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Optimistic for an Outstanding October!
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Carla, that tree is truly stunning. Gorgeous! I'm sorry you're struggling right now, I've been there too. Feel free to reach out to me anytime on Rav for a lengthy rant about it. I'll be there for you. ((HUGS))
Donna, you and your hubby are doing great. And truth be told, you might just be having a reaction to something in the salad. Maybe the cabbage? I can eat it just fine UNLESS I'm pregnant or nursing. During both my pregnancies and until I weaned my babies, I got sick every time I ate cabbage and I broke out in a rash, to boot. But once they were weaned, no problem whatsoever. It's totally weird and it took me a little while to make the connection to cabbage, but it happened with BOTH of my babies... So maybe try eliminating one thing at a time from your big salad (I'd start with the cabbage
) and see if you can figure out which food is bothering you. My mom feels lousy every time she eats red onions, for example. Took her some time to narrow that one down too.
I fell into a big chiabatta bun and a bag of veggie chips last night. Oops... I can't be left alone in the kitchen.
Didn't get up this morning because tonight is swimming and flyers, so I'll be getting plenty of exercise. I'm going to see how my back/shoulders feel, but I'm going to try to do 45 minutes again. Scott, sounds like you and I are the same swimmer!! I usually repeat which lap I'm on in my head too. Over and over! But I play with my breathing rhythm. I start with breathing every 6 strokes, then when I get a bit tired I go down to 4 and then down to 3. Sometimes I do 5 or 7 too. So I'm all over the place there. But Monday I was totally in the zone and I was breathing pretty easily and the strokes were just rhythmic and mind numbing and so my mind started to wander. A lot. And because it all felt the same, I just couldn't seem to remember the number I was supposed to be on. Carla, your idea of a row counter is brilliant! So simple it would totally work. I need to figure out where I could put it and not lose it...
Have a great day everyone!!0 -
Hi Carrie,
Thank you for the excellent advice. That salad had a lot of red onions, cabbage and beans...I think I will try a salad today with only simple lettuce mix, red pepper, mushrooms, sun flower seeds and beans. I feel like a new woman today...maybe it was a combo of lack of sleep and the flu shot.
Going to go walk dogs and maybe get a bike ride in.
Hubby is doing great, can't believe his positive attitude with this diet. I think having one of the guys he respects (who is really buff) talking to him about a vegetarian diet helped. He is 3 lbs since he came back.
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Busy busy day, just finished laundry and dinner (tofu scramble with lots of veggies yum yum) and heading to bed. Will catch up tomorrow.1
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Yesterday was crazy. I barely sat down at all until about 9:30. Crazy, I tell you!!
I paid very close attention to my laps yesterday and I swam 60 (or maybe 62 - I did lose track once) laps in 36 minutes. So I did at least 70 laps on Monday, maybe more. And yesterday after I did those 60, I just kept going and did another 20. So I most definitely did 80 (or 82) laps yesterday. Yay me!!
Before we got to the pool, my son and I delivered flyers to the first 5 blocks of his route (it's all we could squeeze in). Then, after swimming, while the rest of the family ate, I ran out and did 4 more blocks of his route by myself. (I just grabbed a vegan bar for supper 'cuz there was no time). Then just as I was walking into the garage, my hubby was there and we jumped in the car to go look at 3 houses. 1 good sized one but with a weird layout, 1 that was just beat up and in rough shape (sad, 'cuz it's pretty new), and 1 that was absolutely gorgeous (to die for), but too small for us. That made me so sad, because that was the one I was most excited to see. Only 2 blocks from the kids' school. It woulda been perfect if it just had at least 1 more room...
Anyway, after the houses, we got home just before 9 and then my son and I ran out and did the last 4 blocks of his route (the ones farthest from our house). By that time it was raining. So we ran a bit... We were back in the house by 9:10. Quick!! But then I had to get them their snacks, tidy up the kitchen, etc, etc.
I don't like days like that with no downtime. Literally. NONE.
I could not wake myself up this morning for the treadmill, so I'll have to do it tonight. Fortunately, I have no guitar lesson tonight because my teacher is out of town, so I'll have plenty of time.
I hope you all have an outstanding day!0 -
Did you try some different veggies in your salad Donna? How are you feeling? That’s really great your husband is on board. I was going to ask and keep forgetting, are you taking any B12? I know you aren’t totally vegan, but there are no food based sources of B12 in a vegan diet and you might want to look into a supplement. I take the TwinLabs vegan B12 dots at least a few times a week, and D in the winter.
The flu shot could definitely be the culprit too. I didn’t get one last year, which is dumb, but the year before I had a really bad reaction to the shot and it scared me. I woke up in the middle of the night shaking and shivering, ended up curled up in a chair with lots of blankets and the furnace blasting all night, still freezing, aching, my teeth chattering. I couldn’t even go to work the next day, and I never call off sick! By the following day I was completely fine, but yikes.
Karrie, I sure hope you got a little time to recuperate today! Sounds like a really crazy day. I didn’t know you were looking for a new house. How exciting! Too bad the one you really loved wasn’t right for you though. A house is such a huge investment and it’s not like you can take it back to the store if it doesn’t work out the way you thought, so it's scary. If I had it to do over I wouldn't have sold my old place and bought my current house. I love the house and my neighbors, but it's too big for one person and with work I don't keep up on it like I should. I see a condo in my future within the next 10 years. Would there be any way to put an addition on the house you loved, to make it more what you need?
I was a bad ETL’er today… had a lara bar and a few crackers. I need to get my act together here. I think I will go back to my more hybrid E2/ETL plan. If I can have all the potatoes and rice I want, I don’t crave the bad starches. Hitting the grocery this weekend and will do some food prep. Tonight I’m making yet another batch of the glowing spiced lentil soup. I love that stuff.
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I will respond more later but Need to rant. I met a friend at a cute place called Kneaders. A bakery soup, salad sandwich dessert place. I order green avocado salad (no dressing) with a side of broccoli salad. Come home, look it up, they add sugar to the broccoli salad. The little side of broccoli was almost more calories than the green avocado salad. I need to be more assertive and ask how foods are prepared. I hate going out. We are going out again tomorrow for lunch
. Looking at the menu now.
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I did the treadmill workout last night, but I wasn't done until after 8pm. I prefer mornings...
Going out is tough. And it's worse when you end up with the only thing on the menu that is vegan and it's not even tasty. There have been so many times I would have preferred just bringing my own food; especially to work (catered meetings). Just tell me up front that my options stink and I will happily bring myself something delicious instead!!!
You're right, Mihani, we are having a lot of trouble finding the perfect house. I'm still mourning the loss of the little bungalow because it was so beautiful. The finishes were exactly what I'm looking for. But the entrance was a bit too small, the bathroom was too (because of the placement of it right at the entrance; I'd move it and solve both problems at once). The master ensuite doesn't have a bathtub (I want a tub and a stand-alone shower) and the kids' rooms would be in the basement, and they're just a few years shy of being comfortable with being that far from us. But I still love it.
Oh well, I keep telling myself it wasn't meant to be and when we see the right house we will know...0 -
Milan - Thank you for the suggestion for B12. I will buy some today. I have been feeling great all week. Even with the sugar snafu in my Broccoli...it was still a better choice than a sandwich or adding a salad dressing with high fat content. Every one of their soups were cream/cheese based so I avoided that.
My 6 weeks is over tomorrow and I was down about 3 # this week! For a total of almost 14 lbs over all. Hubby in one week was down 7lbs and waist is down 1.5 inches....I think a lot of that was from water/bloat but he is doing great and such a positive attitude. Having his PT test in November gives him strong incentive.
Karrie - take your time house hunting. I had my list of must haves: window above the sink, fireplace, master bedroom bathroom and walk in closet...plus if it was at or above my price range then the house needed to be freshly painted, no carpet and at least 3 bedrooms/2 bathrooms. We looked and looked and finally found a great house. No carpet, fresh paint, beautiful custom made shutters inside on every window and the best part, 0.5 miles from a 1000 acre park with walking and bike trails. I love my house and it was worth the wait. Not thrilled about moving to San Antonio after living in Italy but the people are so nice.
Having blood drawn this morning so no breakfast....yikes. Think I will take a peanut flour/banana smoothie with me for after. Then a dermatology appointment and we drive up north 1 hour for lunch and outdoor art show.
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Karrie, we went through a similar thing when we were buying a house. There were a few that really had me by the heart that got sold out from under us or weren't just quite right. There are a lot of highs and lows with house hunting! You will find one you love. Your day of non-stop action sounds exhausting! I bet you crashed and slept well.
Donna, congrats on the 14 lbs! That's fantastic! Your husband is rocking it, too. Hopefully he decides to continue on after his test. It makes is so much easier to stay on plan when you are both on board. Your new place sounds great! Have fun at the art show!
I can never decide what to do about flu shots. It's pretty hit or miss for me. If I happen to be somewhere where they are being offered and it's convenient, I'll get one. Like if I'm at the doctor's office and they ask, they kinda give me the hairy eyeball until I agree.
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CarlaEnsink wrote: »the hairy eyeball
ha! that's funny. I don't usually get the flu shot. At least not yet, anyway. Maybe when I'm older. I don't tend to get sick too often. (now I'm gonna go knock on some wood...)0 -
Donna, eating out is always a challenge. I don’t go out a lot so I tend to just say oh well and eat whatever is vegan even if it has oil or something. If I ate out often it would be more of an issue. The salads sound really good though. Awesome job on the loss for the 6 weeks!!! And your husband too! Hope you enjoyed the art show.
Will keep my fingers crossed for you to find the perfect house Karrie! This is getting complicated I am also crossing my fingers for a friend who is up for a job she really wants… makes it hard to type. I agree with Donna though, make a list of must-haves and don’t compromise or you’ll regret it later. Way to go on the treadmill.
Carla, glad to see you.
I remember how hard it was for you to find the right house. If I recall you and Lia were looking for houses at the same time. I love what you have done with the chickens and orchard and everything. Your home sound pretty idyllic to me.
I will probably get the flu shot this year.
Made it to the grocery on the way home and got broccoli, collards, peppers, asparagus, potatoes and sweet potatoes, salad greens and tomatoes. Already have carrots, onions, celery. Will do some food prep tomorrow. I haven’t been feeling too well the past couple days, I think it’s the crazy weather fluctuations making my sinuses all wonky, my head is a weather barometer I swear, so I am going to bed early tonight. Will be working all weekend as usual. I have leftover soup for dinners the next couple nights.
Oh, and if I forgot to mention, I finished my purge of the freezers since today was garbage collection. The small chest freezer is now empty, unplugged it last night to defrost and moved all the good stuff to the fridge freezer. Still lots of frozen veggies and such to use up and I will be using them before I restock. I hate wasting food!0 -
It just so happened when I had my meet and greet with new internal med Dr. the flu shot clinic was set up in the lobby at the SAMC (military hosp in San Antonio). I had my first of many referrals today, fasting blood draw and then dermatology. I was hangry this morning but it was a fun morning. A good friend just arrived in San Antonio, met us for coffee between appointments at Lackland AFB. Fun to catch up.
Bad news....I grew up in 60 and 70's...was one of those stupid teenagers who used baby oil to sun bathe. I am fair with blue eyes. I skied, rode horses and hiked usually without a hat or sunscreen. I have several precancerous lesions. I have to apply this "chemo" cream to my face...they said it would cause my face to redden and might "burn." I met another friend for lunch who is an internal med. dr. She laughed and said burn....it will blister your face.
..she recommends patients start it in January so xmas pics will not be of red face......with my fair skin I will likely blister...sounds lovely...I am going to start it next week but have to avoid being out in strong sun during the day. Can only walk dogs or play tennis early or at night. Starting med on Monday or Tuesday.
Lunch today was great overall. I did have some salmon on my salad, a side of roasted brussel sprouts... roasted in olive oil, hummus and pita bread. After skipping breakfast for lab draws and forgetting to take my protein shake I decided to just relax about it all and do the best I could. I was down a pound again this morning for a 3 lb weight loss this week. I did have two good walks and played tennis yesterday.
Milan - I added roasted vegetables to my salad last night and beans. I was fine. I think it was the raw cabbage that did me in.
Plan to bike ride tomorrow. Taking dogs to a corn maze on Sunday that allows dogs on leashes to go through! Have a great weekend everyone.0 -
Sorry to hear about the lesions, Donna. My boss has the same thing. Glad you are getting them treated early. Lunch sound delicious. I could eat hummus and pita bread every day.
I feel a bit better this evening, didn't end up going to the office. I got up and had some toast and tea, then went back to bed for almost 7 hours! I don't feel so dizzy now and less stuffy. Going to do a little work this evening and back to bed early so I can get to the office tomorrow.
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I hope the treatment isn't too uncomfortable, Donna! I have extremely fair skin but I've always burned so quickly that I avoid being out in the sun too much in the day and I have to wear sunscreen in the summer if I plan to be outside more than 10 minutes.
Sounds like you needed that rest Mihani. Have a nice herbal tea if that appeals before bed.
It's a beautiful sunny day here. Joe is mowing the lawn and I am going to get outside and see what I can get into. Tomorrow afternoon we're taking my parents to see The Simon & Garfunkel Story musical. It's supposed to be good and I know they'll recognize all or most of the songs.
More trees in our yard.
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Wow, what a view Carla!! How was the S&G show? I love their music.
I felt pretty good today. Spent about 6 hours in the office. I don't feel like I got a lot done, but I cleared a couple piles of paper out. It's so never-ending! Brought home a couple things to work on and have a file to work for the guy I do freelance work for "in my spare time" ... it's not a big deal he almost never needs things done right away, but I've had this file for 3 weeks and starting to feel guilty for not looking at it lol. It probably won't take me more than a couple hours if I can just get started, my motivation is at a very low ebb right now though. That said, I'm off to work on it right now.
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Carla - I am enjoying autumn through your pictures. I miss the leaves changing. I do like this temperature in the 70's. We went on a 2 mile walk in the park this morning and then another bike ride this evening. How was the concert?
I have tried a lot of sunscreens including prescription sunscreens and I really like the Rodan Fields sun screen. I wear it daily...first thing I put on my face after washing it. Before using this, the top of my nose would break down and bleed in the summer when I was swimming and playing tennis.
Milan - I am sorry you have to work on the weekends. I love going back to bed to read or sleep...haven't done it in a long time but then I am not currently working.
I had hubby pick out a recipe from the ETL cookbook. He loves to cook and loves chickpeas so he is busy chopping up vegetables right now. He is making Persian Chickpea stew.
I am going to try making hummus again. I bought some Tahini. I also picked up the B12 vitamins.
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Donna, I recall that Terri (she hasn't been around for a while but is an ETL star!) made the Persian Chickpea Stew a few times and recommended it. How did it turn out? I should revisit Dr. F's cookbook and try a few new things. I got kind of soured on his cookbook after several recipes didn't turn out very tasty, but that could just be my taste buds. I do remember liking the slow cooker eggplant breakfast recipe, should make that again.
I made it through 8 hours in the office but I'm whipped. Feel better but still a bit fatigued. I'm going to eat a light dinner, just salad with some beans and quinoa tossed in, and early to bed. Tomorrow I will be stuck late so I need to make sure I have energy reserves.
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Milan - I thought the Persian Chickpea stew was okay...next time I would add more seasonings and butternut squash. I am going to make black bean sweet potato chili tonight. This is the recipe: https://cookieandkate.com/2011/sweet-potato-chili-recipe/. Skipping the sour cream garnish.
Brooks (my husband) is down 9lbs in 10 days on ETL. I know part of it is water weight but his beer belly shrunk 2.5". His PT test will be 3 weeks from now so he is very motivated...It is easier to do this with him on board.
B. berries & walnuts with almond milk
L - Salad
D- sweet potato chili
Happy Halloween!
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We really enjoyed the concert, and my parents did, too. I'm glad we bought the tickets and made ourselves get out of the house. After the concert Joe and I decided that we'd work on singing Sound of Silence together. Joe has a good voice and used to sing bass in the choir as a kid. I've never sung so I'm learning to sing on key haha! But we're both into it and enjoying it. We're just doing it for ourselves, but we'll probably play it for my parents at some point. Joe is going to play the guitar and I'm going to see if I can do a simple version on the keyboard.
I don't really care for Dr. F's recipes. All the ones that I have tried were bland. No question though, they are super healthy! My go-to's are the vegan richa and Molly Patrick's Clean food dirty girl recipes.0 -
I started to learn to play Sound of Silence on the guitar, but I haven't gotten very far with it yet. Definitely not recital worthy!
I agree that Dr F's recipes are bland. My go to is definitely OSG. I should branch out, though...
Swam 70 laps yesterday; had to cut it short because we went to look at 3 houses last night. 1 was a complete dump, we didn't even bother looking past the kitchen. It was a mess. The other 2 are very strong contenders. Both lovely. One is at the high end of our budget and maybe a little too big. Other one is more affordable but we'd have to finish the basement ourselves; it's not done yet. We would really love to just move in, but the bigger one doesn't leave me any money to buy furniture.0 -
Donna, I wasn’t going to be negative about Dr. F’s cookbook since you are just starting out, but since Karrie and Carla have said it out loud, I’ll pile on and say that I don’t like the cookbook much lol. There are tons of great vegan recipes out there, and many are compliant if you just leave out the oil, so there it is. I am a big fan of Dr. F, but the recipes in the cookbook need so much tweaking to make them good that I don’t see the point. I feel guilty saying it though lol. Your husband is doing great! Impressive results so far!
Carla, glad you enjoyed the show. And how cool to work on a song together. You and Joe are so fun!
Karrie, 70 laps is awesome! Keeping good thoughts going your way for the house hunting.
Had a long day, secretary left early for some Halloween thing. I haven’t given out candy the past few years. I think I’m turning into a true curmudgeon, but also I don’t get a whole lot of kids and I got bored with it.
I am still struggling to keep myself on track not feeling well. I seem to be craving more starches for energy. I am feeling a lot better the past couple days though, so I think tomorrow I will put 100% effort into 100% ETL. Another early bedtime should help.
Oh, and my go-to websites for vegan recipes are ohsheglows.com/ and blog.fatfreevegan.com/. I also like Dreena Burton and Nava Atlas. Lately have been exploring Vegan Richa based on Carla's recommendation and the recipes look awesome. I just don't cook as much as I used to, so I stick to more simple prep and throwing together bowls.
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My husband and I like a lot of spice. Love Thai, Indian and Mexican food. The next day the Persian stew was not that great. Brooks gave it a thumb down even though he made it. I think using carrots for a soup base vs. Better than Boullion vegetarian was the problem. I made the vegetarian Sweet Potato Chili recipe tonight from a random web site and it was great!
Another fail at Trader Joe's from not reading the label. They had spiced pumpkin seeds and I thought it would be a savory taste...did not read the label...an impulse buy. Had them for a week and thought I would sprinkle a few on the salad I made to go with. Tried one, coated with sugar.
Bought Sour Patch candy for trick or treaters because I dislike them.
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As we're listing off all of these good websites, I'm realizing just how many great recipes we have available now! Donna, since you and your husband like a lot of spice and Indian food, definitely check out veganricha.com if you haven't yet.
70 laps is a short workout? Nice! I can't fathom (<-- ) that many laps. House hunting is fun yet stressful. We looked for so long that I really missed the planning and looking once we were finally done. That's how our realtor became a realtor. She loved the process and once she found her house she didn't want to stop looking! So now she looks on other people's behalf.
Mihani, that secretary is always taking off early or coming in late! Yeesh!
When we lived in town, we turned off our lights on Halloween. We were in the right neighborhood for that I guess, because the whole street went dark, except for one lone house lit up like crazy. Now that we're here, there's not much chance of trick-or-treaters coming up our long driveway in the middle of nowhere. And if they did, they'd be sorely disappointed. I have Lara bars...they might not be too impressed with those, though!
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ah shoot, and it's Nov 1. I didn't notice until I posted.0
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