Fell Off the Wagon for Week 6

Well the end of week 5 was marked by a glorious super bowl feast complete with classic hot and honey barbecue buffalo wings, O'driscoll dip, homemade pizza roles, diet coke, and cookies. After that I had a hard time getting back into the swing of the things. During week 6 we even ordered pizza. I basically ate well for the first 2 meals of the day, and then would lose it around dinner time. I was pretty worried that I had gained back 5 or 6 hard earned pounds, but ended up only gaining 1.4, which I think was mostly retained water, because after only one day of fully committing I was back down to my pre-super bowl weight.

Now about midway through week 7, I'm still struggling with snacking, but am eating Fuhrman again, and I've lost a couple pounds already. Just wanted to post to make sure I'm still committed. IT'S NOT ABOUT BEING PERFECT, BUT BEING CONSISTENT!!!!

--Tanner

Apricot Nut Bread

This is another "green diet" recipe. So I'm sure it's not 100% Dr. Fuhrman approved. However it has some great ingredients and is much better for you than cake or brownies. I want to try replacing the canola oil with applesauce but I haven't tried that yet. It's quite a filling bread and I really liked it.


Apricot Nut Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup apple juice
• ½ cup all-fruit apricot spread or apricot jam
• 2/3 cup chopped dried apricots
• ½ cup oat bran
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 Tbs honey
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ cup chopped walnuts

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Bring the apple juice to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add the apricot spread, apricots, and oat bran, let stand for 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, combine the oil, bananas, and honey in a large mixing bowl; whisk well. Add apricot mixture. Add the dry ingredients to the banana-apricot mixture, stirring just until moist.
4. Spoon the batter into a greased loaf pan. Back for 55-65 minutes or until pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool and enjoy.

feeling better

The first four weeks of January were really rough for me. I won't go in to detail except that I was having a lot more downs then ups and I was just feeling overwhelmed. I decided to really do it and make my goals and start all over again this past Monday. I can tell you already that writing my goals down put into perspective the whole reason for doing this. It felt good. I'm not going to be as open on here about my goals except that I made an "ultimate" goal and then I'm going to make 6 week goals. So I did. I will eventually share, it's just a personal thing on why I want to keep it to myself for now. I also feel better because Nina introduced me to this thing called "Feeling Great in 8." It's a way to keep track of the food you are eating and other important things you are doing in a points form. And it goes for 8 weeks. This is kind of cool because if you eat a "bad food" you have to subtract points and if don't do certain tings you don't get points. This is really helping me with eating past 8. In three days I haven't eaten past 8pm and this is a big thing for me. I get to add points because I didn't eat past 8. It's great. It's also helping me to say my prayers, read my scriptures and do other little things that make me and my day better. I feel it's a way to get on track with trying to balance everything and that is where I was having a hard time. Not just balancing my food. I have to be able to balance my food, my kids food and time, trying to be a housekeeper, my spiritual side (which I feel has been suffering), my time with Michael, my "me" time, and I guess I just could go on and on. But I'm feeling a lot more in control this week and that I have a goal that I'm reaching for. And because of you wonderful people I have a whole lot of recipes that I am enjoying very much. I haven't tried them all but what I've tried I've loved and I have to love what I eat or else this will never work. So now I feel I'm just rambling but I just had to say that things are looking up. Thanks for all of your support and help!

Props and Things

First, I got to give props to the veggie wrap recipe. They were probably the best thing I've had on the diet and we hope to incorporate into the weekly rotation.

Second, getting sick is a major...OPPORTUNITY TO DROP LOTS OF WEIGHT. I've been sick now for a week and the pounds are just falling off. I think it is due to an increase in metabolism (body is fighting infection) and just not having as big of an appetite. So if you're stuck at a plateau, pray to get a little cold!

--Tanner