Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011

Well we will finally end this year with snow and the temp right now is -14, that's not a type-o it's 14 below 0 @4am by the time I left to catch the bus it was -24 and when I got to work it was -30 degrees outside...coldest I have ever seen it here.


The buses were late yesterday (12/30) because of our snowy weather. I ended up taking the employee shuttle at 6:30 and then having it get stuck at the rec center. While we waited for help, I went inside and stepped on the scale. 176.6#....YIKES!

Anyways the last couple months I have had a real annoying problem with dry itchy skin that is driving me crazy. I scratch so much that I end up digging sores on my arms. I have always believe that the best way to care for skin was from the inside-out. I also want to see if I can improve some bathroom issues.

So for 2011,
I will really, really try to drink more water,
Decrease my coffee intake
Take vitamins more often
Get in a routine of using Noxema & hand lotion & foot cream...at least 3 days a week
Drink smoothies on my day offs (when I have more time to make them and clean up afterwards)
Reread my raw food books & catch up with some of my foodie blogs
Use the tracker items more often on sparkpeople
Make a big salad at work to bring home, whenever I am to tired to cook later

I have a book: The Raw Food Detox Diet and need to really take the time to sit down and read it & commit myself to living by it.

A bus driver and her husband came into Yavapai for breakfast today. Chatted with Rick about his diet...he has now lost about 85-95#. Mostly from cutting out what he called 'JUNK'...mainly greasy fried-foods & flour. Alot of what he said made sense; so now I will have my manager, Bob and Rick both as inspiration this Winter.

http://www.greensmoothiequeen.com/ just a new site I found last night
http://veganhope.com/ an interesting lady who is losing weight and CURING her own diabetes
http://blissfulhope.wordpress.com/ site I found awhile ago & bookmarked & need to catch up on.

A new me, for the new year

Well it's that time of year again; when people start making resolutions for the coming new year. It never seems to work for me but here I am again thinking about what I want to do differently for the coming year.

Now 1 of my managers has already started on a new diet because he realized while he was on vacation in Vegas, that his pants were to tight. So now he is not eating grains...no bread, no pasta, no rice, no crackers. Lately he has been telling us EVERYDAY about how much better his pants fit, and asking each of us if we noticed any difference. Funny because the first Winter I met Bob, all I ever saw him eat was cereal and drink warm water at work. He lost ALOT of weight that first year.(But he also ended up with prostate cancer the 2nd yr he was here).
I think Bob has the right idea of getting us all interested in his diet so we can keep an eye on him.

Anyways I have been whining alot (even more to myself then online) about my weight & health issues...and even though I read alot online about these issues, I don't really change much.
You know that old saying...A sure fire definition of insane is~~if u keep doing the same old thing but expect to see different results. Well I must be insane.

Honestly, I still eat to much crap and never on a regular schedule either. I will either spend a whole day with just coffee & microwave popcorn or I will pig-out at the cafeteria. Then I spend to much time sitting on my butt with my laptop.

I'm not really sure how I can get the energy or the motivation or desire to move around..no matter how many health magazines I read or how much time off from work I get...nothing really gets changed.
So I can tell u that I want to lose 50 pounds next year...hell I have been saying that for years now. Now I gotta figure out a way to really, really do it. Its a little less then a pound a week.

35 more days

35 days...that's what is left for 2010

Then of course everyone will go around asking everyone else "Whats your New Year's resolution?" Actually I think its silly. I could make 1 now and already have it shattered by the time the New Year even gets here.
I should make the resolution to just not eat as much for Christmas as I apparently did for Thanksgiving this week. I don't want heartburn for Christmas. (thank god for a co-worker mixing me up baking soda & water 2 hrs later...it really does cure heartburn)

See, then after Christmas I just might do another resolution for the New Year....actually I should just plan on doing a different resolution every month because a month is about the longest I can go for 1 resolution. So instead of having 1 resolution for 2011, I will have 12.

Oh yeah...seeing as it has been awhile in-between blogs here; I guess I should mention that when I went to the rec center for the craft bazaar on the 20th, I also stepped on the scales and weigh 168# now. I think the last time I checked I was about 175. Actually I can't even remember when that was.

Take-out from Cafeteria

My late lunch from last week:

I got a side order of rice & a side order of black beans with some diced tomatoes mixed in...side of guacamole (which I never used). The rice & beans were yummy enough without the guacamole.

The soymilk & banana was saved till morning to use with cereal.

Yummy fruit plate: 2 pineapple rings, 2 orange slices, bunch of grapes, 2 slices of honeydew & 2 slices of cantaulope with tiny container of yogurt in the middle.

Breakfast

Well in 6 days I will be out of work for just over 3 weeks...WOW! So this morning I am looking through my food shelves to see what I have and what I need to buy that will last me through that time. Also looking in a couple cook (and uncook) books for new ideas.

Here is what I came up with so far for breakfast-

#1 fruit Salad (whatever is in season & on sale)

#2 fruit smoothie (whatever is on hand)

#3 apple slices with peanut Butter

#4 Naked juice with "mighty greens" added

#5 yogurt & granola

#6 Hemp cereal with soymilk or yogurt

#7 Instant Oatmeal with Protein powder & Peanut Butter

#8 Instant Oatmeal & Frozen Blueberries

#9 Rice with Soy Milk & cinnamon, raisins, nuts

#10Soymilk, Protein Powder & Banana....smoothie

Unfortunately I have to get another juicer as I no longer have 1. But I'm starting to wonder if I could tolerate just rotating those 10 breakfasts all month long or maybe even all Winter long. Guess the only reason I would need to go down to the employee cafe would be to get some fruit & yogurt & the individual serving containers of soymilk. Hey if Im only using soymilk for 3 mornings a week then there is no reason to buy a big expensive container at the general store.
The general store does have hemp milk, and I tried drinking it straight from the carton but I didn't like it at all....NO FLAVOR, just COLORED WATER. But maybe it would be ok in #10's smoothie.

Weekend Snacks

Yes I have this weekend off from work. So I made sure to go to the general store yesterday when I got out of work.

small bag of baby carrots & guacamole~~the store was out of the brand of hummus that I liked.
2 small potatoes~~also got shredded taco cheese & pound of real butter
2 bell peppers & 2 small onions & 1 broccoli head~~already have Italian dressing at home
grapes~have learned that these are easy to eat at night while online
Motts cinnamon applesauce~think it will be the last time getting this

I am also taking a 3 week "LOA" from work in November while my cafeteria is closed. I guess you could call this time "my financial diet". So I might be living on most of the above items for most of November....except I will trade the applesauce in for pears & real apples & pomegrantes & bananas (whatever is on sale). I will probably use yams instead of white potatoes even though yams cost more yesterday.
Luckily I already have a stocked shelf of instant oatmeal, peanut butter, rice, & coffee.

Now I need to get off the computer and clean & take trash outside & leave some stuff on the "free table"downstairs.
So grabbing grapes & veggies dipped in dressing is the easiest way for me to eat today

Planning ahead

Well I have the weekend off. Started my day with instant oatmeal and 2 handfuls of frozen blueberries added to it. Got the idea of adding frozen berries to oatmeal from Marge & Bob, when we all went to Washington D.C for Allan's retirement ceremony. Who says that you can only add bananas or raisins to cereal? Good thing I ordered a few boxes of instant oatmeal from Amazon.
Actually today I will save the banana to put in my peanut butter sandwich. I also ordered 6 jars of chunky peanut butter from amazon..



It's better for me to order food now from amazon, then to wait till the middle of Winter when work hours get cut and then have me complaining about not having enough money for food. Or have me eating the cheap junk around the park.




But I will be buying lots of apples, pears and found out that kumquats are in season from November-March so I want to try those too...have seen them in the Flagstaff stores and thought they looked like little mis-shaped tangerines. Actually they are the size of some cherry tomatoes but I guess they pack quite a bunch of Vit A & C and potasium in their small size. So guess I will be having plenty of fruit salads this winter.
I had also seen a smoothie recipe online somewhere (it might of been on sparkpeople) that used pumpkin in it. I plan on using canned pumpkin seeing as I have no kitchen to cook a real pumpkin...and I can use either soymilk or plain/vanilla yogurt. Oh yes, I need to go find that recipe.