Optimal Health Journey

[StarchBeet]

I was up at 6. I read some of Digestive Tune-up.
By 8 I'd taken the dog for a walk, etc.

B: large chunk of watermelon, three hours later plate of potatoes and kale with home-made ketchup.
L: bowl of potatoes, rice and beans; bowl of watermelon and honeydoo
D: colorful coleslaw, grated beets and carrots and green salad, small bowl of rice with dolop of beans

[Rosey]

Looked over at your pics feels good doesn't it. Your looking great.

[StarchBeet]

thanks rosey.

I'm feeling good and someday I'll feel better and lighter.

Salads and walks will be what gets me there. Maybe I can lose some this month!

[StarchBeet]

I think I graze during the day enough that I should write down what I'm eating when in the kitchen rather than thinking about things in terms of meals. Today I was eating tons of salad. I don't eat enough with family during the week to think about meals.

We have rain expected for three days. Its too bad we couldn't have had a nicer labor day weekend.

I didn't make the sweet potato stew. I need to use up the sweet potatoes tomorrow.

I also need to go by the Adventist store for oat bran, brown rice...and a few other things.

I may have a mcdougall pad thai right now...

[Chile]

An Adventist store? Sounds interesting! Is it at their church site or a separate retail outlet?

I went to a series of cooking classes at the local Adventist church, not because I don't know how to cook but because I wanted to get out do something and was curious how they cooked. It was fun but too rich for McDougalling.

[Anna Green]

Hey! I feel you. We got the rain too and I'm trying not to feel sorry for myself because I was so looking forward to this weekend.

I just saw the pics of you. You done good!! Impressive.

[StarchBeet]

Chile, we have bookstore/health food stores done by Adventists here: http://www.potomacabc.com/ They aren't as inexpensive as I'd like. There is no church just religious material and then the food department. I just remembered..their international headquarters is just around the street from that store. Their headquarters is HUGE!!!! We also have a lot of their hospitals. In fact, I just remembered that a new hospital is being built close to their store and headquarters. I hate seeing all those trees torn down and I can't imagine all the traffic. But if I can get a job then maybe I'd be ok with it. This is adventist central!

hi Anna Green. The cooler rainy weather is not so bad today. We had a week of some nice sunny days that weren't too hot and I guess I'd like perfect weather all the time. Thanks...I have another ways to go and I'm struggling getting it right but I'm hoping this challenge will help me at least be aware of how to get the final fat off. If I keep on the path then I'll be fine. It will come off sooner or later and I'm happy.

Food: 2 bowls of oatmeal with flax and fresh figs

[Chile]

Interesting. I lived in Silver Spring briefly years ago and then we moved up the road to ... to ... dang, where was it? ... Greenbelt? I was doing an internship with Congressman Mo Udall years and years ago. One of my siblings still lives out in that area so I'll ask if they shop there. Is it a good source for hard to find items?

[StarchBeet]

Sorry for taking so long to respond Chile. The adventists health food store is convenient for me. There seems to be a lot of health food choices around though, even in some larger chain stores. Like I went to wegmens and found bulk nutritional yeast and many other bulk items. So I don't need to go to the Adventist Store.

I live just up the road from Greenbelt

[StarchBeet]

Today I've had a bowl of oatmeal with frozen cherries and blueberries. I also had watermelon and cantaloupe, balled, earlier in the morning.

This is too much sugar.

[StarchBeet]

The last two nights my daughter hasn't slept much and she'll just keep yelling for me over and over. So anyway I've barely slept and I'm exhausted.

I've been eating on plan well. I just had a salad of grated cabbage, beets and carrots with mango/rice vinegar dressing. For breakfast I have a large plate of hash browns with kale and watercress.

Oh, I need to ask chili about making hot pepper jelly since I made that lime syrup. I think I could add some peppers, cook as jelly and might have something interesting. I need input from experts.

[Chile]

I made a 5-pepper jelly from the Ball Canning Book a couple of years ago, but it didn't contain lime. If you are going to do jelly to can, you've got to be sure to get the acid/sugar proportions right to be safe. Here are some search results for "hot pepper jelly."

[StarchBeet]

thanks chili. I will call on your help when I start the project.

I have to also ask you about taking a long Bubba Gump CHILI talk. I have so many and I'm not utilizing them. I need to talk more about the dried ones I have, too. I need to figure out how to use them and you're the chili person

[Chile]

The way I use dried chiles is pretty simple. When cooking beans, toss one in the pot. Sometimes, if it was a fleshy chile, you can actually scrape the rehydrated flesh from the skin when it's all cooked and leave that in with the beans. Discard the skin and stem.

The other thing I do is grind them up to make my own chile powder. Break off the stem and decide whether you are going to keep the seeds or not. The seeds are where the heat is. Put the dried chile (and seeds or not) in a coffee grinder and whirl away. There will probably be some pieces that don't grind up all the way. You can pick those out by hand or sift the whole batch. Toss those chunky pieces in with your next batch o' beans.

[StarchBeet]

Great tips Chili...thanks!

This weekend I made home made salsa. I tried four different ways. I also cooked tortilla chips for the first time. That seems so weird but I'm glad I did it. I sprinkled different things on them and I enjoyed the learning experience. WHY is so much fat added to store bought tortilla chips? It really seems like a crime to me. I loved cooking my own tortillas. Sure was cheaper!