October 2009 – That's Just Me

No Trick Jeans

I have a pair of black jeans that have been too tight to wear for years. I wore them a couple of weeks ago when all my jeans were in the wash; they fit, but still were a bit too snug.

So it’s Halloween night and again, all my jeans were in the laundry. I thought okay, I can try on those black jeans again and if they are too snug, I can always break out the holy ratty jeans I wear in emergencies.

So I slip on the black jeans and wow, they fit nicely with room to spare!!! I was shocked! And happy!

(No need for a Kymaro Body Shaper when you lose weight the healthy and natural way!)

Whole Wheat Muffins – Recipe not so disastrous

I admit it, I am not much of a baker. I love to cook, and the reason I love it so much is because when you cook, you don’t need to follow a recipe. You can experiment with ingredients and throw in a little of this and mix in a little of that.

With baking, it has to be measure this and measure that…and don’t over mix because it will be tough, etc.

Well, I have been dying to bake some muffins. I recently bought baking powder, baking soda, whole wheat flour, etc. I had all the necessary ingredients, I just needed to find a simple recipe.

Googling “whole wheat muffins”, I found a basic recipe on allrecipes.com – http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Whole-Wheat-Muffins/Detail.aspx

I read through some of the comments that offered suggestions for revisions, such as substituting applesauce for half of the oil, adding blueberries, raisins, bananas, etc.

I decided to modify the recipe to substitute applesauce for half the oil/fat, and substitute the oil for melted coconut oil/butter. I also cut the recipe in half so it would yield 6 muffins instead of the full 12.

(For more information on cooking with coconut oil, I found this article very helpful)

The dry ingredients mixed easily, but the wet ingredients were a little trickier, especially when it came to adding my microwave melted coconut butter/oil. Because the other wet ingredients were still chilled, it solidified the coconut oil into a big chunk! aaack!!! I tried breaking up the coconut oil with a spoon, but it was hopeless, there were going to be solid chunks in the mix. Fingers crossed, it would all just melt together when baking.

Worse yet, the recipe called for half an egg, so I figured since one commenter mentioned using 2 egg whites in the recipe, I could easily substitute one egg white for half an egg.

A little voice inside my head told me to crack the egg over a different bowl, but no, I decided to crack into the wet ingredients, thinking I could easily separate the white from the yolk! ha! Of course the yolk fell in along with a huge piece of shell. I easily grabbed the shell out of the mix, and tried spooning a bit of the yolk out of the bowl. aack!

This was going to be a disaster! I had chunks of hardened coconut butter, along with too much egg. Oh well, it’s all a learning experience right?

So, I mixed in the dry into the wet, and tried to evenly dump the mixture into 6 muffin cups. I put the muffin pan into my smaller toaster/convection oven, and it baked for about 10-11 minutes (half the time as the original recipe)

I let the pan cool for a few minutes before removing them. I placed each muffin gently on a cooling rack. They didn’t look too bad, despite the uneven sizes!

And they tasted okay too. I had one of the warm muffins for breakfast!

homemade whole wheat muffins

Okay, so here is my recipe:

Makes 6 muffins.

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons milk
* 1 tablespoons and 1 teaspoons coconut oil (melted)
* 1 tablespoons and 1 teaspoons unsweetened applesauce
* 1/2 egg

Instructions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). I didn’t grease my muffin pan, they stuck a little bit, but not so bad when using a non-stick muffin pan. Optionally, you can add muffin baking cups, which I might buy. I used a small (6) muffin baking pan.
In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients: both flours, sugar, baking powder and salt; mix well.
I measured the coconut butter and scooped into a small cup; I microwaved for approximately 30 seconds or until melted.
In a small bowl, combine milk, applesauce, egg, and coconut oil. Be careful when adding the melted coconut oil, if the other ingredients are chilled, the oil will harden. Blend wet ingredients well.
Add dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be lumpy.)
Divide the mixture into the 6 muffin cups. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Note: I only baked for only 10-11 minutes in my toaster/convection oven, so watch them closely.
Cool for a minute or two before removing the muffins from pan. Serve warm or leave cooling on rack.

Nutritional Data:

Calories 144.7
Total Fat 3.9 g
Saturated Fat 2.9 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.4 g
Cholesterol 18.5 mg
Sodium 231.5 mg
Potassium 82.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 25.0 g
Dietary Fiber 1.5 g
Sugars 9.5 g
Protein 3.5 g

Didnt know steamed was so delicious

Well we went to our fave Chinese food restaurant tonight. I had a late snack (actually an early dinner) before mike called with the suggestion, so I knew I would have to eat light.

I ordered the steamed chicken w/ veggies & brown rice. I was happy when she told me the sauce comes on the side!

Anyway, it arrived in a little steamer bamboo basket, and was incredible. I drizzled some sauce on top and it was salty and added a good flavor.

They gave me a huge portion so I have my lunch for tommorrow! I would definatly order again!

Supersize Me

I am now a huge (no pun intended) fan of Morgan Spurlock.

His book, Don’t Eat This Book: Fast Food and the Supersizing of America started it all for me!

I knew fast food was bad for my health, but I didn’t really realize how bad until I took a real close look at the calories of all the Wendy’s food I was regularly eating. Wow! Like a ton of bricks, I realized that I was eating way too much! I needed to make a change.

I started with a desire to stop eating so much processed food, and a commitment to learn more about food in general.

I don’t know why, but I chose the audio version of Don’t Eat This Book to be my first learning tool.

The book is based on his experiences during the filming of the “Super Size Me” movie. For one month, Morgan ate nothing but McDonald’s food. He gains weight, his health deteriorates, and he feels like crap!

Sure, I knew how horrible McDonalds’ food was for your health, but the book really made me realize how evil these food companies really are, with their sneaky advertising tactics peddled directly at children. Our nation is in extreme disarray, with more and more of our adults and children becoming overweight and obese. Diabetes is skyrocketing!

I chose the audio version of the book because I love audio podcasts, so I knew it would be great to hear on the way to work. I was right! The audio of Don’t Eat This Book is excellent. It’s Morgan Spurlock’s voice you hear; he has a great personality so listening to the book is very easy. He made all the boring facts interesting, and I enjoyed how he separated the “sidebar” text. He added voice “impressions” for the different characters in the book, which added a ton of humor. I don’t know if the book would have been as enjoyable if I didn’t “listen” as opposed to “reading” it. He really made it special!

Listening to this book set me on the path I am on today. The decision to try to limit or completely remove processed food from my everyday diet can hopefully make my life more healthy and enriched. But what about everyone else? It’s very sad how people are blind to the poison that McDonalds, Coke, and countless other big food corporations are pushing on us. I wish everyone could read (or listen to) this book! Just don’t eat this book! hahaa

So, I finished the audio book, and was intrigued to watch the movie “Super Size Me” now.

Luckily, I found it for free on Hulu.com – cool!

I started to watch it the other day on my laptop while working out on the treadmill, then took a break after about 20 minutes. I started it up again in the kitchen on Tuesday while I was cooking dinner. Would you believe my dear hubby came in, and decided to watch it as well. I was so happy! I wanted him to see this too!

It’s such an important message, and something we can’t afford to ignore any longer! We all need to open our eyes and minds and STOP eating this junk!

Shopping Links:

—

PS I admit though there were times when watching him eat those greasy burgers and fries, that a little part of me was craving to grab a bite for myself! Gawd, it’s very sad how they have snuck into our brains!

Weigh In – 181 lbs!

Hurray!

Weighed myself on both scales. Either 181 or 180 depending on the scale. Awesome! So, that’s a 19 or 20 lb weight loss! I’ll take it!

(Old scale reads 180 and new digital reads 181 – strange, it was usually the older scale that was higher!)

My husband, Mike is also down too. 223 lbs! Awesome!

It’s been a rough few days. Mike badly hurt his eye last Thursday, and although I have been doing okay in my calories, some of the food choices might have been more “processed” than I’d like.

But we both got a good night’s sleep Sunday night and since then, I have been feeling awesome, with more energy! I feel tremendous. Don’t know if it’s better food, better weight, or both….but I am happy! :)

Breakfast With Parents

I met my parents for breakfast yesterday. I did good! I ordered one pancake and one ham steak. I asked for no butter, but they slapped a big hunk on the pancake anyway, which I dutifully scraped off later. I surprised even myself, and didn’t need any syrup! I put the ham on top of the pancake, and cut it up. It was delicious.

I was full and didn’t even finish the pancake!

I know that I can still control my portions even when going out…and remain in control even when my dad throws a piece of bacon on my plate! No thanks Dad! LOL

Weigh In 2009-10-17

It looks like I am down at least 2 more pounds.

It’s confusing, as the older scale seems to be messed up and it usually shows 2-4 lbs more than our new digital scale.

Yeah, I know digital scales are messed up and not always accurate either, and that’s why I am being conservative with the 2 lbs.

So, 183 lbs.

Why am I not jumping up and down and happy? I dunno. I guess I am afraid it’s not real.

This is Too Easy, no?

Well, I weighed myself on both scales just now. The new digital scale is off about a pound to the older one, but either way, I am down another 2-3 pounds! Something must be wrong! How can the weight be coming off so easily? I am scared it’s just a temporary thing and the next weigh in, it’s going to come back! But hopefully it’s good and gone!

185 baby or 184 depending on which one you believe. I am going with the higher 185. 15 pounds total. Too amazing!

I am now @ 1580 calories at myfitnesspal. Still a good amount of food.

PS. I was sooo good last night too. We were all meeting over at my inlaws, and they were supposed to be having pizza. I figured I would eat at home because I already had pizza last night (Newman’s Own thin crust 4 cheese, yum).

They ended up having various frozen pizzas from the grocery store, so I am glad I ate before hand, just because that stuff isn’t that great and to me, it wouldn’t be worth all the extra calories.

I did have a small piece of zucchini cake which was delicious. Probably about 200 calories.

Down 2.4 lbs!

Hurray! Down another 2.4 lbs. (officially calling it 2)

We bought a new Taylor digital bathroom scale at Kmart yesterday. Nothing fancy, with no extra fat percentage or user features. Just a plain ole digital scale that weighs your body.

;)

I was excited to get on the scale this AM (in hubby’s bathroom downstairs) and was pleasantly surprised to see that I was down 2.4 lbs for a total loss of 13lbs! So, I went back upstairs to my original scale, and weighed myself. Nothing lost, still at the same weight as previously recorded.

So, I brought the new Taylor scale upstairs to my bathroom in the middle of the floor and weighed. Good, still showed the weight loss. I moved my old scale to the middle of the room as well, and that finally showed weight loss! Phew!

While I was thinking I was going through a plateau, it was really my scale in the wrong place! I had it against the wall, and maybe the floor is a bit crooked or something. I dunno. But I will hopefully rely on the new scale now. It will be much easier to read.

So, cool! Yay, I am soo excited to be rewarded for all my hard work. I thought I was at a stand still!

My Ring Came Off!

My wedding ring has been squished on my finger for YEARS! The bottom part of my finger was indented from the pressure of the tight ring, and I couldn’t get the ring to go over my knuckle, even with soap.

Well, for the last week or so, my ring has been annoyingly twisting around on my finger, so I knew my fingers might be getting smaller.

Yay, I tried tonight and the ring slipped off over my knuckle!

I will keep it off for a few weeks, just so the bottom of my finger can go back to its normal shape. It really was squished all those years!