Wow – it has been a while – busy beginning to 2015!

Jan 20, 2015 – it has been about 20 days of my latest 30 day challenge.

My token measurement system worked well until today when I ran out of the appropriate change in my change jar.  🙂

So I counted the change in the token jar, took stock of where I am, logged it on a paper that I stuffed in the token jar and returned the rest of the change to the change jar.

As a reminder to you dear reader, I have finished the whole 30 challenge in December and now want to see if it has made a lasting change in my food awareness.  My simple goal was to have 60% paleo meals over time.  I’ll admit it has been a challenging 20 days.  Very stressful.  With all the normal life challenges including invites from friends to eat out and social obligations around the kids that fill my life, my daughter and her friends.  Two yummy birthday celebrations.

So how did the last 20 days stack up?

Well, I have a current 30 day goal of 3 miles walking on the treadmill every day for 30 days.  I mark that goal by dropping 1 quarter in the jar for every mile walked on the treadmill each day.  On day 20, there were 60 quarters because I met the goal of walking 3 miles a day, even on days where I had to work more than 12 hours.  I’m pretty proud of this accomplishment and now have 10 days to go to meet the 90 miles goal.

On a personal note, I find walking on the treadmill incredibly boring.  However, I have combined it with an activity that I haven’t had the time for recently, reading.  I am well into my 5th e-book in the last 20 days.  One hour a day of reading along with my walk have made it all bearable.  I am now averaging 11,000 to 16,000 steps a day due to the addition of these 3 miles. So all good.

My jar contained 36 dimes (one per paleo meal) and 24 dollars (one per non-paleo meal)  Oddly that was exactly 60%.  It was fun to see that I met that goal without really focusing on it.  There were days where I had two non-paleo meals.  I wondered if I had done myself a bad turn by doing that.  I feel pretty good about the 60% rate of paleo meals.  I’d like to do better and now that my daughter is back at college, I have less distractions.  Not no distractions, but less.

I have decided to start a new 30 day challenge today.   I have decided that it might be nice to be on day 11 of a new challenge as I hit day 30 of the current one.  The last 10 days seem to be easier while the first 10 are harder.  I’m trying to use the end game motivation from one challenge to carry me into another one.

My new challenge?  30 sit ups a day for 30 days.   900 sit ups done in the end.  I have a friend who did a 100 push ups a day for a hundred days challenge.  This is my shorter wimpy variation of his challenge. 🙂

My theme for this year is changing my life 30 days at a time.

I’m hoping to build some momentum and carry each 30 day challenge into my life in a 60% way after the challenge is over.

If you are still reading, thank you for your support of my continuing life change experiment.  Day 20 of the 30 days of 3 miles a day and day 1 of the 30 situps a day both done.

More tomorrow.

Day 4 of new 30DayChallenge – token measurement system defined :-)

1/4/2015  – Day 4 – another 3 miles on the treadmill – 12 total now in this 30DayChallenge.  As I mentioned before, I want some way to measure this years accomplishments.  I have started a token measurement system, I’m putting a coin in a jar for every time I do a measured activity.

This is how it works:

• One Quarter for every mile on the treadmill (my rationale is that I want to have this 30DayChallenge become a lasting change so I want to track it throughout the year)
• One Dollar Coin for every non-paleo meal or snack (this is an anti-measurement and it makes sense to me that it takes  4 miles on the treadmill to equal one unhealthy meal)  🙂
• One Dime for every paleo meal
• One Nickel for every 1/2 hour of other type of exercise (for example I shoveled the driveway for an hour today – two nickels)

I’m curious what the piles will look like in a month, 3 months, 6 months, year.  Feels like a fun way to track this.  I’m giving it a go.

For the record today I added two dollar coins to the jar.  I had a pastry for breakfast and mall thai food for lunch (rice, bar-b-q’d chicken, green beans) for lunch.  Even when I’m not eating Paleo, I try to eat as healthy as the food option allows.  Not a mostly paleo day, but one where I got a lot of exercise – so a generally healthy one.

Random side note : I made a new recipe today, Coconut Milk Chia Seed Pudding

Day 3 of new 30DayChallenge – Cooking was the goal today.

1/3/2015 – today was day 3.  3 miles walked on the treadmill for 30 days is the current challenge.  a total of 9 miles so far.  Fabulously 10% of the way to the 30 day goal.  10% feels like a huge accomplishment, which is one of the reasons I’m loving 30 day goals.   🙂

Today I cooked.  I prepared paleo foods for my week.  I made:

1. Mango Turkey Meatballs
2. Asian Meatballs with Sweet Potato and Mushroom
3. Swedish Meatballs with Mushroom Gravy

For breakfast I had the last of the sweet potato pancakes with mango puree.  For lunch I had left over lettuce wrapped taco with jicama-carrot slaw. For dinner I tried the Asian Meatballs with Sweet Potato and Mushroom and way too much (3 bowls) of cabbage with home made french dressing (I paid for that choice later in the evening).  I also ate a raspberry turnover from our bakery (the only non-paleo item of my day), I savored every bite!

I’ve decided to try a token economy this year.  Try to capture the quantity of good / bad decision I’m making in a visible way. I’m rewarding myself for every pound lost, every 3 mile walk, every paleo meal.  I’m also capturing every non-paleo food item I consume in a day.  I’m doing this by adding coins to a jar.  Kind of like the old fashion swear jar.  I’m curios how after 365 days the coins will stack up.

Over all it was a good day and this life change experiment continues.  I hope you are enjoying your 2015.

When does the hopefulness of a new year wear off?

1/2/2015 – Day 2 of my 30 day walking challenge.  I walked 3 miles on the treadmill today while watching an old episode of Shameless.  Then I ran some errands, paid some bills, went grocery shopping.

I got a fabulous variety of vinegars in pretty little bottles.  I can’t wait to try them.

I also picked up some new spices and dried mushrooms.  I like trying new things.

Today’s adventure was curry roasted cauliflower.  It was amazing.

I’m babbling in written form.

Tomorrow I need to do some cooking for the week.  I have a very limited supply of paleo foods in my fridge right now.

Today I had sweet potato pancakes and mango puree for breakfast.  Chicken goya meatballs with teriyaki reduction and cabbage with home made french dressing for lunch.  Dinner was steak with roasted garlic and curry roasted cauliflower.

So good.  So yummy.  It feels really odd to say it but I’m loving making my own food and knowing that what I’m eating is good for me.

I’m trying to avoid the hopefulness of the new year wearing off.  I like the idea of 365 new opportunities and I want to take advantage of everyone.

I like 30 day challenges because they have many milestones along the way. 3 days in you are 10% of the way done.  6 days in your are 1/5 of the way done.  10 days in 1/3 and so on.  Feels like the time is flying by.  I’m keeping the Whole30 rule of if you don’t follow the plan you have to start over at day 1.  I’m hoping that this keeps me on track with my 3 miles a day for 30 days.

In any case, day 2 is done.  6 miles total completed.  Does the hopefulness wear off for you?  How will you keep it alive?

New year – new 30 day challenge for me.

1/1/2015 – I am very happily still eating mostly paleo foods.  I enjoyed a variety of foods throughout the holidays but I’m still cooking most of my foods and still very conscientious of what I’m eating.  I kind of like knowing what I’m consuming.  I spent the day today making some sauces.  Ketchup, a teriyaki dipping sauce, and believe it or not a french dressing (it is amazing!  try the recipe).  The only sugars I’m currently eating regularly are honey and molasses.

Confession time, as I promised, over the holidays I did indulge a bit.  I had my favorite Thai food Shrimp Himaparn with white rice and peanut sauce.  It was an amazing indulgence.  I also had a drink on new years eve and bagels with cream cheese and lox.  Every treat was so yummy.  I kept to the goal of over 60% paleo.

Today, I had sweet potato pancakes with mango puree for breakfast.  Goya chicken meatballs with teriyaki reduction and cabbage with sunshine sauce for lunch.  Dinner consisted of lettuce wrapped turkey “tacos” with jicama-carrot slaw and a tomato salad with french dressing.  !00% Paleo day!

It has been a couple of weeks since I finished the Whole30 and I am still enjoying this new way of eating, most of the time.

If you read my previous blog post, you know I like to have annual themes vs new years resolutions.  I think I have figured out what 2015’s theme will be.  I discovered during the Whole30 that I could stick with the life changes because I knew that I only had to do them for 30 days and yet, two weeks later, I’m still living life differently than I did 60 days ago.  I may be onto something.  So my theme for this year is “Making changes 30 days at a time”.

I’ve started another 30 day challenge.  I want to walk 3 miles a day on my treadmill for 30 days.  Reaching a grand total of 90 miles.  I chose 3 miles because a non-speed walking pace I can walk that easily in an hour.  I also chose it because 3 miles is about 6,000 steps.  According to my pedometers I walk about 5-6000 steps on any given day.  By doing this I should double my daily steps.

I started this challenge today.  Walked 3 miles on the treadmill.  3 miles total done so far.  What are you doing to grow in the new year?

Mostly Paleo Holiday

12/28/2014 – I’ve been cheerfully enjoying the holidays with my family and hope you have too. I have been conscious of all my food choices.  Savoring the variety.  My mom’s raisin bread is a fabulous treat.  I’m enjoying every bite!

Happily, since I’m more food aware, I’ve stayed mostly paleo.  Eating whole foods well over half the time and loving every minute of it.

I haven’t gained a pound, in fact I’ve lost more and I feel great.

I spent some time cooking for this week yesterday.  I made my staples, goya meatballs, cuban meatballs, shredded cabbage salad, carrot and jicama slaw.   Today I’m making turnip and leek hash and taco meat.  I like being prepared for the week, it helps me feel confident that I can continue to eat in a healthy way and succeed in changing body for the better.

I’m not big on new years resolutions.  I much prefer declaring a theme for the year.  This past year was “remember me”.  It was all about remembering who I am, what I enjoy, and considering myself before others for a change.  This was a huge change for me because I’ve been a single mom for so long, always placing my daughters needs above my own, it took real effort to consider my needs first.  I can’t say I’ve been completely successful, but I have tried.

The previous year my theme was “something new”.  It lead to many adventures both in food – many new foods experienced – and in experiences.  I went parasailing, paddle boarding, learned to ride a motorcycle, among other great activities.

As you are considering the past year and looking forward to the next, I totally recommend abandoning the traditional new years resolutions and declare a theme for next year.  I need to ponder what next years theme will be.  More on that later.

C is for cookie that’s good enough for me…. Cookie, Cookie, Cookie starts with C

12/23/14 – today I had three of the yummiest small sugar cookies at work.  A co-worker had given me a large tin of these adorable cookies as a gift.  I put them out for others to enjoy and naturally had a few myself.

Other than that wonderful indulgence, I had turnip hash and soft boiled eggs  for breakfast.  Chicken tips, green beans, and spinach salad for lunch, and jicama/carrot slaw with meatballs for dinner.  Later in the evening I had some cashews as a snack.

My daughter had her high-school friends over for a gift exchange get together and kept me up managing excited dogs until 2am.  Today as I post this it is Christmas Eve and it will be an eating festival.  Starting this morning with the traditional holiday brunch spread at work and then moving to family dinner festivities later today.  I’m looking forward to every bite.

Have a happy holiday!

First Sandwich post whole30

12/22/2014 – good news – bad news kind of day.  I lost more weight – good news.  I ate well for most of the day – good news.

It was a very long, stressful, mentally exhausting day at work – good news and bad news.  I really enjoy my job and the mental challenges of it, but it can be draining.

I had left over chicken for breakfast, a spinach salad for lunch, meatballs, carrot-jicama slaw, and turnip hash for dinner.

My daughter came home from work at 10 and I felt hungry.  She had a sandwich and I made a roast beef, cheese, on oatmeal bread sandwich.  I ate it and enjoyed every bite.  🙂

I don’t feel bad.  Today was over 80% in the healthy column.  A good day overall.

After the whole30 – reintroduction of the wonders of honey. Yum!

12/21/2014 – sorry I’m a bit late posting this.  Today I decided to try a paleo chicken teriyaki recipe.   Coconut aminos  as a  soy sauce substitute are fabulous.  That combined with fresh ginger and garlic.  Yum.  My version was with sliced chicken breast and I marinated it for an hour or so.  Since it was a bit salty, I pared it with some of my carrot, jicama, parsnip, apple, salad and called it dinner.

Confession of the day: today I snacked.  I had a small bowl of cashews and a few spicy plantain chips that I had made last night.  I think I know what the “problem” was.  My daughter was working until 8 and I wanted to wait to eat with her.  But, I was really hungry.  In hindsight I should have just had dinner when I was hungry.

Other meals consisted of the turnip/leak hash with fried eggs for breakfast.  Goya meatballs for lunch.  I was a bit busy today with preparing Christmas gifts and lost track of time.  Probably didn’t eat enough, another reason for the snackage (sure that is a word in my little world) .

My mother is finishing baking her fabulous german raisin bread.  A regular Christmas gift to her nearest and dearest.  I can’t wait to get mine.  I’m confessing now that I will be breaking briefly the “no bread” rule when this happens.  My mom’s arthritis is getting worse every year.  I don’t know when the last raisin bread will be here.  I’m not going to miss a single one between now and then.  As I mentioned in the last post, I plan on living well and there my moms raisin bread is part of that plan.  So good!

Since, honey is technically paleo.  I’m putting today in the paleo column.

Life after the whole30 – will these changes stick?

12/20/2014 – Theoretically I could have ate any thing I wanted today.  I’m done with the plan.  But, I didn’t want to.  I ate sort of well.

Started my day in the normal way, chores and chia seeds mixed with 32 oz water and 4 oz blueberry black cranberry juice.

Then I had some bacon for breakfast.  I need to get more food in the fridge.  Left over gyoza meatballs were all there was to offer for lunch. Then I went Christmas shopping for a couple of hours.

After that I headed to the grocery store and decided to explore some more of the produce department.  Today I need to cook and I wanted to make something new.

Turnips!  Let’s try Turnips!  I  made Paleo Porns Turnip Hash Casserole.  I tried a little after it was done cooking.  Totally yummy.

Parsnips!  Why not?  I picked up parsnips, carrots, jicama, and apples.  Shredded it all and made a fabulous salad with a little cilantro, lemon, and orange juice dressing.

I like having meatballs in the fridge.  I’m starting to make variations of the clothes makes the girl’s cuban meatballs and Gyoza meatballs.  I’m adding more veggies to the mix.

So now I have some go to foods in the fridge for my week.   Very yummy go to foods.  My next step is to make some plantains and some sweet potato pancakes.  But that is tomorrows culinary challenge.

The nice thing about all these dishes is that I’m starting to make changes and I really like the variety of flavors.

Dinner was lobster tails in ghee and some of my parsnip, carrot, jicama, apple salad.

So, today the first day were I could have eaten in a non-paleo way, was a paleo day.  By choice.  Nice.