Still on Health Road; Food Prep is Key

Over this past month-ish, I've noticed that I am still doing really well health improvement wise, and I really need to keep up with my food prep.

Towards the beginning of February, I was keeping up with the food prep.  But then I looked at my bank account.  All this healthy eating during the winter months is adding up money-wise real darn fast.  So, I decided to "cool it" and space out the nights when I was eating salad, and I let my smoothies run out for a day or two before I made another batch.

On February 11, I decided to go down to Las Vegas for the night.  I stayed for free (thanks to MyVegas app and Mlife) at New York New York.  I went down to eat food, watch movies, and do a little bit of shopping.

While in Las Vegas, I ate whatever I wanted to while trying to not go completely off the rails.  I didn't want to have an energy crash like I did the last time, and I wanted the head ache to go away.  I figured if I ate more, that would effectively get rid of the headache (it worked).

 

Lunch at Archi's: Chicken Red Curry Lunch Special

  

Dinner at Chin Chin (at NYNY): Kung Pao Chicken

(I ended up eating only about half because it was over sauced.)

 Dessert at Perfect Scoop: Taro Macaron with Vegan Green Tea Ice Cream

Breakfast at Tom's Urban (at NYNY): Create Your Own Omelete

(I ended up not eating the hashbrowns (had cheese) or the toast.)

The best tasting of the food I ate this trip to Vegas was that Macaron Ice Cream Sandwich.  It was delicious!  And it was dairy-free.  I figured that maybe I could indulge once in awhile.  

And, before I left Vegas, I stopped at Juice Standard to get a February Only drink called "Bee Mine" to drink on the drive home and 4 WHealthy juices to drink for the next 4 mornings.

Once I got into town, I stopped at a new store called Truffles Market and got 3 ready made meals to take home.  This place is very small and it's like half store, half restaurant.

Quninoa with chicken, an egg, and avocado.

Gelato made with hemp milk (dairy-free)

Steel cut oatmeal with banana and strawberry

Egg and peppers

Thankfully, I had gotten these ready made meals, because I was so tired and so hungry, and I had not done any food prep before leaving for Vegas.  I figured that I'd do the food prep the day after I got back, but that ended up not being the case.

The day after I came home from Vegas, my left shoulder froze up.  Darn sugar.  That macaron ice cream sandwich was delectable, but it was too much sugar for my body to tolerate any more.  After a few days, the sugar cleared from my body and my shoulder un-froze.  But, when I went to the Chiropractor, he discovered that my shoulder still had issues.

Still with no food prep, I started eating the chicken corndogs that were in the freezer.  I just wanted food and I didn't want that headache that I get.

And, I finally decided to try the purple potatoes I'd bought awhile ago.  With the potatoes, I ate frozen asparagus.  This was my 1st time eating purple potatoes; they were good!  This seemed healthy, but I ended up cooking them both in lots of olive oil.

So, I felt that I had recovered from the sugar enough to try getting in some exercise by doing the St. George Area Parade of Homes.  I got my ticket and I planned my route in an order that was different from theirs so I could end up near food after 4 to 6 houses.  I didn't want to mis-manage my food intake compared to my energy output like I did when I was in Vegas in January.

On day 1, I toured 14 of the 28 homes.  I stopped for a snack and lunch while I was out, and I got dinner to take home with me. At the end of the day, I'd taken a little over 9,000 steps.

Muddy Bees Bakery: Gluten-free blueberry muffin and coffee

Ka'ili's: Herb-infused lemonade

Ka'ili's: Fresh seasoned cake noodle with grilled pineapple and teriyaki chicken

Breakfast at Tifiny's: veggie crepe and fresh fruit crepe

On day 2, I toured the other 14 homes.  At the end of the day, I'd taken a little over 11,000 steps.

Cafe Allure: Santa Fe Chicken Grilled Wrap and a Coconut Berry Smoothie

Bombay Cafe: mixed veggies

When all was said and done for the Parade of Homes, I had successfully eaten enough food to keep up with my energy output for those 2 days.

However, I ended up getting sick.  Maybe some sort of cold or flu.  I was extremely tired, nauseated, and I had a fever.  I still had not done food prep, so I didn't have really healthy food to help support me.

I did have some fruit in that I'd bought a few weeks earlier that was on the verge of going bad.  I mustered up enough energy to cut all of it up and put it in 1 large bowl.  I ate from that bowl over the next few days. 

I finally felt better, so I made smoothies with every frozen fruit that I had left in the freezer.  I ran out of coconut water for the last 2 servings, so I used boxed apple juice.  Thankfully, the mix of fruit actually tastes good together.

And after resting for a couple of hours, I did salad prep with the veggies I bought a few weeks ago.  Thankfully, it all looked good enough to still make an edible salad.

The following day, I needed to go grocery shopping.  I sucked down one of the smoothies I'd made and I went to a new store in town.  Had a moment to eat lunch before going to my chiropractor.  Then I had to get the car checked and registered.  After that, I was off to another store to deal with prescriptions and get the few items that I couldn't find at the other store.  I got home and grabbed a drink before having to go back to the pharmacy to get another 2 prescriptions they'd missed.  After another hour of waiting at the pharmacy (they said it would be only 20 minutes), I finally got home and was able to eat dinner.

My lunch.

My dinner.

My dessert.

After that exhausting day, I went overboard for breakfast the next day.

An entire package of Applegate chicken breakfast sausage.

The next day, I ended up ill again.  I lost 4 pounds in 1 day.  My stomach was so upset, that when my mom mentioned she was going to go get Wendy's for dinner, I asked her to get me their largest sized French fries.  I ate those and most of hers too.

Not sure if I got a cold or the flu, or if all the sickness was a detox response.

The healing that I have noticed, is that I have not had to take any Zyrtec.  This time of year, I have usually been irritated by the high tree pollen this time of year.  But not this year.  So, I need to stay away from sugar and keep eating healthy so I can keep healing.  And I need to support myself by doing food prep.

Eating all this healthy food is paying off!

Last night, I got so involved in a project that I didn't realize what time it was until the sun came up.  I'd been sitting for hours on my bead, hunched over the computer in a wonky position.  When I finally decided that I should stop, I was tired and a little sore.

What's so awesome about that to me is that afterwards, I did not need to take 2 Extra Strength Tylenol and 2 Advil Liquigels!  I wasn't stuck into that position whimpering in pain.

Had I had that same kind of night about 2 or 3 months ago, I would've been in so much pain that it would've been difficult to breathe let alone move; someone else would've needed to drive me to my appointment, and I would've been using a cane to walk.

When I went to see my chiropractor today, he commented on my noticed improvement.  He was pleased at how well my muscles reacted to last night versus how cramped they would've been not that long ago.

If you're wondering, okay, so how'd that happen?
1.  Read my last 2 posts: My Go 'Round with a Raw Fruit and Vegetable Cleanse and Still Eating Healthy.
2.  In summary, it started when I read Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally Heal by Anthony William.

Since January, I've been eating uber healthy and it's paying off!  I'm starting to see the benefits of going through all the detox responses.  I'll be really happy when the coughing and the headaches subside.  For now, I'm happy with the progress I've made so far!  :-)

Still eating healthy!

I'm still going strong with the healthy eating!

I realized that my body was not capable at this time of handling the onslaught of detox from eating all raw fruits and vegetables (Medical Medium's 28-Day Healing Cleanse).  I slowed down the detox process by eating foods based on the Healing Foods areas of various chapters in Medical Medium's book and also Chapter 19 "What Not to Eat" and I'm doing well with that.

I have also continued doing detox foot baths.

"Better out than in, I always say." -- Shrek

I also did a biometric Qest4 scan.  It hit on several areas: lymph, liver, virus, and various others.  My chiropractor interpreted all of it as confirmation of my system being overburdened with detox, which is the same thing I interpreted from reading the scan before he read it.  Based on the results, the system energetically infused a bottle with what I need.

If anyone's reading this and thinking that energetically enhancing some liquid is bunk, then I refer you to the documentary What the Bleep Do We Know? and Dr. Masaru Emoto's work with hado and it's effects on water.

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio,

than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

-- Shakespeare

So, back to the healthy eating.  

When I went down to Vegas to go to see the Scott Brothers (Jonathan and Drew) in the Tournament of Kings (for 1st episode of the upcoming season of Brother vs Brother on HGTV), I managed to eat decently.  However, I mismanaged my food intake compared to my activity level and I crashed a bit.  This time was not nearly as bad as others though, so my health is improving, but not completely yet.  

I started my day in Vegas by eating lunch with my friend at Paymon's.  We both had Vegetable Kabobs with their hummus (best I've ever eaten).  I went ahead and ate the pita bread  and the rice because I knew I was going to have a long day.

After lunch, I went walking around the Strip.  I started off walking through the botanical garden at Bellagio, then over to Planet Hollywood, and on to Paris.  And, of course, I had to walk back to Bellagio to get to my car.  I then headed over to Juice Standard (all organic) and got me a juice and a nut milk.  I had them put an espresso shot in the nut milk because I was starting to get a little bit tired and the show didn't start until 8:30pm.  I drank the nut milk before I even left the parking lot.  I drank the juice just before I left for the show.

So, I'm thinking I'm doing pretty good for the day.  I get to Excalibur way too early to get my tickets from Will Call and I ended up walking around the casino for about 45 minutes waiting for the show to start.  Mind you, I've had a smoothie before I left home, the veggie kabob, a nut milk, & a juice all day.  Just before the show started, they served drinks (I opted for water over Pepsi) and the tomato soup, which tasted a bit like gourmet Campbell's soup, but I drank it anyway (no silverware, must eat with your hands).

The dinner was served once the show started and I wasn't allowed to take any photos.  It was a Cornish Game Hen, a stalk of broccoli, 2 small round potatoes drenched in butter and salt, and a biscuit.  I ate the broccoli, potatoes, and the biscuit before I tried the hen.  The hen was super dry, so I stopped eating it after 2 bites.

After the show, I, for some reason, opted to walk up the stairs to the casino level.  Half way up the stairs, there was a landing.  That's when I felt my energy level drop; though, I've had worse drops. Decision time, do I keep going up, or go back down?  I managed to pull myself up the stairs by grabbing onto the railing.  I had to stop at the Sports Book and rest for several minutes before I trekked to my car.  I drove back to my friend's house and wasn't able to fall asleep until about 3am.  They all woke up to get ready for work and school around 6am.  I drank 2 cups of coffee.  ;-)

After that, I recovered and was plugging along and a Facebook post from Medical Medium caught my attention; it was an audio program on What Not to Eat.  Well, I've read the book, though I skipped a few chapters on ailments that I didn't think pertained to me, but I definitely read the What Not to Eat chapter.  Still, something tugged at me to listen anyway.  When Anthony (Medical Medium) started talking about canola oil is when I realized why I needed to listen.  In the book, the description is brief and I thought that organic canola oil would be fine.  After all, I've been buying organic foods to eat, I should be fine. Not according Spirit though.  Anthony explained that canola oil, in any form (organic or not), is not good for you; every lining in your body is adversely affected by canola oil.

Listen to the program for yourself:

http://www.medicalmedium.com/listen/what-not-to-eat

The entire program is worth listening to,

but he starts talking about canola oil at 16:24.

Alrighty then.  No canola oil for me.  When I went grocery shopping this last time, I read the labels on the Dr. Praeger's vegetable cakes that I had been eating.  They had canola oil, so I did not buy them.  I was able to keep buying the Sunshine burgers!  My favorite flavors are the Original and the Hemp & Sage ones.

The "worst" thing I've been eating is Sukhi's Chicken Vindaloo Street Wraps.  I've been eating them and adding a bit of raw vegetables.  

I figured, hey, at least I'm not running out and satisfying a craving by going to get Taco Bell or something.  But, I didn't bother reading the label on the wraps until now.  They have canola oil.  Well, after the ones I bought are gone, I won't be buying those again.

I am managing to not eat a bunch of sugary desserty foods.  I have eaten a little bit of dairy (in Amy's Gluten Free Bean & Cheese burritos), but not as much as I was eating.  I have also managed to not add a bunch of salt to my foods; even though the salt I have is Himalayan salt, I have not used it. Oh, I did add some cracked sea salt to one meal I cooked: frozen organic asparagus (with cracked salt and pepper), and Quorn chik'n cutlets in an organic tomato sauce with cilantro.

I am still doing salad prep (with as many organic ingredients as possible) so that I have a healthy dinners available.  But I'm not making them for every day; I am leaving room for other options.  This batch has red leaf lettuce, cucumber, celery, button mushroom, radish, white onion, mini peppers, cilantro, and hemp seeds.

I am also still making smoothies for every day, with as many organic ingredients as possible.  Always, my smoothies have wild blueberries in them, along with banana, coconut water, lemon balm, and aloe.  The other ingredients vary so that I don't get bored.  This batch also has cranberries, ginger, and turmeric.

My desserts since January have been dried fruits.  This batch is black mission figs, turkish apricots, and coconut rolled dates.

I also have snacks available in case I feel desperately hungry.

 

Since the beginning of January, I have been taking Hawaiian Spirulina and Black Elderberry.

I am just starting to notice a bit of energy coming back, and some problem skin areas are starting to heal.  :-)