Category Archives: weight loss & health

T is for Tea

So you know I’m a coffee achiever but sometimes I actually like to have tea. Mostly because of their health benefits, not because I prefer them, ever, to coffee. 

Right now there are three teas I have nearly every day. The first is green tea. Now, I don’t like the way green tea tastes, brewed, in a cup. I do, however, like the way it tastes in my morning smoothie. I think it’s strange, myself, but it works! The benefits of green tea are numerous and I willing to accept the health benefits of the tea in addiction to the benefits of my green smoothie each morning. 😀

The next tea I have each day is Oolong Tea. Somewhere between a black tea and a green tea, this tea is also beneficial for healthy skin, healthy bones, and combating the signs of aging. I drink a couple of cups a day because it peps me up without spinning me out. It’s also said to help with weight loss and, if that’s true, I won’t say no. 😀

Finally, we love to have a cup of chamomile tea before we go to bed at night. I see it sometimes as a  tea choice in restaurants and wonder how the person who drinks it during the day manages to make it through the afternoon or even get to their car. Chamomile lulls me quickly and soundly to sleep without any chemicals and I love it. I love the way it tastes, too. 

So there you have it. I do like to drink iced tea when it’s really hot. But I almost like it too much and will drink it instead of water. So I make sure I drink a gallon of water first. Then, if I have any desire for more to drink, I’ll let myself have iced tea. 

What kinds of teas do you like? Do you use tea bags or loose leaf tea? I’ll be listening because I do like trying to tea! 😀

R is for Raw

I debated over what I should use for my R blog post. I’ve been a Rottmayer for 36 years today! Yes, indeed, 36 years ago I married the man of my dreams who remains that along with being my best friend, confidant and partner in crime. But we aren’t going to celebrate until this evening so I figured I’d go with something else that’s been pretty important to me over the past eight months: eating a low fat, high carb, RAW diet. 

bananas I began eating raw on September 1 of last year. I was going to do it at a later date but my friend, Chickee (who is the one who inspired me) challenged me to just do it that day. So I did. 

Earlier in the year, David and I had both made a 21 day trip to Banana Island and I found then that it was the absolutely, positively, easiest way to give up refined sugar. I’ve had such a sweet tooth my whole life. I never could get how, when you go on a diet they say, to replace a cookie with an apple. It just didn’t compute.

rack Fruit is a huge part of my morning and afternoon meals, though. For the first month of eating this way, I felt so sweeted out that I felt like I had a pico de gallo deficiency. 😀 I would seriously crave something unsweet by the time the dinner meal rolled around and it was usually pico de gallo for several weeks. 

pico

I’ve come to a more balanced approach over the months and I incorporate greens into my smoothies so I’m not getting entirely fruit. I still have no cravings for sweets and my dinner meal is usually a more savory one.

So what do I eat in a day?

Breakfast is almost 100% of the time a smoothie that I make with 1/2 a bag of spinach, seven bananas, a big handful (I have big hands hee hee) of frozen strawberries and green tea for the liquid. It’s SOOOOOOO good. Even David has it every morning now that we’re living together again.

breakfast

Oftentimes for lunch I will have the very same thing. Now that we’re getting into spring and there are different varieties of fresh fruits at the store, I will sometimes have a mono meal of just one fruit. Mangoes are a new love and black grapes. Holy smokes I cannot eat enough black grapes! 

mangoes

I love going to the Mexican grocery and the Asian grocery because they have a lot of different produce than I’m not used to seeing. A gal that David works with is going to give me the addresses for farmers markets so we can start checking those out as well. 

My dinner is usually a huge salad with dressing made out of more veggies. The favorite at present involves a zucchini, half a red pepper, a tablespoon of tahini, some apple cider vinegar and some seasonings. It makes a LOT of dressing. I don’t konw about you but I have a hard time eating an undressed salad. Dressing just makes it more fun and I’m convinced that once you find a raw vegan dressing that you love, this way of eating becomes a whole bunch easier to stick with.

salad

I had to teach myself to be able to eat more veggies. When I first started eating veggie meals for dinner, I’d add up the calories and, even though it seemed like I had eaten so much, it was only 200 calories. Yikes! I’m a big, active person and that’s just not enough calories to keep me going, ultimately.

Now, my salad typically has two heads of romaine in it or the equivalent. If I eat a zoodle dish, I will sometimes eat up to four zucchini not counting any that are in the sauce.

I love that I can eat as much as I want and I’ve lost a ton of weight. More importantly, my face looks different, I look younger. I have boundless energy and I rarely have aches and pains unless it’s because I’ve jacked my training up and those are the good kinds of aches to have. 😀

When I started this, I only wanted to be able to go down the slide at the park with the glambaby and not have to go to bed as soon as I dropped her off at home. But I’ve gained SO much more. I’m pretty sure I’ll eat this way forever. 

Do I eat raw 100% of the time? No. There are some instances where it’s really difficult. For instance, we went to Poland in February. Being a raw vegan in the middle of a Polish winter would have been a tough thing to do. Plus, there are so many other places I want to travel that I’m not sure I will ever get back to Poland so I loosened it up and let myself enjoy a Paczi and other cooked foods. 

As I mentioned above, it’s our 36th wedding anniversary today and we have a reservation at Morton’s Steakhouse for dinner. I do not plan to remain raw tonight and I might actually have a bite or two of chocolate cake. 

But raw living is for me, without a doubt. If you are feeling crappy and want some more energy or want to drop some weight, or sort out blood sugar issues (OMG there are SO many benefits), give a raw diet a whirl. You might like it! 😀

 

F is for Fruitbat

If you follow me on instagram, I’m sure you’ve seen me tag photos #fruitbat. “What is that?” you ask. I got the term from Freelee the Banana Girl

Freelee is the person I found when I was getting ready to become a low fat, high carb, raw vegan. I found her video about Banana Island and have been watching her ever since. She’s a great source of information and inspiration and she calls her followers fruitbats.

f1

I eat a huge number of my calories in the form of fruit so I think the tag is appropriate. I follow the 80-10-10 plan of eating where I shoot for a breakdown of 80% of my calories each day from carbs, 10% from protein and 10% from fat. 

f2

This makes me feel AMAZING! Actually, amazing isn’t really a strong enough word. I don’t know that there is a word to describe how awesome I feel when I eat this way. I have no joint aches, my skin is SO clear, I sleep well, life is so good.

f3

Fruit is amazing. And, honestly, if you had told me that I would one day replace sugar with fruit, I would’ve laughed at you. Of course in diet books they always suggest that but I was such a sugar addict I couldn’t fathom how it could work.

I haven’t had a whole lot of processed sugar since I began eating this way on September 1 of last year. I chose to eat an almond croissant on Saturday in honor of my half birthday and I felt sincerely wasted. Like I was completely drunk. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to walk home and we were only two blocks away. I don’t think I’ll be doing that again because I just didn’t care for the feeling.

Fruit makes me feel clear and clean and joyful. It’s what I love and eat the most of. I am most assuredly a fruitbat. 🙂

 

E is for Exercise

I do a lot of exercise. Believe it or not, I even like it! I’ve been a walker for a lot of years. For most of my walking miles, David has been with me and I think of it as our alone time where it’s just us and no distractions. But even when David hasn’t been home, I still walk. 

walk

I was waiting to lose down to a certain weight to start running again. I used to run a lot in the early 1990s but felt like I was just too heavy to run now even though my walks were getting faster and faster and I had friends on the runkeeper app encouraging me to just run.

When we moved here, I left the scale behind. Because I had no idea if I was at the magical number that would allow me to begin running, I just started running. And it was hard. No, it was HARD. 😀 I ran quite a lot of distance back in the day and I just don’t remember it being so hard back then. Of course I was 25 years younger so that could’ve had something to do with it. But I persevered telling myself, “pretty soon, this will be your warm up”.

run

Now, I’m not there yet but I have been able to to gradually increase my mileage and I’m now up to two miles a day. Best of all, I’m getting air all the way down to the bottom of my lungs the whole run. Which is great since I like to breathe.

And cycling. How I love that. I’ve been doing that twice a week since I got my bike. I go a little further each time and it’s just fun. 

Every day living here in Downtown San Jose, involves a lot of exercise. Unless I have the dog or  something really heavy, I always take the stairs. Our apartment is on the third floor and the garage is even one floor further down. I walk every where downtown. Library, grocery store, post office, dinner. It’s great. I’ve been more active here than I have been in a lot of years.

And I like it. I really do. I love feeling strong when I’m walking down the street. I love feeling accomplished when I get done with a run or bike ride. I know this is good for my health but it’s also good for my mind. I am a rare person who doesn’t wear headphones while exercising. I have deep discussions with my inner self and I come to a lot of conclusions, make a lot of plans this way.

If you don’t exercise every day let me encourage you to give it a try. Even just a ten minute walk to start is better than nothing at all. Then work your way up little by little until you are enjoying more physical and mental well being. You’ll be glad you did! 😀

C is for Cycling

I had two conditions for moving to California. One, that we could live downtown and two, that I could have a bike. Well, I’ve got them both. 

I love, love, love living downtown and I also love this bike. Even though I’m pretty sure it’s the wrong kind. I went to get a bike a week or so after we got here. I was actually looking for a different one but they didn’t have it. So I chose this bike. 

bike

I chose it because it’s pink and black, it was there, it was a good price and it didn’t have skinny little tries on it. I must admit that at my weight, I’m terrified of those skinny little tires. I’m pretty sure they make Fatties for folks like me. 😉

Anyway, I do like this bike. It’s pretty and it’s a nice ride except it’s almost too easy. I understand, from my novice point of view, that there must really be a difference between a bike made for the street and a bike made for off road. I really would like a bike that is a little harder to ride. 

This morning, as I rode into a strong north wind, I got the resistance I wanted although my fingers about broke off from being so cold. I try to hit all of the hills I can find to give myself a little bit of a tougher workout.

I do know I will get another bike some day soon. When I get that one, I will go to someone knowledgeable, tell them what I want to do with it, share my fears about the tires popping and let them help me select a bike that’s appropriate for what I want to use it for. 

Until then, I’ll continue to ride the bike I have and love every minute of it. Because riding this bike now is just as fun as riding one was when I was a kid. 🙂

*This was written after my Tuesday a.m. bike ride. 

 

B is for Bananas

It was about a year ago that David and I went to Banana Island. Banana Island, you ask? Where is that? Well, Banana Island is essentially a cleanse where you eat only bananas. We did it for three weeks and we felt amazing. 

bananaa

I figured it was an easy way to get started on the high carb, low fat, raw vegan lifestyle and I was right. It’s the only thing I ever did where I didn’t have sugar withdrawal.  Now, bananas are a HUGE part of our lives and we go through a lot of them each week.

Because we eat so many bananas each day, we always have to have some ripening. Since we moved, we still haven’t gotten far enough ahead of the game to have some to freeze and make ice cream out of which is a deficiency I need to correct. Soon. Spooning banana ice cream (frozen bananas put through the juicer with a blank = soft serve) off of celery sticks is a taste treat like no other. I also saw a recipe for mint chocolate chip ice cream yesterday that I’d like to try. Anyway, I digress.

rack

Bananas are super good for you. We wait to eat them until they have brown spots on them. This makes them easier to digest and gives you a whole range of health benefits. 

brown

The other day, I got the surprise of a lifetime when I opened a banana and found twins inside! Trust me, I’ve eaten a lot of bananas in my 54 years and I’ve never seen this before. I was so weirdly excited. 

twins

I have blogged about bananas before but in the event you missed why I eat so many, the reason is because they are calorically dense. I’m a pretty large (5’11’ on a large frame) and extremely active person. If I eat a pound of lettuce, which is a lot of food, it’s still only around 100 calories which isn’t good enough. The bananas help to keep my calorie levels up. 

They are also a good workout. When I buy a case of bananas, 15 bunches, it’s somewhere around 40 pounds. I have to squat those babies eight times to get them from the car to the apartment. 🙂 

So, anyway, that’s the story of bananas in my life. I love them, they fill me up, they’re delicious. 🙂

I Am That Monkey

Yesterday, I ran over to Costco to get more frozen strawberries. Since I was there, I went ahead and grabbed six more bunches of bananas.  I’d just bought a case on Monday but since I always have to have them ripening I figured it would be a good idea.

monkey

The line was pretty long and the man behind me got a good chance to look at the contents of my basket. 

Him: Do you have a monkey at home?

Me: I AM that monkey. Some days I eat as many as 21 bananas.

Him: Well, you know they have a LOT of sugar.

Me: I assure you, I’m probably one of the healthiest people you’ve ever met. 

He looks like he’s considering this for a little bit. Then…

Him: You only eat bananas?

Me: No, I eat all kinds of fruits and veggies. 

Him: Well, then, you’d better write a book!

I had to laugh. It was just such a funny conclusion for him to come to. I’m sure he noticed that my diet made me a friendly person and I’m sure he’ll be looking for my book. 😉

Wheeee!

I rode a bike! I haven’t been on a bike since I was a kid but I rode one today. Here’s my experience. 

The biggest thing I learned is that while I might be able to run with my mouth open, I should most definitely not ride a bike with my mouth open. LOL! I’m pretty sure my protein intake is higher today. 😉 

Mango!

Since I started eating the high carb, low fat, raw vegan diet, I’ve listened to other raw foodies on YouTube extolling the virtues and deliciosity of mangoes. I didn’t think I’d ever eaten one and, honetlly, I wasn’t sure how.

mango

I saw the red kind of mango at Aldi several months ago and the glambaby and I were going to try it. I’m so glad I tried it first or she would’ve probably thought I was trying to poison her. It wasn’t good. I’m not sure if it was unripe or what. I sincerely had no knowledge about mangoes.

On our first trip to Costco here, I saw the mangoes and mentioned to David that I rally wanted to try one but didn’t have any idea of how to know if they were ripe or not. A lady who was selecting some for herself turned around and gave me a mini mango class. It was so sweet of her but I wasn’t ready to buy a warehouse store quantity of something I wasn’t sure about so I didn’t get any mangoes that day.

cut_mango

 A few days later we were at a grocery store where I got one yellow mango to try using the instructions the lady at Costco gave me. And guess what? It was good! I liked it. 

I need to figure out how to get into them better.  I didn’t know what kind of a seed situation was inside. The first half was a mess and I basically sucked the flesh off the skin. But the second half I was able to cut into chunks that came off easily when I ate them. 

So, yum! I’ll definitely get some more mangoes. 🙂