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Quinoa Salad

January 22, 2014January 22, 2014by SymoneFLeave a Comment

I’m determined to get my midsection looking the way I want it to look by my birthday next month. This is going to be a pretty hard task but I also want to try to maintain it. I saw my dietician on Monday and I was looking for snacking options and sides to eat with whatever meat or poultry I was having for dinner. From her suggestions, I bought quinoa, wheatberry and amaranth. Of the three, I’ve only cooked quinoa before, so I started with it as I need to research how to cook the others. I was on a phone with my friend rummaging through the fridge, trying to figure out what to cook with it when I saw the following: cabbage, carrots, apple and cucumber. I decided a quinoa salad was what I’ll make.

My husband wasn’t so keen on quinoa before so I was praying he’d eat this and not fuss. I didn’t add any apple to his as he doesn’t like apple in salads ~~which is beyond me because it’s the shit!~~. So here’s what I did:

Boil 1/2 cup quinoa in 1 cup of low sodium chicken stock – use the cooking instructions on the packaging. You can use more if you want but this was a test run for me so I didn’t use a lot.
Take half of a regular cucumber and chop into quarters.
1 cup of shredded carrots
1 cup of chopped cabbage
Once quinoa has cooled, mixed together and sprinkle with no more than a 1/2 tsp of salt to taste. Salt is optional.

And that is your salad! David said it tasted good and he took it to work (that means he *really* liked it). I’ll definitely make this again and add more quinoa as it had looked a little sparse in the bowl.

I’ll also experiment with the wheatberry and amaranth and if anything works I’ll share here :).

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Stop. Eat. Continue

January 16, 2014January 16, 2014by SymoneFLeave a Comment

Last Sunday night I had an awful upset stomach. On Monday I felt a little better and I decided to go ahead with my supermarket run – you know, visit 3/4 places to get everything I needed. My stomach was still a bit in a knot when I left home but after 2 hours I started to feel the hunger kick in. I wanted to just get everything done and then just sit and have lunch and unload everything.

BIGGEST. MISTAKE. EVER. I literally spent Tuesday in bed with the worst migraine of my life. My husband knew it was awful when I hadn’t even showered. I always say when you feel sick, take a shower, somehow it helps you to feel better. But I was just in fear of fainting in the shower without him home with all of the extreme dizziness that I had. I also had an asthma attack last September and was only allowed to take Tylenol so I only took 1 extra strength hoping it would offer some comfort in the morning. It did, I managed to make breakfast and went back to sleep. Half hour after my husband got home in the evening, the nurse at my doctor’s office finally called back to let me know what to take. It was Ibuprofen, something I shouldn’t take with my asthma, but this was an isolated incident so I should be fine. I took it and it slowly started to go. The next morning I took 2 more and I was ok.

Would you believe I almost did the same thing yesterday? I got so caught up in doing research on something that I totally forgot to eat. I dropped everything and went to Panera as I figured soup would be the best thing to eat. I also followed it up with a cup of tea and prayed that I don’t get a repeat of last week.

All of that to say, sometimes we get so consumed with life that we don’t see how it’s affecting our health. Next month I’ll be officially entering my late twenties and I want to feel better than I ever did. But if I keep this up, I’ll just be on the way to feeling like shit and encouraging disgusting habits and creating health issues that I never had before.

I’m not waiting until next week, or for a Monday to come – today it begins. I’ve progressed in that I was very sketchy with breakfast and now, like it’s supposed to be, it’s the most important meal of my day. I also want to lose at least 3lbs by my birthday which is more of a diet process than exercise process for me and it’s been hard so far but I have to stop thinking I *need* something when I really don’t. Like that raspberry filled, powdered donut is a treat for today. Or the chocolate brioche is ok once I have it with my Babybel light cheese which is a protein so it balances out… But it’s not ok.

It’s still the first month of the year and I haven’t been doing too bad but any bit of motivation helps. I’m going to meet with my dietician as soon as possible to help get me back on track. Lifestyle changes are what we need not resolutions. Life is a work-in-progress, treat it as such and roll with it.

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Fitbit Monsters

January 10, 2014by SymoneFLeave a Comment

At the end of August last year, literally the second last day, our fitbits came from Amazon. David, my husband, was supposed to be playing tennis that weekend, so I decided to get a head start and charge and start using mine before him. I didn’t charge his or anything, I left it there in the box. At home. Waiting for him.

He knew about it for some time as people in his office were using it and had a little competition going. Then we had a little competition going. For some time he held a lead ahead of me because it was Summer and he was playing tennis almost every weekend. After realizing how competitive it was making us in the fitness area and how much it changed our habits (like taking the stairs and walking to places instead of driving) we decided that this is the gift we’d get our parents for Christmas and have a little friendly competition.

Fast forward to Christmas week Man! Those old people could put in some steps! WTF!? My parents walk in the morning once it’s not raining and they do Salsa. I think we underestimated how active our parents were. It’s January 10th and I’ve been on the treadmill for the last two days in a row and I might just go on it tonight after dinner. I need to stay close behind them. They’re in their 50s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My mother had a significantly low count the other day and I asked what happened. She said she took it off and forgot to put it back on. This is a competition so I won’t be reminding anyone to charge or put back on their fitbit… Every bit counts!! I know this all sounds mean but… you know how competition can sometimes bring out the worst in people? Yea, that may be me.

I just find it very interesting that my struggle to stay fit or exercise outside of our sessions with our trainer on Tuesdays and Thursdays has been overcome because of our parents. PARENTS. I know they’re not old by any means but it really puts things into perspective when these people are twice your age and putting in more steps that you. I’m quite anxious to see what I’ll look like by the end of February if we keep this up. I hope to never back down or just accept their lead.

I’ve lost 5lbs since I started using it and that is thanks to diet as well. I hope in 2014 I look and feel my best while keeping a few good curves… I don’t know how many good ones I have right now.