It’s been a while since I last blogged, and it’s been a rollercoaster with my weight. I have stuck to my nutrition plan without fail, but I’ve had some ongoing medical issues where it’s made my weight soar. So, my doctor told me to stop taking that medication and low and behold, my weight started going down again! Thank you Jesus ! Anyway, I tried a new recipe tonight, and it was delicious! So of course I have to share! I of course adapt everything, so I will also include with I did…here goes…enjoy!
Ground Beef with Garbanzo Bean Casserole
Ingredients
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (I used ½ c. minced garlic from jar)
• 2 (15 ounce) cans garbanzo beans (you can substitute 1 15 oz can white kernel corn for 1 can garbanzo beans if you want)
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce(I used 1 can of stewed tomatoes instead of sauce and used 1.4 c. water instead of ½ c water)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 finely chopped bell pepper
• ¾ c. chopped frozen spinach
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Brown beef with onion, bell pepper, spinach and garlic until onion is tender and beef is brown. Add stewed tomatoes, breaking them up into small pieces.
3. Drain fat.
4. Stir in everything else and heat to boiling.
5. Put in a 1 1/2 quart casserole and cover.
6. Bake for 45 minutes.
7. Remove bay leaves.
8. Be sure and stir before serving.
Serve over steamed rice.
Carla's Weightloss Ticker
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Week 3 Down
hey folks!
sorry for the delay in getting this posted. Wednesdays are my weigh in days, but yesterday was a whirlwind kinda day, and today I am absolutely exhausted! So, with week 2, my weight shot back up to 380. I was on a round of progesterone, but I stuck right to my nutrition plan and trudged through it. come week 3, I was down to 370! woooo! I'm so thrilled! I just cannot wait to break that 300 pound mark! Look out! here I come!
sorry for the delay in getting this posted. Wednesdays are my weigh in days, but yesterday was a whirlwind kinda day, and today I am absolutely exhausted! So, with week 2, my weight shot back up to 380. I was on a round of progesterone, but I stuck right to my nutrition plan and trudged through it. come week 3, I was down to 370! woooo! I'm so thrilled! I just cannot wait to break that 300 pound mark! Look out! here I come!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Forget the Teapot! I'm a Plant!
I just posted this on facebook and thought about how even though I wrote it about being a christian, it can also well apply to those of us trying to lose weight. We need good fuel for our bodies to help in the weight loss process, plenty of water to wash away the bad stuff we get from the environment as well as nurture our cells at optimum levels, support to keep the battle going and cheering on one another. We need knowledge to know what is best for us to do to lose that weight, and we can only achieve this if we are diligent and surround ourselves with likeminded people who also are working towards the same goals :)
I decided to try something different this year. I’m not a real big fan of grocery store produce. Sure those pretty red, orange or yellow orbs look so dazzling hanging out in their misting baths. They are so enticing, but hey, looks are deceiving sometimes. There’s nothing quite like a mouthful of nothingness, or better yet bitter! Hey! Apples are supposed to be sweet right? And strawberries are supposed to be succulent! Oh yeah! So with yet another year of teasing and disappointment out before me, I decided I’m going to be a little farmer this year and grow some of my own goodies. I started tomatoes. I never thought I’d get excited over watching a tomato grow, but yup, I surely have, and the first one turned red today! I’m a proud mamma! Next I planted cantaloupe, mmmmmmmm, cantaloupe! I couldn’t stop there though, and so I also planted variegated bell peppers and cucumbers. Hey, I even tried a few flowers! I realized something today as I stood outside admiring them. We’re a lot more like plants than we think!
What? How is that even possible? Think about it. Plants need a secret place, protected from predators, where they can begin to grow and put forth their first delicate shoots. I started my little babies off in a seed tray, and with great hope talked to them about how much I eagerly awaited seeing their first peeping green and really looked forward to all the yummy goodness they would provide me. We as humans need this spiritually as well. There comes a point in any pre-Christians life where the darkness pervades their life, and a harden shell has encased their hearts. They cry out to God, thus beginning their seedling cycle, allowing their own tender shoots to break free of the shell. Through prayer and support of their church (the seed tray), they begin to grow and sprout. I know I got excited when I saw the first hints there was life under that soil, and I still stand in wonder over a fully grown plant laden with its fruits. Life as we know it would not be possible without the seed trays. We couldn’t even sprout our leaves and anchor our roots.
Once the seedlings were strong enough, I transferred them into large pots, putting several in together. Once again, it dawned on me, that’s a whole lot like we are! As baby Christians, we need the support of other Christians to teach us. God plants everything in our hearts, but unless He somehow zaps us, there is no way we can possibly know everything there is to know about what we need to know to grow strong and know more of what we need to know. Yeah! This is our learning whom it is we are in Christ period as we stretch our roots and reach for the sky with like-minded new family. Eventually, I will transfer them into larger pots with few plants in each, giving them space to grow and thrive and begin to produce their own fruit. Once again, that’s much like we are as toddler Christians. We begin to learn our place in this life and what we can do for our Lord and home church and lives amongst non-believers. As we grow and become stronger in Christ, our circle widens, our needs broaden and we begin to show the first buds of our future fruits. These I believe are what dreams God has planted in our hearts.
It goes beyond that though, if you think about it. What does every plant with a glimmer of hope need to survive? Good soil with a solid foundation, right? Well, we as Christians do, too. I liken that to our churches and church family, right along with what we surround ourselves with outside of church. If the soil is poor and the foundation faulty, the plant will never thrive, it will shrivel up and die, and that unfortunately is pretty much the same for anyone. Plants also need the sun. Oh that beautiful, warm sun that shines down and gives them energy! Yep, we need our Son, too, who gives us redemption and prevents us from withering under the burden of our own sin! He renews and strengthens us much like the sun does my future yummy goodness! But there’s more, oh yeah! Plants need to be watered and fed. What? Fed? Yep, they need food to provide bigger, better, healthier fruits and vegetables, and you betchya boots that that is exactly like us! We need the water of the Holy Spirit to heal us, cleanse us, refresh us, guide us and heal us. Without this water, we would have no direction. We wouldn’t know which way was forward or backward, or you know the saying, we wouldn’t know our behineys from our elbows. It’s because of this ‘water’ that we know what to do in life, how to behave (you know when you should or shouldn’t be doing something, now don’t you? That’s because the good ol’ friendly Holy Ghost is niggling ya! And telling you no! No! NOOOOOOOOOO! or YES YES! HIGH FIVE OH YEAH!). And what is the food, you might wonder? That’s the word, God’s word, the living word, that feeds our bodies, our souls and allows our spirits to grow. But the word is also our insect repellant and protection from all pestilences in life. Put this all together and you find God’s loving grace, because it is He who brought you here, and it is He who gave you this moment in your life to sprout and grow and strengthen and grow in wisdom and put forth good fruit, and yes, even to die. But in that good fruit lie many seeds of hope, just like within my fruits and vegetable lie many futures of promising good fruits and vegetables to edify my body, and from our lives and deaths, these seeds will live on to grow and prosper in someone else’s little patch.
I decided to try something different this year. I’m not a real big fan of grocery store produce. Sure those pretty red, orange or yellow orbs look so dazzling hanging out in their misting baths. They are so enticing, but hey, looks are deceiving sometimes. There’s nothing quite like a mouthful of nothingness, or better yet bitter! Hey! Apples are supposed to be sweet right? And strawberries are supposed to be succulent! Oh yeah! So with yet another year of teasing and disappointment out before me, I decided I’m going to be a little farmer this year and grow some of my own goodies. I started tomatoes. I never thought I’d get excited over watching a tomato grow, but yup, I surely have, and the first one turned red today! I’m a proud mamma! Next I planted cantaloupe, mmmmmmmm, cantaloupe! I couldn’t stop there though, and so I also planted variegated bell peppers and cucumbers. Hey, I even tried a few flowers! I realized something today as I stood outside admiring them. We’re a lot more like plants than we think!
What? How is that even possible? Think about it. Plants need a secret place, protected from predators, where they can begin to grow and put forth their first delicate shoots. I started my little babies off in a seed tray, and with great hope talked to them about how much I eagerly awaited seeing their first peeping green and really looked forward to all the yummy goodness they would provide me. We as humans need this spiritually as well. There comes a point in any pre-Christians life where the darkness pervades their life, and a harden shell has encased their hearts. They cry out to God, thus beginning their seedling cycle, allowing their own tender shoots to break free of the shell. Through prayer and support of their church (the seed tray), they begin to grow and sprout. I know I got excited when I saw the first hints there was life under that soil, and I still stand in wonder over a fully grown plant laden with its fruits. Life as we know it would not be possible without the seed trays. We couldn’t even sprout our leaves and anchor our roots.
Once the seedlings were strong enough, I transferred them into large pots, putting several in together. Once again, it dawned on me, that’s a whole lot like we are! As baby Christians, we need the support of other Christians to teach us. God plants everything in our hearts, but unless He somehow zaps us, there is no way we can possibly know everything there is to know about what we need to know to grow strong and know more of what we need to know. Yeah! This is our learning whom it is we are in Christ period as we stretch our roots and reach for the sky with like-minded new family. Eventually, I will transfer them into larger pots with few plants in each, giving them space to grow and thrive and begin to produce their own fruit. Once again, that’s much like we are as toddler Christians. We begin to learn our place in this life and what we can do for our Lord and home church and lives amongst non-believers. As we grow and become stronger in Christ, our circle widens, our needs broaden and we begin to show the first buds of our future fruits. These I believe are what dreams God has planted in our hearts.
It goes beyond that though, if you think about it. What does every plant with a glimmer of hope need to survive? Good soil with a solid foundation, right? Well, we as Christians do, too. I liken that to our churches and church family, right along with what we surround ourselves with outside of church. If the soil is poor and the foundation faulty, the plant will never thrive, it will shrivel up and die, and that unfortunately is pretty much the same for anyone. Plants also need the sun. Oh that beautiful, warm sun that shines down and gives them energy! Yep, we need our Son, too, who gives us redemption and prevents us from withering under the burden of our own sin! He renews and strengthens us much like the sun does my future yummy goodness! But there’s more, oh yeah! Plants need to be watered and fed. What? Fed? Yep, they need food to provide bigger, better, healthier fruits and vegetables, and you betchya boots that that is exactly like us! We need the water of the Holy Spirit to heal us, cleanse us, refresh us, guide us and heal us. Without this water, we would have no direction. We wouldn’t know which way was forward or backward, or you know the saying, we wouldn’t know our behineys from our elbows. It’s because of this ‘water’ that we know what to do in life, how to behave (you know when you should or shouldn’t be doing something, now don’t you? That’s because the good ol’ friendly Holy Ghost is niggling ya! And telling you no! No! NOOOOOOOOOO! or YES YES! HIGH FIVE OH YEAH!). And what is the food, you might wonder? That’s the word, God’s word, the living word, that feeds our bodies, our souls and allows our spirits to grow. But the word is also our insect repellant and protection from all pestilences in life. Put this all together and you find God’s loving grace, because it is He who brought you here, and it is He who gave you this moment in your life to sprout and grow and strengthen and grow in wisdom and put forth good fruit, and yes, even to die. But in that good fruit lie many seeds of hope, just like within my fruits and vegetable lie many futures of promising good fruits and vegetables to edify my body, and from our lives and deaths, these seeds will live on to grow and prosper in someone else’s little patch.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Carla's Spaghetti Sauce
This has got to be my FAVORITE of all dishes! It's an easy way for me to get in my vegetables, and it tastes so good! I do like a lot of spice, so if you don't, just reduce the amounts and enjoy!
1 lb. 93% or higher fat free ground beef or 99% fat free ground turkey
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 med. to lg onion chopped
1 c. frozen chopped spinach
½ c. green or black olives, sliced
1 med. zucchini chopped (optional)
1 sm. Eggplant, peeled and chopped (optional)
½ c. minced garlic (from jar) or ½ bulb fresh chopped garlic
2 cans stewed tomatoes mashed
1 can hunts traditional spaghetti sauce
3-4 T. dried basil
2 T. dried oregano
In a large saucepan, cook over medium heat meat, onions, bell pepper, eggplant and spices. Once meat is browned, add in zucchini, spinach, olives, garlic. Allow zucchini to soften and add stewed tomatoes and spaghetti sauce, reduce heat to low and simmer for 2-3 hours.
1 lb. 93% or higher fat free ground beef or 99% fat free ground turkey
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 med. to lg onion chopped
1 c. frozen chopped spinach
½ c. green or black olives, sliced
1 med. zucchini chopped (optional)
1 sm. Eggplant, peeled and chopped (optional)
½ c. minced garlic (from jar) or ½ bulb fresh chopped garlic
2 cans stewed tomatoes mashed
1 can hunts traditional spaghetti sauce
3-4 T. dried basil
2 T. dried oregano
In a large saucepan, cook over medium heat meat, onions, bell pepper, eggplant and spices. Once meat is browned, add in zucchini, spinach, olives, garlic. Allow zucchini to soften and add stewed tomatoes and spaghetti sauce, reduce heat to low and simmer for 2-3 hours.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Week Two Down
Hello out there!
APRIL 18, 2010
Well today marks the end of week 2 for me following the BL nutrition plan. My grand total in weight loss is a big ol' fat ZERO! BUT, I am definitely smaller. I think it's most likely due to 2 things. First, I lost a whopping 14 pounds the first week, and then 3 the following, but then I started taking progesterone this week to combat some large ovarian cysts and promptly got those 3 pounds back. I'm laying money on next week, after I finish the round of meds this month, it will drop back down. I don't know how to post a picture in a blog, but I wanted to share some pictures. I've decided to start taking a picture a week every Sunday, before I go to church. So if I can figure it out, I want you all to see the difference in one week.
APRIL 18, 2010APRIL 25, 2010
And that folks was one week on the Biggest Loser Nutrition Plan!
Monday, April 26, 2010
Following the Path of Least Resistance
At some point in our lives as fat people, we all feel a certain depth of desperation and rejection. The desperation stems from the rejection of a thin-obsessed society. But let’s face it, thin IS in, and it’s just healthier for our bodies. They perform better with less weight on them. The degree of thinness should not however determine how we are treated in life. Unfortunately though, it does. People can be very cruel to one another, and I find at times, people of size can be the cruelest of all. I’ve auditioned several times to be on the television show The Biggest Loser. I feel that it would really help me to get my weight off while at the same time being able to use my own personal story to help encourage those who are desperately struggling and super-super-morbidly obese and/or deal with disabilities. After a few years of some serious struggles (hurricane Ike was just as diffiult for people as katrina, but not as publicized), I have finally found my way back onto the right path and decided to once again try out for Biggest Loser. I joined Holland "Master Caster" Striplin's fanpage on facebook, and lo' and behold see it's still the same: people of size can be the cruelest and most judgemental of all. Perhaps it's because we all get it so much that we in turn do it to others and don't even realize it???? I don't know, but I do know I do my best to always do right by people. I feel it’s the way we are supposed to be in life, but it’s just a natural part of my character.
Following the path of least resistance can mean a lot of things, but in this case, I’m going to go with what it means as pertaining to weight loss. I’ve had 2 WLS in my life. As I’ve said before, a lot of people think this is the easy way out, but let me just say it is by far one of the hardest things to do in life. First, you have to deal with the pain of surgery. It’s agony! Second, you then have to deal with much smaller serving sizes. Easy, right? Uhm, NO! if you take one bite too much, you are in absolute agony, or if you don’t chew well enough, it won’t go through your lumen. What happens then? Most people will go stick their fingers down their throat and make themselves puke it up. The pain is that bad. It’s like you’ve been kicked in the chest by a linebacker and are sucking fumes at the same time. On top of all this, there is the psychological aspect of simply eating smaller amounts. Humans in general love food. We celebrate just about everything with food. We eat for comfort, we eat when we are happy, sad, angry, bored, and this does not go away just because your stomach is now the size of an egg, which takes you right back to number 2, PAIN if you overeat. Then there is the issue of if you never deal with what got you fat in the first place, you will still find a way to eat or eat the wrong things…what happens over a few years is you find yourself right back at the weight you started at before WLS, or bigger, but it’s much harder to lose it then!
In the end, the path of least resistance truly is finding a well-balanced, nutritionally solid meal plan and sticking with it. You WILL stick with it if you like it and feel sated. You also need to deal with the issues that got you fat to begin with. It’s painful sometimes but very cathartic. Forgive if you need to forgive, whether it’s others or yourself, and let go. That in and of itself is so incredibly healing! Once you’ve done that, commit to being good to yourself. Find that plan that is right for you and go for it! Most importantly, don't forget to Exercise! It’s like milk,
IT DOES A BODY GOOD! And most importantly BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!
Following the path of least resistance can mean a lot of things, but in this case, I’m going to go with what it means as pertaining to weight loss. I’ve had 2 WLS in my life. As I’ve said before, a lot of people think this is the easy way out, but let me just say it is by far one of the hardest things to do in life. First, you have to deal with the pain of surgery. It’s agony! Second, you then have to deal with much smaller serving sizes. Easy, right? Uhm, NO! if you take one bite too much, you are in absolute agony, or if you don’t chew well enough, it won’t go through your lumen. What happens then? Most people will go stick their fingers down their throat and make themselves puke it up. The pain is that bad. It’s like you’ve been kicked in the chest by a linebacker and are sucking fumes at the same time. On top of all this, there is the psychological aspect of simply eating smaller amounts. Humans in general love food. We celebrate just about everything with food. We eat for comfort, we eat when we are happy, sad, angry, bored, and this does not go away just because your stomach is now the size of an egg, which takes you right back to number 2, PAIN if you overeat. Then there is the issue of if you never deal with what got you fat in the first place, you will still find a way to eat or eat the wrong things…what happens over a few years is you find yourself right back at the weight you started at before WLS, or bigger, but it’s much harder to lose it then!
In the end, the path of least resistance truly is finding a well-balanced, nutritionally solid meal plan and sticking with it. You WILL stick with it if you like it and feel sated. You also need to deal with the issues that got you fat to begin with. It’s painful sometimes but very cathartic. Forgive if you need to forgive, whether it’s others or yourself, and let go. That in and of itself is so incredibly healing! Once you’ve done that, commit to being good to yourself. Find that plan that is right for you and go for it! Most importantly, don't forget to Exercise! It’s like milk,
IT DOES A BODY GOOD! And most importantly BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
SPICY CHILI MANGO-TANGERINE CHICKEN
1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
½ green bell pepper, diced
2 T. canola oil
½ t. chili flakes
Dash cayenne pepper
Dash cumin
1.5 T. light soy sauce
1 T. lemon juice
½ c. tangerine juice
1 t. honey
Zest of 1 smarty tangerine
1 smarty tangerine, sectioned
1 yellow mango, diced
1 T. minced garlic
1T. flour
¾ c. water
Sweat onion and bell in sauté pan with oil (add in garlic after a few minutes) and remove from pan once they become clear. Add chicken to pan with chili flakes, cayenne, cumin and cook. Add in tangerine sections and mango and allow to soften. Mix tangerine juice, zest, honey, lemon juice, water, soy sauce and flour together and add in vegetable mixture to pan and allow to thicken....server over warm rice.
This recipe serves either 2 smaller portions or one larger portion
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
½ green bell pepper, diced
2 T. canola oil
½ t. chili flakes
Dash cayenne pepper
Dash cumin
1.5 T. light soy sauce
1 T. lemon juice
½ c. tangerine juice
1 t. honey
Zest of 1 smarty tangerine
1 smarty tangerine, sectioned
1 yellow mango, diced
1 T. minced garlic
1T. flour
¾ c. water
Sweat onion and bell in sauté pan with oil (add in garlic after a few minutes) and remove from pan once they become clear. Add chicken to pan with chili flakes, cayenne, cumin and cook. Add in tangerine sections and mango and allow to soften. Mix tangerine juice, zest, honey, lemon juice, water, soy sauce and flour together and add in vegetable mixture to pan and allow to thicken....server over warm rice.
This recipe serves either 2 smaller portions or one larger portion
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
