Power Walking

Ever since I turned 50, I committed myself to trying everything I've ever wanted to try. For my 50th I road 200 km on my bike in the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Since then, I've given myself permission to finally study art (which I'm doing at a local college), participated in a marathon, and studied belly dancing to name a few. This year, my goal is to learn to power walk and to improve my time in the Toronto Marathon! I've enlisted the help of WoW Power Walking and am looking forward to my first lesson on Friday. I think I'll enjoy it as I'm a fast walker to begin with, I'm hoping I will learn the proper form so I can go longer distances faster. Cheers!

Feeling good

It's been a couple or more months since I began eating clean. I was gun-ho about cooking the recipes from the Eat Clean cookbooks I bought, I went as far as photographing the different things I made. Well, all that great food went into my tummy and the photos are still on the camera waiting for upload.

A quick summary, I've "tested" a bunch of recipes, the ones from the Eat Clean Diet book haven't been so successful but the recipes from the Eat Clean Cookbook are far more consistent in their ingredient proportions and cook time. I will upload the photos of food I do have and talk about the recipes soon.

The diet itself is not a diet...as cliche as this sounds...it's a lifestyle...and it's working for me!

Clean eating or following WW plan?

Something's working...I was down 1.2 pounds, from last week, at my Weight Watcher's weigh-in yesterday morning! I like to think it's both the clean eating AND following the WW plan. I have been journalling for the last three weeks and been following the principles of clean eating for about 4 weeks (I think). I want this to be second nature. I was reading someone's blog regarding his journey into eat cleaning and the blogger commented that his wife clarified for him that clean eating was not a "diet" but a "lifestyle." This is exactly what I've been saying to my family and it's been pretty funny.

Last night we went to my cousin's house for a BBQ. Usually I take over a bottle of wine and some sort of sweet. On our way to her house, we stopped at a local grocery store. I told my family I was NOT buying a cake or a pie or any of the other desserts they suggested, but that I was buying fresh fruit!

First Week Back to Work - A Test of Eating Clean

Today is the last day of a full week back to work and it's been a bit of a challenge. I am at a new school and this one has a big main office that ALWAYS seems to have food for snacking. Food that doesn't, in any way, qualify as "clean." There is also a full kitchen right outside my office where there is always coffee in the pot, sugar on the counter...and no agave or sweetener or anything remotely resembling an alternative form of sweetness for my favourite beverage. So...I've been drinking coffee with a little milk and no sweetener and, surprisingly, I'm getting used to it. Coffee is one of the foods that we should restrict on when eating clean, but with all that candy, chocolate, and Tim Bits, I can control myself so much.

Clean eating for two weeks

It has about two weeks since I started Rena Tosca's Eat Clean Diet and I've lost 3.4 pounds. It's been pretty easy. I feel full, I don't have to over think what I'm eating, but I am more away of what to stay away from than I ever was before. Next steps is to incorporate the supplements. I've purchased the supplements, but haven't set up a system to facilitate taking them. And I also have to re-integrate exercise. This has been really hard, mostly because I was doing so well with my exercise routine before my dad's surgery in February. It all seemed to go off the rails around April when he had the heart attack and contracted C-difficile.

Well, I have to focus on the good parts...my kids are adopting eating clean, mostly 'cause it seems cool to say they don't eat processed foods. It's like they're young hippies, or whatever the 2009 equivalent is of that. I also subscribed to the Clean Eating magazine, which is just fantastic. So, I will keep on groovin' with clean eating and work on the next steps without beating myself up for the things I haven't done.

Eating Clean

I haven't been writing for a long time as I've been extremely busy taking care of my dad and trying to get his home ready for rental. My father seems to be getting better and I say this with some trepidation because I don't want to "jinx" him. It's very likely that he will go into a long-term care facility and I will have to supplement his pension in order to ensure a spot for him in one of the facilities I think are best for our circumstances.

Meanwhile, the battle of the menopausal budge continues! A few months ago I purchased Tosca Reno's book, The Eat-Clean Diet, and flipped through it and tried to follow it halfheartedly. I also purchased her cookbook and workout book thinking it would help me "do it right." Not so easy!

Interesting Horoscope

The following is my horoscope for Saturday, July 25...after my post of Wednesday it was an interesting horoscope to read and understand, through everything, there is a bigger reason that will somehow leave me wiser.

Taurus (April 21 — May 20)
Life has not been easy lately. Well, when has life ever been easy? Challenges don't just follow you around. They track you down even when you change your address. But in the process, you will be wiser and more philosophical.