Make it Happen May
Mihani
Posts: 4,100 Member
Thanks for the great suggestion for the May thread title Carla! I also hope that your house sale will happen this month.
Anyone reading this new to the group, we just have a monthly thread to make it easy for everyone to check in and keep up with each other, and you are welcome to join in, or to start new threads. You don't have to be 100% ETL to hang out with us. We're all following Dr. F's guidelines to the best of our abilities, and we're realistic and honest about our struggles and victories.
My goal for this month, after a week of more strict ETL and feeling better, is to get back to some regular exercise. The treadmill and Harry Potter DVD's are beckoning me! So I'll Make it Happen.
y'all
Anyone reading this new to the group, we just have a monthly thread to make it easy for everyone to check in and keep up with each other, and you are welcome to join in, or to start new threads. You don't have to be 100% ETL to hang out with us. We're all following Dr. F's guidelines to the best of our abilities, and we're realistic and honest about our struggles and victories.
My goal for this month, after a week of more strict ETL and feeling better, is to get back to some regular exercise. The treadmill and Harry Potter DVD's are beckoning me! So I'll Make it Happen.
y'all 0
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Best thread title ever!!!!1
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Love the thread title.
Day 1 of fast done on to day 2.
Goals for this month: figure out other food sensitivities. After the fast I plan on omitting beans for 2 weeks. See what happens. I will incorporate some different grains in our diet instead. Make it to the gym 3-4 days a week.
We are off to see my daughter perform her last chamber concert before graduating college.
Have a great weekend.0 -
Off to a great start this morning! I got up early and my husband and I went for a walk down to the lake shore. Saw a momma duck and her little ducklings. They came right up to the shore beside us. Super cute
Mihani, that Protein Power Bowl looks so good! Let me know how you like it. I will have to make a trip to the co-op to get spelt berries.
Terri, hope you enjoy the chamber concert. You must be so proud of your daughter. I hope the fasting gives you great results!
For Make it Happen May, I'm going to get back to ETL eating and exercise more. I'm aiming to do something every day, even if I just fit in a short walk.
meals for the day:
Breakfast - blueberry spinach smoothie
Lunch - salad w/ sauteed tahini mushrooms and onions
Dinner - red lentil cauliflower curry
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Carla can you share the sauteed tahini mushroom recipe. Sounds delish
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I've been working all day and didn't have time to cook so no protein power bowl made yet. I'll get it made tomorrow or Tuesday. I do need to get salad stuff prepped tonight.
B - cantaloupe and a clementine
D - leftover spaghetti, threw the rest out so I can get off this mini carb kick... two days shouldn't set me back but need to stop before it gets out of hand
Terri, how you feeling on the fast? I'm sure the concert will be wonderful, you must be very proud.
Carla, love the red lentil cauliflower curry, so glad you clued me into that recipe in Veganomicon. I'm with you, I just want to get some sort of exercise every day. Something besides sitting at my desk.
Hi Sabine! And Sloth... great picture for the thread!
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I'm loving hearing what people are eating and what you're doing to get active! It's also fun to just hear what interesting things are happening in life. My goal this month is to do my best with my ETL eating and meal planning and to otherwise just get through the month.
I'm putting my kid in daycare for the first time which I expect to be somewhat traumatic for her and extremely traumatic for me! Was lucky enough to be able to stay home with her since she was born two years ago (I work from home) but I realize now it would be better at this point for her to be in a daycare setting. I never thought I would be such a mess over this! But I am. Going to focus on sticking to the eating plan and doing my best to get her settled into the new routine. If anyone has any tips/advice for the transition, I'm all ears!0 -
Hi Gillian.... ahhhhh that has to be hard to have your daughter start daycare. Settling into the new routine will be a challenge, but I'm sure you're up to it. She'll probably love having more kids to play with and surprise you how much she likes it.0
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Hi guys, AWESOME thread title!! Woohoo
hearing lots of motivated people
Gillian, ahh good luck putting her into daycare! I hope the first week goes well. Did she start today? Is there any way she can start part-time as a way for you both to ease into it? Very hard, and I have no advice, but I do hear it's usually a quick buffer/transition period! Crossing fingers for you
Mihani, woohoo sounds like you have been doing great with the food and ETL. So inspiring.
Terri, how was the fast??! You survived I hope!
Hi Sloth and SAbine!
Carla, great start yesterday morning! The walks are so nice, especially in this spring weather and even just for the fresh air. Interested in hearing about the Morning Miracle you mentioned
My husband and I have resolved to start an exercise routine together as well. We started last week and it was really good actually, just a matter of rejuggling our hours and nightly routine a bit. But I think it will help, I genuinely miss exercise. We still haven't found our dream home yet but I do hope it's soon. Living with my parents is becoming a little more stressful each week lol. Happy May, guys 0 -
Feeling pretty good about myself this morning! My husband and I got up at 5:30 this morning to go for our walk. The lake was so peaceful at that hour. Today is supposed to be a hot one, so it was nice to get out there while it was cool.
Also, some good news about our house - we got an offer on it yesterday! It's a better offer than the last one. Hopefully this one goes through.
Terri, my Tahini mushrooms aren't much of a recipe, they just evolved from getting lazy and avoiding doing the caramelized tahini onions recipe I posted in our recipe section.
Lazy Version:
1 package/box sliced mushrooms
1 onion, sliced
tamari
lemon (optional)
water
Rinse mushrooms then saute with 1 tbsp low sodium tamari (or whatever quantity you want). In a small cup, mix 1 Tbsp tahini with water and/or lemon juice to thin out a bit. Once mushrooms have cooked down a bit, add onions. Add water as needed. I cook these for maybe 5 minutes. Add tahini sauce and mix well.
I put these on top of my salad and then I don't need any kind of dressing.
Mihani, we ended up having spaghetti last night too. We didn't have the oomph to prepare our curry. One more night of spaghetti to go, then on to the curry.
Gillian, I hope the transition goes smoothly for both you and your daughter! Keep us posted on how it goes.
Lia, The Miracle Morning is a book I'm reading. The gist of it is that you get up earlier and start your day off with S.A.V.E.R.S. Silence (mediation or prayer or breathing), Affirmations (Stuart Smalley anyone?)
Visualization, Exercise, Reading (1 to 10 pages of something inspirational), and Scripting (Writing...nothing major, write down in a journal something that went well for you the previous day, a good memory, a lesson learned, whatever) You can do the whole routine in as little as 6 minutes if pressed for time, or take up to an hour. The idea is that getting off to a good start like that leads to a better and more productive day. The order you do it doesn't matter, it is just that way so the acronym spells something.
Breakfast - blueberry spinach smoothie, 1 cup coffee
Lunch - salad
Dinner - whole wheat spaghetti with veggie meatballs and vegetables
Snack - fruit salad (grapes, pineapple, strawberries, blueberries)
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Lia, excellent job fitting in some exercise. Sometimes it is hard to find time and commit. Have you been looking at any more houses?
Carla, hooray for an offer on the house!! Is the house you were interested in still available?
I had a long day, the boy kept me up half the night… there was a thunderstorm and he gets so stressed and anxious. He was lying in the bed panting and trembling until I gave up and gave him a chill pill that the vet gave me for him. He was drooling so much I had to get up and change the pillowcases after he finally settled into sleep lol. So I did a little work tonight but I just want to go to bed so I have more brain and energy tomorrow. I just don’t function at peak when I’m tired, and I’m also more hungry!
B – sprouted grain toast, cantaloupe
L – Amy’s pad thai, apple
D – steamer bag of veggies (added some nooch, lemon juice, pepper, kidney beans), clementine
S – coconut milk yogurt, some almonds
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Hi all,
Carla, congrats! Hope this offer works out for you.
Gillian: my week goes better when I spend a day cooking for the week. I usually cook 2 soups and one main dish, usually on Sunday or Monday that gets us through most of the week. Then towards the end of the week I take out left over frozen food from prior weeks. Hope this helps. Your child will let you know if she does not like it. One daycare facility I picked my kids got in the car and said they never wanted to go back. Other, daycare they looked forward to going to.
Lia: good time to start exercising before bikini weather.
Mahini: I need to go in the opposite direction for the next couple of weeks. I am eliminating beans so I will be trying some different grains to get more protein in my diet.
I made it thru a 3 day fast. My joint pain and swelling has come way down. It was little rough travelling while fasting but I made it thru it. Was really tough when we went out to dinner. At least they had Saratoga water I had that. Down 5 lbs from the fast but I know it is just temporary. Now I need to make sure I lift weights a lot until my next fast. 4 day fast over memorial day.
Busy work week and since I did not cook this weekend dinners will be a little rough. But if I get home early enough from work I plan on making a carrot leek soup for dinner.
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Terri, I did some reading on the health benefits of fasts and it's pretty amazing. Glad that you are feeling better after doing the 3 day fast.
I made the OSG protein power goddess bowl last night. It was very tasty. I added an extra cup of spinach and I added more water than called for (in the lightened up version of the dressing) because my food processor wasn't really getting it smooth. You need a BIG skillet, it makes a lot. I think it will be really good cold mixed with lettuce for a healthy filling lunch.
Yesterday:
B - raw fit (my cantaloupe was mushy)
L - some wheat crackers (I wasn't feeling well yesterday)
D - protein power goddess bowl
Today's plan:
B - silk yogurt
L - steamer veggies with nooch and fresh ground pepper, apple
D - leftovers of the goddess bowl over lettuce
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Terri, excellent work completing the 3 day fast and even while traveling! Is there something special about Saratoga water, or just more appealing since it's sparkling? I've never tried it.
Mihani, thanks for the report on the protein power bowl. Our meals plans got switched around a bit but I'm going to add the spelt berries to my specialty shopping list.
I'm enjoying the nice selection of fruits and veggies in the grocery store. My diet isn't perfect but any means, but it is for sure moving in the right direction. This was day 4 of getting up early to go for a morning walk.
We reached an agreement for the price on the sale of our house with the buyers, and now just have to get through the inspection period. We also found a new place (yes, another one!) that we like and are trying to buy. Unfortunately, at least 2 other buyers are interested and so now we are in a bit of a bidding war situation. We determined our top price and won't go over that.
Today's plan:
B - blueberry banana oatmeal
L - salad
D - curry probably
Snack - fruit salad or nectarine, earl grey tea steeped in coconut milk0 -
HI all,
Been really clean so far this week. Still feeling really great since the fast. I hope it will continue.
Carla: congrats on the house and good luck with getting a new house. Very stressful.
Saratoga: bubbly mineral water I was just happy they had bubbly water.
Mahini: how did your power bowl turn out.
Today I made a Millet, Amaranth Loaf w/ mushroom gravy, served it with the carrot leek soup and a salad
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Carla, I am happy to see all the spring veggies and fruit too! Happy to hear that the contract is solid now. Doing great getting those early morning walks.
Terri, the power bowl was awesome, but it has far too much oil even on the lightened up version, so it will be a once in a while thing. I don’t think it would be as good with no oil although I may play around with the recipe a bit. I just had a little on a big bed of romaine tonight and it was a great salad topping. I love sparkling water, I buy a 12 pack every week.
I stuck to the plan today other than adding a few wheat crackers to lunch.
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Happy Thursday! Thanks to everyone for your support with my transition to having my daughter in daycare. We registered her this week and will start her next Thursday after two short visits early in the week. I'm holding it together so far but that first day of leaving her is going to be a doozy.
Mihani, I agree, she's going to love it and being an only child it will be great for her to be around lots of kids. Did I read that you have a dog? What kind? I love animals and have a dog myself.
Liapr, yes she is starting part time initially as there's no full time spot until June. Hopefully she'll start to get used to things two days a week and then be ready for full time after that.
Carla, congrats on the offer, so exciting, crossing my figures it goes through!! The book sounds interesting, I would love to start my morning that way. Maybe I'll start with baby steps. Good luck with the house you like, sticking to a top price is a great idea.
TDH, thanks for the tips, I agree cooking ahead helps everything! Thanks for sharing that story about your kids, very helpful to know that she'll be giving me cues on whether or not it's a good place for her. Very impressed by your fasting plan, I get so cranky when hungry, I don't think I could ever subject my husband to that lol
I've been mostly sticking to the plan except I'm having more animal products and bread products than I would like. The weight is still coming off but it's likely a lot slower than if I did a better job on my food choices. I'm trying to get away from eggs, so I did a tofu scramble this morning for the first time and it is crazy delicious! I did this recipe but only used 1 lb of firm tofu and added paprika, garlic powder and onion powder as I do with everything. trainerisa.com/tofu-scramble/.
Lunch will be leftover vegan chili and dinner will probably be a bean, kale and veggie stirfry with a peanut sauce. Hope the rest the week goes well for everyone! Anyone have any fun weekend plans? We are setting up our gardening beds and a friend is coming over with lots of seedlings. It's my first attempt to grow my own food but my husband is experienced so it should go well
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Gillian, I have one dog, a medium size black lab mix, he's a sweet boy but he's a handful. I had my oldest dog, a shepherd mix, put down in February
She was a really good dog and I still miss her lots. Also two cats. I love tofu scramble! I posted this in the recipes section a while back, but this is my favorite: minimalistbaker.com/southwest-tofu-scramble/ easily made ETL by leaving out the oil and it has lots of flavor from the spices. The one you posted sounds good too, I'll have to try it. Good luck with your gardening! I used to do that but I don't have time anymore. My neighbor behind me has a huge veggie garden though, and he leaves bags of goodies hanging on the fence for me all summer long. All the benefits, none of the work, how lucky am I?
Today was hit or miss I'd say...
B - a few spoonfuls of leftover power bowl, wasn't too hungry and running late
L - a whole bunch of saltines (saltines? really?) and a steamer bag of broccoli/cauliflower with nooch
D - going to eat the last of the power bowl on a bed of lettuce
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Hey guys! Just a quick note to say hello, happy friday, and that it sounds like everyone is hanging in there
We bought a house! It's conditional, but cross your fingers... we could be moving in a month and our of my parents' place and into a healthier routine! In the meantime, I'm eating salads again. I actually cooked a giant amount of rice and mixed with pinto beans to each with salads for dinner. It's been so quick and easy and actually yummy too. Still too much chocolate but overall I'm improving which is nice.
Mihani, saltines sound seriously dull in terms of a "bunch" lol. Find something more interesting! hehe
Teri, great job this week!! You are an ETL master! (Mistress?)
Carla, keep us updated!! What's the new potential place like, and did the bidding war end?
Gill: I second Mihani, that southwest tofu scramble is sooo good. I always think it's such a nice treat on a weekend too.
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Yay Lia!!! So happy to hear you found a new home.
Today was better...
B - oatmeal with walnuts and blueberries
L - steamer bag of veggies with nooch
D - going to make OSG black bean butternut squash burritos... nom nom nom. Leave out the oil and they are pretty ETL friendly, although a little starchy carb heavy with the rice and the wrap.0 -
Congrats Lia on your new home! Very exciting news!
I've stalled a bit on the miracle morning but am not giving up. We lost out on the place we were bidding for, and are now starting to look for an apartment to rent for a month or two while we wait to find another place that we love.
Mixed success with food and exercise.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!0 -
Carla, sorry to hear you didn't get the house you were looking at. I think finding an apartment so you can take your time and find just the right place to buy is a great idea.
Yesterday:
B - skipped
L - leftover OSG black bean butternut squash burrito
D - same as lunch
S - slice of chocolate pumpkin loaf (I made several loaves yesterday and sliced/froze, it's a Forks Over Knives recipe and has no oil)
I use the soft taco size wraps rather than the larger burrito size, so I get quite a few servings out of a batch of the burritos. I think the recipe says 4 burritos, but I get 8 out of it. Today will be a repeat of yesterday other than I had OSG apple pie oatmeal for breakfast. Going to prep my salad stuff for lunches this week, I have romaine and grape tomatoes, and going to run beets and carrots through the food processor.
I make my own variation of the OSG sour cream with a mexican twist. Instead of lemon juice I use lime juice, and add fresh cilantro, comes out a pretty green. It's really good on burritos or add a dollop to tortilla soup.
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Lia congrats and happy moving! Carla hope you find your new house soon.
Hubby is in Brazil right now and I always have trouble sleeping when he is not around. Didn't get a wink of sleep past few nights. So tired zzzz........ so I struggled with the diet past 2 days; one of these months I will have 2 weeks in a row of strict ETL. Back to being the ETL mistress tomorrow. LOL (thanks for the title Lia)
Hands and knees are still feeling really great with out night shades and beans. Night shades are definitely gone from my diet and I will test the beans after another week without them.
I have decided to do some physical therapy for the knees, I am thinking that one of my hips has dropped lower then the other putting me out of alignment. Probably, should get an adjustment as well with a chiropractor. I think the past few years I over did it with the stair masters.
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Ouch Terri, hope you get some rest and that your knees feel better. Awesome that your hands are feeling better.
Today:
B - cantaloupe
L - big salad... romaine, shredded beets and carrots, grape tomatoes, sunflower seeds, nooch, balsamic
D - leftover brown rice and butternut squash and salsa in a wheat wrap
S - quite a few blue corn chips, shouldn't have started on them
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Good day, everyone.
I'm slowly getting back on track - eating more salads, etc. I'm losing again, so that's a good thing (but I'm still up overall, which is a bad thing). Getting there.
I'm starting to be more interested in cooking again. So that's a good thing too.
When I was in Mexico this past February, I bought a Mediterranean Quinoa mix, but never got around to cooking it. I left it for my mom, but she brought it home and put it in my kitchen cupboard one day while she was over.
I should have kept the game going and put it in her cupboard over Easter - that would have been hilarious! (mwah ha ha)
Instead, last night I decided to cook it up finally. I just prepared it like regular quinoa, but then I used google translate to read the spanish instructions, and it recommended that you saute onion, tomato and green pepper and then mix it in with the cooked quinoa, so that's what I did. MMmmmmmm, it was so yummy! I made my hubby have a bite, and he was surprised at how tasty it was!!
I have enough mix left to make it at least 2 more times. Good stuff.
I'm still not getting up in the mornings to work out. I did a zombie walk/run twice a couple of weeks ago. Two days in a row, even. But then Monday came and I fizzled out. I don't know what's wrong with me.
Anyway, I'm trying to get my sleep on a schedule so I can get up in the mornings. I'm getting there. Soon. *fingers crossed*0 -
Terri, great to hear that the diet is making some physical improvements for you! How are you feeling overall? I hope you got some sleep last night...
Mihani, the sour cream tip is great, thanks! I love that it is a little green even lol. Perfect! Now I am drooling over the thought of chocolate pumpkin loaf. I can't believe you made several! Great batch cooking.
Carla, I can't wait for the right house to come along for you guys because I feel like you guy will appreciate it so much after this whole experience you've gone through! Gah. In the grand scheme of things, I keep thinking we will look back and a few months will hopefully seem like nothing.
Ours is still conditional until this Friday. We have our home inspection tonight and I'm so excited to see it again and nervous that there will be something scary to find lol. I've already picked paint colours and have all these ideas for the place but I'm afraid I'm jumping the gun.... My food is quite a bit better though and I made it on the treadmill last night for 50 mins, woohoo!0 -
B - Banana, strawberry-coconut-yogurt-granola parfait, homemade
L - Tex mex casserole
S - Nectarine, orange
D - giant vegan caesar salad and baked mini potatoes0 -
Glad to see you Karrie. I think sometimes like you say, just starting to eat more greens sort of snowballs into eating more healthy throughout the day. I was totally blah about cooking too, but finally did a little bit this past week and enjoyed it actually. The quinoa sounds good.
Lia, hope all goes well with the inspections tonight! Awesome 50 minutes on the treadmill!! Your breakfast parfait sure sounds good, bet it’s pretty too.
I need to figure out when I can hit the treadmill. Mornings just don’t seem to work for me, but I’ve been working later in the evenings and by the time I get home and eat something I’ve talked myself out the treadmill. I think my only option is to come home and get it done right after away, before I eat.
Today was less snacky although not 100% ETL..
B – cantaloupe
L – big salad, same as yesterday except I remembered to add chickpeas today
D – wheat wrap with fresh spinach, salsa, some daiya (that ran me out of daiya, not buying more)
S – more cantaloupe and a few almonds, a slice of the chocolate pumpkin loaf
Need to prep more romaine tonight or I won’t have a salad tomorrow, and that wouldn’t be any good at all!
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Finally caught up on my sleep and yeah hubby is back tonight. Joints are still feeling pretty good.
Just planned a few interesting recipes for the rest of the week
portobello mushroom tacos w/ cilantro avocado cream topping
pesto sorghum salad
polenta vegetable pizza w/ cauliflower bachemel sauce
I must say now that I am not eating night shades and beans, I am trying foods I have never eaten before.
Lia: hoping everything goes well with your home buying this Friday.
Mahini: thanks for sharing about the OSG Mayo recipe wich led me to the cilantro avocado cream recipe.
Karrie: you will get your groove back, you always do.
We have my nieces First Communion this weekend. Parties are always a mixed bag for me. Never anything I can eat. I will either not eat or bring something for me to eat. Not sure yet.
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Glad you got some sleep Terri. Your recipes sound intriguing, can't wait to hear how they turn out.
B - cantaloupe
L - salad same as yesterday
D - red lentil kale soup, avocado toast
S - a few blue corn chips
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