Wow, 2010... Really?

Dear 2010 - You kind of suck right now. And you're anything but "less complicated".

You started off well enough... full of hope and promise. But you've turned out to be The Year of Worry. And I don't appreciate it.

I will not go into the long list of stuff (people) I'm currently worrying about. The one that's on my mind at this moment - and lots of moments throughout the day - is my friend Jone.

Jone is the mother of my longtime friend, Wendie. Wendie and I go way back to elementary school. We had very similar responsibilities growing up - our parents worked outside the home and we babysat our younger brothers every day after school. As you can imagine, this was quite a bonding experience. We talked on the phone for hours most days after school (or during the summer) while we were at our respective homes.

After high school, as often happens, we lost touch. We reconnected in 2003, when we found each other on Classmates.com. She was the same Wendie I remembered - hilarious, adorable, smart as hell. I vaguely remembered her mom from when we were kids... I got to know her better after 2003.

I will try to describe Jone in a paragraph, but I will not be doing her justice. She's got many layers and it's impossible to capture it all here, in words.

Jone is an intuitive, centered, smart, creative, strong, witty woman. She doesn't eat meat. She eats organic. She's intensely spiritual and open minded. She's very wise. She's wildly in love with (and proud of) her kids (including her son-in-law and daughter-in-law) and her beautiful grandchildren, who call her "Kukla". She's one of the most supportive people I know. She is a wonderful human being.

A quick story about the kind of person Jone is:
When Wendie was pregnant with her daughter, Grace, she was living in North Carolina. She was very happy in her marriage, but not in NC, and was missing her mother and friends. Jone asked me to come with her to visit Wendie. There was no way I could afford it at the time. Somehow, without making me feel like an ass, she convinced me that her buying my plane ticket was her gift to Wendie. So off we went to North Carolina, just the two of us, to visit Wendie. It's one of my favorite memories.

Fast forward.

For the last 5 months, literally every single time I talked to Wendie, she'd tell me how worried she is about her mom. "Melissa, she's just sick... she's been sick for months and I'm really worried... I think it's pneumonia." We talked last Saturday and again, she told me how worried she is, but that Jone is now saying she thinks it's time for a doctor. Wendie was very relieved to hear it and was just waiting for the go ahead to take her. The very next day I got a text: "They think my mother has ovarian cancer. Large mass. On way to Boston". She was in an ambulance on the way to Brigham and Women's hospital. Two hours later, another text: "It's cancer".

It's been 9 days since that exchange, and there have been countless phone calls, texts, emails since.... delivering information, crying, asking questions, telling stories. As I write this, we are still waiting to hear the results from her biopsy to determine what type of cancer it is, since they haven't been able to determine whether it's ovarian or colon cancer. As soon as the results are in, they will formulate a plan and begin treatment.

I don't understand this... how this woman, who gives so much thought to what she puts into her body, and what (and who) she surrounds herself with.... could have cancer. It does not make sense to me. I cannot wrap my mind around it. And it's not like 2009 was a cake walk for her either... she and her family have had far too many challenges to face recently. It's not fair. It's just not.

The good news: Jone has an amazing support system. Her kids have been with her through every minute of this. Wendie was able to spend several nights in the hospital with her. They just dropped everything to be by her side. They've had tough conversations but feel fortunate to be able to have them. They've cried together and separately. They've made each other laugh when they should have been crying. They love each other intensely and it's quite something to see.

As their friend, it's been tough... I wait for word... I call, email or text just to say "xo" or "thinking of you"... not wanting to be intrusive, demanding answers. I want to be there, but obviously respect Jone's wishes with regard to visitors right now. I want to be there for Wendie, just to deliver gluten free snacks or slipper socks... there just isn't anything for me to do right now but wait. So, wait I do.

As I write, Jone is ready to kick some ass... in Wendie's words "You'll be happy to hear that my mom is in total fight mode and has vowed to beat this thing to the ground." Yes, Wendie... I'm very happy to hear that.

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Clif C Bar - Blueberry

WOW. This definitely blew me away. I'm a big fan of Larabars, with their short ingredient list and sweet, chewy, delicious flavor. This is Clif's answer to those types of bars - and in my opinion, they knocked it out of the park.

They key is the layering. Like the Larabar, they use dates and nuts for sweetness and binding. But Clif creates a layer of dates and nuts, and then another layer of fruit with a sprinkling of nuts on top.

Ingredients list for the blueberry:

Organic Dates
Almonds
Organic Blueberries (Organic Blueberries, Organic Evaporated Cane Juice)
Macadamia Nuts
Organic Blueberry Juice Concentrate
Organic Lemon Juice Concentrate
Sea Salt (Real Salt®)
Natural Vitamin E (Antioxidant)

More info from the website here.

I won't eat these too often, because of the added sugar... but at 130 calories, it's a healthy, low calorie snack. I usually add some of almonds to bring it up to about 200 calories.

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Healthy Banana Muffins

We always have bananas. Mostly because we've been eating oatmeal just about every weekday morning for the last several weeks. The basic recipe for two, courtesy of my favorite food blogger Kath, is as follows:

1 banana

2/3 cup of rolled oats

2/3 cup of water

2/3 cup of milk

You kind of throw it all in a pot and whisk it until it's cooked and creamy. Then you add whatever you like... vanilla, cinnamon, raisins, pumpkin, peanut butter, walnuts, cottage cheese, coconut... whatever. It's been great, but we had a snow day last week I decided to make a big batch of steel cut oats, which lasted us several days. So I had a bunch of bananas that needed to be used. Normally, I would make a banana bread but considering how closely we're watching calories these days, I wanted to find a recipe that was lighter.

I totally found it! I made a couple of adjustments though. Here's what it looks like with my tweaks:

Healthy Banana Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 mashed ripe bananas (if they are super ripe bananas, I might even try using only 1/8 cup sugar next time)
1/4 cup organic cane sugar
1/4 cup 0% Fage
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
dash of cinnamon

Mix all ingredients together well. Fill muffin tins with batter. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

My muffin tin makes huge muffins, and I got 7 out of this recipe (I actually cooked the last one in a ramekin in the microwave for like 1 minute). I entered the recipe into my "Lose It" app and it tells me that for 7 servings, they are 163 calories each! They were good... a little bit spongey but I didn't mind that at all. I'll definitely make them again.

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Working It Out

Me in October 2005

At the beginning of 2007, I had mono. It knocked me out… for several months. And it totally messed with my body. Around that time, I stopped being able stomach animal protein. It started with red meat, and eventually I wasn’t even eating fish. I became a full-on vegetarian for 2 years. Over that period of time, I gained weight, continued to feel “off” and tired…a lot. I made a few half-hearted attempts at getting healthier… none of which really involved exercise.

I did start working out with a trainer in the fall of 2008 but financial and logistical reasons made me stop. At that time, I had a blog where I would journal my workouts, meals and losses. It was helpful for me, but it got boring and tedious after a while and I stopped around the time I stopped seeing the trainer.

In the spring of 2009, I just had to do something… I felt “toxic”… I don’t know how else to explain it. I did the Master Cleanse. The full 10 days. It wasn’t that hard, and I got through it. I lost 11 lbs… but the thing for me that was so amazing was that I found myself craving meat. I remember distinctly being at an event for Bob’s company during the cleanse. As they passed around appetizers, the thing that shocked me was that I was drooling over the roast beef canapés and not the chocolate covered strawberries!

When the cleanse was over, I gradually started adding meat back into my diet… mostly fish, chicken and turkey… very rarely will I eat red meat, and I still have issues with meat on the bone. BUT it was around then that I started to feel better. Then in the fall, after doing a lot of research, I stopped taking the birth control pills that I was on for years. No, I’m not trying to get pregnant… I’m just choosing not to use those pills anymore.

So here I am, 6 weeks into 2010 and I can honestly say I’m on the road to better health.

Ten Things I'm Doing Differently:

1. I’m working my ass off at the gym… literally. On January 1, Bob and I went for our first workout (not ever, of course, but as a part of this lifestyle change). We’ve been going 4 times a week ever since. In fact, last week we upped it to 5 – adding a day of just cardio.
   
2. We downloaded an app for our iPhones called “Lose It”, which is a calorie counter. Calories are something I’ve never counted before. Carbs, sure, but not calories. Anyway, we both faithfully enter every morsel of food that goes into our mouths and it’s been very enlightening. Did you know that a serving size of frozen yogurt is ½ a cup??
   
3. NOT depriving myself. If I want some chocolate, I have it. Just not the whole thing.
   
4. Eating mostly WHOLE foods. And if I buy anything prepared, it better have a short, recognizable ingredients list
   
5. Lots more water and green tea. I’ve always felt better when doing this.
   
6. Multi-vitamins, every day.
   
7. Reading motivational blogs written by healthy eaters, like Kath Eats Real Food
   
8. Eating at home more. This way, we can control what goes into our recipes
   
9. Eating at the dining room table, not in front of the TV.
   
10. Giving up the "all or nothing" mentality. In my former life, if I had a piece of cake or whatever, I would have said, "why even bother going to the gym today? I had a piece of cake last night." Now, I say "I had a piece of cake last night, I better work a bit harder at the gym today."

Why Working Out is Awesome:

• I feel so much better
• I move so much better
• I sleep so much better
• It’s fun to go with a workout partner… encouraging and pushing each other makes it interesting
• It decreases my appetite (I know…it’s supposed to increase it…)
• It’s a great way to start the day
• It clears your mind. Lots of thinking gets done on that elliptical.
• It’s so cool to see how much stronger I’ve become, just in 6 weeks

How much have I lost? I wish I could honestly say… I refused to weigh myself until Feb 1. I can tell you I’ve lost 5 lbs since then. So it seems that I’m losing at about a rate of 2.5 lbs per week, which “they” say is normal. I can tell you as a former low carber, it’s tough to see such slow weight loss but I know it’s the best way to do it. And the fact that I notice the difference in the way my clothes fit helps, too.

Another motivating factor for me is that my Dad is also working out now!! This is huge... my Dad was not a gym guy. But he is diabetic and needs to drop a few for his health. So when I found out he was working out too, I told him how great I thought it was. And I told him, "If you keep going, I'll keep going". It's a deal I'm not about to go back on.

I don’t intend to turn this blog into a “My Weight Loss Journey” blog or anything. I won’t be writing much about that stuff at all actually, other than to say “had a great workout today” or maybe mention a new fitness goal I’ve reached or complain that my husband is losing weight twice as fast as me. I’ve just been kind of holding off on posting because I wasn’t sure how I wanted to bring this part of my life into the blog, and it’s been a huge focus for me over the past 6 weeks. But less weight is part of the mission of this blog, as well as one of my goals for 2010. It’s time to work on my fitness.

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Lemony Couscous and Zucchini with Shrimp

Wow.... we made a total winner last night! Bob downloaded a Jamie Oliver app for the iPhone, and found a recipe for lemony couscous with zucchini. We decided to add shrimp to make a meal. Can I tell you how easy this was??

We had a huge bag of peeled, deveined shrimp from Whole Foods, so we defrosted some of that and started cooking it up in a pan with some garlic, olive oil and Earth Balance. Added the zucchini, salt, pepper and this Bavarian spice blend from Penzeys.

While that was going, we cooked up the whole wheat couscous. When it was all done... literally, in like 15 minutes... we added the juice of a lemon to the shrimp/zucchini mixture. Spoon it on top of the couscous and sprinkle with the zest of the lemon we just juiced. Oh and after we took this picture, we added some feta and pine nuts! Ridiculously easy and good!!

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