Found this awesome resource for peeps who are using Take Shape for Life to lose their weight and become healthy. Lynn from “Escape from Obesity,” posts all sorts of Lean and Green friendly meals and they look delicious.
On our menu for tonight? Low Carb Cauliflower “Potato” Salad. I’ll let you know how it is. What are you eating for dinner?
2 and 2/3 cups steamed cauliflower
3 scallions (green onions), white and green parts, chopped
1/4 cup finely diced celery
1 hard boiled egg, chopped
3 Tbsp light mayonnaise
1/2 Tbsp yellow mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
sprinkle of dill
If you are starting with a head of fresh cauliflower, you can quarter it and steam it for about 15 minutes, or until the cauliflower is tender. Texture is key here; you want it to be about the same texture as cooked potatoes would be for potato salad. Not too firm, and definitely NOT mushy. Use a fork to test it as it cooks. As soon as it is tender, remove from the heat and rinse in cold water for several minutes until the cauliflower is all cold. Then set on paper towels to drain, and pat dry if necessary. You don’t want it to be wet when you add ingredients.
Chop the cauliflower into small bites (like potatoes in potato salad). Place in a bowl with the scallions, celery, and eggs. Gently toss together. Then add the mayo, mustard, salt and pepper; fold together gently with a spatula until well combined. Sprinkle a little dill over the top. Cover and chill for at least an hour.
This recipe makes two very large ( 1 1/2 cup) servings or four smaller 3/4 cup servings.
One large serving (half the recipe) contains:
140 calories
11 g carbs
9 g fat
7 g protein
So, 1/4 recipe (3/4 cup) has 70 calories, 5.5 g carbs, 4.5 g fat, 3.5 g protein.
The breakdown for Medifast is:
1/2 recipe yields 1 full Green (3 veg servings), 1/6 Lean, and under 2 1/2 condiments.
*notes: I thought it could use a little more salt, maybe some onion powder; season to taste. If you can stand some extra calories/Lean serving, I think adding another hard boiled egg would be great! Whatever you use to season YOUR potato salad, you can use in this recipe; some ideas are Dijon mustard instead of yellow, chopped Dill pickles or pickle relish, paprika, or a slice of crumbled, crisp bacon. I actually needed some extra protein when I ate these as leftovers the next day, so I added another chopped egg and some chopped dill pickle and it was fabulous! Enjoy!
Using Random.org, two winners were picked {out of 19 entries}, for the AquaNotes giveaway! Without further adieu, here they are:
Congrats girls! Email your addresses to me via karli@healthconfessions.com and we’ll get your AquaNotes sent out to you!
Thanks to all who entered-if you didn’t win, go buy some AquaNotes. The pricing info is here and is totally reasonable. Keep coming back, there will be more chances to win in the future!
Confession: I was super unprepared for the Dirty Dash.
In more ways than one.
Here’s a little synopsis of the day.
Woke up nervous, but excited for the race. Dressed up in my team duds {We were “Rosie’s Runners”} and kissed my boys goodbye on my way out the door. Picked up a couple of my teammates S & B {and S’s 2 kiddos who were doing the piglet plunge}. We had about an hour drive from our houses and then a half hour or so up a steep winding road to the ski resort where the DD was being held. It was a fun drive getting pumped up, laughing, and needing to go to the bathroom from being nervous. S was getting a bit car sick too, but I was driving, so wasn’t too bothered.
We pulled up & saw people already taking off-in every outfit you can imagine-and some people were already done! Lots of loud music, vendor and swag booths, people, and MUD! We all used the bathroom and on my way there I tripped over someone’s half filled beer cup & it splattered all over my legs/socks/shoes. That was lovely. Also, I was completely nervous about the obstacles. I’m not in the greatest shape ever right now and was worried I’d break my ankle or something. On the car ride I was emphasizing how awful it’d be if I jumped over a haybale and broke something, or tried climbing one of the walls and couldn’t do it. Anyway, before we started this guy hobbles over on crutches with a makeshift knee brace/cast on his leg. We asked if he got it doing the DD and he said yes…Guess how? Trying to get over a hay bale! I decided I’d go around if I had any misgivings about the obstacles because I’d rather have fun & finish unhurt than try to show everyone else up and hurt myself.
We got the kids situated, took a couple before pics, and got in our wave {11:40}. We took off and started on our way. B set the fast pace for our team and took off right at the beginning. S & I stayed pretty close to each other and were next up. The rest of our team, M, W, and M, weren’t far behind.
It was tough, I’m not gonna lie. I ran as much as I could and went around the hay bales when I came to them. The tire course was at the top part of a steep hill and it was rough, but fun. I was unprepared for the course. I just hadn’t conditioned myself or trained well enough for what I was up against. I wasn’t worried about running 6 miles because I have before and I’ve been running around 4.5 recently, so it wasn’t a huge fear & I knew I could do it. The thing I didn’t expect?
FOUR MILES of running UPHILL. Yeah, it was held at a ski resort so I might should have thought about that. But I didn’t. And I was unprepared. Those hills kicked my butt! I fought it and S would run ahead when she was feeling it and I’d walk a bit and then catch up to her. It was awesome having her as my buddy and my motivator to pace myself. At one point around the steepest point I thought I just wanted to stop. Then I thought, “I have to keep going or I won’t finish.” So I did. There was mud, obstacles, fun, and lots of laughing and encouraging everyone around. Each person was at a different stage and many people walked the whole course. I figured the worst time it would take me was 90 minutes and I was hoping for around 80, so I just kept trucking along. When we were almost to the top, we thought we’d gone about 2.5 miles and we saw a girl holding a sign that said 4.2 mile mark! I wanted to hug her! (:
After that it was pretty cake-ish. The surprise obstacle was a beer/root-beer chug. I don’t drink either beverage and honestly couldn’t imagine putting anything in my stomach at that point, so we kept on going. The last two miles were mostly downhill and we kept a steady pace and good conversation going. We headed up the last hill and waited in line for the last obstacle: a running/slip & slide into a mud pit. Another team member, W, met up with us and we all three did it together. The mud pit was awesome and felt nice after the run and we met up with B who finished 10-15 minutes ahead of us & got some pictures at that point.
I was pleasantly unprepared for how casual the race was, how laid back everyone there would be, how kind perfect strangers would be, and how much bare skin I would see. I found myself thinking at first, “Some people should be wearing more clothing.” Then I mentally slapped myself and thought, “Good for them for being so dang confident in where they’re at.” That is my goal and obviously something I struggle with.
It felt awesome to be done and to have accomplished something hard and crazy that I was so nervous about. A few of my favorite things: the weather. It was supposed to be super hot but stayed around 72-75 the whole race, with cloud cover, a nice breeze, and even a couple rain drops. Lovely. My teammate and friend, S. She was a lifesaver. It was just the push I needed to have her there. I know she could have left me in the dust and finished ten minutes ahead of me, but she stuck close and kept me going. And, my body. I don’t give it enough credit. I haven’t been treating it well enough. But it was able. It performed amazingly well and I felt great when we finished. I was inspired to be better from this point forward.
After we got done & had muddy photos taken, we grabbed some fruit & waited in the line for showers. I was unprepared for this portion. It was totally how I imagine Hell. We were standing with a throng of super muddy, half dressed people. We could see the showers in front of us and people getting clean, but we weren’t getting any closer. And, the mud? It was making us super cold. We waited for about 40 minutes in line. The showers? Even colder. Lots of shaking & trembling going on. (: It was all good though & we had fun laughing at ourselves and the fact that we’d voluntarily put ourselves in this crazy situation. We got cleaned off as well as we could and all donated our shoes to be cleaned and given to less fortunate. Goodbye beautiful Adidas’. You’ve been good to me.
Another unprepared moment was when we realized we hadn’t brought extra shoes, towels, or extra clothes with us, so had to walk, dripping wet, another mile or so on the rocky road to the car. I have a new respect for my littles who walk around barefoot outside all the time. Ouch! We laughed and talked about the race and had fun though. We all got changed by the car into fresh warm clothes and headed down the mountain. S really felt car sick on the way down, but the kiddos slept and we all felt better once we had some lunch in us.
All in all, it was a great time and a super fun experience. If I was to do it again, I would definitely do a few things differently. Like feed & exercise my body properly the weeks leading up to the race. Train on hills and flat ground. Lift weights and obstacle train. Take more pictures, get more muddy, pack an extra pair of shoes, and stress about it way less. So glad M encouraged us all to do it though. It definitely put me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to cross number 13 off my list of 28 things to do in my 28th year. 13. Run a 10k.
Oh yeah, guess what the best unprepared moment was? Finding out our time from start to finish was 66 minutes! We found out the course was cut a bit short, 5.8 miles, but I was pretty dang proud of that time. Not too shabby, especially for how unprepared I was! Thanks Dirty Dash and Rosie’s Runners for a great and memorable Saturday!
My challenge to each of you: go do something out of your comfort zone. Today, tomorrow, sometime soon. Push yourself and do something you get a bit nervous about. I guarantee you'll feel better for doing it.
Hold me.
Say a little prayer for me.
Cross your fingers for me.
Think kind, fast, healthy, un-hurt, thoughts for me.
Tomorrow is the dirty dash 10k mud obstacle course race. I’m feeling quite nervous about it. The distance doesn’t scare me too badly…it’s the mud. The other people. The fact that I have no idea what to wear. The obstacles. The fact that while picking up our team’s packets today {totally awesome swag by the way}, I overheard a guy say, “Last year their was a wicked tripwire at the end. I just kept falling over in the mud, getting up, and tripping again! Totally awesome.”
Just sounds freaky to me.
So whatever you’re doing during the hours of 10:40am-12:40pm tomorrow, please include me in your thoughts/prayers/good feelings, etc. I can use all the help I can get! Deets, pictures, overview to come.
And, don’t forget to enter to win the awesome AquaNotes-spread the word for extra chances to win!
Confession: I’m kind of obsessive about lists.
I LOVE them! I love making them, seeing things written in such a neat & organized manner, and I especially love crossing things off my list {which may or may not happen in a timely manner}. I have notebooks in my purse, my car, my husband’s car, the nightstand by my bed, etc. Lists on my iphone, my computer, my fridge, etc. They aren’t only great for grocery needs, but for to-dos, goals, food journaling, exercise routines, random & creative lists, and the possibilities are endless! Definitely need to work on some list consolidation as it’s easy to forget where I wrote what.
The problem. I had no list in the shower. I seem to have some majorly good ideas in the shower, as well as list items that always pop into my brain during my shower. As soon as I get in, brilliance enters my mind & I have so many things to remember. I’ve tried alphabetizing them in my head {works on occasion}, but alas, as soon as I step out, complete forgetfulness. I have no idea what I was thinking in the shower and no way of keeping track while in there.
Such a conundrum! {I totally love that word, don’t you?}
Enter AquaNotes. A friend blogged about these over a year ago and I’ve been smitten with the idea ever since. A notepad you keep in the shower? A pencil & paper that are waterproof? No way. So I kept them on my wishlist and continued having great ideas in the shower go down the drain.
Recently, AquaNotes was kind enough to send me a sample of their product to try. I was super excited. I hung the notepad & pencil {in it’s handy holder} by their suction cups in my shower the night I received them. And I smiled at the beautiful sight.
The next morning, I tried them out. I showered. I splashed water on the notepad. I wrote a note to my husband. I splashed more water on the note-even tried rubbing my hand over it. It didn’t smear! It was easy to write, crisp & clean, and truly waterproof! I was psyched. The possibilities were seriously endless! I envisioned my time in the shower becoming much longer as I wrote notes and lists about everything!
The next shower was blazing with ideas. I had just woken up and my mind was going a thousand miles a minute. I had a lot of random things to remember for the day {now you know how crazy my mind is first thing in the morning}. I wrote the following note. Again, lots of water and the note still looked awesome!
After I got dressed I returned to remove the note. It ripped off cleanly and gave me much satisfaction to see the ideas I’d had in the shower in solid form-not to be forgotten!
I will definitely be purchasing AquaNotes in the future to make sure our shower doesn’t go without note taking capabilities again!
I found this quote through pinterest yesterday that was exactly what I’d been trying to say, but much more eloquently.
Lastly, the don’t quit-even for a day mantra, does not-by any means-mean that you can’t have off days. I have them. Everyone I know has them. The cool thing about consistency is, if you do it long enough, your body gives you opportunities to take small vacations and enjoy those sweet treats you love. Thanks goodness for this. Forgiveness from our bodies because we treat them so good by what we put in {food} and what we put out {exercise} ninety-five percent of the time.
Then the other five percent of the time you can have your cake AND eat it too. Bliss.
Confession: I kinda majorly slacked off with my exercise recently.
I had been doing so well, too! I was running at least every other day and doing some other form of exercise in between. Then the month of August hit and I had all these great goals. I didn’t write them down {but that’s a post for another day} and do you want to know how many days I’ve exercised in the 23 days of August so far? 8. That’s only one third of the days this month. Not great odds.
My point is this: Don't let yourself slide. Not even a little. It's just not worth it. Don't quit when you've got a good thing going.
This past weekend on our vacation, we were with my husband’s parents and 4 of his 5 siblings & their families. I’m pretty dang lucky in the fact that I honestly adore my in-laws and genuinely enjoy the time we get to spend together. My sis
ter-in-law and I had a long conversation about consistency one evening.
She shared this quote with me by Jen Paul that says {paraphrased}, “Your results, good or bad, will catch up. Do something every single day and your results will catch up.”
This hit me really hard. I tend to want instant results and gratification. I want one day of good eating and one kick-butt workout to result in a visible change in my body. Unfortunately this doesn’t happen and then I tend to give into temptation because what I’m doing “just isn’t making a difference.”
It’s not true though. I see it all the time. I’ve seen it in my own life {positively & negatively} and like to forget occasionally that for real change to happen, it takes time. It takes consistency, day in and day out, and it takes patience-something I’m often found lacking. I had a client who hit a plateau at one point in her TSFL journey. She weighed the same two weeks in a row, even while daily making the best possible choices in her food and exercise regimen. I kept encouraging her to keep going, to not give up, and to be consistent. Sure enough, her next weigh in gifted her a 5 pound loss…and put her below her previous “stubborn stop weight” for the first time in over 15 years! I have experienced the craziness of working out consistently for 5 weeks and not noticing any change whatsoever and then overnight during that 6th week waking up to a noticeably leaner body. It happens!
But it can only happen under circumstances of daily consistency. Making those daily choices and developing those daily habits of exercise-whether it’s 10 minutes of walking or an hour-every single day, no matter what. It’s the habits of health in our eating, the amount of sleep we get, how we deal with stress, and what we do with our spare time.
I know this, so why do I stop? I know that starting back up is hard, that I sometimes lose physical progress & have to rebuild, that getting back on track induces a splitting headache {that I’ve had since yesterday morning}, and I’ve been asking myself, “Why didn’t you just keep up your great routine??!”
But, I did get back on track. And that is really the most important thing. Because I’d rather be consistent with sometimes falling off and ALWAYS getting back on, then just quitting and consistently spiraling downward.
And hopefully one of these times I will just stay on the consistent bandwagon and not fall off at all.
Confession: I run around like a crazy person most Monday’s.
There is something about the first day of the week. Even if I feel completely prepared for the week, I am bound to be thrown some unexpected curve balls come Monday morning. Becky Higgins shared a tip I loved that said, “Part of cultivating a good life is not multi-tasking so much. Or ever.” I need to work on this. A lot. It’s not happening today…and maybe not ever on a Monday!
This past weekend we had a little family vacay. We got away from the daily grind and enjoyed the beautiful wilderness…and slept in a beautiful home. {I’m not much of a camper & don’t consider camping a vacation at all. It’s work}. The weekend was completely blissful, from the ride there, to the ride home. Perfect.
Anyway, I had my iPhone and laptop with me. I could have gotten work done while I was there. My kids were entertained with their cousins and I had lots of free time I could have used for blogging about health, exercising, and/or continuing to write the children’s program I’m working on for our church.
Want to know what I did instead? I read. A lot. My sister in law loaned me a copy of her book, The Help, and I was hooked. I read the entire book on our little jaunt away from home. While I did make some good choices…like taking a walk each day we were away, eating some good things {and some not so great things}, drinking lots of water {even when everyone around me was drinking lots of soda}, and spending lots of quality time with the husband and the kiddos, I also vegged a bunch. I only looked at my phone a handful of times {which for me is saying a lot}, and didn’t get on my laptop at all!
I thoroughly enjoyed myself. {And I totally recommend the book-so so good!}
Then I woke up this morning. To this to-do list that’s about a mile long. And a gigantic pile of vacation laundry. And real life. And Medifast for every meal except dinner since I enjoyed lots of goodies this weekend. Monday mania, I tell you.
So while I’d love to stay and write lots of interesting things, you’ll have to stay tuned. This week I’ll have a review of a product I’ve been wanting to try for months, a lesson from Cathy Zielske, a post on perspective, and probably an “I can’t sleep I’m so nervous for the dirty dash” post, too.
For now, I better get the next load of laundry going, hop on the treadmill, and decide what’s for dinner!
Confession: Turns out my issues with eating have a name.
Disordered eating.
I can totally relate to this article shared with me by a friend. Call it an addiction to food, call it a lack of control or willpower, call it a weakness if you must…it feels like all of the above to me so often. It’s definitely disordered though. Enjoy {italicized &/or bold portions are what stuck out to me most}.
Obesity, Eating Disorders and Disordered Eating: Crisis in America
Susan Liddy
“In our culture, we are bombarded by daily images of perfect models on magazine covers and overly-thin actresses on TV and overwhelmed by stressful living. External success is valued over authentic happiness, and industries get fat financially as a result. It’s no wonder we are seeing the biggest rise in the most insidious causes of death today.
On the one hand, we have an obesity epidemic. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one-third of U.S. adults (33.8 percent) are obese. Approximately 17 percent (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 are obese. An estimated 300,000 deaths per year may be attributable to obesity.
On the other hand, we have an eating disorder crisis. An estimated 24 million people of all ages suffer from anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorders in the U.S. In fact, a young woman with anorexia is 12 times more likely to die than other women her age without anorexia. (The Renfrew Center Foundation for Eating Disorders, 2003).
More common, but lesser-known, is a phenomenon called “disordered eating.” Disordered eating affects 3 in 4 American women ages 25 to 45, according to a 2008 survey sponsored by SELF magazine in partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Disordered eaters may engage in excessive dieting, eating when not hungry, eating in secret, skipping meals and primarily eating fattening, over-processed, “comfort” or convenience foods. This can result in low energy, trouble concentrating, anxiety, depression and/or being moderately overweight or underweight. Although disordered eating is considered less serious than eating disorders or obesity, it can lead to both.
Eating disorders, obesity and disordered eating arise from a variety of physical, emotional, and social issues, all of which need to be addressed for effective treatment. The use or avoidance of food as a coping mechanism ultimately leads to illness and emotional distress, affecting the majority of the U.S. population.
We overeat because we are unhappy with ourselves or want to feel a sense of comfort or control in our lives. We avoid eating or eat and then purge because we feel we cannot measure up to the ideal body image. We choose unhealthy convenience foods to avoid the planning or time commitment needed for authentic care of the body.
It all boils down to a state of being that we are trying to achieve through food. We are a culture of people who do not love ourselves enough to live well nor accept ourselves enough to eat for our individual body types, shapes or chemistry — and industries profit from these insecurities.
The food industry feeds us processed, packaged, pesticide-laced food to make life “easier.” The advertising industry constantly reminds us how unacceptable we are so that we’ll purchase products. The entertainment industry feeds us fantasies to escape our unhappy lives and false notions that fame and fortune lead to happiness.
In addition to exploring the medical reasons for these troubling eating patterns, the solution rests upon the development of emotional mastery — the ability to manage painful or uncomfortable emotions separately from food, combined with an awareness of industries that use our emotions against us. Developing a high level of self-acceptance is also critical to this process.
This does not mean that the problems of obesity, eating disorders and disordered eating should be ignored. Self-acceptance means adopting a non-critical attitude toward yourself and making choices based out on love for yourself and a desire to treat your body respectfully. It means accepting your particular body shape, understanding your specific body requirements and giving your body the type and amount of food and exercise it needs.
Mimi Francis, behavioral health therapist at Green Mountain residential weight loss center, asks, “How well has not liking yourself worked so far? The truth is, it hasn’t. In fact, if you dislike your body, it’s that much easier to abuse it.”
People who truly love and accept themselves will not settle for overeating or starving themselves. They will do what is necessary to be healthy.
In order to heal the obesity, eating disorders and disordered eating crises in America, we need to shift our attitudes and our choices:
The human body wants to thrive. In its natural state, it seeks to find homeostasis within itself. When we can teach people how to truly love themselves, how to master their emotions and value what is truly good for them, then people will naturally do what is needed to create optimum health within the context of what is possible for them.”
Follow Susan Liddy, M.A., PCC, CPCC on Twitter: www.twitter.com/SusanLiddy
