Archive for » September, 2009 «

Green Smoothie 2 – The Purple Edition

29 Sep 2009 | By Jaime

Smoothie 2

Spinach leaves
Cos lettuce
Choy so
Avocado
Mixed frozen berries
Fresh squeezed orange juice
Fresh squeezed lemon juice

While I love the frozen berries, juices, and avocado, the Choy so (a smaller version of Bok Choy) was a mistake. It put an almost onion taste into the mix that stood out from the rest and masked the usually pleasant spinach undertones.

I think for additional greens, I’ll start looking into the taste influence of sprouts and broccoli.

More pause for kudos to my husband who got nearly a full glass of extra green (purple) smoothie – and drank it.

Category: Food  2 Comments

Checking In – Sleepy Time

28 Sep 2009 | By Jaime

Smoothie 1

Starting Weight: 264
Last Week: 224
This Week: 224

Pounds Lost: 40

Another week and not change in my weight.

Considering the somewhat wild week I had last week (combined with pre-TOM week), I am more than okay with that. I did some silly things, but I had fun.

And now it’s time to get a bit more serious.

I’ve started getting into green smoothies because, if nothing else, they help me get more greens than I would usually. I love veggies, but I just can’t eat that much. These smoothies may taste a bit different, but I get a better serving of fruit and vege in these shakes than I probably have had in a long time.

At this point I am just throwing my favourite fruit and vege together, so I’ll take a picture of every smoothie I make. The one above is from yesterday.

Let’s all pause and give kudos to my husband for being willing to give this a go despite the green colour.

The title is sleepy time because fatigue is trying to drag me down this week already. I’ve boosted my vitamins to help, but I’m convinced that I need a different, gentler formula of birth control.

I know, I know. I hate birth control and I hate being on it, but the weight I have lost so far has not helped me in being able to have a normally functioning reproductive system.

…

And I suddenly have the thought that maybe I’m sharing too much. Maybe the people who come across this just don’t want to know this about me.

…

Eh, I don’t know. It’s too late for me to worry about it, I reckon. If you’re insulted or put off, well – stop reading.

With much love,

JM

Category: Checking In  2 Comments

My First Green Smoothie

27 Sep 2009 | By Jaime

Smoothie 1

…looks a bit like vomit.

Hahaha. Well, I finally did what I said I was going to do and bought the final ingredients for my first ever green smoothie. Spinach leaves have always been a preferred green of mine, so I threw a bunch of that in there along with some grapes, cos lettuce for more green, 1/2 a lemon’s juice, 1/2 an orange’s juice, about six strawberries and 1/4 an avocado because I adore avocados.

What I ended up with was, first of all, less than I thought it was. (I was a bit nervous about making too much and I ended up with a little under what I wanted.) Secondly, it was thicker than I thought. I ended up eating it with a spoon, which isn’t nearly as gross as you think it is.

I was impressed with my blender’s ability to liquefy it all. I don’t have as much problem with texture as a lot of people do – as long as I know what’s going in it – but I really didn’t have to worry. The thickness was just a lack of liquid rather than any failure on my blender’s part.

You’re really wanting to know about the taste, though, aren’t you?

Well…

Bloody good.

The spinach leaves made a very nice base level taste with the richness of the avocado blending nicely with the citrus flavours. Of course, the citrus flavours are the boldest of the bunch. I quite like it that way, though, and I think I can get away with putting in even more green so long as I put in extra orange and lemon.

It’s certainly not the greatest thing since sliced bread in culinary terms, but I think I did a good job for just following my instincts rather than a recipe. All I need to do is add more liquid, experiment with different tastes, and I will be set.

I would like to let you know that having even one of these uber healthy shakes can be a ‘cleansing’ experience. It wasn’t unpleasant by any means, but I got a fairly decent clean out for having had a standard glass of the stuff.

I’m going to make another one tomorrow for lunch, so we’ll see how I go.

Category: Food, General, Getting Started  2 Comments

Friday Funny – The Wisdom of Socrates

25 Sep 2009 | By Jaime

In ancient Greece (469 – 399 BC), Socrates was widely lauded for his wisdom. One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance, who ran up to him excitedly and said, “Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students…?”

”Wait a moment,” Socrates replied. “Before you tell me, I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Test of Three.”

”Test of Three?”

”That’s correct,” Socrates continued.

”Before you talk to me about my student let’s take a moment to test what you’re going to say. The first test is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

”No,” the man replied, “actually I just heard about it.”

”All right,” said Socrates. “So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?”

”No, on the contrary…”

”So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him even though you’re not certain it’s true?”

The man shrugged, a little embarrassed. Socrates continued, “You may still pass though because there is a third test – the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me?”

“No, not really…”"Well,” concluded Socrates, “if what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all?”

The man was defeated and ashamed and said no more.

This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

It also explains why Socrates never found out that Plato was banging his wife.

Category: Friday Funny  Leave a Comment

The One Where You Do What You Have To

23 Sep 2009 | By Jaime

yoplaitI mentioned in a previous weigh in how, even though it costs a little more, I am getting the individual serves of things instead of buying bulk containers. As someone with binge habits in her past, having the individual serves can be the difference between eating and getting on with life and struggling with that urge to eat more than I need.

But, like with a lot of things, people who haven’t been through the same experiences you have don’t always understand why doing something as simple as getting a bowl of yogurt from a big tub of yogurt could be hard.

My husband and I were buying groceries and, while he reached for his usual big container of yogurt, I went for the six pack of individual serves.

He looked at me and asked, “Why don’t you just get a tub?”

I explained to him that it was hard for me if I used t a big tub, so for the time being, I wanted to use individual serves. I didn’t explain myself well (hello, public grocery store, people wandering by), but I made it clear that the individual serves are just something I need right now to stay on track. He didn’t look all that impressed.

To my husband’s credit, he realized it was important to me and just said, “Okay.”

Therein is one of the reasons I love him. He doesn’t know what it’s like for me to stand with a big tub of yogurt and have that voice needling, “Just a bit more, it’s okay.” And yet, he trusts me to know what I need when it comes to these things. He may disagree and he may not like spending the extra money, but he does love and trust me.

After that, though, I re-realized that no one can do this stuff for you. You need to do what you need to do, and you also have to stand up for what your needs are. Even if they may make you feel silly, if they get you to where you need to be, then why not do them?

Category: Food, General, Mental Health  2 Comments
« Previous Entries

  • Other Bits

  • What I’m Saying

  • Where I’ve Been

  • You Don’t Say…

  • Socializing

  • Day to Day

    September 2009
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  • Stats

    Starting Weight: 264
    Goal Weight: 170

    1st Goal: 230 by Christmas 2010

    2nd Goal: 200 by 5/5/11 (Wedding Anniversary)

    3rd Goal: 170 by 10/8/11 (Next Birthday)

    Current Weight: 251

    27/8/10: 251
    30/8/10:
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