Get my updates via eMail: Subscribe to The Progress of Biz

LIW +1.2
Overnight LOSS 0.8

Here is my menu for the day before – this is what I ate:

Breakfast: coffee with half and half, cottage cheese with mango/strawberries
Lunch: ground beef, blue cheese and raw hazelnuts
Dinner: greek salad, chicken stir fry
Snacks: 1.5 green smoothies – coconut bark – raw broccoli with blue cheese dressing

A total of 1842 cals divided: 91 fat grams (44%), 144 carb grams (29%), 123 protein grams (27%)

I am SO THRILLED! I am gonna tell you right now, these smoothies are FILLING! I am sipping on one right now – not as good as the one yesterday, but I am experimenting, and so wanna try different ones until I settle in on some that I like the best:

• 6.8 oz apple (skin still on, but cored)
• 5.8 oz pear (skin still on, but cored)
• 3 oz spinach
• 1/2 cup plain all natural yogurt

Now this one, in comparison to yesterdays, made a TON more – I could fill one of my glass water glasses yesterday with what I made, today, it looks like I will be able to fill this same water glass TWICE. I think I will like the ones made with banana a lot better than the ones made with yogurt, but like I said, I am experimenting.

I wanted to get into “SuperFoods” today, but I am running out of time. Now that spring has sprung, I am finding it harder and harder to get computer work done. I want to spend all of my time outside! And I just haven’t gotten my clock regulated back to Eastern Time since I got back from California. I am used to being up at like 4am and then there is plenty of time for me to work on my blog, but lately, I have been getting up at around 5:45am – 6:00am, just in time to wake the kids and get them going, and my day too!

I am just gonna have to figure out a better schedule. I miss my profound posts. I miss my blogging alot. I have so much to share inside this head of mine, and the time just keeps escaping me – give me time to figure out what my spring / summer schedule is gonna be like. I will get up to par, I promise.

Even at over 1800 calories, which is my BMR (with sedentary activity), I lost .8 lbs. What do you think about that? I am thrilled!

On to my commenter’s – these are my responses to yesterday’s comments:

JLO - Oh yeah, raw spinach!!! Do you have any idea what that is doing for your VISION???

Liz - Drop me a line when you get a chance and I will lead you thru the process of putting the link on your blog! Excellent!!!

B - LOL – hey, like I tell my kids all the time, all I want you to do is TRY!

Becca - Yeah, I am starting to keep more and more raw veggies around here just to snack on, they are SO good! I need to discover some new, cool dips for them, got any suggestions?

Mary - Thanks girl!

Jan - Hey, you can do the challenge while on P2 as well ya know? You don’t have to do smoothies, but you can concentrate on 50% of your food being raw, what do you think?

Get my updates via eMail: Subscribe to The Progress of Biz

LIW +2.0
Overnight LOSS 0.4

Here is my menu for the day before – this is what I ate:

Breakfast: WW bagel and cream cheese, coffee with half and half
Lunch: (kinda ate breakfast late, and dinner early)
Dinner: Chinese buffet, two times to the Mongolian Grill using shrimp, scallops, squid, zucchini, green onions, onions, cabbage, Kalbi, chicken wings
Snacks: banana, broccoli and blue cheese dressing, beer

A total of 1753 cals divided: 47 fat grams (24%), 137 carb grams (31%), 153 protein grams (36%)

Raw Foods

My focus recently has been on the benefits of raw foods – you heard me tell this story before, but the more I preach about it and the more people start to listen (including myself) the more I believe in the full benefits of eating “mostly” raw.

I started my challenge today – my goal today will be to eat at least 50% of my food (in weight) raw – with the focus on anything that is “green”. I made a little button for us to put on our blog somewhere that shows that we are doing the challenge:

What would be extra cool is if you went ahead and linked it back to this post so that whoever wants to join in can. I haven’t really thought about any ‘prizes’ – I still owe more than a few people prizes from pasts contests (and don’t think I have forgotten because I haven’t!) but I am sure they will be forth coming. I just really want to start creating a BUZZ on doing at least 50% raw.

I already provided you with some links to the benefits of ‘green’, but today, I want to focus in on the benefits of eating ‘raw’. Tomorrow, if all goes well, I will be focusing on what are termed “superfoods” – that is quite an interesting topic I tell you!

I guess it pretty goes without saying how beneficial it is to eat raw foods whenever we can. Some of the other benefits of eating raw foods are:

• Increased Energy
• Weight Loss
• Reduced chance of heart disease
• Better digestion (includes great colon health)
• Better skin
• Ease of preparation (one of Regina’s favorites)
• Ease of cleanup (again, one of Regina’s favorites)

Now people, I hope you don’t think that I have completely gone bonkers with my pushing of ‘raw foods’ – I am still in the real world, still living the fast paces life that causes one to have to deal with outside influences. All I am doing is trying to get into this body a bit more nutrition so it can last longer. My eventual goal is to go 75% – 85% raw. That would mean pretty much that the only thing I would be eating that was cooked would be my proteins. And even some of that can be ‘raw’ (can you say SASHIMI???)

Here is an excellent article on Green Smoothies – I am actually drinking one right now, and for the person that has constantly said – I would rather eat my meals than drink them, I am actually enjoying this quite well. I made it with:

• 3 oz spinach
• 4.5 oz banana
• 6 oz of mango / strawberry

If you can get over the green look, the taste is pretty nice. In fact, at first I thought it had sort of an aftertaste, but have now discovered, after consuming about one third of it, that the after taste has disappeared. I have also discovered how incredibly FILLING this is. GOOD GRIEF! After my first smoothie, I do believe I am sold.

You willing to try?

On to my commenter’s – these are my responses to yesterday’s comments:

Lili - Actually, it’s not at all bad, I am very much enjoying my drink this morning!

Mary - Mary, my sweet Mary, eat more RAW! Find SOMETHING you like raw and eat it ok? Make me that promise, I need you to live a long healthy life!

Regina - YES! I knew you would be in my corner! I can’t believe it girl, I honestly cannot believe how much I am enjoying this smoothie right now! Thank YOU for making me do the research.

B - try some different salad greens, spinach, spring mix, romaine, all of those are HEALTHY! We will get you on the Green Smoothie kick, I promise you! ROFL – shoot, if I can do it, anyone can!

Crystal - You starting again? WOO HOO FOR YOU! Excellent my friend, totally excellent. I sure hope you keep up with your blog on your progress!

Get my updates via eMail: Subscribe to The Progress of Biz

LIW +2.4
Overnight GAIN 0.6

Here is my menu for the day before – this is what I ate:

Breakfast: WW Bagel and Cream Cheese
Lunch: Mango and Strawberry Salad with Cottage Cheese
Dinner: Bulgogi (Korean BBQ Meat), squash and onions, large salad with blue cheese dressing, Beer
Snacks: banana, leftover hamburger patty, almonds

A total of 1965 cals divided: 83 fat grams (37%), 150 carb grams (29%), 121 protein grams (25%)

Spring Cleaning Challenge

As spring finally makes her appearance here in Coastal South Carolina, I find myself busier with offline pursuits. Yesterday for example, I got up a little later than normal so I didn’t have time to get online and post a post, or visit blogs or much of anything that was computer related. Once I did get up, I was pretty much going all day long.

Yesterday was glorious! The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, my plants were enjoying the warmth (as was I). While enjoying the rejuvenation that spring brings to the earth, I thought about how I might take the whole “spring cleaning” thing and apply it to my body.

As humans, we all develop a certain cushion when winter comes around. It’s just the time of year where we tend to throw all caution to the wind and allow ourselves to huddle down for the winter with warm, homey, comfort foods – but when spring hits, we all tend to think, let’s get ready for summer! Let us use the spring to bounce ourselves with all eagerness into all the fun that summer brings!

Spring is the time we normally prepare our homes, our yards, our lives, and we get ready for the rest of the year. How about we get our bodies ready also???

Now is the time for us to take advantage of all the good things that nature can provide us that is new and fresh. Fresh greens, fresh herbs, fresh veggies, fresh fruits, all the first produce from the season are at optimum levels for health! Are you taking advantage of the spring?

I am! I want to take advantage of the spring time offerings and want to concentrate on getting more veggies, more fruits, trying more herbs, getting in more greens – how about you? I propose a challenge to all my readers. Let’s take this next week and concentrate on going for at least 50% of our food to be from the “raw” and preferably GREEN category. Whether you are on P2, P3 or P4, we can all accept this challenge!

Let’s concentrate on “green” – WHY?

• Leafy Green Vegetables May Help Keep Brains Sharp Through Aging
• Fight cancer with dark green vegetables
• Green Leafy Vegetables – Nutritional Powerhouses

So what are some “green” vegetables (and fruits) that we can concentrate on?

• GREEN FRUITS & VEGETABLES

What I find completely interesting about the above list is how similar the veggies are to the ones that Dr Simeons asked us to eat on protocol. Isn’t that amazing?

What do I mean by 50% raw? If you eat 3.5 oz of chicken (using P2 weights) they you must match that with at least 3.5 oz of a RAW veggie. You would have eaten 7 oz of food, but 50% of it was raw. Get it? Normally, on P2, I try to eat one meal with a cooked veggie and one meal with a raw veggie:

4 oz fruit (raw)
3.5 oz protein (cooked)
6 oz raw veggie (raw)
4 oz fruit (raw)
3.5 oz protein (cooked)
5 oz cooked veggie (cooked)

As you can see from my P2 menu example above, I am getting 13 oz of raw food and then 13 oz of cooked food. That is 50% eaten raw – this is just an example to show that you can do this on P2 as well as P3-P4.

Who is with me???

Ewewho has started making green smoothies every morning, and she has already made the commitment to go at least 50% raw (for her and her husband) and is already experiencing a noticeable difference in her health – as well as PHENOM changes in her husbands health. And it’s only been a FEW days!

If you decide to take on this challenge, let me know. I have all kinds of ways you can contact me, either here by commenting, or my tag-board, or I have a contact form in the left side bar of my blog. We will start the challenge tomorrow, MONDAY APRIL 14th, and continue it for 7 days. I will come up with all the particulars by tomorrow morning and post them, rules and such. Like I said, it doesn’t matter if you are on P2, P3 or P4 – everyone can participate!

Oh! I am getting excited again! Starting to get my MOJO back! It’s spring people, time to LIVE-IT, not DIE-IT!!!

On to my commenter’s – these are my responses to Friday’s comments:

Mary - Nope, not beating myself up at all. I am doing MOST excellent! Don’t ever associate bad vibes with eating girlfriend, get over that ok?

Liz - Ah yes, we have to be reminded of what is real eh? I think what I have proposed as a challenge will get us ALL on the right track. What do you think?

CB - Awww, look at you sweetie, you are MY hero!!! I am on your coat tails, following your lead!

Becca - I remember that show! I could NEVER do that, my brain just doesn’t work that way. Did you ever watch Frasier? There was an episode where Martin (the father) got a vanity plate, and I was like, um, uh, I don’t get it! I felt just like FRASIER – HA! Girl? It aint nothin but a thang! LOL

B - Oh gosh B, thank you so much!

Lili - HERE! HERE!

Amie – Glad it was of some good! I sit here and have constant conversations with myself, trying to always weigh the pros and cons of any decision that I make. I am always glad when someone gets some good use out of my ramblings!