Detox Days 5 and 6 and Weekend Review

The detox was a success! I can't believe I actually kept up with it. I am very proud of myself. Not only did I drop 5 plus pounds of water weight (from 175 to 169.8), I just feel like I can do anything when it comes to eating healthy. :D

Detox Day 5: Add one new food at a time (per meal) including carbohydrates

Friday was a huge day for me. I started out by eating 2 slices of toast with a drizzle of honey and one of my Sweet Spinach Smoothies (I'm hooked) at 7:15 a.m. I couldn't eat or drink anything until after 2 p.m. The reason? I had a HIDA scan aka nuclear medicine scan or gallbladder scan.

It was a strange procedure. First they put an IV in me and shot me up with radioactive medicine so they could actually try to see my gallbladder. I had to lie on this big narrow bed with these huge box things hooked up to one machine, which was surrounding me. The boxes were the cameras. The cameras and the bed were all controlled by a controller. For the first hour, they took pictures of my gallbladder while I slept and listened to Nora Jones. Since they were actually able to see my gallbladder, they gave me some medicine that made my gallbladder squeeze, and then they took pictures of it for another half hour.

I was so hungry and ready to eat by the time I got out of the hospital. I had an Odwalla Strawberry Banana smoothie and two Nature Valley Granola Bars. I slept for about an hour and a half when I got home, then I cleaned house.

My mom came over and we took her out to dinner at a great little Mexican place. I did eat quite a few chips and salsa (oops), but I did get the vegetarian fajitas and I even requested that they saute the veggies in water instead of oil. :) I felt really good about that decision.

Overall, a great day (food wise).

Day 6: Add proteins last; lentils, nuts, oils slowly and chew thoroughly to avoid indigestion.

My mom spent the night, so Saturday morning, I woke up and made us some of my Whole Wheat Oatmeal Raisin Cinnamon Waffle's. They are so delicious.

For this recipe, simply substitute one part whole wheat flour and one part oatmeal for the amount that your waffle recipe calls for. I also used vanilla soy milk in place of the milk and egg beaters in place of the egg. Also, add in about a half a cup of raisins and a tsp of Cinnamon.

I had two with some almond butter and honey, and I chased it down with organic coffee. Delicious!

After breakfast we went to the Salem Farmers Market. I got a bunch of green leaf lettuce, spinach (for smoothies), green onions, zucchini and cucumber. We walked around, looked at the arts and crafts stands, listened to the band and we also got some Italian Ice. OMGoodness I loved it. It was fat free and cholesterol free. It was also made with real fruit. I got peach. :)


For lunch, I made my mom and I quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) lettuce wraps using the lettuce I got at the market.

For this recipe: Cook the quinoa in chicken stalk. After the quinoa is cooked through and all the water is absorbed, add veggies (I added some chopped up left over onion from my fajitas, spinach, grated a carrot and added a little raw sunflower seed, sweet chili sauce and a touch of soy sauce). Mix everything together and let it warm in the pan. Add the quinoa mixture to the lettuce and eat like a taco!

Pretty good. Quinoa is a grain kind of like cous cous, but is high in protein. One serving has 6 grams of protein!

This recipe is totally hippy food. Mom agreed.

For dinner I got this wild idea to make myself a humus sandwich on a whole wheat bun with cucumber. It sounded really good.

Didn't turn out so good. :( I made the hummus off the top of my head (as my Internet has been down, so I couldn't google it). I added all the right ingredients, but I put in too much olive oil, and I don't think my garlic was fresh enough.


I ate about 3/4 of the sandwich and all of my garden herb salad. Ewww you wanna know what's weird? I put on my Italian dressing, and after detoxing, it just tasted way too salty! Strange.

After I ate dinner, Josh asked me to drive him to A&W to get dinner for him. So I did. I decided I wanted an ice cream cone. So I had one. After eating pretty much all of it, I remembered that I had already eaten the Italian ice at the market. Ooops. I also had about 10 of his french fries. They were good. *hides head in shame*

Today:

Well, since I gave in to the ice cream and the fries, I decided today would be a new start to eating healthy without being on detox.

For breakfast I had one of my waffles with almond butter, honey, one large strawberry and six black berries.

My mom came down again with her fiance to listen to Josh preach. For lunch I made us all black bean veggie burgers (see my post, "Day One of the Detox") on whole wheat buns with lettuce, tomato and pickles. I also cut up some potatoes and made baked french fries. I had about a whole potato's worth.

For dinner, I decided just to have one of my Sweet Spinach Smoothies. This time I had a peach in it instead of a nectarine.

As I drank my smoothie I made up a batch of Raw Brownies. I am sorry, I can't remember the sight I got the recipe from. However http://www.welikeitraw.com/ and http://www.goneraw.com/ have some recipes that are very close to it.


I ate one of them for desert. The "brownie" was very decedent. For the recipe I made substitutions for basically everything and halved it. The original called for carob powder, coconut (in place of my oats), walnuts and agave nectar. The only ingredient that remains the same is the almonds.

Ingredients

• 1/8 c coco powder
• 1.5 tbsp honey
• 1/4 raisins
• 1/3 cashews
• 1/6 almonds
• 1/8 oats
• Powdered sugar optional

First, in a food processor, process all the nuts (process as much as desired). Place nuts in a bowl. Try to process the raisins (I chopped mine up). Place raisins in nut bowl. In a small second bowl mix together coco, honey and oats. Poor mixture over nuts and raisins. Mix up the mixture and press mixture into cupcake papers. Keep brownies in the fridge.

They still kind of fall apart, but they taste good.

After dinner and desert, I headed over to youth group. Of course, there are always abundant snacks, so I had two peices of watermellon and a couple big handfuls of Crunch N Munch. I should not have had the later of the two. grrr.

But I worked off my Crunch N Munch with a little exercise.

For exercise the rest of this weekend. I fell short. However, after youth group, I did exercise on the Wii Fit. I did a 1/2 hour of free step with intervals of jogging. I worked up a pretty good sweat.

After exercising, I had two carrot sticks (not baby carrots), and a half a cup of sliced cucumbers.

Goals for healthy eating from now until Disneyland (June 12):

• Continue to eat foods that naturally detox (like the spinach smoothie, dark greens and other insoluble fibers)
• Cut down on sugar and snacking
• Eat limited amounts of grains
• Substitute nuts, beans and other proteins for some of the portions of meat. (I just realized I have not had meat for about 8 days!)

Hope you all had a fantabulous weekend.

I am now the Detox Diva: Day 4

Day 4: Add in for breakfast one serving amaranth or gluten free granola (no soy or dairy, maybe use almond milk)

First off, I'd just like to say, yes I did exercise. :)


I did a half hour of "Free Step" on my Wii Fit for 30 minutes. For 10 of those minutes I "jogged" on it. I worked up a sweat. So that's good.

Recap of food intake: Big bowl of Puffins Original Gluten Free cereal with 1 cup of almond milk; Odwalla Tango Mango fruit smoothie; an orange; my sweet spinach smoothie; 2 celery stalks; Stir fry with 3 carrot sticks, two celery stalks, big handful of mushrooms, onions and about a cup of broccoli; 1 small squash fried with organic non stick spray; and for desert, orange juice and two cough drops. Oh, and I also had about a tbsp of Sweet Chile sauce on my stir fry. It's all natural and only has 8 grams of sugar.

I've decided that smoothies are the best way to get fresh greens. I think I am not really into eating a big plain green salad. No, I'm into a big green salad with sun dried tomatoes, crumbled feta cheese, and a drizzle of Italian dressing. MMM. But, I can say that my Sweet Spinach Smoothie is a detox in it's self! Who needs Smooth Move Tea with that one. haha ;)

I am feeling much better today. I still have my head cold, but the chills have subsided and my gallbladder pain is minimal. Tomorrow I go in for my HIDA scan (aka Nuclear Medicine Scan). I can't have any food or drinks for 4 hours before hand. So I can wake up at 6 a.m. and have a big glass of water and some oatmeal or something. I get grains tomorrow! YAY.

I have a feeling I'll have a snack right after I get out of the hospital and then I'll be having dinner with my mother. I think I am going to take her out to my favorite Mexican place, Ixtapa. Since I can have grains, I can have a salad, or a vegetarian burrito. :) I don't want to over do it though, especially since I am just coming off of the detox.

Well, I am going to watch whats left of So You Think You Can Dance, and hit the hay.

Adios,
Shawnee

P.S. Can you believe I've made it to day 4?

Dos and Don'ts of Detox: Day 3

Day number 3: Cut out all starchy fruits and veggies and eat lots of greens.

I am sorry for not posting yesterday. It's not like I didn't have time or anything, I was/am so sick. On my last post a friend commented and asked me how my gallbladder was feeling in light of the detox. It hurt very badly yesterday. So much so that I had to leave work. On top of that I developed this head cold (thanks hubby!) and my ears hurt, my head hurts, it hurts when I cough and yeah, it hurts. I also had a slight fever and the worst chills. I probably could have dealt with either the cold or the gallbladder pain, but it was just too much for me.

Recap of what I ate: a sweet spinach smoothie; half of an herb/spinach salad with mushrooms, tomatoes, lemon juice and flaxseed (I had to throw the rest away, I just couldn't force myself to eat it); half of an orange; I may of had a glass of apple juice, but I don't remember; I for sure had a glass of orange juice; flaxseed tea (helps with a gallbladder attack; an apple cooked down with cinnamon; a Watermelon Lime Naked juice; and finally 2 cups of gluten free cereal with about 3/4 cup of plain almond milk.

Do #1: Do listen to your body while on your detox. I was very reluctant to have the flaxseed on my salad and the flaxseed tea, but my gallbladder hurt so badly and flax is one of those foods that are good for the gallbladder.

Also, I wasn't supposed to have the cereal until this morning. However, I got to thinking about the way our gallbladders function. A non fat diet can really freak your gallbladder out. That's why I went ahead and had the cereal, the almond milk has about 2 grams of the good fat per serving. I kid you not, my gallbladder almost instantly started feeling better. Which is weird, 'cause I was having a flare up before I even started my detox. Perhaps eating no fat on top of having a flare up just caused it to go into two extremes.

Don't #1: Don't push yourself. It kind of goes hand in hand with the first one. I really didn't want to eat the flaxseed or the cereal, but I just felt so ill, I finally had to. Listen to your body. You'll know what you need.

Well, despite the fact that I had the flaxseed and the cereal, I've still lost 5 POUNDS! Of water weight, of course. I kid you not, I got on the scale today and it said 170.2. Yesterday the scale said 172.9 and when I first started, I was fluctuating between 175 and 174. :D I am tempted to keep doing the detox until I go to Disneyland (two weeks from today --woot!), but I know that holding it out any longer would not be a good thing.

Oh and, no I did not exercise yesterday. I am going to push myself to do it today though.

Blessings all,
Shawnee

Adventures in Detox: Day 2

Day 2: Drop all protein and carbohydrates (grains). Unlimited fruits and Veggies.

First off, I am surprised I have made it to the end of day two. Weird. I didn't take pictures of everything I've eaten today (just dinner and desert). But here is a recap of everything I ate up to dinner: I ate the rest of my fruit salad, raw carrots and celery, orange, 2 red potatoes w/ salsa, tea and a cup of lemon water. Now on to the fun part.

I just have to say that I found the coolest website ever. I don't typically like to put links in the middle of my blog, but here it is: http://www.supercook.com/. This website allows you to type in the ingredients you have at home and it searches from hundreds of recipes from sites like RecipeZaar and AllCooks.

Broccoli and Mushrooms

First I punched in broccoli, mushrooms, chicken stalk and onions and SuperCook came up with "Mushroom Broccoli Medley" from http://www.allrecipes.com/. This recipe called for bacon and sauteing the onions and mushrooms in bacon fat, so I did a healthier version, and I added garlic.


Ingredients:

• 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1/2 cup chopped sweet onions
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 4 cups broccoli florets
• 2 cloves of garlic

First saute mushrooms, onions and garlic on low heat until caramelized. Then add the chicken stalk to the pan. Place the broccoli florets on top of the mushrooms, onions and garlic (this allows for the broccoli to steam. Salt and pepper to taste. Very delicious. For the fatty version click here.

Carrots and Oranges??

The next recipe that SuperCooks came up with for me is "California Carrots" from RecipeZarr. I followed this recipe pretty close, except I used sweet onions instead of green ones, I didn't steam the carrots I boiled them, and I sauteed the carrots, onions and oranges until the onions were soft. Oh and I used whole chopped carrots instead of baby ones.

1 lb baby carrot

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

1 orange sectioned,chopped

1 tablespoon finely chopped sweet onion

Salt and peeper to taste.

Cook the carrots, drain the water, throw in the onion, orange and orange zest and saute until the onions are cook through. Very good. For the original recipe click here.

A few of the reviewers didn't like the combination of the carrots and oranges. But I thought the dish was really fresh and the two flavors complemented each other well. This dish would be amazing with some teriyaki sauce or some sweet sesame sauce of sorts.

Fried Squash

For my main dish I chopped up a whole small summer squash and fried it (with cooking spray, I sauteed with the spray too. It's organic spray). I fried the squash until the slices turned golden brown. Mmm. I just die for summer squash fried with a coating of milk and flour. YUMO!


There you have it folks. A detox dinner! Not too bad eh? I ended up eating all the carrots, but I saved some of the broccoli for tomorrow. :)


I NEED YOUR HELP

Okay, I decided that taking photos of my food and blogging about my meals is really helping me stay focused. I mean, I did so well on this last little trip to Seattle. I actually left food on my plate for most of my meals! That never happens with me. Anyway, I am not doing so hot in the exercise department.

From now on it, or at least until I get going on it and have a good schedule, I am going to take some sort of photo that documents my workout. Here is where I need your help: if I don't do it for several days in a row, tell me about it! Keep me accountable. Leave me a comment that says, "Uh hello, what are you doing right now? SITTING ON THE COUCH. Well get off it and get moving!" Seriously, help me stay motivated. Please.




Now of course I would not have typed all of that had I not already exercised for the day. LOL. Today...wait a minute. I need to tell you something first. See I have been doing the couch to 5k running plan, and I love it. But I just got on their website to review it. Turns out I was doing it wrong. *shakes head in shame* I was supposed to be doing the same work out regimen three days a week for one week and then switch it up. I ended up doing the same work out regimen for three weeks! I feel really silly. :(

Anyway, so I officially started "Week 2" of Couch to 5K today. It consisted of a 5 minute warm up, and then 20 minutes of alternating running for 90 sec. and walking for 2 min. For the last three weeks I have been doing the warm up and then walking for 90 sec. and running for 60. Oops. Oh well, perhaps that was God's way of getting me in shape to get in shape. ;)

Sweet Spinach Smoothie

After my workout I was totally ready for desert. This recipe is completely my own. A Sweet Spinach Smoothie. Surprisingly very good. It hit the spot.

• 1 Nectarine
• 1/2 cup strawberries (mine were frozen)
• 1/2 cup Spinach
• 1/2 cup 100% apple juice

First pit the nectarine and place it and the spinach in the food processor with half of the apple juice. Next process the strawberries and add the rest of the apple juice. Add more apple juice if needed.

If you've never had spinach in a fruit smoothie before, I recommend it. The spinach kind of takes on the flavors of the other ingredients.

Great day everybody. Hope you had one too!

Day one of the detox

Drop all fats and cut down to 1/2 the amount of protein (no sugar)

When first starting this detox, I thought, 6 days won't be so bad. Hmph, I'm already feeling the effects: mentally and physically. Today is just the "easing into it day" too.

Well for breakfast I had left over "potato soup," which consisted of potatoes, onion, egg yolk (for some protein) and various spices. I didn't have time to go grocery shopping yesterday, so that's what I ate. LOL I didn't take a picture of it, 'cause it was ugly.

I went grocery shopping around noon and got tons of fruits and veggies, flax meal, egg beaters, beans and some gluten free cereal (for the last half of my detox). After grocery shopping, I was starving since all I had was the potato soup and a cup of tea.

Around 2 p.m. I had a cup of the gluten free cereal (I'm still allowed grains today), half a cup of strawberries and half a cup of almond milk.


After lunch I dove right in and started making black bean veggie burgers. I heard that if you freeze them before you cook them, they're easier to deal with and don't fall apart, so I wanted to freeze them first.

After making the burgers, I had two celery stalks and three tbsp of salsa. You have to get creative when you can't have any fat or anything. What I really wanted to do was stick one of those in my husbands peanut butter. mmm


After my snack I worked on making a fruit salad.

• 2 mangoes
• 2 kiwis
• 1 cup strawberries (mine were frozen)
• juice from half a lemon

Chop everything up, and squeeze the lemon over the top. Delicious and beautiful!

After I made the salad, after the rice was done cooking and after I fried the burger and grilled the onions, I was finally able to eat my dinner.

Look at all that amazing food. I started off with a bed of spinach and some herb salad spring mix, I topped it with sliced carrots, salsa, one serving of brown rice, the black bean burger, more salsa and grilled mushrooms. It was very fresh.

For dessert I had a small portion of my fruit salad (I'll have the rest for breakfast tomorrow).


I was still hungry so I had one more cup of the gluten free cereal and a cup of tea.

Now I am off to Wal-Mart to get some supplies for my detox bath. I have a feeling I will be hungry when I get back, so I will probably have an orange. I am really scared for day 2. Tomorrow, I don't get any protein or carbs!!!!! Can I do it? Tune in tomorrow to find out.

Black Bean Veggie Recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Homemade-Black-Bean-Veggie-Burgers/Detail.aspx

It's time to do the Detox Disco

I slept until 9:40 a.m. this morning. I haven't slept that long for quite sometime. After arriving back home after 4 hours of drive time, Josh and I had two hours to get ready for an overnight youth event. I was pretty tired, but I shouldn't have slept that long.

I am going to take a break from my food diary today and write about my plan to detox myself. Detox sounds like such a dirty five letter word. Doesn't it? I've always been quite turned off of them. I didn't like the idea of paying to take a hundred different supplements or mixing up strange concoctions like beet, olive oil and lemon juice for example (which I've tried by the way...sick!).

I thought detoxing was used as an excuse for people to starve themselves or lose five pounds fast. I thought all of this until I watched Veria, a naturopathic TV station that I tuned into while in Seattle. Here is what I found...

The Easy 3 Day Cleanse (Detox) from "What a Relief" on Veria TV:

• Drink hot lemon water every morning.
• Eat Natural, non-processed foods.
• Day 1: Drop all fats and cut down to ½ the amount of protein (no sugar)
• Day 2: Drop all protein and carbohydrates. Unlimited fruit and vegetables
• Day 3: Drop starchy fruits and veggies (bananas, corn, potatoes, yams, carrots, peas,) Eat a lot of greens steamed or raw. Unlimited water…use lemon water
• Day 4: Add in for breakfast one serving amaranth or gluten free granola (no soy or dairy, maybe use almond milk)
• Day 5: Add one new food at a time (per meal) including carbohydrates
• Day 6: Add proteins last lentils, nuts, oils slowly and chew thoroughly to avoid indigestion.
• Slowly add one type of protein per day and add other foods back in.
• Continue to avoid processed foods or those with unnatural preservatives

Please keep in mind that these are my notes from watching a TV show. The reason this is a 3 day cleanse and yet has 6 days, is because the host of the show said it is better to slowly ease in and slowly ease out. Otherwise your body and your brain (due to sugar and carb addiction) will go into shock. I am guessing the cleanse part is day 2,3 and 4.

I am going to give this a try. I've been searching for some recipes and meal ideas. I've even been looking at some raw foods recipes. They're not as scary as I thought. I also found a recipe for a natural detoxing bath and a detoxing body scrub.

The reason for my sudden enthusiasm in this detox is due to my gallbladder pain. I've mentioned it before in previous posts. I have had a flare up for the last three weeks. In my past research, I've came across two pretty conflicting gallbladder diets. One, American medicine. The other, natural medicine. I am at my wits end and don't know what to do. It hurts so bad.

I have a nuclear medicine scan scheduled for this coming Friday. When I had my ultra sound, the results showed no stones, and no blockage. I suspect I may just have a low functioning gallbladder. If this is true, I WILL NOT HAVE IT REMOVED! I'll give up meat, dairy and anything else, but they're not taking it out. The gallbladder is too important and it does have a very important function. Your gallbladder is what helps you digest all of the fats.

I will do this detox (which is basically an elimination diet) and I'll see how I feel. It's time to do the detox disco. Anyone with me?

Happy Memorial Day!

I hate PMS! GRRRRRRRRRRRRR lol

Okay, I had to get that off my chest. Yes, I am in week four of my cycle and I feel grouchy, irritable, and most of all I feel like putting on a lame-sauce snuggie and watching chick flicks while I eat dark chocolate. Boohoo. It's like, "get over it" right? LOL

I better just do a recap of yesterday...

After a wonderful morning filled with a healthy meal choice, and exercise (I'm on week 3 of my Couch to 5K by the way), Josh and I went on an expedition to find a good eat that we'd both enjoy. I think I must explain that Josh is a burgers, fries and pizza type of guy. He is not appreciative of culinary finds like I am. Oh well.

Our little venture took us to West Edge Gourmet Deli located on Post Alley in Seattle. To find it travel to University and 1st Streets and walk down the Harbor Steps. It is such a great setting. People order their foods from their choice of restaurant and then eat on the steps or at the little picnic tables down below.

We ordered and split a Roger Special. A panini with chicken breast, provolone, sun dried tomatoes and honey mustard instead of mayo.

I also had an orange. Very delicious and I recommend the deli, especially if you're into natural food choices.

That's us on the Harbor Steps.

After lunch we went back to the hotel and I took a little snooze. Talk about a great vacation! When I woke up, Josh told me I could stay at the hotel and relax if I wanted. Oh boy I sooooo wanted to. I didn't feel bad about it either, since his sister and brother-in-law just happened to be going to the same game. I knew he wouldn't be alone.

Josh got 3 balls during batting practice, a few autographs, the game went into the 12th inning and the Mariners won 2 to 1. I figure I am bad luck. LOL

Anyway, while he was gone I had a little pamper time. I did my nails while I watched Sex and the City. :P

Dinner time came around and I decided to try an Indian Place near the hotel (in Bellevue). I am sorry I can't remember the name. I ordered the Okra Masala with the saffron rice. All of the different flavors and spices were delicious. But...

I think they not only cooked my veggies in a boat load of grease, but quite possibly the took a ladle and dumped a little more grease on top just to be safe. Yuck. I only ate half of the veggies and then I had to throw them away. I was too worried it would upset my poor digestive system.

I was still a little hungry, so I went down to the managers reception at the hotel (free drinks and bar snacks) and got some fresh veggies, five corn chips and about 2 tbspn of peanuts for some protein. I took the left over salsa and put it over the rest of the rice.

Then I got like this wild hair and decided to exercise again. I did 15 minutes on the elliptical and 15 minutes on the bike. I thought about going back down to the pool to sit in the sauna, but it was so crowded with Little Leaguers that I decided to just take a bath and listen to soothing music.

After my soothing bath I spent the rest of the night googling how to do a natural detox (I'll blog about this later) and I got myself a Fiber One bar from the candy machine and made myself a cup of Orange Spice Tea that I brought with me. Overall, I really enjoyed this relaxing day.

So far today...

We took it easy in the morning and brought our food back up to the room. I had one slice of french toast and topped it with half of a banana (I ate the other half), raisins and about tbsp of syrup. I also had a taste of their potatoes and country gravy mmmmm. I got a yogurt and an orange, but I didn't eat them right there. I ate half of the yogurt about 2 hours later and I saved the orange for a mid day snack. Oh and I also had a small cup of coffee. Overall, good choices.

Josh and I spent the afternoon walking around a couple malls, including the Super Mall in Auburn. I really wanted to find a book store, but nothing! It is so difficult to find a book store sometimes.

I let Josh chose lunch today. He chose Burger King. :( I had a veggie burger with no mayo and a side salad with Lite Italian dressing.

There were so many samples at the mall today. I turned down every single one of them. Yay me. :)

Tonight we're going to the Tacoma Rainier's game. I sure hope there are some healthy options there.

I am still having a great time, even though I feel a little grouchified.

Hope everyone is having great Memorial day weekend.

Put me in coach, I'm ready to play!

Good morning! I had the most amazing night of sleep last night. For my last Seattle post (with my Girlfriends), I didn't mention how soft the beds are at Embassy Suites. I slept until 8 a.m. this morning! I feel so relaxed, so I must have needed the sleep.

So, yesterday I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to clean the house (we're having our "little sister" dog sit for us, and I didn't want to leave dishes in the sink). I also cleaned out the fridge.

I then made Josh (my hubby) and me a soy, strawberry and banana smoothie for breakfast. My beautiful coworker gave me about 3 pounds of frozen strawberries from her garden. They made delicious smoothies. I think I'll use some of the rest of the strawberries to make some more jam!

• One big handful of strawberries
• One large banana
• One cup of organic vanilla soy milk
• 1 tbsp of sugar (I didn't put the sugar in mine, only in Josh's)

After breakfast, we were on the road, except I had to stop for a coffee at my favorite little coffee shop in A-Town. I had a medium, non-fat caramel latte. I am two drinks away from a free one. YAY!

Josh and I stopped in Centrallia, Wash. to shop at the outlets there. Josh got two new pares of jeans, two pairs of Nikes, and I bought some perfume from the Bath and Body Works clearance store.

We decided to just have lunch in Centrallia. Josh had old faithful, McDonald's, and I tried a little Teriyaki Sushi place called, "Enjoy #9 Teriyaki." I was pleased to see that Josh bought two of the grilled chicken snack wraps, rather than his normal two Big Macs. I ordered the Teriyaki and California Roll combo.

The food tasted okay, but I wouldn't recommend eating there. After I ordered I sat down and really began surveying the place. I should have done that before I ordered. Lets just say if I were a health department person, I probably wouldn't pass them, just on how dirty it looked. I am not saying it was dirty, but the building needed some serious updates. And, it only took them about three minutes to get my meal to me, so I am guessing it was all pre-cooked. Yikes! I didn't even have time to cancel my order.

I went ahead and ate it anyway. Like I said, it tasted okay. However, the whole time I ate it I was praying that I wouldn't get food poisoning. Oh and I didn't eat the salad because I didn't like the dressing. Usually I like the Asian dressing, but this tasted like mayonnaise. Oh, one thing I did like about the California rolls is that they didn't use mayo. They just used a big chunk of imitation crab. That made me feel a little more healthy I guess. And, I only ate one side of the rice!

We arrived at the hotel, checked in and I sat down to rest for a while. I was going to exercise, but the gym and pool was closed for cleaning. I did eat a granola bar because I knew we wouldn't be eating until later.

Josh finally made up his mind of which game he wanted to go to. He made it up as he saw that traffic to Tacoma was thick and going downtown to Safeco was moving much more smoothly. LOL And they say women can't make up their minds.

This is me outside of Safeco field. I felt a little guilty for not exercising, so Josh and I walked outside of the field for about 15 minutes before we went inside.

After watching some of the batting practice and standing around with Josh so he could try to get some autographs, I got hungry. I decided to eat at Ivar's (world famous you know). I ordered the "side" Caesar salad and the salmon burger. My goodness, the side salad was about two sides worth and the salmon burger was piled high with coleslaw.

I wasn't really paying attention to prices. I thought a side salad couldn't be too expensive. Well, my meal cost $18! Sheesh. I felt really bad, but Josh said it was okay, and he didn't mind. What a sweety. I ate all of the salad (minus a few bites that Josh had). I figured I might not have any more roughage until tomorrow night (or tonight). I also scrapped off nearly all of the coleslaw. I was really full afterwards.

Tips for healthy ballpark eating:

• Walk all the way around the stadium, top and bottom. Do this especially at the major league ones. You'll find that the food is not the same on the different levels. Sure it's a lot of walking, but you'll burn calories! Safeco has American food, Soul food, Mexican, Indian, Asian etc. I went to the bottom level after I had eaten and I found a sushi place and a teriyaki place. On the second level, they have an amazing Thai food place that I've had before. I highly recommend it. Especially the Garlic Beef and broccoli. I think it's call Thai Ginger.
• Remember that ballpark servings are usually ginormous. And rightfully so, since they charge an arm and a leg.
• Stay away from the deep fried foods, hot dogs, garlic fries, hamburgers etc. There are healthier options!

Before the game started Josh and I made two laps around the stadium (I had already made one lap looking for food). Then after the 3rd inning, we walked about three or four more laps, including some stairs. The game was lame...the Mariners lost 2-0. Come on guys!

Even though the Mariners lost, we still had a lot of fun, walking and talking and just spending time together. Today I think we're going to the Tacoma game, no maybe Mariners, or Tacoma, or...maybe it will depend on the traffic. :P

After my amazing night of sleep, Josh and I went down to breakfast. If you've never stayed at an Embassy Suites, their breakfasts are everything you've ever wanted. Cooked to order omelets, eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, french toast, biscuits and gravy, cereal, oatmeal, pastries, toast, bagels...you name it!

I had a cooked to order omelet made with Egg Beaters and non cook spray rather than oil. I had it stuffed with cheese, mushrooms, green peppers, tomatoes and spinach. YUMO! I also had a side of fruit. After I took the picture, I decided I needed a slice of whole wheat toast. Fantastico.

Right now I am sitting in bed blogging, sipping some coffee and I am getting ready to respond to some emails, and go exercise. They have a great gym here.

I am not sure of our plans for the rest of the day. I think I'll make Josh go down to Pikes so we can find a good place for lunch. Or maybe we'll check out Mercer Island. All I really want to do is relax. So far, so good.

Made it to Seattle...again!

Hey everyone, I just wanted to say that I made it to Seattle again. I am staying at the same Embassy Suites and I am getting ready to go to go to a baseball game, either Mariners or Tacoma (the husband hasn't made up his mind yet).

I hope to post tonight, that is if I still get free internet service by then. ;)

P.S. Check out my last post, I added more pictures to my girlfriend getaway.

Girlfriend Getaway to Seattle

So I had an absolutely fantabulous time with my girls. Brittany my chica from south of me arrived at my house about 2:30 p.m. on Friday, and we finally left at 3 p.m. We then swung by Portland to pick up my Michelle. We got stuck in traffic for awhile. We stopped in Woodland for a potty stop and a Starbucks. I didn't have coffee, but I bought a Nuts & Fruit bag and split it with Brittany.

We arrived to the Tacoma area about 7:30 p.m. and got stuck in traffic yet again (see photo below). But we rocked out to some KT Tunstall with the windows down (it was so hot and gorgeous out...Welcome Summer!). Oh and that is Brit in the passenger seat.

When we finally made it to the Embassy Suites at 9 p.m., we were starving. I had prepared a "culinary surprise" for my girls. Dinner included the Italian soup I made earlier that day (see two posts ago), a salad with spring mix, craisins, feta, and pecans, rosemary bread and a glass or two of wine.

Brittany made cupcakes for my belated 25th birthday. They were ultra low in calories and pretty scrumptious. :)

Michelle will kill me for this picture, but I couldn't resist getting a snap shot of her stuffing her face with the cupcake. LOL.

After dinner we went into the pool. It was supposed to be adult swim from 10-midnight, but there were still a bunch of kids in the pool. We were really enjoying the cool water until we noticed something chunky floating around... ewww. So we crashed the hot tub for a while. A nice relaxing end to a long day.

The second day, we made our way to Pikes Market...you know the world famous one, where they throw the fish! There is so much more to that market than the flying fish.

We browsed the flowers...

...and the fresh/organic produce (Below: Brit bought a huge tomato for her hubby and Michelle bought an apple for a snack!)...

...We sampled gourmet jellys, organic chocolates, AND best of all...we sampled a boat load of cheese!!! There was a cheese tasting festival going on and Michelle and I pushed our way through the crowds to sample all sorts of scrumptious goodies. Did you know cheese is my favorite food? Well it is. I sampled spreads, and sheep's cheese and different cheese combinations. It was wonderful. :) Oh and the photos with the date are from Brit's camera and are obviously wrong. hehehe. (Below: Me looking like a stoner as I taste some oils)

(Below: Spices.) We stopped to peer through the window of the original Starbucks, but it was too crowded to enter. It pretty much looked like a Starbucks.

On the search for real coffee...

We all really wanted to expand our coffee drinking pleasures outside of the boundaries of Starbucks and find something the locals love. So that's what we did, we talked to the locals and a lady recommended "The Crumpet Shoppe." She was right, they had excellent, organic coffee. It hit the spot!

Oh and I can't forget to mention that the three of us split a Curry Beef Hom Bow (a sweet and savory bun filled with meat) from Mee Sue's at Pikes. I had heard local reviews of the Hom Bows and I just had to try one. The bun was sweet on the outside and the beef on the inside was nice and salty with a strong flavor of curry. I really enjoyed the complementing bold flavors. (Half a Hom Bow below)

Following our little escapade to Pikes, we went to Gig Harbor for a beautiful wedding of a friend I went to college with. She was a beautiful bride, and the ceremony was so touching. We didn't stay for the reception (as I brought two friends who didn't know her and I didn't want to eat all her reception food). By the time we got back into Seattle, our tummies were ready to eat again.
We made our way to Wann Japanese Izakaya a restaurant that has created a fusion of Japanese and American food. We stuck with the sushi.

I have never enjoyed sushi so much as I did at Wann. Usually the sushi I have is really fishy. Michelle thinks I have always eaten bad sushi. So, to be safe I ordered the avocado and cucumber sushi. Michelle got the spicy tuna and Brit was safe with the California rolls. We each tried one of each others'. I enjoyed them all. The tuna was flash fried, really spicy and Delicious. Of course, you can never go wrong with the California rolls. I highly recommend this restaurant. Not only was the food amazing, but the prices were really reasonable.

I also had the rice and soup combo. My whole meal, including the sushi only came to $9.50, of course I only had ice water 'cause I was so hot and thirsty.

This is me after a satisfying meal!

We went back to the hotel for a while so I could exercise and so we could freshen up for our karaoke experience! (Below: Me and Michelle on the way to Rickshaw)

We went to The Rickshaw which has been named the best karaoke bar in Seattle by Seattle Times. It's a Chinese food restaurant that serves regular old Americanized Chinese food. The reviews all said great karaoke, mediocre food. Well we didn't eat dinner (since we had already had some) but we did order a pot sticker appetizer. They were the biggest, fluffiest, yummiest pot stickers I have ever put my mouth around. I can at least recommend the pot stickers.

As for the karaoke...I had such a blast. Michelle is our karaoke queen and has been urging us to go with her for quiet some time. However, being the chicken that I am (though I lead worship for my youth group) I wouldn't do it. Finally, since I made it one of my goals. I did it!


First the three of us sang a Destiny's Child song from high school. We all forgot how fast and how long that song was. It was awful, but the crowed was gracious and laughed with us. Then we had to redeem ourselves, we sang "I Will Survive." All I can say is: awesome! The crowed danced with us and sang with us, and one older gentlemen told us we all sounded great together and that we should start a group! LOL.


Later Michelle and I sang "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" by KT Tunstall. We did a duet and split the verses. It was soooooo sooooo sooooo scary. But I did it! Michelle also sang a bunch of solos. I really really enjoyed myself. :)

We took pictures of us actually singing, but they must not have turned out.

On our final day in Seattle, the three of us went to the SAM (Seattle Art Museum). We were all still pretty tired by then, but we had a great time. I really enjoyed browsing through the historical and cultural art. I took a bunch of art history classes in college, so the historical stuff was really fascinating to me. (Below is Brit waiting for the doors of SAM to open)

After the SAM we got lunch at Pikes. Brit and I had a teriyaki plate and Michelle had a peroshki from Peroshki Peroshki. In a way the peroshki was kind of like the Hom Bow, only it was topped with cheese and filled with beef and onions. I guess there are a variety of peroshkis including desert peroshkis, and from the bite I had I can recommend them. I know Michelle does.


Another awesome Girlfriend Mini Vacation! I am sad it's over, but guess what I get to go to Seattle again in two days. This time with the hubby. He's a baseball fan, so we'll watch some Mariners games, maybe hit Pikes again, and just relax. I'll document some more food finds and adventures from Seattle.

P.S. I'll be posting something tomorrow (probably not a food diary), and then I probably won't be able to post again until Sunday night or Monday. After that I will start the food diary back up.

Thanks for reading!