New Year, New Goals

It's been almost a month since I posted last.  This is me this morning, 12/30/17.

The last month has been long and hard.  I know I've put back on a few pounds but it's not as bad as it could have been.  Going vegan was the best thing I ever did.  Now, when I'm tempted to overeat, and I have over the last month, I pick something like oatmeal, or potatoes or dried fruit.  I definitely ate too much over this holiday season, but I overate on things that are really healthy.  You can still gain weight eating a healthy diet and I did put some weight back on.  But not much.  I'm still wearing my size eight pants, although they are a little tight at the moment.  My point is that, had I been binging on donuts instead of oatmeal and potatoes I believe my weight would have gone way back up. 

So, on the eve of a new year I've been making plans for the next year.  I want to make my good habits more permanent.  I still have some weight to loose.  I still want to get down into the 120's.  I know I can get there if I stick to a vegan, whole foods diet that is as free as possible from salt, oil and sugar.

To this end, for the coming week I will be eating vegetable soup for breakfast, salads for lunch and fruit for dinner.  It's a tried and true formula for me.  If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I have been making some changes to my fitness program.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday I will continue with my routine of the 3 mile walk/jog in the mornings, and in the evenings 30 minutes of step and 30 minutes of strength building.

Tuesday and Thursday will be P90X Stretch, and  hour long long, intense stretching video in the mornings and in the evenings, 30 minutes of step and building up to 30 minutes of what I call fun exercises: jump rope, hoola hoop, jumping jacks, jumping up onto my step.  Lots of jumping.  It builds core strength and balance and is good for the whole body.

So basically, I go forward into this new year sticking to what I know works and adding some new things for variety and continue growth.

I also wanted to touch base about the "How Not To Die Cookbook".  It's great and I highly recommend it.  Every recipe I've tried was good.  I would specifically recommend both the kale soup and the collard green soup.  I made both and love both:

 Above is the collage green/black eyed pea soup.  I had it for dinner every day for a week.  It's hearty and filling but low in calories. 

Pictured above is the kale/sweet potato soup.  I thought the collard soup was the best soup I'd ever had until I made this one.  The kale is superb and pared so well with the sweet potato.

How Not to Die Cookbook by Dr. Michael Greger

 I spent the afternoon looking at the photos and recipes on this new book just out, How Not to Die Cookbook, by Dr. Michael Greger.  The photos are beautiful and there isn't one recipe that doesn't look good to me.  This book is a companion to another book of the same name, also written by Dr. Greger. 

Dr. Greger has a eating system that he has boiled down to what he calls the Daily Dozen.  All the recipes in this book adhere to the healthy, whole foods on that list.  So, as I picked out the recipes I'm going to try first, I made sure I was ticking off as many items as possible of the daily dozen.  That way I know I'm getting the most nutrition possible from what I'm eating on a daily basis.

I've been a fan of Dr. Greger since I decided to switch to a plant based, whole food way of eating.  This cookbook makes eating that way look really good.  This cookbook is going to help me balance my diet and continue to loose weight.

I paid $17.99 for this hardback book on Amazon and I got it in two days.  What a deal.  It's a very well put together cookbook with beautiful photos of every recipe.  If you are looking for a vegan cookbook, I highly recommend this one.