Three Things

Three things I have learned:
1.  Sugar is not good; and I gave in this week :(
2.  I am pretty sure wheat causes my headaches
3.  When I have a headache, caffeine makes it worse.

I indulged last night at our small group dinner at Capri K's house and had a little lasagna, a little bread, a little piece of cake and two cookies and diet caffeine free pop.

With in one hour of eating the headache started and continued into the night and today.  It could have been caused by all three of the above mentioned things.  But it is looking good, that I will try harder to stay away from these three things in the new year, because oh baby, I am in pain today!

Sugar and Then Some

more sugar....I gave up the battle of eating no sugar last night.  It was all just so good with some yummy flavored coffee.  I had some wheat also with the appetizers. My eyes started itching and so did the rest of my face and body. Was it the shrimp?  or wheat?  or sugar? or a combination of things?  So back today to no wheat and sugar and no more of anything made out of cream cheese.  This takes every ounce of willpower I have.  

It Wasn't Easy.....

I had a few little gingerbread men with my tea; I tasted a few things with one bite; but I have to tell you when the food is in the house; it is downright hard not to eat it.  Nothing like dessert with a cuppa; a cup of tea or coffee.  Oh so hard to resist; especially Grandma H's sour cream coffee cake. I have made her coffee cake since I was first married and haven't made it in ages. It is the best; moist with a cinnamon, sugar, and chopped nuts for the topping.  I did snitch some morsels as I was cutting it up.  That is almost automatic isn't it when you are cutting cake?  The jello cake was a big hit too.  But the steamers in the evening are the favorites.

Self-Control

This Christmas I wish for peace...contentment with the busyness of the holidays.  I pray for self-control so that I can remain healthy and happy. I know what too much sugar does to my body and my health, so I choose to avoid most of it.  Funny thing about sugar, once you start eating all those little goodies, it is hard to stop and it becomes a permanent part of your diet again.  It is going to be hard I know! 
I choose to keep exercising at the pool because it makes me feel better and is good for my body.  Discipline is hard and all of us struggle in different areas.  I have one area of struggle right now that plaques me and I can't seem to get a grip on it.  I am thinking though, that discipline in one area might lead to discipline in another area.  That is my prayer and self-control is under the fruit of the spirit which I have talked about on my other blog.  
Have a joyous, healthy Christmas!

It's All In The Presentation

For dinner here with our friends last night, I decided to get out the Christmas table cloth and napkins and my mom's gold Rosemary depression glass and the gold silverware.  It looked quite festive.  I made the whole dinner; pot roast with potatoes and carrots and green beans with mushrooms.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it.  Then I made the pears. I got very creative and broke some cinnamon sticks in the pears after I put the rum and butter in.  Then, the last five minutes I put a tablespoon of marscapone cheese on the top and served it with whipped cream in a Rosemary dish.  They loved it.  I must say, I do like to be creative in the presentation of serving a meal to company.

A little brown sugar was added in baking

Ah.....the whipped cream; the finishing touch

Believe It Or Not....

I am cooking dinner for our friends tonight.  I know I have mentioned that I don't like to cook anymore, but pot roast with all the veggies is my speciality.  I can already smell it cooking; yum.  I am making the baked pears for dessert and bought some marscapone chesse to dab on top the last 10 minutes they are baking. I bought some fresh flowers for the table and things are shaping up. 
And I know I don't eat sugar and wheat but these Wyoming Whopper Cookies are the best.  They are like 3 cookies in one; peanut butter, oatmeal and chocolate chip. I am going to post the recipe. I can't believe I am posting such a decadent cookie on this blog!  I hope to make them tomorrow. You think I can not eat one?   

Don't Give Up

I have to tell myself that just because it is Christmas, I don't have to eat all those desserts.  To eat is just a few moments of pleasure for what?  Gas?  A sick feeling? a few pounds that are harder to get off than they were to get on?  So, not to feel deprived, I will make my yummy pumpkin pie, and my baked pears, and baked banana's are good also (that one's for you Kath), and I will use my coconut sugar to make them.  Hot sugar-free drinks are good too.  In fact, I have to go drink my sugar-free Chai right now.  And, I have to keep up with the swimming even though most of the ladies will not be there the rest of the week. It's an hour and a half out of my early morning; surely I can manage that.  
Time for my wheat-free blueberry pancake with chopped pecans.  I worked hard for it this morning.    

Baked Pears

It's winter almost and this is when I like to make my baked pears.  I cut the pears in half and take off the stem and cut out the seeds and core.  Then I put a little Rum in the hollowed out space; or you can use rum flavoring.  I put in a half of teaspoon of Smart Balance and some sweetener; a little brown sugar, stevia, or coconut sugar.  You can add chopped pecans if you like them.  I add a little water in the dish and bake them at 375 degrees for 45-60 minutes until they are soft.  You can use Anjou pears or yellow pears.  Serve warm with a little fat-free whipped cream. 
I just read in a magazine where they added Marscapone cheese; that sounded good and I would add it the last 10 minutes of baking.

Gingerbread Cookies

Why did I buy the bag of little gingerbread men cookies at Target when I love them so much?  Eating them with tea is the best.  Well I had 1 yesterday and 1 today.  I think that is funny-why  just not have any?  Like I've said before, the pleasure of eating something like that is so fleeting, it almost isn't worth it.....almost. I guess if you can limit yourself; a hard thing to do this time of year it might be okay.  I'm a stickler for the rules because that is how I was brought up.  It doesn't matter if they are my own rules. Ha ha.  I tell you, some of the substitute wheat and sugar products make you feel worse than the real stuff.  You are better off not eating anything like that.  My chiropractor tells me to eat food that is as close to nature as you can get.  Oh...where does that put dark chocolate?  And coffee?   And tea?  And honey?  And Stevia?  And German Rock Sugar?  I will have to tell you about that sometime.  Those little gingerbread men are calling my name everyday.  Just eat them and get it over with and don't buy anymore!!!

DaVinci

                           
It was delivered last week and it is hmmm hmmm good.  These sugar-free flavorings make a cup of coffee or a cup of hot chocolate so much better.  Just ask my sistopher as she had the Cinnamon one in her coffee this morning with a little fat-free cream.  Yesterday, I had the Peppermint Paddy in my hot chocolate....very smooth.  It's like drinking an almost calorie-free dessert.  You will have to try some.  I am going to find a store that sells them.  

NO Wheat.....

the last couple of days.  Had a little sugar....one little gingerbread man....or was it two.  And then there is that one piece of chocolate I must have.  I tried my sugar-free DaVinci peppermint patty in my sugar-free hot chocolate and it was hmmmm good.  I have been actually hungry this weekend which is a change for me.  That is why I am going swimming at 7:00 a.m.today with my sister; I am sure we will be dragging ourselves there. She has been wanting to come and try it out.  She has lost weight, you can tell.  But somehow the thought of getting in a pool in the winter is not appealing especially when it is dark and cold when you start out, but exercise with diet is VERY effective.  Get on it people!  Find something.  Riles wanted me to go to Zumba with her Brownie class ha ha.  That one is not for me.  Whatever it is you can do, do IT!!!  And watch that sugar in the next two weeks, so you don't have to start all over again with the weight loss next month.  I am really talking to myself here....

Old Habits

are hard to break.  I had wheat on Tuesday night in the form of pasta in spaghetti and yesterday I had a grilled cheese sandwich on whole grain bread.  Oh, boy, my stomach suffered yesterday afternoon and last night.  Today, I have a headache.  I think there might be something to this wheat sensitivity thing; so today I stayed "clean." 
I mentioned coconut sugar in my last blog and I googled it and found an article about it on Wikipedia.  If you are interested you might check it out.  The glycemic index of coconut sugar is 35 and is classified as a low glycemic index food.  It is considered healthier than traditional white sugar and brown sugar.  It can be used as a 1:1 sugar substitute for coffee, tea, baking and cooking.  It has a high mineral content and is a rich source of potassium, magnesium, zinc and iron.  It also contains B vitamins: B1,B2,B3 and B6. Compared to brown sugar it  has twice the iron, four times the magnesium and over 10 times the amount of zinc.  It was a very intesting article.  I bought mine at Vitamin world. 

It's even organic!

I Did It!!

Yes, I peeked at my weight again today; back down to my new normal weight of 123.   Anyway, I had to go to the doctor and they weighed me on a digital scale and it was the same....IN BIG BOLD NUMBERS!!
Couldn't miss it.  I have to tell you about a new sweetener I found; it is Organic Coconut Sugar.  It is an unrefined alternative to cane sugar.  1 tsp. has 4 grams of sugar and you use it 1:1 replacement for sugar.  It was great on my oatmeal this morning; good.  It is gluten free and made by MADHAVA.  I also found a sugar-free Chai Tea. It is made by OREGON CHAI.  That was also good.
Good news, my MRI was normal!!!  I am also feeling much better.  What was the pain?  Medication?  Perhaps some intestinal swelling.  The doctor told me to come back in April unless I have problems again.  I really like her; which is saying a lot for me-to LIKE a doctor. 

Don't Do It!!

I just had to weight myself again today...I usually do it on Fridays.  Never do it on a Monday after the weekend.  So I am way up (no pun intended) and can't figure it out at all, except it goes along with my unloverly Mon DAY!! I know, wait (no pun intended again) until Friday.  Everyone always weighs more on Monday.  No more ice cream for me.  I had it 2 nights in a row.  Don and I threw it out; not good for us.  Tonight the chef is cooking up some blueberry pancakes; he is going to BSF and we aren't that hungry.  I will have my gluten-free ones which are quite good.  I will have to snack on carrots later tonight to get some veggies in.  And then weigh in on Friday...no more Mondays!
BTW, bloggers use some of their own language; unloverly being one of them.  I need to make a list of my "blog words."

I Confess......

I had some sugar tonight; slow churned ice cream-pomegranate blueberry-very good.  Okay, but it made me feel yucky afterward.  You know that feeling......just kind of sick and asking yourself  "why did I just eat that?"  It took what 2 minutes?? HA!  2 minutes of pleasure for hours of guilt and yuckiness.  I gotta remember that next time.
I also didn't go swimming this morning because I didn't go today.  I had gone six days in a row; so needed a break; but I had no energy, so I am going tomorrow a.m. before church.  Wonder if I can get the Donald to go with me???

Weight Is Holding.....

between 123 and 124 and has for some time now.  I was down to 122 a week ago; but today I was 123.5.  I am not eating wheat.  I do have some sugar though; pretty hard to stay off it completely.  I eat some wheat-free graham crackers sometimes, a piece of chocolate and I have had some ice cream or frozen banana with a little chocolate sauce on it and I have some wheat-free cereal that has some sugar in it.  
I have stepped up the exercise- this week I walked and swam in the pool 6 days for 40 minutes each time.  I have the gals running a few laps now and boy is that fun.  Norma is always at the lead and no one can catch up to her; which bugs her friend Paulie a great deal.  Boy can those two talk about each other behind their backs. Hmm Hmmm.  I even have Paulie going under water a few times with her super-duper professional goggles.  I enjoy going swimming even more now that I finally know everyone and we move fast while we talk.  Walking against the current is new for me and I am finally able to do it without as much strain as before.  I have gone down 2 sizes now.  Happy about that except my clothes are kind of big.  I feel better and think this is probably a good weight for me.
I really believe that at any age, exercise AND food portions is very important, but especially the older you get.

It Carries It.....

I've been craving a grande peppermint mocha coffee for over a week.  I stopped at Starbucks in Plymouth today and there on the menu....."Skinny Peppermint Mocha."  After asking what it was: They said it was sugar-free peppermint mocha, with skim mild, no whip.  I asked for it in de-caf pronto.  I think I might add the whip next time.  They said every year they carry one of their holiday drinks in the sugar-free.  How nice of them to carry the peppermint mocha for me this year. I've had my fix, but I'm sure I will need more.