about two tablespoons) of flax seed powder
two tablespoons of honey
Blend on high very well until the peach skin is all broken up.
YUMMY!!! And I liked the texture too – it was very creamy.
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SOME OF MY BLOODWORK IS IN – WILL PUT THE REPORTS UP WHEN THEY ARE MAILED TO ME
I had bloodwork done during my physical in December. While my total cholesterol was on the surface “good” – the lipid panel was a bit skewed and needed some work.
My total cholesterol was 182 in December 2008 – well within the 100-199 recommendation, yes?
Well, while my Trigylcerides and total were in normal limits my LDL (bad) was high and my HDL (good) was too low.
So, in December my LDL was 125. You want that “bad” cholesterol not to be any higher than 99. My HDL was 36, which you don’t want to be any lower than 39 and ideally you’d like it to be 59 or better.
DECEMBER 2008:
LDL – 125
HDL – 36
AUGUST 2009:
LDL – 118
HDL – 45
Now – my “bad” cholesterol is still above the desired mark, but not by much. And my “good” cholesterol is now quite good and hopefully with all the added flax seed and salmon, it will get even better my next trip to the lab!
My glucose serum is still high at 104, but it was 109 in December. I can feel the changes and these numbers help show it in a way that makes me feel like I am actually doing good things to my body.
Now, if I could just keep my mind from wandering into eating disorder-ville, it will be ok.
