Source

I was listening to a great podcast the other day, and the part that struck me the most is how both the interviewer (Jimmy Moore) and the interviewee (Denise Minger) discussed how their eating lifestyles didn’t really fall under any labels. Some part of their daily food intake falls outside the guidelines of “diets” that we may be familiar with (Paleo, Low-Carb, Raw, etc.).

I really don’t believe people should hold themselves to labels, and this is such a great example because Jimmy and Denise eat from experience. They have tried certain ways of eating and have found what works for them. Who cares that it doesn’t follow a guideline in a book? Every human is unique and should eat for themselves.

Amber, who’s lost over 50 lbs on the Belly Fat Cure, has mentioned that Jorge Cruise’s new program cuts grains. This changes the diet from controlled carb to low-carb, and the result is that his diet is coming much closer to The Paleo Diet which is still a real foods diet. Real foods = better for you.

I can safely say I’ve been at a plateau for a while now, but I’ve also been enjoying my 13 lb weight loss. I’m not particularly interested in giving up grains. I don’t really eat them that often anyway, but I want to know that I can when the mood strikes. I’d rather add more veggies and exercise more to see results than have grains become a forbidden food.

So what have I been eating?  (It’s not all hot fudge, folks.)

I continue to eat real food, and when I resort to packaged foods for convenience (ie turkey meatballs) I seem to pay the price (today I have a headache). I continue to eat low or no sugar, which has worked wonders on my energy and keeps my cravings away. I eat protein in the form of eggs, cheese, chicken, turkey, and, less often, beef. I get my fats from coconut oil, avocados, nuts, and the occasional pat of butter. I eat very little fruit and, of course, I could ALWAYS eat more vegetables! (I’ve been slacking a bit on the veggies)

Today I’m making the broccoli salad again and will probably eat that for lunch for the next few days.

Not terribly exciting news but just a confirmation that we need to eat for our own bodies.

In other news, I had a great job interview yesterday and my final quarter of my Sustainable Business program has started so I’m keeping busy. In my interview, the HR woman asked “What have you been doing since APRIL????” It was a tough question to answer for many reasons (did she really want to hear about feline congestive heart failure?) so I told her I’d been taking some time for myself, looking for the right job, and getting some projects done around the house.

It made me realize that sometimes life just eats up your life, and there’s not always a good explanation for that. Not much you can do about that.

Keep on eating on!

There will be no original photos in this post. I can’t even imagine the uproar if I dared to bring a camera into the pool area.

I used to think that all water workout classes looked like this:

Don't lose your noodle!

Source

So I was like “Phhht, yeah I’ll go to Hydrofit, whatevs” thinking it was more about spending time with my friends, but, boy howdy, was I mistaken. A noodle would be a blessing! Instead we use these to help us float:Source

and these to work our upper bodies:Source

all while moving quickly in the water for a full 30 minutes before concentrating on abs and core for another 20 mins. Yeah, we chat a little too, but we’re working! You can feel it when it’s time to haul your butt out of the pool.

I also love that there are all sorts of folks there, of all shapes and sizes. We’re in our bathing suits so there’s no hiding, but we’re all there to be healthier.

My favorite part is when we’re moving in a circle and then we have to turn around and go the other way. Suddenly you’re working against the resistance of the whirlpool we’ve all created, and it takes that extra effort.

It makes getting wet worth it.

Check your local pools. Through Seattle Parks and Rec, these classes are only $5. That’s the best bargain around!

blog.roodo.com

Word on the (Farmers’ Market) street is that we only have a weekend or so left of fresh huckleberries. I have to agree with foraging local Langdon Cook that the huckleberry packs much more of a flavor wallop than the lovely blueberry. It took me a long time to even warm up to blueberries, and the ones I liked the most were the smaller ones I picked last year. However, I was in love with huckleberries from the word go.

Behold the Huckleberry Protein Pancake:and Mia’s impression of the Huckleberry pancake. The likeness is uncanny!The rest of the huckleberries graced my homemade granola…

Huckleberry highlights.

For my first attempt at making granola, it wasn’t a failure but nothing to write home about or worth sharing the recipe here even. I’ll save that for a batch of Becky’s cracknola! But it wasn’t bad, and considering it was low sugar it could have been a lot worse. The huckleberries elevated it to a higher status, no doubt.

More food experiments coming up this week and a venture in Paleo eating …

As you know, I can be very stubborn, and, as far as I’m concerned, the seasons should be capitalized so Autumn it is.  Not autumn, or fall for that matter. There ya go.

So what have we been doing as this Fall season gets underway? Well, besides dealing with the fact that my former boss has appealed my unemployment benefits for the THIRD time. (Can you believe that anyone could be so ridiculously petty? Talk about stubborn! Even my lawyer is shocked. Seriously, it’s like being in a horror movie and the zombie keeps re-animating and coming after me.)

Though we have a million things to do and the pets are NOT helping…

That was a clean paint roller.

we supported our local PBS station by catching a Mariner’s game where Ken Burns threw out the first pitch and previewed the finale episode of his Baseball series.

That's him. I swear.

I was super hungry so I had chicken curry for dinner. Beats a hot dog and fries any day!I know the stadium looks totally empty but we were there kinda early, and, to be honest, the Mariners aren’t exactly packing them in these days. We did win this game however. Hooray! (I could pretend we paid a whole lot of attention but around the fifth inning we actually joined our friends in their seats and chatted through the rest of the game. Seattleites are kinda weird socializers that way.)

The next day, it was Chris’ choice so he chose to go to the Boats Afloat show where we spied some yachts…that we could not afford. PS. If you can’t afford a yacht, you probably can’t afford this car either. It’s a Lotus and costs about double an average person’s annual salary. Was it fun to look at boats we can’t afford? Not really, plus it was super hot that day, but I’m very happy to indulge Chris because he asks for so little.

Our little dream Tug

We took this picture to scare our financial advisor:I was mostly scared by the Do Not Board sign so we had to hurry!

Who needs a yacht when you have your health and a great husband? Right?

Right?