Teaching A Class on Health & Nutrition

This coming Friday I am teaching a class on Health and Nutrition. It is an assignment for The School of Natural Healing that Amanda and I have been taking for the last 2 plus years. We are in our final year and hope to be finished in September. One of our assignments is to teach a class from a list of topics. One of them is on health and nutrition. We have to teach to at least 6 people. I get nervous just thinking about teaching, but I "feel" like I am supposed to teach about this subject. Ever since I changed my lifestyle: eating healthy whole foods, exercising and thinking positively, and lost 85 pounds, I want to share it with others and let them know that it IS possible and easy. Getting in front of people is not actually as scary as I always make it out to be, it is the preparing and the wondering how they "perceive" me and the materials I am presenting. It is definitely a whole lot easier to teach this subject than to teach anything in church (which I had to do yesterday - whew! so glad that is over). I want this class to be fun, not to exciting, but definitely not boring, and very motivational, so people leave thinking that THEY CAN DO THIS!!!! I have the material down, now I just need to work on the approach. Since I am not a born speaker, I wonder how this is done? More studying is needed on this subject.

Day 4 off of the Systemic Yeast Cleanse Diet

Oh, what fun it is to eat!

It has been wonderful to have green smoothies and strawberries/yogurt/granola and popcorn again. I truly missed my delicious friends. Last night I made homemade ice cream. It would have been wonderful, but I added some garam masala (which I have never used before) and put in way too much. Garam Masala is a natural thickening agent and for some unknown reason I thought I should add it to the ice cream. I never have before, and I never will again. It is slimy when mixed with liquid, and makes things thick, like gel. If we had thrown the ice cream on the ceiling it probably would stick there forever. It altered the texture and made the ice cream kind of weird to eat. Otherwise the ice cream was very tasty.

Chocolate Ice Cream
4 cups almond milk
1 cup agave
1/2 cup raw cocoa powder

Blend in a blender add chocolate chips and peppermint flavoring if you want want mint chocolate chip flavor and pour into an ice cream maker. I use the kind that uses the frozen bowl, and sits on the countertop. I have several different kinds of ice cream over the last two years and love it. It is also really good with soaked cashews and dates, the cashews make it creamy and with the addition of dates you can reduce the agave in half, making it more healthy. One day I want to use coconut milk. I have heard that it makes everything more creamy.

I have decided that I want to try "very hard" not to eat buttered popcorn and so I am trying different things. On Saturday night I mixed a little olive and coconut oil and seasonings (salt, onion and garlic powder). It was very tasty, but after several minutes the oils were feeling very heavy in my stomach. I just don't know what to do, because I don't want to return to butter, and I don't want to give up popcorn. What a dilemma.

Todays lunch was a taco salad with tortilla chips on top. Tasted wonderful.

Day 18

Breakfast
Omelette
1 egg
onion, garlic, green pepper, cabbage

Lunch
Cauliflower, carrot and celery sticks
Hummus
Soaked almonds
(I was at the BYU Family History Library today)

Dinner
Butternut squash soup (unthawed from the freezer)
to which I added curry paste and grated ginger
Shelled nuts

I got on the scales this morning and was very happy to see that I have lost another 5 pounds. That is 13 pounds in all these past 18 days. That is seriously awesome. I am so glad for this experience if for nothing else, it got me back to eating more vegetables and getting away from the breads and butter (popcorn mostly). I know want to follow a more vegan diet and try to eat 70% of my diet raw foods. I feel so much better when I eat this way.

I am way excited to have a fruit smoothie tomorrow. I went grocery shopping early this morning on the way to BYU and bought soy yogurt, strawberries, bananas, oranges, tangelos, and granola. For now I am going to try and stay away from bread. I want to eat whole grain muffins (which I baked yesterday morning) and tortillas which I want to start making from scratch. I need to experiment and get a good recipe that will work. The only problem is that from everyone I have spoken with you cannot get a good homemade tortilla without using white flour....about 50/50. Once I get started on bread, I get addicted to it and eat too much, so that is why I want to not have any around.

I just could not decide what to make with the chicken I took out of the freezer this morning before I left. I asked Dennis and he said he would rather have tomato soup. I made him tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich. I found some butternut squash I had made sometime in the past and decided that was easy.

I DID IT! I finished the whole 18 days and survived to tell about it. I feel better that I have in over a year. Since I don't have any real way of knowing if this was a successful cleanse or not, I just have to have faith that it worked and my body will now start to absorb the nutrients it really needs, especially the calcium.

Day 17

Breakfast
Omelet
2 eggs
onions, garlic, green peppers, grated cabbage

Snack
Soaked almonds
Cashews

Lunch
Lettuce Salad
(same typical one I have eaten for the past 3 weeks)

Dinner
Butternut squash
Steamed broccoli and cauliflower
Fried potatoes (freshly dug from the garden today) and salsa

I worked out in the yard for about 5 hours today and it felt so good. I pruned the apple tree and the big rose bush behind the house, cut small and picked up all the tree branches, dug potatoes, cleaned out the flower bed under the cherry tree and around the grapes, swept off the steps to the shed and raked the back lawn all along the grapes, around the pine tree and the cherry tree. It was a lot of work, but I felt so good and I just kept going until I needed to quit and fix dinner. After I put everything away and walked in the house my body started giving out. My muscles were revolting and I could barely finish dinner. Dennis got home about 8:00 which is very late for him and I had just finished eating and sat on the coach to talk to him while he ate, and I fell asleep. I was thoroughly exhausted.

Day 16

Breakfast
Omelet
2 eggs
onion, garlic, celery, green pepper
Salsa

Lunch
Fresh, raw vegetable soup
Raw broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, onion, garlic, frozen corn, thawed
Boiling water
Chicken bouillon
Put raw vegetables in Vitamix, add bouillon and boiling water. Blend until thoroughly mixed.
Enjoy. I thought it was very tasty.
Cucumber chips

Snack
Cashews
Sprouted almonds

Dinner
Spaghetti
Homemade spaghetti sauce over grated zucchini noodles
Lettuce salad with veggies and mustard dressing

I really, really enjoyed the sauce over the zucchini noodles. I wanted seconds, but I held myself back. The salad was very good too.

I worked out in the yard all afternoon pruning the plum tree, and all the rose bushes, and cleaned up all the clippings. I cleaned out the strawberry and raspberry beds, put down fertilizer and watered it in. No small feet as I had to drag the hose all the way from the front. I weeded the garlic I planted last fall, and the front flower bed. Whew, that was a lot of things, but it felt so good to be outdoors and active. I had forgotten how much my hip hurts when I bend over and weed. It rarely hurts any other time, just when I work out in the yard and garden. Two more days and smoothies here I come.

Day 15

Breakfast
Fresh veggie juice
Carrots, cucumber, celery, spinach, parsley
Deviled egg
(see description below)

Snack
Sprouted almonds

Lunch
Southwest salad
Lettuce and spinach
radishes, red 0nion, corn, cauliflower
Avocado, and avocado dressing from last week
Salsa
(no chips)
It was a very nice change and tasted so good.


Dinner
Salmon steak
Baked potato
Asparagus
Sliced cucumber

I had some boiled eggs in the fridge and needed to use them up, besides I wasn't in the mood for more omelets. I don't know where the inspiration came from today, but thankfully it was there. After I peeled, cut in half and removed the yolk, I added (to the yolk) chopped onion and pickles, and used up the rest of the cashew cheese. I mixed it all up together, added salt and pepper and enjoyed with the veggie juice. I was really tasty.

I can now count on one hand how many days are left after today. (Actually I could have done this a few days ago, but only thought of it today). 3 more days to go. I am craving pineapple, strawberries, blueberries and chocolate. I'm thinking Pina Colada smoothie, Strawberries with yogurt and granola and a chocolate mint milk shake. I think maybe Wednesday will be a baking day and I can make healthy bran muffins along with the oatmeal raisin cookies I want to make for a friend.

Day 14

Pre Breakfast
Soaked almonds and salted cashews

Breakfast
Leftover omelet from yesterday

Snack
Leftover curry soup from the other day

Dinner
Tacos (I had mine without a tortilla)
Ground beef
onions, lettuce, tomatoes
Red chili sauce, salsa
Sliced cucumbers

I was quite hungry when I got up this morning. Probably because I went to bed hungry last night. I really wanted to eat something after I got home from the restaurant, but it was already 8:30 and I knew that would go against my goal to retrain myself during these 18 days to not eat after dinner. Being's today was Sunday and Dennis is still gone I didn't feel like cooking breakfast, so leftovers sounded great. I had to nearly snarf them down in order to get to choir, and then I was just a bit late. When I came home from church I was hungry and knew we wouldn't be eating until after home teachers came and left, so I ate another quickie. I even heated it in the microwave, which I don't like to do, but I only had 20 minutes to eat before the HTers came.

I have to be honest, that I am glad this is nearly to an end. I have dearly missed fruit. I have also missed having a bigger variety in my diet. I miss my traditional breakfasts the very most. Someone asked me yesterday if I have noticed a difference on this cleanse. I honestly don't know, except for the 8 lbs lost (of which I haven't really felt). My eyes have been giving me troubles for the past several years and yesterday was really bad. I feel that at least some of it is related to computer strain, and some to stress. I have been at the computer a lot this week, and have been stressed trying to prepare two different lessons, one for Relief Society on the 25 of March, and the other is a school assignment teaching a class on nutrition, no date set yet.

Day 13

Breakfast
Omelet (what else is there to have for breakfast)
2 eggs
Onion, garlic, celery, zucchini
Cashew cheese
Salsa

Lunch
Surprise! A Lettuce Salad

Dinner
Stirfry from the Thai Mango

Snack
Bet you can't guess! Soaked almonds

Alisha's birthday is next week, but she celebrated it tonight with our family and the Peterson family all going to the Thai Mango Restaurant in Provo. I asked the waitress what she would recommend on my limited diet since I can't have noodles, rice nor sugar. She suggested the stirfry. I told her I wanted something that had lots of vegetables. My stirfry was mostly chicken with some vegetables. It was pretty disappointing. Brian got some bean sprouts with his dinner and didn't want them, so I got all of them, at least a cup or more. That was heavenly.
It is challenging enough to be on a restricted diet, but even more so when eating out. I wouldn't have even gone if it hadn't been for Alisha.

Day 12

Pre Breakfast
Fresh vegetable juice: carrots, cucumber, celery,beets, ginger

Breakfast:
Omelet
2 eggs
Onion, garlic, celery, day old fried potatoes
Cashew cheese
Salsa

Lunch:
Thai soup
Butternut squash (thawed from the freezer)
Broccoli/cauliflower left over from dinner the other night
Almond milk
Grated ginger
Curry paste

I was out of lettuce salad and craving Thai again, so I used what I had on hand and altered the recipe from the other day. I warmed it all up in a pot, then put it in the blender. I had to add some water because it was too thick for my taste. It was delicious and really hit that Thai craving.

Dinner
A mixture of stuff
Ground beef
Celery, onion, garlic, Cabbage
Steamed broccoli and cauliflower

Snack
Sprouted almonds

I had a hard time today trying to decide what to have for dinner. Clear up until I was getting pretty hungry, I couldn't decide what to have. Then all of a sudden I got a craving for hamburger. Since on this cleansing program, my choices are pretty much vegetables, I took the good old basics and mixed them with the hamburger and it was very good and tasty.

I am 2/3 of the way done today.

Day 11

Breakfast
Oat groat cereal
Oat groats
Almond milk (made fresh this morning)
Walnuts
Unsweetened raw coconut
Stevia

Lunch
Carrot and celery sticks with Hummus
Veggies in apple cider vinegar
Soaked almonds

I was at BYU today so lunch was pretty simple.

Dinner
Lettuce salad with veggies and chicken
A combination of both salad dressings

Snack
Glass of almond milk
Cracked more nuts in the shell

Today was a great day. I felt really good and really enjoyed my time at BYU. I love serving there, meeting new people, learning new things and working with all the other wonderful missionaries.

Day 10

Pre Breakfast
Vegetable juice (made yesterday and stored in the fridge)
Freshly made vegetable juice definitely tastes better. Today's juice was sort of bitter.

Breakfast
Omelet (2 eggs, celery, onion, green pepper, garlic)
Salsa
Cheesy Sauce (made from cashews, onion, garlic, red peppers, nutritional yeast)

I really enjoyed the addition of the Cheesy Sauce. I tried to find the link to the recipe, but it wasn't where I thought it was.

Lunch
Lettuce salad (typical salad)
Avocado/Cucumber dressing (recipe found on this blog) with the addition of some white wine vinegar, olive oil, and onion (just small amounts)

Dinner
Sea Scallops, sauteed in olive oil
Baked sweet potato
Steamed broccoli and Cauliflower

Snacks
Soaked almonds (these really are yummy and so easy to pack around
Tomato juice (blended from my bottled tomatoes)
Mixed nuts (cracked out of the shell)

I am feeling different. I have noticed that I have almost no congestion (which has always been a dream of mine - and which is from eating dairy, breads, processed foods, etc). I also think I am feeling the detox which happens whenever you are cleansing the body. One day I feel sort of constipated and the next I have diarrhea, even though I take the same amount of laxative and drink plenty of water. My eyes have really bothered me today. I seem to be having more eye twitching and charlie horses in my legs. I have always heard that things usually get worse before they get better, and I think that is the case here.

Day 9

Pre Breakfast:
Fresh vegetable juice
Carrot, celery, cucumber

Breakfast
Hashbrowns made from a real potato (not that stuff that comes from the freezer section)
2 fried eggs, fried in coconut oil
Salsa

Lunch
Small garden salad, lettuce, red onion, tomato, sprouts, walnuts
Butternut squash Thai curry soup

Dinner
Stir Fry (carrots, onions, celery, garlic, zucchini squash, broccoli, cabbage, chicken, leftover ginger sauce from the other nights dinner)
Sweet potato fries, homemade

Snack
Soaked almonds

I had the leftover butternut squash with red chili sauce from the other night and thought I would look for a Thai coconut, butternut squash soup recipe. I found one online, which is where I get most of my recipes and started gathering ingredients to make it and found out I was out of coconut milk. I was so disappointed. Then I remembered that I might have frozen some leftovers awhile back and lo and behold I did. About 1/2 cup worth. Not enough to make the original recipe, but decided to just try coming up with my own recipe with what I had. I took the leftover squash (about 1 1/2 - 2 cups), the frozen coconut milk and about 1 tsp yellow curry paste and put it all in a pot. I heated it up until the milk melted, then took 3/4 of the mixture and blended it up in the Vitamix and poured it back into the pot. It is so nice a creamy and OH, tastes absolutely divine.

I loved tonight's dinner also. Dennis did not care for it, even thought I made his with a different sauce because he doesn't like ginger, and I made him rice to go with it. I told you he is a meat and potato man.

After today, I am half way through.