day 6

some good news and some "bad" news. Good news is I've been keeping up with green smoothies for breakfast and I did eat a raw salad for lunch monday through thursday. Bad news is I guess I've been eating either "bad" food for dinner/snacks or eating too big of portions because as of today I haven't lost any weight. I also haven't gained any weight which is good. Another key to this though is working out and I haven't had the opportunity to do that yet. Even though my parents are here staying with us I guess we've just been too busy getting used to two families living in one place .... oh, what am I saying? honestly, I just haven't gone to the gym. If I really wanted to I would have right? Either way... I already discussed with my mother that we have to figure out a routine so that my husband and I can get to the gym at least 4 nights a week. Problem is my husband gets home rather late from work and my mother and father want to eat dinner then.. ah, we will work it out. Next week I am going to try to see if I can get to the gym during the day while my father stays home with the baby. I can only do this next week because my husband will be out of town for work ... (usually my husband and I like to work out together). Oh.. ps.. we are going to a spanish restaurant tomorrow night for dinner to celebrate my parent's anniversary. I HAVE to try paella and maybe the mofongo! I will watch my portion size though! Onward and upward (or downward should I say?)

day 2

breakfast: green smoothie with spinach, frozen banana, frozen peaches, agave syrup, and flax seeds. lunch: asian salad that I found here: http://www.rawfreedomcommunity.info/forum/showthread.php?t=5497 It wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be unfortunately.. but I have some left over so I'll eat it for lunch tomorrow as well. I don't know why it didn't come out too tasty. snacks: one banana, one orange. I did have a fiber one snack bar today too. For dinner my mom is making chicken pot pie so I'll have a little of that. Like I said, I'm doing raw for breakfast and lunch. btw, yesterday Tim and I went to a health food expo and saw a raw food chef give a demonstration. His name is Paul Nison and I had heard of him previously.. he was okay but it was funny how he was so strict with certain things.. like saying that agave syrup is basically like corn syrup and he didn't think anyone should eat chocolate or coffee. I mean, most people going to a raw diet is extremely hard, and then to take away certain things on top of it is really difficult. Anyway.. it was interesting and nice to see raw food getting more press.

day 1

weighed myself today for the first time in many weeks: 224.4. That's my starting weight. diet/exercise plan: eat green smoothies for breakfast, salads or raw food for lunch, snack on fruit, and eat a light SAD (standard american diet - but "healthy) for dinner. Exercise at least 5 days week in some form for at least 30 minutes, but shoot for more like an hour. today is day 1! I'll be weighing in every Sunday morning. Wish me luck folks!

When did spring get here?

In the hustle of all the new baby stuff, somewhere along the way spring has arrived... although you might not know it with the 20 and 30 degree temperatures we've been having lately. So here it is, almost April, and I haven't blogged since February 1st! Life has been busy to say the least.. what with the new baby and we are also in the middle of a move to a new apartment (and possible some other move related stuff in the future, but I won't talk about that now so as not to jinx anything). I currently weigh 20 pounds MORE than what I did when I started out with my pregnancy and I haven't been able to get to the gym even once since having baby B. My husband comes home from work, cooks dinner, then there is usually some laundry to do (since I can't do it during the day when I'm home alone) or I grab a shower at night and before we know it, the evening is gone and it's time for bed. Pshew. I knew having kids was work but I guess I never realized exactly HOW much work. When I was younger I used to work with children from ages 3-6 and so I guess I thought that a newborn would be no problem for me.. lol. Honestly, there were days in the beginning when I thought "what have I gotten myself into?". Well, good news is my parents are coming to visit and stay with my husband and myself for quite a while... around 7 months actually... which I'm so excited about. You see, they live in Texas and we are in New York... and of course being first time grand parents, they want to be around their grandson as much as possible. They were going to come up for the summer anyway and rent an apartment but we figured why not let them move in with us, we can split the price, they get to be close to their grandson 24/7 and we get some much needed help! Everyone wins! Now abuelo and abuela (grandpa and grandma in spanish) can watch baby in the evenings while husband and I go to the gym! Someone can watch baby while I do laundry during the day... more hands for cooking, feedings, changings, and just all around baby helping! I'm so excited! At first I felt bad.. like, maybe I'm not a good mom if I can't handle my own son on my own.. but I realized this: I CAN handle my son on my own... but it's just NICE to have extra help so I can handle MYSELF too... so I can get some self care in like having time to work out or time to get my haircut (I haven't had a hair cut in at least 6 months, if not longer!), etc...etc. Cause not only do I need to take care of baby.. but to be a good, healthy, happy mama.. I've got to take care of myself! So I would tell any soon to be mom out there this word of wisdom: DO NOT FEEL BAD FOR GETTING HELP WHEN YOU CAN! As a side note: I'm also going to start trying to eat healthier (raw) when my parents get here. I've pretty much been at the mercy of eating whatever my husband cooks for dinner and eating whatever I could grab quickly during the day.... it's hard to cook and prepare food with a baby on your hip or crying. I'm so excited to get back on the healthy track! Look for updates to be coming more frequently!! yay!

Baby mine.

Wow! What a crazy last 2 weeks I've had. Today the baby is two weeks old and the time has really flown by! It feels like just yesterday my mom, husband, and I were pulling up to the hospital at 5 am to check in for my c-section and now my baby is home with me and getting bigger by the day. Everything went well, my c-section is healing nicely, and we are getting into a routine with the baby at home. It still is a bit surreal that I'm a mom! So when I was weighed in at the hospital for the pre-admission, I weighed 246 pounds.... BUT I was wearing boots, a teeshirt, a sweater over that, and jeans. I weighed myself at home after that with just some light clothing like yoga pants and a tee and I weighed 241 at home, so I'm considering that my starting baby weight. As of last night I now weigh 226. I believe immediately after having the baby I lost something like 12 or 13 pounds. My mom kept telling me I would lose 20 pounds immediately, lol, which of course I didn't do. So my grand total weight loss so far (and I haven't been really watching what I eat) is 16 pounds.

I'll be honest with you as well, after the baby was born my mom stayed with us for another week and a half and we were eating whatever she cooked. Now, she wasn't making unhealthy food, but I was probably eating bigger portions than normal and we also ordered out for food and occasionally had a dessert here or there. This week I am home with my husband (who has the week off of work) and we are also doing a bit more cooking at home than usual. I'm still trying to get in a groove as far as eating goes but it's just taking longer than I expected, there is so much to do in a day with the baby and I'm still getting into the swing of everything.. diapers, changing, feedings, naps, etc., etc.! I figure by the first or second week when I am home alone with just the baby and I my food routine will start to fall into place.

So unfortunately I can't report on any weight loss, raw or vegan food recipes, or anything else health right now like working out ... all I can report is that my wonderful husband and I are now the proud parents of a beautiful baby boy and we couldn't be happier!

getting closer!!

wow! I have less than 2 days till our baby boy is coming into this world.. it's really surreal to think about it and I'm trying to just keep my mind off of it as the time gets closer. My mother is in town visiting and helping out with the baby and will be here for another 2 weeks so that is great, she's been such a big help already. We've gotten the baby stuff organized in the apartment and are just getting ready as much as we can, but I think that no matter how "ready" you are... you're never really ready. Having a baby is a day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute type thing.. you deal with it as it comes!

I'm already thinking ahead about what I'll be eating as I breastfeed/recover... and of course I get advice from everyone.. my husband just read online that supposedly a new study says you can start feeding babies whole foods at 4 months now instead of 6 months.. and that moms aren't getting enough iron in their diets like they should... so now I'm of course thinking where can I get iron from that's raw/vegan .. I don't want to have to become some giant meat eating carnivore! I did have some turkey over the weekend and ate a thanksgiving type meal that my mother-in-law made for us and some family.. and while my mom is here I've kinda been eating things like regular cereal, meals she makes, etc.... I dunno.. I'm just going to have to take it day by day (like I mentioned before) and once I get into a groove with the baby and get on a regular schedule it will all work out.

anyway.. this will probably be my last post here until after the baby is born and I'm home and recovered a bit... so see ya blogger peeps!

raw foods!

Here are some pics of some raw food I made late last week. The top picture is an almond butter and avocado fudge with walnuts on top. It's pretty much 100% raw except the walnuts weren't raw.. then the bottom pic is a salad that I found a recipe for online.. you can check it out here: http://www.rawfreedomcommunity.info/forum/showthread.php?t=67

the dessert was yummy of course.. and I am a big fan of avocado fudge.. basically what you do is take an avocado and since they are creamy and fatty and don't have much of a flavor of their own, you can flavor it anyway you choose.. I use raw cacao powder and honey and mix it together until I get the sweetness/consistency I like.. then put it in the freezer to harden it up or you can eat it as is like a pudding. All I did then was add a layer of almond butter to it and walnuts on top! Yum!

Now for the salad.. if you're like me, you're not a big salad eater.. but the thing is this.. there are SO many great salads and wonderful things to put on a salad.. you just have to get creative. This salad was really good.. I just substituted apple for the pear and added in cranberries (which weren't raw) to add some sweetness. Also, instead of onions I used shallots.. it turned out great and Tim loved it as well. So when it comes to salads, think beyond just carrots and mushrooms on plain lettuce!

Today I'm working on making some raw burgers from the following recipe: http://www.rawfreedomcommunity.info/forum/showthread.php?t=3467 they won't be 100% raw but close to it and they look good! I'll blog later to let you know how they turned out.

As I'm getting closer and closer to having my baby I'm realizing though that for the first few weeks things are going to be a little crazy.. getting used to a new baby at home, having my mom and sister here (who are trying to lose weight also but they are both on Weight Watchers and cook specific Weight Watchers recipes)... so I'm probably not going to be able to eat as much raw food as I would like during this time. I am, however, going to push green smoothies and make sure I at least have some of those for breakfast during these first few weeks. I was reading in a book (not a book about raw either) that said that smoothies with greens or green powders and fruit in them are great to have after a C section anyway because they keep everything moving so you don't get constipated plus they are nutritional power houses. This book also said I should eat a lot of oatmeal to promote milk production.. hmm, anyone heard of that one before?

Ok, that's it for today..... just one week until baby is here! This time next week I'll be a mommy!

Is it really worth it?

My husband and I live right next door to a BBQ place... THE bbq place for this city actually. It's always crowded, it got voted best BBQ on one of those morning news shows (like the Today Show, but it might have been a different one), and it was featured on Man vs. Food on the Travel Channel. Even though we live next door though we hardly eat there, but I do have to say in the mornings when we go out to the car it smells pretty darn good. They have to start preparing the meat in the mornings in order to sell it that afternoon/evening because they slow cook everything.

So last night my hubby was hungry and wanted to order some take out from there. I justified eating some red meat because I read somewhere online that before you have a C section you need to make sure you get a lot of iron in you since you might lose a lot of blood during the procedure. Yes, I know I can get iron from beans and other foods besides red meat, but I guess I was using this as an excuse to eat some meat and also my brain has probably been hardwired over the last 34 years to believe that iron from beans isn't as good as iron from meat. Either way, point is, I got myself a brisket sandwich with two sides.

I bit into the sandwich and while it was "ok", it wasn't great, and the brisket meat had quite a bit of fat on it. I personally DO NOT eat that and will pull it off. I ended up eating maybe only half of the sandwich, pulled a good portion of fat off the meat, and was done with it. In all honesty, it just wasn't that good and after I had finished eating it my hands smelled gross, like bbq. It was sort of disgusting to me. I did eat the sides which was mac and cheese and chili and while they tasted good in the moment, afterwards I felt heavy and sluggish and sorta wished I didn't eat any of it.

The good news is I think my taste buds are definitely changing already since I'm doing more green smoothies and raw foods. I may not be eating raw 100% of the time but I can tell that I'm leaning more towards lighter foods in general, which by the way, is amazing considering it's winter and snowing out, a time when people tend to want to eat heavy, hot meals.

So this is just something for me and you to consider next time you're eating something. Is it really worth it? That donut you're going to eat, is it really THAT good and will it really satisfy you or are you just eating it because a) it's a habit b) you think you want it c) you aren't consciously eating d) you're bored, etc? If you want something sweet, maybe try eating some fresh fruit first and see if that satisfies your craving. If it doesn't and you REALLY want to eat that donut, then allow yourself to. I'm going to really try to start thinking in these terms. Is that dessert one of my favorites? then maybe I will allow myself to have it.. but if I'm eating it just because my husband is eating something sweet and I don't want to be left out, then I should reconsider it.

How did I live before kelp noodles???

For me the hardest thing about eating healthy and raw food is preparation. I usually end up buying too much produce and it goes to waste or don't buy enough and then don't want to bother running back to the grocery store so I'll just eat something that's not healthy/raw that's already in the house. So these next two weeks before the baby gets here and I "officially" start trying to be more healthy and lose weight, I'm trying to make a raw recipe here and there so I'll have a few "go to" meals under my belt.

Today I made some raw kelp noodles with lightly steamed broccoli and a homemade, raw spicy peanut sauce. Let's break this recipe down:

1. Kelp noodles. These noodles can be found in Asian markets and health food stores. They come in a package and are pretty cheap and a great substitution for pasta. Even if you aren't trying to go raw, you could eat them instead of spaghetti to get less carbs in your diet and they are very low in calories. They don't have much of a flavor so you can use different sauces to make different types of meals with them and all you have to do is soak them in water to soften them, no cooking! Here's the brand I use:

http://kelpnoodles.com/products_seatangle_noodles.html

Broccoli: I love broccoli so I lightly steamed some (not raw) and put that on top of my noodles. You could add anything you like though to this dish.. grated carrots, olives, nuts, raw corn, whatever sounds yummy to you.

The spicy peanut sauce: Honestly, when I've gone raw in the past, I always would look at the recipes for these raw sauces or marinades and think "man, that is TOO much work! I'll just buy a bottle of peanut sauce and be done with it, even if it's not raw". Well, I couldn't be more wrong. I made the following sauce from a recipe I found online and it was actually really fun making it and I was surprised at how good it came out:

4-5 tbsp almond butter

1/4 cup filtered water

3 tbsp extra virgin coconut oil

1-2 jalapeno peppers, de-seeded

1 tbsp agave syrup

1 tbsp nama shoyu (a healthier version of soy sauce)

1/2-1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

I used honey instead of agave syrup so my dish wasn't vegan and I used a different type of pepper because my grocery store was out of jalapenos (I know! crazy, right?). The only thing I might have changed was to add some crushed red pepper flakes to it but it came out smooth with a little heat and a touch of sweetness as well on top of the almond butter flavor. I know a lot of these ingredients sound strange to people who don't eat raw foods or vegan but you can find everything at your local grocery store. Here's a pic of the final dish: (Ok, I still can't figure out how to put the picture in the bottom of the post, so it's at the top for now! sorry!)

This is definitely something that is easy to make, satisfying, and a meal I would eat a couple times a week and feel good with. Again, once the baby is here I'm going to try to have a green smoothie for breakfast every weekday, a raw meal for lunch every weekday, and then something healthy for dinner, preferably vegan or vegetarian. Weekends I'll just be trying to eat healthy in general.

Thanks for reading and if you decide to use some kelp noodles yourself let me know how you like them!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone.. I'm surprisingly really excited about the upcoming year. Usually New Years is just another day for me but this year I've got the baby boy coming and a healthy new outlook on life.. all is good.

So I mostly wanted to post about two things in pregnancy that no one ever told me about. I did the usual reading of pregnancy books, talking to friends and family, looking at websites, etc, but I don't remember reading anywhere about the following two issues:

1. Inner thigh/groin pain. I heard that your hips widen, your joints loosen, and your body just generally "opens up" as you get closer to giving birth.. but no one mentioned that this means pain in your inner thighs and groin area. It's not really "pain" to me actually, more like the feeling of when you pull a muscle and I only feel it when I get out of bed, off the couch, move too fast, etc. I think I started feeling this around the middle of my pregnancy... maybe at 20-22 weeks? I called one of my best girlfriends (who has a 1-1/2 month old as I type this) and she said she experienced this as well so that made me feel a bit better. And number two......

2. "numb" arm feeling. Probably around 31-32 weeks I started to notice that my left arm felt "numb" or asleep.. sort of like that pins and needles feeling. It freaked me out honestly at first.. I thought "oh my God, am I having a heart attack?". That along with being shorter of breath (which I knew happened in pregnancy) and feeling hot scared me a bit. So what did I do? Went to my handy friend Google and looked up "numb arm pregnancy". Up popped many websites and forums about women feeling something similar or even numb hands/wrists/or carpal tunnel syndrome type symptoms. Why doesn't anyone talk about this? Maybe it's a bit rare? Either way it lasted about a week or a week and a half and I've been fine ever since.

So to end this quick post I have a question for you readers.... I'll admit I'm a total newbie to blogging and blogger.com. I was trying to post some pictures but everytime I try the pictures pop up at the top of the blog entry instead of letting me type some text and then enter in the photo. What am I doing wrong? Can anyone out there in cyber-land give me some help on how to format my blogs better? I'll keep trying on my own too and hopefully I'll get some comments on how to perform this probably simple task.

thanks for reading everyone and Happy New Year to you and yours!!