Summer Days of Fruitrition 3/7 – Healing Journey Day 65

Journal:
We are back on track! I woke up super tired. I definitely went to bed too late, but the menu was completed and sent so that my family could buy their groceries today. I am praying for them!

So, something happened this morning that I have not talked about in this blog. But I believe this part is crucial for FEMALES who may be embarking on a journey similar to mine, so I will comment about it as of today. Today, I got my period. Yes, I know, that seems like no big deal. But it is a big deal when I tell you that I haven’t had my period for 94 days. I knew I wasn’t pregnant, and I knew it could happen because of my change in diet. Although I enjoyed not having it for so long, I was prepared for it to come back at any time. I do the fertility awareness method (check it out here: http://www.tcoyf.com) but had slacked for awhile so even though I could have probably been able to tell when it would come, my lack of tracking made it slightly more difficult to tell. Was I worried when I didn’t get my period? No. If something was really wrong, I would have noticed something different. But I didn’t notice anything different; I felt great, didn’t feel like I was lacking anything except water, and it is fairly common for people who go raw. I’ve also done some research online of people who even question how “normal” a typical period is and I must say it is fascinating. I encourage you to do some research of your own. 🙂

So this morning, I went with the Summer Days of Fruitrition Wednesday schedule. That meant blending up some strawberries and mangoes this morning to make a “fruity soup.” I didn’t follow the exact proportions, but it really did turn out so good. I could see making this soup throughout the summer regularly.

For lunch, I chopped up 6 bananas and blended up 1 lb of strawberries to pour over the bananas as a strawberry sauce. It was honestly so simple, but so good.

Because I got in a bit of a “rush” to get to the gym and back, I indulged in a bit of rice. I am figuring out that part of my issue is prep time. No, I know I don’t seem to be “fixing” everything as quickly as expected, but part of the ability to fix things is to understand why they are happening. My last meal was going to be chopped up mangoes and tomatoes eaten in cups of lettuce. That’s a lot of prep whereas rice you just throw in a pot. Perhaps if my primary food was a different fruit, I wouldn’t have to spend as much time to eat. But, I’m going to keep going.

I had a superb workout. I did a full body workout, hitting each muscle group with at least one exercise. I finished up the session by doing some HIIT cycling. I felt SO GOOD. I missed the gym. I loved being back. But, they did rearrange the whole gym set up, so it took awhile to adjust my bearings and find all the equipment and benches I needed. But I did it, and I loved it.

After the workout, I was dangerously hungry… which led me to pick up a salad on the way home. Guys, this is huge. I easily could have picked up a sub where I would have had bread for the same price, but I went with a salad, no bread included. I am honestly so proud and amazed at myself that I’m picking such better food than I normally would have. I have changed, big time!

However, it fell apart – a bit – once I got home. Salads that you buy are usually much smaller than what you would make for yourself at home, and so, it didn’t fill me up. So as soon as I got home, I made some peanut butter dates, rice, and junk (aka finished the vegan ice cream in the freezer). I was ravenous! Crazy. Honestly crazy. If I was a binger, this would have been my binge. But, it’s over and I’m not replacing these junk foods that I’m eating. So, if they aren’t in the house, I won’t eat them. And that’s going to be a strategy going forward.

Review of Symptoms:
-Acne is bad.
-Hunger was ravenous after the gym.
-I actually got my period after 94 days!!
-Can tell I need to drink more water.
-Excellent strength and endurance in the gym.

Weight at the end of the day = 167.4 lbs (same as yesterday)

Total Calories = 2739 (87% carbs, 8% fat, 5% protein… I ate a lot!!)

Winter Days of Fruitrition 1b/7- Healing Journey Day 64

Journal:
I debated on how to title this post because it was a weird day. Technically, the snack on Day 3 of the Summer Days of Fruitrition was a punnet or more of strawberries, and that’s what I used for my breakfast this morning. I woke up later than planned and had to rush to get ready for church. I chose strawberries because they took the least amount of prep (just washing and going) and I was able to eat them on the way.

I ended up staying for the meal after church and honestly, I was proud of myself. The meal was haystacks. For those of you who don’t know, haystacks are where you start with corn chips, then add beans/chilli and cheese, all kinds of chopped up veggies, and then finish with your sauces, typically including sour cream, salsa, guacamole and ranch (though ketchup seems to be a favourite too). For the first time EVER, I did not get chips! I had no craving for them. My body could feel the high salt and fat from looking at them and I was so pleased with myself. Now, I didn’t avoid all of the cooked foods because I did have a little vegan chilli, and there was a potato/carrot cheese sauce that I really wanted to try (just like nacho cheese people!!), but the bulk of what I ate was the veggies. Man, I have changed from how I used to eat!

After coming home, I decided I needed to just go along and finish my winter day from yesterday, hence the 1b in the title. I missed the snack of persimmons blended with dates and because I didn’t eat all of the persimmons I was supposed to eat in the mono meal, I had a lot of persimmons left to consume. So I got out my beautiful new Vitamix (I am so in love with this thing!) and blended up the rest of the persimmons with some dates. Friends, it came out the EXACT consistency of pudding. I was honestly amazed. I didn’t put any spices in it, yet it reminded me of pumpkin pie filling. So good. I highly recommend!

It took me forever to eat all of this pudding. It honestly did. And at one point, I started feeling really weird, like my food was sitting in my chest. Bad food combining, bad food combining, bad food combining. It actually scared me enough that I had to put the food away for awhile and start walking around to help it go down. I really need to straighten myself up.

Because I still was hungry at my normal evening time, I did make some rice. Simple, low fat food, but not good. Now, I didn’t go to bed until 2:30/3:00 in the morning and was super tired so decision-making was not my strong point. However, the reason why I was up so late was super exciting! My family is willing to try going vegan for a month!!! I’m so pumped!!! I think it all started from my brother, but my family has a host of health problems and I’m so excited for them to see how amazing being vegan is. So I stayed up late making them a first week’s menu. We’ll see how it goes, but I tried to use easier recipes that were cheaper to make and easy to take as leftovers for lunch the next day. I’m hoping it goes well!

Tonight, I watched a few documentaries as I was working on this menu. I watched “Food, Inc.” and “Vegucated.” Vegucated was just an awesome documentary showing the journey of people from different walks of life going vegan and learning along the way. The transitions were amazing and what they learned was life-affecting. But “Food, Inc.” blew me away. The amount of corruption there is in the big food industries is deplorable. I just kept shaking my head throughout the whole movie, disturbed at how people think the whole time. Please educate yourself by watching that documentary. This world hides a lot of things from us, but there are people out there who are willing to suffer to bring us the information. Don’t let their efforts be in vain but instead watch so you’ll know.

Review of Symptoms:
-Acne is still bad.
-Stomach pains in the morning from cooked food.
-Stayed up way too late, but for a good cause.
-Hair is… well, I’m not happy with it. Must be the change in foods.

Weight at the end of the day = 167.4 (down 1.6 lbs from yesterday)

Total Calories = 1571 (82% carbs, 11% fat, 7% protein… didn’t eat so much today…)

Green Smoothie Day 3 – Healing Journey Day 50

Journal:
Today is the last day of green smoothies and I cannot wait! I want to have the separation of fruit and veggies again. I actually miss having fruit all day and having my veggies at night. I cannot wait to do that again (though slightly differently… stay tuned!).

I woke up late this morning. It put me in a rush to get ready for church, but also felt nice to get some good sleep for once. I did not have time to eat before I went to church. However, my stomach felt like it was still recovering from my cooked foods two days ago, so it probably was a good thing I waited a little longer to eat anyway.

Church was really good. It actually had a health focus, but in the way of relationships. Through studies, people who have good relationships with people live longer, and those that live solitary lives do not live as long. Excellent topic in a series of health talks that will be happening. I’m excited for these ones!

Once I got home, I made a smoothie using bananas and Barlean’s Naturally Very Berry Greens powder. This powder I did not like so much. The strawberry-kiwi one is AMAZING, but not so much this berry one. Oh well. I drank it anyway.

Later on, I made another smoothie using bananas, frozen strawberries, frozen rhubarb, and organic kelp powder. This smoothie was decent (was going for a reminder of strawberry rhubarb pie), but a little sugar would have gone a long way with this! However, since I’m not consuming any additives right now, the sugar can wait.

As I was making a grocery list to go shopping this evening, I noticed I was not going to use the one orange, bell pepper in my fridge. I hate when things go to waste. So I did eat that as well. I could have blended it up in a smoothie, but I ate it separately. It was absolutely delicious. But in the program I will be doing for the next 5 days, bell peppers are not used. So, I ate it tonight before it goes bad.

Aside from grocery shopping, I didn’t do much else this evening. Pretty much I worked on the computer and went to bed, excited to eat different foods tomorrow.

Review of Symptoms:
-Acne doing decently better.
-Hair is doing so well.
-Stomach is feeling a little better today.
-Digestion is improving lots.
-Much more energy today.
-Feels good to wear your church dress that just fit you less than two months ago and it’s completely loose on you now.

Weight at the end of the day = 166.8 lbs (down 2.8 lbs from yesterday)

Total Calories = 1014 (87% carbs, 9% fat, 4% protein… did not eat near enough today…)

 

Smoothie Day – Healing Journey Day 29

Journal:
This morning started out well. I was able to sleep in and even upon waking up, didn’t have to rush to go anywhere. We had until 2:00 to check out of our hotel room which – even though we didn’t stay that long – was really nice.

After showering, packing up, and leaving the hotel, we went and got some breakfast/lunch. We went back to the smoothie place we had yesterday and I got the same Marathon Smoothie but with a bit of a tweak: I asked for less ice and added pineapple juice. It was so much better today.

After driving to my mother-in-law’s house, we stopped at a local supplement store that also sells smoothies in house. So I ordered a custom smoothie that was simply water, frozen bananas, and frozen berries. This one did not taste so great, but I ate it anyway.

For a few hours in the afternoon, I visited with my mother-in-law and took a nap. I woke up in time to get ready for church and make a small smoothie before we left. This time I made a smoothie with two bananas and about a cup of raspberries. This one was pretty good.

Church was ok. The sermon was good, but the music beforehand involved a mini-rock concert that I felt was definitely not the time nor place; I actually felt like it took away from the service. The praise team leader was jumping all around the stage with his guitar, head banging the whole time, and encouraging the drummer to always play louder. Sometimes, the drumming took over the whole music so that if it wasn’t for the words on the screens, I wouldn’t have had any idea what they were singing. It honestly was a bit much.

After church, we had a bit of a surprise: My mother-in-law took us out for a late supper. When she asked where I would like to go, instead of saying my usual, “Oh it doesn’t matter to me at all.”, I requested Chilli’s right away. The reason being, is that this small town that she lives in does not have a “restaurant” that serves smoothies. Not one at all. And instead of completely blowing this smoothie day again, I knew that Chilli’s has a salad that they put a lot of fruit in. And out of all the restaurants in town, it’s the only one I know I could still eat raw at and eat fairly light. Guys, I told you… it’s back to being dedicated!! I know it wasn’t a smoothie, but it was the best case situation. And even though I knew it wouldn’t fill me up, I was sticking with my game plan.

So at Chilli’s, I ordered the Caribbean salad. It contains greens (including spinach), pineapple, mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, red bell peppers, green onions, cilantro and sesame seeds topped with some lime. I then added some slices of avocado to it. Oh it was so good! I thoroughly enjoyed it, even though, as I predicted, it did not fill me up.

Following supper, my husband and his mother stopped at Cold Stone for ice cream. Did I fall for this stop? Nope. I waited until I got home to make a smoothie.

For the smoothie that ended off my day of eating, I blended two bananas, a cup of raspberries and five deglet dates. The deglet noor dates are actually my favourite, though they seemed less sweeter than the ones I usually get in Canada which is surprising. But, I am happy to say that I stuck with raw foods today, primarily being smoothies. I am getting back on track!

Review of Symptoms:
-Tongue still clean in the morning (surprising!).
-Didn’t feel so well after eating all of those salted chips last night and such high fat.
-Was nice to eat out with family and still stick to raw foods.
-Smoothies are not so sweet without added sugar so definitely looking forward to moving past the smoothie stage though I think I’m going to be doing smoothies for a little longer as my full smoothie days hasn’t really been a “thing” lately.
-Digestion is top notch when I’m NOT eating cooked foods. There is definitely a difference.

Weight at the end of the day = 178 lbs (down 0.6 lbs from two days ago)

Total Calories = approx. 1719 (85% carbs, 12% fat, 3% protein)

Fruit Smoothie Feasting – Healing Journey Day 26

Journal:
So the day is here. It’s my final transition into consuming food full time. Although the food is blended, it’s still food. I was actually kind of nervous about this day. I haven’t been eating food consistently in almost a month, and to know that this is the beginning of eating all the time again, it’s a little nerve-wrecking. But I’m sure I will adjust.

This morning, I started with a 6 banana smoothie, blended with approximately 200 mL of organic blueberry juice. It wasn’t the sweetest, I must admit. It was not totally my favourite, but I drank it none the less. I was very tempted to put some coconut sugar in the smoothie as well, but I refrained.

Work was pretty much the same. It had some highs; it had some lows. Some reasons to celebrate, and some reasons to take a deep breath. I never did get to eat another smoothie for the rest of the work day. Needless to say, I was hungry throughout the day since I didn’t get another chance to blend a smoothie up.

I ended up staying at school working on things until 5:30. By working on things, I mean returning work-related phone calls, figuring out hot lunch payments that were under a misunderstanding, and explaining things to several parents as well as trying to tie everything up on a late deadline at school. Oh man… what a rush!

Before I left the school, I made myself another smoothie. I was so hungry since I hadn’t eaten anything since that first smoothie. This time, I put about 400 mL of the organic blueberry juice in with 7 bananas. Believe it or not, it was actually sweeter than before. I thoroughly enjoyed this smoothie and even stopped on the way home to take a pretty fall picture of it for you all to enjoy!

I sat at home, talking with my housemates until I finished this smoothie. Then I headed out to run a few errands, ending up at the gym to do 30 minutes of cycling. I went higher in intensity again, and absolutely loved it.

I came home, and made a smoothie with two mangoes and almost a whole pear. I have some fruit to use up before I fly out for Thanksgiving, so I probably won’t be having banana smoothies tomorrow; bananas are easy to freeze. I will probably be consuming watermelon smoothies and mango smoothies. Hopefully it will all be good. I am so tired that I am closing here for the night. I’m looking forward to some sleep. Good night ya’ll!

Review of Symptoms:
-Acne still not good.
-Energy pretty good.
-Tongue not even half as badly coated today.
-Digestion is fantastic.
-Hair is greasy. (I will write about this soon!)

Weight at the end of the day = 174.6 lbs (down 2 lbs from yesterday)

Total Calories = 2103 (94% carbs, 3% fat, 3% protein)

What in the World is Going On? – Healing Journey Day 20

Journal:
Today was actually a pretty good day. Now, when I say it was a pretty good day, I’m reflecting and realizing that my “good” days have taken on a whole new meaning themselves. A “good” day now would have been a “crazy” day to me before. But I firmly believe in celebrating what is good overall, so I will continue to say that today was a pretty good day.

I managed to eat 2 bananas in the morning. This was a feat. I can’t remember the last time I actually managed to eat before the afternoon. The bananas were ripe and sweet and I was thankful. I was not craving any cooked food whatsoever.

At lunch time, we ran into the first big issue: hot lunch was not ready. I, in no way, blame the person in charge. He was doing the best he could with none of his help showing up. In fact, I felt bad. Being the teacher I am, I decided to move our lunch time to after lunch recess so that there wouldn’t be a huge rush and extra time could be provided. After explaining this to my students, they completely understood.

Before my students came back in from recess, I decided to go see if any help was needed. Instead of giving assistance, they told me to call out my orders according to my list and simply gather what was needed for my class. So that is what I did. I had 8 orders for my class and I worked on transporting everything and having everything prepared for my hungry students to eat when they came in. However, because it was such a rush, I didn’t realize that I had also taken the lunch of a student who had been sent home in the morning. Because it had been handled, the hot lunch could not be returned. So I ended up splitting the lunch with another student whose father had not yet shown up with her lunch. This wasn’t even because I really wanted the lunch to be completely honest. But it was because I have a problem with wasting food. The cheese slice they added to the veggie burger? It definitely came off. Since being vegan, I cannot look at cheese the same way. And for anyone who has not read my other posts, I work in a school that does not serve meat whatsoever, so on any hot lunch day, meat is never an option. Everything is either vegetarian (like pizza days) or vegan, often with the option of either.

So, I didn’t end up with a super heavy feeling which I credit to not eating the whole lunch myself. However, I did not feel as “fresh” either. I’m not enjoying cooked food as much as I thought I would. There really is something to eating raw. I think my biggest struggle right now is that I’m limited to a single fruit per day and I just really want some veggies in there too to give me a break from the sweetness. But that day is coming soon. I just have to keep this up a little longer (especially since the past 3 days haven’t been 100%). Tomorrow, I have to clean up and do a full banana island day.

After lunch, my next big event happened during gym class for my students. The student whose parents still had not shown up with anything for her to eat was keeling over in gym. At this point, I asked if I could go into the canteen and pick a couple more things out for her. I sat with her while she ate the two things we selected. After she returned to gym, I looked at the clock and realized I had only about 5 minutes left until it was time to pick my kids up from gym. So I decided to head back into the kitchen to see if any help was needed in the clean up from hot lunch (again, one person doing everything). As I went in to help, the announcement went for what should have been a lockdown drill. However, a small and yet huge mistake was made. In a rush to fit our drills into the day, the script from the emergency paper was read and instead of using the appropriate words to say that it was just a drill, the script that meant it wasn’t just a drill was used. I can’t even begin to explain the stress and panic that occurred following the use of the wrong script. Thankfully, it ended up being just a drill with the wrong words being read. But as soon as everyone was given the all clear, many teachers ran to find out what happened and I think it is safe to say that this mistake will not happen again.

The rest of the day went fairly well, aside from an earthquake drill we had to practice later in the day. It was not the most productive day at work. But I came away from the day proud of my students and how they handled each situation. I am just happy we were all safe.

Though I did have a meeting of sorts again after school, I was actually home by 6:00 pm. It is a record for the past few weeks. It felt so good to just leave my classroom a mess, not worry about prepping for the next day, and not worrying about having to get up early the next morning to do it all again. I was home, I was safe, and for one evening, work could wait.

I would like to say the rest of the evening went well, but it didn’t. Around 7:00, I started wondering why my husband had not messaged me since lunch. He almost always messages me when he gets home around 6:00. And then I found out what happened.

A year or so ago, my mother-in-law was involved in a massive court case as her assistant had embezzled a bunch of money from the company. As she is second under the owner, she was just as much if not more involved with taking this lady to court than he was. While this was going on, my mother-in-law’s house was broken into: the door was kicked down, things were stolen, etc. Police were involved, the door was taken for fingerprinting, and the house was searched. Nothing ever came from this case, though suspicions were strong. She then installed some cameras along the driveway and put an electric gate at the end of the driveway as well. Nothing seemed to happen after that.

Well, yesterday, someone had come along and not only disconnected everything from her electric gate, but had also unbolted and stolen all of the electric gate equipment. To me, that took someone who had premeditated this as the person would have had to have all the right equipment to do it while also trying to be fast so as not to be caught when someone drove by. Though there is still a slight possibility it was someone looking to make some cash, it doesn’t seem likely.

Not only was that bad enough, the reason my husband had not contacted me was because someone had actually broken into the house again. But instead of just kicking in the door and stealing some things, they had turned on her gas burners and left them running. No, they were not ignited; they were simply turned on so the gas would continue to fill the house. Honestly, this is so much like a tv show. These are things you don’t think will ever happen to you. But this is real life and this is scary beyond belief. The worst part of it all is I had two of my dogs upstairs in a kennel. If they had blown up the house or burned the house down, my dogs would not be alive today. I freaked out. The worst part is, they called the cops, they came and took a look but of course could do nothing. The best advice they gave her was to set up cameras, fix the gate, and attach a sign at the beginning of her property saying that it was under surveillance. Even for myself, I find no comfort in this whatsoever. I think I’m still in shock now, even as I write this. This is one of my “homes”. This is my husband, my mother-in-law, and my dogs. If anything happens to them… I just can’t even fathom right now.

So needless to say, I didn’t leave the house. The gym was the furthest thing from my mind. And though I did manage to eat a total of 5 bananas today, only 2 of those were after I got home. My appetite was far from here. I’m on edge. I just can’t even imagine…

Review of Symptoms:
-Tired
-Stressed
-Not so hungry due to stress
-Cooked food is causing me to feel not as great.
-Acne is the same.
-Haven’t “eliminated” in several days…

Weight at the end of the day = 174.6 lbs (still no weight change)

Total Calories = approx. 1237 (78% carbs, 15% fat, 7% protein… much better ratios today)

Life Update: School, Veganism, Gym, Dogs, Neighbour, New Car, My Niece

It has been so long since I’ve written, and I am so very sorry. Life has a way of getting away from you, that’s for sure!

There are so many things to cover in my update, but I will try to keep them short!

School

The school year started in a rush. I still wasn’t settled in my new position of grade 2 teacher (I’ve been in grade 6 for 4 years). I wasn’t able to move into my classroom officially until the day before school started. So it was a whirlwind of a set-up and start to the year. Books didn’t come in on time, I wasn’t able to go through all of my resources during the summer because everything was boxed to move and then my classroom had work done. What a crazy, crazy start to the year.

Fast forward to now, and I finally feel settled in. Of course, it’s a new curriculum, and teaching grade 2 is nothing like teaching grade 6, but I appreciate it now. I am so much busier than I was in grade 6, I never have a spare minute for anything, but I like my new place and I love my students, so I am happy for the change.

Veganism

I’m still a vegan. However, with the crazy start to the year, the deadlines and all of that teacher-related stuff, my diet became one of convenience. I buy the pre-made vegan pizzas and all of that pre-made junk. I have gained way too much weight just for convenience. I hate it. I don’t like the way I look. I hate that my clothes are tight. I hate the way I even feel after eating the junk. I’m in the transition to a much better vegan diet. I’m cleaning it up by going back to more veggies and fruit, trying to get in one juice every morning. I just feel better when my food is fresh and I am in control of all the additives that is in my food. Fresh is best people!

Gym

My husband and I fell off the gym wagon. We just didn’t go when we should have, we got lazy, we just didn’t do what was good. So, this past week I’ve start going to bed earlier and waking up earlier. I did buy 2 ellipticals (used), but I don’t have room in my house yet (working on it!). So I still drive to the gym in the mornings to do 20 minutes of cardio. I then sneak in the afternoon/evening to the gym to do weight lifting. Unfortunately, that means I don’t really workout with my husband so much anymore, but he is not a morning person, and quite frankly, I do so much better in the mornings. So this is what works!

Dogs

I’m still dreaming of a yard that my dogs can play in. We haven’t moved yet. But a friend of mine introduced me to a part of one of our city’s parks that has an off-leash dog area! My dogs bark so much at others at first, but the more we go, the better they do. The last time, they would barely look at dogs while they were walking past them. I’m so proud and it’s so good for them to get their energy out with the freedom of being off leash. I love it. I’m not sure what we’re going to do when winter hits (since their legs are so tiny), but we will have to figure out something.

Neighbour

It’s been awhile since I posted about neighbour issues, but a long time ago, our neighbour caused us to send 2 of our dogs to live with my family. They said the dogs were barking too much (on a day I was home), and all that wonderful jazz. Recently, my neighbour has been very helpful. When people were trying to break into my husband’s truck one night, she called the police. She warned me about people stealing things out of vehicles, she congratulated me on my new vehicle, and we’ve had some decent conversations. I think my neighbour has warmed up to me! Which is awesome! I actually enjoy having my neighbours now!

New Car

So, with the problem my car was having (anytime it was put in reverse, it accelerated and would almost run into the neighbour’s place or whatever was behind me), it was time to get a safer, new vehicle. I have loved the Mazda CX-5 for years, and so we went to see that first. I absolutely LOVED it and ended up getting it right away. I cannot tell you what a blessing it is to have a nice, safe, good vehicle. I am thankful every time I drive it.

My Niece

I’m so excited to announce that my sister gave birth 2 days ago to my niece! I am so smitten, totally in love, and wishing flights were cheaper so I could fly home to see her in person. I’ve been so excited as this is my first biological niece, my father’s first biological grandchild, my one grandmother’s first biological great grandchild, my other grandmother’s first great granddaughter, my step dad and mom’s first grandchild, etc… It’s such a special child and everyone got to be there! Ah! I’m so happy, I can’t even tell you. The second I get to see her, I’m not going to let her go!

Day 6

I had a terrible sleep last night. I apparently was hitting my husband throughout the night (woke up screaming the past 2 nights… don’t remember a thing), and was wide awake at 5:00 a.m. when I didn’t have to be up until 6:15 a.m. It was just one of those mornings…

I was in a rush because I also had to iron my husband’s new shirt for his new job. This took much more time than I first thought. So I literally ran around to shower and get ready.

I managed to drink a bottle of water once I got to work. Then a little later, I was able to juice my oranges that were starting to go tough and drink that. I only had one mini red banana that was ripe today, so that made a tiny snack.

For lunch, I had 2 mangoes. It’s not really that much, and I’m not really sure why I’m not hungrier than this. But I want to avoid the feeling of force-feeding myself (something I got myself into when counting macros), so I’m going to let my body sort this out. If I want more later, I have 5 more with me to eat so I am prepared.

I didn’t eat anymore mangos throughout the day, but I did have an IT meeting after school. They had some chip selections and an awesome juice that I indulged in.

The meeting took longer than we thought, and my husband needed more clothes for his new job, so I immediately went home and picked him up (no changing or anything) and went to the mall. It was almost at the end of the two hours before I stopped just as we were leaving the mall to get some more of those Korean potatoes. I also got a fresh kale, carrot and apple juice (may have had other things in it) that was amazing. I was full, and ready for another long sleep tonight.

Day 4

We slept for as long as we wanted; it was so nice! I love the weekends where we don’t have to wake up according to an alarm clock. They’re so nice!

This morning was bad. My husband hadn’t put away the stuff from pizza last night, and I had a sip of Coke Zero, and the rest of the cinnamon sticks. I felt awful, the sugar in my throat (or cinnamon, or both) was actually choking me (hence the drink of Coke Zero), and it was just a mess. I wished I hadn’t done it as soon as I had done it.

For a pre-workout snack, I had a vegetarian wrap and a fresh juice made from beets, carrots and apples. If you’ve never juiced beets before, you need to. I love the flavour and texture it gives the juice. Yum! However, it is recommended that you don’t drink liquids and eat food together. I think I felt this a bit. I felt extremely full and slightly uncomfortable.

My workout went well. I did some squats, lunges, push-ups, lateral raises, and of course my chiropractor exercises.

For a late lunch, I ate 4 mangos. I really don’t know why I was feeling so full today, but that junk food really didn’t help. My body was “off”!

I had to rush to leave for a presentation that my students were doing for a crowd of 1800 people! They sang in the choir and gave an awesome concert. What I didn’t expect was the concert to take an hour, (we were there already an hour early to practice), the sermon to take about an hour and a bit, and the baptisms to be quite so many, but praise God! It was all amazing! I love seeing people give their hearts to God, and to praise with all of their hearts for God. A spectacular night, all 4 1/2 hours of it! Can you imagine how much I was starving?

I had promised my husband a date night, and since I was in a rush to get home, I actually ended up taking two detours, one out of our own city! Needless to say I was later than I said I was going to be. I even called ahead and have him get ready and meet me outside. Somehow, we made it in time and even had a fairly empty theatre. But that of course meant my supper was some popcorn, candy, and some Fanta Orange Pop. Not a supper I recommend. But by the time we got home (1:00 a.m.), I was too tired, and still full so I got ready and went to bed.

Tomorrow needs to be a better day…

Day 2

This morning, I was very tired when I woke up… mainly because I went to bed after midnight… way too late! This is something I need to work on!

I was rushing around this morning, and only took my multivitamins and green chews.

After I got to work, I then drank a bottle of water and took my other supplements. I began to feel very nauseous, with nothing in my stomach and already being awake for a few hours. The mixture of supplements in my empty stomach were also not a great idea. So I opened up some organic medjool dates and ate away. I forget how many I ate (in the 8-15 range) and felt much better.

I’ve been pretty busy all day and have not been eating as much as I know I should, but at lunch, I ate two organic apricots that I got in my Organic Box yesterday, and 2/3s of a container of organic blackberries that I also got in my Organic Box yesterday. Fresh, juicy, and delicious!

For an afternoon snack, I had a Larabar in the flavour of coconut cream (it’s vegan, no dairy!). It’s basically a blend of nuts, dates and coconuts. Maybe I’m going a little “nutty” today! 🙂

At the end of school, we had a serious mix-up that caused me to not even allow my students to leave for an extra 10 minutes after the final bell. My students are singing for IMPACT 2015 (a huge outreach event, saving souls for Jesus) on the weekend, and our principal ordered shirts for them to wear. However, when she was handing them out, the different shirts got mixed up somehow. The grade 3/4 Choir is singing Saturday morning for church service. The boys are wearing white short-sleeve dress shirts. The grades 5-8 Choir is singing Saturday evening for the evening service and are supposed to be wearing white long-sleeve dress shirts. 11/13 of my boys had short-sleeve, and only 2 had the proper long-sleeve, so I had to go up to grades 3/4 to switch the shirts as they were given ours. Oh what a mix-up! Chaos at the end of school.

After that was finally sorted out, and the kids were sent on their way, I had to quickly clean up my desk, pack up my stuff, and be on my way to meet some people at the mall. I ended up being at the mall for a half hour. And as I was there, meeting the two different people and mailing a package, I was STARVING! I was considering buying something to eat at the mall, but decided I would rush home to my husband who was waiting for me. But then I made a mistake…

My husband is starting a new job on Monday, and I wanted to celebrate with him. Since we were both super hungry, I decided we should celebrate by going out. The problem was, we decided to go to a restaurant we used to have so many fun dates going to. What I didn’t realize was that the vegan options were minimal (their garden salad quality is not that great to me), and so I decided I would just suck it up and have a bit of dairy for the night. I knew I would be paying for this later…

For background knowledge, we were so hungry that we were at the point of feeling sick – a bad place to be when ordering food. We ate deep-fried jalapeño bottle caps, cheese quesadilla, and pancake puppies (deep-fried pancake balls). I had a veggie burger (not bad) with some seasoned fries. My husband had a beef burger with regular fries, chicken strips, and a piece of cheesecake. Now, we did not finish everything, but we did eat a lot. I could tell afterwards I was going to pay for what I ate. I never wanted to touch another piece of deep-fried food again!

We didn’t even go to the gym. Instead, we just spent some time together and went to sleep. We definitely “party” when we celebrate… lol. Neither of us drink or dance, so that’s almost as exciting as it gets for us. 🙂