Listing Details
| ID: | 915 |
| Title: | Escape From Obesity |
| URL: | http://www.escapefromobesity.blogspot.com/ |
| Category: | Health: Weight Loss |
| Description: | A look into the life and inner thoughts of an obese woman. |
| Day 1/30, and Healthier Sausage Kale Soup - 2012-05-17 12:54:00 |
| Yesterday was a very *good* day. I had some free range eggs, bacon, and half a banana for breakfast. I took a short walk with the pup (I am still feeling under the weather but the sunshine was nice!). I drank protein shakes and made a lovely soup from the fresh local organic kale I had in the fridge, and rounded out the day with strawberries and raspberries. I was craving a rich, flavorful, healthy soup for dinner last night so I Googled many variations of kale soup. I found lots of recipes, many purporting to be just like the Zuppa Tuscana soup they serve at Olive Garden. But most of the recipes called for lots of fatty ingredients and lots of carby potatoes or white beans. I decided to throw together my own version with less fat and fewer carbs. Here it is: Healthier Sausage Kale Soup 10 ounces raw, ground lean Italian chicken sausage (or turkey sausage) 1/2 of a fresh onion, diced 3 cloves of garlic, chopped 1 tsp olive oil dried herbs to taste: Italian seasoning OR oregano/basil/marjoram; garlic powder, parsley, crushed red pepper flakes, black pepper, and thyme 2 cups low sodium chicken stock 1/3 - 1/2 c water 1 small potato, washed and thinly sliced with the skin on (mine was only about 3-4" long and 2" wide. You can use more if you like, or sub raw sliced cauliflower if you want lower carbs) fresh raw kale, cleaned, thick ribs and stems removed, chopped coarsely (I used about 3-4 cups) 1/3 cup milk (I used whole; 2% would probably be fine) Brown the sausage in a nonstick pan and drain off any grease. Add olive oil, onion, and garlic and saute until veggies are soft. Add herbs and cook another minute. Add chicken stock and water and bring to a boil. Add sliced potatoes, lower heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add the kale and simmer another 5-10 minutes or until potatoes are *very* tender, almost falling apart. Add the milk and heat through without boiling. Taste for seasonings; add salt if needed. Makes about 3 large bowls of soup.  By the way, this morning started with a bang, including a cup of coffee spilled into my laptop and purple cough syrup spilled down the front of my daughter's dress just as we were about to leave for school. I did get my walk in already, had eggs with bacon and 1/2 banana for breakfast and a bowl of leftover soup for lunch. It's only going to get better from here! ***Edited to add nutrition facts for this soup recipe, as requested*** One large bowl of this soup (1/3 of the recipe) contains: 228 calories 7 g fat 19.5 g carbs 4 g fiber 23.6 g protein (If you drain any fat from the sausage after browning, the fat and calories for the recipe will be lower. I had to calculate this using data for raw sausage).   |
| 214, 30 Days, No Excuses - 2012-05-16 09:33:00 |
| It was August 2008 when I first hit the exciting milestone of seeing 214 pounds on the scale. It had taken me 10 months to lose 60 pounds, and nearly two months to lose another four pounds to see 214. And there, I got stuck... for a very long time. I went back up a bit and you may remember that it took me TWENTY MONTHS to get back down to 218 again, when I postedthese picturesin April 2010. And now, here I am a year later, once again looking at 214 pounds on the scale. What is it about this weight? I got lower, I regained. I always seem to stick and settle here. And it is frustrating. Yes, it's a far cry better than 278 pounds, but it is not where I want to be. I have even tried to "accept" it and thought about whether I could just stay at this weight and be okay with that. But the answer is NO. And today I sat down and thought about all the reasons/excuses (depending on your vantage point, I guess, because to *me* they seem like reasons while to some they may sound like excuses) that I have not been losing weight. I am sick. I am in pain. Whenever I ramp up my exercise, I end up with knee pain/shoulder pain/foot pain. I am too busy. I like food for comfort. I don't want to give up xyz. I stay on plan and the scale doesn't move. I am so tired. And so forth. But the thing is, I can keep letting these reasons BE... even if I truly feel they are valid reasons... and they *will* continue to keep me fat and I *will* look up and another 2 years will have gone by and the scale will still say 214 pounds. That is a choice I can make. Even if I truly believe the reasons are real and insurmountable, the result is the same. I want a different result. I am not going to be a victim to my reasons anymore. I made a promise to myself this morning... and now I will share it with you... that I will put forth my very best, no excuses/reasons, 100% effort for the next 30 days *regardless* of how sick, tired, or busy I am. I will give it my all whether I feel like it or not. I do not care what it takes, I have got to get some momentum going on this weight loss thing. I have been comfortable for way too long.   |
| Building Immunity - 2012-05-15 20:03:00 |
| I've been doing a little reading about ways to build immunity and things to avoid as well, made easier by some of the comments you left guiding me in the right direction. I haven't talked in detail about my children's health issues, but I will share that my daughter started life (and toddlerhood) with a very compromised immune system. She's taken antibiotics more than half the days of her life because of medical issues from birth. That takes a toll on a body. She and I tend to get sick at the same time; usually she is sick first, then I am caring for her/losing sleep and stressed and a week later I get whatever she had. The other kids don't get sick nearly as often... it just seems that way when there are a lot of kids! So, we're focused lately on eating more fresh fruits and veggies (which is a challenge for my sweet girl, but she is trying hard!). We have a chart in the kitchen where she writes down the names of all the fruits and veggies she tries and whether they are a "yes", a "no" or a "maybe." And since taste buds change, we revisit the maybe's frequently. I got her some new, better multivitamins today (Animal Parade  ) and some immune support supplements for us both (Black Elderberry Syrup and another supplement I never heard of before calledSinupret ). We're both using saline nasal rinse and tonight for dinner I cooked up several things that are supposed to be good for the immune system: black beans with onions, garlic, peppers, homemade chicken stock, and oregano. We ate it over brown rice and it was very good. I also bought several kinds of fresh berries to have for dessert.I would really like to be healthy enough and have the energy to focus on weight loss *and* health. I am pretty sure if I wait for that to happen, I will just end up fatter, so I am doing what I can to eat good wholesome foods in smaller amounts so that maybe the weight will come off even while I am not feeling well. We'll see. I do find it interesting that in the first 8 months I was strictly on Medifast, I did not get sick once. Not once. And when I started messing around going off plan, I started getting sick occasionally... just colds and such. Makes me wonder what, exactly, I was eating that supported my immune system so well or what, exactly, I added back in that lowered my immune system.   |