Rapunzel, Rapunzel Let Down Your Long Hair

I mentioned the other day that I've been taking Biotin on a daily basis for my hair and nails.  I just wanted to take a quick minute to show you the proof that it really works. 

This picture is from September.  I had just gotten it cut and it hit right above my chest.

This picture is from this weekend.  My hair has probably grown 4 or 5 inches in 5 or so months.

My hair is in such better shape since I started using Biotin.  It's thicker, shinier, fuller.  It's just great. I get complimented on it all the time. 

I like to keep my nails short, but they're growing like crazy.  I have to clip them at least once a week to keep them the length that I want.  I used to have huge problems with my nails peeling (you know where they'd just sort of split apart at the top).  I don't have that problem anymore.  They're hard as rocks.

I got my Biotin at Costco.  You're supposed to take 3 pills and I split it up during the day.  I take one with each meal (along with my Fish Oil and CLA).  I think if I took it all at once it might upset my stomach.

Anyway, if you're wanting to grow your hair or nails out I definitely recommend taking Biotin.  It's for sure helped me.

New Things

I met one of my goals this weekend and tried Bikram Yoga for the first time!  It was so hard, but so good.  There was only one pose that I 100% could not do.  The rest of them I was at least able to attempt.  If you're in the Austin area and looking for a place to do Bikram Yoga I highly recommend Pure Bikram.  I had a great first experience.  The staff was super friendly and it was a great class.  I'm going back tonight!

Another new thing....I reached a new low weight on this journey!  181!  I was beginning to feel like I'd never see the scale move down, but it is and I couldn't be happier.  I'm exercising a ton and being extremely mindful of everything I eat.  No processed foods, mainly raw and organic, almost totally vegetarian.100% Clean Eating.  I've also been consistently taking CLA and Omega-3 Supplements.

And finally, this little man turned 5 on Monday!  How in the world did that happen?  He asked to play glow in the dark mini golf with friends and then have a small family party, so that's what we did.  It was perfect.  I love him to pieces.

Biggest Loser Cookbook Review

Recently I was browsing through the cookbook section of our local Half-Price Books (it's a used bookstore, in case any of you haven't heard of it).  I came across The Biggest Loser Cookbook and it was $7.98.  After flipping through it and seeing some good looking recipes I decided to bring it home.

I've made several recipes out of this cookbook and they've all been great.  We particularly liked the Sweet and Spicy Pork Tenderloin and the Strength Builder's Stuffed Mushrooms.  All the recipes I've made so far (about 10) have been very easy to follow and easy to make.  I also appreciate that the recipes include how many servings each recipe makes and then the nutritional value for each serving.
So, if you're looking for a cookbook that's got some healthy meal options, that are also delicious, go pick this one up.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.

**Just to be clear, I wasn't asked to do a review of the book, or given the book for free by anyone associated with it.  I found it at the bookstore, bought it and tried it at home.  I just wanted to share a good cookbook with you all.**

Making Up for a Bad Morning

Man, mornings are just crazy around here. Somehow we always oversleep and end up running late. This morning was no different. The hubster woke up and said, "I've got a meeting at work in 23 minutes." Great, how were we going to get six people ready and in the car and get him to work on time? Add to that the hubs was starving and didn't feel like he had time to eat anything at home and you've got a problem on your hands. He headed straight to McDonalds. I should have let him order, watched him eat it, and then come home and eaten a healthy breakfast, but I didn't. I told him I'd take a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. And throw in a Dr. Pepper while you're at it. Yeah, not a good start to my day.

However, I realized that I made a mistake and moved on, spending the rest of the making good decisions. After the crappy start I was really feeling the need for some fruits/veggies at lunch. So, I made a juice with a green apple, red apple, spinach, blueberries, and a carrot. I also added Raw Green Super Food Powder and Tri-Cleanse Powder.

I felt much better after I drank this.  Oh, do you like my new nail polish?  I'm digging it, but my husband says it makes my nails look like M&Ms.  Hmmm....not sure what I think about that.

I'm supposed to start the New Rules of Lifting Group over at Prior Fat Girl.  I read the book and I have to say I really like it.  The guy who wrote it doesn't try to sugar coat anything.  He tells the truth and has a good sense of humor.  There are a couple of things in it that are a little difficult to follow (like way he explains the schedule is a little difficult to understand, but I think I've got it).  Overall it's a good book. 

Today I went to the gym with every intention of starting the program.  When I got there and saw the massive crowd of guys in the weight section I chickened out.  We went to the gym a little later than normal and it really busy.  I just wasn't up for attempting a new workout that I'm nervous about trying in front of a bunch of guys.  I was especially nervous about this move:

Yikes!!  I actually came home and practiced on my ball and I think I've got it.  So I should be ready.

Instead of doing the lifting program I did my Couch to 5K program.  I'm on Day 1 of Week 2.  It was tough!  There were two walking segments that I had to extend 30 seconds because I just couldn't start running again.  However, I did it and at the end I did my best distance yet!  A week ago I did 1.76 miles and today I did 1.95.  That's a great improvement.  I can't wait to see where I go from here. 

Because I didn't get the lifting workout in today I am going to go back early tomorrow morning and do it (hopefully it won't be crazy busy...if it is I'm just going to have to do it anyway).

I was still trying to get over the junk I ate for breakfast this morning when we had dinner.  I made a great salad and everyone loved it.  We had a mixture of baby spinach and baby arugula topped with carrots, goat cheese, avocado, sauteed yellow and red peppers and red onion, cooked chicken (I just cooked in a pan on the stove) and drizzled in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  It was fantastic.

So, despite the awful morning I feel really good about today.  The majority of my food choices were really good and I got in a good run.  Here's to hoping I don't completely chicken out at the gym doing some new moves in the morning.

I'm Alive!....

I didn't fall over and hit my head yesterday when I weighed in!  Instead I got the following text yesterday afternoon from my hubs, "Want to do dinner/date night tonight?  Put the kids to bed, then eat?  Maybe watch a movie and never crack open a computer? : )"  Who am I to say no to that?!  So, we let the kids eat, then we ate, and watched The Fighter.  Oh my word I loved this movie.  One of my favorite parts may have been during the credits though.  Have you seen it?  What did you think?  Don't worry that I skipped posting yesterday.  I'm still going to fill you in on all the details!

So, I did my weekly weigh in.  I've actually tried to be really good and only weigh once a week so that I don't obsess about the number.  I wasn't expecting great things (in fact I was expecting bad things) because of having my period and the crap I had eaten.  I was pleasantly surprised when I weighed in at 184 (even).  Just in case you're counting that's a .2 lb loss.  Yep, not much at all, but considering everything it's pretty cool.  Especially if I look at the fact that I haven't gained back an ounce of detox weight.  That's pretty freakin' amazing.

I started my morning yesterday with steel cut oatmeal topped with ground flax seed, nonfat vanilla yogurt, slivered almonds, and blueberries.

 

Ummm....I'm having a mild obsession with this breakfast.  Someone may need to stage an intervention.  I may be buying stock in McCann's Irish Oatmeal.  I'm just sayin'.  Lord, help me.   I love it, here's my empty mug just crying out for more.

For lunch I took the left over quinoa from the night before and added canned albacore tuna, arugula, chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, crumbled nonfat feta (I'm out of my beloved goat cheese) and squeezed fresh lime juice all over it.  It was fantastic.  So easy and so good.

I'll confess that I did no exercise yesterday.  I was tired and grumpy (thank you pms), so instead I did this...

Made a big super fun tent in our living room and let the boys watch a double feature (Night at Museum and Night at the Museum:  Battle at the Smithsonian).  They loved it and I got some peace an quiet to read.

For dinner last night we had lemon orzo salad.  It was decent, but not a lot of flavors.  Probably won't be making it again (although one of my kids loved it and had seconds).

On to today!!!!!!!!!

This morning we were in such a rush!  All of us over slept and were rushing around like crazy to get the hubs to work.  So I grabbed a Nature Valley Granola Bar and my bottle of water to eat for breakfast on the way to drop him off.  Ugh.....I was really missing my steel cut oats.

After dropping him off we went to the gym and I hit the treadmill.  It was the hardest of the three runs I've done this week.  I think it was a combination of my period (are you ready for me to stop talking about that yet?), not eating a great breakfast, and not being well hydrated.  I drank a lot of water while I ran, but not a lot before.  Here's how it ended up....

 I'm still on week one of Couch to 5k.  However, even though it was a really hard run, if you look back you'll see that I actually improved.  My first run this week I did 1.76 miles in 30 minutes, the second run I did 1.82 miles in 30 minutes, and this time I did 1.86 miles in 30 minutes.  So, each time it's an improvement.  I'm super happy about that.  I'm hoping that I have time to go in the morning and do another day of week one and then move to week two on Monday.  At the end of my run today I wasn't quite ready to quit so I hopped on one of the bikes for 20 minutes.  I don't remember how far it said I went, but I did the interval program and the hills with resistance were challenging.  I was definitely continuing to sweat.

After my workout I had some Advocare Spark (Pink Lemonade).  I have never had this drink before, but a friend of mine sells it and I have a lot of other friends that use it and love it.  I get so sleepy in the afternoons and since I've given up coffee I decided to try this.  Okay, I know it has caffeine, just like coffee, but I'm not adding milk and sugar and a bunch of other stuff (high fructose corn syrup) to it.  So, I feel better about it.  It's sugar free, you put it in water, it's 45 calories and it taste great.  I have to say that this afternoon I didn't have any problems feeling sleepy.  I also didn't get jittery or have any other problems.  I really liked it.  ***Just fyi, I'm not trying to promote my friend's business.  The link I posted takes you to the official Advocare website and isn't for my friend.  I paid for the product because I wanted to try it.  I was not given anything to write about this.***

During lunch we were out running errands (after being in the house for two days with out a car I needed to get out and get some things done!).  So, I had to make a choice between some fast food places to eat.  We ended up stopping by Chick-fil-a.  I was a little worried that my hunger, pmsbun with no condiments.  Instead of fries I had a fruit bowl and instead of my usual sweet tea I got an unsweet tea.  Progress at the drive-thru!!!

Dinner was part healthy and part not so healthy.  I made egg muffins following  this recipe that I found via pinterest.  I followed the majority of the recipe, adding 4 pieces of turkey bacon (chopped up), low fat shredded cheddar cheese, and chopped red bell pepper.  I didn't use paper cupcake liners like she said to do, but I really sprayed my pan and once they were done I used a sharp knife to loosen the edges and didn't have a problem with them sticking.  Also, I had way more than I could use in 12 muffin cups.  I ended up making 18.  Everyone really seemed to like them.  Even the baby ate two of them.   My hubs also made some pancakes and I had two small ones with sugar free syrup.

I am so ready for this weekend!  We're working on changing up our bedroom and the boys' bedroom.  The two older boys will be sharing a room and the two younger boys will be in a room together.  They're all super excited, but the hubs is dreading moving the bunk bead. 

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  What does everyone have planned?

Day 2 of the Detox

I made it through day 2!!!!

Ok, first let me give you the stats.  I weighed in yesterday at 190.  Today I weighed in at 188.8.  So, that's a 1.2 pound loss in one day.  We'll see what I weigh in at tomorrow, but it seems like things are working.

I woke up this morning with a killer headache (like couldn't get out of bed headache).  I'm sure it's my body withdrawing from all the crap I eat.  I took some pain killer and once the headache was gone I started my day out with some pomberry coconut water.  Hmmm....I had such high hopes for this stuff.  I see people at the gym drinking it all the time and I've read such good things about it.  I just didn't like it.  I was really bummed.  However, it didn't go to waste.  My 18 month old has been having some nasty tummy troubles and needed some electrolytes.  Well, this stuff has them so I thought I'd see if he liked it and he did!  Yeah!  So, he chugged the stuff while the thought of it made me gag.

After the nastiness of the coconut water I decided to make some juice.  I saw a juice on another blog that looked good so I decided to give it a shot.  I had watermelon, celery, carrot and cucumber.  Here it is prejuice:

Here it is post-juice.  Doesn't it look appetizing?  No?  Yeah, it didn't look great to me either.  It also tasted really bad.  Again, I was disappointed.   I think if I had followed the recipe on the blog it might have been better (there was a lemon and ginger in the other one), but I didn't have the ginger so I just made it with what I had.  I drank about 1/4 of it.

Next up I had some beef broth (@8 ounces). Not great (it's just broth), but whatever, I didn't expect greatness.

Then I realized that I needed some water so I grabbed a Blackberry Hint Water.  It was good.  Not as good as yesterday's honeydew hibiscus hint water, but still good.

I finished up the day with more juice.  This time I had two apples, a pear, a carrot, a bunch of spinach, and a bunch of blueberries.

Look how pretty it was straight out of the juicer!  Now this was good.  In fact it may be one of my new favorite juices.  Definitely going to be making this again.

So, how did I feel today? I actually felt pretty good! I'm definitely more hungry than I was yesterday, but once I got past the headache this morning I was good to go. I even felt like exercising. I did a new workout dvd that is on instant watch on Netflix.  It's Crunch Super Slim Down Pilates and Yoga Blend.  I loved it!  It was exactly what I needed.  About 3 minutes in I thought "this is really easy, I'm not going to get a good workout", but about half way through I was working up a sweat and it was a tough workout.  If you're looking for something new to try at home I recommend this one.  It's really easy to follow, the instructor gives great cues.  It's also just a lot of fun.  It's fast paced and won't bore you.  Now, it's not the kind of workout I get when I do an hour on the elliptical, but it was hard enough that I thought it was worth it.

After working out I sat down to fold laundry. With 6 of us there's always laundry to fold!  I like to watch a movie while I fold clothes.  Today I watched "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead."  It was AWESOME!!  Seriously, loved it.  There's a lot of health documentaries out there that I've watched and I always come away feeling slightly depressed and a little hopeless.  This was NOT the case with "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead."  I had a smile on my face and honestly felt hopeful when it was over.  It was very well made and not only incredibly informative, but also really entertaining.  I highly recommend watching it.  In short, it's about a guy who's fat and overweight and ill and he decides to get healthy by changing his diet.  What happens to him is amazing, but what happens to the people he meets on his journey is pretty incredible too.  Watch it, for real.  You won't be disappointed.

One of the pictures that they showed really stuck with me and I've been thinking about it today.  The picture is of how much space is used up in your stomach from 400 calories of oil, or chicken, or vegetables.  I never saw it presented this way and it really struck me.  You can get completely full on 400 calories of vegetables, but no where near full on 400 calories of oil or meat.  Here's the picture and it's from Dr. Fuhrman's book, Eat to Live.

So, that's my day 2 on the detox in a nutshell.  I'm really happy with how it's going.  I'm definitely hungry and I'm looking forward to being able to eat raw fruits and veggies and brown rice tomorrow.  But, I'm glad I'm doing this.  I think it's going to be worth it.

Chicken Teriyaki that Rocked My Socks

So, last week I posted about how I had found a yummy smokey ranch dressing and was excited to try their Sesame Garlic Dressing.  I wanted to try and replicate the oh so delicious teriyaki I had while on vacation in Seattle.  I was pretty worried because I had high expectations and just grabbing a bottle of sauce off the shelf at the super market didn't seem like a great idea.  I finally decided to go ahead and take the Sesame Garlic plunge because it was fairly cheap and if it didn't work out it wouldn't be like I had spent a lot of time in the kitchen creating the sauce on my own.  No big deal.  Tonight was the night.  I used some premade teriyaki sauce from Target (Archer Farms brand) that had simple ingredients and nothing scary.  I cut up some chicken breasts and cooked the strips in olive oil until they were brown.  Then I tossed it all in the teriyaki sauce and heated it all up in the wok again.   I served the chicken over brown rice.  Next came the big trial.  Would the Sesame Garlic Sauce live up to all my hopes and dream?  OH MY WORD!  It was fantastic!  Seriously, I'm thinking about writing the SASS Sisters and thanking them from the bottom of my heart.  Not only did they create an AH-MAZING sauce that lived up to my every hope, they did it using ingredients that won't kill me.  The sauce is made from things like canola oil, vinegar, sesame seeds, spices.  Nothing crazy or scary at all.  I am so super happy with this healthy meal and my family loved it.  It's definitely going into regular rotation around here.

Back from Vacation and a Big Yummy Salad

Okay so first, the following pictures are total crap. I still don't have a working camera and so I'm using my phone. Sorry. Moving on.

We are back from our amazing vacation. We spent two weeks with my brother-in-law and his wife in Seattle and it was wonderful. It is beautiful there and we definitely enjoyed escaping the 100+ heat in Austin for 60 degree days in Seattle. We ate out a lot. I was surprised however when I got home to find that I had only gained 3 pounds. I was expecting a lot more. Yeah! Now to get that off. Here's a picture from some of the beautiful scenery on our drive through the Cascade Mountains.

Once we got home I was ready to eat some veggies.  I was seriously craving them.  I think it's funny how once you start eating pretty healthy that your body will start craving the good for you foods when you don't have them.  So, I decided a big salad was in order for our dinner last night.  I used Green Leaf Lettuce, Spinach, Grape Tomatoes, Avocado, Cucumber and Carrots. 

Making the salad also let me use my new salad spinner that I got for cheap at IKEA.  This thing is awesome.  So easy to use.  I dumped in the greens that I wanted to use, used the little slotted inner bowl as my colander when I rinsed and then just stuck it back in the spinner and started spinning.  It got the leaves super dry and saved me time and paper towels.

This is what I ended up with.  I picked up a new salad dressing at the store.  I had never seen or heard of SASS dressings before, but it caught my eye this time.  I brought it home and I love it.  I tried the Smokey Ranch dressing and it was delish.  It almost tasted like Bacon Ranch.  Besides being delicious here are some other reasons I love it:  32 calories a serving, no ingredients that I didn't easily recognize, no corn syrup, and they're located in Austin (I love supporting local businesses).  After reading some of their website I think I'm even more in love.  I am going to pick up some of the Sesame Garlic dressing next time I'm at the store to use on chicken.  When we were in Seattle we had some amazing take-out from a terayaki place and there was a garlic sauce for the chicken that was awesome!   I'm hoping this dressing compares.  I'll let you know.

New Books!!

I love to read.  I especially love to read cookbooks.  I devour them front to back as soon as I get them.  I'm also beginning to love read books about health just as much.  I got some good books this week!  I can't wait to go through them.  I'll share my thoughts about them when I'm finished reading.  Can't wait to see what I learn.

Salmon and Roasted Turnip Puree

I told you guys I was going to do something incredible with those beautiful turnips that I got at the farmer's market this morning.  And oh boy did I!  I'd like to take all the credit for what I made with those beautiful turnips, but I can't take the credit.  The credit for the roasted turnip puree belongs to Beth and you'll find the recipe here.  Now I'll admit.  I've never had a turnip, not roasted, pureed or any other way.  I didn't really know what to expect.  I mean turnips tend to get a bad rap.  Who really wants to eat a turnip anyway?  But Beth peaked my interested and I decided to give them a try.  Oh.my.word.  I'm so glad I did.  First, they were so easy to prepare.  I just followed Beth's instructions and whipped them right up.  Ease is always a major plus for me.  For the salmon I just brushed a little olive oil on it and put some salt and pepper on it and threw it in the oven about half way through the cooking of the turnips.  I guess I cooked it about 20 minutes (until it was flaky).  Then I made the mustard vinaigrette.  Beth said she had a mustard vinaigrette with her fish and turnips.  I don't know her recipe so I just made up my own.   I just whisked together some Dijon mustard, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a little honey.  I just added a little here and a little there until I liked the way it tasted.  Once everything was done I drizzled the vinaigrette on top of everything.  It was all fantastic.  If you haven't tried turnips then I suggest you give them a try.  You'll love them.

Yummy Zucchini Burgers!!

I have a plethora of zucchini growing in my garden right now.   Luckily for me I ran across this recipe on Beth's Blog the other day.  I followed the recipe except for one thing.  Beth mentioned that the original burger that she was copying had bell peppers in it.  I had a jar of roasted red peppers so I rinsed one, patted it dry with a paper towel, and chopped that little baby up.  Then I just added it in with the other veggies.  I think you could also use fresh bell peppers (which I'm hoping will be ready in my garden in a couple of weeks) and it would give a little bit of crunch.  The feta gave them a little zing that was just right. They were super yummy.  Another bonus is that they're super easy to make.  You don't have to precook any of the veggies.  Just grate, chop and mix and you're ready to go.  I fed them to my family for dinner over Organic Spring Mix Lettuce with a side of apples and grapes.  Everyone loved them.  Even my meat eating husband thought they were great.  Now, I'm not going to say he promised to give up meat and eat zucchini burgers for all eternity, but he did say they were good and he'd eat them again.  So head to your garden, farmers market, or local grocery and pick up some fresh zucchini and the rest of the ingredients and whip these bad boys up.  You won't be disappointed.

Film: Food Matters

Have you seen the film FoodMatters?  You should.  Really.  You really really should.  It's all about Super foods, organic foods, food as medicine, how we should consume our food and just being healthy.  There was a lot of information in it that I had never heard before.  Super foods for instance.  Maybe I've been living under a rock (that's easy for me to do with 4 little ones), but seriously I knew nothing about them.  This movie really opened my eyes about the foods out there that are not just good for you, but that can be life changing.  I strongly suggest you check it out.  If you're serious about your health, seriously, check it out.  By the way, they also have a great informative website where you can gets loads of information.
**I wasn't paid to do this little write up.  I just happened to come across the film on Netflix and decided to watch it and write a review.**

Matcha Tea

Oh Matcha Tea, what a lovely green stinky tea you are.  But I'm sticking by you through thick and thin and I'm expecting great things from you.

I first read about Matcha Tea over on Jen's blog.  She really seemed to like it so I decided to do a little research and see what the fuss was about.  Apparently, Matcha is the be all end all of green teas.  According to Matcha Source "the health benefits of matcha tea exceed those of green tea because when you drink matcha you ingest the whole leaf, not just the brewed water. For maximum nutritional benefit, matcha tea is unparalleled. One glass of matcha is the equivalent of 10 glasses of green tea in terms of its nutritional value and antioxidant content."

Matcha Tea is also good for weight loss.  According to Zen Matcha Tea  drinking this wonder tea will speed up metabolism, keep the body from storing calories as fat, and suppress your appetite.  Like other green teas, Matcha is also rich in antioxidants. That all sounds mighty good to me.  

So, let's just be clear.  I know most websites are trying to sell their product.  I'm not naively buying everything they're saying.  However, research has shown that green tea is good for you.  So, why not give it a shot? 

I purchased the Matcha tea powder from my local whole foods.

 
I've been drinking it for a couple of days and so far so good.  I'm not getting any jitters from it, but I wouldn't suggest drinking it at night.  It would definitely keep you awake.  

Another thing.  I'm a southern girl.  I'm used to my sweet iced tea, so hot green tea is something VERY new for me.  It's a little stinky.  My 5 year old smelled it and his exact words were, "mom, you're tea smells like guinea pig poop and I know because I've smelled guinea pig poop."  So, we're not talking about Chickfila sweet tea here.  But, I think I might be acquiring a taste for it.  Might be.  We'll see.  I'm going to keep drinking it on a regular basis and I'll let you know what I think as time goes on.  Who knows?  Maybe I'll be singing the praises of Matcha Tea from my rooftop.  Stinky-ness and all.