How To Get Happy and Skinny

Dang, I feel my cheeks changing to a flush, red, embarrassed color and the confess sesh hasn't even begun. But it's about to. So buckle up.

I've done tons of chat on this blog about hormones and how mine seem to be struggling. How did I know they were struggling? Well, because sometimes I found myself in the fetal position on the couch crying over spilled milk. And sometimes I had absolutely no energy from 5 pm on. And sometimes I experienced a week or two of unexplained bad moods.
Something was off and it was completely affecting my happiness so I started attacking this little issue with a vengeance. I felt very justified when I went to the doctor and blood tests showed that most of my hormone levels were outside of the "normal" zone.  Enter Dr. Reiss into the picture. And natural supplements. And quite a few $$$.
And admittedly, my energy level increased. My moods seemed more stable. And unarguably, I got fatter. Truth.  I whined about that, too, on the blog also. Unfortunately I got on the scale and those numbers affirmed what I already knew- pounds were being a packed. Like 10 or 11. Now this might not seem like a lot but I'll tell you something else-- and feel free to hate me because of it; I know how we all love to hate skinny people-- but I haven't gained weight (nor does my weight really fluctuate) outside of pregnancies in a good 10 years. Yeeesssss I'm for real and  nooooooo I'm not sorry about it!
So I knew something was off. And so I went crying to Dr Uzzi. He changed my supplement regimen. And I also decided to start "eating clean." Don't you hate hearing fad words like eating clean? I do. It makes me hate them and whatever they stand for right away. I know, I'm such a rebel. And an ignorant one, at that.
But don't you all worry, I ate my words, as I'm so very used to doing.  I started trying to consciously eat even more natural, fresh produce and lean proteins than I was already doing. I tried to start eating less processed foods. I tried to eat more often and really "fuel" my body.
I was doing my darndest to be all sorts of modern hippy and trendy. And guess what? It was making a big difference. I just felt good.
Then I decided to get my IUD out.
Soon after, I read this article on "A Blog About Love" about eliminating PMS. In it, she talked about how eliminating milk products had helped decrease her PMS to almost non-existent. You know when you read something and can just feel that it's talking to you? Well, that's how I felt. I was especially inspired how she talked about working harder for her happiness than she'd worked for anything else. It really helped me to realize the focus and dedication I needed to point in the direction of my diet. I've always thought I was a bit lactose intolerant or something of the sort but never did much about it. I decided to hugely concentrate on eliminating most dairy products. (I still eat a lot of Greek yogurt and use nut milks. Admittedly, I guess I haven't researched to see if those are dairy products or not. Point being, my body reacts fine to those.) The affects of this little test were phenomenal.  When I started getting loosey goosey and eating dairy again (insert a 5 day ice cream binge), I was shocked at the complete drop in energy, ambition, and mood. Honestly shocked. But it reaffirmed the truth about how dairy affects my body.
A few weeks after working on eliminating dairy, I decided to really cut down on soda and hugely increase my water intake, especially in the afternoons.
Somewhere around then I also completely stopped taking the hormone supplements.
And the result of all this??
You guys, I am happy and (kind of) energized and stable (as much as a crazy mom can be) and feeling ambitious and positive about life.
And I'm skinny again! (I don't have a scale to know if or how much weight I've lost but I'm actually fitting into my clothes again.) I have to note that I don't necessarily think it's the clean eating that helped me slim down. More so, I think the increased hormones I was taking probably made me gain the weight so when my body was back into balance, the weight came off.
I'm sure taking my IUD out helped. (I'm sure not having a baby or being pregnant for 2 1/2 years has helped also!) But I contribute A LOT of this new state of being to changing my diet. And that is kind of embarrassing to me. Maybe embarrassing isn't the word. Humbling might be more accurate. I thought the resolution to the problems I'd been having the last couple years were beyond my control, but alas, they weren't. I just needed to gain a little bit of knowledge and A LOT of discipline! So, of course, when I discover something insightful, enlightening, etc, I like to pass it on.
Hope sharing this might help someone a bit! I know we're all just trying to make it through this journey with our head above water and a little bit {i.e.: A LOT} of happiness!
Happy Monday:)
***************************************************************** I'm a totally newbie on the whole eating clean idea, but here is a list of what I've been eating. These days I tend to eat a lot of the same things.

1) Smoothie

handful of kale and spinach

1/2 pear

1/2 frozen banana

ginger

1 T pistachios

1 cup unsweetened Almond milk 5 ice cubes

If I'm drinking this smoothie after a workout, I'll add a scoop of protein powder.

2) Eggs

I like doing 2 over easy eggs over a bed of spinach and then putting Franks hot sauce on top. (In my opinion, brand matters for this...Franks is bomb.com. I order mine off Amazon.)

Also delis with pico and avocado.

3) Cook a serving of lean turkey. Add pico de gallo while cooking. Eat over a huge ole bed of spinach. Put on Franks hot sauce. And diced avocado of course.

4) Microwave sweet potato for 3 1/2 minutes. Put on plain greek yogurt. Sprinkle generously either cinnamon or garlic powder.

5) tacos

wheat tortilla

meat

spinach and lettuce

pico de gallo

plain greek yogurt (tastes like sour cream)

6) grate a white or yellow onion into lean hamburger meat. Add nature seasoning. Form into mini patties. Eat either alone or in a corn tortilla. Serve with pico and salad.

7) Plain greek yogurt. Add honey and cinnamon. Add granola and fruit.

8) Apples and peanut butter

9) Almonds

10) Lara bars

Would love for you to share any clean snacks or meals you're loving right now. I really could stand to eat more than these 9 things!

*** I also loved reading this article as I was dealing with weight gain/loss.

{Doritos: Enough said}

I'm in a bit of disbelief that I've yet to share this amazing dinner recipe. But you know, with a lot of these things, it has everything to do with...TIMING. And had I introduced it to you previously, I would've been all,  "Here's how to make the best Taco Salad ever." And you would've been all,  "Been there, done that. Ain't nothing special about taco salad." But alas, my kids have saved my booty AND this recipe, simply by.... renaming the dish. And I don't know who gave who the idea- Taco Bell to my boys or my boys to Taco Bell- it's all kinda like, What came first, the chicken or the egg?--
Anyways, please feast your eyes on Doritos Salad.

If we're friends at all, I have probably fed you this before. Shoot, unless I was trying to show off and tried to make something fancy and more impressive. But taste-wise and ease-wise....nothing compares.

Speaking of fancy and impressive, let's talk about my above picture. I knew I was gonna take a pic of this salad, so I did make the "up-graded" version, you know with Doritos strategically placed on the side {until I quickly ran out of whole Doritos}, dressing imperfectly zig-zagged. But also, sometimes I can't help but wanna make my food pretty. I blame my mom for planting that seed in my head. No, she didn't make pretty food {sorry, AJ} but she'd be talking my creations up, telling me I made pretty food. Granted, this is the same lady who got mad when somebody told me I wasn't a good singer. Anyway, so every now and then, when the opportunity arises, I slip into the niche of being a pretty food chef or something of the sort. But only every now and then.

So the Doritos Salad:

finely shredded lettuce

ground meat cooked with taco seasoning {this is ground turkey}

shredded cheese

Fat Free Catalina {regular is too sweet if you ask me}

crumbled Doritos over the top

Now that's the basics. A few variances: I usually put green onions and tomatoes on it also. This pictured salad has my famous grilled corn cut onto it. Why famous, you ask? Well, because at least like 5 people have told me it's awesome. So given the correct forum...

my grilled corn on the cob {and then cut off?!!} would be famous. Because the average person would never think to rub the corn in butter and season it with all-seasoning salt before throwing it on the grill for a few minutes. This would've been my million-dollar idea had I not just shared it with you for free.

So there you have the basic recipe and the variations. But let's be honest, as long as you have Doritos on it, it'll get gobbled. The rest is just details.

And here I am eating it. Sitting on the couch. With my sodie in between the knees. While watching my tennis. I swear this looks like a total bachelor scene.  Minus the fact that my plate has lettuce and ground turkey on it. K, go get your cook on and then come back and tell me how a-mazing the Doritos Salad is. stalk AGNG:

{Cookie: O-R-E-O}

There aren't much awesomer quotes that have come out of my kids' mouth than the time 3-year-old Dallin proclaimed, "Mom, I know how to spell cookie: "O-R-E-O." Couldn't have scripted that better. With an impromptu statement like that, it comes as no surprise that Oreos are a key part of our fam. And among our array of Oreo indulgences, I think there is a specific combination that has a reigning title of favorite. And that would be the bag of mini Oreos. So here's the thing, I go about highly recommending the mini Oreos and milk, b.k.a. cookie cereal in our house. But when I go about recommending things, sometimes I get a bit self-conscious when there's all types of asterisks that come along with that recommendation. So out of embarrassment, I hold out on all the necessary details that would go into making it the optimal eating experience. And people have tried it on their own, in their own way, and have come back ....without rave reviews. And I feel very responsible for that dissatisfaction.     And I know this post is going to come off facetious, but let me go ahead and tell ya... I'm not being facetious at all.   I am fo real.
I'm gonna tell you how to make the best bowl of cookie cereal ever. 1) Get a smaller bowl.  2) Fill with 9ish cookies (don't get nervous yet...) 3) Put in desired amount of milk. 4) Let sit for 5 seconds (about the amount of time it takes to sit down somewhere.)  5) Eat with regular sized spoon, one cookie at a time, letting milk fill the whole space of spoon.  Why are these details important? Let me tell you. You do NOT want this treat to turn into a soggy bowl of what-used-to-be mini Oreos, hence the 9ish cookie per serving rule. Prevents excessive sogginess. The regular sized spoon allows for exact milk-to-mini-Oreo proportion. That is it, THE formula of how to properly indulge in cookie cereal. And just a heads up... there's no way you'll have just one bowl. Like, I dare you to just have one bowl. I'll buy you your own bag of Minis if you stop at one. {and then you can eat that whole bag in one sitting...been there, done that, loved it.}   So don't be shocked or feel like a fatty when you just keep going back for more and more- that's how we all roll.
Now go try it and tell me if I haven't got it down to a science!

it's a Secret.....

....that I'm hesitant to share with you. It has to do with baking. I'm a good baker, not great. This one simple addition to my standard chocolate chip cookie recipe elevates them- hence, me- from goodness to greatness. And just for one small minute I would like to revel in the fact that I'm a better baker than you. Which is why I hesitate to share.

But obviously I'm going to since I reeled you in this far...no turning back.

The secret comes from three small words.....

Fleur de Sel

My recipe of choice for Fleur de Sel Chocolate Chip Cookies:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened (*I used butter flavored crisco)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Milk Chocolate Morsels


PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

(I roll into a ball and then gently pat the dough down, forming a flat surface)

*****sprinkle Fluer de Sel on dropped cookie dough*****

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. 

(it's the Original Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies with the couple changes I made)

But it comes with a warning....bake at your own risk. Haters will ensue after you knock them off their baking pedestal.


I must go now. A fresh batch just got out of the oven.