H.U.M.A.N.

I am human. We are all human. What exactly does it mean to be human? I was thinking about this one day as I was pondering all the changes I’ve been making in my life in the last few years and I came up with an acronym for the word human. It is: 

Hasty

Undesirable

Missteps

Are

Normal

When a person decides to make long-term changes it doesn’t always go smoothly. As a matter of fact, it rarely goes smoothly. When a person has habits that they’ve been living with for years, it isn’t easy to change them and it doesn’t happen overnight. I am living proof of this. I have realized that no matter how perfect I want to be and no matter how determined I am, I will experience times when I make hasty undesirable missteps. I also realized this is perfectly normal.

In October 2004 I made a commitment to change and live a different lifestyle from any way I’d EVER lived before. I decided I wanted to lose weight and in order to do that I knew I was going to have to do two things 1) eat differently and 2) exercise consistently. Exercise hadn’t been a part of my life for several years, but as I was growing up I loved playing sports. I was the only girl in my high school that took P.E. classes after the required class our freshman year. I’m proud to say I took P.E. all four years and I loved every minute of it! So even though I had not been exercising I knew I wouldn’t have a hard time working it into my life because I knew I’d enjoy it. Eating on the other hand was a different story. Prior to 2004, I don’t ever remember eating healthy. Sure, I ate healthy foods, but I ate a LOT of junk. Healthy eating was going to be the challenge for me. However, I was so determined to lose weight that I managed to change my eating habits. I ate using the divided plate method. I ate normal sized portions of protein, high fiber carbohydrates, plenty of vegetables and some fruit and dairy. For the most part I avoided junk food. I lost 40 pounds in 14 months. I was so happy, but I was human!

From 2006 to 2012 I continued on my journey with a lot of H.U.M.A.N. episodes. I never really gave up on the healthy lifestyle/losing weight, but I definitely had my periods of time when I didn’t exercise consistently or my eating habits weren’t so good and I gained some of my weight back. In June 2012 I had an “ah ha” moment. It was the moment I decided I REALLY wanted to seriously get back to this journey of living a healthy lifestyle. At that point I was experiencing a lot of fatigue, which was totally abnormal for me. I was tired of being tired. I had begun eating a paleo diet (NF: The Beginner's Guide to The Paleo Diet) to see if that would help and although I found this to be a way of eating that I really enjoyed it didn’t seem to be helping my fatigue issues. So on June 16, 2012 I redoubled my effort and I haven’t stopped since. Now that is not to say in the last year and a half I haven’t had some H.U.M.A.N. episodes because I have.

I realized something, no matter how long I’m doing this I will always have H.U.M.A.N. episodes because, well, because I’m human! Each and every time I have a H.U.M.A.N. episode I could see it as a failure or I can say, hasty undesirable missteps are human and it’s not the end of the world. It doesn’t mean that I can’t pick up where I left off before the H.U.M.A.N. episode and move on with my life. After all, what is one H.U.M.A.N. episode in the whole scheme of your life? I am a huge fan of the Nerd Fitness site and Steve has a post about this very thing. It’s titled “GetThe **** Over It.”

Being H.U.M.A.N. means that even with the best of intentions, sometimes you just do something that isn’t perfect. Let me ask you this question. Do you know anyone who is 100% perfect? No. Hmmm, that doesn’t surprise me. No one is perfect. So then, why is it that when we decide to make some changes to live a healthier life we expect ourselves to be perfect? Stop, stop right now! Stop expecting yourself to be perfect and then beating yourself up when you have a H.U.M.A.N. episode. After all, we are all human. All of us need to realize hasty undesirable missteps are normal.

I will leave you with this one thought. When you have done something that you consider to be a failure, I want you to think of one thing. What would you say to a person who came to you with the same issue? For example, since the beginning of December I have been eating very healthy. Then about two-three weeks ago I let the number on the scale depress me and I ate some junk one day. One day turned into two days, and now I’ve gone about 3 weeks with eating more junk than I’d had in two months. I could get really down on myself and say “You’re such a failure. You won’t ever get this right. You’re doomed and you will NEVER get to your goal weight.”  Or, I could think about what I’d say to someone else who had experienced the same thing. This is what I’d probably say to them, “Hey, I understand. It’s okay. Think about how many good days you had in that 2 ½ months vs. the number of bad days. The good days far outweigh the bad days. Also, you were doing some awesome workouts and you never let those go. You can do this. You hit a little speed bump and it knocked you off your bike. Get back on and get going again, you can do it!” So if I’m willing to cheer up someone else with positive and encouraging words, why must I kick myself, making myself feel worse than I already do? The point is, I shouldn’t! I should treat myself with as much respect and encouragement as I do my fellow man/woman because we, myself included, are all H.U.M.A.N.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms: New Recipe of the Week #8

Well it stands to reason if you are trying 52 new recipes in one year some of them are bound to turn out "not so good." The Crab Stuffed Mushrooms I made for tonight's Super Bowl gathering definitely fall into this category.

I got the recipe from Against All Grains. This is the first recipe from that site that I haven't really cared for. I made this recipe especially for my darling hubby because he likes mushrooms. I thought it would be a nice surprise for him. He was surprised all right, surprised by an overly fishy tasting mushroom that he didn't care for either. No one that tried these liked them. They were too "fishy." I don't know if all crab meat has a very strong flavor, but even as these were baking the fish smell was overpowering. I have had crab legs before and I like them so I thought I would at least find these tolerable. However, the fishy smell was so overpowering I didn't even try them.

  The crab stuffed mushrooms were easy to make and one I would be willing to make again, with some adjustments. The next time I try these I will be using chopped shrimp instead of crab meat. I think I'll change up the main part of the filling too. I'll be looking online for the filling used in crab rangoons. I'll add some shrimp to it, fill the mushrooms with it and see what happens.

Damn Fine Chicken: New Recipe 2014 #7

I eat a lot of chicken and I eat it prepared a lot of different ways. I have discovered chicken leg quarters are the cheapest cuts of chicken to buy and that works out great for me since my favorite piece of chicken is the thigh. The legs are probably my second favorite, but since my darling hubby likes the legs the best, getting the leg quarters are a good deal for us. With a package of chicken leg quarters I can make fried chicken, boil it to use the meat in chicken and noodles, marinate it and bake it like this recipe called for or grill it. I used to always buy the boneless skinless chicken breasts, but I think I'll be buying more chicken leg quarters in my future.

I'm not sure where I saw this recipe for Nom Nom Paleo's Damn Fine Chicken posted, but it looked really good and it only required that I buy one ingredient I didn't have so I was off to the store to buy some sherry vinegar. I didn't actually find sherry vinegar, but I did buy the sherry cooking wine and I used it. Apparently, I didn't substitute the right thing for the sherry vinegar, because after some searching I found this blog about The Best Substitute for Sherry Vinegar. Oh well, no harm done. I made the chicken using the sherry cooking wine and it turned out pretty good.

After going to the store my refrigerator was full of produce so when I was marinating the chicken I didn't have anywhere to put it in the refrigerator. It was a pretty cold day so I just put it out on our front porch. The aroma from the marinade permeated the house. It smelled like onion/garlic all over the house.

I didn't really eat supper the night I made this. I was busy working away on my school stuff and when that happens I just don't take a break to eat. This chicken turned out to be a nice snack at 8:00pm when I finally broke away from my lesson planning. I do believe I enjoyed it even better for breakfast this morning. My darling hubby looked at me kind of strange when he saw me eating chicken for breakfast, but honestly I can eat chicken at any meal and if it is good chicken I could eat it three meals a day.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa: New Recipe 2014 #6

I whipped up some of the Roasted Tomatillo Salsa from the Against All Grains cookbook. Click on the link to get a sneak peak of  what is in the cookbook.

I haven't tried the salsa yet as a salsa. I use it in another recipe I make from the cookbook. When I this batch I decided to try it with a couple of chips. Oh My! I think I added too many Serrano peppers because it was rather hot and spicy! I need to let my dad try it, he's the one who always orders the hot spicy dip at the Mexican restaurants.

The green color is a bit odd. I'm not used to eating dip that is green, but other than it being too hot for my tastes, it seemed to be good as a dip.

Granny Sarella's Spaghetti Sauce: New Recipe 2014 #5

As ordinary as my life is, sometimes it gets really busy. As such, I've gotten behind in my blogging. So get ready for a whirlwind of blogs to be posted today! I have several new recipes to share and a thought about being human and what that means.

My original goal with the New Recipe idea was to make one new recipe each week. I'm adapting that goal now to try a total of (at least) 52 new recipes during the year 2014. I will aim to try one new recipe each week, but sometimes I'll try out more than one, while other times I'll be too busy or not in a position to try anything new. I'll start labeling my recipes by number so I can keep track  and stay on somewhat of a schedule.

About a week and a half ago I tried a new recipe for spaghetti sauce. I don't think I have ever made homemade spaghetti sauce. In the 26 years I've been married our spaghetti sauce has always come out of a jar. I always keep about 3 jars of spaghetti sauce on hand. It is an easy meal when I'm tired. On those occasions we'll have a meatless meal. I'll boil some spaghetti, open the jar of sauce, dump it on the hot spaghetti, stir and tada, an easy hot meal. I am happy to report that I really liked this spaghetti sauce and I anticipate we will be using this sauce from now on. Well we will be using it after we use up the three jars that are in the pantry. In order to have enough of this on hand I'll have to prepare a large batch and freeze several jars of it. With several jars in the freezer, I'll still have that fall back, easy meal to prepare and this sauce has meat in it!!!

Granny Sarella's Spaghetti Sauce over spaghetti squash and sauteed' spinach

The recipe for Granny Sarella's Spaghetti Sauce came from Danielle Walker's cookbook Against All Grains. This is my new favorite cookbook and I just got it around Christmas time. The spaghetti sauce is made with ordinary ingredients most people already have in their kitchen. It does have an interesting twist. Along with the pound of ground beef that is in it, it also calls for 1 pound of bone in pork. After searing the pork in a skillet you add it to the sauce and let it cook in the simmering sauce. This was awesome because I cooked the spaghetti sauce on a Saturday. Most of it was gone by Monday, but I had the pork to take in my lunch. I just cooked up some green beans and I had three lunches for the upcoming week.

Back to the cookbook Against All Grains, it is a grain free cookbook. Danielle Walker has an autoimmune disease and at one time was very ill. She is now managing her disease through a grain free, dairy free diet. A couple of things I like about the cookbook are that she has three sections dealing with "navigating a new lifestyle," "my ingredients," and "my equipment." She has an amazing website which is also called Against All Grains. Although the spaghetti sauce recipe I made for my "new recipe" is in her cookbook and I can't share the recipe in this blog, you can check out the recipe she has on her blog for Spaghetti with Meat Sauce. There are also tons of other good recipes on the blog. Against All Grains also has a facebook page. If you'd like to venture into the world of grain free cooking check out Danielle's blog and facebook page.

One day soon, in another post, I'll share how I ventured into the primal/paleo diet that I follow and the results I'm experiencing.

Mexican Chicken Chowder: New Recipe Of The Week

Today's new recipe was Mexican Chicken Chowder from the cookbook Against All Grains. The soup consisted of chicken, some homemade Roasted Tomatilla Salsa from the same cookbook, chicken broth, cubed sweet potatoes, sliced carrots, lime juice, garlic, and fresh spinach. I wasn't sure I was going to like the recipe because of the sweet potatoes, but it turned out to be quite tasty. It is probably one of my favorite soups.

Against All Grain's Mexican Chicken Chowder

 In this recipe the soup was thickened without using any flour or cornstarch. This thickening trick is one I just recently learned. After all of the ingredients are cooked, ladle out some of the vegetables and put them in a blender with a little bit of the soup liquid. Blend it up until it is smooth. Then add it back in to the soup and ta da...your soup is thickened.

Against All Grains is one of my favorite sites to get recipes from. I have not tried one of her recipes that I haven't liked. This is the site where I found the recipe for grain free tortillas. I'm glad there are those people who create these delicious recipes for us to prepare!

Fitness Should/Needs To/Has To Be FUN!

A few years ago I decided I needed to lose weight because over the years I'd gained quite a few pounds. You know how it goes...I was an average high school athlete and I loved sports. I played volleyball, basketball, ran track and cross country, played softball in the summer and I was the only girl who took physical education classes all four years I was in high school. I wasn't afraid to play with the boys, as a matter of fact, I relished it. Anyway, back to my story. After high school I went to college. I took a couple of P.E. classes just for fun and after college I occasionally played racquetball with some friends, but by the time I got married and had kids I let my busy life take over and I rarely did any form of physical activity.

Fast forward to October 2004 when I made the decision to lose weight. I purchased a few dumbbells and found a weight training program I could do that used only dumbbells. I also picked up an exercise bike for $50. Almost every day I used my dumbbells and rode my exercise bike and I eventually shed 40 pounds. The thing is I was enjoying the physical activity which is one reason I kept doing it. Now it is 9 years later and I still enjoy the physical exercise and it is a very real part of my life. Over the last few years besides doing weight lifting with the dumbbells and riding the exercise bike I've ventured into the life of running, both outdoors and on a treadmill, I've ridden hundreds of miles on my two outdoor bikes, I've taken kickboxing classes, I've done a bit of rollerblading, I've learned how to swim laps, I've trained for a sprint triathlon, I've done yoga workouts and I've recently gotten into doing bodyweight workouts. The thing about ALL of these activities is that they have been fun for me. I guess I must explain the word fun as it relates to some of this stuff. At times, in the middle of a workout it might not be exactly fun. I mean I might be sucking air, feeling like I'm going to throw up and my muscles will be trembling so I wouldn't say at that particular moment it is FUN. Quite the contrary, at that point I might be asking myself, "Why the heck am I doing this?" But the thing is, after workout I feel such a sense of accomplishment and before the next workout, I actually WANT to do another workout.

I have said often, if you don't like the workouts you are doing then you need to find a workout that you DO like doing. No one wants to do something on a consistent basis that they don't enjoy, which is why if you are doing workouts you don't enjoy you will eventually stop doing them. I'm no one special, I'm not a personal trainer and I have no educational background in health or fitness, but I have been learning and doing for the last nine years so I have figured out some significant things, one of them being to pick exercise that you enjoy doing. If you don't know what you enjoy then try some different things. You may be surprised at what you will like doing. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd enjoy yoga, but I do.

I've never really loved running until recently. Actually, the only reason I ran long distance in high school is because I can't sprint very fast, I can't jump and I didn't want to do the shot put or discus so that left running long distance. I never really liked it, but I tolerated it. As an adult, I began running because it was challenging and it is something you can do with no equipment except for a pair of running shoes. I still didn't really like it much, but I did feel good about myself when I got done so I guess that's why I kept running. Then I heard about the run/walk method promoted by Jeff Galloway. I started doing that, running 3 or 4 minutes and walking 1 minute and I actually started to like running. After doing the run/walk method for several months I tried something else based on some information I got from a running friend of mine. I started running within a certain heart rate zone (my fat burning zone) and that is when I fell in love with running. I went from running 11-12 minute miles to running 13-15 minute miles, but something amazing happened. I could run three times as far, four times as long and I could run every day instead of 3 times a week. I did all this and my body didn't hurt like it did when I was running the 11-12 minute miles. My longest run to date has been nine miles and that, my dear friends, astounds me. It was only possible because I found a method of running that works for me and allows me to enjoy it.

The title of my post is Fitness Should/Needs To/Has To Be Fun because that is what I whole-heartedly believe. For the last year running has been a lot of fun for me and I've done things I never thought possible. However, right now, running is no longer fun. Oh sure, if I go out for a run I enjoy it, but the thought of working running into my fitness routine right now just makes me go, "Eh, not really in to it right now." And you know what, I'm okay with that. For right now I'm really working on building strength with some weightlifting/bodyweight workouts and that seems to be where I want to focus my fitness goals. Biking has started to appeal to me again too. I wasn't biking as much when I started running more, but now that I'm backing off on the running, biking is something I want to start doing again. Since the weather is cold right now I'll settle for logging a bunch of miles on my exercise bike. I love spinning on my exercycle because I read while spinning so I get to do two things I enjoy. To sum things up, sometimes I run, sometimes I bike, sometimes I focus on weightlifting. Whatever makes me happy is what I focus on doing because when I roll out of bed at 4:30am I want to have a smile on my face and look forward to what I'm doing.