Raging Grannies

Today was my first Raging Grannies Gig. This was an education/information meeting to introduce prospective new members to our group affectionately known as the BAD (Barrie and District) Raging Grannies. Here is a picture of our group with our brand new banner singing one of our songs. I am the one in the hat! lol

Day 19 - Third Last Day

When I got up this morning, I only had three days left on this diet. Not I am heading towards my second last! I had apple slices for a combined breakfast and lunch after I returned from the gym from doing my lower body exercies, cardio and Fit For Life 55 + class. Supper was spinach salad with smoked chicken slices. Snack tonight will be grapes and crudités!


The gardens are looking fabulous. I am going to add all the pictures together at the end of this post. My bleeding heart is all in bloom. I didn't even notice it starting. I have a new patch of red tulips and my front rose garden is full of spring blooms. The garden where the spring bulbs first started blooming are dying off. The bleeding heart is keeping the garden alive!


On the weekend, we were driving by Zehrs and saw the fire department out in force. The aerial ladder was moving men to the roof. My granddaughter thought it was important we go and watch. As we were just going to spend the rest of the evening quietly at home, I decided to agree to her request. She took several pictures with my blackberry and if I ever figure out how to get them to my computer I will post them. I learned that night, that we had failed her in one area. When we were leaving, she wanted to drive by the fire truck so she could touch it. Where in the world did we go wrong? Fire truck I said... You want to touch the fire truck???? Me .. well .. given the choice, I would rather touch the fire fighter than the truck.. sheesh!


Did y'all know that today is boobquake day? Search facebook for boobquake to find the details.


This is the beginning of the spring bulbs in the front rose garden on April 15.

One week later on April 23, the blooms are basking in the sun.







The first non spring bulb flower in the back garden with my dancer statue.

A better picture of the dancer.

Another spring flower by the fountain bird bath. I don't know what it is called.


A couple of days later on the 26th, the front rose garden.

The red tulips in the back side garden opened up almost simultaneously.


The back garden beginning to dye off.

The Bleeding Heart bringing life back to this garden. This is the flower.


This is the bush.

These are a couple of trees and their shadows that happened to intrigue me on the weekend. What can I say. I get impressed by the simplest of things sometimes! :-) This is my tree.

This is its shadow.

This is my neighbour's tree.

And its shadow.

Birthday Weekend - Days 17 and 18

What a great weekend it was. The sun was shining and I was celebrating a birthday! Saturday started with a facial and eye treatment. I then went to the gym, grabbed a salad and went for a manicure and hair wash and style. I was all set to go home, get changed, put on some makeup and head out to supper and the Cosmetic Gala at the Bay with my granddaughter. I had a chicken spinach salad at Swiss Chalet. Sarah had the pierogies and poutine and my mandarins and torilla chips from my salad that I couldn't eat. Then off to the Bay. We received a couple of nice gifts... it seemed to be fragrance weekend. I got full sized bottles of Dazzling Gold from Estée Lauder and Vera Wang Truly Pink and Sarah got one as well but I don't recall the fragrance she got.

On Sunday morning as I was waiting for my grandson to get in, I received a call from Sears saying that I won their Gala basket from Lancome from the previous week! How exciting was that. Sarah and I went to Cora's for brunch where I had the fruit plate and Sarah had French Toast with fruit. That is a great place to get a healthy meal for those who don't know the restaurant. It is only open for breakfast and lunch, closing at three in the afternoon. Josh was here by then and we went to the bus depot to pick him up. We went to Sears to pick up the basket and received several full sized bottles of Lancome products including their fragrance Poeme. We ran a couple more errands and had a bit of a visit and then Josh took me out to Urban Dish for my birthday! He had filet mignon and mashed and I had roast chicken and zucchini. He started with soup, me the salad. It was a lovely meal with jazz playing in the background. Josh grabbed the last bus for home. It was good seeing him and helped give me a great birthday!

As I am still on this diet until Wednesday, I decided that I needed to celebrate my birthday all week! At least until I can have my cake guilt free! ;-) I will end the celebration with a bunch of ladies at an all day Ladies Day on May 1st.

Day 16

Another non-exciting day foodwise. I didnt' have breakfast, grabbed a glass of apple cider for lunch and had some penne with garlic infused olive oil and zucchini and onions. For a snack tonight I had celery sticks and grapes. Then I went to Tim Horton's to get some croissants for the girls for breakfast. That was my downfall. I also got them some timbits and couldn't resist getting myself an Iced Coffee. It turns out that not only the Iced Coffee tripped me up, but while I was waiting for the girls I couldn't keep my hands off the timbits eating a good portion of them! sigh... I am a brown rice elimination diet flunkie! I will try to get back on track tomorrow for what it is worth. Not sure how much damage tonight will do to the overall purpose of it, but it is what it is and I will have to go with it.

Earth Day, Day 15, Winding Down

I have made it to the last week on this funky diet! So far so good. I had grapes for breakfast and went out with my new Red Hat Group the StrawBarrie Tarts. What a great time! The restaurant was called Pieces of Olde and used fresh baked breads, pies etc. Their sandwich fillings were fresh and not that pressed meat type. The pie filling was easily an inch thick. I didn't get to taste any, but the pies were going fast and furious out of the kitchen. What a better testament to flavour? It was wonderful. I want to go back when I am no longer on this diet! I had a salad with Raspberry Vinaigrette. It was very nice, made with fresh crunchy ingredients. It is very obvious that they take pride in what they serve their guests. After lunch we strolled the main street of the village. There is a bakery there that is fabulous! I gained 10 pounds on my first whiff as I walked in the door. I couldn't buy anything today and have any hope of staying on this diet, but I will be back. If you are in the Elmvale area in Ontario, you have to go here. I am looking forward to more outings with these gals. One of these girls is in the Raging Grannies, so we also have other things in common.

I ended up being out for dinner, unplanned but those are often the best! A tossed salad with sweet onion vinaigrette was on the menu! A nice meal for Earth Day. All sustainable foods and I car pooled today. I tried to consciously reduce my carbon footprint just a little more on this Earth Day.

Day 14

Nothing exciting to report today. I began my 55+ Fit For Life classes. So far so good. If they don't get any harder, I should do ok in them I am thinking I need to keep up the treadmill with them even if I am doing some cardio in order to keep up the intensity I am used to. Electrolysis, errands and my cleanse class rounded out my day. For breakfast I had some green grapes. Lunch was a roasted chicken breast with sweet potatoes and dinner was a sliced apple and pecans. At the cleanse class we discussed ways to keep the lymphatic system moving, exercise, yoga, deep breathing etc. We also did a meditation exercise using guided imagery. Dry body brushing and hydrotherapy was discussed as a way to removed toxins from the body. Tomorrow is going to be a fun day. I will tell you all about it tomorrow!

Day 13

After falling off the diet wagon yesterday afternoon, I decided I had best be good today! Before going to the gym, I enjoyed apple slices with almond butter. After a cardio and upper body workout, I returned home for a blueberry and raspberry smoothie. Dinner was salmon and green beans. Tonight's snack is grapes. I will try to get more exciting with meals in a few days after I get back on track.

I'm Excited!

This afternoon I watched a performance from Smile Theater called Raging Grannies. It was entertaining and quite a delightful way to spend the afternoon. As it happens, there was a group of the Raging Grannies there in the audience and I was sitting next to them at tea. They are a local group and I was invited to join. How cool is that?!?!?!!!! Information on them can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raging_Grannies I feel like I am going back to my teen years when I protested California Grapes and Vietnam! ;-) Now all I need are "Grannie" clothes.

It turns out that the afternoon became a double whammy. There was a Red Hat Group there as well. This group was from out of town but took my name and number and low and behold I received a voice mail from the Queen Mother of a local group. It looks like any day now I will become a Strawberry Tart! I just have to confirm at a better hour to make phone calls. Time to dust off my Red Hat clothes!

This is turning into a fabulous week! I hope yours has started as well as mine has! Blue Monday indeed!

Food Update

It has been a while since I have updated this blog. I was away for the weekend and that resulted in limited computer time. It was an interesting weekend though and I saw some family and did some shopping at a couple of my favourite spots.

On Friday I had some apple slices with almond butter before heading to the gym. At the gym, I did my lower body exercises, some core exercises and 35 minutes of cardio. On return from the gym I ate some grapes and pecans. Then I packed and headed to Brockville for a visit. When I arrived I had a salad with chicken strips for dinner.

Saturday saw us head to Hall's Apple Orchards. They have a gift shop and Christmas shop in addition to their orchard fare. I picked up a birthday gift and headed out to Merrickville. We visited the health food store and an accessory store where I became the proud owner of some on sale purses. Then my favourite of all Mrs. McGarrigle's Fine Mustard...Fine Food. http://www.mustard.ca/ It has to the best place on earth. Well at least in my vicinity that day! I stocked up on some oils and sauces. I visited the upstairs room for the first time and they had a tagine. I've been wanting one and this one was so priced right that it came home with me! I can't wait until I can use it. I will be searching this week for a recipe (or one that I can modify) that fits in with my diet. Food wise I had grapes for breakfast with a glass of grape juice and then went out for dinner with my cousin who was celebrating a birthday. The restaurant was very cooperative in meeting my dietary needs. I had a tossed salad with a raspberry vinaigrette to start followed by grilled salmon with fresh squeezed lemon and a double order of veggies, that night being green and yellow beans. It was all washed down with water.

On Sunday after the usual grape breakfast, I went for a short visit with my brother before heading to Zellers for 3 hours to visit with my youngest granddaughter. For lunch I had sweet potato fries (which was about the only option available) and a bottle of water. Then we headed for home. We ate dinner out where I had a roasted chicken breast with broccoli and carrots.

I missed out on going to the gym on the weekend so was glad to get back there today. Today was pretty much a repeat of Friday for the gym as I forgot my workout sheet and I can remember the lower body stuff better than the upper. As I wasn't here on the weekend and hadn't gotten groceries yet, I skipped breakfast. I almost forgot I had tickets to a matinée live show and hurried to get there. As I hadn't eaten and they served a Cream Tea, my resistance floundered and the diet went by the wayside as I enjoyed a scone with jam and cream and a brownie. I went back to the diet for a dinner of a tossed salad and a late night snack that I am now enjoying of sliced apples and grapes.

A Bit Tardy

We had a bit of a family situation this weekend that required my presence several hours away from this computer. I will do an update tomorrow and let everyone know how I coped with the diet while away.

Zunnion Dip

Whenever you find yourself on a diet, you start noticing the things that you do out of habit. The evening snack of chips or popcorn, the veggies with dip or the ice cream. While surfin some food sites, I found a recipe for Zunnion on VegWeb.com and thought I would give it a try.


I assembled all the ingredients:

Then I chopped the 3 inch piece of zucchini into a small dice and about half the shown onion, which in total is about 1/4 of a large sweet onion. I did not peel the zucchini. I added in 5 small cloves of minced garlic. Put them all in a pot to sauté in their own juices. I added water as the liquid evaporated. Towards the end, I added 2 teaspoons of olive oil to help bind the dip together.

When it became soft enough, I put it in the blender to purée.

The finished product. I cooled it and took it to the class with me and had many requests for the recipe, so it was a success! It is good with celery sticks and other crudités.



The recipe can be found at http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=8186.0 .

Day 7

Wednesday ends the first week of this diet. I'm a third of the way there! It was strength training rest day so I only had cardio to do. I guess this was what got me thinking more about trying something new. For breakfast I had some apple chips. I've been having problems trying to figure out what to have for lunch usually reverting to the combined brunch thing and eating lots of fruit. Today however, I took some large leaf lettuce leaves and used them as a wrap for a sandwich. I topped them with a bit less than a teaspoon of the Chelton House Raspberry Vinaigrette. http://www.cheltenhouse.com/content.cfm?mode=ch_products It was fat free and contains only 7 calories for a tablespoon, so about 2 calories on each of my sandwiches.


The ingredients for my sandwiches:

The final product. One is wrapped and the other is ready to be wrapped.

They turned out pretty good and were quite tasty. They are a little messier than the traditional wrap, but knowing this in advance took care of any problems. They were also filling. I had trouble finishing the second one.

We had our cleanse class this evening. With music lessons prior, it put dinner off until later. When I got home I had baked sweet potato fries and finished off the celery and zunnion dip ( in a separate blog post ) that I had made earlier and taken to the class along with the rest of the pear chips to get more opinions about the results. All in all it was a good day.

Day 6 Eats

After my morning chauffeuring duties, I decided it was a day to go back to bed. When I got up and got myself moving for the day, I came across the apple and pear chips recipe and delayed my going to the gym so I could make them. To keep me from stealing from the chips, I started by slicing myself a plate of apples and pears and celery for breakfast/lunch.


I did manage to get to the gym, but not until late afternoon. In addition to cardio, this was my lower body day. So I had leg extensions, leg curls, leg presses, calf raises and hip abduction/adduction to do. In addition I was so fortunate to be able to do mat work today, supermans, bridges and hydrant combos. I also did worked my abs and did my shoulder raises. What a lucky girl I am! :-)



When I came home and cut a sweet potato into chunks and half a sweet onion. I sprayed them with olive oil and placed them in a 425 oven for 35 mins. Then I prepared some green bean almondine. I had a quarter of a chicken breast from my Sunday smoker still and had that for protein. All in all it turned out quite well!

Day 6 - Apple and Pear Chips

Today while looking around the computer for something for a friend, I found a Martha Stewart recipe for Apple and Pear Chips.

I turned the oven to 200 degrees and assembled what I needed. I used a Royal Gala apple and a Bartlett pear.

I prepared the pan with parchment.

Then I sliced the apple and pear and put the slices on the pan. I ended up with 2 pans of apples and 1 of pear slices. The instructions ask you to dip the fruit slices in sugar and place them on the pan. As I cannot have sugar, I used a little bit of stevia between my fingers to drop on one tray of the apple slices.

Into the oven for 1 hour. Then they needed to be turned and baked for another hour. I really need to stop trying to turn this oven into a convection one. I needed to do each pan separately. The apples got a little over done, but the pears were fine. On tasting, I liked the apples without the sweetener better. These are a promising snack as long as I remember to be patient and do one tray at a time!

The finished apple chips.

The recipe can be found here http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/apple-and-pear-chips

Day 5 - Blue Monday

Blue perhaps, but what a fine day. A sunny 11 degree Celsius with Spring Blooms in the gardens help to ameliorate any negativity there may be. I did the test with the Secrets of the Valley Juice. I had one cup for breakfast. My blood sugar dropped by 1.4 mmol/L. Maybe it is the evening late night snacking. I have been trying to avoid considering that as I do like an evening snack! Today was errand day, so the morning was spent doing those chores. I had originally thought that a nice piece of toasted brown rice bread with tahini would hit the spot before heading to the gym but the bread had gone blue moldy. I don't think I will be buying it again. I can't eat it fast enough and I never remember to get it out from the freezer in time to thaw. Lunch turned into a snack of beet and sweet potato chips.

On to the gym. I did the cardio thing for 30 mins and burned some good calories. Today was upper body day. I always find this one a challenge with my herniated discs and arthritis, but I take my time and usually get through it. I do 3 sets of 15 for most of my exercises. Lat pulldowns have 30 pounds of weight, the chest press 20 and the Row/Rear Deltoid also 30. I put 25 pounds of weight on the tricep pulldown and 20 pounds on the woodchop. The rest of my exercises are done with free or body weight. Bicep curls are with 5 pounds and dumbell side leans are done with 8 pounds. I use 3 pounds and do 0nly 1 set of the front and side shoulder raises. I end with 3 sets of 15 wall pushups and stretches. Normally when I go to the gym it is relatively quiet or an older crowd is present. Not today. Today I got to exercise along side all these young bucks! I think there was a group training session going on. So here I was pulling down with 25 pounds of weight and the guy next to me was pulling 110 pounds. The showoff! ;-) I did get through them all though and lived to tell about it so all is good.

For dinner, I made a mixed green salad with cukes, onions, carrots and topped with slices of half an apple and half a pair. I sliced a quarter of a smoked chicken breast and put it along side the salad with green onions and celery sticks. I used a fat free raspberry salad dressing on the salad. I know it had some dextrose, salt and corn sweetener in it, all of which are on my not to eat list. However, the quantities are low, and it has to be healthier than all the olive oil I have been consuming.




I seem to be having trouble finding interesting foods for lunch. I don't want to eat just because the time says I should. I want to eat interesting, tasty, and well prepared food. I still have 16 days to come up with something. Fruit for breakfast is good and I suppose if worse comes to worse I could add fruit to lunch.

New Garden Pics

Facebook seems to be having some issues, so I am going to post my new garden pics here.

Sweet Potato Chips Attempt #1

To buy Sweet Potato Chips, I have to ingest some canola oil and soy product that is not on my list of acceptable foods. Olive Oil is the only acceptable one. So I set out to try to make some baked ones.


I used my Kitchen Aid #4 slicer and sliced up a Peeled Sweet Potato. I put them on parchment in a single layer and sprayed with aq light coating of olive oil.

Into the oven at 425 F. In about 10 minutes I turned them and resprayed with a light coating of olive oil. I turned down the heat as it they were browning up too quickly. I had to take them out before they could be crisped up as some were already burning. I added some sea salt to the finished product.

Overall the experiment was successful. However, my next attempt will be at a lower temperature to try to gain some further crispness. Even with the problems I noted, they disappeared rather quickly.

G-ma Was A Smokin'!

What a day. I got to sleep in until 9:30 without any interruptions.. well hardly any. That is almost unheard of around here. After my morning blog post, I headed out to the gym for my cardio workout. Weekends are rest days for the strength portion of my workout. Thirty minutes plus five minutes of cool down and I was on my way out of there! This picture of my torture chamber..er gym, is not a very good one, but as we are not allowed to bring in cameras, it will have to do. This is where I spend almost twelve hours a week!


I came home and had a plate of sliced pears and apples for brunch. Then I rewarded myself with a shopping trip for a new wallet that fits my small purse better. Was happy with the find and came home and started to plan dinner.

I turned on the smoker and prepared the chicken breasts with Traegers Chicken Rub.

It is a little salty to me, but as I rarely use salt I probably find it more noticeable. It worked out okay as I didn't salt my fries or raw veggies.

Ready for the Smoker!

All finished!

Served up a Quarter Chicken Breast with Baked Sweet Potato Fries, and Sugar Snap Peas and Fresh Baby Carrots and a few crudités! Here it is plated.

If I work at it, this diet isn't so bad! It was all washed down with water. I am getting a bit tired of water. I would really like to have some of that diet decaffeinated coke that is in the refrigerator waiting for this diet to be done. Or perhaps even an Iced Coffee that I like so much from Tim Horton's. Only seventeen days to go!

Day 4 - VERY!

VERY.... the apparent answer to yesterday's question! I spoke with the physician and not only did I have botox http://www.spalumina.com/botox.phptreatments on my upper and lower lips and I had accutip laser http://www.spalumina.com/laser-vein-treatment.phptreatments to a few sun spots and a couple of reddish veins on my cheeks that were noticeable to me. Both treatments were pretty painless. The only downtime, was no vigorous exercise or lying down for four hours. So in a few days I shouldn't look so battered as I have been. lol I'm not looking to look 20, or even 40 again.. just not to look older than I think I should. I decided if I can afford it, and I feel it is safe and doable than I should have a go at it. So here we are... freshly lasered, botoxed with mustache gone and eyebrows now being electrolysized! I am still a bit bemused by the fact that I was even thinking about this, let alone go through with it. Those of you who know me well will understand that. ;-)


I did do the grape thing as planned as an afternoon snack and after a failed attempt to do a cardio workout at the gym as it is closed earlier than I thought, I came home to my dinner. Tonight I made a baby spinach salad just like last night only without the meat. I decided to go meatless tonight. For an evening snack I had more grapes and some Beet (some people will be groaning at the mention of beets) and Sweet Potato Chips.






I have also decided that considering as my diet is being a bit limited, that I should take some vitamin supplements. I grabbed a multivitamin prepared for the 50+ crowd, some Calcium Citrate 200 mg as I have reflux, and if you have stomach problems the Calcium should be in the citrate form for it to be absorbed, and some Citamin D-1000u. Oh I am going to be so healthy.. in the words of Ben Stein in his commercial "I am almost giddy with excitement"!

How Vain am I?

Today will tell the tale. I am off to the Spa. Electrolysis first... figured seeing as how I have been used as a pin cushion all winter, a few more wouldn't hurt and then I'd get rid of my emerging moustache! That presented problems of its own. Nothing serious mind you. It is like painting one room in a house. Once you get that done, the hall looks shabby and you have to fix it, then another room etc etc until you end up doing the whole thing. That is what I am likening this too. To that end, after my electrolysis session, I have a consultation and possible treatment appointment (and I can't hardly believe I am even typing this) for botox and laser treatment. I would never have even thought those words would ever pass my lips. Not only has that now occurred, by the time I get home, I may have had the botox treatment! Laser takes more planning. Stay tuned folks.

I'm not eating breakfast today. According to my glocometer, I have enough sugar in my system to get me through the next few hours without starving. I am thinking my first meal will be a mid afternoon snack of grapes. I am wondering if that wonderful juice "Secrets of the Valley" had anything to do with my levels. There was no added sugar or sugar substitutes, but it was terribly sweet. Maybe I will do a juice test in the next little bit.

Off to the SPA!

Snack and Dinner

The smoothie lunch didn't happen as I had a nap. ;-) When I got up I snacked on rice crackers, apple juice and sweet potato chips.

Dinner was spinach leaves with julienned carrot strips, cucumber coins, onions, celery and topped with poached salmon slices from the extra salmon piece I cooked last evening. Topped it off with an olive oil balsamic vinaigrette. Followed it up with a 100% juice blend of apple, cherry, black currant and pear juices by a company called Ceres. It is called Secrets of the Valley. Cool name. There is no sugar or sugar substitutes added . It was a lot sweeter than I am used to, but otherwise pretty good.



Day 2 of the diet is almost complete and so far so good. My fasting Blood Glucose this morning was the 2nd lowest of the week. I haven't been doing the before and after meals since starting on this diet. I guess it because the times of eating have been a bit off as I tried to combine appropriate foods to eat.

TGIF

Ah... Fridays! Last day to do strength training for 2 days! This morning went well... me 1 body 0! Oh it complained a little, but overall it was a good workout. 30 mins cardio and 50 mins of upper body strength training. Then home for breakfast. I toasted my brown rice bread today before adding the apple butter. It was lighter and much better I think. Because of the density, you need to toast it twice before you notice any toasting going on! I had that for breakfast after my work out along with a fruit salad of peaches, mango, cherries, blueberries, and grapes.

When I was out purchasing some of this fine food yesterday, I picked up a carton of almond milk. I haven't had the nerve to try it yet. I am thinking I need to get on with it and maybe, if it tastes okay to me, I can have a fruit smoothie for lunch!


The gardens are doing wonderful things for my spirit. It means growth and renewal and the assurance that winter is over and summer will arrive. The spring blooms in the back garden are wonderful and the promise of the tulips to come is inspiring.

The Elimination, Hypoallergenic Diet!

Somewhere along the line, my body got old! My mind is still frolicking about like a 30 year old, but the poor body is not keeping up. Time to get things under control. I don't want to always be deciding what to do according to aches, pains or lab reports! While flipping through the city's spring and summer recreation guide, I circled some new stuff to do. One was "Cleanse with Your Friends". Okay, I have heard about this. I even purchased one of the box kits you can get at the health food store. That did not work out very well! It was a super sweet drink, followed by a thick drink (bulk laxative) and a handful of vitamins and minerals. I just couldn't do that one. This one did not say we had to purchase anything so I figured.. alright.. this will be a breeze! I already shop the outside aisles.. love fruits and veggies and have switched to whole grains where possible. I don' t eat a lot of sugar or sodium. My downfall is decaffeinated, diet cola that is really just coloured fizzy water with a lot of sodium. That and Iced coffee I knew were on the chopping block. That was okay.. I could handle that. I went to the classes feeling quite smug as to the diet and figured I would really score on the spiritual and meditation portions of the program. Was I wrong! After discussing the diet in class, I left with this sinking feeling, that the next 3 weeks were going to be full of spinach salads for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks!

It wasn't long before I was beginning to think of what I could eat. I stopped at the store and got some grapefruit for breakfast. I can't have my usual yogurt, fruit and granola or toast and eggs. Came home and saw where I was not allowed them. Okay.. on to plan B. Decided it would have to be grapes. So after I worked out with my personal trainer at the gym, I came home via the lab for blood work, to a breakfast of grapes and water.

Not very far from my thoughts, I grabbed my diet sheet and headed out to health food types stores/departments. I purchased some brown rice bread and brown rice spaghetti. I picked up some zucchini, organic apple butter, organic apple sauce, celery, green onions and replenished my olive oil and balsamic vinegar stock. For dinner I poached some salmon, tossed some brown rice spaghetti in heated garlic infused olive oil and topped the pasta with some steamed veggies (zucchini, onions, carrots). For crunch I added celery sticks and a couple of green onions. Not bad and day 1 of this diet is almost in the bag!

Lack of Discipline!

Okay.. it is now quite apparent that I have not followed through on the new posts. I did try some new stuff and did take pics with the intention of posting here. Well we all know where good intentions lead! ;-) However, I am not going to give up. Maybe it was lack of material? Maybe it was difficulty in getting started? It could have been that my health issues were taking priority.

As most of my firends and family know, I have put in rather a hellish fall and winter beginning September 2009. It began with tingling and numbness in my right hand which became so bothersome that it drove me to the walk-in clinic. The doctor determined it was not cardiac related, gave me the name of a doctor who does female physicals and orders screening tests for women without a doctor and sent me to physio. By going to physio I was able to get my own family doctor as there was a new doc in the building taking new patients. The physiotherapist diagnosed Thoracic Outlet Syndrome (http://www.medicinenet.com/thoracic_outlet_syndrome/article.htm) and began some myofascial releases http://www.myofascialrelease.com/fascia_massage/public/default.asp, ultrasound and current to the area. When things were worsening instead of improving, she added in a chiropractor who agreed with the diagnosis and began treatment doing the same type of releases and using a thumper machine on my back.

With things worsening and me taking 2-3 robaxicet tabs ever 2 hours, I was able to get an appointment with the doctor prior to the scheduled physical. Eventually, I ended up on a 24 hour pain medication and a nerve pain medication at bedtime that at least relieved the pain. For the first time in months I was pain free. Then the tests began... bloodwork, routine screening tests such as bone density, mammogram, colonoscopy and EKG, echocardiogram and xrays and MRI of my cervical spine. Everything seemed to be messed up. The long and short of it being, that I am on blood pressure medication, a couple of polyps and most of an adenoma was removed during the colonoscopy meaning that I get to have a repeat in a year, and that medication is likely in the future for cholesterol and diabetes. A neurological consult revealed nerve damage in my right arm. Thoracic Outlet Syndrome turned into 2 herniated discs which are still protruding slightly. I can't bungee jump anymore!

Now that I am feeling better, I am determined to improve what I can to reduce the amount of medication or delay the onset of taking new medication as long as possible. To this end, I am now the proud owner of a glucometer and I am studying how various foods affect my blood glucose level. Perhaps my favourite problematic foods can be eaten at different times or with different sides to minimize the effect. I began an elimination/hypoallergenic diet today. It is to last for 3 weeks in which my body can cleanse itself and be ready to try foods gradually and test the effect on my overall health. I have also headed out to the gym to strengthen whatever I can before I have the promised relapse my neurologist told me about.

So if you want to follow me on this journey, then hop aboard. I will share my frustrations of the don'ts of my diet and hopefully have some interesting ideas to make my meals palatable.. indeed, even enjoyable! I will also let you know how I am feeding my soul as I proceed with this journey. Mind, body and soul have to be looked at together. Just strengthening one and ignoring the others will cause an imbalance and produce more difficulties. So come along and offer your suggestions as i try to regain balance in my life through opportunitues that are presenting themselves to me.