So for those who haven’t read my “about” page (see left side bar) I was diagnosed with Chronic Urticaria earlier this year. It’s really just a fancy name for chronic hives, but in cases like mine, my body attacks a certain type of cell which results in hives. I was put on prednisone—a steroid with yucky side effects—for 3 weeks and they went away. I hadn’t been working out because the hives were so bad and sweating made them worse. THEN the prednisone gave me awful side effects. *Insert weight gain* I was weaned off the steroids and put on prescription antihistamines. Well, they were gone for almost a month and last week..ta-da. Slowly they started to get worse, doctor up’ed my antihistamines but finally they were constant for 3 days and she gave me 5 day dosage of prednisone. We’re checking my “Chronic Urticaria Index” and if it’s high enough they’ll put me on immunosuppressant drugs. I’ve been doing a lot of walking of hills (on a treadmill of course, we have no hills in Florida lol) but today I just went for a run, even though it’s brutal as all hell out. It wasn’t bad considering I haven’t been consistent.
I’ve been doing a lot of strength training at home with my balance ball and I have 5lb weights. Ugh, six weeks until I move and I’m just not happy.
Things like this kind of irk me. Like, okay loving your body is essential if you want to get healthy and such but it’s like…I don’t know if I’m going to explain this right but when people cross out something that’s supposed to be taken as an inspirational message and put something else under it’s just. I mean you’re making it sound wrong that somebody wants to be skinny. Because when you think of skinny you think of anorexic or unhealthy but when I think of skinny I think of healthy, strong..I think of being able to wear all those outfits that wouldn’t fit right otherwise. I think of not having to worry about how my ass looks in my jeans. I mean, wanting to be skinny shouldn’t make you a bad person and when people continually make people feel bad for wanting to be skinny it’s just wrong. Because “skinny” in one person’s eyes can mean something completely different to another..but I don’t think you should ever discourage someone that way…Just cause you never know what the intention was behind that….
“Why choose to fail when success is an option?”- Jillian Michaels
Myocardial infarction treatment. Heartattack. http://bit.ly/cT3h8w health
Today, I was inspired to cook. After tuning in to the Food Network, how could I not? I channeled my inner Paula Deen, Ina Garten, and Rachel Ray and hit the grocery store. I picked up the essentials plenty of blueberries, strawberries, bananas, apples, peppers, onion, spinach leaves, applesauce, yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs. orange juice, oatmeal, peanut butter, bread, craisins and raisins.
With my grocery treasures I made a pasta salad consisting of broccoli, red peppers, tomato, salami, cheddar cheese, rigatoni and Italian dressing.
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Luckily, I had a buddy in my cooking expedition- A fellow Warren lane girl, Michelle. Our first project was to make Barefoot Contessa’s Brownie Pudding?. We combined eggs and sugar and whisked them for about 3 minutes. The whisk add some air to the batter making it light and fluffy versus the hand mixer.
Flour and cocoa powder were sifted together and then added to the eggs and sugar. Finally, the butter and vanilla were added.?Good sifting skills Michelle!
We put them in a pie and muffin tins, followed by a drizzle of caramel syrup on each. Bake at 325 degrees. Twenty minutes for the muffins and 50 for the pie tin.
The Brownie Pudding came out beautifully- so decadent! It was literally a consistency between a brownie and pudding. A super moist brownie if you will and when you thought it couldn’t get any better our addition of caramel did. The caramel created a crisp top and some soaked through the batter to the middle of the brownie. Mmmmm!?
The next treat was Peanut butter granola- a recipe from Peanut Butter Finger’s blog. She came up with a great recipe- I can’t take credit for it’s deliciousness! The only addition I made was to bake in some craisins for an extra punch! I can’t wait to put this on top of yogurt and oatmeal!?
Next, I took Julie’s recipe and doubled it. The goal was Peanut butter and Jelly granola bars. I added one egg white, 1/4 c of brown sugar and 4 tbsp of (melted) butter to Julie’s recipe. I put half the batter on a cookie sheet, spread a thin layer of grape jelly over it and then put the final half of the batter on top.
I baked it on 350 for 25 minutes, which as it turns out was too long. I would suggest 20 for next time! Be sure to let them cool. I found the longer they sat the more I like them. Michelle and I approved of these bars. They had a crunchy top and soft center. We loved that we could taste each ingredient; the peanut butter, the cinnamon, the vanilla. However, we felt that if maybe raisins or walnuts were added it might give these bars a little something extra in terms of texture and a taste that stands out. We were also pretty cautious with the jelly, so maybe just adding a bit of a thicker layer would be enough.
We’re finishing the night off with a movie while enjoying the fruits- or should I say oats of our labor.Until tomorrow, Toodles! ?
Diet Food: Mulberries
These sweet, juicy summer berries are tasty both fresh and dried in trail mix or in a salad, says Lisa Dorfman, a registered dietitian and author of The Reunion Diet. “At just 43 calories per 3.5 oz serving, they contain 61 percent of the RDA for vitamin C, and they’re also chock full of potassium, fiber, and resveratrol, a phytonutrient shown to protect the heart.
Diet Food: Pineapple
“This sweet tropical fruit is the perfect ingredient for summer smoothies and juices,” says Beth Aldrich, a certified holistic health and nutrition counselor, and author of the book Real Moms Love to Eat. “It contains the proteolytic enzyme bromelain, which aids in the digestion of protein and blood clot formation. As an anti-inflammatory super food, pineapple can help reduce swelling and in turn, you’ll have a flatter belly.
[read more at the source…]
Lifehacker | Pirates really do sleep better:Turns out hammocks are better for sleeping. Who’d have guessed that.
So today was the last day of our yard sale. I made like $35.00. My mom made more than I did. But remember..this was all just junk & clutter. The amount I made was perfect because what I wanted to buy my mom for her upcoming birthday was on sale for $30.00! Super excited & can’t wait for her surprise party. What was left from the yard sale, we took to Goodwill…besides a few things that we’re giving a couple people & a few things we’re putting in my sister-in-law’s yard sale.
I ate okay today. But I still felt bad for not eating perfectly. I did make it to the gym though! It felt amazing. I warmed up for 10 minutes on the bike, did some stuff with weights, & then ran a mile! I ran a mile…without stopping..in 13 minutes. That’s like a freaking miracle for me! I was breathing way too hard, but I couldn’t help it. It felt great! Proud moment. (:
Now I just got out of the shower, lying in bed, about to read.
Before I end this post, I want to show you a picture. This was another proud moment. Not last Summer, but the Summer before I bought a sundress..when I bought it, it fit. The next Summer it was too tight. I decided since I’ve lost 35 pounds since last Summer, that I should try it on. So I waited a day or two & then the other day I finally tried it on…. & IT FIT! I’m sure I have a picture of me wearing it when it was slightly too tight, so I’ll try to find that but here is the one of me from the other day.. 
(Don’t mind the wrinkles in the dress. It was put up in a box for a year.)
Sweet dreams!
xo
T
