Sunday Shopping

My refrigerator was looking a little bare by the end of the weekend, that is rare, so off I went to the Farmers Market in Campbell, and then to Whole foods....here's what I brought home.

Whole Foods

2 lg cans diced organic tomatoes $4.00
1 lb ground pork $3.95
1/2 ground beef (both ground meats for chili) $2.19
2 1/2 lbs chicken necks (for soup) $2.21
2 smoked turkey thighs (1 for pea soup, 1 for freezer) $7.82
3lbs. organic yellow onions $3.99
2 green cabbages $5.42
5lbs. organic carrots $3.49
1 lb organic spinach $1.99
1 bunch organic yellow beets $1.99
2 sm organic PNB's $ .63
2 cups green peas (for soup) $1.10
2 cups pearl barley $1.13
1 organic yam $1.45
ginger $1.19
2 limes $1.18
2 organic red onion $2.09

Total $ 45.78

Farmers Market

2 bunches celery
parsley
cilantro
green onions
1 lb. mushrooms
2 dino kale
baby carrots
1 lb. cranberry beans
butternut squash

Total $ 22.50

Can you beleive all this food for less than $70! No sample tasting @ WF and I figured out a way to not "sample" @ Famers Market.....I put a piece of spearmint gum in my mouth!

All of these veggies will be used within the week. I washed and organized all of it and I even cleaned out the fridge...isn't a clean fridge just the best?

I made a pot of split pea and smoked turkey soup and then a new favorite....coconut curry chicken soup....using the chicken necks (This soup is just for me! It's very spicy and I happen to like chicken necks, especially because they're so inexpensive and the bones add alot of flavor). Both soups I made in the pressure cooker.

Coconut, Curry, and Chicken Soup

1 13.5oz can coconut milk
3-4 c. low sodium chicken broth (I used water)
2 T. curry powder
2 T. grated ginger
1-2 T. minced lemongrass
garlic (optional 1-4 cloves chopped)
jalapeno (optional...don't you know I put jalapeno in everything, LOL!)
4 chicken thighs (or whatever bone-in chicken parts you want to use! about 2lbs.)

additions

spinach (or other tender greens)
cilantro
lime

If doing in a pressure cooker, bring to full pressure, lower temp to maintain for 8 min., allow pressure to come down naturally for another 8-10 min. Season w/S&P.

If cooking conventionally in stock pot (4-6qt.)...I'm guessing....bring to a boil, turn down to med/lo until chicken is cooked through (partially covered)....15-25 min?

Hot soup will wilt spinach, sprinkle chopped cilantro and squeeze of lime...served over rice.

Press Restart

Well, I couldn't train on Sunday as planned, because, true to my nature, I overdid on Saturday. My upper abdominals were sore, and I guess not true to my nature, instead of training anyway and ignoring my better judgement, I knew I had to take the day off and try and heal....I didn't even go for a walk! So as I feel myself shrinking, and I look in the mirror and see a fraction of the tone and size of my shoulders and arms (and my ass is a little softer) I try and remind myself that it will all quickly come back, given my commitment to my training.

In the mean time......

I was reminded, in a conversation with my sister Donna, that starting again is not the same as starting over. Everytime we start again we don't lose the experience of our first steps, we bring them with us. We don't forget our beginning, we learn from it. And our beginning gave us the base to define where we are currently and where we need to go. I just need to keep moving forward. And if moving forward means healing, then recovery is not moving backwards...it's readjusting the speed of the journey....of the experience.

I'll restart my training today. Life is good.

The First "Official" Workout....in my kitchen...in my jammies!

Woo Hoo! Everyday I feel twice as good as the day before. And last week if you would of told me that I'd be swinging the 12kg (26lb) in a weeks time, I wouldn't of beleived it , but it was no problem!

So, although I was tempted to, but didn't, video part of my workout...in my kitchen....while wearing my pj's....in between prepping soup (s) and washing dishes.....the point being that there's no excuse to not to swing, if just for a few sets...a few minutes. The best part of swinging in my kitchen is that, in the middle of winter, I don't have to go out in that uninsulated garage gym and freeze my ass off, and the worst part is that I missed the music!

Warm up

40 2 hand swings w/8kg, 1 min. on, 1 min. rest x 5 set = 10 min.

Work sets

40 2 hand swings w/12kg, 1 min. on, 1 min. rest

10 R / 10 L, clean press w 8kg, 1 min. on, 1 min. rest

I alternated these last 2 sets x 5 = 20 min

Total workout 30 min.

Wow, it felt good, and I was swinging @ about 75-80% full power in my work sets! I definitely felt as if I could still swing longer than 1 minute, but I didn't want to push it, and I was surprised at how fast a minute rest went by! I can't wait for my next workout on Sunday. Everyother day until I get back on a regular schedule.

Still no snatching for at least a few more weeks, but swinging (especially 2 hand swings) will give me everything I need in terms of muscle tone and fat loss.

Life is good. Swinging KB's again is good!

When does a New Year Start?

This is a picture, taken at my friend Jills home, of what was the final leftovers of the free gift foods from the holidays at her office! I couldn't believe that this was a fraction of what she had to deal with! When she showed me this huge shopping bag loaded with stuff she was giving away I told her, "You are a better woman than me! I couldn't resist like this! Good for you!"

So, I had to take some off of her hands, lol! Not for me of course, but for Mark, afterall she was giving it away...for free, lol.....drats.... So when does a New Year start! Does it start Jan. 1st?

We put so much pressure to be perfect starting January 1st. We make, or try to make, "resolutions", new commitments that can make our lives better. And the first time we fail by succumbing to old habits we give up...we don't even keep trying!

I refuse to stop trying. Everyday I wake up wanting to be in control of my choices...wanting to feel as if I'm in control of my choices.....wanting to make the best choices for a better life. Sometimes that just means getting in the habit of making those better choices! I'm much better than I used to be, and it gets easier all the time. Not easy, but easier. Easier because I make good choices more and more often. Everyday gives me an opportunity to start a New Year, an opportunity to start over or start again!

This New Year is going to be better than ever. It doesn't mean that it has to be perfect...just better....and I can, and will commit to that!

My New Year

The "F" word

I used the "F" word in a conversation this morning...and I'm not sure if it's a bad thing! It was the first time I've done it this year...it's something that I want to stop...but sometimes it's appropriate, lol...isn't it? I'll be better, because I want to be!

Free Samples

I haven't taken the samples at Whole Foods, and I won't...that I know. This one I think is going to be easy! This also includes samples anywhere else...samples that I don't need..in other words, free food! I did take a sample (1) of the blood oranges at the Farmers Market, because I truly needed to taste it!

Don't buy anything I don't want to eat (eventually)

I did buy some holiday goodies before the New Year (cookies) and after being set in motion for a binge yesterday of free food at work, I threw everything away, I will not buy anything I don't truly want to end up eating!

Today is a new day...a New Year.

Give yourself permission to make a new start...everyday. It's never, never too late to have a better life...a good life.

PS I was at Jill's home showing her how to use the pressure cooker! We made Beef Short Ribs with Balsamic and Red Wine.

The New Beginning

Third swing workout since surgery


last taped workout before surgery



Beginning workout

20 2 hand swings w/8kg, 30 sec. on 1 min rest x 10 sets = 15 min (200 reps)

I added 5 sets of 20 reps w/8kg, 30 sec work, 30 sec rest = 5 min (100 reps)

I will only swing the 8kg, and only 2 handed, for the next 2 weeks. I'm hoping to increase the sets to 1 min long next week.

Life Sentence

Alot of what I've been hearing about dieting lately is the new catch phrase "lifestyle". In fact I, myself, recently wrote a guest post (on Jens Gym) about how I realized that to stay at a healthy weight, consistently, you have to make good food choices part of your lifestyle. Good food choices are not only the type of foods that we choose, but the amount of those foods that we eat. So how do you change the type of foods that you eat and/or the amount of foods that you eat without feelings deprived. As someone commenting on my blog described it, feeling like they're in jail.

This was the start of my approach.

Realize the foods that are convenient, alot of times fast and cheap, are simply not good for you! Crappy, calorie dense, foods are not healthy. They're over-flavored (salted and sugared), they're loaded with fake fats and other ingredients to make them look better, "taste" better, and last on the store shelves longer.

I could go on, (and I will another time!) but accept the fact that we are not eating in a way our bodies were intended to eat, that's why we're fat. We have to eat cleaner, more natural, real "live" foods, that we can control the quality of. That means cooking and preparing more (in my case most to all) of the foods we consume. And that's not a bad thing! It's about changing our habits...making it part of our lifestyle.

The good news is that good, healthy foods can become easier to prepare as we get in the habit of doing it regularly....I promise! And good healthy foods can taste better, and you can eat more food for fewer calories. Easy, better tasting and more food!

If you can't or don't want to make an extreme change, like I did (I have to take everything to an extreme, it's my personality, lol), start with one meal, breakfast or lunch, (or both). I don't have to tell anyone how to do that...especially if breakfast is currently a latte and scone or breakfast burrito, and lunch is take out... Breakfast and lunch, I think, are the easiet meals to change. Oatmeal (obvious, how many times do you hear this suggestion?), yogurt, fruit, and try making you own lunch...how about small portion of leftover dinner, or a sandwich, or even better, a salad (the best choice!)

Feeling healthy and lean does not feel restricting to me, it feels free. Free to move easily, free to breathe easliy, free to live my life happier. The way I eat, most of the time, not only makes me feel better and look better, but tastes better!

Staying within a healthy calorie range to keep my body at a healthy weight does not feel like jail to me. Surrounding my body with extra weight and fat that keeps me from....wearing clothes that I want to wear.....joining in physical activities that I might want to be included in, (or other simple things like climbing stairs or walking all day at a convention or fair without my feet killing me!)....... taking pictures with family and friends because I don't like the way I look....going to the beach...etc.... I can list many more simple everyday activities that become harder or impossible to do when we become overweight or are in bad health.....that feels like jail to me!

Which life sentence do you want for yourself ?

PS the last part of the comment that inspired this post was "how do I stick to my regime?"...My answer is, look at my all day lunch photos! They show the large amount of food that I get to eat, as well as, I hope, the quality of nutrition that I get by making my own meals.

Tracy's All Day Lunch 01/02 & 200 swings!

Wednesday Menu

Squash /veggie soup w/ turkey 400 cal.

Sm salad w/anchovy dressing 250 cal.

Beef short ribs w/balsamic glaze and pearl onions 550 cal. (done in the pressure cooker!)

Kale for ribs & roasted brussels & carrots 250 cal.

Apple/prune crisp w/hazelnuts 400 cal.

Total calories 1850

Add in coffee w/cream 60 cal., subtract the soup (only 200 cal, because I added the turkey to the salad), add in some homemade fudge and other misc. sweets 400 cal., new total about 2100-2200.

I feel great, maybe that's a bad thing! I want to swing.....

I've only been walking and doing some dumbell exercises (very light) for my shoulders and arms, but when I walk, as I move one foot in front of the other, I can feel some tension on my upper abs, especially on my right side. So, I thought, why am I walking when I could do some super light swings that don't twist my upper abs?

Ever so gingerly while prepping and packing my lunch for the day I did 10, 20 rep sets w/8kg over the period of 30 min. in my kitchen! So each set only took 30 sec., and then I took quite a rest before doing the next set. I didn't feel anything pulling, tightness or weird!

Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since my surgery and I feel, with the OK from my doctor (I'll be calling today) that I can start, very carefully and lightly swinging again.

My plan

First 2 weeks (weeks 4-6), nothing but swings w/8kg, only 2 handed for the first week before moving on to 1 handed, working my way back to long sets.

Next 2 weeks (weeks 6-8), still nothing overhead but, swings w/12kg, working my way back up to longer sets.

After week 8, overhead movements and I'll see how I feel before working w/16kg.

Life is good, swinging my KB's again is good!

Basic Crisp ( 8x8x2, or 4, 6oz. ramekins)

Granny Smith or any other tart apple 2-3 peeled and diced

Prunes, 1/2 c. chopped

sugar, 1/4-1/2 c.

brown sugar, 2 tbl.-1/4 c. (about 1/2 c. total of both sugars)

1 tbl. flour

cinnamon, 2 t.

Topping

brown sugar / flour / oats (old fashion) 1/3 c. each

salt 1/4 t. (lg pinch)

1/2 stick butter, diced and somewhat cold

chopped hazelnuts, or other nut up to 1 cup ( I used about 1/2 c.)

Preheat 375 oven, mix filling ingredients and let stand 5-10 min. Bake filling in buttered dish for 20 min.

Mix sugar, flour, oats, salt...add butter...leave slightly clumpy, mix in nuts. Scatter over filling and continue to bake for additional 20 min.

You can use any kind of dried fruit (raisins, cherries, etc.), or all apples, or combination of fruits (cranberries, pear, blueberries, frozen or dried, etc.)