MY HEALTHY LIFESTYLE PLAN -By Trina

My Healthy Lifestyle Plan

A number of resources were used to create this plan including - “Eat to Live, “The Conscious Cleanse”, Healthy Habits Meetings with friends Patti and Renee and various other books.

The Basics

• Eat whole foods that exist in nature
  
• Eat raw and living foods as much as possible
  
• Eat when hungry
  
• Eat foods you like and be flexible
  
• Keep it simple, and constantly experiment.
  

                                                   from The Conscious Cleanse

UNLIMITED (eat as much as you want):

All raw vegetables (goal: 1 lb. daily)

Cooked green and non-green nutrient-rich vegetables (goal: 1 lb. daily)

(non-green nutrient-rich vegetables are eggplant, mushrooms, peppers, onions, tomatoes, carrots, cauliflower)

Beans, legumes, bean sprouts, or *tofu (minimum 1 cup daily in total of these)

*Fresh fruit (at least 4 daily).

Spices and Herbs (except salt which can be used in limited amounts – see details below)

*Consume Vegetables and Fruits in a 3:1 ratio
*Beans should be eaten daily; tofu should be eaten less frequently or not at all.

 

LIMITED

Cooked starchy vegetables OR whole grains - soaked  

(not more than one serving or 1 cup):

(examples of starchy vegetables include butternut or acorn squash, winter squash, corn, white potatoes, sweet potato, brown rice, cooked carrots, water chestnuts, parsnips, rutabagas, turnips,yams, and pumpkins. Whole grains barley, buckwheat (kasha), millet, oats, quinoa, brown rice, and wild rice;  whole grain breads*, whole grain cereals*)

Raw nuts and seeds - soaked (1 oz. max. a day)

Avocado (2 oz. max. a day)

Dried fruit (2 Tbsp. max. per day)

Raw honey (up to 1 Tbsp. 1-2 times a week)

Ground flaxseed (1 – 2 Tbsp. a day)

Animal protein (up to 5 oz. day)

Oils and organic butter (up to 1 Tbsp. a day)

*Sea salt and Bragg's Liquid Aminos

Nut milk (up to 8 oz. a day)
Condiments: a little mustard and lower calorie, unsweetened ketchup is ok
*Avoid breads and cereals as much as possible
*Work on decreasing sea salt and Bragg's until minimal amounts are used)


OFF-LIMITS:

• dairy products
• fruit juice (except lemon and lime juice and small amounts of other juices to make salad dressings)
• sugar and artificial sweeteners

Healthy Habits:

1. Drink at least eight 8 oz. glasses of water (64 ounces) a day. This includes 16 oz. Dr. Berg Cranberry Drink. (“The 7 Principles of Fat Burning”)
2. Eat at least 1 lb. raw vegetables daily.
3. Make eat a conscious act/schedule eating times, and eat only when hungry,
4. Eat a variety of fruits and vegetables - 14 different – during the course of a week  
   (I typically eat broccoli and/or green beans almost every evening and there are over 100 different kinds of vegetables and fruits so since vegetables and fruits will be a large portion of my diet I am pushing myself to try all that are available to me. I will try and eat vegetables and fruits from each of the following color groups on a weekly basis – red, purple/blue, orange/yellow, green, white/brown.)
   
5. Eat sitting at the table, not in front of the TV or in the car. God has given me enough time in a day to sit down and have at least 3 meals.
6. Have an eating cutoff time - 8:00 pm.
7. Make a commitment to exercise regularly! (At least 30 min. cardio or strength training days a week)
8. No TV unless I'm doing or have done my exercise.
9. Get enough sleep by going to bed by 10:20 pm nightly.
10. Eat breakfast every morning by 9:30 am

Feast Days – Day(s) when I will enjoyed food that may not be included as a part of my normal diet. (max. of 1 day a week except on special occasions then max of 2 days a week).
Guidelines:

1. Continue to drink designated amount of water and 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
   
2. Continue to eat vegetables (goal - 1 lb. of raw vegetables)
   
3. Have at least 2 fresh fruits
   
4. Journal everything I eat.
   

Thanks Patti for opening your home for our Healthy Habits meeting and all your wisdom. I love your Feast Day idea.

Thanks Renee for the laughter and all the interesting stories you bring to our meetings. Thanks for introducing me to "Eat to Live".

A list of other books I've read can be found here

Have fun now while you're on your way

to accomplishing your goals!

Trina 

A New Adventure in the Quest to Get and Stay Healthy

Middle Eastern Dance

More commonly referred to in the non Arab-Western world as

Belly Dancing!!!

Trina and I signed up for an 8 - week class at our local community school. This is a class that teaches the basic moves of the dance. 

No pictures to share right now:-) but I can tell you that I love this class!

I'm learning to move muscles I never even knew I had!

A big part of this dance is learning to isolate different muscles in the back, chest, stomach and butt. It also focuses a great deal on posture. 

We just finished our third class last night and as I sit here this morning I can really feel it in my stomach muscles!

Check out this link to see our teacher and to learn more about this type of dance...

Sahara Silk Middle Eastern Dance Ensemble

Last year at this time if someone had told me I'd be tying on a shimmy shake skirt and doing Zumba and belly dancing I'd have said they were crazy!

Out of the box and out of my comfort zone! 

I love it!

Filling the Freezer - Green Drink Ready to Blend

I try and drink a green drink or smoothie made with kale and fruit everyday. Great way to get a couple servings of veggies and a fruit or two in my diet. I find that I often can't use up the kale before it goes bad or I have fresh kale but I'm out of bananas or pineapple. I decided to package up my green drink ingredients and freeze them. That way I'll always have what I need to get my greens in for the day. 

Note: The greens seemed to give off a gassy or strong smell when I opened the bag after it had been in the freezer a week or so. It tasted fine but I just want you to be aware of the possibility.

My recipe is pretty simple...

To make two 6-8 ounce drinks I fill each quart size freezer bag with the following:

3-4 cups kale, washed and chopped 

1/2 banana

1/2 apple (peeled if it isn't organic)

1/2 cup pineapple chunks (canned in juice or fresh)

1/2 cup pineapple juice or a combination of water and juice

(If you don't want to use juice just eliminate it from the bag. Add water to the blender when you're ready to make the drink.)

-you can substitute any fruit you like-

Prep

Wash, peel and core the apple (unless it's organic then I don't peel) 

Cut the apple and banana in to chunks.

Drain the pineapple juice in to a measuring cup.

Layer the apple, banana and pineapple chunks in the bottom of a freezer bag. 

Pour the juice over the fruit. (This will keep the fruit from turning brown.)

Stuff the kale in the bag and close it up. 

Each bag contains 1/2 apple, 1/2 banana, 1/2 cup pineapple
chunks, 1/2 cup juice and about 3 cups kale.  This make
two servings of 6-8 ounces each. I drink one with breakfast and
one for an afternoon snack. 

TIP
To remove the air insert a clean straw into the bag. Close the bag around the straw. Suck the air out of the bag. Quickly remove the straw and close the bag. Not quite the same as a Food Saver but does a pretty good job.

Place the bags in the freezer and use within one month.

To use put 1 cup of water in a blender and add the frozen ingredients. Blend to desired consistency.
You may need to add more water or juice to your liking.
If your blender can't handle the frozen fruit  and liquid you may need to defrost the bag first.

Defrost over night in the fridge or allow the bag to sit in a bowl of water for about and hour until defrosted enough to blend.

It feels good knowing that I won't be throwing out any more kale. 

Enjoy!

Patti

Joining other health seekers at:

Holiday Battle of the Bulge