Soul Sprout

A foodie on a diet?

I love bacon, butter, mayo, sausage, duck, chocolate, and cheese. 

I also love just the right dress- and looking good in it. 

I have always followed the rule "everything in moderation" and it has worked well for me.  Until my late 30's, that is.  My metabolism began slowing down and I realized I had to change.

So what is a habitual cook and baker to do?

Step 1.  "I'm done!"  No more complaining about how I look or fretting about my clothes.  I flipped a mental switch. 

Step 2.  Calorie counting.  I am NOT a regimented person.  I like variety.  I like spontaneity.  I hate paperwork and record keeping.  I didn't think I could count calories, but it's easier than I thought.  I used about.com to find out my calorie requirements.  Monday through Friday, I jot down my calories and stay within my limit.  On the weekend, I don't count, but I make sensible choices and let myself relax and enjoy some indulgences (like gin, perhaps?)  If I really want something, I don't deny myself, I just eat a reasonable portion and compensate with my other food choices. 

Step 3. Boosters.  It's based on anecdotal sources, but I am drinking green tea every day and eating either hot sauce or salsa.  They are supposed to boost your metabolism.  I find that they are healthy alternatives that taste good, if nothing else.  For example, I put Frank's Red Hot on my sandwiches now instead of mayo.

Step 4.  Exercise.  I like to exercise, but I hate to run or do anything repetitive.  I had been doing Gilad's Total Body Sculpt for a while, but wanted something more challenging.  Enter Insanity.  I bought it after seeing an infomercial and I love it.  Shaun T. is the right mix of encouraging and soothing.  I do dig deeper.

My results?  My first week I focused on the diet and did a few Gilad workouts.  My second week I kept up the diet and started the 60 day Insanity program.  I have lost 4.5 pounds so far. 

My success motivates me to keep going.  And I'm not getting bored in the kitchen either!  I'm delving back into Healthy 1-2-3 and I'm trying wacky new recipes of my own and ones I find.  I actually ate chocolate "mousse" made with avocado today.  It was odd at first, but I liked it.

Why am I telling you all of this?  To hold myself accountable and to let other people know it can be done- even if you love bad things!

The Kindness of Strangers or Chivalry is Not Dead

Stupidity.  It's really the only reason I found myself on the edge of panic this morning.  Yesterday, our van hit "E" on the way home from church.  I forgot all about it and headed to the doctor this morning.  Just a few blocks from the office, the van stopped.  In heavy traffic.  In the middle lane.  With Natalie asleep in the back.  I froze.  I belong to AAA, but they can take up to an hour.  I needed help immediately.  There was actually a gas station right on the corner, but I would have to make my way through some heavy traffic to get to it.  Just as I was about to cry, a very nice gentleman stopped his car in the construction lane and came to my window.  Being cautious, I only opened my window a crack.  I explained the situation and he helped me get the van out of traffic and even into the shade.  Then he left to get me a gas can.  When he returned, he put a gallon of gas in my tank.  He refused to let me pay him for the gas.  

I just want to say thank you dear stranger and assure everyone that random acts of kindness do happen.

 

What is this all about?

I am so behind the technology curve!  By the time I understood what a blog was, everyone already had one.  I am a bit late entering the fray, but I couldn't resist the idea of an unlimited outlet that I control myself.  I thought and thought about what my blog should be about.  I started it and posted an essay I wrote on a trip to France (Ooooooh!  I absolutely love France!).  It felt so good not to have to bother an editor and instead just throw it out there for the world to read.

Then the unthinkable happened!  My husband found out we were being transferred for his job and the moving machine was set in motion.  My life became a flurry of house hunting, organizing, researching, mounds of paperwork, and saying goodbye to my dear friends.  My blog fell off my radar and sat dormant.

Now I am in my new house and am battling the boxes.  Since my underwear and cookbooks are now unpacked, I have resolved to carve out time  to get back to my newfound method of catharsis.  I have had time to let all my ideas percolate and I realized what my blog should be about- EVERYTHING!  It hit me when I read this quote by Erma Bombeck recently:

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'"

I had one of those moments when I felt so completely connected to the writer because she crystallized and wrote exactly how I feel.  I had never put it in words, but that is exactly what drives me.  The desire to explore and use everything God has given me.  Sometimes that means mothering my beautiful girls, sometimes it means taking care of my adoring husband, sometimes it means honoring my faith, and sometimes it means cooking or singing or acting or writing or taking pictures or creating art or planning a party or hanging out with someone I care about or riding my bike or teaching or losing myself in a book or soaking up the wonder of nature or exercising or just being. 

How could my blog be about one thing?  It wouldn't be true to me if I did that.  So here I am finally entering the new old world of blogging.  I hope you find something that touches you, makes you laugh, or inspires you.