Cravings

I have been low in calcium.  I was taking the wrong calcium like a dum dum, but this has since been resolved.  Interestingly, I have been craving chips and pretzels... I never had before.  Even more interestingly, I found this on my online travels and look at what it says for chips...  I'll try the alternative healthy foods here  :)

The Easter Hernia

This past weekend, I went to the hospital with intense abdominal pain.  Found out it was a hernia!!!  Lovely.  I also found that a few people in my family have them.  When I was talking to my mom, I remembered shortly after I had Emma I got this weird bump around my belly button and I would assume that was it.  Having the bariatric surgery just probably made it worse.  :(  I haven't had any more trouble with it.  I was lifting some boxes and I felt a pull on my tummy then went and sat down.  So far so good..  : \

The Eggs are coming!!

Easter + Small Kids = TONS of boiled and colored eggs...

Tomorrow the ceremonial coloring of the eggs will occur.  This has made me think about what in the world I'm going to do with them, as I have changed my evil eating ways.  I can cut one up with my salad, but that's boring.  I'll eat them just out of the fridge for some extra protein that couldn't hurt either...  but that's boring too!  So I started looking up some recipes and found these off the Eating Well website:

EatingWell Deviled Eggs

24 servings

Ingredients

• 12 large hard-boiled eggs, peeled
• 1/3 cup nonfat cottage cheese
• 1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh chives or scallion greens
• 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish (I'll use dill.  Not a fan of sweet pickles)
• 2 teaspoons yellow mustard (I'm going to try Dijon)
• 1/8 teaspoon salt (I'll skip the salt-again, not a fan)
• Paprika for garnish

Preparation

1. Halve eggs lengthwise with a sharp knife. Gently remove the yolks. Place 16 yolk halves in a food processor (discard the remaining 8 yolk halves). Add cottage cheese, mayonnaise, chives (or scallion greens), relish, mustard and salt; process until smooth.
2. Spoon about 2 teaspoons yolk mixture into each egg white half. Sprinkle with paprika, if desired.

Tips & Notes

• Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day.            

Nutrition

Per serving: 34 calories; 2 g fat (1 g sat, 1 g mono); 71 mg cholesterol; 1 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 3 g protein; 0 g fiber; 85 mg sodium; 31 mg potassium.

Cobb Egg Salad

4 servings about 3/4C each

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons nonfat plain yogurt
• 3 tablespoons low-fat mayonnaise
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 hard-boiled eggs
• 1 ripe avocado, cubed
• 2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

Preparation

1. Combine yogurt, mayonnaise, garlic powder, pepper and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Halve eggs and discard 4 of the yolks (or save for another use). Add whites and the remaining 4 yolks to the bowl and mash to desired consistency. Gently stir in avocado, bacon and blue cheese.

Tips & Notes

• Make Ahead Tip: Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.           

Nutrition

Per serving: 257 calories; 18 g fat (5 g sat, 9 g mono); 200 mg cholesterol; 9 g carbohydrates; 0 g added sugars; 15 g protein; 3 g fiber; 515 mg sodium; 447 mg potassium.

This one is a little high in the fat and calories for me, but its just once a year, right?!?!  :)  Would you look at that protein....



There's many more recipes on there but those two interested me.  http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/recipe_slideshows/hard_boiled_egg_recipes
 

Avocados - The Super food?

Let me say this.  I love love love LOVE avocados!!!!  Since my surgery, So many tastes of mine have changed.  I used to love pickles, now I don't care for them.  Bread makes me want to barf, where I used to eat half a French bread with butter before, just for instance. 

Something I have really taken to are avocados.  I love them.  I love the texture.  The taste.  The color.  The way they have their own wrapping.  The smell.  The ease you can scoop the avocado from the skin.  If I had a small bowl of chips and some guacamole, I'd be in heaven. I haven't given into that, as that would be a danger food for me, but it makes my mouth water thinking of it.  I eat half of one one day, then I'll eat the other half the next.  I cut them up and put them on everything pretty much.  I'm thinking about a scrambled egg with some or a low fat tuna salad tomorrow.  yum!  I don't buy them often, but I have two just ripening in my kitchen right now.

Fun facts (from the California Avocado Commission):

• Avocados are a fruit
• Avocados were once a luxury food reserved for the tables of royalty
• The avocado is also called an Alligator Pear because of its pear-like shape and green skin

Some notable, yet not so fun facts:

• Avocados offer nearly 20 vitamins and minerals in every serving.
• Avocados are a good source of B vitamins, which help you fight off disease and infection. They also give you vitamins C and E, plus natural plant chemicals that may help prevent cancer.
• Avocados are low in sugar. And they contain fiber, which helps you feel full longer.
• Avocados are high in fat. But it's monounsaturated fat, which is a "good" fat that helps lower bad cholesterol, as long as you eat them in moderation.

Now, a single serving of avocado is 1/5 of the fruit (about 50 cal in a medium one), not the 1/2 I usually eat.  I have the extra calories to spend, however, and I choose to spend them on my favorite little Alligator Pears!  (I can think of a million worse ways to spend them too!  :P)

Disney on Ice and a dose of self esteem

Well, today I did something I would NEVER have done 3 months ago.  I bought tickets to see Disney on Ice with Emma at the Reliant Stadium.  I didn't like to go out of the house, much less go there.  All the people cramped up in those seats, getting in your personal space. The seats, made for much smaller people.  Ouch on your tush!!  I just couldn't take it before all this.  I did buy seats on the outside, in hopes that no one will take the seats by us and we don't have to be all crammy. Big seat, little seat, I need my personal space!!

I know I still have a ways to go, but my self esteem is much better now.  Not 100% by any means, but I don't hide so much in shame.  I still don't enjoy putting on my fake smile and nodding with all the PTA/Dance moms, but its a start.  Gosh, I don't ever think I'll ever like the PTA/Dance moms.  I'll continue to avoid them.  Yeah, I'm that random mommy over on the side either reading or talking on the phone.  Ha!  Served my time with those ladies and it's like high school all over.  Never again. 

I started the Denise Austin workout plan thing.  I have always loved her.  Walking around the block endless times is getting so boring and the treadmill makes me want to scream.  Even more boring. Even with TV.  Go figure.  Anyway, I have been longing to do some aerobics, but all the classes offered here in my City are the silly Zumba ones.  I have nothing against it, it just isn't what I want to do.  So, I did her little aerobic workout thing for today and it was great!  Emma even did it too.  She is so cute!  With all that and all the running around I did today, I got in almost 8k steps!  yayyyy!!!  Im not really supposed to do any strength stuff for a few more months, especially for abs, but I might try to work on my arms and legs toning.  Couldn't hurt.

We are off to the children's museum tomorrow.  I have a love/hate relationship with that place.  Emma loves it, but it is such organized chaos. Especially after 11 or so.  Again, the personal space issue. Kids everywhere. 

Supersize Vs Superskinny

I watch/listen to a LOT of youtube and I found this British show.  It can be really eye opening.  A LOT of people have the food issues I used to have.  Seeing some of the debilitated people where their weight has become their prison makes me deeply sad for them.  I am also fortunate that I have pulled myself from that fate. 

On the flip side, I see where the 'Superskinnies' can have so many health problems from malnutrition...  That's pretty scary.

It renews my resolve to eat well.  :)

A tale of confusion at the doctor's office

So yesterday I went to the doctor and everything went ok.  According to their official scale, I have lost 42 pounds since surgery, 74 since the start of all this.  I learned the average for weight loss is 2-5 pounds a week. 

So after meeting with Dr. Primomo's nurse, after all the times I've seen her, she has only been in a good mood and very friendly once.  She's not outright mean, but she's just really negative.  Things like, 'this letter from your other doctor wont work.  We need a full psychiatric workup.'  Then that same day my Doctor approves it...  Then when she was getting all my info and she kind of freaked when I said I didn't eat 4 meals a day...  I've gotten to where I just don't listen to her.  I nod my head, answer her questions, and smile.  I digress........

Dr. Primomo finally comes in and he was correct in the beginning with my weights and talking about them and such.  Now, I just love Dr. Primomo. He is very kind and down to earth.  (Side note:  He said to throw away my scale, just eat a clean diet with veggies and fish, and quit comparing myself to others.)  He said I was doing very well.  Then he kind of switched and I'm not sure if he just said the wrong number or what but he said he knew I had been living by the scale for most of my life and that hadn't worked for me.  that a loss of 74 pounds in 2 and a half months was amazing...  I looked at him a moment and thought, 'I haven't lost 74 lbs in 2 months...' but he was just a smilin' so I went with it.  I didn't want to correct him.  What harm would it do?  I was a bit confused and did my nod and smile.  He asked if I had more questions and I just wanted to book it out of there.  I know I'm in now way one of his problem cases, but gosh...  Did he have so much on his mind that in the middle of the convo completely forgot my numbers?  ..Or was it the conversation with Emma about Frozen that made him forget?

Next time Derek will come with me to keep this stuff on track  ;)

We went to Cracker Barrel after the appointment. I had a salad and veggie soup.  Cracker Barrel has really gone down the toilet.  The croutons and grilled chicken were horrid, the service was horrid, and the silverware was dirty!