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CAROLFAITHWALKR's Recent Blog Entries
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Wednesday, February 23, 2011
It is still snowy here; have been too busy to listen to when it's going to melt. Soon, hopefully.
I love snowy owls, they are so beautiful.
   
9 Small Ways to Save on Food, by Reader's Digest
1. Don't pay $$ for expensive imported tomatoes.
Fancy Italian canned tomatoes, called San Marzanos, are delicious, sweet, available all year round, and incredibly expensive. Our secret way around the price? Buy other canned tomatoes on sale, and drizzle them with rice vinegar. The result will be so sweet and succulent you'll wonder why you haven't done this before!
2. If you're an avid cook, buy spices in bulk.
The markup on spices from major brand names in the grocery-store spice aisle is hair-raising. If you can find a store that sells spices and dried herbs from large bins, you may be pleasantly surprised to discover that the little jar of spices you paid $5 for at the supermarket is 89 cents for about three-quarters of a cupful when bought in bulk.
3. Shop at the ethnic market.
One of our researchers found an entire pork shoulder for 99 cents a pound in her local ethnic market and the same cut -- from the same producer -- at $4.99 per pound at a neighboring gourmet shop. Ethnic markets cater directly to clientele who have to stretch their dollars as far as they can go. If you live near an Italian, Spanish, Asian, or African market, take advantage of it. You'll find savings on everything from pasta, rice and tortillas to tea, coffee and vegetables.
4. Substitute the parmesan.
Real Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano (not the stuff in the green cardboard can) can cost a big bundle. Forgo the fake stuff in the green can, and opt for a clever, more frugal substitute for the real thing: Look for easy-to-find Asiago or Grana Padano — very similar cheeses that cost a fraction of Parmigiano-Reggiano and still deliver a punch of flavor.
5. Save on olive oil.
Buying a gallon of extra-virgin olive oil and decanting it into a smaller bottle as needed adds up to big savings. A gallon will run about $25, depending on the brand and country of origin, but even the most inexpensive oils usually run about $8 a quart — or $64 a gallon!
6. Get your gourmet goodies at the 99-cent store.
Sure, you can find everyday items at your local 99-cent store. But if you look a bit more closely, you'll find loads of tempting gourmet goodies: we found fancy, imported chocolates; wild smoked salmon; smoky Spanish almonds; and sweet roasted peppers. Who knew?
7. Grow your own herbs; don't buy them.
Why spend $2 to $3 for a tiny packet of fresh herbs in a grocery store, when the same amount of money would have bought you a potted plant of the same herb that could live in your windowsill? Rosemary is an amazingly hardy plant, as are thyme and mint, and the only problem with growing chives is to make them stop. Cutting chives merely encourages them to grow faster, so if you toss a handful of snipped chives in your scrambled eggs every few days, you'll never lack for them.
8. Hit the farmer's market at the right time.
If you want to eat fresh food cheap, hit the market an hour to a half hour before closing and scoop up fruits and veggies, even baked goods and flowers, at a discount, sometimes as much as 50 percent to 75 percent off. Growers always want to unload as much as they can at the end of day, rather than haul it home. Just be sure your afternoon foraging begins with an open mind and palate and empty shopping bags (they often run out of bags at the end of the day).
9. Freeze in-season berries.
Love blueberries and cherries but cringe at the checkout when you buy them in the dead of winter? Shop for them in season. Place them on a large, lipped baking sheet, pop them into the freezer, and four hours later, you'll have individually frozen, fresh-as-a-daisy berries. Store them in heavy-duty freezer bags for up to six months, and you'll never have to shell out hard-earned dough again to make a succulent, fresh blueberry pie or cherry tart in the middle of January.
EVALUTATION OF DAY 3 of 132 (FEB 22), FIT BY FIFTY CHALLENGE
Steps: 8,092
ST: yes
Weight 23rd AM: 273.6
BMI: 45.4
www.sparkpeople.com/resource/calcula
tor_bmi.asp
Temp 23rd: 96.5
pH 23rd: 7.4
Added protein to each meal: yes
Added live food to each meal: yes
Added omegas to each meal: yes
Added foods with high pH index to each meal: yes
Added coconut oil: no
Drank a half teaspoon baking soda in 8 oz water before bed: no
Drank diluted food grade hydrogen peroxide in water: no
Ate cottage cheese with flax seed oil: no
Stress Erad program, prayer walking: no
Stress Erad program, deep breathing: no
Stress Erad program, Jon Gabriel's free meditation CD: no
Stress Erad program, seek out a Tai Chi class at Y or at community center: no
Stress Erad program, decluttered 15 mins: no
Stress Erad program, shiny sink: yes
Add Positive Stress: 10 mins ALL-OUT exercise (for me, powerwalking 3X week): no
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
We woke up to 4 inches of snow this morning. It was pelting stinging sleet crystals last night. I hope this is Winter's last gasp for the season. So I thought the Snowy Owls would be appropriate Blog Decoration for today, LOL. They are so beautiful.
  
I realized something fundamental and important this morning - one of those DUH moments in your SparkJourney that is integral to the process that you're soooooo happy about learning, and want to share with everyone, while being embarrassed about it at the same time.
On days I stay home, that I am not interviewing, and not doing errands and parking the farthest away from the door at 3 or 4 stores going bargain grocery shopping etc., I get a non-exercise average of about 1,000 steps a day, between 950 - 1050. This is just a normal living day, i.e. not in bed sick. I only know this because of buying a pedometer and wearing it for The Step Diet program and SparkTeam. And I know Leslie Sansone's mile is 2,000 steps, and, walking once outside is 2,250 steps.
Up til now in my SparkJourney, I was proud of myself if I went outside and walked. At all. ONCE.
This morning's lightbulb moment is: I need to quadruple that to make 10K. I need 4 outside walks and/or Leslie miles, plus the 1,000 indoor, to = 10K.
I remember on errand days I'd get up to between 6-7K, so, that means on errand days I STILL need to walk outside 1-2 times, or 1-2 miles with Leslie, to get up to 10K.
WOW. Severe lightbulb moment.
I am so grateful for The Step Diet SparkTeam, and that I stuck with it; I am pedometer-adverse and it's been a battle of over a year, like pulling nails, and I went through 4 or more pedometers to get to this point; otherwise even this fundamental lightbulb wouldn't have gone on. (And of course 10K is just the first benchmark; 10K is a baby step goal, I want to walk much more than that every day. Eventually.)
I'm so glad I understood this about the 10K, early on in the game, on Day 2.
My 132 day weightloss goal was losing between 38-57lbs, from Feb 20 - Jul 1 (see previous blog), so I settled on 50lbs. Really audacious, yes, but within the range. I'm changing that to 51lbs after realizing this morning that 271 - 50 = 221, and I'd prefer the even goal of 51lbs lost = 220 lbs. Just easier to remember; I know nothing in reality is ever even. Then with this morning's weigh-in I realized: I need to concentrate on the 220 weight instead of number of lbs, due to water retention, muscle building, etc. So my revised 132 DAY WEIGHTLOSS GOAL IS GETTING TO 220LBS.
This is my first self-EVALUATION DAY of my 132 DAY CHALLENGE.
EVALUATION of DAY 2, FEB 21, FOR FIT BY FIFTY GOAL:
Weight on Feb 22 AM: 272.4 lbs, 52.4 lbs to lose, BMI per SP BMI calculator is 45.4
www.sparkpeople.com/resource/calcula
tor_bmi.asp
I am never sure of my height, exactly; so this morning I marked it on the door frame with a pencil dot and measured with a tape measure to settle it once and for all, for accurate data for the BMI. I used to be taller.
My next weight goal is 220lbs. But to move to my next BMI goal, from Morbidly Obese BMI (40+) into Severely Obese BMI (35+), I need to weigh 210 to be BMI of 35. So both goals are very close: 132 Day Goal is 220lbs, and Severely Obese BMI goal is 210lbs.
*~*Now I know exactly what I'm looking at, for BMI, for 10K steps, and for Weight Goal.*~*
MORE EVALUATION, DAY 2 FEB 21:
Steps: 7,063
ST: yes
Weight 22nd: 274.2
Temp 22nd: 97.5
pH 22nd: 7.5
Added protein to each meal: yes
Added live food to each meal: no, 2X
Added omegas to each meal: no, 2X
Added foods with high pH index to each meal: yes
Added coconut oil: no
Drank a half teaspoon baking soda in 8 oz water before bed: no
Drank diluted food grade hydrogen peroxide in water: no
Ate Dr. Joanna Budwig's cottage cheese with flax seed oil: no
Stress Erad program, prayer walking: no
Stress Erad program, deep breathing: no
Stress Erad program, Jon Gabriel's free meditation CD: no
Stress Erad program, seek out a Tai Chi class at Y or at community center: no
Stress Erad program, decluttered 15 mins: no
Stress Erad program, shiny sink: yes
Stress Erad program, 10 mins ALL-OUT exercise (for me, powerwalking 3X week): no
Monday, February 21, 2011
Well I wanted to be Fit by Fifty. I started when I was 46 years old, needed to lose~190 lbs, so thought I could do it in 2 years, 80 lbs per year; but I also thought at 46 that it was nice and reassuring that I had an extra 2 years for a margin, in case I needed more time to accomplish it by 50.
As of Sunday I am 132 days away from my 49th birthday, after which I'll only have ONE YEAR to accomplish the Fit by Fifty Goal. As of Sunday I weigh 271, with a BMI of 46, and have ~146lbs to lose. I might find when I get down to 150, 140, etc that I look fine and am happy with my fitness level; if so then I'll have less to lose than 146, but won't know that til I get there.
Ten days ago Sunday I was looking at the Fit by Fifty timetable and knew it was now or never; step it up or continue losing at a snail's pace is a choice that is up to me, HOWEVER, the choice to continue as I am meant kissing Fit by Fifty goodbye.
As it is now, I'm right on the cusp of kissing that goal goodbye. 365days + 132days = 497 days. 497 days divided by 7 = 71 weeks to lose 146lbs, which means 2lbs a week - right at the TOP of recommended weightloss. Let's get real here: losing 146lbs in one and one-third years, naturally, without surgery, is a hard thing to do.
So ten days ago Sunday I blogged about 142 days goal/challenge. In the first 10 days of those 142, I found that I have to get radically comitted. I am not doing what I need to do every day, not even close; I found out adding new things to my new healthy lifestyle was harder than I thought it'd be (adding healthy stuff like drinking apple cider vinegar, cooking with coconut oil, etc even though I personally LIKE all those things). It's been like pulling nails to get myself walking, I'm not even close to 10K steps a day. And the stress eradication is going even slower - stress is ramping up not going down, due to unemployment. Taking time out to add in stress management techniques, is something I need to do DAILY that hasn't happened, either. And it's a key component; otherwise I'll need surgery due to hanging skin at the end of meeting my goal, etc.
So yesterday I decided I would number the days on the calendar til my 49th birthday. Yesterday, Sunday, there were 132 days left before my 49th bday. Today is #2 of 132; 130 days left after today.
TODAY IS A BEAUTIFUL DAY TO PRESS THE RE-START BUTTON.
Yes the calendar numbering is helping.
During the period beginning Feb 20, and ending Jul 1, there are 132 days that I'm creating a personal weight loss challenge for myself. I watched "Heavy" on www.AETV.com, and they did this in 180 days; I'll do 132 instead. I'm including in the 132 Day Challenge the things I have learned - so far - from dozens of natural healing sources since my sister died from cancer.
132 DAYS: NEW PERSONAL WEIGHTLOSS, STRESS, & pH CHALLENGE
132 days divided by 7 = almost 19 weeks.
At my weight now, 3 lbs a week (2.71 lbs a week) is a healthy goal following the 1% is healthy rule (fat people can lose more than 2lbs a week safely, experts say).
132 day weightloss goal: 2-3 lbs a week
2 lbs X 19 weeks = 38lbs
3 lbs X 19 weeks = 57lbs
132 day weightloss goal is 38 - 57lbs
So my 132 DAY WEIGHTLOSS GOAL IS: 50LBS
A. Move my feet before I eat. This is in acknowledgement that I have a real problem exercising. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being severely bad problem, I'm minu
s 10. I have a wonderful program to tackle this: The Step Diet Team. I just have to DO IT.
B. Drink 1 tablespoon raw organic apple cider vinegar in 8oz of water before each meal.
C. A combo of Jon Gabriel principles with intake of high pH foods resulting in the following new lifestyle change habit. At each meal I will focus on ADDing 5 things:
1. Protein
2. Live Food
3. Omegas
4. Foods with high pH index
5. Coconut oil
D. Drink a half teaspoon baking soda in 8 oz water before bed.
E. Work on Flooding My Body with Oxygen - diluted food grade hydrogen peroxide, and Dr. Joanna Budwig's cottage cheese with flax seed oil, and omega fish oil pill at every meal.
F. Work on Eradicating Stress: prayer walking, deep breathing, Jon's freed meditation CD, seek out a Tai Chi class at Y or at community center, plus 10 mins ALL-OUT exercise (for me this will be power walking) 3X a week.
A critical aspect recommended by Dr. Coldwell, Jon Gabriel, and many others, is to identify your specific causes of stress in your life and then target them for eradication. This is a tall order for me, but stress makes us acidic; it's not just our diet that does so. Stress produces cortisol. Dr. Coldwell says 86% of cancer is caused by stress. Neuroscientists confirm the cortisol from stress wreaks havoc in our brains and probably gives us Alzheimer's, and the link between cortisol and Alzheimer's is definitely indicated in PTSD patients. Stress and trauma definitely need to be dealt with. Jon Gabriel says lack of cortisol during his weight loss journey is WHY his skin was able to shrink back without surgery even though he lost more than 200 lbs. (This would explain why some people need surgery to remove excess skin after mega weight loss, while others don't; some people eliminated their stress and others lost weight while not addressing their private stress issues.) Cortisol destroys the elasticity of your skin, the function of your brain, and many agree stress causes cancer.
As a general rule, pathogens and cancers cannot survive in an oxygen-rich, alkaline environment.
Jon does talk about one positive stress: all-out exercise 10 mins, 3X per week. It tricks your body into thinking weight loss is needed for survival, i.e. a tiger is chasing you. I'll power walk those ten mins.
For three weeks in a row, I've lost weight without trying while eating all the "wrong" foods, hamburger buns, pasta, etc., and the only thing I did differently was to intentionally include high pH foods in my diet. If it's working, don't change it . . .
Here is a list of foods with high pH indexes. Pick only the ones you like.
HIGH ALKALINE
raw apple cider vinegar (ACV) in water, in salad dressing, in salads
raw lemon juice, see ACV
baking soda in water
greens (kale, collards, bok choy, etc.)
cucumbers - I've been eating these in apple cider vinegar
watermelon
Asparagus
Onions
Vegetable Juices
Parsley
Raw Spinach
Broccoli
Garlic
raw limes
grapefruit
mangoes
pineapple
papayas
Sodium
Potassium
Stevia
Agar
Ki Sweet
Olive Oil
celery - some classify into list below
barley grass
Medium Alkalizers, not as good as the above but still good:
ALKALINE
Okra
Squash
Green Beans
Beets
Lettuce
Zucchini
Sweet Potato
Carob
Dates
Figs
Melons
Grapes
Kiwi
Berries
Apples
Pears
Raisins
Alfalfa
Almonds
Maple Syrup
Rice Syrup
Herb Teas
Spring/Mineral Water
Flax Seed Oil
Carrots
Lima Beans
Blackcurrant
Hazlenuts
Green Tea
Source: see the clickable links for pH foods at the end of my blog about Otto Warburg.
There are other categories (less alkaline but still good; then several categories of progressively more acidic, etc.). But I'm taking a clue from Jon Gabriel, which is, FOCUS ON WHAT TO ADD TO EACH MEAL.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
I am out of syrup and it's not on the "healthy list to buy again", so I've put off buying any for a very long time. But I am in a Pantry Challenge on The Crock Pot Team and have plenty of unsweetened cocoa to use up in my pantry; so this caught my eye.
www.hillbillyhousewife.com/chocolate
syrup.htm
She says it's remarkably similar to Hershey's syrup in the can.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
"This is change that needs to be nurtured and grown like a garden. You can’t just throw seeds down and have beautiful plants immediately. It takes proper soil (environment), good fertilizer (food), sun (to nurture and help the plant grow), and water (necessary for all life to survive). While you may have cleaned out your kitchen, bought your scale, measuring cups, and healthy food, is your environment stress free?"
--Beth Donovan ~INDYGIRL, from Fitness is a Journey Not a Destination
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for sharing the recipe...........
Member Comments About This Blog Post:
on your 
!
I'm sure you'll reach your goals because you've done so well so far!
