Day 18 - A Happy Easter!

Today is Easter, and Nick and I didn't eat a single jelly bean, we didn't eat a marshmallow Peep, or a Cadbury Creme Egg, but that's not what Easter is all about anyway!

We spent the morning and afternoon with some of Nick's family. We went to his parents' church and heard them sing in the choir for their Easter Cantata. Then we all had lunch together!

I will say we were close to declining the invitation to be with family today due to our detox. We didn't want to be a burden on anyone, but we also didn't want to cheat on our commitment to this 30-day program. When Nick's parents said they were willing to 'jump through the hoops' in having food we could eat, we were more than willing to accept their invitation to join them today on Easter Sunday! 

It is so nice when not only your spouse or immediate family is supportive of your decision to try to live a healthier lifestyle and lose weight, but when your extended family is also supportive of your goals and sensitive to your needs...wow!

I thought it was so sweet when Nick's mom texted me and asked for a copy of our detox program so she could make sure the food she would be preparing for today would fall under the guidelines we've been following! And as we were filling our plates at lunch today, she assured us that there was no sugar (or other ingredients we've been avoiding) in the seasonings and dishes that were before us. We had grilled chicken, a veggie stir fry, sweet potatoes, and fruit.

There were rolls and butter and dessert, but no one flashed it in front of our faces or taunted us for not having any. It did look delicious, but it was so easy to pass up when surrounded by an understanding family who is on our side! So I just want to say THANK YOU to all of them for making our Easter Sunday a relaxing and enjoyable one! 

Only 12 more days of detox, baby! And with such a great support team, I have no doubt we will see the rest of this detox through! 

Day 17 - Jambalaya Disaster!

Really the only 'exciting' detox-related part of the day was late this afternoon and this evening when dinner turned into a disaster!

I could talk about the wonderful time we had with Isaac at the park, how he loved swinging, going down the slides, and how he tried eating the playground sand for the first time...

But you know, fun at the park could be an exciting part of any normal day!















Hopefully, the process of making dinner won't start becoming as 'exciting' as it was tonight...

I had in mind to try a new recipe tonight for dinner: Turkey Jambalaya!

It sounded delish and it didn't look too hard to make. Reading the recipe, I saw that it called for uncooked long grain rice. Since I've had a few meals flop in the past due to not cooking the rice beforehand, I thought I would go ahead and cook it up at the same time we were eating lunch. I thought, 'This will ensure that the rice will get tender through and dinner won't take as long as the recipe says if the rice is already cooked.' 

However, Nick overheard me talking to myself about cooking up the rice beforehand and he convinced me that it would be best to just follow the recipe...'OK....'

So I looked at the recipe and counted back to figure out when I needed to put dinner on so we could eat in time. After I got the dish all together on the stovetop, boiled it, and turned it down to simmer for 40-45 minutes, I decided to take another look at the recipe and read some reviews.

It wasn't long before I began to worry about our dinner and fearing that it wouldn't turn out since I read several reviews about the rice not getting tender. I even read that someone said they should have cooked the rice beforehand! Oh dear!

Let's just say, we had the same problem! Oh man! I kept tasting it every so often and the rice was STILL crunchy! I was so frustrated! Nick and I were both getting very grumpy because we were hungry. We munched on fruit. We fed Isaac. We played with Isaac. We bathed Isaac and put him to bed.

FINALLY, the rice was just tender enough to eat. The Turkey Jambalaya had delicious flavor! But it had taken OVER 2 HOURS to cook! That's it! Next time I'm cooking the rice up separately beforehand! And next time Nick said I should listen to my own instinct since I 'have more experience.' Thank you very much! Live and learn! At least it tasted good even if some of the rice still had a little crunch to it...

And our tummies are happy now! Hopefully the rest of the evening will go a little more smoothly...

Day 16 - On the downhill!

It was so nice for Nick to have the day off work today! Our plan was to get up and go to the Y together which would have been awesome since we don't get to go together much. But that didn't end up happening since we didn't set an alarm, Nick had a late night out playing games with some friends, Isaac had a rough time falling asleep, and we all slept in a bit this morning.

So instead, we took it easy. I got a nice long nap while Isaac took one as well. We had lunch, then we went shopping as a family! I tried on a couple pair of pants and it always frustrates me when I'm in between sizes! BOOO! Oh well! Hopefully that will change soon...

We had to cut our shopping short since I planned to go running with a friend. It was the first time I'd run outdoors on the road and sidewalks since Thanksgiving last year! We did a 3 mile loop and did it in just over 34 minutes. Not bad especially considering we walked a bit. AND we had some HUGE hills! I'm really proud of  us for getting out there and doing it!

Nick helped get everything prepped for dinner tonight, and we had omelets! Yum!

Day 15 - HALF WAY!

I see myself standing on top of a mountain right now. I've made the climb up! Now to begin the trek down!

If you've ever hiked a mountain before, you know different muscles are used when you hike down versus when you climbed up. You meet different challenges along the way, and, in my opinion, it's a lot easier to fall when you're going down. Not only is gravity working against you, but you're already tired from the climb up!

On top of the mountain, you're ecstatic that you made it this far - the half way point - and you tell yourself going back down will be a piece of cake! But when you start going down hill, sooner or later you learn it's not as easy as you were thinking it'd be.

I'm thrilled to be half way through our detox program! This is when it should be easy, right? I don't want to give up now because I see the end of the trail at the bottom of the hill! But...I am ready to be done.

Total weight loss for me = 7 lbs
Total weight loss for Nick = 9 lbs

If that's not exciting, I don't know what is! Our clothes are beginning to feel more loose. We feel good!

However, today wasn't a super exciting day. I found a few new recipes for us to try, and I had to go to the grocery store again. We've just been eating so much food! It's hard to keep the fridge stocked! And I was pretty discouraged when I saw how hard all our grocery shopping has been hitting the budget lately... I try to shop sales, but it still adds up really quick!

I think part of the issue is we've been eating our leftovers for lunches while we've been detoxing. Before, we would have a simple sandwich for lunch and use our leftovers for a second dinner. Another thing is that I've bought new spices and cooking oils since we don't have the flexibility to just buy a pre-made marinade for grilling chicken (as most of them have either vinegar, soy, or sugar). So that's a pretty penny too. At least I know we'll use all of this stuff even after we've finished the detox!

Nick made the comment, I think it was last night, that we're probably going to go crazy with eating out after we've completed our detox. I hope not! But honestly, after cooking almost every day for 30 days, I think I'll just be in the habit of it and we'll continue to eat at home mostly...hopefully! Also, I'll have a slew of healthy recipes up my sleeve that I've made and know we like!

Yeah, I may enjoy an ice cream cone every now and then, but already I feel more aware and educated about what is going into my body. And I kinda wonder if that first ice cream cone or cup of coffee after the detox will be mentally challenging for me to actually consume since I haven't had anything like that for what already feels like a VERY long time.

Well, here's to being half way done! 15 more days to go...

Day 14 = Week 2 Completed!

I was very tempted to stay home from the Y this morning, but I'm glad I didn't because I was able to accomplish one of my goals! The two weeks prior to us beginning our detox, I didn't exercise at all partly due to allergies and not feeling well and partly because we took a trip to Kansas.

I had been running 3 miles in just over 30 minutes before I took that two week break. When we came back from our trip and I finally got back to the gym, I was really discouraged that I 'couldn't' run the full 3 miles in a stretch. The most I felt I could run was about a mile. Then I'd end up walking, then run just a little more, then walk, then run a bit...well, you get the picture.

So today I was determined to run at least 2 miles before walking although I really desired to just tough it out and run the full 3. I had been running at a little faster pace than I'm used to and maybe that's why I was struggling so much to squeak out a mile before I was ready to give up, so today I slowed my pace down just by a hair.

And, would you believe, as my sister would say, "I just killed you, 3 mile run, in 31 minutes!" YEAH! Was it because I haven't had bad allergies the last couple days? Was it because I was on my 'lucky treadmill' at the Y? Was it because I was listening to the good ol' OC Supertones instead of Toby Mac today? Or was it because I had stronger will power today? It wasn't easy. I wanted to give up at a mile and a half, 2 miles, 2 and a half miles and so forth, but I kept telling myself things like, 'You've done this before,' 'Just get to the next half mile marker,' 'You will be so proud of yourself to be back on track and running 3 miles,' 'You'll be disappointed in yourself if you give up now,' etc. I  did say a little prayer as I started out, so now I'd like to thank the Lord for his help in accomplishing this goal! Whooohooo! I'm back, baby!

So after the treadmill, I biked for about 15 minutes which was all I really had time for before I needed to pick up Isaac from the child watch. We came home, baby napped, then we had lunch. After lunch, since I obviously hadn't exercised enough today already, Isaac and I joined a couple of friends for a late afternoon hike in Ute Valley. We hiked 3 miles in an hour which isn't bad especially when you're carrying a 20+ pound pack on your back!

We got home just 15 minutes or so before Nick arrived home from work, so we threw a taco salad together for dinner - DELISH! Got the baby bathed and in bed, and now it's time to relax! Can hardly believe tomorrow is the HALFWAY MARKER for our detox! Wow!

Day 13 - Leftovers

Sometimes it's just really nice to have leftovers for dinner. Cooking sometimes takes more energy than I have to offer! We had several big meals in a row this past weekend that gave us multiple leftovers that we hadn't used as of today. So tonight was leftovers for dinner night!

When our detox first began, I thought a week's worth of different meals would be sufficient and we'd just repeat with the same menu every week. But after 2 weeks, it's starting to get old since we usually have for lunch what we had the evening before for dinner. So I now need to look up some more recipes and get creative once again!

We've had some AMAZING meals, but when you have a meal over and over again just because you're comfortable making it and you've fallen into the pattern that this is 'good enough'  it loses a little bit of it's amazing-ness. 

In the past, if I made a meal that was a complete 'flop,' we'd order pizza or throw the dish out and go out to eat. It didn't happen often, but that was our back up plan. Being on the detox, however, is making me more hesitant and cautious about cooking things that might not turn out. I know we could still go out to eat as our backup, but I don't want to force us to make that decision. I personally don't want to go into a restaurant and face the big temptation to order foods I'm not suppose to have. 

Yes, I still do desire to eat pancakes with syrup and donuts and coffee, but it's not as BIG of a desire as it used to be. It's funny how your cravings change throughout the course of being on a detox. At first I was craving chocolate and donuts, but now I would just like a little bit of creamy salad dressing for my salads or a cup of iced BLACK tea instead of green or herbal. And yes, unsweet, would be perfectly fine! I would still like a Starbucks latte, but soda doesn't really tempt me anymore (at least not now). A cookie? Yes, maybe just a bite though. Butter and cheese sounds more appealing to me than sweets. 

We're so close to halfway! I know we're going to finish this thing out strong! Now to find some new recipes...

Day 12 - Grande Cinnamon Dolce Latte, please!

From the moment I woke up and saw Facebook this morning, I was disturbed. I can't even put well into words the thoughts that have been rolling around in my head all day due to the outburst and blatant opposition toward Starbucks I've been seeing on the internet today. I would like to ask you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, how condemning Starbucks so openly about their stance on same sex marriage shows Christ's love to them? How does boycotting them and turning our back on them share the gospel with them?


And can we really point a finger at them and condemn them for not living up to our Biblical standards while they may not have the same foundation we have, that is Christ Jesus? What would Jesus do, I ask you? When He came to earth, who was He more often condemning? It was those Pharisees and Teachers of the Law who were righteous in their own eyes! Did Jesus refuse to heal those who were sinners? No! Instead, He healed them and said, "Go and sin no more!"


I think we all need a refresher of the New Testament, myself included. 1 Peter 2:11-12 says, "Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us."


Luke 6:32-36 says, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."


How are we different from the rest of the world if we turn our backs on those who have differing beliefs from our's? How are we showing mercy to Starbucks by no longer giving them our business because the do not hold to the same beliefs as us? Are we also going to strongly encourage our Christian friends (and I have more than one) who are employed by Starbucks to get new jobs? No way!


My heart just aches to hear all the judgmental statements coming out so publicly from Christian friends over the internet. Please, I appeal to you, let's enjoy a Starbucks coffee together and love people to Christ! I do not want to come across as judging or condemning any Christians who have publicly stated they will no longer give Starbucks their business. That is not my intention! I do, however, want to ask every believer to (and to remind myself as well) to think before we speak and to consider how we can best be a witness for Christ.


These are the things on my heart today, and I am sorry if my thoughts were fragmented.


Nick and I are refraining from coffee for another 18 days. Otherwise, we would have gladly gone to Starbucks this evening and enjoyed their service. We would have gone there for tea instead, but since the baby is already in bed and we have an assortment of herbal and green Tazo teas here at the house, we'll just enjoy a cup at home tonight.