End of The Road

Well today is Day 30 - I've made it.  For the last 30 days I have been trying real hard to change my eating habits - as they were not the best.  My snacking was the biggest problem as chocolate is my downfall - BIG TIME.

Over the last 30 days I have had:-

No Alcohol (that was not hard)
No Coffee (that was sort of hard)
Very Little Sugar - when I did eat it I got major headaches
No Rice/Potatoes (not hard at all)
Lots of fresh fruit and vege
Lots of fruit and vege juices
Tried out new raw foods

Overall I have lost weight which is great - not a huge amount but enough for people to notice and enough for me to fit into clothes that I have not been able to for years.  And enough to make me feel a little more confident about my body image.

Your comments and messages have been so motivating and to know that I have also provided inspiration to others is just great.

As I continue on this journey I won't be blogging as much - as I am not a cook or have no inspiration when it comes to creating dishes in the kitchen.  So I can't post yummy recipes here that I have created - I do get my recipes from other sources (of which I always give credit to)

I will continue to juice for week long detox's and eat raw food (and some cooked)  but I will not fall back into my old habits of buying chocolate every time I visit the supermarket (which is every day)

But I do need to start exercising - I need a major kick up the backside to get me going.  And I will let you know when I stumble across some extra yummy recipes.

I have decided to concentrate a little more on my other blog which you can read here - I have been neglecting it....

Thanks for following me over the last 30 days - its been great.

Day 28

Missed posting yesterday due to the bad storms we had here in Queensland  - we were not badly affected like a vast majority of Queensland.  Thankfully we live on the 5th floor as the houses around us had water coming in to their homes.

This morning I started with a green smoothie - spinach/mango/water/banana.  Nice and bright green.

Lunch I had raw crackers with tomato which made a nice change from the last two days as we have been having my husbands yummy carrot and coriander soup.

For dinner we will have chicken (grilled) and cauliflower mash.

Feeling good so far

Pros and Cons of Summer Here In Oz

Well its week two of Listmaina and the prompt this week is to list five things I love about my current season and five things I could live without .  So as I live in Australia it is summer here.

Five Things I Love About Summer

1.  I love that I live five minutes from the beach and I have an amazing view when I go walking.

2.  The smell of cooking on the BBQ - the only thing that beats the smell of someone BBQ'ing is when my husband BBQ's.

3.  Eating healthy food and feeling lighter because I am doing so.

4.  Wearing maxi dresses and lovely flowy skirts - nice bright colours and feeling pretty.

5.  Drinking freshly squeezed juices and making yummy smoothies.


Five Things I Could Live Without During Summer

1.  Sweating - my job involves spending alot of time driving around in my car and visiting people in their homes - so I am in and out of my car all day.  So each time I get out of my car it gets hotter and hotter and becomes my very own mobile sauna - hence my pants stick to me, my shirt sticks to me and I feel like I am melting all day long.

2.  Storms - as we live in QLD we are prone to storms of varying degrees - like last night and today.  This is the radar last night.

3.  Getting dark so early on a summers night - I want day light savings, I love day light savings.  Bring it to QLD.

4.  Mosquitos - nothing worse than sitting outside at night time and a few hours later realise that you look like one big mosi bite.

5.  Sunburn - my husband I are usually very careful - but a few weeks ago we were at the beach and I had purchased the new clear spray on sun protection.  We were applying it at the beach and it was windy - so you guessed it we did not get even coverage - and boy did we pay for it the next week.

So what are the pros and cons of your season - where ever you are .  Link up here and join in Listmania.

Day 26 - What A Day

Today has been almost cyclonic conditions here on the Gold Coast - it has not stopped raining all day and the winds have become stronger by the hour- and they say the worst is yet to come.  Thankfully we live in an apartment on the 5th floor so we will not get flooded - but we have had to bring in some items from the balcony just in case they turn into flying missiles.  So stay safe if you are living in Queensland.

Breakfast today we had a great juice - I got the recipe from here - it was so good.

For lunch I convinced my husband to make his awesome Carrot & Coriander Soup - wow it was amazing.  It has carrots/coriander/chillis/ginger/onion/spinach/garlic and dried apricots and vege stock.  It was spicy and sweet at the same time.  And he made enough to feed an army.

Tonight for dinner we are having chicken - I can smell it cooking now - it smells like the Middle East in my kitchen as the recipe has cardamon in it - which is a popular spice which the arabic use primarily in their coffee - of which I am not a fan but I do love the smell.

Day 25 - Wet and Windy

Image courtesy of a google search

Happy Australia Day to all my Australian readers - hope you have all had a great day.  Unfortunately here on the Gold Coast it is pouring with rain and windy, so most of the celebrations here have been moved indoors.  We were planning on a beach weekend but I don't think thats going to happen.

This morning I had a white egg omelette with tomatoes and mushrooms in it - bit of a change from a juice/smoothie.  But it did keep me going for a long while.

Lunchtime I made us a smoothie:  spinach/cacao powder/tahini/rice milk/frozen banana - yummo...

So how did we spend our wet Australia day - we have been watching the new series of Greys Anatomy (my fav) and Revenge - not very Australian, but what else to do on a wet rainy day.

Tonight we will have steak (my first bit of red meat in three weeks - so I really think that I need some) and some sweet potato chips.

So how did you spend your Australia Day????

Day 24 - Feeling Much Better

Thank goodness today I have woken and feel much better.  Certainly feel like I have much more energy anyway and the headache has gone.

Today I did not eat breakfast as I was fasting for blood tests - so after the test I snacked on some of the Quintos that I spoke about in a previous post.  I got home about lunch time and made a Jason Vale Smoothie - with rice milk, tahini, manuka honey, cacao powder and a banana.  Wow what a fantastic combination of flavours - it tasted like a chocolate peanut butter banana milkshake - really it did.  But a little sweet.  Try it.

I spent the afternoon making cacao balls - this is where I get my chocolate fix from, and they don't send me on a sugar high like the processed chocolate bars do.  And then I cut up all my bananas to put in the freezer - I use these for smoothies.

Tonight we are going to go out for dinner to a local Vietnamese restaurant that we found a few weeks ago.  I have the menu so I have already chosen what I will have.

1)  Tofu Roll - Rice Paper
2)  Green Papaya Salad

At least I know I can go out for dinner and find some healthy food.  So I'll let you know what its like.

Oh PS:  I have a flourless orange cake in the oven - hope it turns out ok.

Day 23 - Ketosis

Woke this morning and felt sooooo tired - I could have slept on for the day.  Thankfully I did not have a big work load today.  As while I was visiting a client I began to feel like I could not function.  Have not felt this tired for a long time.

So I took myself off the the Doctors as in the past I have been B12 deficient so thought I should get some bloods done again.  But on a urine dipstick she told me that I was in Ketosis and as there was no sugar showing in my urine she turned to me and said "You are starving".  I certainly do not look like I am starving but obviously am in Ketosis.

The definition of Ketosis is:  Ketones build up when the body needs to break down fats and fatty acids to use as fuel. This is most likely to occur when the body does not get enough sugar or carbohydrates.

So this could explain why I am feeling this way.  I would be interested to know if anyone else on a juice fast is in Ketosis.

What did I eat today:  Green Smoothie for breakfast.  Kitz Crackers with tomato and a small tin of salmon in springwater.  Dinner was cajun grilled chicken with coleslaw (homemade).

So lets hope I wake and feel better tomorrow.