Surgery/Recover

I thought that my path was clear. That I would cruise and live to be 100 and never have any issues. Sometimes there are things that cannot be prevented. Such as a hysterectomy. Not when your uterus is making an exit one way or another. I did all the appropriate things in the 13 days notice I had before surgery. Freaked out, cried, organized, arranged, and made a phone call to ask for an important item. I asked for my mom to take me a green smoothie to my recovery room. I knew that I would need the oxygen rich, super vitamin filled drink to help combat the affects of anesthesia. I did sip it in my hospital room while the machines whirled around me and my pain drip helped keep me from being in excruciating pain. I drank it for the next few weeks when my mom brought a new supply to refill my pitcher. Going into surgery I was cocky because I eat vegan, drink smoothies, and am generally healthy. I thought that recovery would be quick and that I would avoid menopause. Wrong on both accounts.

To be continued.......

Back again

So much has happened since I last posted. I must readily admit, this last year has thrown a ton of challenges our way. A journey to health is an apt name.

Challenges

1. Allergy season that wouldn't quit. Lots of smoke in the air from fires and pollens.
              Seems to be repeating this year. Not exciting.
2. Was on one medication last year, now on four.
3. Husband has had many health challenges, ending recently with his Dr. telling him that he needs to lose             weight and that he could die at any moment from a heart attack or stroke. Always pleasant to hear(read         sarcasm here).
4. Major surgery for me in September last year.
5. A complete new me. More to come on that.

Getting back into it

So for the last few days my husband and I have been making a concerted effort to eat healthy. He has not eaten cheese or dairy since Sunday. It is always amusing to me that he will notice that his stomach doesn't hurt when he doesn't eat dairy but as soon as he eats it, his stomach hurts - all the time. I am proud of him for making such an effort. It isn't easy. He also gave up soda since he had slid into the habit of drinking it too much again. Me too. The sad thing is I haven't lost any weight. My husband has already lost two pounds. Yea! I have drank more green smoothies and hot pink smoothie in the last few days then I have in two months. Both of us are waiting anxiously for our energy levels to pick up. I haven't eaten meat in over 10 months now. I do supplement with B12 every now and again. One of a my favorite things to eat on days when I feel I haven't gotten enough protein recently is Seiten. It is a versatile homemade (or store bought) product. I feel like I'm back on track but am careful to remember, it is one step at a time.

Struggling

As with all things that ebb and flow, my smoothie drinking the last couple months has ebbed and now I am staring down the face of a cold for me and my baby girl. The time to step back up to the plate and drink smoothies and juices is back. I can't exactly say why I stopped being faithful to them. I was cruising but then after a couple years of doing it, I burned out. I can't tell you how many bananas have gone bad on my counter or how I try to look to past the half empty one month old bag of Spinach that resides in my fridge. I do know one thing, we are all suffering from the consequences. My husband complains he doesn't feel good, I don't feel great, baby girl got sick for the first time in a long time, I have a cold right now, my son asks for green smoothies and I still can't bring myself to make them. But yesterday I was remembering how nice it was for last year to not have Dr bills and that is something that I don't want back in my life. I owe it to my family to be more supportive and I owe it to myself. So now the time has come for the flow of things to get going again. Hopefully blogging will be part of that.

Deen Not in My House

Paula Deen is the queen of misrepresentation and completely without regard for her fans. To perpetrate a lie for three years is deplorable. To say that you didn't want to come forward until you have something to "offer" is wrong. In those three years, she has continued to "serve up" unhealthy, cholesterol rising, fat laden, sugar rich, diabetes causing foods and that is ok? In know from watching various talk shows in the past couple years that I have watched her drop whole sticks of butter into dishes that she is preparing. There is an article about what she has to say to defend herself here. Now in this article she says that she has always been about moderation. Really? Moderate in a whole stick of butter or a large portion of cream or fried this/that. What really gets me is that I have never seen her put out a plate with tons of steamed veggies and a tiny bit of the fattening diabetes causing dish on a plate to make said meal, moderate. She could have taken this diagnosis to reinvent what she stands for and how she cooks and how she is going to help baby boomers and others cope with this diagnosis. Instead she hid it and is only now coming forward as a compensated figure from the drug company.

When asked by Roker about changes to her own diet, The Lady & Sons restaurateur emphasized her moderation mantra.

"I have always eaten in moderation," she said.


Hmmm.... really. I know that I became overweight (part due to thyroid) but 99% due to the fact that I eat TOO much. I like food. Who doesn't? Accept it, own it. But don't lie about it. Moderation my behind!! Look at her, two chins, pudgy around the waist. There is no moderation.


Paula Deen is a perfect example of deceit. She has led her flock of fans to drink and eat sugar and fat when instead she should have been leading them to a sensible low fat, no sugar lifestyle. I find it concerning that she is still saying you can eat like this and so long as you take your medication all will be well. Simply not the truth. I'm calling her out as a snake. If I had one of her books I would take it and tear out the pages and feed it to my shredder,

Hawaii

Vegan meal - mushroom linguini

Green smoothie making

Fancy smancy tofu/rice dinner

Vegan sushi for me - My favorite food in Hawaii

I recently took a trip to Hawaii and had a fabulous time. I ate some great food. I was relieved to find vegan options in all the places we ate at. We being my sister-in-law and me. We went to a vegetarian restaurant. I ate at a sushi place. Perhaps one of my most favorite things was making green smoothies there. I really thought, incorrectly that fruit would be really cheap there. I spent a good chunk of money on my fruit. I took a handheld blender, Ormus Greens, and two cups. I made green smoothies every day for me and my SIL. She called me one afternoon and said that she was needing to go eat now because her blood sugars were too low. I was finishing a green smoothie for her when she walked through the door and I took the bag of chips from her and shoved a green smoothie in her hand and told her to drink. She was shaking she was so low. A few minutes later she looked at me and exclaimed, "I can't believe that worked!" She wasn't shaky at all, felt great. She was blown away by it. She has vowed that she will try to have them more often now. Her eyes have been opened to say the least. I ate really well there. Pictured are some of the options I had. Also, my SIL was blown away by a chocolate vegan cake. I'll have one small bite, (while making a face when she said it) and five bites later was in love with it. I think her world has just expanded.

Zucchini

Being Harvest time around here, I don't want to waste any drop of food. I am bringing in my pumpkins, jalapenos, tomatoes, chard, and zucchini today. I have had a great deal of zucchini off my two plants. I had one that weighed 6.8 pounds. I scooped the seeds out of it and then shredded it for zucchini bread later. I froze it in the right amounts. Yum. I also made zucchini chips because I had so much to go around. I filled up the dehydrator and it smelled yummy. I did learn that I cut them too thin with my mandolin. The flavor though is great. Yummy.