So I improvised and you can too!

Gooood morning all!  I'm in too good a mood today.  Hmm can you really be in too good a mood.  Eh maybe not.  I just know I feel good!  It's raining outside, but that hasn't dampened my spirits any.  I don't know why, but I'll take it.

I think it's endorphins.  I've finished my workout for the day, so that is part of it I think.  You can see my stats below.

Today's post is a frugal kind of post (I love those), and one that over laps with healthy eating and weight loss.

A little back story, Dh and I have discovered a new treat where we take whole milk vanilla Greek yogurt and top it with a little(like a tsp) choc syrup or use it to top a cup of thawed sweet cherries.  Something about the thickness reminds me of cheese cake.  I LOVE CHEESE CAKE!  So, the other day at Aldi, I had it on my list to pick up, as we were out out.  Guess what!  They were too!  Out that is.  Apparently we aren't the only ones that love the whole milk Greek yogurt.  Bummer.

But!  I'm sly I tell you!  Clever, clever girl!  They did have the regular whole milk vanilla yogurt.  Plus it was on sale!  So in the buggy went 4 cartons, 32 oz each.  I normally pay 2.89 for this when I buy it, but it was on sale for 2.28.  Home we went.

Fast forward to this morning.  I took a small sized glass mixing bowl.  It doesn't have to be glass, but that's what I used.  I placed a mesh strainer in the bowl and laid a dampened coffee filter in it.  I took an entire carton of the yogurt and dumped it carefully into the strainer, making sure I stayed on the filter.  I covered the lot, and waited about 2 hours.  Over that two hours, the whey strained into the bowl leaving Greek yogurt in the strainer.  When all was said and done, I ended up with 6.75 oz of whey.  NO I DIDN'T THROW IT AWAY!  We save that stuff.  It's nutrition gold!  You can use it to soak grains like your oatmeal over night.  You can add it to your overnight soaking water for dried beans before cooking (it makes them easier to digest so less...ahem...noise).  You can soak your flours before making bread, add it to batters, add it to smoothies in place of milk.  See what I mean? So that whey is still usable.  But even if it wasn't, by my calculation I actually saved a few cents.  If I don't factor in the sale price, and just use the normal price for comparison; that 6.75 oz is about 20% of the volume of the original yogurt.  I took 20% of $2.89= .58.  I added that again to the 2.89 purchase price for a total price of $3.47.  I think the price I would have paid for the original Greek yogurt I was looking for was $3.89.  So I saved a little bit.  And really I did not much more than let time pass.  Pretty good if I do say so myself!

***Edited to add- I actually prefer this yogurt to the store bought.  It's creamier and much more like cheese cake.

Heart rate limit is 124- went over some and had to adjust periodically.  Max heart rate 127.  Fat burning range for me is 115-118.

Grace Wins by Matthew West- 2.8 speed- 0 first minute then-5 incline
Oxygen by Lincoln Brewster- 3 speed- 5 incline
Overcomer by Mandesa- 3 speed- 5 incline
Feel It by Toby Mac- 3 speed- 5 incline-down to 4 at end
More by Usher- 3.3 speed- 4 incline -down to 3
Move by Toby Mac- 3 speed- 4 incline
Down to the River by Jordan Feliz- 3.3 speed- 4 incline- 2.5
Every good thing by The Afters- 3.3 speed 2.5 speed
Still haven't found by U2- 2.7 speed- 6.5 incline- to 5.5 last minute no incline as I cool down

Made some changes

Been quiet on here...too quiet.  It's me own fault!  I have been torn lately as to what I wanted this blog to cover.  I started out as Frugal Maven in my last blog, and really didn't change that once I started this blog.  In other words, I'm still frugal.  That's one of my main things, and something I didn't give up once I went to healthy eating.  You can see it in some of my past posts.  When you're on a tight budget is when most of us throw in the healthy eating towel.  These two blogs are still interchangeable.  I started realizing that I can't ONLY focus on one thing.  Things in life over lap.  Life overlaps.

So I have incorporated my old blog posts into my new blog and will begin to write about all things in my sphere.  For you that means you can easily look aaaaaalllllll the way back as far as 2010 and see all my past posts.  I'm also in the process of labeling them so you can find each category easily: Frugality, Healthy eating, Daily living, etc.  I've also been adding recipes to my recipe pages,as well as some of the old tutorials I had on my old blog.  New stuff will also be appearing if I have my way.

As for me, it's been a rough few past months, which threw me into a bit of a tail spin.  This Past Christmas, while joyful in some ways, ended up being an "off the wagon" derail of sorts.  I ate myself sick, and I do mean sick.  My body, after months of healthy eating, I think, couldn't tolerate the amount of sugar it was taking in.  I was physically sick, and that made me a little....well panicky.  I faced the music on Christmas Eve and was up 10 lbs over the past 4 months since the heart attack.  I was praying about it and wondering where my mojo went.  I used to could stare down a cheese cake and not blink.  I could have whatever in the house and it not phase me.  During the course of my prayer I realized two things; actually, I believe God revealed these two things to me.  1) I was still living with, and fearful of another attack.  2)  I was convicted that I had just celebrated the birth of Christ by abusing my body; which God says is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Needless to say, I never want to treat myself like that again.  I also realize that good health is the one thing on earth that can keep another attack away.

So!  Happy to say I have been back on track.  No hanging on by a thread:  It's good.  I'm down 5 lbs since Monday.  I finished cardiac rehab and am doing this on my own.  I have a heart monitor and I'm not afraid to use it!  In fact, I just finished my workout for the day.

I'm wanting to see my progress over time and so, to save on paper, I'm going to put the stats on here.  You'll see my music list that I walk to, and beside each one will be the speed and incline I use on the tread mill to keep my heart between 114-124.  As time progresses, I'm looking forward to seeing those numbers go up; higher incline.  The speed will remain the same,as it goes with the beat of the music.


Grace Wins by Matthew West- 2.8 speed- 0 first minute then-5 incline
Oxygen by Lincoln Brewster- 3 speed- 5 incline
Overcomer by Mandesa- 3 speed- 5 incline
Feel It by Toby Mac- 3 speed- 5 incline-down to 4 at end
More by Usher- 3.3 speed- 4 incline -down to 2.5
Move by Toby Mac- 3 speed- 4 incline
Down to the River by Jordan Feliz- 3.3 speed- 4 incline- 2.5
Every good thing by The Afters- 3.3 speed 2.5 speed
Still haven't found by U2- 2.7 speed- 6.5 incline- last minute no incline as I cool down

No weights today

Thoughts of long ago.

This is a post from my old blog three years ago.  It's still relevant today.  My Dad has since passed, making this bitter sweet, but I want to share.  Other things are changing again. Dear daughter and her family will be moving out of state soon.  A lot has changed this year, and who know what the next year holds. 

Thanks for reading


Christmas Eve, makes me remember when I was a child and December 24th would arrive.  I think Christmas Eve has always been my favorite.  Don't get me wrong.  Presents have always been great so Christmas Morning was the ultimate, but Christmas Morning was the last day.  Once the gifts were unwrapped, the anticipation was over.  Christmas Eve, however, was the height of anticipation.  There was electricity in the air!  As a child I felt like Christmas Day would never come and Christmas Eve seemed to last forever.  But it was fun.  We always got a gift on Christmas Eve.  Some little something to take the edge off so to speak.  Ironically the one gift I remember the best from a childhood Christmas Eve was the one I received in bed because I had the stomach flu.  Stomach flu had gone thru just about everyone and I was one of the last on the roster.  I had recovered by Christmas Day, but was still shaky.  Anyway, I got a Charlie Brown...how would you say?  It was like a magnetic board, but it wasn't magnetic.  It was slick and it had little slick Charlie Brown Characters you could attach in any way you wanted in order to create a scene.  Not a big elaborate gift, but it did the trick.

Christmas Eve was the best after bed time.  The one time of year children will willingly go to bed and try to sleep.  In order to keep us 5 kids in line, Christmas Eve was the time all the kids slept in the same room with our oldest sister watching us.  We had electric candles in the window and my mom would have multiple colors of lights in them.  We got to leave the candles on and the result was surreal.  There was little to no sleep....for us or our parents.  My poor parents were up just about the whole night getting everything out.  I (We, Daddy I wasn't the only one regardless of what they say) was up the whole night worrying my parents were still going to be awake and Santa wouldn't stop (Bad parents!  lol), or sneaking out to the hall to peer into the darkness (again Daddy I wasn't the only one) in the hopes we could see something after our parents turned the lights off and went to bed.  Needless to say 5 am was a perfectly logical time to drag my sister and subsequently our parents out of the bed to start Christmas Day.

As the years have passed my Christmases have changed.  No longer a child myself, I would see Christmas through the eyes of my children.   Wide eyed wonder at the lights, Santa, the presents, etc.  Now my Children are adults themselves.  My daughter and her husband have the joy of seeing Christmas in their children's eyes.  Christmas has changed for us again.  Now it is really more of a spiritual celebration.  I still love the giving and receiving of gifts, but my focus turns more toward why we give those gifts.

This year, as I laid out the Nativity, it just so happened O Holy Night was playing on Pandora.  The Nativity ended up being laid out with tears. I couldn't help but Praise God for this precious gift.  Over 2000 years ago, on another Christmas Eve, the world held its breath in anticipation of the child to be born on Christmas Day.  I guess anticipation has always been a major part of Christmas, only the first Christmas never ended with the coming of Christmas day.  Instead it became the beginning of everything.

From Fear, and Frustration, to VICTORY!

Wow, that's a lofty title.  Hmmm may be a bit hard to live up to in some circumstances, but in mine, that's how I feel.  In situations like mine, small victories are still victories.

 Coming out of the hospital, fear seemed a constant companion.  Every twinge was a possible recurrence. "What ifs" were abundant.  What if I have another attack.  What if I never recover?  What if I don't survive next time.  What will my family do if...  Through a lot of prayer and determination, I've managed to keep the fear at bay more often than not.  Some of the "what ifs" were allayed by future planning and not putting my head in the sand anymore.  The ones that dealt with the physicality of what happened or could happen, had to be handled with physicality.

Frustration came next.  One day I would be going great guns.  Woo hoo on my way!  Then I would over do and be down for a couple of days.  I've learned that lesson.  Slow and steady wins this race.  Last week during one of my rehab workouts, the physiologist made me slow down, and bring the incline down.  But I was doing so well!  That was Monday a week ago.  On Wednesday I asked him if I can still do the same workout as I was doing when he slowed me down and he said "Sure".  He said as my heart strengthens, it will take longer before my heart rate is such that he has to come slow me down.  Okay!  Armed with this info and the fact that since I had finished my 6th session with them, and could work out at home too, I moved forward.  Thursday was great.  I got on the treadmill and did the same workout as I did at the rehab clinic.  Problem is, I then went outside and did, what I thought wasn't strenuous garden work.  FYI, garden work is at least 75% upper body.  Sore arms, chest, and sore shoulders from gardening and sewing about sent me into a panic attack.  What's concerning, what isn't.  I knew I had over done again!  So I took Friday off from rehab.  Then I took Saturday off from anything physical.  Dh and I drove up into the mountains and looked at antique shops and such.  We had a grand time.

Then came Sunday.  Sunday I resolved to get back on the treadmill but at an easy pace.  I have a heart monitor, and did 45 minutes on the treadmill but in 15 minute increments.  I never let my heart rate get over 110 that day.  It wasn't a true workout, but I moved.

The Victory, however small, came today!  I was back at rehab today.  I knew I was being monitored, and what better way to push yourself than under medical supervision.  I started doing my normal rehab workout; warm up 1 minute at 3 speed 0 incline.  Then up to 3 speed 4 incline.  At every 5 minute mark I brought the incline down to 0 for 1 minute to give my heart a break. Then right back up.  I had been walking 30 minutes with very little trouble when here comes the physiologist telling me to turn down the incline.  He congratulated me though saying he didn't have to come over til the last 5 minutes of the workout.  Now that's great, though at the time I was still frustrated with having to slow down AGAIN!!!!  That wasn't what I call my small victory.  My small victory was this.  After the workout, I went over to him and asked out of curiosity how high my heart rate got before he slowed me down.......130.  Yep!  130.  Yesterday I was worried about it going over 110.  Today It safely went to 130.  Well above what I need to do to stay on track health wise.  He told me I can get it up to 124 at home easy.  To burn fat for a woman my age, my heart needs to beat 115-118.

Mama ain't playin no more.  Let's get this show started!  And no, I am not going outside to work in the garden.  Still pacing myself, but, guys, there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

Easy Chart

So to help a little, I've some what concocted a chart.  This isn't everything, but it's a start.

 A few notes:

* The Raw honey is good for use in items that aren't heated; cough syrup, cold drinks, toppings for toast, etc.  If you want to bake/cook with something sweet, use either the molasses or maple syrup.  They don't lose their nutritional value when heated like raw honey does.  I use molasses in my breads.

* "$" is next to "Best" items that are actually a cheaper alternative than the store bought.

* I know I have some organic items in this chart.  The price of organic is coming down and that's good,  but I wouldn't worry too much about organic or not.  Worry more about good fats, whole grains, more fruits and veggies, and less chemicals and junk.

* 100% whole wheat flour can take some getting used to.  So to start, I recommend a half and half ratio of whole wheat flour and unbleached all purpose flour.

 This is only a partial list.  It's just to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.


     NO                                             BETTER                                                BEST

MARGARINE                                  BUTTER                                       BUTTER

VEGETABLE,CANOLA OIL         EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL     ORGANIC E.V.O.O

WHITE FLOUR                              WHEAT FLOUR                          FRESH GROUND WHEAT

                                                                                                                          FLOUR

WHITE RICE                                  BROWN RICE                              ORGANIC BROWN RICE

CANNED FRUIT IN SYRUP         CANNED FRUIT IN JUICE        $ FRESH OR FROZEN

                                                                                                                           FRUITS 

WHITE BREAD                             100% WHOLE WHEAT               $ SCRATCH WW BREAD 

                                                                                                                       

BOXED CEREAL                           WHOLE GRAIN CEREAL,         $ SCRATCH GRANOLA 

                                                            ORGANIC                                            

SODAS                                           $ WATER, TEA, COFFEE, MILK.......................                      

                                                                                                                    

REDUCED FAT MILK                  $ WHOLE MILK                             RAW OR NON-

OR SKIM MILK                               MIXED HALF AND HALF         HOMOGENIZED 

                                                           WITH WATER                              WHOLE MILK

REDUCED FAT YOGURT            WHOLE MILK YOGURT               $ HOME MADE OR

OR NON FAT YOGURT                                                                            ORGANIC WHOLE

                                                                                                                     MILK YOGURT 

PROCESSED CHEESE                 FULL FAT  CHEESES .............................................                  

  

PEANUT BUTTER                         ALL NATURAL PEANUT             PEANUT BUTTER

                                                         BUTTER, NOTHING BUT                    FRESH GROUND

                                                         PEANUTS AND SALT

CHIPS                                             $ OVEN FRIES MADE FROM       OPT FOR FRUIT OR

                                                            POTATOES WITH PEEL              VEGETABLES WITH

                                                                                                                   YOUR MEAL

ARTIFICIAL SWEETENER         SUGAR (JUST COUNT IT!)            *RAW HONEY, MAPLE

                                                        0 CAL VS ONLY 16 PER TSP           SYRUP, MOLASSES 

Steps to better eating without breaking the bank.

" I can't eat healthy!  It costs too much!"  It's true!  In fact I don't think a truer statement has ever been made.  DIET FOOD is expensive!  But food that is just good and good for you isn't so much.  What may cost more, can be replicated very simply at home.  Now I know you may think that takes time you may not have, but it really doesn't.  Many of the recipes I use now, were used when I still worked a full time job.  Now that I'm home, and my outside income is gone, these same recipes and tips have served me well in keeping expenses at a minimum.   So they come in handy either way.

The idea is to use your money to buy the normal food that isn't diet or processed.  Food can be processed and not diet so the idea is to get away from both.  Oh and, BTW, food can be Organic and processed as well.  Diet food examples are easy because they're clearly marked as "sugar free", "fat free", "Diet", "Lean", "Light or Lite", "Low Calorie", etc.  You get the drift.

Everyday processed foods are harder to identify.  Label reading can come in handy in this case, but if you don't have time to label read, here are some things to try and avoid:

1) Soda- I know everyone loves their sodas.  Diet or not, these things are a bad choice. On the diet side, they contain artificial sweeteners (Splenda, Sucrolose, Aspartame, Nutri-sweet).  These things can actually MAKE YOU CRAVE SUGAR!  On the not diet side they contain High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Both contain artificial color, flavor, etc.  Cheap or not, my advise is to take them off your list.  Replace with Water, Tea, or Whole Milk.  I mix up lemonade to keep in my fridge.  While it does have lemon juice and sugar in it, it has less sugar.  My husband only has a glass in his lunch and one glass with dinner.  We don't drink a lot of it.  I don't drink it very much at all.  By taking these out of your grocery budget you save that money.  Chaching!  Hey!  Use the savings to invest in a food item of better quality!

2) Speaking of milk, the powers that be are finally realizing that full fat dairy is actually better for you than the low fat /non fat dairy; even when it comes to losing weight.  SHOCK!  So you can switch from the low fat/ non fat versions of dairy to full fat dairy without a difference in expense at all.  In fact, if the calories in whole milk make you nervous, mix your whole milk half and half with water.  It's 75 calories per cup to skim milks 90.  The fat is cut in half as well, and you get a milk texture and taste similar to 2%.  You get 2 gallons for the price of one!  Plus you increase your water intake.  It's a win win.  I do this in baking as well. "Cheeses" that I don't buy anymore are: american cheese, Velveeta (or generic equal), anything made low fat or fat free, and Processed American Cheese Food.  What I do buy are the full fat versions of Cheddar, Mozzarella, Monterrey Jack, Pepper jack, etc; hard cheeses.  Soft cheeses I buy are 4% milk fat cottage cheese, and cream cheese.  I JUST EAT LESS.  In addition, eating less makes it go further and saves money!

*** BTW, don't worry about buying organic milk.  All organic milk in the store is "Ultra Pasteurized" which means it's heated so high there pretty much isn't any nutritional value left.  Might as well save some cash and just buy the store brand whole milk.

3)  PLEASE NO MORE HYDROGENATED ANYTHING-  I saw a commercial the other day for a brand of margarine.  The whole commercial was touting the fact that it is now made with sunflower oil.  Like that is all healthy.  Sunflower oil is not solid.  This was.  In order to get the sunflower oil to this state is had to be.......Hydrogenated.  Which turned a not so bad oil into a very bad oil.  I use Butter, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Coconut oil (some).  If you opt to no longer fry foods, and you use sparingly like we do, the additional expense for using these items is very minimal.  So no more fried foods means you can afford a better quality of fat to cook with.  Again EAT LESS

4) Frozen Dinners/Meals-  I don't care if they have "Healthy" or "Lean" in the title, Frozen dinners are highly processed; especially the chicken tenders, kids meals, etc.  They have a lot of filler, hydrogenated fats, sodium.  A better alternative is to cook a meal (one pot is my choice)but make it for two meals.  Serve half and freeze the other half for later.  This time of year it's easy to do that with soups, chili, and stews.  Hey there goes the need for canned soup as well!  I've even made a big pot of spaghetti and frozen half.  I do buy whole wheat pasta.  I haven't figured out how to make it yet. (smile).

5) Label reading- It's sad to say, but this is the best way to make sure what you're eating and giving your family is the best.  When I read a label, I'm looking for the fewest ingredients possible.  I realize some things are going to have more ingredients, but I need to be able to pronounce them and know what they are.  If I'm buying sour cream, the ingredient label needs to say, "sour cream".  Peanut butter needs to say "peanuts and salt".  "Artificial", "Hydrogenated", "High Fructose", any Artificial sweetener, etc, and it goes back on the shelf.  Soy is out too.  If you can't pronounce the ingredients, or don't know what they are; move on.  It's funny, but once I began to read labels, I began to take things out of our grocery budget.  Boxed cereal is replaced by my homemade granola.  Store bought chocolate syrup has been replaced with my homemade equivalent.  The same can be said for all breads, sausage, pancake syrup, biscuits, pancake mix, season salt, taco seasoning, and ranch dressing/dip.  I used to love powdered coffee creamer.  It's out.  I've replaced it with whole milk, and really prefer that.  I even have a recipe for flavored coffee creamer, but in all honesty I either leave it with milk and sugar or maybe add a teaspoon of chocolate syrup or pumpkin pie spice.

6) Lunch Meats are highly processed and preserved with nitrates (a carcinogen).  To get the nitrate free meats is pricey.  Save your dollars and your health.  Buy a turkey breast, a whole chicken, a roast.  Cook them and save the meat for lunches and meals.  Use what you want and freeze the rest.  Much cheaper per pound, and much better for you.

"But I can't make all those things!".  Never fear!  I am including recipes on my page.  Look to the right top of my page and you'll see the recipes.  You can choose from everything from main dishes to desserts.  Click on those and you'll see what I've added so far.  I will continue to add til I get them all in.  If you don't understand any of my instructions, just let me know.  I'll be more than happy to help.

You may not be willing or able to make all of these changes at once.  Pick one.  Just one, and stick to it.  Get that one down and try another one.

I strongly believe the vast majority of chronic and terminal, in some cases, illness can be linked to what we eat and how active we are.  If you're the parents of small children, now would be the time to start so your children can grow up healthier.  Sad to say, this generation coming up, which includes my two grandsons, is the first generation to have a life expectancy less than their parents.  Don't wait to make changes.  Start where you are.  Don't worry about past mistakes.  The body is a fabulous thing, and, treated right, can do wonders.

On an entirely practical level, making these changes will actually save you money!  Promise!

A Tale of two Doctors

The day I went to the ER with my heart attack, I was asked if I had a cardiologist.  I requested a certain cardiology group.  This group had performed a stress test on me years before and I knew that was who I wanted.  Due to my past employment, I knew many of the cardiologist in both groups, mostly by phone or reputation.  Things went well as I began my stay in the observation unit.  The cardiologist I requested was the one who read my heart echo.  So far so good right?  But some how, between the reading of my echo and my being told I had officially had a heart attack; I was switched to the other much larger group.  Hmmmm.  I won't go into that one.  I will just say, always stand your ground with the doctor you want.  Just FYI.

I was told of the "mix up" prior to my heart cath.  I thought it was right prior to my cath (my cath ended up being later in the day).  At the time, I had no idea the group I requested had been the one that read my echo.  Had I known that I would have made them switch me back to the group I requested.  As it was, I thought the group I was assigned to had read the echo, and not wanting to have someone come in last minute and put a tube in my heart I opted to stay where I was for the cath.  The group I was assigned to had very nice nurses and nurse practitioners.  I met many of them.  I actually met the cardiologist for my cath as I was getting ready to go in.  He did give us an idea of what to expect. The Cath team was wonderful; nice, and fun actually.  The doctor was very competent.  I was awake during the procedure (I know sounds weird, but wasn't.  I felt nothing).  I don't remember the cardiologist addressing me during the procedure, except at the end when he said I had a clean cath, and my heart attack must be stress related.  This was spoken over his shoulder as he turned away to prepare for the next case.

*** According to the American Heart Association, stress will not cause a heart attack, but can make you engage in things that can lead to a heart attack; over eating, smoking, excessive drinking, etc.***

That night I was given my first cholesterol pill.  Because my cholesterol was good and I had a clean cath, I asked the nurse why, she couldn't answer.  The next day I was to be discharged, and met another cardiologist, who came in during rounds.  He told me I was being prescribed a cholesterol drug to take daily.  I also asked him why.  His response was pretty much just take it for three months.  Okay.  Why.  "We would like you to take it for three months.  You can ask your endocrinologist".  Really no other explanation.

I won't go into the whole saga again, but, needless to day, I've spent the past 6 and a half weeks trying to get answers for; Did I really have a heart attack.  How did my attack happen?  Why am I on this med?  Should I take this new med prescribed when I haven't even spoken to the cardiologist?  Can I recover from the heart attack or is this my life from now on.  Will it happen again?  Etc.  My follow up to my cath was with a nurse practitioner, who said to me " with a lot of patients we know, but you are in that gray area". They don't know why I had my heart attack.  Okay.

Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with nurse practitioners, but when you're following up after a procedure, it's nice to see the doctor that did the procedure.  I saw a nurse for my stress test as well.  In previous stress tests a cardiologist was present, but that was when I was being seen by the other group (the one I originally wanted).  In fact I haven't seen a cardiologist, or spoken to one since I was discharged from the hospital.

I didn't know how all of this was affecting me until I went ahead and made the switch back to the original group I requested.  Once I had wrapped up with the group to which I was initially assigned, I made an appointment with the group I wanted.  Specifically the Dr who read my initial heart echo.  I found out later who had read my echo.   I always knew I would switch back to my requested group.  I didn't realize how much would be resolved when I did.  I was blessed in that there was a cancellation for first thing yesterday morning.  So I got in quick.

* Met with the cardiologist; female cardiologist.  Being female, this works for me.
* She spent an HOUR with me
* Using models, diagrams (that she drew)etc.  She explained everything to me.  BTW, She believes my heart attack was caused by one of my arteries constricting.  Something more common in women as is a heart attack with a clean cath.
* She also explained WHY she wanted me on two medications; one to lower cholesterol ( there may be build up in the smaller vessels that feed my actual heart)and one to strengthen my arteries (keep them from constricting).
* She worked with me to get me on the lowest dose of these meds to alleviate side affects, but for them to still be effective.
* She reassured me about the meds.
* She also reassured me that this wasn't forever.  In fact she said this might have been something residual from my days of NOT eating healthy and being active.  As I continue in this healthier lifestyle, the need for meds and/or concern may disappear!
* I have a friend who recently had a heart attack and this Dr was her cardiologist.  She told me yesterday that during her cath procedure, this doctor spoke to her the whole time, explaining everything as she went.

That one visit with this cardiologist, changed everything.  Fear dissipated, and hope lifted up it's
head.

 I don't fault the previous Doctor.  He did a good job.  His bed side manner leaves a lot to be desired, but I really think that all can be laid at the feet of their practice just being too big.  You can't turn a big ship on a dime.  There comes a time when you're too cumbersome.  There's no way to give each patient the time they need when you have multiple patients needing that time.  Just no way.  There needs to be a good mixture of competence and bedside manner.  A practice large enough to be successful, but small enough to take the time needed for a patient, any patient.

A change in perspective

Something I've thought about a lot over the last 5+ weeks, but rarely speak out loud is the thought of "What if".  Those two words hover over me.  They hover over me even now, not so much due to fear, although there is some of that ( to be honest)but mainly thru the realization that no one is promised tomorrow.  I remember thinking on the way to the hospital, what if this is it?  I had no way of knowing.  I'd had no experience having a heart attack.  So what if that was it?  Would my family know how much I loved them?  On the practical side, I wondered how my husband would handle the worst happening; my mom, my family.  At the risk of sounding maudlin, what if that was THE day.

Thankfully it wasn't the day.  I'm still here to regale you with my opinion....you're welcome....or sorry..(smile).  So I lived to see another day.   Things have changed though.  I look at things more short term.  I starting to realize how fragile life is...and how precious.  For that I can't help but be thankful.

We all do it.  We make lofty plans (or just plans) for down the road; " I can't wait til fall", "I can't wait til Christmas", "when I get (insert subject here) taken care of, I'll make time for my family, God, myself, etc." There's always tomorrow, until there isn't.  Time with people you love takes on a whole new meaning when you appreciate the fact that any particular day you're together may be the last time you will be together.  We live our lives under the assumption that tomorrow will always come.  Nothing wrong with that.  In a practical sense, we need to plan, budget, figure things out.  We can't always live our lives like there's no tomorrow.  I still make plans for down the road. In fact I'm making plans for a Thanksgiving dinner with my kids. Planning hasn't changed, but now it's with a mental caveat. I'm just more aware, of how each day is a gift. As a result of my new found "awareness", I have sub-consciously initiated a "Never again" list:

1)  Never again will I bemoan a new wrinkle, birthday, or other reminder of old age approaching (uh it's at the door!).  There are many people, younger, sometimes much younger than I that will never have the opportunity to get to the age I am now.  I've watched my three children grow to adulthood,  celebrated my daughter's wedding, the birth of 2 grand children, 25 years of marriage.  Many don't get those chances.  It's extremely selfish on my part to dread a birthday.  Instead I'll embrace each one with thankfulness, and honor every grey hair, wrinkle, sag, etc.

2)  Never again will I shun the treadmill (or other cardio equipment).  While I'm still a huge proponent of any activity is better than none, my perspective has changed on treadmill walking.  Don't get me wrong, my 60 lbs came off with some structured exercise and a lot of unstructured physical activity.  That policy got me from 230 lbs to 170 lbs.  I still believe if you are where I was in the beginning; incorporating a "whatever activity works" policy paired with healthier eating is a good way to start. Structured exercise is no longer something I do just to lose weight.  It's what I do to ensure my survival.  45 minutes of walking is a small price to pay to add years to my life.  I no longer look at it as 45 minutes wasted when I could be doing something productive.  It's producing extra time for me to spend with my family.

3)  Never again will I put off until tomorrow something that should have been done years ago.  Namely, we need a will.  It's on my list of things to do TODAY.   We thought of it.  Sometimes I would say "we need to do that", but the need to worry about it seemed far off and other things took precedent.  That has changed.  I don't care how old you are, if you are an adult, you need a will.  This is what I'm looking into.  Check out this article on Clark Howard's site

https://clark.com/family-lifestyle/wills-funerals/cheapest-easiest-ways-to-do-will/

Wills don't have to break the bank.  It's worth it in the long run, And I've put it off far too long.  Along this same line, there are things I need to get situated in case.  Things I want to do for my kids.

I know this seems like a morbid kind of post, but it really isn't.  It's about a new appreciation for life, and life well lived.  It's about caring for myself daily; physically, mentally, spiritually.  It's about making sure to take care of my family weather here or not.  I just had a wake up call.  Time to get up!

James 4:13-15 " Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, do you not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."


J

I'm supposed to eat what???

So, I want to say first and foremost, the staff at the hospital was beyond great!.  So nice, so helpful, so considerate.  I have no complaints at all with their care.  But as the stay progressed, what was apparent were the contradictions between what we're told to eat for health, and what was available.  Not just with what I was given, but what was available.  This is a hospital!  I mean really?  There is a popular restaurant in this hospital, and though the same restaurants in public have healthy alternatives, this one did not!  You'd think they would have made a point of this one having more healthy alternatives than the public ones.  Just my opinion.

The day I was admitted I did get a dinner; baked chicken, green beans, and brown rice; all with no salt.  UGH!  I got really sweet tea cause it is the south, and i'm not diabetic soo..., a dinner roll (made with white flour)and MARGARINE, and lemon pudding made with lord knows what.  So I can't have salt, but I can have margarine, and highly processed other foods.  The chicken, rice, and beans were fine, but I would rather have the salt and get rid of the margarine.  Full disclosure, I ate the pudding.  I mean why not?  I was starving!  Past midnight I was to eat nothing til I had my heart cath the next day.  The nurses were great in allowing me a late night snack prior to midnight; boxedcereal with skim milk, or peanut butter graham crackers.  I figured the lesser of two evils was the peanut butter and graham crackers.  My cath was supposed to be in the morning, but it got bumped to afternoon.  They gave me a snack, and again I had to choose graham crackers and peanut butter (you know the processed kind with hydrogenated oil).  I was hungry though, so I took what I could and was grateful for it.  I had my heart cath and it was clean, no blockages.  Yay!  I can have what I want to eat!

"NO!"  I'm told. I'm told I'm still on the cardiac diet.  I did still have a heart attack.  So my dinner when it came that night was....wait for it.... baked chicken, brown rice, and just to change things up, carrots!  Again, no salt, again, margarine and sweet tea.  The day I was discharged was the first day I ate breakfast.  Eggs (good), cantaloupe (also good), then it went down hill from there.  There was the ever present margarine; two of them actually.  I had white grits, white french toast, skim milk, pancake syrup (which was High fructose corn syrup mixed with various chemicals, and , oh yea, salt), and coffee with soy creamer.   I ate the eggs and the cantaloupe.  Just about everything else I had been actively avoiding for years.  Check out this article with Health line.  See if the list doesn't look familiar.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/6-foods-that-cause-inflammation#section6


We are told by the medical powers that be, not to eat hydrogenated foods, but given margarine.  We are told to eat whole grains, but given refined flours.  We are told to avoid High Fructose corn syrup/ highly processed foods, but there they are!  BUT NO SALT!  Can't have that.  You're heart attack has now relegated you to a life of tasteless food.

Now they were consistent putting skim milk on my plate.  This is where what they recommend and what I believe part company.  I stopped eating low fat a long time ago.  I eat full fat cheeses, yogurt, milk.  I just eat less!  Check out this article in Medical News Today.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/322452.php

In fact, full disclosure, we've begun to drink and use Raw milk and/or non-homogenized milk.  It's what we choose to do.  We buy local and know our farmer. We had a friend that recommended the raw milk because of it's cholesterol lowering properties.  Ironic huh.

The very nice cardiac rehab counselor was in the room that morning when my breakfast came.  She appreciated my dilemma.  With a chuckle she said "unfortunately, dietary guidelines haven't caught up with current info".  In some ways I agree,  but looking at my tray that morning I thought "some of these dietary guidelines haven't kept up with dietary guidelines"!  I assured her that though I ate full fat, I ate less and kept my fat intake under a certain range.  She was fine with that.  So that is what I'll continue to do.

This is what we choose to do.  You have to do what works for you, but be informed about what plan you are going to follow.

And the saga continues.....

Once I was cleared I was like YIPPEE life is back to normal!

 Aaaaannd I got on the treadmill the next day at 3 mph and 2% incline (LETS NOT GO CRAZY RIGHT!).  I did that for 45 minutes.

Aaaaaand I then went and did yard work outside.

 Yea....never said common sense was a strong characteristic of mine.  Come Friday, the next day, the nice folks building my deck (the wife is a nurse Thank God) ended up taking me to the hospital for chest pain.  Yay Me!  Fortunately it wasn't a heart attack, but the ER nurse caring for me, when she heard what all I did the day before, admonished me and said I needed to get back into it gradually!  So over the weekend I went back to being a slug.  Unfortunately what that set in motion were panic attacks.  I think Friday's issues might have started out as over doing it, but ended up in a panic attack.  Monday definitely was.  3 hours this panic attack lasted.  I had a few small panic attacks over the weekend, but didn't recognize them as that.  I thought it was"you overdid it" pains.  It wasn't until the doozy one on Monday that the nice nurse on the other end of the phone assured me I was having a panic attack.  I would be fine.  It isn't cardiac.  My Dr prescribed an anti anxiety pill.  Yay...another pill.

I didn't want another panic attack so I took the pill the next day.  I was told the medicine would take a week or so to get into my system so I needed a way to cope with these attacks until then.  To the internet I went!  I found that walking can help.  So I walked (no incline; 2 mph)on our treadmill to help get thru them. Walking and praying!  It worked! Whenever I felt an attack coming on, I would drop what I was doing and get on the treadmill.  Sometimes I walked 5 minutes, and sometimes it could be 20 minutes.   I could literally feel the attack hit, and fall off.  The best way to describe is a wave hitting me.  All was fine that day.

Then came the nausea.  Next day, nausea like you wouldn't believe, curled up in a fetal position afraid to move, nausea.  The Dr cut my dose by half and that helped, but by the next day, I guess the half dose had accumulated back up to a full dose (you know 2 days x half dose) and the nausea came back.  I talked to my Dr and told her I would rather walk thru the attack and deal with them without meds.  She encouraged me to try.  So I did.  It worked. Since the time I came off the meds,(a week ago yesterday), I've only had one more decent sized attack and that was last Saturday night.

I think another thing that helped alleviate the attacks is the stress test I had this past Monday and, once I got thru that, I felt my confidence returning.  I'm happy to say I passed the stress test and am cleared to start rehab on Monday.  I'm looking forward to rehab.  I've found I'm too nervous to confidently workout on my own right now.  I never thought of myself as a skittish type, but this has proven me otherwise.  I'm anxious to get back to where I was physically, and even better.


Things I learned from this event:

1) HEART DISEASE IS THE LEADING CAUSE OF DEATH AMONG WOMEN!  Let that sink in.  In fact more women die from heart disease than all other causes of death among women combined.

2)  It doesn't matter how well you take care of yourself.  If you have a family history of heart disease, you are at a higher risk of a heart attack than someone who doesn't.  Now that doesn't mean don't take care of yourself.  Because of the way I was eating, the weight loss, etc, my heart attack was mild.  There were no blockages to remove, no stents to place, no open heart surgery.  My dad's on the other hand, ended up in a quadruple bypass. 

3) The dietary guidelines for cardiac patients is woefully inadequate.  I'll go into that more later.

4)  Even a mild heart attack is a traumatic event as far as my mind is concerned.  I never, ever want to feel that kind of pain again.  And the not knowing why I had a heart attack kinda messed with me.  It's like "But you didn't fix anything....".

5) And finally and not least by any stretch of the imagination; God was there with me through it all.  I never felt him leave my side.  For that reason I thank Him.  Not just for being there, but I thank him for this situation so that I would have the opportunity to feel His presence with me, and to have to lean on Him.  Powerful stuff.

Talk about a motivator!

I know, you thought I abandoned this blog, and you would be partially right.  It has been a busy, busy spring and summer.I figured my little Etsy shop would fade back during the summer months and give me time to leisurely sew up some things for when the Christmas shopping season started.  That wasn't the case.  Add to that my normal gardening season (and we went a little nuts with the planting), helping my mom with cleaning out the basement of her house (Big basement),preparing our previous back deck area to become a porch, only to find out we couldn't get a concrete truck in there so it's back to a deck, and so forth and so on....It was a little crazy.

I have managed to keep my weight at 168, which is good cause it's been hard to eat exactly on plan.  Activity is what saved me.  I would like to say things have slowed down, but that is not the case.  As we speak I have about 5 outfits and 4 sets of diapers, all custom ordered, in the works.  The deck is being built, though not by us.  Some wonderful friends are helping us out.  But I still have a long list of things that need addressing before the weather turns off cold.

 And I had a heart attack.  Not a big one.  It was mild.  Didn't feel mild when it was happening.  I can say I would rather have a baby than feel that pain again.  But, there were no blockages, and my cholesterol is good.  They actually have no idea why I had a heart attack.  I have a family history, so I'm sure that's part of it, but with no blockages they don't know what it was.  I could have passed a small clot thru my heart.  That's what my endocrinologist thinks (and my nurse Hubby).  Nobody knows!  Well except God!

Even though my cholesterol was good and there were no blockages, they put me on a cholesterol lowering med, and I reluctantly agreed.  From the time I was discharged two weeks ago to the night before my follow up, I took this pill at night as prescribed.  Every morning I would get up and have twinges of chest pain.  It's a little nerve racking to have that after a heart attack, but by lunch there was no problem and I felt normal.  Finally the night before my follow up with the cardiologist, I decided not to take it and see what happened.  Yep, woke up the next day and felt like my old self.  No pain.  I brought this up to the nurse practitioner and asked her why they wanted me on it when I had good cholesterol and no blockages.  She said that while my cholesterol was good, in heart patients they want the LDL (bad) cholesterol to be in the less than 70 and mine was in the 89.  I asked her, since I'm so close anyway, couldn't I use diet and exercise to get it where they want it?  She said I could.  So no cholesterol pill!

She seemed surprised, and it made me wonder if maybe she hears more patients just want a pill instead of making any changes.  In all honestly, I'm not making many new changes except using more Extra Virgin olive oil, eating more cholesterol lowering foods, and just getting refocused on what I was doing before.  But having a heart attack gives you real motivation to stay on track.  First of all, I never want to go thru that again, and second, I never want to have to take a pill to fix something with my body.

I'd love to say all was right with my world after that...It wasn't.


This is going to be long, so I will end the heart saga here and save the rest for another day!

Vacation update!

We had a great time on vacation.  It took us a couple of days to really get our feet underneath us.  What I can tell you is that we didn't really care for the main drag of Pigeon Forge or Gaitlinberg.  We made the mistake of going to the Hollywood Wax museum.  Huge disappointment; especially for the money we paid (about $62 for both) for a VIP pass.  The VIP pass was a joke.  The only benefit from it was the fact that admission to Hannah's Mirror maze was included in the price.  Really, though, we should have just paid for the maze and done that.  The maze was great fun!  It's geared for kids mainly, but we grown ups were having just as good a time.  Had we just done the maze, we would have paid about half what we paid to do the museum.  So Maze, yes, Museum, no.  The museum was okay, but not for what we paid.  In addition, while you're walking thru the museum, you get stopped by Time share folks.  I won't say it's sponsored by the museum, but they do have their own spot in the museum.  They stop folks who have the VIP pass (cause we must have more money ((eyeroll)).

The side streets are where you want to go for things like the antique stores, unique crafts, etc; You know, those things you wouldn't find in your back yard.  I even found an antique doll to work on! I'm teaching myself how to recondition/restore old composition dolls.  It's a work in progress.  She needs a lot of help.

 What we really enjoyed was the Great Smokey Mountain National park.  BEAUTIFUL!, and that was with the trees not in bloom yet!  The snow caps were gorgeous.

There's a part of the park called "Cade's Cove".  It's an 11 mile loop that includes some of the homes and other buildings of some of the original settlers to that area.  If you ever try this out, set aside 2.5-3 hours for the tour.  I am a huge fan of all things pioneering.  This was right up my alley.  The only drawback is it takes 45 minutes to get there from the visitor center because it's 24 miles away, and you can only drive about 25-30 miles per hour.  Weeeee should have packed a lunch.  Lol  We were starving when we left to find lunch.  Here's a shot from the cove to the mountains.

 Here's one of the homes built by the first settlers to the area, James Oliver

Speaking of starving...we really didn't.  That's the one thing we had no problem with....food.  I had all these plans of finding a Subway, Chic Fila, and Zaxby's when we got there.  We finally found a Subway on day 2, but by then the damage was done.  Lol.  We had no trouble finding good restaurants.  Mel's Diner I think was the best.  Big Daddy's pizza was a really close second.  In fact, not sure if they aren't tied.  Anyway, Our plans changed in that we decided to just have fun, and get back on track Thursday morning when we were on our way home.  So that's what we did.  Monday thru Weds were vacation days and we were back on track Thursday before we left Pigeon Forge.

So Sunday was our weigh in day and we were really surprised at how little was gained.  My Dh only gained .2 pounds.  I gained .8 pounds which is really good because my weight fluctuates, and should have been up a little anyway.  I was glad to see I hadn't gained all of the weight I'd lost over the 2 weeks before.

So all in all a good week.  The best part of our trip?  Just taking the time to be together.  That's what has kept us going for 25 years.  He's my best friend, and I'm his.

Mama's got her groove back.

I know it's been more than a week since last I posted.  I weighed in initially last week March 18th and was down .4 pounds.  Not too shabby after 3 great days only after 4 really bad days.  Those bad days were literally out of control days.  Crazy.  But once I went back to basics; things settled... a lot.  I would get to the end of the day; have had plenty to eat, and have calories left over!

I could've posted this then, but I wanted to get another weigh in under my belt before I declared victory.  So that's where I am now.  Funny thing is, I started this post last week.  This point in my post is being (or I should say was?) written on 3/18.  I did have my confidence back at that weigh in on 3/18, and knew I was on the right track.  But like I said, I wanted to be sure.

So today's (3/24)weigh in was a loss as well of another pound!

So what caused my dilemma of the past, oh, 3.5 months?  Breads, rice, and pasta..yes, but not in and of themselves.  Like I've said before, I have no problem with those things, and will still eat them on occasion.  The problem came because those things,which have more calories, and stayed with me for a shorter time, had increased in my diet over the last 3.5 months.  Then I was hungry and had no calories left to manage the hunger.  So I would throw the day away.

 Once I took those breads, etc. out of my diet again (for now), I regained control.

 I still get plenty of carbs from fruits, sugar sweetened coffee or tea, sugar sweetened whole milk dairy, or just dairy, etc.  In addition, because I'm now getting on average 7 fruits and veggies a day, my fiber intake is going way up.  I'm now meeting my fiber requirements for each day.  Sometimes I even surpass the fiber requirements.  Plus, my protein levels are way up.  Which is good because I have hypothyroidism, and so need a higher protein intake relative to my carb intake.  But I always, always, always meet strongly my carb requirements for the day.  They just don't come from breads, rice, or pasta most of the time.  Carbs are your friend.  Your brain actually needs them to function so..keep the carbs please.

Toward the end of this past week I did start adding a treat in the evening.  Not always, but some nights; if I have the calories, and have met my fiber requirements (25 gms a day), then I have allowed myself cookies (2 for 120 calories), or a smore ( Not for any reason except that's what I have on hand.  In summer, it'll probably be milkshakes or ice cream).  It's the end of the day, so no chance of foraging.  Plus since I haven't eaten a crazy amount of breads etc, I have plenty of calories and am very satisfied over all.  Know what else?  Even after the cookies, I still have calories left over.  It's crazy.

This upcoming week marks our 25th wedding anniversary.  Can't believe it, but here it is!  Happy Anniversary Babe!  Love you!

We've been planning and saving to take a trip to celebrate.  I was a little concerned, now that I'm back on track, that I would blow it all on vacation.  I think I'm going to be fine though.  The hotel we're staying at has a free hot breakfast so I can get eggs and fruit easy for a good start to the day.  And coffee.  We can't forget coffee.  Any other restaurants, I'll just make sure the bread etc isn't included on what I order.  We'll be near some national and state parks and so there will be plenty of trails to try.  We also plan on walking to our destinations most of the time.  I'm thinking I'll be active enough.  Next week will see how I did.

So while I've got you.  Here's a little something really good to try especially if you like chocolate covered cherries.

Partially defrost 5 oz of frozen cherries (I buy mine at Costco).  Top them with 1/2 TBS of chocolate syrup.  I've used as little as 6 gm of syrup and as much as a full TBS.  It depends on how bad I'm needing chocolate.  This is beyond good!

Back to Basics

Frustration had set in this week as I began to try and jump back on the wagon.  I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong.  I would start out great and by afternoon would be foraging for something to eat.

Nothing I was eating had artificial sweeteners; so that wasn't it

I was eating foods I've eaten many times before and never had a problem.

It was rainy and cold a few days and that's always frustrating, but I had problems on sunny days too.

What was it?

Then yesterday happened.  Once again I started out my morning recording my breakfast.  Never give up right!?  I'm always doing fine until afternoon, so likewise my day went fine up to the point of lunch as well.  I was recording what I had for lunch when I realized I hadn't had any kind of bread up to that point.  My plan was to have hamburgers last night for dinner, but up until then, no bread, rice, or pasta.  This gave me pause.  Hmmmm...

When I first started out on this journey, breads, rice, pasta were last on my list to eat.  I have nothing against them, and don't totally exclude them.  This isn't a low carb diet, but they're too many calories for the benefit I receive from them.  They were supposed to be a treat not a mainstay.  Over the past month, and even since the Holiday season, these items (including cookies, crackers, and anything else made with flour), had crept further and further into my diet.  This past month even more so because of the lack of grocery money.  Needless to say, I've been eating lots of bread products.  They had become a mainstay.

Here's the thing: 130 calories for a 2 oz hamburger bun that's mostly air; compared to 130 calories of nutrient dense foods like fruits, veggies, lean meat, etc.  Which do you think provides more food?  That same amount of calories would be in 4 oz of pork loin or chicken, 7.5 oz of cherries, 6 oz of whole milk vanilla yogurt.  Get my drift?   Well, I remembered too.  Immediately I removed the hamburger bun from my menu for the day, keeping everything else( the pork loin hamburger patties, the toppings, etc).  Because of that removal, instead of just a hamburger alone for dinner; I had my Bun-less burger on a bed of raw spinach (with all the toppings), and had baked carrot fries (very good) on the side.  Instead of cookies for dessert, I had my "Banana split" which is a sliced banana topped with 2 oz of vanilla whole milk yogurt and a drizzle of real (homemade) chocolate syrup).  So I went thru an entire day without breads, rice, or pasta.

 Know what?  I got to the end of my day feeling very full and satisfied.  Better yet, I was in range for calories, carbs, protein, fats, and fiber!  No munching!  No foraging!  No cheating!  No feeling deprived.  I mean, I look back over my day and I had 2 cups of coffee with milk and sugar!  I had buttered popcorn!  And I had my chocolate fix.  Still no diet foods, no artificial anything.  So guess what I'm doing today?  You betcha!  Same thing.  I already have my menu planned for the day!  Wanna see?

Breakfast

2 cups of coffee with 1 tsp sugar and 2 tbs whole milk each
2 eggs cooked in 4 gms butter
140 grams (that's 5 oz) cherries topped with
2 oz of vanilla whole milk yogurt

Morning snack

140 grams strawberries topped with
2 oz vanilla whole milk yogurt
1 tsp choc syrup

Lunch

Chicken stir fry with
5 oz of broccoli
5 oz of cauliflower
4 oz cooked chicken breast
1/2 cup chopped onion
Plus all the spice, soy sauce etc
212 gms (7.5 oz) fresh cantaloupe

Afternoon snack

3 TBS popcorn
4 gms butter

Dinner

4 oz ground pork "Taco meat"
1 cup fresh spinach
.5 oz cheddar cheese
1 tbs sour cream
1/4 cup salsa

Dessert

Banana
2 oz Vanilla whole milk yogurt
1 tsp choc syrup

Total calories :  1365 out of the 1550 I'm allowed
Total carbs :  164 in range of 135- 235
Total fat:  42 in range of 27-56
Total protein:  92 in range of 60- 127
Total fiber: 25 in range of 25-35.

Tell me I don't have enough to eat!

Okay, all kidding aside

UGH!  up .4 lbs for the month.  That doesn't sound too bad except since before the holidays I've put on about 4 pounds over all.  When you combine the holidays with cookies, power outages, and lack of grocery money, it all adds up to a long time jump off the band wagon.  I think the only thing that saved me over the past few months has been the fact that I've continued to be active.  So full disclosure; here I go.

I now have received my grocery money for the month!  Yay!  I have been able to restock some stuff and got a great deal on the Chicken breast and pork loin.  During my Costco trip I bought 4- 6 lb bags of frozen Normandy Blend veggies.  The cashier asked if I had enough (tongue in cheek).  I made no apologies.  I told her these vegetables roasted are my favorite vegetable.  So I'm buying plenty for the month.  Seriously, I could eat these as a snack!  In addition, I also discovered that 4% (which is the full fat version) cottage cheese has more protein in it than eggs.  That's good news since my chickens aren't laying so much right now.  I actually had to buy eggs!  Another good thing about the cottage cheese is I get a lot of it to equal the same calories as the 2 eggs I would have had.  So this mornings breakfast was

Coffee with 1 tsp of sugar and 1 oz whole milk (of course)
130 grams green grapes
140 grams strawberries
3/4 cup of 4% cottage cheese.

300 calories total for this breakfast.  That's about what I shoot for; 300-350 calories.  Plus I get a whopping 20 gms of protein in this breakfast.  Best yet, I love cottage cheese.  May need to buy more (smile)..

So anyhoo, taking it one day at a time.  Today was a good day.  I stayed in range, got plenty of good for you stuff, did a workout (step tape+ housework), had cookies for dessert.  I was pretty impressed with myself since it was a cloudy dreary day.  Those days tend to be days where I want to munch.  But I stayed the course.  It's always a good thing to let the upward mobility of the scale be a good motivator.  It did, and I have.  Can't complain.  Now we see what tomorrow holds.

In the home stretch!

WHEW!  It has been a month!  I have three weeks under my belt and one week more until I get my official grocery money.  However, I was blessed enough in selling some things on my Etsy shop, and so I get to pick up a few items this week.  These are items which are on my ever growing grocery list for next week.  To be able to get these items at these prices is awesome!

Boneless pork loin-  $1.48 lb at a local store.  This store, since it is an independent store, will grind as well as slice meat.  For that reason I watch for pork loin to go on sale here first.  Plus when it does go on sale here; it's usually cheaper.  I get the center third sliced into chops about 3/4 inch thick and then the two end thirds ground.  I use the ground pork loin to make our breakfast sausage .  Plus, we have discovered that hamburgers made with ground pork are pretty awesome.  Way better than turkey and very low in fat and calories, yet high in protein.  In fact, the cheapest turkey I can buy here is $1.89 lb and it's only 85% lean.  This is way leaner and I can get it on sale for anywhere from $1.48- $1.69 lb.  I have used it in all sorts of recipes where ground beef is called for and have been extremely pleased with the results.  Hamburgers were my last experiment and the ground pork came thru with flying colors.  My freezer is getting bare, so I'm refilling it ahead of time because the sale will be gone after Tuesday.  I'm purchasing about 21 lbs.

Folgers coffee-  I try to keep 6 large containers of coffee on hand at all times.  When I open the 6th one, I add a coffee to my grocery list.  I haven't been able to do that for a couple of months.  I'm down to three.  The same local independent store has the 31 oz can of Folgers for $4.97.  Awesome price.  I'll get three and have that back to comfort level.

Cheese!-  Kroger has the 2 lb packages of their brand of cheese on sale for $4.99.  Plus I have a Kroger coupon for $1.50 off a $7 or more dairy purchase.  This will make the cheese around $2.35 lb, which is cheaper than Costco.  The sale will end on Tuesday.  So I will get 5 packages of different varieties now.

Strawberries-  It's strawberry season!  Woohoo!  While I grow strawberries, we didn't get many last year.  I'm hoping for a better outcome this year, but until then, Aldi has Strawberries for .99 lb!  I had them on my list to buy frozen at Costco, but this price is way cheaper and it gives us a few fresh ones to eat as well.  I'll buy 10 lbs.  I'll freeze 7 or 8 lbs, and keep 2 or 3 lbs in the fridge for fresh eating.

Fresh Spinach-  Will pick up at Aldi along with a few Bananas because we're out and need it to finish out the week.

So everything above was budgeted to fit the $82 I got from sales on Etsy (thank you Lord!).  I do have one thing I'm getting that isn't budgeted.  A local Amish store in my area has boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.29 lb for a 40 lb box.  That is a crazy good price.  Chicken breast is on my list for next week.  I made an executive decision to take money out of savings long enough to purchase a box on Monday.  This will be deducted from my grocery money allotment next week, and the money put back into savings.  I need chicken breast and, at that price, It was worth the call.

So there you have it.  I still have another week before official groceries, but things will be easing up this week.  Still have baking to do and things to figure out, but it should be all good.

  I'll be glad.  I have not eaten as well as I should.  I was very limited in what I had to choose from.  One thing I noticed is I ended up eating more carbs than normal.  That made me more likely to munch during the day.  I miss my lean meat and roasted veggies for lunch.  Ready to get back to it.

Not ta too shabby

The saga of black belt frugality continues....Once again this week I entered into the fray(kitchen) and made dog treats (they go thru these cause they are big girls), freezer biscuits,and bread.  This time I included hamburger buns.  In addition I cooked up that turkey.  You know the 24 pounder?  Not to shabby results I dare say.  We had it for dinner on Monday night.  It has made lunches for hubby and I all week.  I froze enough meat for 7-9 meals worth with leftovers.  I got a pint of turkey fat I will use in making yet more dog treats (probably tomorrow), and 11 pints of broth.  Not to mention, once the broth was made, I took all of the scraps out and gave them to the chickens.  Pretty good return on my investment of .57 a lb.  And, yes, chickens can eat turkey.  I looked it up.  Don't worry, I won't feed them chicken.  Chickens, FYI are omnivores, and a member of the buzzard family.  They eat meat.

All these little extra items are in addition to the meals and such I made from scratch; sausage, chili, pizza, chocolate chip cookies.  So the kitchen has been humming.

Sure I could have dipped into our savings and pulled out enough money for groceries, and just pay it back over time.  But there are a lot of advantages to doing this to myself.  "Doing this" as in no grocery money.  Just leave the savings alone.

1)  It forces me to use up what I have in my freezer.  My go to veggie, I confess, is roasted frozen veggies or roasted carrots.  If there are any frozen veggies in the freezer, I will go to them more often than not.  Last summer I put up many bags of yellow squash, and yet many times I over look it in favor of the roasted veggies.  Funny thing is, since I've been doing this I've found I really like the squash and it's creating a new habit in me to use it.  The same can be said for some pear sauce I canned (used since we're out of applesauce).  It's really quite good, especially with a little cinnamon added, but I didn't use it because I thought my son wouldn't eat it.  Well surprise, surprise he will, and does!

2) It stretches my creative juices when it comes to cooking.  Weather it's a new creative use for left overs or meal planning.  It definitely makes me think outside the box.  In fact we're not keeping leftovers.  They're getting finished off pretty quick.  I will usually have them for lunch the next day.

3)  It does give me an excuse to bake.  This is a double edged sword as baking leads to good stuff to eat and calories...yea, great, but I'm looking forward to having my chicken breast and roasted veggies.  That would be the one disadvantage in that I'm eating more carbs than I normally would.  Taste great, but more than likely will hang around a bit....on my hips.

4)  It eats down my freezer and fridge which will make putting groceries away (when I buy them) much easier.  I plan to defrost my freezer right before grocery day.

5)  It leaves my savings alone.  I would rather work a little more now and have my savings available for when I really need it.  When the ends can't meet because of a bill or repair that has to be done and I can't do it myself.

It's a challenge at this point.  2 weeks left.  Just two.  I'm halfway through.  Ohhh yay!

So I know it's been 2 weeks since last I posted.  I apologize.  I have been sewing (of course), baking (of course), and working on this!  Ta Daaa!  My chickens have moved up in the world.

Nothing that would merit a picture in better homes and gardens, but it does deserve an honorable mention in the red neck quarterly.  I will say that 95% of this was made from items I either already had on hand, or had been given.  I paid for zip ties ( bought enough they probably thought I was up to no good), some screws, Bird netting (to protect from chicken hawks), 2 4x4x8 posts, and hinges.  The door is a wooden pallet Dh and I took off for my mom.  I covered it in hard chicken wire that I already had on hand.  I need to add a latch (Hence the pole holding the door shut), and trim off some of the zip ties I forgot about, but you get the general idea.  This is the retirement home.  Here they will make compost (using the deep bedding method)and a few eggs, but they really aren't laying so much right now.  The rooster is old and cantankerous and headed for the stew pot come May.  Sorry if that offends, but...

 This is what used to be their run

A little 4 x 8 PVC number that will now go to the baby chicks so I can move them around my garden.  Then, when the baby chicks are old enough they will take over the laying and the roosters....well, they will grace our dinner table.  Hey but until then they will get lots of green grass, bugs, and one of them will stay to father new babies.  That's the plan anyway.

So there you have it, my goings on.  Not much in the way of weight loss, but my life none the less.  What have you been up to?