I on the other hand have lost a total of 10 pounds now! I am realizing that without salt, my ankles are quite thin and I've missed them. I truly haven't seen them for years; not like this. This only motivates me to keep going for myself. I will still can, freeze, prepare healthy foods for this family. I cannot however force them to accept it. I will be 50 years old this year and it has taken me most of my life to come to the point where I am believing that I matter as much as everyone else. This in itself has been a hard journey for me. Self acceptance. I still look at my photograph and cringe. My Popeye looking eye (ah kah kah kah) and my double chin (which I hope will be gone soon). I see flaws where I should see differently. I'm still a work in progress and when I begin teaching again, I am going to have to learn how to separate work and home in the way that when I leave school, I enter home and let the two be separate entities. Too often I am so absorbed and immersed in what I am doing all day that I let it affect my mood in my own safe haven. I have felt relatively calm this summer since beginning this journey and it amazes me. My aches and pains have lessened as have my allergies and my restless leg syndrome. I still treat them all but something is definitely different and I am trying to hold onto this euphoric feeling that I have been experiencing.
I keep going to the grocery store to get fresh food. I am going to begin canning fruits and freezing vegetables so that my family can enjoy them all year long. I will can my sauces and salsas too. I am baking bread without salt and getting healthy items. It feels great. Even my daughter was excited over the healthy cereal choices Lo and I came home with last night. Kashi and Target both make expensive (over $3 a box) cereals but they are low in sodium and sugar and have lots of fiber. I even found some items at the Dollar Store like Malt O' Meal cereals that have little to no sodium and high fiber and some snacks like Kettle Corn popcorn with very little sodium and sugar. In searching for these food items, I am becoming more open to discovering new stores and little markets. This has become quite exciting to me. I have even located some U-pick berry farms that I plan on dragging my kids to. Lo, being Mexican said that he refuses to pick berries. I am some times shocked at the stereotypical prejudices he places on himself. I find humor in it but not much.
Tonight, I cooked lean pork cutlets. I minced fresh cilantro, garlic and parsley and put this on top of each cutlet. I sprinkled paprika, basil and thyme on each one. Then I broiled the meat, putting the same topping on the cutlets when I flipped them. They were a tad dry. I should have marinated them in a bit of olive oil and some lemon juice beforehand but now I know. I cut up some baby, red potatoes, a red onion, fresh mushrooms and sauteed them in a bit of olive oil as a side dish. Then I made a Romaine/spinach salad with fresh, grated Swiss cheese, cherry tomatoes and cucumber. I found a spritz salad dressing spray that is low in calories and in fat and salt. I felt good about serving this to the gang and aside from the shared feeling that the pork should have been marinated, we loved the dinner.
Since I am trying to lose weight I am going to post pictures of my progress. Below is a recent picture of Lo and I. It was taken this week. I began at 282 pounds. I am now 272 pounds. Lo began at 230 pounds and keeps fluctuating between 222 and 226. As you can see, we need to lose weight. For a longer life and a healthier one. After posting this, I am going to walk the 3 dogs. I take them in two shifts. Easier on me. Until tomorrow, enjoy your night. I will post some more recipes I have tweaked at that time.
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