Getting more veggies

One thing I learned from the slightly disastrous detox is that I need more vegetables. Working and being tired all the time has put a damper on my eating habits and I've gotten lazy. Its no excuse, I just need to manage time better. And I discovered a fabulous new thing in the bakery section of Super Target.... Naan flatbread. Garlic flavored. YUM!!!



I'm sure they have this at any grocery store but since I work at Target, this is where I got mine. It comes through my line all the time but I never paid much attention until the other night. A lightbulb went off, and after my shift I grabbed one along with a green pepper, zucchini, feta and mozzarella cheese, a tomato and mushrooms. When I got home, I sprinkled a little of the cheese on the bread and topped it with as much of the veggies as I could without thinking they would fall off. A little more cheese on the top, and 20 minutes later at 350 and it was this amazing little sauce-less pizza type thing. SO. GOOD. And I didn't even want or need sauce, and it made enough that I brought half to work for lunch the next day. So grab your favorite vegetables, find this amazing bread, and make it for yourself. Don't go totally crazy with the cheese, just enough to make it all stick together and you have a great way to eat veggies. If you combine this with the green smoothies that I mention in this post you will be well on your way to getting the veggies you need in a day. Good luck!

25 Things

So every blogger that I follow has a "25 Things" post and I think its a good idea. I love learning little random things about people, and maybe you all want to know more about me... maybe not. But either way, here is my list :)

1 My first kiss was when I was 14, it was with an exchange student from Ecuador who was 18, and also my summer soccer coach. It was quite the scandal that we were dating and my mother was very upset. But I remember that kiss like it was yesterday.

2 I am one of the nicest people you will ever meet until you do something to me or someone I love. I have an extremely bad temper and can be brutally mean. My boyfriend used to laugh when I told him this because he thinks attitude from girls has no effect on him... well, the one time I finally did lose my temper, he told me I needed anger management. My response was, "I told you so."

3 I used to hate dogs until I got Molly, and then I said I only liked her. Since I've had her, she has made me warm up to other dogs, and now I really like most of them.

4 I have an obsession with tanning. I used to tan in the bed all winter long but this year I discovered spray tanning and I really like it. Good thing, because I like tanning so much that I did it even though I knew it was so bad for me.

5 I only have one real regret in my life, only one thing that if I could go back in time, I would have done it totally differently. I also wish I could apologize for it, but I think that bringing it up would be more hurtful than letting it ride. And I don’t talk about it.

6 I was homeschooled until I was in 3rd grade, and 3rd-5th I went to Catholic private school. And no, I'm not Catholic.

7 I moved to North Carolina in the middle of the night, with no sleep, fueled by caffeine, and almost killed my brother and myself at the beginning of VA because I was so tired I couldn’t pay attention. It’s the only time I slept in my car at a rest area.

8 I can pretty much recite verbatim every episode of Friends with the exception of the first season.

9 I have an older brother that I don’t really talk about.. When people ask me if I have siblings I say that I have a younger brother, but never mention my older one. Long, involved story. We are working on our relationship but its going to take time.

10 One of the best times of my life was a camping trip with 3 of my friends. We went to Darien Lake and my friend Erin got terrified that there was a wolf outside the tent.. It was a raccoon but I have never seen someone so scared in my life, and it was so hilarious that I still laugh to this day thinking about it. It was about 3 years ago.

11 When it comes to computers, I am a complete idiot. Which is ironic since I now work in IT.

12 The two months that I interned at an inpatient addiction treatment center were the only two months that I can honestly say I loved what I was doing. It is a dream of mine to one day go back to school and pass the CASAC exam so that I can be an addictions counselor.

13 My 2 biggest celebrity crushes are Angelina Jolie and Dwayne Carter (Lil Wayne.) I think Angelina Jolie is the most beautiful human being on earth and I LOVE her. I also realize that Dwayne is a little rat but for some reason I am ridiculously attracted to him. I think it’s the attitude, I don’t know, I've stopped trying to figure it out, it is what it is :)

14 I believe you can fall in true love more than once, and I also do not believe in soul mates. I think there is definitely more than one person on earth that I could fall in love and be happy with so the idea of a "soul mate" is a little ridiculous to me.

15 I used to be able to make my stomach growl on command.

16 I wish I could still play soccer.

17 Spaghetti is my absolute favorite food. It has been since I was little, spaghetti and garlic bread. I could eat it every day.

18 I feel guilty that even though I know all the bad things they do to animals for meat, and even though I don’t eat it anymore, I still crave it once in a while. And sometimes I get depressed thinking that I can't have a steak. And I shouldn’t feel that way because I should be disgusted by the treatment of animals… and I am disgusted… but every once in a while I really want steak or ham.

19 I wish I had more time for cooking. I enjoy it when I have the night off and can make something really good for dinner. This almost never happens, and its actually one of the main reasons that I wish I really didn't need to work a second job in the evenings.

20 The ocean is my favorite place to be in the whole world. Someday I really hope to have a house on the beach.

21 I desperately hope to someday forget most of what I have learned about the yellow pages. I already know more than I ever would have imagined, and its not interesting in the least.

22 My favorite color is purple and if it wasn’t for my boyfriend who lives with me, my entire apartment would probably be decorated in some form of the color.

23 I really want to visit every major city in the US and decide after doing so where I want to settle down for good. I think there are a lot of places out there that I need to see, and I shouldn’t assume that the tiny part of the world that I've seen is all there is.

24 If I had more time I would volunteer at the animal shelter, they always need volunteers and the one near me doesn’t put the animals down… so there wouldn’t be that sadness of getting attached only to have them be gone.

25 The biggest misconception about me is that I'm stupid, and I HATE when people treat me as if I am.. Just because I don’t use big fancy words doesn’t mean that I couldn’t, or that I don’t know what they mean. Just because I pay attention to the way I look doesn’t mean that I can't understand important things. People like to assume I'm an idiot.. I'm really not.

Detox

So my girl over at http://exhotgirl.blogspot.com/ inspired me to try a 7 day, raw food detox. The basic idea is that you fast for 24 hours, and then for the next 6 days you only eat raw fruits and vegetables and drink only water. No grains, no oils, no tea's, nothing. This is supposed to cleanse out your digestive system, give you a ton of energy, help you drop a couple pounds, etc.

The energy thing is really what got me. Since I average 65-70 hours at work per week and I am ALWAYS tired, I thought this would be a fabulous thing. So Saturday at 1:00, I started my fast. The fast was not a huge deal. It is supposed to go from 6 pm to 6 pm, but I had to work at Target all day so this was not possible. I tried to make it till 6 the following night, but I started getting weak feeling around 2, and finally broke down and ate at 5. First meal: 10 clementines. It was great. I drank a bunch of water and went to bed.

I woke up the next morning and made a green smoothie, which is basically any fruits you want combined with some sort of green leafy vegetable. I made banana-strawberry-spinach for the first one. These smoothies are actually really good because the fruit taste covers the taste of the spinach, so you get all the nutrition of the greens with the taste of fruit. Anyway, so I drank the smoothie for breakfast and set about doing some housework. I got very tired after a while and took a long nap, woke up, and made a kale-mango-blueberry-banana smoothie. It was excellent, even better than the first one. The bad thing about this day? I was exhausted. No burst of energy for me yet. However, this is not supposed to happen right away so I accepted it and went to sleep.

The next morning I had to work, so I made a huge smoothie for breakfast and packed a bunch of fruit and veggies and went off. I was feeling pretty weak while I was getting ready for work, and I was really sleepy all day. I fell asleep at my desk a couple of times. When I got home, I needed to leave for Target and that's when I cheated and had a piece of peanut butter toast. I went to work, came home, and collapsed into bed and was asleep by 10:30, at least an hour earlier than usual.

This morning I woke up and could barely drag myself out of bed. I was feeling VERY weak while I was getting dressed for work, and at the last minute before I left, I decided I was done with it. I really wanted to get more energy out of this experience, but almost 4 days into it and I was much more worn out than before. I got to work this morning and weighed myself... I lost 6 pounds!! 6 pounds in 3 and 1/2 days. No wonder I have no energy. So I ate some macaroni and cheese for breakfast and I am about to get some coffee, and hopefully I will feel better.

I don't want to say that nothing good came from this. For one, I lost 6 pounds. That's exciting! Also, any and all bloating went away. I feel bloated a lot of the time and its very uncomfortable, but I have not had any of that this whole time. Also, the weather has been bipolar but not once did I need to reach for an allergy pill. It was amazing! So if anyone is interested in trying this, let me know and I will tell you how to do it. Don't let my bad experience deter you, I have a couple of friends who are doing it now and they are both doing really well on it. I just don't think it was a good choice for me personally. I think I will continue to make the green smoothies because they are such a great way to get more greens into my diet. And it has been a good kick in the ass to start eating better, because gradually over the past few months I have let things go. SO! If anyone wants to give this a try, let me know and I wll give you all the dirty details!

Ugh, LIFE

So I am completely aware that I suck at blogging. I have not really posted anything in months. I started a new second job at Target in August and since then I have been working steadily 70 hours a week. When I get home, I want to lay in bed and watch television and pass out. Even though I know a lot about nutrition and can give advice to friends and family off the top of my head, I want to research the things I put on the blog in order to give everyone the most accurate information that I can. So it isn't just a matter of logging on and writing something, it involves a lot more than that because I want it to be RIGHT. So... after being yelled at the past couple of months for not keeping up with this, I wanted to post something even though it has nothing really to do with nutrition, but maybe it will let you know a little more about me :)

A lot has happened the past few months. I had a few pretty serious scares with my father. He has a lot of health issues and has spent time in the hospital. There are still things going on with that, but he is home for the time being. The last incident has not been solved completely, so we are awaiting word on that.

Work-wise, my life has been turned upside down. We were told in November that my department was being eliminated. Thankfully, in my case, I was not laid off but instead offered a promotion. I started that position this week and I think I will really enjoy it. The extra money is going to be fabulous, since things have been super tight for over a year now. I went shopping last night and got a bunch of new shoes and clothes, and today I am happy beyond words to be wearing a new shirt and shoes. I am a person who used to spend about $2000 a year on clothes. The past few years, its been more like, oh, $200. Altogether. So you can imagine my elation at the 4, count them FOUR pairs of new shoes I bought yesterday:) I love fashion as much as I love food, and it feels REALLY good to be back.

I also have been working at Target since August. Don't get me wrong, I love Target. I could totally spend hours browsing around and potentially spend a LOT of money in there. But all the standing, late nights, and grouchy customers are starting to get to me. I am a friendly, outgoing person and at the end of a lot of my shifts I am exhausted, moody, and irritated. I will work there as long as I need too to make ends meet because I am a "do what you gotta do" type of girl, but for the sake of my sanity and my poor feet, I hope this can end soon. I am applying for a different part time job that will be a little more fun, and a lot less standing. Keep your fingers crossed!

Anyway, it's been a rough couple of months. I know I am totally not alone in my financial situation, and I hope everyone was able to have a good holiday season despite the toilet we call an economy, and I really hope to be back soon on a more regular basis. I still read all the blogs I follow, they are what get me through the day sometimes. Thank you everyone for being understanding, and lets hope for a great 2010!!