Eating to Live not Living to Eat

I finished reading Dr. Fuhrman's book called Eat to Live on Friday. There was a ton of information. It took me about three days to finish reading it, in between everything else going on in my life. This book made sense to me. It was like someone turned on the light switch. I told my hubby that back when I was eating less meat and more veggies (5 years ago) I felt better. Then I took a nose dive and began eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. So I joined Weight Watchers. It has really helped me stay on track. I love our leader, Lynn. However, the stress from this past year at school made me lose track of myself again. So I wanted to do something to recommit myself to getting healthier. That's why I picked up the book Eat to Live. After reading this book I'm ready to eat healthy once again. Not to say I won't have a cheat day NOW and THEN. And it's okay to have a cheat day as long as I get back to eating healthy the next day or sooner.

In a nutshell, the Eat to Live plan says I can have all of the raw and cooked vegetables that I want. Dr. Fuhrman wants me to shoot for a goal of one pound of each a day. As far as fruit goes . . . wait for it . . . I can have as much fruit as I want each day, a minimum of four servings. I've never been told I can have as much fruit as I want. Usually, diets say to limit the fruit intake. Following the Eat to Live plan is what's known as being a nutritarian, getting all the nutrients my body needs from nutrient rich foods. 

Here are the Daily Guidelines:

Eat these as much as I want:

• all raw vegetables (goal 1 lb.)
• cooked green and non-green nutrient-rich vegetables (goal: 1 lb.)
• beans, legumes, bean sprouts, and tofu (goal: 1 cup)
• fresh fruit (min. 4 daily)

Limit:

• cooked starchy vegetables and whole grains (max. 1 cup)
• raw nuts and seeds (max 1 oz.)
• avocado (max 2 oz.)
• dried fruit (max 2 tbsp.)
• ground flaxseeds (max 1 tbsp.)

Do Not Eat:

• dairy
• meat / Animal products
• between-meal snacks
• fruit juice
• oils
• added salt

Yesterday was the beginning of eating to live for me. I have to admit I was a little nervous. Could I stick with it? Would I want to snack in the afternoon? If so how would I handle it? 

I began my day as I normally would with my cup of coffee and sitting on my back porch. I'm not usually a breakfast eater. By the way, Dr. Fuhrman says if I'm not hungry I don't have to eat. All though I do want to try making overnight oats in a jar. I'll talk about that later. 

For lunch, I fixed an enormous salad: a mix of greens, carrots, cucumbers, celery, sunflower seeds, and poppy seed dressing from Panera Bread. I'm not supposed to have the dressing, but according to Weight Watchers, it is only 1 point for 2 tablespoons. The sunflower seeds were 6 points. It was difficult to get through the entire salad. However, I did feel full afterward. Not stuffed - satisfied. 

For a snack, I made a smoothie in my blender. I had been outside weeding in my flower garden and thought an icy drink would hit the spot. In my mind, this replaced my breakfast since I'm not supposed to be snacking. I blended one cup of frozen blueberries, one medium banana, and one cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk. I sipped my smoothie while I sat in my chair enjoying the sunshine. I wonder if I got ANY vitamin D since I was covered in SPF 30. My smoothie was delicious! As far as Weight Watchers points go I only counted the almond milk. One cup is 1 point. So far so good. The hardest part of my day was yet to come.

Sitting in front of the television is a trigger for me. In other words sitting on my couch mindlessly watching my show is when I want to snack on a whole bag of chips carrot sticks. Seriously, I watch an afternoon soap, General Hospital. I usually watch my show right when I come home from school where I teach ninth graders. Today, I watched my show and nibbled on some delicious cherries. It wasn't easy. I so wanted some a whole bag of tortilla chips with hummus. I had one cup of cherries. So far I've had a banana, blueberries, and cherries. One more fruit to go for the day and I hit my minimum. Notice I haven't had any cooked veggies yet.

For dinner, I cooked some green beans and fixed another huge salad. Pretty much the same salad as lunch minus the sunflower seeds and celery. My hubby had pizza. The turd! I ate all of my green beans and most of my salad. I was feeling kind of stuffed. So I stopped eating. What a concept. 

While watching the Cavs game I wanted something to munch on so I had my fourth and final fruit of the day, cantaloupe. Yum! 

I made it! I actually did it! I know. I know. It's only the FIRST day. But I feel good. Not as nervous as I did when I first began this morning. I only used 9 WW points for the day. 

P.S. When I weighed myself this morning I lost 2.1 pounds!!! WOOT!

My New Erin Condren Life Planner

Hello Friends!

It's almost the new year and with it comes New Year's resolutions. Once again, I've decided to get more organized with my life. So, I jumped in with both feet and purchased my first Erin Condren Life Planner. WOOT! I could hardly contain my excitement when it arrived at my door. Sorry I'm not including the unpacking, which so many planner people do. I'm still a newbie to the planning world. I was able to customize it with my name, choice of colors, and the quote. I wish the colors would pop more in this picture. The colors are robin egg blue and choral, in case your curious.

Now you may remember, I was using a Filofax. The reason I originally went with Filofax was because it could fit in my purse, which made it nice to carry around with me. Plus, I could refill the pages year after year. Good on the pocketbook and good for the environment. However, I didn't like the daily spread and having to print out and cut all of my pages. I know I could have purchased the pages, but I was trying to save money. Remember? I hated it! The planner that is. It became a chore. As a result, I stopped using it. Oh and also because the clasp melted one summer day and I couldn't fix it. ERGH!

So why the change? After all, the Erin Condren Life Planner isn't cheap. Plus it's quite a bit larger and won't fit so neatly in my purse. My friend used the planner this past year, and I was so jealous. I loved the pop of bright colors. I loved the uplifting quote on the cover. I loved the monthly tabs. I loved the monthly calendar at the beginning of each section. I loved how each month had its own color scheme. I loved how there was room to write. I loved the stickers. But, I didn't love the vertical spread.

As it so happens, Erin Condren listened to her customers, who didn't care for the vertical design, and created a horizontal spread for the Life Planner. YEAH! That sealed the deal for me. My planner came with the month of November and December, so I had some time to practice before the new year. I'm still practicing. I haven't been a planner girl since I was in school. Ahem. Long time ago.

This is the first layout I'm willing comfortable to share. It's not perfect, but it works for me. I'm still figuring out what I need to write down each week to help me stay on top of things. When it comes to decorating, I'm still a newbie there too. There are so many people our there in the planner world who have beautiful decorated planners. Do you know how many "Plan With Me" videos I've watched? My hubby thinks I'm obsessed. With that said, I've decided to keep my planner functional and simple.

Each day has the weather marked at the top. It helps me plan what to wear for the day. My "To Do" list for each day is in the box to the right. Aren't the cute heart check boxes cute? So are the washing machine stickers. The washing machines remind me which load of laundry to complete for the day. I find if I do one load a day it's easier to keep up with, especially in the summer when I'm hanging clothes on the line to dry. Since it was Christmas week I included a countdown to Christmas using snowflake stickers. I'll post links below to the Etsy shops where I purchased the stickers.

Isabella has been keeping me company on the couch while I work write in my planner and write this blog post.

Here is this week's spread. Not a whole lot going on this week. I'm on Christmas break. Ah! I've so needed some time off to spend with family. I think my students were also looking forward to some time off. They've been working so hard this year. I hope they come back refreshed and ready to dive back in.

Well here's hoping that my Erin Condren Life Planner helps me stay motivated to keep planning and following through with those plans to help keep my life a little more organized. Do you use a planner? If so which one works best for you? I'd love to hear from you.

Happy New Year!

Blessings and Hugs,
HopeAnn

P.S. My mom gave me a new purse for Christmas that my Erin Condren Life Planner fits in perfectly. Problem solved.

Links to Etsy shops:
Rory's Sweet Addictions weather stickers, heart check boxes, snowmen, weekend and half boxes

Planner Press washing machines

My holiday stickers came from Meijer's

Disclaimer: I am in no way advertising for Erin Condren or any of the shops on Etsy. I'm just sharing the love.

New Habits Baby Steps

I decided to create some new habits once summer began. I'm starting small with just three habits for the first week. These habits focus on the bedroom, kitchen, and me. I got the idea, at least the one about the kitchen, from A Bowl Full of Lemons.

1. Bedroom - The moment I get up and out of bed I make it. Even before I visit the restroom or let Bella out, I make the bed. It takes a mere five minutes. I pull up the sheets and the comforter then place the pillows on top. A made bed makes the room look a little more tidy. Plus it gives Sebastien a nice place to curl up for a cat nap.

At night when I'm getting ready for bed, I put on my pjs and place my hubby's and my dirty clothes in the hamper instead of piling them on my floor. I'm We're clutter bugs. Growing up I drove my Mom crazy with my clothes spilling from several different piles all over the floor of my room. Dirty or clean, it didn't matter and typically I struggled figuring out which pile was which. Gross. Right? That bad habit lingered. Until this week. When you walk into my bedroom, you can see my floor, clothes-free.

2. Kitchen - Before I go to bed, I wash the dishes. So far it's been nice not having to face a  HUMONGOUS pile of dishes in the morning. Sometimes when I let things go, like the dishes, they pile up, literally. You know, like the clothes in my room. Then I feel overwhelmed and angry that the dishes are piling up in the sink and on the counters. Angrily, I wash them all. However, since I've been washing the dishes each night before bed, I'm not feeling overwhelmed and instead of feeling angry, I have a feeling of accomplishment.

Once the dishes are finished I wipe down the counters, then the kitchen table, and finally the stove. Everything is shiny and the kitchen smells of lemons. I love it. When I wake in the morning and go into the kitchen to make my coffee, I feel like the day is off to a good start.

3. Exercise - I have struggled with my weight since high school. We joined the YMCA in our town and have been going twice a week. Well, Matt and Michael have been going twice a week. I seemed to stay later and later after school. As a result I couldn't make it to the YMCA to fit in my workout. So now I'm back to twice a week to begin. I want to increase it to four days a week. Not necessarily going to the YMCA, but walking or riding my bike.

So far I've discovered that if I do a little bit every day then things don't seem to pile up, and I don't feel so overwhelmed. I can also have people pop over, like my friend Amy when she and her darling daughter delivered their pet hamster Nutmeg. Michael is hamster sitting. Typically, I would be running around like a crazy lady putting things away and cleaning up before people came over for a visit. When Amy called to come over with Nutmeg I said "Come on over any time." I didn't run around like a crazy lady. The house was tidy. Tad-dah!

Hugs,

HopeAnn