Day 15 of Post Water Fast by Sacristia Blog entry

Blog: My Health Journey
by Sacristia

Day 15 of Post Water Fast

My daily Journey to a healthier life style

Date: 2/7/2011 4:48:25 PM ( 13 y ) ... viewed 31710 times

February 4, 2011

I was up most of the night, as I caught a bit of insomnia, and I couldn't shake it. Phil texted me a bit, but I found him to get a bit depressive, as the night wore on, as I could tell that he probably had a couple drinks as he stated that his life sucked and he hated it. I told him remain positive, but all he wanted to say is that he was ugly, old and alone. I told him to knock it off, and he didn't realize what he had when he had it, as he is always so wrapped up on what he is missing to even see what he has. He moaned about being bitter, hateful and other things, how he lost his soul and couldn't love. I told him that things could change for him if he would open himself up and allow love to really work within him. I told him that love could change a harden heart if he would allow it. Then I never heard another word from him, as if I said the wrong thing or something. He probably thought I mean that I wanted him back or something. I just really don't know about him anymore. He just wanted a pity party and I wasn't give him much of one. Oh well.

Anyway, other then that I find myself becoming more and more happier with my life. It isn't anything major that I am doing, but it is the little things that I am doing for myself, such as eating healthier, relaxing more, spending more time with my pets, and taking time to appreciate myself more then I have in the past.

My morning was slow and I really felt sore, because I knew that my body was tired. I knew that I probably would feel it later in the day. I made my lunch up as well as my thermos up full of bean stew so I had a dinner to eat if I went over to Christy's after work, if I went. I was prepared this time!

I weighed myself and found that I weight a pound more then I did. I think it is because I am retaining a lot of water I think from the sodium that I had the other day. Anyway, fluxating a couple pounds is not a bad thing.

I found this lovely healthy Brown rice pudding that I think that I will try as it seems very healthy, as I can control what type of sugar I use in it (either brown rice syrup, or honey or sugar). I love it that it allows me to use to brown rice, which is healthy for you. As I was thinking about brown rice is healthy, could I used barley as well. I then found out that there are barley pudding recipes! Wow, I never knew that!

Apple Cinnamon Brown Rice Pudding

Serves 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

2 cups water
1 cup short-grain brown rice
pinch of salt
4 cups milk of choice
1 Tbsp brown rice syrup
3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
generous 1/2 cup raisins
1 large apple, peeled, cored, and finely chopped

Directions:

1.Combine water, rice, and salt in a large, heavy-bottomed pot (such as a dutch oven). Bring to a boil, stir once, and cover with a tight-fitting lid. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 40 minutes, or until most of the water is absorbed.

2.Remove rice from heat, place in a bowl, and set aside.

3.Add 4 cups of milk, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon to the pot. Bring to a very low boil over medium heat, stirring often so the milk doesn’t burn. Lower heat to medium/medium-low.

4.Add in the cooked rice, raisins, and chopped apple. Cook over medium/medium-low heat, stirring frequently. If a “skin” forms, just stir it back into the pudding. Simmer until the milk cooks down and the rice is creamy, about 30 minutes. NOTE: It is especially important to tend to the pudding towards the end of the cooking time. Do not walk away from the stove, or your pudding will burn.

5.Transfer rice pudding to a large bowl, and let cool.

6.Serve warm or cold.

I found this lovely Blueberry Barley Pudding recipes that used yogurt, which might be great, as I can used vanilla Greek style yogurt or regular vanilla yogurt depending on which health benefits I want in it.

Blueberry Barley Pudding Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups water
Dash salt
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking barley
2/3 cup Yoplait® 99% Fat Free creamy vanilla yogurt (from 2-lb container)
3 tablespoons maple-flavored syrup
2/3 cup frozen (thawed) reduced-fat whipped topping
1/3 cup chopped walnuts, toasted*
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed and drained
Dash ground cinnamon
Additional chopped walnuts, if desired

Directions

1.In 2-quart saucepan, heat water and salt to boiling. Stir in barley; reduce heat. Cover; simmer 10 to 12 minutes or until tender. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

2.In medium bowl, mix yogurt and maple syrup. Gently stir in whipped topping. Stir in barley, 1/3 cup walnuts and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Cover; refrigerate 2 hours. Stir in blueberries.

3.Sprinkle pudding with additional walnuts and dash cinnamon before serving.

Work was okay, but I was favoring my right arm as much as I could as it was still very sore, but I knew it was my fault for working so hard on my busting up the ice on my deck with a bat. I kind of got carried away. LOL. I need to take a little bit more care of my body then I did. I am not as young as I used to be. When I was eating lunch, I realized how lovely my veggies looked. They were almost all green except for a bit of orange and white (carrots and mushrooms). It was very delicious and the color palate was wonderful as well. I would have never noticed it before, because I was so addicted to eating junk food and other stuff that is horrible for me, to see and enjoy the plain beauty of simple veggies. I also found myself chasing the green beans and the peas out of my bowl first, as I was really craving them. LOL Imagine me, chasing my veggies around in a bowl, because I love them and I couldn't get enough of them. Am I crazy or what??! LOL

I went over to Christy's for a while and we ended up going to Walmart, as she needed to pick up a new pair of jeans, as she has been losing a bit of weight herself. I bought some more frozen wild caught Salmon, and a couple huge bags of veggies, which I would gladly use after my water fast. They also had a lovely sale of bags of shrimp (31-50 count for only $5.00) so I bought 4 bags, as well as two small containers of hummus (spinach and 3 Olive), a bag of Tostitos multi Grain Tortilla chips. Christy noticed how I was looking at the back of everything and making sure it was just want I wanted. While she was waiting for me, she had a pretzel dog and got one for her son. After wards, we stopped by McDonalds, she picked up a happy meal for her son. Before we got to order, we were sitting in line at the drive thru, and I spoke of temptation and having cheat days. I told her that it isn't easy being in a fast food line, as the smell was wonderful, but I knew that I didn't want anything. She asked me if I wanted anything once we got up there to order. I told her “NO”. I later told her that I have to stick to my healthy eating. I will cheat a little bit on my birthday on February 11th, so there is no reason to add to it. She reminded me that I need to cheat a little bit. I reminded her that I cheated a bit last week with the pretzel dog, and I didn't want to make it a every weekend thing. That is the down fall to the cheating, when I cheat a little here and a little there, which adds up after a while. Maybe a cheat once every two weeks will be okay, but nothing more then that, because due to my past horrible eating habits, I can't handle it. And by watching what she eats, either can she. I also reminded her that I had my dinner (my thermos of bean stew) at her house already, so no need to spoil it, regardless that my dinner didn't seem to be as exciting as a fast food meal.

I am a little proud of myself that I was able to stick with it, even though I was tempted to eat something else when I was clearly hungry.

When I got back to Christy's house I enjoyed my bean stew while we talked about things and seriously talked about her ex-boyfriend (as they broke up that day due to his steal money from her) and I told her it isn't fun being a single woman at this age, but we are both resilient and smart, so we really have nothing to worry about. I felt really positive about where I am at right now, and I hoped that Christy felt the same about her life.

The rest of the evening was okay. I spend some time, moving around stuff in my freezer to fit all the lovely veggies and shrimp bags in there.

After a lovely shower, and some book reading, I fell asleep knowing that I had a productive weekend coming up to meet me tomorrow! I was going to embrace it!

FOOD INTAKE:

BREAKFAST : (Around 9:15 a.m.) A cup of peaches and a half of a Granny Smith apple

DRINK: 12 ounces of Oolong Tea (consumed over 4 hours)

SNACK: (Around 11:00 a.m.) A quarter of Granny Smith apple

LUNCH: (12:15 a.m.) 1 cup bean stew (15 beans, barley, lentils, carrot, and onion) with my special mixed hot sauce and 1 cup of steamed veggies (broccoli, carrots, snow peas, mushrooms, green beans, peas and last of the Brussel Sprouts)

DRINK: Water

SNACK: NONE

DINNER: 2 cup bean stew (15 beans, barley, lentils, carrot, and onion) with my special mixed hot sauce

EXERICISE: 3. 24 Miles

WATER INTAKE: 20 ounces

WEIGHT: 130 pounds