Gluten Free - Day Five

Today was the hardest day so far.  Not really that I wasn't having gluten, that wasn't a problem, but what seems to be withdrawal.

 I went out for brunch with a friend and had a delicious omelette.  Egg white with one egg yolk, spinach, feta, mushroom and shallots.   It was absolutely delicious, mouth watering delicious.

I wasn't a big change, it's the omelette that I have all the time from this restaurant, what was the change was not having the two giant pieces of sour dough bread with butter and vegemite!

 Aside from doing a bit of laundry, I really did not do much for the rest of the day.  I have been feeling so light headed and goodness, my legs and arms are aching!  I feel like I've been for a 10 mile walk or have been doing squats and weights at the gym.  That kind of muscle sore.  But I didn't do anything the day before to cause it (other than clean the house, which I do all the time and have never felt like this).  So I'm putting it down to gluten withdrawal.

 One thing that I have noticed, is the very irritated patch of psoraisis that I have had for about 4 months and over the week after starting a gluten free lifestyle has not virtually gone!   I know where it was, I find that my psoraisis spots leave a little mark where they were, but if someone saw my stomach, they would not know were it had been.  That is just mind blowing!  This irritated, sore, itchy patch of skin that has been annoying me for months, suddenly gone!  Poof!

My Breakfast

Sometimes I don't have time for the 12wbt breakfast or I'm not a fan of that days offering so I have my own creation for those days.

I throw together my own breakfast and it comes to 243 calories and it tastes delicious.  Here is what I have.

A cup of Heritage Flakes.   Heritage Flakes are made from ancient grains, including spelt, kamut, quinoa, oat, barley, millet and is sweetened with organic honey.

Natures Path Heritage Flakes

Some sultanas

Sultanas

Some blueberries

Fresh Blueberries

Some strawberries

Strawberries

Some chia seeds

Chia Seeds

and some skim milk.

Skim Milk

Put together, it looks like this...

My Yummy Breakfast

Saturday Morning

I have just been and had breakfast with friends at a local restaurant.  It is kind of a Saturday tradition, we have been doing it for years.  It started with just myself.  I would take my son to golf, then go to the restaurant and have breakfast and read the paper whilst he was playing and then he would come and join me after he had finished.  Then one week my friends came and they have been coming along ever since.

My friends son has been battling cancer for a few years now and is going through chemo again at the moment, so I really enjoy catching up with them each Saturday.  They are amazing people, have been through SO much the last few years and they are such happy, kind, thoughtful, positive people.  With everything they have had to deal with over the last few years, the multiple long chemo treatments, the many many surgeries and they are still happy, thoughtful, positive people!  Yes sure they have their bad days but they are inspirational.  I am whinging because my back is sore, with a few stitches, then I see them and see my friends son and all of the surgeries he has had, the agony he has been in for years,  mine is nothing.  Makes me grateful for all I have, my health, my family, my friends.  It also makes me want to look after this body I have.  I have this mostly healthy body and I abuse it, by being overweight.

Unless it's raining, I always walk to breakfast.  It's about a 30 minute walk there and then the same home, so it's a good walk.    I had a YUMMY egg white with one egg yolk omelette.  Inside I had spinach, mushrooms, shallots and a little feta.  It was so delicious.  I was good though, I didn't eat the two slices of sour dough or the butter.

Spinach, Feta, Shallot & Mushroom Egg White Omelette

I have been having the same thing for the last couple of years (only before 12wbt I had the bread too).  You would think that I would get sick of it.  But no, I don't.  Each week, it's back for the same thing.  I love that I can get the omelette the way I like.  My omelette is not on the menu.  I just have to ask for a "Monnie Omelette" and the chef know's what it is.  Sometimes I don't even have to order, the waitress will be walking past our table and say "the usual" as she walks, we all just nod, LOL.  I have the inside ingredients raw, so they are not cooked in any oil or anything before being put into the omelette.  The heat from the egg cooks them.  I also have no salt.  I have had "no added salt" in all meals for years now, with having high blood pressure, I have always tried to live a low sodium diet as much as possible.

I have an early morning tomorrow with my son starting rowing.  I used to do rowing and that is something that I would love to do again.  It's a great workout.  It's on the must do list.  I hope everyone has a great weekend.

Sunday Breakfast

I made breakfast for the family this morning and then breakfast for myself.   On the menu for the family was Mickey Mouse pancakes.  We love Disney in our house, Disneyaholics I guess you could call us!

I made the pancake batter with flour, sugar, eggs, butter and milk, just a plain simple recipe.

Heated up the pan and added the cute little pancake rings that we got at Walt Disney World last year.  

They turned out perfect little mickey heads.

That was had with butter and maple syrup, YUM.  

For myself I made an egg white omelette with one egg yolk, filled with Spinach, Feta and Radish Sprouts.

It was delicious (yes not as good as the pancakes would have been, but still good).  I had this a few hours after my regular protein and frozen berry shake.

What a perfect Sunday Morning breakfast!

Protein Shakes

Day 9 of my challenge has started with my usual protein shake with frozen organic blueberries and strawberries, some Acai powder and some cacao powder.  Yum.   I have this three times a day as per my eating plan and it really is delicious.

I was worried about having these protein powders that it said I was to have on my eating plan.  Whilst I do like sugar, (I wouldn't be over weight if my diet didn't contribute to my weight gain in some way), but my eating in general isn't as bad as it could be.  In my household we rarely eat processed foods and a majority of my diet is fresh organic food.  We tend not to buy something that has numbers in it and virtually never foods with preservatives, additives and/or colours (I can't say never as we do eat out at restaurants so I can not say what they use).  But at home, never.  My major problem is the 100% lack of exercise, doing about 2000 steps of a recommended 10,000 steps a day.

Anyway, when I was told to have protein powder 3 times a day, I asked if I could have anything else that was more natural, I really didn't want to start taking something, that was filled with additives and unnatural things.  My trainer could not help me, she looked a little blank actually, so I told her not to worry.  When I left the gym I called my brother.  My brother is the go to guy for all things healthy.  He is the epitome of a healthy person.  Eats an all natural, organic, additive free diet, very fit, exercises regularly.  He has studied nutrition and he is just a very very healthy person.  So I asked him about protein shakes and what they were wanting me to have at the gym.   He told me about a great protein powder which I could get from my local organic supermarket and this is what I have been having for the last week and I really like it.  Well it took a little getting used to, but when I filled my blender with frozen berries and the powder, it is just like a berry smoothie and really quite delicious!

Sun Warrior Protein Powders

I have the Vanilla flavour as I can add different things to it.  I had the chocolate in my basket to start with but decided I may not always want chocolate flavour so changed to the vanilla.  Next time I'm actually going to get the natural flavour to try.  

My New Favourite Breakfast

Since starting back on Weight Watchers and needing to lose weight I went looking for a healthy new breakfast cereal.  It's low in fat and full of fibre and low in WW points, which is fabulous and it's yummy.

Here is my new cereal

I have been having that with some low fat milk and banana and it is delicious. I'm going to look like that girl in banner in no time, LOL (in my dreams, but hey, I need to be positive)

Thanks for sharing my journey.

Two Days Until Lifestyle Change

I am not saying that I am about to start a diet!  I am beginning a lifestyle change as that is what I need to do, I need to change my lifestyle to become healthier.

I have to be honest,  I weighted myself this morning, something that I haven't done in a long time and I was not going to do it until Monday morning, when I was going to weigh in and do all of my measurements.  But I couldn't resist, I thought I would just hop on those scales this morning.  Well what I saw to start with was fine, I couldn't believe it, I was about 10kgs (22 pounds) lighter than about 6 months ago.  I wondered how that was as my clothes were tighter, in fact I had to go up a clothing size since we went to Disney World and New York on vacation in September 2010 and the bigger clothes are now tight too!  I actually lost weight on that vacation from all of the walking, but I knew I had put it all back on and more since September, so to be 10kgs lighter, had to be wrong!  So I hopped on the scales again and there it was, worse than I had expected.  I was shocked, completely shocked, in fact I was depressed.  I couldn't believe I have let myself get to this state, when Dr's have told me that I have to lose weight.  I was 84kgs (185 pounds)!!!!!  Here I thought I was 75 to 80kgs (165 to 176), worse case scenario and I am 84kgs (185 pounds).  This is so much worse than I thought.  Who have I been kidding all of these months!  Thinking that I wasn't that big, or fat and that's what I am, I'm fat and I am grossly overweight!

So after my shock this morning I went out for breakfast with friends.  We always go out for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  Saturday with friends and Sunday with family.  I had my usual this morning, an omelette with a little bacon, spinach, shallots, mushrooms and feta.  I also had some sour dough toast and hash browns.  I never eat all of the hash browns, my son (who is what I call a toothpick, as he is a perfect weight for his age and height, LOL) and I never eat the whole omelette, but I do eat the toast, yum, with lashings of butter and vegemite.   We also never have lunch after this breakfast as we have it late, so it's more like brunch than breakfast.  Here is a photo of my meal this morning

After Breakfast we went out to a fitness store for me to look at recumbent bikes and elliptical cross trainers.  I am going to get one and sit it in my living room (as ugly as that may look) and every night when I sit down in front of the TV, I will get on that machine for an hour or  I may do it early in the morning or both.  I mean lets face it,  I do have a lot of weight to lose.  Now to decide which machine to get.  I will do some research on google today and go back in the morning and get the machine, have it delivered on Monday ready for Monday night, my first day of my journey to become healthy.

Thanks for sharing my journey...

Monnie xx